London Orchestra Living Music

Sunday 4 December 2016 7pm Barbican Hall

JOHN ADAMS AT 70

John Adams El Niño Interval after Part One

London’s Symphony Orchestra John Adams conductor Joélle Harvey soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano mezzo-soprano Davóne Tines bass- Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, Nathan Medley counter- London Symphony Chorus London Youth chorus director

Concert finishes approx 9.30pm 2 Welcome 4 December 2016

Welcome Living Music Kathryn McDowell In Brief

Welcome to tonight’s LSO concert where we are CHRISTMAS OFFERS FROM LSO LIVE delighted to be joined by one of America’s most influential musicians, John Adams, in the first of our Throughout December LSO Live will be running concerts celebrating his 70th birthday. This evening exclusive Christmas offers, including discounted he conducts El Niño, his own based on the box sets, special bundles and free UK shipping on nativity story, written for the new millennium. It is orders over £30. New offers will be announced on always a pleasure to work with John Adams on his 9 December, so keep checking the LSO Live website own music, and we are excited to be performing to take advantage of the latest discounts. this work for the first time here at the Barbican, before taking it on tour to Paris. lsolive.lso.co.uk

On stage John Adams is joined by vocal soloists Joélle Harvey, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Davóne Tines, SOUND UNBOUND 2017: Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings and Nathan Medley, THE BARBICAN CLASSICAL WEEKENDER all of whom are making their LSO debuts this evening. Early-bird passes are now available for Sound Unbound In addition we would like to welcome back the 2017, the Barbican’s Classical Weekender, which takes London Symphony Chorus, which continues its 50th place on 29 and 30 April 2017. With 60 short sessions anniversary celebrations with the LSO’s own Choral featuring everything from symphony orchestras to solo Director Simon Halsey. The LSC will be joined on concerts, the festival showcases the infinite variety stage tonight by the London Youth Choir. of music, including film scores by John Williams performed by the LSO, cutting-edge new commissions, I hope you enjoy the concert and can join us again on some of the finest classical scores ever written, and 8 December when John Adams returns to conduct performances by world-class soloists. his own dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra, Scheherazade.2, with soloist Leila Josefowicz, barbican.org.uk/soundunbound alongside pieces by Bartók and Stravinsky.

BRITISH COMPOSER AWARDS

Eight alumni of the LSO’s composer schemes – Luke Bedford, Leo Chadburn, Joe Cutler, Tansy Kathryn McDowell CBE DL Davies, Emily Howard, Oliver Leith, Anna Meredith Managing Director and Richard Walley – have been nominated for British Composer Awards, along with Jonathan Dove for The Monster in the Maze, an LSO co-commission. The winners will be announced on 6 December.

britishcomposerawards.com lso.co.uk John Adams 3

John Adams On El Niño and the LSO

When I come to town to have a rehearsal there’s just this CLICK that happens.

Watch the full interview with THE STORY BEHIND THE PIECE WORKING WITH THE LSO John Adams at youtube.com/lso I always wanted to write my own Messiah. I never sang I think my first hands-on experience with the LSO was in a chorus but I have heard amateur performances in the late 1980s and early 90s. I was invited to conduct, since I was a kid. I always loved Handel’s music but and since then have been here every two or three not only that, the story itself. I wasn’t someone who years and have done UK premieres of a lot of my studied the Bible, but I certainly knew the nativity pieces. I’ve toured with the LSO and just love them and Passion story. and they know my music so well.

I was asked to celebrate the millennium, and When I come to town to have a rehearsal there’s the year 2000 seemed like an appropriate date to just this click that happens. It’s one of the few write a Messiah-type piece, and El Niño came into pleasures of getting older: you can see your music being. I went to my long-term friend, the director really get into the bloodstream of the performers , and said, ‘Let’s put together a libretto so that they really understand it. about the roughness and the toughness and the difficulty of life’. 4 Programme Notes 4 December 2016

John Adams (b 1947) El Niño (1999–2000)

PROGRAMME NOTE JOHN ADAMS CONDUCTOR other texts in, again, a modern setting. The as-yet & SYNOPSIS WRITER JOÉLLE HARVEY SOPRANO unfinished , Girls of the Golden West – set in KEITH POTTER is a Reader in Music JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO MEZZO-SOPRANO the mining camps of the Sierra Mountains during the at Goldsmiths, University of London, DAVÓNE TINES BASS-BARITONE California Gold Rush of the early 1850s – receives its and the author of Four Musical DANIEL BUBECK, BRIAN CUMMINGS, world premiere in San Francisco in November 2017. Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry NATHAN MEDLEY COUNTER-TENORS Riley, , for LONDON SYMPHONY CHORUS ‘The libretto is a wonderful mix Cambridge University Press. LONDON YOUTH CHOIR of poetry, both period and SIMON HALSEY CHORUS DIRECTOR contemporary, up-to-date texts.’

