2016/17 full season
2016  /17 Concerts September 2016 to June 2017
Esa-Pekka Salonen Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor
Royal Festival Hall
2016 / 17
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At home
in the heart of London
Welcome to the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 2016/17 season at Royal Festival Hall: 40 concerts, alongside free performances and pre-concert events, at our home in London’s Southbank Centre. The season opens with the culmination of our critically-acclaimed 2016 series, Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals, conceived by Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Esa-Pekka Salonen. In a fitting finale on 29 September, the great Peter Sellars directs Stravinsky’s Oedipus rex and Symphony of Psalms. That is just the beginning. Salonen returns in Spring 2017 for Salonen/Aimard: Inspirations, four concerts for which he is joined by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard to delve into the music, from Beethoven to Boulez, that intrigues, touches and inspires them both. Andris Nelsons returns with Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 9; Paavo Järvi’s Nielsen survey culminates with the Sixth Symphony; Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Rachmaninov Project concludes with the First Symphony; Karl-Heinz Steffens leads a German Romantics series; Christoph von Dohnányi conducts Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Edward Gardner leads a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. World-class string players appear right throughout the season, including two concertos apiece for German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann and British violist Lawrence Power, who also performs two solo modern miniatures. And finally, Philharmonia at the Movies returns with three distinctive projects; Unsuk Chin directs the free Music of Today series; and the Philharmonia Chamber Players present five early-evening programmes to complement the concert that follows. We hope you will join us for what will be an extraordinary musical journey.
1: Timothy Walden, Principal Cello © Felix Broede 2: Yukiko Ogura, No. 2 Viola © Felix Broede 3: Katy Woolley and Kira Doherty, Principal and No. 2 Horn © Felix Broede
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At a Glance
2016 / 17
SEPTEMBER 2016
STRAVINSKY: MYTHS
Robert Dean Smith tenor Matthias Goerne baritone SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8, Unfinished MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde
Sunday 25 Sep, 7.30pm Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Andrew Staples tenor Pauline Cheviller narrator Philharmonia Voices Tiffin Boys’ Choir STRAVINSKY Orpheus; Apollon musagète; Perséphone 4.30pm, pre-concert performance; Inspired by Stravinsky (FREE entry) 6pm, pre-concert talk (FREE entry)
TEMIRKANOV CONDUCTS TCHAIKOVSKY Thursday 20 Oct, 7.30pm Yuri Temirkanov conductor Sergey Khachatryan violin GLAZUNOV Valse No. 2 SIBELIUS Violin Concerto TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players (FREE entry)
STRAVINSKY: TRAGEDY Thursday 29 Sep, 7.30pm
All events at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Peter Sellars director Joseph Kaiser tenor, Oedipus Katarina Dalayman mezzo-soprano, Jocasta Sir Willard White bass, Creon, Tiresias, Messenger Joshua Stewart tenor, Shepherd Laurel Jenkins Tentindo dancer, Ismene Orphei Drängar Ladies of the Gustaf Sjökvists Kammarkör and Sofia Vokalensemble
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STRAVINSKY Oedipus rex; Symphony of Psalms
MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION Sunday 23 Oct, 3pm Krzysztof Urbański conductor Nikolai Lugansky piano GRIEG Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1; Piano Concerto MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel) Pictures at an Exhibition
GERMAN ROMANTICS, PART 1 Thursday 27 Oct, 7.30pm Karl-Heinz Steffens conductor Arabella Steinbacher violin
Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals German Romantics Philharmonia at the Movies Sunday Matinees Nielsen Cycle Rachmaninov Project Andris Nelsons: Bruckner Salonen/Aimard: Inspirations
OCTOBER 2016
MAHLER: DAS LIED VON DER ERDE Sunday 16 Oct, 7.30pm Christoph von Dohnányi conductor
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BEETHOVEN Overture, Leonore No. 3 MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto BRAHMS Symphony No. 2
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BORODIN Overture, Prince Igor TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 RACHMANINOV Symphony No. 1
NOVEMBER 2016
EDWARD GARDNER: VERDI REQUIEM
GEORGE FENTON: THE LADY IN THE VAN
Thursday 8 Dec, 7.30pm 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players (FREE entry) George Fenton conductor Clare Hammond piano Introduced by Alan Bennett BARTÓK & SHOSTAKOVICH: FROM THE EAST Programme to include: The Lady In The Van Untold Stories Thursday 24 Nov, 7.30pm Memphis Belle Shadowlands Juraj Valčuha conductor Valiant Frank Peter Zimmermann violin Groundhog Day BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 2 SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 8
Thursday 3 Nov, 7.30pm Edward Gardner conductor Lise Davidsen soprano Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano René Barbera tenor Alexander Vinogradov bass Rodolfus Choir Philharmonia Voices VERDI Requiem
CHRISTMAS CLASSICS
NAPOLEON: LIVE CINEMA Sunday 6 Nov, 2pm *Please note start time Carl Davis conductor/composer
DECEMBER 2016
Sunday 11 Dec, 3pm
PRE-WAR SOUNDSCAPES
David Hill conductor Ailish Tynan soprano The Bach Choir
Thursday 1 Dec, 7.30pm
CARL DAVIS Napoleon Film with live orchestral score
Nicholas Collon conductor Francesco Piemontesi piano VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis RAVEL Piano Concerto in G WALTON Symphony No. 1
NIELSEN CYCLE: PAAVO JÄRVI Thursday 10 Nov, 7.30pm Paavo Järvi conductor Leonidas Kavakos violin HAYDN Symphony No. 102 BRAHMS Violin Concerto NIELSEN Symphony No. 2, The Four Temperaments 6pm, Music of Today (FREE entry)
ASHKENAZY: RACHMANINOV PROJECT Thursday 17 Nov, 7.30pm
Programme to include: ANDERSON A Christmas Festival WILLCOCKS Tomorrow shall be my dancing day ADAM O Holy Night CULLEN Joy to the World HUMPERDINCK Overture, Hansel and Gretel BACH/GOUNOD Ave Maria TRADITIONAL Carols for all
TCHAIKOVSKY: WINTER TALES Sunday 4 Dec, 3pm Jac van Steen conductor Veronika Dzhioeva soprano Tommi Hakala baritone TCHAIKOVSKY Polonaise; Letter Scene; Waltz; Final Scene, Eugene Onegin; Swan Lake (excerpts); The Nutcracker (excerpts)
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor Alice Sara Ott piano
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2016 / 17
THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS Thursday 15 Dec, 7.30pm Andrew Lumsden conductor Erica Eloff soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons mezzo-soprano Winchester Cathedral Choir Waynflete Singers Programme to include: VIVALDI Gloria HANDEL Zadok the Priest BACH Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring BERLIOZ The Shepherds’ Farewell GRUBER Silent Night DARKE In the Bleak Midwinter TRADITIONAL Carols for all
