– ISSUE FOUR –
– AUTUMN WINTER2013 2014 – SPRING // SUMMER ––
A composer’s music should express the country of his birth, his love affairs, his religion, the books which have influenced him, the pictures he loves. Serge Rachmaninoff
rachmaninoff: inside out
education & Community
Backstage
– 04 –
– 11 –
– 16 –
Exploring the composer and his works throughout the 2014/15 season
Our projects for young musicians and aspiring professionals
Meet Geoffrey Lynn, celebrating 40 years in the LPO’s First Violin section
Principal Partner
New releases on the LPO Label Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Sir Georg Solti conductor £9.99 LPO-0077 | June 2014
Principal Supporters
‘A wonderfully coherent interpretation that proves utterly enthralling.’ The Guardian, 27 June 2014
Zemlinsky: A Florentine Tragedy/Six Maeterlinck Songs Vladimir Jurowski conductor Petra Lang mezzo soprano Heike Wessels mezzo soprano Sergey Skorokhodov tenor Albert Dohmen baritone £9.99 LPO-0078 | July 2014
Strauss: Don Juan/ Ein Heldenleben Bernard Haitink conductor £9.99 LPO-0079 | September 2014
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 6 & 14
Education Partner
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano Sergei Leiferkus baritone Coming soon
£9.99 LPO-0080 | Available October 2014
Corporate Members
Organ works by Poulenc & Saint-Saëns
Coming soon
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor James O’Donnell organ Recorded at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in March 2014 £9.99 LPO-0081 | Available November 2014
Browse the catalogue and sign up for updates at lpo.org.uk/recordings CDs available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Box Office (020 7840 4242), all good CD outlets, and the Royal Festival Hall shop. Download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify and others.
AREVA UK Berenberg Bank British American Business Carter Ruck Appleyard & Trew LLP Charles Russell Leventis Overseas
Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria
In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
WELCOME
W
elcome to the Autumn 2014 edition of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s newsletter, Tune In. While we were preparing this issue, we were delighted to hear that we had been awarded the 2014 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for Ensemble, for our contribution to Southbank Centre’s year-long festival The Rest Is Noise in 2013. The RPS said: ‘Devoting an entire year’s concerts to 20th-century music was a courageous decision ... Most importantly, [it] proved that taking risks can win an audience’s loyalty.’ So a huge thank you to all our audience members and supporters for getting behind us on this ambitious and sometimes daunting venture – we certainly couldn’t have done it without you, and I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as we did! We’re looking forward to a completely different focus this season, when our attention turns to the music of Rachmaninoff, one of the most enigmatic and influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This festival is the most extensive celebration of Rachmaninoff’s music ever undertaken, during which we’ll present his works alongside compositions by his contemporaries, such as Szymanowski and Enescu, and composers who influenced him such as Wagner, Richard Strauss and Tchaikovsky. We’ll also be putting Rachmaninoff’s works in context through a variety of fascinating pre-concert talks by musicians, film directors, conductors and academics. Turn to the next page to read Richard Bratby’s introduction to the festival. Since the end of the 2013/14 Royal Festival Hall season it’s been as busy as ever for the
Orchestra. We’ve had a hugely successful run of opera performances at Glyndebourne and appeared twice at the BBC Proms, as well as at the Edinburgh and Santander Festivals – and at Heathrow Airport. Our Education & Community team have also had a busy summer, sifting through hundreds of applications to select the most promising young talent for our Foyle Future Firsts and Young Composer programmes, which nurture the next generation of professional musicians and composers (page 11). Looking ahead to the autumn, we’re anticipating one of the busiest touring seasons in the Orchestra’s history, with 47 overseas concerts confirmed at the time of going to print, from Reykjavík to San Francisco – find out more on page 8. In this issue we also meet the Orchestra’s new Composer in
Contents
Editor Rachel Williams Publisher London Philharmonic Orchestra Printer Conquest Litho Ltd Cover photo Rachmaninoff’s hands, courtesy of the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Timothy Walker © Chris Blott
– Timothy walker – Chief Executive and Artistic Director
rachmaninoff: inside out 04 summer 2014 roundup 06 new & noteworthy 08 recordings 10 education & community 11 JTI live and local 12 autumn Concert listings 13 Backstage: geoffrey lynn 16
Residence, Magnus Lindberg, who takes over the role from Julian Anderson this autumn, and our Principal Guest Conductor Designate, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, who will succeed Yannick Nézet-Séguin from the 2015/16 season (pages 8–9). In our regular ‘Backstage’ interview feature on page 16 we get to know one of the Orchestra’s longest-serving members, First Violin Geoffrey Lynn, who this season celebrates 40 years with the LPO. As well as our live concerts, our LPO CD label continues to go from strength to strength, with over 80 titles now available. Check out the LPO Label leaflet included with this mailing, and turn to page 10 to read more about our recent releases and future plans. If you have any comments on anything in this issue – or about any aspect of the Orchestra’s work – we’d love to hear from you. Email admin@lpo.org.uk, call us on 020 7840 4200, or come and chat to us at the LPO information desk in the Royal Festival Hall foyer on concert nights. Or if you’re on Facebook and Twitter why not follow us and join the conversation (see links below)? I do hope you’ll be able to join us this season whether in London, elsewhere in the UK or further afield. Thank you for your support of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
keep up to date
Join us on Facebook
facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra
Follow us on Twitter
twitter.com/LPOrchestra
listen to our podcasts
lpo.org.uk/explore
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, we cannot accept liability for any statement or error contained herein. © 2014 London Philharmonic Orchestra.
The paper used for printing this magazine has been sourced from responsibly managed forests, certified in accordance with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). It is manufactured to the ISO 14001 international standard, minimising negative impacts on the environment and is manufactured from pulp that has been bleached without the use of chlorine compounds using oxygen (elemental chlorine free), which are considered harmful to the environment.
