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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Emma Johnson Submitted on: 19 July 2012 'At the age of eighteen I walked with some
trepidation into a recording studio for the first time. I had been invited to
make a CD of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the English Chamber
Orchestra and I was nervous about how it would go. The
orchestra played the introduction and I came in, still a little tense, but
after just two notes that tension gave way to a feeling of joyous music making.
It seemed to me miraculous that an orchestra could play so effortlessly and
elegantly, responding to everything I did as though we were in conversation.
After the first take the players gave me a round of applause and the rest of the session felt relaxed and natural; the sort of music making
that cannot be rehearsed but is based on an innate understanding between all
the players. We have made many recordings subsequently but
thank you ECO for making my first recording experience such a happy one! The
recording still sells and I am sure they will play it on Classic FM this week
where I am Artist of the Week.' Emma Johnson |
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Will Todd - The Call of Wisdom Submitted on: 16 July 2012 We are delighted to welcome composer Will Todd as a guest on the English Chamber Orchestra’s website and blog.
‘Working with ECO and Tenebrae on my latest CD, ‘The Call of Wisdom’, was a thrilling experience. The singers and musicians, under the direction of Nigel Short, worked with great joy and professionalism throughout the recording sessions.
We were working at St Augustine’s Church in Kilburn where it was pretty cold, and the frequent accompaniment of lashing rain from outside held us up a couple of times. Despite these climatic disruptions, Nigel and the choir kept making a beautiful sound, even on the final day; a day which went on a little longer than we would have liked!
I’d been working hard to make string
arrangements that would give a sense of lush lyricism, and the ECO produced a
wonderful sound full of nuance and detail, to bring it all to life. Engineer Mike Hatch and Producer Stephen Johns
kept the whole thing ticking along with a quiet confidence. As well as being delighted that ECO has chosen
‘The Call of Wisdom’ as their ECO Saturday CD Suggestion this week on Facebook
and Twitter, I am very excited that it will be Classic FM's CD of the week from
Monday 16th July. With new arrangements of the beautiful The
Lord is My Shepherd, Stay with me Lord, and of course the Diamond Jubilee
composition The Call of Wisdom, this disc is a great showcase for my recent
choral works. It was a joy to collaborate with such talented
performers.’ Here is a link to Will Todd’s website. |
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Classic FM – CD of the Week from July 16th, 2012 Submitted on: 16 July 2012 Will Todd's gorgeous new CD ‘The Call of
Wisdom’, which we were delighted to record with Tenebrae, directed by Nigel
Short, is this week’s ECO Saturday CD Suggestion. The title anthem was commissioned and written
specially for performance at St Paul's Cathedral in London, on 5th June 2012,
in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen, for the national service of
thanksgiving for her 60 year reign. Link to Amazon http://tinyurl.com/bls2s6y
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Naantali Music Festival - June 2012 - Pauline Gilbertson, ECO General Manager Submitted on: 03 July 2012
We had lost
count of how many times the ECO has been fortunate enough to perform at the
Naantali Music Festival, which takes place every June at one of Finland's most
popular summer resorts, on the beautiful Naantali/Turku archipelago - but the
Festival's founder and artistic director Arto Noras confirmed that this is our
9th visit.
Our first
visit to Naantali Festival was in 1982 with Vladimir Ashkenazy as soloist and
conductor, after which we were regularly reinvited. It was on our 1999 tour
that we first worked with the conductor/pianist Ralf Gothoni, who was
subsequently appointed Principal Conductor of the ECO and continued in that
capacity until 2009. We were delighted to be invited to make a return visit for
two concerts with Gothoni this summer.
The 2012
Naantali Festival programme includes a broad selection of orchestral and
chamber music ranging from Marais to Penderecki and beyond. The ECO's first
programme was of music by Haydn and Schubert, including Haydn's Sinfonia
Concertante with four excellent Finnish soloists: Elina Vahala, Samuli
Peltonen, Paula Malmivaara and Jussi Sarkka. Our second concert comprised
Elgar's Serenade, Philip Glass' first Piano Concerto (Ralf Gothoni directing
from the keyboard) and Shostakovich's 14th Symphony (again with stunning
soloists, Mari Palo and Nicholas Soderlund). The 15th century Naantali Church
provides a picturesque venue and this year looks even more stunning than
before, following recent renovations.
The Orchestra
flew to Helsinki on 4 June and arrived at Naantali Spa Hotel after a smooth two
hour bus ride along the forest-fringed, almost traffic-free motorway. There was
no rehearsal that evening so we were able to take a walk along the picturesque
coastal path into Naantali's old town and enjoy one of the many restaurants
overlooking the harbour. The sun eventually set around 11pm but the water
continued to sparkle in the ensuing twilight. Sleeping through the night here
is a challenge for some of us, as light invariably creeps around the curtains
to suggest that it is not really night-time at all....
The next day
was a busy one, with rehearsals for the Shostakovich Symphony as well as for
the first concert of Haydn and Schubert. Our London Shostakovich rehearsal had
been for strings only, but the symphony now really began to take shape with the
added percussion and two vocal soloists contributing to the emotion, drama and
dark beauty of the music. For a few it brought back memories of performing this
symphony in the early 1980s conducted by Rostropovich at Aldeburgh Festival,
and we also recalled - before the time of any current ECO players - an even
earlier Aldeburgh performance, the symphony's first ever performance in the
West, conducted by Benjamin Britten.
Our first
concert was also the opening night of the 2012 Festival. Finnish audiences are
immaculately dressed and very well behaved, and this one hung onto every note.
Haydn's Symphony No.49, 'La Passione', was followed by his sparkling Sinfonia
Concertante for solo violin, cello, oboe, bassoon and orchestra in which the
soloists' dialogue is often quasi-operatic.
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Leopold de Rothschild, CBE FRCM (12 May 1927 - 19 April 2012) Submitted on: 19 April 2012 We are very sad to announce the death of the President of the English
Chamber Orchestra, Leopold de Rothschild, who was a much-loved friend and
supporter of the ECO ever since it evolved out of the Goldsbrough Orchestra in
1960. He will be greatly missed. |
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