Kirill Karabits Principal Conductor
Guildhall, Portsmouth concert season 2013 / 14
ernikov december Yan Pascal Tortelier, Beethoven
y Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez, Pablo GonzĂĄlez
Alba march Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
o.9, Francesco Piemontesi, CPE Bach St. John Passion
Kirill Karabits’ Brahms Symphony Cycle bsolive.com
Book here « lift flap
Guildhall, Portsmouth 023 9282 4355 bsolive.com series concerts Tickets on general sale from Wednesday 4 September £25 | £20 | £17 | £15 Series Discounts 40% 9 concerts 30% 7– 8 concerts 20% 5 – 6 concerts 10% 3 – 4 concerts
Booking fees are payable for telephone and online bookings All concessions and discounts are subject to availability
concessions
The BSO offers the following concessions to most concerts. Please note that only one concession applies per ticket and that concessions are not available retrospectively. Proof of status is required at the time of collection.
There is a free “Meet the Music” pre-concert talk for every concert (except Christmas Proms) at 6.40pm in the Council Chamber on the second floor.
BSO Kids for a Quid Under 18s: £1 per ticket BSO Vibes £5 per ticket (for members signed up to the scheme) 50% discount for Full-time students,Job-seekers allowance, Income support benefit Wheelchair users plus one companion No discount for disabled patrons, but 50% reduction for one companion Group discounts 10% 10 or more tickets 20% 20 or more tickets 30% 30 or more tickets All group bookings must be paid in full one month in advance of the concert date, after which tickets will be released for resale.
www.bsolive.com Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra @BSOrchestra BSOrchestra A selection of concerts from the BSO’s 2013/14 season will be broadcast live by BBC Radio 3 bbc.co.uk/radio3
Welcome to the 2013 / 14 Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Season here at Portsmouth Guildhall As we enter our 120th consecutive year of music-making, I am as thrilled as anyone by the outstanding playing of our Orchestra and exceptional artistic achievements of Principal Conductor Kirill Karabits. We are all immensely proud that this musical relationship is starting to receive the national and international recognition it deserves, not least the Conductor Award for Kirill at the 2013 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. Our 2013/14 season continues a number of important musical celebrations, including the anniversaries of Wagner and
Britten. We feature performances by some of the most exciting young violinists of the moment, and Kirill’s Brahms symphony cycle, taking place over two days in Poole, is sure to be an extraordinary climax to the season. As ever our range of programmes and artists are designed to inspire our loyal regular supporters whilst finding many ways to welcome new audiences of all ages and tastes. Throughout the season we will encourage you to find out more through our increasing range of online resources at bsolive.com.
In times of austerity, I believe there has never been a more important time to celebrate the role that culture, and in our case music, has in enhancing and transforming our lives. I thank everyone who makes it possible for there to be a world class symphony orchestra here on the south coast, we will need your support more than ever in the years ahead and I look forward to welcoming you on that journey. Dougie Scarfe Chief Executive
Guest artists Valentina Lisitsa
Xuefei Yang
Rachel Kolly d’Alba
Francesco Piemontesi
piano 11 october
guitar 23 january
violin 21 february
piano 3 april
With her multi-faceted playing described as dazzling, Valentina Lisitsa is at ease in a vast repertoire ranging from Bach and Mozart to Shostakovich and Bernstein. With more than 30 million YouTube channel views, she is one of the most watched classical musicians on the internet, using digital innovation to champion classical music.
Hailed as a musical pioneer, Xuefei Yang was the first-ever guitarist in China to enter a music school (Beijing’s Central Conservatoire of Music), and became the first Chinese guitarist to launch an international professional career. Now based in the UK, she is renowned for her alluring marriage of virtuosity and emotion.
Rachel Kolly d’Alba is considered one of the most talented Swiss musicians of her generation. She records on the Warner Classics label and her CD French Impressions featuring music by Saint-Saëns, Chausson, Ravel and Ysaÿe received rave reviews and was voted the Best Concerto Recording of the Year at the International Classical Music Awards 2012.
