RPO Friends' newsletter Summer 2013

More music for less!

RPO friends’ newsletter - summer 2013

W

elcome

ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Welcome to the summer 2013 edition of fortissimo - the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s (RPO) friends’ newsletter. In this edition, we are delighted to bring you all the latest news from the Orchestra, including recent tours and education projects plus details of three new RPO CDs. We are also very pleased to enclose details of the RPO’s new Royal Festival Hall series and to announce a very special event - please see the back page for more details!

BRAND NEW concerts at the Royal Festival Hall The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is proud to present its BRAND NEW concert series at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. From February – June 2014, the Orchestra will be joined by an exceptional array of artists and conductors, including the RPO’s Principal Conductor Maestro Charles Dutoit (pictured top) who will direct a selection of concerts devoted to French music – the repertoire for which he is renowned. Highlights include:

Wednesday 12th February 2014, 7.30pm – Charles Dutoit conducts Ravel An unmissable opportunity to see and hear Dutoit guide the Orchestra through the complete ballet score of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, an evocative and sensual masterpiece.

This glorious programme features soprano Nicole Cabell and the Philharmonia Chorus.

Monday 17th March 2014, 7.30pm – John Lill performs Rachmaninov A 70th birthday celebration of acclaimed British pianist John Lill (pictured middle) who will perform Rachmaninov’s passionate Piano Concerto No.3. Conducted by Thomas Dausgaard and also featuring Brahms’ Tragic Overture and Dvořák’s Symphony No.8.

Tuesday 22nd April 2014, 7.30pm – Steven Isserlis performs Elgar A packed evening, which includes Elgar’s moving Cello Concerto performed by the great cellist Steven Isserlis (pictured bottom), as well as Prokofiev’s witty ‘Classical’ Symphony and Rimsky-Korsakov’s irresistable Scheherazade.

Tickets are £58-£10 (before your exclusive 50% RPO friends’ discount). Full details of these concerts and more at the Royal Festival Hall can be found in the enclosed brochure or at www.rpo.co.uk/friends. To book, please call 020 7608 8855. We look forward to seeing you there!

RPO friends’ benefits - 50% off tickets for RPO ‘own-promotion’ concerts in London (up to two tickets per concert) - FREE passes to RPO ‘own-promotion’ rehearsals in London (two per rehearsal; please book in advance) - FREE pre-concert coffee bar* at the Royal Albert Hall - Now in the West Arena Foyer bar (level -1) - 15% off selected house wine, champagne, tea, coffee and cake at Cadogan Hall* - Priority booking and ticket allocation - Discounted RPO CDs For more information about all benefits, including booking rehearsal passes, please contact us. * Please show your RPO friends’ card to claim your free tea/coffee and/or bar discounts.

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Phone 020 7608 8855 (M-F, 10-6), email friends@rpo.co.uk or visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends.

Player Profile Helen Storey Sub-Principal Bassoon What is the best thing about being a member of the RPO? I really enjoy feeling part of a permanent team rather than playing with a different mix of musicians every day.

Who have you enjoyed working with the most in the RPO? At first I found Daniele Gatti (the RPO’s Conductor Laureate and former Music Director) pretty terrifying to work for but once I’d got used to him I loved his energy during concerts and amazing conducting technique.

Where is your favourite place to perform? I loved playing in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw because of its fantastic acoustic and its shape. In the UK, I love Cadogan Hall as it’s the venue we know best.

What has been the most valuable piece of advice you have been given in relation to music? One of my teachers, whilst I was studying in Vienna, told me that it’s best to forget about the mechanics of playing the bassoon, in order to create music. Good advice, though sometimes tricky to adhere to!

What do you listen to in your spare time? My ‘spare’ time is generally spent listening to my children!

Rutter’s Requiem at St Paul’s We would like to remind you about the RPO’s honoured return to the glorious surroundings of St Paul’s Cathderal.

John Rutter will conduct his Requiem and Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge in a concert of choral and orchestral British music, which also includes Vaughan Williams’ celebrated Fifth Symphony. Featuring The Purcell Singers, this sublime concert promises to be a night to remember.

Tickets are £50-£12 and are selling fast! For more information, please see enclosed flyer. To book tickets using your exclusive 50% RPO friends’ discount, please call us on 020 7608 8855.

Brand new RPO CDs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 and 'Moonlight' Sonata Renowned pianist Mario Galeani performs two great works by Beethoven: the dramatic Third Piano Concerto and the popular 'Moonlight' Sonata, conducted by the RPO’s Principal Guest Conductor, Grzegorz Nowak.

Movie Legends: The Music of John Barry This CD celebrates John Barry's music and features hit film scores from: Dances with Wolves, Out of Africa, Born Free, Zulu and many more. Featuring four guest conductors: Nic Raine, Paul Bateman, Nick Ingman and Tolga Kashif.

More Symphonic Rock Matthew Freeman conducts a brand new CD of pop and rock music played with a classical twist!

Featuring hits such as Adele's Someone Like You, Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, Meatloaf's I'd Do Anything for Love, Madonna's Material Girl ... and many more!

Just £8 for RPO friends (R.R.P. £10). To order, please call 020 7608 8837.

