ANGELA HEWITT ON HER BACH ODYSSEY

MENDELSSOHN EXPLORED IN THE NEW SEASON A LEARNING CASE STUDY: PARTNER SCHOOL PROJECT AN INTERVIEW WITH FLORIAN BOESCH SPRING

FRIENDS OF OF FRIENDS 2020/21 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS 2020 I’m very pleased to welcome you to the Spring issue of The Score. We take a look at many of the highlights of the 2020/21 Season, which we launched at the end of January.

First, though, a return to the continuing bass player Christian McBride, who holds 2019/20 Season; it was a great joy for me a jazz residency in 2020/21, on page 13. when Angela Hewitt agreed to take on her I’m also delighted that Julia Fischer and marathon project A Bach Odyssey which Francesco Piemontesi participate in very concludes in June, and it will be a pleasure interesting Q&As in this issue. A major

to present her with the Wigmore Medal that pillar of the 2020/21 Season is the focus on Kikkas © Kaupo evening. It’s amazing to think that the project Martinů’s seven string quartets surrounded was conceived way back in 2014, but such by other Czech repertoire, and I’m delighted ABOVE John Gilhooly is the nature of advanced planning for the that the Quartet accepted my artistic programme. invitation to take this project on. dozen people 17 years ago. So much has We welcome several new writers to this It was wonderful and heartening to have changed in the Hall during that time thanks issue of The Score including Hugo Shirley, a full Hall of supporters for the 2020/21 to your ongoing support. Berlin-based writer and musicologist, Season launch, which is still available to There will be a final edition of The Score and jazz editor Sebastian Scotney. Hugo view online: wigmore-hall.org.uk/ this season in July; until then, I hope you interviews one of our 2020/21 Season whats-on/2020-21-wigmore-series enjoy hearing about highlights of this season artists in residence, clarinettist Martin Fröst, The evening included a conversation with and the next in this issue. on page 3, and pulls together our three Andrew Marr and outstanding performances major strands of focus on Mendelssohn from Ema Nikolovska with Simon Lepper during the new season in an article on pages and the Chiaroscuro Quartet. It’s hard to 6-7. Sebastian speaks to American double believe that these annual events started as a preview for a small group of about two John Gilhooly, Director COVER Angela Hewitt © Keith Saunders

CONGRATULATIONS The New Year Honours list recognises © Benjamin Ealovega the achievements of a wide range of extraordinary people across the United Kingdom. In 2020, Wigmore Hall was delighted to see the following musicians included:

Knights Bachelor Sir Humphrey Burton, classical music presenter, broadcaster and lecturer, who was the BBC’s first Head of Music and Arts in 1965 and created the Young Musician of the Year competition; LEFT Helen Grime CBE Errollyn Wallen, who is the subject of the Royal Northern College of Music’s Composer in © Azzurra Primavera Focus day at Wigmore Hall in May 2020; MBE Helen Grime, who was Wigmore Hall’s first female Composer in Residence in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 Seasons; MBE 21-year-old award-winning cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who won BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016 and had his Wigmore Hall debut in May 2019. Congratulations to everyone recognised for their service to the arts.

RIGHT Errollyn Wallen

2 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 Martin Fröst remembers his Wigmore Hall debut well. But it’s perhaps not for the reasons one would expect. ‘The electricity went off on Oxford Street and Wigmore Street. Everything went off, the radio broadcast was cut, and we had to change the programme, because one of the pieces used electronics.’ It all went well in the end, though, he recalls. ‘And it was the start of a long journey with Wigmore Hall.’

TWO DECADES

PICTURED Martin Fröst AT THE HALL © Nikolaj Lund

Now, some 20 years on, the Swedish Wosner. But it’s also set to include the sort I won’t move forward. I want to open a clarinettist and conductor returns to the of performances that have helped Fröst window to the future when I have been Hall for a residency in the 2020/21 Season establish a reputation as one of the most doing the same thing for a while.’ which will see him playing chamber innovative musicians on the global scene. A residency, he says, is one way to do music as well as directing the Swedish For Fröst himself, it will additionally that. ‘You have a bigger frame, a little bit Chamber Orchestra, in a concert featuring provide an opportunity to take stock, to more freedom. You know you can play the baritone Peter Mattei. ‘When you play reflect on his past and present as an artist, around and you have a sense of excitement ,’ Fröst explains, ‘it’s always but also look to his future. ‘It’s about the that you can do a little bit more of things you the feeling going from a friend to a friend, balance. To stay creative, not to grow out want to do. And that’s a great feeling!’ and that is so much the feeling in this of it when you get older – I’m 50 now. You building. That’s what I’ve always felt when have to ask: why did I start with this, where Hugo Shirley is a Berlin-based writer and I come back. It’s always been like a second am I going from here, what do I want to musicologist, music critic and former editor of home, and it feels like relaxation to come look back on? It’s important to ask these both Opera and Gramophone here – cosy relaxation!’ questions: why am I doing this, what am I It seems that, with Fröst’s 20/21 residency, thinking, what am I achieving?’ he’ll feel doubly at home. ‘I love these Few would ever accuse Fröst of standing situations when I come back to a hall several still – either metaphorically or, in the case of Martin Fröst’s Residency begins in times in a year. First of all, you really get to performances that have included elements September 2020: know the audience; second, you’re able to of dance, literally. But the clarinettist and Tuesday 22 September 2020 7.30pm present different programmes.’ Indeed, the conductor makes a surprising admission. Tuesday 16 February 2021 7.30pm residency promises classics of the clarinet ‘I’m a very conventional guy at bottom, Saturday 15 May 2021 7.30pm repertoire – there’ll be Brahms and Mozart, and raised by parents who were super Sunday 16 May 2021 11.30am with regular Fröst collaborators including conventional. But at the same time, I always Monday 17 May 2021 1.00pm violist Antoine Tamestit and pianist Shai get a little bit frustrated and worried that

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 3 © Keith Saunders © Keith

THERE ‘It was John Gilhooly’s idea,’ says Angela Hewitt of the origins of her Bach Odyssey, a four-year AND BACH project to perform the complete keyboard works of Bach at Wigmore Hall.