THE LIBRETTO FOR EL NIÑO CONTAINS TEXTS IN ENGLISH, John Adams SPANISH AND LATIN. THE FULL PIECE WILL BE SURTITLED. ‘El Niño’ will be familiar as the hurricane wind that PETER SELLARS is an American Since the mid 1980s, the composer John Adams and often afflicts parts of the US in the winter. But it director who has staged numerous the director Peter Sellars have collaborated on seven literally means ‘the boy’ in Spanish, and this is the and plays with organisations large-scale works together, and they are currently clue to the work’s subject matter. Completed and across the world. In January, he working on an eighth. For some while they worked premiered in 2000, El Niño is a ‘Christmas Oratorio’, returns to the LSO to direct a with other librettists, and with the choreographer, but – inevitably, with Adams and Sellars – very much production of Ligeti’s Le grand Mark Morris; later on, they have taken to compiling an oratorio for our own millennium, written right on macabre with Sir . librettos themselves from a wide range of already that millennium’s cusp. In this account of a nativity Find out more on page 16. extant texts. Several compositions – , play, a soprano and a mezzo variously represent the , – are operas Virgin Mary and a modern mother faced with similar based on events sometimes still recent at the time predicaments. A bass-baritone appears chiefly as of the work’s conception; both in these operas and Joseph, but also as Herod and God. Three counter- in other works (including On the Transmigration of tenors also occupy central roles, functioning both Souls, composed in memory of the victims of 9/11), as a kind of Greek ‘chorus’ and, early on, as the Adams has been in great sympathy with Sellars’ Angel Gabriel. A real chorus is supplemented, concern to engage with important issues of our day. in the oratorio’s final scene, by a children’s chorus.

Some works extend, in different ways, the The libretto for El Niño is taken from a variety of conventional frame surrounding what we might sources. These include pre-Christian prophets term ‘proper opera’. The curiously titled I Was (Isaiah, for instance), familiar words from the Gospels Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky, for (including the Magnificat), unfamiliar extracts from instance, is a kind of rock musical. A Flowering writings not in the New Testament, the well-known Tree adapts a southern Indian folktale about love, early English verses ‘I Sing of a Maiden’, the responsibility and redemption to offer a 21st-century Wakefield Mystery Plays, Martin Luther and poetry response to Mozart’s opera . The by 20th-century female Hispanic writers. Texts are Gospel According to the Other Mary is ‘A Passion set in English, Spanish and Latin; occasionally, texts Oratorio’ based on a compilation of biblical and originally in Spanish are set in English translation. lso.co.uk Programme Notes 5

MORE CONTEMPORARY MUSIC IN 2016/17

The three women whose verse The premiere performances of El Niño engaged the was set by John Adams are: full paraphernalia of an opera house, with a film – set in a variety of modern desert, urban-interior JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ (1651–95), and industrial locations – and stylised movement a scholar, poet and nun from from everyone on stage, including a trio of dancers. Mexico who was condemned by Adams has always been clear, however, that this the authorities for her repeated ‘Christmas Oratorio’ is as valid a work for the concert lobbying for the right of women hall as for the operatic stage. The conclusion that to receive an education. its nativity narrative is to be interpreted as being as much about motherhood, poverty and even ecology GABRIELA MISTRAL (1889–1957), in our own time – as least as much as it remains, Thu 8 Dec 7.30pm the pen name of Chilean poet Lucila simultaneously, the story as told in the Bible – will JOHN ADAMS Scheherazade.2 Godoy y Alcayaga, the first Latin surely remain evident in tonight’s presentation. with Leila Josefowicz violin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Wed 14 Dec 7.30pm MICHAEL TAPLIN Ebbing Tides ROSARIO CASTELLANOS (1925–74), (world premiere, Panufnik commission) a poet and author from Mexico with Fabien Gabel conductor who also worked as the country’s Panufnik Scheme commission supported by Lady Hamlyn & ambassador to Israel. The Helen Hamlyn Trust. 14 Dec supported by LSO Friends.

