London Symphony OrchestraLiving Music

London’s Symphony Orchestra

Sunday 16 October 2016 7pm Thursday 20 October 2016 7.30pm Barbican Hall

THE MENDELSSOHN CYCLE CONCLUDES

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto INTERVAL Mendelssohn Symphony No 2 (‘Lobgesang’)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor Alina Ibragimova violin Lucy Crowe soprano Jurgita Adamonyte mezzo-soprano Michael Spyres tenor Monteverdi Choir

16 Oct finishes approx 9.10pm 20 Oct finishes approx 9.40pm

16 Oct recommended by Classic FM

20 Oct broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

2 Welcome 16 & 20 October 2016

Welcome Kathryn McDowell

Living Music In Brief

Welcome to this LSO concert at the Barbican for the final instalment of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s highly successful cycle of Mendelssohn’s orchestral works. Tonight he concludes this multi-season project by conducting the composer’s Symphony No 2 (‘Lobgesang’), a ‘symphony-cantata’ that features a full chorus and vocal soloists in its second half.

For this performance the LSO is joined by the Monteverdi Choir, a chorus founded by Sir John Eliot, alongside soprano Lucy Crowe, tenor Michael Spyres, and mezzo-soprano Jurgita Adamonyte.

Opening the concert, Sir John Eliot conducts Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, for which we are delighted to be joined by Alina Ibragimova. In recent years, she has played with the LSO in works by Schumann and Mozart, and also in recitals at LSO St Luke’s.

I hope you enjoy the concert and can join us again on 6 November, when the LSO celebrates the 80th birthday of American composer Steve Reich, through performances of three of his orchestral scores with conductor Kristjan Järvi and Synergy Vocals.

Kathryn McDowell CBE DL Managing Director

LSO ON TOUR

These two concerts see the LSO return to the Barbican after performances in Bonn and Essen with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir. The Orchestra will then depart again for two more performances of this programme in Düsseldorf and Mannheim, before embarking on a short tour to the United States with Principal Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda.

MENDELSSOHN ON LSO LIVE

While this cycle of performances comes to an end with ‘Lobgesang’, Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s series of Mendelssohn recordings on LSO Live continues with the recent release of the First and Fourth Symphonies. We are also excited to partner with Apple Music in bringing you an exclusive preview of Gardiner’s acclaimed interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Visit the Orchestra’s profile page on Apple Music to find out more.

geni.us/LondonSymphony

A WARM WELCOME TO OUR GROUPS

The LSO offers great benefits for groups of 10+. At these concerts we are delighted to welcome:

Faversham Music Club Adele Friedland & Friends Gerrards Cross Community Association Lucy Miller Murray & Friends Ann Parish & Friends

lso.co.uk/groups

London Symphony OrchestraSeason 2016/17

EL NIÑO Sun 4 Dec 2016 John Adams El Niño

John Adams conductor Joelle Harvey soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano mezzo-soprano Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, Nathan Medley countertenors Davone Tines bass London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director

LE GRAND MACABRE Sat 14 & Sun 15 Jan 2017 Ligeti Le grand macabre (semi-staged performance)

Sir Simon Rattle conductor Peter Sellars director London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director

Produced by the LSO and the Barbican.

Part of the LSO 2016/17 Season and

Barbican Presents.

GERMAN REQUIEM Sun 19 Mar 2017 Schubert Symphony No 8 (‘Unfinished’) Brahms German Requiem

Fabio Luisi conductor Julia Kleiter soprano Ruben Drole bass-baritone London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director

DAPHNIS AND CHLOÉ

Thu 23 Mar 2017 Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes Shostakovich Cello Concerto No 1 Ravel Daphnis and Chloé – complete ballet

Alain Altinoglu conductor Gautier Capuçon cello London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director

lso.co.uk 020 7638 8891

LSO Concerts with Chorus

LSO Sing is supported by the John S Cohen Foundation, LSO Friends, Rothschild Charities Committee, Barnett & Sylvia Shine No 2 Charitable Trust, Slaughter and May and Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement.

4 Programme Notes 16 & 20 October 2016

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) Violin Concerto in E minor Op 64 (1838–44)

ALLEGRO MOLTO APPASSIONATO

ANDANTE

ALLEGRETTO NON TROPPO – ALLEGRO MOLTO VIVACE

ALINA IBRAGIMOVA VIOLIN

In 1825, the 16-year-old Felix Mendelssohn met the 15-year-old violinist Ferdinand David; the two prodigies would become both great friends and musical partners. 13 years later, in one of his many letters to the violinist, Mendelssohn mentioned that he wanted to write a violin concerto for him; however, it was not until 1843 that he was able to give the work his full attention, and it was not completed until late 1844. Mendelssohn referred often to David for advice on matters both technical and artistic; the violinist made numerous changes to the concerto, and was in fact responsible for its unusual combination of technical feasibility and virtuosic gloss.