Francesco Piemontesi wowed audiences in Poole and Exeter in the 2011/12 season with his delicate playing and sensitive interpretation. As The Observer noted “Composer wins over ego, musical integrity over flashiness... This pianist reveals a powerful gift of intimacy. You have to stop and listen.” He was awarded Best Newcomer at the 2012 BBC Music Magazine Awards.
www.valentinalisitsa.com
www.xuefeiyang.com
www.racheldalba.com
www.francescopiemontesi.com
Wagner 200 Marking 200 years since his birth, Wagner’s full mastery of dramatic melody is demonstrated with four of his most celebrated operatic moments. His rare playful side is heard amongst the fanfare of the opening to The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, whilst the rousing march from Tannhäuser and the Entrance of the Gods from Das Rheingold display his usual gift of glorious triumphalism. Yet most
emotionally manipulative is the delicate and yearning simplicity of Tristan and Isolde’s doomed love affair. An unassuming tune is also a potent catalyst for astonishingly difficult pianistic gymnastics throughout Rachmaninov’s demanding mountain of a concerto. Scaling its dizzying heights is a test of virtuosity and endurance for any pianist.
friday
11
october 7.30 pm
wagner Die Meistersinger Overture wagner Das Rheingold: Entrance of the Gods wagner Tannhäuser: Grand March wagner Tristan & Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 Kirill Karabits conductor Valentina Lisitsa piano
Valentina Lisitsa
thursday
24
Musical Pictures
rachmaninov The Isle of the Dead sibelius Violin Concerto mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
Mussorgsky’s musical wander through a fictitious gallery of works by his friend Victor Hartmann is a beautifully curated series of miniatures, some intimate, others grotesque, but all imbued with vivid orchestral colour by Ravel’s genius for scoring. Rachmaninov first viewed Arnold Böcklin’s famous painting in 1909, and quickly set its disturbing images
october 7.30 pm
Alexander Vedernikov conductor Nikita Boriso-Glebsky violin
and dark feelings into a symphonic poem that is one of his most convincing orchestral scores in terms of both orchestration and atmosphere. At times dreamy and reflective and at others turbulent and darkly passionate, Sibelius’ solitary concerto is full of technical prowess and deep and gritty orchestral exploration from darkness into light.
“what characterised this performance above all was its galvanised strength and relentless momentum” Hilary Finch, The Times Poole, Lighthouse, Oct 2012
Judith Preston, Philippa Stevens, Vicky Berry
Pranks & Penitence Strauss’ colourful, warm-hearted portrait is marked as a rondo “in the old-style roguish manner” and roguish is certainly the word for the work’s hero, a notorious fourteenth-century prankster from northern Germany. Here he is heard running amok in the marketplace, impersonating a priest and more before he has to answer for his crimes on the gallows. Each movement of
Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler Symphony is based on Grünewald’s vivid, grotesque and bizarre Isenheim altarpiece paintings. The music emulates the bright colours with brilliant splashes of sound. Sensitively written for the violin, Beethoven’s only completed concerto for the instrument is a lyrical balance between soloist and orchestra. A masterpiece like no other.
Yan Pascal Tortelier
thursday
5
december 7.30 pm
r strauss Till Eulenspiegel hindemith Mathis der Maler Symphony beethoven Violin Concerto Yan Pascal Tortelier conductor Augustin Hadelich violin
Bournemouth Symphony Strings
Last Night of the Christmas Proms Kick off Christmas with a fun-packed concert for all the family, featuring seasonal classics old and new, all wrapped up with a sprinkling of magic and sparkle. A rollercoaster of Christmas favourites lies in store, including Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Sleigh Ride, Walking in a Winter Wonderland, All I Want for Christmas is You, Let it Snow Let it Snow, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
All this plus a selection of popular songs from the best of West End and Broadway musicals from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Andrew Lloyd Webber. Join the BSO and the singing talents of two top London performers for an evening guaranteed to get you into the holiday spirit which will leave you wanting more!
friday
20
december 7.30 pm
Pete Harrison conductor Annie Skates James Spilling
thursday
23
A Taste of Spain
de falla Interludio y Danza from La Vida Breve turina La Oración del Torero rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”
The heat and passion of Spain is evoked in a selection of pieces dripping with sun-drenched melodies. Eavesdrop on a torrid affair full of sensuality and betrayal in Granada, witness a quiet moment of prayer with toreadors before the dangers of a bullfight and relax in the sultry orange-fragranced heat of Andalucia with one of the most famous and popular of all concertos with its achingly
january 7.30 pm
Pablo González conductor Xuefei Yang guitar
Xuefei Yang
beautiful slow movement. Tchaikovsky’s final symphony is no less emotional as he explores the power of Fate in life and death. It has been subject to a number of theories as to a hidden meaning including the anguish of unrequited love and the conflict between platonic passion and the desires of the flesh, but it is the music itself that remains testament to a musical genius.
