Issuu

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y– December r a 20 u n

NOISES Landmark classics inspired by the British Isles 1689 – 2019

Concert programme

lpo.org.uk

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI 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 27 March 2019 | 7.30pm

Khachaturian Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia, from Spartacus (9’) Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 (33’) Interval (20’) Walton Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor (43’)

Vasily Petrenko conductor George Li piano

Free pre-concert event 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Dr Kate Kennedy explores Walton’s arrival on the symphonic stage with this First Symphony, joining the likes of Elgar and Vaughan Williams in this prolific period for English symphonists.

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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NOISES Contents 2 Welcome Orchestra news 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Isle of Noises 8 Vasily Petrenko 9 George Li 10 Programme notes 13 Recommended recordings 14 LPO 2019/20 season: Now on sale 15 Next concerts 17 Sound Futures donors 18 Supporters 20 LPO administration

This concert is being broadcast live by BBC Radio 3 and will be available for 30 days after broadcast on BBC Sounds; simply search for Radio 3 in Concert.

Welcome

Orchestra news

LPO 2019/20 season

Welcome to Southbank Centre

Booking is now open for our new 2019/20 season, which begins in September. Pick up a season brochure as you leave this evening’s concert, visit lpo.org.uk/newseason to browse and book online, or call 020 7840 4200 to request a season brochure by post.

We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries, please ask a member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Enjoy fresh seasonal food for breakfast and lunch, coffee, teas and evening drinks with riverside views at Concrete Cafe, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Riverside Terrace Cafe, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. Visit our shops for products inspired by our artistic and cultural programme, iconic buildings and central London location. Explore across the site with Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, wagamama, YO! Sushi, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Spiritland, Honest Burger, Côte Brasserie, Skylon and Topolski. 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 us on 020 3879 9555, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk We look forward to seeing you again soon. A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium. LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance. RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium without the prior consent of Southbank Centre. Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until the performance has ended. MOBILES AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.

Out now The Spring 2019 edition of Tune In, our free LPO 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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Highlights of the new season include:

2020 Vision A new strand of concerts featuring some of the most exciting works written since 2000, each combined in concert with pieces composed exactly 100 and 200 years earlier.

Beethoven 250th anniversary We will perform Beethoven’s first six symphonies alongside other rarer gems including his Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II.

Wagner Ring Cycle: Siegfried We reach the third instalment of our Ring Cycle conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, described as ‘simply outstanding’ by The Guardian.

Isle of Noises continues Continuing our exploration of landmark classics inspired by the British Isles, our programmes include music by Walton, Vaughan Williams, Britten and Foulds, as well as a celebration of British cinema.

Celebrated artists We welcome an array of fine artists including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Igor Levit, Antonio Pappano, Susanna Mälkki, Edward Gardner, Diana Damrau, Sheku Kanneh- Mason, Nicola Benedetti and Anoushka Shankar.

Choral masterpieces The London Philharmonic Choir will join us for Verdi’s Requiem and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass under Edward Gardner; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) under Vladimir Jurowski; Elgar’s The Apostles under Mark Elder; Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with Marin Alsop; and Fauré’s Requiem under Bertrand de Billy. Browse the full season at lpo.org.uk/newseason

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Mai Tategami Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Thomas Eisner Martin Hรถhmann Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Yang Zhang Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Amanda Smith Eleanor Bartlett Nilufar Alimaksumova Rasa Zukauskaite Essi Kiiski Miranda Allen Second Violins Helena Buckie Guest Principal Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Kate Cole Helena Nicholls Sioni Williams Alison Strange Caroline Sharp Emma Wragg Rebecca Dinning Nicole Stokes

Violas David Quiggle Principal Richard Waters Co-Principal Ting-Ru Lai Benedetto Pollani Naomi Holt Stanislav Popov Daniel Cornford Martin Wray Richard Cookson Mark Gibbs Charles Cross Miriam Eisele

Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday

Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Cellos Pei-Jee Ng Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Susanna Riddell Helen Rathbone Sibylle Hentschel David Bucknall

Paul Richards*

Double Basses Hugh Kluger Principal George Peniston Tom Walley Charlotte Kerbegian Laura Murphy Laurence Lovelle Jakub Cywinski Aisling Reilly Flutes Sue Thomas* Principal Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Hannah Grayson Stewart McIlwham* Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal

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

Clarinets Timothy Lines Guest Principal Thomas Watmough

Percussion Keith Millar Principal Henry Baldwin Co-Principal Scott Lumsdaine Jeremy Cornes

Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Harp Rachel Masters Principal

