Ludwig van Beethoven London Lyric Opera in

Fidelio
Ludwig van Beethoven
Tuesday 17 February 7.30pm
London Lyric Opera
in concert at
Cadogan Hall
Biography Fidelio
Opera in two acts
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Text in German by Joseph von
Sonnleithner from the French
of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly
“Léonore, ou l’amour conjugal
fait historique en deux actes et
en prose mêlée de chantes.”
Sponsored by:
World premiere: Kärtnertortheater,
Wien, 23 May 1814
Surtitles translation by Kenneth
Chalmers, by arrangement with
the Royal Opera, Covent Garden
This performance is dedicated to
the memory of Frau Edith Kraus
(1932-2006)
Patron/Sponsor’s message London Lyric Opera
A message from our Patron
A message from our Sponsor
by Isla Baring
by Martin MacConnol
Welcome to London Lyric Opera’s concert
performance of Fidelio conducted by
our Guest Conductor, Madeleine Lovell,
supported by the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra, The Philharmonia Chorus and
Queens’ College Chapel Choir in the
warm acoustic and beautiful surroundings
of Cadogan Hall. This timeless story of
love, liberty and betrayal is Beethoven’s
only opera and remains a firm favourite
in the operatic canon.
LLO’s last concert Der fliegende Holländer
at the Barbican was a great success
with Neil Fisher of The Times remarking,
“Concert opera in London has a new
champion”. A major element in our
success to date has been the quality of
the artists working with us. Tonight you
will hear no finer example than the great
dramatic soprano, Elizabeth Connell who
will be singing one of her most famous
roles, Leonore.
In June 2009, LLO will be back at
Cadogan Hall performing Johann Strauss’
comic masterpiece Die fledermaus in
concert with some fun surprises in the
cast; this performance promises to be
an unforgettable evening. Later in the
year our principal conductor, Lionel
Friend, returns to conduct von Weber’s
Der Freischütz with the rarely performed
Berlioz recitatives.
In 2008 LLO produced Passion of Puccini
at Leighton House, Cycles at Cadogan
Hall and Der fliegende Holländer at the
Barbican. It has been a year of remarkable
growth. Our developing relationships
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
and the Philharmonia Chorus enable us
to approach the most challenging and
rewarding repertoire. Without our main
sponsor Wardour this would not be
possible. Their commitment and drive
have been an inspiration to us all at LLO.
I hope you enjoy tonight’s performance
and look forward to seeing you again at Die
fledermaus here at Cadogan Hall in June.
With all best wishes
Isla Baring
Patron in chief
London Lyric Opera
It’s not often you come across an
organisation that is both entrepreneurially
driven and brimming with creativity. This
is why, when London Lyric Opera asked
Wardour to be its main sponsor, we leapt
at the idea. We are a creative business
ourselves – albeit in the creation of
corporate communications – and
LLO’s passion and verve spoke to us.
Over the past year, we have been
thrilled by our growing association with
James Hancock and his team. Creatively,
their performances have stimulated our
designers to produce what I know are
some of Wardour’s best graphic designs.
They also have a fearsomely efficient
approach to the behind the scenes
admin – something which always
impresses me and the Wardour team.
In these tough economic times, I am
prouder than ever of the relationship
between Wardour and LLO. Great
music lightens the pressures of our
day-to-day lives. It boosts the spirit
and swells the soul. Even after the
curtain has come down, it lives within
us. At a time when it’s all too easy to be
distracted by the concerns of ‘the now’,
LLO’s performances remind us of the
world beyond the material – a place of
the spirit that has been, and always
will be, key to a full experience of life.
Martin MacConnol
Sponsor
CEO of Wardour Communications
The Company The Company
BAKER
& SPICE
BAKER & SPICE HAMPERS
SERIOUS HAMPERS FOR SERIOUS FOODIES
In support of the London Lyric Opera we have made up a special
OPERA LOVER’S HAMPER
For details please call 07738 217 632 or email [email protected]
www.bakerandspice.com
London Lyric Opera
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Leader – Clio Gould
Philharmonia Chorus
Queens’ College Chapel Choir
Conductor
Madeleine Lovell
Chorus Master
Edward Caswell
Leonore
Elizabeth Connell
Florestan
Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts
Rocco
Richard Wiegold
Marzelline
Rachel Nicholls
Jaquino
Andrew Staples
Don Pizarro
James Hancock
Don Fernando
Paul Goodwin-Groen
First Prisoner
Nicky Spence
Second Prisoner
Aaron McAuley
Fidelio London Lyric Opera
Synopsis
Fidelio
courtesy of OPERA NEWS
Madeleine Lovell
Act I
Spain, eighteenth century. In a prison,
Marzelline, daughter of the jailer, Rocco,
rejects the attentions of her father’s
assistant, Jaquino, who hopes to marry
her. Her heart is set instead on the new
errand boy, Fidelio. The latter, a
hardworking lad, arrives with provisions
and dispatches and is distressed by
Marzelline’s interest in him, especially
since it has the blessing of Rocco. Fidelio
is in fact Leonore, a noblewoman of Seville
who has come to the jail disguised as a
boy to find her husband, Florestan, a
political prisoner languishing somewhere
in chains. When Rocco mentions a man
lying near death in the vaults below,
Leonore, suspecting it might be Florestan,
begs Rocco to take her on his rounds.
He agrees, though the governor of the
prison, Don Pizarro, allows only Rocco
in the lower levels of the dungeon.
As soldiers assemble in the courtyard,
Pizarro learns from the dispatches
brought to him that Don Fernando,
minister of state, is on his way to inspect
the fortress. At this news the governor
resolves to kill Florestan, his enemy,
without delay and orders Rocco to dig
a grave for the victim in the dungeon.
Leonore, overhearing his plan, realises
Pizarro’s evil nature and the plight of his
victim. After praying for strength to save
her husband and keep up hope, she again
begs Rocco to let her accompany him to
the condemned man’s cell - and also to
allow the other prisoners a few moments
of air in the courtyard. The gasping men
relish their glimpse of freedom but are
ordered back by Pizarro, who hurries
Rocco off to dig Florestan’s grave. With
apprehension, Leonore follows him into
the dungeon.
Act II
In one of the lowest cells of the prison,
Florestan dreams he sees Leonore arrive
to free him. But his vision turns to despair,
and he sinks down exhausted. Rocco
and Leonore arrive and begin digging the
grave. Florestan awakens, not recognising
his wife, and Leonore almost loses her
composure at the familiar sound of his
voice. Florestan moves the jailer to offer
him a drink, and Leonore gives him a
bit of bread, urging him not to lose faith.
Rocco then blows on his whistle to signal
Pizarro that all is ready. The governor
advances with dagger drawn to strike,
but Leonore stops him with a pistol.
At this moment a trumpet sounds from
the battlements: Don Fernando has
arrived. Rocco leads Pizarro out to meet
him as Leonore and Florestan rejoice in
each other’s arms.
In the prison courtyard, Don Fernando
proclaims justice for all. He is amazed
when Rocco brings his friend Florestan
before him and relates the details of
Leonore’s heroism. Pizarro is arrested,
and Leonore herself removes Florestan’s
chains. The other prisoners too are freed,
and the crowd hails Leonore.
