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.

            

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

            

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

_ _ _ _ _ _ _


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

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

_ _ _ _ _ _ _


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


_ _ _ _ _ _ _

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

Bach and his Dutch Contemporaries

This year sees Simon Murphy's vibrant and engaging, hand-crafted concert programme Bach and his Dutch Contemporaries enjoying its 10th year of international success.

Together with members of The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), and in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Murphy has delighted audiences around the world with the programme since 2005.

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. He has performed the programme throughout Europe on the festival circuit, including at the prestigious Bachfest Leipzig in 2010. 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 royal family and guests (pictured).

            

            

Delivering an intimate and personal musical experience, Murphy offers a captivating view of the richness and variety of the cosmopolitan European music scene of the earlier 18th century, brought to life in an authentic, immediate, dynamic and highly satisfying sound-scape. The programme features classic Bach arias including "Höchster, Mache deine Güte" from Cantata no. 51 Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, "Schlummert ein" from Cantata no. 82a Ich habe genug and "Kommt, ihr angefochtnen Sünder" from Cantata no. 30 Freue dich, erlöste Schar, and places Bach's most famous aria not by him, "Bist du bei mir" (by Stölzel, but included in Anna Magdalena's Notebook), alongside Bach's newest "hit", the recently rediscovered "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn". Dutch and Dutch-based composers represented include van Wassenaer, de Fesch, Hacquart and Graaf, together with selections from Schickhardt's highly innovative L'Alphabet de la musique. Other vocal and instrumental works by Handel and Vivaldi complete the programme. For each new tour, Murphy subtly tweaks the programme, keeping it fresh and sparkling.                                                           

For the performances of the programme, Murphy utilises a compact Baroque ensemble or mini-orchestra and a style of instrumentation of the kind of size and type which Bach himself used at the court in Köthen and at his smaller, intimate concerts in Leipzig. With Murphy directing from the viola and with one instrument per part, the richly intricate ensemble/part writing of Bach and his contemporaries - as well as the vitality and immediacy of their musical language in performance - comes to the fore. As well as offering audiences a refreshing, authentic sound-scape, this highly transportable and compact ensemble size and style of instrumentation also lends itself particularly well to the demands of modern day, international touring in a practical sense.

In 2014, Murphy and the NDA toured the programme to Asia for PPHK.

In spring 2015, Murphy and the NDA will tour the programme to Turkey at the invitation of the 43rd Istanbul Music Festival and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. For the performances in Turkey, Murphy will also include music by Bach's flautist Buffardin and by Bach's brother, who were both residents of Istanbul in the early 18th century. Preceding the tour, Murphy and the NDA will perform the programme at the Gothic Hall of the Raad van State at home in The Hague (see www.newdutchacademy.nl for details).

In 2017, Murphy and the NDA have been invited to perform the programme with soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto at the prestigious Ansbach festival, Germany.

Watch videos of Murphy and the NDA performing repertoire from the programme (The Hague, 20014)

Listen to a live radio concert broadcast of the programme (Sydney, 2006)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

For more information on booking one of the productions
with Simon Murphy and the New Dutch Academy (halls or festivals),
or contracting one of the productions
with Simon Murphy as guest conductor (symphony orchestras),
please send an email to
info@simonmurphyconductor.com
or call direct on + 31 614 975 395

Egmont and Wallenstein

Simon Murphy has been asked to create and perform a special new production for the Netherlands' Council of State.

Commemorating the 450th anniversary of a seminal address of William the Silent to the Council of State in which the Dutch leader outlined his vision for what would become the Dutch constitution, Murphy's hand-tailored concert programme includes music, spoken word and arias from Reichardt's setting of Goethe's Egmont, from Schiller's Don Karlos and Wallensteins Tod, together with other vocal and orchestral works by Abel, Mozart and Beethoven.

             

The engagement follows previous performances by Murphy and the New Dutch Academy for the Council of State and for the Dutch royal family. Vice-President Donner will host the January 2015 event.

