Leif Ove Andsnes Tours North America and Europe This Season and Stars in Concerto, a Documentary of the Pianist’s Epic “Beethoven Journey”
“Andsnes has entered an elite circle of pianistic stardom. … When he sits in front of the keyboard …, extraordinary things happen.”
– New York Times
The coming season sees Leif Ove Andsnes star in Concerto-A Beethoven Journey (2015), a new documentary from award-winning British director and filmmaker Phil Grabsky. Scheduled for U.S. release this fall, Concerto offers an in-depth exploration of Beethoven’s life and music as Grabsky accompanies the celebrated Norwegian pianist on “The Beethoven Journey”: his monumental four-season focus on the master composer’s music for piano and orchestra.
Other highlights of the pianist’s 2015-16 season include major European and North American solo recital tours with a program of Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin, and Sibelius, and performances of concertos by Schumann and Mozart with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras and the Chicago Symphony, under the leadership of their esteemed music directors. Having long made chamber music a major focus of his career – at the Risor Chamber Music Festival in his native Norway, in concert halls and festivals around the world, and on disc – Andsnes also looks forward to touring Brahms’s Three Piano Quartets with his frequent musical collaborator Christian Tetzlaff, together with Tabea Zimmermann and Clemens Hagen.
The pianist comments:
“My immersion in the concertos of Beethoven over the past four seasons has been an exhilarating experience, and it has been extremely gratifying to witness audiences responding with such extraordinary enthusiasm to the music. I’m thrilled that the Concerto documentary by Phil Grabsky – a filmmaker who is so passionate about music and has made so many wonderful films about composers – will be coming out. I’m also happy that some of Beethoven’s music will be on my recital programs this season; without it, I might suffer from serious withdrawal!”
Gramophone previews Concerto-A Beethoven Journey
Following Beethoven performances by Andsnes and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the BBC Proms – the last stop in “The Beethoven Journey” – Gramophone’s James Jolly reported:
“If you’re suffering withdrawal symptoms from music-making of such freshness and imagination, there’s a treat in store on the horizon. Phil Grabsky’s film ‘Concerto: A Beethoven Journey’ … Andsnes proves a wonderful guide to these five extraordinary works, speaking with humility, wisdom and insight about what they mean to him and the challenges they present to the performer. He is disarmingly frank about his relationship with the works when in his twenties and how he came to terms with them. He explains what made him determined to perform them over the course of a few years, and record them. Footage from the concerts in Prague, which Sony Classical used for its CD releases, forms the backbone of the film. We also see Andsnes and Gustavo Dudamel talking about the works prior to performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.”
Click here to see the trailer for Concerto (2015).
Highlights of “The Beethoven Journey”
Launched in the 2011-12 season and perhaps Andsnes’s most ambitious achievement to date, “The Beethoven Journey” not only took him to 108 cities in 27 countries for more than 230 live performances, but saw him release three hit Sony Classical albums with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Issued together as a boxed set, these were named among the “Best of 2014” by the New York Times, while that of Beethoven’s second and fourth concertos was recently recognized with BBC Music magazine’s coveted “2015 Recording of the Year Award.”
The pianist’s epic journey culminated this past season with a formidable series of complete Beethoven cycles at top-flight venues around the world. These included New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s BBC Proms, where his residency with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra was hailed in a five-star review by The Guardian as “music-making of exceptional quality.” The Daily Telegraph pronounced it a “spell-binding … victory lap,” and the Arts-Desk, marveling at “the synergy between orchestra and soloist,” confessed: “If it is the job of a critic to criticise I am in trouble: there was nothing about this performance I didn’t like.” Click here to see an excerpt of Andsnes directing the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto at the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Leif Ove Andsnes: 2015-16 season highlights
Oct: Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 with Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Muti
Oct/Nov: European recital tour
Nov: U.S. release of Concerto, a film by Phil Grabsky documenting “The Beethoven Journey”
Nov: solo recitals in five North American cities, starting at Carnegie Hall; music by Sibelius, Beethoven, Debussy and Chopin.
