Celso Antunes
Artist Details Celso AntunesCategory: ConductorsEnergy, attention to detail, stylistically informed interpretation and charisma, are the attributes that best convey the essence of Celso Antunes as a conductor. He is a man of great integrity, charm and personal discipline. LAM
Biography“Antunes showed he knows that rarest of arts: how to make the contributions in a perspective that always makes musical sense… He secured performances that were high on illumination, getting inside the music, as it were…“ Michael Dervan, Irish Times
Energy, attention to detail, stylistically informed interpretation and charisma, are top among the wide range of attributes that best convey the essence of Celso Antunes as a unique conductor.
Ensaio Aberto - Celso Antunes rege 'Sacre du Sacre' Marlos Nobre from Osesp Oficial on Vimeo.
The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), Brazil, has appointed Celso Antunes as Associate Conductor, for five years from 2012. Each season, he will conduct at least two different programmes with the orchestra (6 to 8 concerts) and one programme with the Choir. He is Chief Conductor of Camerata Fukuda, Brazil and Professor of Choral Conducting at the distinguished Haute École de Musique de Genève. He is equally in demand as an orchestral and a choral conductor.
Ensaio Osesp - Celso Antunes rege "Missa em Dó Maior" de Joseph Haydn from Osesp Oficial on Vimeo. BIOGRAPHY Born 1959 in São Paulo, Brazil, Celso Antunes studied conducting at the Musikhochschule Köln in Germany. From 1994 until 1998 he was Chief Conductor of the Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester in Cologne and of the Belgian ensemble for contemporary music Champ d'Action (1994 – 1997), with whom he directed numerous world premieres. As Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the National Chamber Choir of Ireland, his influence on its development from 2002 onward was exceptional. In 2007 the Irish Times regretted his departure with the words: …this period will have to be seen in the future as a golden age for professional choral singing in Ireland. From August 2008 to March 2012 Antunes was Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir "Groot Omroepkoor".
Flexibility is the key to Celso Antunes’ conducting expertise across a wide repertoire which covers choral music from the Renaissance, through orchestral works from the 18th and 19th century and contemporary music, of which he is a devoted advocate. This advocacy has led to engagements to direct numerous renowned contemporary music ensembles such as the Nieuw Ensemble, the Ensemble Modern and the Tippett Ensemble (of which he remains Music Director). He has conducted many world premieres including works by Michael Tippett, Wolfgang Rihm, Jonathan Harvey, Hans Zender, Brice Pauset, Unsuk Chin and Lera Auerbach.
Celso Antunes is regularly invited as a guest conductor by leading orchestras, such as the Netherlands Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland Pfalz, the RSO Stuttgart, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Ulster Orchestra and Manchester Camerata.
For many years Celso Antunes has been an active figure on the European concert scene. Festival engagements have included:
Antunes regularly works with some of Europe’s leading choirs, including: the SWR Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble, the BBC Singers in London and the Vlaamse Radio Koor in Brussels. Among the conductors with whom he has collaborated are prominent artists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, Mariss Janssons, Charles Dutoit, Peter Eötvös and Marin Alsop.
In 2010 Antunes recorded a CD, with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, featuring works by Joaquin Turina for hänssler classic (nominated for a GRAMMY Award 2010). He also recorded ‘Sun Dogs’ by James MacMillan with the Netherlands Radio Choir on the BIS label (shortlisted for a Gramophone Classical Music Award 2012). In 2011 Antunes recorded works by Xavier Montsalvatge, with the NDR Radiophilharmonie also for hänssler classic (released January 2012) and a CD of works by Richard Rijnvos, ‘Uptown|Downtown’, featuring both the Netherlands Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie, released May 2012. ReviewsFranck, Honneger, Poulenc, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Dublin, 3 May 2013
Antunes is an individualist, engineering frequent adjustments of mood .... the playing he secured was first rate, and he brought real rough-hewn bite to Honneger's Rugby, a work the composer called "the savage, brusque, untidy and desperate rythym " of the game.Poulenc's Gloria, with Tynan radiant and the Philharmonic Choir in fine voice, was a blaze of glory. Michael Dervan - Irish Times 8 May 2013
Unsuk Chin, nieuw ensemble – Wittner Tage für Neue Kammermusik
Unsuk Chin’s cosmigimmicks demonstrates her unerring sense of musical expression in a confined musical space. The Nieuw Ensemble, under the direction of Antunes, delivered with relish, a finely detailed performance of her pantomime for seven players. Egbert Hiller, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, April 2013
Borodin Symphony No. 2, Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo, 7 March 2013 Brazilian newspaper Estadao features a full page interview with conductor Celso Antunes and reviews a recent performance of Borodin's second symphony.
Extract from the review: On the podium, Celso Antunes demonstrated security and full mastery of his craft. In spite of his origins linking him to choral conducting, it is time that Antunes devotes himself exclusively to conducting symphonic works - and the best example of this is the way in which he built an engaging reading of the second symphony of Borodin. João Marcos Coelho, Estadao Extract from the interview: “You have no idea how many times I've heard agents say: Celso, you need to decide – do you want to be a symphonic conductor or a choir conductor? But up until now I have managed to escape, I'm slippery, like soap. And one thing helps the other. Monteverdi is a lesson in how to play Borodin, and vice versa. Whatever I have learned from conducting choirs I have been able to apply to conducting orchestras. There are two worlds which people divide, but they are really the same thing.” Celso Antunes Read the full article here REVIEWS
Canciones & Conciertos - Xavier Montsalvatge, Hänssler
“The violin parts are almost always lyrical throughout, while the orchestral accompaniment alternates between surging climaxes and cheeky, rhythmic comments from the woodwinds... Antunes and his forces make a distinguished contribution to the whole disc.” “More than the sum of its parts, this disc is a perfect introduction to the music of a 20th-century Spanish master. The recording quality is top-class, the performances terrific, and the music itself is well worth getting to know.” Philllip Scott, Fanfare, 04.08.12 Uptown/Downtown Challenge Classics
„Both orchestras perform under the inspiring leadership of Brazilian maestro Celso Antunes" Richard Rijnvos „Celso Antunes...is credited with extremely competent handling of the piano concerto as well as 'The Manhattan Square Dances', where the forces of the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra are split into two orchestras of the same size... 'Times Square Dance' and 'Washington Square Dance' burst with sheer vitality as well as the up-beat music of the 'Union Square Dance', in which 'leggiero' passages and wild pulsation-counterpoint, hoquetus-like, are intertwined“ Helmut Rohmas, BRKlassik, 11.06.2012
„The performances (under Celso Antunes, we might add...) are as playful as they are formidable“ Jan van Laar, Elsevier, 23.06.2012
„Celso Antunes conducts...fascinating, swinging and effective music, with a dollop of humour too, always dazzingly and ingeniously composed“ Peter van der Lint, Trouw, 26.06.2012
Canto a Sevilla – Joaquin Turina, Hänssler
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