National Broadcaster Spotlight

Murphy & The Water Music, Live from The Concertgebouw

Media Release, 25 May, 2020 (for immediate release)

The Dutch national broadcaster (NPO) has identified Simon Murphy and the NDA's live concert performance of Handel's The Water Music for the ZaterdagMatinee series in June 2007 at The Concertgebouw Amsterdam as a highlight from the archives.

The NPO has released the live concert recording to its international partner-broadcasters through the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), spotlighting Murphy's work internationally. At home in the Netherlands, the national broadcaster will transmit The Water Music on Radio 4 (NTR) on Saturday 6 June 2020 at 16:15 (GMT + 1).

To accompany the EBU radio release, the NPO asked Murphy to write a personal background-story on The Water Music and this special performance. It is given here.

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Performing Handel's The Water Music for the ZaterdagMatinee at The Concertgebouw

By Conductor Simon Murphy

Handel's cosmopolitan, orchestral masterpiece The Water Music is a vibrant celebration of the rich musical traditions of Baroque Europe. From a Watteau-esque French shepherdess dancing a Sarabande for her lover in the dappled shadows by a babbling brook to an ruddy-faced Irish farmer doing a jig in the local village tavern, The Water Music is a captivating portrait of a time and place where humanity and nature are connected and where both flourish. It pictures a place which is invigorating, nourishing, abundant and bountiful. It celebrates the fullness of the human experience– earthy, physical, sensual, spiritual, intellectual and emotional.

As the last instrumental masterpiece of the pre-industrial era, it also holds a special significance for us today. Handel's The Water Music offers us the opportunity to gain invaluable insights into the intrinsic connections between humanity, nature and culture, and the beauty and importance of diversity in all three. As such, it is not only a portrait of the past. It could also be a picture of our future.

This performance follows the extensive work done together with the NDA on Corelli's orchestral aesthetic. The Water Music is also the subject of our current project, Garden of Eden. Please find details of this below, alongside a personal story about preparing and performing this concert of The Water Music and about our musical approach to the piece.

I invite you to join us for our performance of (selections from) this deeply moving, defining Baroque musical work of genius by Handel, live from The Concertgebouw Amsterdam as part of Dutch radio's ZaterdagMatinee series.

A Personal Story

Listening to the radio as a teenager growing up in Australia in the 1980s, it seemed like every broadcast-concert in the world took place in the Netherlands. Today, from The Festival of Early Music Utrecht … Today, from The Concertgebouw Amsterdam … Today, from The North Sea Jazz Festival The Hague … Later on, I learned that this was due to the Netherlands' very proactive approach to contributing live concert recordings to the world through the EBU sharing system, but also because I had become obsessed with pioneering Dutch early music figures such as Gustav Leonhardt and Frans Brüggen, so my teenage ears pricked up at any sound of the words early music and the Netherlands.

From early on, my boyhood dream was to play Baroque viola – in a Baroque church, with a frescoed ceiling, in Europe. I wanted to be able to revel in being surrounded by the voluptuous sights and sounds of the Baroque, and just soak up the total experience. After my studies in Sydney, I took a very big breath, packed my suitcase, and moved to the Netherlands. And, to my delight, I started performing with those musical heroes of mine.

In that process however, I saw that the younger generation needed more of a platform, and in 2003, I conducted the closing concert at the Holland Festival of Early Music Utrecht with my then brand-new Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy. Festival director Jan van den Bossche invited us to make a big statement, and we did so with a large-scale performance of Corelli's Concerti Grossi. It was voted one of the top five highlights in the festival's history.

Broadcast live by Dutch radio with an EBU simulcast around the world, the festival co-production also resulted in a CD album for PENTATONE, and an invitation to perform in Rome, in the presidential palace, under the Bernini vaulted golden ceiling, for a state visit of Queen Beatrix, broadcast live on the RAI. Boyhood dream come true.

An invitation also followed from another Dutch legend, Jan Zekveld, programmer of the ZaterdagMatinee, to perform The Water Music in what was to be one of his very last concerts in the series before his retirement. I was super honoured to be included in this tastemaker's long line of rather illustrious musical guests at The Concertgebouw and, thereby, to make an appearance in just the type of radio programme which had so inspired me as a kid back in Australia. The result is this live concert recording.
For me personally, it is a very special recording of what is a treasured musical experience, as it represents a kind of full circle, but also a springboard, as it has had so much positive effect on me being able to create all sorts of further musical opportunities since then.

Roman Holiday

The quite substantial musical work which we did on bringing Corelli's rich orchestral soundscape to life in 2003 formed the basis for our approach to Handel's The Water Music. Whilst in Rome, Handel worked closely with Corelli. Handel was clearly influenced by Corelli's rich soundscape.

We know from payment records, that, on occasion, Corelli also used winds, brass and percussion, alongside his string group and basso continuo section. In preparing for The Water Music, we experimented adding horns and oboes to a Corelli movement, and yes, perhaps unsurprisingly, you do get a rather “Handelian” sound as the result. Another example of Handel being a fan of Corelli is Corelli's Fuga a 4 which is basically a blueprint of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus pretty much with just about everything in it except for the Ha - llelujah itself (see our Corelli CD, track 23). You can also read an article on the experience which I wrote for Limelight here.

Handel's The Water Music is such an encyclopaedia of

1. the formal musical styles of the time (including church, opera, instrumental, ballet, theatre and military styles),
2. the regional languages/dialects/flavours of the time (including Italian, French, German, English, Irish and Spanish) and
3. the myriad of instruments in and as part of the Baroque orchestra.

In bringing The Water Music to life we wanted to highlight the variety in musical styles as well as the variety and richness of timbres of which the Baroque orchestra is capable.

In general, we tried to achieve one broad colour per suite matching the emotional state represented by the key (according to the 18th century sources)

• Suite 1 in F - polite and refined, bonne grâce (contrasting with the relative minor of d minor in the extensive last movement – grave and serious matters),
• Suite 3 in G rustic, pastoral, friendly, and
• Suite 2 in D royal, grand, military might, warlike and noisy, triumph, celebration.

As well as honing the playing style to represent each of these 3 general colours effectively (tone production, timbre and articulation), we varied the use of lutes and/or guitars accordingly, alongside Handel's own variations in the scoring per suite – most obviously the horns in Suite 1, the solo flute in Suite 3, and then the trumpets and horns together in Suite 2. In individual movements, we also used flecks of colour from guest percussionist Ivo Nitschke (who actually hails from Handel's home town of Halle!) to underline the different regional flavours particularly in the dance movements, for example spoons in the more Irish movements and then side drum in the more military movements. In the theatre, percussion (either played by the dancers or in the orchestra) was used enthusiastically, so we wanted to have that included in the experience. In this way also, we wanted to ensure the full range of colours from the Baroque orchestra would be represented and explored.

For the winds, we chose to have a oboe band style wind section - tripling or quadrupling the numbers of oboes and bassoons, which bulks up the sound in general to Handelian “proportions” (and simply also follows in the Lully-tradition). It provides a nice equal weight between the strings and winds in the orchestral balance, and also in the musical conversations between the two groups (for example in the last movement of Suite 1). It also means that there's a difference between solo and tutti in the winds, as well as in the strings.

With the resulting instrumentation, (authentic) instruments and playing style, we've endeavoured to create a soundscape with plenty of profile, grain, grit and texture.