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards* Principal Bassoons Jonathan Davies Principal Gareth Newman Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey

Martin Hobbs Duncan Fuller Gareth Mollison Elise Campbell Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Philip Cobb Guest Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

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

David Whitehouse

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Jeremy Cornes

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

The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: The Candide Trust Gill & Garf Collins Andrew Davenport Countess Dominique Loredan Bianca & Stuart Roden Laurence Watt

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London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic’s closing concert took excellence and courageous programme planning to levels of expectation and emotional intensity more than once defying belief. Here was an orchestra in terrific form, rising to every challenge. Classicalsource.com (LPO at Royal Festival Hall, 2 May 2018: Panufnik, Penderecki & Prokofiev)

One of the finest orchestras on the international stage, the London Philharmonic Orchestra balances a long and distinguished history with its reputation as one of the UK’s most forward-looking ensembles. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and local communities. 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 in 2017 we celebrated the tenth anniversary of this extraordinary partnership. Andrés Orozco-Estrada took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor in 2015. The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives around 40 concerts each season. Throughout 2018 our series

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Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey charted the life and music of one of the 20th century’s most influential composers, and in 2019 we celebrate the music of Britain in our festival Isle of Noises, exploring a range of British and British-inspired music from Purcell to the present day. 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: highlights of the 2018/19 season include a major tour of Asia including South Korea, Taiwan and China, as well as performances in Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Greece, 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. In 2017/18 we celebrated 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 LPO Young Composers programme; the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme; and the LPO Junior Artists scheme for talented young musicians from communities and backgrounds currently underrepresented in professional UK orchestras. The Orchestra’s work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has enabled it to reach even more people worldwide: as well as a YouTube channel and regular 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 a Poulenc disc conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 under Vladimir Jurowski, and a film music disc under Dirk Brossé.

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.

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dward Elgar never felt entirely comfortable at the top. As a new member of a London club, some time in the reign of Edward VII, a fellow composer – Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the well-connected head of the Royal College of Music – saw him dithering over the cheeseboard. ‘Why don’t you try the Port Salut?’ Mackenzie suggested, before lowering his voice to whisper, sarcastically ‘Salut d’Amour’. Elgar might have been knighted; he might have been acclaimed by Richard Strauss as Britain’s pre-eminent modern composer. But his clubbable, expensively-educated British colleagues quietly noticed his awkwardness and his Worcestershire vowels. As to the fact that he’d written bestselling salon favourites like Salut d’Amour; well, they were too polite to suggest that it was just a little bit – you know – common. But once in a while, they’d give him a quick kick in the shins – just to remind him. Elgar was a Roman Catholic – a faith that a mere 30 years before his birth had been denied full civil rights in the UK – and the more you dig into Elgar’s ‘Britishness’, the more complicated it gets. His music never quotes an English folk song even once; its roots are deep in the language of Brahms and Wagner. When Danny Boyle began the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony with ‘Nimrod’ from the Enigma Variations (performed by the LPO on 9 November 2019), it was supposed to evoke a traditional, rural England. In fact, ‘Nimrod’ is a musical portrait of Elgar’s great friend August Jaeger – a German immigrant. The composer meant it to evoke not green and pleasant fields, but a slow movement by Beethoven. For the ultimate statement of musical Britishness, it’s got surprisingly international roots. Our 2019 Isle of Noises festival takes that paradox and revels in it. This is a celebration of British music that understands that even the most familiar masterpieces

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For nine decades the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been at the heart of music-making in London, in the British Isles and in Europe – and we know that there’s never been any one thing called ‘British music’. Throughout 2019 we’ll be celebrating over three centuries of music in these islands: Richard Bratby introduces our new festival.

have a fascinatingly diverse heritage. Gustav Holst came from an immigrant family, and The Planets (23 October) is a journey towards blissful dissolution (nibbāna, if you like) that takes its philosophical basis from his lifelong fascination with Hindu and Buddhist scriptures. Benjamin Britten might seem like the ultimate Establishment figure, and yes, he used to take tea at Sandringham with the Queen Mother. But the fact that a gay composer (and a conscientious objector into the bargain) could become such a national institution in his own lifetime gives pause for thought. His Violin Concerto (27 September) was written in the USA and draws on Britten’s interest in the Second Viennese School. It’s a story that you encounter again and again throughout British music. The best pieces are the unexpected and obstinate ones, the hybrids that push insolently up through the cracks. When Ralph Vaughan Williams composed his ballet Job (7 December), he called it a ‘Masque’, invoking the era of Purcell and Lawes because he didn’t like the idea of polite audiences commenting ‘oh, did you see God at the ballet?’ In the event, audiences expecting something soothing from the composer of The Lark Ascending saw a green, semi-naked Satan dancing to music of angular strangeness. The agnostic Vaughan Williams came from an oldestablished family

