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BEETHOVEN 250 THE SYMPHONIES ORCHESTRE RÃ‰VOLUTIONNAIRE ET ROMANTIQUE 30TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

BEETHOVEN 250: THE SYMPHONIES 2020 A world tour Barcelona Palau de la Música 9 - 14 February

New York Carnegie Hall 19 - 24 February

Chicago Harris Theater

27 February - 3 March Thursday 27 February | Symphonies 8 & 9 Friday 28 February | Symphony No.1, Prometheus excerpts, Leonore excerpts, ‘Ah! Perfido’ scene and aria Saturday 29 February | Symphonies 2 & 3 Monday 2 March | Symphonies 4 & 5 Tuesday 3 March | Symphonies 6 & 7

London Barbican Centre 11 - 16 May

Athens Odeon of Herodes Atticus 22 - 27 June

Monday 22 June | Symphony No.1, Prometheus excerpts, Violin Concerto No.1 Tuesday 23 June | Symphonies 2 & 3 Wednesday 24 June | Symphonies 4 & 5 Friday 26 June I Symphonies 6 & 7 Saturday 27 June I Symphonies 8 & 9

WELCOME JOHN ELIOT GARDINER I can’t think of anything more central to a conductor’s whole raison d’être than to tackle all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies. To study and conduct these prodigious works is one of the sternest challenges every one of us faces. Nothing can diminish the sense of terror and awe at being confronted by this indomitable man and by the most public manifestations of his artistic output, and the excitement and trepidation one feels at each opportunity to reappraise the cycle. Beethoven makes pitiless demands of his musicians. He appears not to be particularly bothered by the technical difficulties that he places in their path. What might seem callous or disrespectful in any other composer is mitigated in Beethoven’s case by the underlying humanity of his compositions. He is arguably the first symphonist to explore universal themes, some political, others philosophical and spiritual, that seem to beckon you into their orbit. This shouldn’t surprise us coming as it did from an artist who saw himself as leader of a “kingdom of the air” or the “empire of the mind”. This is music that challenges you at every level. At the same time it contains so much musical substance and of such a high emotional charge that as interpreters you are swept along, impelled to leap over the multiple obstacles, and inspired to go with the underlying spirit of the music. A full quarter-

millennium after his birth in 1770 these symphonies feel evergreen to me. I agree with the distinguished musicologist William Kinderman that they are curiously pertinent to our times: the political instability in the world today mirrors many of the issues that came to the surface during Beethoven’s lifetime in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. I feel immensely fortunate to be tackling this cycle with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. When we founded the orchestra thirty years ago it was precisely to reappraise and perform the music of Beethoven and his successors (especially Berlioz, Schumann and Brahms), using the most up-to-date scholarship and searching out instruments of the period. The ORR is an exceptionally committed group of freelance musicians who come together from different corners of the world. I am always struck by their passion - the way they seem prepared to risk life and limb in order to do justice to the music. People often ask whether there is a particular historical model for the ORR. The closest (and best documented) one is the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, an orchestra made up of teachers and their

pupils, founded in Paris in 1828 by the conductor François-Antoine Habeneck. They were the first to give well-rehearsed performances of the complete Beethoven cycle between 1828 and 1831. This transformed the skeptical French view of Beethoven as an author of outlandish, incomprehensible music into a revered figure who opened the doors to the soul. Composers as different as Berlioz, Chopin and Wagner were among those who sat enthralled by these revelatory performances. When Beethoven was composing his first three symphonies in the early 1800s he was already becoming deaf. In effect he was composing for an orchestra that didn’t really exist except in his aural memory. He himself never heard his symphonies performed in ways he imagined. We might think we know how his symphonies should sound, and many of us still cherish the revelatory historic recordings we have in our CD or LP collections. Yet perhaps they have lost some of their shock value through over-familiarity. I believe this can be rectified the moment we experience live performances of the symphonies played on the types of instruments Beethoven knew as a young man when he played in the court orchestra in Bonn. Each one of these types, whether woodwind, brass or strings, has a distinctive timbre and a markedly individual character. They can help the listener to hear a lot more of what is actually going on in the score in contrast to the plusher models that were developed after Beethoven’s death. What you might lose in opulence and decibels you gain in extra clarity, transparency and rhetorical force. Beethoven litters his orchestral scores with sforzando markings as well as detailed dynamic gradations. When he shouts for a fff - the absolute maximum - you really need to hear the ORR at full throttle, the needle quivering in the red zone, to experience the effect. There is nothing quite like it. And indeed, that is the point: you, the audience, form the indispensable third side of an essential triangle - composer, performer and listener. Challenge us to challenge you, and Beethoven’s music will sweep us all along with its ambition, energy and beauty. John Eliot Gardiner

The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras presents

BEETHOVEN 250 THE SYMPHONIES Monteverdi Choir Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique John Eliot Gardiner conductor Lucy Crowe soprano Jess Dandy contralto Ed Lyon tenor Tareq Nazmi bass

