LPO Tune In newsletter – Spring/Summer 2020

– SPRING / SUMMER 2020 –

2004 2003 1904 1903 2009 2002 1804 1803 1909 1902 2006 1809 1802 1906 2010 2001 2008 1806 2010 1901 2007 1908 2010 1801 1907 1808 1807

A conversation between the past, present and future of music. begins 8 February

2020 VISION

WAGNER’S COMPLETE RING CYCLE

BACKSTAGE

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– 06 –

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Three centuries collide in our new year-long series

We embark on our greatest challenge yet, with Vladimir Jurowski in 2021

Meet LPO trumpeter Anne McAneney

NEW ON THE LPO LABEL

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5

BEETHOVEN

SYMPHONY NO. 3 (EROICA) SYMPHONY NO. 5 KURT MASUR conductor LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

MAJOR PARTNER

Kurt Masur conductor £9.99 | LPO-0112 | Released March 2019

MAHLER

PRINCIPAL SUPPORTERS

Symphony No. 4 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sofia Fomina soprano £9.99 | LPO-0113 | Released July 2019

MOZART MOZART FLUTE CONCERTO NO. 2 SINFONIA CONCERTANTE FOR FOUR WINDS BASSOON CONCERTO VLADIMIR JUROWSKI conductor JULIETTE BAUSOR flute JONATHAN DAVIES bassoon IAN HARDWICK oboe JOHN RYAN horn THOMAS WATMOUGH clarinet LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Flute Concerto No. 2 Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds Bassoon Concerto Vladimir Jurowski conductor Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra £9.99 | LPO-0114 | Released November 2019

RAVI SHANKAR Sukanya

David Murphy conductor £14.99 (2 CDs) | LPO-0115 Released January 2020

KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI Horn Concerto | Adagio for Strings Threnody | Violin Concerto No. 1 KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI

VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1 THRENODY HORN CONCERTO ADAGIO FOR STRING ORCHESTRA KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI conductor MICHAŁ DWORZYŃSKI conductor BARNABÁS KELEMEN violin RADOVAN VLATKOVIĆ horn LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Coming soon

Krzysztof Penderecki | Michał Dworzyński conductors Radovan Vlatković horn Barnabás Kelemen violin LPO-0116 | Release date 28 February 2020

CDs available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242), all good CD outlets and the Southbank Centre Shop, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall.

Download or stream online via Spotify, Apple Music, Primephonic, Idagio and others.

LPO CORPORATE CIRCLE freuds Sunshine Berenberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce

Ageas Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Walpole

PREFERRED PARTNERS After Digital Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd London Orthopaedic Clinic Steinway Villa Maria

IN-KIND SPONSOR Google Inc

TUNE IN – SPRING / SUMMER 2020 –

WELCOME

H

appy New Year, and welcome to the Spring 2020 edition of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s newsletter, Tune In. As I write, we’re enjoying the final concerts of our year-long series Isle of Noises, during which we’ve celebrated the music of the British Isles from Purcell to Thomas Adès. In the New Year we’re looking forward to launching our brand new series, 2020 Vision. Throughout 2020 we’ll explore the journey of music with pioneering works that have defined the sound of the 21st century, alongside pieces written exactly 100 and 200 years before: turn the page for a glimpse of the illuminating programmes in store.

Last summer we shared the news of our new Principal Conductor Designate, Edward Gardner, who will take up the baton in September 2021 when Vladimir Jurowski’s tenure concludes. We are now thrilled to announce that, as a landmark of his final season as Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor before becoming Conductor Emeritus, Vladimir Jurowski will conduct two complete Wagner Ring Cycles with the Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall in January and February 2021. These performances promise to be a sensational culmination to an extraordinary 14 years of growth and transformation for the Orchestra under Vladimir’s visionary leadership: read more on page 6.

With such stunning and polished performances to relish in the concert hall, it’s easy to overlook the unseen efforts that go into getting the Orchestra onstage, on tour or into the recording studio. This year, our Annual Appeal highlights this vital behind-the-scenes work: from the music librarians painstakingly

Timothy Walker © Chris Blott

Editor Rachel Williams Publisher London Philharmonic Orchestra Printer Conquest Litho Cover image LPO 2020 Vision visuals by Ross Shaw @ JMG Studio

– TIMOTHY WALKER – Chief Executive and Artistic Director

LPO 2020/21 SEASON Booking for our 2020/21 season opens on Tuesday 3 March online and via the LPO Ticket Office.

marking-up parts, to the stage crew loading and unloading our truck, to our Ticket Office processing hundreds of orders each week.

It’s not always glamorous, but these things are crucial in ensuring that repertoire is ready, that seats are filled and that future musicians are supported to develop their potential.

Turn to page 7 or visit lpo.org.uk/donate to learn more about how you can support these vital ‘nuts and bolts’ of our work. On page 12 we also spend time with LPO Stage Manager Laura Kitson, in which she shares some of the highs and lows of life ‘on the road’ with the Orchestra.

In October, the LPO launched the Open Sound Ensemble – a group music-making opportunity during the school holidays for young people with special educational needs and disabilities. We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive feedback from participants following the first course in October 2019, some of which we share with you on page 11.

Thank you for your support of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. I hope you will be able to join us this year, whether as part of our 2020 Vision festival at Royal Festival Hall, at our concerts across the UK or abroad.

KEEP UP TO DATE JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

To take advantage of priority booking (from Tuesday 25 February), become a Friend of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for as little as £60 a year.

Call Izzy Keig on 020 7840 4225 or visit lpo.org.uk/support/memberships.

facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER twitter.com/LPOrchestra

WATCH US ON YOUTUBE youtube.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

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CONTENTS 2020 VISION 04–05 WAGNER RING CYCLE 06 2019/20 ANNUAL APPEAL 07 NEW & NOTEWORTHY 08–10 OPEN SOUND ENSEMBLE 11 LAURA KITSON: STAGE MANAGER 12 CONCERT LISTINGS 13–15 BACKSTAGE: ANNE MCANENEY 16

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, we cannot accept liability for any statement or error contained herein. © 2020 London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The paper used for printing this magazine has been sourced from responsibly managed forests, certified in accordance with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). It is manufactured to the ISO 14001 international standard, minimising negative impacts on the environment and is manufactured from pulp that has been bleached without the use of chlorine compounds using oxygen (elemental chlorine free), which are considered harmful to the environment.

Concert listings and booking information on pages 13–15 – 03 –

TUNE IN – SPRING / SUMMER 2020 –

LPO 2019/20 SEASON

2020 VISION Throughout 2020, our new ‘2020 Vision’ series will explore the journey of music with pioneering works that have defined the sound of the 21st century, alongside pieces written exactly 100 and 200 years before. Richard Bratby brings the series into focus with a glimpse of what’s in store. punctuated the first two decades of the 19th century, so the LPO has chosen pieces that represent the sound of the 21st – each one separated by exactly two centuries from Beethoven’s world.

So Beethoven’s First Symphony (published in 1801) encounters Péter Eötvös’s trumpet concerto Snatches from a Conversation (premiered in 2001) in the series opener on 8 February. The subversive energy of the Second Symphony, composed in 1802, strikes sparks off the magical Violin Concerto of 2002 by the late Oliver Knussen (19 February): a composer who, tragically, has already passed into history. But what a way to remember him! In this way, a celebration of Beethoven’s birthday doubles as a chance to take stock of the 21st century; of where we stand here and now. After all, the century is now two decades old, and pieces that we still think of as brand new are already old enough to vote, drink and get married. And there comes a time in the life of any piece – at least, if it’s destined to last – when a brilliant premiere is no longer enough.

