Nottingham classics 2013 2014 Season Brochure by Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

International Concert Season 2013-2014

Cover image: Vladimir Ashkenazy © Keith Saunders

International Concert Season 2013-2014

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Hear more hair-raising sounds for less!

SPECTACULAR

2013-2014 is one of our most spectacular seasons for many years so why not enjoy more of the great music on offer by becoming a subscriber? Just book three concerts or more in advance and you can make big savings on your ticket purchases as much as £115 if you’re booking for the whole season. Subscribing also helps you to make space in a busy diary for some quality time.

Jaw-dropping concerts at a special price

Become a full season subscriber and get four extra concerts free!

Mix it up with a flexible subscription

If you book in advance for all 12 Subscription Series Concerts then you get 25% off all your tickets and a free ticket to hear the BBC Philharmonic’s Discovering Britten Concert on 20 November - that’s four concerts free when compared with the price you’d pay if you booked them all separately. 12-concert subscribers also get an exclusive 25% discount on tickets for the Philharmonia Orchestra gala concert on 30 April.

We’ve made it really easy to subscribe with our Spectacular Six package. This brings together the biggest, loudest and most exciting concerts in the season - a full choice of seats, big savings and guaranteed thrills! Each Spectacular Six concert is clearly marked in the brochure.

If you don’t want to commit to all 12 concerts then try a flexible subscription. This allows you to choose freely from the different concerts in the season. Flexible subscriptions start at just three concerts and you’ll save at least 10% off all your ticket purchases.

Great value packages for families Have a great night out together and get to know the Classics with a family ticket. These cost just £50 for up to two adults and two children, with extra children’s seats available for £5 each. You’ll also receive a free programme and CDs of the music so that you can get to know it before the concert. See page 8A in the central booking section for details.

More great benefits • Priority booking for all concerts in the 20132014 season - you get to book before tickets go on general sale • Choose your favourite seats for each concert - the earlier you book, the better your seats • Get a free concert programme when you book ten or more concerts (saving you up to £30) • No administration fees charged on any subscription purchases* • Free ticket exchange if you can’t make a particular concert • Exclusive discounts at Classical CD, Nottingham’s specialist classical retailer • Exclusive offers on tickets for other events at the Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall For details on how to become a subscriber and information on other ways to save money on your tickets take a look at the centre pages of this brochure or call the Box Office on 0115 989 5555. *Please note that subscription bookings by credit/debit card are subject to a card transaction fee of 75p.

Sunwook Kim © Kyung-Bok Park

FRIDAY 27 SEPTEMBER, 7.30PM

THE HALLÉ Sir Mark Elder Sunwook Kim

conductor piano

Verdi Beethoven Shostakovich

Overture: The Force of Destiny Piano Concerto No. 4 Symphony No. 5

Launching our 2013-2014 season is the dramatic overture to Verdi’s opera of love, fate and vengeance, now as famous as a concert opener and film score as it is an operatic curtain raiser. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 starts its journey in more reflective mood, but this velvet revolutionary overthrows convention with sleight of hand and a smile. The outstanding Korean pianist, Sunwook Kim, renews the partnership with Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé that won him the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006 when he was just eighteen. Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony was a startling piece of political escapology at the point when his career, and even his life, was in danger following Stalin’s denouncement of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Ironically styled by the composer as a “Soviet artist’s response to justified criticism” the symphony not only placated his political masters but also struck an emotional chord with his fellow Russians. Powerful, poignant and shot through with Shostakovich’s biting satire it’s a gripping modern masterpiece - no wonder its first audience applauded it for half an hour. ● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: A question and answer session with Sir Mark Elder. SPECTACULAR

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £32.50 - £10

WEDNESDAY 9 OCTOBER, 7.30PM

BBC PHILHARMONIC Juanjo Mena Akiko Suwanai

conductor violin

Falla Prokofiev Ravel Stravinsky

The Three Cornered Hat, Suite No. 1 Violin Concerto No. 2 Daphnis and Chloë, Suite No. 2 The Rite of Spring

