London Philharmonic Orchestra 11 Apr 2018 concert programme

CONCERt programme

Changing Faces:

Stravinsky’s journey

february – december 2018 royal festival hall

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation Principal Guest Conductor ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA Leader pieter schoeman supported by Neil Westreich Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 11 April 2018 | 7.30pm

Thomas Adès Powder Her Face Suite (UK premiere)* (27’) Gerald Barry Organ Concerto (London premiere)† (20’) Interval (20’) Stravinsky Perséphone (56’)

Thomas Adès conductor

Contents 2 Welcome

Orchestra news 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Changing Faces:

Stravinsky’s Journey 8 Thomas Adès 9 Thomas Trotter

Toby Spence 10 Dame Kristin Scott Thomas

Trinity Boys Choir 11 London Philharmonic Choir 12 Programme notes 17 Next concerts 19 2018/19 season: on sale now 21 Sound Futures donors 22 Supporters 24 LPO administration

Thomas Trotter organ Toby Spence tenor Dame Kristin Scott Thomas Perséphone London Philharmonic Choir Artistic Director: Neville Creed

Trinity Boys Choir Chorusmaster: David Swinson Concert generously supported by Victoria Robey OBE.

* Co-commissioned by the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the generous support of the Boltini Trust, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, and the St Louis Symphony. † Commissioned by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Southbank Centre, London, and Raidió Teilifís Éireann.

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

This performance is being broadcast live by BBC Radio 3 in Concert, and will be available for 30 days after broadcast via the Radio 3 website and the BBC iPlayer Radio app.

Welcome

Orchestra news

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, wagamama, YO! Sushi, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Honest Burger, Côte Brasserie, Skylon and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall.

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 3879 9555, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk

LPO 2018/19 season: on sale now The LPO 2018/19 season is now on sale – turn to page 19 to find out more. You can browse and book online at lpo.org.uk/newseason or call us on 020 7840 4200 to request a season brochure by post.

Virgin Sport British 10k: join Team LPO! On Sunday 15 July 2018, Team LPO will be taking to the streets of London once again as part of the Virgin Sport British 10k. This year we will be running in aid of our Annual Appeal, celebrating 30 years of our Education and Community Programme and the creation of musical experiences for all. Following the success of our previous teams, who have raised over £27,000, we are looking for runners to take up the mantle for this year’s event. If you are interested in running on behalf of the LPO or would like more information, please contact Ellie Franklin at ellie.franklin@lpo.org.uk or on 020 7840 4225.

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment:

New on the LPO Label: Petrushka and The Firebird

PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium.

This month’s CD release on our LPO Label is a disc of Stravinsky’s exuberant ballets Petrushka and The Firebird conducted by Klaus Tennstedt, recorded live in concert at Royal Festival Hall in 1992 (LPO-0105).

The CD is priced at £9.99 and, along with 100+ other titles on the label, is available to buy from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets. Our recordings are also available to download or stream via iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and others.

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.

Out now The Spring/Summer 2018 edition of Tune In, our free twice-yearly magazine. Copies are available at the Welcome Desk in the Royal Festival Hall foyer, or phone the LPO office on 020 7840 4200 to receive one in the post. Also available digitally: issuu.com/londonphilharmonic

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Wigmore Hall charity concert: LPO Benevolent Fund On Sunday 22 April at 7.30pm, the Leonore Piano Trio will give a special fundraising concert at Wigmore Hall in aid of Marie Curie and the LPO Benevolent Fund, which provides crucial financial support to LPO musicians who are unable to work through illness or injury. The programme will include Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat and works by Haydn and Parry. Tickets are priced from £15–£25 and can be booked via wigmore-hall.org.uk.

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader JiJi Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Catherine Craig Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Georgina Leo Rasa Zukauskaite Lasma Taimina Cassi Hamilton Kana Kawashima Essi Kiiski Kalliopi Mitropoulou Second Violins Tania Mazzetti Principal Chair supported by Countess Dominique Loredan

Helena Smart Kate Birchall Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Helena Herford Robin Wilson Sioni Williams Harry Kerr Kate Cole

Violas Rachel Roberts Guest Principal Robert Duncan Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Naomi Holt Isabel Pereira Daniel Cornford Martin Fenn Richard Cookson Martin Wray Julia Kornig Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Francis Bucknall David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Susanna Riddell Helen Rathbone George Hoult Sibylle Hentschel Iain Ward Double Basses Sebastian Pennar Principal Hugh Kluger George Peniston Laurence Lovelle Lowri Morgan Charlotte Kerbegian Laura Murphy Jakub Cywinski Flutes Juliette Bausor Principal Sue Thomas* Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Huw Morgan Guest Principal Anne McAneney*

Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday Sue Bรถhling*

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

D Trumpet Huw Morgan

Cor Anglais Sue Bรถhling* Principal Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Clarinets Robert Plane Guest Principal Thomas Watmough Paul Richards*

David Whitehouse Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Sasha Koushk-Jalali Guest Principal

Bass Clarinets Paul Richards* Principal Robert Plane Thomas Watmough

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

Saxophones Martin Robertson Shaun Thompson

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Bassoons Jonathan Davies Principal Gareth Newman Simon Estell* Contrabassoon Simon Estell* Principal Horns David Pyatt* Principal

Feargus Brennan Tom Lee Harps Rachel Masters Principal Lucy Haslar Piano/Harmonium Catherine Edwards

Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey

John Ryan* Principal Chair supported by Laurence Watt

Martin Hobbs Duncan Fuller Gareth Mollison

* Holds a professorial appointment in London Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

Stewart McIlwham* The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: The Candide Trust โ ข Friends of the Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The LPO musicians really surpassed themselves in playing of élan, subtlety and virtuosity. Matthew Rye, Bachtrack, 24 September 2017 (Enescu’s Oedipe at Royal Festival Hall) Recognised today as one of the finest orchestras on the international stage, the London Philharmonic Orchestra balances a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most forwardlooking ensembles. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, releases CDs on its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and local communities.

Celebrating its 85th anniversary this season, the Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur.

Vladimir Jurowski is the Orchestra’s current Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, and this season we celebrate the tenth anniversary of this extraordinary partnership. Andrés Orozco-Estrada took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor in September 2015.

The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives around 40 concerts each season. Our year-long Belief and Beyond Belief festival in partnership with Southbank Centre

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ran throughout 2017, exploring what it means to be human in the 21st century. In 2018, we explore the life and music of Stravinsky in our series Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey, charting the life and music of one of the 20th century’s most influential composers.

Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra. Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: tours in 2017/18 include Romania, Japan, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Italy and France, and plans for 2018/19 include a major tour of China and Asia, as well as Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.