Oliver Knussen, whose Violin Concerto will be performed by Leila Josefowicz and the LPO on 19 February 2020.

lpo.org.uk/2020vision – 04 –

Ravi Shankar, whose Symphony will be performed by the LPO on 22 April 2020.

It needs and deserves to be heard again. It’s a problem that fascinates LPO Chief Executive and Artistic Director Timothy Walker.

‘I’d been chatting a lot with music publishers about the fact that there are so many great new works being written, and that not enough of them are getting the regular performances that they deserve and which they need if they’re to become established repertoire pieces. It occurred to me that we should perhaps have a bit of a moratorium on commissioning new music, and instead look again at the best works that had been written recently. So we came up with this idea of choosing a work from each year of the 21st century, and then programming it with pieces from 100 or 200 years before. I hope we’ll get the audience to start thinking about the fact that these works being written now might well be the works that audiences in a hundred years’ time listen to as regularly as we listen to Beethoven, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.’

Oliver Knussen © Mark Allan/BBC – Ravi Shaknar © Vincent Limongelli

H

ow do you solve a problem like Ludwig van Beethoven?

Or – to put it more precisely – his 250th birthday? Let’s be clear: there’s absolutely no problem with Beethoven. He’s still as central to any great orchestra as Shakespeare is to the Royal Shakespeare Company. Still, where does that leave us when something special is required?

A 250th birthday is too big to be ignored, and all the signs are that 2020 is going to be Beethoven’s year on a global scale. But Beethoven never followed the herd; and nor does the LPO. ‘Your genius is centuries in advance’, wrote Prince Galitzin to Beethoven in 1824. So how about using his music not as an excuse to look backwards (always the temptation in classical music), but as a lens through which we can look forward to the 20th, and then the 21st century? That’s the basic idea, and – naturally – it’s called 2020 Vision: an attempt to get Beethoven clearly in perspective from the year 2020. Just as his defining masterpieces

2020 Vision visuals © LPO/Ross Shaw @ JMG Studio

TUNE IN – SPRING / SUMMER 2020 –

That’s quite a claim. ‘Well, there is so much good repertoire. Basically the idea is just to try and get people to understand that, for example, Thomas Adès’s piano concerto In Seven Days is a work that audiences are already demanding to hear on a regular basis.

It was written in 2008, and I think this will be our third outing for it already. Tom [Adès] conducted it last season and Vladimir will conduct it this season; and we’ll have had two different soloists playing it. And we know it’s worth it, just from how the audience has reacted. There’s a feeling that you get, there in the hall when you’re sitting as part of the audience: you can just tell when a work appeals.’

And as a retrospective on the 21st-century story so far, 2020 Vision offers a wonderfully diverse cross-section of the contemporary scene. Rautavaara’s nature-inspired Book of Visions (26 February); Penderecki’s powerful 2005 tribute to the late Pope John Paul II (28 February: see page 10]; Dutilleux’s meditation on time Le temps l’horloge (Edward Gardner conducts; 28 March) – these are works that speak to the concerns of a new century as well as to eternal truths. Has it been easy to choose the right pieces?

‘Well, it’s come together in an interesting way, I think – we haven’t chosen pieces just because they fit with the dates. There are some slight wriggles along the way, where we might play a later version of a piece composed in an appropriate year– that sort of thing.

I really wanted to include Ravi Shankar’s Symphony [which the LPO premiered in 2010] and so we decided to have two “full stops”, one at the end of each decade, where we would play only music from 2010 and 2020.’

So Shankar’s Symphony (Shankar’s daughter Anoushka will be playing the sitar solo) will be set alongside American masterpieces from 2010 by Philip Glass and John Corigliano (22 April). The other ‘full stop’ will come in December 2020, and while the full programme for the second half of 2020 Vision is yet to be released, it’s an open secret that the LPO has commissioned a major large-scale work, which will be given its world premiere by the Orchestra in late 2020 to bring the series to an exciting close.

But there’s another dimension to the project – and one which offers another opportunity to re-examine both our own time and Beethoven’s. Between Beethoven’s era and ours, in a world simultaneously like and

Three centuries collide: Beethoven, Scriabin & Saariaho on 25 March 2020.

entirely unlike that of 1820 or 2020, comes the generation of 1900–20: the composers of the fin de siècle who saw a world remade in war. So halfway between 1801 and 2001 comes 1901 – and the epic Second Symphony

by Alexander Scriabin, the Russian maverick whose art was gradually engulfed by ecstatic, apocalyptic visions (8 February). He reappears in 1906 – when his surging, erotically-charged Poem of Ecstasy throws an iridescent light on music by Kaija Saariaho and, of course, Beethoven: the high-octane Symphony No. 4 (25 March).

Sometimes, though, the choice of repertoire is too obvious to resist. For 1909, why wouldn’t you choose to play Rachmaninoff’s huge (and hugely popular) Third Piano Concerto (8 April)? Especially when you’ve got Vladimir Jurowski to conduct and a keyboard lion like Nikolai Lugansky as soloist. ‘We’ve got a big hall of course – 2,800 seats – and that focuses the mind on what’s going to work and what’s going to bring in a good audience’, says Walker. Come for the Rachmaninoff; stay to discover something new! And with such a popular concerto as an anchor, Jurowski is free to explore a song-cycle from 2009 by British composer Ryan Wigglesworth, and – from 1809 – the first symphony of the French composer Étienne Méhul: music charged with the spirit of revolution, and proof positive that Beethoven was not working in a vacuum.

It’s a useful reminder that it’s not just contemporary music that falls between the cracks of history. Set your time machine to lpo.org.uk/2020vision – 05 –

100 or even 200 years ago, and you’ll find plenty of great music that deserves that elusive second hearing. As a violinist, Louis Spohr brought critics to their knees, and he actually played chamber music with Beethoven. So it’ll be intriguing to hear his Second Violin Concerto of 1804, played by Sergej Krylov (26 February). And how about Osmo Vänskä conducting the luminous, youthful First Symphony, written in 1905, by the Romanian George Enescu (28 February) – music in which the LPO has quietly been building a Europe-wide reputation? As Walker explains: ‘We’ve been a regular guest at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, and of course they often ask us to play Enescu. That focuses your mind on composers that might otherwise not appear so often in London. We’ve prepared these works, and performed them overseas, and this is an opportunity to bring them home.

What is interesting is that the Orchestra can learn a new work and then somehow in the intervening months and years digest it – and when they come back to it, it can suddenly be a revelation. The mind does interesting things with that stored memory. It evolves into something really great and dynamic.’

In other words, it makes for a terrific concert. Anniversaries come and go, and if any composer can manage without our help, it’s Beethoven. But 2020 Vision is an attempt to harness his enduring power to help works and composers who, through no great fault of their own, do perhaps need a bit of a rocket-booster to give them the attention they deserve.

Whether they’re the classics of tomorrow, or neglected gems awaiting rediscovery, is for you to decide. Meanwhile 2020 Vision invites you to hear Beethoven in a completely new way – and in doing so, to enjoy the wonderful, startlingly modern possibilities of the musical world that he created.

RICHARD BRATBY WRITES ABOUT MUSIC FOR THE SPECTATOR, GRAMOPHONE AND THE BIRMINGHAM POST.