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £32.50 - £10 Arguably the most powerful creative force in the cultural hotbed of Paris in the early 1900s was the brilliant impresario Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes. This spectacular concert features music from three of his most colourful productions. Manuel de Falla’s big-hearted pantomime of 1919 tells a comic tale of amorous rivals, whilst the mythical lovers of Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis and Chloë, inspired the composer’s most extravagant and ecstatic score, not least in the final whirling bacchanale. Japanese virtuoso Akiko Suwanai takes centre stage in Prokofiev’s dazzling 2nd Violin Concerto before the third, and most seismic of Diaghilev’s commissions in this programme. Inspired by “the great surge of the creative power of Spring,” Stravinsky assailed the ears of Parisian polite society with pulverising rhythms from a massive orchestra. One hundred years after The Rite of Spring’s riotous premiere there’s still nothing that pumps the adrenalin so fast. ● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Professor Robert Adlington, University of Nottingham: ‘Marriage, Myth and Murder: Diaghilev’s Ballet’. SPECTACULAR

Akiko Suwanai © Leslie Kee

SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER, 7.30PM

STUTTGART RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Stéphane Dèneve Henning Kraggerud

conductor violin

Mozart Mahler

Violin Concerto No. 5 ‘Turkish’ Symphony No. 6

Formed immediately after the Second World War the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra has risen rapidly to become one of the great German orchestras. For this autumn’s tour of the UK it’s led by its inspirational Chief Conductor, Stéphane Dèneve, in a programme that unites two Austrian heavyweights. Mozart’s final Violin Concerto, performed here by the acclaimed Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud, is both expansive and dramatic, almost operatic in character. Few pieces of its period made such physical demands on the performer, not least in the finale, whose Turkish high jinks gave the concerto its nickname.

● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Jonathan James on Mahler’s 6th Symphony. SPECTACULAR

SUNDAY PIANO SERIES

SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER, 11.00AM Ishay Shaer performs Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Ravel (See page 17 for details).

Stéphane Dèneve © Drew Farrell

Given that it was written during one of the happiest periods of his life, it’s perhaps puzzling that Mahler’s 6th Symphony would plumb such dark emotional depths. Beginning with stern resolve, its hero marches implacably towards a titanic struggle, only to be flattened by overwhelming forces. But if the ending is tragic, it’s a glorious defeat with a thrilling ride to get there. Watch out for the shattering hammer blows of fate - stunning pieces of orchestral theatre in every way.

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £32.50 - £10

WEDNESDAY 20 NOVEMBER, 7.30PM

BBC PHILHARMONIC DISCOVERING BRITTEN v

Paul Daniel Stephen Johnson Tom Randle

conductor presenter tenor

Britten Britten Britten

Suite from Gloriana Passacaglia from Peter Grimes Sinfonia da Requiem

Tickets: £10

The dominant figure in British musical life for a large part of the twentieth century, Benjamin Britten was one of the world’s most prolific composers. Although in many ways an outsider figure, his extraordinary fluency and versatility meant that his distinctive voice was heard variously in opera houses, concert halls, theatres, cathedrals and schools, as well as on radio and in film. This concert marks Britten’s centenary with an exploration of his unique soundworld, taking in music from two of his best-loved operas and one of his most original and compelling orchestral works, the Sinfonia da Requiem, written in the troubled times of 1941. The BBC Philharmonic is joined by broadcaster Stephen Johnson for this accessible guide to Britten’s music, including live orchestral extracts, before a complete performance of all three works.

SUNDAY PIANO SERIES

SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER, 11.00AM Clare Hammond performs Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Ginastera (See page 17 for details).

BBC Philharmonic © Simon Pantling

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Markus Stenz Lars Vogt

conductor piano

Beethoven Mozart Strauss Strauss

Symphony No. 1 Piano Concerto No. 9 Don Juan Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks

Tickets: £32.50 - £10

Two more daring flouters of convention complete this concert. Nikolaus Lena’s play Don Juan provided Richard Strauss with the perfect inspiration for his opulent orchestration, its dark hero being both swashbuckling swordsman and sensual lover. In contrast there’s little that’s heroic in Strauss’s incorrigible trickster, Till Eulenspiegel, whose nose-thumbing antics drive his neighbours to distraction. But you’ll find it impossible to resist Till’s misadventures when Strauss’s larger than life score makes them such great fun. ● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Markus Stenz in conversation.

