Kings Place Season 2017
“Aurora is the most bracing breath of fresh air to invigorate the British classical music scene in the past ten years.� Richard Morrison, The Times
Photo: Nick Rutter
Aurora Orchestra at Kings Place Aurora Orchestra’s residency here at Kings Place is one of the central highlights of our artistic programme. We’re very proud that the fledgling organisation which we invited to adopt our venue as its home back in 2009 has in the years since established itself as one of Europe’s leading chamber orchestras. Under Nicholas Collon’s inspirational artistic direction, Aurora has combined electrifying performances with a creative approach to programming and concert presentation that has made it one of Britain’s most sought-after ensembles. Aurora’s 2017 season of performances as our Resident Orchestra is its richest and most diverse to date. At its heart are the next five concerts in Mozart’s Piano, a five-year series staged in collaboration with Kings Place exploring the complete cycle of Mozart’s piano concertos. An unprecedented undertaking in the UK, and the most ambitious single series ever staged here at Kings Place, these performances take Mozart’s music as the starting point for an eclectic repertoire journey which this year also includes music by Beethoven, Schubert, Ligeti, Mahler, Nancarrow and Glass. Joining Aurora along the way are a host of world-class pianists including Imogen Cooper, Shai Wosner and the Labèque sisters, as well as other stellar guest artists including Sarah Connolly, Sophie Bevan and Samuel West. Aurora also opens our year-long Cello Unwrapped series with a sparkling programme featuring Alban Gerhardt, who makes his debut performance here at Kings Place. Hall Two series The Lock-in continues to offer irresistible late-night musical adventures in the company of Aurora’s principal players and special guests; while Far, Far Away weaves together original story-telling with specially-arranged music to create one of the most compelling introductions to classical music for children and families you’re ever likely to experience. Peter Millican Chief Executive, Kings Place Music Foundation
Saturday 7 January 2017, 7.30pm
Reflections Alban Gerhardt Cello Nicholas Collon Conductor
Britten ‘Canto primo’ from Cello Suite No. 1, Op. 72 Vivaldi Cello Concerto in B minor, RV 424
One of the world’s great cellists joins Aurora to open the year-long Cello Unwrapped series at Kings Place. Pre-eminent cellist Alban Gerhardt joins Aurora for a glittering conversation across the centuries: Vivaldi was first to recognise the soulful quality of the solo cello; Britten and Ravel pay homage to their Baroque forebears, while Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky were inspired to fantastical virtuosic heights by the elegant exuberance of the ‘Rococo’ masters.
Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite
Online Rates £24.50–£59.50 / Online savers £9.50
“A magician of cantabile
playing and a master of virtuosic panache – one of the best cellists alive.”
Tagesspiegel
Late-Night Cello with Alban Gerhardt Join Alban Gerhardt for a late-night ascent of the ‘Everest’ of the cello repertoire: Kodály’s monumental Sonata in B minor for solo cello. A polyphonic tour de force, this enthralling work is shot through with the dark folk songs and dance rhythms of Kodály’s native Hungary. 9.45–10.15pm, Hall One. Tickets £9.50 online
Photo: Sim Canetty-Clarke ŠHyperion Records
Mozart’s Piano Year Two
Viennese Whirl As Mozart’s Piano reaches its second year, Simon Heighes takes a tour through the five piano concertos of Mozart’s coming-of-age in Vienna. From caterpillar to butterfly, Mozart’s five piano concertos – Nos. 8 to 12 – chart his transformation from court musician in provincial Salzburg to fashionable freelance in cosmopolitan Vienna. These concertos also mark the coming of age of the piano concerto itself, as Mozart emerged as the first major composer to grasp the expressive potential of the new instrument in concert with an orchestra. But Mozart himself didn’t always take centre stage. As a commercial venture, concertos were probably most lucrative when commissioned and played by wealthy amateurs and pupils.
