Wigmore Hall to start streaming concerts from next season
Martin Cullingford
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
2015/16 programme will also see Simon Rattle's Wigmore debut - as pianist, accompanying Magdalena Kožená
Wigmore Hall will begin streaming performances from the 2015/16 season, joining international institutions including the Berlin Philharmonie and France's new Philharmonie de Paris in offering audiences throughout the world the chance to watch their music-making live.
Major refurbishment work at the iconic London venue planned for the summer will include the installation of 'state-of-the-art digital facilities' which will give the ability to capture and stream concerts. Further details will be announced in the autumn, but it is suggested that potentially up to one concert a month might be made available, and that they will be free to watch.
As to what might be available for such web audiences to watch, hints might lie in the Hall's programme for the next season, unveiled today, which will open with the Gramophone Award-winning singer Iestyn Davies - the Award was for the countertenor's recital Arise My Muse, issued on the Wigmore Hall Live label. The diversity of artists and repertoire is well illustrated by plans for both a two-season survey of Schubert's complete Lieder (more than 600 songs) drawing on some of the world's leading singers and stretching over 40 concerts, and a residency by the choral group The Sixteen.
Other series will include one entitled Celebrating Magdalena Kožená, for one of the five concerts of which the mezzo will be joined by her husband Sir Simon Rattle on piano - the conductor's Wigmore Hall debut. Another in the series will see her perform music from the 1920s and '30s at London's Wilton's Music Hall, the first time Wigmore Hall has promoted a concert 'off campus', as Wigmore Hall Director John Gilhooly put it at today's launch.
There will also be 40 commissions from composers include Sally Beamish, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Nico Muhly. In total, the Wigmore Hall season will feature 460 concerts and 460 Learning events. A new subsidised ticket scheme will mean thousands of £5 tickets will be made available to the under-35s, and at least some tickets for every evening event will be priced at £15 or below. There's even a new website for the venue, where you can find out further details: Wigmore Hall