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Academy of Ancient Music Richard Egarr
director & harpsichord
Nicola Benedetti violin
Nicola Benedetti
music by Vivaldi and Telemann
Barbican Hall, London
VIVALDI
TELEMANN
Concerto for Harpsichord RV780
Concerto for Four Violins in C major TWV40:203
TELEMANN
VIVALDI
Concerto for Violin in D major RV208 "Il Grosso Mogul" (c.1716)
Concerto for Violin in A major TWV51:A4 "The Frogs" 20-minute interval
Alster Overture-Suite TWV55:F11 (1725)
Concerto in F major RV569 (1716)
Nicola Benedetti
Thursday 31 May 2018, 7.30pm
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Welcome A very warm welcome to a special Barbican concert featuring Nicola Benedetti alongside the Academy of Ancient Music with our music director, Richard Egarr. Tonight is the culmination of a week with Nicola, where together we’ve made our debut at Saffron Hall and performed at Dorchester Abbey as the Chiltern Arts Festival’s Orchestra-in-Residence; we hope you enjoy this concert as much as we have enjoyed putting it together. It’s a real pleasure to welcome Nicola to AAM. I’m delighted to announce that we have appointed Sandy Burnett as AAM’s 2018-19 Hogwood Fellow, successor to Robert Levin. Sandy will be well-known to many as a broadcaster (BBC Radio 3), lecturer and author, and with AAM he has frequently written programme notes and hosted pre-concert talks. Over the next season Sandy will explore ways of introducing some of the finest music ever written, and the historically informed performance practice AAM is known for, to a wider audience. Earlier in May we presented four lunchtime concerts at LSO St. Lukes, which you can catch again on BBC Radio 3 19th22nd June, and two tremendously compelling performances of Bach’s monumental B minor Mass alongside the choir
Tenebrae in Bury St. Edmunds and Chipping Campden. I urge you to experience it yourself: we perform this again as part of our residency with Music at Oxford next February. I hope that many of you will have been able to secure tickets to hear AAM at The Grange Festival in Hampshire where we perform Handel’s Agrippina (June and July), and I look forward to seeing some of you at the Edinburgh Festival, where we open the Queen’s Hall series with Nicola Benedetti (4th August) in this very programme. Tonight’s concert concludes our 2017-18 season at the Barbican, and I hope we will see you again in this hall at the start of October for the culmination of our three-year-long Purcell opera series with his perfectly formed Dido and Aeneas. Directed by Tom Guthrie, we are thrilled to have Christine Rice as Dido alongside Rowan Pierce as Belinda, and Ashley Riches as Aeneas, in what promises to be a very exciting opening to the 2018-19 season.
Alexander Van Ingen Chief Executive Academy of Ancient Music
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Surveying the Past Robert Levin, inaugural Hogwood Fellow, places tonight's music in context Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), the “red priest” (so-called because of his red hair) wrote most of his concertos for the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, an orphanage whose scaffeta – a exterior window akin to a night depository at a bank – allowed for infants to be left to the charge of the convent. The Ospedale became famous for the quality of the musicians trained there, mostly (but not exclusively) girls, and not exclusively orphans. Vivaldi’s association with the Ospedale began in 1703 and extended, with a break to 1740. Vivaldi wrote concertos for a wide range of soloists, and unsurprisingly, violin concertos dominate in his output. Vivaldi’s use of the ritornello principle, in which the orchestra initially sets the tone for the work and the scene for the soloist(s) cast a shadow far and wide, and his concertos were disseminated widely. J.S. Bach’s introduction to Vivaldi’s concertos during his time at Weimar was a turning point in his compositional development. He transcribed numerous Vivaldi concertos for harpsichord and for organ, including the “Il Grosso Mogul” Concerto heard tonight into his Organ Concerto No.3 BWV594. Vivaldi’s treatment of the violin is flamboyant, relying on frequent use of open strings and