Pieter Schoeman leader

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. In 2013 it was the winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians through an energetic programme of activities for young people.

In 2017/18 we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our Education and Community department, whose work over three decades has introduced so many people of all ages to orchestral music and created opportunities for people of all backgrounds to fulfil their creative potential. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; the Young Composers Programme; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Its work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as regular concert streamings and a popular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on social media. lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra instagram.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. © Benjamin Ealovega

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, East is East, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Thor: The Dark World. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 100 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 and Fidelio Overture conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Mozart and Rachmaninoff piano concertos performed by Aldo Ciccolini under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 under Kurt Masur.

Born in South Africa, Pieter made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra.

Five years later he won the World Youth Concerto Competition in Michigan. Aged 17, he moved to the US to further his studies in Los Angeles and Dallas. In 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman who, after several consultations, recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg.

Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. At the invitation of Yannick Nézet-Séguin he has been part of the ‘Yannick and Friends’ chamber group, performing at festivals in Dortmund and Rheingau.

Pieter has performed several times as a soloist with the LPO, and his live recording of Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov was released on the Orchestra’s own label to great critical acclaim. He has also recorded numerous violin solos for film and television, and led the LPO in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. In April 2016 he was Guest Leader with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for Kurt Masur’s memorial concert. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London.

Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s journey

Richard Bratby introduces our festival, which runs throughout 2018 On 24 November 1944, a new musical called Seven Lively Arts opened at the Forrest Theatre, Philadelphia. The composer was Cole Porter, the producer was Billy Rose, and their aim was to make entertainment out of the greatest talents in contemporary art. Benny Goodman and Dolores Gray starred; Salvador Dali created artwork for the foyer. And right in the middle – setting the stamp of greatness on the show’s highbrow aspirations – was a new ballet by Igor Stravinsky.

Rose had offered Stravinsky $5000 (the equivalent of over half a million today) for 15 minutes of music. But even so, he felt something wasn’t quite right. Luckily he had the top Broadway arranger Robert Russell Bennett on call. After the first night, he telegraphed Stravinsky: YOUR MUSIC GREAT SUCCESS. COULD BE SENSATIONAL SUCCESS IF YOU WOULD AUTHORISE ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT RETOUCH ORCHESTRATION. Without missing a beat, Stravinsky telegraphed straight back: SATISFIED WITH GREAT SUCCESS. It’s a great story: and like the best Stravinsky stories, it’s also true. This is where Stravinsky was in the middle of the 20th century – a celebrity, a wit; a man who moved with total assurance between the biggest names in contemporary culture. You didn’t have to know anything about classical music to know that Stravinsky was the world’s greatest living composer: that his Russian name and long, angular face stood for the most modern kind of genius. ‘I’ve interviewed the great Stravinsky’, sang the heroine of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey in 1940, and the orchestra responded with a dissonant shriek. A month earlier, Walt Disney had released Fantasia, in which cartoon dinosaurs cavorted to Stravinsky’s most notorious hit, The Rite of Spring. It played to millions.

Why wouldn’t an ambitious Broadway producer want to get Stravinsky on board?

And why wouldn’t a major orchestra want to celebrate his music? On one level, the question is redundant.

Stravinsky’s great scores for the Ballets Russes – The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913) – are as central to modern concert life as Beethoven or Mahler. But as contemporaries sensed, there was more to Stravinsky than an explosion of innovation and colour just before the Great War. How did 6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Igor Stravinsky’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He was inducted in 1960 for his work in radio. a singer’s son from the Russia of Tsar Alexander III end up as the toast of jazz-age Paris? How did a highbrow European modernist find himself courted by Hollywood’s top studio bosses? And how did the most famous classical composer on earth suddenly – in the last two decades of his career – become more controversial than he’d ever been? From his birth into a Russia that had been unchanged for millennia, to his funeral in Venice in 1971, watched by the world’s TV cameras, Stravinsky’s changing faces reflected more than just music.

Stravinsky’s journey is the story of Western culture in the 20th century.

So if it sounds like the LPO has been here before – well, in a sense it has. ‘For me, this Stravinsky journey is the second edition of The Rest Is Noise’, says Vladimir Jurowski, referring to the year-long exploration of 20th-century music and art through which he led the Orchestra in 2013. Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey revisits that story and refines the focus. ‘In The Rest Is Noise we couldn’t concentrate upon any one composer’, Jurowski explains. ‘But here we’ve chosen to go through the years with one particular composer who reflected an entire century. Sometimes it’s chronological; sometimes it’s stylistic. His works are accompanied by the works of the people who he knew personally, who surrounded him, who preceded or succeeded him.’

That’s a vital point. Stravinsky had a gift for putting himself wherever the cultural action was: whether in

music, visual art, literature, cinema, politics or even fashion. In the first years of the century, there was no artistic force more thrilling than Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But Stravinsky went on to party with Cole Porter in Venice, to sleep with Coco Chanel in Paris, and on one famous occasion in May 1922, to have dinner with James Joyce, Marcel Proust and Pablo Picasso. (It didn’t go well: Joyce fell asleep on the table and Proust got on Stravinsky’s nerves). Mussolini courted him – happily with little success. After he moved to the USA in 1939 he socialised with Fred Astaire, Alfred Hitchcock, Greta Garbo and Man Ray, while fellow exiles ranging from Rachmaninoff to Gone With the Wind composer Max Steiner ate pirozhki and drank champagne at Stravinsky’s Hollywood home. His creative partnerships embraced Benny Goodman, George Balanchine, Jean Cocteau, WH Auden, TS Eliot and Modoc – a dancing elephant in Barnum & Bailey’s circus.

So Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey places his music in context alongside music that Stravinsky influenced and (perhaps less obviously) that influenced him. ‘We’re trying to follow Stravinsky’s life, and with him, to follow the development of music in the 20th century – because effectively he went through almost every style change’, says Jurowski. So the journey begins not with the three great Diaghilev ballets (though they certainly feature) but in the sumptuous world of Imperial Russia’s so-called ‘Silver Age’, placing Stravinsky’s youthful music next to that of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov and the fairytale music of Anatoly Liadov who, by fumbling his commission for The Firebird, accidentally gave Stravinsky the biggest break of his career. There’s also a chance to hear the music of Alexander Glazunov – who Stravinsky later derided, but whose influence can be heard in every note of the 24-year-old Igor’s delightful Symphony in E flat.

