COMPOSERS’ ACADEMY SUN 2 JUN 2019, 6pm FREE, no ticket required – just turn up! Royal Festival Hall MUSIC please note venue

Geoffrey Paterson conductor OF TODAY WU WEI ARTIST PORTRAIT FRIDAY 5 APRIL 2019 CHIA-YING LIN Rubato the wider life of the Philharmonia and the expertise 2018-19 within its membership. As part of the Philharmonia’s 6pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall ALEX WOOLF Octet for mixed ensemble INSPIRING broader Emerging Artists programme, the Orchestra BENJAMIN ASHBY Some Mad Ideas also delivers a range of specialist projects to Introduced by Dr Cheng Yu of SOAS, support the progression and development of young NEW University of London Hear world premieres by three emerging instrumentalists in a variety of contexts, supporting composers in the culminating concert of the the work of our partner music education hubs, MUSIC ’s Composers’ Academy. schools, universities and conservatoires. This UNSUK CHIN Jonathan Stockhammer conductor programme seeks to encourage young people from Wu Wei sheng Over the course of the year, our composers work diverse backgrounds to continue learning, to join ARTISTIC DIRECTOR closely with Philharmonia musicians, visiting ensembles, and to develop and improve technique composers and Unsuk Chin, Artistic Director of and musicality through coaching, masterclasses, JUKKA TIENSUU Music of Today. This is an exciting opportunity to side-by-side projects and instrumental tuition. hear the work of the newest generation of Hehkuu for sheng and ensemble composers in the UK today. (UK premiere) 20mins The Philharmonia Orchestra is committed to The Philharmonia’s Composers’ Academy is GUOPING JIA providing opportunities to nurture, showcase and developed in partnership with The Wind Sounds in the Sky for sheng, stretch the next generation of artistic talent. The Orchestra’s Emerging Artists programme consists of cello and percussion (UK premiere) 10mins two distinct programmes – the Composers’ Academy ˇ and the Philharmonia MMSF Instrumental Fellowships. ONDREJ ADÁMEK Both connect an annual cohort of young artists to Lost Prayer Book for sheng and ensemble (UK premiere) 20mins

@philharmonia Philharmonia Orchestra The timings shown above are not exact and are 6 Chancel Street, London SE1 0UX Philharmonia Orchestra provided only as a guide Tel: 020 7921 3900 philharmonia_orchestra philharmonia.co.uk PLEASE NOTE this performance is being recorded philharmonialondon This concert is promoted by Philharmonia Ltd Music of Today is supported by an anonymous donor /philharmonia Music of Today All information in this programme was correct at the time Philharmonia Orchestra and Southbank Centre are Partner in Leicester of going to press, but changes may be unavoidable. both registered charities. The Philharmonia Orchestra gratefully acknowledges support for Music of Today from Esa-Pekka Salonen WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or phone 020 3879 9555, available at all times. If you have any queries please ask or email [email protected] any member of staff for assistance. We look forward to seeing you again soon. There are a range of cafes, restaurants and shops on site. Enjoy fresh seasonal food and buy products inspired by our southbankcentre.co.uk artistic programme and iconic London buildings. JUKKA TIENSUU (b. 1948) and completely chromatic range that is suitable Hehkuu for sheng and ensemble (2014) for the performance of music in a European style. Each pipe has a reed, and closing an air The sheng, a form of Chinese mouth organ, is hole at the pipe’s base causes the reed to one of the world’s oldest instruments to have a sound. Gradually removing or placing a finger continuous performance tradition. Examples over the hole allows for glissandi, a distinctive survive from the time of the Han dynasty (206 BC effect that Tiensuu makes extensive use of. to AD 220), and pictures of sheng exist from a Tiensuu principally employs the sheng as a thousand years before this, as long ago as melodic instrument, but he also makes use – 1100 BC. Music for sheng has kept pace with particularly in the faster, second half of his piece MUSIC, FILM AND DRAMA FOR TURBULENT TIMES the times, and as China has opened itself to the – of its ability to play chords, especially repeated West – particularly in the later 20th century and in fast rhythms, somewhat like the strumming of into the 21st – the instrument has appeared a guitar. Traditional music for sheng features JUNE - SEPTEMBER 2019 with