Fascinating insights of The Great German Masters
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie
Rheinland-Pfalz
Rheinland-Pfalz
Dubai, UAE
According to many scholars, the theme used by Johannes Brahms in his ‘Variations on a Theme by Haydn’ does not fit the Austrian composer’s style. However, Brahms attributed the so-called Chorale St. Antoni to Joseph Haydn and used it as an inspiration to show his own mastery of form and give himself the opportunity to experiment with symphonic structures.
Alexey Shor’s Concerto for violin and orchestra ‘Phantasms’ is a spectacular, melodious bravura piece that gives an insight into why Shor’s compositions are appreciated by top orchestras and famous soloists from all over the world. Inspired by half-conscious mirages and daydreaming, he first turns to the Charites, ancient Greek goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, creativity and fertility that are better known under their Latin name, “gratiae”, in ‘The Graces’. For the work’s second movement ‘Elegy’, Shor evokes feelings of sadness and loss, while in ‘Flight of a Falcon’ he virtuosically describes the velocity of the fastest animal on earth. The USA’s Stella Chen is the soloist for ‘Phantasms’, bringing her incredible technical skill, sublime musicality and wide-ranging experience to the concert’s proceedings.
The four-note opening motif of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 is, without a doubt, one of the most famous musical sequences on the planet and known even to those who may not be particularly familiar with classical music. Musicians and conductors devoted to historically informed performance practice have decisively contributed to finding a more authentic approach to the way in which works of the repertoire were originally conceived and played. However, artists of the past also were driven by the desire to perform the music by composers they admired and follow as closely as possible the original intentions of those who created them.
In that context, Gustav Mahler, one of the most influential conductors of his time, and an ingenious composer himself, felt the need to make several adjustments in order to adapt Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 to the growing orchestras and concert halls of the ‘Belle Époque’. Listening to Mahler’s version of Ludwig van Beethoven’s music provides fascinating insights into the performance practice of Mahler’s time, and is a rewarding experience in itself.
Michael Francis conducts the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz for this special concert of works by both the great German composers of the past as well as contemporary composer Alexey Shor, providing an interesting and thought-provoking view of approaches to compositional and revisionist practice throughout the centuries.
STELLA CHEN
Michael Francis has quickly established himself as one of the leading international conductors of today. With the start of the 2019-20 season, Francis begins his tenure as Chief Conductor of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Appointed Music Director of the Florida Orchestra in the fall of 2014, he is now entering his fifth season with a contract extension through the 2023-24 season. His role in building a wide variety of transformative community engagement initiatives has significantly grown the organization. Since 2014 as Music Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, California with a contract renewal through the summer of 2023, he continues his ambitious multi-year exploration of Mozart’s life. He was Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra from 2012-16.
For the 2019-20 season, upcoming engagements include a debut with the Detroit Symphony for their season opening, as well as return performances with the Indianapolis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic, Philharmonia, MDR Leipzig, RSB Berlin and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken.
Previous and upcoming highlights include North American performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Rochester Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Pacific, Montreal, Toronto and National Arts Centre (Ottawa). In Europe, he has conducted the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE Madrid, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Scottish Symphony. In Asia, Maestro Francis has worked with the NHK Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan as well as the philharmonic orchestras of Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Seoul.
Michael Francis has collaborated with notable soloists such as Lang Lang, Arcadi Volodos, Itzhak Perlman, Christian Tetzlaff, Vadim Gluzman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Nicola Benedetti, Javier Perianes, Jamie Barton, Truls Mørk, Håkan Hardenberger, Maximilian Hornung, Miloš, Benjamin Grosvenor, Emanuel Ax, Ian Bostridge, James Ehnes, Sting, Rufus Wainwright and many others.
Educational outreach with young musicians is of utmost priority for Maestro Francis. He returns to the National Youth Orchestra of Canada during the summer of 2020, having conducted their Spanish tour in 2019. He has also frequently conducted Miami’s New World Symphony and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Francis works on a regular basis with young musicians in Florida as part of the orchestra's community engagement initiative.
Francis’ discography includes the Rachmaninov piano concertos with Valentina Lisitsa and the London Symphony Orchestra, Wolfgang Rihm’s Lichtes Spiel with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the New York Philharmonic, and the Ravel & Gershwin piano concertos with Ian Parker.
A former double-bass player in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), Michael Francis came to prominence as a conductor in January of 2007 stepping in for Valery Gergiev and John Adams with the LSO.
Francis makes his home in Tampa, FL with his wife Cindy and four-year-old daughter Annabella.
"Lauded for her “phenomenal maturity” and “fresh and spontaneous, yet emotionally profound and intellectually well-structured performance” (Jerusalem Post), American violinist Stella Chen has been bursting onto the world stage following her first prize win at the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition. In the last year alone, Stella was named a recipient of a prestigious 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award.