of liberal thinkers (he was related to Charles Darwin): he took his cues from William Blake. Meanwhile, up north: ‘You’ll never hear the thing again, my boy, why not throw in a couple of brass bands?’ said the conductor Thomas Beecham to the 29-yearold William Walton, as he began work on a choral commission for the 1931 Leeds Festival. Walton did just that, and the result – Belshazzar’s Feast (9 November) – is still a shocker: jazzy, raucous, shamelessly pagan. Walton’s chrome-plated self-assurance always played well in America. His Violin Concerto of 1939 (9 October) was written for the great American-Russian violinist Jascha Heifetz, and it has the streamlined, art-deco elegance of some great transatlantic liner. Not that British music needed to cross the Atlantic to hit the big time. The LPO’s evening of classic British film music (1 November) explores the curious fact that the most British love story of all time, Brief Encounter, uses music by Rachmaninoff – and that when another film, Dangerous Moonlight, tried to achieve the same effect, Richard Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto proved almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Throughout the Edwardian era Edward Elgar worked on a colossal trilogy of New Testament oratorios, each of them conceived as an emotional drama closer in spirit to Wagner or Verdi than Mendelssohn or Parry. He was deeply invested in the story, consulting Jewish liturgical experts about the sound of the shofar in The Apostles (26 October). (He later incorporated this ancient instrument into the score). The result wasn’t just one of the earliest examples of cultural crossover in British music; it was frankly and uncompromisingly passionate. Vulgar, you might even say. ‘I’m told Mackenzie is foaming at the mouth about The Apostles’, wrote Jaeger to Elgar in 1903. This kind of thing just wasn’t British. But if vulgarity means vitality, originality, diversity, it’s been British music’s saviour. Today, the most exciting British composers are those who transgress boundaries and explore new worlds: the late, much missed Oliver Knussen’s fascination with that great Russian eccentric Scriabin, or anything at all by Thomas Adès – a composer who believes that ‘Grand failures are preferable to sneaky successes’. Not that the UK premiere of his Piano Concerto (23 October) is likely to be anything other than a major event (and what does it say that he’s chosen to pair it with The Planets?).

British composer Thomas Adès, whose Piano Concerto receives its UK premiere on 23 October 2019.

There’s no white-walled evasion of taste in Adès’s music. ‘We have a very highly developed nose for phoniness’, he says. ‘We won’t just accept something as sublime or whatever just because it tells us it is.’ In other words, we just have to listen – and if the music has something about it, it’ll speak to us. Isle of Noises ends with an outrage: the Dynamic Triptych by John Foulds (11 December). Foulds was born near Manchester, but moved to Delhi as head of music for the British Raj’s radio network. There, the servant of Empire let his own imagination be captured and transformed by the ancient culture he encountered, and although he died of cholera in 1939, leaving a trunkful of unperformed scores, the works he did complete are like nothing else in 20th-century music. It’s hard to describe the Dynamic Triptych. It’s an exuberant, supersophisticated, utterly vulgar mass of influences, ideas and contradictions – and it sounds fantastic. In other words, it couldn’t be more British. Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. This is your music – discover it. Richard Bratby writes about music for The Spectator, Gramophone and the Birmingham Post.

For full concert details Pick up an Isle of Noises series leaflet as you leave tonight’s concert, or browse the full series online at lpo.org.uk/isleofnoises.

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Vasily Petrenko conductor

Petrenko drew the most scorching playing from the LPO [and] handled the score’s sprawling structure supremely convincingly. It was one of those priceless moments where you can sense an entire hall holding its breath. A shattering performance. © Svetlana Tarlova

Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack, 14 February 2015 (Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 with the LPO at Royal Festival Hall)

Vasily Petrenko was born in 1976 and studied at the St Petersburg Conservatoire. Following success in a number of international conducting competitions, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the St Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra from 2004–07. In 2021 Petrenko will take up the position of Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. He is currently Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia. He also served as Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain from 2009–13, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre. In January 2018 Petrenko conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra on a major tour of China, and the following month in concerts at Royal Festival Hall and Brighton Dome. He has worked with many other prestigious orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, NHK Symphony Tokyo and Sydney Symphony. Recent years have seen a series of highly successful North American debuts including The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Montreal symphony orchestras. His operatic career has taken him to Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opernhaus Zurich, Opera National de Paris and Bayerische Staatsoper.

