LPO programme: 17 Feb 2023 - Ehnes plays Brahms (Kevin John Edusei/James Ehnes, violin)

2022/23 concert season at the Southbank Centre

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

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Friday 17 February 2023 | 7.30pm

Ehnes plays Brahms

Missy Mazzoli

Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) (9’)

Brahms

Violin Concerto in D major (36’)

Interval (20’)

Dvořák

Symphony No. 9 in E minor (From the New World) (40’)

Kevin John Edusei conductor

James Ehnes violin

Free pre-concert performance: LPO Junior Artists

Royal Festival Hall | 6.00pm

The LPO Junior Artists perform works by Stravinsky, Elgar, Bartók and Conrad Asman alongside LPO musicians, Junior Artist alumni and Foyle Future Firsts, under conductor Gabriella Teychenné. Free and unticketed – all welcome.

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. Concert presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Welcome LPO news

Welcome to the Southbank Centre

We’re the largest arts centre in the UK and one of the nation’s top visitor attractions, showcasing the world’s most exciting artists at our venues in the heart of London. We’re here to present great cultural experiences that bring people together, and open up the arts to everyone.

The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library and Arts Council Collection. We’re one of London’s favourite meeting spots, with lots of free events and places to relax, eat and shop next to the Thames.

We hope you enjoy your visit. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. You can also write to us at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk

Subscribers to our email updates are the first to hear about new events, offers and competitions. Just head to our website to sign up.

Drinks

You are welcome to bring drinks from the venue’s bars and cafés into the Royal Festival Hall to enjoy during tonight’s concert. Please be considerate to fellow audience members by keeping noise during the concert to a minimum, and please take your glasses with you for recycling afterwards. Thank you.

LPO Junior Artists

This evening we welcome our LPO Junior Artists, who give a free pre-concert performance at 6pm on the Royal Festival Hall stage. Conducted by Gabriella Teychenné, this performance showcases the talent of current and past LPO Junior Artists, alongside LPO musicians and members of our Foyle Future Firsts programme. Please do come along and hear them!

LPO Junior Artists is the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual orchestral experience programme for eight talented young musicians from backgrounds currently under-represented in professional UK orchestras, who are aged 15–19 and at a minimum Grade 8 playing standard. Junior Artists become part of the LPO family for a year, getting to know our musicians, staff and artists, as well as members of our New Talent schemes and former LPO Junior Artists. Applications for LPO Junior Artists 2023/24 will open in early March, so keep an eye on our website for details: lpo.org.uk/juniorartists

Congratulations Karina!

Congratulations to our Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis, who has been shortlisted in the Conductor category of the 2023 Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards. Billed by BBC Radio 3 as ‘the BAFTAs of classical music’, the RPS Awards celebrate classical musicians nationwide, shining a light on brilliant individuals, groups and initiatives and reflecting the far-reaching impact that classical music has nationally. The 2023 winners will be announced in a ceremony at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on 1 March.

The LPO Junior Artists Programme is generously funded by the Kirby Laing Foundation, TIOC Foundation and The Victoria Wood Foundation.

