INTERNATIONAL CONCERT SERIES 2019/2020
Joseph Calleja tenor Claudia Boyle soprano RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Proinnsías Ó Duinn conductor MONDAY 9 DECEMBER 2019
John Pollard FOUNDATION
The John Pollard Foundation is proud to support music and the arts in Ireland John Pollard FOUNDATION
Welcome You are very welcome to the fifth concert of our International Concert Series for 2019/20 and our last of 2019. This evening we are delighted to host the world-renowned Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, who is joined by leading Irish soprano Claudia Boyle and accompanied by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Proinnsías Ó Duinn. Drawing comparisons with Pavarotti, Calleja is one of the most sought-after tenors working today. Discovered at the age of 16 by tenor Brian Cefai, Joseph made his operatic debut three years later as Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Astra Theatre in Gozo. Success quickly followed and in 1998 he won the Caruso Competition in Milan and the following year was a prize winner in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia International Opera Competition. His recordings for Decca Classics include five solo albums as well as DVDs of Simon Boccanegra and the Grammy-nominated La traviata. In addition, Calleja is one of Malta’s biggest celebrities and in 2012 was selected to serve as the country’s first cultural ambassador. Tonight’s programme is built around the arias from the operas Joseph has performed to acclaim at the great opera houses of the world, including Verdi’s Rigoletto and Macbeth; Puccini’s Tosca and La Bohème and Massenet’s Werther. As it is the festive season, there is a generous selection of festive carols and hymns to enjoy also. The International Concert Series has long been the flagship of the NCH programme, bringing the finest international classical musicians, ensembles and orchestras to Irish audiences as well as showcasing our own leading artists. Our sixth instalment of the series on January 22nd sees the English Chamber Orchestra join forces with South American maestro, conductor José Serebrier and British cellist Natalie Clein for an evening of Tchaikovsky. Our thanks to our media partner The Irish Times for its ongoing support of the International Concert Series and to all our Friends, Corporate Associates, Patrons, sponsors and you, our audience. We hope you enjoy tonight’s performance and we look forward to welcoming you back to many more wonderful concerts in the season.
Maura McGrath Simon Taylor Chairperson CEO
Board Of Directors Maura McGrath Chair • James Cavanagh • Rebecca Gageby Gerard Gillen • Eleanor McEvoy • Máire O’Connor John Reynolds • Don Thornhill Patron Michael D. Higgins President of Ireland 1
“Only one lyric tenor on the scene today has the honeyed tone and ingratiating style to make comparisons to Pavarotti and Gigli seem serious, and it is Calleja� NEW YORKER
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Programme Bellini Norma - Overture Orchestra Verdi Rigoletto – ‘Questa o quella’ Joseph Calleja Verdi Macbeth – ‘Ah la paterna mano’ Joseph Calleja Donizetti Linda di Chamounix – ‘O Luce di quest anima’ Claudia Boyle Puccini Preludio Sinfonico Orchestra Puccini Tosca – ‘E lucevan le stelle’ Joseph Calleja Puccini La Bohème – ‘O soave fanciulla’ J. Calleja/C. Boyle Bellini I puritani – ‘Qui la Voce?’ Claudia Boyle Massenet Werther – ‘Pourquoi me réveiller’ Joseph Calleja INTERVAL Adam Traditional Traditional Franck Mozart Traditional Gounod Berlin Gruber
O holy night Joseph Calleja Adeste Fideles Joseph Calleja The Wexford Carol Claudia Boyle Panis Angelicus J. Calleja/C. Boyle Sleigh Ride Orchestra Tu scendi dalle stelle Joseph Calleja Ave Maria Claudia Boyle White Christmas Joseph Calleja Silent Night J. Calleja/C. Boyle
Kindly supported by Stephen Vernon and the John Pollard Foundation
REMINDERS Mobile Devices Please ensure all mobile devices are switched off during the performance. Camera, Video and Recording Equipment Camera, video and recording equipment are NOT permitted in the auditorium. Intervals and Timings Interval will be 20 minutes. Latecomers will not be admitted until there is a suitable break in the performance. 3
© Decca
International Concert Series 2019/2020
Joseph Calleja
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TENOR
Blessed with a golden-age voice that routinely inspires comparisons to “legendary singers from earlier eras: Jussi Björling, Beniamino Gigli, even Enrico Caruso” (Associated Press), Maltese-born Joseph Calleja has quickly become one of the most acclaimed and sought-after tenors today. His expansive discography and frequent appearances on the world’s leading opera and concert stages prompted NPR to hail him as “arguably today’s finest lyric tenor,” and led to his being voted Gramophone magazine’s 2012 Artist of the Year. A Grammy-nominated recording artist for Decca Classics, he has released five solo albums for the label. Calleja was only 19 when he made his operatic debut as Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Astra Theatre in Malta, shortly before winning an award in the Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition that launched his international career. He went on to win the 1998 Caruso Competition in Milan and was a prize winner in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia in 1999, the year of his U.S. debut at the Spoleto Festival. Since then Calleja has gone on to appear with the world’s great opera companies. Starting the 19-20 season Joseph Calleja comes back to the Chicago Lyric Opera as Rodolfo in Verdi’s Luisa Miller. He then returns to the Vienna State Opera for performances of Tosca with Bryn Terfel and Evgenia Muraveva. Calleja gives his house debut at the Semperoper Dresden in performances of La bohème before singing Tosca at the Munich State Opera and then returning to the Metropolitan Opera New York for performances of Simone Boccanegra and La bohème. Calleja ends the season in London at the Grange Park Opera London as Enzo Grimaldo in La Gioconda