JANUARY 2017
NELSONS: BRUCKNER – SYMPHONY NO. 5 Thursday 19 Jan, 7.30pm Andris Nelsons conductor BRUCKNER Symphony No. 5 6pm, Music of Today (FREE entry)
NELSONS: BRUCKNER – SYMPHONY NO. 9 Sunday 22 Jan, 7.30pm Andris Nelsons conductor Paul Lewis piano
FEBRUARY 2017
NIELSEN CYCLE: PAAVO JÄRVI Thursday 2 Feb, 7.30pm Paavo Järvi conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin Tanja Tetzlaff cello Lars Vogt piano
JOHN WILSON: IN LONDON TOWN Sunday 12 Feb, 3pm John Wilson conductor Lawrence Power viola ELGAR Cockaigne (In London Town) WALTON Viola Concerto VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A London Symphony
HAYDN Symphony No. 101, The Clock BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano NIELSEN Symphony No. 6, Sinfonia semplice
GERMAN ROMANTICS, PART II
6pm, pre-concert talk (FREE entry)
Thursday 16 Feb, 7.30pm
SPIELBERG AT 70 Sunday 5 Feb, 7.30pm Anthony Weeden conductor Barry Norman presenter Programme to include: JOHN WILLIAMS Jaws; E.T.; Jurassic Park; Indiana Jones; Memoirs of a Geisha; Catch Me If You Can ALAN SILVESTRI Back To The Future CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION Thursday 9 Feb, 7.30pm
1.30pm, pre-concert talk (FREE entry)
Karl-Heinz Steffens conductor David Fray piano MENDELSSOHN Overture, Ruy Blas SCHUMANN Piano Concerto BRAHMS Symphony No. 3
INSPIRATIONS: RAVEL & LIGETI Sunday 19 Feb, 7.30pm Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano Philharmonia Voices LIGETI Clocks and Clouds; Piano Concerto RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé (complete)
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 27 BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9
Long Yu conductor Maxim Vengerov violin
6pm, pre-concert talk (FREE entry)
6pm, pre-concert talk (FREE entry)
Programme to include: LI Spring Festival Overture HE/CHEN The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto
INSPIRATIONS: STRAUSS & BEETHOVEN Thursday 23 Feb, 7.30pm Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
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Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano The Horn Section of the Philharmonia BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor TANSY DAVIES Concerto for Four Horns and Orchestra (London première) STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra
RACHMANINOV Symphonic Dances
HOLST: THE PLANETS
6pm, pre-concert talk (FREE entry)
Sunday 23 Apr, 3pm
ASHKENAZY: ELGAR SYMPHONY NO. 1 Thursday 16 Mar, 7.30pm Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor Veronika Eberle violin Antoine Tamestit viola
MARCH 2017
SCHUBERT Overture, Rosamunde MOZART Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola ELGAR Symphony No. 1
STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD Thursday 2 Mar, 7.30pm Pablo Heras-Casado conductor Javier Perianes piano
JAKUB HRUŠA CONDUCTS BRAHMS
RAVEL Alborada del gracioso DE FALLA Nights in the Gardens of Spain STRAVINSKY The Firebird (complete, 1910)
Thursday 23 Mar, 7.30pm
6pm, Music of Today (FREE entry)
Jakub Hrůša conductor Rudolf Buchbinder piano BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphony No. 4 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players (FREE entry)
TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO. 6 Sunday 5 Mar, 3pm Tugan Sokhiev conductor Edgar Moreau cello DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, Pathétique PROKOFIEV & RACHMANINOV Thursday 9 Mar, 7.30pm Rafael Payare conductor Frank Peter Zimmermann violin
Santtu-Matias Rouvali conductor Alban Gerhardt cello SMETANA Vltava, from Má vlast ELGAR Cello Concerto HOLST The Planets 1.30pm, pre-concert talk (FREE entry)
MAY 2017
INSPIRATIONS: DEBUSSY & BOULEZ Thursday 4 May, 7.30pm Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano DEBUSSY Ibéria; Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra; La mer BOULEZ Notations
INSPIRATIONS: MAHLER & BARTÓK
APRIL 2017
Sunday 7 May, 7.30pm
JAKUB HRUŠA: DVORÁK & TCHAIKOVSKY
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano Tamara Stefanovich piano
Thursday 6 Apr, 7.30pm Jakub Hrůša conductor Sergey Khachatryan violin
BARTÓK Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra MAHLER Symphony No. 6
BRAHMS (orch. Dvořák) Hungarian Dances, Nos. 17-21 TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8 6pm, Music of Today (FREE entry)
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, Classical; Violin Concerto No. 1
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BLOMSTEDT CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN
DOHNÁNYI CONDUCTS SCHUMANN
Thursday 25 May, 7.30pm
Thursday 8 Jun, 7.30pm
Herbert Blomstedt conductor Martin Helmchen piano
Christoph von Dohnányi conductor Till Fellner piano
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
MENDELSSOHN Overture, The Hebrides MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2 (FREE entry) 6pm, Music of Today (FREE entry) JUNE 2017
MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 1 Thursday 1 Jun, 7.30pm Gustavo Gimeno conductor Lawrence Power viola LIGETI Concert Românesc BARTÓK Viola Concerto MAHLER Symphony No. 1 6pm, Philharmonia MMSF Young Artist Showcase (FREE entry) REQUIEMS: DURUFLÉ & FAURÉ Sunday 4 Jun, 7.30pm Jérémie Rhorer conductor To be announced soprano To be announced mezzo-soprano Jean-Sébastien Bou baritone Rodolfus Choir Philharmonia Voices DURUFLÉ Requiem FAURÉ Requiem 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players (FREE entry)
RUSSIAN MASTERWORKS Wednesday 21 Jun, 7.30pm Yuri Temirkanov conductor Denis Kozhukhin piano LIADOV Kikimora RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2 SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5 6pm, Music of Today Composers' Academy (FREE entry)
All events at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall See page 28 for prices and how to book
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FREE PERFORMANCES Free, unticketed events at 6pm at Royal Festival Hall. Just turn up.
Our contemporary music series, directed by composer Unsuk Chin, brings to life the work of some of the most talented, radical and experimental composers of today. This season features contemporary reimaginings of early music (10 November); the zany whirlwind fantasies of Austrian composer Bernd Richard Deutsch (19 January); the centenary of Isang Yun, a Korean composer exiled in Germany (2 March); the evocative storytelling of Danish composer Bent Sørensen (6 April); and finally, the virtuosity of pianist Mei Yi Foo with Abrahamsen’s magnificent Piano Concerto (8 June).
The Philharmonia Chamber Players are a unique feature of the Philharmonia’s artistic programme, allowing audiences to hear a rich variety of repertoire for small ensemble, devised by members of the Orchestra. This season includes a programme of all-string works from Brahms and Schubert (20 October); Russian masters Schnittke and Shostakovich (17 November); Hindemith’s Sonata for Tuba alongside Dvorák’s String Quintet (23 March); Beethoven’s imperial Septet (25 May); and finally, a shimmering portrait of French impressionism from Debussy and Ravel (4 June).
