Academy of Ancient Music | Sound the Trumpet |14 March 2020, Leeds Town Hall

Saturday 14 March 2020

Academy of Ancient Music Leeds Town Hall

Leeds International Concer t Sea son 2019/20

Welcome to Leeds Town Hall

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Alison Balsom had to withdraw from this concert, suffering from a chest infection; we are very grateful to AAM Principal Trumpet, David Blackadder, for stepping in at short notice.

[AAM]

Academy of Ancient Music

Chad Kelly

director and harpsichord

Alison Balsom trumpet

Soraya Mafi

Tonight’s concert ends at approximately 9.20pm Tonight’s pre-concert talk will be given

by David Vickers

Purcell Sound the Trumpet (from Masque of Hymen)

Purcell Sound the Trumpet (arr Come Ye Sons of Art)

Galuppi Alla tromba della Farma

Torelli Trumpet Concerto in D

Handel Concerto Grosso Op 6, No 1

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soprano

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Daniel Purcell

Baldassare Galuppi

(c 1664-1717)

(1706-1785)

Sound the Trumpet (from The Masque of Hymen)

Alla tromba della fama

Daniel Purcell younger brother – some authorities say cousin – of the more famous, Henry, held office as Organist of Magdalen College, Oxford for seven years from 1688, moving to London in 1695 (the year of the death of his more celebrated sibling). From 1698 until his death in his 52nd year, Daniel was Organist of St Dunstan-in-the-East, City of London; he was appointed to a similar post at St Andrew’s Holborn in 1713 and was buried in the churchyard there. Daniel set a Masque: The Masque of Hymen as a completion for Act V of Henry’s score for the opera, The Indian Queen left unfinished at the time of the older man’s death – this later completion is in praise of marriage. The contributions of voice and trumpet vie with each other to unite in a grandly rhetorical manner that makes this brief extract a splendidly noble and memorable number.

Sound the trumpet. Let love’s subjects know from heaven’s high vaults to Herebus below.

That from this hour their discords all shall cease...

Sound the trumpet.

Let love’s subjects know from heaven’s high vaults to Herebus below.

Baldassare Galuppi, widely known as Il Buranello – he was a native of the island of Burano near to Venice – became one of the most influential composers of his generation. He wrote over one hundred operas in collaboration with his librettist, Goldoni, as well as cantatas, oratorios and other sacred pieces, alongside chamber music, and keyboard works. Like his older contemporary, Vivaldi, he was in Venice in charge of the music at an orphanage for over a decade and at St Mark’s from the late 1740s. Though in essence Venetian by birth, Galuppi also worked for lengthy periods in London and St Petersburg as well as in his home city. The exciting Alla tromba della fama (To the trumpet of fame) is scored for solo soprano, obbligato trumpet and strings and may have originally been part of a cantata or operatic work.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Concerto Grosso in G, Op 6, No 1 A tempo giusto – Allegro – Adagio – Allegro – Allegro The Concerto grosso style involved two contrasted groups of musicians – the ripieno (or full orchestra) and the smaller concertino group of solo performers. The interplay between these sound components provided some of the most infectious sonorities of the Baroque period. Such antiphony and musical exchanges, somewhat akin to a verbal conversation with friends, is not confined to the concerto grosso medium. In Handel’s Messiah there is provision within the orchestral material for the instrumental

The interplay between these sound components provided some of the most infectious sonorities of the Baroque period.

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accompaniment to facilitate similar “terraced” dynamic levels to the greater enhancement of the timbres of individual solo numbers in particular. Stradella and Corelli led the way, and the apex of such works was certainly achieved by Vivaldi, whose famous Four Seasons are cast in the genre. The first of Handel’s Op 6 Concerti grossi is cast in five sections, unfolding from a brief opening segment for full ensemble then interspersed with trio textures of great beauty for three solo players; ultimately the momentum broadens out with some spectacular chromatic harmony, before arriving at a half close leading directly into the succeeding Allegro.

