London Symphony Orchestra: Living Music

London Symphony Orchestra

New works at the LSO Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and a World War I tribute

by Sally Beamish LSO around the globe Touring the Far East and India Meet Peter Moore 18-year-old Co-Principal Trombone

contents

CONTENTS

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page 7

DOT London

page 4

page 12

LSO Premieres – Max’s Tenth: A triumph + Sally Beamish’s Equal Voices

LSO Sing

page 8

Introducing Peter Moore LSO Co-Principal Trombone page 15

LSO On Track: Special Schools page 13

Scintillating Scriabin

page 10

On tour: Exploring the Far East and India page 14

page 18

Addicts’ Symphony

In Brief page 16

LSO Live: 100 releases and counting

Cover Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (photo by Igor Emmerich) Editor & Design Edward Appleyard – edward.appleyard@lso.co.uk Print Tradewinds Photography Igor Emmerich, Kevin Leighton, Bill Robinson, Alberto Venzago Chris Christodoulou, Kaupo Kikkas, Hannah J Taylor

living music

welcome

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WELCOME

Kathryn McDowell CBE DL LSO Managing Director

W

elcome to this latest edition of Living Music magazine, which looks back at the life of the London Symphony Orchestra over the past few months.

The spring and summer periods have been an exceptionally busy time for the Orchestra, and it was a delight to be able to launch 2014 with a major new commission – Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Tenth Symphony.

The work was commissioned by the Orchestra to celebrate his 80th birthday and is a milestone in many senses of the word. It was fitting that in the same month we were able to announce another major commission which is being premiered this November as part of our commemorations of World War I – Sally Beamish’s Equal Voices which is based on the poetry of former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion.

Read all about that, and the magnificent reception to Sir Peter’s latest work, on pages 4 to 6.

The LSO reached a milestone of its own in May, as it released its 100th recording on the Orchestra’s own label, LSO Live. Following Sir Colin Davis’ passing in 2013, it is wonderful to be able to mark this with an anthology of Sir Colin’s recordings with the Orchestra – some of which have been released especially for this collection.

Read more on page 16.

Being at the forefront of working with and mentoring some of the most talented young musicians in the UK is something that many Members of the Orchestra enjoy, and none more so than the LSO trombonists who originally met Peter Moore at the LSO Brass Academy in 2012. On seeing a position in the trombone section

advertised, Peter, now just 18 years old, applied and in June 2014, the Orchestra appointed him with the position of Co-Principal Trombone. More about that on pages 8 and 9.

The past months have seen the LSO tour extensively around the world, setting the way for further globe trotting later this year. We had a wonderful welcome on our return to India in the spring, preceded by a tour of China with Daniel Harding and Yuja Wang. The summer months have included trips to major European festivals, and the autumn will see the first tour to Australia in over 20 years. See page 10 for the full story.

Valery Gergiev gave a fascinating exploration into the symphonic works of Alexander Scriabin in March and April, both at the Barbican and abroad. His autumn season shows a return to Russian composers and repertoire, and he’s joined in works by Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and others by Denis Matsuev, a pianist steeped in the Russian tradition.

Finally, you may have seen a documentary on Channel 4 broadcast in August showing LSO Members working with musicians who are tackling addictions to drugs and alcohol. Sharing an enduring belief in the uplifting power of music, the programme was a moving insight into the lives of these musicians in recovery.

I hope you enjoy reading this edition of Living Music, and that you can join us in the coming months – either at the Barbican, or around the globe.

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London Symphony Orchestra Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS 020 7588 1116 | lso.co.uk Registered charity in England number 232391 Patron Her Majesty The Queen Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev Principal Guest Conductors Daniel Harding, Michael Tilson Thomas Conductor Laureate André Previn KBE

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LSO PREMIERES

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LSO premieres

Championing new orchestral music

Music is the language that T R A N S C E N D S EVERYTHING. It speaks to our core, our deepest soul, and it has a direct effect on our THINKING and our EMOTIONS. Sally Beamish living music

‘Creativity, mortality and renewal: this was the collective message that imprinted itself on our hearts as Max took his bow and beamed at his cheering audience.’

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Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian

LSO PREMIERES

SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES

T

he LSO has long-championed contemporary composers and commissioned new works, and 2014 and 2015 are no exceptions.

SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES’ TENTH SYMPHONY Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ long-awaited Tenth Symphony was given a sold-out world premiere at the Barbican on 2 February. Max’s new symphony was composed over the previous 18 months, when he was recovering from a life-threatening illness, and he said that completing the new work literally him alive. Three weeks later LSO Principal Flute Adam Walker premiered a new work commissioned specially for him from Welsh composer Huw Watkins. Huw was one of the composers on the pilot LSO Panufnik Composers scheme for emerging composers.

All the LSO composing schemes have resulted in 113 different composers completing new works for the Orchestra in the last ten years.

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LSO PREMIERES

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57

the number of composers who have participated in the LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme since it launched in 2005, of which 13 have gone on to have works commissioned for performance by the Orchestra as part of a Barbican concert.

JONATHAN DOVE

8

current LSO Soundhub members SALLY BEAMISH’S EQUAL VOICES This term, work started earlyon world premieres from two other leading British composers. Glasgow-based Sally Beamish has written a 45-minute choral work, Equal Voices, collaborating with poet Sir Andrew Motion on the subject of World War I – the LSO brought the two artists together and formed the creative partnership.

Preliminary rehearsals took place at LSO St Luke’s in the first week of September and you can see Sally, soloists Marcus Farnsworth and Shuna Sendall and conductor Gianandrea Noseda talking about the new piece on our YouTube Channel. Sally and Andrew are also taking part in a study-day at LSO St Luke’s focusing on music, poetry and the trauma of war, with specialists from the military, music therapy and medical fields, before the world premiere at the Barbican on 2 November.

