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Home , Also sprach Zarathustra, An Alpine Symphony, Ariadne auf Naxos, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Loreley (opera), Elektra (opera)

London Living Music

Thursday 24 November 2016 7.30pm Barbican Hall

A SWISS JOURNEY

Rossini Overture: London’s Symphony Orchestra Bruch Concerto No 1 INTERVAL Strauss

Sir Antonio Pappano conductor Roman Simovic violin

Concert finishes approx 9.40pm

2 Welcome 24 November 2016

Welcome Living Music Kathryn McDowell In Brief

Welcome to this evening’s LSO concert at the Barbican. BRITISH COMPOSER AWARDS Tonight Sir Antonio Pappano conducts two works with a Swiss connection – the famous overture to Rossini’s The LSO is delighted that eight alumni of its William Tell, which tells the story of ’s composer schemes have been nominated for folk hero, and An Alpine Symphony, ’ British Composer Awards. Luke Bedford, Leo orchestral tone poem inspired by the Alps. Chadburn, Joe Cutler, Tansy Davies, Emily Howard, Oliver Leith, Anna Meredith and Richard Walley In the Alpine Symphony, Strauss quotes a theme from are all up for awards, along with Jonathan Dove for Bruch’s popular No 1, which will be The Monster in the Maze, an LSO co-commission. played between the two Swiss-inspired works by the The winners will be announced on 6 December. LSO’s Leader Roman Simovic. It is always a special occasion when a member of the Orchestra steps britishcomposerawards.com out as the soloist for a concerto, and tonight Roman Simovic plays a Stradivarius generously loaned to the LSO for the use of its Leader by Jonathan Moulds. A WARM WELCOME TO TONIGHT’S GROUPS

Thank you to our media partner Classic FM, which The LSO offers great benefits for groups of 10+, has supported and recommended tonight’s concert including 20% discount on standard tickets, a and the LSO Principals series to its listeners. dedicated group booking hotline and, for larger groups, free hot drinks and interval receptions. We also welcome special guests from the London At this concert we are delighted to welcome: Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one of the LSO’s partner organisations. Marjorie Wilkins & Friends Pam Langman & Friends I hope you enjoy the concert and can join us again Kae Etoe & Friends on 29 and 30 November, when Valery Gergiev returns for two nights of an all-Russian programme featuring lso.co.uk/groups Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, alongside soloist Barry Douglas, who celebrates the 30th anniversary of his win at the Tchaikovsky Competition.

Kathryn McDowell CBE DL Managing Director lso.co.uk Programme Notes 3

Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) Overture: William Tell (1829)

PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER The overture to Rossini’s William Tell is one It is characteristic of the immense and highly original GEORGE HALL writes widely of the most famous pieces of orchestral music in opera that Rossini should create such an individual on , including existence. For many years its fast final section was design for the opening of what he clearly viewed for , BBC Music used as the theme-tune of the long-running US radio as an important piece – his first entirely new work Magazine and Opera. series The Lone Ranger and its much syndicated written for the Paris Opéra. Ironically, William Tell TV follow-up, in which a masked figure on a horse would also turn out to be his very last opera – but put wrongs to rights in the Wild West with the aid of what a way to go out! COMPOSER PROFILE ON PAGE 6 his Native American sidekick, Tonto, as well as the 2013 Hollywood movie starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp.

To some extent this represented an appropriate use of Rossini’s music – even if The Lone Ranger had nothing to do with Switzerland – because Tell and the Lone Ranger both worked selflessly for the common good and with no thought of reward.

This final section of the overture is a ‘galop’, a Parisian dance craze of the late 1820s which emulated the gait of a horse. Its reappearance in Rossini’s overture presumably represents the Swiss patriots on the move – though there’s no actual cavalry charge in the opera, whose narrative – based on an 1805 play by the great German playwright Friedrich von Schiller – According to legend, WILLIAM TELL was a Swiss describes Tell’s heroic and inspiring resistance to freedom fighter opposed to the Habsburg empire oppression and his eventual triumph. encroaching on his native soil. When he refused to bow to a passing pro-Austrian official, he and his son In every respect the piece is unique in Rossini’s were arrested and threatened with execution. But output and indeed in the operatic repertory as a there was a way out. If William, a famed marksman, whole: it is not so much an overture as an orchestral could shoot an apple off his son’s head then they tone-poem in four sections. These represent could both go free. He succeeded, but his defiance A is a simple (1) a sombre but peaceful rural scene over which still led to his arrest. While the party was crossing horn melody used by Swiss Alpine (2) a storm bursts, and then clears (3) to allow the Lake Lucerne, Tell escaped and ran to the official’s herdsmen to call their cattle to local herdsmen to play their folk instruments to castle so he could assassinate him. In doing so, pasture. More than that, it is closely call their animals in a traditional Ranz des Vaches, Tell inspired a rebellion which would lead to the tied to the Swiss national identity, before (4) the well-known galop brings the piece establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy. used to evoke pride and . to its exciting conclusion. 4 Programme Notes 24 November 2016

