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.
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.”
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!
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.