bariolage (alternating fingered and open string pitches and otherwise moving from string to string). Also, he was frequently partial to brief slow movements, this one lasting a mere 11 bars. The F Major Concerto RV569 calls for an orchestra that, besides strings, includes pairs of horns and oboes, and bassoon. These lend a good deal of colour to the texture and are given solo turns here and there, complementing the solo violin’s role as leader of the pack in both of the outer movements. The second movement, in which the wind are tacit, once again demonstrates Vivaldi’s penchant for brevity for his middle movements, lasting 20 bars. The Harpsichord Concerto in A major derives from the Concerto for Violin and Cello in the same key, RV546. Vivaldi wrote numerous concertos for two violins; here the choice of cello rather than a second violin creates a greater balance across the registeral spectrum and makes for the possibility of an arrangement for solo harpsichord – a task with its challenges, as the upper register of the violin exceeds the range of the harpsichord. Richard Egarr has revealed that
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he has undertaken the version heard this evening – how exciting this promises to be! Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) may be the most prolific composer of all time. His output has been estimated from between 2,000 and 3,000 works, many of which have been lost. Telemann’s natural facility for composition and his ability to absorb a wide range of styles, including Polish, French, and Italian, made of him a cosmopolitan figure, whose music has a natural deftness, elegance and flair, with an ear occasionally oriented toward the exotic. Despite the evident speed with which he worked, Telemann was far more than a producer of generic music. Two of the three concertos presented in this evening’s concert are depictive. The Alster Overture is a delectable piece of programme music, in which rustic elements provide colouristic entertainment. The A major Violin Concerto, "The Frogs" gets its name from the evocation of croaking frogs through the soloist’s use of bariolage. The croaking spreads to other members of the orchestra in untrammeled exuberance. Telemann’s innovative spirit is manifested not only by his sonic vocabulary, but at times in his choice of scoring.
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The Concerto for Four Violins is a brilliant synthesis of solo virtuosity and the evocation of an orchestra. Commencing in a learned style in which the four soloists enter in imitation, the motoric vigor of the second movement shows that Telemann, like Bach, had learned a good deal from what Vivaldi had perfected. The celebratory joy of these works is certain to leave listeners in over-brimming high spirits from start to finish!
AAM Quick Pick Each concert Lars Henriksson picks out one key thing to listen out for. Programme music was very popular during the baroque era and Vivaldi and Telemann both absolute masters of descriptive music. Telemann’s ”The Frogs” Concerto is an inspired example. About half a minute into the opening, as the soloist enters, we’re introduced to the noisy amphibian. Anyone who has heard a chorus of tree frogs on a mellow May evening will be mightily impressed.
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Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto in D major RV208 “Il Grosso Mogul" (c.1716) Allegro / Grave / Allegro
Although Vivaldi’s 500 instrumental concertos include Although the Concerto in D major RV208 ‘Grosso Mogul’ some 37 for bassoon, four for the mandolin and at least was written during Vivaldi’s time at the Ospedale, the one for the "flautino" or flageolet (a member of the flute origins of its title ("the great Mogul") remain unclear and family, similar to a recorder), nearly half of it is unlikely that Vivaldi gave it its name. the total are for solo violin. The violin was It is a striking concerto in many respects, Vivaldi’s own instrument but it was also not least because Vivaldi composed Vivaldi commands the one taught to the largest number of his own cadenzas for the first and third his soloist to “speak" girls at the Ospedale della Pietô in Venice, movements, when it was far more instead of sing, in an where he worked from 1703 to 1740. common for performers to improvise these innovative gesture that themselves. The Concerto also includes a The Ospedale acted as an orphanage to provide abandoned or unwanted children would have shocked his highly unusual slow movement consisting with shelter and education, giving the of a series of recitative-like passages for the audiences … boys a trade to leave with at 15 and solo violin, which leaps and dances above providing musical training for the girls, sustained continuo chords. Here, Vivaldi the most talented of whom stayed on commands his soloist to "speak" instead of to become part of the orphanage’s renowned choir and sing, in an innovative gesture that would have shocked his orchestra. Most of the concertos Vivaldi wrote during his audiences as much as the dazzling outer movements. time at the Ospedale were written expressly for his pupils, so the virtuosic nature of the music gives us some idea of the high standards these outstanding young musicians attained under his tuition.
