October 7, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is the centerpiece of a classical concert featuring pianist Freddy Kempf, who joins Music Director Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony on Nov. 5, 6 and 7 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an added performance on Nov. 4 at Smith Auditorium in Salem. Media support is provided by The Oregonian. Lufthansa is the exclusive airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Classical series.
Kalmar wanted to perform Prokofiev’s technically demanding concerto with Kempf, a rising star in the piano world. The Daily Telegraph noted, “ Kempf has the maturity and musicality with which to harness his gifts to artistic ends…He is prepared to take risks, a readiness that brings spontaneous combustion to his playing; but he has sensitivity, too.” Kalmar, who has worked with Kempf several times, asked the 28-year-old to learn Prokofiev’s second piano concerto for his Symphony debut. “Everybody in the business knows that probably the most difficult piano concerto is Rachmaninoff’s Third, which we programmed last season,” says Kalmar. “Well, I was talking to one or two pianists about this and they said, “Rachmaninoff Three’s a walk in the park if you compare it to Prokofiev Two.”
This concert will also feature Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C major. Kalmar wants to acquaint audiences with this composer’s works, which he feels are not programmed enough in the United States. “Schumann is a great symphonist like Brahms and he’s underappreciated in America,” says Kalmar. “If this symphony were played regularly, it would become as popular as anything by Brahms.”
British composer Thomas Adès’ first work for large orchestra, “…but all shall be well,” will receive its first Symphony performance in this concert. Critics around the world have hailed this young composer as a major voice in contemporary music. Alex Ross of The New Yorker wrote, “Thomas Adès has outgrown his status as the wunderkind of a vibrant British scene and become one of the most imposing figures in contemporary classical music. His works now go around the world almost before they are published.” Kalmar adds, “‘…but all shall be well’ features a lot of unknown sounds. The way Adès uses the instruments and what instruments he puts together is quite stunning.”
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Pre-concert talks: Music Director Carlos Kalmar and KBPS host Shaun Yu will lead a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for “Pre-Concert Talks” is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday: Music Director Carlos Kalmar will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is provided by KINKfm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an added performance on Friday, Nov. 4 at Smith Auditorium in Salem. Tickets range in price from $20 to $85 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Customer Service Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Freddy Kempf was born in London in 1977 and came to national prominence in 1992 when he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition following a memorable performance of Rachmaninoff’s “Paganini Variations.” His first public appearance, however, was at the age of four in a church in Folkestone, England.
It was perhaps Kempf’s award of third prize in the 1998 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow that established his international career. Kempf’s unprecedented popularity with Russian audiences has been reflected in several sold-out concerts and numerous television broadcasts. His triumphant return visit to the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire the following year for solo and concerto appearances prompted the headline “ Young pianist conquers Moscow” in the International Herald Tribune.
His most recent concerts have included appearances at New York’s 92 nd Street “Y,” the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Cheltenham Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, the Milan Conservatoire, Hamburg’s Musikhalle and Zurich’s Tonhalle. Kempf’s debut tour of Japan included solo and orchestral concerts and culminated in a recital at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall that was broadcast on radio and television.
During the 2002-2003 season Kempf performed the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic and Daniele Gatti. He also made his debut on subscription with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch. Other engagements included performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony and Sakari Oramo, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov and a tour of Japan with the Dresden Symphony with Günter Herbig. He also performed at the Musikverein in Vienna for the first time.
Last season began with several United Kingdom recitals in which Kempf focused on the Chopin Etudes, which coincided with the television broadcasts of the complete Etudes which ran on BBC2 and BBC4 through the season. He gave recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Gergiev’s Prokofiev Festival in Rotterdam, at the Piano Jacobins Festival in Toulouse and in Milan and Florence. Kempf also played concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Scottish National, Spanish National, Berlin Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic and Sao Paulo State Symphony.
This season Kempf will be seen on a major United Kingdom recital tour in collaboration with Classic FM and Yamaha. This unprecedented tour will involve appearances in the major United Kingdom concert halls and in local schools where he will perform and talk about his career. Kempf will also return to Japan for a major tour and will make his debuts in Korea and China. He returns to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and he will make two separate trips to Australia.
Kempf is passionately committed to chamber music and devotes time each season to performing with the Kempf Trio. Their debut recording of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff Trios on BIS Records drew very favorable comparisons with legendary recordings of the same works. The trio’s next recording (Beethoven Trios) has just been released on BIS Records. The trio performed Beethoven Triple Concerto in the Mostly Mozart Festival in July and later this season they will make their debut at the Concertgebouw, where they will play two recitals.
Freddy Kempf is married and lives in London.
Born in London in 1971, Thomas Adès studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music, and read music at King’s College, Cambridge. Between 1993 and 1995 he was Composer in Association with the Hallé Orchestra, which association resulted in “The Origin of the Harp” (1994), and “These Premises Are Alarmed” for the opening of the Bridgewater Hall in 1996. “Asyla” (1997) was a Feeney Trust commission for Sir Simon Rattle and the CBSO, who toured it together and repeated it at Symphony Hall in August 1998 in Rattle’s last concert as Music Director of the orchestra. Rattle subsequently programmed “Asyla” in his opening concert with the Berlin Philharmonic as Music Director in September 2002 - an occasion which was recorded on DVD and broadcast on international television and radio.
Adès’ first opera, “Powder Her Face” (commissioned by Almeida Opera for the Cheltenham Festival in 1995), has been performed all round the world, has been televised by Channel Four and is available on an EMI CD. Most of the composer’s music has been recorded by EMI, with whom Adès has an exclusive contract as composer, pianist and conductor. Adès’ second opera, “The Tempest,” was commissioned by the Royal Opera House and was premiered there under the baton of the composer to great critical acclaim in February 2004.
Thomas Adès’ music has attracted numerous awards and prizes, including the Paris Rostrum for the best piece by a composer under 30 (“The Origin of the Harp,” 1994); the 1997 Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for “Asyla;” the Elise L Stoeger Prize for “Arcadiana” (New York, 1998); the Salzburg Easter Festival Prize (1999); the Munich Ernst von Siemens Prize for Young Composers (1999); the 2000 Grawemeyer Award for “Asyla” (the largest international prize for composition, here awarded to the youngest recipient); the Hindemith Prize (2001), and the 2005 Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for “The Tempest.”
Adès is in demand worldwide as a conductor and pianist. As well as being a renowned interpreter of his own music, his performances and recordings of composers including Kurtág, Janácek, Nancarrow, Schumann, Schubert, Ruders, Tchaikovsky and Gerald Barry have been critically acclaimed. He performs regularly in collaboration with artists including Ian Bostridge and the Belcea Quartet and has conducted many orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Radio France, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, the Athelas Ensemble and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Adès has an exclusive contract with EMI Classics as composer, pianist and conductor, for whom he has recorded music by composers including Janácek, Schubert, Castiglioni, Stravinsky, Grieg and Busoni, as well as almost all of his own music. Adès has been Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival since 1999.
