London Symphony Orchestra 2013/14 season brochure

London Symphony Orchestra Living Music

‘Tourists and natives, young and old, Classical music devotees and casual bypassers: all stood or sat in silence for two hours – except when the music stopped and a football-style roar erupted.’

The Times on LSO Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev in Trafalgar Square

London’s Symphony Orchestra lso.co.uk

LSO Season 2013/14 Concert Guide

Last season was a year of…

4 billion people watching worldwide … … whilst the London Symphony Orchestra played Chariots of Fire conducted by Sir Simon Rattle with guest artist Rowan Atkinson at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Also part of the extravaganza was LSO On Track; young musicians sat alongside members of the LSO, performing Elgar’s Nimrod as a curtain of blue swathed the entire seating bank in the stadium.

‘The experience of world sport and music brings people of all nationalities and backgrounds together with a common purpose and we are thrilled to be part of that.’

Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director of the LSO

10,000 people packed into Trafalgar Square … … giving a standing ovation to the LSO’s performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique conducted by Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev.

The concert was the second as part of BMW LSO Open Air Classics.

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80 years of recording music at Abbey Road … … including DreamWorks’ 3D animated film release Rise of the Guardians and the soundtracks to the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies. The LSO has recorded some of the most iconic titles in film history at these hallowed studios, including the Star Wars films and scores to several Harry Potter titles.

100,000 audience members … … who come to our Barbican concerts every season. 2012 saw the LSO performing concerts as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad with Wynton Marsalis, Sir Simon Rattle and Gilberto Gil prior to the Olympics in July and August; a celebration for Sir Colin Davis on his 85th birthday; The 2012 Queen’s Medal for Music, which was awarded to the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain by Her Majesty the Queen; a five-part UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait series with violinist Leonidas Kavakos; and two major composer residencies with John Adams and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Plus international residencies, festivals and tours … … including our Principal Conductor, Valery Gergiev, taking the complete symphonies of both Brahms and Polish composer Karol Szymanowski around the globe. At the end of the 2012/13 season, the LSO’s four-year residency at the Aix-en-Provence festival also comes to a close. By that time, the Orchestra will have performed four 30-night run operas (Rigoletto, which we will recreate at the Barbican in September 2013, Don Giovanni, La clemenza di Tito and La Traviata) and many orchestral concerts in the Mediterranean city. The LSO also celebrated a century since its first tour to the United States in 1912, having nearly sailed on the ill-fated Titanic that April, changing to a different crossing at the last minute.

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LSO HIGHLIGHTS

70 London concerts 60 Guest artists 20 Conductors 41 Tour destinations Singing p10 Sundays Six Sundays spent listening to great choruses and choral masterpieces.

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Berlioz ‘Distinctive, bright, incisive …

Valery Gergiev conducted a gleeful account.’

The Guardian

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Yuja

‘The most dazzlin pianist in the con The Guardian

Wang

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ngly, uncannily gifted ncert world today.’

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Sounds British Elgar, Walton and Britten are three of the big name composers played this season along with two world premieres: Huw Watkins’ Flute Concerto and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Tenth Symphony.

LSO Invites The LSO is inviting a panoply of new guest conductors to the podium.

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LSO for Everyone Music for people of all ages, generations and backgrounds.

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Our home AT The Barbican Set in a City Cultural Quarter funded by the Corporation of London, the LSO, Barbican and the Guildhall School are an alliance leading the world in arts and learning.

Barbican 6

The LSO is proud to be Resident Orchestra at the Barbican in the heart of the City of London, the Orchestra’s home since it opened its doors in 1982. Performing 50 orchestral concerts, plus family concerts, events for schools and more, at its home at the Barbican every year, the residency has enabled the Orchestra to build long-term loyalty with artists and audiences alike.

The Barbican is a world-class arts and learning organisation which pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Its creative learning programme further underpins everything it does. The architecturally renowned centre comprises the Barbican Hall, the Barbican Theatre, the Pit, three cinemas, Barbican Art Gallery and a second gallery, The Curve (which housed Random International’s incredibly popular Rain Room last season causing queues around the foyer). It strives to offer the richest, most distinct season of live classical performance in Europe with a line-up encompassing the BBC Symphony Orchestra as Associate Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia as Associate Ensembles, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and Jazz at Lincoln Center as International Associates.

The Guildhall School is one of the world’s leading conservatoires and drama schools. Rated No 1 specialist institution in the UK by The Guardian University Guide 2013 it has over 800 musicians, actors, stage managers and theatre technicians drawn from nearly 60 countries around the world. The School promotes innovation, experiment and research, including a new Masters in Orchestral Artistry with the LSO due to launch at the same time as it opens its new facilities at Milton Court in autumn 2013. The new venue provides linked programming with the Barbican and with nearby LSO St Luke’s on Old Street.

To make the most of your evening at the Barbican, concert-going is made easy. You can fine-dine pre- or post-concert in Searcys’ new venture, Gin Joint, enjoy a platter over cocktails with friends in the Barbican Lounge, or just get a light bite or quick hot meal from the Food Hall. There’s also the new Camera Café & Bar where you can meet friends and relax on the sofas and armchairs. Plus, if you’re looking for the perfect little gift – be it design-led contemporary accessories or an LSO Live CD – or a last minute birthday card, then there’s the Barbican shop on the ground floor too.

To see what else is on at the Barbican, visit barbican.org.uk To book a table at one of the restaurants, call Gin Joint

by Searcys 020 7588 3008 or the Barbican Lounge 020 7382 6180

The LSO ‘The London Symphony Orchestra was exceptional by any standards, maintaining a terrific and at times borderline terrifying momentum.’

George Hall, The Guardian

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A history of firsts The LSO’s pioneering spirit was strong even in its infancy.

Having given its first concert on 9 June 1904, it was the first British orchestra to be owned by its players, and its independent, self-governed ethos has flourished ever since. In 1906, it was the first British orchestra to tour abroad (to Paris), followed in 1912 by being the first European orchestra to tour the United States – narrowly missing an ill-fated trip on the Titanic due to a last minute change of schedule. The Orchestra was the first-ever recorded orchestra (for HMV) in 1913, the first to record a specifically composed film soundtrack, entitled Things to Come,

by Arthur Bliss in 1935, and its first popular TV programme was André Previn’s Music Night in 1971. The Orchestra’s thirst for firsts has never ceased, becoming the first orchestra to perform a live symphony concert in Trafalgar Square in 2012, the first to open its own pioneering music education centre, LSO St Luke’s in 2003, and the first to launch its own recording label, LSO Live, in 1999.

Always outspoken and inventive, the LSO has led the way in orchestral development and initiative. The Orchestra now has deep roots, having evolved and adapted to a constantly changing world for 109 years.

To find out more about the LSO’s fascinating history, visit lso.co.uk/history

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Gergiev’s Berlioz: The critics’ views Gergiev shaped these movements exquisitely in a driven, dynamically fluid performance.

Allan Kozinn, New York Times on Gergiev conducting Romeo and Juliet

Berlioz … requires both quicksilver responses and the ability to sustain the longest of melodic lines. Both qualities are exactly what makes Gergiev the theatrical opera conductor he is.

Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times on Gergiev conducting Romeo and Juliet

Gergiev drew achingly expressive singing … charged with intensity.

Anthony Tommasini, New York Times

‘A new world of music’ ‘Music, Berlioz will write, ‘has wings too wide to spread fully within the confines of a theatre’.’

David Cairns, Berlioz biographer

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GERGIEV’s BERLIOZ Thu 31 Oct & Thu 14 Nov 2013 7.30pm Berlioz Overture: Waverley Berlioz Les nuits d’été Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

Gergiev’s Berlioz Reality, Fantasy & Imagination

Valery Gergiev conductor Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano 6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican (31 Oct) Thu 31 Oct 2013 6pm Discover more

For a long time Berlioz was regarded as a composer who wrote music that was fundamentally different.

The Symphonie fantastique, it was said, came out of nowhere: Berlioz was trying to make music do what it had never done before and wasn’t meant to.

FAMILY Guided Concert Night Symphonie fantastique

This was not the view of the composer himself. ‘My music isn’t trying to subvert the basic elements of the art’, he wrote, ‘but only to add to them.’

The fantastique had roots: in the French operas he had imbibed when he came to Paris in 1821, a boy of 17 who had never heard an orchestra, then in Weber’s Der Freischütz, and finally in the Beethoven concerts at the Conservatoire in 1828.

Above all, Beethoven is where Berlioz’s dramatic concert works come from.

Beethoven revealed to him ‘a new world of music’. Think what it must have been like, for a sensibility as acute and an imagination as powerful as his, brought up on Gluck and Spontini, to hear an 80-piece orchestra playing the ‘Eroica’, Fifth, ‘Pastoral’ and Seventh symphonies in a small, resonant hall. It was a revelation of the infinite possibilities of the orchestra, of music as an expressive language, free to do as it liked, and of the symphony as the dramatic form par excellence.

Music, Berlioz will write, ‘has wings too wide to spread fully within the confines of a theatre’. He will devote a vital part of his career to works whose forebears are the symphonies of Beethoven. Carrying on from Beethoven, they will use the composer’s personal experiences, not to create a different kind of music, but to develop and extend what Beethoven did. The ‘Pastoral’ may be the only one of Beethoven’s symphonies with movement titles and an explicit meaning, but for Berlioz a ‘poetic idea’ is active in the others too.

Inspired by them, Harold will draw on his wanderings in Italy and his delight in the sights and sounds of that entrancing country; Romeo and Juliet, in emulation of the Ninth Symphony, will recast Shakespeare’s tragedy as a choral symphony of fabulous richness of invention, and the fantastique will express not just his unrequited passion for a distant beloved, but his whole inner life – in Berlioz’s words (quoting Victor Hugo), ‘my heart’s book inscribed on every page’.

Valery Gergiev conductor Antoine Tamestit viola Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano

See page 39 for details Fri 1 & Tue 12 Nov 2013 7.30pm Berlioz Overture: Benvenuto Cellini Berlioz The Death of Cleopatra Berlioz Harold in Italy for Viola and Orchestra

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican (1 Nov) Le science de monsieur Berlioz New works by Eleanor Jarman-Pinto, Ben Graves and Joshua Kaye

Part of RPS200, a year-long celebration of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Bicentenary in 2013.

Sun 3 Nov 2013 10am–5.30pm Discover more

LSO Discovery Day: Hector Berlioz Sun 3 & Thu 7 Nov 2013 7pm Berlioz The Damnation of Faust Valery Gergiev conductor Wed 6 & Wed 13 Nov 2013 7.30pm Berlioz Romeo and Juliet Valery Gergiev conductor 13 Nov supported by LSO Friends

6pm Pre-concert talk (6 Nov) Berlioz and the Romantic Orchestra Part of RPS200, a year-long celebration of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Bicentenary in 2013.

David Cairns is the definitive biographer of Berlioz, winning the Whitbread Prize and the Samuel Johnson Prize for his two-volume work, as well as publishing Berlioz’s diaries.

