Paul McCreesh (born 24 May 1960) is an English conductor .
23-759: Paul McCreesh is the founder and artistic director of the Gabrieli Consort & Players. With them he has performed in major concert halls and festivals across the world. He has been the artistic director of the Wratislavia Cantans Festival in Wrocław , Poland and of the Brinkburn Festival in England. In 2005 Loughborough University conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters . McCreesh began his career as
46-728: A cellist and took his MusB from the University of Manchester in 1981. Paul McCreesh made his name in the music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, particularly that of Venice. The Gabrieli Consort was founded in 1982 and as of 2020 is still active. McCreesh and the Gabrielis made a successful Proms début in 1992: the second part of the concert was "Music for the Coronation of a Doge, 27 April 1595". In recent years he has also worked with modern instrument orchestras including
69-487: A new David Alden staging of Handel's Alcina . He has also conducted Handel's Rodelinda at the Beaune Festival and at the Brinkburn Festival , which he founded. From 1993 Paul McCreesh built a large discography for Deutsche Grammophon . In 2011 he established Winged Lion, an independent label, which is a subsidiary of Signum Records . McCreesh is noted for his "liturgical reconstructions" in which music
92-672: Is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster . Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from Renaissance to early Romantic classical music. He specialises in Baroque music, with a particular focus on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach . Herreweghe was born in Ghent as the first of three children to Edward Raymond Frans (1919–2006) and Elza Maria Augusta Herreweghe (née van Herrewege; 1919–1976). He received his first piano lessons from his mother. In his school years at
115-526: Is a music festival held every September in Wrocław and Lower Silesia, Poland, organized by the Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music in Wrocław. The name Wratislavia Cantans is Latin for "Singing Wrocław", and the festival from the beginning has focused primarily on presenting the beauty of the human voice. Each year, concerts attract thousands of music lovers to the concert halls of
138-461: Is presented in the context of a specific liturgy with appropriate background sounds such as bell-ringing. The Gramophone Award winning album "Venetian Coronation" (released on Virgin Classics in 1990) represented a breakthrough for the Gabrieli Consort and Players. A new version of this musical reconstruction of the coronation of Marino Grimani was released in 2012 on Winged Lion. "Music for
161-558: Is principally known as a conductor of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach . He is regarded by leading Bach scholars today as a founding father of the Baroque authentic practice, original-instrument movement and one of record label Harmonia Mundi 's most prolific recording artists, with over 60 albums to his name. He is married to Ageet Zweistra. Over the years, Herreweghe has built up an extensive discography of more than 100 recordings with these ensembles, on such labels as Harmonia Mundi , Virgin Classics and Pentatone . Highlights include
184-782: The DSO Berlin , RSO Berlin, Zurich Chamber Orchestra , Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Detroit Symphony Orchestra , Minnesota Orchestra , Gothenburg Symphony, Sinfónica de Euskadi, Stockholm Philharmonic and Beethovenhalle Bonn, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonica dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia di Roma. McCreesh has conducted Handel 's Jephtha for Welsh National Opera and Gluck 's Orfeo ed Euridice , as well as Mozart 's The Magic Flute for Royal Danish Opera and, for Komische Oper Berlin ,
207-602: The Renaissance to contemporary music . They include the Ensemble Vocal Européen , specialised in Renaissance polyphony, and the Orchestre des Champs Élysées , founded in 1991 with the aim of playing Classical and Romantic repertoire on original instruments. Since 2009, Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent have been actively working on the development of a large European-level symphonic choir, at
230-1103: The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra , the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra , the Rotterdam Philharmonic , the Dutch Broadcasting Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra , the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra . He was artistic director of the Festival of Saintes and was permanent guest conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic from 2008 to 2013. Herreweghe
253-553: The University of Ghent , Herreweghe combined studies in medical science and psychiatry with a musical education at the Ghent Conservatory , where Marcel Gazelle, Yehudi Menuhin 's accompanist, was his piano teacher. In 1970, Herreweghe founded the Collegium Vocale Gent with a group of fellow students. Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt took notice of his musical approach and invited him and
SECTION 10
#1732772802612276-465: The Baroque orchestra Il Giardino Armonico . Under his leadership, the following editions of the festival have been held so far: “Journey to Italy” (2013), “From Darkness to Light” (2014), “Long Live Wratislavia!” (2015; 50th anniversary edition), “Recitar Cantando” (2017) and “Liberation” (2018). In 2019, the festival took place under the motto “South”. Philippe Herreweghe Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947)