‘He called me into his office in early 2014 and told me he’d spent a whole weekend AGAIN listening to my Bach recordings and really You can still attend the last events in Angela Hewitt’s Bach Odyssey series: Saturday 28 March 2020 7.30pm* wanted to do something big with me. I take my hat off to him, because I wouldn’t have Tuesday 2 June 2020 7.30pm, including presentation of the Wigmore Medal done it otherwise, that’s for sure. And it’s Wednesday 3 June 2020 1.00pm – Angela Hewitt Masterclass been a great thing, and come at the right *Sold out at time of printing time of my life, I think.’

4 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 Coming as it does from an artist more and I will use anything like that to get away closely associated with Bach than any from the fact that it’s just notes on a keyboard. other living pianist, Angela’s last remark You know, I love going to a harpsichord if it’s is surely significant, suggesting that she in the room. I’ll play it, and it’s important to do is arriving at a point where stock can be that. But then after a while I’ll get tired that taken, and achievements recognised. She I can’t follow the rise and fall of the musical made the first of her many Wigmore Hall line.’ For the record, Angela admires Bach appearances in 1985, the same year that harpsichordists as well as pianists. Among the she moved to London from her native former are , , Canada and won the Toronto International Ton Koopman (‘with all his ornaments!’) and Bach Piano Competition. Between 1994 Ralph Kirkpatrick, while the latter include Sir and 2004, she recorded the complete Bach András Schiff, Rosalyn Tureck, Jörg Demus, for Hyperion in a series that has sold over and Edwin Fischer. But a bigger 400,000 units and prompted the BBC Music influence on her playing, she says, was her Magazine’s critic to declare that ‘I know of father Godfrey, organist of Christ Church no musician whose Bach playing on any Cathedral in from 1931 to 1980, and ‘a instrument is of greater subtlety, beauty great one for getting the right articulation and of tone, persuasiveness of judgement or timing, and the whole drama and architecture instrumental command than Hewitt’s is of it all’. here’. The 12 Bach recitals end this year Angela’s Bach Odyssey is also being with concerts on 28 March and 2 June presented in New York, Montreal, Florence 2020, and following the June performance – and Tokyo, but it is the Wigmore concert in which will feature Bach’s final composition, June that will bring it to a fitting conclusion. – she will be presented with ‘I have so many memories of the place. I really the Wigmore Medal. 18 days after that she didn’t know anyone in London when I first also receives the City of Leipzig . arrived, and for the first 15 years I did most of Although Angela’s repertoire extends well the promotion of my Wigmore recitals myself beyond Bach of course – she has performed – doing the leaflets, sending out all the notes and recorded the complete works of Chabrier and putting the stamps on the envelopes. and Ravel, for instance, and has a nearly- But John Gilhooly and William Lyne before completed Beethoven sonata cycle on the him were so wonderful in believing in me go – she has always been perfectly happy and giving me the chance to do so much. to be thought of primarily as a Bach pianist. The recitals I did at Wigmore were always And she doesn’t consider Bach to have been my most important ones, and the repertoire an easy option. ‘It’s actually a very special I learned for them, from Brahms’ F minor study,’ she says, ‘and the greatest one for Sonata to the Barber Sonata to the Liszt developing your musical intelligence and Sonata and the complete Ravel, was always your technique at the piano. It’s a shame crucial to my development.’ that more pianists, amateur or professional, After receiving her medals, and once her don’t get better training in it, because people annual festival at the Italian town of tend to get bad habits like putting the pedal Trasimeno is over, Angela will take a down all the time so they don’t learn a proper three-month break ‘to clear the brain, clean finger legato. Or they don’t really learn to out some cupboards, stretch the body a little articulate a fugue subject so that it makes – no concertising. This project has been so sense, or about fingering when you’ve got encompassing and so fulfilling that I need a four parts and have to articulate all of them. bit of space before I can take on anything It doesn’t get any easier either. I’ve certainly else.’ It will be her first such break for many PICTURED Angela Hewitt built up my technique by playing Bach, years, she says, but she will be back after especially in my fingering, but then again that, refreshed and eager to make the with age you have to keep up the practising ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata the last piece in her and keep the brain going.’ Beethoven sonata cycle jigsaw, explore ‘I think Bach on the Neither does she have any doubts that the music by Scarlatti and his Spanish baroque piano’s expressive qualities make it the perfect contemporaries, reacquaint herself perhaps piano is terrific if it’s vehicle for Bach: ‘I think Bach on the piano with that Brahms Sonata and, of course, is terrific if it’s treated just as a pure musical return to the music of Bach, this time treated just as a pure instrument that can imitate the human voice. carefully selected. She laughs. ‘Now I’ve After all, it was invented because they needed done the complete works again, I can choose musical instrument a keyboard that could imitate the cadence of which pieces I want to keep!’ the voice, that can sound like an orchestra, that can imitate the an organ or an oboe if you have imagination Lindsay Kemp is a Senior Producer at BBC enough. And all those sounds are in there in Radio 3’s Music Department and Artistic Director human voice.’ Bach’s keyboard music; I hear and see them, of the London Festival of Baroque Music

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 5 FELIX MENDELSSOHN

Underrated would seem a strange word to describe a composer who’s never been out of the concert hall, who’s a mainstay of music-making for both professionals and amateurs, was the toast of Victorian England and who, for many, counts as a greater prodigy even than Mozart.

