London Mozart Players Fairfield Halls brochure 2012/13 by London Mozart Players

“ THE UNMISSABLE LMP...”

Fairfield Halls, Croydon

CONCERT SEASON 2012 /13

Welcome to the LMP’s 2012/13 season at Fairfield Halls, Croydon

e have an outstanding choice of concerts this season, with plenty of Mozart for which this orchestra is justifiably famous. But we explore the work of other composers, from Brahms and Chopin to Sibelius and Britten. We continue our close partnership with the LMP’s Associate Composer, Roxanna Panufnik, who has written two new works for us. These are extraordinary concerts in the heart of Croydon, thanks to the generous support of Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls and our supporters in the borough. The LMP’s ethos to engage with the community is seen in further performances outside the concert hall in care homes and local schools. We’re proud of our association with Croydon, as you’ll see from the photos throughout

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t is with great pleasure that I can introduce the LMP’s 2012 – 2013 season at Fairfield Halls to you. I am delighted to be entering my third season as the Music Director of the LMP, and will conduct four concerts of brilliant music. We are, again, delighted to welcome some of the finest soloists in Europe to Croydon. Acclaimed Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko, renowned for his special affinity with Chopin, opens the season. We also feature a season-long celebration of the violin, in which we welcome soloists Anthony Marwood, Joseph Swensen, Nicola Benedetti

this brochure of our musicians enjoying Croydon, including Surrey Street market, The Queen’s Gardens and even the fabulous “Cockney’s of Croydon” Pie and Mash shop! I know from talking to many people around Croydon that they are worried that classical music is not for them. But you have nothing to fear – the LMP loves newcomers and we are keen for you to give the orchestra a try. You are welcome to meet some of our players, soloists and staff after the concert in the foyer bar after every concert. My colleagues and I look forward to welcoming you to our concerts.

Simon Funnell Managing Director

and Chloë Hanslip to perform some of the most magnificent and best-loved works. I am delighted also that as Croydon’s Orchestra, we have the opportunity to be at the centre of Fairfield Halls’ fiftieth anniversary in November, with a celebratory programme of local connections. The LMP will be joined by the outstanding conductors Howard Shelley and LMP’s fantastic Associate Conductor, Hilary Davan Wetton, and we welcome back rising star conductor Nicholas Collon. I am very much looking forward to seeing you all again for another successful year.

Gérard Korsten Music Director

ConcertS 2012/13 Thursday 4 October 2012 7.30pm

Saturday 15 December 2012 3pm

Thursday 25 April 2013

Roxanna Panufnik

The Snowman film with live orchestra

Brahms Double Concerto for

Great Dickens! (world première) Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 Mozart Haffner Serenade

Gérard Korsten Conductor Nikolai Demidenko Piano Friday 2 November 2012 7.30pm FAIRFIELD AT 50 CELEBRATION

Roxanna Panufnik Fairfield Fanfare (world première) Bruch Violin Concerto Music by Walton, Parry, Arnold, Coleridge-

Taylor

Hilary Davan Wetton Conductor

Chloë Hanslip Violin Thursday 13 December 2012 7.30pm Mozart Symphony No.29 Britten Les Illuminations Schubert Symphony No.4,‘Tragic’ Gérard Korsten Conductor Sally Matthews Soprano

Thursday 31 January 2013 7.30pm

Mozart Requiem Mozart Symphony No.36, ‘Linz’

Violin & Cello in A minor

ˇ DvoRák Symphony No.6

Nicholas Collon Conductor

Nicola Benedetti Violin Leonard Elschenbroich Cello

Gérard Korsten Conductor City of London Choir

Thursday 23 May 2013 7.30pm

Thursday 14 February 2013 7.30pm

Beethoven Violin Concerto Beethoven Symphony No.5

Wagner Siegfried Idyll Sibelius Pelléas et Mélisande

Gérard Korsten Conductor Anthony Marwood Violin

Op.46

Brahms Violin Concerto

Joseph Swensen Conductor/Violin

Simon Callow Narrator

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Saturday 16 March 2013 7.30pm

Weber Oberon Overture Mozart Piano Concerto No.22 Brahms Symphony No.2

Howard Shelley Piano/Director

Pre-Concert Conversations Before concerts at 6.30pm*, the LMP’s Managing Director, Simon Funnell hosts a lively pre-concert conversation with conductors, soloists and LMP musicians; free to concert ticket-holders. Whether you are new

7.30pm

to classical music, or just want to know more, these conversations are the ideal way to get closer to the music and the musicians; and because a conversation should be a two-way thing, whenever possible we’ll give you a chance to ask a question too!