Throughout its reception history
Beethoven’s Fidelio has regularly provoked
two opposing reactions. Most
commentators have noted the allencompassing musical and dramatic
range of the opera. For certain of them
this constitutes a weakness and creates a
disparate, unfocused work; while for
others it shows the composer’s mastery
over every genre of music theatre and
represents a ground-breaking fusion of the
symphonic and operatic genres. Some
have even gone so far as to suggest that
Beethoven, fearing he might not have
another opportunity to write an opera (as,
indeed, it turned out), wanted to make
Fidelio his definitive contribution to the
genre. It is likely that the long drawn-out
nature of the compositional process
contributed to the variety of Beethoven’s
musical language (after the initial work of
1804-5, Fidelio was revised in 1806 and
again in 1814). His style had undergone
many changes during that decade, now
usually referred to as his ‘Middle Period’,
and the final appearance of Fidelio in 1814
anticipated the last phase of his career,
one marked by ever increasing innovation
and extremity.
However, we cannot dismiss the argument
that Fidelio in its last version expresses the
composer’s attempt at an ultimate,
encyclopaedic utterance, for this is an
aesthetic tendency perceived throughout
his oeuvre. And after all, about how many
other operas can one say that the
composer wrote three different overtures,
before settling on yet a fourth?
The sheer range and variety of the opera
is quite astonishing. The major national
styles – German Singspiel, Italian opera
seria and opera buffa, the French
revolutionary rescue opera – are all
represented. The use of both dialogue and
music, and of the German language are a
clear link to the Singspiel tradition, as is
the German folksong idiom of, for
instance, Rocco’s Act 1 aria about the
necessity of money for a happy life.
The sheer range
and variety of the
opera is quite
astonishing
Fidelio 11
10 London Lyric Opera
This is Rocco’s most down-to-earth
moment in the opera, and it is no surprise
to find him expressing himself with a
deliberately naïve tune, full of the kind of
syllabic text-setting and repeated notes
which deliver his folk wisdom most
appropriately. The extended recitatives
and arias of Leonore and Florestan allude
to the weighty forms of opera seria,
thereby denoting the seriousness and high
emotional status of these two and uniting
them further in the audience’s mind. The
interaction of characters from different
social classes and their mutual reliance is
a direct link with opera buffa, and the
elements of disguise and rescue are a
stock-in-trade of the late eighteenthcentury French tradition. The diversity of
these dramatic forms is reinforced by
Beethoven’s command of many musical
idioms, traversing, for example,
melodrama (where dialogue is heard over
an instrumental accompaniment), strophic
song and revenge aria. Each choice is
made on dramatic grounds, and the result
is music that, like every great operatic
score, tells us so much more about the
characters – their history, their desires,
their weaknesses and strengths – than the
libretto alone can disclose.
It is Beethoven’s innovations in form,
structure and orchestration that unify
Fidelio, and his ability to transform the
familiar into the spectacularly new.
Consider the Act 1 Quartet ‘Mir ist so
wunderbar’. This number has a similar
effect to a Baroque opera seria aria,
suddenly pausing the action and affording
the audience a view of the protagonists’
souls. The disclosure of their thoughts and
feelings is mirrored by a similar revelation
of the inner parts of the orchestra,
beginning with a quartet of violas and
cellos (precisely those instruments
traditionally hidden within the texture),
supported only by the merest pizzicato
double bass accompaniment.
Just as the voices enter one by one,
so the music gradually becomes clothed
in the many timbres and registers of the
orchestra, but with such clarity that we
can perceive the process stage by stage.
Marzelline, Leonore, Rocco and Jaquino
sing in canon, each presenting the same
theme – a musical manifestation of their
mutual interdependence and sympathy.
It is left to the orchestra once more to
emphasise their separate identities, as
the accompaniment takes the form of a
variation set, with each new character’s
entrance marked by fuller scoring and
increased rhythmic momentum.
It is Beethoven’s
innovations in
form, structure and
orchestration that
unify Fidelio
The composer’s handling of the traditional
revenge aria with Don Pizarro’s ‘Ha! Welch
ein Augenblick’ is no less novel. It belongs
to a familiar type that we also find, for
instance, in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.
Both Bartolo’s and the Count’s arias
threatening vengeance share the same
rhetorical octave spans and vehement
vocal gestures. The profound evil of Don
Pizarro’s character, on the other hand,
leads Beethoven to a musical realisation
that expresses violence and instability;
where pride was at stake in Mozart’s
opera buffa, it is now life itself that is at
issue.
The dynamism of Beethoven’s idiom and
its rhythmic energy would be enough to
carry any listener through the drama. We
should not be surprised to discover,
however, that the composer employed
many other musical means of shaping
Fidelio, such as the use of particular keys
(especially C major and E major) to mould
the psychological structure, and the
association of chromaticism with evil and
the suffering that it causes. It is well
known that the first three overtures which
Beethoven wrote for the opera were all in
C major, and indeed this is the key in
which the opera ends. Yet Beethoven’s
final decision was for an overture in E
major, the key of Leonore’s heroic Act 1
aria ‘Abscheulicher!’. The first motif of the
overture looks forward to the thrilling horn
fanfare which accompanies Leonore’s
exultant resolve in the final section of her
aria. C major remains above all the key of
redemption, and its brief appearances
before the great Act 2 Finale are always
significant. In spite of its tonal distance
from the A major of Don Pizarro and
Rocco’s Act 1 Duet, ‘Jetzt, Alter’, C major
continually reappears, as both men’s
thoughts turn to the victim Florestan. No
greater contrast could be found between
the life-affirming purity of C major and the
chromaticism which heralds Pizarro’s
terrifying commands. His Act 1 aria is a
swirling eddy of diverse keys, and the dark
sonorities of the Act 2 Melodrama and
Duet bear his unmistakeable stamp.
One of the most celebrated passages
in the opera is, of course, the Prisoners’
Chorus with which the Act 1 Finale begins.
In a mere twenty bars Beethoven conveys
uncertainty, disorientation and finally the
gradual dawning of light over suffering
humanity. His compositional brilliance was
at the service of a great moral project.
Fidelio is a story of faith and redemption,
and of the great achievement of human
bonds. There is no more piercing account
of the journey from dark into light, of
deliverance through faith, the battle of
courage against cowardice, and the
triumph of good over evil.
It is a story of faith
and redemption,
and the great
achievement of
human bonds
Historical Context 15
14 London Lyric Opera
Historical Context
Dr Michael Rowe
Prominent thinkers
shaped public opinion
The French Revolution of 1789 overshadowed the period in which Beethoven
lived. The Revolution came towards the end
of a century that had witnessed the growth
of the ‘public sphere’, the space where
issues are openly and critically discussed,
and public opinion formed. Prominent
thinkers shaped this opinion, and their ideas
collectively constituted the ‘Enlightenment’
which questioned existing institutions.
The Bonn into which Beethoven was born
in 1770 was one centre of the German
Enlightenment thanks to its status as capital
of the Electorate of Cologne, a polity
fortunate in experiencing a run of reformminded princes who improved public
education and sponsored the arts.
‘Enlightened absolutism’ characterised
Bonn. It did not characterise Bourbon
France, which was absolutist but hardly
enlightened. The French monarchy failed to
move with the times and hence fell in 1789.
