LPO concert programme: 15 Jan 2023 Eastbourne - Miloš plays Rodrigo (cond. Karen Kamensek)

2022/23 concert season at Congress Theatre

Where music takes you

Concert programme

Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen

Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis

Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG

Artistic Director Elena Dubinets Chief Executive David Burke

Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich

Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Sunday 15 January 2023 | 3.00pm

Miloš plays Rodrigo

Falla

The Three-Cornered Hat: Suite No. 1 (10’)

David Bruce

The Peacock Pavane (10’)

Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez (22’)

Interval (20’)

Bizet

Carmen Suites Nos. 1 & 2 (33’)

Bizet Farandole from L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2 (3’)

Karen Kamensek conductor

Miloš Karadaglić guitar

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. Concert presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in association with Eastbourne Borough Council

Contents

2 Welcome Next concerts

3 On stage today

4 London Philharmonic Orchestra

5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman

6 Karen Kamensek

7 Miloš Karadaglić

8 Programme notes

13 LPO 90th Birthday Appeal

14 Thank you 16 LPO administration

Welcome to the Congress Theatre

Theatre Director Chris Jordan

Welcome to this afternoon’s performance. As always, we are pleased to welcome back the London Philharmonic Orchestra and its patrons to the Congress Theatre. Whether this is your first visit or you are a season regular, we hope you enjoy your experience at our venue.

The Congress Theatre and the London Philharmonic Orchestra have a wonderful history together: the LPO gave the first ever performance at this Grade II listed building when it originally opened in 1963, and the first performance when it re-opened after refurbishment in 2017. The Orchestra has now performed over 350 concerts here, and as it celebrates its 90th anniversary this season we look forward to strengthening our relationship even further in the years to come and creating many more musical memories together.

The historic theatre in which you are now seated is unique in that it is conceived to be a perfect cube and has fantastic acoustics to enhance your experience of live music.

We thank you for continuing to support the concert series. Please sit back in your seats and enjoy the concert and your visit here. As a courtesy to others, please ensure mobile phones are switched off during the performance. Thank you.

Tune In: new issue out now

Just published is the Spring 2023 edition of the LPO’s twice-yearly magazine, Tune In. Scan the QR code or visit issuu.com/londonphilharmonic to read it online, or call 020 7840 4200 to request a copy in the post.

Still to come this season at the Congress Theatre

Poetry and Passion

Sunday 12 February 2023 | 3.00pm

Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy Overture

Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Gergely Madaras conductor Zlatomir Fung cello*

* LPO Alexandra Jupin Award recipient: An annual award for an artist making their debut with the LPO

Romantic Journeys

Sunday 26 March 2023 | 3.00pm

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 (Scottish) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3

Patrick Hahn conductor Tom Borrow piano

Imaginary Landscapes

Sunday 16 April 2023 | 3.00pm

Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture Dvořák Violin Concerto Brahms Symphony No. 3

Chloé van Soeterstède conductor Tai Murray violin

Book online eastbournetheatres.co.uk 01323 412000

First Violins

Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich Kate Oswin

Lasma Taimina Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave

Minn Majoe

Alfredo Reyes Logounova

Catherine Craig Elizaveta Tyun

Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler Martin Höhmann Nilufar Alimaksumova Alice Apreda Howell Alice Hall

Second Violins

Tania Mazzetti Principal Chair supported by Countess Dominique Loredan Helena Smart

Joseph Maher

Ashley Stevens

Claudia Tarrant-Matthews

Georgina Leo Alison Strange Sheila Law

Violas

Jonathan Barritt Guest Principal Martin Wray Katharine Leek

Benedetto Pollani

Laura Vallejo Kate De Campos

Raquel López Bolívar Jill Valentine

Cellos

Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Francis Bucknall

Susanna Riddell

Tom Roff Helen Thomas

On stage today

Double Basses

Kevin Rundell* Principal Sebastian Pennar Co-Principal George Peniston Tom Walley Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Flutes

Juliette Bausor Principal Stewart McIlwham*

Piccolo

Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Oboes

Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday

Cor Anglais

Sue Böhling* Principal Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Clarinets

Benjamin Mellefont Principal Thomas Watmough Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Bassoons

Jonathan Davies Principal Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey Dominic Tyler

