On January 1, 2024, conductor Howard Griffiths will hand over the artistic direction of the Orpheum Foundation to pianist Oliver Schnyder. The official handover will take place as part of the Orpheum concert on October 21, 2023, in Tonhalle Zurich. The Orpheum Foundation was founded in 1990 by Hans Heinrich Coninx and is chaired by him.
Orpheum, a foundation for the promotion of young soloists, does not simply offer another competition for young talents, but has been facilitating artistic encounters at the highest level for over thirty years, by offering outstanding young soloists the opportunity to perform with renowned orchestras and under the baton of distinguished conductors. The Orpheum concerts represent a unique artistic experience for these soloists and often give a decisive impulse to their careers. This core of the Orpheum funding idea has been further developed and supplemented in recent years with additional concert formats and a CD series.
With its unique funding model, the Orpheum Foundation compliments the work of other institutions that award prizes and scholarships and helps aspiring soloists build an artistic existence.
The focus of the Orpheum Foundation’s activities are the orchestral concerts in the Tonhalle Zurich, carried out in partnership with orchestras such as the Bamberg and Vienna Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Camerata Salzburg and Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich. Conductors included David Zinman, Christoph Eschenbach, Mariss Jansons, Armin and Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Sir Neville Marriner, Michael Sanderling and Marcello Viotti.
The Orpheum Foundation gives many international soloists the opportunity to perform their Swiss debut with a renowned orchestra. These soloists include Jonathan Biss, Rafal Blechacz, Renaud and Gautier Capucon, Johan Dalene, Vilde Frang, Sol Gabetta, Kirill Gerstein, Karen Gomyo, Martin Grubinger, Maximilian Hornung, Isata and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Truls Mork, Kian Soltani, Nikolay Znaider, Yuja Wang and last but not least Oliver Schnyder, who started his career with a concert with the Tonhalle Orchestra under the baton of David Zinman.
The concert on October 21 in the Tonhalle Zurich features the young Orpheum violinist Anna Agavia Egholm performing Beethoven’s triple concerto together with former Orpheum soloists, Oliver Schnyder and Maximilian Hornung and the Orpheum Supporters Orchestra under the baton of Howard Griffiths. More information and tickets are available here.
Photo credit: M Borggreve
