Posted on: March 27, 2012 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

This April, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Artistic Director and Lead Violin Richard Tognetti, will travel to North America for a 10-stop tour. The ensemble will hit major cities in the US and Canada with the final date of the tour culminating at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Joining them will be world-renowned soprano (and recent Ojai collaborator) Dawn Upshaw and baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes.

 

The program for the tour features the works of modern masters, contemporary composers, arrangements of chamber works for string orchestra and small orchestral pieces. Mahler’s “Adagietto” from Symphony No. 5, a veritable song without words, opens the tour with its haunting beauty and serenity. A featured piece on the tour is Grammy-winning composer Maria Schneider’s “Winter Morning Walks,” composed for Upshaw and the ACO. The work saw its US premiere last summer at the Ojai Festival and will be recorded for ArtistShare in New York at the close of the tour. It is inspired by poetry by poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner Ted Kooser, whose walks in the winter mornings during his cancer treatments led to a series of postcards to a friend in which he transforms common things and daily events into well-timed and expertly sculpted poems.

The ACO also presents the innovative interweaving of four movements of George Crumb’s “Black Angels” with Anton Webern’s “Five Pieces for Orchestra”, a juxtaposition described by the Los Angeles Times as “American angst stood its own against Viennese angst.” String quartets find themselves in string-orchestra form as the orchestra performs Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major in a transcription by Tognetti and Grieg’s String Quartet in G minor. The Grieg is also featured on the ACO’s new BIS recording being released on March 27th in time for the tour. Baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes is the featured artist on Richard Rodney Bennett’s “Songs for Sleep,” a work consisting of six poems, all taken from the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. At concerts with Dawn Upshaw, the soprano will perform lieder by Schubert and Schumann.The ensemble also presents works by Elgar, Saxton, an early piece by Shostakovich and Schoenberg’s monumental Transfigured Night
Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra 

North American Tour – April 2012

 

THURSDAY, April 12 

Schwartz Center, Atlanta, GA

With Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Baritone

 

MAHLER Adagietto from Symphony No. 5

SHOSTAKOVICH Prelude and Scherzo for string octet, Op.11

ELGAR Sospiri, Op.70

SAXTON Birthday Piece for RRB

BENNETT Songs Before Sleep

BEETHOVEN An die ferne Geliebte, Op.98 (arr. Tognetti)

RAVEL String Quartet in F major (arr. Tognetti)

FRIDAY, April 13

Norton Center – Danville, KY

With Dawn Upshaw, Soprano

SHOSTAKOVICH Adagio & Allegretto for string orchestra (arr.Sikorski)

SCHNEIDER Winter Morning Walks

SCHUMANN“Mondnacht” Op.39, No.5 (arr. Jordan)
SCHUBERT “Geheimes” D.719 (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT “Der Tod und das Mädchen” D.531 (arr. Tognetti)
GRIEG String Quartet in G minor, Op.27 (arr. Tognetti)

 

SATURDAY, April 14

DeBartolo Performing Arts Center – South Bend, IN

With Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Baritone

 

MAHLER Adagietto from Symphony No. 5

SHOSTAKOVICH Prelude and Scherzo for string octet, Op.11

ELGAR Sospiri, Op.70

SAXTON Birthday Piece for RRB

BENNETT Songs Before Sleep

BEETHOVEN An die ferne Geliebte,Op.98 (arr. Tognetti)

RAVEL String Quartet in F major (arr. Tognetti)

SUNDAY, April 15

Symphony Hall – Chicago, IL

With Dawn Upshaw, soprano

 

WEBERN Five Movements: I. Heftig bewegt

CRUMB Black Angels: I. Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects

WEBERN Five Movements: II. Sehr langsam

CRUMB Black Angels: II. Sounds of Bones and Flutes

WEBERN Five Movements: III. Sehr lebhaft

CRUMB Black Angels: VIII. Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura

WEBERN Five Movements: IV. Sehr langsam

CRUMB Black Angels: X. God-music

WEBERN Five Movements: V. In zarter Bewegung

SCHUMANN“Mondnacht” Op.39, No.5 (arr. Jordan)
SCHUBERT “Geheimes” D.719 (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT “Der Tod und das Mädchen” D.531 (arr. Tognetti)

SCHNEIDER Winter Morning WalksGRIEG String Quartet in G minor, Op.27 (arr. Tognetti)

TUESDAY, April 17

Modlin Center – Richmond, VA

With Dawn Upshaw, Soprano

SHOSTAKOVICH Adagio & Allegretto for string orchestra (arr. Sikorski)

SCHNEIDER Winter Morning Walks

SCHUMANN“Mondnacht” Op.39, No.5 (arr. Jordan)
SCHUBERT “Geheimes” D.719 (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT “Der Tod und das Mädchen” D.531 (arr. Tognetti)

GRIEG String Quartet in G minor, Op.27 (arr. Tognetti)

FRIDAY, April 20

Phillips Center – Gainesville, FL

With Dawn Upshaw, Soprano

SHOSTAKOVICH Adagio & Allegretto for string orchestra (arr. Sikorski)

