peri schumann

London Symphony OrchestraLiving Music

London’s Symphony Orchestra

Sunday 11 January 2015 7.30pm Barbican Hall

DAS PARADIES UND DIE PERI

Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri

Sir Simon Rattle conductor Sally Matthews Peri Mark Padmore narrator Kate Royal soprano Bernarda Fink alto Andrew Staples tenor Florian Boesch bass London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director

Interval after Part Two Concert finishes approx 9.50pm

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

2 Welcome 11 January 2015

Welcome Kathryn McDowell

Living Music In Brief

Happy new year and welcome to the first LSO concert of 2015, which places the spotlight on Schumann’s rarity Das Paradies und die Peri. It is a great pleasure to be joined by conductor Sir Simon Rattle for the first of his four concerts with the LSO this season. Sir Simon has been a champion of this rarely heard work for the past decade, and we much look forward to performing this with him tonight.

The London Symphony Chorus, led by Simon Halsey, also appear on stage with the Orchestra this evening, along with six outstanding soloists – Sally Matthews, Mark Padmore, Kate Royal, Bernarda Fink, Andrew Staples and Florian Boesch.

In addition to performances in the concert hall, LSO Sing, the LSO programme aiming to involve Londoners in choral singing, offers opportunities to get more involved throughout the year. To find out more about Singing Days taking place in 2015 and the LSO’s own choirs, visit lso.co.uk/lsosing.

Thank you to our media partners BBC Radio 3, who will broadcast tonight’s concert live.

I hope that you enjoy the performance and will return regularly to hear the LSO again this year. Sir Simon Rattle’s concerts continue on Thursday, with a programme centred on Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

Kathryn McDowell CBE DL Managing Director

2015/16 SEASON LAUNCH

We’re delighted to announce details of the LSO’s brand new season of inspiring music-making, taking place at the Barbican between September 2015 and June 2016. The concerts will be available to browse on lso.co.uk from 20 January; online booking will open on 4 February, with telephone booking available from 18 February. LSO Friends get priority booking from 19 January, along with a range of other benefits; find out more at lso.co.uk/lsofriends.

lso.co.uk/201516season

THE LSO ON DIGITAL THEATRE

Selected LSO concerts, recorded live in HD at the Barbican, are now available to buy or rent on demand through Digital Theatre. The first releases are a programme of Mendelssohn and Schumann with conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner and pianist Maria João Pires, and Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet with Valery Gergiev, with more content to be added during 2015.

digitaltheatre.com/browse/classical-music

A WARM WELCOME TO TONIGHT’S GROUPS

The LSO offers great benefits for groups of 10+ including a 20% discount on tickets. Tonight we are delighted to welcome:

Danenberg Oberlin in London, Rachel Bylo & Friends, Nicole Hu & Friends, and Gordon Thomson & Friends

lso.co.uk/groups

lso.co.uk Artist Biographies 3

Sir Simon Rattle Conductor

‘Rattle conducts with missionary zeal, as if he believes in every note.’ The Times

Rattle has made over 70 recordings for EMI, and has received numerous prestigious international awards for his recordings on various labels. Recent releases with the Berlin Philharmonic include Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms (2009 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance), Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Brahms’ symphonies, Bizet’s Carmen, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Symphonic Dances. Rattle’s most recent releases have been for Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings – the orchestra’s new in-house label.

In 2013 Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic took up a residency at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival, performing Mozart’s The Magic Flute and a series of concerts. This season he conducts Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust. Forthcoming seasons include performances in Vienna, Berlin and New York; extensive touring with the Berlin Philharmonic; and projects with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Vienna Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Simon Rattle was knighted in 1994 and in the New Year’s Honours of 2014 he received the Order of Merit from Her Majesty the Queen. He has also been awarded the Shakespeare Prize, the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts and, in 2009, the Grosse Verdienstkreuz by the German government. Since taking up his appointment in Berlin, he has broken new ground with the educational programme Zukunft@Bphil, earning him the 2004 Comenius Prize, the Schiller Special Prize from the city of Mannheim in 2005, the Golden Camera and the Urania Medal in Spring 2007. He and the Berlin Philharmonic were also appointed International UNICEF Ambassadors in 2007, the first time this honour has been conferred on an artistic ensemble.

Sir Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music.

Between 1980 and 1998, Rattle was Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, then Music Director. He toured and recorded extensively with them whilst also building strong relationships with the leading orchestras in London, Europe and the US. He regularly conducts the Vienna Philharmonic, and is also a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Founding Patron of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Following his 1977 Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut, he has conducted many productions there, as well as a series for Netherlands Opera. Other notable debuts included English National Opera (1985), his US opera debut in Los Angeles (1988), the Royal Opera House (1990) and Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris (1996).

A regular guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for 15 years, Simon Rattle became its Chief Conductor and Artistic Director in 2002. The partnership tours extensively and has garnered many awards for its recordings and pioneering educational work. The Berlin Philharmonic enjoys close links with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela; since his appointment, Rattle has led two projects in Venezuela.

For the Salzburg Easter Festival, Rattle has conducted a number of staged productions and concert programmes, all with the Berlin Philharmonic. His latest opera productions have included Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmélites for the Royal Opera House; Tristan and Isolde for the Wiener Staatsoper; and his debut at Metropolitan Opera, New York, with Pelléas et Mélisande.

Chief Conductor

and Artistic Director

Berlin Philharmonic

Principal Artist

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Founding Patron

Birmingham Contemporary

Music Group

4 Programme Notes 11 January 2015

Robert Schumann (1810–56) Das Paradies und die Peri (Paradise and the Peri) Op 50 (1843)

however, she is told that she can re-enter Heaven if she can bring back an example of that which is dearest to God.

On reading the poem, Schumann announced his intention to set ‘Paradise and the Peri’ to music, as a work ‘halfway between an opera and an oratorio’. The problem was that, with typical obsessive single-mindedness, Schumann had marked down 1841 as his ‘year of the symphony’, to be devoted solely to large-scale orchestral projects. 1842 was likewise dedicated to chamber music. It wasn’t until 1843 that he allowed himself to tackle choral music, and what he was now calling his ‘secular oratorio’ Das Paradies und die Peri at last began to take shape.

In conception, Das Paradies und die Peri is unlike anything created before. Dramatic or colouristic ingredients are reserved for a few carefully chosen moments. What Schumann called the ‘canary effects’ of Italian bel canto opera (Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti) are avoided, and recitative (imitation of the rhythms and patterns of speech) is kept to a minimum – only one movement, No 3, is actually designated ‘Recitativ’ and even that quickly flowers in more lyrical directions. On the whole, the choral music avoids neo-Handelian contrapuntal writing: instead the rhythms tend to be synchronised so that the words can be heard more clearly.

SIR SIMON RATTLE CONDUCTOR

SALLY MATTHEWS SOPRANO (PERI)

MARK PADMORE TENOR (NARRATOR)

KATE ROYAL SOPRANO (MAIDEN, VOCAL QUARTET)

BERNARDA FINK ALTO (ANGEL, VOCAL QUARTET)

ANDREW STAPLES TENOR (YOUNG MAN, VOCAL QUARTET)

FLORIAN BOESCH BASS (GAZNA, MAN, VOCAL QUARTET)

LONDON SYMPHONY CHORUS

SIMON HALSEY CHORUS DIRECTOR

SOLOISTS FROM THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL

FRANCESCA CHIEJINA SOPRANO

ELIZABETH SKINNER SOPRANO

BIANCA ANDREW MEZZO-SOPRANO

EMILY KYTE MEZZO-SOPRANO

The verse epic Lalla Rookh, by the Irish poet Thomas Moore, was one of the literary sensations of the early 19th century. Published in 1817, it earned Moore a headline-making £3,000 (for a modern equivalent, think J K Rowling) and was quickly translated into all the major European languages. Moore had chosen the right moment to release Lalla Rookh: taste for things oriental was rising rapidly, and this collection of exotic, colourful tales, modelled on medieval Persian verse forms and linked like pearls by the narrative thread of a royal love story, hit the target spectacularly.

Schumann may well have encountered Moore’s poem in his teens, but it was in 1841, when his friend Emil Flechsig sent him a German translation, that his creative interest was fired. The tale that caught Schumann’s imagination above all was ‘Paradise and the Peri’, which tells how a Peri – a kind of angelic female spirit – is expelled from Paradise for some unspecified sin. Unlike the Christian Satan,

PROGRAMME NOTE WRITER

STEPHEN JOHNSON is the author

of Bruckner Remembered (Faber).

He also contributes regularly to BBC

Music Magazine and The Guardian,

and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3

(Discovering Music), BBC Radio 4

and the BBC World Service.

‘At the moment I’m involved in a large project, the largest I’ve yet undertaken – it’s not an opera – I believe it’s well-nigh a new genre for the concert hall.’

