OCTOBER 2016–JUNE 2017 RESIDENT ORCHESTRA AT CADOGAN HALL
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AT A GLANCE OCTOBER 2016–JUNE 2017 OCTOBER
JANUARY
Sunday 2nd A Letter from America with Garrison Keillor
Wednesday 18th Wolfgang David performs Mendelssohn
Wednesday 12th Elizabeth Sombart performs Chopin
Wednesday 25th Chloë Hanslip performs Sibelius
Friday 21st City of London Choir performs Haydn’s Heiligmesse
Sunday 29th Ning Feng performs Prokofiev
Sunday 23rd Yi-Jia Susanne Hou performs The Butterfly Lovers Concerto Tuesday 25th Anna Fedorova performs Prokofiev
FEBRUARY Tuesday 14th Everlasting Love: Songs of the Sixties
MARCH
NOVEMBER
Tuesday 14th Raphael Wallfisch performs Elgar
Tuesday 29th Jennifer Pike performs Bruch RPO Legacy Concert
Thursday 23rd City of London Choir performs Haydn’s Theresienmesse
DECEMBER
Thursday 30th Vadym Kholodenko performs Prokofiev
Tuesday 6th A Choral Christmas
APRIL Thursday 6th Natasha Paremski performs Rachmaninov
Sunday 18th Christmas Cracker
MAY Thursday 4th Tasmin Little performs Tchaikovsky Tuesday 23rd Danny Driver performs Beethoven
JUNE Friday 16th Jan Mrácˇek performs Beethoven
Photography: Nick Rutter
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WELCOME From October 2016 through to June 2017 the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) continues the celebration of its 70th Anniversary at its resident home, Cadogan Hall, bringing you a variety of repertoire from outstanding international artists. As always, the RPO’s concert series at Cadogan Hall is electric and varied. We are delighted to welcome back distinguished conductor Hilary Davan Wetton to continue his Haydn and Mozart series with the City of London Choir, including a performance of Haydn’s great Theresienmesse. On violin we have Chloë Hanslip performing Sibelius’ immortal Violin Concerto and Tasmin Little performing Tchaikovsky, as other guest soloists include pianists Elizabeth Sombart and Natasha Paremski performing Chopin and Rachmaninov. It is also with great excitement that we welcome the young and dynamic Alexander Shelley who will explore music by eminent composers Prokofiev and Sibelius in a new four-part concert series; Symphonic Soundscapes: The Music of Prokofiev and Sibelius. We look forward to sharing this concert series at Cadogan Hall with you soon.
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OCTOBER 05
Ensure to book early for this rare opportunity to see American author, storyteller, humourist and radio personality, Garrison Keillor in concert. His first in the UK since his sell-out performance at the Royal Festival Hall brings something new and exciting to the Cadogan Hall stage. Garrison Keillor is bestknown for his comic stories based on the fictional Lake Wobegon and his radio programme A Prairie Home Companion. In A Letter from America Garrison casts his eye over small town American life, as he narrates between orchestral interludes and sings humorous songs. This concert is light-hearted, fun and full of whimsical wit. Philip Brunelle Garrison Keillor
Conductor NarratorÂ
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Including songs SURVEYING LAKE WOBEGON WHOOPI TI YI YO WALTZ ME AROUND AGAIN WILLIE GOODBYE TO MY UNCLES PASS ME NOT O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO AUNT EVA and many more
RPO friends discounts apply
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OCTOBER
WEDNESDAY 12TH OCTOBER 2016, 7.30PM Wagner Chopin Beethoven
Tannhäuser Overture Piano Concerto No.2 Symphony No.4
Pierre Vallet Conductor Elizabeth Sombart Piano
In typical Wagnerian style, the Tannhäuser Overture encapsulates the drama of this greatly admired opera with its quasi-Bach chorale opening and dazzling, tormenting middle. Composed at the mere age of twenty, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2 harks back to the likes of Hummel and Mozart whilst including Chopin’s patriotic hallmark, as the finale inhabits the world of Polish folk music. The concert finishes with Beethoven’s sunny and joyous Fourth Symphony.
FRIDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2016, 7.30PM Mozart Mozart Mozart Haydn
Don Giovanni Overture Ave verum corpus Piano Concerto No.20 Mass in B-flat major, ‘Heiligmesse’
Hilary Davan Wetton Conductor Alexandra Dariescu Piano City of London Choir Vocal solos performed by students at the Royal Academy of Music
Back by popular demand, Hilary Davan Wetton conducts the leading City of London Choir for another instalment of music from masters of the Classical era. What better way to open the concert than with Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture, full of orchestral gravitas and oomph. Also joined by vivacious pianist Alexandra Dariescu, the programme includes Mozart’s immensely popular and influential Piano Concerto No.20, his exquisite Ave verum corpus and Haydn’s majestic and moving Heiligmesse. This concert shows off the Classical choral tradition at its best.
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RPO friends discounts apply
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This concert is promoted in association with City of London Choir
OCTOBER 07
SUNDAY 23RD OCTOBER 2016, 7PM Berlioz Chen Gang/He Zhanhao Saint-Saëns Dvorˇák
Le Corsaire Overture The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso Symphony No.9, ‘From the New World’
John Nelson Yi-Jia Susanne Hou
Conductor Violin
Berlioz’s concert overture is remarkable for its rhythmic verve and energy. Composed while holidaying in Nice, this exuberant seascape evokes the play of wind, sea and waves. From French beaches to the Orient, Chen Gang/ He Zhanhao’s programmatic Violin Concerto encapsulates ancient China with its use of oriental sonorities and techniques. This beautiful work is played here by Yi-Jia Susanne Hou, who was praised by world-renowned virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin as ‘absolutely phenomenal’. The lively showpiece Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso is followed by the perennial favourite, Dvorˇák’s ‘New World’ Symphony.
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JUNE – JULY OCTOBER–NOVEMBER
TUESDAY 25TH OCTOBER 2016, 7.30PM Symphonic Soundscapes: The Music of Prokofiev and Sibelius Sibelius Prokofiev Sibelius
The Swan of Tuonela Piano Concerto No.3 Symphony No.2
Alexander Shelley Conductor Anna Fedorova Piano
After roaring success with his From Paris to New York, Alexander Shelley has compiled another series, focusing on music by eminent composers Sibelius and Prokofiev. Conducting and presenting these concerts, the RPO’s Principal Associate Conductor is knowledgeable, dynamic and engaging. Also joining him on stage is the young pianist Anna Fedorova performing Prokofiev’s sublime Third Piano Concerto. From calm and melancholic to powerful and passionate, this concert has something for everyone.
TUESDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 2016, 7.30PM RPO Legacy Concert Mozart Tchaikovsky Bruch Saint-Saëns
The Magic Flute Overture Eugene Onegin: Polonaise Violin Concerto No.1 Symphony No.3, ‘Organ’
Jean-Luc Tingaud Jennifer Pike Jonathan Scott
Conductor Violin Organ
Hailed by The Independent as ‘simply spectacular’, Jennifer Pike joins the RPO for Bruch’s fiendish and heart-wrenching Violin Concerto. Under the direction of Jean-Luc Tingaud, this concert includes much-adored orchestral repertoire as the lively Overture to Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. Rounding out the concert is Saint-Saëns’ epic ‘Organ’ Symphony, famous for pushing the composer to his limits: ‘I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have accomplished here, I will never achieve again.’ This is the RPO’s designated 2016 Legacy Concert, which aims to create awareness around the importance of legacy giving and to thank supporters (members of the RPO 1946 Club) who have pledged to leave a gift to the Orchestra in their Will. For further information, please visit: www.rpo.co.uk/support-us
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DECEMBER 09
TUESDAY 6TH DECEMBER 2016, 7.30PM A Choral Christmas Hilary Davan Wetton Conductor Grace Davidson Soprano City of London Choir
Join the Orchestra and the City of London Choir for a classical Christmas celebration. Led by Hilary Davan Wetton, the programme includes extracts from Handel’s Messiah, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s Carol Symphony, Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio along with a selection of carols by John Rutter, Peter Warlock, John Gardner, William Mathias, Frederick Delius and more.
SUNDAY 18TH DECEMBER 2016, 3PM & 7PM
Christmas er k Crac
Nick Davies Anna-Jane Casey Graham Bickley
Conductor Vocalist Vocalist
New for 2016, we have several additions to the Christmas Cracker programme, including arrangements of Michael Bublé’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), the Eighties’ festive favourite Last Christmas by Wham! and Mariah Carey’s immortal ballad All I Want For Christmas Is You – not forgetting the sing-along carols! With special guest vocalists, this fun, festive concert is back for two delightful performances of sparkling festive songs and music. With Sloane Square in all its Christmassy glory, Christmas Cracker is sure to fill you with good cheer and get your Yuletide celebrations off to a joyful start.
