Thursday 28 March 2019 7.30–9.30pm Barbican

LSO SEASON CONCERT RUSSIAN ROOTS

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 Interval SHOST Balakirev arr Casella Shostakovich Symphony No 1

Gianandrea Noseda conductor Seong-Jin Cho piano OVICH Streamed live at youtube.com/lso and on medici.tv Welcome Latest News On Our Blog

Shostakovich’s First Symphony completes OUR 2019/20 SEASON ORA SINGERS LAUNCH RESIDENCY AT the concert, an early work by the prodigious LSO ST LUKE’S teenage which, at its 1926 premiere, The LSO’s 2019/20 season is now on sale. promised one of the most prolific and varied Sir Simon Rattle continues his exploration of Suzi Digby, music director of the ORA Singers, careers of any symphonic composer. the roots and origins of music, including a explains how the choir launched their Design look back to the influence of Beethoven in Series – collaborating with stage designer At tonight’s concert we welcome the LSO’s his 250th anniversary year and a focus on Nicky Shaw earlier this month – and discusses wide family of generous supporters, so how inspired Bartók and Percy how government funding has given rise to that members of the can thank Grainger. François-Xavier Roth conducts a significant revival of singing in schools. them personally for their commitment to complementary programmes of Bartók our work. I add my thanks to theirs – you and Stravinsky, while Gianandrea Noseda elcome to tonight’s LSO concert make our achievements possible and we continues his survey of Russian works. WATCH THE LSO ON YOUTUBE at the Barbican. Principal Guest are immensely grateful. We also take the opportunity to celebrate Conductor Gianandrea Noseda the 50th anniversary of LSO Conductor Tonight’s concert will be streamed live continues his survey of Shostakovich’s Thank you to our media partner medici.tv, Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas’ first on our YouTube Channel and medici.tv. symphonies with the First, in an all-Russian who will be broadcasting this concert live to appearance with the Orchestra. The broadcast will be available to watch programme showcasing the expressive range an international audience on their channel, online for 90 days after the concert, with of this rich orchestral repertoire. as well as the LSO’s YouTube channel. • lso.co.uk/201920season an introduction from Rachel Leach and interviews with musicians during the Korean Seong-Jin Cho makes his I hope that you enjoy the concert and that interval. The next live stream will be on concert debut with the LSO in Rachmaninov’s you will join us again soon. In April, Sir Mark WELCOME TO TONIGHT’S GROUPS Sunday 5 May, when Sir Simon Rattle Second Piano Concerto – a welcome return Elder conducts a programme of conducts two vast masterpieces: after his recording of Chopin’s First Piano and Beethoven, and François-Xavier Roth We are delighted to welcome the groups John Adams’ Harmonielehre and Berlioz’s Concerto made with the Orchestra in 2016. presents a triple-bill of Ravel’s Spanish- attending tonight’s concert: Symphonie fantastique. Gianandrea Noseda pairs the Concerto inspired masterpieces. with Casella’s orchestral arrangement of Noble Tours • youtube.com/lso the piano showpiece Islamey by Balakirev, Adele Friedland and Friends • medici.tv picking up the theme of folk music which Joanna Lewis and Friends runs through the LSO’s 2018/19 season.