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* If there is no pre-concert talk due to other events taking place, we endeavour to post this information on our website at least 24 hours before the concert

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Roxanna Panufnik

Thursday 4 October 2012

Cockney’s of Croydon Pie & Mash Shop

7.30pm

Nikolai Demidenko “ This was a different Chopin from the one we are used to, the way it was delivered took the breath away. Flawlessly beautiful.” The Independent

Panufnik Great Dickens! (World première)  Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, Op.11 Mozart Serenade No.7 in D Major K250, Haffner Conductor GÉrard Korsten Piano Nikolai Demidenko The LMP’s new season showcases a brand new work by Associate Composer Roxanna Panufnik which, in the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth, aims to capture aspects of the great author’s extraordinary charm, dazzling wit, his great ebullience and a dangerous flash of brilliance, all in four minutes! The LMP welcomes exceptionally talented pianist Nikolai Demidenko, 4

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acknowledged as one of the finest musicians of his generation, who plays a piece by Chopin that the teenage composer wrote to showcase his extraordinary talent. Chopin described his concerto as ‘reviving in one’s soul beautiful memories’. The brilliance and intimacy of music are in abundance in Mozart’s Haffner Serenade, written as a celebratory outdoor showpiece for a wedding.

Surrey Street Market

Chloë Hanslip “Playing with the LMP is like playing with friends”.

Friday 2 November 2012

7.30pm

Panufnik Fairfield Fanfare (World première) Coleridge-Taylor Petite Suite de Concert Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op.26 Arnold The Fairfield Overture, Op.110 Parry Blest Pair of Sirens Walton Coronation Te Deum Conductor Hilary Davan Wetton  Violin Chloë Hanslip Chorus to include The Choirs of

Croydon Minster

This unique concert of local connections launches the celebrations of Fairfield Halls’ rich history marking fifty years to the day since its grand opening by The Queen Mother. The LMP, Croydon’s Orchestra, performs a celebration of Great British music after a brand new fanfare by LMP’s Associate Composer. Bruch’s violin concerto is performed by exceptionally gifted Surrey-born violinist Chloë Hanslip, who stands in the footsteps of twentieth-century icon Yehudi Menuhin, who played at Fairfield’s inaugural 1962 concert.

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“ Class, singing with a tone and an ability to Sally Matthews shape phrases in a personal way that made her outstanding”

Sally Matthews

Financial Times

Thursday 13 December 2012

7.30pm

Mozart Symphony No.29 in A major K201 (186a) Britten Les Illuminations, Op.18 Schubert Symphony No.4, D 417, ‘Tragic’ Conductor Gérard Korsten Soprano Sally Matthews A programme of passion and drama centres on a tribute to one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, Benjamin Britten, in the season marking one hundred years since his birth. Les Illuminations powerfully evokes the kaleidoscopic beauty of language in Rimbaud’s poetic masterpiece. When Britten discovered it “He was so full of this poetry he 6

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just could not stop talking about it. I suspect he must have seen a copy of Rimbaud’s works while he was recently staying with W.H. Auden.” (soprano Sophie Wyss). Mozart and Schubert were just teenagers when they wrote their landmark symphonies that mark the development of their unparalleled musicianship.

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Saturday 15 December 2012

3pm

i n th e

Blake The Snowman TRADITIONAL Christmas classics

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FAMILY CONCERT

Conductor Christopher Bell Following their hugely successful Christmas concert of 2011, the LMP and conductor Christopher Bell once again bring the spirit of Christmas to Fairfield Halls with the muchloved film of Raymond Briggs’ classic story The Snowman. A live performance of Howard Blake’s score accompanies the film, this year on an even bigger screen!

Before that, Christopher Bell will lead the audience in a foot-tapping, key rattling, audience participation concert of Christmas classics, including Leroy Anderson’s Christmas Festival, Sleigh Ride, Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Mirlitons from The Nutcracker Suite and other festive favourites.

