Back to Press Release List > 01/14/2010 - Riccardo Chailly Leads the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Two Concerts, February 27 & 28

Carnegie Hall presents two concerts by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Music Director Riccardo Chailly on Saturday, February 27 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 28 at 2:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. On February 27, violinist Nikolaj Znaider is the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, on a program that also features Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World.” The following afternoon on February 28 the orchestra and Maestro Chailly return with pianist Nelson Freire as soloist in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, on a program that also includes Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major.

Artist Information
Celebrated as one of the foremost violinists of today, Nikolaj Znaider is regularly invited to perform with the world’s leading orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony and London Philharmonic orchestras, St.

Petersburg Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras, as well as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He enjoys artistic collaborations with acclaimed conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Charles Dutoit, Mariss Jansons, and Zubin Mehta, among others. Born in Denmark to Polish-Israeli parents, Mr. Znaider studied with Russian pedagogue Boris Kushnir. An avid recitalist and chamber musician, Mr. Znaider has shared the stage with some of the foremost artists of today including Leif Ove Andsnes, Yuri Bashmet, Lynn Harrell, Lang Lang, and Pinchas Zukerman. An exclusive RCA Red Seal/BMG Sony Masterworks recording artist, Mr. Znaider’s recording of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn Violin Concertos with the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta was met with critical acclaim. He has also recorded the complete works for violin and piano of Brahms with Yefim Bronfman and, in 2009, released a recording of the Brahms and Korngold violin concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev. Mr. Znaider is passionate about the education of musical talent and is Founder and Artistic Director of the Nordic Music Academy. Nikolaj Znaider plays the "Kreisler" Guarnerius "del Gesu" 1741 on extended loan to him by The Royal Danish Theater through the generosity of the Velux Foundations and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.

Born in Brazil, Nelson Freire began piano studies at the age of three with Nise Obino and Lucia Branco and went on to make his first public appearance at the age of five on Mozart’s Sonata in A, K.331. In 1957, after winning a grant at the Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition, he went to Vienna to study with Bruno Seidlhofer. Seven years later, he won the Dinu Lipatti Medal in London and the first prize at the International Vianna da Motta Competition in Lisbon. His international career began in 1959 with tours of the US, Central and South America, Europe, Japan, and Israel. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Rudolf Kempe, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, David Zinman, Yuri Temirkanov, and Louis Langreé, among many others. Mr. Freire has performed with international orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, and Orchestre de Paris, among others as well as American orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. As an exclusive Decca recording artist, he has released recordings of Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms’ Concertos 1 and 2 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly which have received numerous prizes. In 2007, he was appointed Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Mr. Freire has received Grammy Award nominations for a Chopin recording (2006) and his recording of the Brahms concertos with Riccardo Chailly (2007), which was also awarded "Record of the Year" and "Winner of the Concerto Category" by the Classic FM Gramophone Awards in 2007.

Riccardo Chailly devotes himself to both concert and operatic repertoire. His first artistic encounter with the Gewandhaus Orchestra occurred at the Salzburg Festival in 1986 and, in 2005, he began his tenure as music director of the orchestra. A native of Milan, he has conducted the Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, and the Chicago and London symphony orchestras, and has appeared at many of the most important opera houses around the world. He made his debut in 1978 at La Scala in Milan and has since conducted at the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, London's Royal Opera House, the Bavarian State Opera, and the Zürich Opera. Maestro Chailly was Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1983 to 1986, Chief Conductor of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1982 to 1989, and, from 1986 to 1993, he was Music Director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Since his appointment as Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (1988–2004), he has also devoted himself to symphonic repertoire. From 1999–2005, Mr. Chailly was Music Director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. Under his direction, this municipal orchestra, founded by citizens of Milan, has become an internationally acclaimed ensemble which has since recorded ten CDs for the Decca label. Riccardo Chailly has an exclusive contract with Decca and has recorded an extensive repertoire of symphonic works and operas, totaling over 100 CDs. He has received many awards for his recordings, including several Edison Prizes and Gramophone Awards, as well as the Diapason d’Or, the Charles Cross Academy Award, Japan's Unga Konotomo Award, the Toblach Komponierhäuschen (Composition Cottage) Award, and numerous Grammy Award nominations.

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is the oldest civic concert orchestra in the world, and its origins can be traced to the "Grand Concert" society founded by 16 merchants in 1743. Following its move into the meeting house of the cloth merchants (the "Gewandhaus") in 1781, the ensemble was named the "Gewandhaus Orchestra." In 1981, a new Gewandhaus was opened on Augustusplatz in Leipzig, Germany. Few other orchestras have contributed as much to the development of the symphonic musical tradition as the Gewandhaus Orchestra. The orchestra performed all of Beethoven's symphonies during the composer's lifetime and presented the world's first complete Bruckner cycle as well as the first Shostakovich cycle during the 1970s. The orchestra boasts an exceptionally wide repertoire and an unusually large number of performances, due in part to its multiple functions as a concert orchestra, an opera orchestra at the Leipzig Opera, and a chamber orchestra which performs cantatas with the world-famous St. Thomas's Boys Choir at St. Thomas's Church. With more than 200 performances in these three venues and on tour, the Gewandhaus Orchestra is the musical heart of the city of Leipzig and its most important musical ambassador. Felix Mendelssohn, Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Bruno Walter are among the most distinguished Gewandhaus music directors. In recent history, Herbert Blomstedt succeeded Kurt Masur in 1998 as the orchestra's 18th music director. Since September 2005, Riccardo Chailly has held the post as the 19th music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The orchestra’s performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Barbican Center in London was listed as one of the “Top 10” events in 2009 by The Guardian, and their New Year’s Day concert in the same year was selected by The Times of London as part of the “Best Classical Music of the Decade.”

Program Information
Saturday, February 27 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
LEIPZIG GEWANDHAUS ORCHESTRA
Riccardo Chailly, Music Director and Conductor
Nikolaj Znaider, Violin

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Leonore Overture No. 3
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64
ANTONÍN DVORÁK Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, "From the New World"
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Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
LEIPZIG GEWANDHAUS ORCHESTRA
Riccardo Chailly, Music Director and Conductor
Nelson Freire, Piano

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11
JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73

Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.

Ticket Information
Tickets, priced at $35, $41, $52, $70, $94, and $104, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

For Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.

In addition, for all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts.

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Images from release: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Ricardo Chailly (Photo by Pete Checchia), Nikolaj Znaider (Photo by George Lange), Nelson Freire (Photo by Fabrice Boissiere), Ricardo Chailly (Photo by Pete Checcia)