2019/20 Season Brochure by London Philharmonic Orchestra

OTHER WORLDS 2019/20 Concert season at Southbank Centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Royal Festival Hall

Highlights 2019/20

November

September

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski is joined by Julia Fischer to launch the second part of Isle of Noises with Britten’s elegiac Violin Concerto alongside Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony. Page 03

October

Acclaimed soprano Diana Damrau is renowned for her interpretations of the music of Richard Strauss, and this November she sings a selection of her favourite Strauss songs. Page 12

Mark Elder conducts Elgar’s oratorio The Apostles, arguably his greatest creative achievement, which will be brought to life on this occasion with a stellar cast of soloists and vast choral forces. Page 07

December

Legendary British pianist Peter Donohoe plays his compatriot John Foulds’s rarely performed Dynamic Triptych – a unique jazz-filled, exotic masterpiece Page 13

January

February

March

May

FUNharmonics

Vladimir Jurowski leads the first concert in our 2020 Vision festival, presenting the music of three remarkable works composed three centuries apart, by Beethoven, Scriabin and Eötvös. Page 19

After winning rave reviews at its premiere in 2017, we offer another chance to experience Sukanya, Ravi Shankar’s extraordinary operatic fusion of western and traditional Indian styles. A love story brought to life through myth, music and dance. Page 14

April

As we mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Vladimir Jurowski brings four of the composer’s rarely heard works to the stage including his remarkable choral piece Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II. Page 29

Antonio Pappano conducts sublime Bach transcriptions, and is joined by acclaimed pianist Igor Levit for a rare and eagerly awaited performance of Busoni’s immense Piano Concerto. Page 36

We welcome back violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for two exceptional concerts in which she performs Beethoven’s groundbreaking Triple Concerto and a selection of chamber works alongside LPO Principal musicians. Pages 26–27

This October the Orchestra performs the live orchestral soundtrack to Zog – a new animated film based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s celebrated picture book. Page 41

Introduction

A warm welcome to our new season

We have another fine array of concerts for you to enjoy in 2019/20. We begin the season with the second part of Isle of Noises, our exploration of landmark classics inspired by the British Isles, and including the music of Walton, Vaughan Williams, Britten and Foulds, alongside a celebration of a century of great British film scores. Other early season highlights include a performance of Mahler's mighty Resurrection Symphony with Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski, Verdi’s glorious Requiem under the baton of Edward Gardner, and a welcome return to the Royal Festival Hall stage for celebrated soprano Diana Damrau, who performs a selection of her favourite Strauss songs. After its critically acclaimed premiere with the LPO in 2017, Ravi Shankar’s only opera Sukanya is performed again for one night only in January 2020 – don't miss the chance to join us for this special event.

During the second half of the season, we present the first part of a new strand of concerts entitled 2020 Vision, offering the chance to hear some of the most exciting music written since 2000 including works by Thomas Adès, Péter Eötvös, Oliver Knussen and Kaija Saariaho. Each of these will be combined in a concert with works written both 100 and 200 years earlier, which along the way gives us the perfect opportunity to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary with some of his great masterpieces including his first six symphonies. We continue our Wagner Ring Cycle project with Siegfried in January, and in March our regular guest soloist and friend Anne-Sophie Mutter joins us for a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto, and an evening of chamber music with Principal musicians from the Orchestra. There really is something for everyone this season, so please do join us again to experience the wonder of orchestral music.

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

A selection of this season’s concerts will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and available for 30 days after broadcast via BBC Sounds.

ISLE OF

9 01

Y– DECEMBE R A R 2 NU

NOISES Landmark classics inspired by the British Isles 1689 – 2019

Isle of Noises

January–December 2019 lpo.org.uk/isleofnoises

‘Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.’ The British Isles have always been a place where diverse traditions meet and interact: where ideas are born and debated, and where past, present and future are in continual, often tempestuous dialogue. Throughout it all, musicians in and from Britain have created art as varied and as surprising as the nation itself – and in Isle of Noises, the LPO performs and celebrates that music. And it’s not necessarily what you might expect – with soloists as dynamic as Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Nicola Benedetti, classics like Elgar’s Cello and Violin Concertos belong as much to the present as the past. Holst’s The Planets will be a startlingly new experience when conducted by Thomas Adès, and a night

of British film scores tells stories of Polish fighter pilots and Arabian adventurers; tragic lovers and 1930s sci-fi. It’s never just been about country lanes and stiff upper lips. So we’ll dive deeper. Elgar explores his Catholic faith in music of red-blooded passion, and Vaughan Williams summons the spirit of William Blake. There are bold new sounds from Thomas Adès, and a vision of heaven from William Alwyn: his lovely, neglected Lyra Angelica. And to finish, a rare performance of John Foulds’s Dynamic Triptych: a fusion of Art Deco modernism with Indian rhythms that might also be the greatest piano concerto you’ve never heard. British music is rarely straightforward. We just know that it sounds great.

September/October

Jurowski’s Tchaikovsky

Friday 27 September 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Knussen Scriabin Settings Britten Violin Concerto Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Julia Fischer violin Vladimir Jurowski

At the dawn of a new century, Alexander Scriabin saw wondrous musical visions – but then, he was standing on the shoulders of giants. Don’t be misled by the name ‘Pathétique’: Tchaikovsky’s blazing, autobiographical final symphony summed up a century of Russian music, and is still one of the classical concert hall’s most uncompromising emotional experiences. As we start our new season, Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO gaze forward and backward, paying homage to a great friend, the late Oliver Knussen, and exploring one of British music’s most powerful 20th-century masterpieces with Julia Fischer.

Free pre-concert event 6.15pm — 6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall As we continue our Isle of Noises festival featuring landmark classics from the British Isles, we look at how British music continues to be a strong force in the world of classical music – from Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten through to current champions Colin Matthews and Thomas Adès.

To the summit

Wednesday 2 October 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Elgar Violin Concerto R Strauss An Alpine Symphony Vladimir Jurowski conductor Nicola Benedetti violin

Nicola Benedetti

Richard Strauss once boasted that he could depict even a knife and fork in music. So when he set out to portray the Bavarian Alps, the results are exactly as spectacular as you’d expect, complete with waterfalls, glaciers, and an ear-splitting storm. But Vladimir Jurowski will find an extra dimension in Strauss’s vast hymn to nature: the huge vistas and moments of stillness that make this infinitely more than just the world’s greatest musical picture postcard. It should make a fitting counterpart to Nicola Benedetti’s performance of Elgar’s Violin Concerto – still the ultimate proof of the profoundly romantic heart behind Elgar’s veneer of Edwardian reserve.

October

Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays Elgar

Saturday 5 October 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Sibelius The Oceanides Elgar Cello Concerto Britten Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge Sibelius Symphony No. 6 Susanna Mälkki conductor Sheku Kanneh-Mason cello Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Jean Sibelius found a vast stillness in the endless forests of his native Finland, while an ocean voyage prompted visions of classical myth and elemental power. Susanna Mälkki begins this concert with Sibelius’s warmest tonepoem and ends it with his gentlest symphony: in between come two very different visions of nature from two British masters. Fresh sea air blows through every bar of Britten’s youthful Frank Bridge Variations. And Edward Elgar retreated to rural Sussex to write his Cello Concerto, a work whose haunted poetry – as Sheku Kanneh-Mason (2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year) will demonstrate – takes on a fresh meaning for each generation.

Concert generously supported by Victoria Robey OBE.

