On August 7 2019, Nathalie Stutzmann makes her conducting debut at the BBC Proms, leading Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde and Mozart’s Requiem. The performance, hosted at London’s Royal Albert Hall, will be live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and broadcast on BBC Four August 11.
The Légion d’Honneur is France’s highest honours, established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Nathalie Stutzmann comments on her Facebook page:
“I am deeply happy and touched to have been appointed to the Légion d’Honneur this January 1, 2019.
As the Légion d’Honneur is France’s highest honours, I am particularly proud to be admitted as a conductor and singer in this order of merit founded more than two centuries ago.
This distinction is also an encouragement to always serve music with passion and share it with the greatest number.”
September 4-8, Nathalie Stutzmann will be member of the jury of the 4th Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition taking place at Paris Auditorium de Radio-France, with the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio-France. She will reunite on this occasion with her legendary conducting teacher Jorma Panula, also in the jury, alongside Alexander Vedernikov, Andrey Boreyko, Mauro Bucarelli, Gidon Kremer and Cristina Rocca. Each round of the competition will be live broadcast by France Musique and medici.tv, and the final round open to the public. Winners of past competitions include Domingo Hindoyan and Robert Trevino.
For more information, please visit https://www.svetlanov-evgeny.com/en/
“Le véritable maître de la soirée n’est autre que Nathalie Stutzmann, à la tête d’un Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France littéralement emporté par l’engagement de sa direction fougueuse et précise, sensible et contrastée. La contralto (qui chante toujours) devenue chef d’orchestre avec la création de son ensemble, Orfeo 55, possède en outre une belle gestuelle alliant souplesse, puissance et amplitude. Sans aucun doute le meilleur atout de cette soirée qui a porté le public au bord de l’ovation, confortant Jean-Louis Grinda dans le bien-fondé de son défi.”
“The real “master” of the evening is none other than Nathalie Stutzmann, at the head of a Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra literally carried away by the engagement of her spirited, precise, sensitive and contrasting direction. The contralto (she still sings) who became a conductor with the creation of her orchestra Orfeo 55, also has a beautiful gesture combining flexibility, power and amplitude. Undoubtedly the best asset of this evening which brought the audience to the brink of ovation, reinforcing Jean-Louis Grinda in the legitimacy of his challenge.”
Marie-Aude Roux, Le Monde
“La révélation de la soirée est pour nous sans conteste la direction de Nathalie Stutzmann, que nous voyions diriger pour la première fois. (…) la chef a tout pour elle : une technique appréciable dans une oeuvre où il faut coordonner un orchestre wagnérien, des choeurs considérables et des fanfares de coulisse, une gestuelle fluide et souple, un véritable lyrisme.”
“The revelation of the evening is without any doubt the direction of Nathalie Stutzmann, whom we saw conducting for the first time. (…) the conductor has it all: an appreciable technique in a work where it is necessary to coordinate a Wagnerian orchestra, considerable choirs and fanfares behind the scenes, a fluid and flexible gesture, a true lyricism.”
Christian Merlin, Le Figaro
See the full press review of Mefistofele at this link.
Today, Nathalie Stutzmann has been announced as new Chief Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, one of Norway’s foremost orchestras with roots back to 1919, from the beginning of the 2018/2019 season for an initial contract of three years. Nathalie conducted Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra for the first time in March 2017 in Strauss’ Tod und Verklarung and Schumann’s Symphony No. 3.
Nathalie comments: “I am so thrilled to become the new Chief Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. From the first rehearsal – when we started to play Strauss – I was so amazed by the quality of the musicians. They were so involved in the music and the working process was amazing. I’m also looking forward to developing new ideas with the orchestra, with the musicians, with the board, and to have the KSO more involved in the city life. I truly believe that the symphonic orchestra has an important part to play in the lives of the citizens of the city. It should be so much fun for the people to come to our concerts and discover how much we want to share our passion for this music. I can’t wait to see you all and share the music together.”
