Roger Montgomery at the Late Shift, 2018. Lisa Beznosiuk in rehearsals at Henry Wood Hall
OAE violas rehearsing Haydn's Creation
Roundhouse Night Shift, 2012 Pre-concert at the Sheldoninian Theatre. Credit: Susan Benn
WELCOME
FROM ANNETTE
Hello, and a warm welcome to Enlightenment!
I am extremely honoured to have been entrusted with the curatorship of OAE's 40th Anniversary Seasons, and hope that this programme presents an alluring prospect to you all.
A kaleidoscope of old favourites and new combinations, featuring some of our bestloved partnerships, and celebrating our shared history. Although just a handful of OAE's founding members still play with the Orchestra, the Orchestra has never been in better shape, with bushy and fruitful growth burgeoning in all directions!
Handel and Bach, Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms and Dvořák make up part one of our two-year long celebrations, featuring much loved artists: John Butt; Sir András Schiff; Robin Ticciati; Adam Fischer; Sir Simon Rattle and Maxim Emelyanychev with Steven Isserlis, as well as a welcome return from Václav Luks and OAE debut for Johanna Soller. Vocal soloists include many former Rising Stars of the Enlightenment, and Katherine Spencer, Principal Clarinet, has devised a popular classical programme. Our community musical adventure, featuring performers of all ages, will be Life of the Sea. See you there!
ANNETTE ISSERLIS
VIOLA AND FOUNDING MEMBER
FROM IMOGEN
The very special musicians of the OAE have always attracted a dedicated group of supporters, and that group is growing and strengthening. Lifelong friendships have developed and continue to develop between patrons, instrumentalists, staff and trustees,
and OAE gatherings are wonderfully lively as a result. Five years into our residency at Acland Burghley School, we have yet more people to welcome into our community, and boundless shared curiosity about what it can mean for a world-class orchestra to be based in a school and a neighbourhood.
The challenges we face are varied, and they are rather scary. But the OAE is a group absolutely focused on the mission of sharing the highest-quality music with the widest audience possible. The only way of achieving that mission is creativity on all fronts, but with the wild brilliance of OAE musicians at the heart of everything we do, that creativity is irresistible to so many of those we reach.
IMOGEN CHARLTON-EDWARDS CHAIR
FROM CRISPIN
Reading the articles in this edition you will be struck, as I was, by the many great milestones achieved by our distinguished ensemble: 40 years of outstanding musical service, including five years in a pioneering London residency, and so many acclaimed accomplishments. But what really shines is the golden thread through all that work of great lives well-lived, a story of friends and families, in some cases even dynasties, united by a profound love of the art of music. With over a decade of privileged experience, I know that greater family to be courageous, optimistic, progressive, free-thinking, openminded, striving, committed, forthright, questioning, challenging, unconventional and unpredictable. Who they are is what they do. I am sure there is a word for all that...
CRISPIN WOODHEAD CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Sir András Schiff at the Royal Festival Hall, 2019. Credit: Belinda Lawley
Annette Isserlis
Imogen Charlton-Edwards Crispin Woodhead
FIRST ENCOUNTERS
We asked members of the OAE family to share the stories of their first encounters with the Orchestra – the moments which sparked lasting connections.
KATIE
I can’t remember when I first played with OAE, or what the piece was, but I do remember that I knew that this was the sound world I wanted to be part of. I was lucky enough to be invited to play Beethoven's Fidelio at Glyndebourne in 2001 with Sir Simon Rattle conducting, and that left a very deep impression on me. The kaleidoscope of colours, moods and sounds he drew out of the instruments and singers was so vast and each performance felt completely fresh, as if a new discovery was happening there and then. One thing I find fascinating about playing on gut strings, with either my baroque or classical viola, is that I rarely get tired! If anything, it is energising.
KATIE HELLER
VIOLA
MARY
I first heard the OAE live in concert performing Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the Royal Festival Hall in 2009. There were just eight singers, with Mark Padmore directing the project and singing the role of Evangelist. I was awestruck by the way in which every musician on the stage was giving their all in service of the text and the music, working together with utmost precision. Their focus was so unwavering that the orchestra quite literally did not skip a beat when an audience member’s wheelchair tyre exploded with startling volume!
To my surprise and delight, I found myself performing alongside the OAE less than two years later. I was singing the first three cantatas of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio as part of the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge with Stephen Layton conducting. It was clear from the first rehearsal that this music was in the very bloodstream of the Orchestra. As an amateur oboist I loved watching the players execute their craft at such close quarters. During my time with Trinity College Choir I had the privilege of performing with the OAE a further four times in concert and making two recordings, always drawing inspiration from the Orchestra’s skill and scholarship. After university I joined the accounting firm KPMG, working with businesses in a range of industries, but I always hoped to return to music and the arts. When the opportunity came up to join the OAE team, I could not resist!
MARY
PRICE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
ROY
My first project with OAE was the second one they undertook. In October 1986 or 1987, we did a Weber concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with the late Sir Roger Norrington. This was not a surprise to me as I had been working with Roger for around ten years, first with Kent Opera and then with London Baroque Players and London Classical Players. The surprise was how Weber sounded with Roger at his trailblazing best. I had loved playing Verdi with him, but Roger had a special affinity with early Romantics (Weber, Berlioz, and Schumann). The sound of the Orchestra was extraordinary, particularly the wind instruments sounding so individual and not the well-integrated blend one was used to. At times it almost sounded like a zoo! The soprano soloist was Elizabeth Connell, who had such power (surely more than in Weber’s day?) but was thrilling in 'Ocean thou mighty Monster' from Oberon and 'Leise leise' from Der Freischütz. Then we were treated to virtuoso performances by Melvyn Tan (fortepiano in the Konzertstück) and Tony Pay (in Clarinet Concerto No. 1): a truly memorable concert. I have an air check cassette tape in which the BBC announcer refers to the Orchestra as ‘The Age of Enlightenment.' There was discussion at the time about the name. I believed it should be ‘Orchestra of the Enlightenment,' the period generally known as either the Enlightenment or The Age of Reason. But the ‘Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’ was adopted in the end.
ROY MOWATT
LIBRARIAN AND FORMER VIOLA (1986 – 2019)
MARTIN
I first became aware of the OAE in early 1987, some six months or so after its inaugural concert in Oxford Town Hall in [June] of 1986. I was approached by Chris Lawrence, a colleague of mine in the banking world, who was a keen amateur cellist and a close friend of the violinist Marshall Marcus. He described to me how Marshall and a small group of top young musicians had recently formed their own orchestra to engage with the ‘period instrument’ movement that was emerging at that time. After giving me a brief tutorial on this subject (about which I was then painfully ignorant) he suggested that I might enjoy his friends, and vice versa. This led to me attending a meeting at the offices of Bankers Trust Company – who by strange coincidence had sacked me just a few years earlier (!) – which was to change the course of my life. After about an hour talking with Tim Mason, Felix Warnock, Marshall, and several others of their ilk I was completely captivated. Finally I asked them what their next project was to be, and to my astonishment they said it was a concert performance of Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Royal Festival Hall with soloists Arleen Auger, Carol van Ness and Philip Langridge, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. ‘So how much is that going to cost?’ I gasped. ‘About £25,000’ was the reply. Then I made my fateful error. ‘Where on earth are you going to find that from?’ I said. ‘Well actually we thought you might have some ideas’ said Tim. A week later I somehow persuaded my client John Gunn of British & Commonwealth to stump up the money, and the rest, as they say, is history.
