On 17 September 2021, LGT Young Soloists will give the world premiere of a new symphony from Philip Glass at the Royal College of Music. The commission marks 100 Years of the private bank LGT, sponsors of the LGT Young Soloists. The concert will also feature a second new commission from the Russian-Canadian composer, Airat Ichmouratov.
Philip Glass composed his Symphony No. 14 Liechtenstein especially for this event with the work scored for string orchestra. Alongside the premiere of Glass’s Symphony, the LGT Young Soloists will also perform Airat Ichmouratov’s virtuosic masterpiece Concerto Grosso Liechtenstein. Glass’s Symphony has also been recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios for commercial release later this year on Philip Glass’s own label Orange Mountain Music.
The LGT Young Soloists range from 14 to 23 years of age and come from over 15 countries from Columbia to Australia to work together under the guidance of Artistic Director Alexander Gilman, who is also a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music.
The LGT Young Soloists work together as a string orchestra, gaining valuable experience through their international performances at some of the world’s most renowned concert halls including Berlin’s Philharmonie, the Tonhalle Zurich and Vienna’s Musikverein among many others. LGT Young Soloists are also the first youth orchestra worldwide to have recorded albums with RCA Red Seal (Sony). Their latest album – Beethoven RECOMPOSED – released on the Naxos label topped the Apple Music Video Classical Charts in more than 40 countries.
Artistic Director of LGT Young Soloists Alexander Gilman said: ‘I had asked Philip Glass for a youthful, virtuoso work tailored to our ensemble. It was also important to me that every instrument group should have a solo part. For the recording, we combined this new symphony with Glass’s Tirol Concerto for piano and orchestra with pianist Martin James Bartlett who won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award. The work written for the LGTYS by Airat Ichmouratov is also entitled Liechtenstein and is a fiery, highly virtuosic work with a distinct filmic element, and might be one of the most difficult works ever written for a string ensemble. Both works are stylistically very different, but both evoke the beauty of Liechtenstein’s natural landscape. In addition to the London concert, we will also present both works in concerts at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Musikverein and Hamburg Elbphilharmonie across the Autumn.’
LGT is a private bank that has been owned by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein for over 90 years and has a great deal of experience in managing family assets.
As part of its commitment to society at large, LGT provides support for art and culture as well as selected sports. Art and top-level sport are imbued with values that are also important to LGT: discipline, skill and innovative thinking.
Over the centuries the Princely Family of Liechtenstein was always in close contact with the music world. Princess Maria Josepha Hermenegilde of Liechtenstein (1786-1845) was a great patron of Joseph Haydn, who composed five masses for her, while Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote an extraordinary wind serenade for another royal figure from Liechtenstein, Prince Alois I (1759-1805).
Since 2013 this long tradition of culture sponsoring continues with the LGT Young Soloists. Through their commitment they offer young artists a unique environment where they can further develop their skills.