Christmas Crackers: Christmas at Willards Barn

CHRISTMAS AT WILLARDS BARN Christmas at Willards Barn is a series of twelve of your favourite Christmas crackers that you can rent as a series

CORELLI

PRAETORIUS

Pastorale from Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 8 'Christmas'

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

BUXTEHUDE

Messiah Overture

HANDEL

BuxWV 52, In dulci jubilo

BACH BACH

Chorale from Christmas Oratorio: 'Ich steh an Deiner Krippen hier'

BACH

Cantata BWV 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (last mvt)

Christmas Oratorio part 3: duet 'Herr, dein Mitleid'

HOLST

In the bleak midwinter

SCHÜTZ

Verbum Caro factum est

HANDEL

Judas Maccabeus: 'Tochter Zion'

BACH

BACH

Cantata BWV 140 Mein Freund ist mein

Cantata BWV 140, Zion hört die Wächter singen

We are grateful for the support of Jenny and Tim Morrison and Imogen and Haakon Overli

1690

CHRISTMAS TIMELINE

Corelli is said to have performed a Christmas concerto in 1690 for his patr

This handy little timeline shows us when the composers were alive and when some of our modern traditions of Christmas started,

1500

George I requeste as par Christm a

1600

1700

SCHÃœTZ (1585-1672) PRAETORIUS (1586-1651) BUXTEHUDE (1637-1707)

CORELLI (1653-1713)

J.S. BACH (1

HANDEL (16

1784

ron.

The earliest recorded date mentioning kissing under the mistletoe in a musical.

1714

I is said to have ed plum pudding rt of his first mas in England as King

1840

Introduction of the Christmas tree in England

1843

T he first book version of 'A Christmas Carol' published.

1800

1900

1685-1750)

685-1759)

HOLST (1874-1934)

SOPRANO

Jessica Cale

ALTO

Martha McLorinan

TENOR

Guy Cutting

BASS

Dominic Sedgwick

VIOLIN I

Matthew Truscott

VIOLIN II

Rodolfo Richter

VIOLA

Annette Isserlis

CELLO

Jonathan Manson

DOUBLE BASS

Timothy Amherst

OBOE I

Katharina Spreckelsen

OBOE II

Lars Henriksson

BASSOON

Sally Jackson

ORGAN

Steven Devine

BEHIND THE SCENES Sophie Adams, OAE Projects Officer "We couldn’t have wished for a more perfect venue to film this festive programme! The rustic barn features reminded me rather of a nativity backdrop, we just decided to swap the shepherds and wiseman for a party of musicians bearing gifts of Handel, Bach and Corelli!

Having fuelled up on mince pies we set about exploring different camera angles.

The Christmas tree proved to be a very useful for hiding a camera, it put up a good fight as I wedged the keyboard cam between its branches. We also managed to squeeze in our large camera crane, nicknamed ‘the dragon’ for its majestic beastly appearance. The device allowed us to send a camera up above the ensemble and even through the eaves of the barn.

Unlike a fixed tripod, the crane adds a very gentle and fluid movement to the shot which is quite pleasing and musical to the eye. "

BIOGRAPHIES

Jessica Cale

Martha McLorinan

Welsh Soprano, Jessica Cale is the First Prize winner of the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Awards in addition to jointly winning the Audience Prize at the 2020 London Handel Festival Singing Competition. Jessica has a few months left of her studies with Rosa Mannion at the Royal College of Music International Opera Studio where she is the Robert Lancaster scholar.

Jessica will mark the end of her time at the Royal College of Music by performing the title role of Rodelinda in July 2021. Jessica is hugely grateful for the support of a Help Musicians UK Sybil Tutton Award, the Josephine Baker Trust and the Countess of Munster Trust.

Martha McLorinan trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she held a scholarship with the BBC, won the Margaret Tann Williams Prize, and graduated with first class honours. She has been the recipient of numerous prizes including the Thelma King Award and the ensemble prize at the Royal Over-Seas League. She is a versatile singer and enjoys a varied career of oratorio, opera, consort work, session work and recitals.

