Kirill Gerstein: THOMAS ADÈS 50th BIRTHDAY CONCERT
London Symphony Orchestra YouTube stream
Sunday 28 March, 7pm GMT
Available on demand for 90 days
“I feel like I don’t have any anxiety,” Mr. Adès said. “Kirill seems to absorb it, and it speaks through him. It’s nice not to have any worry.” The New York Times
On Sunday 28 March, the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) will stream its Thomas Adès 50th Birthday Concert featuring the composer conducting his own In Seven Days for piano and orchestra with Kirill Gerstein as soloist. Originally scheduled to be performed at the Barbican, the concert will be recorded on 6 March at LSO St Luke’s with Gerstein flying in especially from Berlin so as to celebrate the birthday of his close friend and colleague. The free stream, also featuring Adès conducting the LSO in Sibelius’s Sixth Symphony, will be available on demand for 90 days on the Orchestra’s YouTube channel.
Gerstein and Adès have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship stretching back over a decade. They have worked together as soloist and conductor, as duet partners, and most recently as composer and dedicatee when the pair premièred Adès’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in March 2019. Captured live for Deutsche Grammophon’s February 2020 release together with Adès’s Totentanz, the genesis of the Piano Concerto dates back to 2012 when Gerstein and Adès performed In Seven Days also with the Boston Symphony. Together with Gerstein’s own release on myrios classics last June of music by and performed with the composer, the DG release has garnered an impressive series of accolades including a 2020 Gramophone Award and nominations in three categories at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards, the winners of which will be announced on 14 March.
Two days prior to the recording of the birthday concert – on Thursday 4 March (tomorrow) – Kirill Gerstein will be a guest for the second time this season at the Wigmore Hall where he will perform a Fantasie-themed concert featuring music by Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin & Schubert. The concert will be streamed live in HD on the Wigmore Hall’s website and YouTube, and be available on demand for 30 days.
Ades’s conviction for Sibelius is confirmed by his extraordinary but wise choice of performing the wondrous Sixth Symphony, a Beecham favourite.
This attention to Sibelius is not new either. He seems to have had a positive view for decades now and good for him. Can’t wait to tune in.