News

Announcing the Stift Musical Encounters

It is a great pleasure to announce the first edition of the Stift Musical Encounters (SME), which will be held from 11-16 April this year in and around the hub of the Stift Festival, beautiful Stift in Weerselo, Holland. 

The concept is a flexible mix of individual classes and intensive chamber music, side by side with the internationally renowned faculty. The morning will be dedicated to one-on-one tuition and after the communal lunch the focus is on chamber music, with coaching sessions rehearsals well into the evenings.

We are delighted  that the faculty for this first edition will be:

• Daniel Rowland, violin  (soloist, leader Brodsky Quartet, professor RCM London, artistic director Stift Festival) 
• Vladimir Mendelssohn, viola (renowned chamber musician, long time professor at conservatories in Essen, Paris and The Hague, artistic director Kuhmo Festival, composer)
• Maja Bogdanovic, cello (soloist and chamber musician)
• Nino Gvetadze, piano ( soloist and chamber musician, professor Amsterdam Conservatory)
• Thorsten Johanns, clarinet (soloist, professor Hochschule Weimar, former solo clarinet WDR Cologne) 

The schedule will be:

11 April: from 15.00 arrival, 19.30 opening concert by teachers and selected participants

12 & 13 April: 10.00-22.00: all day lessons, coaching and side-by-side rehearsals

14 April: 10-13 lessons, coaching and rehearsals, 14-16 selected participants will join the Strijkersdag (Strings Day), a festive day for (very) young string players from all round Twente, for mini masterclasses, with concert at 16.00. From 18-22 Chamber Music Party

15 and 16 April: 10-17: lessons, coaching and rehearsals, 19.30 the final concerts in the Stiftkerk by participants and faculty.

17 April: departure. 

The participation fee is kept low (300E, 250E for those applying with a trio or quartet)), this includes accommodation with host family’s and all meals (communal lunches and dinners). Individual participants as well as existing duos, trios and quartets are invited to apply. 

The deadline for applications is 15 March. 

The venues are the gorgeous 15th century Stiftkerk and the Stiftschool next to it.

Those familiar with the Stift Festival will know the charming and very pretty setting and the famous Twents hospitality! 

The SME website will be live in a couple of days.  For more information, and applications please contact our production manager Tobias Behnke on productie@stiftfestival.com or on +49 15125118892.

With warm wishes,

Daniel Rowland,

Artistic director Stift Festival. 

Daniel@danielrowland.com

Vasks Distant Light new video

Here‘s a video of Peteris Vasks Distant light, once of my favorite pieces, beautifully filmed by Balazs Borocs and Miklos Vali at the Stift Festival. This pieces evokes such a strong atmosphere, and is with its changing moods, from serene and dreamy to wild and brilliant a total joy to perform!  

Brodsky Quartet: Daniel‘s announcement

Dear friends,

After 12 happy years as first violinist of the Brodsky Quartet I feel the moment has come to make more time for my individual musical adventures, and I’ll be playing my last Brodsky concert in May. 

The first concert I played with Ian, Paul and Jacky was an all Elgar programme at lovely Champs Hill in May 2007, and it seems fitting that the last will be also all-Elgar, in Malvern on May 2nd.  We have shared many unforgettable musical moments that I will always cherish: the many Shostakowitch cycles in Bologna, Sydney, Oaxaca, Amsterdam, Glasgow and on 5 remote islands in the Norwegian arctic circle, the crazy complete Zemlinsky recordings, het Prinsengrachtconcert and very recently the late Beethoven cycle, to be released later this year.  And all the tours to far flung places, with quite a few memorably spirited and warm-hearted dinners    Thank you dear Ian, Paul and Jacky for the many moments of inspiration and complicity!