Berlioz ON TOUR Fri 8 Nov 2013, Brno – Czech Republic Sat 9 Nov 2013, St Pölten – Austria Sun 10 Nov 2013, Essen – Germany Sat 16 & Sun 17 Nov 2013, Paris – France

full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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Singing Sundays ‘LSO Sing aims to reach as much of the London community as possible; we want everybody in EC1 to sing.’

Simon Halsey, LSO Choral Director

Simon Halsey: SINGING IS FOR EVERYONE Every orchestra needs a symphonic choir to sing oratorio and sacred music (Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem), symphonies with choral involvement (Mahler Symphonies Nos 2, 3 and 8) and 20th-century works with background chorus (Holst’s The Planets, Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé) that are a core part of the repertoire. And it really works best if the orchestra has its own choir and its own choral director, who can become an important part of the artistic programming, to help with projects and repertoire.

As LSO Choral Director I am part of the team that comes up with creative ideas involving singing for the LSO’s conductors. Perhaps most importantly I am responsible for training the London Symphony Chorus singers, not only to know their music inside out but also to be alert to the gestures of five or six different conductors in a season.

I spend a lot of time thinking about what we can do better! The LSO is unique because of its international touring, its residency at the Barbican, its partnership with the Guildhall School and its LSO Discovery programme. It’s a musical meeting place, and I want the London Symphony Chorus and LSO Youth and Community Choirs to be integral to that. I’d like to create a centre of choral excellence of all sorts – a new source of energy combining the talents of all the wonderful people here.

If I had three wishes for British choirs they would be: one, to champion specialist funding for singing in schools; two, to keep boys singing at the point when their voices break; and three, to ride the wave of interest in singing created by Gareth Malone (who started at the LSO) to energise new choirs.

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CHORAL & OPERA WORKS ON Singing Sundays Sun 15 Sep 2013 7pm Verdi Rigoletto (concert performance) Gianandrea Noseda conductor Sun 3 & Thu 7 Nov 2013 7pm Berlioz The Damnation of Faust Valery Gergiev conductor Sat 4 Jan 2014 11am–4.30pm, LSO St Luke’s TAKE PART

LSO Discovery Singing Day Haydn The Creation (sung in English) See page 40 for details Sun 12 Jan 2014 7.30pm Haydn The Creation (sung in English) Richard Egarr conductor Sun 2 Feb 2014 7.30pm Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Symphony No 10 (world premiere, LSO commission) Sir Antonio Pappano conductor Sun 30 Mar 2014 7.30pm Scriabin Symphony No 4 (‘The Poem of Ecstasy’) Valery Gergiev conductor Sun 22 Jun 2014 10am–5.30pm, LSO St Luke’s TAKE PART

LSO Discovery Singing Day Beethoven Mass in C major See page 43 for details Sun 22 Jun 2014 7.30pm Beethoven Mass in C major Fabio Luisi conductor

ON TOUR Thu 4 to Fri 26 Jul 2013 Aix-en-Provence Festival Verdi Rigoletto with Gianandrea Noseda Fri 5 to Tue 23 Jul 2013 Aix-en-Provence Festival Mozart Don Giovanni with Marc Minkowski

Images top row; LSO Youth Choir. Bottom left; LSO Community Choir. All other images LSO Discovery Singing Day with Simon Halsey at LSO St Luke’s.

The LSO’s choral strategy (LSO Sing) is to reach as much of the London community as possible. I hope to have a team of LSO choral conductors, and it will be our job to make things happen. In the City of London we will engage with work-based choirs, and through the LSO Discovery choirs, we want everybody in EC1 to sing. Two-thirds of our choirs are open access, without audition. Singers need to be relaxed and happy when they sing to give their best. We provide vocal coaching, and we provide advice about learning to read music. So I’d recommend you go online and see which choir suits you and join in. Take your children to a Youth Choir rehearsal, sign up for a Singing Day, try the Community Choir or perhaps audition for the London Symphony Chorus.

Simon Halsey was appointed LSO Choral Director in 2012.

LSO Sing is supported by the J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust.

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lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

Want to sing in one of our choirs?

‘Because it’s cheaper than therapy …’ … So ran one of the responses to the question ‘Why do you sing?’, which Robin Osterley asked.

In a neat way, this answer encapsulates much of the current thinking about how singing can be used to promote individual wellbeing and happiness.

Singing is one of the earliest and most instinctive human activities, and seems to resonate with us at an almost visceral level. Singing is good for you!

Recent research has extended this thinking.

Randomised control trials have identified the physical health benefits of singing to people living with long-term conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Choirs are springing up all over the country with overtly therapeutic aims.

Previous LSO Community Choir director Gareth Malone has done a great job in identifying the transformation in lives that joining a singing group can achieve, and the massive benefits to communities that singing can bring. It’s no wonder that people of all ages, and from all walks of life, are being inspired to find or start a choir.

Singing is for everyone. You don’t need an expensive instrument, a car, or to practise five hours a day. There are probably around 10,000 choirs in

this country, ranging from formal church choirs, large symphonic choruses and chamber choirs to enthusiastic community choirs. In each case the choir is fulfilling a need for its members, perhaps for musical expression, but just as likely for companionship, togetherness, friendliness and fun. I know of countless couples who met in their choir, and I know of innumerable lasting friendships made in the process of rehearsing and performing choral music.

Of course this by no means implies that the more ‘traditional’ benefits of singing in a choir – musical and creative expression, the buzz from performing concerts, discovering new repertoire – are no longer relevant. But many more people are now discovering that singing in a group is not just a musical experience – it is one of the best forms of therapy available.

London Symphony Chorus (LSC) The LSC is recognised as one of the finest choruses in the country and its reputation is worldwide. If you are already a proficient singer, by becoming a member of the LSC you could be part of the exciting future of the Chorus.

The LSC is currently actively recruiting singers for all voice parts, of all ages and backgrounds. New singers are always welcome to attend rehearsals before arranging an audition.

LSO Community Choir If you live in EC1 and have never sung before, or have and it’s a distant memory, or just want to sing in an informal relaxed environment, the LSO Community Choir rehearses at LSO St Luke’s every Monday, also performing three concerts there a year.

LSO Youth Choirs Supported by Slaughter and May

Robin Osterley is Chief Executive of Making Music, a national organisation helping amateur music-makers connect, perform and take part in Britain’s vibrant cultural scene.

For children aged 7–18, the LSO Youth Choirs offer fantastic opportunities for young people to hone their singing talents, make friends and be part of something bigger, with regular chances to perform at all sorts of venues, including the world-class concert hall at the Barbican.

TAKE PART LSO Discovery Singing Days, LSO St Luke’s Sat 4 Jan, 25 Jan and Sun 22 Jun 2014 See full listings on pages 40, 41 and 43 for details

For more information on any of the LSO’s choral groups, contact Andra East on andra.east@lso.co.uk or phone 020 7382 2518.

UBS SOUNDSCAPES: ECLECTICA Sung concerts at LSO St Luke’s Tue 26 Nov 2013 8pm

Norwegian Requiem Arve Henrikson trumpet Ståle Storløkken organ LSO Community Choir Wells Cathedral Girls’ Choir Christopher Finch conductor Wed 22 Jan 2014 8pm

An Eastern Vigil Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Daniel Reuss conductor Sat 25 Jan 2014 TAKE PART Singing Day:

Rachmaninov Vespers David Lawrence conductor 22 & 25 Jan in association with London A Cappella Festival

Tue 15 Apr 2014 8pm

Gaelic Connections The Campbells of Greepe and friends

full programme and soloists details on pages 38 to 43

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Breaking the mould ‘Yuja, has something you can’t really learn … and that’s charisma.’

Gary Graffman, Yuja Wang’s Piano Teacher

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lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

UBS SOundscapes: LSO ARtist portrait Yuja wang

YUJA WANG: Not your usual pianist Updating her Twitter feed regularly with quotes scattered from Goethe, Wittgenstein, Banksy and her thoughts on the best brownie to be had in Times Square, Yuja Wang is an artist as thoughtful as she is thought-provoking.

Yuja started playing the piano at the age of six and at fourteen, with visa complications meaning her mother was unable to join her, she left Beijing alone and moved to the US to continue her studies.

Yuja has never lost this fiery sense of independence.

Ever since her career first took off following a series of step-ins for high-profile cancellations, Yuja has proven that she is far more than just the latest, in her own words, Chinese ‘popstar’ of the piano. ‘Pigeon-holing is very convenient for shopping but I think for artists it’s unnecessary’, she said in a recent interview.

Yuja has also received a lot of attention for what critics have dubbed the ‘Hollywood Bowl dress’ incident, but for Yuja, having a passionate flair for fashion is just about being herself – a 26-year-old

Sun 9 Feb 2014 7.30pm UBS SOUNDSCAPES: LSO ARTIST PORTRAIT

Yuja Wang

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 3 Rachmaninov Symphony No 2

who spends her free time going out with friends, watching movies, playing Sudoku on her iPad, and who also happens to be an exceptional pianist.

‘If they accept me, they do. If they don’t, they don’t … When I’m 40, I’m not going to wear a short dress, so I might as well do it now!’.

On what she’s looking forward to about coming to London for her UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait, she says ‘It’s going to be totally awesome!

Great music, getting to work with a great orchestra and musicians – it will give me a chance to show the variety of my playing and personality’.

Spontaneous, graceful, insightful and above all, fearless, it is perhaps her teacher Gary Graffman who best expresses what makes Yuja, Yuja: ‘She has something you can’t really learn’, he says, ‘and that’s charisma’.

Jaap van Zweden conductor Yuja Wang piano

Thu 13 Feb 2014 7.30pm UBS SOUNDSCAPES: LSO ARTIST PORTRAIT

Yuja Wang

Debussy La mer Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2 Ravel Daphnis and Chloé – Suites I & II James Gaffigan conductor Yuja Wang piano Sun 16 Feb 2014 7.30pm UBS SOUNDSCAPES: LSO ARTIST PORTRAIT

Yuja Wang SOLO RECITAL Yuja Wang piano Programme to be announced Thu 20 Feb 2014 7.30pm

UBS SOUNDSCAPES: LSO ARTIST PORTRAIT

UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait Yuja Wang Four concerts / three piano concertos / one solo recital 9–20 Feb 2014

Yuja Wang

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 Stravinsky Petrushka Daniel Harding conductor Yuja Wang piano

Yuja Wang: The critics’ comments One of the most gifted pianists of her generation.

The New York Times

YUJA WANG: Away from the stage 1

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If she wasn’t a concert pianist, Yuja says she might have been a choreographer or clothing designer.

In spite of comments about her long slender fingers, Yuja actually has quite small hands – ‘perhaps it’s an optical illusion because I’m really petite’, she says.

Yuja comes from an artistic family – her mother is a dancer and her father a percussionist.

She sometimes listens to Rihanna before going on stage to play Prokofiev. ‘Both artists’, she says, ‘channel a raw energy’.

Yuja often likes to arrange her encores herself.