Kathryn McDowell CBE DL Managing Director

2 Welcome 28 March 2019 Tonight’s Concert In Brief Coming Up

achmaninov’s Second Piano PROGRAMME CONTRIBUTORS Sunday 31 March 7–8.45pm Thursday 25 April 7.30–9.20pm Concerto opens tonight’s concert; Barbican Barbican it is one of the most popular Andrew Huth is a musican, writer and works in a concert pianist’s repertoire, translator who writes extensively on French, DAMRAU SINGS STRAUSS BOLÉRO and the success of its premiere Russian and Eastern European music. in 1901 enabled Rachmaninov to return Strauss Don Juan Ravel Rhapsodie espagnole to composition after a period self-doubt Andrew Stewart is a freelance music Iain Bell The Hidden Place (world premiere) Ravel Boléro brought on by the public failure of his journalist and writer. He is the author of The Strauss Till Eulenspiegel Ravel L’heure espagnole First Symphony. LSO at 90, and contributes to a wide variety Strauss Closing Scene from ‘Capriccio’ of specialist publications. François-Xavier Roth conductor Afterwards comes Balakirev’s Islamey, Gianandrea Noseda conductor Isabelle Druet Conception a virtuoso piano fantasy translated Diana Damrau soprano Jean-Paul Fouchécourt Torquemade for orchestra in ’s vivid Thomas Dolié Ramiro arrangement of 1912. The piece develops two Sunday 14 April 7–8.45pm Edgaras Montvidas Gonzalves related themes which Balakirev heard on a Barbican Nicolas Cavallier Gomez visit to the Caucasus mountains. IVES SYMPHONY NO 2 Wednesday 1 May 7.30–9.10pm Shostakovich composed his First Symphony Barbican at the age of 19 as his graduation piece at Beethoven Piano Concerto No 3 the Petrograd Conservatory, and shortly after Ives Symphony No 2 JOHN ADAMS & HARRISON BIRTWISTLE its premiere with the Leningrad Philharmonic it was programmed and performed by Sir Mark Elder conductor Stravinsky the Berlin Philharmonic and Philadelphia Kirill Gerstein piano Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) Orchestra. The atmospheric mood shifts of Harrison Birtwistle Shadow of Night the opening reflect Shostakovich’s work as a John Adams Harmonielehre silent film accompanist, and the Symphony’s mournful third movement joins onto a Sir Simon Rattle conductor frenetic finale with hardly a pause for breath. LSO Platforms: Guildhall Artists 6pm, Barbican Hall Free entry

Tonight’s Concert 3 Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor Op 18 1900–01 / note by Andrew Huth

1 Moderato — • RACHMANINOV’S PIANO CONCERTO 2 Adagio sostenuto – PiÙ animato – ‘Despite all the virtuosity demanded of the soloist, the piano is rarely NO 2 IN POPULAR CULTURE I 3 Allegro scherzando heard alone … the two elements are blended in an Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto ever-changing symphonic texture.’ is perhaps best known as the soundtrack Seong-Jin Cho piano — to David Lean's 1945 film Brief Encounter, which narrates the consequences of a love he Second Piano Concerto was the throughout the concerto, the lasting image is confessional intimacy. Rachmaninov always affair between two strangers after a chance major work marking Rachmaninov’s that of piano and orchestra playing together; maintained that the difficulties of the meeting at a train station. But it has also return to composition after the for despite all the virtuosity demanded of Second Concerto were just as great as those been widely quoted in popular culture over period of silence and self-doubt that followed the soloist, the piano is rarely heard alone, of the formidable Third, composed nine the course of the 20th century. the failure of his First Symphony in 1897. and the two elements are blended in an years later, but were of a different order: He wrote the second and third movements ever-changing symphonic texture. it is not a question of the technique needed The 1955 film The Seven Year Itch with quickly in the summer of 1900, but ran into to master the notes, but of judging the Marilyn Monroe uses the first movement in problems with the first movement and rather In the slow movement, after a hushed exact sonority and weight of the notes in a fantasy scene where Monroe's character is surprisingly he was persuaded by his cousin, string introduction, it is the sound of piano different registers to produce the gradations overcome by the music (although in reality the pianist and conductor Alexander Siloti, and solo wind instruments that sets the of tone that made the composer’s own she much prefers Chopsticks). to give a public performance of the concerto mood, the varied textures masking the close performances so outstanding. • in its incomplete form – surely a risky venture relationships between the themes of the The Concerto has even influenced pop music, for a composer so sensitive to criticism. first two movements. The introduction to the twice quoted by singer Eric Carmen in All By The success of the two completed movements finale hints at a march, but what emerges Myself (1975) and Never Gonna Fall in Love at a Moscow concert in December 1900 did after the opening orchestral gestures and a Again (1976). Rock band Muse, known for much to re-establish Rachmaninov’s self- brief piano cadenza is more in the nature of a their classical influences, also quoted the confidence, and the premiere of the completed vigorous dance which alternates with a long, piece in their 2001 song Space Dementia. concerto followed on 27 October 1901. vocal melody closely related to the big tune of the first movement. Each of the concerto’s three movements begins with an idea which leads subtly The Second Piano Concerto quickly became Interval – 20 minutes into the main theme. In the first movement one of the most popular works • in the There are bars on all levels. it is the magical wide-spread piano chords, repertory. The piano writing draws on all Visit the Barbican Shop to see our increasing in intensity until they plunge the resources of a late-Romantic keyboard range of Gifts and Accessories. into a great surging string melody. Here, as style, ranging from dazzling bravura to