Sat 14 & Sun 15 Jan 7pm Adams also set a text by LIGETI Le grand macabre VICENTE HUIDOBRO (1893–1948), with Sir Simon Rattle conductor a Chilean poet and magazine and Peter Sellars director publisher associated with avant- Produced by the LSO and Barbican. garde literary movements in his Part of the LSO’s 2016/17 season and Barbican Presents. home country and abroad. Thu 19 Jan 7.30pm MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE (pictured above) Remembering ’In Memoriam Evan Scofield’ (world premiere; LSO co-commission) with Sir Simon Rattle conductor

INTERVAL: AFTER PART ONE – 20 minutes Wed 15 Feb 7.30pm There are bars on all levels of the Concert Hall; ice cream MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE Håkan can be bought at the stands on Stalls and Circle level. (UK premiere; LSO co-commission) with conductor Why not tweet us your thoughts on the first half of the performance @londonsymphony, or come and talk to LSO staff at the information point on the Circle level? lso.co.uk | 020 7638 8891 6 Synopsis 4 December 2016

John Adams El Niño – Synopsis

Part One of El Niño has eleven scenes, Part Two has thirteen. The following synopsis identifies the texts selected for each scene, and who sings them, adding brief indications of the subject matter involved. Texts are set in English unless indicated otherwise. PART ONE

The first group of scenes forms a commentary on With the arrival of the bass-baritone soloist, the the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and her visit to focus shifts to Joseph’s reactions and his dream. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. 7 SOPRANO, BASS-BARITONE & COUNTER-TENORS 1 TWO COUNTER-TENORS & CHORUS ‘Now she was 16 years old’: adapted from ‘I sing of a maiden’: a famous, though anonymous, The Gospel of James Early English text 8 BASS-BARITONE AND COUNTER-TENORS 2 COUNTER-TENORS (Angel Gabriel) & SOPRANO (Mary) ‘Joseph’s Dream’: adapted from The Gospel ‘Hail, Mary, gracious!’: taken from ‘The Play of the of James; Matthew, Chapter 1; Martin Luther’s Annunciation’ in Martial Rose’s version of the Christmas Sermon; and Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verse 3 Wakefield Mystery Plays Interlude 3 MEZZO-SOPRANO ‘La anunciación’ (The Annunciation): text in Spanish The next group of scenes is concerned with the birth by Rosario Castellanos and adoration of Christ.

4 CHORUS 9 BASS-BARITONE & CHORUS; SOPRANO, MEZZO-SOPRANO ‘For with God no thing shall be impossible’: from & COUNTER-TENORS Luke, Chapter 1 ‘Shake the Heavens’: Haggai, Verses 6–7 and 9; Gospel of James 5 COUNTER-TENORS & CHORUS ‘The babe leaped in her womb’: from Luke, Chapter 1 10 SOPRANO & MEZZO-SOPRANO; BASS-BARITONE ‘Se Habla de Gabriel’ (Speaking of Gabriel): text in 6 SOPRANO, COUNTER-TENORS & FEMALE CHORUS Spanish by Rosario Castellanos; then, for the ending, ‘Magnificat’: ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord’, settings in English from The Gospel of James and familiar from Christian liturgies The Latin Infancy Gospel lso.co.uk Synopsis 7

11 SOPRANO, MEZZO-SOPRANO, BASS-BARITONE, 18 BASS-BARITONE COUNTER-TENORS & CHORUS ‘Dawn Air’: text by Vicente Huidobro, translated into ‘The Christmas Star’: text by Gabriela Mistral, English by David Guss translated into English by Maria Jacketti; including ‘O Quam Preciosa’ (O how precious), text in Latin 19 CHORUS by Hildegard von Bingen. ‘And he slew all the children’: Matthew, Chapter 2, Verse 16 PART TWO 20 SOPRANO & CHORUS Part Two muses on the biblical topics of the visit ‘Memorial de Tlatelolco’ (Memorial for Tlatelolco): of the Three Kings, King Herod’s massacre of the text in Spanish by Rosario Castellanos Innocents and the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt – with an unusual ending to the story. 21 CHORUS ‘In the day of the great slaughter’: Isaiah, Chapter 30, 12 MEZZO-SOPRANO & CHORUS Verses 25 and 57 ‘Pues mi Dios ha Nacido a Penar’ (Because my Lord was born to suffer): text in Spanish by Sor Juana Inés 22 MEZZO-SOPRANO, BASS-BARITONE & CHORUS de la Cruz ‘Pues está tiritando’ (Since Love is Shivering): text in Spanish by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 13 BASS-BARITONE & COUNTER-TENORS ‘When Herod Heard’: from Matthew, Chapter 2 23 SOPRANO & COUNTER-TENORS ‘Jesus and the Dragons’: from the Gospel of 14 BASS-BARITONE & CHORUS Pseudo-Matthew ‘Woe unto them that call evil good’: Isaiah, Chapter 5, Verses 29 and 66 24 MEZZO-SOPRANO, BASS-BARITONE, COUNTER-TENORS & CHILDREN’S CHORUS 15 SOPRANO, MEZZO-SOPRANO & BASS-BARITONE ‘A Palm Tree’: from the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, ‘And the star went before them’: from Matthew, including a text of the same name, ‘Una Palmera’ Chapter 2 (A Palm Tree), in Spanish by Rosario Castellanos