Working at the Classic Philips Studios

Simon Murphy writes about his experiences working at the classic Philips Studios throughout the years in a highly personal article for the world's most read, on-line classical music journal. 

Strasbourg Début

Simon Murphy will make his début with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra (OPS) this December.

Taking audiences on a musical road trip of 18th century European symphonic centres, Murphy will conduct a series of concerts of Mozart arias and symphonies in a programme specially created by him for the French orchestra.

Following Murphy's pioneering research and performance work on the birth of the symphony and symphony orchestra, the programme features several of his musical discoveries including the Symphony in E flat by J Schmitt a.k.a. "The Dutch Haydn". The performance opens with a newly edited symphony by Mannheim master FX Richter who preceded Pleyel as head of music at Strasbourg Cathedral which celebrates its millennium jubilee (1015 - 2015) this coming year.

German soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto appears as the programme's soloist in works by JC Bach, Cimarosa, Paisiello and Mozart. The programme concludes with Mozart's "Haffner" Symphony.

                     

Explore the programme and read Murphy's personal introduction to the concert

Listen to Murphy's recordings of early Mannheim symphonies by Richter, and Schmitt's "Hurdy Gurdy" Symphony, for PentaTone Classics

Look at a selection of Murphy's other hand-tailored guest-conducting programmes

Check out the concerts on the Strasbourg Philharmonic website

www.simonmurphyconductor.com

New Horizons

In a new partnership with Limelight Magazine, conductor Simon Murphy's blog column, "New Horizons", features personal stories on international musical travels, explorations and discoveries.

Entitled "The Italian Job", the first instalment gives insights into Murphy's ground-breaking work rediscovering Corelli's orchestral soundworld and looking at its influence on Handel and others.

In the second instalment, Murphy discusses his new show exploring the heady atmosphere of Mrs Cornelys' swinging 1760's London.

Concert Performance for Dutch Royal Family

Simon Murphy and members of The Hague's Baroque Orchestra, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), have given a special concert performance for Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, HRH Princess Beatrix, Vice President Piet Hein Donner, and the members of the Dutch Council of State. The concert took place in the Gothic Hall of the Council of State in The Hague on December 4.

Curated by Murphy, the hand-tailored programme featured intimate 17th and 18th century musical works with a special relationship with the House of Orange and the buildings of the Council of State. The evening's soloists included German soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto, Australian recorder virtuoso Amy Power and American cellist Caroline Kang with music by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, van Wassenaer and Graaf. Murphy directed the performance from the viola and also performed as soloist in Telemann's Viola Concerto. More info (link to Royal House website)

           

The concert was the 6th occasion that Dutch-based Australian conductor and violist Simon Murphy (40) has performed for Princess Beatrix.

One of his earlier concert performances for (the then) Queen Beatrix was in Rome in 2004 at the Palazzo Quirinale in a concert celebrating the rich historical traditions of cultural exchange between the Netherlands and Italy. Curated and conducted by Murphy, and broadcast live by the RAI, the programme centred around Corelli's iconic Concerti Grossi, works first printed by the 18th century Amsterdam-based music publisher Roger. The Rome performance followed Murphy's ground-breaking 2003 Corelli Concerti Grossi CD recording made at the Holland Festival of Early Music Utrecht, recently voted a top 5 highlight of the festival's 30 year history.

           

The first time Murphy performed for Princess Beatrix was during her state visit to Sydney, Australia in 1988. Murphy was then 14. Since moving to the Netherlands in 1996, Murphy's concerts for members of the Dutch royal family have included both orchestral and chamber music performances, in the Netherlands and abroad.

Listen to Murphy's Rome performance (RAI) 
Listen to Murphy's recording of Corelli's Concerti Grossi (PentaTone Classics)
Listen to Murphy's recording of symphonies from the 18th century court of Orange (PentaTone Classics)

Gothic Project Premièred Successfully

Exploring the world of Polidori's The Vampyre, Macpherson's Ossian, Shelly's Frankenstein, and Apel and Laun's Tales of the Dead, conductor Simon Murphy's new Gothic Project brings the late 18th/early 19th century obsession with the supernatural to life with a new series of exciting guest conducting concert programmes and productions.

