Cadogan Hall PRESENTS Zurich International Orchestra Series 2015-16 IN ASSOCIATION WITH IMG ARTISTS Welcome to Cadogan Hall’s ninth Zurich International Orchestra Series 2015-16. This season Cadogan Hall presents 12 international orchestras performing 16 concerts with some renowned conductors and notable soloists. Some old friends visit the hall again – Basel Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra , Brussels Philharmonic and Moscow State Symphony Orchestra are returning with strong programmes including Holst The Planets, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 1, Mahler Symphony No. 4 and Beethoven Symphony No. 3. First-time visitors to Cadogan Hall include Flanders Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Bruckner Orchester Linz. On 26 October Mariinsky Orchestra with Conductor Valery Gergiev will allow Cadogan Hall’s audience a first chance to see the Gold Medallists of the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition performing live in London. Cadogan Hall PRESENTS Zurich International Orchestra Series 2015-16 IN ASSOCIATION WITH IMG ARTISTS 2015 2016 24 September Page 4-5 16 February Page 18-19 Basel Symphony Orchestra Polish National Radio Ravel/Stravinsky Symphony Orchestra John Adams/Chopin/Beethoven 28 September Page 4-5 Basel Symphony Orchestra 10 March Page 20-21 Mozart/Holst Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra Grieg/Tchaikovsky/Shostakovich 5 October Page 6-7 Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra 9 April Page 22-23 Wagner/Rachmaninov/Brahms Dallas Symphony Orchestra Beethoven/Mozart/Strauss 26 October Page 8-9 Mariinsky Orchestra 21 April Page 24-25 Tchaikovsky Bruckner Orchester Linz Mozart/Bruckner 30 October Page 10-11 Brussels Philharmonic 22 April Page 24-25 Strauss/Mahler Bruckner Orchester Linz Beethoven/Philip Glass 4 November Page 12-13 Flanders Symphony Orchestra 12 May Page 26-27 Debussy/Elgar/Ibert Moscow State Symphony Orchestra 5 November Page 12-13 Prokofiev/Rachmaninov Flanders Symphony Orchestra Lesueur/Schoenberg/Beethoven/Berlioz 27 May Page 28-29 Brussels Philharmonic 23 November Page 14-15 Fauré/Schumann/Franck Prague Symphony Orchestra Beethoven/Dvořák 18 December Page 16-17 Orchestra Svizzera Italiano Provofiev/Tchaikovsky/Mendelssohn Basel Symphony Orchestra Dennis Russell Davies CONDUCTOR Thursday 24 September 2015, 7.30pm Alice Sara Ott PIANO Les Six MARRIAGE AT THE EIFFEL TOWER Ravel PIANO CONCERTO IN G MAJOR Stravinsky THE RITE OF SPRING Monday 28 September 2015, 7.30pm Elisabeth Leonskaya PIANO Mozart PIANO CONCERTO NO. 9 IN E FLAT, K. 271 Holst THE PLANETS We are delighted to welcome Basel Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Dennis Russell Davies. German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott, whose album The Chopin Project reached the top of the international classical music charts in 2015, joins orchestra and conductor in the first of two concerts, to give a performance of Ravel’s playful and serene Piano Concerto in G major. The concert culminates with Stravinsky’s landmark The Rite of Spring. One of the most celebrated pianists of our time, Elisabeth Leonskaya joins the orchestra for its second concert, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9. The evening finishes with a performance of Holst’s largest orchestral work – a suite of seven unique movements, named after all of the planets apart from Pluto, undiscovered at the time of its composition. TICKETS: £45 (premium seats), £42, £35, £28, £22, £18 ENCORE MEMBERS: Premium seats for £42, £42 seats for £35 SERIES DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE PAGE 4 – 5 Monday 5 October 2015, 7.30pm Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra Michael Sanderling CONDUCTOR Andrei Korobeinikov PIANO Wagner OVERTURE TO DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG Rachmaninov PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 Brahms SYMPHONY NO. 4 This evening of music begins with the overture to Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, one of Wagner’s most lyrical and uplifting works. This sunny composition is followed by a performance of Rachmaninov’s romantic Piano Concerto No. 1, played by award-winning Russian pianist Andrei Korobeinikov, made up of weighty piano chords, heart-wrenching tunes and sumptuous orchestral accompaniment. The orchestra concludes with Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, whose rich orchestral colours and triumphant climax are a fitting finale, described by many as being the most original and powerful movement he ever wrote. TICKETS: £45 (premium seats), £42, £35, £28, £22, £18 ENCORE MEMBERS: Premium seats for £42, £42 seats for £35 SERIES DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE PAGE 6 – 7 Monday 26 October 2015, 7.30pm Mariinsky Orchestra Valery Gergiev conducts the winners of the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition Valery Gergiev CONDUCTOR Tchaikovsky REPERTOIRE TO BE CONFIRMED The Mariinsky Orchestra, founded in 1783 in St