“They chart his transformation from court musician in Salzburg to fashionable freelance in cosmopolitan Vienna.” Mozart composed Concerto No. 9 K271 in January 1777 for Victoire Jenamy, the talented daughter of the celebrated French dancer and choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre. Nick-named the ‘Jeunehomme’ (a misreading of Mozart’s French spelling
‘Jenomy’), the concerto has long been popular for its emotional depth and serious virtuosity – a sudden artistic ripening marking the twenty-one-year-old Mozart’s musical coming-of-age. Concerto No. 8 K246 was written for one of Leopold Mozart’s pupils, Countess Antonia Lützow, the niece of Mozart’s employer, Prince-Archbishop Colloredo. This concerto is one of Mozart’s least demanding but most useful. Mozart’s sister Nannerl used it with her pupils, and rescued the overambitious Mlle Villersi from public embarrassment by teaching her to play the concerto “so proficiently that she did herself great credit”, according to the hard-to-please Leopold. But this C major concerto was a work whose deceptive simplicity could trip-up even the most experienced fingers, as Mozart related in a letter to his father from Mannheim in January 1778: “Before dinner Abbé Vogler scrambled through my concerto at sight… Generally, he played the bass different from the way it was written. You may easily believe that this was beyond all endurance, because I could not venture to say to him MUCH TOO QUICK!” As with many of Mozart’s concertos, the virtuoso element of this work was tailored to a suit a variety of performers with the provision of carefully calibrated cadenzas. Three sets survive for the first two movements: the first are simple, probably intended for Countess Lützow, the second set is more challenging, perhaps written
for Nannerl’s performances in the 1770s, while the third set of cadenzas are much more extended and date from Mozart’s performances of the concerto in the 1780s.
“The Jeunehomme represents a sudden artistic ripening, marking Mozart’s coming-of-age.” In the 1760s, during their touring years as Wunderkinder, Nannerl and Wolfgang often performed together on two harpsichords. But how much more sociable it was to share an instrument. The sight and sound of four hands at a single keyboard was a Mozartean innovation which culminated in the Concerto No. 10 K365, written in Salzburg during the mid-1770s. The practicality of such a concerto, with pupil and teacher seated side-by-side, kept the concerto alive for many more years in Vienna, where Mozart eventually beefed up the orchestration for both private and public concerts with his pupil and patron Josepha Barbara von Auernhammer in 1781–2. There was money too in making his concertos available to a wider public. The wider the better, he hoped, when he placed an advert in the Wiener Zeitung of January 1783 promising that the first of his
Viennese concertos (Nos. 11–13) could be “performed either with a large orchestra with wind instruments or merely a Quattro, that is, with two violins, one viola and violoncello”. As for the piano part, Mozart was keen to attract players and audiences of all sorts, explaining to his father that the concertos are “something between too difficult and too easy – they are very brilliant – pleasing to the ear – though of course without lapsing into triviality. Here and there only connoisseurs will derive satisfaction from them – yet in such a way that the non-connoisseurs will also be pleased, without knowing why”.
Mozart’s Piano is generously supported by: The Parabola Foundation (principal supporter) An Anonymous Donor Nicholas Snowman & Wartski Aurora Orchestra’s Concerto Patrons & Friends
Saturday 18 March 2017, 7.30pm
‘Jeunehomme’ Imogen Cooper Piano Nicholas Collon Conductor Schumann (arr. Debussy/Holloway) Six Canonic Studies [world premiere] Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major, K271 (‘Jeunehomme’) Beethoven Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 Online Rates £24.50–£49.50 / Online savers £9.50 / Premium tickets £69.50
Imogen Cooper makes her debut appearance with Aurora in a programme which also features the first-ever performance of Beethoven’s second symphony at Kings Place. Aurora begins the second season of its five-year journey through Mozart’s piano concertos with what is widely considered to be the twenty-one-year-old composer’s first great masterpiece: the so-called ‘Jeunehomme’ concerto. Imogen Cooper appears as soloist for this watershed work, marking Mozart’s single greatest single leap forward on the path to full maturity. Alongside Mozart’s joyful and exuberant music, the orchestra performs two works by composers who were also entering their prime, but for whom the creative process was marked by struggle. Beethoven’s second symphony was penned during the onset of deafness, amid the realisation that it would be incurable. The limpid beauty of Schumann’s Six Canonic Studies, meanwhile, belies a personal context of depression and obsession: originally written for organ and later adapted by Debussy for two pianos, these ravishing studies are heard here for the first time in a new arrangement for chamber orchestra by Robin Holloway.