JONATHAN DOVE COMMUNITY OPERA Back in London, composer Jonathan Dove has already started work on a new community opera called The Monster in the Maze, a co-commission between the Berlin Philharmonic and the LSO, with the world premiere taking place in Berlin and the UK premiere in London, both conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. It is the first in a series of community operas that Rattle is commissioning with the LSO; the 2016 one will be by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

Formed of over 150 local singers who live or work locally to the Barbican, the LSO Youth and Community Choirs will perform with the Orchestra in a semi-staged production at the Barbican on 5 July to round off the season.

LSO COMPOSING SCHEMES Each year six emerging composers have their music played in workshops by the Orchestra as part of the Panufnik Composers Scheme. Two composers are then commissioned to produce orchestral pieces which are performed in the main LSO Barbican season. LSO Soundhub, launched two years ago, is a pioneering scheme giving composers from a range of musical genres access to resources and performance opportunities at LSO St Luke’s and mentoring by LSO players and industry colleagues.

UBS Soundscapes: Pioneers was an innovative commissioning project, annually giving three UK-based composers the chance to write a fiveminute piece for orchestra. lso.co.uk/composers

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current LSO Soundhub associates

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composers who were commissioned as part of UBS Soundscapes: Pioneers

PREMIERE EVENTS IN SEASON 2014/15 Sun 2 Nov 2014 10am–6pm, LSO St Luke’s THE MUSICAL BRAIN / LSO STUDY DAY MUSIC, POETRY AND THE TRAUMA OF WAR Ian Ritchie from The Musical Brain introduces guest speakers Stephen Johnson (the drums of war); Hugh McManners (the cognitive neuroscience of the effects of war); Lord John Alerdice (psychotherapy in response to conflict); Lt Col Bob Meldrum (military music in operational theatres); Andrew Motion (war poetry) and Sally Beamish (composer of Equal Voices).

Fri 5 Jun 2015 10am–1pm & 2–6pm, LSO St Luke’s PANUFNIK COMPOSERS WORKSHOP Witness a pivotal point in the process of putting together a new orchestral piece as the LSO works with the 2014 Panufnik Composers, under the guidance of composer Colin Matthews and conductor François-Xavier Roth.

Free entry, booking essential Supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust

The Panufnik Legacies is a special LSO Live disc featuring recordings celebrating Panufnik commissions. Buy online at lso.co.uk/lsolive

Sun 2 Nov 2014 7.30pm, Barbican EQUAL VOICES REMEMBERING WORLD WAR I Elgar Carillon Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 (‘Emperor’) Sally Beamish Equal Voices (world premiere, LSO co-commission) Gianandrea Noseda conductor Nelson Freire piano Shuna Sendall soprano Marcus Farnsworth baritone London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director LSO commission supported by Susie Thomson

Sun 5 Jul 2015 7.30pm, Barbican THE MONSTER IN THE MAZE CHILDREN’S OPERA Jonathan Dove The Monster in the Maze (UK premiere, LSO co-commission) Walton Symphony No 1 Sir Simon Rattle conductor LSO Discovery Junior & Senior Choirs LSO Community Choir Guildhall School Musicians

Thu 5 Feb 2015 7.30pm, Barbican PREMIERE OF ANNUAL PANUFNIK COMPOSER COMMISSION Berlioz Les nuits d’été Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 (‘Pathetique’) Patrick Brennan Ballabile (world premiere) Panufnik Composers Commission supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust

Co-commission in assocation with the Berlin Philharmonic and Aix-en-Provence Festival

For ticket and booking information visit lso.co.uk/whatson

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                                

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‘The launch of Dot London is one of the most exciting things to have happened on London’s digital scene for many years, and it’s thrilling to be right at the centre of this ground-breaking moment.

London’s new domain name provides a phenomenal opportunity to link businesses all over the world with our city’s powerful brand.’



Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

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We are Symphony Orchestra 



A vision to create a world-class, innovative domain for the benefit of Londoners and London businesses.

and is proud to be the Resident Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in the City of London since the Centre opened in 1982.

Having a permanent base in the City has enabled the LSO to establish a loyal audience in London, and having a Dot London web address further associates the Orchestra with the city whose diversity has been its lifeblood for well over a century.

Back in 2012 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which manages the internet’s naming system, opened a call for new domains to foster innovation and greater consumer choice and offer alternatives to existing domains such as .co.uk.

One of the first to seize this opportunity was London and Partners, London’s official promotional organisation, which applied to operate a domain called .london.

Its vision was to create a world-class, innovative and trusted top-level domain for London for the benefit of Londoners and London businesses.

The Dot London domain went live in April, and a huge campaign during May encouraged London businesses to purchase their domain names before the end of July.

We were delighted to see the LSO represented in newspaper adverts, on posters on the tube and on in-car tube carriage panels, all adorned with photos of clarinettist Lorenzo Iosco taken during rehearsals at the Barbican Centre.

Fast forward two years to March 2014. We were excited to receive a call from London and Partners – would we like to be a Dot London Pioneer? They were approaching

a selection of high-profile, industry-leading businesses to become pioneers for the new domain. They wanted businesses that exemplified the strengths and successes of one of the world’s greatest cities. Would the London Symphony Orchestra be interested in joining this elite group and having one of the first .london web addresses?

Happily for us, the proposition aligned with our current strapline, ‘London’s Symphony Orchestra’, and our season campaign photography which features musicians and conductors in London landmarks – the address that we chose, http://symphonyorchestra.london, fitted rather well!

The LSO has been part of the cultural scene in London for over 110 years. It is the longest surviving London orchestra,

SYMPHONYORCEHSTRA.LONDON

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Explore the special Dot London website at symphonyorchestra.london Full LSO website: lso.co.uk

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MEET PETER MOORE

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Introducing

Peter Moore

LSO Co-Principal Trombone ‘Proof that it’s not just in the Premiership that youth academies work in developing the next generation of talent.’

