UMS Concert Program, October 27, 1983: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- English Chamber Orchestra

Season: 105th
Concert: Ninth
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
English Chamber Orchestra
SIR CHARLES MACKERRAS
and
ANTHONY HALSTEAD Conductors
GIDON KREMER, Violinist
Thursday Evening, October 27, 1983, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM Overture, L'ltaliana in Algeri (Italian Girl in Algiers).................. Rossini
Concerto in D major, Op. 61, for Violin and Orchestra........... Beethoven
Allegro ma iron troppo Larghetto
Rondo: allegro
GlIJON KUEMEU
INTERMISSION Concertino for Chamber Orchestra..................... Anthony Halstead
Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major ("Drumroll").....................Haydn
Adagio, allegro con spirito Andante
Mcnuctto, Trio Allegro con spirito
HMV, Decca, Philips, Vanguard, Oiseau-Lyre, Lyrita, Deutsche Grammophon, CBS, EMU Angel, Erato, and Turnabout Records.
Merrill Lynch Pierce Fetiner & Smith has generously provided fiinds to defray the printing costs of this concert program and those that follow in the 1983-84 Choral Union Series.
The next concert in this series, Tuesday, November 1, is J. S. Bach's "Passion According to St. John," to be performed without intermission by the Gaechinger Kantorei of Stuttgart, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and soloists, Helnuith Rilling, conductor.
Ninth Concert of the 105th Season 105th Annual Choral Union Series
About the Artists
Since its founding in 1960, the English Chamber Orchestra has built and maintained an international reputation as one of the world's most distinguished ensembles. It has given per?formances around the globe, and in the last year alone toured in no less than twelve countries. At home, the Orchestra performs at major festivals, presents chamber orchestra concerts in the London Symphony Orchestra's subscription series at the Barbican Centre, and gives some twenty concerts each season on London's South Bank. The Orchestra has taken part in numerous musical cruises in the Caribbean with participating artists such as Maurice Andre, James Galway, Gidon Kremer, and Yo-Yo Ma. The English Chamber Orchestra has attracted many of the world's finest soloists, and is closely associated with Vladimir Ashkenazy (who appeared in Ann Arbor with the ECO in 1978), Janet Baker, Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer, Raymond Leppard, Murray Perahia, Maurizio Pollini, Itzhak Perlman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, and Pinchas Zukerman. Composer Benjamin Britten made the English Chamber Orchestra his "resident orchestra" at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1961, and used it over the years, until his death in 1976, for the premieres of many of his orchestral works and operas. The Orchestra appears frequently on European television and radio, and its reputation in the recording field is unrivaled. In 1981 the Orchestra played for a very special occasion -the wedding of its Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales, at St. Paul's Cathedral.
Sir Charles Mackerras was born in Schenectady, New York, but grew up in Australia. He studied oboe and composition at the Sydney Conservatorium, and in 1947 went to Europe and won a British Council Scholarship to study conducting with Vaclav Talish in Prague. He has made history as the first Australian to be appointed Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and is now in his second season in that post. The maestro maintains a demanding international opera, concert, and recording schedule. In addition to concerts in the United States with the English Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles has conducted the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York. He has also appeared at the Metropolitan, San Francisco, and Houston opera companies, among others. For eight years, until 1977, he was Musical Director of the English National Opera, and from 1976 to 1979 he was Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he is always in great demand to appear with leading European orchestras. His opera recordings have won many awards, notably the series of Janacek operas, of which the final recording, Jenufa, will be released this year. For his outstanding contributions to the world of music, he has been honored with a "Commander of the British Empire" and a knighthood in 1979.
Anthony Halstead, whose new work is heard on tonight's program, was bom in 1945 in Salford, Manchester. In addition to composing and conducting, he is an experienced horn player, organist, and harpsichordist. He has been a member of the horn section of the Bournemouth and London Symphony Orchestras, and played principal horn with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Since he became principal horn of the English Chamber Orchestra in 1972, he has performed as soloist in major cities all over the world. He regularly plays continuo with the ECO and has conducted the Orchestra in the established chamber repertoire as well as his own compositions. Mr. Halstead has also directed concerts and broadcasts by the ECO Wind Ensemble, the Philipjones Brass Ensemble, and the London Sinfonietta.
Gidon Kremer's career as a recitalist and orchestral soloist has encompassed the entire world. He has participated in major international festivals and, as a soloist, he has performed with virtually every major orchestra, affording him the opportunity to work with such conductors as Bernstein, von Karajan, Giulini, Jochum, Previn, Abbado, Lcvine, Ormandy, and Maazel. His recording career has been astonishingly active: to date, he has produced more than 25 albums of wide-ranging repertoire, garnering both the Grand Prix du Disque and the Deutsche Shallplattenpreis awards.
Mr. Kremer was born in 1947 in Riga, Latvia, and began studying the violin at the age of four with his father and grandfather. At seven, he entered the Riga School of Music and at sixteen won the First Prize of the Latvian Republic. During his eight years of apprenticeship to famed violinist David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory, Mr. Kremer was a prize winner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, and won First Prize in the Fourth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1970.
Maestros Mackerras and Halstead make their Ann Arbor debuts this evening; the ECO first performe'd here in 1978, and Mr. Kremer returns after his May Festival appearance earlier this year.
The Orchestra's current tour is made possible by a grant from Texaco Ltd.
The Soviet Emigre Orchestra
Next week, Wednesday, November 2, at 8:00 in the Power Center, with its new acoustical shell
LazarGosman directs Britten's Simple Symphony, Prokofiev's Visions fugitives. Barber's Adagio for Strings, and Dvorak's Serenade for Strings in E major.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1270 Phones: (313) 665-3717, 764-2538