AAM 2022-23 Season Brochure | London

We are AAM

Academy of Ancient Music is an orchestra with a worldwide reputation for excellence in baroque and classical music. Using historically-informed techniques, period-specific instruments and original sources, we bring music vividly to life in committed, vibrant performances.

Established nearly 50 years ago to make the first British recordings of orchestral works using original instruments, AAM has released more than 300 albums to date, collecting countless accolades including Classic BRIT, Gramophone and Edison awards. We now record on our own-label AAM Records, and are proud to be the most listened-to period-instrument orchestra online, with over one million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Beyond the concert hall, we engage the next generation of periodinstrumentalists with side-by-side sessions, masterclasses and other opportunities designed to bridge the gap from the conservatoire to the profession, safeguarding the future of historical performance.

AAM is Associate Ensemble at the Barbican Centre, London and the Teatro San Cassiano, Venice, and Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge, Milton Abbey International Summer Music Festival and The Apex, Bury St Edmunds.

Visit us at aam.co.uk to find out more

Haydn's The Seasons

VOICE

Les Élémens

Messiah

The Musical Offering

Hail! Bright Cecilia

musicali

and

Trionfo del Tempo

of fancy

Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 ‘Pastoral’

from John McMunnWelcome

Chief Executive

’Tis Nature’s Voice; thro’ all the moving Wood Of Creatures understood:

The Universal Tongue to none

Of all her num'rous Race unknown!

So writes the poet Nicholas Brady (adapting Dryden’s Song for St Cecilia’s Day) in the libretto to Purcell’s great ode Hail! Bright Cecilia. A bold claim indeed, as while it has become a cliché to refer to music as ‘the universal language’, few have gone quite so far in asserting its extension beyond humanity to the natural world.

Such boldness feels apposite however in the current moment, and so we’ve chosen to dedicate our 2022/23 season to exploring the idea of nature, the natural world and our own place within it. Inevitably this takes in chattering songbirds, croaking toads, raucous storms and swirling tides. But it also considers the nature of music itself, the environments humans have created for themselves and indeed the very meaning of life.

High-mindedness aside, the root of it all is simple: music of the very highest quality – by Handel, Vivaldi, JS Bach, Purcell and others –performed to the very highest standard by our acclaimed musicians. To paraphrase Brady: what else could so charm the sense or captivate the mind?

from

Laurence Cummings

Music Director

It’s my great pleasure to welcome you to Academy of Ancient Music’s 2022/23 season, ’Tis nature’s voice: a year-long exploration of the natural world and our place within it.

Following The Creation last year, we begin with another of Haydn’s masterpieces, once again augmented by astonishing immersive projections in the Barbican Hall. We then move across the road into the Milton Court Concert Hall for Rebel’s Les Élémens and its famous discordant Chaos chord, soon resolving into Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto in D major ‘The Goldfinch’.

The season further unfolds with a seasonal Messiah, followed by an exploration of JS Bach’s The Musical Offering, Purcell’s exuberant Hail! Bright Cecilia, an evening of ‘musical jokes’ and Handel’s great (and too infrequently performed) earlier oratorio, Il Trionfo del Tempo. Rounding off the season is Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony No.6, alongside Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. If you've not heard these vibrant colours come alive on period instruments, this is your opporunity to experience these two classical titans in the hands of AAM.

Along the way, we’re privileged to work with some of the world’s great performers including AAM’s leader Bojan Čičić, singers Sophie Junker and Reginald Mobley, and our very own principal musicians who take solo roles across the season.

Truly all of nature is here and I hope you will share in it with us. We look forward to welcoming you soon!

HAYDN THE SEASONS with immersive projections

Haydn The Seasons

Rachel Nicholls soprano

Benjamin Hulett tenor Jonathan Lemalu bass-baritone

Academy of Ancient Music choir & orchestra

Laurence Cummings  conductor

Nina Dunn Studio video & projection design

Co-produced by the Barbican and Academy of Ancient Music

Haydn’s life-affirming oratorio of nature, humanity and the eternal cycle of the year will be conducted by Academy of Ancient Music Director Laurence Cummings and brought vividly to life with striking new visuals.