Max Bruch (1838–1920) Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor Op 26 (1866)

1 VORSPIEL: ALLEGRO MODERATO FIRST MOVEMENT 2 ADAGIO The opening movement of the Bruch must have 3 FINALE: ALLEGRO ENERGICO posed problems for contemporary listeners. Traditionally, a 19th-century concerto begins with ROMAN SIMOVIC VIOLIN an expansive first movement, usually incorporating a virtuosic , giving the soloist a chance to PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER The first – and by far best-known – of ’s settle into a prolonged and satisfying battle with the WENDY THOMSON three violin concertos was written for the Hungarian orchestra and to emerge with flying colours. The first Having studied at the Royal College virtuoso Joseph Joachim, whose charismatic playing movement of Bruch’s concerto affords the soloist no of Music, Wendy took an MMus inspired similar works from Schumann and Brahms. such opportunity. It opens not with a bold flourish, in musicology at King’s College, In 1868 Joachim became director of the newly-formed but with a fearful, pianissimo tremolo on the London. In addition to writing about Music Academy in , where Bruch was a professor, and a plaintive, questioning statement on wind music she is Executive Director and the next year Bruch wrote the concerto for his instruments, to which the soloist replies with an of Classic Arts Productions, a famous colleague. unaccompanied passage of recitative, earnest and major supplier of independent eloquent, but far from consolatory. programmes to BBC Radio. Although Bruch’s concerto has largely sustained his posthumous reputation, it suffered for a long The orchestra’s next question coaxes a similar time from the musical snobbery which declared response, whereupon the question is asked a third COMPOSER PROFILE ON PAGE 6 it ‘too easy to be great’. Some of the greatest time. This time a more forceful and expansive – but concertos – particularly the Brahms and the still inconclusive – response is forthcoming, stated Tchaikovsky – were initially damned as hopelessly over a muted, restless orchestral background. Finally, JOSEPH JOACHIM (1831–1907) ‘unviolinistic’ (usually because their dedicatees in response to the orchestra’s insistent demands, was an influential violinist and found they couldn’t play them), and only later the soloist makes a positive statement – a serene, teacher. He described Bruch’s work hailed as masterpieces. The two exceptions were full-blown melody in dialogue with the orchestra. as one of the four great German the Mendelssohn concerto and this one. Both violin concertos: ‘The greatest, most lie brilliantly under the fingers, so that technical But the underlying orchestral restlessness returns uncompromising, is Beethoven’s. difficulties such as rapid passage-work or double- to haunt the movement, with the soloist desperately The one by Brahms vies with it in stopping can be accomplished with relative ease. trying to control the situation with a sequence of seriousness. The richest, the most ever-blossoming and more agitated ornamentation. seductive, was written by Max Bruch. Resolution proves unattainable, and towards the But the most inward, the heart’s end the material of the opening recitative returns. jewel, is Mendelssohn’s.’ The anguished question of the orchestra remains unanswered, but instead sinks gently down through a transitional passage onto a despairing sustained B-flat, which magically melts into the E-flat radiance of the Adagio. lso.co.uk Programme Notes 5

SECOND MOVEMENT Here, questions and answers are redundant. Subtly supported by the orchestra, the violin simply unfolds one of the most glorious sustained melodies ever written, exploiting its most luscious timbres to the full. Mendelssohn’s concerto was an obvious model, and when Tchaikovsky came to write his Violin Concerto nearly a decade later, he also recognised the virtue of a simple, lyrical central movement, eventually settling on the song-like Canzonetta.