16 SOPRANO AND COUNTER-TENORS ‘The Three Kings’: text by Rubén Darío

17 CHORUS ‘And when they were departed’: from Matthew, Chapter 2 Reich, Glass, Adams: The Sounds that Changed America Celebrating three composers who transformed how we hear the world Read the interactive article at barbican.org.uk/reichglassadams

Reich Glass Adams lso 200x200.indd 1 25/10/2016 11:57 lso.co.uk Artist Biographies 9

John Adams Conductor

Composer, conductor, and creative thinker, John Adams Born and raised in New England, Adams learned occupies a unique position in the world of music. the from his father and played in marching His works stand out among contemporary classical bands and community orchestras during his compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance formative years. He began composing at age of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their ten and his first orchestral pieces were performed themes. Works spanning more than three decades while still a teenager. are among the most performed of all contemporary classical music, among them , Shaker Adams has received honorary doctorates from Loops, El Niño, the and The Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, Cambridge and . His stage works, all in collaboration . A provocative writer, he is author with director Peter Sellars, have transformed the of the highly acclaimed autobiography Hallelujah genre of contemporary music theatre. Junction and is a frequent contributor to Book Review. has recorded all of Adams’ music over the past three decades. The latest release Adams is Creative Chair of the is Scheherazade.2, Adams’ most recent work, a Philharmonic. His new opera, Girls of the Golden dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra written West, an opera about the California Gold Rush, will for Leila Josefowicz. premiere in November of 2017 in San Francisco.

As a conductor, Adams leads the world’s major orchestras in repertoire that ranges from Beethoven and Mozart to Stravinsky, Ives, Carter, Zappa, Philip Glass and Ellington. Conducting engagements in recent and coming seasons include the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berliner Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony and BBC Symphony Orchestras, as well as the orchestras in Houston, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Seattle, Baltimore and Madrid.

In 2017 Adams celebrates his 70th birthday with festivals of his music in Europe and the US, including special retrospectives at the Barbican, Cité de la Musique in Paris, and in Amsterdam, New York, Geneva, Stockholm, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 10 Artist Biographies 4 December 2016

Joélle Harvey Jennifer Johnson Cano Soprano Mezzo-soprano

A native of Bolivar, New York, Jennifer Johnson Cano joined soprano Joélle Harvey was the The Lindemann Young Artist recipient of a First Prize Award Development Program at The in 2011 from the Gerda Lissner after winning Foundation Vocal Competition, a the Metropolitan Opera National Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Council Auditions in 2008, and Richard Tucker Foundation in 2009, made her Met debut during and in 2010 an Encouragement the 2009–10 season. As First Award (in honour of Norma Prize winner of the 2009 Young Newton) from the George London Concert Artist International Foundation Vocal Competition. Auditions she has given recitals with her husband and pianist On the concert and recital Christopher Cano in New York at platforms, Harvey made debuts Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, with the San Francisco Symphony in Washington DC, at the Kennedy as Leila in performances of Gilbert Center and in Boston at the and Sullivan’s Iolanthe conducted by George Manahan, and with Steven Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Among her honours are a 2011 Blier and the New York Festival of Song at Merkin Concert Hall and the Sara Tucker Study Grant, 2012 Richard Tucker Career Grant and 2014 Caramoor Festival. In concert Joélle appears regularly with the San George London Award. Francisco Symphony, New York Phiharmonic, Kansas City Symphony and Washington Concert Opera orchestras. Engagements in 2015/16 In addition to her continued relationship with The Metropolitan Opera, included Bach’s Magnificats with Arcangelo at deSingel, St John’s New York Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra, Cano has Smith Square and St Mary’s Church Tetbury; Handel’s Messiah with the appeared with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; Inès in Donizetti’s La favorite with San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Utah Symphony orchestras Washington Concert Opera; Nannetta in Verdi’s with Arizona and Orchestra of St Luke’s. She toured with Musicians from Marlboro Opera; Michal in Handel’s Saul with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society; singing Respighi’s Il Tramonto and Cuckson’s Der gayst funem shturem, and concerts with Les Violons du Roy and St Paul Chamber Orchestra. recorded live for the Marlboro Recording Society. A live recording of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde featured conductor George Manahan, Engagements in 2016/17 include Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage Paul Groves and the St Luke’s Chamber Ensemble in a rare of Figaro with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s Mass arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg and Rainer Riehn. At the invitation in C minor with the Cleveland Orchestra; Mahler’s Das klagende Lied of Carol Armstrong, Jennifer Johnson Cano sung Weill’s September with the San Francisco Symphony; John Adams’ Nixon in China and Song at the private funeral for American astronaut Neil Armstrong. In with the LA Philharmonic; Dalinda in Handel’s 2014, she released her debut recital recording, Unaffected: Live from Ariodante on tour with ; and a return to the the Savannah Voice Festival, recorded completely live and unedited. Glyndebourne Festival as Servilia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito. Jennifer Johnson Cano is a native of St Louis, Missouri and made her professional operatic debut with the Opera Theater of St Louis. She earned her degrees from Webster University and Rice University. lso.co.uk Artist Biographies 11