And the journey continues, through revolutions both artistic and political. In the wake of the First World War, Stravinsky led the way in creating something bold, new, and yet strangely familiar from the wreckage of a civilisation. ‘His style kept evolving and changing’, says Jurowski. ‘At first it was Italian baroque music that interested him, but later Bach – and again, later there were all sorts of other things.’ ‘Neo-classicism’, it’s been called, but no label can fully cover the wit of Stravinsky’s reinvention of Pergolesi in Pulcinella, his playful not-quite-mockery of German romantics like Weber and Schubert, and the timeless clarity of the classical

language he created on his own terms in works like Apollon musagète and the Symphony in C. ‘He used to call himself an inventor of music rather than a composer, and I don’t think he was deluding himself’, says Jurowski. ‘What I find fascinating is that whatever style he explores, he always makes it sound as if he alone, Igor Stravinsky, has invented this style. He has this chameleon-like ability – and at the same time this incredibly strong individual voice.’ That ability to make the musical world turn around him would stand Stravinsky in good stead in the later years of his career, and as well as his 1951 opera The Rake’s Progress, later LPO concerts in 2018 will examine his decision (as seismic in its time as Bob Dylan going electric) to embrace the 12-tone system. It’s one reason why contemporary composers find him so compelling: the series features Stravinsky-influenced premieres by Gerald Barry and Anders Hillborg, while Thomas Adès conducts Perséphone. But there are also glimpses of the sometimes unpredictable man behind the mask of genius. His love for Tchaikovsky and the lost Russia he embodied; his fondness for poker (translated into the brilliantly deadpan ballet Jeu de cartes), and his profound religious faith, expressed in the Symphony of Psalms – ‘composed for the glory of God’. His biographer Robert Craft – a prim progressive – was ‘astonished’ by the respect that Stravinsky showed to exiled Russian royalty.

But Stravinsky never followed the modernist script.

He wrote it. And that force of personality – that electrifying creativity – overflowed into everything he touched. Vladimir Jurowski remembers handling the manuscript of The Rite of Spring in the Paul Sacher Archive in Basel. ‘What struck me was the incredible artistic quality of the score, as draughtsmanship. If you look at it not as a musician but simply the way you would look at a piece of art, it looks like an incredible cubist or Futurist design.’ Genius will out, and Stravinsky himself gives the best rationale for following his journey from beginning to end, in a world whose face is changing faster than ever.

‘I live neither in the past nor the future. I am in the present.

I can know only what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and I serve it in all lucidity.’

Richard Bratby writes about music for The Spectator, Gramophone and the Birmingham Post. lpo.org.uk/stravinsky

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Thomas Adès conductor

One of the most accomplished and complete musicians of his generation.

© Brian Voce

The New York Times

Composer, conductor and pianist Thomas Adès was born in London in 1971. His compositions include three operas: The Exterminating Angel (premiered at the 2016 Salzburg Festival), Powder Her Face (Cheltenham Festival and Almeida Theatre, 1995) and The Tempest (Royal Opera, Covent Garden, 2004). His orchestral works include Asyla (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, 1997), Tevot (Berlin Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall, 2007), Polaris (New World Symphony, Miami, 2011), the violin concerto Concentric Paths (Berliner Festspiele and BBC Proms, 2005), In Seven Days (piano concerto with moving image: LA Philharmonic and Royal Festival Hall, 2008), and Totentanz for mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra (BBC Proms, 2013).

As a conductor Thomas appears regularly with the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Melbourne and Sydney symphony orchestras, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He was recently appointed Artistic Partner by the Boston Symphony Orchestra through 2019. He will conduct the orchestra in Boston and at Tanglewood, perform chamber music with the orchestra players, and lead the summer Festival of Contemporary Music.

In opera, he has conducted Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Zürich Opera; The Tempest at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; and in 2015 he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera with the Vienna Philharmonic conducting The Tempest.

Last season Thomas conducted Totentanz with the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and RTÉ

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National Symphony orchestras, and Gerald Barry’s new opera Alice’s Adventures Under Ground with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles (world premiere) and with the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican (European premiere).

This season’s engagements include The Exterminating Angel at The Metropolitan Opera in New York; concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra; and his debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Thomas Adès’s many awards include the Grawemeyer Award for Asyla (1999); Royal Philharmonic Society Large-Scale Composition awards for Asyla, The Tempest and Tevot; the Ernst von Siemens Composers’ Prize for Arcadiana; and the British Composer Award for The Four Quarters. His CD recording of The Tempest from the Royal Opera House (EMI) won the Contemporary category of the 2010 Gramophone Awards; his DVD of the production from the Metropolitan Opera was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’année (2013), Best Opera Recording (2014 Grammy Awards) and Music DVD Recording of the Year (2014 ECHO Klassik Awards); and The Exterminating Angel won World Premiere of the Year at the 2017 International Opera Awards. In 2015 Thomas was awarded the prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize. He coaches piano and chamber music at the annual International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove in Cornwall.

Thomas Adès will return to the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 26 September 2018 to conduct his piano concerto In Seven Days with soloist Kirill Gerstein, in a concert at Royal Festival Hall that also includes works

by Stravinsky and Lutosławski.

Toby Spence

organ

tenor

Thomas Trotter is one of Britain’s most widely admired musicians. He has enjoyed a special relationship with the city of Birmingham since he was appointed City Organist in 1983, based at the historic Town Hall, and Resident Organist of the magnificent Klais organ in Symphony Hall. He is also Organist at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey, and Visiting Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Thomas Trotter has been awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Instrumentalist Award, International Performer of the Year Award for 2012 by the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and, in 2016, the Royal College of Organists’ Medal. He has performed as soloist with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Valery Gergiev, Sir Charles Mackerras, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, Edward Gardner, François-Xavier Roth, Petri Sakari, Andris Nelsons and Thomas Søndergård.

Thomas Trotter performed at the 50th Anniversary concert of the Royal Festival Hall organ in 2004, the 2005 re-inauguration of the organ at the Royal Albert Hall and the re-inauguration of the Royal Festival Hall organ in 2014. He appeared in recital for Southbank Centre’s 2007 Messiaen Festival, playing From the Canyons to the Stars at St Paul’s Cathedral, and played the solo organ part of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto for the Royal Ballet in Voluntaries at Covent Garden in 2011.

Thomas Trotter has recorded extensively for Decca, and recent recordings on the Regent label include Elgar at Salisbury Cathedral; organ transcriptions from the newly restored Birmingham Town Hall; a collection ranging from Handel through to Litaize on the new Mander organ at St Giles Cripplegate; the organ works of CPE Bach from Eton College; Schumann from the organ of Merseburg Cathedral (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, January 2011); the Grand Organ Prom on the renovated organ at the Royal Albert Hall; and ‘The Town Hall Tradition’ from Birmingham Town Hall.