2020 Vision begins on 8 February 2020 and runs until December. Turn to pages 13–14 for full listings of concerts in the first half of the year. The second half of the series will be announced with our 2020/21 season launch in February (see page 3).

TUNE IN – SPRING / SUMMER 2020 –

LPO NEWS

COMPLETE WAGNER RING CYCLES IN 2021

tickets for each complete cycle are priced at £90–£450 and can be purchased online at lpo.org.uk/ringcycle or via the LPO Ticket Office on 020 7840 4242.

We invite those of you who can to support us as we embark on this epic project. Donate £100 and receive a replica page from the Ring score annotated by Vladimir Jurowski and a signed commemorative programme with your name listed as a Ring Cycle supporter.

Donate £400 (per concertgoer) and further your involvement with an invite to a postGötterdämmerung reception to meet singers and LPO musicians, as well as receiving a replica page from the Ring score and your name listed in a signed commemorative programme. These add-on donations can be made online or over the phone when you book tickets. Alternatively, contact Rosie Morden on 020 7840 4212.

FULL DETAILS AND BOOKING lpo.org.uk/ringcycle

GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY MEMBERS OF THE ORCHESTRA’S RING CYCLE SYNDICATE AND THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE SUPPORTED WITH A RING CYCLE ADD-ON DONATION.

Ring Cycle 1: January 2021 Das Rheingold Mon 25 Jan Die Walküre Wed 27 Jan Siegfried Fri 29 Jan Götterdämmerung Sun 31 Jan

7.00pm 5.00pm 4.00pm 3.00pm

Ring Cycle 2: February 2021

‘Fit for the gods’: Jurowski conducts the LPO in Die Walküre at Royal Festival Hall, 27 January 2019.

lpo.org.uk/ringcycle – 06 –

Das Rheingold Fri 5 Feb Die Walküre Sat 6 Feb Siegfried Mon 8 Feb Götterdämmerung Wed 10 Feb

7.00pm 4.00pm 4.00pm 3.00pm

LPO Ring Cycle 2021 visuals © LPO/Ross Shaw @ JMG Studio – Die Walküre © Simon Jay Price

I

n January 2021 we reach the end of a remarkable three-year journey with the culmination of our acclaimed Wagner Ring Cycle project, as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski embark on two semistaged complete Ring Cycles at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

These performances complete the LPO’s epic Wagner project which began with Das Rheingold in 2018 and Die Walküre in 2019, and continues with Siegfried (1 February 2020) followed by the full cycle – including Götterdämmerung – in 2021. The starstudded concert stagings will be conducted

by Vladimir Jurowski as a landmark of his final season as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Orchestra. Following the performance of Die Walküre in January 2019, the Financial Times wrote: ‘Jurowski’s Wagner is fit for the gods … Jurowski and the London Philharmonic on fine form had as much to say as many a fully-staged production.’

The casts for the two cycles feature many acclaimed Wagner specialists including Patricia Bardon, Ruxandra Donose, Matthew Rose, Christian Elsner, Burkhard Fritz, Torsten Kerl, Lise Lindstrom, Robert Hayward, Derek Welton, Allan Clayton, Kai Rüütel and Brindley Sherratt. A number of soloists will be making important role debuts, such as Matthew Rose as Wotan in Die Walküre and Brindley Sherratt as Hagen in Götterdämmerung.

The performances are on sale now:

The Ring is, of course, a work that offers a feast of interpretative possibilities to directors and dramaturgs. In 1976, Patrice Chéreau’s Bayreuth Centenary production, which set the action in an industrialised society, opened a new era in the staging of opera. Since then, the Ring has been reinvented so many times – and sometimes so controversially – that, as the Financial Times wrote, ‘a concert performance seems to be the only way of putting the spotlight back on the orchestra and singers.’ Jurowski adds: ‘Conducting the Ring is possibly the single most challenging undertaking for any conductor, but I cannot imagine a better partner for this than the London Philharmonic Orchestra. I hope that we have already shown that experiencing these operas in imaginative concert stagings is a hugely powerful and fulfilling way to enjoy Wagner’s magnificent scores, and I hope that music lovers from around the world will join us for this momentous event.’

Timothy Walker, LPO Chief Executive and Artistic Director, says: ‘Vladimir’s creative energy and artistic rigour with the LPO have been nothing less than transformational.

Two complete performances of Wagner’s massive Ring cycle in as many weeks, considered by many to be the supreme test for a conductor, players and singers, seem a fitting tribute to Vladimir in his last season as Principal Conductor, and a magnificent way for the Orchestra to acknowledge our deepest gratitude to him.’

For full details, call the LPO Ticket Office on 020 7840 4242 or visit our website:

TUNE IN – SPRING / SUMMER 2020 –

COME BEHIND THE SCENES

You know the London Philharmonic Orchestra for our UK concerts, our international tours, the residency at Glyndebourne, our education work and music recordings...

BUT BEHIND THE WORK THAT YOU DO SEE IS A WORLD OF WORK THAT YOU DON’T.

2277

To deliver 20 concert performances on tour, 2277 hotel rooms will be booked.

DURING OUR INCREDIBLY AMBITIOUS 2019/20 SEASON...

135

To support our Young Talent schemes, LPO members will deliver 234 hours of mentoring.

7500

The LPO Library will produce an average of 65 folders of music for every concert.

560

To record key performances, more than 560 participation forms will be prepared.

For a single performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, 3440 pages of music will be ordered – and that’s just the chorus parts.

234

Performing 54 operas at Glyndebourne will require the coordination of 135 hours of ensemble rehearsals.

65

3440

The LPO Ticket Office will process over 7500 tickets for primary school children to experience a live orchestral concert.

24

Approximately 24 hours of raw footage will be shot, edited and crafted into content for our digital platforms.

SUPPORT THE UNSEEN WORK OF THE ORCHESTRA. lpo.org.uk/donate – 07 –

4x2

4 TONNES

For every rehearsal and every concert, the on-the-road team will load and unload over four tonnes of instruments and flight cases … twice.

LPO.ORG.UK/DONATE

TUNE IN – SPRING / SUMMER 2020 –

LPO NEWS

NEW & NOTEWORTHY SAVE THE DATE: SUMMER GALA 2020

NEW LPO TRUCK In November our Stage & Transport team welcomed a handsome new addition – our new truck. The 18-tonne Volvo FH vehicle was custom-built to the LPO’s specifications, with an emphasis on safety and environmental impact. Designed specifically to be ‘Londonsafe’, the ultra low-emission vehicle complies with central London ULEZ standards, and has a state-of-the-art 360-degree bike camera system to ensure the safety of other road users.

Most trucks carry just two passengers in the cab, but ours has been specially adapted with a ‘crew cab’ that can accommodate four people – including two pull-out beds – invaluable for long night drives on tour!

With a trailer custom-built by Oakley Horseboxes in Ware, the truck also features a loading ramp to wheel flight cases and equipment directly on and off, an electronic moveable shelf for more flexible loading, and climate control to keep its precious cargo at room temperature. Keep your eyes out for us next time you’re on the road!

The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual Gala is the most illustrious event in the Orchestra’s calendar. Each year we bring together friends and supporters of the LPO – longstanding and new – to celebrate the Orchestra’s activities and to raise muchneeded funds towards our core work, on the concert platform and beyond.