First Violins

Pieter Schoeman* Leader

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Kate Oswin

Minn Majoe

Thomas Eisner

Alfredo Reyes Logounova

Martin Höhmann

Elizaveta Tyun

Alice Apreda Howell

Ricky Gore

Eleanor Bartlett

Gabriela Opacka

Kay Chappell

Ronald Long

Maria Fiore Mazzarini

Yang Zhang

Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Catherine Craig

Second Violins

Tania Mazzetti Principal

Emma Oldfield Co-Principal

Claudia Tarrant-Matthews

Kate Birchall

Ashley Stevens

Lyrit Milgram

Kate Cole

Jessica Coleman

Harry Kerr

Charlie MacClure

Rebeccca Dinning

Nicole Stokes

Sioni Williams

Anna Croad

Violas

Richard Waters Principal

Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander

Sharp

Martin Wray

Katharine Leek

Lucia Ortiz Sauco

Laura Vallejo

Shiry Rashkovsky

James Heron

Julia Doukakis

Raquel López Bolívar

Kim Becker

Daniel Cornford

Joseph Fisher

On stage tonight

Cellos

Morwenna Del Mar Guest Principal

Francis Bucknall

Sue Sutherley

George Hoult

Leo Melvin

Iain Ward

Jessica Hayes

Hee Yeon Cho

Susanna Riddell

Helen Thomas

Double Basses

Kevin Rundell* Principal

Hugh Kluger

Tom Walley

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Laura Murphy

Lowri Morgan

Charlotte Kerbegian

Adam Wynter

Elen Roberts

Flutes

Juliette Bausor Principal

Stewart McIlwham*

Piccolo

Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Oboes

Rainer Gibbons Guest 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

Helen Simons

Horns

Annemarie Federle Principal

John Ryan* Principal

Martin Hobbs

Mark Vines Co-Principal

Gareth Mollison

Trumpets

Paul Beniston* Principal

Erika Curbelo Guest Principal

Anne McAneney*

Trombones

Mark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal

Tuba

David Kendall Guest Principal

Timpani

Marney O’Sullivan Guest Principal

Percussion

Ignacio Molins Guest Principal

Karen Hutt

Piano/Synthesizer

Clíodna Shanahan

* 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

Gill & Garf Collins

Sonja Drexler

Friends of the Orchestra

Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave

Victoria Robey OBE

Bianca & Stuart Roden

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 here 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 in Brighton, Eastbourne and 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

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’re once again working 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, to be succeeded by Tania León in September 2023.

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

© Mark Allan

Edward Gardner, captured in his first concert as 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 have a number of opportunities to support their progression. 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. We have also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of two outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession.

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.

lpo.org.uk

Pieter Schoeman Leader

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 the Southbank Centre’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.

© Benjamin Ealovega

Kevin John Edusei conductor

In autumn 2022 Kevin made his debut at the Royal Opera House conducting La bohème, and he will return in the 2023/24 season. Previously he has conducted at English National Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera, Vienna Volksoper and Komische Oper Berlin. During his time as Chief Conductor of Bern Opera House he led many new productions including Peter Grimes, Salome, Bluebeard’s Castle, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Kátya Kábanová, and a cycle of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas.

German conductor Kevin John Edusei is sought-after the world over. He is praised repeatedly for the drama and tension that he brings to his music-making, for his attention to detail, sense of architecture, and the fluidity, warmth and insight that he brings to his performances. He is deeply committed to the creative elements of performance, presenting classical music in new formats, cultivating audiences, introducing music by under-represented composers, and conducting an eclectic range of repertoire from the Baroque to the contemporary. He is former Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra, and is now Principal Guest Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

As well as this evening’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which will be followed by a second performance with the Orchestra and James Ehnes tomorrow evening at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall, Kevin’s 2022/23 season includes debuts with the Munich Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Hallé, Utah Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony and National Symphony (Washington DC) orchestras, amongst others. He also returns to the London Symphony Orchestra, marking his Barbican Centre debut, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

In recent seasons he has conducted many of the major orchestras across the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and the US, and in summer 2022 appeared with Chineke! Orchestra on a festival tour which included Snape, Hamburg, Helsinki, the closing concert of the Lucerne Festival, and a televised performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the BBC Proms.

© Marco Borggreve

James Ehnes

violin to the recording industry, including the launch of an online recital series entitled ‘Recitals from Home’, which was released in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of concert halls.

James recorded Bach’s six Sonatas and Partitas and Ysaÿe’s six Sonatas from his home with state-of-the-art equipment, and released six episodes over a period of two months. These recordings were met with great critical acclaim by audiences worldwide, and the violinist was described by Le Devoir as being ‘at the absolute forefront of the streaming evolution’.

James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after musicians on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, he is a favourite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls. James last appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in October 2019, when he performed Walton’s Violin Concerto under Edward Gardner here at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

Recent orchestral highlights include performances with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, NHK Symphony and Munich Philharmonic orchestras. Throughout the 2022/23 season, James continues as Artist-inResidence with the National Arts Centre of Canada.

Alongside his concerto performances, James maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall (including a complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas in 2019/20, and the complete violin/viola works of Brahms and Schumann in 2021/22), Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Verbier Festival, Dresden Music Festival and Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence. A devoted chamber musician, he is leader of the Ehnes Quartet and Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

James Ehnes has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including two Grammys, three Gramophone Awards and eleven Juno Awards. In 2021 he was announced as recipient of the coveted ‘Artist of the Year’ title at the Gramophone Awards. This award celebrated his recent contributions

James Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin aged nine, and made his orchestral debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal aged 13. He continued his studies with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music and The Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon his graduation in 1997.

