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MONDAY 13 MAY 2019 CADOGAN HALL 63 RD SEASON 2018/19 LYADOV HUW WATKINS SIBELIUS

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Page 1: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

MONDAY 13 MAY 2019CADOGAN HALL

63RD SEASON2018/19

LYADOVHUW WATKINSSIBELIUS

Page 2: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

CADOGAN HALLTONIGHT’S VENUE

CADOGAN HALL 5 Sloane Terrace, London, SW1X 9DQ

SMOKING All areas of Cadogan Hall are non-smoking.

FOOD AND BEVERAGES You are kindly requested not to bring food and other refreshments into Cadogan Hall.

CAMERAS AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES Video equipment, cameras and tape recorders are not permitted. Please ensure that all pagers and mobile phones are switched off.

INTERVAL AND TIMINGS Intervals vary with each performance. Some performances may not have an interval. Latecomers will not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance.

CONSIDERATION We aim to provide the highest standards of service. We therefore ask you to treat our staff as you would expect to be treated.

ETIQUETTE

CULFORD ROOM House wines, champagne and soft drinks are available from the bars in the Culford Room.

OAKLEY BAR A wide selection of champagnes, spirits, wines,

beers and soft drinks, in addition to some light refreshments, is available in the Oakley Room.

GALLERY BAR Customers in the gallery may buy interval drinks from the Gallery Bar at some concerts.

REFRESHMENTS

Cadogan Hall has a range of services to assist disabled customers, including provision for wheelchair users in the stalls. Companions assisting disabled customers may be entitled to a free seat. Companion seats that have not been sold 48 hours before a performance will be released for general sale.

WHEELCHAIR USERS Staff can help you with your requirements. If you use a wheelchair and wish to transfer to a

seat, we regret that we may not be able to help you physically; however, we will arrange for your wheelchair to be taken away and stored.

In the box office, a lift is located to the right, enabling access to a lowered counter. Foyer areas are on the same level as the box office. The foyer bar (in the Caversham Room), the stalls and adapted toilet facilities are reached via a wide-access lift. Please note that there is no wheelchair access to the gallery seats.

ACCESS

PHONE 020 7730 4500ONLINE cadoganhall.com

Page 3: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

RUSSELL KEABLE ConductorALAN TUCKWOOD Leader

MONDAY 13 MAY 2019 7.30PMCADOGAN HALL LONDON

LYADOVThe Enchanted Lake

HUW WATKINSSymphonyLondon première

Four Legends from the Kalevala

Interval 20 minutes

SIBELIUS

Registered charity no. 1069620Registered charity no. 1069620

COVER IMAGE: Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s Clouds Above a Lake (1904-06). The Finnish artist is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, his country’s national epic. Photo: © ArtsDot.com

Huw Watkins will be signing CDs during the interval of tonight’s performance

Page 4: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME TIMELINE

1850

1870 1880 1890 1900

1910

1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990

LYADOV 1855-1914

SIBELIUS 1865-1957

1860

1910 19801950

Whereas most other modern composers are manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public cold spring water‘ Anyone who dared to depart from the

conventional path was bound to incur his wrath‘PROKOFIEV ON LYADOV The Enchanted Lake (1909), p5

Audiences have to make a bit of an effort with unfamiliar music, but I want to meet them halfway‘ HUW WATKINS Symphony (2016), p6

JEAN SIBELIUS Four Legends from the Kalevala (1893-95), p9

WATKINS 1976–

2000 20101860

Page 5: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

HUW WATKINS Symphony (2016), p6

ANATOLY LYADOV 1855-1914

MAY 2019 5

WATKINS 1976–

LYADOVThe Enchanted Lake (1909)

“ART,” THE RUSSIAN COMPOSER and conductor Anatoly Lyadov once wrote, “is the realm of the non-existing. Art is a fi gment, a fairy tale, a phantom.” He wanted to live in a make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest demon – give me something unreal and I am happy,” he wrote. Th is was his escape from everyday life, which he found “tedious, trying, purposeless, terrible”.