This was welcomed throughout Europe as
a triumph over despotism, as symbolised
by that pivotal moment: the storming of the
Bastille on 14 July, and the release of the
prisoners held there. Less enamoured of
the Revolution were Europe’s princes, who
feared something similar might occur in
their own territories. They responded with
repression, which took the form of stricter
censorship, the removal of progressive
thinkers from universities, and the closure of
Masonic lodges. Reformers who previously
had placed their hopes in enlightened
monarchical government now became
radicalised, and worked for the overthrow
of the existing system. It was in this context
that Beethoven moved to Vienna, capital
of the vast, multinational Austrian Empire,
in 1792.
The year 1792 witnessed two other
important events: the outbreak of war
between revolutionary France and a coalition
of European Great Powers, and the
accession to the Austrian throne of a new
emperor, Francis II. Francis pursued with
vigour the war against France, whose
revolution he was determined to destroy.
Domestically, he adopted an equally
reactionary course, reversing the policy
of his predecessors. Francis and his inner
circle associated reform with revolution,
and generally distrusted new ideas. This
sentiment only increased when the newlydeclared French Republic attempted to
destabilise Austria by promising the
Emperor’s subjects assistance should
they revolt. Austria responded with a
McCarthy-style campaign against domestic
opponents. Leading the oppression was
the newly-formed Police Bureau, whose
network of agents kept prominent persons
under close surveillance, and whose
cipher office secretly read people’s private
correspondence. The Emperor was
especially alarmed by the conspiracy
unearthed by the police over the summer
of 1794. This involved disaffected exofficials. The police made a wave of arrests,
and these were followed by secret trials
before a specially appointed commission.
This found all the defendants guilty, and a
score of those most implicated were publicly
executed for treason in early 1795. The
whole episode created a sense of fear
throughout Austria. People were on notice
that talk of reform was taboo with the result
that they withdrew from politics completely,
or engaged with it obliquely, often through
literature, theatre and music.
To reformers, oppression in Austria and
elsewhere only increased the attractiveness
of the new French Republic. However,
hopes that here at least the ideals of liberty,
equality and fraternity might triumph similarly
proved illusory. Matters progressed well
enough the first few years after the Bastille’s
fall: liberty and equality were enshrined in
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
the Citizen, feudalism was abolished, and
a progressive constitution introduced in
1791. However, the lack of political
consensus made the new constitution
unworkable and the outbreak of war in
1792, far from encouraging unity, instead
triggered civil war and terror on a massive
scale. The intense violence of 1793-4
quickly burned itself out, but what followed
was a cynical and corrupt regime that
proved incapable of ending the sectarian
violence and banditry that infested the
provinces. Increasingly, Frenchmen
yearned for a saviour.
The saviour emerged from the army,
which had covered itself with glory fighting
enemies of the Republic. Napoleon
Bonaparte was not the only general in
contention, but he had the good sense to
be in the right place at the right time. His
seizure of power in November 1799 opened
a new chapter. What his regime would do
was not immediately apparent. Republicans
consoled themselves with the observation
that Napoleon was a product of the
Revolution: a man of obscure origins who
rose because of his talents, and who had
risked life and limb fighting for the Republic;
he had seized power in a military coup, but
had nonetheless quickly gained popular
backing for his regime change through a
referendum. Furthermore, a few years later
– in early 1804 – the new regime introduced
the famous Code civil des Français, or Code
Napoléon, that enshrined many of the
principles of the Revolution. There were
some worrying signs, however, and these
tended to increase. The new French
constitution equipped Napoleon as First
Consul with extraordinarily extensive
powers. Democracy was effectively watered
down through a convoluted indirect voting
system, and in any case the scope for
legislative oversight greatly limited.
Furthermore, the government reserved the
right to set aside the constitution in cases
of emergency.
Biographies 17
16 London Lyric Opera
Biographies
Madeleine Lovell
Conductor
Overall, Napoleon’s Consulate (1799
to 1804) struck a balance between
institutionalising some of the best aspects
of the Revolution and restoring order. In
1804, the balance changed: Napoleon
made himself Emperor. This move proved
too much for many republicans. Beethoven,
famously, was moved to scratch out his
dedication to Napoleon of his third
symphony upon hearing the news. To
committed republicans the Empire (18041815) effectively buried the Revolution in
favour of a police state that was replete
with secret informers and political prisoners
locked up in remote fortresses like the
notorious Château d’If. Nor, following the
resumption of war on a big scale in 1805,
could Napoleon be heralded as a great
peacemaker. Rather, he now appeared
an empire-builder with an unprecedented
territorial appetite. There were some benign
aspects to his empire, to be sure: it generally
extended religious tolerance and introduced
efficient bureaucratic government. Attractive
though these gains were to the enlightened
elite (and religious minorities), they hardly
appealed to ordinary Europeans who bore
the brunt of the empire’s insatiable appetite
for taxes and conscripts that sustained the
French war machine as it conquered ever
larger swathes of the Continent. Even
Vienna, which had resisted two Turkish
sieges in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, was occupied – twice – in 1805
and 1809. Imperial extension inevitably
culminated in imperial over-stretch, as the
territory of the empire now exceeded the
manpower necessary to control it.
In 1804, the
balance changed:
Napoleon made
himself Emperor
The signs were there in Spain as early
as 1808, when Napoleon’s army became
bogged down in a bitter guerrilla war against
insurgents sustained by religious fervour.
What ultimately proved fatal, however,
was Napoleon’s decision to invade Russia
in 1812. Vast though it was, Napoleon’s
invading horde was swallowed by Russia’s
greater vastness. The losses in men, horses
and material were never made good, and
though the Napoleonic Wars dragged
on until 1815, the French attempt at
Continental hegemony was effectively
over. The Old Regime had weathered the
immediate storm, though the legend that
developed around Napoleon subsequently
provided a new dangerous challenge.
Dr Michael Rowe
King’s College London
21 January 2009
Madeleine Lovell is an accomplished
and versatile conductor with extensive
experience of the operatic, orchestral and
choral repertoire. She has directed many
choirs and orchestras around the UK,
including the BBC Symphony Chorus,
the London Philharmonic Chorus, and
the National Symphony Orchestra. As
the conductor of London Lyric Opera’s
inaugural concert (a programme of
orchestral song cycles entitled Cycles)
at the Cadogan Hall, Madeleine is delighted
to be working again with this newlyestablished company. She is currently
Musical Director of St George’s Chamber
Orchestra, a professional ensemble based
in South London, and of Londinium, an a
cappella choir that performs regularly in
the City of London. She is also Associate
Chorus Master of the Philharmonia Chorus
and a Guest Conductor of London Lyric
Opera. In addition to her professional
performing commitments, Madeleine is
Director of Music at Queen’s College,
Cambridge.
After graduating with a double starred first
in music at King’s College, Cambridge,
Madeleine received an M.Phil in Musicology
and spent a further two years researching
opera, as a result of which she organised
the first performance in the UK of Galuppi’s
comic opera, The She-Devil. Madeleine
holds a Masters in singing and also a
Certificate of Advanced Studies in repetiteur
training, both from the Guildhall School of
Music and Drama. Subsequently, she was
Assistant Musical Director of the touring
company, Pavilion Opera, and conducted
Die Fledermaus for Alternative Opera.