Her recent favourite is her own arrangement of Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

A force of nature, contained in the body of a smiling, slender nymph.

The Telegraph

If you’ve got it, flaunt it. What matters is that Wang has got it as a pianist.

The New York Times

full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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Music Alchemists ‘[Haitink’s] performances are never run of the mill or lacking in personality.

The signature authority is somehow unmistakable.’

Martin Kettle, The Guardian

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Journeys with great conductors It is an alchemical transformation that we take for granted, which happens in concert halls every night all over the world, but whose mechanics and mysteries seems to elude the most seasoned music-lovers: just how is it that the gestures of great conductors are translated and transcended into sound by the musicians in front of them? Tom Service sums up this on-stage wonder …

Is there anything that you can find that defines why one conductor can inspire an orchestra to the highest heights, and why another … well, why some just don’t? Or is the vaunted secret of the baton-wielders (well, they mostly use sticks!) up there on the podium a good old-fashioned con trick: they don’t even make a sound themselves, apart from the odd unwanted laryngeal grunt; so isn’t conducting a kind of shamanic ritual at best, and an odious musical charlatanism at worst?

After all, all they’re doing up there is waving their arms around in front of an ensemble, like the LSO, who could quite happily use their combined centuries of musical experience to create a much more than passable performance of everything from Mozart to Mendelssohn, from Beethoven to Brahms. So why are conductors, even the great ones, actually necessary?

It’s a fundamental question with some strange answers. For Sir Colin Davis, a lifetime of devoting himself to music-making with the world’s most distinguished orchestra led him to this essential assessment of his role in the musical process: ‘You don’t matter at all as a conductor. And if you think you do, you’re on a hiding to nothing.

You have to get rid of your ego’. And yet: that egolessness is a hard-won prize that very few conductors ever attain; paradoxically, their musical and persuasive powers on the podium increase in almost direct proportion to the diminishment of their sense of self in front of the music and their musicians.

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Images from left to right Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Simon Rattle, Mark Elder and Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

That’s something that really does connect all in this series of maestros, however different their approaches to rehearsal, to the psychology of dealing with orchestra players, to interpretation, to the fundamentals of performance practice.

All of them have a core inner belief that what they are doing, or trying to do, is to channel their vision of the music as transparently as possible to the players and to an audience. And in their LSO concerts, they can all create an irresistible collective journey that we all go on – conductor, players, listeners. If theirs is an alchemy, it’s because they create a charmed circle of listening that starts on the podium, extends to the players, and finally includes and envelops the audience.

Their alchemy is our alchemy, too.

‘They create a charmed circle of listening that starts on the podium.’

Tom Service, The Guardian

Tom Service writes about music for The Guardian, and contributes regularly to BBC Music, Opera and Tempo magazines. He also presents Music Matters on BBC Radio 3.

This article is based on his book, Music as Alchemy: Journeys with Great Conductors and their Orchestras, released in 2012 and published by Faber.

LSO conducting opportunities Great conductors offer orchestras a uniquely inspirational musical vision and provide the all-important drive to see it through to an unforgettable conclusion.

The LSO is committed to fostering musicality across the board, and that includes supporting tomorrow’s finest conductors. The annual LSO Discovery Conducting Scheme offers three emerging conductors the chance to work with the Orchestra under the guidance of LSO conductors in masterclasses.

The biennial Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition is recognised around the world as a launch pad to international acclaim, with the winner becoming LSO Assistant Conductor. The next competition culminates in December 2014. lso.co.uk/conducting

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lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

MUSIC ALchemists

LSO Live – our recorded legacy The LSO made its first recording in 1913 and went on to become the most recorded orchestra in the world.

However, until the launch of LSO Live, almost every recording that featured the LSO was owned and produced by another record company. LSO Live recordings are owned by the Orchestra itself. The players, conductors and soloists are stakeholders in the recordings on which they appear. The Orchestra not only choose what should be recorded, but is also involved throughout the production process, ensuring only recordings members are happy with get released. To date LSO Live has released over 90 recordings with many of the world’s leading conductors including Valery Gergiev, the late Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink and Mariss Jansons. In many cases these recordings have been accredited as career highlights, including Sir Colin Davis’ Berlioz cycle. LSO Live will add to this roster in the 2013/14 season with new recording projects with Daniel Harding and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. lso.co.uk/lsolive

Thu 10 Oct 2013 7.30pm

Sun 4 May 2014 7.30pm

Mozart Piano Concerto No 9 K271 Shostakovich Symphony No 4 Bernard Haitink conductor Emanuel Ax piano

Strauss Wind Serenade Mozart Piano Concerto No 22 K482 Strauss Macbeth Strauss Till Eulenspiegel

Tue 15 Oct 2013 7.30pm

Sir Mark Elder conductor Imogen Cooper piano

Mozart Piano Concerto No 27 K595 Shostakovich Symphony No 15

Thu 8 May 2014 7.30pm

Bernard Haitink conductor Emanuel Ax piano

Mozart Symphony No 38 (‘Prague’) Strauss Extracts from ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ Sir Mark Elder conductor

Thu 12 Dec 2013 7.30pm

(non multi-buy)

Liszt Mephisto Waltz Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 1 Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5

Supported by LSO Premier

Sun 1 Jun 2014 7.30pm Beethoven Violin Concerto Henze Being Beauteous Brahms Symphony No 4

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor Simon Trpcˇeski piano

Sir Simon Rattle conductor Veronika Eberle violin Anna Prohaska soprano Thu 19 Dec 2013 7.30pm

(non multi-buy)

Thu 12 Jun 2014 7.30pm

Rimsky-Korsakov Dubinushka Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 Prokofiev Symphony No 5

UBS Soundscapes

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor Evgeny Kissin piano

Bruch Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra Dvorˇák Symphony No 8

Tue 21 Jan 2014 7.30pm

Sir Mark Elder conductor Nicola Benedetti violin

DVORˇÁK

Mendelssohn Overture: The Hebrides (‘Fingal’s Cave’) Schumann Piano Concerto Mendelssohn Symphony No 3 (‘Scottish’)

plus Panufnik Composers Scheme commission

by Alastair Putt supported by Helen Hamlyn Trust

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor Maria João Pires piano Sun 23 Mar 2014 7.30pm

ON TOUR

Mendelssohn Overture: Ruy Blas Schumann Violin Concerto in D minor Mendelssohn Symphony No 4 (‘Italian’)

Sun 20 & Mon 21 Oct 2013 Lincoln Center, New York

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor Alina Ibragimova violin

Mozart & Shostakovich with Bernard Haitink & Emanuel Ax Wed 18 Dec 2013 Symphony Hall, Birmingham Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev with Michael Tilson Thomas & Evgeny Kissin Fri 17 to Sun 19 Jan 2014 Geneva – Paris – Lyon Mendelssohn & Schumann with Sir John Eliot Gardiner & Maria João Pires

‘You don’t matter at all as a conductor … you have to get rid of your ego.’

Sir Colin Davis (1927–2013), LSO President (2006–13)

full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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It’s not hard to imagine, when listening to a piece of music, what scenes and colours might appear in one’s head.

Harmony and sound can be quite easily associated with colour – if asked to describe it as such, a rich chord in a certain key might be described as purple, or a thin, bleak minor harmony as a grey-green.

A Major/Minor Mode 4–1

Mode 4–3

lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

E Major/Minor

G Major/Minor

D Major/Minor

A-Flat Major/Minor Mode 3–1

Music in colour

A marriage of the senses

music in colour Sun 30 Mar 2014 7.30pm Scriabin Symphony No 1 Liszt Piano Concerto No 2 Scriabin Symphony No 4 (‘The Poem of Ecstasy’)

We often attach descriptions of music to colour or programmatic stories, but what if, when listening to music, you actually saw or felt real colour from sound? And what if that colour wasn’t conjured up by your imagination, but by a real extra-musical sense?

For synaesthetes, this is exactly what might happen, and the brain’s ability to connect the senses – whether sound as colour, taste as a shape, smell as sound – has long been observed. Synaesthesia is a condition that occurs when an individual receives a stimulus that in one sense is simultaneously experienced as a sensation in another, but it can differ vastly between all those with the condition and is more prevalent than you might think. Some famous synaesthetes of the 20th century include both Scriabin and Messiaen, the focus of Valery Gergiev’s spring season with the LSO, and musicians such as Leonard Bernstein (former President of the LSO), jazz composer Duke Ellington, and singer/songwriters Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel.

For both Scriabin and Messiaen – like many with this marriage of the senses – sound and colour were inextricably linked, however, their perception of that marriage is completely different. Whilst Scriabin perceived keys as certain colours, Messiaen linked sequences of well-defined colours with particular modes (types of scales that he’d defined himself).

Scriabin took this to its most obvious conclusion in 1910 with his fifth symphony, ‘Prometheus, Poem of Fire’. Running through the score is an optional orchestral part for ‘colour-organ’ or ‘light-keyboard’ – a machine linked to an array of coloured lights to give the audience an experience of what Scriabin could sense. He even attempted to make his own instrument to play this part. He actually prefaces the score with a colour/key wheel, dictating exactly which key matches which colour.

Messiaen’s exploration of his condition is much more subtle. Whilst colour was completely central to Messiaen’s music (he didn’t believe in terms like ‘tonal’ or ‘modal’ – for him there was only music with or without colour) it didn’t make its way into his compositions quite as literally as Scriabin’s.

Messiaen’s scores were instead dotted with the occasional note for the conductor, an indication as to how the conductor might interpret a passage rather than being a colour that the audience might perceive. They range from simple descriptions like ‘gold and brown’, to the much more vividly-detailed ‘blue-violet rocks, speckled with little grey cubes, cobalt blue, deep Prussian blue, highlighted by a bit of violet purple, gold, red, ruby, and stars of mauve, black and white’.

Synaesthete yourself or not, Scriabin’s symphonies take us on a vastly contrasting musical journey. From his first romantic works (likened to Chopin), to his more impressionist middle pieces, to his much more psychedelic late works; his brief career (he died very young, aged 43) chartered many a pioneering change. His synaesthesia came to realise itself more and more as not just a marriage of the senses, but as a unification of arts. He had planned a vast work for many different performers – Mysterium – which he hailed as a ‘religious synthesis of all arts which would herald the birth of a new world’ to be performed in the Himalayas, but did not live to fulfil this creationist vision.

Valery Gergiev conductor Denis Matsuev piano London Symphony Chorus Thu 3 Apr 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC Radio 3

LuNchtime Concert Scriabin Sonatas Nos 5 & 9 plus works by Shostakovich and Rachmaninov Yevgeny Sudbin piano Thu 10 Apr 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC Radio 3

LuNchtime Concert Scriabin Sonata No 3 plus works by Rachmaninov and Prokofiev Boris Giltburg piano Thu 10 Apr 2014 7.30pm Messiaen L’ascension Scriabin Symphony No 5 (‘Prometheus, Poem of Fire’) Scriabin Symphony No 2 Valery Gergiev conductor Denis Matsuev piano London Symphony Chorus Supported by LSO Patrons

Sun 13 Apr 2014 7.30pm Messiaen Les offrandes oubliées Chopin Piano Concerto No 2 Scriabin Symphony No 3 (‘The Divine Poem’) Valery Gergiev conductor Daniil Trifonov piano Fri 24 Jan, 21 Feb, 7 & 21 Mar 2014 12.30pm LSO St Luke’s

DISCOVER MORE Watch a video …

Visit bit.ly/musicincolour to watch a YouTube video on synaesthesia Read more …

Interested in Scriabin and his synaesthesia?