SIR MARTIN SMITH LIFE PRESIDENT
BREAKING APART BREAKING BACH
When Bach composed his music, he likely did not envision it being performed three centuries later at Usher Hall in Edinburgh with street dancers. However, what he would have considered were the internal rhythms, intricate and pulsating. Just as Bach could perceive these rhythms, so can the dancers who joined the OAE on stage. Breaking Bach connects the 18th and 21st centuries, bound by the rhythms found in Bach's work.
HOW IT STARTED
Kim Brandstrup came onto the horizon because of work that he was doing with my wife, mezzo-soprano Christine Rice, on a project with the director Deborah Warner. We were chatting in the pub. I told him we were resident in a school where dance was thriving. He told me that he had always wanted to explore Bach using aspects of street dance. ‘Oh, that’s interesting,' I replied.
definitely colourful. But the real aesthetic point to the project is much more profound.
For Kim, it is all about the harmonic rhythm of Bach’s music. Our players are alive to this, it is what motivates their stylistic approach. Just as our players (and guest conductors) constantly relate music to natural measures (heartbeat, speech patterns, walking pace) Kim relates that rhythm to weight and this is where the fit with street dance starts to make sense, where dancers relate movement to the shift of their bodyweight and where connection with the floor becomes an obvious feature of style. Street dance also incorporates what Kim would describe as ‘high resolution’ movement – an intense agility that offers the physical possibility of synchrony with the stunning passagework of Bach’s decorated, contrapuntal construction. So that, in case you were wondering, is why Breaking Bach avoids the formal, Frenchinfluenced, dance movements of the suites, already so abundantly choreographed, and explores instead the finer horizontal arguments of the great concertos.
CHOREOGRAPHY
A recent collaboration with street dancers in New York (where I had a six-month fellowship at the Centre for Ballet and the Arts at New York University in 2019, specifically to research rhythm in choreography) made me realise that street dancers are enormously rhythmically literate, and can work on very fast musical subdivisions. Afterwards, I thought – wow! – it may be possible for this generation of dancers to respond to the virtuoso speed and complexity in Bach’s music.
The students from Acland Burghley School would have heard classical / baroque music before (because the Orchestra has its base at the school and many of the rehearsals are open to them), but they have never danced to it. The journey has been to make them aware of how rhythmically exciting and complex Bach’s music is. That said, I often start rehearsals by not playing the music but instead creating a rhythmical paraphrase by clapping, stamping and counting out the rhythmical structure of the piece.
SET DESIGN
The design for Breaking Bach took its starting point from the architecture of Usher Hall. The legendary Scottish concert hall is dominated by its 1913 organ, which sits impressively at the top of the space, encased in dramatic Spanish mahogany. For a show featuring younger performers, we were keen to develop a design that could help focus the energy and intensity of the performance.
We quickly fell in love with the concept of a mirrored floor, for what it could bring in terms of doubling the movement of the performers. When paired with the ceiling of lights, it gives us an opportunity for a tighter focus on the dancers' movements by creating an intense square of light reflections. At chosen moments – and with carefully calculated angles – we were also be able to expand the caustic reflections across the walls of Usher Hall itself, so that the performance’s shadows stretched across the architecture.
Breaking Bach is not about the what-would-itlook-like fun of putting different genres together. Nor is it about getting down with the kids. It does engage young people for sure – it’s a compelling project that many people find attractive and the correspondence between genres and periods is
And, of course, it has, for a group of remarkably gifted and dedicated young people from our own North London community, become a springboard to so many greater things and an inspiration for their peers.
CRISPIN WOODHEAD
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
KIM BRANDSTRUP CHOREOGRAPHER
We hope what we’ve developed strikes a balance between revelling in the grandeur of this beautiful Grade A-listed building and creating a more modern interpretation – just as the piece itself aims to do.
ELLIE WINTOUR SET DESIGNER
Breaking Bach Usher Hall, Edinburgh International Festival, 20 August 2025. Credit: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
Breaking Bach was premiered at Edinburgh International Festival in August 2025 and toured to Bucherest, Romania in September 2025. If you are interested in supporting planned future performances of Breaking Bach, please contact development@oae.co.uk
DREAMCHASING YOUNG PRODUCERS
The Dreamchasing Young Producers programme empowers young people by providing them with essential skills through weekly training sessions. These sessions cover a variety of topics including financial management, marketing, technical production and more. Beyond classroom learning, our Young Producers gain valuable hands-on experience by supporting various roles at our public events, such as our concerts at Southbank Centre. Here’s what they have to say about their experiences so far:
Why did you join Young Producers?
I joined because I’ve always been interested in technology and that sort of thing. I wanted to do backstage for one of the school drama performances, and a teacher told me I had to join the YPs to do it. First, I was nervous; it took me a week to join. I was about to go in, then changed my mind, but then I came back. From that moment, I’ve gained so much confidence, and it has led me to do so many great things. I really owe the OAE a lot.
HARVEY, AGE 16
How has being a Young Producer impacted your school experience?
The Orchestra had a huge impact on me in my first years of secondary school, particularly through the Young Producers programme. It gave me access to an industry that I otherwise would never have known about, and allowed me to meet many new people. It also gave me a huge amount of confidence, which at that young age was invaluable to me, and allowed me to broaden my horizons in terms of possible future career paths.
The Orchestra hasn't just been helpful with extracurricular activities, but with my education too; during music classes, we often were able to watch the Orchestra rehearse – an opportunity which very few students are afforded. This was great for me personally, as it not only helped me grow my love for music, but it was helpful for my musical education because one of our areas of study is 'the concerto through time' and being able to hear concertos played on period instruments, and be told about the music by the conductors or the players really gave me a deeper insight into what exactly I was studying.
JESS, AGE 16
Why did you join Young Producers and what skills have you learnt from the programme?
There is always something new and exciting happening with the OAE, but I think my favourite one is Princess Ida in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. My team and I made costumes for the production and got a 5-star review in The Times.
SOPHIA, AGE 16
•
•
Young Producers taught me a lot of public speaking skills. We had sessions with Crispin where he taught us how to speak and how to present yourself. They’ve helped me go on to become Deputy Youth MP for Camden, where I had to perform speeches and speak to people who could vote for me. I think I did a good job at that, and Crispin really helped me. I don’t think I would have done it without Dreamchasing Young Producers. I wouldn’t have had the confidence or abilities, or even the idea that I wanted to go and do it.
HARVEY
Has it influenced your future plans?
It gave me an understanding that there is a range of opportunities for me. There should be more clubs like this. Even if students don’t participate, they are aware that they have the option to join. It should be in multiple schools.
SOPHIA
Our Young Producers provided technical support for:
6 Southbank Centre concerts
Gave our over 3,000 programmes to the public at our concerts
Presented 18 bunches of flowers to artists and conductors
3 Breaking Bach London previews
1 Southbank Centre Season Launch Party
2 consecutive days of performances of the school musical took part in:
46 hours of after-school workshops
2 took placements at Garsington Opera House
Dreamchasing. To
Producers
THE A,B , C OF CLARINETS
A clarinet is a clarinet. You can only play one at a time. So why do clarinet players always seem to be surrounded by a forest of instruments? Sarah Thurlow, Sub-Principal Clarinet, tries to answer this question with a look at Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
AN INTRODUCTION TO HISTORICAL CLARINETS
The earliest clarinets had just two keys. By Mozart's time most clarinets had five keys, so chromatic notes were mostly achieved by complicated cross fingerings that require enormous dexterity, and also sometimes have rather a muffled tone. For that reason, historical clarinets don’t sound great in E major, because every other note either twists your fingers off or sounds like a hoover, but C major is a joy from start to finish, every note ringing out, clear as a bell.
