Tenor Christoph Prégardien and Pianist Julius Drake to Perform All-Schubert Recital

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 1/23/2018

PHOTOSPlease visit: http://bit.ly/2qVjb4Q

PRESS CONTACTDaniel MeyersMarketing CoordinatorUniversity of Chicago Presentsmeyersd@uchicago.edu773.702.8068

CHICAGO – On Sunday, February 18, 2018, at 2:00 p.m., in Mandel Hall, lyric tenor Christoph Prégardien makes his Chicago debut alongside pianist Julius Drake. They will perform lieder from their 2015 album Poetisches Tagebuch (Poetic Diary).

The album and recital take their name from a 100-poem collection by Ernst Schulze (1789–1817). Schubert’s settings of nine of these poems occupy the first half of the program, and the second half consists of eight songs on poems by different poets.

Christoph Prégardien has become known to audiences worldwide as a lieder singer, opera singer, and, more recently, a conductor. His performances have garnered praise from The New York Times for their “plaintive beauty and piercing insight.” Previous Schubert recordings have earned nods from Gramophone Magazine and the German Record Critics’ Association (Die Schöne Müllerin and Poetisches Tagebuch, respectively).

One of the most celebrated recital pianists today, Julius Drake has collaborated with Ian Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside, and Joyce DiDonato, among others. Poetisches Tagebuch marks Prégardien and Drake’s first recording together.

Please note: Matinee concerts at UChicago Presents this season start at 2:00 p.m.

 SUNDAY / FEBRUARY 18 / 2:00 PM / MANDEL HALL

Poetisches Tagebuch

Christoph Prégardien, tenor; Julius Drake, piano

SCHUBERT: Nine songs on poems by Ernst Schulze

Auf der Bruck D.853Der liebliche Stern D.861Im Walde D.834Um Mitternacht D.862Lebensmut D.883Im Frühling D.882An mein Herz D.860Tiefes Leid D.876Über Wildemann D.884

INTERMISSION

SCHUBERT: Eight songs on poems by different poetsDaß sie hier gewesen D.775 (Rückert)Greisengesang D.778 (Rückert)Du bist die Ruh’ D.776 (Rückert)Im Walde (Waldesnacht) D.708 (Schlegel)Nacht und Traüme D.827 (Collin)Fischerweise D.881 (Schlecta)Totengräbers Heimweh D.842 (Craigher)Der Winterabend D.938 (Leitner)

CONCERT LOCATIONMandel Hall, 1131 E 57th St, Chicago, IL 60637

TICKETS$38 | $20 Under 35 | $10 StudentsCall 773.702.ARTS (773.702.2787) or visit tickets.uchicago.edu

BOX OFFICEUChicago Arts Box Office, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E 60th StreetRegular hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 12 pm – 6 pm and through concert intermission; 1 – 4 pm on concert Sundays.

Concert information online at chicagopresents.uchicago.edu.

ABOUT CHRISTOPH PREGARDIEN

Precise vocal control, clear diction, intelligent musicality and an ability to get to the heart of everything he sings ensures Christoph Prégardien’s place among the world’s foremost lyric tenors. Especially revered as a Lieder singer, he can be heard this season at the Wigmore Hall London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, in Madrid, Torino, New York, Washington, Chicago, and Cleveland. He will also perform at renowned festivals such as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg Hohenems, the Snape Proms Aldeburgh,

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and the Schwetzingen Festival.

Following the success of his conducting debut with J. S. Bach’s St. John’s Passion with the ensemble Le Concert Lorrain (LCL) and the Nederlands Kamerkoor in 2012 and 2013, Prégardien again led LCL and the Balthasar-Neumann Choir in 2015 with the St. Matthew’s Passion. In 2016 the LCL performed Bach’s Christmas Oratorio under his baton in Metz and Santander. Since 1988, Prégardien has had a very close relationship with the Duisburg Philharmonic. In the 2010/11 season, he was Artist in Residence, and in 2016 he celebrated his 60th birthday with the ensemble with concerts and a Schubert cycle. In 2019, he will conduct the orchestra for the first time in works including Mozart’s Requiem.