Horns

John Ryan* Principal Annemarie Federle Guest Principal Martin Hobbs Duncan Fuller Gareth Mollison

Trumpets

Paul Beniston* Principal Jack Wilson Guest Principal Anne McAneney* David Hilton

Cornets

Paul Beniston* David Hilton

Trombones

David Whitehouse Principal Andrew Connington

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Timpani

Simon Carrington* Principal Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Percussion

Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins

Olly Yates Keith Millar Karen Hutt

Harp

Rachel Masters Principal

Piano & Celeste Philip Moore

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert:

David & Yi Buckley

Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. With every performance we aim to bring wonder to the modern world and cement our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.

Our home is at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues here in Eastbourne, in Brighton, and in Saffron Walden, and on tour throughout the UK and internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. Each summer we’re resident at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.

Sharing the wonder

We’re always at the forefront of technology, finding new ways to share our music globally. You’ll find us online, on streaming platforms, on social media and through our broadcast partnership with Marquee TV. During the pandemic period we launched ‘LPOnline’: over 100 videos of performances, insights and introductions to playlists, which led to us being named runner-up in the Digital Classical Music Awards 2020. During 2022/23 we’ll be working once again with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts, so you can share or relive the wonder from your own living room.

Our conductors

Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, taking the Orchestra into its tenth decade. Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his impact as Principal Conductor from 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor and Brett Dean our Composer-in-Residence.

Soundtrack to key moments

Everyone will have heard the London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems at every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings

We also release live, studio and archive recordings on our own label, and are the world’s most-streamed orchestra, with over 15 million plays of our content each month. Recent releases include the first volume of a Stravinsky series with Vladimir Jurowski; Tippett’s complete opera The Midsummer Marriage under Edward Gardner, captured in his first concert as

© Benjamin Ealovega

Pieter Schoeman Leader

LPO Principal Conductor in September 2021; and James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio, recorded at the work’s UK premiere performance in December 2021.

Next generations

We’re committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and music-lovers: there’s nothing we love more than seeing the joy of children and families enjoying their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about equipping schools and teachers through schools’ concerts, resources and training. Reflecting our values of collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Today’s young instrumentalists are the orchestral members of the future, so we’re committed to offering them opportunities to progress. Our LPO Junior Artists programme is leading the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers.

2022/23 and beyond

We believe in the relevance of our music, and that our programmes must reflect the narratives of modern times. This season we’re exploring themes of belonging and displacement in our series ‘A place to call home’, delving into music by composers including Austrians Erich Korngold and Paul Hindemith, Hungarian Béla Bartók, Cuban Tania León, Ukrainian Victoria Vita Polevá and Syrian Kinan Azmeh. As we celebrate our 90th anniversary we perform works premiered by the Orchestra during its illustrious history. This season also marks Vaughan Williams’s 150th anniversary and we’ll be celebrating with four of his works, as well as both symphonies by Elgar and music by Tippett and Thomas Adès. Our commitment to everything new and creative includes premieres by Brett Dean and Heiner Goebbels, as well as new commissions from composers from around the world including Agata Zubel, Elena Langer and Vijay Iyer.

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. He is also a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.

Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and London’s Royal Festival Hall. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Veronika Eberle, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Boris Garlitsky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Martin Helmchen and Julia Fischer.

Pieter has performed numerous times as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Highlights have included an appearance as both conductor and soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Royal Festival Hall, the Brahms Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and the Britten Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the LPO Label to great critical acclaim.

Pieter has appeared as Guest Leader with the BBC, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon and Baltimore symphony orchestras; the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Pieter’s chair in the LPO is generously supported by Neil Westreich.

lpo.org.uk

© Benjamin Ealovega

Karen Kamensek conductor

Born in Chicago, Karen Kamensek is equally at home on the opera and concert stages. Her broad range of interests extend from classical to modern, including many world premieres, film music and crossover projects featuring jazz and world music.

A specialist in contemporary music, Karen regularly works with the American composer Philip Glass, whose chamber opera Orphée she conducted in New York and Germany, as well as the world premiere of Les Enfants terribles at the Spoleto Festival. A further Glass premiere under Kamensek’s baton was the first ever live performance of Passages in 2017, in collaboration with Anoushka Shankar – this also marked her BBC Proms debut, where she returned in summer 2022. In recent years Karen has also made Glass’s opera Akhnaten a core part of her repertoire, and she was honoured with a Grammy Award for her recorded performance of the work at the Metropolitan Opera in 2019.

During the 2022/23 season Karen Kamensek returns to English National Opera for Akhnaten, Welsh National Opera for Bernstein’s Candide and Norwegian National Opera for Wonderful Town; and makes her debut at the Minnesota Opera with Don Giovanni. As well as her LPO debuts in London and Eastbourne, symphonic engagements this season include concerts with the Brussels Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony and Pacific Symphony orchestras, and with the Tiroler Sinfonieorchester and at the RBB Ultraschall Festival in Berlin.

Highlights of Karen’s 2021/22 season included a return to the Metropolitan Opera for a revival of Akhnaten and Rigoletto, her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with

Die Zauberflöte, the world premiere of Glass’s Ballet Alice at Opera National du Rhin, Così fan tutte at Arizona Opera, and concerts with the Orchestre Chambre de Paris and Charlotte Symphony.

As a sought-after opera conductor, Karen Kamensek is a regular guest at major opera houses around the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Gothenburg Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Bergen Opera, English National Opera, Israeli Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Australia (Melbourne), Royal Danish Opera, San Diego Opera, San Francisco Opera and Vienna Volksoper. Special highlights have included Britten’s Death in Venice, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Floyd’s Susannah, Lehár’s The Merry Widow, Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Puccini’s Tosca, Verdi’s Otello and Wagner’s Lohengrin.

On the concert podium she has conducted orchestras including the Oslo Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Tonkünstler Niederösterreich, Dortmund Philharmonic, Orchestre National Bordeaux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Orchestre National de Lille, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre Chambre de Paris, MDR Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Halle Philharmonic State Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra Ljubljana, Malmö Symphony, Helsingborg Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi and Hungarian National Philharmonic.

Karen Kamensek was First Kapellmeister at the Vienna Volksoper from 2000–02 and Music Director at the Theater Freiburg from 2003–06, after which she took up the position of interim Chief Conductor at the Slovenian National Theatre in the 2007/08 season. From 2008 she served as deputy Music Director at the Hamburg State Opera, before becoming Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Hanover State Opera in 2011. She led the opera in Hanover until 2016, during which time she conducted numerous new productions including Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Puccini’s Il trittico, Detlev Glanert’s Caligula and Janáček’s Jenůfa

© Todd Rosenberg

Miloš Karadaglić guitar

Miloš is one of the world’s most celebrated classical guitarists. His career began its meteoric rise in 2011 with the release of his international best-selling Deutsche Grammophon debut album, ‘Mediterraneo’. Since then he has earned legions of fans, awards and acclaim around the world through his extensive tours, six chart-topping recordings, and television appearances.

Now exclusive to Sony Classical, Miloš is committed to expanding the classical guitar repertoire through the commissioning of new works. His latest release, ‘The Moon and the Forest’, features two world premiere concertos by Howard Shore and Joby Talbot. His next solo album is due for release later in 2023 and will explore the theme of the Baroque and its guitar repertoire treasures. Over the past decade, the instrument’s popularity has exploded thanks to Miloš’s pioneering approach: aspiring guitarists can even learn from him through Schott’s ‘Play Guitar with Miloš’ series. In 2016, BBC Music Magazine included him in its list of ‘Six of the Best Classical Guitarists of the Past Century’.

Miloš has appeared as a soloist with some of the world’s greatest orchestras: in 2014 he performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on tour throughout the UK, and in the same year released the album Aranjuez on Deutsche Grammophon, recorded with the LPO and Yannick Nézet-Séguin and featuring the Concierto de Aranjuez alongside other works by Rodrigo and de Falla. He has also appeared with the LA Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de España, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and NHK Symphony in Tokyo. His sold-out solo recital in the round at the Royal Albert Hall in 2012 was lauded by

critics and caused a worldwide sensation. He returned to the Hall post-pandemic in June 2022 to a full capacity audience.

Other recent and forthcoming highlights include the Verbier and Schleswig-Holstein festivals; recitals in London, New York and Washington DC; concertos with the Atlanta and Detroit symphony orchestras, the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal, the Hallé and in Graz; as well as tours in Australia, Europe and the US. This year he will also make his concerto debut in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, playing Howard Shore’s concerto The Forest.