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Croydon War Memorial

Mozart’s Requiem

Thursday 31 January 2013

7.30pm

Mozart Symphony No.36 in C major KV 425, ‘Linz’’ Mozart Requiem Mass in D minor K626 Mezzo-soprano Felicity Smith Tenor Nathan Vale Bass Njabulo Madlala Conductor Gérard Korsten

City of London Choir

Mozart’s Requiem, perhaps the most moving and enduring of his large compositions, was actually completed by another composer – Anton Sussmeyer, following Mozart’s tragic death just two weeks after being commissioned to write it. Wishing to pass off

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the Requiem as his own, the commissioner, a keen amateur musician, conducted all business transactions with Mozart in secret to preserve his anonymity; hence the subterfuge of sending an agent to act on his behalf. To the dying Mozart, well known for his superstitious nature and sensing his own impending demise, these mysterious visitations had all the hallmarks of the supernatural. His Linz Symphony was written at a much happier time, written over just four days in a flurry of inspired creativity.

LUXURY MYSTERY PoWER

Simon Callow

Joseph Swensen “ With Swensen something magical always happens.” The Scotsman

Thursday 14 February 2013

7.30pm

Wagner Siegfried Idyll, WWV 103 Sibelius Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 46 Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77

ST VALENTINE’S DAY CONCERT

Conductor/Violin Joseph Swensen Narrator Simon Callow The LMP’s Valentine’s Day concert celebrates the romanticism of Wagner, the devastating passion of a doomed love story and the expressive, lyrical beauty of the solo violin. The concert features one of the UK’s bestloved actors, Simon Callow, narrating a

script he has written to evoke the atmosphere of Sibelius’ luminous orchestral suite to Maeterlinck’s devastating, romantic story of forbidden love. In the Brahms’ violin concerto, Joseph Swensen takes the orchestra on a journey of fiery romance.

Love Majesty Passion

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Tony Gent’s Hair Stylist, Middle Street

howard Shelley “ Shelley conjured up a sheer fantastical scene of elfin mischief.” Frankfurter Neue Presse

Saturday 16 March 2013

7.30pm

Weber Oberon Overture Mozart Piano Concerto No.22 K482 Brahms Symphony No.2 in D, Op.72 Piano/Director Howard Shelley

Celebrated pianist and regular LMP collaborator Howard Shelley takes centre stage once again in a programme of contrasting orchestral treats. Weber’s Oberon Overture features delightfully memorable tunes, warm colours, and vibrant rhythms that evoke a magical world of fairies and

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adventurous knights. Shelley conducts and performs one of Mozart’s best-loved concerti that showcases delightful musical interplay between the piano and orchestra. An uplifting concert finale evokes the abundant mood shifts and rich colours of Brahms’ Second Symphony.

Nicholas Collon

Thursday 25 April 2013

Nicola Benedetti

Fresh Fish of Croydon

Leonard Elschenbroich

7.30pm

Brahms Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor, Op.102

ˇ DvoRák Symphony No.6 in D major, Op.60

“ The young cellist Leonard Elschenbroich is obviously a star in the making.” Birmingham Post

Conductor Nicholas Collon Violin Nicola Benedetti Cello Leonard Elschenbroich The live experience of hearing two of the world’s most promising young stars playing music together is given the unique spotlight in this fabulous programme. Former BBC Young Musician of the Year (2004) Nicola Benedetti and one of the most original soloists of his generation, cellist

Leonard Elschenbroich, perform the Brahms’ double concerto, known best for its warmth and brilliance. Dvo rˇ ák’s atmospheric Sixth Symphony takes the audience on a journey through the ever-shifting shapes of the Bohemian landscape.

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Anthony Marwood

“ If there were rock-star equivalents in the classical music world, ace British violinist Anthony Marwood would be on the list.” The Age, Australia

“ He’s a magic name in the business” Thursday 23 May 2013

7.30pm

Independent

Beethoven Violin Concerto   Beethoven Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67 Conductor Gérard Korsten Violin Anthony Marwood The LMP’s season finale represents one of the most important composers there has ever been. Beethoven became a revolutionary, shocking the music world by abandoning the rules of ‘Classical’ music, creating a new direction towards emotion, beauty and courage in the sound. Anthony Marwood brings Beethoven’s Violin Concerto into the twenty-first century with world-class flair.

