Gianandrea Noseda has announced that the upcoming season is to be his last with the BBC Philharmonic.
The Italian maestro has been chief conductor of the Manchester-based orchestra since 2002, and will continue to work with the ensemble from 2011 in a role as conductor laureate.
Notable performances under Noseda’s baton have included a complete cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies in 2005, and more recently, four of Mahler's symphonies in a collaboration with the Hallé Orchestra to give a complete Mahler cycle. The Beethoven cycle, made available as a free download on BBC Radio 3, received more than 1.4m requests. Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic have also recorded 20 CDs for Chandos.
Speaking of his partnership with the orchestra in BBC Music Magazine in 2008, Noseda commented, ‘We have a mutual trust, like a long-term relationship with a person: it’s enough to use one word or a little body language, and the other person understands.'
Noseda, whose enthusiasm for opera has led to collaborations with the Teatro Regio in Turin, where he is music director, and the Mariinsky Theatre, will conduct Verdi’s tragic opera Otello in his final BBC Philharmonic concert, a fitting finish to a season opening with the overture from the same composer’s La forza del destino.
Rebecca Thumpston
Related links:
CD Review: Mahler arr. Cooke: Symphony No. 10; BBC Philharmonic/Noseda CD Review: Smetana: Orchestral works, vol. 2; BBC Philharmonic/Noseda CD Review: Dallapiccola: Orchestral works; BBC Philharmonic/Noseda