David Greilsammer launches first season at helm of Geneva Camerata in 2013-14
For pianist and conductor David Greilsammer – now represented by 21C Media Group – the 2013-14 season heralds the launch of the Geneva Camerata (GECA) and of his tenure as the orchestra’s Music and Artistic Director. In this inaugural season, Greilsammer conducts the ensemble in more than 30 concerts, including performances in London, Berlin, and Paris, all marked by the visionary and eclectic programming that is his trademark. Together he and GECA present the world premieres of four new commissions; perform with such eminent soloists as Daniel Hope, Steven Isserlis, Andreas Scholl, and Emmanuel Pahud; and take part in a host of adventurous multidisciplinary projects. An exclusive Sony Classics artist since 2011, Greilsammer’s next solo piano album release offers a program of sonatas by Scarlatti and John Cage that also serves as the vehicle for his upcoming Kennedy Center recital debut. Rounding out the pianist/conductor’s new season are residencies at France’s Saint-Étienne Opera and with the Meitar Ensemble in Tel Aviv, as well as guest conducting dates with Florida’s Sarasota Orchestra, Canada’s Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and many other orchestras around the world.
As Music and Artistic Director of the Geneva Camerata
Greilsammer and the Geneva Camerata are firing on all cylinders as they head into their first season together. They present five subscription “Prestige Concerts,” three themed and off-beat “Crazy Concerts,” three imaginative “Family Concerts,” and six genre-bending “Magical Encounters.” Besides appearing at multiple and diverse locations at home in Geneva and elsewhere in Switzerland, they embark on their first major European tour together. By way of giving back to the community, they also partner with hospitals and prisons to give free “Music of the Heart” outreach performances for those – such as the elderly and patients in intensive or psychiatric care – who do not have access to traditional venues.
Greilsammer has long demonstrated a gift for innovative, illuminating programming. As the New York Times explains, “He finds fascinating ways to juxtapose pieces spanning centuries, aiming to highlight surprising musical resonances among works vastly different in language and style.” The UK’s Telegraph confirms: “Greilsammer’s real penchant is for devising programs that challenge our attitudes towards listening to music, finding links in the unexpected and contrasts in the seemingly similar.”
This is amply borne out by his elaboration of GECA’s initial line-up. The season-opening Prestige Concert No. 1: “Creation” juxtaposes Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 with the world premiere of Uruk, a new commission from emerging young composer Martin Jaggi, as well as a juxtaposition of Haydn’s C Major Cello Concerto – featuring award-winning cellist Steven Isserlis – with rare Lully selections (Sep 12). Similarly adventurous repertoire pairings and distinguished artistic collaborations characterize the “Prestige Concerts” that follow, with Emmanuel Pahud performing Franz Benda’s rarely heard flute concerto and Elliott Carter’s concerto for flute in its Swiss premiere (Oct 30); jazz pianist Yaron Herman’s Mozart-inspired Improvisations (Jan 16); countertenor Andreas Scholl singing the world premiere of a newly commissioned piece by Matan Porat alongside arias by Handel (April 10); and Patricia Kopatchinskaja playing Ligeti’s gripping Violin Concerto (May 12).
Additional GECA highlights include the “Crazy Concerts,” presenting intrepid investigations of compelling musical repertoires from the 14th to the 21st century. This audacious series will also present the collaboration between music and a variety of other artistic horizons – in hour-long, intermission-free events. These concerts include “Electronic-Klezmer” (Oct 13), “A Mad Cello” (March 10), and – with narration by the celebrated French film and theatre actor Michel Derville – “The Minotaur” (April 14). The “Magical Encounters” series – enhanced by sound installations, dance performances, poetry, painting, video, electronics, and the visual arts – includes Bach’s complete “Brandenburg Concertos” (March 16 & 18) and culminates with the Electron Festival, which pairs Bach’s Concerto for Two Keyboards with electronic/techno performances by pianist and DJ Francesco Tristano (April 17). The music of Bach – and other members of his illustrious family – is the focus once again on GECA’s first European tour, and once again Greilsammer introduces a “twist” to ensure fresh listening: Grammy Award-nominee Avi Avital performs J.S. Bach’s D Minor concerto for keyboard and CPE Bach’s concerto for flute, not on the instruments for which the pieces were written but on the mandolin (Paris, Nov 7; Berlin, Nov 10; London, Nov 22).