The Inextinguishable

Wednesday 9 October 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Edward Gardner conductor James Ehnes violin Edward Gardner

‘The struggle, the wrestling, the generation and the wasting away go on today as yesterday, tomorrow as today, and everything returns. Music is life, and like it, inextinguishable.’ While the Great War ravaged Europe, Carl Nielsen responded with a Fourth Symphony whose thundering drums represent a struggle for the future of life itself. Béla Bartók, meanwhile, went back to the soil: you can practically taste the earth (and the paprika) in his fiery Dance Suite. It’s a long way from the Art Deco glitter of Walton’s Violin Concerto – but as Edward Gardner and James Ehnes know, it’s all driven by the same irresistible life-force.

Bartók Dance Suite Walton Violin Concerto Nielsen Symphony No. 4 (The Inextinguishable)

October

Verdi’s Requiem

Saturday 12 October 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Verdi Requiem Edward Gardner conductor Elza van den Heever soprano Ekaterina Gubanova mezzo-soprano Arsen Soghomonyan tenor Gábor Bretz bass-baritone London Philharmonic Choir

Elza van den Heever

‘THE @LPORCHESTRA WERE ON LIGHTNING FORM TONIGHT, NOT FORGETTING THE STUNNING LPC CHOIR. A VERDI REQ TO REMEMBER!’

Audience member

Drums thunder, trumpets blast, and a massed chorus cries out in terror. When Giuseppe Verdi wrote his Requiem, he refused to let his imagination be constrained by the conventions of sacred music. Instead, he brought all his dramatic power to bear on a story of tragedy, redemption, and the end of time. The result is one of the mightiest of all choral masterpieces. Edward Gardner understands Verdi’s sense of drama from the inside, and he’s assembled a team of soloists worthy of a major operatic production – plus the full London Philharmonic Choir – for an evening of great singing and uninhibited emotion.

October

The Resurrection

Saturday 19 October 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk

Colin Matthews Metamorphosis Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sofia Fomina soprano Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano London Philharmonic Choir Philharmonia Chorus Sofia Fomina

Holst’s The Planets

Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony starts with a funeral march and finishes in a world reborn. In between come tender memories, distant trumpets and a breathtaking musical panorama of the Day of Judgment itself. It’s an incredible journey, and one that you can only truly experience in a live performance, where you can feel the very air shake. If you only know it from recordings, you haven’t really heard it at all – so join us as Vladimir Jurowski, Sofia Fomina, Sarah Connolly and the combined forces of the London Philharmonic Choir and Philharmonia Chorus commit body and soul to some of the most visionary music that Mahler ever composed.

Series discounts Page 47

Wednesday 23 October 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Thomas Adès conductor Kirill Gerstein piano Ladies of the London Philharmonic Choir Thomas Adès

When a great composer conducts music by someone else, something special happens – as two creative spirits react, respond, and strike sparks off each other. We can’t wait to hear Thomas Adès’s interpretation of Holst’s The Planets: after all, there’s a profound philosophy behind those glorious tunes and all that dazzling orchestral colour. Sibelius’s atmospheric nightscape is an old favourite of Adès’s, but only he and dedicatee Kirill Gerstein really know what to expect in his brand new Piano Concerto – set to be one of the biggest premieres in the UK this year. Experience musical history as it’s made: this performance should be definitive.

Sibelius Night Ride and Sunrise Thomas Adès Piano Concerto (UK premiere) Holst The Planets

October

The Apostles

Saturday 26 October 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Elgar The Apostles Mark Elder conductor Lucy Crowe The Angel Gabriel/ The Blessed Virgin Mary Alice Coote Mary Magdalene/Narrator 2 Allan Clayton John/Narrator 1 Roderick Williams Jesus David Stout Peter Brindley Sherratt Judas London Philharmonic Choir BBC Symphony Chorus

Mark Elder

‘FINELY CRAFTED, TRANSPARENT AND PUNCHY PLAYING @LPORCHESTRA! WE ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU HERE!’

Audience member

At the peak of his fame, and height of his genius, Elgar threw all his creative power into a single epic project: a trilogy of choral works that told the story of early Christianity not (as he put it) with ‘hymn tunes and rubbish’, but as a sweeping, deeply-felt human drama, glowing with colour and emotion. Written for huge forces and filled with music that goes straight to the heart, The Apostles is the closest Elgar ever got to writing an opera. Mark Elder adores it, and with a cast made up of top operatic talent, it will be an experience to touch the soul.

November

A celebration of British cinema

Friday 1 November 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Programme includes: Jarre Main theme (Lawrence of Arabia) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, Mvt 1 (Brief Encounter) Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21, Mvt 2 (The Spy Who Loved Me) Arnold Suite (David Copperfield) Rota Love theme (Romeo & Juliet) Rodney Bennett Waltz (Murder on the Orient Express) Rodney Bennett Love theme (Four Weddings and a Funeral) Bliss Suite (Things to Come)

Film music was never just about Hollywood – and from Lawrence of Arabia to James Bond, Brief Encounter to Four Weddings and a Funeral, British cinema has created its own legends, to utterly unforgettable music. As part of our Isle of Noises season, film music maestro Anthony Weeden introduces a century of great British film scores. The elegance of Murder on the Orient Express, the visionary pre-war sci-fi of Things to Come; the sheer emotion of the Love theme from Romeo and Juliet: these are the soundtracks of all our lives: and you’ll never hear them played with more energy or flair.

Anthony Weeden conductor Piers Lane piano

‘@LPORCHESTRA TONIGHT WAS BRILLIANT! SUCH AN EXCITING PROGRAMME – LOVED EVERY MINUTE.’ Audience member

Lawrence of Arabia

November

Knights and angels

Wednesday 6 November 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Elgar Froissart Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp Alwyn Lyra Angelica* R Strauss Don Juan Lawrence Renes conductor Juliette Bausor flute Xavier de Maistre harp

Juliette Bausor

‘When chivalry lifted up her lance on high’: both Edward Elgar and Richard Strauss were master storytellers, and you can practically smell the testosterone when Strauss’s Don Juan leaps into red-blooded life. Elgar’s stirring early overture portrays a more courtly world, making it the perfect upbeat to Mozart’s stateliest concerto – a delightful showpiece for international harp virtuoso Xavier de Maistre and the LPO’s own Principal Flute Juliette Bausor. Then discover one of the real hidden treasures from our Isle of Noises: the neglected, radiantly poetic harp concerto Lyra Angelica by William Alwyn. It’s heavenly.

*Generously supported by the William Alwyn Foundation.

Belshazzar’s Feast

Saturday 9 November 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Butterworth A Shropshire Lad Elgar Enigma Variations Walton Belshazzar’s Feast Marin Alsop conductor Roderick Williams baritone London Philharmonic Choir

Marin Alsop

This is British music with serious attitude. In Leeds, in October 1931 William Walton took a huge choir and a giant symphony orchestra, added a couple of brass bands, and knocked his audience backwards. Belshazzar’s Feast is definitely not your average oratorio: big, brassy and shamelessly pagan, it caused a scandal back then, and it can still set hairs on end today. But then, music in this Isle of Noises has always been more emotional than you might think – and if anyone can find the tender soul of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, or the raw melancholy of Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad, it’s that unrivalled American Anglophile Marin Alsop.

HOLST THE PLANETS STEP OU T OF THIS WORLD Wednesday 23 October 2020

Page 06

November

Damrau sings Strauss

Wednesday 13 November 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Wagner Tristan & Isolde: Prelude to Act 1 R Strauss Songs: Das Rosenband; Ständchen; Traum durch die Dämmerung; Wiegenlied; Winterweihe; Zueignung; Morgen Mahler Symphony No. 5 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Diana Damrau soprano

‘The symphony must be like the world’, Gustav Mahler is supposed to have said – but across fin-de-siècle Europe composers found exquisite, teeming worlds of emotion even in the smallest forms, and each of Richard Strauss’s orchestral Lieder is like an operatic scene in miniature. Few living singers understand Strauss like Diana Damrau – a soprano who, in the words of Gramophone, ‘seems to have the golden touch with everything she sings’. And then Mahler’s Fifth Symphony spans deep despair and ecstatic joy, embracing – along the way – the heart-melting Adagietto, possibly the sweetest love-letter ever written in sound.

