Conductor: Gérard Korsten
Date: Thursday, 12 October 2017
Venue: Odeion, UFS
Time: 19:30
The popular internationally acclaimed conductor Gérard Korsten will be
back in Bloemfontein to conduct the FSSO on Thursday, 12 October 2017 at the
Odeion, UFS. The programme will consist of the Coriolanus Overture
(Beethoven), Holberg Suite (Grieg) and Mendelssohn's popular Symphony No.
4 in A major, popularly known as the "Italian Symphony".
Commanding a wide
repertoire in both the concert hall and opera house, conductor Gérard Korsten
enjoys particular renown in Mozart and other composers of the Classical era,
and as an interpreter of both well-known and rarer works from the 19th and 20th
centuries.
Principal Conductor of Austria’s Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg Bregenz
since 2005, Gérard Korsten is also in demand as a guest conductor for
appearances with theatres and orchestras in Europe, Asia, Australia and South
Africa. He has served as Principal Conductor of the London Mozart Players, the
South African State Theatre in Pretoria and the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra in
Sweden, and from 1999 to 2005 was Music Director of the Orchestra del Teatro
Lirico di Cagliari in Sardinia, where he returned in Summer 2016 to conduct La
Traviata.
Born in Pretoria, Gérard Korsten began his career as an orchestral
violinist. After studies with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia
he went to Salzburg, where he trained with Sándor Végh, becoming concertmaster
and then Assistant Music Director of Camerata Salzburg, of which Végh was
Principal Conductor. In 1987 Korsten joined the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as
its concertmaster; over his nine years with the ensemble he built close working
relationships with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and
Heinz Holliger.
Since 1996 he has dedicated his career to conducting, appearing
regularly with such orchestras as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Camerata
Salzburg, Adelaide Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Budapest Festival
Orchestra, Gavle Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony, Hong Kong
Philharmonic, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony, Musikkollegium
Winterthur, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orchestra Padova e Veneto,
Swedish Chamber Orchestra, SWR Sinfonieorchester Freiburg and Yomiuri Nippon
Orchestra.
In the 2016/17 season he makes his debut with the Pannon Philharmonic of
Pécs and returns to the Gavle Symphony Orchestra, Györ Philharmonic Orchestra,
Haydn Philharmonie, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orchestra del Teatro
Lirico di Cagliari, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, as well as Scottish and
Uppsala Chamber Orchestras.
His operatic appearances to date have included: Teatro alla Scala,
Milan (Le nozze di Figaro); Opéra National de Lyon (Ariadne
auf Naxos, Idomeneo, La traviata, Siegfried, La Veuve joyeuse and Henze’s
L’Upupa); Bregenz Festival (Simon Laks’ L’Hirondelle inattendue,
Die Zauberflöte, Le Rossignol, Der Schauspieldirektor); Deutsche Oper
Berlin (La traviata); English National Opera (Aida);
Glyndebourne Festival (Così fan tutte, Albert Herring); Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino (Così fan tutte); Teatro Lirico Verdi Trieste (Don
Pasquale and La Fille du régiment); Teatro Regio di Parma (La
sonnambula); Netherlands Opera (Così fan tutte); Vlaamse
Opera (Idomeneo); New National Theatre, Tokyo (Tosca);
Royal Opera Stockholm (Don Giovanni); Hungarian State Opera (Don
Pasquale) and Cape Town Opera (Le nozze di Figaro, Die
Zauberflöte, Die Fledermaus, Ariadne auf Naxos, Rigoletto, Turandot, Salome,
Peter Grimes).
Over his time as Music Director in Cagliari, he conducted the Italian
premieres of Richard Strauss’ Die ägyptische Helena, Weber’s Euryanthe,
Delius’ A Village Romeo and Juliet and Schubert’s Alfonso
und Estrella, while also taking charge of such essential repertoire
as Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don
Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, Aida, Tosca, Carmen and Die
Fledermaus.
Gérald Korsten’s Arthaus DVD of Le nozze di Figaro, recorded
at La Scala with a cast led by Diana Damrau and Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, was
awarded a Diapason D’Or in France and designated Critic’s
Choice by US magazine Opera News. His other recordings include
Tchaikovsky’s Serenade and Souvenir de Florence with
the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Deutsche Grammophon), orchestral works by
Crusell, Lindblad and Eggert (Naxos), La Veuve joyeuse (DVD,
Erato) and a number of live recordings with the Teatro Lirico di
Cagliari: Die ägyptische Helena, Euryanthe and Lucia
di Lammermoor on CD (Dynamic) and, on DVD, Alfonso und
Estrella (Dynamic) and Don Pasquale (Arthaus).
Gérard Korsten has two daughters and lives in both Zurich and Arezzo
(Tuscany) with his wife, Italian soprano Eva Mei.
Tickets for the concert are available at Computicket outlets (Checkers,
Shoprite shops) and online bookings can be made at www.computicket.com.
Admission:
R180 (adults)
Students, on presentation of valid card: R80.00
UFS Staff, on presentation of valid card: R130.00
Pensioners, on presentation of valid card: R130.00
Children (6 to 18 years): R80.00
Block bookings of 10 or more: R130.00
For more
information on the concert, kindly contact Ella Kotze on 051 401 2342
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| Gérard Korsten |
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