Read Faubion Bowers’ The New Scriabin – Enigma and Answers

DISCOVER MORE

LSO Discovery Lunchtime Concerts Spring 2014: Music in colour Supported by LSO Patrons

ON TOUR Tue 1 to Thu 8 Apr 2014 Brussels – Frankfurt – Dortmund – Freiburg – Paris – Milan – Turin

Mode 2–2

Mode 6–2

Messiaen, Chopin, Scriabin & Liszt with Valery Gergiev, Denis Matsuev & Daniil Trifinov

full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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Touring the LSO ‘There was no need for talking: the full might of the Orchestra screamed from the stage and grabbed people from their seats.’

Gareth Davies, LSO Principal Flute, on the LSO’s performance on tour in Matsumoto, Japan, 25 November 2010

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Anna Green, LSO Viola, on the London leg of a worldwide tour.

GLOBETROTTING TO Tokyo, India and beyond The LSO performs as many concerts overseas every year as it performs at home, and touring sees the Orchestra travel to each corner of the globe, from New York in the West to Tokyo in the Far East. In this digital age especially, the Orchestra’s reputation and reach goes far beyond being the Orchestra that played at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games. … Not that that’s not a good starting point, but for many, being able to watch the LSO in a concert hall in Taipei is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience one of the world’s most renowned orchestras.

As Principal Flute Gareth Davies revealed in his recently released book, The Show Must Go On, which compares the diary of a 1912 LSO musician with Gareth’s own touring experiences, touring has not changed much over the past century. Schedules are just as demanding and the Orchestra takes major artistic projects abroad, with the Barbican as the London leg of a world tour, either doing several concerts spread across many European cities in one week, or doing a three-night mini-residency in one city like Paris, Tokyo or New York. Travel is much easier than 100 years ago – gone are the days of chartering a sleeper train to get across these far flung places; planes and a different hotel every night are now more the name of the game – but of course, that just means more time for more concerts.

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In the 2013/14 concert season, Daniel Harding, LSO Principal Guest Conductor, is at the head of the LSO’s tour ship and is guiding it to territories both new and familiar. With London as their starting point, programmes performed at the Barbican in London will make their way to concert halls in Germany and Spain in the autumn, to the opposite side of the world in China, South Korea and India in spring time, back closer towards home again in Europe – Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Finland – and a final tour around other German cities in summer, before the season ends. And that doesn’t even include the touring that the LSO will undertake throughout the year with its Principal Conductor, Valery Gergiev, and conductors such as Bernard Haitink and Michael Tilson Thomas throughout the year to destinations such as Paris, New York, Geneva, Milan, and many more.

Gareth Davies also writes the LSO tour blog, so you can read first-hand the orchestral musician’s perspective of the many fantastic moments, but also the pitfalls, perils, and not least, the logistical issues, of taking an 80-person band across the globe, with all its instruments including harps, timpani and percussion in tow. And if you are trotting the globe yourself, check the LSO website to see if we happen to be in town too, to get a different perspective of London’s symphony orchestra. lso.co.uk/showmustgoon

HARDING ON TOUR: Fri 4 to Sun 6 Oct 2013 Frankfurt – Bonn – Baden Baden Sun 24 & Mon 25 Nov 2013 Madrid Sat 1 Mar to Sat 15 Mar 2014 Beijing – Guangzhou – Macau – Taipei – Hong Kong – Seoul – Mumbai – Delhi Thu 22 to Sun 25 May 2014 Budapest – Warsaw – Vilnius – Riga Thu 17 to Sat 19 Jul 2014 Ingolstadt – Wiesbaden – Redefin lso.co.uk/tours

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lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

HARDING Conducts Thu 3 Oct 2013 7.30pm UBS Soundscapes

STRAVINSKY

Mussorgsky Night on the Bare Mountain Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Stravinsky The Firebird (original version) Daniel Harding conductor Lisa Batiashvili violin

Wed 20 Nov 2013 7.30pm Schubert Symphony No 5 Mahler Das Lied von der Erde Daniel Harding conductor Christianne Stotijn mezzo-soprano Burkhard Fritz tenor Thu 28 Nov 2013 7.30pm Schubert Symphony No 8 (‘Unfinished’) Wagner Act Two from ‘Tristan and Isolde’ Daniel Harding conductor Thu 20 Feb 2014 7.30pm UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait

YUJA WANG

Bernard Foccroulle: General Manager of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 Stravinsky Petrushka Daniel Harding conductor Yuja Wang piano Sun 23 Feb 2014 7.30pm Huw Watkins Flute Concerto (world premiere) Mahler Symphony No 1 (‘Titan’)

The residency of the LSO at the Festival d’Aix started in 2010 and will reach its apotheosis in July 2013 with performances of Rigoletto and Don Giovanni and a concert celebrating Britten’s 100th birthday.

Daniel Harding conductor Adam Walker flute Commission supported by Borletti-Buitoni Trust

Tue 20 May 2014 7.30pm Images from left to right Daniel Harding, LSO Principal Guest Conductor, and Bernard Foccroulle, General Manager of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

This residency originated from our desire to collaborate with the leading orchestras of the world. After having had the Berlin Philharmonic in residency, inviting the LSO seemed obvious because of its high standards and its impressive educational projects. The performances in Aix have confirmed its exceptional artistic level. Over four years, we have been developing together activities around instrumental practice. LSO musicians have coached the Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditerranée, a symphonic ensemble with young artists coming from the Mediterranean Basin. We have established coaching programmes, gathering experienced young musicians and beginners within the Junior Orchestra. LSO Discovery has been leading workshops with different communities. A memorable example is ‘Boras’, a project where LSO musicians helped mothers and children from the Comorian community of Marseille to present a beautiful performance based on traditional Comorian lullabies.

This collaboration has built a bridge from the Thames to the Mediterranean Sea and contributes towards us achieving one of our dearest tasks: to open Europe’s doors to Mediterranean culture.

Harrison Birtwistle Earth Dances Brahms Piano Concerto No 1 Daniel Harding conductor Paul Lewis piano Thu 3 Jul 2014 8pm, St Paul’s Cathedral Penderecki Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima Bruckner Symphony No 9 Daniel Harding conductor Part of the City of London Festival

DISCOVER MORE The LSO is in Aix 23 June – 29 July 2013 Read the LSO tour blog, blog.lso.co.uk

full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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Images from left to right, top to bottom Thomas Dausgaard, Nikolaj Znaider, Jaap van Zweden, James Gaffigan, Daniele Gatti, Pablo Heras-Casado, Leonidas Kavakos, Fabio Luisi, Jonathan Nott.

LSO invites‌ New faces ON the PODIUM Over the next three years the LSO is inviting a panoply of conductors to the podium to guest conduct it in repertoire synonymous with the Orchestra. The line-up includes established conductors new to the LSO but not to London.

Thomas Dausgaard is a conductor dedicated to his roots in Scandinavian music and is particularly celebrated for his interpretations of Sibelius and Nielsen. As Chief Conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Honorary Conductor of the Danish Symphony Orchestra, he is deeply involved with learning and education projects and also works with several youth orchestras in North and South America.

Nikolaj Znaider enjoys a successful career as a violinist and is quickly establishing his reputation as a conductor.

He holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor at the Mariinsky Theatre, and has conducted many of Europe and America’s major orchestras. He is heavily involved in music education projects, and is Founder and Artistic Director of the Nordic Music Academy.

Jaap van Zweden began his career as the youngest concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, a position in which he remained for sixteen years. His time there had a formative influence on his development and he cites the acoustic 26

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of the Concertgebouw hall itself as a dominant influence on his career. He is presently Artistic Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Dallas Symphony orchestras and has held the position of Chief Conductor for many major orchestras in Holland.

James Gaffigan is Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Gürzenich orchestras. He spent three years as Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony orchestra, where he assisted Music Director and LSO Principal Guest Conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas.

In recent years he has made debuts at many of Europe’s major opera houses and has a long-running relationship with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Daniele Gatti has established a reputation as a conductor equally at home in symphonic and operatic work. He is currently Music Director of the Orchestre National de France and has held the positions of Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor at the Royal Opera House. He has a long-standing and fruitful relationship with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, with whom he has performed at the Edinburgh and Lucerne Festivals and the BBC Proms.

Pablo Heras-Casado is Principal Conductor of New York’s Orchestra of St Luke’s.

The Spanish-born conductor has previously founded an early music choir, an ensemble devoted to avant-garde contemporary music and a Baroque orchestra, and names both Harry Christophers and Pierre Boulez as particularly influential mentors. His career has encompassed everything from traditional repertoire and premieres of new works to projects devoted to the revival of little-known Baroque composers.

Leonidas Kavakos, not content with being one of the most sought-after violinists performing today, now devotes an increasing amount of his career to conducting, and held the position of Artistic Director of the Camerata Salzburg between 2007–09. After enjoying glowing reviews for his UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait performances as violin soloist in 2012, this season marks Kavakos’ conducting debut with the LSO. Fabio Luisi has enjoyed a distinguished conducting career for close to three decades, previously working as Chief Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, Principal Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and, currently, General Music Director of Zurich Opera. In 2011, after working as Principal Guest Conductor, he became Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Jonathan Nott trained as a choral scholar at the University of Cambridge and in singing and flute at the RNCM, before moving to Germany,

LSo Invites: Thu 19 Sep 2013 7.30pm

Sun 27 Apr 2014 7.30pm

Mozart Rondo for Solo Piano K511 Mozart Piano Concerto No 17 K453 Dvorˇák Symphony No 5

Mahler Symphony No 7

Robin Ticciati conductor Mitsuko Uchida piano

Thu 1 May 2014 7.30pm

Daniele Gatti conductor

Strauss Don Juan Brahms Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra

Wed 25 Sep 2013 7.30pm Strauss Burleske for Piano and Orchestra Mahler Symphony No 6 Thomas Dausgaard conductor Barry Douglas piano

Nikolaj Znaider conductor Roman Simovic violin Tim Hugh cello

Thu 5 Dec 2013 7.30pm Beethoven Violin Concerto Dvorˇák Symphony No 7 Nikolaj Znaider violin / conductor

Wed 14 May 2014 7.30pm

Wed 5 Feb 2014 7.30pm

Ravel Alborada del gracioso Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2 Shostakovich Symphony No 10

UBS Soundscapes

DVORˇÁK

Panufnik Sinfonia Sacra Dvorˇák Violin Concerto Panufnik Lullaby Dvorˇák Symphony No 9 (‘From the New World’) Michael Francis conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin

Pablo Heras-Casado conductor Roman Simovic violin Fri 6 Jun 2014 7.30pm Beethoven Overture: Prometheus Beethoven Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra Beethoven Symphony No 3 (‘Eroica’) Leonidas Kavakos violin/conductor Enrico Pace piano Tim Hugh cello

Sun 9 Feb 2014 7.30pm UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait

Thu 19 Jun 2014 7.30pm

YUJA WANG

Mozart Piano Concerto No 23 K488 Bruckner Symphony No 8

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 3 Rachmaninov Symphony No 2

Fabio Luisi conductor Lise de la Salle piano

Jaap van Zweden conductor Yuja Wang piano

Sun 22 Jun 2014 7.30pm

Thu 13 Feb 2014 7.30pm

Strauss Ein Heldenleben Beethoven Mass in C major

UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait

YUJA WANG

Fabio Luisi conductor

Debussy La mer Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2 Ravel Daphnis and Chloé – Suites I & II

Sun 29 Jun 2014 7.30pm Beethoven Symphony No 2 Messiaen Turangalîla-symphonie

James Gaffigan conductor Yuja Wang piano

Jonathan Nott conductor Steven Osborne piano Cynthia Millar ondes-Martenot

where he immersed himself in its Kapellmeister system and became a conductor. Since 2000 he has been Principal Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and is known particularly for his creative programmes.

