– AUTUMN / WINTER 2022 –A PLACE TO CALL HOME – 04 –Our new season at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall MEMBER NEWS – 12 –All the latest news from behind the scenes BACKSTAGE–16–Percussionist Keith Millar, celebrating 50 years with the LPO KINAN AZMEH, COMPOSER I CONTINUE TO CONSIDER MUSIC AN ACT FREEDOMOF & RESILIENCE.
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DAVID BURKE CHIEF EXECUTIVE Rachel Williams London Philharmonic Orchestra John Ltd and diligence. Having worked with Elena, Ed, Catherine and player President Martin Höhmann in recent months, I feel very optimistic about the future of this amazing Orchestra.TheOrchestra, at its heart, is of course its musicians, and in the LPO’s 90th year it is fitting that this edition’s ‘Backstage’ interview features percussionist Keith Millar, who is celebrating his 50th season with the LPO. Keith has been with the Orchestra for over half its existence and performed with a remarkable array of conductors and musicians. It says everything about the LPO that he writes with such excitement about the future. I hope you are able to join us in discovering where the music takes us this season, as we toast the Orchestra’s 90th anniversary and look to the future with excitement! Thank you for being with us on the journey. experience of the programme on page 9. I hope you will also follow news of our Schools and FUNharmonics Family Concerts, LPO Junior Artists, Open Sound Ensemble and other programmes on our new website when it launches later this autumn. We enter our 90th season with a fantastic new Chair, Catherine Høgel: you can enjoy getting to know her better through the interview on page 7. Securing Catherine as Chair was the final part of several important appointments for the Orchestra in recent years, including those of Elena, Ed and myself. Special thanks go to Victoria Robey for steering us so well over the last decade and overseeing the transition with such care
rachel.williams@lpo.org.uk PUBLISHER
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W elcome to the Autumn/ Winter 2022 edition of Tune In We have a fantastic season ahead of us and are very much looking forward to welcoming back old friends such as Emanuel Ax, Gil Shaham, Simon Keenlyside and Miloš Karadaglić, as well as welcoming new artists such as Víkingur Ólafsson and Randall Goosby to LPO audiences at the Royal Festival Hall. Edward Gardner takes us on some epic journeys through concerts including Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass and Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, and underpinning the season is Elena’s remarkable series, ‘A place to call home’. I hope you enjoy the article over the page which delves into the background behind this important and, sadly, highly relevantOctobertheme.sees the Orchestra turn 90 years young, and to help celebrate, The Great British Bake Off 2021 semi-finalist Jürgen Krauss will be baking us a cake! Classical music lover Jürgen lives in Brighton and is a big LPO fan, regularly attending our concerts there, and will unveil the cake at our first Brighton Dome concert of the season on 22 October – look out for photos in the next edition! Musically, in celebration this season we will perform works written especially for the LPO, including Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, and we look to the future with several new commissions. We continue to build for the future through our Education and Community activity: 2021/22 LPO Young Composer Angela Elizabeth Slater talks about her
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, we cannot accept liability for any statement or error contained herein. 2022 Philharmonic TheOrchestra.paperused for printing this magazine has been sourced from responsibly managed forests, certified in accordance with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). It is manufactured to the ISO 14001 international standard, minimising negative impacts on the environment and is manufactured from pulp that has been bleached without the use of compounds using (elemental which are considered harmful to the environment.
EDITOR
COVER IMAGE iStock/Lobro78 WELCOME
TUNE IN – AUTUMN / WINTER 2022 –LPO.ORG.UKCONTENTSA PLACE TO CALL HOME 04–05 BOARD NEWS 06–07 NEW & NOTEWORTHY 08–011 MEMBER NEWS 12 CONCERT LISTINGS 13–15 BACKSTAGE: KEITH MILLAR 16
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For an artist, a sense of home can be central to finding an individual voice – to the stories they tell, and the language in which they tell them.
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‘My PhD dissertation at the Moscow Conservatory was on American music’, she explains. ‘When I moved to the USA, I internalised many things about American music, and what can happen if people come to a country from their native place. What happens to their creative abilities in the process of immigration? So when I was invited to co-lead the London Philharmonic Orchestra, it was on my mind. Then Afghanistan happened. Just as I was starting at the LPO in late August last year, the Taliban took over Kabul. And because one of my ideals is for an orchestra – and especially the LPO – to become and remain relevant to the world around us, it was very much on my mind to reflect that political conflict in our programming.’Theresult– ‘A place to call home’ – is an attempt to do just that. Dubinets has sought out composers and music with a tale of displacement to tell, and the results are as diverse and as powerful as you’d expect.
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LPO Artistic Director, Elena Dubinets
n 1949, four years after the fall of Nazism, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and his family felt safe to return to Vienna. When Hitler had seized Austria in March 1938, the Jewish Korngolds had fled to America. Erich had vowed to write no more ‘serious’ music until Nazism was defeated, and he supported his family by composing Hollywood film scores.
‘We have a pre-concert programme (26 November) featuring a piece by a very young composer from Afghanistan, who managed to escape right before the Taliban came to power.’ Arson Fahim [see right-hand page] was born in 2000 in a refugee camp in Pakistan; his fledgling musical career in Kabul has been halted with a violence that Western listeners can barely imagine. He’s studying in the US now, but understandably, his response is uncompromising: ‘I feel like music is my gun, and I’m fighting with music.’ (His work is performed alongside Refugee by British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage: an act of solidarity with those seeking refuge from war zones). But history comes faster than ever these days. Victoria Vita Polevá escaped from Ukraine to safety in Switzerland earlier this year: her Nova (18 March) attempts to forge hope amid the sounds of armed conflict –‘the heroic calls of Carpathian signalling horns, the howl of air-raid sirens, the drumbeat of machine gun bursts’. Chen Yi survived the brutality of China’s Cultural Revolution to make a new life in the USA. But homes can’t readily be forgotten: her Momentum (4 November) emulates the dancing strokes of classical Chinese calligraphy to create, she says, ‘a metaphor for the flourish contemporary music is making in our new society’. As refugees from war and ideological violence, Polevá, Yi and Fahim take their place – from very different directions –in a long musical tradition. We’ve mentioned Korngold (whose music is performed on 29 October), but Wagner (1 October) fled the counter-revolution in Dresden with an arrest warrant not far behind him, and Rachmaninoff (18 January, 10 February, 4 March) escaped from the Bolshevik Revolution with only a suitcase full of scores. ‘When we say that Rachmaninoff was very successful in the West, in a way he wasn't’, says Dubinets. ‘He was successful as a pianist, but not necessarily as a composer.
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The return to Vienna should have been a joyful homecoming; but old acquaintances were initially warm, then cagey and distant. The Korngolds returned to the family home that had been seized by the Nazis after they fled for their lives, and they bumped into an old neighbour.
Throughout 2022/23 we’ll be exploring these questions and re-telling some of these stories in our series ‘A place to call home’.
