The first details have been released for the Barbican's flagship Great Performers series for the 2008-2009 season. In a press reception before the first concert of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Sibelius cycle – a highlight of this season's series – the Barbican's Managing Director, Nicholas Kenyon, and Head of Music, Robert van Leer, seemed impatient to reveal the delights they had in store.
Van Leer spoke of his desire to forge lasting partnerships with great orchestras and artists and the new season sees a three-concert residency for the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and their Music Director, Riccardo Chailly. The programming reflects both the orchestra's unique history and Chailly's own heritage: there'll be Rossini's Petite Messe Solenelle in November, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on New Year's Day 2009 and Bach's St. Matthew Passion at Easter.
Thomas Quastoff, who will be performing with Chailly in the Bach, also has a mini-residence of his own, appearing with René Jacobs and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in Haydn's Creation in January, in a programme of Bach Cantatas with the Berliner Barocksolisten in March, as well as concerts in September and October 2009. Ian Bostridge's 'Homeward Bound' series continues until December 2008 (including a Winterreise with Mitsuko Uchida on 21 October). In a further departure, Bostridge will also be appearing at the end of the season – June 2009 - in Weill's Threepenny Opera, alongside Dorothea Röschmann and Angelika Kirchschlager.
The season proper kicks off with another mouth-watering prospect, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Evgeny Kissin joining forces in a programme of songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov on 16 October. Two days later, there are more illustrious Russians in town as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic plays Tchaikovsky's 'Pathéthique' under Yuri Temirkanov.
There's plenty of opera as well. In November we have the tempting prospect of Simon Keenlyside and Angelika Kirchschlager in scenes from Viennese operetta, accompanied by Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens du Louvre, then William Christie conducting Rameau's Les Indes galantes.
In his anniversary year, Handel is amply represented: Samson with The Sixteen under Harry Christophers on 12 February; Emmanuelle Haïm conducts Kate Royal and Le Concert d'Astrée in La Resurrezione on 31 March; and the Academy of Ancient Music, under Christopher Hogwood, performs Arianna in Creta in May just before Ivor Bolton leads the Concerto Köln in Athalia (with soloists including Véronique Gens and Carolyn Sampson). Purcell, likewise enjoying an anniversary year, is represented by his King Arthur in early May: Hervé Niquet will conduct Le Concert Spirituel and soloists including Susan Gritton and James Gilchrist.
Star mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato makes two appearances, first with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset in more Handel – a programme of mad scenes entitled 'Furore' on 13th December – and then a programme with Patrizia Ciofi and the Liceu Orchestra under John Nelson in April, the programme for which remains tantalisingly unconfirmed. Another exciting prospect, details likewise unconfirmed, is a three day residency at the end of January of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Chorus under the indefatigable Valery Gergiev.
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's close relationship with the Barbican continues in two concerts under Bernard Haitink in March (Mozart, Debussy and Beethoven in the first, Bruckner's Ninth Symphony in the second). Other orchestras visiting in early 2009 will be the Orchestre des Champs Elysées under Phillipe Herreweghe in Mendelssohn and Schumann, the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänska and the Oslo Philharmonic under Jukka-Pekka Saraste (with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter).
The impressive line-up is completed with recitals by several other great names: Magdalena Kožená, Murray Perahia, Ben Heppner, Andreas Scholl (with the Basel Chamber Orchestra), Hilary Hahn, Lang Lang and Deborah Voigt. Full details of all the concerts and updated programming information will be available on the Barbican website from Thursday 22nd November when booking opens for Barbican members.
By Hugo Shirley