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
By the time of Le nozze di Figaro, it was well established that a clarinettist's kit needed to comprise clarinets in three sizes, A, B-flat and C.
The C clarinet is a concert pitch instrument, whilst all other clarinets are transposing instruments. In Figaro, the C clarinet makes only a very brief appearance, in the wedding march in Act 3. The procession starts quietly, with flutes and strings approaching from the distance. As it gets nearer Mozart introduces more and more different instruments, until the final hurrah adds horns, trumpets, timpani and C clarinets! It's an amazingly rousing sound and a great opportunity for us to let our hair down and really go for it!
We play most of the opera on the B-flat clarinet, Mozart exploiting its lyrical, cantabile tone in the Countess' aria, 'Porgi, amor', where the clarinets sigh and swirl around the vocal line, and in Cherubino's canzonetta, 'Voi Che Sapete', another love song, in which the B-flat clarinet’s soft sound captures something intimate and tender.
The A clarinet has an even more soulful tone, which Mozart championed in his famous Clarinet Concerto, which Katherine Spencer will perform with the OAE in January and February 2026. However, in Figaro, the A clarinet is employed only for convenience. The overture, in D major, if transposed for the B-flat clarinet would be written in the dreaded E major! But on the A clarinet it works out as F major, much easier.
THE BASSET HORN
Mozart must have known this, so when the music modulates into keys that are rather tricky on the clarinet we either sit it out, or he mitigated the difficulty by transposing the music (writing it out again in a different key) so it can be played more easily on a smaller or larger clarinet. The larger an instrument is, the lower it sounds, so having multiple sizes of clarinet facilitates playing music in different keys, with the additional bonus that each size has its own distinctive voice and character.
This unusual-looking instrument is a kind of alto clarinet pitched in F. Its tone is even more mellow and fruity than the A clarinet. It appears in Figaro's angry aria, 'Aprite un po'quegli occhi'. Most orchestras use B-flat clarinets for this aria, but in this Glyndebourne production Mozart's alternative basset horn parts, sounding an octave lower, add a sense of menace to the stormy music. It's ironic that Mozart chose the mellowest of the clarinets for this outpouring of fury and scorn, but it serves to make a clear distinction between Figaro’s fiery tirade and the earlier love songs in which Mozart used the sweeter B-flat clarinet. Furthermore, in this aria there are no flutes nor oboes, only basset horns, horns and bassoons, these lower-pitched wind instruments together give a macho and masculine feel to the sound world of Figaro's moment of wrath.
Mozart loved the basset horn, writing several chamber pieces that include it, as well as using it to great effect in three other operas (Die Entführung aus dem Serail, La clemenza di Tito and Die Zauberflöte). He also made a sketch for a lively piece for clarinet, basset horn and string trio, K580b, giving us a tantalising glimpse of a potential masterwork that he sadly did not complete. Several composers have imagined an ending for this fragment, and I am so delighted that Duncan Druce’s completion will feature in The Night Shift on 22 September 2025, when the clarinets in A, B-flat and C will go head to head with the basset horn!
WHY NOT JUST HAVE ONE?
The C clarinet is a concert pitch instrument, whilst all other clarinets are transposing instruments. Bear with me, gentle reader, whilst I explain. So, if I play a C major scale on the C clarinet it sounds the same as a C major scale played by a sensible instrument, such as the flute, piano or violin. Therefore, it would make more sense to just play everything on the C clarinet, yes? No! Because the C clarinet is the sawn-off shotgun of the historical clarinet family. It can sound sweet and delicate, but it also has a bloodcurdling forte that will make your hair stand on end. The larger B-flat clarinet is our main workhorse and most composers' favourite. It has a more mellow and expressive tone than the C clarinet, even in forte. Everything we play on the B-Flat clarinet sounds a note lower than written, so composers just re-write the music out for us, with each note transposed one tone higher to compensate for that fact, et voilà!, a piece that sounds in B-Flat major is now written in C major, hooray!
But we still don't like playing music in E major on B-flat clarinets, because the music must be transposed to F sharp major, which is even harder! Luckily the clarinet in A, another inch longer and having an even warmer tone, solves the problem. When we play C major scale fingerings on the A clarinet, not only is it meltingly melancholy, it also comes out as A major on the piano. If you follow the logic, then that dastardly E major music is transposed into G major for the A clarinet, much easier, and finally we can join in!
SARAH THURLOW
SUB-PRINCIPAL CLARINET
Above left: The A, B-flat and C clarinets. Top right: Basset horn. Bottom right: Sarah Thurlow and Katherine (Waffy) Spencer at Glyndebourne. Image by Ronnie McDermid for Guy Cowley Clarinets
ONE SEASON. 302 YEARS OF HISTORY.
1724
J S, BACH | St John Passion
Immanuel Kant is born. His essay Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment? famously defines a lack of enlightenment not as a deficiency of intellect but a failure of courage to think independently.
1748
HANDEL | Solomon
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of Austrian Succession. The treaty stabilised European borders and allowed musical patronage to flourish in royal courts, especially in England and Austria.
1763
Michael, HAYDN | Divertimento in G Major
The Treaty of Hubertusberg ended the Seven Years' War. The postwar period offered a chance for systematic change in the economy. Vienna emerges as Europe's musical capital, attracting composers, patrons and performers from across the continent.
1765
Joseph, HAYDN
Symphony No.39
Nicholas II, Prince Esterházy is born, who would later become Haydn's patron. The Esterházy court's wealth allowed Haydn to experiment freely, shaping the Classical symphonic form.
1780
Joseph, HAYDN | Keyboard Concerto No.11
Mozart arrived in Vienna following dismissal from his Salzburg position. Unaware, he would soon meet with Joseph Haydn, whom he would later refer to as 'Papa Haydn' in his letters and play with him in impromptu quartets; Mozart on the violin and Haydn on the viola.
1782
Joseph, HAYDN | Symphony No.73
Emperor Joseph II issues the Edict of Tolerance, fostering a more cosmopolitan Vienna. Religious freedoms attract diverse artists and intellectuals, influencing Vienna's rich musical diversity.
1787
MOZART | Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
The Viennese poet and Freemason, Johann Baptist von Alxinger wrote the poem Doolin von Maynz. A key Enlightenment thinker, Johann later went on to publish a journal, the Austrian Monthly, to advocate reforms. Due to censorship, the journal was only published for one year.
1788
MOZART | Symphonies Nos.39 – 41
The bizarre Battle of Karansebes in which Austria attacks itself due to miscommunication. In the midst of it all, Joseph II apparently fell in the river and crawled to safety. By the end of the night between 500 and 10,000 Austrian soldiers were dead.
Following the premiere of his Symphony No. 94 ("Surprise"), Haydn returns from London. That year also sees the founding of the London Corresponding Society, a working-class group advocating democratic reform.
