One of the world’s most highly regarded young conductors, Scandinavian Daniel Blendulf will lead Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s opening Maestro concert, Heavenly, following news that Music Director Alondra de la Parra will replace the incapacitated Franz Welser-Möst in conducting a new production of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) at the prestigious Staatsoper Berlin.
Maestro Blendulf made his debut with Queensland Symphony Orchestra when he led the Orchestra and French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in the first Maestro for 2018 last February. The concert showcased Daniel’s exquisite control on the podium to which the orchestra responded with finely integrated playing, and the massive finale of Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy was rewarded with a full standing ovation.
He is also set to conduct the June Maestro concert titled Soulful Journeys, which features Spiritus, the work of Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth, Nocturnes by Debussy and Dvořák’s Concerto in B minor for Cello and Orchestra. Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrandez is the soloist.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra Chief Executive Craig Whitehead said welcoming Maestro Blendulf back to Brisbane for the opening Maestro concert was an extraordinary coup. “Following news that Maestra de la Parra is to become the first Mexican conductor to take the baton at the prestigious Staatsoper Berlin, we are thrilled that one of the world’s rising stars in Daniel Blendulf can return to Queensland to open our season,” he said.
ABOUT DANIEL BLENDULF
The Scandinavian conductor has had a standout few years – following a number of much-anticipated international debuts last season, in 2018 he made his Japanese debut with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and US debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Elsewhere, future highlights include concerts with the Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Flemish Philharmonic and RTÉ National Symphony orchestras, as well as Het Gelders Orkest and Musikkollegium Winterthur. Previously, he has conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Sydney Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic and Finnish Radio Symphony orchestras, and is a regular guest with ensembles such as the Zürcher Kammerorkester and the Swedish and Ostrobothnian chamber orchestras.
Blendulf enjoys a dynamic collaboration with the Dalasinfoniettan as Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor, following his appointment with the orchestra in January 2016. There he focuses on the core classical repertoire as well as building programmes around contemporary masterpieces. In the summer of 2016 they joined forces with Anna Larsson in a unique production of Carmen at Dalhalla. The current season includes collaborations with Janine Jansen, Lucas Debargue and Ramón Ortega Quero. With the Malmö Symfoniorkester Blendulf conducted the world premiere of Britta Byström’s Invisible Cities, which was also included in a critically acclaimed disc of the composer’s music released by Daphne Records in October 2014. Blendulf’s latest recording, Nielsen’s Violin Concerto with Cecilia Zilliacus and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra for dB Productions, was released in September 2015.
A recipient of the Herbert Blomstedt Conducting Prize in 2014, Daniel Blendulf began his career as a cellist, studying with Torleif Thedéen and Heinrich Schiff. He was a member of the leading Swedish string quartet Zkvartetten as well as the Mahler Chamber and Lucerne Festival orchestras. In 2008, he won First Prize at the Swedish Conducting Competition, going on to graduate from Stockholm’s Royal College of Music in 2010.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra – HEAVENLY (Maestro concert)
Music to Lift Your Soul
Date: Sat 16 Feb 7.30pm Venue: Concert Hall, QPAC
Conductor: Daniel Blendulf
Soloists: Paul Lewis, piano; Morgan England-Jones, soprano
MOZART Piano Concerto No.27 in B flat, K595
MAHLER Symphony No.4
Be enchanted by Mozart’s transcendental concerto, a realm of haunting melody, emotion and harmonic adventure that signalled new musical horizons. Dream large in Mahler’s revelatory Fourth Symphony. Spiritual, profound yet brushed with dark humour, it celebrates the composer’s love of nature, his eternal quest for meaning and gift for dazzling orchestral colour. The last movement of the symphony features the human voice, in this case a soprano, in the song Das Himmlische Leben (The Heavenly Life) set to poetry from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn). Musical motifs from this movement form the base for the entire work. Queensland Symphony Orchestra Music Director is proudly supported by Tim Fairfax AC. The Artist-in-Residence program is supported by The University of Queensland.
