Musical promenades at the museums - Bassoon... con brio
Bassoonists unite—all of the ASO's permanent bassoonists, along with students studying the bassoon (and contrabassoon) at the Athens State Orchestra Young Musicians’ Academy will come together to perform a selection of works dating from the Baroque to the present day. In so doing, they will spotlight the unique baritone timbre and possibilities offered up by these, the lowest-sounding instruments in the woodwind family.
Skalkottas and his contemporaries IV
The tribute to Skalkottas and his era ends with Schoenberg’s Five pieces for orchestra, a radical work and a milestone in the history of German musical expressionism. Still, however ground-breaking that movement may seem, it actually served as a continuation of the great German symphonic tradition. Weber and Brahms are both central to this tradition, and we will be hearing two of their best-loved works in thoughtful interpretations from the Israeli conductor, Yoav Talmi.
Skalkottas and his contemporaries III
One of Skalkottas' most famous classmates in Arnold Schoenberg's composition group was Alban Berg, whose intricate and atmospheric Violin Concerto will be performed by Tianwa Yan, the Chinese soloist who is now a familiar figure on the Athens concert scene. The concert programme also includes the world première of a symphonic work by the multiple award-winning young composer, Orestes Papaioannou, a tribute to Skalkottas commissioned by the ASO.
Easter concert 2019
Michael Sanderling, son of the great maestro Kurt Sanderling, has followed faithfully in his father's footsteps and carved out a dazzling international career for himself. His visit to Athens is much anticipated. Bruckner's monumental Mass No. 3, the fruit of the composer's profound and heartfelt faith but also of an equally profound and emotionally-fraught musical sensibility, will surely imbue Holy Week with due solemnity this year.
Musical promenades at the Museums - Romantic pages for violin and piano
The distinguished violinist Dimitris Semsis, the Athens State Orchestra's concertmaster, joins the pianist Dimitra Mantzouratou for a demanding and intensely romantic program. The two main features—Brahms' Second Sonata and the Frank sonata—are both works of their respective composers' maturity which, thanks to their inestimable beauty, now enjoy pride of place in the repertoire for violin and piano.
Musical promenades at the Museums - Three Trios... differently
The concert programme consists of three very well-known works for clarinet, cello and piano with the unique sound of the French horn substituted for that of the clarinet. The transcriptions of Beethoven’s highly expressive Trio, Glinka's lyrical and operatic Trio Pathetique, and Brahms' romantic Trio were made by the French hornist Maria French for the needs of her doctoral thesis.
Tosca
However faithful we may be in our love for the symphonic repertoire, it is hard to resist the larger-than-life allure of Italian opera –so why resist!? Joined by a select group of singers and performing under the baton of Stefanos Tsialis, the Athens State Orchestra takes on the immortal Tosca, Puccini's lyric masterpiece and a work which certainly needs no further introductions.
The classical magic
If we accept that, in music, the classical is associated with clarity of form, intellectual depth and an aversion to expressive excess, then all three works in this concert clearly reflect classical beauty at its most elevated, embodying the above qualities equally despite having been composed in different eras. The soloist is the ASO's lead and leading bassoonist, Alexandros Oikonomou.
The Four Seasons
Vivaldi's Four Seasons belong to that special category of works which, however often you hear them, lose none of their power to delight. And when the music is delivered by a musician with the powers of Simos Papanas, the results will never be less than arresting. The programme also features the young and talented maestro Ektoras Tartanis making his ASO debut conducting another work inspired by the changing seasons: Glazunov's ballet The Seasons.
Leonidas Kavakos with the A.S.O – Offer of Music and Musical Offer
The institution of a wide-ranging, large-scale collaboration with Leonidas Kavakos returning to the ASO podium for five concerts this season—four of which will take place in Athens—was always going to be big news. Because our recent experience of working with the Greek musician who has carved out an important international career showed us that, as a conductor, Kavakos has the power to conjure up a mysterious, wordless, sincere and interactive communication with the audience, the musicians in the Orchestra, and with High Art. That Kavakos is providing his services free of charge, with the proceeds from the concerts going partly towards the purchase of new instruments for the Orchestra and partly to charity, makes him one of our most valued allies in these difficult times.