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CONCERt programme

Changing Faces:

Stravinskyâ€™s journey

february â€“ 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 Saturday 8 December 2018 | 7.30pm Stravinsky Variations (Aldous Huxley in Memoriam) (5’) Stravinsky Threni (35’) Interval (20’) Stravinsky Tango (3’) Berio Sinfonia (33’)

Contents 2 Welcome Orchestra news Recommended recordings 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Vladimir Jurowski 7 Tonight’s soloists 10 The Swingles 11 London Philharmonic Choir 12 Programme notes and texts 19 LPO Player Appeal 2018/19 20 Next concerts 21 Sound Futures donors 22 Supporters 24 LPO administration

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Elizabeth Atherton soprano Maria Ostroukhova mezzo-soprano Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts tenor Joel Williams tenor Theodore Platt baritone Joshua Bloom bass The Swingles London Philharmonic Choir Artistic Director: Neville Creed This concert is dedicated to the memory of Maxim Mikhailov.

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

This concert is being recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on Wednesday 12 December at 7.30pm and will be available for 30 days after broadcast on BBC Sounds; simply search for Radio 3 in Concert.

Welcome

Welcome to Southbank Centre

Maxim Mikhailov 1962–2018

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, Canteen, 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 Autumn 2018 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

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra was very sorry to learn of the death of bass Maxim Mikhailov in Moscow on 21 November. Maxim was due to sing the solo bass role in Stravinsky’s Threni this evening, and instead we dedicate tonight’s concert to his memory. We enjoyed many wonderful collaborations with Maxim, both at Glyndebourne (The Miserly Knight, Gianni Schicchi, The Duenna, Eugene Onegin) and in London (Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta in 2008, The Miserly Knight and extracts from Das Rheingold in 2015, and Enescu’s Oedipe in 2017, which was also performed at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. Maxim’s most recent appearance with the Orchestra was just a fortnight ago, when he sang Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles under Vladimir Jurowski on 10 November. Our thoughts go out to Maxim’s family and his many friends and colleagues. He will be sadly missed.

Christmas gifts from the LPO Searching for the perfect Christmas present for the music lover in your life? Look no further. With more than 100 CD releases on the LPO label, tickets for concerts in London, Eastbourne or Brighton, gift vouchers and memberships, there’s something for everyone. Share the joy of music and make it a Christmas to remember. Visit lpo.org.uk/gifts to explore the full collection, or call the LPO Ticket Office on 020 7840 4242.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Stravinsky: Threni Columbia Symphony Orchestra | Schola Cantorum Igor Stravinsky (Sony) Berio: Sinfonia Orchestre National de France | New Swingle Singers Pierre Boulez (Apex)

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Kevin Lin Co-Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

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

Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Rebecca Shorrock Second Violins Tania Mazzetti Principal Chair supported by Countess Dominique Loredan

Helena Smart Kate Birchall Nancy Elan Fiona Higham

Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal

E-flat Clarinet Thomas Watmough Principal

Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Pei-Jee Ng Co-Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue David Lale Elisabeth Wiklander George Hoult Michael Wigram

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards* Principal

Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Sebastian Pennar Co-Principal Hugh Kluger George Peniston Tom Walley Laurence Lovelle Jakub Cywinski Kenneth Knussen Flutes Sue Thomas* Principal

Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Nynke Hijlkema Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Lasma Taimina Nilufar Alimaksumova John Dickinson Anna Croad

Hannah Grayson Lindsey Ellis

Violas David Quiggle Principal Ting-Ru Lai Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Naomi Holt Daniel Cornford Luca Casciato Stanislav Popov Richard Cookson

Piccolo/Alto Flute Stewart McIlwham* Principal Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

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

Clarinets Anthony Pike Guest Principal Thomas Watmough Massimo Di Trolio

Basset Horn Thomas Watmough Saxophones Martin Robertson Timothy Holmes

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Bassoons Jonathan Davies Principal Gareth Newman

Keith Millar James Bower Karen Hutt Feargus Brennan Stefan Beckett Tom Lee

Contrabassoon Simon Estell* Principal

Harp Rachel Masters Principal

Sarrusophone Simon Estell*

Piano Catherine Edwards

Horns David Pyatt* Principal

Celeste John Alley

Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey

John Ryan* Principal Chair supported by Laurence Watt

Martin Hobbs Nicholas Mooney Gareth Mollison

Harpsichord John Alley Electric Organ Ian Tindale

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney*

Assistant Conductor Tim Murray

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

Katie Smith Tony Cross Flugelhorn Paul Beniston*

Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

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

David Whitehouse

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

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 the remainder of

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

2018 we continue our series Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey, charting the life and music of one of the 20th century’s most influential composers. 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.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor

Ten years of Vladimir Jurowski in London have brought a non-stop journey of discovery. As the London Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates his decade as music director, it can look back on a period of unrivalled adventure, taking audiences to places other orchestras never reach. Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 30 November 2017

Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, becoming Principal Conductor in 2007: last season we celebrated the tenth anniversary of this extraordinary partnership.