But Felix Mendelssohn, who is celebrated at Wigmore Hall through interlocking concert series throughout the 2020/21 Season, is a composer who is eminently easy to underestimate. His notes seem to flow with such ease, sparkling and babbling like the surface of a brilliant stream; memorable melodies trickle from his pen; his counterpoint twists and turns in graceful, apparently effortless choreography. Few have denied Mendelssohn’s stunning facility – in the face of his Octet, composed when he was just 16, it would be impossible to. But the surface brilliance has sometimes been accompanied by a question: where’s the depth? Wigmore Hall’s 2020/21 concerts look set to answer that question. Two series focus on different parts of Mendelssohn’s output: the Lieder and the chamber music. Pianist Julius Drake is joined by singers including Roderick Williams, Dame Sarah Connolly, Ian Bostridge and Julian Prégardien for concerts juxtaposing Mendelssohn’s songs with those of – born just two years later. The Elias covers the string quartets, quintets and octet. Andrew Carwood and The Cardinall’s Musick, meanwhile, will feature in a trio of concerts of Mendelssohn’s unaccompanied choral music, placing the composer in the context of works by his predecessors and contemporaries, as well as the generation that followed him. It all adds up to a rare opportunity to delve deep beneath the composer’s brilliant surface. And Elias String Quartet © Kaupo Kikkas that’s something, Julius Drake admits, that’s not

6 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 too comfortable to fit the standard template. Julius Drake is joined by A whiff (or sometimes a downright stench) several acclaimed singers in the of anti-Semitism coloured many attitudes Mendelssohn/Liszt Song Series: to this precocious grandson of the great Wednesday 30 September 2020 7.30pm Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. FELIX Monday 7 December 2020 7.30pm Drake also detects something in his Thursday 4 February 2021 7.30pm style. ‘It’s almost as though he doesn’t Monday 29 March 2021 7.30pm want to draw attention to himself. He was Tuesday 29 June 2021 7.30pm a “good boy”, he wanted to please, and I feel somehow that he didn’t want you Join The Cardinall’s Musick for necessarily to find real fire and passion in Mendelssohn in Context: his music.’ The contrast with the “bad boy” MENDELSSOHN 7.30pm Liszt, he notes, is telling. Monday 26 October 2020 Monday 11 January 2021 7.30pm Matters are different for string players, Wednesday 30 June 2021 7.30pm and especially the Elias String Quartet, which takes its name from Mendelssohn’s The Elias String Quartet kicks off most popular oratorio (‘Elias’ is the German its cycle in April 2021: title for ‘Elijah’). As its cellist, Marie Bitlloch, Saturday 24 April 2021 7.30pm explains, the composer’s Op. 13 Quartet Thursday 27 May 2021 7.30pm is closely tied with the ensemble’s own Tuesday 22 June 2021 7.30pm history: ‘It’s one of the first pieces we played Wednesday 14 July 2021 7.30pm together and one of the first pieces where we found each other and our voice. ‘Mendelssohn just wrote really well for always easy to do. ‘Speaking personally, the instruments, and I also think there’s a Mendelssohn is a much more wonderful real honesty in his works,’ she goes on. composer than I realised he was,’ the ‘There’s depth and real insight. For me pianist says. ‘The songs can be played very he’s got such a personal voice in all his superficially and reasonably successfully. music, and such intimacy.’ But there’s But once you delve into them you realise also a lot of fun to be had, for players as how intricate and fully thought out and much as listeners. ‘The Octet is so fresh emotionally connected they are.’ and beautiful and full of vigour. Having two Several factors have played into the fact quartets together playing that music is like a that Mendelssohn is easy to underestimate: party! And the fact he was only 16 when he his fluency runs counter to romantic notions wrote it is mind-boggling.’ of genius and hard-won creative battles; his The quartets, meanwhile, run from that life, though tragically short, was similarly far early Beethoven-inspired Op. 13 work to the tragedy of Op. 80, written shortly after the death of his sister Fanny and just months MENDELSSOHN IN CONTEXT before Mendelssohn’s own death. ‘It’s almost Some of Mendelssohn’s choral music is among his most popular. Three Mendelssohn in by a different composer,’ Bitlloch says. Context concerts in the 2020/21 Season, however, offer a rare opportunity to sample ‘Where there was poise and joie de vivre the richness of his sacred output for unaccompanied choir. ‘There are some wonderful before, there is darkness and anger.’ pieces which don’t get out enough,’ says Andrew Carwood, who presents the series Has the time come for a fuller appreciation with The Cardinall’s Musick. of Mendelssohn? ‘For a while people just The reason for the neglect is largely one of programming: ‘It’s fallen between thought his music was light and frivolous,’ two stools, because until recently you wouldn’t have done them in church, and in says Bitlloch, ‘which I completely disagree concert you’d have gone more for the secular part songs, some of which are not so with.’ And Drake wonders if there’s a parallel strong.’ And what can listeners expect? ‘He likes a lot of eight-part writing,’ Carwood with the reception of Schubert, thought in explains, ‘which can be quite dramatic, on quite a big scale, and gives him a lot more previous generations to be superficial, opportunities for different colours. But I suppose the crucial thing is his use of harmony: lacking in gravitas. ‘It’s only in recent the music is just gorgeous.’ generations that we’ve realised how As the title of the series suggests, its aim is also to show these works within their passionate Schubert’s music is, and deep musical context. When it comes to forerunners, one name unsurprisingly dominates: and emotional – and it’s similar now with Bach, whose 19th-century revival Mendelssohn spearheaded. But Carwood is also Mendelssohn. I hope we’ll be able to draw interested in Mendelssohn’s contemporaries and successors, in exploring ‘the line people’s attention to the real emotion that’s that Mendelssohn is part of’. This covers key names of German Romantic music and a behind the music.’ development from religious spirituality to something more universal. ‘It’s a yearning for the beyond,’ Carwood explains, ‘but what is it?’ A big question, no doubt, but one that Hugo Shirley is a Berlin-based writer and Mendelssohn in Context promises to go some way to answering. musicologist, music critic and former editor of both Opera and Gramophone

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 7 A Q&A WITH JULIA FISCHER Bach seems to be a constant in your repertoire. Do you play some Bach every day? I do. Bach is like meditation for me. And the solo repertory for violin is limited, so there are not so many other options for playing just to myself.

