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What's New with Nicholas McGegan
June 14, 2010
SCHWALBE AND PARTNERS
170 East 61st Street, suite 5N, New York, NY 10065
Attn: David Carleton
david@schwalbeandpartners.com
tel: 212-935-4754
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NICHOLAS MCGEGAN, OBE
Nicholas McGegan, one of the world’s
leading conductors of baroque and classical repertoire, has been
made an OBE (Officer of the British Empire) ‘for services to music
overseas’ in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list published on June
12th 2010.
British honours are awarded on merit,
for exceptional achievement or service; Orders of the British Empire
are awarded mainly to civilians and service personnel for public
service or other distinctions.
Born in England, Nicholas McGegan was
educated at Cambridge and Oxford and taught at the Royal College of
Music, London. He has been Music Director of Philharmonia Baroque
Orchestra in San Francisco for 25 years, and Artistic Director of
the International Handel Festival Göttingen in Germany since 1991.
He was principal conductor of the Drottningholm Festival in Sweden
from 1993-1996 and spent a decade in artistic leadership positions
with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, where he was Baroque Series
Director from 1999-2004 and an Artistic Partner from 2004-2009. Mr.
McGegan is a frequent guest conductor for leading orchestras of the
world including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles
Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the Sydney Symphony,
and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and collaborates regularly with the
Mark Morris.
In the United Kingdom, Mr. McGegan
was Principal Guest Conductor of the Scottish Opera from 1993-1998
and regularly conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
the Northern Sinfonia (with whom he appeared at the London Proms in
2009), the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Royal Scottish
National Orchestra. He makes frequent appearances at the Edinburgh
Festival.
His other awards include the Halle
Handel Prize, and an honorary professorship at Georg-August
University, Gottingen.
Mr. McGegan maintains homes in
Berkeley, California and Glasgow, Scotland.
Visit Nicholas McGegan on the web at
http://www.nicholasmcgegan.com.
June 10, 2010
“Natural” Mozart
FREE DOWNLOAD
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Lowell Greer, natural horn
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Harmonia Mundi HCX3957012
Mozart Horn Concertos
In these sun-drenched Concertos and Rondos for solo
horn and orchestra, Mozart gave free reign to his exuberant sense of
fun and mischief - the manuscript pages are sprinkled with his
humorous notes meant for the virtuoso horn player who premiered the
works.
“Phenomenal”
The New York Times
Click here for a free download from Mozart’s
Concerto in D major
February 16, 2010
HANDEL'S DETTINGEN TE DEUM BY MENDELSSOHN
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Dominique Labelle, soprano
Thomas Cooley, tenor
Festspiel Orchester Göttingen
Carus 83.358
HANDEL Dettingen Te Deum (Version by Mendelssohn)
- Composed by Handel in 1743
- Mendelssohn added flute, clarinet and horn parts in 1831
HAYDN The Storm
- Set to John Walcot’s ‘To My Candle’ in 1792
CHERUBINI Chant sur la mort de Joseph Haydn
- Composed in 1805, 4 years before Haydn’s death,
due to a false rumor of his death
Available at Amazon:
Click here for a free download of Chantre Divin from Cherubini’s
Chant
Visit Nic at:
www.nicholasmcgegan.com
January 27, 2010
“JUVENILE DELINQUENTS”
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Robert Levin, piano
Philadelphia Orchestra
MOZART Incidental Music from Thamos, King of Eqypt
MOZART Piano Concerto, No. 18, K. 456
MOZART Symphony No. 40
“Not so long ago, pianist
Robert Levin and conductor Nicholas McGegan were the juvenile
delinquents of the early-music world....Levin and McGegan often
seemed to be having a subversive party to which the audience was
invited. Musically, that translates into freewheeling spontaneity
that’s released rather than inhibited by doctrine. Now in their 60s
and giving an an all-Mozart Philadelphia Orchestra concert, they’re
much the same, only better, and clearly haven’t visited reform
school.
In some of the best playing of the season, the
orchestra was effortlessly disciplined. Woodwind playing was
gorgeous.”
David Patrick Stearns,
Philadelphia Inquirer
January 22, 2010
PAEANS OF PRAISE!
Paeans of Praise!
“Decade In Review”
San Francisco Chronicle
“...Nicholas McGegan’s nearly annual march through the
musical bounty of Handel’s oratorios and operas....when I look back
on my year-end lists from the past decade, Philharmonia’s superb
Handel performances show up like clockwork on practically every
one.”