Full concert listings and booking information on page 13 – 03 –
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
lpo 2014/15 season
rachmaninoff: inside out This season the London Philharmonic Orchestra embarks on a year-long festival of Rachmaninoff’s music, featuring both well-loved works and less familiar treasures. Richard Bratby explores what’s in store ... Inside Out series – eleven concerts (plus a raft of supporting events) that set out to change the way we think about some of the most familiar music in the concert repertoire. ‘Unlike the other composers we’ve focussed upon – Prokofiev, for example, and Tchaikovsky – most of Rachmaninoff’s music is already well-known’, says Jurowski. ‘And he’s not a pivotal point – he’s an end point, like Richard Strauss and Sibelius, a great composer who wrote much of his work in the 20th century but belonged, body and soul, to the 19th.’ And for many, that would be that. It’s true: at the point when Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff met in wartime Los Angeles, Rachmaninoff was one of the most famous artists of his own (or any) time. His international concert tours as a pianist had brought him movie-star levels of fame, and every piano stool in the Western world seemed to contain a copy of the Prelude in C sharp minor that he’d written in Moscow half a century before. (It was so popular that when Rachmaninoff, performing it in London in 1933, played a wrong note, it made newspaper headlines: ‘RACHMANINOFF FLUFFS IT’). Demand for Rachmaninoff was so great that it outstripped supply: when the producers of the 1941 weepie Dangerous Moonlight were unable to get Rachmaninoff himself to provide the music, they simply commissioned the film composer Richard Addinsell to write a note-perfect imitation – the Warsaw Concerto. So even in Rachmaninoff’s own lifetime, many listeners had already made up their minds. Popularity never goes down well with highbrows, and a decade after his death, the 1954 Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians summed up the official verdict: The enormous popular success some few of Rachmaninoff’s works had in his lifetime is not
Serge Rachmaninoff driving his boat on Lake Lucerne
likely to last, and musicians never regarded it with much favour. The third pianoforte Concerto was on the whole liked by the public only because of its close resemblance to the second, while the fourth, which attempted something like a new departure, was a failure from the start. But try to ignore the snobbery and the cloth ears of that judgment – one of the most notorious critical misfires in the history of music – and notice the works the writer refers to (probably, one suspects, the only ones he’d actually bothered to listen to): the Second and Third Piano Concertos. And be honest. Those two works (along with the nearcontemporary Second Symphony and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini) are still the ones that most of us think of first when Rachmaninoff is mentioned: the grand gestures, velvet-dark colours and long sweeping melodies of the music that he wrote in the ‘silver age’ of Imperial Russia,
Full concert listings and booking information on page 13 – 04 –
Rachmaninoff © Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation
W ‘
hen Igor Stravinsky met Serge Rachmaninoff for the last time, the latter was carrying a pail of honey: ‘I was not especially friendly with Rachmaninoff at the time; nor I think was anyone else: social relations with a man of Rachmaninoff’s temperament require more perseverance than I can afford: he was simply bringing me honey. It is curious however that I should meet him not in Russia, though I often heard him perform there in my youth, nor later when we were neighbours in Switzerland, but in Hollywood. ‘Some people achieve a kind of immortality just by the totality with which they do or do not possess some quality or characteristic. Rachmaninoff’s immortalizing totality was his scowl. He was a six-and-a-half foot tall scowl.’ Many biographers have cited that ‘six-and-a-half foot tall scowl’ since Stravinsky described it to the musicologist Robert Craft, a decade after that final encounter at a Beverly Hills villa. Fewer have mentioned the honey. In life, Serge Rachmaninoff was an imposing, even forbidding figure. His great height, close-cropped hair and aquiline features are plain to see in any number of photographs, whether of the serious-looking young man on a pre-revolutionary country estate, or the exiled master-pianist standing wearily on some ocean liner or aerodrome. Everything else about Rachmaninoff, it seems, is still up for grabs. That might seem a strange thing to say about one of the best-loved composers of the 20th century. Yet many in the West still don’t even spell his name correctly (he never once signed himself ‘Rachmaninov’). LPO Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski is very aware of the paradox behind the Orchestra’s season-long Rachmaninoff:
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
Rachmaninoff © Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation – Jurowski © Chris Christodoulou
between 1901 and the Great War. Set aside the Rhapsody, though, and they cover barely a quarter of Rachmaninoff’s creative life. For Vladimir Jurowski, it’s the rest of the story that holds the real fascination – the bold young genius who was knocked off-course by the failure of his First Symphony in 1897, and the exile who found himself cut off forever from his native Russia after 1917, making a new life for himself in a world of sleeper trains, speedboats and global celebrity. ‘There’s something touching about the way he clung to the values of the past while still trying to create new music’, explains Jurowski. ‘He was a member of the early 20th-century Russian intelligentsia, and as an exile, he developed a sort of perpetual nostalgia, but at the same time he was influenced by his experiences, and by composers with very different artistic goals – Ravel, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, even Gershwin. In works like the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the Symphonic Dances you can still hear the voice of the émigré composer, but one who has been changed by his times.’ That’s one of the most fascinating aspects of Rachmaninoff: Inside Out: the way that the composer responded to a changing world – and found himself in some very surprising places. Meet Serge Rachmaninoff, the pioneering recording star: in a pre-concert event before the LPO concert on 7 February, the man himself performs his gorgeous Cello Sonata with (the very much alive) Johannes Moser through the medium of a player-piano roll that Rachmaninoff made in the 1920s.
Rachmaninoff in his studio at Senar, Switzerland
LPO Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski
Elsewhere in the season, the LPO performs his music alongside works by other Eastern European contemporaries who had very different experiences: Szymanowski, Enescu, Scriabin and Stravinsky. Jurowski himself conducts major works that have somehow fallen through the cracks – the rapturous cantata Spring, the glittering, Americaninspired Third Symphony, and a rare semistaged concert performance of Rachmaninoff’s 1905 opera The Miserly Knight, paired with highlights from – yes – Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Hands up who saw that coming? ‘My experience has been that if you place composers in some sort of perspective, relating to their own development in time, combining them with other composers who influenced them, they suddenly appear in a whole new light’, says Jurowski. ‘I think The Miserly Knight is one of Rachmaninoff’s most radical operatic experiments: people will hear both Rachmaninoff and Rheingold in a different way after this concert.’ And then there’s the Rachmaninoff who came, as it were, before Rachmaninoff: the fiery, imperious First Symphony that may or may not have been inspired by a doomed love affair, and whose catastrophic premiere in 1897 permanently changed the course of the 23-year-old composer’s career. It’s still neglected today, but for Jurowski it’s part of the story too. ‘I’ve always maintained that there’s something incredibly truthful about the First Symphony – there’s something deeply personal about it. It’s imperfect, but
it’s very genuine. It’s the same with the first version of the First Piano Concerto – to me, it’s closer to musical truth. It’s like touching the fountain of youth. That’s why we’re doing both the earlier and later versions of the First and Fourth Piano Concertos. Even during his very last illness, he was still revising the Fourth Piano Concerto – he recorded a version that’s different from the printed score, with alterations that can only be seen as markings in the instrumental parts, and that’s the version we’ll be performing. Right to the very last, he was enriching his style, especially as concerns orchestration – there are passages in the Symphonic Dances that sound as if they could have been scored by Stravinsky or Ravel.’ So which Rachmaninoff will finally emerge from this season of rediscovery? The Russian intellectual who became a global celebrity? The unashamed nostalgic who never stopped putting the 20th century into his music? Or the ‘six-and-a-half foot tall scowl’ who brought a friend a gift of honey? A really great artist can’t be pinned down by a single definition – and Rachmaninoff’s life was as troubled, as triumphant, as contradictory and as sincerely lived as any life in the 20th century. And after the final brilliant chords of the second and third piano concertos have died away, those contradictions – and the deep integrity that lay beneath them – are what continue to make his music so human, and so very worth exploring from the inside out. In his own words: ‘Composing is as essential a part of my being as breathing or eating; it is one of the necessary functions of living … A composer’s music should express the country of his birth, his love affairs, his religion, the books which have influenced him, the pictures he loves. It should be the sum total of a composer’s experiences … Time may change the technique of music, but it can never alter its mission.’ Richard Bratby is a freelance writer on classical music and a critic for The Birmingham Post. Rachmaninoff: Inside Out runs from 3 October 2014 to 29 April 2015. See the full events listing and watch a video introduction at lpo.org.uk/rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff: Inside Out is presented in cooperation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.
