LPO Tune In newsletter – Spring/Summer 2018

– SPRING / SUMMER 2018 –

I live neither in the past nor the future. I can know only what the truth is for me today.

That is what I am called upon to serve, and I serve it in all lucidity. igor stravinsky

changing faces: stravinsky’s journey

behind the scenes: tours

Backstage

– 04 –

– 10 –

– 16 –

We embark on a year-long festival exploring the composer’s life and works

Find out what goes into transporting 110 players, instruments and luggage all over the world ...

Meet our new Co-Leader, Kevin Lin

Principal Partner

New on the LPO Label TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto Vasily Petrenko conductor Augustin Hadelich violin

major Partner

LALO Symphonie espagnole Omer Meir Wellber conductor Augustin Hadelich violin £9.99 | LPO-0094 | Released February 2017 Generously supported by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust

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DvoRák

Principal Supporters

Othello Overture Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7 Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor £10.99 (2CDs) LPO-0095 | Released March 2017

beethoven

Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) Overture, Fidelio Vladimir Jurowski conductor £9.99 LPO-0096 | Released April 2017

mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Aldo Ciccolini piano £9.99 Coming soon

LPO-0102 | Release date February 2018

Corporate Members freuds Sunshine

shostakovich

Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) Kurt Masur conductor £9.99 LPO-0103 | Release date March 2018 Coming soon

After Digital Berenberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce Accenture Ageas BTO Management Consulting AG Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Willis Towers Watson

Preferred Partners Browse the catalogue and sign up for updates at lpo.org.uk/recordings CDs available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242), all good CD outlets, and the Royal Festival Hall shop.

Download or stream online via iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and others.

Fevertree Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd London Orthopaedic Clinic Sipsmith Steinway

In-kind Sponsor Google Inc

Tune in – SPRING / SUMMER 2018 –

WELCOME

H

appy New Year! Welcome to the Spring 2018 edition of the London Philharmonic Orchestra newsletter, Tune In. This season we’re marking the 10th anniversary of Vladimir Jurowski’s appointment as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, and on 27 January the celebrations reach a climax with a special Gala Evening performance of Wagner’s opera Das Rheingold at Royal Festival Hall. I hope you will be able to join us for what promises to be a memorable evening: read more on page 6.

In February we’ll embark on an exciting new year-long series: Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey. Our 2018 concerts at Royal Festival Hall will chronologically chart Stravinsky’s incredible creative journey – from his youth amid the glittering fairytales and doomed splendour of Imperial Russia, through to those incredible moments in Paris when The Rite of Spring, The Firebird and Petrushka exploded in a blaze of rhythm and colour. We’ll set that revolution alongside works by Stravinsky’s teachers, contemporaries, friends and rivals, in concerts that allow their music to strike sparks off his own. Find out more about the festival and the highlights to come on pages 4–5.

Autumn 2017 was a particularly busy few months for our players and Tours team, with major tours to Japan and China, as well as Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Paris. On pages 10–11 we delve behind-the-scenes to find out what goes into preparing for an international tour: from visas and passports to luggage logistics, it’s fascinating reading!

This season we are proud to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Orchestra’s Education & Community department. For three decades

lpo 2018/19 season Booking for the London Philharmonic Orchestra 2018/19 season will open on Tuesday 6 February 2018 online and via the LPO Box Office. To take advantage of priority booking (from Tuesday 30 January), become a Friend of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for as little as £60 a year. Call Ellie Franklin on 020 7840 4225 or visit lpo.org.uk/support/memberships

Cover photograph Igor Stravinsky, composer, New York, 8 January 1959. Photograph by Richard Avedon. Copyright © The Richard Avedon Foundation.

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Contents

Editor Rachel Williams Publisher London Philharmonic Orchestra Printer Conquest Litho

Timothy Walker © Chris Blott

– Timothy walker – Chief Executive and Artistic Director

we have taken ourselves from the concert platform and out into the world around us, driven by the desire to share the power and wonder of orchestral music with everyone.

We are asking you to help us celebrate this 30th year by giving to our 2017/18 Annual Appeal. Find out more on page 8, and visit lpo.org.uk/appeal to find out how your gift can help, from planting the seed in those who have never heard orchestral music to reawakening others to joys they may have forgotten.

At the start of the 2017/18 season we were delighted to welcome American violinist Kevin Lin as the Orchestra’s new Co-Leader.

Turn to our ‘Backstage’ article on page 16 to meet Kevin and find out about his first impressions of London and of the LPO. I hope you will be able to join us in 2018, and thank you for your support of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

changing faces: stravinsky 04–05 New & noteworthy 06–07 2017/18 annual appeal 08 champagne taittinger 09 News: lpo people 09 behind the scenes: tours 10–11 belmond: our new partner 12 Concert listings 13–15 Backstage: kevin lin 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. © 2018 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 2018 –

LPO 2017/18 season

changing faces: stravinsky’s journey Throughout 2018 we’ll be chronologically charting the life and works of Igor Stravinsky in this year-long festival.

Richard Bratby sets the scene and takes a look ahead at the fascinating journey to come.

O

n 24 November 1944, a new musical called Seven Lively Arts opened at the Forrest Theatre, Philadelphia. The composer was Cole Porter, the producer was Billy Rose, and their aim was to make entertainment out of the greatest talents in contemporary art. Benny Goodman and Dolores Gray starred; Salvador Dali created artwork for the foyer. And right in the middle – setting the stamp of greatness on the show’s highbrow aspirations – was a new ballet by Igor Stravinsky. Rose had offered Stravinsky $5000 (the equivalent of over half a million today) for 15 minutes of music. But even so, he felt something wasn’t quite right.

Luckily he had the top Broadway arranger Robert Russell Bennett on call. After the first night, he telegraphed Stravinsky: YOUR MUSIC GREAT SUCCESS. COULD BE SENSATIONAL SUCCESS IF YOU WOULD AUTHORISE ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT RETOUCH ORCHESTRATION.

SATISFIED WITH GREAT SUCCESS. It’s a great story: and like the best Stravinsky stories, it’s also true. This is where Stravinsky was in the middle of the 20th century – a celebrity, a wit; a man who moved with total assurance between the biggest names in contemporary culture. You didn’t have to know anything about classical music to know that Stravinsky was the world’s greatest living composer: that his Russian name and long, angular face stood for the most modern kind of genius. ‘I’ve interviewed the great Stravinsky’, sang the heroine of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey in 1940, and the orchestra responded with a dissonant shriek.

A month earlier, Walt Disney had released

Igor Stravinsky’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was inducted in 1960 for his work in radio.