The next Gala sees the LPO return to the exquisite surroundings of Banqueting House on Monday 1 June 2020. Following a Champagne Taittinger reception, guests will enjoy a special performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and guest soloists, curated by Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor, Vladimir Jurowski. This will be followed by a sumptuous three-course meal and Silent Auction.

The 2020 Gala will be a celebration of opera, and the LPO’s heritage both on the concert platform and in the opera house.

The LPO has been Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera for over 50 years and, in 2021, we will take on our most ambitious opera project yet with two complete cycles of Wagner’s Ring at Royal Festival Hall (see page 6).

For more information, or to buy tickets or a table, please email gala@lpo.org.uk or call Vicky Moran, Development Events Manager, on 020 7840 4207.

FIND OUT MORE lpo.org.uk/gala

RING THE BELLS – UPDATE Throughout December, more than 50 choirs around the UK joined the London Philharmonic Choir’s campaign performing Paul Fincham’s carol Ring the Bells in aid of homeless charity Crisis UK. Each choir bought copies of the sheet music, from which composer royalties have been pledged.

The Crouch End Festival Chorus, Hallé Choirs and London Symphony Chorus supported the initiative, along with a raft of choral societies, cathedral, school and chamber choirs. The LPC performed Ring the Bells at Royal Festival Hall under Toby Purser and at Cadogan Hall conducted by the Choir’s Artistic Director, Neville Creed. Donations and collections for both Crisis and other local homeless shelters were still being counted at the time of writing and we’re looking forward to hearing how much has been raised from the LPC recording, which was streaming nearly 4500 times per day throughout December. We’ll let you know when we have the final figures.

FIND OUT MORE

CAROLS AT WATERLOO

lpc.org.uk/ringthebells

DOWNLOAD THE TRACK lpo.org.uk/recordings

LPO Concerts & Tours Assistant Chrissie & LPO Archive volunteer Gillian collecting for Save the Children

On 6 December we once again shared some festive cheer at Waterloo station. LPO brass players and singers from the London Philharmonic Choir entertained commuters with Christmas carols, collecting for Save the Children. Thanks to everyone who donated!

The LPO 2019 Spring Gala at Banqueting House, to which we will return for our 2020 Gala on 1 June.

lpo.org.uk – 08 –

On Saturday 26 October, prior to our Royal Festival Hall concert, the LPO was delighted to host a number of supporters who have pledged to leave the Orchestra a gift in their Will. Guests were invited to the Beecham Bar for drinks and canapés, where LPO Chief Executive and Artistic Director Timothy Walker thanked them for their generosity and commitment.

Find out more at lpo.org.uk/giftsinwills or contact Rosie Morden, Individual Giving Manager, on 020 7840 4212.

Banqueting House © James Young

LEGACY DONORS THANK YOU EVENT

TUNE IN – SPRING / SUMMER 2020 –

LPO CORPORATE CIRCLE

GRAMOPHONE AWARD FOR BRETT DEAN’S HAMLET AT GLYNDEBOURNE

We are delighted to introduce you to the LPO Corporate Circle, a membership offering for corporate supporters. The LPO Corporate Circle scheme understands that not all companies are the same and aims to provide a bespoke experience to each member.

From just £1,800, businesses have access to VIP tickets for the season at Royal Festival Hall including hospitality in the LPO’s private bar. LPO Corporate Circle members can customise their membership, allowing them to add other unique benefits to suit their needs. This includes CSR opportunities such as sending entire classes of schoolchildren to an LPO BrightSparks concert or rewarding staff with employee concert tickets.

To find out more about LPO Corporate Circle or for more information on what the LPO can do for your business, contact Christina McNeill, Corporate Relations Manager, on 020 7840 4210 or corporatecircle@lpo.org.uk FIND OUT MORE lpo.org.uk/corporate

Glyndebourne © Sam Stephenson – Brett Dean © Bettina Stoess

JOIN US ON STAGE! The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s calendar of events provides a wide range of activities for supporters to meet the Orchestra and staff. We enjoy sharing opportunities to hear performances by LPO musicians in special settings and helping our supporters gain a deeper understanding of our work through insight events.

This season we are delighted to introduce a new event to our programme. On Saturday 28 March we invite our supporters to join us to learn more about the evening’s concert programme. Taking place on the stage at Royal Festival Hall before the concert, guests will hear from Principal Conductor Designate Edward Gardner and LPO musicians as they discuss the evening’s programme and their experiences in the LPO. Following the talk, guests are invited to join the LPO’s Beecham Bar for Villa Maria wines and canapés ahead of the performance. This is a unique opportunity to experience one of London’s leading performance venues from the point of view of the Orchestra, and learn more about the LPO from those at its heart.

If you are interested in finding out more about ways to support the LPO and enjoying access to our events, including this one, please contact Rosie Morden on 020 7840 4212 or at rosie.morden@lpo.org.uk, or visit our website: FIND OUT MORE

2020 GLYNDEBOURNE OPERA CUP

Composer Brett Dean

We were delighted to hear in October that the Contemporary category of the 2019 Gramophone Awards was won by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera world premiere production of Brett Dean’s opera Hamlet, released on DVD on the Opus Arte label.

Featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, the 2017 production boasts a stellar cast including Allan Clayton, Barbara Hannigan and Sarah Connolly.

‘Brilliant music, rapturously received – Dean’s music offers great brilliance.’ **** (The Daily Telegraph).

The DVD is available to buy from glyndebourneshop.com, priced £25 (DVD) or £30 (Blu-ray).

SEE THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS gramophone.co.uk/awards

As Resident Symphony Orchestra of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the LPO has been invited to accompany the finals of the prestigious Glyndebourne Opera Cup in March. Established in 2018, the competition is open to all singers under the age of 21 and offers a top prize of £15,000 and a guaranteed role at a leading international opera house. The jury features representatives from top international opera houses along with leading singers including British opera legends Sir Thomas Allen and Dame Felicity Lott. For this year’s competition, singers will be invited to perform operatic arias by Mozart, Rossini and a selection of French 19th-century composers. The final will be broadcast live on Sky Arts on 7 March.

FIND OUT MORE glyndebourne.com/operacup

lpo.org.uk/support

lpo.org.uk – 09 –

HIGH NOTES

Mid-flight: LPO string Principals Kevin Lin, Tania Mazzetti, Richard Waters & Pei-Jee Ng

To celebrate the launch of our 2019/20 season in September, the London Eye invited a quartet of LPO players to perform Borodin’s String Quartet while enjoying a unique view of the Orchestra’s Southbank home!

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LPO NEWS

NEW & NOTEWORTHY CONTINUED PENDERECKI AND POPE JOHN PAUL II

NEW PRINCIPAL TRUMPET

LPO BOARD UPDATE

On 28 February, the LPO under conductor Osmo Vänskä will perform Krzysztof Penderecki’s Chaconne, composed in memory of Karol Józef Wojtyła (1920–2005), also known as Pope John Paul II. Our colleagues at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, which is supporting this performance through the Polska Music programme, explain how Karol Wojtyła’s 100th anniversary in 2020 offers an ideal opportunity to highlight the Pope’s links with the Polish composer, which led to the programming of this work in our LPO season: ‘Karol Wojtyła’s first vocation was art: from his student days onwards he wanted to be remembered as a poet, playwright, actor and theatre director. During World War II, following the invasion of Poland and the deaths of his mother, brother and father, he discovered that when everything is lost, then it is culture that becomes the unfailing source of our identity. For him, his otherwise unexpected choice to follow a priestly vocation was but a logical step in his art, and the papacy became his ultimate performance on the world stage.