and at the Munich State Opera with a solo recital and performances of Rigoletto. A sought-after concert soloist, Joseph Calleja can be heard on the best stages worldwide with his very broad repertoire. A solo recital at the renowned festival in Peralada, Spain, kicks off the concert season. With star-Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, he shares the stage for opera galas in Puerto Rico and at the Baden-Baden festival hall. He debuts in Moscow’s new music magnet, the Zaryadye Concert Hall, and sings a solo concert in Prague’s Smetana Hall. In Dublin, he joins the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and Claudia Boyle for a gala concert, and in Valencia, he sings with his long-time musical partner Ramon Tébar and the Orquésta de Valencia. Joseph Calleja's 2018-19 season was highlighted by his role debut as Rodolfo in Verdi’s Luisa Miller at the Hamburg State Opera. He sang one of his signature roles, Mario Caravadossi (Tosca), at the Metropolitan 5
Opera in New York and at the renowned Festival in Aix-en-Provence. Further, he starred as Pollione (Norma) and Don José (Carmen) at the Bavarian State Opera, as Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Don José at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as Duca (Rigoletto) at the Vienna State Opera. Likewise, at the Vienna State Opera, Calleja had his recital debut on the grand stage, followed by his recital debut at the Naples Opera in Florida.
International Concert Series 2019/2020
Highlights from recent operatic seasons include the title characters in new productions of Faust and Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera; Alfredo in La traviata opposite Renée Fleming, Adorno in Simone Boccanegra alongside Plácido Domingo, and another turn in the title role of Faust at Covent Garden; new productions of La bohème, opposite Anna Netrebko, and La traviata at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Maria Stuarda alongside Joyce DiDonato in concerts with the Deutsche Oper Berlin; and a new staging of Rigoletto at the Bavarian State Opera. He made his role debut as Riccardo in a new treatment of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, as Don José in Carmen at Oper Frankfurt in a staging of Barrie Kosky, as Cavaradossi in Tosca at Grange Park Opera and portrayed Ruggero in Rolando Villazón’s staging of Puccini’s La rondine at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Calleja appears extensively in concert throughout the world, singing with leading orchestras at summer festivals, including Salzburg, and in outdoor concerts in front of tens of thousands of people in Malta, Paris, and Munich. He was the featured soloist at the 2011 Nobel Prize Concert in Stockholm, was selected by the Maltese president to perform a private concert for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, and toured Germany with soprano Anna Netrebko. After co-headlining 2012’s Last Night of the BBC Proms, Calleja returned to the London festival in 2013 for a gala performance at the Royal Albert Hall and an open-air concert marking the Last Night of the Proms in Hyde Park. As a recitalist, he has performed in Japan and throughout Europe. As an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist since 2003, the tenor boasts an extensive discography that includes complete operas and concert repertoire, as well as five solo albums: The Golden Voice, Tenor Arias, The Maltese Tenor, Be My Love: A Tribute to Mario Lanza, and Amore. His videography enjoys similar success, and it was his portrayal of Alfredo in the Royal Opera House’s DVD/Blu-ray release of La traviata, in which he co-stars with Renée Fleming and Thomas 6
Hampson, that earned Calleja his first Grammy nomination. His rendition of the Verdi aria “La donna è mobile” is featured on the soundtrack of No Reservations, a 2007 motion picture starring Catherine ZetaJones and Aaron Eckhart. He made his Hollywood debut in 2014’s The Immigrant, in which he portrays the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso in a cast with Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jeremy Renner. Calleja’s VERDI album was released by Decca Classics in February 2018 and features a lovely selection of dramatic tenor repertoire by Verdi, including arias from Aida, Don Carlo, La forza del destino and Otello, to name but a few. It was highly acclaimed by the press: “Joseph Calleja with his ‘Verdi’ album is in outstanding form aptly displaying his progress as one of the finest tenors on the stage today.” (musicweb-international) “Any doubts about the most winning lyric “Italian” tenor since Pavarotti tackling this heavy Verdi repertoire are largely dispelled by the vitality of his sunny sound and the clarity of his diction.” (The Sunday Times) “Stylistically and temperamentally, he seems completely at home in this repertoire, never afraid to add faintly old-school expressive effects, though nothing ever seems contrived or histrionic.” (PRESTO Classical) Calleja has been profiled in New York’s Wall Street Journal and London’s Times, among other newspapers, and has graced covers of magazines such as Opera News. An increasingly frequent face on television, he has appeared on such programs as CNN’s Business Traveller, BBC Breakfast, and the Andrew Marr Show, and been featured in numerous internationally televised concerts. In 2013, he made his U.S. network television debut performing in a Kennedy Center Honors tribute to preeminent American soprano Martina Arroyo on CBS. Born in Malta in 1978, Joseph Calleja began singing at the age of 16, first in his church choir and then in formal training with Maltese tenor Paul Asciak. One of his native land’s biggest celebrities, Calleja was selected to serve as Malta’s first cultural ambassador in 2012, and he was named a brand ambassador for Air Malta. Calleja recently teamed up with Malta’s Bank of Valletta to form the BOV Joseph Calleja Foundation, which will serve to help children and families in need. Calleja is the recipient of the 2014 International Opera Awards’ Readers’ Award.
