Living Music Autumn 2015

London Symphony Orchestra

autumn 2015 Michael Tilson Thomas A 70th birthday celebration and two-week tour LSO Discovery 25 years of music-making for everyone Sir Simon Rattle Music Director from September 2017 LSO International Violin Festival Three months, thirteen superstars

contents

CONTENTS

2

page 6

Sydney & beyond

page 4

page 12

MTT at 70 & his US tour

Meet Sir Simon

page 8

LSO International Violin Festival page 13

Recent awards page 15

Fundraising success

page 10

LSO Discovery celebrates 25 years page 7

page 14

Orchestral Artistry

In Brief page 16

LSO Live

Cover Michael Tilson Thomas (photo by Igor Emmerich) Editor & Design Edward Appleyard – edward.appleyard@lso.co.uk Print Tradewinds Photography Igor Emmerich, Tristram Kenton, Kevin Leighton, Alastair Muir, Alberto Venzago, Chris Christodoulou, Hannah J Taylor

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welcome

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WELCOME

Kathryn McDowell CBE DL LSO Managing Director

T

he London Symphony Orchestra has seen some exciting developments over the past months, and it is a pleasure to present our latest news in this edition of Living Music magazine.

Our 2014/15 season saw some remarkable performances at our home in London, but a particular highlight of the year was our tour destinations. With extensive tours of Australia and the West Coast of the United States, these trips have brought the LSO’s music-making wider than ever to great critical acclaim.

Last November, the LSO returned to Australia for the first time in 30 years. Conducted by Valery Gergiev, this was a tour of sell-out performances, and an extraordinary last night in Sydney – read more on page 6. The US tour was conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas as part of his 70th birthday celebrations, which also saw two special concerts at the Barbican and a concert hosted by our Patron, Her Majesty The Queen, at Buckingham Palace. These concerts marked a significant moment in our fundraising efforts for the LSO’s Moving Music campaign; we are very grateful to all those involved and to all those who generously donated.

You can read more about those events on pages 4 and 5, and about the success of Moving Music on page 15.

On Tuesday 3 March, Sir Simon Rattle’s appointment as LSO Music Director from September 2017 was announced.

Sir Simon commented, ‘we share a dream in which performing, teaching and learning are indivisible, with wider dissemination of our art at its centre. I cannot imagine a better or more inspiring way to spend my next years, and feel immensely fortunate to have the LSO as my musical family and co-conspirators’; thoughts echoed by the Members of the Orchestra.

Thirteen concerts with thirteen internationally-renowned violinists made the summer term a truly memorable period in the Orchestra’s recent history. The LSO International Violin Festival was generously supported

by Jonathan Moulds CBE, who alongside being a philanthropist is a keen collector of violins.

Read more about the Festival on pages 8 and 9.

LSO Discovery, the Orchestra’s education and community programme, took centre stage at the end of the Orchestra’s 2014/15 season with two spectacular concerts to celebrate its 25th birthday. Many of LSO Discovery’s projects were showcased across these performances, from the young musicians taking part in LSO On Track, to the full LSO Community Choir performing side-byside with the LSO Discovery Choirs and the Orchestra.

Read more about those inspiring events on pages 10 and 11.

STAY IN TOUCH facebook.com/ londonsymphonyorchestra twitter.com/ londonsymphony plus.google.com/ +LondonSymphonyOrchestra instagram.com/ londonsymphonyorchestra youtube.com/lso

comment@lso.co.uk The Orchestra’s record label, LSO Live, has had an exciting few months with some standout releases, including Mendelssohn from Sir John Eliot Gardiner, a Nielsen symphonies boxed set and Sir Simon Rattle’s first release on the label – Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri.

LSO Live was also one of six international orchestras to launch exclusively on Google’s new classical music platform – Classical Live. Turn to page 16 to read more.

As we go to print, the LSO is giving its final performances with Valery Gergiev as Principal Conductor. More on Gergiev’s nine years with the LSO in the next issue.

I hope you enjoy this edition of Living Music and can join us at the Barbican in the coming months.

lso.co.uk

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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MTT 70TH BIRTHDAY

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Michael Tilson Thomas The LSO and MTT More Than Team-mates

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n 21 December 1944, Ted and Roberta Thomas from Los Angeles welcomed a son into their family.

The boy would go on to: become an accomplished pianist, conductor and composer; champion music education; position classical music on mainstream television, and pioneer YouTube’s first ever symphony orchestra. The boy was Michael Tilson Thomas.

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70 years later, he is known to one-and-all as ‘MTT’.

Protégé of Leonard Bernstein, presenter of San Francisco Symphony’s ‘Keeping Score’ series, brains behind the futuristic New World Center, Miami, and much more.

MTT’s relationship with the LSO began in 1970 when, as is so often the way with emerging maestros, he stepped in for an indisposed Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

He became Principal Conductor in 1988, releasing many LSO recordings in the 70s, 80s and 90s and leading a major BBC TV series. In this way, MTT was continuing a tradition started by former LSO Principal Conductor and fellow Californian André Previn, who had become a British household name through André Previn’s

Music Night. MTT also followed in the footsteps of his great mentor Leonard Bernstein, with his open, warm and communicative style towards audiences.

