Igudesman & Joo

Igudesman & Joo
Genres Classical
Website igudesmanandjoo.com
Members
  • Aleksey Igudesman
  • Richard Hyung-ki Joo

Igudesman & Joo is a duo comprising classical musicians Aleksey Igudesman and Richard Hyung-ki Joo, whose shows combine comedy with classical music and popular culture. They aim to make classical music accessible to a wider and younger audience.

Beginning

Aleksey and Hyung-ki met at the age of twelve, at the Yehudi Menuhin School, in England, and since then, have remained strong friends and writing partners. Aleksey Mikhailovich Igudesman (born 22 February 1973) is a Russian violinist, composer, conductor and actor. Hyung-ki Joo is British-Korean pianist, and composer. In 2004, inspired by Victor Borge and Dudley Moore, they created their show, "A Little Nightmare Music", a play on the Mozart string quartet Eine kleine Nachtmusik (English: A Little Night Music). Since then, they have performed with major symphony orchestras around the world and have played at some of the world's biggest stages and festivals.[1]

Shows

Many of classical music's biggest names, such as Emanuel Ax, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Viktoria Mullova, and Julian Rachlin, have joined them in their musical sketches, and recently, they performed for one of classical music's greatest conductors, Bernard Haitink, who thereafter said, "Igudesman and Joo played at my 80th birthday celebrations. I nearly died laughing. I'd like to invite them back for my 85th, but that might be considered reckless...Great musicians, great fun."

Their performances reach well outside of the classical field and in 2008 they toured Europe with legends of the pop world such as Robin Gibb (Bee Gees), Midge Ure (Ultravox), co-creator of Live Aid and Band Aid, Tears for Fears, Simple Minds, and Kim Wilde and Joe Kerr. Igudesman and Joo have also collaborated with the actor Roger Moore on several occasions for UNICEF.

A Little Nightmare Music

"A Little Nightmare Music" has received much acclaim by critics and audiences alike. It has taken them all over the world, including Verbier Festival, Bergen Festival, Yehudi Menuhin Festival in Gstaat, Lockenhaus, Saratoga Festival, New York and festivals run by Renaud Capuçon and Yuri Bashmet.

On YouTube their clips have been watched over 18 million times, to date.[1] A one-hour version of an early performance in the Vienna Musikverein of “A Little Nightmare Music” is available on their homepage.

The duo has received positive reviews from musicians and entertainers alike. Among them are Terry Jones, Sir Roger Moore, violinist Gidon Kremer, violinist Julian Rachlin, and cellist Mischa Maisky.

And Now Mozart

After the worldwide success of "A Little Nightmare Music", Igudesman & Joo developed a new show called "And Now Mozart". The show premiered at the Konzerthaus, Vienna in September 2012 and has received positive critiques.[2] Igudesman & Joo's second duo program was also played at the Festspillene i Bergen (Bergen International Festival) in June 2013.[3]

BIG Nightmare Music

Igudesman & Joo also perform with orchestras around the world in a show called "BIG Nightmare Music". Recent shows saw Igudesman & Joo collaborate with the Belgrade Symphony Orchestra,[4] the Hong Kong Sinfonietta,[5] and the Orchestre de Cannes Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.[6]

Projects

They are currently writing on a TV series, mixing classical music with humour.

Being Gidon Kremer

Their project together with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica named “Being Gidon Kremer” premiered in 2008 and was performed in Schleswig Holstein and Rheingau Musik Festival as well as in Asia, Europe and Russia.

References

  1. 1 2 "A Little Nightmare Music". Igudesman & Joo. Archived from the original on March 20, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  2. ↑ Stefan Ender (September 2012). "Ist doch ein Kinderspiel" (PDF). Der Standard (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 2, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  3. ↑ Festspillene i Bergen homepage.
  4. ↑ Newspaper B92, January 11, 2013
  5. ↑ "Big Nightmare Music". Time Out. October 22, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Igudesman & Joo Big Nightmare Music". Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, January 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.