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London Symphony Orchestra Living Music Sunday 5 July 2015 7.30pm Barbican Hall THE MONSTER IN THE MAZE Jonathan Dove The Monster in the Maze (UK premiere, LSO co-commission) INTERVAL Walton Symphony No 1 Sir Simon Rattle conductor Andrew Rees Theseus Yvonne Howard Mother Joshua Bloom Daedalus Malcolm Storry Minos London Symphony Orchestra Guildhall Symphony Orchestra LSO Discovery Choirs LSO Community Choir Simon Halsey choral director Alasdair Middleton libretto Thomas Guthrie stage director Rhiannon Newman-Brown designer London’s Symphony Orchestra Concert finishes approx 10pm The Monster in the Maze is a joint commission by the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra and Festival d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence 2 Welcome 5 July 2015 Welcome Kathryn McDowell Welcome to tonight’s concert, which brings together In the second half of tonight’s concert, an orchestra the LSO and our partners in the City’s cultural hub of over 120 LSO players and musicians from the – the Guildhall School and the Barbican – to close Guildhall Symphony Orchestra will play Walton’s our 2014/15 season. This year we celebrate 25 years First Symphony. The Orchestra has a strong and of LSO Discovery, the Orchestra’s education and long-standing partnership with the Guildhall School, community programme, and tonight’s concert strengthened with the launch of the jointly run marks this milestone, with young musicians, Orchestral Artistry masters specialism in September Guildhall students and members of the local 2013. Side-by-side experiences like this performance community all coming together on the Barbican are one of the best training experiences and among stage to perform with the LSO. the best preparations for professional orchestral life. In the first half of the concert, Sir Simon Rattle Sincere thanks to all those who have supported conducts the UK premiere of a new children’s the singers and musicians on stage tonight, and to opera by Jonathan Dove, The Monster in the Maze, Lucy Griffiths, conductor of the LSO Discovery Junior featuring the LSO, instrumental students from the Choir, and David Lawrence, conductor of the LSO Guildhall School, soloists, and 220 singers from Discovery Senior and Community Choirs. the local area aged 7–70 in the LSO Community and Discovery Choirs. The story of Theseus and I am very pleased to welcome The Lord Mayor of the the Minotaur will be brought to life through a City of London, Alderman Alan Yarrow, and members semi-staging, led by Stage Director Thomas Guthrie. of the City Livery who are in attendance this evening. We are delighted to welcome Jonathan Dove, who I would like to take this opportunity to thank them joins us in the audience this evening. for their invaluable support of the LSO and the arts in the City of London. The Monster in the Maze is a co-commission with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Festival d’Aix- We are grateful to our media partner Classic FM for en-Provence. It is also the first of a new series of their support of this concert and commitment to the children’s opera commissions spearheaded by LSO throughout the 2014/15 season. Sir Simon Rattle, Simon Halsey and the LSO, inspired by the canon of children’s operas established by I hope that you enjoy tonight’s performance, and Benjamin Britten. Alongside productions of The that we will see you again at an LSO concert soon, Monster in the Maze staged in Berlin, London and whether that is at the BBC Proms over the summer Aix, the collaboration has involved a conference or at the Barbican when we return in September. at LSO St Luke’s held earlier today, exploring the creation of new participatory work; a symposium in Aix; the creation of an Artist Academy; and an online sharing platform. I would like to thank all of the partners involved and the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union for supporting Kathryn McDowell CBE DL the project. Managing Director lso.co.uk Welcome 3 Welcome from Alderman Alan Yarrow The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of the City of London I am delighted to welcome you all to the annual THE LSO THIS SUMMER: City Livery Concert. IN LONDON AND ON TOUR When I travel overseas, promoting the UK as a place Audi Summer Festival, Ingolstadt, Germany to do business, it’s clear that London is recognised Sat 18 & Sun 19 Jul as more than just a trading centre. The world also Mahler, Bach, Stravinsky recognises London as a beacon of culture and the with Kent Nagano conductor arts, home to astonishing free galleries, versatile performance spaces and some of the world’s best Royal Albert Hall, BBC Proms, London music-making, among many other attractions. Tue 28 Jul Prokofiev Piano Concertos Nos 1–5 Much of that is done with the help of the Livery, with Valery Gergiev conductor which continues to fund, encourage and participate Daniil Trifonov, Sergei Babayan, in UK arts. Tonight’s concert recognises that Alexei Volodin piano contribution, but it is also part of LSO Discovery, the