Full concert listings and booking information on page 13 – 05 –
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
lpo news
summer 2014 roundup an award-winning summer
glyndebourne 2014 This summer the London Philharmonic Orchestra made its annual visit to Glyndebourne for three glorious months of opera in the Sussex countryside. Between 17 May and 24 August it gave 55 performances in total, alternating between Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier under the Festival’s new Music Director Robin Ticciati; Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin under Omer Meir Wellber in his Glyndebourne debut; Mozart’s Don Giovanni under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the LPO’s new Principal Guest Conductor from 2015 (see page 8); and Verdi’s La traviata under Sir Mark Elder. The Der Rosenkavalier performance on 8 June and the La traviata performance on 10 August were broadcast live to cinemas around the UK and streamed on The Telegraph website, and a DVD of this year’s Der Rosenkavalier production will be released in early 2015. The production of La traviata will also go on tour around the UK later in the autumn – visit the Glyndebourne website for details. Public booking for the 2015 Glyndebourne season will open in March 2015. Early access to tickets is available for corporate and individual supporters of the LPO.
‘Robin Ticciati draws rich playing from a London Philharmonic Orchestra on top form.’ Hugo Shirley, The Spectator (Der Rosenkavalier)
‘Glyndebourne is fortunate to have the compelling young Andrés OrozcoEstrada as the conductor of this revival … he provides clarity, urgency and an unflinching sense of direction.’ Richard Fairman, Financial Times (Don Giovanni)
FIND OUT MORE glyndebourne.com lpo.org.uk/about/glyndebourne
Timothy Walker receives Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music from HRH The Prince of Wales
lpo.org.uk – 06 –
Glyndebourne © Richard Hubert Smith – Timothy Walker/RCM © Chris Christodoulou
Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, May 2014
We were delighted that the Orchestra was the winner of this year’s Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for Ensemble. The 2014 RPS Awards for Music, celebrating outstanding achievement in 2013, were announced at a ceremony hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Petroc Trelawny at London’s Dorchester Hotel on 13 May 2014. The Orchestra’s award acknowledged our major involvement in Southbank Centre’s 2013 The Rest Is Noise festival, which chronologically charted the defining works of the 20th century. The RPS said: ‘Devoting an entire year’s concerts to 20th-century music was a courageous decision. The programmes were devised with flair, cast with great judgement, and performed with scrupulous care and blazing conviction. Most importantly, they proved that taking risks can win an audience’s loyalty.’ More celebrations followed on 14 May, when LPO Chief Executive and Artistic Director Timothy Walker was presented with Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music by HRH The Prince of Wales at the RCM’s Annual Awards ceremony. In his citation, Director of the RCM Colin Lawson noted, amongst a long list of Tim’s achievements, the superb relationship that has been built between the LPO and the RCM. Yet more congratulations were in order in June, when LPO Chairman Victoria Sharp – who is also the Founder Director of the charity London Music Masters – was awarded an OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2014 for her services to music.
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
2014 gala The 2014 London Philharmonic Orchestra Gala took place on Tuesday 10 June at the spectacular Grade I listed venue One Mayfair in central London. Nearly 300 guests gathered for this black-tie evening which was held in the presence of the Orchestra’s Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of Kent KG. Guests were treated to a Champagne Taittinger reception and formal dinner, interspersed with special musical performances by award-winning classical guitarist Miloš and members of the Orchestra. Following a successful live auction led by Henry Highley of Phillips, Australian cabaret artist Meow Meow delighted the audience with a rousing impromptu performance. The evening concluded with the ever-popular Grand Prize Draw, which saw two lucky guests win Centre Court seats at Wimbledon. We are incredibly grateful to all of our 2014 Gala supporters. The event grossed over £200,000 in support of the work of the Orchestra. find out more www.lpo.org.uk/support/gala.html The 2014 London Philharmonic Orchestra Gala at One Mayfair
Gala © Benjamin Ealovega
summer festivals
heathrow launch
As well as its busy Glyndebourne season, the Orchestra found time to appear at several festivals both across the UK and further afield this summer. We are regular visitors to the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and this year we made two appearances. Tuesday 22 July was our Glyndebourne Prom: a performance of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier with the cast of the 2014 Glyndebourne Festival Opera production, conducted by Glyndebourne’s new Music Director Robin Ticciati. This sell-out concert was also broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Later in the Proms season, on Thursday 28 August, Vladimir Jurowski conducted the Orchestra in Holst’s The Planets Suite, Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra and Scriabin’s Prometheus, The Poem of Fire. The Scriabin was a revival of award-winning designer Lucy Carter’s immersive lighting experience first created for our performance of this piece at Royal Festival Hall back in September 2011. The Orchestra also took part in this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. On 18 August at the city’s Usher Hall, Vladimir Jurowski conducted the Orchestra in Magnus Lindberg’s Chorale, Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with soloist Patricia Kopatchinskaja in her Edinburgh Festival debut, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (Eroica). Later that month (31 August), the Orchestra performed the same programme at the Santander International Festival in Spain. By the time you read this in mid-September, before the start of the 2014/15 season, the Orchestra will have embarked on a UK tour with the musical comedy duo Igudesman & Joo, appearing at Symphony Hall Birmingham, Leeds Town Hall and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. This is part of the ‘Live and Local’ series supported by our Principal Partner JTI, taking the ethos of the JTI Friday Series at Royal Festival Hall on tour around the UK. Thanks to the support of JTI, all tickets are priced at just £15. Read more about the ‘Live and Local’ concerts on page 12. more information lpo.org.uk/about/on-tour
lpo.org.uk – 07 –
Heathrow Airport is a supporter of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and we were delighted to be invited to celebrate the launch of the brand new Terminal 2 on 4 June 2014, and again on 23 June to celebrate the Official Opening in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen. Members of the LPO brass and wind sections performed a selection of ‘Best of British’ favourites, joining staff in Beefeater costumes to entertain the first arrivals at the £2.5bn terminal, to be known as The Queen’s Terminal. partnerships with the lpo
www.lpo.org.uk/support/corporate-partnerships.html
brief encounter As part of Southbank Centre’s ‘Festival of Love’ this summer, celebrating the Same Sex Couple Marriage Act, the Orchestra accompanied three screenings of the classic film Brief Encounter at Royal Festival Hall. The audiences were also treated to a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Leon McCawley – the music used as the theme to the film’s iconic soundtrack.