4 Programme Notes 28 March 2019 Sergei Rachmaninov in Profile 1873–1943 / by Andrew Stewart

elody is music,’ wrote Rachmaninov, the classic film Brief Encounter. Thereafter, ̒ ‘the basis of music as a whole, his creative imagination ran free to produce since a perfect melody implies a string of unashamedly romantic works and calls into being its own harmonic divorced from newer musical trends. design.’ The Russian composer, pianist and conductor’s passion for melody was central He left Russia shortly before the October to his work, clearly heard in his Rhapsody on Revolution in 1917, touring as pianist and a Theme of Paganini. conductor and buying properties in Europe and the United States. • Although Sergei’s father squandered much Friday 5 July 7.30pm, LSO St Luke’s of the family inheritance, he at first invested LSO ECLECTICA: EAST MEETS WEST in his son’s musical education, helping the MERIT ARIANE & FRIENDS boy win a scholarship for the St Petersburg Conservatory. Further disasters at home Vocalist and composer Merit Ariane hindered his progress and he moved to study brings together jazz and poetry inspired in Moscow, where he was an outstanding by birdsong, boundaries and borders, piano pupil and began to study composition. enhanced by mesmerising projections and electronics. The concert draws on Arabic Rachmaninov’s early works reveal his debt and Korean influences, with contributions to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov and from Korean flautist Hyelim Kim and Tchaikovsky, although he rapidly forged a Arabic flautist Louai Alhenawi. personal, richly lyrical musical language, clearly expressed in his Prelude in C-sharp On sale now at lso.co.uk/MeritAriane minor for piano of 1892. His First Symphony of 1897 was savaged by the critics, which caused the composer’s confidence to East Meets West is generously supported by the evaporate. In desperation he sought help Reignwood Culture Foundation from Dr Nikolai Dahl, whose hypnotherapy sessions restored Rachmaninov’s self- belief and gave him the will to complete his Second Piano Concerto, widely known through its later use as the soundtrack for

Composer Profile 5

Mily Balakirev Islamey 1869, arr Alfredo Casella 1907 / note by Andrew Huth LEEDS PIANO FESTIVAL IN LONDON

he music of the East exerted a Islamey is one of the most notoriously ALFREDO CASELLA (1883–1947) powerful fascination on many difficult piano works in the repertory. 19th-century Russian : The Italian composer Alfredo Casella • • Born in Turin, Casella headed a struggle it can be heard in such influential made his orchestral transcription of it to modernise Italian music alongside works as Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, in 1907 and showed it to Balakirev, who Respighi, Pizzetti and others. He was Borodin’s Prince Igoor, Rimsky-Korsakov’s approved and recommended it to his fascinated and motivated by musical Sheherazade and Balakirev’s Islamey, publisher. This version was first heard in modernity across Europe, but also inspired described as an ‘Oriental Fantasy for piano’ Paris in May 1908, conducted by Casella. by Italian culture, both its folk traditions and composed in the autumn of 1869. and its Futurist movement. Another orchestration of Islamey was Thursday 4 April 1pm, LSO St Luke’s When he first thought of Islamey, it was made in 1912 by Balakirev’s pupil Lyapunov, Casella’s original compositions are SCHOLARS intended as a sketch for a large symphonic who more closely followed Balakirev’s characterised by an energetic, spiky Three young , hand-picked poem which had been taking shape in his own orchestral practices (as heard in the neo-Classicism owing much to Stravinsky. by Lang Lang, showcase their skill. mind, but the orchestral work eventually two symphonies and Tamara), with a bold However, he is now remembered better called Tamara did not appear until 1882, by use of primary orchestral colours and an for his arrangements and pastiches, such Thursday 4 April 7.30pm, LSO St Luke’s which time the solo piano work Islamey had uninhibited use of percussion. Casella’s as Scarlattiana for piano and orchestra, ERIC LU already become famous in its own right. orchestration is more freely imagined: and Paganiniana for orchestra. Be one of the first to hear Eric Lu, he probably did not know much about winner of ‘The Leeds’ 2018. The overall shape of Islamey is quite simple: Balakirev’s orchestral style, but from the the first section presents and develops two piano score he created his own orchestral Friday 5 April 7.30pm, LSO St Luke’s related themes which Balakirev had heard showpiece exploiting all the resources of a STEVEN OSBORNE during his visits to the Caucasus, where he modern virtuoso symphony orchestra. • Steven Osborne explores Beethoven’s was thrilled by the landscapes, the people final, profound piano sonatas. and their music. A slower central section is based on a Tartar melody from the Crimea, Saturday 6 April 7.30pm, LSO St Luke’s which Balakirev heard sung by an Armenian BARRY DOUGLAS actor in Tchaikovsky’s Moscow flat in the Barry Douglas pairs small-scale and summer of 1869 (the two men were then expansive works by Tchaikovsky, close friends). A third section is a varied Rachmaninov and Schubert. and concentrated reprise of the first, followed by a dashing coda. On sale now at lso.co.uk/leedsinlondon