299-877: The Collegium Vocale Gent to join them in their recordings of the complete Bach cantatas . Herreweghe's approach to Baroque music was soon drawing praise and in 1977 he founded another ensemble in Paris, La Chapelle Royale , to perform the music of the French Golden Age , Campra , Lully , Charpentier , Delalande , Dumont , Gille . From 1982 to 2002 he was artistic director of the Académies Musicales de Saintes . During this period, Herreweghe started several other groups and ensembles with whom he made historically appropriate and well-thought-out interpretations of repertoire stretching from
322-825: The Culture and Art Centre in Wrocław. From 1995–1998 the festival had a subtitle “Music and Fine Arts”. In 1996, the festival was organized by the “Wratislavia Cantans” State Institution of Culture, the International Music and Fine Arts Festival, and the management was divided between two persons: the general director and the artistic director. Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg became the general director, and artistic directors during her tenure were: from 1997 Ewa Michnik , from 2002 Mariusz Smolij, and from 2004 Jan Latham Koenig. Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg initiated cooperation with many Lower Silesian towns to organize festival concerts outside Wrocław. In 2005, Andrzej Kosendiak became
345-470: The Duke of Lerma" is a musical reconstruction featuring Spanish sacred music associated with Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma . It was released on DG's Archiv label . In 2020 McCreesh's recording of Purcell's semi-opera King Arthur was judged best recording of the year by BBC Music Magazine . Wratislavia Cantans The Andrzej Markowski International Festival Wratislavia Cantans
368-1182: The Holy Cross and Saint Bartholomew, and the White Stork Synagogue, as well as the Town Hall and university rooms (Aula Leopoldina, Oratorium Marianum). In the past, concert venues also included the Radio Wrocław Concert Hall and the hall of the former Wrocław Philharmonic. Apart from Wrocław, Wratislavia Cantans concerts take place in the towns of Lower Silesia and Wielkopolska province, so far these have been: Bardo, Bielawa, Bolesławiec, Brzeg, Dzierżoniów, Głogów, Jelcz-Laskowice, Jelenia Góra, Kalisz, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki, Kłodzko, Krotoszyn, Krzeszów, Legnica, Lubiąż, Lubomierz, Milicz, Oleśnica, Oława, Polkowice, Prochowice, Strzegom, Szczawno-Zdrój, Syców, Środa Śląska, Świdnica, Trzebnica, Wałbrzych, Zgorzelec, and Żmigród. The authors of festival posters have been well-known Polish artists, such as Rafał Olbiński , Eugeniusz Get-Stankiewicz , Lech Majewski , and Michał Batory . In 1978,
391-736: The National Forum of Music, the historic interiors of Wrocław and a dozen or so cities of Lower Silesia. In recent years, the festival has hosted, among others Philippe Herreweghe , Sir John Eliot Gardiner , Zubin Mehta , Cecilia Bartoli , Julia Lezhneva , Philippe Jaroussky , Mariusz Kwiecień , Jordi Savall , Marcel Pérès and such ensembles as: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra , Collegium Vocale Gent , Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin , Monteverdi Choir, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Il Giardino Armonico , The Swingle Singers , and English Baroque Soloists. Since 2008, Andrzej Kosendiak has been
414-702: The Wratislavia Cantans festival became a member of the European Festivals Association (EFA), which officially gave the event an international rank (although it has hosted foreign artists almost from the beginning). In 1998, the festival joined the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA). The festival also belongs to Music Masters on Air (MusMA) network. From 2015–2019 Wratislavia Cantans
437-632: The festival's general director, and since 2013, the Italian conductor and instrumentalist Giovanni Antonini has been the artistic director. From the beginning, the festival's events take place in the historic interiors of Wrocław, such as the churches: Basilica of St Elizabeth, Cathedral of St Mary Magdalene, Cathedral of St John the Baptist, University Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Evangelical Augsburg Church of Divine Providence, Collegiate Church of
460-643: The festival’s general director and Paul McCreesh the artistic director. In 2014, the institutions of the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans and the Witold Lutosławski Philharmonic in Wrocław were merged into one cultural institution, Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music, who has since been the festival’s host. Since 2013, the artistic director of Wratislavia has been Giovanni Antonini , an Italian virtuoso and conductor, founder and director of
483-543: The invitation of the prestigious Accademia Chigiana in Siena and since 2011 with the support of the European Union's Cultural Programme. For some time Herreweghe has been active performing the great symphonic works, from Beethoven to Gustav Mahler. He has been principal conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra since 1997. As a guest conductor, Herreweghe has conducted a number of well-known orchestras, including
SECTION 20
#1732772802612506-585: Was awarded the Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe Label (EFFE Label). Wratislavia Cantans was established by Andrzej Markowski , a composer and conductor, in 1966 as an oratorio and cantata festival. Markowski was director of the Wrocław Philharmonic from 1965, and the Philharmonic was the host of this event. He served as festival director for eleven years. From 1978 to 1996, Tadeusz Strugała
529-528: Was the head of the festival, and added new elements to its programme: ethnic music and music of various religions, art exhibitions accompanying concerts, musical screenings, countertenor tournaments at the Silesian Piasts Castle in Brzeg, festival academies run by scholars, as well as academic sessions and a course on interpreting oratorio music. From 1991, the main organizer of the festival was
#611388