Davóne Tines Daniel Bubeck Bass-baritone Counter-tenor

Davóne Tines has performed Daniel Bubeck performs internationally with the Dutch internationally in repertoire National Opera, starred opposite ranging from Bach and Handel French counter-tenor Philippe to John Adams. He has performed Jaroussky in the premiere of with the Théâtre Musical de Paris- ’s Only the Sound Châtelet, , Remains directed by Peter Sellars, Spoleto and Adelaide Festivals, and in performances of Caroline London Philharmonic, Tokyo Shaw’s By & By with the Calder Symphony, the Radio Orchestras Quartet and in Kaija Saariaho’s of Berlin and The Netherlands, Sombre with members of ICE at Moscow Philharmonic, Royal the Ojai Music Festival. Flemish Philharmonic, Estonian National Philharmonic, Concerto Performances this season include Köln, Vancouver Symphony, John Adams’ El Niño with Grant Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Gershon conducting the Los the Boston Symphony, working Angeles Philharmonic, Bruckner’s with Christopher Warren- with Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski, Kent Green and the Charlotte Symphony, and the Paris premiere of Kaija Nagano, David Robertson, Robert Spano, Christopher Hogwood and Saariaho’s True Fire with the Orchestre National de France. Nicholas McGegan.

On the opera stage, Davóne Tines makes his debuts at Lisbon’s Teatro Career highlights include the premieres and subsequent performances Nacional de São Carlos in a new production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex of John Adams’ El Niño and The Gospel According to the Other Mary. with Leo Hussain and at the Finnish National Opera reprising the roles Bubeck is a noted Handelian, singing the roles of Cesare, Rinaldo, he created at the Dutch National Opera in Saariaho’s Only the Sound Solomon, Medoro (Orlando), Arsamene (Serse), David (Saul), Guido Remains directed by Peter Sellars. National Sawdust in New York will (Flavio), Armindo (Partenope), Tauride (Arianna in Creta), Didymus bring to the stage for: A Tuesday, a ceremony of music and (Theodora), and in Israel in Egypt and Messiah. He can be heard dance created and administered by Davóne Tines with his collaborator on recordings of Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary Helga Davis, reprising the production in further performances across (Deutsche Gramophone), El Niño (Nonesuch CD /Art Haus Musik DVD), North America. Vivaldi cantatas with Musica Sequenza (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Sony Music) and on the soundtrack of the Warner Bros film I Am Legend. Recent highlights include the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s opera, Crossing, in the leading role of Freddie Stowers. Davóne Tines Recent performances include Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream also premiered the one-man chamber opera, American Gothic. Tines with Hawaii Opera Theater, Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista in Chicago, performed with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood and Bach’s St John Passion with the American Classical Orchestra. where he was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow. He has given Forthcoming engagements include John Adams’ El Niño and Gospel in performances of Puccini’s La bohème at the Royal Opera House France, The Netherlands, Germany and the US including Carnegie Hall. Oman, Puccini’s La fanciulla del West with the Castleton Festival A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he holds degrees in voice from and on tour in Spain, as well as Verdi’s Otello with Lorin Maazel. Indiana University, Peabody Conservatory and the University of Delaware. 12 Artist Biographies 4 December 2016

Brian Cummings Nathan Medley Counter-tenor Counter-tenor

Brian Cummings sang the Nathan Medley has sung at premiere of John Adams’ The English National Opera, La Salle Gospel According to the Other Pleyel in Paris, Palais de Musique Mary in 2012 with the Los in Strasbourg, Amsterdam’s Angeles Philharmonic under Concertgebouw, the Lucerne Gustavo Dudamel. He made Festival, Avery Fisher Hall in New his professional debut in the York, and Walt Disney Concert premiere of John Adams’ Hall in Los Angeles. Recent El Niño in Paris and has appeared performances have brought in performances of this piece him to the Boston Early Music throughout the world including Festival as Ottone in Monteverdi’s at Carnegie Hall, English National L’Incoronazione di Poppea, the Opera, the London Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Moscow the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonic, Estonian National Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, Opera Philharmonic, Los Angeles Omaha, Pacific MusicWorks, Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Adelaide Festival, the Mercury Baroque, Seraphic Fire, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony and most recently at the Spoleto Festival. Cincinnati Collegium, Miami Bach Society, and Dayton Bach Society.