1794
Joseph, HAYDN | Symphony no. 102
Haydn returned on his second journey to England where the first part of Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason was published that year.
1804
1797
Joseph, HAYDN
The Creation
Anne-Louis Girodet painted Haitian deputy Jean-Baptiste Belley. Once enslaved, JeanBaptiste was a representative of the National Convention in Paris following the abolishment of slavery in France in 1794.
BEETHOVEN | Symphony No. 4 & 5
Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself emperor in May 1804. Beethoven was so upset by this that he erased Bonaparte's name from the title page of his Third Symphony. He wrote with such force that he broke his quill and left a torn hole in the manuscript.
1818
ARRIAGA | Overture in F
José de San Martín led Argentine and Chilean rebels to a decisive victory over Spanish royalists at the Battle of Maipú near Santiago, Chile, a key moment in South American independence.
1830
Hector, BERLIOZ | Symphonie Fantastique
The July Revolution took place in France, removing Charles X from the throne. Among his reforms, Louis-Philippe decided to remove some of the royal censorship over the arts It gave more freedom to composers and librettists than ever before.
1834
Hector, BERLIOZ
Harold in Italy
The French monarchy, under Louis Philippe I, made the very term 'republican' illegal.
1895
Dvořák | Cello Concerto
1855
BRAHMS
Symphony No.4
Born amid a growing sense of German nationalism, Brahms inherits and reshapes traditions from Bach, Beethoven and Schumann, channeling cultural pride into monumental symphonic reforms.
In 1895, mechanic Václav Laurin and bookseller Václav Klement founded a bicycle company, driven by their motto: "Only the best is good enough for our customers." This commitment to quality evolved into Skoda, the well-known car manufacturer.
2026
The OAE and participants of the OAE Education Programme | Life of the Sea The year OAE will celebrate its 40th Anniversary!
A CLARINET FOR MOZART
Our Principal Clarinet, Katherine ‘Waffy’ Spencer, takes centre stage in the 2025 / 26 season. She'll be performing Mozart's iconic Clarinet Concerto on a specially commissioned basset clarinet.
PARTNER IN CRIME
I’m in love with Grace, my new instrument. To bring her to life, first I had to choose which maker I wanted to work with. Mozart's close friend, the clarinettist Anton Stadler, had a working relationship with Theador Lotz, the Viennese woodwind instrument maker. Without this partnership Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto would never have been born.
I met Daniel Bangham as a student and he made my first adored classical clarinets. He is passing the baton to Guy Cowley, and they worked together on creating this beautiful instrument for me.
FROM FOREST TO FORM
The wood used is European boxwood, and I’ve been very involved over the years in promoting the replanting of box tree forests in England. Box trees are very slow growing, so, in my lifetime, I will never play on one of the little saplings I helped plant in the Chilterns. Mind you, my job was to perform on my boxwood clarinets around the tree planters outdoors on the hillside, as a kind of morale booster.
DESIGN
The next thing I had to do is to meet with the makers and decide what we wanted the instrument to do. What were my priorities and needs? I wanted to create an instrument that explored the lighter, vocal side of the Clarinet Concerto. I wanted it to really speak and be flexible. I was also aware that the concert halls I would play in would be quite a lot larger than the beautiful resonant halls of the past. I chose to have straight bell and a straight barrel to have a simple, streamlined beauty, and above all so she can sing.
KEY DECISIONS
We next agreed on how many keys we would have. Having a key means you don’t have to use fork fingering, and it has a more focused sound, whereas fork fingering produces a more covered, velvety tone.
Bassets from Mozart’s era likely had five keys, plus thumb keys for the low notes. I added a few more as the OAE also like to commission new composers to write for our instruments, and I’m hoping that Grace might inspire a new generation of composers to add to the rather small basset clarinet repertoire. Just because the key is there you do not have to use it, but if the music wants it, you can enjoy its colour. The colour mixing of fingerings is one of the joys of Grace.
COMING TOGETHER
Guy knows rather better than me what it takes to bring Grace physically to life, so here’s his perspective on the process:
' The important aspects were that the key touches for the fingers were rounded. The basset keys should be ergonomic and in the authentic style. It should project well in modern concert halls, so we decided on a traditional bell shape.
How the clarinet sits under the fingers was an important consideration, along with how the basset keys would work to play the relevant musical passages in the concerto.
In brief, the making process is as follows: the bore is drilled and reamed, then the outer surface turned by hand. Tone holes are drilled and keywork hand forged or pressed in a traditional manner, and then mounted between wooden saddles. The next stage is to adjust the bore and tone holes to make the instrument sing.
It takes time and patience and it is most important to understand the playing technique of the performer whom the new instrument is for.'
BLENDING HISTORY WITH MODERNITY
Stadler’s basset clarinet had a long box that pointed backwards at the bottom, somewhat resembling a caterpillar attached to it, as seen below. The aesthetics of my instrument were important to me, as well as the player-maker relationship, so I didn’t just want to do a historical copy, although no instruments of this period survive so we are mainly going on an etching from one of Stadler’s programmes which shows a basset clarinet. I wanted to create something new that had the beauty of the wood and simplicity of the keys, but with my and Guy’s stamp on it. Grace has all of this, and I couldn’t be happier.
of a programme of commissioned research with the Academy of Ancient Music.
Katherine (Waffy) Spencer will be performing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto on Sunday 1 February 2026 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. To book tickets, visit oae.co.uk
With support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC – UKRI) as part
Sketch of Stadler's basset clarinet
Principal Clarinet, Katherine Spencer with Grace. Credit: Pip Bacon
OVER THE YEARS
Earliest known image of the OAE
Václav Luks conducts the Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, 2023.
Credit: Zen Grisdale
Charles Fullbrook tuning period timps. Credit: Clive Barda
Sir Simon Rattle conducts Bach St John Passion, 2019
Kati Debrentzi at music workshop
Newspaper clipping of Sir Charles Mackerras rehearsing with the OAE, 2001
OAE at Glyndebourne performing Beethoven's Octet op.103, 2020
Garsington, 1993
In rehearsal with Sir Roger Norrington
OAE in Esterhazy, 2011
Beethoven Piano Concerto with Sir András Schiff, 2022
The Night Shift at The Queens Head, 2024. Credit: Zen Grisdale
St John Passion with Nakhane at Battersea Arts Centre, 2021
ADAM FISCHER ON BEETHOVEN'S SYMPHONIES 4 AND 5
If you could ask Beethoven one question about his symphonies, what would it be?
I would like to ask Beethoven why he used the trombone only in the 5th, 9th and last movement of the 6th Symphony. I am curious as to why he didn't use the trombone in his other symphonies. The trombone is like the musical equivalent of The Last Judgment, and this mood can be found in his other symphonies that do not feature trombones. Was it for practical or artistic reasons? Did he not want the sound, for example, in the 7th Symphony? Or did he simply not have a trombone available?
How will you make these well-loved symphonies your own?
It is our task as conductors to engage with the piece until we have properly understood and internalised its meaning. Once I have internalised the piece, every note is important to me, not because the composer wrote it that way, but because I am convinced that it must be so. In other words, once I have internalised the piece, I form my own inner conviction. I aim to engage with a work until I understand it and make it my own. It’s similar to the Jesuit doctrine of following the Pope's instructions to the letter, but not just following them because one was told to, but making them your own fervent conviction. When I conduct / interpret a work, I do so because I am convinced that this is how it must be.
