Press & Media Quotes
The Times,June 25 2008
The Guardian, June 24 2008
The Stage, June 24 2008
The Times, June 9 2008
The Guardian, June 7 2008
The Stage, June 6 2008
Gramophone
The Times
The Evening Standard
International Record Review
The Scottish Herald
Financial Times
Sri Lanka Times
The Daily Telegraph
Sunday Business Post (Ireland)
News
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A Very Britten New Year: the ECO in a special film by Tony Palmer Submitted on: 04 January 2013 Happy New Year from the ECO! 2013 - Britten's centenary year - begins in earnest as ECO feature in a performance of Britten, for a film by the director Tony Palmer. The orchestra will be recording extracts from Britten's War Requiem, A Ceremony of Carols and Nocturne with tenor Allan Clayton and conductor Paul Watkins. We look forward to working again with Tony Palmer, with whom we have made many films about Britten, including those mentioned below. Here are some excerpts from the press release:
'Focussing primarily on a single work, Palmer sets out to find some answers, or rather some clues as to the nature of the man himself. With a specially filmed performance by the English Chamber Orchestra, this haunting song-cycle with poems by Wilfred Owen, Keats and Shakespeare among others, forms the backbone of Palmer's essay.' 'The new film is part of a trilogy of Tony Palmer's work on Britten to be shown on Sky Arts, which includes the Italia-prize winning 'A Time There Was' and his multi-award winning film of the opera 'Death in Venice' recently voted by a classical music website as one of the greatest opera films ever made and never shown before on British television' |
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The ECO visit Calabria in a final tour before Christmas Submitted on: 19 December 2012 Tomorrow the ECO heads for some southern Italian sunshine, flying to Calabria for a concert on Friday 21 December at the Teatro Politeama in Catanzaro presented by the Armonie D'Arte Festival. Stephanie Gonley will direct the concert from her leader's chair. The programme includes Schubert's Symphony No. 5 in Bb, Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile and Nocturne with ECO's principal cellist Caroline Dale, and Mozart's Concerto for Piano No. 14 in Eb, with piano soloist Chiara Giordano, director of the festival. We look forward to experiencing the 'city of two seas', the Ionian coast and a brand new, state-of-the art concert venue! For more information on the festival: http://www.armoniedarte.com/ |
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Success at the Rostropovich Festival in Azerbaijan Submitted on: 10 December 2012 The ECO made a triumphant return visit to Azerbaijan for a concert on 7th December in the 6th Rostropovich International Music Festival to be held in Baku. Maxim Vengerov was conductor and soloist, joined by John Mills in Bach's Concerto for two violins and by Plamena Mangova and Mikhail Gaiduk (trumpet) for Shostakovich's Piano Concerto no.1. The capacity audience was unreservedly enthusiastic about every piece we performed. The Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall was as beautiful (acoustically as well as architecturally) as we remembered it from our previous visit, and the sun shone warmly throughout our trip (Baku is on the Caspian Sea and enjoys a temperate climate). The locals were unfailingly courteous and the city full of surprises, with many new buildings having sprung up in the three years since our first visit; but the old walled city, with its famous Maiden Tower landmark, is still the jewel in Baku's crown. It's an exciting city and an enterprising festival (jointly run by the Rostoprovich Foundation, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the Republic of Azerbaijan). We look forward to a return visit to its sister festival, the Moscow Rostropovich International Music Festival, for a concert of Britten and Mozart in April 2013. For a short video including footage of this year's Festival, visit: http://www.euronews.com/2012/12/11/rostropovich-festival-in-baku/ |
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ECO returns to Azerbaijan Submitted on: 03 December 2012 On December 6 the ECO sets off for its second visit to the Rostropovich Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan. Three years ago the Orchestra performed two concerts in the first Baku Rostropovich Festival with Pinchas Zukerman, Amanda Forsyth and Paul Watkins; this visit sees Maxim Vengerov as soloist and conductor. ECO co-leader John Mills will join Vengerov as soloist in Bach's Concerto for two violins, and Plamena Mangova will be the piano soloist in Shostakovich's Concerto No.1. The programme also includes Vengerov playing Mozart's Violin Concerto K.218 as well as two works which he performed to great acclaim in the ECO's Celebration Concert at London's Royal Festival Hall in October: Massenet's Meditation from Thais and Ravel's Tzigane. |
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With Strings Attached Submitted on: 12 November 2012 In September we
embarked on a new chamber music project in collaboration with Awards for Young
Musicians. We are approaching our second rehearsal and plans are being finalised
for the performance to be given by the first ensemble With Strings Attached, as a Prelude
to our evening concert on December 2nd, at Cadogan Hall. The project gives the young musicians the
opportunity to rehearse and perform in the same way that a professional chamber
ensemble might do; combining concentrated rehearsal time, personal practice and
a lot of fun in the process. Each of the four projects will feature a different
instrumental combination. The first of the four groups, the string ensemble
With Strings Attached, held the first of its sessions at the end of
September at the Royal College of Music. In the coming months three more groups
will be created: Ensemble Classique in spring Celebrations of
Diversity in summer and Le Swing in autumn 2013. Beverley Mason,
a trustee of AYM, who has been supporting the project; attending rehearsals and
liaising between AYM, ECO and the young musicians, made the following comments. ‘As part of our goal to create new
musical education development and performance opportunities, we launched the
first of our English Chamber Orchestra ensembles in September With Strings Attached. Thanks to
generous funding by the Elias Fawcett Trust, we have been able to
establish a brand new orchestral chamber music programme in collaboration with
the ECO. This is our first formal ensemble opportunity for AYM awardees and we
hope to be able to extend opportunities like this with other organisations. It’s
particularly rewarding to work with the ECO musicians in their 50th anniversary
year. We are liaising with their Close Encounters education and outreach team
who are coaching and rehearsing groups of our young awardees in four distinctive
chamber music ensembles; each will then perform in a Prelude concert on stage before one of the ECO’s own evening
concerts.’ Close Encounters is the English Chamber Orchestra’s education and
outreach programme, which has been running since 1997. From its
inception, the aim has been to involve young people in a close encounter with
the creation and enjoyment of music. Our projects transcend boundaries of
background, ability, culture and geography and hold with the ancient Chinese
Proverb. ‘Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may
remember; involve me and I’ll understand.’ This project is
consistent with our aims, and ECO was delighted to be invited
to coach and rehearse groups AYM’s talented young musicians. Jeremy Isaac, who
is coaching the ensemble said, ‘…as a state educated child I believe strongly in
giving something back to the community and I am committed to the idea that
classical music should be available to all.’
Watching him encouraging the young musicians to achieve excellence in
their ensemble, is inspiring; his passion for music and sense of humour are
infectious and the young people are responding with enthusiasm. |
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