Orchestras
& Conductors
The original Academy of Ancient Music was established in 1726 for the purpose of studying and performing old music - defined initially as anything composed at least a century earlier, but soon to include more contemporary composers, most notably Händel. The modern revival of The Academy was founded by Christopher Hogwood in 1973 to give audiences an experience of music as it might have sounded at the time it was written. The ensemble brings together specialists in every branch of baroque and classical performance style, playing instruments of the appropriate period in appropriate numbers. Extending its policy of working with directors other than Hogwood, in 1996 it appointed Paul Goodwin as Associate Conductor and Andrew Manze as Associate Director. The Academy of Ancient Music is especially well known for its pioneering recordings on the Decca/L'Oiseau Lyre label, having been the first orchestra to record some epoch-making integrals on period instruments: Mozart's symphonies, piano concertos and symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart piano concertos with fortepianist Robert Levin who improvises his cadenzas. Many opera releases on CD were highly awarded, including Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito with Cecilia Bartoli, Haydn's Orfeo and Händel's Rinaldo. Under the direction of Paul Goodwin and Andrew Manze, The Academy of Ancient Music also has an exclusive contract with Harmonia Mundi USA, which gave birth to new, highly praised recordings of J.S. Bach, Vivaldi and Händel. The Academy of Ancient Music records regularly for television, and spends much time performing to live audiences, frequently abroad. A remarkable fact is also that it established a new link between period instruments and contemporary music, by commissioning works to such important composers as John Tavener (Eternity’s Sunrise, Total Eclipse).
Paul Goodwin
Paul Goodwin, who for many years was regarded as the foremost baroque oboist of this generation, is now firmly established as a conductor who brings all of his background expertise to bear on his lively interpretations of a wide range of repertoire. Paul Goodwin's principal conducting posts are as Associate Conductor of The Academy of Ancient Music and as Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra. Notable successes with The Academy of Ancient Music have included performances of Mozart's much neglected singspiel Zaïde, tours of Schütz and Monteverdi, performances of Mozart's Requiem and his conducting debut at the 1999 BBC Proms. Paul Goodwin and The AAM have an exclusive recording contract with Harmonia Mundi USA, which has so far led to recordings of Christmas music by Schütz and his contemporaries, Mozart's Zaïde and Tavener's Eternity's Sunrise. Paul Goodwin frequently appears with other orchestras in the UK and abroad. His keen interest in opera has led to productions such as Le Nozze di Figaro and Il Rè Pastore for Opera North, Händel's Agrippina in Karlsruhe, Händel's Amadigi with The Academy of Ancient Music at the Paris Opéra-Comique and Haydn's L'isola disabitata in Lisbon. Recent opera projects include Handel's Poro at the Halle Händel Festival and Gluck's Orfeo at the Opernhaus Halle. In December 1999 he directed a production of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea in Athens. His choral conducting has recently involved projects with such famous choirs as the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Tallis Chamber Choir. Paul Goodwin is dedicated to educational projects and as such is Director of the Dartington International Summer School Baroque Orchestra and Early Opera at Dartington. He has also worked with the Spanish Youth Orchestra (JONDE), the Britten-Pears Orchestra and the European Community Baroque Orchestra. Paul Goodwin is very keen to bring early instruments and contemporary music together and as such he is involved in commissioning a series of contemporary pieces for The Academy of Ancient Music. The first, John Tavener's Eternity's Sunrise, was released to international acclaim in April 1999. Tavener's cantata Total Eclipse will be premiered by the orchestra in the City of London Festival 2000, and subsequently recorded.
The Monnaie Symphony Orchestra
Active as an operatic orchestra, La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra performs a symphony cycle at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and deSingel in Antwerp every season, including Rudolf Barshal, George Benjamin, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Paul Daniel, Peter Eötvös, Michael Gielen, Ivan Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, Günther Herbig, Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Libor Pesek, Marcello Viotti, Lothar Zagrosek, etc. Fundamentaly transformed when Gérard Mortier took the general direction of la Monnaie in 1981, the orchestra was enlarged to 96 musicians and showed his capability on various fields. Under the baton of sir John Protchard and Sylvain Cambreling, the orchestra specialised in Mozart, Verdi, Janácek, Wagner, played important contemporary scores (Hans Zender, Philippe Boesmans) and gave more and more symphonic concerts. It has been regularly invited to perform abroad, both for concerts and opera performances, in the most important places and festivals (Wiener Festwochen, Festival of Edinburgh, Festival Estival de Paris). When he succeeded Gérard Mortier, Bernard Foccroulle invited the young Italian-American conductor Antonio Pappano to take the charge of musical director and chief conductor of la Monnaie (1992). This partnership proved very successful, and productions conducted by Pappano (opera, oratorios, symphonic works) gained a large international audience. Numerous celebrated guest conductors have worked with the orchestra in past seasons. La Monnaie Orchestra made also several recordings, including Mozart’s Lucio Silla and La Finta Giardiniera, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman, Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and Boesmans’ Reigen. Under Antonio Pappano it has recorded Mendelssohn’s Elias and a live recording was made of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Among their recent recordings is also Massenet’s Manon.
Marc Soustrot, musical director of the city of Bonn, was born in Lyon in 1948. He obtained his diplomas in piano, trombone, composition, chamber music and orchestral direction from the "Lyon Conservatoire" and the "Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris". After sweeping first-prize in international conducting competitions in London and Besançon, he was from 1976 to 1994 conductor of the "Orchestre Philharmonique des Pays de la Loire", and is musical director of the operas of Nantes and Angers. He has also guest conducted widely in Europe (Norway, Italy, Spain, Great Britain…), the United States, Japan, Australia, and South Africa, with the philharmonic orchestras of Oslo, Tokyo, Tel-Aviv, Bamberg and Rotterdam. Marc Soustrot has had occasion to direct a great many musicians and singers of renown, including Mstislav Rostropovich, Régine Crespin, José Van Dam, Maurice André, Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Bowman, Ruggiero Raimondi, Katia Ricciarelli, Leontine Price, Bruno Gelber, Christa Ludwig, Birgit Fassbender, Nicolaï Gedda and Janet Baker. From 1996, Marc Soustrot has also been confided with the direction of the "Brabant Orkest" in Eindhoven (Netherlands), with which he will be touring in The United States of America in 2001 and the "Beethovenhalle" in Bonn, with which he will be touring in Japan in the same season.