Lyadov studied with Rimsky-Korsakov at the St Petersburg Conservatory and later taught there, his pupils including Prokofi ev and Nikolai Myaskovsky. A Nationalist composer under the spell of folklore, he worked in less ambitious forms, such as tone poems and folk-song adaptations. He had a great sense of orchestral colour and a gift for musical characterisation – many of his charming piano miniatures remain in the repertoire – but his

lethargy meant that larger projects, including an opera, never got beyond the planning stage.

It was Lyadov’s laziness that led to Stravinsky’s overnight international success. For the 1910 Ballets Russes season in Paris, the impresario Sergei Diaghilev had asked Lyadov to write a new ballet based on the Russian fairy tale of the Firebird. When it became clear that Lyadov would not complete the score in time, Diaghilev handed the commission to the little-known Stravinsky, who jumped at the opportunity.

Between 1904 and 1909, Lyadov wrote three fairy tales for orchestra. Th e fi rst, Baba-Yaga, was followed by Th e Enchanted Lake, a companion piece to the third, Kikimora. Th ese last two started life as sketches for an opera, but unlike Kikimora, Th e Enchanted Lake has no programme. Nonetheless, it is descriptive music, easily lending itself to programmatic interpretation. It was fi rst performed in St Petersburg in February 1909.

Th e work has a magical, almost Impressionist atmosphere, dominated by a rippling opening theme for muted strings. Th is depicts the lake in which grim encircling forests are refl ected; sprightly rhythmic motifs in the woodwind suggest the water nymphs who live there.

From left: the Russian composers Anatoly Lyadov, Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in St Petersburg in 1904

A postage stamp issued by the USSR to mark Anatoly Lyadov’s centennial in 1955

Page 6: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

6 KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME HUW WATKINS 1976–

WATKINS Symphony (2016)

I ALLEGRO MOLTO II LENTOWelsh-born Huw Watkins is one of today’s leading composers, known for his vibrant, lyrical and impeccably crafted orchestral writing. He studied at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, at the University of Cambridge and at London’s Royal College of Music, with teachers including Julian Anderson, Alexander Goehr and Robin Holloway. He is also a fine chamber and solo pianist, often accompanying his elder brother, Paul, for whom he wrote a cello concerto that was premièred at the BBC Proms in 2016. Other works include flute, violin and piano concertos, as well as a wealth of chamber music.

Currently an honorary research fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, Watkins continues the tradition of Britten, Shostakovich and, in particular, Tippett in wanting to write strongly individual works without being avant-garde. “I like things to be accessible for a non-specialist audience, but not by writing down for them in any way,” he says.

Symphony (2016), funded by the Britten-Pears Foundation, was composed for the Hallé Orchestra, which gave the first performance, conducted by Mark Elder, at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in April 2017. The critic Steph Power writes that Watkins had “long seemed a symphonist-in-waiting, with a natural affinity for big-boned yet finely wrought drama”. It is certainly a powerful piece – perhaps his finest so far.

Scored for a fairly conventional large orchestra, this tightly constructed work has two movements of around equal length, nominally fast-slow. Although it lasts only 20 minutes, a lot happens in a short space of

time, both movements ending a long way from where they began. The work does not strictly adhere to Classical symphonic form, but the strong material is as fully developed as the title Symphony suggests, characterised by powerful tonal harmony, wide, sweeping melodic lines and often short, incisive rhythmic units.

The highly infectious rhythmic energy of the opening Allegro molto is constant, despite some thoughtful moments as the five beats in a bar are stretched and compressed. The scoring creates an open-air feeling, reminiscent of Copland, buoyant with gentle syncopation and flitting woodwind phrases. Despite a sinewy sense of purpose, the music abruptly fades away and splinters into pieces at the end.

Lyrical and relaxed, with prominent oboe, flute, clarinet and harp creating magical textures, the opening of the second movement, Lento, feels like the calm after the storm. But this contemplative mood begins to change as the music builds dramatically to faster material, with sonorous brass, piccolo shrieks and whip. Despite glowing moments of optimism, the full orchestra is hammering away at an insistent, powerful rhythm by the end, before the music stops suddenly in full flow.

Huw Watkins, also in demand as a pianist, is one of today’s leading composers

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Page 7: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

HUW WATKINS

SYMPHONYFlute Concerto • Violin Concerto • Symphony

Alina Ibragimova violin • Adam Walker fl uteBBC Symphony Orchestra/Edward Gardner

Hallé/Ryan WigglesworthGRAMOPHONE CRITICS’ CHOICE 2018

THE SUNDAY TIMES, TOP 100 BEST ALBUMS OF 2018

IN MY CRAFT OR SULLEN ART

Mark Padmore tenorElias String QuartetPaul Watkins celloNash Ensemble

Alina Ibragimova violinHuw Watkins piano

AVAILABLE ON NMC RECORDINGSwww.nmcrec.co.uk/recordings

@nmcrecordings Registered Charity no. 328052

30th ANNIVERSARY

“NMC has become a national treasure, introducing listeners all over the world to new music by more than 350 composers from

the British Isles. I’m thrilled that future plans will see this charity continue to enrich people’s lives through the joy of recordings ... NMC is an indispensable part of our history and our future: long

may it fl ourish!” Sir Simon Rattle (NMC Patron)

SUPPORT OUR WORK: TEXT NMC TO 70085 TO DONATE £3 TO OUR ANNIVERSARY APPEAL

This costs £3 plus the cost of one standard rate text message

Huw Watkins was composer-in-association at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from 2015 to 2018, and his latest work, The Moon, will be premièred by the BBC NOW and the BBC National Chorus of Wales at the BBC Proms on Thursday 8 August. Watkins, who is married to fellow British composer Helen Grime, lives in London. We spoke to him ahead of tonight’s London première of Symphony (2016).

How did you begin composing?

My parents were good amateur musicians, so there was always a lot of manuscript paper around the house. My brother, Paul, was a big inspiration when I was growing up, and he still is. I love the combination of piano and strings – that’s how I fell in love with music, playing Schumann and Brahms with family and friends – but I also love writing for orchestra, with the sheer power and the contrasts that are available.

You’ve worked closely with the BBC NOW, but you’ve also written for soloists including the violinist Alina Ibragimova.

I’ve been lucky to write a few pieces for Alina, who is breathtaking; there’s nothing she can’t play. The chance to build a relationship with an orchestra is rare, so working with the BBC NOW was a treat. It’s the only way to develop your orchestral writing; you just have to keep on doing it, and accept the chance to take risks.

Which other composers do you admire?

I’ve been playing Fauré’s chamber music recently, and it’s gorgeous: so original and fresh. Britten was the first composer I fell in love with, and I think Tippett’s an underrated genius. And John Adams knows how to make an orchestra sound great. One of my favourites – Oliver Knussen, who sadly died last year – is somebody I worked

CONTINUED ON P8

INTERVIEW HUW WATKINS

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8 KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

with a lot as a pianist. He didn’t have enough time to compose, so when he did write pieces, it was always a special occasion. My wife worked with him an awful lot, too, so we’ve got a family connection; a family admiration, I would say.

Do you and Helen work in a similar way?

We have different preoccupations and styles, but I think she’s brilliant. She teaches but she doesn’t play [the oboe] any more, so she’s even more obsessive about composing than I am! We do show each other what we’re up to, for a bit of support, from time to time. Writing a piece can take months, and you have no idea what it’s going to be like until the orchestra starts, so it’s a luxury to have someone at home to whom you can say “oh god, this is a disaster”, or not.

Symphony is your first major orchestral work without a solo instrument. How did it evolve?

It takes a few weeks to get all your ideas down, before the ones that you’re going to use float to the surface. The journey you take those ideas on is where the emotions come into it. I can’t work with my material until I know it intimately, so this piece took at least six months to write.

Would you say it’s typical of your style?

It’s hard to write music you’re completely happy with; it has felt like a long journey

towards unlocking my own style. I’ve been writing for more than 20 years, and when I look at the music I started off writing, I can see a lot of things I didn’t really believe in. Over the past ten years, I’ve been a bit more honest – I’m writing the music I want to write. It takes a while to work all of that out.

