Ton Koopman founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979. The group consists of internationally renowned baroque specialists who meet up several times a year and work together to prepare and perform new exciting programmes. For the musicians each concert is a new experience and Koopman’s boundless energy and enthusiasm are a sure guarantee of the highest quality.

The Amsterdam Baroque Choir was founded in 1992 and it made its debut during the Holland Festival of Early Music in Utrecht performing the world première of the Requiem (for 15 voices) and Vespers (for 32 voices) by H.I.F. Biber. The recording of both of these works won the Cannes Classical Award for the best performance of 17th/18th century choral music. For its rare combination of textural clarity and interpretative flexibility, the Amsterdam Baroque Choir is considered among today’s most outstanding choirs.

In 1994 Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir embarked upon the most ambitious recording project of the last decades: the integral recording of Bach’s secular and sacred cantatas. For this extraordinary project Koopman and his ensemble received the Deutsche Schallplatten-Preis Echo Klassik. Next to the CD recordings three books have been edited and published by Ton Koopman and the musicologist Christoph Wolff and a series of six documentaries was produced and broadcasted by various TV stations.

Alongside Bach’s music the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir has recorded all major baroque and classical works. Major recognitions include the Gramophone Award, Diapason d’Or, 10-Repertoire, Stern des Monats-Fono Forum, the Prix Hector Berlioz and two Edison Awards. In 2008 the ensemble and Ton Koopman have been honoured with the prestigious BBC Award, and in 2009, for the second time, with the ‘Echo Klassik Award’ for Vol. VII of Buxtehude Opera-Omnia.

All new CDs and DVDs of Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir are published by “Antoine Marchand”, a sub-label of Challenge Classics. The latest releases include all 22 boxes of the Bach’s Cantatas, Bach’s St. Matthew and St. Markus Passion (on CD & DVD), the first sixteen volumes of the Buxtehude Opera-Omnia Edition and Bach’s Musical Offering.

Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir are regular guests at the major concert halls of Europe, the USA and Asia.

The chapel of boys and young men was founded in 1979. It is one of the first and oldest groups of Children’s Philharmonic. The chapel continues the tradition of Russian school of choral singing and has unique capabilities of timbre. The group uses a maximum of expressive opportunities, performs works of any complexity, creates out of the ordinary projects and presents to listeners the widest palette of musical styles, genres and forms. The concert program of the Chapel always is built interestingly and dynamically with bright art expressiveness.

Feature of repertoire is the original compositions that have been written especially for this group, the best samples of music pieces of Russians and foreign composers, a classical sacred music, folk songs and popular compositions of the Soviet authors.

In 2012 the Chapel of boys and young men became the Laureate of the First degree in the nominations of “sacred music”, “secular music” of the International festival competition of choirs and vocal ensembles “Slavsya!” (Nesebr, Bulgaria).
Chapel of boys and young men is the winner and the laureate of the international festivals and competitions in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Holland, Greece, France and Japan.

Background
• The Orchestra was founded in 1977 and is the only professional, full-sized Chinese orchestra with 85 musicians in Hong Kong. It came under the management of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra Limited on 1st April, 2001 when the latter took over from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong. Under the leadership of the incumbent Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Yan Huichang (1997-date), and former Music Director – Ng Tai-kong (1977-1986), Kuan Nai-chung (1986-1993) and Henry Shek (1993-1997), the Orchestra has been promoting Chinese music as its mission.
• The Orchestra is deeply rooted in the Chinese cultural heritage. Its performance format and repertoire include both traditional Chinese music and contemporary full-scale works. It also explores new frontiers in music through commissioning new works of various types and styles, and over the years, has commissioned more than 2,100 original compositions and arrangements. The Orchestra currently has an establishment of 85 musicians who perform in the four sections comprising bowed-strings, plucked-strings, wind and percussion instruments. Traditional as well as improved Chinese instruments are incorporated.