Dec: Continuation of European recital tour
Jan: Schumann Piano Concerto: with Cleveland Orchestra/Franz Welser-Möst in Florida and in Philadelphia with Yannick
Nézet-Séguin and Philadelphia Orchestra.
April/May: Brahms Three Piano Quartets with Christian Tetzlaff, Tabea Zimmermann & Clemens Hagen.
High resolution photos are available here.
www.facebook.com/LeifOveAndsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes: 2015-16 engagements
Sep 25, 26, 27
Madrid, Spain
Orquesta Nacional de España / David Afkham
Season-opening concerts
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20
Oct 1, 2, 3
Chicago, IL
Chicago Symphony / Riccardo Muti
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20
Oct 8
Bergen, Norway
Bergen Philharmonic / Andrew Litton & Edward Garner
Anniversary Gala
REP: tba
Oct 21
Hamar, Norway
SIBELIUS:
Kyllikki: Three Pieces, Op. 41
The Birch, Op. 75, No. 4
The Spruce, Op. 75, No. 5
The Forest Lake, Op. 114, No. 3
Song in the Forest, Op. 114, Op. 4
Spring Vision, Op. 114, No. 5
BEETHOVEN:
Sonata No. 18 in E-flat, “The Hunt,” Op. 31, No. 3
DEBUSSY:
La soirée dans Grenade from Estampes
Étude 11 pour les arpèges composés
Étude 6 pour les huit doigts
Étude 5 pour les octaves
CHOPIN:
Étude in A-flat from Trois nouvelles études
Impromptu in A-flat, Op. 29
Nocturne in F, Op. 15, No. 1
Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
Oct 22
Gjovik, Norway
Oct 25
Helsinki, Finland
PianoEspoo
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Oct 27
Trento, Italy
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Oct 28
Rome, Italy
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Oct 29
Dublin, Ireland
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Oct 31
Copenhagen, Denmark
Mogens Dahl Koncertsal
Nov 2
Vienna, Austria
Musikverein
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Nov 3
Torino, Italy
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Nov 14
Washington, DC
Washington Performing Arts
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Nov 16
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Nov 18
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Symphony
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Nov 20
Ann Arbor, MI
University Musical Society of the University of Michigan
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Nov 22
Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver Recital Society
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Dec 3
Moscow, Russia
Recital
Dec 4
St Petersburg, Russia
Recital
Dec 6
Lisbon, Portugal
Recital
Dec 7
Toulouse, France
Recital
Dec 9
Hamburg, Germany
Recital
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
Dec 11
Lyon, France
Recital
Dec 13
Oslo, Norway
Recital
Jan 14 & 15
Bergen, Norway
Bergen Philharmonic / Edward Gardner
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
Jan 21 & 22
Miami, FL
Cleveland Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
Jan 24
Naples, FL
Cleveland Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
Jan 28, 29, 30
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
Feb 10
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle Orchester Zurich / Lionel Bringuier
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
Feb 25 & 26
Leipzig, Germany
Gewandhaus Orchestra / Alan Gilbert
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
March 17 & 18
Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish National Symphony / Otto Tausk
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
April 3
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Opera
BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A, Op. 26
BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
April 4
Florence, Italy
April 7
Chapel Hill, NC
Carolina Performing Arts
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
April 9
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Annual Isaac Stern Memorial Concert
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
April 10
Chicago, IL
Symphony Center Presents
Annual Isaac Stern Memorial Concert
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
April 20, 21, 22
Munich, Germany
Munich Philharmonic / Gustavo Gimeno
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
May 8
London, UK
Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Harding
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20
May 12
London, UK
Barbican Hall
London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
May 24
Luxembourg
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
May 25
Wattens, Austria
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
May 26
Vienna, Austria
Konzerthaus
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
May 28
London, UK
Barbican
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
May 29
Brussels, Belgium
Palais des Beaux-Arts, BOZAR
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
May 30
Paris, France
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
June 2–5
Bergen Festival
June 9
Basingstoke, England
Recital
June 10
London, UK
Barbican
Sibelius, Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy
# # #
© 21C Media Group, August 2015