Tom Service, The Guardian

D

o you remember your first job? Paperboy, assistant hair-washer at the local salon, filing clerk – it undoubtedly came with a large dollop of pride (and a sizeable side order of nerves). But what happens when your first job is your dream job? Welcome to the world of Peter Moore, the 18-year-old from Stalybridge, Lancashire, who in June 2014 was appointed LSO Co-Principal Trombone.

The media loves talent, especially in squeakily youthful form.

Pete’s appointment attracted attention from the BBC and broadsheets, plus the usual classical media. The teen is no stranger to the collective gasp: with good looks and an endearing Northern twang, Pete became the youngest ever BBC Young Musician of the Year winner in 2008, aged twelve.

The overriding impression when conversing with Pete is of an exceptionally mature and relaxed young man.

Having professional musicians for parents (his mother and father met in the horn section of the Ulster Orchestra) and two brass-playing brothers has clearly had a normalising effect – brilliant musicality runs in the family but so does grace and good manners. Watch the clip of Pete’s family being interviewed after his record-breaking success at BBC Young Musician of the Year and you’ll see where the teenager gets his modesty.

Pete has also benefited from the British brass band scene, a parallel musical universe governed by hard work, community spirit and … fun. ‘I’ve always been surrounded by adults, musically and socially. Age is not an issue for me – well, apart from when I started and was too small to hold the trombone …’ (in case you’re wondering, he was aged seven and had to use an alto trombone.

He’s now 6 foot 2 inches). Other well-known brass band exports include late LSO trumpeter stars Maurice Murphy and Rod Franks; current Principal, Philip Cobb, was also heralded a ‘wunderkind’ when he was appointed in 2009 aged 21. Phil and Pete have become good friends, sharing a love of football amongst other things. In another display of wisdom beyond his years, Pete is emphatic about the importance of indulging another passion alongside music: ‘I think it’s really important and healthy.

Sport is my refuge’.

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MEET PETER MOORE

LSO BRASS ACADEMY LSO Brass Academy is part of the LSO’s Artist Development programme; dedicated to identifying and nurturing the next generation of performers, composers and conductors. Over the past three years, over 1,000 performers aged 14 to 35 have worked directly with LSO players as part of the programme.

Visit lso.co.uk/discovery for more.

Now, the question on everyone’s lips: how did he land the LSO job? With characteristic straightforwardness, Pete replies ‘I saw the position advertised, applied, auditioned and then trialled for a few months’.

But what about music college? ‘No-one is obliged to go to music college’, he responds with startling clarity.

He’s right, of course. It’s just the conventional space in which to hone craft and establish useful networks.

‘I knew this opportunity wouldn’t come around again for a while – I just thought ‘Why not?’. I had taken part in the LSO Brass Academy a few years previously, so the audition panel weren’t total strangers.’

While the rest of the world has been busy being agog / envious (delete as appropriate), Pete has simply been following the advice of his teacher and former LSO Principal Trombone Ian Bousfield – to enjoy

every moment. ‘I was surprised to see just what a happy place the LSO is’, he admits. ‘Everyone is relaxed and seems to love what they do. My section have welcomed me with open arms and treat me exactly as they do each other.’ Camaraderie aside, his favourite part of the job so far has been the roster of soloists: ‘It’s exciting to open the schedule and see who’s visiting over the next few months. I’ve been lucky enough to share the stage with people like Evgeny Kissin and Nicola Benedetti, who I spent years listening to’.

Any conductors he’s dying to work with? ‘I’ve yet to play with Gergiev, Rattle and Haitink. They’re legends.’

Precisely the detail that would send most less experienced musicians into spirals of anxiety. ‘There’s no one I’d be intimidated to play in front of. You just do your best.’

LSO MEMBERS FROM LSO DISCOVERY LSO Discovery schemes have offered many young musicians a pathway into the professional music world. LSO Members who, like Peter, have been participants in the Academy, or have taken part in the String Experience Scheme, and have gone on to join the Orchestra are: Angela Barnes (Horn) Antoine Bedewi (Co-Principal Timpani) Philip Cobb (Principal Trumpet) Naoko Keatley (Second Violin) Maxine Kwok-Adams (First Violin) Joseph Melvin (Double Bass) William Melvin (Second Violin) and Sarah Quinn (Sub-Principal Second Violin).

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TOUR DESTINATIONS LAST SEASON & THIS SEASON

37 CITIES IN 2013/14 | 39 CITIES IN 2014/15 AIX-EN-PROVENCE, ATHENS,

BADEN

BADEN,

BEIJING

BERLIN, BERN, BONN, BRATISLAVA, BRESCIA, BRISBANE BRNO,

BRUSSELS,

CÔTE-SAINT-ANDRÉ,

BUDAPEST, DAVIS,

COSTA

MESA

DORTMUND,

ESSEN

FLORENCE, FRANKFURT, FREIBURG, GENEVA, GRAFENEGG GSTAAD,

GUANGZHOU,

INGOLSTADT,

KAOHSIUNG,

HAMBURG,

HONG

KONG

LAS

VEGAS

KATOWICE,

LINZ, LOS ANGELES, LUCERNE, LUXEMBOURG, LYON

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MACAU,

MADRID,

MELBOURNE,

MILAN,

MUMBAI

NAGOYA, NEW YORK, OSAKA, PALM DESERT, PARIS RAVELLO, SANTA

RIGA,

SAN

BARBARA,

DIEGO,

SEATTLE,

SAN

FRANCISCO

SEOUL,

SINGAPORE

FAR EAST TOUR

ST POLTEN, SYDNEY, TAIPEI, TAMPERE, TOKYO, TURIN UDINE,

VERSAILLE,

WIESBADEN, ZÜRICH

Touring the Far East and India

Far, far away O

n 27 February 2014, the LSO and its Principal Guest Conductor Daniel Harding boarded planes at Heathrow bound for 5,000 miles east, to the metropolis of Beijing.

