London Symphony Orchestra
Living Music
Sunday 4 December 2016 7pm
Barbican Hall
JOHN ADAMS AT 70
John Adams El Niño
Interval after Part One
London’s Symphony Orchestra
John Adams conductor
Joélle Harvey soprano
Jennifer Johnson Cano mezzo-soprano
Davóne Tines bass-baritone
Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings,
Nathan Medley counter-tenors
London Symphony Chorus
London Youth Choir
Simon Halsey chorus director
Concert finishes approx 9.30pm
2
Welcome
4 December 2016
Welcome
Kathryn McDowell
Living Music
In Brief
Welcome to tonight’s LSO concert where we are
delighted to be joined by one of America’s most
influential musicians, John Adams, in the first of our
concerts celebrating his 70th birthday. This evening
he conducts El Niño, his own oratorio based on the
nativity story, written for the new millennium. It is
always a pleasure to work with John Adams on his
own music, and we are excited to be performing
this work for the first time here at the Barbican,
before taking it on tour to Paris.
On stage John Adams is joined by vocal soloists
Joélle Harvey, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Davóne Tines,
Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings and Nathan Medley,
all of whom are making their LSO debuts this evening.
In addition we would like to welcome back the
London Symphony Chorus, which continues its 50th
anniversary celebrations with the LSO’s own Choral
Director Simon Halsey. The LSC will be joined on
stage tonight by the London Youth Choir.
I hope you enjoy the concert and can join us again on
8 December when John Adams returns to conduct
his own dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra,
Scheherazade.2, with soloist Leila Josefowicz,
alongside pieces by Bartók and Stravinsky.
CHRISTMAS OFFERS FROM LSO LIVE
Throughout December LSO Live will be running
exclusive Christmas offers, including discounted
box sets, special bundles and free UK shipping on
orders over £30. New offers will be announced on
9 December, so keep checking the LSO Live website
to take advantage of the latest discounts.
lsolive.lso.co.uk
SOUND UNBOUND 2017:
THE BARBICAN CLASSICAL WEEKENDER
Early-bird passes are now available for Sound Unbound
2017, the Barbican’s Classical Weekender, which takes
place on 29 and 30 April 2017. With 60 short sessions
featuring everything from symphony orchestras to solo
concerts, the festival showcases the infinite variety
of music, including film scores by John Williams
performed by the LSO, cutting-edge new commissions,
some of the finest classical scores ever written, and
performances by world-class soloists.
barbican.org.uk/soundunbound
BRITISH COMPOSER AWARDS
Kathryn McDowell CBE DL
Managing Director
Eight alumni of the LSO’s composer schemes –
Luke Bedford, Leo Chadburn, Joe Cutler, Tansy
Davies, Emily Howard, Oliver Leith, Anna Meredith
and Richard Walley – have been nominated for
British Composer Awards, along with Jonathan Dove
for The Monster in the Maze, an LSO co-commission.
The winners will be announced on 6 December.
britishcomposerawards.com
lso.co.uk
John Adams
3
John Adams
On El Niño and the LSO
When I come to town
to have a rehearsal
there’s just this
CLICK that happens.
Watch the full interview with
THE STORY BEHIND THE PIECE
WORKING WITH THE LSO
I always wanted to write my own Messiah. I never sang
in a chorus but I have heard amateur performances
since I was a kid. I always loved Handel’s music but
not only that, the story itself. I wasn’t someone who
studied the Bible, but I certainly knew the nativity
and Passion story.
I think my first hands-on experience with the LSO was
in the late 1980s and early 90s. I was invited to conduct,
and since then have been here every two or three
years and have done UK premieres of a lot of my
pieces. I’ve toured with the LSO and just love them
and they know my music so well.
I was asked to celebrate the millennium, and
the year 2000 seemed like an appropriate date to
write a Messiah-type piece, and El Niño came into
being. I went to my long-term friend, the director
Peter Sellars, and said, ‘Let’s put together a libretto
about the roughness and the toughness and the
difficulty of life’.
When I come to town to have a rehearsal there’s
just this click that happens. It’s one of the few
pleasures of getting older: you can see your music
really get into the bloodstream of the performers
so that they really understand it.
John Adams at youtube.com/lso
4
Programme Notes
4 December 2016
John Adams (b 1947)
El Niño (1999–2000)
PROGRAMME NOTE
JOHN ADAMS CONDUCTOR
& SYNOPSIS WRITER
JOÉLLE HARVEY SOPRANO
KEITH POTTER is a Reader in Music
JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO MEZZO-SOPRANO
at Goldsmiths, University of London,
DAVÓNE TINES BASS-BARITONE
and the author of Four Musical
DANIEL BUBECK, BRIAN CUMMINGS,
Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry
NATHAN MEDLEY COUNTER-TENORS
Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass for
LONDON SYMPHONY CHORUS
Cambridge University Press.
LONDON YOUTH CHOIR
SIMON HALSEY CHORUS DIRECTOR
THE LIBRETTO FOR EL NIÑO CONTAINS TEXTS IN ENGLISH,
SPANISH AND LATIN. THE FULL PIECE WILL BE SURTITLED.
