Sound New World

Millions of YouTube viewers can’t be wrong. Well, they can, but in this case, they aren’t. On the contrary, with more than 50 million clicks, they’ve turned the inspired lunacy of musicians Igudesman & Joo into an internet and international sensation.

In their unique and hilarious theatrical shows, Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-ki Joo combine humour, classical music, and allusions to pop culture. They have performed with some of the world’s most famous orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the L.A. Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, to name but a few.

Equally at home in classical concert halls as in 18,000-seat stadiums, Igudesman & Joo's infectious zaniness and virtuosity have also inspired millions of college and high-school students, bringing a younger and wider audience to classical music at this challenging time for the industry.

Aleksey and Hyung-ki met at the age of twelve at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England, where they became friends over a portion of fish and chips. In 2004, following in the footsteps of luminaries such as Victor Borge and Dudley Moore, they began to create their ground-breaking shows. Since then, many of the world's most renowned musicians have asked to be part of their musical mayhem, including Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Ray Chen, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Viktoria Mullova, Vasily Petrenko, Julian Rachlin, and Yuja Wang. The duo has also teamed up with actors such as John Malkovich—on the CD album You Just Have to Laugh and the show The Music Critic, which they continue to tour regularly—as well as the former James Bond, Sir Roger Moore, with whom they collaborated on several occasions for UNICEF.

As composers, Igudesman & Joo have collectively released over 50 publications with Universal Edition, and their works are played by musicians and children all over the world. They have received commissions from various orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Düsseldorf Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, New York Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Individually, Aleksey Igudesman has worked with Academy Award®-winning Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, while Hyung-ki Joo was commissioned by Grammy Award®-winning songwriter Billy Joel to arrange and record his solo piano compositions for Joel’s official final album to date.

Hans Zimmer and Billy Joel not only admire the duo as serious musicians but also endorse them as entrepreneurs through Music Traveler—a platform and mobile app conceived by Igudesman—which enables musicians to book rehearsal rooms and concert venues around the world. The duo also founded the production company Only Hands Small Productions to create original content for film and television. In 2023, co-produced with WDR and ORF, they released Breaking Rachmaninoff, and together with Czech TV, they produced Rachmaninoff Will Survive—a live concert film with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to Rachmaninoff Will Survive, which is their orchestral homage to the composer’s 150th anniversary, they also created a new duo show, And Now Rachmaninoff. On April 1, 2023—the day of Rachmaninoff’s 150th birthday—they opened the doors to the newly renovated Villa Senar, Rachmaninoff’s home in Switzerland, and later that day premiered And Now Rachmaninoff at the Lucerne Festival, with a special guest cameo by Yuja Wang.

Beyond their own productions, Igudesman & Joo appear in numerous films, including the mockumentary Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Classical Music, Pianomania, Breaking Beethoven, and the award-winning Noseland.

Alongside their duo shows—A Little Nightmare Music, And Now Mozart, Play It Again, and And Now Beethoven—as well as their symphonic programs such as BIG Nightmare Music, UpBeat, Happy Concert, and Beethoven's Nightmare, Igudesman & Joo also enjoy leading workshops and masterclasses while on tour. These encounters aim to leave students confident and inspired to break new ground in their own musical journeys.

In autumn 2019, Igudesman & Joo ventured into new territory with the publication of their first book. Save the World was released on October 5, 2019, by the Austrian publisher edition-a and explores how creativity and humour can help save the world.

In 2020, the duo launched two shows celebrating their hero, Beethoven—And Now Beethoven and Beethoven’s Nightmare (the latter with orchestra), featuring new compositions commissioned by the Oslo Philharmonic, WDR, NDR Radiophilharmonie, and Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra. Both shows are set to continue for seasons to come.

Since 2021, Igudesman & Joo have been curators of a new concert series, Virtuosen Varieté (also known as STARs ‘n’ FREEKs), at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. In these unique concerts, musicians from around the world—many with extraordinary and often unconventional talents—showcase their music, which is often performed only on the streets or shared online. Taking this concept one step further, the duo created a new show, teaming up with two queens of musical virtuosity: multi-percussionist and composer Lucy Landymore and pianist and vocalist Yu Horiuchi, for the show Mambo Jambo.

source: Joelsohn.Management

Lucy Landymore is an award-winning multi-percussionist, drummer, and composer. As a soloist, she continues to give concerts of her own compositions in prestigious venues worldwide.

