In this section I will bring you up to date about James Conlon, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and other musicians.
January 2002
Alexei Ogrintchouk, 23 years old and first hobo player of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra has won two prices at the ninth “Victoires de La Musique Classique”. In the final round of this famous French concourse, which could be watched live in France and Italy, the jurors awarded him with the price for the most promising young foreign musician, the so called “Prix de Révélation Artiste Etrange”. The price was presented to him by the French Minister of Culture. February 2002 The brochure for next seasons concerts of the Rotterdam Philharmonic is ready! Next month you can enjoy this brochure wich will read like a magazine. Besides a list of all concerts, there will be interviews, articles and lots of pictures. Conlon will not renew his contract at the Paris Opera Searching the internet I found this press release for you: March 2002 First conductor, Valery Gergiev, will only give six concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic during next season. Naturally he will give additional concerts at the "Gergiev Festival". General Manager Rob Overmans and Musical Director Asadour Santourian are disappointed but they say it is an improvement, compared to previous years.
After that more than 20.000 listeners voted for their favourite performer by phone, by fax and by e-mail. Alexei Ogrintchouk got the majority of the votes. His reaction afterwards was: I can’t believe it. Especially the award from the public. So many votes in half an hour from the French. It means very much to me!
So don't miss it and surf to the official website of the orchestra or call +31-10-2171707. The brochure will be released March the first.
The Opera de Bastille in Paris
James Conlon, the American music director of the Opera National de Paris has recently announced that he will not extend his contract which is due to expire in 2004. Mr. Conlon, now 51 years old, has been conducting at the Paris Opera since 1995. His tenure has seen him personally conduct more than 230 performances of 20 operas. Conlon explained that “It will be time both for me, and for the Paris Opera, to look forward to something new”.
The Rotterdam Philharmonic knows it’s the best they can do. Although the staff would like to see more of their famous front man, they accept the situation as it is. In total Gergiev will be with the orchestra for eleven weeks, this includes the Gergiev Festival and international tours like the one to the United States.
The orchestra’s staff is also very pleased to have scheduled concerts with famous conductors like Hans Vonk and Edo de Waart.
Next season will see the return and the beginning of a few projects, such as the “Orchestra of the Future” The policy will be to create a group of young guest conductors that will perform with the orchestra on a regular basis. This group is likely to include Daniel Harding, Antonio Pappano and Marcus Steins.
Besides the Gergiev Festival there will be a festival with Charlie Chaplin movies, in which the RPHO will play the original music. There will also be a Beethoven Festival, a reconstruction of Beethoven’s own concert in 1808 where several symphonies and piano concertos were played at one evening. Last but not least 2002-2003 will be the start of the Festival of Rotterdam music.