In this, the second movement of the work, the interplay between full ensemble and the trio soloists is developed much further and carries all before it. The celebrated Dr Burney wrote of the concerto’s third movement: In the adagio, while the two trebles are singing in the style of vocal duets of the time, where these parts, though not in regular fugue, abound in imitations of the fugue kind; the bass, with a boldness and character peculiar to Handel, supports with learning and ingenuity the subject of the two first bars, either direct or inverted, throughout the movement, in a clear, distinct and marked manner.

The last two movements abound in energetic progress, especially the final Gigue with its featured and ceaseless antiphony handed to and fro between ripieno and concertino.

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George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

(1685-1759)

(1685-1759)

Eternal source of Light Divine

Oboe Concerto (arr tpt) in B flat

first movement of the Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne

Adagio – Allegro – Largo Alla siciliana – Allegro

Eternal source of light divine with double warmth thy beams display And with distinguish’d glory shine to add a lustre to this day.

The choral work of which this evening’s extract comprises the opening movement is a secular cantata composed to a libretto by English poet and politician Ambrose Philips (1674-1749) of which the first line, Eternal source of light divine, provides an alternative title for the work. It was probably written during January 1713 for a performance on 6 February 1713, although there is no record of the performance having actually taken place. The cantata celebrates Queen Anne’s birthday, and the accomplishment of the Treaty of Utrecht negotiated by the Tory ministry of Anne in 1712 to end the War of Spanish Succession. Queen Anne was said by the Duke of Manchester to be: too careless or too busy to listen to her own band, and had no thought of hearing and paying new players however great their genius or vast their skill.

Nevertheless, and whether or not she ever heard this ode for her birthday, she granted Handel a pension in the form of a subsidy for living expenses of two hundred pounds a year, for life, thus proving his endeavour in the project thoroughly worthwhile.

This well-loved Concerto was devised by Handel in its original form for oboe, orchestra and basso continuo. On this occasion, the solo material is allotted to the trumpet. Published by Walsh in 1740 within the fourth volume of a collection entitled Select Harmony, the piece is generally considered by most scholarly authorities to be one of Handel’s earlier works, even though, or perhaps on account of this, some musical scholars seem to have contested the ascription to Handel on grounds of style. This need not concern us, on account of the glorious expression of the music itself and the generous division of responsibilities between soloist and ensemble!

Francesco Venturini (c 1675-1745)

Sonata Grosso in G Minor, Op 1, No 9 Ouverture – Aria – Aria – Gavotte – Menuets 1 & 2 Notwithstanding his surname, Venturini was a musician and Baroque composer of unclear origin. In 1698 he became a violinist in the court chapel of the Elector of Hanover and, in 1714 or 1715, its director. The records of his sons’ baptisms in the city now the capital of modern day Belgium suggests that Francesco may have been a native of those parts or even born in Brussels itself. His Op 1, a collation that, as far as we are aware, contains his only compositions to survive in print, were issued in 1715 by Estienne Roger in Amsterdam. A manuscript of this evening’s delightfully

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Duet: Sound of the Trumpet (from Come, Ye Sons of Art) Sound the trumpet till around you make the listening shores rebound.

On the sprightly oboy play.

All the instruments of joy that skilful numbers can employ to celebrate the glory of this day.

Text attributed to Poet Laureate Nahum Tate (1652-1715)

In common with the first work of the first half of tonight’s concerts, we begin after the interval with another extract from a birthday ode for an English sovereign, in this case Queen Mary (1662-1694) co-monarch with her husband King William (of Orange) from 1689 to her death William continued on the throne until 1702 when he, too died, to be succeeded by Queen Anne. Purcell’s music in honour of Queen Mary’s birthday was the sixth consecutive work of such a celebratory emphasis but proved, sadly, the last, as the Queen passed away later in the year of its composition, 1694. Come, ye sons of art was part of the opening concert of the BBC Third Programme in 1946 when the legendary Alfred Deller was the principal countertenor vocalist. The original is for matching vocal alto soloists imitating being trumpets; this evening the duettists are one vocal and one instrumental.

Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709)

Trumpet Concerto in D Allegro – Adagio – Presto – Allegro Bologna based, Torelli was a great trail-blazer as a composer of solo Baroque music for trumpet and quite certainly the most productive of such creative artists to be working in the second half of the 17th century and the first decade of the 18th. His D major concerto – one of well over thirty of his works containing prominent material for the trumpet – is one of the greatest highlights of the Baroque trumpet repertoire, even though the principal soloist is silent during the course of the second and third components of its four-movement scheme. All the composer’s output survives in manuscript within the archive library of San Petronio in Bologna – a small tally of other works are to be found in libraries in Dresden and Vienna. In Torelli’s day, Bologna was an Italian cultural centre of considerable pre-eminence with an internationally famous university and a principal church named after San Patronio, the city’s patron saint. Thus were there many opportunities for ceremonial music at academic and liturgical festivals on a regular annual basis.

Torelli was a great trail-blazer as a composer of solo Baroque music for trumpet...

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expressive and pathos-ridden work, within whose boundaries are fused French as well as Italian stylistic influences, exists in the British Library.

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George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Concerto Grosso Op 3, No 6

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Vivace – Allegro

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The sixth and final concerto of Handel’s Opus 3 Concerti Grossi has just two movements, the Vivace, whose music is extracted from the 1723 opera Ottone, and the Allegro, which is believed to be its composer’s first published piece for organ and orchestra, and is taken from the overture to the 1712 opera Il pastor fido. The piece is scored for two oboes – given prominence within the solo textures, notably in the initial Vivace – bassoon, strings, and continuo.

The Allegro of the concerto was publisher Walsh’s commercial announcement of the forthcoming edition of Handel’s Op 4: a set of six organ concertos mostly derived from earlier models scored as sonatas for flute or recorder and continuo.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Let the Bright Seraphim (from Samson) Let the bright Seraphim in burning row their loud, uplifted angel-trumpets blow.

Let the cherubic hosts in tuneful quires touch their immortal harps with golden wires.

Handel’s oratorio Samson – of which this extract is, along with Total eclipse, the most famous solo number, followed from Handel’s fertile pen as soon as the ink was dry on the composition of Messiah in mid 1741. The libretto, assembled by the Irish author and librettist

Newburgh Hamilton (1691-1761) draws on earlier originals by John Milton (Samson Agonistes) and the scriptural narrative of Samson contained in the Old Testament Book of Judges. The composer’s inspiration clearly burned at white heat in Let the bright Seraphim – a most brilliant aria with its noble obbligato for trumpet that formed the penultimate movement at the close of the third act of this great dramatic oratorio immediately preceding the final chorus, Let their celestial concerts all unite.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Cantata: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen 1. Aria Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!

Was der Himmel und die Welt

Exult in God, every land!

Whatever creatures are contained An Geschöpfen in sich hält, by heaven and earth Müssen dessen Ruhm erhöhen, must raise up this praise, Und wir wollen unserm Gott and now we shall likewise Gleichfalls itzt ein Opfer bringen, bring an offering to our God, Daß er uns in Kreuz und Not since He has stood with us Allezeit hat beigestanden. at all times during suffering and necessity.

2. Recitative Wir beten zu dem Tempel an, Da Gottes Ehre wohnet, Da dessen Treu,

We pray at your temple, where God’s honour dwells, where this faithfulness,

daily renewed, is rewarded with pure blessing.

We praise what He has done for us.

Even though our weak mouth must gape before His wonders, our meager praise is still to Him.

3. Aria Höchster, mache deine Güte Ferner alle Morgen neu.

So soll vor die Vatertreu Auch ein dankbares Gemüte

Highest, renew Your goodness every morning from now on.

Thus, before this fatherly love, a thankful conscience shall display, Durch ein frommes Leben weisen, through a virtuous life, Daß wir deine Kinder heißen. that we are called Your children.