Murphy recently successfully premièred the first in his new series of Gothic symphonic programmes, Black Magic, in The Hague's Philipszaal, featuring German soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto in the solo role.

           

Featuring arias and spoken word interwoven with orchestral works, Murphy's new Gothic productions include two orchestral concert programmes Black Magic and Great Scot, as well as the staged concert production, Gothic Stories. Designed for either modern symphony orchestras or large scale period instrument orchestras, Murphy's hand-tailored Gothic guest conducting productions are now available internationally in ready-to-go form.

Aimed at enriching programming, enhancing performance and engaging audiences, Murphy's new Gothic productions complement his growing series of successful guest conducting programmes which include the titles Empress of Pleasure, It's About Time, Ein Heldenleben, Composers' Paradise and Heaven on Earth. Related to the theme of the supernatural is a further, newly developed, concert programme entitled Once Upon a Time / Happily Ever After.

Watch videos of the first production
Rust Colma's Klage
Reichardt Macbeth

Gothic Programmes and Production Details (link)

Murphy conducts Bach's B Minor Mass with Latvian State Choir

Dutch-based Australian conductor Simon Murphy (39) has successfully made his Baltic début conducting Bach's monumental Mass in B Minor with the Latvian State Choir in Riga in December 2012. Murphy performed Bach's masterpiece together with the Latvian State Choir and Latvia's Baroque orchestra, Collegium Musicum Riga, in the 13th century church of St John as part of the annual Latvian Christmas festival Eiropas Ziemassvētki.

Following the project, Murphy was offered several return conducting engagements by Latvian state concert organisation Latvijas Koncerti including repeat performances of the B Minor Mass with the Latvian State Choir as well as a number of concerts as part of Riga's musical celebrations as European cultural capital in 2014.

Simon Murphy conducting the Latvian State Choir
Riga, December 2012

Latvian State Choir

The Latvian State Choir was established in 1940. As Latvia's flagship choral ensemble, it represents the nation's enormously strong choral tradition which came to international attention during the “Singing Revolution” in the late 1980's in which Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians sang together in their hundreds of thousands successfully engineering massive social and political change at the end of the Soviet era. The choir is considered to be one of the best in the world, with Britain's Gramophone magazine recently describing it and the Latvian choral tradition as one of the world's glories.

About Simon Murphy 

Murphy is chief-conductor of The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), and internationally active as a guest conductor of both period instrument and modern symphony orchestras. He studied with the leading lights of the Dutch early music movement, performing extensively with legendary figures such as Gustav Leonhardt and Frans Brüggen. Murphy has won much recognition for his work as a “repertoire refresher”, presenting fresh perspectives on established masterpieces and introducing newly rediscovered musical gems. Recent performance highlights in the Netherlands include cycles of Stamitz, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Mendelssohn symphonies for Dutch radio at The Hague's Philipszaal, Rotterdam's De Doelen and Amsterdam's The Concertgebouw.

Murphy and the music of Bach 

Alongside his passion for classical symphonic music, especially of the Mannheim School, Murphy has a great love for the music of J.S. Bach. He has earned a strong reputation for his distinctive performances of Bach's sacred and orchestral works, with recent appearances at major European festivals including the Holland Festival of Early Music Utrecht, Händel Festspiele Halle and Bachfest Leipzig. Of his performances, The Netherlands' De Volkskrant exclaimed “Murphy is a Baroque musician with “guts”: a conductor with the passion and conviction of a born missionary” and Germany's music magazine Concerto said “Breathtaking, compelling, technically brilliant and unusually effervescent! Murphy has it all - verve and pulsating temperament - presented with the finest finesse.”

