Back to Press Release List > - Composer/Conductor/Pianist Thomas Adès Featured in Three March Concerts at Carnegie Hall

Composer, conductor, and pianist Thomas Adès returns to Carnegie Hall for three performances in March 2010. He is joined by violinist Anthony Marwood and cellist Steven Isserlis in Zankel Hall on Friday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m. for a evening of works, all of which he performs in as pianist, including the US premiere of his own Lieux retrouvés, commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, and Wigmore Hall. Also on the program is Janáček’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Poulenc’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor, and two works by Liszt.

Mr. Adès returns to Zankel Hall the following week, Wednesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m., conducting Ensemble ACJW, along with mezzo-soprano Cecelia Hall and countertenor Daniel Taylor for a concert of music by Brahms, Purcell, and Gerald Barry. The program also opens and closes with two works by Mr. Adès: The Origin of the Harp and Concerto Conciso.

At the end of the week, on Saturday, March 27 at 8:00 p.m., Adès makes his Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage recital debut as pianist. He performs a diverse program of Janáček, Liszt, Prokofiev, Schubert, and Beethoven, along with the New York Premiere of his own Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face, after his acclaimed 1995 chamber opera.

Thomas Adès was last featured as composer, conductor, and pianist at Carnegie Hall throughout the 2007–08 season when he held the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair.

Artist Information
Renowned as both a composer and a performer, Thomas Adès works regularly with the world’s leading orchestras, opera companies and festivals. Appointed to the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer Chair at Carnegie Hall for 2007–08, he was featured as composer, conductor, and pianist throughout that season. Born in London in 1971, Thomas Adès studied piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and read music at King’s College, Cambridge. Between 1993 and 1995 he was Composer in Association with the Hallé Orchestra, which 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 City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), who toured it together and performed it at Symphony Hall in August 1998 in Rattle’s last concert as Music Director. Rattle subsequently programmed Asyla in his opening concert as Music Director of the Berlin Philharmonic in September 2002.

Adès’ first opera, Powder Her Face has been performed all round the world and is available on DVD and EMI CD. Most of the composer’s music has been recorded by EMI, with whom Mr. Adès has a contract as composer, pianist and conductor. His second opera, The Tempest, was commissioned by the Royal Opera House and was premiered under the baton of the composer to great critical acclaim in February 2004. It was revived at Covent Garden in 2007—again with the composer conducting, and to a sold-out house—and has also been performed in Copenhagen, Strasbourg and Santa Fe. His second orchestral work for Simon Rattle, Tevot (2007) was commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Carnegie Hall. Mr. Adès’ music has attracted numerous awards and prizes, including the prestigious Grawemeyer Award (in 2000, for Asyla), of which he is the youngest ever recipient. From 1999-2008 he was Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival.

Cellist Steven Isserlis takes a strong interest in authentic performance, playing with many of the foremost period instrument orchestras. Recent seasons have seen him perform all Beethoven's works for cello with fortepianist Robert Levin both in Boston and at London’s Wigmore Hall. Last season he performed the Dvorák Cello Concerto with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Sir Simon Rattle. In addition, the chamber concerts of Mr. Isserlis's devising are renowned, not only for the quality of performance, but also for his ingenuity and innovation in programming. Writing and playing for children is another major interest. His first book, a children's history of the lives of six great composers, Why Beethoven Threw the Stew, was published by Faber and Faber in October 2001, and a sequel, entitled Why Handel Waggled His Wig, was published in 2006. Both books have been met with high critical acclaim, and are translated into many languages. Last season, he launched his own series at the 92nd Street Y in New York. For the past ten years he has been Artistic Director of the masterclass and chamber music seminar IMS Prussia Cove. He has also published several editions and arrangements, principally for Faber Music. Awarded a CBE in 1998 in recognition of his services to music, Steven Isserlis has received many honors, including in 2000 the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau.

