Conductor and Pianist Frank Dupree is named the next Artistic Partner of Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn (WKO). The appointment was announced by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and made on the initiative of WKO Managing Director Rainer Neumann, in consultation with Chief Conductor Case Scaglione. They will celebrate the new relationship with their next concert together, 17 May, when Dupree joins WKO and percussionist Benedikt Kurz as conductor, pianist and percussionist programme of works by Benjamin Britten, Aaron Jay Kernis, Liu Heng, Peter Boyer and Beethoven.
Neumann said, “With Frank Dupree, we will have one of the most interesting musicians of the younger generation at our side in the future.” He particularly emphasizes Dupree’s immense versatility, adding, “Whether as a classical pianist or as a border crosser between classical and jazz, whether as a conductor or as a drummer – Dupree has a unique artistic range.”
Dupree said, “After our successful album production with works by Nikolai Kapustin and some concerts that I remember very well, which I have already been able to perform with the Württember Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, I am looking forward to my work as Artistic Partner of the renowned orchestra. I am excited to discover both well-known and new repertoire together with the orchestra. It is with great anticipation that I look forward to a wonderful future collaboration with the musicians of the WKO and warmly welcome all listeners to our joint concerts.”
A “sincere, feeling and enormously interesting artist” (Emanuel Ax) who “always amazes” (PZ News) and whose “broad tonal range and sinuous rhythmic technique” (Classical Source), pianist and conductor Frank Dupree has earned the esteem of his peers and audiences on the orchestral and chamber music stages.
Recent and forthcoming highlights include an exciting new collaboration with the Kurt Weill Festival as artist-in-residence, debuts with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Trondheim Symfonieorchester and Sinfonieorcheser Liechtenstein, return invitations at London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Brussels BOZAR amongst others as well as ongoing relationships with the Stuttgart Philharmoniker and Theater Plauen-Zwickau. Additional highlights include a collaboration with the Repercussion ensemble at the Cologne Philharmonie, debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, recitals at the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Lucerne Festival, London’s LSO St Luke’s, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and Munich’s Allerheiligen-Hofkirche.
Photo: Ralph Steckelbach