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SOPRANO
©Frances Marshall
International Concert Series 2019/2020
Claudia Boyle
A former member of the Salzburger Festspiele’s prestigious Young Singers Project, Irish soprano Claudia Boyle has dramatically raised her international profile in recent seasons through highly acclaimed performances in Zürich, Rome, Dresden, London, Berlin and New York. Claudia has won both the first prize and the critics award at The Maria Callas competition in Verona where the Callas Estate presented her with the miraculous medal once owned and worn by the legendary singer. In 2012, The National Concert Hall presented Claudia with The Rising Star award. Key appearances have included Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) for Teatro dell’Opera Di Roma and for Komische Oper Berlin, Adina (L’elisir d’amore) for both Den Norske Opera in Oliver Mears’ new production and Semperoper Dresden under Matteo Beltrami, all four heroines in Les contes d’Hoffmann for Irish National Opera, Lucia (Lucia 8
di Lammermoor) with Danish National Opera under Martin André, and both Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Gilda (Rigoletto) for Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, under James Conlon and Renato Palumbo respectively. Following her widely-praised company debut with English National Opera as Mabel in Mike Leigh’s production of The Pirates of Penzances, Claudia has returned as Violetta (La traviata) in Daniel Kramer’s new production and in her role debut as Leïla (The Pearl Fishers). Attracting considerable praise for her exceptional vocal versatility and dramatic strength in contemporary works, Claudia has excelled in the music of Gerald Barry, appearing as Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Rose Theater, New York with the New York Philharmonic under Ilan Volkov and at the Barbican, London with Britten Sinfonia, and as Alice in Alice’s Adventures Under Ground with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under Thomas Adès. Boyle reunites with Adès at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in the current season in the first-ever staging of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Claudia created the role of May-Shan in Christian Jost’s opera Rote Laterne under Alain Altinoglu in her house debut at Opernhaus Zürich, where she subsequently appeared as Helena in Trojahn’s Orest under Erik Nielsen. At the Edinburgh International Festival, Claudia starred in the world premiere of Donnacha Dennehy’s chamber opera The Last Hotel which was subsequently performed in New York and filmed for broadcast on Sky Arts. A compelling concert performer, Boyle has appeared at the Salzburger Festspiele in Cherubini’s Chant sur la mort de Joseph Haydn under Riccardo Muti, with NHK Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No.8 under Paavo Järvi, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Carmina Burana under Ian Tracey, and in Henze’s Nachtstücke und Arien with NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover under Eivind Gullberg Jensen. She’s performed Beethoven Symphony No.9 with Orchestre National de Lyon under Alan Gilbert and with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi, and joins Le Concert Olympique and Jan Caeyers in the piece this season. Claudia Boyle joined Kent Nagano and Ensemble Modern as Dede for the premiere performances of a new chamber version of Bernstein’s A Quiet Place at Konzerthaus Berlin and with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, which was subsequently recorded by Decca.