Almost exactly a decade before, on 6 March 2004, a slightly younger LSO and a 28-year-old Daniel Harding were embarking on the same journey, but almost certainly with more excitement and trepidation, for this would be the first time the Orchestra had ever toured to China. And with 2004 marking exactly 100 years since the Orchestra’s formation, it was a significant point at which to add a chapter to the LSO’s illustrious international story.

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VIENNA,

VILNIUS,

WARSAW

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The Far East itself is by no means new to the Orchestra, with the LSO first visiting Japan in 1963 and returning an astonishing 22 times in the intervening 51 years. Hong Kong and South Korea formed part of a world tour in 1964 and have remained in the touring diary ever since.

China, lacking political ties to the West, would remain closed off to orchestras such as the LSO for many years to come.

Since the inaugural visit ten years ago, the LSO has returned to China four times: in 2007, 2010, 2012 and now in 2014. The schedule was not for the faint-hearted: eleven concerts in 18 days spread across eight cities and five countries: Beijing, Guangzhou, Macau (China), Taipei, Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Seoul (South Korea) and Mumbai (India). And critically, without the generous support of our corporate partners – HSBC, Shell, Standard Chartered and Vodafone – such an extensive tour would not have been possible.

YOUNG SOLOISTS Joining the Orchestra for the China-Taiwan-Hong Kong leg was Yuja Wang, a 27-year-old Beijing-born-and-raised pianist with the world at her feet. With the electric on-stage presence of a rock star and a bold attitude to convention (most famously expressed in her refusal to adhere to traditional floor-length evening wear on stage), Yuja has an enormous following in her native China and beyond.

She was the subject of the LSO’s Artist Portrait series in the 2013/14 season offering an opportunity to explore the wider musical passions of artists with whom we regularly perform, through solo recitals, chamber music, masterclasses and talks as well as a range of concerto repertoire with the orchestra.

Following sell-out success at the Barbican, Yuja joined the Orchestra on tour with concertos by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov. Taking to the keyboard in Seoul, with more Prokofiev, was Sunwook Kim, a South Korean pianist also in his late-20s and the first ever Asian winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition.

FAR EAST TOUR

YUJA WANG

DANIEL HARDING

‘A small boy up in the balcony caught my eye. He couldn’t sit still, through excitement.

As the last movement sped to the finish he stood up, raised his arms and clashed his imaginary cymbals with all his might. As the horns stood for the final section, he jumped up and down on the spot and the symphony finished to a roar from the audience. Nobody made him sit down or told him to behave himself, he was just allowed to enjoy the music in his own way.’

Gareth Davies, LSO Principal Flute, on Mahler’s First Symphony being performed in Beijing INDIA The final section of the tour, in Mumbai, saw LSO Principal Cello Tim Hugh and Leader Roman Simovic play landmark concertos by Elgar and Tchaikovsky, respectively.

The LSO first visited India in 1964, as part of the aforementioned world tour. Unlike the Far East, the country has not remained a fixture in the diary, with the only other trip being in 2010 under the batons of Sir Colin Davis and Kristjan Järvi.

PLAYERS’ PERSPECTIVES LSO European tours are usually short affairs with concerts most days, with travelling on many concert days. However, producing repeatedly world-class performances when away from home for over a fortnight in far-flung territories such as the Far East demands more time to acclimatise – to jet lag, weather and the general odours and colours of a different culture – and free time is more common. In their blogs, Gareth Davies (Principal Flute) and Maxine KwokAdams (First Violin) paint a vibrant picture of the Far East tour, from sampling scorpions to Star Wars encores and an afternoon of heart-warming outreach with local children.

Perhaps most insightful of all, LSO cellist Eve-Marie Caravassilis lifts the lid on life on the road in a 20-minute home-made documentary. The film neatly expresses the paradoxes of orchestral touring: exhausting and exhilarating, frustrating and hilarious, long-haul trips, where the camaraderie of colleagues is at its most potent, remains one of the biggest draws for professional musicians working today. It’s a good job, because there are millions around the world waiting to welcome them.

Read the tour blog by Gareth Davies and Maxine Kwok-Adams blog.lso.co.uk Watch youtube.co.uk/lso and view A Cellist’s View: 18 days in the Far East and India, Mumbai Education Project and A Day in the Life of Daniel Harding

LSO TOURS THIS AUTUMN Italy, Slovakia & Greece 24 Sep Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine 25 Sep Bratislava Slovak Philharmonic Concert Hall 28 Sep Athens Megaron Concert Hall Valery Gergiev conductor Denis Matsuev piano Poland / Panufnik Centenary 18 Oct Katowice Forum NOSPR Hall Sir Antonio Pappano conductor Piotr Anderszewski piano Spain / Haitink 3 & 4 Nov Madrid Auditorio Nacional de Música Bernard Haitink conductor Supported by Canon Europe plc Singapore & Australia / Gergiev 19 & 20 Nov Singapore Esplanade 22 Nov Brisbane Queensland Performing Arts Centre 24–27 Nov Sydney Opera House & Conservatoire 28 Nov Melbourne Hamer Hall Valery Gergiev conductor Denis Matsuev piano

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LSO Sing LSO SING

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LSC SINGERS OUTSIDE ST PAUL’S

SIMON HALSEY IN ARNOLD CIRCUS

L

SO Sing, the new London Symphony Orchestra singing programme devised

by Choral Director Simon Halsey, went from strength-to-strength in its second full year with new conductors for the LSO’s Discovery and Community Choirs and an opportunity for 1,000 singers to take part in David Lang’s ‘Crowd Out’ in the Spitalfields Festival, as well as in Birmingham and Berlin.

