São Paulo Symphony and Marin Alsop dazzle at the Southbank Centre

By Jonathan Russell, 28 October 2013

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Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 25 October 2013

Berio, Sinfonia for Eight Solo Voices and Orchestra

Bernstein, West Side Story: Symphonic Dances

Guarnieri, Symphony no. 4 "Brasilia"

São Paulo Symphony Orchestra

Marin Alsop, Conductor

The Swingle Singers

Prom 51: Passion and Brazilian flair from Alsop and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra

Mark Thomas, 24th August

In true Olympian spirit, Marin Alsop and her São Paulo Symphony Orchestra dived head first into the drama of Brazilian music, with luxurious Rachmaninov and Gabriela Montero freely expressive in Grieg.

****1

Epic Shostakovich 5 from Alsop and the São Paulo SO

David Smythe, 22nd August

Marin Alsop nods to her mentor in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, challenges the Edinburgh Festival Chorus with Villa-Lobos' Chôros 10 and astonishes in a passionate enduring performance of Shostakovich's Fifth.

****1

Colours, dreams and seascapes in São Paulo

Ivan Chiarelli, 5th December

Celso Antunes and Bertrand Chamayou present the evocative music of Debussy, Scriabin and Takemitsu with the São Paulo State Orchestra.

****1

Volmer/ OSESP present Sibelius, Adams and Beethoven

Ivan Chiarelli, 15th August

In a program conceived by composer and conductor John Adams, Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite, Adams’ own Absolute Jest and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 sounded in sympathetic resonance with Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England.

****1

Literary influences in music in São Paulo

Ivan Chiarelli, 8th August

Jaime Martín conducts Antoine Tamestit and the OSESP in a night of literary inspired music by Berlioz, Turina and De Falla.

***11

Tito Muñoz, Julian Bliss in São Paulo

Ivan Chiarelli, 6th June

Directed by guest conductor Tito Muñoz, the São Paulo State Orchestra (OSESP) performed a programme centered around the different conceptions of contrast, with music by Takemitsu, Beethoven and Nielsen.

***11

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Jonathan Russell

Jonathan Russell is a London-based composer, clarinetist, conductor, and educator, active in music ranging from classical to contemporary to klezmer. He is a member of the Edmund Welles bass clarinet quartet and the Sqwonk bass clarinet duo, and co-founded San Francisco’s Switchboard Music Festival. He holds degrees from Harvard University and San Francisco Conservatory, and is a PhD Candidate at Princeton University.