The E minor Concerto’s enduring popularity is due in no small part to its ease on the ear, and so it is easy to forget that it is also full of innovations. The immediacy of its first theme is one example: instead of the usual full orchestral opening, Mendelssohn has the soloist open the door on the concerto after barely a bar of introduction, playing an ardent, insistent melody. The orchestra is allowed to introduce the wistful second theme before the soloist takes it over; however, the gentler mood disappears as suddenly as it came. The central development section opens dramatically, later dissolving into virtuosic solo figurations that turn out to be the cadenza (written by David), whose dancing arpeggios melt away over the orchestra’s reprise of the main theme.

Mendelssohn, it is said, disliked applause between movements, and therefore decided to link the first two movements by way of a single bassoon note that hangs in the air. After a brief prologue, the solo violin plays the movement’s sweet, singing main melody. The orchestra initiates the more agitated central section, but the mood here is one of passion rather than disruption, and the atmosphere soon returns to the quiet reverence of the opening.

Once again, Mendelssohn denies the audience the chance to shuffle in their seats between the Andante and the finale, creating a bridge passage that refers to the concerto’s opening theme. An unexpected brass fanfare heralds carefree arpeggios in the violin – and suddenly we are carried headlong into a movement whose technical wizardry is peppered with flashes of fun and wit. Throughout this wonderful, delicate flight of fancy, Mendelssohn introduces several new ideas and melodies. But it is the graceful, effervescent opening melody that holds the movement just about under control, eventually bringing this most inventive yet approachable concerto to its dancing conclusion.

INTERVAL – 20 minutes

There are bars on all levels of the Concert Hall; ice cream

can be bought at the stands on Stalls and Circle level.

The Barbican shop will also be open.

Why not tweet us your thoughts on the first half of the

performance @londonsymphony, or come and talk to

LSO staff at the Information Point on the Circle level?

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PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER

ALISON BULLOCK is a freelance

writer and music consultant whose

interests range from Machaut to

Messiaen and beyond. She is a

former editor for the New Grove

Dictionary of Music, and the LSO.

FERDINAND DAVID (1810–73)

first met Mendelssohn while working

as a violinist in Königstadt during

the late 1820s. But their relationship

was cemented in 1836 when David

took up the post of Leader for the

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, where

Mendelssohn was the Kappellmeister.

They enjoyed a close musical

partnership through the orchestra,

as collaborators on this Violin

Concerto, and in chamber settings,

with Mendelssohn joining David

on the piano for public and private

performances.

lso.co.uk Composer Profile 5

Felix Mendelssohn Composer Profile

Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God.

The Hebrides. In 1830 he travelled to Italy at the suggestion of Goethe and while in Rome started his so-called ‘Scottish’ and ‘Italian’ symphonies. In 1835 he was appointed conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, greatly expanding its repertoire with early music and works of his own, including the E minor Violin Concerto. Two years later he married Cecile Jeanrenaud and in 1843 he founded the Leipzig Conservatory. His magnificent biblical oratorio, Elijah, commissioned for and first performed at the 1846 Birmingham Musical Festival, soon gained a place alongside Handel’s Messiah in the affections of British choral societies and their audiences. He died in Leipzig in 1847.

Composer Profile © Andrew Stewart

Felix Mendelssohn was the grandson of the Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and son of an influential German banker. Born into a privileged, upper middle-class family, as a boy he was encouraged to study the piano, taught to draw by his mother and became an accomplished linguist and classical scholar. In 1819 he began composition studies with Karl Friedrich Zelter. His family’s wealth allowed their home in Berlin to become a refuge for scholars, artists, writers and musicians. The philosopher Hegel and scientist Humboldt were among regular visitors, and members of the Court Orchestra and eminent soloists were available to perform the latest works by Felix or his older sister Fanny. Young Mendelssohn’s twelve string symphonies were first heard in the intimate setting of his father’s salon.

Mendelssohn’s maturity as a composer was marked by his Octet (1825) and concert overture to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826). In 1829 Mendelssohn revived Bach’s St Matthew Passion exactly one hundred years after its first performance. Soon after, a trip to London and the Scottish highlands and islands inspired the overture

Felix Mendelssohn

6 A Mendelssohn Journey 16 & 20 October 2016

A Mendelssohn Journey with Sir John Eliot Gardiner

2014

SYMPHONY

NO 1

SYMPHONY

NO 2

‘LOBGESANG’

SYMPHONY

NO 3

‘SCOTTISH’

SYMPHONY

NO 4

‘ITALIAN’

SYMPHONY

NO 5

‘REFORMATION’

