This Week in Classical Music w/Randy Kinkel 7/10/19

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Radu Lupu Announces Retirement; 

Graf to Lead Singapore Symphony

 

It’s “This Week in Classical Music”; an update on what’s happening in the classical music world; I’m Randy Kinkel.

Pianist Radu Lupu has decided to retire from the concert stage at the end of the 2018-19 season, according to a statement from his agent.

Born in Galați, Romania, Lupu had his first piano lessons at the age of six. Making his public debut at age twelve, He soon established himself as one of the great pianists of his generation, winning three of the music world’s most prestigious competitions: the Van Cliburn in (1966), the George Enescu (1967), and the Leeds International Piano Competition (1969).

As a performer, Lupu excelled in 19th-century German and Austrian piano works, especially those of Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms; the enigmatic 73-year-old has frustrated many of his fans—his last recoerding was done in the mid-1990s, is absent from social media, and refuses to be interviewed.

His health has been in decline; in the last two years he has cancelled appearances with increased frequency. Though Radu Lupu’s live concert appearances are coming to an end, you can still enjoy his extensive recording catalog, including his complete recordings from Decca.

 

Austrian maestro Hans Graf will be the Singapore Symphony Orchestra's (SSO) new chief conductor.

The 70-year-old said in a statement: "When I first came to Singapore, I found an orchestra of international level. Now I am pleased and honoured to be invited to work with them in the future: I feel in them the joy of making music… and it will be my goal to lead and go forward with them in this noble passion."

Graf will plan and conduct six concert weeks in the 2020/21 season as well as work with the orchestra to develop an artistic vision.

Graf was music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra from 2001 to 2013 and holds the title of Conductor Laureate. Before his appointment to the Houston Symphony Orchestra, he held the post of music director of the Calgary Philharmonic for eight seasons and of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine for six years. He also led the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg from 1984 to 1994.