Teodor Currentzis

Iolanta and Perséphone - A double bill consisting of two stage works that “represent an ideal of beauty, poetry and hope” forms this production in Madrid from the Teatro Real. In both works the progression from darkness to light acts as an initiation rite that completely transforms the existential attitude of the leading characters.

The Mahler Chamber Orchestra was Orchestra in Residence at the KlaraFestival 2013 which is known as a modern and international classical music festival far beyond Belgium’s borders. The concerts of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra formed one of the highlights of this year’s festival. Alongside young Greece conductor Teodor Currentzis, who is hailed as an “eccentric super-talented maestro”, the orchestra dedicates its performance to the two composers, contemporaries and friends Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich.

This is the second creative project bringing together conductor Teodor Currentzis and director Peter Sellars (the first being the operatic double-bill of Iolanta and Perséphone staged in Madrid in 2012), and also the first collective production of three opera companies — the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Spanish Teatro Real and the English National Opera. The action is set in Central America. Spanish colonialists are at war with the native Mayan people. In the face of the armed forces the locals appear armed with bows and arrows, but they are mere children. Blood runs like a river. The Mayans resort to trickery – in order to infiltrate the enemy, the daughter of the Mayan chief becomes a concubine to the commander of the Spanish army. The plan brings her unexpected happiness (she falls in love with the commander and has children with him) but also tragedy (the Spanish colonialists continue the massacre of the Mayans). With nowhere to turn for help, the only hope is that the great Mayan gods will descend from the sky to the earth at the critical moment…

Here’s a performance to make you sit up and marvel anew at the originality, power, and beauty of this, the most popular symphony ever written. Characteristically, Teodor Currentzis has thought long and hard about the work, and he directs a performance in which every bar has been mulled over and re-evaluated. But it sounds anything but text-bound. One second it’s shouting from the rooftops, the next it’s barely whispered. This is a Beethoven Fifth that packs a mighty punch, and the momentum will have you perched on the edge of your seat. Definitely a milestone in this work’s long recorded history.

Destined to become one of the ultimate reference recordings of Stravinsky’s iconic work, Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna give the Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) the authentic Russian treatment - stripping back the Western European symphonic traditions of the past century, to return to the intended Russian folk origins of the piece. The musicians used scatting and singing in order to practice the rhythms and phrasing of the folk tunes entailed in Le Sacre. Le Sacre du Printemps is also a landmark piece in Currentzis’ professional career, having had his first success in Russia with the work in 2002 in Moscow.

In celebration of the 250-year anniversary of Jean Philippe Rameau’s death, this album is a selection of Teodor Currentzis’ favourite orchestral and orchestral / vocal works by Rameau - taken mostly from his operas and opera-ballets.

Sony Classical announces a major new Mozart opera project with conductor Teodor Currentzis and his orchestra & choir MusicAeterna. A ‘no-compromise’ studio recording cycle of Mozart’s three Da Ponte operas. Living in a unique artistic community established on the edge of Siberia, the musicians work and record under ideal conditions towards Currentzis’ stated goal “to show what can be achieved if you avoid the factory approach of the classical music mainstream”.