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Highlights of Vasily Petrenko’s 2018/19 season and beyond include his debut with the Metropolitan Opera of New York in a production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades; his debuts with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Orchestre de Paris and Seattle Symphony Orchestra; appearances with the Israel, Rotterdam and St Petersburg Philharmonic orchestras and the Orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper; returns to the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Minnesota orchestras; and concerts at the Edinburgh International and Grafenegg festivals with the EUYO. Vasily Petrenko has established a strong profile as a recording artist. His Shostakovich symphony cycle with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra garnered worldwide acclaim, and they have also released the complete symphonies of Tchaikovsky, Elgar and Rachmaninoff, and embarked on a series of Stravinsky ballets. With the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra Petrenko has released the complete Scriabin symphonies, Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet, Shostakovich cello concertos with Truls Mørk, and the Szymanowski violin concertos with Baiba Skride. Future plans include the orchestral works of Richard Strauss and Rimsky-Korsakov. In 2017 Vasily Petrenko was named Artist of the Year at the annual Gramophone Awards, and in 2010 he won Male Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT Awards. He is only the second person to have been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both the University of Liverpool and Liverpool Hope University, and an Honorary Fellowship of Liverpool John Moores University, awards that recognise the immense impact he has had on the RLPO and the city’s cultural scene. In 2018 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of York.

George Li piano

The real revelation came in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, played by George Li … he is a powerhouse. I have seldom heard the many blazing octave passages in the outer movements played faster or more cleanly, let alone both at the same time. The New York Times, May 2015 (Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Orchestra of St Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall)

Praised by The Washington Post for combining ‘staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression’, American pianist George Li possesses an effortless grace, poised authority and brilliant virtuosity far beyond his years. Since winning the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, he has rapidly established a major international reputation and performs regularly with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Manfred Honeck, Michael Tilson Thomas and Long Yu. Recent and forthcoming concerto highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Sydney Symphony and St Petersburg Philharmonic. Tonight’s concert is his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This season he also makes debuts with the Montreal Symphony, Tokyo Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras; embarks on an 11-city recital tour of China; and is the soloist on the Russian National Orchestra’s major US tour with Mikhail Pletnev. He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, including performances at the Paris Philharmonie, the Luxembourg Philharmonie, New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Graffenegg Festival and at various venues throughout Russia.

In recital, George Li performs at venues including Carnegie Hall, Davies Hall in San Francisco, the Mariinsky Theatre, Munich’s Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo’s Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, NCPA Beijing, Shanghai Poly Theater and Amici della Musica Firenze, as well as appearances at major festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Montreux Festival. An active chamber musician, George Li has performed alongside James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Benjamin Beilman, Kian Soltani, Pablo Ferrandez and Daniel Lozakovich, and future plans include collaborations with Daniel Hope, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lawrence Power. Li is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist, with his debut recital album released in October 2017, which was recorded live from the Mariinsky. George Li gave his first public performance at Boston’s Steinway Hall at the age of ten, and in 2011 performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honouring Chancellor Angela Merkel. Among Li’s many prizes, he was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the First Prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He is currently in his final year of the Harvard University/ New England Conservatory joint programme, where he studies with Wha Kyung Byun.

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Programme notes

Speedread In public, William Walton may have cultivated a typically English light ironical tone. In private, it was a very different matter. ‘Jealousy and hatred all mixed up with love’, was how Walton summarised his First Symphony, the product of an intense and ultimately doomed love affair. Emotionally it’s a white-water ride, surging from anger and desperate longing, through rage and grief, to renewed hope and a final sense of life and love returning to fill the void. At its first performance in 1935 it was a stunning success, and since then its been held up as one of the greatest British symphonies – some would say

Aram Khachaturian

the greatest. There must be something about its home key, B flat minor, that draws out turbulent, dark passions. Tchaikovsky’s famous First Piano Concerto is also in B flat minor, and what a passionate, stormy, scintillating piece it is, pitching piano against full orchestra in one the most thrilling contests in the concerto repertoire. Before that comes the gorgeous Adagio from Aram Khachaturian’s ballet Spartacus – a tender, finally radiantly impassioned love scene that captured the hearts of British audiences when it was used for the 1970s TV series The Onedin Line.

Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia, from the ballet Spartacus

1903–78

Aram Khachaturian wrote his ballet Spartacus in 1954, his 50th year. Although Stalin had died the previous year, there were still few signs of what came to be known as ‘the thaw’ – the process of political and cultural re-appraisal, centred on criticism of Stalin’s ‘personality cult’, that brought a degree of liberalisation in the later 1950s and early 60s to the Soviet Union. Composers still had to be careful about their choices of subject matter, particularly for stage works, and Khachaturian was wise to opt for the story of the Roman gladiator Spartacus, leader of the famous slave revolt, who is believed to have met a heroic death in battle in 71 BC: Spartacus was a figure who could easily be reworked as a kind of proto-Leninist revolutionary. Khachaturian’s ballet was well received officially, winning him the Lenin Prize in its first year, but it wasn’t a complete triumph in public until 1968, when

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it was re-staged at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in a choreography by Yury Grigorovich. Musically, the ballet’s biggest hit was this Adagio for Spartacus and his wife Phrygia, whom he has just freed from slavery. From the melting harmonies of its opening, a lovely long oboe melody emerges, eventually reaching a warm full-orchestral apotheosis at the climax. After that triumphant 1968 Bolshoi production this movement rapidly became popular, achieving hit status in the UK when that rapturous climactic passage was used as the theme music for the hugely popular 1970s TV series The Onedin Line. Communist critics might have been horrified at the thought of this music being used for a romantic portrait of an eminently capitalist British merchant seaman, but it would appear that – privately at least – Khachaturian was delighted.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23

Tchaikovsky was always terribly vulnerable to criticism. So one can readily imagine the effect on him when the pianist and composer Nikolai Rubinstein pronounced judgement on his newly completed First Piano Concerto. From the start Tchaikovsky had been particularly keen that Rubinstein perform the Concerto in one of his prestigious concerts. But when Tchaikovsky played the first movement to Rubinstein, on Christmas Eve 1874, the response was withering. ‘It turned out that my concerto was worthless and unplayable’, Tchaikovsky recalled soon afterwards, ‘passages were so fragmented, so clumsy, so badly written that they were beyond rescue; the work itself was bad, vulgar; in places I had stolen from other composers; only two or three pages were worth preserving; the rest must be thrown away or completely rewritten.’

comments in particular must have been made with great tact, because the normally touchy Tchaikovsky thanked him for his ‘very sensible and practical suggestions’, and took them to heart when he revised the Concerto in 1878 – and possibly when he refined it further in 1888. That is the version we hear regularly today.

Fortunately for us, Tchaikovsky didn’t follow Rubinstein’s advice and destroy the Concerto; instead he recovered his nerve and sent it to the German pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow, whose reaction could hardly have been more different: the Concerto, Bülow replied, was ‘so original in thought (yet never affected), so noble, so strong, so interesting in details ... In short, this is a real pearl and you deserve the gratitude of all pianists.’ And that, broadly speaking, is how posterity has come to view the First Piano Concerto. Even so, Tchaikovsky did make some revisions after hearing the work in concert. Bülow made a few recommendations, as did the pianist Edward Dannreuther. Dannreuther’s

George Li piano 1 2 3

Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito Andantino semplice – Prestissimo Allegro con fuoco

Bülow’s comments about originality and nobility are borne out right from the start. A few bars of dark fanfare, led by the horns, are swept aside by the piano’s sonorous major-key chords, then one of Tchaikovsky’s grandest and most glorious long melodies surges in on strings. After a period of extended development this theme is dropped, never to return again – to the disappointment of some first-time listeners, yet in fact this tune turns out to contain the seeds of many important themes to come. The long first movement is also striking for the way it dramatises the relationship between piano and orchestra – sometimes an heroic struggle, sometimes closer to a tender or turbulent love affair. After this, the Andantino middle movement offers gentle relief, its faster central section based on a French folk-tune Tchaikovsky used to sing with his brothers Modest and Anatoly, ‘One must have fun, dance and sing’. Then the finale is a terrific, exhilarating workoutcum-fireworks-display based on a Ukrainian folksong, with another splendid ‘Big Tune’, which returns in triumph to end this passionate, stunningly theatrical concerto.