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Find out more at philharmonia.co.uk/chamber
MUSIC OF TODAY: COMPOSERS' ACADEMY
PHILHARMONIA MMSF YOUNG ARTIST SHOWCASE
Wednesday 21 June 2017, 6pm
Thursday 1 June 2017, 6pm
A showcase of new works from emerging composers, the culmination of a year working alongside Philharmonia musicians, visiting composers and Music of Today’s Artistic Director Unsuk Chin.
Recipients of the Philharmonia MMSF Instrumental Fellowship Programme will take to the stage for a recital showcasing the next generation of orchestral talent in a varied programme of chamber repertoire.
Top: Philharmonia Chamber Players © Philharmonia Orchestra/Marina Vidor
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2016 / 17
STRAVINSKY: MYTHS & RITUALS
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“Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted with clarity, authority and conviction. He is one of the UK’s greatest musical assets – words not said lightly” The Observer Sunday 25 September 2016, 7.30pm
Thursday 29 September 2016, 7.30pm
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Andrew Staples tenor Pauline Cheviller narrator Philharmonia Voices Tiffin Boys’ Choir
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Peter Sellars director Joseph Kaiser tenor, Oedipus Katarina Dalayman mezzo-soprano, Jocasta Sir Willard White bass, Creon, Tiresias, Messenger Joshua Stewart tenor, Shepherd To be announced narrator, Antigone (The Speaker) Laurel Jenkins Tentindo dancer, Ismene Orphei Drängar Ladies of the Gustaf Sjökvists Kammarkör and Sofia Vokalensemble
STRAVINSKY Orpheus STRAVINSKY Apollon musagète STRAVINSKY Perséphone This concert explores Stravinsky’s fascination with classical mythology. Music of great subtlety and exquisite beauty, Apollon musagète and Orpheus sit alongside Stravinsky’s alluring melodrama based on the Homeric hymn to the goddess Persephone, retold in collaboration with the French novelist and poet André Gide. 4.30pm, pre-concert performance; Inspired by Stravinsky Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Young woodwind players from Hounslow Music Service and Wandsworth Schools’ Music Service perform alongside Philharmonia woodwind players in a specially curated concert exploring both Stravinsky’s music and his influences. 6pm, pre-concert talk, Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Series consultant Jonathan Cross in conversation with musicologist Tamara Levitz, exploring Perséphone.
STRAVINSKY Oedipus rex STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms Presented here in a semi-staged production from director Peter Sellars, Oedipus rex abandons sentiment, confronting the spectator with the true horror of the ‘infernal machine of fate’. The Latin Psalms, too, speak here of the tragedy of exile through a music of electrifying austerity and intensity. In co-production with Festival d’Aix-en-Provence See page 29 for prices Find out more at philharmonia.co.uk/stravinsky Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals is supported by Vincent Meyer and the Philharmonia Orchestra
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Sunday 16 October 2016, 7.30pm
Thursday 20 October 2016, 7.30pm
MAHLER: DAS LIED VON DER ERDE
TEMIRKANOV CONDUCTS TCHAIKOVSKY
Christoph von Dohnányi conductor Robert Dean Smith tenor Matthias Goerne baritone
Yuri Temirkanov conductor Sergey Khachatryan violin
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8, Unfinished MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde ‘I believe this is the most personal thing I have done.’ So wrote Mahler, devastated by the sudden death of his daughter Anna Maria and the swift diagnosis of his own incurable heart disease. Das Lied hovers elegiacally between song and symphony, placing our own transience and mortality against the constant renewal and regeneration of the earth. Alongside, the most popular symphony from another Viennese composer: Schubert’s Unfinished. Sunday 23 October 2016, 3pm
(Please note start time)
MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
GLAZUNOV Valse No. 2 SIBELIUS Violin Concerto TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 Soaring, lyrical, fantastical, Sibelius wrote his Violin Concerto for his ‘dearest wish’, the virtuoso he never became. In his own words, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony marked his ‘complete resignation before Fate’. Fate winds unrelenting through each movement, interrupting a love song, cutting in on a waltz and finally taking on the form of a march into the blazing finale. 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry A Romantic programme featuring Brahms’ String Sextet No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 18 and Schubert’s String Quartet No. 12 in C minor, D.703, Quartettsatz.
Krzysztof Urbański conductor Nikolai Lugansky piano GRIEG Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1 GRIEG Piano Concerto MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel) Pictures at an Exhibition Grieg’s towering Piano Concerto follows the story of Peer Gynt, in which the hero hurtles through the Nordic countryside to the eerie kingdoms of the Hall of the Mountain King. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition curates a musical walk-round a gallery past paintings of gnomes, witches, medieval castles and the final pealing bells of the Great Gate of Kiev.
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1: Esa-Pekka Salonen and perfomers in ‘Stravinsky: Tales’ © Camilla Greenwell 2: Nikolai Lugansky © Marco Borggreve, Naïve-Ambroisie
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2016 / 17
GERMAN ROMANTICS In one of our headline series, German maestro Karl-Heinz Steffens presents a snapshot of German Romanticism, conducting works that go to the very core of Western classical music.
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“Steffens… took us straight to the heart of the music” Classical Source
Thursday 27 October 2016, 7.30pm
Thursday 16 February 2017, 7.30pm
Karl-Heinz Steffens conductor Arabella Steinbacher violin
Karl-Heinz Steffens conductor David Fray piano
BEETHOVEN Overture, Leonore No. 3 MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto BRAHMS Symphony No. 2
MENDELSSOHN Overture, Ruy Blas SCHUMANN Piano Concerto BRAHMS Symphony No. 3
Mendelssohn wrote that the melody that opens his Violin Concerto ‘sticks in my head’ and ‘will not leave me in peace’; this lyrical masterpiece is here performed by the German virtuoso Arabella Steinbacher. While composing his idyllic Second Symphony, Brahms told a friend that ‘melodies flow so freely that one must be careful not to tread on them’.
Performed by superlative pianist David Fray, Schumann’s evergreen Piano Concerto was premièred by the composer’s wife, Clara, on New Year’s Day 1846. A lifelong friend of Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms wrote his Third Symphony during a summer spent holidaying on the Rhine. Playing through her two-piano version, Clara wrote to Brahms: ‘All the movements seem to be of one piece, one beat of the heart’.
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Thursday 3 November 2016, 7.30pm
Thursday 17 November 2016, 7.30pm
EDWARD GARDNER: VERDI REQUIEM
ASHKENAZY: RACHMANINOV PROJECT
Edward Gardner conductor Lise Davidsen soprano Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano René Barbera tenor Alexander Vinogradov bass Rodolfus Choir Philharmonia Voices
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor Alice Sara Ott piano BORODIN Overture, Prince Igor TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 RACHMANINOV Symphony No. 1
VERDI Requiem British conductor Edward Gardner, formerly Music Director of English National Opera, channels the combined forces of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Rodolfus Choir and Philharmonia Voices for Verdi’s epic Requiem. Written for his dear friend, writer Alessandro Manzoni, Verdi’s Requiem is explosive, an otherworldly drama powered by emotional intensity, haunted by offstage trumpets and bass drum thunder.
