Giles Cooper Entertainment has announced that Kenwood House, overlooking Hampstead Heath in North London, will host a stellar line-up of live music concerts in summer 2019 within the splendour of its breath-taking gardens.
The Heritage Live Concert Series will take place across the weekend of the 14th – 16th June bringing the best in live music to the most beautiful of outdoor settings at one of the capital’s most significant historic properties.
Following on from the news that legendary tenor José Carreras will say goodbye to London at Kenwood House as part of his farewell tour, comes the announcement that cellist, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, one of the most in-demand young performers in classical music, will join the event for a special guest performance.
Sheku became a household name worldwide in May 2018 after performing at the Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Windsor Castle. His performance was greeted with universal excitement after being watched by nearly two billion people globally.
The winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition released his debut album for Decca Classics, Inspiration, in January 2018, featuring the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. The album entered the Classical chart at number 1 and peaked at number 11 in the Official UK Album chart, making Sheku the highest-charting cellist ever in Official Albums Chart history.
In June 2018, Sheku received both the Male Artist of the Year and the Critics’ Choice awards at the Classic BRITs, and in July 2018 became the first recipient of the BRIT Certified Breakthrough Award.
An iconic figure, José Carreras has sung over 60 roles from operas by Verdi and Puccini and created memorable productions including the famed Franco Zeffirelli production of La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera.
Alongside a discography that includes over 160 recordings that range across classical and popular music, earning him several Gold and Platinum discs with over 80 million records sold in total, Carreras is one of the most accomplished tenors in history.
Starting his career in 1970 in the Gran Teatre del Liceu in his native Barcelona with Nabucco and Lucrezia Borgia, his meteoric musical career resulted in early debuts at the world’s most prestigious opera stages - The Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London and the Vienna State Opera.
Carreras has also performed in several operatic movies and has won awards including Grammys, BRITs, and Olivier Awards. For millions, he is also revered for his role as one of the legendary Three Tenors, alongside Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. The Three Tenors’ concerts created an immense impact on the world of Opera and wider popular culture, as the trio performed to over 2 billion people worldwide.
José Carreras will perform at Kenwood House with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, who will be conducted by David Giménez, who has been Maestro Carreras conductor for 25 years.
Since making his debut with the Hannover NDR Orchestra in 1994, he has appeared worldwide, leading the most prominent orchestras and soloists in venues like the Royal Albert Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Pleyel, Vienna Konzerthaus, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall.
During his career, David Giménez has conducted orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Philharmonia, Munchner Philharmoniker, Orchestre de Paris and Filarmonica della Scala. He has also appeared with soloists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Antonio Meneses.
Carreras will also be joined by rising star Christina Johnston. A prodigious talent, coloratura soprano Christina Johnston has been performing worldwide since she made her operatic debut in 2012 as Die Konigin der Nacht Die Zauberflote with the Prague State Opera and, soon afterwards as Adele Die Fledermaus at the same theatre.
Christina has sung as Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the opera house in Kazan, Russia, and as Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague, as well as touring productions of Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Don Giovanni across Germany and Austria.
She has also performed for various Heads of State and earlier this year was nominated for a Classical BRIT Award.