Now I’m truly excited about the next chapter, with a little more time for all my musical adventures, be they solo, chamber, working with my dear friends, festivals, collaborating with composers, and my Stift Festival. I’m looking forward to the exciting upcoming concerts and projects and to the new encounters, collaborations, challenges and shared  musical madness & fun that lie ahead. ✨

Hope to see you soon, somewhere, along the way! 

Love,

Daniel 

Podium Witteman

Just before Christmas Maja and I had the pleasure of appearing of Dutch TV show Podium Witteman. This was a lovely experience Here‘s a part of Vasks beautiful Castillo Interior that we performed.

Bernstein in Princeton and Columbus

 This where 2 exciting weeks in the US, returning to my friends in the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and my first visit to the Columbus Symphony, both under the direction of the wonderful Rossen Milanov. This West Side Story Phantasy is amazing, brilliant fun to play, a real discovery

Kuhmo Festival

An annual highlight is the one and only Kuhmo Festival. Far away from the rest of the world ‚Planet Kuhmo‘ is a magical place where music can fly freely! This year highlights where the Glass Seasons with a super-delux orchestra, the Enescu Octet and midnight Vasks by the lake with Maja  

Late Beethovens

Is there any better, more transcendental, more affecting music than the late Beethoven quartets? Recording these – the endlessly touching  Cavatina, the ravishing ‚Heilige Dankgesang‘, the brilliant  madness of the Grosse Fuge and the towering, mindblowing 131 – over 9  days in May has been very special, and memorable..

The 8 Seasons in Dublin

A joy working this week on the always exciting and vibrant Vivaldi and Piazzolla Seasons with the terrific students at RIAM – and a treat to perform in the beautiful National Gallery of Ireland, surrounded by old masters

Glass concerto tour in France

I had so much fun performing the beautiful Glass American Seasons with the Orchestre de Picardie on tour in the north of France, including lovely Amiens. A pleasure working with conductor Nickolas Milton and this excellent orchestra! And on a free day we got to visit the magical Monet gardens at Giverny – wonderful!

Summer Masterclasses

I’m happy to announce my Masterclasses in Summer ‘18:

7-12 July: CMA Ossiach. (Austria) Masterclasses in Carinthian Music Academy, in beautiful Schloss Ossiach, on the lake: More info 

6-13 August : Cividale (Italy) Intensive masterclasses and performance opportunities in lovely Cividale. Other teachers in same week include Nino Gvetadze, Maja Bogdanovic, Julian Arp, Thomas Carroll and Alberto Mesirca. More info

18-23 September: Hvide Sande (Denmark)  Chamber music masterclass by the Danish beach. Other teachers include Marianna Schirinian and Ernst Kovacik. More info

New concert video of Enescu Impressions, duo Rowland-Kudritskaya

At the Stift Festival 2016 the dream team Pilvax & Oberyn, Balazs Borocz & Miklos Vali made a number of concert videos, including this one of Enescu’s Imprsession’s d’enfance. I love this deeply personal, mercurial, both nostalgic and blazingly imaginative work, and I’m glad to now have this filmed version with Natacha.

Enescu Impressions d'enfance by Daniel Rowland & Natacha Kudritskaya

Daniel and Natacha perform Enescu’s Impressions d’enfance at the Stift Festival 2016

And have a listen to our recent recording for Champs Hill Records 

Lindberg Concerto in Finland

What a pleasure it was last week to play for the first time Magnus Lindberg’s Violin Concerto no 1. Scored for ‘just’ strings, oboes, bassoons and horns, Lindberg creates an incredible sound world, full of color, drama and contrasts! Joensuu was covered in thick snow and looked magical. My next visit there will be next season with Schumann and Schnittke Concertos, looking forward! 

SoNoRo Festival

I’m happy to be back in Romania for the always festive, colorful and inspiring SoNoRo festival. After Bucharest (performing at the gorgeous Atheneum was a particular pleasure) we are now in beautiful Timisoara and from tomorrow 4 days in Cluj. 

With Ivry in Amsterdam

Dear Ivry was in Amsterdam this weekend for an appearance on TV show Podium Witteman, a prime time weekly show dedicated to music and the arts. Host Paul Witteman interviewed Ivry and me and at the end I had the great pleasure of playing Enescu’s Menetrier from Impressions d’enfance  for him.  I first met Ivry in 1995 and he has been an inspiration ever since

Enescu | Podium Witteman

Aan de Amsterdamse grachten

The annual Prinsengrachtconcert is a unique and tremendously exciting event held on the Prinsengracht with many thousands of people listening on boats on the canal, and it’s broadcast live on Dutch AVROTROS TV. It was thrilling to be a part of that this year, with the Brodskys, Nino, Marcelo & Zoran. The concert always ends with the iconic song ‘Aan de Amsterdamse grachten’ (at the Amsterdam canals), with the audience joining in. It was an unforgettable, magical moment!

Aan de Amsterdamse grachten | Prinsengrachtconcert 2017

The finale of the Prinsengrachtconcert 2017

Dutch TV reportage about Prinsengrachtconcert

In late August this year I was very happy to be part of the famous Prinsengrachtconcert, on the canal with that name in the heart of Amsterdam. This a little ducumentary made by Dutch AVROTROS TV in the lead up to that. 

De magie van het Prinsengrachtconcert: dromen komen uit

New ChamberJam 'direct to disc' recording

I’m happy that the second ‘direct to disc’ vinyl recording we did with the ChamberJam quintet has now been released. Recorded live in the beautiful Emil Berliner Studio’s in Berlin this records features music by Piazzolla and Nisinman that’s close to our heart. I think the unique recording process whereby the recording is cut into the disc in real time (with no chance whatsoever for edits) has really paid off, and I love the vivid, vibrant sound. And making music with Marcelo, Alberto, Natacha and Zoran is always a highlight. 

Have a listen here. 

Have a look here

Fanfare review for Enescu disc

A superb review in Fanfare for Daniel’s Enescu disc:

” With a blockbuster performance of third sonata, a strong-minded one of the second, and an almost expresssionistic one of the Impressions, all in recorded sound that’s sensitive to both tonal and dynamic nuance, these wide-ranging performances could leave listeners stunned by their power and insight. It’s risky to peer into the future, but this seems like a perfect item for the Want List. Urgently recommended.” 

here’s the full review:

ENESCU Violin Sonatas: No. 3 in a, “dans le caractère populaire roumain”; No. 2 in f. Impressions d’enfance • Daniel Rowland (vn); Natacha Kudritskaya (pn) • CHAMPS HILL 120 (73:59)

​Violinist Daniel Rowland and pianist Natacha Kudritskaya begin their program of works by the Rumanian composer and violinist George Enescu with a reading of his colorful Third Sonata, “dans le caractère populaire roumain,” that, in the first of its three movements, Moderato malinconico, misses few opportunities for communicating to listeners with bold gestures, in this case sharply defined, dynamically contrasted ones rendered exceptionally exotic by raw, smeary portamentos. Two generations ago, I heard Isaac Stern make a similar impression in a live performance of the sonata; but in the auditorium the audience could watch as he lobbed pulverized musical phrases at one individual listener after another, making penetrating eye contact with each. I’d have been scared out of my wits if I’d been sitting in a front row. Rowland and Kudritskaya, fully indulge the mystery implied in the second movement’s title, Andante sostenuto e misterioso. Their command of timbral nuance hardly suggests makes their playing sound tightly controlled–at times they skirt close to the brink of abandon. In the finale, Allegro con brio, ma non troppo mosso, they once again make Enescu’s fragmentary gesticulations seem larger than life, especially in the tumultuous last page. Throughout the sonata, in fact, they amply provide the kind of authenticity you might expect to hear from violinists like Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel, Isaac Stern, or the composer himself–they’ve made of the work a force of nature in which they raise actual goose bumps. Yet Rowland never produces a quirkily unpleasant sound from the 1776 Lorenzo Storioni violin he plays–every timbral effect, no matter how lurid, seems to flow naturally from the expressive demands of the music itself.
​The duo also finds the generative center of the second sonata’s first movement, which, though French in sensibility, contains haunting and daunting moments of overwhelming emotional power. Their reading of the slow movement disappears into a magical wisp of sound; and in the finale compounds stentorian statement with whimsy.
​Impressions d’enfance, from 1940, makes very realistic references at times to the world of sound Enescu experienced as a young boy, weaving into its variegated sonic quilt a gypsy fiddler, an old beggar (whom Rowland presents in a surprisingly suave tonal garb), various bird calls, both free and caged (once again, Rowland never goes so far in realistic portrayal that he draws unpleasant sounds from his instrument–his means remain always musical ones), wind in the chimney, and, at the end, sunrise. Though these impressions may be surrealistically vivid, neither Enescu nor the duo ever makes them sound maudlinly nostalgic.
​With a blockbuster performance of third sonata, a strong-minded one of the second, and an almost expresssionistic one of the Impressions, all in recorded sound that’s sensitive to both tonal and dynamic nuance, these wide-ranging performances could leave listeners stunned by their power and insight. It’s risky to peer into the future, but this seems like a perfect item for the Want List. Urgently recommended.