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
lpo news
new & noteworthy autumn tours
The new Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík, Iceland, where the LPO will appear in December 2014
2
014/15 looks set to be one of the busiest touring seasons in the Orchestra’s history, with 47 overseas concerts confirmed as we went to print. The first of these is a visit to Germany at the end of September with conductor Vladimir Jurowski and pianist Martin Helmchen, where the Orchestra will give two concerts in Nuremberg and Frankfurt. From Germany it’s straight on to Madrid for two concerts at the Auditorio Nacional de Música, this time featuring pianists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Alexander Ghindin. There’s just time for a breather then just a week later, on 9 October, the Orchestra and Jurowski jet off again, this time to California – the Orchestra’s first West Coast USA tour in eight years. Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet again joins the Orchestra for concerts in Santa Barbara, Costa Mesa, Northridge (California State University) and San Francisco. They then fly to the East Coast for a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall, followed by appearances in Toronto (Roy Thomson Hall) and Chicago (Symphony Center), where the Orchestra last performed in 1976. In late November and early December, the Orchestra returns to Germany for two further tours, during which they will tick off Dortmund, Essen, Cologne, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Munich, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg and Hannover, with conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Vladimir Jurowski and soloists Lars Vogt (piano) and Sol Gabetta (cello). The run-up to Christmas sees the Orchestra’s first visit to Iceland where, with conductor Osmo Vänskä and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, they will give two concerts on 18 & 19 December at Harpa, a stunning new waterfront concert hall in Reykjavík. This tour is an exciting venture for the Orchestra, particularly as we will be the first British orchestra to perform at the venue. In 1973 the LPO was the first Western orchestra to appear in China, and we have returned to the country numerous times since, building successful partnerships with several major venues. This year the Orchestra will celebrate New Year in Guangzhou with two concerts at the futuristic Guangzhou Opera House, a venue the Orchestra last visited just after it opened in 2011. Vassily Sinaisky will conduct, with pianist Behzod Abduraimov. This tour also includes concerts in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, before the Orchestra returns to London in early January. Full details of tour dates, venues and repertoire are on page 14. Don’t forget you can follow our tour adventures on Twitter too: @lporchestra more information
Earlier this year the London Philharmonic Orchestra announced the appointment of Andrés Orozco-Estrada as its new Principal Guest Conductor, effective from September 2015. The tenure of Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has been in the role since 2008, came to a close at the end of the 2013/14 season. Colombian-born OrozcoEstrada first worked with the Orchestra in November 2013, conducting a major tour of Germany. His impressive energy and musicianship, and the immediate rapport that formed between him and the players combined with such success that it led quickly to the announcement. During the summer Orozco-Estrada made his debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, conducting the Orchestra in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Of this performance, The Telegraph wrote: ‘The new tone is set right from the start by the conductor Andrés OrozcoEstrada. He plunges in with a lean, periodconscious performance that holds the dark and light aspects of this dramma giocosa in perfect balance. His tempos are never extreme, and he draws playing of cultivated buoyancy from the LPO, tightening the dramatic screw to produce a gripping climax.’ Timothy Walker, Chief Executive of the LPO said: ‘When I first heard Andrés conduct in February 2011 I was immediately struck by his remarkable energy, electrifying conducting, and sheer ability to radiate the joy of music making to both the Orchestra and audience. I have continued to watch and be impressed by him ever since. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.’ more about andrés orozco-estrada
lpo.org.uk/about/on-tour
lpo.org.uk/about/orozco-estrada
lpo.org.uk – 08 –
Andrés Orozco-Estrada © Martin Sigmund
Andrés Orozco-Estrada appointed principal guest conductor designate
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
a fund for the future
player news
This season we will be asking our Friends, supporters and audiences to help the Orchestra as we seek to build for the future. Over the last two years we have been building our first ever endowment fund with the help of an Arts Council England Catalyst Endowment Award. This special fund of £2 million will work hard to help us to collaborate with Southbank Centre to produce and participate in more of the education and community projects, adventurous artistic programming and ambitious blockbuster festivals like The Rest Is Noise, for which the Orchestra has become known. All donations to our endowment fund received before 30 April 2015 will be matched pound for pound by the Arts Council England Award. Hundreds of thousands of pounds have already been secured and with your help we can reach our target of £1 million. Your donation will instantly be doubled and help us to produce more of the music that you, our audiences, enjoy. Look out for more information coming soon on how to get involved. To find out more now call Nick Jackman, Development Director, on 020 7840 4211.
We are delighted to announce the appointments of Thomas Watmough as the Orchestra’s new Principal E-flat Clarinet, and Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi as the newest member of the Second Violin section. It’s always nice to be able to put names to the faces on stage, so we’ve recently updated the ‘Who’s Who’ section of our website with photos of each of our members from a recent photoshoot at Glyndebourne. Check them out online!
find out more or donate online
Magnus Lindberg © Saara Vuorjoki / Fimic – Troops at Eventide © © National Library of Scotland
www.lpo.org.uk/support/double-your-donation.html
magnus lindberg: new composer in residence From September 2014, Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg succeeds Julian Anderson as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence. The 2014/15 season opens with a performance of his Chorale on 24 September, in a concert also including works by Prokofiev and Shostakovich (see page 13). The season also features the world premiere of a new work for soprano and orchestra, performed by Barbara Hannigan on 28 January 2015; and the UK premiere of his Second Piano Concerto, given by Yefim Bronfman on 21 March 2015. As Composer in Residence, Lindberg will also play an active role in the Orchestra’s education activities, mentoring the participants on the Young Composers Programme as well as presenting the London premiere of his work Souvenir with the Foyle Future Firsts in a free pre-concert performance on 24 September 2014. He will also conduct the annual Debut Sounds concert in June 2015. more about magnus lindberg
meet the orchestra members lpo.org.uk/about/musician-biographies
in the office 2014 saw several new faces in the LPO admin team. Back in the spring we welcomed Ellie Swithinbank as Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager and Damian Davis as Transport Manager. Later in the year our Development team welcomed Kathryn Hageman as Individual Giving Manager, Anna Quillin as Trusts & Foundations Manager and Helen Etheridge as Development Assistant. The department also recently welcomed back a former colleague, Laura Luckhurst, as Corporate Relations Manager. Also new to the admin team are PA to the Chief Executive/ Administrative Assistant Amy Sugarman and Graduate Trainee Marketing Intern Lorna Salmon. find a staff member lpo.org.uk/about/staff
jobs at the lpo lpo.org.uk/about/jobs
lpo.org.uk/about/lindberg
remembrance sunday concert: BRitten’s war requiem
lpo gift vouchers: the perfect present
On Remembrance Sunday, 9 November 2014, to mark the centenary of the start of the First World War the Orchestra will join the Royal Choral Society to perform Britten’s War Requiem at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Conducted by Richard Cooke, the concert will features soloists Ekaterina Scherbachenko, Stephan Rügamer and Bryn Terfel. Tickets are priced £17.29– £53.50 (including all booking fees) and proceeds of ticket sales will go to the Veterans Aid charity.
Did you know that you can buy gift vouchers for the LPO? These can be bought by phone from our Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) or online. You can choose the exact amount you would like to give, and the recipient can spend their voucher on tickets to LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall or CDs from our online shop (over 80 titles available).
more information and booking
find out more
royalalberthall.com/tickets/war-requiem/default.aspx
lpo.org.uk/gifts
lpo.org.uk – 09 –
wedding bells Congratulations to Box Office Manager Samantha Kendall, who became Samantha Cleverley following her wedding on 2 August 2014 to brass teacher and freelance bass trombonist Adrian Cleverley. We wish them all the best for their future together.
new arrivalS Congratulations to first violinist and former LPO Chairman Martin Höhmann and his wife Heather on the birth of their daughter Saskia, on 3 March 2014.
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
LPO news
recordings
Timpanist Simon Carrington alongside Centre Court
he London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own record label continues to thrive, with several exciting new releases over the summer and yet more lined up for the autumn. Check out the leaflet enclosed with this issue of Tune In for more details of the latest releases – or browse the full catalogue and buy online at lpo.org.uk/recordings. One of the most popular recent titles, with both listeners and critics, was Orff’s Carmina Burana (LPO-0076; March 2014), recorded live at Royal Festival Hall in April 2013 as part of The Rest Is Noise festival. Conductor Hans Graf led the Orchestra, soloists Sarah Tynan, Andrew Kennedy and Rodion Pogossov, the London Philharmonic Choir and Trinity Boys Choir in a rousing performance that the Northern Echo described as ‘a blistering rendition’ and Classical Music magazine as ‘electrifying’. This release was followed by Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (LPO-0077; June 2014), an archive recording from the heyday of former Principal Conductor Sir Georg Solti. The recording, captured at the 1982 BBC Proms, also features soloists Helen Donath, Doris Soffel, Siegfried Jerusalem and Hans Sotin, together with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus. The Guardian described the account as ‘a wonderfully coherent interpretation ... utterly enthralling’. July saw something completely different, when we released a disc of Alexander Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy and Six Maeterlinck Songs under Vladimir Jurowski, recorded live in 2010 and 2012 at Royal Festival Hall (LPO-0078). The one-act opera A Florentine Tragedy is based on an unfinished play by Oscar Wilde. Set in 16th-century Florence, it tells of jealousy, betrayal and ultimately murder. Mezzo-soprano Petra Lang is the soloist in the rarely performed Six Maeterlinck Songs. One of the most sought-after performers in the Austro-German song repertoire, she captures perfectly the dark foreboding and eerie, dreamlike quality of the songs. This disc made an instant impression, entering the UK Classical Chart at No. 20 within a week of its release, and being chosen as CD of the Week by The Guardian. September’s release was Richard Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben (LPO-0079). Another archive recording, this time conducted by former Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink, the disc was dedicated to the memory of the Orchestra’s former Principal Horn, Nicholas Busch, who features in both works and vividly evokes the ‘hero’ of Ein Heldenleben. One of last season’s most memorable concerts was the celebration of the refurbished Royal Festival Hall organ on 26 March 2013. We are delighted that a CD of the concert will be released in November. It features Poulenc’s Organ Concerto (with Westminster Abbey organist James O’Donnell as soloist) and Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3 (‘Organ’). Whether you were at the concert and want to relive those thrilling organ chords that shook the packed Royal Festival Hallto its core, or you have the chance to experience it for the first time, it’s one of the most eagerly anticipated releases this year. All LPO Label single CDs are priced £9.99 (double CDs £10.99) and are available including free postage and packing from the LPO Ticket Office – call 020 7840 4242 or buy online at lpo.org.uk/recordings. All recordings are also available to download from iTunes, Spotify and others. browse all recordings and buy online lpo.org.uk/recordings
lpo.org.uk/recordings – 10 –
what a racquet! Each year the US-based sports channel ESPN hunts for creative and artistic ideas that capture the spirit of ’quintessential Englishness’ for their Wimbledon TV coverage. This year they asked the LPO to get involved, and the Orchestra was filmed in June performing the track Kings and Queens by the band Thirty Seconds to Mars (fronted by actor Jared Leto) clips of which were incorporated into this year’s Wimbledon coverage. The Orchestra even transported a set of timpani and a harp to the iconic sporting venue – stationing them just inches away from the famous grass of Centre Court. During their day at Wimbledon, members of the Orchestra were excited to meet players including Rafael Nadal!
LPO players and staff with Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon
beethoven piano concertos This summer the Orchestra spent two days recording Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 at Henry Wood Hall with young Swiss soloist Louis Schwizgebel (a BBC New Generation Artist 2013–15), under conductor Thierry Fischer. The disc will be released later this year on the Aparté label, part of Harmonia Mundi.
Wimbledon © Roanna Gibson/LPO
T
lpo label: new releases
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
lpo news
education & community young talent 2014/15
The afternoon started with a creative music workshop led by animateur Rachel Leach and LPO players David Whitehouse (trombone), Nynke Hijlkema (violin), Emily Meredith (clarinet) and James Bower (percussion). The workshop was based on Holst’s The Planets – the opening piece in the evening concert – and the group later got a chance to perform their own interpretation of the piece for the public during the early evening ’Proms Plus’ family event at the Royal College of Music. After a quick dinner, the Animate members then headed over to the Royal Albert Hall to hear the LPO conducted by Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. The concert proved a hugely inspiring event for our young Animate musicians. This November they will take part in the Music for Youth Schools Prom and perform on the very same stage; having seen and heard the professionals in action they are now even more excited about facing this challenge – wish them luck!
While other projects wind down for the summer, the LPO’s Education & Community schemes supporting young musical talent continue in earnest, with recruitment taking place for next season’s programmes. This year, 450 instrumentalists applied for the 16 places on the Foyle Future First Development Programme, which supports young players at the start of their orchestral careers through a combination of rehearsal sit-ins, mock auditions, chamber performances and involvement in education work. Shortlisted applicants were called to audition for LPO members throughout July and August, and our final team for 2014/15 is now in place. This year’s Future Firsts will be thrown in at the deep end, playing the very first notes of the new season in a pre-concert performance at Royal Festival Hall on 24 September under our new Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg. The Future Firsts are also looking forward to working under the baton of Andrew Manze in March 2015 with a programme of Purcell and contemporary music inspired by Purcell’s works. Magnus Lindberg will also be taking on the role of mentor on the LPO’s Young Composers Programme from this year, supporting four composers under the age of 35 over the course of the year, culminating in a performance of their new works at the annual Debut Sounds concert in June 2015. This year’s Young Composers are Jonathan Brigg, a British composer who has just finished a PhD at York University; Colombian Sergio Cote, who is studying at the Royal Northern College of Music; Scottish composer Peter Longworth, who is now based in London, having recently completed a Masters degree at the Royal College of Music; and Polish composer Paulina Załubska. The four bring with them an exciting range of musical styles and creative interests – we are looking forward to hearing what they come up with for the LPO!
find out more or get involved
our young talent programmes
Animate Orchestra and Chickenshed Theatre members at their workshop in July
Animate Orchestra © Lucy Duffy/LPO
animate orchestra go backstage Animate Orchestra – our ‘young person’s orchestra for the 21st century’ – offers opportunities for young musicians aged between 9 and 14 to create their own new music during the school holidays. In between projects, we stay in touch with members through special ‘Backstage’ offers including discounted tickets to LPO concerts, regular newsletters, visits to arts venues and cross-arts workshop days. Over the summer, Animate members were invited on two special ‘Backstage’ trips hosted by the LPO and one of our Animate partners, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance. The first of these, on 29 July, took us to Chickenshed, an inclusive theatre company in north London. Twenty members of Animate Orchestra met young people from Chickenshed’s participatory projects to create a joint piece involving music, movement and song. Following a tour of the theatre and a morning of drama and movement activity (a new challenge for our young musicians!), the Animate members had the chance to share their skills in return, and together the two groups performed the fruits of their labours in a hugely successful performance for parents and friends. Our second day out brought 40 Animate members to hear the LPO perform at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 August.
animateorchestra.org.uk
lpo.org.uk/education/young-talent.html
Animate Orchestra is a partnership project between the LPO, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, and the Music Education Hubs of Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich. Animate Orchestra is generously supported by the Mayor’s Fund for Young Musicians and Youth Music.
lpo.org.uk/education – 11 –
The LPO’s Talent Development Programmes are generously supported by the Foyle Foundation, Help Musicians UK, The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Leche Trust and the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust.
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
jti live and local
IGUDESMAN & JOO This September our ‘Live and Local’ series continues across the UK, with a musical comedy show featuring the LPO as you’ve never seen it before ... show has quickly led to them performing in vast stadiums and making TV appearances across the world. In their show ‘Big Nightmare Music’, Igudesman & Joo perform with a live symphony orchestra in musical sketches that take on epic proportions. As well as priceless adaptations of pieces from their ‘Little’ show, ‘Big Nightmare Music’ boasts several uproarious sketches tailor-made for a symphony orchestra, drawing everyone into their act from the first violinist to the last percussionist. The UK premiere of ‘Big Nightmare Music’ takes place on Monday 15 September at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London. The duo also appear as part of our ‘Live and Local’ touring strand which is supported by JTI. The Live and Local dates are Symphony Hall Birmingham on Wednesday 17 September, Leeds Town Hall on Thursday 18 September, and Manchester’s Bridgewater Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-ki Joo, who appear with the LPO in September Hall on Friday 19 September. This series of concerts with y the time you read this in midfantastic critical praise, and gained Igudesman & Joo has rounded September, we will be partway the pair a number of celebrity off a brilliant year of ‘Live and I had the time of my through a UK tour with classical fans from the music world and Local’ performances, all music comedy duo Igudesman & beyond, including legendary life when I first saw supported by JTI. We have Joo, performing a series of concerts comedian Terry Jones of them live in action, enjoyed performing to new in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Monty Python fame. The audiences all over the and felt honoured to Manchester. The Orchestra is accompanying duo have since worked with country, including with make a cameo in some Igudesman & Joo in their show ‘Big Nightmare such greats as violinist classical guitarist Miloš in Music’, which mashes up well-known Joshua Bell, pianist of their nutty skits! Stoke-on-Trent and Leicester classical music pieces with pop Emanuel Ax and Emanuel Ax, pianist in May this year. This touring and folk songs, creating a series actors Sir Roger ‘Little Nightmare strand began in 2013, and we of hilarious sketches performed Moore and John have had the opportunity to perform Music’ as a title is a by Igudesman and Joo and Malkovich. some innovative programming, including misnomer … members of the Orchestra. Various sketches from Holst’s Planets Suite alongside NASA space Having met at the Yehudi ‘Little Nightmare Music’ Igudesman & Joo are a footage in Manchester and Liverpool in 2013. Menuhin School, violinist have also catapulted DREAM … watch You can find out more about Igudesman & Aleksey Igudesman and Igudesman & Joo onto the them! Joo by visiting their YouTube channel at pianist Hyung-ki Joo swiftly global stage through their youtube.com/igudesmanandjoo Sir Roger Moore, actor bonded over their shared love of popularity on social media. find out more mischievous classroom antics, and Their hilarious sketch, www.lpo.org.uk/igudesmanandjoo put their classical training to use by ‘Rachmaninoff had big hands’ quickly devising a musical comedy show called ‘Little went viral, and to date the pair have enjoyed Nightmare Music’. This show rapidly garnered over 35 million hits on YouTube. Their duo lpo.org.uk – 12 –
Igudesman & Joo © Julia Wesely
B
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
london philharmonic orchestra
concert listings southbank centre Unless otherwise stated, standard prices £9–£39 Premium seats £65 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Mon–Fri 10am–5pm lpo.org.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9am–8pm southbankcentre.co.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone No transaction fee for bookings made in person JTI Friday Series is supported by Rachmaninoff: Inside Out is presented in cooperation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.
Friday 24 October 2014 | 7.30pm Wagner Prelude to Act 1, Lohengrin Beethoven Triple Concerto Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Maria João Pires piano Augustin Dumay violin Antonio Meneses cello
Wednesday 24 September 2014 | 7.30pm Magnus Lindberg Chorale Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano Concert generously supported by the Sharp Family.
Free pre-concert event | 6.00–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Magnus Lindberg conducts the LPO’s Foyle Future Firsts in the London premiere of his stunning piece Souvenir, described in the New York Times as ‘shivering, diaphanous and pungent’.
Friday 3 October 2014 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff: Inside Out Rachmaninoff The Isle of the Dead Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 (original version) Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances Vladimir Jurowski conductor Alexander Ghindin piano
Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 (final version) Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 (Winter Daydreams) Osmo Vänskä conductor Nikolai Lugansky piano
Sunday 26 October 2014| 7.30pm
Wednesday 12 November 2014 | 7.30pm
FUNharmonics Family Concert: The Toad and the Snail
Pierné Overture and Suite, Ramuntcho* Poulenc Concerto for two pianos and orchestra Ravel Rapsodie espagnole Debussy La mer
With new music by Benjamin Wallfisch to accompany Roald Dahl’s hilarious masterpiece. Benjamin Wallfisch conductor Chris Jarvis presenter Tickets £10–£18 adults, £5–£9 children
Wednesday 29 October 2014 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff: Inside Out The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s US Tour 2014 is generously supported by Dunard Fund and the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Friday 7 November 2014 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff: Inside Out
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 Vassily Sinaisky conductor Pavel Kolesnikov piano
Juanjo Mena conductor Katia Labèque piano Marielle Labèque piano * Supported by Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française.
Wednesday 19 November 2014 | 7.30pm Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 Schubert Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) R Strauss Don Juan Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Lars Vogt piano
Saturday 1 November 2014 | 7.30pm Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)
Friday 28 November 2014 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff: Inside Out
Jaap van Zweden conductor Elizabeth Watts soprano Alice Coote mezzo soprano London Philharmonic Choir
Wagner Overture, Tannhäuser Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
Please note there will be no interval during this performance.
Wednesday 5 November 2014 | 7.30pm Sibelius The Bard Sibelius Violin Concerto Sibelius Lemminkäinen Suite (Four Legends of the Kalevala) Osmo Vänskä conductor Alexandra Soumm violin Free pre-concert event | 6.00–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Musicians from the LPO join students from London Music Masters’ innovative music education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical celebration.
lpo.org.uk – 13 –
David Zinman conductor Behzod Abduraimov piano Free pre-concert event | 6.15–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Acclaimed film director Tony Palmer discusses the enduring popularity of Rachmaninoff’s music.
Southbank Centre concerts continue overleaf.
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
london philharmonic orchestra
concert listings contd. around the uk
Wednesday 3 December 2014 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff: Inside Out
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Igor Levit piano
17–19 September Live and Local Igudesman & Joo: Big Nightmare Music Symphony Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, Leeds Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
* Supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of
See full details on page 12.
the Polska Music programme, and by the Polish Cultural Institute in London.
Supported by JTI.
Szymanowski Concert Overture* Scriabin Piano Concerto Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1
Free pre-concert event | 6.15–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Professor Stephen Downes, a specialist in 20thcentury music, looks at the often overlooked influence of Scriabin.
Saturday 6 December 2014 | 7.30pm Stravinsky Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920 version) Harrison Birtwistle Responses: Sweet disorder and the carefully careless (for piano and orchestra) (UK premiere)* Messiaen Oiseaux exotiques Stravinsky Orpheus Vladimir Jurowski conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano * Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Musica Viva, Casa da Musica Porto, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The London Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and PRS for Music Foundation.
Free pre-concert event | 6.00–6.45pm The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall The LPO’s creative ensemble for teenagers, The Band, plays its first set of the season. Taking the works of Stravinsky, Messiaen and Birtwistle as inspiration, The Band will work alongside LPO musicians to create and perform their own strikingly original music.
Sunday 21 September | 7.30pm Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, Essex Box Office: 0845 548 7650 www.saffronhall.com Mozart Symphony No. 32 Vaughan Williams On Wenlock Edge Brahms Symphony No. 4 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Ian Bostridge tenor Saturday 27 September 2014 | 7.30pm Brighton Dome Box Office: 01273 709709 www.brightondome.org Rachmaninoff The Isle of the Dead Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances Vladimir Jurowski conductor Elena Tanski violin In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.
Sunday 5 October 2014 | 3.00pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Box Office: 01323 412000 www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk Dvořák The Noonday Witch Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano Sunday 9 November 2014 | 3.30pm Royal Albert Hall, London Box Office: 0845 401 5045 www.royalalberthall.com Remembrance Sunday Concert Richard Cooke conductor Ekaterina Scherbachenko soprano Stephan Rügamer tenor Bryn Terfel baritone Royal Choral Society Britten War Requiem
lpo.org.uk – 14 –
Saturday 15 November 2014 | 7.30pm The Forum, Bath Box Office: 01225 443114 www.bathforum.co.uk Glinka Overture, Ruslan and Ludmila Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 Vassily Sinaisky conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin Saturday 29 November 2014 | 7.30pm Brighton Dome Box Office: 01273 709709 www.brightondome.org Beethoven Violin Concerto Brahms Symphony No. 1 Aziz Shokhakimov conductor Dmitri Berlinsky violin Sunday 30 November 2014 | 3.00pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Box Office: 01323 412000 www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk Programme as 29 November, Brighton
INTERNATIONAL CONCERTS Monday 29 September 2014 | 8.00pm Meistersingerhalle, Nuremberg, Germany www.nuernberg.de/internet/meistersingerhalle Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances Vladimir Jurowski conductor Martin Helmchen piano Tuesday 30 September 2014 | 8.00pm Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany www.alteoper.de Programme as 29 September, Nuremberg Wednesday 1 October 2014 | 7.30pm Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid, Spain www.auditorionacional.mcu.es Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
Thursday 2 October 2014 | 7.30pm Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid, Spain www.auditorionacional.mcu.es
Friday 17 October 2014 | 8.00pm Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Canada www.roythomson.com
Thursday 11 December 2014 | 8.00pm Gasteig, Munich, Germany www.gasteig.de
Dvořák The Noonday Witch Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 (original version) Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances
Magnus Lindberg Chorale Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 Shostakovich Symphony No. 8
Programme as 8 December, Cologne