Pre-concert talk: Alfred Brendel and Imogen Cooper in conversation For Alfred Brendel, the ‘Jeunehomme’ concerto is nothing less than “a wonder of the world’” – Mozart’s first true masterpiece, which the composer would later equal but never surpass. This special pre-concert talk is a rare opportunity to hear Brendel in conversation with his close friend, soloist Imogen Cooper, about a work which he ranks as one of his favourite piano concertos. 6.15–6.40pm, St Pancras Room. Tickets are free but capacity is limited and advance booking is strongly recommended.
“Cooper remains one of the sovereign pianists: everything she touches exudes integrity the highest understanding coupled with a melting beauty of sound.” International Piano Magazine
“The qualities that make Cooper quite simply one of the finest pianists this country has produced make her perfect for Mozart duty.” Gramophone
Piano Concerto No. 9 is generously supported by Nicholas Snowman & Wartski
Photo: Sussie Ahlburg
Friday 5 May 2017, 7.30pm
Mad Rush Shai Wosner Piano Nicholas Collon Conductor Mozart Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K414 (version for piano and string quartet) Ligeti Piano Concerto Chopin Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4 Philip Glass Mad Rush Conlon Nancarrow (arr. Yvar Mikhashoff) Study No. 7 for Player Piano Hindemith Kammermusik No. 1
Shai Wosner makes his Kings Place debut in a programme of breathtaking virtuosity including Ligeti’s Piano Concerto. The pianist comes in many guises: the flamboyant solo virtuoso, the chamber musician, the concerto soloist. This dazzling programme explores each of these varied facets and more in the company of the supremely versatile Shai Wosner. At the heart of the programme is a work never previously performed at Kings Place –Ligeti’s Piano Concerto, a musical rollercoaster of stunning intricacy described by the composer as his most technically demanding and complex score. Wosner also performs Philip Glass’ minimalist landmark Mad Rush – a work of indeterminate length originally created to mark the Dalai Lama’s first visit to North America – and appears as soloist for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12, heard here in the composer’s own arrangement for piano and string quartet. Also featured is Hindemith’s cartoon-like Kammermusik No. 1, and an arrangement for ensemble of one of Conlon Nancarrow’s impossibly fiendish studies for player piano.
Online Rates £24.50–£49.50 / Online savers £9.50 / Premium tickets £69.50
Pre-concert talk: Nicholas Collon on Ligeti’s Piano Concerto Nicholas Collon talks to Aurora Chief Executive John Harte about the work at the heart of the evening’s concert programme – a piece which he has recently recorded with soloist Shai Wosner to great critical acclaim with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. 6.15–6.40pm, St Pancras Room. Tickets are free but capacity is limited and advance booking is strongly recommended.
“Wosner’s performance of Ligeti’s Piano Concerto is a wowzer. You ideally need two brains and three hands to play this piece well. Wosner makes it sound easy, the rattling cross rhythms effortless, the sheer musicality drawing you in.” The Arts Desk
Photo: Marco Borggreve
Saturday 14 October 2017, 7.30pm
Vienna, City of Dreams Sarah Connolly Mezzo-soprano Andrew Staples Tenor John Reid Piano Nicholas Collon Conductor Mozart Piano Concerto No. 11 in F major, K413 (version for piano and string quartet) Mahler Piano Quartet in A minor Mahler (arr. Farrington) Das Lied von der Erde Online Rates £24.50–£49.50 / Online savers £9.50 / Premium tickets £69.50
A programme of works rooted in Vienna includes Mahler’s epic symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde, with world-class soloists Sarah Connolly and Andrew Staples. Few cities in the world have been such dramatically productive cultural crucibles as Vienna. This programme traces a path from one of Mozart’s earliest ‘Vienna concertos’ in 1782 to a mature masterpiece written by Mahler after a catastrophic summer in the city in 1907. Inspired by the chamber arrangements which Schoenberg and his circle created for later Viennese performances, Iain Farrington’s exquisite arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde preserves Mahler’s original instrumentation but distils his vast symphonic scoring to an intimate sixteen-player orchestration. The result is a transparent, jewel-like reduction, perfectly suited to Kings Place, in which individual instrumental and vocal lines are heard with new clarity.
