MSO jetting to Asia

ARTHUR KAPTAINIS
The Gazette

Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra will take classic MSO French repertoire to Japan and Korea in April for their first multi-concert international tour together.

The schedule begins in Tokyo on April 10 and concludes with a pair of concerts in Seoul on April 18 and 19. Between these are two other dates in Tokyo and appearances in Osaka, Nagoya and Shizuoka.

Debussy's La Mer and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune are on the agenda, as well as Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and that familiar MSO calling card, Ravel's Boléro. German repertoire is represented by Strauss's An Alpine Symphony and excerpts from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Both the Berlioz and Strauss works require large orchestras - and travel expenses to match.

Only one concerto will be heard, in the final concert in Seoul. Ye-Eun Choi, the highly regarded second-prize winner of the 2006 Montreal International Musical Competition, will play Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3.

There are no Canadian soloists or Canadian repertoire selections. Nor does the new commissioned piece by South Korean composer Unsuk Chin, which Nagano and the MSO present in its U.S. premiere in New York's Carnegie Hall on March 8, figure in the Korean programs.

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008