“Editor’s CD Review of Opera and Song”
CultureKiosque
“Adès captures the other-worldliness of Ariel with stratospheric
writing for coloratura soprano, a role in which Cyndia Sieden
excels, occasionally intelligible at heights when most sopranos have
long ceased to articulate.”
“The Very Best of the Fall Opera Season”
The New York Observer
“In two recitals, one at Carnegie Hall and one at the Madison Avenue
Presbyterian Church, Emma Kirkby created worlds of stillness
in songs of the 17th century. I can’t get out of my head her encore
at both recitals, Purcell’s Evening Hymn, which seems to go
on forever and then ends much too quickly.”
“Top CDs of 2009”
Democrat and Chronicle
“Daniel Taylor, The Voice of Bach. Taylor is one of
the few countertenors of the world, raising his voice up to the
mezzo-soprano range. The Bach selections on this disc are given an
infinite boost with Taylor’s full, resonant and unique voice.”
“Best Classical Concerts of 2009”
The Oregonian
“Orphée, Portland Opera. Phillip Glass’ operatic riff on the
Orpheus legend stood out for its eye-catching set, powerful singing
[soprano Lisa Saffer] and layered, pensive score.”
“Critics’ Pick for Best of ‘09”
The Star-Ledger
“Henry Purcell: Ten Sonatas in Four Parts, Matthew Halls
harpsichord/organ. This beautifully produced recording from a U.K.
period-strings group marked the 350th birthday of Purcell by showing
how his polyphonic intimacies remain a lyrical, hypnotic marvel.”
January 20, 2010
MCGEGAN FINAL CONCERTS
SCHWALBE AND PARTNERS
170 East 61st Street, suite 5N, New York, NY 10065
Attn: David Carleton
david(at)schwalbeandpartners(dot)com
tel: 212-935-4754
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NICHOLAS MCGEGAN TO CONDUCT HIS FINAL CONCERTS AS
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF HANDEL-FESTIVAL GÖTTINGEN IN 2011
After 20 years as its artistic
director, Nicholas McGegan will be leaving the International
Handel-Festival Göttingen at the conclusion of the 2011 season. His
departure, which had previously been announced, will permit him to
devote more time to San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra,
whose schedule of local performances, tours, and recordings has
expanded dramatically under Mr. McGegan’s leadership.
The Göttingen Festival, founded in
1920, lays claim to being the world’s oldest Baroque festival. Since
the start of his tenure there, in 1991, Mr. McGegan has been
responsible for reinstituting the annual presentation of staged
opera with emphasis on Baroque staging, created the Festival
Orchestra Göttingen, and has conducted the modern premieres (and
recordings) of several newly discovered works, including Alessandro
Scarlatti’s Cecilian Vespers; Handel’s Gloria, and
Mendelssohn’s arrangement of Handel’s Acis and Galatea.
In addition to carrying forward the
festival’s pioneering work in early music — which includes the
rediscovery and first performances of many overlooked or forgotten
masterpieces — he has overseen expansion of the Festival Orchestra
Göttingen’s role as an international ambassador, with touring
performances at the famed Drottningholm Theatre in Sweden and the
Edinburgh Festival, where the orchestra performed the
Handel-Mendelssohn Acis as well as well as a production of
Handel’s little-known three-act opera Admeto.
During his years at the Göttingen
helm, Mr. McGegan has also actively participated in developing and
leading programs that address the needs of new audiences, and that
encourage the younger generation to discover classical treasures.
Mr. McGegan’s long and productive
tenure with the festival nearly coincides with his years at the
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra: The group’s 2010–2011 season will be
its 30th, and for 25 of those years Mr. McGegan’s artistic
leadership and expansive personality have catapulted the group to
international fame. With more focused time to devote to Philharmonia
Baroque, Mr. McGegan looks forward to a longer season at home in the
Bay Area, enhanced with special guest appearances by acclaimed
artists including mezzo-sopranos Susan Graham and Frederika von
Stade, cellist Stephen Isserlis, pianist and composer Robert Levin,
violinist Viktoria Mullova and others; a more extensive touring
schedule, including visits to Europe and Asia; a commissioning
program to encourage the creation of new music for baroque
instruments; and new partnerships, as well as strengthened ties to
longtime collaborators such as Cal Performances in Berkeley and
Disney Hall in Los Angeles.
