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Wigmore Hall’s rich legacy of great performances, artistic revelations and creative
daring is set to grow throughout the 2016/17 season. The Hall’s Chief Executive and
Artistic Director John Gilhooly was last Sunday named as one of Britain’s 500 most
influential people in Debrett’s 2016 People of Today list, published in The Sunday
Times. He announced his bold new 2016/17 programme on Thursday 28 January,
shortly before a performance given by an ensemble of remarkable young artists. The
season launch and subsequent concert was the first event to be streamed live from
Wigmore Hall, inaugurating an online series designed to broaden international
access to Europe’s leading venue for chamber music, early music and song. It was
also announced that Wigmore Hall’s 115th Anniversary Gala Concerts on 31 May, 1
& 2 June 2016 will be streamed live in partnership with medici.tv.
‘Wigmore Hall now attracts capacity audiences to many of its 488 concerts each
year,’ observes John Gilhooly. ‘We want to share the experience of great musicmaking with the greatest possible number of people. This is why we created a worldclass digital studio as part of our £2.1 million building infrastructure upgrade last
year. I am also delighted to announce that, as a result of its overwhelming success,
we will increase our £5 ticket scheme for Under-35s from 10,000 tickets this season
to 20,000 tickets in 2016/17. Our digital capability and work to attract new and
younger audiences belong to the Hall’s vitally important investment in its future.’
Artists, loyal audience members and generous donors were among those who
welcomed the launch of Wigmore Hall’s 2016/17 Annual Season Appeal. The
fundraising initiative expects to raise £1.7 million from private sources to enhance
the quality of the Hall’s artistic programme, support the development of its influential
Learning programme and expanding Under 35s ticket scheme, and ensure that
Wigmore Hall can be accessible to the widest possible audience.
‘In recent seasons Wigmore Hall has dramatically increased the number of concerts
it promotes,’ John Gilhooly recalls. ‘This has given us the freedom to create special
projects and build season-long series in collaboration with remarkable artists at all
stages in their careers. It has also enabled us to expand the range, diversity and
ambition of our artistic programme. We believe the extra work and financial risk
involved are vital if Wigmore Hall is to maintain its place among the world’s leading
venues for chamber music and song. The Annual Season Appeal supports our
artistic ambitions and will allow the Hall to deliver a programme in 2016/17 of the
highest international quality.’
During the new season Wigmore Hall will promote 488 concerts and a comparable
number of Learning events. ‘The 2016/17 programme offers an unrivalled blend of
artistic quality and creative possibilities,’ comments John Gilhooly.
Sarah Connolly, one of Britain’s most distinguished singers, opens Wigmore Hall’s
2016/17 Season in company with Malcolm Martineau on Friday 9 September. Their
programme includes four settings of Hans Christian Andersen from Schumann’s Op.
40, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder and Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, works drawn from the
heart of the acclaimed mezzo-soprano’s repertoire. The human voice holds centre
stage throughout the season’s opening week. Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski
returns to the Hall on 10 September to perform works by Schumann and her
countryman Yrjö Kilpinen.
Mark Padmore and James Baillieu launch the second half of the Hall’s Schubert:
The Complete Songs on 13 September with a recital embracing everything from
simple folk-inspired pieces to the complex emotional worlds of the composer’s late
songs.
Wigmore Hall’s complete survey of Schubert’s 600-plus songs, launched in
September 2015 and presented in partnership with Austria’s Schubertiade
Schwarzenberg and Hohenems festival, unfolds with 20 concerts across the new
season. The series offers the chance to hear many of the world’s finest Schubert
interpreters and a carefully chosen group of exceptional young talent. This season’s
roster of distinguished Schubertians – singers and pianists – includes Florian
Boesch, Robert Holl, Graham Johnson, Simon Keenlyside, Elisabeth Kulman,
Stephan Loges, Malcolm Martineau, Georg Nigl, Mauro Peter, Christoph
Prégardien, Anna Lucia Richter, Dorothea Röschmann, Markus Schäfer, Sir
András Schiff, Violeta Urmana and Elizabeth Watts. The series contains complete
performances of Winterreise with Matthew Rose and Gary Matthewman (15
February), Die schöne Müllerin with Henk Neven and Imogen Cooper (11 April),
and Schwanengesang with Ian Bostridge and Lars Vogt (10 May). The song-cycles
can also be heard in new English translations by Jeremy Sams, performed under the
umbrella of Wigmore Hall’s Learning programme by Toby Spence, Roderick
Williams, Sir John Tomlinson and Christopher Glynn.
Several substantial new series come to Wigmore Hall in 2016/17. Igor Levit starts
his first complete survey of Beethoven’s piano sonatas in a major concert hall,
comprising a total of eight concerts. Beethoven Cycle: Igor Levit opens on 28
September with four works, including the early Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 2
No. 1 and the dramatic ‘Waldstein’ Sonata. Takács Quartet: Beethoven String
Quartet Cycle presents a prominent platform for Wigmore Hall’s internationally
acclaimed Associate Artists to explore some of the greatest works in the chamber
music canon. The Takács Quartet’s series starts on 3 February 2017 and unfolds
with five further concerts. Angela Hewitt: The Bach Odyssey, devised by John
Gilhooly to run over several seasons, starts on 25 September and continues on 20
January and 10 June. The divinely-inspired composer’s keyboard fantasies,
inventions and sinfonias provide the creative launch pad for this landmark series,
which will grow in 2016/17 to include a complete survey of the French Suites.
Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, also at John’s request, begins a long-term survey
of Bach’s keyboard works on 21 December with the Goldberg Variations.
Artist residencies have become an integral part of Wigmore Hall programming in
recent years. Next season’s Janine Jansen Perspecitves focuses on the work of
one of the world’s leading classical instrumentalists, an acclaimed soloist who is also
passionate about chamber music-making. The Dutch violinist, a firm favourite with
the Hall’s audience, begins her three-concert showcase series on 8 October with a
recital of works by Brahms, Poulenc, Prokofiev and Szymanowski. She will return
later in the season for performances of, among other works, Korngold’s rarely heard
Suite for two violins, cello and piano left hand, and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of
Time. Connoisseurs of visionary violin playing will also be drawn to Patricia
Kopatchinskaja: Artist in Residence. The Moldovan-born Austrian performer,
winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Instrumentalist Award,
appears in recital in March, April and May 2017 for three contrasting programmes
that include everything from Bach and Beethoven to George Crumb and György
Kurtág.
Sir András Schiff: Bach, Schumann, Janáček and Bartók arises from the
pianist’s captivating artistic insight and power to reveal the complex inner worlds of
keyboard masterworks. His latest series opens on 29 November with the first of
three recitals. Wigmore Hall’s award-winning Learning programme will enter the
evening concert diary for the first time when Sir András Schiff offers his practical
advice and essential wisdom to a hand-picked group of outstanding young musicians
in a series of masterclasses (30 November, 22 February & 3 May).
Over the past decade Alison Balsom has captivated audiences worldwide with her
lyrical playing, exquisite tone and penetrating musicianship. Wigmore Hall’s Alison
Balsom ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’ series offers the chance to experience the
wide range of her work over the course of four concerts. The high-profile trumpeter’s
series opens on 31 October in partnership with pianist Tom Poster, includes a
celebration of music for brass ensemble from the Balsom Ensemble Trumpet
Consort on 20 December, and finishes with a late-night concert in company with
jazz trumpeter Guy Barker and Friends on 9 June.
Mozart receives close attention at Wigmore Hall in 2016/17 thanks not least to
Francesco Piemontesi. The Swiss pianist’s Mozart Piano Sonata Cycle,
introduced at the Hall last spring, resumes on 15 December and continues on 4 May.
Wigmore Hall will reinforce its strong commitment to contemporary music and the
cultivation of new chamber compositions in 2016/17. The artistic programme
includes 25 world, 19 UK and 7 London premières, including 25 works specially
commissioned by the Hall. In addition Helen Grime starts her term as Wigmore
Hall’s first female Composer in Residence. The Scottish composer, known for her
music’s lyrical beauty, is the subject of Helen Grime Day (15 October), which
includes Aviary Sketches, co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall and the Chamber
Music Society of Lincoln Center. Grime has also written a new Piano Concerto for
the Hall, which will be performed for the first time by Huw Watkins and Birmingham
Contemporary Music Group (3 March).
Few contemporary composers have proved to be as consistently inventive as
Thomas Adès. Wigmore Hall explores his eloquently expressive work with a daylong programme of chamber music, including the string quartets Arcadiana and Four
Quarters. Thomas Adès Day ‘Arcadiana’ (25 March) coincides with the world
première production of the composer’s new work for the Royal Opera, based on Luis
Buñel’s 1962 film The Exterminating Angel, and a major retrospective of his music at
the Barbican Centre. The Hall’s diverse coverage of contemporary music is further
reflected in concerts given by the Arditti Quartet, Birmingham Contemporary
Music Group, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble intercontemporain, EXAUDI, Eliot
Fisk and the JACK Quartet.
Music in the Round, Sheffield’s pioneering chamber music promoter, and its resident
Ensemble 360 come to Wigmore Hall for a weekend exploration of Leipzig’s potent
contribution to creative invention and musical artistry. Music in the Round
Weekend (11–13 November) surveys works by JS Bach, Mendelssohn and the
Schumanns, Clara and Robert, together with compositions by other Leipzig
luminaries, Niels Gade and Carl Reinecke among them. Further highlights of the
Hall’s Chamber Music Season include recitals by Julia Fischer, Hilary Hahn,
Steven Isserlis, Miloš Karadaglić, Truls Mørk, Christian Tetzlaff, Alisa
Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan, and Jörg Widmann and Mitsuko Uchida.