increasing frequency in Western art music many traditional blowing and tonguing ESA-PEKKA SALONEN contexts. One of the first occasions was in Tan techniques for achieving effects like these, conductor Dun’s opera Marco Polo of 1996, in which the which go by evocative names like qu qi, or instrument was one of several used to indicate ‘sawing wood’. Specific techniques are not the geographical origin of the characters. More mentioned in Tiensuu’s score, but that legacy of High and low art, violence and sensuality, satire and sentimentality recent works have put the sheng on an equal technique is very much present. – discover the culture and music of the Weimar era. footing with its Western counterparts, setting it within mixed ensembles in which the differences Tiensuu prefers his music to be presented without between East and West are erased, or at least programme notes, arguing that it is “mischievous” Includes a free Music of Today concert featuring new music partly obscured. Much of this presence is down to prejudice a listener in one way or another to Wu Wei, a leading virtuoso on the instrument before they have heard a piece for the first time. accompanying two silent films in a live screening who has given the premieres of more than 300 “Important in a composition”, he says, “are not Plus music by Berg, Hindemith and Weill works featuring the sheng, more than 20 of the thoughts of the composer but the thoughts Insights Day and free talks them concertos, like Jukka Tiensuu’s Hehkuu. the music incites in the listener and the small enlightenments they may lead the listener to.” Traditionally, a sheng would have 17 pipes, made of either bamboo or metal, but the modern The title Hehkuu comes from the Finnish verb instrument has 32 or more. These give it a wider hehkua: to glow or to burn.

GUOPING JIA (b. 1963) the grassland (Earth), and the wildflowers that The Wind Sounds in the Sky for sheng, grow in between and which have endured long cello and percussion (2002) enough to have witnessed the fall of gods. The poet’s voice, expressed through the wood and The Wind Sounds in the Sky is inspired by horsehair of his zither, cries against the ‘September’, one of the best-known poems by desolation. the acclaimed Chinese poet Hai Zi. Although he took his own life aged just 25, Hai Zi was a Guoping Jia is of the same generation as Hai Zi, leading figure in the brief flowering of modern born just a year earlier than the poet. Deeply Chinese poetry that took place between the end committed to cultural exchange between China of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 and the and Europe, he founded in 2011 the Con Tempo Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (after which Ensemble of Beijing, the first Chinese many poets were exiled). His poems weave themes contemporary music ensemble to combine of loneliness, yearning and especially nature into Eastern and Western instruments. His piece an intensely lyrical, often mystical vision. begins with an explosion of sound, the ferocity of which belies its modest trio instrumentation of In ‘September’ the central image combines the sheng, cello and percussion. The three distant winds (heaven, or some form of beyond), instruments – bowed string, blown reeds, struck PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA The Philharmonia’s international reputation in part derives from its extraordinary recording skins and metal; melody, harmony, rhythm; West, initial friction between differences as a single, East, global – occupy three very different musical bright thread – the wildflowers growing on the Founded in 1945, the Philharmonia is a world- legacy, which in the last 10 years has been built spaces. Yet Jia draws them together in such a Chinese steppe here sounding as a three- class symphony orchestra for the 21st century. on by its pioneering work with digital technology, way that each begins to sound like a reflection or stranded braid that finally unravels into a The Orchestra’s home is Southbank Centre’s most recently blazing a trail for classical music in an outgrowth of the others. Rather like Hai Zi’s sensation of loss and emptiness. Royal Festival Hall, where the Philharmonia has Virtual Reality. VR experiences featuring music poem, the music maintains the energy of that been resident since 1995 and presents a season by Sibelius, Mahler and Beethoven, placing the of around 50 performances each year. Under viewer at the heart of the orchestra, have been Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor Esa-Pekka presented at Southbank Centre and internationally. Salonen, the Philharmonia has created a series ONDRˇEJ ADÁMEK (b. 1979) heard more clearly, as its words are whispered, of critically acclaimed, visionary projects, distinctive The Philharmonia records and releases music spoken or intoned by the players (using the for both their artistic scope and supporting live across multiple channels and media. An app for Lost Prayer Book for sheng and half-song, half-speech technique of sprechstimme). and digital content. Recent series include iPad, The Orchestra, has sold tens of thousands ensemble (2019) The relationship between text and music, and Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals (2016), which won a of copies; Hollywood composers choose to particularly the boundary where one might South Bank Sky Arts Award. In 2019, Salonen record their scores for films, video games and Lost Prayer Book has been jointly become the other, is a recurring theme in presents his newest series with the Orchestra, television series with the Orchestra; the commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Adámek’s music, as in works such as Ca tourne Weimar Berlin: Bittersweet Metropolis. Philharmonia is Classic FM’s ‘Orchestra on Tour’ (Germany) and ça bloque, 2007–8, for sampler and ensemble and broadcasts extensively on BBC Radio 3; with Ensemble 2e2m (France). and Kameny, 2012, for choir and ensemble. In The Philharmonia is resident orchestra at Signum Records the Philharmonia releases live Lost Prayer Book, these sounds between speech Bedford Corn Exchange, De Montfort Hall in recordings of signature concerts. A simple man is lost in the wild. He wants to pray and music, between tone and noise, form the Leicester, The Marlowe in Canterbury, The Anvil for help, but he has lost his prayer book. Instead, basis of his musical expression on this occasion, in Basingstoke, the Three Choirs Festival in the Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka and in desperation, he recites the letters of the creating a rich sonic palette that is both strange West of England and Garsington Opera. At the Salonen has been Principal Conductor & Artistic alphabet in the hope that God will be able to put and familiar. heart of these residencies is an education Advisor since 2008. Jakub Hru˚sˇa and Santtu- them together into a prayer on his behalf. In the programme that empowers people in every Matias Rouvali are Principal Guest Conductors. end, God does respond. In the second half of the work, the man recites community to engage with, and participate in, Christoph von Dohnányi is Honorary Conductor his alphabetical prayer. Each letter is represented orchestral music. for Life and is Conductor This story, many versions of which exist, Christian, as a single pitch centre. As these proceed, they Laureate. Composer Unsuk Chin is Artistic Hindu and Jewish, is the basis of Ondrˇej Adámek’s create a slowly moving scale: A–B–C–D. In imitation Internationally, the Philharmonia is active across Director of the Music of Today series. new concerto for sheng and ensemble. Adámek of our natural habits when praying, the music Europe, Asia and the USA. In 2018/19, the begins with his own text, his own interpretation slowly accelerates, and as it does so this scale Orchestra has performed extensively in Europe The Philharmonia’s Principal International of the story; the text is conveyed by the musicians. becomes musical material itself, gaining ever-new and undertaken three major international tours, Partner is Wuliangye. At first they do so in disguised form, speaking it layers and transforming from a point of frustrated, to China and South Korea (October 2018); to into their instruments, or imitating its rhythms, inner-looking stasis into an impulsive force, with Cartagena in Colombia, in a joint digital melodies and phonemes. The sheng’s opening its own momentum and outward projection: the installation-live concert tour (January 2019); and motive, for example – a low B followed by a minimal means at the desperate man’s disposal to the USA (March 2019). four-note descending arpeggio, played across the turned into a message, even a song. top of the instrument’s pipes, as though it were a pan flute – echoes the man’s exasperated Eventually God answers the man’s call: “Of all the admonishment of himself: “How foolish I am”. prayers I have heard today, this one was the best. His frequent cries of “O, Lord!” are set