FINALE But it is the exhilarating, gypsy-style rondo Finale – RONDO FORM features a a clear homage to its dedicatee’s Hungarian origins – MORE VIOLIN CONCERTOS recurring section of music (A), which which finally allows the soloist joyous, uninhibited alternates with other contrasting rein. Brahms coveted this style so much that when, IN DECEMBER sections, for example A–B–A–C–A. ten years later, he came to write the finale of his own violin concerto for Joachim, he borrowed the same Thu 8 Dec 7.30pm effect, so admirably suited to the instrument. And though Brahms’ colossal masterpiece has tended Scheherazade.2 to overshadow the more modest, but perhaps with Leila Josefowicz (pictured) more innovative work by Bruch, a spate of recent and John Adams conductor recordings by major violinists has happily restored this underrated gem to its rightful place in the Wed 14 Dec 7.30pm MORE BRUCH IN MARCH repertory. Shostakovich at LSO St Luke’s Violin Concerto No 1 with James Ehnes A residency from the Nash and Fabien Gabel conductor Ensemble focusing on the lyrical, tuneful gifts of Bruch Sun 18 Dec 7pm and his one-time student Vaughan Williams. Mozart INTERVAL – 20 minutes Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 4 Part of BBC Radio 3 There are bars on all levels of the Concert Hall; ice cream with Nikolaj Znaider violin/conductor Lunchtime Concerts can be bought at the stands on Stalls and Circle level.

Book now Why not tweet us your thoughts on the first half of the Book now lso.co.uk/lsostlukes performance @londonsymphony, or come and talk to lso.co.uk LSO staff at the information point on the Circle level? 6 Composer Profiles 24 November 2016

Gioachino Rossini Max Bruch Composer Profile Composer Profile

The world of Italian opera belonged Young Max Bruch was introduced to Rossini. Coming from a long to the rudiments of music by his line of musicians, his extensive mother, a professional catalogue of 39 ensured and music teacher. His early his reputation at the time as lessons were supplemented by the country’s most celebrated studies in music theory with a composer. Throughout his career respected teacher in Bonn, which he was adored by the public, enabled the eleven-year-old Bruch whipping his audiences into a to compose an orchestral overture frenzy with one production after and chamber works. In 1852 he another. His mastery of musical received a scholarship from the was such that one famous Mozart Foundation in Frankfurt Neapolitan doctor even accused to support studies in composition him of driving dozens of young and theory with Ferdinand Hiller women to nervous convulsions and piano lessons in Cologne. simply by listening to a key His first opera, Scherz, List und change during the ‘Jew’s Prayer’ in in Egypt (1818). Rache, was produced in Cologne in 1858 and for the next three years he worked there as a music teacher. After moving to Mannheim in He was quick, too, completing up to four full-length operas a year in his 1862 he met the poet Geibel and collaborated with him on the three- prime. Nor were they duds – when Verdi described ‘the most beautiful act opera, . opera buffa there is’ he was referring to a work written by a 23-year-old in just 13 days – The Barber of Seville (1816). But such an intensive rate Bruch’s first and best-known Violin Concerto received its premiere of production meant that a little artistic compromise was sometimes in the German city of Koblenz in 1866, where he served as Music needed, and Rossini can frequently be heard plagiarising himself. Director from 1865 to 1867. During one of his journeys to Britain, the composer discovered a copy of James Johnson and Robert Burns’ Through his operas Rossini enjoyed wealth, success, influence and folk anthology The Scots Musical Museum. Its tunes offered Bruch fame. So why did he give it all up after writing William Tell (1829) at a wealth of ideas that he filtered into his own musical language. the age of 37? Maybe he’d run out of ideas (for the rest of his life he After a period as freelance composer in Berlin, Bruch succeeded only composed a Stabat mater and a small selection of works for Julius Benedict as conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society private performance). Or maybe he no longer needed the income. (1880–3) and thereafter became conductor of the Breslau Orchesterverein We’ll never know for sure. until 1890. He accepted a professorship at the Berlin Academy in 1890 and taught composition there until he retired in 1910. What we do know is how he spent his retirement: fraternising with royalty, travelling round Europe, hosting salons in his Parisian apartment and Bruch’s secular choral works, such as Frithjof, the epic and commissioning dishes of gout-inducing gourmet excess (‘Tournedos Das von der Glocke, enjoyed considerable popularity during his Rossini – fillet mignon cooked in butter, topped with pan-fried foie-gras lifetime, although today he is best known as a composer of works for and black truffles with a Madeira demi-glace sauce all served on a bed violin and orchestra. of sautéed croutons’). Until the end it was a life of leisure for Rossini, who left this world in 1868 after a short bout of pneumonia. lso.co.uk Composer Profiles 7

