Welcome to the second part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 2008/09 season at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, my first as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor. 25 years after I first conducted the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall, it is a great pleasure to me to be returning to London to resume our partnership. I feel honoured to follow Christoph von Dohnányi in leading this wonderful group of musicians that has played such an important role throughout my career.
As the Orchestra and I begin to plan this next stage of our artistic journey together, we feel more committed than ever to the part that orchestras have to play at the heart of cultural life both in live performance and, increasingly, online. The Philharmonia’s own digital projects – including its interactive education website The Sound Exchange and its online download shop – already reach more than 2 million people worldwide every year, a figure that is currently increasing by more than 50% a year. The internet represents a great chance for innovative projects.
The Spring/Summer season offers a rich choice of concert experiences and artistic partnerships. The Philharmonia is delighted to be presenting a special series of three performances in April 2009 to mark the 50th Anniversary of Maestro Lorin Maazel’s first concerts with the Orchestra. Christoph von Dohnányi makes a welcome return to London, in his new role of Honorary Conductor for Life, for three concerts in May and June, and András Schiff both plays and conducts in two performances celebrating the Haydn and Mendelssohn anniversaries (also in June). Other highlights include a concert conducted by three exceptionally talented young musicians, as part of the Allianz International Conductors’ Academy, and the welcome return of artists including Sir Charles Mackerras, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir James Galway, Maria João Pires and Viktoria Mullova.
In February the Orchestra and I will be embarking on a major new project, City of Dreams, exploring the music and culture of Vienna between 1900 and 1935. Vienna in 1900 was a unique cultural melting pot, where musicians, philosophers, poets, painters and scientists met together in the city’s many cafés, and created works of art and science that changed the course of history. Our project aims to present the music of Mahler and his contemporaries in its historical and social context, as well as in the context of the art, design, literature and philosophy of the period. In addition to concerts in 18 cities worldwide, we are planning Explore Vienna days with talks and chamber music, led by specialists from the fields of art and design as well as musicologists; films; and interactive online resources including a ‘virtual Viennese café’. For more information visit philharmonia.co.uk/vienna. The project concludes with Berg’s Expressionist masterpiece, Wozzeck, in October 2009.
I have been asked many times what particularly drew me back to the Philharmonia Orchestra, and I can list a number of qualities that I admire – their energy, their imagination, and above all their spirit of adventure, which is inspiring and with which I feel at home. We invite you to join us as we set out on this new journey together, and look forward to seeing you soon.
- Esa-Pekka Salonen