4. Chorale Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren Glory, and praise with honour Gott Vater, Sohn, Heiligem Geist! be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

Der woll in uns vermehren, He will increase in us Was er uns aus Gnaden verheißt, what He has promised us out of grace, Daß wir ihm fest vertrauen, so that we trust fast in Him, Gänzlich uns lass’n auf ihn, abandon ourselves completely to Him, Von Herzen auf ihn bauen, rely on Him within our hearts,

Daß uns’r Herz, Mut und Sinn Ihm festiglich anhangen; Drauf singen wir zur Stund: Amen, wir werdn’s erlangen, Glaub’n wir aus Herzensgrund.

so that our heart, will, and mind depend strongly on Him; therefore we sing at this time: Amen, we shall succeed, if we believe from the depths of our hearts.

5. Aria Alleluja!

Bach’s output of cantatas for solo voice includes a number of such essays for alto, tenor and bass voices, a number of which achieve regular performance in concert as well as liturgical settings. Whilst many are deeply reflective utterances between singer and creator, it is believed that tonight’s closing work may well be the only such piece devised by Bach for a soprano soloist and it may well be that it was intended for use on the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. There are actually two solo participants involved – the vocalist and a solo trumpeter – and each is set music of very considerable virtuosity and vitality of utterance. From the opening vocal entry, and, indeed, from the ritornello from which the first movement unfolds, it is abundantly clear that the utmost exultation and energy are required. The verbal text of No 4 is drawn from a well-known hymn – Nun lob, mein Seel, dem Herrn by Johann Gramann (or Graumann) 1487-1541 Rector of Leipzig’s Thomasschule a century and a half previous to the time of Bach; the original hymn contains four stanzas of twelve lines each and is, loosely, paraphrased from Psalm 103 – Praise the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me praise His Holy Name. The Cantata’s final movement consists of a rapturous Alleluja – a number that certainly vies with Mozart’s finale from his solo motet Exsultate jubilate for the greatest such movement known to humanity within the Western tradition. The piece was first heard at St Thomas, Leipzig in 1730.

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So täglich neu, Mit lauter Segen lohnet.

Wir preisen, was er an uns hat getan.

Muß gleich der schwache Mund von seinen Wundern lallen, So kann ein schlechtes Lob pleasing ihmdennoch wohlgefallen.

© 2020, Simon Lindley

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Chad Kelly

Leeds International Concer t Sea son 2019/20

Chad enjoys a rich and diverse career as a keyboard specialist and director, spanning genres from historically-informed performance and chamber music, to opera and musical theatre.

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Increasingly in demand in the world of opera and theatre, he is currently on the music staff at the Bayerische Staatsoper, having previously held posts at English National Opera and the Royal Academy of Music. He was a Musical Director for the Olivier Award-nominated West End production of Farinelli and the King with Mark Rylance and Iestyn Davies, as well as the Off West End award-winning production of The Blank Canvas, for King’s Head Opera. He has also been a musical director for performances at The Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Theatre, The Duke of York’s Theatre, Leicester’s Curve, Göttingen Handel Festival, the London Handel Festival, Vienna’s Resonanzen Festival, the Newbury Spring Festival, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.

Chad is fast building a reputation as a formidable continuo player and as a director in the world of historically-informed performance.

He has toured as a duo partner with performers such as Rachel Podger and Alison Balsom and built close working relationships with conductors such as Trevor Pinnock, Ivor Bolton and John Eliot Gardiner. He acts as principal continuo player for Solomon’s Knot amongst others.

Equally adept in the world of contemporary music, recent highlights include working on the world-premiere of Thomas Adés’ opera The Exterminating Angel at the Salzburg Festival, and the world-premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snow Queen at the Bayerische Staatsoper, as well as workshopping a number of new operas commissioned by the Royal Opera House. Chad’s own arrangements and compositions have been commissioned by

performers such as Alison Balsom and Rachel Podger, groups such as the Academy of Ancient Music and the Bavarian State Orchestra, and recorded by Sony.

Before leaving Chetham’s School of Music, Chad became a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music and a Fellow of the Royal College of organists. He went on to study music at Girton College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. He graduated with Double First Class Honours as well as achieving the highest mark ever in the University’s history in Practical Musicianship.