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International Concert Series 2019/2020
Proinnsías Ó Duinn
CONDUCTOR
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At age sixteen, Proinnsías Ó Duinn was appointed Music Director of the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. Three years later he conducted his first concert with the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra. In 1963 he was contracted as Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Following a tour of South America in 1966, he was appointed Principal Conductor and Music Director of La Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Ecuador. When he returned to Ireland, he continued to give concerts with both RTÉ orchestras, the BBC and in mainland Europe. His first appointment to RTÉ was conductor of the RTÉ Singers and Vocal Adviser. In 1978 he became Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, a position he held for twenty five years, during which time he conducted and recorded many National and World Premiers. In 2003 he was the first Conductor Laureate to be appointed in the history of RTÉ. He has held positions of Music Director and Conductor of several Opera Companies in Ireland and has conducted opera performances ranging from Pergolesi through the mainstream classical and romantic operas to Poulenc (Dialogue des Carmelites) and Britten (Turn of the Screw). He was commissioned by the RDS to make a new edition of Benedict’s Opera The Lily of Killarney, which he conducted for the RDS along with Maritana and The Bohemian Girl. He has also been a guest conductor of all the symphony and chamber orchestras in Ireland. In 1979 he was appointed Conductor and Music Director of Our Lady’s Choral Society, a position he still retains. It has a wide ranging repertoire and its season of Messiah performances in the National Concert Hall each Christmas has become an integral part of the music life of Dublin. Since 2001 he returns each year to conduct the Birthday Celebration performance of the Messiah in Halle, in the Handel Concert Hall, with an international choir and the Staatskapelle Halle. Formerly a cellist, Ó Duinn is a composer and arranger of music in many genres, ranging from chamber music to symphonic, choral and musicals.
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International Concert Series 2019/2020
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra with Chief Conductor Jaime Martín
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From its foundation in 1948 as the Radio Eireann Symphony Orchestra the RTE National Symphony Orchestra has been at the forefront of symphonic music in Ireland providing an unbroken stream of concerts. Today the orchestra is a primary force in Irish musical life through year-long programmes of live performances of music ranging from symphonic, choral and operatic to film and popular music, contemporary traditional and contemporary classical and music with a particular educational focus; schools and educational projects; a mentoring scheme for young musicians; broadcasts on RTE and internationally through the European Broadcasting Union; recordings and new commissions. The orchestra has been critically acclaimed for its recordings on the Marco Polo, Naxos, Claves and RTE lyric fm labels. These include the complete symphonies of Malcolm Arnold, Rachmaninov, Mendelssohn and Nielsen, critically acclaimed recordings of works by Bizet and Dukas with conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud, a series of recordings as part of the Composers of Ireland series, a landmark recording project funded by RTE and The Arts Council which to date has recorded works by composers including Gerald Barry, Raymond Deane, Seoirse Bodley, Deirdre Gribbin, Ian Wilson, John Kinsella, Stephen Gardiner, Kevin O’Connell, Donnacha Dennehy and Kevin Volans as well as recordings of selected orchestral works by Aloys Fleischmann, Frederick May and Sean O Riada, Finghin Collins: Mozart Piano Concertos and Celine Byrne: For Eternity. In 2018 the orchestra, with Nathalie Stutzmann and violinist Ray Chen, gave the closing concert of the International Festival of Radio Orchestras in Bucharest. In 2017 it performed, by invitation, in China’s prestigious National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing with conductor Jose Serebrier. Across the decades, the RTE NSO has worked with world famous composers including Igor Stravinsky, Witold Lutosławski, Arvo Part, Steve Reich, Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Among the many legendary conductors and artists who performed with the orchestra over the years were Josef Szigeti, Isaac Stern, Ruggiero Ricci, Wilhelm Kempff, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Joan Sutherland, Bernadette Greevy, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Mstislav Rostropovich and Sir Charles Groves. Major artists in recent years have included Boris Berezovsky, Sarah Chang, Nikolai Demidenko, Sir James Galway, Angela Gheorgiu, Evelyn Glennie, Angela Hewitt, Daniel Hope, Wolfgang Holzmair, Kiri te Kanawa, Freddy 13
Kempf, Tasmin Little, Daniel Muller-Schott, Julian Rachlin, Alexander Toradze, Maxim Vengerov and Nikolaj Znaider.