James is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Visiting Professor. He plays the ‘Marsick’ Stradivarius of 1715.

© Benjamin Ealovega

Programme notes

Missy Mazzoli born 1980

Composer profile

Recently deemed ‘Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart’ (Time Out New York), and praised for her ‘apocalyptic imagination’ (Alex Ross), Missy Mazzoli’s talent draws audiences equally into concert halls, opera houses and rock clubs. She inhabits an exquisite and mysterious soundworld that melds indie-rock sensibilities with formal training. Her music has been performed by the Kronos Quartet, LA Opera, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, Scottish Opera and many others. In March 2022 the LPO under Edward Gardner gave the UK premiere of Mazzoli’s River Rouge Transformation at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, and in March 2021, under Enrique Mazzola, they performed her work These Worlds in Us in a concert streamed online via Marquee TV.

In 2018 Mazzoli became, along with Jeanine Tesori, one of the first women to receive a main-stage commission from New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and was nominated for a Grammy award in the ‘Best Classical Composition’ category for her Vespers for Violin. From 2018–21 she was Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and from 2012–15 Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia. In 2016 she co-founded Luna Composition Lab, a mentorship programme for young female, non-binary and gender non-conforming composers.

Missy Mazzoli’s third opera, Proving Up, written with her longterm collaborator Royce Vavrek, was premiered to critical acclaim at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center in 2018. Her second opera, Breaking the Waves, was described as ‘among the best 21st-century operas yet’ by Opera News, and ‘savage, heartbreaking and thoroughly original’ by the Wall Street Journal. Earlier projects include her critically acclaimed first opera, Song from the Uproar, in 2012.

Missy Mazzoli is also an active pianist and keyboardist, and often performs with Victoire, a band she founded in 2008 dedicated to her own compositions. Their debut full-length album, Cathedral City, was named one of 2010′s best classical albums by Time Out New York, NPR, The New Yorker and The New York Times

© Caroline Tompkins

Programme notes

Missy Mazzoli Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) 2014, rev. 2016

Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The piece began life in 2013 in a version for chamber orchestra, premiered by the LA Phil New Music Group and John Adams, before the composer later expanded it for full orchestra. The BBC Symphony Orchestra gave the European premiere of the work at the 2017 BBC Proms, conducted by Karina Canellakis.

The composer writes: ‘Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) is music in the shape of a solar system, a collection of rococo loops that twist around each other within a larger orbit. The word “sinfonia” refers to Baroque works for chamber orchestra but also to the old Italian term for the hurdy-gurdy, a medieval stringed instrument with constant, wheezing drones that are cranked out under melodies played on an attached keyboard. It’s a piece that churns and roils, that inches close to the listener only to leap away at breakneck speed, in the process transforming the ensemble into a makeshift hurdygurdy, flung recklessly into space.’

CONTEMPORARY HIGHLIGHTS THIS SPRING

WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY

THOMAS ADÈS

The Tempest Symphony UK premiere Inferno Suite

SATURDAY 4 MARCH

GEORGE BENJAMIN Sudden Time

SATURDAY 18 MARCH

VICTORIA VITA POLEVÁ

Nova UK premiere

ELENA LANGER

The Dong with a Luminous Nose world premiere

SATURDAY 25 MARCH

HEINER GOEBBELS

A House of Call UK premiere

FRIDAY 31 MARCH

TANIA LE Ó N Stride UK premiere

WEDNESDAY 26 APRIL

BRETT DEAN

In spe contra spem world premiere

SATURDAY 29 APRIL

THOMAS LARCHER

Symphony No. 2 (Kenotaph)

‘Missy Mazzoli is the 21st century’s gatecrasher of new classical music.’

– NPR’s ‘Turning the Tables’

Programme notes

Johannes Brahms

1833–97

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 1878

James Ehnes violin

1 Allegro non troppo

2 Adagio

3 Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace

Brahms’s summer ‘holidays’ were the times when he was most able to get down to sustained work on composition, and numerous of his works were conceived and created in the idyllic surroundings of various European mountain, lakeside and island locations. In August 1878 he was in the village of Pörtschach by the Wörthersee in southern Austria, the same lake by whose shores Mahler would later spend his creative summers. Brahms had discovered the place the previous year, and written the Second Symphony there, but on this occasion he only intended to stay for one day on his way back from his main holiday in Italy. Fine weather and the vivid blues, greens and whites of the alpine summer, however, caused him to linger, and before long he was composing a Violin Concerto.