‘I am so chuffed to be part of this – I have never sung or performed in front of anyone before and I am already loving it!’

Geraldine McNamara, Crowd Out Participant LSO SING EVENTS AUTUMN/WINTER 2014/15 London Symphony Chorus concerts 2 Nov Sally Beamish Equal Voices premiere 26 Nov Rachmaninov All-Night Vigil (‘Vespers’) a cappella performance 14 Dec Choral Christmas (with LSO community choir) 11 Jan Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri LSO Singing Days 20 Sep From Bach to the Beatles 22 Nov 19th-Century Oratorios 7 Feb Duruflé Requiem LSO Community Choir concert 24 Nov Choral Music Across the Centuries

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With seven ‘Singing Sundays’, five Singing Days, a Choral Christmas and the London Symphony Chorus featuring in its own concert at the Barbican this autumn, singing at the LSO is gathering pace.

Singing in a choir can boost your mental health.

Once reserved for church choir stalls, singing groups are becoming increasingly popular, buoyed by TV programmes such as Gareth Malone’s The Choir, which follows the ex-LSO Community Choir conductor as he tries to train totally new groups. Nick Stewart from Oxford Brookes University states: ‘Research has already suggested that joining a choir could be a cost-effective way to improve people’s wellbeing. These findings suggest that feeling part of a cohesive social group can add to the experience of using your voice to make music. People who sang in a choir had a strong sense of being part of a meaningful group … there is something unique about the synchronicity of moving and breathing with other people’.

The 150 members of the London Symphony Chorus will certainly attest to that. They undertook a UK tour in May, performing Rachmaninov’s ‘Vespers’ in Cardiff, Basingstoke and at the Newbury Festival; and will sing the work in their own a cappella concert at the Barbican on 26 November, along with Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year, an LSC commission, before leading the LSO’s choral Christmas celebrations on 14 December.

With the LSO at the Barbican this season the LSC sings a world premiere, Equal Voices by Sally Beamish, and choral masterworks conducted by Sir Simon Rattle,

Donald Runnicles, Daniel Harding and Bernard Haitink.

There has never been a better time to join the Chorus, in the run-up to its 50th anniversary year in 2016.

For the LSO’s community choirs, last season was especially exciting due to the arrival of Conductor David Lawrence and Associate Conductor Lucy Griffiths. Every Monday David conducts the 80-strong LSO Community Choir and 40 young people in the Senior Choir, and Lucy the 70-strong Junior Choir, who all live, work or go to school within 15 minutes of LSO St Luke’s on Old Street.

David has vast experience of conducting community choirs, including the annual Young Voices concerts at the O2 for 8,000 children, and the national youth choirs of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as conducting Songs of Praise for BBC One and The People’s Chorus for BBC Four. This year the LSO’s community choirs will connect up with the Barbican’s choral concerts too: in the Christmas choral celebrations and in the UK premiere of Jonathan Dove’s new community opera, The Monster in the Maze, to end the season on 5 July with Sir Simon Rattle. It should be quite a year.

To find out more about LSO Sing projects, or for information on joining one the choirs, visit lso.co.uk/lsosing To find out more about supporting LSO Sing, call Charlotte Clemson on 020 7588 1116 or visit lso.co.uk/supportus Find out more about the London Symphony Chorus at lsc.org.uk

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MUSIC IN COLOUR

Gergiev conducts the complete Scriabin symphonies

Music in Colour PRESS FOR THE SERIES ‘These were fine, controlled performances … wonderfully well-played by a full-strength LSO. In both quality and quantity, the sound – orchestral and choral – was terrific.’

The Arts Desk ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen [Gergiev] smile so much as during and after The Poem of Ecstasy, a work he clearly loves, and whose delicate and dance-like spirit he liberated.’

The Times ‘The combination of high-quality playing and Gergiev’s ability to get the music to pulsate with spontaneity will have won Scriabin new admirers.’

Financial Times ‘This was a performance that married a barnstorming manner with real musical distinction.’

The Guardian ‘An impressive demonstration of the LSO’s skill in a work of which it has given numerous fine performances in recent years.’

Classical Source

F

or a mini-series in the spring, the LSO and Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev stepped into the vibrant, kaleidoscopic world of Alexander Scriabin, dedicating three concerts and an eight-date European tour to the Russian composer’s five symphonies.

In three concerts at the Barbican in March and April, the LSO journeyed through the composer’s symphonies – from the First, a tribute to the power of art, with chorus and soloists contributing to the heady soundworld, to the visionary Fifth, Prometheus, Poem of Fire.

In each programme, an extra dimension was added through meditative works by French composer Messiaen and Romantic piano concertos by Chopin and Liszt, featuring soloists Denis Matsuev and Daniil Trifonov.

Born in Moscow in 1872, Scriabin had a musical style that was thoroughly his own – intense, ethereal, and full of lyrical melodies and lush, sweeping orchestral writing.

His symphonies were inspired by an idiosyncratic mix of mystical and philosophical ideas, including an unwavering belief in the spiritual power of art, and a fascination with the relationship between music and colour. Although his otherworldly Poem of Ecstasy and works for solo piano are well-known in concert halls, his five pioneering symphonies can seldom be heard as a cycle; this series provided a rare and revelatory opportunity to do just that.

The exploration wasn’t confined to London, with the Orchestra taking Scriabin’s music on an eight-date tour to venues in Belgium, Germany, France and Italy in April.