Richard Strauss Composer Profile London Symphony Orchestra LSO Live

Richard Strauss was born in in 1864, the son of , a brilliant horn player in the Munich A Trio of English court orchestra; it is therefore perhaps not surprising Masterpieces from the that some of the composer’s most striking writing is LSO String Ensemble for the . Strauss had his first piano Roman Simovic | director lessons when he was four and he produced his first composition two years later, but surprisingly he did not attend a music academy, his formal education ending rather at Munich University where he studied philosophy and aesthetics, while continuing with his musical training at the same time.

Following the first public performances of his work, he received a commission from Hans von Bülow in 1882 and two years later was appointed Bülow’s Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Assistant Musical Director at the Meiningen Court Britten Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge COMPOSER PROFILES BY Orchestra, the beginning of a career in which Elgar Introduction and Allegro MARK PARKER (Rossini) Strauss was to conduct many of the world’s great ANDREW STEWART , in addition to holding positions at opera Also available: (Bruch and Strauss) houses in Munich, Weimar, Berlin and . While at Munich, he married the singer , for whom he wrote many of his greatest songs.

Strauss’ legacy is to be found in his operas and his magnificent symphonic poems. Scores such as Till Eulenspiegel, , and demonstrate his supreme mastery Schubert Tchaikovsky of orchestration; the thoroughly modern operas Death & the Maiden in C and , with their Freudian themes and Shostakovich Bartók Chamber Symphony Divertimento atonal scoring, are landmarks in the development ‘Characterful and energetic’ ‘A reminder of just how of 20th-century music, and the neo-Classical Der Gramophone world-class the of the LSO is...’ Rosenkavalier has become one of the most popular Classic CD Choice operas of the century. Strauss spent his last years in self-imposed exile in Switzerland, waiting to be officially cleared of complicity in the Nazi regime. Available in the Barbican Shop at tonight’s concert He died at Garmisch Partenkirchen in 1949, shortly To view the complete LSO Live catalogue or order online visit lso.co.uk after his widely-celebrated 85th birthday. Alternatively please visit iTunes.com for high-quality Mastered for iTunes downloads. LSO Live – the energy and emotion you only experience live 8 Programme Notes 24 November 2016

Richard Strauss (1864–1949) An Alpine Symphony Op 64 (1911–15)

1 NACHT (NIGHT) – expedition in which he and his companions had 2 SONNENAUFGANG (SUNRISE) – become lost and were caught in a fierce storm: 3 DER ANSTIEG (THE ASCENT) – ‘Night; sunrise/ascent; forest (hunt)/waterfall 4 EINTRITT IN DEN WALD (ENTERING THE FOREST) – (Alpine sprite)/flowery meadows (shepherds)/ 5 WANDERUNG NEBEN DEM BACHE glacier/thunderstorm/descent and rest’. (WANDERING BY THE BROOKSIDE) – 6 AM WASSERFALL (AT THE WATERFALL) – The ‘alpine’ idea was shelved for many years, 7 ERSCHEINUNG (APPARITION) – although Strauss returned to it at the time of Gustav 8 AUF BLUMIGEN WIESEN (ON FLOWERING MEADOWS) – Mahler’s death in May 1911. ‘I want to call my alpine 9 AUF DER ALM (IN THE MOUNTAIN PASTURE) – symphony The Antichrist,’ he noted in his diary at 10 DURCH DICKICHT UND GESTRÜPP AUF IRRWEGEN the time, ‘because in it there is: moral purification (ON THE WRONG TRACK THROUGH THICKET AND through one’s own strength, liberation through UNDERGROWTH) – work, worship of eternal and glorious nature.’ The 11 AUF DEM GLETSCHER (ON THE GLACIER) – composer adopted the Antichrist sobriquet from 12 GEFAHRVOLLE AUGENBLICKE (PRECARIOUS MOMENTS) – ’s book of the same name, 13 AUF DEM GIPFEL (ON THE SUMMIT) – which Strauss had read shortly after its publication 14 VISION (VISION) – in 1895. Nietzsche’s views on ‘the revaluation of 15 NEBEL STEIGEN AUF (RISING MISTS) – Christian values’ found favour with Strauss, who 16 DIE SONNE VERDÜSTERT SICH ALLMÄHLICH fervently believed that the challenges and pleasures (THE SUN GRADUALLY DIMS) – of hard work would lead to liberation from the 17 ELEGIE (ELEGY) – conformity and routine of Christianity. The hard 18 STILLE VOR DEN STURM (CALM BEFORE THE STORM) – work required to create An Alpine Symphony, 19 GEWITTER UND STURM, ABSTIEG however, proved anything but liberating: Strauss said (THUNDERSTORM, DESCENT) – that the process was less appealing than chasing 20 SONNENUNTERGANG (SUNSET) – cockroaches! He began sketching themes and ideas 21 AUSKLANG (WANING TONES) – for the work in 1911, although did not tackle the task 22 NACHT (NIGHT) of orchestration until November 1914.

PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER In 1900 Strauss wrote to his parents with news An Alpine Symphony was completed on 8 February ANDREW STEWART is a freelance of his latest inspiration for a , 1915, its monumental score calling for at least 123 music journalist and writer. He ‘which would begin with a sunrise in Switzerland. instruments and playing of considerable virtuosity. ‘ is the author of The LSO at 90, Otherwise so far only the idea (love tragedy of an At last I have learnt to orchestrate,’ Strauss remarked and contributes to a wide variety artist) and a few themes exist’. Two years later he during rehearsals for the work’s first performance of specialist classical music constructed an outline plan for a four-part symphony, by the Dresden Hofkapelle on 25 October. The publications. its first movement almost certainly coloured by instrumental colours and textures available from his boyhood experience of a mountaineering such a large ensemble were indeed skilfully lso.co.uk Programme Notes 9

handled by the composer, who conjured up rich was able to appreciate and experience on walking combinations of sounds to evoke images and events expeditions from his new villa in the Bavarian outlined in the titles he gave to each of the symphonic highlands at Garmisch. The work’s fertile proliferation poem’s 22 sections. Here the ‘programme’ deals of themes and their developments appear to with 24 hours in the life of a mountain and those match the mutability of alpine weather, often set engaged in the business of climbing it, embracing against a return of the opening theme on low the transformation from night to dawn, the brass that represents the mountain itself. Strauss’ mountaineers’ ascent, the natural wonders they expansive ‘sunrise’ theme, introduced on high encounter, the joy of reaching the summit, the strings, woodwinds and , echoes Mahler’s perils of descent, and the gradual return of night. nature-music at its best. Elsewhere, the score boasts a variety of naturalistic effects, distant horn calls, ‘, auf … and cow bells and even a wind machine among them. An Alpine Symphony,’ observed one New York Above all, the composer successfully draws together critic, ‘are makeshift, slack, slovenly … Strauss’ the many episodes and sonic effects in An Alpine FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844– music is singularly flat and hollow and dun, joyless Symphony to create a unified work, in essence 1900) was a German philosopher, and soggy.’ Although judgement on the two operas greater than the sum of its parts. whose works included texts on mentioned above has moved almost universally in art, theatre and music. His 1895 their favour, An Alpine Symphony remains among publication The Antichrist was a the curiosities of Strauss’ output, still burdened by systematic attack of Christian values, dismissive criticism, reactions against the excesses particularly the emphasis on what of late-Romantic orchestration and distrust of he termed ‘slave morality’: humility, its programme. Some have likened the work to compassion and kindness. a musical travelogue, conveniently missing its pantheistic celebration of nature and of man’s fragile attempts to master it.

According to the German musicologist Franz-Peter Messmer, Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra shares a complementary relationship with An Alpine Symphony: ‘Zarathustra descends from the mountains to the lowlands of humanity; the wanderer in An Alpine Symphony takes the opposite course, scaling the heights of a mountain top.’ Unlike Zarathustra, however, An Alpine Symphony deals not with philosophical concepts but with the overwhelming, awe-inspiring force of nature, a force that Strauss 10 Artist Biographies 24 November 2016

