Ulster Orchestra
Based in Belfast, the Ulster Orchestra performs across Northern Ireland and beyond, including in the Republic of Ireland. The only professional symphony orchestra in Northern Ireland, the group has a large recording catalog, comprising more than 40 albums as of the early 2020s.
The Ulster Orchestra was founded in 1966 by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Its immediate predecessor was the semi-professional City of Belfast Symphony Orchestra, which was disbanded at that time. The orchestra's first conductor was Maurice Miles, who served for a single year; he was replaced by Sergiu Comissiona, who conducted the orchestra from 1967 to 1969 and was the first of its many conductors to hail from beyond Northern Ireland and beyond Britain. Comissiona was succeeded by Edgar Cosma, Alun Francis, and Bryden Thomson; the latter oversaw a substantial expansion of the group as the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra disbanded in 1981, and many of its players moved to the Ulster Orchestra. The group now has 63 full-time players, and despite some funding crises, it has remained stable thanks to support from the Arts Council and the city of Belfast. Concerts are held mostly at Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall in Belfast. In 1990, the orchestra released the album Shaun Davey: The Relief of Derry Symphony on the Tara label. The following year, the group began a long association with the Chandos label, issuing Stanford: Irish Rhapsodies, Clarinet Concerto.
The Ulster Orchestra has had many music directors, typically retaining them for periods of just a few years. Thomson's successors included Vernon Handley (1985-1989), who was later named conductor laureate, Yan Pascal Tortelier (1989-1992), En Shao (1992-1995), JoAnn Falletta (2011-2014), the group's first female and first American conductor, and Daniele Rustioni (2019-). The orchestra has a strong commitment to contemporary music and has employed Brian Irvine and Ian Wilson as Associate Composers. The Ulster Orchestra is often heard live on the BBC 3 network and is noted for its educational and outreach programs in the Belfast community. The group's recordings are notable for their variety, extending from crossover releases of classical favorites to thorny contemporary works. The orchestra has made numerous recordings for Chandos, Naxos, Hyperion (where it has been heard on several installments of the label's Classical Piano Concerto and Romantic Piano Concerto series), and Somm, where it was heard on a 2022 recording of Kurt Weill's little-recorded Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 2.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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BLISS Checkmate Suite / Clarinet Quintet / Hymn to Apollo / Music for Strings
Quintettes - Paru chez Chandos le 1 févr. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rawsthorne: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2
Peter Donohoe, Ulster Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa
Classique - Paru chez Naxos le 14 janv. 2003
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvres orchestrales (Volume 4)
Ulster Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bryden Thomson, Vernon Handley
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Chandos le 6 oct. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La mer & Printemps - Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor
Ulster Orchestra, Yan Pascal Tortelier
Classique - Paru chez Chandos le 1 août 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
TORTELIER, Yan Pascal: Violin Favourites
Yan Pascal Tortelier, Ulster Orchestra, Renaissance Singers
Musique concertante - Paru chez Chandos le 1 sept. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bax: The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew, Into the Twilight, In the Faery Hills & Rosc-Catha
Bryden Thomson, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Paru chez Chandos le 1 mai 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mathias: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Vaughan Williams: Fantasia
Mark Bebbington, Ulster Orchestra, George Vass
Classique - Paru chez SOMM Recordings le 17 oct. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Yan Pascal Tortelier, Ulster Orchestra, Linda Finnie, Rachel Masters, Grosvenor High School Choir, Renaissance Singers
Symphonies - Paru chez Chandos le 1 août 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MACMILLAN: Veni, Veni Emmanuel / Tryst
Colin Currie, Ulster Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa
Classique - Paru chez Naxos le 1 août 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
HARTY, H.: Irish Symphony (An) / A Comedy Overture (Ulster Symphony, Thomson)
Ulster Orchestra, Bryden Thomson
Classique - Paru chez Chandos le 1 déc. 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Harty: A John Field Suite
Bryden Thomson, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Paru chez Chandos le 1 janv. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Françaix: Symphony, Scuola di Ballo & Other Orchestral Music
Ulster Orchestra, Thierry Fischer
Classique - Paru chez Hyperion le 1 avr. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
RUBBRA: Violin Concerto, Op. 103 / Improvisations, Op. 89
Krysia Osostowicz, Ulster Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa
Classique - Paru chez Naxos le 18 oct. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonie n° 6 & Rhapsodie irlandaise
Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Chandos le 1 août 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Françaix: Le roi nu & Les demoiselles de la nuit
Ulster Orchestra, Thierry Fischer
Classique - Paru chez Hyperion le 1 mars 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ouvertures
Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Chandos le 1 avr. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aloys Schmitt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 etc. (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 84)
Howard Shelley, Ulster Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Hyperion le 1 juil. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2
Yan Pascal Tortelier, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Paru chez Chandos le 1 août 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
An Irish Rhapsody - The Ulster Orchestra play Music of Bax, Moeran, Stanford & Harty
Bryden Thomson, Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Pan Hon Lee
Symphonies - Paru chez Chandos le 1 févr. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Yan Pascal Tortelier plays Violin Favourites
Yan Pascal Tortelier, Ulster Orchestra, Renaissance Singers
Symphonies - Paru chez Chandos le 1 août 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
YAMADA: Symphony in F Major, Triumph and Peace
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa
Classique - Paru chez Naxos le 16 mars 2004
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo