Antonello Manacorda

Antonello Manacorda gave his long-awaited debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at this year’s Blossom Music Festival. The program featured Mendelssohn’s Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Berlioz’ “Les nuits d’été” with soprano Véronique Gens and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. The press called this debut “impressive” pointing out that “that kind of synchronization between conductor and players simply doesn’t happen that often”: “Manacorda lived the music, joyfully exchanging smiles with orchestra members, giving deft leadership through transitions, and getting out of the way and letting the orchestra run like the thoroughbreds they are in many passages.”

A founding member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Antonello Manacorda comes full circle this September conducting the ensemble on tour in Grafenegg, Verona as well as at the Musikfest Berlin and the Lucerne Festival. A few days later, he reunites with another cherished ensemble, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, for his debut at the BBC Proms conducting Mozart’s Symphony No. 1 as well as Farrenc’s and Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 3. Tune in and listen live on BBC Radio 3 on Friday, September 13, at 19:30.

With the complete recording of the Beethoven symphonies released earlier this year on Sony Classical, Antonello Manacorda and the Kammerakademie Potsdam have been celebrating a coup. The recording of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 5th and 6th symphonies, released in October 2023 has now been awarded the Opus Klassik in the category “Best Symphonic Recording” and the complete cycle has been selected as Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice: “Beethoven (…) intended each of his symphonies, at least from the Eroica onwards, to be a dynamic, transformative experience. For me this superbly played and recorded set – fiery, punchily disruptive, yet caring for the long lyrical line – makes his point.”

The Kammerakademie Potsdam and its Chief Conductor Antonello Manacorda continue their new Beethoven symphony cycle with Sony Classical, presenting Symphonies No. 5 and 6. The album will be released on October 6th 2023.

For their complete recordings of symphonies by Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, under the musical direction of Antonello Manacorda, has received multiple awards. Their recording of the last three Mozart symphonies earned them the OPUS Klassik 2022 award for “Orchestra of the Year.” Last year, they embarked on a new Beethoven cycle with Symphonies No. 1, 2, and 7, which they now continue with the central Symphonies No. 5 & 6.

“We perform on modern instruments. We use modern woodwind instruments, but also natural horns and trumpets, as well as smaller trombones with a reduced diameter. It is a combination of the old and the new. This allows us to perform works for larger ensembles without needing forty string players, as it becomes much easier to achieve the right balance and the proper level of clarity,” says Antonello Manacorda.

Critics praised their first album with “incredible anticipation and zest for life” (Stereoplay) as well as “inner logic and convincing power” (FONO FORUM).