Over a period of 24 years, Penderecki created his Polish Requiem: the musical image of Polish contemporary martyrology – from the murder of Polish officers in Katyń, through to the pontificate of John Paul II. He began the work in 1980 when the Lacrimosa was composed, dedicated to trade union leader Lech Wałęsa. Mstislav Rostropovich marvelled at the piece, and reserved for himself the privilege of conducting its fuller version.

Later Penderecki added the Agnus Dei for Cardinal Wyszyński, and the Dies irae.

In 1984 Rostropovich conducted the premiere of the Polish Requiem in Stuttgart, by then supplemented with the Requiem aeternam, Kyrie, Tuba mirum and Mors stupebit, as well as the Lux aeterna, Libera me, Domine and Finale (now known as the ‘1984 version’).

However, this was not yet the end – in 1993 Penderecki added the Sanctus, and after the death of Karol Wojtyła (John Paul II) in 2005, the Chaconne for strings, which LPO audiences will hear on 28 February.’

Michał Łuczewski Filip Lech/culture.pl

We are thrilled to announce the appointment of James Fountain as the Orchestra’s Joint Principal Trumpet from February 2020, alongside current Principal Paul Beniston.

James joins us from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was appointed Principal Trumpet in 2015 at the age of 20, while still a student at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. With a musical pedigree in the brass band world, he held Principal Cornet positions in the National Youth Brass Band, the GUS Band and the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, all before the age of 18.

James is a member of the highly acclaimed brass group ‘Septura’, and is also a Professor of Trumpet at the Royal College of Music.

Following a meeting of the LPO’s Player Directors in November, violinist Martin Höhmann was unanimously elected as the Orchestra’s President. Bassoonist Gareth Newman will remain Vice-President.

Martin Höhmann We are delighted that previous President and Principal Piccolo Stewart McIlwham will remain a Player Director in order to support Martin and the rest of the Board and enable a smooth transition. The Board would like to express their sincere thanks for the commitment Stewart has given over many years’ service as both Player Director and President.

iam.pl

In February Laura Murphy joins the Orchestra’s Double Bass section. Laura will be a familiar face to many, having played with the Orchestra as an extra for several years.

Originally from Wrexham, she studied with Richard Lewis of the LPO, Thomas Millar (CBSO), and later Kevin Rundell (LPO) at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Laura subsequently enjoyed a year in Southbank Sinfonia, and went on to participate in the Hallé/RNCM String Leadership Scheme. She enjoyed a successful freelance career before becoming a member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2018. Aside from playing the bass, Laura likes yoga and getting outdoors.

lpo.org.uk/about/board

CONCERTS TEAM At the end of 2019, our Stage Manager Christopher Alderton left the LPO to take up an exciting new position in the stage management team of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.

Christopher has been a loyal member of the Concerts team for many years and we will miss him greatly. We are, however, delighted that Laura Kitson has been promoted to the role of Stage Manager, and we also welcome Stephen O’Flaherty as Stage Manager to work alongside Laura and Transport Manager Damian Davis on stage and driving duties.

Turn to page 12 to meet Laura and find out more about her role.

Glyndebourne and Projects Manager Sophie Richardson decided not to return to work at the LPO following her maternity leave.

However we are delighted that Fabio Sarlo, who had been covering the role, has agreed to stay on permanently.

OUR STAFF TEAM: lpo.org.uk/about/staff

MEET OUR MEMBERS lpo.org.uk/players

Laura Kitson, Stephen O’Flaherty & Fabio Sarlo

FOR FULL CONCERT DETAILS SEE PAGE 14.

lpo.org.uk – 10 –

James Fountain © Juliette Koch – Laura Murphy © Nigel Tufty – Martin Höhmann © Benjamin Ealovega

ADAM MICKIEWICZ INSTITUTE & POLSKA MUSIC

DOUBLE BASS NEWS

OUR BOARD & ADVISORY COUNCIL

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LPO EDUCATION & COMMUNITY

OPEN SOUND ENSEMBLE In October, the LPO launched the Open Sound Ensemble – a group music-making opportunity during the school holidays for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

O

ur pioneering Education & Community department has a long heritage of providing music-making opportunities for people with disabilities.

What began as the ‘Adopt-a-Class’ project, partnering with special schools in the early 2000s, evolved into our successful Sound Journeys SEN schools’ programme, which ran between 2013 and 2018. We developed our work with disabled adults in parallel with this, launching OrchLab in 2017, an innovative project supporting music-making with both traditional and digital instruments, in partnership with Drake Music.

Our commitment to inclusivity continued to develop in autumn 2019 with the launch of Open Sound Ensemble: a free, inclusive ensemble for young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their parents or carers in Greenwich. We spent time consulting with focus groups of parents and carers of disabled children in the area, many of whom told us of their frustration at the gap in provision for their young people during the school holidays, when both children and parents can experience isolation and lack of

social opportunities. In response to this we identified a need for an out-of-school opportunity for these young people to develop their musical skills in an ongoing ensemble, allowing them to experience the sense of belonging to a group and fostering pride in their collective music-making.

Following a taster day in July 2019, the inaugural Open Sound Ensemble course took place over two days during the October half-term. Sixteen young people and their parents/carers took part, split across two groups according to their abilities and prior musical experience. Workshop leader John Webb was supported by oboist Amy Roberts and cellist Jane Lindsay, both former LPO Foyle Future Firsts participants. Ahead of the course, John created mixed-ability musical arrangements of pieces in which everyone had their own part to play: some participants already played instruments such as keyboard or guitar; some chose to join in on percussion instruments like xylophones and djembes; others played using musical apps on iPads.

By responding flexibly to the individual abilities of the young musicians taking part, we were able to create a musical role for

everyone in the group. The two-day course concluded with a short informal performance to family and friends.

Following the course, the feedback from participants and their parents and carers was overwhelmingly positive, with their comments reflecting the inclusivity of the ensemble and its collective nature. One parent wrote: ‘It truly was a beautiful experience making amazing music together.

A huge thank you – you were all incredible and brought smiles and tears of joy!’ Another said: ‘I felt so much joy being with the whole group, collectively enjoying the experience.

Personally I find music powerfully healing and believe it’s a great form of escapism from my caring duties’. Another wrote to us to say: ‘My daughter had never tried [the percussion instrument] the cajón before and has since fallen in love!’. Not only did the parents and carers throw themselves into the sessions alongside their young people, but the LPO musicians also enjoyed themselves hugely.

Oboist Amy Roberts explains: ‘I found it personally very rewarding – there was lots of joy from the young people along the way, as well as concentration, hard work and creativity. I was particularly touched when at the end one boy said how much he’d enjoyed playing the xylophone and being part of the group.’

With support from the Royal Greenwich Music Hub through the South Riverside Music Partnership, the LPO Open Sound Ensemble courses will run three times a year in school holidays. The next course is February half-term (20 & 21 Februrary), followed by a summer holiday course (28 & 29 July).