AFTER HOURS

20 minutes after the main performance. Free admission to Hallé ticket holders. £3 for non-ticket holders. Hallé soloists Will Finlason

actor

Schoenberg

Verklärte Nacht

Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht was his earliest major work and its intense beauty is a far cry from the harder sounds of his later years. Here it’s performed by a Hallé string sextet, with the Richard Dehmel poem that inspired it read by Will Finlason.

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THE HALLÉ

The acclaimed German pianist Lars Vogt is famed the world over as a peerless Mozart performer so we’re delighted to welcome him back for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9. Described by music critic Alfred Einstein as ‘Mozart’s Eroica’, it was one of the first great Classical concertos, and offers a fascinating counterpart to the opening work in the programme. Written little more than twenty years later, Beethoven’s First Symphony already shows the young composer making some cheeky forays beyond the Classical conventions of his day.

Lars Vogt © Felix Broede

WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER, 7.30PM

WEDNESDAY 18 DECEMBER, 7.30PM

THE HALLÉ CHRISTMAS CONCERT Roderick Dunk Lance Ellington

conductor singer

Rimsky-Korsakov Waldteufel Fauré Britten Hairston Tchaikovsky Elfman Pola/Wyle Tormé Silvestri/Ballard Anderson

Dance of the Tumblers The Skater’s Waltz Pavane Men of Goodwill Mary’s Boy Child Christmas Tree and Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker The Nightmare before Christmas It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year The Christmas Song Suite from The Polar Express A Christmas Festival - Overture

With a heavenly host of popular Christmas numbers from Let it Snow to White Christmas. Putting some swing into this festive concert is singer Lance Ellington, whose smooth vocals have graced several albums and soundtracks and who will be familiar to millions from his many solo appearances with the band for Strictly Come Dancing. Backed by the sumptuous sounds of the Hallé he’ll be driving out the cold with heart-warming seasonal songs from the likes of Mel Tormé and Irving Berlin. Elsewhere there’s a stocking full of popular classics from RimskyKorsakov, Waldteufel and Tchaikovsky and, in his centenary year, a wonderfully imaginative take on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen from Benjamin Britten. Throw in some glittering film scores from Danny Elfman and Alan Silvestri and you won’t need tinsel to add some sparkle to your Christmas preparations. Tickets: £32.50 - £10

Lance Ellington

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Programme includes

THURSDAY 23 JANUARY, 7.30PM

CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA John Wilson Paul Watkins

conductor cello

Elgar Pomp and Circumstance Marches No. 3, 4 and 5 Walton Cello Concerto Vaughan Williams A London Symphony

Conducting the CBSO in this performance is John Wilson, a tireless advocate for English music. He continues his symphonic journey through Vaughan Williams’ music with the composer’s evocative A London Symphony. First performed in 1914 it’s an affectionate portrait of the city from dawn to dusk, capturing its bustling energy, grandeur, and even moments of Wordsworthian calm, in some of his most gloriously orchestrated music. ● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Tim Jones introduces the programme.

SUNDAY PIANO SERIES

SUNDAY 26 JANUARY, 11.00AM Sarah Beth Briggs performs Scarlatti, Beethoven, Britten and Chopin (See page 17 for details).

AFTER HOURS

20 minutes after the main performance. Free admission to CBSO ticket holders. £3 for non-ticket holders. Leo String Quartet Britten Dove

Quartettino Out of Time (excerpts)

A co-promotion with

The CBSO’s Leo Quartet plays Britten’s youthful Quartettino, Jonathan Dove’s affectionate memorial piece Out of Time, and a new work created with young musicians from Nottinghamshire Performing Arts’ Advanced Music Ensemble.

Paul Watkins © Nina Large

All but one of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches were written at the high watermark of British imperial power. The title, taken from a line in Shakespeare’s Othello, reflects the national pride that was to be shattered a decade later by the Great War. Nevertheless these miniature musical pageants represent Elgar at his very best, with brilliant flourishes and majestic tunes. William Walton’s Cello Concerto inhabits a very different world. Written in 1956 for the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, it’s one of the composer’s most expressive works, mixing bittersweet lyricism with rhythmic agility.

