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Mahler, Ives and something completely new: Bas Wiegers conducts Klangforum Wien in two concerts with Thomas Hampson on 29 June.
Just before Bas Wiegers conducted his first concerts in front of a live audience in May, he sat down for an interview to reflect on the preceding Corona year.
“Now” is always different, fluid, says conductor Bas Wiegers in his essay about diversity, change, and the power of live performances.
Sky Macklay, Shepard’s March An Ivesean Shepard tone Poem
Patricia Alessandrini, Abhanden
Christopher Trapani, Unfeeling for 18 players
G. Mahler//T. Grahl
Ch. Ives/T. Grahl
G. Mahler/T. Tiedrow
C. Ives/T. Tiedrow
Bas Wiegers, conductor
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Klangforum Wien
Bas Wiegers has distinguished himself with his charisma, openness, and nondogmatic approach at the helm of leading European orchestras and soloist ensembles. The conductor approaches his work with tremendous thoughtfulness and draws on his extensive experience as a violinist and a wide-ranging knowledge of repertoire, ranging from baroque to contemporary music.
In his homeland of the Netherlands, Bas Wiegers has worked with ensembles including the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and, together with Peter Eötvös, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In addition, he has made guest appearances with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Ensemble Modern, Munich Chamber Orchestra, at the Cologne Opera and at festivals such as November Music, Holland Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Wien Modern, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, and Acht Brücken in Cologne.
In the 2021/22 season he will conduct the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw, and will be at the rostrum of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin for the first time. In December, a new song project dedicated to Mahler and Ives will receive its premiere in Vienna, performed together with Thomas Hampson and the Klangforum Wien, where he has been principal guest conductor since 2018.. He will also conduct the Klangforum at Ultima Festival Oslo, Ruhrtriennale, Warsaw Autumn, and Prague Spring Festival. Further appearances include the concerts with Musikfabrik Köln at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and with Ensemble Resonanz at Mozartfestival Würzburg.
Following a filmed production of Brittens The Turn of the Screw (Eva-Maria Höckmeyer), Bas Wiegers will return to the Opéra national de Lorraine for a new production of The Magic Flute (Anna Bernreitner). His debuts at the Stuttgart Opera (Death in Venice) and the Flemish Opera (KOMA), scheduled for 2020, had to be cancelled due to the Corona virus, alongside the Klagenfurt premiere of Sciarrino's new opera Il canto s'attrista, perché?, which was rehearsed almost completely under his direction.
Bas Wiegers is a treasured musical partner for composers such as Georges Aperghis, Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Rebecca Saunders.
Following his musical education in Amsterdam and Freiburg, Bas Wiegers began a successful career as a violinist with an emphasis on early music. In 2009 he was awarded a conducting scholarship from the Kersjes Foundation, and later worked as an assistant to Mariss Jansons and Susanna Mälkki at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, an experience which convinced him to focus entirely on conducting.
2021/22 season
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“Bas Wiegers on the podium with dancelike ease in front of the WDR Symphony Orchestra. (...) One rarely hears new music so entertaining, so beautiful.”
nmz, Georg Beck, Juni 2022 – on Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik
Bas Wiegers and the orchestra had good fun with the constant alternation between rebellion and complaisance in Beethoven's so effervescently lively Seventh (...). The Presto had the right drive from the start, after the maestro smoothly performed a little dance gesture before giving the first cue. In the end, at any rate, one could no longer escape the pull of the finale with its intoxicating swirls and tempi.
Helmut Peters, Hamburger Abendblatt, 25/04/2022
“Under the multi-layered direction of Dutch conductor Bas Wiegers, at the helm of a supple and acoustically flattering Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lorraine and a chorus with beautiful cohesion, the performance is captivating thanks to the principal roles.”
Bruno Serrou, la-croix.com, 20/12/2021
“Looking at conductor Bas Wiegers from a podium seat in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, one sees nothing superfluous. With a neutral gaze and efficient gestures, he leads the Radiophilharmonie remarkably smoothly through Sergei Prokofiev's rather complex, rarely performed Sixth Symphony. Musician among musicians: this attitude brings Wiegers increasing success.”
Guido van Oorschot, volkskrant.nl, 11/1/2021
After the intermission, the orchestra played works by Messiaen and Ravel (...). Conductor Bas Wiegers, who had stepped in at the last minute for the ill Ryan Wigglesworth, left an excellent impression and rightly received applause from the orchestra, which played superbly under his direction.
nrc.nl. 01/12/2019
“The hero of the day, by the way, was Bas Wiegers. As a stand-in conductor, he had one week to master four scores. A daring feat – and then to also deliver such gently swinging, constantly changing colours of Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales.”
Guido van Oorschot, volkskrant.nl, 01/12/2019
“Following the intermission, Wiegers‘ mastery revealed itself in Chronochromie. His tempos were swift, consistently drawing out brilliantly virtuoso playing from the phenomenal drummers. This was also true of the strings solo in the sixth movement, Épôde. Here, Wiegers maintained the harmony of the whole while highlighting with his baton the distinct motifs and individual voices mimicking birdsong.”
Michael Klier, bachtrack.com, 02/12/2019
“What’s truly amazing is the music. After the premiere, Haas could only kneel down to thank Bas Wiegers, in leading the orchestra, for such a remarkable performance. Given that there was no light to lead him through the trenches, the conductor had to rely on his own mental powers of transmission.”
Michael Cerha, The Standard, 30/03/2019
“Andriessen's music was played by the Dutch Asko|Schönberg ensemble and conductor Bas Wiegers with incredible precision and virtuosity.“
Kölner Stadtanzeiger
G. Aperghis: Die Hamletmaschine | SWR Vokalensemble, Asko|Schönberg
A. Berg: Violinkonzert | Isobel Warmelink | Residentie Orkest
S. Hilli: Bird | Asko|Schönberg
Igor Stravinsky: Firebird (“L’oiseau de feu”) | Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Click here to see the live-stream recording.
L. van Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 | Residentie Orkest
F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No. 3 | Het Gelders Orkest
A. Schönberg: Nuits transfigurées | l'Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Lorraine
Click here for the live radio recording.