You won the 1995 Violin Competition junior category as well as all the special prizes at the age of 12. Did this put a great deal of pressure on you at such a young age? Actually not at all. It gave me motivation and wonderful memories. I met some very inspiring musicians and kept in contact with members of the jury as well as other competitors.

You have been very clear in interviews that ‘a musical career is always about the music and not the career’. What do you mean by this and should aspiring young professional musicians take a similar mantra on board? If you become a musician in order to make a fast career, I think it is the wrong profession for you. I also think that a true musician will always find his path.

You have made chamber music a central part of your performing career. Does it inform other parts of your playing and how you approach bigger repertoire? Every repertory influences everything. Chamber music is as important to me as violin concertos or solo pieces. Music is a form of communication and chamber music for me is the purest form of communication.

Please tell us a little about your 1742 Guadagnini violin.

I bought it in London in 2004 and have been © Uwe Arens playing it since then. It has a beautiful sound German violinist Julia Fischer will present solo Bach and by now I know the instrument so well across two evenings this autumn: that I don’t feel any limits. Sunday 18 October 7.30pm Monday 19 October 7.30pm What were your first impressions of Wigmore Hall, and especially its acoustic? I do very much appreciate the acoustics today. My very first performance makes for ‘If you become a musician in order to make a a lovely musical memory: it was in 2000 and I played a recital with Jean-Yves fast career, I think it is the wrong profession Thibaudet. I was just 17 and I learnt a great deal from him. I will be forever grateful for for you. I also think that a true musician will that opportunity to work with such a great musician at such a young age. always find his path.’

8 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 Yuja Wang © Norbert Kniat / DG / SEASON

In the 2020/21 Season, Wigmore Hall welcomes emerging stars of tomorrow, and leading artists of today

Artists in Focus The celebrates its 40th anniversary with a Mozart String Quartet series. Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) and Martin Helmchen (piano) perform Beethoven’s violin sonatas, and violinist Julia Fischer focuses on Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas in October. Wigmore Hall welcomes back pianist Sir András Schiff for four recitals over the year while Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov comes to Wigmore Hall twice over the season in both a solo recital and an evening with acclaimed cellist Gautier Capuçon. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos will perform two recitals accompanied on the piano by Enrico Pace and Yuja Wang. Song Highlights We look forward to a dazzling array of song recitals from names such as Christian Gerhaher, René Pape, Diana Damrau, Gerald Finley, Marianne Crebassa, Sabine Devieilhe, Sir and Alice Coote.

Season-long Residencies Multi-concert residencies at Wigmore Hall allow artists to present special projects and collaborations which are unique in the musical life of the UK. In the new season, we look forward to chamber music residencies from cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and clarinettist Martin Fröst. Pianists include Pavel Kolesnikov, Beatrice Rana, Jeremy Denk and Bertrand Chamayou. Further residencies include Austrian baritone Florian Boesch and jazz with American bassist and composer Christian McBride. La Serenissima, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Arcangelo, The Sixteen, and Dunedin Consort will appear several times across 2020/21, and Stile Antico is also in residence and will perform a special concert to mark 400 years since the Mayflower’s journey to the New World.

ECM Records at Wigmore Hall John Gilhooly has invited German record producer and founder of ECM Records Manfred Eicher to present four concerts across the season, exploring the exceptional artists heard on ECM’s iconic Jazz and New Series releases in the company’s 50th anniversary year.

Manfred Eicher © Kaupo Kikkas

20/21 SEASON | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 9 Igor Levit © Robbie Lawrence

Morton Feldman: a 20th Century Pioneer Wigmore Hall collaborates with Apartment House in January for a three-concert focus day on American composer Morton Feldman, preceded by a performance from Igor Levit which includes the composer’s Triadic Memories.

Proust Festival French novelist, critic and essayist Marcel Proust forms the focal point for a festival of chamber music in November 2020. The series is devised by cellist at John Gilhooly’s invitation and overlaps with pianist Jeremy Denk’s own residency. Showcasing works by Proust’s great musical contemporaries, the Festival also includes performances from violinist Joshua Bell, the Castalian String Quartet and Trio Gaspard.

Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition The triennial Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition returns in April 2021. Embracing the entire string quartet tradition, it Thomas Larcher © Eduardus Lee requires competitors to perform Classical, Romantic and contemporary repertoire.

