2021 I 2022 SEASON

WAGNER, BEGINNINGDOUBLE ORCHESTRA

PERFORMANCE PERIOD

7 - 23 JANUARY 2022

insulaorchestra.fr

https://www.insulaorchestra.frhttp://www.insulaorchestra.fr/

Duration : 

1h40 with interval

Personnel : 

Solo soprano, 77 musicians

Performance period :

7 - 23 january 2022

insulaorchestra.fr 2

In 2022, Insula orchestra reunites again with its companion Akamus in order to create a double or-chestra on period instruments.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)Colombus (Scenic music)Overtures and famous opera scenes : Die Feen, Rienzi, Der Fliegende Holländer(soprano)

Akademie für Alte Musik BerlinInsula orchestra Laurence Equilbey, conductor

Why combine two orchestras playing period instruments?

“Our research into the size of “festival” orchestras in Beethoven’s day has revealed that they could in fact be very big, with four-strong rather than two-strong woodwind and brass sections, a very precise score architecture, with solo and tutti passages... This has fascinating implications in terms of sound and expressivity. Following on from our December 2018 version of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony for double orchestra, with Insula orchestra and Akamus, we are delighted to present this programme:

Wagner, Beginnings.”

Laurence Equilbey

Combining the timbres of two orchestras playing period instruments, in other words using the colours that Wagner would actually have heard in his lifetime, this programme offers a rare journey and fresh perspectives: a window with a view of the future.

Between 1833 and 1840, from Colombus to The Flying Dutchman, the young Richard had time to invent Wagner. The overture of the Colombus explorer astonished everyone to his creation. This new music caused a real tumult.

Putting the finishing touches to his first opera, Die Feen (The Fairies), a work with strains of Carl Maria von Weber, Wagner may already have had his mind set on reinventing the genre. The orchestra would become the forge in which he would beat his golden jewellery into shape. The overture already contains the seeds of almost all Wagner. You can hear the inklings of Act I of The Valkyrie in the hunting brass, the marching rhythms, and the murmuring drama. Lohengrin is perceptible in the glittering timbres ascending towards the light, while, even more premonitory, a first draught of Parsifal awaits the freedom of its definitive scoring.

Rienzi is the last of Wagner’s early works, but also his first success that proppelled him towards his first masterpiece, Der Fliegende Holländer.

Later, Tristan und Isolde hints at what would become endless melody, the dilution of tonality. Wagner’s work would have accomplished Richard’s promise.

WAGNER BEGINNINGSDOUBLE ORCHESTRA

http://www.insulaorchestra.fr/

BIOGRAPHIES

LAURENCE EQUILBEYCONDUCTOR

Conductor and musical director of Insula orchestra and accentus, Laurence Equilbey is acknowledged for her demanding, yet open-minded approach to her art. Her exploration of the symphonic repertory has seen her conducting the orchestras of BBC of Wales, Hessischer Rundfunk, Lyon, Bucarest, Liège, Leipzig, Brussels Philharmonic, Café Zimmermann, Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln, Camerata Salzburg, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg...

In 2012, with support from the Département des Hauts-de-Seine, she founded Insula orchestra, an ensemble devoted to the classical and pre-Romantic repertory, using period instruments. With accentus, Laurence Equilbey continues to interpret the great vocal music repertoire.

Laurence Equilbey supports contemporary creation and she’s also Artistic Director and Director of Education at the Department for Young Singers at the Paris Conservatory. The extensive recorded work of accentus has received wide critical acclaim. In 2014, she recorded with Insula orchestra Mozart’s Requiem on the naïve label; then Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Franco Fagioli, released in September 2015 on the Deutsche Grammophon label (Archiv Produktion). With Warner Classics –Erato, Laurence Equilbey has released Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Schubert’s orchestrated lieder (2017).

Laurence Equilbey has studied music in Paris, Vienna and London, and conducting, notably with Eric Ericson, Denise Ham, Colin Metters and Jorma Panula.

INSULA ORCHESTRA

Insula orchestra’s artistic project is built around a repertoire ranging mainly from the Classical to the Romantic eras. Mozart, Schubert or Weber form naturally the core of this repertoire with symphonic programmes as well as programmes with choir and soloists. The orchestra performs on period instruments.

Founded in 2012 by Laurence Equilbey with local government support from the Département des Hauts-de-Seine, Insula orchestra is in residence in a new artistic venue, La Seine Musicale, designed by architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines on Ile Seguin, an island in the River Seine just a few miles downstream from Paris.

The orchestra is in charge of selecting part of the programme for the 1,100-seater auditorium. It also performs at other major French and international venues and leading festivals. Since its foundation, the orchestra has been invited to play at Philharmonie de Paris, Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, Salzburg Mozart Week, Basel Stadtcasino, Elbphilharmonie, Ludwigsburg Festival and London Barbican Centre.

Insula orchestra has also developed a comprehensive, innovative programme of cultural and educational initiatives across its home base in the Hauts-de-Seine department, notably to foster awareness among potential audiences who have never had the opportunity to approach classical music, as well as participatory classes for young people and schools.

3

PRESS REVIEW

“The Insula orchestra is a very chic Parisian period-instrument band whose founder-conductor Lau-rence Equilbey is developing a reputation for smart programming.”Richard Morrison, The Times, 12 March 2018

“Yes, [Laurence Equilbey] likes to enhance her performances with technological wizardry. Yes, La Seine Musicale, where Insula is now orchestra-in-residence, looks like a futuristic hybrid of beehive and space station. But Equilbey offers up the best in historically informed peformance: energy, lightness, attention to detail.”Hannah Nepil, The Financial Times, 26 February 2018

“Laurence Equilbey, whose conducting is getting more and more supple, has at her disposal a very high level ensemble, which shows in Der Freischütz powerful and theatrical sound effects.“Richard Martet, Opéra Magazine, May 2017

“At the moment, Laurence Equilbey is at the helm of the show. [...] This inaugural concert is designed after her project. Modern, unexpected, elegant.”Thierry Hillériteau, Le Figaro, 24 April 2017

“Insula orchestra shows that it has come of age with a spring in its step. This symphonic genesis,far more than just seven days’ work, owes much to the leadership of Laurence Equilbey, whose intelli-gence serves music that is at once intimate and grandiose. With suppleness, sense of colour, dramatur-gical sensibility, and precision, her conducting is more relaxed, and has gained in magnitude.”Marie-Aude Roux, Le Monde, 16 March 2017

DISCOGRAPHY

insulaorchestra.fr

SUPPORTERS

CONTACTS

Samuel Serin, Managing Directors.serin@insulaorchestra.fr +33 (0)6 03 21 13 67

David Bodou, External relations managerd.bodou@insulaorchestra.fr+33 (0)6 87 88 26 32

4

BEETHOVEN 248PIANO CONCERTOSNO 4 AND 5

Nicholas Angelich, Laurence Equilbey, Insula orchestra

Warner Classics – Erato21 september 2018

http://www.insulaorchestra.fr/mailto:s.serin%40insulaorchestra.fr%20?subject=mailto:d.bodou%40insulaorchestra.fr?subject=

5