Vladimir Ashkenazy’s exploration of Rachmaninov’s orchestral works culminates with the composer’s First Symphony, a piece overflowing with ideas, unified by an ever-evolving motif shaped by the Dies Irae of Gregorian chant, a stamp that would appear again and again in Rachmaninov’s works. Alongside, the sweeping lyricism of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto is performed by rising-star pianist Alice Sara Ott. This concert is supported by trustees of the Philharmonia Trust 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry
This concert is supported by members of the Verdi Circle
An all-Russian chamber programme featuring works by Borodin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Schnittke.
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1: Karl-Heinz Steffens © Susanne Diesner 2: Edward Gardner © Benjamin Ealovega 3: Alice Sara Ott © Marie Staggat
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2016 / 17
NIELSEN CYCLE: PAAVO JÄRVI
“Paavo Järvi’s impassioned performance of this craggy yet sweeping masterpiece was the best possible retort to an earlier era that struggled to [understand] Nielsen’s individuality and metaphysical drive” The Guardian
Thursday 10 November 2016, 7.30pm
Thursday 2 February 2017, 7.30pm
Paavo Järvi conductor Leonidas Kavakos violin
Paavo Järvi conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin Tanja Tetzlaff cello Lars Vogt piano
HAYDN Symphony No. 102 BRAHMS Violin Concerto NIELSEN Symphony No. 2, The Four Temperaments The inspiration for Nielsen’s Second Symphony came from a day spent drinking beer in a village pub, where above the table hung a cartoon sketch of ‘The Four Temperaments’: Choleric, Phlegmatic, Melancholic and Sanguine. Alongside, the Brahms Violin Concerto, performed by one of the greatest violinists in the world, Leonidas Kavakos: ‘fabulously poised with an exceptional dynamic range.’ (The Guardian)
HAYDN Symphony No. 101, The Clock BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano NIELSEN Symphony No. 6, Sinfonia semplice Curiously titled Sinfonia semplice, Nielsen’s Sixth Symphony is anything but simple; instead, the symphony winds itself into a series of melodic riddles and paradoxes. Paired with this characterful work is Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano which fizzes with unexpected twists and turns. 6pm, pre-concert talk Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry
This concert is sponsored by 6pm, Music of Today Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Early & New: featuring works by Harrison Birtwistle and Betsy Jolas, inspired by Renaissance music. Conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing.
One final riddle: untangling Nielsen’s last symphony: Andrew Mellor explores Nielsen’s Symphony No. 6. Find out more at philharmonia.co.uk/Nielsen
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Thursday 1 December 2016, 7.30pm
PRE-WAR SOUNDSCAPES Nicholas Collon conductor Francesco Piemontesi piano VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis RAVEL Piano Concerto in G WALTON Symphony No. 1 Three inventive masterworks composed in peacetime that was not to last: infused with jazz, Basque and Spanish influences, Ravel’s dreamlike Piano Concerto (1931) is juxtaposed with the pastoral tranquillity of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia (1910). William Walton’s powerful, Sibelius-inspired Symphony No. 1 (1934) is full of driving rhythms and searing intensity.
Sunday 4 December 2016, 3pm
(Please note start time)
TCHAIKOVSKY: WINTER TALES Jac van Steen conductor Veronika Dzhioeva soprano Tommi Hakala baritone TCHAIKOVSKY Polonaise, Letter Scene, Waltz, Final Scene, Eugene Onegin TCHAIKOVSKY Swan Lake (excerpts) TCHAIKOVSKY The Nutcracker (excerpts) Scenes from Tchaikovsky’s heartfelt opera of love, loss and regret come together with music from his best-loved ballets. Swan Lake tells of a beautiful swan princess and her prince’s doomed attempts to save her, while in The Nutcracker, it is Christmas Eve and toy soldiers, sugar plum fairies and military mice come to life. This concert is supported by
Sunday 11 December 2016, 3pm
(Please note start time)
CHRISTMAS CLASSICS David Hill conductor Ailish Tynan soprano The Bach Choir Programme to include: ANDERSON A Christmas Festival WILLCOCKS Tomorrow shall be my dancing day ADAM O Holy Night CULLEN Joy to the World HUMPERDINCK Overture, Hansel and Gretel BACH/GOUNOD Ave Maria TRADITIONAL Carols for all
Thursday 15 December 2016, 7.30pm
THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS Andrew Lumsden conductor Erica Eloff soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons mezzo-soprano Winchester Cathedral Choir Waynflete Singers Programme to include: VIVALDI Gloria HANDEL Zadok the Priest BACH Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring BERLIOZ The Shepherds’ Farewell GRUBER Silent Night DARKE In the Bleak Midwinter TRADITIONAL Carols for all
Join us for two seasonal programmes, each with an acclaimed choir – The Bach Choir and Winchester Cathedral Choir – for a festival of seasonal music and carols for all, such as ‘Once in Royal David’s city’, ‘O come, all ye faithful’, ‘O little town of Bethlehem’, ‘Jingle Bells’, and ‘The first Nowell’. Please see page 28 for prices. Please note that subscription, groups and schools discounts do not apply to these concerts. Presented in partnership with Raymond Gubbay Ltd.
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2016 / 17
ANDRIS NELSONS: BRUCKNER Andris Nelsons has been conducting the Philharmonia in Bruckner symphonies over several seasons, bringing his universally-acclaimed ability to shape transcendent performances to the Royal Festival Hall stage.
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“Nelsons’s close attention to phrasing, balance and dynamics was characteristically compelling at multiple points in the score, and with the Philharmonia playing with great intensity, there were times when the symphony flowed in ways that it rarely does in other hands.” The Guardian (Bruckner Symphony No. 3) Thursday 19 January 2017, 7.30pm
Sunday 22 January 2017, 7.30pm
Andris Nelsons conductor
Andris Nelsons conductor Paul Lewis piano
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 5 Nelsons conducts Bruckner’s majestic Fifth Symphony. Variously referred to as the ‘Tragic’, ‘Church of Faith’ or because of its opening string sound, the ‘Pizzicato’ Symphony, Bruckner drives each moment forward to a breath-taking final movement propelled by increasingly intricate fugal melodies and stunning chorale. 6pm, Music of Today Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry A portrait of Austrian composer Bernd Richard Deutsch featuring the UK premières of Mad Dog and Red Alert!
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 27, K595 BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9 Mozart’s last piano concerto comes together with Bruckner’s final symphony. Ever-building, ever-reaching upwards, Bruckner’s music carries an elemental force. The third movement was the last the composer was to complete, a prophetically self-titled ‘Farewell to Life’ with Bruckner still at work on the symphony’s fourth movement the day he died. 6pm, pre-concert talk Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Exploring Anton Bruckner’s life and work.