Jessica’s operatic experience includes the roles of Flaminia (Haydn, Il mondo della luna); Susan (Berkeley, A Dinner Engagement); Second Bridesmaid (Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro); Despina (Mozart, Cosi fan tutte, Ryedale Festival Opera); Serpetta (Mozart, The Garden of Disguises, Ryedale Festival Opera); Dido (Purcell, Dido and Aeneas); and for the Royal College of Music Opera Scenes: Blanche (Dialogues des Carmelites, Poulenc); Juliette (Romeo eat Juliette, Gounod); Poppea (L’incoronazione de Poppea, Monteverdi); Tina (Flight, Dove); Musetta (La Boheme, Puccini); and Melisande (Pelleas et Melisande, Debussy).

Solo highlights of 2019 include her singing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/John Butt) at St. John’s Cathedral, Malta, Handel’s Messiah (Academy of Ancient Music/Nigel Short) at the Maarktkirche, Halle, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at Kings Place (The Feinstein Ensemble/ Martin Feinstein), Verdi’s Requiem at Reading Great Hall (Reading Festival Chorus and Johanneskantorei/Greg Hallam), and giving the world premiere of Roth’s Beginnings and Endings (Ex Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore) at The Brammell concert hall. She also gave a recital of Russian Song at The Pheasantry with Will Vann, performed Rachmaninoff’s Vespers at Gloucester Cathedral as part of the Three Choirs festival (Ex Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore), and sang Bach’s B Minor Mass (The Gabrieli Consort and Players/Paul McCreesh) at Kloster Eberbach as part of the Rheingau Musik Festival.

Guy Cutting

Dominic Sedgewick

Guy Cutting is the inaugural recipient of the American Bach Soloists' Jeffrey Thomas Award 2013, and he is currently a Rising Star of the Enlightenment ​with the OAE for the 2019-2021 season.

British baritone Dominic Sedgwick is a recent graduate of the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House and has been selected as a Rising Star of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for the 2019/20 and 20/21 seasons. He previously studied at GSMD with Robert Dean.

Guy is a member of Damask Vocal Quartet - an ensemble specialising in the 19th and 20th century chamber repertoire. Damask enjoys a busy performing schedule in Europe & North America; in 2021, the quartet will be making their debut at London's Wigmore Hall. Guy has also performed with a number of the UK's most renowned early music consorts such as The Tallis Scholars, The Marian Consort, Alamire, The Taverner Choir, Contrapunctus and Magnificat. With these groups, Guy has recorded extensively, and toured to Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia.

As soloist, Guy's upcoming projects include Bach's St John Passion with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Nicholas Kraemer in Manchester; Monteverdi's Vespers & Bach's B Minor Mass with Collegium Vocale Gent / Philippe Herreweghe in Europe, Asia, North America & South America; Bach's St John Passion with The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra / Daniel Reuss in Holland; Bach's B Minor Mass with The Orchestra of the 18th Century / Daniel Reuss in Holland; and two returns to the Dutch Bach Society.

In the Royal Opera’s 2018/19 season Dominic performed as Novice's Friend Billy Budd (also covering the title role), Kuligin Katya Kabanova in Richard Jones’ Olivier Award winning new production, Moralès and Dancaïre in Barrie Kosky’s Carmen, and performed as Pelléas Pelléas et Mélisande and Figaro Il Barbiere di Sivilgia in the 2019 JPYAP Showcase. He made his Royal Opera debut in 2017 as Marullo Rigoletto, with further roles in the 2017/18 season including Second Nazarene Salome, Moralès Carmen and Third Ghost Child Coraline (Mark-Anthony Turnage). He also covered Schaunard La Boheme, Father Coraline, and Masetto Don Giovanni. Previous operatic roles include Harlequin (cover) Ariadne auf Naxos for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, title role Owen Wingrave for British Youth Opera, and Junius The Rape of Lucretia, Robert Iolanta and Damyan The Tale of Januarie all for GSMD Opera.