This sense of sincerity and camaraderie has never left, and today MTT enjoys a joyful relationship with the LSO as Principal Guest Conductor, conducting his old friends annually alongside his role as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony.

In March 2015, the LSO marked MTT’s 70th birthday with a gala concert at the Barbican followed by a major tour of his home turf, the US West Coast. He was also invited to conduct an intimate concert at Buckingham Palace.

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MTT 70TH BIRTHDAY

‘Upon being introduced to Her Majesty, the maestro told her that he had chosen music that he thought had an ‘equestrian feel’. Upon which Her Majesty smiled, and said she had found the music ‘stirring’.’

San Francisco Chronicle

ROYAL GALA

US WEST COAST TOUR

On Wednesday 11 March, the LSO had the privilege of performing at Buckingham Palace in celebration of the musical life of the nation, in the presence of the LSO’s Patron Her Majesty The Queen. The concert began with the National Anthem and continued with works by Mozart, Kreisler, Litolff and Mendelssohn, conducted by Tilson Thomas.

After a UK warm-up it was time for some genuine sunshine.

Spotting destinations like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas on a tour schedule is bound to excite even the most seasoned musician. The busy itinerary of ten concerts in 15 days, in nine different halls, still left time for hiking, biking, motorbiking, sightseeing, shopping, swimming and helicopter rides, delighting thousands of behind-thescenes-hungry fans keeping tabs through social media.

28-year-old pianist Yuja Wang, a close collaborator of Tilson Thomas for the last decade, was the soloist in Litolff’s ‘Scherzo’ from Concerto Symphonique No 4; Yuja’s canary-yellow sleeveless gown a nod to her own well-known penchant for dazzling dresses. After meeting the Queen, guests were escorted to nearby St James’ Palace for a dinner in the State Apartments. The LSO is grateful to Lady Forte for leading the Gala Committee and arranging details of the dinner with such care and success.

BARBICAN BIRTHDAY CONCERTS Celebrations continued back at the Barbican the next evening with a 70th Birthday Gala concert.

The programme of Gershwin and Shostakovich, preceded by Colin Matthew’s Hidden Variables which MTT and the LSO premiered in 1991, was filmed

by French broadcaster Mezzo and sponsored by the LSO’s new Major Sponsor, Reignwood Group. Backstage, an impressive Art Deco birthday cake hand-made by LSO cellist Eve-Marie Caravassilis, took pride of place.

Reviewers across America picked up on the Orchestra’s and MTT’s jovial mood: ‘They’re having fun, too – I haven’t seen an orchestra enjoy itself like this in some time’, said the New York Times; ‘[A] uniquely satisfying display of obvious musical camaraderie and dedication’, commented the Bay Area Reporter. In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun, Tilson Thomas explains: ‘We’re serious, but we have a good time. In this particular group especially, we’re not all that concerned about coloring within the lines.

We’re willing to risk going outside the lines, and we enjoy that’. Perhaps that’s the secret to 45 happy years together – and counting.

The LSO is indebted to a number of benefactors for supporting Michael Tilson Thomas’ LSO concerts in the UK and US including: Reignwood Group, The Atkin Foundation, City National Bank, Mr Neil and Dr Kira Flanzraich, Bruce and Suzie Kovner, Sir Michael Moritz and Ms Harriet Heyman, Joshua Robison and Michael Tilson Thomas himself.

‘It is a delight to encounter the LSO again here in San Francisco, in a celebratory mood, showing off its rich colors in a good hall. I’ve never witnessed happier faces on-stage or in the audience.’

New York Times

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SYDNEY & BEYOND

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The LSO’s first trip down under in thirty years

Sydney and beyond L

ast November, the LSO departed on a trip to the southern hemisphere that would encompass Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in the Orchestra’s first tour to Australia since 1983 – plus performances in Singapore en route.

The trip totalled seven concerts and for many Members of the Orchestra, visiting this part of the world was a personal first too.

‘The orchestra played with laser-cut precision.’

Sydney Morning Herald The tour celebrated the Russian repertoire that has characterised the Orchestra’s and Valery Gergiev’s musical partnership – Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov – joined by Russian pianist, Denis Matsuev, a frequent and highly esteemed collaborator of Valery Gergiev and the LSO.

The Orchestra’s final performance in Sydney took the form of a celebratory gala, with the Sydney Opera House adorned with flowers and streamers – the Members particularly enjoyed the warm Australian welcome.

‘Festive streamers, courtesy of the management, ended the evening in festoons of celebration.’

Limelight Magazine Significantly, the tour included LSO Discovery working with partners in Sydney, and offered an opportunity to share best practice with Australian music organisations.

Alongside the Sydney Opera House and joined by Australian conductor Alexander Briger, LSO Discovery engaged, challenged and inspired a group of 120 young musicians drawn from across New South Wales.

Two projects offering young musicians a chance to play side-by-side with LSO players, and compose works to be performed by Members of the LSO, ran concurrently and concluded in a lunchtime concert at the Sydney Conservatorium. Working with local

communities is just as important to the Orchestra on tour as it is at home, and the LSO relishes any opportunity to introduce people from all walks of life to the extraordinary sound world of a live orchestra.