In 2022 and 2023, she was invited as a soloist to the PAAX Festival by Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra. She will perform again at the festival in 2024.

As the drum kit soloist with The World of Hans Zimmer, she frequently performs to sold-out arenas. She previously toured with Hans Zimmer Live, which can be seen on the DVD Live in Prague. Hans Zimmer invited Lucy, together with Igudesman & Joo, to perform special arrangements of his film scores at BBC Studios in Cannes for the release of his new documentary Hollywood Rebel.

Lucy is also a guest lead percussionist and drummer with the world-renowned duo Igudesman & Joo, who regularly collaborate with esteemed orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few. The duo is currently touring Rachmaninoff Will Survive with various orchestras, where Lucy is a featured soloist, playing on a specially designed Rachmaninoff percussion rack called the Rach-rack. ‍

Mambo Jambo is a quartet comprising Aleksey Igudesman, Hyung-ki Joo, Yu Horiuchi, and Lucy Landymore, highlighting the diverse abilities of all their musical royalties and bringing music from different genres into action. In this show, Lucy’s versatility is put into the spotlight as she switches between healing vibraphone pieces to congas, to Venezuelan maracas, and virtuosic drum kit solos.

At the age of 17, Lucy won the percussion category of the 2010 BBC Young Musician of the Year, performing Frank Zappa’s The Black Page. She then went on to study percussion at the Royal College of Music under Dave Hockings and Ralph Salmins.

Since then, Lucy has been featured as a performer and composer on numerous TV and radio stations, showcasing her unique work. These include Sky TV with Michael Parkinson, Deutsche Welle, BBC Two, BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, BBC Radio 1, and BBC Radio 3, among many others. Her work has been covered by international publications such as Drums & Percussion (Germany) and Batterie (France), where she was listed as one of the Top 10 New Drummers of 2019.

Drawing on years of global performances and her studies in Cuba and Rio de Janeiro, Lucy has given masterclasses on Film Music Drumming and Composing for Vibraphone as far afield as the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore.

Lucy has composed and performed numerous vibraphone solo pieces worldwide. Her piece Vibr-ant for solo vibraphone is published by Universal Edition.

Her orchestral work Fantaisie Festive, written for orchestra and 17 soloists, was commissioned by the Puplinge Classique Festival. Another composition, Roo for solo vibraphone, violin, and orchestra, has been performed across Europe, with Lucy as the vibraphone soloist. In addition to performing her own works, she also plays the Séjourné Marimba Concerto, most recently with the Vienna Classical Players.

The Heidenheim Opera Festival commissioned Lucy to write the music for Der Zauberer von Oz. The premiere was held on June 21, 2023.

Lucy is proudly endorsed by Meinl Percussion, Meinl Cymbals, Ludwig-Musser, SE Electronics, and Protection Racket.

source: Joelsohn.Management

Sound New World reimagines musical masterpieces from fresh perspectives, celebrating the art of rediscovery. Together with Igudesman & Joo, The Limitless Orchestra, tackles Dvořák's iconic New World Symphony. The timing aligns perfectly with the 250th anniversary of the New World itself, as America celebrates its founding in 2026. The duo explores the rich blend of Czech and Native American influences that inspired Dvořák, who saw Native American music as a foundation for a new musical tradition. The Limitless Orchestra, elevates the performance with breathtaking improvisations and choreography, highlighting the evening’s themes with boundless creativity.

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What makes an orchestra limitless? The only limit is your imagination.

Imagine seeing a stage full of passionate, creative musicians who leave their music stands at home.

Imagine experiencing an ensemble that is able to move freely, breaking into dance choreographies.

Imagine listening to an orchestra playing Mozart, Strauss, or Beethoven and transforming them into Salsa, Samba, or Film Music.

Imagine being part of an immersive experience with a spectacle of light and sound brought to life by multi-talented musicians.

Imagine an orchestra dedicated to inspiring a new generation of musicians and audiences.

Join us and our artistic director and founder Aleksey Igudesman and be part of the next step in the evolution of music!

source: Joelsohn.Management