Schumann, in a letter to a friend in 1843

lso.co.uk Programme Notes 5

hit, with amateur choral societies taking it up all over Europe – especially in England, where arrangements and re-translations made good money for publishers.

Inevitably there was a reaction: 20th-century tastes turned against anything that savoured of Victorian or Biedermeier ‘sweetness and light’, and Das Paradies und die Peri dropped out of favour. But in recent years, as Schumann’s star has begun to rise again, performances have become more frequent. Moore’s ‘moral’ may be dated, but Schumann’s music gave it living flesh, and its tender vitality can still move today. In 1890, the pioneer musicologist Hermann Kretzschmar noted this paradox: Schumann, he wrote, ‘imparted a touch of [the Peri’s] sorrows, her longing, and her loving nature even to situations which objectively appear in a different light … and the power of Schumann’s melody never celebrated a greater triumph than in Das Paradies und die Peri’. Increasingly, it seems, modern listeners are inclined to agree.

Libretto begins on page 8

What stands out is the wonderful sustained melodic invention. In effect, Das Paradies und die Peri is more like a beautifully sequenced, sometimes skilfully dovetailed orchestral song recital than any oratorio of Schumann’s day. Remarkably, the music maintains its melodic flow across the work’s three parts, so that the finale (Peri, chorus and full orchestra) seems to rise on a rapturous tide of lyrical invention, the Peri’s culminating high C forming its deftly timed climax.

Realising that he couldn’t simply set Moore’s tale as it stood, Schumann enlisted his poet friend Adolph Böttger to condense it and create more opportunities for dialogue and first-person utterance. As in many traditional fairy stories, the action divides into three parts: the Peri makes two unsuccessful attempts to fulfil Heaven’s command then, on her third attempt, she succeeds and gains happiness. Whatever the ‘oriental’ roots of Moore’s ‘Paradise and the Peri’, his version is angled to appeal to 19th-century bourgeois Christian morality, with its fondness for pious sentimentality. The Peri’s first two offerings to Heaven are a drop of blood from a hero killed in battle and the last sigh of a girl who refused to leave her fatally plague-stricken lover. Good – but not good enough. Finally the Peri gets it right: she brings the tear of a sinner shamed into repentance by the sight of a child at prayer. Heaven’s gates open and the Peri, having learned an important lesson, is re-admitted to Paradise.

Like Moore, Schumann judged the taste of his time to perfection. Das Paradies und die Peri was his first really big success. The work’s premiere, in Schumann’s home town Leipzig, was so well received that it had to be repeated the following week, and a follow-up performance was hastily arranged in Dresden. Soon it was an international

THOMAS MOORE (1779–1852)

was an Irish poet, songwriter and

musician, whose works included

an immensely popular collection of

Irish Melodies, which tapped into

the era’s growing interest in national

history and folk music. Along with

Schumann, his poems have proved

popular with composers as diverse

as Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Ives,

Hindemith and Britten.

6 Composer Profile 11 January 2015

Robert Schumann (1810–56) Composer Profile

The youngest son of a Saxon bookseller, Robert Schumann was encouraged by his father to

study music. Soon after his tenth birthday in 1820, young Robert began taking piano lessons in his home town of Zwickau. Although Schumann enrolled as a law student at Leipzig University in 1828, music remained an overriding passion and he continued to study piano with Friedrich Wieck. The early death of his father and two of his three brothers influenced Schumann’s appreciation of the world’s suffering, intensified further by his readings of Romantic poets such as Novalis, Byron and Hölderlin

and his own experiments as poet and playwright. Schumann composed a number

of songs in his youth, but it was not until he fell in love with and became secretly engaged to the teenage Clara Wieck in September

1837 that he seriously began to exploit his song-writing gift. Besides welcoming the

financial return that published Lieder (songs) could deliver, Schumann

was also able to preserve his intense feelings for Clara in the richly expressive

medium of song.

The personal nature of Schumann’s art even influenced his choice of certain themes, with the notes A – B – E – G – G enshrined as the theme of one set of piano variations in tribute to his friend Countess Meta von Abegg. Schumann also developed his skills as a composer of symphonies and concertos during his years in Leipzig. Four years after their marriage in September 1840, the Schumanns moved to Dresden where Robert completed his C major Symphony.

In the early 1850s the composer’s health and mental state seriously declined. In March 1854 he decided to enter a sanatorium near Bonn, where he died two years later.

COMPOSER PROFILE WRITER

STEPHEN JOHNSON

To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist. Robert Schumann

lso.co.uk 2015 Highlights 7

LSO Spring/Summer 2015 Highlights Concerts at the Barbican

020 7638 8891 lso.co.uk

MASTERPIECES FOR PIANO

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 3

Sun 1 Feb 2015

Nicholas Angelich piano

David Afkham conductor

Liszt Piano Concerto No 2

Sun 15 Feb 2015

Alice Sara Ott piano

Gianandrea Noseda conductor

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS

70th Birthday Gala Concert

Shostakovich Symphony No 5

Thu 12 Mar 2015

Sibelius Symphony No 2

Sun 15 Mar 2015

BERNARD HAITINK

Mahler Symphony No 1 (‘Titan’)

Sun 14 Jun 2015

Beethoven Symphony No 9

(‘Choral’)

Sun 21 Jun 2015

SIR SIMON RATTLE

Brahms and Dvorák

Thu 2 Jul 2015

with Krystian Zimerman piano

Jonathan Dove:

The Monster in the Maze

Sun 5 Jul 2015

London’s Symphony Orchestra

For over 40 years, my relationship with the LSO has been a joy and an inspiration.

Michael Tilson Thomas, LSO Principal Guest Conductor

8 Libretto 11 January 2015

Robert Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri: Libretto

One morn a Peri at the gate Of Eden stood, disconsolate; And as she listen’d to the springs Of life within, like music flowing, And caught the light upon her wings Through the half-open portal glowing, She wept to think her recreant race Should e’er have lost that glorious place.

How happy, [exclaim’d this child of air,] Are the holy spirits who wander there ’Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall! Tho’ mine are the gardens of earth and sea, And the stars themselves have flowers for me, One blossom of Heaven out-blooms them all!

Tho’ sunny the lake of cool Cashmere, With its plane-tree isle reflected clear, […] And the golden floods that thitherward stray, Yet – oh, ’tis only the blest can say: How the waters of Heaven outshine them all!

PART ONE

No 1 Alto solo Vor Edens Tor im Morgenprangen Stand eine Peri schmerzbefangen; Und wie sie lauscht dem Lebensquelle, Des Flut harmonisch drinnen hallte, Und wie vom Licht ihr Fittich helle, Das durch halboffne Pforten wallte, Weint sie, verbannt aus diesen Au’n, Ihr sündiges Geschlecht zu schaun.

No 2 The Peri Wie glücklich Sie wandeln, die sel’gen Geister, Im Dufte von Blumen, die nimmer verblühn! Sind mein auch die Gärten auf Landen und Meer, Und pflück’ ich selbst Blumen auf Sternen umher, Ein Blümlein des Himmels ist schöner denn alle!

Glänzt Kaschemirs See auch sonnig und rein Mit seiner Plataneninseln Schein, Und rinnen dort Ströme auf goldnem Sand, Doch – ach, nur den Seligen ist’s bekannt: Ein Tropfen des Himmels ist schöner denn alle!

Libretto by Emil Flechsig and Robert Schumann, translated from Thomas Moore’s poem Lalla Rookh.

Thomas Moore’s poem has been modified where necessary to make it correspond with the German text set by Schumann. Passages in italics have been newly translated from the German, either because they do not form part of Moore’s original or are too removed from it to be taken over directly. Words or phrases enclosed in brackets are found in Moore’s poem but not in Schumann’s text. The use of ellipses enclosed in brackets […] indicates places where redundant portions of Moore’s text have been omitted.

lso.co.uk Libretto 9

Geh, schwing dich im Fluge von Stern zu Stern, Von Welt zu leuchtender Welt, so fern Als der Himmel wölbt seine Sonnenhalle: Nimm alle die Wonnen von allen den Sphären Und lass durch unendliche Zeiten sie währen: Ein Stündlein des Himmels ist schöner denn alle!

No 3 Recitative Narrator Der hehre Engel, der die Pforte Des Lichts bewacht, vernimmt die Worte, Und wie er lauscht und näher schleicht Dem sanften Lied, entsinkt ihm eine Träne; Er sprach:

The Angel Dir, Kind des Stamms, schön, doch voll Sünden, Kann eine frohe Hoffnung ich noch künden. Im Schicksalsbuche stehn die Worte, ‘Es sei der Schuld die Peri bar Die bringt zu dieser ew’gen Pforte Des Himmels liebste Gabe dar!’ Geh, suche sie und werde rein – Gern lass ich die Entsühnten ein.