‘So searing was the orchestral sound, so thrilling the sense that everyone, right to the back desks of the strings, was playing for their lives.’

The Australian

OLIVER LEE VIOLIN STUDENT, CENTRAL COAST AUSTRALIA The people from the LSO who’ve come, they’re professional at the same time as very fun, very creative in trying to get us to feel the right mood of the piece.

Seeing the LSO perform, and to feel part of the Orchestra – like you’re in it – just tops it off.

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An introduction to

Orchestral Artistry

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ORCHESTRAL ARTISTY

n 5 July 2015, Guildhall students sat side-by-side with LSO musicians for a concert performance of Walton’s First Symphony and the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s The Monster in the Maze, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

Many of the students were from the Orchestral Artistry course, a specialism within the Guildhall School Artist Masters in Performance programme. The course began in September 2013 with a very clear aim – to prepare the next generation of orchestral musicians for working in a 21st-century orchestra. Here, LSO and Guildhall people share their thoughts on the course so far.

Watch the full interviews and learn more about Orchestral Artistry by visiting gsmd.ac.uk/orchestralartistry youtube.com/guildhallschool

JONATHAN VAUGHAN

KATHRYN MCDOWELL

WHAT THE STUDENTS SAY

GUILDHALL SCHOOL VICE-PRINCIPAL & DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MANAGING DIRECTOR

ORCHESTRAL ARTISTRY STUDENTS ROSIE BOWKER, FLUTE

The Orchestral Artistry programme at the Guildhall School is a partnership between the Guildhall and the London Symphony Orchestra. We put Guildhall School professors and LSO players together to select students, train them and assess them, and this is an unique offer, as far as we know, anywhere in the world.

One of the really extraordinary qualities about this programme is it gives our students the opportunity to experience working with the LSO’s international artists: their soloists, their conductors and their composers.

Just this year alone we’ve had Sir Antonio Pappano, Bernard Haitink and Sir Simon Rattle conduct Orchestral Artistry students. That for me is a truly extraordinary thing for any institution to be able to deliver.

We’re trying to reflect what it is to be a 21st-century musician. Sir Simon Rattle defines that as someone who is not only on top of their game as an orchestral player, but can teach, can educate, can go into primary schools, can coach other young people, and we’re aiming to embody this in the shape of our core structure.

The LSO has been Resident in the City of London for 33 years, since the Barbican was opened, and the Guildhall School is our next door neighbour. It made complete sense to us that we should be working with the Guildhall School. I think Orchestral Artistry is the finest example of our partnership working in a very creative and constructive way. The LSO can add value to the work that the professors in a conservatoire already do.

They train the musicians in wonderful ways, technically and musically, but there are certain things that we can bring which are about working in an orchestra today, and the sort of skills that we think are needed for working in an orchestra of the future.

SAM WALTON LSO CO-PRINCIPAL PERCUSSION This course is incredibly important for the future because orchestral music has to keep developing and changing with the modern world. The fact that these young musicians are not only getting access to the Orchestra, but also to LSO Discovery – which I think is something that’s pretty unique to this course – will enable them to be exceptionally rounded musicians.

I got to sit in between Adam Walker (LSO Principal Flute) and Sharon Williams (LSO Principal Piccolo) in Jonathan Dove’s The Monster in the Maze. Getting to play second to Adam was just an incredible experience because you’ve got to be so on the ball to play with someone of that calibre.

Every time you get to sit next to LSO players it makes you rethink the way you play completely.

OSKARI HANHIKOSHI, DOUBLE BASS When you play next to the wonderful players from the LSO, you learn all the time. Everything they do, you try to bring to your own playing. The opportunities I’ve had so far have taught me so much.

REBEKAH CARPIO, CLARINET I’ve been able to take part in LSO Discovery projects which have been so exciting; just the amazing and innovative work that they do with young people and getting out into the community has been so inspiring, and has instilled in me a much stronger commitment to going out and making a difference, through my music, to the community and the world around me.

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VIOLIN FESTIVAL

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LSO International Violin Festival April to June 2015

T

he violin – the instrument that is treasured for the parallels between its singing tone and the human voice – has, unsurprisingly, inspired composers down the centuries.

J S Bach’s intricate Partitas and Sonatas, written in the early 18th century, are staples of the solo repertoire; over 150 years later Brahms and Tchaikovsky wrote their great Romantic concertos, while a kaleidoscope of music for the instrument was produced during the 20th century.

JONATHAN MOULDS It was a pleasure to support the LSO International Violin Festival.

My interest in the violin goes back many years, initially as a player and now as a collector.

The quality of workmanship underpinning the great instruments is extraordinary. In fact, many of the most exceptional Italian instruments are now 300 or more years old, with each instrument having its own character and personality. I feel proud that a number of my instruments are now on loan to some of today’s finest violinists, such as Nicola Benedetti and LSO Leader Roman Simovic. Through individuals like these, exquisite craftsmanship, illustrious history and supreme musicality is brought together in the most breathtaking fashion. It was a privilege to have the opportunity to celebrate and share this throughout the Festival.

Jonathan Moulds CBE

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The world of the violin holds a fascination for many music-lovers too.

The great violinists seem to possess an incomparable ability to both dazzle and move listeners with their virtuosity, wielding instruments that are worth millions and often have centuries of history behind them.

This background provided the inspiration for the LSO International Violin Festival, a three-month series in summer 2015 dedicated to showcasing the instrument and some of its greatest performers.

The Festival was instigated and generously supported by Jonathan Moulds CBE. An LSO Board Member and recently made an Honorary Member of the LSO, he also collects violins, and his instruments are on loan to, among others, soloist Nicola Benedetti and LSO Leader Roman Simovic.

Concerto performances were at the heart of the Festival, with 13 star soloists joining the LSO on the Barbican stage.

In an opinion piece in The Strad, Moulds encouraged other investors to let their instruments be heard: ‘Over the past 15 years or so I have been fortunate enough to acquire a number of rare and well-preserved instruments’, he wrote.

‘Many of these are lent to players of exceptional talent, each time with a specific goal: that the instruments may be heard not just in concert halls but also in settings such as schools and local communities, where the potential to inspire creativity through music is extraordinary.’

Concerto performances were at the heart of the Festival, with 13 star soloists joining the LSO on the Barbican stage.

Leonidas Kavakos launched the series with an impassioned and characteristically intense performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto. German violinist Christian Tetzlaff, approaching his 300th Beethoven Violin Concerto, delivered what critic Tim Ashley described in The Guardian as ‘the greatest performance of the work I’ve ever heard’ on his modern Greiner violin.

The soaring passion and thrilling energy of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto was brought to life by Nikolaj Znaider, while Anne-Sophie Mutter gave a reprise of a work written for her in 2001 – André Previn’s Violin Concerto, subtitled ‘Anne-Sophie’, with the composer himself on the podium.

Further performances came from Alina Ibragimova, Janine Jansen, Isabelle Faust, Joshua Bell, Baiba Skride, Nicola Benedetti, Gil Shaham, James Ehnes and Roman Simovic, with composers as diverse as Mozart and Szymanowski explored.

‘With Kavakos, Faust, Shaham and Skride already been and gone, and Jansen, Ehnes, Bell and Ibragimova still to come, the LSO’s International Violin Festival has nothing left to prove. We’re not short of star power in London’s concert scene, but even by our spoilt metropolitan standards this is a pretty unarguable line-up.’

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VIOLIN FESTIVAL

The Arts Desk

THE CONCERTOS LEONIDAS KAVAKOS Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1

NIKOLAJ ZNAIDER Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

GIL SHAHAM Britten Violin Concerto ROMAN SIMONVIC Shostakovich arr Pushkarev Sonata for Violin, Percussion and Strings Watch a recent YouTube Hangout with LSO Leader Roman Simovic and presenter Rachel Leach at youtube.com/lso BAIBA SKRIDE Bartók Violin Concerto No 2

See LSO violinist Maxine Kwok-Adams talk to Nikolaj Znaider about Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at youtube.com/lso CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF Beethoven Violin Concerto

‘The LSO’s high-voltage sparring with Christian Tetzlaff … was tremendously exciting.’

The Times

NICOLA BENEDETTI Szymanowski Violin Concerto No 1

JANINE JANSEN Mendelssohn Violin Concerto

ISABELLE FAUST Brahms Violin Concerto

JAMES EHNES Korngold Violin Concerto ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER André Previn Violin Concerto

BBC RADIO 3 LUNCHTIME CONCERTS

STRAD SUNDAYS

The Festival extended far beyond the Barbican stage.

A linked series of BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts at LSO St Luke’s saw four leading violinists explore solo repertoire for the instrument, with Nicola Benedetti drawing the largest audience for a lunchtime concert in the venue’s history. The Orchestra’s own outstanding string players took their turn in the spotlight with an evening performance by the LSO String Ensemble, delving into the dark, dramatic world of Shostakovich, and in free LSO Discovery Friday Lunchtime Concerts, which allowed audience members to quiz the players on the music and their instruments. Digital content complemented the Festival’s live events, with the LSO website playing host to interviews with violinists, filmed masterclasses, a Google Hangout with Roman Simovic, and a live-streamed Lunchtime Concert featuring LSO violinists Maxine Kwok-Adams and Philip Nolte.

Three Strad Sundays hosted by media partners The Strad completed the Festival. During the day, visitors could enjoy free exhibitions in the Barbican’s Fountain Room, discovering photography from the magazine’s archive, meeting violin-makers and trying out instruments. In the evening, LSO string players Roman Simovic, Maxine Kwok-Adams, German Clavijo and Sarah Quinn took part in panel discussions on the Barbican stage, covering the subjects of violin sound (including a ‘spot the Strad’ challenge for the audience), orchestral auditions and music education.

Bringing together the musicianship of the world’s greatest performers, music from across the centuries, and instruments of exquisite craftsmanship, the LSO International Violin Festival was a true celebration of this most special and loved instrument.

