CadoganHallTuesday16thSeptember7.30pmRespighi,Berlioz,VaughanWilliams,andtheworldpremièreofMichaelP by London Lyric Opera

Respighi, Berlioz, Vaughan Williams, and the world premiĂ¨re of Michael Pringsheimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eichendorff Liederkreis

Four passionate song cycles

Cycles at Cadogan Hall

Tuesday 16th September 7.30pm

London Lyric Opera Cycles at Cadogan Hall Tuesday 16 September at 7.30pm Madeleine Lovell: Conductor St George’s Chamber Orchestra Katherine Broderick: Soprano Julietta Demetriades: Soprano Anando Mukerjee: Tenor James Hancock: Baritone Programme: Mendelssohn: Die schöne Melusine Overture, op. 32 Respighi: Deità silvane, P.147 Berlioz: Les nuits d’été, Op.7 Michael Pringsheim: Eichendorff Liederkreis (world première) Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel (orch. RVW and Roy Douglas)

Sponsored by Wardour

London Lyric Opera

A message from our Patron by Isla Baring

Welcome to London Lyric Opera’s Cycles. The idea for tonight’s concert came from Michael Pringsheim, composer of the Eichendorff Liederkreis. As he says later in this programme, he was inspired to write his music by the works for soprano and orchestra written by Richard Strauss. His muse has been the young Greek soprano Julietta Demetriades, who will be singing tonight, and of course the Eichendorff poems. To complement the world première of his new cycle, we will explore the rich Romanticism of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, the mystical sincerity of Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel and the evanescent colours of Respighi’s Deità silvane. Conducted by the brilliant Madeleine Lovell, with the St George’s Chamber Orchestra, the programme is completed with two purely orchestral narratives – Mendelssohn’s evocation of the legendary Melusine and Ravel’s Pavane. We have been fortunate to find four singers who can share these great works with you. Anando Mukerjee, tenor, will be singing the rarely performed Deità silvane by Ottorino Respighi; Kathleen Ferrier Award winner, Katherine Broderick, soprano, will present Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été and James Hancock, baritone, sings Vaughan William’s Songs of Travel. This being the 50th anniversary of the passing of this great English composer, we celebrate his life and works through his music. LLO is a new concert opera company performing at Cadogan Hall and the Barbican. Our focus is the underperformed German and English repertory and we will produce an annual concert dedicated to orchestral song. Our commitment to you, our audience, is that we will never offer reduced orchestrations and will always aim for the highest possible musical standards.

Our next concert is Richard Wagner’s masterpiece, The flying Dutchman, at the Barbican on Thursday 27th November at 7.00pm. Our principal conductor, one of the UK’s most distinguished Wagnerians, Lionel Friend, will conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Chorus of 100 voices and a stunning cast of international soloists including the rising star soprano Gweneth-Ann Jeffers making her role debut as Senta, James Hancock singing the Holländer and Jeffrey LloydRoberts as the spurned lover, Erik. Uncut and in the original keys, this is a must-see for any admirer of this great composer. On February 17th 2009, LLO is back at Cadogan Hall performing Beethoven’s Fidelio. Starring critically acclaimed dramatic soprano Elizabeth Connell as Leonore and Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts as Florestan, this performance promises to be an unforgettable evening. Madeleine Lovell will return to conduct the RPO and Philharmonia Chorus. It is my pleasure to be Patron of London Lyric Opera in this its first year. It is an exciting time for us all but impossible without your support. Opera is an expensive and labour intensive business. LLO has various levels of sponsorship available plus a Friends scheme that offers an opportunity for individuals to contribute to our work. More information about this can be found later in this programme. I would like to make special mention here of Wardour, one of our key sponsors. Led by CEO Martin MacConnol, Wardour’s Design Director, Lisa Cromer and her brilliant team of designers have been instrumental in getting LLO here tonight.

PATRON’S MESSAGE

I would like to personally thank the following for their contributions: Madeleine Lovell, for her informative notes on the music; Dr Leo Mellor for his fascinating exploration of the poetry that inspired tonight’s composers; David Cairns CBE, a world authority on Berlioz, for his article about Les nuits d’été; Dr William Wootten for his engaging article about the Songs of Travel and Michael Pringsheim for his delightful note about his work and life. Renowned critic and broadcaster, John Amis will entertain you before the performance with a pre-performance talk that should put you in the mood for an evening of orchestral song. We have almost finished our planning for the 2009/10 season. To be kept up to date with future events, please send your contact details to info@londonlyricopera.com and we will happily keep you informed. I hope you enjoy tonight’s performance and look forward to seeing you at The flying Dutchman at the Barbican.

Isla Baring Patron London Lyric Opera

We “ celebrate

life through music”

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Music and Stories by Madeleine Lovell Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Overture Die schöne Melusine (1834) The overture Die schöne Melusine (The Beautiful Melusine) has a significant position in Mendelssohn’s compositional development: it is his last major example of an instrumental work inspired by a story or programme. The lukewarm critical response to Melusine, reinforced by the ambivalent reaction of Felix’s sister Fanny, perhaps convinced Mendelssohn to turn to other areas of composition. The composer’s frustration with the overture’s cool reception was surely heightened by his own knowledge that it was one of his finest works, every bit the equal of his earlier masterpiece, the Hebrides Overture. The original French legend tells of Melusine, the daughter of a fairy, who marries Raymondin on the condition that he never look at her on Saturdays, for it is on this day each week that she is transformed into a serpent from the hips down. Eventually Raymondin succumbs to curiosity and breaks his promise. On seeing Melusine transformed into a serpent, she disappears for ever. The version which inspired Mendelssohn’s overture, an operatic setting by Conradin Kreutzer which Felix saw (and hated) in 1833, portrays Melusine as more mermaid than serpentine. It is easy to see how the young composer, who had already displayed his talent for writing water music in works such as the Hebrides and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overtures, seized on another such opportunity. The peaceful waterscape of the overture’s opening recalls a great river (the Rhine, perhaps?) rather than the ocean. Two clarinets introduce the water motif, a gently undulating figure, which swells into melody accompanied by bassoons and horns, and counterpointed by the water motif in the flute and strings. This F major

opening passage is the embodiment of calm waters – in constant motion and yet static – and it provides the perfect foil for the dramatic, pulsating second section. Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) Deità silvane (1917, orchestrated 1925) I fauni Musica in horto Egle Acqua Crepuscolo Best known for his Roman trilogy of orchestral works, Ottorino Respighi was a musician and scholar of wide interests and impressive training. He began his studies with the violin and viola in his native Bologna under the tutelage of Federico Sarti, but composition soon became a vital channel for Respighi’s artistry. Having completed his studies in 1899, he went the following year to St. Petersburg as principal viola player at the Imperial opera. It was in Russia, where he spent the seasons of 1901-1902 and 1903-1904, that he took lessons in composition and orchestration from Rimsky-Korsakov. In spite of Respighi’s growing reputation as a performer he maintained his interest in earlier music and in composition. As a musicologist with a keen interest in early music, it is hardly surprising that Respighi was drawn to Rubino’s Arcadian verse, and Deità silvane bears all the marks of the composer’s maturity – a richly allusive musical language showing neo-classical influence and orchestration of great delicacy and colour. I fauni begins with a playful extemporisation above the drone of bucolic pipes. This Puckish melody captures immediately the merry Arcadian scene – the happy shriek of fifes, the fauns chasing with horns erect, ready to ambush the none-too-unwilling nymphs. Just as

ESSAY

quickly as the text’s images change – the murmuring of the rivers, the irresistible energy of the fauns, the lascivious zephyrs – so Respighi responds in his setting. The prevailing musical motive, however, is a tightly dotted pentatonic figure – a nod to the musical antiquity of the French Baroque, and a fitting accompaniment for this classical tableau. The fauns’ jesting pursuit and the nymphs’ escape is expertly constructed with the accelerating dotted motive breaking into a gallop, propelling the song to its ecstatic climax.

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) Les nuits d’été, Op.7 (1840-41, orchestrated 1843-56) Villanelle Le spectre de la rose Sur les lagunes: Lamento Absence Au cimetière L’île inconnue

Les nuits d’été began life in 1840-41 as a cycle for voice and piano. The poems are from a collection of 1838 by Berlioz’s friend and fellow critic Théophile Gautier The sound of clashing finger cymbals (one is (1811-72) titled La Comédie de la mort. From the poésies diverses in the second reminded here of the cymbales antiques of another Arcadian work – Debussy’s Prélude half of the volume Berlioz selected six poems for setting to music, giving the à l’après-midi d’un faune) permeates collection his own title, Summer Nights. Musica in horto. While in Egle the nymph’s languid steps are conjured in exquisite sound We don’t know why he composed them with a sinuous waltz melody played by flute. or for whom – evidently they weren’t The continual motion of the water is evoked written on commission or for any specific occasion. Unlike Berlioz’s best-known and in Acqua by means of a rocking ostinato most characteristic compositions, these scored initially for the xylophone and horn are private, even personal works, and – an inspired coupling. he seemed reluctant to put them in the public spotlight. It is only in Crepuscolo that the cyclical nature of Deità silvane is fully revealed. The sombre twilight is conveyed by a slowly It was for his mistress, Marie Recio, that Berlioz first orchestrated one of the Gautier shifting opening in the extraordinarily dark songs, Absence, which she introduced key of E flat minor. At the discovery of in Dresden in February 1843 while the the slumbering Pan, however, the fauns’ couple were engaged in a grand concert neo-classical dotted motive returns, and as tour. In 1856, just before undertaking Les thoughts turn to the nymph who might one day chance upon him we hear Aegle’s waltz. Troyens, his operatic retelling of Virgil’s Aeneid, Berlioz orchestrated the remaining The opening material re-enters after the five songs of Les nuits d’été for publication rhetorical outburst of ‘Deità della terra’ and that year in Switzerland. They were never it seems that all is done with this classical performed as a set during his lifetime, and world – that fount of life has dried up for he heard only the second and fourth songs ever. Respighi, however, allows us one last glimpse, closing the song and the cycle with sung with orchestra. a musical recollection of the fauns.

