Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen
Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis
Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski KBE 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 8 December 2024 | 3.00pm
Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 2
Mozart
Overture, The Marriage of Figaro (5’)
R Strauss
Horn Concerto No. 2 (20’)
Interval (20’)
Dvořák
Symphony No. 8 (36’)
Valentina Peleggi conductor
Ben Goldscheider
horn
Free pre-concert performance | 2.15pm
Enjoy the sound of local young talent, as musicians from Create Music, the music education hub for Brighton & Hove and East Sussex, give a special free performance in the Congress Theatre foyer.
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
Welcome to the Congress Theatre
Theatre Director Chris Jordan General Manager Neil Jones
We extend a warm welcome to the members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and to the artists making their debuts with the Orchestra today – and of course to every one of you, our valued audience members.
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. Whether this is your first concert or you are a season regular, we hope you enjoy your experience at our venue. Please speak to a member of our staff if you have any comments you’d like to make about your visit. We thank you for continuing to support the concert series. Please sit back in your seats and enjoy your afternoon with us.
As a courtesy to others, please ensure mobile phones are switched off during the performance. Please also note that photography and recording are not allowed in the auditorium unless announced from the stage. Thank you.
We’d love to hear from you
We hope you enjoy today’s concert. Could you spare a few moments afterwards to complete a short survey about your experience? Your feedback is invaluable to us and will help to shape our future plans. Just scan the QR code to begin the survey. Thank you!
The paper used for all LPO brochures and concert programmes has been sourced from responsibly managed forests, certified in accordance with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). It is also Carbon Balanced, meaning the carbon impact of its production is offset by the World Land Trust through the purchase and preservation of ecologically important forestry under imminent threat of clearance.
LPO news
Today’s pre-concert performance by Create Music
We’d like to extend a special welcome to the young musicians from Create Music who join us today. Create Music is part of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival, and the Hub Lead Organisation for the Sussex Music Hub. Their vision is for a future where children and young peoples’ lives are forever transformed by the power of music.
You will have heard the Eastbourne Music Centre Youth Brass Group performing in the foyer before today’s concert. These young musicians also met LPO players earlier today, with an opportunity to ask questions and find out what it’s like to be a professional musician. We’re delighted to welcome these young musicians and look forward to lots more collaboration with talented young people in Eastbourne and the surrounding areas.
createmusic.org.uk
‘Pitch
me Classical’: A new podcast from the LPO
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has launched a brand new podcast! Host YolanDa Brown and players from the LPO pitch their thoughts on some of classical music’s most-asked questions, in an attempt to get to the bottom of some contentious conundrums. Is Mozart the greatest of all time? Does all classical music really sound the same? Should we be ditching bow ties?
Tune in every other Thursday wherever you get your podcasts. Scan the QR code to listen now, or visit lpo.org.uk/podcast
First Violins
Pieter Schoeman* Leader
Chair supported by Neil Westreich
Kate Oswin
Chair supported by Eric Tomsett
Lasma Taimina
Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik
V. G. Cave
Minn Majoe
Chair supported by Dr Alex & Maria Chan
Martin Höhmann
Katalin Varnagy
Elizaveta Tyun
Daniel Pukach
Ricky Gore
Ronald Long
Alison Strange
Gabriel Bilbao
Second Violins
Helena Buckie Guest Principal
Kate Birchall
Nancy Elan
Nynke Hijlkema
Joseph Maher
Sioni Williams
Emma Martin
Tayfun Bomboz
Anna Croad
Matthew Bain
Violas
Scott Dickinson Guest Principal
Martin Wray
Chair supported by David & Bettina Harden
Katharine Leek
Benedetto Pollani
Laura Vallejo
Mark Gibbs
Richard Cookson
Linda Kidwell
Cellos
David Lale Principal
Francis Bucknall
Iain Ward
Colin Alexander
Pedro Silva
Henry Hargreaves
On stage today
Double Basses
Kevin Rundell* Principal
Sebastian Pennar* Co-Principal
George Peniston
Tom Walley
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Flutes
Thomas Hancox Guest Principal
Stewart McIlwham*
Piccolo
Stewart McIlwham* Principal
Oboes
Ian Hardwick* Principal
Jack Tostevin-Hall
Cor Anglais
Jack Tostevin-Hall
Clarinets
Benjamin Mellefont* Principal
Chair supported by Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
Beth Crouch
Bassoons
Jonathan Davies* Principal
Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey
Helen Storey*
Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra
Horns
John Ryan* Principal
Annemarie Federle Principal
Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE
Oliver Johnson
Eleanor Blakeney
Gareth Mollison
Trumpets
Chris Evans Guest Principal
Anne McAneney*
Chair supported in memory of Peter Coe
Trombones
Mark Templeton* Principal
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
David Whitehouse
Bass Trombone
Lyndon Meredith Principal
Tuba
Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Timpani
Simon Carrington* Principal
Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE
*Professor at a London conservatoire
The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert:
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. Our mission is to share wonder with the modern world through the power of orchestral music, which we accomplish through live performances, online, and an extensive education and community programme, cementing 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 in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour worldwide. In 2024 we celebrated 60 years as Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.
Soundtrack to key moments
Everyone will have heard the Grammy-nominated London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems for 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
Sharing the wonder worldwide
We’re one of the world’s most-streamed orchestras, with over 15 million plays of our content each month. In 2023 we were the most successful orchestra worldwide on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, with over 1.1m followers across all platforms, and in spring 2024 we featured in a TV documentary series on Sky Arts: ‘Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’, still available to watch via Now TV. During 2024/25 we’re once again working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts to enjoy from your own living room.
Our conductors
Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, and 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 Tania León our Composer-in-Residence.
Next generations
We’re committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians and music-lovers: we love seeing the joy of children and families experiencing their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about inspiring schools and teachers through dedicated concerts, workshops,
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 disabilities and special educational needs.
Today’s young instrumentalists are the orchestra members of the future, and we have a number of opportunities to support their progression. Our LPO Junior Artists programme leads 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 also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of two outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds under-represented in the profession.
2024/25 season
Principal Conductor Edward Gardner leads the Orchestra in an exciting 2024/25 season, with soloists including Joyce DiDonato, Leif Ove Andsnes, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Víkingur Ólafsson and Isabelle Faust, and works including Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis joins us for three concerts including Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, and Mozart with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. We’ll also welcome back Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski, as well as guest conductors including Mark Elder, Lidiya Yankovskaya, Robin Ticciati and Kevin John Edusei.
Throughout the season we’ll explore the relationship between music and memory in our ‘Moments Remembered’ series, featuring works like Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony, Strauss’s Metamorphosen and John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls. During the season there’ll be the chance to hear brand new works by composers including Freya Waley-Cohen and David Sawer, as well as performances by renowned soloists violinist Gidon Kremer, sarod player Amjad Ali Khan, soprano Renée Fleming and many more. The season also features tours to Japan, the USA, China and across Europe, as well as a calendar bursting with performances and community events in our Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden residencies.
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 Rachmaninoff 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, Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, 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.
Valentina Peleggi has been Music Director of the Richmond Symphony (Virginia, USA) since 2020, and recently renewed her contract to summer 2028, having already revitalised the orchestra’s artistic output. While focusing on developing the orchestra’s own sound, she has also launched new concert formats, joined national co-commission partnerships, started a three-year Composer-in-Residence programme, launched conducting masterclasses in collaboration with local universities, and championed neglected composers from diverse backgrounds. During the pandemic, she sat on the jury of the first virtual Menuhin Competition, hosted by the Richmond Symphony.
Today is Valentina’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Other European engagements this season include debuts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Haydn Orchestra Bolzano, and return visits to the Residentie Orkest, Liege Philharmonic and Opera North orchestras, as well as the BBC Singers. She has previously conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestra della Toscana, Brussels Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony, Nuremberg Symphony, Norrköping Symphony, Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano and Arena di Verona orchestras, and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Guest appearances in North America have included with the Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore, New World, Kansas City and Colorado symphony orchestras, and at the Grant Park Music Festival. This season she also makes debuts with the Indianapolis, Pacific and Vancouver symphonies.
Opera (especially bel canto) is vital part of Valentina Peleggi’s activity. In May 2024 she made a hugely
successful debut at Seattle Opera with The Barber of Seville, and she will conduct Rossini’s Semiramide at the Opera de Rouen in 2025. She has previously conducted Rossini’s Le comte Ory with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Garsington Opera and Rigoletto at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, and she made her Opéra de Lyon debut with Piazzola’s María de Buenos Aires. Whilst a Mackerras Fellow at English National Opera in 2018/19, she conducted a wide range of repertoire including Carmen and La bohème
2021 saw the release of Valentina’s first CD, featuring a cappella works by Villa-Lobos in a new critical edition that she guest edited for Naxos, performed by the São Paulo Symphony Chorus, where she returned in 2023 to conduct an a cappella concert. While Acting Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor of the Chorus, she was concurrently Resident Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Music Director (responsible for Italian repertoire) of the Theatro São Pedro in São Paulo.
The first Italian woman to enter the conducting programme at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Valentina graduated with Distinction and was awarded the DipRAM for an outstanding final concert, as well as numerous other prizes, and was recently honoured with the title of Associate. She furthered her studies with David Zinman and Daniele Gatti at the Zurich Tonhalle and at the Royal Concertgebouw masterclasses. She won the 2014 Conducting Prize at the Festival International de Inverno Campos do Jordão, was awarded a Bruno Walter Foundation Scholarship at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California, and received the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship 2015–17 under Marin Alsop.
Valentina Peleggi holds a Masters in Conducting with Honours from the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, and in 2013 she received the Accademia Chigiana’s highest award, going on to assist Bruno Campanella and Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Teatro Regio di Torino, Opera Bastille Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro Regio di Parma and Teatro San Carlo. She also assisted on a live worldwide broadcast and DVD production of Rossini’s La cenerentola with the Orchestra Nazionale della RAI. From 2005–15 she was Principal Conductor and Music Director of the University Choir in Florence, and remains their Honorary Conductor, receiving a special award from the Government in 2011 in recognition of her work there.
Valentina is passionate about the arts and holds a Masters in Comparative Literature.
Ben Goldscheider horn
British horn player Ben Goldscheider has premiered over 50 new works for the horn to date, spanning concerto, solo, chamber and cross-genre projects, including with live electronics and lighting.
Today’s concert is Ben’s London Philharmonic Orchestra debut. Following world premiere performances of two new concerti by Gavin Higgins and Huw Watkins last season, upcoming highlights include debuts with the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra (under Rebecca Miller) for the Swedish premiere of the Watkins Concerto, and with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (under Jamie Phillips) with the Higgins Concerto. Ben will also return to Ulster Orchestra (under Paweł Kapuła) for the Irish premiere of the Higgins, as well as to the Aldeburgh Festival for the world premiere of Brian Elias’s Horn Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo. He will also join the London Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Helmut Lachenmann’s My Melodies for eight horns and orchestra.
Recent highlights include recitals at major concert halls across Europe including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Musikverein, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Cologne Philharmonie, and London’s Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall. Ben has also appeared as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (at the BBC Proms), Ulster Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Lucerne Symphony, Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Prague Philharmonia, Munich Chamber Orchestra (Klosters Music), Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, among others.
