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
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 currently Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir "Groot Omroepkoor", 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.
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.
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 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 Radio Philharmonic Hanover, 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: the Salzburger Festspiele, Berliner Festspiele, Donaueschinger Musiktage, the Flanders Festival, Musikbiennale München, Rheingau Festival, Rheinvokal Festival, City of London Festival and November Music in s'Hertogenbosch. 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, Marin Alsop and Sylvain Cambreling.
In 2010 Antunes recorded a CD (nominated for a GRAMMY Award) for Hänssler Klassik, featuring works by Joaquin Turina, with the NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover. He also recorded a CD on the BIS label, ‘Sun Dogs’ by James MacMillan, with the Netherlands Radio Choir. In 2011 Antunes record works by Xavier Montsalvatge, with the NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover for the Peer Music Classical Label and a CD of works by Richard Rijnvos, featuring both the Netherlands Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie.
The conductor Celso Antunes had a dynamic thrust that was at times simply dramatic, his command of the orchestra and chorus was absolutely first-rate! Belfast Telegraph
ReviewsGoethe's "Theatralisches Abentheuer", Radio Philharmonie NDR Hannover, 20 February 2009 Neue Presse 23 February 2009
REVIEWS
Lonneke Regter, De Volkskrant, 19.01.2009
Eddie Vetter, De Telegraaf, 16.01.09
Heide Oehmen, Rheinische Post, 30.4.2008
Volker Hagedorn, Der Tagesspiegel, 17.4.2008
"This music sounds intense and vivid, subtle and never overloaded … Above all, because the Belgian Het Spectra Ensemble under Celso Antunes’ competent direction were remarkably able to delve deeply into this highly dramatic work…" Christoph Dittmann, Westdeutsche Allgemeine, 08 February 2008
Andrea Rea, Newsletter 20 November 2007
“Conductor Celso Antunes got the combined Belfast Philharmonic and Guinness Choirs off to a wonderfully atmospheric start in his Verdi Requiem with the Ulster Orchestra on Friday… it was good to hear so many of the work’s moments of tenderness and warmth conveyed with sensitivity. The care with which Antunes sculpted individual choral lines and ensured musically sound balances was commendable, as was his concern not to overpower the vocal soloists.“ Michael Dervan, The Irish Times, Nov 19 2007
“It was good to witness an impressive performance in the Waterfront Hall on Friday evening given by the Ulster Orchestra… All credit to conductor Celso Antunes: he was impressive in that he conducted the whole piece from memory, bringing tremendous musicality and colour to the performance. Antunes kept a good balance between singers and the orchestra, despite the wide range of dynamic contrasts in a piece that moves continuously from moods of mystical spirituality to high drama. As well as the thrilling climaxes for which this work is justly famous, not least the Dies Irae, we also got moments of tremendous tenderness and intimacy”.
Ruth McCartney, Irish News, 19 November 2007
"Under Celso Antunes’direction, all musicians, spread all over the church, could perform with absolute precision: the spatial sound effects were perfectly achieved…" Westdeutsche Zeitung, 22.Oktober 2007
NRZ, 23.Oktober 2007
Gerd Zacher, 22. Oktober 2007
Lauro Machado Coelho, Estado de São Paulo, September 2007
"Brazilian conductor Celso Antunes knows how to get the most out of all dances, including Tangos and Mambos: This is sensational music making, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie plays for him with luxurious strings and with a lavish orchestral brass sound..." Mannheimer Morgen, June 2007
Die Rheinpfalz, June 2007
Irish Times, Editorial, February 2007
O Estado de São Paulo, January 2007
O Estado de São Paulo, September 2006
O Estado de São Paulo, August 2006
Belfast Telegraph, June 2006
Irish Times, July 2005
Belfast Telegraph, March 2004
Fono Forum, January 2003
DiscographyCanto a Sevilla - Joaquin Turina
Sun Dogs - James Mac Millan
DISCOGRAPHY 1) TIPPETT ENSEMBLE Ltg: Celso Antunes 2) CHAMP D’ ACTION Upcoming EventsHighlights of Celso Antunes’ 2011/2012 calendar include: 21 October, Vredenburg Utrecht 23 October, Concertgebouw Amsterdam A programme of works by Heitor Villa-Lobos featuring the Netherlands Radio Choir and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic
EVENTS November 17 to 20, in Mannheim, Tuttlingen and Stuttgart Celso will make his debut with the Gächinger Kantorei, together with Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, with works by Bartók and Orff
November 25, Jacobikerk Utrecht Antunes will conduct the world premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s “Missa a cappella”, with the Netherlands Radio Choir
February 25, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam he will conduct the Netherlands Radio Choir in “Missa in die festo” by the Dutch composer Alphons Diepenbrock.
In the spring Celso Antunes will begin his five year term as Brazilian Associate Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) with Gustav Mahler‘s “Lied von der Erde”. |
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