RCM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Friday 30 June 2017 7.30pm | Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall Jac van Steen conductor Jamal Aliyev cello RCM Symphony Orchestra
RCM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Friday 30 June 2017, 7.30pm Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall Jac van Steen conductor Jamal Aliyev cello RCM Symphony Orchestra Dvořák (1841–1904)
Cello Concerto in B minor op 104 i Allegro ii Adagio ma non troppo iii Finale. Allegro moderato
(40’)
Ligeti (1923–2006)
Lontano
(11’)
Bartók (1881–1945)
Concerto for Orchestra Sz 116 BB 123 (36’) i Introduzione: Andante non troppo ii Presentando le coppie: Allegro scherzando iii Elegia: Andante non troppo iv Intermezzo Interrotto: Allegretto v Finale: Pesante — Presto
INTERVAL
The RCM Symphony Orchestra and Jac van Steen perform Bartók's thrilling Concerto for Orchestra, where players from each orchestral section exhibit the virtuosity of their instruments, in our final orchestral concert this summer. The programme also includes Ligeti’s atmospheric Lontano (featured in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining) and Dvořák's lyrical and rhythmically inventive Cello Concerto, performed by RCM Concerto Competition winner Jamal Aliyev.
Dvořák Cello Concerto in B minor op 104 Antonín Dvořák’s second cello concerto was the composer’s last solo concerto, and was written for the cellist Hanuš Wihan. The composition of this work took place between Autumn 1894 and February 1895, during the last part of his two-and-ahalf-year stay in New York as Director of the National Conservatoire of Music. Dvořák was 53 years old and at the peak of his career as a composer (this was the time he also composed Symphony no 9 From the New World and String Quartet no 12 American). After he returned to his native Bohemia in April 1895, Dvořák made some revisions to the work including introducing a song-like melody to be played by the solo cello with the orchestra towards the end of the third movement. Characteristics of this magnificent piece include the beautiful and lyrical melodies full of nostalgia for Bohemia, and the powerful, heroic and elegiac storytelling. The virtuosity of the solo cello part and the tremendous orchestral colours are both enjoyable and memorable. The world premiere was given at the Queen’s Hall, London on 19 March 1896. It is said that Brahms listened to this piece and sighed, ‘if I had known a person could compose such a cello concerto, I would have done it myself’. Perhaps it is a pity for all cellists that Brahms died several months after that. © Yuki Ito
Ligeti Lontano In the year 1967 there were many significant musical events including the opening of Queen Elizabeth Hall, the release of the Beatle’s album Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the first British win of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was also the year György Ligeti composed Lontano, a work he described as ‘a window on long submerged dream worlds of childhood’. Throughout Lontano different sonorities appear and then dissipate – a result of the compositional technique Ligeti defined as ‘intervallic-harmonic thought process’. At the core of this compositional process is polyphony; two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody. Ligeti declared ‘its harmonic effect represents the intrinsic musical action: what is on the page is polyphony; but what is heard is harmony.’ The uneasiness and unbearable tension of the resulting harmonies have placed Lontano in an ideal position as a film score; appearing in Shutter Island (2010) and The Shining (1980). The Shining was directed by Stanley Kubrick who used Ligeti’s music in multiple films including Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). © Alec Coles-Aldridge (RCM, BMus, Year 3)
Bartók Concerto for Orchestra Sz 116 BB 123 Bartók’s years in the United States were dogged by financial insecurity and ill health. In 1943, he was invited to give a series of lectures at Harvard University which would provide him with much needed income. In the event he was prevented from giving more than three of these both because of exhaustion and illness (a mysterious precursor of the leukemia that was to prove terminal). The conductor Serge Koussevitsky had been alerted to Bartók’s plight by Fritz Reiner and Joseph Szigeti, and commissioned an orchestral work in memory of his late wife, Nathalie. To avoid any suggestion of personal charity, the $1000 fee for the work was to be officially paid for by the Koussevitsky Foundation. Bartók started composing the Concerto for Orchestra on 15 August 1943 at Saranac Lake, New York, and had completed it by 8 October of the same year. The first performance was given on 1 December 1944 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Koussevitsky himself. The title reflects Bartók’s admiration for the virtuosity of the orchestra: in a programme note written for the premiere he wrote that ‘the title...is explained by its tendency to treat the single orchestral instruments in a concertant or soloistic manner.’ © Charles Wiffen, 2000
Jac van Steen Jac van Steen was born in The Netherlands and studied orchestra and choral conducting at the Brabants Conservatory of Music. Since participating in the BBC Conductors Seminar in 1985, he enjoys a very busy career and conducts the best orchestras in The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany, which included holding the post of Music Director and Chief Conductor of the National Ballet of The Netherlands, the orchestras of Bochum and Nürenberg, the Staatskapelle Weimar, The Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra of Dortmund, Musikkollegium Winterthur and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Prague Symphony Orchestra. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. He made his debut with Opera North in 2013 as well as with the Volksoper in Vienna. In 2015 he has made a very successful debut at the Garsington Opera. In 2015–16 Jac van Steen visited the UK regularly for various engagements with the British orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, the CBSO, Opera North and Ulster Orchestra. In the present season he returned to Opera North with very successful performances of Puccini’s Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica, the Volksoper Vienna with Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane and made his debut in Tokyo with the New Japan Philharmonic with an all-American programme. He will return to Garsington Opera with a production of Debussy’s Pelléas and Mélisande. Jac van Steen has participated in numerous recordings for the BBC, as well as live broadcasts of his concerts. There are a substantial number of CD recordings of his work with various orchestras. Besides his activities as conductor, he is dedicated to teaching and is a Professor of Conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague. He also regularly works with the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music (Manchester) as well as the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music (London).
