Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
29 November-10 December 2024Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Soloist: Jeneba Kanneh Mason (piano)
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
29 November-10 December 2024
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Soloists: Jeneba Kanneh Mason (piano)
ABOUT
Over the 80 years since the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was founded, with countless concerts in Hungary and abroad, and its radio, TV and CD recordings of almost the entire symphony and oratorio repertoire, it has won its place in the vanguard of symphony orchestras. The world’s leading critics are unanimous in praising its evenness of sound, its flexibility, and its patronage in promoting and recording contemporary Hungarian music. The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra has since the beginning been the central figure in the annual Budapest Wagner Days.
Riccardo Frizza, conductor
Riccardo Frizza (born 1971 in Brescia) studied at the Milan Conservatory and the Accademia Chigiana di Siena and is considered to be one of the leading conductors of his generation, particularly devoted to the nineteenth century Italian operatic repertoire.
In Italy he is a frequent guest at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro Regio in Turin, La Fenice in Venice, Opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, the Verdi Festival in Parma and the Macerata Opera Festival. He has conducted at the Opéra National de Paris, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, New York Metropolitan Opera, the Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Münich.
Orchestral engagements have seen him step onto the podium at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Dresden Sächsische Staatskapelle and conduct the Orchestra Sinfonica “Giuseppe Verdi” di Milano, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Engagements in recent years have included Norma at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rigoletto at the Liceu in Barcelona, Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro la Fenice and in Bilbao, I Puritani in Budapest, Falstaff at the Parma Verdi Festival and in Dallas, Il pirata at Teatro alla Scala and Anna Bolena in Rome.
More recent noteworthy productions from the 2020/2021 season include Rigoletto at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, The Three Queens concert with Sondra Radvanovski at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Sonnambula at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées, the concert entitled “Ritorno a Napoli” at the Toscanini Festival in Parma, the Belcanto Gala at the Teatro San Carlo, La Cenerentola at the Teatro Real in Madrid, the inauguration of the Donizetti Opera in Bergamo with L’elisir d’amore, “Omaggio a Caruso” at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, concerts with the Haydn Orchestra and La clemenza di Tito at ABAO Bilbao Opera. Highlights from the 2021/2022 season include The Three Queens and Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro San Carlo, L’amico Fritz at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Lucia di Lammermoor at the New York Metropolitan Opera, Il Trovatore at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Simon Boccanegra during the Festival Verdi at the Teatro Regio di Parma and La Favorite at the Donizetti Opera. His 2022/2023 season includes La Traviata at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Ernani at La Fenice in Venice, the Verdi Requiem at the Duomo in Milan for the “Manzoni 150” celebrations, Anna Bolena at the San Carlo in Naples, I Vespri siciliani at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Grande in Brescia and Rigoletto at the Rome Opera Caracalla Festival. Engagements for his 2023/2024 season include I puritani at the Dresdner Philharmonie, Un ballo in maschera at the Liceu in Barcelona, Le villi at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Maria Stuarda at the Teatro San Carlo as well as concerts in Madrid, at the Musikverein in Vienna and in the Basque Country.
Since 2017, Riccardo Frizza has been music director at the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo, where in 2018 he conducted Il castello di Kenilworth, and in 2019 Lucrezia Borgia for the first performance of the new critical edition of the score published by Ricordi and Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, Marin Faliero and Belisario in 2020 and L’elisir d’amore in 2021, La Favorite in 2022. In 2023 he will again inaugurate the Donizetti Opera conducting Il diluvio universale. His Donizetti repertoire includes Lucia di Lammermoor, Linda di Chamounix, Maria Stuarda (at the Metropolitan Opera with Sondra Radvanovsky), La fille du régiment, Lucrezia Borgia (at the San Francisco Opera with Renée Fleming), Roberto Devereux (again in San Francisco), and Anna Bolena (at the Opera di Roma).
In June 2021 he won the Ópera XXI award for best music director. The accolade was awarded by Ópera XXI, the association of theatres, festivals and opera companies of Spain, for the outstanding Lucia di Lammermoor which was staged for ABAO Bilbao Ópera in October 2019.
In March 2022, his appointment as Chief Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir was announced during their concert in which he conducted Mahler’s Second Symphony. He returned to the podium in Hungary in 2023 to conduct an extremely wide-ranging repertoire, showcasing the qualities of the Hungarian orchestra and choirs entrusted to his baton. The symphonic year in Budapest will come to a close on 19th December with the jubilee concert to celebrate the orchestra’s 80th anniversary.
He has an impressive discography, especially in the field of opera. In 2022 three CDs by artists of the caliber of Sondra Radvanovsky (The Three Queens, Pentatone), Nadine Sierra (Made for opera, Deutsche Grammophon) and Javier Camarena (Signor Gaetano, Pentatone) were released and all well-received by the international press. The DVD of Mascagni’s opera L’amico Fritz (Dynamic, 2023) with the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was also well-received.
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, piano
Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason is already captivating audiences with her “maturity in performance and interpretation” (Fraser). She recently made her BBC Proms debut performing the Florence Price Concerto and was heralded by the press as “demonstrating musical insight, technical acuity, and an engaging performing persona” (Music OMH). The piece was recorded with Chineke! and Leslie Suganandarajah, and released on Decca Classics in Summer 2023. The Guardian hailed her performance, stating that ‘Price could have no more persuasive an advocate’.
Jeneba starts her 23/24 season with a recital at London’s Bold Tendencies, where she presents a programme based on the theme ‘CRISIS’. An avid recital performer, Jeneba has performed in venues such as the Zurich Tonhalle, London Wigmore Hall, Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, amongst others, as well as the Lenzburgiade, Rheingau, Cheltenham, Bradfield and Lamberhurst festivals.
Other recent and forthcoming highlights include an extensive UK tour with the Hungarian Radio Symphony and Riccardo Frizza, a European tour with Chineke!, debuts with the Detroit Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, and the Sinfonia Viva for the New Year Gala. She also recorded Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 6 with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Howard Griffiths, which was released on Alpha.
Jeneba was a Keyboard Category Finalist in BBC Young Musician 2018, winner of the Murs du Son Prize at the Lagny-Sur-Marne International Piano Competition in France, 2014, and The Nottingham Young Musician 2013. She was also winner of the Iris Dyer Piano Prize at The Royal Academy of Music, Junior Academy, where she studied with Patsy Toh.
Jeneba was named one of Classic FM’s ‘Rising Stars’ and appeared on Julian Lloyd Webber’s radio series in 2021. She has also been featured on several television and radio programmes, including Radio 3, In Tune, The BAFTAs, The Royal Variety Performance, the documentary for BBC4, Young, Gifted and Classical, and the Imagine documentary for BBC1, This House is Full of Music. She has recorded for the album, Carnival, with Decca Classics.
Jeneba holds the Victoria Robey Scholarship to The Royal College of Music, studying piano with Vanessa Latarche. She is grateful to Lady Robey, The Nottingham Soroptimist Trust and to The Nottingham Education Trust.
Jeneba is managed by Enticott Music Management in association with IMG Artists.
CONCERT DATES
CONTACT
MARY HARRISON
HEAD OF UK & EIRE TOURING
+44 (0) 20 7957 5873
EMAIL
FIONA TODD
UK & EIRE TOUR MANAGER
+44 (0) 20 7957 5800
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JULIA SMITH
UK & EIRE TOUR AND SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER
+44 (0) 7733 113652
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