Diana Damrau

December

Visions of England

Saturday 7 December 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Purcell (arr. Manze) Suite Thomas Adès Violin Concerto (Concentric Paths) Lawes (arr. Manze) Fantasy in G Vaughan Williams Job: A Masque for Dancing Andrew Manze conductor Anthony Marwood violin

Anthony Marwood

Think of Vaughan Williams and you probably think of the English countryside. Well, think again, because this is Job: a ballet score so extreme that it even features a full-scale dance sequence for the Devil himself. It’s as astonishing as it sounds – especially when conducted by Andrew Manze, a conductor whose ‘unrivalled knowledge, instinct and understanding’ (The Independent) of Vaughan Williams’s vision has drawn widespread acclaim. Two exquisite Renaissance miniatures provide the frame, while Manze and violinist Anthony Marwood unlock the puzzles of Thomas Adès’s fascinating violin concerto Concentric Paths: a contemporary classic overflowing with ingenuity and enchantment.

Revolution in the head

Wednesday 11 December 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Foulds Dynamic Triptych Shostakovich Symphony No. 11 (The Year 1905) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Peter Donohoe piano

Vladimir Jurowski

January 1905: Russia teeters on the brink of revolution, and as crowds fill St Petersburg’s Palace Square, great and terrible events are about to unfold. With its revolutionary songs and clanging alarm bells, Shostakovich’s massive 11th Symphony has the immediacy of a great film score, but charged with massive – and tragic – symphonic power. It’s hard to match that, but tonight Peter Donohoe and Vladimir Jurowski give a rare London performance of John Foulds’s breathtaking Dynamic Triptych. A dizzying fusion of Indian philosophy and Jazz Age verve, huge in scale and volcanic in energy, it’s arguably Britain’s greatest 20th-century piano concerto you’ve never heard.

January

A mythical love story told through music and dance

Shankar Sukanya David Murphy conductor Cast to include: Susannah Hurrell Sukanya Alok Kumar Chyavana Michel de Souza Aswini Twin 1 Njabulo Madlala Aswini Twin 2 Suba Das director Gauri Diwakar choreographer

Wednesday 15 January 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s premiere performances of Sukanya in 2017 won universal critical acclaim, described by The Telegraph as ‘a charming evening of pure escapism’... Don’t miss this second chance to experience a semi-staged performance of the only opera written by the legendary Ravi Shankar, brought to life through myth, music and dance. After a terrible mistake leaves the ancient sage Chyavana blinded, the beautiful princess Sukanya finds herself marrying for the sake of her kingdom. As a pair of swaggering, meddling gods watch this unlikely union blossom, will love grow in the strangest of circumstances? Taken from the famous Sanskrit texts of the Mahābhārata, the story of Sukanya will be expertly choreographed to combine traditional Indian instruments, Western orchestra, singers and dance ensemble. A one-off chance to recapture the sheer magic of Ravi Shankar, live at Royal Festival Hall. Part of Southbank Centre’s Shankar 100 celebrations.

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar’s Sukanya

January

Fauré’s Requiem

Saturday 18 January 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Poulenc Seven Tenebrae Responses Poulenc Organ Concerto Fauré Requiem Bertrand de Billy conductor James O’Donnell organ Katerina Tretyakova soprano Stéphane Degout baritone London Philharmonic Choir

‘@LPORCHESTRA UTTERLY EXTRAORDINARY. ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME THINGS, IN THE LITERAL SENSE, THAT I’VE EVER HEARD. MIND BLOWN AND GOB THOROUGHLY SMACKED!’

‘I not only admire, adore and venerate your music, I have been and still am in love with it.’ So Marcel Proust wrote to Gabriel Fauré; and beneath the subtle half-tints and serene melodies of Fauré’s Requiem lie emotions every bit as passionate as those that Proust detected. It’s paired tonight with two 20th-century masterpieces by a composer whose flippant image masked a profound religious faith. James O’Donnell raises the roof in Poulenc’s flamboyant Organ Concerto, and Bertrand de Billy conducts the Seven Tenebrae Responses: a late choral masterpiece by a composer who aspired to ‘an austerity that smells of orange-blossom or jasmine’.

Audience member

Stéphane Degout

Don’t look now, but the 21st century is already two decades old. It’s old enough to vote, drink and get married. So shake off that post-Millennium hangover and listen – because we can already hear its voice. The fact that 2020 also happens to be Beethoven’s 250th birthday is almost beside the point. The question is: what does Beethoven bring to the party here and now, in London in 2020? Throughout the year, 2020 Vision offers an answer. Just as the defining masterpieces of Beethoven and his contemporaries punctuated the first two decades of the 19th century, we’ve chosen pieces that we believe represent the definitive sound of the 21st – each one separated by exactly two centuries from Beethoven’s world. A piece from 1801 encounters a piece from 2001. Beethoven meets Adès, Dutilleux and Knussen. Louis Spohr encounters Einojuhani Rautavaara. And between them, in a world simultaneously like and entirely unlike that of 1820 or 2020, comes the generation of 1900-1920: the composers of the fin de siècle who saw a century remade in war. Who realised that Sibelius’s Second Symphony came exactly a century after Beethoven’s; that Philip Glass, Rachmaninoff, Méhul and Ravi Shankar all form part of the same big picture? 2020 Vision brings them together to hear what they have to say to each other, and to us: a fascinatingly fresh perspective on familiar classics, alongside music we should never have forgotten and the pieces that everyone who lives in the 21st century needs to hear. That includes you. Look out for related events by the London Sinfonietta during 2020 Vision. Our 2020 Vision concerts are marked with a 2020 Vision logo to help you locate them. 2020 Vision will continue during the 2020/21 season, details of which will be published in February 2020.

February

Siegfried Please note start time Sung in German with English surtitles

Wagner Siegfried Vladimir Jurowski conductor Torsten Kerl Siegfried Evgeny Nikitin Wanderer Elena Pankratova Brünnhilde Adrian Thompson Mime Robert Hayward Alberich Brindley Sherratt Fafner Patricia Bardon Erda Alina Adamski Woodbird

‘FANTASTIC PLAYING – GLOWING AND SONOROUS – BY THE @LPORCHESTRA FOR JUROWSKI, AND SOME MIGHTY VOCAL PERFORMANCES IN DAS RHEINGOLD #LPORING.’

Saturday 1 February 2020 | 3.00pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £70–£25 Premium seats £100 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts not available for this performance

‘Simply outstanding’ was how The Guardian described the start of Vladimir Jurowski’s fouryear journey through Wagner’s colossal Ring Cycle. Now, together with a cast that includes some of the finest living Wagnerians, he reaches the third, and sunniest, part of the saga. Deep in the forest, the orphaned Siegfried has grown to manhood without ever knowing fear. A dragon’s gold, a sleeping goddess, and the shattered fragments of his father’s sword will all help shape his destiny, and set him on a path that leads to love, glory, and – perhaps – a new world. Part fairytale, part cosmic myth, it’s never less than gripping. Generously supported by members of the Orchestra’s Ring Cycle Syndicate. Please note this performance lasts 6 hours including 30 minute and 75 minute intervals.

