15 November 2019 (Friday) 8:00 pm

Aleksandra Kurzak — sopran (Poland)

Kamen Nikolov — oboe (Bulgaria), Tomasz Daroch — cello (Poland), Morphing Chamber Orchestra (Vienna, Austria), Frédéric Chaslin — conductor (France)

concert

Archsee of Lodz, ul. Piotrkowska 262

phot. Gregor Hohenberg © Sony Music Entertainment

Aleksandra Kurzak

One of the best Polish opera singers whose name appears in the repertoire of the Metropolitan Opera in New York regularly, as well as in Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, Paris Opera or at the Festival in Salzburg. A unique talent, extraordinary stage persona, charm and great sensitivity win the hearts of fans and music critics all over the world.

At the age of 7, Aleksandra Kurzak began to learn how to play the violin and the piano. She graduated from the vocal department at the Music Academy in Wrocław and then from Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. When still a student in 1999, she made her debut as Zuzanna in Le Nozze di Figaro on stage of the Wrocław Opera. At the age of 27, she sang in two most prestigious world theatres — as Olimia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera and as Aspasia in the London performance of “Mitridate, re di Ponto” at the Royal Opera House. The list goes on with her roles at MET: Blondy in “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”, Gilda in “Rigoletto”, Gretel in the opera “Hänsel und Gretel”, and także Adina in “L'elisir d'amore”, Nedda in “I Pagliacci”, and Micaela in “Carmen”.

The artist regularly returns to the Royal Opera in London which became as if her home theatre and to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Staatsoper in Berlin. She can also be admired in, for example Opera National de Paris, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, National Opera in Warsa, Teatro Real in Madrid, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera or at the summer festival in Salzburg.

Aleksandra Kurzak has sung a great number of operas, for instance Cleopatra in “Julius Cesar” Haendel at the Bavarian National Opera, Adela in “Die Fledermaus: at the Munich Bavarian National Opera, Gilda in “Rigoletto” by Verdi at the Toulouse Opera, Ännchen in Der Freischütz during the festival in Salzburg, Blondchen in Zuzanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro” by Mozart at the Hamburg Opera (Staatsoper) and in Covent Garden, and Gilda/Gretel in “ Hänsel und Gretel” Humperdinck at the Hamburg Opera (Staatsoper). The artist is also known as Olimpia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Offenbach at the Metropolitan Opera, Matilde in “Matilde di Shabran” in Covent Garden, Rosina in “ Il Barbiere di Siviglia” by Rossini at the Vienna and Bavarian National Opera (Staatsoper), and Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni” by Mozart at the Theater an der Wien.

The year 2011 saw her first solo album “Gioia!”, which covered in platinum. The other albums by that artist are: “Bel Raggio” with Rossini’s arias and “Hej, kolęda!” with some of the most beautiful Polish carols. The album “Pieśni Fryderyka Chopina” for the National Institute of F. Chopin received a prestigious distinction Diapason d’or. Soon there will be the first solo album recorded with the Morphing Chamber Orchestra from Vienna.

She received her PhD in 2009 and defended her habilitation in 2016. She also holds an opera Oscar International Opera Award, received in 2015.

Kamen Nikolov

Kamen Nikolov was born in Oriahovo, Bulgaria in 1978. He started oboe and piano lessons at the age of 11 and continued his oboe studies at the National Academy of Music in Sofia, at the Royal College of Music in London and at the University of Music and performing Arts Vienna, where he graduated with distinction in 2005. Since 2004 Kamen Nikolov has obtained further training from Christoph Hartmann (Berlin Philharmonics).

He received 2nd prize in the international “The World and the People” competition in Sofia. Between 2001 and September 2004 Kamen Nikolov was supported through scholarships by the Herbert v. Karajan Centre Vienna, the Dr. Robert and Lina Thyll-Dürr Foundation Switzerland and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

In 2003 he joined the “Gustav Mahler - Music and Youth” Foundation in Bolzano (Italy). In the season 2007/08 Kamen completed an apprenticeship with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra of SWR. In 2008 he was appointed as solo English horn to the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. Moreover Kamen Nikolov substituted as oboe and English horn player at the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and the Chamber Orchestra of Vienna.

