Belvedere di Villa Rufolo

Sabato 23 luglio
Belvedere di Villa Rufolo, ore 20.00
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Direttore Myung-Whun Chung
Musiche di Beethoven
Posto unico € 50

Programma

Ludwig van Beethoven
Sinfonia n.6 in fa maggiore, op.68 “Pastorale”
Sinfonia n.7 in la maggiore, op.92

Myung-Whun Chung
Myung-Whun Chung began his musical life as a pianist, making his debut at the age of seven. At the age of 21  he won the second prize at the Tchaikovsky piano competition in Moscow.  After his musical studies at the Mannes School and at the Juilliard School in New York, he became Carlo Maria Giulini’s assistant in 1979 at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and two years later he was named Associate Conductor.
Music Director of the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1984 to 1990,  Principal Guest Conductor of  Teatro Comunale of Florence from 1987 to 1992, Music Director of the Opéra de Paris-Bastille from 1989 to 1994 and Principal Conductor of  the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia   in Rome from 1997 to 2005.  In 1995  Myung-Whun Chung founds the Asia Philharmonic, an orchestra made up of the best musicians from 8 Asian countries.  In 2005 he was appointed Music Director of the Seoul Philarmonic Orchestra and in 2016 Honorary Music Director  of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra . Since  2011 he is  Principal Guest Conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle.  He has been Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from  2000 to 2015 of which from 2016 he is Honorary Conductor.
Myung-Whun Chung has conducted  the world’s leading orchestras, including  Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic,  Concertgebouw,   all the major London and Parisian Orchestras, Filarmonica della Scala,  Bayerisch Rundfunk, Boston and Chicago Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras.
As a recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon many of his numerous recordings have won international prizes and awards.   He has been the recipient of honours and prizes for his artistic work, including the Premio Abbiati and the Arturo Toscanini prize in Italy . In France in 1991  the Association of French Theatres and music critics named him “Artist of the year” and  in 1992 the French Government  honored him with  the Légion d’Honneur ;  in 1995 and again in 2002 he won the prize “Victoire de la Musique”.  In June 2011 Myung-Whun Chung has been appointed « Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et Lettres » by the French Minister of Culture.   In July 2013 the City of Venice presented him with the key to the city for both his commitment to the Teatro la Fenice and the musical life of the city;  in the same occasion he was also awarded the Prize Una vita nella musica by Teatro La Fenice. In  2017  the President of the Italian Republic has appointed him ” Commendatore Ordine della Stella d’Italia” for his contribution to  Italian culture.
In 2015 the Italian Association of the music critics presented him with ” Premio Abbiati ” for Verdi’s  Simone Boccanegra (conducted at Teatro La Fenice in Venice) as well as for his symphony commitment with Accademia di Santa Cecilia  in Rome and  with Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala in Milano . Myung-Whun Chung at the moment is honorary conductor of  Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra , of   Staatskapelle  Dresden , of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
Deeply sensitive to humanitarian and ecological problems of our age, Myung-Whun Chung has devoted an important part of his life to these causes. He served as Ambassador for the Drug Control Program at the United Nations (UNDCP);   in 1995 he was named “Man of the year” by UNESCO and in 1996 he received the “Kumkuan”, the highest cultural award of the Korean Government for his contribution to Korean musical life. Chung now serves as Honorary Cultural Ambassador for Korea, the first in the Korean Government’s history.
Myung-Whun Chung and the musicians of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France were nominated Ambassadors for UNICEF in September 2007.
In April 2008 Myung Whun Chung was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, as an acknowledgement of his commitment to children‘s issue.
In March 2012 Myung-Whun Chung  got  together   the Unhasu Orchestra of North Korea and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France , for the first time,  in a joint concert at the Salle Pleyel, Paris.

The Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia was the first orchestra in Italy to devote itself exclusively to the symphonic repertoire, giving premieres of major masterpieces of the 1900, such as Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. Founded in 1908, the Orchestra has been conducted by some of the major musical figures of the 20th century: from Mahler, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Strauss, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Hindemith, Toscanini, Furtwängler, De Sabata, Solti, Mengelberg, Karajan, Carlos Kleiber and Abbado to the most impressive performers of our day including Thielemann, Dudamel, and Kirill Petrenko while Bernardino Molinari, Franco Ferrara, Fernando Previtali, Igor Markevitch, Thomas Schippers, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Daniele Gatti, and Myung-Whun Chung have been its Music Directors. Leonard Bernstein was Honorary President from 1983 to 1990.
With Sir Antonio Pappano in the role of Music Director since 2005, the stature of the Orchestra has enjoyed extraordinary success, building an international reputation for itself. With Pappano at the helm, the Orchestra has appeared at some of the major music festivals including the Proms in London, White Nights in St. Petersburg, Lucerne Festival, Salzburg Festival and has performed in some of the most world’s best-known venues, including the Philharmonie in Berlin, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Royal Albert Hall in London, Salle Pleyel in Paris, La Scala in Milan, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Semperoper in Dresden, Carnegie Hall in New York.
After long-term collaboration with some of the biggest international record labels who have produced recordings that have since become legendary, Santa Cecilia Orchestra records extensively for Warner Classic. The releases, under Pappano, include Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (with Angela Gheorghiu; the recording won a Brit Award), Verdi’s Requiem (Gramophone Award, BBC Music Magazine, Brit Classical), Rossini’s and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Anna Netrebko (Gramophone Editors’ Choice Award), Rossini’s William Tell, Mahler’s Symphony no.6, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Verdi’s Quattro pezzi sacri, Britten’s War Requiem, and a CD entitled Rossini Overtures. Recently recorded, Verdi’s Aida boasts a stellar cast (Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Erwin Schrott) and has taken home numerous awards: Best Recording 2015 for The New York Times and for The Telegraph, Best opera 2015 – Apple Music, Choc Classica de l’année, Diapason D’or and Choix de France Musique, Record of the month for Gramophone, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. A CD also came out in 2015, with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 1 and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 2 performed by Beatrice Rana, Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Janine Jansen (Decca) and Schumann’s Piano Concerto performed by Jan Lisiecki (DGG).
Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra also recorded Nessun Dorma, The Puccini Album with tenor Jonas Kaufmann (Best Classical Music Recordings of 2015 for The New York Times), which made the world charts, Schumann’s Symphonies no. 2 and no. 4, Elgar’s Symphony no. 1 (ICA Classics), the cd “Anna Netrebko. Verismo” (DGG), Le Carnaval des Animaux with Martha Argerich, the Bernstein’s Symphonies (Warner Classics), Verdi’s Otello with Jonas Kaufmann (Sony Classical, 2020), Tudor Queens with Diana Damrau (Warner Classics) and Strauss: Ein Heldenleben/Burleske with Bertrand Chamayou (Warner Classics, 2021).