Audience member

Elena Pankratova

Vladimir Jurowski

February

2001: New century, new sounds

Saturday 8 February 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Beethoven Symphony No. 1 Péter Eötvös Snatches of a Conversation Scriabin Symphony No. 2 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Marco Blaauw trumpet Omar Ebrahim narrator

With the anarchic chords that open his First Symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven threw open the doors on a universe of new musical possibilities. A century later, in 1901, the young Alexander Scriabin wrote a Second Symphony whose surging melodies and ardent spirit stand on the brink of a new revelation: and in 2001, Péter Eötvös’s brilliantly quirky trumpet concerto revels in its imaginative freedom. In the first concert of our 2020 Vision project, Vladimir Jurowski celebrates Beethoven’s 250th birthday the way he would have wanted – a conversation between the past, the present and the future of music. Free pre-concert event 6.15pm — 6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall What is the relationship between the past, present and future? Through 2020 Vision we examine what works spanning centuries have to say about one another, and how they enhance our present understanding of them.

Marco Blaauw

‘THANK YOU @LPORCHESTRA FOR LAST NIGHT’S CONCERT. ONE OF THE BEST I’VE EVER HEARD. QUITE BRILLIANT.’

Audience member

WALTON BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST INDULGE YOURSELF Wednesday 9 November 2019

Page 09

February

Valentine in Paris

Friday 14 February 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Humperdinck Prelude, Hansel and Gretel Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte Ravel Piano Concerto in G Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Emmanuel Krivine conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

French is the language of love; so this Valentine’s Day, why not whirl your significant other away for a night out across the Channel? No Eurostar required: after a brief stop in Humperdinck’s enchanted German forest, and the brief fairytale vision of Ravel’s beautiful Pavane, we’re straight into a Paris café: here Ravel’s Piano Concerto fills the air with the sounds of the Jazz Age. No-one in the world plays it with more panache than the great French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. And then maestro Emmanuel Krivine and the full London Philharmonic Orchestra ignite the fireworks, as Saint-Saëns’s spectacular ‘Organ’ Symphony lights up the night sky. All without leaving the Southbank…

2002: Three adventures

Wednesday 19 February 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Vasily Petrenko conductor Leila Josefowicz violin Vasily Petrenko

Every Beethoven symphony is a journey, and in 1802 the energy and daring of his Second Symphony strained at the outer boundaries of musical possibility. A hundred years later, Jean Sibelius followed Beethoven’s example and created one of the 20th century’s true symphonic epics: a struggle from tranquillity to triumph, rooted in nature and crowned with a melody you’ll never forget. Guest conductor Vasily Petrenko will also bring his unrivalled sense of colour and momentum to Leila Josefowicz’s performance of Oliver Knussen’s 2002 Violin Concerto, described by its (much-missed) composer as ‘a tightrope walker progressing along a (decidedly unstable) high wire’. Concert generously supported by Victoria Robey OBE.

Beethoven Symphony No. 2 Knussen Violin Concerto Sibelius Symphony No. 2

February

2003: Fantasy and revolution

Saturday 22 February 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Jörg Widmann Lied for Orchestra Ravel Shéhérazade Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) Dima Slobodeniouk conductor Jamie Barton mezzo-soprano

Jamie Barton

Two explosive chords open the ‘Eroica’ Symphony: and just like that, Ludwig van Beethoven unleashed two turbulent centuries of musical innovation, exploration and revolution. The ‘Eroica’ still delivers a formidable shock today, and Jörg Widmann’s huge, haunting and startlingly emotional Lied for Orchestra, written exactly 200 years later, is just one way of dealing with the aftermath. And for another, join conductor Dima Slobodeniouk and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in the year 1903, as they board Maurice Ravel’s ship of dreams, Shéhérazade, and drift away to a place ‘where fantasy sleeps like an empress’. Escapism has never sounded more seductive.

February

2004: New visions

Wednesday 26 February 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Elgar In the South Spohr Violin Concerto No. 2 Webern Im Sommerwind Rautavaara Book of Visions Osmo Vänskä conductor Sergej Krylov violin

Osmo Vänskä

A tale of night, a tale of fire, a tale of love, and a tale of Fate. ‘A work of art is unpredictable. It makes its own rules’, said the late Einojuhani Rautavaara, but the warmth, poetry and deep, dark beauty of his Book of Visions (2004) casts its spell over this whole concert – whether music from 1904, when Elgar and Webern each chose to throw their music open to sunlight and warmth, or from 1804, when virtuoso violinist Louis Spohr revelled in a new world of musical possibilities. With the mesmerising Sergej Krylov as Spohr’s champion tonight, you’ll hear why Beethoven was a fan.

2005: Poetry and belief

Friday 28 February 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 Krzysztof Penderecki Chaconne in memory of John Paul II* Enescu Symphony No. 1** Osmo Vänskä conductor Jeremy Denk piano

Not all revolutions are noisy. Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto begins with the piano all alone and playing softly – the kind of enigma that the American philosopher-pianist Jeremy Denk simply loves to explore. And in this latest instalment of 2020 Vision, conductor Osmo Vänskä follows it up with nearly as many questions as answers. From 1905 there’s a self-proclaimedly ‘heroic’ symphony with a remarkably poetic soul and, from 2005, Krzysztof Penderecki’s hauntingly beautiful tribute to another great Pole in an age of oppression and doubt: music that – as Beethoven once put it – comes from the heart and goes straight to the heart. *Generously supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute through the Polska Music Programme.

‘PHENOMENAL CONCERT FROM THE @LPORCHESTRA TONIGHT. A TRULY JOYOUS AND LIFE AFFIRMING ACCOUNT OF THE BEETHOVEN CONCERTO.’ Audience member

**Generously supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute.

March

Igudesman & Joo

Wednesday 4 March 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts not available for this concert

Igudesman & Joo Clash of the Soloists/Big Nightmare Music

Thomas Carroll conductor

Igudesman & Joo are masters of the art of mashing up classical music masterpieces with their own unique twist. They join the Orchestra for an evening of creativity, madness and hilarity with their two acclaimed shows Clash of the Soloists and Big Nightmare Music. Including the music of Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Bach and Vivaldi, the players of the LPO will let their hair down in Igudesman and Joo’s riotous comedy sketches. Performing a variety of famous popular classics with astonishing dexterity and finesse, this will be an unforgettable, laughuntil-you-cry extravaganza – not to be missed!

March

Mutter plays Beethoven

Wednesday 11 March 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £54–£19 Premium seats £80 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Robin Ticciati conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin Khatia Buniatishvili piano Pablo Ferrández cello

Take three world-class instrumentalists, bring them together with Beethoven at his most carefree, and the result is – well, judge for yourself as, for one night only, we assemble a ‘super-trio’ of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Khatia Buniatishvili and the phenomenal young Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. It’s music that’s designed to delight and entertain, and conductor Robin Ticciati follows it with Mahler’s youthful First Symphony, sometimes called the ‘Titan’ – an experience that begins in the silence of the dawn of time itself, and ends with the orchestra (literally) on their feet. This is going to be big.

Anne-Sophie Mutter

Beethoven Triple Concerto Mahler Symphony No. 1

March

2006: The new Bacchus

Wednesday 25 March 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Beethoven Symphony No. 4 Kaija Saariaho Notes on Light Scriabin Symphony No. 4 (The Poem of Ecstasy) Omer Meir Wellber conductor Johannes Moser cello

Johannes Moser

‘I am the new Bacchus, pressing out glorious wine for the human spirit’, proclaimed Ludwig van Beethoven, and although his Fourth Symphony is sometimes considered his most light-hearted, there’s no mistaking the ambition, the fantasy and the pure, electrifying inspiration that pulses through every note. Omer Meir Wellber knows just how to harness that energy, and when – as in Scriabin’s orgasmic Poem of Ecstasy – to set it free. And cellist Johannes Moser might be the finest current champion of Kaija Saariaho’s ravishing Notes on Light; a masterpiece from 2006 speaking across two centuries to its counterparts from 1806 and 1906.

