Stravinsky x 6: V RSB Symphony Season Finale

Vladimir Jurowski has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since 2017. In 2023/2024, his concerts, tours and recordings were the highlights of the ‘RSB100’ anniversary season. His current contract in Berlin runs until 2027,
while he has also been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2021.

Vladimir Jurowski, one of the most sought-after conductors of our time, who is celebrated worldwide for his innovative musical interpretations and equally for his courageous artistic commitment, was born in Moscow in 1972 and completed the first part of his music studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. He moved to Germany with his family in 1990 and continued his studies at the music academies in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995, he made his debut at the Wexford Festival in Ireland with Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Mainacht’ and in 1996 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with ‘Nabucco’. He was then First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2001).

Vladimir Jurowski worked as Chief Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) for fifteen years until 2021 and has since been appointed Conductor Emeritus. In the UK, he was Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 2001 to 2013, leading a wide range of highly acclaimed productions. His close connection to British musical life was recognised by King Charles III in spring 2024 when he appointed Vladimir Jurowski an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). In April 2024, Vladimir Jurowski returned to London as a guest conductor to complete the concert performance cycle of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ with ‘Götterdämmerung’ with the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall.

He was Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra ‘Yevgeny Svetlanov’ of the Russian Federation until 2021 and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Great Britain, as well as Artistic Director of the International George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. He has also worked with the unitedberlin ensemble for many years. Vladimir Jurowski has suspended performances in Russia since February 2022. Ukrainian works are and will remain part of his repertoire, as will works by Russian composers.

Vladimir Jurowski has conducted concerts by the most important orchestras in Europe and North America, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. He is a regular guest at the music festivals in London, Berlin, Dresden, Lucerne, SchleswigHolstein and Grafenegg. Although Vladimir Jurowski is invited as a guest conductor by top orchestras from all over the world, he now concentrates his activities on those geographical areas that he can easily reach with reasonable effort from an ecological point of view.

The joint CD recordings by Vladimir Jurowski and the RSB began in 2015 with Alfred Schnittke’s Symphony No. 3, followed by works by Britten, Hindemith, Strauss, Mahler and again Schnittke. Vladimir Jurowski has been honoured many times for his achievements, including numerous international record awards. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Philharmonic Society from the hands of the current King Charles III. In 2020, Vladimir Jurowski’s work as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival was honoured by the Romanian President with the Order of Cultural Merit.

Originally, from Normandy, Sabine Devieilhe first studied cello and musicology before devoting herself to her vocal training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. She is a much sought-after singer both in her native France and internationally, with a repertoire ranging from early music to contemporary compositions.

Shortly after her graduation, invitations followed to the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Serpetta in Mozart’s “La finta giardiniera” and to Lyon for her debut as the Queen of the Night. Since then she has appeared at all the major opera houses including the Opéra Nationale de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the Opéra Comique, the Monnaie in Brussels, the Zurich Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival and the Salzburg Festival.

Sabine Devieilhe’s most recent successes were as Ophélie in Thomas’ Hamlet at the Opéra Comique in Paris, followed by Strauss’ “Rosenkavalier” (Sophie) at Zurich Opera, Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” (Zerbinetta) at La Scala in Milan, in Donizetti’s “La fille du régiment” (Marie) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and in Rameau’s “Les Indes galantes” at the Opéra National de Paris.

Despite Corona, the 2020-2021 season brought a recital tour with Alexandre Tharaud, where they presented their new lied album “Chanson d’Amour” in venues such as the Monnaie in Brussels, the Théâtre du Capitôle in Toulouse, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, the Philharmonie in Berlin, La Scala in Milan and the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. Scenic productions include Mozart’s “Magic Flute” (Queen of the Night) at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, at the Paris Opera, as well as at the Vienna State Opera and Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” (Olympina) at the Vienna State Opera. Concert projects include Mozart arias at the Monnaie in Brussels with Raphaël Pichon, works by Ravel with Pablo Heras-Casado at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Poulenc’s Gloria with Lorenzo Viotti at the Philharmonie in Paris, Mozart’s C minor Mass with the Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon, and Mozart arias with Ivor Bolton at the Salzburg Festival.

Sabine Devieilhe makes her RSB debut with Britten’s “Les Illuminations” under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski in June 2021.

Sabine Devieilhe has been an exclusive Erato/Warner Classics artist since 2012. Her discography includes the Mozart album “The Weber Sisters” with Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon, the album “Mirages” with Les Siècles under François-Xavier Roth and her album “Chanson d’Amour” with songs by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc.