Morphing Chamber Orchestra
Description
Opera stars Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzak and Andreas Scholl, American jazz icon Bobby McFerrin, composer Arvo Pärt, the Metropolitan Opera New York and label Sony Classical: they all chose to work with Morphing Chamber Orchestra. This cosmopolitan ensemble based in Vienna, Austria has established itself as a trusted chamber music partner of internationally recognized artists and institutions over the last decade.
Founded in 2006 by artistic director Tomasz Wabnicviolinist, violist, as well as arranger- Morphing Chamber Orchestra has stayed true to the philosophy of ensemble playing. Its players are young, diverse and award-winning artists from around the world, who all came to Vienna to perfect their musical skills. Their alert playing and outstanding qualities are paired with an acute sense of style which enables them to excel at a range of genres.
The pure sound of Viennese classical period is the musical foundation from which the MCO has branched out into Baroque period style, romantic opera, film music, pop and even world music, collaborating with award winning virtuoso Jospeh Tawadros. Current album releases include Mozart Concertante featuring Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak’s stratospheric voice in an unusual range of arias, as well as Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante performed by Tomasz Wabnic and Yuuki Wong- an example of the MCO style of soloist-led performing: Stabat Mater, which offers a range of renowned contemporary composers Arvo Pärt’s works with the mass at its core, and features Aleksandra Kurzak, tenor Roberto Alagna as wells as countertenor Andreas Scholl: and De Profundis, a spiritual journey through the works of Bach and Schönberg.
2020 saw MCO section leaders open a new chapter for the ensemble with two livestream performances through the New York Metropolitan Opera as a quintet. Vienna’s Morphing String Quintet accompanied opera stars Pretty Yende, Angel Blue, Matthew Polenzani, Javier Camarena, and Aleksandra Kurzak & Roberto Alagna in charming and rare locations around Europe. MET general manager Peter Gelb commended not only the quality of playing (“bravo”), but also the “excellent” orchestrations. Tomasz Wabnic arranged all arias for chamber music performances together with Lukas Medlam.
MCO complement this new presence in the online realm with numerous broadcasts from Morphing TV, a platform that allows viewers to watch pre-recorded concerts from glamorous locations in Vienna.
The MCO made its debut album with Sony in 2019: Desire featuring soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, received great critical acclaim and was awarded “best foreign album” by the Fryderyk awards in Poland in 2021.
Recent performance highlights include a star-studded tribute to Saint John Paul II at Krakow’s historical “Wawel” castle, where opera met pop music and folk songs; a concert at Les Invalides in Paris with Ophélie Gaillard broadcast by Radio Classique, and a recital at Teatro alla Scala di Milano.
Future plans include a return to Paris on December 9th 2021 for a Viennese Gala concert broadcast live from Les Invalides, a Korean opera tour in January 2022, a Vivaldi/Piazzolla program in Germany and Poland in March 2022 and further plans for Asia, Brazil and Scandinavia.
Morphing Chamber Orchestra owns exclusive rights to world premieres of compositions from the archives of the 700-year-old monastery of Jasna Gora, Poland. These archives contain over 3000 scores of 400 Polish and foreign composers including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Carl Ditter von Dittersdorf and Joseph Haydn. MCO has made recordings for various television stations (PBS TV, ORF, TVP Kultura, TV Russia Kultura) and radio stations (OE1, Radio Classique France and Polish Radio 2) as well as several CD recordings for the French label Aparté, and the Austrian label Gramola.