Anne-Sophie Mutter and friends

Thursday 26 March 2020 | 7.30pm Queen Elizabeth Hall Please note venue

Tickets £45–£15 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Beethoven String Trio No. 1 Jörg Widmann New work (UK premiere)† Beethoven String Quartet No. 10 (Harp) Anne-Sophie Mutter violin Pieter Schoeman violin* David Quiggle viola Kristina Blaumane cello** Anne-Sophie Mutter

‘I’ve always loved chamber music, and love it more and more’, says violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. ‘No other music has such intimacy, allows so much spontaneity and requires such quick reflexes.’ For Mutter and the Principal members of the LPO, the opportunity to play Beethoven’s chamber music is a profound and very personal musical pleasure; but tonight at Queen Elizabeth Hall it’s one that we’re able to share. Two Beethoven masterpieces – his playful early String Trio and his kaleidoscopic ‘Harp’ Quartet of 1809 – frame a new commission by Jörg Widmann, a composer who, like Beethoven, remakes tradition even as he challenges it. † Commissioned by Anne-Sophie Mutter. *Chair supported by Neil Westreich. **Chair supported by Bianca and Stuart Roden.

Part of Southbank Centre’s International Chamber Music Series. All proceeds from this concert will be donated to Crisis, the national charity for homeless people.

March/April

2007: Beethoven’s Fifth

Saturday 28 March 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Sibelius Symphony No. 3 Dutilleux Le temps l’horloge Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Edward Gardner conductor Sally Matthews soprano

Sally Matthews

Sibelius’s Third Symphony takes shape amidst the swirling mists of the English Channel; Beethoven’s Fifth thunders into life with four notes that absolutely everyone can recognise. ‘Thus fate knocks at the door!’, Beethoven is said to have declared – but his best-known symphony is on a one-way race to glory, just as Sibelius’s, completed a century later in 1907, ends with a vision of a whole world drenched in sunlight. Edward Gardner conducts this latest illuminating pairing in our 2020 Vision project – and, looking back to 2007, accompanies soprano Sally Matthews in the late Henri Dutilleux’s beautiful meditation on transience and love.

2008: Landscape and memory

Wednesday 1 April 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Nicolas Hodges piano Nicolas Hodges

1908: Charles Ives’s trumpet asks an eternal question. 1808: Beethoven offers the only answer that’s ever really been needed: a symphony inspired by the countryside, whose storms, bird-calls and hymns conceal eternal truths behind some of the most serene music he ever wrote. And in between, Thomas Adès takes on the Book of Genesis, in a piano concerto – first performed at Royal Festival Hall in 2008 – that’s simultaneously a meditation on the infinite, and an endlessly stimulating entertainment. A piece, wrote The Guardian, ‘to inspire big thoughts about creation – of the world, or of music, or both’.

Ives The Unanswered Question Thomas Adès In Seven Days Beethoven Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral)

April

The undiscovered Beethoven

Saturday 4 April 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Beethoven King Stephen Overture Beethoven Grosse Fuge Beethoven Ah! Perfido Beethoven Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II Vladimir Jurowski conductor Soloists to include: Lise Davidsen soprano Angharad Lyddon mezzo-soprano London Philharmonic Choir

The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes, but to the young Beethoven, Emperor Joseph II was more than just a monarch. He was liberty’s champion; the herald of a new dawn. Unperformed in the composer’s lifetime, Beethoven’s Cantata is a startlingly powerful meditation on mortality and enlightenment, and a mirror to his heaven-storming Grosse Fuge – in Stravinsky’s words, ‘an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever’. This is Beethoven the radical, the visionary, the eternally young, and Vladimir Jurowski opens the evening with the jubilant King Stephen Overture.

‘INCREDIBLE! BREATH-TAKING! RIVETING! THANK YOU, @MAESTROMENA AND @LPORCHESTRA FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY CONCERT @SOUTHBANKCENTRE THIS EVENING!’ Audience member

Vladimir Jurowski

ORGAN EXTRAVAGANZAS FEEL THE POWER Saturday 18 January 2020 Page 15 Friday 14 February 2020 Page 22 Wednesday 29 April 2020 Page 35

April

2009: The Everest of piano concertos

Wednesday 8 April 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk

Méhul Symphony No. 1 Ryan Wigglesworth Augenlieder* Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sophie Bevan soprano Nikolai Lugansky piano Nikolai Lugansky

‘Rachmaninoff just doesn’t get any better than this’, wrote The Guardian of Nikolai Lugansky, and when it comes to the monumental Piano Concerto No. 3, it’s hard to imagine a living pianist who’s more in tune with its profoundly Russian soul. This ‘Everest of piano concertos’ dates from 1909; alongside it Vladimir Jurowski has placed a 21st-century British classic from 2009 and a real rediscovery from 1809: the fiery, thrillingly dramatic First Symphony by Etienne Méhul. Forged in the turmoil of the French Revolution, Méhul’s music had a profound impact on the young Beethoven, and when you hear it we think you’ll realise why. *Supported by Resonate. Resonate is a PRS Foundation initiative in partnership with the Association of British Orchestras, BBC Radio 3 and Boltini Trust.

Jurowski conducts Mahler

Series discounts Page 47

Friday 17 April 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Vladimir Jurowski

When Gustav Mahler began his Ninth Symphony he knew that he was living on borrowed time, and he poured everything he had into some of the 20th century’s most poignant, powerful and heartbreakingly sincere music – in every sense, the ultimate romantic symphony. Vladimir Jurowski guides us through a glowing world of hymn tunes, Viennese waltzes, half-remembered songs and distant trumpets, before the sun sets on Mahler’s very own last word: a long, final fade to silence. There’s only really one way to preface that, and although Haydn’s ‘Lamentatione’ Symphony contains both tempests and tranquillity, every note brims over with irrepressible life.

Haydn Symphony No. 26 (Lamentatione) Mahler Symphony No. 9

April

2010: Crossing cultures

Wednesday 22 April 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

John Corigliano Stomp Philip Glass Double Concerto for violin and cello Shankar Symphony Karen Kamensek conductor Daniel Hope violin Alban Gerhardt cello Anoushka Shankar sitar

The late Ravi Shankar was a musician who brought worlds together, and when the LPO premiered his Symphony in 2010, it attracted global attention. As part of 2020 Vision we look back at a year of genre-defying musical creativity, with Anoushka Shankar returning to reprise her solo part in the Symphony, and two of the most adventurous soloists in western classical music, Daniel Hope and Alban Gerhardt, playing the brilliant, balletic Double Concerto by Philip Glass, another composer who transcends – and transforms – musical conventions. John Corigliano’s uproarious Stomp, meanwhile, does exactly what it says on the tin. Part of Southbank Centre’s Shankar 100 celebrations.

Anoushka Shankar

April

Glagolitic Mass

Saturday 25 April 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter Lutosławski Concerto for Orchestra* Janáček Glagolitic Mass Edward Gardner conductor Sara Jakubiak soprano Madeleine Shaw mezzo-soprano Stuart Skelton tenor James Creswell bass London Philharmonic Choir

‘Always the scent of the moist forest – that was the incense’, declared Leos Janáček. ‘I felt a cathedral grow before me in the vast expanse of the hills and the vault of the sky’. For him, the whole of creation was a cause for celebration, and with its jubilant trumpets, thundering organ and raw, unbuttoned lust for life, there’s something elemental about his Glagolitic Mass – a choral work like no other. Edward Gardner prepares the way with two masterpieces wrought from ice and fire: Sibelius’s brooding Finnish legend, and the glittering musical firework display with which Lutosławski lit up the skies of post-war Poland.