“Not all orchestras are the same” Three decades ago, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge?

No way. Specialise in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting. Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born.

And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Those original instruments became just one element of its quest for authenticity.

Baroque and Classical music became just one strand of its repertoire. Every time the musical establishment thought it had a handle on what the OAE was all about, the ensemble pulled out another shocker: a Symphonie Fantastique here, some conductor-less Bach there. All the while, the Orchestra’s players called the shots.

At first it felt like a minor miracle. Ideas and talent were plentiful; money wasn’t. Somehow, the OAE survived to a year. Then to two. Then to five. It began to make benchmark recordings and attract the finest conductors. It became the toast of the European touring circuit. It bagged distinguished residencies at Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. It began, before long, to thrive. And then came the real challenge.

The ensemble’s musicians were branded eccentric idealists. And that they were determined to remain.

In the face of the music industry’s big guns, the OAE kept its head. It got organised but remained experimentalist. It sustained its founding drive but welcomed new talent. It kept on exploring performance formats, rehearsal approaches and musical techniques. It searched for the right repertoire, instruments and approaches with even greater resolve. It kept true to its founding vow.

In some small way, the OAE changed the classical music world too. It challenged those distinguished partner organisations and brought the very best from them, too. Symphony and opera orchestras began to ask it for advice. Existing period instrument groups started to vary their conductors and repertoire. New ones popped up all over Europe and America.

And so the story continues, with ever more momentum and vision. The OAE’s series of nocturnal Night Shift performances have redefined concert parameters. Its former home at London’s Kings Place has fostered further diversity of planning and music-making. The ensemble has formed the bedrock for some of Glyndebourne’s most ground-breaking recent productions.

In keeping with its values of always questioning, challenging and trailblazing, in September 2020, the OAE became the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School, Camden. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Remarkable people are behind it. Simon Rattle, the young conductor in whom the OAE placed so much of its initial trust, still cleaves to the ensemble.

Iván Fischer, the visionary who punted some of his most individual musical ideas on the young orchestra, continues to challenge it. Mark Elder still mines it for luminosity, shade and line. Vladimir Jurowski, the podium technician with an insatiable appetite for creative renewal, has drawn from it some of the most revelatory noises of recent years. And, most recently, it’s been a laboratory for John Butt’s most exciting Bach experiments. All five of them share the title Principal Artist.

Of the instrumentalists, many remain from those brave first days; many have come since. All seem as eager and hungry as ever. They’re offered ever greater respect, but continue only to question themselves. Because still, they pride themselves on sitting ever so slightly outside the box. They wouldn’t want it any other way. ©Andrew Mellor

OAE TEAM

Orchestra Consultant Philippa Brownsword

Life President Sir Martin Smith

Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead

Choir Manager David Clegg

Finance and Governance Director Pascale Nicholls

Librarian Colin Kitching

Board of Directors Imogen Overli [Chairman] Steven Devine Denys Firth Adrian Frost Nigel Jones Max Mandel David Marks Rebecca Miller Roger Montgomery Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Matthew Shorter Mark Williams Dr. Susan Tranter Crispin Woodhead

Development Director Emily Stubbs Projects Director Jo Perry Education Director Cherry Forbes Communications Director Elle Docx General Manager Edward Shaw Education Officer Andrew Thomson Projects Officer Sophie Adams Finance Officer Fabio Lodato Digital Content Officer Zen Grisdale

Leaders Huw Daniel Kati Debretzeni Margaret Faultless Matthew Truscott Players’ Artistic Committee Steven Devine Max Mandel Roger Montgomery Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Principal Artists John Butt Sir Mark Elder Iván Fischer Vladimir Jurowski Sir Simon Rattle Sir András Schiff Emeritus Conductors William Christie Sir Roger Norrington

Marketing and Press Officer Anna Bennett Box Office and Data Manager Carly Mills Head of Individual Giving and Digital Development Marina Abel Smith Development Operations Officer Kiki Betts-Dean

Life President

OAE Trust Adrian Frost [Chairman} Paul Forman Caroline Noblet Rupert Sebag-Montefiore Imogen Overli Diane Segalen Maarten Slendebroek Sir Martin Smith Caroline Steane Honorary Council Sir Victor Blank Edward Bonham Carter Cecelia Bruggemeyer Stephen Levinson Marshall Marcus Julian Mash Greg Melgaard Susan Palmer OBE Jan Schlapp Susannah Simons Lady Smith OBE Rosalyn Wilkinson

SUPPORTERS OAE Thirty Circle

We are particularly grateful to the following members of the Thirty Circle who have so

generously contributed to the re-financing

of the Orchestra through the OAE Trust.

Thirty Circle Patrons Bob and Laura Cory

Sir Martin Smith and Lady Smith OBE Thirty Circle Members

Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter

Nigel Jones and Françoise Valat-Jones

Selina and David Marks

Julian and Camilla Mash

Mark and Rosamund Williams

OAE Experience scheme

Ann and Peter Law

Corporate Partners Champagne Deutz Mark Allen Group

Swan Turton

Corporate Associates

Aston Lark

Bannenberg and Rowell

Gelato

Incipio Group

Kirker Holidays

Zaeem Jamal

Season Patrons

John Armitage Charitable Trust

Julian and Annette Armstrong Adrian Frost

Nigel Jones and Françoise Valat-Jones

Selina and David Marks

Imogen and Haakon Overli

Sir Martin Smith and Lady Smith OBE Mark and Rosamund Williams

One Anonymous Donor Project Patrons

Anthony and Celia Edwards Bruce Harris

Philip and Rosalyn Wilkinson

One Anonymous Donor Aria Patrons

Mrs A Boettcher

Stanley Lowy

Gary and Nina Moss

Rupert Sebag-Montefiore

Maarten and Taina Slendebroek

Caroline Steane Eric Tomsett

Chair Patrons

Mrs Nicola Armitage

- Education Director

Hugh and Michelle Arthur - Double Bass

Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter -Principal Trumpet

Ian S Ferguson and Dr Susan Tranter

-

Double Bass

James Flynn QC

- Principal Lute/Theorbo

Paul Forman

- Principal Cello, Principal Horn, Violin

Jonathan and Tessa Gaisman - Viola

Michael and Harriet Maunsell - Principal Keyboard

Jenny and Tim Morrison - Second Violin

Caroline Noblet - Oboe

Andrew Nurnberg

- Principal Oboe

Professor Richard Portes - Principal Bassoon

Olivia Roberts - Violin

John and Rosemary Shannon - Principal Horn

Roger and Pam Stubbs - Clarinet

Crispin Woodhead and Christine Rice - Principal Timpani

Education Patrons

Mrs Nicola Armitage

Patricia and Stephen Crew Rory and Louise Landman

Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd

Andrew & Cindy Peck

Professor Richard Portes CBE FBA Rising Stars Supporters

Annette and Julian Armstrong Mrs Rosamund Bernays Denys and Vicki Firth Bruce Harris

Ms Madeleine Hodgkin Mrs Sarah Holford

Nigel Jones and Francoise Valat-Jones Peter & Veronica Lofthouse Mark and Liza Loveday Mr Andrew Nurnberg

