|
OPERA
Thursday 2 October
2008,
|
|
|
OPERA
Thursday 2 October
2008,
|
The Pharos Trust launches its
Fall 2008 season with a unique concert of Henry Purcell’s opera Dido & The
Pharos Trust launches its Fall 2008 season with a unique concert of Henry
Purcell’s opera Dido & Aeneas, as well as the Cyprus Premiere of choral works by
Christopher Gibbons. The programme will be performed by a number of
internationally distinguished soloists, accompanied by the orchestra and chorus
of the Academy of Ancient Music, under the direction of Richard Egarr.
Thursday 2 October 2008, Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Nicosia, 8:30pm.
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC
The Academy of Ancient Music is one of the world’s first and foremost
period-instrument orchestras. Concerts across six continents and over 250
recordings since its formation in 1973 demonstrate the AAM’s pre-eminence in
music of the Baroque and Classical periods. Richard Egarr, Music director of the
AAM since September 2006, made his debut with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall,
and his first recording directing the Academy of Ancient Music, Handel’s Opus 3
Sonatas, was awarded the 2007 Gramophone Award for Baroque Instrumental Music.
The vitality of the AAM’s music-making is fostered by a range of guest
directors, such as the renowned baroque expert Masaaki Suzuki and violinists
Giuliano Carmignola and Pavlo Beznosiuk. The AAM collaborates also the choirs of
King’s College Cambridge and Trinity College Cambridge. In addition to the
numerous Decca releases, further projects have resulted in recordings for EMI,
Chandos, Erato and Harmonia Mundi, including discs of Bach, Händel, Vivaldi and
Purcell with the Choir of King’s College Cambridge, and English coronation music
and Handel’s Messiah with the Choir of New College Oxford. The AAM’s recent
releases include Baroque double concertos on Wigmore Hall Live and Händel
Concerti Grossi Op.3 with Richard Egarr. The Academy of Ancient Music is
Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge
RICHARD EGARR (DIRECTION AND HARPSICHORD)
Music Director of AAM since 2006, Richard Egarr is a most versatile musician in
great demand as a soloist and a conductor. As a soloist, he has appeared with
AAM, English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Orchestra
of the 18th Century, the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, and the Netherlands Wind
Ensemble. A world renowned conductor, Egarr maintains a heavy schedule touring
with the AAM in Europe and North America. His 2008 engagements include renewed
collaborations with Tafelmusik Toronto, Portland Baroque, the Flemish Radio
Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra In 2009, Egarr will conduct the
Residentie Orchestra, The Hague (Bach’s St. Matthew Passion), the Brabant
Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Orchestra and Choir (Haydn’s Creation) and
Collegium Vocale Ghent, among others.
THE CAST
Wilke te Brummelstroete / Dido, Maarten Koningsberger / Aeneas, Lorna Anderson /
Belinda, Giles Underwood / Sorcerer
The role of Dido will be sung by the celebrated Dutch mezzo-soprano Wilke te
Brummelstroete, who since her operatic debut as Dido in 1991, has secured a
solid reputation as one of the world's most versatile singers. She has
extensively collaborated with leading conductors such as Sir John Eliot
Gardiner, Sir Neville Marriner, Ton Koopman and Christian Thielemann, and has
appeared in some of the world's most notable venues and festivals, such as the
Royal Albert Hall, Teatro Colòn Buenos Aires, Wiener Konzerthaus, Théâtre des
Champs Elysées and the Bayreuther Festspiele. Wilke te Brummelstroete can be
heard on many recordings, including a disc of Bach cantatas with Sir John Eliot
Gardiner (2005 Gramophone Record of the Year Award and Gramophone Baroque Vocal
Award winner), in Bach's St Matthew Passion, Mozart's Requiem and Händel's
Arianna in Creta.
The role of Aeneas will be performed by Maarten Koningsberger, one of the
world’s leading baritones, who has collaborated with conductors such as Jeffrey
Tate, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Hans Vonk and Lucas Vis, and worked with
orchestras like the Residentie Orchestra, The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra,
The Netherlands Philharmonic, Les Arts Florissants, Tafelmusik Toronto, the
Orchestra of Singapore, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the BBC
Singers. His wide range of styles is also representative in his Lieder
interpretations with frequent collaborations with accompanists such as Irwin
Cage and Graham Johnson. His numerous highly-acclaimed recordings include a disc
with Schubert songs for Hyperion, an album of lute- and consort songs by Byrd,
Dowland, Wigthorpe, Baroque Cantatas, and Les Grand Motets de Mondonville with
Les Arts Florissants.
Tickets:
Section A €40/ €32 (Friends and Supporters of the Pharos Trust & Pensioners,
Soldiers, Students)
Section B €30/ €28 (Friends and Supporters of the Pharos Trust & Pensioners,
Soldiers, Students)
* Pharos membership card holders: Please present your card at the Strovolos
Municipal Theatre Box Office.
Holders of Pharos ticket vouchers: Please exchange your voucher with a numbered
ticket at the Strovolos Municipal Theatre prior to the concert.
Tickets can be purchased from:
Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Nicosia, Tel: 22313010, Monday – Friday 10:00 -
13:00 / 16:00 - 18:00