In 2011 Kamen Nikolov was appointed as principal oboe of the Philharmonic Orchestra Graz / Opera Graz (Austria). Between 2012 and 2015 he had a guest professorship at the University for Music in Graz.

Kamen Nikolov is performing in various chamber music ensembles all over Austria and abroad.

phot. Andrzej Heldwein

Tomasz Daroch

Born in Łódź in 1989 in the family of artistic traditions. Graduated with distinction from Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim in Germany and also completed the Music Academy of Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz in Łodz. He learnt under the eyes of renowned cello players prof. Michael Flaksman, prof. Jelena Ocic, prof. Stanisława Firlej and prof. Julius Berger.

A cellist, currently working as an adjunct profesor at the Music Acedemy in Łódź, where in 2018 he received his PhD in music arts. Since 2019 he has been the leader of a cello group at the orchestra Leopoldinum of the National Music Forum of W. Lutosławski in Wrocław.

He is a laureate of numerous international cello competitions, for example he received the 1st award and the Grand Prix title during the 8th International Cello Competition of W. Lutosławski in Warsaw, the 2nd award at the International Cello Competition of P. Casals in Budapest, took the third place and received the Audience Award as part of the International Cello Competition of A. Janigro in Zagreb and the 1st place during the 44th the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen.

As a soloist and a chamber player, he performed on many international stages, for example in Poland, Germany, Austria, Holland, Belgium, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Croatia, Russia, Switzerland, Brazil, Italy, Hungary and in the USA.

phot. Bernard Martine

Frédéric Chaslin

Conductor, composer, pianist and author, Frédéric Chaslin was born in Paris and educated at the Paris Conservatoire and the Salzburg Mozarteum.

He began his conducting career in 1988 as an assistant of Daniel Barenboim in Paris and Bayreuth. He became Pierre Boulez’s assistant at the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris in 1991. He became successively Music Director of the Opera in Rouen (1991-94), the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (1998-2001), the Mannheim Nationaltheater (2004-2007), the Santa Fe Opera (2009-2013) and for his second tenure, the Jerusalem Symphony (since 2011) Frederic Chaslin divides his activities equaly between operatic and symphonic performances. At the opera, he conducted the major companies in the world, New York Metropolitan (since 2002), Los Angeles Opera, Berlin Deutsche Oper, Munich Bayerische Staatsoper, as well as Leipzig, Dresden, Madrid, Bologna, Roma, Venice, Torino, Tokyo, Oslo, Copenhagen. Frederic Chaslin made his debuts in 1993 at the Bregenzer Festspiele for Nabucco (93, 94) and Fidelio (95, 96). This started his Austrian career and since then, he is a regular guest at the Vienna State Opera where he conducted nearly 200 performances of 34 different tittles.

Major recent appearences were two new productions of Tales of Hoffman in Dresden and Copenhagen.

In the symphonic repertoire, he’s conducted all major french orchestras (Orchestre de Paris, Orchestra National, Radio-France Philharmonic, Paris Opera Orchestra), the Milan Scala Philharmonic, Torino Rai, Manchester Hallé, London Philhramonia, London Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, Spain National Orchestra, Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra (Lisbon), Israel Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic.

He performed several piano concertos as a conductor/pianist (Ravel 2 piano concertos, Beethoven 5 piano concertos, No 5 with the Vienna Philharmonic in 2001 at the Vienna State Opera, Mozart K488 with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra).

As a composer, Frederic Chaslin wrote 3 operas and over 50 melodies for soprano, mezzo and baritone. Excerpts of this operas have been sung and recorded by the most famous sopranos (Netrebko, Dessay, Peretyatko, and Damrau who recorded some arias in her CD Ť Damrau Forver ť). Symphonic compositions include the Ť Gipsy Dance ť for violon and orchestra and a cello concerto.

