Seattle Symphony: Dvořák Symphony No. 7

• Nicolas Altstaedt, cello
• Jonathon Heyward, guest conductor

Bedřich Smetana — "Vltava" ("The Moldau") from Má vlast
Esa-Pekka Salonen — Cello Concerto
Antonín Dvořák — Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141

Conductor Jonathon Heyward returns for the Seattle Symphony premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Cello Concerto, which was inspired by science fiction and outer space, chaos, and comets. Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt joins the orchestra to perform this exciting work. Then, we travel back to Earth and the musical landscape of Bohemia with Dvořák’s stormy and dramatic Seventh Symphony.

Doors open 1 hour and 30 minutes prior to performance. Pre-concert talk presented 1 hour prior to the performance. Free with ticket purchase.

About Seattle Symphony

Recognized as one of the “most vital American orchestras” (NPR), the Seattle Symphony is internationally acclaimed for its inventive programming, community-minded initiatives, and superb recordings on the Seattle Symphony Media label. With a strong commitment to new music and a legacy of over 150 recordings, the orchestra has garnered five Grammy Awards, 26 Grammy nominations, and two Emmy Awards, and was named Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year. The Symphony performs in Benaroya Hall in the heart of downtown Seattle.

https://www.seattlesymphony.org/

About Nicolas Altstaedt, cello

German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is one of the most sought after and versatile artists today. As a soloist, conductor and artistic director, he performs repertoire spanning from early music to the contemporary.

Season 22/23 includes debuts and with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer as well as the Seoul Philharmonic with Osmo Vänskä on tour, Sydney and Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Kioi Chamber Orchestra Tokyo as well as returns to Il Giardino Armonico, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, DSO Berlin, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and Münchener Kammerorchester amongst others. As a conductor he will debut with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic and Kyoto Symphony Orchestra.

Since his highly acclaimed debut with the Vienna Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival he regularly performs with the most renowned orchestras around the world including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Zurich, London and Munich Philharmonic, NHK and Yomiuri Symphony, Washington National Symphony and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, all BBC Orchestras, OPRF and ONF Paris and Rotterdam Philharmonic with conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Roger Norrington and Sir Neville Marriner, Francois-Xavier Roth, Lahav Shani, Robin Ticciati, Cristian Macelaru, Vasily Petrenko, Andrew Manze, Ed Gardner and Thomas Dausgaard. He also regularly performs on period instruments with ensembles as Il Giardino Armonico, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Arcangelo, Academy of Ancient Music and conductors as René Jacobs, Phillippe Herreweghe, Andrea Marcon, Giovanni Antonini and Jonathan Cohen.

Nicolas Altstaedt was Artist in Residence 19/20 at the SWR Symphonie Orchestra under Teodor Currentzis; 18/19 at NDR Ebphilharmonieorchester and Artist in Fokus at Alte Oper Frankfurt. He has debuted in recital at BOZAR Brussels, Carnegie Hall, Park Avenue Armory, TCE Paris and Koerner Hall, Toronto. During the 17/18 season, Nicolas gave the highly acclaimed Finnish Premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto under the baton of the composer at the Helsinki Festival and was “Artist in Spotlight” at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

As a conductor, he works closely with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and conducted in recent seasons the SWR, OPRF Paris, OSI Lugano, Orchestra of 18th century, les Violins du Roy, Aurora, Munich and Zurich chamber orchestras.

In 2012, Nicolas was chosen by Gidon Kremer to succeed him as the new artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and in 2014 by Ádám Fischer to become the new Artistic Director of the Haydn Philharmonie whom he regularly performs with at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Esterházy Festival and recently on tour in both China and Japan. Nicolas is Artistic Director of the Pfingstfestspiele Ittingen 2019 and 2023.

As a chamber musician, Nicolas partners include Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Christian Tetzlaff, Pekka Kuusisto, Barnabás Kelemen, Joshua Bell, Ilya Gringolts, Tabea Zimmermann, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Martin Fröst, Alexander Lonquich, Jonathan Cohen, Jean Rondeau and the Quatuor Ébène. He performs at both Salzburg Mozart and Summer Festival, Verbier, Utrecht, BBC Proms, Lucerne, Musikfest Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Rheingau.

Joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Thomas Larcher, Fazil Say and Sofia Gubaidulina also consolidate his reputation as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. Sebastian Fagerlund, Helena Winkelman, Anders Hillborg and Fazil Say have recently written concertos for Nicolas. New Concertos by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Liza Lim and Márton Illés are planned for there coming seasons,

His most recent recordings for his Lockenhaus Festival garnered the BBC Music Magazine 2020 Chamber Award and Grammophone Award 2020. He received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2017 for his recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen and the Edison Klassiek 2017 for his Recital Recording with Fazil Say on Warner Classics.

Nicolas received the Beethovenring Bonn 2015 and Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg 2018. Nicolas was a BBC New Generation Artist 2010-2012 and a recipient of the "Borletti Buitoni Trust Fellowship" in 2009.

https://www.nicolas-altstaedt.com/

About Jonathon Heyward, guest conductor

Jonathon Heyward is forging a career as one of the most exciting conductors on the international scene. He currently serves as Music Director Designate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and will begin his five-year contract in the 2023-24 season. Jonathon’s selection was unanimous from the Baltimore Symphony Music Director Search Committee, comprised of BSO musicians, staff, and community members. In March 2022, Jonathon made his debut with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in three performances that included the first-ever performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15. Quickly re-engaged, he returned in April to lead a Benefit Concert for Ukraine at the Meyerhoff.

Currently in his second year as a Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, in summer 2021, Jonathon took part in an intense, two- week residency with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain which led to a highly acclaimed BBC Proms debut. According to the Guardian Jonathon was “not too exhausted, though, to lead – from memory – a fast and fearless performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, in which loud chords exploded, repeating like fireworks in the hall’s dome, and the quietest passages barely registered. It was exuberant, exhilarating stuff.” In Colin’s Column Ateş Orga noted: “This Prom was about Jonathon Heyward, NYOGB and Beethoven. …Heyward’s a man of twenty-nine coolly heading for the stratosphere.”

Jonathon’s recent symphonic guest conducting highlights in the United Kingdom include debuts and re-invitations with the London Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In continental Europe, amongst Jonathon’s recent debuts are collaborations with the Castilla y León in Spain; Basel Symphony, and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in Switzerland; Brussels Philharmonic, SymfonieOrkest Vlaanderen and Antwerp Symphony in Belgium; Philharmonie Zuidnederland in the Netherlands; and Kristiansand Symphony in Norway. In season 22/23, Jonathon looks forward to his debuts with the Musikkollegium Winterthur in Switzerland, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine in France, Lahti Symphony in Finland, MDR-Sinfonieorchester in Germany, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, Ireland. Most recently in his native United States, Jonathon made his Wolf Trap debut conducting the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC, and this was followed by hugely successful debuts with the Atlanta, Detroit and San Diego Symphony Orchestras, leading to instant re-invitations. This year he returns to Seattle Symphony and makes debuts at Grant Park and Mostly Mozart music Festivals. In the coming season, Jonathon looks forward to making debuts with the Houston and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras.

Equally at home on the opera stage, Jonathon recently made his Royal Opera House debut with Hannah Kendall’s Knife of Dawn, having also conducted a Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as well as the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s new opera, Wake, in a production by Graham Vick for the Birmingham Opera Company.

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Jonathon began his musical training as a cellist at the age of ten and started conducting while still at school. He studied conducting at the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he became assistant conductor of the prestigious institution’s opera department and of the Boston Opera Collaborative, and received postgraduate lessons from Sian Edwards at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Before leaving the Academy, he was appointed assistant conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, where he was mentored by Sir Mark Elder, and became Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra. His debut with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the 2021 BBC Proms earned five-star reviews and was hailed by British newspaper The Guardian as ‘an unforgettable showcase of high-energy collaboration’.

Jonathon’s commitment to education and community outreach work deepened during his three years with the Hallé and has flourished since he arrived in post as Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in January 2021. He is equally committed to including new music within his imaginative concert programmes. Those qualities were evident in his Baltimore Symphony Orchestra debut bill, which comprised Hannah Kendall’s The Spark Catchers, Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto and the first ever BSO outing for Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony.

https://jonathonheyward.com/