​Robert Maxham

5 star Enescu review in 'Volkskrant'

‘Magnificent chamber music of the highest level’

Sometimes a reviewer spots a CD that simply may not go unnoticed… a recording one can impossibly switch off. The interplay between the artist is magnificent. This is chamber music of the highest level’ 

Magistrale kamermuziek van het hoogste niveau

CD Daniel Rowland

In deze rubriek worden in principe de nieuwste albums besproken, maar iedere recensent ziet weleens wat moois over het hoofd.

Dit album van violist Daniel Rowland en pianist Natacha Kudritskaya is daar een voorbeeld van, en mag niet onopgemerkt blijven. De volledig aan de Roemeense componist George Enescu (1881-1955) gewijde cd verscheen in december 2016, en is er zo een die je onmogelijk af kunt zetten.

In de Derde vioolsonate van de Roemeen houdt Rowland van begin tot eind de aandacht vast met indringend en volksmuziekachtig spel. Rowland speelt als een zanger en ontlokt zijn instrument fluitachtige timbres. Het aandeel van Kudritskaya is al even sterk: ze zet bedwelmende klankrimpelingen in gang en slaagt erin te fraseren alsof ze een cimbalom bespeelt. De wisselwerking tussen de twee musici is magistraal. Dit is kamermuziek van het hoogste niveau.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/muziek/magistrale-kamermuziek-van-het-hoogste-niveau~a4497037/

Enescu CD review Gramophone

I’m delighted with this lovely review that just appeared in Gramophone about the new Enescu disc with Natacha: 

” The piano ripples over the opening phrase of the Third Sonata, the violin gives a yearning, wavering cry and immediately we’re in Enescu’s world- and it’s just a question of how fully and deeply these performers can inhabit it. So be in no doubt, there is some stellar playing on this disc. Daniel Rowland has a powerful, glamorous tone, gleaming at the top and throaty and rugged down at the bottom, and Natacha Kudritskaya matches him every bar of the way for passion, fantasy and precision.
They bring off the first movement of the Second Sonata in a single lyrical sweep. Kudritskaya really shines here; listen to the chiming delicacy of her solo episode from around 4’15” in the second movement. Rowland’s commitment, too, is total: in the mercurial, folk-dance flare-ups of the Third Sonata he plays with such fiery intensity that the music seems to shake. Even in the stratospheric, Messiaen-like birdsong imitations of the Impressions d’enfance, Rowland’s focus is absolute… These are engrossing performances of some of the 20th century’s most original and compelling violin music. ”  Richard Bratby, Gramophone

