Sting Announces UK Tickets & Tour Dates with Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Written by Stereoboard.com
Sting, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, will extend his US tour to Europe and the UK this autumn.
The Symphonicity tour, which kicks off in Vancouver on 2nd June followed by sold-out performances across North America throughout the summer, will find Sting performing his greatest hits arranged for orchestra. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra will be conducted by Steven Mercurio (Pavarotti, Bocelli).
Presented in a variety of settings, the European tour will begin on 3rd September at Oslo's Konserthus, and continue to other cities including Rome, Berlin and Paris. On 5th October, Sting, accompanied by the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra, will perform a special concert at the Sage Hall, Gateshead. Also announced today is a performance at London's Royal Albert Hall on 1st October. Additionally, September will find the tour making stops in Stockholm, Helsinki, and Koln, followed by concerts in Dublin, Nantes, Antwerp, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Stuttgart throughout October, with additional performances in Turin and Vienna in November.
Drawing from a diverse career that has produced worldwide record sales of nearly 100 million, Sting's greatest hits will be re-interpreted with brand new orchestrations arranged by Jorge Calandrelli, David Hartley, Michel Legrand, Rob Mathes, Vince Mendoza, Steven Mercurio, Bill Ross, Robert Sadin, and Nicola Tescari. Set-lists will include Police tracks such as 'Roxanne', 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' and 'Every Breath You Take' plus songs from Sting's enduring solo career - 'Englishman in New York', 'If I Ever Lose My Faith in You' and 'Fields of Gold'.
To accompany the tour, Deutsche Grammophon will release a companion CD, Symphonicities, this summer with the first single 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' available at all digital retailers including iTunes on 24 May. Symphonicities is produced by Rob Mathes and Sting, and mixed by Elliot Scheiner (Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac) and Claudius Mittendorfer (Interpol, Franz Ferdinand). The full tracklist will be announced later.
Sting's interest in collaborating with an orchestra began in 2008 following an invitation to perform with the legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and a subsequent engagement with the Philadelphia Orchestra in commemoration of the 153rd anniversary of the Academy of Music.
"Performing with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra was truly a highlight of my career. I'm delighted by this new opportunity to tour with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, having a whole new palate of musical colours to work with and reinventing the songs that have been the staple of my live performance for over thirty years," commented Sting.
The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra has previously performed with internationally-renowned artists ranging from opera luminaries Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Renée Fleming, Kiri Te Kanawa and the late Luciano Pavarotti to popular icons including Burt Bacharach, Diana Krall, Tina Turner and Randy Newman. The 45-piece orchestra will be featured on all North American and European concert dates.
Sting will also be joined by a quartet comprised of Dominic Miller (Sting's longtime guitarist), David Cossin (a multi-percussion specialist in new and experimental music and featured member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars), Jo Lawry (vocalist) and Ira Coleman (bassist).
Sting's first venture into classical music began with the success of his #1 album Songs from the Labyrinth, which featured the music of 16th century composer John Dowland (Deutsche Grammophon, 2006). After completing the successful Police reunion world tour, Sting's most recent release If On A Winter's Night... debuted at #1 on Billboard's classical chart.
Sting concerts confirmed so far are as follows:
03 Sep 2010 - NORWAY Oslo Konserthus
05 Sep 2010 - DENMARK Copenhagen Royal Theatre
01 Oct 2010 - ENGLAND London Royal Albert Hall
05 Oct 2010 - ENGLAND Newcastle Sage Gateshead
15 Oct 2010 - HOLLAND Arnhem GelreDome
16 Oct 2010 - HOLLAND Arnhem GelreDome
25 Oct 2010 - ITALY Florence Teatro Verdi
02 Nov 2010 - ITALY Milan Teatro Arcimboldi
10 Nov 2010 - ITALY Rome Santa Cecilia
+ more dates to be confirmed soon.
Tickets for the above shows are onsale Friday May 28th at 9am.
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