Sunday 3 March 2019 7–9.05pm Barbican LSO SEASON CONCERT SIR ANTONIO PAPPANO Ponchielli Elegia Verdi String Quartet (version for full strings) MESSA DI Interval Puccini Messa di Gloria Sir Antonio Pappano conductor Benjamin Bernheim tenor Gerald Finley bass London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director GLORIA William Spaulding guest chorus master This concert will be broadcast live by Medici.tv 5.30pm Barbican Hall LSO Platforms: Guildhall Artists Free pre-concert recital Welcome Latest News of talks and chamber music performances THE LSO’S 2019/20 SEASON CULTURE MILE COMMUNITY DAY at our venue, LSO St Luke’s. This evening we also hosted a free pre-concert recital, On Thursday 21 February we announced On Sunday 17 February, LSO St Luke’s when musicians from the Guildhall School the details of the LSO’s 2019/20 season. was taken over for a day of performances, performed Italian vocal chamber works Sir Simon Rattle continues his exploration of workshops, music, food and crafts, run by here in the Barbican Hall. These free LSO the roots and origins of music, including a Culture Mile to celebrate the irrepressible Platforms recitals seek to complement the look back to the influence of Beethoven in his creativity and community spirit of East repertoire in the Orchestra’s main season 250th anniversary year and a focus on how London. Join us for free at the next and showcase the musicians of the future. folk music inspired the music of Bartók and Community Day on Sunday 21 July. Percy Grainger. François-Xavier Roth conducts I would like to thank our media partner complementary programmes looking at • lso.co.uk/news elcome to this evening’s LSO medici.tv, which is broadcasting tonight’s the music of Bartók and Stravinsky, while concert at the Barbican. Tonight, concert live to an international audience. Gianandrea Noseda continues his survey of Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Russian works. We also take the opportunity WATCH THE LSO ON YOUTUBE a programme exploring the roots and I hope that you enjoy the performance and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of LSO connections in Italian music of the that you will be able to join us again soon. Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas’ The Orchestra’s Barbican concert next 19th century. Ponchielli’s Elegia opens On Sunday 10 March we are delighted to be first appearance with the Orchestra. Sunday 10 March, celebrating conductor the concert, followed by works by his joined by Bernard Haitink to celebrate his Bernard Haitink’s 90th birthday, will be contemporary, Verdi, and former student, 90th birthday with a concert of Bruckner Full public booking is open from 10am on streamed live and for free on the LSO’s Puccini. We’ll hear Verdi’s String Quartet and Mozart featuring pianist Till Fellner, Tuesday 5 March via the LSO’s website. YouTube channel. Watch from 6.30pm when arranged for full orchestral strings before who makes his LSO debut. Bernard Haitink Rachel Leach will present an introduction to being joined by soloists Gerald Finley and also conducts two concerts of Dvořák and • lso.co.uk/201920 the music before the concert starts at 7pm. Benjamin Bernheim, who makes his LSO Mahler on Thursday 14 and Thursday 21 debut tonight, for Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, March with Isabelle Faust and Anna Lucia You can also watch the streamed LSO featuring the London Symphony Chorus. Richter, and Barbara Hannigan continues her WELCOME TO TONIGHT’S GROUPS concert from Thursday 7 February in full now. Artist Portrait series on Sunday 17 March, Earlier today LSO Discovery, the Orchestra’s appearing as both conductor and soprano. We are delighted to welcome the • lso.co.uk/livestream education and community programme, groups attending tonight’s concert: • youtube.com/lso hosted a Discovery Day focusing on Italian Matthew McCabe, Tenor Section of the LSC, vocal music of the same period. Participants Mrs Adele Friedland & Friends had the chance to attend this morning’s Kathryn McDowell CBE DL orchestral rehearsal before an afternoon Managing Director 2 Welcome 3 March 2019 Tonight’s Concert In Brief by Sir Antonio Pappano Coming Up uccini is sophisticated in so many Tonight’s concert also features works by Sunday 10 March 7–9.15pm Sunday 17 March 7–9pm ways – as an orchestrator, as a two other Italian composers – Ponchielli’s Barbican Barbican melodist, and as a conceiver of Elegia and Verdi’s wonderful String Quartet, stories and how they grow. I recorded the arranged for full orchestral strings. The HAITINK AT 90: BIRTHDAY CONCERT BARBARA HANNIGAN Messa di Gloria with the LSO in 2001 – it’s Elegia is a particularly mournful piece. a beautiful recording – and I remember It is almost monochromatic, in one colour: Mozart Piano Concerto No 22 Ligeti Concerto Românesc at the time it