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The Music Hall Aberdeen bbc.co.uk/ bbcsso
Thomas Dausgaard Chief Conductor
Welcome to our Spring 2019 Season
It is a great joy to welcome you back to the Music Hall and to three Friday night concerts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. I am excited about returning to Aberdeen as Chief Conductor and performing in the newly refurbished building which has such a remarkable legacy of music-making.
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I am also particularly looking forward to bringing our Composer Roots project to Aberdeen for the very first time, as we explore influences upon Mahler’s First Symphony. We’ll be joined on stage by a klezmer band, exploring the links between Mahler, Bloch and Bernstein, and I hope it makes you hear these remarkable composers in a new light. We’ll also be looking at the fascination of French composers for Spain, in an evening called Viva España!, as Ravel and Debussy give their musical impressions of that country alongside its native composer Manuel de Falla. Finally, Donald Runnicles returns to the Music Hall with more Mahler, in a programme where East meets West: the composer’s Song of the Earth, inspired by Chinese poetry; Mozart’s ‘Haffner’ symphony; and a work by Toru Takemitsu who brought together the worlds of Japanese and Western composition with magical results. Welcome! Thomas Dausgaard Chief Conductor
Photo/Thomas Dausgaard by Thomas Grøndahl
Thomas Dausgaard Chief Conductor
John Wilson Associate Guest Conductor
Ilan Volkov Principal Guest Conductor
Donald Runnicles Conductor Emeritus
Matthias Pintscher Artist-in-Association
Laura Samuel Leader
Friday 08.02.2019 7.30pm
Composer Roots: Mahler 1
Bernstein Overture: Candide
If you could hear silence, how would it sound? Maybe something like the massive stillness that opens Mahler’s First Symphony: the starting point for a young artist’s journey to the heart of absolute tragedy and glorious triumph. It’s one of those pieces that simply has to be experienced live, and as part of our ongoing Composer Roots project, we’ll uncover its origins in Jewish folk music with the klezmer band She’Koyokh. To open, an effervescent Broadway overture by Mahler’s great champion Leonard Bernstein and a magnificent rarity by a late-romantic master who shared Bernstein and Mahler’s Jewish heritage. In Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo, the solo cello is King Solomon, and its voice is his Song – by turns passionate, forthright, and uninhibitedly sensuous.
Bloch Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébraïque* Mahler Symphony No.1 She’Koyokh Jian Wang cello* Thomas Dausgaard conductor Concert ends at approx. 9.30pm
Photos/Jian Wang by Xu Bin, Javier Perianes by Marco Borggreve and Donald Runnicles by John Wood
Friday 15.03.2019 7.30pm Debussy Images Falla The Three-Cornered Hat: Suite No.1 Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain* Ravel Alborada del gracioso Ravel Rhapsodie espagnole Javier Perianes piano* Thomas Dausgaard conductor
Viva España! It’s been said that all the best Spanish music came from France. That’s not strictly true – nothing captures the fragrance of an Andalusian evening quite like Manuel de Falla’s enchanted Nights in the Gardens of Spain, especially when performed by the superb young Spanish virtuoso Javier Perianes. And there’s nothing polite about the flamenco rhythms and simmering passions of his ballet The Three-Cornered Hat, either. But that didn’t stop Ravel and Debussy falling in love with the sounds, scents and images of Spain, and from the moonlit warmth of Debussy’s Images to the heady perfumes of Ravel’s sundrenched Rhapsodie espagnole, this is a programme to fire the imagination and caress the ears.
Concert ends at approx. 9.40pm
Friday 05.04.2019 7.30pm
Mahler’s ‘Song of the Earth’
Mozart Symphony No.35, K.385 ‘Haffner’
Mahler’s last word, they say, was “Mozart” – but he’d already said his farewells in music, and nowhere more movingly than in Das Lied von der Erde: a ninth symphony in all but name that distils every last drop of life’s sorrow and sweetness into six heartrending songs. It’s a perfect complement for both the youthful sunlight and joy of Mozart’s exuberant Haffner symphony – written for a family celebration in Salzburg – and the eloquent sadness of Takemitsu’s Requiem for strings: a poignant meditation on mortality from a composer who embraced both East and West. An evening of ravishing music from the orchestra’s Conductor Emeritus, Donald Runnicles, plus two singers whose unflinching emotional commitment has won international acclaim.
Takemitsu Requiem for Strings Mahler Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) Kelley O’Connor mezzo-soprano Paul Groves tenor Donald Runnicles conductor Concert ends at approx. 9.30pm
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Book for all 3 Concerts and Save 20% Buy tickets for all three concerts at the Music Hall and save 20% off the total price. Offer only applies to full price tickets. Offer open until Friday 1 February 2019. Area I: £57.60 for all three concerts (saving £14.40) Area II: £50.40 for all three concerts (saving £12.60) Area III: £42.00 for all three concerts (saving £10.50) Area IV: £34.80 for all three concerts (saving £9.00) Area V: £27.60 for all three concerts (saving £6.90) Single Tickets Area I: £24.00 Area II: £21.00 Area III: £17.50 Area IV: £14.50 Area V: £11.50
Single Ticket Discounts £6 tickets for Under 26s, Students, and Unemployed: Patrons under 26, students (those in full time education), and Registered Unemployed are entitled to a £6 ticket for themselves in areas II-V (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 Until the re-opening of the Music Hall: His Majesty’s Theatre Rosemount Viaduct Aberdeen AB25 1GL Box Office opening hours: Monday – Saturday 9.30am – 6.00pm (and from 6.30pm on concert nights) Telephone: 01224 641122 Single tickets can be booked online: www.aberdeenperformingarts.com
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra BBC Scotland City Halls, Candleriggs Glasgow G1 1NQ bbc.co.uk/bbcsso
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Box Office: 01224 641122
Or book tickets via bbc.co.uk/bbcsso
All concerts in this series are promoted in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts.
A large print, text-only version of this brochure is available, for a copy please telephone: 0141 552 0909 Music Hall Union Street Aberdeen AB10 1QS
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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.