The work was intended for his friend Joseph Joachim, one of the great violinists of the age, but also a composer himself and a musician who saw virtuosity as an expressive tool, not a vehicle for gratuitous showing off. Brahms consulted him on violinistic matters throughout the composition period and even beyond the premiere in Leipzig on 1 January 1879, and early criticism of the work as a ‘concerto against the violin’ (presumably rather than being for and led by it) failed to recognise that its symphonic integration of a nevertheless demanding solo part within the broader orchestral texture was clearly the result of composer and executant being of like mind.

Programme notes

Perhaps it was natural that the first movement should recall the subtly unfolding lyrical warmth and relaxed triple-time metre that had characterised its counterpart in that first Wörthersee piece, the Second Symphony –though it is certainly not without assertive moments too. As often with Brahms, however, Romantic atmosphere goes together with a Classical approach to form. The movement opens with the orchestra presenting a succession of themes for discussion just as a Mozart concerto would, and the soloist later offers one of its own, a beautiful ‘leaning’ melody that is the nearest thing Brahms comes here to conceding to the gentle waltz rhythm that lies behind the notes. Equally ‘classical’ is the fact that instead of writing out the cadenza, as by his time had become the norm, Brahms left it to be improvised (or at least composed) by his soloist. Tonight’s performance, as most do, uses the cadenza Joachim himself provided.

The second movement is a serene exercise in sustained invention, starting from a heavenly melody presented by winds alone, led by solo oboe. The solo violin then expands on it both lyrically and decoratively, passes through a more impassioned (but melodically related) central section and emerges on the other side with a blissful reprise of the opening melody, now with enriched orchestral accompaniment.

Joachim’s Hungarian heritage is honoured in the finale, which references the ‘gypsy’ style Brahms loved so much to indulge. It was perhaps also a repayment of the friendly tribute Joachim had made by dedicating to Brahms his own Concerto ‘in Hungarian style’ in 1861. The movement is a rondo with a somewhat Beethovenian demeanour in its gruff humour and the resourceful and often unpredictable way it sets about the returns of its main theme, adding playful spirit to the ending to this finely crafted concerto.

– Johannes Brahms in a letter to the critic Eduard Hanslick in summer 1878, while at work on his Violin Concerto

Interval – 20 minutes

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

‘The melodies fly so thick here that you have to be careful not to step on one.’

Programme notes

Antonín Dvořák

1841–1904

Symphony No. 9 in E minor (From the New World) 1893

3

1

2 Largo

4

‘Apparently I am to show them the path to the promised land and the kingdom of a new, independent art; in short, to create a national music!’ Having been appointed Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, Dvořák knew that great things were expected of him, as his letters home show. American music in the second half of the 19th century was strongly dominated by German-trained composers who aligned it firmly with the central European classical tradition, and it must have been with a view to breaking free from this somewhat stifling influence that the wealthy Jeanette Thurber founded her new conservatory in 1892 and invited Dvořák, one of Europe’s most prominent nationalist composers, for a three-year term as its first Director. By her own account, it was Mrs Thurber who also suggested to Dvořák the idea of composing a symphony that would reflect his impressions of America. He began it in January 1893 and completed it the following May. It was premiered amid huge public interest and acclaim on 16 December.

The ideal identity of an American national music was at this time the subject of considerable debate, one desirable element recognised by many being the influence of black and native American music.

Dvořák espoused the cause straight away. Having heard spirituals sung to him by a black student (and no doubt encountered the ‘plantation songs’ of the popular white composer Stephen Foster), he declared in an interview in the New York Herald in May 1893: ‘I am now convinced that the future music of this country must be

Adagio – Allegro molto

Scherzo: Molto vivace – Poco sostenuto

Allegro con fuoco

Courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London

Programme notes

built on the foundations of the songs which are called Negro melodies. They must become the basis of a serious and original school of composition which should be established in the USA.’ His recently completed symphony – which by the time of its premiere had acquired the title ‘From the New World’ –undoubtedly embodied this ambition.

