Tour with Andrew Manze and Jan Lisiecki (Autumn 2023)
19-29 October 2023

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe is on the road again, this time with British conductor Andrew Manze and Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki. Together, they will perform three different programmes in 4 European cities:

• Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and Chopin’s Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante in Frankfurt and Hamburg on 22nd and 23rd October
• Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 and Haydn’s Symphony No. 98 in Berlin on 24th October
• Haydn’s Symphony No. 98, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in Eisenstadt on 29th October

We worked for the first with Jan Lisiecki in 2015, when he was just 20 years old. He performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 with the Orchestra, then conducted by Yannik Nézet-Séguin, a fellow Canadian. We were then to only reconvene in 2021 as our 9-concert Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle, planned for the summer of 2020 with performances at many German festivals, had to be cancelled for reasons we all know.

This is our second project with Andrew Manze with whom we worked just before the global pandemic hit the world, in January 2020 at the Salzburg Mozartwoche. Our concert also featured the COE’s former principal oboe François Leleux in an all-Mozart programme. Here is Andrew, saying in a short video why he was so looking forward to working with the COE:

Andrew Manze is widely celebrated as one of the most stimulating and inspirational conductors of his generation. His extensive and scholarly knowledge of the repertoire, together with his boundless energy and warmth, mark him out. He has been Chief Conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Hannover, since September 2014 and his contract has recently been extended until summer 2023. In the 2018/19 season he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

In addition to a busy touring schedule within Germany, in the 2019/20 season the NDR Radiophilharmonie will return to China, following their highly successful autumn 2016 tour, and also make their BBC Proms debut. Manze and the orchestra have embarked on a major series of award-winning recordings for Pentatone, focussed on the works of Mendelssohn and Mozart. The first recording in the Mendelssohn series won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik. Manze has also just finished recording a cycle of the complete Vaughan Williams symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for Onyx Classics.

In great demand as a guest conductor across the globe, Manze has long-standing relationships with leading orchestras that include the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Camerata Salzburg, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He is also a regular guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City. Recent and upcoming guest conducting highlights include engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Jan Lisiecki’s interpretations and technique speak to a maturity beyond his age. At 28, the Canadian performs over a hundred yearly concerts worldwide, and has worked closely with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, and Claudio Abbado (†).

In 2021/2022, Lisiecki presents a new recital programme featuring Chopins Nocturnes and Études in more than 30 cities all around the globe. Recent return invitations include Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Lisiecki recently performed a Beethoven Lieder cycle with baritone Matthias Goerne, among others at the Salzburg Festival, and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony and London Symphony Orchestra.

At the age of fifteen, Lisiecki signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The label launched its celebrations of the Beethoven Year 2020 with the release of a live recording of all five Beethoven concertos from Konzerthaus Berlin, with Lisiecki leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the piano. His Beethoven Lieder cycle with Matthias Goerne, released shortly after, was awarded the Diapason d’Or. Lisiecki’s eighth recording for the prestigious label, a double album of Frédéric Chopin’s Complete Nocturnes which he also showcases in his current recital programme, appeared in August 2021 and in February 2022 on vinyl, immediately topping the classical charts in North America and Europe. Most recently, his previous solo programme Night Music, featuring works by Mozart, Ravel, Schumann and Paderewski, was released as a digital album. His recordings have been awarded with the JUNO and ECHO Klassik. At eighteen, Lisiecki became both the youngest ever recipient of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award and received the Leonard Bernstein Award. He was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012.