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Programme notes continued

William Walton 1902–83

The first performance of William Walton’s newly completed First Symphony, on 6 November 1935, was a sensation. One newspaper carried the headline ‘Historic night for British music’. The conductor Sir Henry Wood wrote, ‘What a work, truly marvellous, it was like the world coming to an end, its dramatic power was superb; what orchestration, what vitality and rhythmic invention – no orchestral work has carried me away so much.’ The Symphony was recorded just five weeks later, and when the composer John Ireland heard the discs he wrote immediately to Walton: ‘This is the work of a true Master … It has established you as the most vital and original genius in Europe. No one but a bloody fool could possibly fail to see this.’ With time, the praise has toned down a little, but the First Symphony remains the most widely admired of all Walton’s works. The combination of blazing energy and ferocious intellectual concentration is unique in his output. But this was not achieved without cost. It took Walton four years to complete the Symphony, and the finale caused him such agonising problems that he eventually allowed the work to be performed without it, as a three-movement torso, in 1934. Part of the problem was burden of expectation. After the triumphant premieres of the Viola Concerto (1929) and the choral-orchestral Belshazzar’s Feast (1931), Walton found himself under enormous pressure to produce the great modern British symphony. But there was a more personal dimension: as Walton later remarked, ‘Symphonies are a lot of work to write. Too much. One has to have something really appalling happen to one, that lets loose the fount of inspiration.’ So what was that ‘really appalling’ something? The explanation lies in the Symphony’s dedication, ‘To the Baroness Imma Doernberg’. Walton’s relationship with Imma von Doernberg was one of extremes: passionate, 12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor 1 2 3 4

Allegro assai Presto, con malizia Andante, con malinconia Maestoso – Brioso ed ardentmente

maddening, and ultimately – for Walton at least – terribly painful. The state of mind Walton described on losing Imma (‘jealousy and hatred all mixed up with love’) can easily be heard in the emotional convulsions of the first and third movements, and in the ‘malice’ of the second. But a letter written at the time he was working on the Symphony suggests that the mood of the times also left its imprint. He is ‘trying my best’ to produce a ‘masterpiece’, he insists, yet it’s ‘almost hopeless for anyone to produce anything in any of the arts these days. It is practically impossible to get away from the general feeling of hopelessness and chaos which exists everywhere ...’ But a masterpiece it is. The Symphony’s opening is riveting: a hushed drum-roll, a touch of harmony on horns, a nervous flickering rhythm on strings, and a potently economical motif on oboe are enough to set a mighty current in motion. Eventually, after a tortured slower section, the music builds steadily to a cathartic, wrenchingly dissonant climax, before working through to a savagely triumphant major-key conclusion. Humour bursts onto the stage in the scherzo (marked ‘with malice’), manifest in garish colours and rug-jolting rhythmic games, but this movement too builds inexorably to a climax of almost frenzied power. If the second movement shouts rage, the emotional landscape of the third is one of acute grief. The lyrical Walton – somewhat reined in during the first two movements – carries the argument here. The lovely, melancholic flute theme at the opening is never heard again in its entirety, but the return of one broken phrase at the very end of the movement, after another cathartic climax, is one of the Symphony’s most telling masterstrokes. At first, the resolution and growingly upbeat vitality of the finale suggest the beginning of a new story – Walton had begun another, less

tormenting relationship by the time he composed it. But shades of earlier themes return throughout, especially in the magnificent coda, a paean of triumph, but not unclouded by memories of things past. Programme notes © Stephen Johnson

Recommended recordings by Laurie Watt

Khachaturian: Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | Yuri Simonov (Alto, via Amazon) Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 Martha Argerich | Berlin Philharmonic | Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon) Walton: Symphony No. 1 London Philharmonic Orchestra | Charles Mackerras (Warner Classics) or BBC Symphony Orchestra | Edward Radio 3 Ad 150 X105 BW PRINT.pdf 1 12/11/2018 Gardner (Chandos)

MORE WALTON THIS AUTUMN Wednesday 9 October 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Bartók Dance Suite Walton Violin Concerto Nielsen Symphony No. 4 (The Inextinguishable) Edward Gardner conductor | James Ehnes violin London Philharmonic Orchestra Saturday 9 November 2019 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Butterworth A Shropshire Lad Elgar Enigma Variations Walton Belshazzar’s Feast Marin Alsop conductor | Roderick Williams baritone London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir 13:31

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CMY

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

OTHER WORLDS 2019/20 Concert season at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall 2020 Vision

A new strand of concerts featuring some of the most exciting works written since 2000, each combined in concert with pieces composed exactly 100 and 200 years earlier.

Beethoven 250th anniversary

Beethoven’s first six symphonies and rarer gems including his Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II.

Isle of Noises continues

Landmark classics inspired by the British Isles, including the music of Walton, Vaughan Williams, Britten and Foulds.

Celebrated artists

Including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Antonio Pappano, Susanna Mälkki, Edward Gardner, Igor Levit, Diana Damrau, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Nicola Benedetti and Anoushka Shankar.