With this inspiring musical work, Handel expresses his strong vote of confidence in humanity. He underscores this through every aspect of the work. As such

• the instruments of the orchestra have their own distinctive voice but also come together to form a beautifully interweaving whole, a tapestry of sound with its unity being far richer for its diversity,
• highly diverse national and regional dishes are all given a place at this colourful, nourishing, musical table, and
• the rich journey of the human experience is explored from the joy of young dance, to triumph and collective celebration, to the personal reflection of a solemn church procession.

Garden of Eden

Following the successful performance at the ZaterdagMatinee in The Concertgebouw, we were invited to perform The Water Music at the Händel Festspiele in Handel's birth city, Halle, for a festival concert broadcast live by the MDR.

Now, the work forms the centrepiece of our new project, Garden of Eden. The project aims to make a energising, cultural contribution to promoting action on the climate crisis. This will be our next recording, together with our partner label, PENTATONE, with the recording sessions talking place as soon as is feasible.


© Simon Murphy 2020




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Not for publication

Simon Murphy
+ 31 614 975 395
info@simonmurphyconductor.com
www.simonmurphyconductor.com

Founding Music Curator Murphy Leaves as Festival Dumps Classical & Jazz Component

Shock move by festival organisers brings 8 years of award-winning success to a halt 

Press Release & Media Statement from Simon Murphy, 25 February, 2020

During a meeting at the headquarters of the Embassy Festival in The Hague earlier this month, festival organisers Prooost informed founding festival music curator Simon Murphy of their decision to ditch the entirety of the festival's Classical & Jazz component, including the festival's popular Classical & Jazz Stage, effective immediately. Murphy was not consulted on this.

Murphy has been the curator and presenter of the Classical & Jazz Stage since the festival's inception in 2012. Some of the highlights of his programming have included the Dutch début of Swedish Jazz superstar Ida Sand, celebrated Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer playing works by Philip Glass, and the musical fireworks of the 4 Double Basses of the Oslo FAT String Quartet. The festival has received the EU's prestigious EFFE Award multiple times for its consistent, diverse, high quality programming.

In communicating the decision to Murphy, festival organisers cited desires for “new directions” during the festival's next phase. However, with a mere 6 months to go before the 2020 festival, the stage envisioned by the organisers to replace the dumped Classical & Jazz Stage is yet to be named and its content yet to be defined.

The Embassy Festival is an annual event held in September. Organisers Prooost are also behind the Pop festival “Life I Live” a.k.a. Koningsnacht. Both events are primarily funded by the municipality of The Hague.

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Background Story 

Quality and Diversity

In the heart of the historic centre of the cosmopolitan court city of The Hague, on the beautiful, leafy, tree-lined boulevard of the Lange Voorhout, the idyllic setting of the Embassy Festival gazes out at some of the city's iconic palaces, theatres and churches. Its ancient, cobbled streets have borne witness to the footsteps of the city's many illustrious musical visitors including Abel, J.C. Bach, Stamitz, Mozart and Beethoven. In this exquisite setting, Dutch-based Australian conductor and violist Simon Murphy has revelled in his role as the curator and presenter of the festival's Classical & Jazz Stage.

With its distinctive blend of high quality programming within an informal but stylish atmosphere, the festival has grown steadily in popularity, garnering tens of thousands of visitors in recent years. Under Murphy's watch, the festival has won international acclaim for its musical quality and diversity. It has twice received the EU's EFFE Award – a seal of quality for remarkable, European festivals offering unique and high quality experiences. The award's jury, headed by Sir Jonathan Mills, acknowledged the consistency in quality and in the artistic choices made in programming both established and emerging artists.

Successful Formula

From the very beginning, the festival's programming formula has featured two central pillars,
Pop, and Classical & Jazz, each with their own dedicated stage. Until now.

Murphy: “I am shocked by the festival organisers' decision to axe the Classical & Jazz component of the festival. I was not consulted about this. The Classical & Jazz Stage was the jewel in the festival's crown. This is a great loss for the quality and diversity of the festival's programming. The Classical & Jazz Stage offered audiences in the Netherlands a unique opportunity to experience an array of repertoire and a beautiful variety of high quality international Classical and Jazz artists – for free, in a joyous, relaxed atmosphere, and in a stunningly beautiful historical location. 

I therefore have no choice but to immediately step back from my role at the festival as curator and presenter of the Classical & Jazz Stage and to distance myself from the festival as a whole at this time. I cannot in any way support the organisers' decision to discard the festival's Classical & Jazz component, especially given that it has been such a core part of the festival's identity and success since the festival's foundation 8 years ago.” 

Breadth & Depth

With a repertoire spanning more than seven centuries and featuring artists from all corners of the world, Murphy's Classical & Jazz Stage programming delivered a wealth of styles and musical personalities to eager audiences. From Dutch harp heroine Lavinia Meijer performing her own arrangements of works by Philip Glass, to U.S. piano virtuoso Bobby Mitchell playing Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, to Palestinian Trio Nur performing traditional Arabian music, to Dutch contemporary composer/percussionist Arnold Marinissen playing his own works, Murphy's festival offerings featured everything from Baroque instrumental music through to Lieder recitals through to cutting edge modern jazz.

Murphy's festival programming saw several major international artists make their Dutch débuts, including Swedish Jazz superstar Ida Sand and celebrated Australian Classical saxophonist Amy Dickson. Audiences shared in unique festival collaborations with Dutch Jazz pianist Rembrandt Frerichs, Norwegian accordionist Frode Haltli and Swedish trombonist Karin Hammar performing each others' newest compositions. Other highlights included recitals by Slovenian soprano Barbara Kozelj, Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs, German recorder player Anna Stegmann, Greek soprano Myrsini Margariti, Swedish lutenist Karl Nyhlin, Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze, and Belgian soprano Elise Caluwaerts. Polish outfit Bodo brought central-European music from the interbellum to the stage and the unstoppable Oslo FAT String Quartet presented re-imaginings of classical favourites mixed with stunning interpretations of modern works.

Murphy: “As well as celebrating top local talent, I am delighted to have been able to bring some of my international musical heroes to the Netherlands. Presenting Ida Sand in 2018 and hearing her sing my favourite song, “Home”, as she made her Dutch debut with a solo set created especially for the festival was a very special moment for me. I am also proud to have been able to help highlight up-and-coming artists from around the world who I feel deserve to be taken notice of. Australian mezzo Anna Smith and Norwegian mezzo Kristin Mulders are two examples. 

As a performing musician myself, I also have greatly enjoyed contributing to the festival experience by getting the viola out and joining some of my musical guests in several very memorable festival collaborations over the years. It was lovely to be part of the music making – both backstage and on stage.” 

Cultural Diplomacy

Due to his experience with cultural diplomacy and his profile in the international community in The Hague, the organisers approached Murphy to do some outreach and help sell the new festival to embassies and other stakeholders, alongside his programming work.

Murphy: “I particularly enjoyed the early days of the festival – pitching it at press events, writing the festivals texts together with Holly Marder, and pounding the pavement together with Fleur van Rijn, visiting the various prospective partner-embassies. 

Fleshing out the festival's sound requirements together with Marc Noble of More Stage was also very inspiring. We enjoyed exploring mutual amplification wishes together and looking at how the stage placements could best work on the festival terrain. During the process, we had our own little “nerd fest”, discussing favourite microphones and so forth. I learnt a lot from him. Marc had built some rigs especially designed for acoustic/classical music. It was beautiful to work with such a sound craftsman (!) and to see it all come alive on the day. 

It was very exciting, creating what would become the blueprint for the festival.” 

Grateful 

Murphy: “I'm proud to have been able to make a contribution to the cultural environment in the Netherlands through my work at the festival. At the end of it all, looking out from the festival stage at the happy faces of the audiences has been a reward in itself. 