‘Beethoven’s 4th or 5th symphony: which wins in a musical duel and why?
I cannot choose as that would be like choosing between children.
What is your earliest memory of collaborating with the OAE?
I had conducted Fidelio many times prior to my first cooperation with OAE which is now 12 years ago, but this was my first time with period instruments. It was a great experience because I was able to understand the meaning of the music in a different way. A new window opened up to me; as I understood the work better, I heard the same piece differently.
As a Principal Artist of the OAE, how has this influenced your work?
My past work with OAE has influenced my work with all other orchestras. I was more able to comprehend the intentions of the composers I conducted with the OAE after having worked with the ensemble.
What's still on your musical bucket list?
Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion, but I’m not sure if I want to conduct it. It is music of such beauty and I am not yet certain if I feel I can do it justice.
ADAM FISCHER
PRINCIPAL ARTIST OF THE OAE
Adam Fischer will conduct Beethoven's Symphonies 4 and 5 on Sunday 8 February 2026 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Book tickets via oae.co.uk
Photo credit: Szilvia Csibi (Mupa Budapest)
JOHANNA SOLLER ON BACH AND ST JOHN PASSION
You are a conductor, harpsichordist, organist and teacher. What interaction with music steered you towards baroque performance?
My music-making is very much fed by the connection between language and music and I think this fascination arose very early on. I have always sung and I remember that, as a child, I was particularly enthusiastic about the evangelist parts of Bach's oratorios and passions, recordings of which I sang along to loudly and learned by heart. When I sang the St Matthew Passion in a choir for the first time, my love for this music was already very deep. Later, I performed these works as a basso continuo player, alongside the solo literature on the organ and harpsichord. So I actually got to know Bach's music from many different perspectives – there was no turning back!
Throughout your career, which musicians have been significant mentors for you?
Philippe Herreweghe is a great role model in terms of aesthetics and sonority, but also in simplicity and modesty. The path he has taken with his Collegium Vocale Gent is very impressive. The interpretation of the text is always firmly in the foreground. I am also inspired by Hans-Christoph Rademann, with whom I took a masterclass on Bach's Mass in B Minor when I was a student. My teachers Christine Schornsheim and Kristin von der Goltz have also had a very profound influence on me. This will be your first time working with the OAE. What will your approach be? Because we haven't worked together before, there is this beautiful tension about how we
will react to each other musically – how easy and natural certain communications will be.
I generally try to approach all my ensembles with great openness. Making music is above all a dialogue, and my job is also to listen to what an ensemble offers of its own accord and to develop a communication from this. That is always exciting, but even more so when you don't yet know each other.
What aspects of the St John Passion do you emphasize in your interpretation?
I try to follow the structure and inner logic of the piece. Bach does not write music that is always relentlessly pushing forward. Rather, in the midst of the drama of the Passion events, he uses arias and chorales like a pause – a pause in the action for contemplation and reflection. I think it is very important to find the right balance for these alternations between the starkest drama, the brutality and the tenderness. Furthermore, the intensity is also created by the fact that the gap between these levels widens: the faster, louder and more brutal the actual Passion events become, the calmer and quieter are the reflections.
As the Artistic Director of your own Capella Sollertia, focused on rediscovering forgotten works, what's a lesser-known Bach piece you're eager to explore?
I never cease to be amazed by the cantatas that are very rarely played yet contain such incredible treasure. For example, most recently the very early BWV 150 with a very small orchestration: 'Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich: what wealth!'.
What specific artistic challenges or goals are you most excited to pursue in your conducting career over the next few years?
I am currently particularly looking forward to the joint musical work with the Netherlands Bach Society, of which I have been Artistic Director since May 2025. It is a great gift to walk and develop a common path together that is set to last for years. And I am also
looking forward to various guest engagements with fantastic ensembles such as the OAE.
LEADER'S NOTE BY HUW DANIEL
As a violinist, one of the many special elements of playing Bach's vocal works is getting the chance to play one of the instrumental solo parts. From 'Erbarme dich' of the St Matthew Passion to the 'Laudamus Te' of the Mass in B Minor, each aria is a gem. Bach’s violin obbligato parts are a joy to play: of course perfectly written for the instrument’s capabilities, and also often placed at the emotional heart of the piece.
In St John Passion the extensive aria 'Erwäge wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken' and the preceding arioso 'Betrachte, meine Seel' were conceived with the sound of the viola d’amore in mind. After the first version Bach changed his mind and scored these movements for muted violins, perhaps for practical reasons. The sound of the viola d’amore with its sympathetic strings produces an otherworldly sound that suits these two pieces perfectly.
Practically speaking the hardest thing about 'Erwäge' and 'Betrachte' is keeping the instrument in tune! We tune before part 2, and then when we start 'Betrachte' you might hear us breathe a sigh of relief if our open strings are still in tune by this stage!
For this performance we're particularly excited about welcoming Johanna Soller for the first time to make music with us, and we look forward to seeing how she shapes the performance.
HUW DANIEL LEADER
JOHANNA SOLLER
Johanna Soller will direct the OAE in Bach's St John Passion on Sunday 29 March, 2026 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. To book tickets, visit oae.co.uk
RELATIVE VALUES
The Isserlis siblings, Steven, Rachel and Annette open the doors to their musical upbringing, performing together and how they have been influenced by one another throughout their musical journeys.
FAMILY HISTORY
Were there always instruments in the house, or was music something you discovered together?
STEVEN: There was always music in the house, as far back as I can remember. I used to go to sleep listening to my father practising the violin downstairs and already, from the time of my earliest memories, Annette and Rachel were playing the piano.
RACHEL: My first classical music memories are of dancing with Annette to LPs of Tchaikovsky ballet music. Later on we listened to certain LPs such as Brahm's Piano Concerto No. 2, Faure Requiem etc. over and over again, lying on our tummies, as well as Beatles singles on a little wind-up gramophone. Once we were in bed, our mother got going on piano quintet parts while our father tackled Paganini Caprices with great gusto.
ANNETTE: Yes. My earliest memories are of my parents playing Beethoven Sonatas downstairs when I was in bed, as well as The Third Programme playing on the radio in the daytime. Did your parents encourage you to pursue music, or was it a choice you made on your own?
STEVEN: Our mother was a piano teacher, our father a very keen amateur violinist. Our grandfather was the pianist and composer Julius Isserlis – so there was always music.
RACHEL: It was decided before we were even born that there should be a family piano quintet (I was second violin).
ANNETTE: In my case, no. In fact they wouldn’t
let me take up the viola until I’d achieved my o-levels. I was a reasonably competent pianist, and accompanied my siblings in the (boarding) school holidays, but they didn’t imagine I would do it as a career, being aware of the amount of competition out there.
Did one of you show an aptitude for music earlier than the other? How did you navigate any perceived differences in talent or success as children?
STEVEN: Annette was the first, because she was the oldest; but she played the piano, not the viola, at that point – the viola came much later. Rachel played piano and violin; and I started the cello at age six, starting to take piano lessons (though those came a very distant second for me) about a year later.
RACHEL: We probably all started young. Annette was a pianist at first; piano was my first instrument until the violin took over when I was about 15 (because of chamber music) but Steven was a cellist from the word go.
