Journeys of Discovery

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko

Journeys of Discovery

Sun 2 Oct 2022, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Awakening

Wagner A Faust Overture Grieg Piano Concerto with Simon Trpčeski R. Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra

Sun 23 Oct 2022, 3pm Royal Albert Hall Redemption Mahler Symphony No.8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand’

Wed 8 Feb 2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Ecstasy

Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (excerpts)

Ravel Piano Concerto in G with Javier Perianes Wagner Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod Scriabin The Poem of Ecstasy

Wed 22 Mar 2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Freedom

Beethoven Fidelio: Overture

Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn (excerpts) Beethoven, arr. Mahler Symphony No.9, ‘Choral’

With guest conductor Sir Andrew Davis

Thu 30 Mar 2023, 7.30pm Royal Albert Hall Transcendence Mahler Symphony No.2, ‘Resurrection’

Sun 23 Apr 2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Destiny Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Elgar Cello Concerto with Daniel Müller-Schott Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony

Thu 27 Apr 2023, 7.30pm Royal Albert Hall Dreams Mahler Symphony No.3

Wed 10 May 2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Psychedelia

Jennifer Higdon blue cathedral Prokofiev Violin Concerto No.2 with Arabella Steinbacher Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

Wed 7 Jun 2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Conflict

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 with Nobuyuki Tsujii Shostakovich Symphony No.8

Join the journey rpo.co.uk

Welcome to our

2022-23 LONDON SEASON

What does it mean to be human? What is our place in the world? What are we dreaming of?

These are fundamental questions that humans have pondered for centuries and composers have attempted to answer through music.

This season, join us on a journey through the facets of the human character with music as our guide. Prokofiev will invite you to feel the ecstasy of the first flush of love, Mahler will transport you to a space beyond this world, Berlioz will immerse you in a psychedelic dreamscape and Grieg will guide you through our planet’s breath-taking landscapes.

At the Royal Albert Hall, we bring you Mahler’s three choral symphonies. From the titanic ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ to the illumination of the soul in the ‘Resurrection’ and the natureinfused Symphony No.3, Mahler’s ambition was to create symphonies that would embrace the whole world – I think he achieved this.

A kaleidoscope of sounds greets you at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, from Berlioz’s wild and unpredictable Symphonie Fantastique and the delirium of Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy, through masterpieces such as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (featuring the Ode to Joy and conducted by special guest Sir Andrew Davis)

and Elgar’s Cello Concerto, to moving personal journeys from Jennifer Higdon’s musical memorial to her brother in blue cathedral and inner conflicts woven into Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto.

As live performances have filled concert halls and thrilled audiences once again over the last year, we have all been reminded of the enduring power of music. It can stir the deepest emotions, inspire ideas and creativity, conjure lifelike scenes and take us on magical odysseys, all from the comfort of your auditorium seat. Each listener’s experience is unique, and that’s what makes orchestral music so very special. There is so much to relish within these concerts and we can’t wait to share them with you.

Vasily Petrenko Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Image credit: Ben Wright

Sunday 2 October 2022, 7.30pm

Southbank

Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Awakening

Wagner A Faust Overture Grieg Piano Concerto Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra

This programme starts and ends in utter darkness, casting the moments of light and revelation in sharp relief. In his Overture, Wagner underscores Faust’s pact with the devil with music of fear and trepidation. After its famous sunrise, Strauss’ tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra fades into a question mark at the stroke of midnight.

Both give us heroes that are reaching desperately for enlightenment, either grappling with evil forces or declaring ‘God is dead’. For Faust the struggle is between faith, intellect and passion. For the prophet Zarathustra, only humanity can solve its own riddles.

Perhaps inviting you to embrace the simpler pleasures in life is Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Its melodic richness is, by turns, inspired by folk fiddle dances and echoes the beauty of the Norwegian fjords.

Vasily Petrenko Conductor Simon Trpčeski Piano Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Sunday 23 October 2022, 3pm

Royal Albert Hall

Redemption

Mahler

Symphony No.8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand’

‘Can you imagine a symphony that is, from beginning to end, song?’

This was the ambitious vision that struck Mahler ‘like lightning’ and had him composing in a frenzy. Within three months, he had sketched his most epic work, echoing religious themes from earlier symphonies while taking them to a whole new level.

The first half is a celebration of the divine spirit. The second half, inspired by Goethe’s Faust, starts with ‘woodlands wavering into view’ and ends with dazzling visions of angels and the life eternal. From the thundering organ chord and the double choir of the opening to the amassed brass at the end, the Symphony delivers its message of redemption with the largest forces imaginable on stage.

