Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Leader pieter schoeman Composer in Residence JULIAN ANDERSON Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM
SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Wednesday 1 May 2013 | 7.30pm
RYAn WIGGLESWORTH conductor rebecca evans soprano pamela helen stephen mezzo soprano BEN JOHNSON tenor matthew rose bass LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR vaughan williams Symphony No. 4 in F minor (34’)
PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 Welcome 3 Tonight’s works in context 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader 6 On stage tonight 7 Ryan Wigglesworth 8 Rebecca Evans / Pamela Helen Stephen 9 Ben Johnson / Matthew Rose 10 London Philharmonic Choir 11 Programme notes 15 A Child of Our Time text 19 Next concerts 20 Orchestra news 21 Birthday Appeal update 23 Supporters 24 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.
Interval tippett A Child of Our Time (65’)
Free pre-concert discussion 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Writer and broadcaster Daniel Snowman takes a look at Tippett’s A Child of Our Time.
* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
This concert is being broadcast live by the BBC on Radio 3 Live In Concert.
Welcome
WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete and Feng Sushi, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk We look forward to seeing you again soon. A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium. LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance. RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium without the prior consent of Southbank Centre. Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until the performance has ended. MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.
Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise, inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise Presented by Southbank Centre in partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise The Rest Is Noise is a year-long festival that digs deep into 20th-century history to reveal the influences on art in general and classical music in particular. Inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise, we use film, debate, talks and a vast range of concerts to reveal the fascinating stories behind the century’s wonderful and often controversial music. We have brought together the world’s finest orchestras and soloists to perform many of the most significant works of the 20th century. We reveal why these pieces were written and how they transformed the musical language of the modern world. Over the year, The Rest Is Noise focuses on 12 different parts. The music is set in context with talks from a fascinating team of historians, scientists, philosophers, political theorists and musical experts as well as films, online content and other special programmes. If you’re new to 20th-century music, then this is your time to start exploring with us as your tour guide. There has never been a festival like this. Jude Kelly Artistic Director, Southbank Centre
2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Tonight’s works in context
1870 1880
1872 Ralph Vaughan Williams born in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, England 1876 Prototype telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell 1880 Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov published 1886 First sales of Coca-Cola in the USA, originally marketed as a patent medicinal remedy
1890
1891 Carnegie Hall opened in New York City 1896 Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity. First modern Olympic games held in Athens
1900 1905 Michael Tippett born in London
1910 1920 1930
1908 First commercial radio transmission 1912 1914 1916 1918
Sinking of the RMS Titanic. Premiere of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in Berlin Outbreak of World War I Albert Einstein published his Theory of General Relativity End of World War I
1922 Creation of the Soviet Union (USSR)
1932 London Philharmonic Orchestra founded by Sir Thomas Beecham 1935 Premiere of Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 4
1940
1939 Outbreak of World War II in Europe
1950
1949 Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four published
1960 1970
1944 Premiere of Tippett’s A Child of Our Time 1945 End of World War II 1953 Death of Joseph Stalin 1955 Vietnam War began 1958 Death of Ralph Vaughan Williams 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man on the Moon. Stonewall riots in New York
1977 First Star Wars film released
1980 1990
1980 John Lennon assassinated 1982 Falkland Islands invaded by Argentina 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall
1998 Death of Michael Tippett
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3
‘The LPO’s playing throughout was exceptional in its warmth, finesse and detail.’ The Guardian (23 January 2013, Royal Festival Hall: Webern, Schoenberg and Mahler)
The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most adventurous and forward-looking orchestras. As well as giving classical concerts, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own record label, and reaches thousands of Londoners every year through activities for schools and local communities.
American works with Marin Alsop; Haydn and Strauss with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and the UK premiere of Carl Vine’s Second Piano Concerto with pianist Piers Lane under Vassily Sinaisky. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra is collaborating with Southbank Centre on The Rest Is Noise festival, based on Alex Ross’s book of the same name and charting the 20th century’s key musical works and historical events.
The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then its Principal Conductors have included Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. The current Principal Conductor is Vladimir Jurowski, appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor.
The Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra leaves London for four months and takes up its annual residency accompanying the famous Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing concerts to sell-out audiences worldwide. Tours in the 2012/13 season have included visits to Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA and Austria, and plans for next season include tours to the USA, Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, France and Spain.
The Orchestra is Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since it opened in 1951, giving around 40 concerts there each season. 2012/13 highlights include three concerts with Vladimir Jurowski based around the theme of War and Peace in collaboration with the Russian National Orchestra; Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, also conducted by Jurowski; 20th-century 4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded many blockbuster scores, from The Lord of the Rings
© Patrick Harrison
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vesselin Gellev
trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, East is East, Hugo, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 70 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, both with Vladimir Jurowski; Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 with Klaus Tennstedt; a disc of orchestral works by Mark-Anthony Turnage; and the world premiere of the late Ravi Shankar’s First Symphony conducted by David Murphy. In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. The London Philharmonic Orchestra maintains an energetic programme of activities for young people and local communities. Highlights include the Deutsche Bank BrightSparks Series; the Leverhulme Young Composers project; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Over recent years, developments in technology and social networks have enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel, news blog, iPhone app and regular podcasts, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter. Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra
© Fran Collin
leader
Bulgarian violinist Vesselin Gellev has been a featured soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Juilliard Orchestra, among others. He won First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York as a member of the Antares Quartet, and has recorded several albums and toured worldwide as Concertmaster of Kristjan Järvi’s Grammy-nominated Absolute Ensemble. He has performed as Guest Leader with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Vesselin studied at The Juilliard School, and joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Sub-Leader in 2007. His chair is supported by John and Angela Kessler.