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £32.50 - £10

WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM

SINFONIA VIVA

Andrew Gourlay Katherine Broderick Lydia Teuscher Andrew Staples Nottingham Harmonic Choir

conductor soprano soprano tenor

Sibelius Mendelssohn

Pelléas et Mélisande Symphony No. 2 ‘Hymn of Praise’

Rising star Andrew Gourlay conducts this concert of contrasts, beginning with an intimate love triangle and ending with a joyful hymn to the Creator. Written as the incidental music to a production of Maurice Maeterlinck’s tragic drama, Sibelius’s atmospheric concert suite from Pelléas et Mélisande became one of his most popular orchestral works, partly due to its powerful opening movement being adopted as the theme to the BBC’s The Sky at Night programme. Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, or ‘Hymn of Praise’ was the composer’s great choral symphony. Commissioned for the Leipzig Festival, it celebrated the 400th anniversary of the invention of the Gutenberg press and its pivotal role in the Reformation. Like Beethoven’s Ninth, Mendelssohn’s symphony ends with an expansive choral final movement but the influence of Bach and Handel are also strongly felt in its journey from darkness to light. As you would expect from the composer of Elijah, Mendelssohn’s choral writing is both melodious and dramatic, ending in a joyful torrent of hallelujahs.

SUNDAY PIANO SERIES

SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 11.00AM Leonora Armellini performs Brahms, Chopin and Prokofiev (See page 17 for details).

AFTER HOURS

20 minutes after the main performance. Free admission to Sinfonia Viva ticket holders. £3 for non-ticket holders. Tom Poster piano Sinfonia Viva string ensemble Weir Finzi

Piano Concerto Eclogue

A co-promotion with

Acclaimed British pianist Tom Poster joins the Sinfonia Viva strings to perform Judith Weir’s intimate Piano Concerto and Finzi’s bittersweet vision of pastoral, Eclogue.

Sinfonia Viva © Marco Borggreve

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £32.50 - £10

Andrés Orozco-Estrada Barry Douglas

conductor piano

Beethoven Rachmaninov Kodaly v Dvorák

Overture: Egmont Piano Concerto No. 1 Dances of Galanta Symphony No. 8

Tickets: £32.50 - £10 Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada and his excellent Austrian orchestra won many friends when they last visited Nottingham in 2011. For their eagerly-anticipated return they bring a richly varied programme, beginning with Beethoven’s powerful overture to Goethe’s heroic drama v and ending with the most Bohemian of Dvorák’s symphonies, the upbeat Eighth. Like his Czech counterpart, Zoltan Kodaly also drew deeply on the folk music of his native Hungary, and his Dances of Galanta are a vibrant blend of sinuous melodies and exuberant rhythms.

● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Barry Douglas in conversation.

SUNDAY PIANO SERIES

SUNDAY 23 MARCH, 11.00AM Robert Thompson performs Mozart, Schubert and Rachmaninov (See page 17 for details).

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

VIENNA TONKÜNSTLER ORCHESTRA

Rachmaninov was just eighteen when he wrote his Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1890-91, and this vivacious work displays the influence of Rimsky-Korsakov and particularly Grieg, whose piano concerto the young Russian particularly admired. Twenty years later Rachmaninov revised the piece extensively, honing it into the dynamic masterpiece that we know today, with a steely brilliance to balance his sumptuous themes, and a showstopping finale. Few are better equipped to perform it than Belfast’s Barry Douglas, whose ground-breaking triumph at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow announced him as one of the greatest pianists of our time.

Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra © Stefan Badegruber

FRIDAY 7 MARCH, 7.30PM

Nicholas Collon © Benjamin Ealovega

FRIDAY 28 MARCH, 7.30PM

ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Nicholas Collon Jonathan Scott

conductor piano

Copland Gershwin Korngold Barber Bernstein

Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo Piano Concerto in F Overture: The Sea Hawk Adagio for Strings Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £32.50 - £10 This all-American programme features a high-five of great composers writing for the stage, screen and concert hall. There are few composers who evoke the wide-open spaces of America and its pioneer origins better than Aaron Copland. His 1942 ballet score, Rodeo, takes a simple cowboy meets cowgirl story and makes musical hay with its wild west set pieces, most famously in the final yahoo-ing hoe-down. America’s rich blues and jazz history runs through the veins of George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, performed here by the exceptional British pianist Jonathan Scott. Expect smoking Gershwin tunes, Tin Pan Alley turns and a romping, stomping finale in this twentieth-century classic. The cut and thrust of Erich Korngold’s sparkling overture to the classic Errol Flynn movie The Sea Hawk couldn’t be more different to Samuel Barber’s 1936 Adagio for Strings, whose deep lament seems to anticipate the global tragedy that would unfold three years later. Leonard Bernstein’s classic musical West Side Story sets its star-crossed love story amongst the tenements of New York, the searing gang rivalry of the Sharks and the Jets fought out in some of the feistiest dance numbers seen on Broadway. Never has finger clicking been so cool and mambo-ing so hot.

This concert is sponsored by

SPECTACULAR

Vladimir Ashkenazy © Keith Saunders

WEDNESDAY 30 APRIL, 7.30PM

PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA GALA CONCERT Vladimir Ashkenazy Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

conductor piano

Sibelius Rachmaninov Tchaikovsky

Finlandia Piano Concerto No. 2 Symphony No. 5

Vladimir Ashkenazy has been a defining figure in classical music for over half a century. This gala concert features timeless masterworks that have long been associated with him as both conductor and pianist. Sibelius’s Finlandia became an anthem for his country’s patriots as they sought to throw off Russian rule. Promoters even had to advertise it under fictitious titles in order to get round the ban on public performances. Rachmaninov’s second Piano Concerto never encountered such obstacles, its combination of big-boned melodies and rhythmic punch achieving immediate worldwide popularity. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, one of the most garlanded of today’s pianists, is the soloist. The partnership between Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia produced some of the greatest classical recordings ever made, notably of Tchaikovsky’s music. The second half of this concert celebrates their achievement with a performance of the 5th Symphony, whose heroic struggle with the forces of fate - from the anxious opening theme to the triumphant concluding march - has lost none of its compelling power. ● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: James Williams, Concerts Director of the Philharmonia Orchestra, in conversation. Please Note: This concert is not part of the Subscription Series

AFTER HOURS

20 minutes after the main performance. Free admission to Philharmonia ticket holders. £3 for non-ticket holders. Tafahum Benjamin Ellin Louai Alhenawi

conductor ney (Arabic flute)

Composer Benjamin Ellin conducts this cross-cultural ensemble uniting musicians from across the UK, Syria, Greece and beyond. They’ll be performing a colourful programme of new works and adaptations of traditional folk music.

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £38 - £15

THURSDAY 15 MAY, 7.30PM

MOSCOW PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Yuri Simonov Natalie Clein

conductor cello

Tchaikovsky Shostakovich Rachmaninov

Francesca da Rimini Cello Concerto No. 1 Symphony No. 3

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £32.50 - £10 There’s a fiery opening to this return visit by the Moscow Philharmonic, as Tchaikovsky summons up a whirling vision of Dante’s doomed heroine, consigned to Hell for her dangerous liaison with her husband’s brother. Its dark drama is matched by Shostakovich’s intense First Cello Concerto. Written in 1959 this obdurate response to Stalin’s legacy mixes steely defiance with keening melodies, making full use of the cello’s expressive range. For the ideal soloist look no further than Natalie Clein, acclaimed worldwide for her passionate, risk-taking performances. Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony caught America by surprise when it was first heard in 1936. Departing from the rich textures of his previous symphonic works, its lean-limbed, rhythmic character harks back to his Russian homeland. Rachmaninov still finds room for his trademark big tunes but it’s the spirit of the dance that drives this symphony, complete with a virtuoso display of nimble twists and turns. ● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Natalie Clein in conversation. SPECTACULAR

Natalie Clein © Sussie Ahlberg

TUESDAY 27 MAY, 7.30PM

THE HALLÉ Sir Mark Elder

conductor

Mahler

Symphony No. 9

Tickets: £32.50 - £10

Unsurprisingly, then, the Ninth has a powerful sense of an ending throughout. As the composer stares, unblinkingly, at his own mortality, there’s fierce defiance to match the torment, plenty of sardonic humour and, finally, a quiet resignation. Contemplating the eternal, Mahler finds expression through some of his most moving and progressive music, with shattering outbursts and rich harmonies that reach out to a place beyond this world.