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Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto for harpsichord RV780 Allegro / Andante / Allegro
Given that Vivaldi’s catalogue of concertos is extensive and, in its instrumentation, almost exhaustive, it comes as a surprise that he composed only one concerto for solo harpsichord. Keyboards feature in several other concertos for multiple instruments, and there are plenty of arrangements (including those made by Bach) where the harpsichord replaces a solo violin, but as far as we know the Concerto in A major, RV780 is the only surviving score in which Vivaldi intended the harpsichord as the sole soloist. That said, the manuscript shows that even this work began life as a work for violin and cello (RV546) and that Vivaldi had a change of heart some time later, adding the note "o Cembalo" ("or harpsichord") on the title page. Did he intend for the harpsichord to replace the violin, cello or both? It is impossible to know for sure, but it has enjoyed significant popularity in this guise, partly because it occupies a unique place in Vivaldi’s output. With its dramatic octaves and unison between soloist and strings, the concerto makes a grand entrance, the fanfare-like principal theme leading to a stretch of
sparkling passagework for the soloist. Performed on the harpsichord it glitters so brightly that it is hard to imagine the solo line played by anything else. A slim Andante follows, the accompaniment echoing the octave drops of the opening movement, before a spirited Allegro brings the concerto to a close, a triple time dances that comes close to tipping over into a full-hearted gigue.
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Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Violin Concerto in A major TWV51:A4 “The Frogs" Allegro / Adagio / Minuet – Double
If Vivaldi’s violin concerti are characterised by their verve and flamboyance, then Telemann’s belong to a rather more relaxed, humorous tradition. Long before Haydn composed the "Farewell" Symphony, in which the players famously leave one by one, or "Il Distratto", in which the violins retune midway through the finale, Telemann was exploring instrumental music as a vehicle for surprise and delight. Telemann’s sense of humour is particularly evident in his orchestral suites – like the "Alster" Overture – where programmatic ideas often give shape to what, in the hands of other composers, might have been little more than a sequence of dances. But among his violin concertos, too, are works which set Telemann apart from his contemporaries, both in their structural daring unassailable wit.
tree frog) that gives the Concerto its name. And as the rest of the strings chorus along in unison, Telemann happily continues his quirky non-theme long beyond our expectations, offering few virtuosic fireworks in this rather minimalist opening movement. The Adagio that follows conforms more closely to expectations, offering a sinuous dialogue between the soloist and upper strings, but even here the otherwise serene accompaniment repeatedly comes close to stalling, the melodic line breaking with a stuttered warble as the frog chirrups away into the moonlit night. By contrast, the finale abandons all programmatic pretences, instead concluding with a rather demure Minuet and spirited Double, the ungainly croaking of the opening movement now long forgotten.
The Violin Concerto in A major is in many ways an anti-concerto: in place of a showy entrance Telemann introduces the soloist with an understated "croak". This bizarre, rustic repetition on the A string is Telemann’s interpretation of the call of the "relinge" (a German
20-minute interval
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Explore If you enjoy tonight’s concert, you may be interested in the following recordings:
Nicola Benedetti: Italia
Scottish Chamber Orchestra / Christian Curnyn [Decca, 4764342]
Telemann Orchestral Suites
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [Harmonia Mundi, HMG508396/97]
Telemann Complete Violin Concertos, Vol.2
L’Orfeo Barockorchester / Elizabeth Wallfisch [CPO, 7770892]
Telemann String Concertos
Musica Antiqua Köln / Reinhard Goebel [DG Archiv, E4714911]
Vivaldi Concertos
Les Violins du Roy / Mathieu Lussier [ATMA, ACD22602]
8 Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Alster Overture-Suite (1725) 1. Ouverture 2. Die canonierende Pallas (Pallas in canon) 3. Das Alster-Echo (Alster Echo) 4. Die Hamburgischen Glockenspiele (Hamburg Carillons) 5. Der Schwanen Gesang (Swan Song) 6. Der Alster Schaffer Dorff Music (Village music of the Alster shepherds) 7. Die concertierenden Frosche und Krahen (Concertising Frogs and Crows) 8. Der ruhende Pan (Pan at rest) 9. Der Schaffer und Nymphen eilfertiger Abzug (The hurried departure of nymphs and shepherds) Keyboard, violin, recorder, oboe, flute, chalumeau (a single-reed folk instrument, the predecessor of the clarinet), viola da gamba, double bass, bass trombone … Georg Philipp Telemann learned to play them all. "Exact knowledge of the instruments is indispensable to composition", he wrote in 1718. By the time he died aged 86, outliving his close contemporaries Bach and Handel by well over a decade, he had amassed an enormous
