York Bowen - Viola Concerto Op. 25 Diyang Mei, Brett Dean, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie

• York Bowen (1884 - 1961): Concerto for Viola and Orchestra Op. 25:
• 1 Bowen: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra Op. 25: I. Allegro assai 13:14
• 2 Bowen: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra Op. 25: II. Andante cantabile 10:41
• 3 Bowen: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra Op. 25: III. Allegro scherzando 12:40
• Total Runtime 36:35

Info for York Bowen - Viola Concerto Op. 25

As a violist, York Bowen found the sound quality of the viola superior to that of the violin. He therefore wrote a large number of works for this instrument. Bowen’s friend and colleague, the then famous violist Lionel Tertis, had a particular influence on him and ultimately inspired him to compose a viola concerto.

Violist Diyang Mei has been steadily furthering his international career ever since his brilliant success at the 2018 coveted ARD International Music Competition, where he won the first prize in the viola category, the Audience Prize and several special prizes.

He is accompanied on this present recording by the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under the baton of yet another famous violist and composer, Brett Dean.

Diyang Mei, viola
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie
Brett Dean, conductor

Diyang Mei
is the 1st principal violist with the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2022 and holds a guest professorship at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. Since his brilliant success in 2018 at the coveted ARD International Music Competition, where he won first prize in the viola category, the Audience Award and several special prizes, Diyang Mei has made great strides in his international career. However, he has also won numerous first prizes in previous years, including at the 52nd International Instrumental Competition for Viola in Markneukirchen (2017), the International Max Rostal Music Competition for Viola in Berlin (2015), the Kulturkreis Gasteig Music Prize for Strings in Munich (2015), the 19th International Brahms Music Competition for Viola in Austria (2012), the IVC Young Artist Competition in Rochester (2012) and the 10th International Viola and Violoncello Competition in Villa de Llanes, Spain (2008).

Since 2018, Diyang Mei has been supported as a BBT Artist by the London Borletti-Buitoni Trust, which has also supported Nicolas Altstaedt, Gautier Capuçon, Veronica Eberle, Sol Gabetta, Vilde Frank, Antoine Tamestit and Kathia Buniatishvili, among others.

From 2019 to 2022, he was principal viola of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a soloist, Diyang Mei has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, the Black Forest Music Festival and the Mozart Festival in Würzburg, among others. Highlights in 2024 include his solo appearances with the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie under the direction of Brett Dean and with the China Philharmonic Orchestra at the National Centre for the Performing Arts under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach.

As a sought-after chamber musician, Diyang has already performed with renowned musicians and ensembles such as Sir András Schiff, Frans Helmerson, Emmanuel Pahud, Albrecht Mayer, Sabine Meyer, Christoph Prégardien, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Kian Soltani, Pablo Ferrández, the Belcea Quartet and the Berlin Baroque Soloists, with whom he went on a major tour of China in 2023.

In 2019, Diyang Mei released his first solo album dedicated to the Chaconne and Passacaglia genres and works by Bach, Biber, Hindemith, Britten and Ligeti. His second album ‘Viola a L’Ecole de Paris’ with works for viola and piano by Cherepnin, Harsani, Tansman and Mihalovici followed in 2022 on the CAvI Music label (a Deutsche Grammophon company).

The musician plays an Antonio Mariani viola (Pesaro, ca. 1646), generously loaned by a member of the Stretton Society.

This album contains no booklet.