Fantasia, in which cartoon dinosaurs cavorted to Stravinsky’s most notorious hit, The Rite of Spring. It played to millions. Why wouldn’t an ambitious Broadway producer want to get Stravinsky on board?

And why wouldn’t a major orchestra want to celebrate his music? On one level, the question is redundant. Stravinsky’s great scores for the Ballets Russes – The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913) – are as central to modern concert life as Beethoven or Mahler. But as contemporaries sensed, there was more to Stravinsky than an explosion of innovation and colour just before the Great War. How did a singer’s son from the Russia of Tsar Alexander III end up as the toast of jazz-age

lpo.org.uk/stravinsky – 04 –

Paris? How did a highbrow European modernist find himself courted by Hollywood’s top studio bosses? And how did the most famous classical composer on earth suddenly – in the last two decades of his career – become more controversial than he’d ever been? From his birth into a Russia that had been unchanged for millennia, to his funeral in Venice in 1971, watched by the world’s TV cameras, Stravinsky’s changing faces reflected more than just music.

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

So if it sounds like the LPO has been here before – well, in a sense it has. ‘For me, this Stravinsky journey is the second edition of The Rest Is Noise’, says Vladimir Jurowski,

Photo © shalunts/iStock

Without missing a beat, Stravinsky telegraphed straight back:

Vladimir Jurowski © Drew Kelley

tune in – SPRING / SUMMER 2018 –

referring to the year-long exploration of 20th-century music and art through which he led the Orchestra in 2013. Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey revisits that story and refines the focus. ‘In The Rest Is Noise we couldn’t concentrate upon any one composer’, Jurowski explains. ‘But here we’ve chosen to go through the years with one particular composer who reflected an entire century.

Sometimes it’s chronological; sometimes it’s stylistic. His works are accompanied by the works of the people who he knew personally, who surrounded him, who preceded or succeeded him.’

That’s a vital point. Stravinsky had a gift for putting himself wherever the cultural action was: whether in music, visual art, literature, cinema, politics or even fashion. In the first years of the century, there was no artistic force more thrilling than Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But Stravinsky went on to party with Cole Porter in Venice, to sleep with Coco Chanel in Paris, and on one famous occasion in May 1922, to have dinner with James Joyce, Marcel Proust and Pablo Picasso. (It didn’t go well: Joyce fell asleep on the table and Proust got on Stravinsky’s nerves). Mussolini courted him – happily with little success. After he moved to the USA in 1939 he socialised with Fred Astaire, Alfred Hitchcock, Greta Garbo and Man Ray, while fellow exiles ranging from Rachmaninoff to Gone With the Wind composer Max Steiner ate pirozhki and drank champagne at Stravinsky’s Hollywood home.

His creative partnerships embraced Benny Goodman, George Balanchine, Jean Cocteau, WH Auden, TS Eliot and Modoc – a dancing elephant in Barnum & Bailey’s circus.

So Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey places his music in context alongside music that Stravinsky influenced and (perhaps less obviously) that influenced him. ‘We’re trying to follow Stravinsky’s life, and with him, to follow the development of music in the 20th century – because effectively he went through almost every style change’, says Jurowski. So the journey begins not with the three great Diaghilev ballets (though they certainly feature) but in the sumptuous world of Imperial Russia’s so-called ‘Silver Age’, placing Stravinsky’s youthful music next to that of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov (whose lessons he described as ‘the most precious gift’) and the fairytale music of Anatoly Liadov who, by fumbling his commission for The Firebird, accidentally gave Stravinsky the

biggest break of his career. There’s also a chance to hear the music of Alexander Glazunov – who Stravinsky later derided, but whose influence can be heard in every note of the 24-year-old Igor’s delightful Symphony in E flat.

And the journey continues, through revolutions both artistic and political. In the wake of the First World War, Stravinsky led the way in creating something bold, new, and yet strangely familiar from the wreckage of a civilisation. ‘His style kept evolving and changing’, says Jurowski. ‘At first it was Italian baroque music that interested him, but later Bach – and again, later there were all sorts of other things.’ ‘Neo-classicism’, it’s been called, but no label can fully cover the wit of Stravinsky’s reinvention of Pergolesi in Pulcinella, his playful not-quite-mockery of German romantics like Weber and Schubert, and the timeless clarity of the classical language he created on his own terms in works like Apollon musagète and the Symphony in C. ‘He used to call himself an inventor of music rather than a composer, and I don’t think he was deluding himself’, says Jurowski.

‘What I find fascinating is that whatever style he explores, he always makes it sound as if he alone, Igor Stravinsky, has invented this style.

He has this chameleon-like ability – and at the same time this incredibly strong individual voice.’

That ability to make the musical world turn around him would stand Stravinsky in good stead in the later years of his career, and as well as his 1951 opera The Rake’s Progress, later LPO concerts in 2018 will examine his decision (as seismic in its time as Bob Dylan going electric) to embrace the 12-tone system. It’s one reason why contemporary composers find him so compelling: the series features Stravinsky-influenced premieres by Gerald Barry and Anders Hillborg, while Thomas Adès conducts Perséphone. But there are also glimpses of the sometimes unpredictable man behind the mask of genius. His love for Tchaikovsky and the lost Russia he embodied; his fondness for poker (translated into the brilliantly deadpan ballet Jeu de cartes), and his profound religious faith, expressed in the Symphony of Psalms – ‘composed for the glory of God’. His biographer Robert Craft – a prim progressive – was ‘astonished’ by the respect that Stravinsky showed to exiled Russian royalty.

But Stravinsky never followed the modernist script. He wrote it. And that force of personality – that electrifying creativity – overflowed into everything he touched.

Vladimir Jurowski remembers handling the manuscript of The Rite of Spring in the Paul Sacher Archive in Basel. ‘What struck me was the incredible artistic quality of the score, as draughtsmanship. If you look at it not as a musician but simply the way you would look at a piece of art, it looks like an incredible cubist or Futurist design.’ Genius will out, and Stravinsky himself gives the best rationale for following his journey from beginning to end, in a world whose face is changing faster than ever. ‘I live neither in the past nor the future.

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

Richard Bratby writes about music for The Spectator, Gramophone and the Birmingham Post.

Vladimir Jurowski, LPO Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor

lpo.org.uk/stravinsky – 05 –

Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey begins on 3 February 2018 and runs until December 2018. Turn to pages 13–14 for full listings of concerts in the first half of the year. The second half of the festival (Sep–Dec 2018) will be announced with our 2018/19 season launch at the end of January (see page 3).

Tune in – SPRING / SUMMER 2018 –

Lpo news

new and noteworthy wigmore hall charity concert: lpo benevolent fund On Sunday 22 April 2018 at 7.30pm, the Leonore Trio will give a special fundraising concert at Wigmore Hall in aid of Marie Curie and the LPO Benevolent Fund, which provides crucial financial support to LPO musicians unable to work through illness or injury. The programme will include Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat and works by Parry. Tickets can be booked via wigmore-hall.org.uk.

carols at waterloo 2017

das rheingolD: a golden gala evening This season we’re marking Vladimir Jurowski’s first 10 years as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, and the celebrations culminate on 27 January 2018 when Jurowski conducts Wagner’s Das Rheingold in a special Golden Gala performance at Royal Festival Hall. Jurowski’s Wagner interpretations have been described by the press as ‘exquisite’, and with a world-class cast headed by Matthias Goerne as Wotan, this promises to be a major occasion, launching a complete Ring Cycle with Jurowski over the next four years. As well as standard concert tickets from £15, we are offering special packages including pre- and post-concert receptions and the chance to meet the musicians. To buy tickets to the concert visit lpo.org.uk/vj10 or call the LPO Ticket Office on 020 7840 4242. For further information about the special packages, please contact Catherine Faulkner on 020 7840 4207 (please note concert tickets are not available to purchase via this number).

Entertaining travellers with carols at Waterloo Station in the run-up to Christmas has become a popular annual fixture in the Orchestra’s calendar. On Friday 8 December 2017 members of the LPO and singers from the London Philharmonic Choir once again brought some festive cheer to the station concourse, collecting money for Save the Children. This year’s event was also watched by over 29,000 people worldwide via a Facebook Live stream.

sukanya: award nominationS

more details and booking lpo.org.uk/vj10

summer 2018 at glyndebourne As Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera since 1964, we always look forward to our summer months spent in the opera house. The 2018 Festival promises to be a vocal and visual feast: we’ll launch the season with Puccini’s glorious Madama Butterfly conducted

by Omer Meir Wellber on 19 May (running until 18 July), and over the summer will also perform Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (20 May–26 June) and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande under Glyndebourne Music Director Robin Ticciati (30 June–9 August); and Barber’s rarely performed, Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Vanessa under Jakub Hrůša (5–26 August). Booking opens on Sunday 4 March. more details and booking glyndebourne.com

lpo.org.uk – 06 –

L–R: Sarah Crabtree (Creative Producer for The Royal Opera), Tamzin Aitken (LPO), Suba Das (Director of Sukanya and Associate Director, Curve, Leicester)

We were delighted that Ravi Shankar’s opera Sukanya – the world premiere performances of which we took part in earlier this year – was shortlisted for Best Stage Production at the 2017 Asian Media Awards. Sadly it was pipped at the post, but the LPO team had a fantastic night celebrating with our project partners at the awards ceremony in Manchester on 25 October. Sukanya was also shortlisted for Best New Opera Production in the WhatsOnStage 2018 Opera Poll, the results of which will be announced on 2 January.

Jurowski programme & Glyndebourne photos © Benjamin Ealovega

the 27 january concert is Generously supported by members of the Orchestra’s Ring Cycle Syndicate and patrons of our Golden Gala Evening.

tune in – SPRING / SUMMER 2018 –

lpo label news In autumn 2017 we released two CD box sets on the LPO Label in celebration of Vladimir Jurowski’s first 10 years with the Orchestra. We’re delighted that the first, a seven-disc set of Tchaikovsky’s complete symphonies with the LPO under Jurowski, has been shortlisted for a 2018 International Classical Music Award, the winners of which will be announced on 18 January.

Our October release also received plenty of press attention: this seven-disc collection of previously unreleased Jurowski recordings received a glowing five-star review from Richard Fairman of the Financial Times, who hailed the set as ‘an impressive statement’ and remarked that ‘London’s musical life would have been a duller place without Jurowski’s sense of adventure.’ A review by Primephonic declares that these new recordings ‘amply illustrate the degree to which Jurowski and the LPO now feel, breathe and perform the music they play as one.’ The box set was also featured on BBC Radio 3’s Record Review.

Looking ahead, February will see a new release featuring Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 performed by Aldo Ciccolini under conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin (LPO-0102). This will be followed in March by Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) under Kurt Masur (LPO-0103).

These new releases, along with the other 100+ recordings on the LPO Label, will be available to buy from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242), all good CD outlets and the Royal Festival Hall shop.

London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Jurowski 10 years boxset Slipcase visual with gold pantone ink

MOZART

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 20

RACHMANINOFF

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2

ALDO CICCOLINI piano YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN conductor LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

lpo summer gala 2018

Gala photo © Benjamin Ealovega – Wedding photo © Darek Smietana Photography

lpo soundworks: the studio

Our annual fundraising Gala will take place on Monday 11 June 2018 in the City’s magnificent Guildhall.

This year we are delighted to be celebrating 30 years of our Education and Community Programme, and the evening will feature a specially curated musical performance reflecting our diverse work in bringing the power and wonder of world-class music to the broadest possible audience. The Gala will begin with a Champagne Taittinger reception in the Old Library, followed by dinner and performances with special guests in the Great Hall. Both live and silent auctions will also take place.

For more information or to book your places please contact Athene Broad on 020 7840 4209 or athene.broad@lpo.org.uk

wedding congratulations LPO Contemporaries is our membership scheme for young professionals. With the strapline of ‘More Than Music’, the scheme offers vibrant social events and exclusive member offers, and now we can add matchmaking services to the list too, following the wedding of two former Contemporaries! Charles Carolan and Lindsay Howard-Jones were married on 16 September 2017 at Château Rigaud near Saint-Émilion in France, after being introduced four years ago at the Contemporaries Christmas Party.

Congratulations to Charles and Lindsay!

If you’re under 40, love music and fancy meeting some like-minded people, why not join us? Annual memberships start from £68. find out more lpo.org.uk/contemporaries

This autumn we launched The Studio, the online extension of our LPO Soundworks cross-arts project for composers and producers aged 14–19. Our live LPO Soundworks projects bring these creative musicians together with young artists and specialist professional composers from other genres to devise and perform new collaborative works.

The Studio expands the workshop activities and industry insights offered on the live projects. Visitors to the site can explore music’s role in film, dance and the stage, through interviews with professionals in the business, links and written resources. So far we have fascinating insights from a range of specialist composers, with videos including an Introduction to Narrative Film Music and a look behind the scenes at creating music for a recent production at Shakespeare’s Globe.

As well as professional insights into the real world of collaborative composition, The Studio also offers young composers stimulus material for their own work. Each genre page has its own Creative Area, hosting silent videos of choreography, film or theatre performance, which can be used as the starting point for new music. With every video of raw material, The Studio provides a guiding voice in the form of an interview with a professional composer on how to approach the creative brief. Recent creative briefs include a scene from King Lear performed by professional actors, and extracts from shorts made by young filmmakers from the BFI’s Future Film Academy – both accompanied by guidance from professional composers.

Once they have created their own music for this material, young composers can submit it to us electronically, to be showcased on The Studio. We are also working directly with regional partners to support new responses: following training from the LPO, teachers in East Sussex schools and student composers at Birmingham Conservatoire will be using Studio materials in lessons, and sharing their groups’ works on the site. LPO Young Composers will also be writing for The Studio over the next season, linking up our programmes celebrating and supporting new music at all stages. find out more lpo.org.uk/thestudio

LPO Soundworks is generously supported by The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and Souter Charitable Trust.

find out more lpo.org.uk/gala

lpo.org.uk – 07 –

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Sharing the Wonder 30 years of music for all £30 will contribute to our work,

For 30 years we have taken ourselves off the concert platform and out into the world around us, driven by the desire to share the power and wonder of orchestral music with everyone.

wherever we need it most

£50 will hire a venue for a 30-minute

We strive to create stories and experiences that others will call their own. From planting the seed in those who have never heard orchestral music to reawakening others to joys they may have forgotten. We work to awaken passions, develop talent and nurture ability.

mentor session for an LPO Junior Artist

£85 will hire a set of 30 chime bars for Creative Classrooms

£120 will pay for a class of 30 children to

Help us celebrate this 30th year of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Education and Community Programme by giving to our Appeal.

attend a subsidised BrightSparks concert

£300 will pay for 30 teacher resource packs, used prior

Your gift will support us as we invest in the creation of future experiences. Together we can unlock discoveries not only in musical abilities, but also in confidence, creativity and self-belief; helping create stories of change and journeys of progression.

to attending a BrightSparks concert

£500 will pay for 30 teachers to attend a musical INSET training day

Read some of the stories so far, find out more and donate to help share the wonder

lpo.org.uk/appeal lpo.org.uk/appeal – 08 –

tune in – SPRING / SUMMER 2018 –

Lpo news

New & noteworthy

I

lpo partners

farewell santi

Champagne Taittinger: das rheingold

This autumn we said a fond farewell to one of the LPO’s longest-ever serving members.

Cellist Santiago (Santi) Carvalho, who joined the Orchestra in 1972, finally hung up his tails and took a well-earned retirement in November 2017. Over the last 45 years Santi has been one of the LPO’s most wellliked players: a friend to all, cherished by colleagues and audiences alike. We will miss him greatly and wish him a restful retirement.

f music be the food of love, you should have a good wine to go with it! And if, like the LPO on 27 January 2018, you plan to enjoy a Golden Gala evening featuring Wagner’s epic Das Rheingold (see page 6), it has to be the ‘golden wine’, Champagne … What else could possibly accompany four eclectic operatic scenes involving gods, giants, dwarves, maidens and, of course, magic gold?

Scene One Alberich, an evil dwarf, tries to woo the Rhinemaidens (unsuccessfully) who are guarding the magic Rheingold. Anyone who wants the gold has to renounce love. Alberich renounces love and gets the gold …

A glass of Taittinger Prélude with its fresh citrus fruit leading to a full, well-bodied mellow taste would be the perfect scene-setter.

Scene Two Wotan, ruler of the Gods, has promised two giants his wife’s sister, Freia, in exchange for them building his new castle. The only thing they will accept instead is the Rheingold (out of some of which Alberich has made a magic ring). Wotan sets off in search of it with his servant Loge.

Cue a glass of Taittinger Nocturne ‘Sec’, an off-dry Champagne with soft, fresh ripe fruit flavours and subtle sweetness to unleash the magic.

Scene Three Wotan and Loge find Alberich has turned some of the gold into a helmet allowing the wearer to change shape. Loge tricks him into turning into a toad and he is captured.

At this stage in the evening, our tipple changes to a voluptuous Taittinger Nocturne Rosé, with silky tannins and aromas of red fruits.

Scene Four Wotan and Loge force Alberich to give up all his gold in exchange for his freedom but he lays a curse on the ring … Wotan must surrender all the gold to the giants in exchange for Freia but one of the giants kills the other in a quarrel over the cursed ring. Finally, the gods enter their new majestic castle Valhalla.

James Bond watched Tosca in Quantum of Solace, and once wrote that Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs was ‘probably the best Champagne in the world’. Complex, rich, with a long finish offering maturity and finesse.

So, a fitting finale! Cheers to ten more years of blending Taittinger Champagnes to classics. find out more taittinger.com

our corporate partnerships lpo.org.uk/corporate

lpo.org.uk – 09 –

musical chairs Congratulations to Tania Mazzetti of our Second Violin section who has been confirmed as Co-Principal Second Violin, and to Sebastian Pennar who has been confirmed as Co-Principal Double Bass. In the New Year we also welcomed Hugh Kluger as Sub-Principal Double Bass, and new Second Violin Helena Smart.

At the end of 2017 we said goodbye to Gregory Aronovich of the Viola section. meet our members lpo.org.uk/players

In the office Welcome to our new Development Assistant Athene Broad , who joined the team in September 2017. During the autumn Harriet Dalton also joined us as Website Manager and Megan Macarte as Acting Box Office Manager, covering for Samantha Cleverley who is on maternity leave. Our Concerts team also welcomed Andy Pitt as Assistant Transport/Stage Manager.

In the New Year our Education & Community department welcomes Project Manager Emily Moss, taking over from Lucy Sims who moved on at the end of 2017.

Find a staff member lpo.org.uk/about/staff

want to work for us? lpo.org.uk/jobs

Tune in – SPRING / SUMMER 2018 –

behind the scenes

Visas, ivory permits and ‘deviant groups’: Welcome to Tours!

In October 2017 the LPO embarked on its first tour to Japan in 15 years, followed by a trip to China in December.

Ahead of the tours, our Marketing Assistant Oli Frost quizzed the Tours team about the behind-the-scenes preparations ...

A

s the Orchestra prepares to head off on an eight-concert tour of Japan in October 2017 followed by a seven-date tour of China – not to mention having already visited Bucharest, Bremen and Prague earlier in the autumn – our Tours team have never been busier. We caught up with Tours Manager Sophie Richardson and Tours Co-ordinator Jo Cotter to find out exactly what goes into moving players, instruments and suitcases all over the world …

Is organising a big intercontinental tour like Japan or China a lot more complicated than one of our regular short trips within Europe?

Sophie: It is and it isn’t, really.

An intercontinental tour can be more complicated because there are more things to think about, and each concert stop requires a lot of attention, but on the other hand so much of it has to be organised so far in advance that it can end up being a lot less stressful than a smaller European tour. I had

a meeting with our Japanese tour agents back in January 2017 when we hashed out all the details for the Japan trip, so the last few weeks leading up to departure is just confirming them. I’ve been speaking to [Principal Conductor] Vladimir Jurowski about this tour for over a year – he decided a long time ago on the exact rehearsal order for each day.

As these tours have approached we’ve had players in and out of the office sorting out visas and passports. Can that get quite last-minute?

Sophie: Over the last two months we’ve been submitting passports for processing in batches; the plan is that it’s a gradual, stress-free process. Alongside visas we work on the detailed schedule for the Orchestra, confirming rehearsal and train times, and things like the luggage truck — on these long tours when we’re covering a lot of distance between concerts we transport the players’ luggage separately. Getting 110 people on and off the right trains is difficult enough without 110 suitcases too. This means the

Orchestra musicians and staff aboard the bullet train from Osaka to Nagoya during the 2017 Japan tour

lpo.org.uk/tours – 10 –

players might not see their luggage for two days, so they need to know all the timings so they can pack a small bag to travel with. It gets complicated — it’s all those fine details we’re working on up until we go.

Who decides where the Orchestra is going to tour to next? How does that conversation start?

Sophie: That side of things is with [Chief Executive and Artistic Director] Tim Walker.

The Orchestra works strategically to achieve specific international objectives through its touring programme, but also responds to invitations where possible. Germany is our biggest single market, and we sometimes make four separate visits each year. Paris, Vienna and Madrid are also very important and we fit in other European countries where possible. We try to get to New York every year and to China every other year, with Asia every three or four years. Sometimes we get really late requests: I recently produced a quote for a project abroad in March 2018, which is incredibly last-minute — usually we’re doing costings for three or four years ahead, so the Tours team works on very different timeframes from other parts of the organisation.

Jo: Japan’s been on the radar for a long time.

It’s important because it is a big CD market for us and we used to go there regularly. October 2017 will be our ninth tour there, but there’s been a gap of 16 years.

Do different countries have different systems and rules for sorting out visas?

Jo: They’re all different, and they tend to work reciprocally, so whatever the UK makes their citizens do to get entry they will make ours do back. They can shift the goalposts as well, keeping us on our toes!

Sophie: Something that worked last week at the Embassy might have changed. You’ll be required to submit different documentation

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L-R: Tours Co-ordinator Jo, Orchestra Personnel Manager Andrew, Orchestra Co-ordinator Maddie and Tours Manager Sophie in Budapest, September 2016

or even biometric data with no warning.

Because it can all be so unpredictable when you’re planning overseas tours you have to be careful not to plan them too close together.

For example if our upcoming China tour was in November rather than December it would have been incredibly difficult to process passports within the timeframe. On occasion we’re involved in conversations with Tim and [Concerts Director] Liz Forbes, when they decide when and where the Orchestra is going to tour, due to these restrictions.

Then what about the instruments themselves?

I’ve heard that instruments made using certain materials can cause problems, like ivory keys on woodwinds?

Jo: Happily that’s just the US at the moment – it’s all to do with restricting the movement of items made from endangered species.

It was the Obama administration that brought in the legislation, mainly in order to fight against the illegal ivory trade, but then there were other materials that became restricted, like tortoiseshell and some woods.

Sophie: Most old musical instruments are made out of something endangered.

Unfortunately the rules don’t make any specific considerations for musical instruments, so even though the laws are just going after major traffickers it has been affecting us dramatically. It affects every orchestra. So what they’re now trying to bring in is exemptions for items under a particular size or weight, but at the moment we still have to make a lot of extra considerations entering the US, which makes it complicated.

Thankfully we don’t have to deal with that in Japan or China.

Getting 110 players there is one thing, but the sheer amount of kit as well … For touring to the US is there some sort of instrument visa, or equivalent piece of paper that’s required?

Jo: We arm players with supporting paperwork, so everyone, regardless of what their instrument contains, has with them a document detailing every dimension and material, as well as photos, so they can identify that it’s the right instrument. They also carry letters from the instrument maker stating the materials it’s made from, as proof.

That’s regardless of whether their instrument includes restricted materials or not; if a customs official has no idea what they’re looking at they’re going to need evidence.

There have been cases elsewhere where items have been seized because their owners haven’t had that proof, even though the instrument was probably made out of carbon fibre. People whose instruments do contain material from endangered species have an extra process to go through, which is to get an official permit issued by the CITES [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species] department in Bristol, which gets stamped on entry and exit from each state.

So this stuff does all get checked — it’s not just a matter of having it there just in case?

Sophie: Yes – if you have a CITES permit your instrument has to be exported from the UK, imported into the US, exported out of the US and back into the UK, and if you don’t have those four stamps it could technically be seized. There’s an awful lot of paperwork.

And have you experienced any near misses?

Jo: There have been a few scary moments.

On an earlier tour someone had some whalebone in their bow, which made it really difficult to get put through because of the protection around those materials. This time our advice has been just to bring something else — it’s not worth the risk.

Sophie: If a player is concerned about an instrument we advise that they don’t take it.

But it could be worse — the previous orchestra I worked for played on period instruments, so everything seemed to be made from something restricted!

And then once everyone’s made it through customs and there have been no disasters, do you guys get a moment to rest?

Sophie: I don’t rest until I get home — I’m on call 24 hours a day on tour, and I keep my phone on loud all the time. Once we get off the plane I text whomever we’re meeting and say that we’ve arrived and we’re going through customs. I need to find out immediately where the coaches are whilst keeping track of who’s gone where, so that can be a very stressful 15 minutes! Getting to the hotel and sorting out everyone’s keys can be a bit chaotic. But then if we’re walking from the hotel to the rehearsal or concert venue that’s lovely, because I’ve got very little to do then apart from speak to everyone at the rehearsal and make sure the conductor and soloist are OK. And you’ve got to be ready to deal with a potential 4am disaster?

Sophie: Yes, I deal with lost property, theft, hospital trips — the lot. If a deviant group is leaving the tour on a separate flight or staying on for a chamber concert I’ll speak to them all individually to make sure they have all the details of their transfers, and keep my phone on just in case.

A deviant group?!