ON SALE NOW LPO.ORG.UK/NEWSEASON 14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

NEXT CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL FRIDAY 29 MARCH 2019 7.30PM Gala evening with tenor Juan Diego Flórez Popular arias from world-famous operas

Sascha Goetzel conductor Juan Diego Flórez tenor

FRIDAY 5 APRIL 2019 7.30PM

Bax Tintagel Grieg Piano Concerto Sibelius Suite, Belshazzar’s Feast Sibelius Symphony No. 5 Osmo Vänskä conductor Jan Lisiecki piano

WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL 2019 7.30PM

Debussy Iberia from Images Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 (Egyptian) Ravel Mother Goose Suite Debussy La mer Edward Gardner conductor Stephen Hough piano

ISLE OF

NOISES

BOOK NOW AT LPO.ORG.UK OR CALL 020 7840 4242 SEASON DISCOUNTS OF UP TO 30% AVAILABLE

International Piano Series

The 30th anniversary goes out on a high, with exceptional performances by Javier Perianes, Francesco Piemontesi, Cédric Tiberghien, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich to close the 2018/19 season.

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ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

www.rpo.co.uk

VASILY PETRENKO As a prelude to commencing his tenure as Music Director Designate of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in August 2020, Vasily Petrenko takes to the London stage to conduct three outstanding concerts. From the orchestral tour de force of Strauss’ hero’s journey in Ein Heldenleben to Scriabin’s intoxicating exploration of divine nature in The Poem of Ecstasy, this is music to thrill and stir the soul, alongside an equally impressive line-up of soloists, performing concertos by Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Ravel.

Tuesday 11 June 2019, 7.30pm

BRAHMS

Piano Concerto No.1

STRAUSS

Friday 3 April 2020, 7.30pm

BRITTEN

Sunday 3 May 2020, 7.30pm

WAGNER

Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes

The Flying Dutchman: Overture

TCHAIKOVSKY

DEBUSSY La Mer

Ein Heldenleben

Variations on a Rococo Theme

Conductor VASILY PETRENKO Piano DENIS KOZHUKHIN

PROKOFIEV Symphony No.5

Conductor VASILY PETRENKO Cello ALEXEY STADLER Ticket Oﬃce 020 3879 9555

RAVEL

Piano Concerto in G major

SCRIABIN The Poem of Ecstasy Conductor VASILY PETRENKO Piano GEORGE LI

Book online www.southbankcentre.co.uk

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 | 17

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 Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE Orchestra Circle The Candide Trust Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich Dr James Huang Zheng (of Kingdom Music Education Group) Principal Associates Gabor Beyer, through BTO Management Consulting AG In memory of Ann Marguerite Collins Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Associates Steven M. Berzin Richard Buxton Kay Bryan William & Alex de Winton Mrs Irina Gofman Countess Dominique Loredan George Ramishvili Stuart & Bianca Roden In memory of Hazel Amy Smith Gold Patrons David & Yi Buckley John Burgess In memory of Allner Mavis Channing Gill & Garf Collins Andrew Davenport Sonja Drexler Mrs Gillian Fane Marie-Laure Favre-Gilly de Varennes de Beuill Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Virginia Gabbertas MBE Mr Roger Greenwood The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Geoff & Meg Mann

Sally Groves & Dennis Marks Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski Melanie Ryan Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett The Viney Family Laurence Watt Silver Patrons Dr Christopher Aldren Peter Blanc Georgy Djaparidze Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Peter & Fiona Espenhahn Will & Kate Hobhouse Matt Isaacs & Penny Jerram John & Angela Kessler The Metherell Family Simon Millward Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley Susan Wallendahl Guy & Utti Whittaker Bronze Patrons Anonymous donors Michael Allen Andrew Barclay Mr Geoffrey Bateman Peter & Adrienne Breen Mr Jeremy Bull Mr Alan C Butler Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Andrea d’Avack Bruno De Kegel Mr John L G Deacon David Ellen Ignor & Lyuba Galkin David Goldberg Mr Daniel Goldstein David & Jane Gosman Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Wim & Jackie Hautekiet-Clare Malcolm Herring Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle J Douglas Home Mr James R. D. Korner