BEETHOVEN’S SYMPHONIES The legacy of a political artist in revolutionary times William Kinderman Beethoven’s life spanned tumultuous times. He enrolled at the University of Bonn in 1789, the year revolution erupted in nearby France. His deep sympathies for the ideals of the French Revolution were shaken by the Reign of Terror in 1793-94; his enthusiasm for Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul of the French Republic was replaced by disillusionment when Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804. Beethoven persisted in promoting ideals through his art, in the form of artistic projections or “effigies of the ideal,” as Friedrich Schiller expressed it. After the fall of Napoleon, Beethoven jokingly referred to himself as a “Generalissimo” in the realm of tones, as leader of a “kingdom of the air” or “empire of the mind,” an ambitious spiritual project standing apart from the shortcomings of everyday political life. These qualities help explain the astonishing worldwide interest in Beethoven’s music a quarter-millennium after his birth in 1770. The instability of our politics today strangely parallels the problems of Beethoven’s lifetime. Just as enthusiasm for the French Revolution in 1789 was followed by disillusionment, so did the collapse of the Soviet Empire in 1989 encourage false optimism about an imminent age of freedom and democracy. Progressive features are felt from the very opening tensional chord of Beethoven’s First Symphony in C major, from 1800. Especially audacious is the dance movement in penultimate position, which foreshadows some of the scherzos in his later symphonies. He titled the movement “Menuetto,” but this minuet is swift, not stately, with sharp rhythmic accents in the opening section. The playfully humorous finale gradually unfolds a rising scale pattern that becomes a generating motive of the main theme. During 1801, Beethoven tackled his first major work for the stage, the allegorical ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. Prometheus is a demi-god, a rebellious titan and humanity’s benefactor. He steals divine fire from Zeus, and burns hearts into figures of clay, thereby endowing the original man and woman with creative potential. When these primal representatives of humanity gradually display higher awareness, it is to the music of a contradance, a politically progressive dance on account of its exchange of partners, signifying the erosion of class boundaries after the French Revolution.

Prometheus Brings Fire to the Earth by Peter Paul Rubens, c.1538

Liberty leading the people by Eugène Delacroix, c.1830

The Second Symphony in D major was composed in early 1802, shortly before Beethoven’s half-year of creative seclusion in the village of Heiligenstadt, where he sought to come to terms with his incurable deafness through a deepened commitment to his art. “It was only my art that held me back,” Beethoven wrote in his Heiligenstadt Testament, referring to his suicidal thoughts. In this symphony, Beethoven first brought the full scope of his imagination to bear on the orchestral genre. Unlike the off-tonic opening of the First Symphony, Beethoven begins here with a powerful unison D sounded across all the pitch registers. At the climax of the slow introduction, he expands this gesture, plunging fortissimo into D minor in a manner prophetic of the Ninth Symphony. The Eroica Symphony in E-flat major, from 1804, is a pivotal piece in the history of music, a landmark work of artistic truth spoken to political power. When Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1794, he encountered a highly repressive political environment. His hopes for Napoleon were disappointed by the time of the symphony’s completion, whereupon he gave up all thoughts he had about resettling in Paris. In political terms, he found himself between a rock and a hard place. In the Eroica, Beethoven’s ideas about “freedom, progress in the world of art as in the whole of creation,” as he later expressed it, assumed shape as a musicaldramatic deed, building on Promethean symbolism. Its four movements embody the following narrative—struggle, death, rebirth, and glorification. The conflicted character of the Eroica’s first movement is broadly associated with the Promethean theft, the kidnapped fire with which the titan instills higher awareness into his two statue-like “creatures”—the archetypal original man and woman. In the ballet, humanity’s representatives only truly come to life after a scene in which Prometheus is put to death and then reincarnated, restored to life. In the Eroica, these narrative stages are reflected in the weighty funeral march, followed by an initially soft and distant, evolving scherzo in which the central trio section displays a trio of horns glorifying the Promethean rebirth, with its celebration of shared creativity. In the Eroica finale, the connection to Prometheus is made

explicit through the re-use of the contradance drawn from the ballet. Starting with only the bass of the theme—a vision of bare bones—this movement unfolds as a chain of ingenious transformations, an apotheosis of play. The parallel of the Eroica with Beethoven’s own despair, thoughts of suicide, and discovery of a new innovative artistic path is hardly coincidental. But the heroic symbolism of the Eroica is too deeply embodied in the artwork to be interpreted just in terms of Beethoven’s biography, or in relation to any individual historical figure such as Napoleon. What Beethoven explores in the Eroica are universal aspects of heroism, centering on the idea of a confrontation with adversity leading ultimately to a renewal of creative possibilities. Robert Schumann once described the Fourth Symphony from 1806 as “a slim Greek maiden between two Norse giants.” The high spirits of this engaging piece are set into relief by the dark shadows cast in the slow introduction and development of the opening movement, where Beethoven highlights the timpani as part of his unorthodox preparation for the recapitulation. Mysterious drumrolls are heard, and the approach to the reprise is a protracted crescendo, in which the motivic texture penetrates and fills the tonal space above the rumbling drum until the recapitulation is triumphantly affirmed fortissimo by the full orchestra. Two years later, in 1808, Beethoven completed a contrasted pair of symphonies: the Fifth, in C minor, and the Sixth or Pastoral Symphony in F major. In the Fifth Symphony, Beethoven achieved a concentrated synthesis holding together the four movements, one aspect of which is the famous rhythmic motive of repeated notes and a falling third heard at the outset. Variants of this so-called “fate” motive appear in later movements, most obviously in the insistent horn motives of the scherzo. The integration of the symphony is not only motivic, but also shapes many features of the orchestration and form. By folding the scherzo and finale into a composite movement, Beethoven places an elemental polarity at the core of his formal conception. The link between scherzo and finale is one of the most celebrated transitions in all music. Here, the drum is heard on low C, softly tapping the motivic rhythm before this figure is gradually transformed into a steady pulsation. The strings try to pick up the thread of the scherzo, but are stopped in their tracks, and dwell as if hypnotized on the falling intervals from the end of the fragment. This motivic scrap is quietly repeated, and drifts higher and higher until it converges into the emphatic C major beginning of the finale, marked by the first appearance of trombones in the symphony. The finale of the Fifth Symphony emerges suddenly, like a mirage in the desert. As it appears, however, the apparent mirage takes on the glaring force of reality, and exposes the desert as the illusion. In this finale, a visceral resonance to French Revolutionary music alludes to the Hymne dithyrambique, a hymn written by Claude Joseph Rouget de L’Isle, composer of the famous Marseillaise, which became the French national anthem. Rouget de L’Isle declaims the key word of the revolution, “li-ber-té,” as a rising major third in long notes. Beethoven alludes extensively to this idea already in his slow movement, marked ‘Andante con moto’, which remains unsettled, suggesting the premonition of a desired goal that cannot yet be achieved. In the finale, Beethoven develops the “li-ber-té” figure of a rising third in two surpassing passages placed in the middle and toward the conclusion of this powerful ‘Allegro’. Since the

motive is played as a four-note figure with upbeat, it evokes the words “la li-ber-té,” while the four-note “ta-ta-ta-taaaa” motive offers affirmative echoes in compressed rhythm. Motivic development telescopes the figure, building up the music into a great ascending arch of sound. These two passages are interconnected as images of failure and success: the first fails, collapsing into a recall of the ghostly scherzo in the minor; the second succeeds, delivering the definitive C major that cannot be followed. The musical design of Beethoven’s Fifth is not abstract, but bears a relation to historical reality: embrace of the inspiring principles of the French Revolution cleansed from political abuses. Although the Sixth Symphony stands in sharp contrast to the Fifth--with its opening movement inscribed “Pleasant, cheerful feelings aroused on arrival in the countryside”—these two works share important features, such as the culminating role of the finales following harrowing penultimate movements: the scherzo in the Fifth, the storm in the Sixth. The Pastoral Symphony is not simply a mirror of rustic country life, as is reflected in the middle movement, the “Merry gathering of villagers” with its medley of dances. Deeper meaning resides in its portrayal of nature. In writing that the work was “more an expression of feeling than tone painting,” Beethoven draws attention to an aspect of subjective engagement. In the second movement, he alludes to his song “The Call of the Quail,” WoO 129, whose text “He frightens you in the storm, the Lord of Nature: Plead with God! Plead with God!” anticipates the storm movement while conveying a religious attitude toward nature that has gained enhanced relevance in our own time, with global warming and political indifference to environmental degradation. Toward the end of this second movement of the Pastoral, the “Scene by the Brook,” the quail gains companions in a trio of birdcalls: nightingale, quail, and cuckoo. Beethoven names each bird next to their corresponding instruments: flute, oboe, and clarinet, respectively. The quail’s distinctive figure has a dotted rhythm. The presence of the quail’s warning is poignant in view of the later storm movement. In the finale, benevolent nature becomes an imperiled paradise to be reclaimed through the faith embodied in the shepherd’s hymn. In 2017, the “Beethoven Pastoral Project” became part of a global initiative against climate change. In this context, the finale of the Pastoral, with its reclamation of the imperiled paradise, is richly allusive, containing Alpine melodies evocative of Switzerland, the land whose freedom struggles are associated with Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell. In 1812, Beethoven finished another contrasted pair of symphonic masterpieces: his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. No other composition by Beethoven is so intensely animated by the power of rhythm as the Seventh, a radiant work whose first performances marked the celebration of allied victory over Napoleon in Germany and Spain. Beethoven’s sublime humor is especially felt in the finale of the Eighth, above all in his treatment of an intrusive “false note,” a C-sharp played between the paired statements of the principal theme, and which toward the end asserts itself powerfully, opening something like a gaping chasm beneath the hearer’s feet while illuminating the whole symphony.

The Battle of Leipzig by Alexander Sauerweid, 1813

‘Here’s a kiss to the whole world!’, detail of the Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt, 1902

The Ninth Symphony in D minor from 1824 is a great work of synthesis. Since lack of space precludes adequate commentary here, let us comment briefly on the relevance in our time of Beethoven’s setting of Schiller’s idealistic ‘Ode to Joy’ in the choral finale, which has become a seemingly unsurpassed symbol of affirmative culture and political resistance in many parts of the world. At times of crisis, this music offers a focus for collective consolation, as individuals are sublimated as discrete entities within a larger whole. In distant parts of an increasingly interconnected global community, Beethoven’s resilient response to conflict has inspired endurance, setting into motion a process that has gained momentum up to the present. Thirty years ago, the symphony was broadcast by the protesters in Beijing, when about a million persons occupied Tiananmen Square. As one of the organizers recalled, “We used the Ninth to create an ambience of solidarity and hope for ourselves and for the people of China.” The famous “Joy” melody serves as anthem of the European Union and symbol of European unity, even as Brexiteers turn their backs on the ‘Ode to Joy’. Many commemorative performances have taken place, such as at Sarajevo in 1996, and at the site of the Mauthausen concentration camp in 2000. In Japan, performances of ‘daiku’ (no. 9) marked the response to the destructive tsunami in 2011. Very recently in November 2019, the symphony was performed during massive demonstrations held at the Plaza Italia in Santiago, Chile. As its ongoing global reception shows, Beethoven’s Ninth is no fading Enlightenment dream, but on the contrary an indispensable assertion of human courage and potential, a futuristic beacon of hope. We need it more than ever today. William Kinderman is a pianist and author of many scholarly works on music, most recently Beethoven: A Political Artist in Revolutionary Times (2020). He is professor and inaugural Leo and Elaine Krown Klein Chair of Performance Studies in the Herb Alpert School of Music, University of California, Los Angeles.

JOHN ELIOT GARDINER Sir John Eliot Gardiner is revered as one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians and is a leader in the contemporary musical world. His work, as Founder and Artistic Director of the Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists (EBS) and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR) has made him a key figure both in the early music revival and historically informed performance practice. Gardiner is a regular guest of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducting repertoire from the 16th to the 20th centuries. He has also conducted opera productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Wiener Staatsoper and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. From 1983 to 1988 he was Artistic Director of the Opéra de Lyon, where he founded its new orchestra. His broad repertoire is illustrated by his extensive catalogue of award-winning recordings with the Monteverdi ensembles and other leading orchestras on both major labels and Soli Deo Gloria. He holds two GRAMMY awards and has received more Gramophone Awards than any other living artist.

CONDUCTOR

Recent achievements with the Monteverdi ensembles include the RPS award-winning Monteverdi 450 Trilogy tour, a reprise of the 2000’s famous Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, which toured to some of Europe’s most famous concert halls and churches, a fiveyear exploration of Berlioz’s major works to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death and a landmark performance of Verdi’s Requiem at London’s Westminster Cathedral in aid of Cancer Research UK. In 2019 Gardiner conducted new productions of Handel’s Semele and Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, and gave his debut performances in Colombia, Russia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. An authority on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gardiner’s book, Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, was published in October 2013 by Allen Lane, leading to the Prix des Muses award (Singer-Polignac). Among numerous awards in recognition of his work, Gardiner holds several honorary doctorates. He was awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Â© Sim Canetty-Clarke

DINIS SOUSA inis Sousa is Assistant D Conductor of the three Monteverdi ensembles, the first in the history of the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras. The London-based Portuguese conductor and pianist Dinis Sousa has worked closely with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, both with his ensembles and with other orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker and Tonhalle Orchester Zurich. At the 2016 BBC Proms, Sousa co-conducted the Monteverdi Choir in Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette, in a critically acclaimed performance that was televised on BBC4. In January 2019, Sousa conducted the English Baroque Soloists in four concerts at the Cartagena International Music Festival. Sousa studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was Conducting Fellow, during which period he prepared the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra for concerts with Bernard Haitink. Other conducting projects included Bach’s St John Passion at Milton Court and a staged production of Harrison Birtwistle’s opera Down by the Greenwood Side at the Silk Street Theatre. Sousa studied conducting with Sian Edwards and Timothy Redmond and piano with Philip Jenkins and Martin Roscoe. As pianist he has taken masterclasses with Yekaterina Lebedeva, Sequeira Costa, Angela Hewitt, Richard Egarr and Ralf Gothóni among others. Sousa is Founder and Artistic Director of Orquestra XXI, an award-winning orchestra

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

bringing together some of the best young Portuguese musicians living abroad. The orchestra has already established itself as one of the leading performing groups in Portugal, appearing regularly at major concert halls to critical acclaim. With Orquestra XXI, Sousa has explored a wide range of repertoire, from Bach and Purcell to the great symphonic repertoire of Brahms, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, as well as premiering new works by Portuguese composers. As a guest conductor, Sousa has conducted the Southbank Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, Portuguese Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, recently replacing Daniel Harding in rehearsal. Other highlights include opening the Gulbenkian Foundation Season and appearing at Centro Cultural de Belém’s festival “Dias da Música” for a televised concert of Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Gulbenkian Choir and an international cast led by James Gilchrist. In recognition of his work with Orquestra XXI, Sousa was awarded the title of Knight of the Order of Prince Henry by the President of the Portuguese Republic, Anibal Cavaco Silva.

LUCY CROWE

JESS DANDY

SOPRANO

CONTRALTO

Lucy Crowe has established herself as one of the leading lyric sopranos of her generation, performing at houses including the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Royal Opera House and Bayerische Staatsoper. In recital she has appeared at the Concertgebouw and Carnegie Hall and the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Mostly Mozart and Salzburg Festivals and the BBC Proms.

Jess Dandy’s highlights this season include Beethoven’s Missa solemnis at the Southbank Centre, Alex Mills’s Dear Marie Stopes at Kings Place, The Dream of Gerontius at the Hampstead Arts Festival, recitals in Barcelona and at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Messiah with the Dunedin Consort in Scotland and in South America, Bach’s St John Passion with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and St Matthew Passion with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Eduige in Handel’s Rodelinda with the English Concert in Europe and the U.S. and Fernando, Re di Castiglia at the London and Halle Handel Festivals.

In concert, she has recently performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the London Symphony Orchestra. She has also recently worked with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Recent appearances include Handel’s Israel in the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Egypt at the Three Choirs Festival and Bach Santa Cecilia. Cantatas with the Dunedin Consort at the She has recorded with the London Symphony Edinburgh International Festival. She debuted as Dido in Dido and Aeneas at the Ryedale Orchestra for LSO Live, with La Nuova Festival and sang Bach’s Mass in B Minor in Musica for Harmonia Mundi as well as with Leipzig and St Matthew Passion at the Boston the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Early Early Music Festival, St John Passion on tour Opera Company, and a solo Handel disc, in Europe with Les Arts Florissants and in ll Caro Sassone, with Harry Bicket and the Australia with the Adelaide and Tasmanian English Concert for Harmonia Mundi. Symphony Orchestras, Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and This season Lucy debuts at Dutch National Handel’s Messiah with the Hallé. Opera, returns to Covent Garden and performs with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris and the English Concert in a worldwide tour of Rodelinda. Lucy is a Fellow to the Royal Academy of Music.

Jess is co-founder of SongPath, an initiative founded to promote walking and music in the context of mental health, and was the winner of the London Bach Society Singers Prize 2017 and the 2018 Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform. She was a finalist in the 2019 Das Lied competition, and is a Britten-Pears Young Artist and Heidelberger Frühling Scholar.

ED LYON

TAREQ NAZMI

TENOR

BASS

Ed Lyon studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera School. His repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary music and he has appeared at many of the world’s leading venues, including the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Bayerische Staatsoper, Netherlands Opera, Teatro Real, the Edinburgh, Aix, Salzburg, Holland and Aldeburgh Festivals and the BBC Proms.

Tareq Nazmi trained at the Bavarian State Opera’s Opera Studio and then joined the Opera´s ensemble, singing roles including Masetto, Speaker, Truffaldino, Publio and Osman in Les Indes galantes.

Recent and future projects include the title role in Denisov’s L’écume des jours (Stuttgart Opera), Steva in Jenufa (Opera North and WNO), Ariadne auf Naxos, Tristan und Isolde, Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser (ROH), Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Lurcanio in Ariodante (Scottish Opera), Jaquino in Fidelio (Madrid), world premiere of Lens’ Shell Shock and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte (La Monnaie), Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail for The Grange Festival, Quint in The Turn of the Screw for Garsington, Alessandro in Eliogabolo for Netherlands Opera, Eduardo in Adès’ Exterminating Angel (Salzburg Festival and ROH), performances worldwide of The Diary of One who Disappeared in a staged production with Musiktheater Transparent, Ferdinand in Miranda for Oper Köln, Evangelist in St Matthew Passion with the Bach Choir, and War Requiem with the NDR Hanover and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.

Last season he made his role debut as Filippo (Don Carlo) at Theater St. Gallen, starred in a major European concert tour of Verdi’s Requiem under Teodor Currentzis, sung Beethoven´s Missa solemnis conducted by Kirill Petrenko in Munich and performed in a recital with pianist Gerold Huber at London´s Wigmore Hall. Highlights of previous seasons include Bottom in Britten´s A Midsummer Night´s Dream at the Theater an der Wien and Speaker in Mozart´s Magic Flute at the Salzburg Festival with Constantinos Carydis conducting. The 2019/20 season sees Tareq debut as Colline at the Metropolitan Opera and perform in a new staging of Beethoven´s Fidelio by Mateja Koležnik at the BadenBaden Festspielhaus with Kirill Petrenko conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. On the concert stage he will appear under Manfred Honeck in Haydn´s The Creation with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and sing in Schumann´s Scenes from Goethe´s Faust at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

MONTEVERDI CHOIR Ever since its founding in the 1960s, the Monteverdi Choir has been a leading force in the world of choral music. Through a combination of consummate technique, historically informed performance practice and a strong appreciation for visual impact, the Choir constantly strives to bring fresh perspectives, immediacy and drama to its performances across the world. Amongst a number of trailblazing tours was the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, during which the Choir performed all 198 of J. S. Bach’s sacred cantatas in more than 60 churches throughout Europe and America. The entire project was recorded by the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras’ record label, Soli Deo Gloria, and was hailed as ‘one of the most ambitious musical projects of all time’ by Gramophone magazine. The Monteverdi Choir has over 150 recordings to its name and has won numerous prizes. The Choir has participated in several staged opera productions, including Der Freischütz (2010), Carmen (2009) at the Opéra Comique in Paris, and Les Troyens at the Théâtre du Châtelet. In 2015, the Choir performed Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, working in collaboration with the Hofesh Shechter dance company. Other projects across different repertoires range from an extensive tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion (performed from memory) with the English Baroque Soloists (EBS) to

Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette at the BBC Proms and Festival Berlioz with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR) in 2016. Under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner, they have also collaborated with both the London Symphony Orchestra on Mendelssohn’s Ein Sommernachtstraum and the Tonhalle Orchestra on Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. In 2019, the Choir, alongside Gardiner and the EBS, toured a new production of Handel’s Semele to the Philharmonie de Paris, Barcelona’s Palau de la Música and the Teatro alla Scala. The highlights continued into the summer as the Choir joined Gardiner, the ORR and an international cast of soloists for critically acclaimed performances of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini at the Festival Berlioz, Berliner Festspiele, BBC Proms and Château de Versailles. The Choir rounded off the year with a series of debut performances in Russia and South America with the EBS, performing a programme of sacred music featuring works by Monteverdi, Carissimi, Purcell and Scarlatti. Recent achievements include the awardwinning Monteverdi 450 Trilogy tour, in which the Choir performed all three of Monteverdi’s surviving operas across Europe and in the United States. In a reprise of its now iconic Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, 2018 saw the Choir perform several mixed programmes of the composer’s sacred cantatas with the EBS across Europe, before giving a number of critically-acclaimed performances of Verdi’s Requiem alongside the ORR - including a landmark concert at Westminster Cathedral in aid of Cancer Research UK.

SOPRANOS Emily Armour Elenor Bowers-Jolley Sam Cobb Rebecca Hardwick Eloise Irving Laura Jarrell Charlotte La Thrope Gwendolen Martin Eleanor Meynell Emily Owen Alison Ponsford-Hill Elinor Rolfe-Johnson Angharad Rowlands ALTOS Francesca Biliotti Christie Cook Sarah Denbee Annie Gill Emma Lewis Rozanna Madylus Melanie Sanders Margarita Slepakova Kate Symonds-Joy

TENORS Benjamin Alden John Bowen Peter Davoren Jonathan Hanley Thomas Herford Graham Neal Benedict Quirke Edward Ross Gareth Treseder BASSES Alex Ashworth Robert Davies Samuel Evans Michael Lafferty Alistair Ollerenshaw David Stuart Lawrence Wallington Christopher Webb

ORCHESTRE RÉVOLUTIONNAIRE ET ROMANTIQUE Founded in 1989 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR) strives to provide bold new perspectives on the music of the 19th and early 20th centuries through its stylistic fidelity and intensity of expression. Since its inception the ORR has won plaudits for its interpretations of major early Romantic composers, from Berlioz to Beethoven, as well as later works by composers ranging from Verdi to Debussy. Major projects have included Beethoven symphony cycles, ‘Schumann Revealed’ and ‘Brahms: Root and Memories’, in which the ensemble recorded the complete symphonies of each respective composer. Additionally the ORR has performed operas by Weber (Oberon and Le Freyschütz), Bizet (Carmen), Chabrier (L’Étoile), Verdi (Falstaff) and Debussy (Pelléas et Mélisande) in new productions in France, Italy and London, and gave the first complete staged performances in Paris of Berlioz’s Les Troyens.