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JANUARY
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WEDNESDAY 18TH JANUARY 2017, 7.30PM David Gompper Mendelssohn Tchaikovsky
Sunburst (UK premiere) Violin Concerto Symphony No.4
Emmanuel Siffert Wolfgang David
Conductor Violin
Opening tonight’s concert is David Gompper’s energetic Sunburst which depicts star formation through an explosive array of tonal colours. The fantastic Austrian violinist, Wolfgang David, continues the drama as he joins the Orchestra for Mendelssohn’s much-loved Violin Concerto; a work of flawless craftsmanship, it moves from passionate longing in the first movement, through soaring melodies in the second, to a whirlwind finish. Concluding the concert is Tchaikovsky’s magnificent Fourth Symphony; a symphony that is dominated by the opening ‘Fate’ motif, but concluding with a jubilant finale.
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JANUARY
The Music of Prokofiev and Sibelius WEDNESDAY 25TH JANUARY 2017, 7.30PM Prokofiev Sibelius Prokofiev
Symphony No.1, ‘Classical’ Violin Concerto Symphony No.3
Alexander Shelley Conductor Chloë Hanslip Violin
One of the most naturally gifted of all Russian composers, Sergei Prokofiev once described his musical personality as a mixture of ‘the classical, innovative, motoric, lyrical and grotesque’. Tonight the RPO performs two contrasting pieces and experience two different sides of his personality. Firstly beginning with his delightful Symphony No.1, ‘Classical’, its classical and lyrical style is completely different to his energetic and bustling Symphony No.3. In between the two symphonies we welcome outstanding British violinist Chloë Hanslip to perform Sibelius’ passionate Violin Concerto.
SUNDAY 29TH JANUARY 2017, 3PM Sibelius Prokofiev Sibelius
Symphony No.1 Violin Concerto No.1 Symphony No.7
Alexander Shelley Conductor Ning Feng Violin
Sibelius’ First Symphony opens the concert with a striking, brooding clarinet solo setting the scene for this melodic masterpiece. Beginning in an equally dramatic vein is Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto, remarkable for its constraint and lyricism, the whole being coloured by a magical, fairytale quality. Sibelius’ tempestuous Symphony No.7 provides a dramatic finish, its single movement full of swelling strings and noble brass, showing off the power and magnitude of the symphony orchestra.
FEBRUARY
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TUESDAY 14TH FEBRUARY 2017, 7.30PM Richard Balcombe Abbie Osmon Alison Jiear Mary Carewe Graham Bickley
Conductor Vocalist Vocalist Vocalist Vocalist
Join the Orchestra for a perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s Day as the RPO performs a sparkling programme of 60s Love Songs. Led by distinguished conductor Richard Balcombe and vocals from Mary Carewe, Abbie Osmon, Alison Jiear and Graham Bickley, this evening’s concert will overflow with unforgettable melodies. The programme consists of many hits including Music To Watch Girls By, At Last, Downtown, MacArthur Park, Everlasting Love, Something Stupid, It’s Not Unusual, God Only Knows along with a medley of 60s TV themes and more.
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MARCH
TUESDAY 14TH MARCH 2017, 7.30PM Wagner Elgar Beethoven
Lohengrin: Prelude to Act 1 Cello Concerto Symphony No.7
Jac van Steen Raphael Wallfisch
Conductor Cello
Wagner likened the strings in his opera Lohengrin to ‘streams of gold, ravishing the senses of the beholder’, and ravish the senses they certainly do! Following this we experience the passion and intensity of Elgar’s Cello Concerto – played here by Raphael Wallfisch – with its opening torturous chords immediately revealing the work’s heart-wrenching emotion. And the drama doesn’t end there, as maestro Jac van Steen leads the Orchestra for Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, a work of nobility and orchestral gravitas.
THURSDAY 23RD MARCH 2017, 7.30PM Mozart Tantum Ergo Mozart Piano Concerto No.24 Haydn Mass in B-flat major, ‘Theresienmesse’ Hilary Davan Wetton Conductor Leon McCawley Piano Grace Davidson Soprano Catherine Carby Mezzo-soprano Nick Pritchard Tenor Tristan Hambleton Baritone City of London Choir
The brooding darkness of this work makes it unique among Mozart’s concertos. Beginning quietly but menacingly, the broadly spanned first movement stands a world apart from the beautiful second movement with its charm and pure tranquillity. Closing the Concerto, Mozart returns to the tragic mood of the opening movement in a whirlwind finale.