The Cleveland Orchestra; the Boston, San Francisco and Chicago symphony orchestras; and the TonhalleOrchester Zürich, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow and studied at the Music Academies of Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Nabucco.

His opera engagements have included Rigoletto, Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades, Hansel and Gretel and Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera; War and Peace at the Opéra National de Paris; Eugene Onegin at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre; Salome with the State Academic Symphony of Russia; Moses und Aron at the Komische Oper Berlin; Iolanta and Die Teufel von Loudun at Semperoper Dresden, and numerous operas at Glyndebourne including Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Don Giovanni, The Cunning Little Vixen, Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons, and Ariadne auf Naxos. In 2017 he made an acclaimed Salzburg Festival debut with Wozzeck and his first return to Glyndebourne as a guest conductor, in the world premiere production of Brett Dean’s Hamlet with the LPO.

In 2021 Vladimir will take up the position of Music Director at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. In 2017 he became Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. In addition he holds the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the George Enescu International Festival, Bucharest. He has previously held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997–2001), Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03), Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–09), and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001–13). Vladimir is a regular guest with many leading orchestras in both Europe and North America, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome; the New York Philharmonic; The Philadelphia Orchestra;

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has released a wide selection of Vladimir Jurowski’s live recordings with the Orchestra on its own label, including Brahms’s complete symphonies; Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2; and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Symphonic Dances. Autumn 2017 saw the release of a sevendisc set of Tchaikovsky’s complete symphonies under Jurowski (LPO-0101), and a special anniversary sevendisc set of his previously unreleased recordings with the LPO spanning the symphonic, choral and contemporary genres (LPO-1010). Visit lpo.org.uk/recordings to find out more.

Elizabeth Atherton

Maria Ostroukhova

soprano

mezzo-soprano

Elizabeth Atherton is equally at home on the opera stage or the concert platform. Her versatility as a musician and an actress means that she has sung roles ranging from Monteverdi, Handel and Mozart through to Verdi, Bizet and Britten, and she had the roles of Eurydice and Medea in Harrison Birtwistle’s operas The Corridor and The Cure created for her to considerable critical acclaim.

Russian mezzo-soprano Maria Ostroukhova began her international career after winning the Michael Oliver Prize at London’s Handel Singing Competition in 2015. Her recent engagements include Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri for Opera Tenerife; Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea for Longborough Festival Opera; Dardano in Amadigi di Gaula and Arsace in Ormisda at the London Handel Festival and Halle Handel Festival; Bradamante in Alcina for the Lammermuir Festival and Ryedale Festival Opera; Rosmilda in Handel’s pasticcio Elpidia at St George’s Hanover Square; Albino in Hasse’s I pellegrini al sepolcro di Nostro Signore at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Philharmonic Hall; Emirena in Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria at Cadogan Hall; and Mozart’s Requiem at St Martin-in-the-Fields. In 2017 Maria was an Alvarez Young Artist at Garsington Opera, covering the role of Ino in Handel’s Semele.

Having won several prestigious prizes including the Maggie Teyte Prize, Elizabeth’s debut was as Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for English Touring Opera. She subsequently became an Associate Artist at Welsh National Opera and has since gone on to become a regular performer at Opera North, enjoying much success with roles including Mozart’s Fiordiligi and Britten’s Governess. In concert, Elizabeth has worked with such eminent conductors as Vladimir Jurowski, Richard Hickox, Andrew Davis, Charles Mackerras, Antonio Pappano, Neville Mariner, Pierre Boulez, Harry Christophers and Thierry Fischer. She appears frequently with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; other highlights include performances with the BBC Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras; the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, the Orchestre de Paris, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, The Sixteen and The Hallé. Recent and future engagements include her return to Opera North as Donna Elvira; Young Maiden in Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron for the George Enescu Festival under Lothar Zagrosek (Grand Palace Hall, Bucharest); Barber’s Knoxville with the RLPO under Robert Spano (Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool); Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the BBCSO under Richard Farnes (Dubai Opera House); Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs with the London Sinfonietta under David Atherton (Royal Festival Hall); Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with the Prague Symphony Orchestra under Jac van Steen (Smetana Hall, Prague); and Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet with the London Sinfonietta (Kings Place).

