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London Symphony Orchestra Living Music Sunday 9 July 2017 7pm Barbican Hall A TRIP TO THE MOON Andrew Norman A Trip to the Moon (UK premiere; LSO co-commission) INTERVAL Sibelius Symphony No 2 Sir Simon Rattle conductor Robert Murray Georges Iwona Sobotka Queen Sophia Burgos Eoa London Symphony Orchestra Guildhall School Musicians LSO Discovery Choirs LSO Community Choir Simon Halsey choral director Lucy Griffiths LSO Discovery Choir conductor David Lawrence LSO Discovery Choir and LSO Community Choir conductor Karen Gillingham stage director Anna Pool assistant stage director London’s Symphony Orchestra Sean Turner designer Concert finishes approx 9.30pm Supported by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music A Trip to the Moon is a joint commission by the London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic 2 Welcome 9 July 2017 Welcome Kathryn McDowell Welcome to tonight’s concert, which brings together by Karen Gillingham, who also worked with the LSO the LSO and our cultural partners in the City: the and Guildhall School as Director of The Hogboon. Guildhall School and the Barbican. This evening We are delighted that composer Andrew Norman showcases our organisations’ unique relationships is able to join us in the audience this evening, and and collaborative ethos, which is set to continue I would like to thank the Aaron Copland Fund for next season when Sir Simon Rattle becomes Music Music for their generous support of this performance. Director of the LSO and Artist-in-Association of both the Guildhall School and the Barbican in September. Through the jointly-run Orchestral Artistry Masters programme, established in 2013, the LSO has a strong In the first half of tonight’s concert Sir Simon Rattle and long-standing partnership with the Guildhall conducts the UK premiere of a new children’s opera School. This course helps to equip young musicians by Andrew Norman, A Trip to the Moon, which with the skills needed for life in professional features the LSO, instrumentalists, singers and ensembles, and in tonight’s concert students from actors from the Guildhall School, and 170 singers this course, along with instrumentalists from other from the local area aged 8–80 in the LSO Community Guildhall programmes, will gain invaluable experience and Discovery Choirs. They will be joined on stage performing side-by-side with the LSO. Sincere thanks by tonight’s three soloists: Robert Murray, Iwona to all those who have supported the singers and Sobotka and Sophia Burgos. musicians on stage tonight, to Lucy Griffiths, conductor of the LSO Discovery Junior Choir, to David Lawrence, A Trip to the Moon is a co-commission with the Berlin conductor of the LSO Discovery Senior and Community Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. Choirs, and to Neil Ferris and Linnhe Robertson, who It is also the third in a series of children’s opera prepared the soloists. commissions spearheaded by Sir Simon Rattle, Simon Halsey and the LSO, inspired by the canon of children’s We are grateful to our media partner Classic FM for operas established by Benjamin Britten. This series recommending this concert to their listeners, and began in 2015 with Jonathan Dove’s The Monster for their continuing commitment to the LSO. in the Maze, which in 2016 won a British Composer Award, co-commissioned with the Berlin Philharmonic Thank you to all of our audience members for their and Aix-en-Provence Festival. It continued in 2016 support over the course of the 2016/17 season, with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Hogboon, the which draws to a close on 11 and 12 July with composer’s last major work set in his home on the Sir Simon Rattle and Denis Kozhukhin. I hope Orkney Islands, co-commissioned with Luxembourg you are able to join us in the 2017/18 Season. Philharmonie. I would like to thank all the partners involved in making tonight’s production possible. The opera is based on Georges Méliès’ silent film of the same name, which follows a group of astronomers and their lunar adventures. The story will be brought Kathryn McDowell CBE DL to life through a semi-staged production directed Managing Director lso.co.uk Composer Profile 3 Andrew Norman (b 1979) Composer Profile Andrew Norman is a Los Angeles-based composer of Fellowship. He joined the roster of Young Concert orchestral, chamber and vocal music. Andrew’s work Artists as Composer in Residence in 2008 and held draws on an eclectic mix of sounds and notational the title ‘Komponist für Heidelberg’ for the 2010/11 practices from both the avant garde and classical season. Andrew has served as Composer in Residence traditions. His distinctive, often fragmented and highly with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Opera energetic voice has been cited in the New York Times Philadelphia, and he currently holds the same post for its ‘daring juxtapositions and dazzling colours’, with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Andrew’s in the Boston Globe for its ‘staggering