LPO Debut Sounds programme 14 July 2022: Solo. Tutti.

S O L O. T U T T I. CONCERT PROGR AMME Five new concertos for members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Thursday 14 July 2022 7.30pm Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall Brett Dean conductor LPO Foyle Future Firsts Members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

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DEBUT SOUNDS Debut Sounds is an annual celebration of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Talent programmes: LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts. This year we have been delighted to work with LPO Composer-in-Residence Brett Dean as Composer Mentor, supporting the five Young Composers in seminars and workshops to develop their new pieces.

For this season’s brief, the composers were invited to create five inspiring new concertos for soloists from the London Philharmonic Orchestra: violin, viola, double bass, piccolo and clarinet. The composers have worked with their LPO soloists across the year to create these works.

Tonight, an ensemble of Foyle Future Firsts and members of the LPO, conducted by Brett Dean, present these five world premieres.

Tonight’s concert will be available to watch again on our YouTube channel at a later date – keep an eye on our social media to find out when it will be released.

The 2021/22 LPO Young Composers programme is generously supported by the Garrick Charitable Trust, the Stanley Picker Trust, the RVW Trust, The Marchus Trust and the Ernst Von Siemens Music Foundation.

The 2021/22 Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation with additional support from the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and The Thriplow Charitable Trust.

F OY L E F U T U R E F I R S T S

The 31 members of the Foyle Future Firsts and Foyle Future Firsts Associates programme are talented early-career instrumentalists who aspire to be professional orchestral musicians.

Now in its 18th year, our unique programme has gone from strength to strength. Members are supported and nurtured to the highest standards, and we are proud to see current and past Foyle Future Firsts consistently taking professional engagements with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and other world-class ensembles.

Across the year, members of the Foyle Future Firsts programme benefit from individual lessons and mentoring from London Philharmonic Orchestra Principals, professional development sessions, mock auditions, and involvement in full orchestral rehearsals. They also take part in high-profile and unique chamber performances, and work alongside London Philharmonic Orchestra musicians on Education & Community projects.

L P O.O RG .U K / F U T U R E F I R S T S

O N S TAG E T O N I G H T FIRST VIOL INS Kate Oswin† L E A D E R

L P O C H A I R S U P P O RT E D BY F R I E N D S O F T H E O RC H E S T R A

Claudia TarrantMatthews* Nilufar Alimaksumova SECOND VIOL INS Emma Oldfield† Inês Delgado* VIOL A S Laura Vallejo† Abby Bowen* CEL LOS David Lale† Pedro Silva* D OUBL E BA S SES Sebastian Pennar† Hugh Kluger†

FLU T ES Lucy Driver* Stewart McIlwham†

HOR NS Joel Roberts§ Flora Bain*

PICCOLO/ ALTO FLU T E Stewart McIlwham†

T RU MPET S Paul Beniston† Nick Walker*

OB OES Katherine Bryer§ James Hulme

T ROMB ONES David Whitehouse† Merin Rhyd*

COR ANG LAIS James Hulme

TUBA Adam Collins*

C LAR INET S Benjamin Mellefont† Isha Crichlow*

PERC U SSION Laura Bradford§ Luke Taylor* Andrew Barclay†

B ASS C LAR INET Isha Crichlow* B ASSOONS Antonia Lazenby§ Emily Newman* CONTRABASSOON Emily Newman*

L P O C H A I R S U P P O RT E D

BY G I L L & G A R F C O L L I N S

HAR P Alis Huws* PIANO Ian Tindale

* FOYL E FUTURE F IR ST 2021 /22 § FOYL E FUTURE F IR ST ALU MNI † L PO MEMBER

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BRETT DEAN

© Bettina Stoess

LPO COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE & COMPOSER MENTOR

Australian composer Brett Dean became the LPO’s Composer-in-Residence for three years from September 2020. The Orchestra worked closely with Dean on his opera Hamlet, which was premiered at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2017 to great acclaim, winning both the 2018 South Bank Sky Arts Award and the International Opera Award for Best New Opera. During his LPO residency he also takes on the role of Composer Mentor to the LPO Young Composers Programme, providing guidance and expertise to the five rising stars and conducting the annual Debut Sounds showcase.