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Astonishingly, Beethoven wrote his Fifth Symphony whilst going blind, and had long been deaf. However, as put by acclaimed Beethoven conductor Leonard Bernstein, the symphony is the most ‘simple, strong and right’ of his works – Beethoven, more than any other composer, ‘had the ability to find exactly the right notes’.

Friends of the LMP

Have you ever considered supporting the LMP by becoming a Friend

oining the LMP Friends is a great way to support the LMP and become a part of a very friendly group of people who share your love of music. We depend on the loyalty of our supporters to help us continue to present concerts and our award-winning programme of community and education work. In return, we offer wide-ranging benefits, including discounted tickets for concerts in Fairfield, opportunities to meet the musicians and a wealth of socialising events.

For more information on the Friends of the LMP, please contact the LMP office on 020 8686 1996 or go to www.lmp.org

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Play Your Part

here are many ways for you to be involved with the LMP, to ensure that the oldest chamber orchestra in the UK has a bright future. From world-class concerts to inspiring education and community projects, none of the LMP’s work would be possible without the help of all our supporters. Every donation, whatever the size, is very important to us and will make a big difference.

CONDUCTORS’ CIRCLE Our most generous Benefactors belong to this exclusive group. Members of the Conductors’ Circle are closely involved with the orchestra’s musicians and management team and play a significant role in the life of the LMP. By way of a thank you for their support, members of the Conductors’ Circle are invited to a sumptuous dinner and recital hosted by the orchestra’s Patron, HRH The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO.

SUPPORTERS Bronze supporters make donations of up to £50, Silver Supporters make donations of £50 and above and Gold Supporters make donations of £100 and above.

MAKING A GIFT IN YOUR WILL Making a legacy gift to the LMP is a great way to ensure that future generations of audiences can continue to be inspired by the orchestra that has inspired you. If you have CHAIR SPONSORS a will or are making one, this would be a From as little as £20 per month, you can good way to make a lasting provision for the sponsor the chair of one of the LMP musicians future of the orchestra and because the LMP and enjoy a special connection with the is a registered charity, your donation to us orchestra. You can support an LMP chair with can help reduce your tax liability. If you have a single donation or you can choose to already remembered LMP in your will, we are donate monthly by standing order. Whichever very grateful. If you would like to, please let chair you sponsor, your donation will support us know (in strictest confidence). We would a crucial part of the orchestra and will give value the opportunity to thank you and keep you a unique insight into the life of the LMP. you more closely involved in our work. BENEFACTORS Our Benefactors are musical patrons, following in the footsteps of those passionate, committed and generous philanthropists who, throughout the centuries, have enabled great musicians to compose and perform. Benefactors make an annual donation of £1,000 and above. 14 www.lmp.org

For more information please contact Simon Funnell at the LMP office on 020 8688 1996 or email simon@lmp.org

BOOKING INFORMATION Telephone bookings: 020 8688 9291

Balcony F

In person: Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon, CR9 1DG

DISCOUNTS Families and young people If you would like to bring one or more children to our concerts, free tickets are available for up to 4 under-18s if you purchase at least one full price ticket. This offer is subject to availability. For more details visit www.lmp.org.

Front Stalls

SUBSCRIPTION SERIES If you book 3 or more LMP concerts you are entitled to generous discounts: 3-4 concerts: 10% 5-6 concerts: 15% 7-9 concerts: 20%

Upper Stalls

Online bookings: www.fairfield.co.uk

D E Platform

GROUPS AND SCHOOLS Discounts are available for parties of 10 or more – please contact the Box Office for more information. Young people under the age of 25 pay only £10 for all seating areas. Please note there is also a charge of 70p applied to all transactions where postage of tickets is required.

F Choir £31.50 £28.50

£25.50

£18.00

£22.00

£12.00

Getting to Fairfield Fairfield is situated in the centre of Croydon, close to the A23 and M25, and has an adjacent multi-storey car park. It is just minutes away from East Croydon station, Tramlink stops and various bus stops. www.lmp.org

With thanks to: Martin Smith (Violin), Judith Busbridge (Principal viola), Michael Posner (Viola), Sebastian Comberti (Principal cello), Julia Desbruslais (Co-Principal cello), and Cockney’s of Croydon Pie & Mash Shop.

LOCAL MAGICAL PASSIONATE

“ Breathless shimmer, accented dance rhythms and marvellously sensitive passages... An orchestral treat.” Müncher Merker  Fairfield Halls Concert Programme 2012/13

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