Michael Francis was a member of the LSO’s Double Bass section before turning his hand to conducting. He now holds the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of Sweden’s Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and guest conducts major orchestras across the globe, including the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony.

Robin Ticciati, a British conductor of Italian ancestry, grew up playing violin and percussion

in the National Youth Orchestra and took up conducting at the age of 15, receiving mentoring from Sir Colin Davis. He studied music at the University of Cambridge, where he co-founded the Aurora Orchestra, and, at the age of 22, became the youngest conductor to perform at La Scala, Milan.

He is currently Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and will begin his tenure as Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2014.

LSO INVITES Eleven conductors / thirteen concerts 25 Sep 2013 to 29 Jun 2014

full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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Composing Brits ‘A remarkable legacy of which the LSO can be truly proud.’ Andrew Achenbach, journalist

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COMPOSING BRITS Long-lasting relationships Few composers can have enjoyed such a fruitful and long-lasting relationship with an orchestra than did Sir Edward Elgar with the LSO. It was a partnership that began in 1905, when Elgar directed two concerts in London’s Queen’s Hall as part of the LSO’s inaugural season.

The culmination, however, was the inspirational series of recordings of most of his major works that the composer made with the Orchestra for EMI between 1926 and 1932, a project that included the legendary version of the Violin Concerto featuring the 15-year-old Yehudi Menuhin.

In 1931, Sir Hamilton Harty (the LSO’s then Principal Conductor) was anxious to secure the first performance of Walton’s eagerly anticipated symphony. In the event, Walton was unable to complete the work in time for its world premiere at Queen’s Hall on 3 December 1934, so the bold decision was made to perform its first three movements only. Harty and the LSO made the first commercial recording of the symphony

in its entirety the following year – and electrifying it is, too! The same holds true for André Previn’s classic 1966 recording of the work, which heralded a golden period for the Orchestra on disc during which Previn set down all nine Vaughan Williams symphonies as well as other major works by Walton and Holst.

The LSO also played many times under Britten’s baton – and let us salute, too, Sir Colin Davis’ tireless and eloquent support of Tippett and James MacMillan. Other major figures to have benefited from the LSO connection include Bliss, Rawsthorne, Panufnik, John McCabe, Harrison Birtwistle, Oliver Knussen, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Huw Watkins and, last but not least, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (pictured), whose Tenth Symphony is receiving its world premiere under Sir Antonio Pappano in February 2014. It is a remarkable legacy of which the LSO can be truly proud.

Andrew Achenbach is a freelance music consultant and journalist. He contributes to Gramophone and also writes programme notes for the LSO, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Proms.

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BRITISH COMPOSER Works Sun 29 Sep 2013 7.30pm Britten Four Sea Interludes Britten Sinfonia da Requiem Gianandrea Noseda conductor

Sat 11 Jan & 28 Jun 2014 7.30pm, LSO St Luke’s Discover more

SOUNDHUB SHOWCASE Supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Thu 30 Jan 2014 7.30pm UBS Soundscapes

WAlton

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Fanfare: Her Majesty’s Welcome* Walton Symphony No 1 Sir Antonio Pappano conductor LSO On Track*

LSO On Track supported by Hedley Foundation, The Worshipful Company of Saddlers and UBS

Sun 2 Feb 2014 7.30pm Elgar In the South (‘Alassio’) Britten Violin Concerto Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Symphony No 10 (world premiere, LSO commission) Sir Antonio Pappano conductor Maxim Vengerov violin Wed 5 Feb 2014 7.30pm UBS Soundscapes

DVORˇáK

Panufnik Sinfonia Sacra Dvorˇák Violin Concerto Panufnik Lullaby Dvorˇák Symphony No 9 (‘From the New World’) Michael Francis conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin

Images from left to right Ayanna Witter-Johnson (LSO Soundhub member), David Worswick (LSO violinist performing in Soundhub Showcase), LSO Panufnik Young Composers Workshop.

Celebrating Andrzej Panufnik’s centenary year 6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican Fri 7 Feb 2014 1–5pm & 6–9pm, LSO St Luke’s Discover more

Panufnik COMPOSERS Workshop François-Xavier Roth conductor Supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust

Sun 23 Feb 2014 7.30pm Huw Watkins Flute Concerto (world premiere) Daniel Harding conductor Adam Walker flute Commission supported by The Borletti-Buitoni Trust

Tue 20 May 2014 7.30pm Harrison Birtwistle Earth Dances Daniel Harding conductor

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lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

The LSO Composition Journey Composition is the life force of orchestras, the thing that keeps them alive and keeps them moving.

A close relationship with composers is something that has been at the forefront of the LSO’s way of working from the very beginning.

Soon after Kathryn McDowell’s appointment as Managing Director, Sir Colin Davis expressed his desire to commission more large scale works for the LSO. This enabled the LSO to strengthen its whole approach to the development and commissioning of new work, from nurturing the next generation of composers through to commissioning substantial pieces from major international figures.

Over the past eight years we have worked with some of the world’s leading lights in the composition world – James MacMillan, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, to name just a few – and at the same time two major initiatives for young composers have blossomed: UBS Soundscapes: Pioneers and LSO Panufnik Young Composers. During this time we’ve formed partnerships with almost 70 composers from a variety of musical backgrounds – led by world renowned composer and long-term friend of the LSO, Colin Matthews.

LSO Discovery sees people of all ages and levels of experience as potential composers of the future. At the earliest stage this includes primary school children playing alongside LSO musicians to create their own response to a piece of repertoire. Immediately this empowers and engages the children by involving

Spotlight on Ayanna Witter-Johnson …

‘The opportunity to get to know, share ideas with, and develop a community as the Soundhub cohort has been fantastic.’

Alexander Hawkins, Soundhub Associate

At a performance last year at LSO St Luke’s which featured choreography, blues vocals, classical cello techniques, electronics and rhetorical speech, Ayanna Witter-Johnson guided her audience through a highly personal musical narrative. In doing so she proved why the LSO Soundhub scheme, of which that evening was a showcase, had appointed her a member: Ayanna typifies the kind of bold, genre-blurring innovation Soundhub seeks to support through its work with emerging composers.

The 28-year-old holds composition degrees from Trinity College and the Manhattan School of Music, as well as a plethora of awards and contacts across the jazz, world and classical scenes. Her association with the LSO began in 2008 when she took part in the Panufnik Young Composers Scheme. As well as appearing in regular Soundhub showcases since, Ayanna has proved an inspirational mentor to the LSO St Luke’s Digital Technology Group.

Ayanna is one of a growing number of energetic and ambitious young composers embracing the benefits of a creative partnership with the LSO, using LSO resources at their disposal, achieving electrifying results. lsosoundhub.co.uk

them directly in making their own music. We continue by giving teenagers opportunities to develop their composing skills, supporting both GCSE and A-Level work. Then in the Panufnik Young Composers scheme – the bridge between training and the profession – we work with six composers per year to write for the LSO. In the past 18 months we have developed a new initiative: LSO Soundhub provides a flexible space for composers to explore, collaborate and experiment. The Panufnik and Soundhub composers are also involved in mentoring our school aged participants, so they’re feeding back into the next generation. That’s the idea behind the composition ‘journey’ – we look forward to hearing the future works of all our composers!

lso.co.uk/composers full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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Music for everyone ‘Everything and everyone is so easygoing and interactive; no one feels left out’ Hetty Vallins, Mother and carer of a member of LSO Create – a club for adults with learning difficulties

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FAMILY highlights: Fri 27 Sep; 11 & 25 Oct; 8 Nov 2013 12.30pm, LSO St Luke’s DISCOVER MORE

LSO Discovery Lunchtime Concerts Autumn 2013: Russia!

Free entry, no ticket required Supported by LSO Patrons

Sun 27 Oct 2013 2.30pm DISCOVER MORE

LSO Discovery Family Concert ‘WITCHES’ Timothy Redmond conductor Rachel Leach presenter See page 39 for details

For all generations & from all backgrounds

Thu 31 Oct 2013 6pm DISCOVER MORE

Family Guided Concert Night ‘Symphonie fantastique’

The LSO wants to engage the broadest mix of people in music-making.

2012 alone saw the Orchestra’s appearance at the Olympics and the inaugural BMW LSO Open Air Classics in Trafalgar Square. Both involved LSO On Track young musicians sitting alongside LSO members, demonstrating the Orchestra’s commitment to involving a broad range of individuals in music-making, as well as to diversifying its audiences.

In addition to large-scale public events, the Orchestra strives to provide continuous points of entry and support for everyone to make and enjoy music as part of their daily lives, focusing in particular on members of the local community and those who may not otherwise find their way to classical music and the concert hall.

Every season, LSO musicians make over 60 visits to hospitals, led by Mark Withers and Vanessa King.

These involve everything from lullabies for premature babies and their families in neo-natal units, to interactive sessions in children’s wards and hospital classrooms, and playing at individuals’ bedsides to encourage overall wellbeing. LSO Create offers adults with learning disabilities and their carers a monthly space for creative music-making, as well as opportunities to perform publicly. The Orchestra’s extensive Early Years programme offers interactive music workshops for babies, toddlers and their families, as well as local nurseries and children’s centres. New developments this season include a music project with a group of young mothers aged 14 to 18 and their children who may not feel able to attend their local children’s centre or public family events. In addition, projects are being developed with the parents and carers of local school children from a wide range of backgrounds, enabling music to become an integral and transformational aspect of their lives.

To welcome participants to the LSO’s home, our community participants are encouraged to try

other events, such as LSO St Luke’s Concerts for Under-5s, Open Rehearsals, Family Concerts at the Barbican, which are recommended by Classic FM; for many, it is their first ever experience in a concert hall.

