BBC SSO 2014/15 Aberdeen Season brochure

A World of Music at The Music Hall, Aberdeen

THE ABERDEEN SEASON 2014/2015

THE MUSIC HALL, ABERDEEN BOX OFFICE: 01224-641122 bbc.co.uk/bbcsso #bbcssofridays

A world of music on your doorstep

BARRY DOUGLAS & GARRICK OHLSSON Two stunning pianists open and close the Aberdeen season. The celebrated Irish virtuoso Barry Douglas opens the 14/15 season with Scriabin’s swooninglybeautiful Piano Concerto (26 September), which rivals Rachmaninov in its lush orchestration and glorious melodies. And the season ends with Shostakovich’s vivaciously brilliant First Piano Concerto in the hands of the outstanding American, Garrick Ohlsson (8 May).

BEETHOVEN’S NINTH The Edinburgh Festival Chorus and a superb line-up of soloists join us to mark Donald Runnicles’s 60th Birthday with the ultimate musical celebration, Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony. An unmissable occasion (14 November).

BRUCKNER 4 Bruckner’s epic ‘cathedrals of sound’ always sound hugely impressive in the acoustic of The Music Hall.

His ‘Romantic’ symphony is one of his most popular and is programmed here with another classic of German pastoral writing, Gustav Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, performed by two outstanding soloists (17 April).

SAVE UP TO 25% WITH A SEASON TICKET Last year hundreds of music lovers saved money and booked their favourite seats by buying a Season Ticket for the BBC SSO’s concerts at The Music Hall. By booking in advance you can save 25% - that’s more than £31 per booking, and packages start from as little as £47.22 for all 6 concerts. Please see the back of this brochure to book.

bbc.co.uk/radio3 With the exception of Christmas Classics, which will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland, all concerts are scheduled to be recorded for future transmission on BBC Radio 3.

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

WELCOME TO THE BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S 2014 – 2015 ABERDEEN SEASON

In September 2014 it will be five years since I took up the post of Chief Conductor with this wonderful orchestra. Our relationship continues to blossom, and I am immensely proud of our achievements so far. It has been my intention to bring some of the finest singers, soloists and conductors to Scotland and to showcase the brilliance, flexibility and commitment of this remarkable group of musicians. The 2014/15 season is no exception.

We open with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony and close with the enigmatic Fifteenth, in a concert that also features his First Piano Concerto, played by Garrick Ohlsson. I’m also delighted that this year I’ll be celebrating an important birthday while in Scotland with arguably the finest present a conductor could ask for – Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The orchestra and I will be joined by a world-class line-up of soloists, together with our friends the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, for what promises to be a very special occasion. I do hope you will be there too.

So whether you’re a regular subscriber to the Aberdeen Season or an occasional visitor to The Music Hall, I’m certain you will find something new in the evenings ahead to intrigue, delight and surprise you. And if you’ve never heard the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra before you’re in for a treat.

Donald Runnicles Chief Conductor, BBC SSO

Donald Runnicles Chief Conductor

Ilan Volkov Principal Guest Conductor

Matthias Pintscher Artist-in-Association

Laura Samuel Leader

SHOSTAKOVICH 10 FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2014, 7.30PM

MUSSORGSKY A NIGHT ON THE BARE MOUNTAIN (c.13 MINS) SCRIABIN PIANO CONCERTO (c.29 MINS) SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY No.10 (c.53 MINS) BARRY DOUGLAS PIANO DONALD RUNNICLES CONDUCTOR A horn calls softly, a piano dreams in the twilight, and Scriabin’s Piano Concerto begins its enchanted journey. That’s the centrepiece of the opening concert of our season: the finest piano concerto Rachmaninov never wrote, played by a soloist celebrated for his interpretations of the Russian piano repertoire. It’s a very different world from Shostakovich’s shattering Tenth Symphony. A heartfelt cry for freedom written under the shadow of Stalinism, it’s still one of the 20th century’s most overwhelming symphonic experiences. Donald Runnicles conducts, and opens the concert by whipping up a storm with Mussorgsky’s exciting orchestral showpiece.