Chris Cooper
Legends & Stories Representing various elements of the human character, ranging from the simple idyllic peasant to the heroes of cultural epic sagas. Brimming with musical delights, each short piece of Dvořák’s Legends is an invitation to the listener to invent their own stories to fit the music. Freed from the confines of the sonata form, his Eighth Symphony is a seemingly spontaneous flow of thematic ideas. This is a cheerful, proud,
“serebrier has a remarkable gift for drawing polished and vigorous performances from his orchestra” Gramophone Magazine Warner Classics CD of Dvorˇák Symphonies No.3 and No. 6, June 2012
optimistic work, unusually animated and tuneful, though it incorporates a streak of melancholy that occasionally erupts into fury. Virtuosic brilliance is required for the two solo violin works of Chausson and Saint-Saëns. Each work is elegant and passionate, intensely Romantic with a hint of exotic spice – both a veritable showpiece of instrumental technical ability.
friday
21
february 7.30 pm
dvok Legends Nos. 6 –10 chausson Poème saint-sans Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso dvok Symphony No.8 José Serebrier conductor Rachel Kolly d’Alba violin
Amyn Merchant, Kevin Morgan, Edward Kay, Andy Cresci
An English Idyll Elgar’s charming suite, with its music drawn from early teenage material, combines the best of two worlds – innocent melodies, embellished with a 50-year-old’s mastery of delicate orchestration. He opens his First Symphony with one of his most noble and elevating tunes, a motto that infuses the emotional and sweeping flow of this pinnacle of English composition. Taken from the opera A Village Romeo and
“athletically exciting, committed and virtuosic playing... posed no technical problems for the excellent bournemouth players” Nick Barnard, Seen and Heard International Poole, Lighthouse, Mar 2013
Juliet, Delius’ warm and sultry orchestral interlude is a portrait of the depth and passion of the lovers’ feelings for one another. The Lark Ascending is redolent of the English countryside. The soloist takes wing from out a murmuring orchestral accompaniment and delights in a flight of exquisite freedom before the mere mortal music falls away, leaving the lark to sing itself into silence.
friday
7
march 7.30 pm
elgar Wand of Youth Suite No.2 delius The Walk to the Paradise Garden vaughan williams The Lark Ascending elgar Symphony No. 1 David Hill conductor Amyn Merchant violin
thursday
3
Bruckner’s Ninth
mozart Piano Concerto No. 27 K595 bruckner Symphony No. 9
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 is a genuine miracle of music. From its radiant first movement to the buoyant finale his deceptive and economic use of simple themes – each note essential and meaningful – beguiles the listener to his sheer genius that inspired such fervent voices of Romanticism as Chopin and Tchaikovsky to love Mozart’s music above virtually all others. A hundred years after Mozart
april 7.30 pm
Kirill Karabits conductor Francesco Piemontesi piano
Francesco Piemontesi
composed his final piano concerto, Bruckner undertook his final symphony. In this case the issue of valediction is not mere conjecture: whatever Bruckner’s intentions for his Ninth when he began working on it, it turned out to be a clearly defined gesture of farewell. He neither completed the work nor lived to hear it performed, yet the sense of closure and finality is great, as if he unconsciously knew that this was the last music he would write.
Philippa Stevens
Dream Melodies Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 is one of just two he wrote in a minor key. As such, an overriding mood of resignation, even a little foreboding, undercuts the music’s plentiful energy and abundant melodic richness. Schumann’s Cello Concerto is also a thoughtful work that challenges the conventions of the genre, more concerned with the music rather than a vehicle for the soloist.
In three sections to be played without pause it is at times contemplative and questioning, at others stormy and tumultuous, even playful. Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by contrast, is light and carefree, depicting the fairy realm of the play with enchanting, perhaps even enchanted, music full of other-worldly yet subtle energy.