Scope of activities
• To bring the colourful world of Chinese music to the people of Hong Kong, the Orchestra organizes more than 100 regular and outreach concerts every year, as well as mass activities such as the Hong Kong Huqin Festival, the Hong Kong Drum Festival and the Hong Kong Dizi and Xiao Festival.
• As a Cultural Ambassador of Hong Kong, the Orchestra has been invited to perform at various famous venues in the world and at international festivals. It has performed in Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, Macao, Canada, the United States, Holland, Austria, Germany, England, France, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Ireland, Russia, Belgium and Norway (Arctic Circle).
• To promote Chinese music to different sectors of the community and to provide long-term financial support for the development of the Orchestra, the Friends of HKCO was set up in 1998 and the HKCO Development Fund was set up in 2002.
• To provide opportunities for the growth of a new generation of audience in Chinese music, the Orchestra gives performances in schools and has set up the Children Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and the Junior Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 2003. In addition, it also organizes instrumental classes and has joined hands with the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in music education projects. In educational projects organized in conjunction with television stations, radios and other institutions, the Orchestra has produced a CD-Rom entitled The Treasure of Chinese Music: The Huqin.
• The Orchestra continues to conduct research on and develop Chinese traditional and contemporary compositions and to strive to achieve the best acoustic effects through the application of improved instruments by setting up a Folk Music group, Chamber Music group, Instrument R & D group and HKCO Pop.
• The Orchestra has an extensive discography to date, which includes live recordings of its concerts, studio recordings etc. in CD, VCD and DVD formats. It also launched the world’s first ever SACD recording of a live concert by a Chinese orchestra in 2003.
• The Orchestra performed the soundtrack music for world famous films, Warriors of Heaven and Earth and Kung Fu Hustle.
• Apart from collating and publishing papers presented at the symposia and conferences, the Orchestra also publishes books on Chinese music. The titles published to date areThe Enjoyment of Chinese Orchestral Music and A Handbook to Appreciating Chinese Orchestral Music.
• In carrying out social commitments, the “Music for Love” scheme was set up in September 2005 to bring the beauty of Chinese music to the under-privileged like seniors, orphans and single-parents centres etc.
Conferences and Symposia

• The Orchestra organized an international conference on the development of Chinese music, entitled Retrospect and Development of Modern Chinese Orchestra. Experts and scholars attending came from Hong Kong, China and overseas, and many enlightening views were raised on the occasion. (1997)
• The Orchestra organized the International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition 2000 and the Chinese Orchestra Composition Symposium to promote Chinese orchestral compositions and explore the acoustic effects through different configuration layouts. (2000)
• A seminar series entitled On the Ecology of Chinese Music in a Modern Environment and Its Future Developments was held as part of the activities of the worldwide poll for Golden Chinese Classics of the Century. (2002)
• The Orchestra organized The Fourth International Symposium on Chinese Music – Tradition and Evolution. (2007)
• The Orchestra organized the First International Conducting Competition for Chinese Music, followed by the Hong Kong Symposium for Conducting. Local and overseas experts in the field, academics as well as representatives at senior executive or artistic level from orchestra groups in Asia were invited to participate. (2011)
Making Guinness Records
• A new Guinness Record was set by the Orchestra when some one thousand erhuplayers played at a mass performance entitled Music from a Thousand Strings. The official entry was made as the largest number of people performing the erhu at the same time. (2001)
• The Orchestra held the Opening Rally of the Hong Kong Drum Festival at an unprecedented mass performance witnessed by all Hong Kong, when three thousand Hong Kong citizens played a drum piece, The Earth Shall Move. The event marks another Guinness World of Records entry for the Orchestra and served to boost the morale of the people of Hong Kong after the ravages of SARS. (2003)
• More than 500 dizi players joined the HKCO in a mass performance at the Opening Ceremony of the Hong Kong Dizi and Xiao Festival 2005 – another world record for having the largest number of people playing the dizi together. (2005)