Sophie: Yep, ‘deviant’, because they ‘deviate’ from the rest of us — every orchestra uses the term; it’s ridiculous!

Jo: Touring is totally surreal, but brilliant.

Sophie: Japan and China are going to be exhausting, but we’ve got a really good team lined up. It’s going to be incredible.

LPO Stage Manager Christopher in action backstage in Nagoya during the 2017 Japan tour

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the lpo 2017 japan tour was generously supported by jti with additional support from the serge rachmaninoff foundation.

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lpo partners

a new partnership: lpo and belmond This season sees the launch of an exciting new series of concerts at remarkable Belmond destinations: Exceptional Music in Exceptional Locations.

W

e are excited to announce our new partnership with Belmond hotels, trains and river cruises. Launched at the end of 2017, ‘Exceptional Music in Exceptional Locations’ sees chamber ensembles from the Orchestra perform at Belmond properties and aboard luxury trains around the world, celebrating the very best musicians and music in some of the world’s most sensational journeys and destinations.

The Orchestra regularly performs in worldrenowned concert halls across the globe, but through Belmond we are able to bring our music to unique places that stand apart.

Drawing on the themes of travel, nature and history, the programme for each performance is carefully chosen to tell the story of its surroundings. From celebrating the cultural history of Brazil through the music of Villa-Lobos to reflecting the awe-inspiring Machu Picchu, each performance will transport, inspire and exhilarate.

Our first performance took place at the stunning Belmond Reid’s Palace on the beautiful island of Madeira in December.

Perched on a clifftop overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the hotel combines luxury with nostalgia, creating a haven of timeless elegance. The concert celebrated a timehonoured tradition at the hotel that harks back to the 1920s, when an orchestra would play during ‘bathing hours’ for guests including royalty, statesmen and the cultural glitterati of the day. Soloists from the Orchestra performed a specially curated programme of chamber music at dusk in the hotel’s palm garden. Composed in 1891, the same year that the hotel opened its doors, Brahms’s masterly Clarinet Quintet was aptly selected to complement the lush romanticism of José Vianna da Motta’s String Quartet in E flat major – his warm style inflected with folk flavours of his Portuguese homeland.

Coming up in the series will be a celebration of South America in April. LPO

A quartet of LPO string players entertains guests at Belmond Reid’s Palace, Madeira, 7 December 2017

musicians will take the extraordinary journey through the tropical Peruvian jungle on board the Belmond Hiram Bingham where they will perform for guests as they ascend to the lost city of the Incas at Machu Picchu. Following this will be a very special performance against the majestic backdrop of the powerful Urubamba River at Belmond Hotel Rio Sagrado in the Sacred Valley in Brazil.

Later in the year, in September, we will return to Brazil to one of the most unique locations in the world: Belmond Hotel das Cataratas and the iconic Iguassu Falls. The hotel is the only one in the national park and, with the Falls in the background, the exclusive performance will combine music and nature to create a truly unforgettable experience.

Short films telling the story of each performance and location will be shared on our social media pages and website, so please do join us as we celebrate the wonder of world-class music and travel. to find out more about the partnership and the performances, please contact Laura Willis: laura.willis@lpo.org.uk/020 7840 4210

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Discover Belmond Belmond’s legendary hotels, luxury train journeys, safari adventures and pioneering river cruises are set in some of the world’s most inspiring and enriching locations.

Together, they invite guests to transcend the everyday with travel adventures at destinations ranging from Machu Picchu in Peru to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, from Belmond Copacabana Palace in Rio to a journey across Europe aboard the legendary Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

Established over 40 years ago, the portfolio now embraces 49 unique hotels and travel experiences across the globe. The Belmond name is synonymous with nostalgic glamour and celebrations of every kind.

Its heritage and hideaway destinations are the perfect backdrop for great occasions such as weddings, parties – and the new programme of extraordinary concerts by the LPO. To find out more visit belmond.com/lpo

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Lpo spring 2018

Concert listings Southbank centre Unless otherwise stated, standard prices £10–£46 Premium seats £65 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Mon–Fri 10am–5pm lpo.org.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office 020 3879 9555 Daily 9am–8pm southbankcentre.co.uk Transaction fees: £2.50 online, £3.00 telephone No transaction fee for bookings made in person

Concerts marked with this symbol are part of Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey (see pages 4–5).

Wednesday 17 January 2018 | 7.30pm Khachaturian Adagio from Spartacus Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3* Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 Mikhail Agrest conductor Andrey Gugnin piano * In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

Friday 19 January 2018 | 7.30pm J S Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Fauré Pavane Jongen Symphonie Concertante Dirk Brossé conductor James O’Donnell organ Saturday 27 January 2018 | 6.00pm A Golden Gala Evening: Celebrating Vladimir Jurowski’s 10th year as LPO Principal Conductor Please note start time

Saturday 3 February 2018 | 7.30pm Rimsky-Korsakov Fairy Tale Glazunov Violin Concerto Tchaikovsky (arr. Glazunov) Meditation from Souvenir d’un lieu cher Stravinsky Faun and Shepherdess Stravinsky Symphony No. 1 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Kristóf Baráti violin Angharad Lyddon mezzo-soprano Wednesday 7 February 2018 | 7.30pm Stravinsky Scherzo fantastique Stravinsky Funeral Song Rimsky-Korsakov Piano Concerto Stravinsky The Firebird (original version) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Alexander Ghindin piano Saturday 10 February 2018 | 7.30pm Liadov Baba Yaga Liadov The Enchanted Lake Liadov Kikimora Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2* Stravinsky Petrushka (original version) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Ray Chen violin

Free pre-concert performance 6.00–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall The LPO’s relationship with the Royal College of Music continues with students joining members of the LPO and its Foyle Future Firsts programme in a talk and performance of Stravinsky’s Les noces conducted by Vasily Petrenko.

Sunday 25 February 2018 | 12.00 noon FUNharmonics Family Concert: Hip Hip Hooray!

Rachel Leach presenter Jamie Phillips conductor In the 30th anniversary year of the LPO’s Education and Community programme, you’re invited to a super-sized orchestral party celebrating the best of young music-making. Joining the Orchestra will be brilliant young intrumentalists and singers from London Music Masters, Junior Trinity and our South London music service partners, in a lively programme inspired by thriving new talent in our city. Recommended for children ages 6 and over and their families.

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

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

* Please note a change to the advertised concerto.