She is much in demand as a choir trainer,
working regularly with the BBC Symphony
Chorus (for instance, preparing them for
BBC2’s Maestro and several Proms
performances, including Verdi’s Requiem
in August 2008). Besides her involvement
with other choirs, Madeleine has a longstanding relationship with the Philharmonia
Chorus, including work for two recordings
and for their participation in London Lyric
Opera’s recent performance of Der
fliegende Holländer.
Madeleine’s busy schedule for the coming
months includes further concerts with St
George’s Chamber Orchestra, and an
adventurous programme for Londinium,
ranging from the late Renaissance to the
inventive and original idiom of Robin
Holloway. She will be working on the
Eton Choral course this summer, and
taking workshops in the UK and the
Netherlands, focusing on the performance
of contemporary works. Future projects
with Queens’ College Choir include a
recording in June 2009 and a tour to
Hong Kong in December.
18 London Lyric Opera
Biographies 19
Elizabeth Connell
Leonore
Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts
Florestan
Andrew Staples
Jaquino
Rachel Nicholls
Marzelline
Elizabeth Connell is recognised as one
of the world’s leading dramatic sopranos.
Following her debut at Wexford Opera
Festival in 1972 she sang at the opening of
the Sydney Opera House in 1973. Following
a five-year association with English National
Opera she has been a freelance artist with
the major opera houses.
Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts was born in Wales
and read music at Lancaster University
before studying at the Royal Northern
College of Music with Barbara Robotham,
where he received awards from the
Wolfson Foundation, the Countess of
Munster Musical Trust and the Peter
Moores Foundation.
She has appeared at the opera houses
of London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Munich,
Hamburg, New York (Metropolitan Opera),
San Francisco, Milan (La Scala), Naples
and Geneva in a wide repertoire including
Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, Der fliegende
Holländer, Tristan und Isolde, the Ring,
Elektra, Ariadne, Nabucco, Macbeth,
Attila, Don Carlos, Fidelio, Jenufa and
Peter Grimes. She has collaborated with
conductors such as Abbado, Sir Colin
Davis, Downes, Elder, Giulini, Levine,
Maazel, Mackerras, Muti, Ozawa
Sawallisch and Sinopoli. She has sung
at the Bayreuth, Salzburg, Orange,
Verona and Glyndebourne Festivals.
Concerts have included Martinu’s Epic
of Gilgamesh with the CBSO and Sir
Simon Rattle, Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins
and the Mahagonny Songspiel, BBC
Proms; Britten’s Serenade for Tenor,
Horn and Strings in Denmark; Molqui The
Death of Klinghoffer and Bartok Cantata
Profana, BBC Symphony Orchestra; Erik,
Der fliegende Holländer with LLO at the
Barbican and Elgar’s, Dream of Gerontius
with the BBC Philharmonic and Vassily
Sinaisky. He has worked with Opera North,
most recently taking the title role in Peter
Grimes (which won the Royal Philharmonic
Society Opera Award for 2006 and Best
Opera at the 2007 South Bank Awards),
English National Opera, Alwa in Lulu;
Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne
Festival Opera, English Touring Opera,
Garsington Opera, Grange Park Opera,
Edinburgh and Cheltenham Festivals and
sang Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with
the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
with Matthias Bamert.
Andrew Staples sang as a chorister in 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.
Rachel Nicholls is establishing herself as
one of the most versatile sopranos of her
generation, with a huge repertoire ranging
from J. S. Bach and Handel to Schönberg
and Errollyn Wallen. She read French and
Linguistic Science at the University of York,
and furthered her studies at the Royal
College of Music, winning many prizes
including the President’s Rose Bowl for
the Most Outstanding Student of the Year.
Winner of the Second Prize at the Kathleen
Ferrier Memorial Competition, she made
her début at London’s Royal Opera as
Third Flowermaiden Parsifal.
Her many recordings include Rossini’s
Guillaume Tell, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony,
Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten, Verdi’s Due
Foscari, Schönberg’s Gurrelieder, Wagner’s
Lohengrin, and Schubert Lieder as part
of Graham Johnson’s Complete
Schubert Edition.
Recent engagements include Isolde and
Turandot in Hamburg; Gertrude Hänsel
und Gretel for the Royal Opera; Turandot
in Australia, Brünnhilde with Marek
Janowski in concert in Berlin and concerts
of Jenufa with the London Symphony and
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestras and
Daniel Harding.
Future engagements include Don Basilio
The Marriage of Figaro, Welsh National
Opera; The Gambler, ROH Covent
Garden; Erik Der fliegende Holländer in
concert for Grange Park Opera; Tichon
Katya Kabanova for Opera Holland Park
and The Adventures of Mr Broucek for
Opera North and Scottish Opera.
His concert engagements include:
Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri
with the Swedish Radio conducted by
Daniel Harding, John Tavener’s The Veil
of the Temple in New York, Britten’s
Serenade for Tenor, Strings and Horn
with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra
and Mozart’s Requiem with the Scottish
Chamber Orchestra both conducted by
Andrew Manze, the Gävle Symphony with
Robin Ticciati, the Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment with Sir Simon Rattle
and the London Symphony Orchestra
with Daniel Harding. His roles include:
Male Chorus The Rape of Lucretia,
Ferrando Cosi fan tutte, Eisenstein Die
Fledermaus, Tamino for Opera Holland
Park, Belfiore La Finta Giardiniera for the
National Theatre in Prague and Narraboth
Salome for the Royal Opera. Andrew has
also sung Nencio in Haydn’s L’Infedelta
delusa for English Touring Opera. His plans
include concerts for the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle. He made
his Royal Opera House debut as Jaquino
Fidelio and returned for First Armed Man
Die Zauberflöte.
Other operatic engagements have included
performances with L’Atelier Lyrique de
Tourcoing, the Early Opera Company,
English National Opera, English Touring
Opera and Scottish Opera.
Conductors with whom she has worked
in opera and concert include Stephen
Cleobury, Thomas Dausgaard, Sir Colin
Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery
Gergiev, Martin Gester, Richard Hickox, Sir
Simon Rattle, Steven Sloane and Masaaki
Suzuki. Recent and current engagements
include First Niece Peter Grimes at the St
Endellion Festival, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte at
the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Donna
Elvira Don Giovanni at the Gregynog
Festival, Armida Rinaldo at the Edinburgh
Festival 2009, Nerone L’Incoronazione di
Poppea at the New Theatre, Tokyo, the B
Minor Mass, St Matthew Passion (arranged
Mendelssohn) and Messiah with Bach
Collegium Japan and Jauchzet Gott with
the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
in London and Minneapolis.
20 London Lyric Opera
Biographies 21
James Hancock
Don Pizarro
Richard Wiegold
Rocco
Paul Goodwin-Groen
Don Fernando
Nicky Spence
First Prisoner
James was born in Melbourne and studied
at the Victorian College of the Arts. He
was a Victoria State Opera Young Artist
and was awarded the Opera Foundation
Australia German Operatic Award; the
AIMS Award, Graz; Australian Opera
Auditions Committee Scholarship; Dame
Joan Sutherland Scholarship; The Tait
Memorial Trust Scholarship; an Australian
Musical Foundation London grant and a
Bayreuth Bursary. Roles he has performed
include: Germont; Escamillo; Figaro
(Rossini and Mozart) il frate Don Carlos
and The Poet Prima la Musica,Salieri.