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collection of works in almost every conceivable genre. Telemann was one to spot a trend but he was also one to set them too. Having absorbed from Vivaldi (without ever setting foot in Italy) the vigour and vitality of Italian 18th-century fashions, Telemann brought these influences to bear on his own distinctive style, deftly inventing new forms and genres as he did so. So it is with the "Alster" Overture – or Suite – a work that sits somewhere between French overture and dance suite, a genre that Telemann made his own with more than 600 to his name. The Alster, from which the suite takes its title, is a river in Northern Germany that joins the Elbe in Hamburg, where Telemann spent more than 40 years as director of the city’s five main churches. In what is a programmatic homage to its banks and surrounding landscape, Telemann offers up a series of picturesque scenes in vivid orchestral colours, veering between grandeur and humour with remarkable ease. From the serene "swan song" of the fifth movement, in which the oboes preen gracefully above a steadily
moving bassline, to the extraordinary chromaticism of the "concertising frogs and crows" in the ninth, the winds chirruping raucously with delight, there is no shortage of musical illustration here. But there is also plenty of sumptuous orchestral writing too, as in the magisterial splendour of the Overture and the lustrous sheen of the penultimate movement, where muted strings depict the god Pan at rest, content with his pastoral handiwork.
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Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Concerto for Four Violins in C major TWV40:203 Grave / Allegro / Largo e staccato / Allegro
Telemann was no stranger to mixing genres and surprising his listeners by inventing new ones, and among his 20 or so violin concertos for which scores have survived are a group of four concertos for four violins that swerve away from 18th-century norms. These "chamber concertos" each have multiple soloists – which is nothing new in itself – but the soloists themselves are also the orchestra, with no supporting continuo. Having broken with tradition texturally, Telemann also goes against the grain structurally, abandoning the then more normative three-movement format in favour of a four-movement concerto – a design inherited from the sonata da chiesa ("church sonata"). Although modest in length, each lasting barely eight minutes in performance, these four concertos are packed with as much virtuosity and intricacy as one might expect from a fully scored orchestral concerto. Like all four of Telemann’s concertos for four violins, the Concerto in C major opens with a slow introduction. Here, the four soloists wind around one another through chains of suspensions, their passing dissonances masking the
brightness of C major and providing the Concerto with a surprisingly sombre start. Hints of C minor in the closing bars are quickly ushered away and the following Allegro at last delivers the joie de vivre that the opening movement withheld. A curious Largo follows – its staccato markings cutting against the lyrical grain of the melodic line – and this leads on to a shimmering final movement which, at little more than 90 seconds in length, is by far the shortest of four. Brevity, however, does not hamper Telemann’s facility for orchestration: even with just four violins, each leapfroging the others in a truly collegiate fashion, Telemann brings all the colour of the orchestra to this intimate chamber concerto.
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Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto in F major RV569 (c.1716) Allegro / Grave / Allegro
While the vast majority of Vivaldi’s violin concertos were composed for and performed by members of the Ospedale in Venice, some of his most iconic works were written for musicians that he had never even met. Vivaldi’s reputation extended far beyond the confines of Venice and, in 1716, the violinist Johann Georg Pisendel paid Vivaldi a visit at the behest of his employer, Frederick Augustus, then Crown Prince of Saxony and the future King of Poland. Augustus was a man with expensive tastes and an enthusiasm for Italian music, whose aim was to expand the court orchestra in Dresden to match the opulence of Louis XIV’s Les Vingt-Quatre Violons in Paris. In sending Pisendel to Venice to meet with and learn from Vivaldi, Augustus hoped to bring back music to match the virtuosity of the esteemed cast of musicians he had assembled at his court. Vivaldi and Pisendel struck up a firm friendship and over the years that followed, Vivaldi sent new works to Dresden on a regular basis, many of which appear to have been composed expressly for the Dresden court orchestra.
