Lighting up the sky

SEEKING HAYDN: Sixteen leading quartets came together in Oslo on 26 and 27 October, to perform Haydn’s complete string quartets in the space of 28 hours. Marking the 35th anniversary of Norway’s Vertavo Quartet, the photo also shows the Alohomora, Ergo, FARK, Kratos, Momentum, Opus13, Saphir and Sonoro quartets, plus members of the Oslo Quartet. The ‘Absolute Haydn’ event was organised in collaborati on with the Oslo Quartet Series and the Dextra Musica foundati on. Photo: Milad Gholami / Norwegian Academy of Music 2019

COMPOSER Peter Eos

WORK Aurora

ARTIST Matt hew McDonald (double bass) Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic

DATE 8 December 2019

PLACE Philharmonie, Berlinbit.ly/2BwOuVZ

Peter Eos

Matt hew McDonald

EՔVՓ PHOTO MARCO BORGGREVE. MCDONALD PHOTO EMILE HOLBA

Its twisting, tumbling flashes of green and purple are synonymous with icy wastes and long polar nights, but the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, is not so often associated with the earthiness of the double bass. ‘It isn’t the obvious medium for depicting something so ethereal,’ says Berlin Philharmonic principal bassist Matthew McDonald, ‘but in this piece, the composer has created a three-dimensional sound world from extreme registers and colours.’

McDonald will give the premiere this month of Peter Eos’s Aurora, a concerto for double bass and strings written for McDonald and the musicians of the Karajan Academy, the orchestra’s elite training scheme, of which McDonald was once a member. ‘They’re not only outstanding players,’ he says, ‘but highly developed chamber and orchestral musicians, too. To be honest, I’m totally intimidated by how good they are.’

McDonald’s main priority, he says, is to create a brilliant, open and overtone-rich sound. ‘My part includes a wide vocabulary of techniques, but the composer has chosen only those that make the bass sound as sonorous as it can be.’ His instrument is tuned a tone higher than usual, while one of the two tutti basses is a semitone above the other, which is at standard pitch. ‘There are some stunning passages that feature the three of us on our own,’ McDonald says. ‘At one point, we play a kind of chorale together, using only the hugely expanded range of natural harmonics made possible by the different tunings.’ Elsewhere, the bassists are joined by the unique colour of an accordion. ‘With the sound of the four instruments swirling around the room, it can be difficult to know which of us is playing what.’

Not everything about the score is so diaphanous, however: ‘At one point I have to play beyond the length of my fingerboard, which produces a desperate shrieking sound when done at full volume. Then there are the chords high up on the instrument, which are just plain difficult - especially when double-stops haven’t exactly dominated your practice routine for the past couple of decades!’

COMPETITIONS

Elias David Moncado

Mithras Trio

Anton Mecht Spronk

1 Elias David Moncado has won the €20,000 top prize at the International Karol Lipinski Violin Competition in Torun, Poland. Moncado, 18, of German—Spanish and Malaysian descent, is a student of Pierre Amoyal at the Mozarteum Salzburg. Second prize went to Robert taguniak, 22, from Poland and third prize went to Japanese 23-year-old Yumiko Yumiba.

2 The Mithras Trio has won the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition, taking home €15,000. France’s Trio Helios came second, and Trio Opal, based in London, came third. The Mithras trio is also based in London and was formed at the city’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Its members are violinist Ionel Manciu, cellist Leo Popplewell and pianist Dominic Degavino.

3 Dutch cellist Anton Mecht Spronk has won the Benedetto Mazzacurati

International Cello Competition in Turin, Italy. The 25-year-old, a student of Jens Peter Maintz at the University of Arts in Berlin, receives €12,000. Second prize went to South Korean 24-year-old Minji Kang and third prize went to Zuzanna Sosnowska, 26, from Poland.

4 The New York-based Concert Artists Guild (CAG) has announced the winners of its annual Victor Elmaleh Competition. They include Turkish cellist Jamal Aliyev, 26, who studied with Thomas Carroll at the Royal College of Music; American violist Jordan Bak, 25, who studied with Dimitri Murrath at the New England Conservatory; and the Merz Trio, based at the New England Conservatory and comprising violinist Brigid Coleridge, cellist Julia Yang and pianist Lee Dionne. There are no cash prizes, but each winner receives a three- year management contract with CAG as well as performance and other development opportunities.

FORTHCOMING COMPETITIONS & AWARDS

Gustav Mahler Prize Cello Competi ti on in Jihlava, Czech Republic, open to cellists in 10 age categories. Prizes TBC Deadline 15 December 2019; competi ti on 8 February 2020 Webbit.ly/31xNVpt

Lyon Internati onal Chamber Music Competi ti on in Lyon, France, for violin and piano duo, open to arti sts of all nati onaliti es under 30. First prize €10,000 Deadline 15 January 2020; competi ti on 28 April–3 May Webwww.cimcl.fr

Indianapolis Internati onal Baroque Competi ti on in Indianapolis, IN, US, for solo string, wind or harpsichord players aged under 32 at the ti me of the competi ti on. First prize $10,000 Deadline 15 January 2020; competi ti on 12 July Webwww.baroquecompetition.org

APPOINTMENTS

•Korean-American violist Richard O’Neill is to join the Takacs Quartet in 2020, replacing Geraldine Walther, who is retiring.

•Germany’s Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed Uzbek violinist Maria Azova as its first concertmaster.

•Polish-American violist Katarzyna Bryla- Weiss has joined the Orchestra of St Luke’s in New York City.

•The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra has announced the appointment of Kathryn Eberle as its new concertmaster.

•For current vacancies, see page 103 or our online jobs page at www.thestrad.com/jobs