Simon Murphy conducting the Latvian State Choir
Riga, December 2012

Murphy's recent performances of Bach sacred works at home in the Netherlands, including “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” with the Noord Nederlands Orkest (NNO), have also gained high praise in the Dutch press. The Dagblad van het Noorden said “Guest conductor Simon Murphy doesn't only present the Baroque in a lively and captivating manner – he paces the musical development beautifully, letting the music breathe and rest along the way, whereby the listener's ears remain fresh and alert until the final chord. Under his leadership, the NNO's Bach cantatas sparkled.”

Other recent concert highlights 

In October 2012, Murphy opened the NDA's 10th anniversary season in The Hague with the symphonic programme Black Magic. Exploring the late 18th/early 19th century's obsession with destiny and the supernatural, the programme featured music from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Reichardt's Macbeth, Rust's Colma's Klage, von Weber's Der Freischütz and Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In November 2012, Murphy made his conducting début in China with appearances in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Beijing, also giving master-classes and workshops at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and Beijing Central Conservatory.

Upcoming performances 

In May 2013, Murphy will conduct the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane, Australia in a double bill featuring music by Corelli, Handel, Stamitz, Abel and J.C. Bach. Entitled Roman Holiday and New Generation, the concerts will be broadcast live by the Australian national broadcaster, ABC. In the Netherlands, Murphy's NDA 10th anniversary season includes symphonic programmes with music by Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Schmitt, Romberg and Spohr.

www.simonmurphyconductor.com

10 Year Jubilee Season Opening a Success

Chief-conductor Simon Murphy (Sydney, 1973) has successfully opened the 10 year jubilee season of The Hague's Baroque Orchestra, The New Dutch Academy (NDA), with the symphonic programme Black Magic on 18 October in The Hague's Philipszaal. Soloists included Chinese-American fortepianist Shuann Chai in Mendelssohn's powerful d minor piano concerto and German soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto performing music from Reichardt's setting of Macbeth and Rust's Colma's Klage together with arias from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and von Weber's Der Freischütz.

The near to sold out performance was hosted by The Hague's vice mayor Henk Kool and the Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands H.E. Neil Mules, with special guests including leading members of The Hague's diplomatic corps, the vice president of the Netherlands, Mr. Piet Hein Donner and the mayor of Wassenaar and former cultural ambassador of the Netherlands, Mr. Jan Hoekema.

Conductor Murphy described the performance event as “a wonderful and very emotional experience” and “an extremely important milestone for the orchestra, especially in these highly challenging times for the arts in the Netherlands”.

Soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto  
with conductor Simon Murphy and the NDA Orchestra 
(Photo Fernando van Teijlingen)

Innovative, Distinctive and Dynamic

Since the orchestra's establishment in 2002, Murphy and the NDA have won major industry awards and attracted international media praise, developing a strong international reputation for their dynamic, engaging and cutting-edge performances, delivering fresh perspectives on 18th century music with new soundscapes and new repertoire. “A revelation!”, “breathtaking, compelling, technically brilliant and unusually effervescent!”, “sumptuous, vibrant and energetic”, “liveliness and groove, great dynamic profile and a beautiful use of timbre”, “daring and full of character” are but a few of the international press' enthusiastic reactions.*

Programming, Performance and Presentation

To date, Murphy and the NDA have performed more than 50 unique, hand-crafted concert programmes together in more than 250 concerts throughout the world. Tours have taken the orchestra through Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Australia, Indonesia, the United States, Canada and Russia. Highlights have included productions for the Bachfest Leipzig, Händelfestspiele Halle and the UNESCO world heritage site Schloss Brühl.

At home in the Netherlands, Murphy and the orchestra have been regular guests at the country's most prestigious series, halls and festivals, including the ZaterdagMatinee at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Holland Festival of Early Music Utrecht. In its home town of The Hague, the NDA has established new symphonic, Baroque and chamber concert series for the city, as well founding successful education, community art and outreach programmes.