PETER SELLARS is an American
director who has staged numerous
operas and plays with organisations
across the world. In January, he
returns to the LSO to direct a
production of Ligeti’s Le grand
macabre with Sir Simon Rattle.
Find out more on page 16.
other texts in, again, a modern setting. The as-yet
unfinished opera, Girls of the Golden West – set in
the mining camps of the Sierra Mountains during the
California Gold Rush of the early 1850s – receives its
world premiere in San Francisco in November 2017.
‘The libretto is a wonderful mix
of poetry, both period and
contemporary, up-to-date texts.’
John Adams
Since the mid 1980s, the composer John Adams and
the director Peter Sellars have collaborated on seven
large-scale works together, and they are currently
working on an eighth. For some while they worked
with other librettists, and with the choreographer,
Mark Morris; later on, they have taken to compiling
librettos themselves from a wide range of already
extant texts. Several compositions – Nixon in China,
The Death of Klinghoffer, Doctor Atomic – are operas
based on events sometimes still recent at the time
of the work’s conception; both in these operas and
in other works (including On the Transmigration of
Souls, composed in memory of the victims of 9/11),
Adams has been in great sympathy with Sellars’
concern to engage with important issues of our day.
‘El Niño’ will be familiar as the hurricane wind that
often afflicts parts of the US in the winter. But it
literally means ‘the boy’ in Spanish, and this is the
clue to the work’s subject matter. Completed and
premiered in 2000, El Niño is a ‘Christmas Oratorio’,
but – inevitably, with Adams and Sellars – very much
an oratorio for our own millennium, written right on
that millennium’s cusp. In this account of a nativity
play, a soprano and a mezzo variously represent the
Virgin Mary and a modern mother faced with similar
predicaments. A bass-baritone appears chiefly as
Joseph, but also as Herod and God. Three countertenors also occupy central roles, functioning both
as a kind of Greek ‘chorus’ and, early on, as the
Angel Gabriel. A real chorus is supplemented,
in the oratorio’s final scene, by a children’s chorus.
Some works extend, in different ways, the
conventional frame surrounding what we might
term ‘proper opera’. The curiously titled I Was
Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky, for
instance, is a kind of rock musical. A Flowering
Tree adapts a southern Indian folktale about love,
responsibility and redemption to offer a 21st-century
response to Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. The
Gospel According to the Other Mary is ‘A Passion
Oratorio’ based on a compilation of biblical and
The libretto for El Niño is taken from a variety of
sources. These include pre-Christian prophets
(Isaiah, for instance), familiar words from the Gospels
(including the Magnificat), unfamiliar extracts from
writings not in the New Testament, the well-known
early English verses ‘I Sing of a Maiden’, the
Wakefield Mystery Plays, Martin Luther and poetry
by 20th-century female Hispanic writers. Texts are
set in English, Spanish and Latin; occasionally, texts
originally in Spanish are set in English translation.
lso.co.uk
Programme Notes
MORE CONTEMPORARY
MUSIC IN 2016/17
The three women whose verse
was set by John Adams are:
JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ (1651–95),
a scholar, poet and nun from
Mexico who was condemned by
the authorities for her repeated
lobbying for the right of women
to receive an education.
GABRIELA MISTRAL (1889–1957),
the pen name of Chilean poet Lucila
Godoy y Alcayaga, the first Latin
The premiere performances of El Niño engaged the
full paraphernalia of an opera house, with a film –
set in a variety of modern desert, urban-interior
and industrial locations – and stylised movement
from everyone on stage, including a trio of dancers.
Adams has always been clear, however, that this
‘Christmas Oratorio’ is as valid a work for the concert
hall as for the operatic stage. The conclusion that
its nativity narrative is to be interpreted as being as
much about motherhood, poverty and even ecology
in our own time – as least as much as it remains,
simultaneously, the story as told in the Bible – will
surely remain evident in tonight’s presentation.
American author to receive the
Nobel Prize in Literature.
Thu 8 Dec 7.30pm
JOHN ADAMS Scheherazade.2
with Leila Josefowicz violin
Wed 14 Dec 7.30pm
MICHAEL TAPLIN Ebbing Tides
ROSARIO CASTELLANOS (1925–74),
(world premiere, Panufnik commission)
a poet and author from Mexico
with Fabien Gabel conductor
who also worked as the country’s
Panufnik Scheme commission supported by Lady Hamlyn &
The Helen Hamlyn Trust. 14 Dec supported by LSO Friends.
ambassador to Israel.
Sat 14 & Sun 15 Jan 7pm
Adams also set a text by
LIGETI Le grand macabre
VICENTE HUIDOBRO (1893–1948),
with Sir Simon Rattle conductor
a Chilean poet and magazine
and Peter Sellars director
publisher associated with avant-
Produced by the LSO and Barbican.
Part of the LSO’s 2016/17 season and Barbican Presents.
garde literary movements in his
home country and abroad.
