Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, OM, CBE ( born January 19, 1955 in Liverpool) is a British conductor and since 2002 chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Life
At the age of 16 years Simon Rattle began in 1971 to study at the Royal Academy of Music, piano, percussion and orchestral conducting (Bachelor) and graduated in 1974 successfully. In the same year he won the first prize in the international John Player Conductor Competition. He was then for three years assistant conductor for the two orchestra Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Sinfonietta -. , The item was the main prize of the competition in Southern England Bournemouth This, however, prevented him from completing his master's program has already begun in drums and orchestral conducting. Rattle conducted various orchestras as guest conductor until 1980, he was appointed chief conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. With him he toured Central Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and North America.
On 23 June 1999, the Berlin Philharmonic Rattle selected as the new chief conductor and artistic director after Claudio Abbado had announced his retirement at the end of the season 2001/2002. On September 7, 2002 Rattle was with Thomas Adès ' Asyla and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 his debut concert as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. On January 10, 2013 Rattle announced to abandon his contract expires in 2018, the post of chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic of age.
Rattle married in 1980 Elise Ross, an American soprano, with whom he has two sons. In 1995 he was divorced and married the writer Candace Allen from Boston. This marriage ended after Rattle had the Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená met, with whom he is dating in 2004 and whom he married in 2008. They have two sons. Kozená Rattle and live in Berlin.
During his studies he read claims to all novels by Thomas Mann in the original language.
Services
Rattle in 1977 was the youngest conductor in the prestigious Glyndebourne Opera Festival in England, where he directed 1986 George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Numerous world premieres of contemporary works are Simon Rattle to thank as well as his sporadic employment with orchestras that use a period instruments.
In 1987, he realized, for example, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Idomeneo in London, the Le nozze di Figaro followed in 1989.
At the Salzburg Festival Simon Rattle was a frequent guest, as he played there in 1999 with Cecilia Bartoli and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Two years earlier, he was with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for the first time on tour in South America.
His concert Towards the Millennium Project with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra ended in March 2000 with concerts in Birmingham, London, Frankfurt, Baden -Baden and Vienna.
Sir Simon Rattle realized as a conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the soundtrack for the adaptation Süskind Perfume - The Story of a Murderer (2006). In addition, Rattle played with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Sound Track of Scots Patrick Doyle Kenneth Branagh to debut film Henry V..
During the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London Rattle conducted the London Symphony Orchestra. It was played among others the theme from the movie Chariots of Fire ( Chariots of Fire).
Projects in Berlin
Already at the beginning of his first season, 2002/2003 called Rattle the " Education program " Zukunft @ Bphil to life. In January 2003, he produced the fourth project of the program by the documentary Rhythm Is It! great fame reached. 250 Berlin children and young people from 25 nations studied with choreographer Royston a dance to the music of Stravinsky Project Sacre du Printemps. Accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic, the performance at the Arena Berlin took place. The development and implementation of this project is documented in the film Rhythm Is It! by Thomas Grube and Enrique Sánchez Lansch, which was shown at the Berlinale and was awarded the Bavarian Film Prize and the German Film Award.
As part of its commitment to young musicians Rattle conducts once in a youth orchestra with students from Berlin. He also led in 2008 a sample of the National Youth Orchestra and is a board member of the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Other projects of the program were Stravinsky's The Firebird (2005), Ravel's Daphnis & Chloe and Orff's Carmina Burana (2006) - the latter two in collaboration with the Berlin Radio Choir and Simon Halsey.
Recordings
Among his more than 60 recordings, there are numerous works of established concert program, such as the complete symphonies and piano concertos of Ludwig van Beethoven with the Wiener Philharmoniker. As an outstanding performance but especially his recordings of the 8th Symphony apply ( this with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra ), Symphony No. 5 and the draft of the 10th Symphony Gustav Mahler (the latter in 1980 with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and again in 1999 with the Berlin Philharmonic ) - it is a concern Rattles, the performance version of Deryck Cooke's sketch of the work of those 10th Symphony to the audience for over 25 years. Rattle sat beyond successful for the works of Karol Szymanowski's one; he is also, like his teacher John Carewe as an excellent Haydn conductor.
Honors
Honors and awards were given to the artist in abundance, including honorary doctorates from the universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Oxford. Simon Rattle in 1987 was awarded the CBE in 1994 and charged by the British Queen Elizabeth II as a Knight Bachelor in the peerage. The German music award ECHO Classical Music honored him as a conductor in 2003. Simon Rattle is an honorary member of the Vienna Konzerthaus. He also won in 2007, the Golden Camera Special Price for " integration". In 2009 he was awarded by the Federal President, the Distinguished Service Cross 1st class of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2010 he was appointed Knight of the Legion of Honor ( Chevalier de la Légion d' Honneur ).
The Berliner Philharmoniker and their Artistic Director Sir Simon Rattle was appointed on 17 November 2007 as an International Ambassador for UNICEF. The orchestra is the first institution that bears this title, and the only International UNICEF ambassador from Germany.
On February 2, 2013 Sir Simon Rattle was awarded in a gala concert at the Konzerthaus in Copenhagen with the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. In 2013 he was awarded for his recording of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps together with the Berlin Philharmonic with the ECHO Klassik for the best " Symphonic Recording " (Music of the 20th/21st. Century).