New Perspectives

During the past 10 years, Murphy and the orchestra have shed new light on 18th century music and culture through their projects together, introducing exciting new repertoire and delivering new perspectives on classic repertoire. Murphy and the orchestra have successfully rediscovered and reintroduced the Netherlands' own symphonic heritage, making several first recordings of symphonies by Schmitt “The Dutch Haydn”, Graaf, Stamitz, Schwindl and Zappa on the Dutch label PentaTone Classics. The group's pioneering CD series of early Mannheimer Schule symphonies has received major industry awards including an Edison, and the orchestra's ground-breaking recording of Corelli's Concerti Grossi made at the Holland Festival of Early Music Utrecht was recently voted in the top 5 highlights of the 30 year history of the festival.

The NDA's performances of classic symphonic repertoire, including symphonies of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, have been documented on a series of live CD recordings for Dutch radio. Murphy and the NDA's multidisciplinary productions such as the Fêtes Galantes project and the recent Empress of Pleasure show together with Baroque dancer and choreographer Caroline Copeland have also gained much interest.

New Generation Specialists

With its own distinctive blend of integrity and vibrancy, the NDA represents the new generation of the innovative, Dutch (based) early music tradition made renowned in the 20th century by pioneering figures such as Gustav Leonhardt. Comprised of 40 hand-selected, top international specialist early music performers, the NDA orchestra is an exceptionally international outfit with more than 20 nationalities represented amongst its member musicians who range in age between 25 and 40.

Shuann Chai performing Mendelssohn's d minor Piano Concerto
(Photo Fernando van Teijlingen)

International Cultural Ambassador

In the past 10 years, the NDA has made substantial contributions to the Netherlands' international cultural diplomacy programmes. At the invitation of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the city of The Hague, the orchestra has regularly represented the Netherlands at major bilateral occasions, performing hand-crafted programmes profiling Dutch cultural heritage and celebrating international cultural relations. Highlights include performances in Rome (Visit of HM Queen Beatrix to Italy and Dutch EU Presidency), New York (Hudson 400), Vancouver (Cultural Olympiad), Los Angeles (Getty Center) and Sydney (Netherlands Australia 400). Later this year the NDA will visit China for the first time, at the invitation of the Dutch and Chinese governments.

Soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto
(Photos Fernando van Teijlingen)

Jubilee Season Programme

Following the orchestra's season's opening programme Black Magic  exploring the late 18th/early 19th  century's obsession with the supernatural with music from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Reichardt's Macbeth, Rust's Colma's Klage, Weber's Der Freischütz and Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream,  other highlights of the NDA's jubilee season include guest appearances by the winner of the 2011 London Handel Singing Competition Canadian soprano Stefanie True in Mozart Concert Arias and the winner of the 2010 Brugge Competition Hungarian fortepianist Petra Somlai in Mozart's Concerto in C (KV 467) Elvira Madigan. Closing the season is the monumental symphonic programme Ein Heldenleben with music from Romberg's Ulysses, Mozart's Don Giovanni and Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella) together with Beethoven's Symphony no. 3, Eroica.

Next Ten Years

What would conductor Murphy personally like to say, looking back on the challenges and achievements of the past decade and thinking about plans for the next ten years? “I am very proud of the many ground-breaking things we have achieved as an organisation and as an orchestra during the past 10 years, from the research to recordings to performances to productions, especially given the massive financial and political difficulties which the arts continue to face in this country. However, the strain placed on our very compact organisation due to our ongoing commitment to delivering quality under these challenging circumstances has been enormous. And hence the theme of this jubilee programme, Black Magic. I don't quite know how we've managed to do it, but I would like to thank all of those who have made the orchestra's achievements possible during these first 10 years. Their efforts have been truly magical.”

The conductor continued, “on a personal level and as a foreigner in this country, it also meant so much to me to have the support and presence of both the Australian Embassy and the city council of my adopted home city of The Hague at the opening of this jubilee season. I would also like to particularly thank the NDA musicians and the current board members, staff and volunteers of the NDA for their commitment and hard work over the last year and a half which has made this jubilee season possible.” And the future? “First a little break and then on with this very special season.”