© Mitch Jenkins

© Adrian Burrows

Thomas Trotter

An honours graduate and choral scholar from New College, Oxford, Toby Spence studied at the Opera School of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He was the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2011 Singer of the Year award.

In concert Toby has sung with The Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnányi, the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano, the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, the Bayerischer Rundfunk under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and at the Salzburg and Edinburgh festivals under Sir Roger Norrington and the late Sir Charles Mackerras.

Recent appearances include Haydn’s The Creation with the Houston Symphony Orchestra; Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Berlioz’s Requiem with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Britten’s War Requiem at the Slovak Philharmonic Concert Hall and with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Britten’s Nocturne with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Heidelberg Festival; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic; and a Britten/Purcell Prom with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Engagements this season include Anatol in Vanessa for Frankfurt Opera; Bruckner’s F minor Mass with the Sinfonieorchester Basel; Das Lied von der Erde with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Liszt’s Faust Symphony with the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg; The Seasons with the Philharmonie de Paris, Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall; Ghandi in Philip Glass’s Satyagraha at English National Opera; Messiah, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Mumbai; Missa Solemnis with the London Symphony Orchestra; and Captain Vere in Billy Budd for Opera di Roma.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Kristin Scott Thomas

Trinity Boys Choir

Perséphone

David Swinson chorusmaster

Dame Kristin Scott Thomas is the recipient of a BAFTA Award, four Evening Standard British Film Awards, two London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her film work, cementing her place in cinema history.

A bilingual actress equally at home playing French and English roles, she received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for her starring role opposite Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient. With her fellow actors from Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, Kristin shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Trinity Boys Choir recently celebrated its 50th anniversary since its first professional engagement in 1965. The boys frequently appear on such prestigious stages as Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera and at various opera houses abroad. The Choir is especially well known for its role in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which it has appeared in over 150 professional performances. Recent operatic engagements include the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, English National Opera and the Aix-enProvence Festival.

Kristin’s breakout role was in the 1994 comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, which brought her BAFTA and Evening Standard British Film Awards. Other screen credits include Nowhere Boy, Random Hearts, The Horse Whisperer, Mission: Impossible, Life as a House, Angels And Insects, Up at the Villa, Richard III and Bitter Moon.

Among Kristin’s recent films are The Invisible Woman, starring with director Ralph Fiennes; Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives; François Ozon’s In the House; and Israel Horovitz’s My Old Lady with Kevin Kline and Dame Maggie Smith. She also appeared in Sally Potter’s The Party alongside Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson and Cillian Murphy. She was most recently seen in Joe Wright’s Academy Award-nominated film Darkest Hour as Clementine Churchill, receiving a BAFTA Award nomination, and she can currently be seen in Roar Uthuag’s much-anticipated reboot of Tomb Raider alongside Alicia Vikander and Dominic West.

Kristin’s theatre credits include Peter Morgan’s The Audience and Ian Rickson’s production of Electra at the Old Vic, following her appearances in Rickson’s West End productions of Old Times and Betrayal and his acclaimed Royal Court staging of The Seagull. For her portrayal of Arkadina in The Seagull, she received the Olivier Award for Best Actress, and reprised the role on Broadway. Kristin has also starred in West End productions of As You Desire Me and Three Sisters.

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

The Choir is regularly invited to perform at the BBC Proms, and was honoured to perform in Her Majesty the Queen’s 80th Birthday Prom Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 2006. The boys have performed with all the major London orchestras, and with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Monteverdi Choir in the UK and Europe. Trinity Boys Choir has also been invited to perform in Vienna with the Vienna Boys Choir, as well as throughout Europe and Asia.

The Choir’s many recordings include John Rutter’s Bang!, an opera written for the boys; Britten’s A Boy Was Born with the BBC Symphony Chorus; Walton’s Henry V with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers; and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.

TV appearances have included The Royal Variety Performance, Children in Need and last year’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special. The boys can also be heard on the soundtracks of Maleficent, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2.

Forthcoming engagements include tours to China, Germany, Poland and Italy.

Joseph Anderson Tom Baker Felix BarryCasademunt James Blair Caspar Burman Max Carter Joe Cassidy Stanley Chilvers Arthur Clark Sacha Cooper Harry Daykin Theo Desai Matteo Di Lorenzo

Joshua D’Souza Konda George Edwards Finlay Evans Sam Fradin Matthew Gillam Daniel Hamilton Franco Hillier Dominic Holland Julian Holland Freddie Jemison Harry Jordan William Lewis Harry Ogden

Khush Patel Kiran Patel Tayen Patel Lucas Rebato Samuel Selman Dionysios Sevastakis Anish Shah Ethan Thorne Daniel Todd Joshua Todd Edward Warner Tom Willmer Adam Wisniewski Simeon Wren

London Philharmonic Choir Patron HRH Princess Alexandra | President Sir Mark Elder | Artistic Director Neville Creed Accompanist Jonathan Beatty | Chairman Ian Frost | Choir Manager Tessa Bartley

Founded in 1947 as the chorus for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Choir is widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest choirs. For the last seven decades the Choir has performed under leading conductors, consistently meeting with critical acclaim and recording regularly for television and radio.

Enjoying a close relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Choir frequently joins it for concerts in the UK and abroad. Highlights in recent years have included Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Choir’s President, Sir Mark Elder; Haydn’s The Creation with Sir Roger Norrington; and Mozart’s Requiem under Nathalie Stutzmann. The Choir was delighted to celebrate its 70th anniversary in April 2017 with a highly acclaimed performance of Tallis’s Spem in alium and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Vladimir Jurowski.

The Choir appears annually 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 has been engaged by the BBC for all the Doctor Who Proms and, in recent years, has given performances of works by Beethoven, Elgar, Howells, Liszt, Orff, Vaughan Williams, Verdi and Walton.

A well-travelled choir, it has visited numerous European countries and performed in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Perth, Australia. The Choir has appeared twice at the Touquet International Music Masters Festival, performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Mozart’s Requiem. The Choir was delighted to travel to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, in December 2017 to perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Choir prides itself on achieving first-class performances from its members, who are volunteers from all walks of life.