‘How refreshing to the senses! How reviving to the heart!’ Haydn’s The Seasons embraces the whole of nature, brimming with all the generosity, humour and uninhibited humanity that only he could supply. There are storms and sunrises, drunken farmers and a ploughman whistling an oddly familiar tune: in short, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a sequel to The Creation.

And if you heard Laurence Cummings conduct The Creation last year, you’ll have some idea of what to expect – including specially-commissioned digital projections from Nina Dunn Studio, designed to pull the imagination into Haydn’s creative world. Add a world-beating team of soloists, plus some of the best tunes Haydn ever wrote, and this should be a magnificent launch for ‘Tis nature’s voice: AAM’s season-long musical exploration of the environment and our place within it.

• Tuesday 4 October 2022, 7.30pm | Barbican Hall, London

Tickets: £50, £40, £30, £20, £10, £5 (under 35s AAMplify) *

See page 25 for all ticketing information

*

Booking fees apply (from 1 December booking fees will increase from £3 to £4). Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events, the highest booking fee will apply. Booking fees do not currently apply to in-person bookings. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events.

LES ÉLÉMENS

Rebel Les Élémens

Telemann Violin Concerto in A major ‘The Toad’

Vivaldi Flute Concerto in D major ‘The Goldfinch’

Vivaldi Violin Concerto in E-flat major ‘The Storm at Sea’

Handel Organ Concerto in F major ‘The Cuckoo and the Nightingale’

Telemann Overture in C major ‘Ebb and Flow’

Academy of Ancient Music

Laurence Cummings director, harpsichord & organ

Cuckoos, nightingales, flood tides and a big bang, as Laurence Cummings conducts a virtuosic celebration of nature and music baroque style.

For the composers of the 18th century, nature wasn’t an optional extra: it was an everyday reality. So of course it found its way into their music too, and this delightful concert finds frogs and toads invading a concerto, wind instruments turning into songbirds (both caged and wild) and composers in Venice and Hamburg putting to sea on the tides of harmony.

In short, all of nature is here, in music that’s alternately playful, touching and elemental in its ingenuity and power. Laurence Cummings directs soloists from within Academy of Ancient Music, and begins with arguably the most astonishing natural wonder in all baroque music: the ear-tingling chaos with which Jean-Féry Rebel opens his suite Les Elémens. Music that was ahead of its time then and timelier than ever today.

•

Thursday 10 November 2022, 7.30pm | Milton Court Concert Hall, London

Tickets: £35, £25, £15, £5 (under 35s AAMplify) * See page 25 for all ticketing information

*

Booking fees apply (from 1 December booking fees will increase from £3 to £4). Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events, the highest booking fee will apply. Booking fees do not currently apply to in-person bookings. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events.

HANDEL MESSIAH

A seasonal performance of Handel’s great choral retelling of the life of Christ

Handel Messiah

Amanda Forsythe soprano Jess Dandy contralto Stuart Jackson tenor William Thomas bass

Academy of Ancient Music choir & orchestra

Laurence Cummings director & harpsichord

Laurence Cummings and Academy of Ancient Music join a truly world-class team of soloists for a seasonal performance of Handel’s Messiah. Hallelujah! Handel’s Messiah isn’t just a British Christmas fixture – it’s a landmark of European culture, performed annually at this time of year in a tradition dating back to the 18th century. With Laurence Cummings at the harpsichord, plus a cast headed by the outstanding American soprano Amanda Forsythe, it’ll come up as fresh as new paint. But then of course, you might say that the AAM has history with Messiah: back in 1980 we were the first orchestra ever to record it, complete, on period instruments. More than four decades on from that landmark achievement, it’s become normal to hear Handel’s great choral retelling of the life of Christ played in an historically-informed style. But Messiah always has something new to say – and we’re always thrilled to share it.