ALINA IBRAGIMOVA Mozart Violin Concerto No 3 JOSHUA BELL Sibelius Violin Concerto

‘From Benedetti to Znaider, Jansen to Kavakos, the LSO’s International Violin Festival hasn’t wanted for talent.’

The Times

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‘The best education and community programme run by any orchestra in the world’.

LSO Discovery at 25 I

t all began in the late-1980s when Francis Saunders, and LSO cellist, began to research how the Orchestra could offer educational programming as part of its ongoing activities.

‘A shared dream in which performing, teaching and learning are indivisible.’

Sir Simon Rattle

LSO DISCOVERY IN NUMBERS 60,000 PARTICIPANTS EACH YEAR, OF VARYING AGES, ABILITIES AND BACKGROUNDS

ed

946 workshops offered

by LSO Discovery in the past twelve months

6,000 families enjoy music-making with the LSO every year

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In 2007, the reach of LSO Discovery expanded to the ten London host and gateway boroughs associated with the Olympic Games through LSO On Track, a partnership between the LSO and East London music services.

The crowning achievement of the partnership came in the 2012 Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, when the project’s participants were watched by almost a billion people on TV sets across the world as they performed alongside LSO musicians. And with the launch the following year of an award-winning digital learning platform, LSO Play, Discovery could begin to share its knowledge with a global audience.

And since this is the LSO, where the past is only ever a springboard for future ambitions, it is clear that Discovery will only keep on growing to meet the demands of the next generation of music-makers. In the immediate future, the arrival of Sir Simon Rattle as the LSO’s Music Director in 2017 will herald a new era of artistic integration and present many new opportunities for collaboration between the Barbican and the Guildhall School through

c p e rf o r m

As LSO Discovery grew it became clear that it needed a place of its own to accommodate its expanding ambition.

In 2003, a formerly derelict Grade I listed Hawksmoor church became LSO St Luke’s, the UBS and LSO Music Education Centre. This proved to be a decisive turning point because, from its base in the heart of Islington, LSO Discovery could now start to pursue more community-oriented work and make a world-class orchestra into a truly local institution. Choirs were set up for nearby residents and children, and music technology facilities installed to give aspiring young musicians the chance to pursue their own creative ambitions.

Today, in 2015, a quarter of a century later, LSO Discovery has become the most innovative and wide-reaching music education department of its kind. 60,000 people take part in its extensive programming each year – people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds who benefit from 25 years of accumulated expertise.

his joint appointment as their Artist-in-Association.

Technology will also continue to play a pivotal role, but with recently secured funds through the Moving Music campaign, LSO Discovery has never been better positioned to invest in its digital future.

Here’s to the next 25 years …

u si

LSO ST LUKE’S

60,000 PARTICIPANTS A YEAR

12,000 YOUNG PEOPLE FROM EAST LONDON BOROUGHS WHO HAVE BENEFITED FROM LSO ON TRACK

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m

By 1990, a dedicated department had been formed that took the name of LSO Discovery three years later.

It quickly found its feet and, within the first few years, had begun to implement many of the projects that have since become staples of the LSO Discovery offering: schools and family concerts to open up orchestral music to a younger audience, schemes for up-and-coming musicians that give a new generation of performers the chance to learn directly from LSO players, and LSO Discovery Days that enrich the concert experience by providing audience members with a full day of insights into a composer’s life and work. Many of these initiatives were not only new to the LSO but also new to the field, meaning LSO Discovery had immediately lived up to its name by taking a position at the leading edge of music education.

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LSO DISCOVERY AT 25

The Times

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LSO DISCOVERY AT 25

LSO DISCOVERY AT 25 HIGHLIGHTS TAKE A BOW!

MONSTROUS FUN Simon Halsey, LSO Choral Director, introduces the ideas and ethos behind The Monster in the Maze Ours is not a new idea, but it’s a mighty effective one.

Resources might often be bigger abroad, but the ideas and leadership are often forged in the passionate but underfunded British education departments – the LSO and other British orchestras are market leaders in educational innovation.

We have had to evangelise for music for a couple of generations already. We all believe in it, and nobody more than Simon Rattle.

The LSO and other British orchestras are market leaders in educational innovation.

JONATHAN DOVE

80 young string players from Tower Hamlets and Bexley performed a new composition from LSO Soundhub composer Michael Betteridge with LSO musicians and Nicola Benedetti.

PICTURES IN MUSIC Primary school children from across East London, and members of LSO On Track Next Genereation shared the stage for a special concert conducted by Elim Chan, LSO Assistant Conductor and winner of the 2014 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

THE MONSTER IN THE MAZE Sir Simon Rattle closed the LSO’s 2014/15 season with the UK premiere of Jonathan Dove’s children’s opera The Monster in the Maze, featuring members of the LSO Discovery and Community Choirs as well as Guildhall School musicians.

This is the first of three new children’s operas planned for the coming seasons, the next being The Hogboon in June 2016.

For my money, Dove is one of our finest composers.