Honours and Awards
• The Orchestra was awarded for ‘The Most Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Contemporary Chinese Music’ by the ISCM World Music Days 2002 Hong Kong. (2002)
• The Council of the Orchestra was awarded ‘Directors of the Year – Statutory/ Non-profit-distributing Organization Board’ by The Hong Kong Institute of Directors for achievement in corporate governance. (2004).
• The 2003-2004 Annual Report of the Orchestra was awarded ’2004 Best Corporate Governance Disclosure Awards – Gold Award of Public Sector/ Not-for-profit Category’ by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. (2004)
• The Orchestra was awarded for ‘The 28th Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award – The Golden Needle Award’ by Radio Television Hong Kong. (2005)
• Awarded the ‘Caring Organization’ logo by The Hong Kong Council of Social Services. (2005-2007)
• The Orchestra was awarded the ‘Most Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Asian Contemporary Music’ by the Asian Composers League. (2007)
• Roots of the Chinese, a recording that featured the Orchestra, won two awards in the ‘Instrumental Music – Album’ category and the ‘Instrumental Music – Performance’ category at the 6th China Gold Record Awards. (2008)
• The Orchestra was awarded the Judging Panel’s Grand Prize in The 2nd Hong Kong Corporate Branding Award (2008)
• The Series of Eco-Huqin developed by the Orchestra was awarded the “Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence – ‘Class of Good’ Productwi$e Label”(2008)
• RTHK Radio 4 presents “Top 10 Music Headlines” 2010 – The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra launches the first Hong Kong International Conducting Competition for Chinese music. Categories include Best Hong Kong Conducting Talent and Best Interpretation of a Work on Hong Kong. Listen (2010)
• The Orchestra was awarded the Certificate of Merit – Award for Arts Education by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. (2011)

The MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra is Germany’s oldest radio orchestra. Today it is one of the liveliest and most innovative ensembles of its kind in Europe. In addition to featuring regularly on radio and television, the orchestra is committed to the challenge of producing first-class recordings, as well as to performing numerous concerts and to sharing its expertise and enthusiasm via children and youth projects. In this way the orchestra maintains and builds a close connection to young and old, and is always able to inspire new audiences for music.

The orchestra is based in Leipzig and services the three states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. This region is one of the most important areas in musical history worldwide. Many famous composers such as Bach, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Schumann, Liszt and Weill have shaped the musical landscape of this region over hundreds of years. The MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra upholds and continues this rich tradition and pushes the borders of new music with current film music and cross-genre experiments.

The orchestra can be heard worldwide via the European Broadcasting Union, numerous award-winning recordings, international tours and guest performances at festivals, all of which contribute to its role as a musical ambassador for Central Germany.

2012/13 marks the first season of the internationally acclaimed conductor Kristjan Järvi, as new principal conductor. He takes over as the successor in an illustrious line of personalities including Hermann Abendroth, Herbert Kegel, Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, Fabio Luisi and Jun Märkl.

Rafael Usero Vilches was born on July 14th, 1972 in Utrera, Seville. His life has been linked to flamenco from a very early age, but he admits that his true talent was as a soccer player. At a young age he began to sing in a group from Seville with his brother Juan Luis. 

He had to stop going to school because of the economic problems that his family was going through. This was how he ended up working in a family restaurant known as “El Punto”. The establishment was located on the outskirts of the town and was on the route that all the farm workers and slaughterhouse workers used every day. Being exposed to two professions as “flamenco” as these, Rafael got to hear day after day, many aficionados such as El Cuchara, Pitín, etc…

He started singing in peñas (cultural centres) and small festivals to the point that he decided to dedicate himself to singing exclusively. He started out in the tablao “Los Gallos” in Seville, from where he shortly moved on to Barcelona to work in “El Cordobés” for a year, along with his wife, the dancer, Carmen Lozano.

“El Cordobés” had always been a place where artists and dance companies got discovered. In a short time, he began working as a singer for the Andalucian Dance Company. A little later it was Cristina Hoyos who noticed this young singer. Finally, the celebration of the Flamenco Bienal of Flamenco Arts in 1998 served to lift Rafael to a level of importance in the world of flamenco, since he had already worked in shows like: “El Cante de Utrera” -in the Hotel Triana-, “Por Aquí Te Quiero Ver” -by Manolo Soler-, in addition to the “Company of Manuela Carrasco” and the “Andalucian Dance Company”.

