Four European Orchestras at home

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (https://philharmonia.co.uk) has a marvelous sound. They welcome donations if you wish to give and are able to help. On You Tube one can catch several of their pre-Covid concerts: one featuring excerpts from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung led by Sir Andrew Davis is especially good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bjSyn5RukY

The Czech Philharmonic (https://www.ceskafilharmonie.cz), just like so many orchestras worldwide has had to put its Season 2020-2021 on hold. Meanwhile one can catch it on You Tube in this superb rendering of Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique” with Simon Bychkov in the podium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUMpLhLTn_4

The Philharmonia Orchestra (https://philharmonia.co.uk) is a British orchestra based in London. Among the conductors who have led it were Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini an Herbert von Karajan. Here they are with Nicola Benedetti playing Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending, followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, with Paavo Järvi at the helm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTAnEqH_FeA&t=2700s

Already highlighted in a previous post, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – the National Orchestra of Sweden –  www.gso.se/en/gsoplay broadcasts each year  the best among 100 concerts held in the Gothenburg Concert Hall. The orchestra broadcasts them on demand in full HD. Listen here (https://www.gso.se/en/gsoplay/video/piano-concerto-in-g-major) as they accompany pianist Alice Sara Ott in  Ravel’s piano concerto in G, led by principal conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”