The handful of concertos he composed "con multi strumenti", in particular, appear to have been composed for the Dresden court, making the most of its legendary cast of wind players. The Concerto in F major RV569, like all the other "multi strumenti" concertos, is still primarily a work for solo violin, but in place of the traditional all-string ripieno Vivaldi gives us added oboes, horns and bassoon, which add colour to – and just occasionally steal the limelight from – the solo writing. In both the opening and closing Allegros, Vivaldi delights in these added textures, luxuriating in the quivering horn fanfares and intricate textural interplay that the expanded instrumentation allows. But in the expansive slow movement, Vivaldi allows the solo violin to take centre stage, the additional winds simply adding weight to the exquisite melodic writing, which appears to follow Bach’s lead in its arcing contours and poignant chromatic inflections. Programme notes © Jo Kirkbride
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Richard Egarr director and harpsichord
© Patrick Allen
2017. He guests with major symphonic orchestras such as London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw and Philadelphia orchestras, and regularly gives solo harpsichord recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall and elsewhere.
Richard Egarr brings a joyful sense of adventure and a keen, enquiring mind to all his music-making, whether conducting, directing from the keyboard, giving recitals, playing chamber music or, indeed, talking about music at every opportunity. Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music since 2006, Egarr was recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague from 2019, and was Associate Artist of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra 2011-
Richard’s diverse musicianship is reflected in his projects for 2017-18 that include Purcell’s King Arthur (semi-staged) at the Barbican with AAM, St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s “Eroica” with both the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Antwerp Symphony. He makes several trips to the US, returning to the Dallas Symphony, and tours the East Coast with cellist Steven Isserlis. Early in his tenure with AAM, Richard established the Choir of AAM. Operas and oratorios lie at the heart of his repertoire: he made his Glyndebourne debut in 2007 conducting a staged version of St Matthew Passion and staged productions at the Netherlands Opera
Academy including Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Le nozze di Figaro. Richard has recorded many discs for Harmonia Mundi, notably Handel, Mozart and Louis Couperin, with JS Bach’s Partitas released in February 2017. His long list of recordings with AAM includes seven Handel discs (2007 Gramophone Award, 2009 MIDEM and Edison awards), and JS Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions on AAM’s own label, AAM Records. He has a long-standing teaching position at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and is Visiting Professor at the Juilliard School. Richard trained as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge. His studies with Gustav and Marie Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical performance.
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Nicola Benedetti
© Simon Fowler
violin
Nicola Benedetti is one of the most sought-after violinists and most influential classical artists of today. With concerto performances at the heart of her career, Nicola is in much demand with major orchestras and conductors across the globe. In summer 2017, Nicola made her debut at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival with Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. She returned to the BBC Proms
with Thomas Søndergård and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and to the Edinburgh International Festival with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. The 2017-18 season includes Nicola’s debut with the Orchestre de Paris and collaborations with the Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin, Philadelphia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony and Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She also undertook a UK and North American tour with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. With her regular duo partner, pianist Alexei Grynyuk, she frequently performs recitals joined by cellist Leonard Elschenbroich for trio performances. Spring 2018 saw the trio return to North America with performances in Boston and Vancouver. Winner of Best Female Artist at both 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards,
Nicola records exclusively for Decca (Universal Music). Her most recent recording Shostakovich and Glazunov Violin Concertos has been met with critical acclaim. Past recordings include Szymanowski Concerto (London Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding) and Homecoming; A Scottish Fantasy, which entered the Top 20 of the Official UK Albums Chart. Nicola was awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2017, appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE, 2013) and has received eight honorary degrees. In 2010, she became Sistema Scotland’s "Big Sister" for the "Big Noise" project, an initiative partnered with Venezuela’s El Sistema. Nicola plays the Gariel Stradivarius (1717), courtesy of Jonathan Moulds.
