Schumann: Paradise and the Peri – oratorio Featuring: Sally Matthews, Kate Royal, Bernarda Fink, Mark Padmore, Andrew Staples, David Wilson-Johnson – vocal The Palace of Arts welcomes a true star conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Born in Liverpool, for the past five years he has been music director of the Berlin Philharmonic but he made his name and reputation with his work at the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1980 to 1998, during which time he transformed the ensemble into one of the world’...s finest. The Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment was formed in 1986, and Sir Simon Rattle was nominated one of its chief conductors. This is quite an honour because this British period music ensemble operates without a music director or resident conductor. Although as its name implies, it concentrates on later 18th century music, its repertoire extends from Purcell to Verdi and it has revived some delicacies from the musical past, such as Schumann’s little known oratorio, Paradise and the Peri. Based on a German translation of a tale from Thomas Moore’s Lalla Rookh, the oratorio is about the search for happiness in a narrative form akin to the Thousand and One Nights. The chief character is a peri – a fairy in Persian mythology – who standing before the gates of the Garden of Eden, tries to gain entry by giving a gift that is most dear to Heaven. The two sopranos in this concert have both won the most prestigious English singing competition, the Kathleen Ferrier Award, Sally Matthews in 1999 and Kate Royal in 2004. Mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink is from Argentina and since the mid 1980s, has worked with leading orchestras and conductors. Mark Padmore has worked for many years with Les Arts Florissants, conducted by William Christie and made recordings with John Eliot Gardiner and Philippe Herreweghe. English bass David Wilson-Johnson has worked with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra; he has also performed in Salzburg, Edinburgh, Covent Garden and the Paris Opera. At the Workshop Discussions connected to the performance, on 5 December beginning at 17:30 in the Auditorium of the Palace of Arts, noted representatives of different branches of art and other invited guests discuss the program and the artists performing, under the direction of Gábor Fenyő music editor. Workshop Discussions are public with free admission.
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