Thu 19 Jan 7.30pm
MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE (pictured above)
Remembering ’In Memoriam Evan Scofield’
(world premiere; LSO co-commission)
with Sir Simon Rattle conductor
INTERVAL: AFTER PART ONE – 20 minutes
Wed 15 Feb 7.30pm
There are bars on all levels of the Concert Hall; ice cream
MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE Håkan
can be bought at the stands on Stalls and Circle level.
(UK premiere; LSO co-commission)
with Daniel Harding conductor
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?
lso.co.uk | 020 7638 8891
5
6
Synopsis
4 December 2016
John Adams
El Niño – Synopsis
Part One of El Niño has eleven scenes, Part Two has thirteen.
The following synopsis identifies the texts selected for each
scene, and who sings them, adding brief indications of the
subject matter involved. Texts are set in English unless
indicated otherwise.
PART ONE
The first group of scenes forms a commentary on
the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and her visit to
Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist.
With the arrival of the bass-baritone soloist, the
focus shifts to Joseph’s reactions and his dream.
7 SOPRANO, BASS-BARITONE & COUNTER-TENORS
1 TWO COUNTER-TENORS & CHORUS
‘I sing of a maiden’: a famous, though anonymous,
Early English text
‘Now she was 16 years old’: adapted from
The Gospel of James
8 BASS-BARITONE AND COUNTER-TENORS
2 COUNTER-TENORS (Angel Gabriel) & SOPRANO (Mary)
‘Hail, Mary, gracious!’: taken from ‘The Play of the
Annunciation’ in Martial Rose’s version of the
Wakefield Mystery Plays
‘Joseph’s Dream’: adapted from The Gospel
of James; Matthew, Chapter 1; Martin Luther’s
Christmas Sermon; and Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verse 3
Interlude
3 MEZZO-SOPRANO
‘La anunciación’ (The Annunciation): text in Spanish
by Rosario Castellanos
The next group of scenes is concerned with the birth
and adoration of Christ.
4 CHORUS
9 BASS-BARITONE & CHORUS; SOPRANO, MEZZO-SOPRANO
‘For with God no thing shall be impossible’: from
Luke, Chapter 1
& COUNTER-TENORS
‘Shake the Heavens’: Haggai, Verses 6–7 and 9;
Gospel of James
5 COUNTER-TENORS & CHORUS
‘The babe leaped in her womb’: from Luke, Chapter 1
6 SOPRANO, COUNTER-TENORS & FEMALE CHORUS
‘Magnificat’: ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord’,
familiar from Christian liturgies
10 SOPRANO & MEZZO-SOPRANO; BASS-BARITONE
‘Se Habla de Gabriel’ (Speaking of Gabriel): text in
Spanish by Rosario Castellanos; then, for the ending,
settings in English from The Gospel of James and
The Latin Infancy Gospel
lso.co.ukSynopsis
7
11 SOPRANO, MEZZO-SOPRANO, BASS-BARITONE,
18 BASS-BARITONE
COUNTER-TENORS & CHORUS
‘Dawn Air’: text by Vicente Huidobro, translated into
English by David Guss
‘The Christmas Star’: text by Gabriela Mistral,
translated into English by Maria Jacketti; including
‘O Quam Preciosa’ (O how precious), text in Latin
by Hildegard von Bingen.
19 CHORUS
‘And he slew all the children’: Matthew, Chapter 2,
Verse 16
PART TWO
20 SOPRANO & CHORUS
Part Two muses on the biblical topics of the visit
of the Three Kings, King Herod’s massacre of the
Innocents and the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt –
with an unusual ending to the story.
12 MEZZO-SOPRANO & CHORUS
‘Pues mi Dios ha Nacido a Penar’ (Because my Lord
was born to suffer): text in Spanish by Sor Juana Inés
de la Cruz
‘Memorial de Tlatelolco’ (Memorial for Tlatelolco):
text in Spanish by Rosario Castellanos
21 CHORUS
‘In the day of the great slaughter’: Isaiah, Chapter 30,
Verses 25 and 57
22 MEZZO-SOPRANO, BASS-BARITONE & CHORUS
‘Pues está tiritando’ (Since Love is Shivering):
text in Spanish by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
13 BASS-BARITONE & COUNTER-TENORS
‘When Herod Heard’: from Matthew, Chapter 2
23 SOPRANO & COUNTER-TENORS
14 BASS-BARITONE & CHORUS
‘Jesus and the Dragons’: from the Gospel of
Pseudo-Matthew
‘Woe unto them that call evil good’: Isaiah,
Chapter 5, Verses 29 and 66
24 MEZZO-SOPRANO, BASS-BARITONE, COUNTER-TENORS
& CHILDREN’S CHORUS
15 SOPRANO, MEZZO-SOPRANO & BASS-BARITONE
‘And the star went before them’: from Matthew,
Chapter 2
16 SOPRANO AND COUNTER-TENORS
‘The Three Kings’: text by Rubén Darío
17 CHORUS
‘And when they were departed’:
from Matthew, Chapter 2
‘A Palm Tree’: from the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew,
including a text of the same name, ‘Una Palmera’
(A Palm Tree), in Spanish by Rosario Castellanos
Reich, Glass, Adams:
The Sounds that
Changed America
Celebrating three composers
who transformed how we
hear the world
Read the interactive article at
barbican.org.uk/reichglassadams
lso.co.uk
Artist Biographies
John Adams
Conductor
Composer, conductor, and creative thinker, John Adams
occupies a unique position in the world of music.