To find out more visit lpo.org.uk/opensound, or if you have any questions please call Hannah Tripp on 020 7840 4227 or email opensound@lpo.org.uk THE AUTUMN 2019 LPO OPEN SOUND ENSEMBLE COURSE WAS KINDLY SUPPORTED BY THOMAS DEANE TRUST. THE LPO OPEN SOUND ENSEMBLE IS ALSO GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE VINEY FAMILY AND THE SCHRODER CHARITY TRUST

Open Sound Ensemble Taster Day participants, July 2019

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LPO PEOPLE

GETTING THE SHOW ON THE ROAD Laura Kitson has been the Orchestra’s Assistant Stage & Transport Manager since 2018, and has recently been promoted to Stage Manager.

We find out more about what her role entails ...

What was your career path prior to joining the LPO team?

I did a music degree, studying trumpet at Trinity Laban, and during my time there I got involved in stage-managing student concerts, which I really enjoyed. While a student I did some freelance work helping out the LPO and LSO stage teams, and when I graduated in 2013 I applied for a full-time job at Trinity as Performance Operations Co-ordinator, and got the job! I spent five years there, stagemanaging all types of performances – orchestral, musical theatre, chamber music – before I joined the LPO last November as Assistant Stage & Transport Manager.

You’re known as the LPO’s ‘On-the-Road’ team – who do you work with on a daily basis?

Our team is made up of a Transport Manager, Stage Manager, Orchestra Personnel Manager, Orchestra Co-ordinator and Librarian. We also work closely with the office-based Concerts team, who handle the contractual and administrative aspects of all the LPO’s engagements. We’ve just appointed an additional Stage Manager, Stephen [see page 10], so there will be three of us to share stage and driving duties, meaning we’ll be more flexible: there are strict laws for HGV drivers which mean we can only drive for nine hours per day, and only within a total period of 15 hours in every 24, so this can make the logistics rota tricky! Our new truck [see news item on page 8] has an adapted crew cab with two pull-down beds – these were invaluable on our recent Austria and Germany tour (November/December 2019), when we had a week of night-time driving between cities.

So once a concert is confirmed and contracted, what exactly does your job entail?

Whether it’s at Royal Festival Hall, elsewhere in the UK or on tour, our first job is to work out what equipment and instruments are needed, how they will get there (and back!), and how the stage will be laid out. We start by discussing with the conductor – each has his or her own preferences for the orchestral layout, and this will depend on the repertoire and the venue’s acoustics. I liaise with Principal Percussionist and Timpanist Andy and Simon about their requirements – again, depending on the repertoire, they will choose which of their instruments to use. Simon has four or five different sets of timps which cover different styles of music, and Andy has glockenspiels, vibraphones and xylophones in different sizes, so all this makes a difference.

We use a software program called ConceptDraw to produce a stage plan for every concert, as it’s crucial that the positioning is exactly right.

One of the things we have to bear in mind is looking after our musicians’ hearing, which means planning the layout so that the brass aren’t blasting straight down anyone’s ears.

You might sometimes notice transparent Perspex screens behind the strings on stage – these help shield players from hearing damage.

And then what happens when it comes to a concert day?

We will have loaded the LPO truck – usually the day before – with all the instruments, plus things like double bass stools (each player has their own named stool), cello chairs, conductor’s podium and all the sheet music needed for the concert, which alone can be over 300 parts. It’s like a giant game of Jenga!

Most concert-day rehearsals start at 10.30am, so whoever is driving will collect the truck from its store in Croydon at around 6am, to arrive at the venue by 7.30am. We allow two-and-a-half hours for unloading and setting up, checking that the conductor and lpo.org.uk/about/staff – 12 –

musicians are happy, and fixing any issues.

Because there are often stage moves required mid-concert, it’s important that we can do these quickly and seamlessly. We use tape to mark out positions in advance to help – we call it ‘spiking’. Sometimes you’ll see up to three different colours of tape on the floor for three different works in a single concert!

What would you say are the essential qualities for an orchestral stage manager?

Definitely a sense of humour! Also crucial is the ability to get along with all kinds of people – in this job your colleagues almost become family, so it’s vital that you get on. It’s also important to be physically fit, as there is a lot of heavy lifting.

What are your favourite and least favourite aspects of the job?

I absolutely love the variety – no two days are ever the same, and every venue brings new challenges, so it’s never dull! The hardest thing is that it’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle.

The 24/7 nature of the work and the time away from home can make it difficult to see family and friends and maintain a home life.

There’s a reason so many orchestral musicians and crew have partners in the business (many within the same orchestra!), as otherwise we’d never see each other – my partner works for ENO, so luckily he ‘gets it’.

Another great thing is the cameraderie and teamwork between the stage crews for all the different orchestras. We have an annual Christmas lunch together, and have a WhatsApp group with around 30 colleagues across the UK – we share tips about venues (especially when visiting somewhere new), compare equipment recommendations, borrow and lend kit, and, most recently of course, compare notes about Brexit preparations and all the implications for our paperwork and travel practicalities. Now that could be a whole other article in itself ...

FANCY WORKING WITH US? lpo.org.uk/about/jobs

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LPO SPRING 2020

CONCERT LISTINGS SOUTHBANK CENTRE

Saturday 1 February 2020 | 3.00pm Please note start time

Unless otherwise stated, standard prices £14–£46 Premium seats £65* London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Mon–Fri 10am–5pm lpo.org.uk *Transaction fees: £3 online, £3.50 telephone Southbank Centre Ticket Office 020 3879 9555 southbankcentre.co.uk *Transaction fees apply: £3 online; £3.50 over the phone. No transaction fees for in-person bookings, Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Concerts marked with this symbol are part of 2020 Vision.

Wagner Siegfried Vladimir Jurowski conductor Torsten Kerl Siegfried Evgeny Nikitin Wanderer Elena Pankratova Brünnhilde Adrian Thompson Mime Robert Hayward Alberich Brindley Sherratt Fafner Patricia Bardon Erda Alina Adamski Woodbird Ticket prices £25–£100 Series discounts not available for this concert.

Sung in German with English surtitles. This performance lasts 6 hours including 30 minute and 75 minute intervals.

Generously supported by members of the Orchestra’s Ring Cycle Syndicate.

Unless stated, all Southbank Centre concerts take place at Royal Festival Hall and start at 7.30pm.

Beethoven Symphony No. 1 Péter Eötvös Snatches of a Conversation Scriabin Symphony No. 2

Wednesday 15 January 2020

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Marco Blaauw trumpet Omar Ebrahim narrator

David Murphy conductor Susanna Hurrell Sukanya Alok Kumar Chyavana Jonathan Lemalu King Sharyaati Michel de Souza Aswini Twin 1 Njabulo Madlala Aswini Twin 2 Suba Das director Gauri Diwakar choreographer Matt Haskins lighting designer Synergy Vocals

Generously supported by Cockayne and the London Community Foundation.

Join us for a free pre-concert event 6.15—6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall What is the relationship between the past, present and future? Through 2020 Vision we examine what works spanning centuries have to say about one another, and how they enhance our present understanding of them.

Part of Southbank Centre’s Shankar 100 celebrations.

Originally co-produced by The Royal Opera, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Curve, Leicester.

Friday 14 February 2020 Saturday 18 January 2020 Poulenc Seven Tenebrae Responses Poulenc Organ Concerto Fauré Requiem Bertrand de Billy conductor James O’Donnell organ Katerina Tretyakova soprano Stéphane Degout baritone London Philharmonic Choir

As the world celebrates his 250th birthday in 2020, let the LPO introduce your family to one of the most brilliant composers in the history of music – Ludwig van Beethoven. Why was he so grumpy? Why did he rarely have a bath? And most importantly, why should you never serve him stew? Inspired by the book of the same name by cellist Steven Isserlis.