Old Possum's Practical Trust Imogen and Haakon Overli

The Reed Foundation Associate Patrons

Charles and Julia Abel Smith Noël and Caroline Annesley

Sir Richard Arnold and Mary Elford

Catherine and Barney Burgess Katharine Campbell

David and Marilyn Clark David Emmerson

Peter and Sally Hilliar

Steven Larcombe

Moira and Robert Latham

Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd

The Lady Heseltine

Linbury Trust

Roger Mears and Joanie Speers

Julian Markson

Metropolitan Masonic Charity

MM Design - France

Cynthia and Neil McClennan

Jonathan Parker Charitable Trust

John Ransom

Peter Rosenthal

Alan Sainer

Sue Sheridan OBE

Mr and Mrs Tony Timms

The Patrick Rowland Foundation

David Wilson

PF Charitable Trust

Alison McFadyen

David Mildon in memory of Lesley Mildon

John Nickson and Simon Rew Andrew and Cindy Peck

Ivor Samuels and Gerry Wakelin

Emily Stubbs and Stephen McCrum

Shelley von Strunckel

Mrs Auriel Hill

Stuart Martin

Paul Rivlin

Palazzetto Bru-Zane

Matthew & Sarah Shorter Mrs Joy Whitby

Two Anonymous Donors

Young Patron

Gold Friends

Marianne and William Cartwright-Hignett

Michael Brecknell Mr and Mrs C Cochin de Billy

Chris Gould

Anthony and Carol Rentoul David and Ruth Samuels Mr Anthony Thompson

Ed Abel Smith

Elizabeth George David Gillbe

Sam Hucklebridge Henry Mason

Peter Yardley-Jones Young Ambassador Patron

Two Anonymous Donors

Jessica Kemp

Silver Friends

Rebecca Miller

Dennis and Sheila Baldry

Tony Burt

Breandán Knowlton

Apax Foundation

Anthony and Jo Diamond

Ashley Family Foundation

Rachel & Charles Henderson Malcolm Herring

Patricia Herrmann

Rupert and Alice King

Barbour Foundation

Boshier-Hinton Foundation

Brian Mitchell Charitable Settlement

Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust

The Charles Peel Charitable Trust

Her Honour Suzanne Stewart

Chivers Trust

Chapman Charitable Trust

Two Anonymous Donors

Derek Hill Foundation

Bronze Friends

Dyers Company

Tony Baines

Robin Broadhurst

Graham and Claire Buckland Dan Burt

D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Ernest Cook Trust

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Fidelio Charitable Trust Foyle Foundation

Sir Anthony & Lady Cleaver

Garfield Weston Foundation

Roger Easy

Geoffrey Watling Charity

Michael A Conlon Mrs SM Edge

Mrs Mary Fysh

Stephen & Christina Goldring Martin and Helen Haddon Ray and Liz Harsant

Parabola Foundation

Paul Bassham Charitable Trust

Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity Pitt-Rivers Charitable Trust Radcliffe Trust

Rainbow Dickinson Trust RK Charitable Trust

Schroder Charity Trust Sir James Knott Trust Sobell Foundation

Stanley Picker Trust

The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust The Loveday Charitable Trust

The R&I Pilkington Charitable Trust The Shears Foundation

The Vernon Ellis Foundation

Arts Council England

Alison and Ian Lowdon Susannah Simons

Orchestras Live

Trusts & Foundations

Christopher Campbell

Mr and Mrs Michael Cooper

National Foundation for Youth Music

Old Possum’s Practical Trust

Six Anonymous Donors

Gerard Cleary

Michael Marks Charitable Trust

Stephen and Penny Pickles

Mr J Westwood

Robert Wilkinson

Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust

Garrick Charitable Trust Henocq Law Trust

JMCMRJ Sorrell Foundation J Paul Getty Jnr

General Charitable Trust

John Lyon’s Charity

The OAE continues to grow and thrive through the generosity of our supporters.

We are very grateful to our sponsors and Patrons and hope you will consider joining them. We offer a close involvement in the life of the Orchestra with many opportunities to meet players, attend rehearsals and even accompany us on tour.

