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Leopold de Rothschild, CBE FRCM (12 May 1927 - 19 April 2012) Submitted on: 19 April 2012 We are very sad to announce the death of the President of the English Chamber Orchestra, Leopold de Rothschild, who was
a much-loved friend and supporter of the ECO ever since it evolved out
of the Goldsbrough Orchestra in 1960. He will be greatly missed. |

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News at Easter 2012 Submitted on: 12 April 2012 Concert highlights to date
this year have included Tasmin Little as soloist in Hereford and Oswestry; Paul Watkins and Anna Hashimoto at
Caodgan Hall; Derek Han at
Southend, Cadogan Hall and Warwick Arts Centre; and two concerts in Cambridge.
Members of the ECO also took part in a British Youth Opera gala concert of extracts from Acis and Galatea and Dido and Aeneas at the historic Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace
whilst March brought a highly successful tour to Turkey and Bulgaria with Sergej
Krylov, Plamena Mangova, Roy Goodman and
Caroline Dale. In the next few weeks we are looking forward to two concerts at Canterbury Cathedral (including Finzi and Handel with Mark Padmore on 28 April and John Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple in the presence of the composer on 11 May), a return visit to Newbury Spring Festival with David Parry (19 May), two concerts at Fairford Parish Church (25 and 26 May with Paul Watkins, Chloe Hanslip and Katya Apekisheva) and the start of our new season at Grange Park Opera (Idomeneo with Nicholas Kraemer and Madame Butterfly with Gianluca Marciano). Later in the year we eagerly anticipate return visits by a host of exciting artists including Maxim Vengerov, Sir Colin Davis and Kiri Te Kanawa. Maxim Vengerov will be our soloist and conductor for a celebratory concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 1 October, in which the legendary Kiri Te Kanåwa will sing and prizewinning pianist Behzod Abduraimov will play a Mozart Piano Concerto. Sir Colin Davis, ECO’s Conductor Emeritus, will conduct the Orchestra at the Santander Festival in July and in Italy in September. Also making welcome return visits this Summer and Autumn are Ralf Gothoni, Sergei Nakariakov, Plamena Mangova, Maria Meerovitch, Jack Liebeck and Lawrence Power. Maxim Vengerov will also perform with the ECO at the Rostropovich Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan, this December. Other tours include Naantali Festival (4-7 June) and our annual Music Cruise (13-20 October, sailing from Istanbul to Athens via Kusadasi, Rhodes, Bodrum, Santorini and Mykonos) on which our resident guest artists again include Maxim Vengerov and Kiri Te Kanawa. |

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Happy New Year! Submitted on: 05 January 2012 We would like to wish everyone a very happy new year! We are excited as 2012 looks set to be a great year for us. After making a terrific DVD recording of Handel's Acis and Galatea in the first week of January (with Raymond Leppard conducting, Ana Maria Labin as Galatea, Ed Lyon as Acis, Joao Fernandes as Polyphemus, Richard Edgar-Wilson as Damon and Dame Janet Baker as our narrator) we continue the year in style with violinist Tasmin Little playing Mozart with us in Hereford on January 22, then off to the brand new Butterworth Hall at the Warwick Arts Centre on February 4 to perform with pianist Derek Han in an exciting programme of J.S Bach and Philip Glass. We make two visits to our London home Cadogan Hall in February and March, the first with Derek Han who will play Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto and also featuring the Tchaikovsky Serenade. Our March concert at Cadogan Hall features a welcome return for the clarinettist Anna Hashimoto who will perform the Mozart Clarinet Quintet and the Weber Clarinet Concerto No.1 with our Principal Conductor Paul Watkins at the helm. We have two concerts in Canterbury Cathedral later in the Spring, and some further UK concerts which you will find detailed on our website once they go on sale. During the summer we make our annual pilgrimage to the Hampshire countryside for Grange Park Opera where we will be performing Puccini's Madam Butterfly and Mozart's Idomeneo. Our schedule of foreign tours includes Turkey, Bulgaria, France and Finland; not forgetting our annual Music Cruise from October 13 - 20 from Turkey to Greece which features a star-studded lineup including soprano Dame Kiri te Kanawa, violist Laurence Power and violinists Jack Liebeck and Maxim Vengerov. We are also planning a special celebration concert at the Royal Festival Hall on October 1 with Maxim Venergov so do please keep that date free and we let you know when this concert is on sale! All in all this should be a fantastic year for the ECO and we hope you can share it with us! |

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The London Festival of Bulgarian Culture Submitted on: 16 December 2011 As 2011 draws to a close our final concert of the year is Sunday 18 December at Cadogan Hall for the London Festival of Bulgarian Culture. The concert will feature both a UK and a World Premiere performance of pieces by celebrated Bulgarian composers. The concert will also feature arrangements of traditional Bulgarian folk songs, coupled with Mozart's Symphony No.29 and the Albinoni Concerto for two Oboes. At the helm is Yordan Kamdzhalov (who will be making his debut with the ECO) and the Stankov Ensemble. Click here for more information for what should be a fantastic concert to see out 2011! |

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Paul Watkins and Igor Levit playing Beethoven, Wagner and Britten Submitted on: 30 November 2011 After a busy November we begin December in the same vein with a superb concert at Cadogan Hall on December 1, featuring pianist Igor Levit who will perform Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto and rarely heard Young Apollo (for piano and strings) by Britten. The concert will also features Wagner's beautiful Siegfried Idyll and Beethoven's Second Symphony. Do join us at Cadogan Hall if you can as it should be wonderful evening, click here for more information and to book tickets. |

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ECO with Newbury Spring Festival Chorus 19 May 2012 at 19:30 - St. Nicholas Church, Newbury |
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Music at Fairford 25 May 2012 at 19:30 - The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Glouc |
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Music at Fairford 26 May 2012 at 19:30 - The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Glouc |
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Grange Park Opera - Madama Butterfly Performance 1 31 May 2012 at 17:20 - Grange Park |
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Grange Park Opera - Idomeneo Performance 1 01 June 2012 at 17:20 - Grange Park |