The new season’s choice of ensembles encompasses the exciting young Armida
Quartet, the Borodin Quartet (with the continuation of its majestic Beethoven and
Shostakovich cycle), the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the thrilling
young Danish Quartet, the Doric String Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet (in
celebration of its 40th anniversary), the Gould Piano Trio (in Wigmore Hall’s annual
Schubert birthday concert on 31 January), the Hagen Quartet, the Kalichstein
Laredo Robinson Trio, the Nash Ensemble, the Pavel Haas Quartet, Quatuor
Ebène and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Special features of the Chamber
Music Season include Alina Ibragimova’s complete performance of Ysaÿe’s
fiendishly difficult Six Sonatas for solo violin (31 May) and Renaud Capuçon’s
homage to the artistic legacy of the German violinist Adolf Busch.
Wigmore Hall’s Song Recital Series boasts a stellar list of singers and
accompanists in 2016/17, reflecting the venue’s long-term support for the art of song.
Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan, recently described by The New Yorker as ‘a
great musician’, makes her Hall debut on 1 October in company with the Calder
Quartet, with a programme that includes the world première of CYCLE SIRENS by
Peter Eötvös. The season also contains compelling programmes performed by Ian
Bostridge, Christian Gerhaher, Karita Mattila and René Pape, two days of
masterclass sessions led by Brigitte Fassbaender (3 & 4 November), and recitals
featuring, among others, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Jamie Barton, Sophie Bevan,
Andrei Bondarenko, Alice Coote, David Daniels, Iestyn Davies, Stéphane
Degout, Bernarda Fink, James Gilchrist, Matthias Goerne, Luca Pisaroni, The
Prince Consort, Matthew Polenzani, Carolyn Sampson, Ekaterina Semenchuk,
Toby Spence and Roderick Williams.
Next season’s London Pianoforte Series features many of the world’s leading
artists together with recitals by outstanding young performers. Jeremy Denk,
praised by The New York Times as an artist ‘you want to hear no matter what he
performs’, sets the series running on 17 September. Other highlights include a
programme of works by Bach, Chopin, Schubert and Schumann by the thrilling
young Polish-Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki (3 October), Melvyn Tan’s 60th birthday
recital (13 October), the conclusion of Llŷr Williams’s acclaimed Beethoven piano
sonata cycle (11 October, 16 February & 20 May), and recitals by Pierre-Laurent
Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Imogen Cooper, Richard Goode, Andreas Haefliger,
Marc-André Hamelin, Denis Kozhukhin, Nikolai Lugansky, Elisabeth
Leonskaja, Paul Lewis, Leon McCawley, Alexander Melnikov, Garrick Ohlsson,
Steven Osborne, Maria João Pires, Andreas Staier, Alexei Volodin and
Christian Zacharias. Stravinsky’s two-piano version of The Rite of Spring crowns
Leif Ove Andsnes and Marc-André Hamelin’s unmissable piano duo recital on 30
March.
The glories of next season’s Early Music and Baroque Series underline Wigmore
Hall’s status as an international centre for the performance of Early Music. It has
been extended to include over 45 concerts given by, among others, the Akademie
für Alte Musik Berlin, Les Arts Florissants, The Cardinall’s Musick, Max
Emanuel Cencic with Il Pomo d'Oro, Cecilia Bartoli and Philippe Jaroussky with
Ensemble Artaserse, Collegium Vocale Gent and Philippe Herreweghe, Le
Concert d'Astrée and Emmanuelle Haïm, Le Concert Spirituel, Dunedin
Consort, The English Concert, La Nuova Musica, The Sixteen and Harry
Christophers, Les Talens Lyriques, The Tallis Scholars, and Vox Luminis.
Wigmore Hall turns the spotlight on the work of Arcangelo and its dynamic artistic
director Jonathan Cohen next season with a four-concert showcase of the periodinstrument ensemble’s gripping artistry (14 December, 13 January, 5 May & 21 July).
Contralto Nathalie Stutzman directs Orfeo 55 in a programme of arie antiche on 2
October, while lutenist Thomas Dunford, dubbed by The Spectator as a ‘rock star of
the lute’, gives a rare solo recital on 20 April.
British conductor and harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock, a true pioneer of the Early
Music Movement, celebrates his 70th birthday on 16 December in concert with Lucy
Crowe and a group of close friends and colleagues. The Spanish guitar and its
influence on Baroque composers fuel Le Poème Harmonique’s concert on 21
October, while Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Kristian Bezuidenhout explore
the rise of the symphony and piano concerto in their programme on 22 September.
Other vital ingredients of the series are supplied by Italy’s award-winning madrigal
ensemble La Venexiana, which makes its Wigmore Hall debut on 11 January,
French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and Le Concert de la Loge Olympique
(1 December), Roberta Invernizzi and Sonia Prina in company with Luca Pianca’s
Ensemble Claudiana (29 December), and the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Anna
Bonitatibus, who will perform a programme of arias and operatic scenes based
around the myth of Semiramis together with Prague-based Collegium 1704 and
Václav Luks (5 October).
Wigmore Hall Statistics
200,000 attendances at Wigmore Hall
2,000+ artists performing
488 concerts at Wigmore Hall
384 own promotions
212 chamber music recitals
123 days with more than one concert
104 external promotions
90 individuals giving to specific projects
84 vocal recitals
62 piano recitals
51 early music and baroque series concerts
47 contemporary music concerts
25 Wigmore Hall co-commissions
25 world premières
19 UK premières
7 London premières
1 European première