‘And when are you going home?’ Home: one syllable, but so charged with power – a word that can convey absolute security, or, for the dispossessed, profound and enduring pain. Korngold’s story, or something very like it, could be told by millions over the past hundred years; in many ways, displacement and exile is the quintessential 20th-century experience. And as the 21st century comes of age, little seems to have changed. The evidence is all around us: huddled figures in flimsy boats. News footage of desperate crowds scrambling for the last plane to safety. Welcoming committees at international rail terminals, waiting behind trestle tables with improvised blue and yellow flags. It couldn’t happen here, we tell ourselves – until a coastal flood erodes the soil beneath our feet, or an unexpected heatwave suddenly halts all trains and we realise, with an unfamiliar lurch, just how little it takes to sever the ties that bind. So what do we mean by ‘home’? A safe haven behind carefully-guarded walls? Or something broader – a culture, a place, a time or simply a sensation of belonging? For an artist, a place to call home can be central to finding an individual voice – to the stories they tell and re-tell, and the language in which they tell them. Music deals in human emotions and human experiences, and there’s no experience more universal than a sense of home. For the LPO’s Artistic Director Elena Dubinets, the subject was simply too big, and too urgent, to ignore.
‘You’re in Vienna! I don’t believe my eyes!’ exclaimed the neighbour.
‘Composers don't live in an ivory tower. They are normal people; they are among us. They reflect upon what we see and what we experience. And this is a major statement for our season. I want to demonstrate how closely classical music relates to real life. People come to our concerts in order to be entertained and excited and happy: we wanted to show them that, yes, we can do all this, but we can also do much more. We can emotionally engage you in such a way that you won't need to read newspapers for a while.’ These are sounds, in other words, that hit home: universal, and yet intensely personal. Wherever you come from – or wherever you’re going – composers like Iyer and Azmeh, Rachmaninoff and Polevá are all, in their own way, telling a story that we can’t afford to ignore.
Vijay Iyer lives in New York too, but his parents are from India, and his new cello concerto, Human Archipelago, takes its inspiration from a collection of images and texts by his friend, the Nigerian-American writer and photographer Teju Cole. ‘It's sort of a point of contact for us’, he says. ‘It has to do with making sense of ourselves, our place in the world as people of colour in the West, as members of different post-colonial diasporas.’ In Human Archipelago (1 October), a group of instrumentalists –the ‘Travellers’ – wander outside the orchestra, with the cello as ‘a sort of mediator’. It’s disconcerting. The uprooted players require considerable courage and daring; their presence disrupts the orderly conventions of the Western classical concerto. The result has the potential to be rejuvenating, liberating and wide open to individual creativity. And that, for Elena Dubinets, is the point. ‘I’ve realised that what we should be doing in the coming seasons is expanding the classical music canon – broadening it, besides the familiar names. Representing music from the refugee communities allows us to do that, because they never were part of the tradition; they were excluded in many ways. For example we’re seeing how Ukrainian music was completely overshadowed by Russia. So I'm not necessarily talking only about composers of colour or women composers – I'm talking about music that wasn't known enough, and should be known because it's great music.’
But an awareness of different cultural narratives and the experience of alienation (and sometimes discrimination) from the majority population makes migrants uniquely placed to observe and comment upon their new homes. What they see is not always flattering.
‘In the summer of 2021, I prepared to write one last piece before I left my war-torn home for the USA. I looked back at the challenges I had to go through, the times I had to risk my life simply to be a musician and the times I almost lost it all. I reflected on how music gave purpose and meaning to my life. I thought about how one day I may see the sea – and may be able to use the magical powers of music to play a role in making the world a better place. Journey to the Sea is about how each and every one of us faces challenges, and how the challenges that we overcome are what make us who we are. The tears we shed in the hardest moments of our lives, when struggling to cling to hope is painful beyond words. When I wrote this piece, I had no idea that the hardest and most painful days of my life were yet to come. Only two weeks after I arrived in the US, my country fell into the hands of the Taliban who, alongside many other crimes such as killing thousands of innocent people and not allowing women to work or study, banned music. My friends and colleagues either had to flee or go into hiding in fear of their lives. Now more than ever I need to remind myself that we must never give up, because it is in the hardest of times that hope is most vital.’
CONCERT LISTINGS ON PAGES 13–15. BROWSE THE COMPLETE 2022/23 SEASON
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He almost stopped writing. And he also missed Russia very much: during the Second World War, he was sending money to Russia to help it survive the Nazi invasion. People rarely lose touch completely with their home cultures.’That’s another facet of migration. It can be a positive choice, and a personal success.
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‘After more than ten years of the endless Syrian tragedy, I continue to consider music as an act of freedom and resilience’, he says. ‘While music might not bring the needed justice, I still believe that it brings hope.’
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The Syrian-born, New York resident Kinan Azmeh, meanwhile, was stigmatised as an alien in his own home when, in 2017, President Trump imposed an entry ban on travellers from seven Muslim majority countries. Azmeh’s ebullient Clarinet Concerto (18 January) fuses East (the Syrian accent is unmistakable) and West (the hottest of contemporary jazz) to generate a defiant joy, and he’ll be playing it himself.
Victoria Vita Polevá In 2000, Afghan pianist, composer and conductor Arson Fahim was born a refugee in Pakistan, where his family had fled due to the war in Afghanistan. After studies at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, he became conductor of the Afghan National Symphony Orchestra. In 2021, only two weeks before the Taliban took control of his country, Arson arrived in the US and began studies at the Longy School of Music.
Michael Tippett didn’t even leave England, but A Child of Our Time (26 November) is a hymn to the marginalised from a composer whose sexuality and radical politics effectively made him an internal exile. Tippett was imprisoned as a conscientious objector during the Second World War.
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JOURNEY TO THE SEA WILL BE PERFORMED IN A FREE PRE-CONCERT EVENT AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL ON 26 NOVEMBER: SEE PAGE 14 FOR DETAILS.
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BOARD UPDATES Tony Hall
manyAdvisoryservedHouse,theledJuneofappointedwasVice-ChairtheOrchestrafrom2022.TonyhasboththeBBCandRoyalOperaandhasonourCouncilforyears.Weare
LPO Chairman Victoria Robey (right) passes the baton to new Chair, Dr Catherine Høgel, at the LPO Gala in May
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The Player Directors, who represent the Orchestra’s musicians on the Board, also saw some changes this year. Co-Principal Horn Mark Vines was appointed VicePresident, and viola player Katharine Leek and violinist Minn Majoe were newly elected. Stewart McIlwham stepped down, having been one of the Orchestra’s longest-standing Board members and served as both President and VicePresident: we would like to thank Stewart for all his hard work over the years. We welcomed two new members to the LPO Advisory Council this spring: Simon Burke and Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson Simon is a business leader in the retail and consumer sector. A chartered accountant by training, he was CEO of Virgin Entertainment and several other retail and leisure companies. He has also been a director of the BBC and a trustee of the National Gallery. Nick has more than 40 years’ experience in the private client and institutional wealth management sector. He is a Deputy Lieutenant in the County of Kent, as well as a passionate classical music supporter and voice of the podcast ‘Perfect Pitch’.
Following a rigorous search process, Dr Catherine Høgel was appointed Chair of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from May 2022. Having served as Vice-Chair for three years, as well as on the Orchestra’s Advisory Council, Catherine brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role and looks forward to building on the hard work and successes of outgoing Chairman, Victoria Robey OBE. Victoria Robey became the first nonplayer Chairman in the Orchestra’s history when she took on the role in 2012, and we are hugely grateful for her exceptional dedication and drive in supporting the Orchestra. Under her diligent, intelligent and compassionate stewardship, the LPO has gone from strength to strength. She has shown great care towards every aspect of the Orchestra’s work, from overseeing the senior appointments of David Burke as Chief Executive, Elena Dubinets as Artistic Director and new Principal Conductor Edward Gardner, to championing Education & Community projects and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, including spearheading the formation of LPO Junior Artists. Victoria officially handed the role over to Catherine at the LPO Gala on 9 May, but we are glad that she remains on the Advisory Council and look forward to welcoming her to concerts and behind the scenes for many years to come!
Outgoing
MEET OUR BOARD & ADVISORY COUNCIL lpo.org.uk/about/board
Catherine Høgel is a doctor currently taking time out of medicine to raise her family. She has served on the boards of arts organisations and charities including Dunard Fund, the Colburn School of Performing Arts, Awards for Young Musicians and the Royal Opera House. A keen musician herself, Catherine can be found singing, conducting and playing chamber music. Her deep conviction of the intrinsic value of the arts to society is central to the LPO’s ethos, and her long relationship with the Orchestra means she understands its culture and mission, and has helped shape many of the initiatives she will now lead as Chair. We look forward to working with Catherine for many years to come, and hope you will join us in welcoming her into her new role.
delighted that he will be sharing his expertise with the LPO as Vice-Chair, and warmly welcome him to the Board.
The LPO Board of Directors sees some changes this season as we welcome Dr Catherine Høgel as the Orchestra’s new Chair, and thank Victoria Robey for her ten years of outstanding leadership.
Children need exposure to the arts, especially now in a world that is so fast-paced and screen-facing. The arts help to keep creativity alive, and act as a long-term insurance policy for mental health and wellbeing.
From medicine I bring my ability to listen, connect and empathise; from business, fiscal responsibility, determination, and an acknowledgement of the importance of every individual within an organisation.
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I do, however, think the UK orchestras have greater ability to be flexible and agile in the work they do. Sadly, one issue on both sides of the water is music education: as in the UK, in many parts of the USA music is not embedded within the curriculum, and I really feel this is a failure of the education system.
HØGEL GETTING TO KNOW...
What have been your most memorable LPO moments?
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If I think about the moments that have made me laugh the most in life, many have been musical: time at the piano with friends, ill-advised late-night renditions of the Queen of the Night’s aria, or when quartets go unexpectedly awry!
From the children … resilience and wonder! It’s hard to overstate the importance of music in my life: wherever I’ve lived or landed in the world, music has provided me with an instant community. My most enduring friendships have been built and sustained though music. Music has been my solace and my joy, and watching my children engage with music has been one of the most rewarding strands of parenthood. I often find myself walking through life with a soundtrack playing in my mind: Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights when going into battle, or a choral prayer when I need to anchor myself – not that I’m religious, but the Lord’s Prayer from the Rose Responses has quietly bolstered me through many such moments.
One of Ed Gardner’s early concerts with the Orchestra that really stood out was Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in 2011: I’ll never forget the astonishing collective silence at the end, before the rapturous applause. What I will say is that I have never left a concert feeling the same as when I entered it: every single one is in some way transformative. Inevitably I’m running into the concert hall at the last minute, carrying the stresses of the day, but when I leave, the world is lighter (at least metaphorically!) and I feel restored. What’s your favourite music to listen to or to perform? I love symphonic music, especially Brahms and Beethoven, but my taste is in no way limited to classical music. I’ve just returned from Latitude festival in Suffolk. In the midst of the headliners (Foals, Groove Armada, Snow Patrol), lesser-known bands, and even some sea shanties, one day I was crossing back over to the campsite and heard an auditory glimpse of Bach’s Air on the G String transcending through the throng; it had gathered quite a crowd. I grew up playing violin and viola in orchestras and ensembles, and still love playing chamber music with friends – most recently Mozart quartets and Brahms sextets. But the majority of my music-making in the last 15 years has been choral. Growing up and as an undergraduate in Durham I always sang in choirs; however working as a doctor with all the crazy shifts made it difficult to commit to anything on a weekly basis, so my musical life has become slightly impromptu. My friends and I all still have our madrigal books, anthem books and the omnipresent Carols for Choirs, and they make an appearance whenever the situation allows! We caught up with Catherine a few weeks into her new role as LPO Chair, to find out a little more about her and what the Orchestra means to her.
You trained as a doctor and have taken on roles in your family’s business, as well as raising a large family. What will you take from your life experiences into your time as Chair of the LPO? And how has your involvement with music shaped other areas of your life?
There have been so many: from Masur’s Brahms series, to hearing Rostropovich play Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, through so many exciting discoveries under Vladimir Jurowski – I especially remember Weill’s Threepenny Opera, which was a new discovery for me.
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Welcome, Catherine! Going back to when it all began, how did you first become involved with the LPO? In 2001 I had arrived back in London from the USA and was the lucky recipient of a raft of tickets that an acquaintance wasn’t able to use; through that gift I fell into a habit of regularly attending concerts. Then I started talking to people: members of the Orchestra, management, supporters. It was such a welcoming, positive space with a real sense of community: there was no showmanship; people were authentic and genuinely interested. I first joined what was then the LPO Trust: even in those early days I could see that everyone was passionate about the Orchestra, and the Orchestra was passionate about itself.
Each orchestra, wherever it is, has its own signature sound and repertoire, as it should.
Over my two decades with the LPO I’ve met so many wonderful people, and remain friends with many. Knowing so many players by name forces an investment in the company, and the model of Player Directors means we really hear how things are on the ground for the players, who ultimately are the reason we are here.
I do think where learning can happen is behind the scenes, in the management and funding. In the UK there is definitely scope to be bolder about corporate sponsorship and philanthropic stewardship, but of course a large part of this is cultural –US arts organisations have grown around a funding model skewed more heavily towards philanthropy than anywhere else in the world, and of course the US has tax structures that incentivise charitable giving.
You serve on the board of the Colburn School in Los Angeles and have a strong knowledge of the music scene in the US. Are there things that the UK’s orchestras could take from across the pond?
SUMMER
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HONG KONG CITY HALL AT 60
UP AND AWAY WITH BA LPO Offstage, entertainmentonisYolanDabroadcasterbypodcastbehind-the-scenesourpresentedsaxophonistandBrown,nowavailablethein-flightfor the 16 million British Airways passengers who travel on its medium- and long-haul flights each year, along with an LPO playlist of tracks from the Orchestra’s own label. Now in its fourth series, LPO Offstage brings listeners closer than ever to the world of orchestral music. In each episode YolanDa hears from LPO players and guests as they tell fascinating stories in an access-all-areas pass to the Orchestra. LPO Offstage was also nominated in the Arts & Culture category at the 2022 British Podcast Awards.