Joyce DiDonato. The celebrations culminated in 2019, marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death with the first contemporary performances of his opera Benvenuto Cellini on period instruments. The orchestra was joined by the Monteverdi Choir and a cast of international soloists for a series of critically acclaimed staged concerts of the opera at the BBC Proms, Berliner Festspiele, Festival Berlioz and Château de Versailles. The 2019/20 season marks 30 years since the founding of the ORR, as well as the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. In celebration of these twin milestones, the orchestra embarks on another momentous project, performing a cycle of all nine of the composer’s symphonies in residencies across Europe and the United States. The celebrations continue in September as the orchestra unites with the Monteverdi Choir to perform Beethoven’s Missa solemnis at some of Europe’s most prestigious music festivals.

In 2015 the ORR returned to the music of Berlioz for a five-year exploration of the composer’s large-scale works, performing Roméo et Juliette, La damnation de Faust, Symphonie fantastique, Harold en Italie and Lélio across Europe and the United Sates. The project featured five consecutive appearances at London’s BBC Proms, a highlight of which was performing excerpts of Les Troyens alongside star mezzo-soprano ORR Leader Peter Hanson ©Sim Canetty-Clarke

VIOLINS I Peter Hanson Kati Debretzeni Alida Schat Madeleine Easton Miranda Playfair Catherine van der Geest Emil Chakalov Clare Hoffman Beatrice Philips Davina Clarke Fiona Stevens Xenia Gogu* Hatty Haynes* VIOLINS II Lucy Jeal Jayne Spencer Julia Hanson Iona Davies Bérénice Lavigne Judith Templeman Håkan Wikström Rachel Rowntree Beatrice Scaldini Gabrielle Maas Gabi Jones* Chloé Jullian*

VIOLAS Oliver Wilson Fanny Paccoud Monika Grimm Sophie Renshaw Lisa Cochrane Catherine Musker Mark Braithwaite Joe Ichinose Oscar Holch* Jam Orrell* CELLOS Robin Michael Catherine Rimer Ruth Alford Olaf Reimers Lucile Perrin Filipe Quaresma Jonathan Byers Octavie DostalerLalonde* Víctor García* Eglantine Latil* BASSES Valerie Botwright Cecelia Bruggemeyer Markus van Horn Elizabeth Bradley Jean Ané Raivis Misjuns Miguel Pliego García*

FLUTES Marten Root Lina León PICCOLO Neil McLaren OBOES Michael Niesemann Rachel Chaplin CLARINETS Nicola Boud Fiona Mitchell

TROMBONES Adam Woolf Miguel Tantos Sevillano James Buckle Christian Jones TIMPANI Robert Kendell PERCUSSION Nigel Bates Tim Palmer Steve Gibson

BASSOONS Veit Scholz Gyorgyi Farkas CONTRABASSOON Karl Nieler HORNS Anneke Scott Joseph Walters Patrick Broderick Mark de Merlier TRUMPETS Neil Brough Robert Vanryne Michael Harrison Paul Sharp

*2019/20 Monteverdi Apprentice

30 YEARS OF THE ORCHESTRE RÉVOLUTIONNAIRE ET ROMANTIQUE

1989: Founding of the ORR A performance of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis at London’s Royal Festival hall on 5 November sees the inception of the orchestra.

1990 First public appearance under the ORR name, in a performance of Brahms’ Ein deutches Requiem in Bremen.

1997: ‘Schumann Revealed’ Two-part festival at the Barbican and Cité de la Musique in Paris results in recordings of all Schumann symphonies and Das Paradies und die Peri for Deutsche Grammophon. 1992: Tour to Japan The ORR perform the Beethoven symphony cycle in Tokyo, Mito and Osaka.

1998: Verdi’s Falstaff Performances of Verdi’s Falstaff at the BBC Proms, and in Cagliari and Baden-Baden.

1996 A tour of Beethoven’s Leonore to Ferrara, Lille, Amsterdam, Ludwigsburg, New York, Salzburg and London’s BBC Proms (pictured).

1993 First performance of Berlioz’s newlyrediscovered Messe solennelle outside of the composer’s lifetime. Filmed in London’s Westminster Cathedral by the BBC.

1999-2003: Four-year residency at the Théâtre du Châtelet Fully-staged versions of Gluck Orphée et Euridice (1999), Verdi’s Falstaff (2001) and Weber’s Oberon (2002). In 2003, the orchestra took part in the first complete staged performances in Paris of Berlioz’s Les Troyens.

2007-2008: Brahms ‘Roots and Memories’ A tour of Brahms’ four symphonies and choral works to Madrid, Vienna, Cologne, Brussels, Paris and Edinburgh. Live recordings of all symphonies released by Soli Deo Gloria.

2007-2011: Four-year residency at the Opéra Comique Chabrier’s L’Étoile (2007), Bizet’s Carmen (2009), Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (2010) and Weber’s Le Freyschütz (2011).

2012-2014 An international tour of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and selected symphonies, including two live recordings released by Soli Deo Gloria: Missa Solemnis at the Barbican Centre and Symphonies 2 & 8 at Cadogan Hall.

2011 The ORR tours the Beethoven symphonies to the USA, visiting Washington, Chapel Hill, California and New York’s Carnegie Hall.

2018: Verdi Requiem The ORR and Monteverdi Choir performed Verdi’s Requiem in a major European tour including concerts in Vienna, Budapest, Munich and Amsterdam. A special London performance took place at Westminster Cathedral in support of Cancer Research UK.

2015 – 2019 Five-year project exploring Berlioz’s large scale works leading up to the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death. Included five consecutive performances at the BBC Proms and the first modern staged performances of Benvenuto Cellini on period instruments in 2019.

BEETHOVEN 250: SHARING THE ORR’S PERSPECTIVE A major strand of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique’s Beethoven Cycle is an international music education project, led by Assistant Conductor Dinis Sousa, taking place in parallel with our main symphonic performances.