I would like to thank all of the artists, ambassadors and cultural attachés with whom I've had the honour and pleasure of working during my time at the festival. I'm proud of the highly meaningful co-operations we created together and that the resulting performances so beautifully profiled the immense talent and strong cultural identities of the countries involved and simultaneously demonstrated the incredible power which music has to unite us all and to celebrate our shared humanity. 

I would especially like to the thank the embassies of Norway, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Australia and the U.S. for their active support in the early days of the festival. Their votes of confidence gave the festival wings to fly and have had a big effect on what it's been able to grow into during its first 8 years.” 

Future

Murphy: “I would like to thank Prooost's director Arthur Pronk for his vision and commitment to include Classical music as a core element of the festival, right from the very beginning. I wish him and his team good luck in their future endeavours. 

Alongside my own performing work, I look forward to exploring new curating opportunities, both locally and internationally, in order to continue to bring quality musical experiences to audiences in personal, engaging, vibrant and meaningful ways.” 

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About Simon Murphy

Simon Murphy (Sydney, 1973) is an international award-winning Dutch-based Australian conductor and violist. Nicknamed “the repertoire refresher” by France's Diapason, he has won major industry awards including an Edison (Dutch “Grammy”) for his performing, programming and recording activities including his many albums featuring world première presentations of symphonic works rediscovered by him. He is a champion of 18th century Dutch music and has made several albums profiling unearthed Dutch musical gems. His landmark recording of Corelli's Concerti Grossi made during the Holland Festival of Early Music Utrecht was voted one of the five highlights of the festival's history.

Murphy is music director of The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy. With the orchestra, he has toured extensively, appearing at prestigious international music festivals including the Bachfest Leipzig. Murphy has also worked as guest-conductor with major international ensembles ranging from the Strasbourg Philharmonic through to the Latvian State Choir.

Murphy has a special affinity for cultural diplomacy. Murphy has programmed and performed concert events for multilateral celebrations around the world, including in New York, Beijing, Vancouver, Rome, Ankara, Hong Kong and Sydney. He has regularly performed for members of the Dutch royal family, both abroad and at home. Murphy is also music advisor to the Netherlands' Prinsjesfestival.

Launched in September in The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Murphy's latest album is JET SET! Classical Glitterati (PENTATONE, 2019). On it, he performs Zelter's Viola Concerto and conducts orchestral works by Abel, Reichardt, Mozart and Paisiello. Murphy's current large scale passion projects include his Gothic Project which explores the 18th century foundations of the genre in music, music theatre, art and literature, and his musical, climate change advocacy project, Garden of Eden, which centres around Handel's cosmopolitan Baroque orchestral masterpiece, The Water Music. www.simonmurphyconductor.com

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At a Glance 

Highlights of Murphy's Classical & Jazz Stage at the Embassy Festival 2012 – 2019 

Dutch Débuts including
Swedish Jazz superstar Ida Sand
Australian Classical saxophonist Amy Dickson

Unique Festival Collaborations including
Dutch Jazz pianist Rembrandt Frerichs, Norwegian accordionist Frode Haltli and Swedish trombonist Karin Hammar performing each other's newest compositions

Recitals including
Dutch harp-superstar Lavinia Meijer performing her own arrangements of works by Philip Glass
U.S. pianist Bobby Mitchell playing Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn
Belgian soprano Elise Caluwaerts singing Verdi, Liszt and Bernstein
Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs performing Bach and Ysaye
German recorder virtuoso Anna Stegmann with selections from Van Eyck's Der Fluytenlusthof
Dutch composer/percussionist Arnold Marinissen playing his own works ft. Katharina Gross
Other recitals featuring Trinidadian Soprano Nicole Jordan, Slovenian soprano Barbara Kozelj, Belorussian pianist Hanna Shybayeva, Dutch flautist Felicia van den End, Dutch/Hungarian
pianist Valentina Tóth, Swedish lutenist Karl Nyhlin, Greek soprano Myrsini Margariti,
Irish pianist Fionnuala Moynihan, English fiddler Mike Bailey, Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze, Dutch harpist Gwyneth Wentink, and Ukranian/U.S. soprano Julia Kogan

Groups including
Palestinian Trio Nur performing traditional Arabian music
Polish outfit Bodo ft. Aldona Bartnik performing central-European music from the interbellum
Oslo FAT String Quartet performing re-imaginings of classics together with modern works
Bulgarian Bodurov Trio with own new compositions
Boreas Quartett Bremen with music for recorder consort from the northern European Renaissance and early Baroque
Australian violist Simon Murphy and members of the New Dutch Academy with works by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, van Wassenaer, Stamitz, Abel, Graaf, Zappa, Haydn, Mozart and Mendelssohn

New Award for Murphy's Gothic Project

Simon Murphy has received major recognition by The Netherlands' Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds (PCBF) for his multidisciplinary Gothic Project.

The PCBF recently named Murphy as the recipient of its new "Charles Burney Fonds". Consisting of a travel & study grant, the award gives Murphy the opportunity to carry out further research and to develop the next phase of the project.

Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (1767–1824) 
Ossian Receiving the Ghosts of French Heroes (1802)

Murphy's Gothic Project explores the 18th century foundations of the highly influential pan-European aesthetic, genre and subculture. With the project, Murphy aims to identify the 18th century "on stage" Gothic "look and feel", discovering how this was brought to life utilising text, music, backdrops, lighting, projections and special effects.

Putting his discoveries into practice, Murphy will deliver a new series of engaging "total experience" concert programmes and festival/theatre productions.

In earlier research-phases of the project, Murphy had already uncovered powerful but forgotten Gothic and related repertoire. The new grant enables him to intensify the project, to delve deeper and further explore key continental historic music archives, theatres and art collections. It will see Murphy visit centres including Weimar, Dresden, Berlin, Paris and Stockholm in the coming months.

Following successful pilot programmes exploring the theme, Murphy's new series of Gothic Project concert programmes and theatrical productions will be ready for implementation in season 2021 - 2022 onwards. The productions feature Murphy together with the New Dutch Academy as well as in the role of guest conductor with other orchestras.

Warm Welcome for New Album JET SET! Classical Glitterati

Warm Welcome

"Exhilarating 18th-century music provides a luxury tour of Europe"

JET SET! Classical Glitterati has been met with a warm welcome - from listeners, the industry and press. During an Apple Music Classical Radio spotlight, listeners streamed tracks from JET SET! and other Murphy/NDA albums more than 1.7 million times. BBC 3, MDR Klassik and NPO 4 have also run features on the album. Dutch classical music magazine, Luister, summed it up as "an expressive, adventurous, refined and irrefutably radiant recording which succeeds in illuminating 18th-century music from a different point of view."