His works stand out among contemporary classical
compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance
of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their
themes. Works spanning more than three decades
are among the most performed of all contemporary
classical music, among them Harmonielehre, Shaker
Loops, El Niño, the Chamber Symphony and The
Dharma at Big Sur. His stage works, all in collaboration
with director Peter Sellars, have transformed the
genre of contemporary music theatre.
Nonesuch Records has recorded all of Adams’ music
over the past three decades. The latest release
is Scheherazade.2, Adams’ most recent work, a
dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra written
for Leila Josefowicz.
As a conductor, Adams leads the world’s major
orchestras in repertoire that ranges from Beethoven
and Mozart to Stravinsky, Ives, Carter, Zappa, Philip
Glass and Ellington. Conducting engagements
in recent and coming seasons include the
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berliner Philharmonic,
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio
Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony and BBC Symphony
Orchestras, as well as the orchestras in Houston,
Cincinnati, Atlanta, Seattle, Baltimore and Madrid.
In 2017 Adams celebrates his 70th birthday with
festivals of his music in Europe and the US, including
special retrospectives at the Barbican, Cité de la
Musique in Paris, and in Amsterdam, New York,
Geneva, Stockholm, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Born and raised in New England, Adams learned
the clarinet from his father and played in marching
bands and community orchestras during his
formative years. He began composing at age
ten and his first orchestral pieces were performed
while still a teenager.
Adams has received honorary doctorates from
Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, Cambridge and The
Juilliard School. A provocative writer, he is author
of the highly acclaimed autobiography Hallelujah
Junction and is a frequent contributor to the New
York Times Book Review.
Adams is Creative Chair of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic. His new opera, Girls of the Golden
West, an opera about the California Gold Rush, will
premiere in November of 2017 in San Francisco.
9
10 Artist Biographies
4 December 2016
Joélle Harvey
Soprano
Jennifer Johnson Cano
Mezzo-soprano
A native of Bolivar, New York,
soprano Joélle Harvey was the
recipient of a First Prize Award
in 2011 from the Gerda Lissner
Foundation Vocal Competition, a
Sara Tucker Study Grant from the
Richard Tucker Foundation in 2009,
and in 2010 an Encouragement
Award (in honour of Norma
Newton) from the George London
Foundation Vocal Competition.
On the concert and recital
platforms, Harvey made debuts
with the San Francisco Symphony
as Leila in performances of Gilbert
and Sullivan’s Iolanthe conducted by George Manahan, and with Steven
Blier and the New York Festival of Song at Merkin Concert Hall and the
Caramoor Festival. In concert Joélle appears regularly with the San
Francisco Symphony, New York Phiharmonic, Kansas City Symphony
and Washington Concert Opera orchestras. Engagements in 2015/16
included Bach’s Magnificats with Arcangelo at deSingel, St John’s
Smith Square and St Mary’s Church Tetbury; Handel’s Messiah with the
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; Inès in Donizetti’s La favorite with
Washington Concert Opera; Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff with Arizona
Opera; Michal in Handel’s Saul with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society;
and concerts with Les Violons du Roy and St Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Engagements in 2016/17 include Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage
of Figaro with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s Mass
in C minor with the Cleveland Orchestra; Mahler’s Das klagende Lied
with the San Francisco Symphony; John Adams’ Nixon in China and
A Flowering Tree with the LA Philharmonic; Dalinda in Handel’s
Ariodante on tour with The English Concert; and a return to the
Glyndebourne Festival as Servilia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito.
Jennifer Johnson Cano joined
The Lindemann Young Artist
Development Program at The
Metropolitan Opera after winning
the Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions in 2008, and
made her Met debut during
the 2009–10 season. As First
Prize winner of the 2009 Young
Concert Artist International
Auditions she has given recitals
with her husband and pianist
Christopher Cano in New York at
Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall,
in Washington DC, at the Kennedy
Center and in Boston at the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Among her honours are a 2011
Sara Tucker Study Grant, 2012 Richard Tucker Career Grant and 2014
George London Award.
In addition to her continued relationship with The Metropolitan Opera,
New York Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra, Cano has
appeared with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta,
San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Utah Symphony orchestras
and Orchestra of St Luke’s. She toured with Musicians from Marlboro
singing Respighi’s Il Tramonto and Cuckson’s Der gayst funem shturem,
recorded live for the Marlboro Recording Society. A live recording of
Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde featured conductor George Manahan,
tenor Paul Groves and the St Luke’s Chamber Ensemble in a rare
arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg and Rainer Riehn. At the invitation
of Carol Armstrong, Jennifer Johnson Cano sung Weill’s September
Song at the private funeral for American astronaut Neil Armstrong. In
2014, she released her debut recital recording, Unaffected: Live from
the Savannah Voice Festival, recorded completely live and unedited.