London Philharmonic Orchestra 2013/14 season concerts – on sale now! Our 2013/14 season concerts at Royal Festival Hall are on sale now. Browse and book online at www.lpo.org.uk/newseason, pick up a copy of the season brochure from the Royal Festival Hall foyer racks this evening, or call us on 020 7840 4208 to request a copy of the brochure or to book by phone.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5
On stage tonight
First Violins Vesselin Gellev Leader Chair supported by John & Angela Kessler
Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by Moya Greene
Catherine Craig Tom Eisner Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Alina Petrenko Caroline Frenkel Galina Tanney Peter Nall Ishani Bhoola Caroline Sharp Amanda Lake Second Violins Alison Kelly Guest Principal Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller
Fiona Higham Ashley Stevens Marie-Anne Mairesse Nancy Elan Ksenia Berezina Caroline Simon Andrew Thurgood Sioni Williams Alison Strange Peter Graham Stephen Stewart
Violas Helen Kamminga Guest Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katherine Leek Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Susanne Martens Michelle Bruil Daniel Cornford Sarah Malcolm Naomi Holt Martin Fenn Cellos Alexander Somov Guest Principal Laura Donoghue Gregory Walmsley Santiago Carvalho†Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Helen Rathbone Sibylle Hentschel David Bucknall Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal George Peniston Richard Lewis Helen Rowlands Jeremy Watt Tom Walley Catherine Ricketts Joe Melvin
Flutes Cormac Henry Guest Principal Sue Thomas Chair supported by the Sharp Family
Stewart McIlwham* Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick Sue Bohling Cor Anglais Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds
Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Nicholas Carpenter* Bass Clarinet Duncan Gould Bassoons Sarah Burnett Guest Principal Stuart Russell Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal
Horns John Ryan* Principal David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey
Martin Hobbs Duncan Fuller Gareth Mollison Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann
Daniel Newell Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Andrew Connington Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport
Keith Millar
* Holds a professorial appointment in London †Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco
The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Sonja Drexler Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp
6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Ryan Wigglesworth
© Benjamin Ealovega
conductor
Still only in his early thirties, Ryan Wigglesworth has rapidly established himself as one of the foremost composerconductors of his generation. He was appointed Composer in Residence at English National Opera in 2012 and in spring 2013 was named the Cleveland Orchestra’s Daniel R Lewis Young Composer Fellow. The Orchestra gives the US premiere of his orchestral work Sternenfall in March 2014, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. As a conductor, Ryan Wigglesworth is equally at home and much sought-after in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the present day (he has conducted over 40 premieres), and his own compositions have garnered widespread critical acclaim. His orchestral song-cycle Augenlieder was awarded the Vocal prize at the 2010 British Composer Awards. His recording with the Hallé Orchestra of works by Harrison Birtwistle won awards from Gramophone and BBC Music magazines, was chosen as Disc of the Year by Time Out New York, and was included in The Sunday Times Best Discs of 2011. His performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra of Julian Anderson’s The Discovery of Heaven won the Classical category at the 2013 South Bank Sky Arts Awards and will be released on the LPO Label later this year.
In the 2013/14 season Ryan looks forward to Così fan tutte at English National Opera; appearances both as conductor and pianist with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Northern Sinfonia; and further performances with the Residentie Orchestra (The Hague) and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe – the latter on tour to Cologne’s Philharmonie with Ian Bostridge. He will also return to the Hallé Orchestra for the UK premiere of his Violin Concerto. Wigglesworth’s compositions include three works for the BBC Symphony Orchestra: Sternenfall (2007); The Genesis of Secrecy (2009), commissioned by the BBC Proms and premiered by Sir Andrew Davis; and Augenlieder, first performed by soprano Claire Booth in 2009. A First Book of Inventions (2010) was premiered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and his Violin Concerto (for Gordan Nikolic and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra) was premiered in Amsterdam in 2012. Future commissions include a song-cycle for tenor Mark Padmore, an orchestral work for the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth for the Aldeburgh Foundation, and an orchestral work for the Cleveland Orchestra. Born in Yorkshire, Wigglesworth studied at New College, Oxford, and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He was a Lecturer at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College from 2007–09.
Recent engagements have included English National Opera (Carmen and Detlev Glanert’s Caligula), his Royal Opera House debut (Harrison Birtwistle’s The Minotaur), concerts with the Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and Netherlands Chamber orchestras; Birmingham Contemporary Music Group; the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; and appearances at both the BBC Proms and the Barbican with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He opened the 2012 Aldeburgh Festival with performances of Oliver Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! in celebration of the composer’s 60th birthday, and returns to conduct the opening weekend of the 2013 Festival with the Britten Sinfonia.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7
Rebecca Evans
Pamela Helen Stephen
soprano
mezzo soprano
On the opera stage her recent engagements have included Mimì in La bohème, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Despina in Così fan tutte at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Ginevra in Ariodante, Ilia in Idomeneo, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro and Despina at the Bayerische Staaatsoper; and Despina at the Deutsche Staatsoper. At English National Opera she has sung the Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Romilda in Xerxes and Ginevra. Her many roles for Welsh National Opera have included Liù in Turandot, Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Mimì and Pamina. In the USA she has sung Susanna and Zerlina for the Metropolitan Opera; Susanna in Santa Fe; Adèle in Die Fledermaus and Pamina for the Lyric Opera of Chicago; and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, Adina in L’elisir d’amore and Zerlina for the San Francisco Opera. Her forthcoming engagements include Countess Almaviva at Covent Garden and the title role in a new production of Rodelinda at the Bolshoi. In concert Rebecca has appeared at the Salzburg, Edinburgh, Tanglewood and Ravinia festivals, and she is a regular guest at the BBC Proms. Recent highlights have included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester under Herbert Blomstedt and the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, A Child of Our Time with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg under Carlo Rizzi, The Apostles with the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder, and Brahms’s German Requiem with the Accademia Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano A Grammy Award-winning artist, Rebecca has recorded prolifically including Marzelline, Pamina and Gretel with Sir Charles Mackerras, Ilia with David Parry and Laila with Brad Cohen (Chandos); Nanetta with Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Philips); a series of Gilbert and Sullivan recordings with Sir Charles Mackerras, and a solo recording of Italian songs (EMI). 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
© Benjamin Ealovega
© Sian Trenberth
Rebecca Evans was born in South Wales and studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Pamela Helen Stephen studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; at the Opera Theater Center in Aspen, Colorado, with Herta Glaz; and in Toronto with Patricia Kern. Highly regarded as a versatile singer and a vivid actress, she has performed with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; English and Welsh National Operas; Opera North; Lyric Theatre, Singapore; Los Angeles Opera; the Spoleto, Batignano, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, City of London, Cheltenham, St Endellion and Wexford festivals; and in Lisbon, Ludwigsburg, Paris, Tokyo, Vienna, The Hague and Amsterdam. Her close association with Opera Australia has seen her perform many roles there including the title role in Carmen. Pamela Helen Stephen has appeared with the London, Bournemouth, City of Birmingham, Seattle and Prague symphony orchestras; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; the City of London Sinfonia; the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Northern Sinfonia; the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, Berlin; the Bamberger Symphoniker; and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano. She has made over 30 recordings including Phoebe in The Yeomen of the Guard (Sir Charles Mackerras), Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (Sir John Eliot Gardiner), Child in L’enfant et les sortilèges (André Previn), Second Niece in Peter Grimes, Sonya in War and Peace, Nancy in Albert Herring, and several Haydn Masses with Collegium Musicum 90 (all with Richard Hickox). Recent and future highlights include recordings of Ariadne auf Naxos and Szymanowski’s Stabat mater with Edward Gardner for Chandos; Delius’s A Mass of Life at the Edinburgh International Festival with Sir Andrew Davis; Suzuki in Madame Butterfly and Mrs Disney in The Perfect American for English National Opera; Hecuba in Les Troyens for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the title roles in Giulio Cesare and Dido and Aeneas for Opera North; and Auntie in a concert performance of Peter Grimes with Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO on 28 September 2013.
