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/


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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