McGegan to Conduct an All-Baroque Program
For Immediate Release July 15, 2009
Contact:
Tim Dougherty
805.695.7908
Santa Barbara, CA – Conductor Nicholas McGegan will bring his trademark infectious energy to Santa Barbara's First Presbyterian Church on Saturday, August 8, for an enjoyable evening of Baroque music with the exceptional 50-member Academy Chamber Orchestra. Featuring works by Rameau (Naïs Suite), Bach (Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048), Purcell (Abdelazar, Z 570, "Moor's Revenge" Suite), and Handel (Water Music Suites in D and G Major), the concert will begin at 8 pm. Tickets cost $45.
Renowned for his irrepressible wit and vivacity as an interpreter of a wide range of classical music, Mr. McGegan is music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO) in San Francisco, where he champions Baroque masters such as Handel, Rameau, Bach, and Vivaldi. According to The New York Times, "When it comes to conveying the vital spark in Handel's music, Mr. McGegan has few peers." His repertoire also encompasses Mozart and Haydn, the complete symphonies of Beethoven, and extends to Stravinsky, Britten, Tippett, and Glass.
Through more than 20 years as its music director, Mr. McGegan has established the PBO as the leading period performance ensemble in the United States – and at the forefront of the "historical" movement worldwide thanks to notable appearances at Carnegie Hall, the London Proms, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the International Handel Festival Gottingen, where he has been artistic director since 1991. In Gottingen and with the PBO he has defined an approach to period style that sets the current standard: probing, serious but undogmatic, cognizant that the music of the past doesn't belong in a museum or in academia but in vigorous engagement with an audience, for pleasure and delight on both sides of the platform edge.
"If Nicholas McGegan is conducting," says the Los Angeles Times, "closing your eyes means missing something vital. Other conductors may interpret Baroque scores as plains of sewing machine rhythms and textures; McGegan finds in them rivulets, courses, hairpin turns, and breezes gusting through valleys and up and around mountains... At every move, his musicians respond instantly, fluidly, and the music springs into life and stays alive."
Active in opera as well as the concert hall, he was principal conductor at Sweden's Drottningholm Court Theatre from 1993 to 1996, running the annual festival there. He has also guest-conducted orchestras such as the Concertgebouw and Suisse Romande, as well as the Toronto, Sydney, Montreal, and Houston symphonies, and for opera companies including Covent Garden, San Francisco, Santa Fe, and Washington. Recent engagements have included Bach with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Rameau with the Cleveland Orchestra, Purcell with the Chicago Symphony, and Handel with the New York Philharmonic.
Mr. McGegan's discography of more than 100 releases includes the world premiere recording of Handel's Susanna, which garnered both a Gramophone Award and a Grammy nomination, and recent issues of the same composer's Solomon, Samson, and Acis and Galatea. Among his other rediscoveries is the first performance in modern times of Handel's masterly but mislaid Gloria. And he has broken new ground in experimental dance-collaborations with Mark Morris, notably at festivals including Edinburgh, Ravina, and Mostly Mozart in New York.
First Presbyterian Church is located at 21 East Constance Avenue in Santa Barbara.
As part of its 62nd Summer Festival, the Music Academy also will present an ambitious production of Ambroise Thomas' charming French Romantic opera Mignon, as well as performances by conductor Leonard Slatkin and the Takács Quartet. The Academy is presenting more than 190 events over the course of this year's Summer School and Festival, which began June 22 and concludes on August 15. Additional highlights will include a performance by Canadian Brass and conducting turns by Peter Oundjian and George Manahan. Featuring the Academy's exceptionally talented Fellows, together with illustrious guest performers and faculty, the events are being presented at the Academy's scenic Miraflores campus and in venues throughout Santa Barbara.
For information, call 969-8787. Information is also available online at www.musicacademy.org.
Founded in 1947, the Music Academy of the West is among the nation's preeminent summer schools and festivals for gifted young classical musicians. The Academy provides these promising musicians with the opportunity for advanced study and frequent performance under the guidance of internationally renowned faculty artists, guest conductors, and soloists. Admission to the Academy is strictly merit based, and Fellows receive full scholarships (tuition, room, and board). Academy alumni are members of major symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, ensembles, opera companies, and university and conservatory faculties throughout the world. Many enjoy careers as prominent solo artists. Based in Santa Barbara, the Music Academy of the West presents more than 200 public events annually, including performances by faculty, visiting artists, and Fellows; masterclasses; orchestra and chamber music concerts; and fully staged opera. The Music Academy began broadcasting live performances by the world-renowned Metropolitan Opera at Hahn Hall in October 2008. For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org.