Enescu review BBC Music Magazine

” Daniel Rowland and Natacha Kudritskaya prove to be the perfect partnership and give an exquisite performance of music by Enescu.”  Highly recommended 5 * 

Podium Witteman interview

Watch Daniel speaking with Dutch TV personality Paul Witteman and performing some Shostakowitch. NTR Television, October ’16 

Stift Festival Winter concerts

I’m happy to announce the Stift Festival Winter concerts on December 29. Romantic favorites performed by a wonderful, international line-up of artists in the perfectly atmospheric setting of the 15th century Stiftkerk. And we will go to Osnabrück to perform the winter concert of the Osnabrück Festival Con brio on the 28th. 

Here’s the full programme and the artists: http://www.stiftfestival.com/winterconcert/

8 Seasons in Finland

I’m in Joensuu, Finland doing the Vivaldi & Piazzolla Seasons. It’s a great pleasure again to be playing this always exciting programme, tomorrow here at the excellent Karelia Hall and tomorrow in Kuhmo, one of my favorite places! Here’s an article that appeared in the local paper today 

Shostakovich cycle review

A nice review of the Shostakovich Cycle in the most recent BBC Music Magazine. 

Article in Classical Music Magazine

This interview in Classical Music Magazine focusses on my various current recording projects of repertoire that’s close to my heart: from Enescu, Shostakovich, Ravel, Poulenc and Korngold. 

Review of Southampton concert

Here’s a nice article about my recent soloist/director performance with Son, in Southampton. This was an extremely enjoyable evening!

http://www.thesonproject.com/8-seasons-standing-ovation

International Visiting Artist, RIAM Dublin

I’m delighted to be have just joined RIAM, The Royal Irish Academie of Music as an International Visting Artist. I very much enjoyed my first visit this week including a performance on RTE Radio and am looking forward to my future visits!

The RIAM pres release: “We are delighted to welcome violinist Daniel Rowland to our roster of International Visiting Artists in 2016/7. Leader of the Brodsky Quartet, Daniel joins an illustrious group that includes pianist John O’Conor, guitarist Xufei Yang, singer Ann Murray DBE, clarinettist and composer Joerg Widmann and flautist Sir James Galway.

Enescu CD

I’m excited that the Enescu record for wonderful Champs Hill Records with Natacha  will be released in early November! This is one of my favorite composers, what hugely imaginative, generous, brilliant, colorful, evocative and exiting music! 

New Zealand Tour

Flying back to Europe after 2 wonderful weeks touring New Zealand for fantastic Chamber Music New Zealand, with the London Conchord Ensemble gang. Some great repertoire: Schoenberg/Webern Chamber Symphony, Debussy/Beamish La Mer, Brahms Horn Trio, Stravinsky Soldiers Tale, Debussy Sonata..touring this amazingly beautiful country again was a pure joy!

8 Seasons in Princeton

I’m in Princeton, New Jersey and very much lookwhaying forward to perform the always exiting Eight Seasons tonight at gorgeous Richardson Hal. What a beautiful setting and great orchestra  !  

Celebrating Alberto in Castelfranco

It was wonderful to be on stage at the beautiful Theatro Academico in Castelfranco with all these good friends. It was also a great excuse to celebrate the one and only Alberto, who got married a few days before! ✨🎈

Shosta cycle NRC review

Great review in the NRC Handelsblad about the Shostakowitch Quartet cycle in Amsterdam

 ‘Led by the fabulously well playing primarius Daniel Rowland who’s bow lost many hairs because of his fiery playing the quartet sounded touching and intense’ 

New CD with Alberto Mesirca

I’m happy that the recording I made with my friend Alberto Mesirca, the fantastic Italian guitarist, was released by the Austrian label Orlando Records on the last day on last year. We did the recordings in Vienna last January and the disc contains pieces that we’ve often performed over the last years: a mix of Italian bel-canto and virtuosity by Giuliani and Paganini, haunting Spanish folk songs by Falla and the sensual world of Piazzolla’s L’histoire de tango. And there’s a very charming encore: Amanpola. Alberto is an incredibly sensitive musician and I’m delighted that this record is available for pre-order now  order the CD here