to suitably Coming from a heart that was simple and sincere.” PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA wailing glissandi. Later in the piece the text is The work ends in a divinely inspired calm. Eleanor Wilkinson Daniel Shao Emily Hultmark Peter Smith Jan Regulski flute, alto flute bassoon tuba Programme notes © Tim Rutherford-Johnson, 2019 violins Christopher O’Neal Alex Walker Joley Cragg Nicholas Bootiman oboe contra bassoon percussion Tim Rutherford-Johnson is author of Music after the viola Mark van de Wiel Diego Incertis Sánchez Helen Tunstall Fall: Modern Composition and Culture since 1989 Richard Birchall clarinet horn harp ( Press) and editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Music, 6th edition. He is presently cello Alex Roberts Toby Street Shelagh Sutherland co-authoring a history of music in the 20th century. Tim Gibbs bass clarinet, contra trumpet piano, toy piano double bass bass clarinet Philip White trombone JONATHAN STOCKHAMMER conductor Aside from conducting Classical and Romantic WU WEI sheng under Claus Peter Flor; Lübeck Philharmonic masterpieces and contemporary classical works, Orchestra and Tonkünstler-Orchester under In just a few years, Jonathan Stockhammer has he enjoys delving into music that blurs the Wu Wei, sheng virtuoso, was born in China and Xincao Li; National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra made a name for himself in the worlds of opera, boundaries between classical music, rock, pop studied the sheng at the Shanghai Music under Soo-Yeou; and Ensemble Intercontemporain, symphonic repertoire and contemporary music. and hip-hop. His CD Greggery Peccary & Other Conservatory. In 1995 he gained a DAAD and Nieuw Ensemble As a superb communicator, he has a great talent Persuasions with Ensemble Modern (RCA, scholarship and studied at the Hans Eisler Music (Netherlands), among many more. not only for presenting concerts but also for 2003), featuring works by , won an Academy in Berlin, where he is now based. He working on an equal footing with a variety of ECHO KLASSIC. He also recorded a new has been a Professor at Shanghai Music He has appeared at many of the world’s most performers – whether they are young musicians soundtrack to Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 film Conservatory since 2013. As a sheng soloist, he prestigious festivals and venues, including the and rappers or stars such as Imogen Heap or the Battleship Potemkin, composed and performed has helped to develop the ancient instrument BBC Proms, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Berliner . by the Pet Shop Boys. His live recording of The into an innovative force in contemporary music, Festspiele, Munich Biennale, Edinburgh New Crystal Silence with , Gary through the creation of new techniques, the International Festival, Musica Nova Helsinki, Opera is central to his work. The operas he has Burton and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra won expansion of its repertoire and its integration in Donaueschingen Musik Tage, Warsaw Autumn conducted – including Die Dreigroschenoper, a Grammy in 2009. His collaboration with different styles and genres. Festival, Gaudeamus Music Week, Maerz Musik Zemlinsky‘s Eine florentinische Tragödie, spoken word artist Saul Williams on Said the Festival, Berlin; Musica Viva, Munich; Dresdener Sciarrino’s Luci mie traditrici and Damon Albarn’s Shotgun to the Head, featuring music composed Most recent among the many prestigious Festspiele, Suntory Music Festival, Tokyo; Bartók Monkey: Journey to the West – identify him as a by Thomas Kessler, has also been particularly national and international competitions for Festival, Hungary; Achipel Festival, Geneva; conductor who welcomes and masters the successful. To date, he has conducted the work traditional Chinese music that Wu Wei has won Music Festival, ; Grafenegg Festival, difficulties presented by complex scores and with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart is the China Award for best sheng soloist (2017). Austria; Merano Music Festival, Italy; Cologne special, interdisciplinary productions. He has Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Oslo His DG recording of Unsuk Chin’s Sheng Triennal; Holland Festival and Marseille Music been a regular guest at the Opéra de Lyon since Philharmonic. Concerto with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Festival. Venues include: Berlin Philharmonie, first appearing there in 1998, and