But although few would deny the American feel of the ‘New World’ Symphony, or the audibility of its influence on later American composers (not least those who wrote for Hollywood), Dvořák was clear that he did not use existing folk melodies, and sought only to reproduce ‘the spirit of Negro and Indian music’ with ‘characteristic themes’. In this sense he was doing much the same as in his ‘Slavonic’ music, and indeed, given that such features as syncopations and pentatonic melodies are common to many of the world’s folk-musics (Czech among them), there is much to be said for considering this a work of truly dual nationality. Though he loved America, Dvořák was often homesick while there, and with a different set of ears it is not hard to hear the Symphony as an expression of longing for his Bohemian homeland, displaying (as the 20th-century conductor Václav Talich once put it) ‘the rhythm and melody of his surroundings ... remoulded by Dvořák’s Czechness’.

The Symphony opens with a pensive introduction containing a slow melody whose syncopations gradually draw it towards the athletic main theme of the Allegro that follows (and which will make several strategic returns later in the Symphony). This first movement also features two contrasting themes, both introduced by winds and both with a syncopated nature that would seem to qualify them as ‘characteristically’ American. There is a stormy central development section, and after the main themes have been reprised, a driving finish.

The slow movement is a gem whose celebrity is richly deserved. After a sequence of solemn chords has helped to establish its new and unusual key (D flat major), a solo cor anglais intones the simple, spirituallike theme that is surely one of the most glorious melodies in all music. The warm sense of pastoral nostalgia is briefly broken by some forest stirrings and a fleeting glimpse of the first movement’s wider vistas, but at the end there is a return to the opening’s mood of wistfulness.

The stamping dance of the Scherzo seems to inhabit the world of the native American – indeed, Dvořák later said that, like the Largo, it was inspired by a scene in

Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha. Its form is unusual, containing in addition to its lightly skipping central Trio a song-like second theme within its main repeated section.

The finale introduces a striking new theme, but while this rightly dominates the movement, Dvořák makes much play of bringing back melodic fragments from earlier movements. The music works to an almost Wagnerian climax before the Symphony ends in a final surprise gesture of longing.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works

by Laurie Watt

Missy Mazzoli: Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)

On the composer’s website: missymazzoli.com/works

Brahms: Violin Concerto

Nigel Kennedy | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Klaus Tennstedt (Warner) or Jack Liebeck | BBC Symphony Orchestra

Andrew Gourlay (Orchid Classics)

Dvořák: Symphony No. 9

London Philharmonic Orchestra | Charles Mackerras (Classics for Pleasure) or Marin Alsop | Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Naxos)

Enjoyed tonight’s concert?

Help us to share the wonder of the LPO by making a donation today. Use the QR code to donate via the LPO website, or visit lpo.org.uk/donate. Thank you.

Brahms & Dvořák programme notes © Lindsay Kemp

Next LPO concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

ADÈS CONDUCTS ADÈS

Wednesday 22 February 2023 | 7.30pm

Sibelius Prelude and Suite No. 1 from The Tempest

Thomas Adès The Tempest Symphony (UK premiere)

Thomas Adès Inferno Suite

Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini

Thomas Adès conductor

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

Saturday 25 February 2023 | 7.30pm

Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte

Chausson Poème de l’amour et de la mer

Franck Symphony in D minor

Bertrand de Billy conductor

Danielle de Niese soprano

Generously supported by Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet

GARDNER CONDUCTS RACHMANINOFF

Saturday 4 March 2023 | 7.30pm

George Benjamin Sudden Time

Grieg Piano Concerto

Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances

Edward Gardner conductor

Leif Ove Andsnes piano

Generously supported by PRS Foundation’s Resonate programme

Danielle de Niese © Chris Dunlop/Decca

Annual Appeal 2023

Celebrating 90 years & counting

We cherish our heritage and are committed to keeping the next 90 years exciting, dynamic and inclusive. Donate now, as we continue to make history in the present by offering life-enriching musical experiences for everyone, investing in the next generation of talent, commissioning masterworks of the future and reaching more communities around the UK, especially in Brighton and Eastbourne.