Sir Antonio Pappano Conductor

Sir Antonio Pappano has been Music Director of the Król Roger, Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Minotaur since 2002, and Music Director and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole. The of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa 2015/16 season saw him leading new productions of Cecilia in Rome since 2005. Nurtured as a pianist, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Mascagni’s Cavalleria repetiteur and assistant conductor at many of the rusticana and Pagliacci, and productions in the 2016/17 most important opera houses of Europe and North season and beyond include new stagings of Bellini’s America, including at the and Norma and Verdi’s Otello, and revivals of Wagner’s several seasons at the as musical and Die Meistersinger von assistant to for productions of Nürnberg, and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, and Der Ring des Nibelungen, Pappano was appointed Music Pappano has appeared as a guest conductor with Director of Oslo’s Den Norske Opera in 1990, and many orchestras around the world, including the from 1992–2002 served as Music Director of the Berlin, Vienna, New York and Munich Philharmonic Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. From 1999 Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Chicago and Boston , the Philharmonic Orchestra. and Cleveland Orchestras and the Orchestre de Music Director Paris. Recent highlights include his debuts with Royal Opera House Pappano made his debut at the Vienna Staatsoper the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the London in 1993, replacing Christoph von Dohnànyi at the Philharmonic at the Aldeburgh Festival, and Music Director last minute in a new production of Wagner’s Siegfried, performances at the BBC Proms and Bucharest Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia his debut at the New York in Festival with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa 1997 with a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Cecilia. Future appearances include his debuts with SIR ANTONIO PAPPANO Onegin, and in 1999 he conducted a new production the Orchestra and the Staatskapelle IN 2016/17 of Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival. He Dresden, return visits to the Berlin and New York has worked at the , Lyric Opera Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Sun 5 Feb 2017 7pm Sibelius The Oceanides of Chicago, Théâtre du Châtelet and Staatsoper and , and tours of Europe, Bernstein Serenade Berlin, and highlights of recent seasons include Asia and the US with the Accademia Nazionale Nielsen Symphony No 4 his operatic debut at the (Verdi’s di Santa Cecilia. (‘The Inextinguishable’) Don Carlo) and the Teatro alla Scala (Berlioz’s The Trojans). His repertoire at House His awards and honours include a 2003 Olivier with Janine Jansen violin has been notably wide-ranging, generating acclaim Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, the in productions including Strauss’ , 2004 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award, and Book now Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu, Verdi’s Falstaff, Les Vêpres the prize from the Académie du Disque lso.co.uk Siciliennes and Aida, Puccini’s La bohème and Lyrique in Paris. In 2012 he was made a Cavaliere Il Trittico, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Shostakovich’s di Gran Croce of the Republic of Italy, and a Knight Lady of Mtsensk, Beethoven’s Fidelio, of the British Empire for his services to music, and Wagner’s Parsifal and Der Ring des Nibelungen, in 2015 he was named the 100th recipient of the Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and William Tell, Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal, the body’s Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, Szymanowski’s highest honour. lso.co.uk Artist Biographies 11

Roman Simovic Violin

Roman Simovic’s virtuosity and musicality have taken A sought-after artist, Roman Simovic has been him all over the world, where he has performed on invited and continues to perform at various many of the leading stages including the Bolshoi Hall distinguished festivals such as the Verbier Festival, of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Mariinsky Hall in White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, Easter Festival St Petersburg, Grand Opera House in Tel-Aviv, Victoria Valery Gergiev in Moscow, Dubrovnik Summer Hall in Geneva, Rudolfinum Hall in , Barbican Festival in Croatia, Kotor Art in Montenegro, the Hall in London, Art Centre in Seoul, Grieg Hall in BEMUS and NOMUS Festivals in Serbia, Sion Valais Bergen, Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow and more. Switzerland, Norway’s Bergen Festival, Moscow Winter Festival in Russia, Portogruaro Festival in Italy Roman Simovic has been awarded prizes at and Granada Music Festival in Spain, collaborating numerous international competitions, including the with Leonidas Kavakos, , Gautier Capuçon, Premio Rodolfo Lipizer (Italy), Sion-Valais (Switzerland), Tabea Zimermann, , Shlomo Mintz, Yampolsky Violin Competition (Russia) and the Henryk François Leleux, Itamar Golan, Simon Trpcˇeski, Wieniawski Violin Competition (Poland), placing him Janine Jansen and . among the foremost violinists of his generation. Aside from being an active soloist, Roman Simovic is MORE FROM ROMAN SIMOVIC As a soloist, Simovic has appeared with many an avid chamber musician, and is a founding member orchestras throughout the world – the Mariinsky of the distinguished Rubikon String Quartet. As an Thu 18 May 2017 7.30pm Theatre Symphony Orchestra, Torino, educator, he has presented master-classes in the Symphony Nova Scotia, Franz Liszt Chamber US, UK, South Korea, Serbia, Montenegro and Israel. Vaughan Williams Orchestra, Camerata Bern, Camerata Salzburg, Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus CRR Chamber Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonia, Roman Simovic plays a 1709 Stradivarius violin, Brahms Double Concerto Prague Philharmonia, and North Brabant Orchestra generously loaned to him by Jonathan Moulds CBE. Holst The Planets in Holland. He has worked with conductors including Valery Gergiev, Sir Antonio Pappano, , He has been Leader of the London Symphony Sir Mark Elder conductor Gianandrea Noseda, Kristjan Järvi, Jirˇí Beˇlohlávek, Orchestra since 2010. Roman Simovic violin Pablo Heras-Casado and Nikolaj Znaider. Tim Hugh Ladies of the London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director

