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Respighi’s world premiere

Giovanni Sollima, Laura van der Heijden, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
Fri 30 Oct 20:15 - 22:15
Main Hall
From Tue 31 Mar 12:00
Fri 30 Oct
20:15 - 22:15
From Tue 31 Mar 12:00

A recently completed cello concerto and a beloved classic by Walton 

Program

Anna Clyne Sound and Fury 
William Walton Cello Concerto  
Ottorino Respighi / Giovanni Sollima Cello Concerto No. 1 (world premiere) 

Performers

Giovanni Sollima cello 
Laura van der Heijden cello 
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra 
Stephanie Childress conductor

Ottorino Respighi composed his first cello concerto in 1902, but only orchestrated the second movement, his famous Adagio con variazioni. Through Respighi’s descendants, Giovanni Sollima received the sketches of the other movements and took it upon himself to finish the orchestration. Now, 124 years after Respighi started writing his Cello Concerto, the piece is ready for its world premiere. 
 
William Walton’s Cello Concerto, commissioned by the Ukrainian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, did have its premiere straight upon completion. However, the first performances didn’t come about without issues. Piatigorsky suffered a nervous breakdown and Walton himself missed the British premiere due to a severe traffic accident. Nowadays, the work is a beloved classic and a part of Laura van der Heijden’s standard repertoire. She won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2012 performing the concerto, as well as releasing it on CD in 2024 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – an album which received overwhelming praise.  

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Laura van der Heijden

Laura van der Heijden, British cellist with Dutch roots, has recently received great reviews of her most recent CD recording with English music, including Walton’s cello concerto; the concerto with which she won the BBC Young Musician Competition in 2012, aged 15. Her earlier CD recordings were received with similar enthusiasm, such as the CD 1948 on which she plays Russian music with pianist Petr Limonov, and the CD Pohádka, which included music of Janáček and Kodály, with pianist Jâms Coleman. Collaborations with her fellow musicians are of the utmost importance to Laura; she regularly takes part in international chamber music courses and festivals. She is a member of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective and frequently performs with the Brodsky Quartet.  Laura van der Heijden was a student of the renowned British-Russian cellist Leonid Gorokhov, and she has regularly took part in masterclasses with David Geringas, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Miklós Perényi. Laura plays a late 17th-Century cello by Francesco Ruggieri from Cremona, on loan from a private collection.

Giovanni Sollima

Giovanni Sollima (Palermo, 1962) studied cello with Giovanni Perriera and Antonio Janigro, and composition with his father and Milko Kelemen. He is a true cello virtuoso and a remarkable composer. He communicates through music that is full of Mediterranean rhythms and typically Italian melodies, and he covers all style periods; from the ‘Jura of the Cello’ – as he calls the Baroque period – to metal. Furthermore, he is a qualified researcher of the old Italian school of the cello. At the Biënnale in 2018, he presented a programme of music by Giovanni Battista Costanzi and in 2022, he performed the rediscovered Cello Concerto by Gaetano Ciandelli with the Orchestra of the 18th Century.  Giovanni Sollima mainly performs his own compositions and thus contributes heavily to the creation of new cello repertoire. His audience is extremely diverse and ranges from classical music connoisseurs to young metalheads. Giovanni Sollima plays a Francesco Ruggieri cello from 1679. At the Biënnale in 2018, Giovanni Sollima received the Anner Bijlsma Award.

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

The young Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, or jongNBE, is an ensemble consisting of young, talented musicians from Dutch concervatories – some already graduated, others still studying. The ensemble is made up of ten musicians (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, saxophone, (bass) trombone, percussion, and double bass/bass guitar) and is coached by experienced musicians from NBE.  JongNBE accompanies young composers at the showcases of the composition competition Op weg naar het Nieuwjaarsconcert (“On the way to the New Year’s Concert”) and performs programmes all over The Netherlands. JongNBE has performed at the Grachtenfestival, in ‘De Nacht van Ramses’ (“The Night of Ramses”) in the DeLaMar Theater, at ‘Vroege Vogels’ (“Early Birds”) in the Hoge Veluwe Park, at lunch concerts in the Concertgebouw, as well as on the Uitmarkt, on Radio 4’s Opium, at the Oranjewoud Festival, at the hockey World Championship, at the Cello Biënnale, and in the Holland Opera productions ‘The Day After’, ‘STYX’, and ‘Kersentuin’ at Fort Rijnauwen.

Stephanie Childress

Frank van de Laar (Laren, 1965) completed his studies with Jan Wijn at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam in 1989 with the highest possible distinction. He continued his education in Hannover with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and in Amsterdam with Naum Grubert. In 1987, he won the 3d prize at the International Brahms Competition in Hamburg and in 1988, he won the first prize at the Postbank-Sweelinck Competition. He made his debut in the Grote Zaal of the Concertgebouw that same year, and numerous performances in The Netherlands and abroad followed in high tempo. He has given concerts in the United States, Asia, and almost all European countries, winning many prizes and distinctions. His repertoire spans from the entire Baroque era to contemporary music, with an interesting role for lesser known early and contemporary works. He is also an active chamber musician. His performances have been recorded by countless radio and television channels and he has released over twenty-five CDs. He is a professor at the conservatories in Amsterdam and Zwolle.
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