Prégardien appears regularly with renowned orchestras the world over, including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonic de Radio France, and the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies. His wide orchestral repertoire includes the great baroque, classical, and romantic oratorios and passions, as well as works from the 17th and 20th centuries. He has collaborated with conductors such as Barenboim, Chailly, Gardiner, Harnoncourt, Herreweghe, Luisi, Metzmacher, Nagano, and Thielemann. In opera his roles have included Tamino (The Magic Flute), Almaviva (Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Fenton (Verdi’s Falstaff), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and the title roles in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo as well as Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria.

Much of Prégardien’s repertoire has been recorded on the BMG, EMI, DG, Philips, Sony, Erato and Teldec labels. His discography numbers over 130 titles, many of which have been awarded international prizes, and his celebrated recordings of German romantic Lieder have won the Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique, as well as the Prix Georg Solti, German Record Critics’ Prize, Edison Award, Cannes Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or. Prégardien forged a long-term collaboration with the Dutch label Challenge Classics; they first released Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin (Michael Gees) and Schwanengesang (Andreas Staier) in 2008. Müllerin was highly praised as “Best of the Year” in Gramophone and was honored at MIDEM 2009 (“Record and Vocal Recital of the Year”). Further recordings include Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch (Julia Kleiter, Hilko Dumno), Between Life and Death (Michael Gees), Wanderer (ensembleKONTRASTE) and the Grammy-nominated new release of Winterreise with Michael Gees. In 2014, the album Father and Son with his son Julian Prégardien (Michael Gees) received great acclaim, and the Schubert CD Poetisches Tagebuch (Julius Drake) was awarded the German Critics’ Award 2016.

Teaching remains a very important part of Prégardien’s musical life. From 2000 to 2004 he taught at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich. Since 2004 he has been a professor at the Academy of Music in Cologne. As part of Schott’s “Master Class” series, he published an innovative

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multimedia DVD/book addressing vocal technique and musical interpretation.

ABOUT JULIUS DRAKE

The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc.

He appears regularly at all the major music centers: the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich, Schubertiade, and Salzburg Music Festivals; Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center New York; the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Philarmonie Berlin; the Châtalet and Musée de Louvre Paris; La Scala Milan and Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid; Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna; and Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms London.

Director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000–2003, Drake was also musical director of Deborah Warner’s staging of Janáček’s Diary of One WhoVanished, touring to Munich, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, and New York. Since 2009 he has been Artistic Director of the Machynlleth Festival in Wales.

Drake’s passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for the Wigmore Hall, London, the BBC and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. A series of song recitals—“Julius Drake and Friends”—in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London, has featured recitals with many outstanding vocal artists including Sir Thomas Allen, Olaf Bär, Iestyn Davies, Sergei Leiferkus, Dame Felicity Lott, Simon Keenlyside, Christoph Prégardien, and Sir Willard White.

Drake’s many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion, for which the Barber Songs, Schumann Heine Lieder, and Britten Songs and Proverbs have won the 2007, 2009, and 2011 Gramophone Awards; award-winning recordings with Ian Bostridge for EMI; several recitals for the Wigmore Live label, with Alice Coote, Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Liebersen, Christopher Maltman, and Matthew Polenzani among others; and recordings of Tchaikovsky and Mahler with Christianne Stotijn for Onyx and English song with Bejun Mehta for Harmonia Mundi.

Drake is now embarked on a major project to record the complete songs of Franz Liszt for Hyperion: the second disc in the series, with Angelika Kirchschlager, won the BBC Music Magazine Award for 2012.

Concerts in the coming seasons include recitals in his series, “Julius Drake and Friends,” at the historic Middle Temple Hall in London with Christine Rice, Iestyn Davies, Simon Keenlyside and Ian Bostridge as well as concerts at the Barbican, London and Teatro Zarzuelas, Madrid with Danielle De Niese; at Carnegie Hall, New York and Wigmore Hall, London with Alice

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Coote; in Florence, Vienna, Schwezingen, and Wiesbaden with Gerald Finley; Madrid and Amsterdam with Sarah Connolly; and London and the Schubertiade Festival with Christoph Prégardien.

ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESENTS

Now in its 74th year of bringing the world's best artists to Chicago, The University of Chicago Presents offers 25 unique performances in six distinct series in the 2017/18 season, from early music to classical, contemporary, and jazz. This season celebrates the richness that music has to offer with unrivaled musical experiences that bring passion and virtuosity to the stage.

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