More info on Simon Murphy: www.simonmurphyconductor.com

More info on The New Dutch Academy: www.newdutchacademy.nl 

* Quotes respectively from Codaex, Concerto, Gramophone, Toccata – Alte Musik Aktuell, Frankfurter Neue Presse and Haagsche Courant. 

“The Dutch Haydn” Murphy's world première Schmitt Symphonies recording chosen as part of PentaTone's 10 year anniversary 10 CD box set

Dutch-based Australian conductor Simon Murphy's world première SA-CD recording of the early symphonies of “The Dutch Haydn”, Joseph Schmitt, has been chosen to be featured as part of the 10 year anniversary 10 CD box set of Dutch label PentaTone Classics.

Conductor Simon Murphy has been with PentaTone since the beginnings of the label, with fellow PentaTone recording artists including Julia Fischer, Arabella Steinbacher, Edo de Waart, Lawrence Foster, Hans Vonk and Sir Colin Davis. During the past 10 years, Murphy has made substantial contributions to the label's catalogue, presenting a series of major new musical discoveries including world première recordings of symphonies by 18th century composers Schmitt, Graaf, Stamitz, Schwindl and Zappa.

“The Dutch Haydn”, Joseph Schmitt (1734 – 1791), first came to Murphy's attention in 1995 during a visit to the Amsterdam Historic Museum. Murphy saw composer/conductor Schmitt pictured in a canvas of the 1788 opening concert of the Amsterdam concert hall, the “Felix Meritis” (below), and was inspired to go on a search of his music.

Listen to Schmitt's Symphony in E flat "The Hurdy Gurdy" 

Originally a musical priest from Kloster Eberbach, Schmitt was a student of Carl Friedrich Abel (star Bach student and Mozart mentor) and came into early contact with the Mannheim masters. Schmitt moved to Amsterdam in the early 1770's where he became the singularly most important musical figure in the Netherlands in the second half of the 18th century, working there as a composer, conductor, music director, teacher, theorist and publisher. His music exhibits a wonderful vibrancy and cosmopolitanism. He displays, with an highly original voice, an immense knowledge of the diversity of the musical styles and languages of his day.

In 2006, some 10 years after first laying eyes on Schmitt, Murphy presented the composer's symphonic music to the world for the first time on disc (PentaTone SA-CD, PTC 5186 039). The recording of Schmitt's early symphonies was the result of 7 years of extensive international research by Murphy into the composer and his music. Murphy located the composer's works in archives and historic music collections in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.

The resulting CD production has been most enthusiastically received by the world's music press:

Le "Haydn hollandais": un compositeur tout en verve, que sert avec un entrain irrésistible la New Dutch Academy de Simon Murphy. (Le Soir - “Nos coups de coeur”)

Holländischer Haydn – Gleich einer frischen sommerlichen Brise aus Holland kommt diese Neuproduktion mit Werken der Joseph Schmitt daher ... Die unverbraucht spritzig klingende New Dutch Academy legt ein geradezu flammende Pläydoyer für diesen bislang unterschätzen Meister vor. ... Viele Effekt – etwa anrührende Pianissimi, auf die unmittelbar Fortissimo-Passagen, lassen den durchaus eigensinnigen Komponisten erkennen. Diese Bandbreite der musikalischen Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten fulminant darzustellen, ist der New Dutch Academy offensichtlich eine Freude. ... Packend, spieltechnisch brillant – und nicht zuletzt wieder mit einem besonderen Augenmerk auf der Ausgestaltung des Basses – führt die New Dutch Academy durch diesen bislang unbekannten Schaffenskosmos. Sehr zu empfehlen! (Concerto, Germany)

Simon Murphy (Sydney, 1973) is Chief Conductor of The Hague's Baroque Orchestra, the international award winning "The New Dutch Academy" (NDA). Recent performance highlights have included appearances at the Händel Festival Halle and Bachfest Leipzig, for the Zaterdagmatinee at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and cycles of the symphonies of Stamitz, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven for Dutch radio. In season 2011-2012, the Murphy and the NDA present well and lesser known 18th century masterpieces by Corelli, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Cimarosa, Paisiello, Rossini and their contemporaries in the orchestra's symphonic, Baroque orchestral and chamber series at home in The Hague and around the Netherlands. Upcoming tours take the orchestra through eastern Europe and Asia.