Contemporary music can be difficult, but you “want to meet audiences halfway”.

I’m a member of the audience as well as the composer, so I want to write something I’ll enjoy. I don’t want it to be cheesy, though; I like a bit of dissonance and rhythmic complexity, and I love things that go really fast! It needs co-operation and understanding from both sides. All you need to do is pay attention and keep an open mind.

What are you expecting from tonight?

You get such a committed performance from amateur groups, and that can be thrilling for a composer. I’ve got high expectations because I’ve heard really good things about KSO.

Tell us about your future plans.

I’d like to write another symphony – there are plans afoot – and The Moon will be premièred at the Proms this summer. It’s a setting of three wonderful poems by Shelley, Philip Larkin and Walt Whitman. The Proms is an amazing place and the audience is always up for anything, so that’s going to be a lot of fun.

HUW WATKINS 1976–

INTERVIEW BY RIA HOPKINSON

Great expectations: Huw WatkinsPH

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What should the audience listen out for?

Two-thirds of the way through the first movement, the music reaches a big climax and suddenly stops. They should try to remember that moment, because I come back to it right at the end.

Page 9: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

MAY 2019 9

JEAN SIBELIUS 1865-1957

CONTINUED ON P10

SIBELIUS Four Legends from the Kalevala (1893-95)

ALTHOUGH SIBELIUS IS BEST KNOWN for his seven magnificent symphonies, the composer’s commitment to Finnish nationalism in the face of the ever-closer grip of Tsarist Russia on his country throughout the 1890s was expressed in other works, especially his symphonic poems. These span most of his career, from En Saga (1892) to the last and greatest of these works, Tapiola (1926). Sibelius was and remains a national hero; his great achievement was to reassert Finnish culture as something distinct from that of Russia and Sweden, his music completely freeing itself from the academic traditions of Germany.

The Finnish conductor Robert Kajanus first brought Sibelius’s attention to the musical possibilities of the myths of the Kalevala,

Finland’s national epic. Many of Sibelius’s works were inspired by these myths, beginning with his choral symphony Kullervo (1892). The Four Legends from the Kalevala, written between 1893 and 1895, when Sibelius was still in his twenties, follow not so much the letter of the events as their spirit, evoking atmosphere rather than portraying narrative.

The works were first performed in 1896, but Sibelius soon revised them, the new versions being performed in 1897. Second revisions of The Swan of Tuonela and Lemminkäinen’s Return were published in 1900. Sibelius, always highly self-critical, withheld the other two Legends because of Kajanus’s lack of

The finale is ‘ life raised to its nth power and death to the uttermost limit’Sibelius expert Nils-Eric Ringbom

Lemminkäinen’s Mother (1897; detail), by the Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, depicts the body of the dead hero – a kind of tough and fearless Nordic Don Juan

Page 10: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

10 KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

TONIGHT’S PROGRAMME

enthusiasm. They were not performed again until 1935 and were only published in 1954, when Sibelius reversed the original order of the middle movements. Tonight’s performance returns to his first thoughts.

LEMMINKÄINEN AND THE MAIDENS OF THE ISLAND

The young hero, Lemminkäinen, a kind of tough and fearless Nordic Don Juan, seduces an entire community of women. He then attempts to win the hand of the arrogant Kyllikki, eventually abducting her. From its magical opening, this first Legend proclaims a new voice in music. Two groups of themes alternate: the first, passionate and tender, represents Lemminkäinen; the second, rhythmic and dance-like, depicts the festivities on the island.

LEMMINKÄINEN IN TUONELA

Lemminkäinen must perform three heroic deeds to win the Daughter of the North. After accomplishing the first two, he is given his final task: to kill the Swan with a single arrow. But on the banks of the River Tuoni, he is killed by a treacherous cowherd from the Northern Land. The sun tells Lemminkäinen’s mother that her son has been slain and his body thrown into the river. She persuades a blacksmith, Ilmarinen, to

forge a gigantic rake with which she gathers her son’s remains and magically brings him back to life. The dark orchestral colouring powerfully evokes the atmosphere of the story.