He has worked under such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir He is a member of Echoing Air, an ensemble focused on music of the Jurowski, Robert Spano, David Robertson, John Adams, Tõnu Kaljuste Baroque and modern eras composed for counter-tenor. He made his and . He recently appeared in the title role of Handel’s professional debut in 2012 in John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Giulio Cesare with Opera Fuoco under David Stern. Cummings other Mary with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo collaborates regularly with director Timothy Nelson including singing Dudamel, which was recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon label. the role of David in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, Hamor in Handel’s He returned to Los Angeles in 2013 for Peter Sellars’ staged performances Jephtha, and Iarbo/Corebo in Cavalli’s Didone. He has also appeared of The Gospel, which toured to Switzerland and New York City, and again as a soloist at the Washington and Bloomington Early Music festivals. in 2015 under the baton of John Adams performing Olga Neuwirth’s He has sung with in Theatre of Voices and the Pro Arte theatrical song/play, Hommage à Klaus Nomi. Singers and can be heard on their recordings for harmonia mundi as well as the recording and DVD of El Niño. In France, he sings with His opera credits include Ottone in Handel’s Agrippina (Opera Omaha), ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Opera Fuoco, Ensemble Speranza in Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Boston Early Music Festival), Athamus Entheos and Les Muses Galantes. Brian Cummings currently resides in Semele (Pacific Muisic Works, Seattle), Oberon in A Midsummer in Paris where he studies with Guillemette Laurens. Night’s Dream, Dema in Cavalli’s L’Egisto, Le Peinture in Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants, Acteon in Charpentier’s Acteon, and Ottone in He studied Early Music at Indiana University working with Paul Elliott, Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. Paul Hillier and Nigel North. Forthcoming engagements include John Adams’ El Niño in Amsterdam, Paris and Los Angeles and The Gospel According to the Other Mary in Berlin, St Louis and New York City. lso.co.uk Artist Biographies 13

London Youth Choir Simon Halsey Children’s Chorus Chorus Director

With a vision to be both a social action programme and a centre of Simon Halsey occupies a unique musical training, the London Youth Choir (LYC) has established itself position in classical music. He as a beacon of excellence for choral singing in the capital. is the trusted advisor on choral singing to the world’s greatest LYC comprises five of young people from age 7–21, with a conductors, orchestras and membership that spans all 33 London boroughs. The constituent choirs choruses, and also an inspirational are the flagship London Youth Choir, London Youth Girls’ Choir, London teacher and ambassador for choral Youth Boys’ Choir, London Youth Training Choir and the London Youth singing to amateurs of every age, Chamber Choir for aspiring young choral professionals. ability and background. Making singing a central part of the world- The London Youth Training Choir – the ladies of whom you see and class institutions with which hear performing today – is an auditioned, mixed-voice choir for young he is associated, he has been people aged 11–16 years. The weekly training schedule that forms the instrumental in changing the backbone of the Choir’s activity aims to develop performance skills level of symphonic singing to the highest level, challenging young singers to embrace a broad across Europe. repertoire and develop a flexible approach to musical performance. Activities include intensive ensemble rehearsals, professional vocal Halsey became choral director of the London Symphony Orchestra in coaching and lessons in musicianship, all of which take place in an 2012. Highlights with the LSO in 2016/17 include Verdi’s Requiem in environment that develops teamwork and leadership. London and at the Lincoln Center Festival with Gianandrea Noseda and Ligeti’s Le grand macabre with Sir Simon Rattle. In June 2016, the Recent engagements include the recording of the score for We’re LSC, LSO Discovery Choirs and Community Choir performed the world Going on a Bear Hunt – a short animated film from the makers of premiere of The Hogboon, the late Peter Maxwell Davies’ children’s The Snowman which will be televised on Channel 4 this Christmas – opera, with Sir Simon Rattle and students from the Guildhall School of the recording of Gareth Malone’s Christmas album, and My Great Music. In Summer 2017 the LSO Discovery and Community Choirs will Orchestral Adventure with the RPCO at the . premiere a new opera by Andrew Norman, which Rattle and Halsey will also take to Berlin to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic and The five choirs of the London Youth Choir rehearse on Monday their youth choir, of which he is Artistic Director. evenings during term time in the City of London. Born in London, Simon Halsey sang in the choirs of New College, See page 15 for the list of singers on stage this evening. Oxford, and of King’s College, Cambridge, and studied conducting at the Royal College of Music in London. In 1987, he founded the City of Birmingham Touring Opera with Graham Vick. He was Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir from 1997 to 2008 and Principal Conductor of the Northern Sinfonia’s Choral Programme from 2004 to 2012. From 2001 to 2015 he led the Rundfunkchor Berlin (of which he is now Conductor Laureate); under his leadership the chorus gained an international reputation as one of the finest professional choral ensembles. Halsey also initiated innovative projects in unconventional venues and interdisciplinary formats. 14 London Symphony Chorus 4 December 2016

