David Greilsammer makes Kennedy Center debut on Jan. 11 with Scarlatti/Cage
On Jan. 11, pianist and conductor David Greilsammer—“an artist of major importance,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle—makes his Kennedy Center recital debut in Washington, D.C., with a solo program revolving around the Scarlatti/Cage mix of his next Sony Classical album. Due for release in 2014, the Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas album and attendant recital program underscore Greilsammer’s commitment to building bridges between different musical worlds, in this case that of Italian Baroque innovator Domenico Scarlatti and 20th-century American experimentalist John Cage. The New York Times recently described Greilsammer as “a standout musician who has it in him to challenge, inform and delight,” further noting “the brilliance and sensitivity of his playing” and his ability to find “fascinating ways to juxtapose pieces that span centuries and highlight surprising musical resonances.” The San Francisco Chronicle called the pianist’s previous Sony release, last year’s Baroque Conversations, “an astonishing achievement, a triumph of innovative programming and brilliantly probing execution.”
The Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas program alternates keyboard sonatas by Scarlatti with sonatas for prepared piano by Cage. In a recent interview with Pop Matters, Greilsammer explained the combination: “For many people, it would seem completely outrageous that John Cage and Domenico Scarlatti—modern 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!” Along with his Kennedy Center debut on Jan. 11, at 2 p.m., Greilsammer will perform two recitals of the Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas program in France, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (April 11) and the Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne (May 15), with the latter performance part of an extended residency.
On Tour, in Residence
This is the inaugural season of Switzerland’s Geneva Camerata and of Greilsammer’s tenure as the orchestra’s artistic director. Their season-opening concert impressed the Tribune de Genève with what its critic called the team’s “cohesion, harmony, vivacity, unity and precision.” In this initial season, Greilsammer is leading the ensemble in more than 30 concerts, including performances in London, Berlin, and Paris, all marked by the visionary and eclectic programming that is the pianist-conductor’s trademark. Together, Greilsammer and the Geneva Camerata are presenting the world premieres of four new commissions and taking part in ambitious multidisciplinary projects, along with performing alongside such soloists as violinist Daniel Hope, cellist Steven Isserlis, countertenor Andreas Scholl and flutist Emmanuel Pahud.
Following conducting engagements already this season from Florida (Sarasota Orchestra) to Canada (Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony) to his native Israel (Haifa Symphony), Greilsammer’s season includes residencies at the Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne and with the Meitar Ensemble in Tel Aviv. The Saint-Étienne recital of Scarlatti/Cage is one of the highlights of Greilsammer’s appointment as artist-in-residence at the Saint-Étienne, which will include work as a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, and conductor. He will perform a solo recital there by composers from Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck to Nico Muhly (Jan. 20), and he both plays and conducts in an orchestral program of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven (May 20). With the Meitar Ensemble, Greilsammer will perform works for two pianos and percussion from the 20th and 21st centuries (March 4), as well as conduct the ensemble in a program featuring two world premieres (June 10).
In the New Year, Greilsammer will also perform with the Tel Aviv Soloists (Jan 25 & 26) and Israel Netanya-Kibbutz Orchestra (Feb. 20–March 1), in addition to touring with Norway’s Tromso Chamber Orchestra (Feb. 6-16).
Upcoming Engagements
Dec. 22-26, 2013
Potsdam, Germany
Kammerphilharmonie Potsdam
Jan. 11, 2014, 2 p.m.
Washington, D.C.
Kennedy Center (debut)
Solo recital: Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas
Jan. 16
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Camerata (as pianist and 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
Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne
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 de 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
Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival
Tromso Chamber Orchestra
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
Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne
Solo recital: Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas
May 20
Saint-Étienne, France
Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne
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 (world premiere)
Gal Schuster: Choral and Canon for Ensemble (world premiere)
J.C. Bach: Chorals and Canons
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©21C Media Group, December 2013