Photo: Christoph Müller-Girod
The 5th Philharmonic Concert brings together three great American composers – Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives as well as Russian immigrant Sergej Rachmaninow. While Rachmaninow might be wondering “how to create?”, Ives might be asking “why create at all?” - and Bernstein’s answer is “yes!” The Duisburg Philharmonic and pianist Barry Douglas will try to retrace these questions – and answers. Read more in maestro Jonathan Darlington’s programme notes … more …
What joy when several arts are joined in one project! Music, acting, creative writing and illustration have joined forces for this recording of Camille Saint-Saëns’s “Carnival of the Animals”. The highly popular German actress and speaker Anna Thalbach and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan Darlington re-tell Saint-Saëns’s fantasy, based on a new and imaginative text by Marie Pohl, and accompanied by Ottmar Alt’s colourful illustrations. more …
… to all friends of classical music!
While getting ready for the first performance of 2011 – the festive New Year’s Concert at Duisburg’s Mercatorhalle – Jonathan Darlington indulges in the more creative sides of winter. Read more on his Posterous journal.
Tomorrow night, “Lucia di Lammermoor” premieres at Vancouver Opera. Donizetti’s masterpiece is one of the most frequently performed belcanto operas which immediately brings to mind wonderful tunes like the “mad scene” with its beautiful dialogue between soprano and flute. And this production has everything a conductor can wish for: “wonderful music combined with a great cast.”
Read music director Jonathan Darlington’s programme notes …
Ever wondered how conductors choose the music for their programmes? What skills do they need? What else does their work day include next to rehearsals and performances? The unique Twitter event Ask a Conductor Day will give you the opportunity to connect with conductors online and learn more about their profession - and all the things in the mysterious world of classical music you’ve always wondered about and never dared ask.
The new CD released by the audiophile lable Acousense brings together live recordings from last season’s 1st and 5th Philharmonic Concerts. With Debussy’s “La Mer” and Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” (“The Rites of Spring”) the CD may well be called a landmark recording of Jonathan Darlington’s work with the Duisburg Philharmonic. Read the music director’s notes on the recording:
What happens when composers re-arrange the works of their predecessors? Is the result a comment or a completely new work of art? The next subscription week concert at the Duisburg Philharmonic will trace this question in Anton Weberns reworking of Bach and Arnold Schoenberg’s reworking of Brahms. The evening’s solosist will be Amanda Forsyth und Pinchas Zuckerman. Read meastro Jonathan Darlington’s programme notes …
Jonathan Darlington’s next guest performance will be with and among old friends: The National Orchestra of Bordeaux Aquitane is one of the French orchestras JD has regularly worked with. He returns for a concert featuring Martin Först and a programme that moves from Brahms’ Academic Ouverture, Mozart’s clarinet concerto, to Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in an atmosphere of festivity and joy. more …
What’s a conductor’s instrument? The orchestra, or rather, the mind, the score? A stick?
It is not only since Disney’s Fantasia that conductors get compared to magicians, and conducting sticks to magic wands. Ever wondered where conductors get their batons from? One would like to imagine there’s a shop like Mr. Olivander’s Shop for Fine Wands from Harry Potter, only for batons. Give them a flick, or do some imaginary conducting of their favourite piece?
Photo: JD
Jonathan Darlington has arrived in Oslo this week and is currently rehearsing Mozart’s Figaro at the Norske Opera Oslo. “Oslo is a city in which I feel immediately comfortable.” JD writes.
Read the first notes from his Oslo journal and watch a video about what awaits him in the North …