On 3 April
BBC PROMS 2022
We were invited to give two concerts at this summer’s BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. On 24 July we were joined by conductor Robin Ticciati and the cast from the Glyndebourne Festival for a concert performance of Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers (pictured below), fresh from its run at Glyndebourne. On 31 August we returned to the Proms stage for Elgar’s choral masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius, in which conductor Edward Gardner, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir were joined by the Hallé Choir and soloists including Allan Clayton and Jamie Barton.
CONCERTGLYNDEBOURNEFORUKRAINE
2022 ROUNDUP LPO NEWS
In March 1962 the LPO made its Hong Kong debut, performing at the opening of Hong Kong City Hall. This summer the sound of the Orchestra returned to City Hall in celebration of the venue’s 60th anniversary, albeit from afar. We had been invited to return and perform live for the occasion, but due to Covid travel restrictions the Orchestra instead filmed two concerts, which were screened to paying audiences at City Hall on 20 and 21 August. As well as reprising pieces from the 1962 performances – Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 – the concerts featured Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Nicola Benedetti, and the world premiere of Hong Kong composer Charles Kwong’s Lullabies
The LPO performing at the opening of City Hall on 9 March 1962 with Principal Conductor Malcolm Sargent and pianist Yeeha Chiu, and City Hall today
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ChristodoulouChris©PromsBBC–ASH©UkraineforConcertGlyndebourne
GLYNDEBOURNE 2022 One of the 2022 Glyndebourne Festival’s most anticipated events was a landmark new production of The Wreckers by British composer Ethel Smyth (1858–1944). Smyth was a lifelong disruptor, demanding a hearing for her complex and compelling music, fighting for the rights of female orchestral players and conducting her own works at a time when women conductors were few and far between. Described by conductor Robin Ticciati as ‘an explosion of colour and extravagance’, The Wreckers is a tale of love and tragedy in a community lashed by the sea. The production is available now on Glyndebourne’s streaming service, Glyndebourne Encore. As well as The Wreckers, this summer the LPO also enjoyed performing Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro under Giancarlo Andretta and Nicholas Carter; Puccini’s La bohème under Jordan de Souza; and a Poulenc double-bill of La voix humaine and Les Mamelles de Tirésias, again conducted by Robin encore.glyndebourne.comTicciati.
Glyndebourne’s Musical Director Robin Ticciati united the London Philharmonic Orchestra and a host of Glyndebourne artists for an afternoon of music as we stood in solidarity with those affected by the war in Ukraine. In addition to donations made directly to the Disasters Emergency Committee, the concert raised over £65,000, which will help provide food, water, shelter and healthcare to refugees and displaced families in Ukraine. Thank you to everyone who attended, and to all the artists who generously donated their time for free.
LISTEN NOW FOR FREE lpo.org.uk/podcast
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‘For my viola concerto, Through the Fading Hour, I had a change of soloist during the year from David Quiggle (LPO Principal) to Richard Waters (LPO Co-Principal), and I am immensely grateful to both. David’s input at the start of the project was invaluable, allowing me to hear my ideas come to life, explore the details of each musical moment, and get feedback on how to achieve my artistic intentions. David and, later, Richard went into such great detail to make the sounds I wanted to create happen and helped me to realise new possibilities.
The Debut Sounds concert is available to watch free of charge on the LPO YouTube channel: londonphilharmonicorchestrayoutube.com/
SUMMER 2022 ROUNDUP LPO NEWS
July saw the LPO’s annual Debut Sounds concert at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, featuring an ensemble of LPO members and Foyle Future First musicians. The concert was the culmination of our 2021/22 Foyle Future Firsts and LPO Young Composers talent development programmes and featured world premieres of five new works by our 2021/22 LPO Young Composers: Conrad Asman, Rafael Marino Arcaro, Alex Ho, Yunho Jeong and Angela Elizabeth Slater. Throughout the year the composers were guided by LPO Composerin-Residence and Composer Mentor Brett Dean through a series of seminars, workshops and rehearsals. 2021/22 LPO Young Composer Angela Elizabeth Slater reflects on her experience:‘Thisyear
DEBUT SOUNDS
Angela in conversation with Composer Mentor Brett DeanVittoneLia©GalaLPO
THE 2021/22 LPO YOUNG COMPOSERS PROGRAMME WAS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE GARRICK CHARITABLE TRUST, THE STANLEY PICKER TRUST, THE RVW TRUST, THE MARCHUS TRUST AND THE ERNST VON SIEMENS MUSIC FOUNDATION. THE FOYLE FUTURE FIRSTS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IS GENEROUSLY FUNDED BY THE FOYLE FOUNDATION WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM THE BARBARA WHATMORE CHARITABLE TRUST AND THE THRIPLOW CHARITABLE TRUST.
On 9 May we were thrilled to bring together 200 guests for the Orchestra’s fundraising Gala, this year held at the striking Lindley Hall in Westminster. Hosted by YolanDa Brown, ‘Connect, Reflect, Renew’ was the theme for the evening, and the Gala provided a chance to connect with friends new and old and be renewed by the extraordinary power of music. The occasion also gave us the opportunity to celebrate Victoria Robey’s tenure as Chairman of the LPO and see her hand the baton over to new Chair, Catherine Høgel.Onarrival guests were treated to a sparkling wine reception provided by Gusbourne Estate before taking their seats for the evening’s performance. The Orchestra was in fine fettle under the baton of Principal Conductor Edward Gardner, in a musical programme that stirred the soul, from the swirling depths of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture to the serene beauty of the second movement of Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, and the effervescent Starburst by Jessie Montgomery. Ed and the Orchestra were then joined by the incomparable Sir Bryn Terfel (pictured), who raised the roof with his spectacular performance of Schubert’s Lieder Ständchen and Der Erlkönig: guests even had the opportunity to join in and sing with Sir Bryn in the encore! Throughout the evening guests were also ferociously bidding on our exciting Silent Auction, with a host of luxury prizes. The evening raised over £255,000 to support the Orchestra and its future, and we are so grateful to everyone who contributed to and supported the evening to help us achieve this exceptional total. Plans are already under way for the 2023 Gala and more details will be shared in the autumn. We hope you’ll join us!
LPO GALA 2022: CONNECT, REFLECT, RENEW
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Brett invited us to explore the concerto form, composing an eight-minute solo concerto to be performed by a member of the LPO. I was delighted by this news: back in 2017 I had written a string quartet called Eye o da hurricane, which foregrounds the viola as protagonist in a story about a crofter’s wife trapped by the turmoil of the First World War and in a storm that surrounded her on Shetland. I was captivated by the way the viola could carry such fierce, dramatic lines, and I knew I needed to return to it.
‘I dedicated my work to all three violists that have helped shape and support me in its creation: Richard, David and Brett Dean. Brett has been wonderfully supportive in his advice. Indeed, his approaching my work with the multiple hats of composer, violist and conductor has been invaluable in helping me direct and shape the work into what it is today. It has been really enjoyable to observe the other composers develop their works and I know that their experiences have been similarly supportive and stimulating.’