Music of Today is supported by an anonymous donor Freephone Box Office 0800 652 6717
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Thursday 9 February 2017, 7.30pm
CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION Long Yu conductor Maxim Vengerov violin Programme to include: LI Spring Festival Overture HE/CHEN The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto
Join the Philharmonia Orchestra, Long Yu (Artistic Director of the Beijing Music Festival and Music Director of the China Philharmonic), Maxim Vengerov and a roster of top-flight musicians from East and West for London’s inaugural Chinese New Year Gala Concert, celebrating the Year of the Rooster. In a vivid Spring Festival celebration, the programme will be drawn from music from both Western and Chinese cultures.
Please see page 28 for prices. Please note that subscription discounts do not apply to this concert.
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1: Andris Nelsons © Marco Borggreve Above: Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay, Concert Master © Felix Broede
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2016 / 17
SALONEN/AIMARD: INSPIRATIONS ESA-PEKKA SALONEN & PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD Two musical giants, conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, explore the music – and an artistic partnership – that inspires and excites them both, across four programmes brimming with music of beauty and invention. From the programmatic impressionism of Debussy and Ravel to the playful modernism of Ligeti, via masterpieces by Mahler, Beethoven and Strauss, this series ranges right across the orchestral spectrum in colour, tone and emotion.
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Sunday 19 February 2017, 7.30pm
Thursday 23 February 2017, 7.30pm
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano Philharmonia Voices
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano The Horn Section of the Philharmonia
LIGETI Clocks and Clouds LIGETI Piano Concerto RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé (complete)
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor TANSY DAVIES Concerto for Four Horns and Orchestra (London première) STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra
Ebbing and flowing through yearning melodies and rustling textures, Ravel’s ‘choreographic symphony’ tells the love story of Daphnis and Chloé set in a magical Grecian world of nymphs, pirates and intervening gods. Like Dali’s wilting clock faces, Ligeti’s Clocks and Clouds harmonically dissolves the measurable into the immeasurable. From a similar dream world, Ligeti’s Piano Concerto shifts and slides, each movement fading seamlessly into the next. 6pm, pre-concert talk Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Esa-Pekka Salonen and Pierre-Laurent Aimard in conversation.
Beethoven’s heroic Emperor Concerto flows from the imperial majesty of its three opening orchestral chords and interspersed bubbling piano lines; while Strauss’ Nietzsche-inspired Also sprach Zarathustra climbs ever-upwards from its spell-binding beginning. Finally, Tansy Davies brings her rhythmically driving, jumping, iridescent soundworld to a Concerto written especially for the Philharmonia’s Horn Section, commissioned by Esa-Pekka Salonen for the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 70th Anniversary.
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Thursday 4 May 2017, 7.30pm
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano DEBUSSY Ibéria BOULEZ Notations DEBUSSY Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra DEBUSSY La mer Piano and orchestra forming ‘almost one’, Debussy’s sparkling Fantaisie exists in a whirl of merging, melding textures. Sketched from an imagination and ‘countless reminiscences’ that, to Debussy, ‘matter more than reality’, La mer charts the ever-changing face of the sea. Sunday 7 May 2017, 7.30pm
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano Tamara Stefanovich piano
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BARTÓK Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra MAHLER Symphony No. 6 Cosmic and combustive, Bartók’s Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra hurtles through infectious rhythms and leaping melodies via the sparse, eerie sonorities of what Bartók termed his ‘night music’. Further into darkness, Mahler’s Sixth, ‘Tragic’ Symphony builds to the famous hammer strokes or inexorable blows of fate which Mahler felt like the ‘stroke of an axe’.
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1: Esa-Pekka Salonen © Felix Broede 2: Pierre-Laurent Aimard © Marco Borggreve, Deutsche Grammophon 3: Tansy Davies © Rikard Österlund
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2016 / 17
FRANK PETER ZIMMERMANN
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Thursday 24 November 2016, 7.30pm
Thursday 9 March 2017, 7.30pm
Juraj Valčuha conductor Frank Peter Zimmermann violin
Rafael Payare conductor Frank Peter Zimmermann violin
BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 2 SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 8
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, Classical PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 1 RACHMANINOV Symphonic Dances
Written in 1943, Shostakovich publicly described his Eighth Symphony as ‘an attempt to reflect the terrible tragedy of war’. In 1939, Bartók was equally fearful for the state of Europe. His rhapsodic Violin Concerto – performed here by master violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann – is laced with folk-like calls from a homeland he feared would soon be unrecognisable.
Prokofiev’s Haydn-inspired Classical Symphony sits alongside the Romantic lyricism of his First Violin Concerto with soloist Frank Peter Zimmermann. Rachmaninov’s electrifying Symphonic Dances are filled with spinning rhythms, sonorous melodies and patterned with musical influences from folk music, Russian Orthodox chants and even an eerie parody of the Viennese waltz. This concert is sponsored by 6pm, pre-concert talk Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Rafael Payare in conversation with Jessica Duchen.
1: Frank Peter Zimmermann © Harald Hoffmann, Haenssler 2: Lawrence Power © Giorgia Bertazzi
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LAWRENCE POWER
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Sunday 12 February 2017, 3pm
(Please note start time)
Thursday 1 June 2017, 7.30pm
Gustavo Gimeno conductor Lawrence Power viola
John Wilson conductor Lawrence Power viola ELGAR Cockaigne (In London Town) WALTON Viola Concerto VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A London Symphony Elgar’s ‘Cockaigne’, an old nickname for London, or the ‘land of Cockneys’, is in Elgar’s own words ‘cheerful and Londony – stout and steaky’. Forming a meditative prequel to Walton’s fiery Viola Concerto, Lawrence Power performs Julian Anderson’s Prayer for Solo Viola. Finally, Vaughan Williams’s own portrait of London: a misty river Thames, Bloomsbury Square on a November afternoon, the busy bright lights of the Strand, and the echoing chimes of Westminster. This concert is supported by the Principal Friends of the Philharmonia 1.30pm, pre-concert talk Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Lawrence Power and John Wilson in conversation.
LIGETI Concert Românesc BARTÓK Viola Concerto MAHLER Symphony No. 1 Mahler’s First Symphony forms his autobiographical testament to the adventures and misadventures of youth, charting his hero’s progress among birdsong, a country dance and a ghostly rendition of the nursery rhyme Frère Jacques before the exhilarating finale of a symphonist come of age. From first to last words, the pages of Bartók’s Viola Concerto were found not quite finished at the composer’s New York hospital bedside, left to be completed by his devoted pupil, before which Lawrence Power performs Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Pentatonic Étude for solo viola. 6pm, Philharmonia MMSF Young Artist Showcase Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Recipients of the Philharmonia MMSF Instrumental Fellowship Programme will take to the stage for a recital showcasing the next generation of orchestra talent in a varied programme of chamber repertoire.
