The VSO’s Blockbuster Season Finale with renowned
cellist Daniel Müller-Schott
Vancouver BC – The VSO’s blockbuster 2007/2008 season finale features one of the finest young musicians in the world. Cellist Daniel Müller-Schott will play the lavish Dvorák Cello Concerto – one of Müller-Schott’s personal favourites. Other highlights of the concert are Shostakovich's monumental Symphony No. 5, one of the most important symphonies ever written, and Delius’s enchanting Song of Summer. There will be three finale performances which take place from Saturday to Monday, June 7th to 9th at the Orpheum Theatre. VSO contrabassoonist Sophie Dansereau will deliver a pre-concert talk on the Saturday and Monday evenings, and Maestro Bramwell Tovey conducts.
Daniel Müller-Schott has found international acclaim for his high degree of musicality, the wealth of nuances in his playing, and his uncompromising passion for music. Mr. Müller-Schott, although a virtuoso in his own right, has also absorbed influences from his many great teachers and mentors, including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Steven Isserlis, and Heinrich Schiff.
“Daniel Müller-Schott has the power and dramatic fire to bewitch the audience.”
- Uwe Mitsching
“A fearless player with technique to burn…”
- The New York Times
Daniel Müller-Schott was recently featured on live television performing the Brahms Double Concerto with violinist Julia Fischer and Mozart’s Piano Trio No. 5 with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Sir André Previn. In high demand world-wide, Mr. Müller-Schott will be featured in concerts in Germany, Norway and Mexico in the month leading up to his performance in Vancouver. This epic season finale concert will mark Daniel Müller-Schott’s debut with the VSO.
The Dvorák Cello Concerto has taken its place as the greatest cello concerto ever written, as well as the most popular. Written during Dvorák’s three-year stint as Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, the piece received its premiere in London on March 16th, 1896.
Forty-one years after Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 received its first public performance in Leningrad, to a resoundingly positive reception. The composer needed to have a “bounce back” piece after his emotionally brutal opera Lady Macbeth” which was met with harsh criticism by Soviet officials as the kind of “formalist” and pessimistic music that composers should not be writing. Much was at stake here, as Shostakovich would likely have been subject to a “disappearance” the like of which were commonplace in the Stalinist purges of the time. Although there was some mild grumbling by officials suspicious about the sincerity of the “apology” symphony, Shostakovich came through with flying colours. When the work had become entrenched the following year, Shostakovich had this to say about the piece: “The theme of my symphony is the making of a man. I saw man with all his experiences at the centre of the composition… In the Finale, the tragically tense impulses of the earlier movements are resolved in optimism and the joy of living.”
Of course, Shostakovich was no fan of Stalin and his regime, to say the least, and one wonders if in fact he was pulling something. Later on, Shostakovich’s book of memoirs (published after his death in 1975) offers a much different story than what he had said about the work in 1938 while still living under the Stalinist yoke: “The rejoicing is forced, created under threat. It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, ‘Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing,’ and you rise, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, ‘Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing.’ What kind of apotheosis is that? You have to be a complete oaf not to hear that.” But is the finale of this piece actually triumphant? Much depends on the conductor’s view of the work, and their approach to the conclusion – a faster tempo indeed makes the music sound positive, festive – a slower tempo, favoured by the composer himself (and this perhaps reveals the real answer) makes it sound like an agonized funeral march. This music says different things to different people, but its message is an important and relevant one. Shostakovich’s reaction to oppression is a complex one, resulting in complex music. It is impossible to hear it in a live concert with a full symphony orchestra and not be affected by it at an emotional level, especially such a powerful and relevant work as Symphony No.5.
This concert features a Pre-Concert Talk at 7:05pm on June 7th & 9th, free to ticketholders. The Pre-Concert Talk features VSO orchestra member Sophie Dansereau speaking about the evening’s program, as well as her role in the orchestra.
CONCERT INFO
Masterworks Diamond Series / Beltone Symphony Sundays Series
The VSO’s Blockbuster Season Finale!