London Symphony Orchestra’s education and Usher Hall, Edinburgh International Festival community programme that this year celebrates Sun 30 Aug its 25th birthday. LSO Discovery continues to take Bartók and Stravinsky music into schools, hospitals and families, helping with Valery Gergiev conductor to make music accessible to all, regardless of Yefim Bronfman piano background or circumstance. George Enescu Festival, Bucharest, Romania Tonight’s performances bring together the LSO, Tue 8 & Wed 9 Sep Barbican and Guildhall School, highlighting the Enescu, Grieg, Stravinsky, Brahms, Mahler institutions and partnerships that make the City with Ion Marin conductor such a thriving cultural quarter. The concert starts Lars Vogt piano with the UK premiere of Jonathan Dove’s children’s Renaud Capuçon violin opera The Monster in the Maze, in conjunction with Gautier Capuçon cello Sir Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and I am delighted Visit lso.co.uk/tours for full details of LSO to see talented students from the Guildhall School concerts around the world featuring alongside the Orchestra in Walton’s First Symphony, in this 80th year since its composition. I hope you all enjoy this unique performance showcasing some of the world’s finest musicians and up-and-coming talent here in the City of London. Alderman Alan Yarrow The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor 4 Programme Notes 5 July 2015 Jonathan Dove (b 1959) The Monster in the Maze (UK premiere) (2015) An opera for children, young people and adults or the help given to Theseus by Ariadne (Minos’ Libretto by Alasdair Middleton daughter); the Athenians find their way out of the maze with the assistance of Daedalus, its architect, SIR SIMON RATTLE CONDUCTOR who escapes with them rather than, as in the myth, ANDREW REES THESEUS (TENOR) by an aerial route. YVONNE HOWARD MOTHER (MEZZO-SOPRANO) JOSHUA BLOOM DAEDALUS (BASS) The opera is devised for a mixture of professional, MALCOLM STORRY MINOS student and amateur performers: an orchestra GUILDHALL SCHOOL MUSICIANS with professional and younger players side-by-side LSO DISCOVERY CHOIRS in roughly equal numbers; professional soloists; LSO COMMUNITY CHOIR and community, youth and children’s choruses. SIMON HALSEY CHORAL DIRECTOR Dove finds a ‘special excitement’ in the involvement LUCY GRIFFITHS CONDUCTOR, of community performers, because of the way their LSO DISCOVERY JUNIOR CHOIR energy is conveyed to the audience. His music has DAVID LAWRENCE CONDUCTOR, a corresponding driving energy, imparted by insistent LSO DISCOVERY SENIOR CHOIR & LSO COMMUNITY CHOIR rhythmic ostinatos (repeated patterns) – though THOMAS GUTHRIE STAGE DIRECTOR these are made more complex by syncopations or RHIANNON NEWMAN-BROWN DESIGNER the use of irregular metres such as 5/4 or 7/4, or ANNA CAVALIERE COSTUME SUPERVISOR sometimes both. LOUISE RHOADES-BROWN PROJECTION DESIGNER LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA THE CHARACTERS In the setting of Middleton’s witty, down-to-earth PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER The best times for operatic stories, Jonathan Dove text, the individual characters are allocated well- ANTHONY BURTON is a former says, are ‘either right now or long ago and far away’. defined modes of expression. King Minos speaks BBC Radio 3 music producer and For this project, Dove and his regular librettist rather than singing, to the accompaniment of whole- presenter, now a freelance writer. Alasdair Middleton have opted for the latter and tone fanfares and percussion. Theseus is given the He edited the Associated Board chosen the ancient Greek myth of the Minotaur. Wagnerian designation of Heldentenor, or ‘heroic Performer’s Guides, contributes tenor’, and sings with the bluff simplicity of Wagner’s regularly to BBC Music Magazine, Minos, king of the island of Crete, has a labyrinth Siegfried, often accompanied by trumpet fanfares. and has written notes for CDs and in his palace in which he keeps the Minotaur – a Theseus’ Mother is a forceful mezzo-soprano, and concert programmes at home and monster, half man and half bull – which feeds on Daedalus a sombre bass-baritone. abroad on thousands of works. human flesh. To press home a military victory over Athens, Minos decrees that the Athenians should The Minotaur, though it is given a physical form in provide a regular supply of their young people to staged productions, does not sing or speak: instead, be sacrificed to the monster. The Athenian hero its roars are represented by an offstage ‘Minotaur Theseus joins one of these shiploads, slays the band’ of horns, trombones and tubas. The adult Minotaur, and sails home with the Athenian youths. chorus sings, in two-part harmony in parallel octaves, The traditional story is simplified in Dove’s opera: as the people of Athens, and it also chants, in precise there is nothing about the parentage of the Minotaur rhythms (notated with approximate pitches) and lso.co.uk Programme Notes 5 LIBRETTO accompanied by un-pitched percussion, as the heard approaching, to the youths’ consternation.