Biss & Beethoven
The American pianist Jonathan Biss is regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of Ludwig van Beethoven’s music. In this concert the youthful second piano concerto is combined with composer Timo Andres’ The Blind Banister, written for Biss to be performed alongside a piece by Beethoven. Conductor and violinist Pekka Kuusisto also leads the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres).
Participants
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a multiple-award-winning ensemble renowned for its high artistic standard and stylistic breadth, as well as collaborations with the world’s finest composers, conductors, and soloists. It regularly tours all over Europe and the world and has an extensive and acclaimed recording catalogue.
Daniel Harding has been Music Director of the SRSO since 2007, and since 2019 also its Artistic Director. His tenure will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. Two of the orchestra’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been named Conductors Laureate, and continue to perform regularly with the orchestra.
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, and is a cornerstone of Swedish public service broadcasting. Its concerts are heard weekly on the Swedish classical radio P2 and regularly on national public television SVT. Several concerts are also streamed on-demand on Berwaldhallen Play and broadcast globally through the EBU.
Violinist, conductor and composer Pekka Kuusisto is renowned for his artistic freedom and fresh approach to repertoire. Kuusisto is Artistic Director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor & Artistic Co-Director: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (from 23/24). He is also Artistic Partner with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Mahler Chamber Orchestra, a Collaborative Partner of the San Francisco Symphony, and Artistic Best Friend of Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Kuusisto is an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music. In recent seasons Kuusisto has premiered new works by Sauli Zinovjev, Daníel Bjarnason, Anders Hillborg, Philip Venables and Andrea Tarrodi. He is also a gifted improviser and regularly engages with people across the artistic spectrum. Recent projects have included collaborations with Hauschka and Kosminen, Dutch neurologist Erik Scherder, pioneer of electronic music Brian Crabtree, eminent jazz-trumpeter Arve Henriksen, juggler Jay Gilligan, accordionist Dermot Dunne and folk artist Sam Amidon.
Kuusisto has released several recordings, notably for Ondine and BIS. With Pentatone, Kuusisto and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra presented the album First Light in 2021, featuring the world premiere recording of Nico Muhly’s violin concerto, Shrink. Kuusisto has recently recorded Ades’ Violin Concerto with Aurora and Nicolas Collon for Deutsche Grammophon, Hillborg’s Bach Materia and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Nos.3 and 4 with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Thomas Dausgaard for BIS and Daniel Bjarnason’s Violin Concerto with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra with the composer conducting for Sono Luminus. Past releases include Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Noesis concerto for violin and orchestra for Ondine and Sebastian Fagerlund’s violin concerto Darkness in Light for BIS, both recorded with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu.
Jonathan Biss är en av vår tids uppmärksammade Beethoventolkare. Han inledde 2011 ett nioårigt projekt där han nu spelat in Beethovens samtliga pianosonater på nio album. Han initierade också projektet Beethoven/5 med fem pendangstycken beställda av tonsättarna Timo Andres, Sally Beamish, Salvatore Sciarrino, Caroline Shaw och Brett Dean, som vart och ett tar avstamp i Beethovens pianokonserter.
Som konsertpianist har Jonathan Biss uppträtt med framstående orkestrar som Los Angeles och New Yorks filharmoniker, Boston symfoniorkester, Sveriges och Danmarks radiosymfoniorkestrar, Birminghams stadssymfoniorkester och Concertgebouworkestern. Han har framträtt vid bland annat festivalerna i Salzburg och Luzern och är en eftertraktad kammarmusiker.
Biss är den förste amerikanske musikern som uppmärksammats av BBC New Generation Artists och har tilldelats flera andra stora utmärkelser och stipendier. Förutom sitt musicerande är han aktiv som pedagog och författare och är konstnärlig ledare för kammarmusikfestivalen Marlboro Music i Vermont.
Claudia Bonfiglioli has been the voice director of the second violin part in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013. Previously, she held the role of concertmaster in several Swedish orchestras, including the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Court Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.
As a soloist, Bonfiglioli has performed with several prominent orchestras and is also an active chamber musician. Bonfiglioli has studied at the Academy of Music in Gothenburg with Milan Vitek and Per Enoksson, at the Royal Academy of Music (where she obtained a soloist diploma) with Henryk Kowalski and Joakim Svenheden, and at Edsberg’s music institute where she immersed herself in chamber music under the guidance of Ulf Wallin. She has also participated in master classes with musicians such as Leonidas Kavakos, Boris Belkin, Dora Swartzberg and Isaac Stern.
Programme
I. Allegro con brio
II. Adagio
III. Rondo: Molto allegro
Approximate concert length: 1 hour without intermission
Tickets
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