In December 2020 the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski gave the UK premiere of Dean’s The Players for orchestra and accordion, filmed at the Royal Festival Hall and broadcast on Marquee TV. On 9 February 2022 the Orchestra performed his Viola Concerto with soloist Lawrence Power, and on 27 April gave the UK premiere of his Cello Concerto with soloist Alban Gerhardt, both in live concerts at the Royal Festival Hall. Next season with the LPO sees the world premiere of In spe contra spem under Edward Gardner, with soloists Emma Bell and Elsa Dreisig (26 April 2023), as well as performances of his orchestral works Three Memorials (19 October 2022) and Amphitheatre (18 January 2023).

Brett Dean began composing in 1988, initially concentrating on experimental film and radio projects and as an improvising performer. His reputation as a composer continued to develop, and it was through works such as his clarinet concerto Ariel’s Music (1995), which won an

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award from the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, and Carlo (1997) for strings, sampler and tape, inspired by the music of Carlo Gesualdo, that he gained international recognition.

Dean was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic's viola section for 14 years, and now enjoys a busy performing career as violist and conductor, performing his own Viola Concerto with many of the world’s leading orchestras. He is a natural chamber musician, frequently collaborating with other soloists and ensembles to perform both his own chamber works and standard repertoire. Dean’s imaginative conducting programmes usually centre around his own works combined with other composers: highlights include his appointment as Creative Chair at the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich 2017/18; projects with the BBC Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Toronto Symphony, TonkünstlerOrchester and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra; and as Artist in Residence with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Dean's opera Hamlet received its highly-anticipated US premiere at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in May 2022. Forthcoming highlights include the world premiere of In this Brief Moment for double chorus and orchestra in September 2022, commissioned by the Orchestre National de Lyon, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

P R O F I L E © B O O S E Y & H AW K E S / I N T E R M U S I C A

S O LO. T U T T I .

B R E T T D E A N O N T H I S Y E A R ' S L P O YO U N G C O M P O S E R S B R I E F The term 'concerto' has existed for well over 400 years. Its earliest usage was in connection with vocal music of the Renaissance, and it subsequently became established as an instrumental form in the Baroque era by the late 1600s. And it’s fair to say the concerto has maintained its fascination and appeal to music audiences and practitioners ever since.

Why is that? What is it about the solo/tutti juxtaposition that still so enthrals listeners and challenges composers to this day? Partly it’s no doubt the dramatic, even heroic tension of examining hierarchies, of pitting one voice against many, the spectacle of the solitary performer taking on the musical equivalent of daringly difficult tasks and death-defying feats. Playing in youth orchestras as a teenager, for example, I found the long introductory orchestral tuttis of pieces like the Beethoven or Brahms Violin Concertos shared some strange kinship with cricketers walking to the pitch to open the batting in a test match, seeing off the first few fast deliveries as if negotiating those treacherous opening octaves of the Beethoven Concerto’s solo part. And the virtuosic leaps of Chopin’s or Liszt’s Piano Concertos are surely not a million miles from the Olympic achievements of a Nadia Comăneci or Simone Biles at the parallel bars, demanding pinpoint accuracy lest one falls in disgrace.

From a composer’s point of view, the concerto still provides crucial challenges and learning opportunities. First and foremost, of course, a concerto is a wonderful vehicle for 'interrogating' the instrument; i.e. getting to grips with all it and

its player are capable of. Thus have the technical and expressive boundaries of instruments and instrumentalists been steadily challenged and expanded over the centuries. However it also poses intriguing questions of balance, architecture, musical direction, dramaturgy and purpose.

This year, the LPO Young Composers have had the opportunity to do the interrogating, by writing an eight-minute concerto. They have each been paired with an LPO instrumentalist who will perform the solo part, accompanied by an ensemble of further LPO players and their Foyle Future Firsts colleagues. The choices of solo instrument have led to a refreshingly varied programme. When’s the last time you got to hear concertos for piccolo, viola and double bass in one concert?!

A 'Composer Lab' in November and a 'works-inprogress' workshop in March were the stations along the way, leading to tonight’s Debut Sounds performance. Throughout this process, our composers have worked closely with their respective LPO soloists, and it’s been my honour to accompany them along the way.

