Aldeburgh Music

Listen to Antonello working with the Britten–Pears Orchestra last year in Haydn’s Symphony No. 90 (III. Minuet & Trio):

Reviews of the concert from which the recording is taken:

Musical Criticism   Where's Runnicles

Expenses are covered for participants.

Concert 4 April 2010, as part of the Aldeburgh Easter Weekend

BPO Bursaries supported by The Leverhulme Trust

Britten-Pears Orchestra Tutors for the Easter Weekend

Antonello Manacorda (Conductor)
In 1997 Antonello Manacorda co-founded the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, in collaboration with Claudio Abbado and colleagues from the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. After five years as Concertmaster, he decided to pursue a career as a conductor. He was awarded a scholarship by De Sono in Turin which enabled him to spend two years studying with Jorma Panula. Manacorda is currently in his second season as Music Director of I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, where he is winning much praise from critics and demonstrating his talent for creating intelligent and interesting programmes. Manacorda has worked with orchestras throughout Europe including Vasteras Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Zurich Chamber Orchestra and Mahler Chamber Orchestra, which resulted in a re-invitation to conduct them in the opening concert of the Bremen Festival. Manacorda is also gaining a reputation as an opera conductor following a successful production of Cosi fan tutte at the Teatro Comunale di Treviso. In May 2010 he will conduct a production of Don Giovanni at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
 
Timothy Summers (Violin) is co-director of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, which he also co-founded in 2000, and is second violinist of the celebrated Orpheus String Quartet.  He is also a member of the first violin section of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra since 2009, and has performed on violin, viola, and occasionally mandolin with the orchestra at venues across the world. Mr. Summers has also served as second concertmaster of the Aarhus Symfoni in Denmark, second principal second of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm, and second principal second of the Danish Radio Orchestra in Copenhagen.  He has also performed at chamber music festivals across the United States and Europe, including those in Taos, Tanglewood, Banff, Sarasota, Richmond, Staunton, and Token Creek, Wisconsin. Mr. Summers was for several years a participant in the Emmanuel Music Bach Cantata cycle in Boston, led by the late Craig Smith.  Recently, he has also taught violin and chamber music in Barcelona, San Sebastian, and Cervera in Spain, and at the Savonlinna Music Academy in Finland.
 
Garfield Jackson (Viola) was born in London and studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal Academy of Music.  He has been a member of the Endellion String Quartet since it’s inception in 1979.  The ensemble is resident at Cambridge University and gives regular high-profile series at Wigmore Hall, South Bank and for the BBC. As a soloist, Garfield has appeared at the South Bank, at the Barbican and at the Wigmore Hall.  Recent solo work includes recitals at the Lionel Tertis Viola Workshop, the Lake District Summer Music Festival and the first BBC broadcast of Hummel’s Potpouri with the Ulster Orchestra.  He has recorded Rebecca Clarke’s Sonata for Viola and Piano with Martin Roscoe for ASV Records. As a chamber musician he is much in demand and has performed with many great international artists, including members of the Amadeus Quartet, Sandor Vegh, Steven Isserlis, Andras Schiff and Joshua Bell.  He is also a regular guest with the Nash Ensemble and occasionally as principal with the RPO. Like many quartet musicians, he is a busy session player. Garfield teaches viola at the Royal Academy in London and in 2002 was made a FRAM.
 
Stefano Guarino (Cello) studied with Sergio Torri, Piero Guarino, Piernarciso Masi (Accademy of Imola, obtaining the “Master Degree” 1999), Donna Magendanz, Mario Brunello, and Enrico Dindo (winning the prize “Accademia di Pavia” 2004). As cellist he played with the European Community Youth Orchestra and with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester under conductors including Ashkenazy, Rostropovich, Haitink, Fischer and Abbado. As principal cello he has collaborated with the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova-Lombardia, I Solisti di Pavia, Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, with the Toscanini Symphonic Orchestra (with L. Maazel) and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (D. Harding). In 2003 and 2005-7 he was member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by C. Abbado. He won several national and international prizes, both as soloist and with chamber music ensemble, on both cello and piano, He has recorded cello and piano music for the “Symposion” label; plus a CD of music by Riccardo Zandonai (both as chamber music pianist and cello soloist). Since 2006 he has been principal cello in the Orchestra “Archi” - Turin, he has been teaching in the De Sono Academy for Music (Turin), has been regularly collaborating as cello leader with the Camerata Academica Salzburg, and constantly devotes himself to baroque cello. He now plays also in trio with Fulvio Luciani (violin) and Riccardo Zadra (piano), 
 
Waldemar Schwiertz (Double Bass) studied with Prof. Christoph Schmidt at the Hochschule für Musik Mannheim/Heidelberg, and Konzertexamen with Prof. Franchesco Petracchi at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. In 1997, he won the 1er Grand Prix at the Conservatoire de Musique Genève, and the Bottesini-Price at the Carl-Flesch-Akademie, Baden-Baden a year later. Waldemar received tuition at the Musikschule Mannheim, and has participated in masterclasses with Prof. Ludwig Streicher. Waldemar has worked with professional orchestras since 1988: Orchester des Nationaltheaters Mannheim, Radiosinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival-Orchestra (solo double bass) and Chamber Philharmoniem with Georg Solti, Sergey Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach. He has been solo double bass of German-Soviet Philharmonie under Valery Gergiev and the Orchester des Pfalztheaters Kaiserslautern. He has been a member of the Gewandhausorchesters Leipzig since 2000, leading since 2002 and recently in capacity as solo double bassist. Waldemar has enjoyed freelance work with the NDR Sinfonieorchester, Bamberger Symphoniker and RSO Frankfurt. As a teacher of double bass Waldemar has taught at the Musikschule Buchen, the Honschule fur Musik Mannheim/Heidelberg (deputising for Prof. Christoph Schmidt) and at present in Leipzig where he has been teaching since 2001. Since 2005, Waldemar has given masterclasses in Caracas, Venezuela with El Sistema, as well tutoring for the bass section of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra including preparation for concerts conducted by Claudio Abbado and Herbert Blomstedt.
 
Michael Harris (Woodwind) was a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1974 to 2006. Alongside his work there he has pursued a busy freelance career playing chamber music with groups such as the Nash Ensemble and London Winds.He also has a keen interest in early clarinets and has worked with period instrument groups including the English Concert, English Baroque Soloists and Collegium Musicum ’90. He receives regular invitations to appear as an adjudicator and panelist [BBC Musician of the Year, EUYO auditions, Shell/LSO competition etc] and is professor of Bass Clarinet at the Royal College of Music. Michael is currently Head of Woodwind and Orchestral Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire of Music and coaches the wind section of the Britten-Pears Orchestra. He also works in France for the Orchestre des Jeunes D’Atlantique and is the wind coach for the Europa Orchestra in Oxford and London. In 2007 Michael was made Professor of Woodwind and Orchestral Performance by UCE, and a Fellow of the RCM in 2009.