Sir Mark Elder © Russell Hart

Sir Mark Elder, conducting the Hallé in a Mahler symphony in Nottingham for the first time, will introduce the symphony from the stage before the performance.

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

In contrast to Mahler’s Sixth (see page 5) his Ninth Symphony was written at a time of extreme personal crisis, following the tragic death of his eldest daughter, the loss of his position at the Vienna Court Opera and the diagnosis of the heart condition that would end his life.

Valeriy Sokolov © Simon Fowler

THURSDAY 12 JUNE, 7.30PM

THE HALLÉ Cristian Mandeal Valeriy Sokolov

conductor violin

Ravel Chausson Saint-Saëns Ravel Enescu Respighi

Alborada del Gracioso Poème Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso La Valse Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 Roman Festivals

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Tickets: £32.50 - £10 For this season’s grand finale we have a line up of stunning orchestral showpieces. Two Impressionist classics by Ravel open and close the first half, with the Spanish jester’s song of Alborada del Gracioso bursting with vibrant colours and La Valse spinning to a decadent cataclysm. In between, the brilliant young Ukrainian Valeriy Sokolov takes his bow to a contrasting pair of violin masterworks. Ernest Chausson died just as his career was blossoming, but he did leave behind the beautiful Poème, whose high fantasy sets a beguiling violin line against a shimmering orchestra. Saint-Saëns’ irresistible Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, written for the virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, provides a dazzling contrast. Two gloriously festive pieces end the concert. Enescu’s First Romanian Rhapsody is the composer’s most popular work, whose enduring appeal owes much to its pitch-perfect elaborations on native folk tunes. Romanian maestro Cristian Mandeal is the ideal guide to its rustic charms. He’s also a peerless conductor of Respighi’s music, so who better to take on the last of his symphonic triptych, Roman Festivals? From the blazing opening trumpets heralding the circus games, to the riotous celebrations of the Epiphany, this is music to rival the spectacle of any sword and sandals epic. ● Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: SPECTACULAR Neil Bennison introduces the 2014-2015 season.

Enjoy an hour of great music in the company of some of the most exciting stars of the piano. Our Sunday Morning Series offers a rich mix of classic works and rare gems, from Beethoven to Ginastera, with the chance to chat with the artists over coffee and cake after the concert. SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER, 11.00AM

SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 11.00AM

Bach/Brahms:

Brahms Chopin Prokofiev

SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER, 11.00AM

CLARE HAMMOND Mozart Mendelssohn Schubert Ginastera

12 Variations in C major on C. Fischer’s Minuet, K. 179 Three Songs Without Words from Op. 67 (Nos. 2, 4 and 5) Sonata in A major, D. 664 Danzas Argentinas

SUNDAY 26 JANUARY, 11.00AM

SUNDAY 23 MARCH, 11.00AM

ROBERT THOMPSON Mozart Schubert Rachmaninov

Fantasia in C minor, K. 475 Four Impromptus, D. 899 Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36

Tickets: £10, including coffee/tea/fruit juice and cake.

★ PIANO SERIES SAVER Book for all five Sunday Morning concerts and save 10% on your ticket purchases.

Scarlatti Beethoven Britten Chopin

Sonata in C, K. 513 Sonata No. 30 in E, Op. 109 Three Character Pieces Berceuse Op. 57 and Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49

Sponsored by

SARAH BETH BRIGGS

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Ravel:

2 Rhapsodies Op. 79 12 Etudes, Op. 25 Sonata No. 3

Beethoven: Chopin:

Chaconne for the Left Hand (from Violin Partita No. 2) Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101 Polonaise-Fantasie in A flat major, Op. 61 Jeux d’eau