SCHNEIDER Winter Morning Walks

SCHUMANN“Mondnacht” Op.39, No.5 (arr. Jordan)
SCHUBERT “Geheimes” D.719 (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT “Der Tod und das Mädchen” D.531 (arr. Tognetti)

GRIEG String Quartet in G minor, Op.27 (arr. Tognetti)

SUNDAY, April 22

Royal Conservatory, Koerner Hall – Toronto, ON

Dawn Upshaw, soprano

 

WEBERN Five Movements: I. Heftig bewegt

CRUMB Black Angels: I. Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects

WEBERN Five Movements: II. Sehr langsam

CRUMB Black Angels: II. Sounds of Bones and Flutes

WEBERN Five Movements: III. Sehr lebhaft

CRUMB Black Angels: VIII. Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura

WEBERN Five Movements: IV. Sehr langsam

CRUMB Black Angels: X. God-music

WEBERN Five Movements: V. In zarter Bewegung

SCHNEIDER Winter Morning Walks

SCHUMANN“Mondnacht” Op.39, No.5 (arr. Jordan)
SCHUBERT “Geheimes” D.719 (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT “Der Tod und das Mädchen” D.531 (arr. Tognetti)

SCHOENBERG Transfigured Night, Op.4

MONDAY, April 23

Kingston Grand Theatre – Kingston, ON

With Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Baritone

 

MAHLER Adagietto from Symphony No. 5

SHOSTAKOVICH Prelude and Scherzo for string octet, Op.11

ELGAR Sospiri, Op.70

SAXTON Birthday Piece for RRB

BENNETT Songs Before Sleep

BEETHOVEN An die ferne Geliebte, Op.98 (arr. Tognetti)

RAVEL String Quartet in F major (arr. Tognetti)

WEDNESDAY, April 25

Hopkins Center – Hanover, NH

With Dawn Upshaw, Soprano

SHOSTAKOVICH Adagio & Allegretto for string orchestra (arr. Sikorski)

SCHNEIDER Winter Morning Walks

SCHUMANN“Mondnacht” Op.39, No.5 (arr. Jordan)
SCHUBERT “Geheimes” D.719 (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT “Der Tod und das Mädchen” D.531 (arr. Tognetti)

SCHOENBERG Transfigured Night, Op.4

FRIDAY, April 27

Bailey Hall – Ithaca, NY

With Dawn Upshaw, Soprano

SHOSTAKOVICH Adagio & Allegretto for string orchestra (arr. Sikorski)

SCHNEIDER Winter Morning Walks

SCHUMANN“Mondnacht” Op.39, No.5 (arr. Jordan)
SCHUBERT “Geheimes” D.719 (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT “Der Tod und das Mädchen” D.531 (arr. Tognetti)

SCHOENBERG Transfigured Night, Op.4

MONDAY, April 30

Carnegie Hall – New York, NY

With Dawn Upshaw, Soprano

SHOSTAKOVICH Adagio & Allegretto for string orchestra (arr. Sikorski)

SCHNEIDER Winter Morning Walks

SCHUMANN“Mondnacht” Op.39, No.5 (arr. Jordan)
SCHUBERT “Geheimes” D.719 (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT “Der Tod und das Mädchen” D.531 (arr. Tognetti)

GRIEG String Quartet in G minor, Op.27 (arr. Tognetti)

 

Richard Tognetti, artistic director and lead violinist of the ACO 

Australian violinist, conductor and composer, Richard Tognetti has established an international reputation for his compelling performances and artistic individualism. He studied at the Sydney Conservatorium with Alice Waten, in his home town of Wollongong with William Primrose, and at the Berne Conservatory (Switzerland) with Igor Ozim, where he was awarded the Tschumi Prize as the top graduate soloist in 1989. Later that year he was appointed Leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and subsequently became Artistic Director. He is also Artistic Director of the Maribor Festival in Slovenia.

 

Tognetti performs on period, modern and electric instruments. His numerous arrangements, compositions and transcriptions have expanded the chamber orchestra repertoire and been performed throughout the world.

 

As director or soloist, Tognetti has appeared with the Handel & Haydn Society (Boston), Hong Kong Philharmonic, Camerata Salzburg,Tapiola Sinfonietta, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Nordic Chamber Orchestra and the Australian symphony orchestras. He conducted Mozart’s Mitridate for the Sydney Festival and gave the Australian premiere of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony.

 

Tognetti has collaborated with colleagues from across various art forms and artistic styles, including Joseph Tawadros, Dawn Upshaw, James Crabb, Emmanuel Pahud, Jack Thompson, Katie Noonan, Neil Finn,Tim Freedman, Paul Capsis, Bill Henson and Michael Leunig.

 

In 2003, Tognetti was co-composer of the score for Peter Weir’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; violin tutor for its star, Russell Crowe; and can also be heard performing on the award-winning soundtrack. In 2005, he co-composed the soundtrack to Tom Carroll’s surf film Horrorscopes and, in 2008, created The Red Tree, inspired by illustrator Shaun Tan’s book. He co-created and starred in the 2008 documentary film Musica Surfica, which has won best film awards at surf film festivals in the USA, Brazil, France and South Africa.

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