Mr. McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque,
already well-represented on dozens of recordings — many of them
premiere pressings of rarely performed works — fully expect to
continue their practice of preserving masterpieces of the Baroque,
as well as other works, in recorded formats.
Nicholas McGegan was born in England
and educated at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He has taught at
the Royal College of Music, London and Washington University in St.
Louis. His awards include an honorary professorship at Georg-August
University, Göttingen, the Halle Handel Prize, and an official
Nicholas McGegan Day, declared by the mayor of San Francisco in
recognition of two decades of distinguished work with the
Philharmonia Baroque. The citation on that day talked of his
achievement in presenting "great music that enriches lives, inspires
passion for period instrument performance, connects audiences to
history, preserves tradition, and celebrates creative genius."
Mr. McGegan treasures that honor and others, but
as a man who claims to be "serious but never pious," he also
cherishes the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s description of him as
"a welcome Energizer Bunny, bringing rhythmic zest to all things
baroque."
January 14, 2010
Join Nic’s Birthday Party
Nicholas McGegan
“Performance Today” Broadcast
Listen On Demand through January 20
Fred Child, American Public Media’s
“Performance Today” host, celebrates Nic’s 60th Birthday with
performances from recent concerts with four different orchestras.
The tribute mixes music with Nic stories and a special birthday
tune.
Nic’s music:
Mozart: Overture to La Clemenza di Tito with the
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Handel: “Water Music” Suite No. 2 in D with the Göttingen Festival
Orchestra
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor with Pekka Kuusisto and the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Schubert: Overture to The Conspirators with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic
Click here to stream the broadcast (Hour 1)
Wish Nic a happy birthday!
December 8, 2009
LIEBERSON SINGS DIDO
Lieberson sings Dido’s Lament – FREE DOWNLOAD
Purcell - Dido and Aeneas
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
“Aural luxuriance....A reading I shall treasure.”
--Gramophone
FOR FREE DOWNLOAD OF LIEBERSON SINGING DIDO’S LAMENT,
CLICK HERE
Visit Nic at:
www.nicholasmcgegan.com
November 9, 2009
“LIKE AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE”
Nic McGegan, conductor
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano “Dido”
PURCELL Dido and Aeneas
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Photo: Peter DaSilva for the Los Angeles Times
“Susan Graham and Nicholas McGegan have never collaborated before.
But when they get together, the Texas-raised mezzo-soprano and
British conductor behave like an old married couple....the duo
engaged in lively banter about their first artistic partnership”
--Chloe Veltman,
Los Angeles Times
Visit Nic’s website
“SIMPLY GORGEOUS TO HEAR”
September 8, 2009
Handel’s Messiah
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Northern Sinfonia
Dominique Labelle, soprano
BBC Radio Broadcast from the Proms
 “I
have never heard a more uplifting Messiah, or a choral event which
more perfectly answered the requirements of the Royal Albert Hall’s
vast space.”
--Michael Church, The Independent
“There are very few British institutions impervious to our national
love of self-mockery. But Messiah, when performed like this, should
be one of them.”
--Guy Dammann, Guardian
“...the seven British youth choirs serried in
stadium seats on the Albert Hall stage sang with a uniformity of
tone, attack and spirit that was simply gorgeous to hear.”
--Geoff Brown, The Times
“Something amazing happened at the Proms last
night – a performance of Handel’s Messiah that was fresh, edgy and
exciting.”
--Petroc Trelawny, Telegraph
The commemoration of the 250th anniversary of
Handel’s death reached its climax at the Proms with a large-scale
performance of Messiah. Nicholas McGegan conducted the Northern
Sinfonia and a unique massed chorus of over 300 young voices from
around the UK. Hear on demand through Saturday.
Click here to stream
Messiah
Visit Nic’s website
MCGEGAN & MASSED CHORUS LIVE AT THE PROMS
September 4, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Northern Sinfonia
BBC Radio Broadcast
Sunday September 6, 18:30 GMT
Handel’s Messiah
The commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death reaches
its climax at the Proms with a large-scale performance of Messiah.
Nicholas McGegan conducts the Northern Sinfonia and a unique massed
chorus of over 200 young voices from around the UK. Hear this
performance live on Sunday and again on demand for the next 7
days.