Matthew Rose
tenor
bass
Ben Johnson studied with Neil Mackie and Tim Evans-Jones at the Royal College of Music Benjamin Britten International Opera School. A winner at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 2008, he was also a prizewinner at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Gerald Moore Awards. Currently studying with Jeffrey Talbot, he was previously a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. Recent opera engagements include Nemorino in The Elixir of Love for English National Opera, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni for Opéra National de Bordeaux, Shepherd and Sailor in concert performances of Tristan und Isolde with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Novice in Billy Budd at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Copland’s The Tender Land at Opéra de Lyon and productions for Scottish Opera and the Classical Opera Company. On the concert platform Ben has sung Handel’s Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music and the English Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s Samson with the English Concert at the BBC Proms, Elgar’s Caractacus at the Three Choirs Festival, Mozart’s Requiem with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s RückertLieder and Frank Bridge with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Britten’s Our Hunting Fathers and Strauss Lieder with the BBC Philharmonic, and Britten’s Les Illuminations with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. He has worked with conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Andris Nelsons, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jiří Bělohlávek, François-Xavier Roth and Harry Bicket. He has also appeared at the City of London Festival, Rosenblatt Recitals, Kings Place, Lake District Summer Music and a Kathleen Ferrier celebration concert at Wigmore Hall. Highlights in the 2012/13 season include Don Ottavio and Alfredo at English National Opera, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Residentie Orkest, and Shepherd in Tristan und Isolde with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He will also represent England in the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
© Clive Barda
© Chris Gloag
Ben Johnson
One of the most exciting singers of his generation, British bass Matthew Rose studied at the Curtis Institute of Music before becoming a member of the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Opera highlights include Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Covent Garden, La Scala, the Glyndebourne Festival, Houston Grand Opera and the Opéra National de Lyon; Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress at Glyndebourne and in Gothenburg; Sparafucile in Rigoletto at Covent Garden; Colline in La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera; Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Claggart in Billy Budd at English National Opera; and Leporello in Don Giovanni in Santa Fe and at the Glyndebourne Festival. Engagements this season include Talbot in a new production of Maria Stuarda at the Metropolitan Opera and his role debut as Sarastro in The Magic Flute at Covent Garden. Future engagements include Bottom at the Metropolitan Opera, Leporello at the Deutsche Oper, and returns to the Glyndebourne Festival and Covent Garden. Concert engagements include the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Charles Dutoit; the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel; the London Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding and Michael Tilson Thomas; the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis; the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique with Sir John Eliot Gardiner; and the Accademia Santa Cecilia with Sir Antonio Pappano. Recital appearances include the Brighton, Edinburgh, Chester and Cheltenham festivals; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; and Wigmore Hall. His recordings include a critically acclaimed Winterreise with Gary Matthewman; Walter in Guillaume Tell and Der Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde under Sir Antonio Pappano; Ratcliffe in Billy Budd with Daniel Harding; Bel Canto Arias with Natalie Dessay and Evelino Pido; Handel’s Messiah with Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge; and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time and Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ with Sir Colin Davis. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9
London Philharmonic Choir Patron HRH Princess Alexandra | President Sir Roger Norrington | Artistic Director Neville Creed Accompanist Jonathan Beatty | Chairman Andrew Mackie | Choir Manager Tessa Bartley
Founded in 1947, the London Philharmonic Choir is widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest choirs, consistently meeting with great critical acclaim. It has performed under leading international conductors for over 65 years and made numerous recordings for CD, radio and television. Enjoying a close relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Choir frequently joins it for concerts in the UK and abroad. In 2012/13, concerts with the LPO have included Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Orff’s Carmina Burana. In February, members of the Choir performed Weill’s The Threepenny Opera with the LPO and Vladimir Jurowski at the Théâtre des ChampsÉlysées in Paris, as well as at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Apart from tonight’s performance of Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, forthcoming engagements in Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise festival include Britten’s War Requiem, Poulenc’s Stabat mater, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat and Berlin Mass, and John Adams’s El Niño. Recently released CDs with the LPO include Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Holst’s The Planets and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Vladimir Sopranos Catherine Allum, Annette Argent, Laura Beeley, Clare Brady, Olivia Carter, Gemma Chance, Paula Chessell, Esther Chiang, Emily Clarke, Sally Cottam, Sarah Deane-Cutler, Victoria Denard, Lucy Doig, Sally Donegani, Rosha Fitzhowle, Alison Flood, Rachel Gibbon, Emily Gray, Jane Hanson, Catrin Harrison, Sally Harrison, Carolyn Hayman, Frances Holles, Laura Hunt, Georgina Kaim, Jenni Kilvert, Judith Kistner, Ilona Kratochvilova, Suzannah Lipmann, Natallia Maslava, Janey Maxwell, Marj McDaid, Katie Milton, Eileen Morgan, Megan Oldmeadow, Linda Park, Alice Pugh, Diana Richards, Stacy Sauppe, Rebecca Schendel, Rachael Stokes Harrop, Amy Stroud, Louisa Sullivan, Susan Thomas, Katy Thomson, Nicky Ward, Susan Watts, Frances Wheare, Charlotte Wielgut Altos Phye Bell, Susannah Bellingham, Sally Brien, Isabelle Cheetham, Yvonne Cohen, Margaret de Valois Rowney, Fiona Duffy-Farrell, Elisa Dunbar, Andrea Easey, Lynn Eaton, Carmel Edmonds, Regina Frank, Henrietta Hammonds, Sophy Holland, Marjana Jovanovic Morrison, Charlotte Kingston, Andrea Lane, Michelle Marple,
