John Axelrod, who conducted the ICMA Gala Concerts 2012 and 2013 is to spearhead a multi-year exploration of the relationship between Brahms and the woman he loved, Clara Schumann, as depicted in their music. « If you listen to the Brahms symphonies, » says Axelrod, “each of them seems to inhabit a completely different, though connected, character. Then, if you listen to the songs of Clara Schumann, they also fall clearly into a very similar four moods. I believe that Clara’s own personality is in those songs, and so if that is true, it is also possible to think of the four Brahms symphonies as portraits of Clara – four different aspects of her. » Read More →

ICMA’s Award Ceremony and Gala Concert will take place on Saturday 12 April in Warsaw and be part of the 18^th Beethoven Easter Festival. Preparation for this  event started already during this year’s edition of one of the musically richest festivals in Europe. Jury President Remy Franck and Board Member Martin Hoffmeister met the Festival’s General Director Elzbieta Penderecka and her team as well as Cornelia Much from the Festival’s Honorary Committee and Andrzej Sulek, the orchestra manager of Sinfonia Iuventus, the orchestra which will play during the Gala Concert. Read More →

Just some days after his participation at the ICMA Gala Concert in Milan, Nicolas Altstaedt, ICMA-winner 2013 in the category Chamber Music, delivered a thrilling performance of Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Fedoseyev at Warsaw’s 17^th Beethoven Festival. Our photo shows Nicolas Altstaedt at a reception at the Russian Embassy in Warsaw, together with the Russian Ambassador’s wife, Mrs. Alekseeva, ICMA Board member Martin Hoffmeister (MDR Figaro), ICMA President Remy Franck (Pizzicato) and Mrs. Elzbieta Penderecka, Director General of the Beethoven Festival.

At the ICMA Gala in Milan, the Jury communicated the winner of the ‘Recording of the Year’ Award for 2013. This highest honor goes to the Querstand Box with all nine Bruckner Symphonies played by the Gewandhaus Orchestra from Leipzig conducted by Maestro Herbert Blomstedt. The ‘Recording of the Year is chosen by the Jury among all the winner in the CD and DVD categories.

An enchanted audience attended on Monday evening (18/03/2013) the ICMA Gala in Milan’s Auditorium, with, at first, the Award ceremony, followed by the Gala Concert presenting some of this year’s winners together with Orchestra ‘laVerdi’ conducted by John Axelrod. Many distinguished guests applauded orchestra and soloists during a long and varied program comprising works from baroque to modern music.

More information is available here: http://www.concertodautunno.it/130318-laverdi/130318-laverdi-icma.htm