2013 News overview

Dec 18, 2012

Pablo Heras-Casado – recently named one of the “100 Most Powerful New Yorkers” by Gotham Magazine – heads into the New Year with a portfolio of exciting performances and repertoire to match. 

On December 19, he returns to St. Petersburg to lead the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra in an all-French program – his fourth engagement with the Mariinsky since his debut there in November 2011. The concert will be streamed live on http://mariinsky.tv/n/e, beginning at 7:00 P.M. Moscow Time. On Christmas Eve, ARTE presents the first broadcast of this summer’s spectacular production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at Baden-Baden’s Festspielhaus, conducted by Heras-Casado and directed by Rolando Villazón (who also sings the role of Nemorino).

On December 29, the Spanish conductor leads an all-star ensemble – including mezzo soprano Christianne Stotijn, tenor Toby Spence, violinist Janine Jansen and musicians from the Berliner Philharmoniker and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen – in the Schönberg/Riehn chamber arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde at Jansen’s Internationaal Kamermuziek Festival in Utrecht. 

In January he returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic to conduct the world premiere of Peter Eötvös‘s Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra, performed by Midori, as well as an  operatic setting of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer-winning play Angels in America, also by Eötvös.

Heras-Casado continues to be praised by critics. Inspired by his December 6 performance with the Tonhalle Orchestra and Sol Gabetta, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote: “He has become the topic of conversation in Zürich with his wide horizon and his meticulous working methods: the conductor Pablo Heras-Casado’s fourth performance at the Tonhalle-Orchester in four seasons sharpened this image.” Tages-Anzeiger lauded him for continuing to impress with “vivid conducting and sophisticated programmes” and described the all-Russian concert as “his most poignant guest performance in Zurich yet,” featuring “dazzling orchestra colours, graceful sound and fiery, agile dramaturgy.”