Jennifer Johnson Cano is a native of St Louis, Missouri and made
her professional operatic debut with the Opera Theater of St Louis.
She earned her degrees from Webster University and Rice University.
lso.co.uk
Artist Biographies
Davóne Tines
Bass-baritone
11
Daniel Bubeck
Counter-tenor
Davóne Tines has performed
internationally with the Dutch
National Opera, starred opposite
French counter-tenor Philippe
Jaroussky in the premiere of
Kaija Saariaho’s Only the Sound
Remains directed by Peter Sellars,
and in performances of Caroline
Shaw’s By & By with the Calder
Quartet and in Kaija Saariaho’s
Sombre with members of ICE at
the Ojai Music Festival.
Performances this season include
John Adams’ El Niño with Grant
Gershon conducting the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, Bruckner’s Te Deum with Christopher WarrenGreen and the Charlotte Symphony, and the Paris premiere of Kaija
Saariaho’s True Fire with the Orchestre National de France.
On the opera stage, Davóne Tines makes his debuts at Lisbon’s Teatro
Nacional de São Carlos in a new production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex
with Leo Hussain and at the Finnish National Opera reprising the roles
he created at the Dutch National Opera in Saariaho’s Only the Sound
Remains directed by Peter Sellars. National Sawdust in New York will
bring to the stage Requiem for: A Tuesday, a ceremony of music and
dance created and administered by Davóne Tines with his collaborator
Helga Davis, reprising the production in further performances across
North America.
Recent highlights include the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s
opera, Crossing, in the leading role of Freddie Stowers. Davóne Tines
also premiered the one-man chamber opera, American Gothic. Tines
performed with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood
where he was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow. He has given
performances of Puccini’s La bohème at the Royal Opera House
Oman, Puccini’s La fanciulla del West with the Castleton Festival
and on tour in Spain, as well as Verdi’s Otello with Lorin Maazel.
Daniel Bubeck performs
internationally in repertoire
ranging from Bach and Handel
to John Adams. He has performed
with the Théâtre Musical de ParisChâtelet, English National Opera,
Spoleto and Adelaide Festivals,
London Philharmonic, Tokyo
Symphony, the Radio Orchestras
of Berlin and The Netherlands,
Moscow Philharmonic, Royal
Flemish Philharmonic, Estonian
National Philharmonic, Concerto
Köln, Vancouver Symphony,
Los Angeles Philharmonic, and
the Boston Symphony, working
with Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski, Kent
Nagano, David Robertson, Robert Spano, Christopher Hogwood and
Nicholas McGegan.
Career highlights include the premieres and subsequent performances
of John Adams’ El Niño and The Gospel According to the Other Mary.
Bubeck is a noted Handelian, singing the roles of Cesare, Rinaldo,
Solomon, Medoro (Orlando), Arsamene (Serse), David (Saul), Guido
(Flavio), Armindo (Partenope), Tauride (Arianna in Creta), Didymus
(Theodora), and in Israel in Egypt and Messiah. He can be heard
on recordings of Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary
(Deutsche Gramophone), El Niño (Nonesuch CD /Art Haus Musik DVD),
Vivaldi cantatas with Musica Sequenza (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi,
Sony Music) and on the soundtrack of the Warner Bros film I Am Legend.
Recent performances include Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
with Hawaii Opera Theater, Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista in Chicago,
and Bach’s St John Passion with the American Classical Orchestra.
Forthcoming engagements include John Adams’ El Niño and Gospel in
France, The Netherlands, Germany and the US including Carnegie Hall.
A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he holds degrees in voice from
Indiana University, Peabody Conservatory and the University of Delaware.
12 Artist Biographies
4 December 2016
Brian Cummings
Counter-tenor
Nathan Medley
Counter-tenor
Brian Cummings sang the
premiere of John Adams’ The
Gospel According to the Other
Mary in 2012 with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic under
Gustavo Dudamel. He made
his professional debut in the
premiere of John Adams’
El Niño in Paris and has appeared
in performances of this piece
throughout the world including
at Carnegie Hall, English National
Opera, the London Philharmonic,
BBC Symphony, Moscow
Philharmonic, Estonian National
Philharmonic, Los Angeles
Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Adelaide Festival, the
Tokyo Symphony and most recently at the Spoleto Festival.
Nathan Medley has sung at
English National Opera, La Salle
Pleyel in Paris, Palais de Musique
in Strasbourg, Amsterdam’s
Concertgebouw, the Lucerne
Festival, Avery Fisher Hall in New
York, and Walt Disney Concert
Hall in Los Angeles. Recent
performances have brought
him to the Boston Early Music
Festival as Ottone in Monteverdi’s
L’Incoronazione di Poppea, the
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic,
the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, Opera
Omaha, Pacific MusicWorks,
Mercury Baroque, Seraphic Fire, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra,
Cincinnati Collegium, Miami Bach Society, and Dayton Bach Society.