Stuart Skelton

Sara Jakubiak

Madeleine Shaw

James Creswell

Clockwise from top left: © Guðmundur Ingólfsson © Ashley Plante © Christina Raphaelle © Zoe Barling

*Generously supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute through the Polska Music Programme.

April

Raising the roof

Wednesday 29 April 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Ravel La valse Gibbons Pavan in G minor Nico Muhly Organ Concerto (UK premiere)* Fauré Pavane Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Yan Pascal Tortelier conductor James McVinnie organ

Everything old is new again. Maurice Ravel takes a nostalgic look back at the Viennese waltz, and sees a world in turmoil. Saint-Saëns sets out to capture the spirit of Beethoven and – with the help of an organ and a full orchestra – ends up by blowing the roof off. And New York’s coolest living composer embraces the King of Instruments, and places his new Organ Concerto amidst ghosts from four centuries. ‘It was important that buried in the DNA of this was something old’, says Nico Muhly. With Muhly’s dedicatee James McVinnie at the organ tonight, this should be an ear-tingling experience. *Commissioned by Southbank Centre, London.

‘@LPORCHESTRA TONIGHT. ELECTRIFYING.’ Audience member

James McVinnie

May

Levit plays Busoni

Friday 1 May 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Bach (arr. Respighi) 3 Chorales Bach (arr. Stokowski) Toccata and Fugue in D minor Busoni Piano Concerto Antonio Pappano conductor Igor Levit piano Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir

‘Joy and pain interweave in the light of the world … Thousands of years flash by with glory and strength, revealing that which is indestructible’. Extraordinary words – but then, ‘extraordinary’ is the only word for the choral finale of Ferruccio Busoni’s colossal Piano Concerto of 1904. Every performance is a major occasion, demanding a pianist of quite phenomenal charisma and skill, so we’re thrilled to have Igor Levit as soloist. Antonio Pappano brings all his sense of drama to a masterpiece like no other – as well as a series of Technicolor orchestral transcriptions of one of the few composers who can give Busoni a run for his money.

‘SO MUCH CHARACTER, WARMTH AND BLAZING ENERGY FROM @LPORCHESTRA TONIGHT – IMPECCABLE.’ Audience member

Antonio Pappano

May

Epic romance

Wednesday 27 May 2020 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tickets £46–£14 Premium seats £65 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk Series discounts Page 47

Sibelius Violin Concerto Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 Klaus Mäkelä conductor Ray Chen violin

‘THE @LPORCHESTRA’S TCHAIK 1 MADE ME SO HAPPY, I MAY HAVE CRIED.’ Audience member

Ray Chen

The forests of Finland extend to the Arctic Circle and beyond; the steppes of Russia stretch further than any eye can see. There’s something of those vast landscapes in both of these great Romantic masterpieces – two epic journeys from the early years of the 20th century, by turns ardent, elemental and ravishingly tender, and both glowing with glorious melodies. Ray Chen is the soloist in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto – a violinist who redefines what it is to be a classical musician in the 21st century. And then the remarkable young Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä plunges deep into Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony: expect this to be compelling.

R STRAUSS ALPINE SYMPHONY SCALE GREAT HEIGHTS Wednesday 2 October 2019

Page 03

Education and Community events

This season, our FUNharmonics family concert series brings to life two magical flying creatures – Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s Zog the dragon, and the mysterious Russian Firebird. We will also join the celebrations for Beethoven’s 250th anniversary with an orchestral feast of his most well-known and well-loved music.

In addition, you can enjoy the best in young musical talent through performances from our Education and Community programme participants as part of our year-round series of pre-concert LPO Showcase events. Our Foyle Future Firsts and LPO Junior Artists perform works inspired by our main season themes alongside their mentors from the LPO, and the LPO Soundworks ensemble brings its creative flair to another cross-arts collaboration. See page 42 for more details.

Zog

Education and Community events

Zog

Before The Firebird…

Sunday 27 October 2019 12.00 noon–1.00pm

Sunday 3 May 2020 12.00 noon–1.00pm

‘ZOG, THE BIGGEST DRAGON, WAS THE KEENEST ONE BY FAR. HE TRIED HIS HARDEST EVERY DAY TO WIN A GOLDEN STAR.’

Igor Stravinsky’s magical ballet score The Firebird weaves the tale of a Prince, a powerful bird, and their battle to defeat an evil sorcerer and release 13 captive sisters. But just how did these brave sisters end up under King Katschei’s spell in the first place? Composer Paul Rissmann and librettist Hazel Gould’s fantastic new prequel to the traditional story may have the answer. Join us for some compelling storytelling and fantastic new participatory music, followed by extracts from Stravinsky’s original score.

We are delighted to present a live concert performance of Zog – the latest animated film from Magic Light Pictures, based on the witty storybook written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Follow the adventures of the eager, but accident-prone young dragon, as the LPO performs René Aubry’s lively score to a big screen projection of the film.

Why Beethoven Threw the Stew Sunday 16 February 2020 12.00 noon–1.00pm

OAE TOTS Sunday 27 October 2019 Sunday 16 February 2020 Sunday 3 May 2020 10.15am/11.15am/12.15am

As the world celebrates his 250th birthday in 2020, let the LPO introduce your family to one of the most brilliant composers in the history of music – Ludwig van Beethoven. We’ll hear some of his most famous orchestral pieces, and will discover the real man behind the music. Why was he so grumpy? Why did he rarely have a bath? And most importantly, why should you never serve him stew? Inspired by the book of the same name by cellist Steven Isserlis.

On every FUNharmonics day, we invite our youngest audience members to join our friends from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. OAE TOTS workshops offer a magical, interactive introduction to music-making for children between two and five, sitting up-close to orchestral musicians and taking part with their parents and carers. Workshops take place in the Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall – separate tickets required.

Children £8–£12 Adults £16–£24 Book 020 7840 4242/lpo.org.uk

And there’s more…

Series discounts apply

Before each FUNharmonics concert, there are free hands-on activities around the building linked to the concert theme, including opportunities for children aged six and over to ‘have a go’ at different orchestral instruments under expert instruction. FUNharmonics foyer activities are generously supported by Stentor Music Co. Ltd and Bell Music.

LPO Showcase

LPO Showcase Free one hour concerts throughout the season

This season we share with you the bright talent of tomorrow through our LPO Showcase series of inspiring free concerts at Southbank Centre. All are welcome to join us for a variety of performances featuring musicians nurtured through our Education and Community programmes – Foyle Future Firsts, LPO Junior Artists and LPO Soundworks – as well as student ensembles from the Royal College of Music. Find out more and get programme updates at lpo.org.uk/lposhowcase

Save the date Wednesday 23 October 2019 — RCM Performance | 6.00pm Royal Festival Hall Student musicians from the Royal College of Music showcase their talent with a performance of chamber works by Thomas Adès.