As an author, Frederic Chaslin wrote an essay, Ť Music in Every Sense ť published in Paris (France-Empire) and Germany (Böhlau) and available in English on Kindle. In october 2017 he released a novel based on the life of Gustav Mahler, together with his own orchestration of Mahler’s 10th symphony that has been premiered on Nov 30th, 2018, with the Zagreb Philharmonic.

Starting May 3, 2019, his latest opera/musical Monte Cristo, commissionned by Placido Domingo for the Los Angeles opera, will be workshoped and performed in such places as L.A Opera, Valencia (Spain) Paris, Monte Carlo, Bologna, Lisbon and Vienna.

Morphing Chamber Orchestra (Vienna)

The Morphing Chamber Orchestra's philosophy is based on constant evolution - metamorphoses and modifications that lead to the search for new musical interpretations and the pursuit of performance perfection.

The Morphing Chamber Orchestra was founded in 2006 in Vienna by music producer and viola player Tomasz Wabnic, who is the artistic director of the ensemble.

“... I enjoyed the concert with the Morphing Chamber Orchestra conducted by Tomasz Wabnic. The ideas for the programme, the musicians' virtuosity and interaction were very inspiring to me.”
BOBBY McFERRIN

The band consists of musicians from 17 different countries, whose life paths have crossed the world of music in Vienna, where they have come to improve their skills.

“The Morphing Chamber Orchestra has beautifully translated the spirit of my work. Thank you very much for your interpretations.”
ARVO PÄRT

Since 2006, the Morphing Chamber Orchestra has been involved in various projects in a wide range of repertoire, from classical music to film music, jazz and contemporary music, appearing in both cameral and symphonic compositions around the world.

“Concerts with the Morphing Chamber Orchestra in a unique way combine the joy of "making music with friends" and the certainty that it is making music at the highest level.”
ANDREAS SCHOLL

The key aim of MCO is their approach to perfection of performance combined with flexibility and creativity of interpretation and repertoire. Each concert with the Morphing Chamber Orchestra reflects their love of music performed on a world-class level.

“The pure joy of playing and musical intelligence is what distinguishes the Morphing Chamber Orchestra. (....) Every detail is given the necessary attention, and at the same time the entire musical architecture of the composition is comprehensibly presented. (....) A listening pleasure!”
RADIO Ö1 (Vienna)

For 2020/2021, more than 100 concerts have been contracted with the Morphing Chamber Orchestra in the most prestigious halls such as the Musikverein Wien or Carnegie Hall in NYC, as well as further recordings for Sony Classical International, BMG Classics and Universal Music with Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzak and Andreas Scholl, including composers such as Arvo Pärt and Ennio Morricone.

In April 2019, MCO accompanied the solo CD recording of the world-famous soprano Aleksandra Kurzak for SONY CLASSICAL INTERNATIONAL.

“The most authentic biography of the orchestra is the concert or recording that you hear just now...”
TOMASZ WABNIC- MORPHING MUSIC INSTITUTE (VIENNA)

Programme

1. Ludwig van Beethoven — „Coriolan” overture op. 62

2. Stanisław Moniuszko — aria Halki z IV aktu: „Ha! dzieciątko nam umiera...”

3. Antonín Dvořák — Silent woods No. 5 Op. 68 for cello and orchestra

6. Francesco Cilea — aria from the opera Adriana Lecouvreur— „lo son l’umile”

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Oboe Concerto in C major KV 314

2. Antonin Dvořák — aria from the opera Rusalka Op. 114 — „Mesicku na nebi hlubokem”

7. Giacomo Puccini — aria from the opera Tosca — „Vissi d’arte”

Programm auth. Tomasz Wabnic — gen. dyr. Morphing Chamber Orchestra

The concert is held under the patronage of the Honorary Consul of Austria in Łódź — Paweł Zyner.