Date/Time
Date(s) - 14 Feb 2012
Location
Guangzhou Opera House, Opera Hall
Price：RMB1080、880、680、580、380、280
Ticket booking phone：020-38392888/020-38392666
Address：No.1 Zhujiang West Road, Zhujiang New Town, Tianhe District, Guangzhou广州市天河区珠江新城珠江西路1号
More info
Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti. He later included jazz, klezmer and other genres in his repertoire.
At the age of 16, Kennedy was invited by Stéphane Grappelli to appear with him at New York’s Carnegie Hall, under the threat from his teachers at the Juilliard that it would ruin his classical career.[5] He made his recording debut in 1984 with Elgar’s Violin Concerto. Kennedy’s recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1989 sold over 2 million copies and earned a place as one of the best-selling classical works ever.[6] The album remained top of the UK classical charts for over a year with sales equivalent to one copy sold every 30 seconds.
He gave numerous performances for The Prince’s Trust, the Royal Variety Performance and private performances at St. James’s Palace and Buckingham Palace. He released his biography Always Playing in 1991.[8] He then took the controversial and highly publicised decision to withdraw completely from public performance, at which point he made the album Music In Color with Stephen Duffy. He made a triumphant return to the international concert platform to critical acclaim five years later. In 1997, Kennedy received an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music at the BRIT Awards, and in 2001 received the ‘Male Artist of the Year’ award.
Kennedy recorded a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” for the 1993 album Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. In 1999 Sony Classical released The Kennedy Experience, which featured improvisational recordings of Hendrix compositions. According to a BBC interview with Kennedy, the violinist stated that the recording is “an album of music inspired by Jimi Hendrix. It is an extended instrumental work in six movements, each movement a classical interpretation of a Hendrix song”.On the recording, Kennedy is accompanied by seven other musicians, and the lineup includes two cellos, an oboe, two guitars, a Dobro, flute, and double bass. With cellist Lynn Harrell, he has recorded an album of duets.
In 2000, he has recorded Riders on the Storm: The Doors Concerto (with Jaz Coleman), a violin based orchestral version of many Doors songs, including “Strange Days”, “LA Woman”, “The End”, and “Riders On The Storm”. And, on the 27th of November, Kennedy joined rock group The Who at the Royal Albert Hall to play the violin solo on the song “Baba O’Riley”, released three years later on the album Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Kennedy has played on several tracks by British singer/songwriter Kate Bush, who was a guest on Kennedy’s episode of This Is Your Life. He was featured on two of Sarah Brightman’s songs for her 2003 album Harem.
He has been exploring Klezmer music with the Polish jazz band Kroke. The band consists of musicians “who have been knocking around with Kennedy for five years. … [Kennedy explains], ‘I met them all separately at jam sessions in the jazz club near where I live in Cracow, … I thought: that’s the drummer I want, that’s the bass player, and so on. They’ve all got their own projects.’”
In late 2005, Kennedy went to New York to record his first album for the jazz label Blue Note Records. Other musicians on the album were Ron Carter on double bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums; and saxophonist Joe Lovano. Kennedy has since stated that “from now on, at least 50 per cent of my endeavour is going to be in the jazz field”.
Kennedy appointed a new manager, Terri Robson[citation needed], and returned to the Proms after an absence of 21 years, performing Elgar’s Violin Concerto and a late-night Prom with the Nigel Kennedy Quintet.
He also plays the viola, and has recorded Sir William Walton’s Viola Concerto.