Murphy and the NDA presented the album in concert at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on 16 September 2019. Info Check out the presentation concert photos on fb

Press Responses to the Album

"Exhilarating 18th-century music provides a luxury tour of Europe"
Apple Music Classical Radio

“Sparkling and brilliant … an impressive portrait of an exceptional cultural period that influenced and permanently changed the sound-landscape of the European capitals in the second half of the eighteenth century. … Nothing but praise for the musicians for this expressive, adventurous, refined and irrefutably radiant recording which succeeds in illuminating 18th-century music from a different point of view.” Luister (NL)

“On the new album, JET SET!, a selection works by leading figures from the musical centres of the second half of the 18th century has been gathered together, offering a lovely overview of the different accents and fashions of the time. … The album opens with the Viola Concerto of Carl Friedrich Zelter, one of the founders of the Bach-renaissance in the 19th century. Director Simon Murphy performs as soloist. Immediately, it is clear that this ensemble distinguishes itself by its rhetorical ability, the art of telling a musical story. ... And, if there is one thing which the album makes crystal clear, it is that Bach's student Abel should be programmed much more often.” De Volkskrant (NL)

“Simon Murphy, founder and director of The New Dutch Academy Chamber Orchestra is a very enterprising musician. Murphy is a violist and a very innovative conductor, particularly in the field of musical excavations. Previous excellent recordings made by him with his ensemble include symphonies by the Italian composer Francesco Zappa. ... Murphy takes his work very seriously. He not only studies the original sources, that is the manuscripts of the composers, but it is also important to him to explore the environment in which the composers worked. … Great, vibrant music by top composers of their time!” MDR (D)

“Australian conductor-violist Murphy and his Hague-based orchestra make it all very juicy. Symphonies by Abel and Reichardt are exquisitely shaped. Each movement is utterly characterful in its own unique way … which the NDA handles with utmost expressivity and seamless phrasing … For world premières, these works have a real sense of the players having lived with them for a while. Murphy demonstrates the same musicianship and sheer zest as the soloist in Zelter's Viola Concerto. … Affection for this music and expertise are all over this release.” Early Music America (US)

“What is particularly striking about the NDA's playing is the enormous rhythmic and dynamic energy in the outer movements, but also the lyrical delicacy with which the slow movements are shaped. The driven playing style is certainly also voluptuous … has boundless energy … and the music glitters and sparkles … For those who want to experience cutting edge historical performance practice from a different perspective, this CD is highly recommended … And by the way: Simon Murphy is not only an inspired conductor, but also a great soloist!” Opus Klassiek (NL)

“The music generation between Bach and Mozart is the great love of viola player and conductor Simon Murphy (Sydney, 1973). He also likes to bring lesser known music into the limelight. The new album focuses on the international character of the 18th-century music world. Musicians travelled through Europe in a stunningly cosmopolitan way. They met painters and philosophers, princes and courtesans, and inspired each other. Carl Friedrich Abel, for example, Murphy's favorite composer, grew up as a student of Bach, but mainly worked in London, where there was a bustling scene around the infamous Mrs. Cornelys. It is amazing to see that so much music of more than two hundred years old has never been recorded before … It is Murphy's merit that he brings a new generation into contact with it. … subtle, energetic and immersive … a beautiful album that grows with every listening.” DHC (NL)

“A fun approach to programming brings the 18th century alive. The packaging’s retro vibe – make sure you watch the trailer on YouTube! – is not the least attraction of this latest recording from The New Dutch Academy and its Sydney-born director, Simon Murphy. Zelter’s Viola Concerto in E Flat – with Murphy as soloist – makes for a terrific opening. It’s a fun concept, emphasising the cosmopolitan nature of Classical composers’ influences, engagements and travels. The music – much of it little known outside specialist circles – is terrific. … an imaginatively conceived and beautifully executed project” Limelight (AU)

Check out the album “making of”

Order the album

New Album Out Now! JET SET! Classical Glitterati

Simon Murphy and The New Dutch Academy's new album is titled JET SET! Classical Glitterati.

Get your copy here

            

The album follows the musical "jet set" of the 18th century as they "do" the splendid cultural epicentres of the time including London, Berlin, Vienna and St Petersburg. On the programme, world-premiere recordings of symphonies by Abel and Reichardt balance well-loved works by Mozart and Paisiello with Murphy also appearing in the double role of conductor/soloist in Zelter's beautiful Viola Concerto in E-flat.

Check out the album teaser trailer video

Check out the album "making of"

JET SET! is Murphy and the NDA's 7th release with long standing partner-label, PENTATONE, and follows their well-received previous album, GRAND TOUR Baroque Road Trip (2017). JET SET! (PTC 5186 787) is now available on disc, on all relevant digital platforms including Spotify and iTunes, with high-resolution download on PENTATONE, and high-resolution streaming on Primephonic.

The album was made possible by a successful crowdfunding campaign (on Kickstarter). Thank you to all of those who made this possible and supported the campaign.

Crowdfunding Campaign for Next Album JET SET!

Check out the brand new crowdfunding campaign for the next album JET SET!

Hot on the heels of GRAND TOUR Baroque Road Trip, Murphy and the NDA have recorded their next album, JET SET.

Moving from the Baroque into the heady, inspired atmosphere of the early classical period, the album follows members of the 18th century's musical JET SET as they do the glittering cultural epicentres of the time, including London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and St Petersburg. The album features symphonies by Abel and Reichardt, and arias by Paisiello, Storace and Mozart. In the double role of conductor and soloist, Murphy performs the Zelter Viola Concerto in E Flat.

Grammy award-winning sound-engineer Jean-Marie Geijsen and producer Karel Bruggeman (Polyhymnia) headed up the recording team for the May 2017 sessions in the historic Gothic Hall, Council of State in The Hague.

JET SET will be Murphy and the NDA's 7th album with Dutch label PENTATONE.

See the crowdfunding campaign for the album on Kickstarter

Simon Murphy during sessions for the new album, JET SET!

            

Murphy to partner with Norway's oldest orchestra

Simon Murphy will appear as guest-conductor with Norway's oldest orchestra for a series of projects in 2018. Founded in 1734, DNBE prides itself on its centuries-long tradition of musical invention and innovation.

Murphy has been invited to programme and to perform with the orchestra, further developing its activities and profile in the area of earlier music - one of the orchestra's core focuses. Repertoire includes Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Rossini, Mendelssohn, Gade and Lortzing.

            

EU Recognition for Festival Programmes

Simon Murphy has been the artistic director and programmer of the classical stage of the Netherlands' Embassy Festival since the festival's inception, 5 years ago. This year, the festival received the EU's EFFE status, a new seal of quality for remarkable, European festivals offering unique and high-quality experiences.

Headed by Sir Jonathan Mills, the award's jury praised the consistency in quality and in the artistic choices made in programming both established and emerging artists.

Murphy's festival programmes have seen Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer through to Swedish trombonist Karin Hammar take to the stage. This year, Slovenian mezzo soprano Barbara Kozelj headlines Murphy's line-up.

            

First new album reviews are in

Being featured on “A list” new release playlists, including on iTunes and Spotify, Simon Murphy's new album, GRAND TOUR Baroque Road Trip, has received a warm welcome by the music industry. The album's trailer was also a success on social media, and now the formal press reviews are starting to come in.

Dutch music quarterly MUZE takes the honours for the very first review:

“Inspired by the many pages of travel diaries and reports of musical experiences, Murphy and the NDA plan out their own route with thrilling concertos by Telemann, Bach, Vivaldi and Van Wassenaer. Instead of pastel drawings and sketches, this sonorous travel report consists of atmospheric images in major and minor, with the colours, aromas and tantalising glimpses being impeccably rendered by the music's grandeur, warmth and elegant repose. Matching the infectious energy of the musical adventurers of the time, the outstanding playing of this perfectly attuned ensemble of soloists makes the invitation in the CD booklet to “sit back and enjoy” impossible to refuse. Both the repertoire and the performance of The New Dutch Academy make this an unforgettable musical journey.”

Read full review (in Dutch)

Check out the album teaser here

Check out the Making Of here

Order tickets for the Album Launch at The Concertgebouw Amsterdam on 3 September 2017

Order the album on the PENTATONE website

Check out the B2B tour info here

New Album Tour

The new album from conductor and Baroque violist Simon Murphy and his award-winning Baroque orchestra from The Hague, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), is a celebration of the variety, vibrancy and vitality of the Baroque.