Join us: lpc.org.uk facebook.com/LondonPhilharmonicChoir twitter.com/lpchoir instagram.com/lpchoir

Sopranos Annette Argent Chris Banks Hilary Bates Agnes Bialecki Catherine Boxall Laura Buntine Charlotte Cantrell Ella Cape-Davenhill Paula Chessell Imogen Coutts Emma Craven Jenni Cresswell Sarah Deane-Cutler Amarantha Fennell-Wells Rachel Gibbon Sofia Gonzales-Morales Rosemary Grigalis Nicola Hands Jane Hanson Sally Harrison Carolyn Hayman Joy Lee Janey Maxwell Meg McClure Harriet Murray Mariana Nina Kathryn O’Leary Linda Park Eloise Pedersen Tanya Ravljen Rebecca Sheppard Marit Shuman Sarah Skinner Tania Stanier Katie Stuffelbeam Susan Watts Altos Phye Bell Sally Brien Shayanne Campbell Andrei Caracoti Isabelle Cheetham Noel Chow Liz Cole Sara de la Serna Andrea Easey Carmel Edmonds Sarah Finkemeyer Henrietta Fisher Jane Goddard Rachel Halstead Bethea Hanson-Jones Jessica Harvey Judy Jones Andrea Lane Ethel Livermore

Lisa MacDonald Gill Main Laetitia Malan Ian Maxwell Sophie Morrison John Nolan Emily Noon Anna Read Carolyn Saunders Annette Strzedulla Jenny Watson Tenors Geir Andreassen Chris Beynon Tim Clark James Clarke Fred Fisher Robert Geary Alan Glover Peter Goves David Hoare Stephen Hodges Patrick Hughes Patrick McClurg Tony Masters Luke Phillips Lucas Souza Gomes Claudio Tonini Martin Yates Basses Jonathon Bird Peter Blamire Gordon Buky-Webster Lorenzo Carulli Bill Cumber Marcus Daniels Paul Fincham Halldor Fosså Ian Frost Christopher Gadd Christopher Harvey Nicholas Hennell-Foley Mark Hillier Stephen Hines David Hodgson Borja Ibarz Gabardos John Luff Robert Northcott William Parsons Stephen Peacock Jonathan Riley Edwin Smith Alexander Thomas Hin-Yan Wong John Wood

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Programme notes

Speedread This evening’s conductor Thomas Adès launched his brilliant career as an operatic composer in 1995, at the age of 24, with his chamber opera Powder Her Face, in which an ageing Duchess looks back over her salacious life. He has now given its colourful score, full of tango rhythms, a new lease of life in a Suite of eight continuous sections arranged for large orchestra. Commissioned by a consortium of orchestras (and a concert hall) including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, it is tonight receiving its first performance in the UK. Thomas Adès is a devoted interpreter of the music of the Irish composer Gerald Barry, a maverick on the contemporary music scene with an anarchic sense of humour. Tonight’s programme features the first London performance of Barry’s Organ Concerto, commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Southbank Centre and the Irish broadcaster RTÉ. The composer says ‘The Concerto is a tribute to the harmonium I played as a teenager,

an atonal New York cat who fights tonality, and congregations worldwide who struggle with the hymn Humiliated and Insulted. I occasionally use musics which are like surreal familiar objects – like seeing the music from my “village harmonium greatest hits compendium” days in another life – like when I die and go to Heaven and hear them there.’

To end the programme, Thomas Adès makes a major contribution to the LPO’s current series Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey by championing a neglected ballet score by Igor Stravinsky, Perséphone. Written in 1933/34 on a text by the French writer André Gide, this brings together a female speaker, a solo tenor, mixed choir, children’s choir and orchestra in a re-telling of the Greek myth of Persephone, daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter, whose annual descent to the Underworld brings winter to the earth, and whose return brings the spring.

Thomas Adès on the LPO Label James MacMillan The Confession of Isobel Gowdie Thomas Adès Chamber Symphony Jennifer Higdon Percussion Concerto Marin Alsop conductor Colin Currie percussion London Philharmonic Orchestra

£9.99 | LPO-0035

‘These live LPO recordings are the best possible advert for new classical music … Thanks to Alsop’s flair the MacMillan has unrivalled intensity, the Adès goes with a swing and Higdon’s flimsy concerto sounds like a joyride.’ Financial Times

Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Thomas Adès born 1971

Powder Her Face Suite (UK premiere) Co-commissioned by the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the generous support of the Boltini Trust, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, and the St Louis Symphony.

Overture – Scene with Song – Wedding March – Waltz – Ode – Paperchase – Hotel Manager’s Aria ‘It is too late’ – Finale

Thomas Adès’s sensational first opera, Powder Her Face, was commissioned by Almeida Opera, which first performed it at the 1995 Cheltenham Festival.

It is scored for four singers and 15 players. But in 2007, Adès arranged three sections of the work, the Overture, Waltz and Finale, for large orchestra as a short suite of ‘Dances from Powder Her Face’. And in 2017, responding to a joint commission from six European and American organisations, he added further sections to create a continuous orchestral Suite lasting nearly half an hour. This was premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle in June last year, and since then it has received 13 performances in the USA; but this is its first hearing in Britain.

The opera, with a libretto by the novelist Philip Henscher, centres on an elderly Duchess (in all but name the notorious real-life Duchess of Argyll), on the brink of eviction from her hotel room, looking back over her salacious career. In flashback scenes, the three other characters, members of the hotel staff, take on multiple roles. The Overture is full of the tango rhythms, often distorted, that permeate the score; the version in the Suite runs on into the first scene, in which a hotel electrician and a maid are parodying the Duchess. ‘Scene with Song’ links more of this opening

Watch composer Thomas Adès discuss the creation of his new Powder Her Face Suite: youtube.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

scene with a flashback to the 1930s, hinging on the Duchess’s favourite song of the period. ‘Wedding March’ is a portentous interlude depicting the preparations for the Duchess’s lavishly hedonistic 1936 wedding. The brittle, irregular Waltz is based on an aria sung by an envious waitress at the wedding itself. The next section is based chiefly on an ensemble in the first scene: it is an ‘Ode’ to Joy, the Duchess’s favourite perfume. This is followed by ‘Paperchase’, in which the Duke, helped by his mistress, searches for evidence against the Duchess in their 1950s divorce proceedings. Then comes a scene in which the Hotel Manager (impersonated by the first horn) arrives to evict the ageing Duchess, dismissing her protestations. The Finale is a ‘Ghost Epilogue’, in which the maid and electrician clear the room after the Duchess’s departure, not without some dalliance of their own.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

Programme notes continued

Gerald Barry born 1952

The harmonium in the village church of Clarecastle, Co. Clare, in the west of Ireland, was the only keyboard in the area available to me as a teenager. We didn’t have a piano at home. That was my first encounter with an instrument and so meant everything to me. It was a complete world. The poor thing didn’t know what hit it. I would pump it wildly to extract every ounce of volume possible – often to the distress of an old Canon who sat in the church alone reading his breviary and meditating. There was just me, the harmonium and him. I played for masses, weddings, funerals, and became an expert on classical harmonium hits from opera, oratorio, symphony, sonata, parlour songs, hymns, carols and whatever else was going. I was completely at one with the fabric of the instrument, the various stops, the wood, the pedals, the wind, the smell, the usually freezing church, the light.