10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jurowski, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Christoph Eschenbach, and Dvořák’s Requiem with Neeme Järvi. The Choir appears regularly at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and performances have included the UK premieres of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s A Relic of Memory and Goldie’s Sine Tempore in the Evolution! Prom. The Choir performed at the Doctor Who Proms in 2008 and 2010, and in 2011 appeared in Verdi’s Requiem, Liszt’s A Faust Symphony and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Last year, it performed Elgar’s The Apostles with Sir Mark Elder and Howells’s Hymnus Paradisi under Martyn Brabbins. The Choir has visited numerous European countries and performed in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Perth, Australia. The Choir also works with other leading orchestras, and last June joined forces with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to perform Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts with Sir Colin Davis at St Paul’s Cathedral, recently released on CD by the LSO. The Choir also sings in Raymond Gubbay’s Classical Spectacular and Christmas concerts, and has appeared in gala concerts with Russell Watson and Katherine Jenkins. The Choir prides itself on achieving first-class performances from its members, who are volunteers from all walks of life. For more information, including details about how to join, please visit www.lpc.org.uk
Mary Moore, Rachel Murray, Linnea Olsson, Angela Pascoe, Jenny Ryall, Carolyn Saunders, Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg, Mayuko Tanno, Susi Underwood, Jenny Watson Tenors David Aldred, Nick Arratoon, Christopher Beynon, Lorne Cuthbert, Kevin Darnell, Michael Delany, Aloysius Fekete, Fred Fisher, Colin Fleming, Iain Handyside, Stephen Hodges, Jesse Hollister, Rob Home, Patrick Hughes, Andrew Mackie, Tony Masters, Philip Padfield, Miles Phillips, Travis Winstanley, Tony Wren, William Yates Basses David Booth, Gordon Buky-Webster, Adam Bunzl, Geoff Clare, David Clark, Rob Collis, Bill Cumber, Phillip Dangerfield, Marcus Daniels, Paul Fincham, Benjamin Fingerhut, Ian Frost, Paul Gittens, Nigel Grieve, Mark Hillier, Stephen Hines, David Hodgson, Rylan Holey, Yaron Hollander, Martin Hudson, Steve Kirby, Richard Miller, John D Morris, John G Morris, Ashley Morrison, Rob Northcott, Richard Pardon, William Parsons, Dominic Raeside, Fraser Riddell, Kevin Sebastian, Ed Smith, Daniel Snowman, Alex Thomas, James Torniainen, Hin-Yan Wong, John Wood
Programme notes
Speedread Heard together, the two works in this concert paint a vivid picture of Europe in the 1930s. Publicly Vaughan Williams denied that his violent and desolate Fourth Symphony (1931–34) was a reaction to the turbulence and unease brewing in the ‘civilised’ West, but privately he conceded that those ‘unbeautiful times’ had left their mark. What Vaughan Williams’s
Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872–1958
‘I don’t know whether I like it, but it’s what I meant’, was Vaughan Williams’s verdict on his Fourth Symphony. Yet this was the only one of his nine symphonies the composer agreed to conduct for a commercial recording. And that recording has a blazing, ferocious intensity that puts it beyond doubt that the Fourth Symphony was indeed what Vaughan Williams ‘meant’. So what was Vaughan Williams’s meaning in the Fourth Symphony? The dissonance and abrasive orchestration, and the sense of elemental rage and desolation, took many by surprise at the first performance in 1935. One friend, R. G. Longman, wrote to the composer in some perplexity. Why was there ‘no beauty’ in the work? Was it because the music reflected the unease and political upheaval in continental Europe in the mid-1930s? Vaughan Williams’s reply contrasts intriguingly with his remarks quoted above: ‘… when you say you do not think my F mi[nor] symph. beautiful my answer must be that I do think it beautiful – not that I did not mean it to be beautiful because it reflects unbeautiful times – because we
Fourth seems to prophesy comes to terrible fruition in Tippett’s intensely humane ‘oratorio’ A Child of Our Time, a reaction to the notorious Nazi pogroms of Kristallnacht, which nevertheless manages to find a shred of hope, symbolised by Tippett’s telling use of Black American spirituals.
Symphony No. 4 in F minor 1 Allegro 2 Andante moderato 3 Scherzo: Allegro molto 4 Finale con Epilogo Fugato: Allegro molto
know that beauty can come from unbeautiful things … I wrote it not as a definite picture of anything external – e.g. the state of Europe – but simply because it occurred to me like this – I can’t explain why …’ But Vaughan Williams also dropped hints that the idea for the Symphony came to him after reading an article in The Times. Almost certainly he was referring to a review by the critic H. C. Colles about trends in modern symphonic writing: ‘They all rely on the same order of stimuli. The hearer is prodded into activity by dissonance, soothed by sentiment, overwhelmed by the power of a battering climax. The appeal is primarily sensuous, even though the composer makes play with formal processes of thematic development, such as fugato, basso ostinato or variations …’ Somewhere along the line, this seems to have reminded Vaughan Williams of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, similarly full of ‘battering climaxes’ and ‘soothing
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11
Programme notes
sentiment’ as well as exhaustive thematic development. The uneasy transitional crescendo from Scherzo into Finale in Vaughan Williams’s Fourth Symphony is unmistakably a tribute to the equivalent passage in Beethoven’s Fifth. But the ending of Vaughan Williams’s Fourth is very different from the humanistic optimism driven home at the end of Beethoven’s Fifth – so different that one may wonder if there isn’t an element of biting irony: what place for optimism in such ‘unbeautiful times’? The Fourth Symphony opens with an onslaught from the full orchestra: grinding dissonances, harsh colours, rhythms either driving forward or sidestepping abruptly. The second theme (massed strings) is more lyrical, but the accompanying wind chords are irregular, halting, clashing with the flow of the strings’ melody. This morphs into a fast, strutting march tune, still prevailingly loud and forceful. Eventually the movement heaves itself up for one last cathartic climax, then the ghost of the march tune returns on icy muted strings, leading to an eerily still ending.