Companies he has worked for include:
UCL opera, Melbourne Opera, Victoria
State Opera; Opera Australia; Oper Köln;
Longborough Festival; Pocket Opera
Nürnberg in Der Ring in einem Abend
arr. David Seaman; and Bill Maschinist
Hopkins, Brand; Der Mann Schwergewicht,
Krenek; and The Mayor Der Held, Mosolov
for Cambridge University Opera Society.
Born in South Wales, Richard trained at
the Royal Northern College of Music after
a career as a cellist. He now studies with
the distinguished tenor Anthony Roden.
Richard’s operatic roles include Arkel
Pelleas et Melisande and Il Commendatore
Don Giovanni at the Canadian Opera;
Bonze Madama Butterfly and Banquo
Macbeth with Scottish Opera; Dachs/
Pfarrer Das Schlaue Fuchslein at the
Wiener Kammeroper; Gobernador Das
Wundertheater and Jimmy Mahagonny
Songspiel at Montepulciano; Rocco
Leonore, Valton I Puritani; Talbot Giovanna
D’Arco and the Polish Officer/Russian
Commander A Life for the Tsar for Chelsea
Opera Group; Pistola Falstaff and Il
Commendatore for the Lyrique-en-Mer
Festival, France; Second Mercenary
Svanda Dudak at the Wexford Festival,
Snug A Midsummer Night’s Dream and
Dr. Bartolo Le Nozze di Figaro with English
Touring Opera, the Green Knight Gwyneth
and the Green Knight for Music Theatre
Wales, Sarastro Die Zauberflöte for the
Longborough Festival and Death The
Emperor of Atlantis with the Hallé Orchestra.
American Bass Paul Goodwin-Groen,
labelled as an artist to be watched, has
been recognized for his striking stage
presence and rich tones. In 2005 he made
his debut with Theater Hof in Germany
as Fafner Das Rheingold. Recently, he
was invited to sing Bottom A Midsummer
Nights Dream at the 50th Anniversary of
the Aldeburgh Festival. This season he
made his debut at the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden as Guccio Gianni Schicchi,
while concurrently covering Simone and
also performed the role of the Mother in
Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins.
A natural performer, Nicky left School in
Dumfriesshire to take up a scholarship
to study as the youngest singer at the
Guildhall School of Music & Drama where
he is currently completing his final year
of the Opera Course studying with John
Evans. Nicky’s performance experiences
have secured him a long-term recording
contract with Universal Classics.
James has given recitals at the Melbourne
International Festival, St James Piccadilly
and other festivals in the UK and Australia.
Concert repertoire includes the Messiah,
Creation, Beethoven 9, Elijah. He recently
sang the Songs of Travel at Cadogan Hall
in Cycles conducted by Madeleine Lovell.
James’ roles include Conte di Luna Il
Trovatore, Pavilion Opera; the title role in
Simon Boccanegra, OperaUK; Kothner
Die Meistersingers, Edinburgh Players
Opera Group, the title role in Rigoletto,
New Devon Opera and the Holländer in
Der fliegende Holländer at the Barbican
for LLO with the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra conducted by Lionel Friend.
As a concert singer, Richard has appeared
at the Macao Easter Festival, China, the
Wexford Festival, the Lyrique-en-Mer
Festival and at leading venues in the UK.
This June, Richard makes his Covent
Garden debut as Dr. Grenvil La Traviata
and later in the year he will understudy the
great Finnish bass Matti Salminen as König
Marke Tristan und Isolde also at the Royal
Opera House, Covent Garden.
He has performed the roles of Cadmus/
Somnus Semele, Leporello Don Giovanni,
the title role in Don Pasquale, Colline La
Boheme, Sarastro Die Zauberflöte, Don
Alfonso Cosi fan tutte, Zuniga Carmen,
Don Basilio Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mr.
Olsen in Weill’s Street Scene, Caspar
Der Freischütz, Don Gomez L’heure
d’espagnol, Jago Ernani, Baron Douphol
La Traviata, Bottom A Midsummer Nights
Dream and Sparafucile Rigoletto.
Paul has performed Bach’s St. John
Passion and Cantata 36, Handel’s
Messiah, Schubert’s Mass in G Minor
and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. He won
a grant to study in Italy from the Ezio
Pinza Council for American Singers of
Opera. He received a BA from Wheaton
College, and an MFA in Acting from
Brandeis University, and continued
his studies at the Manhattan School
of Music and the Britten-Pears School
of Advanced Musical Studies.
Nicky’s awards include the Kathleen Ferrier
Young Singer’s Bursary First Prize, a Young
Classical Performer of the Year nomination
at the Classical Brits, and he was a finalist
in the Gold Medal at the GSMD.
In opera his roles include Bill Flight for
BYO, Samson Samson, Don Eusebio
L’Occasione fa il ladro, Osmin La
Rencontre Imprévue for GSMD, Soldier
I giardini della storia J. Dove (Batignano),
Scaramuccio Ariadne auf Naxos for
Garsington Opera, King Arthur at BrittenPears, Pirelli Sweeney Todd at Shawford
Mill and Count Zedlau Wiener Blut and
Belmonte Die Entfhürung aus dem Serail
for English Touring Opera.
Nicky’s future operatic plans include
Jaquino Fidelio for Opera Holland Park,
Pyramus Pyramus and Thisbe for Opera
Project, The Guide The King goes Forth
to France, and Ferrando Cosi fan Tutte.
On the concert platform: A Samling
Showcase at the Wigmore Hall and
recitals at Snape Maltings, Leeds Lieder+
Festival, the National Portrait Gallery and
Hampton Court whilst recording plans
include a CD of Alun Hoddinott Songs,
an ITV Documentary Profile, and leading
the New Scottish National Anthem.
22 London Lyric Opera
Biographies 23
Aaron McAuley
Second Prisoner
David Cairns
Critic/Author
Edward Caswell
Chorus Master
Aaron gained a B. Mus. with honours, at
the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and
Drama, under the direction of Alan Watt.
Aaron is currently studying for an Artist
Diploma in Opera at the Royal College of
Music under the direction of Tim Evans.
David Cairns was chief music critic of
the Sunday Times from 1983 to 1992,
having been music critic and, later, arts
editor of the Spectator and a writer on
Times Educational Supplement, Evening
Standard, Financial Times and New
Statesman.
Edward went to Christ Church, Oxford
and the Royal College of Music where
he studied singing with Norman Bailey.
Having previously worked as a singer,
Edward has established himself as a
widely respected choral conductor and
appears regularly as a guest chorus
master throughout the UK and Europe.
In October 2008 he became Artistic
Director of the Philharmonia Chorus.
His solo career has taken him around the
country performing such works as Handel’s
Israel in Egypt and Berlioz’s L’enfrance
du Christ (Polydorus) as well as Puccini’s
Messa di Gloria, Mozart’s Vesperae
solemnes de confessore and Litaniae
de verabili altaris sacramento, Schubert’s
Mass in G and Magnificat, Haydn’s Missa
in honorem sanctae ursulae, Faure’s
Requiem, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio,
Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to music
and Telemann’s cantata The Schoolmaster
with members of the BBC Symphony
Orchestra. He has toured the Scottish
Isles performing for Herriot Watt University.