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Phone 020 7608 8855 (M-F, 10-6), email friends@rpo.co.uk or visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends.

RPO resound RPO resound is proud to be in its 20th anniversary year with its busy schedule of community and education projects going from strength to strength over recent months.

Earlier this year, RPO resound worked with young people from the London Borough of Westminster (pictured top), encouraging participants to share their musical passions with each other and to create a series of completely original compositions. In May, RPO resound delivered a thrilling project with Sandringham Primary School in Newham in partnership with the Every Child a Musician programme and funded by the RPO’s corporate partner Northern Trust.

Underpinning both the Orchestra’s long-standing relationship with Cambridgeshire Music and its recent appointment as the Cambridge Corn Exchange’s new Orchestra in Residence, RPO resound delivered a stimulating coaching course with members of the Cambridgeshire County Youth Orchestra in April (pictured middle). RPO resound also delivered its third project in partnership with the Oxford Bach Choir, supporting pupils from Wood Green School in creating their own compositional response to Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. This served as an introduction to the RPO’s full performance of the masterpiece on the same evening.

Between January and March, RPO resound was delighted to be part of a ground-breaking nationwide project called First Time Live - Youth (pictured bottom), which was devised and led by music charity Orchestras Live and funded by Arts Council England. The project aimed to make orchestral music accessible to school audiences through a series of workshops with young producers, and helped to enable the participants to make key decisions about concert production and repertoire.

Over the coming year, RPO resound aims to develop these thriving relationships even further and looks forward to inspiring even more participants from all over the country through numerous projects.

For more information about RPO resound, please call 020 7608 8800.

News & Moves Players’ news We were delighted to welcome Rachel van der Tang (Cello) to the RPO in April, and we look forward to more of her performances in the forthcoming season.

We will be very sad to say our goodbyes to John Anderson (Principal Oboe) this summer.

John is a long-serving member of the Orchestra, having played since 1999. A superb musician and a true gent, he will be greatly missed by us all at the RPO. We are also very sorry to say goodbye to Brian Thomson (Principal Trumpet) and Laura Holt (Viola) who have also been great contributors to the Orchestra and will be very missed.

Office news We were delighted to welcome Rosi Callery as our new Tours & Special Projects Assistant in May. A Music graduate from the University of Nottingham, Rosi previously worked at Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

We look forward to welcoming Henry Bertram as our new Marketing Intern in July. A Music graduate from the University of Cambridge, Henry has spent the past year teaching. A huge thanks to Sebastian Huckle for his hard work with the Marketing team.

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Phone 020 7608 8855 (M-F, 10-6), email friends@rpo.co.uk or visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends.

On tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The RPO had a fantastic tour to Spain in May with Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, Charles Dutoit (pictured). With superb performances of Mahler’s Symphony No.1 (which you may have heard on our return to London at the Royal Festival Hall), the programme also featured Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto.

During June and July, the RPO is busy touring the Far East with Maestro Dutoit, with whom the Orchestra will visit Taiwan, Korea, Japan and China - all in the space of three weeks! It promises to be a special tour, with performances of Chopin’s Piano Concertos, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Debussy’s La mer as well as other brilliant works. This exciting tour features star soloists, including internationally renowned pianist Yuja Wang.

Pirates of the Caribbean - with live orchestra!

Shiver me timbre! The RPO is delighted to announce a very special and BRAND NEW concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 5th April 2014 at 3pm & 7.30pm: a unique showing of one of the most successful films of the last decade, in live synchronisation with the Orchestra. A firm family favourite and popular with all ages, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the latest film to be presented with a live orchestra. It will be shown on the big screen whilst David Firman conducts the RPO in a performance of Klaus Badelt’s electrifying score (based on themes by Hans Zimmer).

This first instalment in Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Carribbean franchise has entertained audiences across the globe with its thrilling adventures, hi-tech special effects and unique storylines.

As Captain Jack and his motley crew come alive on the giant screen in a spectacular showing of the full feature film, join Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom in experiencing the 2003 Academy Award nominated film that first began Captain Jack Sparrow’s swashbuckling adventures.

RPO players Niamh Molloy (Cello), Mike Allen (Trumpet), Fraser Gordon (Contra-Bassoon), Adam Wright (Trumpet) and Tom Watmough (Clarinet) and Sali Wyn Ryan (Violin) are pictured here modelling their new pirate look outside the Royal Albert Hall! Tickets are £55-£20 (before your exclusive 50% RPO friends’ discount). To book, please call us on 020 7608 8855 or email us at friends@rpo.co.uk.

We look forward to seeing you there!

We hope that you have enjoyed reading this edition of fortissimo. If you would like to talk to us about the Orchestra, book tickets using your exclusive 50% discount, or if you have any other queries at all, then please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you at an RPO concert soon!

With best wishes,

Jo Thomson (Friends’ & Groups’ Co-ordinator) and the rest of the RPO Marketing team!

Chris Evans

Daniel King

Kathleen Rule

Sebastian Huckle

Director of Press & Marketing

Regional Marketing Co-ordinator

Marketing Assistant

Marketing Intern

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Phone 020 7608 8855 (M-F, 10-6), email friends@rpo.co.uk or visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends.