After nine concerts in eight countries, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester has finished its Summer Tour 2015 under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt, including successful debuts at the Ravello Festival and the sold-out Teatro Verdi in Pordenone.
Herbert Blomstedt has conducted the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester already for the fourth time on tour and was celebrated by the public and the press as the “doyen of his craft” („Doyen seiner Zunft“, DrehPunktKultur, 27.08.2015) for his interpretation of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 and Mozart’s Symphony No. 39.
Critics have marvelled at „the supreme serenity with which he led the excellent musicians of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester“, (“mit welch souveräner Gelassenheit er die exzellenten Musiker des Gustav Mahler Jugendorchesters … führte“), and his approach was summed up after the concert at the Salzburg Festival: “Conducting psychology at its best.” („Dirigierpsychologie vom Feinsten.“, Die Presse, 29.08.2015). After the concert at the Eberbach Abbey during the Rheingau Festival, critics pointed out “Blomstedt’s clear and modest conducting style” and called him “one of the greatest Bruckner exegetes of our time” („einer der ganz großen Bruckner-Exegeten unserer Zeit“, Frankfurter Neue Presse, 31.08.2015).
The 63rd tour of the GUSTAV MAHLER JUGENDORCHESTER has led the 110 musicians as every year to the most prominent festivals and concert halls in Europe, amongst others to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, where the papers wrote about the “dazzling quality of the Mahler Orchestra” („spetterende kwaliteit … bij de mahlerianen“, Trouw, 31.08.2015), to the Salzburg Festival, where the “excellent musicians of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester” (“die exzellenten Musiker des Gustav-Mahler-Jugendorchesters“, Die Presse, 29.08.2015) were highly applauded, and to the Lucerne Festival, where “the alert and committed Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester” („das hellwach engagierte Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester“ (Luzerner Zeitung, 25.08.2015) impressed with its “crisp incisive playing” (Seen and Heard International, 25.08.2015).
At the invitation of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, with whom the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester has established a close partnership in 2012, “the orchestra of the best young musicians” played the opening concert at the Frauenkirche “very impressively and captivatingly … like a grand coherent organism “ („sehr eindrucksvoll und mitreißend … wie ein großer, gemeinsamer Organismus“, Der Neue Merker, 26.08.2015).
Under the guidance of assistant conductor LEO MCFALL, the rehearsal period was once again hosted by the Bolzano Festival Bozen, where the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester performed two celebrated concerts that elicited an enthusiastic response from the press, writing about “the most beautiful concert of the year” („Il concerto più bello dell’anno“, l’Adige, 01.09.2015) and “the best orchestra of the world” („La migliore orchestra del mondo“, la Repubblica, 25.08.2015).
The tours of 2016 will bring the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester under the baton of David Afkham, Christoph Eschenbach, Philippe Jordan and Leo McFall as well as with the soloists Gautier Capuçon, Christian Gerhaher and Frank Peter Zimmermann amongst others to Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Bolzano, Bratislava, Budapest, Dresden, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Salzburg, Stuttgart and Vienna.
Bildnachweis:
© Lucerne Festival / Peter Fischl (1)
© RMF / Ansgar Klostermann (2)
© Salzburger Festspiele / Marco Borrelli (3)