Jamal Aliyev Jamal Aliyev is in his fourth year of the undergraduate programme studying at the Royal College of Music with Thomas Carroll. He is a BBC Introducing Classical Artist and recently released his debut album with Anna Fedorova called Russian Masters. Jamal has appeared on BBC Radio 3 regularly since 2012 when he was first invited to perform on In Tune. Other radio and television appearances include Medici TV, London Live TV, Moscow 24 TV, Romania TV and Classic FM. Jamal has performed in various festivals including the Menuhin Festival in Switzerland, Kronberg Festival in Germany and Enescu Festival in Romania. Additionally, he has been the first prize winner of international competitions including The Arts Club – Sir Karl Jenkins Music Award (2017) and Musicians Company Prince’s Prize (2017). Jamal has won the RCM Concerto Competition and Cello Competition and he has recently become an artist of Kirkman Society in London. Jamal has collaborated as a soloist with orchestras such as the Presidential Symphony and Bilkent Symphony orchestras of Turkey, Guildford Symphony Orchestra and Orpheus Sinfonia.
Jamal Aliyev is generously supported by the Neville Wathen Scholarship, Amaryllis Fleming Award, Hattori Foundation, Stephen Bell Trust, Florian Leonhard Fine Violins, Kathleen Trust, Worshipful Musicians Company, The Arts Club, Sir Karl Jenkins, Martin Trust, Talent Unlimited and the Bowerman family. Jamal Aliyev plays a cello made by Giovanni Battista Gabrielli in 1756, on loan from a patron of the Beare’s International Violin Society.
RCM Symphony Orchestra The Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra plays with conductors and musicians of the highest international stature, and is frequently invited to perform in prestigious venues across London and beyond. The orchestra also performs regularly at its home in South Kensington, and its concerts are broadcast live to an international audience via the RCM website. Equally at home in classical, romantic and contemporary repertoire, the RCM Symphony Orchestra enjoys close relationships with some of the world’s most celebrated conductors, including Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Jurowski, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jac van Steen and Nicholas Collon. Their willingness to return is evidence of the consistently high standards of playing that the RCM orchestral musicians achieve. The members of the RCM Symphony Orchestra are some of the world’s very best young instrumentalists. They have chosen to study at the RCM because of its unrivalled blend of superlative teaching, extensive performance opportunities, and close connections with the orchestral profession. In addition to the many professors who are active professional instrumentalists, the RCM participates in side-by-side and other experience schemes with, amongst others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of English National Opera, the Philharmonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This enables students to experience professional conditions and achieve professional standards before they graduate. The RCM’s long tradition of high-quality orchestral training has launched the careers of many distinguished orchestral players over several decades. Founded in 1882, the RCM moved to its present site on Prince Consort Road in 1894. Illustrious alumni include Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Thomas Allen, Sir Colin Davis, John Wilson, Alina Ibragimova, Gerald Finley and Sarah Connolly. In addition to its 800 full time students, the College engages dynamically with a wider and more diverse community of children and adults through a dedicated range of creative activities delivered by RCM Sparks’ education and participation projects, RCM Junior Department programme and the Creative Careers Centre. A further development is the growing schedule of live-streamed concerts and masterclasses which can be viewed on www.rcm.ac.uk. The RCM would like to thank the following orchestral coaches: Ben Palmer (preparation conductor & tutti strings), Gabrielle Lester (violin), Caroline Harrison (viola), Timothy Walden (cello), Enno Senft (double bass), Clare Thompson (tutti strings), Timothy Lines (woodwind), Charlotte Seale (harp) and Byron Fulcher (brass; woodwind, brass, percussion & harp)
Violin I Laia Braun Emma Purslow Paula Sanz Alasa Charlie Westhoff Eleonora Consta Patrizia Lichtscheidl Bar Markovich Juhee Yang Bethan Allmand Shi Ling Chin Yi Lee Eloise MacDonald Luis Rodriguez Lax Tory Sawyer Stefano D’Ermenegildo Violin II Rosa Hartley Assya Nurzhigitova Leon Keuffer Christopher Quaid Freya Goldmark Wei-Ting Wu David Horvat Dominique Bespalov Christopher Cohen Rosina Acosta Maria Mazzarini Tzu-Fan Tang Viola May Dolan Ana Alves Pippa Bint Joanna Patrick Duncan Commin Marsailidh Groat Hardy Johan Hoeglind Dominica Hallstead Nicholas Hughes Jenny Key Liam Johnson Cello Lydia Dobson Joe Davies Donald Robinson Riccardo Pes Naomi Tran Florian Belbeoch Haeun Kim Jo Dee Yeoh Lily Hope Arjun Ganguly
Bass Samuel Beck-Johnson Philip Nelson Alfie Harries Lucia Polo Moreno Daniel Tancredi Matt Begg Thea Butterworth Evangeline Tang Flute Dvořák Taylor MacLennan Kristin Hammerseth (pic) Bartók & Ligeti Kristin Hammerseth Taylor MacLennan Dan Scott (pic) Tanja Kvitnes (alto) Oboe Dvořák Hannah Tyler David Hasler Bartók & Ligeti David Hasler Hannah Tyler Alec Harmon Marta Perales Mora (cor) Clarinet Dvořák Elliot Gresty Will Knight Bartók & Ligeti Will Knight Elliot Gresty Jake Hinson (bass) Camellia Johnson (contra bass) Bassoon Dvořák Emma Westley Matt Lewis Bartók & Ligeti Matt Lewis Emma Westley Rachel Hurst (contra) Peter Bolton (contra)
Horn Fabian Van De Geest Sarah Johnson Jacob Bagby Arianne Rooney Jack Pilcher May Trumpet Dvořák & Ligeti Tom Griffiths Erika Curbelo Antoine Sarkar Bartók Jack Wilson Peter Athans Antoine Sarkar Trombone Jonathan Hollick Ross Lumbard Andrew Crampton (bass) Tuba Ollie Brooks Timpani Stefan Beckett Percussion Alun McNeil-Watson Tom Hollister Harp Ines Cavalheiro Imogen Ridge Personnel correct at the time of going to print. Italics denote section principals.
Music has the power to transform lives. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, generations of gifted students from around the world have been nurtured and trained at the RCM. We would like to thank in particular our More Music Founding Patrons and Leadership Supporters, as well as those who have made donations of £5,000 or more between May 2016 and May 2017. Gifts are listed alphabetically in order of surname. More Music Founding Patrons ABRSM The Estate of George Frederick Burgan The Estate of Basil Coleman Heritage Lottery Fund The Estate of Christopher Hogwood CBE HonDMus Kingdom Music Education Group Rena & Sandro Lavery The Estate of Neville Wathen Leadership Supporters The Derek Butler Trust Philip Carne MBE HonRCM & Christine Carne The Estate of John & Marjorie Coultate The Foyle Foundation The Future of Russia Foundation The Garfield Weston Foundation Linda Hill HonRCM & Dr Tony Hill The Leverhulme Trust The Mirfield Trust The Julia & Hans Rausing Trust The Estate of Michael Rimmer The Estate of Emma Rose Soirée d’Or Scholarships Major Supporters Jane Barker CBE Laurie Barry In memory of Lady Chelmsford Meredith & Denis Coleman Peter & Annette Dart Gisela Gledhill The Harbour Foundation The Headley Trust HEFCE Help Musicians UK John Lewis Partnership Kirby Laing Foundation Philip Loubser Foundation Sir Charles & Lady Mackerras The Estate of William Mealings Rosemary Millar HonRCM & Richard Millar The Countess of Munster Musical Trust John Nickson & Simon Rew P F Charitable Trust The Polonsky Foundation PRS for Music Foundation The Pure Land Foundation The Reed Foundation & The Big Give Christmas Challenge The Estate of Olive Gwendoline Rees Geoffrey Richards HonRCM & Valerie Richards
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VOICES OF REVOLUTION: YOUTH AND OPTIMISM Thursday 26 October 2017, 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor Daniel Kharitonov piano RCM Symphony Orchestra Kabalevsky The Comedians Suite op 26 Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no 1 in F sharp minor op 1 Shostakovich Symphony no 1 in F minor op 10 The RCM Symphony Orchestra returns to London’s Royal Festival Hall to perform an all-Russian programme under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy, in the centenary of the Russian Revolution. "My music is a product of my temperament and so it is Russian music." So said Rachmaninov of his compositional style, whose First Piano Concerto reflects all the youthful freshness of a student composer. Similarly written whilst studying, Shostakovich’s symphonic masterpiece arguably remains one of the finest first symphonies ever composed, gaining worldwide recognition after its premiere. Performed alongside these works is Kabalevsky's The Comedians suite. Kabalevsky focused on writing lighter music for children – his playful and mischievous suite portrays a whimsical group of travelling entertainers. This concert is part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Voices of Revolution: Russia 1917 series. Tickets: £5, £10, £15, £20, £25 RCM Box Office 020 7591 4314 | www.rcm.ac.uk/events
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