Petersburg, is one of the oldest musical institutions in Russia. Under its current Artistic and General Director Valery Gergiev, the orchestra has become one of the leading symphony orchestras in Russia and one of the top orchestras in the world. The International Tchaikovsky Competition, first held more than 50 years ago, is one of the major events in the international music community. The competition gives the brightest and best young pianists, violinists, cellists and singers a chance to be noticed by the international professional community and the general public, launching many glittering musical careers. Previous winners have included Van Cliburn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Peter Donohoe, Denis Matsuev, Gidon Kramer, Mario Brunello, Deborah Voigt, Victoria Mullova and, most recently in 2011, Daniil Trifonov. The 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition will take place between 15 June and 3 July, 2015 in Moscow and St Petersburg and all rounds of the competition will be streamed live on the internet reaching a global audience. Over 600 applications were received by artists from 45 countries. The winners are guaranteed an international tour with Gergiev and this evening’s concert gives Cadogan Hall’s audience a first chance to see the Gold Medallists of the 2015 competition performing live in London. Full soloist and programme details for this concert are to be confirmed after the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition winners are announced. TICKETS: £45 (premium seats), £42, £35, £28, £22, £18 ENCORE MEMBERS: Premium seats for £42, £42 seats for £35 PAGE 8 – 9 Friday 30 October 2015, 7.30pm Brussels Philharmonic Yoel Levi CONDUCTOR Susan Gritton SOPRANO R. Strauss FOUR LAST SONGS Mahler SYMPHONY NO. 4 Brussels Philharmonic, joined by the former Music Director of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Yoel Levi and soprano Susan Gritton, give a performance of Strauss’ Four Last Songs. The piece, often quoted as his epitaph, is full of orchestral colour, radiant lyricism and Strauss’ life-long love affair with the soprano voice. Susan Gritton, former principal singer at English National Opera is one of the finest singers of her generation and is acclaimed for her versatility in many roles. To end the evening, the orchestra plays Mahler’s ebullient Symphony No. 4. The symphony, described as Mahler’s sunniest, is full of expressive orchestral detail and glorious melodies. TICKETS: £45 (premium seats), £42, £35, £28, £22, £18 ENCORE MEMBERS: Premium seats for £42, £42 seats for £35 SERIES DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE PAGE 10 – 11 Flanders Symphony Orchestra Jan Latham-Koenig CONDUCTOR Wednesday 4 November 2015, 7.30pm Simon Callow NARRATOR Debussy BERCEUSE HÉROÏQUE Elgar CARILLON Ibert THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL Richard Blackford IN FLANDERS FIELDS Piet Swerts THE HARMONIUM OF THE TALBOT HOUSE Elgar SOSPIRI Elgar POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE MARCHES NOS. 3 & 4 Thursday 5 November 2015, 7.30pm Mark Bebbington PIANO Gavin Carr BARITONE Bournemouth Symphony Chorus J.F. Lesueur CORONATION MUSIC FOR NAPOLEON Schoenberg ODE TO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, OP. 41 Beethoven WELLINGTONS SIEG, (WELLINGTON’S VICTORY), OP. 91 Berlioz THE FIFTH OF MAY, OP. 6 Beethoven CHORAL FANTASY, OP. 80 Flanders Symphony Orchestra, one of Belgium’s most distinguished orchestras, under its Music Director Jan Latham-Koenig, presents two unique programmes weaving music, poetry and human responses to the realities of war. The first two pieces by Debussy and Elgar were written as contributions to King Albert’s Book published in Britain by The Telegraph, as Debussy put it ‘an homage to so much patient suffering’ after the German invasion of Belgium in World War 1. Ibert’s three-movement symphony based on Oscar Wilde’s poem (narrated by Simon Callow, subject to availability), captures the brutal beauty of his meditations on life in gaol and his reflections on morality, the death penalty and the penal system. Composers Richard Blackford and Piet Swerts have been commissioned by the orchestra to write music inspired by war atrocities in Flanders – John McCrae’s In Flanders Field is the inspiration for Richard Blackford’s new work. Piet Swerts writes, ‘I knew that the power of music could evoke and transcend this drama’ and the concert ends with the positivity of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches. The second concert presents music written for or about Napoleon and is a chronological journey through his life with positive and negative artistic responses to him. Schoenberg’s setting of Byron’s powerful poem, written in 1942 when another tyranny held sway over Europe, pours scorn on the idea of achieving ambition at the cost of other people’s lives. The final piece, Beethoven’sChoral Fantasy, could be seen as an affirmation of universal human values and their ability to triumph over adversity. Written by Christoph