His operatic roles include the Sheriff in
Flotow’s Martha, the Bride’s Father in
Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom, and the
immigration officer in Dove’s Flight. Roles
Aaron has understudied include Pistola
Falstaff, Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande and
Liberto in L’incoronazione Di Poppea.
He was co-founder of Chelsea Opera
Group (1950) and sang solo roles under
the group’s first conductor, Colin Davis.
From 1967 to 1972 he was classical
programme coordinator at Philips
Records, where he was involved in many
of the company’s major recordings. His
books include Responses: Musical Essays
and Reviews (1973), a two-volume life of
Berlioz, volume 2 of which won the
Samuel Johnson Non-Fiction Prize and
the Whitbread Biography Award (2000),
Mozart and His Operas (2006), and, as
co-author, the ENO Opera Guide on
Falstaff.
Forthcoming performances include a
recital with the Glasgow Youth Choir to
mark their 50th anniversary, and Mozart’s
Coronation Mass and Second Prisoner
with Garsington Opera in the Summer.
He is Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des
Lettres, president of the City Music Society
and of Putney Music, vice-president of
Chelsea Opera Group, a fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature, a member
of the boards of St John’s Smith Square
and the International Musicians Seminar,
and founder-conductor of the Thorington
Players, an amateur orchestra which gives
concerts for charity and which recently
performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
at St John’s.
Aaron is supported by The Countess of
Munster Trust, Douglas & Hilda Simmonds
Award, The Drapers’ De Turckheim
Company, Musicians Benevolent Fund and
the Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship.
He has taught graduate and undergraduate
courses at the University of California,
Davis, and has been visiting fellow at the
Getty Center in Santa Monica and at
Merton College, Oxford.
Edward works as chorus master and
conductor with NDR Chor, the SchleswigHolstein Festival Chor and SWR
Vokalensemble in Stuttgart and has
recently prepared Netherlands Radio
Choir for Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso
ed il Moderato under the direction of
Kenneth Montgomery. He returns to
Netherlands Radio next season, and in
2009 will prepare the BBC Singers for
Mozart’s Requiem with conductor Scott
Ellaway. On 4th July this year he will
conduct the Philharmonia Chorus in
Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil in
Salisbury Cathedral.
Edward works as a lecturer in the
Department of Vocal Studies at the Royal
Scottish Academy of Music and Drama,
and teaches singing at the University of
Glasgow. He is Musical Director of St
Andrews Chorus and the Wordsworth
Singers in Cumbria. As Outreach Director
of Capella Nova he leads workshops
across Scotland and is currently leading a
course ‘Health and Wellbeing through
Song’ at the University of Strathclyde.
24 London Lyric Opera
Supporting young Australian
Performing Artists in the UK
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
History
Patron HRH The Duke of York
Music Director Daniele Gatti
Founded in 1946 by Sir Thomas Beecham,
with his vision of bringing world-class
performances of the greatest music
written to the length of the country, the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra continues
to maintain Beecham’s legacy by offering
audiences in the UK and abroad the
highest possible standards of musicmaking, accompanied by some of the
most acclaimed artists of the day. Since its
formation, the Orchestra has been directed
by some of the world’s finest conductors,
most notably Rudolf Kempe, Antal Dorati,
André Previn and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
The RPO continues to thrive, undertaking
a busy concert, touring and recording
schedule, under the inspired leadership
of Maestro Daniele Gatti. The Orchestra
is pleased to announce that from the
beginning of the 2009-2010 season,
Charles Dutoit will become Artistic Director
and Principal Conductor, with Daniele
Gatti continuing as Conductor Laureate.
The Orchestra is London-based and
performs regularly at Cadogan Hall (as
Resident Orchestra), the Royal Albert Hall
and the Royal Festival Hall. These high-
profile performances in the capital are
complemented by a comprehensive
regional touring programme. Throughout
the summer months the Orchestra also
performs to tens of thousands of people
at open-air picnic concerts across the
country. As an international orchestra, the
RPO has toured more than thirty countries
in the last five years, with significant
engagements including concerts in the
Vatican and Tiananmen Square, China.
The RPO extends its artistic work through
a vibrant and innovative Community and
Education programme. Using music as
a powerful and motivating force, the RPO
works in a variety of settings including
projects with young homeless people,
youth clubs, the probation service,
schools and families. RPO Community
and Education projects promote live
music-making, reflecting the diversity
of the individuals involved, as well as
the Orchestra’s own background.
The RPO records widely for all the major
commercial record companies, with no less
than eight of its CDs featuring in the record
charts last year. The Orchestra also has
its own record label, which includes the
popular Here Come The Classics™ series.
Upcoming Events
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Prokofiev: A life of Music
John Amis and our young Tait Awardees
John Amis together with Mary Jean O’Doherty, James Homann, Amir Farid and
Claire Howard present an evening on Prokofiev. Works to include Diabolique
Opus 4, Toccata Opus 11, War and Peace arias, The Love of 3 Oranges and Songs
Without Words. Tickets £23
7 for 7.30pm
49 Queen’s Gate Terrace, London SW7
Monday 20 April 2009
Tait Rush Hour
with lyric tenor Brad Cooper and soprano Valda Wilson
The Trust’s popular Rush Hour planned to keep you in touch with emerging and
established Australian talent. Brad Cooper, a lyric tenor, rising star of bel canto
from Holland Park Opera and Wexford Festival with Valda Wilson. Tickets £23
7 for 7.30pm
49 Queen’s Gate Terrace, London SW7
Tuesday 19 May 2009
Royal Over-Seas League Arts
A Celebration Of Young Australian Music Talent
In this concert we hear recent winners of the Tait Memorial Scholarship and ROSL
awardees in an hour-long programme of popular classics and musical delights.
A glass of champagne is served on arrival and the concert will be followed by a
reception with quality Australian wines and canapés. Tickets £25
6.30 for 7pm
ROSL, Princess Alexandra Hall St James’s Street London SW1A 1LR
We wish to thank the Vernon
Ellis Foundation and The
Thornton Foundation.
Photos: Seija Knight and
Duncan Rock at our recent
Christmas
Celebration.
Tristan Dyer and Darcey
Bussell at In Celebration
of Ballet 2007. Photos by
Angus Forbes.