From 2013-2017, Chad held the post of Lector in Music at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was academic supervisor to the undergraduate students. Chad continued post-graduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he was awarded the coveted DipRAM. In 2017 he was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of his significant contribution to the music profession.

Chad is fast building a reputation as a formidable continuo player and as a director in the world of historically-informed performance.

David took up the trumpet aged nine, following in the footsteps of his grandfather who was a bandmaster in the North East. He joined the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra and went on to study at the Royal College of Music with Michael Laird.

After a season as guest principal trumpet with Scottish Opera he joined the English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique as principal trumpet under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. He also became principal trumpet of the AAM with Christopher Hogwood.

Soraya Mafi

Lancashire-born soprano Soraya Mafi studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and Royal College of Music, supported by the Help Musicians UK Sybil Tutton Award. Soraya continues her studies with renowned soprano Janis Kelly and repertoire coach John Fraser. Soraya’s many awards and prizes include the Maggie Teyte Prize in 2014 and the Susan Chilcott Award in 2016.

She was also the 2nd Prize winner of the 2015 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. Soraya is a Harewood Young Artist of the English National Opera and Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company.

In 1993 David formed the groundbreaking group Blackadder Brass, which became the resident educational ensemble at Symphony Hall in Birmingham and played to over 40,000 children in its first three years. He is also a professor at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

During her time at RCM Soraya performed the roles of Virtu L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Le Feu and Le Rossignol L’Enfant et les Sortileges. She sang the title role in Arianna in Creta and created the role of Cheryl in Iain Burnside’s new music theatre piece Journeying Boys. Elsewhere she has sung Aminta Il re pastore, Johanna Sweeney Todd, Constance Dialogues des Carmélites, First Niece Peter Grimes, and Despina Così fan tutte.

He is renowned as a soloist, having performed and recorded with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Roger Norrington and Vladimir Jurowski. His recordings of Handel arias with singers including Renee Fleming and Kiri Te Kanawa have received particular critical acclaim; and he has recorded the Brandenburg Concertos with Trevor Pinnock and with the AAM.

Recent highlights have included Mabel The Pirates of Penzance and Tytania A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Suor Genoveva Suor Angelica, Cleopatra Giulio Cesare, Nanetta Falstaff, Gretel Hansel und Gretel and Legrenzi’s La divisione del mondo; in concert recent appearances have been with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Matheus, Seattle Symphony Orchestra and at the 2018 Rheingau Festival. Soraya made her solo recital debut at Wigmore Hall with Graham Johnson.

Opera engagements for 2019/20 and beyond include a return to the Seattle Opera as Gilda Rigoletto, Yum-Yum Mikado and Amor Orfeo ed Euridice for the English National Opera, Susanna Le nozze di Figaro for the Welsh National Opera and her debut with the Opernhaus Zurich as Johanna Sweeney Todd.

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David Blackadder

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The Academy of Ancient Music

Leeds International Concer t Sea son 2019/20

The Academy of Ancient Music is an orchestra with a worldwide reputation for excellence in baroque and classical music. It takes inspiration directly from the music’s composers, using historically informed techniques, period-specific instruments and original sources to bring music to life in committed, vibrant performances.

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Founded by Christopher Hogwood in 1973, the ensemble remains at the forefront of the early music scene more than four decades on; Richard Egarr became its Music Director in 2006.

Semele, as well the ground-breaking modern premiere of Jan Ladislav Dussek’s Mass in G Major; a piece which hasn’t seen the light of day since 1811.

The Academy of Ancient Music has always been a pioneer. It was established to make the first British recordings of orchestral works using instruments from the baroque and classical periods and has released more than 300 discs, many of which are still considered definitive performances (among its countless accolades for recording are Classic BRIT, Gramophone and Edison awards).

It has now established its own record label, AAM Records, and is proud to be the most listened-to orchestra of its kind online, with over one million monthly listeners on Spotify.