ANNETTE: I started piano lessons very young, before I was three, and had to sit on a pile of telephone directories, meaning having to be lifted on and off: the latter not until I had done enough practice! Rachel made very fast progress on the piano, and she always worked hard at practising, on the violin as well. She was much better organised than I was. Steven’s cello playing seemed very easy and natural from the start, and he obviously really loved it. Our piano trio had to perform to hapless dinner guests quite regularly, usually as a rehearsal for one of the local music festivals. That was bonding for us as siblings.
Was there ever any sibling rivalry? How did you handle those competitive moments?
STEVEN: There’s always sibling rivalry! But also a lot of mutual support.
RACHEL: Ditto to what Steven wrote !
ANNETTE: Steven was already quite advanced on the cello by the time I took up the viola, and would tease me if he heard me practising, that when I tried to play fast I sounded like a hen but when I played slowly I sounded like a cow. I was never in a position to be competitive with Steven, but I do remember feeling upset when Rachel decided she’d like to swap from the violin to the viola at one stage.
MUSICAL RELATIONSHIPS
How do you handle disagreements about the musical interpretation? Does your family relationship make those conversations easier or harder?
STEVEN: Playing in front of my sisters makes me more nervous than almost anything else! Annette once said that she wished she could sell my complex about her on ebay… but having said that, we all think
remarkably similarly about music (and people); and that is a strong bond between the three of us.
RACHEL: I don't think we really have musical disagreements but if so, humour and funny faces play a big part ! It is very special playing with family members, whether siblings, children or partner; there are so many things that just happen and don't have to be discussed.
ANNETTE: Nowadays disagreements between the three of us happen very rarely. I would say the family relationship, and Steven’s status makes it harder if opinions differ, but the three of us do pay attention to each other’s thoughts.
What's the most memorable experience you've had performing together?
STEVEN: Perhaps the concert we gave a few weeks after our father’s death. It was supposed to be his 95th birthday concert, but turned into a memorial. Annette arranged one of his party-pieces, Kreisler’s Liebesleid, for a large ensemble comprising us three, Annette and Rachel’s husbands and the three children. It was hard not to cry…
Annette, Rachel and Steven Isserlis
ANNETTE: We perform together quite rarely nowadays in chamber music, but for our father’s 90th birthday, we involved the extended family in a concert interspersed with readings from our father’s memoirs. There were 90 guests, many of whom were musicians, so it was quite a big deal! At Christmas we all used to play together as a family, ranging from Handel Concerti Grossi to silly arrangements, e.g The 12 Days of Christmas, narrated by our father. When Steven performs with OAE, Rachel and I are usually playing, and we share his nerves!
RACHEL: We played at Steven's son's wedding in a tent by the sea at Prussia Cove in Cornwall. Annette managed to finish some Beatles arrangements for string trio at the last moment so we were on tenterhooks about the repeats, not to mention organising clothes pegs because of the wind –but all went well!
Do you have a unique way of communicating ideas to each other that non-siblings might not understand?
STEVEN: Well, we certainly have jokes – and even a language, based on our father's slight Russian accent.
RACHEL: A private language, many quotes from family history and our 'Basil face' that Annette describes!
ANNETTE: We have a silly face we make to each other, even if Steven has to turn around from his soloist’s position to make it! He’s also been known to do it when he’s spotted one of us is in the audience!
SIBLING INFLUENCES
Has your siblings' presence in your musical life helped you grow as a musician?
STEVEN: Absolutely! It’s been crucial in many ways for me – not least the exposure to original instruments.
RACHEL: Hard to say but it has always been a complete backbone in my life and a strong part of my identity; we share the same 'religion' of music.
ANNETTE: Immeasurably, from our first experiences of playing together, and particularly the influence that Steven’s exceptional cello teacher, Jane Cowan, had on us all.
What do you admire most about your siblings as musicians?
STEVEN: They’re both absolutely genuine musicians – passionate about it, and deeply knowledgeable. The real thing!
RACHEL: With Annette, her incredible versatility – quite apart from the viola and piano playing, the arranging, recording, teaching... and Steven's energy, discipline and tenacity in sticking to what he believes in so strongly.
ANNETTE: The musicality and integrity of approach and concentrated application to make their ideals happen.
Have your siblings’ musical styles or approaches influenced your own?
STEVEN: Very much so!
RACHEL: We were all very strongly influenced by Jane Cowan. And I came to early music through Francis Baines, whom I met through Annette. I think we all have the same approach of trying to stay true to the composer and doing our best to let the music 'speak'.
ANNETTE: I think the above has always inspired me but I’ve never been as disciplined about following through with the required hours of practice!
What do you look forward to most in the next chapter of your life, both personally and professionally?
STEVEN: Hard to say. The next concerts and recordings! But I’m certainly expecting a highlight to be playing the Dvořák concerto with the OAE conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev, with both my sisters in the Orchestra. Scary, but exciting…
RACHEL: Lots of lovely chamber music concerts and the very exciting new OAE season, which was curated by Annette!
ANNETTE: OAE’s 40th Anniversary Season has many delights to anticipate. I am also very excited that Iván Fischer has invited me to play principal in December 2025 in the newly-formed baroque branch of his Budapest Festival Orchestra.
WHAT'S IN THE BAG?
Ever wondered what an OAE musician packs for a tour? Peek inside their bag and see! Can you guess which member of the OAE these essentials belong to?*
Starting from the top and going clockwise:
1. Bluetooth pedal for hands free page turning with a tablet. Makes practicing on the road so much easier! Unfortunately it is guaranteed to get my bag pulled when I go through airport security.
2. 1,500-page definitive biography of Mozart by Hermann Abert. When is the paperback edition coming out?!? Oh my aching back!
3. Sunnies: not just for the sun but for harsh airport or airplane lighting anytime of day or night
4. Earbuds with noise canceling. See #2. Great for the tube, the plane, the coach, listening to music or a podcast, or nothing at all! Also works against FFF piccolos or timpanis.
5. Fully poseable Wolverine action figure. “He’s the best at what he does but what he does best isn’t very nice.” For inspiration.
6. Replica lightsaber. We occasionally end up performing at venues that could be described as hives of scum and villainy. Can never be too careful.
7. OAE 40 stickers. Coming soon to a men’s room near you.
8. Aeropress coffee maker. Have you tried the coffee at Premier Inn? Let me stop you right there. Bring your own coffee and one of these little guys. You’ll never be disappointed again.
9. Frank’s RedHot sauce. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Would very much like an endorsement deal.
10. Bluetooth speaker for an instant hotel room party or for when the whole orchestra needs to hear the metronome.
Steven, Rachel and Annette Isserlis will unite on stage for Dvořák's Cello Concerto at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev on Wednesday 24 June 2026. Book tickets via oae.co.uk
*ANSWER: Max Mandel, Co-Principal Viola
MUSINGS ON GLYNDEBOURNE
Our viola player, Martin Kelly, reflects on his 36 years of performing at Glyndebourne, sharing some of his favourite memories along the way. Festival 2025 marked his final performance at the opera house.
One of the best ways of warming up for a six-hour rehearsal at Glyndebourne is to walk from Lewes over the Downs to the opera house nestled in the valley. To be there listening to the skylarks while viewing the rolling hills frees the spirit and makes you feel truly alive.
