RNCM Symphony Orchestra: Mahler Symphony No 10
Programme
Steven Stucky Funeral Music for Queen Mary (after Henry Purcell)
Gustav Mahler (ed Deryck Cooke) Symphony No 10 in F sharp major
Antony Hermus, Agata Zając conductors
RNCM Symphony Orchestra
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Biographies and Orchestra Personnel
Antony Hermus
Antony Hermus is Chief Conductor Designate of the Belgian National Orchestra. He will conduct the orchestra both in their home in Brussels BOZAR and on tour internationally, kicking off already in July 2022 with a concert in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the annual National Day concert televised live from Bozar, before opening the regular season in September. He also holds the posts of Principal Guest Conductor of the North Netherlands Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of Opera North. A leading figure in Dutch musical life, he conducts all the major orchestras in Holland including Royal Concertgebouw, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest and Rotterdam Philharmonic.
Hermus has an infectiously positive approach to music and life, and a natural talent for encouraging musicians and singers to give their very best. His dramatic flair, sense of line and clear-sighted approach have firmly established him in both the operatic and symphonic spheres. Plans in 2022/23 include Ariadne auf Naxos with Opera North and Mahler’s symphonies 9 and 10 in Holland, but his wide repertoire also encompasses works by many living composers. He has a particularly close relationship with Unsuk Chin, whose works he has conducted with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Symphony; in February 2023 he debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in the Presences Festival dedicated to her.
He has a flourishing guest conducting career, returning often to orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, BBC Scottish, Orchestre National de Lyon and Danish National, and appearing with many other distinguished orchestras across the globe – notably the Philharmonia, Suisse Romande, Bamberg Symphony, Melbourne Symphony and Seoul Philharmonic. He has a growing presence in Spain (Orquesta Sinfonica Castilla y Leon, Orquesta Sinfonica da Galicia), and in Spring 2023 conducts for the first time in North America (Oregon Symphony).
Hermus has conducted extensively and throughout his career in opera houses across Europe, notably in Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Gothenburg, at the Komische Oper Berlin, the Opéra de Paris studio, Essen and the Nederlandse Reisopera. He was Music Director in Dessau from 2009, ending his tenure in summer 2015 with his first Ring cycle and promotion to Honorary Conductor. Before Dessau he had progressed from Trainee-Repetiteur to Music Director (aged 29) in Hagen, winning many awards for his work there.
In 2017 CPO released his much-praised recording with the Bamberg Symphony of tone poems by the Dutch Romantic composer Alphons Diepenbrock, following their recording together of works by Siegmund von Hausegger. His discography on the same label includes works by Wagenaar, Klughardt, and Auber’s opera La Muette de Portici.
For Antony Hermus, music is an essential part of life and society. Always pushing the boundaries of traditional concert programming, Antony has been involved in numerous out-of-the-box-projects, such as Ligeti at the “Lowlands” rock festival and Symphonic Cinema (Mahler/Stravinsky). He was initiator of the award-winning „Scratch“concerts and of the first performances in Germany of “Tweetfonie” (52 world premieres on one day) during his Residency at the International Kurt Weill Festival.
Hermus started playing the piano at the age of six. He studied piano with Jacques de Tiège at the Brabant Music Conservatory and conducting with Jac van Steen and Georg Fritzsch. He is passionately committed to nurturing the next generation of young musicians; he is Visiting Professor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the “National Master of Orchestral Conducting” programme, as well as Artistic Advisor of the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands.
Agata Zając
Agata Zając is a Polish symphonic and opera conductor. She started her musical path as a violinist, and then completed her conducting studies at the Poznań Academy of Music. Currently, she is a D.A. student at the Academy of Music in Kraków under the guidance of Łukasz Borowicz.
Agata Zając is a former Resident Conductor of the Toruń Symphony Orchestra (2020/21) and the Sudeten Philharmonic Orchestra (2021/22). She already made her debuts abroad – recently in Musikverein Graz in Austria and Orchestre national de Metz in France. Moreover she had an opportunity to conduct many Polish orchestras incl. Poznań Philharmonic, Opole Philharmonic, Zielona Góra Philharmonic, Schumann Youth Orchestra and Archetti Chamber Orchestra. Since 2018, as an assistant conductor she has been collaborating with Warsaw Chamber Opera in premieres of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serai, Idomeneo and Halka of Stanislaw Moniuszko. In 2019 she was assisting to Greek conductor Michalis Economou in his international projects with Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Greek National Radio Orchestra and Athens Philharmonia Orchestra.
She participated in many international conducting masterclasses – with Jaap van Zweden, Johannes Schlaefli, Peter Eötvös, Mark Heron, Marin Alsop, David Reiland as teachers. She was a student of the Gstaad Conducitng Academy in 2021. She was invited to many international competitions and auditions – at most of them she reached the finals (Göteborg Opera, Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, Warsaw Philharmonic, NOSPR). At the Malta International Conducting Masterclass & Competition (2018) and International Conducting Competition Città di Brescia (2021) she received special distinctions. She was the participant of the last Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition where she had an opportunity to rehearse with the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 2018 she was awarded with a scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage in Poland. In the 2022/23 season Agata Zając is the Mills Williams Junior Fellow in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
RNCM Symphony Orchestra
VIOLIN 1
Julia Sandros-Alper
Rachel Stonham
Christina Maxfield
Christopher Karwacinski
Fionnghuala Drumgoole
Kiana Umali Garvey
Lian Yip
Lemoni Frary
Adela Philippi
Jacky Leung
Tabitha Kobine
Yifei Wang
Ailsa Burns
Sarah Razlin
VIOLIN 2
Andrew Taheny
Gustav Ranum
Richard Dunne
Jeongyun Lee
Beth McAlister
Shanglin Zhan
Elana Kenyon-Gewirtz
Titus Lam
Coraleigh Kelly-Edwards
Kent Chan
Emily Tomlinson
Aleksandar Petrov
Zinan Wang
VIOLAS
Rebecca Stubbs
Michaela Jones
Hannah Borlase
Matthew Hayes
Rhiannon Collins
Robert White
Eden Saunders
Rebekka Irion
Conrad Ihering
Ellie Waddington
CELLOS
Jakub Smola
Olivia Morton
Claudia Kuner
James Young
Hannah Williams-Brown
Matthew Thompson
Rebekah Clarke
Kenji Luc
Lok Him Samuel Lum
BASSES
Joana Moura
Marcelo NunesRodrigues
Duarte Colaco
Yijie Guan
Saulo Roberto Da Silva Martins
Aron Jonasson
Thomas Betts
FLUTES
Daniel Jacob-Ormson
Cathy Wang
Conor Prescott
Doris Cao (picc)
OBOES
Lizzy Russell
Ross Large
Will Graham
Caiwei Luo (cor)
CLARINETS
Samuel Austin
Emily Degg
Christopher Fox
Chris Hardy (Eb)
BASS CLARINET
John Kelly
BASSOONS
Erline Moreira
Li Yuan Li
Will Hartley (contra 2)
Beatriz Carvalho (contra 1)
HORNS
Tom Hutchison
Sam Nutt
Molly Bielecki
Abbie Young
Sophie Hearson
TRUMPETS
Freddie Ball
Miranda Woodward
Tristan Boldy
Grace Harman
TROMBONES
Toby Marshall
Rachel Wong
Oliver Webb
Asa Riley
TUBA
Heidi Solem
TIMPANI
Harriet Kwong
Kitty Wang (/percussion)
PERCUSSION
Oscar Williams
Harriet Rhind
PIANO
Siyi Dai
HARP
Jess Hughes
Angharad Huw
