Fortissimo - September 2014

More music for less!

RPO friends’ newsletter – September 2014

W

elcome

ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is delighted to bring you its latest news, including highlights of recent tours and education projects, as well as details of its BRAND NEW series of ‘own-promotion’ concerts during 2015, for which friends save 50% on tickets. We look forward to seeing you at an RPO concert soon!

Royal Albert Hall – Spring 2015 The RPO is proud to present its exciting new series within the awe-inspiring surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall, featuring classic film scores, triumphant masterpieces, hit Broadway and West End numbers and much more. Don’t miss a special tribute to the memorable songs from West Side Story in Best of Broadway, excerpts from the unforgettable ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker in Tchaikovsky Gala, a tribute to The Beatles’ No.1 hits in Symphonic Rock and a tribute to the futuristic scores of sci-fi blockbusters in Film Music Gala. Please see the enclosed flyers for full details. Tickets are £62–£19 (before discounts and inclusive of booking fees). To book, please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends or phone the RPO office.

BRAND NEW concerts at Cadogan Hall The RPO looks forward to returning to the elegant and intimate Cadogan Hall next spring for an outstanding series of concerts, featuring world-class artists and composers. Look out for our brand new brochure, which will be sent to you later this autumn. In the meantime, let us whet your appetite with these forthcoming highlights!

Valentine’s Classics – Friday 13th February 2015, 7.30pm Principal Associate Conductor Grzegorz Nowak (pictured) conducts Mendelssohn’s much-loved Violin Concerto in E minor, featuring the talented soloist Robert Davidovici, as well as other passionate classics, including excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Bizet’s Carmen.

Beethoven’s Finest – Tuesday 31st March 2015, 7.30pm Josep Caballé Domenech conducts Beethoven’s turbulent Symphony No.2, his extraordinary Piano Concerto No.1 – performed by firm-favourite soloist Freddy Kempf (pictured) – and his sparkling Symphony No.4.

Russian Masterworks – Tuesday 28th April 2015, 7.30pm Garry Walker conducts Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.2 – featuring one of the UK’s finest pianists Martin Roscoe (pictured) – and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6, ‘Pathétique’. Tickets are £40–£15 (before discounts). For more information about this upcoming series or to book, please phone the RPO office.

RPO friends’ benefits – at a glance!

- Half-price tickets to RPO ‘own-promotion’ concerts in London (up to two tickets per concert) - Priority ticket allocation and dedicated booking line - FREE passes to RPO ‘own-promotion’ rehearsals in London (two per rehearsal; please contact us to book) - 10% off house wine and the tea/coffee & cake deal at Cadogan Hall (please show your friends’ card at the bar) - Discounted CDs RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends, phone 020 7608 8855 (M–F, 10–6) or email friends@rpo.co.uk.

Player Profile Duncan Riddell RPO Leader What inspired you to become involved with music?

My father was a music master in a grammar school and my mother was an amateur violinist. It was normal for me to hear classical music all the time and my parents encouraged me to take up the violin.

What is the best thing about being a member of the RPO? There are many great things, such as enormous variety in the kind of work we do, touring fascinating places with such artists as Charles Dutoit and Pinchas Zukerman, and also a special team spirit.

If you were to play a different instrument, which would it be?

I can’t really imagine playing an instrument other than the violin, but the horns do sometimes get the most amazing melodies!

What are your future ambitions?

At this stage in my career, they would be simply to continue improving on the standards that have got me this far.

What was the first recording you ever bought and when was it?

Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto.

I was aged 10!

What do you listen to in your spare time?

You can’t beat great orchestras playing great repertoire led by great conductors. Very uplifting.

The RPO at Christmas!

Swinging Sixties at Christmas Due to the overwhelming popularity of its Christmas shows, the RPO proudly presents a BRAND NEW festive concert: Swinging Sixties at Christmas at Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 17th December 2014 at 7.30pm.

Richard Balcombe conducts chart-topping 60s songs and your favourite Christmas jingles, with hits from classic stars of the decade, including Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, The Mamas and the Papas, The Beach Boys and The Walker Brothers, and featuring guest vocalists Mary Carewe, Alison Jiear, Emma Kershaw and Graham Bickley!

Please see the enclosed flyer for full details. Tickets are £48–£18 (before discounts). To book, please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends or phone the RPO office. Remember that on presentation of your valid RPO friends’ membership card, you can also book in person at Cadogan Hall and obtain 50% off your tickets.

Christmas Tickets Still Available for Friends!

Although both concerts are practically sold-out, we do still have a priority allocation of tickets available to RPO friends for John Rutter’s Christmas Celebration on Thursday 11th December 2014 (3pm & 7.30pm) at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as limited availability for Christmas Cracker on Saturday 20th December 2014 (3pm & 7.30pm) at Cadogan Hall. Tickets range from £62–£18 (before discounts). Please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends to book or phone the RPO office.

Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Charles Dutoit (pictured) is joined by a host of outstanding soloists on Tuesday 27th January 2015 at 7.30pm for one of the highlights of the Orchestra’s 2014–2015 series at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall: a concert performance of Bartók’s operatic masterpiece Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, alongside Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.2, as interpreted by the inimitable Marc-André Hamelin. Tickets are £58–£10 (before discounts). For more information about this concert and others in this delectable series or to book, please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends or phone the RPO office.

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends, phone 020 7608 8855 (M–F, 10–6) or email friends@rpo.co.uk.