With Grand Tour - Baroque Road Trip, Murphy takes audiences on an exciting musical journey across Baroque Europe, meeting legendary musical personalities in the glittering musical centres of the time - from Bach in Leipzig to Handel in London, from Vivaldi in Venice to Van Wassenaer in The Hague.

Supporting the album's international release on 19 May 2017, Murphy and the orchestra will tour the album throughout Europe and around the world from September 2017 onwards.

Check out the album teaser here!

See album tour info here

            

Crowdfunding CD Successful

A big thanks to everyone who helped make the crowdfunding campaign for the new CD Grand Tour - Baroque Road Trip a success!

Check out the crowdfunding site for the results, watch the video and read all about the exciting project!

New CD

Grand Tour
Baroque Road Trip

Simon Murphy will record his sixth album with international Dutch label PENTATONE this October.

Together with The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), the CD takes listeners on a musical Grand Tour of Baroque Europe, visiting Bach in Leipzig, Vivaldi in Venice and Van Wassenaer in The Hague.

            

In the double role of viola soloist and music director, Murphy will perform some of the most beautiful music ever written for Baroque viola and orchestra including Telemann's Viola Concerto in G and, together with viola colleague Annegret Meder, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no 6.

Other soloists include Elisabeth Champollion in Vivaldi's effervescent Sopranino Recorder Concerto in C (443) and Karl Nyhlin in Vivaldi's classic Lute Concerto in D. Violinists Rachael Beesley and Sonoko Asabuki and cellist Aleksandra Renska feature in Van Wassenaer's breathtaking Concerto Armonico no 1. Greek soprano Myrsini Margariti completes the album with two bravura coloratura arias, displaying the influence of the instrumental concerto style on Baroque vocal virtuosity.


On Sunday 9 October 2016 at 15:30, the NDA will perform a selection of works from the new CD at an informal presentation as part of the preparations for the recording sessions. NDA Studio, Mooof, Binckhorst 135, The Hague. The CD will be released internationally in Spring 2017 – as a physical SA-CD, for download on Primephonic and i-Tunes, and for streaming on Spotify.


Check out the crowdfunding campaign and promo video and help bring this project to fruition! Reward options ranges from single pre-release CDs and exclusive concert tickets, to a box of 25 signed CDs for your business contacts/family members through to conductor Simon Murphy coming to your house and personally cooking dinner for you and your friends.

French Star Soprano Headlines Murphy's Festival Line Up

“A true, voluptuous siren”, “A divine angel”. Young French star soprano Elodie Fonnard headlines Simon Murphy's classical stage programme at the Netherlands' Embassy Festival in The Hague this September.

                   

First revealed to the world by William Christie’s Jardin des Voix, Elodie comes to the Embassy Festival fresh from her recent triumphs on the stages of the Opéra Comique in Paris, the Royal Opera of Versailles, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, New York's Lincoln Center and the Bolshoi in Moscow.

Fonnard has been praised by the international press for her “glorious singing” (The Scotsman), her expressive, poignant, clear voice and admirable stylistic facility (New York Times). “Her voice is clear, supple and beautifully warm. She delivers every phrase with fervour and sensitivity.”

For the 2016 Embassy Festival, she presents a highly personal recital of delicately fragrant, intimate French songs by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Duparc and Poulenc, accompanied by pianist David Saudubray.

Embassy Festival Classical / Jazz Programme

Held annually in the beautiful, historic centre of The Hague, the Netherlands' Embassy Festival is a vibrant and cosmopolitan celebration of the world's musical and culinary arts.

Curated and presented by Dutch-based Australian conductor and violist Simon Murphy (Sydney, 1973), the festival's classical/jazz stage features a rich variety of musical styles performed by leading international musicians in a series of concert programmes of music from 5 continents with repertoire spanning 5 centuries.

Murphy's previous festival editions featured Dutch musical superstars harpist Lavinia Meijer, flautist Felicia van den End, and violinist Frederieke Saeijs, Australian classical saxophonist Amy Dickson, Swedish lute virtuoso Karl Nyhlin, German star-soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto, Norwegian accordionist and ECM recording-artist Frode Haltli, Germany's Boreas Quartett, award-winning Canadian soprano Stefanie True, U.S. pianist Bobby Mitchell and soprano Julia Kogan, the Netherlands' Rembrandt Frerichs Trio and Greek mega diva Myrsini Margariti.

This year's programme again offers audiences a delectable and captivating array of musical styles, from fiery European operatic master-works, to delicate French impressionist musical portraits, to dynamic, modern, new world composition. Music for the ears, eyes, heart, soul and mind.

Festival Location and Atmosphere

A stone's throw away from the city's historic concert halls, opera houses and art galleries, the tree-lined boulevard of The Hague's Lange Voorhout makes the perfect backdrop for the Embassy Festival's international classical and jazz programme. In this inspiring festival setting, along cobblestone streets once walked by Mozart, Beethoven and Dussek, modern audiences now have the opportunity to savour some of the world's most exciting contemporary performers in a series of engaging concert presentations. Other festival offerings include culinary delights from around the world, theatre, street art and more.

Festival Details

Embassy Festival, Lange Voorhout (outside), The Hague
Saturday 3 September 2016, 12:00 to 21:00
Entrance FREE!

www.embassyfestival.com

Festival organiser is Prooost in partnership with the city of The Hague.

For further information on conductor Simon Murphy's other projects and performing activities, visit:
www.simonmurphyconductor.com

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Embassy Festival 2016

Highlights Classical / Jazz Stage Programme


Paula Pérez Romero and Alma Barroca
Rising stars Paula Pérez Romero and Baroque ensemble Alma Barroca present a selection of sparkling Baroque musical gems. With an instrumentation of two violins, theorbo and cello, the programme features works by Italian and Spanish Baroque masters including Vivaldi and Corelli.


Éva Szalai, piano 
Winner of the Grand Prize at the Hungarian National Piano Competition, the Adilia Alieva Competition and the International Alain Marinaro Piano Competition, and graduate of both the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, young Hungarian pianist Éva Szalai has wowed international audiences and the press alike with her “her exquisite musicality, noble performance and genuine devotedness to music”. For the Embassy Festival 2016, Éva performs a powerful solo recital programme of works from her homeland by Bartók, Kurtág and Liszt. www.evaszalai.com


Susanne Herre, Viola da Gamba
German Viola da Gamba virtuoso Susanne Heere gives a particularly internationally themed recital of music for her instrument by legendary 17th century French composer and Viola da Gamba player, Marin Marais. Susanne's programme includes Marais' L'Americaine, La Georgienne, and La Polonoise, as well as extracts from his Folies d'Espagne and other works including his mesmerising Les voix humaines.


