February 1, 2019
AUGUSTIN HADELICH PERFORMS LIGETI CONCERTO WITH BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Augustin Hadelich
Augustin Hadelich
Suxiao Yang

Italian-Born, German-American violinist Augustin Hadelich has numerous hallmarks to his name, among them a voracious appetite for music of our time. In his arsenal of contemporary concertos, he frequently turns to the one by György Ligeti which he will perform on 2 March 2019 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo at the Barbican Centre. On 5 April 2019, Warner Classics will release Augustin’s recording of the work alongside Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto, with Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducting the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

Augustin performed Ligeti’s Violin Concerto with numerous U.S. orchestras in 2018, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Adès, who contributed a new cadenza for the Ligeti which is also featured on Augustin’s Warner release. Ligeti did not provide his own cadenza for the work, instead suggesting any violinist or composer could write his or her own, provided it is several minutes long, hectic throughout and containing melodic material from all of the concerto’s five movements. Augustin calls the Adès cadenza “crazed, unrelenting, and even more difficult than the Ligeti concerto itself!”

Augustin frequently writes his own cadenzas, and on the Warner release he plays his own for the Brahms concerto. Like Ligeti, Brahms did not compose a cadenza. Most frequently performed is the one by Joseph Joachim, the work’s dedicatee. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, many great violinists wrote their own, including Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler and Eugène Ysaÿe, a tradition that did not continue. Augustin says, “Writing a cadenza is a chance for a more personal reflection, and after many years of performing the Joachim and Kreisler cadenzas, I decided to write my own! It was an immensely interesting and humbling experience for me to compose this cadenza while attempting to stay within the parameters of Brahms’ style.”

The Brahms-Ligeti recording represents the sort of provocative programming that Augustin enjoys. He has previously recorded Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto alongside Béla Bartók’s Second, and the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius with Adès’ Violin Concerto, “Concentric Paths” (both for AVIE Records). He teamed with pianist Joyce Yang for a recital recording of works by César Franck, György Kurtág, André Previn and Robert Schumann (also on AVIE), which was nominated for a Grammy Award. Augustin won a Grammy Award in 2016 for his recording of another contemporary concerto, L'Arbre des Songes by Henri Dutilleux, with Ludovic Morlot conducting the Seattle Symphony on the Orchestra’s own label.

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For further information about Augustin Hadelich please visit www.augustinhadelich.com

For further information, image or interview requests please contact Melanne Mueller, MusicCo International, +44 (0) 7788 662 461 or +1 917 907 2785, melanne@musiccointernational.com

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Saturday, 2 March 2019 – 7:30 pm
Total Immersion: Ligeti

Barbican Centre
Silk Street
London EC2Y 8DS

Augustin Hadelich violin
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo conductor

György Ligeti (1923 – 2006)
Violin Concerto
Also on the program:
Clocks and Clouds
Piano Concerto (with Nicolas Hodges)
Atmosphères
San Francisco Polyphony

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/epfhj5

RECORDING INFORMATION
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77
György Ligeti (1923 – 2006) Violin Concerto
Augustin Hadelich violin
Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Miguel Harth-Bedoya conductor
Warner Classics 0190295510459
Release date: 5 April 2019

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