He has worked under such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir
Jurowski, Robert Spano, David Robertson, John Adams, Tõnu Kaljuste
and Kent Nagano. He recently appeared in the title role of Handel’s
Giulio Cesare with Opera Fuoco under David Stern. Cummings
collaborates regularly with director Timothy Nelson including singing
the role of David in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, Hamor in Handel’s
Jephtha, and Iarbo/Corebo in Cavalli’s Didone. He has also appeared
as a soloist at the Washington and Bloomington Early Music festivals.
He has sung with Paul Hillier in Theatre of Voices and the Pro Arte
Singers and can be heard on their recordings for harmonia mundi
as well as the recording and DVD of El Niño. In France, he sings with
ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Opera Fuoco, Ensemble
Entheos and Les Muses Galantes. Brian Cummings currently resides
in Paris where he studies with Guillemette Laurens.
He is a member of Echoing Air, an ensemble focused on music of the
Baroque and modern eras composed for counter-tenor. He made his
professional debut in 2012 in John Adams’ The Gospel According to the
other Mary with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo
Dudamel, which was recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
He returned to Los Angeles in 2013 for Peter Sellars’ staged performances
of The Gospel, which toured to Switzerland and New York City, and again
in 2015 under the baton of John Adams performing Olga Neuwirth’s
theatrical song/play, Hommage à Klaus Nomi.
He studied Early Music at Indiana University working with Paul Elliott,
Paul Hillier and Nigel North. Forthcoming engagements include John
Adams’ El Niño in Amsterdam, Paris and Los Angeles and The Gospel
According to the Other Mary in Berlin, St Louis and New York City.
His opera credits include Ottone in Handel’s Agrippina (Opera Omaha),
Speranza in Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Boston Early Music Festival), Athamus
in Semele (Pacific Muisic Works, Seattle), Oberon in A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Dema in Cavalli’s L’Egisto, Le Peinture in Charpentier’s
Les Arts Florissants, Acteon in Charpentier’s Acteon, and Ottone in
Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.
lso.co.uk
London Youth Choir
Children’s Chorus
With a vision to be both a social action programme and a centre of
musical training, the London Youth Choir (LYC) has established itself
as a beacon of excellence for choral singing in the capital.
LYC comprises five choirs of young people from age 7–21, with a
membership that spans all 33 London boroughs. The constituent choirs
are the flagship London Youth Choir, London Youth Girls’ Choir, London
Youth Boys’ Choir, London Youth Training Choir and the London Youth
Chamber Choir for aspiring young choral professionals.
The London Youth Training Choir – the ladies of whom you see and
hear performing today – is an auditioned, mixed-voice choir for young
people aged 11–16 years. The weekly training schedule that forms the
backbone of the Choir’s activity aims to develop performance skills
to the highest level, challenging young singers to embrace a broad
repertoire and develop a flexible approach to musical performance.
Activities include intensive ensemble rehearsals, professional vocal
coaching and lessons in musicianship, all of which take place in an
environment that develops teamwork and leadership.
Recent engagements include the recording of the score for We’re
Going on a Bear Hunt – a short animated film from the makers of
The Snowman which will be televised on Channel 4 this Christmas –
the recording of Gareth Malone’s Christmas album, and My Great
Orchestral Adventure with the RPCO at the Royal Albert Hall.
The five choirs of the London Youth Choir rehearse on Monday
evenings during term time in the City of London.
See page 15 for the list of singers on stage this evening.
Artist Biographies
13
Simon Halsey
Chorus Director
Simon Halsey occupies a unique
position in classical music. He
is the trusted advisor on choral
singing to the world’s greatest
conductors, orchestras and
choruses, and also an inspirational
teacher and ambassador for choral
singing to amateurs of every age,
ability and background. Making
singing a central part of the worldclass institutions with which
he is associated, he has been
instrumental in changing the
level of symphonic singing
across Europe.
Halsey became choral director of the London Symphony Orchestra in
2012. Highlights with the LSO in 2016/17 include Verdi’s Requiem in
London and at the Lincoln Center Festival with Gianandrea Noseda
and Ligeti’s Le grand macabre with Sir Simon Rattle. In June 2016, the
LSC, LSO Discovery Choirs and Community Choir performed the world
premiere of The Hogboon, the late Peter Maxwell Davies’ children’s
opera, with Sir Simon Rattle and students from the Guildhall School of
Music. In Summer 2017 the LSO Discovery and Community Choirs will
premiere a new opera by Andrew Norman, which Rattle and Halsey
will also take to Berlin to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic and
their youth choir, of which he is Artistic Director.
Born in London, Simon Halsey sang in the choirs of New College,
Oxford, and of King’s College, Cambridge, and studied conducting at
the Royal College of Music in London. In 1987, he founded the City of
Birmingham Touring Opera with Graham Vick. He was Chief Conductor
of the Netherlands Radio Choir from 1997 to 2008 and Principal
Conductor of the Northern Sinfonia’s Choral Programme from 2004 to
2012. From 2001 to 2015 he led the Rundfunkchor Berlin (of which he
is now Conductor Laureate); under his leadership the chorus gained
an international reputation as one of the finest professional choral
ensembles. Halsey also initiated innovative projects in unconventional
venues and interdisciplinary formats.