To open the programme, the witty humour, compact orchestration and engaging solo writing of Stravinsky’s Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra from 1921 offers us a boisterous take on the solo/ tutti concept in a work that seems tailor-made for the virtuosic mid-size band we have on stage this evening. May you enjoy both the soli and the tutti!

BRET T DEAN, JUNE 2022

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P RO G R A M M E N OT E S I G O R S T R AV I N S K Y 1 8 82 – 1 9 7 1 S U I T E N O. 2 F O R S M A L L O RC H E S T R A 1 9 2 1 1 2 3 4

M A RC H E VA L S E POLKA G A LO P

Stravinsky spent the years immediately following The Rite of Spring (1914–20) exiled in Switzerland.

The war had necessitated a temporary pause in the Paris operations of the Ballet Russes, the composer’s primary source of income, but he remained productive. He concentrated mainly on works for smaller ensembles and further refining his compositional voice, delving more deeply into the language and folk heritage of his Russian homeland.

In 1914 and 1915 Stravinsky wrote three easy ‘teaching pieces’ for piano duet, following these the next year with a series of five more, the second set for his elder children, Theodore and Mika. The first pieces have an easy left-hand part, the second an easy right-hand. The two Suites derived from these pieces are scored for small orchestra and were published in 1925 and 1921 respectively.

‘I wrote the Polka first’, Stravinsky recalled. ‘It is a caricature of Serge Diaghilev, whom I had seen as a circus trainer cracking a long whip.’ The composer Alfredo Casella was present when Stravinsky played the Polka for Diaghilev, and asked for a piece for himself as well; Stravinsky responded with the Marche. The Valse was written in the style of, and in homage to, Erik Satie. The Suite is extremely witty and rhythmically varied, with the employment of the piano obligato and tuba, and the colourful application of the percussion instruments, creating particularly original orchestral effects.

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P RO G R A M M E N OT E S ALE X H O BO RN 1993 SPLINTER WORLD PREMIERE

This is a short story, not about a hero, but about a pillar. It is a pillar that has stood in the same place, undisturbed, for generations. In truth, some of its origins are unknown, but if you look closely, you can see the many ways it has become part of the fabric of today. It looms high above us on the one hand, conquering the space around it, and yet on the other, has roots dug deep into the values we continue to uphold.

A pillar can be a monument or something that supports a larger structure. In this case, it is both.

There is also a little splinter now. It has become lodged in the pillar. The origins of the splinter are also unknown, and few have looked closely into the many ways it has become part of the fabric of today.

It is very small, especially compared to the pillar, to the extent that it is easy to ignore. That is, until it isn’t. AH

© Ben Tomlin

SEBASTIAN PENNAR DOUBLE BASS

Winner of the Critics' Circle Young Artist Award 2021, A L E X H O is a British-Chinese composer based in London whose music and stage works have been described as 'menacing and poetic' (The Guardian) and a 'remarkable experience' (Schmopera). Alex is Artist-in-Residence at Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier and Associate Composer at Oxford Lieder Festival. His first (anti-)opera, Untold, won the George Butterworth Award 2020 for 'an outstanding new work', and his music theatre piece Breathe and Draw was shortlisted for a Scottish New Music Award 2021, lauded as 'a fresh, different idea, that captured the imagination'. He is a recipient of the PRS Composers' Fund 2022 and a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star 2022.

Alex has had pieces performed/commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, BBC Radio 3, Royal Opera House, Het Concertgebouw, National Opera Studio, Music Theatre Wales, London Sinfonietta, Roderick Williams, Riot Ensemble, VOCES8 and National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.

Alex is co-director of Tangram, a collective of composers and performers of Chinese and Western instruments who are recipients of Jerwood Arts' Live Work Fund 2021 and Genesis Foundation's Kickstarter Fund 2021. Alex graduated from Oxford and Cambridge universities and is completing a doctorate at the Royal College of Music with a full AHRC scholarship.

S E B A S T I A N P E N N A R is Co-Principal Double Bass in the LPO. Originally from Cardiff, he studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

He has also appeared as Guest Principal with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Welsh National Opera and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.

