The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) will travel to the Royal Albert Hall in London this month to perform the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Iranian-American Behzad Ranjbaran in a sold-out appearance at the BBC Proms.
The Philharmonic will also be joined by its music director Han-Na Chang and pianist Denis Matsuev. The concert, to be held on September 7, will be the first by a Gulf-based ensemble in the 120-year history of the BBC Proms, the world’s largest classical music festival.
The QPO will perform Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. The Sunrise from Seemorgh, part of The Persian Trilogy, which opens the performance, will receive its Proms premiere.
Born in 1955 in Tehran, Iran, composer Ranjbaran’s musical education started early when he entered the Tehran Music Conservatory at the age of nine. He came to the US in 1974 to attend Indiana University and received his doctorate in composition from the Juilliard School, where he currently serves on the faculty.
It was in September 2013 that Korean Han-Na Chang became the music director of the QPO as well as principal guest conductor of the Trondheim Symfoniorkester, both appointments immediately following her debut appearances with the orchestras.
Han-Na Chang first gained international recognition for her musical talents at the age of 11, when she won both the first prize and the Contemporary Music Prize at the Fifth Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris in 1994.
Since his triumph in 1998 at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition, Denis Matsuev has become a virtuoso in the grandest of Russian pianistic tradition and has quickly established himself as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation.
Highlights of the QPO’s upcoming seasons include appearances with the National Orchestra of Belgium and Andrey Boreyko, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and James Gaffigan, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Mariss Jansons, the celebration of Yuri Temirkanov’s 75th anniversary with Mariss Jansons and St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (James Conlon), Pittsburgh Symphony (Manfred Honeck), London Symphony Orchestra (Valery Gergiev), Maggio Musicale (Zubin Mehta), Orchestre de Paris (Paavo Jarvi) and Orchestre National de Lyon (Leonard
Slatkin).
Following the Proms, the QPO will travel to Rome, Italy, alongside pianist Boris Berezovsky to perform in Santa Cecilia Hall on September 9. The 2,800-seat hall’s acoustic ceiling, orchestra and audience sections are covered in American cherry wood to provide an exceptional sound quality.
Berezovsky has established a great reputation, both as the most powerful of virtuoso pianists and as a musician gifted with a unique insight and great sensitivity.
Born in Moscow, Berezovsky studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Eliso Virsaladze and privately with Alexander Satz. Subsequent to his London debut at Wigmore Hall in 1988, The Times described him as “an artist of exceptional promise, a player of dazzling virtuosity and formidable power”.
Two years later, he won the Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Recent and upcoming engagements include performances with the Russian National Orchestra (Pletnev), Orchestre de Paris and (Boreyko), Les Siècles (Roth), Hong Kong Philharmonic (van Zweden) as well as tours in Asia with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and in Europe with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Sokhiev).
The QPO comprises 101 professional musicians chosen in international auditions from 30 countries. The orchestra was founded in 2007 by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, chaired by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.
By promoting and performing western and Arabic music, the QPO continues to inspire the children and adults of Qatar and the Arab world to create and enjoy music. In blending these cultures, the QPO extends a message of peace to the world.
Guest engagements in coming seasons include debuts with the Gothenburg, Cincinnati and Indianapolis symphony orchestras, while recent engagements include appearances with the Staatskapelle Dresden, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Seattle Symphony, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, the Grosses Orchester Graz and the Singapore, Tokyo and Tivoli symphony orchestras.