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Meet the player: Bojan Čičić Leader
© Nick Rutter
else. In 2001 I traveled to Vienna to hear the orchestra perform a Mozart programme, directed by Christopher Hogwood. At the time I was trying to decide whether or not I should leave my work with the Zagreb Soloists chamber ensemble and further my studies in baroque music somewhere else in Europe, and that concert in Vienna gave me the answer I needed.
How does it feel to be appointed Leader of AAM? I'm completely delighted to have been chosen for this role, and very honoured, not least because the orchestra has played a very significant part in my musical education. When I was much younger, and studying in Croatia, my curiosity about the early music movement was fuelled by AAM recordings more than anything
run out of the house while that was playing, wait a few minutes, then run back in when it was safe.
Who are the people that influenced you musically, as a child?
I withdrew into listening to classical music as a child; I was growing up in a country where civil war was breaking out, and the world was scary and confusing. I was especially fond What is your first musical memory? of 19th-century Russian music, and I am the youngest in my family and my then discovered Shostakovich and brother, who is ten years older, was Stravinsky, who gave me a window instrumental in forming my love of into the way human nature can be British music from the '70s. One of my both sublime and deadly. earliest memories is putting on an LP How did you come to play baroque of Pink Floyd's album Wish You Were violin? Here at some point in the early '80s, when I was three or four. I loved the My teacher at the Zagreb Academy of opening track, but the second song, Music invited Catherine Mackintosh, "Welcome To The Machine", terrified the former leader of AAM, to give me with its industrial noises, so I'd a masterclass on Bach's sonatas
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and partitas for violin to interested students. I soon followed her suggestion to apply for the European Union Baroque Orchestra's audition the following year, which led to my desire to study baroque music, first in Paris and then London. Slowly I began to see myself as someone who would have a career in early music. What I loved the most about Historical Performance were its musicians, who were passionate about researching the different periods of music they performed rather than adhering to the one-style-fits-all approach that was my only experience of music-making up to that point.
What is your favourite AAM moment? It happened on tour: we were in Los Angeles a few years back and I went to see the filming sites from Bladerunner (the 1982 film). It was
amazing to see how normal and clean the Bradbury Building in downtown LA looked compared to how it appears in the film, where the set is designed to show a futuristic LA decayed by acid rain. Musically speaking, working with my two absolute heroes Jordi Savall and Reinhard Goebel in a space of one year with this orchestra would be my highlights, as their recordings were with me since the start of my early music exploration.
There must be a funny story or two from your years playing at AAM... I think I share a sense of humour with our artistic director, Richard Egarr – we often compete for the title of lowest common denominator. I bought him a plastic Minion toy from the film Despicable Me and a fart gun – that managed to create quite a lot of problems for him the next day in
airport security and was confiscated. I wish I'd been there to see him try to explain what it was for to the security officer …
What other work do you do outside of AAM? I lead the ensemble Florilegium, and lead and direct my own group, the Illyria Consort.
What are you most looking forward to about tonight's concert? Telemann's humorousness in "The Frog" Violin Concerto. The opening movement will make you chuckle and no mistake. It puts into grave doubt that old saying that the German sense of humour is too serious to be shared outside Germany!