being a real labour of love. a beautiful heart-rending piece of music. Bruckner Symphony No 4 Haydn Symphony No 86 Many in the Orchestra had not heard of Berg Lulu – Suite it, let alone played it, but they were in By comparison, the Verdi String Quartet is Bernard Haitink conductor Gershwin arr Hannigan & Elliot heaven because it has an amazing allure. quite structured. It’s in sonata form with a Till Fellner piano Girl Crazy – Suite It creates sympathy and I find its lyricism big fugue at the end, and there are many of incredibly winning. Puccini wrote the mass the standard elements of classical music. Streamed live on youtube.com/lso and medici.tv Barbara Hannigan conductor/soprano as a graduation exercise from music college, It has that in common with the Messa di Recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on 11 March so it’s a juvenile work. He never had it Gloria. Puccini was following generations of published, but he dipped into it and later composers before him that had written the Sunday 24 March 6–9pm used some of the themes in his operas. standard Mass structure. Barbican Thursday 14 March 7.30–9.30pm I feel particularly close to Puccini, in part The most important connection that binds Thursday 21 March 7.30–9.30pm LSO FUTURES because of his contradictions. The piece has tonight’s programme is that these are all Barbican rousing moments but none that I would non-operatic works by three extremely David Lang the public domain (UK premiere)* call melodramatic – that, I think, is the operatic composers: all three were HAITINK AT 90: Philippe Manoury Ring (UK premiere) difference between this and his operas. composing from outside of their comfort MAHLER SYMPHONY NO 4 Donghoon Shin Kafka’s Dream (world premiere) zones. Working with the music of these Scriabin Symphony No 4, ‘The Poem of Ecstasy’ The Credo was written first and Puccini composers outside their usual genres is so Dvořák Violin Concerto intended it to be an isolated piece of its very interesting and I find it quite moving. • Mahler Symphony No 4 François-Xavier Roth conductor own: it’s a big structure and really quite Simon Halsey conductor * impressive for such a young student. Bernard Haitink conductor Thomas Guthrie director * But, what I love in particular is the duet Isabelle Faust violin London Symphony Chorus between the tenor and baritone in the Anna Lucia Richter soprano LSO Community Choir Agnus Dei – this is the music that went 500 Voices Participants * on to be used in the opera Manon Lescaut. Thursday 14 March 6pm It’s very simple and very beautiful. LSO Platforms: Guildhall Artists Tonight’s Concert 3 2019/20 with the London Symphony Orchestra Public booking opens 10am on Tuesday 5 March ROOTS & ORIGINS 50 YEARS WITH THE LSO RUSSIAN ROOTS BARTÓK Sir Simon Rattle Michael Tilson Thomas Gianandrea Noseda François-Xavier Roth Season Opening Concert Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet Shostakovich’s Sixth The Miraculous Mandarin 14 September 2019 10 November 2019 31 October 2019 19 December 2019 Messiaen’s Éclairs sur l’au-delà Michael Tilson Thomas, Tchaikovsky Tchaikovsky’s Fifth HALF SIX FIX 15 September 2019 & Prokofiev 3 & 28 November 2019 The Wooden Prince 14 November 2019 18 March 2020 Brahms & Rachmaninov Shostakovich’s Seventh 18 & 19 September 2019 HALF SIX FIX 5 December 2019 The Wooden Prince Prokofiev: Symphony No 5 & Stravinsky Violin Concerto Berg & Beethoven’s Seventh 13 November 2019 Shostakovich’s Ninth 19 March 2020 16 January 2020 30 January & 9 February 2020 Dukas Symphony in C Beethoven: James MacMillan: St John Passion 22 March 2020 Christ on the Mount of Olives 5 April 2020 19 January & 13 February 2020 ARTIST PORTRAIT Stravinsky’s Firebird 11 June 2020 Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Antoine Tamestit 16 February 2020 Panufnik Composers Workshop Jörg Widmann’s Viola Concerto 26 March 2020, LSO St Luke’s Bartók: Duke Bluebeard’s Castle with Daniel Harding 23 April 2020 19 April 2020 Mahler’s Fourth Symphony Berio Voci with François-Xavier Roth 26 April 2020 11 June 2020 Grainger Walton Viola Concerto 4 June 2020 with Alan Gilbert Produced by the LSO and Barbican. Part of the 14 June 2020 LSO’s 2019/20 Season and Barbican Presents. BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts: Explore the season at Gershwin, Ives, Harris & Bernstein Antoine Tamestit & Friends 6 June 2020 8 & 15 May; 5 & 26 June 2020, LSO St Luke’s lso.co.uk/201920 Amilcare Ponchielli Elegia undated / note by Ben Earle milcare Ponchielli has the dubious extended introduction, subdued in tone, • PONCHIELLI’S HIT: LA GIOCONDA honour to belong to that special precedes a violin melody that expands category of composers, including operatically as it moves from B minor to its A tale of intrigue, love, lust and, in the end, Paul Dukas, Gustav Holst and Carl Orff, relative major.