Thomas Larcher, Composer in Residence We look forward to welcoming Austrian Thomas Larcher as our 2020/21 Composer in Residence. The new season encompasses a Larcher focus day in November, a cycle of the composer’s string quartets throughout the year, a newly commissioned song cycle performed by baritone Andrè Schuen, and an evening of his chamber music performed by Britten Sinfonia. Britten Sinfonia © Benjamin Ealovega

10 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | 20/21 SEASON Wigmore Hall hosts performances of music spanning eras and cultures, including the following 2020/21 Season highlights

In-depth Repertoire Explorations In the 2020/21 Season, Wigmore Hall explores Beethoven’s piano A Song Cycle sonatas with Igor Levit, Schubert’s piano sonatas with Llŷr for Mental Health , and the complete Martinů string quartets, performed by Williams This season, Wigmore Hall supports a song project the . The focuses on late Pavel Haas Quartet Doric String Quartet focused on mental health and male suicide prevention. Schubert in July. Starting on Blue Monday, tenor David Webb will cycle from Truro to Wigmore Hall, to be joined here by friends In 2019/20, began a Schubert piano Francesco Piemontesi and colleagues for a special performance of Winterreise, sonata cycle which will continue through the 2020/21 Season. raising funds for mental health charities. Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet will kick-start a three-season-long Debussy project in November.

Doric String Quartet © George Garnier

20/21 SEASON | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 11 Stile Antico © Marco Borggreve

Seasonal Celebrations There are several programmes of seasonal celebrations throughout the year, including Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Dunedin Consort, a Spanish Nativity with Stile Antico, a St Patrick’s Day programme featuring A Nocte Temporis and Reinoud Van Mechelen, and a programme for Holy Week from the Irish Baroque Orchestra.

Celebrating Felix Mendelssohn Our 2020/21 programme focuses intensively on Felix Mendelssohn. Over the course of the season, the Elias String Quartet performs Mendelssohn’s quartets, The Cardinall’s Musick explores his unaccompanied sacred choral works, and pianist Julius Drake is joined by star singers such as Dame Sarah Connolly and Roderick Williams.

Roderick Williams © Benjamin Ealovega

12 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | 20/21 SEASON ‘I fell in love with the place.’ As jazz bassist Christian McBride takes on a Residency for the 2020/21 Season, he reflects on a happy association with Wigmore Hall. RETURNING TO A SPECIAL PLACE The 20-25-minute drive from Christian McBride’s home in Montclair, New Jersey to the studios of WBGO 88.3FM in Newark is a route he knows well. He has been taking it regularly since 2014, when he became host of the hour-long radio show Jazz Night in America. JNIA is National Public Radio’s weekly flagship jazz programme, broadcast throughout the USA via a network of around 200 radio stations. A popular, charismatic musician and a powerful communicator, McBride has taken naturally to becoming a radio anchor. But it Christian McBride’s Residency spans is far from being his only noteworthy role: three concerts in the 2020/21 Season: in 2016 he took over as Artistic Director Friday 18 September 2020 7.30pm Christian McBride of the Newport Jazz Festival from George © Chi Modu with Jason Moran Wein. Wein had run the US’s oldest and most Friday 15 January 2021 7.30pm established festival ever since it started in Thursday 13 May 2021 7.30pm 1954. As the veteran passed on the mantle to plays purely acoustically, and yet the scale McBride, he took evident pleasure in referring of his sound always takes the listener by to the bassist as ‘the special someone to surprise. His first experience of the Hall McBride’s memory. ‘I remember that concert continue my legacy.’ McBride’s contract to was in 2013 with Joshua Redman, at the REALLY well. I was looking forward to it and run the Newport Festival is indefinite. saxophonist’s invitation (that duo concert it came off even better than expected.’ In the three decades since he arrived in was a rarity to say the least: it has only ever The recollection of a great concert New York from his native Philadelphia to appeared on stage twice). There have been prompted the bassist to reflect on why he take up a Juilliard School place studying other duos, one with the great pianist Chick likes Wigmore Hall so much: ‘It’s just such a classical double bass – and was promptly Corea, and another with fellow bassist Edgar great place to play. If you have the right snapped up by alto saxophonist Bobby Meyer. McBride enjoys duos: ‘The feeling of musicians who pay attention to acoustics Watson to play in his quartet – McBride has intimacy that you get with just two people on and the way the room sounds, you can really come a very long way indeed. His recordings stage, that almost always works if you know have an amazing time there.’ And did now run into the hundreds. He has won six the person. If you have made music together, something special happen? ‘I fell in love with Grammys from a total of 12 nominations, and if you have history together with the person the place and I’m always happy to come has released 15 recordings as either leader you can really get to some interesting places.’ back and play there.’ or co-leader. McBride also masterminded a highly The five concerts which McBride has successful evening of jazz with another Sebastian Scotney is editor of LondonJazz played at Wigmore Hall show the wide regular collaborator, Renée Fleming. News, a regular contributor to BBC Radio range of different musical collaborations to Another night, ‘a magical gig’ (FT), the 2015 3 Jazz Line-Up and the German magazine which his bass presence can deliver such performance by his trio with the then rising Jazzthetik, and baritone saxophonist in the a powerful and enlivening contribution. He star pianist Christian Sands has stayed in Stan Reynolds Big Band

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 13 WRITING MUSIC WITH CHESTNUTS PRIMARY SCHOOL AND SHIRLEY THOMPSON Our Learning department has been busy devising creative music projects with our Partner Schools, and we wanted to share a recent highlight with you... We have been working with Chestnuts Primary New Nation Rising, and to learn the protest School in Haringey to embed music across song Factory Girl. their curriculum, using creative music making The children shared their songs with to enhance and enrich children’s learning, and families, the rest of the school and Shirley ensuring quality music experiences are taking Thompson herself! place throughout the school. As well as giving them the chance to take In our most recent project, Year 5 children part in enjoyable, enriching activity, this worked with music leaders from Wigmore project enabled children to have their voices Hall to write songs inspired by their classes’ heard and valued, to work together namesakes: suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst collaboratively, and to explore musical and composer Shirley Thompson. creativity, and it gave teachers the Across four days, children worked opportunity to devise and co-lead musical together to compose two new songs, write activity, developing their confidence and their own verses to Shirley Thompson’s skills in teaching music.

