FROM MY BOOKSHELF
BERLIN SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
ORCHESTRA
Dubai, UAE
On Friday 20th May, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Felix Korobov, welcomes Italian violinist Alessandro Taverna for a programme of works by Dvořák, Shor and Tchaikovsky. This concert takes place as part of the InClassica International Music Festival, and is presented by SAMIT Event Group.
Conrad van Alphen has gained tremendous popularity with orchestras and audiences alike for his visionary interpretations which he craftly directs in his energetic, efficient, kind and communicative performance style.
Equally at ease with the classical genre as with large symphonic repertoire Conrad van Alphen boasts an impressive array of appearances with orchestras such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Bochumer Symphoniker, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Berliner Symphoniker, Russian National Orchestra, Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Residentie Orchestra The Hague, Bogota Philharmonic, Enescu Philharmonic Bucharest, Budapest Symphony Orchestra Mav, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu and many more.
At the turn of the millennium Conrad founded Sinfonia Rotterdam, of which he remains chief conductor and artistic director. The orchestra presents successful concert series at de Doelen in Rotterdam, Amare in The Hague and at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Under Conrad’s energetic leadership Sinfonia Rotterdam is regularly invited to perform in venues and festivals around Europe and intercontinentally tours to Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, Chile, China and Russia.
Read MoreSoloists of the highest calibre hail Conrad for his masterful concerto accompaniments, to mention only a few: Mikhail Pletnev, Maxim Vengerov, Nikolai Lugansky, Ronald Brautigam, Alexei Volodin, Simone Lamsma, Alena Baeva, Alban Gerhardt and Mischa Maisky.
For four years Conrad van Alphen was chief conductor of the Russian State Safonov Philharmonic Orchestra. As former Artist of the Moscow Philharmonic Society he regularly conducted the major Moscow orchestras in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and the legendary Tchaikovsky Hall.
Conrad van Alphen was born and bred in South Africa. After moving to The Netherlands at the age of 26 he joined the double bass section of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Beethoven Academie Antwerp, whilst continuing his conducting studies with Eri Klas and Roberto Benzi.
- Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Sinfonia Rotterdam
- Programmer Festival van Zeeuwsch Vlaanderen
“Bright feast for the senses: Montreal music lovers can boast of having witnessed one of the most brilliant feats of their symphony orchestra, which delivered a performance of rare elegance. The charismatic conductor Conrad van Alphen breathed an impressive breath of fresh air into Rachmaninov’s majestic Second Symphony”
Review Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Alessandro Taverna regularly performs in major international musical institutions, including La Scala Theater in Milan, San Carlo Theater in Naples, La Fenice Theater in Venice, Musikverein in Vienna, Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Gasteig in Munich, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Lincoln Center in New York, Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Metropolitan Theater in Tokyo.
He has worked with worldwide famous conductors, such as Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Fabio Luisi, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniel Harding, Michele Mariotti, Thierry Fischer, Daniele Rustioni, Carlo Boccadoro, Joshua Weilerstein, Pier Carlo Orizio, Sergey Smbatyan, and he has collaborated with prestigious orchestras including the Filarmonica della Scala, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Bucharest Philharmonic, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, RTE National Symphony of Ireland, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra.
He gained his international recognition in prestigious international piano competitions such as the Piano-e-Competition in the United States, Leeds, London, Hamamatsu, Busoni Prize of Bolzano. In 2012 he received the "President of the Republic Award" from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, for artistic merits and for his international career.
He graduated at the age of seventeen at the Pollini Conservatory in Padua, studying with Laura Candiago Ferrari at the S. Cecilia Music Foundation in Portogruaro; he continued his education with Franco Scala, Leonid Margarius and Louis Lortie at the Imola International Piano Academy. He also attended the Accademia S. Cecilia in Rome with Sergio Perticaroli, the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover with Arie Vardi and the Lake Como Piano Academy with William Grant Naboré, Fou Ts'ong and Dmitri Bashkirov.
He is often invited as jury member in important international piano competitions and to held masterclasses and seminaries for prestigious institutions (Bowdoin Festival in Brunswick - USA, Music in Pyeongchang Festival in Korea, Cork School of Music in Ireland, etc...). He collaborates with RAI Italian National Radio and Television; he has recorded albums for the Sony, Somm, Musicom, RaiTrade, Tzadik labels.
Alessandro Taverna is Professor of Piano at Imola International Piano Academy, at Padua Conservatory of Music and the International School for Advanced Music Studies in Portogruaro.
Since April 2021 he has been artistic director of the Portogruaro International Music Festival.
For more than five decades, the Berliner Symphoniker have been an integral part of Berlin's musical and cultural life and have enriched the German orchestra landscape. Since 1990 they have been the orchestra for all Berliners.
In addition to the popular and long-established symphony concerts that take place in the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berliner Symphoniker perform throughout Berlin and the surrounding area: They are regular guests at the Konzerthaus Berlin, the University of the Arts, the Berlin Cathedral, the Kulturbrauerei and the Chorin Monastery, among others. With guest performances in Europe and tours to North and South America, Africa and Asia as well as appearances at international festivals (including in France, Italy, Austria, Spain and Israel), the Berliner Symphoniker have presented themselves successfully worldwide and see themselves as Berlin's cultural ambassadors.
In addition to the classical, wide-ranging and popular range of concerts, the repertoire of the Berliner Symphoniker also includes special rarities - unknown and forgotten works as well as contemporary compositions.
Music communication as a special focus has always been a trademark of the orchestra. It was the Berliner Symphoniker, for example, who were the first orchestra in Berlin to develop a music education profile with school concerts and children's and family concerts and who established and promoted work with young people in the long term. Numerous CD recordings and television recordings round off the multifaceted work of the Berliner Symphoniker.