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Alexander Ghindin piano Thursday 9 October 2014 | 8.00pm Granada Theater, Santa Barbara, California, USA www.granadasb.org Dvořák The Noonday Witch Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano Friday 10 October 2014 | 8.00pm Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University, Northridge, USA www.valleyperformingartscenter.org Programme as 9 October, Santa Barbara Saturday 11 October 2014 | 8.00pm Segerstrom Hall, Costa Mesa, California, USA www.scfta.org Programme as 9 October, Santa Barbara Sunday 12 October 2014 | 7.00pm Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, USA www.daviessymphonyhall.org Programme as 9 October, Santa Barbara Monday 13 October 2014 | 7.00pm Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, USA www.daviessymphonyhall.org Magnus Lindberg Chorale Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano Thursday 16 October 2014 | 8.00pm Carnegie Hall, New York, USA www.carnegiehall.org Programme as 13 October, San Francisco
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano
Friday 12 December 2014 | 8.00pm Graf Zeppelin Haus, Friedrichshafen, Germany www.gzh.de/en Programme as 8 December, Cologne
Saturday 18 October 2014 | 8.00pm Symphony Center, Chicago, USA www.cso.org Programme as 13 October, San Francisco
Sunday 14 December 2014 | 7.30pm Laeiszhalle, Hamburg, Germany www.elbphilharmonie.de Programme as 8 December, Cologne
Friday 21 November 2014 | 8.00pm Konzerthaus, Dortmund, Germany www.konzerthaus-dortmund.de Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 Schubert Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) R Strauss Don Juan Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Lars Vogt piano Saturday 22 November 2014 | 8.00pm Philharmonie, Essen, Germany www.philharmonie-essen.de
Monday 15 December 2014 | 8.00pm Congress Centrum, Hannover, Germany www.hcc.de/en Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker (excerpts) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Nikolai Lugansky piano
Programme as 21 November, Dortmund
Thursday 18 December 2014 | 7.30pm & Friday 19 December 2014 | 7.30pm Harpa, Reykjavík, Iceland en.harpa.is
Sunday 23 November 2014 | 6.00pm Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden, Germany www.festspielhaus.de
Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor) Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 (Winter Daydreams)
Programme as 21 November, Dortmund Monday 8 December 2014 | 8.00pm Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany www.koelner-philharmonie.de Dvořák The Noonday Witch Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2 Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker (excerpts) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sol Gabetta cello Tuesday 9 December 2014 | 8.00pm Liederhalle, Stuttgart, Germany www.liederhalle-stuttgart.de Programme as 8 December, Cologne Wednesday 10 December 2014 | 8.00pm Konzerthaus, Freiburg, Germany www.konzerthaus.freiburg.de Programme as 8 December, Cologne
lpo.org.uk – 15 –
Osmo Vänskä conductor Leif Ove Andsnes piano
Tuesday 30 December 2014 | 8.00pm & Wednesday 31 December 2014 | 8.00pm Guangzhou Opera House, China www.gzdjy.org Wagner Prelude, Die Meistersinger Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 Tchaikovsky Excerpts from Swan Lake, Eugene Onegin, Sleeping Beauty, Symphony No. 6 and The Nutcracker Vassily Sinaisky conductor Behzod Abduraimov piano
tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 –
LPO people
backstage What were your first experiences of music, and what made you choose the violin? My first musical memory is of trying to pick out the notes to Bach’s ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ on the rather out-of-tune piano at home in Stirling, Scotland. At my primary school the music specialist taught very well. However it appears that my singing was too out-of-tune to let me sing in the school choir! When the headmaster asked if anyone would like violin lessons, my best friend put up his hand and I decided I would like to go with him. After six months my friend decided that he was going to give up and when I informed my mother that I too was going to give up, I was firmly told that that would not be an option. I was ten years old at the time. By the age of 14, I was in the National Youth Orchestra.
concert on one three-hour rehearsal. This practically never happens now with the London concerts, and it has made a huge difference to the standard of our performances. We also now have the use of our own rehearsal space at Henry Wood Hall, which makes life much easier.
You originally began studying medicine before moving to the Royal College of Music to study the violin. Why did you decide to switch to music? In 1968 I entered Edinburgh Medical School hoping to become a psychiatrist. After two terms in halls of residence, I could stand it no longer and decided to commute from home, just over 30 miles away. Two terms later I decided to abandon medicine altogether and worked for a short period as a bus conductor. After trying and failing to get into the Royal Academy of Music, I found more success with the Royal College and had three and a half very happy years there, later winning the top violin prize. Do I have any regrets about leaving medicine? I’m sure that psychiatry would not have been without its problems, and I have enough friends who are doctors to know that the grass is brown everywhere!
You have been heavily involved in LPO Education & Community projects over the years – why is this kind of work important to you? My time with the Orchestra’s Education department was very interesting, and I learned a great deal about teaching music to many different age groups. I also teach the violin privately. Teaching is an area in which I feel very comfortable, and it’s a regret that I didn’t become more involved in this earlier in my life. I find my students stimulating and the whole process of teaching fascinating.
– geoffrey lynn – Geoffrey celebrates 40 years with the LPO this season, having joined the First Violin section in 1974. We talked to him about life in the Orchestra and some of the most memorable highlights of his career so far. proved complicated with the RCM. I later auditioned for membership and was successful. I was by then 24 years old and the youngest member of the Orchestra. What have been the highlights of your time with the Orchestra? One of the most memorable projects was the run of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Glyndebourne with Andrew Davis in 1999. Another was recording five or six Paganini violin concertos, one after another, in Barking Town Hall with Salvatore Accardo in 1975 – a truly staggering feat of violin playing! What have been the biggest changes to life in the LPO over the last 40 years? The biggest change is probably the extra rehearsal time we’re now allowed. Forty years ago one could often expect to play a
Newsletter published by the London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Fax: 020 7840 4201 Box Office: 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk
– 16 –
How do you like to spend your free time? I enjoy spending time with my family: I am married to Frankie and have two children: a daughter, Amy, who is married with a son, Alexander; and a son, Stuart, who got married this summer, so it’s been a busy time recently! At every possible opportunity, you will find me up a mountain clipping on a pair of skis. I also take many other holidays – either visits to somewhere that my wife and I find interesting, or enjoying our ‘second life’ in our flat in Nice on the Côte d’Azur. I’m also to be found cycling into work on a fairly regular basis. Geoffrey’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is generously supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp.
Geoffrey Lynn © Peter Nall
How did you get your first job with the LPO? While at the Royal College of Music, I auditioned for extra work with the LPO. I was by this stage already doing some freelance work and teaching. The LPO invited me to come in to play on various projects, including a three-week European tour for which the College had to give me permission. The Leader suggested to me that I could take a job as an Associate Member while still at college, but I decided against this, as it would have
What are the biggest challenges you face as an orchestral violinist? Which composers do you find trickiest? One of the hardest challenges for all orchestral players is often playing unfamiliar repertoire from poor quality printed parts. Personally, I also find that playing the accompaniment to a Mozart piano concerto with the necessary style and precision is always a challenge to one’s control of the instrument.