Concerto highlights for Stella in the upcoming season include appearances with the Chicago Symphony, Hangzhou Philharmonic, and her Lincoln Center concerto debut with the Juilliard Orchestra featuring the U.S. premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Concerto No. 2, conducted by the composer. In her most recent season, Stella had debuts with the Belgian National Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, the Luxembourg Philharmonia, and many others. She also made first appearances at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Ravinia, and Kronberg Academy Festivals, and performed throughout Europe, East Asia, and India, including a concert tour of South Korea.
Stella’s approach to music-making is fundamentally guided by the concept of exploration: deep-diving into the works she performs, looking into interpersonal and collaborative approaches, and seeking opportunities for cross-cultural exchange. This perspective guides such projects as her ongoing investigation of Schubert’s Fantasie for Piano and Violin, a phenomenal example of vulnerability, sincerity, and humanity in music.
Her dedication to this perspective manifests as well in her many treasured collaborations with phenomenal artists. Collaborative partners have included extraordinary musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Robert Levin, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Stéphane Denève, Matthew Lipman, and the Silk Road Ensemble. She has appeared as a chamber musician in festivals including the Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, the Sarasota Festival, and YellowBarn. She is a member of the Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center starting in the 2021-2022 season.
Stella enjoys the privilege of cross-cultural exchange through performances and educational experiences. She and colleagues at Harvard University represented Western classical music at the first Bhutan International Festival, a multicultural celebration of the arts on the occasion of the 35th birthday of the King of Bhutan. She was also a part of the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute trip to Cuba and participated in performances at the Festival de Música de Cámara as well as opportunities to interact with young Cuban musicians in an educational capacity. With the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Stella visited Jordan and Israel on a tour that she considers very important to her musical and personal growth.
Stella believes in the importance of cultivating an appreciation for classical music among the younger generations, and as such devotes time and energy to teaching. To this end, Stella has worked with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and serves as a teaching assistant for her longtime mentor Li Lin at the Juilliard School.
She is the first recipient of the Robert Levin Award from Harvard University, the top prize winner of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition and youngest ever prize winner of the Menuhin Competition. She has given solo performances at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, WQXR’s Greene Space, Rockefeller University, and on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago. Other concerto appearances include those with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín, London Chamber Orchestra, and Welsh National Symphony Orchestra.
A graduate of the Harvard/New England Conservatory Dual Degree Program, Stella received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with honors from Harvard University and a Master of Music from NEC. Stella is currently finishing up her studies as C.V. Starr doctoral candidate at the Juilliard School, writing her dissertation on one of her favorite pieces of music, Schubert’s Fantasie for Piano and Violin. She is a professional studies candidate at Kronberg Academy. Teachers and mentors include Mihaela Martin, Li Lin, Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, and Miriam Fried. She plays the ‘Huggins’ 1708 Stradivarius violin, generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
In her free time, Stella loves figure skating and is a big fan of NCT and all of its sub-groups.
In the shadow of the First World War, committed citizens in Landau met in September 1919 to decide on the formation of a travelling state symphony orchestra. After the founding concert on 15 February 1920, the orchestra set out on an initial concert tour through the Palatinate and Saarland. This was the start of the history of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, which in the meantime can look back on a more than 100-year tradition.
Even in the initial years the orchestra attracted transregional attention under the conducting of Richard Strauss and Hermann Abendroth. Principal conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach and Leif Segerstam, today honorary conductors, helped the orchestra to achieve international recognition. Michael Francis, who is also principal conductor of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz this season, will provide considerable fresh impetus and thus continue the orchestra’s tradition.
As an orchestra without a permanent domicile, providing the federal state with symphonic music is the most important task of the State Philharmonic Orchestra. It brings the music to the people with over 100 concerts per season. Guest performances at home and abroad as well as collaboration with internationally renowned conductors and soloists bears witness to the excellent reputation that the orchestra enjoys. Arrangement and family formats enhance the offer for young people. Even the very youngest are introduced to the world of classical music with visits to rehearsals and concerts for children. Regular concert recordings by SWR (“Southwest Broadcasting”) and Deutschlandfunk Kultur (German World Radio Service, Cultural Programming) as well as numerous CD productions round off the State Philharmonic Orchestra’s diverse range of activities.
Not only wanderlust and awakening characterise the orchestra in geographical terms. The State Philharmonic Orchestra also repeatedly hits the road in the figurative sense. As far as the orchestra is concerned, brining music to people not only means being on site, but also reaching people directly. So 101 years after formation the orchestra is also an integral part of cultural life, and more than ever a cultural beacon for the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and beyond.