Saturday & Monday, June 7 & 9, 8pm, Orpheum Theatre
Sunday, June 8, 2pm, Orpheum Theatre
Bramwell Tovey conductor
Daniel Müller-Schott cello
Sophie Dansereau bassoon
Delius Song of Summer
Dvorák Cello Concerto
Shostakovich Symphony No.5
Ticket prices for June 7 & 9: $25 - $78 (Student, Senior and Subscriber discounts available)
Ticket prices for June 8: $20 - $55 (Student, Senior and Subscriber discounts available)
Tickets Available at VSO Customer Service, 604.876.3434; Ticketmaster Charge-by-Phone, 604.280.3311; online at www.vancouversymphony.ca
Symphony Sundays Series Generously Sponsored By:
Beltone
Radio Sponsor:
CKNW AM 980
BIOGRAPHIES
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
A musician of striking versatility, Bramwell Tovey is acknowledged around the world for his artistic depth and warm, charismatic personality on the podium. Tovey’s career as a conductor is uniquely enhanced by his work as a composer and pianist, lending him a remarkable musical perspective.
His tenures as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras have been characterized by his expertise in the opera, choral, and British repertoire. Tovey recently garnered a 2007 Grammy Award and a 2007 Juno Award for his recording with violinist James Ehnes and the Vancouver Symphony. Recently named Principal Guest Conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, he works frequently with the Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras, among many others. He has presided as host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics series at Avery Fisher Hall since its founding in 2004.
A champion of contemporary music, Tovey developed the highly regarded New Music Festival in Winnipeg, during his tenure as Music Director. As a composer, he was honored with the Best Canadian Classical Composition Juno Award in 2003 for his Requiem for a Charred Skull. Upcoming new works include a co-commission for the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics’ respective 2008 summer seasons as well as a full-length opera for the Calgary Opera, The Inventor, to premiere in January of 2011.
Tovey has been awarded honorary degrees, including a Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music in London, honorary Doctorates of Law from the universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba, and Kwantlen University College, as well as a Royal Conservatory of Music Fellowship in Toronto. In 1999, he received the M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, a Canadian prize awarded to artists for outstanding contributions in the performing arts.
Daniel Müller-Schott, cello
In only a few years, Daniel Müller-Schott has succeeded in establishing himself on the world’s important concert stages. With his technical brilliance and authority, coupled with great intellectual and emotional esprit, he fascinates his audiences. In recent years, Daniel Müller-Schott has found international acclaim for his high degree of musicality and the wealth of nuances in his playing, his constant search for a musical vision, and his uncompromising passion for music. It is especially important for him to discover unknown works and to extend his repertoire on the cello, for example through his own transcriptions, in particular to work closely with composers and to perform the music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
He created a furore internationally by winning first prize at the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. It was after this win that his steady and remarkable career began. Since then he has appeared in concerts all over the world with such renowned conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Gielen, Alan Gilbert, Hartmut Haenchen, Marek Janowski, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Andrew Litton, Mario Venzago, Gianandrea Noseda, Yakov Kreizberg, Michail Jurowski, Kurt Masur, Sakari Oramo and Sir André Previn. Furthermore, he plays with internationally famous orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the NDR-Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Paris, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Philharmonia Orchestra London.
During the 2006/07 season, Daniel Müller-Schott performed recitals and appeared with renowned orchestras in many European countries and also in North America, South Africa and Japan. The real highlight was his debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival before an audience of 10,000 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Sir André Previn, a performance which was lauded by the New York Times. In August he will be performing Ligeti's Cello Concerto at the Schleswig-Holstein festival of music, with Peter Ruzicka conducting the NDR-Sinfonieorchester.
During the autumn of 2007, further concerts are planned with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra under Michail Jurowski, with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra under Carlos Prieto – when Daniel Müller-Schott can again be heard playing Ligeti's Cello Concerto – and the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrew Davis, and the Tapiola Sinfonietta under Olli Mustonen. In Germany, audiences can also enjoy the cellist together with Julia Fischer and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken under Christoph Poppen, and with the Potsdam Kammerphilharmonie, also with Julia Fischer and Martin Helmchen under Michael Sanderling. In November he will be making guest appearances in Germany and neighbouring countries with the Nationales Sinfonieorchester of Polish Radio under Daniel Raiskin. Over the next two years, Daniel Müller-Schott will be performing together with Angela Hewitt in connection with the release on Orfeo in the spring of 2007 of Bach's Gamba Sonatas.
