London Symphony Orchestra opera and choral highlights

By -

The 2009/10 London Symphony Orchestra season has a rich operatic and choral offering, including 4 concert performances of two operas and a number of major choral works. Highlights include Strauss’ Elektra, Verdi’s Otello, Haydn’s The Seasons, James MacMillan’s LSO commissioned St John Passion, Poulenc’s Gloria and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev, LSO President Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Xian Zhang. Soloists include Gerald Finley, Matthias Goerne, Eva Johansson, Torsten Kerl, Christopher Maltman, Sally Matthews and Miah Persson.

Sir Colin Davis conducts two concert performances of Verdi’s Otello on Thursday 3 and Sunday 6 December. Davis is joined by Torsten Kerl in the title role, with Gerald Finley as Iago, Allan Clayton as Cassio, Anne Schwanewilms as Desdemona and Eufemia Tufano as Emilia.

On Tuesday 12 and Thursday 14 January Valery Gergiev conducts the Orchestra in a concert performance of Strauss’ Elektra, with Eva Johansson in the title role. The cast includes Matthias Goerne as Orest, Felicity Palmer as Klystemnaestra, Angela Denoke as Chrysothemis and Ian Storey as Aegisth.

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner on Sunday 7 February. Soloists soprano Rebecca Evans, mezzo soprano Wilke te Brummelstroete, tenor Steve Davislim and bass-baritone Vuyani Mlinde join Gardiner’s own Monteverdi Choir in this performance which is coupled with the composer’s Symphony No.1.

Originally commissioned by the LSO for Sir Colin Davis’ 80th birthday in 2008, James MacMillan’s St. John Passion is revived on Sunday 28 February as part of an LSO Artist Portrait of the composer to celebrate his 50th birthday. Davis conducts this performance with baritone Christopher Maltman and the London Symphony Chorus.

Stravinsky’s formidable Symphony of Psalms is performed on Wednesday 12 and Wednesday 19 May, conducted by Valery Gergiev. The work is coupled with the composer’s Symphony in C and the world premiere of Macmillan’s Violin Concerto (12 May) and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G (19 May) with soloists Vadim Repin and Hélène Grimaud.

On Wednesday 16 June, 2010 Xian Zhang conducts the LSO in a performance of Poulenc’s Gloria, with soprano Sally Matthews. This idiosyncratic choral work includes an irreverent Laudemus te, inspired, he claimed, by ‘those frescoes of Gozzoli in which the angels are sticking out their tongues and also those serious Benedictine monks whom I spotted one day playing soccer.’

Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons is the final choral work performed in the LSO’s 2009/10 season. Sir Colin Davis leads the Orchestra and Chorus with soprano Miah Persson and baritone Andrew Foster-Williams on Sunday 27 June.

Tickets: £7- £32
Secure online booking at lso.co.uk (£1.50 booking fee)
Box office: 020 7638 8891 open Mon-Sat 9am – 8pm, Sun 11am-8pm (£2.50 booking fee)
In person at the Advance Box Office in the Barbican centre (Mon-Sat 9am – 9pm; Sun 12pm – 9pm)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more