Vasily Petrenko Conductor

Sarah Wegener Soprano

Jacquelyn Wagner Soprano

Regula Mühlemann Soprano

Jennifer Johnston Mezzo-soprano

Claudia Huckle Contralto

Vincent Wolfsteiner Tenor

Michael Nagy Baritone James Platt Bass

Philharmonia Chorus

Bournemouth Symphony Chorus City of London Choir Tiffin Boys’ Choir Schola Cantorum of The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the support of RPO President, Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet.

Wednesday 8 February 2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Ecstasy

Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (excerpts) Ravel Piano Concerto in G Wagner Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod Scriabin The Poem of Ecstasy

These are works that operate at the edges of our experience: fantasy meets myth, the soul escapes its earthly bounds, and where the passion of young love consumes all before it. To capture such ecstatic states requires a special gift.

Prokofiev and Wagner give new life to the tales of star-crossed lovers, whether Romeo and Juliet or Tristan and Isolde. Scriabin then takes Wagner’s theme of transfiguration to the point of full orchestral explosion in his Poem of Ecstasy. ‘Like a bath of ice, cocaine and rainbows’ was how American writer and artist Henry Miller described it.

Ravel offers a moment to step back from the emotional fray with his piano concerto, capturing the innocent excitement and wonder of a child. The simple allure of the music belies much sophistication.

Petrenko Conductor Javier Perianes Piano Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Vasily

Wednesday 22 March 2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Freedom

Beethoven

Fidelio: Overture Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn (excerpts)

Beethoven, arr. Mahler Symphony No.9, ‘Choral’

Beethoven only wrote one opera, a swashbuckling romance called Fidelio, but he came up with four overtures for it. This one is the final word, offering a compact and dramatic account of the opera’s main themes of persecution, freedom and sacrifice.

Sir Andrew Davis also conducts two works that bear the mark of Mahler: his setting of the folk songs and texts called Youth’s Magic Horn and his arrangement of Beethoven’s Symphony No.9.

This Symphony is the culmination of Beethoven’s genius, and the dramatic finale, which sets the words of Schiller’s Ode to Joy, has been adopted as an anthem of freedom, hope and solidarity across the world.

This concert is kindly supported by

Sir Andrew Davis Conductor Elizabeth Watts Soprano Claudia Huckle Contralto Nicky Spence Tenor Matthew Brook Bass-baritone The Bach Choir Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Thursday 30 March 2023, 7.30pm

Royal Albert Hall

Transcendence

Mahler Symphony No.2, ‘Resurrection’

Mahler’s ode to life may end in glory, but the route there is full of twists and turns. Burlesque folk tunes sit alongside funeral marches, gentle nocturnes alongside storms. In Mahler’s deft hands, what might otherwise be jarring juxtapositions become vital pieces of the overall jigsaw. His Second Symphony is a panorama of life, death and resurrection, the musical equivalent of a vast Michelangelo mural.

With the glorious choral finale, Mahler provides his own unique response to the challenge set by Beethoven in his Ninth Symphony: how to bring voices into the symphonic ideal. Having been through the twisting journey, we find ourselves, as Mahler wrote in his own programme notes, in a place where there is ‘no judgement… no punishment and no reward. Just an overwhelming love illuminates our being. We know, and are.’

Vasily Petrenko Conductor Elizabeth Watts Soprano Jennifer Johnston Mezzo-soprano Philharmonia Chorus Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the support of RPO President, Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet.

Sunday 23 April

2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Destiny

Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Elgar Cello Concerto Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony

Right from the jaunty trio of bassoons that dance the first theme of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Dukas offers us a masterclass in orchestral colour. Each episode of Goethe’s ballad is imagined in playful detail, from the march of the brooms to the raucous mayhem that ensues.

Elgar’s Cello Concerto brings us back to the sombre realities of life. Partly a lament for the First World War, and written in the autumn of his life, it yearns for a simpler, untainted past. It is a moment of contemplation in an otherwise energetic programme.

In Byron’s dramatic poem and ghost story, Manfred is a man tormented by guilt and remorse who uses the dark arts to summon spirits to help him forget his past and escape his fate. Tchaikovsky’s music makes the perfect partner for Manfred’s travails while also delighting in his escapes into fantasy. The work contains both the lightest, most impressionistic moments and the loudest climax he ever wrote.

Vasily Petrenko Conductor Daniel Müller-Schott Cello Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Unfortunately, Truls Mørk is no longer able to perform due to illness. We are grateful to Daniel Müller-Schott for stepping in. The programme remains unchanged.