“What can there be left to say about Sarah Connolly, whose performances these days are pretty much beyond praise? At once human and majestic, you’d have to go back to Christa Ludwig to find the lines dispatched with such secure technique.” Gramophone review of LPO Das Lied von der Erde recording
Pre-concert talk: Nicholas Collon and Iain Farrington discuss Das Lied Nicholas Collon discusses Das Lied von der Erde with Iain Farrington, Aurora’s Arranger-in-Residence, exploring the challenges of arranging Mahler’s vast orchestral scorings for small chamber orchestra, and explaining why such arrangements can shed new light on the composer’s music. 6.15–6.40pm, St Pancras Room. Tickets are free but capacity is limited and advance booking is strongly recommended.
Photo: Peter Warren
Friday 24 November 2017, 7.30pm
Echoes of Mozart Katia and Marielle Labèque Piano Nicholas Collon Conductor Ravel Mother Goose Suite (original version for piano four-hands) Mozart Piano Concerto No.10 in E-flat major for two pianos, K365 Stravinsky Concerto in D for strings Schubert Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D485
The incomparable Labèque sisters return to Kings Place for Mozart’s double piano concerto, as part of a programme also featuring Schubert’s best-loved symphony. Following sell-out appearances in 2011 and 2015, Katia and Marielle Labèque return to Kings Place as part of Aurora Orchestra’s Mozart’s Piano series. Nicholas Collon conducts a programme which traces Mozart’s musical legacy through later composers, most obviously in the heavily Mozartian inflections of Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. Stravinsky also harks back to the classical in his fiery Concerto for strings, whilst for Ravel – whose Mother Goose Suite is heard here in its original version for piano four-hands – Mozart was nothing less than “the musician par excellence, our god!”
Online Rates £24.50–£49.50 / Online savers £9.50 / Premium tickets £69.50
“O Mozart! Immortal Mozart! What countless impressions of a brighter, better life hast thou stamped upon our souls!” Schubert, diary entry of June 1816
Pre-concert talk: Katia and Marielle Labèque with Igor Toronyi-Lalic Arts Editor of The Spectator and co-director of the London Contemporary Music Festival Igor Toronyi-Lalic speaks to the Labèque sisters about their relationship with Mozart’s music and illustrious international career. 6.15–6.40pm, St Pancras Room. Tickets are free but capacity is limited and advance booking is strongly recommended.
“The best piano duo in front of an audience today.� The New York Times
Photo: Umberto Nicoletti
Saturday 9 December 2017, 7.30pm
Exsultate, Jubilate Samuel West Readings Tom Poster Piano Sophie Bevan Soprano Nicholas Collon Conductor Mozart Concerto No. 8 in C major, K246 (‘Lützow’) Mozart Ch’io mi scordi di te? K505 Mozart Exsultate, jubilate, K165 Mozart Symphony No. 29 in A major, K201 Online Rates £24.50–£49.50 / Online savers £9.50 / Premium tickets £69.50
Usher in the festive season with this joyful all-Mozart programme, featuring two of the UK’s finest young soloists and readings by Samuel West. “Before dinner he raced through my concerto. He played the first movement prestissimo, the Andante allegro, and the Rondeau truly prestississimo. The bass he played mostly quite different from the way it was written, and once in a while he came up with entirely different harmonies and melodies.” Mozart’s typically colourful letter to his father from 1778 details his indignation at being forced to perform his eighth piano concerto with an untalented rich patron, Herr Vogler, at the keyboard. Thankfully no such difficulty will be encountered in this performance with longstanding Aurora collaborator Tom Poster, who also shares the stage with Sophie Bevan, one of the UK’s finest sopranos, for the sublime concert aria Ch’io mi scordi di te? Samuel West draws the programme together with readings from Mozart’s letters, providing rich context for the music and insight into the composer’s extraordinary life.