Other roles include Fortuna in L’incoronazione di Poppea; Mrs Herring in Britten’s Albert Herring; Third Lady in The Magic Flute; Carilda in Handel’s Arianna in Creta; Maman, La tasse chinoise and La libellule in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges; and the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Concert performances include Verdi’s Requiem, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Forthcoming engagements include Ernando in Venceslao at the London Handel Festival and Halle Handel Festival, and Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Maria’s professional recordings include A Lullaby for Princess Charlotte and A Lullaby for Prince Louis by Olga Thomas, produced by the Royal Marines’ Bandmaster and the charity Cruse Bereavement Care as a private gift for Her Majesty the Queen.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts

Joel Williams

tenor

He works regularly with all the major UK opera companies, with recent performances including Julietta for English National Opera; the title role in Peter Grimes and Hermann (The Queen of Spades) for Opera North; Trucker (Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole) and Jack in a new production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Royal Opera House; and Maintop (Billy Budd) at Glyndebourne. His many roles with Grange Park Opera include Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Yuri (Tchaikovsky’s The Enchantress), Nicias (Thaïs), Alexei (The Gambler), Prince (Rusalka) and Erik (Die fliegende Holländer in concert). He made his debut in Salzburg singing Erik in Die fliegende Holländer and returned to sing Arthur in Harrison Birtwistle’s Gawain. He has appeared at the Cheltenham Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms, most recently for the UK premiere of Birtwistle’s Angel Fighter. Recent and future roles include Prince/Manservant/Marquis in Lulu for English National Opera; Mayor (Albert Herring) at the Buxton Festival; Polonius (Hamlet) for Glyndebourne On Tour; Horace Adams and Peter Grimes (Peter Grimes) for the Brisbane Festival; Ringmaster (The Bartered Bride) for Garsington Opera; and Drunken Prisoner (From the House of the Dead) for La Monnaie, Brussels, Opera de Lyon and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Jeffrey works with all of the major British symphony orchestras, as well as many across Europe and further afield. Recent notable engagements include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Symphony and BBC Philharmonic orchestras; the Orquesta Sinfònica de Barcelona; Ensemble Musikfabrik, Cologne; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; and the Malaysian Philharmonic, with conductors including Matthias Bamert, Simon Rattle and Vassily Sinaisky. Please note change of artist from previously advertised.

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Welsh tenor Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts read Music at Lancaster University before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music.

British tenor Joel Williams is a member of the Royal College of Music International Opera Studio where he studies with Ben Johnson, and is the Kiri Te Kanawa Scholar supported by the Independent Opera Scholarship. Joel made his operatic debuts at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera as a boy treble with Trinity Boys Choir. He later spent a year in Princeton, New Jersey, where he sang with the choirs of Trinity Church and Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York City, and co-directed the Episcopal Choir of Princeton University. He went on to take up a Choral Scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge, where he studied History. With the Choir Joel took part in numerous international tours, recordings, and radio and television broadcasts. He was a soloist on many of its recordings, and performed solos in venues including the Royal Albert Hall, the Concertgebouw and the Sydney Opera House. On stage Joel has played Le Ruisseau in Rameau’s Les fêtes d’Hébé (Bastille, Opéra de Paris); Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Count Belfiore in La finta giardiniera, Mayor in Albert Herring, Hexe in Hänsel und Gretel and Dr Blind in Die Fledermaus (Royal College of Music International Opera School); Odoardo in Ariodante (London Handel Festival); Oronte in Alcina (Ryedale Festival Opera); Tamino in The Magic Flute (Cambridge University Opera Society); and Satyavan in Holst’s Sāvitri (Cover, British Youth Opera). In 2016 Joel created the role of Daniel in Alex Paxton’s new opera Bel and the Dragon for Tête-à-Tête Opera. In the summer of 2017 he sang Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni as a Young Artist with Opera Holland Park, and in 2018 he is an Alvarez Young Artist at Garsington Opera. Joel’s concert engagements include Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur (Verbier Festival/Valery Gergiev), Verdi’s Otello, Act 1 (Cambridge University Musical Society/ Richard Farnes), Arvo Pärt’s Passio (Choir of King’s College Cambridge/Stephen Cleobury) and Bach’s St John Passion (Merton College Choir, Oxford/Benjamin Nicholas).

Joshua Bloom

baritone

bass

British-Russian baritone Theodore Platt was the winner of the 2018 Lies Askonas Competition and the Prix Thierry Mermod (Verbier Festival). He is an alumnus of the Verbier Festival Academy and continues his studies at the Royal College of Music Opera Studio, helped by generous support from the Victoria Robey Scholarship, the Richard Toeman/Weinberger Opera Scholarship, a Help Musicians UK Sybil Tutton Opera Award, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Josephine Baker Trust. He studies with Russell Smythe and Caroline Dowdle.

Australian/American bass Joshua Bloom has sung principal roles with Opera Australia, San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, English National Opera, Oper Köln, Badisches Staatstheater, Opera Northern Ireland, Israeli Opera and Garsington Opera. He has also appeared on the concert stage with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras, Britten Sinfonia, Auckland Philharmonia and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, as well as the Melbourne, Queensland, Adelaide and Western Australian symphony orchestras.