Donald Runnicles (photo: John Wood)

Barry Douglas (photo: Katya Kraynova)

THE RUNNICLES BIRTHDAY CONCERT

BEETHOVEN’S NINTH

FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER, 7.30PM

MOZART SINFONIA CONCERTANTE, K.364 (c.32 MINS) BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY No.9 ‘CHORAL’ (c.68 MINS) LAURA SAMUEL VIOLIN SCOTT DICKINSON VIOLA ANGELA MEADE SOPRANO ELIZABETH BISHOP MEZZO-SOPRANO STUART SKELTON TENOR MARKO MIMICA BASS-BARITONE

Angela Meade (photo: Dario Acosta)

Marko Mimica (photo: Nikola Serventic)

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL CHORUS CHRISTOPHER BELL CHORUS MASTER

DONALD RUNNICLES CONDUCTOR A special occasion calls for a very special concert – and from the epic tragedy of its opening to its transcendent final Hymn to Joy, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has long been classical music’s supreme act of celebration. So what better way for the BBC SSO to toast Donald Runnicles’ 60th birthday than with the work at the very centre of his beloved German Romantic tradition? First, though, two of the orchestra’s principal players begin the festivities with one of the few pieces that can truly look Beethoven in the eye: Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, music of sublime grandeur and heart-rending beauty.

Elizabeth Bishop (photo: Sasha Vasiljev)

Stuart Skelton (photo: John Wright)

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS FRIDAY 19 DECEMBER, 7.30PM

JAMIE MACDOUGALL SINGER AND PRESENTER STEPHEN BELL CONDUCTOR The BBC SSO’s Christmas Classics concert is a favourite amongst The Music Hall’s annual seasonal celebrations. It’s a mixture of traditional carols and festive orchestral classics led by conductor Stephen Bell and tenor and BBC Radio Scotland presenter Jamie MacDougall. Get your family and friends together for an evening of music that’s guaranteed to warm the parts other Christmas concerts can’t reach!

“The BBC SSO’s unique selling point is the chance to hear yourself on the radio singing along with the tenor Jamie MacDougall…the perfect host for such a cosy family event.”

Press and Journal on Christmas Classics

Jamie MacDougall

Stephen Bell

VOLKOV CONDUCTS ‘THE SEASONS’ FRIDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2015, 7.30PM

TCHAIKOVSKY FRANCESCA DA RIMINI: FANTASY (c.23 MINS) MUSSORGSKY SONGS AND DANCES OF DEATH (c.23 MINS) GLAZUNOV THE SEASONS (c.36 MINS) YURI VOROBIEV BASS ILAN VOLKOV CONDUCTOR Shostakovich revered him, Rimsky-Korsakov was awed by his genius, and Prokofiev owed him more than he would ever admit. But Alexander Glazunov was more than just a great teacher – and The Seasons is more than just the missing link between Tchaikovsky’s and Stravinsky’s ballets. It’s one of Imperial Russia’s forgotten treasures, glittering with colour and brimming over with hummable tunes. Ilan Volkov charges it with all his trademark electricity, while Mariinsky Theatre veteran Yuri Vorobiev brings true St Petersburg style to the pitch-black humour of Mussorgsky’s pungent songs. And Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini sets the terms of engagement: emotions delivered at maximum strength by a supercharged orchestra.

Ilan Volkov (photo: Mark Hamilton)

Yuri Vorobiev (photo: Yuri Vorobiev)

BRUCKNER 4 FRIDAY 17 APRIL, 7.30PM

MAHLER SONGS FROM DES KNABEN WUNDERHORN (c.36 MINS) BRUCKNER SYMPHONY No.4 (ROMANTIC) (c.67 MINS) ALICE COOTE MEZZO-SOPRANO PETER COLEMAN-WRIGHT BARITONE MARK WIGGLESWORTH CONDUCTOR A horn calls in the distance; a clarinet sings a peasant song; and a solitary wanderer trudges through the forest. For the great Austrian song-symphonists, the words and images of German folklore opened up vast new worlds of poetry and feeling.

Anton Bruckner shaped them into the most colourful (and lovable) of his nine vast symphonies whilst the young Gustav Mahler got straight back to the source, ďŹ nding the strangeness and wonder that lie beneath the most outwardly innocent folksongs in his endlessly imaginative Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Mark Wigglesworth lets them play off each other in a concert that unites epic grandeur with the most intimate of emotions, and features two outstanding soloists.

