Van Walsum Management is pleased to announce that Peter Savory has joined the company as Senior Manager, Projects and Tours. He replaces Roderick Thomson who will take up his new position as Director and Artist Manager at Hazard Chase from January 2009. 

Peter Savory completed his studies at Guildhall School of Music, where he studied trombone and piano. Most recently he was head of the orchestral tours & projects department at Intermusica, which he set up over 12 years ago. In the past years he has worked with many of the world's leading orchestras and festivals, and has a particular passion for Asia, including China where he has produced a number of significant orchestra visits.

Photo: Nicholas Ruel

Please join Van Walsum Management in congratulating Kent Nagano who receives the highly prestigious Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette decoration from the Consulate General of Japan on behalf of the Emperor, for his contribution ‘towards the promotion of musical exchange between Japan and United States, and towards development of musical culture of Japan’.

Photo: Frank Siteman

Benjamin Shwartz is Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. In summer 2008, Benjamin led the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra’s European tour during which the orchestra made its debut at the Berlin Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie, and Prague's opulent Smetana Hall to great acclaim: click here for a press summary. Over the next season Benjamin appears with the Iceland Symphony, Oregon Symphony, New World Symphony and conducts the Curtis Institute's production of Il viaggio a Reims, as well as maintaining his commitments in San Francisco.

Photo: Thomas Müller
The Borodin Quartet begins 2009 with a wide-ranging tour of North America with destinations to include Ottawa, New York, Pueto Rico, Los Angeles and Vancouver.  During the tour, the ensemble draws on its famed interpretations of quartets by Borodin, Shostakovich and Beethoven, as well as works by Stravinsky and Shebalin.

Photo: Delahaye Photographie
Laurent Pelly directs and designs costumes for a new production of Debussy’s only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, at the Theater an der Wien.  Laurent continues his collaboration with Natalie Dessay, who sings the role of Melisande, and the cast also includes Stéphane Degout as Pelléas and Laurent Naouri as Golaud.  The opera opens on 13 January and is accompanied by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bertrand de Billy.

Photo: Marco Borggreve
Viviane Hagner performed Penderecki’s Violin Concerto (accompanied by the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra) with the composer himself conducting as part of his 75th birthday celebrations in Warsaw.  She now travels to Switzerland to perform Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No 1 with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Philippe Jordan on 3 and 5 December, before returning to the Wigmore Hall on 10 December for a performance of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps on the occasion of his 100th anniversary.

Photo: David Thompson - EMI Classics
A regular in the International Piano Series, Stephen Kovacevich appears in recital at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 26 January 2009 performing Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, the work which he first recorded more than 40 years ago. The recital coincides with the release of Stephen’s new recording of the Diabelli Variations – his debut release on the Onyx label.

Photo: Kai Bienert
Frank Strobel and Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra go on tour to Switzerland to perform Shostakovich’s music to live screenings of Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 classic Battleship Potemkin.  Based on true events, the film tells of the 1905 mutiny on board Battleship Potemkin with Shostakovich’s rousing accompaniment drawing on material from his Symphonies Nos 10 and 11.  Screenings take place on 14, 15, 16 and 19 January in Bern, Basel, Lucerne and Zurich respectively.

Photo: Benjamin Ealovega
Javier Perianes performs Brahms’ Piano Concerto No 1 with the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España and Pablo Mielgo in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall and Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center, before returning to Europe to work with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Gordan Nikolich.  The series includes performances of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5 Emperor and Mahler’s Quartet for Piano and Strings at the Concertgebouw on 13 and 14 December.

Photo: Simon Butterworth
Sought-after as a guest conductor, Ilan Volkov starts the New Year satisfying re-invitations from the Orchestre de Paris and the Washington National Symphony Orchestra.  With performances at the Salle Pleyel on 7 January and at the Kennedy Center on 15, 16 and 17 January, Ilan continues to celebrate the music of the Russian masters, in particular Stravinsky, with repertoire for the Paris and Washington concerts to include Stravinsky’s Fairy’s Kiss (concert suite) and Jeu de Cartes, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 2 (with Kun Woo Paik) and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3 (with Leif Ove Andsnes).

Photo: Outi Montosen
Olli Mustonen travels to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw to conduct and direct the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic on 20 December; repertoire for the occasion includes Olli’s Triple Concerto for Three Violins as well as Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor.  Looking to the New Year, on 8, 9 and 10 January Olli performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 11 and Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques with the New York Philharmonic under Ludovic Morlot.

Photo: Sheila Rock
To kick off 2009 Semyon Bychkov joins the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for a mini-tour of England.  With concerts in Birmingham, Manchester and London on 6, 7 and 9 January, repertoire for the occasions includes Berio’s Sinfonia for 8 Voices and Orchestra and Strauss’ Alpine Symphony.  Semyon’s recent CD featuring Verdi’s Requiem continues to receive outstanding reviews; you can find these and lots more at www.semyonbychkov.com.

Photo: Marco Borggreve
After December performances of Handel’s Judas Maccabeus and Messiah in Japan, Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan start the New Year with a visit to the Canary Islands, presenting Bach’s St John Passion and a Handel programme including Dixit Dominus.

Photo: Guy Vivien
Francois-Frédéric Guy’s project to record the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos is in full swing.  Not only has his newly released Naïve disc (featuring Piano Concerto No 4 with Philippe Jordan and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Quintet for Piano and Wind) received Le Monde de la Musique’s ‘Choc’ award but also his recording of Concertos 1 & 5 has been awarded the magazine's prestigious ‘Choc de l’Année 2008’.  In December he returns to the studio to complete the cycle.

VWM Artists Ilan Volkov and Semyon Bychkov have both been recognised in the Times Online’s 20 best classical records of 2008.  Ilan for his Hyperion disc featuring Britten’s Piano Concerto, Diversions and Young Apollo with Steven Osborne and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Semyon, for his recording of Verdi’s Requiem with WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln released by Hänssler.  So if you’re looking for a good Christmas present, look no further! 

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