A MIDSUMMER

NIGHT’S DREAM

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These concerts mark the end of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s cycle of Mendelssohn’s orchestral works with the LSO. Here we look back at our journey with this music through Switzerland, France, Germany and Luxembourg, and on LSO Live.

lso.co.uk A Mendelssohn Journey 7

‘John Eliot Gardiner unlocked both the silken beauty of this music and its evanescence.’ The Times, Review of 16 February 2016

2016

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8 Programme Notes 16 & 20 October 2016

Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No 2 (‘Lobgesang’) Op 52 (1840)

SINFONIA

MAESTOSO CON MOTO – ALLEGRO –

ALLEGRETTO UN POCO AGITATO

ADAGIO RELIGIOSO

CANTATA

ALLES, WAS ODEM HAT

SAGET ES, DIE IHR ERLÖST SEID – ER ZÄHLET UNSRE TRÄNEN

SAGT ES, DIE IHR ERLÖST SEID

ICH HARRETE DES HERRN

STRICKE DES TODES

DIE NACHT IST VERGANGEN

NUN DANKET ALLE GOTT

DRUM SING’ ICH MIT MEINEM LIEDE

IHR VÖLKER, BRINGET HER DEM HERRN

LUCY CROWE SOPRANO

JURGITA ADAMONYTE· MEZZO-SOPRANO

MICHAEL SPYRES TENOR

MONTEVERDI CHOIR

That Mendelssohn’s ‘Lobgesang’ (Hymn of Praise) is also known as his Symphony No 2 shows what an odd work it is. The composer himself was uncertain how to classify it until he took the advice of a friend and designated it as a ‘symphony-cantata’, a recognition of the fact that, if it has the overall trajectory of a four-movement symphony with vocal ending, then that choral ending – itself divided into nine sections comprised of arias, duets, recitatives and choruses – is so extended as to dwarf the first three movements altogether. Such a hybrid form has not always endeared it to critics, but this was a popular piece in the 19th century, and, as always with Mendelssohn, it is full of music of high quality and originality.

The choral symphony was not an entirely new concept. Beethoven’s Ninth of 16 years earlier was

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the great precursor of them all, of course, but in 1839 Berlioz had produced an even more integrated and radical version of the form with Roméo et Juliette. The ‘Lobgesang’, however, owes its unusualness primarily to the fact that it was composed for a specific occasion, namely celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of printing with movable type. Leipzig, where Mendelssohn had lived for the previous five years, had long been a leading German centre for books and printing, and had chosen to mark the quatercentenary with a three-day festival centring on the unveiling of a new statue of Gutenberg in the town square on 24 June. The day before there had been a new opera, Hans Sachs by Albert Lortzing, and the day after there was a grand concert in Bach’s church, the Thomaskirche, to conclude.

As the city’s foremost composer and musician, Mendelssohn was invited to provide the unveiling ceremony with a cantata (Festgesang, where we get the tune known today as ‘Hark the herald angels sing’), and to conduct the final concert, which included Weber’s Jubel-Ouverture, Handel’s ‘Dettingen’ Te Deum and the premiere of this piece. No doubt mindful of Bach’s legacy, as well of the importance of the printed word to the spread of Protestantism, Mendelssohn had made use of Lutheran chorales in Festgesang. And for the ‘Lobgesang’ he determined on a large-scale symphonic work using both chorales and texts from the Scriptures. It was published as Symphony No 2 in 1841, despite the fact that the so-far unpublished Nos 4 and 5 had predated it.

The work opens with a bold and majestic motto intoned by trombones, with answering phrases from the full orchestra. The theme is one Mendelssohn had already employed three years earlier in a setting of Psalm 42, and has a distinguished history in the

PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER

LINDSAY KEMP is a senior

producer for BBC Radio 3, including

programming Lunchtime Concerts

from LSO St Luke’s, Artistic Director

of the London Festival of

Baroque Music, and a regular

contributor to Gramophone magazine.

lso.co.uk Programme Notes 9

contrapuntal canon. Versions of it had been used by Bach and by Mozart in the finale of the ‘Jupiter’ Symphony. The exchange leads to the main body of the movement, an Allegro in bustling celebratory mood, in which the motto theme makes repeated impositions. The end brings a calming of the excitement, and a short clarinet cadenza, to lead into the second movement, a restlessly lilting, song-like piece in scherzo form. The atmosphere here is not so much playful as wistful in the outer sections, and downright serious in the central one, with its sternly intoned chorale melody. The third movement is actually marked ‘Adagio religioso’, and sets out its qualifications for the title in music of noble beauty.