During 2018/19 Theodore is a participant in the inaugural French Song Exchange at Wigmore Hall, working closely with Felicity Lott and François Le Roux, culminating with recitals in London and Paris. Recent engagements include the title role in The Marriage of Figaro for RCM Opera Studio, directed by Thomas Allen; Marullo in Rigoletto under Stanislav Kochanovsky for the Verbier Festival; Ben Pascoe in Huw Watkins’s In The Locked Room for RCMOS; and a recital for the Rachmaninov Song Festival at Pushkin House. In November 2017 Theodore created the role of Johannes Kepler in the world premiere of Kepler’s Trial, an opera composed by Tim Watts, which was staged as part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s recent exhibition, ‘Opera: Passion, Power and Politics.’ Theodore has appeared as a soloist at the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Singapore Esplanade and other prestigious venues across the UK and abroad. He has participated in numerous masterclasses, most notably with Gwyneth Jones, Sarah Connolly, Thomas Quasthoff, Nora Gubisch, Dimitri Platanias and Barbara Frittoli. Theodore read Music at St John’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 2016.

Theodore Platt

Joshua’s 2018/19 season includes role debuts in the title role of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Méphistophélès in Berlioz’s Le damnation de Faust, Oroveso in Norma and Kecal in The Bartered Bride. He also returns to the role of Leporello in Don Giovanni. His season opened with the world premiere of Richard Ayres’s The Garden with the Asko Schönberg Ensemble: an opera for solo bass and electronics that was written for Joshua and receives its London premiere in 2019 with the London Sinfonietta. 2018/19 sees Joshua working with conductors including Edward Gardner, André de Ridder, Jan van Steen and David Stern. He makes his debuts with the City of Birmingham Symphony and Philharmonia orchestras, and Palm Beach Opera. He will make his house debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2020. Recent highlights include the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Underground with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Britten Sinfonia; and role debuts as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (English National Opera and Israeli Opera), Faraone in Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto (Oper Köln) and Kaspar in Der Freischütz. Joshua recently made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, under Simon Rattle, revisiting Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre directed by Peter Sellars. Please note change of artist from previously advertised. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

The Swingles

Oliver Griffiths Joanna Eteson Edward Randell Federica Basile Jon Smith Rachel Lindley Clare Girard Kevin Fox

The vocal and choral world has changed considerably in the last 50 years … But The Swingles have managed to hold onto to their distinctive niche and continue to thrive. Chicago Sun-Times For more than half a century, The Swingles have pushed the boundaries of vocal music. The seven young singers that make up today’s London-based group are driven by the same innovative spirit that has defined the five-time Grammy winners since they first made waves in the 1960s. At a time when a cappella music is more popular than ever, The Swingles are recognised as masters of their craft. In 1963, American-born Ward Swingle first assembled a group of Parisian session singers to sing Bach’s keyboard music. The resulting album, Jazz Sebastian Bach, launched the Swingle Singers to fame. Since then, they have won five Grammy awards and made more than 50 recordings, with a repertoire that has grown to include a huge variety of music, including new original songs. They have also appeared on numerous film and TV soundtracks, including Sex and the City, Milk, Grey’s Anatomy and Glee. In 2017, they co-wrote and performed a song for the end credits of Alexander Payne’s film Downsizing. Released in March 2017, The Swingles’ latest project is Folklore, a diverse collection of folk music from around the world, inspired by their international travels and featuring collaborations with traditional artists. With creative arrangements that transport these wellloved songs into the group’s unique and rich sound world, the results are powerful and surprising.

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The group’s versatility has led to collaborations with artists as diverse as the Modern Jazz Quartet, Jamie Cullum and Labrinth. Luciano Berio was one of the first composers to explore the sound of the Swingles’ amplified voices in an orchestral setting with his groundbreaking Sinfonia. The group continue to perform the piece to great acclaim around the world, with recent performances at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, London’s Royal Festival Hall and Milan’s La Scala; they look forward to bringing it to new audiences for its 50th anniversary in 2018/19. In addition to a busy touring schedule that regularly takes them to North and South America, Europe and Asia, The Swingles present their own London A Cappella Festival at Kings Place each January in partnership with Ikon Arts Management. The festival is the first of its kind in the capital, welcoming the finest vocal talent from around the world.

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

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 Australia. The Choir has appeared twice at the Touquet International Music Masters Festival and 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 Supported by

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.