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P RO G R A M M E N OT E S C O N R A D A S M A N B O R N 1 9 96 CO N CE RTO FO R PI CCO LO AN D ORCHESTR A WORLD PREMIERE

Recently, I have become obsessed with shapes, and how their perception can influence anything from one’s own perspective to that of an entire society. With this Piccolo Concerto, I wanted to explore how something of symmetry can be perceived as ‘normal’ or ‘regular’, and something lopsided, as ‘irregular’ or even ‘strange’ and ‘weird’.

Or vice versa, depending on which side of the Earth you’re on.

This Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra aims to outline, expose, subvert, blend and extend our general understanding on what is considered ‘Western’ and ‘Non-Western’ elements of music.

The work is set in a way that every ‘bar’ (a unit of time that possesses a number of musical beats) has the same number of beats; a feature that exists in the vast majority of compositions (classical and non-classical alike). This ‘normal’ setting, however, has a twist: the size of these beats is uneven.

Unlike a waltz or cha-cha-cha, which can be counted equally, the dance of this Concerto is lobsided, with its ‘fours' and ‘fives' being slightly shorter (and thus feeling quicker) than its ‘ones', ‘twos' and ‘threes'. This can be seen as unusual to some, but also very normal to others, such as those from sub-Saharan African backgrounds. This gives a platform on which the piccolo can explore all its capacities; not only as a Western flute extension, but an instrument in its own right, with timbres borrowed from Gaelic tin whistles to African penny whistles, and everything in between.

© Flavia Catena

S T E WA R T M C I LW H A M P I C C O L O

The music of C O N R A D A S M A N has gained international recognition as being 'innovative and cutting edge' (Chorosynthesis) and spans a wide emotional range from 'heart-rending' (The Esoterics) to 'fun and festive' (Creative Feel).

His works have been performed in Africa, Asia, Europe and America in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the Jinji Lake Concert Arena. Engagements with ensembles such as the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Esoterics singers, the CHROMA ensemble and the Cape Town Youth Choir have led to his work winning multiple major awards, scholarships and commissions worldwide. This includes being a five-year Oppenheimer Trust fellow, the winner of the SAMRO Overseas Composition Scholarship, and the chosen representative for Britain at the 2021 ISCM World Music Days in Shanghai.

Recently, Conrad worked with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra during its 2020/21 Composers Hub scheme with Stuart McRae and Roxanna Panufnik. He is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree in music at the Royal Academy of Music, and is currently working on a new opera, and chamber music for members of the Nash Ensemble, as well as a larger ensemble work for the Manson Ensemble.

© Benjamin Ealovega

The work is short, fast and over within a flash.

However, this is not a ‘concertino’. Due to the demanding music material present not only in the solo part but in the orchestral accompaniment, this is a ‘Piccolo Concerto.’ Italian pun intended. C A

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S T E WA R T M C I LW H A M has been Principal Piccolo of the LPO since 1997. Prior to this, he was Principal Piccolo of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1990–97. He is also currently Professor of Piccolo at the Royal College of Music in London. As a soloist he has given several world premieres including Maxwell Davies’s Piccolo Concerto with the RPO, and Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Solastalgia for Piccolo and Orchestra with the LPO and Marin Alsop.

P RO G R A M M E N OT E S A N G E L A E L I Z A B E T H S L AT E R B O R N 1 989 T H R O U G H T H E FA D I N G H O U R WORLD PREMIERE R I C H A R D WAT E R S V I O L A

LPO CHAIR SU PPORTED BY CAROLINE , JAMIE & Z ANDER SHARP

Through the fading hour explores the light qualities and colours that we see during the twilight hours, with the onsetting of darkness and the fading of light. We might also see this moment as the twilight hour of the earth, at least with our presence on it, as the realities of climate change become increasingly evident. The piece emerged from one of my own poems: Through the fading hour Whispers morph and mould A flickering light gives one last breath Before being blown into the ether

© Kevin Lin

AS

R I C H A R D WAT E R S has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Co-Principal Viola since 2019. He has also appeared as Principal Viola with the London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, performing in many of the world’s most prestigious venues. He is a keen advocate for contemporary music, working with many leading composers such as George Benjamin, whose virtuoso work Viola, Viola he has performed on numerous occasions.

