Chief conductor - Celso Antunes

 
Energy, attention to detail, stylistically informed interpretation and charisma, are top among the wide range of attributes that best convey the essence of Celso Antunes as a unique conductor.

The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), Brazil, has appointed Celso Antunes as Associate Conductor, for five years from 2012. Each season, he will conduct at least two different programmes with the orchestra (6 to 8 concerts) and one programme with the Choir.
He is currently Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir (Groot Omroepkoor), Chief Conductor of Camerata Fukuda, Brazil and Professor of Choral Conducting at the distinguished Haute École de Musique de Genève. He is equally in demand as an orchestral and a choral conductor.

Born 1959 in São Paulo, Brazil, Celso Antunes studied conducting at the Musikhochschule Köln in Germany. From 1994 until 1998 he was Chief Conductor of the Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester in Cologne and of the Belgian ensemble for contemporary music Champ d'Action (1994 – 1997), with whom he directed numerous world premieres. As Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the National Chamber Choir of Ireland, his influence on its development from 2002 onward was exceptional. In 2007 the Irish Times regretted his departure with the words: …this period will have to be seen in the future as a golden age for professional choral singing in Ireland.

Flexibility is the key to Celso Antunes’ conducting expertise across a wide repertoire which covers choral music from the Renaissance, through orchestral works from the 18th and 19th century and contemporary music, of which he is a devoted advocate. This advocacy has led to engagements to direct numerous renowned contemporary music ensembles such as the Nieuw Ensemble, the Ensemble Modern and the Tippett Ensemble (of which he remains Music Director). He has conducted many world premieres including works by Michael Tippett, Wolfgang Rihm, Jonathan Harvey, Hans Zender, Brice Pauset and Lera Auerbach.

Celso Antunes is regularly invited as a guest conductor by leading orchestras, such as the Manchester Camerata, the Gelders Orkest, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Ulster Orchestra and the NDR Radio Philharmonic Hanover. In his home country Brazil, Celso Antunes also features regularly as a guest conductor with the Camerata Fukuda and the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP).
For many years Celso Antunes has been an active figure on the European concert scene. Festival engagements have included: the Salzburger Festspiele, Berliner Festspiele, Donaueschinger Musiktage, the Flanders Festival, Musikbiennale München, Rheingau Festival, Rheinvokal Festival, City of London Festival and November Music in 's-Hertogenbosch. Antunes regularly works with some of Europe’s leading choirs, including: the SWR Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble, the BBC Singers in London and the Vlaamse Radio Koor in Brussels. Among the conductors with whom he has collaborated are prominent artists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit, Peter Eötvös, Marin Alsop and Sylvain Cambreling.

In 2010 Antunes recorded a CD (nominated for a GRAMMY Award) for Hänssler Klassik, featuring works by Joaquin Turina, with the NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover. He also recorded a CD on the BIS label, ‘Sun Dogs’ by James MacMillan, with the Netherlands Radio Choir (shortlisted for a Gramophone Classical Music Award 2011). In 2011 Antunes has recorded works by Xavier Montsalvatge, with the NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover for the Peer Music Classical Label and a CD of works by Richard Rijnvos, featuring both the Netherlands Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie.

"The conductor Celso Antunes had a dynamic thrust that was at times simply dramatic, his command of the orchestra and chorus was absolutely first-rate!"
Belfast Telegraph

"Antunes showed he knows that rarest of arts: how to make the contributions in a perspective that always makes musical sense… He secured performances that were high on illumination, getting inside the music, as it were…"
Michael Dervan, Irish Times


Watch an interview with Celso Antunes about the Netherlands Radio Choir below.
  

Permanent guest conductor - Michael Gläser

Michael Gläser, born in Chemnitz, was a member of the St. Thomas School choir in Leipzig from 1967 to 1978. From early on, his musical career revolved around singing and choral conducting. He studied singing and conducting in Leipzig and Berlin. He conducted the Academy Choir and Gewandhaus Choir in Leipzig, the Berlin Sing-Akademie, and the Leipzig Radio Choir. In 1986, he became the assistant conductor of the Berlin Radio Choir. From 1990 to 2005, he was the artistic director of the Bavarian Radio Choir. His main task there was to prepare the choir for joint performance with both orchestras from the Bavarian broadcasting company. He also performed with the choir from 1998 in its subscription concert series in the Prinzregenten Theatre. Gläser gave acclaimed performances of music by, among others, Bach, Reger and Rachmaninov. Since 1994, he has been a professor of choral conducting at the Munich Music Academy, also leading there the Protestant church music department. He often guest conducts renowned choirs in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, among them, since 2005, the Netherlands Radio Choir. In March 2008, he made his debut with the Choeur de Radio France, with whom he rehearsed Mendelssohn’s Elias for the performance with Kurt Masur.

Michael Gläser has been the permanent guest conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir since the 2010-2011 season. That season, he was involved with the performance on September 10, 2010, in the Friday at Vredenburg concert series (a Brahms programme with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic conducted by Philippe Herreweghe) and the Saturday Matinee on April 23, 2011 (the Dutch premiere of Braunfels’ Te Deum with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic conducted by Markus Stenz). In June 2011, Gläser, along with Jos van Veldhoven, taught at the biennial Eric Ericson Masterclass in Haarlem.