Lionel Bringuier’s Season Opening Editorial
Every quarter, the OPRL MAG, our printed magazine, is sent to subscribers, featuring the latest news, updates and upcoming concerts. Each issue also includes an editorial by our Music Director, which we are delighted to share with you here.
Dear audience,
The new season is already upon us, and with it comes the beginning of a new chapter for the OPRL. We have chosen to place this season under the banner of “a thousand colours”, a phrase that captures the essence of our Orchestra so well: the shimmering richness of its sound, its appetite for adventure and its ability to connect with every audience that comes to discover it.
I am delighted to share this palette of colours with our musicians throughout the autumn. Following a season opening devoted to the great Russian Romantic tradition of Tchaikovsky and the irresistible energy of Shostakovich, we will be joined by the world-renowned Hilary Hahn for the European premiere of Carlos Simon’s Double Concerto Suite, bringing together the work of the OPRL’s American Composer-in-Residence with Rachmaninoff’s monumental Second Symphony. The French repertoire that lies at the heart of our Orchestra’s identity will take centre stage in November with Henri Dutilleux, a composer particularly dear to me for his extraordinary genius for orchestral colour.
To bring all these works to life, I wanted to invite some exceptionally talented artists and friends: Behzod Abduraimov, Hilary Hahn, Victor Julien-Laferrière and Seth Parker Woods. Many other outstanding musicians will also take to the stage at the Philharmonic Hall for a host of exciting events: pianists Benjamin Grosvenor and Valère Burnon, organist Vincent Dubois, and soprano Céline Scheen, whom many of you already know well.
As for the repertoire, the season brings a wealth of new discoveries to Liège. We will celebrate the centenary of John Coltrane with the Orchestra and the great saxophonist Joe Lovano, while our “New Classics” concert will feature music by Jonny Greenwood of the legendary band Radiohead, alongside David Bowie reimagined by Philip Glass. And the great favourites of the repertoire are not forgotten: Beethoven and Mozart will be conducted by one of the foremost names in the classical repertoire, Ton Koopman.
Finally, I would like to highlight the wonderful work of the OPRL teams in supporting and showcasing young talent, both performers — including Valère Burnon and Ross Jamie Collins — and composers. We will have the pleasure of presenting Momo, the Little Fisherman by Haru Shionoya, a work for young audiences that won the Young Composers Competition in Besançon, as well as bringing back a magnificent work commissioned from Gwenaël Mario Grisi: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
Our musicians have also prepared a selection of chamber music events for the “Music at Midday” series, as well as special concerts for our youngest listeners through Philharbabies.
We cannot wait to welcome you back and to share with you, together with our musicians, all the projects we have dreamed up for this new season.
Lionel Bringuier
Music Director
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