No 4 The Peri Wo find’ich sie? Wo blüht, wo liegt Die Gabe, die dem Hirnmel g’nügt? Ich kenne die Urnen, mit Schätzen gefüllt, Tief unter Tschelminars Säulen verhüllt; Ich sah der Weihrauchinseln Grün Viel Klaftern tief im Meere blühn; Ich weiss auch, wo die Genien König Jamschids Pokal verhehlen. Er ist von Gold und von Juwelen, Und Lebenstropfen sind sein Getränk. Doch will auch der Himmel solch Geschenk? Strahlt je der Demant einer Krone

Go, wing thy flight from star to star, From world to luminous world, as far As the universe spreads its flaming wall: Take all the pleasures of all the spheres And multiply each through endless years: One minute of Heaven is worth them all!

The glorious Angel, who was keeping The gates of Light, beheld her weeping, And, as he nearer drew and listen’d To her sad song, a tear-drop glisten’d within his eyelids; Gently he said:

Nymph of a fair but erring line, […] One hope is thine. ’Tis written in the Book of Fate, ‘The Peri yet may be forgiven Who brings to the eternal gate The gift that is most dear to Heaven!’ Go seek it and redeem thy sin – ’Tis sweet to let the Pardon’d in.

But whither shall I go To find this gift for Heav’n? – I know The wealth, [she cries,] of every urn In which unnumber’d rubies burn Beneath the pillars of Chilminar; I know where the Isles of Perfume are Many a fathom down in the sea, I know, too, where the Genii hid … The jewell’d cup of the King Jamshid, With life’s elixir sparkling high – But gifts like these are not for the sky. Where was there ever a gem that shone


Robert Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri: Libretto (continued)

Like the steps of Alla’s wonderful Throne? And the Drops of Life – oh! what would they be In the boundless deep of Eternity?

While thus she mus’d her pinions fann’d The air of that sweet Indian land.

O fairest land! The gods’ delight! Where rustling palms rejoice the sight And stars twinkle in the sky at night, [Whose air is balm;] whose ocean spreads O’er coral rocks, and amber beds, Whose mountains, pregnant by the beam Of the warm sun, with diamonds teem, Whose rivulets are like rich brides, Lovely, with gold beneath their tides, Whose sandal groves and bowers of spice [Might be a Peri’s] Paradise!

But crimson now her rivers ran With human blood, the smell of death Came reeking from those spicy bowers; The flowering fields turn hideous red As Death stalks, to universal dread, Spreading havoc with his iron tread. Land of the Sun! what foot invades Thy Pagods and thy pillar’d shades – The cavern shrines and Idol stones? ’Tis he of Gazna, fierce in wrath He comes!

Wie die Stufen an Allahs Wunderthrone? Und, o ihr Lebenstropfen, was seid Ihr für die Tiefen der Ewigkeit?

No 5 Narrator So sann sie nach und schwang die Flügel Jetzt über Indiens Blumenhügel.

Vocal Quartet O süsses Land! O Götterpracht! Es flüstern die Palmen sacht, Es flimmert die Sternennacht, Dort schäumt auf Bernsteingrund das Meer Über Korallenriffe her, Dort brütet heiss der Sonne Brand, Im Schoss der Berge Diamant, Es rieseln, reichen Bräuten gleich, Die Bächlein hold an Golde reich, Dort duften Sandelhaine süss O Paradies!

No 6 Chorus Doch seine Ströme sind jetzt rot Von Menschenblut, es wütet fürchterlich der Tod; Er schreitet durch die blumigen Wiesen Verheerend mit den ehernen Füssen. O Land der Sonne, wessen Schritt Geht über deinen Boden, Wirft deine Pfeiler um, zertritt Die Göttersäulen und Pagoden? Er ist’s, er ist’s von Gazna, Er naht in seinem grimmen Zorn!


Long live Gazna, the mighty prince!

Death to the tyrant!

Behold, a youthful warrior stands alone, Blood gushing from his many wounds, The hated tyrant he defies, Love of country shining in his eyes, A lion beset by baying hounds. His sword has dealt a mortal blow To many a vainglorious foe; Undaunted still in arm and heart, He aims his last remaining dart.

Long live Gazna, the mighty prince!

Come, bold hero, bend the knee to me, Why should you shed your blood in vain? In your resistance lies no gain: Come, your life I guarantee!

You smote the people of my land, To slay my brethren you have planned – This, my last arrow, is for you!

This you shall rue!

Chorus of the Conquerors Gazna lebe, der mächtige Fürst!

Chorus of the Indians Es sterbe der Tyrann!

No 7 Narrator Und einsam steht ein Jüngling noch, Es fliesst sein Blut aus manchen Wunden, Er beugt den Nacken nicht ins Joch, Ein Leu, umstellt von Waidmannshunden. Schon hat sein Schwert im Feindesschwarm Mit blut’gen Lettern es geschrieben; Dass ungebeugt ihm Herz und Arm, Ein Pfeil nur ist ihm übrig blieben.

Chorus of the Conquerors Gazna lebe, es lebe der mächtige Fürst!

Gazna Komm, kühner Held, und huld’ge mir, Willst du umsonst dein Blut verspritzen? Dein eitles Kämpfen kann nichts nützen: Komm, dein Leben schenk’ich dir!

The Young Man Du schlugst des Landes Bürger, Du meiner Brüder Würger – Dir diesen letzten Pfeil!

Gazna Das sollst du büssen!



False flew the shaft. Ah, sad to tell, The Tyrant liv’d, the Hero fell!

Yet mark’d the Peri where he lay, And when the rush of war was past Swiftly descending on a ray Of morning light, she caught the last – Last glorious drop his heart had shed Before its free-born spirit fled.

Be this my welcome gift at the gates of light. Blood like this, For liberty shed so holy is, It would not stain the purest rill, That sparkles among the Bowers of Bliss! Oh, if there be on this earthly sphere, A boon, an offering Heaven holds dear, ’Tis the last libation liberty draws From a dying son. Be this my gift, Welcome to thee!

No 8 Chorus Weh, weh, weh, er fehlte das Ziel, Es lebt der Tyrann, der edle Jüngling fiel!

No 9 Narrator Die Peri sah das Mal der Wunde, Und nun vertobt des Kampfes Wut, Kam sie im Strahl des Morgenrots Und nahm das letzte Tröpflein Blut – Das aus dem Heldenherzen drang Eh’ sich der freie Geist entschwang.

The Peri, Vocal Quartet and Chorus Sei dies mein Geschenk, Willkommen dorten An Edens Pforten. Denn heilig ist das Blut, Für die Freiheit verspritzt vom Heldenmut, Und würde nicht trüben die klarste Flut, Die durch die Haine der Sel’gen fliesst! O, gibt es ein Opfer der Erdenwelt, Ein Geschenk, das teuer der Himmel hält, ’S ist das Blut, das der Freiheit Sterbender Sohn Ihr bringt als letzte Libation! Sei dies mein/dein Geschenk, Willkommen dorten!


With timid steps the Peri then, Hope of heav’nly bliss at heart, Approached the pearly gates of Eden, And asked with silent loving glance If now she might through them advance.

[…] Sweet is our welcome of the Brave Who die thus for their native Land. But see – alas! the rigid bar [Of Eden] moves not – holier far [Than ev’n this drop] the boon must be That opes the Gates of Heaven for thee!

Holier far the boon must be That opes the gates of Heaven for thee!

Her first fond hope of Eden blighted, Now among Afric’s lunar Mountains, Far to the south, the Peri lighted And sleek’d her plumage at the fountains Of that Egyptian tide whose birth Is hidden from the sons of earth.

From out the waters come in haste To see this child with beauty graced! She is a Peri, fair of face – But act now with restraint! Hark, how she sings! Listen to her plaint! From out the waters come in haste, etc. Hush! Hush!

PART TWO

No 10 Narrator Die Peri tritt mit schüchterner Gebärde Vor Edens Tor, im Herzen Himmelshoffnungsglück, Ob sich die Pforte öffnen werde Sie fragt’s mit stummem Liebesblick.

The Angel Gern grüssen wir, die so gegangen Den Heldentod fürs Vaterland. Doch sieh, noch weicht der eh’rne Riegel nicht Viel heil’ger muss die Gabe sein Die dich zum Tor des Lichts lässt ein!

Chorus of Angels Viel heil’ger muss die Gabe sein Die dich zum Tor des Lichts lässt ein!

No 11 Narrator Ihr erstes Himmelshoffen schwand, Jetzt sank sie fern im heissen Land Auf Afrikas Gebirge nieder Und badete ihr matt Gefieder Im Quell des Nils, dessen Entstehn Kein Erdgeborner noch gesehn.

Chorus of the Nile Spirits Hervor aus den Wässern geschwind Und sehet das holde, liebliche Kind! Eine Peri ist’s, welch hold’ Gesicht – Doch stört sie nicht! Hört, wie sie singt! Hört, wie sie klagt! Hervor aus den Wässern geschwind, usw. Stille! Stille!



O Eden, how I yearn for thee! When will thy gates be opened for me?

Thence over Egypt’s palmy groves, Her grots, and sepulchres of Kings, The exil’d Spirit sighing roves; And now hangs listening to the doves In warm Rosetta’s vale; now loves To watch the moonlight on the wings Of the snow-white swans that break The azure calm of Moeris’ Lake. ’Twas a fair scene: a land more bright Never did mortal eye behold! Who could have thought that there, ev’n there, Amid those scenes so still and fair, The Demon of the Plague hath cast From his hot wing a deadlier blast.

Poor race of men! [said the pitying spirit,] Dearly ye pay for your primal Fall – Some flow’rets of Eden ye still inherit, But the trail of the Serpent is over them all!

She wept – the air grew pure and clear Around her, as the bright drops ran. For there’s a magic in each tear Such kindly spirits weep for man!

The Peri Ach Eden, ach Eden, wie sehnt sich nach dir Mein Herz! O wann öffnet die Pforte sich mir?

No 12 Narrator Fort streift von hier das Kind der Lüfte Über Ägyptens Königsgrüfte, Von Palmenhainen hehr umrauscht; Jetzt sieht sie in Rosettas Tal Dem Nesterbau’n der Tauben zu, Jetzt lauscht sie Schwänen, weiss wie Schnee, Die stolz durchziehen Möris-See. Welch Bild! Kein sterblich’ Aug’ hat je Ein Land gesehn voll höh’rer Pracht! Doch eine Stille, fürchterlich, Liegt über diesen Himmelsfluren, Mit gift’gem Hauche ihre Spuren Verfolgend, zieht durchs Land die Pest.

The Peri Für euren ersten Fall Wie hart, ihr Armen, büsst ihr doch – Habt einige Blüten aus Eden zwar noch, Die Schlang’ überschleichet sie all’!

No 13 Narrator and Vocal Quartet Die Peri weint – von ihrer Träne scheint Rings klar die Luft, der Himmel lacht. Denn in der Trän’ ist Zaubermacht Die solch ein Geist für Menschen weint!


No 14 Alto solo Im Waldesgrün am stillen See Da seufzt ein Jüngling im schweren Weh: Gepackt von der tötenden Seuche, stahl Er her sich, zu enden seine Qual. Er, dem im Leben, wo er stand, Sich jedes Herz einst zugewandt; Stirbt jetzt, als hätt’ er keinen Freund, Hier ungesehn und unbeweint!

The Young Man Ach, einen Tropfen nur aus dem See Zu kühlen das fiebrisch brennende Weh! Ach, einen Tropfen nur aus der Flut Zu kühlen die fiebrische Blut!

No 15 Alto solo Verlassener Jüngling! nur das eine Bleibt, was ihm Trost noch gibt, Dass sie, die er seit Jahren treu geliebt, Geschützt ist vor dem Hauch der Gruft In ihres Vaters Fürstenhallen; Denn dorten kühlig fallen Fontänen, süss durchraucht, Balsam’scher Duft die Hallen, Und rein ist dorten noch die Luft, Rein wie die Stirn, von ihr umhaucht.

Narrator Doch sieh – wer naht dort leise schleichend, Dem melancholischen Gebüsch, Der Göttin der Gesundheit gleichend Mit Rosenwangen frühlingsfrisch? Sie ist’s – vom Strahl des Mondes schaut Er still verklärt sich nah’n die treue Braut.

Beneath that fresh and springing bower Close by the Lake, she heard the moan Of one who, at this silent hour, Had thither stol’n to die alone. One who in life where’er he mov’d, Drew after him the hearts of many; Yet now, as tho’ he ne’er were lov’d, Dies here unseen, unwept by any!

Ah, a single droplet from the lake My feverish burning woe to slake! Ah, a single droplet from the flood To cool the agitation in my blood!

Deserted youth! one thought alone Shed joy around his soul in death, That she whom he for years had lov’d, […] Was safe from fetid graveyards’ breath, Safe in her father’s princely halls, Where the cool airs from fountain falls, Freshly perfum’d by many a brand Of the sweet wood from India’s land, Were pure as she whose brow they fann’d.

But see – who yonder comes by stealth, This melancholy bower to seek, Like a young envoy, sent by Health With rosy gifts upon her cheek? ’Tis she – far off, through moonlight dim He knew his own betrothed bride.



Her arms are round her lover now, His livid cheek to hers she presses And dips to bind his burning brow In the cool lake her loosen’d tresses.

Thou here? – O flee! A breath from me brings death to thee!

Oh! let me only breathe the air. The blessed air, that’s breath’d by thee, And whether on its wings it bear Healing or death ’tis sweet to me! There – drink my tears while yet they fall, – Would that my bosom’s blood were balm, And, well thou know’st, I’d shed it all To give thy brow one minute’s calm. Nay, turn not from me that dear face – Am I not thine – thy own lov’d bride – The one, the chosen one, whose place In life or death is by thy side? Think’st thou that she whose only light, In this dim world from thee hath shone, Could bear the long, the cheerless night That must be hers when thou art gone? That I can live and let thee go, Who are my life itself? – No, no – Oh! let me only breathe the air. The blessed air, that’s breath’d by thee, And whether on its wings it bear Healing or death ’tis sweet to me!

Sie hält im Arm den Freund, sie presst Die rote Wang’ an seine bleiche, Sie netzt ihr wallend’ Haar im Teiche, Dass es die Stirn ihm kühlend nässt.

The Young Man Du hier? – Entflieh! Ein Hauch von mir bringt dir den Tod!

No 16 The Maiden O lass mich von der Luft durchdringen. Der sel’gen Luft, gehaucht von dir, Und was sie trag’ auf ihren Schwingen Tod oder Leben, süss ist’s mir! Trink meine Tränen, auch mein Blut, Mein Herzblut selbst empfingest du, Wär’s Balsam nur für deine Glut, Gäb’s dir nur auf Minuten Ruh. Wend’, o! dein hold Gesicht nicht ab – Bin ich nicht deine Braut – bin dein? Ist nicht im Leben wie im Grab Der Platz an deiner Seite mein? Denkst du, dass sie, die nur von dir In dunkler Welt empfängt ihr Licht, Die trübe Nacht erträgt, die ihr Hereinsinkt, wenn dein Auge bricht? Ich leben ohne dich, allein, Du meines Lebens Leben, nein! O lass mich von der Luft durchdringen. Der sel’gen Luft, gehaucht von dir, Und was sie trag’ auf ihren Schwingen Tod oder Leben süss ist’s mir!

Narrator Sie wankt – sie sinkt – und wie ein Licht Im giftigen Hauche des Schachts Verlischt, so plötzlich bricht Ihr holdes Auge. Ein Krampf, sein Weh ist dann vergangen, Vollendet ist sein Leben! Auf drückt sie ihm noch einen langen Und letzten Kuss und stirbt im Geben!

No 17 The Peri and Chorus Schlaf nun und ruhe in Träumen voll Duft, Balsam’scher umweh dich die Luft Als dem magischen Brand der Phönix entsteigt Wenn er sein eigenes Grablied singt. Schlaf nun und ruh in Träumen voll Lust, Du, die treueste, liebendste Brust! Sie sprach’s, und Himmelshauch durchfliesst Von ihren Lippen diese Stelle, Sie schwingt den Strahlenkranz und giesst Auf beider Antlitz solche Helle, Dass wie ein Heil’genpaar sie lagen, Indes die Peri wacht und Licht Mild strahlt in ihre Todesnacht, Bis ihre Seelen auferwacht.

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

Desk on the Circle level?

She fails – she sinks – as dies the lamp In charnel airs or cavern-damp, So quickly do his baleful sighs Quench all the sweet light of her eyes. One struggle – and his pain is past – Her lover is no longer living! One kiss the maiden gives, one last, Long kiss, which she expires in giving!

Sleep on, in visions of odour rest, In balmier airs than ever yet stirr’d Th’ enchanted pile of that lonely bird Who sings at the last his own death-lay. Sleep on, in pleasing dreams now rest, Thou the truest, most beloved breast! Thus saying, from her lips she spread Unearthly breathings thro’ the place And shook her sparkling wreath and shed Such lustre o’er each paly face, That like two lovely saints they seem’d, While that benevolent Peri beam’d Like their good angel, calmly keeping Watch o’er them till their souls would waken.




Bedeck the steps to Alla’s throne, Strew them with flowers, companions all, So that the Eternal Gaze May even on the lowliest fall. Let us all join hands in a round And in humility profound Bow joyfully before our Lord!

Do not forget the lovers’ plight, Who on earth must still remain! Below is darkness here is light, There is hatred, this is love’s domain.

Bedeck the steps, etc.

