GRAMMY® AWARD NOMINEE
BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE

December 6, 2011
THE BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC RECORDINGS OF 2011

Posted by Alex Ross

GRAMMY Nominees – Best Orchestral Performance

54th Annual GRAMMY Award Nominees
Best Orchestral Performance

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Haydn: Symphonies 104, 88 & 101
[Philharmonia Baroque Productions]

Andrew Davis, conductor
BBC Philharmonic
Bowen: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
[Chandos]

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
[Deutsche Grammaphon]

Marek Janowski, conductor
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Henze: Symphonies Nos. 3-5
[Wergo]

Jirí Belohlávek, conductor
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Martinu: The 6 Symphonies
[Onyx Classics]

Handel’s Orlando
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Clint van der Linde, Orlando
Dominique Labelle, Angelica
Diana Moore, Medoro
Yulia Van Doren, Dorinda
Wolf Matthias Friedrich, Zoroastro

“A Magician Pulling Strings: ‘Orlando’ has a persuasive new champion in Nicholas McGegan” --The New York Times

Nicholas McGegan
“‘Orlando’ has a persuasive new champion in Nicholas McGegan, who led his superb Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco and five fine singers in an invigorating performance...” --The New York Times

“New York has never been much of a mecca for 18th–century purism, but one would not have guessed that on Sunday at Alice Tully Hall. The hero was Nicholas McGegan, who guided his Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra through the operatic cabals, curlicues and convolutions with gusto and savior-faire, also infectious affection.” --The Financial Times

“There was magic aplenty on the stage of Alice Tully Hall during a concert version of Handel’s opera ‘Orlando’....The magician-in-chief was Nicholas McGegan...” --The Huffington Post

Dominique Labelle
“Dominique Labelle used her flexible, burnished soprano thoughtfully in her dignified characterization of Angelica, and her florid ornamentation was often dazzling.” --The New York Times

“...Labelle’s high and pure soprano floated nicely as Angelica...” --The Financial Times

“...Labelle anchored the performance with a strong, even tone and elegant phrasing.” --The Huffington Post

Yulia Van Doren
“...soprano Yulia Van Doren made the most of these comic implications in her portrayal of Dorinda but never overdid them. Her voice blossomed as Handel fleshed out her character, and she brought consistently interesting, often athletic embellishments to the repeated sections.” --The New York Times

“...Van Doren sang gloriously, with subtle inflection, dynamic sensitivity and spunky charm...” --The Financial Times

“...Russian-American soprano Yulia Van Doren brought charm and a bell-like purity to her arias...” --The Huffington Post

Handel’s Orlando
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Clint van der Linde, Orlando
Dominique Labelle, Angelica
Diana Moore, Medoro
Yulia Van Doren, Dorinda
Wolf Matthias Friedrich, Zoroastro

“Spectacular touring production....nothing short of a revelation....sheer delight at every turn.” --Chicago Classical Review

McGegan
“To hear a first-rate period-instrument performance of a Handel opera in an intimate venue with a large cast of singers who are true masters of the period technique that these works require is nothing short of a revelation....the fusion of 18th-century music and drama was a sheer delight at every turn.” --Chicago Classical Review

“In virtually every respect this was a model of how to bring works of the period alive...” --Chicago Tribune

Labelle
“Canadian soprano Dominique Labelle as the queen Angelica served up vocal fireworks on cue...” --Chicago Classical Review

“...Labelle invested Angelica with imperious aplomb through fine musicality and technique.” --Chicago Tribune

Van Doren
“The alluring Russian-American soprano Yulia Van Doren stole the show as Dorinda....Her luscious voice has a pure, shining high extension, and she sailed through the coloratura leaps, plunges and flourishes with uncanny ease.” --Chicago Tribune

Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Tours On!

