The Big Three announce their seasons

Ever since the descent to a very low profile of the Asociación Wagneriana, the Big Three of our international concert institutions have remained the Mozarteum Argentino, Festivales Musicales and Nuova Harmonia. Even in 2002 they refused to be defeated by the crisis and have continued to offer good music by outstanding artists, less starry than before 2001 but still valuable. Devaluation won't go away (three pesos to the dollar, four to the Euro) but things have picked up somewhat because more Argentines have money in their pockets.

This year of course the Big Three don't have the Colón, a grievous problem. The Mozarteum has opted for the Coliseo in what amounts to a reconciliation (decades ago they were unceremoniously told to go elsewhere in what was then a blatant protection of the Italian community-backed Harmonia). They will offer two cycles as usual.

The Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer comes back; April 19, Weiner, Schumann and Beethoven; April 21, Mozart and Bruckner. May 3 and 4, debut of the Britten Sinfonia and pianist Joanna McGregor. J.S.Bach, Britten, Stravinsky, Golijov and Gismonti. On May 10-11, the debut of pianist Pjotr Anderszewski playing Bach and Beethoven. Vadim Repin (violin) and Itamar Golan (piano) pay us a return visit on June 6 and 7 with scores by Janácek, Brahms, Grieg, Chausson and Waxman.

June (26 and 27) also brings back after a long absence an outstanding ballet company, though in its juvenile mode: Nederlands Dans Theater II led by the brilliant choreographer Jirí Kylian. A welcome debut on August 2 and 3 of the Capilla Real de Madrid (soloists, chorus and orchestra) led by Oscar Gershenson; they will interpret music by Bach, Handel, Corelli and De Nebra. August 30, 3l: perhaps the highest spot of the season: the debut of the most talented baritone of his generation, Thomas Hampson, in Mahler, accompanied by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester conducted by Philippe Jordan.

After a long absence the renowned Hagen Quartet returns ; it will play Shostakovich, Haydn and Schubert (September 5 and 6). Then, an unfortunate "faux pas": the Jacques Loussier Trio in their jazzy adaptations of Bach, Ravel and Debussy , a bow to crossover banalisation (October 8 and 9). Finally, the most welcome return of the Sao Paulo State Symphony under John Neschling with the debut of Canadian violinist James Ehnes (October 30, November 1).

Festivales Musicales will as usual combine venues. Their season is called "Cycles and integrals". No exact dates given, only months. The Ensemble Louis Berger led by Ricardo Massun will offer "Music of the Jesuit Missions at Chiquitos", a fascinating Bolivian Baroque (April, Avenida). In May Horacio Lavandera plays the 19 Chopin Nocturnes with opus number (there are two others) at the Auditorio de Belgrano, and La Barroca del Suquía under Manfredo Kraemer will execute "Baroque tableaux", descriptive music from Biber to Boccherini (who is a Classicist, in fact), at the Avenida. On June Alexandre Tharaud will play in two sessions the integral Ravel music for piano (Coliseo). On late June and early July , also in two sessions, Mario Videla will lead Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" with the Ensemble of the Bach Academy and the Orfeón de Buenos Aires. In a non-subscription concert, septuagenarian pianist Paul Badura-Skoda will offer his specialty, Schubert ("Moments musicaux" and "Impromptus" op. 90), at the Avenida.

Come September, soprano Emma Kirkby will be back accompanied by lutenist Anthony Rooley in English Elizabethan songs (Avenida). Finally October will give us two concerts with the debut of conductor Víctor Pablo Pérez and the Galicia Symphony at the Coliseo, doing Brahms in one concert and Falla in the other.

Finally, Nuova Harmonia does its whole season at the Coliseo, as could be presumed. The Artistic Director Dino Rawa Jasinski has persuaded the Italian Government to open up a bit on their all-Italian policy (plus a few Argentines) and this year we shall also have artists from Poland, Spain and Germany.

May 2: the Cappella della Pietá dei Turchini under Antonio Florio, with Maria Ercolano (soprano) and Giuseppe De Vittorio (tenor), will presumably offer the valuable and ill-known Neapolitan Baroque repertoire. A warm welcome to the return of the Orchestra Giuseppe Verdi of Milano with the debut of conductor Michael Schoenwandt and the comeback of bel canto soprano Lucia Aliberti (May 30). Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti and Prokofiev. June 14: some will agree (I don't ) with the idea of Mauricio Wainrot : dancing Handel's "Messiah" (Ballet Contemporáneo Teatro San Martín). The David Piano Trio plays Shostakovich, Brahms and Haydn on June 21, and pianist Andrea Lucchesini returns for a recital on July 11: Clementi, Scarlatti, Schubert and Schumann.

The Camerata Bariloche Orchestra under Karl Martin accompanies pianist Nelson Goerner on August 9. September 9 is the date of the debut of Orchestra di Fiati Europa (Rocco Eletto) playing a crossover program that includes film music. The Euskadi Symphony under Gilbert Varga comes back with the debut of cellist Asier Polo (September 18). The debut of the Orchestra Barocca di Venezia under Andrea Marcon should prove interesting; the talented violinist Giuliano Carmignola will be the soloist (September 28). Vivaldi and Tartini among the composers. The Deutsche Akademie Neuss under Lavard Skou Larsen will play on October 10. And finally, the important debut of Antoni Wit and the Warsaw Philharmonic – and of pianist Mei-Ting Sun- on November 9.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald - February 06, 2007