Program Booklet New Year's Concert - Residentie Orkest

Biographies

Andrew Grams - conductor

Current position Chief Conductor Elgin Symphony Orchestra in the state of Illinois.

Educated Juilliard School in New York (violin) and Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (conducting).

Highlights Was assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra (2004-2007). Conducted the Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas and Houston orchestras, among others. Worked in Europe with the Orchestre National de France, BBC National Symphony and the symphony orchestras of Bergen and Malmö, among others. Debuted in 2009 with the Residentie Orkest.

In the press "A conductor who efficiently makes it clear what he wants: pathos, power, and precision" - Herald Tribune

Yeol Eum Son - piano

Education Hochschule für Musik Theater und Medien, Hanover. Also studied at the Korean National University of Arts.

Highlights Concerts with orchestras such as New York Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Dresdner Philharmoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Andrew Manze, Susanna Mälkki, Nicholas Collon, Pablo González, Jun Märkl and Anja Bihlmaier. Debuts this year with BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Won prizes at Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition and Van Cliburn Inernational Piano Competition, among others.

Other Is this season artist in residence of Residentie Orkest, Royal Conservatory of Music and Amare.

Residentie Orkest The Hague

Founded The Hague, 1904

Current chief conductor Anja Bihlmaier

Permanent guest conductors Richard Egarr and Jun Märkl

Chief conductors Henri Viotta, Peter van Anrooy, Frits Schuurman, Willem van Otterloo, Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, Evgenii Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden, Neeme Järvi, Nicholas Collon.

To be seen at Amare, Paard, The National Opera, Royal Concertgebouw, De Doelen, TivoliVredenburg among others .

Education Annual outreach to over 40,000 schoolchildren, adults and amateur musicians in educational projects. Part of this is The Residents, through which the orchestra brings hundreds of children from districts in The Hague into contact with classical music.

Fun fact

George Gershwin
(New York, Sept. 26, 1898 - July 11, 1937, Hollywood)

According to Gershwin's biographer Isaas Goldberg, Rhapsody in Blue was created when Gershwin was on the train to Boston and was inspired by the sounds of the train, steel and rails.

Nice to know

Did you know that Leonard Bernstein made his Dutch orchestra debut at the Residentie Orkest? Just after World War II, the Residentie Orkest helped organize a one-time summer festival in 1947 called High Arts in the Low Lands, precursor to the Holland Festival. That year, there was also the newly 29-year-old Leonard Bernstein there. At the Kurhaus, Bernstein made himself immortal by eating a herring every morning before rehearsal began. In the Hague manner, of course, by the tail, as he had seen at the herring stalls.

One Minute Symphony

Composition student Tilen Lebar was inspired by a bang for his One Minute Symphony. He himself wrote the following about it: "The piece is called Pok, which is the Slovenian word for 'bang'. It refers to a short loud sound caused by fireworks or other loud explosions. One of the bangs I actually recorded unintentionally near Leyenburg (The Hague) during my field recording/sound walk. At that point I started thinking about translating the recorded material into something tangible, something that could actually be orchestrated. The orchestration of the recorded bang comes from this harsh, articulate abrupt, piercing noise, into something compellingly stretched. If I were to describe Pok in a few words, it would be: squeak, roar, screech, cackle, clack, tinkle, croak, deafening noise, full power, rasp, high frequency, shake, rasp, rumble, grind, screech, honk, vibrate, wail and zap.'

The Residentie Orkest wishes you happy holidays!

Will you help us continue to share music?

Every contribution, big or small, is very welcome and helps (us) continue to share our music with as many people as possible.

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