BBC SSO Edinburgh Season 2019/20

Thomas Dausgaard Chief Conductor

Usher Hall Edinburgh bbc.co.uk/ bbcsso

Welcome to our 2019/20 Season!

Thomas Dausgaard Chief Conductor

It is a great joy to welcome you to a new Season with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and, as always, we present a range of exciting music to expand your musical horizons.

We open with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, made famous by the rapturous Adagietto, together with Bruch’s much-loved First Violin Concerto performed here by Henning Kraggerud, and preceded by a work from Japan’s pre-eminent living composer Toshio Hosokawa. In February, one of today’s unrivalled Chopin performers, pianist Zlata Chochieva, makes her BBC SSO debut with Chopin’s First Piano Concerto, and conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens brings great romantic gesture with Schumann’s Second Symphony. Finally, in March, BBC SSO Principal Guest Conductor Ilan Volkov pairs Brahms’s A German Requiem with Luigi Nono’s genre-defying fusion of orchestra and electronics from 1967, Per Bastiana Tai-Yang Cheng – and to close, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus sing Brahms’s masterpiece together with two fantastic young singers: Benjamin Appl and Nika Gorič.

Through our busy programme of BBC Ten Pieces concerts for schools, creative music events for families, and our work with Sistema Scotland and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, we are committed to nurturing young musicians and audiences.

We are also thrilled to reach audiences around the world through broadcasts on BBC Radio, BBC TV and live online streaming, and for the first time ever the orchestra travels to Japan in Autumn 2019 to perform a series of ‘BBC Proms’ concerts during a week-long residence in Tokyo.

Spread the word! Nothing compares to the magic of experiencing live music. We hope that you, your friends and your families will be able to join us for what promises to be a yet another wonderful Season of music-making at the Usher Hall.

Dominic Parker Director Ilan Volkov Principal Guest Conductor

Laura Samuel Leader

Donald Runnicles Conductor Emeritus

Photo/Thomas Dausgaard by Thomas Grøndahl

Sunday 29.09.2019 3.00pm Toshio Hosokawa Preludio Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 Mahler Symphony No.5 Henning Kraggerud violin Thomas Dausgaard conductor Concert ends at approx. 5.15pm (including an interval of 20 minutes)

Mahler Symphony No.5 A lone trumpet sounds in the darkness and Gustav Mahler begins his great symphonic struggle from tragedy to triumph – by way of midnight storms, joyous horn-calls, and arguably the most tender love-letter ever written without words: the rapturous Adagietto. Here Chief Conductor Thomas Dausgaard pairs it with Bruch’s much-loved Violin Concerto – an ideal showcase for the “lovely freedom and sense of fantasy” of Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud.

And to begin, another deeply-felt journey into time and emotion from Japan’s pre-eminent living composer Toshio Hokosawa. Preludio is an orchestral nocturne haunted by memories and shadows, written by a composer with a ravishing sonic imagination who just happens to have been born in Hiroshima.

Photos/ Henning Kraggerud by Robert Romik, Zlata Chochieva by Andrej Grilc, Nika Gorič by Mariona Vilaros, Benjamin Appl by Uwe Arens

Sunday 09.02.2020 3.00pm

Chopin Piano Concerto No.1

Sibelius The Swan of Tuonela

“The greatest on disc?” asked Gramophone magazine when the Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva recorded Chopin’s Études. In this programme we get to hear Chochieva’s unrivalled way with Chopin in real life: as she joins Karl-Heinz Steffens in Chopin’s great love-song of a First Piano Concerto. It’s a bit of a theme: Schumann wrote his Second Symphony for his new wife Clara, and the score is studded with profoundly romantic gestures. But light needs shade, and the evening opens in the dark realm of Tuonela. Sibelius’s tone poem is one of those pieces that sinks its roots deep into your memory.

Chopin

Piano Concerto No.1 Schumann Symphony No.2 Zlata Chochieva piano Karl-Heinz Steffens conductor Concert ends at approx. 4.50pm (including an interval of 20 minutes)

Sunday 22.03.2020 3.00pm

Brahms A German Requiem

Nono Per Bastiana Tai-Yang Cheng

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” When Brahms composed his German Requiem, he wasn’t thinking of heaven, hell or the Last Trumpet. Instead, as he grappled with his own grief at the death of his mother, he set out to console and comfort the living. The Edinburgh Festival Chorus sings it here, and Ilan Volkov conducts. Naturally, he’s avoided the obvious and paired it with Per Bastiana Tai-Yang Cheng – a genre-defying fusion of orchestra and electronics, created by Nono in 1967 to celebrate the birth of his daughter. Birth, death and a whole sonic universe – bring an open mind, and prepare to be moved.

Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem Nika Gorič soprano Benjamin Appl baritone Edinburgh Festival Chorus (Aidan Oliver: chorus director)

Ilan Volkov conductor Concert ends at approx. 4.55pm (including an interval of 20 minutes)

Box Office: 0131 228 1155

www.usherhall.co.uk

Grand Circle

Stalls

II

IV III

I

II

I

II

IV Stage

Stage

Book for all 3 Concerts and Save 20% Buy a ticket for all three concerts in the series and receive a 20% discount on your tickets. Offer open until Sunday 29 September 2019 only. Offer only applies to full price tickets.

Single Tickets Area I: £30.00 Area II: £25.00 Area III: £20.00 Area IV: £15.00 All 3 Concerts Area I: £72.00 for all three concerts (saving £18.00) Area II: £60.00 for all three concerts (saving £15.00) Area III: £48.00 for all three concerts (saving £12.00) Area IV: £36.00 for all three concerts (saving £9.00)

Single Ticket Discounts £6 tickets for Under 26s, Students and Unemployed: Under 26s, Students (those in full-time education), and Registered Unemployed are entitled to a £6 ticket for themselves in areas II-IV (subject to availability). Proof of status is required. Tickets must be collected in person.

50% Discount for Registered Disabled: Disabled patrons, and a carer where required, will receive a 50% discount on any single full price ticket.

Special Group Rates: Group rates are available for bookings of 10 or more. For details please telephone the Box Office.

Box Office: 0131 228 1155 Usher Hall Box Office Lothian Road Edinburgh EH1 2EA

All the concerts in this series are promoted in association with the Usher Hall.

Monday–Saturday 10am to 5.30pm When there is an event on a Sunday the Box Office is open from 1pm until 20 minutes after the start of the event.

Getting to the Usher Hall The Usher Hall is located between the Royal Lyceum Theatre and Traverse Theatre.

It is close to both Haymarket and Waverley train stations (approx. 15 minutes walk from either). A taxi rank is situated opposite the hall. There is limited on-street parking, however a 24-hour car park is located behind the hall on Castle Terrace.

Cheques should be made payable to: City of Edinburgh Council.

All major credit cards accepted.

Please note there is a ÂŁ1.50 transaction fee for bookings by telephone or online.

Disabled Access Wheelchair accommodation is available.

Parking spaces for blue badge holders are located across from the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Grindlay Street and also in Cambridge Street across from the Traverse Theatre.

A large print, text-only version of this brochure is available, for a copy please telephone: 0141 552 0909

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The majority of listed concerts will be recorded for future broadcast, or broadcast live by BBC Radio 3. After broadcast, concerts will be available for 30 days via BBC Sounds, where you can also discover a world of amazing music, radio and podcasts from the BBC by downloading the free app.

The information in this brochure was correct at the time of publishing. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra reserves the right to amend artists and programmes for any of the listed concerts if necessary.