At the MIDEM Fair in January 2002 the Danish composer Poul Ruders is to receive the prestigious \"Living Composer Award\".
\"In choosing Poul Ruders to receive the Living Composer Award for his magnificent opera, we
hope to create additional interest in his work, and draw attention to the fact that his is one of the major voices in contemporary music today, not just in his native Denmark, but throughout the world.\"
This is how the chairmen of the Cannes Classical Award, David Hurwitz and Christophe Huss, motivated the award to Poul Ruders. They represent an organization whose members are international record periodicals. Representatives of the Cannes Classical Award are at present visiting Denmark and announced the exciting news at a press conference on Friday 5th October.
Ruders will be presented with the prize on 20th January 2002 in Cannes during the MIDEM Fair, where Danish cultural figures will be making a very strong showing. To celebrate the presentation of the prestigious prize to Poul Ruders, the Danish Radio Concert Orchestra will be playing at the Palais des Festivals under the baton of the Norwegian conductor Rolf Gupta. The event, which will be attended by HRH Prince Henrik of Denmark, will be an opportunity to present a broad selection of Danish musical culture.
THE HANDMAID\'S TALE
Poul Ruders\' hugely successful opera The Handmai\''s Tale has been extremely well received by reviewers in Denmark and abroad. In newspapers, magazines and various Internet reviews, critics in France, Germany, the USA and England have praised the opera itself, the music, the cast, the conductor, the plot - in fact more or less everything - to the skies.
Opera houses abroad are already calling for the critically acclaimed opera. In 2003 The Handmai\''s Tale is to be performed at both the English National Opera in London in March-April, and at the same time at the Minnesota Opera in Minneapolis in the USA. While the London performance will be in the Danish Royal Theatre\'s production, the Minnesota Opera\'s will be a new production in collaboration with Indiana University.
WHAT THE PAPERS SAID:
\"The cast, among whom there is not a weak link, sing their hearts out, and Michael Schønwandt conveys the kaleidoscopic colours of Ruders\'s score with remarkable clarity; the recording is first-class\"
Michael Oliver - Gramophone, March 2001
\"The opera\'s genius lies in Ruders\'s ability to find a sound world that mirrors the novel\'s oppressive tone. In the pit Michael Schønwandt astounds as always. You need to hear this, if you think your nerves can take it ^ but you must prepare to be disturbed and very, very afraid if you do.\" CD OF THE WEEK. Tom Ashley - The Guardian, January 19, 2001
(about creating the music for the libretto) \"It isn\'t too much to say that this succeeded for Ruders beyond all expectations, as he has created a musical universe that is a match for the great lyric successes of the century. With fantastic assurance Schønwandt conducts an orchestral work of great virtuosity and complexity as if he was already dealing with a classic; he handles the monstrous with an almost Strauss-like grace.\" Pascal Brissaud - Rèpertoire No 142, January 2001.
\"Ruders deploys a huge modern orchestra, including organ, synthesisers and exotic percussion, with vivid imagination and deploys his complex sound palette with great skill and unfailing interest. The performance and recording (live from the Royal Danish Theatre in March 2000) sounds exemplary to my ears.\" Peter Grahame Woolf - www.musicweb.uk.net
\"Ruders\' work is far more cohesive than any film score, ... creating some of the most chilling, unworldly sounds of futurist horror you\'ve ever heard. The vocal lines are amazingly clear. The performers are simply stunning. This magnificent recording is the best way to experience Ruders\' spectacular achievement. Don\'t miss it.\" Victor Carr Jr. - Classics Today.com, February 2001
The Handmaid\'s Tale has been recorded as a collaboration of Dacapo, Danmarks Radio and the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen.
THE HANDMAID\'S TALE
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/catalogue/recording.php3?k=1&id=1256
MORE POUL RUDERS ON DACAPO:
CONCERTOS
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/catalogue/recording.php3?k=1&id=1031
A DRUMMER\'S TALE
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/catalogue/recording.php3?k=1&id=1150
SOLAR TRILOGY
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/catalogue/recording.php3?k=1&id=1079
STRING QUARTETS NO 2 & 3
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/catalogue/recording.php3?k=1&id=1005
SYMPHONY NO 2, PIANO CONCERTO
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/catalogue/recording.php3?k=1&id=1147
WORKS FOR PIANO
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/catalogue/recording.php3?k=1&id=1053
Kindest regards
Mette Lautrup Esmann
National Publicist
dacapo
Christianshavns Torv 2
DK - 1410 København K
Phone: +45 56 31 38 25
Email: mette@dacapo-records.dk
http://www.dacapo-records.dk