The ‘cantata’ section follows with a return of the motto theme driving an imposing crescendo, at the height of which the chorus enters and provides it with a text –‘Alles was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn!’ (All things that have breath, praise the Lord!) – before bursting into fugal exuberance. The next four movements – an urgent recitative and aria for tenor, a solemnly imploring chorus and a hopeful soprano-tenor duet – successively darken the mood, stressing God’s support in times of hardship, and reaching the lowest ebb in a dramatic tenor aria full of Romantic nocturnal anxiety (‘watchman will the night soon pass?’). Comfort comes right at the end of this section as the soprano declares ‘Die Nacht ist vergangen!’ (The night has departed!), and the chorus takes up the line and turns it to light in another invigorating fugue. From here on the confident well-being of the opening is gradually restored, first with a pristine choral rendition of the Lutheran hymn ‘Nun danket alle Gott’ (which Mendelssohn had also used in the Festgesang), then with another duet radiant with thanks for deliverance, and finally a grand choral declamation and a fugue of Haydnesque jubilance.

The order of MENDELSSOHN’S

SYMPHONIES is unconventional,

in that the symphonies are listed in

the order that they were published,

rather than by when they were

completed. If that were the case,

then the order would be 1, 5, 4, 2 and

3, although this last one is contested

because the composer worked on

it for over a decade and the initial

sketches predate numbers 4 and 2.

JOHANNES GUTENBERGLittle is known of his early life, other than that he

was born in the German town of Mainz to a wealthy

merchant family. But by 1436 we know Gutenberg

had begun to work on a secret project that would

change the world forever. His method of PRINTING

WITH MOVABLE TYPE was unveiled in Strasbourg

in 1440, and with it, a new era of human knowledge

was born. With the greater speed and efficiency

with which information could now be produced and

distributed, Gutenberg’s invention was crucial to the

success of revolutionary movements

like the Protestant Reformation.

This is why Mendelssohn’s

anniversary commission quotes

liberally from the Bible, and

develops allegorical

themes of man’s journey

from the darkness of

ignorance towards the

light of truth.

TEXT AND TRANSLATION

PAGE 10

10 Text 16 & 20 October 2016

Symphony No 2 (‘Lobgesang’) Text

4 ALLES, WAS ODEM HAT Chorus Alles, was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn. Halleluja, lobe den Herrn. Lobt den Herrn mit Saitenspiel, Lobt ihn mit eurem Liede. Und alles Fleisch lobe seinen heiligen Namen. Alles, was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn.

Women’s Chorus and Soprano Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, Und was in mir ist, seinen heiligen Namen. Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, Und vergiß es nicht, was er dir Gutes getan.

5 SAGET ES, DIE IHR ERLÖST SEID – ER ZÄHLET UNSRE TRÄNEN Tenor Saget es, Die ihr erlöst seid durch den Herrn, Die er aus der Not errettet hat, Aus schwerer Trübsal, Aus Schmach und Banden, Die ihr gefangen im Dunkel waret, Alle, die er erlöst hat aus der Not. Saget es! Danket ihm und rühmet seine Güte!

Er zählet unsre Tränen in der Zeit der Not, Er tröstet die Betrübten mit seinem Wort.

LET EVERY THING THAT HATH BREATH

Chorus Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah, praise ye the Lord.

Praise the Lord with the lyre, Praise Him with your song. And let all flesh praise His holy name. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.

Women’s Chorus and Soprano Praise the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits.

SAY IT, YOU WHO ARE REDEEMED – HE COUNTETH OUR TEARS

Tenor Say it, You who are redeemed through the Lord, Whom He hath saved from anguish, From affliction, From shame and bondage, You who were in darkness, All of you, whom He hath redeemed from anguish. Say it! Thank Him and praise His mercy.

He counteth our tears in times of distress, He comforts the bereaved with His word.

Psalm 150

Psalm 33

Psalm 145

Psalm 150

Psalm 103

Psalm 107

Psalm 56

lso.co.uk Text 11

6 SAGT ES, DIE IHR ERLÖST SEID Chorus Sagt es, die ihr erlöst seid Von dem Herrn aus aller Trübsal. Er zählet unsre Tränen in der Zeit der Not.

7 ICH HARRETE DES HERRN Chorus and Soprano Ich harrete des Herrn, Und er neigte sich zu mir Und hörte mein Flehn. Wohl dem, Der seine Hoffnung setzt auf den Herrn! Wohl dem, der seine Hoffnung setzt auf ihn!

8 STRICKE DES TODES Tenor Stricke der Todes hatten uns umfangen, Und Angst der Hölle hatte uns getroffen, Wir wandelten in Finsternis. Er aber spricht: Wache auf! Wache auf, der du schläfst, Stehe auf von den Toten, Ich will dich erleuchten! Wir riefen in der Finsternis: Hüter, ist die Nacht bald hin?

SAY IT, YOU WHO ARE SAVED

Chorus Say it, you who are saved By the Lord from all afflictions. He counteth our tears in times of distress.

