CD RELEASE : Haydn Late Piano Works for Channel Classics

• Haydn Sonatas HobXVI 48, 49 & 52 and variations
• CD release for Channel Classics CCSSA26509
• Gary Cooper, fortepiano
• The inspiration for this recording was derived from that all-too-rare occurrence: a perfect marriage of instrument and composer's music. : “… a clear "marriage" between piano and performer, as these carefully prepared and superbly executed readings of Haydn's late keyboard works demonstrate … Recommended without reservations!” (SA-CD.net)

CD RELEASE : “La Passione” : Haydn Syphonies with ARION

• Haydn Symphonies 41, 44 & 49,
• CD Release for Canadian label early-music.com 2009, EMCCD7769
• Gary Cooper harpsichord/director ; Orchestre Baroque Arion
• This is a world premier recording of Symphony 41 with the composer’s originally intended instrumentation.

CONCERT : “La Passione” : Wigmore Hall : 27 Feb 2009

• Debut concert of ensembleF2
• Haydn Symphonies 44 & 49 and violin and keyboard concerti
• Gary Cooper, keyboards; Rachel Podger, violin;
• Wigmore Hall - Friday, 27th February 2009 – 7.30pm
• Pre-Concert Talk at 6pm

FURTHER INFORMATION :

Haydn : Late Piano Works

• CD : Haydn : Late Piano Works : : HERE* BBC Radio CD Review : Listen again : HERE
• Channel Classics : : HERE

Haydn : “La Passione” with ARION

• CD : Haydn : La Passione : HERE
• Video of Gary Cooper in studio with Orchestre Baroque ARION : : HERE
• Early-music.com : : HERE

Haydn “La Passione” with ensembleF2

• Gary, Cooper, Rachel Podger and ensembleF2 at LoganArts Management : HERE
• Wigmore Hall Booking : : HERE

• Download Flier : FRONT & BACK

• On Line Press Release : HERE

BIOGRAPHIES

• GARY COOPER studied at Chetham's School of Music and at New College, Oxford. He is now established as one of the foremost ambassadors of the harpsichord and fortepiano - in particular, as an interpreter of Bach’s & Mozart’s keyboard music – and as a director of period performances in concert and opera. Since making his solo Wigmore Hall debut, he now performs across Europe, N. America & Asia, and has made countless recordings, including an award-winning CD of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. He has a duo partnership with baroque violinist Rachel Podger which has taken them worldwide. They have recorded the Complete Sonatas for Keyboard & Violin by Mozart receiving countless awards and accolades, including multiple Diapason d’Or and Gramophone Editor’s Choices. Recent operas includes Handel’s Alcina and Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Seraglio; a new production Handel's Orlando at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, and opera in Belgium and Germany. He directs the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik, Arion in Montreal, and is ‘Artist in Residence’ of the new Belgian period instrument ensemble, B’Rock and will direct them in their UK debut in the Wigmore Hall in December 2009. Gary appears at major festivals across Europe such as the Flanders, Bruges, Utrecht, Potsdam and Innsbruck and throughout the UK. Solo recording projects range from Bach’s Keyboard Concerti and the Goldberg Variations to late Beethoven Sonatas and the Diabelli Variations. Gary currently teaches harpsichord & fortepiano at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Birmingham Conservatoire and at York University, and is visiting professor at the Royal College of Music. Gary has released this year aleeady cds of “La Passione” Haydn Symphonies 41, 49 & 44 with the Canadian Orchestre Baroque ARION for the label early-music.com and, for Channel Classics, of Haydn : Late Piano Works – “Recommended without reservations!” (SA-CD.net)
• RACHEL PODGER is one of the most creative talents to emerge in the field of period performance over the last decade. Rachel has established herself as a leading interpreter of the music of the Baroque and Classical periods. She was educated in Germany and in England at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied with David Takeno and Michaela Comberti. After beginnings with The Palladian Ensemble and Florilegium, she was leader of The English Concert from 1997 to 2002. In 2004 Rachel began a guest directorship with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, with whom she has toured throughout Europe and the USA. Rachel directed the orchestra at last year's BBC Proms and this year sees performances of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with the OAE and violist Pavlo Beznosiuk. Future plans include Haydn and Mozart Violin Concertos in 2009. Rachel is also in demand as a guest director and has enjoyed collaborations with Arte dei Suonatori (Poland), Musica Angelica and Santa Fe Pro Musica (USA), The Academy of Ancient Music and The European Union Baroque Orchestra. Rachel’s recordings of J.S.Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin and his Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (with Trevor Pinnock) were both awarded first place by the BBC’s “Building a Library” programme. Rachel's recording of Telemann’s Twelve Fantasies for Solo Violin won the prestigious Diapason d’Or and her 2003 recording of Vivaldi’s 12 violin concertos “La Stravaganza” also received the Diapason d’Or as well as winning the 2003 Gramophone Award for Best Baroque Instrumental recording. Teaching forms a significant part of Rachel’s musical life; she is Visiting Professor of Baroque Violin and Fellow of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, she teaches at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, has recently been appointed Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and in September will take up the newly-founded Michaela Comberti Chair for Baroque Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she is also an Honorary Member RAM.
• ARION is a Montreal-based baroque orchestra performing on period instruments. The ensemble was founded in 1981 by flautist Claire Guimond, violinist Chantal Rémillard, gambist Betsy MacMillan and harpsichordist Hank Knox. Claire Guimond has been ARION’s artistic director ever since its first concerts. From the outset, ARION’s concerts were unanimously hailed for their clarity and gusto as well as their refined and expressive performances, chosen from a vast array of early music works. A meticulous attention to detail has placed ARION’s artistic achievements amongst those of the greatest current early music ensembles.
• ensembleF2 is made up of an international group of chamber and period instrument specialists. The ensemble is launched this spring at the Wigmore Hall in two concerts showcasing the player’s invention, passion and insight into the performance practices of late 18th-century music. The first concert, entitled ‘La Passione’, commemorates the 200th anniversary year of Haydn’s death with two magnificent symphonies from his so-called Sturm und Drang period, using the modest orchestral forces available to Haydn at the Esterházy court. Two dazzling symphonies; Gary Cooper in the popular D major keyboard concerti and Rachel Podger in the virtuosic C major violin concerto. JANE BOOTH, Clarinet, ensembleF2 writes: “New ventures are always exciting, a little scary and always packed with enthusiasm. And so it is for us, the time for talking is over and now it is time to make music. Founding a new ensemble gives the best opportunity of all for selecting the music, the players - and in our case the instruments as well – which fit the bill. We welcome you heartily to the first concert of our new ensemble and hope that it will be the first of very many. We hope you will journey with us as we delve into the pieces we have most desired to play, with the people we hope will be each others’ future. Our future programmes will present a groundbreaking approach to period performance using the research and knowledge gained in our individual fields and working to the highest musical standards in our power.” (The second of the ‘debut’ concerts showcases ensembleF2 players in the more intimate roles of some of Mozart’s best-loved chamber works and featuring two of the leadng period wind performers: clarinetist Jane Booth and natural horn Anneke Scott.)

WIGMORE HALL, LONDON

ensembleF2 : Fri 27th Feb 2009

• Tickets: £12, £16, £22, £24
• Wigmore Hall Box Office: 36 Wigmore Street , London W1U 2BP
• Telephone: +44 (0)20 7935 2141
• Online: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk - HERE