International Concert Series 2019/2020
The 2019–2020 Season includes six concerts with the orchestra’s new Chief Conductor Jaime Martin and four with Principal Guest Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann. Jaime Martín includes symphonies by Mahler (No. 3), Shostakovich (No. 10), concertos by Prokofiev (Violin Concerto with Viktoria Mullova) and Rachmaninov (Piano Concerto No. 3 with Denis Kozhukhin), Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis et Chloé (complete with chorus) as well as works by Irish composers Elaine Agnew (Make A Wish) and Ian Wilson (Man-o’-War). Nathalie Stutzmann includes works by Beethoven (Piano Concerto No. 4 with Boris Giltburg), Bruckner (Symphony No. 7), Bruch (Violin Concerto with Daniel Lozakovich), Richard Strauss (Also sprach Zarathustra) and Wagner (Prelude and Good Friday music from Parsifal). Other season highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 with Eugene Tzigane, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (with Stefan Jackiw) and Seventh Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, the Brahms Violin Concerto with Maxim Vengerov and David Brophy; Britten’s Les Illuminations with Julia Bullock and Christian Reif; Schumann’s Violin Concerto with Alena Baeva and John Wilson; Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Fiachra Garvey, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 with Robert Trevino and the world premiere of John Kinsella’s Symphony No. 11 on the occasion of his NCH Lifetime Achievement Award. Coming up in the near future at the National Concert Hall, Chief Conductor Jaime Martín returns for a concert including the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Ellinor D’Melon and the Irish premiere of Albert Schnelzer’s Burn My Letters (6 December); Christmas Lunchtime concerts (11 and 12 December) and a New Year’s Day Gala with star tenor Atalla Ayan and fast-rising star soprano Máire Flavin. Coming up at the Bord Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, The Magic of Christmas with Claudia Boyle, presented by Marty Whelan with guests including BAFTA Award-winning actor Stephen Rea (22 December). Find out more at www.rte.ie/nso
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THE TERRACE at
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Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Duit
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Programme Notes Overture (From Bellini’s Norma)
International Concert Series 2019/2020
The opening of this great overture is sturdy stuff indeed with the orchestra at full stretch for a martial-like entry of the Druids to the stage. The tone slowly dissipates into a lovely stretch of woodwind before it beefs up again through the strings for a final flourish that presages things to come in what is undoubtedly a masterpiece of operatic creation by Vincenzo Bellini. Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts and was first produced at La Scala in Milan on St Stephen’s Day, 1831. The action is set in Gaul in the first century BC, and is regarded as a leading example of the bel canto genre. The soprano prayer Casta Diva in the first act is justly famous. It is strange, however, that Bellini’s greatest opera was his greatest failure at its first performance. Bellini himself referred to the premiere performance as “Fiasco! Fiasco! Solemn Fiasco!” but on its revival, it ran for 43 performances. That marked its achieving a position in the permanent repertoire. The title role is regarded as one of the most taxing and wide-ranging parts in the entire soprano repertory and only the mighty can sing it successfully – the likes of Callas, Sutherland and Caballe. Legendary German soprano Lilli Lehmann famously remarked that the singing of all three Brünnhilde roles of Wagner’s opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen in one evening would be less stressful than the singing of one Norma.
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Questa o Quella (Verdi’s Rigoletto) Who could possibly resist Verdi’s brilliant opera Rigoletto when its very first scene includes this memorable ditty in the very first minutes? Later on there is another humdinger in the shape of the even more popular ‘La Donna è Mobile’. The scene is set at a ball in the palace of the debauched Duke of Mantua who sings of a life of pleasure with as many women as possible and boasts that he particularly enjoys cuckolding his courtiers through “questa o quella” (this woman or that). Verdi himself claimed that the duke’s jester Rigoletto was “one of the greatest characters ever created in the theatre”. That he was an odious little toad is indisputable, but still audiences are moved by what happens to him. Ah la paterna mano (Verdi’s Macbeth) A real heavyweight aria from Verdi’s opera, Macbeth. Written for the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, it was his tenth opera, premiered in 1847. This was the first Shakespearean play Verdi adapted; for the operatic stage. After Macbeth had been staged successfully, Verdi wrote to Antonio Barezzi, his former father-in-law and long-time supporter: “I have long intended to dedicate an opera to you, who have been father, benefactor and friend to me. It was a duty I should have fulfilled sooner if imperious circumstances had not prevented me. Now I send you Macbeth, which I prize above all my other operas, and therefore deem worthier to present to you.” This aria comes from Act 4 as Macduff swears to avenge the murders of his wife and children at the hands of the tyrant Macbeth. ‘Ah, la paterna mano / Ah, the paternal hand’. He is joined by Malcolm, who orders each soldier to cut a branch from a tree and carry it as they attack Macbeth’s army.
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O Luce di quest’anima (Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix) The operatic melodrama Linda di Chamounix, composed by Gaetano Donizetti, had a successful premiere in Vienna in 1842 and soon afterwards in London and New York. But it then fell out of sight and into the sort of obscurity much loved by Wexford Festival Opera, where it was performed it in 1983.