For tickets or information
Please contact us on:
[email protected]
www.taitmemorialtrust.org
4/80 Elm Park Gardens London
SW10 9PD
020 7351 0561
Registered charity no. 1042797
Project1
30/1/09
14:49
Page 1
26 London Lyric Opera
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Musicians and Management
First Violins
Clio Gould
Tamás András
Gerald Gregory
Andrew Klee
Kay Chappell
Anthony Protheroe
Erik Chapman
Russell Gilbert
Second Violins
Clara Biss
Elen Hâf Richards
Jennifer Christie
Siân McInally
Guy Bebb
Peter Dale
Music Director
Daniele Gatti
Oboes
Tim Watts
Leila Ward
Managing Director
Ian Maclay
Bassoons
Daniel Jemison
Helen Simons
Contra Bassoons
Claire Webster
Violas
Andrew Williams
Helen Kamminga
Emilie Hornlund
Andrew Sippings
French Horns
Chris Parkes
Kathryn Saunders
Phil Woods
Andrew Fletcher
Cellos
Tim Gill
Chantal Webster
William Heggart
Shinko Hanaoka
Trumpets
Brian Thomson
Mike Allen
Adam Wright
Basses
Roy Benson
David Broughton
Flutes
Emer McDonough
Julian Coward
in a new English translation by Simon Butteriss
Piccolo
Helen Keen
Clarinets
Douglas Mitchell
Tom Watmough
Trombones
Phil White
Bass Trombone
Andrew Waddicor
Timpani
Matt Perr
If you would like to join the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra’s FREE mailing list or for further
information about concerts and recordings,
please take a look at our website:
www.rpo.co.uk or call us on 020 7608 8800.
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE
Finance Director
Michelle Johnson
Concerts Director
Elizabeth Forbes
Concerts Manager
Elsa Tatevossian
Head of Press &
Marketing
Chris Evans
Head of Community
& Education
James Hutchinson
Orchestra Managers
Sally Sparrow
Malcolm Wilson
Librarian
Patrick Williams
Stage Manager
Chris Ouzman
Wednesday May 6 2009 at 7.30pm at The Bloomsbury Theatre
15 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AH
Box Office 020 7388 8822 or at www.thebloomsbury.com
Bawdy, boisterous
and brilliant –
beg, borrow or
steal a ticket.
Prior to UK and Irish Tour
May and June 2009
Check website for details
www.operauk.co.uk
28 London Lyric Opera
The Philharmonia Chorus 29
Philharmonia Chorus
History
Chorus Members
The Philharmonia Chorus was founded
by Walter Legge in 1957 to record
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the
Philharmonia Orchestra under Otto
Klemperer. It quickly established itself
as one of Europe’s premier choirs and has
worked with many leading conductors and
orchestras, both in the UK and overseas.
Soprano
Gill Beach
Carol Capper
Sheena Cormack
Rosalyn Dale
Judy Davies
Sheila Fitzgerald
Ruth James
Vivien Karam
Carolyn Killen
Patty Kostkova
Jackie Leach
Laura MacPherson
Sarah Molloy
Dilys Morgan
Rosslyn Panatti
Ayano Sasaki-Crawley
Denise Squires
Theresa Walters
Its extensive repertoire encompasses
the mainstream choral masterpieces and
opera. Highlights during the past few years
have included performances of Verdi’s
Requiem with both Valery Gergiev and
Riccardo Muti, Rachmaninov’s The Bells
with Vladimir Jurowski, Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony with Sir Charles Mackerras
and Lohengrin and Der Freischütz at the
Edinburgh Festival.
Performances in 2008 have included
Dvorak’s Requiem and Stabat Mater,
Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the Brahms
Requiem (under Lorin Maazel), the
Berlioz Te Deum and Leonard Bernstein’s
Kaddish Symphony. Concerts have been
given in Istanbul, King’s College Chapel,
Cambridge, and St David’s Hall, Cardiff,
in addition to the main London venues.
The Chorus was privileged to take part
in London Lyric Opera’s performance of
Der flegende Höllander in the Barbican.
September 2008 saw the Chorus in Spain
to take part in a recording of Frédéric
Chaslin’s Wuthering Heights, conducted
by the composer.
Last October the Philharmonia Chorus was
delighted to announce the appointment of
Edward Caswell as its new Artistic Director.
He will conduct the Chorus in London in
April in a programme of works by Bruckner,
Arvo Pärt and Rachmaninov, and he has
prepared the Chorus for this evening’s
performance.
Alto
Elizabeth Album
Anneliese Collett
Ursula Davies
Clare Harvey
Diana Howarth
Judy Jones
Celia Kent
Anne Lavender
Philippa Millbrook
Alison Rieple
Danni Rochman
Muriel Scott
Sylvia Suban
Anne Thies
Hana Tiller
Anne van der Lee
Tenor
Tim Appleby *
Richard Ashdown *
Ahmet Cakir
Mark Damerell
Dominick Felix *
Tim Freeman *
Edmund Henderson *
Andrew Martin
Andew McCall
Geraint Powell
Ian Williams
John Woodhouse
Tenor 2
Zak Attar
Simon Carbery *
Bob Geary
Christopher Hollis *
Michael Hope
Marco Marta
Jon Meredith
Andrew Oliver
David Phillips *
Mark Tannett *
Ian Williams
Bass 1
Mark Anderson
David Bryant *
Phillip Dangerfield *
Michael Day
Richard Gaskell
Richard Harding *
Jonathon Holder
Michael Hughes
Michael Humphries
Alan Jones
Richard Lane
Edward Morgan
Aziz Panni
Andre Refig *
Ben Stubbs
David Walker
James Wigram
Bass 2
Tony Brewer
Robert Collis
Mike Fleuty
Nigel Grieve
Oliver Hogg
Matt Kellett *
Steve Kirby *
Barnaby Mason
Stephen Rosser *
James Shirras *
* Wachtsoldaten
30 London Lyric Opera
Management and sponsors 31
The Choir of Queens’ College, Cambridge
Management and sponsors
Choir Biography
Throughout its 560 year history, Queens’
College Cambridge has had an extremely
strong musical tradition. The Chapel Choir,
led by the two Organ Scholars and the
Director of Music, performs to the highest
standards in College, in public performance
and in the recording studio. Their repertoire
ranges from the divine to the secular and
from classical to popular.
The regular duty of the choir is to sing
evensong twice a week in the beautiful
Victorian college chapel. The choir
also frequently performs in and around
Cambridge, and at cathedrals across the
United Kingdom. Recent appearances
have included Westminster Abbey and
St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and
Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. Moreover,
Queens’ Choir has a strong international
reputation, following tours to Germany,
Switzerland, Spain, Hong Kong, and
most recently the USA – where the choir
performed extensively in New York, at
Vassar University and in Harvard.
In 1999 the choir began its recording
relationship with Guild Music, with the
highly successful album ‘Evening Watch’.
Since then, the choir has released five
further recordings and another is in
preparation. Through its performances
and recordings the Choir of Queens’
College has firmly established itself both
in Cambridge and among the international
musical community as a leading exponent
of great choral music.