2012-2013 sees Murphy and the NDA orchestra celebrate their 10 year anniversary together.

Listen to the CD

Watch Murphy and the NDA perform Schmitt's “Hurdy Gurdy” Symphony live in concert

Read more about Simon Murphy on www.simonmurphyconductor.com

Read Murphy's liner notes

Murphy's performing editions of the symphonies of Schmitt are available for hire via Albersen's music

Australian Dutch conductor Simon Murphy chosen as top 5 highlight in Festival's 30 year history

Dutch Classical Radio has chosen Simon Murphy's "legendary" performance of Corelli's Concerti Grossi at the Holland Festival of Early Music Utrecht in 2003 as one of the top 5 highlights of the festival's 30 year history. Murphy (38, born in Sydney, currently based in the Netherlands) is Chief Conductor of The Hague's Baroque Orchestra, the international award winning "New Dutch Academy" (NDA), a group he has led since founding it in 2002.

Murphy's groundbreaking performance, broadcast and recording production of Corelli's orchestral masterpieces with the NDA at the Festival in 2003 – including the iconic "Christmas Concerto" – succeeded in presenting Corelli's musical aesthetic and soundworld in a completely new light. The resulting SA-CD recording of the Concerti Grossi, made by Murphy and the NDA for Dutch label PentaTone Classics, became the first ever recording to use Corelli's own, large scale orchestra, rich Italiante improvisation and extemporisation, and a full and varied continuo section (including baroque guitars, baroque lutes, archlutes, theorbos, harpsichords and organs). The production was highly enthusiastically received by the world's music press, the BBC Music magazine reporting:

"When it came to his orchestral music, size mattered for Corelli ...These accounts by the New Dutch Academy, a big band playing on period instruments, reflect the best of both worlds. Its sound is sumptuous, but textures are sufficiently transparent to allow details to cut through, and the historically informed approach includes stylish ornamentation and a battery of continuo instruments which would surely have delighted the composer. … director Simon Murphy infuses these accounts with subtle jazz-like touches: swinging rhythms, inventive extemporisations and vigorous guitar strumming effects."

Dutch Classical Radio is celebrating the 30 year old Utrecht Festival of Early Music with a series of downloads of live historic festival concert recordings from the radio's archives, including performances by The Orchestra of the 18th Century (Frans Brüggen), The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ton Koopman) and The New Dutch Academy (Simon Murphy).

Simon Murphy and the NDA perform and record
Corelli's Concerti Grossi
at the 2003 Holland Festival of Early Music

Recent performance highlights for Simon Murphy and the NDA have included appearances at the Händel Festival Halle, Bachfest Leipzig and for the Zaterdagmatinee at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. In season 2011-2012, the Murphy and the NDA present well and lesser known 18th century masterpieces by Corelli, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Cimarosa, Paisiello, Rossini and their contemporaries in the orchestra's symphonic, Baroque orchestral and chamber series at home in The Hague and around the Netherlands. Upcoming tours take the orchestra through eastern Europe and Asia.


Listen to Murphy's Corelli CD

Read more on the Holland Festival of Early Music's top 5 on the Dutch radio's website: http://festivals.radio4.nl/pagina/oudemuziek/oudemuziekdownload3/oudemuziek/

Listen to the Corelli CD on the NDA's site: http://www.newdutchacademy.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41:corelli-cd-hfomu-2003-murphy-nda&catid=37:cds&Itemid=22

Read more about the NDA on the NDA's website: www.newdutchacademy.nl

Read more about conductor Simon Murphy on: www.simonmurphyconductor.com