After a series of cancelations due to the Corona outbreak, the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien is very happy to be able to return to the Wiener Musikverein for their last concert in the 19/20 season on 20th June:

On 19th January 2019, Olga Prats, Jorge Moyano and Artur Pizarro, the leading Portuguese pianists of 3 generations, were joined by Nick van Bloss to celebrate Bach with all of his multiple piano concertos in front of an enthusiastic audience at the sold out main hall of the Centro Cultural de Belem in Lisbon. You can watch the concert now on RTP Palco, the new online culture platform of Portuguese Television:

‘Careddu’s endlessly divisible tonal variegation proved an object lesson in expressive range for an instrument’

Mark Berry’s review of Silvia Careddu’s performance of the Boulez Sonatine at a concert of the Boulez Ensemble in Berlin, you can read the full review here.

WDR 3 Tonart’s review of Artur Pizarro’s recording of the Poulenc concerto with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Rösner (in German):

Odradek is releasing this months Artur Pizarro’s recording of the Poulenc concerto with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Rösner:

‘Claudio Abbado, Adam et Ivan Fischer, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Zubin Mehta, Mariss Jansons, Theodor Guschlbauer, Bruno Weil, Mario Venzago, Jésús López Cobos furent, entre autres, ses élèves….Mais Swarowsky fut aussi un pionnier sous de nombreux aspects et il est important de ne pas oublier son nom alors que paraît un coffret indispensable chez Profil.’ (Crescendo Magazine)

‘La justesse stylistique du pianiste et l’accompagnement attentif du chef
font de cette lecture l’une des plus belles des versions contemporaines.’

Jesko Sirvend conducts the finals of the Long Thibaud Crespin competition with the Orchestre National de France on 15th and 16th November at 8pm CET at the auditorium de Radio France. Martha Argerich is the president of the jury. You can watch the finals on Medici TV:

Remy Franck’s review of Guenter Haenssler’s Swarowsky box doesn’t spare with superlatives:
‘What is striking about Swarowsky’s conducting is the transparency of the structure’
‘clarity and a cross-movement architectural thinking characterize this grandiose interpretation’
‘extremely significant’

Jesko Sirvend’s highly successful debut with the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie in Chemnitz,
reviewed in the Freie Presse:

The Alban Berg Ensemble Wien and soprano Magdalena Anna Hofmann join writer and broadcaster Gavin Plumley to explore Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. This visually and musically illustrated lecture-recital looks in depth at the unique fusion of cabaret, song cycle and chamber music in the composer’s 1912 masterpiece. This event is part of the Live Stream concert series from Wigmore Hall:

<

A ‘bravura show of intelligence and flair…combining an almost jazzy brilliance with admirable sensuousness of tone and line.’ Read the full review here:

Max Emanuel Cenči & Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu perform arias from Orlando Furioso by Handel, Vivaldi and Porpora at London’s Wigmore Hall. Watch a live broadcast of the concert on Wigmore Hall’s facebook page here:

‘…The evening, thanks to the first-rate performances by Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu and Giuseppina Bridelli under the direction of Franck-Emmanuel Comte, was full of the sensitivity, snap and sparkle that one wants from Baroque opera…’

‘Stocked with musicians who have triumphed in international competitions and play in top-class orchestras around Austria and Germany, this ensemble is without doubt one of the great chamber ensembles of today, right up there with the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin and other famous formations. As the first gentle chords of the quintet ring out and Alexander Neubauer’s clarinet (deputy principle at the Vienna Symphony) begins its wondrous journey, the ensemble sounds like the Vienna Philharmonic in miniature.’

Yannick Eisenaecher reviews the opening concert of the Februari Festival in The Hague with the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien as Artists in Residence:

You can watch the broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s concert for 7 days courtesy ORF here:

The Alban Berg Ensemble was invited to inaugurate the chamber music series at the new ‘Haus der Musik’ in Innsbruck.