The Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra - Joyeux Noël

Situated in Arnhem, the orchestra and its 90 musicians give some 100 symphonic concerts per season. The performances take place mainly in the province of Gelderland, in Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Rotterdam (De Doelen), Utrecht (Vredenburg Music Centre) and abroad. In addition, in collaboration with the National Touring Opera, Het Gelders Orkest performs an annual opera and accompanies various regional choirs. Following tours in Spain, Germany and Austria, the orchestra made its first Japanese tour in 2007, subsequently being invited to return in the spring of 2009.

Read here the extended biography of The Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra

Recorded on the 18^th of December in the Musis Sacrum Concert hall in Arnhem, Het Gelders Orkest (The Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra) presents a warm French Christmas. Pascal Rogé will perform Saint-Saëns´ Piano Concerto No. 5 and together with his wife Ami they perform in the lovely Carnaval des Animaux. The orchestra, conducted by former chief conductor Roberto Benzi, will start the concert with two French pieces inspired by Spain: Chabier´s Espana and Ravel´s Rapsodie Espagnole.

One concert for € 6,99 or all 3 Christmas Concerts for € 9,99
Click on the ticket at the left side, to go to the checkout page

The premiere of this webcast is on December 24^th 20:15 CET

If you don't have the opportunity to watch the performance on the premiere date, you can watch the production up to 15 January as Video on Demand at a time that suits you.

Chabrier España - rapsodie voor orkest
Saint-Saëns Pianoconcert nr. 5 ´Egyptische´
Saint-Saëns Carnaval des Animaux
Ravel Rapsodie Espagnole

PASCAL AND AMI ROGÉ "four hands and two hearts" Pascal Rogé is one of the great interpreters of French piano music - his name is simply synonymous with the best playing of French repertoire in the world today. For several years, Pascal has enjoyed playing recitals for four-hands/two-pianos with his partner in life and in music Ami Rogé. Together, they have travelled the world appearing at prestigious festivals and concert halls. The have appeared in New York Carnegie Hall, Hong Kong Joy of Music Festival, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the Beijing International Piano Festival, on tour in New Zealand, at Incontri in Terra di Sienna in Tuscany, at the Salisbury international Festival, the Thaxted Festival, Music for Galway, The Sage Gateshead, Nottingham´s Lakeside Arts Centre, London´s Chopin Society, and Petworth Festival.

Their recent tour of Japan saw them perform the premiere of Ami Suite, a new piece for four hands, written especially for them by the Japanese-American composer Paul Chihara. Additionally they have made a growing number of orchestral appearances together playing Poulenc´s Concerto for Two Pianos and Mendelssohn´s Concerto for Two Pianos in E Major, including the Shanghai Symphony, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Poznan Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon, and the Jyväskylä Symphony Orchestra in Finland. Pascal and Ami will record a 2 CD set of French repertoire for four-hands and two-pianos to be released on the Onyx Rogé Edition label in the coming year.

Together they will give the premiere of a newly-commissioned Concerto for Two Pianos by the composer Matthew Hindson with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy in 2011 "I have always said that my ambition was to play the music I love with the people I love; this has never been more true than today, since I have met Ami. With her I have been able to continue my search of sounds and colours throughout the French repertoire but now with four hands and two hearts. I believe that the love we share every day in our life together is our inspiration for interpreting the music and the emotions that transforms a double black and white piano recital into a single colourful dream." Pascal Rogé

Roberto Benzi was born of Italian parents on December 12, 1937 in Marseille (France), where his father taught solfege. His musical gifts, in particular his "perfect pitch", were apparent from an extremely young age. At three years old he began to learn solfege - at four, the piano. Before the age of ten he began his first lessons in orchestral conducting with André Cluytens. In 1948 came his own conducting debut, and with it, the definitive choice of a career. The cinema honoured the young talent, who starred in two musical films directed by Georges Lacombe : "Prelude to Glory" (1949), awarded by the Cannes Film Festival 1950 and "Call of Destiny" (1952), in which he costarred with Jean Marais. These films enjoyed an immense success throughout Europe, helping to assure Roberto Benzi´s early fame. At the same time they served to inspire a good number of young people to embark upon musical careers. After passing the French "baccalauréat" with distinction, Roberto Benzi attended the Sorbonne, and finished his musical studies with private courses in analysis and composition.

During a career that has now spanned more than 50 years, Benzi has conducted the most famous orchestras in the world : the Orchestre National de France and the Philharmonique Orchestra of Radio France ; the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris ; the London Symphony ; the London Philharmonic; the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra ; the English Chamber Orchestra ; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra ; the Stockholm and Oslo Philharmonics ; the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande ; the Zurich Tonhalle ; the Accademia Santa Cecilia di Roma ; the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam ; the Rotterdam Philharmonic ; the Dutch Radio Philharmonic ; the radio Orchestras of Hamburg and Hannover ; the Orquesta Nacional, Madrid ; the Radio Orchestra of Madrid ; the Wiener Symphoniker ; the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra ; the Bayerischer Rundfunk ; the Bayerischer Staatsorchester München ; the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne ; the Bamberger Symphoniker ; the Dresdner Philharmonic and the Staatskapelle ; the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra ; the Czech Philharmonic ; the Prague Symphony Orchestra ; the Slovak Philharmonic Bratislava ; the Leningrad Philharmonic ; the State Orchestra of the U.S.S.R ; the Moscow Philharmonic ; the Israel Philharmonic ; the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra ; the Tokyo Philharmonic ; the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra ; the Cleveland, the Philadelphia and the Minnesota (Minneapolis) Orchestras ; the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Montreal Symphony.

Roberto Benzi has also conducted in numerous festivals : in Vienna ; in Holland, Aix-en-Provence, Besançon, Montreux, Lausanne, Prague, Saint-Petersburg, Gulbenkian (Portugal), Robin Hood Dell and Ambler (Philadelphia), Blossom Music Center (Cleveland), Saratoga (New York) etc. In 1954, in Marseille, Roberto Benzi conducted his first opera - Rossini´s "The Barber of Seville", which featured the great coloratura Mado Robin as Rosina. Since that time he has been engaged at a great number of opera houses : the Metropolitan Opera, New York ; the National Theatre of Prague ; the Théatre Royal de la Monnaie (National Theatre) Brussels ; the Grand Théatre de Genè4ve ; the Teatro Verdi, Trieste ; the Sofia National Theatre etc., to mention but a few. In 1959/60 he was engaged as musical director for the first "Carmen" ever to be performed at the Paris Opéra Garnier. Since 1960 he has recorded numerous works for the Philips label ; also for E.M.I Classics, Forlane and Naxos. He was the founder and resident conductor of the Orchestre de Bordeaux-Aquitaine from 1972 to 1987 ; musical and artistic director of the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra (Het Gelders Orkest) from 1989 to 1998 ; and artistic supervisor and conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands (NJO) from 1991 to 1995. Roberto Benzi has taught conducting master classes since 1973 in France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. He has published various orchestrations by Editions Peters/Frankfurtrs, Salabert, Lemoine and Billaudot.

He holds the rank of Knight of the Légion d´honneur, the Ordre National du Mérite, the Palmes Académiques and the Dutch Royal Order of Nederlandse Leeuw.