RPO resound Lisa Rodio (Community and Education Co-ordinator) updates us with all the latest news from RPO resound, the Orchestra’s community and education department: “This summer has been a busy and exciting time for RPO resound! During June and July, our innovative year-long programme with Westminster Music Library, Behind the Lines (pictured), continued to deliver World War I themed workshops in local primary schools, as well as offering community workshops for adults and families.

“During August, the Behind the Lines programme culminated in RPO resound’s four-day summer school (pictured), which included an intergenerational group of musicians, vocalists and RPO professionals who researched music written by composers who lived and/or died during the Great War or who were influenced by it. These participants then created their own piece of music, depicting a day in the life on the front lines and performed its premiere at St John’s Smith Square to an audience of family and friends and to important members of the Westminster community.

“Also during August, RPO resound continued its 10-year partnership with the London Borough of Newham with a creative project featuring young musicians from the borough’s Every Child a Musician (ECaM) programme (pictured). Participants of this programme worked with RPO musicians over four days to devise their own piece based on Elgar’s Enigma Variations, which they then performed alongside the full RPO at the borough’s annual Under the Stars Festival.”

If you would like to find out any further information about RPO resound, including how you can offer your support, please contact Ruth Currie (Head of Community and Education) on 020 7608 8800.

News & Moves: RPO Players The Orchestra is delighted to welcome Michelle Bruil as No.4 Viola and Shana Douglas as No.5 First Violin. It also looks forward to welcoming Chris West as No.2 Double Bass in December. A very sad goodbye to Tom Watmough (Co-Principal Clarinet) who left this month, after having been with the RPO since 2006, to join the London Philharmonic.

News & Moves: RPO Office This summer, the RPO office was very sorry to say goodbye to: Caterina Osman (Musicians’ Payroll Officer), who worked with us for over 10 years and left to pursue new goals; Alec Haylor (Community & Education Co-ordinator, who worked with RPO resound since 2010) and Alice Rumsey (Regional Marketing Co-ordinator), who both left to train to become secondary school music teachers; Hannah Taylor (Community & Education Officer), who worked with RPO resound since 2011 and left to work at London Music Masters; and Veronica Jackson (Marketing Volunteer), who now works for the Royal Academy of Dance. At the end of this month, we say farewell to Emily CareweJeffries (Special Projects Assistant – maternity cover), who leaves to focus on the performance side of her career. We wish them all the very best for their futures!

This autumn, we warmly welcome: Kevin Hollands as Musicians’ Payroll Officer, who joins us from the LSO; two Community & Education Co-ordinators: Lisa Rodio, who joins us from the Young Film Academy, and Sophie Plumb, who joins us from Soundhub Music Education; Rosalie Carter as Regional Marketing Co-ordinator, who joins us from G Live, Guildford; and also John Bowker as Marketing Volunteer, who studied Musicology at Oxford University.

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends, phone 020 7608 8855 (M–F, 10–6) or email friends@rpo.co.uk.

The Great Classics 2014 During the start of its 2014–2015 concert season, which begins this autumn, the Orchestra looks forward to returning to the monumental Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 19th October 2014 at 3pm to perform an afternoon of classical favourites from the Romantic era. Featuring Rossini’s lively William Tell Overture, Rachmaninov’s passionate Piano Concerto No.2, performed by the talented Natasha Paremski (pictured), and Dvořák’s rousing ‘New World’ Symphony – this splendid matinee concert is one not to be missed! Tickets are £49–£12 (before discounts and inclusive of booking fees). To book, please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends or phone the RPO office.

RPO on Tour Rosi Callery (Tours and Special Projects Assistant) brings us the recent highlights: “The RPO enjoyed multiple summer touring highlights this year, performing in France, Germany, Mexico and China. The Orchestra hadn’t visited Mexico in over five years, so it was particularly exciting to perform in the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, with Principal Guest Conductor Maestro Pinchas Zukerman. Across two concerts, the RPO performed (amongst other works) Beethoven’s Symphonies No.3 & 7 and his Violin Concerto. The Orchestra was also lucky enough to perform an unstaged version of La bohème in Paris with some exceptional soloists, which went down brilliantly.

“Since then, the RPO toured to China with a programme of film music, starting up in Harbin (which is almost in Russia) before moving down to Tianjin, near Beijing (pictured). The final tour of the summer included an outdoor concert in Potsdam, Germany, in the beautiful setting of Sanssouci Park (pictured right, featuring RPO player Fraser Gordon’s contrabassoon!). Coming up this autumn, the Orchestra, conducted by Charles Dutoit, looks forward to concerts in Montreux, followed by a tour to Switzerland, Austria and Italy.”

Grzegorz Nowak conducts Mussorgsky In the RPO’s latest CD release, Grzegorz Nowak conducts masterful works by the great Modest Mussorgsky, including Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on the Bare Mountain. £8 for RPO friends (R.R.P. £10). To order, please call 020 7608 8837. A full list of RPO CDs can be found online at www.rpo.co.uk/shop.

We hope that you have enjoyed this edition of fortissimo and we hope to see you at an RPO concert soon.

We’d like to remind you that booking online for RPO concerts using your 50% discount is easy and safe at www.rpo.co.uk/friends. If you haven’t yet had your membership number set up for you on the backend of our website in order for you to receive the discount, please let us know and we will do this for you.

With best wishes, Jo Thomson (Friends’ & Groups’ Manager) and the rest of the RPO marketing team!

Chris Evans Rosalie Carter Natasha Allery John Bowker Doran Crowhurst Director of Press & Regional Marketing Marketing Assistant Marketing Volunteer Programme Editor Marketing Co-ordinator RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends, phone 020 7608 8855 (M–F, 10–6) or email friends@rpo.co.uk.