Liverpool pianist Paul Lewis teams up with BBC Philharmonic

Jan 18 2009 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

FRENCH conductor Ludovic Morlot makes his debut at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester with the BBC Philharmonic on January 24 at 7pm.

Liverpool-born pianist Paul Lewis (left) will perform Mozart’s final piano concerto, K595. Lewis’ recent cycle of Beethoven Sonatas in concert and on CD won him great critical acclaim as well as a Classic FM Gramophone Award.

Newcomer Morlot originally trained as a violinist. He studied under Sir Colin Davis at the Royal Academy and later won a Fellowship to the Royal College of Music. He was assistant conductor at the Tanglewood Music Centre under James Levine from 2004 to 2007.

This season he will return to the New York Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony, with whom he regularly works.

The music for Dukas’ short ballet La Péri continues the orchestra’s Neglected Genius strand. Dukas is most famous for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice; far less well known is his sensuous ballet score based on a Persian myth about the seductive dance of a fairy who is too beautiful to die.

The programme opens with Stravinsky’s Fireworks, followed by Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s Night’s Black Bird, inspired by a lute song of John Dowland, which conjures up a distinctly nocturnal atmosphere.

Morlot returns to home territory in the second half of the concert with music by his compatriots Dukas, and finishing with the hrilling orchestral showpiece by Ravel, La Valse.

Tickets are priced £9-£31. Ring 0161 907 9000 or visit www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk.