London Philharmonic Orchestra 2012/13 Concert Season at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
lpo.org.uk southbankcentre.co.uk
january february
Renowned soloists Allison Bell and Anna Larsson join the Orchestra to perform sublime songs by Grisey and Wagner.
march
Principal Guest Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin contrasts works by Haydn and Richard Strauss.
Marin Alsop surveys the American 20th-century musical landscape with seminal works by Ives, Gershwin, Copland and Joplin.
Vladimir Jurowski conducts an all-star cast in a milestone of 20th-century musical theatre – Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, with cabaret artist Meow Meow.
april
october
Piers Lane plays the UK première of Australian composer Carl Vine’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
Marking the very beginning of The Rest Is Noise journey, the Orchestra performs early 20th-century landmark works by Richard Strauss, with soprano Karita Mattila.
The Orchestra performs two choral tours de force – Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Orff’s scenic cantata Carmina Burana.
may
September
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski delves into 20th-century masterpieces by his Russian compatriots Denisov, Miaskovsky, Shchedrin and Rachmaninoff.
november
2013 – The Rest Is Noise Highlights
december
2012 Highlights
Ryan Wigglesworth focuses on the great English repertoire of the 20th century – Vaughan Williams’s Fourth Symphony alongside Tippet’s oratorio A Child of our Time.
Celebrating 80 years of the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Welcome to the 2012/13 season
In 2012/13 the Orchestra is proud to celebrate its 80th anniversary season. Throughout 2013 we are collaborating with the Southbank Centre on an exciting festival based on Alex Ross’s book, The Rest Is Noise, charting the 20th-century’s key works in music and their relationship to the political turmoil of the century (see pages 28 – 29 for details). Season highlights include thought-provoking programmes from Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski, who conducts rarely heard treasures by Zemlinsky, Schoenberg, Shchedrin and musical theatre master, Kurt Weill, as well as three concerts based around the theme of War and Peace, one each with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Russian National Orchestra and one concert of the two orchestras together. Principal Guest Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Haydn and Richard Strauss; Marin Alsop concentrates on the 20th-century American musical landscape and we welcome back much-loved regular artists including Sir Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vänskä, Christian Tetzlaff and Lawrence Power. We also continue to champion new music, giving the UK première of Carl Vine’s Second Piano Concerto with Piers Lane. I do hope you’ll join us for another vibrant and diverse season of concerts.
Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director
01
september
Wednesday 26 September 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall R Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten (excerpts) Zemlinsky A Florentine Tragedy (One-act opera) Sung in German with English surtitles
Entranced and inspired by Oscar Wilde’s dark, death-ridden play, Alexander Zemlinsky conjured up his most colourful orchestral canvas in the one-act opera A Florentine Tragedy. Puccini claimed Zemlinsky’s most overtly Straussian score was ‘a rival to Salome but more human – more real.’ The narrative of infidelity and rapprochement wasn’t lost on Zemlinsky’s former lover Alma Schindler, who was outraged when she saw the Vienna première. Zemlinsky might not have found that ever-elusive fame and fortune with his opera, but he poured his all into it, revealing more about the troublesome Alma than any of her former lovers would dare.
02
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6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall A discussion on the music of Zemlinsky with David Trendell, College Organist and Senior Lecturer in Music, King’s College London.
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Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor
© Roman Gontcharov
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Heike Wessels Bianca Sergei Skorokhodov Guido Bardi Albert Dohmen Simone
Denisov Bells in the Fog Miaskovsky Silentium RODION Shchedrin Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 (The Chimes) Rachmaninoff The Bells (Choral Symphony)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano Sergei Skorokhodov tenor Vladimir Chernov baritone London Philharmonic Choir London Symphony Chorus
© Eugene Beregovoy
Like a seductive mist, the sound of bells casts a long, beautiful spell over orchestra and voices in this concert. After resounding, bell-themed works by Denisov, Miaskovsky and Shchedrin comes Rachmaninoff’s creative response to his own fascination with the sound of bells. He believed they directly conveyed emotional human truths, depicting the silvery brightness of birth, the golden browns of marriage, the dark stillness of death and the serenity of peace. Passionate and rapturous music is tenderly woven through by the soloists and charged by full-throttle chorus in Rachmaninoff’s bellstrewn vision of human life.
Tatiana Monogarova
SEptember
Saturday 29 September 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall
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Barlines – post concert event Free Level 2 The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall Artists involved in the performance will discuss the evening’s programme.
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03
WAR & PEACE
British and Russian music traditions share much, yet their performing styles are often worlds apart. It takes an artist of the quality and imagination of Vladimir Jurowski to bring them together in such a powerful manner as he has in these three concerts, pairing two of the world’s greatest orchestras, in music by British and Russian composers based on a loose but deeply thought theme of war. These concerts bring together the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s London season and Southbank Centre’s Shell Classic International series for the first time.
© Patrick Harrison
Wednesday 3 October 2012 London Philharmonic Orchestra Thursday 4 October 2012 Russian National Orchestra Friday 5 October 2012 London Philharmonic Orchestra & Russian National Orchestra
04
Jude Kelly OBE Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director
Above London Philharmonic Orchestra Below Russian National Orchestra
© RNO
WAR & PEACE promises to be one of the musical highlights in the UK this year.
WAR & PEACE
october
Wednesday 3 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Britten Sinfonia da Requiem Walton Viola Concerto Prokofiev War and Peace (excerpts)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lawrence Power viola London Philharmonic Orchestra
© Jack Liebeck
In June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Composers were expected to help with morale, and Prokofiev’s response was a setting of Tolstoy’s epic War and Peace that would prove his most probing exploration of rejuvenation through love. The excerpts taken from the opera maintain the grandeur and optimism of Prokofiev’s magnum opus, in stark contrast to Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem. This profound and moving ‘plea for peace’, written a year before Prokofiev’s score, contains some of the most affecting and effective orchestral writing, induced by the terror of war as Walton’s Viola Concerto was by the melancholy beauty of his chosen instrument.
Lawrence Power
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6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Tolstoy biographer Dr Rosamund Bartlett explores musical adaptations of Tolstoy’s works including the challenges faced by Prokofiev in his epic opera War and Peace.
You may also enjoy 4 & 5 October See pages 06 & 07 21 November See page 18 1 May See page 45 17 May See page 46
05
october
Thursday 4 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall
WAR & PEACE
Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 6 Prokofiev Symphony No. 5
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Russian National Orchestra In England and in Russia, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sergei Prokofiev looked on as the world was ravaged by war – a war that arrived at the doorsteps of both composers. Vaughan Williams responded with his Sixth Symphony, a work that belies its composer’s pastoral tendencies with music that cries out in violence and desperation. Prokofiev went further, creating his most compelling orchestral canvas, a piece whose machine-like insistence and propulsive emotional momentum speaks louder even than the bombs and guns it was designed to confront. Vladimir Jurowski conducts the Russian National Orchestra in an historic celebration of British and Russian musical traditions.
06
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WAR & PEACE
october
Friday 5 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall
Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture Britten Lachrymae for viola and orchestra, Op. 48a Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lawrence Power viola London Philharmonic Orchestra Russian National Orchestra
© Chris Christodolou
An immense evening for music as members of the Russian National Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra combine to perform works by both British and Russian composers, the latter marking seminal events in the history of one of the world’s great nations. Vladimir Jurowski marshals the inexorable percussive crescendo of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, a musical picture of Leningrad under siege, preceded by the blazing triumph of Tchaikovsky’s celebration of human victory, the 1812 Overture, and a solemn, mournful lamentation from the pen of Benjamin Britten.
Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor
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07
october
Friday 12 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 (Classical) Elgar Cello Concerto Sibelius Symphony No. 2
Vassily Sinaisky conductor Sol Gabetta cello
© Marco Borggreve
Darkness and light, optimism and despair, anger and contentedness – each seems so close to the other in three masterworks that aren’t always as they seem. The glistening brilliance of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony was actually created under political circumstances far more attuned to the angry and often bitter elegies that haunt Elgar’s still beautiful Cello Concerto. Few of Sibelius’s symphonies are as consistently thick and embracing as his Second, but even in the huge hymn-like yearning the composer conjures at the music’s apex, he appears to be striving for something he knows is unattainable.
Sol Gabetta
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09
october
Wednesday 17 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Beethoven Overture, Leonore No. 3 Carl Vine Piano Concerto No. 2 (UK première)* Shostakovich Symphony No. 10
Vassily Sinaisky conductor Piers Lane piano In July 1953, shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin, Shostakovich started his Tenth Symphony. Years of psychological torture at Stalin’s hand found their way into the symphony’s compelling obsession and relentless drive. Gone, Shostakovich believed for a moment, was the censorship that had curtailed him for decades. In the most powerful symphony he wrote, we glimpse a liberated composer unleashing his all. With Beethoven’s own manifesto for musical freedom and the first UK performance of Australian composer Carl Vine’s Second Piano Concerto, here’s a concert that promises to take a powerful hold of the emotions.
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6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Pianist Piers Lane discusses the UK première of Carl Vine’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
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10
Vassily Sinaisky
© Jesper Lindgren
*Commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra with support from Garf and Gill Collins.
October
Saturday 20 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall mendelssohn Overture, Ruy Blas Schumann Cello Concerto Beethoven Symphony No. 7
Kurt Masur conductor Alban Gerhardt cello
© Frans Jansen
Schumann’s Cello Concerto is among his most inspired creations – an isle of bliss in an otherwise troubled life. And how you hear it in the music: through the touching song of the cello it marries sweeping greatness with technical brilliance, radiating content through its very human beauty. It’s a fitting prelude here to the furious energy of Beethoven’s most impulsive symphony – itself a journey through steady, poignant contemplation to one of the most momentum-filled musical fireballs in history. Kurt Masur returns to his former orchestra for this concert of life-affirming masterworks from his homeland.
Kurt Masur
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October
Wednesday 24 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 Bruckner Symphony No. 7
Composers known for the utmost purity and serenity here give expression to far more human, earthy feelings – all the more refreshing for it. Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony is his most agile and delicately etched, containing in its beautiful Adagio a heartfelt eulogy for Richard Wagner but thrusting with full-blown, changeable and excitingly brash music elsewhere. In his Fifth Violin Concerto, Mozart used sounds and techniques from the highly fashionable and exotic music of the Turkish Ottoman empire to create one of his most earthy and vivid pieces.
12
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Hilary Hahn
© Peter Miller
StanisŁaw Skrowaczewski conductor Hilary Hahn violin
October
Friday 26 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 Bruckner (arr. Skrowaczewski) Adagio from String Quintet in F Shostakovich Symphony No. 1
StanisŁaw Skrowaczewski conductor Garrick Ohlsson piano
© Toshiyuki Urano
When his guiding light Robert Schumann attempted suicide and was admitted to an asylum in 1853, Brahms finally decided to act on his senior’s advice and attempt a multi-movement orchestral work. Partly a commemoration of Schumann’s demise, partly a wild fight against it, Brahms’s First Piano Concerto is frank, tender and impulsive. Shostakovich, too, felt the pressure of handling a large orchestra when he wrote his First Symphony as a St Petersburg student. But he created a piece of brilliant tragicomedy, so clearly suggestive of things to come, including the darkness that would infest his life just as it did Brahms’s.
Stanisław Skrowaczewski
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13
October
Wednesday 31 October 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Sibelius Symphony No. 3 Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 Nielsen Symphony No. 6, Sinfonia semplice
Osmo Vänskä conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin
© Ann Marsden
Carl Nielsen’s symphonic journey ends with a truly fascinating and enchanting creation, one of the strangest orchestral works ever born and a piece whose piquant flourishes and mischievous parps enshroud the composer’s strong-held musical beliefs. Nielsen’s tapestry of folly and despair could well be his own Mahlerian glimpse of mortality. Then again, it could simply be a beguiling slice of musical entertainment. Osmo Vänskä decides, and brings with him a thrilling concerto by Mozart and an ever-refreshing symphony by Sibelius – who once leant over to Nielsen and whispered the words, ‘I don’t even reach your ankles.’
Osmo Vänskä
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15
Nielsen Pan and Syrinx DvoRˇ ák Violin Concerto Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3
Osmo Vänskä conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin One night in 2007, conductor Osmo Vänskä took the London Philharmonic Orchestra through the thrilling orchestral showpiece that is Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony. The performance – of rare involvement, energy and beauty – became a critically acclaimed recording. Now Vänskä, whose concerts with the Orchestra invariably combine sparks of energy with startling levels of finesse, returns for a second look at this most irrepressible symphony of yearning and longing, with Dvorˇák’s treacle-toned Violin Concerto and music of plaintive rhapsody from Carl Nielsen to begin.
16
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Christian Tetzlaff
© Alexandra Vosding
november
Friday 2 November 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall
November
Wednesday 14 November 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Schumann Overture, The Bride of Messina Beethoven Triple Concerto Schumann Symphony No. 2
Christoph Eschenbach conductor Baiba Skride violin Daniel Müller-Schott cello Lars Vogt piano
© Marco Borggreve
Surrounding Beethoven’s most delicate, luminous concerto are two works by Schumann born of tragedy and despair. The dark course of fate shaped his Overture to Schiller’s tragedy The Bride of Messina. But it was Schumann’s own demons that surrounded his Second Symphony. ‘I have tried to prevail against my physical condition’, wrote Schumann of the piece, and the music’s ultimate triumph suggests he succeeded. Fighting from the very start, the symphony burns towards moments of thrilling invention and ultimately to uplifting renewal and optimism.
Baiba Skride
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17
Haydn Symphony No.44 (Trauer) Haydn Cello Concerto No.2 R strauss Don Quixote
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Lawrence Power viola Truls Mørk cello Inspired by Cervantes’s touchstone novel, Richard Strauss set about capturing the legendary Don Quixote in a set of wild variations that he hoped would surpass even his most colourful orchestral tapestries. The resulting piece contains all of Strauss’s virtues and none of his faults: a blend of jollity and pathos that also carries poignant tenderness and pain through its sonic portraits of a knight’s fantastic adventures. Truls Mørk transforms himself into the Don for the quixotic cello solo after playing Haydn’s most delicate and cheerful cello concerto.
18
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Yannick Nézet-Séguin Principal Guest Conductor
© Marco Borggreve
November
Wednesday 21 November 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall
Haydn Nelson Mass R strauss Ein Heldenleben
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Sarah-Jane Brandon soprano Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano Andrew Kennedy tenor Hanno Müller-Brachmann bass-baritone London Philharmonic Choir When Haydn’s uplifting Mass in D minor was performed for the visit of Admiral Nelson to the small estate where the composer worked, it became synonymous with the great leader who shared so many of the music’s qualities. For his orchestral rollercoaster Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), Richard Strauss cast around for a heroic figure to animate and settled on someone rather close to home – himself. This excitable piece scatters its adversaries with Nelson-like panache, but it matures to a place of noble reflection, a humbling glimpse of life’s spiritual journey.
20
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6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Yannick Nézet-Séguin looks in detail at Strauss’s epic work Ein Heldenleben.
Hanno Müller-Brachmann
© Monika Rittershaus
November
Saturday 24 November 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall
November
Wednesday 28 November 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Beethoven Overture, Fidelio Nono Julius Fuˇ cík Schoenberg Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte Schoenberg Survivor from Warsaw Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sir Thomas Allen narrator Annabel Arden director Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir Few composers have done more to overthrow tyrannies both real and creative than Schoenberg and Beethoven. Images of the misuse of power pervade Schoenberg’s outspoken Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte, a cutting, visceral creation after Byron that was created in political circumstances but more functionally designed to mark 20 years of the League of Composers. Most members of that organisation had been freed to some extent by the theoretical upheavals of Beethoven, whose mighty Fifth Symphony changed the way music was conceived – in the head and on the stage. Freedom reigns in this evening of powerful musical gestures.
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6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Composer and academic Silvina Milstein looks at the works of Nono and Schoenberg.
Barlines – post concert event Free Level 2 The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall Artists involved in the performance will discuss the evening’s programme.
You may also enjoy
© Chris Christodolou
20 October See page 11 23 January See page 31 2 March See page 40
Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor
21
Zimmermann Ecclesiastical Action, for two speakers, bass and orchestra (semi-staged) Brahms A German Requiem
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Miah Persson soprano Dietrich Henschel bass-baritone Annabel Arden director London Philharmonic Choir
© Artistbilder
Five days after completing his ‘ecclesiastical action’ And Turning Then, I Saw There Great Injustice That is Done Under the Heavens, Bernd Alois Zimmermann took his own life. His oratorio on passages from Ecclesiastes and Dostoevsky is a grim, hard-hitting prophecy of loss and emptiness; a stark piece of performance art inextricably connected to the Fluxus school of late 1960s Germany. It stands in utter contrast to the hopeful humanity of Brahms’s German Requiem. Brahms’s glowing messages of brotherhood and consolation will feel renewed by Zimmermann’s urgent challenge to them.
Miah Persson
december
Saturday 1 December 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
Barlines – post concert event Free Level 2 The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall Artists involved in the performance will discuss the evening’s programme.
You may also enjoy 24 November See page 20 23 January See page 31 1 May See page 45
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Grisey Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil Mahler Symphony No. 5
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Allison Bell soprano As he arrived at his Fifth Symphony, something was changing inside Gustav Mahler. Gone was the gentle, singing enchantment that had influenced his first four symphonic works. Suddenly Mahler’s orchestra was fighting for life, punching out with declamatory force and declaring a love that was so strong it hurt. Few works have the impact and beauty of the Fifth Symphony, but Gérard Grisey’s songs are also quite special. These meditations on death through poetry from four distinct cultural traditions use techniques to extend the expressive range of conventional harmonies, creating an extraordinary and luminous canvas of sounds that has proved unfailingly alluring.
24
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6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence Julian Anderson takes a look at the music of Gérard Grisey.
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Allison Bell
© Mike Hoban
DECember
Wednesday 12 December 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall
DECEMBER
Friday 14 December 2012 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Brahms Tragic Overture Wagner (arr. Henze) Wesendonck Lieder Bruckner Symphony No. 1 (1877 Linz edition)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Anna Larsson contralto
© Anna Thorbjörnsson
Already in Bruckner’s First Symphony the influence of ‘the master’, Richard Wagner, was making itself felt. In 1863 Bruckner heard Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser in Linz, capturing its desolate yearning in his first movement’s third theme. Two years later Bruckner met Wagner for the first time at a performance of Tristan und Isolde in Munich; the opera’s romantic soul seeped into Bruckner’s Adagio, as disarming a vision of love as Wagner’s own Wesendonck Lieder. As he slipped into hopeless adoration for the German poet Mathilde Wesendonck, Wagner wrote her these songs, moments of heartfelt stillness in a whirlwind musical career.
Anna Larsson
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‘London concert-goers are lucky to have concerts as creative as this’ Financial Times on the London Philharmonic Orchestra, April 2011
Clockwise from top left Leonard Bernstein © CSU Archives-Everett Collection-Rex Features, Rosa Parks © Corbis, Joseph Stalin © Getty Images and Gustav Mahler © DEA-A.DAGLI ORTI
The soundtrack of the 20th century
In 2007 Alex Ross wrote the seminal book “The Rest Is Noise – listening to the Twentieth Century”. Throughout 2013 we create a live version of the book, looking at history and art through performances, films, talks and debates. When I read the book I was instantly excited by the potential it offered to audiences less versed in classical music to discover the great works of the 20th century through understanding their historical context. I also realised how enriching it would be for committed music lovers to delve more deeply into the external influences bearing down on both individual composers and art movements of the century, producing some of the most defining, glorious and unexpected outpourings of creative work. Southbank Centre January – December 2013 The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Royal Festival Hall concerts during 2013 are all part of The Rest Is Noise. Join us for this year-long multi-artform festival as we chronologically chart the defining musical works of the 20th century.
The 20th century and beyond was fraught with debate and schism about the worth of different music. There was virtually no consensus from the 1920s onwards as to what ‘music of merit’ means. Concertgoers have often been uninterested – even hostile towards many 20th-century works. The Rest Is Noise festival is an attempt to recalibrate this argument by viewing this music through the prism of 20th-century history with its revolutions and counter-revolutions, its major moral and philosophical upheavals around race, gender, faith, political credo and pacifism – and its new relationship to technology and artistic democracy. Tim Walker and the London Philharmonic Orchestra have programmed a powerful series of concerts that create the symphonic spine of the festival.
Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise, inspired by Alex Ross’ book The Rest Is Noise Presented by Southbank Centre in partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise
Jude Kelly OBE Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director
29
January
Saturday 19 January 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall R Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra R Strauss Four Early Songs, Op. 33 R Strauss Notturno, Op. 44 No. 1 R Strauss Salome (Final scene)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Karita Mattila soprano Thomas Hampson baritone This evening we hear ten years in the life of Richard Strauss, creator of some of the most sumptuous, luxurious music of the late Romantic period. First we travel from the surging brilliance of the infamous Also sprach Zarathustra to four tender and rarely heard songs from the same year. After the gentle glow of the evening-themed Notturno comes darkness of a very different sort: the most provocative, dramatically charged chunk of music Strauss wrote – the dying minutes of his opera-shocker Salome. Karita Mattila sings the deranged princess and Vladimir Jurowski marshals the huge orchestra.
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall An introductory look at the LPO’s focus on The Rest Is Noise.
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Karita Mattila
© Lauri Eriksson
Generously supported by the Sharp Family.
January
Wednesday 23 January 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Webern Im Sommerwind Schoenberg Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16 Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
Sir Mark Elder conductor Ekaterina Gubanova mezzo soprano Paul Groves tenor Surrounding Schoenberg’s demonstrations of condensed orchestral effect, his Five Orchestral Pieces, come two examples of musical Romanticism in its last throes in the first decade of the 20th-century: the gentle, undulating beauty of Webern’s Im Sommerwind and Gustav Mahler’s culminating synthesis of song and symphony, Das Lied von der Erde. Here is Mahler’s most profound musical exploration of what life means – a piece whose concurrent darkness and radiance changed the parameters of vocal and orchestral expression forever and placed a full stop on the most remarkable compositional career of the age.
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
You may also enjoy 26 September See page 02 28 November See page 21 27 April See page 44
Generously supported by Barrie and Emmanuel Roman.
Ekaterina Gubanova
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January
Saturday 26 January 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Elgar The Dream of Gerontius Please note there will be no interval
Something very meaningful and profound took hold of Elgar as he began work on his magnum opus, The Dream of Gerontius. In setting Cardinal Newman’s poem tracing a man’s journey from faithful life to redemptive death, Elgar pulled together everything he could, combining technique, brilliant virtuosity, heartfelt passion and inspiring humanity. ‘These trees are singing my music,’ he wrote above the music for his thrilling hymn Praise to the Holiest, ‘or have I sung theirs?’ A charged Elgar went on to deliver a work of total conviction, for his wife Alice ‘a real message of consolation to the world.’
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Sir Mark Elder
© Sheila Rock
Sir Mark Elder conductor Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano Paul Groves tenor Brindley Sherratt bass London Philharmonic Choir Choir of clare college, cambridge
February
Friday 1 February 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Debussy Ibéria (from Images pour orchestre) Sibelius Violin Concerto Sibelius Symphony No. 4
Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Henning Kraggerud violin At his heights of frustration, Jean Sibelius created his most enduring and moving music. The composer’s dream of becoming a virtuoso violinist was dashed when he failed an audition for the Vienna Philharmonic, but that only added to the thrust and inspiration behind his resplendent Violin Concerto, a testament in music to the virtuoso Sibelius never was. At his deepest depths of despair, diagnosed with cancer and fighting off debts, Sibelius created his Fourth Symphony, perhaps his most stark, evocative, chilling and moving. Its sinister, craggy outcrops and shadows are separated from the sultry heat of Debussy’s Ibéria by a geographical and musical gulf.
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
6.00pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Musicians from the LPO join students from London Music Masters’ innovative music education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical celebration. See londonmusicmasters.org for more details of this partnership.
You may also enjoy 31 October See page 15 9 February See page 34 16 February See page 36
© Jacob von der Lippe
JTI FRIDAY SERIES
Henning Kraggerud
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February
Saturday 9 February 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Respighi Fountains of Rome Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain Respighi Il tramonto Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte Ravel Rapsodie espagnole
Enrique Mazzola brings his flair to a concert influenced by the sultry heat of Iberia. A shimmer of Andalusian light shines over the movements of Manuel de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain – an exotic slice of delicate, glistening orchestral writing that together with Ottorino Respighi’s blazing picture of the city of Rome is about as evocative of a place as is possible in music. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it was a foreigner who seemed to get most excited by the prospect of evoking Spain in music. A foreigner, and arguably the greatest orchestrator who ever lived – Maurice Ravel – whose firecracker Rapsodie espagnole rounds off this concert with infectious panache and bite.
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Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
You may also enjoy 19 January See page 30 1 February See page 33 16 February See page 36
Enrique Mazzola
© Martin Sigmund
Enrique Mazzola conductor Javier Perianes piano Maria Luigia Borsi soprano
February
Friday 15 February 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Simon TrpCˇeski piano Rachmaninoff’s finest piano concerto meets his most enduringly popular symphony. The undulating melody of the Third Piano Concerto weaves its way into one of the most heartstopping musical narratives of the 20th-century – a lone virtuoso thundering and eulogising against a surging, soaring orchestra. The Second Symphony contains the very best of Rachmaninoff: powered by melody, richly orchestrated, moving from momentary infernal whirlwinds to passionate declarations of love and still reflections of peace and tranquility, it was the piece that gave its composer his symphonic credentials. Heart-on-sleeve music brought to life by the matchless talent of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
6.00pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Pianist Dimitri Mayboroda performs Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 1.
You may also enjoy 29 September See page 03 2 November See page 16 22 February See page 39 JTI FRIDAY SERIES
© Marco Borggreve
In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Principal Guest Conductor
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FebruARY
Saturday 16 February 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Ravel Mother Goose Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Paris had seen revolution and turmoil, yet it didn’t quite know what to think of Stravinsky’s epochmaking ballet The Rite of Spring and the curious footing of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto, both of which were premièred in the city. The Rite went down rather badly, its language based in deranged rhythm rather than civilised harmony, its choreography changing the point of expression from the ankle to the pelvis. Ten years later one of the few to take a shine to Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto at its première was Stravinsky, who escaped in its childlike beauty and innocence.
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Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
You may also enjoy 3 October See page 05 9 February See page 34 6 April See page 42
Leila Josefowicz
© J. Henry Fair
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Leila Josefowicz violin
February
Wednesday 20 February 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Anon Spirituals – a cappella DvoRˇ ák Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) Milhaud La Création du monde Varèse Amériques
Marin Alsop conductor London adventist chorale Just as Antonín Dvorˇák lived the American dream through his touching symphonic hymn to the slave songs and spirituals of America, so another immigrant, Edgar Varèse, discovered New Worlds in his epic Amériques. His piece was hailed as the most important piece ‘for grand orchestra’ created on American soil since the turn of the 19th century – a bittersweet, wordless rhapsody that envelops like a dream and includes among its sonic armoury the sounds of sirens, duck-calls, whips and even a steamboat whistle. Amériques promises a concert experience not to be missed in this exploration of American musical discovery.
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
6.00pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Foyle Future Firsts present Les Six (orch. Constant) Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel – a rare revival of the score to Cocteau’s nonsensical ballet.
You may also enjoy 22 February See page 39 2 March See page 40 6 April See page 42
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Marin Alsop
© Grant Leighton
Part of the LPO Contemporaries Subscription Series See page 53
February
Friday 22 February 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Ives Three Places in New England Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Copland Piano Concerto Joplin (arr. Schuller) Treemonisha Suite
Marin Alsop conductor Garrick Ohlsson piano Exactly 80 years before this concert, American visionary Charles Ives witnessed the first performance of his orchestral triptych Three Places in New England. Inside Ives was stirring a unique brand of American impressionism: the piece recounted feelings floated to him from the rugged and humble beauty of New England landscapes as he walked through them, his wife by his side. A strange, prudent, masterpiece Ives’s work remains – a fascinating contrast to Joplin’s rhythmic Treemonisha Suite and the touching, playful simplicity of Copland’s beautiful Piano Concerto.
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Pianist Garrick Ohlsson shares his views on performing works by Gershwin and Copland.
You may also enjoy 15 February See page 35 20 February See page 38 2 March See page 40
© Kacper Pempel
JTI FRIDAY SERIES
Garrick Ohlsson
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March
Saturday 2 March 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Weill The Threepenny Opera Sung in German with English surtitles
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Mark Padmore Macheath Sir John Tomlinson J J Peachum dame Felicity Palmer Mrs Peachum Allison Bell Polly Peachum Nicholas Folwell Tiger Brown Gabriela Istoc Lucy Brown Meow Meow Jenny Otto Sander narrator Ted Huffman director
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Kurt Weill never set out to write a masterpiece – instead to provoke and entertain normal people with ready, urgent music that made a relevant political point. The Threepenny Opera, though, has proved a longstanding touchstone. A surrealistic and riotous juxtaposition of 18th-century ballad texts, European swing and dance music and American jazz all conceived on an operatic scale proved as nourishing as it did provocative. Weill’s is one of those rare seminal creations that remains ever-relevant, seen here in a performance taking place on the anniversary of Weill’s birth, and featuring ‘post-modern cabaret diva’ Meow Meow – herself a phenomenon in human form who has to be seen to believed.
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
6.00pm – 6.45pm 9.45pm – 10.15pm Free The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall Foyle Future Firsts present Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel – a chance to hear Weill and Brecht’s first collaboration.
You may also enjoy 28 November See page 21 16 February See page 36 6 April See page 42
Meow Meow
March
‘ A cabaret diva of the highest order’
© Harmony Nicholas
New York Post
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April
Saturday 6 April 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms Orff Carmina Burana
In 1935 Carl Orff encountered a vivid set of poems charting the outlandish pursuits of hedonistic students and monks, the medieval ‘golliards’. The texts, by the golliards themselves, captivated the composer. They found a home in the ritualistic, Stravinsky-influenced style Orff had been honing: full of motoric patterns, driving energy, percussive sprinklings and distinct orchestral colours, much of which can be traced directly to Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. But alongside its imposing shapes and furious rhythms, Carmina Burana has haunting tenderness and biting humour, too. This concert presents a rare opportunity to hear it alongside its most fertile and inspiring influence.
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Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Hans Graf looks at the Symphony of Psalms and the lasting appeal of Carmina Burana.
You may also enjoy 1 December See page 23 16 February See page 36 2 March See page 40 Part of the LPO Contemporaries Subscription Series See page 53
Sally Matthews
© Johan Persson
Hans Graf conductor Sally Matthews soprano Andrew Kennedy tenor Rodion Pogossov baritone London Philharmonic Choir trinity boys choir
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April
Saturday 27 April 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall WEBERN Variations Op. 30 BERG Lulu Suite MARTINu° Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano and Timpani BARTÓK Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste
Intense darkness pervades these three works from the 1930s. Berg’s operatic masterpiece of human self-destruction Lulu lends its most surging themes to its namesake Suite for soprano and orchestra, which perfectly exposes the composer’s marrying of Serialist technique to unfailing melodic gift. Bartók’s mysteriously scored creation has the feeling of music from another world – at once utterly foreign and beguilingly beautiful. As Martinu° saw his native Czechoslovakia threatened in 1938, he created a near-violent expression of courage – in his own words, ‘a current of notes that never ceases for an instant, and by a melody that passionately claims the right to freedom.’
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Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
You may also enjoy 28 November See page 21 23 January See page 31 6 April See page 42
Barbara Hannigan
© Raphael Brand
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Barbara Hannigan soprano
MAY
Wednesday 1 May 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 4 Tippett A Child of our Time
Ryan Wigglesworth conductor Rebecca Evans soprano Pamela Helen Stephen mezzo soprano Ben Johnson tenor Matthew Rose bass London Philharmonic Choir
© Benjamin Ealovega
As Europe slipped towards fascism, Michael Tippett felt the urge to protest in music – to show solidarity with those downtrodden by poverty and prejudice. Then, in 1938, a young Polish Jew oppressed by the rise of Nazism shot a German diplomat dead in Paris. Tippett had the central figure for his ‘oratorio of contemplation’, A Child of our Time. Taking Bach’s Passions and Handel’s Messiah as his models, Tippett ended each of his sections with his own arrangements of AfricanAmerican spirituals. ‘The world turns on its dark side’, proclaims the opening movement of Tippett’s masterpiece, but it remains a work of stringent hope and optimism.
Ryan Wigglesworth
Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
6.15pm – 6.45pm Free Royal Festival Hall Writer and broadcaster Daniel Snowman takes a look at Tippett's A Child of our Time.
You may also enjoy 3 October See page 05 4 October See page 06 26 January See page 32
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May
Friday 17 May 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Stravinsky Jeu de Cartes Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 Shostakovich Symphony No. 6
Prokofiev’s second Violin Concerto is said to represent the composer’s focus on a ‘new simplicity’, but it’s a warm, heartfelt piece nonetheless as the composer’s long-breathed melodies mingle with moments of haunting stillness and thought. Shostakovich, too, had to alter course with his Sixth Symphony. After the Soviet authorities accepted the masked rebellion of his Fifth, Shostakovich felt compelled to be more honest and open; under the surface of the Sixth – first brooding and then bustling – emerges a grotesque picture of persecution ending in a gallop that portrayed, for one commentator, ‘a brazen display of vulgarity.’
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Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
You may also enjoy 3 October See page 05 4 October See page 06 26 October See page 13 JTI FRIDAY SERIES
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
© Marco Borggreve
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin
funharmonics
FUNharmonics – Concerts for all the family Royal Festival Hall Hear the supersonic London Philharmonic Orchestra in full flight playing selections of its favourite pieces – some you would expect and some you would not! So many composers from Brahms to Britten have been fascinated by folk music – come and hear some of the best in October. In February you might risk having your socks blown off by ranks of massed brass players as part of the Roaring Twenties. In May you can join Bird, Duck, Cat and, of course, plucky little Peter, as they outwit the snarling Wolf in Prokofiev’s timeless classic Peter and the Wolf.
Sunday 21 October 2012 12.00 noon – 1.00pm THAT’S ALL FOLK! Sunday 10 February 2013 12.00 noon – 1.00pm THE ROARING TWENTIES
Child £5 – £9 Adult £10 – £18 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55
Musical stories for Children Available on the Orchestra’s own label as a CD or download. Visit lpo.org.uk/shop or order the CD on 020 7840 4242 or through all good retailers
Saturday 11 May 2013 12.00 noon – 1.00pm BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID To include Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf Come and join the party! Throughout the day there are free musical events around the building. 10.00am – 2.30pm: Have-a-go at an orchestral instrument of choice under expert instruction; join our music-making workshops in The Clore Ballroom, a fun and interactive way-in to the concert; explore the site with our activity sheet.
FUNharmonics foyer activities are generously supported by The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust, Stentor Music Co Ltd, Yamaha Music Europe GmbH (UK) and Bell Percussion Limited.
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All images on these pages © Graeme Findlay
1.15pm: The music continues in The Clore Ballroom – a guest ensemble of young musicians entertain with a selection of great tunes.
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funharmonics
Supporting the Orchestra Corporate Membership Corporate entertaining with the London Philharmonic Orchestra is the ideal way to bring a new level of sophistication to your client events, whilst supporting the Orchestra and its work on and off the concert platform. An exclusive seating area at a spine-tingling performance; mingling with musicians and fellow guests in the private bar; wonderful cuisine and stunning views of the River Thames. Let the London Philharmonic Orchestra enhance your concert experience and create a special evening for you and your guests. Corporate Membership packages include: Excellent front stalls seats for the evening’s concert A complimentary concert programme for each guest Access to a variety of pre-concert, interval and post-concert dining options including: – Opportunity to host guests in private function rooms within Royal Festival Hall – Access to the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s private Corporate Bar, where guests will have the opportunity to meet musicians and fellow concert-goers whilst enjoying Villa Maria fine wines, gourmet canapés and luxury Lindt chocolates – An exclusive reservation service at Skylon Restaurant (located within Royal Festival Hall) Packages start from just £2,500 + VAT per annum and a dedicated member of the Corporate team will assist you in planning a perfect evening.
‘Charles Russell has been a Corporate Member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for many years and we value it immensely. Not only does our Membership allow us to entertain key clients, year in year out, with exciting and high quality performances, it also enables us to support the Orchestra’s ongoing artistic excellence, its creativity and, in particular, its commitment to the community.’ 50
Charles Russell LLP
For more information on Corporate Membership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, please contact:
Laura Luckhurst Corporate Relations and Events Officer 020 7840 4209 laura.luckhurst@lpo.org.uk
Supporting the Orchestra Corporate Partnerships For more ideas, inspiration and information on Corporate Partnerships with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, please contact:
Alexandra Rowlands Corporate Relations Manager 020 7840 4210 alexandra.rowlands@lpo.org.uk
The London Philharmonic Orchestra is a registered charity, and support from businesses of all sizes plays a vital role in ensuring that the scope and quality of our work continues to grow, develop and flourish, on and off the concert platform.
An association with excellence Corporate Partners of the London Philharmonic Orchestra enjoy unique and bespoke relationships, aligning their brands with the Orchestra’s artistic excellence through sponsorship in London and across the world.
A commitment to the community Support for the Orchestra’s Education & Community Programme can form an integral part of a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, demonstrating commitment to the community and inspiring the next generation of musicians and music-lovers.
A creative workplace Music is a unique vehicle for employee training and development, bringing creativity, challenge and enjoyment into the workplace. Whatever your business priorities, the London Philharmonic Orchestra can tailor music-based training workshops to meet your needs.
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Supporting the Orchestra Join us Friends (From £50 – £250) Our Friends enjoy flexible priority booking, open rehearsals and regular news updates. In addition, they have the opportunity to meet other Friends and London Philharmonic Orchestra players in a private bar at London concerts. Principal and Affiliate Friends receive invitations to additional events across the year. Join us from just £5 per month (ten monthly Direct Debit payments) and be part of one of the world’s great orchestras.
Benefactors (£500 – £1,000) As a Benefactor you are invited to join London Philharmonic Orchestra musicians and staff in our Corporate Bar, offering complimentary wines and canapés and stunning views of London. In addition to priority booking and access to open rehearsals, members can enjoy final rehearsals and performances at Glyndebourne and access a calendar of exclusive events through the year, including the Orchestra’s annual fundraising Gala.
Thomas Beecham Group (from £3,000) Thomas Beecham Group Patrons are invited to enjoy a bespoke and lasting association with the Orchestra through major supporting gifts from £3,000 and upwards. Patrons giving at higher levels can endow the chair of a specific musician and enjoy a recital by that player at their home. Those giving £30,000 or more have the option to join our Principal Conductor’s Circle, becoming closely involved with Vladimir Jurowski’s work with the Orchestra.
