Thursday, 17 February 2011 16:18

It was a somewhat daring venture, but it proved to be captivating beyond all expectations. Introduced to the public in the Festival Tent in Gstaad on 13 August 2010, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra immediately touched the hearts of the listeners and then confirmed its role as the leading ambassador for the festival on an extended concert tour in Germany that took it to the Rheingau Festival, the Mecklenburg Festspiele, and to Dresden, Bregenz and Munich under the direction of Maxim Vengerov. The schedule is even more substantial in 2011 with two very contrasting programmes under the direction of Kristjan Järvi that will be performed in Gstaad on 12 and 13 August as well as in France, Liechtenstein and Germany.

During the 2011/12 season Estonian-American conductor Kristjan Järvi will lead the ensemble with programmes that he has shaped to transcend stylistic barriers. The collaboration between Maxim Vengerov and Kristjan Järvi, two truly unique musical personalities, assures the Gstaad Festival Orchestra a sharply delineated artistic profile.

On 12 August 2011 the GFO is scheduled to perform an exceptional concert with American soprano Renée Fleming with a programme headlined by Broadway. One day later the character changes with Renaud Capuçon performing Korngold’s violin concerto as well as with the Swiss premiere of John Corigliano’s “Conjurer” concerto with young Austrian star Martin Grubinger. The orchestra will be performing before that at the Saint-Denis Festival near Paris and in Herrenchimsee, later it will be guest at the festival in Chaise-Dieu in the heart of France on 18 August, and in January 2012 it will perform at the Meisterkonzert in Vaduz (Liechtenstein) and the Philharmonie am Gasteig in Munich.

Monday, 16 August 2010 18:34

There is always a certain amount of uncertainty with regard to a birth. The birth of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra was truly dazzling – the best omen for the concert tour in autumn that will take the orchestra to some of Germany’s most prestigious concert halls.