I WAITED PATIENTLY FOR THE LORD

Chorus and Soprano I waited patiently for the Lord, And He inclined unto me, and heard my plea. Blessed is he That puts his trust in the Lord. Blessed is he that puts his trust in Him.

THE SORROWS OF DEATH

Tenor The sorrows of death had enclosed us, And the fear of hell had struck us, We wandered in the darkness. But he spoke: wake up! Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, I will give thee light.

We cried out in the darkness: Watchman, will the night soon pass?

Psalm 107

Psalm 56

Psalm 40

Psalm 116

Ephesians 5

Isaiah 21

12 Text 16 & 20 October 2016

Symphony No 2 (‘Lobgesang’) Text (continued)

Der Hüter aber sprach: Wenn der Morgen schon kommt, so wird es doch Nacht sein; wenn ihr schon fraget, so werdet ihr doch wieder kommen und wieder fragen: Hüter, ist die Nacht bald hin?

Soprano Die Nacht ist vergangen.

9 DIE NACHT IST VERGANGEN Chorus Die Nacht ist vergangen, der Tag aber herbei gekommen. So lasst uns ablegen die Werke der Finsternis und anlegen die Waffen des Lichts und ergreifen die Waffen des Lichts!

10 NUN DANKET ALLE GOTT Chorus Nun danket alle Gott mit Herzen, Mund und Händen, der sich in aller Not will gnädig zu uns wenden, der so viel Gutes tut; von Kindesbeinen an uns hielt in seiner Hut und allen wohlgetan.

But the watchman said: If the morning comes soon, It will again be night; And if you ask, you will return and ask again: Watchman, will the night soon pass?

Soprano The night has passed.

THE NIGHT HAS PASSED

Chorus The night has passed, But the day has come. So let us cast off the works of darkness, And let us put on the armour of light, and take up the armour of light.

NOW LET US ALL THANK GOD

Chorus Now let us all thank God With our hearts, voice and hands, Who in all adversity Will be Merciful to us, Who does so much good; Who from childhood, Has kept us in His care, And done good to all.

Romans 13

Romans 13

lso.co.uk Text 13

Lob, Ehr’ und Preis sei Gott, Dem Vater und dem Sohne Und seinem heil’gen Geist Im höchsten Himmelsthrone. Lob dem dreiein’gen Gott, Der Nacht und Dunkel schied Von Licht und Morgenrot, Ihm danket unser Lied.

Text by Martin Rinckart (1636)

11 DRUM SING’ ICH MIT MEINEM LIEDE Soprano and Tenor Drum sing’ ich mit meinem Liede Ewig dein Lob, du treuer Gott. Und danke dir für alles Gute, das du an mir getan. Und wandl’ ich in Nacht und tiefem Dunkel, Und die Feinde umher stellen mir nach, So rufe ich an den Namen des Herrn, Und er errettet mich nach seiner Güte. Drum sing’ ich mit meinem Liede Ewig dein Lob, du treuer Gott. Und wandl’ ich in Nacht, So ruf ich deinen Namen an, Ewig, du treuer Gott.

Praise, honour and glory be to God, The Father and the Son And the Holy Ghost In heaven’s highest throne. Praise to God, three in one, Who separated night and darkness from light and dawn, Give thanks to him with our song.

SO WITH MY SONG I SING Soprano and Tenor So with my song I sing your eternal praises, faithful God. And thank you for all the good, That you have done for me. Though I wander in the night and darkness deep, And my enemies lay all around me, I will call upon the name of the Lord, And He will save me through his goodness. So with my song I sing your eternal praises, faithful God. And though I wander in the night, I will call upon Your name, forever, faithful God.

14 Text 16 & 20 October 2016

Symphony No 2 (‘Lobgesang’) Text (continued)

12 IHR VÖLKER, BRINGET HER DEM HERRN Chorus Ihr Völker, bringet her dem Herrn Ehre und Macht. Ihr Könige, bringet her dem Herrn Ehre und Macht. Der Himmel bringe her dem Herrn Ehre und Macht. Die Erde bringe her dem Herrn Ehre und Macht.

Alles danke dem Herrn. Danket dem Herrn und rühmt seinen Namen und preiset seine Herrlichkeit.

Alles, was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn, Halleluja, lobe den Herrn!

YOU PEOPLE, GIVE UNTO THE LORD

Chorus You people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. You kings, give unto the Lord glory and strength. The sky, give unto the Lord glory and strength. The earth, give unto the Lord glory and strength.

All thanks to the Lord. Thank the Lord and exalt His name and praise his glory.

Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah, praise ye the Lord.