Moreover, the Orchestra consciously works to connect with the community directly around the Barbican and LSO St Luke’s through a network of Community Ambassadors who promote the LSO’s activities and are on hand to answer any questions.

As well as LSO Discovery work, the LSO is, along with hundreds of other arts organisations this year, seeking to consolidate and improve its offerings for families as part of a nationwide engagement campaign. The Family Arts Festival, taking place in October half term, will champion intergenerational arts experiences and promote best practice across the arts in terms of how to make families feel welcome and valued.

TAKE PART For full details on how to join LSO Discovery projects for the local community, children and adults, visit lso.co.uk/lsodiscovery.

Rachel Leach presenter See page 39 for details Fri 24 Jan; 21 Feb; 7 & 21 Mar 2014 2.30pm, LSO St Luke’s DISCOVER MORE

LSO Discovery Lunchtime Concerts Spring 2014: Music in colour Free entry, no ticket required Supported by LSO Patrons

Sun 16 Feb 2014 2.30pm DISCOVER MORE

LSO Discovery Family Concert ‘THE ULTIMATE StoryTELLER’ Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade Alexandre Bloch conductor Rachel Leach presenter See page 41 for details

Fri 9 & 23 May; 13 Jun; 11 Jul 2014 12.30pm, LSO St Luke’s DISCOVER MORE

LSO Discovery Lunchtime Concerts Summer 2014: Beethoven and Friends Free entry, no ticket required Supported by LSO Patrons

Media Partner

Sun 15 Jun 2014 2.30pm DISCOVER MORE

LSO Discovery Family Concert ‘TRAINS, PLANES and automobiles’ Classic FM is the UK’s only radio station that is dedicated to playing classical music 24 hours a day, and with 5.6 million listeners is the world’s largest classical music radio station. Like the LSO, Classic FM is committed to bringing classical music to the widest possible audience through groundbreaking new audience initiatives and partnerships. For over 10 years Classic FM has been proud of its partnership with the LSO.

Paul Rissmann presenter See page 43 for details

full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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LSO St Luke’s ‘Several hundred musicians have discovered the delights of performing in its unique and enriching environment.’

Lindsay Kemp, Senior Producer of the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts

Images from left to right Barry Douglas (piano), Nikolai Demidenko (piano), Nicola Benedetti (violin).

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Lunchtime concerts Thu 26 Sep; 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31 Oct; 7 & 14 Nov 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC RADIO 3 lunchtime concerts

Mozart Chamber Music Programmes include: Mozart Piano Quintet Serenade String Quartets VIolin Sonatas Featuring: Michael Collins and London Winds Lendvai Trio Ebène String Quartet Thu 23 Jan; 6, 13, 20 Feb 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC RADIO 3 lunchtime concerts

Barry Douglas & Friends Programmes include works by Brahms, Field, Schubert, Beethoven and Dukas Featuring: Barry Douglas piano Chlöe Hanslip violin Michel Lethiec clarinet Richard Watkins horn Arto Noras cello

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime concerts at LSO St LUke’s And so we begin a second decade of lunchtime chamber music, writes Lindsay Kemp, series producer.

When, back in October 2003, the BBC and LSO planned our first programmes together at LSO St Luke’s – an eight-concert series of ‘Beethoven Quartets Plus’ – it was only months after the venue had opened, and we were not to know that they would become such a fixture both in our schedules and on the London chamber music scene. Yet since then our partnership has created a nourishing midweek oasis over 180 times, and several hundred musicians have discovered the delights of performing in its unique and enriching environment.

For the 2013/14 season we have planned four series featuring some of the greatest chamber music in the repertoire in the hands of some of the world’s finest interpreters.

Autumn brings an eight-week exploration of the wonder that is Mozart, ranging from intimate music for solo piano right up to his masterful Serenade for Wind Instruments, taking in a cornucopia of exquisitelywrought duos, trios and quartets along the way.

Then after Christmas we are delighted to welcome back pianist Barry Douglas, who has appeared here many times already, is an old friend

of the LSO (he appears as a soloist with the Orchestra in its Barbican season in September), and now has been busy inviting a host of colleagues to join him in another one of our popular four-week ‘and Friends’ residencies.

February sees us turn our attention to Schubert and a concentrated burst showcasing some of the intense but achingly lyrical music that he wrote towards the end of his short life, performed by some of the most talented among the younger generation of chamber musicians.

We end as the blossom blazes outside, with what should be a colourful, in places even dazzling, series of recitals: inspired by Valery Gergiev’s spring-time series of Scriabin symphonies with the LSO, four leading Russian pianists give us a taste of their own venerable national tradition in works ranging from Glinka to Scriabin and from Rachmaninov to Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

The first ten years at LSO St Luke’s have been sheer pleasure – do join us as we start the next.

Lindsay Kemp is Senior Producer of the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts

Thu 27 Feb; 6, 13, 20 Mar 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC RADIO 3 lunchtime concerts

Schubert Chamber Works Programmes include: Schubert Notturno in E-flat major D897 Piano Trio in B-flat major D929 String Trio (Fragment) in E-flat major D471 String Quartet in G major D887 Featuring: Nicola Benedetti violin Leonard Elschenbroich cello Alexei Grynyuk piano Cédric Tiberghien piano Christian Ihle Hadland piano Doric String Quartet Thu 27 Mar; 3, 10, 17 Apr 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC RADIO 3 lunchtime concerts

Russian Romantic Piano Series Programmes include works by Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Prokofiev and Mussorgsky Featuring: Nikolai Demidenko piano Yevgeny Sudbin piano Boris Giltburg piano Denis Kozhukhin piano

lso.co.uk/lunchtimeconcerts full programme and soloist details on pages 38 to 43

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HELP US BUILD A PLATFORM FOR THE FUTURE By supporting the LSO you will be helping the Orchestra to inspire the broadest mix of people to engage in high quality music making.

Join our Patrons. Play a significant role in making our artistic ambitions a reality. Help us to commission new music, perform world-class concerts, and inspire the next generation of young musicians. Share special events, gain a backstage insight, and contribute to the LSO’s ongoing success.

Become a Friend. We are famous for our performances in the concert hall, but we do not believe that the music should stop there. Enjoy open rehearsals, priority booking, and exclusive events with LSO players, and support the Orchestra’s broad range of work.

Support the LSO Moving Music Campaign to help bring the joy of music to millions. Arts Council England will donate £3 million if we can raise £6 million to take music beyond the concert hall to audiences around the UK and globally. Your gift will help secure the future of the Orchestra.

Support the LSO today Visit lso.co.uk/supportus or contact Bernadette O’Sullivan on 020 7588 1116

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37

LISTINGS Sun 29 Sep 2013 10am–5.30pm, Barbican and LSO St Luke’s

SEPTEMBER

LSO Discovery Day:

Dmitri Shostakovich

Sun 15 Sep 2013 7pm Verdi Rigoletto (concert performance) Gianandrea Noseda conductor Dimitri Platanias Rigoletto Desirée Rancatore Gilda Giuseppe Filianoti Duke of Mantua Gábor Bretz Sparafucile Julien Dran Matteo Borsa Jean-Luc Ballestra Marullo Josè Maria Lo Monaco Maddalena Madeleine Shaw Giovanna Matthew Hargreaves Count Ceprano / Usher Valeria Tornatore Countess Ceprano / Page Arutjun Kotchinian Count Monterone London Symphony Chorus

Full day tickets £17 (£13.50 concessions) Sun 29 Sep 2013 7.30pm Britten Four Sea Interludes Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 3 Britten Sinfonia da Requiem Shostakovich Symphony No 6 Gianandrea Noseda conductor Nikolai Lugansky piano

OCTOBER

Please note start time Thu 3 Oct 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC RADIO 3

Lunchtime Concert Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat major K452 Serenade in C minor K388 Michael Collins director Leon McCawley piano London Winds ROBIN TICCIATI (19 SEP)

Thu 3 Oct 2013 7.30pm UBS Soundscapes

Stravinsky

Mussorgsky Night on the Bare Mountain Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Stravinsky Firebird Ballet (original version) Mitsuko Uchida (19 sep)

Thu 19 Sep 2013 7.30pm

Daniel Harding conductor Lisa Batiashvili violin 6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

Mozart Rondo for Solo Piano K511 Mozart Piano Concerto No 17 K453 Dvorˇák Symphony No 5 Robin Ticciati conductor Mitsuko Uchida piano This concert also features The Calligrapher’s Manuscript

by Matthew Kaner, an LSO Panufnik Young Composers Scheme commission (supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust).

Wed 25 Sep 2013 7.30pm

GIANANDREA NOSEDA (15 SEP)

Strauss Burleske for Piano and Orchestra Mahler Symphony No 6 Thomas Dausgaard conductor Barry Douglas piano Thu 26 Sep 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC RADIO 3

Lunchtime Concert Mozart Piano Sonata in B-flat major K281 Fantasy in C minor K475 Piano Sonata in F major K533/494 Christian Blackshaw piano

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lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

lisa batiashvili (3 oct)

Wed 9 Oct 2013 3pm, LSO St Luke’s

Thu 24 Oct 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

CENTRE FOR ORCHESTRA MASTERCLASS

BBC Radio 3

Free entry, booking essential

Bach arr Mozart Selected Preludes and Fugues from ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’ Mozart Divertimento in C major K563

EMANUEL AX PIANO

Thu 10 Oct 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

Lunchtime Concert

NOVEMBER

Lendvai String Trio

BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert Mozart Adagio in B minor for Piano K540 String Quartet in G major K80 Piano Quartet in E-flat major K493

Sun 27 Oct 2013 2.30pm

Aronowitz Ensemble

Timothy Redmond conductor Rachel Leach presenter

LSO Discovery

Family Concert ‘WITCHES’

Join Rachel Leach as she guides you through a spine-tingling, spooky programme, including Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre.

Tickets £5 under-16s, £10 adults Suitable for families with 7- to 12-year-olds Olga Borodina (3, 6, 7 & 13 Nov)

Sun 27 Oct 2013 8pm

Fri 1 & Tue 12 Nov 2013 7.30pm

LSO String Ensemble Tchaikovsky Serenade for String Orchestra Bartók Divertimento for String Orchestra Dvorˇák Serenade for String Orchestra Roman Simovic director Please note start time Thu 31 Oct 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican Le science de monsieur Berlioz New works by Eleanor Jarman-Pinto, Ben Graves and Joshua Kaye.

BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert

Three Guildhall School composers take the ‘harmony’ of Hector Berlioz as a starting point for a series of new works, commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society as part of its Bicentenary celebrations. Scored for voice and small ensemble including guitar – Berlioz’s own instrument – the concert offers a thoroughly contemporary twist on this unique composer’s music.