THE SWAN OF TUONELA

By far the best known of the Four Legends, this was the first to be written, begun in 1893 as the prelude to an opera, The Building of the Boat, which Sibelius abandoned the following year. A moving and expressive rhapsody, it depicts with icy intensity the lines inscribed in the score: “Tuonela, the land of death, the hell of Finnish mythology, is surrounded by a large river with black waters and a rapid current on which the Swan of Tuonela floats majestically, singing.”

A haunting cor anglais melody floats over sombre string harmonies, while the slow, insistent harp ostinato in the closing section underlines the brooding beauty of this highly evocative piece of tone painting.

LEMMINKÄINEN’S RETURN

The final Legend depicts Lemminkäinen galloping furiously through the wild forest landscape. The Sibelius expert Nils-Eric Ringbom calls this “a spirited, impetuously onrushing, yet fundamentally clear and idyllic finale… that spans the extreme poles of human existence: life raised to its nth power and death to the uttermost limit”.

It is certainly an exciting moto perpetuo, the insistent ostinatos creating overwhelming energy. The whole movement grows from the bassoon’s opening three-note figure. Towards the end, the colours brighten as the music moves from dark C minor to warmer E-flat major, the closing bars anticipating those of the first movement of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony.

JEAN SIBELIUS 1865-1957

FABIAN WATKINSONProgramme notes: © the author, 2019

CONTINUED FROM P9

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Kodály Dances of Marosszék

Chris Long World première

Dvorak Symphony No.6

MONDAY 1 JULY 7.30PM

COMING UP CHRIS LONG WORLD PREMIÈRE

BOOK NOW

Page 12: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

12 KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

RUSSELL KEABLEARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

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RUSSELL KEABLE is one of the UK’s most exciting musicians, praised as a conductor in both the national and international press. “Keable and his orchestra did magnificently,” wrote the Guardian; “one of the most memorable evenings at the South Bank for many a month,” said the Musical Times.

In more than 30 years with KSO, Keable has established the group as one of the UK’s finest non-professional orchestras. It is known for its ambitious programming of contemporary music, and he has led premières of works by British composers including Robin Holloway, David Matthews, Peter Maxwell Davies, John McCabe, Joby Talbot and John Woolrich.

Keable has received particular praise as a champion of the music of Erich Korngold: the British première of the composer’s Die tote Stadt was hailed as a triumph, and research in Los Angeles led to a world première of music from Korngold’s film score for The Sea Hawk.

Keable performs with orchestras and choirs throughout the UK, has conducted in Prague and Paris (filmed by British and French television) and has worked with the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra in Dubai. He has recorded two symphonies by Robert Simpson, and a Beethoven CD was released in New York.

Keable holds the post of director of conducting at the University of Surrey. He trained at the University of Nottingham and King’s College, London University. He studied conducting at London’s Royal College of Music with Norman Del Mar, and later with George Hurst.

Over five years, Keable established an innovative education programme with the Schidlof Quartet. He is a dynamic lecturer and workshop leader, working with audiences ranging from schoolchildren and music students to international business conferences.

Keable is also in demand as a composer and arranger. His opera Burning Waters, commissioned by the Buxton Festival, was premièred in July 2000; he has also composed music for the mime artist Didier Danthois to use in prisons and special-needs schools.

Russell Keable has led premières of works by a number of British composers working today

RUSSELL KEABLE

Music director

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MAY 2019 13

KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Russell Keable has aired a number of unusual works, as well as delivering significant musical landmarks: the London première of Dvorak’s opera Dimitrij and the British première of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, the latter praised by the Evening Standard as “a feast of brilliant playing”. In 2004, KSO and the London Oriana Choir performed a revival of Walford Davies’s oratorio Everyman, a recording of which is available on the Dutton label.

Contemporary music continues to be the lifeblood of KSO. Recent programmes have featured works by an impressive roster of composers working today, including Thomas Adès, Charlotte Bray, Brett Dean, Jonny Greenwood, Magnus Lindberg, Rodion Shchedrin, Joby Talbot and John Woolrich.

KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, now in its 63rd season, enjoys an enviable reputation as one of the finest non-professional orchestras in the UK. Its founding aim – “to provide students and amateurs with an opportunity to perform concerts at the highest possible level” – remains key to its mission.

KSO has had only two principal conductors: its founder, Leslie Head, and Russell Keable, who has been with the orchestra for more than three decades. The knowledge, passion and dedication of these musicians has shaped KSO, giving the orchestra a distinctive repertoire that sets it apart from other groups.

Revivals and premières of new works often feature in the orchestra’s repertoire, alongside major works of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. World and British premières have included music by Bax, Brian, Bruckner, Nielsen, Schoenberg, Sibelius and Verdi.

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Tonight, the orchestra returns to Cadogan Hall, one of its regular performance venues

KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Founded in 1956

CONTINUED ON P14

‘KSO is a remarkable band… there were many moments to relish’Classical Source

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14 KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

THE ORCHESTRAARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES

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In 2005, Errollyn Wallen’s Spirit Symphony, performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra, won the Radio 3 Listeners’ Award at the British Composer Awards. In 2014, KSO gave the world première of Stephen Montague’s From the Ether, commissioned by St John’s Smith Square to mark its 300th anniversary.

During the 2014/15 season, the orchestra collaborated with Seán Doherty as part of Making Music’s Adopt a Composer scheme. A new work is being written for KSO by Chris Long, and the orchestra will give the world première at St John’s Smith Square in July.

In April 2018, KSO staged its 16th “sponsored play” event at Westfield London, raising more than £21,000 for War Child and the Kensington & Chelsea Foundation’s Grenfell Tower Fund. KSO also supports the music programme at Pimlico Academy, its primary rehearsal home.

This reflects the orchestra’s long history of charitable activities: KSO’s first concert was given in aid of the Hungarian Relief Fund, and it has developed links with the Kampala Symphony Orchestra and Music School

under its KSO2 programme, providing training, fundraising and instruments.

The reputation of the orchestra is reflected in the quality of international artists who appear with KSO. Recent soloists include Nikolai Demidenko, Sir John Tomlinson, Yvonne Howard, Katherine Watson, Matthew Trusler, Fenella Humphreys and Richard Watkins, in addition to up-and-coming artists such as the pianists Martin James Bartlett, Alexander Ullman and Richard Uttley.

The orchestra works with a guest conductor each year; recently, these have included Jacques Cohen, Nicholas Collon, Andrew Gourlay, Holly Mathieson and Michael Seal.

KSO regularly performs at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall and St John’s Smith Square, and celebrated its 60th anniversary with a gala concert at the Barbican Centre in May 2017.

KSO “certainly does not restrict itself to safe repertoire”, says Classical Music Magazine

CONTINUED FROM P13 ‘A feast of brilliant playing’The Evening Standard

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MAY 2019 15

FRIENDS’ SCHEMESUPPORT US

PATRONS Sue and Ron Astles Kate Bonner Sim Canetty-ClarkeCWA International Ltd John and Claire Dovey Bob and Anne Drennan Malcolm and Christine DunmowNick Marchant Jolyon and Claire Maugham David and Mary Ellen McEuenJohn and Elizabeth McNaughton Belinda MurrayMichael and Jan Murray Linda and Jack Pievsky Neil Ritson and family Kim Strauss-Polman Keith Waye

PREMIUM FRIENDS David Baxendale Dr Michele Clement and Dr Stephanie Munn John Dale Alastair Fraser Michael and Caroline Illingworth Maureen Keable Jeremy Marchant Margot RaybouldRichard and Jane Robinson

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Join our Friends’ Scheme to receive special benefits

SUPPORT KSO by joining our popular Friends’ Scheme. There are three levels of membership, each with special benefits, for the 2018/19 season.

FRIEND £65Unlimited tickets at concessionary rates, priority booking and free interval drinks and concert programmes.

PREMIUM FRIEND £135One free ticket for each concert, unlimited guest tickets at concessionary rates, priority booking and free interval drinks and concert programmes.