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RPO friends discounts apply
This concert is promoted in association with City of London Choir
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MARCH-APRIL
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THURSDAY 30TH MARCH 2017, 7.30PM Symphonic Soundscapes: The Music of Prokofiev and Sibelius Sibelius Prokofiev Sibelius
Tapiola Piano Concerto No.5 Symphony No.5
Alexander Shelley Conductor Vadym Kholodenko Piano
Alexander Shelley continues his series exploring the works of Sibelius and Prokofiev, this time welcoming the young and dynamic Vadym Kholodenko to join him on the main stage. Opening the concert is Sibelius’ Tapiola tone poem, evoking the mysterious world of Finnish mythology. Prokofiev’s Fifth Piano Concerto sets a different scene, exuding a boisterous, buoyant and blustering atmosphere. With Sibelius’ orchestral writing he wanted to capture the whole world and with his Fifth Symphony, he did just that.
THURSDAY 6TH APRIL 2017, 7.30PM Sibelius Rachmaninov Tchaikovsky
Karelia: Suite Piano Concerto No.1 Swan Lake: Ballet Excerpts
Barry Wordsworth Conductor Natasha Paremski Piano
Tonight’s concert opens with Sibelius’ delightful Karelia Suite, which with its boldly scored music and theatrical build ups is somewhat far removed from its original incarnation as a set of musical tableaux depicting significant moments in Finnish history. Next Natasha Paremski takes the lead in Rachmaninov’s youthful First Piano Concerto which is brimming with an audacious energy that pulses throughout the piece. Tchaikovsky’s magnificent Swan Lake: Ballet Excerpts concludes the concert with its instantly recognisable themes, featuring the ever-popular Mazurka, Neapolitan Dance, Spanish Dance and Black Swan.
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MAY
THURSDAY 4TH MAY 2017, 7.30PM Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Overture Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Rachmaninov Symphony No.2 Christoph König Tasmin Little
Conductor Violin
It seems only apt that we begin this summer concert with Wagner’s rousing orchestral opening as we welcome Tasmin Little, an international star of great prestige, to Cadogan Hall. Under Christoph König – a conductor of ‘deep intelligence and musicality’ – Tasmin Little will perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, one of the foremost concertos of the Romantic era. Another Romantic gem rounds out this concert in style, as we hear Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, one of the best loved symphonies of its kind.
TUESDAY 23RD MAY 2017, 7.30PM Schubert Beethoven Brahms
Symphony No.8, ‘Unfinished’ Piano Concerto No.4 Symphony No.4
Mario Venzago Danny Driver
Conductor Piano
The incomplete state of Schubert’s Eighth Symphony has captured the romantic imagination like no other piece of music. With its universally loved themes, it has been the subject of many attempts to complete it; none of them completely successful. In complete contrast follows Beethoven’s glorious Piano Concerto No.4, which abolished formal traditions with a simple statement for solo piano. Closing the concert is Brahms’ Fourth and final Symphony, its finale, a radiant passacaglia, uses every instrument of the orchestra to drive towards the roaring and joyful conclusion.
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JUNE
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FRIDAY 16TH JUNE 2017, 7.30PM Debussy Beethoven Shostakovich
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Violin Concerto Symphony No.5
Martyn Brabbins Jan Mrácˇek
Conductor Violin
Debussy’s symphonic poem tells the tale of a mythical faun, playing his pipes alone in the woods. From the dreamy opening flute tune, the sleepy calm of an afternoon in the forest is evoked through smooth melodies and almost improvisatory passages. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, meanwhile, bridges the gap between Classical and Romantic concerto styles with elegance and wit, culminating in a zesty and spirited finale. This summer concert concludes with Shostakovich’s imposing Fifth Symphony, filled with wonderful melodies and stirring rhythms, it bursts with power and rebellious beauty.
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friends
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JULY
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Cadogan Hall 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ 2 minutes walk from Sloane Square Underground
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Christmas Cracker, Everlasting Love: Songs of the Sixties £48 £38 £28 £18
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Ticket prices £40 £32.50
SEATING PLAN
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www.rpo.co.uk Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 16 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0QT
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Arts Council England All details correct at the time of going to press