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Music and Stories by Madeleine Lovell Berlioz framed the four central, serious songs of Les nuits d’été with two energetic, sunny ones. The composer calls for a chamber orchestra, and he uses it with exquisite subtlety and restraint. Villanelle is apparently just a simple strophic setting, and yet Berlioz gives it depth and interest by changing the harmonies and the orchestration for each verse. The second song, Le spectre de la rose is more complex, beginning with a sumptuous melody that changes character as it goes, breaking into recitative at one point, and later soaring in a thrilling climax before the most intimate of endings.

My ideas never came to anything until now, many years later, when I developed a predilection for the late classical and romantic period and recently have felt that the medium of soprano with orchestra represents ultimate beauty. This reached a climax when I became acquainted with Richard Strauss’ and Mahler’s settings for this combination. I was given by a friend a book of Eichendorff’s deeply romantic poems which often contain an element of nostalgia which I seem to have identified with myself. Now was the moment to put some selected poems to music. Whilst avoiding both any direct derivation from Strauss or Mahler and any attempt to Sur les lagunes over rising and falling modernize, I have simply written music in semitones that suggest a gondola rocking a late classical style and from my heart.” on the waves, is built around a desperate Michael Pringsheim refrain. Berlioz leaves the song unanswered, London August 2008 ending with a dominant chord that never resolves. It is the very simplicity of Absence, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) with its slowly changing orchestral chords Pavane pour une infante défunte and its repeated plea – come back – that (1899, orchestrated 1910) makes it so tender and powerful. Au cimetière moves even deeper into despair, Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane with its numb, pulsing accompaniment, for a Dead Princess) was commissioned and the ghostly shiver of strings as memory of the 24-year-old Ravel in 1899 as a brushes past. The playful questioning of somewhat whimsical salon piece for piano. L’île inconnue comes as welcome relief, Ricardo Viñes premiered the work to much even if the poet can’t suggest where love acclaim in 1902. The composer was rather will last forever. bewildered by the work’s popularity, but nonetheless orchestrated it in 1910, to Interval even greater success. Michael Pringsheim (1931) Eichendorff Liederkreis (2005) Mondnacht Heimweh Nachts Es zog eine Hochzeit den Berg entlang In der Fremde “At the age of 15 I remember doodling on my parents’ Steinway inventing tunes and harmonies, to the annoyance of my father who was doing some serious work in the same room and was more or less telling me I was wasting my time.

A pavane is a slow processional dance from Padua (Pava is a dialect name for Padua). According to an old Spanish tradition, however, it was performed in church as a stylish gesture of farewell to the dead. As to the identity of the dead princess, Ravel finally admitted he picked the title because he liked the sound of the words ‘infante défunte’. Indeed, Ravel later said that the work represented ‘a pavane that a little princess might, in former times, have danced at the Spanish court’.

ESSAY

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) Songs of Travel (1901-04, orchestrated 1905/1962 RVW/Roy Douglas) The Vagabond Let Beauty Awake The Roadside Fire Youth and Love In Dreams The Infinite Shining Heavens Whither Must I Wander Bright is the Ring of Words I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope

of the G major opening is drawn by the siren light of ‘golden pavilions’ towards the danger of E flat minor. Lascivious triplets lure the traveller – ‘thick as stars at night when the moon is down, pleasures assail him’ – before a musical memory of the trumpet fanfare strengthens his resolve. It is not without regret, though, that he bids farewell to love, as the musical setting recollects the innocent days of The Roadside Fire.

The desolation of the bare repeated note at the start of In Dreams immediately conveys The Songs of Travel, written between 1901 the sense of loss occasioned by the traveller’s decision to move on. Agonised and 1904, represent Vaughan Williams’ chromatic harmonies give us a sense of the first major foray into song-writing. Drawn personal cost of love’s sacrifice. The hymnfrom a volume of Robert Louis Stevenson like quality of The Infinite Shining Heavens, poems of the same name, the cycle again with the spread chords of the offers a quintessentially British take on journeyman’s lyre, suggests the consolation the ‘wayfarer cycle’. Originally written of faith. The transformative moment – ‘Till for voice and piano, Vaughan Williams lo! I looked in the dusk and a star had orchestrated the first, third, and eighth come down to me’ – is expressed in such songs in 1905, while his assistant, Roy Douglas, orchestrated the remaining songs breath-taking harmonies that it seems one will never be the same again, an impression in 1962 using the same instrumentation. only heightened by the close of the song in The songs made a strong impression on a foreign key. contemporary audiences, and marked a new path in English song, away from The folk-song inspired Whither Must I the parlour ditty and towards a greater Wander? predates the others in the cycle, seriousness and sophistication. yet its placement here perfectly suggests a move away from desperate isolationism The Vagabond sets the scene with a towards the acceptance of others, of marching motive overlaid with an echo traditions, and of one’s place in (God’s) of a trumpet fanfare – this traveller is universe. This theme continues in Bright not setting off for a gentle ramble in the is the Ring of Words, whose bold opening countryside, but rather steeling himself is gently replaced by the traveller’s lyre. I for a battle against nature and his own Have Trod the Upward and the Downward conflicting desires. No greater contrast Slope was the last addition to the cycle, could be found than in Let Beauty Awake, with its lyre-like accompaniment suggesting and recalls several musical themes from earlier songs. The becalmed trumpet the most delicate of serenades. A childlike fanfares at the opening suggest a very enthusiasm for life is evoked by the barely different man from the one who started contained energy of The Roadside Fire out on the journey. Most poignant of all is – the stern, almost military parading of The the final recollection of Bright is the Ring of Vagabond has been transformed into a Words: the traveller may pass on but ‘the giddy trot. The temptations of Youth and maid remembers’. Love are evoked by Vaughan Williams’ skilful use of harmonies: the equanimity

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Poems that return by Leo Mellor

The four song cycles that you will hear tonight come from four different composers – and each draws on the writings of a very different poet. What unifies them is the form of the song cycle, a form which both limits and forces expression to the highest degree. For such a structure pushes poems to not only be accompanied or counterpointed by music – but also by each other in the sequence, with such transitions and juxtapositions unsettling or deepening possible meanings. But beyond conceptual matters three practical reasons unify the poems that make up these different cycles. Firstly – all take the idea of a journey and re-shape it. This is itself not unexpected: the journey as an organising idea of the song cycle is a commonplace – most famously in Winterreise. But tonight while travel is inescapable in all four works, the journeys are of very different kinds. Some are literal and are undertaken down dusty lanes or through verdant woods; but some may be mental, involving a descent into equally grimy or grassy corners of the mind. Perhaps most interestingly is how one form of perambulation provokes and entices another, the beat of the feet unravelling the hidden pains, pleasures or conundrums. For as Jean-Jacques Rosseau wrote in his Confessions: ‘I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.’ Secondly comes the matter of Nature, or rather the various attempts to go beyond description and draw meanings from the natural world. This happens in the enticing luxuriance of Antonio Rubino’s fields – ‘shimmering in daisy and sapphire’ – but also in the melancholic vista of Sur les lagunes where the only thought induced is that of loss, and how loss could be narrated. The natural here can be a way towards the sublime, the fecund, the desolate and – perhaps most importantly – the unrelentingly amoral: the wind may blow cold but does so without love or hate. An acknowledgement of

Nature’s indifference – and, hence, human mortality – provides a pivot for much of the bleakness and beauty in these works, with the recognition inspiring both lyric flight or introspective acceptance. Finally all the works engage with the idea of return: what repetition can be found in phrase or image to bring an ending. Such finality can come through diurnal inevitability as dusk falls, or by the breeze that is both everywhere and nowhere, or – indeed – by death. Yet all such forms of closure involve the sound of recognition, and indeed the poems chosen are so constellated that a thematic or lexical curve back is concealed in every case. Moreover this brings the revelation that the place or state arrived at is both startlingly new and already deep in the memory. T.S. Eliot captures this sublimely at the close of Four Quartets where after all ‘exploring’ our role ‘will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time’. In Deità silvane by Respighi the journey is through a landscape of bucolic highsummer lushness in both woods and flowers, with a rampant adjectival frenzy needed to describe it. Moreover Rubino’s poems are alive with mythical creatures and flickering with sensual forces: the nymphs gambol, the water sparkles, and ‘raw rapture’ holds the scene. It is also a landscape animated by music, produced by instruments – from the bagpipes of I fauni to the finger-cymbals of Musica in horto – but also by the elemental sounds of wind and water being read as musical: ‘water play on your mellow flute’. Yet despite the apparent abundance something lurks with menace: the nymphs are chased by the fauns and Aegle dances with ‘languid step’. And the ‘brooding shadows’ are continually looming in every one of these meadows. So after an apostrophe in earlier poems to the nymphs and to the water, the supplicant intensity increases and in the twilight of Crepuscolo

