Wigmore Hall Concert Diary December 2014

December 2014 Jordi Savall INSIDE:

John Mark Ainsley Artemis Quartet Jean-Efflam Bavouzet Belcea Quartet Sophie Bevan Max Emanuel Cencic Christian Gerhaher The Hilliard Ensemble Igor Levit Stile Antico And many more

Box Office 020 7935 2141 Online Booking www.wigmore-hall.org.uk

How to Book Wigmore Hall Box Office 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP In Person 7 days a week: 10 am – 8.30 pm. Days without an evening concert 10 am – 5 pm. No advance booking in the half hour prior to a concert.

By Telephone: 020 7935 2141 7 days a week: 10 am – 7 pm. Days without an evening concert 10 am – 5 pm.

There is a non-refundable £2.50 administration fee for each transaction, which includes the return of your tickets by post if time permits.

Online: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk 7 days a week; 24 hours a day. You can now select your own seat. There is a non-refundable £1.50 administration charge.

Standby Tickets Standby tickets for students, senior citizens and the unemployed are available from one hour before the performance (subject to availability) with best available seats sold at the lowest price.

NB standby tickets are not available for Lunchtime and Coffee Concerts.

Group Discounts Discounts of 10% are available for groups of 12 or more, subject to availability.

Latecomers Latecomers will only be admitted during a suitable pause in the performance.

Facilities for Disabled People For full details please call 020 7258 8210

TICKETS A–D

Unless otherwise stated, tickets are divided into four prices ranges:

BALCONY

T– X

Stalls C – M Highest price

Q –S

Stalls A – B, N – P 2nd highest price

N–P

Balcony A – D 2nd highest price Stalls BB, CC, Q – S 3rd price Stalls AA, T – X Lowest price

STALLS C– M A–B CC BB AA

CC BB

PLATFORM

AA

This diary is available in alternative formats. Please contact the Box Office if this would be of assistance to you. Telephone: 020 7935 2141, or Email: boxoffice@wigmore-hall.org.uk.

Benjamin Ealovega

The right is reserved to substitute artists and vary programmes if necessary.

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Wigmore Hall • John Gilhooly OBE Director The Wigmore Hall Trust • Registered Charity No.1024838

Cover: Jordi Savall © David Ignaszewski

Janina Fialkowska piano Chopin Polonaise-fantaisie in Ab Op. 61; Nocturne in B Op. 9 No. 3; Impromptu No. 3 in Gb Op. 51; Prelude in F# Op. 28 No. 8; 3 Mazurkas Op. 50; Ballade No. 4 in F minor Op. 52

Julien Faugere ATMA

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Monday 1 December 1.00 pm

‘Chopin’s main means of expression’, observed the Russian author Boris Pasternak, ‘… was melody, melody that was more genuine and more powerful than any other we know’. Few can match Janina Fialkowska’s compassionate engagement with Chopin’s art, directed in this recital to a programme that reflects the composer’s profound feeling for the higher reaches of the human spirit. £12.50 concs £10

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert

Janina Fialkowska

Beethoven 12 Variations in F on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte Op. 66; Cello Sonata in C Op. 102 No. 1; 12 Variations on a Theme from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus WoO. 45; Cello Sonata in D Op. 102 No. 2

Marco Borggreve

Jean-Guihen Queyras cello Alexander Melnikov piano

Marco Borggreve

Monday 1 December 7.30 pm

Beethoven’s Variations on themes from Judas Maccabaeus and Die Zauberflöte were written in Berlin in 1796, the latter chosen because it was the Jean-Guihen Queyras Alexander Melnikov favourite opera of Prussia’s King Friedrich Wilhelm II. Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov conclude each half of this programme with two forward-looking sonatas conceived in 1815 for Joseph Linke, the brilliant Silesian cellist. £35 £30 £25 £18

Supported by the Chamber Music Circle

Chamber Music Season

Michael Petrov cello Alexander Ullman piano

Kaupo Kikkas

YCAT Lunchtime Series 2014 /15

Kaupo Kikkas

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Tuesday 2 December 1.00 pm

Schumann Fantasiestücke Op. 73 Dutilleux Trois Strophes sur le nom de Sacher Schubert Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D821 In 2014, Michael Petrov won the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Gold Medal. During the 2014/15 Season Michael will give recitals at eighteen major concert halls throughout Europe as part of his nomination by the Barbican Centre as an ECHO Rising Star.

Michael Petrov

Alexander Ullman

£12.50 concs £10

Young Classical Artists Trust (Reg. Charity No. 326490)

YCAT is grateful for support for this series from the Paul Woodhouse Fund, Anthony Nesbitt Fund, Goulding Murray Fund and the legacy of Richard Oake.

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Tuesday 2 December 7.30 pm Mark Harrison

Yevgeny Sudbin piano Scarlatti Sonata in D minor Kk213; Sonata in D minor Kk141 Beethoven 6 Bagatelles Op. 126 Chopin Ballade No. 3 in A b Op. 47 Shostakovich 3 Preludes from Op. 34: No. 6 in B minor; No. 17 in Ab; No. 24 in D minor Rachmaninov Prelude in G# minor Op. 32 No. 12; Prelude in G Op. 32 No. 5; Prelude in G minor Op. 23 No. 5 Prokofiev Piano Sonata No. 7 in Bb Op. 83 Known for his consummate virtuosity and revelatory readings of some of the most demanding works in the piano literature, Yevgeny Sudbin offers a programme chiefly comprising substantial miniatures and character pieces.