A passionate advocate for music education, Miloš is an active patron of numerous charities supporting young musicians in the UK and abroad. Born in Montenegro in 1983, he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 17. He continues to live and work in London, while keeping close ties to his homeland. He performs on a 2017 Greg Smallman guitar.

© Lars Borges/Mercury Classics

Programme notes

Manuel de Falla 1876–1946

The Three-Cornered Hat, Suite No. 1 1919

1 Introduction – Afternoon 2 Dance of the Miller’s Wife (Fandango) 3 The Magistrate 4 The Grapes

Manuel de Falla captured the essence of Spain in concert music more successfully than any other composer. He was born in Cádiz and trained in Madrid. After seven years in Paris dreaming of his beloved Andalucía, Falla returned to Spain.

Falla had a natural flair for the theatrical. In 1917, his association with the dramatist Gregorio Martínez Sierra led him to write music for a short mime play based on the novel El sombrero de tres picos (‘The ThreeCornered Hat’) by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, itself based on a well-known Spanish folk tale. The production, with Falla’s score, was titled El Corregidor y la molinera (‘The Magistrate and the Miller’).

The impresario Serge Diaghilev saw the play and liked it. He persuaded Falla to expand and re-write his incidental music to form a complete ballet. The resulting dance piece, reclaiming Alarcón’s original title, was first performed at the Alhambra Theatre in London in 1919. It was a hit. That might have had something to do with Pablo Picasso’s striking cubist sets and Léonide Massine’s vivid choreography. But Falla’s music proved just as intoxicating with its bright colours, crisp rhythms and harmonic panache. The composer’s musical style is rooted in Spanish folk songs and dances, but comes seasoned with hints of French impressionism and European modernism.

Falla distilled two suites of orchestral excerpts from the score (which in its full version includes soprano and chorus). The first suite focuses on the ballet’s first act, introducing the farcical story of a bumbling magistrate’s attempts to seduce a miller’s wife and ending up humiliated.

An abrupt fanfare takes us unequivocally to Spain, before patterning strings and sultry winds suggest a hot, lazy afternoon. Listen out for the bassoon, characterising the pompous magistrate. The miller has his wife tease the magistrate by dancing a seductive Fandango. The bassoon then brings the magistrate back into the picture, before he is flirted with more coquettishly by the miller’s wife, who deigns to offers him some of her grapes.

Programme notes

David Bruce born 1970

The Peacock Pavane 2022 Miloš Karadaglić guitar

The pavane is a slow stately dance, common in Europe since the Renaissance. There is some suggestion that the Spanish word pavón – meaning peacock – is the origin of the dance’s name, but peacocks also have many different symbolic meanings: they can be seen as a symbol of beauty, self-expression, royalty, luck, or new life (some see them as the earthly incarnation of the mythical phoenix). With its spectacular tailfeathers full of eyes, the peacock is also a symbol of watchfulness and patience.

I like to think of The Peacock Pavane as a kind of ‘dance from afar’. It was written at the height of the Covid pandemic amidst a time of watchfulness, patience and stoicism. I think the piece is mainly about waiting. It doesn’t really go anywhere. Time continues, but it treads the same steps over and over.

During the pandemic, many of us spent weeks and months away from loved ones, longing for that moment when we’d finally be able to reunite. That feeling was heightened for me in September 2020 when my daughter – my eldest child – left home to start her studies. During the previous six months of lockdown, we had all spent a lot of time together as a family and I had enjoyed more than ever the time spent with her, going for walks and chatting about the future. Then suddenly she was off, peacock-like, to start a new life, and what was left behind was tender feelings of absence and longing.

David Bruce © 2022

Composer profile: David Bruce

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, David Bruce grew up in the UK and is now regularly performed on both sides of the Atlantic. He has written orchestral pieces for the BBC Proms (Sidechaining, 2018) and for the San Diego Symphony, for whom he wrote three pieces as Associate Composer in 2013/14, including Night Parade for the orchestra’s Carnegie Hall debut in 2013; and the violin concerto Fragile Light for Gil Shaham in 2014. His fourth Carnegie Hall commission, That Time with You (2013) for mezzosoprano Kelley O’Connor, followed Steampunk (2011), Gumboots (2008) and Piosenki (2006).