The Arie Antiche compiled by Alessandro Parisotti are known to each and every student of classical singing. But with Quella Fiamma, Nathalie Stutzmann and Orfeo 55 breathe new fire into this primer for the voice, performing these songs and arias with original orchestrations, as they would have been heard in their day. Before they were lessons, they were high art.
This album is a selection of pieces from Arie antiche, a 19th Century collection of songs edited by Alessandro Parisotti to be a vocal primer. Though now more famous as the editor of Arie antiche, Parisotti was also a composer, and he managed to slip one of his own works into the book by attributing to Giovanni Pergolesi his song “Se tu m’ami”. The collection was very much a part of the trend to rediscover old and forgotten works, and the popularity of the three-volume set has endured to this day.
For this album the musicians of Orfeo 55 have worked painstakingly to source original scores and to edit the parts as necessary. While the instrumental works are not part of Parisotti’s primer, they provide brief musical interludes between the songs to enhance the overall listening experience and bring these works together into a coherent programme.
Order the album here: http://wnrcl.me/arieantiche
Nathalie Stutzmann and Orfeo 55 will take this programme on tour in Montpellier’s Opéra Comédie (November 5), Paris’ La Seine Musicale (February 16) and festivals across France and Germany. Nathalie will also give masterclasses on Arie antiche at the Montpellier Conservatoire (November 6 & 7) and Paris Conservatoire (November 8 & 9), open to the public.
This month, Nathalie Stutzmann makes her anticipated return to Monte-Carlo Opera, where she leads four performances of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the head of Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. Nathalie debuted with the orchestra in 2014, making “a master stroke” (Forum Opéra) conducting Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore.
Staged by Monte-Carlo Opera director Jean-Louis Grinda, this thrilling production is totally new and unseen since 1861 as it features the Tannhäuser rewritten for Paris Opera by Wagner himself – including the French texts – and?only executed three times in history, in Paris for its creation in 1861. Performances take place at the stunning Salle Garnier on February 19, 22, 25 and 28, with an international cast including acclaimed Argentinian tenor José Cura in the title role, Jean-François Lapointe as Wolfram, Steven Humes as Hermann, William Joyner as Walther, Roger Joakim as Biterolf, Annemarie Kremer as Elisabeth and Aude Extrémo as Venus. Please note these are all now sold-out.
Today, Nathalie Stutzmann has been announced as new Principal Guest Conductor of RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland based in Dublin. She will take up this position in September 2017.
Nathalie conducted RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra for the first time last February in Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser, Vorspiel und Liebestod and Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Aodan O Dubhghail, Head of RTÉ Orchestras, Quartet and Choirs, says:
“From the outset, it was apparent that an easy and natural chemistry had developed between Nathalie and the musicians. It was also clear that the public intuitively sensed and responded in the warmest terms to the music-making and to Nathalie’s natural charisma. Nathalie brings the qualities one expects of a great singer to her work as a conductor, coaxing beautiful phrasing from musicians and conveying an unerring sense of musical line. This appointment marks the start of a significant artistic partnership and we are excited at the prospect of sharing the resulting music-making with the widest possible audience.”
Read the full press release from RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra here.
The announcement coincides with Nathalie’s second engagement with the orchestra for a performance on January 13 in a Beethoven and Brahms programme, which will be broadcast live on RTÉ lyric fm at 8pm local time.
While Nathalie Stutzmann was making her conducting debut at the head of Konzerthaus Berlin symphony orchestra on June 2, conducting Schubert’s Symphony No. 4, she was asked at the last minute to jump from the podium to sing Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Anna Prohaska in the second part and conduct at the same time the symphony orchestra the way she does with Orfeo 55, replacing sick Philippe Jaroussky. She received a 20 minutes standing ovation from the German public thanking her for this incredible performance, which she repeated on June 3 and 4 with equal success. A world premiere in the history of classical music!
Visit Nathalie’s Facebook page to read the many comments left by audience members.