Chorus Members
Soprano
Sara Boomsma
Georgina Bryan
Alice Cairns
Soumaya Keynes
Rosalind Orchard
Laura Parrott
Sian Smith
Alto
Eleanor Careless
Emma Jones
Madeleine Power
Sophie Morrison
Faith Taylor
Tenor
James Angus
Nicholas Dore
Cody Johnson
Nicholas Sutcliffe
Geoffrey Williams
Bass
Matthew Andrew
Alexander Breedon
Hector Miller-Bakewell
Daniel Rollison
Joel White
Thomas White
Ciaran Woods
London Lyric Opera
Patron–in-Chief
Isla Baring
Patron
Christine Collins
James Hancock
Founder
Principal Conductor Lionel Friend
Madeleine Lovell
Guest Conductor
Company Manager Violetta Tosic
Wardour
Design
Gordon Dadds
Legal Services
Company Accountant Global Accountants Ltd
Advertising Sales/
Promotions
Christopher Mason
Public Relations
Violetta Tosic
For this Production
Dramatic Realisation
Repetiteurs
Surtitle Operator
Photographer
Photographer
Cadogan Hall
General Manager
Event Manager
Marketing Manager
Technical Manager
Jane McCulloch
Stephen Rose
Caroline Jaya Ratnam
Paul Webster
Kenneth Chalmers
Moz Bulbeck
Julie Kim
Adam McGinlay
Gill Dixon
Lisa McFall
James Tapping
Platinum Sponsor
Branding and Marketing Partner
Wardour
www.wardour.co.uk
Gold Sponsors
Tait Memorial Trust
www.taitmemorialtrust.org
The Ashton Partnership
www.theashtonpartnershi.com
Silver Sponsors
Henkell Brothers
www.henkell.com.au
Legal Partner
Gordon Dadds
www.gordondadds.com
Hotel Partner
Cadogan Hotel
www.cadogan.com
Transport Partner
Translux International
www.translux.com
Supported by:
Novum Wines
Baker & Spice
www.novumwines.com
www.bakerandspice.com
With our warmest thanks to
Jonathan Burton,Royal Opera House; Mark Millidge,
English National Opera; Kathie Convery, Victorian
Opera; Leeza Johnson, Tiffany Leeson, Margaret
Marinkovic, Catherine Stokes, Advance UK Arts
Network, and the team at Wardour. Vernon and
Hazel Ellis and the Vernon Ellis Foundation for their
most generous support.
We would like to welcome Lord Eatwell, President
of Queens’ College Cambridge, Queens’ Alumni and
the Advance Arts Network to tonights performance.
Photo and Image credits:
Front Cover – Artwork, Sam Weber; Design, Wardour
pp1 Lebrecht Music & Arts, pp2 Julie Kim, pp9 Julie
Kim, pp12 Orsolya Szakaly, pp15 Julie Kim, pp16 Clive
Barda & Julie Kim, pp17 Sussie Ahlburg & Jonathan
Underwood, pp18 Julie Kim, pp19 Julie Kim & Anon,
pp20 Gordon Smith, pp21 James Hancock & Charles
Boursnell, pp22 David Lindsay, pp26 Mozbphotography
pp33 Mozbphotography
Our mission 33
Our mission
Supporting LLO
London Lyric Opera is a young company
with ambitions to fill a niche in the UK
opera scene by producing high-quality
concerts with the best available singers
and musicians. Concert performances
are planned in London every four months
in the best concert venues. If you would
like to get involved or have ideas about
projects or resources that might help us
keep doing what we’re doing, we’d love
to hear from you.
Please call us on +44 (0)20 7193 4149
or email [email protected] to
discuss this further.
LLO Friends
We believe that LLO will have an exciting
future as an important opera company in
the UK – but we need your help. Our aim
is to be the premier London concert opera
company, performing opera in concert
to the highest possible standard with no
compromise to orchestra size and quality.
We will always perform with the forces
required by the score and use professional
orchestras and cast the best available
singers.
Our Friends get special benefits such as
invitations to private events, opportunities
to meet the artists, first call on performance
tickets and generous Friends discounts.
All names of Friends are prominently listed
in our performance programmes and
appear on the LLO website. If you would
like to find out how you can become a
Friend and support our work, please write
to us at: London Lyric Opera, 27 Clevedon
Road, London SE20 7QQ
Friends
Gold
Isla Baring
Christine Collins
Silver
Mr and Mrs V Scamporlino
To continue this important work we are
going to need additional funding. If you
could support us by being a ‘Friend’, we
would be enormously grateful.
Bronze
Mr and Mrs R Dennis
Mr and Mrs D H L Hopkinson
Mr and Mrs D How
Ms P Radcliffe
The ‘Friend’ categories are
the following
Bronze £25 - £249
Silver £250 - £999
Gold £1,000 - £4,999
Platinum £5,000+
Corporate sponsorship
Through corporate contributions towards
LLO’s work, your company will enhance
and promote its image and messages to
an audience of well-educated, affluent
opinion-shapers and decision-makers.
You will promote products in the most
prestigious concert venues to central
London audiences and establish name
identification, brand affiliation and image
transfer with London’s new opera
company. Contact Lara at lara@
londonlyricopera.com for a personally
tailored sponsorship package.
34 London Lyric Opera
Cadogan Hall
Etiquette and information
Etiquette
Smoking All areas of Cadogan Hall are
non-smoking areas.
Food & Beverages You are kindly
requested not to bring food and other
refreshments into Cadogan Hall.
Cameras and Electronic Devices
Video equipment, cameras and tape
recorders are not permitted. Please
ensure all pagers, PDA’s and mobile
phones are switched off before entering
the auditorium.
Dress Code There is no dress code
for the majority of performances. If a
particular dress is requested you will be
informed at the time of booking by the
box office.
Interval and timings Intervals vary with
each performance. Some performances
may not have an interval. Latecomers will
not be admitted until a suitable break in
the performance.
Consideration We aim to deliver the
highest standards of service. Therefore,
we would ask of you to treat our staff with
courtesy and in a manner in which you
would expect to be treated.
Food and Beverages
Oakley Bar Concert goers may enjoy a
wide selection of champagnes, spirits, red
and white wines, beers and soft drinks
from the Oakley Room Bar. There are also
some light refreshments available.
Access
Free Companion/Assistance Scheme
Cadogan Hall has a range of services
to assist disabled customers including
a provision for wheelchair users in the
stalls. Companions of disabled customers
are entitled to a free seat when assisting
disabled customers at Cadogan Hall.
ss II
Wheel Chair Users If you use a
wheelchair and wish to transfer to a seat,
we regret we may not be able to provide
a member of staff to help you physically.
However, we will arrange for your
wheelchair to be taken away and stored.
A Lift is located to the right once inside
the box office reception allowing access
to a lowered box office counter. Foyer
areas are on the same level as the box
office and the foyer bar (Caversham
Room) is accessed via a wide access lift.
A member of staff will help you with your
requirements. Stalls within the auditorium
are via a wide access lift as
are adapted toilet facilities.
Customers with hearing requirements
The auditorium is fitted with an Infra-red
Amplification System. This is not the same
as a Loop System so switching your
hearing aid to ‘T’ is not sufficient. You will
need to use an amplification aid. There is
a choice of aids depending on the nature
of your hearing impairment. A member of
staff will be happy to explain the use of
the system and there is an opportunity to
check that your equipment is working
prior to curtain up.
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Customers with sight impairment:
Working / Guide dogs are welcome to
access the hall and auditorium but please
do let us now prior to arriving at the hall so
we may make any special arrangements
if necessary. We produce large print (20
point) brochures upon request as well
as audiocassette versions of season
brochures. To request a free copy please
call the box office and ask to be added
to our regular lists.
7.3
0pm
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Philharmonia Chorus
Conducted by Madeleine Lovell
at Cadogan hall, sung in English
Cadogan Hall
5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1 9DQ
Tickets £39, £32, £25, £20, £12
Box Office 020 7730 4500
‘Touch / Familiarisation’ tours can be
arranged and we have Unisex accessible
toilet on all levels except Gallery.
www.londonlyricopera.com
Passion feeds perfection.
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For further information, please
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