A committed chamber musician, Ben has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich, Sergei Babayan, Kirill Gerstein, Denis Kozuhkin, Sunwook Kim, Clara Jumi-Kang and Allan Clayton, at the Verbier, Salzburg, Jerusalem, Intonations (Berlin) and Barenboim (Buenos Aires) festivals, among others. In recital, he has collaborated with Michael Barenboim, Stephen Hough, Tom Poster, Benjamin Baker and Richard Uttley, and is a member of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. Upcoming highlights include a return to the Heidelberg Spring Music Festival for multiple performances including a solo recital and Schubert’s Octet, as well as to Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, California. In 2025, Ben will be Artist-in-Residence at the Barnes Music Festival in London, featuring concerto and chamber music performances.
Ben Goldscheider’s recordings include ‘Legacy: A Tribute to Dennis Brain’ on Three Worlds Records, with newly commissioned pieces by Huw Watkins and Roxanna Panufnik; and a solo concerto recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra featuring works by Arnold, Schoenberg and Gipps conducted by Lee Reynolds. Ben also recorded the solo horn-call from Wagner’s Siegfried with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
Ben is a member of the Boulez Ensemble and Principal Horn of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra . He holds a professorship at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, and is Artist-in-Association at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Born in London in 1997, Ben Goldscheider studied at the Royal College of Music Junior Department with Susan Dent, and in 2020 completed his studies with honours at Berlin’s Barenboim-Said Academy with Radek Baborák. He was a prizewinner at the 2019 YCAT International Auditions, Concerto Finalist in the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, and an ECHO Rising Star for the 2021/22 season nominated by the Barbican, London.
There are moments in artists’ lives when, quite simply, the time is right – when maturing talent, glowing opportunity and countless other happy circumstances unite to create the perfect conditions for something special. There can be little doubt that the second half of 1785, when Mozart began work on Le nozze di Figaro (‘The Marriage of Figaro’) was such a moment.
It was his first opera for three years. His previous effort, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, had been a comedy in German, but even within months of its successful premiere he was telling his father in a letter ‘I should dearly like to show what I can do in an Italian opera’. Now, some four years after moving to Vienna, exposure to the Imperial capital’s stimulating musical and artistic environment had brought a new richness to his music. A great series of piano concertos, composed for himself to play, was making him a celebrity, while marriage had brought contentment and stability in his domestic life. The final piece in the jigsaw came in the person of Lorenzo da Ponte, a new librettist for Mozart whose creative brilliance and instinctive dramatic genius were perfect matches for his own. Together, in The Marriage of Figaro, premiered at Vienna’s Burgtheater on 1 May 1786, they produced one of the great masterpieces of opera, a work of unsurpassed sophistication and psychological penetration, couched in words and music of typically untouchable grace and beauty.
The opera depicts the outwitting by his servants, led by the valet Figaro, of a nobleman’s attempts to exercise droit de seigneur, but while there is perhaps a hint in the Overture’s unusual opening of the intrigues to follow, all that really need concern us in this concert context is the exciting surge of energy this little piece represents, right through to the drawn-out crescendo with which it ends.
The work generally accepted as Strauss’s earliest major contribution as a composer was his First Horn Concerto, composed in 1883 and premiered two years later by the Meiningen Court Orchestra under its distinguished conductor Hans von Bülow. With a father who was Principal Horn of the Munich Court Orchestra – indeed, Franz Joseph Strauss was a virtuoso whom Bülow had dubbed the ‘Joachim of the horn’ in reference to the great violinist of the day, Joseph Joachim – the teenaged Strauss was already well versed in the instrument’s character and practicalities. Though clearly influenced by Brahms and Schumann, this First Concerto was vigorous, assured and notably Straussian.