“karabits and his orchestra go from strength to strength... a direct, unsentimental performance, eliciting beautiful string-playing” Rian Evans, The Guardian Bristol, Colston Hall, Nov 2012
thursday
1
may 7.30 pm
mozart Symphony No. 40 schumann Cello Concerto mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream Suite Kirill Karabits conductor Pieter Wispelwey cello
Portsmouth Chamber Music Series 2013/14 Venue and Booking information Third Floor Arts Centre Central Library, Guildhall Square Portsmouth PO1 2DX All concerts begin at 7.30pm. Seating is unreserved
friday 1 november Bournemouth Symphony Strings, directed by Amyn Merchant with works by Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn
friday 14 february Ensemble 360 with works by Wagner, Britten, Spohr and Charlie Piper
friday 29 november Marcus Farnsworth and James Baillieu with works by Schubert
with works by Telemann, JS Bach, CPE Bach, Le Clair, Marais and Rebel
friday 28 march Florilegium
Tickets £15 (concessions £13) Book for all concerts and receive a 20% discount. BSO subscribers qualify for a 10% discount BSO Vibes £5 Available from the University of Portsmouth Music Department 023 9284 3023 or 01202 669925 BOOK ONLINE at bsolive.com For more information visit: port.ac.uk/musicintheround bsolive.com/portsmouthchamber
friday 17 january Bournemouth Symphony Winds with works by Mozart and Brahms
friday 16 may with works by Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms
Vicky Berry
Thank You to Our Supporters On behalf of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra we would like to thank everyone who has so generously supported our work over the past year. Every gift helps us to bridge the increasing gap between the costs of running a world-class symphony orchestra and the income we can raise through concert tickets and public funding. The BSO is an extremely resourceful organisation but we need your help more than ever to support our performances and education work in communities across the length
and breadth of the South and South West. There are many ways you can support the BSO; make a regular donation, join our membership scheme or pledge to leave the Orchestra a legacy. For the company directors and decision-makers amongst you, the BSO has an exciting range of corporate sponsorship opportunities that can be tailor-made to deliver a wealth of benefits for your business, clients and staff.
If you would like to know more on how you or your company can support the BSO please contact our Development Department on 01202 644718 or email giving@bsorchestra.co.uk
If you love music then become a member of the BSO Being a BSO Member means so much more than just a membership card, priority booking privileges and subscription to Quarternote magazine. It is first and foremost about a love of music and being part of a collective that supports the future of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
If you are interested in becoming a BSO Member, please contact our Membership team on 01202 644734 or email membership@bsorchestra.co.uk
With an exciting schedule of national and international trips, members-only talks, interviews and exclusive access to rehearsals, you will have a unique opportunity to meet BSO musicians, conductors and guest artists, as well as a ‘behind-the-scenes’ perspective on the workings of the Orchestra and its players.
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra would like to thank the following supporters
principal funders
public funders
partners
academic partner
trusts & foundations With special thanks to JPMorgan Chase Foundation for its support of BSO Blast
in-kind partners
Mercedes-Benz of Poole
The Britten-Pears Foundation The Fenton Arts Trust Flaghead Charitable Trust The Holst Foundation The Michael and Ilse Katz Foundation The Leverhulme Trust Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust The Valentine Charitable Trust The VEC Acorn Trust and finally, thank you to everyone who supports the BSO through membership, donations, patronage, or by donating their time.
bso portraits: Eric Richmond ericrichmond.net Design: Joe Swift windpower.uk.com
How to get to the Guildhall lift flap »
Portsmouth Guildhall Guildhall Walk Portsmouth PO1 2AB Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra 2 Seldown Lane, Poole, BH15 1UF Tel: 01202 670611 www.bsolive.com BSO is a Charity Registered No.208520 and a company limited by guarantee Registered No.538351 England. All information is correct at the time of going to press – however artists are subject to availability and the BSO reserves the right to make any necessary changes from the advertised programmes.
by road
parking
public transport
Portsmouth Guildhall is situated at the heart of Portsmouth City Centre. From the M3 (Guildford), A3 (Chichester) and M27 (Southampton), take the M275 into the City Centre. At its end follow the A3 for a short while and follow signs to the Guildhall.
There are a number of City Centre car parks, but the most convenient to use is Isambard Brunel multi-storey car park which is situated 200 metres from the Guildhall in Alec Rose Lane (PO1 2BX). As a concert-goer you can buy a parking ticket in advance for £3.70 which is valid from 6pm until midnight. Purchase online or from the Guildhall box office in person. There is limited on-street parking adjacent to the Guildhall.
There are numerous City Centre bus services which stop within walking distance of Guildhall Square, including routes 1c, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23 and 40.
satnav use postcode PO1 2AB
Portsmouth and Southsea rail station is a 3 minute walk from the Guildhall.
october Sibelius Violin Concerto, Alexander Vede
Violin Concerto with Augustin Hadelich january
february Dvorˇák Symphony No.8 Rachel Kolly d’A
Elgar Symphony No.1 april Bruckner Symphony No
may Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream, K