For information about supporting the Partner Schools Programme please get in touch with Wigmore Hall’s Development Team at [email protected]

or call 020 7258 8220. © James Berry

Never Ever Give Up We Will Be Remembered

Thompson Class Pankhurst Class Wigmore Hall Chestnuts Primary School November 2019 with Jessie Maryon Davies E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹/B¨ D¨ E¨‹ Intro F/C C B¨ C F/C Voice bb b 4 ∑ Œ Œ Ó ∑ ∑ & b b4 Voice 12 j j &b 8 ∑ ∑ ∑ Ó™ Œ j œ œ ˙™ Œ œ œ œ œ A Toœ -day's the day we fight for our 5 E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹/B¨ D¨ E¨‹ Voice b b ‰ ‰ Œ Œ Ó ‰ ‰ Œ 6 C B¨ F/C &b b b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ∑ œ™ œ™ œ™ Voice j j Ne-ver ev-er give up, give up! Ne-ver ev-er give up! &b ˙™ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ œ rights. I be - lieve in my - self, I be - lieve in my cause. I'm B New Nation Rising 9 B¨‹7 F‹ G¨ B¨‹ b 8 D‹ F/E¨ accel. Shirley J Thompson Voice &b bbb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ r≈ ‰ ‰ j œ œ œ œ j ‰ and Pankhurst and Thompson Classes J ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Voice ALL SING Chestnuts Primary I am Em-me-line Pank- hurst, lead-er of the Suff-ra- gettes. I don't be- long be-hind bars. b j 4 & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ™ ¿™ ¿™ ¿™ ¿™ 4 Voice 4ma - king the law, by break - ing the law. &b4 Ó œ œ œ œ œ œ Ó Ó œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ 12 D¨ E¨‹ B¨‹7 F‹ G¨ B¨‹ New na- tion ri - sing. New na-tion ri - sing. 5 10 Verse 1- Faster q.=q Voice b b b Ó Ó œ œ œ œ œ œ œ r≈‰ ‰ j j‰ Voice & b b J œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ °&b4Ó œ ∑ œ œ œ Ó ∑Ó œÓ œ Œœ ‰œ j Œ ∑ Œ I am Em-me-line Pank- hurst, lead-er of the Suff-ra gettes. I don't be long be-hind bars. & 4 œ œ œ œ œ œœ New day is dawn - ing, Just feel it call - ing.œ œ œ Voice my pack is strong. D‹ C B¨ C 10 4 j C &bPiano4 Œ Riffœ œ ‰ œ œ Œ Œ œ Œ ∑ 16 F‹ G¨ D¨Œ„Š7 F‹ E¨ A¨/F E¨‹/G¨ A¨ B¨ ¢ œ œ œ œ œ œ Voice &b My name∑ is Em-me - line ∑ and my pack is∑ strong, ∑ Voice bb b œ Œ ‰ œ œ Œ Ó j Œ ∑ & b b e e e e J œ œ œ œ œ œ œ™ œ œ e e e e We de-serve the vote. We are e- qual to all. 14 D‹ C B¨ A‹ Voice °14 bPankhurstŒ (MissŒ Potter's group)œ Œ Œ œ œ Ó Ó Ó D ¢& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 23 E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹/B¨ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹ G¨ Voice We're fierce and read - y for what - ev -er comes &b œ œ b j œ œ œ œ w œ ˙ w Voice b b ‰ ‰ Œ Œ Ó ‰ ‰ Œ Ó™ ‰ We have the right to choose who we love. j & b b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ &b ∑ ∑ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ Ne-ver ev-er give™ up, give™ up! Ne-ver ev-er give™ up! Our camp-aign is not in vain. 18 ™ ™ Keep™ looping> > Voice Chorusb 18& G‹7œ œ œ œF/A œ œ ˙ B¨ œ œ ˙ F/C w 28 B¨ D¨ E¨‹ B¨‹ A¨ F‹ G¨ Love should ho - ver like a dove. Love is free. 3 3 Voice b Œ Œ œ ‰ ‰ Œ Œ Œ œ ‰ ‰ Voice b b & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ b b Ó œ ‰ ‰ Œ Ó Ó œ œ 22 Pankhurst (Karyma's group) & b ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ We will do what it takes, we will fight for our rights to the Ne-ver ev-er give™ up! Al-ways be strong Al-ways be strong Voice b ‰ j j ‰ j Œ ∑ & œ œ œ œ œ œ™ œ œ ˙ 22 TreesB¨Œ„Š7 give usœ life, C trees breatheD‹ and weC reœ - ceive.™ B¨ C 33 A¨ B¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ D¨ E¨‹ E¨‹/B¨ D¨ E¨‹/G¨ Voice 26 &b œ œ œ Ó ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ Keep looping∑ Voice bb b œ ˙™ Œ ‰ ‰ Œ Œ Ó ‰ ‰ Œ & b b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Voice b e - nd. ‰ j j ‰ j Œ ∑ We will rise a gain. Ne-ver ev-er give™ up! give™ up! Ne-ver ev-er give™ up! & œ œ œ œ œ œ™ œ œ ˙ Trees give usœ life, trees breathe and we reœ - ceive.™

30 Pankhurst (Ellie's group) Voice b Œ j ‰ j ‰ Œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 14 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 We need to take more care of our air Cy- cle, el - ec-tric - i - ty, so - lar po-wer yeah! 34 Voice b Œ j ‰ j ‰ Œ ∑ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ We need toœ take more care of ourœ air Cy- cle, el-ec-tric-i - ty, so-lar po-wer yeah! ‘I have practically made my ‘It feels like [the children] dream of meeting our class are seeing themselves as namesake!’ songwriters/composers which Student is fantastic … As a parent … we have observed a definite cognitive ‘The opportunity to meet and ‘Thank you for the amazing leap [with our child] … and he perform for Shirley Thompson opportunity for me to visit and has re-engaged with reading in a took this experience to another speak to students of Chestnuts. way that he hadn’t been for a few level for [my child] and made It was an awesome experience months. His personal confidence quite an impression on him and so inspirational. The level of has also really risen.’ ...The idea of learning one of musicianship that the students Parent Governor her compositions to perform exhibited was very impressive to her, and the quality of and their questions to me and ‘I liked it a lot because we the musicians leading them, my work, equally so!’ learned new songs [and] raised his performance and his Shirley Thompson, Composer shared our ideas.’ appreciation of the music.’ Student Parent

‘It made me feel more confident and brave.’ Student

LEFT ABOVE: Pupils showcase artwork inspired by listening to Shirley’s music LEFT: Trainee Music Leader Karyma Ellis leads a chorus of pupils during performance ABOVE: Year 5 pupils spontaneously share violin performance with Shirley Thompson, project leader Jessie Maryon Davies and their peers as part of Shirley’s visit to the school

© James Berry

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 15 A Q&A WITH FRANCESCO PIEMONTESI You have a great role model and mentor in . Has he informed your approach to Schubert? He certainly has! He is the only person I know who is able to convey every detail in the music verbally. At the same time, he is able to characterize every passage with words and to give you very coherent images about the structure of the piece. Also, we spent a great deal listening to historical recordings of Schubert by artists like Edwin Fischer, and the Bush Quartet. He was always pointing out details and telling me, ‘Listen to this phrase, listen to that diminuendo, to that colour’. I learned a lot about this frame of mind thanks to those listening sessions.

You have a very varied career managing to work with conductors, in solo recital and plenty of chamber music. How do you manage to balance all of that? It is a challenge indeed: especially because the sound projection is very different in every instance. In a recital you can choose your sound without any compromise, but with a big ensemble you have to play in a way which cuts through the sound of a powerful orchestra. In chamber music, you are often too loud. I sometimes played chamber music, concerto and recitals within one week and almost went crazy!

You are Artistic Director of the Settimane Musicali di Ascona. What does this involve? I choose the programme and invite the artists. A challenging task but a very rewarding one; I get to invite the people I really want to hear because I believe in them musically. Big names and marketing don’t play a role: the public knows me well as an artist there and trusts my musical taste.

You impressed Wigmore Hall audiences greatly with your Mozart interpretations. What does Wigmore Hall mean to you? I always feel at home at Wigmore: I love the acoustics, the atmosphere in the Hall, the intimacy of the whole venue, and you are treated very well. I am looking forward to many more concerts there.

You have recently recorded a great deal of Liszt. Will there be any more…? Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi began a three-year Yes, the 3rd year of the Années de pèlerinage together with Schubert Cycle in the 2019/20 Season which will his B minor Piano Sonata. continue in 2020/21. Forthcoming dates in the series: Wednesday 27 May 2020 7.30pm 7.30pm Francesco Piemontesi Saturday 19 September 2020 © Marco Borggreve Thursday 6 May 2021 7.30pm

16 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 Pavel Haas Quartet © Marco Borggreve EXPLORING One of the most interesting artistic strands in the 2020/21 Season will be a complete cycle of Martinů’s string quartets performed by the Pavel Haas MARTINŮ’S Quartet, whose previous explorations of its national repertoire at Wigmore Hall have been greatly admired. QUARTETS Bohuslav Martinů is a fascinating figure, Šafránek, ‘In pure chamber music I am memorialising Martinů’s relationships with whose vast and diverse output deserves far always more myself. I cannot express what women he loved. ‘He actually dedicated each greater exposure than it receives. Born in pleasure it gives me when I start to handle of his final three quartets to a different woman, 1890 in the bell tower of the church in the these four parts in a chamber composition’. two of them pupils as well as lovers: the small Bohemian village of Polička, where his Straddling the years 1918 to 1947, Fifth String Quartet to the Czech composer father was bell ringer and church warden, Martinů’s seven canonical quartets reveal the Vítêzslava Kaprálová; the Sixth Quartet to the he showed his musical talent early: his very immense stylistic range of a composer open American Rosalie Barstow; and finally the first composition was the programmatic to diverse contemporary influences: Czech Seventh Quartet, known as the Concerto da piece Three Horsemen, written for string folk music, neo-classicism – even jazz, as camera, to his wife, Charlotte Martinů.’ quartet when he was 12. Peter Jarůšek, the quartet’s cellist, explains. Though Peter wouldn’t want to over- Studies followed in , where he ‘One can certainly feel the folk-music emphasize these connections, he does believe subsequently played violin in the Czech influence, although it is worth highlighting that ‘one discovers everything behind a piece Philharmonic; but in 1919 he left his native that there are clear jazz idioms too, and the of music in order to complete the puzzle.’ country to continue his career in Paris, big-band influence is particularly strong in As he and his colleagues have come to know where he took composition lessons from his use of syncopated rhythms.’ these highly individual and attractive pieces, Albert Roussel. It has taken a while for the ensemble their overview has developed enormously. Martinů remained in Paris until 1940, to focus on this comparatively neglected ‘Each of the seven quartets exists in its own when the arrival of the Nazis drove him on figure. ‘Although Martinů’s quartets form an separate and independent world, with its own to the USA: after the war, he was unwilling important part of the Czech repertoire, it was specific character. To play all seven is to return to due to the 1948 only five years ago that we decided to work simultaneously challenging, exciting and fulfilling Communist coup d’état – though he did move on his Third String Quartet – the shortest of – and we are very much looking forward to back to Europe, remaining there until his the seven; after rehearsing and performing bringing them to Wigmore Hall.’ death in Switzerland in 1959. it we realized how much we enjoyed it. The string quartet genre held great Martinů’s is a unique style, very different George Hall is a music writer specialising in significance for Martinů: in November 1946, from that of any other Czech composer’. opera. He is a regular contributor to The Stage, while working on his Sixth Quartet, he wrote There’s also a strongly personal element and has written for The New Penguin Opera to his friend and future biographer Miloš to several of the works, three of them Guide and the Oxford Companion to Music.