I also played occasionally at Ennis Cathedral, the main town in Co. Clare, two miles from Clarecastle. The Church Sacristan hated me playing there for some

Gerald Barry at the organ of St. Michan’s, Dublin

Organ Concerto (London premiere) Thomas Trotter organ Commissioned by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Southbank Centre, London, and Raidió Teilifís Éireann.

reason and would sometimes switch off the power from the sacristy while I was playing. The organ would implode from lack of air.

I studied in Amsterdam with Piet Kee. He once gave me a lesson on the Haarlem organ – a magnificently scary experience. It was like trying to control a powerful horse – you were riding it as it was bucking under you.

The lesson at Haarlem was on Bach’s Great B minor, the Prelude and Fugue BWV544.

My career as church organist has been chequered.

While a student in Dublin I was deputy organist at the Christian Science Church in Baggot Street. 15 shillings per service. I played for some of their Sunday services and also played for their Wednesday evening meetings in an upstairs room of a house nearby where members would declaim visions they’d had during the week and I’d accompany the hymns on an upright piano. But they said my playing was neither dignified nor grave enough. Their church was demolished some time later.

In Cologne I had a good job at a Protestant church for a year but when they found out that I’d lied about being Protestant and that I was in fact Catholic, they fired me. It was a great pity because I got on well there and enjoyed playing for them, especially as the church was just down the street I could stay in bed until the last bells before the services.

© Fergus Martin

I then got a job outside Cologne at a Catholic church.

I stayed there for quite a long time and had a flat attached to the church. Modest salary. I wrote my ensemble piece ‘_____’ on that organ. I never had a piano in those days. Because many of the masses were at 7am and because I’m hopeless at getting up early, I was sometimes late and the Sacristan hated me and would pound on my door to get me up. I always woke from the deepest dreams to this hellish pounding.

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

In the Organ Concerto there is a solo for harmonium in remembrance of my beginnings on that instrument.

Also the Angelus appears. That was a haunting marking of times of the day in my childhood. The bells at noon and in the evening – but especially the ones at noon.

When you heard the bells you were supposed to stop whatever you were doing, be still and pray. I remember the silence over the whole village. I enjoyed feeling pious in those moments and admired myself being it.

Then when the bells ended you continued whatever you had been doing before though in my case it was usually nothing.

There are 21 metronomes in the orchestra. The organist has one and the orchestra 20. I was very fond of the metronome and its pyramid shape made me fond of Egypt.

© Tamsin Shaw

I would then arrive in the church to be greeted by the disapproving stares of 50 old ladies shortly after 7.

I’ve never had luck with sacristans. The local power they have goes to their heads and they love wielding it. The Parish Priest was on my side though and protected me from the Sacristan’s desire to be rid of me.

I played for a lot of funerals in that church – rarely for weddings. Because there was tension between me and the congregation I would sometimes punish them by not waiting for them to breathe between phrases and would triumphantly arrive at the end of hymns before they did. Strangely I wasn’t asked to leave that job – I decided to leave because I thought if I stayed much longer I’d go mad.

‘Mourning the loss of atonality’: Blue Gadoo

I use musics in the concerto which are like surreal familiar objects – like seeing the ones from my harmonium village greatest hits compendium days in another life – like when I die and go to Heaven and hear them there. I’m sure they sound different there.

Familiarly strange.

The Concerto ends with the organ and orchestra joining in the hymn, Humiliated and Insulted. © Gerald Barry, 2018

There are always unexpected triggers in writing. For instance I know a cat who lives in Washington Square in New York. His name is Blue Gadoo and he’s a very peculiar cat. I saw a photograph of him with a book called Sex and The Sacred in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

By his expression I knew he was mourning the loss of atonality. So I put his fight for atonality against tonality into the concerto.

Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Programme notes continued

Igor Stravinsky 1882–1971

1

2

3

L’enlèvement de Perséphone (The Abduction of Persephone) – Perséphone aux Enfers (Persephone in the Underworld) – Renaissance de Perséphone (Persephone Reborn)

Igor Stravinsky wrote his choral ballet Perséphone between May 1933 and January 1934 for the Parisbased ballet company headed by the dancer Ida Rubinstein. At Rubinstein’s suggestion, it was a setting of a poem by the French writer André Gide, based on the ancient Greek ‘Homeric Hymn’ to Demeter.

(Although Stravinsky had been living in France and French-speaking Switzerland for more than 20 years, this was his first major vocal setting of a French text.)

The first performance took place in Paris in April 1934.

Since then, the work has been performed relatively rarely, presumably because of its unusual combination of theatrical and concert genres. The title role, written for Ida Rubinstein, is spoken (and was originally also danced); and there are sung parts for a tenor, as the priest Eumolpus and an intermittent narrator, and for mixed choir and, in the last of the three scenes, children’s choir. The choral writing, predominantly euphonious in harmony and softening the effect of Stravinsky’s characteristic sharp orchestral attacks, gives the work a distinctive colouring. This suggests that Stravinsky found a model for his score in the calm, restrained Classicism of Gluck’s opera Orpheus and Eurydice – which, like Perséphone, is set on earth and in the Underworld.

The first of the work’s three continuous scenes takes place in a meadow near the entrance to the Underworld. The priest Eumolpus praises Demeter, the goddess of fertility. Demeter has entrusted her daughter Persephone to the care of the Nymphs. As Persephone 16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Perséphone Melodrama in three scenes, with a libretto by André Gide Toby Spence tenor Dame Kristin Scott Thomas Perséphone London Philharmonic Choir Trinity Boys Choir

wanders among the spring flowers, the Nymphs warn her not to pick the narcissus. When she does, she has a vision of the Shades in the Underworld, anxiously awaiting her arrival as queen to their ruler Pluto.

In the second scene, Persephone descends into the Underworld and falls asleep. When she wakes, she is asked by the Shades to describe springtime. Eumolpus urges her to accept gifts from Pluto; she refuses them until on Pluto’s behalf the god Mercury presents her with a pomegranate. Biting into this creates in her a longing for the life she has left behind; and gazing at the narcissus which she has brought with her brings her a vision of the earth. It is desolate and frozen; Demeter is searching endlessly for her. Eumolpus tells her that Demeter has adopted an infant called Demophoon, who is to grow up under the name Triptolemus. Persephone foresees that she will marry Triptolemus and he will teach the people to plough the soil. She sets out joyfully to return to earth.