2018 Oldenburg Cabernet Sauvignon Located in Banghoek Valley in South Africa, Oldenburg produce wines truly reflective of the terroir. Expect something incredibly fresh with European style and elegance.
‘IT’S GETTINGLIKEFRONTROWSEATS!’MARQUEETVSUBSCRIBER
2019 Hunter’s Chardonnay, Marlborough, New Zealand
LPO CONCERTS ON MARQUEE TV Since 2020 we’ve teamed up with Marquee TV, the premium streaming service for arts and culture, to bring LPO concerts straight into your living room. Whether you can’t make it in person, or you want to relive the magic of a particularly special concert, a selection of our live concerts each season are streamed free of charge for the first 48 hours, with no subscription required. You can watch on a smart TV, tablet, computer or smartphone. For details of streamed concerts in the 2022/23 season, visit lpo.org.uk/marquee.
WIN WITH JEROBOAMS
We are delighted to announce a new partnership with Jeroboams wine merchant.
2021 LQLC Rose Pinot Noir
This season, as part of the Southbank Centre’s ‘Purcell Sessions’ series, we present three late-night chamber events with artists from our main season showcasing their creative talents in an up-close and personal setting.
TOUR NEWS
To enter the prize draw, simply email enquiries@jeroboams.co.uk with your name, address and telephone number, and include LPO COMPETITION in the subject line by 31 December 2022. Terms and conditions: Five prizes to be won. The prize comprises one bottle of each of the wines listed above. Entrants must be aged 18 years or over. A full UK mainland address and telephone number must be provided for delivery purposes. Competition closes on 31/12/22. Entries must be received by the closing date and no liability is accepted for lost, illegible or incomplete entries. One entry per person. If you do not want to hear from Jeroboams in the future, please write ‘No database’ in the body of your email. jeroboams.co.uk
To benefit from access to Marquee’s extensive back catalogue of content featuring the world’s best music, opera, theatre and dance, Marquee are offering Tune In readers 50% off a year’s subscription. Head to marquee.tv/lpo2022 and use the code LPO2022 for 50% off.
2018 Kelly Washington Pinot Noir
Starting life in 1985 as a humble wine and cheese shop, they have since grown into one of London’s most cherished purveyors of fine wines. You may have seen their iconic green shops in such neighbourhoods as Belgravia, Knightsbridge, Holland Park, Kensington, Notting Hill, Hampstead and Muswell Hill. To launch the partnership, Jeroboams have kindly offered Tune In readers the chance to win 1 of 5 delectable ‘Jeroboams Discovery Cases’, within which you’ll find:
TUNE IN – AUTUMN / WINTER 2022 –LPO.ORG.UK
One of our favourite wine makers, Tamra Kelly-Washington’s Pinot Noir is a stunning introduction to the range.
– 10 –NEW & NOTEWORTHYLPONEWS
The only family-owned winery remaining in Marlborough, we are incredibly proud to have imported Jane Hunter’s wines for over 30 years.
A bottle of Jeroboams house Champagne, because there’s always a reason to celebrate!
LATE-NIGHTCONCERTSCHAMBER
On 1 October, pianist and composer Vijay Iyer gives a free post-concert performance of his own music with cellist Inbal Segev and LPO players on the Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. On 9 November, following the main evening concert featuring the world premiere of her Piano Concerto No. 2, Polish composer and singer Agata Zubel performs her own music alongside Berio’s Folk Songs with members of the LPO. On 18 January, following the main evening’s concert featuring the UK premiere of his Clarinet Concerto, Syrian clarinettist and composer Kinan Azmeh performs his own music alongside LPO musicians. All events begin at 10pm. 9 November and 18 January are ticketed events in the Purcell Room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall: for full details or to book, please visit lpo.org.uk/202223season
N.V. Laytons Brut Reserve
In October we head to the Netherlands and Belgium with Edward Gardner and clarinettist Roeland Hendrikx for a busy week of six concerts featuring Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. November sees a return to Germany for seven concerts across the country and over the border in Luxembourg, again with Edward Gardner, this time joined by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. In early December we return once again to Germany and Belgium with Vladimir Jurowski for three concerts in Baden-Baden, Freiburg and Brussels, including performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9. Turn to page 15 for full details, and don’t forget to follow our tour adventures on Instagram and Twitter!
A beautiful winery located in the Rhône and owned by John Malkovich, this is something special to be enjoyed on a hot summer’s day.
2018 Moss Wood Amy’s Australian legends Moss Wood’s flagship wine is a classic blend of Bordeaux grape varieties.
In June our Concerts team welcomed Maddy Clarke as Tours Manager, replacing Grace Ko. The team also welcomed Robert Winup as Concerts & Tours Assistant in July, succeeding Chrissie Perrin. We are delighted that Freddie Jackson, who had been working with us on a temporary basis, will stay with the LPO in the permanent role of Assistant Stage Manager. Over in the Development team, in April Siân Jenkins joined us as Corporate Relations Manager, taking over from Stef Woodford. In August the team welcomed Katurah Morrish as Development Events Manager, stepping into the shoes of Scott Tucker, and in September Eleanor Conroy and Al Levin as Development Assistants, after saying goodbye to Georgia Wiltshire and Priya Radhakrishnan
In July we released the first of a three-volume Stravinsky series capturing some of Vladimir Jurowski’s most memorable LPO concerts during his time as Principal Conductor. This album includes The Firebird and The Rite of Spring, as well as the lesser-heard Symphony in E flat, Scherzo fantastique, Funeral Song and The Faun and the Shepherdess with mezzo-soprano Angharad Lyddon. It’s already received numerous rave reviews, including a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.
Coming up in November is the release of James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio, recorded live at the UK premiere at the Royal Festival Hall in December 2021. Mark Elder conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, with soloists Lucy Crowe and Roderick Williams. All LPO Label releases can be found on the major streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, and are available on CD from retailers. lpo.org.uk/recordings
RECENT AWARDS
At the 2022 BBC Music Magazine Awards on 28 April, tenor Freddie De Tommaso won the Newcomer Award for his debut album Passione, which was recorded with the LPO. Passione debuted at No. 1 on the UK Classical Album Chart, the first solo tenor album to do so in 20 years.
Finally, congratulations to Roanna Gibson and Hannah Foakes, who have respectively received promotions to Concerts & Planning Director and Education & Community Project Manager, and to Talia Lash, who has been promoted to the permanent role of Education & Community Director, having led the team exceptionally on an interim basis for the past season. October marks not only the 90th anniversary of the Orchestra, but also the 90th birthday of Gillian Pole. Gillian has been part of the LPO family since 1971, originally working in the Publicity department and latterly as a dedicated volunteer, founding the Orchestra’s recordings archive and meticulously curating our press archive. Her knowledge of the Orchestra is invaluable, and we thank her for her decades of service as both she and the LPO celebrate this milestone!
In September the Marketing team welcomed new Marketing Assistant Alicia Hartley, replacing Kiera Lockard, and the Education & Community team said goodbye to Project Co-ordinator Tilly Gugenheim.
