London Symphony Orchestra Living Music The LSO at full tilt is a terrifying, glamorous beast. The Times on the LSO with Daniel Harding, Principal Guest Conductor London’s Symphony Orchestra lso.co.uk LSO Season 2015/16 Advance Concert Listings Season 2015/16 Man of the Theatre GERGIEV CONDUCTS Highlights DRAMATIC BALLET SCORES Stravinsky and Bartók top the bill in Valery Gergiev’s 2015/16 season with pivotal dramatic works to which the LSO’s Principal Conductor brings a wealth of theatrical experience. Pieces include The Firebird, The Rite of Spring and The Miraculous Mandarin. Page 8 Creative Geniuses SIR SIMON RATTLE & PETER SELLARS Pelléas et Mélisande begins Sir Simon Rattle’s 2015/16 concerts with the LSO and, with director Peter Sellars on board following several critically acclaimed co-productions with Rattle in the past, this semi-staged performance of Debussy’s opera promises to cast an exciting new light. Page 4 Shakespeare 400 GIANANDREA NOSEDA & SIR JOHN ELIOT GARDINER MARK THIS SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY The Power of the Voice Celebrate one of the most iconic figures IMMERSIVE CHORAL WORKS in English literary history – a man who has inspired 400 years’ worth of music, The London Symphony Chorus, under the direction art, drama and culture. Gianandrea Noseda of Simon Halsey, continues to break new ground. and Sir John Eliot Gardiner conduct works Stand-out works of 2015/16 include Haydn’s inspired by all corners of his oeuvre – the The Seasons with Sir Simon Rattle, The Dream tragedies Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, of Gerontius with highly-regarded Elgar interpreter comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Sir Mark Elder, and a new community and and, from the history plays, Richard III. children’s opera by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Page 10 Page 6 2 WELCOME 3 CREATIVE GENIUSES Sat 9 & Sun 10 Jan 2016 Creative Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande (semi-staged performance) Sir Simon Rattle conductor Peter Sellars director Geniuses Wed 13 Jan 2016 Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin SIMON RATTLE AND PETER SELLARS Dutilleux L’arbre des songes Delage Four Hindu Poems PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE Dutilleux Métaboles Ravel Daphnis and Chloe – A collaboration between two of the boldest creative minds in theatre Suite No 2 and music forms the backbone of this series of concerts exploring works of Sir Simon Rattle conductor Leonidas Kavakos violin true creative genius. Thu 14 Apr 2016 Peter Sellars and Sir Simon Rattle delight in subverting expectations. Messiaen Take for example Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande. Where most see an Couleurs de la cité céleste evocative fairy-tale presented as a sensuous wash of sound and colour, Sellars Bruckner Symphony No 8 and Rattle see absolute clarity, hard-edged realism and modernity. Their critically Sir Simon Rattle conductor acclaimed 1993 production transposed Debussy’s timeless impressionistic Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano masterpiece into the present day, highlighting the darkness that lingers just below Sun 17 Apr 2016 Haydn The Seasons the surface of Debussy’s score. It is this ability to see and hear what no-one else does, (sung in German) and make it a tangible reality that characterises the genius of Rattle and Sellars. Sir Simon Rattle conductor ‘Rattle was absolutely on top of the piece, In 2015/16, Sellars and Rattle, both of whom have a long history of Sun 30 Jun 2016 directing with a Boulez-like tension and innovative productions at the Barbican, return to Pelléas for the first time Ives The Unanswered Question in over twenty years, in a new production that will undoubtedly cast an Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4 severity, and the LSO playing was top notch.’ exciting new light on Debussy’s opera. Elsewhere in the series Sir Simon will Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 The Guardian on Sir Simon Rattle with the LSO Sir Simon Rattle conductor interpret scores of incredible genius and sensitivity with highlights including Krystian Zimerman piano Henri Dutilleux’s exalted violin concerto L’arbre des songes (Tree of Dreams), Haydn’s The Seasons, and Charles Ives’ seminal work The Unanswered Question. 4 CREATIVE GENIUSES Full listings and booking information pages 12 to 20 5 ‘Simon Halsey had trained the chorus to a high incisiveness.’ The Sunday Times on Simon Halsey with the LSC CHORAL SINGING DAYS THE POWER OF THE VOICE CONCERTS Sat 14 Nov 2015 Fri 6 Nov 2015 Sun 24 Apr 2016 Haydn The Seasons Bernstein Chichester Psalms Elgar The Dream of Gerontius Sat 23 Jan 2016 James Gaffigan conductor Sir Mark Elder conductor Elgar The Dream of Gerontius Sun 13 Dec 2015 Thu 12 May 2016 FROM ORATORIOS TO CHORAL Sun 6 Mar 2016 A Choral Christmas Beethoven SYMPHONIES AND COMMUNITY OPERA Beethoven Simon Halsey conductor Symphony No 9 (‘Choral’) Symphony No 9 (‘Choral’) Sun 20 Mar 2016 Michael Tilson Thomas conductor LSO Sing, the London Symphony Orchestra’s singing programme, devised Schumann Sun 26 Jun 2016 by Choral Director Simon Halsey, takes on an international flavour this year. Scenes from Goethe’s Faust Peter Maxwell Davies COMMUNITY Daniel Harding conductor new community and LSO Sing is supported by the The Chorus’ season begins in transatlantic style featuring Bernstein’s signature SINGING DAYS J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust Sun 17 Apr 2016 children’s opera soundworld in the Chichester Psalms, linking his US roots back to the UK; and the John S Cohen Foundation. Sun 4 Oct 2015 Haydn The Seasons Sir Simon Rattle conductor the Chichester Festival being the work’s commissioner. The opposite end of this A Taste of America LSO Discovery Choirs Why not consider adding your support (sung in German) and help us bring singing and music choral year brings a brand new opera by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies co-commissioned Sat 14 May 2016 Sir Simon Rattle conductor LSO Community Choir Guildhall School musicians to as many people as possible. by the LSO, Berlin Philharmonic and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Jazzamatazz!! Email [email protected] The collaborative opera is the brain-child of Simon Halsey and Sir Simon for more information. Rattle: an opera for a mixed-ability chorus of children, teenagers and adults, and performed in three individually-crafted stagings in three concert halls in Berlin, London and Aix. It demonstrates the power of the voice to bring people of all ‘Since Halsey took backgrounds, ages and cultures together. over it has undergone In between, the LSC celebrates its 50th anniversary in Spring 2016 and The Power takes centre stage in Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Haydn’s The Seasons, a spectacular Schumann’s Faust and Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony, all in under eight weeks. transformation.’ At LSO St Luke’s a programme of complementary LSO Singing Days offers a chance to sing the concert pieces, join a scratch choir for a day, meet Evening Standard on of the Voice other like-minded people, and enjoy a masterclass with Simon Halsey himself. Simon Halsey with the LSC 6 THE POWER OF THE VOICE Full listings and booking information pages 12 to 20 7 Valery Gergiev: Man of the Theatre ‘Gergiev is the eye at the centre of a musical storm, swooping and soaring on his podium … A true music treat.’ The Daily Telegraph (Australia) on Gergiev with the LSO GERGIEV EXPLORES PIVOTAL VALERY GERGIEV: MAN OF THE THEATRE BALLET SCORES Fri 9 Oct 2015 Bartók Dance Suite The past eight years have seen Valery Gergiev guide the LSO through a Bartók Piano Concerto No 2 wealth of repertoire. Highlights have included full cycles of the symphonies of Stravinsky The Firebird Prokofiev, Brahms, Szymanowski, Mahler and Tchaikovsky, as well as in-depth (complete ballet) explorations of the music of Berlioz, Shostakovich, Shchedrin and Dutilleux. Valery Gergiev conductor In addition to this, he leaves a legacy of over 20 LSO Live recordings of his Yefim Bronfman piano breathtaking Barbican Hall concerts. Sun 11 Oct 2015 Stravinsky Symphony in C major As a conductor Gergiev made his career in operatic and theatrical repertoire, Bartók Piano Concerto No 3 making his debut with the Kirov Opera in 1978. This close connection with the Stravinsky The Rite of Spring theatre has always remained; in 1988 he was appointed chief conductor and Valery Gergiev conductor artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre Company. In all his conducting work, Yefim Bronfman piano one can sense Gergiev’s keen eye and ear for drama and theatricality, developed Sun 18 Oct 2015 and honed over decades working with the world’s finest opera companies. Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin Stravinsky Chant du rossignol For the thrilling culmination of his tenure as LSO Principal Conductor, Bartók Concerto for Orchestra Valery Gergiev returns to his theatrical roots in a series of three concerts placing Valery Gergiev conductor the dramatic works of Stravinsky and Bartók side by side with their concert works. Highlights will include the complete ballet scores to Stravinsky’s The Firebird, and The Rite of Spring, and Bartók’s visceral The Miraculous Mandarin. 8 VALERY GERGIEV: MAN OF THE THEATRE Full listings and booking information pages 12 to 20 9 INSPIRING THE ARTS, FOUR CENTURIES ON … ‘…not of an age, but for all time.’ Ben Jonson, from the preface to Shakespeare’s ‘First Folio’ In our times William Shakespeare has taken on an almost legendary status. SHAKESPEARE 400 His dramatic writing is considered to be amongst the greatest ever conceived in Thu 16 Feb 2016 the English language, and it is continuously performed, studied, re-interpreted Mendelssohn and adapted throughout the world in countless contexts and situations. A Midsummer Night’s Dream His timeless comedies, romances and tragedies explore a vast array of human Sir John Eliot Gardiner emotion, and have provided inspiration for generations of writers and dramatists.