From that moment on, he became a singer sought after by dance companies such as that of El Güito, Manolete, Carmen Cortés, Joaquín Cortés, Rafael de Carmen, Juana Amaya, Farruquito, Manuela Carrasco, Javier Barón, Israel Galván, Rafael Campallo, etc…

He won the contest at the Flamenco Festival of Nimes (France). He sang “pa´lante” in the concert series, “Flamenco Comes from the South” in the Central Theatre in Seville, sharing the stage with Estrella Morente. Soon he became sought after by the most important guitarists in the flamenco panorama such as Tomatito and Gerardo Nuñez with whom he performed at various events.

In the year 2000, in addition to working with all the previously mentioned artists, he formed part of the group for various performers at the Flamenco Bienal of Seville and even classified for the final contest. A few months later he joined Paco de Lucía to accompany him on his world tour.

http://www.flamenco-world.com/tienda/autor/rafael-de-utrera/690/

Rafael Usero (born July 14, 1973, Utrera) is a Spanish flamenco singer more commonly known of his stage name Rafael de Utrera.
Biography

Rafael de Utrera began singing flamenco at a young age with the influence of his father, who owned a flamenco club in their hometown of Utrera. At the age of ten, Rafael had already performed around Andalucia with his brother. Rafael became more well known in the world of flamenco in the year 1997 when famous Spanish flamenco dancer Cristina Hoyos invited him to join her cast on her world tour. In 2000, Rafael’s abilities as a singer gained more recognition when he was a finalist in the singing competition the XI Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla. Briefly after, in 2001, Rafael de Utrera made his final breakthrough when Paco de Lucía himself asked Rafael to accompany his world tour in Europe, Japan, and America.

Since then, Rafael has been touring frequently around Europe and North America. He has collaborated on albums with artists such as José Mercé, José Antonio Rodríguez, Niño de Pura, the documentary of the life of Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo’s latest album with Alejandro Sanz, Enrique Morente, and La Niña Pastori. The most recent collaboration was with the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra under the direction of Vince Mendoza where he recorded a live album called “Proyecto Lorca”.
At the moment, Rafael is performing with the guitarist Vicente Amigo and his cast including his wife, flamenco dancer Carmen Lozano. He’s also started to record his first album which will be released 2012.

The Symphony Choir was organized in January 2008. Being meant as a musical extension of the Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra, it contributed to concert programs of the Philharmonic with the cantata-oratorio genre. At the same time, due to the impressive potential of the soloist choir (the choir core is represented by vocalists who have soloist experience), the choir enjoyed certain autonomy, offering its own a cappella programs. Another area of its activities is participation in concert performances of operas. The opera concertato genre that gained incredible popularity worldwide fit perfectly into the traditional philharmonic format.

The Symphony Choir has an eventful concert life, working with such renowned conductors as: Kshishtof Penderetsky, Dmitri Kitaenko, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Eugene Brazhnikov; going on tour to Moscow (the Concert Hall of the Moscow Philharmonic), Omsk (2012), taking part in the major cultural projects such as the Symphonic Forum of Russia, which was held in Ekaterinburg (2010), the festival – French Autumn in Ekaterinburg (2010), the Urals’ first Bach Festival – Bach-fest (2011, 2012), the First Eurasian International Music Festival (2011).

In 2012, the Symphony Choir took part in the International Music Festival – La Folle Journee (France), which was its first-time experience in guest-performance outside Russia. Within several days, the youngest philharmonic group gave 14 concerts, solos and with the orchestra. The joint performance included the Bells by Rachmaninov, the Polovtsian Dances by Borodin – the orchestra was conducted by Dmitry Liss – and Prometheus by Scriabin – the orchestra was conducted by the Japanese maestro Mitiyoshi Inoue. On the last day of the festival, the Arte TV channel broadcast live two concerts with participation of the Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphony Choir for audiences in France and other countries of Europe.