Thursday 27 April 2023, 7.30pm Royal Albert Hall

Dreams

Mahler Symphony No.3

Mahler’s famous quote about ‘embracing the world’ in his symphonies finds its fullest expression in this, his longest symphony. In six movements he charts the evolution of nature and mankind. The elemental power of summer is set against the delicacy of the natural world; the dark night of the soul is broken by the sounds of angels and a ‘great summons’ to love more deeply than ever before. A symphony filled with music of life-enhancing physicality and breath-taking melodic beauty, it is a story of such breadth and ambition that only Mahler could have dreamed of it, let alone write it.

Vasily Petrenko Conductor Hanna Hipp Mezzo-soprano Philharmonia Chorus Tiffin Boys’ Choir Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the support of RPO President, Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet.

Wednesday 10 May 2023, 7.30pm Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Psychedelia

Jennifer Higdon blue cathedral Prokofiev Violin Concerto No.2 Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

Higdon’s blue cathedral is a deeply moving aural experience, both an enthralling concerto for orchestra and a memorial to her recently deceased brother. The listener is beckoned in by ethereal bells before being swept into a cathedral-like space that invites the ‘ecstatic expansion of the soul.’

If you like Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, then you will love his Second Violin Concerto that was written in the same period. It shares the same deeply romantic melodies and youthful energy of the ballet, but with surprises around each corner.

Berlioz’s zany Symphonie Fantastique is equally unpredictable, hallucinatory, even unhinged at times. The work’s protagonist has been spurned by the woman he adores and so chases her in a series of dreams that get ever more desperate. Berlioz captures everything along the way, from gentle yearning to feverish, overwhelming passion.

Vasily Petrenko Conductor Arabella Steinbacher Violin Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Wednesday 7 June 2023, 7.30pm

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Conflict

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 Shostakovich Symphony No.8

Tchaikovsky laboured long and hard on his First Piano Concerto, revising it three times. The result was a work that has stood the test of time, shooting its arrow direct to the heart. All sentiments are there in tension with each other: fury, serenity, joy, and – of course – passion. Shostakovich’s response to the unfathomable losses of the Second World War was to write a work that did not shy away from the ugliness and chaos of the indiscriminate suffering that had been unleashed. As is so often the case with his music, listening to the Eighth Symphony offers a catharsis, moving from unrelenting pressure to finding final release.

‘All that is dark and evil rots away, and beauty triumphs,’ wrote the composer. And yet the hallmark of Shostakovich is his ambiguity. After the pain and suffering, can anything ever be the same again?

Vasily Petrenko Conductor Nobuyuki Tsujii Piano Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the support and enthusiasm of its Corporate Partners.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a Registered Charity, number 244533.

RPO Resound

For over 25 years RPO Resound has been at the forefront of using music-making to enrich the lives of people in communities across the UK and internationally. Whether we’re working in prisons, primary schools, universities, healthcare settings or bringing people into our concert venues for the very first time, we believe music is for everyone and integral to happy, healthy and connected communities.

“I have gained hope, happiness and strength [from taking part]. Thank you for the music, the song, all of it.” Lullaby Project participant (refugee/asylum seeker)

“It was the first time he was motivated, it was the first time he had socialised... It was the first time I saw him smile in 3 months!” STROKESTRA® carer

“This was the most challenging and rewarding piece of volunteering I have ever done. I expected the representatives from the RPO to be expert musicians but I was even more impressed with their warmth, empathy and boundless enthusiasm.” Northern Trust volunteer

With your support, RPO Resound can continue to deliver these pioneering projects. To find out how you can make a difference, please contact Huw Davies (Deputy Managing Director/ Business Development Director) on 020 7608 8825 or daviesh@rpo.co.uk

How To Book

Royal Albert Hall

Tickets: £55.50 – £10.50

How to book Online: royalalberthall.com Phone: 020 7589 8212

Ticket prices include fees and levy, and may be subject to change based on demand.

Hospitality dining packages available, see royalalberthall.com for details.

Group discounts

Groups save up to 35% off all ticket prices, with tickets from £5 for school, college and university parties available for all performances. Visit rpo.co.uk/groups for details.

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Tickets: £50 – £10

How to book

Online: southbankcentre.co.uk Phone: 020 3879 9555 Booking fees apply online (£3.50) and over the phone (£4). There are no booking fees for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Join the RPO Club

RPO Club members save 50% on up to two tickets for each of these concerts.

From just £12.50 per month, you can support the work of the RPO and receive benefits including priority booking and complimentary tickets.

See rpo.co.uk/club or call 020 7608 8840 for details and to join.

All details correct at time of going to press. Artists may be subject to change. Notes by Jonathan James, jonathanjamesmusic.com.