14 London Symphony Chorus
4 December 2016
London Symphony Chorus
On stage
The London Symphony Chorus was formed in 1966 to complement
the work of the London Symphony Orchestra, and this year marks
its 50th anniversary. The partnership between the LSC and LSO was
strengthened in 2012 with the appointment of Simon Halsey as joint
Chorus Director of the LSC and Choral Director for the LSO.
The LSC has partnered many other major orchestras and has performed
nationally and internationally with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic
orchestras, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Championing the
musicians of tomorrow, it has also worked with both the NYOGB and
the EUYO. The Chorus has toured extensively throughout Europe and
has also visited North America, Israel, Australia and South East Asia.
Much of the LSC’s repertoire has been captured in its large catalogue
of recordings, which have won nine awards including five Grammys.
In June 2015 the recording of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Symphony
No 10, commissioned by the LSO and recorded by the LSO and the
LSC with Sir Antonio Pappano, won a prestigious South Bank Sky Arts
award in the Classical category.
Highlights from last season included Haydn’s The Seasons with Rattle,
Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Sir Mark Elder, and Sir Peter Maxwell
Davies’ The Hogboon. In 2016/17 the LSC continues to celebrate its
50th anniversary with performances of Verdi’s Requiem in London and
New York, followed by Ligeti’s Le grand macabre with Sir Simon Rattle,
Brahms’ Requiem with Fabio Luisi and Bruckner’s Te Deum with
Bernard Haitink.
President Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE
SOPRANOS
Liz Ackerley
Frankie Arnull
Liz Ashling
Kerry Baker
Faith Baxter
Anna Byrne-Smith
Carol Capper *
Laura Catala-Ubassy
Shelagh Connolly
Elisa Franzinetti
Joanna Gueritz
Maureen Hall
Isobel Hammond
Emma Harry *
Emily Hoffnung
Debbie Jones
Ruth Knowles-Clark
Junelle Kwon
Marylyn Lewin
Jane Morley
Emily Norton
Maggie Owen
Andra Patterson
Louisa Prentice
Carole Radford
Liz Reeve
Mikiko Ridd
Alison Ryan
Deborah Staunton
Giulia Steidl
Tabitta van Nouhuys
Rebecca Vassallo
Lizzie Webb
Alice Young
ALTOS
Lara Bienkowska
Hetty Boardman-Weston
Elizabeth Boyden
Gina Broderick
Jo Buchan *
Lizzy Campbell
Liz Cole
Maggie Donnelly
Lynn Eaton
Linda Evans
Amanda Freshwater
Christina Gibbs
Rachel Green
Kate Harrison
Lis Iles
Ella Jackson
Kristi Jagodin
Vanessa Knapp
Gilly Lawson
Belinda Liao *
Anne Loveluck *
Liz McCaw
Jane Muir
Dorothy Nesbit
Helen Palmer
Susannah Priede *
Lucy Reay
Maud St Sandos
Anneliese Sayes
Lis Smith
Claire Trocmé
Curzon Tussaud
TENORS
Jorge Aguilar
Paul Allatt *
Robin Anderson
Jack Apperley
Erik Azzopardi
Michael Delany
John Farrington
Matt Fernando
Matthew Flood
Patrizio Giovanotti
Euchar Gravina
Michael Harman
Matthew Horne
John Marks
Alastair Mathews
Matthew McCabe
Daniel Owers
Oli Perkins
Chris Riley
Brais Romero-Breijo
Peter Sedgwick
Chris Straw
Richard Street *
Malcolm Taylor
James Warbis
Robert Ward *
Paul Williams-Burton
BASSES
Simon Backhouse *
Chris Bourne
Gavin Buchan
Andy Chan
Matt Clarke
Edward Cottell
Damian Day
Peter Deane
Thomas Fea *
Ian Fletcher
Robert Garbolinski *
Daniel Gossellin
Owen Hanmer *
JC Higgins
Anthony Howick
Alex Kidney
Thomas Kohut
Andy Langley
George Marshall
Hugh McLeod
Alan Rochford
Rod Stevens
Henry Stokes
Gordon Thomson
Robin Thurston
Anthony Wilder
* denotes LSC
Council Member
Associate Chorus Director for El Niño Neil Ferris
President Emeritus André Previn KBE
Vice President Michael Tilson Thomas
Patrons Simon Russell Beale CBE and Howard Goodall CBE
Chorus Director Simon Halsey CBE
The London Symphony Chorus is generously supported by:
Assistant Directors Neil Ferris and Matthew Hamilton
The John S Cohen Foundation, The Helen Hamlyn Trust, The Revere Charitable Trust,
Chorus Accompanist Roger Sayer
The Welton Foundation, LSC Friends, Members of the LSC