He has an extraordinary knack (shared particularly with Britten) for getting every element of the piece right. The story is attractive, full of energy, simply told and highly engaging. The music for young children is unison but challenging, set in just the right vocal range. For the teenagers it’s usually in two parts and realistic in its vocal challenges, but highly demanding rhythmically. The adults’ choral music is in up to four parts and designed to challenge but not frighten those who might be returning to singing after a long break.

adapt to the English rhythms, feels much gentler but, again, works wonderfully. It’s essential to give a community opera in the mother tongue of its performers so that they can take ownership of the piece and so it can be readily understood by a family audience.

WHERE NEXT? The Dove and its successors can also be used however each city wishes. In London, it’s at the centre of LSO Discovery’s educational mission of inclusiveness. In Berlin, it is at the heart of its mission to get children singing. In Aix-en-Provence, it gives local people the chance to be part of a hallowed opera festival. This is just the beginning of an annual project of massed participation staged works for whole communities. Our aim is simple – to give everyone such a good experience they’ll want to take part in music all their lives.

And they’ll be the LSO’s, or the Berlin Philharmonic’s, or the Aix-en-Provence Festival’s devoted followers forever, embedding these great institutions into their daily lives. The future of music will be safe if thousands of people identify with our great organisations by taking ownership through participation.

ONE PIECE, THREE LANGUAGES The piece sounds quite different, of course, in each of its three languages. The English in which the work was first composed fits the music best.

The brilliant German translation maintains all the original charm and humour but needs to be sung very slightly slower because of the sheer number of consonants! The French version, the hardest to

Simon Halsey’s complete article, Monstrous fun: the community opera with a cast of hundreds, was printed in The Guardian on 3 July 2015.

The Monster in the Maze was supported by Creative Europe.

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SIR SIMON RATTLE

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Meet the LSO Music Director from 2017 On 3 March 2015 the LSO was delighted to announce the appointment of Sir Simon Rattle as its new Music Director.

CONCERTS WITH SIR SIMON IN 2015/16 Sat 9 & Sun 10 Jan 2016 7pm Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande (semi-staged) Peter Sellars director Produced by the LSO and Barbican

He takes up his appointment in September 2017 and follows in the footsteps of Principal Conductors including André Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Colin Davis and Valery Gergiev, not forgetting Edward Elgar, Pierre Monteux and Arthur Nikisch.

As Music Director he will be involved in every aspect of the LSO’s work as well as championing

the importance of music and music education.

Sir Simon first appeared with the LSO in October 1977, at the age of 22. Most recently he conducted the Orchestra at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and in four highly acclaimed concerts at the Barbican Centre in the 2014/15 season.

Wed 13 Jan 2016 7.30pm Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin Dutilleux L’arbre des songes Delage Four Hindu Poems Dutilleux Métaboles Ravel Daphnis and Chloe – Suite No 2 Leonidas Kavakos violin | Susan Gritton soprano Thu 14 Apr 2016 7.30pm Messiaen Couleurs de la cité céleste Bruckner Symphony No 8 Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano Sun 17 Apr 2016 7pm Haydn The Seasons (sung in German) Sun 26 Jun 2016 7pm Peter Maxwell Davies The Hogboon (world premiere, LSO commission) Berlioz Symphonie fantastique (LSO and Guildhall musicians side by side) London Symphony Chorus | LSO Discovery Choirs Guildhall School musicians Thu 30 Jun 2016 7.30pm Ives The Unanswered Question Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4 Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 Krystian Zimerman piano

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Andrew Clements, The Guardian on Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Tenth Symphony

Recent Awards SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES SKY ARTS AWARD FOR TENTH SYMPHONY

BARBICAN’S BIRTWISTLE AT 80 RPS MUSIC AWARD FOR CONCERT SERIES & FESTIVALS

BERNARD HAITINK GRAMOPHONE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Symphony No 10, commissioned for and premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Antonio Pappano on 2 February 2014, was awarded a coveted Southbank Sky Arts Award at a ceremony held on 10 June 2015.

The Barbican’s Birtwistle at 80 series of concerts and events marking the 80th birthday of British composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle was awarded the 2014 RPS Music award for Concert Series and Festivals in May 2015.

The tenth symphony is a milestone that has evaded many of history’s greatest composers but not Max, who completed his Tenth Symphony in his hospital bed whilst receiving treatment for leukaemia.

Birtwistle at 80 was lauded for its ‘coherent programming and for technically and stylistically superb performances’ and undoubtedly introduced the uncompromising music of Birtwistle to wider audiences.

The prestigious Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Bernard Haitink at a ceremony at London’s St John’s, Smith Square by the singer Sir Thomas Allen in September 2015. Since he first conducted the LSO in 1996, Haitink has developed a deep and rewarding relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra and the award came amidst a number of concerts with the LSO. The LSO’s 2015/16 season at the Barbican opened on 15 September with Haitink conducting Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, prompting The Guardian to comment, ‘it seems pointless to pick out highlights from a performance of such natural authority, which over its vast span never once turned aside from its path of intricate organic development and sense of direction’.

He said: ‘It was a real joy to work on this symphony with the extraordinary LSO and Tony Pappano … what’s even better – the LSO has commissioned me for another work, a children’s opera, for next year’.

Max’s new children’s opera The Hogboon will receive its world premiere on 26 June 2016 in the Barbican with the LSO and Sir Simon Rattle.