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2016 / 17
Thursday 2 March 2017, 7.30pm
Sunday 5 March 2017, 3pm
(Please note start time)
STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD Pablo Heras-Casado conductor Javier Perianes piano RAVEL Alborada del gracioso DE FALLA Nights in the Gardens of Spain STRAVINSKY The Firebird (complete, 1910) Enchanting, glistening, exotic, Stravinsky’s Firebird was commissioned for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. In this Russian legend, Prince Ivan enlists the help of the mystical Firebird to defeat the evil Kastchei, compelling the sorcerer and his menacing troupe to dance themselves to collapse in a frenetic ‘Infernal Dance’ before finally a solo horn announces the joyful arrival of sunlight and the destruction of Kastchei’s powers. Nights in the Gardens of Spain is drenched with the rich, dark colours of De Falla’s beloved Andalusia. 6pm, Music of Today Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry A celebration of the centenary of Korean composer Isang Yun featuring Teile dich Nacht for soprano and ensemble and the UK première of Pièce concertante. Music of Today is supported by an anonymous donor
TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO. 6 Tugan Sokhiev conductor Edgar Moreau cello DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, Pathétique Dark, restless and with flashes of fury, Tchaikovsky wrote to his friend, the Grand Duke of Constantine about what was to be his final symphony: ‘without exaggeration, I have put my whole soul into this work’. Dvorák’s Cello Concerto pays tribute to the composer’s lost love, Josefina, building the elegiac slow movement around a line from one of her favourite of Dvorák’s songs, Kéž duch muj sám (Leave me alone). Thursday 16 March 2017, 7.30pm
ASHKENAZY: ELGAR SYMPHONY NO. 1 Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor Veronika Eberle violin Antoine Tamestit viola SCHUBERT Overture, Rosamunde MOZART Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola ELGAR Symphony No. 1 Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts Elgar’s First Symphony. Instantly a triumph, following the symphony’s première a review in the 1908 Daily Mail proclaimed: ‘It is quite plain that here we have perhaps the finest masterpiece of its type that ever came from the pen of an English composer’. Alongside, Mozart’s spritely Concertante for Violin and Viola is a master of invention, full of glorious melodies which beautifully weave their way from one soloist to the next.
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1: Vladimir Ashkenazy © Keith Saunders 2: Jakub Hrůša © Pavel Hejnz
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JAKUB HRUŠA
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“The push towards the final beatific vision was superbly judged – slow yet urgent, beautifully played, the textural layering ravishingly done” The Guardian
Thursday 23 March 2017, 7.30pm
Thursday 6 April 2017, 7.30pm
Jakub Hrůša conductor Rudolf Buchbinder piano
Jakub Hrůša conductor Sergey Khachatryan violin
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 BRAHMS Symphony No. 4
BRAHMS (orch. Dvořák) Hungarian Dances (Nos. 17-21) TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8
Brahms’s songful Second Piano Concerto sits alongside his Fourth Symphony. Composed from a series of sighs, Brahms’ final symphony is at once his darkest and deepest. However, insecure to the end, Brahms humorously insisted his final symphony was no more than ‘a few entr’actes and polkas which I happened to have lying about’. 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Featuring Hindemith’s Sonata for Tuba and Dvorák’s String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 77.
Jakub Hruša joins forces with Sergey Khachatryan for the dazzling, virtuosic feat of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Alongside, Dvorák’s Eighth Symphony. ‘Melodies simply pour out of me’ wrote Dvorák as he penned his symphony surrounded by the rolling hills of his secluded country home in the village of Vysoká. This concert is supported by members of the Conductor’s Circle 6pm, Music of Today, Royal Festival Hall FREE entry A portrait of Danish Composer Bent Sørensen featuring The Deserted Churchyards, The Weeping White Room and the UK première of Minnelieder – Zweites Minnewater. Music of Today is supported by an anonymous donor
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2016 / 17
Sunday 23 April 2017, 3pm
Thursday 25 May 2017, 7.30pm
HOLST: THE PLANETS
BLOMSTEDT CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN
(Please note start time.)
Santtu-Matias Rouvali conductor Alban Gerhardt cello
Herbert Blomstedt conductor Martin Helmchen piano
SMETANA Vltava, from Má Vlast ELGAR Cello Concerto HOLST The Planets
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
The haunting beauty of Elgar’s Cello Concerto sits alongside Holst’s planetary masterpiece. Holst took his inspiration from the astrological rather than the astronomical, journeying through Mars, the apocalyptic ‘Bringer of War’; a tranquil Venus; Mercury’s winged messenger; Jupiter, the stately ‘Bringer of Jollity’; Saturn’s old age, Uranus ‘The Magician’ and finally, a dreamy Neptune, ‘The Mystic’. 1.30pm, pre-concert talk Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Santtu-Matias Rouvali in conversation.
Herbert Blomstedt returns to the Philharmonia to conduct Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony – a work full of rhythmic vitality that was described by Wagner as ‘the apotheosis of the dance’. Alongside, Brahms’s impassioned First Piano Concerto with pianist Martin Helmchen. 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry A performance of Beethoven’s Septet in E flat major, Op. 20.
Sunday 4 June 2017, 7.30pm
REQUIEMS: DURUFLÉ & FAURÉ Jérémie Rhorer conductor To be announced soprano To be announced mezzo-soprano Jean Sébastien Bou baritone Rodolfus Choir Philharmonia Voices
“Blomstedt shaped the music so as to emphasise its geniality, drawing out little bursts of sunlight.” The Guardian
DURUFLÉ Requiem FAURÉ Requiem The Philharmonia comes together with conductor Jérémie Rhorer, stellar soloists and full chorus for two glorious requiems. Duruflé’s Requiem is woven through with Gregorian chant and elegantly soars into a final blissful In Paradisum. Likewise, Fauré’s Requiem is music of compassion, a very human response to loss. 6pm, Philharmonia Chamber Players Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry A harp-inspired programme featuring Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro and David Heath’s Forest.