• Friday 16 December 2022, 7.00pm | Barbican Hall, London

Tickets: £50, £40, £30, £20, £10, £5 (under 35s AAMplify) *

See page 25 for all ticketing information

*

Booking fees apply (from 1 December booking fees will increase from £3 to £4). Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events, the highest booking fee will apply. Booking fees do not currently apply to in-person bookings. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events.

JS Bach The Musical Offering BWV1079

Academy of Ancient Music Laurence Cummings director & harpsichord

The Musical Offering: music written by a giant for a king, explored and performed by Laurence Cummings and Academy of Ancient Music.

On 7 May 1747, Johann Sebastian Bach arrived at the court of King Frederick the Great of Prussia. The greatest musician of his age locked musical wits with a monarch who saw himself as a philosopher, and Bach responded with The Musical Offering – a collection of pieces designed to put the nature of music itself to the ultimate technical, intellectual and emotional test.

Dazzlingly imagined and endlessly rich, The Musical Offering has fascinated performers and scholars for centuries. Today, we unfold its secrets and explore its remarkable story, as Laurence Cummings and Academy of Ancient Music focus all their insight, energy and verve on one of music’s sublimest puzzles. Bach probes the nature of creativity, harmony and (of course) genius, in a masterwork that never grows old.

• Friday 3 February 2023, 7.30pm | Milton Court Concert Hall, London

Tickets: £35, £25, £15, £5 (under 35s AAMplify) * See page 25 for all ticketing information

*

Booking fees apply (from 1 December booking fees will increase from £3 to £4). Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events, the highest booking fee will apply. Booking fees do not currently apply to in-person bookings. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events.

HAIL!

CECILIA

Purcell’s hymn to music – the voice of nature itself

Locke Suite from The Tempest Purcell Ode to Saint Cecilia Z328

Academy of Ancient Music Laurence Cummings conductor

‘Tis nature’s voice! Laurence Cummings and Academy of Ancient Music take Henry Purcell’s Ode to Saint Cecilia as the starting point for a musical journey through the whole of creation.

‘Hail! Bright Cecilia, Hail! fill ev'ry Heart / With Love of thee and thy Celestial Art!’ Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music, and in London, in 1692 and at the height of his power and popularity, Henry Purcell composed this exuberant, blossoming hymn to music – an art that he saw as nothing less than the voice of nature itself.

That’s just the centrepiece of a concert inspired by Purcell’s vision, a world where creativity holds the universe together and all music from a soldier’s pipe to the choirs of Heaven is part of a cosmic harmony. Purcell’s music has a special place in AAM’s story: directed by Laurence Cummings, it’ll sound livelier and more joyous than ever.

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Thursday 9 March 2023, 7.30pm | Milton Court Concert Hall, London

Tickets: £35, £25, £15, £5 (under 35s AAMplify) * See page 25 for all ticketing information

*

Booking fees apply (from 1 December booking fees will increase from £3 to £4). Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events, the highest booking fee will apply. Booking fees do not currently apply to in-person bookings. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events.

SCHERZI MUSICALI

parodies and flights of fancy

“

Whether it was light dancing rhythms or the heavy tread of a ground bass, the mood was always right.

The Times

Farina Capriccio stravagante

Westhoff Imitatione delle campane

Walther Serenata a un coro di violini

Scheidt Ludi musici

Schmelzer Balletto à 4 ‘Fechtschule’

Biber Mensa sonora, Pars VI

Schmelzer Polnische Sackpfeiffen

Biber Battaglia à 10

Academy of Ancient Music

Bojan Čičić  director & violin

Expect the unexpected, as Bojan Čičić opens the baroque era’s musical jokebook for an evening of novelties, parodies and flights of fancy by Biber, Schmelzer and their contemporaries.