As part of the series the LSO performed Birtwistle’s ground-shaking 1986 orchestral work Earth Dances under the baton of Principal Guest Conductor Daniel Harding.

autumn 2015

RECENT AWARDS

‘It’s put together with an unfailingly sure touch. The orchestral writing is vivid and, for the brass especially, often fiercely virtuosic. It’s one of the most movingly personal of Davies’ recent scores, and a major new symphony.’

A roundup of LSO news

IN BRIEF

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SIMON HALSEY – QUEEN’S MEDAL

PETER MOORE & THE BBC’S TEN PIECES

LSO Choral Director Simon Halsey was awarded The Queen’s Medal for Music 2014 by Her Majesty The Queen, at a Buckingham Palace reception following a performance by the LSO in March 2015.

LSO Co-Principal Trombone Peter Moore has been named as an ambassador for the BBC’s Ten Pieces initiative which aims to get the UK’s primary and secondary school children engaged with classical music. The 19-year-old is also a BBC Radio 3 Young Generation Artist this season.

Peter said, ‘I cannot imagine life without music and I’m thrilled to be a part of such an inspiring and creative initiative that will no doubt encourage a love of music in so many children’.

JONATHAN MOULDS CBE

The tenth recipient of the award, Halsey said ‘Choral music is a vital part of our national life and is such a force for social and educational good. I’d like to see this medal as recognition of the work of a whole generation of dedicated choral musicians’.

KATHRYN MCDOWELL ELECTED ABO CHAIR Last season, Kathryn McDowell was elected Chair of the Association of British Orchestra (ABO). She told Classic FM, ‘Orchestras are alive and well and doing wonderful work, but we need the support to create that work. The orchestras are a fine example of a mixed funding economy. We’re not heavily reliant on public subsidy, but we need public subsidy as the core of what we do … Come and be a partner in that, and we’ll make you really proud of British orchestras.’

RECENT FILM RECORDINGS The LSO is one of the world’s leading recording orchestras, performing around 25 projects a year which range from full film scores to games music. Recent recording highlights have included: working with composer Alexandre Desplat on film scores for The Imitation Game and Suffragette as well as a high-profile advert for Jaguar, the hugely popular Final Symphony project recording, symphonic arrangements of music from the Final Fantasy video games, and Discovery Channel’s Sharks Re-scored project.

living music

LSO supporter and philanthropist Jonathan Moulds was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours list 2015.

Moulds said, ‘My view has always been that where you can, you should give something back … To be involved with the LSO, which has some extraordinary players, is a tremendous experience’. He was also made an Honorary Member of the LSO on 9 October for his personal philanthropy and leadership of the Moving Music campaign.

DVORA LEWIS RETIRES

On 28 June Dvora Lewis was made an Honorary Member of the LSO further to her announcing her retirement.

During her 37 years at the helm of the Orchestra’s PR, working through the company she set up at her office in Hampstead, Dvora attended well over 2,000 concerts, announced the arrival of four LSO Principal Conductors, as well as LSO Discovery, LSO St Luke’s and LSO Live, and has been a true advocate for the Orchestra’s work at home and abroad. Dvora will continue to enjoy a close friendship with the LSO amd attend concerts with her indefatigable husband Michael. She also joined the LSO Development Board in September 2015.

BBC CHILDREN IN NEED SUPPORT

‘Art was in a lot of pain … However, he absolutely loved the music sessions, becoming animated, and interacting in ways that he hasn’t done for a long time. Being so close to the music, seeing the instruments and being gently and gradually encouraged to take part has been the best form of therapy for him.’

Mother of participant LSO Discovery has received support from BBC Children in Need for our Children’s Hospitals Programme. Delivered in partnership with Vital Arts, which works with infants and children aged 0–16 undergoing treatment on short and long-stay wards in Royal London Hospital and Whipps Cross Hospital in East London. The scheme will make a real difference to the lives of around 400 children and young people this year, some of whom are suffering from chronic, life-threatening or terminal illnesses, and may have spent the majority of their lives in hospital. Building on previous success, the project aims to use music to challenge the loss of self-esteem and confidence many hospitalised children feel, often brought on by isolation, loss of identity or their health condition.

Fundraising news

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NEW CORPORATE SPONSORS

M

ay 2015 signalled the end of the LSO’s Moving Music campaign, a three-year fundraising initiative to raise £6 million in order to unlock a further £3 million of matched funding from Arts Council England.

We are delighted that the Orchestra succeeded in reaching its ambitious target thanks to the generosity and vision of individual LSO supporters, both long-standing and new. £9 million has now entered the LSO Endowment Trust and will underpin digital innovation in the years to come.

The LSO’s new official drinks partner is Chapel Down, leading producer of English wine, beer and cider.

Other new corporate sponsors include audio equipment company and loudspeaker specialists Bowers & Wilkins and law firm Mishcon de Reya.

Bowers & Wilkins is the presenting partner of the LSO’s chamber concerts and recordings at LSO St Luke’s which are part of the Sound Unbound weekender.

Mishcon de Reya are endowing the Chair of LSO Principal Trumpet Philip Cobb in the 2015/16 season.