Lo, to the path to eternal light The Peri now has taken her flight. Lovely Peri, be thou not afraid, Truth and faith have never been betrayed! Seek what is good, In thine eye there lies What is most precious to the Lord. Now go back to the rosy bower, Joy to give, joy to receive, To the beloved’s lips to cleave, Kisses to offer and devour. The sun draws near, endless reward Waits for those who joyfully serve the Lord.

PART THREE

No 18 Chorus Schmücket die Stufen zu Allahs Thron, Schmückt sie mit Blumen, Freundinnen alle, Dass auf des Himmels Unterste auch Gnädig ein Blick des Ewigen falle. Schlinget den Reigen Lasst uns verneigen Freudig, demutsvoll vor dem Herrn!

Vocal Quartet Auch der Geliebten vergesset nicht, Die auf der Erde zurückgeblieben! Unten ist’s dunkel, oben das Licht, Hass ist dort, hier ewiges Lieben.

Chorus Schmücket die Stufen, usw.

Sopranos I and II and Chorus Seht da, die Bahn zum ew’gen Licht Kommt schon die Peri herangeflogen. Liebliche Peri, verzweifle nicht, Treu’ und Glaub’ hat noch nie betrogen! Suche das Gut, Im Auge ruht, Was das Teuerste ist dem Herrn. Jetzo zurück in die Rosenlauben, Freude zu geben, Freud’zu empfangen, An des Geliebten Lippen zu hangen, Küsse zu bieten, Küsse zu rauben. Schon naht die Sonne, ewige Wonne Harret, die freudig dienen dem Herrn.


No 19 Narrator Dem Sang von ferne lauschend, schwingt Die Peri höher sich empor, Der reinsten Liebe Seufzer bringt Sie als Geschenk vor Edens Tor. Hoch kopft ihr Herz, die Hoffnung spricht’s, Bald soll sie Edens Palmen nahn, Denn lächelnd nimmt der Geist des Lichts Am Tore diese Gabe an; Und horch, von Himmelsbäumen ruft Kristallner Glöckchen Klang, sie lauscht Dem Läuten in ambrosischer Luft Die her von Allahs Throne rauscht; Sie sieht die Sternenschalen blinken, Rings um den See des Lichts gereiht, Wo die verklärten Seelen trinken Den ersten Trank der Herrlichkeit!

Doch eitel war der Peri Hoffen, Noch stand das ew’ge Tor nicht offen – Es spricht der Engel, Schmerz im Blick:

The Angel Noch nicht! Treu war die Maid, und die Geschichte Geschrieben überm Haupt des Herrn, Liest lange noch der Seraph gern Doch, Peri – noch währt der Verschluss Von Edens Tor – Viel heil’ger muss die Gabe sein Die dich zum Tor des Lichts lässt ein.

Hearkening to the distant song, Again the Peri soars above, Bearing to Heav’n that precious sigh Of pure, self-sacrificing love. High throbb’d her heart with hope elate, The Elysian palm she soon shall win. For the bright spirit at the gate Smil’d as she gave that offering in; And she already hears the trees Of Eden with their crystal bells Ringing in that ambrosial breeze That from the throne of Alla swells; And she can see the starry bowls That lie around that lucid lake, Upon whose banks admitted Souls Their first sweet draught of glory take!

But, ah! even Peri’s hopes are vain – Again [the Fates forbade, again] Th’ immortal barrier clos’d – The angel said, as with regret:

Not yet! True was the maiden, and her story Written in light o’er Alla’s head, By seraph eyes shall long be read. But, Peri, see – the [crystal] bar Of Eden moves not – holier far Than ev’n this sigh the boon must be That opes the gates of Heav’n for thee.



Cast out! From the golden gate Once more turned away! Condemned! Of hope Denied the smallest ray! Like this I shall never gain The noble, precious gift, Ah, woe is me, my spirits wane, I feel they nevermore will lift. Yet I will never rest, nor cease To wend my way from pole to pole, A pilgrim till I reach my goal And seize the prize of perfect peace That I will hope to celebrate When to me Eden opens the gate. And even, if by a fate so cruel, It lay hidden in the deepest depths, I will, I must now find this jewel!

Now, upon Syria’s land of roses Softly the light of Eve reposes, And, like a glory, the broad sun Hangs over sainted Lebanon, Whose head in wintry grandeur towers And whitens with eternal sleet, While summer, in a vale of flowers, Is sleeping rosy at his feet.

To one who look’d from upper air O’er all th’ enchanted regions there, How beauteous must have been the glow, The life, the sparkling from below!

Fair gardens, shining streams, with ranks Of golden melons on their banks, More golden where the sunlight falls; –

No 20 The Peri Verstossen! Verschlossen Aufs neu das Goldportal! Gerichtet! Vernichtet, Der Hoffnung letzter Strahl! So soll ich’s nimmer finden Das edle, köstliche Gut, Weh mir, ich fühl’ ihn schwinden, Den hohen Mut. Doch will ich nicht ruhn, will ohne Rast Von einem Pol zum andern schreiten, Durchpilgern will ich alle Weiten Bis ich das Gut, bis ich’s erfasst Das mir das höchste Glück verheisst Das, Eden, mir dein Tor erschleusst. Und wär’s bewacht in Grau’n und Nacht, Tief in der Erde tiefsten Gründen, Ich will, ich muss das Kleinod finden!

No 21 Bass solo Jetzt sank des Abends goldner Schein Auf Syriens Rosenland herein, Wie Glorienschimmer hing die Sonn’ Über dem heil’gen Libanon, Es ragt in Wintermajestät Sein Haupt, vom ew’gen Schnee beglänzt, Indes der Sommer schläft bekränzt Am Fuss auf einem Blumenbeet.

Die aus der Höhe konnte schau’n Herab auf all die Zauberau’n, Wie schön erschien ihr nicht die Welt, Das rege Leben, rings erhellt!

Der Gärten Pracht, der Wellen Schimmern, An ihren Ufern goldne Früchte, Die schöner noch im Sonnenlichte; –


And then the mingling sounds that come, Of shepherd’s ancient reed, with hum Of the wild bees of Palestine, Banquetting thro’ the flowery vales; And, Jordan, those sweet banks of thine And woods, so full of nightingales.

And as she downward wings her way, A host of Peris with her say:

Peri, is it really true, That thou dost long for Heaven’s blue? Is the light of the glorious sun Not itself of sufficient worth Along with stars, the moon and earth? Peri, is it really so, That thou to Heav’n dost long to go? Then make haste to take us too!

[…] Her sisters’ words increase her pain, Her soul is sad – her wings are weary – Joyless she sees the Sun look down On that great Temple once his own, Whose lonely columns stand sublime, Flinging their shadows on the plain.

Downward to that temple of the sun! An amulet, upon whose stone Appears a lightning-flash’s glint, Do I see there, also a page That bears great Solomon’s imprint; Perhaps they will decode for me

Und dann das tausendstimm’ge Rufen, Das alte Schäferrohr, das Summen Der Bienen im gelobten Land, Die schwärmen über Blumenfelder; Und Jordan, dein beglückter Strand Und deine nachtigallenreichen Wälder.

No 22 Narrator Und wie sie niederwärts sich schwingt, Eine Schar von Peris sie umringt:

Chorus of Peris – Vocal Quartet Peri, ist’s wahr, Dass du in den Himmel willst? Genügt dir nicht Das Sonnenlicht Und Sterne, Mond und Erde? Peri, ist’s wahr, Dass du in den Himmel willst? So nimm uns eilig mit!

Bass solo Mit ihrer Schwestern Worten wächst ihr Schmerz, Schwer ist ihr Fittich – trüb’ ihr Herz – Freudlos sieht sie die Sonn’ sich neigen Dort hinterm Tempel, einst ihr eigen, Des Säulen, hoch und einsam, weit Die Schatten breiten durch die Au’n.

No 23 The Peri Hinab zu jenem Sonnentempel! Ein Amulett, auf dessen Stein Ein Zeichen glänzt, vom Blitz hinein, Geschmolzen, dort gewahr’ ich’s, auch Ein Blatt, auf welchem rein Das Siegel prangt von Salomo; Vielleicht entziffern sie mir’s, wo



Where on earth or in the sea Lies the magic power, the noble boon That will open Eden soon To sinners. Let my eye read it: I will go down!

Cheer’d by this hope she bends her thither; – Still laughs the radiant eye of Heaven, Nor have the golden bowers of Even In the rich west begun to wither; – When, o’er the vale of Balbec winging Slowly, she sees a child at play, Among the rosy wild flowers singing, As rosy and as wild as they; And near the boy, who tir’d with play Now nestling ’mid the roses lay. She saw a wearied man dismount From his hot steed and on the brink Of a small imaret’s rustic fount Impatient fling him down to drink. Then swift his haggard brow he turn’d To the fair child who fearless sat, Tho’ never yet hath day-beam burn’d Upon a brow more fierce than that, – Sullenly fierce – a mixture dire Like thunderclouds, of gloom and fire; In which the [Peri’s] eye could read Dark tales of many a ruthless deed; The ruin’d maid – the shrine profan’d – Oaths broken – and the threshold stain’d With blood of guests! – there written, all.

But, hark! the vesper call to prayer, As slow the orb of daylight sets, Is rising sweetly on the air From Syria’s thousand minarets! The boy has started from the bed

Auf Erden, in den Meeren ruht Die Zaubermacht, das edle Gut, Das Eden öffnet sünd’gen Wesen, Vielleicht vermag’s mein Aug’ zu lesen, Hinab!

Narrator Sie schwebt herab im frohen Hoffen; – Noch lacht des Himmels Auge hold, Die Lauben auch aus Abendgold Stehn noch im Westen offen; – Jetzt über Balbecks Tal sich schwingend Erblickt im Spiele sie ein Kind, Inmitten wilder Rosen singend, So rosig wild wie selbst sie sind; Beim Knaben, der, des Spiels nun satt, In Blumen sich gelagert hat. Sieht sie vom heissen Rosse steigen Jetzt einen müden Mann und schnell An einem hochumgrasten Quell Zum Trunke sich hinunterbeugen. Dann kehrt er schnell sein wild’ Gesicht Aufs schöne Kind, das furchtlos sass, Obgleich noch nie des Tages Licht Ein wild’res Antlitz sah als das, – Entsetzlich wild – ein grauser Bund Wie Wetterwolk’ aus Nacht und Glut; Dort stehn die Laster all, es tut Dort jedes Bubenstück sich kund; Meineid – erschlag’ner Gast – Betrog’ne Braut – mit blut’ger Schrift Auf jenem Antlitz stand’s geschrieben.

Alto solo Doch horch, wie Vesperruf zum Beten, Da still die Sonn’ herniederschwebt, Von Syriens tausend Minaretten Jetzt durch die Lüfte bebt; Vom Blumenbeet hebt sich der Knab’,


Das seinem Haupt ein Lager gab, Kniet nieder auf dem blum’gen Grund, Worauf mit reinem Engelsmund Er Gottes ew’gen Namen spricht; Er scheint, indem er Blick und Hand Zum Abendhimmel aufgewandt, Ein Engelskind, das sich hernieder Verirrt hat Und seine Heimat suchet wieder.

Narrator Und was fühlt er, der sünd’ge Mann, Der dort lehnt und sich nun entsann So manchen Jahrs voll Schuld und Blut, Der auf des Lebens dunkler Flut Umsonst späht nach dem Rettungspfade, Wo nichts den Ölzweig bringt der Gnade.

The Man ’S war eine Zeit, du selig Kind, Da jung und rein, wie du, mein Tun Und Beten war – doch nun! –

No 24 Vocal Quartet and Chorus O heil’ge Tränen inn’ger Reue! In eurer sanften Sühnungsflut Die einzige, die erste neue Schuldlose Lust für Schuld’ge ruht.

No 25 The Peri Es fällt ein Tropfen aufs Land Ägypten, von Juniushitze verbrannt, Vom Mond herab, Von so heilender Kraft, dass zur Stunde Der Dämon der Pest entschwebt Und Gesundheit Himmel und Erde belebt! –

Of flowers, where he had laid his head. And down upon the fragrant sod Kneels […] lisping the eternal name of God From Purity’s own cherub mouth, And looking, while his hands and eyes Are lifted to the glowing skies, Like a stray babe of Paradise Lost upon the earthly plain And seeking for his home again.

And how felt he, the wretched Man, Reclining there – while memory ran O’er many a year of guilt and strife, Flew o’er the dark flood of his life, Nor found one sunny resting-place, Nor brought him back one branch of grace.

There was a time, [he said, in mild heart-humbled tones] – thou blessed child! When young and haply pure as thou I look’d and pray’d like thee – but now! –

Blest tears of soul-felt penitence! In whose benign, redeeming flow Is felt the first, the only sense Of guiltless joy that guilt can know.

There’s a drop […] that down from the moon Falls thro’ the withering airs of June Upon Egypt’s land, of so healing a power, So balmy a virtue, that ev’n in the hour That drop descends contagion dies And health reanimates earth and skies! –



Lässt so, o Sünder, nicht genesen, Dich dieser Reuetränen Fall? Wie glüh’nd die Wunden der Brust gewesen, Ein Himmelstropfen, er heilt sie all’!

Narrator with Chorus Und sieh, demütig betend kniet Der Mann dort an des Kindes Seite, Indes ein Sonnenstrahl auf beide Den Sünder und den Reinen glüht. Und Hymnen durch den Himmel schweben Denn einer Seele ward vergeben! Gesunken war der gold’ne Ball, Noch lagen sie auf ihren Knien, Da fiel ein rein’rer, schön’rer Strahl Als je aus Sonn’und Sternen schien, Auf jene Träne. Hymnen durch den Himmel schweben Denn einer Seele ward vergeben! Ein sterblich’ Auge nähm’ ihn zwar Als Meteor, als Nordlicht wahr – Doch weiss die Peri wohl: der Schein, Es muss des Engels Lächeln sein Womit er mild die Träne grüsst Die bald den Himmel ihr erschliesst!

No 26 The Peri Freud’, ew’ge Freude, mein Werk ist getan – Die Pforte geöffnet zum Himmel hinan! Wie selig, o Wonne, wie selig bin ich – Süss Eden, wie finster sind gegen dich Schedukiams Demanttürme, wie matt Die duftenden Lauben von Amberabad!

Lebt wohl, ihr Düfte der Erd’, ihr verraucht Schnell, wie der Liebenden Seufzer verhaucht Vom Tubabaum ist nun mein Schmaus, Er duftet der Ewigkeit Odem aus!

Oh, is it not thus, thou man of sin, The precious tears of repentance fall? Tho’ foul thy fiery plagues within One heavenly drop hath dispell’d them all!

And now – behold him kneeling there By the child’s side, in humble prayer, While the same sunbeam shines upon The guilty and the guiltless one. And hymns of joy proclaim thro’ Heaven The triumph of a soul forgiven! ’Twas when the golden orb had set, While on their knees they linger’d yet, There fell a light more lovely far Than ever came from sun or star, Upon the tear. […] And hymns of joy proclaim thro’ Heaven The triumph of a Soul Forgiven! To mortal eye this light might seem A northern flash or meteor beam – But well th’ enraptur’d Peri knew ’Twas a bright smile the Angel threw From Heaven’s gate to hail that tear Her harbinger of glory near!

Joy, joy for ever! my task is done – The Gates are pass’d and Heaven is won! Oh! am I not happy? I am, I am – To thee, sweet Eden! how dark and sad Are the diamond turrets of Shadukiam, Amid the fragrant bowers of Amberabad!

Farewell ye odours of Earth that die Passing away like a lover’s sigh; My feast is now of the Tooba Tree, Whose scent is the breath of eternity!


Lebt wohl, ihr Blüten in meinem Kranz, Ihr blühtet so schön und verwelket doch schon; O was sind Blumen im irdischen Glanz Doch gegen den Lotos vor Allahs Thron, Mit ew’gen Blütenästen umstrebt Wo in jeglichem Blatt eine Seele lebt. O ewige Freud’ – mein Werk ist getan, Die Pforte geöffnet zum Himmel hinan! Wie selig, o Wonne? wie selig bin ich!

Chorus of the Blessed Spirits Willkommen, willkommen Unter den Frommen! Du hast gerungen und nicht geruht; Nun ist’s errungen, das köstliche Gut. Sei uns willkommen, Sei uns gegrüsst! Ja, gibt es ein Opfer der Erdenwelt, Ein Geschenk, das teuer der Himmel hält, Die Träne ist’s, die du gebracht, Die aus dem Aug’ des Sünders floss, Die dir den Himmel wieder erschloss. Du hast gerungen und nicht geruht, Nun hast du’s errungen, das köstliche Gut! Aufgenommen In Edens Garten, Wo liebende Seelen deiner warten Dich ew’ge Wonne umfliesst, Sei uns willkommen Sei uns gegrüsst!

This text and translation was first used in the programme for an Edinburgh International Festival performance of Das Paradies und die Peri in 2011.

Farewell ye vanishing flowers, that shone In my fairy wreath, so bright and brief; Oh! what are the brightest that e’er have blown To the lote-tree, springing by Alla’s throne, With eternal flowering branches strewn Where a soul dwells in every leaf. Joy, joy for ever! – my task is done – The gates are pass’d, and Heaven is won! Oh! am I not happy? I am, I am!

Welcome, welcome Among the godly! Without cease thou hast striven and strained; Now thou hast the precious boon obtained. Welcome among us, We greet thee! Yes, if there is an earthly prize, A gift that heaven holds ever dear, It is the former sinner’s tear, That drops in penitence from his eyes, That opens heaven’s gate for thee. Without cease thou hast striven and strained, Now thou hast the precious boon obtained! Accepted at last In Eden’s garden, Where loving souls extend a pardon And eternal bliss awaits thee, Be welcome among us And receive our greeting!

26 Artist Biographies 11 January 2015

Sally Matthews Peri (Soprano)

Mark Padmore Narrator (Tenor)

Sally Matthews was the winner of the 1999 Kathleen Ferrier Award. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, was a member of The Royal Opera, Covent Garden Young Artists Programme from 2001 to 2003, and was a BBC New Generation Artist. She currently studies with Paul Farringdon.

In 2001 Sally made her Royal Opera debut as Nannetta (Verdi’s Falstaff). Since then, she has sung roles in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Così fan tutte, Stravinsky’s

The Rake’s Progress and Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmélites. She appears regularly at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Netherlands Opera and Theater an der Wien.

Plans this season and beyond include Konstanze in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Strauss’ Daphne and Capriccio at La Monnaie, Brussels; Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Munich Philharmonic; and Mahler’s Symphony No 4 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Simon Rattle include Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 and Orff’s Carmina Burana. Future opera highlights also include appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Salzburg Festival and a return to the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Recent concerts include performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Michael Tilson Thomas, and Berlin Philharmonic. Regular appearances with the LSO have included Mahler’s Symphonies No 2 and 4; Strauss’ Four Last Songs; Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater; Brahms’ Requiem; Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi; and Haydn’s Creation. Sally has given recitals with Simon Lepper at La Monnaie, Brussels, the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and Wigmore Hall, where she has also appeared with the Nash Ensemble.

Mark Padmore was born in London and grew up in Canterbury. After beginning his studies on the clarinet, he gained a choral scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge and graduated with an honours degree in music. He has established a flourishing career in opera, concert and recital. His performances in Bach’s Passions have gained particular notice throughout the world.

In the opera house he has worked with directors Peter Brook, Katie Mitchell, Mark Morris and Deborah

Warner. Recent work includes the leading role in Harrison Birtwistle’s new opera The Corridor with performances at the 2009 Aldeburgh and Bregenz Festivals, as well as Southbank Centre in London; Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress at La Monnaie, Brussels; Handel’s Jephtha for WNO and ENO; and Captain Vere in Britten’s Billy Budd and the Evangelist in a staging of Bach’s St Matthew Passion for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. In concert he has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, and makes regular appearances with the OAE, with whom he has conceived projects exploring Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions.

Mark has given recitals in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, New York, Paris and Vienna. He appears frequently at Wigmore Hall in London, where he was Artist-in-Residence in the 2009/10 season. Composers who have written for him include Mark-Anthony Turnage, Alec Roth, Sally Beamish, Thomas Larcher and Huw Watkins.

Since 2007 Mark has been recording for Harmonia Mundi, with releases including a disc of Handel arias; Schubert’s Schwanengesang, Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise with Paul Lewis; and Schumann’s Dichterliebe with Kristian Bezuidenhout. Mark is Artistic Director of the St Endellion Summer Music Festival in Cornwall.


Kate Royal Soprano

Bernarda Fink Alto

Born in London, Kate Royal studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio. Awards have included the 2004 Kathleen Ferrier Award, the 2004 John Christie Award, and the 2007 Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award.

In concert she has appeared with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Sir Simon Rattle; the Bachakademie Stuttgart and Helmuth Rilling; the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Vassily Petrenko; the Orchestra of

La Scala Milan and Myung-Whun Chung; the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Pablo Heras-Casado; the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Adès; the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Alan Gilbert; the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Robin Ticciati; the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen; the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski; the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding; and the Berlin Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle. She has appeared in recital throughout Europe and North America.

In opera she has sung in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni, and Bizet’s Carmen for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle at the Baden-Baden Festival; in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw for Glyndebourne on Tour; in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea for ENO; and in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest for the Royal Opera.

In 2006 she signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics. Her first solo recordings were a musical portrait with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, followed by Midsummer Night, a collection of 20th-century arias, and a solo recital disc with Malcolm Martineau, A Lesson in Love.

Bernarda Fink, daughter of Slovenian parents, was born in Buenos Aires and received her musical education at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón. She is a sought-after singer, appearing frequently with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, Royal Concertgebouw, Staatskapelle Berlin and Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Recent highlights have included Mozart’s Lucio Silla at the

Theater an der Wien, Idomeneo at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Handel’s Theodora at the Salzburg Festival, and a concert performance of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito under René Jacobs. She regularly appears in recital at the Wiener Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Berlin Philharmonie, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, and Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York. In the current season she will give performances at Wigmore Hall with Anthony Spiri, the Nash Ensemble, and the Pavel Haas Quartet.

Bernarda Fink holds regular masterclasses throughout Europe, and was on the jury of the International Song Competition at Wigmore Hall and the Bach Wettbewerb Leipzig. She has made numerous acclaimed and award-winning recordings, ranging from Monteverdi and Rameau to Schubert, Bruckner and Schumann. Recent recordings include Bach Cantatas with the Freiburger Barockorchester, and Lieder by Mahler with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada and pianist Anthony Spiri.

In 2006 she was awarded the Austrian Honorary Medal for Art and Science, and in 2013, together with her brother Marcos Fink, received Slovenia’s most prestigious cultural award for their recording Slovenija! and related concerts.

Andrew Staples Tenor

Florian Boesch Bass

Andrew Staples sang as a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral before winning a Choral Scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge, where he gained a degree in music. Andrew was the first recipient of the RCM Peter Pears Scholarship, sponsored by the Britten Pears Foundation, at the Royal College of Music, and subsequently joined the Benjamin Britten International Opera School. He studies with Ryland Davies.

His concert engagements have included Das Paradies und die Peri

with both the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding; Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple in New York; Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra; Britten’s War Requiem at the King’s College Chapel with David Hill; Mozart’s Requiem with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; and concerts with the LSO, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Accademia Santa Cecilia.

He made his Royal Opera House debut as Jacquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio, and has also sung at the National Theatre, Prague, the Salzburg Festival, Opera Holland Park, La Monnaie, Brussels, the Hamburgische Staatsoper, and the Lucerne Festival. Forthcoming performances include Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot for the Royal Opera House and the Teatro Real in Madrid, and concerts with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

His recent venture, Opera for Change, which brings together international musicians and local artists and communities to produce great shows that inspire and transform lives, has taken Mozart’s The Magic Flute on tour in Africa, covering ten countries in total.

Florian Boesch is one of today’s foremost Lieder interpreters. He has performed at Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Philharmonie Cologne, Philharmonie Luxemburg, the Edinburgh International and Schwetzingen festivals, and throughout North America. During the 2014/15 season he is a Wigmore Hall Artist-in-Residence.

Forthcoming concerts include Haydn’s The Creation in Paris

and Lyon, Handel’s Saul in Vienna, Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust in Berlin, Dvorák’s Stabat Mater in Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam, Brahms’ Requiem in Vienna, Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions on tour, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Boesch performs with leading orchestras and conductors, and works very closely with the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, with whom he recently performed Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Haydn’s The Creation at the Vienna Musikverein, and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen at the Styriarte Festival. Operatic engagements have taken him to the Salzburg Festival, Theater an der Wien, Staatsoper Hamburg, Handel Festival, Bregenz Festival, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, and to Tokyo and Los Angeles. In 2011 he made his debut at the Opera Cologne in the title role of Berg’s Wozzeck.

His recording of Lieder and ballads by Carl Loewe on Hyperion received the Edison Klassiek Award. Other acclaimed CDs have included Schubert’s Der Wanderer (Hyperion), Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise (Onyx).

Florian Boesch received his initial vocal training from Ruthilde Boesch and later studied with Robert Holl in Vienna.

28 Artist Biographies 11 January 2015


Simon Halsey Chorus Director

Simon Halsey is one of the world’s leading conductors of choral repertoire, regularly conducting prestigious orchestras and choirs worldwide. Halsey holds the position of Chief Conductor of the Berlin Radio Choir, and has been Chorus Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus for over 25 years. Since 2012 he has been Choral Director of the London Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus, working closely with LSO Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev and leading choral strategy across

the LSO’s performance and education programmes. Halsey’s work with the LSC has been said to have caused a ‘spectacular transformation’ (Evening Standard). Simon Halsey also holds the positions of Artistic Director of the Berlin Philharmonic’s Youth Choral Programme and Director of the BBC Proms Youth Choir.

Recent projects with the Berlin Radio Choir include Mozart’s The Magic Flute with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle in the Orchestra’s new Easter residency in Baden-Baden. As Director of the BBC Proms Youth Choir, Halsey rehearsed young singers from all over the UK to perform Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony during the First Night of the 2013 BBC Proms, and Britten’s War Requiem at the 2014 BBC Proms. Recent projects with the London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra included the world premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Tenth Symphony.

Halsey has worked on countless major recording projects, many of which have won major awards, including several Gramophone Awards and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. He won the Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Halsey was also presented with the prestigious Bundesverdienstkreuz Erste Klasse, Germany’s Order of Merit by State Cultural Secretary André Schmitz in Berlin, in recognition of his outstanding services to choral music in Germany.

LSO SING IN 2015Sat 7 Feb 2015 11am–4.30pm, LSO St Luke’s LSO CHORAL SINGING DAY: DURUFLÉ REQUIEM

Gain fresh insights into this much-loved work with Simon Halsey at this participatory Singing Day, featuring a morning

workshop and an afternoon performance that friends and

family can watch.

Tickets £17 + booking fee (£0.60 online, £0.70 by phone)

Sun 1 Mar 2015 7.30pm, Barbican DURUFLÉ REQUIEM

Debussy La damoiselle élue

Debussy La mer

Duruflé Requiem

Donald Runnicles conductor

Simon Halsey chorus director

with Nicole Cabell, Kelley O’Connor, Duncan Rock London Symphony Chorus

Tickets £10 – £38 + booking fee (£3 online, £4 by phone)

Sat 9 May 2015 11am–4.30pm, LSO St Luke’s LSO CHORAL SINGING DAY: BRAHMS CONNECTIONS

In the run-up to a performance of Brahms’ Requiem on 24 May,

Simon Halsey runs a workshop exploring some of the music

that inspired it, including a Schütz setting of one of the Brahms

Requiem texts, a Handel fugue, a Bach chorale and an early

Brahms motet.

Tickets £17 + booking fee (£0.60 online, £0.70 by phone)

lso.co.uk | 020 7638 8891

London Symphony OrchestraLondon’s Music

lso.co.uk/findmeaconcert

Something for every mood with the London Symphony Orchestra

To roll our online dice, visit: lso.co.uk/findmeaconcert

lso.co.uk London Symphony Chorus 31

London Symphony Chorus On stage

BASSES Simon Backhouse Bruce Boyd Andy Chan Steve Chevis James Chute Damian Day Thomas Fea Ian Fletcher Robert French Robert Garbolinski * John Graham Gergö Hahn Owen Hanmer * Anthony Howick Thomas Kohut Gregor Kowalski * Peter Niven Tim Riley Alan Rochford Zachary Smith Rod Stevens Gordon Thomson Jez Wareing

* denotes council member

SOPRANOS Kerry Baker Faith Baxter Louisa Blankson Evaleen Brinton Carol Capper * Laura Chiorean Jessica Collins Shelagh Connolly Emma Craven Rebecca Dent Lucy Farrington Joanna Gueritz Maureen Hall Isobel Hammond Florentina Harris Kuan Hon Claire Hussey Bethan Irving Debbie Jones Jessica Kirby Luca Kocsmarszky Mimi Kroll Debbie Lee Marylyn Lewin Jennifer Norman Emily Norton Hiroko O’Reilly Maggie Owen Isabel Paintin Andra Patterson Oktawia Petronella Frances Pope Carole Radford Liz Reeve Mikiko Ridd Chen Shwartz Lizzie Webb Beccy Wheaton Miji Yi

ALTOS Hetty Boardman-Weston Elizabeth Boyden Gina Broderick Jo Buchan * Jenni Butler Lizzy Campbell Jan Daines Zoe Davis Maggie Donnelly Linda Evans Lydia Frankenburg * Amanda Freshwater Tina Gibbs Rachel Green Yoko Harada Amanda Holden Jo Houston Ginger Hunter Lis Iles Christine Jasper Jill Jones Vanessa Knapp Gilly Lawson Belinda Liao * Anne Loveluck * Liz McCaw Jane Muir Caroline Mustill Helen Palmer Susannah Priede Lucy Reay Fran Ringer Maud Saint-Sardos Lis Smith Jane Steele Claire Trocme Curzon Tussaud * Georgina Wheatley Sara Williams

TENORS David Aldred Paul Allatt * Robin Anderson Antoine Carrier Michael Delany Daniel Ehrlich John Farrington Matt Fernando Andrew Fuller Jesse Hollister Warwick Hood Tony Instrall John Marks Alastair Mathews John Moses * Malcolm Nightingale Daniel Owers Chris Riley Sam Roots Peter Sedgwick Richard Street Malcolm Taylor Owen Toller Brad Warburton Robert Ward * Paul Williams-Burton James Warbis

President Emeritus André Previn KBE

Vice Presidents Michael Tilson Thomas

Patron Simon Russell Beale

Chorus Director Simon Halsey

Deputy Chorus Director & Accompanist Roger Sayer

Assistant Directors Neil Ferris and Matthew Hamilton

Chairman Lydia Frankenburg

lsc.org.uk

The London Symphony Chorus was formed in 1966 to complement the work of the London Symphony Orchestra. The partnership between the LSC and LSO was developed and strengthened in 2012 with the joint appointment of Simon Halsey as Chorus Director of the LSC and Choral Director for the LSO.

The LSC also partners other major orchestras and has worked internationally with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, Boston Symphony and the European Union Youth Orchestra. The LSC tours extensively throughout Europe and has visited North America, Israel, Australia and South East Asia.

The Chorus has recorded extensively; recent releases include Britten’s War Requiem with Gianandrea Noseda, Haydn’s The Seasons, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Verdi’s Otello, and the world premiere of James MacMillan’s St John Passion all under the late Sir Colin Davis; and with Valery Gergiev, Mahler’s Symphonies Nos 2, 3 and 8. A recent recording of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder won a Gramophone award.

Last season the Chorus undertook critically acclaimed performances of Verdi’s Rigoletto, the world premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Tenth Symphony, Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust and Romeo and Juliet, Haydn’s The Creation, Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy, and Beethoven’s Mass. The Chorus performed their own concert, including Rachmaninov’s Vespers, on 26 November at the Barbican, and return to sing Duruflé’s Requiem on 1 March.

If you would like to arrange an audition, contact Aoife McInerney on [email protected] for further details.

32 The Orchestra 11 January 2015

London Symphony Orchestra On stage

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HORNS Timothy Jones Angela Barnes Alexander Edmundson Jonathan Quaintrell-Evans

TRUMPETS Philip Cobb Gerald Ruddock

TROMBONES Peter Moore James Maynard

BASS TROMBONE Paul Milner

TUBA Patrick Harrild

TIMPANI Antoine Bedewi

PERCUSSION Neil Percy David Jackson Sam Walton

HARP Bryn Lewis

FIRST VIOLINS Gordan Nikolitch Leader Lennox Mackenzie Clare Duckworth Ginette Decuyper Jörg Hammann Claire Parfitt Laurent Quenelle Harriet Rayfield Ian Rhodes Sylvain Vasseur Gerald Gregory David Worswick

SECOND VIOLINS David Alberman Thomas Norris Sarah Quinn Miya Väisänen Matthew Gardner Julian Gil Rodriguez Naoko Keatley William Melvin Iwona Muszynska Paul Robson

VIOLAS Edward Vanderspar Gillianne Haddow Malcolm Johnston Regina Beukes Julia O’Riordan Robert Turner Jonathan Welch Cian O’Duill

CELLOS Rebecca Gilliver Alastair Blayden Jennifer Brown Minat Lyons Amanda Truelove Eve-Marie Caravassilis

DOUBLE BASSES Matthew McDonald Colin Paris Nicholas Worters Patrick Laurence Thomas Goodman

FLUTES Gareth Davies Alex Jakeman

PICCOLO Sharon Williams

OBOES Cristina Gómez Godoy Alice Munday

CLARINETS Andrew Marriner Chi-Yu Mo

BASSOONS Daniel Jemison Joost Bosdijk

Neil Wallington This Christmas choral concert @londonsymphony is tremendous fun, and there is a particularly lively audience tonight … on A Choral Christmas (14 Dec)

Olivier Leconte The concert was incredible and all the players were top notch. on the LSO with Alexandre Desplat (11 Dec)

Nicholas Kroll Great music, wonderful singing and brass sound, and a festive dose of feelgood factor! on A Choral Christmas (14 Dec)

The Scheme is supported by Help Musicians UK The Polonsky Foundation The Garrick Charitable Trust The Lefever Award

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.

Editor Edward Appleyard [email protected]

Photography Igor Emmerich, Kevin Leighton, Bill Robinson, Alberto Venzago

Print Cantate 020 3651 1690

Advertising Cabbell Ltd 020 3603 7937

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.

Tristan Noon I love seeing musicians at the top of their game. Such amazing musicianship from the @londonsymphony tonight. #DesplatConcert on the LSO with Alexandre Desplat (11 Dec)

peri schumann

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