Next, rising chordal figures on muted brass and woodwind set in motion a walking bass line on pizzicato cellos and basses, centred on a repeating figure (Colles’s ‘basso ostinato’). Much of this Andante moderato is restlessly, nervously searching, with some of the most acerbic harmonies in the entire Symphony. Even the ending (low flute and hushed muted trombones) is disquietingly unresolved. The Scherzo is all demonic humour, its leading motifs tugging against the beat one moment then flying off vertiginously the next. Galumphing tuba and bassoons lead off the Trio section, now in Vaughan Williams’s more familiar ‘Falstaffian’ vein; but the Scherzo soon cuts back in again, leading to the long, Beethoveninspired crescendo transition mentioned above. If there is triumphalism in the Finale it is crude, strutting, ominous. Mid-way through there is a reminder of the eerie stillness that ended the first movement; but the ominous march music returns, precipitating the Epilogo Fugato, at once rigidly formal and mercilessly violent. It culminates in a ferociously compressed return of the Symphony’s opening. Then with a deadening thud, the Symphony is over.
Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
‘It’s been tremendously exciting to look on as the works I discuss in The Rest Is Noise have come together in Southbank Centre’s festival. Twentieth-century classical music is an extraordinary creative achievement that has shaped so many aspects of what we hear now, classical or not. There will always be something smouldering at the heart of this repertoire, something dangerous and untamed, but placing the music in a broad cultural and historical context should help people to become more comfortable with it and to understand how it came to be.’ Alex Ross, author, The Rest Is Noise southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise
12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Michael Tippett 1905–98
A Child of Our Time Rebecca Evans soprano Pamela Helen Stephen mezzo soprano Ben Johnson tenor Matthew Rose bass London Philharmonic Choir
The text begins on page 15. In November 1938 an event occurred in Paris that should have alerted the entire world to the true nature of the Nazi menace. A young Jewish refugee, Herschel Grynszpan, shot a prominent German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath. The Nazis’ response was to initiate what came to be known as Kristallnacht: ‘Crystal Night’ – a horribly ironic reference to the huge quantities of broken glass that covered German streets in consequence. All over Germany synagogues were burned, Jewish businesses and homes were attacked, and many Jews were beaten or killed. As an impassioned but by no means doctrinaire socialist, Tippett loathed and feared Nazism, while on a more personal level Grynszpan’s desperate act touched him to the core. What made it all the more painful for Tippett was that he had been an admirer of German culture. How could the people who produced such great literature, philosophy and music turn into creatures capable of acts like these? But at the same time the shock turned out to be artistically productive, as Tippett wrote: ‘When in November of that year the cruelest and most deliberate of the Nazi pogroms was launched on the pretext of an incident in Paris, the personal amalgam of general compassion for all outcasts and particular susceptibility to the Nazi horror fused into a clear artistic image.’ Almost immediately Tippett drew up a synopsis for a secular oratorio, based on Grynszpan’s fate and the horror that followed, but avoiding reference to specific characters or places. Grynszpan became ‘The Boy’, his mother ‘The Mother’, vom Rath ‘The Official’. Tippett wanted to focus, not so much on one incident, as on its ‘archetypal’ nature: the tragedy of Herschel Grynszpan
and his people was to stand for the oppressed everywhere, the Nazis’ response for man’s perennial inhumanity to man. Tippett showed his synopsis to T. S. Eliot, asking him to turn it into verse for him; but Eliot argued that he would probably make it too ‘poetic’, and that a simpler text, fused with music, would make the point more directly. Accordingly, Tippett created his own libretto. The resulting oratorio, A Child of Our Time, falls into three parts, like Handel’s Messiah. The parallels go deeper: as in Messiah, Part One of A Child of Our Time has a prophetic character, preparing the audience for the forthcoming tragedy; in Part Two the human story unfolds; then in Part Three the singers struggle to interpret what has happened and to find hope, and even healing. Tippett was strongly influenced by his reading of the psychologist C. G. Jung, pioneer of the idea of the ‘archetype’. Jung argued that within all of us there exists both ‘shadow’ and ‘light’. The healthy, integrated personality recognises both these forces as his or her own; the divided, un-self-aware personality projects the ‘shadow’ onto others, demonising them, as the Nazis had done with the Jews. Hence the opening words of Tippett’s culminating General Ensemble: ‘I would know my shadow and my light’. Without this knowledge, Tippett says, we are doomed to repeat Kristallnacht. Tippett found another important model for A Child of Our Time in the Passions of J. S. Bach. Bach had used Lutheran hymn tunes (‘chorales’) as a means of involving his congregation directly in the drama of Christ’s suffering and death. Tippett wanted to avoid hymns, feeling they would imply specific commitment to Christianity, but he found it hard to think of an
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13
Programme notes
alternative. Then a chance hearing of a Black American singer on the radio singing the spiritual ‘Steal Away’ provided the solution. Not only was this music that touched people irrespective of their individual beliefs, the fate of the Black people in America in many ways echoed that of the Jews in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Tippett chose five spirituals, interweaving them into his text so that they comment on, or react to, the narrative at pivotal points. The last of them, ‘Deep River’, provides a superb emotional climax. The previous General Ensemble has provided a shred of hope, but which of us, faced with this world’s atrocities, has not felt a yearning to ‘cross over’ into some kind of ‘land where all is peace’? Programme notes by Stephen Johnson © 2013
New release on the LPO Label Vladimir Jurowski conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 Mahler Symphony No. 1 including original ‘Blumine’ movement
Vladimir Jurowski conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO–0070 | £9.99 Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London, on 4 December 2010.
‘Jurowski made the first movement magnificent, generating a tremendous dramatic radiance.’ The Times, 12 December 2010 Available from www.lpo.org.uk/shop, the LPO Box Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets. Downloads available from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and classicsonline.com.