18 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Rose & Dudley Leigh Drs Frank & Gek Lim Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva Maxim & Natalia Moskalev Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Peter & Lucy Noble Noel Otley JP & Mrs Rachel Davies Jacopo Pessina Mr Roger Phillimore Mr Michael Posen Tatiana Pyatigorskaya Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Tom & Phillis Sharpe Mr Christopher Stewart Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Andrew & Rosemary Tusa Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Marina Vaizey Ms Jenny Watson CBE Grenville & Krysia Williams Christopher Williams Ed & Catherine Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Principal Supporters Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Margot Astrachan Mr Philip Bathard-Smith Mr Edwin Bisset Dr Anthony Buckland Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Sir Alan Collins KCVO David & Liz Conway Mr Alistair Corbett Mrs Alina Davey Guy Davies Henry Davis MBE Mr Richard Fernyhough Patrice & Federica Feron Ms Kerry Gardner Ivan Hurry Per Jonsson Mr Ralph Kanza Ms Katerina Kashenceva Vadim & Natalia Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF

Mr Christopher Little Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter Mace Patricia & Michael McLarenTurner Mr John Meloy Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton Mrs Jennifer Oxley Dr Wiebke Pekrull Mr James Pickford Andrew & Sarah Poppleton Natalie Pray Mr Christopher Querée Martin & Cheryl Southgate Ms Nadia Stasyuk Matthew Stephenson & Roman Aristarkhov Louise Walton Howard & Sheelagh Watson Des & Maggie Whitelock Liz Winter Bill Yoe Supporters Mr John D Barnard Mr Keith Bolderson Mr Bernard Bradbury Mr Richard Brooman Mrs Alan Carrington Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Mr Joshua Coger Mr Geoffrey A Collens Miss Tessa Cowie Lady Jane Cuckney OBE Mr David Devons Samuel Edge Manuel Fajardo & Clémence Humeau Mrs Janet Flynn Christopher Fraser OBE Mr and Mrs Gofton Will Gold Mr Peter Gray Mrs Maureen HooftGraafland The Jackman Family Mr David MacFarlane Mr Frederic Marguerre Mr Mark Mishon

Mr Stephen Olton Mr David Peters Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh Mr David Russell Mr Kenneth Shaw Ms Elizabeth Shaw Ms Natalie Spraggon & Mr David Thomson Mr John Weekes Mr Trevor Weston Joanna Williams 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) Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil (France) Irina Gofman (Russia) Joyce Kan (China/Hong Kong) Countess Dominique Loredan (Italy) 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: Simon Freakley Chairman Xenia Hanusiak Alexandra Jupin William A. Kerr Kristina McPhee 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 Christian Dior Couture Faraday Fenchurch Advisory Partners IMG Pictet Bank Steppes Travel White & Case LLP Corporate Members Gold freuds Sunshine Silver After Digital Berenberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce Bronze Ageas Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Walpole

Preferred Partners Fever-Tree Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd London Orthopaedic Clinic Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsor Google Inc Trusts and Foundations The Bernarr Rainbow Trust The Boltini Trust Sir William Boreman’s Foundation Borletti-Buitoni Trust Boshier-Hinton Foundation The Candide Trust The Chalk Cliff Trust The Ernest Cook Trust Diaphonique, Franco-British Fund for contemporary music The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Fidelio Charitable Trust 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 The Radcliffe Trust 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 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 | 19

Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Catherine C. Høgel Vice-Chairman Henry Baldwin* Roger Barron Richard Brass David Buckley Bruno De Kegel Martin Höhmann* Al MacCuish Susanne Martens* Pei-Jee Ng* Andrew Tusa 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 Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Geoff Mann Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Andrew Neill 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

David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Talia Lash Education and Community Manager

Lucas Dwyer PA to the Chief Executive/ Administrative Assistant

Emily Moss Education and Community Project Manager

Finance Frances Slack Finance and Operations Manager

Hannah Tripp Education and Community Project Co-ordinator

Dayse Guilherme Finance Officer

Development Nick Jackman Development Director

Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts Director

Vicky Moran Development Events Manager

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager Sophie Richardson Glyndebourne and Projects Manager (maternity leave) Fabio Sarlo Glyndebourne and Projects Manager (maternity cover) Grace Ko Tours Manager Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator Jo Cotter Tours Co-ordinator Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians Christopher Alderton Stage Manager Damian Davis Transport Manager Hannah Verkerk Orchestra Co-ordinator and Auditions Administrator Laura Kitson Assistant Transport & Stage Manager

20 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Christina McNeill Corporate Relations Manager Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager Ellie Franklin Development Assistant Georgie Gulliver Development Assistant Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director Mairi Warren Marketing Manager

Public Relations Premier classical@premiercomms.com Tel: 020 7292 7355/ 020 7292 7335 Archives Philip Stuart Discographer Gillian Pole Recordings Archive 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.

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Composer photographs courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Cover artwork Ross Shaw Printer Cantate

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