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Academy of Ancient Music Violin I Bojan Čičić Persephone Gibbs Iona Davies William Thorp Abel Balazs Violin II Madeleine Easton Rebecca Livermore Pierre Joubert Joanna Lawrence Viola John Crockatt Marina Ascherson
Cello Joseph Crouch Henrik Persson Double Bass Kate Aldridge Oboe Mark Baigent Lars Henriksson Bassoon Inga Maria Klaucke
Horn Daniele Bolzonella David Bentley Richard Lewis Clare Penkey
Sponsored Chairs
Theorbo Alex McCartney
Sub-Principal Viola Nicholas and Judith Goodison
Keyboard Technician Malcolm Greenhalgh
Principal Viola Richard and Elizabeth de Friend
Principal Cello Dr Christopher and Lady Juliet Tadgell Sub-Principal Cello The Newby Trust Principal Theorbo John and Joyce Reeve
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Our Team Music Director Richard Egarr Hogwood Fellow Robert Levin
Head of Concerts and Planning ChloĂŤ Wennersten
Chief Executive Alexander Van Ingen
Projects and Concerts Co-ordinator Alice Pusey
General Manager Anthony Brice
Librarian Hannah Godfrey
Development Manager Ellen Parkes
Development Consultant John Bickley
Fundraising Assistant Leonore Hibou
Marketing Consultants Bethan Sheppard ChloĂŤ Priest Griffiths
Finance Manager Elaine Hendrie
Board of Trustees
Development Board
Hugh Burkitt Matthew Ferrey Philip Jones (chair) Graham Nicholson John Reeve Terence Sinclair Madeleine Tattersall Janet Unwin
Elise Badoy Dauby Delia Broke Hugh Burkitt Elizabeth de Friend (chair) Andrew Gairdner MBE Peter Hullah Philip Jones Agneta Lansing Roger Mayhew Craig Nakan John Reeve
Honorary President: Christopher Purvis CBE
Programme Editor Sarah Breeden
Council Chris Rocker Terence Sinclair Madeleine Tattersall Janet Unwin
Richard Bridges Kate Donaghy Jonathan Freeman-Attwood Carol Grigor Tim Harvey-Samuel Nick Heath Lars Henriksson Christopher Lawrence Sir Konrad Schiemann Rachel Stroud Dr Christopher Tadgell The Lady Juliet Tadgell
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Who we are and what we do Music
The Academy of Ancient Music is an orchestra with a worldwide reputation for excellence in baroque and classical music. AAM takes inspiration directly from the music’s composers, using historically informed techniques, period-specific instruments and original sources to bring music to life in committed, vibrant performances fit for the 21st century. Founded by Christopher Hogwood in 1973, AAM remains at the forefront of the worldwide early music scene over four decades on, under the leadership of Richard Egarr, Music Director since 2006.
Recordings
The Academy of Ancient Music has always been a pioneer. Established to make the first British recordings of orchestral works using instruments from the baroque and classical period it
went on to make more than 300 more, many of which are still considered definitive performances. (Among its countless accolades for recording are Brit, Gramophone and Edison awards.) Today, AAM has established its own record label, AAM Records, and is proud to be the most listened-to orchestra of its kind online.
Education
AAM’s education and outreach programme, AAMplify, nurtures the next generation of audiences and musicians. With this expanding programme, working from pre-school through tertiary education and beyond, AAM ensures its work reaches the widest possible audience and inspires people of all ages, backgrounds and cultural traditions.
2018-19 Season
Next season AAM collaborates with Christine Rice, Michael Collins, Nicolas Altstaedt, Lucie Horsch, Tenebrae, the BBC Singers, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and The Grange Festival. Programmes include largescale vocal masterpieces including Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Handel’s Israel in Egypt, and concert performances of operas including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. AAM resides in the historic city of Cambridge and is Orchestra-inResidence at the city’s university. Its London home is the Barbican Centre, where it is Associate Ensemble, and it is Orchestra-in-Residence at The Grange Festival, Chiltern Arts Festival and Music at Oxford. Visit aam.co.uk to find out more.
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Thank you The AAM is indebted to the following trusts, companies and individuals for their support of the orchestra’s work.