The Russian pianist’s recital includes Beethoven’s psychologically profound Op. 126 Bagatelles, misleadingly labelled by their composer as ‘a cycle of trifles’, and concludes with the second of Prokofiev’s so-called War Sonatas, first performed in Moscow shortly before the crucial Soviet victory at Stalingrad.

Yevgeny Sudbin

£30 £25 £20 £15

London Pianoforte Series

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Wednesday 3 December 12.15 pm

Pre-Concert Talk An introduction to the lunchtime concert with Patrick John Jones, winner of the OPUS2014 competition for UK unpublished composers.

Free to concert ticket holders (separate ticket required)

Wigmore Hall Learning Event

Emer McDonough flute Nicholas Daniel oboe Joy Farrall clarinet Sarah Burnett bassoon Stephen Bell horn Michael Berkeley Re-Inventions Emer McDonough Crawford Seeger Suite for wind quintet Patrick John Jones New work* (London première) Nielsen Wind Quintet Op. 43 *Co-commissioned by Britten Sinfonia with support from donors to the Musically Gifted campaign, and by Wigmore Hall with the support of André Hoffmann, president of the Fondation Hoffmann, a Swiss grant-making foundation

Nicholas Daniel

Joy Farrall Harry Rankin

Britten Sinfonia

Eric Richmond

Wednesday 3 December 1.00 pm

The great Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s fondness for wind instruments relates closely to his love of nature. He was inspired Sarah Burnett Stephen Bell to write his Wind Quintet after hearing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for four winds; likewise, Michael Berkeley turned to past models for his Re-Inventions, based on the famous two-part Inventions of J S Bach. The programme includes the première of a new work by Patrick John Jones, the winner of OPUS2014, Britten Sinfonia and Wigmore Hall’s open call for submissions from unpublished UK composers. £12.50 concs £10

Free tickets for 8 –25 year olds at selected concerts, supported by The Monument Trust and John Lyon’s Charity.

To book his concert as part of Wigmore Hall’s young people’s programme, please contact the Box Office and quote ‘CHAMBER ZONE’.

Chamber Music Season /Contemporary Music Series

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Wednesday 3 December 7.30 pm TallWall Media

Rosenblatt Recitals 2014 /15

Aida Garifullina soprano Iain Burnside piano Rimsky-Korsakov Snow Maiden's Aria from The Snow Maiden Caccini Ave Maria Bellini Casta Diva from Norma Puccini O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi Gounod Je veux vivre from Roméo et Juliette Rachmaninov Zdes’ khorosho; Lilacs; Vocalise Trad. Cossack Lullaby (arr. Texu Kim for Sumi Jo) Dvorˇák Songs my mother taught me Rimsky-Korsakov The Rose and the Nightingale Delibes Les filles de Cadix Bernstein I Feel Pretty from West Side Story Arditi Il bacio

Aida Garifullina

Iain Burnside

Winner of Placido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia competition in 2013, Aida Garifullina is an incredibly promising Russian lyric soprano. At just 26 years of age, Garifullina is already a regular principal of the Mariinsky Theatre and recently put pen to paper on an exclusive recording deal with Decca Records/Universal. £30 £25 £20 £15

Tickets also on sale for Rosenblatt Recitals on 6 October (Carmen Giannattasio) and 6 November (Belén Elvira & Jorge de León)

Peter and the Wolf PERFORMANCE FOR LOCAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS The Nash Ensemble invites local schools to attend this special one-off performance of Peter and the Wolf. This opportunity is free for state schools from the Tri-borough area (Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham).

www.benjaminharte.co.uk

Thursday 4 December 1.00 pm – 1.40 pm

Free (ticket required)

Wigmore Hall’s Schools Programme is supported by The Monument Trust, John Lyon’s Charity and The Loveday Charitable Trust Please book through the Learning Office on 020 7258 8240

Wigmore Hall Learning Event Thursday 4 December 6.00 pm

Nash Ensemble Martyn Brabbins conductor

C S Neumüller

Wigmore Hall Chamber Ensemble in Residence

Keith Saunders

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NASH COMMISSIONS Mark-Anthony Turnage Returning for string sextet Sir Peter Maxwell Davies The Last Island for string sextet The works will be introduced by the composers in conversation from the stage.

Free (ticket required)

Chamber Music Season/Contemporary Music Series/ Nash Ensemble 50th Anniversary Season

Mark-Anthony Turnage

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

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Wigmore Hall Chamber Ensemble in Residence

Nash Ensemble Martyn Brabbins conductor Eleanor Bron narrator

Hanya Chlala /Arena PAL

Thursday 4 December 7.30 pm

Borodin String Sextet in D minor Tchaikovsky Andante Cantabile from String Quartet No. 1 in D Op. 11 Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf (arr. David Matthews for narrator and ensemble) Beethoven Septet in Eb Op. 20

Nash Ensemble Sasha Gusov

Borodin’s tantalisingly incomplete Sextet, a much-loved Tchaikovsky movement in its original quartet form and Prokofiev’s evergreen ‘tale for children’ are followed by a Nash favourite, Beethoven’s youthful Septet for wind and strings. £30 £25 £20 £15

Chamber Music Season / Nash Ensemble 50th Anniversary Season Martyn Brabbins

Friday 5 December 7.30 pm

Jordi Savall director, viols Hespèrion XXI Tembembe Ensamble Continuo

David Ignaszewski

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Eleanor Bron

FOLIAS: ANTIGUAS & CRIOLLAS – From the Ancient World to the New World

Jordi Savall

David Ignaszewski

David Ignaszewski

Diego Ortiz La Spagna Anonymous Folias antiguas Gaspar Sanz Jácaras; La Petenera Diego Ortiz Folia IV – Passamezzo antico I – Passamezzo moderno III – Ruggiero – Romanesca VII – Passamezzo moderno II Pedro Guerrero Moresca Antonio de Cabezón Folia: Pavana con su Glosa Juan García de Zéspedes /Traditional from Tixtla Guaracha Celtic Traditions in the New World: Regents Rant (Traditional Scottish); Crabs in the skillet (Ryan’s Mammoth Collection); Lord Moira’s Hornpipe (Ryan’s Collection) Santiago de Murcia / Traditional Jarocho Fandango; El Fandanguillo Antonio Martín y Coll Diferencias sobre las Folias Francisco Correa de Arauxo Glosas sobre ‘Todo el mundo en general’ Anonymous Canarios (improvisations) Antonio Valente Gallarda Napolitana; Jarabe Loco (Jarocho)

Hespèrion XXI

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Jordi Savall’s pioneering early music ensemble, founded as Hespèrion XX (before acquiring an extra numeral to its name with the turn of the century). The Catalan viol player, conductor and composer and his close-knit group have ventured across cultural boundaries to discover the common musical connections that once united peoples from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Joined by Mexican musicians from Tembembe Ensamble Continuo Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, these artists come together to seek out, recreate, and convey what intimately connects Baroque music with traditional music, with an intoxicating blend of Hispanic and Creole elements influenced by indigenous and African traditions.

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Early Music and Baroque Series

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Belcea Quartet Jonathan Biss piano

Ronald Knapp

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Saturday 6 December 7.30pm

BRACING CHANGE: NEW BRITISH STRING COMMISSIONS Beethoven String Quartet in D Op. 18 No. 3 Mark-Anthony Turnage Contusion* (world première) Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor Op. 34 *Co-commissioned by The Radcliffe Trust, NMC Recordings, and by Wigmore Hall with the support of André Hoffmann, president of the Fondation Hoffmann, a Swiss grant-making foundation

£30 £25 £20 £15

Philip Gatward

Benjamin Ealovega

Belcea Quartet

The need to refresh the chamber music repertoire is recognised here with the launch of a co-commissioning partnership between Wigmore Hall, The Radcliffe Trust and NMC Recordings. Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new work for the Belcea Quartet will be followed in coming seasons with the premières of scores by British and Irish composers Simon Holt, Anthony Gilbert, Helen Grime, Donnacha Dennehy and Paul Newland.

For this recital Jonathan Biss joins the Belceas to perform Brahms’s early masterwork, the Piano Quintet in F minor Op. 34.

Jonathan Biss

Mark-Anthony Turnage

Chamber Music Season /Contemporary Music Series /Bracing Change: New British String Commissions

Benjamin Ealovega

Grace Francis piano Brahms Variations on a Theme by Paganini Op. 35 (Book II) Liszt Consolation No. 3 in Db S172; Dante Sonata Prokofiev Sarcasms Balakirev The Lark; Islamey London-born Grace Francis, praised by David Cairns in The Sunday Times as a ‘phenomenon … of uncommon fire and energy’, studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music, where she was awarded the prestigious Chappell Gold Medal. She recently made her debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall and returns to Wigmore Hall to beguile audiences with the astonishing virtuosity and élan of her refined pianism. £12.50 concs £10 incl. programme and coffee /sherry /juice

Grace Francis

Sunday Morning Coffee Concert Sunday 7 December 7.30 pm

Fauré Quartet Mahler Piano Quartet Movement in A minor Beethoven Piano Quartet in Eb Op. 16 Musorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. for piano quartet by Fauré Quartet/ G. Gruzman)

Mat Hennek

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Sunday 7 December 11.30 am

Pianist Grigory Gruzman and the Fauré Quartet have created a sensational arrangement of Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, preserving the original score’s fiery passion while enhancing it with a colourful new Fauré Quartet tonal palette. The Fauré’s four members set the work in company with Mahler’s Piano Quartet, a product of its gifted young composer’s mid-teens, and Beethoven’s revised version of a work conceived in the late 1790s as a quintet for piano and winds. £30 £25 £20 £15

Chamber Music Season

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Philippe Jaroussky countertenor Ensemble Artaserse Programme to include: Vivaldi Stabat Mater RV621; Longe mala, umbrae, terrores RV629

Simon Fowler/Virgin Classics

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Monday 8 December 1.00 pm

With his pellucid tone, musical intuition and expressive style of singing, the French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky is able to connect like few others with the grand gestures and vivid emotional shadings of Baroque vocal works. He directs his own Ensemble Artaserse in a programme of sacred compositions, complete with Vivaldi’s plangent setting of the ancient Stabat Mater text.