Full details of the Geneva Camerata’s inaugural season are available at the ensemble’s web site: www.genevacamerata.com.
Scarlatti/Cage in recital and on CD
Greilsammer’s commitment to building bridges between different musical worlds is as evident in recital as on the conductor’s podium; the New York Times recently observed: “Mr. Greilsammer brought out stunning resonances among these works, but what truly grabbed me was the brilliance and sensitivity of his playing.” For his sophomore recital album on the Sony Classical label, the pianist presents Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas, a program that alternates keyboard sonatas by Italian Baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti with sonatas for prepared piano by the polarizing American experimentalist John Cage. In a recent interview, Greilsammer explained:
“For many people it would seem completely outrageous that John Cage and Scarlatti – contemporary American and Baroque Italian – would have anything in common. But it’s absolutely incredible, once it happens, to see how much they have in common. Even in the harmonies!” (Pop Matters)
Due for release in 2014, the new Sony disc follows on the heels of the pianist’s label debut, 2012’s Baroque Conversations: “an astonishing achievement, a triumph of innovative programming and brilliantly probing execution,” that prompted the San Francisco Chronicle to conclude: “There’s no question that he’s an artist of major importance.”
In live performance, Greilsammer presents “Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas” for his Kennedy Center debut in Washington, DC (Jan 14), as well as in two French solo recitals, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (April 11), and at the Saint-Étienne Opera (May 15).
Artistic residencies and guest-conducting engagements
The Saint-Étienne recital is one of the highlights of Greilsammer’s appointment as Artist-in-Residence at the Saint-Étienne Opera, which illustrates his versatility as recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, and conductor. He launches the company’s season as soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 (Sep 24), gives a solo recital by composers from Sweelinck to Nico Muhly (Jan 20), performs chamber works by Schubert and Chausson (Oct 3), and both plays and conducts in an orchestral program of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven (May 20). A second residency testifies once again to the range of Greilsammer’s musicianship. In concerts presented by the audacious Meitar Ensemble in Tel Aviv, he gives his celebrated “Baroque Conversations” recital (Oct 8), performs works for two pianos and percussion from the 20th and 21st centuries (March 4), and conducts the ensemble in an eclectic program, including two world premieres (June 10).
A much sought-after guest conductor, Greilsammer makes his Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony debut as both pianist and conductor in an all-Mozart program (Oct 25 & 26), before leading works by Rameau, Debussy, Webern, and Mozart at Florida’s Sarasota Orchestra (Dec 6-8). Beyond North America, he looks forward to appearances with three Israeli orchestras – the Haifa Symphony (Nov 24-27), Tel Aviv Soloists (Jan 25 & 26), and Israel Netanya-Kibbutz Orchestra (Feb 20–March 1), in addition to Greece’s Thessaloniki Symphony (May 26). He will also be on tour with Norway’s Tromso Chamber Orchestra (Feb 6-16).
Further details of David Greilsammer’s upcoming engagements are provided below, and more information is available at the artists’s website: davidgreilsammer.com.
David Greilsammer: engagements, 2013-14
Sep 12
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Prestige Concert No. 1: “Creation”
Lully: excerpts from Atys, Persée, Armide, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C (with Steven Isserlis, cello)
Martin Jaggi: Uruk (world premiere, commissioned by the Geneva Camerata)
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C, “Jupiter”
Sep 24
Saint-Étienne, France
Saint-Étienne Opera / Laurent Campellone, conductor (season-opening concert)
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17
Oct 3
Saint-Étienne, France
Saint-Étienne Opera
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A, “Trout”
Chausson: Concerto for violin, piano and string quartet
Oct 8
Tel Aviv, Israel
Center for New Music, Israeli Conservatory of Music
Meitar Ensemble concert series
Solo recital: “Baroque Conversations”
François Couperin: Les Barricades Mystérieuses
Johann Jakob Froberger: Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher
Helmut Lachenmann: Wiegenmusik
Orlando Gibbons: Lord Salisbury’s Pavan and Galliard
Jean-Henri d’Anglebert: Passacaille en sol mineur
Nimrod Sahar: Aux Murailles Rougies
Girolam Frescobaldi: Toccata ottava
Padre Antonio Soler: Sonata in re maggiore
Morton Feldman: Piano Piece 1964
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Mein junges Leben hat ein End
Dietrich Buxtehude: Canzona in re maggiore
Oct 12
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as pianist)
Family Concert No. 1: “Folk Celebration!”
With Gilad Harel, clarinet
Oct 13
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as pianist)
Crazy Concert No. 1: “Electronic- Klezmer”
Oct 25 & 26
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (as pianist and conductor)
Mozart: Piano Concertos No. 8 in C and 17 in G
Mozart: Symphonies No. 23 in D and 40 in G minor
Oct 30
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Prestige Concert No. 2: “A Magic Flute”
Mozart: The Magic Flute (overture)
Robert Janssens: Fantasy on The Magic Flute
Elliott Carter: Flute Concerto (with Emmanuel Pahud, flute)
Haydn: Symphony No. 27 in G
Franz Benda: Flute Concerto in E minor (with Emmanuel Pahud, flute)
Nov 7
Paris, France
Théâtre du Châtelet
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
“Bach and his Family”
Johann Bernhard Bach: Suite in B minor (overture)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Flute Concerto in D minor (with Avi Avital, mandolin)
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach: Symphony in D minor
Johann Sebastian Bach: Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 (with Avi Avital, mandolin)
Nov 10
Berlin, Germany
Radial System
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
“Bach and his Family”
Johann Bernhard Bach: Suite in B minor (overture)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Flute Concerto in D minor (with Avi Avital, mandolin)
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach: Symphony in D minor
Johann Sebastian Bach: Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 (with Avi Avital, mandolin)
Nov 22
London, UK
King’s Place
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
“Bach and his Family”
Johann Bernhard Bach: Suite in B minor (overture)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Flute Concerto in D minor (with Avi Avital, mandolin)
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach: Symphony in D minor
Johann Sebastian Bach: Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 (with Avi Avital, mandolin)
Nov 24, 25 & 27
Haifa, Israel
Haifa Symphony Orchestra (as conductor)
Beethoven: Triple concerto for violin, cello and piano
Gluck: Suite from Orphée et Eurydice
Schubert: Symphony No. 5
Dec 6–8
Sarasota, FL
Sarasota Orchestra (as conductor and piano soloist)
Rameau: Excerpts from Zoroastre, Les Boréades, and Les Indes galantes
Debussy: La mer
Webern: Symphony No. 21
Mozart: Piano Concert No. 17
Dec 22-26
Potsdam, Germany
Kammerphilharmonie Potsdam
Jan 14
Washington, DC
Kennedy Center (debut)
Solo recital: “Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas”
Jan 16
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as pianist & conductor)
Prestige Concert No. 3: “Mozart to Ellington”
Purcell: The Fairy Queen Suite
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K. 453 (with Greilsammer conducting from the piano)
Stravinsky: Concerto in E-flat (“Dumbarton Oaks”)
Mozart/Yaron Herman: Improvisations (with Yaron Herman, jazz piano)
Jan 18
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Family Concert No. 2: “Carnival”
Jan 20
Saint-Étienne, France
Saint-Étienne Opera
Solo recital: “Americas”
Philip Glass: Metamorphosis Two
Rameau: Gavotte and six doubles
Garrett Byrnes: Abstra
Handel: Suite No. 3 in D minor
Morton Feldman: Piano Piece
Bach: Prelude and Fugue in B from Well Tempered Clavier, Book I
Nico Muhly: Skip Town
Sweelinck: My youth has an end
John Adams: China Gates
Soler: Sonata in D
Jan 25
Haifa, Israel
Tel Aviv Soloists (as conductor and pianist)
Rameau / Lully / Marais: operatic selections
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17
Nimrod Sahar: new work for chamber orchestra (world premiere)
Jan 26
Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel Aviv Soloists (as conductor and pianist)
Rameau / Lully / Marais: operatic selections
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17
Nimrod Sahar: new work for chamber orchestra (world premiere)
Jan 31
Saanen, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Festival “Sommets Musicaux” (Gstaad)
With Daniel Hope, violin
Vivaldi: Violin Concertos
Max Richter: Recomposed
Feb 6
Tromso, Norway
Tromso Chamber Orchestra (as conductor)
