Hall, Fagerlund & Berlioz
Hall, Fagerlund & Berlioz
Dreamlike French colours, Nordic sounds and boundless Romanticism come together in tonight’s programme, conducted by the Finnish conductor Emilia Hoving.
Please note: New concert start time – all subscription concerts now begin at 7:00 pm.
Hall’s evocative Verlaine Suite opens the concert with impressionistic sounds inspired by the French poet Paul Verlaine. Finnish clarinettist Christoffer Sundqvist is the soloist in Sebastian Fagerlund’s powerful and virtuosic Clarinet Concerto – a commissioned work that explores the instrument’s rich range of expression and colours. Berlioz’s iconic Symphonie fantastique brings the evening to a close – a dramatic and imaginative symphony regarded as one of the most groundbreaking works of the Romantic era.
Pauline Hall: Verlaine Suite, “C’est l’extase langoureuse”
Sebastian Fagerlund: Clarinet Concerto (commissioned work)
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Emilia Hoving, conductor
Christoffer Sundqvist, clarinet
Winner of the Finnish critics’ prize 2021 for the Best Newcomer in the Arts, Emilia Hoving (born 1994) has emerged as one of most exciting young Finnish conductors of today.
“Hoving possesses all the qualities, analytical and emotional, that make a good conductor” (Hufudstadsbladet, February 2020);
“Eminently supple and expressive, with a thrilling grace and naturalness in her gestures” (Resmusica, April 2022).Hoving’s positions as Assistant to Hannu Lintu at the Finnish Radio (2019) and to Mikko Franck at Radio France (2020-22) both led to significant jump-ins which
catapulted her to the next stage in her career. Whilst Assistant at the Finnish Radio she took over a concert of Bruckner and BA Zimmermann (televised live) and was subsequently re-invited. She then began to appear internationally with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Orchestre National de Lille as well as with the Helsinki Philharmonic. She has conducted at Wiener Konzerthaus and made her German debut whilst Assistant at the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducting the orchestra in their Berlin Philharmonie concert at only a few hours’ notice: “sensationell” (Tagesspiegel, March 2022). She will return to conduct the orchestra in Paris this season to conduct the world premiere of Jean-Louis Agobet’s Nucleus.
In Summer 2022 she made her Tokyo debut at Suntory Hall conducting the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and her UK debut conducting the Philharmonia, where she has now become a regular guest. Hoving has conducted many works by living (particularly Finnish) composers, and last season gave the Australian premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Procession at the Adelaide Festival (also Hoving’s Australasian debut) and appeared at the Avanti! Summer Sounds Festival.
Hoving studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Professors Sakari Oramo and Atso Almila, having begun conducting studies in 2015 with Jorma Panula. She previously studied piano and clarinet.