INTERVIEW:
World-renowned conductor
Philippe Entremont tours with Verein Orchestra
http://www.hollywoodsoapbox.com/?p=11949
The excellence and worldly
reputation of maestro Philippe Entremont precedes him. He’s been at the
forefront of classical music for 60 years, ever since he made his impressive
debut as a pianist at Carnegie Hall. In 2014, Entremont, a native of Paris, will tour with the
Vienna Concert-Verein Orchestra for a series of concerts that celebrate the
music of Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart and other staples of the classical music
canon.
“I always work hard,”
Entremont said recently during a phone interview from his Vienna hotel room. “That’s for sure. We are
doing two programs on the tour, and we are really with music that we are very
much used to playing. You know, Schubert, Beethoven … Mozart, of course, and
the Strauss family. This is really the music that we are used to.”
At an upcoming concert at the
State Theatre in New Brunswick,
N.J., Entremont will leave the
baton behind for a bit and offer the audience some of his own piano skills. He
plans to play Mozart’s “Concerto for Two Pianos in E Flat Major” with piano
soloist Sebastian Knauer. Entremont said he finds the piece beautiful, and the
two pianos are treated in the same manner, equally balanced and both able to
complement each other.
As far as his partner on the
stage, Entremont called Knauer “a German pianist of great talent. … I am very
proud of him because he’s a former student of mine.”
Although many of the pieces
on the Verein Orchestra tour will be familiar to audience members, nothing will
come easy to Entremont and his band of dedicated musicians. “To play something
well, it’s always difficult,” he said.
“There is no such thing as an
easy piece. … These are pieces that we
have played before. I’m not going on a blind date. That’s for sure.”
Rehearsals for the American
tour began recently in Vienna,
and early indications were that the Verein Orchestra, a well-respected group of
musicians founded in 1987, was in tip-top shape. They play orchestral work from
the great composers, plus contemporary Austrian music. The New Brunswick program, for example, promises
a few polkas for good measure.
For Entremont, a man who
graced the Carnegie Hall stage at 18 years old, the thought of retiring never
seems to enter his mind. He’s dedicated to touring the globe with the best
orchestras of the world.
“It’s my life. It’s as simple
as that. I don’t plan to stop at all. I have an extremely busy year and next
season, too. … I go everywhere, you know. In the next three months, I will do
the American tour. I will go to China.
I am opening the Beijing Festival. … I had a very long career. That’s for sure.
I’ve never had any letdown. It was always very even, and it’s good this way.”
Although the program on the
American tour is set, Entremont said the audience can expect some slight
variations. After all, these will be live concerts, not recordings. “We don’t
play the same way every day,” he said. “It’s always something different. … I
don’t look for what we call the high
point. Everything we do we devote the same attention.
… We always try to do the most beautifully balanced concert.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Philippe Entremont conducts
the Vienna Concert-Verein Orchestra on an American tour in the coming days.
They will stop at the State Theatre in New
Brunswick, N.J., on
Sunday, Feb. 2. Tickets are available here.
Philippe Entremont, Vienna Concert-Verein
Orchestra
http://events.post-gazette.com/university_park_pa/events/show/341681223-vienna-concert-verein-orchestra-philippe-entremont-conductor-sebastian-knauer-pianist
Vienna Concert-Verein
Orchestra Philippe Entremont, conductor
Sebastian Knauer, pianist
Thursday, Feb 6 7:30p
Eisenhower Auditorium
University Park, PA
The Vienna Concert-Verein
Orchestra, created by members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1987, has
gained international stature through its performances at Musikverein in Vienna, Austria,
and on tours throughout Europe and Asia. The
ensemble’s repertoire ranges from orchestral works of the Viennese classical
composers to contemporary Austrian music. The orchestra has premiered more than
sixty-five works by contemporary Austrian composers. German pianist Sebastian
Knauer joins the ensemble, which is making its first tour to the United States,
to perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37.
Knauer has appeared in prominent concert halls on four continents. The Hamburg native earned a
Grammy Award nomination in 2005 for the album East Meets West, his
collaboration with violinist Daniel Hope. The orchestra’s Penn State
program also features Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.
385, Haffner, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55, Eroica.
Philippe Entremont, who guest conducts the ensemble, last appeared at
Eisenhower Auditorium when he led the Munich Symphony Orchestra in October
2005. The Frenchman, also a graceful concert pianist and one of Knauer’s former
teachers, has guest conducted many of the finest orchestras in Europe, Asia,
and America.
He’s the lifetime laureate conductor of the Munich Symphony and the Vienna
Chamber Orchestra