AAM is Associate Ensemble at London’s Barbican centre and the Teatro San Cassiano in Italy; Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge, The Grange Festival, Milton Abbey International Summer Music Festival, Music at Oxford and the Apex, Bury St Edmunds; Research Partner to the University of Oxford; and an Artistic Partner to London’s Culture Mile.

AAM’s education and outreach programme, AAMplify, nurtures the next generation of audiences and musicians. With this expanding programme, working from pre-school through tertiary education and beyond, AAM ensures its work reaches the widest possible audience and inspires people of all ages, backgrounds and cultural traditions.

The 2019/20 season features appearances by Viktoria Mullova, Chen Reiss, VOCES8, Benjamin Appl, Masato Suzuki, Thomas Dunford, Mary Bevan, Alison Balsom, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and the BBC Singers. Programmes include large-scale vocal masterpieces such as Bach’s St John Passion, Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Eccles’

Visit www.aam.co.uk to find out more.

The Academy of Ancient Music has always been a pioneer.

The Orchestra LEEDS TOWN HALL

Director and Harpsichord

First Violins

Cellos Sarah McMahon Imogen Seth-Smith

James Toll Persephone Gibbs Andrej Kapor Christiane Dahl Mark Seow Rachel Stroud

Double Bass

Liz MacCarthy Claudia Norz Conor Gricmanis Karin Bjork

Bassoons

Second Violins

Violas Elitsa Bogdanova Heather Birt

Timothy Amherst

Oboes Mark Baigent Lars Henriksson

Sally Holman Joseph Qiu

Theorbo Bill Carter

Following Manchester Collective’s highly successful debut season, Leeds International Concert Season is delighted to welcome back this sought-after ensemble to lead us on another voyage of sonic discovery.

Thu 23 April 2020 8pm

VOICE OF THE WHALE

Thu 25 June 2020 8pm

ENESCU OCTET

Tickets: £20.67

Over 60s: £1.50 off • Under 18s, students, unwaged: 50% off

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Chad Kelly

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Music matters

Leeds International Concer t Sea son 2019/20

Soraya Mafi, tonight’s soprano, tells us about the five pieces of music, book and luxury she would take to a desert island.

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As a Desert Island Discs fanatic, you’d think I’d have secured my answers for an interview such as this, but it’s quite the opposite!

As a musician, recordings are a huge part of my life, and I really struggle to choose favourites. My musical taste is extremely varied, and I’ve had to miss out complete genres of music to narrow the list down to five (rock, jazz, indie, country). I’m hoping these tracks will remind me both of home, and of my passion for opera. Sorry Dolly Parton – you’d definitely have made it to the top eight!

Irish Traditional – She moved through the fair

Ben E King – Stand By Me

I have chosen this purely for its outstanding beauty. I first came across this magnificent trio when I covered Sophie in Opera North’s production of Der Rosenkavalier a few years ago. It is thrilling to sing – the harmonics produced by three female voices are heavenly!

I adore how Strauss interweaves the characters’ melodic lines, making it sound by the end of the trio as if there are not three individual voices, but a true wash of combined vocal colours. I can’t wait to perform my first Sophie next year!

This song means a great deal to my fiancé and I. We’ve been together since our early twenties, and supported each other through so many trials and tribulations. The words of this song resonant hugely with us and our love-story, and it will always remind me of him.

Verdi – Gualtier Maldè... Caro Nome: Rigoletto This is the last role my dad saw me perform on stage (Summer 2019 for Seattle Opera). He was so excited to see me perform in America (and visit the country for the first time!). He listened to Rigoletto on loud speaker everyday whilst walking his dogs on the moors (much to the amusements of his fellow dog walkers), and had warned me ahead of the shows that this song seemed very difficult, and he hoped I was practising it a lot! He was so overjoyed to hear me sing it live. The central relationship in Rigoletto is that of Rigoletto and his daughter Gilda. It was hard to fight the tears back that first performance, knowing my father was sat in the audience, beaming with pride.

This song reminds me of my mum. My mum was born in Bury, but her family are Irish, and she spent quite a bit of her childhood there.

My love of singing definitely comes from her, and she sings this song often. I love the creative spirit of folk music – taking a basic melody and adapting it so you can tell your version of the story.