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk, CT – August 15
music of Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel
http://music.yale.edu/norfolk/concerts/special_events.htm

Tanglewood, Lenox – August 16
Handel’s Orlando
http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/perf_detail.jsp?pid=prod3880088

Conductor McGegan brings Handel's Orlando to Ravinia

August 11, 2011| John von Rhein | Classical music critic

“Of the conductors who bestride the realms of modern and period orchestral performance, Nicholas McGegan may truly be said to command the best of both worlds. Players in modern orchestras welcome his refreshingly nondogmatic approach to obtaining the results he wants, while members of the period-instrument ensembles he directs appreciate the many insights into the Baroque and Classical styles he brings to their collaborations.

So closely identified is he with period performance that it comes as a surprise to learn that he spends some 80 percent of his time working with modern instrumentalists. His ties to Chicago go back to 1986, where he made his local bow at Grant Park. He began his guest association with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia in 2002 and most recently led the CSO in a collaboration with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in April at Symphony Center.

Does McGegan, one wonders, still encounter occasional resistance from orchestral musicians whose playing reflects concepts of sound and style that modern, historically informed practice has pretty much pushed aside?

‘Practically none," he replies. "This whole business of 20 years ago — Baroque orchestras versus modern orchestras, that kind of thing — it's just absolutely not there anymore.’”
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08-11/entertainment/ct-ent-0810-classical-mcgegan-20110811_1_handel-s-orlando-dominique-labelle-international-handel-festival/2

Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra on Tour

Handel's Orlando

Mostly Mozart, New York – August 14
http://www.mostlymozart.org/index.php/mm-2011-philharmonia-baroque-orchestra-aug-14

Tanglewood, Lenox – August 16
http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/perf_detail.jsp?pid=prod3880088

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk, CT – August 15
(music of Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel)
http://music.yale.edu/norfolk/concerts/special_events.htm

Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Été; Handel: Arias from Giulio Cesare; Ottone; Arianne; Radamisto and Agrippina – review
McGegan/Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra/Hunt Lieberson


Andrew Clements
Thursday 30 June 2011 20.29 BST

Philharmonia Baroque, San Francisco's resident period-instrument orchestra, launches its own CD label with a disc that pays wonderful tribute to one of the greatest singers of our time. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson grew up in the Bay Area and worked as a professional viola player there before she became a singer – a soprano first and then settling into mezzo parts. Up until 1995, she continued to record and appear in concert with the Philharmonia Baroque and its conductor, Nicholas McGegan. The Handel arias that appear here, all of them originally written for Margherita Durastanti (another singer who evolved from soprano to mezzo), are taken from a concert in 1991 that was part of the preparation for a Handel disc that Hunt Lieberson was about to record with the same orchestra for Harmonia Mundi. They are glorious, exquisitely polished performances, every role inhabited comprehensively, even within the space of a single four‑minute aria; the seamless legato in Vieni o Figlio from Ottone is jaw-droppingly beautiful. But it is Berlioz's song cycle that is the real revelation. The performances of Les Nuits d'Eté in 1995 were Hunt Lieberson's last with McGegan and his orchestra, and the first time they had ventured as far into the 19th century as Berlioz. No other recordings of Hunt Lieberson singing this cycle have been released so far, and the astonishing velvety evenness of her singing in a number such as Sur les Lagunes, symbiotically entwined with the string textures around her, is worth the price of the disc alone.

AVAILABLE at Amazon and other classical music outlets

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD:
itunes.apple.com

Classical Recordings
By JAMES R. OESTREICH   June 24, 2011

Nor are performances of Haydn’s music in period style anything new. But seldom have his elemental dynamic contrasts sounded so properly in proportion or so mercurial, with the 50 or so players able to play out lustily in fortes and pull back quickly to quieter modes, whether playful, subtle or mysterious.

The applause at the end of the first work here (Symphony No. 104, "London") came as a bit of a shock, given the unfailing finesse of the playing and the lack of audience noise. But it seemed unsurprising in retrospect that a performance so full of, well, life was recorded live. The recordings, made at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley, Calif., from 2007 to 2009, were beautifully produced and engineered by David v. R. Bowles.

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas McGegan. Philharmonia Baroque Productions 01; CD.

BERLIOZ named his only song cycle, “Les Nuits d’Été,” after the French translation of the title of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Like that play the cycle is deceptively simple. But its troubling depths — full of pain, longing and death — are fully reached in a newly released live recording from 1995 featuring the great mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died in 2006.