Saturday 28 March 2020 | 6.00pm Royal Festival Hall As part of 2020 Vision, the Foyle Future Firsts present 21st-century chamber repertoire alongside works by earlier composers, under the baton of Osmo Vänskä. Wednesday 8 April 2020 | 6.00pm The Clore Ballroom LPO Soundworks offers teenage composers the opportunity to collaborate with young people from different disciplines, within London and with regional partners. Following an intensive week of workshops, the creative members of our LPO Soundworks ensemble perform their own music, alongside other young artists. Saturday 25 April 2020 | 6.00pm Royal Festival Hall Now running for its fourth year, our LPO Junior Artists programme supports exceptionally talented young instrumentalists from under-represented backgrounds to develop their musicianship and gain an insight into the orchestral profession. Hear them perform tonight alongside Junior Artists alumni and their LPO mentors.

Saturday 7 December 2019 | 6.00pm Royal Festival Hall The LPO’s Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme bridges the transition between college and the professional platform for up to 16 outstanding young musicians. Meet this season’s new cohort in a lively programme of British music.

LPO Soundworks

Supporting the Orchestra

WONDER AT THE WORLD OF THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Supporting the Orchestra

Memberships and donations

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Contemporaries

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Support the orchestra that you love. Get priority booking for our Southbank Centre concerts plus access to final rehearsals.

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Join a circle of dedicated supporters and get access to the Beecham Bar, special events and Glyndebourne.

Give a major supporting gift and build significant relationships within the Orchestra. Donors can choose to have their gift associated with a player’s chair. From £5,000

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Help others to experience the wonder of music by remembering the Orchestra in your will.

lpo.org.uk/support/ individuals 020 7840 4212

Supporting the Orchestra

Corporate partnerships

Partner with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to meet your business needs through results-driven, bespoke relationships. By aligning with one of the world’s best known orchestras we can help you: — Make your events unique

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and abroad

lpo.org.uk/corporate 020 7840 4210

OrchLab: Making Music Accessible

In 2017 the London Philharmonic Orchestra and JTI continued their long-term partnership with the launch of OrchLab, which makes music accessible for disabled adults. The project sees members of the Orchestra partnering with Drake Music (the leading national organisation working in music, disability and technology) to deliver a programme of music workshops using accessible instruments and technology developed by Drake Music with service users at Leonard Cheshire centres. Now in its third year, the project has so far delivered over 100 workshops to 110 people and has developed an online platform for sharing content. OrchLab reaches its climax with a whole week of music-making celebrations in November 2019.

LPO Plus

Introducing LPO Plus

Earn points as you spend! LPO Plus is the new online reward scheme from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As a member of LPO Plus, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be rewarded with points every time you book tickets or buy CDs online at lpo.org.uk.* These points will be worth at least 10% of the order youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re making. LPO Plus points can then be redeemed on future orders*, saving you money every time you redeem them with us. For more details and to join LPO Plus go to: lpo.org.uk/lpoplus

*Certain exclusions apply. Our multi-buy series discount is not eligible for the LPO Plus points reward. See our website for full terms and conditions of the scheme.

Booking information

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Monday to Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm (£3.50 transaction fee) lpo.org.uk (£3.00 transaction fee)

Southbank Centre

Ticket Office 020 3879 9555 Daily 9.00am – 8.00pm (£3.50 transaction fee) southbankcentre.co.uk (£3.00 transaction fee) In person at Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office Daily 9.00am – 8.00pm (no transaction fee) All discounts are subject to availability and cannot be combined. Ticket prices vary: see the individual concert pages for ticket price information. We reserve the right to adjust ticket prices and allocations according to demand. Premium seats: we have selected the very best seats in the front stalls to be sold at premium price to ensure you the finest acoustic and view. Age guidance: Evening concerts suitable for children aged seven and over unless otherwise stated.

Book more, pay less: series discounts

– Book 3-4 concerts and receive a 10% discount – Book 5-7 concerts and receive a 15% discount – Book 8-10 concerts and receive a 20% discount – Book 11-14 concerts and receive a 25% discount – Book 15+ concerts and receive a 30% discount

Group bookings

With savings of up to 20% on ticket prices, and many other group benefits, everything has been done to help your group have an enjoyable evening with one of the world’s finest orchestras. Benefits include: – 20% discount for groups of ten or more on selected concerts – A pair of complimentary tickets for the group organiser for groups of 20+ – Exclusive ticket offers and special promotions on selected concerts – Flexible reservations until one month before the concert – No booking fee School parties receive a 50% discount on ticket prices plus one in ten tickets free. Bookings cannot be made online. Book now 020 7840 4205 or groups@lpo.org.uk (Monday to Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm)

NOISE membership for students and 18-26 year olds

If you are a full-time student in higher education or aged between 18 and 26, you can get best available tickets to selected London Philharmonic Orchestra concerts throughout the year for just £7. Selected concerts are also followed by a complimentary drinks reception courtesy of the Orchestra’s Principal Beer Sponsor, Heineken.

General information

Can I exchange my tickets?

You may exchange them for another concert in the Orchestra’s Royal Festival Hall season or for a credit voucher (valid for one year only). Tickets must be returned to the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the address in the right hand column on this page, and arrive at least two working days before the concert. For ‘Print at Home’ tickets, forward them to boxoffice@lpo.org.uk with a covering email. We do not offer refunds unless a concert is cancelled. The right is reserved to substitute artists and vary programmes if necessary.

Limited concessions

50% off all ticket prices for full-time students, benefit recipients (Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Universal or Pension Credit) and under-18s (maximum four per transaction. Not applicable to Family Concerts). Limited availability; appropriate ID will be checked on admission.

London Philharmonic Orchestra Resident at Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne Festival Opera 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director HRH The Duke of Kent KG Patron Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor* Pieter Schoeman Leader† Tickets 020 7840 4242 General enquiries 020 7840 4200 lpo.org.uk *Supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation † Supported by Neil Westreich

Access

Visitors with a disability can join Southbank Centre’s free Access Scheme. You may be eligible for tickets at concessionary prices and to bring a companion who can assist you during your visit; and to receive information in alternative formats. For information, please email accesslist@southbankcentre.co.uk, call 020 3879 9555 or visit southbankcentre.co.uk/access. Sound enhancement systems are available. Contact Royal Festival Hall's Ticket Office to collect one (subject to availability): 020 3879 9555. Royal Festival Hall has level access via internal lifts and ramps, and accessible toilets. For further details please call 020 3879 9555. Royal Festival Hall has wheelchair spaces in the boxes, choir seats, side and rear stalls of the auditorium. Assistance dogs are welcome on site.

For details of our privacy policy, please visit lpo.org.uk or call to request details.

Travel information

Getting to Southbank Centre

The Hayward Car Park is now closed to all cars.

Southbank Centre is situated on the Thames riverside between the Golden Jubilee Bridge and Waterloo Bridge.

Alternative parking is available nearby at the National Theatre car park and Cornwall Road multi-storey car park and is subject to charges. Free parking in the National Theatre and Cornwall Road car parks is available to Blue Badge holders visiting Southbank Centre. Please note on Sundays when the National Theatre building is closed there is no step-free access from the car park. A drop-off point is available adjacent to the Level 1 glass lift outside Royal Festival Hall, on the Queen Elizabeth Hall slip road off Belvedere Road.

By underground to Waterloo, Embankment and Charing Cross. By rail to Waterloo, Waterloo East or Charing Cross. By bus to Waterloo (stopping on Waterloo Bridge, York Road, Stamford Street and Belvedere Road). For detailed bus information call 0343 222 1234 or visit tfl.gov.uk/buses.

For the latest parking updates you can also visit: southbankcentre.co.uk/ visit/getting-here.

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‘Kudos to @LPOrchestra for programming such a bold season opener. Can’t imagine many orchestras programming Stravinsky, Adès and Lutosławski as an opener. Invigorating.’ ‘I’ll never hear Dvořák 8 the same ever again. Absolutely mesmerised. @tSondergard @LPOrchestra.’ ‘Full throttle eyeballs out @LPOrchestra rendering of Rite of Spring at RFH tonight. Stravinsky would have approved.’