Chairman Owen Hanmer
LSO Sing is generously supported by:
Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, Barnett & Syliva Shine No 2
Want to sing with the LSC? Find out more about life in one of London’s
Charitable Trust, John S Cohen Foundation, Slaughter and May Charitable Trust
leading choirs, and how to apply, at lsc.org.uk/join-us
and LSO Friends
lso.co.uk
The Orchestra & London Youth Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
On stage
FIRST VIOLINS
Roman Simovic Leader
Dragan Sredojevic
Lennox Mackenzie
Clare Duckworth
Nigel Broadbent
Ginette Decuyper
Gerald Gregory
Jörg Hammann
Maxine Kwok-Adams
Claire Parfitt
Harriet Rayfield
Colin Renwick
SECOND VIOLINS
David Alberman
Thomas Norris
Sarah Quinn
Miya Väisänen
David Ballesteros
Matthew Gardner
Naoko Keatley
Belinda McFarlane
Iwona Muszynska
Laurent Quenelle
Paul Robson
Sylvain Vasseur
VIOLAS
Rachel Roberts
Gillianne Haddow
Malcolm Johnston
Anna Bastow
German Clavijo
Lander Echevarria
Julia O’Riordan
Robert Turner
Jonathan Welch
Caroline O’Neill
CELLOS
Rebecca Gilliver
Alastair Blayden
Jennifer Brown
Noel Bradshaw
Daniel Gardner
Hilary Jones
Miwa Rosso
Deborah Tolksdorf
DOUBLE BASSES
Colin Paris
Patrick Laurence
Matthew Gibson
Thomas Goodman
Joe Melvin
Jani Pensola
FLUTES
Adam Walker
Alex Jakeman
PICCOLO
Sharon Williams
London Youth Choir
On stage
HORNS
Phillip Eastop
Philip Woods
Jonathan Lipton
Jocelyn Lightfoot
OBOES
Timothy Rundle
Rosie Jenkins
TROMBONES
Dudley Bright
Peter Moore
James Maynard
COR ANGLAIS
Christine Pendrill
BASS TROMBONE
Paul Milner
CLARINETS
Chris Richards
Katy Ayling
PERCUSSION
Neil Percy
David Jackson
Paul Stoneman
BASS CLARINET
Katy Ayling
HARP
Bryn Lewis
BASSOONS
Rachel Gough
Joost Bosdijk
PIANO/CELESTE
Catherine Edwards
CONTRA-BASSOON
Dominic Morgan
KEYBOARD
Philip Moore
Emike Ahmed
Kelis Ali-Rowe
Michaela Bibby
Cecily Bingham
Luisa Boselli
Lucia Boselli-Alcock
Eliza Bourke
Grace Burgoyne
Scarlet Byford
Viola Carrier
Skye Childs
Emily Christian
Justine Clarke
Alice Condliffe
Molly Condliffe
Jessica Danieli
Rebecca Dawit
Aminah Dixon
Michealia Dixon
Leila Doumbia
Shaiann Dunbar
Anabelle Esqulant
Ariana Farmanfarmaian
Claudia Farrell
Eugénie Faure
Eve Freeman
Esmee Graber
Sveva Grant
Alba Haxhiraj
Constance Kelly
Lulu Knowles
Marianna Kottas
Stefanija Kovacevic
Phaedra LetrouPapamarkakis
Noga Levy-Rapoport
Antonia Lewin
Beatrice Lewin
Arielle Loewinger
Valentina Lujan
Shenille Motindo
Moniece Mullings
Rebecca Munden
Mahalia Nesbeth Bain
Emily Noon
Nicole Ogunlaja
Amarachi Ohanusi
Poppy Oliver
Tomiwa Olusegun
Francesca Perry-Polletti
Kiki Poller
Emily Poncia
Isabella Rajwadi
Jalaya Rajwadi
Anjali Raman-Middleton
Aarti Ramchand
Shaila Ramchand
Efia Rodway-Tumi
Caitlin Russell
Merlie Ann Sebastian
Daisy Sheppard
Millie Small
Roberta Stilgoe
Scarlett Turnball
Savannah Turnbull
Aimee Wilmot
Cora Wilson
Maryam Zaidi
GUITARS
Colin Green
Daniel Thomas
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.
The Scheme is supported by
Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust
Help Musicians UK
Fidelio Charitable Trust
N Smith Charitable Settlement
Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust
LSO Patrons
Polonsky Foundation
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
Editor
Edward Appleyard
[email protected]
Cover Photography
Ranald Mackechnie, featuring LSO
Members with 20+ years’ service.
Visit lso.co.uk/1617photos for a full list.
Photography
Arielle Doneson, Vern Evans, Fay Fox,
Bernard Gordillo, Kelly Kruse.
15
London Symphony Orchestra
Ligeti’s
Le grand
Sat 14 & Sun 15 Jan 2017
Barbican Hall
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Peter Sellars director
London Symphony Chorus
Simon Halsey chorus director
A SEMI-STAGED PERFORMANCE
produced by the LSO and Barbican
Part of LSO 2016/17 Season
and Barbican Presents
Death walks into an opera, a fat prince falls off his horse
and the end of the world is passed over in a drunken haze