imagination’ 30-minute string trio The Companion Guide to Rome and in the LA Times for its ‘audacious’ spirit and was named a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in ‘Chaplinesque’ wit. Music, and his large-scale orchestral work Play was named one of NPR’s top 50 albums of 2015, nominated Andrew’s symphonic works have been performed for a 2016 Grammy in the Best Contemporary Classical by leading ensembles worldwide, including the Composition category, and recently won the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras, the BBC, St Louis, Seattle and Melbourne symphonies, the Andrew is a committed educator who enjoys helping Orchestre National de France, and many others. people of all ages to explore and create music. He Andrew’s music has been championed by some has written pieces to be performed by and for the of classical music’s eminent conductors, including young, and has held educational residencies with John Adams, Marin Alsop, Gustavo Dudamel, various institutions across the US. Andrew joined Sir Simon Rattle and David Robertson. the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in 2013, and he is thrilled to serve as the new director In recent seasons, Andrew’s chamber music has of the LA Philharmonic’s Composer Fellowship been featured at the Bang on a Can Marathon, Program for high-school composers. the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Wordless Music Series, the CONTACT! series, the Ojai Andrew recently finished two piano concertos, Festival, the MATA Festival, the Tanglewood Festival Suspend, for Emanuel Ax, and Split, for Jeffrey Kahane, of Contemporary Music, the Green Umbrella series, as well as a percussion concerto, Switch, for Colin the Monday Evening Concerts and the Aspen Music Currie. Forthcoming projects include a symphony Festival. In May 2010, the Berlin Philharmonic’s for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and collaborations Scharoun Ensemble presented a portrait concert of with Jeremy Denk, Jennifer Koh, Johannes Moser Andrew’s music entitled Melting Architecture. and the Berlin Philharmonic. Andrew was recently named Musical America’s 2017 Andrew’s works are published by Schott Music. Composer of the Year and is the recipient of the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music. He is also the recipient of the 2004 Jacob Druckman Prize, the 2005 ASCAP Nissim and Leo Kaplan Prizes, the 2006 Rome Prize, the 2009 Berlin Prize and a 2016 Guggenheim 4 Programme Notes 9 July 2017 Andrew Norman (b 1979) A Trip to the Moon (UK premiere) (2017) PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER SIR SIMON RATTLE CONDUCTOR Andrew Norman’s compositions are characterised by ANNE LANZILOTTI LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA their exuberance, use of unusual timbres, and ecstatic GUILDHALL SCHOOL MUSICIANS lyricism. Norman often uses film editing techniques such as jump cuts as inspiration for musical gestures SYNOPSIS ROBERT MURRAY GEORGES and formal devices. His latest work, A Trip to the PAGE 6 IWONA SOBOTKA QUEEN Moon, takes that connection to film one step further: SOPHIA BURGOS EOA the inspiration for the opera comes from Georges Méliès’ 1902 silent film of the same name. LSO DISCOVERY CHOIRS INJI GALLIET-JAKOBY IOE Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon was the first science fiction LSO COMMUNITY CHOIR film. Norman said of the film, ‘there’s a whimsical SIMON HALSEY CHORAL DIRECTOR quality to Méliès’ work that transcends time.’ Using LUCY GRIFFITHS LSO DISCOVERY CHOIR CONDUCTOR the whimsy and sense of flair from his experience as a DAVID LAWRENCE LSO DISCOVERY CHOIR AND magician, Méliès created brilliant cinematic techniques. LSO COMMUNITY CHOIR CONDUCTOR His signature special effect was ‘substitution splicing’, in which an object or person on screen would ELLA DE JONGH PROFESSOR BARBENFOUILLIS suddenly disappear or be replaced with a different ILAR REES-DAVIES NOSTRADAMUS object or person. Similarly, Norman’s music often ZACHARY WEST ALCOFRISBAS quickly introduces many important ideas in JAMES EDWARDS OMEGA succession at the beginning of a piece that cut each REGINA FREIRE MICROMEGAS other off or disappear as soon as they are presented, MATTHEW HEALY PARAFARAGARAMUS only to be slowly revealed as the piece progresses. ELINE VANDENHEEDE MOON WOMAN 1 OLIVIA SJÖBERG MOON WOMAN 2 The Prologue to Norman’s A Trip to the Moon ANDREW HAMILTON MOON MAN 1 accompanies the Méliès film in this way, presenting ADAM MAXEY MOON MAN 2 themes and ideas that will return and develop later in the opera. Storytelling unfolds through the various KAREN GILLINGHAM STAGE DIRECTOR communities on stage. Here, the orchestra itself as ANNA POOL ASSISTANT STAGE DIRECTOR a community takes the first turn at telling the story SEAN TURNER DESIGNER of how our characters got to the Moon. At the end JAI MORJARIA LIGHTING DESIGNER of the Prologue, the audience has been taken with DUNCAN MCCLEAN VIDEO PROJECTION DESIGNER the astronomers by the rocket to the Moon, where the entire action of the opera will take place.