Written and directed by Bill Barclay

Tuesday 21 March 2023

7.30pm

St Martin-in-the-Fields

The Chevalier tells the fascinating life of Joseph Bologne –an 18th-century Black composer, virtuoso violinist and friend of Mozart and Marie Antoinette – more commonly known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

Generously supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Matthew Kofi Waldren conductor

Braimah Kanneh-Mason violin

Chukwudi Iwuji Joseph Bologne

Merritt Janson Marie Antoinette

David Joseph Mozart

Bill Barclay Choderlos de Laclos

London Philharmonic Orchestra and friends

Tickets: £10–£35 (Booking fee: £2.75)

St Martin in the Fields Box Office 020 7766 1100 (Mon–Sat 10.00am–5.00pm) smitf.org

Sound Futures donors

We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures

Masur Circle

Arts Council England

Dunard Fund

Victoria Robey OBE

Emmanuel & Barrie Roman

The Underwood Trust

Welser-Möst Circle

William & Alex de Winton

John Ireland Charitable Trust

The Tsukanov Family Foundation

Neil Westreich

Tennstedt Circle

Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov

Richard Buxton

The Candide Trust

Michael & Elena Kroupeev

Kirby Laing Foundation

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich

Sir Simon Robey

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Simon & Vero Turner

The late Mr K Twyman

Solti Patrons

Ageas

John & Manon Antoniazzi

Gabor Beyer, through BTO

Management Consulting AG

Jon Claydon

Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne

Goodman

Roddy & April Gow

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris

Charitable Trust

Mr James R.D. Korner

Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia

Ladanyi-Czernin

Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski

The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust

Mr Paris Natar

The Rothschild Foundation

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons

Mark & Elizabeth Adams

Dr Christopher Aldren

Mrs Pauline Baumgartner

Lady Jane Berrill

Mr Frederick Brittenden

David & Yi Yao Buckley

Mr Clive Butler

Gill & Garf Collins

Mr John H Cook

Mr Alistair Corbett

Bruno De Kegel

Georgy Djaparidze

David Ellen

Christopher Fraser OBE

David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Goldman Sachs International

Mr Gavin Graham

Moya Greene

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Tony & Susie Hayes

Malcolm Herring

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Mrs Philip Kan

Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons

Miss Jeanette Martin

Duncan Matthews KC

Diana & Allan Morgenthau

Charitable Trust

Dr Karen Morton

Mr Roger Phillimore

Ruth Rattenbury

The Reed Foundation

The Rind Foundation

Sir Bernard Rix

David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada)

Carolina & Martin Schwab

Dr Brian Smith

Lady Valerie Solti

Mr & Mrs G Stein

Dr Peter Stephenson

Miss Anne Stoddart

TFS Loans Limited

Marina Vaizey

Jenny Watson

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Pritchard Donors

Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle

Mrs Arlene Beare

Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner

Mr Conrad Blakey

Dr Anthony Buckland

Paul Collins

Alastair Crawford

Mr Derek B. Gray

Mr Roger Greenwood

The HA.SH Foundation

Darren & Jennifer Holmes

Honeymead Arts Trust

Mr Geoffrey Kirkham

Drs Frank & Gek Lim

Peter Mace

Mr & Mrs David Malpas

Dr David McGibney

Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner

Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill

Mr Christopher Querée

The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer

Charitable Trust

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Christopher Williams

Peter Wilson Smith

Mr Anthony Yolland

and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

Thank you

We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year. Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.

Artistic Director’s Circle

Anonymous donors

Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet

Aud Jebsen

In memory of Mrs Rita Reay

Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE

Orchestra Circle

William & Alex de Winton

Patricia Haitink

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

Neil Westreich

The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Principal Associates

Richard Buxton

Gill & Garf Collins

In memory of Brenda Lyndoe

Casbon

In memory of Ann Marguerite

Collins

Sally Groves MBE

George Ramishvili

Associates

Mrs Irina Andreeva

In memory of Len & Edna Beech

Steven M. Berzin

Ms Veronika BorovikKhilchevskaya

The Candide Trust

Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.

Cave

The Lambert Family Charitable

Trust

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

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

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

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

Sciteb Ltd

Walpole

Preferred Partners

Gusbourne Estate

Jeroboams

Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd

OneWelbeck

Steinway

In-kind Sponsor

Google Inc

Thank you

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

Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust

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

TIOC Foundation

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