This being my last summer here I've been thinking about what is special and what I will miss. We have always been treated very well at Glyndebourne but it is now a far more relaxed and friendly place to go to work. At the beginning it felt a more formal atmosphere than we were used to.
In 1989 'smart mufti' was required as a dress code for the dress rehearsal. My strongest
memories of the old opera house were the beautiful 'limed' oak panelling and the hot, airless pit without air conditioning.
I will greatly miss the air of excitement around the first rehearsals when we get a glimpse of the production, meet the cast and of course see the stunning gardens for the first time. Watching them change and grow over the years has been a fascinating delight.
What have been my most memorable opera experiences at Glyndebourne? Many of the Handel productions, for example Giulio Cesare and Saul have been stunning but my top place definitely goes to Theodora. A radical production by Peter Sellars packed such a punch that it still lives on in my memory. I also loved playing The Fairy Queen. A great combination of Purcell and Shakespeare was beautifully brought together by Jonathan Kent and William Christie.
One of the great joys of opera is to have the privilege of working with wonderful singers.
In the early 90's a young Renée Fleming sang Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. She sang with total and effortless command. Likewise, Carolyn Sampson in Purcell and Erin Morley in Donizetti have made a lasting impression. Leaving the most special for last, I have to mention Lorraine Hunt Lieberson as Irene in Handel’s Theodora. Surrounded by a stunning cast she stood out with a depth of pathos and total commitment that I have never quite experienced since.
It is impossible to adequately express what a special place Glyndebourne is to work in. Playing an opera for maybe 20 performances gives us the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the music and express this together as a whole.
Finally when we did our first opera, Le nozze di Figaro in 1989, Louise Alder was three years old and came to the dress rehearsal while her mother,
Susie Carpenter Davies, played the violin with the OAE in the pit. Now in 2025 Louise is stunning as the Countess in the same opera and her young daughter Lea has been to a rehearsal with Grandma and Grandad. Maybe we will see her on the same stage in 36 years' time...
MARTIN KELLY VIOLA
The Orchestra returns to Glyndebourne for the 2026 Festival in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (14 June – 25 July) and Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (31 July – 28 August). This new production of L'Orfeo, directed by William Knight and conducted by Jonathan Cohen, marks the work's first ever staging at Glyndebourne. Die Entführung aus dem Serail will be
in David McVicar's acclaimed 2015 production. For full details, visit glyndebourne.co.uk
Martin Kelly at the 'Glyndebourne viola picnic', 1989. Credit: Annette Isserlis
Martin Kelly (top left) and fellow players enjoying a picnic at Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2025
The old opera house. Credit: Guy Cravett / Glyndebourne Productions Ltd / Arena PAL
revived
THE FAIRY QUEEN
The Fairy Queen: Three Wishes brought the magic of live music to York and Durham from November 2024 – June 2025.
Over 1,000 children and young people aged 2 – 18 participated in workshops and performances with OAE musicians and 1,600 audience members from the local community enjoyed our reimagining of Purcell’s opera. Thanks to support from Arts Council England and the Foyle Foundation, The Fairy Queen will tour nationwide from 2024 to 2027, bringing this enchanting, family-friendly production to six regions – reaching communities without access to a local professional orchestra. Five are areas we have worked in extensively and The Fairy Queen activity will build upon existing community relationships. The sixth region, Lincolnshire, is a new educational partner eager to engage audiences and participants in isolated rural communities. In collaboration with each region, we have devised bespoke activity that engages young people and adults in orchestral music. From community choirs to school bands, dance workshops to training for music staff, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
' These people were amazing! Their acting was brilliant and the kids were amazing, it was the best!"
YORK
Clifton Green Primary School, Dringhouses Primary School, Scarcroft Primary School, St Mary’s Primary School, St Lawrence’s CE Primary School, Westfield Primary School Fulford Secondary School
DURHAM
St Benet's Catholic Primary School, Chester Le Street CE Primary School, Finchale Primary
'Having taken part in the two performances of The Fairy Queen: Three Wishes in Consett, I can honestly say that it was one of the most musically and dramatically satisfying experiences I’ve been lucky enough to take part in in recent years.'
MUSICIAN IN THE FAIRY QUEEN
'Music venues in York are not large, so military precision was needed to get an OAE band, a school band, a community choir with soloists, ten child sprites, two school groups, plus soloists and conductor onto the stage. The children were so involved they will never forget it. School participation is oversubscribed with those involved wanting to do it again next year. It’s also inspiring and fun for me, as I see the project through from the first train – the-teachers-session, to school visit, to performance.'
SUE
PALMER
CHAIR, BENEVOLENT FUND AND HONORARY COUNCIL MEMBER
CHILD ACTOR IN THE FAIRY QUEEN
The Fairy Queen in Durham. Credit: Angela Fenwick
The Fairy Queen workshop, Durham. Credit: John-Henry Baker
The Fairy Queen in Durham. Credit: Angela Fenwick
The Fairy Queen rehearsals in Durham. Credit: Angela Fenwick
The Fairy Queen rehearsals in York. Credit: Charlie Kirkpatrick
The
REED ALL ABOUT IT
On a train returning from Glyndebourne, oboist Alex Bellamy chatted with bassoonist Zoe Shevlin. They reminisce about Bach in Oxford, a project which took place in May 2025 and in which they both participated. It culminated in a performance at the Sheldonian Theatre, directed by John Butt of the 1725 Ascension Day Cantata Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein.
ZOE: We both found the Bach in Oxford concert to be a real highlight this year. I loved the sheer scope of it: how it encompassed the past (J S Bach), present (Judith Weir) and future (student compositions). It was even more time travellling than usual!
ALEX: Yes, it was a really great project. A beautiful Bach programme, which included some of the most wonderful music that he wrote for the oboe, combined with the challenge of playing freshly composed music with all its rhythmic and chromatic demands, was what made it extra special for me. And all under the lively direction of the inimitable John Butt who, as ever, brought fascinating insights into the Bach scores as well as steering a productive interaction between the composers and orchestra. Though I have to admit, I was a
bit stressed when I first set eyes on the oboe parts of the student compositions!
ZOE: Me too! They were very demanding technically and I played every single note on my Baroque bassoon in one concert, possibly for the first time ever. It felt good to be so stretched, and then to play the Weir, which was beautiful and extremely idiomatic for the instruments.
ALEX: Weir used to be an oboist and it really showed in the way she used the oboes –beautiful long lines in a nice key!
ZOE: And then playing the Bach cantata felt so easy, and so relaxed, it is our musical home and I felt that really strongly.
ALEX: Yes, I loved coming back to Bach again after each composition. And it was particularly special that Bach’s original manuscript of cantata BWV 128, which the University had just acquired, was on display in the library next to the Sheldonian. So inspiring to be able to see the notes that we were about to play in Bach’s original handwriting. And all this in the intimate setting of the Sheldonian theatre for me, the scene of memorable student concerts and of my graduation.
ZOE: It was really fun working with the University composition students. I hope we can do more projects like this, thanks to everyone who made it possible!
LEADER AND LEGATOR
I can still remember the excitement, nearly 40 years ago, of being invited to play in my first OAE concert – Idomeneo at the South Bank with Sir Simon Rattle. Little did I know that this would be the start of the most significant and long-term professional relationship of my life and one that has brought so many musical highlights and friendships.