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‘Tonight’s Bruckner 8 with @LPOrchestra was quite exceptional, a thrilling & moving experience.’ ‘A tense, propulsive, monumental Leningrad Symphony from @LPOrchestra at the @southbankcentre this evening. A splendid start to a weekend.’ ‘Still thinking about last night’s @LPOrchestra Shostakovich, the Leningrad Symphony at @southbankcentre. What a mesmerising marvel it was.’

Recordings/downloads

London Philharmonic Orchestra Label

Live, studio and archive recordings from our catalogue including critically acclaimed recordings with Tennstedt, Haitink and Jurowski are available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify and others.

Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 (Monday – Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm), all good retail outlets and the Royal Festival Hall shop.

Hollywood Blockbusters 1980s to 2000s

‘The man in charge is one of the go-to guys in the film world, Dirk Brossé – hugely impressive movie credentials ... The London Philharmonic Orchestra has certainly delivered a terrific disc.’ Album of the Week (Classics Unwrapped), BBC Radio Scotland, October 2018

Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3

‘Vladimir Jurowski is really the perfect advocate for this kind of music. These are live recordings, and they’re really perfectionist in every detail and they have this sheen of a historicallyinformed performance.’ BBC Radio 3, Record Review, November 2018

Poulenc Organ Concerto/ Piano Concerto/ Stabat Mater

‘The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir provide impeccable support, conductor Yannick Nezét-Séguin eliciting all that matters in Poulenc, transformative euphoria arising from simplistic originality.’ i, August 2018

Includes music from: Star Wars/La Vita è Bella/ Gladiator/The Mission/ Indiana Jones with Dirk Brossé LPO-0110

with Vladimir Jurowski LPO-0109

with Yannick Nezét-Séguin LPO-0108

Diary

The 2019/20 season

All concerts are at Royal Festival Hall and start at 7.30pm unless otherwise stated.

September Friday 27 September Knussen Britten Tchaikovsky Vladimir Jurowski Julia Fischer

October Wednesday 2 October Elgar R Strauss Vladimir Jurowski Nicola Benedetti Saturday 5 October Sibelius Elgar Britten Susanna Mälkki Sheku Kanneh-Mason Wednesday 9 October Bartók Walton Nielsen Edward Gardner James Ehnes

The London Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Arts Council England and Southbank Centre. Concert texts Richard Bratby Illustrations Brett Ryder/Heart Agency Design Ross Shaw @ JMG Studio Printer Tradewinds (This brochure is produced on paper from a sustainable source). Information in this brochure was correct at the time of going to press. The right is reserved to substitute artists and to vary programmes if necessary. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is a registered charity No. 238045. Southbank Centre is a registered charity No. 298909.

Saturday 12 October Verdi Edward Gardner Elza van den Heever Ekaterina Gubanova Arsen Soghomonyan Gábor Bretz London Philharmonic Choir Saturday 19 October Colin Matthews Mahler Vladimir Jurowski Sofia Fomina Sarah Connolly London Philharmonic Choir Philharmonia Chorus

November Friday 1 November A celebration of British cinema Anthony Weeden Piers Lane Wednesday 6 November Elgar Mozart Alwyn R Strauss Lawrence Renes Juliette Bausor Xavier de Maistre

Wednesday 23 October Sibelius Thomas Adès Holst

Saturday 9 November Butterworth Elgar Walton

Thomas Adès Kirill Gerstein Ladies of the London Philharmonic Choir

Marin Alsop Roderick Williams London Philharmonic Choir

Saturday 26 October Elgar Mark Elder Lucy Crowe Alice Coote Allan Clayton Roderick Williams David Stout Brindley Sherratt London Philharmonic Choir BBC Symphony Chorus

Wednesday 13 November Wagner R Strauss Mahler Vladimir Jurowski Diana Damrau

December Saturday 7 December Purcell (arr. Manze) Thomas Adès Lawes (arr. Manze) Vaughan Williams Andrew Manze Anthony Marwood Wednesday 11 December Foulds Shostakovich Vladimir Jurowski Peter Donohoe

Diary

January Wednesday 15 January Shankar David Murphy Susanna Hurrell Alok Kumar Michel de Souza Njabulo Madlala Saturday 18 January Poulenc Fauré Bertrand de Billy James O’Donnell Katerina Tretyakova Stéphane Degout London Philharmonic Choir

February Saturday 1 February 3.00pm Wagner Vladimir Jurowski Torsten Kerl Evgeny Nikitin Elena Pankratova Adrian Thompson Robert Hayward Brindley Sherratt Patricia Bardon Alina Adamski Saturday 8 February Beethoven Péter Eötvös Scriabin Vladimir Jurowski Marco Blaauw Omar Ebrahim Friday 14 February Humperdinck Ravel Saint-Saëns Emmanuel Krivine Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

Wednesday 19 February Beethoven Knussen Sibelius

Thursday 26 March Queen Elizabeth Hall Beethoven Jörg Widmann

Saturday 25 April Sibelius Lutosławski Janáček

Vasily Petrenko Leila Josefowicz

Anne-Sophie Mutter Pieter Schoeman David Quiggle Kristina Blaumane

Edward Gardner Sara Jakubiak Madeleine Shaw Stuart Skelton James Creswell London Philharmonic Choir

Saturday 22 February Jörg Widmann Ravel Beethoven Dima Slobodeniouk Jamie Barton Wednesday 26 February Elgar Spohr Webern Rautavaara Osmo Vänskä Sergej Krylov Friday 28 February Beethoven Krzysztof Penderecki Enescu

Saturday 28 March Sibelius Dutilleux Beethoven Edward Gardner Sally Matthews

April

Yan Pascal Tortelier James McVinnie

Wednesday 1 April Ives Thomas Adès Beethoven

May

Vladimir Jurowski Nicolas Hodges

Osmo Vänskä Jeremy Denk

Saturday 4 April Beethoven

March

Vladimir Jurowski Lise Davidsen Angharad Lyddon London Philharmonic Choir

Wednesday 4 March Igudesman & Joo Thomas Carroll Igudesman & Joo Wednesday 11 March Beethoven Mahler Robin Ticciati Anne-Sophie Mutter Khatia Buniatishvili Pablo Ferrández Wednesday 25 March Beethoven Kaija Saariaho Scriabin Omer Meir Wellber Johannes Moser

Wednesday 29 April Ravel Gibbons Nico Muhly Fauré Saint-Saëns

Wednesday 8 April Méhul Ryan Wigglesworth Rachmaninoff

Friday 1 May Bach (arr. Respighi) Bach (arr. Stokowski) Busoni Antonio Pappano Igor Levit Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir Wednesday 27 May Sibelius Rachmaninoff Klaus Mäkelä Ray Chen

Vladimir Jurowski Sophie Bevan Nikolai Lugansky

FUNharmonics

Friday 17 April Haydn Mahler

Sunday 27 October 2019 12.00 noon–1.00pm Zog

Vladimir Jurowski Wednesday 22 April John Corigliano Philip Glass Shankar Karen Kamensek Daniel Hope Alban Gerhardt Anoushkar Shankar

Sunday 16 February 2020 12.00 noon–1.00pm Why Beethoven Threw the Stew Sunday 3 May 2020 12.00 noon–1.00pm Before the Firebird

‘WHEN MUSIC TAKES YOU SOMEWHERE ELSE AND YOU’RE REMINDED OF WHAT MAKES LIFE BEAUTIFUL. UNMISSABLE.’ Audience member

lpo.org.uk