Sign up for LPO Label news: www.lpo.org.uk/shop
14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Tippett: A Child of Our Time
Part One Chorus The world turns on its dark side. It is winter. The Argument Alto solo Man has measured the heavens with a telescope, driven the gods from their thrones. But the soul, watching the chaotic mirror, knows that the gods return. Truly, the living god consumes within and turns the flesh to cancer. Scena Chorus Is evil then good? Is reason untrue? Alto Reason is true to itself; But pity breaks open the heart. Chorus We are lost. We are as seed before the wind. We are carried to a great slaughter. The Narrator (bass solo) Now in each nation there were some cast out by authority and tormented, made to suffer for the general wrong. Pogroms in the east, lynching in the west: Europe brooding on a war of starvation. And a great cry went up from the people.
Soprano solo How can I cherish my man in such days, or become a mother in a world of destruction? How shall I feed my children on so small a wage? How can I comfort them when I am dead? A Spiritual Chorus & soli Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus; Steal away, steal away home, I han’t got long to stay here. My Lord, He calls me, He calls me by the thunder, The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I han’t got long to stay here. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus; Steal away, steal away home, I han’t got long to stay here. Green trees a-bending, poor sinner stands a-trembling, The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I han’t got long to stay here. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus; Steal away, steal away home – I han’t got long to stay here. Continues overleaf
Chorus of the Oppressed When shall the usurer’s city cease? And famine depart from the fruitful land? Tenor solo I have no money for my bread; I have no gift for my love. I am caught between my desires and their frustration as between the hammer and the anvil. How can I grow to a man’s stature?
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15
Tippett: A Child of Our Time contd.
Part Two Chorus A star rises in mid-winter. Behold the man! The scapegoat! The child of our time. The Narrator (bass solo) And a time came when in the continual persecution one race stood for all. Double Chorus of Persecutors and Persecuted Away with them! Curse them! Kill them! They infect the state. Where? How? Why? We have no refuge. The Narrator (bass solo) Where they could, they fled from the terror, And among them a boy escaped secretly, and was kept in hiding in a great city. Chorus of the Self-righteous We cannot have them in our Empire. They shall not work, nor draw a dole. Let them starve in No-Mans-Land!
Uncle (bass) You are as one against all. Accept the impotence of your humanity. Boy (tenor) No! I must save her. A Spiritual Chorus & soli Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord, Nobody knows like Jesus. O brothers, pray for me, O brothers, pray for me, And help me to drive old Satan away. Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord, Nobody knows like Jesus. O mothers, pray for me, And help me to drive old Satan away. Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord, Nobody knows like Jesus. Scena (duet: bass & alto soli)
The Narrator (bass solo) And the boy’s mother wrote a letter, saying:
The Narrator (bass solo) The boy becomes desperate in his agony.
Scena (solo quartet) Mother (soprano) O my son! In the dread terror, they have brought me near to death. Boy (tenor) Mother! Mother! Though men hunt me like an animal, I will defy the world to reach you. Aunt (alto) Have patience. Throw not your life away in futile sacrifice.
16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Alto A curse is born. The dark forces threaten him. The Narrator (bass solo) He goes to authority. He is met with hostility. Alto His other self rises in him, demonic and destructive. The Narrator (bass solo) He shoots the official.
Alto But he shoots only his dark brother And see … he is dead. The Narrator (bass solo) They took a terrible vengeance. The Terror Chorus Burn down their houses! Beat in their heads! Break them in pieces on the wheel!
A Spiritual Chorus & soprano solo O, by and by, I’m going to lay down my heavy load. I know my robe’s going to fit me well, I tried it on at the gates of Hell. Oh, Hell is deep and a dark despair, Oh, stop, poor sinner, and don’t go there! O, by and by, I’m going to lay down my heavy load. Continues overleaf
The Narrator (bass solo) Men were ashamed of what was done. There was bitterness and horror. A Spiritual of Anger Chorus & bass solo Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land: Tell old Pharaoh, to let my people go. When Israel was in Egypt’s land, Oppressed so hard they could not stand, ‘Thus spake the Lord’, bold Moses said, ‘If not, I’ll smite your first-born dead’, Let my people go. Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land: Tell old Pharaoh, to let my people go. The Boy Sings in his Prison Tenor solo My dreams are all shattered in a ghastly reality. The wild beating of my heart is stilled; day by day. Earth and sky are not for those in prison. Mother! Mother! The Mother Soprano solo What have I done to you, my son? What will become of us now? The springs of hope are dried up. My heart aches in unending pain. Alto solo The dark forces rise like a flood. Men’s hearts are heavy: they cry for peace.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 17
Tippett: A Child of Our Time contd.
Part Three Chorus The cold deepens. The world descends into the icy waters Where lies the jewel of great price. Alto solo The soul of man is impassioned like a woman. She is old as the earth, beyond good and evil, the sensual garments. Her face will be illumined like the sun. Then is the time of his deliverance.
Preludium General Ensemble Tenor I would know my shadow and my light, So shall I at last be whole. Bass Then courage, brother, dare the grave passage. Soprano Here is no final grieving, but an abiding hope.
Scena Bass The words of wisdom are these: Winter cold means inner warmth, the secret nursery of the seed. Chorus How shall we have patience for the consummation of the mystery? Who will comfort us in the going through? Bass Patience is born in the tension of loneliness. The garden lies beyond the desert. Chorus Is the man of destiny master of us all? Shall those cast out be unavenged? Bass The man of destiny is cut off from fellowship. Healing springs from the womb of time. The simple-hearted shall exult in the end. Chorus What of the boy, then? What of him? Bass He, too, is outcast, his manhood broken in the clash of powers. God overpowered him, the child of our time.
18 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Alto The moving waters renew the earth. It is spring. Chorus I would know my shadow and my light, So shall I at last be whole. Then courage, brother, dare the grave passage. Here is no final grieving, but an abiding hope. The moving waters renew the earth. It is spring. A Spiritual Chorus & soli Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground. Oh, chillun! Oh, don’t you want to go, To that gospel feast, That promised land, That land where all is peace? Walk into heaven, and take my seat, And cast down my crown at Jesus’ feet. Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground, Deep river, my home is over Jordan, I want to cross over into camp ground, Lord! © 1944 Schott Music Ltd., London. Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved.