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 17 FLORIAN BOESCH Florian Boesch’s 2020/21 Wigmore Hall IN CONVERSATION WITH Residency comprises three concerts: Thursday 17 September 2020 7.30pm Thursday 11 March 2021 7.30pm RICHARD STOKES Saturday 12 June 2021 7.30pm

Florian Boesch © Lukas Beck

18 WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 Ahead of his Residency at You made your Wigmore Hall debut in What is your view of surtitles in Lieder? Wigmore Hall in the 2020/21 March 2007. Has your voice changed Does it annoy you when you see the much in the intervening years? audience bury its head in the programme? Season, Austrian baritone My voice has remained much the same – I believe very strongly that every word I Florian Boesch talks to it’s my ability to use it as I wish that has sing should be understood by the audience. changed. I don’t have to guide it so much; it I want to be understood musically and Richard Stokes about his now does things much more naturally. linguistically, and if that means taking relationship with Wigmore Hall, advantage of technical assistance, so be it. how he prepares for a recital, You have been partnered by five different Understanding text is paramount. pianists in the past 12 years at Wigmore and Werktreue. Hall. Are there advantages in having a How do you prepare, physically, for a variety of duo partners? recital? Do you, for example, avoid alcohol I’ve had the privilege of working with some during the day before a concert, or have a of the finest accompanists of our times. special diet? My longest association is with Malcolm Sleep is the most important preparation. Martineau, but I have also been partnered At least 7 hours, perhaps as many as by Justus Zeyen and Roger Vignoles for 10. Rest for voice and body. No red wine long periods. This continuity is crucial for – the tannins play havoc with the vocal my way of singing – which is spontaneous cords. No cigarettes either. I often go for a and unpredictable. Because I never wish longish walk. to define the way in which a song should be performed, I need a partner of great How do you keep fit? Do you work out in flexibility. But it’s always very interesting to a gym? work with a new pianist, and it was a huge I once had a gym membership but found pleasure to be accompanied by the great that it was not for me. Too boring. But I Graham Johnson in the opening recital of will occasionally take advantage of a fitness Wigmore Hall’s recent Schubert series. centre in a hotel. In my youth I played a lot of sport, so I’m still in reasonable Wigmore Hall is widely praised for shape, despite a slight paunch. I love its excellent acoustics and intimate physical labour: gardening, digging holes, atmosphere. Are you aware of singing manual work. differently here than in larger venues? I do not sing differently, but this intimate What is your view on Werktreue? Should hall’s wonderful acoustic gives you extra one always try to obey a composer’s confidence, makes you feel freer, and more markings? Or are they, rather, more relaxed vis-à-vis technical issues. The voice suggestions than commands? I remember never sounds boomy. Wigmore Hall is the you, for example, performing the end finest venue for Lieder recitals, but let’s of Schubert’s ‘Ihr Bild’ in a gradual not forget the unique audience that attends crescendo, ending fff: ‘Daß ich dich these recitals. verloren hab’. It was electric; but Schubert marks a decrescendo on ‘dich verloren One of the most memorable Wigmore hab’. Does that matter? ‘I do not sing Hall recitals in recent years was your Heiner Müller once remarked: ‘Grosse Kunst performance with Roger Vignoles of ist immer grösser als das Werk’ (‘Great art differently, but Ernst Krenek’s Reisebuch aus den is always greater than the work’). We cannot österreichischen Alpen, which you sang be true to ourselves if we automatically obey this intimate hall’s from memory. What are your views all the composer’s markings. We have to find on using the score? Does it jeopardize our own personal and individual way. And communication with the audience? each age has a different way of doing things: wonderful acoustic I know many colleagues who use a score just compare film footage of a 1930s with great skill, and there are audiences performance of a Hamlet monologue with a gives you extra who are fine with that. But the reason that modern rendering of the same speech! If I don’t use a score is because it disturbs your interpretation of a song is serious and confidence, makes me. If I have a score in front of me, I read honest and convincing, the composer will ahead, and am no longer in the moment. The surely forgive you if his markings are not you feel freer, and inspiration of the moment is crucial for me. followed in every detail. I am much more concentrated if I don’t have more relaxed vis-à-vis a score. Even if I am not so familiar with a Richard Stokes is a leading lecturer on German piece, I like the element of risk, of possible Lieder at the Royal Academy of Music and has technical issues.’ catastrophe in not having the music in front dozens of publications and lecture appearances of me. That’s how my system, my brain throughout the UK functions best.

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 19 BECHSTEIN SOCIETY A lasting gift to the Wigmore Hall Trust

‘Let those of us who love this unique institution preserve our own matchless memories by doing everything in our power to safeguard the Hall, and all it stands for, for future generations.’ A member of the Bechstein Society

Join a vital community of supporters with a legacy gift to Wigmore Hall

For further information, please contact John Gilhooly, Director on 020 7258 8266 or contact Marie-Hélène Osterweil on 020 7258 8220 | [email protected] wigmore-hall.org.uk/legacy

The Wigmore Hall Trust, Registered Charity Number 1024838