For more information on supporting the OAE please contact Emily Stubbs Development Director

emily.stubbs@oae.co.uk

0208 159 9318

WE MOVED INTO A SCHOOL We are thrilled to announce that we are now the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School in Camden, North London. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows us to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Three offices have been adapted for our administration team, alongside a recording studio and library. We use the Grade II listed school assembly hall as a rehearsal space, with plans to refurbish it under the school’s ‘A Theatre for All’ project, so for the first time, we will all be in the same place: players, staff and library!

Crispin Woodhead, our chief executive who came up with the idea of a new partnership: “Our accommodation at Kings Place was coming to an agreed end and we needed to find a new home. I felt that we should not settle for a conventional office space solution. We already had a strong relationship with many schools in Camden through our education programme and our appeal hit the desk of Kat Miller, director of operations at Acland Burghley School. She was working on ways to expand the school’s revenue from its resources and recognised that their excellent school hall might be somewhere we could rehearse.

It felt like a thunderbolt and meant we wanted to find a way for this place to be our home, and embark on this new adventure to challenge and transform the way we engage with young adults.”

The school isn't just our landlord or physical home. Instead, it will offer the opportunity to build on twenty years of work in the borough through OAE’s long-standing partnership with Camden Music. Having already worked in eighteen of the local primary schools that feed into ABS, the plans moving forward are to support music and arts across the school into the wider community. This new move underpins our core ‘enlightenment’ mission of reaching as wide an audience as possible.

A similar project was undertaken in 2015 in Bremen, Germany. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie moved into a local comprehensive school in a deprived area and the results were described as “transformational”, with improved academic performance, language skills, mental health and IQ scores; reputational benefits; greater interest in and engagement with music among pupils; strengthened links between school, orchestra and community; and even, according to some of the musicians who took part, an improvement in the Kammerphilharmonie’s playing.

Margaret Faultless, OAE leader and violinist, said: “As classical musicians, it can often feel as though we exist in a bubble. I think I can speak for the whole Orchestra when I say that we’re all looking forward to this new adventure. We are all used to meeting with people from outside the classical music world of course, but the value of our new project lies in the long-term work we’ll be doing at the school and the relationship that will hopefully develop between the students, their parents and teachers and the orchestra.”

“The members of the Bremen Kammerphilharmonie said their experience actually improved them as an orchestra and I think the same will happen to us over the next five or so years, and it will remind all of us of the reasons we make music, which are sometimes easy to forget, especially in our strange and troubled times.” continues Margaret. “I am certainly looking forward to learning from the young people at Acland Burghley and in turn introducing them to the joys of our music and music-making.”

The move has been made possible with a leadership grant of £120,000 from The Linbury Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts. Their support is facilitating the move to the school and underwriting the first three years of education work.

OAE EDUCATION A PROGRAMME TO INVOLVE, EMPOWER AND INSPIRE Over the past twenty years OAE Education has grown in stature and reach to involve thousands of people nationwide in creative music projects. Our participants come from a wide range of backgrounds and we pride ourselves in working flexibly, adapting to the needs of local people and the places they live.

The extensive partnerships we have built up over many years help us engage fully with all the communities where we work to ensure maximum and lasting impact. We take inspiration from the OAE's repertoire, instruments and players.

This makes for a vibrant, challenging and engaging programme where everyone is involved; players, animateurs, composers, participants, teachers, partners and stakeholders all have a valued voice.

SUPPORT OUR EDUCATION PROGRAMME The work we do could not happen without the support of our generous donors.

If you would like to support our education programme please contact Marina Abel Smith, Head of Individual Giving and Digital Development marina.abelsmith@oae.co.uk 0208 159 9319

OAE TOTS at Saffron Hall

oae.co.uk orchestraoftheageofenlightenment theoae oae_photos

The OAE is a registered charity number 295329 Registered company number 2040312.

Acland Burghley School, 93 Burghley Road, London NW5 1UH 0208 159 9310 | info@oae.co.uk Photography | Zen Grisdale