A N G E L A E L I Z A B E T H S L AT E R is a UK-based composer and Illuminate Women’s Music Director.

She has an interest in musically mapping different aspects of the natural world into the fabric of her music. As a composer she has always been fascinated by the dialogues between science, visual arts, dance and politics. Angela has an endless curiosity for gestures, shapes, sounds, and their relation to the world and other artforms.

Recent significant achievements include being selected for the RPS Composers programme for 2021/22, a Tanglewood Composition Fellow 2020–22, and a Britten-Pears Young Artist 2017/18, through which Angela worked with Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews and Michael Gandolfi. Angela was the 2019 Mendelssohn Scholar at New England Conservatory, Boston, and has continued to have performances of her works across the US, including the world premiere of Roil in Stillness by the New England Philharmonic.

In 2021 Angela wrote a work called Beyond Yourself for Orkest de Ereprijs as part of Young Composer’s Meeting in Apeldoorn, and two new works for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, alongside six new solo works for the 'Connected skies' project funded by Arts Council England. In Autumn 2022 Angela is looking forward to the performance of her piano concerto Tautening skies supported by PRSF. She has recently had her work The Light Blinds premiered by Ensemble 360 at Music in the Round as part of the RPS Composers 2021/22 programme.

Later in 2022 she will also be developing a new accordion concerto, working with accordionist Sanja Mlinarič as part of Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice stream.

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P RO G R A M M E N OT E S Y U N H O J E O N G B O R N 1 9 89 C O N C E RTO F O R C L A R I N E T A N D O RC H E S T R A : ' D E R VO G E L K Ä M P F T S I C H AU S D E M E I . . .' ( T H E B I R D S T RU G G L E S O U T O F T H E E G G ) WO R L D P R E M I E R E B E N JA M I N M E L L E F O N T C L A R I N E T The subtitle of this Concerto is one of the wellknown phrases from Demian by Herman Hesse: 'Der Vogel kämpft sich aus dem Ei (The Bird is struggling out of the Egg) Das Ei ist die Welt (The Egg is the World) Wer geboren werden will, muss eine Welt zerstören (Whoever wants to be born must first destroy a world) …'

When I remember several works I have written before, I think they resemble the process of the self’s growth – usually started from a simple melody or single note and developed gradually and subtly in a long sustained phrase as if the self’s life story.

When I was commissioned to write this Clarinet Concerto, I thought the clarinet would be one of the most attractive and effective instruments to develop this idea, because of its extremely wide range of expression and dynamic with a lyrical timbre.

Like the life story of Sinclair, the protagonist in Demian, this Concerto draws the self’s birth from unconsciousness and its growth and struggle to find its true inner ego. The self is expressed by the solo clarinet and the unconscious world by the orchestra. Their relationship describes the process by which that self establishes its egg from the unconsciousness and destroys it and grows by building an ego with a lot of trials and errors. In this respect, the piece does not employ the method of contrast between several different materials.

Instead, a single theme prevails and it progresses by diverse variations and transformations. Although the structure of the piece is divided into three sections, the whole music is designed to flow continuously.

YJ

In 2022, composer and pianist Y U N H O J E O N G has built diverse activities as a composer. As well as tonight's premiere of his Clarinet Concerto, his String Quartet No. 2 will be premiered by Quatuor Lontano at Les Musicales d'Assy festival in France. His works have also been performed in a number of concerts and music festivals including Seoul National University’s contemporary music series, Studio 2021, the Great Mountain International Music Festival and Seoul Contemporary Music Festival.

Born in Daegu, South Korea, Jeong started playing the piano at the age of five. His professional career as a composer started with his first composition recital at the age of 16, performing all his works himself. Entering Seoul National University, he studied with Shinuh Lee and moved to London in 2015 to study with Dai Fujikura at the Royal College of Music. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Composition under the supervision of Professor Philip Grange at University of Manchester.