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To learn more about Friends and LPO Contemporaries please contact:
Elisenda Ayats Development Officer 020 7840 4225 elisenda.ayats@lpo.org.uk For more information on the Thomas Beecham Group please contact:
Nick Jackman Development Director 020 7840 4211 nick.jackman@lpo.org.uk
Supporting the Orchestra Securing the future For further information on Benefactors and legacy donations please contact:
Harriet Mesher Charitable Giving Manager 020 7840 4212 harriet.mesher@lpo.org.uk Find out more about supporting the orchestra by visiting:
lpo.org.uk/support_us
LPO Contemporaries (from £150) LPO Contemporaries are dynamic Londoners in their 20s and 30s with a desire to become immersed in London’s cultural life. This tailor-made programme is the perfect package for professionals with busy diaries seeking to enjoy music and the arts as part of an exclusive social group. Events include designated concert evenings, Champagne Open Rehearsals, and parties at glamorous London venues. LPO Contemporaries Subscription Series 2012/13 Friday 12 October 2012 – see page 9 Wednesday 20 February 2013 – see page 38 Saturday 6 April 2013 – see page 42
Leaving a legacy to the London Philharmonic Orchestra This year the London Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its 80th anniversary. Since 1932 the Orchestra has undertaken its wide range of work due to the generosity of its philanthropic patrons. Sir Thomas Beecham left the London Philharmonic Orchestra as a legacy to future generations of music lovers, and now at this milestone in our history we want to ensure that we can continue the Orchestra’s work for the next eight decades and beyond. A charitable bequest may represent the culmination of a long-term relationship with the Orchestra, or it could be your first gift. Either way, our team will be happy to discuss with you the options that exist to ensure that your donation works hard to make a difference. Unrestricted gifts are the most valuable to the Orchestra, ensuring that we can continue to present concerts of the highest quality, engaging world-renowned artists, commissioning new music, and taking our performances around the world. However if you wish to support a particular area of work you can, for example, endow the chair of a principal musician, support education projects with disadvantaged children, or have a concert dedicated in your memory. Finally, a donation to the endowment fund would make a long-term contribution to ensuring that Beecham’s own legacy is preserved and that the London Philharmonic Orchestra continues to enthral audiences with music of the highest quality. 53
Recordings Recent releases on the London Philharmonic Orchestra Label Live, studio and archive recordings from our catalogue are available at lpo.org.uk/shop, London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 (Monday – Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm), all good retail outlets and Royal Festival Hall shop. Downloads available from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, and classicsonline.com
Have you seen our recordings catalogue? For a full list of all our recordings so far, download the FREE London Philharmonic Orchestra catalogue at lpo.org.uk/shop
Keep in touch with the London Philharmonic Orchestra Get up-to-the-minute news and reviews Glimpse behind the scenes of a world class orchestra Receive exclusive previews of the latest LPO Label recordings Share opinions and interact with players, staff and other audience members Access regular online concert streaming for free
Join us on Facebook facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra
Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/lporchestra
Subscribe to our Podcasts lpo.org.uk/podcasts ‘The “library” choice, that has for so long eluded us’ Gramophone, July 2011 LPO–0054 Mahler Symphony No.2 ‘Resurrection’
Engage with the LPO Blog londonphilharmonic.wordpress.com LPO–0059 Ravel Daphnis et Chloé
Hear it first! lpo.org.uk/listen Access online playlists of the concerts
Download the free iPhone App lpo.org.uk/iphone For latest news, reviews and concerts
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Booking information
London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Monday to Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm No transaction fee F 020 7840 4201
Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am – 8.00pm (transaction fees apply)
southbankcentre.co.uk (transaction fees apply) In person at Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office Daily 10.00am – 8.00pm (no transaction fee) For details of our privacy policy, please visit lpo.org.uk or call to request details All discounts are subject to availability and cannot be combined
Book more, pay less: series discounts Book 3 – 4 concerts and receive a 10% discount Book 5 – 7 concerts and receive a 15% discount Book 8 – 10 concerts and receive a 20% discount Book 11 – 14 concerts and receive a 25% discount Book 15+ concerts and receive a 30% discount
Group Bookings With savings of up to 20% on ticket prices, and many other group benefits, everything has been done to help your group have an enjoyable evening with one of the world’s finest orchestras. Benefits include: 20% discount for groups of ten or more A pair of complimentary tickets for the group organiser for groups of 20+ Exclusive ticket offers and special promotions on selected concerts Flexible reservations until one month before the concert No booking fee or postal charge Discounted coach hire Customised free publicity material for your group. Book now 020 7840 4205, lpo.org.uk/groups or groups@lpo.org.uk Monday to Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm
Student and Under-26 Noise Schemes If you are a full-time student or under 26 you can get discounted tickets to selected London Philharmonic Orchestra concerts throughout the year. Several concerts are also followed by a complimentary drinks reception courtesy of the Orchestra’s Principal Beer Sponsor, Heineken. Sign up to one of the free e-bulletins at lpo.org.uk/noise to get details of these fantastic offers!
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Information General information Can I exchange my tickets?
London Philharmonic Orchestra
You may exchange your tickets for another concert in the Orchestra’s 2012/13 season. The right is reserved to subsitute artists and vary programmes if necessary.
Resident at Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne Festival Opera 89 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7TP
Limited concessions 50% off all ticket prices for full-time students, benefit recipients (Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, and Pension Credit) and under-16s (maximum 4 per transaction. Not applicable to Family Concerts). Limited availability; appropriate cards will be checked on admission.
Access Visitors with a disability can join Southbank Centre’s free Access Scheme. You may be eligible for tickets at concessionary prices and to bring a companion who can assist you during your visit; and to receive information in alternative formats. For information, please email accesslist@southbankcentre.co.uk, call 0844 847 9910 or visit southbankcentre.co.uk/access. The auditoria are fitted with Sennheiser infrared systems. Receivers can be collected from the Cloakroom on Level 1 of Royal Festival Hall. Royal Festival Hall has level access via internal lifts and ramps, and accessible toilets. For further details please call 0844 847 9910. Royal Festival Hall has wheelchair spaces in the boxes, choir seats, side and rear stalls of the auditorium. Guide and companion dogs may be taken anywhere on site.
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Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director HRH The Duke of Kent KG Patron Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Principal Guest Conductor Pieter Schoeman Leader Julian Anderson Composer in Residence
T 020 7840 4200 F 020 7840 4201 Tickets 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk
Information Getting to Southbank Centre NORTH
Southbank Centre is situated on the Thames Riverside between the Golden Jubilee Bridge and Waterloo Bridge.
THE LONDON EYE
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SOUTHBANK CENTRE CAR PARK BELVEDERE ROAD
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By underground to Waterloo, Embankment and Charing Cross
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By rail to Waterloo, Waterloo East or Charing Cross BI EN JU
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FESTIVAL RIVERSIDE
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL SOUTHBANK CENTRE SQUARE
RIVERSIDE TERRACE FESTIVAL PIER SOUTHBANK CENTRE CAR PARK THE HAYWARD
THE HAYWARD
QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL
ARTISTS’ ENTRANCE
WAT ERLO
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EMBANKMENT
By bus to Waterloo (stopping on Waterloo Bridge, York Road, Stamford Street and Belvedere Road). For detailed bus information call 0845 300 7000 or visit tfl.org.uk/buses Southbank Centre Car Park – Belvedere Road (7am – 1am daily) Southbank Centre Car Park – Hayward Gallery (7am – 1am daily)
ARTISTS’ ENTRANCE
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Discounted rate after 5pm and also for patrons attending daytime, paid ticketed artistic events at Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery) who present their performance ticket and car park ticket at a Southbank Centre Ticket Office for validation. Parking enquiries: 020 7620 0357 or visit southbankcentre.co.uk/visitor-info Accessible parking is available in Southbank Centre Car Park – Hayward Gallery on a first-come, first-served basis. To collect your free exit voucher, please present your parking ticket and event ticket and Blue Badge at Queen Elizabeth Hall Artists’ Entrance or Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office.
IDGE
BFI SOUTHBANK
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
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Seating information Evening Concerts Ticket prices (Except for 4 and 5 October 2012 – visit southbankcentre.co.uk for these seating plans)
£9 £16 £27 £39
£12 £21 £33
London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Monday to Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm (No transaction fee) F 020 7840 4201
Southbank Centre Ticket Office Book now 0844 847 9920
Premium seats £65* *We have selected the very best seats in the front stalls to be sold at premium price to ensure you the finest acoustic and view.
Daily 9.00am – 8.00pm (transaction fees apply) All ticketing staff at Southbank Centre can take typetalk calls
Balcony
southbankcentre.co.uk (transaction fees apply) In person at Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office Daily 10.00am – 8.00pm (no transaction fee)
Boxes
Boxes
Royal Festival Hall has wheelchair spaces in the boxes, choir seats, side and rear stalls of the auditorium.
Rear stalls
Front stalls
Side stalls
Side stalls Performance area
Choir seats
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Seating information FUNharmonics Family Concerts Sunday 21 October 2012 Sunday 10 February 2013 Saturday 11 May 2013
Adult £10 Adult £12 Adult £14 Adult £16 Adult £18
Child £5 Child £6 Child £7 Child £8 Child £9
Balcony
Boxes
Boxes Rear stalls
Front stalls
Side stalls
Side stalls Performance area
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2012
Wednesday 3 October Britten Walton Prokofiev Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lawrence Power viola London Philharmonic Orchestra Thursday 4 October Vaughan Williams Prokofiev Vladimir Jurowski conductor Russian National Orchestra Friday 5 October Tchaikovsky Britten Shostakovich Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lawrence Power viola London Philharmonic Orchestra Russian National Orchestra
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Wednesday 17 October Beethoven Carl Vine Shostakovich Vassily Sinaisky conductor Piers Lane piano Saturday 20 October mendelssohn Schumann Beethoven Kurt Masur conductor Alban Gerhardt cello Wednesday 24 October Mozart Bruckner Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Hilary Hahn violin Friday 26 October Brahms Bruckner Shostakovich Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Garrick Ohlsson piano Wednesday 31 October Sibelius Mozart Nielsen Osmo Vänskä conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin
Wednesday 14 November Schumann Beethoven Schumann Christoph Eschenbach conductor Baiba Skride violin Daniel Müller-Schott cello Lars Vogt piano Wednesday 21 November Haydn r Strauss Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Lawrence Power viola Truls Mørk cello Saturday 24 November Haydn r Strauss Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Sarah-Jane Brandon soprano Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano Andrew Kennedy tenor Hanno Müller-Brachmann bass-baritone London Philharmonic Choir Wednesday 28 November Nono Schoenberg Beethoven Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sir Thomas Allen narrator Annabel Arden director Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir
DECEMBER
Friday 2 November Nielsen ˇ ák DvoR Rachmaninoff Osmo Vänskä conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin
Saturday 1 December Zimmermann Brahms Vladimir Jurowski conductor Miah Persson soprano Dietrich Henschel bass-baritone Annabel Arden director London Philharmonic Choir Wednesday 12 December Grisey Mahler Vladimir Jurowski conductor Allison Bell soprano Friday 14 December Brahms Wagner Bruckner Vladimir Jurowski conductor Anna Larsson contralto
Concert texts Andrew Mellor photography Patrick Harrison Design Roundel Printer Tradewinds (this brochure is produced on paper from a sustainable source) Information in this brochure was correct at the time of going to press. The right is reserved to substitute artists and to vary programmes if necessary. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is a registered charity No. 238045. Southbank Centre is a registered charity No. 298909.
October
Saturday 29 September Denisov Miaskovsky rodion Shchedrin Rachmaninoff Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano Sergei Skorokhodov tenor Vladimir Chernov baritone London Philharmonic Choir London Symphony Chorus
Friday 12 October Prokofiev Elgar Sibelius Vassily Sinaisky conductor Sol Gabetta cello
NOVEMBER
Wednesday 26 September R Strauss Zemlinsky Vladimir Jurowski conductor Heike Wessels Bianca Sergei Skorokhodov Guido Bardi Albert Dohmen Simone
October
September
All concerts are at Royal Festival Hall and start at 7.30pm unless otherwise stated
Wednesday 23 January Webern Schoenberg Mahler Sir Mark Elder conductor Ekaterina Gubanova mezzo soprano Paul Groves tenor
Friday 1 February Debussy Sibelius Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Henning Kraggerud violin Saturday 9 February Respighi Falla Ravel Enrique Mazzola conductor Javier Perianes piano Maria Luigia Borsi soprano
April
Saturday 16 February Ravel Prokofiev Stravinsky Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Leila Josefowicz violin Wednesday 20 February Anon ˇ ák DvoR Milhaud varÈse Marin Alsop conductor London Adventist Chorale Friday 22 February Ives Gershwin Copland Joplin Marin Alsop conductor Garrick Ohlsson piano
March
February
Saturday 26 January Elgar Sir Mark Elder conductor Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano Paul Groves tenor Brindley Sherratt bass London Philharmonic Choir Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Friday 15 February Rachmaninoff Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Simon Trpcˇeski piano
Saturday 2 March Weill Vladimir Jurowski conductor Mark Padmore Macheath Sir John Tomlinson J J Peachum Dame Felicity Palmer Mrs Peachum Allison Bell Polly Peachum Nicholas Folwell Tiger Brown Gabriela Istoc Lucy Brown Meow Meow Jenny Otto Sander narrator Ted Huffman director
Saturday 6 April Stravinsky Orff Hans Graf conductor Sally Matthews soprano Andrew Kennedy tenor Rodion Pogossov baritone London Philharmonic Choir Trinity Boys Choir Saturday 27 April webern berg MartinU˚ Bartók Vladimir Jurowski conductor Barbara Hannigan soprano
MAY
Saturday 19 January R Strauss Vladimir Jurowski conductor Karita Mattila soprano Thomas Hampson baritone
FUNharmonics Family Concerts February
January
2013 The Rest Is Noise
Wednesday 1 May Vaughan Williams Tippett Ryan Wigglesworth conductor Rebecca Evans soprano Pamela Helen Stephen mezzo soprano Ben Johnson tenor Matthew Rose bass London Philharmonic Choir
Sunday 21 October 12 noon that’s all folk! So many composers from Brahms to Britten have been fascinated by folk music – come and hear some of the best Sunday 10 February 12 noon THE ROARING TWENTIES You might risk having your socks blown off by ranks of massed brass players as part of the Roaring Twenties Saturday 11 May 12 noon BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID Join Bird, Duck, Cat and, of course, plucky little Peter, as they outwit the snarling Wolf in Prokofiev’s timeless classic Peter and the Wolf
Friday 17 May stravinsky Prokofiev Shostakovich Vladimir Jurowski conductor Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin The London Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Arts Council England and Southbank Centre.
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