Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to perform works by Dutch composers Loevendie and Smit
Bas Wiegers makes his Concertgebouw Orchestra debut conducting works by Loevendie, including Six Turkish Folk Poems in a new orchestral version
On Thursday 12 and Friday 13 October, Dutch conductor Bas Wiegers makes his first appearance with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, leading two concerts featuring music by Maurice Ravel and the Dutch composers Leo Smit and Theo Loevendie. Loevendie's Six Turkish Folk Poems (1979), originally for ensemble and voice, will be performed in a newly commissioned orchestral version which the 93-year-old composer created especially for the Concertgebouw Orchestra, assisted by his former student, Wilbert Bulsink. Six Turkish Folk Poems will be sung by mezzo-soprano Polly Leech, who is also making her debut with the orchestra. In addition, on 13 October Loevendie's Flexio, composed in 1979 to the occasion of the Concertgebouw Orchestra's 90th anniversary, will be performed by the orchestra for the first time since its premiere.
Loevendie, who is also a renowned jazz musician, will be sharing the concert programmes with two composers who were influenced by jazz in its early days. On both nights the orchestra will perform Maurice Ravel's Ma mère l'Oye; 100 years ago (on 28 October 1923) Ravel conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestera in this suite. The 12 October concert will also feature Ravel's Shéhérazade with mezzo-soprano Polly Leech. Leo Smit wrote his jazzy Silhouetten when he was a composition student in Amsterdam; the Concertgebouw Orchestra gave the world premiere in 1925. In 1943, the promising composer died in Sobibor. During the performances on 12 and 13 October, six drawings by Paul Süss will be projected which inspired the six-movement work.