And back in London a set of BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts at LSO St Luke’s offered the chance to discover another side of Scriabin’s output, with Yevgeny Sudbin and Boris Giltburg playing three piano sonatas from different points of the composer’s career. The sonatas serve as a diary of Scriabin’s compositional and philosophical development.

Gergiev himself has a long-standing fascination with Scriabin’s music. ‘As a young pianist looking at my future, I thought Scriabin was one of the most important composers,’ he explains. ‘After doing some unusual projects, for example Szymanowski, I was thinking about some other challenging areas of repertoire, and the name of Scriabin came quite naturally … He’s clearly a composer with his own voice, from his own world.’

The series was met with critical acclaim in London and throughout Europe, and proved to be both thrilling and eye-opening for audiences. Writing in The Guardian, Andrew Clements described the concerts as ‘one of the most rewarding and genuinely revelatory’ of Gergiev’s projects with the LSO. ‘To hear rarely played works including Scriabin’s Second and Third Symphonies delivered with such authority was a particular treat.’

autumn 2014

ADDICTS’ SYMPHONY

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Addicts’ Symphony I

n the summer of 2013 the LSO was approached by TV production company Big Mountain Productions. They had heard about the Orchestra’s education, community and outreach programme, LSO Discovery, and were seeking expertise to produce a documentary on the transformative power of music for recovering alcohol and drug addicts.

The concept was the brainchild of composer and musician James McConnel, whose 18-year-old son Freddy, an aspiring musician, died of a heroin overdose in 2011.

James, himself a recovering alcoholic, was inspired to create the project by a determination to save others like his son, and an enduring belief in the uplifting power of music.

‘To be able to assist musicians in pushing their boundaries to the limits and see them overcome their personal demons in performance was one of the most satisfying aspects of this project.

The participants relied so much on each other for mutual support – the aspect of musicmaking which makes it such a fundamental and life enhancing human experience.’

Matthew Gibson, LSO double bass

An enduring belief in the uplifting power of music.

During autumn 2013, LSO workshop leader Paul Rissmann and LSO members Matthew Gibson (double bass) and Belinda McFarlane (violin) worked with ten recovering addicts in creative music-making sessions with the ultimate goal of preparing for a concert with LSO musicians.

All of the participants were musicians of some kind – some had not picked up their instruments for 20 years, and some were just beginning. More complicated still, for a number of the group, music was directly linked to their addiction: it was performance anxiety that had led them to drink or use drugs to excess. Others saw music as a tool that had previously helped them through difficult times.

Participant Rachael Lander, a 28-year-old cellist and former section leader of the National Youth Orchestra, experienced her first panic attack on stage at the age of 14 – at 18, she had to walk off stage during a concert, so overwhelming were her nerves (ironically enough, the piece was Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony).

She turned to alcohol to numb her stage fright.

Drummer Andy’s heroin addiction had had a devastating effect on his relationship with his 14-year-old daughter Lea, while flautist Bryony had started taking ecstasy and speed recreationally as a teenager. Pianist Katherine, now in her 50s, became a heroin user when her father died.

Whatever the details of their stories, it was clear that a passion for music permeated the group.

Paul, Belinda and Matthew helped the participants create their own music through different techniques and activities. Everyone was encouraged to express themselves musically throughout the process and,

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although overwhelming for some, to provide their own individual musical moment or mini-composition.

These poignant and deeply personal fragments were expanded and woven together throughout the sessions, resulting in the original piece Rhapsodie de l’apprivoisé (Rhapsody for the Tamed) which was then orchestrated

by Paul to allow the group to premiere the work with members of the LSO in concert.

Between music sessions, the participants met regularly with facilitators from charity Action on Addiction. In this open forum they could talk as a group, addressing their feelings on their addictions and this new creative process.

The group showed enormous commitment and mental strength during these intensive sessions, working towards a moving concert in front of families and friends at LSO St Luke’s, the Orchestra’s music education centre.

The bond created between them, and with the LSO team,

was palpable throughout the performance. Their original piece was left until last. As it reached its stirring peak before ending on a sustained, solitary note, we were left in no doubt that the Tamed had finally been heard.

‘It was both heart-breaking and empowering to play a concert with the LSO and admit that I was full of fear.

I didn’t have to deny or medicate my feelings. For once I could be honest and, in the process, the shame I’d had about myself began to lift. It hasn’t returned since the night of the concert.’ Rachael Lander, participant Addicts’ Symphony by Big Mountain Productions was directed by Dollan Cannell, Philip McGovern and Jane Kelly were the programme’s executive producers.

It was aired on Wednesday 27 August on Channel 4.

Read Rachael Lander’s blog, Strung Out, at rachaellander.com

‘In the on-going struggle to turn his life around, this will be remembered as a pivotal moment.

The project was important to him – he sought to control his feelings and automatic behaviour.

Teacher on a pupil at Stormont House School, 2013

15

Music-making for all

L

SO musicians giving tailored music-making sessions in special schools is just one of many LSO Discovery projects, alongside others like musical hospital visits, that take place behind the scenes, off-stage and out of the public eye.

The LSO On Track Special Schools project was launched in 2009, and each year, LSO players and workshop leaders work with 15 schools in East London to encourage creative music-making and nurture the talents of the young people and teachers involved.

Specially designed for students with special educational needs and disabilities, LSO Principal Bass Trombone Paul Milner gives us a fascinating insight into the experience.

PAUL MILNER

‘For LSO Members, LSO Discovery is such a big part of our life and something that we’re very proud of.

For us to actually go out and do all the projects that we do, it lets us get in touch with people who would not normally have any contact with a musician full stop, let alone a professional musician. All I want to do is to pass on my enjoyment of music and if I can do that through this lump of metal that I put on my lips then so be it.

But it’s not necessarily to do with just playing the trombone; it’s the approach, the friendliness and trying to draw something out of whoever we’re working with.