Dinis Sousa © Jorge Carmona

Working with a variety of leading youth and conservatoire orchestras, we aim to share the ORR’s bold perspectives on Beethoven’s oeuvre through targeted invitations to rehearsals, focusing on a different Beethoven symphony in each city we visit. Alongside some of the most experienced players from the ORR – world-class musicians and experts in historicallyinspired performance in their own right - Sousa aims to give some insight into the ORR’s and John Eliot Gardiner’s visionary interpretation of Beethoven’s music. The students we reach will be challenged to think in terms of stylistic fidelity and intensity of expression – the ORR’s hallmarks – and apply these fundamentals to their own music-making.

Members of the Monteverdi ensembles with students of the ALEGRO music project in Curitiba, Brazil

EDUCATION & OUTREACH Alongside our performance and project work, the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras is committed to providing learning and engagement opportunities for students, conservatoire musicians and young professionals, both in the UK and whilst on tour. Our education projects with students complement our primary concert activity by working with Music Education Hubs, schools and venues in and around London, offering open access to our rehearsals, the chance to meet with our musicians, talks, workshops and bespoke masterclasses with members of our three ensembles. Projects have included rehearsals with MCO Assistant Conductor, Dinis Sousa, and ORR musicians, focusing on historical performance in Beethovenâ€™s symphonies; animateur-led sessions inspired by themes and topic in Handelâ€™s Semele; and numerous open rehearsal opportunities for those who would not otherwise have the chance to experience the magic of live classical music. Most recently, on tour in South America, we were fortunate to be invited to visit ALEGRO, a pioneering music education project in Curitiba, Brazil, witnessing this transformative initiative in action and taking part in a series of reciprocal performances. Those studying at music conservatoires across the UK are regularly invited to attend our rehearsals in order to observe our working practices first hand and experience our unique historically-inspired brand of music-making in a more intimate environment than the concert hall. Whilst on tour in Europe and the United States, we endeavour to provide MCO musicians for masterclasses, Q&As and pre-concert talks, and every effort is made to ensure that local students are able to observe us in rehearsal. Recent international participants have included students from The Juilliard School (US), Liszt Academy (Hungary), and the Conservatoire de Paris (France), to name but a few. This year, we will work with a range of students in Chicago, New York and Barcelona, drawn from some of their countriesâ€™ most prestigious music institutions.

2016/17 Apprentices in workshops with John Eliot Gardiner and ORR Principals

MONTEVERDI APPRENTICES PROGRAMME The Monteverdi Apprentices Programme enables outstanding young musicians to spend an entire year training and performing with our three internationally-renowned ensembles, under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner. This world-class artist development scheme continues to have a deep impact upon the development of all the young musicians who have participated in it: extending their musical horizons and broadening their career aspirations. Not only does it remain a pioneering initiative, but it also serves as a testament to MCOâ€™s continued commitment to nurturing the next generation of musical talent. The Apprentices Programme was set up in 2007 - the first of its kind in the UK - its aim being to nurture exceptional musical talent and an aptitude for ensemble performing. We felt there was a pressing need to create a safe environment and opportunity for gifted young singers and instrumentalists to dip their toes in the waters of professional music-making while still exploring their own musical potential - simply plunging into the professional world straight out of college can be a daunting prospect at the best of times. The Apprentices Programme follows the age-old apprenticeship principle of learning a craft on the job from older hands. At the start of the year each Apprentice is assigned a mentor - an experienced musician within the Monteverdi Choir, EBS or ORR - on hand to give encouragement and one-to-one advice on the multiple challenges that arise from ensemble singing and playing at the highest professional level. Furthermore, over the course of their

Apprentice year these young musicians are integrated with the Monteverdi ensembles, rehearsing and performing in concerts at home and on tour overseas. Our aim is to round out their musical education and to help equip them for future challenges by giving them the opportunity to work alongside some of the best and most experienced musicians in the business. By the end of the year, a Monteverdi Apprentice should be able to gauge his or her individual worth as a singer or instrumentalist with greater objectivity. They will have been given a taste of the life of a professional musician and be in a better position to weigh up if this is genuinely the path that they wish to pursue either as a soloist, an ensemble musician, or both. And if he or she has shown that they can meet the requisite musical, technical and stylistic standards that define the Monteverdi Choir, EBS or ORR, they may be offered a place whenever there is a vacancy. The Programme now has over 70 alumni with over 70% of Apprentices graduating as fully-fledged members of the Monteverdi ensembles and performing with them regularly in their many projects. John Eliot Gardiner Our current cohort of Apprentices are playing alongside the ORR throughout our Beethoven Symphony Cycle, joining us on stage in London, Barcelona and Athens, in addition to numerous workshops and additional rehearsals with principal players from the ORR – their mentors for the season. We are also delighted to welcome back several of last year’s choral Apprentices – not just for our performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, but for our other projects, too - in repertoire ranging from Monteverdi and Purcell to Brahms and Fauré. Many of them have now sung with the Monteverdi Choir in every project that has taken place since their Apprenticeship ended and are fast becoming vital members of one of the world’s most respected vocal ensembles. The next iteration of the Apprentices programme will run in the calendar year 2021 and will again be for choral singers. We look forward to sharing more information via the MCO website (www.monteverdi.co.uk) and social media later in 2020.

SUPPORT THE MONTEVERDI ENSEMBLES The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras is committed to producing performances of the highest calibre and sharing our distinctive performance practice with audiences around the world. As a registered charity with no public subsidy, we rely on the generosity of our supporters to help us to produce top-quality performances, nurture new musical talent, deliver inspiring educational projects and work towards a sustainable future. Please consider joining the Monteverdi family of supporters. Your support will help ensure that we can continue to bring the very best quality music to the widest possible audience for years to come.

We are very grateful for any donation we receive, and here are some of the ways in which you may wish to become involved:

BECOME A MEMBER

Our membership programmes range from £250 to £5000 per year. Members enjoy a range of benefits including priority booking for our concerts, invitations to UK receptions, special events and open rehearsals, and acknowledgement in our programmes.

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP

The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras is a brand associated with excellence. Corporate partnership packages are tailored to suit your business needs, with excellent opportunities for client and employee engagement and marketing both in the UK and overseas.

LEAVE A LEGACY

Leaving a gift in your Will to the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras is one of the most meaningful gifts you can make, and plays a crucial role in securing the future of our three ensembles for years to come.

JOIN OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS

Our American Friends play a valuable part in supporting and championing the work of the Monteverdi ensembles both in the US and beyond. The American Friends of the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras, Inc is a registered 501(c)(3) and donations to the AFMCO are tax deductible for US taxpayers.

For more information, or to make a donation, please contact Emma Kjellin at emma@monteverdi.org.uk or call 020 7719 0120. Further information can be found at www.monteverdi.co.uk

MONTEVERDI SUPPORTERS The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the following individuals, organisations and Trusts & Foundations: ROYAL PATRON HRH The Prince of Wales PRESIDENT Ian Hay Davison CBE BENEFACTORS Michael L. Cioffi - Monteverdi Tuscany, Castiglioncello del Trinoro, Italy Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni Mrs Carol Grigor & Mr Murray Grigor Judith McCartin Scheide Sir David Walker CORPORATE PARTNERS Greensill Capital Morgan Stanley TRUSTS & FOUNDATIONS Dunard Fund New Berlioz Edition Trust The Vernon Ellis Foundation

MEMBERSHIP SCHEME BACH MEMBERS Michael Beverley David & Sandra Brierwood Julia Chappell The Earl and Countess of Chichester Andrey Kidel William Lock And those who wish to remain anonymous BEETHOVEN MEMBERS Lord Burns Peter & Stephanie Chapman Gordon Gullan Antony C. Shoults Christopher Stewart Stephen & Victoria Swift And those who wish to remain anonymous

BRAHMS MEMBERS Roger & Rosemary Chadder Jake Donovan & Gracia Lafuente Mr John & Mrs Felicity Fairbairn Mr Duncan Matthews QC Joanne Merry Lady Nixon Alessandro Orsaria Professor Richard Portes CBE FBA Nicola Ramsden Christian & Myrto Rochat And those who wish to remain anonymous BERLIOZ MEMBERS Geoffrey Barnett Mary Bernard Donald D. Campbell Peter J. Chapman Miss Vanessa Claypole Dr Carol Cobb Anthony de Grey Steve Edge Flora Fraser Jรกnos & Dietlinde Hidasi George & Jenny Hill Richard Jacques Gareth & Charlotte Keene Yi-Peng Li Laura Lindsay Simon Lovat Mollie Norwich Nicholas & Christylle Phillips Mary Pinnell Dr Paul A. Sackin Steven & Olivia Schaefer Christopher J. H. Thornhill Andrew Tusa Andrew Wales David Ward Victor & Tina Vadaneaux And those who wish to remain anonymous

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE MONTEVERDI CHOIR & ORCHESTRAS, INC. CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE - GOLD Michael L. Cioffi - Monteverdi Tuscany, Castiglioncello del Trinoro, Italy The Negaunee Foundation The New York Community Trust - The Scheide Fund CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE - SILVER Laurie & Bill Benenson CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE - BRONZE Jeffrey Calman Christopher Stewart PATRONS Mr Frank Brown Gwen DeLuca Dr Janice Dutcher Kathryn Earley John A Gentile, Jr Neil Graham Francesca Hayslett Mr John Kelly Seth Levi Ferne Mele Matthias Ohr & Shannon Coulter And those who wish to remain anonymous

CURRENT SUPPORTERS OF THE MONTEVERDI APPRENTICES PROGRAMME Geoffrey Barnett Mr Roger Chadder Morny & Ian Hay Davison CBE Mr John & Mrs Felicity Fairbairn Mrs Helen Skinner Morgan Stanley The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust The Golsoncott Foundation The Idlewild Trust The Kirby Laing Foundation The Thistle Trust And those who wish to remain anonymous

IN MEMORIAM Sir Ralph Kohn Kevin Lavery John Julius Norwich Margaret Stephen E. L. Youens Dr Laura Youens Ruth Ziegler

LEGACIES The Estate of Howard Hodgkin The Estate of Kevin Lavery We are grateful for the donations made in memory of our supporters. With many thanks to those other individuals who give regular donations in support of our work.

MCO TEAM

MCO BOARD

Dr Rosa Solinas General Director

Sir David Walker (Chair) David Best Lady Deben Mandy DeFilippo Virginia Fraser Sir John Eliot Gardiner Sir Stephen Gomersall Andrey Kidel Nicola Ramsden John Smyth

Martin Wheeler Finance & Administration Manager Matthew Broom Planning & Casting Manager James Halliday Artistic Advisor & Librarian Emily Parker Artistic Operations Manager (Choir Manager) Andrew Softley Tours & Concerts Manager Emma Kjellin Partnerships & Events Manager Tom Hansell Projects & Partnerships Manager William Vignoles Marketing & Communications Coordinator Conor Oâ€™Dwyer Marketing & Communications Assistant

THE MONTEVERDI CHOIR AND ORCHESTRAS LIMITED

Holly Randhawa Tours & Concerts Assistant

Level 12, 20 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London E14 4AD, UK

Philip Turbett Orchestra Fixer Matthew Muller Stage Manager Big Man Consultancy Ltd Instrument Transport

+44 (0)20 7719 0120 www.monteverdi.co.uk Find us on social media Registered charity 272279 Company registered in England & Wales 01277513