The final scene is set at a temple to Demeter, next to the stone gates of a tomb. Men, women and children bring offerings to the goddess, and call on Persephone to return. She emerges from the tomb, and as nature blossoms around her she is united with Triptolemus.

But she realises her destiny is to share her time between Pluto and him, in turn bringing light to the Shades below and spring to the earth above.

Adès & Stravinsky programme notes © Anthony Burton.

Performance by permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited. English surtitles by Jonathan Burton.

be m ov e d Next concerts at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

friday 13 april 2018 7.30pm

wednesday 18 april 2018 7.30pm

Saturday 21 april 2018 7.30pm

Stravinsky Jeu de cartes Bryce Dessner Concerto for Two Pianos (world premiere)† Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3*

Stravinsky Symphony in C Stravinsky Tango Debussy Fantaisie Shostakovich Symphony No. 6

John Storgårds conductor Katia & Marielle Labèque pianos

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leif Ove Andsnes piano

Anders Hillborg Mantra – Elegy (Homage to Stravinsky) (world premiere)* Falik Elegiac Music in memory of Igor Stravinsky Stravinsky Ode Beethoven Violin Concerto

* In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation. † Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Borusan Culture Arts Centre & Orquestra Nacionales de España.

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Gil Shaham violin * Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, and the Aspen Music Festival.

Book now at lpo.org.uk or call 020 7840 4242 Season discounts of up to 30% available

GeT

closer

2018/19 concerT season

aT souThbank cenTre’s royal FesTival hall

on sale now hiGhliGhTs include chanGinG Faces: sTravinsky’s Journey we continue our yearlong series, delving into the composer’s works from the 1940s onwards.

opera in concerT wagner’s Die Walküre and stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress under vladimir Jurowski, and puccini’s first opera, Le Villi.

isle oF noises Throughout 2019 this year-long festival celebrates the music of britain, from purcell, through elgar, bax and walton, to the present day.

beeThoven piano concerTos The flamboyant young spanish pianist Javier perianes joins us for two evenings to perform beethoven’s complete piano concertos.

book now aT lpo.orG.uk or call 020 7840 4242 season discounTs oF up To 30% available

Sound Futures donors

We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures.

Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust

The Rothschild Foundation Tom & Phillis Sharpe The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Dr Christopher Aldren Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Welser-Möst Circle Lady Jane Berrill William & Alex de Winton Mr Frederick Brittenden John Ireland Charitable Trust David & Yi Yao Buckley The Tsukanov Family Foundation Mr Clive Butler Neil Westreich Gill & Garf Collins Tennstedt Circle Mr John H Cook Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov Mr Alistair Corbett Richard Buxton Bruno De Kegel The Candide Trust Georgy Djaparidze Michael & Elena Kroupeev David Ellen Kirby Laing Foundation Christopher Fraser OBE & Lisa Fraser Mr & Mrs Makharinsky David & Victoria Graham Fuller Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Goldman Sachs International Sir Simon Robey Mr Gavin Graham Bianca & Stuart Roden Moya Greene Simon & Vero Turner Mrs Dorothy Hambleton The late Mr K Twyman Tony & Susie Hayes Malcolm Herring Solti Patrons Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Ageas Mrs Philip Kan John & Manon Antoniazzi Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Gabor Beyer, through BTO Rose & Dudley Leigh Management Consulting AG Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Jon Claydon Miss Jeanette Martin Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Duncan Matthews QC Suzanne Goodman Diana & Allan Morgenthau Roddy & April Gow Charitable Trust The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Dr Karen Morton Charitable Trust Mr Roger Phillimore Mr James R.D. Korner Ruth Rattenbury Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia The Reed Foundation Ladanyi-Czernin The Rind Foundation Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Sir Bernard Rix David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada) Mr Paris Natar

Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Marina Vaizey Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mrs Arlene Beare Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner Mr Conrad Blakey Dr Anthony Buckland Paul Collins Alastair Crawford Mr Derek B. Gray Mr Roger Greenwood The HA.SH Foundation Darren & Jennifer Holmes Honeymead Arts Trust Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr & Mrs David Malpas Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Christopher Querée The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer Charitable Trust Timothy Walker AM Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Mr Anthony Yolland and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 21

Thank you

We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year.

Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.

Artistic Director’s Circle An anonymous donor Victoria Robey OBE Orchestra Circle The Tsukanov Family Principal Associates An anonymous donor The Candide Trust In memory of Miss Ann Marguerite Collins Alexander & Elena Djaparidze Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Sergey Sarkisov & Rusiko Makhashvili Julian & Gill Simmonds Neil Westreich Dr James Huang Zheng (of Kingdom Music Education Group)

Associates Steven M. Berzin Gabor Beyer Kay Bryan William & Alex de Winton HH Prince George-Constantin von Sachsen-Weimar Eisenach Virginia Gabbertas Hsiu Ling Lu Oleg & Natalya Pukhov George Ramishvili Sir Simon Robey Stuart & Bianca Roden Gold Patrons Evzen & Lucia Balko David & Yi Buckley Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Sonja Drexler Mrs Gillian Fane Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Sally Groves & Dennis Marks

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust John & Angela Kessler Vadim & Natalia Levin Countess Dominique Loredan Geoff & Meg Mann Tom & Phillis Sharpe Eric Tomsett The Viney Family Laurence Watt Guy & Utti Whittaker Silver Patrons Michael Allen Mrs Irina Gofman David Goldberg Mr Gavin Graham Mr Roger Greenwood Pehr G Gyllenhammar Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Matt Isaacs & Penny Jerram Rose & Dudley Leigh Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva The Metherell Family Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley Jacopo Pessina Brian & Elizabeth Taylor Bronze Patrons Anonymous donors Dr Christopher Aldren Mrs Margot Astrachan Mrs A Beare Richard & Jo Brass Peter & Adrienne Breen Mr Jeremy Bull Mr Alan C Butler Richard Buxton John Childress & Christiane Wuillaimie Mr Geoffrey A Collens Mr John H Cook Bruno De Kegel Georgy Djaparidze David Ellen Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Ignor & Lyuba Galkin Mr Daniel Goldstein

22 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Martin & Katherine Hattrell Wim & Jackie Hautekiet-Clare Michael & Christine Henry J Douglas Home Mr Glenn Hurstfield Elena Lileeva & Adrian Pabst Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter MacDonald Eggers Isabelle & Adrian Mee Maxim & Natalia Moskalev Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Peter & Lucy Noble Noel Otley JP & Mrs Rachel Davies Roderick & Maria Peacock Mr Roger Phillimore Mr Michael Posen Sir Bernard Rix Mr Robert Ross Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Barry & Gillian Smith Anna Smorodskaya Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr Christopher Stewart Mrs Anne Storm Sergei & Elena Sudakov Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Principal Supporters An anonymous donor Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Roger & Clare Barron Mr Geoffrey Bateman David & Patricia Buck Dr Anthony Buckland Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen David & Liz Conway Mr Alistair Corbett Mr Peter Cullum CBE Mr Timonthy Fancourt QC