‘The special schools project is extremely rewarding.

The LSO’s aim is to support children with disabilities to experience aspects of music-making that children without disability can. Using whatever instruments are available, we encourage each child to touch them, feel them, play them and experiment with them – they may not have full motor control but they do it and can hear and feel the sound that they’ve made by themselves. The looks on their faces are wonderful and that’s what makes it really rewarding for me. In some cases, I’ll just play a note on my trombone and let them hold the bell so that they can feel the vibration, so hearing and visually impaired children can experience it too – I can’t use words to describe how satisfying that is. It is beyond music.

‘We start a project with a goal in mind but it’s not the end result that counts so much, it’s the journey.

That journey can help children with social skills – listening, interacting, turn-taking. I’m sure they can take these skills in to all walks of life.

LSO CREATE WORKSHOP

LSO CREATE Adults with learning disabilities can join LSO Create, where participants and their carers take part in interactive workshops that introduce them to creative music-making at LSO St Luke’s.

Contact isabel.bedford@lso.co.uk for more details.

‘I enjoy playing to an audience of people who have paid to come and see the Orchestra, but I quite often think that their appreciation isn’t half as much as a child from a special school.’

LSO On Track Special Schools is supported by Marsh, The Saddlers’ Company Charitable Fund and Youth Music.

LSO Children’s Hospitals programme is supported by LSO Friends, the Rothschild Charities Committee and David & Alexandra Scholey.

autumn 2014

LSO ON TRACK: SPECIAL SCHOOLS

LSO On Track: Special Schools

See more at lso.co.uk/lsolive

LSO LIVE: 100TH RELEASE

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LSO Live 100 releases and counting …

A

t LSO St Luke’s on 6 May, journalists, music critics, recording industry professionals, LSO players and staff gathered in the Jerwood Hall for the much anticipated 100th release on LSO Live.

This was to be no ordinary disc in the LSO Live oeuvre, but a particularly special limited edition box set – a poignant anthology of recordings of Sir Colin Davis’ performances.

The 13-disc set features four previously unreleased works – including Berlioz’s Te Deum and Sibelius’ Oceanides – two recordings re-released in the high-definition SACD format, and a DVD documentary, The Man Behind the Music.

It was also an opportunity to unveil a brand new initiative for LSO Live – the LSO Live iPad app, available from the App Store. The only app of its kind, it links up your LSO Live recordings (if you have them stored on, or have bought them from, iTunes) with extra information, programme notes, articles, videos and more.

Further digital innovations continue to push LSO Live’s reputation as a pioneering recording label. Alongside using footage for the award-winning web-based LSO Play, the latest recordings are in a new Pure Audio Blu-ray

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format – enabling users to experience releases with HD quality sound, additional video content, on-screen pop-up programme information and much more.

And soon the growing catalogue of films from LSO Live will be available on Digital Theatre, a platform which offers low-cost rentals of concert performances and the ability to buy HD videos to watch on your laptop, tablet or smart TV. It will also include content aimed at schools, colleges and universities to engage and motivate students online.

So, as the LSO celebrates its 100th recording, we look forward to another 100, and all the possibilities they bring.

Pushing the boundaries of LSO Live would not be possible without the LSO’s Moving Music campaign. To help us achieve our goals, visit lso.co.uk/movingmusic.

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LSO LIVE: 100TH RELEASE

My favourite LSO Live MATTHEW GIBSON, LSO Double Bass, chooses VERDI & SIBELIUS

6.5 million

annual digital downloads of LSO tracks

10,500

downloads of the LSO Live iPad app

The piece which had the biggest impact on me while recording was Verdi’s Falstaff with Sir Colin Davis. I didn’t know a note of it before we started but found myself gripped from beginning to end.

The level of intensity that Sir Colin generated was quite staggering. If I’m on a long train journey or flying to another continent I often find myself turning to Sibelius’ Second Symphony, just to wallow in the sheer beauty of sound.

MAXINE KWOK-ADAMS, LSO Violin, chooses WALTON One of my favourite LSO Live recordings has to be the Walton coupling of the First Symphony with Belshazzar’s Feast. The symphony has been a favourite of mine since discovering it in the National Youth Orchestra, and Sir Colin brought out so much of the fiery dramatisation, which is superbly captured in this version.

autumn 2014

A six-month roundup of LSO news

IN BRIEF

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LSO Play wins Webby Award At the end of April the LSO was delighted to win a Webby Award for LSO Play, our innovative video platform that allows people to get inside the Orchestra.

The Webby Awards are the leading international awards honouring excellence on the internet, and this year received 12,000 entries from over 60 countries. LSO Play won in the Music category and was honoured for its excellence in content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity and overall experience. And as we go to print, the Orchestra has also been selected as a finalist for The Lovie Awards (including The People’s Lovie Awards) who honour the European-based internet community. Watch this space for the result. Congratulations to Sennep, the agency with whom we worked on the project. The next work should be available to view in LSO Play very shortly, so if you have not yet had a ‘Play’, log on now to play.lso.co.uk

ABO conference The LSO was proud to co-host the ABO (Association of British Orchestras) annual conference with the Barbican from 29 to 31 January, the major gathering of classical music in the UK. It was the first time the conference had been held in London for over 20 years and was the biggest, with over 350 delegates drawn from orchestras in the UK and abroad, including large delegations from Brazil and Japan.

LSO St Luke’s hosted the official opening by Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative industries, followed by a keynote speech by journalist Paul Morley and the main Conference Dinner, at which delegates also sang under LSO Choral Director Simon Halsey.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Mendelssohn video broadcast live across Europe French broadcasters Mezzo partnered with Arte Concert in January to stream our concert with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Maria João Pires live and online to an audience throughout Europe, part of a long term partnership broadcasting the LSO’s performances from the Barbican. Mezzo have been working with the Orchestra for the past two seasons now, and footage from recent concerts will be used on LSO Play (with Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique), and LSO Live’s latest release of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Mendelssohn includes video footage too. As part of the same concert, Maria João Pires’ performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto is the inaugural concerto recording on the LSO Live label.