London Symphony Chorus On stage

The London Symphony Chorus was formed in 1966 to complement SOPRANOS ALTOS TENORS BASSES the work of the London Symphony Orchestra, and this year marks Liz Ackerley Lara Bienkowska Jorge Aguilar Simon Backhouse * Frankie Arnull Hetty Boardman-Weston Paul Allatt * Chris Bourne its 50th anniversary. The partnership between the LSC and LSO was Liz Ashling Elizabeth Boyden Robin Anderson Gavin Buchan strengthened in 2012 with the appointment of Simon Halsey as joint Kerry Baker Gina Broderick Jack Apperley Andy Chan Chorus Director of the LSC and Choral Director for the LSO. Faith Baxter Jo Buchan * Erik Azzopardi Matt Clarke Anna Byrne-Smith Lizzy Campbell Michael Delany Edward Cottell Carol Capper * Liz Cole John Farrington Damian Day The LSC has partnered many other major orchestras and has performed Laura Catala-Ubassy Maggie Donnelly Matt Fernando Peter Deane Shelagh Connolly Lynn Eaton Matthew Flood Thomas Fea * nationally and internationally with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Elisa Franzinetti Linda Evans Patrizio Giovanotti Ian Fletcher orchestras, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Championing the Joanna Gueritz Amanda Freshwater Euchar Gravina Robert Garbolinski * musicians of tomorrow, it has also worked with both the NYOGB and Maureen Hall Christina Gibbs Michael Harman Daniel Gossellin Isobel Hammond Rachel Green Matthew Horne Owen Hanmer * the EUYO. The Chorus has toured extensively throughout Europe and Emma Harry * Kate Harrison John Marks JC Higgins has also visited North America, Israel, Australia and South East Asia. Emily Hoffnung Lis Iles Alastair Mathews Anthony Howick Debbie Jones Ella Jackson Matthew McCabe Alex Kidney Ruth Knowles-Clark Kristi Jagodin Daniel Owers Thomas Kohut Much of the LSC’s repertoire has been captured in its large catalogue Junelle Kwon Vanessa Knapp Oli Perkins Andy Langley of recordings, which have won nine awards including five Grammys. Marylyn Lewin Gilly Lawson Chris Riley George Marshall Jane Morley Belinda Liao * Brais Romero-Breijo Hugh McLeod In June 2015 the recording of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Symphony Emily Norton Anne Loveluck * Peter Sedgwick Alan Rochford No 10, commissioned by the LSO and recorded by the LSO and the Maggie Owen Liz McCaw Chris Straw Rod Stevens LSC with Sir , won a prestigious South Bank Sky Arts Andra Patterson Jane Muir Richard Street * Henry Stokes Louisa Prentice Dorothy Nesbit Malcolm Taylor Gordon Thomson award in the Classical category. Carole Radford Helen Palmer James Warbis Robin Thurston Liz Reeve Susannah Priede * Robert Ward * Anthony Wilder Highlights from last season included Haydn’s The Seasons with Rattle, Mikiko Ridd Lucy Reay Paul Williams-Burton Alison Ryan Maud St Sandos Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Sir Mark Elder, and Sir Peter Maxwell Deborah Staunton Anneliese Sayes Davies’ The Hogboon. In 2016/17 the LSC continues to celebrate its Giulia Steidl Lis Smith Tabitta van Nouhuys Claire Trocmé 50th anniversary with performances of Verdi’s Requiem in London and Rebecca Vassallo Curzon Tussaud New York, followed by Ligeti’s Le grand macabre with Sir Simon Rattle, Lizzie Webb Brahms’ Requiem with Fabio Luisi and Bruckner’s Te Deum with Alice Young * denotes LSC Council Member .

President Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE Associate Chorus Director for El Niño Neil Ferris President Emeritus André Previn KBE Vice President Patrons CBE and Howard Goodall CBE Chorus Director Simon Halsey CBE The London Symphony Chorus is generously supported by: Assistant Directors Neil Ferris and Matthew Hamilton The John S Cohen Foundation, The Helen Hamlyn Trust, The Revere Charitable Trust, Chorus Accompanist Roger Sayer The Welton Foundation, LSC Friends, Members of the LSC Chairman Owen Hanmer LSO Sing is generously supported by: Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, Barnett & Syliva Shine No 2 Want to sing with the LSC? Find out more about life in one of London’s Charitable Trust, John S Cohen Foundation, Slaughter and May Charitable Trust leading choirs, and how to apply, at lsc.org.uk/join-us and LSO Friends lso.co.uk The Orchestra & London Youth Chorus 15

