PROGRAMME

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E‑flat major K. 364
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.9 in E‑flat major K. 272
Mozart: Symphony No.41 in C major K 550 ​‘Jupiter’

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet Piano / Director
Alexander Sitkovetksy Violin / Director
Timothy Ridout Viola
Caroline Pether Leader / Director

Tickets: £10 or pay what you feel (Pay the price that works for you. But when choosing your price please consider the number of people who might be watching with you). 

This is the second of three concerts with Manchester Camerata on Virtual Circle.

These concerts take place at Manchester’s stunning Stoller Hall, part of Chetham’s School of Music, which are both partners for the Mozart cycle alongside Chandos Records. 

From the director, Rimas Tuminas:

“I wished to break the stereotypes. While working on the production of ​“Eugene Onegin” I was searching for a symphony of meanings, trying to approach the emotional and musical harmony of the novel. At the same time, it was extremely important to avoid exaggerated sensibility.

Eugene Onegin is the Light and the Beauty. In general, the Theatre is a territory of Peace and its Mission is to bring harmony in this world with love. It’s the meaning of Art to expand ethical values, virtue and to attempt to make the world brighter.”

Watch the trailer here

Total run time: 3 hours (no interval)
Tickets: £10 and Pay What You Feel (Pay the price that works for you. But when choosing your price please consider the number of people who might be watching with you). 
In Russian with English subtitles

Cast:
Eugene Onegin: Sergey Makovetsky
Eugene Onegin: Victor Dobronravov
Retired Hussar: Artur Ivanov
Vladimir Lensky: Oleg Makarov
Vladimir Lensky: Vasily Simonov
Tatyana Larina: Olga Lerman
​‘Tatyana’s Dream’: Irina Kupchenko
Olga Larina: Maria Volkova
Wanderer: Ekaterina Kramzina
Nanny, Dancing master: Lyudmila Maksakova
Tutor of the dancing classes: Pavel Tekheda Kardenas
Girls the dancing class: Anna Antonova, Olga Borovskaya, Natalia Vinokurova, Adelina Gizatullina, Ekaterina Simonova, Yana Sobolevskaya, Alexandra Streltsina, and Maria Shastina
Anisya, housekeeper: Anna Antonova
Larins couple: Alexei Kuznetsov and Elena Melnikova
Neighbours of Larins: Yury Kraskov, Valery Ushakov, and Artem Parkhomenko
Ulan: Nikolay Romanovsky
​‘Bunny’: Maria Berdinskikh
Moscow cousin: Elena Sotnikova
Cousin: Liubov Korneva
Prince: Yury Shlykov

Performance of Nico Muhly´s Shrink, Concerto for Violin and Strings, live recorded in Universitetets Aula, Oslo, March 2019.

Performers:
Pekka Kuusisto, violin
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

Violinist and Artistic Director Pekka Kuusisto together with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra present the European premiere performance of acclaimed New York composer Nico Muhly’s violin concerto, Shrink, a work written especially for Kuusisto.

Muhly is one of today’s most celebrated classical composers with works spanning instrumental, orchestral and choral music, to film music and opera, being the youngest composer ever commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.

His concerto for violin and strings, Shrink, was co-commissioned by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The Concerto is dedicated to Pekka Kuusisto and received its European premiere in this concert in Oslo, March 2019.

Muhly writes about the work:

​“Shrink (Concerto for Violin and Strings) is in three movements. Each movement obsesses over certain intervals: the first, ninths; the second, sevenths; and the final, a tiny set of anxious intervals between unisons and fourths. The overall structure suggests an intensifying focus on these small building-blocks, a process that is reflected in the speed of each movement. The first proceeds quickly, becomes aggressive, and dissolves into small fragments. The second movement is slow and taut, with a looped sequence of chords whose character becomes increasingly thick and heavy. The last movement is fast, nervous, and scattered, with occasional giant unisons coming in and out of focus.”

Tickets: £5 standard, or £6 ticket bundle (limited special offer for first 150 ticket buyers, then increases to £8) includes digitally signed album cover NFT and 25% album discount code
Time: 19:00 BST (available in a range of timezones)
Length: approx 30 minutes (includes an interview with Pekka)

During the Spring and Autumn Period in ancient China, Minister Zhao Dun and General Tu’an Gu were two of Duke Ling’s most influential subordinates. Tu’an set up a poisonous scheme and Zhao’s entire family is destroyed. Only Zhao’s daughter-in-law, Princess Zhuang Ji, is left to give birth to a son. The Princess instructs Cheng Ying, a physician, to bring the child to Gongsun Chujiu, a friend of the Zhao family, before Tu’an orders to kill the newborn infant. When Tu’an Gu learns that the orphan had escaped, he issues an order to kill all newborn babies in the city. With no other option, Cheng Ying and Gongsun made a plan to save babies in the state and Zhao’s orphan by sacrificing Cheng Ying’s own newborn son and Gongsun’s life…

Sacrifice is a classic Peking opera title adapted from The Orphan of Zhao, the first Chinese opera to become known in Europe. On 8 of September 1947, the legendary Chinese opera diva Meng Xiaodong performed Sacrifice in the Great Theatre of China. This was the last performance of the ​“Empress” Meng, and the performance has been hailed as a miracle in the history of Peking Opera and even in the history of Chinese theatre. 71 years later, the contemporary Peking Opera master Wang Peiyu, who is also known as the ​“Little Empress”, performed the same play on the same stage, with the acting, singing and staging being identical to Meng’s performance.

The live recording of Wang’s Sacrifice not only focuses on the heritage and performance of this classic Peking opera in a new era, but also records the rehearsals and interviews with Wang Peiyu, the cultural figure of Peking opera in contemporary China, as well as Peking opera artists and masters. By unearthing, restoring, passing on and innovating the art of traditional Peking opera, the audience of today and even future generations will be able to see this elegant art form that transcends time and space in all its richness and diversity.

Running time: 1h 25mins
In Chinese with English subtitles
Broadcast date and time coming soon

Originally commissioned and produced by Hong Kong Repertory Theatre in 2009 and revived in 2016, Writing in Water follows the extraordinary journey of He Shi, who’s a Happyology instructor who doesn’t really believe what he teaches. By sheer chance, He Shi comes across a mysterious little girl when he’s about to inherit an old beach house from his late mother. Together with the little girl, He Shi embarks on a spiritual journey that enables him to experience life on a far more essential and rewarding level.

Directed by one of the most important directors in Chinese theatre, Stan Lai, with a cast featuring the renowned TV host He Jiong (Happy Camp) and Huang Yici who makes her stage debut in this production, Writing in Water is the first production of commercial Chinese theatre to be broadcast in cinemas worldwide. Captured for film by Serpent Productions (Les Miserables 25^th Anniversary Concert) from Theatre Above in Shanghai, Writing in Water received critically acclaimed reviews from the audience who were not able to see the live production, and could potentially transform the way that they experience the arts.

Running time: 1h 55mins
In Chinese with English subtitles
Broadcast date and time coming soon