Humanity is part of nature too – and never more so than when we’re transforming the world around us into music. For composers like Biber, Schmelzer, Farina and Scheidt, there was nothing that wasn’t musical: a fencing school, a busy street, a city bell-tower or the chaos and clamour of battle. You’ll hear them all in this flamboyant sonic extravaganza from six baroque masters letting their imaginations run off the leash. Expect bagpipes and bullets, pealing bells and rollicking dance tunes plus a bunch of violins that think they’re harps. They’re painted from life by Bojan Čičić and Academy of Ancient Music performers who know that the baroque era was at its best when it had a smile on its face.

• Friday 21 April 2023, 7.30pm | Milton Court Concert Hall, London

Tickets: £35, £25, £15, £5 (under 35s AAMplify) * See page 25 for all ticketing information

*

Booking fees apply (from 1 December booking fees will increase from £3 to £4). Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events, the highest booking fee will apply. Booking fees do not currently apply to in-person bookings. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events.

BojanČičić

Handel Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno HWV46a

Sophie Junker  Beauty

Anna Dennis  Pleasure Reginald Mobley  Disillusionment Nick Pritchard  Time

Academy of Ancient Music choir & orchestra

Laurence Cummings  director & harpsichord

The Triumph of Time and Disillusionment: Laurence Cummings rediscovers the eternal truths (and very real delights) of Handel’s spectacular Italian oratorio.

SophieJunker

Beauty knows that she’s fragile. Pleasure assures her that she’ll never fade but then, he says that to all the girls. Disillusionment has some uncomfortable truths to tell, and Time, of course, always wins in the end. Or does he? In Handel’s allegorical oratorio, emotions take on a startlingly human form.

Before he came to London, Handel took Italy by storm. They called him ‘the dear Saxon’, and in Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno he turns philosophy into pure theatre. Still relatively unfamiliar in the English-speaking world, it’s an absolute knockout: flamboyant, expressive and containing some of Handel’s very greatest melodies. It’s a real passion project for Laurence Cummings, who conducts four of the most charismatic vocalists on the current baroque scene.

• Thurssday 11 May 2023, 7.30pm | Milton Court Concert Hall, London

Tickets: £35, £25, £15, £5 (under 35s AAMplify) * See page 25 for all ticketing information

*

Booking fees apply (from 1 December booking fees will increase from £3 to £4). Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events, the highest booking fee will apply. Booking fees do not currently apply to in-person bookings. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events.

Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture Op.26

Academy of Ancient Music

Laurence Cummings conductor

Thunderstorms, sea-spray, nightingales and country dances. Laurence Cummings and Academy of Ancient Music join Mendelssohn and Beethoven to celebrate the beauties of nature, romantic style.

For the Romantic generation, nature was all about personal experience. Felix Mendelssohn tasted the salt on his tongue when he took a boat trip to the Hebrides. Beethoven said that his Pastoral symphony was ‘more an impression of feelings than a painting’ – but its vibrant colours have made it one of the best-loved of all Romantic symphonies.

And until you’ve heard it played on period instruments, you’ve no idea just how glorious those colours can sound. Laurence Cummings takes the Academy of Ancient Music on a rare adventure into the nineteenth century: with the teenage Mendelssohn’s exuberant concerto, and relishing all the serenity, power and (yes!) fun of Beethoven’s very personal hymn to nature.

• Friday 30 June 2023, 7.30pm | Barbican Hall, London

Tickets: £50, £40, £30, £20, £10, £5 (under 35s AAMplify) *

See page 25 for all ticketing information

*

Booking fees apply (from 1 December booking fees will increase from £3 to £4). Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events, the highest booking fee will apply. Booking fees do not currently apply to in-person bookings. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events.

Mendelssohn Concerto for violin and string orchestra

Beethoven Symphony No.6 ‘Pastoral’

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AAM in pictures

Robert Levin, Laurence Cummings and AAM recording Mozart's ‘Church Sonata' K336 with organ, August 2022. This concluded a project to record the final five albums of Mozart’s Piano Concertos, due for release in 2023 and 2024.

Bojan Čičić leads AAM in a performance at the Korkyra Baroque Festival in Croatia, August 2022. The Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary this year.