Sopranos Chris Banks Hilary Bates Hannah Boyce Laura Buntine Carole Cameron Ella Cape-Davenhill Paula Chessell Millie Church Orlen Crawford Rachel Gibbon Rosie Grigalis Jane Hanson Carolyn Hayman Janey Maxwell Katie Milton Tanja Ravljen Danielle Reece-Greenhalgh Katie Stuffelbeam Susan Thomas Altos Susannah Bellingham Andrei Caracoti Noel Chow Sara De La Serna Rachel Halstead Andrea Lane Ethel Livermore Gill Main Laetitia Malan Ian Maxwell Carolyn Saunders Rima Sereikiene Lily Smith Catherine Travers

Tenors Chris Beynon Tommy Dalglish Robert Geary Alan Glover David Hoare Stephen Hodges Luke Phillips Sergiu Plotnic Grigore Riciu Owen Toller Basses Jonathon Bird Xabier Casan Abia Geoffrey Clare Marcus Daniels Christopher Fitzgerald Christopher Gadd Nicholas Hennell-Foley Mark Hillier David Kent Robert Northcott Will Parsons Stephen Peacock Charlie Pearch Johannes Pieters Elliott Titcombe John Wood

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Programme notes

Speedread Twelve-tone composition has long been a divisive topic. For the Second Viennese School (collectively Schoenberg, Berg and Webern), it represented a ‘way out’ from the harmonic excesses of the late 19th century and the complete atonality of the early 20th. But for others, it signalled the end of ‘music’ itself, a procedural form of writing devoid of expression or personality. ‘I would go as far as to say’, Berio wrote in the mid 1960s, ‘that any attempt to codify musical reality into a kind of imitation grammar (I refer mainly to the efforts associated with the Twelve-Tone System) is a brand of fetishism which shares with fascism and racism the tendency to reduce live processes to immobile, labelled objects.’

Igor Stravinsky

For Berio composition was not about eradicating the past but embracing it, his scores often forming selfreferential, holistic artworks that catalogue entire chapters of music history. It took Stravinsky nearly 20 years to acquiesce and try his hand at twelvetone composition, but in his late works he managed to prove Berio wrong – demonstrating that ordered sounds could be beautiful too. That even with these methodical processes, he could still craft music that has its place in a continuous historical tradition, that it was still possible to sound like Stravinsky.

Variations (Aldous Huxley in Memoriam)

1882–1971

On 22 November 1963 the English novelist Aldous Huxley succumbed to cancer at his home in Los Angeles, California. For Stravinsky, it marked the sombre end to a long and fulfilling friendship, but for the rest of the world it was overshadowed by events that took place earlier that same day in Dallas, Texas – the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Both deaths would be marked by Stravinsky in works completed the following year: the Elegy for J.F.K. for singer and three clarinets, and the Variations (Aldous Huxley in Memoriam) for orchestra which, as it turned out, would be Stravinsky’s last completed orchestral work. When news of Huxley’s death reached Stravinsky (he read it in the newspaper while on holiday in Naples), the Variations for orchestra were already underway. But what had been intended as a fond gift to his friend

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became instead an elegy composed in his memory, the score completed in autumn the following year. In a letter to Nadia Boulanger, however, he admitted that the Variations would not necessarily have been to Huxley’s taste: ‘I am certain, though it does not discourage me, that this music would mean nothing to him or that it would displease him, because he liked romantic and classical music very foreign to my composition.’ The principle of theme and variations might have appealed to Huxley, but Stravinsky is probably correct that the acerbic nature of this twelve-tone work would not have pleased him. There is no ‘theme’ in the traditional sense, rather Stravinsky offers up a twelvenote tone row, first heard in the work’s opening bars, as the material for a series of ‘variations’. In place of

traditional melodic variants, such as diminution or expansion, the note row is subject to various forms of transformation – including retrograde and inversion – a process emphasised through variations in texture and rhythm across the score’s twelve sections (theme plus eleven variations). Stravinsky extends the idea of twelves further still, with distinct, twelve-part textures forming the mainstay of the orchestration, and the oscillating metrical pattern – 4/8, 3/8, 5/8 – together

adding up to a total of twelve beats. For Stravinsky, these symmetries are what make the work so pleasing: ‘At the first performances the variation for twelve violins—i.e. in one timbre—pleased me most. It sounded like a sprinkling of very fine broken glass.’ Sadly Pierre Boulez’s appraisal was rather less charitable: ‘Stravinsky’s Variations contain nothing new, or nothing that Webern had not done already.’

Igor Stravinsky

Threni: id est Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae

1882–1971

Elizabeth Atherton soprano Maria Ostroukhova mezzo-soprano Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts tenor Joel Williams tenor Theodore Platt baritone Joshua Bloom bass London Philharmonic Choir

1 De elegia prima 2 De elegia tertia i Querimonia ii Sensus spei iii Solacium 3 De elegia quinta The text and translation begin over the page. Second only to the unveiling of his ballet The Rite of Spring in Paris in 1913, the Parisian premiere of Stravinsky’s Threni was one of the most disastrous performances of his career. Just as at its world premiere in Venice two months earlier, Stravinsky conducted the new work himself, but when his Parisian audience greeted the work with little more than polite applause, Stravinsky refused to return to the stage to take his bow. The applause descended into heckling, tempers flared and Stravinsky vowed never to conduct in Paris again. But the audience reaction was more a reflection of the shaky performance – which was, by all accounts, woefully under-rehearsed – than of the work itself. Despite its twelve-tone framework, Threni is not an austere score. In places, it glows with remarkable richness and warmth, thanks in part to Stravinsky’s

deliberate emphasis on the more tonal elements of the twelve-note row – he referred to the work’s harmonic structure as ‘a kind of “triadic atonality”’. Stravinsky offers regular tonal landmarks, with dissonance frequently dissolving into consonance, such that the listener rarely feels marooned amidst a sea of disorienting tones. Texturally, Stravinsky offers familiarity too and whereas many of the serial works of Webern and Schoenberg are made up of fragmented, pointillist textures, in Threni Stravinsky maintains clear strata both in the orchestral and vocal scoring, the clarity and directness of this voicing reminiscent of many of his earlier, non-serial works. He also references the historical style of similar liturgical vocal music, using single-tone chanting and antiphonal exchanges to affect an antiquated style in this highly contemporary work. Continued overleaf London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

Stravinsky: Threni text and translation

Since Stravinsky composed Threni for concert performance, rather than liturgical use, it incorporates various selected verses from the Book of Lamentations without a specific narrative. Across its three movements, however, Stravinsky highlights individual Hebrew letters as the headers of each verse. ‘The effect’, writes Eric Walter White, ‘is like that of a series of illuminated initials embellishing a manuscript; and the special cadential qualities of these brief harmonic glosses give them a curious kind of nimbus.’

1 De elegia prima Incipit lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae 1:1 ALEPH Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo! facta est quasi vidua domina gentium: princeps provinciarum facta est sub tributo. 1:2a BETH Plorans ploravit in nocte, et lacrimae ejus in maxillis ejus 1:5a HE Facti sunt hostes ejus in capite, inimici ejus locupletati sunt Quia Dominus locutus est super eam propter multitudinem iniquitatum ejus. 1:11b CAPH Vide, Domine, et considera, quoniam facta sum vilis. 1:20 RES(H) Vide, Domine, quoniam tribulor, venter meus conturbatus est, subversum est cor meum in memet ipsa quoniam amaritudine plena sum. Foris interfecit gladius, et domi mors similis est.

The beginning of the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. See, O Lord, and consider; for I am become vile.

Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

2 De elegia tertia i Querimonia 3:1-3 ALEPH Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis ejus. Me menavit; et adduxit in tenebras, et non in lucem. Tantum in me vertit, et convertit manum suam tota die.

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Complaint

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.

3:4-6 BETH Vetustam fecit pellem meam et carnem meum, contrivit ossa mea. Aedificavit in gyro meo et circumdedit me felle et labore. In tenebrosis collocavit me, quasi mortuos sempiternos. 3:16-18 VAU Et fregit ad numerum dentes meos, cibavit me cinere.

Haec recolens in corde meo, ideo sperabo.

My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgot prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

ii Sensus spei

Perceiving hope

Et repulsa est a pace anima mea, oblitus sum bonorum. Et dixi: Periit finis meus, et spes mea a Domino. 3:19-21 ZAIN Recordare paupertatis, et transgressionis meae, absinthii et fellis. Memoria memor ero, et tabescet in me anima mea.

3:22-24 HETH Misericordiae Domini, quia non sumus consumpti; quia non defecerunt miserationes ejus. Novi diluculo, multa est fides tua. Pars mea Dominus, dixit anima mea; propterea expectabo eum. 3:25-27 TETH Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum, animae quaerenti illum. Bonum est praestolari cum silentio salutare Dei. Bonum est viro, cum portaverit jugum ab adulescentia sua. 3:34-36 LAMED Ut contereret sub pedibus suis omnes vinctos terrae; ut declinaret iudicium viri in conspectu vultus Altissimi; ut perverteret hominem in judicio suo, Dominus ignoravit. 3:40-42 NUN Scrutemur vias nostras, et quaeramus, et revertamur ad Dominum. Levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Dominum in coelos. Nos inique egimus, et ad iracundiam provocavimus; idcirco tu inexorabilis es.

It is of the Lordâ€™s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.

Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. Please turn the page quietly. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Stravinsky: Threni text and translation continued

3:43-45 SAMECH Operuisti in furore, et percussisti nos, occidisti, nec pepercisti. Opposuisti nubem tibi, ne transeat oratio Eradicationem et abjectionem posuisti me in medio populorum. 3:49-51 AIN Oculus meus afflictus est, nec tacuit, eo quod non esset requies. Donec respiceret et videret Dominus de coelis Oculus meus depraedatus est animam meam in cunctis filiabus urbis meae. 3:52-54 TSADE Venatione ceperunt me quasi avem inimici mei gratis. Lapsa est in lacum vita mea, et posuerunt lapidem super me. Inundaverunt aquae super caput meum; dixi: perii. 3:55-57 COPH Invocavi nomen tuum, Domine, de lacis novissimo. Vocem meam audisti; ne avertas aurem tuam a singultu meo et clamoribus. Appropinquasti in die quando invocavi te; dixisti: Ne timeas.