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MARK ELDER conductor LUCY CROWE soprano RODERICK WILLIAMS baritone LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA & CHOIR JAMES CHRISTMASMACMILLANORATORIO
September sees our release of Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage – the first commercial recording of the opera in over 50 years. It was recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall on the opening night of the LPO’s 2021/22 season, which also marked Edward Gardner’s first concert as Principal Conductor. The cast includes Robert Murray, Rachel Nicholls, Ashley Riches, Jennifer France, Toby Spence, the London Philharmonic Choir and the English National Opera Chorus. The recording will also be released digitally on Apple Music in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos: a new audio experience that creates a more immersive soundscape. As well as being available to stream or download on all the major platforms, the release is also available as a premium three-CD box set (from 23 September) including a 52-page booklet with full libretto and articles by Oliver Soden and Edward Gardner.
‘A PERFORMANCE,TERRIFICPOWERFULANDIMPACTFUL’CLASSICALSOURCE TUNE IN – AUTUMN / WINTER 2022 –LPO.ORG.UK
NEW &
In February we celebrated the marriage of Ruth Haines (née Knight), Press & PR Manager, who tied the knot with Johnny. And in August we celebrated with Glyndebourne & Projects Manager Fabio Sarlo and his fiancée Samantha, who were married in Tuscany.
NOTEWORTHYLPONEWS
In May, our recent LPO Label release of Strauss works featuring soprano Jessye Norman won a prestigious Diapason d’Or. French for ‘Golden Tuning Fork’, this prize is awarded by reviewers of the leading French music magazine Diapason. The disc was also a Gramophone Editor’s Choice and received numerous 4* and 5* reviews.
STAFF UPDATES
SUPPORTED BY THE MICHAEL TIPPETT MUSICAL FOUNDATION IN MEMORY OF DENNIS MARKS
NEW ON THE LPO LABEL: STRAVINSKY, TIPPETT & MACMILLAN
Double bassist Laurie Lovelle died earlier this year, after retiring from the LPO in 2019 following 38 years as a member of the Double Bass section. He will be fondly remembered for the fun and humour he brought to those around him, as well as his fine musicianship. Laurie first played with the LPO under Bernard Haitink in 1971 before moving to the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon and later the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In 1981 he returned to the UK to join the LPO under Klaus Tennstedt, where he remained until hisPrincipalretirement.Double Bass Kevin Rundell recalls: ‘Laurie was a person who brought a wealth of experience to the LPO and someone who cared deeply for the music we play. He was kind, thoughtful and humorous. From the day I joined the Orchestra he was welcoming and supportive, and always prepared to let the section know when we were not playing correctly or sensitively. Outside the Orchestra, his life was rich and his interests wide. For many years he led groups trekking in Nepal (forming strong bonds with local people) and at Glyndebourne, during the long interval he could often be found guiding fellow orchestral members in Tai chi techniques. He was also an avid cinema-goer who never owned a television. After leaving the Orchestra he continued to spend many hours studying and playing the classical guitar. Laurie was a wonderful man with whom it was a pleasure and a privilege to make music.’
Congratulations too to Second Violinist Kate Birchall, who married architect Des Hourihane on 18 July 2022.
MEMBER NEWS
James Quintin (Quin) Ballardie OBE died on 4 February 2022, aged 93. He founded the English Chamber Orchestra, alongside his Principal Viola position with the LPO which he held between 1963–70.
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As our 2021/22 season came to an end in May, we said farewell to Sub-Principal Bassoon Gareth Newman, who retired after 14 years with the LPO. Gareth joined the Orchestra in 2008 and served for nine years on the Orchestra’s Board, including eight as Vice-President. Stewart McIlwham, Principal Piccolo and former LPO President, writes: ‘Since Gareth retired, we’ve spent the summer at Glyndebourne coming to terms with the massive hole he leaves in the heart of our woodwind section. Not only his playing, but his knowledge and wise counsel are sorely missed every day. If anyone will make the best use of retirement, though, it’s Gareth, and we’ve already been following his travels over the summer. We all wish him many more adventures over the coming years and hope he’ll pop in and see us from time to time; it was lovely to see him at Glyndebourne a few weeks ago, looking so well. Thank you for everything, Gareth!’
In April we said farewell to cellist Laura Donoghue, who moved on after nearly 25 years with the Orchestra.
Principal Cello Kristina Blaumane writes: ‘For me, Laura embodies the qualities of the perfect colleague – always calm, collected and friendly. It’s a joy to have such a sensitive and caring person in the section. With the workload we have, the amount of concerts, rehearsals, recordings, tours and … stress, it’s so easy at times to snap … But no matter how tired or busy we got, I never saw Laura lose her calm, and I’ve always admired that. The consummate professional, she is an accomplished cellist, always super-prepared, and has been a great asset to our section. It’s hard to imagine the section without Laura, but we are all extremely happy that it’s not a “goodbye” and, while pursuing other interests, we hope Laura will return to play with us as a guest musician.’
IN MEMORIAM
Congratulations to Principal Flute Juliette Bausor and her husband Tristan on the birth of their second daughter, Jemima, on 28 December 2021, and to cellist Elisabeth Wiklander and her husband, former LPO Transport Manager Damian Davis, on the birth of their son Rosco on 18 March 2022.
CONGRATULATIONS
– 12 MEMBER– NEWS LPO PEOPLE
Congratulations to Emma Oldfield, who has been promoted to Co-Principal Second Violin. Emma has been a member of the section since January 2021.
We were sad to learn of the deaths of three former LPO members since the last issue of Tune In. Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones.
Violinist Andrew Thurgood sadly passed away on 1 June 2022. Andrew was a long-standing member of the LPO Second Violin section until he left the Orchestra in 2012 in order to devote more time to his children following the death of his wife. A much-loved colleague and friend to many, he will be sadly missed. His Second Violin colleague Kate Birchall reflects: ‘Andrew was incredibly warm, friendly and welcoming to anyone who came to work with the LPO. As a colleague he was unfailingly kind and patient, though he didn’t suffer fools gladly, particularly the conducting variety! His innate musicality and facility on the violin made him a joy to sit with in the section. We never saw eye to eye about Bruckner – playing his symphonies was a real trial for Andrew and was usually accompanied by low muttering about the need for cuts or getting ‘tremolo elbow’. He championed contemporary music and, after leaving the LPO, he enjoyed the creative challenge of arranging and composing for his chamber music ensemble, Reza. A consummate musician and a mentor to so many, he will be sorely missed by all in the profession.’