Join in the free pre-concert foyer activities from 10.00am–12.00 noon (FUNharmonics concert ticket-holders only).

FUNharmonics foyer activities are generously supported by Stentor Music Co. Ltd and Bell Music.

Adults £16–24, children £8–12 Wednesday 19 February 2020

Saturday 8 February 2020

Shankar Sukanya

Sunday 16 February 2020 | 12.00 noon FUNharmonics Family Concert: Why Beethoven Threw the Stew

Humperdinck Prelude, Hansel and Gretel Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte Ravel Piano Concerto in G Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Emmanuel Krivine conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano

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Beethoven Symphony No. 2 Knussen Violin Concerto Sibelius Symphony No. 2 Vasily Petrenko conductor Leila Josefowicz violin Concert generously supported by Victoria Robey OBE.

Saturday 22 February 2020 Jörg Widmann Lied for Orchestra Ravel Shéhérazade Beethoven Symphony No. 3 Dima Slobodeniouk conductor Jamie Barton mezzo-soprano

Wednesday 26 February 2020 Elgar In the South Spohr Violin Concerto No. 2 Webern Im Sommerwind Rautavaara Book of Visions Osmo Vänskä conductor Sergej Krylov violin

Join us for a free pre-concert event 6.00–7.00pm | Royal Festival Hall As part of 2020 Vision, the Foyle Future Firsts under the baton of Osmo Vänskä present a programme including Kaija Saariaho’s Solar, alongside works for brass by Sibelius.

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LPO SPRING 2020

CONCERT LISTINGS CONTINUED Friday 28 February 2020

Saturday 28 March 2020

Wednesday 22 April 2020

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 Krzysztof Penderecki Chaconne in memory of John Paul II* Enescu Symphony No. 1**

Sibelius Symphony No. 3 Dutilleux Le temps l’horloge Beethoven Symphony No. 5

John Corigliano Stomp Philip Glass Double Concerto for violin and cello Shankar Symphony

Osmo Vänskä conductor Jeremy Denk piano * Generously supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute through the Polska Music Programme. ** Generously supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute.

Wednesday 4 March 2020

Edward Gardner conductor Sally Matthews soprano Concert generously supported by Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet.

Wednesday 1 April 2020 Ives The Unanswered Question Thomas Adès In Seven Days Beethoven Symphony No. 6

Igudesman & Joo: Clash of the Soloists/Big Nightmare Music Thomas Carroll conductor

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Nicolas Hodges piano

Igudesman & Joo join the Orchestra for an evening of creativity, madness and hilarity.

Saturday 4 April 2020

Tickets £14–46 Series discounts not available for this concert.

Wednesday 11 March 2020 Beethoven Triple Concerto* Mahler Symphony No. 1 Robin Ticciati conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin Khatia Buniatishvili piano Pablo Ferrández cello * Generously supported by an anonymous donor.

Tickets £19–80 Wednesday 25 March 2020

Beethoven King Stephen Overture Beethoven Grosse Fuge Beethoven Ah! Perfido Beethoven Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lise Davidsen soprano Angharad Lyddon mezzo-soprano Thomas Atkins tenor Andrew Foster-Williams bass-baritone London Philharmonic Choir Wednesday 8 April 2020 Méhul Symphony No. 1 Ryan Wigglesworth Augenlieder* Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3

Beethoven Symphony No. 4 Kaija Saariaho Notes on Light Scriabin Symphony No. 4 (The Poem of Ecstasy)

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sophie Bevan soprano Nikolai Lugansky piano

Omer Meir Wellber conductor Johannes Moser cello

* Supported by Resonate. Resonate is a PRS Foundation initiative in partnership with the Association of British Orchestras, BBC Radio 3 and Boltini Trust.

Thursday 26 March 2020 Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall Please note venue

Beethoven String Trio No. 5 Jörg Widmann Study on Beethoven (UK premiere)† Beethoven String Quartet No. 10 (Harp) Anne-Sophie Mutter violin Pieter Schoeman violin* David Quiggle viola Kristina Blaumane cello**

Join us for a free pre-concert event 6.00–7.00pm | The Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall LPO Soundworks offers teenage composers the opportunity to collaborate with young people from different disciplines, within London and with regional partners. Following an intensive week of workshops, the creative members of our LPO Soundworks ensemble perform their own music, alongside other young artists.

Ticket prices £15–£45 All proceeds from this concert will be donated to Crisis, the national charity for homeless people. Part of Southbank Centre’s International Chamber Music Series. † Commissioned by Anne-Sophie Mutter. * Chair supported by Neil Westreich. ** Chair supported by Bianca and Stuart Roden.

Friday 17 April 2020 Haydn Symphony No. 26 (Lamentatione) Mahler Symphony No. 9 Vladimir Jurowski conductor

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Karen Kamensek conductor Daniel Hope violin Alban Gerhardt cello Anoushka Shankar sitar Generously supported by Cockayne and the London Community Foundation.

Saturday 25 April 2020 Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter Lutosławski Concerto for Orchestra* Janáček Glagolitic Mass Edward Gardner conductor Sara Jakubiak soprano Madeleine Shaw mezzo-soprano Stuart Skelton tenor James Creswell bass London Philharmonic Choir * Generously supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute through the Polska Music Programme.

Join us for a free pre-concert event 6.00–7.00pm | Royal Festival Hall Hear our LPO Junior Artists perform alongside Junior Artists alumni and their LPO mentors.

Wednesday 29 April 2020 Ravel La valse Gibbons Pavan in G minor Nico Muhly Register (Organ Concerto) (European premiere)* Fauré Pavane Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Yan Pascal Tortelier conductor James McVinnie organ * Commissioned by Southbank Centre, London.

Friday 1 May 2020 Bach (arr. Respighi) 3 Chorales Bach (arr. Stokowski) Toccata and Fugue in D minor Busoni Piano Concerto Antonio Pappano conductor Igor Levit piano Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir Concert generously supported by Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet.

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Sunday 3 May 2020 | 12.00 noon FUNharmonics Family Concert: Before the Firebird ...

Sunday 22 March 2020 | 3.00pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne 01323 412000 | eastbournetheatres.co.uk

Saturday 14 March 2020 | 8.00pm Philharmonie, Essen, Germany theater-essen.de

Igor Stravinsky’s magical ballet score The Firebird weaves the tale of a Prince, a powerful bird, and their battle to defeat an evil sorcerer and release 13 captive sisters. But just how did these brave sisters end up under King Katschei’s spell in the first place? Composer Paul Rissmann and librettist Hazel Gould’s fantastic new prequel to the traditional story may have the answer. Join us for some compelling storytelling and fantastic new participatory music, followed by extracts from Stravinsky’s original score. Join in the free preconcert foyer activities from 10.00am–12.00 noon (FUNharmonics concert ticket-holders only).

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Tchaikovsky Suite, Sleeping Beauty Tchaikovsky Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet

Beethoven Triple Concerto Mahler Symphony No. 1

Beethoven Overture, Fidelio Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 Beethoven Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral)

Monday 16 March 2020 | 8.00pm Gasteig, Munich, Germany gasteig.de

FUNharmonics foyer activities are generously supported by Stentor Music Co. Ltd and Bell Music.