Pre-concert film screening: In Search of Mozart Narrated by Juliet Stevenson and with Mozart voiced by Samuel West, In Search of Mozart is a meticulously-crafted exploration of Mozart’s life, letters and music. Phil Grabsky’s acclaimed film features interviews and performances with over seventy of the greatest exponents of Mozart’s music including Christophe Rousset, Sir Roger Norrington, René Jacobs, Sir Charles Mackerras, Renée Fleming, Magdalena Kožená, Sandrine Piau, Ian Bostridge, Gerald Finley, Sir Thomas Allen, Imogen Cooper, Pierre Laurent Aimard, Leif ove Andsnes, Lang Lang and the Škampa Quartet. 4.30–6.45pm, St Pancras Room. Tickets £5 online.
“A Rolls-Royce performance.” The Arts Desk on Aurora’s performance of Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ Symphony at the 2016 BBC Proms
Photo: Sussie Ahlburg
Forthcoming Lock-In dates: 17 September 2016 16 December 2016 18 March 2017 5 May 2017 14 October 2017 24 November 2017 9 December 2017 Hall Two Doors open immediately after main Mozart’s Piano performance Bar service available throughout Tickets £5 online
Photo: Nick Rutter
The Lock-In As the lights go down on the Hall One stage, join the Aurora players as we move across to Hall Two for a late-night series like no other. Somewhere between a speakeasy and a concert, The Lock-In takes the Mozart’s Piano programmes as starting points for adventure in the company of the Aurora principals and special guests. Grab a glass, rub shoulders with the artists, and settle in for an intimate performance that feels like you’ve unlocked the door to the artists’ bar. Whether ravishing or anarchic, playful or sublime, you’re always guaranteed great music and musicians, all in an informal space where you’re free to move around, order a drink, or stand transfixed. Come and join us as we set out in search of late-night serendipity… For details of individual Lock-In events see kingsplace.co.uk/aurora
Forthcoming Far, Far Away dates: 15 & 16 October 2016 Schumann: Pepper the Monkey and the Extraordinary Rainbow Circus 11, 12, 18 & 19 February 2017 Debussy: A Winter Dream On sale from 24 September 2016 Spring and autumn 2017 dates to be announced Versions for early years (0–4) and family audiences (5+) Tickets from £5.50 online
Far, Far Away Gallop or cartwheel or amble or trot, steal teaspoons to get there, cast spells, hatch a plot, Uncurl your ears, loose those toes for a day and Aurora will carry you far, far away… Aurora’s Far, Far Away series for families and children of all ages combines adventurous repertoire and high-quality music making with immersive storytelling, a sense of spectacle, and fun interaction. Concerts feature original stories from Kate Wakeling, each exploring the works of a different composer in special arrangements by Iain Farrington. Stories are told by Aurora’s principal players, alongside Workshop Leader-in-Residence, Jessie Maryon Davies. Far, Far Away is generously supported by Kings Place Music Foundation and the Nugee Foundation For details of individual Far, Far Away events see kingsplace.co.uk/aurora
Photo: Stanton Media
at Kings Place 2017 Cello Unwrapped: Saturday 7 January
Reflections
Alban Gerhardt cello
Mozart’s Piano: Saturday 18 March
‘Jeunehomme’
Imogen Cooper piano Friday 5 May
Mad Rush
Shai Wosner piano Saturday 14 October
Vienna, City of Dreams Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano Andrew Staples tenor John Reid piano Aurora Orchestra is supported by:
Friday 24 November
Echoes of Mozart
Katia and Marielle Labèque piano Saturday 9 December
Exsultate, Jubilate Sophie Bevan soprano Tom Poster piano Samuel West readings
Mozart’s Piano series principal supporter: The Parabola Foundation Photo: Stanton Media
For listings and tickets visit kingsplace.co.uk/aurora or call 020 7520 1490 For more information about Aurora Orchestra see auroraorchestra.com