Esa-Pekka Salonen 

Esa-Pekka Salonen has a restless innovation that marks him as one of the most important artists in classical music. Salonen is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra and Conductor Laureate for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was Music Director from 1992 until 2009. Salonen's work combines intricacy and technical virtuosity with playful rhythmic and melodic innovations. His pieces for symphony orchestra include LA Variations (1996), Foreign Bodies (2001), Insomnia (2002), Wing on Wing (2004), and Nyx (2011), as well as two concertos: for pianist Yefim Bronfman and for violinist Leila Josefowicz. 

 

 

Salonen and the Philharmonia have curated landmark multi-disciplinary projects, such as the award-winning RE-RITE and Universe of Soundinstallations, which allow the public to conduct, play, and step inside the Philharmonia with Salonen through audio and video projections. Salonen also drove the development of an app for iPad, The Orchestra, which allows the user unprecedented access to the internal workings of eight symphonic works. 

 

 

Krystian Zimerman won the prestigious Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw at the age of eighteen and was catapulted to the forefront of the international circuit. He has worked with many great musicians including Artur Rubinstein, Leonard Bernstein, and Herbert von Karajan, all of whom were very influential in his career. Zimerman has a very meticulous attitude to recording and many of his discs have won major prizes, including the Gramophone Award, the Grand Prix du Disque and the Diapason D’Or. 

 

 

The Orchestra’s home is Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in the heart of London, where the Philharmonia has been resident since 1995 and presents a Season of over 50 performances each year. Orchestral programming is complemented by series including Philharmonia at the Movies, Music of Today, the Philharmonia Chamber Players and an Insights Talks programme.

 

 

Under Salonen and other key conductors, the Philharmonia has created a series of critically-acclaimed, visionary projects at Royal Festival Hall – distinctive for both their artistic scope and supporting live and digital content. Bill Viola’s Tristan und Isolde (2010); Infernal Dance: Inside the World of Béla Bartók (2011); and City of Light: Paris 1900-1950 (2015), were followed in 2016 by the major, five-concert series Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals, which won a South Bank Sky Arts Award.

 

 

Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen

Piano: Krystian Zimerman

Philharmonia Orchestra

 

Ravel: Ma mère l'oye 16’

Bernstein: Symphony No.2 “The Age of Anxiety” 35’ (Piano: Krystian Zimerman)

 

- Intermission -

 

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra 36’