6 Programme Notes 28 March 2019 in Profile 1836–1910 / by Steven Doran

orn in Nizny Novgorod, a city on His next big hit was the the Volga river, the young Mily Tamara, premiered in 1833, which wowed Balakirev began his musical studies audiences with its lavish textures and with his mother. In his teenage years he was distinctly Russian flavour. taken under the wing of wealthy land owner and music lover Alexander Ulybyshev, Temperament and tactlessness made who gave him access to his vast library of Balakirev enemies. He experienced spells musical scores. of animosity with even his closest friends, such as Rimsky-Korsakov, and colleagues Balakirev studied maths at Kazan university, including his publisher Jurgenson, who meanwhile nurturing hopes for a career in dropped Balakirev from his roster. music. In 1858, he made a brilliant pianistic debut in Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto Balakirev made his final appearance at the in the presence of the Tsar, and achieved Free School his First Symphony in popularity with his incidental music for 1898. Its success led to further compositions – • BALAKIREV ON LSO LIVE King Lear in 1861. the ‘Glinka’ Cantata and a Second Symphony – but these were received with indifference. Rachmaninov Symphony No 3 Balakirev took to heart Glinka’s ambition Alienated from his peers, Balakirev had few Balakirev Russia for a tradition of friends to offer comfort in his final years. • reflecting the spirit of the country, and conductor in 1861 he established the Free School of Music; here he nurtured the next generation Valery Gergiev conducts a scintillating of Russian composers, programming account of the powerful Third Symphony concerts of his own music alongside works and Balakirev’s Russia, the epic symphonic by Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Cui poem based on folk melodies collected and Borodin – of them making up during Balakirev’s journey up the Volga. Russia’s Mighty Handful. Available to purchase in the Barbican Shop, Balakirev stepped down as director of the at lsolive.co.uk, on iTunes and Amazon, Free School due to frustrated relations with or to stream on Spotify and Apple Music colleagues, but made a comeback soon after with his most popular piece, Islamey.