As a composer-pianist, Jeong has also built intriguing activities such as premiering his own pieces himself or combining new music with classical repertoire. Since 2020 he has been the pianist in the Amandus Piano Quartet, for whom he wrote a new Piano Quartet which was premiered in 2021. During the 2021/22 season he gave a piano recital tour in South Korea with a creative programme combining works by Beethoven, Schubert, Kurtág, Takemitsu, Adès, Kim, and his work as a continuous sequence under the theme ‘Nature, Sprit and Fantasy’.

B E N JA M I N M E L L E F O N T was born in Sydney, Australia. He has been Principal Clarinet of the London Philharmonic Orchestra since 2019, having previously held the same position with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he also appeared as a soloist. He has also played as Guest Principal with many of the orchestras in the UK and Australia, and at festivals such as Salzburg, Edinburgh and Aldeburgh.

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P RO G R A M M E N OT E S R A FA E L M A R I N O A RC A RO B O R N 1 9 9 0 V I O L I N C O N C E RTO, O P. 1 4 WO R L D P R E M I E R E K AT E O S W I N V I O L I N

L P O C H A I R S U P P O RT E D BY F R I E N D S O F T H E O RC H E S T R A

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L I T T L E G H O S T T H I N G S T I P -TO E S I C K LY D I D D LY T H E YS I N FA N T H O O D O F A N T S TO W H I C H M E M O RY ’ S LO S T W H AT E V E R SPRI NG H A S A LWAYS MEA NT

Suddenly I remembered: me, in my childhood, eating ants – they tasted herbaceous; and I remember I played with them before the eating part – which I now realise may seem violent to some and definitely do from the ants' perspective. Oh, how infant memories sparkle and fade; and how odd it is to remember, to bring back into one’s mind that which had simply vanished from time: are these moments really real? How much could have they be transformed? And what about the countless that remain lost? This memory, and these questions, abruptly came to me while I was reading Manoel de Barros’s 1996 poetry book Livro Sobre Nada (Book About Nothing), in which he, using short non-rhyming playful poems, paints a picture of a rural childhood in which, in the absence of physical toys, children make playthings out of their simplest barest possessions, toys out of words and games out of their natural surroundings. An urge to rediscover my own rural childhood memories in the countryside of Brazil filled me, an urge to then find similar paths in music composition and to approach the musical creation and its material in its barest form, treating them as playthings too. (I like urges because there is no purpose to them – only want.)

The soloist can be heard here as that child, or even the memory of that child, bewildered and amazed, frightened by, curious about, and playing with its environment – the orchestra; occupying both sonic and physical space, and using the musical material in different symbolic ways – ways I found to explore the relationships between subject and space and memory which I will leave here unexplained. RMA

R A FA E L M A R I N O A R C A R O is a Brazilian composer based in London. His music is often inspired by his research into native Amazonian communities, as well as folk and literary Brazilian culture. Rafael is in pursuit of an original vision for Brazilian artistic identity and musical temperament within the framework of contemporary concert music. He often composes in search of clarity and expression, and likes to focus on sharply-defined aesthetic ideas and clearly outlined musical materials; he is also interested in the exploration of the extremes of musical expression.

As well as being an LPO Young Composer 2021/22, Rafael is a member of the 2022/23 LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme; he is also working towards his PhD at King’s College London under the guidance of Sir George Benjamin. Rafael holds a Masters in Composition from the Royal Academy of Music and has recently finished recording his Op. 10 – a 32-minute cello and piano sonata in four movements – funded by the RVW Trust.

Rafael is currently working on his first opera, writing both libretto and music: a 45-minute semi-staged work for two singers and 13 instrumentalists, featuring mostly native and folk Brazilian instruments and telling the story of a riverside community amidst a food crisis. And, in keeping with his countlessrevisions style of working and consequent slow compositional pace, he is currently finishing his Aggravations for solo piano – a 40-minute set of ten sharply different short pieces – and his Chamamento, Cantos e Agrura for large chamber group (2021–22).

K AT E O S W I N has been a member of the LPO's First Violin section since 2020.

Originally from New Zealand, she was a member of the LPO Foyle Future Firsts scheme in 2017/18, and before joining the LPO was a member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She has also worked on a freelance basis with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony and New Zealand Symphony orchestras.

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The right is reserved to substitute artists and to vary the programme if necessary.

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London Philharmonic Orchestra, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP. lpo.org.uk