It would be nearly 60 years before the Second Horn Concerto appeared. Composed in 1942, shortly after Strauss had completed Capriccio, the last of his great operas, it signalled a turn in his late years away from late-Romantic grandeur and ostentation towards the more intimate abstract instrumental forms of his youth. In works such as this Concerto, the Oboe Concerto (1945) and the Duett-Concertino (1947), he invoked a classical simplicity and elegant polish informed by a lifetime of experience. To be sure, they seem at odds with their age, not just in terms of the latest musical developments but of political ones as well – Strauss’s reaction to the Second World War and the Nazi regime that in 1933 had (without consulting him) made him president of their state music bureau had by now become one of shutting himself away from it as much as possible – but their sheer craft and imaginative fluency has long rendered them timeless.
Programme notes
The first movement opens with a relaxed introduction led by the horn as it weaves shapely lyrical phrases with the arpeggio-like figures traditionally associated with the instrument. The orchestra then initiates a spirited exposition of the main themes, and the central developmental section and formal recapitulation of themes are similarly marked by noisy orchestral statements. In between, the horn has some virtuosic runs, but is generally more disposed towards the lyrical than the heroic. The quiet ending of the movement is half coda and half preparation for the slower second movement, which follows without a break.
This peaceful Andante is in a tidy ABA form. Opening with a Mendelssohnian melody presented by various wind-instrument partnerings in which the soloist often partakes as a first among equals, the string rustle gently and themelessly in the middle section as the horn makes well-timed comments over the top, then continue into the return of the main theme, this time joined by wind countermelodies. The last movement is a playful Rondo which seems to echo the atmosphere of Mozart’s ‘hunting’ horn concerto finales, and the work ends in celebratory mood as the orchestral horns join the soloist in a joyous burst of light.
An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
A brand new podcast from the LPO
Pitch me Classical
Programme notes
Antonín Dvořák
1841–1904
Symphony No. 8 in G major 1889
1
Allegro con brio
2
Adagio
3
Allegretto grazioso
4 Allegro ma non troppo –
Molto vivace
Dvořák’s music has often slipped into an undeserved category of the repertoire: too tuneful, too folksy, too popular. But beneath the veneer of this melodious folk style, Dvořák’s works display a cyclical coherence not seen since Beethoven and his rigorous approach to form signals his clear allusions to Brahms and the symphonic tradition. Over time, he developed and honed these influences to create a far more rounded – but still distinctly Czech – musical style that synthesised the developments of his predecessors with a freshness and variety that won him plaudits across the world. As Alfred Einstein wrote in his survey of the Romantic era: ‘Dvořák took over the heritage of absolute music quite naively, and filled its forms with an elemental music of the freshest invention, the liveliest rhythms, the finest sense of sonority – it is the most full-blooded, most direct music conceivable, without its becoming vulgar.’
Dvořák’s ascent to fame was a swift one, helped in no small part by a stipend he received from the Austrian Government in 1874. The young Dvořák, at that time working as an orchestral violist and church organist, submitted a number of his works to a judging committee that included both Johannes Brahms and the critic Eduard Hanslick. He was successful – winning a significant stipend not just that year, but also in 1876 and 1877, and with the help of Brahms and Hanslick he also found a publisher for his music. Plaudit after plaudit followed, and Dvořák soon developed a reputation to rival Brahms’s own. But when his mother died in 1882, Dvořák sank into a deep depression and his sombre
Programme notes
Seventh Symphony of 1885 still bears the scars of his loss – Dvořák added a footnote to the score: ‘From the sad years’.
His Eighth Symphony, then, came as a complete volteface. It is one of Dvořák’s most joyous and carefree works, composed at his summer resort in Bohemia, on the occasion of his election to the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Art and dedicated to Emperor Franz Joseph by way of gratitude. It is a work infused with warmth and contentment, composed with a seemingly spontaneous flow of ideas, casting aside the traditional rigours of sonata form in favour of a more unstructured approach that is almost improvisatory in nature. The opening Allegro has not one, nor two, but a whole raft of themes that flow
effortlessly from one to the next, their evocations of birdsong calling to mind the blissful countryside retreat where the work was written. The ebullient finale, too, echoes this chirruping theme, which Dvořák now expands into a magnificent series of variations, resplendent with the call of the trumpets, who invite the whole orchestra to join them in a joyful, unbridled dance. Where there is darkness – such as in the gently melancholic, reverie-like Adagio – it is only a temporary moment of reflection, soon cast aside by the elegant Allegretto that follows, a traditional waltz that Dvořák recasts and revives with his own distinctive Slavic elegance.
Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 on the LPO Label
Dvořák Symphonic Variations
Dvořák Symphony No. 8
Sir Charles Mackerras conductor
London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-0055
Recorded live in concert at the Royal Festival Hall, 24 April 1992
‘A joy from beginning to end ... None knew better than Mackerras how to pace and colour this magical work, and the orchestra responds magnificently.’
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Liz Winter
Elena Y Zeng
Supporters
Anonymous donors
Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle
Robert & Sarah Auerbach
Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario Altieri
Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington
Sarah Connor
Miss Tessa Cowie
Andrew Davenport
Stephen Denby
Mr Simon Edelsten
Steve & Cristina Goldring
In memory of Derek Gray
Nick Hely-Hutchinson
The Jackman Family
Molly Jackson
Jan Leigh & Jan Rynkiewicz
Mr David MacFarlane
Simon Moore
Simon & Fiona Mortimore
Dana Mosevicz
Dame Jane Newell DBE
Diana G Oosterveld
Mr David Peters
Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh
Clarence Tan
Tony & Hilary Vines
Dr June Wakefield
Mr John Weekes
Mr Roger Woodhouse
Mr C D Yates
Hon. Benefactor
Elliott Bernerd
Hon. Life Members
Alfonso Aijón
Carol Colburn Grigor CBE
Pehr G Gyllenhammar
Robert Hill
Keith Millar
Victoria Robey CBE
Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
Cornelia Schmid
Timothy Walker CBE AM Laurence Watt
Thomas Beecham
Group Members
Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
David & Yi Buckley
In memory of Peter Coe
Dr Alex & Maria Chan
Garf & Gill Collins
William & Alex de Winton
The Friends of the LPO
Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.
Cave
Mr Roger Greenwood
Barry Grimaldi
David & Bettina Harden
Mr & Mrs Philip Kan
Mr & Mrs John Kessler
Sir Simon Robey
Victoria Robey OBE
Stuart & Bianca Roden
Julian & Gill Simmonds
Eric Tomsett
Neil Westreich
Guy & Utti Whittaker
LPO Corporate Circle
Principal
Bloomberg
Carter-Ruck Solicitors
French Chamber of Commerce
Ryze Power
Tutti
German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce
Lazard
Natixis Corporate Investment
Banking
Walpole
Thank you
Preferred Partners
Jeroboams
Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd
Neal’s Yard Remedies
OneWelbeck
Sipsmith
Steinway & Sons
In-kind Sponsor Google
Inc
Trusts and Foundations
ABO Trust
Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne
BlueSpark Foundation
The Boltini Trust
Candide Trust
Cockayne Grants for the Arts in London
Dunard Fund
Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
Foyle Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation
Garrick Charitable Trust
The Golsoncott Foundation
Jerwood Foundation
John Coates Charitable Trust
John Horniman’s Children’s Trust
John Thaw Foundation
Idlewild Trust
Institute Adam Mickiewicz
Kirby Laing Foundation
The John S Cohen Foundation
The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust
Kurt Weill Foundation
Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust
Lucille Graham Trust
The Marchus Trust
Maria Bjӧrnson Memorial Fund
PRS Foundation
The R K Charitable Trust
The Radcliffe Trust
Rivers Foundation
Rothschild Foundation
Scops Arts Trust
Sir William Boreman’s Foundation
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 MBE
Damien Vanderwilt
Marc Wassermann
Elizabeth Winter
Catherine Høgel Hon. Director
LPO International Board of Governors
Natasha Tsukanova Chair