Last LPO concerts this season at Southbank Centre
Saturday 11 May 2013 | 12.00pm FUNharmonics Family Concert Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
2013/14 season concerts – on sale now
Tickets £5–£18
Our 2013/14 season concerts at Royal Festival Hall are on sale now. Browse and book online at www.lpo.org.uk/newseason, pick up a copy of the season brochure from the Royal Festival Hall foyer racks this evening, or call us on 020 7840 4208 to request a copy of the brochure or to book by phone.
Friday 17 May 2013 | 7.30pm
Subscription discounts are available when booking three or more concerts.
featuring Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf Chris Jarvis presenter Vladimir Jurowski conductor
JTI Friday Series Stravinsky Jeu de Cartes Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin
Highlights of the new season include: • Vladimir Jurowski opens the season with a centenary celebration of the music of Britten, including Peter Grimes and the War Requiem
Tickets £9–£39 (Premium seats £65)
• Yannick Nézet-Séguin demonstrates his flair for French repertoire with Poulenc, Dutilleux, Berlioz, and Saint-Saëns’s magnificent ‘Organ’ Symphony
Monday 10 June 2013 | 7.30pm Queen Elizabeth Hall Debut Sounds
• The Orchestra celebrates The Genius of Film Music, exploring some of the scintillating film scores created between 1960–2000
Oliver Knussen Music For a Puppet Court Grisey Modulations
• Vladimir Jurowski brings The Rest Is Noise to a close on 14 December 2013 with John Adams’s powerful and theatrical ‘Nativity Oratorio’, El Niño
And world premieres of music by Leverhulme Young Composers Hannah Kendall, Daniel Kidane, Peter Yarde Martin and Stephen Willey Clement Power conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra Foyle Future Firsts Members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra All tickets £9
Booking details
• World premieres of James MacMillan’s Viola Concerto, with soloist Lawrence Power, and Górecki’s Fourth Symphony • Classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglič performs Rodrigo’s evocative Concierto de Aranjuez • Legendary pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Leif Ove Andsnes join the Orchestra for Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 respectively
London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Monday to Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm southbankcentre.co.uk
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 19
Orchestra news
NOISE students – graduating this year? If you are a member of the LPO’s NOISE student scheme who is graduating from university or college this year, don’t forget that you can still enjoy discounted tickets to selected LPO concerts as a member of the NOISE Under 26 scheme! All under-26 year olds are entitled to £8 best available seats to selected concerts, plus a free drink afterwards at the NOISE bar. Please email libby.northcote-green@lpo.org.uk with your personal (not academic) email address to make sure you receive emails about NOISE concerts in the future as an under-26 year old. To find out more about the NOISE scheme in general, or to sign up to the student or under-26 scheme, visit lpo.org.uk/noise
New LPO Label release: Vladimir Jurowski conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 This week sees an exciting new release on the Orchestra’s own CD label: Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 under Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski, recorded live in concert at Royal Festival Hall on 4 December 2010 (LPO-0070). The recording includes the Symphony’s original second movement, ‘Blumine’. This is the second Mahler symphony recording by Vladimir Jurowski on the LPO Label – No. 2 (released in 2011) met with great acclaim and has become one of the label’s best-selling recordings. The new CD is priced £9.99 and is available now from lpo.org.uk/shop, the LPO Box Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD retailers. Alternatively you can download it from iTunes. Visit lpo.org.uk/shop for more details.
Live and Local: the LPO in Northern England
LPO at the BBC Proms: 27 & 30 August 2013
We are excited to announce a new ‘Live and Local’ tour during May and June, comprising concerts in Bradford (7 May), Blackburn (8 May), Liverpool (22 June) and Manchester (26 June).
This summer the Orchestra makes two appearances at the BBC Proms. On Tuesday 27 August our Glyndebourne Prom celebrates Britten’s centenary with a semi-staged performance of Billy Budd under Sir Andrew Davis, with the cast of the 2013 Glyndebourne Festival Opera production. And on Friday 30 August, Vladimir Jurowski will conduct the Orchestra in The Witch of Atlas by British composer Sir Granville Bantock, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Anika Vavic, Sibelius’s Pohjola’s Daughter and Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra.
For the first pair of concerts in Bradford and Blackburn, we welcome Classic BRIT Award-winning classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglić for a concert of orchestral favourites including Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. In June, we perform in Liverpool and Manchester alongside high-definition films of breathtaking NASA footage in two celestialthemed concerts featuring Holst’s The Planets and John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Thanks to the generous support of our long-term corporate partner JTI, tickets to each concert are just £15. So whether you live in the North-West or Yorkshire, are visiting over the summer, or have friends and family who might enjoy a night with the LPO, book now! www.lpo.org.uk/newseason/liveandlocal.html
20 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Booking opens on 11 May, and tickets are available directly from the BBC Proms Box Office. Ticket prices range from £7.50–£57, or you can queue on the day for standing ‘Promming’ tickets for just £5. Phone the BBC Proms Box Office on 0845 401 5045 or book online: bbc.co.uk/proms
London Philharmonic Orchestra Birthday Appeal update Two double bass stools
Three tom-toms
Illustrations for our FUNharmonics family concerts
Recording a concert for live stream
Thank you so much to all of our audience members who have given us a birthday present for our 80th birthday. Thanks to you, the Appeal has already raised over £12,000 and the double bass stools and tom-toms are on their way! However, we still need your help with the other presents on our wish list, such as our children’s concerts illustrations and recording for a live stream. Please visit www.lpo.org.uk/birthday and help celebrate our 80th by donating to our wish list. All presents, big or small, will be gratefully received by the Orchestra and, while you’re at it, why not leave us a birthday message or memory from the last 80 years? ‘For 20 years you have been one of the unfailing delights in my life, and I am lucky to have access to such a great orchestra, conductors and soloists at prices unmatched in Europe.’ ‘I think The Rest Is Noise will turn out to be a highlight, something to look back on. The concerts I have been to so far have been superb. Keep up the good work.’ ‘I’m about to be 80 too and have just left the London Philharmonic Choir after 41 years singing many marvellous concerts with you. My last was Gerontius with Sir Mark Elder in January, and I very much enjoyed The Threepenny Opera!’ With special thanks to the following people who have given over £250 to our Birthday Appeal:
Or a gift to spend on whatever we need most
Mr Aldwinckle, Mrs A Beare, Mr G Bitar, Mr C Blakey, Mr G A Collens, Mrs S Drexler, Mr D Gray, Mrs A Kessler, Mr R P Harsant, Mr M Hutchinson, Dr & Mrs F Lim, Mr R McCann, Don Kelly & Ann Wood, Mrs G Pole, The Sharp Family, Mr C Williams