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BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert Philippe Jaroussky

The Cardinall’s Musick Andrew Carwood director

Dmitri Gutjahr

Monday 8 December 7.30 pm

MARY, QUEEN OF HEAVEN Sub-plot: Elizabeth of York Fayrfax Gloria from Missa O quam glorifica Lambe Stella caeli Cornysh Ave Maria mater Dei Fayrfax Most clere of colour; O Maria Deo The Cardinall’s Musick grata; Ave lumen gratiae Bannester O Maria et Elizabeth Turges Enforce yourself as God’s own knight Plummer Tota pulcra es Cornysh Gaude virgo mater Christi Fayrfax To complayne me; Aeternae laudis lilium Marian devotion and mysticism touched countless lives in late medieval England, inspiring Robert Fayrfax and musicians such as William Cornysh and Walter Lambe to create some of their finest works. This concert also explores Tudor dynastic politics in the form of Fayrfax’s votive antiphon Aeternae laudis lilium, almost certainly commissioned by Henry VIII’s mother, Elizabeth of York. £30 £25 £20 £15

Early Music and Baroque Series /The Cardinall’s Musick Fayrfax Celebration

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Tuesday 9 December 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm Thursday 11 December 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm Wednesday 17 December 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm

Wigmore Study Group THE SONGS OF GUSTAV MAHLER Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of folk poems and songs, was a great source of inspiration to Mahler, who created settings of apparent folkloric simplicity, concealing a complexity of musical craft and symbolic meaning.

Mahler was deeply conversant with the tradition of the Romantic Lied, and often drew on his own vocal music as source material for symphonic writing. There are close associations with events in his personal life, most tragically in the case of Kindertotenlieder, which he came to regard as a premonition of his daughter’s death. Hosted by composer Julian Philips and pianist Laura Roberts, we explore the richly evocative world of Mahler’s songs with contributions from visiting musicologists and performers from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Returns only

Wigmore Hall Learning Event

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Gustav Mahler

Tuesday 9 December 7.30 pm Molina Visuals

Artemis Quartet Mozart String Quartet in G K387 Pe¯teris Vasks String Quartet No. 5 Smetana String Quartet No. 1 in E minor ‘From my life’

The Berlin-based Artemis Quartet, founded 25 years ago at the Musikhochschule in Lübeck, stands today among the world’s leading chamber ensembles. Its commitment to new music is boldly stated with Pe¯ teris Vask’s Fifth String Quartet, a Artemis Quartet two-movement exploration of the conscious states of presence and distance influenced by the Latvian composer’s compassion for ‘a world tortured by grief and contradictions’. £30 £25 £20 £15

Chamber Music Season/Contemporary Music Series

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Wednesday 10 December 6.00 pm

Pre-Concert Event RAZUMOVSKY ACADEMY YOUNG ARTISTS RECITAL The Razumovsky Academy provides an environment in which exceptionally gifted young musicians collaborate closely with some of the world’s finest artists and teachers. This concert offers the chance to hear potential future stars at an early stage in their careers. £6 or free with evening concert (separate ticket required)

Supported by the Razumovsky Trust (Reg. Charity No. 1111848)

Ida Haendel with students from the Razumovsky Academy

Razumovsky Ensemble Natalia Prischepenko violin David Alberman Diemut Poppen viola Oleg Kogan cello

violin

Thomas Rabsch

Wednesday 10 December 7.30 pm

Pianist to be announced

Natalia Prischepenko

David Alberman

Shostakovich’s Fourth String Quartet, written the year after performances of his music were officially forbidden in the Soviet Union, requires its interpreters to strike a balance between open expression and something altogether more introvert. The Razumovsky Ensemble’s musicians also address the musical and emotional contrasts of Beethoven’s light-hearted Serenade and Schumann’s impassioned Piano Quintet, a genre-defining masterwork.

Diemut Poppen Robert Cassen

Beethoven Serenade in D Op. 8 for String Trio Shostakovich String Quartet No. 4 in D Op. 83 Schumann Piano Quintet in E b Op. 44

£35 £30 £25 £15

Promoted by the Razumovsky Trust (Reg. Charity No. 1111848)

Chamber Music Season

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Oleg Kogan

Thursday 11 December 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm

Wigmore Study Group THE SONGS OF GUSTAV MAHLER See page 8 for full details Returns only

Wigmore Hall Learning Event

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Les Vents Français Emmanuel Pahud flute François Leleux oboe Paul Meyer clarinet Radovan Vlatkovic´ horn Gilbert Audin bassoon

Wildundleise.de

Thursday 11 December 7.30 pm

Eric Le Sage piano Farrenc Sextet for wind quintet and piano Thuille Sextet in Bb for piano and winds Op. 6 Ibert Trois pièces brèves Caplet Quintet for piano and winds Poulenc Sextet for wind quintet and piano It would be hard to imagine a finer wind ensemble than Les Vents Français.

Founded by five acclaimed solo artists, the quintet upholds the traditions and unmistakeable spirit of the French school of wind playing, directed in this concert to works of ravishing tonal beauty and irresistible melodic charm.

Jean-Baptiste Millot

Les Vents Français

£30 £25 £20 £15 Eric Le Sage CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust www.cavatina.net

Free tickets for 8 – 25 year olds at selected concerts, supported by CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust, The Monument Trust and John Lyon’s Charity.

To book this concert as part of Wigmore Hall’s young people’s programme, please contact the Box Office and quote ‘CHAMBER ZONE’.

Chamber Music Season

Vivaldi Concerto in C for violin RV181a Albinoni Pianta bella from Il nascimento dell’Aurora Caldara Barbaro, non comprendo from Adriano in Siria Brescianello Sinfonia in F Op. 1 No. 5 Gasparini Dolce mio ben from Flavio Anicio Olibrio Vivaldi Mi vuoi tradir from La verità in cimento Galuppi Concerto a quattro No. 1 in G minor Porta Mormorando quelle fronde from La Costanza Combattuta in Amore Giacomelli Sposa, non mi conosci from La Merope Vivaldi Concerto in E minor for violin ‘Il favorito’ RV277; A piedi miei svenato from Argippo; Anche in mezzo aperigliosa from L’odio vinto dalla constanza

Denise Rana

Julian Laidig

Max Emanuel Cencic countertenor Il Pomo d’Oro Riccardo Minasi director, violin

Max Emanuel Cencic

Riccardo Minasi

Julien Mignot

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Friday 12 December 7.30 pm

Max Emanuel Cencic, recognised worldwide as one of today’s greatest countertenors, has developed the Il Pomo d’Oro power of expression and technique required to project the spectacular virtuosity of Baroque opera. The Croatian-born artist began singing with the Vienna Boys’ Choir and launched his solo career as a male soprano in the early 1990s. Since converting to countertenor, Cencic has delivered breathtaking performances of everything from Handel heroes to works by Hasse, Vinci and Vivaldi. His entrepreneurial work to revive rarely heard operas has attracted critical acclaim and a major new recording deal with Decca. Cencic and Il Pomo d’Oro come to Wigmore Hall, fresh from their recent concert tour of Handel’s Tamerlano, with a programme of early 18th-century operatic showpieces and instrumental works. £40 £35 £25 £15

Early Music and Baroque Series

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Saturday 13 December 7.30 pm

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Stphane de Bourgies

Pavel Haas Quartet Nicholas Angelich piano Janác˘ek In the Mists Smetana String Quartet No. 2 in D minor Dvorˇák Piano Quintet in A Op. 81 Nicholas Angelich’s readings of Romantic works have been acclaimed for their uncanny breadth of expression. He joins the Pavel Haas Quartet to perform one of Dvorˇák’s greatest chamber compositions, the epic Piano Quintet in A Op. 81. The programme also includes Smetana’s Second String Quartet, a late work invested with what its composer described as ‘the turbulence of music in a person who had lost his hearing’. £30 £25 £20 £15

Chamber Music Season /Bohemia Marco Borggreve

Nicholas Angelich

Pavel Haas Quartet

Keith Saunders

Adrian Brendel cello Aleksandar Madžar piano

Jack Liebeck

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Sunday 14 December 11.30 am

Dohnányi Cello Sonata in Bb minor Op. 8 Janácˇek Pohádka Beethoven Cello Sonata in A Op. 69 Two artists devoted to the cause of imaginative interpretation and strong expression present their thoughts on a programme of richly flavoured compositions. Adrian Brendel and Aleksandar Madžar’s recital includes the formidable four-movement Cello Sonata in B flat minor, written in 1899 in sonorous late-Romantic style by the young Erno´´ Dohnányi. £12.50 concs £10 incl. programme and coffee/sherry/juice Adrian Brendel

Aleksandar Madžar

Sunday Morning Coffee Concert

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Sunday 14 December 7.30 pm Sussie Ahlburg

Sophie Bevan soprano Sebastian Wybrew piano SONGS OF VAIN GLORY Finzi At a lunar eclipse A CALL TO ARMS: Arr. Britten O the sight entrancing Somervell To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars Bridge ’Tis but a week Ives Tom Sails Away THE HOME FRONT: Gurney Most Holy Night Stanford A soft day Arr. Britten Sweet Polly Oliver Wood Roses of Picardy A POPULAR MEDLEY: R.P. Weston & Bert Lee Good bye-ee Ayer If I were the only girl in the world Novello We’ll gather lilacs

Sophie Bevan

AT SEA: Haydn Sailor’s Song Elgar Submarines Arr. Britten Tom Bowling Gurney The ship BEREAVEMENT: Arr. Britten Oft in the stilly night Ireland Spring sorrow Lehmann When I am dead, my dearest Bridge Come to me in my dreams AFTER THE ARMISTICE: Warlock My own country Holst Journey’s End Stanford Homeward bound Sophie Bevan’s exceptional talent was recognised as a student at the Royal College of Music with an invitation to appear with English National Opera.

The soprano’s personal warmth and zeal invariably reach out to audiences, as does her obvious joy in singing. She received the Young Singer Award at the inaugural International Opera Awards last year, underlining her status among the finest artists of her generation.

Sebastian Wybrew

£30 £25 £20 £15

Free tickets for 8 –25 year olds at selected concerts, supported by The Monument Trust and John Lyon’s Charity.

To book this concert as part of Wigmore Hall’s young people’s programme, please contact the Box Office and quote ‘CHAMBER ZONE’.

Song Recital Series

Badke Quartet Maximiliano Martín clarinet

Ollie Ford

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Monday 15 December 1.00 pm

Haydn String Quartet in Bb Op. 1 No. 1 ‘La chasse’ Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor Op. 115 Haydn swiftly spotted the newly created string quartet medium’s potential as a vehicle for expressive exploration and the development of bold musical ideas.

The Badke Quartet, winner of the 2007 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, opens the programme with the Maximiliano Martín Badke Quartet exuberant hunting calls of the composer’s Op. 1 No. 1 before joining forces with Spanish virtuoso Maximiliano Martín in Brahms’s divine Clarinet Quintet. £12.50 concs £10

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert

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Monday 15 December 7.30 pm The Monday Platform

Laura Snowden guitar Soh-Yon Kim violin Maksim Štšura piano Mertz Romanze and Tarantelle from Bardenklänge Op. 13 Mompou Suite compostelana L Berkeley Sonatina Op. 52 No. 1 Schumann Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor Op. 105 Ravel Violin Sonata Szymanowski Paganini Caprice Op. 40 No. 3

Laura Snowden

Soh-Yon Kim

The first Young Artists’ Platform of the 2014/15 Season features two of five performers chosen by audition earlier in the year. Guitarist and composer Laura Snowden studied at the RCM, gaining many awards there before going on to win international competitions. Violinist Soh-Yon Kim is currently studying at the RCM where she was chosen as one of their Rising Stars. £18 £16 £12 £10

Presented by The Friends of Young Artists’ Platform

Supported by the Tillett Trust and Milton Grundy Foundation Maksim Štšura

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 22 in F Op. 54; Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor Op. 57 ‘Appassionata’ Ravel Miroirs Bartók Piano Sonata

Benjamin Ealovega

16

Tuesday 16 December 7.30 pm

Artistic bravery is Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s stock in trade. The French pianist’s approach to making music is refreshingly individual, charged by his fascination with the psychology of performance. Over the past three decades he has returned time and again to the music of Beethoven, Ravel and Bartók, always searching for new depths of meaning. £30 £25 £20 £15

London Pianoforte Series Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

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Wednesday 17 December 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm

Wigmore Study Group THE SONGS OF GUSTAV MAHLER See page 8 for full details Returns only

Wigmore Hall Learning Event

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Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Mahler From Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?; Ablösung im Sommer; Ich ging mit Lust; Um schlimme Kinder artig zu machen; Rheinlegendchen; Der Schildwache Nachtlied; Lied des Verfolgten im Turm; Das irdische Leben; Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz; Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen Mahler Kindertotenlieder

Albert Lindmeier

Christian Gerhaher baritone Gerold Huber piano

Jim Rakete /Sony Classical

Wednesday 17 December 7.30 pm

Christian Gerhaher’s Mahler interpretations, in common with the composer’s work, consistently Christian Gerhaher Gerold Huber ask big questions about the nature of reality and the human condition. The German baritone and his regular duo partner, Gerold Huber, find colours and shades in Mahler that elude most, drawing listeners into an almost mystical world of expression thanks to the intensity of their performances. They present landmark works in this recital, including the profoundly moving Kindertotenlieder and the composer’s first song-cycle, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.

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We are grateful to Mrs Caroline Erskine for her gift towards the costs of this concert

Song Recital Series

John Mark Ainsley tenor Malcolm Martineau piano

Russell Duncan

18

Thursday 18 December 7.30 pm

Beethoven An die ferne Geliebte Schubert Schwanengesang In the mid-1980s John Mark Ainsley emerged from the choir of Christ Church, Oxford, to pursue a glittering solo career. The lyric tenor, known for his artistic vision and the supple qualities of his voice, built his reputation with stylish performances of Bach, Handel and Mozart, and has flourished more recently in acclaimed productions of operas by Britten, Henze and Janácˇek. £30 £25 £20 £15 John Mark Ainsley

Song Recital Series

19

Friday 19 December 7.30 pm

Christian Gerhaher baritone Gerold Huber piano Repeat of concert on 17 December £35 £30 £25 £18

We are grateful to Mrs Caroline Erskine for her gift towards the costs of this concert

Song Recital Series

14

Malcolm Martineau

20

Saturday 20 December 6.00 pm

Artists in Conversation A unique opportunity to join members of The Hilliard Ensemble as they reflect on their 40-year career in conversation with writer and broadcaster Fiona Talkington.

Returns only

Wigmore Hall Learning Event

The Hilliard Ensemble FAREWELL CONCERT

Marco Borggreve

Saturday 20 December 7.30 pm

Pérotin Viderunt Omnes Early English carols and motets including Sheryngham Ah, gentle Jesu Piers Hellawell The Hilliard Songbook (selection) Arvo Pärt Most Holy Mother of God; And one of the Pharisees Heiner Goebbels The Excursion into the Mountains from I went to the house but did not enter Music by Roger Marsh History will be made at Wigmore Hall when The Hilliard Ensemble gives its final The Hilliard Ensemble performance. Over the past four decades the Hilliards have championed everything from early medieval polyphony to specially commissioned works by many of today’s leading composers. The group’s farewell programme spans almost nine centuries of music, opening with the late 12th-century Christmas Gradual Viderunt Omnes and including Arvo Pärt’s Most Holy Mother of God, written for and dedicated to The Hilliard Ensemble.