London Symphony Orchestra London Youth Choir On stage On stage

FIRST VIOLINS VIOLAS FLUTES HORNS Emike Ahmed Alba Haxhiraj Shaila Ramchand Roman Simovic Leader Rachel Roberts Adam Walker Phillip Eastop Ali-Rowe Constance Kelly Efia Rodway-Tumi Dragan Sredojevic Gillianne Haddow Alex Jakeman Philip Woods Michaela Bibby Lulu Knowles Caitlin Russell Lennox Mackenzie Malcolm Johnston Jonathan Lipton Cecily Bingham Marianna Kottas Merlie Ann Sebastian Clare Duckworth Anna Bastow PICCOLO Jocelyn Lightfoot Luisa Boselli Stefanija Kovacevic Daisy Sheppard Nigel Broadbent German Clavijo Sharon Williams Lucia Boselli-Alcock Phaedra Letrou- Millie Small Ginette Decuyper Lander Echevarria Eliza Bourke Papamarkakis Roberta Stilgoe Gerald Gregory Julia O’Riordan Dudley Bright Grace Burgoyne Noga Levy-Rapoport Scarlett Turnball Jörg Hammann Robert Turner Timothy Rundle Peter Moore Scarlet Byford Antonia Lewin Savannah Turnbull Maxine Kwok-Adams Jonathan Welch Rosie Jenkins James Maynard Viola Carrier Beatrice Lewin Aimee Wilmot Claire Parfitt Caroline O’Neill Skye Childs Arielle Loewinger Cora Wilson Harriet Rayfield BASS Emily Christian Valentina Lujan Maryam Zaidi Colin Renwick CELLOS Christine Pendrill Paul Milner Justine Clarke Shenille Motindo Rebecca Gilliver Alice Condliffe Moniece Mullings SECOND VIOLINS Alastair Blayden PERCUSSION Molly Condliffe Rebecca Munden David Alberman Jennifer Brown Chris Richards Neil Percy Jessica Danieli Mahalia Nesbeth Bain Thomas Norris Noel Bradshaw Katy Ayling David Jackson Rebecca Dawit Emily Noon Sarah Quinn Daniel Gardner Paul Stoneman Aminah Dixon Nicole Ogunlaja Miya Väisänen Hilary Jones BASS CLARINET Michealia Dixon Amarachi Ohanusi David Ballesteros Miwa Rosso Katy Ayling HARP Leila Doumbia Poppy Oliver Matthew Gardner Deborah Tolksdorf Bryn Lewis Shaiann Dunbar Tomiwa Olusegun Naoko Keatley Anabelle Esqulant Francesca Perry-Polletti Belinda McFarlane DOUBLE BASSES Rachel Gough PIANO/CELESTE Ariana Farmanfarmaian Kiki Poller Iwona Muszynska Colin Paris Joost Bosdijk Catherine Edwards Claudia Farrell Emily Poncia Laurent Quenelle Patrick Laurence Eugénie Faure Isabella Rajwadi Paul Robson Matthew Gibson CONTRA- KEYBOARD Eve Freeman Jalaya Rajwadi Sylvain Vasseur Thomas Goodman Dominic Morgan Philip Moore Esmee Graber Anjali Raman-Middleton Joe Melvin Sveva Grant Aarti Ramchand Jani Pensola GUITARS Colin Green Daniel Thomas

LSO STRING EXPERIENCE SCHEME

Established in 1992, the LSO String Experience The Scheme is supported by London Symphony Orchestra Editor Scheme enables young string players at the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Barbican Edward Appleyard start of their professional careers to gain Help Musicians UK Silk Street [email protected] work experience by playing in rehearsals Fidelio Charitable Trust London and concerts with the LSO. The scheme N Smith Charitable Settlement EC2Y 8DS Cover Photography auditions students from the London music Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Ranald Mackechnie, featuring LSO conservatoires, and 15 students per year LSO Patrons Registered charity in England No 232391 Members with 20+ years’ service. are selected to participate. The musicians Polonsky Foundation Visit lso.co.uk/1617photos for a full list. Details in this publication were correct are treated as professional ’extra’ players at time of going to press. Photography (additional to LSO members) and receive fees Arielle Doneson, Vern Evans, Fay Fox, for their work in line with LSO section players. Print Cantate 020 3651 1690 Bernard Gordillo, Kelly Kruse. Advertising Cabbell Ltd 020 3603 7937 London Symphony Orchestra

Ligeti’s Le grand

Sat 14 & Sun 15 Jan 2017 Barbican Hall

Sir Simon Rattle conductor Peter Sellars director London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director

A SEMI-STAGED PERFORMANCE produced by the LSO and Barbican Part of LSO 2016/17 Season and Barbican Presents

Death walks into an opera, a fat prince falls off his horse and the end of the world is passed over in a drunken haze