Psalm 96

I Chronicles 16

Psalm 150

The Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition 2016GRAND FINAL

Thursday 17 November 7pm Barbican Hall

Three of the brightest young conducting stars compete in

front of a jury of world-renowned conductors and performers,

including Carlo Rizzi and Sir Antonio Pappano

lso.co.uk Artist Biographies 15

Sir John Eliot Gardiner Conductor

Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s work with the Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, of which he is founder and Artistic Director, has marked him out as a key figure in the early music revival and a pioneer of historically informed performances. As a regular guest of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, such as the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Gardiner conducts a range of repertoire from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Gardiner has conducted opera productions at the Royal Opera House, at the Vienna State Opera and at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. From 1983 to 1988 he was artistic director of the Opéra de Lyon, where he founded its new orchestra. Following the success in 2008 of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House, he returned there to conduct Verdi’s Rigoletto in 2012, and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in 2013, celebrating 40 years since his debut in 1973. In autumn 2015, he returned again to conduct Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in a production co-directed by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.

Guest conducting highlights this season include returns to the LSO, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Last season, he returned to the Berlin Philharmonic for a performance of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex.

2016 marked Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s 65th appearance at the BBC Proms with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique performing Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette, a work that toured to the Festival Berlioz in La Côte Saint-André. The 2016 Edinburgh International Festival included two concerts with

the Monteverdi Choir: Schumann’s Manfred with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the English Baroque Soloists, sung from memory and part of a year-long European tour of the work. In 2017, Gardiner, the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir undertake a year’s celebration of Monteverdi, performing his three surviving operas around the world.

An authority on the music of J S Bach, Gardiner’s book, Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, was published in October 2013 by Allen Lane, leading to the Prix des Muses award from the Singer-Polignac Foundation. In 2014 Gardiner became the first ever President of the Bach-Archiv Leipzig and the inaugural Christoph Wolff Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Harvard University for the academic year 2014/15.

Among numerous awards in recognition of his work, including the Concertgebouw Prize in 2016 and the Léonie Sonning Music Prize in 2005, Sir John Eliot Gardiner holds honorary doctorates from the New England Conservatory of Music and from the universities of Lyon, Cremona and St Andrews. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, London, the British Academy and of King’s College, Cambridge, where he himself studied and from where he received an Honorary Doctorate. In 2008 he received the Royal Academy of Music’s prestigious Bach Prize. Gardiner was made Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2011 and was given the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005. In the UK, he was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1990 and awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Founder and Artistic Director

Monteverdi Choir

Orchestre Révolutionnaire

et Romantique

English Baroque Soloists

President

Bach-Archiv Leipzig

Artistic Director

Anima Mundi Festival

16 Artist Biographies 16 & 20 October 2016

Alina Ibragimova Violin

Performing music from the Baroque to new commissions on both modern and period instruments, Alina Ibragimova has established a reputation as one of the most accomplished and intriguing violinists of the younger generation. This was illustrated in her prominent presence at the 2015 BBC Proms, which included a concerto with a symphony orchestra, a concerto with a Baroque ensemble and two Royal Albert Hall late-night recitals featuring the complete Bach partitas and sonatas, which drew capacity audiences.

Highlights among recent and forthcoming concerto engagements include debuts with the Boston Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Konzerthaus Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Vienna Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Tokyo Symphony, returns with the BBC Symphony and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, residencies with the Strasbourg Philharmonic and at the Casa della Musica in Porto, as well as extensive touring in Australia.

As a recitalist, Alina has appeared at venues including Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salzburg Mozarteum, Vienna’s Musikverein, Park Avenue Armory in New York, Carnegie Hall, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Vancouver Recital Series, San Francisco Performances, and at festivals including Salzburg, Verbier, Gstaad, MDR Musiksommer, Manchester International, Lockenhaus, Lucerne, Mostly Mozart in New York and Aldeburgh.

Her long-standing duo partnership with pianist Cédric Tiberghien has featured complete cycles of both the Beethoven violin sonatas and the Mozart sonatas for violin and keyboard at Wigmore Hall.

Future plans for the duo also include extensive touring in Japan and North America.

Over the years, Alina has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Orquestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Seattle Symphony, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Philharmonia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and all the BBC orchestras. Conductors with whom Alina has worked include Bernard Haitink, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Vladimir Jurowski, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Mark Elder, Philippe Herreweghe, Osmo Vänskä, Hannu Lintu, Sakari Oramo, Ilan Volkov, Tugan Sokhiev, Jakub Hruša, Ludovic Morlot, Edward Gardner and Gianandrea Noseda.

Born in Russia in 1985, Alina studied at the Moscow Gnesin School before moving with her family to the UK in 1995, where she studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Royal College of Music. She was also a member of the Kronberg Academy Masters programme. Alina’s teachers have included Natasha Boyarsky, Gordan Nikolitch and Christian Tetzlaff.