Soloists:
Dominique Labelle, soprano
Patricia Bardon, mezzo-soprano
John Mark Ainsley, tenor
Matthew Rose, bass
Combined Youth Choirs:
City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus
Halle Youth Choir
National Youth Choir of Great Britain
National Youth Choir of Wales
Quay Voices (The Sage Gateshead)
RSCM Millennium Youth Choir
Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir
Click here to stream the broadcast
Visit Nic’s website
Nic On BBC Radio
August 26, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
BBC Radio Broadcast
Tuesday August 25, 17:00 GMT
Petroc Trelawny talks with Nic about his upcoming
performances at the Edinburgh Festival (Handel’s Acis and Galatea
and Admeto Rei Di Tessaglia) and the BBC Proms (Handel’s
Messiah) on BBC Radio 3. Hear this lively interview interspersed
with musical excerpts on demand for the next 6 days.
Program:
Handel: Overture and O the pleasure of the plains!
from Acis and Galatea
Handel: Cangio d’aspetto from Admeto
Handel: Hallelujah chorus from Messiah
Visit Nic’s website
LET THE SUNSHINE IN
August 24, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Louis Lortie, piano
“The sunniest conductor in classical music”
“I’d like to have a dollar for every time Nicholas
McGegan...has been called the Energizer Bunny of early music. He is,
in fact, the sunniest conductor in classical music....Beaming, he
put his fingers to his lips, as if the pleasure would be just too
delicious for words were the music allowed to quietly sneak up on
its listeners. It was and it did.
[The Overture] was a musical spring that snapped into
exhilarating cadential fireworks....The orchestra was taut, playing
Mozart with the quick reflexes it famously brings to new music.
Mozart attracts large crowds to the Bowl — more than
9,000 came Tuesday....McGegan made many sit up and really listen.”
--Mark Swed,
Los Angeles Times
MOZART Overture from The
Marriage of Figaro
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488
MOZART Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
Photo credit: Gina Ferazzi,
Los Angeles Times
Visit Nic’s website
Change Your Summer Tune
August 3, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Toronto Chamber Orchestra
Guy Few, Nadina Mackie Jackson
MSR Classics – MS 1232
HUMMEL Trumpet Concerto, Bassoon Concerto
LACHNER Corno & Bassoon Concertino
WEBER Bassoon Andante & Rondo
“Delivers all the excitement and freshness one could hope
for....nothing but the best from McGegan”
--Lorin Wilkerson, Northwest Reverb
Available at
amazon.com
Click here for Audio Excerpts
BBC 5-STAR PERFORMANCE
July 10, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Thomas Cooley, tenor “Samson”
Handel Samson
FestspielOrchester Göttingen
Carus 83.425
JULY’S “BBC MUSIC CHOICE”!
 PERFORMANCE
RECORDING
“Nicholas McGegan’s approach focuses on... states of mind
and emotions. Tempos are reflective rather than animated, while
instrumental expression and phrasing is strikingly subtle. Among
many high points is...Micah’s ‘Return O God of Hosts’ with deeply
sensitive orchestral support, the astonishingly unpredictable
tonality of the middle section, the chorus joining in the da capo
repeat.
...Thomas Cooley makes a tragic Samson, from his first
soliloquy on his mental anguish, through a heart-rending ‘Total
Eclipse’ to his humility and returning strength in Act III.”
--George Pratt, July 2009 BBC Music Magazine
Click here for a free download of music from
Samson
Click here/scroll down to hear Thomas Cooley
singing “Total Eclipse!”
Click here to watch “The Making of Samson”
HANDEL Samson
June 8, 2009
June 5, 2009, Germany:
U.S. President Barack Obama visits Frauenkirche
Dresden
Photo Credit: Eckehard Schulz/AP
June 5, 2008, Germany:
Conductor Nicholas McGegan records Handel’s
Samson live in Frauenkirche Dresden
Click here to watch “The Making of Samson”
Handel Samson
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Carus 83.425
Available at
www.amazon.com
Carus is the exclusive label of the
Frauenkirche Dresden
Visit
"Music
from the Frauenkirche Dresden" for more CDs
"CLICHÉ-CRUSHING"
May 12, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Robin Blaze, countertenor
Zankel Hall, New York City
“GLOWING...EXCITING...FIRST-TIER ARTISTRY”
“Corelli’s D major Concerto Grosso not only
showcased the ensemble’s unusually glowing and warm
‘period’-instrument sound, but also the players sophisticated
approach to articulation and phrasing. One does not hear anything
resembling sewing-machine prestos or wheezy hurdy-gurdy string-sound
from this band.