LEONORA ARMELLINI

ISHAY SHAER

SUNDAY MORNING PIANO SERIES

SPECIAL EVENT MONDAY 25 NOVEMBER, 7.30PM

JOHN WILSON & THE JOHN WILSON ORCHESTRA ANNA JANE CASEY MATT FORD THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! The John Wilson Orchestra returns with a new show celebrating the golden era of Hollywood, featuring showstopping sequences from hit MGM film musicals including Meet Me In St. Louis, High Society, The Band Wagon, Gigi, An American In Paris, Girl Crazy, Easter Parade, Show Boat and much more. Packing concert halls across the globe and selling out the BBC Proms in minutes, the John Wilson Orchestra is the hottest ticket in town. No orchestra sounds like it or swings like it. If you’ve never heard it before, then don’t hesitate - hearing this glorious music in the Royal Concert Hall’s wonderful acoustic is the closest thing you’ll get to Hollywood heaven all year. Tickets: £44 - £19.50 Please Note: This concert is not part of the Subscription Series.

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

A Tribute to the Golden Age of the MGM Musicals

SPECIAL EVENT WEDNESDAY 19 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM

ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA THE MUSIC OF JOHN BARRY conductor presenter

Featuring the original arrangements of John Barry’s greatest film and TV scores, including Goldfinger, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, From Russia with Love, Midnight Cowboy, Body Heat, The Persuaders, Born Free, The Knack and Chaplin. Who can imagine James Bond without John Barry? Or the sweeping panoramas of Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves? Instantly recognisable, immediately evocative, John Barry’s music has been an essential part of the cinema landscape since his breakthrough film Dr No. In a career lasting fifty years, his lush strings and heroic brass defined a series of glorious scores, with five of them winning Oscars. So iconic was the Barry sound that musicians as diverse as Dr Dre and Robbie Williams even sampled his themes in the 1990s. Classic FM presenter Margherita Taylor introduces this glittering evening of Barry’s greatest music, performed in glorious Technicolour by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Tickets: £35 - £15 Please Note: This concert is not part of the Subscription Series. Booking opens 15 July.

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

Nicholas Dodd Margherita Taylor

FOR SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES THURSDAY 19 JUNE, 2.00PM

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

NOWHEAR THIS!

THURSDAY 19 JUNE, 6.00PM THE

DRIVETIME CONCERT

The Hallé are back with presenter Tom Redmond and another eyepopping and hair-raising concert for children aged 8 to 12. Now Hear This offers the perfect introduction to the amazing sounds of the orchestra with the chance to get a piece of the action in the Come and Play performance for young musicians and in a 2000-strong singalong with the Hallé.

Miss the jams and catch some classics with another fast-paced, family-friendly concert from the Hallé. If you’ve ever wanted to hear a live orchestra, but don’t know where to start, then this is for you! And you can really raise the roof, singing with the Hallé and hundreds of other singers, in our Drivetime Choir. Now that’s got to be better than sitting in your car during the rush hour!

Tickets £3. Teachers’ pack and booking form available from January 2014 at www.trch.co.uk/nowhearthis

Tickets £7.50. Family tickets £20 (up to 2 adults and 2 children). Under 16s £5. Booking opens 15 July 2013. Sign up now for the 2014 Drivetime Choir at www.trch.co.uk/drivetimechoir.

SUPPORTING NOTTINGHAM CLASSICS Our classical concert series is one of the best in the UK with world renowned artists regularly performing to packed houses in the Royal Concert Hall. Supporting Nottingham Classics is a great way for your company to promote its business and raise awareness, whether you choose to sponsor a whole season, or support a single concert.

Our marketing opportunities enable you to connect with our audiences through sponsorship, programme advertisements, direct mail, e-marketing, leafleting, product placement and promotion. Our bespoke hospitality packages are ideal occasions for you to entertain guests or reward colleagues. If you would like to discuss how you could support Nottingham Classics, please contact Sara Newnes on 0115 989 5505 or email sara.newnes@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Classical Partners Nottingham Classics gratefully acknowledges the support of the following funders, sponsors and business partners.

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

We offer a range of packages which enable you to be involved with the finest national and international orchestras and soloists.