Matthew Coorey conductor Joanna MacGregor piano

Brahms Tragic Overture Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 Dvořák Symphony No. 8

Adults £16–24, children £8–12 Wednesday 27 May 2020 Sibelius Violin Concerto Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 Klaus Mäkelä conductor Ray Chen violin

AROUND THE UK Sunday 19 January 2020 | 3.00pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne 01323 412000 | eastbournetheatres.co.uk Mendelssohn Overture, The Hebrides Haydn Cello Concerto in C Brahms Symphony No. 4 Thomas Blunt conductor Laura van der Heijden cello Saturday 15 February 2020 | 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall 01273 709709 | brightondome.org Dvořák Cello Concerto Sibelius Symphony No. 2 Joshua Weilerstein conductor Leonard Elschenbroich cello Sunday 23 February 2020 | 3.00pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne 01323 412000 | eastbournetheatres.co.uk Mozart Overture, The Magic Flute Sibelius Violin Concerto Dvořák Symphony No. 8 Ben Glassberg conductor Fanny Clamagirand violin

Matthew Wood conductor Igor Tchetuev piano Saturday 18 April 2020 | 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall 01273 709709 | brightondome.org

Sunday 19 April 2020 | 3.00pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne 01323 412000 | eastbournetheatres.co.uk Programme as 18 April, Brighton.

Saturday 2 May 2020 | 7.30pm Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden 0845 548 7650 | saffronhall.com Bach (arr. Respighi) 3 Chorales Bach (arr. Stokowski) Toccata and Fugue in D minor Busoni Piano Concerto Antonio Pappano conductor Igor Levit piano Sunday 17 May 2020 | 3.00pm Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden 0845 548 7650 | saffronhall.com FUNharmonics Family Concert: Before the Firebird...

Programme as 3 May, Royal Festival Hall

Artists as 13 March, Luxembourg Sunday 15 March 2020 | 8.00pm Tonhalle, Düsseldorf, Germany tonhalle.de Programme as 14 March, Essen

Robin Ticciati conductor Seong-Jin Cho piano Tuesday 17 March 2020 | 7.30pm Musikverein, Vienna, Austria musikverein.at Programme as 13 March, Luxembourg Wednesday 18 March 2020 | 8.00pm Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany alteoper.de Repertoire as 13 March, Luxembourg Robin Ticciati conductor Jan Lisiecki piano Renaud Capuçon violin Pablo Ferrández cello Thursday 19 March 2020 | 7.30pm Congress Centrum, Hannover, Germany hcc.de Programme as 13 March, Luxembourg

INTERNATIONAL CONCERTS Friday 13 March 2020 | 8.00pm Philharmonie, Luxembourg philharmonie.lu

Monday 13 April 2020 | 8.30pm Grand Théâtre, Aix-en-Provence, France lestheatres.net Mahler Symphony No. 9 Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Brahms Tragic Overture Beethoven Triple Concerto Dvořák Symphony No. 8

Tuesday 14 April 2020 | 7.30pm Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid, Spain auditorionacional.mcu.es

Robin Ticciati conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin Khatia Buniatishvili piano Pablo Ferrández cello

Programme as 13 April, Aix-en-Provence

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LPO PEOPLE

BACKSTAGE

When you became Principal Trumpet of the Royal Ballet Orchestra in 1985, you were the first female trumpeter in the UK to hold a Principal position. Why have orchestral brass sections historically been so heavily male-dominated?

Orchestras in general were historically male-dominated, and remained so for many years. I suppose with the great British brass band tradition being predominantly male (other than a few pioneering females) due to its mining and mill connections, it was inevitable that orchestral brass instruments were also regarded as masculine. I still meet people outside my musical circle who express surprise that I play the trumpet. I’m happy to say that many orchestras now have female members in all sections, and in some cases they even outnumber males. There is an everincreasing representation of women enjoying successful careers as brass players.

What have been your most memorable moments with the LPO? When I first joined, Kurt Masur was our Principal Conductor and I just loved the way he made the Orchestra sound – especially in Brahms and Bruckner. He brought out a rich quality of tone from the strings and full resonance from the brass. During his tenure

distinctive sound that the LPO is renowned for. It has to be said we also enjoy socialising together, and with some lively characters in our midst there’s no shortage of good humour and laughter.

– ANNE MCANENEY – Anne has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2nd Trumpet since 2000. We caught up with her as she prepared to celebrate her 20th anniversary with the LPO. we had a very special UK tour of Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise with Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. The memory of LPO players (even timpani) joining in with solo improvisations in the encore, ‘C Jam Blues’, still brings a wide grin to my face!

With our current Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski, one memorable project that combined both orchestral and opera aspects was our pair of semi-staged Peter Grimes performances at Royal Festival Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall in 2013.

The staging really made us feel part of the action, and as a result I found these performances incredibly powerful. By the time Stuart Skelton sang his final words I was quite overwhelmed; they were truly emotional performances.

How would you describe the atmosphere in the LPO brass section?

We’re a warm, friendly bunch of people who are immensely supportive and aware of one another, and work together to retain the Newsletter published by the London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Fax: 020 7840 4201 Ticket Office: 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk

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You’ve taken part in many of the LPO’s Education & Community projects over the last 20 years. Why do you enjoy this area?

I think it is very important to share music with as many people as possible, and I love to see the sheer pleasure on someone’s face who is taking part in music-making for the first time. For the last few years I’ve taken part in projects for people with special needs and disabilities. In the OrchLab* project we work together with Drake Music, who have developed instruments using technology such as iPads, soundbeams and switches with pre-recorded musical clips. We make music, sing and compose together, telling stories through the music. To see someone who is quadriplegic gain confidence in using the technology and by using just their chin or head movement find a means to express their inner music and feelings is indeed very rewarding.

How do you relax when you’re not working?

I’m a bit of a workaholic, so between the orchestral schedule, Education & Community work and my teaching at the Guildhall, I don’t have an abundance of free time. When I do, I enjoy fine food and wine, especially entertaining friends. I’m also studying Latin, currently attempting to translate the poetry of Catullus. Time spent in front of the TV with a glass of wine or my knitting is a joy.

I have an adventurous nature and given the chance to have a holiday (arthritic joints permitting), have enjoyed activities in the Arctic Circle: I’ve slept in a glass igloo, driven a husky sled and snowmobile, and spent many nights trying to experience a full-blown Aurora Borealis. Activities elsewhere have included walking in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, going to the great heights of Machu Picchu and Mont Blanc, and hotair ballooning over Teotihuacan in Mexico.

I occasionally launch myself from great heights and have been hang-gliding and sky-diving. I think that’s called relaxing... * ORCHLAB IS A JTI-SUPPORTED PROJECT FOR DISABLED ADULTS DELIVERED BY THE LPO IN PARTNERSHIP WITH DRAKE MUSIC.

Photo © Benjamin Ealovega

What was your first encounter with orchestral music?

I was born and brought up in Belfast, and it was there that I was introduced to the wonderful world of music. My parents hadn’t had the opportunity to learn an instrument and so felt that it would be a good idea to send me to piano lessons when I was eight years old. I then struggled with the violin for many years, until the school brass band offered me a cornet to join their ranks.

I found this considerably easier to play and really enjoyed being in the band, but ultimately changed to the trumpet in order to play orchestral music. This change of heart came about after hearing the Ulster Orchestra perform Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, with two brass bands joining the already enormous orchestral and choral forces. I was completely knocked out by the exciting sound produced by the full orchestra, how loudly and quietly they could play, and the contrasting colours.