Conservatorio di Milano

Submitted on: 22 September 2012

Our Conductor Emeritus and long-time friend of the Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis, was taken ill in Milan yesterday morning and spent the day in hospital. Sadly there was no question of him being able to conduct our concert for the MiTo Settembre Musica Festival last night. It was too short notice to find a replacement conductor who would be acceptable to the Festival, but they agreed to go ahead with the same programme directed by our talented guest leader Andrew Haveron. Sir Colin had already rehearsed the programme in London; although familiar to everyone, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture and Italian Symphony are not easy to perform without conductor (likewise the overture to The Marriage of Figaro, our encore which the musicians dedicated to Sir Colin). However the concert was an astounding success and a fitting tribute to Sir Colin and the esteem in which he is held by our players, as well as a reminder that the ECO is a remarkable orchestra. We wish Colin a very speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the podium soon.

Pauline Gilbertson, General Manager

An Evening Celebrating Five Decades with the ECO

Submitted on: 18 September 2012

Introducing Behzod Abduraimov

While Maxim Vengerov and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the ECO's long term friends and guest artists performing in our Celebration Concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 1st October, are household names, our other headline artist may need an introduction.

Since Behzod Abduraimov, the 22 year old pianist from Tashkent and winner of the 2009 London International Piano Competition, caused a sensation with his superb playing on last year's ECO Mediterranean Music Cruise, he has been exclusively signed to Decca Classics and released a debut album of solo works by Liszt, Prokofiev and Saint-Saëns.

Reviewing his performances of some of these pieces at London’s Wigmore Hall in 2010, The Daily Telegraph wrote: “The ferocious technical challenges of the Saint-Saëns/Liszt Danse Macabre (made even more difficult in Horowitz’s edition) were dazzlingly met. And the excitement of Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata was heart-stopping – in ways that somehow managed, even in relentless passages of brutal mechanistic bombast, to be musical as well.”

Hear him here: http://youtu.be/727toloD4u8

Website link: http://www.behzodabduraimov.com/en/

In our concert in Celebration of Five Decades of the English Chamber Orchestra, Abduraimov will be playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor, K.466.

ECO in Milano

Submitted on: 18 September 2012

ECO Close Encounters project with Awards for Young Musicians

Submitted on: 17 September 2012

We would like to announce our brand new orchestral chamber music programme in collaboration with, and funded by, Awards for Young Musicians.  ECO musicians in the Close Encounters education and outreach team will coach and rehearse four chamber music ensembles comprising young and talented musicians in receipt of AYM awards.  Each chamber ensemble will then perform in a Prelude concert on stage before one of the ECO’s own evening concerts. 

This project gives the young people 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 which is bespoke for the young musicians in receipt of the awards.  This autumn we begin with a string ensemble, With Strings Attached and subsequently; Ensemble Classique in spring 2013, Celebrations of Diversity in summer 2013 and Le Swing in autumn 2013.

ECO Five Decades

Submitted on: 24 July 2012

We would like to announce the English Chamber Orchestra’s celebration of Five Decades of being a leading chamber orchestra in the international classical music arena. To launch this, we will have a Celebration Concert at the Royal Festival Hall in which we are honoured to be directed by our good friend Maxim Vengerov. We are equally excited to have the inimitable Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as a guest soloist, along with exciting young pianist Behzod Abduraimov. The Celebration Concert takes place on Monday, October 1st 2012 at London's Royal Festival Hall. Watch out on Twitter, Facebook and our Website & Blog, for interesting insights into the people and the music in the lead up to that date. Please tell us what you think along the way; we love to interact with our audiences and colleagues. Please also buy tickets so that you will be there to share it with us.