Violinist Anthony Marwood was named Instrumentalist of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2006. He is a frequent soloist with orchestras around the world, and in the next two seasons will make his debuts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, and Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra. Since January 2006 he has been Artistic Director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Last autumn he completed a second 12-concert tour as soloist and director with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and in the future will direct Les Violons du Roy in Canada, the Scottish Ensemble and the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne. In the 2009–10 season Anthony Marwood premieres two new concertos written for him, one by American composer Steve Mackey and one from New Zealander Ross Harris. Thomas Adès's concerto “Concentric Paths,” which he premiered in September 2005 in Berlin and at the BBC Proms is the result of a fruitful musical partnership with the composer. Mr. Adès and Mr. Marwood are also touring a program of all Stravinsky's music for violin and piano, with a recording released on the Hyperion label in February 2010. Anthony Marwood has made well over 30 recordings, and is a Hyperion Artist. He is the violinist of the celebrated Florestan Trio (the first trio to win a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, in 2000) and has performed all over the world with his colleagues Richard Lester and Susan Tomes. He has also embarked on a touring project with the pianist, Aleksander Madzar, which will culminate in a series of three concerts at the Wigmore Hall in 2010–11.

The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education—is a two-year leadership program designed to develop the skills and values necessary for careers that combine musical excellence with education, community engagement, and advocacy. The program serves young professional musicians with opportunities to perform in concert halls, to teach in public schools, to engage in local communities and college campuses, and to support this work through professional development. The program reflects the belief that the artist of tomorrow will require both the ability to perform at the highest level and the capacity to give back to the community, inspiring the next generation of musicians and music lovers. Ensemble ACJW—the performing arm of The Academy—comes together in different sizes, having the opportunity to play intimate chamber music as well as larger, conducted chamber orchestra works. A partnership with Skidmore College that began in the 2007–08 season also brings performances and educational events to the Saratoga Springs community.

The Academy was launched in January 2007, initiated by Carnegie Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director Clive Gillinson in partnership with Joseph W. Polisi, President of The Juilliard School. The fellows in the program were selected because of their extraordinary level of musicianship, deep commitment to education and community engagement, and leadership qualities. Fellows are graduates of leading music schools, including The Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Mannes College The New School for Music, New England Conservatory, and Yale School of Music. Please visit acjw.org for more information about the program.

Program Information
Friday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
ANTHONY MARWOOD, Violin
STEVEN ISSERLIS, Cello
THOMAS ADÈS, Piano

LEOŠ JANÁČEK Sonata for Violin and Piano
FRANZ LISZT Romance oubliée
FRANZ LISZT La Lugubre gondola
THOMAS ADÈS Lieux retrouvés (US Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, and Wigmore Hall)
FRANCIS POULENC Sonata for Cello and Piano
MAURICE RAVEL Piano Trio in A Minor

Pre-concert talk starts at 6:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall: Thomas Adès in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Director of Artistic Planning, Carnegie Hall.

Tickets: $52, $58
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Wednesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
ENSEMBLE ACJW
Featuring musicians of The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education
Thomas Adès, Conductor
Cecelia Hall, Mezzo-Soprano
Daniel Taylor, Countertenor

THOMAS ADÈS The Origin of the Harp
JOHANNES BRAHMS Ophelia Lieder (arr. John Woolrich)
GERALD BARRY Sextet
HENRY PURCELL "Music for a while"
HENRY PURCELL Dance for the followers of night from The Fairy Queen
HENRY PURCELL "One Charming Night" from The Fairy Queen
HENRY PURCELL "Strike the viol" from Come, ye sons of art away
HENRY PURCELL Fantasy upon a Ground in D Major
HENRY PURCELL An Evening Hymn
THOMAS ADÈS Concerto Conciso

The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education—is made possible by a leadership gift from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Major funding has also been provided by Mercedes and Sid Bass, The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, The Irving Harris Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Kovner Foundation, Martha and Bob Lipp, Mr. and Mrs. Lester S. Morse Jr., Judith and Burton Resnick, Susan and Elihu Rose, and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, with additional support from Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari, Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, Susan and Ed Forst, Mrs. Nancy A. Marks, Edward John Noble Foundation, The William Petschek Family, and Suki Sandler.

The Academy School Partnerships benefitting NYC public school students are made possible, in part, by Bank of America.

The Academy and Ensemble ACJW are made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Recovery Act, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Tickets: $22, $37
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Saturday, March 27 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
THOMAS ADÈS, Piano

LEOŠ JANÁČEK On the Overgrown Path, Book II
FRANZ LISZT Isolde's Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Sarcasms, Op. 17
FRANZ SCHUBERT Allegretto in C Minor, D. 915
THOMAS ADÈS Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face (NY Premiere)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Bagatelles, Op. 126

Tickets: $31, $37, $46, $62, $83, $91

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