December 10, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Four masters of 18th, 19th and 20th century music are featured as internationally acclaimed guest conductor Christoph Campestrini leads the Oregon Symphony in a Sundays at Two concert performing music of Beethoven, Barber, Schubert and Mozart with Associate Principal Horn Joseph Berger on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005. American Airlines is the airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Sundays at Two series. Media support is provided by Willamette Week.
The concert, titled “Mozart and the Masters,” features Berger performing Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major. Mozart dedicated all four of his horn concertos to his friend and fellow Mason Ignaz Leutgeb; the inscription for Concerto No. 2 reads, “To that ass, ox and fool of a Leutgeb.” “We horn players are not offended by this because we know he meant it with love,” Berger explains. “The music alternates between a lyrical singing style and the more raucous exuberant sound of the hunting horn. The main challenge for me as a soloist is to bring the dual character of the singing vs. hunting horn to life; otherwise, it’s too easy for everything to sound the same.”
Campestrini, who has appeared with orchestras around the world from Hong Kong to Cairo, leads the Symphony in Schubert’s “Rosamunde” Overture, Schubert’s best-known theatrical music, and Barber’s “Second Essay for Orchestra,” which illustrates that composer’s lifelong interest in pairing music with literature. The second half of the concert features Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, which, although it adheres outwardly to the standard Classical symphonic format, uses musical language in an almost subversive manner to hint at the dynamic personality of its composer.
The performance is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. General admission tickets for the Sundays at Two series are $15 for students and seniors, $21 general public and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony's Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Distinguished in his field as one of the foremost young conducting talents of nineteenth and twentieth century repertoire, Christoph Campestrini has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras. In extremely high demand as a guest conductor, he has appeared with more than 70 orchestras on 5 continents to great critical acclaim.
Christoph Campestrini’s 2003-04 season includes performances with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Monterey Symphony, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Innsbruck Symphony, Czech State Philharmonic of Brno and Bruckner Orchester Linz, among others. Recent seasons have included tours with the Israel Sinfonietta and the Hong Kong Academy Orchestra; debut appearances with the Prague Philharmonia, the Orchestre de Lorraine and the Orchestre Colonne in Paris, the Czech State Philharmonic of Brno with soloist Gidon Kremer, the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony, the Krakow Philharmonic, the Ankara State Philharmonic of Turkey, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Queensland Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Orchestre de Bretagne and the Bochumer Symphoniker. His opera engagements include performances with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf/Duisburg and the Croatian National Opera in Zagreb.
In addition to performing with the aforementioned ensembles, Christoph Campestrini has led the Deutsches Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, Mainz Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Sinfonie Orchester Köln, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orchestre National Capitole de Toulouse, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester (NTO), Munich Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Brandenburg Philharmonic, the Radio Symphony Frankfurt am Main, Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris, the radio symphonies of Vienna, Moscow, Warsaw, Prague and Zagreb, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Sarajevo, Ljubljana and Bratislava, as well as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie of Bremen, Orchestre de Cannes and the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Freiburg.
He made his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1998 at the Barbican Center in a program broadcast by the BBC. He has lead tours of the chamber orchestra of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Cairo Symphony. He made his debut with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg in January 1996, replacing the ill Herbert Soudant 48 hours prior to the performance, and has since been consistently re-invited.
Mr. Campestrini has served as Principal Conductor of the prestigious Aalto Music Theatre in Essen, Germany, the Conductor in Residence of Karintsche Sommer, and continues to maintain a close relationship with the Hong Kong Academy Orchestra. During his two-year tenure (1999-2001) at the Aalto Theater, Mr. Campestrini conducted more than 120 symphonic performances and 15 operas. Under his leadership the Hong Kong Academy Orchestra has been the orchestra in residence at the festival for the past three years.
Born in Linz, Upper Austria, Mr. Campestrini moved to New York in 1985 where he received his Bachelor of Music in conducting, piano and composition from the Julliard School. Simultaneously, he majored in philosophy and languages at Columbia University. He went on to attend the Yale Affiliate Artist Conducting Program, where he was the only European member selected from the 400 applicants. There, he worked with prominent conductors Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallish, Erich Leinsdorf, Kurt Sanderling and Günther Herbig. In the summer of 1988 he participated at Tanglewood as a conducting fellow under the watchful eyes of Bernstein, Ozawa, Spano and Sanderling. In 1994 he received the award of the Israel Council of the Arts for the best contemporary performance of the year during a tour with the Israel Sinfonietta.
Mr. Campestrini records for the Berlin-based SIGNUM label and the Munich-based label Orfeo. In addition to German and English, he also speaks Italian, French and Russian.
Associate Principal Horn Joseph Berger was inspired by a Los Angeles Philharmonic Student Youth concert and took up the horn in summer school between the sixth and seventh grades. He played in youth orchestras in L.A., studying with James Decker and later attended Cal State Northridge for a year, studying with Ralph Pyle. His final three undergraduate years were spent at The Juilliard School of Music, where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree studying with James Chambers and Julie Landsman.
Mr. Berger joined the Oregon Symphony in 1988. Since then he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New Jersey, Honolulu and North Carolina symphonies. He has performed in Spain and has toured Japan three times – twice with the New York Symphonic Ensemble and once with The Juilliard Orchestra.
Mr. Berger also plays in the Woodwind Conspiracy, a chamber music quintet, and enjoys other chamber music opportunities.