This concert will be approximately 1 hour 10 minutes in duration, without an interval Returns only

Early Music and Baroque Series /Contemporary Music Series

Lise de la Salle piano Bach/Busoni Chaconne in D minor from Violin Partita No. 2 BWV1004 Bach/Busoni Chorale Prelude in F minor ‘Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ’ BWV639 Bach/Liszt Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV543 Mozart/Liszt Lacrimosa Schumann/Liszt Liebeslied (Widmung); Frühlingsnacht Schubert/Liszt Ständchen Wagner/Liszt Isoldes Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

Lynn Goldsmith

21

Sunday 21 December 11.30 am

Hailed by Gramophone during her teens as ‘a talent in a million’, Lise de la Salle has fulfilled her early promise with mature performances of staggering virtuosity and exhilarating invention. The pianist, born in Cherbourg in 1988, recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of her recording career with the release of a Portrait album on the Naïve label and completed an acclaimed season as Artist in Residence at the Zurich Opera House. £12.50 concs £10 incl. programme and coffee /sherry /juice

Sunday Morning Coffee Concert

Lise de la Salle

15

Giorgia Bertazzi

Philip Higham cello Alasdair Beatson piano

Kaupo Kikkas

Sunday 21 December 7.30 pm

Beethoven 7 Variations on ‘Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen’ from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte Wo0. 46 Schumann 3 Romances Op. 94 Fauré Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor Op. 117 Janácˇek Pohádka Brahms Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Op. 99 Two remarkable young British artists offer their shared Philip Higham Alasdair Beatson vision of works that explore everything from the tenderheartedness of Beethoven’s Variations on ‘Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen’ and pathos of Janácˇek’s Pohádka, written following the tragic death of his daughter, to the symphonic grandeur of Brahms’s F major Cello Sonata. £30 £25 £20 £15

Chamber Music Season

Beethoven String Trio in C minor Op. 9 No. 3 Beethoven Cello Sonata in C Op. 102 No. 1 Schubert Piano Quintet in A D667 ‘The Trout’

Paul Lewis

Jacl Liebeck

Anja Frers /DG

Paul Lewis piano Lisa Batiashvili violin Lawrence Power viola Bjørg Lewis cello Alois Posch double bass

Josep Molina /Harmonia Mundi

22

Monday 22 December 7.30 pm

Lisa Batiashvili

Lawrence Power

Bjørn Lewis

Alois Posch

Wigmore Hall’s Paul Lewis series continues with an unmissable combination of artists and repertoire. The pianist shares the platform with his wife, Bjørg Lewis, and three close colleagues in a programme comprising musical treasures from old Vienna, among them Beethoven’s visionary C minor String Trio, composed in 1797– 8, and Schubert’s sonorous ‘Trout’ Quintet.

Returns only

Chamber Music Season/Paul Lewis: A Celebration

Jacl Liebeck

Early Opera Company Sophie Bevan soprano Hilary Summers contralto Allan Clayton tenor James Platt bass Christian Curnyn director

Sussie Ahlburg

23

Tuesday 23 December 7.30 pm

Sophie Bevan

Hilary Summers

Allan Clayton Benjamin Ealovega

Handel Messiah HWV56 Handel’s Sacred Oratorio Messiah has grown from its almost humble first performance in Fishamble Street, Dublin to something of a worldwide institution, revered and celebrated every Christmas across the world.

An outstanding cast of soloists joins the orchestra and choir of Early Opera Company in this intimate performance of a true masterpiece. £40 £35 £30 £20

Early Music and Baroque Series

16

James Platt

Christian Curnyn

27

No performances.

Box Office closed.

Saturday 27 December 7.30 pm

Igor Levit piano Bach Partita No. 2 in C minor BWV826 Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 22 in F Op. 54 Ronald Stevenson Peter Grimes Fantasy on themes from Britten Rachmaninov Études-tableaux Op. 39

Felix Broede

24

Wednesday 24 to Friday 26 December

Pianophiles await Igor Levit’s performances with eager anticipation, ready to experience the spontaneity and poetic insights of his interpretations.

He opens his programme with one of Bach’s best-loved keyboard works before illuminating the concise thematic development of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in F Op. 54. Levit evokes the soul and natural beauty of his native Russia in the Études-tableaux Op. 39, written shortly before Rachmaninov joined the ranks of refugees fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution. £30 £25 £20 £15

WIGMORE HALL EMERGING T A L E N T Supported by Mayfield Valley Arts Trust

London Pianoforte Series / Introducing Igor Levit

London Haydn Quartet Haydn String Quartet in G Op. 76 No. 1 Dvorˇák String Quartet in Eb Op. 51

Giorgia Bertazzi

Sunday 28 December 11.30 am

The London Haydn Quartet, founded in 2000, applies historically informed performance practices to the full range of works in its wide repertoire. The quartet’s use of gut strings and classical bows helps to elicit the subtle gradations of tone colour and inflections familiar to musicians and audiences of the past. The ensemble explores works by Haydn and Dvorˇák, the latter infused with the distinctive flavours of Slavic folksong. £12.50 concs £10 incl. programme and coffee /sherry / juice

London Haydn Quartet

Sunday Morning Coffee Concert

Sunday 28 December 7.30 pm

Zemlinsky Quartet Haydn String Quartet in G minor Op. 74 No. 3 ‘Rider’ Janácˇek String Quartet No. 2 ‘Intimate Letters’ Dvorˇák String Quartet in F Op. 96 ‘American’

Tomas Bican

28

Igor Levit

To celebrate its 20th anniversary and in keeping with a fine national tradition, the Zemlinsky Quartet is embracing 2014 as the Year of Czech Music. The quartet recalls Janácˇek’s birth in 1854 and Dvorˇák’s death in 1904, placing two of the composers’ greatest chamber works in company with Haydn’s ‘Rider’ Quartet. £30 £25 £20 £15

Chamber Music Season

Zemlinsky Quartet

17

Sharon Kam clarinet Stephan Kiefer piano

Maike Helbig

29

Monday 29 December 7.30 pm

Berg 4 Pieces for clarinet and piano Op. 5 Reger Clarinet Sonata in Bb Op. 107 Debussy Première rapsodie Brahms Clarinet Sonata in F minor Op. 120 No. 1 The death of two close friends in the early months of 1894 affected Brahms so deeply that he was unable to compose.