If you’re in mainland Europe, you can watch LSO performances broadcast by Mezzo in HD on satellite and cable, visit mezzo.tv for details, or visit arte.tv for concert broadcasts online.

living music

A happy life is a creative life: why every child needs music

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IN BRIEF

On 30 June, 150 members of the public, arts professionals and members of the Worshipful Company of Musicians gathered at LSO St Luke’s to debate the state of music education, accompanied by the sounds of the LSO Youth Choir. Chaired by The Times Chief Music Critic Richard Morrison, the panel included Classic FM Managing Director Darren Henley, Chief Executive of ABRSM Leslie East, and LSO Managing Director Kathryn McDowell.

Amongst the topics discussed were the Department for Education’s plans to advise local authorities to withdraw financial support for music hubs, a decision that has since been overturned following a national campaign by the Incorporated Society of Musicians.

Inside Out: music for all on the grass outside LSO St Luke’s Four times we asked for the sky not to rain so we could invite the local community over to share in a series of fun free outdoor concerts on the lawn of LSO St Luke’s.

Four times the sky complied. This year’s Inside Out brought us the uplifting swing of Byron Wallen’s brass trio and the sweet serenades of Guillermo Rosenthuler. Harriette Ashcroft and the Sing-along Band came to play, and we thought we might even run out of space with all the happy children and smiling families. And when the LSO Community Choir sang to the Whitecross Street Party we ended another successful run of concerts out in the open air.

Moving Music Moving Music is entering its final phase of fundraising activity in order to meet the challenge of raising £6 million by May 2015 to gain access to a 50% matched fund from Arts Council England, giving the Orchestra a total of £9 million towards its Endowment Trust.

The invaluable resource will be used to fund the LSO’s digital activities and aspirations in bringing the finest music to the greatest number of people through several new initiatives and to inspire music-making.

There are several ways you can join the campaign, whether to make a substantial commitment to the Orchestra, become a Moving Music pioneer, or if you wish to make a one-off donation.

To find out more about the campaign, visit lso.co.uk/movingmusic or watch a video at youtube.com/lso

BMW LSO Open Air Classics 2014 May saw the third in the annual series of BMW LSO Open Air Classics concerts performed by the Orchestra in Trafalgar Square to thousands of people.

Taking Prokofiev as the composer in focus, the audience witnessed his dramatic moments from Romeo and Juliet, LSO Leader Roman Simovic performing movements from Violin Concerto No 2, and a mixed-ability orchestra – LSO On Track participants and Guildhall School players with Members of the LSO – playing Lieutenant Kijé.

The event started with Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management for BMW, announcing that the company intended to renew its partnership with the LSO for another three years. So look out for BMW LSO Open Air Classics IV in 2015 – details will be announced in the early spring.

autumn 2014

Autumn Highlights

AUTUMN HIGHLIGHTS LSO LIVE

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DANIEL HARDING

DENIS MATSUEV

Breathtaking Symphonies

Revolutionary Russians

Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler – a trio of composers whose symphonies unleash the full, spine-tingling force of the LSO, and will leave you hanging on every moment of musical drama.

brought to life by the composer’s kaleidoscopic use of the different sections of the orchestra. Over the coming months, we hear both his First Symphony and the very last he completed, the valedictory Ninth.

Each of these figures carved out their own approach to the symphony. Brahms, famously haunted by the legacy of Beethoven’s nine totemic symphonies, wrote four of his own; this autumn, hear his Third and Fourth, which is crowned by an intricate, imposing finale.

Bernard Haitink conducts Thu 23 Oct Bruckner Symphony No 8 Thu 30 Oct Brahms Symphony No 4

Valery Gergiev’s Autumn 2014 season with the LSO features composers from heartland Russia – he started the series with works by Tishchenko, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, the latter of which, Neil Fisher of The Times said, ‘Gergiev harnessed the skill of his players and built up the churning textures to explosive heights’. The series also features concertos by Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov performed by powerhouse pianist Denis Matsuev as the focus of this season’s UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist Portrait.

Something altogether different is found in Bruckner’s symphonies, visionary orchestral structures that unfold on a colossal scale, epitomised in the vast Eighth.

Similarly distinctive is the powerful world of Mahler,

Daniel Harding conducts Sun 26 Oct Mahler Symphony No 9 Sun 7 Dec Brahms Symphony No 3 Nikolaj Znaider conducts Thu 18 Dec Mahler Symphony No 1 (‘Titan’)

Revolutionary Russians continues Tue 11 & Thu 13 Nov Balakirev Russia Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 Rachmaninov Symphony No 3

Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition The Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition was launched in 1996 and has become one of the most prestigious awards of its kind. The final sees the culmination of the preliminary rounds, in which the winner will be named as LSO Assistant Conductor for the forthcoming year.

The competition will take place in front of an esteemed panel including Pierre Boulez, Daniel Harding, Xian Zhang, Bertrand de Billy, Vladimir Spivakov, Mauro Bucarelli, Patrick Harrild and Lennox Mackenzie acting as Chairman of the Jury.

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The finalists will tackle an ambitious programme starting with a dramatic overture by Beethoven.

It continues with a neo-Classical symphony

by Stravinsky written shortly after his move to the US in the 1940s, full of intricate rhythms that will keep competitors on their toes.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful symphonic fantasy inspired by the 1,001 Nights rounds off an evening of excitement and challenge.

The Donatella Filck LSO Conducting Competition Final is on Monday 8 December at 7pm