Chausson Concerto live video

It was such a joy to perform one of my favourite pieces since childhood, the gorgeous Chausson Concerto for violin, piano and string quartet with a perfect group of players at Stift a few months ago. I recently got the video and am happy to share it here. There’s surely no piece quiet like it! I remember my excitement when I first heard it   See the concert performance here

'Les annees folles' recital disc

I’m delighted that the ‘Les années folles’ CD with Natacha Kudritskaya is now available everywhere on Itunes, Amazon and Apple music. This CD focusses on wild and crazy years in Paris in the 20’s and 30’s, with three important sonatas: Ravel, Debussy and Poulenc. That uncommonly dark and intense piece was directly inspired by the violent death of the great poet Lorca at the hand of the Franco regime, and I love it for all its dreaminess, poetry, anger and even despair. The disc also features George Antheil’s totally brilliant and very crazy Second Sonata (where Natacha switches to bongos towards the end) and colorful works by Gerschwin and Piazzolla. This record contains some of my favorite music and I’m happy the record is now available worldwide 

Find the CD here on Itunes

See us perform part of the Poulenc

See us perform the Antheil

Premiere of 'Daniel's Tango'

It was wonderful to perform the premiere of Marcelo Nisinman’s ‘Daniel’s Tango’ at the Stift Festival in August. Marcelo says: “The piece is dedicated to Daniel, a portrait of himself I imagined. A barbarian-tango-love piece.” This brilliant, hilarious, touching, totally imaginative piece made me very happy, and the first performance with the dream team of Marcelo, Diana Ketler, Uxia Martinez Botana and Thomas Carroll was a total joy!! I hope you like this unique piece by a very unique composer as much as I do! 

Here’s the video:

Nisinman: Daniel's Tango

World premiere performance of Marcelo Nisinman’s “Daniel’s Tango”, August 21 2015, Stift Festival

Autumn concerts

I’m looking forward to some fun and diverse concerts this autumn: first I’m off to Poland, directing the Baltic Neopolis Orchestra in Sczecin, then I’m greatly looking forward to performing by beloved Korngold Concerto with HET Symfonieorkest in Enschede at the end of October. The next day it’s off to Bucharest for the 10th Sonoro Festival, with a hop over to Joensuu in Finland in the middle of that, to perform the beautiful American Seasons by Philip Glass. A few weeks later there are two trips to New York, first to perform the Vivaldi/Piazzolla Eight Seasons with the Arcos Chamber Orchestra, and then to celebrate 10 years of Sonoro at Weill Hall at Carnegie hall with dear friends Diana Kettler, Razvan Popovic and Julian Arp (Strauss and Dohnanyi). Then there are Brodsky Quartet dates in Düsseldorf, Dornbirn, Bristol, Leeds, Perth, a few others and (looking forward to..) Istanbul. With the ChamberJam Europe friends we perform tango close to home in Leiden, and I’m looking forward to guesting with the Signum Quartet and Jörg Widmann in Berlin. In December there’s another Vivaldi/Piazzolla Eight seasons, with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, a concert that will be recorded by the BBC. I hope to see you at one of these dates, if you’re in the area!

Welcome to my new site!

Welcome! I hope you’ll enjoy having a look around my new site designed by Pilvax Studio and that you’ll like Balazs Borocz’s great ‘Amsterdam photos’ as much as I do. They were taken over 2 days at the end of June, on the roof of my building (with a rather lovely sunset in the background), and the next day at the Muziekgebouw and around the Jordaan, 10 minutes walk from my flat. I look forward to staying in touch with you through this site, and my FB page!

Here are a couple of pics of the photo sessions, on my roof in Amsterdam