Boca Raton Philharmonic Symphonia

Phillipe Entremont
Principal Conductor and Piano Soloist

Sebastian Knauer
Piano Soloist
Knauer

PROGRAM

BACH - Keyboard Concerto in E major, BWV 1053

MOZART - Double Piano Concerto on E-flat major, K. 365

POULENC - Sinfonietta

The exceptional career of Philippe Entremont began at the age of eighteen when he came to international attention with his great success at New York’s Carnegie Hall playing Jolivet’s piano concerto and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Since then, he has pursued a top international career as a pianist, and for the last 30 years, on the podium as well. The 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons will take Entremont all over the world, with many orchestral tours including the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Festival Orchestra, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. He will also guest conduct European and American orchestras as well as perform numerous piano and chamber music concerts. As conductor, he has toured with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra ten times in the United States and seven in Japan; with the Orquestra de Cadaqués, eleven concerts in capitals of countries in Asia; and with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, a tour in Switzerland and Germany. As Principal Guest Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra, he has led tours internationally, including the US in 2005 and 2006, conducting from the piano as well as the podium. He returned in both capacities for the Munich Symphony’s highly successful 15-concert US tour in February of 2009.

In 1997, Entremont founded the biennial Santo Domingo Music Festival, of which he is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Festival Orchestra. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaqués. In 2006, in connection with the “Mozart Year,” he conducted the Tokyo-based Super World Orchestra. Entremont was among the ten world-class pianists chosen to perform in the “Piano Extravaganza of the Century” at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He served as Music Director of the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra between 1981 and 1986, after which he became Music Director of the Denver Symphony. He was Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra until 2002. After having served as Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra for almost thirty years, he is now Conductor Laureate for Life. He was Music Director of the Israel Chamber Orchestra and is now their Conductor Laureate.

Entremont has directed the greatest symphony orchestras of Europe, Asia and America: Philadelphia, San Francisco, Detroit, Minnesota, Seattle, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Montreal, The Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orquestra Nacional de España, the Academy of Santa Cecilia of Rome, l’Orchestre National de France, the orchestras of Göteberg, Stockholm, Oslo and Warsaw, the NHK of Tokyo, the KBS Orchestra of Seoul, the Vienna Symphony and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bergen, to name a few. He has worked with the world’s greatest soloists, both instrumental and vocal.

One of the most recorded artists of all time, Philippe Entremont has appeared on many labels, including CBS Sony, Teldec and Harmonia Mundi, and he has garnered all of the leading prizes and awards in the industry. He has been the recipient of many honors such as the Great Cross of the Austrian Republic Order of Merit, Officer of the French Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Merit, and Commander of the Order of Arts and Lettres. He is President of the International Certificate for Piano Artists, President of the Bel’Arte Foundation of Brussels, and Director of the famed American Conservatory of Fountainebleau, a post formerly held by the legendary Nadia Boulanger.

A prize-winning pianist, Sebastian Knauer has performed internationally in major concert halls such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Berlin, Cologne and Munich Philharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Musikvereinssaal and Konzerthaus, Barbican and Wigmore Halls in London, Opéra Comique and Théatre Champs Elysées in Paris, KKL Luzern, Tonhalle Zurich, Auditori Barcelona, Sala Verdi in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, Kravis Center in Palm Beach, Téatro Municipal in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Toppan Hall in Tokyo, Oriental Concert Hall in Shanghai, Performing Arts Center in Hong Kong, and Forbidden Concert Hall in Beijing.

Knauer has performed with leading orchestras including the Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberg Symphony, NDR–Symphony and Radio Philharmonic, Hamburg Philharmonic and Symphony, SWF Baden Baden, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, Concerto Cologne, the Vienna, Netherlands, Basel, Milan and Cologne Chamber Orchestras, Radio Kamer Filharmonie Holland, Camerata Salzburg, Luzern Symphony, Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchèstre Les Siècles, Real, Filharmonia de Galicia, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, London Mozart Players, Israel Chamber Orchestra, New York City Opera, Palm Beach Symphony, Qatar Philharmonic, and Shanghai Philharmonic.

Between 1999 and 2002 Knauer played and conducted all 27 Mozart Piano Concertos with the Hamburg Philharmonic. Together with Philippe Entremont, he regularly performs repertoire for two pianos, including the Double Concertos of Mozart and Mendelssohn.

Sebastian Knauer is a regular guest at music festivals such as Rheingau, Schleswig Holstein, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Mecklenburg, Baden Baden, Bonn Beethovenfest, Bremen Musikfest, Bad Kissingen, Vienna, John Adams Festival of the BBC Symphony, Bath, Colmar, Festival Berlioz, Dubrovnik, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Vevey/Montreux, Byblos Festival Lebanon, Emilia Romagna Festival (Italy), Lincoln Center Festival, Ravinia (USA), Interlochen (USA), Savannah (USA), El Paso Pro Musica (USA), Santo Domingo (Dom. Rep.), and the Shanghai Arts Festival. In October 2002 he performed for President Bill Clinton in Berlin.

A dedicated chamber-musician, Sebastian Knauer now tours extensively with his duo partner Daniel Hope. Other artists with whom he worked include Hermann Prey, Olaf Bär, Alban Gerhardt, Aron Quartet (Vienna), Philharmonia Quartet Berlin, John Neumeier, the Hamburg Ballet, and the actor Klaus Maria Brandauer.

He has recorded the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Chopin, Barber, Bernstein, Copland, and Gershwin for Berlin Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Glissando, Naxos, and Warner Classics. The CD “East meets West,” which he recorded together with Daniel Hope, won the German “ECHO” and was nominated for a 2005 Grammy. His CD with Sir Roger Norrington and the Camerata Salzburg was celebrated as one of the best Mozart recordings. For his CD with music by Franz Schubert, Gramophone magazine titled its review with the words: “Poise and discipline from a pianist we must hear more from.” His CD “Pure Mendelssohn” was the Gramophone editor’s choice recording of the month for March 2009.