In 2012/13 David was Composer-in-Residence with the Royal Opera House, who co-commissioned with Glyndebourne the opera Nothing, which returns with a new production to Norwegian Opera in autumn 2023. Bruce’s chamber opera The Firework Maker’s Daughter (after the Philip Pullman story) toured the UK and New York in 2013 and was shortlisted for the British Composer Awards and the 2014 Olivier Awards. Future plans include a new violin concerto for Daniel Hope and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra for the soloist’s 50th birthday.

Alongside his composing career, David runs the sheet music website 8notes.com and has a hugely popular YouTube channel (‘David Bruce Composer’), where he talks about music and composing to over 250,000 subscribers.

Programme notes

Joaqúin Rodrigo 1902–99

Concierto de Aranjuez 1940

Miloš Karadaglić guitar

1 Allegro con spirit 2 Adagio 3 Allegro gentile

Many thousands profess no deep relationship with classical music, yet remain on intimate terms with a guitar concerto written in Madrid in 1940, the Concierto de Aranjuez Its composer Joaqúin Rodrigo, blind from the age of three, was of the generation after Falla, whose music from The Three-Cornered Hat we hear later in this concert. Like his senior, Rodrigo also studied in France before returning to Spain, where he would eventually occupy the Manuel de Falla Chair on the University of Madrid’s music faculty. Again, Rodrigo sought to recreate a distinctly Spanish ambience in his works, ‘where folklore is a picturesque element’ (musicologist Tomás Marco’s phrase). That, with the help of Rodrigo’s gift for melody and some charismatic guitarists, has given the Concierto de Aranjuez special status.

Or perhaps that status was sealed the moment the Concerto had its first performance on 9 November 1940, courtesy of the guitarist Regino Sainz and the Orquestra Filarmónica de Barcelona conducted by César Mendoza Lasalle. At the time, Spain was in the grip of a bloody civil war and in need of solace and inspiration.

Rodrigo’s Concerto delivered both. Its composer was immediately recognised by his country and went on to write ten more guitar concertos – and copious other works – that betrayed little interest in contemporary European trends but continued to reflect Spain’s artistic, poetic and literary traditions.

This Concerto was conceived as a picture of court life at Aranjuez, a royal palace and garden between Madrid and Toledo, around the turn of the 19th century (as reflected in a series of paintings by Francisco Goya). Rodrigo wrote that his first movement is ‘animated throughout … with singular strong and bright rhythms’, apparent not least in its vibrant march.

In the hauntingly beautiful Adagio, the soloist engages in tender dialogue with orchestral soloists, particularly the mellow cor anglais. The composer’s wife commented that the movement evoked ‘the happy days of our honeymoon, when we would walk through the parks of Aranjuez.’ The final movement returns to the spirited rhythms of the opening, recalling the flavour of a rococo-style court dance in its combination of twoand three-beat bars.

Interval – 20 minutes

An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.

Programme notes

While Falla and many of his Spanish colleagues felt themselves drawn north to France, their French counterparts tended to return the compliment with a longing gaze south across the Pyrenees. That was not confined to music. Prosper Mérimée’s novel Carmen was saturated with the perceived atmosphere of Spain –the country’s heat, temperament, and Moorish and gypsy influences. In 1873 the French composer Georges Bizet began writing an opera based on Mérimée’s novel. It was first performed in March 1875.

Carmen had a slow start, but has since gained near iconic status. It was designed to be popular, with clear presentation of obviously Spanish-influenced melodies and equally clear differentiation of character through music: the arrogant toréador (bullfighter), the fickle and rebellious femme fatale Carmen, the passionate Don José and his sincere admirer Michaela. The risqué subject matter offended some but won the opera fans

in progressive quarters, Richard Wagner among them. Even Johannes Brahms adored the work, seeing it dozens of times.

It tells of a love triangle: the sexy cigarette-factory worker Carmen has a torrid affair with the army corporal Don José, who deserts his commission to be with her and even joins a band of smugglers. When Carmen begins to entertain a romance with an exhibitionist toréador, Don José can’t accept that his love for Carmen is not being reciprocated, and murders her.

