Highlights include:
- Cadogan Hall debut by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Osmo Vänskä to perform works by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Unsuk Chin
- Pianists Sir Stephen Hough and Freddy Kempf will celebrate the 150th anniversary year of Rachmaninov’s birth, performing his Piano Concertos No. 2 and No. 3, respectively
- International artists including Chloë Hanslip [pictured], Sunwook Kim, Paul Lewis, Maxim Vengerov, Jennifer Pike, Nemanja Radulović, Sir Stephen Hough, and Freddy Kempf
- Contemporary music by Unsuk Chin and Anna Thorvaldsdóttir
Cadogan Hall announces its fifteenth Zurich International Orchestra Series with eight concerts celebrating the finest musical talent from around the globe and featuring an array of renowned conductors, acclaimed international orchestras and artists. This season sees the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra make its Cadogan Hall debut, performances from international artists and contemporary music from female composers.
The Hall welcomes 8 international orchestras from 8 different countries during the 2022/23 season including the Czech Republic, South Korea, Belgium, Malta, Armenia, Sweden, Iceland, and Estonia and hosts a variety of top soloists such as Chloë Hanslip, Sunwook Kim, Paul Lewis, Maxim Vengerov, Jennifer Pike, Nemanja Radulović, Sir Stephen Hough and Freddy Kempf.
Zurich International Orchestra Series
Acclaimed Soloists
Chloë Hanslip joins the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra from the Czech Republic for a concert paying homage to two great composers born in the Czech city Brno, Janáček and Korngold, conducted by Dennis Russell Davis. Hanslipperforms Korngold’s much-loved Violin Concerto in D major, a work that borrows thematic material from the composer’s film scores including Another Dawn (1937), Juarez (1939), Anthony Adverse (1936), and The Prince and the Pauper (1937). Janáček’s rhapsody for orchestra Taras Bulba opens the concert and is based on the novel by Nikolai Gogol; it tells the story of the eponymous Cossack and his two sons. The closing piece is Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’, a work influenced by his experiences whilst in America, and also inspired by the folk music of his native Czech culture (14 October, 7.30pm).
Pianist Paul Lewis will perform alongside the Belgium National Orchestra, one of Belgium’s leading orchestras, conducted by Roberto González-Monjas, in a performance of Mozart’s 25th Piano Concerto. Respighi’s Preludio, Corale e Fuga opens the concert, which closes with a performance of Saint-Saëns’ symphonic masterpiece, Symphony No. 3 (3 November, 7.30pm).
Celebrated violinist Maxim Vengerov plays Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Sergey Smbatyan. The Orchestra will open the concert with Alexey Shor’s Seascapes for Violin and Symphony Orchestra and finish with a performance of one of the most romantic of all symphonies – Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2 (5 December, 7.30pm).
Conductor Sergey Smbatyan returns to Cadogan Hall with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and violinist Jennifer Pike to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. The programme also features its nation’s greatest composer, Aram Khachaturian with music from his most popular work, the ballet Spartacus, and will finish with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 (24 February, 7.30pm).
The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Eva Ollikainen, will return in the company of British Pianist Sir Stephen Hough. Hough will celebrate the 150th anniversary year of Rachmaninov’s birth with a performance of Rachmaninov’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 2. The concert will also include Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Metacosmos and will conclude with Tchaikovsky’s mighty Symphony No. 5 (20 April. 7.30pm).
A favourite of Cadogan Hall audiences, Freddy Kempf, returns for the season’s closing concert to perform the second Rachmaninov piano concerto in this composer’s anniversary year: Piano Concerto No. 3. The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Olari Elts also present a work by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, who many regard as the world’s greatest living composer, in his moving tribute to Benjamin Britten, Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, and will end with Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony (24 May, 7.30pm).
Further highlights
The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra makes its inaugural visit to Cadogan Hall with conductor Osmo Vänskä to perform works by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Unsuk Chin. Sunwook Kim,the winner of the 2006 prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition,is the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s romantic Piano Concerto No.1. The Orchestra also presents the dazzlingly original musical mind behind the opera Alice in Wonderland with a performance of Unsuk Chin’s poetic Frontispiece for orchestra, before performing what many consider the ultimate fairy-tale ballet score, Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite (27 October, 7.30pm).
After a very successful UK tour just before the pandemic, the Swedish Philharmonia (also performing as Gävle Symphony Orchestra) will return to the UK with conductor Jaime Martin and virtuosic Serbian-French violinist Nemanja Radulović, who will perform his interpretation of Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto. The concert will open with Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and will be brought to a close with a performance of Sibelius’ majestic Symphony No. 2 (24 March, 7.30pm).
Tickets on sale now.