Main series

Benjamin’s Inventions, Stravinsky and Beethoven

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Main series

Thursday 25. January, at 19:30

Fartein Valen, Stavanger konserthus

Program

Benjamin: Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra (Composer-in-Residence)
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36

Contributors

David Robertson, conductor
Alina Ibragimova, violin

Venue

Fartein Valen, Stavanger konserthus

Composer

George Benjamin

One of today’s most prominent composer-conductors, George Benjamin was born in 1960 and began composing at the age of seven.

Benjamin will conduct the world premiere Picture a day like this at the Aix-en-Provence opera festival in July 2023. As with his previous three operatic scores, the text was written by playwright Martin Crimp. Into the Little Hill, was commissioned by the 2006 Festival d’Automne in Paris. Since its premiere in Aix in 2012, Written on Skin has won many international prizes and has been seen in numerous different productions world-wide. Lessons in Love and Violence, was premiered at the Royal Opera House in May 2018 and many performances have been scheduled around the world.

As a conductor Benjamin has a broad repertoire – ranging from Mozart and Schumann to Knussen and Abrahamsen -  and has been responsible for numerous premieres, including important works by Rihm, Chin, Murail, Grisey and Ligeti. Over many years he has developed a particularly close association with Ensemble Modern, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the latter giving the world premiere of his Concerto for Orchestra at the 2021 BBC Proms under his baton.

Since 2001 Benjamin has been the Henry Purcell Professor of Composition at King‘s College London. He has received numerous honorary fellowships and international awards including being knighted in the 2017 Birthday Honours, and most recently Benjamin has been made the 50th laureate of the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
Soloist

Alina Ibragimova

Performing music from baroque to new commissions on both modern and period instruments, Alina Ibragimova has established a reputation for versatility and the “immediacy and honesty” (The Guardian) of her performances. Highlights of the 2021/22 season include returns to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestra; debuts with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and St Petersburg Philharmonic; and appearances at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Wigmore Hall.

Born in Russia in 1985, Alina studied at the Moscow Gnesin School before moving to the UK where she attended the Yehudi Menuhin School and Royal College of Music.

Recent seasons have seen Alina perform with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, London Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Swedish Radio Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich; collaborating with conductors Vladimir Jurowski, Sir John Elliot Gardner, Jakob Hrůša, Robin Ticciati, Daniel Harding, Edward Gardner and Bernard Haitink.