Composer Profile 7 Symphony No 1 in F minor Op 10 1925 / note by Andrew Huth

1 Allegretto – Allegro ma non troppo win the approval (or at least the grudging 12 May 1926. A Berlin performance under foreshadows some of the epic statements 2 Allegro respect) of his elders by organising his ideas Bruno Walter took place in May 1927, and it of Shostakovich’s later work, when his view 3 Lento into a large span which is truly symphonic. was soon taken up by Toscanini, Stokowski of the world, and consequently his musical 4 Allegro molto – Lento – Allegro molto and Klemperer, among others. The work was language, had become far more complex. Whatever definition we give the word always a favourite of the composer himself, hen Shostakovich’s First ‘symphony’, the title still gives rise to and quotations from it appear in both his The finale balances the high spirits of Symphony appeared in 1926 it was expectations of continuity of thought over autobiographical Eighth String Quartet and the first two movements with the depth welcomed as both a revelation several movements, a contrast of ideas in his last symphony, the Fifteenth. of the third in a virtuoso combination of of a new musical voice and as the first and moods, themes that can be developed contrasts. Here is a voice that would change outstanding musical work to be composed and renewed, and a variety of incidents, all Shostakovich’s First Symphony has the least in emphasis and style over the next half- in Russia since the Revolution – an artistic contained within a single, organic process. pretentious of openings. Its wry search for a century, but would always be recognisable. justification of the Brave New World being Plenty of young composers have the ideas, key and a theme reveals the composer’s life- As one would expect from a youthful first created in the USSR. This double view – but only a select few have the ability to build long tendency towards sparse, concentrated symphony it is inventive and exuberant, but musical and political – was to be applied them into such a large-scale structure. use of instruments, treating the orchestra the music is often coloured with anxiety and to Shostakovich’s music for the rest of as an ensemble of soloists. This is music in at times even a sense of nervous panic. • his life, often with disastrous personal The First Symphony was conceived in 1923, which every note counts, every sound stands consequences for the composer, although when Shostakovich, not yet 17, was already out clearly and meaningfully. that was not something that could be being spoken of as the most outstanding foreseen in the early 1920s. talent in the Petrograd Conservatoire. Two References to march and waltz styles, tinged orchestral scherzos, composed in 1919 and with irony, show the young composer’s Shostakovich was born in the year after 1923 had shown his instinct for orchestral absorption of common, popular material to the abortive Revolution of 1905 (which he writing, and when in 1924 the Conservatoire his own expressive ends. The scherzo second commemorated in his Eleventh Symphony), set the composition of a symphony as a movement, which was immediately encored and was just 11 years old when the Bolsheviks graduation test piece, Shostakovich was at the Symphony’s premiere, adds a piano took power in 1917. He grew up during a prepared for the challenge. He completed (Shostakovich’s own instrument) to the period of massive social upheaval, civil war his work in the first two months of 1925, orchestra, playing a quirky individual role and extreme hardship. He was a naturally while scraping together some sort of a living in the spiky humour of the movement. iconoclastic young man. Music, much of it bashing away at the piano in Leningrad wild and disorganised, poured out of him cinemas, accompanying silent films. In the Largo there is a breadth of thought, a with amazing facility. In the First Symphony, superb control of phrasing and tempo which though, he was able to write something The Symphony was performed by Nikolai creates a sense of both space and depth. utterly personal and at the same time Malko and the Leningrad Philharmonic on This is the movement that most clearly

8 Programme Notes 28 March 2019 Dmitri Shostakovich in Profile 1906–75 / by Andrew Stewart

fter early piano lessons with his Andrey Zhdanov, to concede that their work PRAVDA mother, Shostakovich enrolled represented ‘most strikingly the formalistic at the Petrograd Conservatoire in perversions and anti-democratic tendencies • Pravda is a Russian broadsheet 1919. He announced his Fifth Symphony of in music’, a crippling blow to Shostakovich’s newspaper which began publication in the 1937 as ‘a Soviet artist’s practical creative artistic freedom that was healed only after in 1912. After the October reply to just criticism’. A year before its the death of Stalin in 1953. Shostakovich Revolution of 1917 its offices were moved premiere he had drawn a stinging attack answered his critics later that year with to Moscow, where it became an official from the official Soviet mouthpiece the Tenth Symphony, in which he portrays publication of the Soviet Communist Party. Pravda •, in which Shostakovich’s initially ‘human emotions and passions’, rather than Subscription to Pravda was mandatory for successful Lady Macbeth of the the collective dogma of Communism. • state run companies, the armed services and Mtsensk District was condemned for its other organisations until 1989. ‘leftist bedlam’ and extreme modernism. With the Fifth Symphony came acclaim not only from the Russian audience, but also from musicians and critics overseas.

Shostakovich lived through the first months of the German siege of Leningrad, serving as a member of the auxiliary fire service. He completed his Seventh Symphony after his evacuation and dedicated the score to the city. A micro-filmed copy was despatched by way of Teheran and an American warship to the US, where it was broadcast by the NBC Symphony Orchestra and Toscanini. In 1943 Shostakovich completed his Eighth Symphony, its emotionally shattering music compared by one critic to Picasso’s Guernica.

