Carter 100th: celebrations at Tanglewood, Proms and Lucerne
(July 2008)
Elliott Carter's music is much in evidence at summer festivals in his 100th birthday year, including Tanglewood, the BBC Proms and the Lucerne Festival.Tanglewood's 2008 Festival of Contemporary Music (20-24 July) presents the largest-scale Elliott Carter celebration in his centenary year with three orchestral concerts, seven chamber events, a film screening, and discussions with performers and the composer himself. Repertoire includes the world premieres of Sound Fields for string orchestra (20 July) and Mad Regales for six solo voices (22 July), and the US premieres of Réflexions for orchestra (20 July) and Mosaic for harp and chamber ensemble (22 July).
Perfomers include the Boston Symphony Orchestra (its first complete programme at the Festival of Contemporary Music featuring the composer's magnum opus Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei), groups from the Tanglewood Music Center, pianists Charles Rosen, Ursula Oppens and Nicolas Hodges, and conductors Oliver Knussen and Stefan Asbury. (James Levine, the Festival's artistic director has sadly had to withdraw from conducting because of unanticipated surgery.) For the full festival programme visit www.tanglewood.org.
The BBC Proms includes a season theme on Carter, launched at the First Night of the Proms with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard giving the UK premiere of Caténaires (18 July). The Oboe Concerto follows with Nicholas Daniel as soloist (28 July), and Nicolas Hodges is solo pianist in Soundings (18 August). All concerts are broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and are streamed live and available on demand for seven days from the Proms iPlayer. The concerts on 18 July and 28 July are also telecast on BBC Two and BBC Four respectively. For full information visit www.bbc.co.uk/proms.
The Lucerne Festival pays tribute to Elliott Carter with Pierre Boulez conducting performances of the Clarinet Concerto and Triple Duo (2 September), in a collaboration between the Ensemble of the Lucerne Festival Academy and the New Juilliard Ensemble. Boulez leads a discovery event on the Clarinet Concerto with live musical examples (30 August), and conducts the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra in Allegro Scorrevole (5 September). For more information visit e.lucernefestival.ch.
September brings the world premiere of Carter's new Flute Concerto at the International Jerusalem Chamber Festival with soloist Emanuel Pahud and conductor Daniel Barenboim (9 September). The European premiere performances are scheduled next summer with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Barenboim (11-13 June 2009), and the US premiere follows in a future season.
Carter's 100th birthday is on 11th December, with further events in New York, Paris and London. For full information on the Carter centenary visit www.carter100.com.
Video Podcast: view or download the Carter Centenary interview
Photo: Copyright Meredith Heuer
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