Orchestre National de Lille / Alexandre Bloch MAHLER Symphony No. 7

 

SYMPHONY No. 7

 

Véronique Gens / Orchestre National de Lille / Alexandre Bloch CHAUSSON Poème de l'amour et de la mer - Symphonie Op. 20

POÈME DE L'AMOUR ET DE LA MER

Annelien Van Wauwe / Orchestre National de Lille / Alexandre Bloch BELLE ÉPOQUE

Belgian clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe revives the golden glow of a bygone age on her PENTATONE debut album Belle époque, together with the Orchestre National de Lille and its music director Alexandre Bloch. The programme is built around treasures of French turn-of-the-century music such as Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie, Pierné’s Canzonetta and Widor’s Introduction et Rondo (the latter two in arrangements by Jelle Tassyns). Belle époque also offers works that display a spiritual kinship to the age, such as Brahms’s first clarinet sonata, arranged by Luciano Berio, and a world-premiere recording of Paris-based contemporary composer Manfred Trojahn (Rhapsodie pour clarinette et orchestre). 

Annelien van Wauwe is a former BBC New Generation Artist and winner of the renowned Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2018. She kickstarts an exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE with this first solo album. The Orchestre National de Lille and Alexandre Bloch release their second PENTATONE album, after their 2018 recording of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles, crowned with a Diapason d’or.

Camille Thomas / Orchestre National de Lille / Alexandre Bloch SAINT-SAËNS - OFFENBACH

Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to announce that Camille Thomas, among the most charismatic of young classical artists, has signed to the yellow label. The 28-year-old Franco-Belgian musician becomes the first ever female cellist to join Deutsche Grammophon’s artist roster. Her DG debut album, Enchantée, set for release in autumn 2017, will present fresh interpretations of works for cello and orchestra by Saint-Saëns and Offenbach, some of the most beautiful in the repertoire. Recorded with the Orchestre National de Lille and conductor Alexandre Bloch, it will also include bonus tracks featuring guest appearances by violinist Nemanja Radulović and tenor Rolando Villazón. Thomas’s choice of repertoire stems from her passion for French culture and the music of the Romantic period. As well as appealing to her existing fans in France and Germany, the elegance and intensity of her music-making are sure to captivate a global audience.

“It is a great honour to be invited to record for Deutsche Grammophon,” comments Camille Thomas. “To work with the company is like a dream come true for me. I fell in love with Berlin when I moved there from Paris to study and have developed a deep affection for Germany in the decade since. There is something truly special for me about recording for Deutsche Grammophon, sharing in its unrivalled tradition, exploring exciting projects and working with other members of its great family of artists. I look forward to building new audiences for cello in partnership with the yellow label.”

Camille Thomas was born in Paris in 1988. She began playing cello at the age of four and subsequently studied in her native city with Marcel Bardon. Her musical horizons broadened after she left school and enrolled to study with Stephan Forck at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. Thomas completed her training with Frans Helmerson at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. Her international breakthrough came in 2014 when she was nominated for a “Newcomer of the Year” award at France’s prestigious Victoires de la Musique Classique and went on to be named winner of that year’s New Talent competition sponsored by the European Broadcasting Union. Thomas’s first album, A Century of Russian Colours, was released to critical acclaim in 2013 and was followed three years later by a fine second album, Reminiscences, awarded a CHOC by French magazine Classica, among other plaudits. In February 2016 she appeared on Arte’s Stars of Tomorrow, hosted by Rolando Villazón, and she was recently named as winner of the 2016 “Young Soloist of the Year” category in RTBF’s C’est du Belge awards, chosen in collaboration with Paris Match.

Julie Fuchs / Samuel Jean / Orchestre de Lille YES!

Hailed for her "generous temperament" and "agile and radiant voice", French soprano Julie Fuchs is a rising star in the operatic world.

Named Opera Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Awards and 2nd prize winner in Operalia 2013, Ms Fuchs has an exclusive long-term contract with Universal/Deutsche Grammophon, with whom she recorded her first solo disc of French Arias with the Orchestre National de Lille in 2015: "Yes" will be released on the 11th of September 2015, with a second disc planned for 2016. 

Ms Fuchs has several important house and role debuts planned. At the start of the 15-16 season she makes her Paris Opera debut as La Folie in the Laurent Pelly production of Platée (conducted by Minkowski) and later that season makes her Bayerische Staatsoper Munich debut as Musetta in La bohème. In 16-17 Julie will make her debut at the Wiener Staatsoper and sing Marie in La fille du régiment in Lausanne. Other engagements include significant roles at the Opera Comique, Teatro Real Madrid, Opera d'Avignon, as well as returns to the Theatre des Champs Elysees, Aix-en-Provence Festival, to the Paris Opera in a major new production in the 16-17 season, and several major roles at the Opernhaus Zurich.

As a member of the Opernhaus Zurich, Julie's roles have included Musetta, Rita, Marzelline in Fidelio (conducted by Fabio Luisi), Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Morgana in Alcina alongside Bartoli (conducted by Antonini) and Rosane in La verità in cimento. 

On 14 July 2015 Julie performed to over 700,000 people in " Le Concert de Paris " with the Orchestre National de Paris at the Eiffel Tower  in an all-star line-up for Bastille Day. The concert, which also starred Joyce DiDonato and Bryn Terfel, was conducted by Maestro Daniele Gatti and broadcast live on French TV and transmitted across Paris.