ii Solacium 3:58-60 RES(H) Judicasti, Domine, causam animae meae, redemptor vitae meae. Vidisti, Domine, illorum adversum me iudicium meum. Vidisti omnem furorem universas cogitationes eorum adversum me. 3:61-63 SIN Audisti obprobria eorum Domine omnes cogitationes eorum adversum me. Labia insurgentium mihi et meditationes eorum adversum me tota die. Sessionem eorum, et resurrectionem eorum vide ego sum psalmus eorum. 3:64-66 THAU Reddes eis vicem, Domine, juxta opera manuum suarum. Dabis eis scutum cordis, laborem tuum. Persequeris in furore, et conteres eos sub coelis, Domine.

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Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. Thou hast made us as the off scouring and refuse in the midst of the people. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission. Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven. Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.

Compensation

O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me. The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their music. Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.

De elegia quinta

The prayer of the Prophet Jeremiah.

Oratio Jeremiae Prophetae 5:1: Recordare, Domine, quid acciderit nobis; intuere et respice obprobrium nostrum. 5:19: Tu autem, Domnine, in aeternum permanebis, solium tuum in generationem et generationem. 5:21: Converte nos, Domine, ad te, et convertemur; innova dies nostros, sicut a principio.

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us; consider, and behold our reproach. Thou, O Lord, remainst for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

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

Igor Stravinsky

Tango The Swingles

1882–1971

In 1939, Stravinsky endured one of the most depressing years of his life. His daughter Ludmilla had died of tuberculosis only a year earlier and in March, his wife of 33 years, Katya, also succumbed to the disease. Just a few months later, his mother died too. To make matters worse, Stravinsky contracted tuberculosis himself, but after five months in hospital he made a full recovery and was able to return to ‘normal’ life. With this annus horribilus behind him, Stravinsky soon decided to begin a new life for himself abroad and in September the same year, with the Second World War breaking out around him, Stravinsky set sail for America.

Tango was Stravinsky’s first piece of music to be written Stateside, inspired by a brief trip he made to Mexico in August 1940. Although it was originally written for solo piano, Stravinsky was savvy enough to make several further arrangements of the work (creating multiple publishing opportunities) for different instrumental combinations, including an orchestral version which he created the following year. Despite the title, it is not a tango in the traditional sense of the word, since Stravinsky replaces the tango’s characteristic danceable rhythm with his own, rather more idiosyncratic interpretation. While there are glimmers of a more familiar tango in its midst – the staccato basslines, the minor mode melody, the dramatic pauses and stylised syncopation – Stravinsky cannot resist diverging into a dense, contrapuntal world far removed from the steamy dance clubs of South America.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 17

Programme notes continued

Luciano Berio

Sinfonia The Swingles

1925–2003

I II O King III In ruhig fliessender Bewegung IV V

Few composers resist categorisation quite like Luciano Berio. His works embrace jazz and electronics just as readily as they absorb Monteverdian opera or Bachian counterpoint, and they stand out for their rejection of otherwise prevailing 20th-century trends. While his contemporaries focussed their efforts upon exploring twelve-tone techniques, Berio railed against them. Berio grew up outside the musical mainstream in the small town of Oneglia in northern Italy, and it was not until he attended the Milan conservatory that his musical horizons began to broaden. From here he moved to study with Luigi Dallapiccola at Tanglewood and later to Darmstadt, where he met Stockhausen, Boulez, Kagel and Ligeti. But Berio’s childhood spent listening to his father and grandfather playing the organ in the local church never left him, and he became fascinated with combining these seemingly disparate strands of the past and present. Nothing in Berio’s catalogue captures this ambition better than his Sinfonia. This is music about music, its intellectual backbone just as compelling and rich as its musical foreground. Composed in 1968 to mark the 125th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic, Sinfonia is, in Berio’s own words, ‘conditioned by the search for balance, often an identity between voices and instruments’. Its title is a reference to the derivation from the ancient Greek, where symphony means simply ‘sounding together’. In Sinfonia this is interpreted both literally – as in Berio’s often cacophonous layering of sounds – and more broadly to describe the

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juxtaposition of dissimilar musical ideas united within a single work. Its centrepiece, the third movement, takes this idea to extremes, its score a dense web of musical references and quotations. Over a framework provided by the Scherzo from Mahler’s Second Symphony, Berio drapes quotations from Debussy’s La mer, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Berg’s Wozzeck, Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 … to name but a few. And all this is peppered by fragments of text from Samuel Beckett’s The Unnamable, the words spoken, sung, whispered and stuttered, their sounds fading in and out of earshot in a deliberate attempt to unsettle the listener. Elsewhere, Berio references his own music – as in the second movement, which is an orchestrated version of his 1968 tribute to Martin Luther King, O King. Meanwhile, bookending Sinfonia as a whole are references to the writings of the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, examining ancient myths about the origins of water. Added a year after the first four movements had been completed, the fifth movement is, in Berio’s own words, a self-referencing musical ‘analysis’ of everything that has come before, as multifarious and disparate as these elements may at first appear. ‘The task of the fifth and last part is to delete these differences and bring to light and develop the latent unity of the preceding four parts.’ Programme notes © Jo Kirkbride

Player Appeal 2018/19 Be instrumental. Be here.