Other recordings of the cycle, even classics like Régine Crespin’s limpid version, seem a tad casual next to Hunt Lieberson’s commanding, almost moral seriousness. There is nothing offhand or informal in these radiant interpretations, accompanied by her brilliant longtime collaborators, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and its music director, Nicholas McGegan. Even the lighter songs that frame the cycle are rendered profoundly. The opening “Villanelle” is more astonished than teasing, and the final “Île Inconnue” exudes a dazzling, grand purity.

But for all her clarity Hunt Lieberson does not stint the music’s opulence, particularly in an “Absence” that is disconcerting in its sensuous embrace of loss. This is the seductive, fearsome sound of the death drive, achieved without altering for a single note the rich, warm, smooth voice of her prime.

The recording is almost too forbiddingly beautiful. There is room in these songs for a playfulness — even a casualness — that was never Hunt Lieberson’s interest. Her magnificent austerity, the sense that you are getting the text and music in their unadulterated glory, makes for a flawless Berlioz, but also a bracing, exhausting one.

Her gifts were perfectly suited to the Handel repertory in which she was celebrated throughout her career. In these royal characters and aching long lines her seriousness and purity found their ideal object. The new disc is rounded out by selections recorded live at a 1991 concert of Handel arias. They are uniformly astounding.

June 9, 2011

Nicholas McGegan, OBE Awarded Order of Merit

June 1, 2011

“Almost Too Forbiddingly Beautiful”

May 25, 2011

BERLIOZ named his only song cycle, "Les Nuits d’Été," after the French translation of the title of Shakespeare’s "Midsummer Night’s Dream." Like that play the cycle is deceptively simple. But its troubling depths — full of pain, longing and death — are fully reached in a newly released live recording from 1995 featuring the great mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died in 2006.

Other recordings of the cycle, even classics like Régine Crespin’s limpid version, seem a tad casual next to Hunt Lieberson’s commanding, almost moral seriousness. There is nothing offhand or informal in these radiant interpretations, accompanied by her brilliant longtime collaborators, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and its music director, Nicholas McGegan. Even the lighter songs that frame the cycle are rendered profoundly. The opening "Villanelle" is more astonished than teasing, and the final "Île Inconnue" exudes a dazzling, grand purity.

#6 on Amazon

Berlioz: Nuits d'Ete, Handel: Arias
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Artist), Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Artist, Orchestra), Nicholas McGegan (Artist, Conductor), Hector Berlioz (Composer), George Frideric Handel (Composer) | Format: Audio CD
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews) |

AVAILABLE at Amazon and other classical music outlets:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004K4T6E8/nicholasmcgeg-20

April 27, 2011

"...as wrenching a portrait of a man’s descent into madness as you will find in any art form of any era."
--Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

BERLIOZ Les Nuits d’été
HANDEL Arias from Giulio Cesare, Ottone, Arianna, Radamisto, Agrippina

Available at: http://www.philharmonia.org/shop/new-releases/

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Previously Unreleased

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

"There are certain musical performances you always remember, and I can remember exactly what it felt like standing there next to her for the Berlioz. It was thrilling. Her artistry shines through on this recording."
-Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Request a review copy: info@schwalbeandpartners.com

January 28, 2011

McGegan On The Air

HEAR Nic and Lorraine on the web at http://www.nicholasmcgegan.com.

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Robert Levin, piano

CHERUBINI Anacreon Overture
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major
HAYDN Symphony No. 93 in D major

Photo: Gina Ferazzi, Los Angeles Times

November 30, 2010

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

“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
 

January 14, 2010

Join Nic’s Birthday Party

December 8, 2009

LIEBERSON SINGS DIDO

Lieberson sings Dido’s Lament – FREE DOWNLOAD

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

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

BBC 5-STAR PERFORMANCE
July 10, 2009

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

Handel Samson
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Carus 83.425

Carus is the exclusive label of the Frauenkirche Dresden

"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

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:

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

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

Nic in New York
March 17, 2009

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

Haydn’s Creation
February 20, 2009

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

***** “...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