Strauss – Hab mir’s gelobt: Der Rosenkavalier

Mozart – Act II finale: Le Nozze di Figaro I couldn’t possibly be left stranded on a desert island, and NOT have a Mozart track with me. This is a slight cheat, as this masterpiece of a finale is about five pieces in one, but I think I can be allowed it?!

Incredible dramatic writing, beautiful vocal lines, crazy characters, deception after deception, much humiliation, female empowerment AND a cat fight... what more could you want?!

Sunday 15 March, 7.30pm LEEDS TOWN HALL

I have my voice, my favourite music and plenty of poetry, so as long as I can rest well, this could feel like an extended holiday.

Book – Complete Divan of Hafez

Luxury I was tempted to write ‘an endless supply of no added-sugar Vimto cordial’, but more sensibly, I think I’d want the comfiest bed possible... complete with sumptuous Egyptian cotton bedding, memory foam pillows and my teddy bear! I have my voice, my favourite music and plenty of poetry, so as long as I can rest well, this could feel like an extended holiday.

Dougie Scarfe conductor Elgar Overture: Cockaigne Elgar Lux Aeterna Shostakovich Symphony No 7 (Leningrad) The City of Leeds Youth Orchestra is now nearly 100 strong and its performances under conductor Dougie Scarfe are one of the great success stories of music making in the region. This programme is the perfect showcase for the orchestra’s wonderful talents.

CLYO’s British orchestral heritage is on show in the first half with Elgar’s depiction of London town. Then Elgar’s Nimrod from his Enigma Variations set to words of the requiem mass in a moving eight part unaccompanied choral arrangement – CLYO sings! Shostakovich’s seventh symphony remains a uniquely resonant revelation in 20th-century history and remains one of the most powerful of all symphonic works.

Tickets: £11.50

Concessions: £9.50 • Students, unwaged: £5.50

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This was a tricky one, as I love reading, and poetry in particular, but I know I will never bore of reading Hafez. This collection will remind me of my Persian heritage and my family; my mum is an English Literature teacher, and my father was from Iran, so it seems like the perfect representation of my home. I could even start setting them to song... move over Schubert!

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Monday 16 March, 1.05pm

Monday 21 March, 7pm

Dr Thomas Trotter

Royal Northern Sinfonia

Leeds Town Hall

Birmingham City Organist

Forthcoming concerts

Bach Toccata in F BWV 540 Duruflé Prélude, Adagio et Choral Varié sur Veni Creator arr Anderson The last Rose of Summer; The Girl I left behind me Laurin Etude Héroïque Free admission

Wednesday 18 March, 1.05pm The Venue, Leeds College of Music

Alison Rhind piano

Leeds Town Hall

Leeds Festival Chorus

Simon Wright conductor Rebecca Evans soprano Sara Fulgoni mezzo soprano Joshua Ellicott tenor Matthew Brook bass Mendelssohn Elijah Tickets: £39.22 – £19.08 Concessions available

Tuesday 31 March, 7.30pm

The Venue, Leeds College of Music

Programme to include

Florence Malgoire

Schubert Impromptus Op 90.

Mahan Esfahani

Free admission

violin

harpsichord

Jean-Fery Rebel Sonata in D minor Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre Sonata No 4 in G major Jean-Marie Leclair Sonata Op 3, No 9 Claude-Bénigne Balbastre La de la Caze, La Courteille, La d’Hericourt Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville Sonata Op 1 Tickets: £22, £20 Concessions available

Box Office:

0113 376 0318

www.leedsconcertseason.co.uk

Please don’t forget to turn off your mobile phone.

Leeds City Council reserves the right to change programmes, orchestras and artists without notice.

Food and drink is not permitted within the concert-hall, nor may any cameras or recording equipment be brought into the auditorium. It is illegal to record any part of a performance unless prior arrangements have been made with the concert promoter.

Visit www.leodis.net/discovery for an online history of Leeds, with extensive sections on both Leeds Town Hall and classical music in Leeds.