Rafael Payare’s first guest conducting appearance in the new year is with the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he conducts German violinist Carolin Widmann in Kaija Saariaho’s Graal théâtre along with Ravel’s Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony (Jan 23–26). When the conductor made his debut in Philadelphia in 2021, the Wall Street Journal declared him to be “a fireball of energy onstage,” proclaiming: “He is a musician to watch.”
Find more details about Payare’s upcoming guest conducting appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra here.
Rafael Payare and his Orchestre symphonique de Montréal received rave reviews for their November 2024 European tour with guest artist Daniil Trifonov. Beginning in London at the Barbican Theatre, Payare and his OSM were joined by soloist Javier Perianes for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on opening night. The program also included Iman Habibi’s Jeder Baum spricht and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, of which the Times UK lauded Payare’s interpretation, writing: “In a work that’s really about emotional fixation, Payare carefully planted the hero’s churning obsession into Berlioz’s seething textures, giving a brooding energy that tied the whole sprawling work together.” Read the full review here.
Additional opening night reviews in The Guardian and The Arts Desk praised Payare and the orchestra’s connection, with The Guardian noting: “…Payare was untroubled by the need to share the podium with a music stand and free to use every inch of the space – which he did enthusiastically, almost balletically, at times crouching so low as to be sharing the eye level of the players below him.”
Payare and his OSM were joined by Trifonov for the remainder of the European tour, making stops in Luxembourg, Paris, Hamburg, Berlin, Amsterdam, Munich, and Vienna. Of the Paris performance, Bachtrack wrote enthusiastically of Trifonov’s rendition of Schumann’s Piano Concerto, saying it “…was played with such naturalness, such organicity that we have never felt who followed, the orchestra, the conductor or the soloist.”
Read additional tour reviews in Le Devoir, La Presse, and Der Standard.
Rafael Payare and his Orchestre symphonique de Montréal embark on a European tour, joined by celebrated Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov who will perform Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto (November 19-30). Focusing on cultural capitals, the tour begins in London, where Javier Perianes will be the soloist for the Beethoven, and then proceeds with Trifonov to Luxembourg, Paris, Hamburg, Berlin, Amsterdam, Munich, and Vienna. The rest of the rotating repertoire comprises Iranian-Canadian composer Iman Habibi’s reflection on the climate crisis, Jeder Baum spricht (“Every tree speaks”), also composed to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday; Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and Symphonie fantastique; and Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony.
Leading up to their arrival in London, Payare was profiled in The Times (UK), which raved: “The OSM sounds wonderful under [Payare’s] direction — superbly prepared, lithe, silky, characterful and highly responsive to his very flexible tempos.” Read the full feature here.
For details about the upcoming tour, view the calendar.
Always in high demand as a guest conductor, this week Rafael Payare returns to the New York Philharmonic to lead Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with soloist Anthony McGill, Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony, and Sofia Gubaidulina’s Fairytale Poem, inspired by Miloš Macourek’s The Little Piece of Chalk, an allegory of artistic perseverance (Oct 23–25). After Payare’s debut with the orchestra in fall of 2022, conducting Shostakovich’s Twelfth Symphony, a critic for The New
Criterion reported:
“He almost physically enacted the symphony. To the music at hand, he always found ‘the gestural equivalent, ’ as Maazel would say. He seemed connected to the music – physically, kinetically. This music can be unwieldy, but he made it orderly and compact, which was very effective. Above all, he exhibited leadership, which is perhaps the key ingredient in conducting.”
For tickets, click here.