Aldona Bartnik, soprano
Maurice Lammerts van Bueren, piano 
Award-winning Polish soprano Aldona Bartnik presents a colourful, hand-selected programme of Polish art-songs including works by Chopin, Szymanowski, Paderewski and Lutoslawski. Exploring the musical languages of Polish Romanticism, Expressionism and Impressionism, Aldona's programme entitled Melancholia looks especially at the influence of Polish folk music on the development of Polish art-music and identity. Of this rich source of inspiration, Polish composer Szymanowski said that he had absorbed the intense beauty of Góral (Polish Highlander) music, dance and architecture into his “innermost soul”. www.aldonabartnik.com


Anna Stegmann, Recorder
German recorder virtuoso Anna Stegmann performs music from Van Eyck's Dutch Golden Age musical masterpiece “Der Fluyten Lust-hof”. Originally designed to dazzle and enchant visitors in his courtyard on a summer evening, Van Eyck's sensual collection is one of the largest and richest from the 17th century for a solo instrument.  “Dazzling”, “outstanding recorder playing” (Limelight), “wonderfully cultivated tone, beautiful phrasing” (Klassik), Anna performs a selection of mesmerising musical numbers by Van Eyck including Engels Nachtingal, Wat zal men op den Avond doen and the classic Amarilli mia bella in a refreshing musical interlude of sweet summer serenades deigned to bewitch and beguile both ear and eye. www.anna-stegmann.com


Elodie Fonnard, Soprano
“A true, voluptuous siren”, “A divine angel”. Young French star soprano Elodie Fonnard has been praised by the international press for her “glorious singing” (The Scotsman), her expressive, poignant, clear voice and admirable stylistic facility (New York Times). “Her voice is clear, supple and beautifully warm. She delivers every phrase with fervour and sensitivity.”

First revealed to the world by William Christie’s Jardin des Voix, Elodie comes to the Embassy Festival fresh from her recent triumphs on the stages of the Opéra Comique in Paris, the Royal Opera of Versailles, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, New York's Lincoln Center and the Bolshoi in Moscow.

For the 2016 Embassy Festival, Elodie presents a highly personal recital of delicately fragrant, intimate French songs by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Duparc and Poulenc, accompanied by pianist David Saudubray. www.elodiefonnard.com


Maria Marin, Voice and Guitar
Celebrating Frederico Garcia Lorca's famous statement that “flamenco singing is the deep song which comes from remote races, crossing the cemetery of the years and it comes from the frontiers of the withered winds. It comes from the first cry and the first kiss”, Spanish, flamenco singer and guitarist Maria Marin performs an intoxicating programme of sensual and passionate works by Isaac Albéniz, Feliu Gasull, Miguel Llobet and Manuel de Falla. For Maria herself, performing flamenco is an intense and deeply personal experience. “To play guitar and sing is my way of life and of expressing the emotions - from pain, suffering and people's cries, through to love and joy”. http://mariamarinmusic.com/es/


_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Programming and Presentation by Simon Murphy, 2016
www.simonmurphyconductor.com

Mrs Cornelys' Entertainments

Baroque Burlesque
18th Century Variété

Enthusiastically reviewed in the Dutch press as "fresh and playful Baroque - a feast for the eyes and ears" in which "the theatrical elements worked beautifully", this November in the Netherlands, Simon Murphy presented a new production of his "Baroque Burlesque" "18th Century Variety Show", Mrs Cornelys'  Entertainments. 

Featuring Swedish Baroque dancer Karin Modigh in the title role, the production explores the glittering world of the infamous Mrs Cornelys a.k.a. The Empress of Pleasure, her scandalous masked balls of the 1760's and 1770's, and related figures including Lord Sandwich, actor and playwright Garrick, designer Chippendale, and the composers JC Bach and Abel.

Based on a concept by Simon Murphy, the new production follows the successful 2012 pilot. The show features arias, songs, instrumental and dance music by Abel, JC Bach, Handel, Boyce, Cimarosa, Gluck, Dittersdorf and Mozart, script by Simon Murphy, and choreographies by Karin Modigh and Caroline Copeland.

Murphy and the NDA will tour the show internationally from 2017, featuring new costumes currently being designed and created by Swedish costumier Anna Kjellsdotter.

             

Check out the production details

Bookings and enquiries info@newdutchacademy.nl

Credits

Mrs Cornelys' Entertainments - Baroque Burlesque or An 18th Century Variété
A Show by Simon Murphy
Concept, Script and Music Selection Simon Murphy
Choreography Caroline Copeland and Karin Modigh
Music Director Simon Murphy
Baroque Dance Karin Modigh and Caroline Copeland
Soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto
The Chamber Soloists of The New Dutch Academy Concertmaster Rachael Beesley
Music by Handel, Abel, JC Bach, Arne, Boyce, Mozart, Gluck, Storace, Kotzwarra, Paisiello, Cimarosa and Dittersdorf
With thanks to Joy Havens, Anna Kjellsdotter and Lieven Baert, The City of The Hague and Prins Berhard Cultuurfonds (Zuid Holland)
www.simonmurphyconductor.com  www.newdutchacademy.nl
Photography by Fernando van Teijlingen
Production Trailer by Rene Louter © Simon Murphy, 2016
Show, Programme and Concept © Simon Murphy, 2016. All rights reserved.

         

Murphy and NDA open Dutch EU Presidency at Turkish State Opera

Conductor Simon Murphy and members of The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), opened the year with a very special performance at the Turkish State Opera in Ankara on 5 January. The concert event officially launched the 2016 Dutch Presidency of the EU in Turkey.

The invitation follows a successful appearance at the 43rd Istanbul Music Festival in 2015 as well as a successful series of special hand-tailored cultural diplomacy programmes created and performed by Murphy and the NDA in recent years for the Dutch government for major bilateral events, including in Rome, New York and Beijing.

       

Sydney Festival 2016

In January 2016, Simon Murphy and the NDA appeared at the famously vibrant Sydney Festival, performing one of their signature programmes, Bach and his Dutch Contemporaries. 

Warmly received by press and audience alike, Australia's premier arts magazine Limelight reviewed the sold out event (with an audience of 1,142) as "Cunning Dutchmen give the usual suspects a run for their money", billing Simon Murphy as "one of Australia’s finest exports". "For some years now the violist and early music maestro has led this award-winning orchestra". "In addition to being a skilled violist, one of Murphy’s super powers is programming. He’s also a dab hand at presenting, laying out his concert's aims in entertaining detail". The magazine further praised the performance as being "beautifully phrased and richly lyrical", "engaging", and "with an emphasis on tightness of ensemble and at times a breath-taking beauty of tone", "Murphy can congratulate himself on a job well done."  

Presented in co-operation with the Embassy of the Netherlands, the NDA's performance at Sydney's City Recital Hall on January 17 also officially opened the Dirk Hartog Year in 2016, celebrating the 400+ years of relations between the Netherlands and Australia. Special guests at the concert event included Australian Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove, Dutch Ambassador Annemieke Ruigrok, and former Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands Neil Mules.  

      

Previously, Murphy and the NDA have performed various versions of the programme Bach and his Dutch Contemporaries on the European festival circuit, including at the prestigious Bachfest Leipzig. In 2013, they performed it for the Dutch royal family in The Hague. The Sydney Festival performance was broadcast by the ABC. The Australian tour featured German soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto and German recorder player Anna Stegmann in solo roles. 

Read the full Limelight review of the show

Listen to a highly personal feature interview with Simon Murphy on Fine Music FM 

Mrs Cornelys' Entertainments

The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy, musical director Simon Murphy, presents

Mrs Cornelys' Entertainments
Baroque Burlesque or An 18th Century Variété 

18th Century Variety Show with Baroque dance
Sunday 22 November 2015, 14:00 and 16:00
Monday 23 November 2015, 20:15
Korzo Theater, The Hague

                   

Mrs Cornelys' Entertainments

Actress, (opera)singer, dancer, impresario, madam, cultural entrepreneur, and the mother of Casanova's daughter. The Empress of Pleasure, Mrs Cornelys (1723 – 1797), staged her scandalous masked balls a.k.a. Mrs Cornelys' Entertainments in the 1760's and 1770's at her London Carlisle House, a sort of high class 18th century Moulin Rouge. In each room of the house, she offered another type of entertainment – from concerts, theatre, dance and gambling, right through to rather more piquant activities.

Lord Sandwich (of the sandwich and the Hellfire Club), the actor and playwright Garrick, designer Chippendale, painter Gainsborough and the composers Abel and JC Bach were part of her impressive, cosmopolitan circle. The guest lists of her balls were published in the newspapers with descriptions of the guests' opulent costumes. Think Grammys meets Eyes Wide Shut but with less clothing and more jewellery.

Following the success of their 2012 pilot version of the show, conductor Simon Murphy and NDA now present Mrs Cornelys' Entertainments this November in a new production. In the show, the NDA combines the media of ballet, dance, theatre, song and symphony, bringing these together in the form of a highly sensual 18th century variété featuring breathtaking subtle and virtuosic Baroque dance (ballet) and pantomime Baroque dance (storytelling through gesture and movement).

Production

Concept, Text and Music Selection Simon Murphy
Choreography Caroline Copeland and Karin Modigh
Musical Direction Simon Murphy
Soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto
Baroque Dance Karin Modigh
Chamber Soloists of the New Dutch Academy
Concertmaster Rachael Beesley
Music by Handel, Abel, JC Bach, Arne, Boyce, Mozart, Gluck, Dittersdorf, Storace and Kotzwarra

Download Flyer

Tickets

Box Office Korzo Theater, 070 – 363 7540, Prinsestraat 42, Den Haag  www.korzo.nl  (from 1 November)

The show live. Links

Dittersdorf slow movement from Ovidius Symphony no. 4
J.C. Bach Tambourin

Read more about the production on conductor Simon Murphy's blog for Limelight Magazine

(Chamber) Music for Mrs Cornelys' Salons

In the lead up to the november (dance)shows, members of the NDA Chamber Soloists will give a number of intimate, informal chamber music performances with works for string quartet by Abel, Graaf, Schmitt, Stamitz, Dittersdorf, Vanhal and Haydn.

Saturday 31 October in Café de la Gare, Nieuwe Schoolstraat 13A, The Hague at 16:00
Sunday 1 November at 11:30 (am – morning concert) in the brand new, underground chamber music venue, The Crypt, Haarlemmerstraat 126, Amsterdam

More info www.newdutchacademy.nl

About the performers

The New Dutch Academy (NDA) is The Hague's Baroque orchestra.

The NDA is a award-winning group of forty international, young and highly engaged, specialist musicians from all corners of the world. Since 2002, they come together in The Hague in order to explore, present and celebrate 18th century music in all its forms. Conductor and artistic director is Simon Murphy.

www.newdutchacademy.nl
www.simonmurphyconductor.com







Photos: Baroque dancer Caroline Copeland as Mrs Cornelys in the 2012 NDA production Mrs Cornelys' Entertainments, Costumes by Joy Havens, Photos by Fernando van Teijlingen


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Not for publication

More information, images and interviews
Simon Murphy, info@simonmurphyconductor.com

Sydney Festival 2016

Simon Murphy and The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), will make their début at the Sydney Festival this January.

Murphy will direct his acclaimed, hand-crafted concert programme Bach and his Dutch Contemporaries, featuring music by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, De Fesch, Schickhardt and Van Wassenaer, and starring German soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto in the solo role.

The programme is now in its 10th year of international success. Since 2006 Murphy has performed various versions of the programme on the European festival circuit, including at the prestigious Bachfest Leipzig, as well as taking it on tour to Canada, the US, Australia and China. Recently he performed it in sold-out performances at the 43rd Istanbul Music Festival and in Hong Kong for PPHK. In 2013, at home in The Hague, Murphy and the NDA performed a very special version of the programme for the Dutch royal family and guests.

In co-operation with the Dutch Embassy, the NDA's 2016 Sydney Festival performance will, simultaneously, officially open the Dirk Hartog Year, the bilateral celebrations in 2016 of the 400 (+) years of contact between the Netherlands and Australia. Murphy is highly experienced as a cultural diplomacy curator. At the request of the Dutch government, Murphy has programmed and performed the music component of major bilateral celebrations, including in Rome (2004), Sydney (2006), New York (2009) and Beijing (2012).

                 

See the Sydney Festival listing for the performance on 17 January at Sydney's City Recital Hall

See the Dutch Embassy's Dirk Hartog Year website

Istanbul Music Festival Success

Delivering all sold-out performances on their June 2015 tour to Turkey, Simon Murphy and The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), appeared at the 43rd Istanbul Music Festival performing their internationally successful concert programme “Bach and his Dutch Contemporaries”. Other festival-artists included Magdalena Kožená, Arabella Steinbacher, Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists, Sol Gabetta, Yuja Wang, Kim Kashkashian, and The Borodin String Quartet. Murphy and the NDA performed at the Palais de Hollande (1612) in the historical heart of Istanbul.

Created by international award-winning conductor Murphy, the programme celebrates the richness, inventiveness and enormous variety present in the music of the 17th and 18th centuries – particularly in the music of Bach and in the musical gems written by his Dutch contemporaries. Delivering an intimate and personal musical experience, Murphy offers a captivating view of the cosmopolitan European music scene of the period, brought to life in an authentic, immediate, personal and dynamic sound-scape.

Murphy has performed the programme in various forms throughout Europe on the festival circuit, including at the prestigious Bachfest Leipzig in 2010. In 2006, Murphy toured the programme to Australia, with highly successful subsequent tours to Canada and the US in 2007 and 2009, and Hong Kong and China in 2014.  In 2013, at home in The Hague, Murphy and the NDA were invited to perform a very special version of the programme for the Dutch Council of State and the Dutch royal family (pictured below).

The programme features breathtaking Dutch Baroque works by Hacquart – a member of the Huygens circle and the composer of the very first opera written in Dutch – as well as by The Hague statesman Van Wassenaer, by Handel’s Dutch concertmaster De Fesch, and by Schickhardt from his revolutionary L’Alphabet de la musique, a collection of 24 sonatas with one appearing in each (!) of the musical keys.

Alongside the Dutch works, German star Soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto sang classic Bach arias such as “Bist du bei mir” and “Schlummert ein”, and Handel’s beautifully rejuvenating spring aria “Meine Seele hört im Sehen”, and recorder virtuoso Elisabeth Champollion performed Vivaldi's sopranino concerto in C (RV 443). For the Istanbul Music Festival performance, Murphy also included music by Bach's flautist PG Buffardin and by Bach's brother JJ Bach, both residents of Istanbul in the early 18th century.

During the tour, the NDA also give a special concert performance for embassy guests in Ankara at the newly opened Erimtan Museum in co-operation with the Ankara Festival. Simon Murphy was a guest of Turkish State Radio. The tour was supported by the Embassy and Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, at the invitation of the Istanbul Music Festival.

Video and audio links "Bach and his Dutch Contemporaries" 

Istanbul Music Festival Website
Murphy and NDA Live in Concert, Video
Murphy and NDA Live in Concert, Audio
Programme Background
43rd Istanbul Music Festival Media Info


NDA Line-up, Turkey Tour 2015

Simon Murphy, musical director and Baroque viola
Gudrun Sidonie Otto, soprano
Elisabeth Champollion, recorders
Rachael Beesley and Paula Perez, Baroque violin
Aleksandra Renska, Baroque cello
Karl Nyhlin, Baroque guitar and theorbo

Greek Mega Diva Headlines Murphy's Festival Line Up

Fresh from her triumphs at the BBC Proms and Salzburger Festspiele, Greek soprano Myrsini Margariti headlines Simon Murphy's classical stage programme at the Netherlands' Embassy Festival in The Hague this September 5th.

                       

Video

Dripping with Mediterranean sensuality, the svelte Greek diva has taken the international press' collective breath away with “her sonorous, youthful voice”, “artful agility” and “delightful virtuoso climaxes”. Accompanied by celebrated Greek pianist and conductor Zoe Zeniodi, Myrsini Margariti performs music from her enthusiastically received new solo album with works by Puccini, Mendelssohn, Grieg, da Falla, Gounod, Mozart and Dvorak, complimented by new music by contemporary Greek composers Theodorakis and Hatzidakis, in a highly personal recital programme, On Wings of Song.

Further in the star-studded 2015 festival line-up: Dutch "harp heroine" Gwyneth Wentink performs a dynamic solo programme entitled Style Wars contrasting music by Bach and the American minimalist Terry Riley, Trinidad-born soprano Nicole Jordan explores the rich, vibrant and diverse musical traditions of Spain and the Caribbean in Goddess of the Wind, and acclaimed Georgian concert pianist Nino Gvetadze (pictured below) performs music from her acclaimed new Debussy album. Silk-road masters Arifa close the proceedings with a hauntingly beautiful musical journey bridging the Orient and Occident with Caravan.

             

Embassy Festival Classical / Jazz Programme

Held annually in the beautiful, historic centre of The Hague, the Netherlands' Embassy Festival is a vibrant and cosmopolitan celebration of the world's musical and culinary arts.

Curated and presented by Dutch-based Australian conductor and violist Simon Murphy (Sydney, 1973), the festival's classical/jazz stage features a rich variety of musical styles performed by leading international musicians in a series of concert programmes of music from 5 continents with repertoire spanning 5 centuries.

Murphy's previous festival editions featured Dutch musical superstars harpist Lavinia Meijer, flautist Felicia van den End, and violinist Frederieke Saeijs, Australian classical saxophonist Amy Dickson, Swedish lute virtuoso Karl Nyhlin, German star-soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto, Norwegian accordionist and ECM recording-artist Frode Haltli, Germany's Boreas Quartett, award-winning Canadian soprano Stefanie True, U.S. pianist Bobby Mitchell and soprano Julia Kogan, and the Netherlands' Rembrandt Frerichs Trio.

This year's programme again offers audiences a delectable and captivating array of musical styles, from fiery European operatic master-works, delicate, to French impressionist musical portraits, to dynamic, modern, new world composition. Music for the ears, eyes, heart, soul and mind.

Festival Location and Atmosphere

A stone's throw away from the city's historic concert halls, opera houses and art galleries, the tree-lined boulevard of The Hague's Lange Voorhout makes the perfect backdrop for the Embassy Festival's international classical and jazz programme. In this inspiring festival setting, along cobblestone streets once walked by Mozart, Beethoven and Dussek, modern audiences now have the opportunity to savour some of the world's most exciting contemporary performers in a series of engaging concert presentations. Other festival offerings include culinary delights from around the world, theatre, street art and more.

Festival Details

Embassy Festival, Lange Voorhout (outside), The Hague
Saturday 5 September 2015, 12:00 to 21:00
(Classical Programme 12:30 to 17:30)
Entrance FREE!

www.embassyfestival.com

Festival organiser is Prooost in partnership with the city of The Hague. The Embassy Festival is part of The Hague's festive, cultural season's opening weekend “48 uur van Den Haag” (48 hours of The Hague)

For further information on conductor Simon Murphy's other projects and performing activities, visit:
www.simonmurphyconductor.com

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Embassy Festival 2015

Full Programme: Classical / Jazz Section 

A stone's throw away from the city's historic concert halls, opera houses and art galleries, the tree-lined boulevard of The Hague's Lange Voorhout makes the perfect backdrop for The Embassy Festival's classical and jazz programme.

Throughout the centuries, this magical location has witnessed the presence of legendary international artists, composers and performers, including Mozart, Dussek and Beethoven. Now, in this inspiring festival setting, audiences have the opportunity to savour some of Europe and the world's most exciting contemporary performers in engaging concerts celebrating the vitality and diversity of European musical culture.

Curated by Australian conductor and resident of The Hague Simon Murphy, the festival's classical/jazz stage features a rich variety of musical styles performed by leading international musicians in an engaging series of concert programmes.


Nino Gvetadze, piano
First Impressions
12:30

Video

Tbilisi born, international award-winning Georgian piano virtuoso Nino Gvetadze has been described as “a sensation!” by the German press, and as “a born pianist, gifted with the rare ability to speak to the heart” by the Netherlands' NRC. Hailed for her refined and polished performance, she performs an intimate recital of piano works from her recent solo album focussing on the delectably aromatic/fragrant musical palette of French master-impressionist Debussy.  www.ninogvetadze.com


Nicole Jordan, soprano
Goddess of the Wind
13:30

Ancient spiritual traditions of the Yoruba are still proudly practised in Trinidad and Tobago. Orisha, like the people themselves, has been mixed and blended to include many influences from all over the world, but the roots remain unchanged. Presenting classical music from many lands including Trinidad, Spain, France and Canada, soprano Nicole Jordan and pianist Celia García-García describe the power and influence of Oya, the Orisha goddess of the Wind.  www.nicolejordan.info


Gwyneth Wentink, harp
Style Wars
14:30

Winner of the Princess Christina Competition, Gwyneth Wentink, has been branded the “harp heroine” by national Dutch newspaper NRC. With her “playing coming straight from the heart”, the international press has been equally enthusiastic. “Gwyneth Wentink is a splendid harpist with a virtuoso's flair and technique. She knows how to exploit every resource of her instrument, tossing off delicate rippling arpeggios, furious cascades, whirlwind runs and remarkably sonorous, ringing harmonics” (NY Concert Review). For the Embassy Festival, Gwyneth presents a dazzling programme of solo harp classics including works by Fauré and Debussy, balancing cutting-edge modern works by Terry Riley and others.  www.gwynethwentink.nl


Myrsini Margariti, soprano
On Wings of Song
15:30

Video

Dripping with Mediterranean sensuality, svelte Greek soprano Myrsini Margariti has taken the international press' collective breath away with “her sonorous, youthful voice”, “artful agility” and “delightful virtuoso climaxes”. Whether “threading delicate lines, singing with attack or brilliant coloratura relish”, Myrsini exudes vitality and an electrifying dynamism, doing so in an impressively broad repertoire. Fresh from her triumphs at the BBC Proms and the Salzburger Festspiele, Myrsini presents a captivating, soaring musical adventure On Wings of Song.

Accompanied by celebrated Greek pianist and conductor Zoe Zeniodi, Myrsini's programme includes works from her new solo album with songs and arias by Puccini, Mendelssohn, Grieg, da Falla, Gounod, Mozart and Dvorak, complimented by new music by contemporary Greek composers Theodorakis and Hatzidakis.  www.myrsinimargariti.com  www.zoezeniodi.com


Arifa
Caravan
16:50

“Enticing and melancholic”, Dutch national newspaper NRC described Arifa's rich, intimate and hauntingly beautiful musical tapestries as “Meticulous, almost cinematographic soundscapes”. In the wake of their successful albums, Beyond Babylon and Anatolian Alchemy, Arifa make their debut at the Embassy Festival with a programme presenting a fascinating bridge of sounds between Orient and Occident. Join Arifa for a captivating, magical and mystical musical journey along the silk road.  www.arifamusic.com


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Programming and Presentation by Simon Murphy, 2015
www.simonmurphyconductor.com