BCN Clàssics likes to rescue artists who haven’t performed in Barcelona for years. The cycle will start and end in the 2023/2024 season with two of them, soloists who, although they were in great demand in the past, have ceased to be in the Spanish programming. The first is the Russian violinist Maksim Venguérov (Novossibirsk, 1974), a figure who in the 1980s and 1990s was omnipresent, but who, as usually happens with artists who depend on classical circuits, ended up disappearing from the Spanish sphere. The other is the French pianist Hélène Grimaud, who last performed 13 years ago at Palau 100 and it is a mystery why her career has not continued to develop here.
“Venguérov is still the violinist he was”, says Llorenç Caballero, director of Ibermúsica and BCN Clàssics. “Last year he played with the Berlin Philharmonic, but curiously enough, he hasn’t been to Barcelona for 28 years.” His last appointment with the city was in 1995, at Palau 100, with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino directed by Zubin Mehta. Trained in the Soviet Union with Zakhar Bron (although he also has German and Israeli nationality), he was soon giving concerts with orchestras such as the Concergebouw or the BBC Philharmonic, and his career has been alongside great masters (he inaugurated with Riccardo Chailly the pre-pandemic season at La Scala), but at his performance at the Palau de la Música (17/X) there is a recital with Roustem Saïtkoulov on piano and works by three friends: Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, in which will add sonatas by Shor and Prokofiev.
The French violinist Renaud Capuçon also returns, with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra of which he is the principal, taking on both roles in a program that combines Mozart, R. Strauss and Beethoven (16/XI). And in this edition, the baroque concert is performed by Ton Koopman, with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Bach’s Suite in B minor.
In the great symphonic section, BCN Clàssics plays it again by programming Zubin Mehta, who for health reasons had to cancel on November 29. “But he has just conducted Mahler’s 3rd in Los Angeles and the criticism has been spectacular,” Caballero defends. His presence with the Munich Philharmonic and with Brahms on the podium is well worth the risk. He wants to do this tour that starts in Munich, continues through Spain and ends at Carnegie Hall. And then it continues with the Berlin Staatskapelle, with Daniel Barenboim, which is a double risk of cancellation. His replacement, should the case arise, could be Luis Toro, Dudamel’s second-in-command who has also been his assistant in Los Angeles.
It has been five years since Gianandrea Noseda has been head of the Washington National Symphony, an orchestra that has not performed in Barcelona for 42 years: the last time was with Rostropóvitx. He now goes with Hilary Hahn as a soloist in the Korngold concert (16/II/2024). On the other hand, maestro Semion Bitchkov will perform with the Czech Philharmonic and (another) New World Symphony by Dvorák, in addition to his cello concerto by Pablo Ferrández (7/III/2024). And the Alicante Symphony ADDA conducted by Josep Vicent (13/XII) brings Beethoven’s 9th with Orfeó Donostiarra – and soloists such as soprano Erika Grimaldi – and the Cant espiritual de Montsalvatge.
The program for km 0 will feature heritage recovery and contemporary works: by Miquel Ortega, Núria Giménez-Comas and Ramón Humet. And Luís González’s trumpet will sound. Season tickets go on sale on April 1st and tickets on May 1st.