Mozart String Quartet in F major K590 String Quartet in E-flat major K428 Chiaroscuro Quartet

Thu 10 Oct 2013 7.30pm Mozart Piano Concerto No 9 K271 Shostakovich Symphony No 4 Bernard Haitink conductor Emanuel Ax piano

Thu 31 Oct 2013 6pm LSO Discovery

Guided Concert Night ‘Symphonie fantastique’ Rachel Leach presenter

Tue 15 Oct 2013 7.30pm Mozart Piano Concerto No 27 K595 Shostakovich Symphony No 15 Bernard Haitink conductor Emanuel Ax piano Thu 17 Oct 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert Mozart Adagio for two clarinets and three basset-horns K411 Serenade in B-flat major K361 (‘Gran Partita’) Michael Collins director London Winds

Berlioz Overture: Benvenuto Cellini Berlioz The Death of Cleopatra Berlioz Harold in Italy for Viola and Orchestra Valery Gergiev conductor Antoine Tamestit viola Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano

Tickets £10 £15 £20

Emanuel ax (10 & 15 oct)

GERGIEV’S BERLIOZ

A pre-concert creative session for families with over-12s on Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, followed by the full concert at the Barbican Hall.

Combined session + concert ticket £7 under-16s, £16 adults Telephone booking only, quote ‘guided concert’ when calling Thu 31 Oct & Thu 14 Nov 2013 7.30pm

GERGIEV’S BERLIOZ

Part of RPS200, a year-long celebration of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Bicentenary in 2013.

Sun 3 Nov 2013 10am–5.30pm Barbican and LSO St Luke’s LSO Discovery DAY:

Hector Berlioz Sun 3 & Thu 7 Nov 2013 7pm

GERGIEV’S BERLIOZ Berlioz The Damnation of Faust

Berlioz Overture: Waverley Berlioz Les nuits d’été Berlioz Symphonie fantastique Valery Gergiev conductor Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano 6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican (31 Oct)

Valery Gergiev conductor Olga Borodina Marguerite Michael Spyres Faust Ildar Abdrazakov Mephistopheles Florian Boesch Brander London Symphony Chorus Please note start time

Events take place in Barbican Hall unless otherwise stated

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LISTINGS Wed 6 & Wed 13 Nov 2013 7.30pm

Thu 28 Nov 2013 7.30pm

GERGIEV’S BERLIOZ

Schubert Symphony No 8 (‘Unfinished’) Wagner Act Two from ‘Tristan and Isolde’

Berlioz Romeo and Juliet Valery Gergiev conductor Olga Borodina mezzo-soprano Kenneth Tarver tenor Ildar Abdrazakov bass London Symphony Chorus 13 Nov supported by LSO Friends

6pm Pre-concert talk (6 Nov) Berlioz and the Romantic Orchestra Tom Hutchinson presenter Part of RPS200, a year-long celebration of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Bicentenary in 2013.

Thu 7 Nov 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert Mozart Violin Sonata in G major K379 Violin Sonata in A major K305 Violin Sonata in E-flat major K481

JANUARY

Daniel Harding conductor Peter Seiffert Tristan Katarina Dalayman Isolde Christianne Stotijn Brangäne Matti Salminen King Marke Mark Stone Melot / Kurwenal

DECEMBER Sun 1 Dec 2013 7.30pm Sounds and Sweet Airs:

Shakespeare film music A 60th birthday celebration of Patrick Doyle, including his film scores to Henry V (1989), Hamlet (1996), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and As You Like It (2006).

6.15pm Pre-concert talk with Patrick Doyle

Vilde Frang violin Michail Lifits piano

maria joÃo pires (21 Jan)

Frank Strobel conductor

Sat 4 Jan 2014 11am–4.30pm, LSO St Luke’s LSO Discovery

Thu 5 Dec 2013 7.30pm

Singing Day

Beethoven Violin Concerto Dvorˇák Symphony No 7

Haydn The Creation (sung in English, accompanied by piano)

Lunchtime Concert

Nikolaj Znaider violin / conductor

Simon Halsey chorus director

Mozart Divertimento in D major K136 Divertimento in F major K138 String Quartet in D minor K421

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

A singing workshop on Haydn’s The Creation followed by an informal performance which friends and family can watch. Some sight-singing ability is required.

Thu 14 Nov 2013 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC Radio 3

Ebène String Quartet

Thu 12 Dec 2013 7.30pm

(non multi-buy)

Liszt Mephisto Waltz Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 1 Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5

Tickets £17 (includes music hire) Sun 5 Jan 2014 7pm

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor Simon Trpcˇeski piano Thu 19 Dec 2013 7.30pm

(non multi-buy)

Larry Goves new commission Mahler Symphony No 5

Rimsky-Korsakov Dubinushka Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 Prokofiev Symphony No 5

Paul Daniel conductor

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor Evgeny Kissin piano

Sat 11 Jan 2014 7.30pm, LSO St Luke’s

Tickets £10 £15 £20 £28

Soundhub Showcase Tickets £7 (£5 concessions)

Christianne stotijn (20 & 28 nov)

Supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Wed 20 Nov 2013 7.30pm

Sun 12 Jan 2014 7.30pm

Schubert Symphony No 5 Mahler Das Lied von der Erde

Haydn The Creation (sung in English) Richard Egarr conductor Marlis Petersen soprano Jeremy Ovenden tenor Gerald Finley bass London Symphony Chorus

Daniel Harding conductor Christianne Stotijn mezzo-soprano Burkhard Fritz tenor 6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

Tue 26 Nov 2013 8pm, LSO St Luke’s UBS SOUNDSCAPES: ECLECTICA

Tue 21 Jan 2014 7.30pm

NORWEGIAN REQUIEM Christopher Finch conductor Arve Henrikson trumpet Ståle Storløkken organ LSO Community Choir Wells Cathedral Girls’ Choir

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lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

(non multi-buy)

Mendelssohn Overture: The Hebrides (‘Fingal’s Cave’) Schumann Piano Concerto Mendelssohn Symphony No 3 (‘Scottish’) Evgeny Kissin (19 Dec)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor Maria João Pires piano

Wed 22 Jan 2014 8pm, LSO St Luke’s

Thu 6 Feb 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

UBS SOUNDSCAPES: ECLECTICA

BBC Radio 3

Daniel Reuss conductor Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Beethoven Trio in B-flat major Brahms Trio in A minor

In association with London A Capella Festival

Michel Lethiec clarinet Arto Noras cello Barry Douglas piano

AN EASTERN VIGIL

Lunchtime Concert

Thu 23 Jan 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC Radio 3

Fri 7 Feb 2014 1–5pm & 6–9pm, LSO St Luke’s

Lunchtime Concert Brahms Seven Fantasies Op 116 Schubert Piano Sonata in B-flat major D960

Panufnik Young Composers Workshop

Barry Douglas piano

François-Xavier Roth conductor Free entry, booking essential

Thu 23 Jan 2014 7.30pm

Supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust

LSO Brass Ensemble

SIR Antonio Pappano (30 Jan & 2 Feb)

Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor Scarlatti Sonata for Keyboard arr for Brass Ewald Quintet No 1 Koetsier Kinderzirkus Music Crespo Suite Americas arr Dudley Bright Brass on Broadway Tickets £10 £15 £20

Sun 9 Feb 2014 7.30pm

February

UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait

Yuja Wang

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 3 Rachmaninov Symphony No 2

Sun 2 Feb 2014 10am–5.30pm, Barbican and LSO St Luke’s

Jaap van Zweden conductor Yuja Wang piano

LSO Discovery Day:

Sat 25 Jan 2014 11am – 4.30pm, LSO St Luke’s

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Thu 13 Feb 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s Sun 2 Feb 2014 7.30pm

TAKE PART

SINGING DAY Rachmaninov Vespers David Lawrence chorus director A singing workshop on Rachmaninov’s Vespers followed by an informal performance which friends and family can watch. Some sight-singing ability is required.

Tickets £17 (includes music hire) In association with London A Capella Festival

BBC Radio 3

Elgar In the South (‘Alassio’) Britten Violin Concerto Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Symphony No 10 (world premiere, LSO commission)

Lunchtime Concert

Sir Antonio Pappano conductor Maxim Vengerov violin London Symphony Chorus

Chloë Hanslip violin Richard Watkins horn Barry Douglas piano

Brahms Violin Sonata No 2 in A major Dukas Villanelle for horn and piano Brahms Trio in E-flat major

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican Thu 13 Feb 2014 7.30pm UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait

Wed 5 Feb 2014 7.30pm

Yuja Wang

UBS Soundscapes

Dvorˇák

Panufnik Sinfonia Sacra Dvorˇák Violin Concerto Panufnik Lullaby Dvorˇák Symphony No 9 (‘From the New World’)

Debussy La mer Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2 Ravel Daphnis and Chloé – Suites I & II James Gaffigan conductor Yuja Wang piano

Michael Francis conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin

Sun 16 Feb 2014 2.30pm

Celebrating Andrzej Panufnik’s centenary year

LSO Discovery

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

Family Concert ‘The ultimate storyteller’ Discover some of the greates stories ever told, as we explore the tales in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

Janine Jansen (30 Jan)

Thu 30 Jan 2014 7.30pm

Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

UBS Soundscapes

Alexandre Bloch conductor Rachel Leach presenter

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Fanfare: Her Majesty’s Welcome * Brahms Violin Concerto Walton Symphony No 1

Tickets £5 under-16s, £10 adults

Sir Antonio Pappano conductor Janine Jansen violin LSO On Track *

Yuja Wang Solo Recital

Walton

Sun 16 Feb 2014 7.30pm UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait

Yuja Wang piano Programme to be announced

LSO On Track supported by the Hedley Foundation, The Worshipful Company of Saddlers and UBS

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

Anne-sophie mutter (5 feb)

Tickets £10 £15 £20 £28

Events take place in Barbican Hall unless otherwise stated

41

LISTINGS Thu 20 Feb 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

Thu 13 Mar 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3

Brahms Four piano pieces Op 119 Field Nocturne No 8 in E minor and No 5 in B-flat major Brahms Piano Sonata No 2 in F-sharp minor

Schubert String Trio fragment in E-flat major String Quartet in G major D887

Barry Douglas piano

Doric String Quartet

Thu 20 Feb 2014 7.30pm

Thu 20 Mar 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait

BBC Radio 3

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 Stravinsky Petrushka

Schubert String Quintet in C major

Lunchtime Concert

Lunchtime Concert

Yuja Wang

Daniel Harding conductor Yuja Wang piano

Lunchtime Concert Signum String Quartet Nicolas Altstaedt cello

Dhafer Youssef (24 Apr)

Thu 3 Apr 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

Sun 23 Mar 2014 7.30pm Sun 23 Feb 2014 7.30pm Huw Watkins Flute Concerto (world premiere) Mahler Symphony No 1 (‘Titan’) Daniel Harding conductor Adam Walker flute

APRIL

Mendelssohn Overture: Ruy Blas Schumann Violin Concerto in D minor Mendelssohn Symphony No 4 (‘Italian’) Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor Alina Ibragimova violin

Commission supported by The Borletti-Buitoni Trust

BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert Shostakovich Preludes Nos 6, 17 & 24 Rachmaninov Selected Preludes Scriabin Sonatas Nos 5 & 9 Mozart arr Sudbin Lacrimosa Yevgeny Sudbin A la minute (on Chopin Waltz in D-flat major)

