Concert season ACADEMY ST-MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS
JANINE JANSEN, violin
Tabakova – Such Different Paths, for string orchestra, Mozart – Concerto for violin and orchestra in G major, KV 216, Adagio, for violin and orchestra in G KV 261, Rondo for violin and orchestra in B, KV 261a, Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings in C, op. 48
Program
Dobrinka Tabakova
(1980)
Such different Paths, for string orchestra
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)
Concerto for violin and orchestra no. 3, G Major KV 216
Allegro
Adagio
Rondo
Intermission
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Adagio for violin and orchestra E Major KV 261
Rondo in B flat K269 (K261a)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)
Serenade for Strings in C major Op.48
Pezzo in forma di sonatina: Andante non troppo; Allegro moderato
Valse: Moderato; Tempo di valse
Élégie: Larghetto elegiaco
Finale (Tema russo): Andante; Allegro con spirito
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
‘...this band operates like a pack of wolves. The impact of the ensemble was breathtaking, a riveting likemindedness, laced with spectacular displays of inspired individuality.’ The Scotsman, April 2007
Sir Neville Marriner says that the small ensemble he founded in 1958 ‘had no intention of giving any concerts or continuing forever’. Happily, whatever the initial intention, 50 years on the Academy is firmly established as one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras and, according to The Times journalist Richard Morrison, ‘As you travel round the globe, the Academy’s name has an aura possessed by no other British orchestra’.
Formed from a group of leading London musicians and working without a conductor, the Academy gave its first performance in its namesake church on 13th November 1959. Its debut recording just two years later, had ‘...precision, care, consummate musicianship and more sense of style than all other chamber orchestras in Europe put together’ (Denis Stevens).
Demand for the Academy, particularly in the recording studio, soon began to grow as did the size of the orchestra and the repertoire it performed. Eventually Sir Neville was forced to put down his violin and take up the conductor’s baton, but the collegiate spirit and flexibility of the original small, conductorless ensemble remains an Academy hallmark. Today the Academy performs in combinations ranging from a chamber group to a symphony orchestra.
Known for its superlative performances and award-winning recordings, the Academy maintains a high-profile international concert schedule and alongside its performances with Sir Neville Marriner and Kenneth Sillito collaborates with some of today’s most thrilling musicians, including Murray Perahia, Joshua Bell, Julia Fischer, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen and Anthony Marwood.
During its 50th anniversary year the Academy performed throughout the UK, Europe, the USA and Canada, as well as a private concert at Buckingham Palace before HM Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth. The 2009/2010 season will see the orchestra travel even further afield, with concerts at the Beijing Music Festival with Gérard Korsten and Sarah Chang,and tours to the USA with Julian Rachlin, Asia with Joshua Bell and across Europe and the UK with the Academy’s Principal Guest Conductor, Murray Perahia.
Beyond the concert hall, the Academy’s Outward Sound education activities will continue to take classical music beyond the traditional concert setting, involving participants of all ages in rural and urban communities in school projects, family music days and creative music making.
‘The musicianship that streamed from the stage last night was beyond superlatives… The playing from this legendary conductorless orchestra coupled all the grandeur of epic Beethovenian playing with the flawless intimacy of seasoned chamber musicians.’ Michael Tumelty, The Glasgow Herald
Ever since her Concertgebouw debut in 1997, Janine Jansen has been a huge star in her native Holland. Today she is internationally recognised as one of the great violinists — a truly exciting and versatile artist. Her London debut in November 2002, accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, was quickly followed by invitations from some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, as well as the NHK Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with such eminent conductors as Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Chailly, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Harding, Sir Mark Elder, Edo de Waart and Sir Roger Norrington.
Janine Jansen has an exclusive recording contract with Decca (Universal Music). Her last release, a recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Souvenir d’un lieu cher with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Harding “shows Janine Jansen at her best” (Michael Church, The Independent, January 2009). Each one of her five albums has been awarded a Platinum Disc for sales in The Netherlands.
Highlights of the 2009/10 season include performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Symphony, Philharmonia and Philadelphia Orchestras, and the Orchestre de Paris. She will tour Spain and the US with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons. (This follows another US tour with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra earlier in the season.) Tours are also planned with the Orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Janine Jansen has been invited to curate a “Carte Blanche” series at the Concertgebouw throughout the 2009/10 season, which includes an innovative choreography project with regular chamber partners Martin Fröst and Itamar Golan and choreographers Emio Greco and Pieter Scholten; an education project with Aleksey Igudesman; concerts with the Münchner Philharmoniker; and a play/direct project with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra as part of a European tour.
In addition to her concerto performances and projects Janine is a devoted performer of chamber music. She established and curates the annual International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht, and since 1998 she has been a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin, an important chamber music series in the Berlin Philharmonie. Her chamber partners include Leif Ove Andsnes, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Mischa Maisky, Julian Rachlin, Torleif Thedéen and Maxim Rysanov.
Janine studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philipp Hirshhorn and Boris Belkin. She was a previous BBC New Generation Artist and in September 2003 she received the Dutch Music Prize from the Ministry of Culture — the highest distinction an artist can receive in The Netherlands. She has received numerous awards including the Edison Classic Public Award three times, an Echo award for her Vivaldi recording in 2006 and her Mendelssohn/Bruch album in 2007 as well as the NDR Musikpreis for outstanding artistic achievement in 2007. In May 2009 she was awarded the RPS Instrumentalist Award 2008 for performances in the UK during that year.
The outstanding instrument being used by Janine Jansen is the violin “Barrere” by Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1727, on extended loan from the Elise Mathilde Fund.