International Concert Series 2019/2020
The story, set in France, has dark undertones when the aristocratic landlord puts his eye on Linda, the beautiful daughter of a tenant family. He promises not to throw the family off its land if they allow her to live in his castle where “she may complete her education”. Linda, of course, has little say in the matter and is in love with Carlo, an impoverished artist. This first-act aria ‘O star that guides my fervent love’ is sung by Linda when she turns up late for an assignation with Carlo, only to find he has departed and left flowers for her. Preludio Sinfonico (Puccini) Puccini wrote the Preludio sinfonico in A Major, his second orchestral work, in 1882 when he was completing his studies at the Milan Conservatory. While many critics, at the time the piece was written and performed, expressed mixed reviews of the work commenting on the length of the piece and musical exploration, the treatment of the main theme of the Preludio is developed, alternating between diatonic elements and chromaticism by means of complex harmonies. It is noted as being reminiscent of passages from Massenet and of the romanticism of Wagner. Indeed, the tone colours show a close connection to the “Vorspiel” from Lohengrin. Overall, the composition displayed Puccini’s remarkable musical progress and his skills in the symphonic genre, married with talent for melodic invention, which set him apart from other Italian opera composers of the fin de siècle. 18
E lucevan le stelle (Puccini’s Tosca) This aria ‘And the Stars were Shining’ is one that every famous tenor must have in his armory – otherwise he is unlikely to remain famous. Everyone from Lanza to Bocelli and Corelli to Pavarotti has used it to maximum effect. For his ingeniously cruel ending to Tosca Puccini was lampooned as having produced “a shabby little shocker” but he was way ahead of the curve in public taste when it came to a great aria. It’s from Act 3, a solo horn sounds, followed with a chorus of bells and a somber clarinet solo as Cavaradossi writes his farewell note to the world while awaiting his execution on the roof of the Castel Sant’Angelo. But not before he soars into this magnificently dramatic aria of the spinto kind. O soave fanciulla (Puccini’s La Bohème) One of the most gorgeous love duets in music and the opera has hardly begun. It’s from Act I of La Bohème as Rodolfo and Mimi discover love at first sight in the dark. His three friends are calling him from the street to hurry up but he looks around to see Mimi bathed in moonlight through the attic window. He has already sung about her tiny hand being frozen but they embrace again. Rodolfo suggests remaining at home with Mimi but his friends are imploring him and she decides to accompany his pals to the Café Momus where Muzetta goes into overdrive (see above). Qui la Voce? (Bellini’s I Puritani) Vincenza Bellini’s I Puritani is a love story caught up in the religious hostilities and machinations of the English Civil War of the 1640s. Elvira is a Puritan lord’s daughter who has been bethrothed to one of their own but prefers one of the others – Arturo, a Catholic cavalier officer. Act 2 contains a ‘mad scene’ often described as second-best to only that in Lucia di Lamermoor. Elvira, a role treasured by Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, goes delirious with grief when Arturo flees with another woman during their wedding ceremony. She sings:
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Qui la voce ... Vien, diletto / «Here his sweet voice called me...and then vanished. Here he swore to be true, here he swore it, and then, cruel man, he fled! Things hadn’t been going particularly well for the 32-year-old Bellini. His previous opera had flopped in Vienna, and this was followed by a bust-up with his librettist and the stress of a divorce scandal. But I Puritani triumphed when staged at the Theatre Italien in Paris in 1835. Bellini’s joy became even greater when his great rival Donizetti’s latest opera bombed soon after at the same venue. He even received the Légion d’Honeur -- but his joy was short-lived. He died seven months later of an intestinal infection, aged just 33.
International Concert Series 2019/2020
Pourquoi me réveiller (Massenet’s Werther) Jules Massenet (1842-1912) was the finest opera composer in France towards the end of the 19 th and early 20 th centuries. His style was of the French melodic tradition, stubbornly refusing to get swept along on the Wagnerian tide washing around Europe. He produced irresistible lyrical operas such as Don Quicchote, recently performed to acclaim by Wexford Festival Opera, but his most enduringly popular works are Manon and Werther. Massenet’s decision to follow trends and delve deeply into a gloomy scenario with Werther, which was premiered in Vienna in 1892, dented his reputation at home and his music gradually fell out of favour until his reputation was restored in the mid-20 th century. The Werther story is basically of the boy-meets-girl variety, but she (Charlotte) marries someone else so the young poet Werther kills himself. Despite the gloominess, Massenet still managed to carry off the mainline story in his usual romantic style. But French opera lovers did not forgive him for a very long while. ‘Pourquoi me réveiller’ (Why should I wake up?) is from Act 3 when Charlotte is reunited with Werther and he reads her some poetry, but she quickly bids him farewell and he is left in despair. INTERVAL 20
O Holy Night (Adolphe Adam) Carols come and go in terms of popularity and O Holy Night seems to have reached the number one spot in recent years, thanks to its dramatic climax for only the best sopranos and tenors. The carol was composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem Minuit, chrétiens (Midnight, Christians) written by wine merchant and poet Placide Cappeau (1808–1877) to celebrate the restoration of the local church in Roquemaure. In both the French original and the English version of the carol, as well as in many other languages, the text reflects on the birth of Jesus and on humanity’s redemption. Adeste Fideles (O, Come All Ye Faithful) This carol has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), with the earliest copies of the hymn all bearing his signature. However, King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656) – described as “the musician king” - has also been suggested as a possible creator. Wade was an English hymnist who fled to France after the Jacobite rising of 1745 was crushed. As a Catholic layman, he lived with exiled English Catholics in France, where he taught music. One far-fetched theory has linked Wade’s Adeste Fideles to the birth of Bonnie Prince Charlie through coded references decipherable by the “faithful”. Overall, scholars have never been able to fully identify the creator of this popular hymn with certainty. Most probably it is from the 17th or 18th centuries, and of French or German origin. It has been translated from Latin into English and other languages, with at least 16 versions in common usage.
