The Hallé has introduced its first new orchestra chief in 25 years. The position goes to violinist Roberto Ruisi, who studied on the Royal Faculty of Music and was awarded the celebrated Tagore Gold Medal. Ruisi has already appeared as a visitor chief for a lot of orchestras, together with L’Orchestre Nationwide Bordeaux Aquitaine and the RTÉ Live performance Orchestra.
As chief of the Hallé, he may have use of a 1695 Stradivarius violin, often called the ‘Lincoln Strad’. This extraordinary instrument was given to the Metropolis of Lincoln in 1970 by the Hon. Mrs Dudley Pelham, and is on mortgage to the chief of the Hallé.
Ruisi will make his debut as chief of the Hallé at The Bridgewater Corridor on Thursday 6 October, in a efficiency carried out by the orchestra’s music director, Sir Mark Elder. The efficiency consists of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 and Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben.
‘I bear in mind watching the Hallé rehearse once I was solely a young person, with Sir Mark Elder conducting,’ Ruisi reveals. ‘Their earlier chief, Lyn Fletcher, was a mentor of mine and invited me to return and watch. I used to be completely blown away. To now be ready to affix this cherished orchestra as its new chief is an honour.’
In different Hallé information, composer Dobrinka Tabakova has been appointed artist in residence for the orchestra’s 2022-23 season. Tabakova is a composer of ‘thrilling, deeply shifting’ music (Washington Occasions), with ‘glowing tonal harmonies and grand, sweeping gestures [which] convey an enormous emotional depth’ (The Strad). She has been commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, BBC Radio 3 and the European Broadcasting Union.
Her debut profile album String Paths, on ECM Data, was praised internationally and nominated for a Grammy in 2014. It additionally earned a five-star evaluation from us right here at BBC Music journal.
In 2017 Tabakova was appointed Composer in Residence with the BBC Live performance Orchestra, which gave the premiere of her Timber & Metal on the 2019 Proms, in a particular live performance celebrating Sir Henry Wooden’s a hundred and fiftieth anniversary. The Persistence of Bushes, her concerto for violin, strings and percussion, was premiered on the Manchester Competition in 2021, and a brand new album is scheduled to be launched on ECM Data within the coming 12 months.
‘These are two thrilling appointments, each of which can enrich our nice orchestra,’ mentioned Sir Mark Elder. ‘[In] Roberto Ruisi we’ve got a vastly gifted violinist and chief whose youth and dynamism will lead this nice orchestra’s pioneering spirit within the years to return. We’re all wanting ahead to his debut in Manchester in Ein Heldenleben, with its formidable violin solo.
‘Dobrinka Tabakova’s music has already been recognised all over the world, and her means to attach audiences and musicians along with her compositions is outstanding. These are thrilling occasions for the Hallé and I look ahead to working with each of those new members of the Hallé household.’