SUCCESSES IN TRUSTS & FOUNDATIONS By embracing developments in technology and disseminating high quality visual content worldwide, the LSO is bringing its mission of taking great music to ever wider audiences right into the 21st century.

Thanks to everyone who donated to the campaign, at all levels. Together you enabled the LSO to succeed and your support will enable millions to enjoy LSO music-making in the future.

Grants from 30 charitable trusts and foundations have been awarded to the LSO since November 2014.

Notable supporters include Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement donating towards LSO Sing; BBC Children in Need supporting the LSO Children’s Hospitals programme and The Boltini Trust towards the LSO Panufnik Legacies II recording, as well as Creative Europe who supported international collaboration The Monster in the Maze (see page 11).

NEW MAJOR SPONSOR

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n March, the LSO was pleased to announce that Reignwood had joined its family of supporters as a Major Sponsor.

Reignwood’s partnership with the LSO reinforces its committment to developing international cultural exchange between the UK and China.

The company will support the Orchestra’s broad range of work and in particular the ground-breaking digital education and outreach initiative LSO Play.

To find out how the LSO works with corporate supporters, contact: Charlotte Clemson Corporate Partnerships Manager 020 7382 2554 | charlotte.clemson@lso.co.uk

We thank and salute all those whose generous support underpins everything we do.

A WARM WELCOME TO NEW LSO PATRONS AND FRIENDS We welcome the new LSO Patrons and LSO Friends who have joined us since the beginning of the 2015/16 season, and we thank all our individual supporters for their continued support of our work.

We hope you will be able to join us at many LSO concerts at the Barbican during the season, and at our series of LSO Insight events throughout the year.

We are delighted to offer opportunities for individuals to get involved with our key artistic projects each season.

In 2015/16, one of our major projects is Debussy’s Pelléas et Melisande in January 2016, led by Sir Simon Rattle and featuring a cast of world-class singers.

To learn more about this opportunity, and how you could go behind the scenes with the LSO, contact: Jessica Blackstone Individual Giving Manager 020 7382 2514 | jessica.blackstone@lso.co.uk

autumn 2015

IN BRIEF

MOVING MUSIC UPDATE

LSO LIVE

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Latest releases

LSO Live

COMING SOON

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t’s been a year of firsts at LSO Live as the label continues to go from strength to strength, breaking new digital ground and expanding its award-winning catalogue of recordings with eight new releases.

Both of these opportunities mean that the LSO can now reach an even wider audience through the use of digital technology, an integral part of LSO Live’s mission to make the Orchestra’s performances available worldwide.

Chief among them are two new releases from the late Sir Colin Davis: a selection of his beloved Haydn symphonies alongside a boxed set of all six Nielsen symphonies.

LSO Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev also appeared on three releases featuring the music of Berlioz and Brahms.

His recording of the former’s Symphonie fantastique became the first recording to be offered in Pure Audio Blu-Ray, a new format that combines the ease of use of a CD with exceptionally high audio quality.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner began his cycle of Mendelssohn symphonies and gave us the first solo concerto to be released on LSO Live: the Schumann Piano Concerto performed by Maria João Pires. A disc featuring the LSO String Ensemble became our first chamber release and we were delighted to capture the world premiere performance of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Symphony No 10 on Super Audio CD, released in August.

This June LSO Live became a founding partner of Classical Live, the only initiative to offer new recordings for streaming and download through the Google Play music store. We were also the first orchestra to make our concerts available to watch online through Digital Theatre.

living music

And as Living Music goes to press, Sir Simon Rattle’s debut recording on the LSO Live label, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri which was recorded in January, is going on sale. The Guardian commented of the Barbican performance that it had ‘tremendous presence’, whilst the Evening Standard said of Sally Matthews’ performance, ‘as The Peri [she] fully engaged our sympathies for the resourceful spirit, capturing alike her plaintive entreaties and her vibrant exultation at the prospect of redemption’.

To view the full LSO Live catalogue, read reviews, and hear excerpts online, visit lsolive.lso.co.uk

Scriabin Symphonies Following on from Valery Gergiev’s Scriabin series at the Barbican, Symphonies Nos 3 and 4 are available to pre-order now with full release from the beginning of November.

Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 will be available in 2016. Commenting on the Fourth Symphony, The Times gave the concert performance four stars and noted, ‘I don’t think I’ve seen [Gergiev] smile so much as during ‘Poem of Ecstasy’, a work he clearly loves and whose delicate and dance-like spirit he liberated’.

LSO String Ensemble The LSO String Ensemble, directed by LSO Leader Roman Simovic, launched its first disc on the label last year, Tchaikovsky’s String Serenade in C and Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings. The Ensemble’s latest release will launch later in 2016 with Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony in C minor, and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, arranged by Mahler.

The first release received five stars for the recording in BBC Music Magazine.

The Panufnik Legacies II Featuring the works of composers who have graduated through the LSO’s Panufnik Composers Scheme, this is the second disc in the series which showcases compositions by the next generation of composers, developed in workshops with the Orchestra.

Visit lsolive.lso.co.uk for new release news