Major concert appearances scheduled for 2008 include another invitation to perform at the Tanglewood Music Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink, his appearance with the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra at the Roskilde Festival (Northern Europe's biggest music festival) and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival when - with Daniel Müller-Schott as the "resident artiste", various orchestral and chamber music concerts and workshops are planned. In addition, Daniel Müller-Schott will be appearing with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg under Simone Young, with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Yakov Kreizberg, the Strassbourger Philharmoniker under Marc Albrecht, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Bramwell Tovey and the Wiener Symphoniker under Yakov Kreizberg in Vienna's Musikvereinssaal. Together with the Brabant Orchestra, and with Reinhard Goebel conducting, Daniel Müller-Schott will be playing Haydn's Cello concerto in several cities in the Netherlands. A tour is being planned for July with Christoph Eschenbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchester.
Recitals, solo evenings and trio concerts will find him performing, among other venues, at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Musikhalle Hamburg, the Philharmonie München, the Salzburg Mozarteum, London's Wigmore Hall, New York's Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, for the Vancouver Recital Society, and in Zürich's Tonhalle. His chamber music partners include Renaud Capuçon, Julia Fischer, Jonathan Gilad, Angela Hewitt, Steven Isserlis, Robert Kulek, Olli Mustonen, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sir André Previn, Denys Proshayev, Quatuor Ebène, Vadim Repin, Christian Tetzlaff, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, the Vogler Quartett and Lars Vogt.
Daniel Müller-Schott is a regular guest at international festivals of music, for example in Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Schwetzingen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Festival Lucerne, the Ravinia Festival Chicago, the Saratoga Festival, the Festival of Chamber Music in Vancouver and the City of London Festival.
Daniel Müller-Schott studied under Walter Nothas, Heinrich Schiff and Steven Isserlis. He benefited from the personal sponsorship and support of Anne-Sophie Mutter as the holder of a scholarship from her Foundation.
Encouraging young people to understand the fascination of music, and helping them to experience the magical moments that music provides, is a matter of course for Daniel Müller-Schott, and something he introduces, with enormous delight and commitment, into the "Rhapsody in School" project.
Since his childhood, Daniel Müller-Schott has felt a great love for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Consequently, it is hardly surprising that when he came to record his first CD, he chose the Six Suites for Cello Solo (Glissando Records).
In the meantime, Daniel Müller-Schott has made recordings for several well-known labels, and he works closely with the Orfeo label. His recordings delight both the public and the press, and have also been awarded several prizes as the Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Strad Selection or the Edison Award Nomination. For his release with Elgar and Walton Cello Concertos he was decorated with "Vierteljahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik".
In the autumn of this year, Daniel Müller-Schott will be releasing another CD on the Orfeo label, namely performing Shostakovich's Cello Concertos, together with the Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk conducted by Yakov Kreizberg.
Daniel Müller-Schott plays the Saphir "Ex Shapiro" Matteo Goffriller cello, made in Venice in 1727.
He lives in Munich, his home-town. In his spare time he is an enthusiastic jogger and badminton player. He is very interested in art, and feels a strong affinity with 19th century French painters; it is the way they treat colours and light which constantly fascinates and inspires him.
Sophie Dansereau, bassoon
Born in Sorel-Tracy, Sophie Dansereau obtained the "Prix avec Grande Distinction à l’unanimité" in bassoon and chamber music from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec as well as a Masters of Music from Yale University. Her main teachers are Richard Gagnon, Frank Morelli, Christopher Millard and Stéphane Lévesque.
Contrabassoonist and assistant principal bassoonist of the Vancouver Symphony and principal bassoonist of the CBC Radio Orchestra, Sophie has performed with the Auckland Philharmonic (New Zealand), the New World Symphony, the National Art Centre and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, as well as several major music festivals around the world. She has worked on several occasions with the finest conductors, such as Bramwell Tovey, Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas, Pinchas Zukerman, Alain Trudel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Charles Dutoit. Sophie has been awarded many prizes in major national and international competitions and was featured as a soloist on many occasions with the APO and the VSO. A sought after bassoonist in chamber music, she is a member of the Admare Quintet.
Sophie, who had received the Governor General Medal for Academic Merit in 1992, has also served on the faculty of the University of British Columbia. She is now teaching at the Vancouver Academy of Music and is the instructor for the woodwind section.
Besides her full work schedule, Sophie is an enthusiastic runner and swimmer. Her unexpected time at the 2007 Vancouver Marathon gave her the qualification for the legendary Boston Marathon, which she plans to train for and run in 2008.