In March 2013, the choir had a performance in the legendary La Salle Pleyel in Paris: together with the Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra, the choir took part in the performance of the monumental poem by Rachmaninov – the Bells.

The Byzantion Choir currently functions in Iasi, Romania, with the blessings of His Eminence Teofan, Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina, and under the auspices of the University of Art “George Enescu” Iasi. The Choir is represented by the Byzantion Cultural Association.

Since 1997, the Choir has had a great many concerts in Greece, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, France, Italy, Poland, Russia, the Republic of Moldova, Germany, Mount Athos and Romania, at important international music festivals (Rencontres Musicales de Vézelay, Rencontres Médiévales de Thoronet, Spiritualita di Torino, The roots of our songs – Jaroslaw, Atlantis of Nord – Olsytyn, The friends of Santorini, Willibrord 658 – 2008, Przemysl, Pontigny, Plock, Summer School Orthodox Music Festival – Sankt Petersburg, Brixner initiative Musik und Kirsche „Drama und Liturgie” – Bressanone, Archaion Kallos – Prague, etc.). Every year, the members of the Choir take part in the patron saints’ feasts at the monasteries on Mount Athos, as well as in numerous international symposiums where they make known the beauty, the complexity and the depth of the Byzantine monody.

Under the direct guidance of Master Lykourgos Angelopoulos, Archon Precentor of the Archdiocese of Constantinople and teacher at the State Conservatory of Athens, the Choir Byzantion has recorded so far 10 audio albums.
Promoting the music of the Holy Fathers of the Eastern Church in the Western context aims at restoring the beauty of the sacred monody of a millenarian tradition; its complexity and sobriety as well as its lack of artificiality and extravagance reveal the musical image of what the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga called Byzantium after Byzantium.

The Orchestra was founded in 1936 by the young conductor Mark Paverman, succeeded by principal conductors Valentin Kozhin, Andrey Chistyakov and Andrey Boreiko. Dmitry Liss was appointed principal conductor in 1995. Based in Ekaterinburg, the UPO is one of Russia’s leading orchestras: it presents more than 70 programmes annually and gives more than 100 concerts. Its repertoire includes practically all the significant Russian and Western European symphony classics. The Orchestra also performs the works of famous 20th century composers.

The Orchestra performs in Russia and around the world and has worked under Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Dmitri Kitaenko, Jean-Claude Casadesus (France), Fabio Mastrangelo (Italy), Daniel Raiskin (Netherlands) and with major he soloists including Mstislav Rostropovich, Boris Berezovsky, Denis Matsuev, Frederic Kempf (UK), Nikolai Lugansky, Yuri Bashmet, Vadim Repin, Sergey Krylov, Alexander Knyazev, Eliso Virsaladze, Natalia Gutman, Peter Donohoe (UK), Massimo Giordano (Italy) and Olga Borodina.

The Orchestra tours abroad annually (Japan, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain etc.) and participates in prestigious international festivals including La Folle Journee (Nantes, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012; Bilbao (2007),Tokyo, 2007,2010,2012), the Festival of the World’s Symphony Orchestras (Moscow, 2007), the Radio France Festival (Montpellier, 2008, 2010), the International Piano Festival at La Roque d’Anthéron (La Roque d’Anthéron, 2008, 2010), the classical music festival at Saint-Riquier (Saint-Riquier, 2008), the International Winter Festival “Arts Square” (Saint-Petersburg, 2009) and the International Festival “Stars at Baikal” (Irkutsk, 2009). In December 2010 the orchestra performed at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre (St.Petersburg) with Vadim Repin and Boris Berezovsky as soloists. The Orchestra’s performance of Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherezade in December 2011 at the Kennedy Centre in Washington was described by critics as “worthy of the annals of Russian musical history”.

The Orchestra has completed over 20 CD recordings including Warner Classics International and Mirare.

The general management of the Orchestra is held by the agency “Les Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati” (France).