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

Yevgeny Sudbin piano

Thu 27 Feb 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

Thu 10 Apr 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert

Lunchtime Concert

Schubert Duo in A minor (‘Lebensstürme’) Grand Rondo in A major Andantino varié in B minor Fantasy in F minor

Scriabin Sonata No 3 Rachmaninov Moments musicaux Nos 1, 2 & 4 Prokofiev Sonata No 7 Boris Giltburg piano

Cédric Tiberghien, Christian Ihle Hadland piano duet

Thu 10 Apr 2014 7.30pm Messiaen L’ascension Scriabin Symphony No 5 (‘Prometheus, Poem of Fire’) Scriabin Symphony No 2 Valery Gergiev conductor Denis Matsuev piano London Symphony Chorus Supported by LSO Patrons Alina ibragimova (23 Mar)

Thu 27 Mar 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert CÉdric tiberghien (27 feb)

March Thu 6 Mar 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert Schubert Notturno in E-flat major Piano Trio in B-flat major Nicola Benedetti violin Leonard Elschenbroich cello Alexei Grynyuk piano

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Glinka Notturno in F minor (‘La séparation’) Blumenfeld Notturno-fantasia in E major Medtner Two Fairy Tales Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

Sun 13 Apr 2014 7.30pm Messiaen Les offrandes oubliées Chopin Piano Concerto No 2 Scriabin Symphony No 3 (‘The Divine Poem’) Valery Gergiev conductor Daniil Trifonov piano Tue 15 Apr 2014 8pm, LSO St Luke’s

Nikolai Demidenko piano

UBS SOUNDSCAPES: ECLECTICA

Sun 30 Mar 2014 7.30pm

The Campbells of Greepe and friends

Scriabin Symphony No 1 Liszt Piano Concerto No 2 Scriabin Symphony No 4 (‘The Poem of Ecstasy’)

Thu 17 Apr 2014 1pm, LSO St Luke’s

Valery Gergiev conductor Denis Matsuev piano London Symphony Chorus

lso.co.uk, full booking information on back cover

GAELIC CONNECTIONS

BBC Radio 3

Lunchtime Concert Taneyev Prelude and Fugue Rachmaninov Variations on a Theme by Corelli Prokofiev Sonata No 9 in C major Denis Kozhukhin piano

Thu 24 Apr 2014 7.30pm

Thu 8 May 2014 7.30pm

Sun 15 Jun 2014 2.30pm

Eclectica at the Barbican:

Mozart Symphony No 38 (‘Prague’) Strauss Extracts from ‘Der Rosenkavalier’

LSO Discovery

Arvo Pärt Symphony No 3 Arrangements of works by Dhafer Youssef

Sir Mark Elder conductor Anne Schwanewilms Marschallin Sarah Connolly Octavian Lucy Crowe Sophie

Mystic and Sufi

Kristjan Järvi conductor Dhafer Youssef oud / vocals Following the success of the previous season’s concerts performing orchestral works parallel with world and jazz fusion pieces, Kristjan Järvi curates this concert with oud player and vocalist Dhafer Youssef.

Sun 27 Apr 2014 7.30pm Mahler Symphony No 7 Daniele Gatti conductor

MAY

Family Concert ‘TRAINs, PLANES AND AUTOMOBILES’ Paul Rissmann presenter Travel around the globe with the LSO as we discover some fun and fantastic music. We’ll be flying, swimming and travelling in some very fast machines to get to our destinations …

Supported by LSO Premier

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

Tickets £5 under-16s, £10 adults Wed 14 May 2014 7.30pm Ravel Alborada del gracioso Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2 Shostakovich Symphony No 10

Thu 19 Jun 2014 7.30pm

Pablo Heras-Casado conductor Roman Simovic violin

Fabio Luisi conductor Lise de la Salle piano

Tue 20 May 2014 7.30pm

Sun 22 Jun 2014 10am–5.30pm, Barbican and LSO St Luke’s

Mozart Piano Concerto No 23 K488 Bruckner Symphony No 8

Harrison Birtwistle Earth Dances Brahms Piano Concerto No 1

LSO Discovery

Singing Day

Daniel Harding conductor Paul Lewis piano

Thu 1 May 2014 7.30pm Strauss Don Juan Brahms Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra Nikolaj Znaider conductor Roman Simovic violin Tim Hugh cello

Beethoven Mass in C major David Lawrence conductor Participants will attend a morning rehearsal with the full chorus and Orchestra at the Barbican, followed by a sing through in the afternoon at LSO St Luke’s.

JUNE

Tickets £17 (includes music hire)

Sun 1 Jun 2014 7.30pm

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican Sponsored by Baker & McKenzie LLP

Sun 4 May 2014 10am–5.30pm, Barbican and LSO St Luke’s LSO Discovery Day:

(non multi-buy)

Beethoven Violin Concerto Henze Being Beauteous Brahms Symphony No 4

Strauss Ein Heldenleben Beethoven Mass in C major Fabio Luisi conductor Soloists include: Christiane Oelze soprano Anna Stephany mezzo-soprano Timothy Oliver tenor London Symphony Chorus

Sir Simon Rattle conductor Veronika Eberle violin Anna Prohaska soprano

Richard Strauss

Fri 6 Jun 2014 7.30pm

Full day tickets £17 (£13.50 concessions)

Beethoven Overture: Prometheus Beethoven Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra Beethoven Symphony No 3 (‘Eroica’)

Sun 4 May 2014 7.30pm

Sun 22 Jun 2014 7.30pm

Strauss Wind Serenade Mozart Piano Concerto No 22 K482 Strauss Macbeth Strauss Till Eulenspiegel

Leonidas Kavakos violin/conductor Enrico Pace piano Tim Hugh cello

Sir Mark Elder conductor Imogen Cooper piano

Thu 12 Jun 2014 7.30pm

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican Sat 28 Jun 2014 7.30pm, LSO St Luke’s

Soundhub Showcase Tickets £7 (£5 concessions) Supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Sun 29 Jun 2014 7.30pm

UBS Soundscapes

Dvorˇák

Beethoven Symphony No 2 Messiaen Turangalîla-symphonie

Bruch Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra Dvorˇák Symphony No 8

Jonathan Nott conductor Steven Osborne piano Cynthia Millar ondes-Martenot

Sir Mark Elder conductor Nicola Benedetti violin

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

This concert also features a new work by Alastair Putt, an LSO Panufnik Young Composers Scheme (supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust) commission.

6pm Guildhall Artists at the Barbican

IMOGEN COOPER (4 May)

Information correct at time of going to print. The LSO reserves the right to change artists or programmes if necessary. Refunds will only be given in the event of a concert being cancelled. Calls may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance or training purposes.

LSO charity registration number 232391.

Events take place in Barbican Hall unless otherwise stated

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LSO SEASOn 2013/14 Book at lso.co.uk or call 020 7638 8891 or buy in person or by post Box Office, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London. EC2Y 8DS. (opening times at lso.co.uk/yourvisit) Ticket prices as below unless otherwise stated.

Barbican Concert Tickets £10 £15 £20 £28 £37 Book 3–4 concerts save 15%, 5+ save 20% Multi-buy discounts will not be applied to 12 Dec, 19 Dec, 21 Jan and 1 Jun BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts £10 (£9 concessions) Book any four concerts for £8 each LSO Discovery Days Full day tickets £17 (£13.50 concessions) £12 afternoon only (from 2.30pm at LSO St Luke’s) LSO Discovery Family Concerts £5 under-16s, £10 adults Suitable for families with 7- to 12-year-olds UBS SOUNDSCAPES: ECLECTICA CONCERTS £10 £15 £22 Groups of 10 or more Receive a 20% discount (except 12 Dec, 19 Dec, 21 Jan and 1 Jun). Call our dedicated Group Booking Line on 020 7382 7211 (10am–5pm Mon-Fri) Disabled visitors Disabled visitors who have joined the Barbican Access Membership scheme can inform us of their access requirements, receive information in alternative formats and may be eligible for reductions on tickets. Any available discounted tickets are limited in number and subject to availability – please book early to avoid disappointment. Full details are available online at barbican.org.uk/access and will be sent with your membership information.

Ticket exchange Tickets can be exchanged for another LSO concert or credit vouchers valid for six months, provided that you return them to the Box Office at least 24 hours before the performance (two weeks for group bookings). Administration fee applies.

barbican.org.uk

Relaxing with food, drink and friends Foyer Bars and Cafés: The ideal place to meet and catch up ahead of the concert or to enjoy a drink at the interval.

Martini Bar (Level 1): Enjoy a touch of glamour at the start of your evening at the Barbican’s stylish new bar.

Choose from a selection of classic and modern martinis, or a glass of bubbly.

Barbican Foodhall (Level G): The lively informality of the Barbican Foodhall offers mouthwatering hot dishes and salads from a counter-top service as well as a wide range of homemade cakes, teas and coffees.

Barbican Lounge (Level 1): The award-winning Barbican Lounge gives a more relaxed ambience to enjoy a pre-concert drink or seasonal small plates from the tapas-style menu. Reservations 020 7382 6180.

Gin Joint by Searcys (Level 2): Offering brasserie dining and the most extensive gin list in the City, all enhanced by stunning views across the Barbican lakeside. Both full dining and bar menus are available.

Reservations 020 7588 3008.

FIND US Barbican Centre Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS

LSO St Luke’s UBS and LSO Music Education Centre 161 Old Street, EC1V 9NG The Barbican is in the heart of the City of London with LSO St Luke’s just a short walk away.

Underground/Train stations The Barbican is closest to Moorgate and Barbican, with Liverpool Street, Bank and Farringdon nearby.

For LSO St Luke’s use Old Street (Exit 7).

Bus routes 153 Beech Street; 21, 43, 76, 141, 205, 214 City Road; 55 and 243 Old Street.

Parking The Barbican’s on-site car parks, also convenient for LSO St Luke’s, cost £7 from 5pm on weekdays (£6.50 if pre-booked) and £7.50 per day at weekends.

Bath Street

St Luke’s Close

Keeping you up-to-date We’ll send you an email a day before your selected concert with the latest travel details and links to other useful information.

Bunhill Row

Whitecross Street

Golden Lane

The LSO is funded by Arts Council England in partnership with the City of London Corporation, which also provides the Orchestra’s permanent home at the Barbican.

lso.co.uk/yourvisit

Helmet Row

All discounts are subject to availability and may not be combined.

Extras

Portraiture Igor Emmerich, Kevin Leighton Bill Robinson, Alberto Venzago

Print Tradewinds Design PIN Creative Editor Edward Appleyard 44

Beech Street

You can get this guide in large print, audio and electronic formats. Contact 020 7588 1116 or email access@lso.co.uk

Chiswell Street Silk Street

Moor Lane

Other photographs Jeremy Cowart, Benjamin Ealovega, Pal Hansen, Olivia Hemingway, Emile Holba, Nancy Horowitz, Roger Mastroianni, Robert Romik, Pekka Saarinen, Christine Schneider, Peter Warren, Simon Weir