In 1948 Shostakovich and other leading composers, Prokofiev among them, were forced by the Soviet cultural commissar,

Composer Profile 9 Gianandrea Noseda conductor

ianandrea Noseda is one of Noseda has conducted including from 1999 to 2003 and Principal Guest the world’s most sought-after the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica conductors, equally recognised Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Munich Nazionale della RAI from 2003 to 2006. for his artistry in both the concert hall and Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, NHK opera house. He was named the National Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Noseda’s recording catalogue counts more Symphony Orchestra’s seventh music , Vienna Symphony, than 60 CDs, many of which have been director in January 2016 and at the start of and at leading opera houses and festivals celebrated by critics and received awards. his second season with the NSO his contract such as Zurich Opera House, La Scala and His Musica Italiana project, which he was extended for four more years, through the Salzburg Festival. From 2007 until 2018, initiated more than ten years ago, has to the 2024/25 season. Noseda was Music Director of Italy’s Teatro chronicled under-appreciated Italian Regio Torino, ushering in an era of unmatched repertoire of the 20th century and brought In addition to his position with the NSO, international acclaim for its productions, to light masterpieces. Conducting the Vienna Noseda also serves as Principal Guest tours, recordings, and film projects. Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra Conductor of the London Symphony Teatro Regio Torino, he has also recorded Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda also has a cherished opera albums with celebrated vocalists such Principal Conductor of the Orquestra de relationship with the Metropolitan Opera. as Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, Rolando Villazon, Cadaqués, and Artistic Director of the Stresa He returned to the Met on New Year’s Eve Anna Netrebko and Diana Damrau. Festival in Italy. In July 2018, the Zurich 2018 to lead performances of Cilea’s Adriana Opera House appointed him the next General Lecouvreur featuring Anna Netrebko. In A native of Milan, Noseda is Commendatore Music Director beginning in the 2021/22 recent years, he has conducted Gounod’s al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, marking season where the centrepiece of his tenure Roméo et Juliette, which received its his contribution to the artistic life of Italy. will be a new Ring Cycle directed by Andreas premiere at the New Year’s Eve Gala in In 2015, he was honoured as Musical Homoki, the opera house’s artistic director. 2016, and a new production of Bizet’s America’s Conductor of the Year, and was Les pêcheurs de perles in 2015. named the 2016 International Opera Awards Nurturing the next generation of artists is Conductor of the Year. In December 2016 important to Noseda, shown by his ongoing He has also played a significant role working he was privileged to conduct the Nobel Prize work with youth orchestras, including the with the BBC Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Concert in Stockholm. • European Union Youth Orchestra, and his Symphony Orchestra and the Mariinsky recent appointment as music director of Theatre in St Petersburg, which appointed the newly-created Tsinandali Festival and him its first ever foreign Principal Guest Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra in Georgia. Conductor in 1997. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic

10 Artist Biographies 28 March 2019 Seong-Jin Cho piano

ith an overwhelming talent and to the main stage of Carnegie Hall as part Recently he has toured with the European innate musicality, Seong-Jin Cho is of the Keyboard Virtuoso series, where Union Youth Orchestra and Gianandrea rapidly embarking on a world-class his performances sold out in 2017. He also Noseda to venues including Amsterdam’s career and is considered one of the most returns to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Concertgebouw, the Royal Albert Hall, and distinctive artists of his generation. His in the Master Pianists series, and plays the Berlin Konzerthaus. In November 2017, thoughtful and poetic, assertive and tender, recitals at the Berlin Philharmonie Seong-Jin stepped in for Lang Lang with the virtuosic and colourful playing combines Kammermusiksaal, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon panache with purity. Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Hall, Zurich’s Rattle for concerts in Berlin, Frankfurt, Tonhalle-Maag, Stockholm’s Konserthuset, Hong Kong and Seoul. He collaborates Seong-Jin Cho was brought to the world’s Munich’s Prinzregententheater, Chicago’s with conductors at the highest level such attention in 2015 when he won the Mandel Hall, Lyon’s Auditorium, La Roque as Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, First Prize at the Chopin International d’Anthéron Festival, Verbier Festival, Gstaad Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Temirkanov, Competition in . This same Menuhin Festival and Rheingau Festival. Krzysztof Urbański, Fabien Gabel, Vassily competition launched the careers of such Petrenko, Jakub Hrůša, Leonard Slatkin world-class artists as , During the next two seasons, he will perform and Mikhail Pletnev. Maurizio Pollini and Krystian Zimerman. with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel at the Walt Disney Hall, Born in 1994 in Seoul, Seong-Jin Cho started In January 2016, Seong-Jin signed Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and learning the piano at six and gave his first an exclusive contract with Deutsche Myung-Whun Chung at the Philharmonie de public recital at the age of eleven. In 2009, Grammophon. The first recording was Paris, Gewandhaus Orchestra and Sir Antonio he became the youngest ever winner of released in November 2016 featuring Pappano, Bayerische Rundfunk Sinfonie Japan’s Hamamatsu International Piano Chopin’s First Concerto with the London Orchester and Mariss Jansons, New York Competition. In 2011, he won third prize Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Philharmonic and Hong Kong Philharmonic at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow Noseda. A solo Debussy disc was released with Jaap van Zweden, Pittsburgh Symphony at the age of 17. In 2012, he moved to in November 2017, followed by a Mozart Orchestra and Honeck, Toronto Paris to study with Michel Béroff at the album in 2018 with the Chamber Orchestra Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis, Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Osmo de Musique, where he graduated in 2015. Vänska, Finnish Radio Orchestra and Hannu He is now based in Berlin. • An active recitalist, he performs in many of Lintu, Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick the world’s most prestigious concert halls. In Nézet-Séguin, and the Budapest Festival the 2018/19 season, he returns Orchestra with Ivan Fischer.