PATRON £235Two free tickets for each concert, unlimited guest tickets at concessionary rates, priority booking and free interval drinks and concert programmes.

SEE YOUR NAME listed in our concert programmes as a Friend, Premium Friend or Patron, under single or joint names.

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS are available on request for companies and groups, tailored to your needs.

TO JOIN the Friends’ Scheme, contact David Baxendale on 020 8650 0393 or [email protected].

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Page 16: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

16 KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

SPONSOR OR DONATESUPPORT US

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SPONSORSHIP AND DONATIONS Make a difference to KSO YOU, OUR AUDIENCE, can really help us through sponsorship. Anyone can be a sponsor, and any level of support – from corporate sponsorship of a concert or soloist to individual backing of the orchestra – is enormously valuable to us. We offer a variety of benefits to sponsors, tailored to their needs, such as programme and website advertising, guest tickets and assistance with entertaining.

As a charity, KSO is able to claim Gift Aid on any donations made to the orchestra.

Donating through Gift Aid means that KSO can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give, at no extra cost to you. Your donations will qualify as long as they are not more than four times what you have paid in tax in that financial year.

TO SPONSOR KSO, or to find out more, call David Baxendale on 020 8650 0393, email [email protected] or speak to any member of the orchestra.

TO MAKE A DONATION, or to find out more about Gift Aid, email the treasurer at [email protected].

LEAVING A LEGACY Support the next generation LEGACIES LEFT to qualifying charities, such as KSO, are exempt from inheritance tax. In addition, if you leave more than 10% of your estate to charity, the tax due on the rest of your estate may be reduced from 40% to 36%.

Legacies can be left for fixed amounts (specific or pecuniary bequests) as either cash or shares, but a common way to ensure that your loved ones are provided for is to make a residuary bequest, in which the remainder of your estate is distributed to one or more charities of your choice after specific bequests to your family and friends have been met.

Legacies, along with conventional donations to KSO’s Endowment Trust, enable us to plan for the next decades of the orchestra’s development.

If you include a bequest to KSO in your will, please tell us that you have done so; we can

then keep you up to date and, if you choose, we can also recognise your support. Any information you give us will be treated in the strictest confidence, and does not form a binding commitment of any kind.

TO LEAVE A LEGACY or to find out more, speak to your solicitor or contact Neil Ritson, the chair of KSO’s Endowment Trust, on 020 7723 5490 or [email protected].

Support KSO by sponsoring a concert

Page 17: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

MAY 2019 17

KSO ONLINEFIND OUT MORE

GO TO KSO.ORG.UK to keep up to date with the orchestra and all our events. You can see the details of forthcoming concerts, listen to previous performances, read reviews and learn more about the history of KSO.

BOOKMARK OUR WEBSITE:

kso.org.uk/[email protected]

REGISTER FOR ALERTS:

BUY VIA THESE WEBSITES:

VISIT US ONLINE All the latest on KSO

FOLLOW US Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

CONNECT WITH US:facebook.com/kensingtonsymphonyorchestra

twitter.com/kensingtonso

instagram.com/kensingtonsymphony

FOLLOW OUR FEEDS for the latest news and behind-the-scenes photos from KSO. Join the conversation and share our news, photos and events with your friends and family to help us spread the word.

DONATE WHILE YOU SHOP Support us at no cost to you

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST News straight to your inbox

SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER to receive emails with the details of all our concerts. Visit kso.org.uk/mailinglist or email [email protected] and we’ll keep you up to date.

CONTRIBUTE TO KSO by shopping online. A number of online retailers will pay us a small percentage of the value of your purchase – at no extra cost to you – when you visit their websites through links at kso.org.uk/shop or thegivingmachine.co.uk.

kso.org.uk/shopthegivingmachine.co.uk

Page 18: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

18 KENSINGTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

THE ORCHESTRATONIGHT’S PERFORMERS

FIRST VIOLINAlan TuckwoodBronwen FisherRobert ChatleyRia HopkinsonHelen StanleyAdrian GordonSarah HackettHeather BinghamSabina NielsenHelen HockingsMatthew HickmanSusan Knight