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The Wexford Carol (Traditional) It is believed The Wexford Carol may have originated as far back as the 12th century, but more likely it was created four centuries later. The theories are that the words are probably much older than the music, possibly 18th century. Either way, it is believed to be one of the oldest extant nativity hymns and it has achieved worldwide popularity in the recent past through recordings by singers such as Alison Krauss, Tom Jones and Julie Andrews. It has been widely recorded in Ireland, not least in choral contexts. Interpretation by The Chieftains and early music singer Caitríona O’Leary are particularly interesting.
International Concert Series 2019/2020
Historically, the carol owes its 21st century survival to the work of William Grattan Flood (1859-1928), organist and musical director at St. Aidan’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy. He transcribed the catchy tune from a local singer and had it published in the Oxford Book of Carols, thus preserving it for posterity. Panis Angelicus (Bread of Angels) This hymn is a poetic excerpt from Sacris Solemnis, a sacred work by Thomas Aquinas, performed in a Latin Mass on the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is popularly played or sung during the celebration of Communion in the Roman Church rite. The text was set as a motet by several Renaissance composers, but later it was used in settings by Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) and, more enduringly, in 1872 by the Belgian-born composer Cesar Frank (1822-1890) who set the strophe for tenor voice, harp, cello and organ. It has been sung or recorded by just about every famous Italian tenor – the most unusual being a duet by Luciano Pavarotti and rock singer Sting in 2009. In Ireland it has been popularized through recordings by great tenors such as Frank Patterson and Finbar Wright. However, for many people, the imagery of John McCormack’s rendition at the Eucharistic Congress in the Phoenix Park in 1932 still endures, not just of the hymn itself but of an era in Irish history. 22
Mozart’s Sleigh Ride (Orchestra) Sleigh rides were a popular winter pastime in Vienna during Mozart’s time. Tinkling bells became part of the Christmas tradition, as well as the sound of the post horn. Mozart includes both in this musical sleigh ride, while borrowing part of the melody from an old Austrian folk tune. Like most of the genre, Mozart starts off in jaunty mode and then peppers the trip with little thrills and a nod to Vivaldi style included along the way. Sleigh ride music seemed to have been in ‘Mozart’s bloodline as his father Leopold also wrote some. Tu Scendi dalle stelle (From Starry Skies thou Cometh) This is a Christmas carol from Italy, written in 1732 by Alphonsus Liguori in the style of a pastorale. Now available in different arrangements and translations, it was originally associated with the zampogna, a type of Italian bagpipe. Liguori, who was a bishop, philosopher, lawyer and musician, founded the Redemptorist missionary order and was later canonized. His carol was apparently inspired by similar music from his native Naples. Ave Maria (Gounod) Ave Maria, the popular and much-recorded setting of the Latin prayer, was originally published in 1853 as Méditation sur le Premier Prélude de Piano de S. Bach. The piece consists of a melody by French Romantic composer Charles Gounod especially designed to be superimposed over the Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846, from Book I of J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, written some 137 years earlier. Gounod improvised the melody, and his future father-in-law Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann transcribed the improvisation and in 1853 made an arrangement for violin (or cello) with piano and harmonium. The same year it appeared with the words of Alphonse 23
de Lamartine’s poem Le livre de la vie (“The Book of Life”). In 1859 Jacques Léopold Heugel published a version with the familiar Latin text. Alongside Schubert’s Ave Maria, the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria has become a fixture at funerals, and wedding Masses. There are many different instrumental arrangements including for violin and guitar, string quartet, piano solo, cello, and even trombones. Opera singers, such as Nellie Melba, Franco Corelli and Luciano Pavarotti, as well as choirs have recorded it hundreds of times during the twentieth century. White Christmas (Irving Berlin) International Concert Series 2019/2020
White Christmas is possibly the most popular Christmas song – as distinct from hymn - of all time. Not a carol in the true sense, the first public performance was by legendary crooner Bing Crosby on a radio show on Christmas Day 1941. At first, Crosby did not see anything special about the dewy-eyed ditty. But the song was a game changer in that it established the fact that commercially successful secular Christmas songs could be successful and commercially profitable. Composer Irving Berlin established; a deeply melancholic mood from the outset with lines such as “just like the ones I used to know”. This grabbed the entire American nation by the hearth strings not too long after Pearl Harbor had occurred and dragged the US into World War II. Radio stations nationwide were flooded with requests. Crosby’s nephew Howard Crosby said he once asked his uncle what was the most difficult thing he had ever done in his career. Bing’s reply was performing at an outdoor show for GIs in northern France in December 1944 “when I had to stand there and sing White Christmas for 100,000 tearful troops without breaking down myself”. Many of those troops were facing certain death in the days ahead. Today, estimated sales of the Crosby version of the song are about 50 million with other versions doubling that to 100 million.