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

ACCESS INFORMATION Outside the Concert Hall on South Sherwood Street there is a lay-by where cars can pull in to assist customers with mobility difficulties. However, please note that parking is not allowed in the lay-by. A limited number of parking spaces for mobility badge holders is available on Burton Street near to the Concert Hall’s access ramp. Further spaces are available on Wollaton Street near to the tram stop. In addition there are discounts available to badge holders in City Council car parks. There is level access into the Concert Hall’s main entrance foyer From South Sherwood Street. When there is a performance there is also ramped access from Burton Street leading directly to the stalls foyer level. Upper levels of the Concert Hall are accessible by lift but there are stairs to be negotiated in order to reach seating. The Concert Hall’s wheelchair spaces are located in the Stalls on the right side of the auditorium, with spaces at the rear and on the ends of rows further towards the stage. There are also two wheelchair spaces in Tier 1. Should customers wish to transfer from their wheelchair to a seat the Royal Concert Hall staff will store their chair for them.

Hearing Assistance The Royal Concert Hall has a Sennheiser Infrared transmission system for customers with impaired hearing. Two types of receiver are offered: either in-ear ‘phones’ or a neck loop which works in conjunction with your hearing aid (on the T setting). These are available free of charge from the Cloakroom. A weaker signal may be possible on extreme sides of seating and under tiers so when booking your tickets please indicate if you wish to use the system and the Box Office staff will inform you of the seats best placed to receive the signal.

Blind and Partially Sighted Patrons Assistance dogs are welcome in all areas of the building and bowls of water are offered freely upon arrival. The Royal Concert Hall offers a dog-sitting or walking service during the performance. Please contact Emily Noakes on 0115 989 5609 if you wish to book this service.

Toilet Facilities Adapted toilets are available on the Stalls entrance level (Level 1), to the left of Door A and on Level 3, through Door C.

Alternative Formats Information about the Nottingham Classics programme is available in Braille, large print and audio CD. This information can also be emailed to you.

For accessibility information Please call: 0115 989 5609 Fax: 0115 950 3476 Email enquiry@trch.co.uk

JOIN THE MAILING LIST Get the Nottingham Classics brochure delivered FREE If you would like the Nottingham Classics brochure delivered free to your door as well as updates on the season and information about special offers then fill in the form below.

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Please return the form to: Box Office, Royal Concert Hall, Theatre Square, Nottingham NG1 5ND or email your details to enquiry@trch.co.uk

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DATA Protection Your information will be held by Nottingham City Council on a secure server. From time to time we may use it to contact you about forthcoming events at the Royal Concert Hall using any one of the contact methods that you have specified. Your information will not be shared with any third parties unless you indicate that you wish us to do so. (Data Protection Act (1998)).

Box Office: 0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/nottinghamclassics

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Nottingham City Centre

For a full city centre map featuring all five zones visit our website at www.trch.co.uk and go to ‘How to find us’.

Bus Nottingham is well served by many fast and frequent buses which stop close to the Theatre and Concert Hall. For bus times call Nottingham City Transport on 0115 950 6070, Traveline on 0871 200 2233 or visit the website www.travellineeastmidlands.co.uk

Tram The tram stops directly outside the Theatre and runs every 10 minutes until midnight. For more information call 0115 942 7777 or email info@thetram.net

Rail Leave your car at home and use the bus or tram to get to the Royal Concert Hall. Buy a Royal Ticket, redeemable at all tram stops and on all Nottingham City bus routes.

Nottingham Station is a 15 minute walk from the venue or a short taxi/tram ride. Call 0845 748 4950 or visit www.nationalrail.co.uk for train times and fares.

Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Theatre Square Nottingham NG1 5ND Managing Director Robert Sanderson

0115 989 5555 www.trch.co.uk/ nottinghamclassics

Proud to present World Class Entertainment

HOW TO FIND US

Car Follow signs for the city centre and the ‘Royal Zone’. There are several car parks within a 5 minute walk including Talbot Street, Trinity Square and The Crowne Plaza Hotel car park. See map for further details.

Taxi

This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. 100019317 2010

Our preferred taxi partner is DG Cars. To book a taxi call 0115 9500 500, visit them online at www.dgcars.co.uk or call them for free from one of the phones in the Theatre Royal bar or Concert Hall foyer.

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Until the general booking period opens (15 July), all subscriptions must be booked by post.