Two suites of excerpts from the opera were compiled by Bizet’s friend Ernest Guiraud shortly after the composer’s death at the age of just 36, not long after the opera’s first run. Neither suite tells the story of the opera in chronological order. Rather, their movements sketch its characters and reflect pivotal dramatic events.

Programme notes

In Suite No. 1, the ‘Prelude’ introduces the plunging fate motif that stalks the entire work. It is followed by an ‘Aragonaise’, a three-step dance from that region of Spain in which the orchestra mimics the sound of guitars and castanets. The ‘Intermezzo’ was originally the prelude to the opera’s third act, and brings us a serene but simmering nocturnal scene using harp and woodwinds.

The last three movements are portraits of the three main characters: ‘Séguedille’ is Carmen herself, a sultry dance peppered seductive chromatic or ‘half’ notes; ‘Les Dragons d’Alcala’ takes us into the strict domain of Don José’s military regiment; ‘Les Toréadors’ conjures the bravado world of the bullfighters.

Suite No. 2 opens with a smugglers march – less a march, in fact, more a fluid image of contraband being sneaked over mountains. The famous ‘Habanera’ brings us the song Carmen uses to flirt with the soldiers, its seductive melody passed around the orchestra. ‘Nocturne’, with its earnest violin melody, repurposes the song Michaela sings while searching for Don José. ‘La Garde Montante’ opens with a brash trumpet in its depiction of the changing of the guard and the games of local children. ‘Danse Bohème’, which originally opened the opera’s second act, is a gypsy dance that builds in speed and volume towards a fiery climax.

Georges Bizet 1838–75

‘Farandole’ from L’Arlesienne, Suite No. 2 1872/79

A few years before Carmen, Bizet wrote music for L’Arlesienne, another play telling of a femme fatale, this one by Alphonse Daudet. As in its successor, Bizet’s music conveyed the white-hot emotions and dark undercurrents of the story while this time capturing the atmospheric heart of rustic Provence.

After Bizet fashioned his own suite of excerpts from the score for a performance in 1872, Ernest Guiraud again did the honours and posthumously arranged a second suite. The movement titled ‘Farandole’ uses the overture Bizet wrote for the play and the dance music that accompanied a pre-nuptial party. That dance, the ‘farandole’, is a line dance from Provence which Bizet ingeniously harbours to frame two authentic Provençal tunes. The first is a military march, the second a faster reel-like tune for woodwinds and tambourine known as the ‘dance of the hobbyhorse.’

Programme notes © Andrew Mellor

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The Lambert Family Charitable Trust

