Buscador de artículos | Leopold Tobisch

Five hours of repetitive music on a Sunday evening may be a hellish way for some to end the week; fortunately, I belong in the second category. A concert series named “Steve Reich Unlimited” therefore required no further selling points.

Philip Glass performs his music to the film Dracula, alongside the Kronos Quartet at the Philharmonie de Paris.

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker's Counter Phrases at the Philharmonie 2 in Paris.

Max Richter's rethinking of Vivaldi impresses at the Paris Philharmonie. 

Fazıl Say plays at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.

Laurie Anderson takes us on a dizzying journey in her weirdly wonderful Landfall, performed with the Kronos Quartet.

A virtuosic performance from Nemanja Radulović of Paganini was the highlight of Fabien Gabel's concert with the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France.

Leopold Tobisch's future expectations have been raised to a dizzying high by Kristjan Järvi and the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic at the Theatre des Champs Elysées.

Jean Rondeau is now taking the French radio and concert halls by storm, quickly making a name for himself and his mastery of the harpsichord. 

Paris and accordions have a very unique relationship, almost “Marmite” in nature: tourists love it, locals hate it.

The Silk Road Ensemble is not one musical tradition, not one culture, but rather one single point where a multitude of cultures and musical heritages are united and combined. 

A rich variety of works by Steve Reich form an enthralling concert from Kristjan Järvi and the MDR Rundfunk orchestra at the Salle Pleyel.

Péter Eötvös conducts the WDR choir and the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Stockhausen at the Cité de la Musique.

Part of a festival exploring technological innovations moving “beyond” the piano, Aufgang and Brandt Brauer Frick presented an evening of music in Paris that didn’t reinvent the instrument in quite the expected way.

Under the artistic and musical direction of Olivier Py and Philippe Jordan, Verdi’s opera has ignited a veritable storm of both fervent criticism and ardent defence.

Bang on a Can All-Stars are by no means small fish in a big pond. Their work within the world of minimalist and contemporary music, as well as their collaboration with some of the biggest names in 20th-century music, has made of them today a name respected by any fan of John Cage, Steve Reich, Terry Riley or Brian Eno (to name but a few of the best).

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” These wise words have fortunately not fallen on deaf ears at the Opéra de Paris, who have brought back their production of Leoš Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski and designed by Małgorzata Szczęśniak, first presented in Paris back in 2007.

Writing a positive review is not an easy task. When confronted with something lacking error, a review can go one of two ways: a brief and simple praise of all involved and a summary of the evening, or an over-the-top full-blown confession of awe and admiration. Spoiler alert: this review is the latter.

Whilst a celebratory centenary performance of Stravinsky’s masterful The Rite of Spring has already been planned next month on the very evening of the work’s première, another performance of the work has recently captured the imagination of Paris’ music and dance aficionados: Stravinsky en mode hip hop (“Stravinsky, hip-hop style”).

Bach’s Passion according to St John the Evangelist is not an easy work. Whilst saying I am a “fan” of Bach is one of the greatest understatements possible, this Passion is nonetheless an intense work for any concert-goer (seasoned or amateur) including myself. Over two hours in length, it is a test on both the audience and, quite obviously, the performers.

The opening of Henri Dutilleux’s Symphony no. 1, with its distinctive pizzicato opening full of tension and curiosity, opened the concert not with a bang but rather a seductive lure.

The Salle Pleyel’s programmatic dichotomy between “memory” and “creation” continually seeks to promote the more established names in classical music, whilst also shedding light on lesser-known repertoires from all musical epochs.

It is said that whilst developing a successful career as a violinist, the young Emmanuel Krivine was advised by the distinguished conductor Karl Böhm to further pursue his passion for conducting. Thankfully, Krivine took heed of such advice, or we would not today have what is undoubtedly one of Europe’s finest conductors.

The packed hall at the Opéra de Bastille was in for a particularly interesting evening as they arrived for the Opéra National de Paris’ newest production of Bizet’s Carmen. This is an important event that brings out both the regular opera-goers and Carmen lovers, and those curious enough to buy a ticket to see the company’s latest creation.

Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart: four insurmountable composers, each a titan of classical music in his own right. Every one of these composers would normally dominate a position of focus in a classical concert programme. It is rare, therefore, to see these composers side by side in a concert, simply due to a need for variety and not a heavy-handed evening filled with canonical works.

Puccini’s Tosca is no stranger to the stages of Paris. With almost 300 performances of this opera to date at the Opéra National de Paris, Tosca has become, alongside Mozart’s Le Nozze de Figaro and Bizet’s Carmen, a staple of Paris’ opera houses.However, such popularity opens up challenges.

As I made my way to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, a mass of photographers and guests dressed in their evening best waited eagerly by the front doors. Alas, this reception was not for me, but rather for the Prince and Princess of Belgium, the evening’s guests and the very reason behind the concert.

From time to time, audiences are presented with what I consider to be a rare event, a “dream” performer: one so convincing in his or her role that they become an ideal, establishing a standard to which all following interpretations will inevitably be compared – for example, Jacqueline du Pré’s interpretation of Elgar’s Cello Concerto has become a timeless benchmark.