SECOND VIOLINDavid PievskyJuliette BarkerTaro VisserHelen TurnellIvan ChengLiz ErringtonRufus RottenbergJudith Ní BhreasláinJeremy BradshawElizabeth BellClaire DoveyRichard Sheahan

VIOLABeccy Spencer Guy RaybouldHattie Rayfi eldSally RandallJane Spencer-DavisAlison NethsinghaAndrew McPhersonSam BladeMeredith EstrenLiz Lavercombe

CELLOJoseph SpoonerNatasha FosterAnnie Marr-JohnsonAlex BreedonDavid BaxendaleVanessa HadleyNicola JacksonAnna Hamilton

DOUBLE BASSSteph FlemingAndrew NealSam Wise

FLUTEChristopher WyattClaire KnightonDan Dixon

PICCOLODan DixonClaire KnightonChristopher Wyatt

OBOECharles BrenanLindi Renier Todd

COR ANGLAISChris Astles

CLARINETChris HorrilChris WaltersGraham Elliott

BASS CLARINETGraham Elliott

BASSOONNick RampleySheila Wallace

CONTRABASSOONKriskin Allum

FRENCH HORNCameron McDonnellHeather PawsonChris CollinsAlex Regan

TRUMPETStephen WillcoxJohn HackettNoah Lawrence

TROMBONEPhil CambridgeKen McGregor

BASS TROMBONEStefan Terry

TUBADave Young

TIMPANITommy Pearson

PERCUSSIONTim AldenSimon WillcoxAndrew Barnard

HARPZita Silva

CELESTERebecca Taylor

MUSIC DIRECTORRussell Keable

TRUSTEESChris AstlesDavid BaxendaleElizabeth BellSam BladeJon BoswellRosi CalleryJohn DoveySabina NielsenHeather PawsonNick Rampley

ENDOWMENT TRUSTRobert DrennanGraham ElliottJudith Ní BhreasláinNick RampleyNeil Ritson

EVENTSCatherine AbramsChris AstlesJudith Ní BhreasláinSabina NielsenBeccy Spencer

MEMBERSHIPJuliette BarkerDavid BaxendaleAndrew Neal

MARKETINGJeremy BradshawRia HopkinsonJo JohnsonAndrew NealGuy Raybould

PROGRAMMESRia Hopkinson

WOODWIND COACHSarah Th urlow

CONTACT US:

Page 19: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

MAY 2019 19

THE ORCHESTRA IN PICTURES

The orchestra performs Stravinsky and Bruckner at Cadogan Hall in January 2017. “London is lucky to have an amateur orchestra of such enterprise and quality,” says Classical Source

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Page 20: KSO programme, May 2019, Cadogan, Sibelius program… · make-believe world of enchantment, peopled by unearthly spirits. “Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a water sprite, a forest

63RD SEASON2018/19

MONDAY 1 JULY 2019 7.30PMST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE KODALY Dances of MarosszékCHRIS LONG World premièreDVORAK Symphony No.6

BOOK TICKETS & FIND OUT MORE:

MONDAY 7 OCTOBER 2019ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE, 7.30PMAnna Clyne MasqueradeBerg Lulu-SuiteSoloist: Mari Wyn Williams

Prokofi ev Symphony No.5

TUESDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2019ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE, 7.30PMWeber Der Freischütz OvertureHindemith Symphony: Mathis der MalerBeethoven Symphony No.6

THURSDAY 23 JANUARY 2020QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL, 7.30PMBrahms Piano Concerto No.2Soloist: to be confirmed

James MacMillan Symphony No.4

SATURDAY 14 MARCH 2020ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE, 7.30PMBernstein Candide OvertureKorngold Violin Concerto Soloist: Stephen Bryant

Shostakovich Symphony No.11: The Year 1905Guest conductor: Michael Seal

SATURDAY 9 MAY 2020FAIRFIELD HALLS PHOENIX CONCERT HALL, 7.30PMMahler Symphony No.3

TUESDAY 30 JUNE 2020ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE, 7.30PMSibelius En SagaNicholas Maw Dance ScenesTchaikovsky Symphony No.6

64TH SEASON2019/20