At the London Philharmonic Orchestra we believe that together we are greater than the sum of our parts. Donate online at lpo.org.uk/donate or call our Individual Giving Team on 020 7840 4212 or 020 7840 4225. Radio 3 Ad 150 X105 BW PRINT.pdf

12/11/2018

13:31

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London Philharmonic Orchestra | 19

GET

closer

next lpo concerts

AT Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

wednesday 16 january 2019 7.30pm

Arne Gieshoff Burr (world premiere)** Erkki-Sven Tüür Solastalgia for piccolo and orchestra (UK premiere)† Helen Grime Percussion Concerto (world premiere)†† Louis Andriessen Agamemnon (European premiere)

Anders Hillborg Sound Atlas (world premiere)‡ Marin Alsop conductor Stewart McIlwham piccolo Colin Currie percussion Concert generously supported by Dior.

sunday 27 january 2019 4.00pm please note start time Wagner Die Walküre

wednesday 30 january 2019 7.30pm Handel Water Music, Suites 1 & 2 Purcell Dido and Aeneas

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Stuart Skelton Siegmund Evgeny Nikitin Wotan* Ruxandra Donose Sieglinde* For full cast visit lpo.org.uk

Roger Norrington conductor Marie-Claude Chappuis Dido Lucy Crowe Belinda Benjamin Appl Aeneas Anna Dennis Second Woman * Please note a change of artists from previously Edward Grint Sorceress and Spirit advertised. Ciara Hendrick First Witch Sung in German with English surtitles. Anna Harvey Second Witch Generously supported by members of the Orchestra’s Ring Cycle Syndicate. Make this an afternoon to remember. Join us for a champagne Taittinger interval reception with the opportunity to meet the soloists and musicians after the concert. Visit lpo.org.uk/walkure to find out more.

** Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra following Arne Gieshoff’s participation in the LPO Young Composers programme. † Commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, St. Louis Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestra. †† Commissioned by Southbank Centre, London, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Swedish Chamber Orchestra. ‡ Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Göteborgs Symfoniker.

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 Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE Orchestra Circle The Candide Trust Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich The Tsukanov Family 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 Kay Bryan William & Alex de Winton George Ramishvili Stuart & Bianca Roden In memory of Hazel Amy Smith Gold Patrons David & Yi Buckley John Burgess Richard Buxton In memory of Allner Mavis Channing Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Sonja Drexler Mrs Gillian Fane Marie-Laure Favre-Gilly de Varennes de Beuill Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Virginia Gabbertas Mr Roger Greenwood The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Countess Dominique Loredan 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

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 Grenville & Krysia Williams Christopher Williams Ed & Catherine Williams Mr Anthony Yolland

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 Bruno De Kegel Mr John L G Deacon David Ellen Ignor & Lyuba Galkin Mrs Irina Gofman David Goldberg Mr Daniel Goldstein David & Jane Gosman Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Wim & Jackie Hautekiet-Clare Catherine Hogel & Ben Mardle J Douglas Home Mr James R. D. Korner Rose & Dudley Leigh

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 Malcolm Herring 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

22 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter Mace Mr John Meloy Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton 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 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 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 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) Joyce Kan (China/Hong Kong) 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 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 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 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 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

Finance Frances Slack Finance and Operations Manager

Emily Moss Education and Community Project Manager

Dayse Guilherme Finance Officer

Hannah Tripp Education and Community Project Co-ordinator

Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts Director

Development Nick Jackman Development Director

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager

Catherine Faulkner Development Events Manager

Sophie Richardson Tours Manager

Christina McNeill Corporate Relations Manager

Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager

Jo Cotter Tours Co-ordinator Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians

Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager Ellie Franklin Development Assistant Georgie Gulliver Development Assistant Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate

Public Relations Premier classical@premiercomms.co.uk Tel: 020 7292 7355/ 0207 292 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

Christopher Alderton Stage Manager

Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director

Damian Davis Transport Manager

Mairi Warren Marketing Manager

Hannah Verkerk Orchestra Co-ordinator and Auditions Administrator

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

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

Laura Kitson Assistant Transport & Stage Manager

Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Cover artwork Ross Shaw Printer Cantate

Harriet Dalton Website Manager (maternity leave) Rachel Smith Website Manager (maternity cover) Greg Felton Digital Creative Alexandra Lloyd Marketing Co-ordinator Tom Wright Marketing Assistant

24 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045.