Adults £12–20, children £6–10

Wednesday 21 February 2018 | 7.30pm

Wednesday 28 February 2018 | 7.30pm

Debussy Printemps Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand Delius Idylle de Printemps Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

Stravinsky Pulcinella (Suite) Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Ravel Daphnis et Chloé (Suites Nos. 1 & 2)

Juanjo Mena conductor Benedetto Lupo piano

Vasily Petrenko conductor Sergej Krylov violin

Free pre-concert event: Behind the Baton 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall

Free pre-concert event: Behind the Baton 6.30–7.00pm | Royal Festival Hall

Join Juanjo Mena as he explores Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, answers your questions and reveals where Stravinsky sits in his top five picks.

Join Vasily Petrenko as he explores Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, answers your questions and reveals where Stravinsky sits in his top five picks.

Wagner Das Rheingold

Friday 23 February 2018 | 7.30pm

Saturday 3 March 2018 | 7.30pm

Vladimir Jurowski conductor For a full list of soloists visit lpo.org.uk/vj10

Stravinsky The Song of the Nightingale Elgar Cello Concerto Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

Elgar In the South R Strauss Four Last Songs Brahms Symphony No. 2

Vasily Petrenko conductor Andreas Brantelid cello

Sir Antonio Pappano conductor Diana Damrau soprano

Sung in German with English surtitles Please note that series discounts do not apply to this performance.

Generously supported by members of the Orchestra’s Ring Cycle Syndicate and patrons of our Golden Gala Evening.

Generously supported by Sir Simon and Lady Robey.

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Lpo spring 2018

Concert listings continued Saturday 17 March 2018 | 7.30pm Tchaikovsky (arr. Stravinsky) Sleeping Beauty (excerpts) Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Stravinsky The Fairy’s Kiss Vladimir Jurowski conductor Daniil Trifonov piano

Free pre-concert performance | 6.00–6.45pm The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall LPO Soundworks is a platform for talented teenage musicians to collaborate with young people from other art forms in the creation of new and exciting performance pieces. Join us for a thrilling performance inspired by Stravinsky – the ultimate cross-arts collaborator.

Wednesday 21 March 2018 | 7.30pm Stravinsky Apollon musagète Weber Konzertstück for piano and orchestra Stravinsky Capriccio for piano and orchestra Schubert Symphony No. 3

Friday 13 April 2018 | 7.30pm

Andrés Orozco-Estrada conductor Peter Donohoe piano

John Storgårds conductor Katia Labèque piano Marielle Labèque piano

Saturday 24 March 2018 | 7.30pm Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms Stravinsky Violin Concerto Stravinsky Credo Stravinsky Ave Maria Stravinsky Pater Noster Bernstein Chichester Psalms Andrés Orozco-Estrada conductor Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin London Philharmonic Choir Free pre-concert event: Behind the Baton 6.30–7.00pm | Royal Festival Hall Join Andrés Orozco-Estrada as he explores tonight’s Stravinsky works, answers your questions and reveals his top five picks.

Wednesday 11 April 2018 | 7.30pm Thomas Adès Suite from Powder Her Face* Gerald Barry Organ Concerto (London premiere) Stravinsky Perséphone Thomas Adès conductor Thomas Trotter organ Toby Spence tenor London Philharmonic Choir Trinity Boys Choir * Commissoned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the generous support of The Boltini Trust, Berliner Philharmoniker, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall and Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

Concert generously supported by Victoria Robey OBE.

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

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

Free pre-concert event: Behind the Baton 6.30–7.00pm | Royal Festival Hall Join John Storgårds as he explores Stravinsky’s Jeu de cartes, answers your questions and reveals where Stravinsky sits in his top five picks.

Wednesday 18 April 2018 | 7.30pm Stravinsky Symphony in C Stravinsky Tango Debussy Fantaisie Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leif Ove Andsnes piano Free pre-concert performance | 6.00–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall The Foyle Future Firsts and members of the LPO perform Stravinsky’s concerto for chamber orchestra, Dumbarton Oaks, alongside rarely heard works by Kagel and Berio written to mark the Russian composer’s death.

Saturday 21 April 2018 | 7.30pm Anders Hillborg Homage to Stravinsky (world premiere)* Falik Requiem for Igor Stravinsky Stravinsky Ode Beethoven Violin Concerto Vladimir Jurowski conductor Gil Shaham violin * Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the assistance of Aspen Music Festival.

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Wednesday 25 April 2018 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2* Mahler Symphony No. 5 Robert Trevino conductor Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev piano * In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

Friday 27 April 2018 | 7.30pm Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 Dvořák Symphony No. 8 Thomas Søndergård conductor* Luca Buratto piano * Please note a change of conductor from previously advertised.

Wednesday 2 May 2018 | 7.30pm Panufnik Heroic Overture* Krzysztof Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2 (Metamorphosen)* Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 Łukasz Borowicz conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin * Organised in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music Programme.

Sunday 10 June 2018 | 12.00 noon FUNharmonics Family Concert: Petrushka Rachel Leach presenter Michael Seal conductor One of Igor Stravinsky’s most famous ballet scores, Petrushka conjures up a glittering folk world of magic and drama. At a bustling Russian fair we meet quarrelling puppets, an enigmatic magician and a beautiful ballerina – all part of a captivating and mysterious tale, brought to life through Stravinsky’s glorious music, alongside specially commissioned projected animations. Suitable for children aged 6 and over and their families.

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

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

Adults £12–20, children £6–10

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Around the UK Saturday 13 January 2018 | 7.30pm Dorking Halls Box Office: 01306 881717 | dorkinghalls.co.uk

Stravinsky Jeu de cartes Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3*

Monday 12 February 2018 | 8.00pm Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France theatrechampselysees.fr Tchaikovsky Polonaise from Eugene Onegin Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Mozart Overture, The Marriage of Figaro Brahms Violin Concerto Schubert Symphony No. 9 (Great)

John Storgårds conductor Stéphane Tétreault cello

Christoph Eschenbach conductor David Garrett violin

Jessica Cottis conductor Chloë Hanslip violin Sunday 21 January 2018 | 3.00pm Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne Box Office: 01323 412000 eastbournetheatres.co.uk Corelli Concerto Grosso No. 1 in D major Elgar Serenade for Strings Grieg Holberg Suite Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Saturday 24 February 2018 | 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall Box Office: 01273 709709| brightondome.org

Saturday 14 April 2018 | 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall Box Office details as above

* In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation

Saturday 28 April 2018 | 7.00pm Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham Box Office: 0115 989 5555 | trch.co.uk Verdi Requiem Matthew Hopkins conductor Elizabeth Llewellyn soprano Dame Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano Gwyn Hughes Jones tenor Wojtek Gierlach bass Nottingham Trent University Choir Tuesday 1 May 2018 | 7.30pm Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Box Office: 0161 907 9000 | bridgewater-hall.co.uk