Countess Dominique Loredan

Stuart & Bianca Roden

In memory of Hazel Amy Smith

The Tsukanov Family

The Viney Family

Gold Patrons

An anonymous donor

Chris Aldren

David & Yi Buckley

In memory of Allner Mavis

Channing

Sonja Drexler

Jan & Leni Du Plessis

The Vernon Ellis Foundation

Peter & Fiona Espenhahn

Hamish & Sophie Forsyth

Mr Roger Greenwood Malcolm Herring

John & Angela Kessler

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

Andrew & Rosemary Tusa

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Mr Florian Wunderlich

Silver Patrons

Dame Colette Bowe

David Burke & Valerie Graham

John & Sam Dawson

Bruno De Kegel

Ulrike & Benno Engelmann

Virginia Gabbertas MBE

Dmitry & Ekaterina Gursky

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris

Charitable Trust

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Sir George Iacobescu

Jamie & Julia Korner

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Mr Nikita Mishin

Andrew Neill

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood

Laurence Watt Grenville & Krysia Williams

Bronze Patrons

Anonymous donors

Michael Allen

Mr Mark Astaire

Nicholas & Christine Beale

Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley

Mr Anthony Blaiklock

Lorna & Christopher Bown

Mr Bernard Bradbury

Simon Burke & Rupert King

Desmond & Ruth Cecil

Mr Evgeny Chichvarkin

Mr John H Cook

Georgy Djaparidze

Deborah Dolce

Cameron & Kathryn Doley

Mariana Eidelkind & Gene

Moldavsky

David Ellen Ben Fairhall

Mr Richard & Helen Gillingwater

Mr Daniel Goldstein David & Jane Gosman

Mr Gavin Graham

Lord & Lady Hall

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Martin & Katherine Hattrell

Michael & Christine Henry

Mr Steve Holliday

J Douglas Home

Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza

Mrs Elena & Mr Oleg Kolobov Rose & Dudley Leigh

Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE

JP RAF

Drs Frank & Gek Lim

Mr Nicholas Little Geoff & Meg Mann

Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva

Andrew T Mills

Peter & Lucy Noble

Mr Roger Phillimore

Mr Michael Posen

Mr Anthony Salz

Ms Nadia Stasyuk

Charlotte Stevenson Joe Topley Mr & Mrs John C Tucker

Timothy Walker CBE AM Jenny Watson CBE Grenville & Krysia Williams

Principal Supporters

Anonymous donors

Dr Manon Antoniazzi

Julian & Annette Armstrong

Mr John D Barnard

Mr Geoffrey Bateman

Mr Philip Bathard-Smith

Mrs A Beare

Dr Anthony Buckland

Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario Altieri

Mr Peter Coe

Mrs Pearl Cohen

David & Liz Conway

Mr Alistair Corbett

Ms Mary Anne Cordeiro

Ms Elena Dubinets

Mr Richard Fernyhough

Jason George

Mr Christian Grobel

Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier

Mark & Sarah Holford

Mrs Maureen Hooft-Graafland

Per Jonsson

Mr Ian Kapur

Ms Kim J Koch

Ms Elena Lojevsky

Mrs Terry Neale

John Nickson & Simon Rew

Oliver & Josie Ogg

Ms Olga Ovenden

Mr James Pickford

Filippo Poli

Sir Bernard Rix

Mr Robert Ross Priscylla Shaw

Martin & Cheryl Southgate

Mr & Mrs G Stein

Dr Peter Stephenson

Joanna Williams

Christopher Williams

Ms Elena Ziskind

Supporters

Anonymous donors

Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle

Mr & Mrs Robert Auerbach

Mrs Julia Beine

Harvey Bengen

Miss YolanDa Brown OBE

Miss Yousun Chae

Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk

Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington

Mr Joshua Coger

Miss Tessa Cowie

Mr David Devons

Patricia Dreyfus

Mr Martin Fodder

Christopher Fraser OBE

Will Gold

Ray Harsant

Mr Peter Imhof

The Jackman Family

Mr David MacFarlane

Dame Jane Newell DBE

Mr Stephen Olton

Mari Payne

Mr David Peters

Ms Edwina Pitman

Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh

Mr Giles Quarme

Mr Kenneth Shaw

Mr Brian Smith

Ms Rika Suzuki

Tony & Hilary Vines

Dr June Wakefield

Mr John Weekes

Mr C D Yates

Hon. Benefactor

Elliott Bernerd

Hon. Life Members

Alfonso Aijón

Kenneth Goode

Carol Colburn Grigor CBE

Pehr G Gyllenhammar

Robert Hill

Victoria Robey OBE

Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Laurence Watt

Thank you

Thomas Beecham Group Members

David & Yi Buckley

Gill & Garf Collins

William & Alex de Winton

Sonja Drexler

The Friends of the LPO

Irina Gofman

Roger Greenwood Dr Barry Grimaldi

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

John & Angela Kessler

Countess Dominique Loredan

Sir Simon Robey

Victoria Robey OBE

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

Neil Westreich

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Corporate Donor

Barclays

LPO Corporate Circle

Principal Bloomberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce

Tutti

Lazard

Natixis Corporate Investment Banking Walpole

Trialist

Sciteb

Preferred Partners

Gusbourne Estate

Jeroboams

Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd

OneWelbeck Steinway

In-kind Sponsor

Google Inc

Trusts and Foundations

ABO Trust

BlueSpark Foundation

The Boltini Trust

Borrows Charitable Trust

The Candide Trust

Cockayne – Grants for the Arts

The London Community Foundation

The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

Dunard Fund

Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

Foyle Foundation

Garrick Charitable Trust

John Horniman’s Children’s Trust

John Thaw Foundation

Institute Adam Mickiewicz

Kirby Laing Foundation

The Marchus Trust

The Radcliffe Trust

Rivers Foundation

Rothschild Foundation Scops Arts Trust

Sir William Boremans' Foundation

The John S Cohen Foundation

The Stanley Picker Trust

The Thriplow Charitable Trust

Vaughan Williams Foundation

The Victoria Wood Foundation

The Viney Family

The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust

and all others who wish to remain anonymous.

