PRESS REALEASE
Brno, April 27, 2018
Dvořák´s Symphony Nr. 1 and Harmonielehre by John Adamas. That is the programme of the opening and the same time the innaugural concert of Filharmonie Brno and its new Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Dennis Russell Davies, who has signed the contract for four years. „I am both proud and excited to introduce the concert programs for my first season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of Filharmonie Brno; proud to have become part of the great musical tradition of Brno and its Filharmonie, and excited to bring composers long associated with our orchestra together with those with whom I have worked for more than fifty years, many of whom have become close friends,“ says Davies.
As an internationally acclaimed musician Davies is considered to be one of the bravist and the most inovative conductors of classical repertoar including compositions from Baroque to Contemporary music. There are a lot of musicians representing contemporary music between his friends etc. Luciano Berio, Wiliam Bolcom, John Cage, Philip Glass, Aaron Copland, Hans Werner Henze or Michael Nyman. „With no doubts, Davies is the most significant Chief Conductor leading our orchestra. He is an internationally acclaimed artist,“ says the Director of Filharmonie Brno Marie Kučerová. Next to Davies, Robert Kružík has been appointed the Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra starting the 2018/2019 season.
Dennis Russell Davies has became the Soloist of the Season as well as the face PR campaign of 2018/2019 season. He is about to stand in front of the orchestra for seventeen times of which three times as a pianist in Mozart´s Piano Concerto Nr. 24 in c minor. He prepares two chamber recitals – with his partner Maki Namekawa playing compositions by Reich, Adams and Glasse (March 23, 2019) and the second one with violinist Yumi Hwang-Williams presenting pieces by Debussy, Schumann and Harrison (March 26, 2019).
Our upcoming season is the best described as a dialoque between older and contemporary music pieces. „Preparing season with an artist as Dennis Russell Davies is, was very strong and precious experience. A combination of his clear ideas but the same time open mind has lead to our discussions about programmes and artists and finally to highly profiled and innovative music offer,“ says Dramaturge of Filharmonie Brno Vítězslav Mikeš. Highlights of the season are American classics of 20th century (Ives, Bernstein, Harrison, Corigliano or Adams) with Czech national music (Voříšek, Dvořák Suk, Martinů). „Of course there is a lot more. We composed every programme using an inner communication between each compositions and I am sure we aimed to create not only concerts, but very special music Events not only with Davies with a baton,“ accents Mikeš.
There are three main subscriptions for our visitors (Filharmonie in the „Stadion“ hall, Filharmonie at Home I, Filharmonie at Home II „Classically and Modernly“) containing 14 programms or rather 31 concerts. Also there are seven Special concerts and other subscriptions as usuall – Familly concerts, Dress rehearsals, Jazz&World music or Young blood, presenting members of Orchestra Academy of Filharmonie Brno. „We have also added Concerts of the Chief Conductor available through single subscription or through Made your own Subsription,“ says Kučerová.
Advance booking for current visitors starts on Monday 14th May at 1 PM (their seats are booked till June 8), our new visitors can buy free seats from last season. The same day starts sale of subscriptions or single tickets for International music festival Špilberk, Special Concerts, Dress rehearsals, Young Blood and concert series of Kantiléna children choir. On Monday 4th June starts tickets sale for single concerts, Made your own Subsription and Concerts of the Chief Conductor. „We have prepared new websites and programme for tickets selling. We hope our visitors will appreciate more comfortable and easy on eye system,“ says Head of PR and marketing of Filharmonie Brno Kateřina Konečná.
Filharmonie Brno is heading to seven domestic festivals in 2018/2019 season, Smetanova Litomyšl and MHF Leoš Janáček with its Chief Conductor. Tour in Japan in February is the main of four foreign hosting which another of them is a concert in Musikverein in Vienna with Dennis Russell Davies.
About Dennis Russell Davies
Internationally acclaimed musician Dennis Russell Davies is known for his extraordinary range of repertoire, technical brilliance and fearless music-making. A maverick in his field, he is hailed as “one of the few conductors whose unquestioned commitment to music of our age has not severed his connections to the standard repertory.” An esteemed presence consistently at the forefront of both orchestral and operatic worlds, Davies is also an accomplished pianist, and continues to be in demand by orchestras, composers and fellow musicians worldwide for his inspiring collaborations and interpretive mastery.
The year 2018 will mark 49 seasons that Davies has held music directorships of prestigious international orchestras, while frequently guest conducting with major orchestras and opera companies worldwide. As Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Bruckner Orchester Linz and of the Linz Opera, he presided over the much-anticipated opening of the new Linz Opera house in April 2013, conducting the world premiere of Philip Glass’s opera, The Lost, commissioned for the occasion. He has served as Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra; Chief Conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and Beethovenhalle Orchestra; and as Music Director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart State Opera, Bonn Opera, International Beethoven Festival, and the Cabrillo Music Festival (Santa Cruz, CA). He also was Principal Conductor/Classical Music Program Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Upcoming guest engagements for the 2017-18 season include the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic at Suntory Hall, Orchestra of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra, Easter Festival Brno, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and the Cherubini Orchestra at the Ravenna Festival. On November 7, 2017, Davies conducts the American Composers Orchestra, which he co-founded in 1975, in its 40th Birthday Gala Concert in New York.
Davies has worked with major orchestras and opera companies around the world, including the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston Symphonies, the New York Philharmonic, as well as the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony. In Europe, he has worked with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dresden and Munich Philharmonics, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Roma, Filarmonica della Scala Milano, Spanish National Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Bamberg Symphony.
Throughout his extensive career, Davies has been the music director/conductor for major opera productions in prestigious venues worldwide in Bayreuth, Chicago, Hamburg, Houston, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Salzburg, Vienna, the Nikikai Opera in Tokyo, and at The Metropolitan Opera.
As conductor and pianist, Mr. Davies has released over 80 recordings, earning numerous awards. These include the complete symphonies of Bruckner, Haydn, Honegger and Glass, as well as Zemlinsky’s piano arrangements for four hands of Beethoven’s Fidelio and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Maki Namekawa.
Dennis Russell Davies was born in Toledo (Ohio) and graduated from The Juilliard School. In 2009, he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 2014 the French Ministry of Culture appointed him Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, and in 2017 Davies received the Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst 1. Klasse from the Austrian government.
Contact for the media:
Kateřina Konečná – Head of PR and marketing department
+420 775 426 040, katerina.konecna@filharmonie-brno.cz