LPO 2013-14 Season Brochure

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London Philharmonic Orchestra 2013/14 Concert Season at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall


2013 The Rest Is Noise Highlights

September

October

November

December

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski conducts the first of three concerts marking Benjamin Britten’s centenary year beginning with a performance of Peter Grimes.

Principal Guest Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has a natural affinity with French repertoire, and in October explores 20th-century delights by Poulenc and Dutilleux.

In contrast to two concerts celebrating The Genius of Film Music (1960–2000), Christoph Eschenbach conducts Messiaen’s vast and colourful glorification of the earth, stars and heaven, Des canyons aux étoiles.

Vladimir Jurowski presents John Adams’s theatrical and jubilant Nativity oratorio El Niño.

2014 Highlights

January

February

March

April

May

Lawrence Power, one of the leading violists of his generation, gives the world premiere of James MacMillan’s Viola Concerto commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Conductor Vasily Petrenko makes a welcome return to the Orchestra conducting Elgar’s opulent Symphony No. 2.

Celebrating the completion of Royal Festival Hall’s 8-year organ refurbishment, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts two organ masterpieces – Saint-Saëns’s glorious ‘Organ’ Symphony and Poulenc’s Organ Concerto.

Two distinguished pianists – Mitsuko Uchida and Leif Ove Andsnes – join the Orchestra to perform two of the great Beethoven piano concertos.

A FUNharmonics Family Concert to remember – the LPO plays newly commissioned pieces by composer Benjamin Wallfisch based on Roald Dahl’s timeless stories including The Ant-Eater.


Welcome to the 2013/14 season

We shine the spotlight on some of the exciting new artistic talent to have There is much to celebrate this season. emerged in recent years including two dynamic young conductors, Andrés Firstly, we continue our year-long Orozco-Estrada and Andrey Boreyko; The Rest Is Noise collaboration with pianist Alexandre Tharaud; cellists Southbank Centre, exploring some Jean-Guihen Queyras and Johannes of the influential orchestral works Moser; and guitarist Miloš Karadaglic´. composed during the second half of To complement their raw talent the 20th century. Composers we’ll and energy, we welcome a host of be highlighting include Messiaen, Lutosławski, Arvo Pärt and John Adams, distinguished artists including Mitsuko Uchida, Ian Bostridge, Leif Ove Andsnes, and we’ll also present extracts from Evelyn Glennie and Emanuel Ax. seminal film scores written between 1960 and 2000. We are also thrilled to bring you two world premieres – James MacMillan’s We’re delighted to open our season Viola Concerto and the late Górecki’s with a three-concert celebration of eagerly awaited Fourth Symphony. the music of Benjamin Britten, whose centenary year is being marked I hope you’ll join us for another rich and worldwide throughout 2013. Principal colourful season. Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski leads this tribute to one of the most important cultural figures of the 20th century, conducting two large-scale masterpieces – Peter Grimes Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director and the War Requiem – alongside some lesser-known orchestral gems.

A selection of this season’s concerts will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 bbc.co.uk/radio3

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02 Clockwise from top left – Frank Zappa © Ian Dickson-Rex Features – Marilyn Monroe © Lifestyle Pictures-Alamy Two East German border Guards look at passers by through a hole in Berlin Wall, 1990 © Hartrust Reiche / Deutches Bundesarchiv Hippies at the Hyde Park ‘Love In’ 1967 © David Graves / Rex Features – Buzz Aldrin salutes the US flag on the moon, 1967 © NASA Apollo Archive

the soundtrack of the 20th century

The Rest Is Noise


Southbank Centre January – December 2013 The autumn concerts in the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2013/14 Royal Festival Hall season are all part of Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise. Join us for the final instalment of this multi-artform festival as we continue to chronologically chart the defining musical works of the 20th century.

Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise, inspired by Alex Ross’ book The Rest Is Noise Presented by Southbank Centre in partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise

When I read the book I was instantly excited by the potential it offered to audiences less versed in classical music to discover the great works of the 20th century by understanding their historical context. I also realised how enriching it would be for committed music-lovers to delve more deeply into the external influences bearing down on both individual composers and art movements of the century, providing some of the most defining, glorious and unexpected outpourings of creative work.

The 20th century and beyond was fraught with debate and schism about the worth of different music. There was virtually no consensus from the 1920s onwards as to what ‘music of merit’ meant. The Rest Is Noise festival provides a route-map for audiences; guiding them through the music of the 20th century and the prism of 20th-century history, with its revolutions, faith, political credo and pacifism – and its new relationships to technology and artistic democracy.

The Rest Is Noise

In 2007 Alex Ross wrote the compelling book The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. Throughout 2013 we have brought the book to life, looking at history, science, the arts and politics through performances, films, talks and debates. From September to December we delve into a post-war world, exploring the 1960s counterculture and revolution, politics and spirituality, Hollywood and emerging superpowers, ending with John Adams’s masterpiece from the year 2000, El Niño.

Tim Walker and the London Philharmonic Orchestra have curated a powerful series of concerts that form the musical heart of the festival.

Jude Kelly OBE Artistic Director, Southbank Centre

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Britten

Celebrating the centenary of Benjamin Britten in 2013 Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski presents three evening concerts of Benjamin Britten’s music marking the composer’s centenary year. Saturday 28 September 2013 p06 Wednesday 2 October 2013 p07 Saturday 12 October 2013 p08 Additional free afternoon concerts

The LPO and Southbank Centre present Britten’s moving setting of the Chester Miracle play, Noye’s Fludde. With a cast of professionals, young people from local communities and even the audience, the piece climaxes in a tapestry of bells, bugles, recorders and voices. No ticket required.

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© Roland Haupt Opposite: © Hans Wild

Noye’s Fludde Saturday 28 September 2013 Saturday 12 October 2013 2.00pm – 3.00pm & 4.00pm – 5.00pm The Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall


‘I’ve always loved Britten’s music. He’s a composer who has such a broad range of work, and this is music of a special and singular power.’ Wes Anderson, film director ‘I do identify with Britten’s deeply held convictions… In the War Requiem he used the themes in the texts that he chose to make statements about humanity, and in that sense we have to put him up there with Beethoven in terms of his feeling of the nobility of the human spirit.’ John Adams, composer

In this anniversary year, we hear a truly international view of Britten – the first composer from our own shores to achieve widespread global recognition. Russian-born, German-trained Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski conducts two of Britten’s large-scale masterworks and a concert of seldom-played orchestral music.

Britten

Had he not died in 1976, Benjamin Britten would be 100 years old in 2013. Being a man who lived to work, he might have produced countless additional masterpieces to those we already know. But more importantly, he’d have seen the world progress. Those fierce arguments for social change that thrust out of his operas would surely appear so close to winning through. In that sense, he was a composer truly ahead of his time.

Long before he took on the Principal Conductorship of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jurowski had Britten never shied away from letting already proved consistently illuminating and full of renewal as an interpreter his pacifism and homosexuality drive his works. It gave them a fierce realism, of English music. We know Jurowski a different, dark brand of verismo new has a distinct way with Britten’s sense of ‘clear complexity’, and in this to the opera and concert stage. Britten anniversary year we have the chance was truly a man of contradictions: to hear him in a comprehensive survey a darling of the establishment but considered by many to be an outsider; of the composer’s music for orchestra and voices. an Englishman rooted so firmly to his homeland and yet absorbing the ‘… this neat assemblage of early internationalism of the music scene Britten contains wonderful things. like few others. The LPO responds marvellously to Vladimir Jurowski’ The Guardian on Jurowski conducting Britten on the LPO label (LPO-0037)

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September

Saturday 28 September 2013 | 7.00pm Royal Festival Hall Celebrating the centenary of Benjamin Britten in 2013 Britten Peter Grimes Vladimir Jurowski conductor Stuart Skelton Peter Grimes Pamela Armstrong Ellen Orford Alan Opie Captain Balstrode Pamela Helen Stephen Auntie Malin Christensson/Claire Ormshaw Her ‘Nieces’ Michael Colvin Bob Boles Brindley Sherratt Swallow Jean Rigby Mrs Sedley Mark Stone Ned Keene Brian Galliford Reverend Horace Adams Jonathan Veira Hobson London Voices Daniel Slater director Some months after emigrating to America, Benjamin Britten began to read George Crabbe’s narrative poem The Borough – the story of an ostracised fisherman on the North Sea coast. An opera on the subject stirred inside Britten, as did the realisation that he had to come home. He did so, and when the resulting opera Peter Grimes was premiered in 1945, it kick-started an operatic renaissance in Britain overnight. Peter Grimes – underpinned by benign and savage pictures of the North Sea – is one of the landmark operas of the 20th century, from whose chilling tale of marginalisation and persecution Britten created his most powerful and dramatic music. This performance will last for approximately 3 hours including interval. Please note start time.

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Free pre-concert event

Vladimir Jurowski

5.30pm – 6.15pm Royal Festival Hall Musicians from the Royal College of Music perform Britten’s String Quartet No. 3 and Phantasy.

© Thomas Kurek

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Celebrating the centenary of Benjamin Britten in 2013

October

Wednesday 2 October 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Britten Prelude and Dances from The Prince of the Pagodas Britten Suite on English Folk Tunes (A time there was) Britten Nocturne Britten Cello Symphony Vladimir Jurowski conductor Mark Padmore tenor Truls Mørk cello

© Morten Krogvold and Virgin Cl

‘Write for the cello everything that your heart tells you’, said the great Mstislav Rostropovich when asking Britten for a new work for his instrument. Britten responded with music of fraught intensity but also of optimism – his only piece of ‘absolute’ symphonic music and an inspiring journey from darkness to light. At the end of his career Britten turned once more to an enduring theme: the corruption of innocence and the recollection of times lost. His Suite on English Folk Tunes is a gentle but touching act of homage to both the country in which he felt so rooted and the tradition of folksong to which he owed so much.

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Supported by the Britten-Pears Foundation.

Truls Mørk 07


October

Saturday 12 October 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Celebrating the centenary of Benjamin Britten in 2013 Britten War Requiem Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano Ian Bostridge tenor Matthias Goerne baritone Neville Creed conductor (chamber orchestra) London Philharmonic Choir Trinity Boys Choir When Benjamin Britten saw for himself the damage to the city of Coventry after a wartime bombing raid, he set about writing the piece that he hoped ‘would be remembered longest’ after his own death. In his monumental War Requiem, the composer pits three contrasting musical ensembles against one another: the chilling innocence of boys’ voices meets the outspoken, acerbic protests of two soldier-like figures and a large chorus and orchestra, through which are channelled the traditional expressions of suffering and deliverance. The tense, angry and yet cautiously optimistic work that resulted has lost none of its power or relevance half a century on.

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Please note there will be no interval during this performance.

Ian Bostridge 08

6.00pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Musicians from the Royal College of Music perform Britten’s Les illuminations and Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge.

© Simon Fowler

Free pre-concert event


Poulenc Piano Concerto Prokofiev Symphony No. 7 Poulenc Stabat mater

October

Wednesday 23 October 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Alexandre Tharaud piano Kate Royal soprano London Philharmonic Choir Poulenc’s imagination knew few bounds and reached one of its many peaks in his charming Piano Concerto. Here was a composer who combined the grace and simplicity of popular French song with the caustic wit and satirical mimicry that was rife in 20th-century Paris, all of which punches through the high-jinks of this gregarious concerto. Poulenc, though, claimed that ‘the best and most genuine part of myself’ was to be found in his sacred music. After the mood-pictures of Prokofiev’s Seventh Symphony we hear Poulenc’s setting of the 13th century poem of mourning and salvation, the Stabat mater, which is gifted music of intense poise, intricacy and spirituality by the composer.

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© Esther Hasse

Free pre-concert event 6.15pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Dr Caroline Potter from Kingston University looks at the life and works of Francis Poulenc.

Kate Royal 09


October

Saturday 26 October 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Henri Dutilleux Tout un monde lointain Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 (Babi Yar) Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Jean-Guihen Queyras cello Mikhail Petrenko bass Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir

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© Marco Borggreve

At the height of the ‘thaw’ that followed Stalin’s demise, Dmitri Shostakovich found himself able to speak his mind once more. For his 13th Symphony, the composer took controversial texts by the young liberal poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko depicting the Nazi massacre of Jews outside Kiev and set them with bold simplicity and tragic irony. The Symphony was astonishingly outspoken and delivered Shostakovich’s last major clash with the Soviet state. By turns stark and defiant, tender and warm, this compelling masterpiece is one of the composer’s most personal and affecting creations and an apt counterbalance to the glistening translucence of Dutilleux’s concerto for cello and orchestra.


Ligeti Lontano Lutosławski Cello Concerto* Schnittke Symphony No. 1

October

Wednesday 30 October 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Michail Jurowski conductor Johannes Moser cello For Alfred Schnittke, ‘incidental’ and ‘serious’ music were one and the same. When the composer began work on his First Symphony in 1969, he was also scoring the documentary film The World Today. As music for soundtrack and symphony drifted into one another, Schnittke emerged as a unique and vital symphonic voice for the coming multimedia age. Here was a composer who sampled before sampling was invented, and whose moving, emotion-filled and energy-charged symphonies reveal the paradoxes and parallels at the heart of modern life. The First Symphony remains a dramatic, almost supernatural live experience and is heard here alongside music of earthy realism and spirit by Witold Lutosławski.

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*Generously supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music Grant programme.

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© hänsslerCLASSIC

Free pre-concert event 6.00pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Professor Alexander Ivashkin plays cello works by Lutosławski and Schnittke, and uses unpublished correspondence between Ligeti, Lutosławski and Schnittke to explore their personal relations.

Johannes Moser 11


November

Saturday 2 November 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Messiaen Des canyons aux étoiles Christoph Eschenbach conductor Tzimon Barto piano John Ryan horn In 1974, 18 years before his death, Olivier Messiaen gave birth to one of the most extraordinary musical creations of the last century. Des canyons aux étoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars) is an orchestral depiction of the vastness of space. Messiaen’s hallmarks are here: intoxicating colours, vivid images of nature, and beguiling rhythms imported from Asian traditions. But this piece went further. To his huge orchestra with horn and piano soloists the composer added an array of percussion including chimes, thunder sheet, wind machine and even sand machine. Stark but monumental, Des canyons aux étoiles is a live music experience not to be missed.

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Please note there will be no interval during this performance.

Christoph Eschenbach 12

6.00pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Colour and Eternity - the music of Olivier Messiaen Exploring the rich sound world of Oliver Messiaen, this talk delves into his musical language, where birdsong, faith and colour collide to produce one of the most original musical voices in the 20th century. A new piano miniature inspired by Des canyons aux étoiles will also be performed. This talk forms part of the Royal Philharmonic Society Bicentenary Celebrations, 1813 – 2013.

© Eric Brissaud

Free pre-concert event


Sofia Gubaidulina Offertorium Arvo Pärt Magnificat Arvo Pärt Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten Arvo Pärt Berlin Mass

November

Wednesday 6 November 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Tõnu Kaljuste conductor Sergej Krylov violin London Philharmonic Choir When Arvo Pärt’s music began to be heard outside Estonia two decades ago, it felt like the opening of a door into another world. Pärt’s devastating purity, stillness and resonance connected the distant past to the absolute present while seeming to wipe the musical slate clean of all needless excess, noise and argument. It seemed, for a moment, as though this penetrating music could silence the world. In this concert conducted by the composer’s champion Tõnu Kaljuste, we hear four seminal pieces by Pärt alongside a violin concerto by Sofia Gubaidulina that owes much to Pärt’s work in its ‘total surrender of the self to the tone’.

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Free pre-concert event 6.00pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall LPO Foyle Future Firsts, conducted by Ben Gernon, present a programme to include Galina Ustvolskaya’s final work – Symphony No.5 (Amen), a haunting setting of The Lord’s Prayer.

Sergej Krylov 13



‘ It was my first time seeing an orchestra … I was absolutely blown away! It was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had in many, many years.’ 19-year-old student concert attender


The Genius of Film Music

The Genius of Film Music (1960–2000) A two-concert celebration of some of the seminal film scores composed between the years 1960–2000. Friday 8 November 2013 p17 Friday 29 November 2013 p19 From its first, shaky steps, cinema always sought out the power, emotion and subtlety of music. It was there in the creaky theatres that showed the first moving films – played live by bands who improvised as the pictures rolled out above them – and it remains a central part of cinema today, sharing high-definition, big impact and narrative vitality with the increasingly vivid pictures it serves.

This season the London Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates the art of movie music – from the golden age of postwar Hollywood to the cut-and-thrust of contemporary cinema. We start with the first real musical stars of Hollywood, émigrés from the world of opera and symphony who wrote swashbuckling, heart-rending and sometimes near-Wagnerian scores that threatened to outdo the very pictures they were designed to complement. We take in some of the most striking examples of film music’s various stylistic offshoots – from the string stabs of Psycho to the imposing grandeur of the Star Wars spaceships – and chart its journey back to the truly symphonic sounds that prevailed in the earliest days of the movie epic. Join us for a scintillating exploration of some of the most momentous moments in movie music from the orchestra that brought you the soundtracks to The Hobbit, The Mission, In the Name of the Father, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lights, Orchestra, Action!

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‘I have the final say, or I don’t do the music.’ Bernard Herrmann (pictured) ‘33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music.’ Alfred Hitchcock on Herrmann’s score ‘When you stop and think about it, space is a very romantic thought. It is, to me, like the Old West, we’re up in the universe. It’s about discovery and new life ... it’s really the basic premise of Star Trek’ Jerry Goldsmith


The Genius of Film Music 1960–1980

November

Friday 8 November 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

North Cleopatra Symphony* Rota The Godfather – A symphonic portrait* Waxman The Ride of the Cossacks Herrmann Psycho – A narrative for string orchestra* Kaper Mutiny on the Bounty* Goldsmith Star Trek – The New Enterprise* John Mauceri conductor Welcome to Hollywood and the golden age of movie music, where the shift to ‘talkies’ and the arrival of hundreds of émigré musicians from the great orchestras of central Europe formed a perfect storm of creativity. As Alex Ross observed in The Rest Is Noise, an actress could hardly serve a cup of coffee in a mid-century movie ‘without having fifty strings swoop in to assist her.’ Waxman, Herrmann, North and Rota were no shrinking violets but as such they delivered some of the most emotional and involving orchestral music written for film. *Arranged by John Mauceri.

© Getty Images

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November

Wednesday 27 November 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Krzysztof Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 1 Górecki Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) Michał Dworzynski conductor Barnabas Kelemen violin Allison Bell soprano In the mid-1970s the composer Henryk Górecki asked a specialist in Polish folk music if he had discovered any interesting old melodies. The folklorist responded with a simple Silesian song in which a mother mourns her recently killed son. ‘It is not sorrow, despair or the wringing of hands’, wrote Górecki, ‘it is just the great grief and lament of a woman who has lost her son.’ The composer used the song in his Third Symphony, whose anguished beauty has no parallel in music and was a contributing factor to its huge commercial success. Joining it here is the rhapsodic Violin Concerto by his compatriot Krzysztof Penderecki, and to conduct, the Polish maestro Michał Dworzynski.

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This concert is generously supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music Grant programme.

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Allison Bell 18

6.15pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Michał Dworzynski discusses the evening’s programme.

© Felipe Pagani

Free pre-concert event


The Genius of Film Music 1980–2000

November

Friday 29 November 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Excerpts from: John Williams Star Wars Vangelis Chariots of Fire Hamlisch Sophie’s Choice Ennio Morricone The Mission Luis Enríquez Bacalov Il Postino Angelo Badalamenti Twin Peaks E Bernstein The Age of Innocence Danny Elfman The Nightmare Before Christmas John Powell/Harry Gregson-Williams Chicken Run Nicola Piovani La Vita è bella Goldsmith Mulan Don Davis The Matrix Hans Zimmer Gladiator Dirk Brossé conductor

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© LucasFilm

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‘If it weren’t for the movies’, multi-Oscar winning composer John Williams commented recently, ‘nobody would be able to write this kind of music anymore.’ By which he meant the spectacular, colourful, evocative and defiantly ‘now’-feeling film scores written since the emergence of full-colour pictures and penetrating stereo sound. From Williams’s own supercharged soundscape for Star Wars to the high-jinks chases and jokes of John Powell’s music for Wallace and Gromit’s caper Chicken Run, this concert will unleash the power of the film score in all its orchestral brilliance. JTI FRIDAY SERIES

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‘ The orchestral playing was faultless, the singing superb … By the end, there was a sense of audience complicity in something monstrous. A very fine achievement.’ The Guardian, September 2012



December

Saturday 7 December 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Julian Anderson The Stations of the Sun James MacMillan Veni, Veni, Emmanuel Mark-Anthony Turnage Evening Songs Thomas Adès Asyla Vladimir Jurowski conductor Evelyn Glennie percussion Vladimir Jurowski conducts a retrospective of seminal British works from the 1990s. James MacMillan’s percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel has had more performances than almost any other piece of its age since an astounded audience heard it for the first time in 1992, and is performed here by the percussionist it was written for, Evelyn Glennie. Wonderfully playful yet deeply spiritual, this compelling piece demands to be seen as well as heard. Asyla by Thomas Adès is a sometimes terrifying exploration of space – wide open and free one minute, claustrophobic the next. It’s heard alongside orchestral pictures of day, night, light and dark by former and current LPO Composers in Residence, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Julian Anderson respectively.

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Evelyn Glennie 22

6.00pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall The LPO Foyle Future Firsts, under conductor Paul Hoskins, perform British music from the 1990s including Martin Butler’s Jazz Machines, described as ‘jazz that machines might play, on the sly, when we’re not listening’.

© James Wilson

Free pre-concert event


John Adams El Niño (Nativity Oratorio)

December

Saturday 14 December 2013 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Kate Royal soprano Kelley O’Connor mezzo soprano Matthew Rose bass Daniel Bubeck countertenor Brian Cummings countertenor Steven Rickards countertenor London Philharmonic Choir Mark Grey sound designer The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra commissioned John Adams to write a work for chorus and orchestra in the late 1990s, at about the same time as the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris asked for an opera from him. Adams’s idea to combine the two requests in an oratorio that could be staged resulted in what many believe is his finest work yet. El Niño tells a refracted version of the Nativity story transplanted to Hispanic America, presenting a feast of allusions in musical, theatrical and visual form – as joyful and rousing as Handel’s Messiah (its inspiration), as intense and direct as the Latin American texts that it uses, and as moving and sincere as anything Adams has written.

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© Roman Gontcharov

Free pre-concert event 5.00pm – 5.45pm The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s creative ensemble for 15–19 year-olds, The Band, performs its latest set – new music inspired by John Adams’s El Niño and its source texts.

Vladimir Jurowski 23


January

Wednesday 15 January 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall James MacMillan Viola Concerto (world premiere) Mahler Symphony No. 6 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lawrence Power viola After the first performance of his Sixth Symphony in 1906, Gustav Mahler could be found sobbing, wringing his hands and pacing frantically in his dressing room. He’d realised that what he’d written offered no escape. This compelling 80-minute orchestral journey ends in resolute tragedy – perhaps the first symphony to paint such a resoundingly dark picture of the human soul with such astonishing purpose and effect. It remains a live music experience like no other, and is preceded in this concert by the world premiere of a new concerto for viola and orchestra by James MacMillan. MacMillan’s Viola Concerto is commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

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Lawrence Power 24

6.15pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall James MacMillan discusses his new Viola Concerto.

© Jack Lieback

Free pre-concert event


Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 Beethoven Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral)

January

Friday 17 January 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Yulianna Avdeeva piano Between the tumultuous upheavals of his Fifth and Seventh Symphonies, Beethoven’s Sixth feels like a sudden step into daylight – into the softened world of the countryside, its quiet exaltation and its strengthening sense of communion. By contrast, Brahms’s First Piano Concerto was a piece designed to be the most powerful, original and striking orchestral achievement since Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It took Johannes Brahms a long time to get his concerto just right, but when he did, he delivered a piece of staggering emotional breadth and new-found virtuosity – it still thrills and surprises a century and a half later.

© Harald Hoffman

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Yulianna Avdeeva 25


January

Wednesday 22 January 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall J S Bach Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV 104 Hartmann Concerto funebre Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leonidas Kavakos violin Two hundred years ago Ludwig van Beethoven organised a concert that he hoped would help lift the burden of the oppressed. For this pivotal occasion, he wrote a symphony that would encapsulate ideals of liberty in music of intense endurance and fortitude. In its volume, length and emotional power, Beethoven’s Eroica left critics and audiences dumbfounded. You can still hear why – as could Karl Amadeus Hartmann in 1939, when he wrote his musical protest against the Nazi occupation of Poland, Concerto funebre. Hartmann chose to stay in Germany and resist fascism through his art; the results are defiant, deeply moving and musically outstanding.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Leonidas Kavakos 26

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© Yannis Bournias

Generously supported by the Sharp Family.


Kodály Dances of Galánta Grieg Piano Concerto Dvorˇák Symphony No. 7

January

Wednesday 29 January 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Andrés Orozco-Estrada conductor Rudolf Buchbinder piano

© Werner Kmetitsch

When the London Philharmonic Society asked Antonín Dvorˇák for a new symphony in 1884, the composer knew he had to deliver something special. In the resulting Seventh, the doubts and frustrations Dvorˇák experienced as a composer are defeated by music of compelling argument, triumphing over its own nervous energy in the final bars with a glorious plunge into the brightness of D major. Before it come two firm orchestral favourites: the aching poise and flowing melody of Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Kodály’s rumbustious, colourful dances on themes from the small Slovakian town of Galánta.

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Andrés Orozco-Estrada 27


February

Friday 14 February 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Valentine’s Day Concert Dvorˇák Carnival Overture Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture) Stuart Stratford conductor Sa Chen piano So deep was Rachmaninoff’s crisis of confidence following the failure of his First Symphony that the composer wrote nothing for two years. But after a pioneering course of hypnotherapy, Rachmaninoff’s psychiatrist promised him that he would ‘work freely and easily.’ The doctor was right. Rachmaninoff duly delivered his most rapturous piece to date, a work that heralded the rich, romantic but melancholic style with which he would make his name – his Second Piano Concerto. Our Valentine’s Day programme also includes Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet overture – a sound-picture of the star-crossed lovers containing one of the most famous tunes ever written. JTI FRIDAY SERIES

Sa Chen 28

Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

© Hong Wei

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk


Balakirev Islamey (Oriental Fantasy) Khachaturian Piano Concerto Kalinnikov Symphony No. 1

February

Wednesday 19 February 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Osmo Vänskä conductor Marc-André Hamelin piano Forced out of music college, dismissed by his compositional elders and struggling with tuberculosis, Vassily Kalinnikov was staring both death and failure in the face when his First Symphony was premiered in Kiev in 1897. But that soon changed, and this momentous and haunting piece handed Kalinnikov a brief taste of success before his tragically early death just four years later. Four decades after that came the first performance of Aram Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto in Moscow – a piece whose unusual sonorities and sparkling, swaggering brilliance proved just as pivotal.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

© Sim Canetty Clarke

Free pre-concert event 6.15pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall David Nice discusses the evening’s programme.

Marc-André Hamelin 29


‘ Jurowski and the LPO were on exceptional form with [Denisov’s Bells in the Fog], and the performance had a real edge-of-your-seat excitement. The combined forces of the London Philharmonic Choir and London Symphony Chorus were terrific.’ The Guardian, September 2012



February

Friday 21 February 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Berlioz Overture, Le Corsaire Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Elgar Symphony No. 2 Vasily Petrenko conductor Kirill Gerstein piano Twenty-two years before Rachmaninoff created the rapturous and devious dance for piano and orchestra that is the Paganini Rhapsody, Edward Elgar wrote a symphony that was intended to represent ‘high and pure joy’. The Second Symphony certainly appeared high-spirited, bubbling over with energy and expression. But it was far more emotionally complicated than Elgar had suggested – as much a battleground for conflicting feelings and instincts as the great Romantic scores of central Europe, enshrined in instrumental opulence the likes of which England had never heard before.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Vasily Petrenko 32

Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

© Mark McNulty

JTI FRIDAY SERIES


Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello Bruckner Symphony No. 2

February

Wednesday 26 February 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Julia Fischer violin Daniel Müller-Schott cello

© Julia Wesely

Bruckner’s Second Symphony is where his epic symphonic journey really begins – where we encounter for the first time that rhythmic power, rolling inevitability and humble tunefulness that make his huge orchestral canvases so irresistible. Brahms simply hoped his Double Concerto for violin and cello ‘might deliver some fun’. But it turned out to be one of his most unique and strangely touching works – a piece full of fantasy and invention that has been described as an ‘endless love song’ between two instruments, ‘an opera without words’.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

Julia Fischer 33


March

Saturday 1 March 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Julian Anderson Alleluia Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Choral) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Emma Bell soprano Anna Stéphany mezzo soprano John Daszak tenor Gerald Finley baritone London Philharmonic Choir Over the course of his career, Beethoven changed music. For some, he had changed mankind too. In his final symphony the composer captured the most startling journey of all – from a brutal, joyless world to one of uplifting and embracing brotherhood. How did he do it? By writing his most vivid music yet, and employing – for the first time in a symphony – a chorus of voices proclaiming uplifting texts by Friedrich Schiller. Vladimir Jurowski conducts his first Ninth with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and before it, Julian Anderson’s Alleluia, a musical vision of ‘all creation singing aloud’.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Anna Stéphany 34

Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

© Marco Borggreve

Please note there will be no interval during this performance.


March

Friday 7 March 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Dvorˇák Scherzo capriccioso Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Mahler Blumine Shostakovich Symphony No. 1 Ilyich Rivas conductor Simon Trpcˇeski piano The date of the premiere of his First Symphony – 12 May – would become a date of lifelong celebration for Shostakovich. The Symphony heralded a new beginning for Russian culture. Shostakovich remained proud of it all his life, a confident, individual and striking piece that you’d hardly guess was the work of a teenager. Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto changed Russian music, too – appearing in its profusion of celebratory major keys a charming counterbalance to the darkness that underlay the Russian psyche. More symphonic than Schumann’s and more sweeping than Liszt’s, Tchaikovsky’s Concerto has also proved more popular than almost any other.

© Mark McNulty

JTI FRIDAY SERIES

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

Ilyich Rivas 35


March

Friday 14 March 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Bruckner Symphony No. 3 (1889 Nowak edition) Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Benjamin Beilman violin When his musical guiding light Richard Wagner died, Anton Bruckner set about creating a symphonic memorial to the composer who had inspired him more than any other. The first version appeared in 1873, but it took 16 years of fine-tuning before Bruckner’s Third Symphony was just how its composer wanted it – a monolithic memorial that feels intimate and deeply personal, too. Mendelssohn didn’t rush the creation of his Violin Concerto, either. Seven years in the making, Mendelssohn’s exquisite journey through passion, agitation and celebration must have seemed, to its dedicatee the violinist Ferdinand David, like the perfect gift.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

JTI FRIDAY SERIES

Benjamin Beilman 36

6.00pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Musicians from the LPO join students from London Music Masters’ innovative music education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical celebration. Tonight’s soloist, violinist Benjamin Beilman, works regularly with the students as an Award Holder with LMM, acting as an inspirational role model. See londonmusicmasters.org for more details.

© Toshiyuki Urano

Free pre-concert event


March

Wednesday 19 March 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Mozart Symphony No. 38 (Prague) R Strauss Burleske J S Bach Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052 R Strauss Death and Transfiguration David Zinman conductor Emanuel Ax piano

© Maurice Jerry Beznos

Richard Strauss was unusually young when he set about creating his musical vision of mortality. In his metaphysical tone-poem Death and Transfiguration, Strauss depicted an artist slipping into death, glimpsing in his journey to the spirit world the perfection he strived for in his work. The composer’s vision proved uncannily accurate. ‘This business of dying is just the way I composed it in Death and Transfiguration’, Strauss said to his daughter-in-law 60 years later as he lay on his deathbed. His piece is certainly overwhelming and vivid, preceded here by music of precision and profundity by Bach and Mozart.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

David Zinman 37


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‘ The LPO were in tremendous form, right across the stage … I never believed I would hear an account of a Bruckner symphony that rivalled Günter Wand at his best, but last night I did … Truly an evening to remember!’ Gramophone Magazine, October 2012


March

Wednesday 26 March 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Poulenc Organ Concerto Berlioz Les nuits d’été Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Anna Caterina Antonacci soprano James O’Donnell organ It has taken eight years to refurbish the grand organ of Royal Festival Hall and the instrument will resound anew in this concert of French music punctuated by two of the greatest masterworks for organ and orchestra ever written. Poulenc’s Organ Concerto is a gregarious romp that spins off the music of the greatest organist who ever lived, Johann Sebastian Bach. The ‘Organ’ Symphony by Saint-Saëns is justly famous for its awe-inspiring majesty and brilliance, worlds apart from the delicate, luminous nocturnal songs by Berlioz that separate the two. Supported by Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Anna Caterina Antonacci 40

Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

© Benjamin Ealovega

Subscription Series


March

Friday 28 March 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 Mahler Symphony No. 9 Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Nicholas Angelich piano In 1907 the ‘three blows of fate’ that Mahler had prophesised in his Sixth Symphony became a reality. Ill, exhausted and very nearly defeated, Mahler faced spiritual and physical annihilation. He countered it by throwing himself into life with renewed passion and insistence. His last completed symphony, the Ninth, would be a desperate farewell. In the words of his biographer Deryck Cooke, it represented ‘a ‘naked encounter with the arch-enemy himself, who invades the music, turning everything to dust and ashes’. That arch-enemy was death. Four movements, a new orchestral language and an emboldened emotional extremism: the ultimate Mahler symphony, live at Royal Festival Hall.

© Stéphane de Bourgies

JTI FRIDAY SERIES

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

Nicholas Angelich 41


April

Wednesday 9 April 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Schumann Violin Concerto Bruckner Symphony No. 8 (Haas edition) Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Renaud Capuçon violin

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Jukka-Pekka Saraste 42

Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

© Bo Mathisen

In December 1892, Anton Bruckner was in Vienna for the premiere of his Eighth Symphony. After numerous problems with the piece, Bruckner was nervous. But he needn’t have been. ‘When the last sounds had died out, a storm of enthusiasm burst forth with elementary force’, wrote the composer Hugo Wolf who was in the audience. For Wolf, Bruckner’s colossal display of orchestral strength represented the total victory of light over darkness. Robert Schumann expressed no such doubts about his majestic Violin Concerto, whose back-story of criticism and suppression is at last fading in the face of genuine fascination. Renaud Capuçon makes the case for one of Schumann’s most rich and unusual works.


April

Saturday 12 April 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Tansman Stèle in memoriam Igor Stravinsky Stravinsky Violin Concerto Górecki Symphony No. 4 (world premiere) Andrey Boreyko conductor Julian Rachlin violin In 1940s Hollywood, the Polish composer Alexandre Tansman met and befriended Igor Stravinsky. It was a close, respectful relationship that Tansman captured in his musical memorial on Stravinsky’s death three decades later – a touching elegy containing a rhythmic tour-deforce that would surely have made the Russian smile. Stravinsky paid homage to his own musical mentors Bach and Mozart in the poignant games and conflicts of his acrobatic Violin Concerto. Finally, this concert offers a true musical event – the first performance of a symphony, again from a Polish composer, that the musical world has been anticipating for nearly 40 years: the Fourth from Henryk Górecki, who died in 2010.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

Górecki’s Symphony No. 4 is commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Southbank Centre London, with generous support from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Zaterdag Matinee Amsterdam.

Free pre-concert events

© Julia Wesely

5.00pm – 5.30pm Royal Festival Hall The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s creative ensemble for 15–19 year-olds, The Band, premieres new music written by the group and dedicated to the memory of Górecki. 6.15pm – 6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Renowned Górecki expert, Professor Adrian Thomas, discusses the world premiere of Symphony No. 4.

Julian Rachlin 43


April

Wednesday 16 April 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Zimmermann Photoptosis Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 Brahms Symphony No. 4 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Mitsuko Uchida piano Observe, respect and obey. Johannes Brahms lived by this mantra even in his most passionate and protest-filled music, but in his Fourth Symphony he appears to combine his lifelong servitude with a telling acceptance of death. This most luminous and spiritual of symphonies is Brahms’s supreme achievement in orchestral music, the summation of his quest to wed discipline and emotion. Beethoven, on the other hand, planned to smash musical convention with his fist. He really got going in his Third Piano Concerto, creating music of unprecedented drama and virtuosity that still leaps and bounds with life and fire.

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

Mitsuko Uchida 44

6.00pm – 6.45pm The Clore Ballroom Royal Festival Hall Animate Orchestra, a young person’s orchestra for the 21st century, is a partnership between the LPO, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and local music services. Tonight’s performance of music written by the group is the culmination of their recent course.

© Roger Mastroianni

Free pre-concert event


April

Friday 25 April 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Rimsky-Korsakov Russian Easter Festival Overture Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Miloš Karadaglic´ guitar No one work encapsulates Tchaikovsky’s ultra-expressive, heart-on-sleeve creative outlook more than his tortured Sixth Symphony. A distraught Tchaikovsky, his disastrous private life torturing him in life and forcing him into death, filled this symphony with honesty and passion – and he committed suicide nine days after its first performance. Barely five decades later, inspired by the picturesque gardens of the Palace of Aranjuez outside Madrid, Joaquín Rodrigo wrote a piece that displays an altogether different sentiment: a colourful, strong yet tranquil evocation of elegance and beauty for guitar and orchestra whose contented, serene beauty is legendary. JTI FRIDAY SERIES

© Margaret Malandruccolo / DG

ć

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

Miloš Karadagli 45


April

Saturday 26 April 2014 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Marko Nikodijevic La lugubre gondola Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor) Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leif Ove Andsnes piano

Tickets £9 – £39 Premium seats £65 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Leif Ove Andsnes 46

Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

© Özgür Albayrak

In his final symphony, Tchaikovsky wrote his own funeral music. Tortured by an intolerant society and by his own internal strife as his long-hidden homosexuality became public, Tchaikovsky turned to music. He wrote what is probably the most vivid, heart-rending and terrifyingly beautiful vision of darkness and exhaustion ever cast in symphonic form. Days after the first performance, Tchaikovsky died – probably at his own hand. Where Tchaikovsky appears so endearingly human, Beethoven appears near immortal in the big, imperious statements of his final piano concerto, a piece that combines fervent protest, sublime melancholy and hard-hitting virtuosity to dazzling effect.


‘ The real star – aside from the Orchestra and its refreshingly enterprising and adventurous season – was Nézet-Séguin, whose extraordinary sense of movement and phrasing allowed the piece to find its precarious balance.’ The Guardian, November 2012


FUNharmonics

FUNharmonics – Concerts for all the family Royal Festival Hall Presented by Chris Jarvis

Chris Jarvis

Sunday 3 November 2013 | 12.00 noon – 1.00pm The Young Person’s Guide To The Orchestra Stuart Stratford conductor

Sunday 16 February 2014 | 12.00 noon – 1.00pm Yikes! Spikes!

Stuart Stratford conductor Featuring Roald Dahl’s The Porcupine, with brand new music from the quill of Benjamin Wallfisch

Sunday 11 May 2014 | 12.00 noon – 1.00pm Noses

David Angus conductor With Roald Dahl’s The Ant-Eater, a musical feast by Benjamin Wallfisch.

Dive into the wonderful world of orchestras – a sonically supercharged, sensory spectacular; an eloquent, exquisite, energetic extravaganza; a mesmerising, meticulous, magnificent marvel. And some jolly good tunes. Presented by CBeebies’ Chris Jarvis and featuring 80 of the country’s finest musicians, FUNharmonics concerts are the perfect introduction to the extraordinary drama and colour of orchestral music. In October you can hear Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and in February and May we present Benjamin Wallfisch’s new pieces based on Roald Dahl’s timeless, absurd verse – especially commissioned by the LPO.

Come and join the party!

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Tickets £5 – £9 Adult £10 – £18 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk

Throughout the day there are free musical events around the building offering a fun and interactive way-in to the concert.

Discounted subscription packages available See page 55

10.00am – 2.00pm: Have a go at an orchestral instrument of your choice under expert instruction; join our music-making workshops on The Clore Ballroom, and explore Southbank Centre with our free activity sheet.

Musical stories for Children

1.15pm: The music continues in The Clore Ballroom – a guest ensemble of young musicians entertain with a selection of great tunes.

Available on the Orchestra’s own label as a CD or download. Visit lpo.org.uk/shop or order the CD on 020 7840 4242 or through all good retailers


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FUNharmonics


Supporting the Orchestra

Join us Friends (From £50 – £250)

Take advantage of the chance to book before the general public and enjoy the best seats; attend exclusive rehearsals and receive inside information; meet London Philharmonic Orchestra musicians in a private bar at London concerts. Join from just £5 per month (ten monthly Direct Debit payments) and be part of this great orchestra.

Benefactors (£500 – £1,000)

Relax in our exclusive Beecham Bar, which offers complimentary fine wines, canapés, and chocolates; stunning London views; and the chance to meet Orchestra musicians, management and supporters. Enjoy all the benefits of Friends as well as access to Glyndebourne performances and rehearsals and special events throughout the year.

Thomas Beecham Group (from £3,000; Chair Support at £5,000 and above)

Thomas Beecham Group Patrons are invited to endow the chair of a specific musician and enjoy a recital by that player at their home or business. They enjoy a bespoke association with the Orchestra through major supporting gifts.

Principal Conductor’s Circle (£30,000)

Members of our Principal Conductor’s Circle support Vladimir Jurowski’s artistic leadership of the Orchestra. His adventurous programming is a hallmark of our seasons and we invite generous donors to invest in this vision. Members enjoy a close relationship with the Orchestra and exclusive opportunities to meet Vladimir Jurowski.

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Legacies: Our Future in Your Hands

Contact us

LPO Contemporaries is the Orchestra’s membership programme for the next generation of arts supporters. Created for London’s young professionals, the scheme provides an opportunity for culturally inquisitive people to belong to an exclusive group with the Orchestra at its heart.

A bequest may be your first gift, or the culmination of a long-term relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

For more information about our membership schemes and other ways to support the Orchestra, please contact:

As a legator you have the power in your hands to make a lasting contribution to our future, ensuring that as we enter our ninth decade we can continue to inspire thousands of people, young and old, with the power of music.

020 7840 4225 development@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk/support

Enjoy London’s finest orchestra through our vibrant social events and concerts, from ‘VIP Evenings’ at Royal Festival Hall to the annual ‘Champagne Saturday’ open rehearsal. Membership starts at just £150 per year.

Supporting the Orchestra

LPO Contemporaries

As well as supporting work today, bequests can help us to build our endowment fund for the future.

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Supporting the Orchestra 52

Get Involved Whether you’re looking to engage staff or clients, get involved in the community or gain brand recognition, a partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra is a sound business decision as well as a socially responsible one.

Even in tough economic times businesses still need ways to build new relationships with clients and key stakeholders, as well as reward staff and clients. The London Philharmonic Orchestra can offer you something extra special, as well as high profile recognition of your support.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is a registered charity and support from businesses of all sizes plays a vital role in ensuring that the scope and quality of our work continues to grow, develop and flourish, on and off the concert platform.

Corporate entertainment packages start from just £2,500 and feature an exclusive seating area at spine-tingling performances; the opportunity to mingle with musicians and fellow guests in the Beecham Bar; wonderful wines and cuisine with stunning views of the River Thames. Let the London Philharmonic Orchestra enhance your concert experience and help create a special evening for you and your guests.


We can offer your business creative employee training and teamwork, bringing creativity, challenge, and enjoyment to the workplace.

We offer lots of opportunities to involve staff and their families in all kinds of creative events, including FUNharmonics concerts and have-a-go music-making sessions to make your experience extra special.

All this, and your business can get involved in the community. We reach over 30,000 people each year through our education programmes, so there are plenty of chances to make a difference.

Our staff make your partnership easy, with a flexibility and a willingness to create bespoke events and packages to make your experience extra special.

For more information, ideas or inspiration please contact: 020 7840 4210 corporate@lpo.org.uk

Supporting the Orchestra

Our year-round programme means that there are regular opportunities for you to engage guests, and our wide range of concerts ensures there’s something for everyone – from Mozart to Schoenberg and Gershwin to Strauss.

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Recordings and social media

Recent releases on the London Philharmonic Orchestra Label

Stay Tuned

Live, studio and archive recordings from our catalogue are available from lpo.org.uk/shop, London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 (Monday – Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm), all good retail outlets and Royal Festival Hall shop.

Get up-to-the-minute news, reviews, competitions and special offers Glimpse behind the scenes of a world class orchestra Chat and interact with players, staff and other audience members Access regular online concert streaming for free

Downloads available from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, and classicsonline.com

Join us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4 & 5 with Jurowski LPO-0064 Gramophone Disc of the Month (December 2012) Sunday Times Album of the Year ‘Both these performances exemplify what makes Jurowski’s approach to Tchaikovsky so special’ Gramophone Magazine

Brahms Symphonies 1 & 3 with Tennstedt LPO-0068 ‘No wonder the LPO loved Tennstedt. In these live recordings from the Royal Festival Hall, they respond like musicians possessed’ The Sunday Times, November 2012

facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

twitter.com/lporchestra

Subscribe to our Podcasts lpo.org.uk/podcasts

Hear us on SoundCloud

soundcloud.com/londonphilharmonic

Watch us on YouTube

youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7

Visit us at lpo.org.uk Get to know more about the music and performers through podcasts, videos and online playlists, and to sign up to hear about our latest recordings.

Mark-Anthony Turnage Orchestral Works Vol. 3 LPO-0066 ‘A superb disc, a real must-have for anyone interested in Turnage’s music’ BBC Radio 3’s CD Review, November 2012

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I thought it was amazing. It was my first concert and I was so taken with it that I will be visiting a lot more. I shall also be bringing my children to see the Orchestra playing.

@LPOrchestra Awesome is a frequently abused word but for tonight’s concert it is entirely appropriate. Thanks for the uplifting experience.

Astonishing performance of Heldenleben by @LPOrchestra tonight. I forgot to breathe for a lot of it and felt very dizzy by the end!


Monday to Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm (transaction fees apply) F 020 7840 4201

Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 southbankcentre.co.uk Daily 9.00am – 8.00pm (transaction fees apply) All ticketing staff at Southbank Centre can take typetalk calls.

In person at Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office Daily 10.00am – 8.00pm (no transaction fee) All discounts are subject to availability and cannot be combined. For details of our privacy policy, please visit lpo.org.uk or call to request details.

Book more, pay less: series discounts

Book 3 – 4 concerts and receive a 10% discount Book 5 – 7 concerts and receive a 15% discount Book 8 – 10 concerts and receive a 20% discount Book 11 – 14 concerts and receive a 25% discount Book 15+ concerts and receive a 30% discount

Group Bookings

With savings of up to 20% on ticket prices, and many other group benefits, everything has been done to help your group have an enjoyable evening with one of the world’s finest orchestras.

Booking information

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk

Benefits include: 20% discount for groups of ten or more A pair of complimentary tickets for the group organiser for groups of 20+ Exclusive ticket offers and special promotions on selected concerts Flexible reservations until one month before the concert No booking fee or postal charge Discounted coach hire Customised free publicity material for your group. Book now 020 7840 4205, lpo.org.uk/groups or groups@lpo.org.uk Monday to Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm

Student and Under-26 NOISE Schemes

If you are a full-time student or under 26 you can get discounted tickets to selected London Philharmonic Orchestra concerts throughout the year. Students receive £4 best available tickets and under 26 year olds receive £8 best available tickets. Several concerts are also followed by a complimentary drinks reception courtesy of the Orchestra’s Principal Beer Sponsor, Heineken. Download the Student Pulse app in order to book your NOISE tickets directly through your smartphone. Sign up to one of the free e-bulletins at lpo.org.uk/noise to get details of these fantastic offers!

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Information

General Can I exchange my tickets?

You may exchange your tickets for another concert in the Orchestra’s 2013/14 season or exchange for a credit note. We do not offer refunds unless a concert is cancelled. The right is reserved to substitute artists and vary programmes if necessary.

Limited concessions

50% off all ticket prices for full-time students, benefit recipients (Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, and Pension Credit) and under-16s (maximum 4 per transaction. Not applicable to Family Concerts). Limited availability; appropriate cards will be checked on admission.

Access

Visitors with a disability can join Southbank Centre’s free Access Scheme. You may be eligible for tickets at concessionary prices and to bring a companion who can assist you during your visit; and to receive information in alternative formats. For information, please email accesslist@southbankcentre.co.uk, call 0844 847 9910 or visit southbankcentre.co.uk/access All ticketing staff at Southbank Centre can take typetalk calls. The auditoria are fitted with Sennheiser infrared systems. Receivers can be collected from the Cloakroom on Level 1 of Royal Festival Hall. Royal Festival Hall has level access via internal lifts and ramps, and accessible toilets. For further details please call 0844 847 9910. Royal Festival Hall has wheelchair spaces in the boxes, choir seats, side and rear stalls of the auditorium. Guide and companion dogs may be taken anywhere on site.

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London Philharmonic Orchestra Resident at Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne Festival Opera 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director HRH The Duke of Kent KG Patron Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Principal Guest Conductor Pieter Schoeman Leader Julian Anderson Composer in Residence

T 020 7840 4200 F 020 7840 4201 Tickets 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk


Getting to Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is situated on the Thames Riverside between the Golden Jubilee Bridge and Waterloo Bridge. By underground to Waterloo, Embankment and Charing Cross By rail to Waterloo, Waterloo East or Charing Cross By bus to Waterloo (stopping on Waterloo Bridge, York Road, Stamford Street and Belvedere Road). For detailed bus information call 0843 222 1234 or visit tfl.gov.uk/buses

Travel Information

Southbank Centre Belvedere Road London SE1 8XX

Southbank Centre has two car parks which are both open 24 hours per day Southbank Centre Car Park – Hayward Gallery Southbank Centre Car Park – Hungerford Bridge Evening discounted rates apply after 5pm in both car parks NORTH

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For more information about parking rates and payment methods please visit southbankcentre.co.uk/visitor-info/parking or call 0844 847 9910.

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Please note that many of the spaces in the Hayward Gallery Car Park are for Blue Badge Holders only, which are available on a first-come, first served basis. Parking is free of charge for Blue Badge holders in designated blue badge spaces.

FESTIVAL RIVERSIDE

ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL SOUTHBANK CENTRE SQUARE

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Seating information

Evening Concerts

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk

Ticket prices £12 £21 £33

Monday to Friday 10.00am – 5.00pm (transaction fees apply) F 020 7840 4201

*We have selected the very best seats in the front stalls to be sold at premium price to ensure you the finest acoustic and view.

Daily 9.00am – 8.00pm (transaction fees apply) All ticketing staff at Southbank Centre can take typetalk calls.

£9 £16 £27 £39

Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 southbankcentre.co.uk

Premium seats £65*

In person at Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office Daily 10.00am – 8.00pm (no transaction fee) All discounts are subject to availability and cannot be combined.

Balcony

Royal Festival Hall has wheelchair spaces in the boxes, choir seats, side and rear stalls of the auditorium. For details of our privacy policy, please visit lpo.org.uk or call to request details.

Boxes

Boxes Rear stalls

Front stalls

Side stalls

Side stalls Performance area

Choir seats

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Seating information

FUNharmonics Family Concerts Sunday 3 November 2013 Sunday 16 February 2014 Sunday 11 May 2014

Adult £10 Adult £12 Adult £14 Adult £16 Adult £18

Child £5 Child £6 Child £7 Child £8 Child £9

Balcony

Boxes

Boxes Rear stalls

Front stalls

Side stalls

Side stalls Performance area

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Diary

The 2013/14 season

September

October

November

December

All concerts are at Royal Festival Hall and start at 7.30pm unless otherwise stated.

Saturday 28 September 7.00pm Britten

Wednesday 2 October Britten

Saturday 2 November Messiaen

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Mark Padmore tenor Truls Mørk cello

Christoph Eschenbach conductor Tzimon Barto piano John Ryan horn

Saturday 7 December Julian Anderson James MacMillan Mark-Anthony Turnage Thomas Adès

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Stuart Skelton Peter Grimes Pamela Armstrong Ellen Orford Alan Opie Captain Balstrode Pamela Helen Stephen Auntie Malin Christensson/Claire Ormshaw Her ‘Nieces’ Michael Colvin Bob Boles Brindley Sherratt Swallow Jean Rigby Mrs Sedley Mark Stone Ned Keene Brian Galliford Reverend Horace Adams Jonathan Veira Hobson London Voices Daniel Slater director

Saturday 12 October Britten Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano Ian Bostridge tenor Matthias Goerne baritone Neville Creed conductor (chamber orchestra) London Philharmonic Choir Trinity Boys Choir Wednesday 23 October Poulenc Prokofiev Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Alexandre Tharaud piano Kate Royal soprano London Philharmonic Choir Saturday 26 October Henri Dutilleux Shostakovich Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Jean-Guihen Queyras cello Mikhail Petrenko bass Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir Wednesday 30 October Ligeti Lutosławski Schnittke

The London Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Arts Council England and Southbank Centre.

Michail Jurowski conductor Johannes Moser cello

Wednesday 6 November Sofia Gubaidulina Arvo Pärt Tõnu Kaljuste conductor Sergej Krylov violin London Philharmonic Choir Friday 8 November North Rota Waxman Herrmann Kaper Goldsmith John Mauceri conductor Wednesday 27 November Krzysztof Penderecki Górecki Michał Dworzynski conductor Barnabas Kelemen violin Allison Bell soprano Friday 29 November John Williams Vangelis Hamlisch Ennio Morricone Luis Enríquez Bacalov Angelo Badalamenti E Bernstein Danny Elfman John Powell/ Harry Gregson-Williams Nicola Piovani Goldsmith Don Davis Hans Zimmer Dirk Brossé conductor

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Vladimir Jurowski conductor Evelyn Glennie percussion Saturday 14 December John Adams Vladimir Jurowski conductor Kate Royal soprano Kelley O’Connor mezzo soprano Matthew Rose bass Daniel Bubeck countertenor Brian Cummings countertenor Steven Rickards countertenor London Philharmonic Choir Mark Grey sound designer


January

February

March

April

FUNharmonics

Wednesday 15 January James MacMillan Mahler

Friday 14 February Dvorˇák Rachmaninoff Wagner Tchaikovsky

Saturday 1 March Julian Anderson Beethoven

Wednesday 9 April Schumann Bruckner

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Emma Bell soprano Anna Stéphany mezzo soprano John Daszak tenor Gerald Finley baritone London Philharmonic Choir

Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Renaud Capuçon violin

Sunday 3 November 2013 12.00 noon – 1.00pm The Young Person’s Guide To The Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lawrence Power viola Friday 17 January Brahms Beethoven Vladimir Jurowski conductor Yulianna Avdeeva piano Wednesday 22 January J S Bach Hartmann Beethoven Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leonidas Kavakos violin Wednesday 29 January Kodály Grieg Dvorˇák Andrés Orozco-Estrada conductor Rudolf Buchbinder piano

Stuart Stratford conductor Sa Chen piano Wednesday 19 February Balakirev Khachaturian Kalinnikov Osmo Vänskä conductor Marc-André Hamelin piano Friday 21 February Berlioz Rachmaninoff Elgar Vasily Petrenko conductor Kirill Gerstein piano Wednesday 26 February Brahms Bruckner Vladimir Jurowski conductor Julia Fischer violin Daniel Müller-Schott cello

Friday 7 March Dvorˇák Tchaikovsky Mahler Shostakovich Ilyich Rivas conductor Simon Trpcˇeski piano Friday 14 March Mendelssohn Bruckner Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Benjamin Beilman violin Wednesday 19 March Mozart R Strauss J S Bach David Zinman conductor Emanuel Ax piano Wednesday 26 March Poulenc Berlioz Saint-Saëns Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Anna Caterina Antonacci soprano James O’Donnell organ Friday 28 March Mendelssohn Mahler Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Nicholas Angelich piano

Saturday 12 April Tansman Stravinsky Górecki Andrey Boreyko conductor Julian Rachlin violin Wednesday 16 April Zimmermann Beethoven Brahms Vladimir Jurowski conductor Mitsuko Uchida piano Friday 25 April Rimsky-Korsakov Rodrigo Tchaikovsky

Stuart Stratford conductor Sunday 16 February 2014 12.00 noon – 1.00pm Yikes! Spikes! Stuart Stratford conductor Featuring Roald Dahl’s The Porcupine, with brand new music from the quill of Benjamin Wallfisch Sunday 11 May 2014 12.00 noon – 1.00pm Noses David Angus conductor With Roald Dahl’s The Ant-Eater, a musical feast by Benjamin Wallfisch.

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Miloš Karadagli guitar Saturday 26 April Marko Nikodijevic Beethoven Tchaikovsky Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leif Ove Andsnes piano

Concert texts Andrew Mellor Photography Patrick Harrison Design Roundel Printer Tradewinds (this brochure is produced on paper from a sustainable source) Information in this brochure was correct at the time of going to press. The right is reserved to substitute artists and to vary programmes if necessary. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is a registered charity No. 238045. Southbank Centre is a registered charity No. 298909.


lpo.org.uk


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