Berlioz Overture, Béatrice et Bénédict Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture Krzysztof Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2 (Metamorphosen) Prokofiev Symphony No. 5

Vasily Petrenko conductor Albrecht Menzel violin

Łukasz Borowicz conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin

Sunday 4 March 2018 | 3.00pm Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne Box Office details as above

Monday 21 May 2018 | 7.30pm St Andrews Hall, Norwich Box Office: 01603 628477 | thehallsnorwich.com Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 Mahler Symphony No. 5 Robert Trevino conductor Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev piano

Borodin String Quartet No. 2 Schubert String Quintet in C major Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Sunday 8 April 2018 | 3.00pm Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne Box Office details as above Vivaldi Chamber Concerto in G minor, RV103 Rossini Quartet No. 1 for flute, clarinet, bassoon and horn Mozart Serenade in E flat, K375 Barber Summer Music Janáček Mládí Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Tuesday 13 February 2018 | 7.30pm Congress Centrum, Hanover, Germany hcc.de Wednesday 14 February 2018 | 8.00pm Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany elbphilharmonie.de Friday 16 February 2018 | 8.00pm Tonhalle, Düsseldorf, Germany tonhalle.de Saturday 17 February | 6.00pm Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden, Germany festspielhaus.de All programmes as 12 February, Paris Thursday 8 March 2018 | 8.30pm Auditorium Giovanni Agnelli, Turin, Italy lingottomusica.it Sibelius Violin Concerto Stravinsky The Fairy’s Kiss (complete) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Ray Chen violin Friday 9 March 2018 | 8.30pm LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, Lugano, Switzerland luganolac.ch Programme as 8 March, Turin Tuesday 13 March 2018 | 8.00pm Tonhalle, Düsseldorf, Germany tonhalle.de Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Stravinsky The Fairy’s Kiss (complete) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Daniil Trifonov piano

INTERNATIONAL CONCERTS Tuesday 30 January 2018 | 8.00pm Auditorio de Zaragoza, Spain auditoriozaragoza.com Rimsky-Korsakov Fairytale (Skazka) Grieg Piano Concerto Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Denis Kozhukhin piano Wednesday 31 January 2018 | 7.30pm Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid, Spain auditorionacional.mcu.es Programme as 30 January, Zaragoza

lpo.org.uk – 15 –

Wednesday 14 March 2018 | 8.00pm Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany elbphilharmonie.de Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (excerpts) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Daniil Trifonov piano Thursday 15 March 2018 | 8.00pm Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany Programme as 14 March, Hamburg Friday 16 March 2018 | 8.00pm Gasteig, Munich, Germany gasteig.de Programme as 13 March, Düsseldorf

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LPO people

backstage Welcome to the LPO, Kevin! What attracted you to the position of Co-Leader with the Orchestra?

I grew up listening to recordings of the LPO, so I had a lot of respect and admiration for the Orchestra long before my personal involvement. I’d also never lived outside the United States before, so when I was offered the opportunity to join such a prestigious orchestra in London it was hard to resist!

What does the role of Co-Leader in an orchestra involve?

The position of Co-Leader is really made up of two parts. When the Leader, Pieter, is present, my role is mainly supportive.

In his absence I take on his responsibilities and sit in as Leader for that period of rehearsals and concerts. During rehearsals, the conductor will often turn to the front desk when addressing the Orchestra, so my role when the Leader isn’t around also includes communicating between the conductor and my colleagues (and vice versa).

How have you found your first few months with the Orchestra?

I’ve really enjoyed my first half season with the LPO! I’ve found the working environment incredibly friendly and supportive: the number of teas and coffees bought for me by my new colleagues has been incredibly touching, and everyone was so kind and helpful with helping make my transition from the USA to the UK as smooth as possible.

Which LPO concerts are you most looking forward to this Spring?

I’m very much looking forward to performing Wagner’s Das Rheingold for the Golden Gala Evening on 27 January [see page 6]. I’ve never had the pleasure of playing Rheingold, despite it being such a standard work in the repertoire, so that experience will be really special. Plus, performing it under Vladimir Jurowski in celebration of his 10th year as Principal Conductor will make the atmosphere even more exciting! I’m also looking forward to the sold-out concert on 3 March with Sir Antonio Pappano, featuring Elgar’s In the South, Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Brahms’s Second Symphony. It’s always

What’s on your personal playlist at the moment?

I’m currently listening to Brahms’s piano quartets played by Emanuel Ax, Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo and Yo-Yo Ma: the piano quartet is my favourite chamber music combination. As well as lots of Brahms, I’m also listening to a playlist of John Coltrane – it reminds me of New York, and I find that very comforting when I find myself homesick for NYC every now and then!

– kevin lin – 24-year-old Kevin joined the LPO as Co-Leader in August 2017.

Originally from New York City, he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and a previous Guest Concertmaster of the Houston Symphony. exciting to play those great Romantic works, and I think the LPO finds the perfect balance between lesser-played works and the showstopping classics.

Who are your musical heroes?

There are a lot of famous musicians I admire, like my violinist mentors Aaron Rosand and Pinchas Zukerman, but my true musical heroes would have to be all the friends and colleagues that I’ve worked with throughout the years. Without them, I might have lost interest in music a long time ago. I’m continuously inspired by those around me and I admire their hard work and dedication. I’m extremely lucky to have become part of such a wonderful group of musicians here at the LPO. They are my musical heroes and performing great music together continues to inspire me every day.

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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What do you like to get up to when you’re not working?

When I’m not playing or rehearsing, I like to relax by catching up on current events or researching financial investments. I’m really interested in business and technology, and if I hadn’t been a violinist I think I might have even pursued one of those as a career.

Besides that, I’m also a huge foodie – I’m really enjoying exploring the vast food scene in London and sampling all it has to offer! You may often find me eating my way through Boxpark Shoreditch and Borough Market, or occasionally splurging on a meal at Sketch in Mayfair.

As a newcomer to London, what are your first impressions, and what are you looking forward to exploring in the city?

I first visited London in July 2016, but only officially moved here in August 2017 so it’s still quite new to me. My first impressions have been really positive and refreshing: the atmosphere here feels completely different from the United States and it’s extremely difficult not to fall in love with such a historic city as London. There’s so much to see and do; I’m still trying to explore as much as I can whenever I have free time, even if it’s just getting off at a random Tube stop to explore the surroundings. One of the things I find really fascinating is the long history of this country; there are buildings here that are hundreds of years older than the ‘historic’ sites we have in the United States! I’m really looking forward to getting to know London now that I call it home. meet our members lpo.org.uk/players