Artist Biographies 11 London Symphony Orchestra on stage tonight

Leader Second Violins Cellos Flutes Horns Percussion LSO String Experience Scheme Roman Simovic David Alberman Rebecca Gilliver Gareth Davies Timothy Jones Neil Percy Since 1992, the LSO String Experience Thomas Norris Alastair Blayden Camilla Marchant Angela Barnes David Jackson Scheme has enabled young string players First Violins Sarah Quinn Jennifer Brown Jack Welch Alexander Sam Walton from the London music conservatoires at Carmine Lauri Miya Väisänen Noel Bradshaw Edmundson Tom Edwards the start of their professional careers to gain Rebecca Chan David Ballesteros Eve-Marie Caravassilis Piccolo Jonathan Lipton Oliver Yates work experience by playing in rehearsals Ginette Decuyper Matthew Gardner Daniel Gardner Patricia Moynihan Andy Budden Glyn Matthews and concerts with the LSO. The musicians Gerald Gregory Julián Gil Rodríguez Hilary Jones Jacob Brown are treated as professional ‘extra’ players Maxine Kwok-Adams Alix Lagasse Amanda Truelove Oboes Trumpets (additional to LSO members) and receive fees William Melvin Belinda McFarlane James Barralet Timothy Rundle David Elton Harps for their work in line with LSO section players. Claire Parfitt Iwona Muszynska Victoria Harrild Rosie Jenkins Michael Møller Bryn Lewis Elizabeth Pigram Csilla Pogany Catherine Knight Lucy Wakeford The Scheme is supported by: Harriet Rayfield Andrew Pollock Double Basses Cor Anglais David Geoghegan The Polonsky Foundation Colin Renwick Paul Robson Sam Loeck Christine Pendrill Piano Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Sylvain Vasseur Hazel Mulligan Colin Paris Trombones Caroline Jaya- Derek Hill Foundation Rhys Watkins Patrick Laurence Matthew Knight Ratnam Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Morane Cohen- Violas Matthew Gibson Chris Richards James Maynard Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Lamberger Rachel Roberts Thomas Goodman Chi-Yu Mo Rod Stafford Dániel Mészöly Gillianne Haddow Joe Melvin Bass Trombones Helena Smart Malcolm Johnston Josie Ellis E-flat Paul Milner Performing tonight is Kumi Shimizu. Anna Bastow José Moreira Chi-Yu Mo German Clavijo Tuba Stephen Doman Bassoons Sasha Koushk-Jalali Editor Lander Echevarria Rachel Gough Fiona Dinsdale | [email protected] Robert Turner Joost Bosdijk Timpani Editorial Photography Luca Casciato Lawrence O’Donnell Nigel Thomas Ranald Mackechnie, Chris Wahlberg, Cynthia Perrin Harald Hoffmann, Marco Borggreve Rachel Robson Contra Bassoon Print Cantate 020 3651 1690 Alistair Scahill Dominic Morgan Advertising Cabbells Ltd 020 3603 7937

Details in this publication were correct at time of going to press.

12 The Orchestra 28 March 2019