Mrs Irina Andreeva
Steven M. Berzin
Shashank Bhagat
Irina Gofman
Olivia Ma
George Ramishvili
Florian Wunderlich
London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration
Board of Directors
Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair
Nigel Boardman Vice-Chair
Mark Vines* President
Kate Birchall* Vice-President
Emily Benn
David Buckley
David Burke
Michelle Crowe Hernandez
Deborah Dolce
Elena Dubinets
Simon Estell*
Tanya Joseph
Katherine Leek*
Minn Majoe*
Tania Mazzetti*
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin
Neil Westreich
David Whitehouse*
Simon Freakley (Ex officio –Chairman of the American Friends of the LPO)
*Player-Director
Advisory Council
Roger Barron Chairman
Christopher Aldren
Kate Birchall
Richard Brass
Helen Brocklebank
YolanDa Brown OBE
David Burke
Simon Burke
Simon Callow CBE
Desmond Cecil CMG
Jane Coulson
Andrew Davenport
Guillaume Descottes
Cameron Doley
Elena Dubinets
Lena Fankhauser
Christopher Fraser OBE
Jenny Goldie-Scot
Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS
Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson DL
Dr Catherine C. Høgel
Martin Höhmann
Jamie Korner
Andrew Neill
Nadya Powell
Sir Bernard Rix
Victoria Robey CBE
Baroness Shackleton
Thomas Sharpe KC
Julian Simmonds
Daisuke Tsuchiya
Mark Vines
Chris Viney
Laurence Watt
Elizabeth Winter
New Generation Board
Ellie Ajao
Peter De Souza
Vivek Haria
Rianna Henriques
Pasha Orleans-Foli
Zerlina Vulliamy
General Administration
Elena Dubinets
Artistic Director
David Burke
Chief Executive
Ineza Grabowska
PA to the Executive & Office Manager
Concert Management
Roanna Gibson
Concerts & Planning Director
Graham Wood
Concerts & Recordings Manager
Maddy Clarke Tours Manager
Madeleine Ridout
Glyndebourne & Projects Manager
Alison Jones
Concerts & Artists Co-ordinator
Dora Kmezić
Concerts & Recordings Co-ordinator
Tom Cameron
Concerts & Tours Assistant
Matthew Freeman
Recordings Consultant
Andrew Chenery
Orchestra Personnel Manager
Helen Phipps
Orchestra & Auditions Manager
Sarah Thomas
Martin Sargeson Librarians
Laura Kitson
Stage & Operations Manager
Stephen O’Flaherty
Deputy Operations Manager
Benjamin Wakley
Deputy Stage Manager
Finance
Frances Slack
Finance Director
Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager
Jean-Paul Ramotar Finance & IT Officer
Education & Community
Talia Lash
Education & Community Director
Lowri Davies
Eleanor Jones
Education & Community Project Managers
Hannah Smith
Education & Community Co-ordinator
Claudia Clarkson
Regional Partnerships Manager
Development
Laura Willis
Development Director
Rosie Morden
Individual Giving Manager
Owen Mortimer
Corporate Relations Manager
Anna Quillin
Trusts & Foundations Manager
Eleanor Conroy
Development Events Manager
Al Levin
Development Co-ordinator
Holly Eagles Development Assistant
Nick Jackman
Campaigns & Projects Director
Kirstin Peltonen
Development Associate
Marketing
Kath Trout
Marketing & Communications Director
Sophie Lonergan (née Harvey)
Marketing Manager
Rachel Williams
Publications Manager
Gavin Miller
Sales & Ticketing Manager
Josh Clark Data, Insights & CRM Manager
Georgie Blyth
Press & PR Manager
Greg Felton
Digital Creative
Alicia Hartley
Digital & Marketing Co-ordinator
Isobel Jones
Marketing Co-ordinator
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
Printer John Good Ltd
Cover photograph Jason Bell
2024/25 season design
JMG Studio
Printer John Good Ltd
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