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it is easy to see how the pantheistic, preChristian world rules here. For this poem is offered to the sleeping form of the god Pan who might be stirred by a ‘a gentle song’. But that day has not yet arrived, and so comes the dying fall, the melancholia that nature releases: Twilight ends with the music from both landscape and nymph falling away, it ‘trembles and saddens’ as the shadows that have stalked the cycle from the start ‘descend from the mountains’. In Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights), which uses the poems of Théophile Gautier, a rather different symbolic system is evoked through grasping flowers and thoughts. For here the human, and a doomed relationship, is to the fore – and while the natural world surrounds the drama it cannot give comfort or hope for renewal. The cycle moves from the strolling Springtime passeggiata of Villanelle (but even here the hope is to ‘cull’ the primrose), through to Le spectre de la rose where the eponymous flower connects to that which has been lost, to the gothic close of Au cimetière which bleeds all colours out to the symbolic order of the ‘black mantle’ of night, the ‘pale dove’ and, overshadowing all, the yew tree. Even the final poem L’île inconnue cannot transform the fate of the couple. The bejewelled nature of a boat of love, wrought from ivory, silk and gold (and crewed by a tractable Seraph) impresses, but it can only presage departure to pick more blossom – ‘to gather the flower of the snow’ – far over the sea. The landscape traversed in Michael Pringsheim’s Liederkreis is much wilder; the cycle strides through a map or compendium of German Romanticism as it draws from a specific mythical range: the moonlight, the woods, the hunter, the bells, the birds. In the echoes come faint visions of Caspar David Friedrich’s work – or indeed Grimm’s Tales. Moreover the

form “ Awhich both limits and forces expression to the highest degree ”

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Poems that return by Leo Mellor poems used here – by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff and most famously previously adapted by Schumann – have an a-b-a-b end-rhymed regularity and are filled with such simple objects that the expectation is for folk-wisdom or reassurance. But here again a passionately pantheistic world is full of life – such as when in Mondnacht the moon is found kissing the earth; yet now, unlike in the Respighi, such spirits make the human observer aware of his own transience and insignificance. The journey is then taken through the acknowledgement of such a fate, shaded by the ‘forest-shadows’ that loom. By the final poem – In der fremde – this sadness has become more and more pronounced, culminating in the Thanatos when ‘forestloneliness’ brings the plea: ‘how soon, ah, how soon will that quiet time come’. The concluding cycle, Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel, shows how a bricolage of very different poems when placed together can illustrate a passage through exquisite pain; not even so much by what they contain but by the breaks between them. This lacerating emotional realm is traversed as Vaughan Williams takes nine poems by Robert Louis Stevenson and fits them together to offer a journey – but one that is as mental as physical, trekking into memory as well as down the undulating path. The jaunty opening of The Vagabond would seem to presage nothing more than a hearty enjoyment of the outdoor life, and lyrics that stride away from introspection. It could be related to the blithe unconcern of G.K. Chesterton’s The Rolling English Road – or, more complicatedly, to the romanticisation of the thoughtful wanderer in Matthew Arnold’s The Scholar-gypsy. But such nonchalance darkens and becomes more fatalistic in the second and subsequent stanzas where the pathos of defiance cuts sharply: ‘Let the blow fall soon or late, / Let what will be o’er me’. Indeed this sets the tone for the sadness that becomes clearer as we realise how the physical journey being

made is paralleled by one back through time, into memories of lost love. The extent of what has been lost is explicit in poems such as The Infinite Shining Heavens where ‘The uncountable angel stars / Showering sorrow and light’ now keep the mind of the traveller fixed on a point he cannot reach. The loss is also most poignantly in the gaps between poems – for instance in the transitions between the close of Youth and Love with the last ‘wayside word to her at the garden gate’ – with its possibility of reply and connection, and the start of In Dreams where the irrecoverable separation allows no communication but only ‘tears’. By Whither must I wander? the despair has changed the journey into a trudge without signs or guides, only an alliterative tread of a voice in conversation with itself. Yet ultimately at the close the fatalism comes to face the value of art – and especially music – in Bright is the Ring of Words. For even ‘after the singer is dead / And the maker buried’ the hope is of the song’s afterlife and endurance – and the unlimited, unceasing journeys to come: ‘on wings they are carried’. Against such uncageable hopes the clear-eyed mortal finality of I have trod the upward and downward slope must be set.

BIOGRAPHIES

Biographies Michael Pringsheim Composer Michael Pringsheim has enjoyed a distinguished career in International law. Though not a professional musician his first practical experience of music was when he gave a performance on the recorder of a recorder sonata at the age of eleven before an audience of 300 pupils, teachers and parents at his school. His next step was when he took up the French horn at his next school and played it in the school orchestra and subsequently when he was a student at Oxford University. His earliest musical memory was at the age of seven while staying at his grandmotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house in Garmisch when she was visited

by Richard Strauss who played with her, Four hands on her piano. Throughout his career he has promoted concerts, notably at the Purcell Room and has enjoyed long-standing friendships with many leading musicians. Despite his life-long involvement with music, he composed nothing before his songs for soprano and orchestra on texts of the German poet, Eichendorff. His style is best defined as being influenced by the neo-classicists and post-romantics, notably Strauss and Debussy. As such his song cycle fits perfectly in style and mood with the works of the other composers featured.

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Madeleine Lovell Conductor

Dominic Moore Leader

Madeleine Lovell is Musical Director of St George’s Chamber Orchestra, the Lea Singers and Londinium. She has conducted many choirs and orchestras around the UK, including the BBC Symphony Chorus, the Philharmonia Chorus and the National Symphony Orchestra. Madeleine’s extensive work at the BBC Proms includes Chorus Master for the BBCSC’s performance of Verdi’s Requiem in August 2008. From October 2008 Madeleine will be Director of Music and Director of Studies at Queens’ College, the first person to hold such an appointment.

Dominic Moore is the leader and co-founder of St George’s Chamber Orchestra.

Having studied music at King’s College, Cambridge, Madeleine received an M.Phil in Musicology from Cambridge in 2000, and spent a further two years researching comic opera. She has a Masters in singing and Certificate of Advanced Studies in Repetiteur Training, both from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Madeleine attended the 2005 Dartington International Summer School Advanced Conducting Course (where her studies were funded by a D’Oyly Carte Bursary), performing excerpts from Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. In February 2007 Madeleine conducted Die Fledermaus with Alternative Opera in Tunbridge Wells. The production was reviewed by Antony Craig for Gramophone, who wrote: “Madeleine Lovell ... marshalled all her forces with skill and finesse.” Future plans include Assistant Conductor for London Lyric Opera’s performance of Der fliegende Holländer at the Barbican (November 2008), and Conductor for London Lyric Opera’s Fidelio at Cadogan Hall (February 2009).

He began learning the violin with Pamela Spofforth at the age of 8. He later won scholarships to Winchester College and the Royal College of Music studying the violin with Itzhak Rashkovsky, and also the piano as a joint first study. His love of chamber music led him to join the Hogarth Quartet (1997-9) with whom he won the South East Arts Platform and made his Wigmore Hall debut. As a soloist, Dominic has recorded a CD entitled Café Music with the pianist Daniel Becker for Persephone Books. The disc was brilliantly received, being broadcast several times on BBC Radio 3 and ClassicFM and was described by Classic FM magazine as ‘playing of grace and zest’. Recent solo performances have included Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Edward Vanderspar, Beethoven’s violin concerto with St George’s Chamber Orchestra, and recitals on the violin, viola and piano. As an orchestral player, Dominic has been invited as a guest to lead the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony and Birmingham Royal Ballet. Engagements for 2008 include leading the Opera Group for Kurt Weill’s Street Scene at the Young Vic and on tour, and leading Birmingham Opera for Mozart’s King Idomeneo directed by Graham Vick. Dominic is immensely grateful to the Countess of Munster, Abbado, Ian Fleming Trusts and the Musicians Loan Fund for help with acquiring an extremely rare Spanish violin by Marianus Ortega. It is believed to be the only Ortega violin currently in the UK.

BIOGRAPHIES

Julietta Demetriades Soprano

Anando Mukerjee Tenor

Cypriot-born soprano Julietta Demetriades has been described as an artist of ‘quality and persuasion’.

Anando Mukerjee is a lirico-spinto tenor. His operatic roles include Rodolfo, the Duke of Mantua, Ishmael, Macduff, Pinkerton, Edgardo and Faust. He is an accomplished recitalist and has a large and varied oratorio repertoire.

After graduating from the Hellenic School of Music in Nicosia in both piano and singing, she received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. She graduated from there with a Master’s Degree in Performance with the support of the Leventis Foundation. In 2005 she received a Diploma in Opera Performance Studies from the Opera School of the University of London.

He received a Tripos in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, where he was an Inlaks scholar, and later received vocal training privately from Kenneth Woollam, Hon.RCM, Professor of Singing (ret’d) and coaching from Richard Nunn, Professor of Keyboard and Vocal Accompaniment She has performed widely in England, (ret’d), both of the Royal College of France, Germany, Poland, Finland, Greece, Music. He furthered his studies with the Cyprus and Egypt. Venues in London include celebrated Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda, St John’s Smith Square, St Martin-in-theSinger of the Royal Court, Stockholm. He Fields, St James’s Piccadilly and the Hellenic is the recipient of a Charles Wallace Trust Centre. Highlights of venues abroad include Award (British Council) which supported the Cairo Opera House, the Presidential his musical studies in England. Palace in Cyprus and the Cathedral in In 2006 he made his international debut at Helsinki. She has also collaborated with orchestras such as the Cairo Symphony, the the Belgrade National Opera, Serbia, as Rodolfo in La bohème. In 2007 he made Lublin Philharmonic and the Cyprus State his Italian debut at the Teatro dei Rozzi, Chamber Orchestra. Broadcasts include Cyprus Radio and Television, Television Siena, as a guest soloist appearing with France, Egyptian Television, Classic FM, the Concordia International Ensemble. He toured with New Sussex Opera as Tobias Czech Radio and Radio Israel. in Jonathan Dove’s Tobias and the Angel; gave a Crush Bar recital at ROH Covent She has a wide concert repertoire. As a soloist of choral works, she has sung in Garden and made his Wigmore Hall debut Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s accompanied by Leslie Howard. Nelson Mass, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Gounod’s St Cecilia Plans for 2008 include recitals, concerts and operatic appearances in the UK, India Mass and Britten’s Te Deum. and Europe; Borsa (Rigoletto) for New Devon Opera; recitals around the UK, In opera, she has appeared in London in the title role in Thomas’ Mignon, and in France and Italy; and the José Cura Opera the roles of Fenena (Nabucco), Ottavia Project at the Royal Academy. (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Lucrezia (Lucrezia Borgia), Eva (Die Meistersinger), Alceste (Alceste) and Elettra (Idomeneo).

