December 12, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Guest Conductor Eri Klas and the Oregon Symphony present a wintry tour of the most popular music from Scandinavia featuring Sibelius’ “Finlandia” and Symphony No. 5 and Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor performed by pianist Benedetto Lupo on Jan. 10, 11 and 12 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Media support is provided by The Oregonian.
Klas, a native of Estonia, is currently the Music Director of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Tampere Philharmonic in Finland as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Finnish National Opera. Known for his interpretations of Scandinavian music, Klas makes his Symphony debut with several audience favorites from that part of the world, including two signature works by Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius: the Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major and “Finlandia.”
Sibelius premiered his fifth symphony at a performance in honor of his 50th birthday in December 1915. Deeply upset at the outbreak of war in Europe, Sibelius struggled with the work, and wrote the following entry into his journal: “In a deep valley again. But I already begin to see dimly the mountain that I shall certainly ascend…God opens His door for a moment and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony.” “Finlandia” is considered the musical epitome of Finnish national expression and is regarded as their national anthem. Written in 1899 as part of a larger composition celebrating Finnish culture and originally titled “Finland Awakes,” this short stirring work soon came to be in great demand as a separate concert piece and Sibelius revised it in the following year, giving it its current title.
Lupo, who won a bronze medal in the eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1992, has established himself as a pianist of international stature. He will make his Symphony debut with Grieg’s landmark Piano Concerto in A minor, modeled in both key and opening flourish after Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, which the young Grieg heard performed by Clara Schumann in Leipzig while he was a student there. Unknown outside Norway before the composition of this work, Grieg’s instantly popular Piano Concerto was the 25-year-old composer’s entry into the wider musical community of Europe and established his towering international reputation.
Klas and the Symphony will also perform an early work by Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, the Overture No. 2, composed in 1959. Known primarily as writer of choral music, Tormis is venerated throughout Estonia not only as a major composer but also for his efforts to preserve Estonian culture during the Soviet occupation of the second half of the 20th century. His work first became widely known outside Eastern Europe during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, and today is performed by ensembles around the world.
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Pre-concert Talks: KBPS host Patrick McElroy and Prof. Rhonda Ringering of Linfield College will lead a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for “Pre-Concert Talks” is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday: Guest conductor Eri Klas will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is provided by KINKfm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets range in price from $17 to $76 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Pianist Benedetto Lupo, Bronze Medalist in the Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, continues to dazzle audiences throughout the United States and Europe. Since the competition, Benedetto Lupo returns each season to perform in the United States. He made his New York City recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in December of 1992. He subsequently won the 1992 Biennial Terence Judd International Award, earning his recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1993, as well as performances with the Hallé Orchestra. He returned to the Hallé in June of 1994 to perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Of this performance, the Manchester Evening News called Mr. Lupo “devastatingly brilliant,” after which he was immediately re-invited to perform under the baton of Kent Nagano.
Mr. Lupo’s 2003-04 season highlights include
performances of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major
at the Bellingham Festival of Music, Brahms’ Piano
Concerto No. 1 with the Utah Symphony Orchestra under
Pavel Kogan and Dvorák's Piano Concerto with
Fabio Machetti and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra,
in
addition to performances with the Seattle Symphony
Orchestra and recitals at The George H.W. Bush Presidential
Library and the Cranbrook Music Guild, among others.
In the 2002-2003 season, Benedetto Lupo performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24, K. 491, with conductor Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the two Ravel Concerti with Alessandro Siciliani and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Fabio Mechetti and the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and the Mozart Concerto in C Minor with Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. In Europe, Mr. Lupo’s engagements include performances with conductor Aldo Ceccato and the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano and the Orchestra de Liege in Belgium.
Mr. Lupo’s performance of the two Ravel Concerti with Vladimir Jurowski in 2001 was such a success that Mr. Lupo was immediately engaged to give three performances of the concerti again with Maestro Jurowski, this time with the Verdi Orchestra in Milan. Other highlights from the 2001-2002 season included performances with the Britt Festival Orchestra in Oregon, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the L’Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. Mr. Lupo’s 2000-2001 season included performances with the Eugene Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Columbus Symphony, the Des Moines Symphony, the Orchestra Sinfonica d’Italia, the Orchestre Philharmonique of Nice; he also performed both of the Ravel Concerti with the Orchestra di Bologna under conductor Vladimir Jurowski.
In Europe, Mr. Lupo has been heard throughout his native Italy with the Teatro Regio Orchestra in Turin, the Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra di Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the RAI Orchestras of Naples, Rome and Milan. Mr. Lupo earned critical acclaim after replacing Alexis Weissenberg as soloist with Italy’s Genoa Symphony on last-minute notice, playing Chopin’s Concerto No. 1. He has appeared with the National Capitole Orchestra of Toulouse, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, and the Lodz Philharmonic. In South America, he has performed with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra in Rio de Janeiro.