Works by Ligeti and Mozart
Feb 10-16
Lofoten, Norway
Tromso Chamber Orchestra
Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival
Works by Ligeti and Mozart
Feb 20 – March 1
Tel Aviv, Israel
Israel Netanya-Kibbutz Orchestra
Works by Lully, Webern, Schumann, Schubert
March 4
Tel Aviv, Israel
Israeli Conservatory of Music
Meitar Ensemble (as pianist)
“Double Feature: Two Pianos”
Bartok: Sonata for two pianos and percussion, Sz. 110, BB 115
George Crumb: Makrokosmos (Vol. 3)
Ari Ben Shabetai: Hora for two pianos and percussion
Rameau: La Pantomime
Jean-Henri d’Anglebert: Passacaille d’Armide
(With Amit Dolberg, piano; Tomer Yariv, percussion; Dan Moshayev, percussion)
March 10
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Crazy Concert No. 2: “A Mad Cello”
Machaut: Sweet Pretty Lady
Brice Catherin: “Von der Musik,” a cello concerto (world premiere, commissioned by the Geneva Camerata)
Monteverdi: Chiome d’oro
Castello: Sonata seconda per due strumenti e continuo
Morton Feldman: Structures
Merula: Ciaccona a tre
March 14
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as harpsichord player and conductor)
Bach’s Six Brandenburg Concertos, I
March 15
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Family Concert No. 3: “The World of Mozart”
March 16
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as harpsichord player and conductor)
Bach’s Six Brandenburg Concertos, II
March 20
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
“In the Heart of Spring” – charity concert
Works of Vivaldi and Piazzolla
March 24
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
April 10
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Prestige Concert No. 4: “The Voice of an Angel”
Mendelssohn: Symphony for Strings No. 10
Boccherini: Symphony in D minor, Op. 12, No. 4, “La Casa del Diavolo”
Johann Christian Bach: Symphony in G minor, Op. 6, No. 6
Matan Porat: Aria (with Andreas Scholl, countertenor; world premiere, commissioned by the Geneva Camerata)
Handel: operatic excerpts
April 11
Paris, France
Théâtre du Châtelet
Solo recital: “Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas”
April 14
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Crazy Concert No. 3: “The Minotaur”
Johannes Kapsberger: Toccata Arpeggiata
Salvatore Sciarrino: Il silenzio degli oracoli
Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices
Vivaldi: Concerto in G minor, RV 103
Couperin: Third Order, “The Imperial”
Núria Giménez Comas: The House of Asterion (world premiere, commissioned by the Geneva Camerata)
(With Michel Derville, narrator)
May 9
La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Rameau: Opera Excerpts
Mozart: Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201
Martin Jaggi: Uruk (commissioned by the Geneva Camerata)
Vivaldi: “Dopo in Orida Procella” from Griselda; “Gelido in ogni vena” from Farnace
Porpora: “Empi se mai disciolgo” from Germanico in Germania
(With Simone Kermes, soprano)
May 12
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as conductor)
Prestige Concert No. 5: “From Vienna to Budapest”
Haydn: Lo speziale (Overture)
Ligeti: Violin Concerto (with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major
May 15
Saint-Étienne, France
Saint-Étienne Opera
Solo recital: “Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas”
May 20
Saint-Étienne, France
Saint-Étienne Opera
Saint-Étienne Symphony (as conductor and pianist)
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 9, “Jeunehomme”
Haydn: Symphony No. 47, “Palindrome”
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major
May 26
Thessaloniki, Greece
City of Thessaloniki Symphony (as conductor and pianist)
Gluck: Four movements from Orphée et Eurydice
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major
June 10
Tel Aviv, Israel
Meitar Ensemble (as conductor)
Israel Conservatory of Music
“Bach’s Footsteps”
Philippe Hurel: Pour Luigi
Noriko Baba: Non-Canonic Variations
Ofer Pelz: Chinese Whispers
Alexander Radvilovich: Pierrot’s Dreams
Nadav Cohen: New Piece
Gal Schuster: Choral and Canon for Ensemble
J.C. Bach: Chorals and Canons
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© 21C Media Group, September 2013