• Introduction
• Seasonal Overview
• LSO Managing Director
• Press Quotes

Click here to watch a short film, produced by Intermusica, about the London Symphony Orchestra's residency at the Salle Pleyel, Paris.

INTRODUCTION

In September 2006, the London Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink gave the opening performances of the Orchestra's international residency at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Following the hall's closure in 2002 and a radical four-year renovation, these concerts did more than simply form part of Pleyel's inaugural celebrations; they laid the groundwork for what has become a fruitful, long-term partnership between one of the world's foremost orchestras and leading concert halls.

Conceived and planned by Intermusica in close collaboration with the LSO and Salle Pleyel, the residency continues to thrive and mature beyond its initial 3-year plan. It has to date featured an array of notable conductors including Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Among the artists that have collaborated so far are names such as Maria-João Pirès, Vadim Repin, Leonidas Kavakos, Murray Perahia, Lang Lang and Emmanuel Ax. Initiatives have included a three-year Beethoven cycle, two-part Prokofiev project and Gergiev’s acclaimed Mahler Cycle, in collaboration with the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre. The residency also involves outreach and educational work with the LSO’s Discovery team in co-production with Cité de la Musique, adding a further dimension to a relationship that is set to continue through to the opening of the new Philharmonie in 2014/15.

SEASONAL OVERVIEW

For precise concert dates or information about future projects, please contact tours@intermusica.co.uk

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“The residency at Salle Pleyel has enabled the LSO to build relationships with the Parisians – already, there’s a sense of knowing our audience and having a loyal following. Together, we have been able to develop ambitious artistic projects in Paris, such as the entire Prokofiev Symphony Cycle with Valery Gergiev this season, and also the Beethoven cycle with Sir John Eliot Gardiner. And the most recent initiative – to develop an aspect of the LSO Discovery programme in Paris – has added a completely new dimension to the residency and is something we could not have contemplated without the depth of activity and the partnership that has developed with Salle Pleyel over the last three years.” Kathryn McDowell Managing Director

PRESS QUOTES

Sir Colin Davis / Beethoven Missa Solemnis
“...We have witnessed a truly exceptional performance... What a choir! but likewise (obviously…), what an orchestra!! It is now routine for us to credit the London Symphony Orchestra for having the very finest fingertips in the world: yet again, they have proved this to us tonight."
Concertonet.com, September 2011

Valery Gergiev / Prokofiev
“The varied nuances of Prokofiev’s Symphony No.6 were perfectly captured by Gergiev, and the LSO put its full power at his disposal, expertly controlled, with its faultless brass ensemble and wonderfully fruity woodwinds.”
Resmusica, October 2008

“At the beginning of the second concert, we heard a performance of Prokofiev’s Symphony in D minor of a rare perfection. Even at the loudest tutti moment, Gergiev brought out every slightest detail, joining forces with the LSO’s simply excellent brass section. For once, nobody coughed, either during the music or between movements, which spoke volumes. The contained smoothness of the strings and the tenderness of the woodwinds, blending into the mellowness of the flutes, distilled the passionate variations that followed.”
Anaclase, October 2008

“The tone was set for the concert right from the start, with Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony: the vivid, invigorating and virtuosic performance showed this phalanx from London living up to its reputation.”
Concert Classic, October 2008

“Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony No.1 and his epic Symphony No.6 allowed the LSO to highlight both the individuality of its musicians, and the tremendous cohesion of the ensemble, under the energetic and contrasting leadership of Gergiev, who literally set the 6th symphony alight.”
La Lettre du musicien, October 2008

Valery Gergiev / Stravinsky & Debussy
“The technically brilliant LSO excelled, following as one their remarkable conductor, Gergiev, who had decided that his Sacre du Printemps would be like no other, and proved it.”
La Monde, April 2007

“The LSO, orchestra in residence at the Salle Pleyel since its reopening last September, performed four pieces which demonstrated the orchestra’s many qualities to great advantage, and highlighted the harmony which is already clearly established between the conductor and the ensemble, whose every last musician is worthy of praise… Gergiev has in any case found in the LSO an instrument worthy of his talent.”
Le Figaro, April 2007

Bernard Haitink / Beethoven
“What a pleasure to hear with a new ear, works that we thought we knew so well; being witness to the sincerity and luminosity of instrumental equilibrium, particularly the true tutti of a clear, powerful and well-constructed orchestra.

…it was the instrumental balance which amazed, particularly the tuttis which gave the full immensity and force of the Beethovenienne Orchestration… the extraordinary crescendo transition between the last two movements of the Fifth Symphony - an irresistible ascent towards the light, led by the masterful hand of Haitink.”
ConcertoNet.com, September 2006