London Lyric Opera

James Hancock Baritone

Katherine Broderick Soprano

James was born in Melbourne and studied at the Victorian College of the Arts. He was a Victoria State Opera Young Artist and was awarded the Opera Foundation Australia German Operatic Award which gave him a contract with Oper Köln: the AIMS Award, Graz; Australian Opera Auditions Committee Scholarship; Dame Joan Sutherland Scholarship; The Tait Memorial Trust Scholarship; an Australian Musical Foundation London grant and a Bayreuth Bursary.

Twenty-five year old Katherine Broderick is the winner of the 2007 Kathleen Ferrier Award. She is currently studying at the National Opera Studio in London having previously completed the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she won the Gold Medal. In 2005 she was one of the first and youngest recipients of the Susan Chilcott Award and was a member of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme. In 2006 she won the Maggie Teyte Prize. She studies with Susan McCulloch.

Roles he has performed include: Germont; Escamillo; Figaro (Rossini and Mozart) il frate (Don Carlos) and The Poet (Prima la Musica, Salieri). Companies he has worked for include: UCL opera, Victoria State Opera; Opera Australia; Longborough Festival; Pocket Opera Nürnberg (Der Ring in einem Abend arr. David Seaman); Cambridge University Opera Society (Bill, Maschinist Hopkins, Brand; Der Mann Schwergewicht, Krenek; and The Mayor Der Held, Mosolov). James has given recitals at the Melbourne International Festival, St James’s Piccadilly, Brighton Festival and festivals in the UK and Australia. He has sung Conte di Luna, Pavilion Opera; Simon Boccanegra for OperaUK London; Kothner, Die Meistersingers, Edinburgh Players Opera Group and Rigoletto for New Devon Opera. Future engagements for 2008 include: the Dutchman in Der fliegende Holländer at the Barbican with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lionel Friend in November and Don Pizarro in Fidelio at Cadogan Hall with the RPO conducted by Madeleine Lovell, February 2009.

For British Youth Opera she has sung Lady Billows and Tatyana, the latter prompting Hilary Finch of The Times to write “[she] expands her thrillingly burgeoning vocal skills in her formidable stage presence as a Tatyana of outstanding character and power”. Recent concert appearances have included her Proms debut singing Woglinde (Götterdämmerung) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Donald Runnicles; Mahler’s Symphony No 2 and Britten’s Les Illuminations with St George’s Chamber Orchestra at LSO St. Luke’s. Current and future plans include: Bruckner Mass in F Minor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jiri Belohlavek; Haydn The Seasons at the Aldeburgh Festival with Harry Bicket; Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony with the Munich Bach Choir and also with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Katherine has been awarded successive Maidment Scholarships from the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, the Claire Francis award from the Ogden Trust, the Sybill Tutton award, and is a Samling scholar.

BIOGRAPHIES

John Amis Writer/Broadcaster

John Amis’ varied life in the world of sound has enabled him to become one of radio and television’s favourite music presenters and performers; he is the ‘symphony’ man in the long running radio show ‘MY MUSIC’. Five and a half weeks in a bank determined him to have a go at earning a living in music. He sold gramophone records, managed orchestras (notably for Beecham), was a music critic for eighteen years, organised the Dartington Summer School for a quarter-of-a-century, appeared in the Hoffnung Festivals, and had his own radio and television shows.

The result of this varied life is that he has known everybody in the music world from Stravinsky to Stockhausen, from Donald Swann to Gerard Hoffnung, from Britten to Birtwistle. His short career as a tenor began with Herrmann’s Moby Dick (not the title role); he made his operatic debut in April 1990 as the Emperor in Turandot and finished appropriately with A Late Lark by Delius, although he occasionally breaks into song in his one-man-show Amiscellany and he pipes up as siffleur and singer in ‘My Music’ in the company of Messrs. Muir, Norden and Wallace.

London Lyric Opera

St George’s Chamber Orchestra Musicians and Instruments 1st Violins Dominic Moore Rachel McIlwham Sheila Law Jamie Hutchinson 2nd Violins Ruth Funnell Dorette Du Toit Claire Turk Violas Amy Greenhalgh Louise Hawker Cellos Bozidar Vukotic Daniel Hammersley Basses Claire Whitson Flutes Stewart McIlwham Katherine Bicknell (piccolo)

Bassoons Emma Harding Joanna Shewan Horns Evgeny Chebykin Max Garrard Katie Pryce Christine Norsworthy Trumpets Ruth Ross John MacDominic Timpani Alex Neal Percussion Alex Neal Jeremy Cornes Harp Suzanne Willison Piano Elizabeth Burley

Celeste Oboes Jeremy Young Owen Dennis Huw Clement-Evans Clarinets Jon Carnac Emily Sutcliffe

Biography St George’s Chamber Orchestra was established four years ago as the new professional orchestra for the South East. Based at St George’s Church, Beckenham, the ensemble’s members are musicians of the very highest quality and regularly play with the UK’s leading symphony orchestras. Since its formation, St George’s Chamber Orchestra has received excellent reviews – called a ‘bright new ensemble’ by the Daily Telegraph – and has won praise for the vivacity, technical brilliance and supple style of its playing. The ensemble frequently works with soloists of the highest calibre and has developed a large and faithful audience across London. The orchestra made its LSO St Luke’s debut in 2007, and tonight marks its first performance at Cadogan Hall. For more information on forthcoming St George’s Chamber Orchestra performances, please contact the General Manager, Malcolm Wilson, at mail@sgco. co.uk or follow the links on the website www.sgco.co.uk. The SGCO is keen to develop its links with sponsors and patrons, and can offer a large range of musical events. In addition, the ensemble is about to launch a new ‘Friends of the SGCO’ scheme – a great way to support the orchestra.

ORCHESTRA

2008 – 2009 Concert Series The professional orchestra for South East London and Kent

October All that Jazz Concert on Saturday 11 October 2008 7.30pm at St George’s Church, Beckenham

February Music for Valentine’s Concert on Saturday 14 February 2009 7.30pm at St George’s Church, Beckenham

J. S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV Copland: Clarinet Concerto Vaughan Williams: Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’ Mendelssohn: Symphony for Strings No. 9 in C

Elgar: Serenade for Strings Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 Puccini: Crisantemi Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’ Haydn: Symphony no. 89 in F major

December The Messiah Concert on Saturday 13 December 2008 7pm at St George’s Church, Beckenham

May St George’s Arts Festival Concert on Saturday 16 May 2009 8pm at St George’s Church, Beckenham

Handel: The Messiah

Katherine Broderick: Soprano Patricia Orr: Mezzo Nicholas Hurndall Smith: Tenor John Evans: Bass Londinium City Voices

Mozart: Symphony no. 35 in D major, K. 385 ‘Haffner’ Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, op. 33 Beethoven: Symphony no. 6, op. 68, F major ‘Pastoral’ July Summer Spree! Concert on Saturday 4 July 2009 7pm at St George’s Church, Beckenham Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks Prokofiev: Peter and the wolf, a musical tale for children, op. 67 Haydn: Concerto for trumpet and orchestra Albinoni: Adagio for organ and strings, G minor Mozart: Symphony no. 38 in D major, K. 504 ‘Prague’

London Lyric Opera

Ottorino Respighi: Deità Silvane 1917 Cinque liriche di Antonio Rubino 1880-1964 I fauni S’odono al monte i saltellanti rivi Murmureggiare per le forre astruse, S’odono al bosco gemer cornamuse Con garrito di pifferi giulivi. E i fauni in corsa per dumeti e clivi, Erti le corna sulle fronti ottuse, Bevono per lor nari camuse Filtri sottili e zeffiri lascivi. E, mentre in fondo al gran coro alberato Piange d’amore per la vita bella La sampogna dell’arcade pastore, Contenta e paurosa dell’agguato, Fugge ogni ninfa più che fiera snella, Ardendo in bocca come ardente fiore. The fauns One hears in the hills the bubbling rivers Murmuring through the dark ravines, One hears in the woods the groan of the bagpipes With the chirp of merry pipes. And the fauns racing over hillocks and through thickets, Their horns erect above their broad foreheads, Drink through their flat nostrils Subtle potions and lascivious winds. And, while beneath the great choir of trees, Weeping for love of the beautiful life The bagpipes of the arcadian shepherd. Happy and fearful of the impending ambush, The nymphs flee, faster than wild gazelles, Their ardent lips like blazing flowers! Musica in horto Uno squillo di cròtali clangenti Rompe in ritmo il silenzio dei roseti, Mentre in fondo agli aulenti orti segreti Gorgheggia un flauto liquidi lamenti. La melodia, con tintinnio d’argenti, Par che a vicenda s’attristi e s’allieti, Ora luce di tremiti inquieti, Or diffondendo lunghe ombre dolenti: Cròtali arguti e canne variotocche!,

Una gioia di cantici inespressi Per voi par che dai chiusi orti rampolli, E in sommo dei rosai, che cingon molli Ghirlande al cuor degli intimi recessi, S’apron le rose come molli bocche! Garden music A ring of finger-cymbals clashing rhythmically Punctuates the silence of the rose gardens, While at the end of fragrant, secret orchards A flute pours out its liquid laments. The melody, with silver tinkling Seems to shift between saddening and becoming joyful; Now giving out light of uneasy trembling, Now casting long sorrowful shadows: Sharp finger-cymbals and many-sounding pipes! A joy of songs unexpressed for you gushes forth from the orchards, And at the tops of the rosebushes, that weave garlands In the heart of their intimate depths, The roses open like soft mouths! Egle Frondeggia il bosco d’uberi verzure, Volgendo i rii zaffiro e margherita: Per gli archi verdi un’anima romita Cinge pallidi fuochi a ridde oscure. E in te ristretta con le mani pure Come le pure fonti della vita, Di sole e d’ombre mobili vestita Tu danzi, Egle, con languide misure. E a te candida e bionda tra li ninfe, D’ilari ambagi descrivendo il verde, Sotto i segreti ombracoli del verde, Ove la più inquïeta ombra s’attrista, Perle squillanti e liquido ametista Volge la gioia roca delle linfe.