Get involved and visit www.lpo.org.uk/birthday for more information. Alternatively get in touch via katherine.hattersley@lpo.org.uk or call 020 7840 4212.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 21
The
R ALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS SOCIETY
PRESIDENT
Michael Kennedy CBE VICE PRESIDENTS
Stephen Connock MBE Roy Douglas CHAIRMAN
Em Marshall-Luck MA (Oxon), MCIJ
Join a thriving society
For further enquiries Mark Hammett
dedicated to widening the
(Membership Secretary),
knowledge, understanding and
27 Landsdowne Way, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN40 2UJ
appreciation of the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams
E-mail: albionmrh@btinternet.com
www.rvwsociety.com 30305 wgh_Opera advert_2
14/3/13
11:00
Page 1
2013 SEASON THE THREEPENNY OPERA
with Meow Meow as Jenny Music by Kurt Weill, Libretto by Bertolt Brecht. A production by London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts Friday 26th and Saturday 27th July
THE TALES OF HOFFMANN
Jacques Offenbach. Based on stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann A West Green House - Opera Project Production Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th August “At West Green, gardening and opera come together as a total package… done with a degree of super stylish fantasy that takes your breath away” Michael White – Critic 2012
Opera catering by Mosimann’s
West Green House Opera Ltd - Booking information A: West Green House, Thackhams Lane, Hartley Wintney, RG27 8JB T: (+44) 01252 844611 E: enquiries@westgreenhouse.co.uk W: www.westgreenhouse.co.uk Image Richard Studer
22 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Registered Charity Number: 114839
We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Anonymous Simon Robey The Sharp Family Julian & Gill Simmonds Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Moya Greene John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett Guy & Utti Whittaker Manon Williams Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Mr Charles Dumas
David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Don Kelly & Ann Wood Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Maxwell Morrison Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard Mr John Soderquist & Mr Costas Michaelides Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett Michael & Christine Henry Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield
Mr R K Jeha Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Mr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Edmund Pirouet Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Mr Laurie Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Pehr G Gyllenhammar Edmund Pirouet Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: AREVA UK British American Business Destination Québec – UK Hermes Fund Managers Pritchard Englefield Bronze: Lisa Bolgar Smith and Felix Appelbe of Ambrose Appelbe Appleyard & Trew LLP Berkeley Law Charles Russell Lazard Leventis Overseas Corporate Donor Lombard Street Research Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets
Trusts and Foundations BBC Performing Arts Fund The Boltini Trust Sir William Boreman’s Foundation The Boshier-Hinton Foundation Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust Diaphonique, Franco-British fund for contemporary music The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Embassy of Spain, Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation J Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Capital Radio’s Help a London Child The Hobson Charity The Kirby Laing Foundation The Idlewild Trust The Leverhulme Trust Marsh Christian Trust Adam Mickiewicz Institute
The Peter Minet Trust Paul Morgan Charitable Trust The Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund Newcomen Collett Foundation The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust The Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Rothschild Foundation The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust The Underwood Trust Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement Kurt Weill Foundation for Music Garfield Weston Foundation and others who wish to remain anonymous
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 23
Administration
Board of Directors
General Administration
Orchestra Personnel
Archives
Victoria Sharp Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* Angela Kessler George Peniston* Sir Bernard Rix Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Sir Philip Thomas Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Dr Manon Williams
Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director
Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager
Philip Stuart Discographer
Sarah Thomas Librarian (maternity leave)
Gillian Pole Recordings Archive
Sarah Holmes Librarian (maternity cover)
Professional Services
* Player-Director
Advisory Council Victoria Sharp Chairman Richard Brass Sir Alan Collins Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Christopher Fraser OBE Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Timothy Walker AM American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Margot Astrachan Chairman David E. R. Dangoor Vice Chair/Treasurer Kyung-Wha Chung Peter M. Felix CBE Alexandra Jupin Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan William A. Kerr Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Dr. Joseph Mulvehill Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Honorary Chairman Noel Kilkenny Honorary Director Victoria Sharp Honorary Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Robert Kuchner, CPA
Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director
Michael Pattison Stage Manager
Jo Orr PA to the Chief Executive / Concerts Assistant
Marketing
Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant
Mia Roberts Marketing Manager
Education & Community
Rachel Williams Publications Manager
Charles Russell Solicitors
Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Julia Boon Auditors Assistant Orchestra Personnel David Greenslade Manager FSC_57678 14 January 2011 15/09/2011 12:30 Page 1Dr Louise Miller Finance and ITLPO Manager Honorary Doctor Brian Hart Concert Management Transport Manager London Philharmonic Roanna Gibson Development Orchestra Concerts Director 89 Albert Embankment (maternity leave) Nick Jackman London SE1 7TP Development Director Ruth Sansom Tel: 020 7840 4200 Artistic Administrator / Acting Fax: 020 7840 4201 Helen Searl Head of Concerts Department Box Office: 020 7840 4242 Corporate Relations Manager lpo.org.uk Graham Wood Katherine Hattersley Concerts and Recordings Charitable Giving Manager The London Philharmonic Manager Orchestra Limited is a Melissa Van Emden registered charity No. 238045. Barbara Palczynski Events Manager Glyndebourne and Projects Photograph of Tippett © Laura Luckhurst Administrator Schott Music. Corporate Relations and Jenny Chadwick Events Officer Tours and Engagements Front cover photograph Sarah Fletcher Manager © Patrick Harrison. Development and Finance Alison Jones Officer Printed by Cantate. Concerts Co-ordinator
Patrick Bailey Education and Community Director Alexandra Clarke Education Manager Caz Vale Community and Young Talent Manager Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer
24 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Kath Trout Marketing Director
Samantha Kendall Box Office Manager (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Libby Northcote-Green Marketing Co-ordinator Isobel King Intern Albion Media Public Relations (Tel: 020 3077 4930)