Alina has been the recipient of awards including the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award 2010, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2008, the Classical BRIT Young Performer of the Year Award 2009, and she was a member of the BBC New Generation Artists Scheme 2005–7. She was made an MBE in the 2016 New Year Honours List. Alina records for Hyperion Records and performs on a c1775 Anselmo Bellosio violin kindly provided by Georg von Opel.

lso.co.uk Artist Biographies 17

Lucy Crowe Soprano

Jurgita Adamonyte Mezzo-soprano

Born in Staffordshire, Lucy Crowe studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was recently appointed a Fellow.

In concert she has performed with many of the world’s finest conductors and orchestras including the Accademia Santa Cecilia Orchestra under Sir Antonio Pappano; the Orchestre National de France under Daniele Gatti; the Philharmonia under Esa-Pekka Salonen; the Australian Chamber Orchestra under Richard Tognetti; the

Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin; the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival under Stéphane Denève; the London Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding and Sir Mark Elder; the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, Edward Gardner, Emanuelle Haïm and Sakari Oramo; the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under Iván Fischer; the Zurich Chamber Orchestra under Sir Roger Norrington; the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Sir Charles Mackerras and Richard Egarr; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; the English Concert under Trevor Pinnock, Andrew Manze, Laurence Cummings and Harry Bicket; The Sixteen under Harry Christophers; the Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh; and the Monteverdi Orchestra under Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Future plans include the title role in Handel’s Rodelinda at the Teatro Real Madrid; Ismene Mozart’s Mitridate at the Royal Opera House; concerts of Mozart’s Requiem with the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and Bach’s St John Passion with Sir Antonio Pappano in Rome.

Jurgita Adamonyte was born in Lithuania and graduated with a Master of Music diploma from the Lithuanian Academy of Music. She continued her studies at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice.

Jurgita’s major performances have included Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and Dunjasha in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride at the

Royal Opera House, Cherubino in the Salzburg Festival’s production of The Marriage of Figaro with Robin Ticciati, Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo in Amsterdam, Page in Strauss’ Salome at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus and Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo for the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Recent engagements include Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in Vilnius, Berg’s Lulu for Teatreo Communale in Bolzano and Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for Garsington Opera.

She has appeared in concert with the Northern Sinfonia, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Recent successes include Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel in Vilnius and for Welsh National Opera, Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in a new production for Welsh National Opera, and Flosshilde in the new Johan Simons production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold for the Ruhrtriennale.

Engagements in 2016/17 include Sir Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater at the Pažaislis Music Festival in Kaunas, Lithuania, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 2 with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, and Isolde in Frank Martin’s Le vin herbé with Welsh National Opera. Subsequent engagements include her role debut as Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff at Teatro Regio di Parma in Italy.

18 Artist Biographies 16 & 20 October 2016

Michael Spyres Tenor

Monteverdi Choir Chorus

Michael Spyres was born in Missouri where he grew up in a family of musicians. He began his studies in the US and continued them at the Vienna Conservatory.

Spyres first sprang to international attention in 2008 in the title role of Rossini’s Otello at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, and as an ensemble member of Deutsche Oper Berlin where he made his debut as Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

Forthcoming engagements include the title roles in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Bavarian State Opera, Haydn’s Orlando paladino at the Zurich Opera House, Mozart’s Mitridate at the Royal Opera House, Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini at Deutsche Oper Berlin and La damnation de Faust at Staatsoper Berlin; his role debuts as Don José in Bizet’s Carmen at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Énée in Berlioz’s Les Troyens at the Salle Érasme Strasbourg and Pollione in Bellini’s Norma at the Zurich Opera House; Pirro in Rossini’s Ermione at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and in Lyon; Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Philadelphia Opera; Alfredo in the second act of Verdi’s La traviata in a gala alongside Plácido Domingo at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; and the AIDS-Gala 2016 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

He has worked with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Alberto Zedda, Michele Mariotti, Emmanuelle Haïm, Christophe Rousset and Evelino Pidò.

Founded by Sir John Eliot Gardiner in 1964, the Monteverdi Choir has always focused on bringing a new perspective to its repertoire. This approach, combined with its passionate and virtuosic singing, has led to its being acclaimed as one of the best choirs in the world.

Among its innovatory tours was the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, during which the Choir performed all 198 of J S Bach’s sacred cantatas in churches throughout Europe and America.

The Monteverdi Choir has over 150 recordings to its name and has won numerous prizes.

The Choir is also committed to training future generations of singers through the Monteverdi Apprentices Programme. Many Apprentices go on to become full members of the Choir, and former Choir members have also gone on to enjoy successful solo careers.