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FIRST HORNS OFF-STAGE SUN 6 NOV – STEVE REICH AT 80 WITH KRISTJAN JÄRVI Carmine Lauri Leader Jane Atkins Adam Walker Timothy Jones AND SYNERGY VOCALS Lennox Mackenzie Malcolm Johnston Alex Jakeman Angela Barnes Roger Harvey Clare Duckworth German Clavijo Gareth Davies Philip Woods Mark Templeton Nigel Broadbent Lander Echevarria Jonathan Lipton Jari Kallio Thank you SO much Ginette Decuyper Anna Bastow PICCOLO John Thurgood @londonsymphony for an absolutely Gerald Gregory Julia O’Riordan Sharon Williams Jeffrey Bryant TROMBONES Jörg Hammann Robert Turner Andrew Sutton Paul Milner brilliant @SteveReich Discovery Day Maxine Kwok-Adams Heather Wallington Kathryn Saunders Dan West & a superb #Reich80 concert! Claire Parfitt Jonathan Welch Olivier Stankiewicz Finlay Bain Laurent Quenelle Stephen Doman Rosie Jenkins Harriet Rayfield Stephanie Edmundson OFF-STAGE HORNS Patrick Harrild Egon Walesch Happy 80th Birthday Colin Renwick Caroline O’Neill Alexander Edmundson Sasha Koushk-Jalali @SteveReich Great party @BarbicanCentre Sylvain Vasseur Christine Pendrill Nick Mooney Rhys Watkins Katy Woolley TIMPANI with @londonsymphony Hilary Jane Parker Tim Hugh Mark Vines Nigel Thomas Erzsebet Racz Alastair Blayden Christopher Redgate Andrew Budden Antoine Bedewi Lucy Jamieson What a concert, Jennifer Brown Alex Wide SECOND VIOLINS Noel Bradshaw PERCUSSION @londonsymphony play three @SteveReich David Alberman Eve-Marie Caravassilis Andrew Marriner TRUMPETS Neil Percy pieces at the @BarbicanCentre. Thomas Norris Daniel Gardner Felicity Vine Philip Cobb Paul Stoneman Sarah Quinn Hilary Jones Chris Richards Gerald Ruddock Glyn Matthews Miya Väisänen Amanda Truelove Daniel Newell Keith Millar THU 10 NOV – RAVEL, SCHUMANN AND DVORˇ ÁK David Ballesteros Morwenna Del Mar E-FLAT Niall Keatley WITH PABLO HERAS-CASADO AND RENAUD CAPUÇON Matthew Gardner Deborah Tolksdorf Chi-Yu Mo HARPS Naoko Keatley OFF-STAGE Bryn Lewis Belinda McFarlane DOUBLE BASSES TRUMPETS Susan Blair Jessica Duchen Strong, streamlined, William Melvin Gunars Upatnieks Andrew Harper Simon Cox eloquent Schumann from @RCapucon Iwona Muszynska Patrick Laurence David Geoghegan Paul Robson Matthew Gibson & @londonsymphony tonight Eleanor Fagg Thomas Goodman Rachel Gough TROMBONES Hazel Mulligan Joe Melvin Joost Bosdijk Peter Moore Stephen Rowlinson Jani Pensola Dominic Tyler James Maynard Sirit Lust Beverly Jones CONTRA Dominic Morgan

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 Kevin Leighton, Ranald Mackechnie, for their work in line with LSO section players. Print Cantate 020 3651 1690 Musacchio & Ianniello Advertising Cabbell Ltd 020 3603 7937