SONG TEXT

Aegle The woodland is rich with leaves and fruit, The riverbanks are shimmering in daisy and sapphire: Through the green arches a lonely soul encircles pale flames in hidden dances. And with quiet intensity and hands as pure As the pure fountains of life itself, Robed in garments of sun and shadow You dance, Aegle, with languid step. And toward you, white and blonde among the nymphs, Merrily dancing like fluttering leaves, Under the secret shadows of the foliage, Where the most restless of shadows saddens, In translucent pearl and liquid amethyst Flows the raucous joy of the sap. Acqua Acqua, e tu ancora sul tuo flauto lene Intonami un tuo canto variolungo, Di cui le note abbian l’odor del fungo, Del musco e dell’esiguo capelvenere, Sì che per tutte le sottili vene, Onde irrighi la fresca solitudine, Il tuo riscintillio rida e sublùdii Al gemmar delle musiche serene. Acqua, e, lungh’essi i calami volubili Movendo in gioco le cerulee dita, Avvicenda più lunghe ombre alle luci, Tu che con modi labii deduci Sulla mia fronte intenta e sulla vita Del verde fuggitive ombre di nubi.

You wind your transient way, seeing On my brooding forehead and on each of the leaves The fleeting shadows of clouds. Crepuscolo Nell’orto abbandonato ora l’edace Muschio contende all’ellere i recessi, E tra il coro snelletto dei cipressi S’addorme in grembo dell’antica pace Pan. Sul vasto marmoreo torace, Che i convovoli infiorano d’amplessi, Un tempo forse con canti sommessi Piegò una ninfa il bel torso procace. Deità della terra, forza lieta!, Troppo pensiero è nella tua vecchiezza: Per sempre inaridita è la tua fonte. Muore il giorno, e nell’alta ombra inquïeta Trema e s’attrista un canto d’allegrezza: Lunghe ombre azzurre scendono dal monte...

Twilight In the abandoned garden, now the greedy moss Fights with the ivy for every nook and cranny, And in the sparse cluster of cypresses, Sleeping in the womb of ancient peace lies Pan. On the vast marble chest, Bound closely with flowery weed, Perhaps someday with a subdued song A nymph might bend over her provocative figure. God of the earth, joyful force! You have become too serious in Water your old age: Water, once again your gentle flute Your fountain has dried up forever. Plays to me one of your varying songs, The day dies, and through the vast Whose notes seem like the smell restless shade of mushrooms, A song of happiness trembles and Of musk and of sleek maiden-hair, becomes mournful: So that along all the tiny rivulets Long blue shadows descend from That water the fresh solitude, Your sparkling presence laughs and ripples the mountains… With the jewels of serene music. Water, while along your banks the whispering reeds Translations © Ricordi Playfully sway their azure fingers, (adapted by Madeleine Lovell) Flickering longer shadows in the light,

London Lyric Opera

Les nuits d’été by David Cairns Les nuits d’été Villanelle Le spectre de la rose Sur les lagunes: Lamento Absence Au cimetière: Clair de lune L’île inconnue Originally written in about 1840 for solo voice and piano accompaniment, the six songs of Les nuits d’été were arranged for chamber orchestra at various times in the next fifteen years, and the full score published in 1856, just before Berlioz began working on the The Trojans. By that time his career as conductor was nearing its end. Only two of the songs, Le spectre de la rose and Absence, figured in his remaining concerts. He never performed the complete work. Because of this, and because the full score specifies different voice-types for the various songs – mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone – it has been argued that he did not think of the work as a cycle. The idea of an orchestra song cycle was certainly a novelty at that date; if there were any examples from an earlier time they have not survived in the repertory. Yet Berlioz, whatever his first intention, surely came to regard it as one work, not as a collection of separate pieces published together for convenience. Not only are the songs linked by recurring musical figures, phrase-patterns and intervals: the structure of the whole, the progression from one song to another, is consciously shaped. The order finally settled on describes a clear sequence of idea and mood. Les nuits d’été is palpably a cycle: not a quasinarrative cycle like Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, but, like Mahler’s, a grouping of separate numbers round a common subject. The work is an anatomy of romantic love, shown in different aspects: light-hearted and extrovert in the first and last songs, more intense and passionate in the middle four.

Quite possibly, when he first chose some poems by his friend Théophile Gautier to set to music, Berlioz did not have a precise scheme in mind. At one point it consisted of four songs, not six, with the same beginning and end as in the final version but with Absence preceding Le spectre de la rose, and Sur les lagunes and Au cimetière still to come. It may have been that the circumstances of his personal life – the collapse of his once happy marriage to Harriet Smithson – moved him to add those two songs, both of them concerned with loss, the one a seascape, like the final song, but a tragic one, with the bereaved lover doomed to travel alone over the empty sea, the other an evocation of a moonlit graveyard where the dead still have power to possess the living. The first song, Villanelle, already carries a hint of melancholy beneath the skittish surface, conveying it by variations of harmony which heighten the tension from verse to verse, implying that the idyll in the woods and the lover’s whispered ‘for ever’ are not all they seem. The much grander Le spectre de la rose, with its long, seductive melodic spans and its textures at once rich and sparkling, retains something of Villanelle’s playfulness, as well as having a delicate fragrance apt to its poetic ‘conceit’: the ghost of a rose which returns to haunt the dreams of the young woman who wore it at her first ball. At the same time the music’s largeness of style anticipates the third song. Sur les lagunes is constructed round a characteristic Berlioz rhythmic and melodic ostinato, a rocking three-note figure which, recurring almost invariably at the same pitch, suggests both the boat’s movement across the calm water and the obsessive grief of the lover who must set out on his journey bereft of love. The loneliness

ESSAY

of the end, after the last impassioned climax, is palpable, as the sea-swell in the bass subsides and the harmony hangs suspended, unresolved. Sur les lagunes, the most dramatic piece in the cycle, is the only one in a minor key. Berlioz is just as likely to express loss by means of the major mode, as the fourth song, Absence, shows. Here it is separation from a living beloved that is evoked in a major-key refrain of the barest simplicity, enclosing two minor-key verses in which the sense of unbridgeable apartness rises each time to a cry of pain. In the fifth song, Au cimetière, stepwise movement in the voice combines with the accompaniment’s shifting, somnambulistic chords to create a mood of morbid fascination. Like Le spectre de la rose, the music is haunted by a ghostly presence. The poet lingers at dusk, held against his will, hearing in the moaning of a dove the lament of the dead beneath his feet, while the Berliozian flattened sixth grates against the major-key harmonies. This claustrophobic atmosphere is abruptly dispelled by the bright sounds and salty rhythms of L’île inconnue. The final song looks back to the mood of the opening, mocking the romantic assumptions and gestures of the intervening four. Yet there is a difference, reflecting all that has been lived through in between. In the end the music half-succumbs to the same illusion: that the enchanted shore where one loves for ever is there, just over the horizon, and though it will never be found, must be for ever sought. © David Cairns Author of Berlioz, vol.1: The Making of an Artist, 1803-1832, and Berlioz vol.2: Servitude and Greatness, 1832-1869. Penguin

“ The enchanted

shore is just over the horizon”

London Lyric Opera

Berlioz: Les nuits d’été 1834 Théophile Gautier 1811-1872 Villanelle Quand viendra la saison nouvelle, Quand auront disparu les froids, Tous les deux nous irons, ma belle, Pour cueillir le muguet aux bois.

Come with me on the mossy bank, Where we’ll talk of nothing else but love, And whisper with thy voice so tender: Always!

Sous nos pieds égrénant les perles Que l’on voit, au matin trembler, Nous irons écouter les merles Siffler.

Far, far off let our footsteps wander, Fright’ning the hiding hare away, While the deer at the spring is gazing, Admiring his reflected horns.

Le printemps est venu, ma belle; C’est le mois des amants béni; Et l’oiseau, satinant son aile, Dit des vers au rebord du nid.

Then back home, with our hearts rejoicing, And fondly our fingers entwined, Lets return, let’s return bringing fresh wild berries Wood-grown.

Oh! Viens donc sur ce banc de mousse, Pour parler de nos beaux amours, Et dis-moi de ta voix si douce: Toujours! Loin, bien loin égarant nos courses, Faisons fuir le lapin caché, Et le daim, au miroir des sources Admirant son grand bois penché; Puis chez nous, tout heureux, tout aises, En paniers, enlaçant nos doigts, Revenons, rapportant des fraises, Des bois. Villanelle (translation: Samuel Byrne) When verdant spring again approaches, When winter’s chills have disappeared, Through the woods we shall stroll, my darling, The fair primrose to cull at will. The trembling bright pearls that are shining, Each morning we shall brush aside; We shall go to hear the gay thrushes Singing. The flowers are abloom, my darling, Of happy lovers ’tis the month; And the bird his soft wing englossing, Sings carols sweet within his nest.

Le spectre de la rose Soulêve ta paupière close Qu’effleure un songe virginal! Je suis le spectre d’une rose Que tu portais hier au bal. Tu me pris encore emperlée Des pleurs d’argent de l’arrosoir, Et, parmi la fête étoilée, Tu me promenas tout le soir. Ô toi qui de ma mort fus cause, Sans que tu puisses le chasser, Toute la nuit mon spectre rose À ton chevet viendra danser; Mais ne crains rien, je ne réclame Ni messe ni De Profundis. Ce léger parfum est mon äme, Et j’arrive du du paradis. Mon destin fut digne d’envie, Et pour avoir un sort si beau, Plus d’un aurait donné sa vie; Car sur ton sein j’ai mon tombeau, Et sur l’albâtre où je repose Un poëte avec un baiser Écrivit: “Cigît une rose, Que tous les rois vont jalouser.”

SONG TEXT

The ghost of the rose (translation: Emily Ezust) Open your closed eyelid Which is gently brushed by a virginal dream! I am the ghost of the rose That you wore last night at the ball. You took me when I was still sprinkled with pearls Of silvery tears from the watering-can, And, among the sparkling festivities, You carried me the entire night. O you, who caused my death: Without the power to chase it away, You will be visited every night by my ghost, Which will dance at your bedside. But fear nothing; I demand Neither Mass nor De Profundis; This mild perfume is my soul, And I’ve come from Paradise.

Mon âme pleure et sent Qu’elle est dépareillée. Que mon sort est amer! Ah! sans amour s’en aller sur la mer! Sur moi la nuit immense S’étend comme un linceul, Je chante ma romance Que le ciel entend seul. Ah! comme elle était belle, Et comme je l’aimais! Je n’aimerai jamais Une femme autant qu’elle Que mon sort est amer! Ah! sans amour s’en aller sur la mer! S’en aller sur la mer!

My destiny is worthy of envy; And to have a fate so fine, More than one would give his life For on your breast I have my tomb, And on the alabaster where I rest, A poet with a kiss Wrote: “Here lies a rose, Of which all kings may be jealous.”

On the lagoons (translation: Emily Ezust) My beautiful love is dead, I shall weep always; Into the tomb, she has taken My soul and my love. Without waiting for me, She has returned to heaven. The angel which took her there Did not want to take me. How bitter is my fate! Ah! without love, to go to sea!

Sur les lagunes Ma belle amie est morte, Je pleurerai toujours; Sous la tombe elle emporte Mon âme et mes amours. Dans le ciel, sans m’attendre, Elle s’en retourna; L’ange qui l’emmena Ne voulut pas me prendre. Que mon sort es amer! Ah! sans amour s’en aller sur la mer!

The white creature Is lying in the coffin; How all in Nature Seems bereaved to me! The forgotten dove Weeps and dreams of the one who is absent; My soul cries and feels That it has been abandoned. How bitter is my fate, Ah! without love, to go to sea!

La blanche créature Est couchée au cercueil; Comme dans la nature Tout me paraît en deuil! La colombe oubliée Pleure et songe à l’absent;

Above me the immense night Spreads itself like a shroud; I sing my romanza That heaven alone hears.

London Lyric Opera

Ah! how beautiful she was, And how I loved her! I will never love Another woman as much as I loved her; How bitter is my fate! Ah! without love, to go to sea! To go to sea! Absence Reviens, reviens, ma bien-aimée, Comme une fleur loin du soleil, La fleur de ma vie est fermée, Loin de ton sourire vermeil. Entre nos coeurs qu’elle distance ! Tant d’espace entre nos baisers! Ô sort amer! Ô dure absence! Ô grands désirs inapaisés! D’ici là-bas que de campagnes, Que de villes et de hameaux, Que de vallons et de montagnes, A lasser le pied des chevaux! Absence (translation: Samuel Byrne) Come back, come back, my dearest love! Like a flower far from the sun, The flower of my life has drooped, removed from the charm of your smile. Between our hearts how long a distance! What a wide space our kisses divide! O bitter fate! O cruel absence! O longing vain, unsatisfied! Between here and there what fields, What towns and hamlets, What small valleys and mountains To ride there on horseback! Au cimetière Connaissez-vous la blanche tombe, Où flotte avec un son plaintif L’ombre d’un if? Sur l’if une pâle colombe, Triste et seule au soleil couchant, Chante son chant:

Un air maladivement tendre, À la fois charmant et fatal, Qui vous fait mal Et qu’on voudrait toujours entendre; Un air comme en soupire aux cieux L’ange amoureux. On dirait que l’âme éveillée Pleure sous terre à l’unisson De la chanson, Et du malheur d’être oubliée Se plaint dans un roucoulement Bien doucement. Sur les ailes de la musique On sent lentement revenir Un souvenir. Une ombre, une forme angélique, Passe dans un rayon tremblant, En voile blanc. Les belles de nuit demicloses Jettent leur parfum faible et doux Autour de vous, Et le fantôme aux molles poses Murmure en vous tendant les bras: Tu reviendras! Oh! jamais plus près de la tombe, Je n’irai, quand descend le soir Au manteau noir, Écouter la pâle colombe Chanter sur la pointe de l’if Son chant plaintif. At the cemetery (translation: Emily Ezust) Do you know the white tomb Where floats with plaintive sound, The shadow of a yew? On the yew a pale dove, Sad and alone under the setting sun, Sings its song: An air sickly tender, At the same time charming and ominous, Which makes you feel agony Yet which you wish to hear always; An air like a sigh from the heavens

SONG TEXT

Of a love-lorn angel. One would say that an awakened soul Is weeping under the earth in unison With this song, And from the misfortune of being forgotten, Moans its sorrow in a cooing Quite soft. On the wings of the music One feels the slow return Of a memory. A shadow, a form angelic, Passes in a trembling ray of light, In a white veil. The beautiful flowers of the night, half-closed, Send their perfume, faint and sweet, Around you, And the phantom of soft form Murmurs, reaching to you her arms: You will return! Oh! never again near the tomb Shall I go, when night lets fall Its black mantle, To hear the pale dove Sing on the limb of the yew Its plaintive song! L’île inconnue Dites, la jeune belle, Où voulez-vous aller? La voile enfle son aile, La brise va souffler. L’aviron est d’ivoire, Le pavillon de moire, Le gouvernail d’or fin; J’ai pour lest une orange, Pour voile une aile d’ange, Pour mousse un séraphin. Dites, la jeune belle, Où voulez-vous aller? La voile enfle son aile, La brise va souffler.

Est-ce dans la Baltique? Dans la mer Pacifique? Dans l’île de Java? Ou bien est-ce en Norvège, Cueillir la fleur de neige, Ou la fleur d’Angsoka? Dites, la jeune belle, Où voulez-vous aller? Menez-moi, dit la belle, À la rive fidèle Où l’on aime toujours! Cette rive, ma chère, On ne la connaît guère Au pays des amours. The unknown isle (translation: Emily Ezust) Say, young beauty, Where do you wish to go? The sail swells itself, The breeze will blow. The oar is made of ivory, The flag is of silk, The helm is of fine gold; I have for ballast an orange, For a sail, the wing of an angel, For a deck boy, a seraph. Say, young beauty, Where do you wish to go? The sail swells itself, The breeze will blow. Is it to the Baltic? To the Pacific Ocean? To the island of Java? Or is it to Norway, To gather the flower of the snow, Or the flower of Angsoka? Say, young beauty, Where do you wish to go? Lead me, says the beauty, To the faithful shore Where one loves always! This shore, my darling, We hardly know at all In the land of Love.

London Lyric Opera

Michael Pringsheim: Eichendorff Liederkreis 2005 Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff 1788-1857 Mondnacht Es war, als hätt der Himmel, Die Erde still geküßt, Daß sie im Blütenschimmer Von ihm nur träumen müßt. Die Luft ging durch die Felder, Die Ähren wogten sacht, Es rauschten leis die Wälder, So sternklar war die Nacht. Und meine Seele spannte Weit ihre Flügel aus, Flog durch die stillen Lande, Als flöge sie nach Haus. Moon-night (translation: Emily Ezust) It was as if the sky Had quietly kissed the earth, So that in a shower of blossoms She must only dream of him.

Wir wollen zusammen ziehen, Bis das wir wandern müd’. Auf des Vaters Grabe knien Bei dem alten Zauberlied. Homesickness (translation unknown) You know there in the trees Slumbers a magic spell And often at night as in dreams The garden begins to sing. At night a breeze reaches me Through the peaceful countryside Then I call you – brother – From the bottom of my heart So distant are the others I dread being in foreign lands Let us walk together And give me your trusting hand.

The breeze wafted through the fields, The ears of corn waved gently, The forests rustled faintly, So sparkling clear was the night.

Let us wander together Till tired we will be And kneel on our father’s grave And hear the old mystic song.

And my soul stretched its wings out far, Flew through the still lands, as if it were flying home.

Nachts Ich stehe in Waldesschatten Wie an des Lebens Rand, Die Länder wie dämmernde Matten, Der Strom wie ein silbern Band.

Heimweh Du weisst’s, dort in den Bäumen Schlummert ein Zauberbann Und nachts oft, wie in Träumen Fängt der Garten zu singen an.

Von fern nur schlagen die Glocken Über die Wälder herein. Ein Reh hebt den Kopf erschrocken Und schlummert gleich wieder ein.

Nachts durch die stille Runde, Weht’s manchmal bis zu mir, Da ruf’ ich aus Herzensgrunde, O Bruderherz, nach dir.

Der Wald aber rühret die Wipfel Im Traum von der Felsenwand. Denn der Herr geht über die Gipfel Und segnet das stille Land.

So fremde singen die andern, Mir graut im fremden Land. Wir wollen zusammen wandern, Reich treulich mir die Hand.

SONG TEXT

At Night (translation: Jakob Kellner) I stand in forest-shadows as on the verge of life, the lands like dusky meadows, the stream like a silver ribbon. Far away bells are ringing into the woods. Alerted, a deer raises its head, and is soon sleeping again. But the trees move their tops, dreaming of walls of rock. For the master walks over the heights, blessing the silent land. Im Walde Es zog eine Hochzeit den Berg entlang, Ich hörte die Vögel schlagen, Da blitzten viel Reiter, das Waldhorn klang, Das war ein lustiges Jagen! Und eh’ ich’s gedacht, war alles verhallt, Die Nacht bedecket die Runde, Nur von den Bergen noch rauschet der Wald Und mich schauert’s im Herzensgrunde. In the woods (translation: Emily Ezust) Beside the mountain there passed a wedding party. I heard the birds singing; Then there blazed past many horsemen, their forest horns sounding. That was a merry hunt! And before I could think about it, everything had died away And the night threw a cloak all around. Only from the mountains did the woods yet rustle, And deep in my heart I shudder.

In der fremde Aus der Heimat hinter den Blitzen rot Da kommen die Wolken her, Aber Vater und Mutter sind lange tot, Es kennt mich dort keiner mehr. Wie bald, ach wie bald kommt die stille Zeit, Da ruhe ich auch, und über mir Rauscht die schöne Waldeinsamkeit, Und keiner kennt mich mehr hier. In a foreign land (translation: Emily Ezust) From the direction of home, behind the red flashes of lightning There come clouds, But Father and Mother are long dead; No one there knows me anymore. How soon, ah, how soon will that quiet time come, When I too shall rest, and over me The beautiful forest’s loneliness shall rustle, And no one here shall know me anymore.

London Lyric Opera

The Song will carry on by Dr William Wootten To the millions who have read them and to the even greater numbers who have seen them on screen, Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped (1886) and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) remain the most thrilling of classics. But while the Edinburgh-born Robert Louis Stevenson (1859-1894) is best known as a novelist, he was a writer of many talents. He was an excellent essayist and travel writer. And he was a poet. Indeed, though inclined to be modest about his poetic abilities, Stevenson wrote verse throughout his life, publishing four volumes: the perennially popular A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885), Underwoods (1887), Ballads (1890) and Songs of Travel (1895). Stevenson was a born traveller. Though much of his journeying was necessitated by chronic ill health and the need to find a conducive climate, travel was also his delight and inspiration. A canoeing trip through France and Belgium made in 1876 provided the material for his first book An Inland Voyage (1878); a twelve day hike in the mountains of South-Central France gave rise to the immortal Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879). So it proved throughout Stevenson’s life. The decision to join his future wife Fanny Osborne, whom he married in 1880, meant the arduous journey to California was recorded and eventually published in 1892 as Across the Plains. And, over the next few years, the Stevensons would live in America, England, France and Switzerland. In 1888, Robert and Fanny, along with their extended family, set sail for the South Seas. They stayed in the Hawaiian Islands, the Gilbert Islands and Tahiti. In 1890 Stevenson bought land on the Samoan island of Upolu and set up home.

On 3rd December 1894, Stevenson, who had been at work on his great novel Weir of Hermiston, came downstairs at sunset, teased his wife about a sense of foreboding she had and played cards to cheer her up. He then fetched a bottle of burgundy from downstairs and made a salad dressing. Joining his wife on the veranda, Stevenson put his hands to his head asking ‘Do I look strange?’ before collapsing and losing consciousness. Stevenson had had a cerebral haemorrhage, perhaps brought on by pulling the wine cork. The inscriptions on his grave include the famous lines from his poem Requiem: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill. Stevenson’s Songs of Travel were made to be set to music. Indeed, they were often composed to pre-existing tunes. The Vagabond has the original subtitle To an Air of Schubert; Whither Must I Wander was To the Tune of Wandering Willie. Other Stevenson poems too showed Stevenson’s wide-ranging musical taste: from Bach to the Skye Boat Song. These poems manage to show both wanderlust and a certain nostalgia or homesickness, often at the same time. The Vagabond may be a song of the open road, full of disdain for cold weather, an apparently carefree reproach to the stayat-home. Nevertheless, the poem’s frosty fields are reminiscent of the landscape of Stevenson’s Scottish youth, not his present tropical home. Similarly, the regrets of the love song In Dreams are addressed to the girl left behind; this is the traveller who left ‘with a smile’ but who ‘Forgets you not.’

ESSAY

There is a valedictory air about these posthumously published poems. Though still in his early forties, Stevenson knew that he could not cheat ill health forever and would never recover enough to return home. As he wrote to S.R. Crockett on 17 May 1893: ‘I shall never take that walk by the Fisher’s Tryst and Glencourse. I shall never see Auld Reekie [Edinburgh]. I shall never set my foot again upon the heather. Here I am until I die, and here I will be buried. The word is out and the doom is written.’ Still, even as he contemplates death, Stevenson, in poetry as in life, was by no means despairing: Bright is the ring of words When the right man rings them, Fair the fall of songs When the singer sings them. Still they are carolled and said – On wings they are carried – After the singer is dead And the maker buried. Low as the singer lies In the field of heather, Songs of his fashion bring The swains together. And when the west is red With the sunset embers, The lover lingers and sings And the maid remembers. Bright is the Ring of Words may be nostalgic for the heather and the love songs of youth. Yet it is also a poem where the writer of songs imagines the continuance of the song and the people it brings together. Singer and maker may die, but, with the memory of lovers, the song will carry on. © Dr William Wootten

London Lyric Opera

Vaughan Williams – Songs of Travel 1901-1904 Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1894 The Vagabond Give to me the life I love, Let the lave go by me, Give the jolly heaven above, And the byway nigh me. Bed in the bush with stars to see, Bread I dip in the river – There’s the life for a man like me, There’s the life for ever.

Let Beauty Awake Let Beauty awake in the morn from beautiful dreams, Beauty awake from rest! Let Beauty awake For Beauty’s sake In the hour when the birds awake in the brake And the stars are bright in the west!

Let the blow fall soon or late, Let what will be o’er me; Give the face of earth around, And the road before me. Wealth I seek not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; All I seek, the heaven above, And the road below me.

Let Beauty awake in the eve from the slumber of day, Awake in the crimson eve! In the day’s dusk end When the shades ascend, Let her wake to the kiss of a tender friend, To render again and receive!

Or let autumn fall on me Where afield I linger, Silencing the bird on tree, Biting the blue finger. White as meal the frosty field – Warm the fireside haven – Not to autumn will I yield, Not to winter even! Let the blow fall soon or late, Let what will be o’er me; Give the face of earth around, And the road before me. Wealth I ask not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; All I ask, the heaven above, And the road below me.

The Roadside Fire I will make you brooches and toys for your delight Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night, I will make a palace fit for you and me Of green days in forests, and blue days at sea. I will make my kitchen, and you shall keep your room, Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom; And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night. And this shall be for music when no one else is near, The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear! That only I remember, that only you admire, Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire.

SONG TEXT

Youth and Love To the heart of youth the world is a highwayside. Passing for ever, he fares; and on either hand, Deep in the gardens golden pavilions hide, Nestle in orchard bloom, and far on the level land Call him with lighted lamp in the eventide. Thick as stars at night when the moon is down, Pleasures assail him. He to his nobler fate Fares; and but waves a hand as he passes on, Cries but a wayside word to her at the garden gate, Sings but a boyish stave and his face is gone. In Dreams In dreams unhappy, I behold you stand As heretofore: The unrememberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d tokens in your hand Avail no more. No more the morning glow, no more the grace, Enshrines, endears. Cold beats the light of time upon your face And shows your tears. He came and went. Perchance you wept awhile And then forgot. Ah me! but he that left you with a smile Forgets you not.

The Infinite Shining Heavens The infinite shining heavens Rose, and I saw in the night Uncountable angel stars Showering sorrow and light. I saw them distant as heaven, Dumb and shining and dead, And the idle stars of the night Were dearer to me than bread. Night after night in my sorrow The stars looked over the sea, Till lo! I looked in the dusk And a star had come down to me. Whither Must I Wander? Home no more home to me, whither must I wander? Hunger my driver, I go where I must. Cold blows the winter wind over hill and heather: Thick drives the rain and my roof is in the dust. Loved of wise men was the shade of my roof-tree, The true word of welcome was spoken in the door â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Dear days of old with the faces in the firelight, Kind folks of old, you come again no more. Home was home then, my dear, full of kindly faces, Home was home then, my dear, happy for the child. Fire and the windows bright glittered on the moorland; Song, tuneful song, built a palace in the wild. Now when day dawns on the brow of the moorland, Lone stands the house, and the chimneystone is cold. Lone let it stand, now the friends are all departed, The kind hearts, the true hearts, that loved the place of old.

London Lyric Opera

Spring shall come, come again, calling up the moorfowl, Spring shall bring the sun and rain, bring the bees and flowers; Red shall the heather bloom over hill and valley, Soft flow the stream through the even-flowing hours. Fair the day shine as it shone on my childhood – Fair shine the day on the house with open door; Birds come and cry there and twitter in the chimney – But I go for ever and come again no more. Bright is the Ring of Words Bright is the ring of words When the right man rings them, Fair the fall of songs When the singer sings them, Still they are carolled and said – On wings they are carried – After the singer is dead And the maker buried. Low as the singer lies In the field of heather, Songs of his fashion bring The swains together. And when the west is red With the sunset embers, The lover lingers and sings And the maid remembers.

I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope I have trod the upward and the downward slope; I have endured and done in days before; I have longed for all, and bid farewell to hope; And I have lived and loved, and closed the door.

London Lyric Opera

Cadogan Hall

Etiquette and information Etiquette Smoking: All areas of Cadogan Hall are non-smoking areas. Food and Beverages: You are kindly requested not to bring food and other refreshments into Cadogan Hall. Cameras and Electronic Devices: Video equipment, cameras and tape recorders are not permitted. Please ensure all pagers, PDA’s and mobile phones are switched off before entering the auditorium. Dress Code: There is no dress code for the majority of performances. If a particular dress is requested you will be informed at the time of booking by the box office. Interval and timings: Intervals vary with each performance. Some performances may not have an interval. Latecomers will not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance. Consideration: We aim to deliver the highest standards of service. Therefore, we would ask of you to treat our staff with courtesy and in a manner in which you would expect to be treated. Food and Beverages Oakley Bar: Concert goers may enjoy a wide selection of champagnes, spirits, red and white wines, beers and soft drinks from the Oakley Room Bar. There are also some light refreshments available. Access Free Companion/Assistance Scheme: Cadogan Hall has a range of services to assist disabled customers including a provision for wheelchair users in the stalls. Companions of disabled customers are entitled to a free seat when assisting disabled customers at Cadogan Hall. Please note that companion seats not sold 48hrs prior to any given performance will be released for general sale.

Wheel Chair Users: If you use a wheelchair and wish to transfer to a seat, we regret we may not be able to provide a member of staff to help you physically. However, we will arrange for your wheelchair to be taken away and stored. A Lift is located to the right once inside the box office reception allowing access to a lowered box office counter. Foyer areas are on the same level as the box office and the foyer bar (Caversham Room) is accessed via a wide access lift. A member of staff will help you with your requirements. Stalls within the auditorium are via a wide access lift as are adapted toilet facilities. Customers with hearing requirements: The box office counter is fitted with a loop system to aid customers with any hearing impairment. The auditorium is fitted with an Infra-red Amplification System. This is not the same as a Loop System so switching your hearing aid to ‘T’ is not sufficient. You will need to use an amplification aid. There is a choice of aids depending on the nature of your hearing impairment. A member of staff will be happy to explain the use of the system and there is an opportunity to check that your equipment is working prior to curtain up. Customers with sight impairment: Working / Guide dogs are welcome to access the hall and auditorium but please do let us now prior to arriving at the hall so we may make any special arrangements if necessary. We produce large print (20 point) brochures upon request as well as audiocassette versions of season brochures. To request a free copy please call the box office and ask to be added to our regular lists. ‘Touch / Familiarisation’ tours can be arranged and we have Unisex accessible toilet on all levels except Gallery.

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Der fliegende Holländer Richard Wagner

Thursday 27 November 7.00pm

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lionel Friend London Lyric Opera in concert at the Barbican Gweneth-Ann Jeffers James Hancock Karl Huml Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Richard Roberts Anne-Marie Owens

Sung in the original German with English surtitles

Tickets £55, £45, £38, £32.50 £27.50, £22, £15

020 7638 8891 Box office Reduced booking fee online www.barbican.org.uk

The Barbican Centre is owned, funded and managed by the Corporation of London.

Fidelio Ludwig van Beethoven

London Lyric Opera in concert at Cadogan Hall

www.londonlyricopera.com

An international cast presents Beethoven’s classic opera in concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of brilliant young conductor, Madeleine Lovell. LLO is delighted to announce that world-renowned dramatic soprano Elizabeth Connell will be singing one of her signature roles with the exciting young tenor, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, as Florestan. Conductor: Madeleine Lovell Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Leonore: Elizabeth Connell Florestan: Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Jaquino: Andrew Staples

Marzelline: Rachel Nicholls Don Fernando: Paul Goodwin-Groen Don Pizarro: James Hancock Rocco: Richard Wiegold London Lyric Opera Chorus

Tickets: £45, £39, £32, £25

Tuesday 17 February 2009 7.30pm Box Office: 020 7730 4500 www.cadoganhall.com

SUPPORT

Supporting LLO LLO is a young company with ambitions to fill a niche in the UK opera scene by producing high quality concerts with the best available singers and musicians. Concert performances are planned in London every four months in the best concert venues. Such high ambitions come at a price and sponsorship from individuals and corporations will be very gratefully accepted.

All names of friends will be prominently listed in future programmes and appear on the LLO website. Friends will get first call on performance tickets and get to meet the artists at events organised throughout the year. If you’d like to send a cheque – please make it payable to: London Lyric Opera 27 Clevedon Rd London SE20 7QQ

Please call us on +44 207 193 4149 or email info@londonlyricopera.com to discuss this further.

Corporate sponsorship Through corporate contributions towards London Lyric Opera’s work, your company will enhance and promote its image and messages to an audience of welleducated, affluent opinion-shapers and decision-makers. Promote products in the most prestigious concert venues to central London audiences and establish name identification, brand affiliation and image transfer with London’s new opera company. LLO aims to offer flexible sponsorship packages, tailored to suit each individual sponsor’s specific aims. This flexible approach also means we can offer something to suit every budget. LLO’s quarterly concert performances of the great operas in Central London concert venues will provide a perfect opportunity to entertain clients and constituents in exclusive and unique settings. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss the wide variety of London Lyric Opera’s corporate sponsorship opportunities with you, to create a tailored package that really meets your specific marketing and entertainment needs. For more information please email Lara on lara@londonlyricopera.com or call on 020 7193 4149.

London Lyric Opera Friends We believe that London Lyric Opera can have an exciting future as an important opera company in the UK – but we need your help. Our aim is to be the premier London concert opera company, performing opera in concert to the highest possible standard with no compromise to orchestra size and quality. We will always perform with the forces required by the score. To continue this important work we are going to need additional funding.We always use professional orchestras and will always try to cast the best available singers. The repertoire we will focus on is the big German and English repertoire plus an annual concert of orchestral song cycles. Large forces at the highest level are expensive but ultimately worth it. If you could support us by being a ‘Friend’ we would be enormously grateful. The ‘Friend’ categories are the following: Bronze £5-£249 Silver £250-£999 Gold £1,000-£4,999 Platinum £5,000+

London Lyric Opera

Patron and Sponsors Patron–in-Chief

Isla Baring

Founder of LLO

James Hancock

Principal Conductor

Lionel Friend

Guest Conductor

Madeleine Lovell

Company Accountant Global Accountants Ltd www.globalaccountant.co.uk Design

Wardour

Legal Services

Gordon Dadds

Public Relations

Catherine Stokes Consultancy

Sponsors Wardour www.wardour.co.uk Gordon Dadd’s www.gordondadds.com Tait Memorial Trust www.taitmemorialtrust.org The Ashton Partnership www.theashtonpartnership.com

With our warmest thanks to: Kathie Convery, Leeza Johnson, Ludmilla Andrew, St. George’s Beckenham, Wagner Journal, Music Club of London, Wagner Society and the Business team at Lloyds TSB, Bromley, Hugh Mather and the Friends of St.Mary’s Perivale, St. Barnabas’ Ealing, Patrick Norohna, Andrew Bernardi.

T h e Ta i t M e m o r i a l Tr u s t i s p l e a s e d t o b e a s s i s t i n g t h e s e fine young Australian artists in 2008 Thornton Foundation Award Tristan Dyer

ballet

Royal School of Ballet

Duncan Rock

baritone

Guidhall School of Music & Drama

Dance Arches Award Naomi Hibberd

ballet

Rambert School of Ballet

Brieley Anne Cutting

piano

Royal College of Music

Christina Katsimbardis

violin

lessons with David Takeno

Grants throught partner orgnaizations

For tickets or more information on the Trust please contact us on: 4/80 Elm Park Gardens London SW10 9PD 020 7351 0561 info@taitmemorialtrust.org www.taitmemorialtrust.org Registered charity no. 1042797 We wish to thank our sponsors: Vernon Ellis Foundation for hosting our concerts.

Melissa Doueke

flute

Royal Over-Seas League

Michael Ierace

piano

Royal Over-Seas League

Elena Xanthoudakis

soprano

Performing Australian Music Competion

Mary Jean O’Doherty

soprano

Australian International Opera Award

Velda Wilson

soprano

National Opera Foundation Australia

Maria Okunev

soprano

Miette Song Recital Award

Christine Luo

piano

Dartington Summer School

Claire Howard

piano

Smaull Song Singing Course

Our Upcoming Events: Tuesday 23 September Piers Lane and the Australian String Quartet Programme to include Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A major, Peter Sculthorpe’s String Quartet No.8 and Debussy String Quartet in G minor Op.10. 7 for 7.30 at 49 Queen’s Gate Terrace, SW7 Tickets £25 or £20 for Tait Friends Tuesday 14 October John Amis on Britten and Tippett Writer and broadcaster John Amis will give his fascinating talk on Britten and Tippett. Amis knew both composers and offers a witty nostalgic insight to a relationship that lasted over thirty years between the two most significant composers of the British post-war musical scene. 7 for 7.30 at 49 Queen’s Gate Terrace, SW7 Tickets £17 or £15 for Tait Friends Thursday 22 January 2009 The Chamber Strings of Melbourne with pianist Antony Gray Christopher Martin conducting The Chamber Strings of Melbourne, programme includes works by Vivaldi, Telemann, Arensky/Tchaikovsky, Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Elgar and Malcolm Williamson’s Piano Concerto. 6.30 for 7pm St. Paul’s Knightsbridge SW1X 8SH Tickets £25 or £22 for Tait Friends

Programme designed by Wardour Illustration by Izumi Nogawa

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