8/21/2008 | Muhai Tang, Martin Kasík, ...

Muhai Tang

Chinese conductor Muhai Tang became artistic director and principal conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in September 2006, and the very same year he assumed the title of Conductor Laureate and artistic advisor at the Queensland Orchestra. Starting with the 2007/2008 season, he has also been Conductor Laureate of the China National Symphony Orchestra.

Mr Tang's international recognition began in 1983, when Herbert von Karajan invited him to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This successful debut led to repeated invitations not just from Berlin Philharmonic, but also many of the world's leading orchestras (London Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Sydney Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra).

As the son of a famous Chinese film director, Mr Tang has always been drawn to the musical stage and has conducted opera and ballet productions. He was the principal conductor of the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, where he conducted new productions of Strauss' operas Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) and Der Rosenkavalier and Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, and also conducted Madame Butterfly, Tosca, La Rondine, Boris Godunov, The Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville and Othello. In the coming season he will conduct fully-staged performances of Chinese composer Tan Dun's opera "Tea" with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.

Martin Kasík

Martin Kasík was born in the Moravian town of Frenštát pod Radhoštěm in 1976. He studied at the Conservatory in Ostrava under Monika Tugendliebová and music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Ivan Klánský. He regularly participates in Czech and international piano courses (in Paris, Villecroze, under the direction of Lazar Berman, Eugen Indjic, Christian Zacharias, Paul Badura-Skoda, Claude Helffer a Pierre Jasmin).

Mr Kasik has won a number of prizes in Czech and international competitions. His most notable achievements are 1st Prize at the International Frederick Chopin Competition in Mariánské Lázně and 1st prize at one of the most prestigious events in the world, the Young Concert Artists Competition in New York (1999).

Mr Kasík has played concerts in countries throughout Europe, in the United States (Alice Tully Hall and the Metropolitan Museum in New York), Japan (Suntory Hall in Tokyo), Taiwan and Singapore.

He has performed as a soloists with Czech and international orchestras (including the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Pinchas Zukerman, the Tonhalle-Orchester in Zurich, the New York Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Berlin, Helsinki Philharmonic, Utah Philharmonic and Slovak Philharmonic).

Zurich Chamber Orchestra

Edmond de Stoutz (1920 - 1997) established the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZCO) in the 1940s, and it soon became an internationally recognised ensemble. Since its establishment, the orchestra has performed at over 1,600 concerts in Europe and North America.

Although the Zurich Chamber Orchestra established its own position as an interpreter of baroque music during Howard Griffiths' tenure, and thanks to continuous collaboration with specialists in Ancient Music such as Reinhard Goebel, Bruno Weil, Paul Goodwin or David Stern, the ensemble focuses primarily on the Classical Viennese repertoire.

In the years when Howard Griffiths was the artistic director of the ZCO (1996 - 2006), the orchestra established its own position as an outstanding interpreter of baroque music, and this intensive collaboration with specialists in ancient music (Reinhard Goebel, Bruno Weil, Paul Goodwin and David Stern) underlined this. The orchestra also performs Classical and Romantic repertoire as well as contemporary music.

Besides traditional compositions, the orchestra also performs and records lesser known works - such as Franze von Suppé's Requiem, the symphonies of Ferdinand Ries, Luigi Cherubini and Ignaz Pleyel, or the symphonies and piano concerto by Leopold Koželuch.

The orchestra also promotes and commissions contemporary compositions. It was a ZCO commission that gave rise to the composition for solo violin and two string orchestras named Polyptique, written in 1973 by Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890 - 1974) for the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin, Edmond de Stoutz and the ZCO who performed the premiere.