McGegan, the orchestra, and superb violinist Elizabeth
Blumenstock proceeded to gleefully demolish the hackneyed image of
Vivaldi as a composer of ‘elegant’ concertos, employing unusually
wide dynamics and a robust array of articulations and phrasing,
emphasizing intentionally-jarring dissonance in each of the
movements. This was near-Bartokian Vivaldi, displaying the Italian
master’s revolutionary side, and served in a manner that was
musical, exciting, entertaining and cliché-crushing.
The [Stabat Mater] seemed to fly by in far less than
the forty minutes of its actual duration – due in large part to the
increasing momentum Sampson, Blaze and McGegan brought to the latter
half of the work...
One would be hard-pressed to match this combination of
musicianship, that combines ‘authentic’ practise with first-tier
artistry, and that connects on such a direct level, one of the most
satisfying Baroque programs that this listener has experienced in a
very long time.”
--Gene Gaudette
The Classical Source
CORELLI Concerto Grosso in D major, Op. 6, No. 4
HANDEL Arias from Rodelinda and Giulio Cesare
VIVALDI Concerto in B-flat for Violin, Strings and Continuo,
RV375
PERGOLESI Stabat Mater
Available at Amazon.com
Visit Nic’s website
Pergolesi Stabat Mater
May 6, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Robin Blaze, countertenor
“POWERFUL...INEFFABLE...A MARVEL...OUTSTANDING”
“...Pergolesi, the great hope of Italian music early in the 18th
century, died at 26....hear an inspired account of his Stabat
Mater... and you understand the enormity of the loss. Using only two
singers, strings and organ, Pergolesi touched on the ineffable. That
kind of performance ended a concert by Nicholas McGegan and his
outstanding San Francisco period-instrument ensemble, the
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
The two vocalists proved ideally matched, Mr.
Blaze’s focused sound handsomely countering or intertwining with Ms.
Sampson’s appealing tone....Ms. Sampson, to put it bluntly, was a
marvel. Mr. McGegan drew exemplary support from his fine players.
The instrumentalists, too, took a spin in the
spotlight in a robust account of Correlli’s Concerto Grosso in D.
And Elizabeth Blumenstock, the ensemble’s leader, was a poised,
lively soloist in Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in B flat.”
--Steve Smith The New York Times
Click here to read full review
CORELLI Concerto Grosso in D major, Op. 6,
No. 4
HANDEL Arias from Rodelinda and Giulio Cesare
VIVALDI Concerto in B-flat for Violin, Strings and Continuo,
RV375
PERGOLESI Stabat Mater
Handel Athalia
April 28, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Dominique Labelle, soprano
Handel Athalia
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
“Falling through the rabbit hole, happily, with Philharmonia
Baroque”
“Conductor Nicholas McGegan and his Philharmonia Baroque
Orchestra...treated the audience - and that’s what it was, a giant
treat – to a performance of Handel’s “Athalia,” a dramatic oratorio
that’s rarely performed. And that’s a crime. The people attending
the performance...were lucky; it was like falling, enchanted,
through the proverbial rabbit hole.
‘Athalia’ is essentially an opera, though
un-staged, telling the biblical story of its namesake, the wicked
queen of Judah. Portions of the story are gruesome, but Handel seems
incapable of writing anything that isn’t pungent, sweetly joyful and
exquisitely beautiful. Even Athalia’s trembling, wrathful
declarations are exquisite. Soprano Dominique Labelle sang the role
with a mighty radiance that transfused each syllable.
Not to mention the chorale, directed by Bruce
Lamott, with its marvelous mingling and balance of voices. Or the
orchestra: crisp, rich strings, brisk and always springing ahead;
heart-melting flutes; valveless horn soloists who never flub a note.
And McGegan at the helm, of course.”
--Richard Scheinin, Mercury News
Click here to read full review
HEAR
Nic & Dominique in Handel’s Solomon:
Available at
www.amazon.com
Handel Athalia
April 24, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Dominique Labelle, soprano
Handel Athalia
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
“WONDERFUL...PERFECT...AMAZING...BRILLIANT”
“The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and their indefatigable music
director, Nicholas McGegan, were in top form as they tore
into Handel’s oratorio Athalia....All night long, the air
crackled with the energy from this performance. The orchestra itself
is just a marvel....The players not only are stylistically perfect,
they also seem to follow their music director’s body language,
making individual phrases stand out.”