Lise
Wednesday 28 September 2022 Exiles and Juliet (Fantasy Overture) Lilacs Dvořák Symphony No. 7
Free & unticketed
Klaus
Friday 21 October 2022
FUNharmonics Family Concert: The Young Person’s Guide to the EdwardOrchestraGardner conductor Rachel Leach presenter Join the LPO for a dazzling introduction to the sounds of the orchestra through Britten’s classic work. Meet the instruments of the woodwind, brass, string and percussion families and hear how they fit together to create that distinctive, magical orchestral Joinsound.in the free pre-concert foyer activities from 10am–12noon (concert ticket-holders only). Adults £16–24, children £8–12*
Philip
Edward Gardner conductor Lindstrom Karen Cargill Butt Waldemar Murray the Fool James Creswell Peasant Philharmonic Choir Symphony Chorus by a
syndicate of donors
Robert
Generously supported
Saturday 1 October 2022 Grand Passions, High Ideals Wagner Overture, Tannhäuser Vijay Iyer Human Archipelago (world premiere) Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5 (Reformation) Edward Gardner conductor Inbal Segev cello 10.00pm | Free post-concert performance Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall Vijay Iyer is one of the most exciting jazz pianists of our time. Following the main evening’s concert featuring his cello concerto Human Archipelago, written for and performed by Inbal Segev, the duo will be joined by LPO musicians in a jazz-influenced programme.
Andrew Manze conductor Daniel Pioro violin
Canellakis conducts Brahms Dvořák The Wild Dove Brett Dean Three Memorials Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
Edward Gardner conductor Jennifer France soprano
Dutilleux Correspondances Walker
and TchaikovskyDreamers Romeo
London
London
Generously supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation
Wednesday 26 October 2022 Visions of England Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Tom Coult Violin Concerto: ‘Pleasure Garden’ (London premiere) Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 9
Karina Canellakis conductor Augustin Hadelich violin
A place to call home A place to call home A place to call home
Tove
Wednesday 19 October 2022
Karina Canellakis conductor Emanuel Ax piano
– 13 TUNE–IN– AUTUMN / WINTER 2022 –LPO.ORG.UK SOUTHBANK CENTRE Unless otherwise stated: Standard prices £14–£46 Premium seats £65 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Mon–Fri 10am–5pm lpo.org.uk *Booking fees apply: £3.50 online, £4 telephone Southbank Centre Ticket Office 020 3879 9555 southbankcentre.co.uk *Booking fees apply: £3.50 online, £4 telephone. No transaction fees for in-person bookings, Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. Unless otherwise stated, all Southbank Centre concerts are at the Royal Festival Hall and start at 7.30pm. Friday 16 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth Hall In association with Opera Rara Offenbach La Princesse de Trébizonde Sung in French with English surtitles Paul Daniel conductor Anne-Catherine Gillet Zanetta Virginie Verrez Le Prince Raphaël Christophe Gay Cabriolo Antoinette Dennefeld Régina Josh Lovell Le Prince Casimir Katia Ledoux Paola Christophe Mortagne Trémolini Loïc Félix Sparadrap Harriet Walter narrator London Philharmonic Orchestra Opera Rara Chorus Series discounts do not apply to this event. Saturday 24 September 2022 | 7.00pm Please note start time Gardner conducts Gurrelieder Schoenberg Gurrelieder Sung in German with English surtitles
Sunday 2 October 2022 | 12 noon
CONCERT LISTINGS LPO AUTUMN 2022
Wood-Dove David
Canellakis conducts Beethoven Sibelius Violin Concerto Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)
Purcell Sessions: Agata Zubel Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall Following the main evening’s concert featuring the world premiere of her Piano Concerto No. 2, Polish composer and singer Agata Zubel performs her own music alongside Berio’s Folk Songs, with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
6.00pm | Free pre-concert performance
Students from the Royal Academy of Music
Bruckner’s Ninth Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs
Generously supported by Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet
Conductor Edward Gardner and LPO Artistic Director Elena Dubinets discuss the evening’s programme. 10.00pm | Late night chamber concert
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano Kenneth Tarver tenor Roderick Williams baritone London Philharmonic Choir London Adventist Chorale Soloists of the Royal College of Music
2022 A Child of Our Time Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music Tippett A Child of Our Time Edward Gardner conductor Nadine Benjamin soprano
Bruckner
6.00pm | Free pre-concert talk Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
Tickets Saturday£2026November
Symphony No. 9 Robin Ticciati conductor Simon Keenlyside baritone 6.00pm | Free pre-concert event Royal Festival Hall LPO Showcase: OrchLab Festival Day OrchLab Festival Day is the culmination of this year’s OrchLab programme, delivered in collaboration with Drake Music – leaders in music, technology and disability. This free but ticketed event is open to disabled adults, their families and those who support them (over 18s only). For more information visit orchlab.org/open-events Saturday 3 December 2022 Jurowski conducts Mahler Mahler Symphony No. 9 Vladimir Jurowski conductor AROUND THE UK Saturday 8 October 2022 | 7.30pm Bridgewater Hall, Manchester bridgewater-hall.co.uk | 0161 907 9000 Sunday 9 October 2022 | 3.00pm Sage Gateshead sagegateshead.com | 0191 443 4661 Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture) Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 Elgar Enigma Variations Edward Gardner conductor Benjamin Grosvenor piano Saturday 22 October 2022 | 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall brightondome.org | 01273 709709 Sibelius Violin Concerto Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) Karina Canellakis conductor Augustin Hadelich violin A place to call home A place to call home A place to call home A place to call home A place to call home
– 14 TUNE–IN– AUTUMN / WINTER 2022 –CONCERTLPO.ORG.UKLISTINGSLPOAUTUMN2022Saturday 29 October 2022 Twilight in Vienna J Strauss II Overture, Die Fledermaus Korngold Violin Concerto Korngold Märchenbilder R Strauss Der Rosenkavalier Suite Andrés Orozco-Estrada conductor Arabella Steinbacher violin Wednesday 2 November 2022 American Dreams Copland Appalachian Spring Douglas J Cuomo Saxophone Concerto: ‘a raft, the sky, the wild sea’ (UK premiere) Derrick Skye Prisms, Cycles, Leaps (UK premiere) Bernstein Symphonic Dances from West Side Story Joshua Weilerstein conductor Joe Lovano saxophone Friday 4 November 2022 Randall Goosby plays Bruch Chen Yi Momentum Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 Brahms Symphony No. 3 Alpesh Chauhan conductor Randall Goosby violin Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Ambassadorial Diplomatic Relations between China and the UK Wednesday 9 November 2022 Sounding a Century Lutosławski Symphony No. 4 Agata Zubel Piano Concerto No. 2 (world premiere) Stravinsky The Rite of Spring Edward Gardner conductor Tomoko Mukaiyama piano Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
Foyle Future Firsts: Refugee Arson Fahim Journey to the Sea Mark-Anthony Turnage Refugee Members of the London Philharmonic FoyleOrchestraFuture Firsts
Wednesday 30 November 2022