Board of the American Friends of the LPO

We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America:

Simon Freakley Chairman

Kara Boyle

Jon Carter

Jay Goffman

Alexandra Jupin

Natalie Pray

Damien Vanderwilt

Marc Wasserman

Elizabeth Winter

Catherine Høgel Hon. Director Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

LPO International Board of Governors

Natasha Tsukanova Co-Chair

Martin Höhmann Co-Chair

Mrs Irina Andreeva

Steven M. Berzin

Shashank Bhagat

Veronika Borovik-Khilchevskaya Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil Aline Foriel-Destezet

Irina Gofman

Countess Dominique Loredan

Olivia Ma

George Ramishvili

Sophie Schÿler-Thierry

Jay Stein

London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration

Board of Directors

Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair

Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Vice-Chair

Martin Höhmann* President

Mark Vines* Vice-President

Kate Birchall*

David Buckley

David Burke

Bruno De Kegel

Deborah Dolce

Elena Dubinets

Tanya Joseph Hugh Kluger*

Katherine Leek*

Al MacCuish

Minn Majoe*

Tania Mazzetti*

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin

Andrew Tusa

Neil Westreich

Simon Freakley (Ex officio –Chairman of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra)

*Player-Director

Advisory Council

Martin Höhmann Chairman

Christopher Aldren

Dr Manon Antoniazzi

Roger Barron

Richard Brass

Helen Brocklebank

YolanDa Brown OBE

Simon Burke

Simon Callow CBE

Desmond Cecil CMG

Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG

Andrew Davenport

Guillaume Descottes

Cameron Doley

Christopher Fraser OBE

Jenny Goldie-Scot

Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS

Marianna Hay MBE

Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson DL

Amanda Hill

Rehmet Kassim-Lakha

Jamie Korner

Geoff Mann

Clive Marks OBE FCA

Stewart McIlwham

Andrew Neill

Nadya Powell

Sir Bernard Rix

Victoria Robey OBE

Baroness Shackleton

Thomas Sharpe KC

Julian Simmonds

Barry Smith

Nicholas Snowman OBE Martin Southgate Chris Viney Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter

General Administration

Elena Dubinets Artistic Director

David Burke Chief Executive

Chantelle Vircavs PA to the Executive

Concert Management

Roanna Gibson Concerts and Planning Director

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager

Maddy Clarke Tours Manager

Madeleine Ridout Glyndebourne and Projects Manager

Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Robert Winup Concerts and Tours Assistant

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah Thomas Martin Sargeson Librarians

Laura Kitson Stage and Operations Manager

Stephen O’Flaherty Deputy Operations Manager

Felix Lo Orchestra and Auditions Manager

Finance

Frances Slack Finance Director

Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager

Jean-Paul Ramotar Finance and IT Officer

Education and Community Talia Lash Education and Community Director

Lowri Davies Hannah Foakes Education and Community Project Managers

Hannah Smith Education and Community Co-ordinator

Development

Laura Willis Development Director Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager Siân Jenkins Corporate Relations Manager

Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager

Katurah Morrish Development Events Manager

Eleanor Conroy Al Levin

Development Assistants

Nick Jackman Campaigns and Projects Director

Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate Marketing

Kath Trout Marketing and Communications Director Sophie Harvey Marketing Manager

Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Harrie Mayhew Website Manager

Gavin Miller Sales and Ticketing Manager

Ruth Haines Press and PR Manager

Greg Felton Digital Creative Hayley Kim Marketing Co-ordinator

Alicia Hartley Marketing Assistant Archives

Philip Stuart Discographer

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Professional Services

Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors

Dr Barry Grimaldi Honorary Doctor

Mr Chris Aldren Honorary ENT Surgeon Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon

London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP

Tel: 020 7840 4200 Box Office: 020 7840 4242 Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk

Cover illustration

Simon Pemberton/Heart 2022/23 season identity JMG Studio Printer John Good Ltd