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Page 23
Thursday 8 June 2017, 7.30pm
Wednesday 21 June 2017, 7.30pm
DOHNÁNYI CONDUCTS SCHUMANN
RUSSIAN MASTERWORKS Yuri Temirkanov conductor Denis Kozhukhin piano
Christoph von Dohnányi conductor Till Fellner piano MENDELSSOHN Overture, The Hebrides MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2 Beethoven’s favourite of all Mozart’s piano concertos, the brooding, dusky colours of his Concerto No. 20 sit alongside Schumann’s Second Symphony. Barely recovered from a series of emotional breakdowns, Schumann encrypted the finale of his symphony with a dedication to his wife, Clara, containing within it a reference to the final song of Beethoven’s song cycle, To the distant beloved. 6pm, Music of Today Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry Sensational London-based pianist Mei Yi Foo performs Musical Toys for solo piano (miniatures from Rzewski, Gubaidulina, Lachenmann and Kurtág) alongside Abrahamsen’s Piano Concerto for solo piano and ensemble. Music of Today is supported by an anonymous donor
LYADOV Kikimora RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2 SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5 Epic, towering, all-encompassing, Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto holds one of the most achingly beautiful slow movements of all time. From heroic grandeur to fearful uncertainty, Shostakovich penned his Fifth Symphony amidst a Stalinist regime of terror. The music is full of cryptic messages, with Shostakovich recalling in his memoirs that the coda’s seeming sense of victory 'is as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing'. 6pm, Composers' Academy Royal Festival Hall, FREE entry The culminating concert of the Philharmonia’s Composers' Academy, delivered in partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Society, sees new works from emerging composers Lisa Illean, Gareth Moorcraft and Donghoon Shin. Over the course of a year they have worked closely with conductor Patrick Bailey, members of the Orchestra, visiting composers and Music of Today’s Artistic Director, Unsuk Chin. The Philharmonia Orchestra’s Composers' Academy is supported by PRS for Music Foundation With friendly support of Ernst Von Siemens Music Foundation With additional support from the Leche Trust
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1: Herbert Blomstedt © Martin Legemann 2: Denis Kozhukhin © Felix Broede
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2016 / 17
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Sunday 6 November 2016, 2pm
Thursday 8 December 2016, 7.30pm
NAPOLEON: LIVE CINEMA
GEORGE FENTON: THE LADY IN THE VAN
Carl Davis conductor/composer CARL DAVIS Napoleon After a sold-out success in Autumn 2013, Abel Gance’s epic 1927 silent film Napoleon returns to the Royal Festival Hall stage, again presented with Carl Davis’s score performed live. With the new digital version of the BFI-Photoplay restoration on the screen, complete with its dazzling triptych finale, music and film lovers are given a rare opportunity to experience one of the greatest achievements in cinema history: a seamless blend of epic film and Davis’s own unique creative genius. Please note the start time. There will be three intervals, including a 100-minute interval at c. 5.30pm. End time c. 10pm.
George Fenton conductor Clare Hammond piano Introduced by Alan Bennett Programme to include: The Lady In The Van Untold Stories Memphis Belle Shadowlands Valiant Groundhog Day An evening of film music by the great British screen composer George Fenton, featuring his score to Nick Hytner’s recent hit The Lady in the Van introduced by playwright Alan Bennett, as well as soundtracks to Groundhog Day, Valiant, Memphis Belle, Untold Stories and Shadowlands.
Today’s concert screening is dedicated to the memory of Bertrand Lipworth
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Page 25
Sunday 5 February 2017, 7.30pm
SPIELBERG AT 70 Anthony Weeden conductor Barry Norman presenter
“I don't dream at night, I dream all day; I dream for a living"
Programme to include: JOHN WILLIAMS Jaws JOHN WILLIAMS E.T. JOHN WILLIAMS Jurassic Park JOHN WILLIAMS Indiana Jones JOHN WILLIAMS Memoirs of a Geisha JOHN WILLIAMS Catch Me If You Can ALAN SILVESTRI Back To The Future The Philharmonia joins with film legend Barry Norman for an evening dedicated to the extraordinary cinematic achievements of director Steven Spielberg as he celebrates his 70th birthday. The concert features music from Spielberg’s long-time collaborator John Williams, including the scores to Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones, as well as music from Alan Silvestri’s score to Back To The Future.
Steven Spielberg
Please note that subscription discounts do not apply to these concerts. Please see page 28 for prices.
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1: Napoleon © Photoplay Productions Ltd. 2: Alex Jennings and Maggie Smith in The Lady in the Van © 2015 Van Productions Limited and British Broadcasting Corporation. All Rights Reserved. On Blu-ray™ & DVD now.
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FRI 23 SEP – SUN 2 OCT
©Nicolas Brodard
Two free, immersive digital experiences.
©British Council
Take your place at the heart of one of the world’s great orchestras.
LIVE RECORDINGS Esa-Pekka Salonen Christoph von Dohnรกnyi Lorin Maazel
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2016 / 17
TICKET PRICES To see seat maps of the price bands referred to below, please refer to the relevant concert page on the Philharmonia website (under ‘Select Seats’). PRICE PER TICKET SIGNATURE SEATS
PRICE 1
PRICE 2
PRICE 3
PRICE 4
PRICE 5
£35.00
£27.00
£18.00
£11.00
STANDARD CONCERTS £55.00
£42.00
PHILHARMONIA AT THE MOVIES & CHINESE NEW YEAR* £65.00*
£48.00
£39.00
£28.00
£22.00
£15.00
£32.50
£24.50
£19.50
£16.50
£34.50
£24.50
£19.50
£16.50
CHRISTMAS CLASSICS £49.50
£39.50
THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS £49.50
£42.50
*Please note! Signature Seats available for Napoleon: Live Cinema and Chinese New Year Celebration only. AVAILABLE SEATS IN EACH PRICE CATEGORY SIGNATURE SEATS
PRICE 1
PRICE 2
PRICE 3
PRICE 4
PRICE 5
Front Stalls
Front Stalls Rear Stalls Boxes
Front Stalls Rear Stalls Boxes Side Stalls Balcony
Front Stalls Rear Stalls Side Stalls Balcony Wheelchair
Rear Stalls Side Stalls Balcony Wheelchair
Rear Stalls Side Stalls Balcony Wheelchair Choir
HOW TO BOOK PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA BOX OFFICE Tickets can be purchased online at philharmonia.co.uk (£1.75 transaction fee) or by telephoning the Box Office on FREEPHONE 0800 652 6717 (£2.75 transaction fee.) The Box Office is open from 9.30am-5.30pm Monday-Friday. SOUTHBANK CENTRE TICKET OFFICE Tickets can also be purchased via the Southbank Centre website at southbankcentre.co.uk (£1.75 transaction fee), or by telephoning the Ticket Office between 9am-8pm daily on 020 7960 4200 (£2.75 transaction fee*). Tickets can also be purchased in person at Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office 10am-8pm daily (no transaction fee). *No fee for Southbank Centre Members or Supporters’ Circles
Freephone Box Office 0800 652 6717
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STRAVINSKY: MYTHS & RITUALS TICKET PRICES Please note that the two remaining concerts in the Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals series (25 and 29 September 2016) are priced at the 2015/16 season ticket prices. Subscription discounts will still apply. PRICE PER TICKET SIGNATURE SEATS
£50.00
PRICE 4
£22.00
PRICE 1
£42.00
PRICE 5
£17.00
PRICE 2
£33.00
PRICE 6
£14.00
PRICE 3
£27.00
PRICE 7
£11.00
SUBSCRIBE Book three or more standard concerts and receive a discount. Please note, there are no subscription discounts for Signature seats, but they can count towards a subscription. Napoleon: Live Cinema does count towards a subscription, but the tickets for this concert are not discounted. No. of Concerts
PRICE 1
PRICE 2
PRICE 3
PRICE 4
PRICE 5
3-5: 10% Off
£37.80
£31.50
£24.30
£16.20
£9.90
6-8: 15% Off
£35.70
£29.75
£22.95
£15.30
£9.35
9-11: 20% Off
£33.60
£28.00
£21.60
£14.40
£8.80
12-14: 25% Off
£31.50
£26.25
£20.25
£13.50
£8.25
15+: 30% Off
£29.40
£24.50
£18.90
£12.60
£7.70
GROUP BOOKINGS Book 10 or more tickets and receive a 25% discount. One free ticket for every 20 purchased. Flexible reservations.
SCHOOL PARTIES Book 10 or more tickets and receive a 50% discount. One free teacher’s ticket for every 10 purchased. Flexible reservations.
STUDENTS A limited number of £5 tickets is available for selected concerts, available through the FREE Student Pulse app (available from the App Store and Google Play).
CONCESSIONS A limited allocation of half-price tickets is available for recipients of Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Pension Credit, Under-16s and full-time students. Appropriate cards to be shown.
Please note that discounts /concessions cannot be combined. Group booking, student, school party and concession discounts do not apply for Christmas concerts.
philharmonia.co.uk – book tickets, watch films, listen to and buy recordings
2016 / 17
GETTING TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL SOUTHBANK CENTRE, BELVEDERE ROAD, LONDON SE1 8XX BY UNDERGROUND: To Waterloo or cross the river from Temple, Embankment or Charing Cross. BY RAIL: To Waterloo, Waterloo East, or cross the river from Charing Cross. BY BUS: 76, 77, 211, 341, 381, 507, N381, N76 and RV1 stop on York Road; 1, 4, 26, 59, 68, 139, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 243, 521, N1, N68, N171 and N343 stop on Waterloo Bridge.
PARKING: Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery Car Park is closed due to refurbishment. The Hungerford Bridge Car Park is also closed at certain times. Alternative parking is available nearby at the National Theatre Car Park and Cornwall Road Car Park, subject to charges. SHOP & EAT AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE: Riverside Terrace and Festival Terrace are lined with a range of shops, restaurants and bars. More information can be found at southbankcentre.co.uk/visitor-info
PATRONS WITH DISABILITIES GETTING TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE: Blue Badge holders and those with access requirements can be dropped off on the Queen Elizabeth Hall slip road off Belvedere Road (the road between Royal Festival Hall and Hayward Gallery). When attending a performance or visiting Southbank Centre, Blue Badge holders can park anywhere in the National Theatre car park free of charge. There are spaces near the lifts reserved for use by disabled people. There is a ramped entrance with semi-automatic doors to the basement foyer and lifts. For free parking, Blue Badge holders should take their badge and car park ticket to the Royal Festival Hall Ticket Desk on Level 2 for validation, prior to leaving at the end of the performance. INSIDE SOUTHBANK CENTRE: Southbank Centre is accessible to people with disabilities. Visitors with a disability should join Southbank Centre’s free Access List. You may be eligible for tickets at concessionary prices; a free ticket for a companion who can assist you during your visit; and to receive information in alternative formats. To join please call 0207 960 4200, email accesslist@southbankcentre.co.uk or visit southbankcentre.co.uk/access. Hearing enhancement equipment can be collected at Southbank Centre Ticket Office, Level 5 Function Room and the Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall. There is level access throughout Royal Festival Hall from the internal lifts (some of the lifts have a limited weight capacity; please call 0207 960 4200 to confirm), and there are wheelchair spaces in the boxes, choir seats, and side and rear stalls of the auditorium. Tickets for wheelchair spaces can be booked online or by phone on 0800 652 6717 or 0207 960 4200. Please phone 0207 960 4200 for further information.
TASTE THE UNEXPECTED
With a delicious selection of locally-sourced meat and fish dishes, a vibrant weekend brunch, expertly crafted coffee and cocktails and unique afternoon teas, you will experience a new perspective of London diningBox at Le Méridien Piccadilly. Freephone Office 0800 652 6717
Receive 10% off your dining experience when presenting this programme.* lemeridienpiccadilly.com/philharmonia +44 (0)20 7734 8000 *Guests must sign up for free as a Starwood Preferred Guest to receive the discount.
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SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS The Philharmonia Orchestra depends on generous philanthropic support from individuals, companies and grant-making organisations to realise the orchestra’s artistic ambitions and continue to perform with the world's great artists throughout the UK and beyond. For further details on how you can support the Philharmonia Orchestra, please visit: philharmonia.co.uk/support or call 020 7921 3903.
The Philharmonia is very grateful to the following major donors, Trusts and Foundations, and Corporate partners, who make possible the quality and diversity of our work. • Anonymous • Mrs Joscelyn Fox • Mercedes and Michael Hoffman • Sir Sydney & Lady Lipworth • Mr Vincent Meyer • Mr & Mrs G Modiano • Dr David Potter CBE • Mr and Mrs Geoff Richards • Esa-Pekka and Jane Salonen • The Revd John Wates, OBE and Carol Wates • The Boltini Trust • D’Olyly Carte Charitable Trust • The Helen Jean Cope Charity • The Dunard Fund • Esmée Fairbairn Foundation • The Amaryllis Fleming Foundation
• The Robert Fleming Hannay Memorial Charity • Pierre Fournier Award • Edwin Fox Foundation • Garrick Charitable Trust • Gale Family Trust • Oliver Green Memorial Trust • The Hattori Foundation • The Harpur Trust • The Emmanuel Hurwitz Chamber Music Charitable Trust • The Leche Trust • Leicestershire and Rutland Masonic Charity Association • The Meyer Foundation • The Monument Trust • John E Mortimer Foundation • The Edith Murphy Foundation
• NADFAS • National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund • Orchestras Live • The Sidney Perry Foundation • The Philharmonia Trust • The David and Elaine Potter Foundation • The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation • PRS for Music Foundation • Royal Philharmonic Society • Rubin Foundation Charitable Trust • The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation • The Wixamtree Trust
Major Partners
The Philharmonia Trust
Partners
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Page 32
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1: Sarah Oates, No. 2 First Violin © Felix Broede 2: Adam Wynter, Double Bass © Felix Broede
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“…the concert zoomed into the five-star class. Actually, I’d award a sixth if I could: for Salonen’s reading reached exceptional power and glory” The Times November 2015
Philharmonia Orchestra 6 Chancel Street London SE1 0UX Tel 020 7921 3900 Freephone box office 0800 652 6717 Email boxoffice@philharmonia.co.uk philharmonia.co.uk @philharmonia Philharmonia Orchestra philharmonia_orchestra /philharmonialondon /philharmonia Philharmonia Orchestra and Southbank Centre are both registered charities. All the information in this brochure was correct at the time of going to press, but changes may be unavoidable. Art Direction HarrimanSteel Print Cantate Communications Official Paper Supplier Sappi Fine Paper Europe