In the 2016/17 season they will be performing Bach’s Magnificat, Lutheran Mass in F major, and Cantata ‘Süßer Trost’ with the English Baroque Soloists and Sir John Eliot Gardiner in venues around Europe. In 2017 the Choir will undertake a landmark seven-month tour of Monteverdi’s greatest surviving works, including: L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, L’incoronazione di Poppea and the Vespers.

London Symphony Orchestra On stage

Monteverdi Choir On Stage

FIRST VIOLINS Stephanie Gonley Leader George Tudorache Lennox MackenzieClare Duckworth Ginette Decuyper Gerald Gregory Jörg Hammann Maxine Kwok-Adams Elizabeth Pigram Laurent Quenelle Harriet Rayfield Colin Renwick Sylvain Vasseur Shlomy Dobrinsky

SECOND VIOLINS David Alberman Sarah Quinn Miya Väisänen Matthew Gardner Julian Gil Rodriguez Naoko Keatley William Melvin Paul Robson Ingrid Button Paula Muldoon Alain Petitclerc Samantha Wickramasinghe

VIOLAS Edward Vanderspar Gillianne Haddow Malcolm Johnston German Clavijo Anna Bastow Julia O’Riordan Robert Turner Jonathan Welch Carol Ella Caroline O’Neill

CELLOS Rebecca Gilliver Alastair Blayden Jennifer Brown Noel Bradshaw Eve-Marie Caravassilis Daniel Gardner Hilary Jones Amanda Truelove

DOUBLE BASSES Colin Paris Patrick Laurence Matthew Gibson Joe Melvin Jani Pensola Simo Väisänen

FLUTESGareth Davies Alex Jakeman

OBOES Olivier Stankiewicz Rosie Jenkins

CLARINETS Chris Richards Chi-Yu Mo

BASSOONS Rachel Gough Daniel Jemison Joost Bosdijk

HORNS Bertrand Chatenet Angela Barnes Alexander Edmundson Jonathan Lipton Andrew Budden

TRUMPETSNeil Brough Gerald Ruddock

TROMBONES Peter Moore James Maynard

BASS TROMBONE Paul Milner

TIMPANI Nigel Thomas

ORGAN Catherine Edwards

LSO STRING EXPERIENCE SCHEME

Established in 1992, the LSO String Experience Scheme enables young string players at the start of their professional careers to gain work experience by playing in rehearsals and concerts with the LSO. The scheme auditions students from the London music conservatoires, and 15 students per year are selected to participate. The musicians are treated as professional ’extra’ players (additional to LSO members) and receive fees for their work in line with LSO section players.

London Symphony Orchestra Barbican Silk Street London EC2Y 8DS

Registered charity in England No 232391

Details in this publication were correct at time of going to press.

Print Cantate 020 3651 1690

Advertising Cabbell Ltd 020 3603 7937

The Scheme is supported by Help Musicians UK Fidelio Charitable Trust N Smith Charitable Settlement Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust LSO Patrons Polonsky Foundation

Editor Edward Appleyard edward.appleyard@lso.co.uk

Cover Photography Ranald Mackechnie, featuring LSO Members with 20+ years’ service. Visit lso.co.uk/1617photos for a full list.

Photography Marco Borggreve, Sim Canetty-Clarke, Massimo Giannelli, Kevin Leighton, Ranald Mackechnie, Oksana, Eva Vermandel

SOPRANOS Emily Armour Charlotte Ashley Elenor Bowers-Jolley Zoë Brookshaw Jessica Cale Amy Carson Rebecca Hardwick Angela Hicks Alison Hill Angela Kazimierczuk Gwendolen Martin Eleanor Meynell Angharad Rowlands Emma Walshe

MEZZO-SOPRANOS Lucy Ballard Heather Cairncross Rosie Clifford Sarah Denbee Annie Gill Emma Lewis Kate Symonds Joy Susanna Spicer Martha McLorinan Katie Schofield

TENORSBen Alden Andrew Busher Peter Davoren David de Winter Peter HarrisThomas Herford Hugo Hymas Nicholas Keay Graham Neal Nicolas Robertson Gareth Treseder

BASSES James Birchall Robert Davies Samuel Evans Jake Muffett Charles Pott Rupert Reid Edmund Saddington David Stuart Jonathan Brown Lawrence Wallington

lso.co.uk The Orchestra 19

Discover

Felix Mendelssohn!

Find out more on GRAMMOFY.COM/GO/LSO

The special collection in collaboration with the LSO contains existing and upcoming LSO Live Mendelssohn recordings, along with interviews with members of the orchestra, and with Sir John Eliot Gardiner himself.

Drop by the Grammofy listening stations tonight, located in the foyers, opposite the bars on levels -1 and 0, where you can also enter a competition to win one of five musical bundles consisting of a three-month Grammofy subscription,

plus one of the latest LSO Live Mendelssohn recordings.