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Silent Night (Franz Xavier Gruber) This much-loved carol, a part of the Germanic nativity tradition, has never lost its popularity worldwide and in 2011 was declared a part of world cultural heritage by UNESCO. It first was heard in the small Austrian town of Oberndorf, near Salzburg, on Christmas Eve 1818 when a young priest, Father Josef Mohr, just a year in the job at St Nicholas Parish Church, linked his own words to a tune composed by the local schoolmaster and organist Franz Xavier Gruber. Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to composer a melody and guitar accompaniment for the Mass following flooding which had damaged the church organ. It is not known what inspired Mohr to write the lyrics of Stille nacht, Heilige nacht (Silent Night, Holy Night) but it was soon taken up by folk singers. Over the years, because of missing original materials, its creation was generally ascribed to leading classical masters, such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. However, a manuscript was discovered as recently as 1995 in Mohr’s handwriting that sorted matters out. It was famously sung in the Christmas truce of 1914 when German and British troops joined together across the battle lines in a temporary cessation of hostilities.
Programme notes by Dick O’Riordan, Classical Music columnist with The Business Post.
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RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra FIRST VIOLIN
CELLO
BASSOON
Patron
Anthony Moffatt
Martin Johnson
Íde Ní Chonnaill
Michael D. Higgins,
Sebastian Liebig
(Section Leader)
Sinéad Frost
President of Ireland
(Principal)
Polly Ballard
Orla Ní Bhraoin
(Associate Principal)
CONTRA BASSOON
Jaime Martín
(Sub Principal)
Violetta-Valerie Muth
Hilary Sheil (Principal)
Principal Guest
Catherine McCarthy
(String Sub-Principal)
Ting Zhong Deng
Niall O’Loughlin
HORN
David Clark
Úna Ní Chanainn
Liam Duffy
Sylvia Roberts
Paula Hughes
Ian Dakin
General Manager,
Bróna Fitzgerald
Anna Marcosi
Dewi Jones
RTÉ NSO & RTÉ
Claudie Driesen
Eimear Reidy
David Atcheler
Philharmonic Choir
Jacqueline McCarthy
Anthony Long
International Concert Series 2019/2020
Karl Sweeney
Chief Conductor:
Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann
Marketing &
Molly O’Shea
DOUBLE BASS
Aoife Dowdall
Roger McCann
TRUMPET
Communications
Elina Hakenen
Mark Jenkins
Graham Hastings
Manager
Henry Salmon
(Associate Principal)
(Section Leader)
Assumpta Lawless
Caimin Gilmore
Killyan Bannister
Acting Orchestra
SECOND VIOLIN
Waldemar Kozak
Colm Byrne (Principal)
Manager
Jens Lynen
Helen Morgan
Elizabeth McLaren
Jenni Meade
TROMBONE
Concerts & Planning
(Associate Principal)
Edward Tapceanu
Jason Sinclair
Co-ordinator
(Section Leader)
Cathy Stokes
Anita Vedres
Aedín Donnelly
Mary Wheatley
FLUTE
Gavin Roche
Acting Music Librarian
Rosalind Brown
Catriona Ryan
(Associate Principal)
Eilish Devine
Paul Fanning
(Section Leader)
Dara O’Connell
Mairéad English
Melanie Cull Evelyn McGrory
PICCOLO
Elena Quinn
Sinéad Farrell (Principal)
Jenny Burns Duffy Magda Kowalska
OBOE
Orchestra BASS TROMBONE
Administration
Angus Butt
Assistant Olive Kelly
TUBA
Senior Orchestra
Francis Magee
Assistant
(Section Leader)
Ari Nekrasius Orchestral Assistant
Matthew Manning VIOLA
(Section Leader)
TIMPANI
Andy Dunne
David Aspin
Sylvain Gnemmi
Gareth Ceredig
Management
Francis Harte
(Associate Principal)
Assistant PERCUSSION
(String Sub-Principal) Ruth Bebb
COR ANGLAIS
Richard O’Donnell
Neil Martin
Deborah Clifford
(Section Leader)
Áine O’Neill
(Principal)
Bernard Reilly Conall Ó Maoláin
Cliona O’Riordan Thomas McShane
CLARINET
Fiachra De Hora
John Finucane
HARP
Karen Dervan
(Section Leader)
Andreja Malir
Charlotte Lake
Matthew Billing (Principal)
(Section Leader)
BASS CLARINET Fintan Sutton (Principal)
26
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José Serebrier
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