Mr Richard Fernyhough Mr Derek B. Gray Malcolm Herring Ivan Hurry Per Jonsson Mr Raphaël Kanzas Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Mr Colm Kelleher Peter Kerkar Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr John Long Mr Peter Mace Brendan & Karen McManus Kristina McPhee Andrew T Mills Randall & Maria Moore Dr Karen Morton Olga Pavlova Dr Wiebke Pekrull Mr James Pickford Andrew & Sarah Poppleton Tatiana Pyatigorskaya Mr Christopher Querée Martin & Cheryl Southgate Matthew Stephenson & Roman Aristarkhov Andrew & Rosemary Tusa Anastasia Vvedenskaya Howard & Sheelagh Watson Des & Maggie Whitelock Holly Wilkes Christopher Williams Mr C D Yates Bill Yoe Supporters Anonymous donors Mr John D Barnard Mrs Alan Carrington Miss Siobhan Cervin Gus Christie Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Mr Joshua Coger Timothy Colyer Miss Tessa Cowie

Lady Jane Cuckney DBE Mr David Devons Cameron & Kathryn Doley Stephen & Barbara Dorgan Mr Nigel Dyer Sabina Fatkullina Mrs Janet Flynn Christopher Fraser OBE Peter and Katie Gray The Jackman Family Mrs Irina Tsarenkov Mr David MacFarlane Mr John Meloy Mr Stephen Olton Robin Partington Mr David Peters Mr Ivan Powell Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh Mr David Russell Mr Kenneth Shaw Ms Natalie Spraggon Michael & Katie Urmston Damien & Tina Vanderwilt Timothy Walker AM Mr John Weekes Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Alfonso Aijón Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Robert Hill Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE Laurence Watt LPO International Board of Governors Natasha Tsukanova Chair Steven M. Berzin (USA) Gabor Beyer (Hungary) Kay Bryan (Australia) HH Prince George-Constantin von Sachsen-Weimar Eisenach (Germany)

Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil (France) Joyce Kan (China/Hong Kong) Hsiu Ling Lu (China/Shanghai) Olivia Ma (Greater China Area) Olga Makharinsky (Russia) George Ramishvili (Georgia) Victoria Robey OBE (USA) Dr James Huang Zheng (of Kingdom Music Education Group) (China/ Shenzhen) We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America: William A. Kerr Chairman Xenia Hanusiak Alexandra Jupin Kristina McPhee David Oxenstierna Natalie Pray Stephanie Yoshida Antony Phillipson Hon. Chairman Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Robey OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP Corporate Donors Arcadis Bonhams Celebro Media Christian Dior Couture Faraday Fenchurch Advisory Partners Giberg Goldman Sachs Pictet Bank White & Case LLP

Corporate Members Gold freuds Sunshine Silver After Digital Berenberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce Bronze Accenture Ageas Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Willis Towers Watson Preferred Partners Fever-Tree Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd London Orthopaedic Clinic Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsor Google Inc Trusts and Foundations The Boltini Trust Sir William Boreman’s Foundation Borletti-Buitoni Trust Boshier-Hinton Foundation The Candide Trust The Ernest Cook Trust Diaphonique, Franco-British Fund for contemporary music The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust Help Musicians UK

John Horniman’s Children’s Trust The Idlewild Trust Embassy of the State of Israel to the United Kingdom Kirby Laing Foundation The Lawson Trust The Leverhulme Trust Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Lord & Lady Lurgan Trust Marsh Christian Trust The Mercers’ Company Adam Mickiewicz Institute Newcomen Collett Foundation The Stanley Picker Trust The Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust PRS For Music Foundation Rivers Foundation Romanian Cultural Institute The R K Charitable Trust The Sampimon Trust Schroder Charity Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust Spears-Stutz Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Thistle Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation The Clarence Westbury Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust The William Alwyn Foundation and all others who wish to remain anonymous.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 23

Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Henry Baldwin* Roger Barron Richard Brass David Buckley Bruno De Kegel Al MacCuish Susanne Martens* George Peniston* Natasha Tsukanova Mark Vines* Timothy Walker AM Neil Westreich David Whitehouse* * Player-Director Advisory Council Martin Höhmann Chairman Rob Adediran Christopher Aldren Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport William de Winton Cameron Doley Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Amanda Hill Dr Catherine C. Høgel Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Geoff Mann Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Nadya Powell Sir Bernard Rix Victoria Robey OBE Baroness Shackleton Thomas Sharpe QC Julian Simmonds Barry Smith Martin Southgate Andrew Swarbrick Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter

General Administration Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Education and Community Isabella Kernot Education and Community Director

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Talia Lash Education and Community Project Manager

Archives

Tom Proctor PA to the Chief Executive/ Administrative Assistant

Emily Moss Education and Community Project Manager

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Finance Frances Slack Finance and Operations Manager

Development Nick Jackman Development Director

Dayse Guilherme Finance Officer

Catherine Faulkner Development Events Manager

Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts Director (maternity leave)

Laura Willis Corporate Relations Manager

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager

Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager

Sophie Richardson Tours Manager

Ellie Franklin Development Assistant

Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne, Special Projects and Opera Production Manager

Athene Broad Development Assistant

Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager

Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate

Jo Cotter Tours Co-ordinator

Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Libby Papakyriacou Marketing Manager

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Samantha Cleverley Box Office Manager (maternity leave)

Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians Christopher Alderton Stage Manager

Megan Macarte Box Office Manager (maternity cover) (Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Damian Davis Transport Manager

Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Madeleine Ridout Orchestra Co-ordinator and Auditions Administrator

Harriet Dalton Website Manager

Andy Pitt Assistant Transport/Stage Manager

Greg Felton Digital Creative Alexandra Lloyd Marketing Co-ordinator Oli Frost Marketing Assistant

24 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Philip Stuart Discographer

Professional Services Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Barry Grimaldi Honorary Doctor Mr Chris Aldren Honorary ENT Surgeon Mr Brian Cohen Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone Honorary Orthopaedic Surgeons London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Box Office: 020 7840 4242 Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045.

Adès photograph © Brian Voce.

Barry photograph © Betty Freeman. Stravinsky photograph courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Cover artwork Ross Shaw Cover photograph Igor Stravinsky, composer, New York, 8 January 1959.

Photograph by Richard Avedon.

Copyright © The Richard Avedon Foundation.

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