TRUSTS & FOUNDATIONS The Backstage Trust Constance Travis Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Garfield Weston Foundation Geoffrey C Hughes Charitable Trust The Goldsmiths' Company Charity John Armitage Charitable Trust Newby Trust Ltd The Nicholas John Trust The Polonsky Foundation and other anonymous trusts and foundations
AAM SOCIETY The Hogwood Circle Matthew Ferrey Mark and Liza Loveday Christopher and Phillida Purvis * Mrs Julia Rosier Terence and Sian Sinclair Dr Christopher and Lady Juliet Tadgell
Principal Patrons Christopher Hogwood CBE, in memoriam * John and Madeleine Tattersall and other anonymous Principal Patrons
Mr Andrew Williams Mrs S Wilson Stephens Christopher Stewart Charles Woodward and other anonymous Principal B enefactors
Patrons Richard and Elena Bridges Lady Alexander of Weedon Clive Butler Alan J Clark Richard and Elizabeth de Friend Mr John Everett Malcolm and Rosalind Gammie Nicholas and Judith Goodison * Graham and Amanda Hutton Philip Jones David and Linda Lakhdhir Roger Mayhew Graham Nicholson John and Joyce Reeve Chris and Ali Rocker Mr Anthony Travis Mark West and other anonymous Patrons
Benefactors Dr Aileen Adams CBE Cumming Anderson Elise Badoy Dauby Professor John and Professor Hilary Birks Mrs Stephanie Bourne Mr and Mrs John Brisby * Adam and Sara Broadbent Hugh Burkitt Marshall Field Michael and Michele Foot CBE Andrew and Wendy Gairdner The Hon William Gibson Ralph Hullah, in memoriam The Hon Mr and Mrs Philip Havers Heather Jarman Julian and Susie Knott Mr Peter and Mrs Frances Meyer Herschel and Peggy Post Chris and Valery Rees The Hon Zita Savile Dr Robert Sansom Ms Sarah Shepley and Mr Kevin Feeney Reg and Patricia Singh Mr Michael Smith Peter Thomson and Alison Carnwath Mrs Janet Unwin Peter and Margaret Wynn Patricia C. Yeiser, USA and other anonymous B enefactors
Principal Benefactors Carol Atack and Alex van Someren John and Gilly Baker Mrs D Broke Jo and Keren Butler Kate Donaghy The Hon Simon Eccles Dr Julia Ellis Ed Hossack and Ben Harvey Mark and Sophie Lewisohn Mrs Anne Machin Mr and Mrs C Norton Mark and Elizabeth Ridley Sir Konrad and Lady Schiemann * Stephen Thomas Julie and Richard Webb
Donors Angela and Roderick Ashby-Johnson Marianne Aston Elisabeth and Bob Boas * Charles Bryant David and Elizabeth Challen Lord and Lady Dilhorne Derek and Mary Draper Nikki Edge Christopher and Jill Evans Tina Fordham Mrs Marilyn Minchom Goldberg Miles and Anna Hember Mrs Helen Higgs Mr and Mrs Charles Jackson Alison Knocker Mr and Mrs Evan Llewellyn Richard and Romilly Lyttelton Richard Meade Annie Middlemiss Graham and Sylvia Orpwood Nick and Margaret Parker Jane Rabagliati and Raymond Cross Mr and Mrs Charles Rawlinson Michael and Giustina Ryan Dr Alison Salt Mr Peter Shawdon Professor Tony Watts Tony and Jackie Yates-Watson and other anonymous D onors * denotes founder member
Introducing our 2018-19 Barbican season: Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas (semi-staged) Tuesday 2 October 2018, Barbican Hall
BBC Singers: Rameau & Lully
Friday 19 October 2018, Milton Court Concert Hall
Michael Collins plays Mozart
Thursday 29 November 2018, Milton Court Concert Hall
Lucie Horsch & Richard Egarr
Sunday 24 February 2019, Milton Court Concert Hall
Nicolas Altstaedt plays Haydn
Thursday 28 March 2019, Milton Court Concert Hall
Handel’s Brockes-Passion
Good Friday 19 April 2019, Barbican Hall
Israel in Egypt
Friday 10 May 2019, Milton Court Concert Hall
Mozart’s nozze di Figaro (concert performance) Thursday 4 July 2019, Barbican Hall
Tickets £10-60 plus booking fee* £5 for AAMplify members barbican.org.uk 020 7638 8891 *£3 online, £4 by telephone, no fee when booked in person