“For those who have heard [Dominique Labelle] frequently with
this orchestra, the wonder is not that she keeps getting better, but
that she displays such variety and range, and possesses such stage
presence, that she’s able to do all kinds of roles. She played
Athalia to the hilt....Labelle has power to spare and she gave
full-throated voice to her queen. Yet she also tossed off
ornamentation and runs clearly, even delicately.”
--Michael Zwiebach San Francisco Classical Voice
Click here to read full review
HEAR
Nic & Dominique in Handel’s Solomon:
Available at
www.amazon.com
Handel, Maxwell Davies, Elgar
April 6, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
HANDEL Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 5
MAXWELL DAVIES A Spell for Green Corn
ELGAR Introduction and Allegro for Strings
HANDEL Music for the Royal Fireworks
“McGegan’s fine tribute to SPCO”
“Nicholas McGegan, whose impish persona can’t wholly conceal the
great conductor he’s become, wrapped up his longstanding partnership
with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra this weekend with a
characteristically captivating program....The conductor turns 60
next January. Isn’t it time for a knighthood?”
--Larry Fuchsberg, Star Tribune
Click here to read full review
“...the concert amounted to McGegan’s tribute to the orchestra,
with music that displayed its musical depth – bright tempos, biting
attacks, crisp and jaunty, transparent, elegant, grounded and
spirited all at once....Come back soon. Always welcome.”
--David Hawley, Pioneer Press
Click here to read full review
“Making Handel Spark”
March 31, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
New York Philharmonic
Christine Schäfer. soprano
“Making Handel Spark, Then Fanning the Flame”
“When it comes to conveying the vital spark in
Handel’s music, Mr. McGegan has few peers.”
--Steve Smith, New York Times
Click here to read full review
HANDEL Concerto a due cori No.3 in F major
HANDEL Concerto Grosso in C major, from “Alexander’s Feast”
HANDEL Arias from Partenope, Giulio Cesare and Alcina
HANDEL Music for the Royal Fireworks
Handel’s Acis und Galatea
March 25, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Handel Acis und Galatea (Version by Mendelssohn)
FestspielOrchester Göttingen
Carus 83.420
“...under Nicholas McGegan’s swift, sure baton. We’re unlikely to encounter a better one...”
--David Shengold, Time Out New York March 2009
Click here to read full review
1718
Arranged by Mendelssohn in
1828-29
Copy of score discovered in
2005
Première performance & CD recording in
2008
Nic in New York
March 17, 2009
MEET Nic:
Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle – March 25, 7:30 pm
For more details, click here.
HEAR Nic:
New York Philharmonic - March 26, 27, 28 – Avery Fisher Hall
For more details, click here.
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra – April 30 – Zankel Hall
For more details, click here.
Can’t Make it?
On the web: www.nicholasmcgegan.com
Vaughan Williams, Nielsen & Beethoven
March 13, 2009
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
NIELSEN Flute Concerto
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 in F major “Pastoral”
“McGegan, SLSO offer joyous performance”
“[Vaughan Williams] McGegan conducted with admirable understanding,
bringing out all the loveliness in this gorgeous score.”
“[Beethoven] McGegan is thoroughly at home in this music. Every
aspect was well-considered: his treatment of the themes, his tempos
and the overall sweep of the music.”
--Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Click here to read full review
Click to download Nic’s Beethoven Symphony No.
9
Haydn’s Creation
February 20, 2009
Haydn’s Creation reviewed in TwinCities.com
Read review
ONE OPERA, TWO BIRTHDAYS!
February 11, 2009
Happy Birthday to Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809) & G.F.
Handel (February 23, 1685)!
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Handel Acis und Galatea (Version by Mendelssohn)
FestspielOrchester Göttingen
Carus
• Composed by Handel in
1718
• Arranged by Mendelssohn in
1828-29
• Copy of score discovered in
2005
• Première performance & CD recording in
2008
***** “...this disc again sends one reaching for a list of superlatives....highly
recommended and contains both delightful music and wonderful performances.”
--John Broggio, SA-CD.net
Available at: http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/5536
Read more about Nicholas McGegan
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