Alice Coote

Mark Wigglesworth (photo: Ben Ealovega)

SHOSTAKOVICH 15 FRIDAY 8 MAY, 7.30PM

JANÁČEK SINFONIETTA (c.24 MINS) SHOSTAKOVICH CONCERTO FOR PIANO, TRUMPET AND STRING ORCHESTRA (c.23 MINS) SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY No.15 (c.47 MINS) MARK O’KEEFFE TRUMPET GARRICK OHLSSON PIANO DONALD RUNNICLES CONDUCTOR Some composers fade peacefully into old age: others do things rather differently.

The 71 year-old Janáček took a massive orchestra, lined up eleven more trumpets and let fly with his extraordinary Sinfonietta: a huge, brassy shout of joy that has to be heard live to be truly believed. Shostakovich, meanwhile, wrote a final symphony that seems to ask as many questions as it answers – and simply refuses to sit still and be taken seriously. Perhaps the brilliantly witty First Piano Concerto that Shostakovich wrote at the other end of his career will shed some light; but with BBC SSO guest Garrick Ohlsson joining Donald Runnicles as soloist, entertainment, at any rate, is guaranteed.

Garrick Ohlsson (photo: Paul Body)

Donald Runnicles (photo: Simon Pauly)

PAYMENT PLEASE COMPLETE IN BLOCK CAPITALS Please send completed form to: Aberdeen Box Office, Union Street, Aberdeen AB10 1QS (please note: a £1.00 handling charge will be added if tickets are posted out)

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SAVE 25% WITH AN ABERDEEN SEASON TICKET WHY BOOK A SEASON TICKET? •

Save Money: booking 5 or 6 concerts means that you can save 25% across the Season.

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Advance book the seats you want, guaranteeing you your preferred view at the best price.

Exclusive Season Ticket booking opens on Friday 21 March 2014.

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Plan your year of music in one simple booking.

It’s a great way to get those dates in your diary now and to make sure you never miss a concert.

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Season Ticket Discounts are also available for senior citizens and the registered unemployed.

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Priority Booking: Season Ticket Priority Booking is by post only and runs until Wednesday 23 April 2014.

6 CONCERT SEASON TICKET (Saving 25%) 1 11 111 1V

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HOW TO BOOK A SEASON TICKET Simply decide which concerts you would like to book: a 5-concert series (excluding Christmas Classics) or a 6-concert package and indicate where you would like to sit.

Then fill in the form, cut off and return to the Aberdeen Box office using the address provided.

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DISCOUNTED SEASON TICKET (Areas III and IV only) 6 Concerts: £45.60 5 Concerts: £38.00 Available to over 60s and registered Unemployed.

Proof of status required.

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HOW TO BOOK Box Office: 01224-641122 or via bbc.co.uk/bbcsso SINGLE TICKETS

BOX OFFICE

£21.00 1 11 £18.50 111 £14.00 1V £10.50

Aberdeen Box Office Union Street, Aberdeen AB10 1QS

SINGLE TICKET DISCOUNTS £5 Standby for Students and Unemployed Full time students and registered unemployed can book any unsold seats for £5, only available on the day of the concert. Proof of status required.

Box Office opening hours: Mon – Sat 9.30am – 6.00pm (and from 6.30pm on concert nights)

Tel: 01224-641122 Single tickets can be booked online at: www.aberdeenperformingarts.com

£5 for Under 16s and School Pupils Children under the ages of 16 and all school pupils are entitled to any seat for £5.

Savings for over 60s.

Patrons over 60 are entitled to £2 off any single concert ticket.

Special Group Rates Group rates are available for bookings of 10 or more. For details please telephone the Box Office (Mon – Fri).

Single ticket booking opens on Friday 25 April 2014.

A large print, text-only version of this brochure is available, for a copy please telephone: 0141-552 0909 Customers’ personal details are held in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Data Protection Act 1998. If consent is given at the time of ticket purchase, this information will be passed to the BBC SSO and may be used to contact you with information about forthcoming concerts or BBC events. These details will not be passed on to any third party. If you wish to have your name removed from the orchestra’s mailing-list please E-mail: bbcsso@bbc.co.uk or telephone: 0141-422 6728.

All the information carried in this brochure was believed to be correct at the time of publishing. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra reserves the right to amend artists and programmes if necessary.

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