L’ Orchestra de Chambre Français

Overview

Return engagement this year, by popular demand, L’ Orchestra de Chambre Français, a superb French ensemble, is one of the most celebrated groups in northern France - which brings together the best musicians of the Picardy and Paris regions. Conductor and piano soloist Eugene Albulescu combines a blazing technique with the artistic integrity and originality to express musical emotions at their profoundest level.

Related Sites

• L'Orchestre de chambre Francais Web Site
• Conductor/Pianist Eugene Albulescu Web Site

Program

• Mozart - “Milanese Quartet” in G major, KV 156
• Haydn - Piano Concerto in D major
• Elgar - Serenade in E minor, Op. 20
• Massenet - Le Dernier Sommeil de la Vierge
• Saint-Saëns - Prelude “Le Déluge,” Op. 45
• Saint-Saëns - Sarabande & Rigaudon, Op. 93

About the Artists

L'Orchestre de Chambre Français, acclaimed as one of France's best chamber orchestras, was founded in 1989 and is now based in Senlis near Paris, where it is the resident orchestra of the 18th century Théâtre Impérial in Compiège. L'Orchestre de Chambre Français is equally at home in baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary music, and takes a particular pleasure in bringing forgotten masterpieces to life.

Its talented instrumentalists play orchestral music in the spirit of chamber music. Many of its members are keen string quartet players and bring with them that particular passion for individual and collective music making with the energy, technique and attention to ensemble that kind of music requires.

L'Orchestre de Chambre Français has been an instrument for high quality music making in particular in Paris, performing at such venues as the Salle Pleyel, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Palais des Congrès, Église St. Germain des Prés, Hôtel de Lassay, etc., and throughout France.

In June 2005 they made their international debut playing at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Their frequent overseas tours have beeen met with a delighted reception, particularly in Spain where the orchestra is one of the most sought after French chamber groups, with appearances at the prestigious Santander International Festival, the Montserrat International Music Week, the International Festivals of Palencia and Gandia, and concerts in Madrid, Grenada, and other cities.

The orchestra also performs regularly in Switzerland (Tonhalle/Zürich, Stadt Casino /Basel & Genève, Théâtre Beaulieu/Lausanne), Holland (Concertgebouw/Amsterdam), Italy (the Roma International Festival of sacred music, Teatro Regio di Parma, La Pieta church/Venezia, Teatro Verdi/Fiorenzuola), Belgium (Palais des Beaux-Arts/Brussels), Germany, England and the Czech Republic (the Trutnov Autumn Festival).

The ensemble made its US debut with a concert in November 2002 in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York. In March 2005 they performed at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. and with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society.

Award-winning artist Eugene Albulescu has performed and recorded on 4 continents. A New Zealand pianist of Romanian origin, Mr. Albulescu currently lives in the US. His education started in Romania, age 6, at the Enescu music school in Bucharest. His family moved to New Zealand on 1984 to escape Romania's Communist regime. He won the TVNZ/NSZO National Young Musicians Competition in 1986. He completed his musical studies at Indiana University where, at 19, he was the youngest person ever to teach as an assistant instructor.

His emergence on the international scene came in 1994, when his debut recording (Albulescu Plays Liszt, MANU1446) earned him the Grand Prix du Disque Liszt, awarded for the best Liszt recording of the year, adding Albulescu's name to that of legendary recipients such as Horowitz and Brendel. Since then, Mr. Albulescu has maintained a successful career in the United States and abroad, having appeared at prestigious piano series such as Viva Piano in Auckland, the Dame Myra Hess in Chicago, as well as Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Noted critic Harold Schonberg praised Eugene Albulescu in the American Record Guide, for his "infallible fingers of steel", declaring that "nothing, anywhere has any terrors for him". Albulescu appeared in New York at BargeMusic in 1996, and later gave his Carnegie Hall Debut in the Stern Auditorium in 2001, performing the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Orchestra of St Peter. He gained national recognition in the US with broadcasts on several classical stations, as well as on NPR's Performance Today. His outreach in over 100 US high schools with a program entitled "Inside the Piano" linking technology and creativity earn him coverage from the major media, including articles in the Washington Post, Philadelphia Enquirer, as well as the cover of Clavier Magazine. He currently a Professor of Practice at Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, PA.