A rising-star conductor, a world-class cellist

23 May 2017 – NZSO media release for immediate release

A rising-star conductor, a world-class cellist and a much-loved work

One of the fastest rising American conductors of the decade is coming to New Zealand next month for the first time.

James Feddeck will lead the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in its five-city Schumann & Barber concert tour from 15 June.

The tour also features the much-anticipated return of acclaimed German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott in a programme that includes Samuel Barber’s universally popular Adagio for Strings.

Feddeck is in demand as one of the most versatile American conductors aged under 40, including concerts with the Chicago Symphony, Manchester’s The Hallé, the Toronto Symphony, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He’s also worked with singer-songwriter Randy Newman.

The Chicago Tribune spotlighted Feddeck’s innate talent and outstanding musicianship, declaring that he was “a gifted conductor who's clearly going places”.

“We’re honoured to have James Feddeck conduct the NZSO for the first time and New Zealanders will understand why he’s in demand all over the world,” says NZSO chief executive Christopher Blake.

Müller-Schott, praised by The New York Times this year for another “bold performance”, returns to play Robert Schumann’s achingly romantic Cello Concerto.

Winner of the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians when he was 15, Müller-Schott has gone from strength to strength since his celebrated concerts with the NZSO in 2013. Among the highlights have been his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and performances in Japan of a cello concerto written for Müller-Schott by music legend Sir André Previn.

“I feel the cello is somehow my instrument, my voice. It should be a part of you,” Müller-Schott said when he last played with the NZSO.

Barber’s Adagio for Strings is one of the most popular classical works by a 20th-century composer. Played at the funerals of John F Kennedy and Princess Diana and after the September 11 attacks, it is instantly recognisable from its use in film and television.

The programme also features Barber’s ambitious Symphony No. 1, which fuses the four traditional movements of a symphony into a single movement. It was a hit when it premiered in Rome in the same year he wrote Adagio for Strings.

The concerts will open with Johannes Brahms’ intoxicating Tragic Overture. Brahms, a close friend of Schumann, wrote the overture while he was being lauded throughout Europe for his first two symphonies.

ENDS

Schumann & Barber

JAMES FEDDECK Conductor
DANIEL MÜLLER-SCHOTT Cello

BRAHMS Tragic Overture
SCHUMANN Cello Concerto in A minor
BARBER Adagio for Strings
BARBER Symphony No. 1

HAMILTON | Claudelands Arena| Thursday 15 June| 7.30pm
AUCKLAND | Town Hall| Friday 16 June| 7.30pm
WELLINGTON | Michael Fowler Centre| Saturday 17 June| 7.30pm
BLENHEIM | ASB Theatre| Tuesday 20 June| 7pm
CHRISTCHURCH | Isaac Theatre Royal| Wednesday 21 June| 7pm

FIVE FAST FACTS

CONDUCTOR JAMES FEDDECK

1. Feddeck isn’t from a musical family but they supported his passion for music. He began playing the church organ at age 8. By age 11 he was hired as the church’s choirmaster.

2. Rare for any musician, he studied organ, piano, oboe, and conducting at the same time.

3. Feddeck has been praised for his skills as a “go-to” replacement conductor, including a last-minute request to conduct Bruckner’s monumental Symphony No. 8 with the San Francisco Symphony. The concert was such a success, Feddeck was astonished to see an audience member climb on stage to thank him.

4. When Feddeck was asked at short notice to conduct Manchester’s revered Hallé orchestra The Guardian remarked that his “businesslike demeanour might initially seem more at home on a trading floor than the podium”. However, critics were blown away by the performance.

5. Feddeck conducted the Cleveland Orchestra when it accompanied a performance by Oscar, Grammy and Emmy award-winning singer-songwriter Randy Newman.

CELLIST DANIEL MÜLLER-SCHOTT

1. When he was a child he wanted to be a soccer player, then a director, then a painter before music took over.

2. Early in his career he was championed by celebrated German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who granted him a scholarship from her foundation.

3. His cello dates from 1727 in Venice and was made by Matteo Goffriller. It has a long history and has been played all over the world. The previous owner, American cellist Harvey Shapiro, liked to smoke Havana cigars, so when the instrument came to Müller-Schott, it included a gift of Havana cigars. Shapiro believed that they made the cello sound better.

4. He tries to practise while travelling – even taking out his cello while waiting at airports - and aims to spend at least two or three hours a day playing the cello.

5. When not on tour or playing music, Müller-Schott reads, runs, plays soccer and loves all kinds of tea, including green tea, mint and herbal teas.

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