His creativity returned after he heard Richard Mühlfeld’s Sharon Kam Stephan Kiefer exquisite clarinet playing at a festival of chamber music in Vienna. Sharon Kam’s affinity with her instrument allows her to unlock tonal possibilities available to few other players, ideally suited for the infinite timbral shade and burnished warm tones of Brahms’s Sonata in F minor. £30 £25 £20 £15

Chamber Music Season

Piers Lane piano

Keith Saunders

30

Tuesday 30 December 7.30 pm

Schubert Moments musicaux D780: No. 6 in Ab and No. 4 in C# minor Rachmaninov Moment musical in B minor Op. 16 No. 3 Rachmaninov 10 Preludes Op. 23 Schubert Piano Sonata in A D959 Rachmaninov’s Preludes Op. 23, a collection of ten short yet intricate pieces written between 1901 and 1903, date from a testing time in the composer’s personal and professional life which was bookended by a crisis of creative confidence and financial difficulties. Piers Lane prefaces the Preludes with three coruscating miniatures by Schubert and Rachmaninov. He reserves his recital’s second half for the sublime Piano Sonata in A D959, completed during the period of Schubert’s final illness. £30 £25 £20 £15

London Pianoforte Series

Wednesday 31 December 7.00 pm NB Starting time

Stile Antico IN DULCI JUBILO – FLEMISH & GERMAN CHRISTMAS MUSIC

Marco Borggreve

31

Piers Lane

Anon Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (arr. M. Praetorius/Vulpius) Clemens non Papa Pastores quidnam vidistis (motet) Eccard Übers Gebirg Maria geht Handl Canite tuba Clemens non Papa Missa ‘Pastores quidnam vidistis’ Hieronymus Praetorius Magnificat quinti toni (incorporating carols ‘In dulci jubilo’ and ‘Josef lieber, Josef mein’) Eccard Vom Himmel hoch Handl Mirabile mysterium Michael Praetorius Ein Kind geboren in Bethlehem Hassler Hodie Christus Natus est a 10 Lassus Resonet in laudibus Stile Antico’s programme is a delightful mixture of the formal and the informal, of sophisticated polyphony and folk-like dances. Alongside a glorious, richly-scored Christmas mass by the Flemish composer Clemens non Papa, Stile Antico performs traditional old-German carols and motets, many of Stile Antico them still familiar today. Amongst the highlights are Eccard’s infectiously joyful Übers Gebirg Maria geht and Praetorius’s double-choir Magnificat, which includes the carols ‘In dulci jubilo’ and ‘Josef lieber, Josef mein’. Based on the same ‘Josef lieber’ melody, and neatly joining the two strands of the programme, is ‘Resonet in laudibus’ by the Flemish-born, German-resident master Orlande de Lassus. £35 £30 £25 £18

Early Music and Baroque Series

18

Gala Concert Celebrating 21Years of Wigmore Hall Learning Saturday 24 January 2015 7.30 pm

Nicola Benedetti

violin

Alexei Grynyuk

piano

Join us to celebrate the remarkable success of Wigmore Hall’s internationally acclaimed education and community programme. With over 400 workshops and events each season, at the Hall as well as in schools, hospitals, care homes and community settings, Wigmore Hall Learning reaches a strikingly diverse community, from the babies who attend our For Crying Out Loud! concerts to people living with dementia, whose lives are touched by the pioneering Music for Life programme.

In the decade since winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, Nicola Benedetti has matured into one of the finest British artists of her generation, in demand worldwide as concerto soloist and respected as a passionate advocate for music education. £50 £35 £25 £15

Supported by The Hargreaves and Ball Trust

Proceeds from this recital will help support Wigmore Hall Learning’s far-reaching work. ‘ It was an overwhelmingly positive experience witnessing the transformation in the participants and seeing their beautiful and alive personalities behind the dementia.’

Music for Life Trainee Musician ‘One of the most wonderful things to see is the Hall full of children from our schools having the best time and singing the house down! ’ Photo by Simon Fower/Universal

Catty Alberman, Primary Music Coordinator, Haringey Music Service

How to get to Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP Box Office Tel: 020 7935 2141 John Gilhooly OBE Director The Wigmore Hall Trust, Registered Charity No. 1024838 Wigmore Hall is situated in the heart of London’s West End and is easily accessible by public transport or car.

Tubes Bond Street (Central & Jubilee lines) and Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central & Victoria lines) tube stations are both close by.

Buses A large number of buses travel along Oxford Street, which is approximately five minutes walk from Wigmore Hall.

Car Parking There is limited street parking after 6.30 pm (Mon – Sat) and all day Sunday in permitted areas.

Alternatively there are public car parks in Cavendish Square, Harley Street and Marylebone Lane, all of which are less than a five minute walk from the Hall.

Wigmore Hall par ticipates in the Theatreland Parking Scheme which gives all Wigmore concert-goers 50% discount on their parking. For full details please contact the Box Office or visit our website.

Restaurant and Bars Full information on pre-concert and interval refreshments can be found at www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/restaurant or by calling 020 7258 8292. Table reservations can be made by calling the Box Office on 020 7935 2141.

OXFORD CIRCUS

Benjamin Ealovega

BOND STREET