– 15 TUNE–IN– AUTUMN / WINTER 2022 –CONCERTLPO.ORG.UKLISTINGSLPOAUTUMN2022Sunday 23 October 2022 | 7.00pm Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden saffronhall.com | 0845 548 7650 Sibelius Violin Concerto Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) Karina Canellakis conductor Johan Dalene violin Sunday 30 October 2022 | 3.00pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne eastbournetheatres.co.uk | 01323 412000 Schubert Overture, Rosamunde Mozart Flute Concerto No. 1 Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Gábor Káli conductor Ana de la Vega flute Saturday 5 November 2022 | 7.30pm Brighton Dome Concert Hall brightondome.org | 01273 709709 Brahms Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 5 and 6 Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 Brahms Symphony No. 3 Alpesh Chauhan conductor Randall Goosby violin Sunday 27 November 2022 | 3.00pm Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden saffronhall.com | 0845 548 7650 Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music Tippett A Child of Our Time Edward Gardner conductor Nadine Benjamin soprano Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano Kenneth Tarver tenor Roderick Williams baritone London Philharmonic Choir London Adventist Chorale Soloists of the Royal College of Music Sunday 11 December 2022 | 3.00pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne eastbournetheatres.co.uk | 01323 412000 Smetana Vltava Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade Kerem Hasan conductor Leia Zhu violin INTERNATIONAL CONCERTS Tuesday 11 October 2022 | 8.00pm Theater Heerlen, Netherlands Wednesday 12 October 2022 | 8.15pm* Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, Netherlands Thursday 13 October 2022 | 8.00pm deSingel, Antwerp, Belgium Friday 14 October 2022 | 8.00pm Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium Saturday 15 October 2022 | 8.15pm De Oosterpoort, Groningen, Netherlands Sunday 16 October 2022 | 2.00pm TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands Wagner Tannhäuser Overture Mozart Clarinet Concerto/ *Mendelssohn Piano Concerto 1 Elgar Enigma Variations Edward Gardner conductor Roeland Hendrikx clarinet/ *Benjamin Grosvenor piano Saturday 12 November 2022 | 7.30pm Congress Centrum, Hanover, Germany Mendelssohn The Fair Melusina Overture Brahms Double Concerto Dvořák Symphony No. 7 Edward Gardner conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin Pablo Ferrández cello Sunday 13 November 2022 | 7.00pm Philharmonie, Essen, Germany Mendelssohn The Fair Melusina Overture Brahms Double Concerto Bartók Concerto for Orchestra Edward Gardner conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter violin Pablo Ferrández cello Monday 14 November 2022 | 8.00pm Philharmonie, Luxembourg Programme and artists as 13 November Wednesday 16 November 2022 | 8.00pm Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany Programme and artists as 12 November Thursday 17 November 2022 | 8.00pm Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany Mendelssohn Overture, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Bartók Concerto for Orchestra Edward Gardner conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin Friday 18 November 2022 | 8.00pm Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany Saturday 19 November 2022 | 8.00pm Tonhalle, Düsseldorf, Germany Programme and artists as 12 November Sunday 20 November 2022 | 8.00pm Liederhalle, Stuttgart, Germany Programme and artists as 17 November Sunday 4 December 2022 | 5.00pm Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden, Germany Mahler Symphony No. 9 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Monday 5 December 2022 | 8.00pm Konzerthaus, Freiburg, Germany Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 Bruckner Symphony No. 6 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Elisabeth Leonskaja piano Tuesday 6 December 2022 | 8.00pm Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium Programme and artists as 4 December
You were born in Edinburgh in the postwar years, and enjoyed an inspired musical education at George Watson's College. Leaving school at the age of 16 to begin your professional career, how did that lead you to your position with the LPO? Whenever it’s brought to my attention that I‘ve been a member of the LPO for nearly 50 years (the Orchestra’s calendar must surely have malfunctioned somewhere along the way!), I’m always quick to point out that I started in the profession at a very young age that would not be possible today. I left school early to join the Scottish National Orchestra as its youngest ever member, where I stayed for five years or so, and was then lured to London and the Royal Philharmonic as one of their youngest ever Principal players. However, I was gradually becoming aware of another London band who had just appointed an up-and-coming young Dutch conductor ... I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and, after a few guest appearances I was invited to join the LPO in 1972 to succeed the legendary Allan Fry. What do you remember about your first concerts with the Orchestra? My first few concerts were Mahler with Bernard Haitink (for it was he!), and I immediately knew that this was it! We forget now how relatively rare was the music of Mahler – the symphonies were only really surfacing in this country in the 1960s and 70s. The experience of effectively discovering these epic masterworks, under the guidance of Haitink especially, was simply breathtaking, opening as it did a whole new musical world almost weekly! As a percussionist, it’s the big symphonic masterpieces that provide the most satisfying musical experiences, and with the conductors that the Orchestra was working with in the early 1970s, it couldn’t have got much better. What was the working environment in the LPO like at that time? How the Orchestra achieved the results that it did, I don’t know. There was no regular rehearsal hall (we zoomed between St Pancras Town Hall, Watford, Wembley, Walthamstow and Hammersmith), and rehearsals were usually held in a haze of Newsletter published by the London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 • Ticket Office: 020 7840 4242 admin@lpo.org.uk • lpo.org.uk cigarette smoke (often from conductors as well). We were paid on Friday evenings by method of little brown envelopes covered in pencilled calculations and containing cash! At the same time, we were working with the best musicians in the world – regular conductors were Boult, Haitink, Giulini, Barenboim, Solti, Tennstedt, Masur, and so many more. Gradually the conditions improved, and the band went from strength to strength (albeit not without a few ups and downs!) Can you share some of the highlights of your LPO career?
TUNE IN – AUTUMN / WINTER 2022 –
What has been the biggest change over the last 50 years, and how do you feel about the future of the LPO? What’s been fascinating is to watch the emergence of the newer generations, and the development of a much more rewarding way of music-making: collaboration rather than authoritarianism. Every project with Vladimir, for instance, is a revelation; in fact I believe that he brought a second ‘golden age’ for the LPO. Moving forward with Ed Gardner is incredibly exciting – together with Robin Ticciati at Glyndebourne and the marvellous artistic and management team we have, the future is limitless. I am so lucky to have experienced everything I have, and will one day write the book (during all the bars rest, of course!)
For me, it’s the LPO environment that makes it so very special. The personnel obviously gradually changes (present company excepted, of course!) but this unique musical personality and rapport remains constant and puts the LPO in a very special place. The greatest thing for me is working together with the most wonderful collection of colleagues and friends. In the percussion section we enjoy the most extraordinary variety as well, which keeps us on our toes (we always say that the potential for disaster is ever-present – but I’m not going to let on if it ever occurs!) I've always been happy to embrace the variety that a musical career enables, and combining that with a love of travel, good food, wine and wonderful company has given me life experiences for which I will always be grateful.
KEITH MILLAR This season, percussionist Keith celebrates an extraordinary 50 years in the LPO. He joined the Orchestra as Principal Percussionist in 1972 and has been a member of the section ever since. He also served as Director and Chairman of the Orchestra during the 1980s and 90s.
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BACKSTAGE
For me, some of the greatest moments were Porgy and Bess at Glyndebourne in 1986 with the young Simon Rattle; and Mahler 8 (an unheard-of three consecutive LPO PEOPLE nights at the Royal Festival Hall!) with Klaus Tennstedt in 1991. And then coming full circle, as it were, to have experienced in more recent years the advent of Vladimir Jurowski and his unique and extraordinary vision. Quite apart from his constant rediscovery of well-known music are the adventures into new and rarer repertoire that keep us constantly enthralled. Voyages of discovery, indeed, and yet always with the feeling of mutual respect and collaboration. What has been the most enjoyable aspect of your working life?