In addition to the players themselves and our outstanding management team, these successes owe a great deal to the remarkable and committed supporters of the OAE, supporters who have responded to artistic ambitions and also to some challenges, enabling the Orchestra not only to survive but to thrive. This is a truly remarkable achievement, especially during the recent global pandemic. For decades, it has enriched and shaped the artistic landscape of the UK and beyond, not only through its performances but also through its collaborations with like-minded organisations and its profound commitment to education. This commitment is
perfectly exemplified by the Orchestra's visionary decision to base itself in Acland Burghley School, a comprehensive school in North London. This enduring will has inspired me to include the OAE in my will. I know that such pledges will help secure the future of the Orchestra, ensuring that future generations of talented musicians will continue to have the very best artistic opportunities, and that the OAE can continue to bring outstanding music to audiences worldwide. I am confident that this support will allow the OAE's values to flourish for years to come. I am so grateful for all the opportunities that I have had and am delighted to give something back to the inspirational OAE.
MAGGIE FAULTLESS LEADER AND LEGATOR
John Butt will conduct Solomon on Sunday 12 October, Queen Elizabeth Hall. Book tickets via oae.co.uk
After 40 years with the OAE, Maggie Faultless reflects on the friendships and musical moments that inspired her legacy pledge.
Zoe Shevlin (left) and Alex Bellamy (right)
Maggie Faultless, Toutes Suite, Warsaw 2019.
THANK YOU
We are so grateful to you all for your generous support. None of this would be possible without you.
PRINCIPAL PATRONS
Imogen Charlton-Edwards
Denys and Vicki Firth
Adrian Frost
Sir Martin and Lady Smith OBE
Dr Tony Trapp MBE
SEASON PATRONS
Julian and Annette Armstrong
Nigel Jones and Françoise Valat-Jones
Philip and Rosalyn Wilkinson
Mark and Rosamund Williams
PROJECT PATRONS
Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter
Ian S Ferguson CBE and Dr Susan Tranter
Bruce Harris
Selina and David Marks
ABS CIRCLE
Mark and Susan Allen
Sir Victor and Lady Blank
Peter Cundill Foundation
The Vernon Ellis Foundation
Sir Martin and Lady Smith OBE
ARIA PATRONS
Joanna and Graham Barker
Steven Larcombe
Peter and Veronica Lofthouse
Stanley Lowy
Alison McFadyen
Peter Rosenthal
Maarten and Taina Slendebroek
Caroline Steane
Lord and Lady Stirrup
Eric Tomsett
CHAIR PATRONS
Daniel Alexander KC Principal Cello
Katharine Campbell Violin
Anthony and Celia Edwards Principal Oboe
Claire Espiner Cello
Anna Flynn in memory of James Flynn
Co-Principal Lute / Theorbo
Paul Forman Co-Principal Cello & Co-Principal Horn
Jonathan Gaisman Viola
Andrew Green KC and
Jennifer Hirschl Principal Clarinet
Jane Gilbert Principal Flute
Melanie J. Johnson
Michael and Harriet Maunsell Principal Keyboard
Christina M Flute
Jenny and Tim Morrison Second Violin
Andrew Nurnberg Co-Principal Oboe
Stephen and Penny Pickles Viola
Professor Richard Portes CBE FBA
Co-Principal Bassoon
John and Rosemary Shannon Principal Horn
EDUCATION PATRONS
Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd
Susan Palmer OBE
Andrew and Cindy Peck
Professor Richard Portes CBE FBA
Sue Sheridan OBE
Crispin Woodhead and Christine Rice
ASSOCIATE PATRONS
Damaris Albarrán
Noël and Caroline Annesley
Sir Richard Arnold and Mary Elford
William Barham
Lady Sarah Bowness
David and Marilyn Clark
David Emmerson
Jonathan Parker Charitable Trust
Dino Fontes and David Stinson
Lorna Gradden
Roger Heath MBE and Alison Heath MBE
Peter and Sally Hilliar
Philip Hughes
Breandán Knowlton
Kathryn Langridge
Moira and Robert Latham
Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd
Roger Mears and Joanie Speers
David Mildon in memory of Lesley Mildon
Gary and Nina Moss
John Nickson and Simon Rew
Andrew and Cindy Peck
Tim and Kate Price
Tim Rhys-Morgan
Jan Schlapp Rehearsal Soup Patron
Michael Spagat and Karen Lauxmann
Roger and Pam Stubbs
Emily Stubbs and Stephen McCrum
Simon and Karen Taube
Shelley von Strunckel
Mr J Westwood
Elly Williamson
OAE NEXTGEN
Marina Abel Smith
Mr Andrew Barratt
Marianne and William
Cartwright-Hignett
Harry Hickmore
Jessica and Alex Kemp
GOLD FRIENDS
Michael Brecknell
Gerard Cleary
Sir Anthony Cleaver – In Memoriam
Mr and Mrs C Cochin De Billy
Sarah Lady Gough
Chris Gould
Roger Lewis
Alison and Ian Lowdon
Mr Michael Mackenzie
Roger and Jane Mountford
SILVER FRIENDS
Haylee and Michael Bowsher
George and Kay Brock
Tony Burt
David Cox
Martin Edmunds
Stephen and Cristina Goldring
Nicola Haskins
Malcolm Herring
Patricia Herrmann
Rupert and Alice King
Rose and Dudley Leigh
Anthony and Carol Rentoul
Bridget Rosewell
Mr and Mrs J.Rossi
Rupert Sebag-Montefiore
Susannah Simons
BRONZE FRIENDS
Tony Baines
Ursula Brennan
Penny and Robin Broadhurst
Dan Burt
Cynthia Butterworth
Michael A Conlon
Mrs SM Edge
Ms Hannah Field
Mrs Mary Fysh
Martin and Helen Haddon
Penelope Hamilton
The Lady Heseltine
Mrs Auriel Hill
Sir Roger Jackling
Bill Marshall
Mr Simon Moore
Richard I Morris Jr
Mr Matthew Pollitt
Mike Raggett
Alan Sainer
Mr James Stratford
Steve and Jackie Street
Mr and Mrs Tony Timms
Mr John Truscott
Mr and Mrs Michael Vernell
Mrs Joy Whitby
TRUSTS & FOUNDATIONS
Arts Council England
The Britford Bridge Trust
John Lyon’s Charity
The Linbury Trust
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Cockayne – Grants for the Arts
Dreamchasing
The Foyle Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation
Henocq Law Trust –
The Ann and Peter Law
OAE Experience Scheme
John Armitage Charitable Trust
The Neville Abraham Foundation
The Roger and Ingrid Pilkington Charitable Trust
Skyrme Hart Charitable Trust
The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust
The Albert and Eugenie Frost
Music Trust
The Apax Foundation
The Aspinwall Educational Trust
The Charles Peel Charitable Trust
The de Laszlo Foundation
The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust
The Garrick Charitable Trust
The Golsoncott Foundation
The Harold Hyam Wingate
Foundation
The Idlewild Trust
The John Thaw Foundation
The Michael Marks Charitable Trust
The Patricia Routledge Foundation
The Patrick Rowland Foundation
Scops Arts Trust
The Thistle Trust
Thriplow Charitable Trust
Vaughan Williams Foundation
CORPORATE SUPPORTERS
Ambriel Sparkling
Cevian Captial
Mark Allen Group
WSP
We are grateful for the generosity of all our Friends and those who wish to remain anonymous.
