Michael Collins and Michael McHale – May 17, 2021

Live streamed from Wigmore Hall, London

Michael Collins and Michael McHale

Following its ‘fabulously sleek and stylish performance’ (The Guardian) in the Hall’s June 2020 special lunchtime broadcast series, the duo returns for a program including Horovitz’s Sonatina which premièred at Wigmore Hall in 1981. Widor is better known for his organ symphonies, and his Introduction et rondo was composed in 1898 while he held the position of Director of Organ Studies at the Paris Conservatoire. At its première in 1935, Bax’s clarinet sonata was actually played twice; it was repeated in the program when the sheet music for a work by Lennox Berkeley was lost in the post! Each of the four Time Pieces by Muczynski highlights a characteristic of the clarinet in terms of range, technical prowess, tone colour, and expressiveness. Following its ‘fabulously sleek and stylish performance’ (The Guardian) in the Hall’s June 2020 special lunchtime broadcast series, the duo returns for a program including Horovitz’s Sonatina which premièred at Wigmore Hall in 1981. Widor is better known for his organ symphonies, and his Introduction et rondo was composed in 1898 while he held the position of Director of Organ Studies at the Paris Conservatoire. At its première in 1935, Bax’s clarinet sonata was actually played twice; it was repeated in the program when the sheet music for a work by Lennox Berkeley was lost in the post! Each of the four Time Pieces by Muczynski highlights a characteristic of the clarinet in terms of range, technical prowess, tone colour, and expressiveness.

Michael Collins, clarinet

Michael Collins is one of the most complete musicians of his generation. With a continuing, distinguished career as a soloist, he has in recent years also become highly regarded as a conductor. He is Artistic Director in Residence of the London Mozart Players, and from 2010 – 2018 he was the Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia. Recent guest conducting and play-directing highlights have included engagements with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.

Recent highlights include a return to the Philharmonia Orchestra as conductor; performances worldwide with orchestras including Minnesota Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Rheinische Philharmonie, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, and tours in South Africa, Australia (with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Japan and Mexico (with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional).

In January 2021 Michael gave the debut performance of new ensemble Wigmore Soloists, a new Associate Ensemble funded by the Wigmore Hall. Led by Michael Collins and violinist Isabelle van Keulen, Wigmore Soloists will see leading instrumentalists coming together to perform a wide range of chamber music repertoire from duets to works for up to 10 musicians.

Michael Collins has been committed to expanding the repertoire of the clarinet for many years. He has given premières of works such as John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons, Elliott Carter’s Clarinet Concerto – for which he won a Gramophone award for his recording on Deutsche Grammophon – and Brett Dean’s Ariel’s Music and Turnage’s Riffs and Refrains, which was commissioned by the Hallé Orchestra. Collins has gone on to perform Turnage’s work with the Residentie Orkest, Royal Flanders and Helsinki Philharmonics, as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Collins has received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award in 2007 in recognition of his pivotal role in premièring repertoire by some of today’s most highly regarded composers.

Michael McHale, piano

Belfast-born Michael McHale is one of Ireland’s leading pianists. Since completing his studies at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, he has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. He has performed at many important musical centres including Suntory Hall, Tokyo; Lincoln Center, New York; Symphony Hall, Boston; Konzerthaus, Berlin; Pesti Vigadó, Budapest, and the Ushuaia, Chopiniana and Tanglewood Festivals.

He has performed as soloist with the Hallé, Minnesota, Bournemouth Symphony and Moscow Symphony orchestras, the Teatro Colon Orchestra, Discovery Ensemble, London Mozart Players and all five of the major Irish orchestras in repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven to Gershwin, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov.

A commitment to new music has seen Michael give first performances and recordings of music by composers including Arvo Pärt, Valentin Silvestrov, John Tavener, Luke Bedford and Ian Wilson, as well as concerto world premières by Irish composers Garrett Sholdice (with Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Irish Chamber Orchestra) and Philip Hammond (with Nicholas Collon and the Ulster Orchestra for BBC Radio 3).

His début solo recitals in the Wigmore Hall, London, the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and the Phillips Collection, Washington DC received great public and critical acclaim, with the Washington Post praising his “bravura playing in the music of Franz Liszt” and his “beautifully proportioned and energetic account of Mozart’s Sonata in C minor, K.457”.

Program
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
Introduction et rondo Op. 72
Arnold Bax (1883-1953)
Clarinet Sonata in D
Robert Muczynski (1929-2010)
Time Pieces Op. 43
Joseph Horovitz (b.1926)
Sonatina

Monday, May 17, 2021 8:00am ET / 1:00pm GMT
This concert will be available on demand for 30 days after the date of the concert.

To enjoy this concert visit: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk