KINGSTON PHILHARMONIA St Andrew’s Church, Surbiton Saturday 6th July 2013 7.30pm Conductor – Peter Fender Violin – Clare Howick Leader – Matthew Scrivener

George Lloyd Overture to John Socman Benjamin Britten Violin Concerto soloist – Clare Howick

Interval Beethoven – Symphony No 3 "Eroica"

FUTURE CONCERTS Saturday 2nd November 2013 Saturday 14th December 2013 Conductor: Alexander Walker Conductor: Matthew Willis St Mark's Church Surbiton St Andrew's Church Surbiton Saturday 22nd March 2014 Beethoven – Leonora overture No 3 Conductor: Robert Hodge St Andrew's Church Surbiton Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No 1 Brahms – Symphony No 1 Saturday 5th July 2014 Conductor: Dane Lam St Andrew's Church Surbiton

Full details available on www.kingstonphil.org.uk PETER FENDER – CONDUCTOR Acclaimed conductor Peter Fender shares his passion for music with audiences and orchestras in England and beyond. Combining deep musical sensitivity, a strong stage presence, great motivational and communication skills, and a fine sense of humour he is becoming more and more in demand. He is currently Musical Director of Philharmonia Britannica and the Angel Orchestra in , Mid Sussex Sinfonia in Sussex, and Opera Nova in Kent. He has conducted a number of other orchestras and groups including the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra, I Maestri, the Chamber Academy Orchestra, Harmony Sinfonia, Kammerphilharmonie Graz, South London Chamber Concerts, Opera Heber, and the Maberliner Orchestra in Pistoia (Tuscany).

Peter’s musical career began as a violinist and violist. He has played principally with period instrument groups such as the Academy of Ancient Music, the London Classical Players, the Consort of Musicke and The Sixteen. He has been leader for many concerts, and directed a good number from the violin to boot. In 2006 his focus changed to conducting and since then he has studied with Michael Rose (MBE), Achim Holub, and Peter Stark (from the TV series ‘Maestro’). He has participated in master classes in both England and Austria.

In 2007 he formed the orchestra Philharmonia Britannica. One reason for this was to create an orchestra which would regularly work with other art forms. PB concerts have subsequently included mixing live orchestral music with actors, poets, dancers, painters, live video displays, and even the great classical comedian Rainer Hersch! Through this Peter has been looking to draw in people who wouldn’t be interested by a ‘straight’ classical concert, and also looking for some interesting syntheses and juxtapositions. He also seeks to remove the ‘high brow’ from classical orchestral concerts. To this end he often gives short explanations of the music, interspersed with humorous comments about composers, aiming to make the music of interest to those who have never attended a classical concert – as well as those who are seasoned concert goers. CLARE HOWICK – VIOLIN Described by The Strad as “playing with beguiling warmth and affection” and by American Record Guide as “simply spectacular”, Clare Howick is at the forefront of a new generation of inspiring violinists. Clare’s debut CD, Cyril Scott – Sonata Lirica and Other Violin Works (on the Dutton Epoch label) won great acclaim and was awarded ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone magazine. A second disc of Cyril Scott – Violin Sonatas 1-3 was subsequently recorded for Naxos and was awarded ‘Four Stars’ in Audiophile Audition and ‘Specially Commended’ in Albion magazine. Clare’s most recent disc, also for Naxos, is of violin works by British Women Composers which was awarded ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Classical Music magazine and was ‘Recording of the Month’ on Music Web International.

Clare has performed most of the violin concerto repertoire (encompassing 48 concerti) with several orchestras including The (London), and has performed at major festivals in the UK, such as the Covent Garden, Buxton and Cheltenham International Festival. She has broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM as well as worldwide.

As a champion of new music, Clare has premiered many new works, both on disc and in performance. Highlights this season have included performing the premiere of Serenade for violin and orchestra by Paul Patterson, which was specially written for her, as well as several performances of the Britten concerto as part of his centenary celebrations. To end this season, Clare will give a gala performance of the Barber concerto at St Martin in the Fields in aid of the new music charity, the Dorothy Croft Trust.

Clare combines solo and chamber performances, at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, with appearing as a Guest Leader of many orchestras, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, and the Orchestra of English National Opera. Clare Howick was a student of Maurice Hasson at the Royal Academy of Music and also studied with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Zahkar Bron, Ida Haendel, Dona Lee Croft and Dorothy DeLay. Clare won First Prize at the Jellinek Competition as well as many other prizes and has received awards from The Worshipful Company of Musicians, The Tillett Trust and the Countess of Munster Trust.

Clare has been generously loaned a Guadagnini violin for tonight’s performance, but is currently seeking investors interested in participating in an established trust scheme to enable her to complete the purchase of this instrument which will enhance her career. She has already received considerable interest and has almost achieved her goal, but requires a few more investors. For further information about this exciting investment opportunity please contact Clare.

MATTHEW SCRIVENER – LEADER Matthew Scrivener has held the position of Leader for the Orchestra of English National Ballet since 2004. He is also currently the Leader of the National Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as Guest Leader for The City of London Sinfonia, The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, The Birmingham Royal Ballet Sinfonia, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The C.B.S.O., The Ulster Orchestra, Gavle Symphony Orchestra (Sweden) The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Scottish National orchestra, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and The London Mozart Players.

He has also served as Leader/soloist for Sarah Brightman in multiple tours across Europe, the U.S.A., South America and the Far East. George Lloyd (1913 – 1998) Overture to ‘John Socman’ George Lloyd (as opposed to Lloyd George!) is hardly a name to conjure with, although he was quite a prolific composer – his works included 12 symphonies; 4 piano concertos; 3 operas; 2 violin concertos, and a cello concerto. He enjoyed considerable success between the wars, but thereafter his reputation waned as his attractively tonal and melodic style became considered old-fashioned and out of touch with what was going on in more modernist circles.

‘John Socman’ was Lloyd’s third opera, commissioned at the same time as works by Vaughan Williams and Britten, for the 1951 Festival of Britain. The libretto of the work (written, as were the other two, by his father, William George) tells the story of conflicting claims of love, obedience, rivalry and duty in a setting including the battle of Agincourt. Unfortunately, the opera – premiered in Bristol – suffered from squabbling amongst the production team and was not a success, and Lloyd vowed never to get involved with opera again. In any case – and perhaps as a consequence of this – the symptoms of post-traumatic stress which had affected him since he was torpedoed on HMS Trinidad in the war recurred in aggravated form, and he decided to retire to where he took up market gardening as a form of therapy. This was his principal activity for the best part of twenty years – until he felt well enough to return full time to his composition and conducting activities. In a final flowering of his career he founded a record company with his brother, recorded many of his works, and acquired a substantial American following who invited him over to teach and conduct. This he was delighted to do, and he was equally delighted by what he called ‘buckets of dollars’ which followed!

This year marks the centenary of George’s birth, and the BBC will be featuring his Requiem and HMS Trinidad March in the last night of .

Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976) Violin Concerto Op 15 (1939) - Moderato con moto - Vivace - Passacaglia andante lento 2013 is also the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, and Kingston Philharmonia is this evening paying homage to a composer who put Britain back on the international map after a long period when – as far as musical circles in continental Europe were concerned – we had had nothing to say.

Britten set out his stall relatively early in his career. Indeed, the composition he designated his Opus 1 in 1932 startled audiences by breaking decisively with the English pastoral tradition and looking to Schoenberg for its inspiration! Gone was the celebration of Empire embodied in the huge corpus of Elgar’s work; Britten represented the new, mordant internationalism to be discerned in the works of Walton, Prokofiev, Hindemith and Berg. Britten’s Violin Concerto was an early work (his Opus 15), written in 1938/39, but it was already imbued with feelings which were to dominate his composing, such as the loathing of war; the ambivalence of truth and beauty; the importance of our great Tudor composers as a source of inspiration; and the influence of language on his musical style – which made him such a gifted setter of words and led him to great continental writers such as Rimbaud, Verlaine, Hölderlin, Dante and Thomas Mann, author of the novella Death in Venice, the inspiration for Britten’s eponymous opera.

As for his Violin Concerto, Britten was deeply affected by the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, and he had his Violin Concerto premiered by the Spanish violinist Antonio Broza with the New York Philharmonic under Barbirolli. The concerto begins with a pastiche of a military march based on a motto beaten out by the timpani and taken up by bassoons and ‘celli. It continues with what could be described as a dervish’s dance, and climaxes with a series of variations using a compositional device favoured by 16th century composers – the ground bass or passacaglia. In some of the variations you hear the solo violin soaring above the orchestra – an elegiac allusion, perhaps, to Alban Berg’s concerto; and in others you sense the motto theme of the first movement....war and peace, as it were, brought together in a tentative and enigmatic catharsis. Britten made revisions to his concerto in 1950,1954, and 1965, drawing on the expertise of violinist virtuoso Manoug Parikian – father of Levon Parikian who was the Music Director and conductor of our Kingston Philharmonia for the 15 years till April 2013! Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) Symphony No 3 ‘Sinfonia Eroica’ Op 55 (1805) - Allegro con brio - Marcia funebre - Scherzo – allegro vivace - Finale – allegro molto In 1798 the Emissary of the French Directoire, General Bernadotte, visited Vienna. In his retinue was the virtuoso violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer. Through Kreutzer Beethoven made the acquaintance of Bernadotte who – it is believed – suggested that he should write a ‘heroic’ symphony on the theme of General Bonaparte. If this is the case, Beethoven did not take up the suggestion for another five years, but in the summer of 1803 he set to work on a symphony which he called simply ‘Bonaparte’ in tribute to the young hero of revolutionary France – a tribute which turned sour when in 1804 Napoleon traded up from ‘First Citizen’ to ‘Emperor of France’, thereby, as far as Beethoven was concerned, revealing an all too obvious desire for status and power. Beethoven is alleged to have scored through Napoleon’s name on the title page and re-titled it ‘Sinfonia Eroica’.

Tyranny, and the heroic struggle against it, are recurrent themes in Beethoven’s work. Egmont tells the story of a German military leader who goes to his death rather than betray his principles. Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera, could serve as a modern metaphor for the fate of political prisoners – whether incarcerated in Stasi gaols, being detained without charge at Guantanamo Bay, or suffering ‘Extraordinary Rendition’ and being shipped round the world to surrogate torturers. His overture and incidental music ‘The Creatures of Prometheus’ celebrates the heroism of Prometheus who set out to better the lot of humankind by stealing fire from the gods. These examples provide an insight into the sort of man Beethoven was. The themes were not in themselves unique to Beethoven, but the way he expressed them was. The Eroica was the second of Beethoven’s odd numbered symphonies, often considered more innovative and challenging than the even numbered ones. It certainly raises the bar in several respects: sheer length for a start (its first movement alone is longer than most entire classical symphonies); the demands it makes on the players; its introduction of new forms (the Beethovenian scherzo makes its first appearance in this symphony); and the consummate handling of the Funeral March, which Beethoven transforms from static meditation into a dramatic narrative. The ‘Eroica’ is truly an innovative work, and one which even today continues to sound modern. © Jefferey W Cox 11 June 2013

KINGSTON PHILHARMONIA www.kingstonphil.org.uk Kingston Philharmonia has been Kingston-on-Thames resident orchestra since the early 1970s, when it was founded by Walter Wurzburger, an émigré from Frankfurt who came to Kingston via Paris, Singapore and Australia.

The orchestra covers the complete musical spectrum, from the early classical period to the twenty-first century. In recent years, we have performed works mainly from the late nineteenth century onwards, including a number of forays into popular genres such as musical shows and film music. We have not neglected the core classics – in 2008 we played the first eight of Beethoven’s symphonies in a single day, which attracted the attention of the Guardian newspaper on http://tinyurl.com/7badgds.

We welcome feedback from our audience; visit the orchestra’s website and click through to the concert questionnaire. There are complete programme details and notes from 2009 onwards, and a list of most of our concerts going back to 1974; leave us your comments by clicking on the contact button.

PLAYERS NEEDED We are always interested in welcoming new players to the orchestra. String players – violins, violas, cellists and double bassists – are particularly welcome. For more information, visit our web page and click through to the contact section

The orchestra would like to acknowledge the support of Kingston Arts Council, Mail Boxes Etc. and would like to thank AKP Chartered Accountants for their support in auditing our accounts. They provide continual encouragement and guidance to the orchestra.

PLAYERS

STRINGS STRINGS BRASS 1st Violins Cellos Horns Matthew Scrivener Cecilia Allaker Jon Meecham (Leader) Catherine Joseph Sarah Maxwell John Asher Andrew Oliver Sabrina Pullen Gill Hollingbery Beth Perry Chris Pocock Dorothea Klinge Marguerite Pocock Trumpets Mike Parsons Lydia Smith Jeremy Neep Caroline Phillips Double Bass Simon Bristow Dominic Steinitz Terry Gibbs Tristan Gaudion Pauline Waghorn Diana Locke Trombones 2nd Violins Alison Henry Chris Smith Peter Crocker Robert Beattie WOODWIND Adrian Cleverly Helen Clifton Flutes Antonia Cviic Tuba Angela Wilson Ross Knight Chris Johns Ilze Ilke Maggie Pattenden Chris Gould Jackie Steinitz Oboes OTHER Violas Laura Edmonston Percussion Dan Hamm Wirya Satya Adenatya James Bower Liz Allard Clarinets Ben Lewis Sheila Cochrane Sheena Balmain Rachel Starmer James Taylor Quentin Maxwell-Jackson Harp Bassoons Alex Thomas Jefferey Cox Anna Mayer