Mr. Lupo’s critically lauded recording of Nino Rota’s neo-romantic “Concerto Soirée” with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana was released in 1992 on the NUOVA ERA label. In the spring of 1999, Mr. Lupo and the RSI Orchestra under Peter Maag, released a new CD on the ARTS Label, consisting of the complete works for piano and orchestra of Robert Schumann, including the first recording on CD of the piano version of “Konzertstück.”
Benedetto Lupo has appeared at numerous music festivals including the Festival International de Bordeaux, Villa Medici in Rome, Le Settimane Musicali Internazionali di Stresa, the Aix-en-Provence Festival and the Chopin Festival in Poland. In April 1997, he played three all-Schubert recitals for the Schubert Festivals in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In 1997/98 he appeared twice at the Carinthian Summer Festival in Austria, at the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen playing Brahms’ Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Aldo Ceccato, and at the closing concerts of Chicago’s 1997 Grant Park Music Festival under the baton of Hugh Wolff. As a chamber musician he has played with the Tokyo String Quartet, cellist Franco Maggio Ormezowsky, violinists Udo Ughi and Evgeny Bushkov.
Mr. Lupo performs many recitals throughout the U.S. and Europe each year. Recent, notable recitals include a performance in Naples of the rarely heard and technically demanding Liszt arrangement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, and an appearance at Teatro alla Scala. His recital performances have also taken him to Manchester, Brussels, Paris, Hanover, Madrid, La Fenice in Venice, the Istanbul Festival, Cleveland, and Pasadena at the Ambassador Auditorium. Of his appearance at the latter, the Los Angeles Times called Mr. Lupo “a young virtuoso on the brink—of maturity, of major, world-class achievement, of potential widespread acclaim.”
In addition to the Van Cliburn (for which he was consequently featured on the Emmy award-winning television documentary “Here to Make Music: The Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition” and the seven-part television series “Encore! The Final Round Performances of the Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition,” which continues to be aired nationally on PBS) and the Terence Judd Awards, Mr. Lupo has won many competitions and awards, including First Prize at the 1980 Alfred Cortot International Piano Competition in Milan. Mr. Lupo won Second Prize at the 1985 Robert Casadesus Competition in Cleveland, and Third Prize in the 1986 Gina Bachauer Piano Competition in Salt Lake City. He has recently been invited to become a member of the juries of both of these competitions.
Mr. Lupo lives in Acquaviva delle Fonti, an Adriatic town near Bari, Italy.
Eri Klas, a native of Estonia, whose greatest musical influence came from David Oistrakh, a great friend of his family, frequently guest conducts on the North American continent.
Mr. Klas made his US debut in 1991 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. In 1995, he made his debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony following highly successfully appearances at the Blossom and Ravinia festivals. Since then, he has appeared with most of the major North American orchestras such as Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Montreal, Seattle, Saint Louis, Vancouver and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Equally in demand throughout Europe, Mr. Klas is currently the Music Director of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Tampere Philharmonic in Finland as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Finnish National Opera. He has guest conducted the Berlin and Munich Philharmonics and appears regularly with the Tonhalle Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Swedish and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Stockholm and Helsinki Philharmonics as well as with orchestras in France, Italy and Belgium. He recently conducted the Asian Youth Orchestra on tour with soloist Gidon Kremer and has also led orchestras throughout Australia and Mexico.
Eri Klas is closely associated with leading contemporary composers. He conducted the world premiere of Alfred Schnittke’s “Peer Gynt” at the Hamburg Opera and the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, and collaborated with Natalia Gutman performing the world premiere of Schnittke’s First Cello Concerto with the Munich Philharmonic. A great champion of Estonian composers, he has conducted world premieres of works by Pärt, Tamberg, Tormis, Tubin and Eller, whose compositions he also often introduces in the US. In addition, Mr. Klas conducted the first performance of Henryk Gorecki’s Flute Concerto in Amsterdam and the US premiere of the same work with the Chicago Symphony. His discography includes Schnittke’s Third Symphony, the ballet music from “Peer Gynt” and the Four Violin Concerti as well as works by Sibelius on the BIS and Ondine labels.
Eri Klas began his conducting studies at the Tallinn Conservatory and upon graduation went to St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) to work with Nikolai Rabinovich. In 1969, he was appointed assistant conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and for the next 12 years appeared regularly on the podium to conduct the famed Bolshoi orchestra, taking part in numerous opera, ballet and orchestral productions in Moscow and on tours throughout Europe. Mr. Klas made his debut at the Estonian National Theatre in Tallinn in 1969 conducting Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” and was named Music Director in 1975 (he has since become conductor laureate). Between 1985 and 1990, he was Music Director of the Royal Opera in Stockholm.
Mr. Klas has been awarded the Order of “Nordstjernen” from His Majesty King Carl Gustav of Sweden, the Order of Finnish Lion and an honorary doctorate from the Estonian Music Academy. A former Estonian lightweight junior boxing champion, he is a member of the Estonian International Olympic Committee.