where he has under Myung-Whun Chung (part of a compilation Royal Albert Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Suntory Hall, since conducted the successful French premiere Highlights of the 2018/19 season include his of three concertos by Chin), won BBC Music Tokyo; Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris; Concertgebouw, of Dusapin’s Faustus, the Last Night. In 2009, debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony in Magazine’s Premiere Recording Award and Amsterdam; Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna he premiered ’s Proserpina with works by Schumann and Boulanger, with the ICMA’s Contemporary Music Award (2015). Konzerthaus, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Usher the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, and London Sinfonietta as well as at Opernhaus Hall, Edinburgh. also conducted the orchestra in Rihm’s Deus Zürich in Michael Pelzel’s Last Call, and As a soloist he has appeared with many leading Passus. In 2010, he conducted the Orchestre re-invitations to the Philharmonia Orchestra, orchestras and ensembles including the Berlin Wu Wei’s international engagements include Philharmonique de Radio France in a production Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, Ensemble Philharmonic under Kent Nagano; Los Angeles appearances throughout the USA, Europe, of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at the Théâtre Modern, Collegium Novum Zürich and the Opéra Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel; Radio Russia, the Middle East and Far East. He has du Châtelet, Paris. In February 2013, he made de Lyon in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole. France Philharmonic and Seoul Philharmonic given the world premieres of more than 400 his debut at the Opera in Thomas under Myung-Whun Chung; BBC Symphony works, including more than 25 sheng concertos Adès’s Powder Her Face. In spring 2016, he Jonathan Stockhammer first studied Chinese Orchestra under Ilan Volkov; BBC Scottish by composers including John Cage, Unsuk Chin, made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in a and political science before moving on to studies Symphony Orchestra under Markus Stenz; Jukka Tiensuu, Toshio Hosokawa, Enjott new production of Peter Eötvös’s Tri Sestri and in composition and conducting in his hometown Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Schneider, Joel Bons, Jörg Widmann, Guus premiered Georg Friedrich Haas’s new opera of Los Angeles. During his studies, he filled in for under Jaap van Zweden; Royal Stockholm Janssen, Shuya Xu, Guoping Jia, Guo Wenjing KOMA at the Schwetzingen Festival. Most a series of concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gulbenkian and Ruo Huang. He is also a prolific composer recently, he made his debuts at the Theater Philharmonic, after which he was asked to Orchestra under Susanna Mälkki; Helsinki for the sheng and has received a number of Basel and the Komische Oper Berlin with Philip become chief conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Philharmonic Orchestra under Matthias commissions. Glass’s Satyagraha in a production by Sidi Larbi assistant. After completing his studies, he moved Pintscher; Cabrillo Festival Orchestra under Cherkaoui. to Germany, where he formed close relationships Marin Alsop; Stavanger Symphony Orchestra With “his extraordinary virtuosity” (Guardian), with well-known European ensembles such as under Christian Vásquez; Netherland Radio Wu Wei’s performance was a highlight of the Jonathan Stockhammer has worked with Ensemble Modern, Collegium Novum Zürich and Philharmonic under Edo de Waart; Polish 2014 BBC Proms. His CDs and DVDs are numerous renowned orchestras such as the . National Radio Orchestra under Alexander available on Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, , NDR Symphony Orchestra Liebreich; Tiroler Symphony Orchester Innsbruck Harmonia Mundi and Wergo, among others. Hamburg, Orchestra, and Taiwan Philharmonic Orchestra under Philharmonia Orchestra and the Sydney Wen-pin Chien; Luxembourg Philharmonic www.wuwei-music.com Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared at Orchestra under Muhai Tang; Macao Symphony the Salzburg, Lucerne, Donaueschingen, Orchestra under Ja Lü; German Radio Venice Biennale, Wiener Festwochen and Philharmonic Orchestra Saarbrücken under Wien Modern festivals. Lan Shui; Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama; China NCPA Orchestra