RPO Friends' newsletter Summer 2013

Welcome to the summer 2013 edition of fortissimo - the Royal Philharmonic

Orchestra’s (RPO) friends’ newsletter. In this edition, we are delighted to bring

you all the latest news from the Orchestra, including recent tours and

education projects plus details of three new RPO CDs. We are also very

pleased to enclose details of the RPO’s new Royal Festival Hall series and to

announce a very special event - please see the back page for more details!

W

More music for less!

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is proud to present its BRAND NEW concert series at

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. From February – June 2014, the Orchestra will be

joined by an exceptional array of artists and conductors, including the RPO’s Principal

Conductor Maestro Charles Dutoit (pictured top) who will direct a selection of concerts

devoted to French music – the repertoire for which he is renowned. Highlights include:

Wednesday 12th February 2014, 7.30pm – Charles Dutoit conducts Ravel

An unmissable opportunity to see and hear Dutoit guide the Orchestra through the

complete ballet score of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, an evocative and sensual masterpiece.

This glorious programme features soprano Nicole Cabell and the Philharmonia Chorus.

Monday 17th March 2014, 7.30pm – John Lill performs Rachmaninov

A 70th birthday celebration of acclaimed British pianist John Lill (pictured middle) who

will perform Rachmaninov’s passionate Piano Concerto No.3. Conducted by Thomas

Dausgaard and also featuring Brahms’ Tragic Overture and Dvořák’s Symphony No.8.

Tuesday 22nd April 2014, 7.30pm – Steven Isserlis performs Elgar

A packed evening, which includes Elgar’s moving Cello Concerto performed by the great

cellist Steven Isserlis (pictured bottom), as well as Prokofiev’s witty ‘Classical’ Symphony

and Rimsky-Korsakov’s irresistable Scheherazade.

Tickets are £58-£10 (before your exclusive 50% RPO friends’ discount). Full details of

these concerts and more at the Royal Festival Hall can be found in the enclosed brochure

or at www.rpo.co.uk/friends. To book, please call 020 7608 8855. We look forward to seeing you there!

BRAND NEW concerts at the Royal Festival Hall

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Phone 020 7608 8855 (M-F, 10-6), email [email protected] or visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends.

elcome

ROYAL

PHILHARMONIC

ORCHESTRA

RPO friends’ newsletter - summer 2013

- 50% off tickets for RPO ‘own-promotion’ concerts in London (up to two tickets per concert)

- FREE passes to RPO ‘own-promotion’ rehearsals in London (two per rehearsal; please book in advance)

- FREE pre-concert coffee bar* at the Royal Albert Hall - Now in the West Arena Foyer bar (level -1)

- 15% off selected house wine, champagne, tea, coffee and cake at Cadogan Hall*

- Priority booking and ticket allocation

- Discounted RPO CDs

For more information about all benefits, including booking rehearsal passes, please contact us.* Please show your RPO friends’ card to claim your free tea/coffee and/or bar discounts.

RPO friends’ benefits

What is the best thing about

being a member of the RPO?

I really enjoy feeling part of a

permanent team rather than

playing with a different mix of

musicians every day.

Who have you enjoyed working

with the most in the RPO?

At first I found Daniele Gatti (the

RPO’s Conductor Laureate and

former Music Director) pretty

terrifying to work for but once I’d

got used to him I loved his energy

during concerts and amazing

conducting technique.

Where is your favourite place to

perform? I loved playing in the

Amsterdam Concertgebouw

because of its fantastic acoustic

and its shape. In the UK, I love

Cadogan Hall as it’s the venue we

know best.

What has been the most

valuable piece of advice you

have been given in relation to

music? One of my teachers,

whilst I was studying in Vienna,

told me that it’s best to forget

about the mechanics of playing

the bassoon, in order to create

music. Good advice, though

sometimes tricky to adhere to!

What do you listen to in your

spare time? My ‘spare’ time is

generally spent listening to my

children!

Player

ProfileHelen

Storey -Sub-Principal

Bassoon

We would like to remind you about the RPO’s

honoured return to the glorious surroundings

of St Paul’s Cathderal.

John Rutter will conduct his Requiem and

Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge in a concert

of choral and orchestral British music, which

also includes Vaughan Williams’ celebrated

Fifth Symphony. Featuring The Purcell Singers,

this sublime concert promises to

be a night to remember.

Tickets are £50-£12 and are selling

fast! For more information, please

see enclosed flyer. To book tickets

using your exclusive 50% RPO

friends’ discount, please call us on

020 7608 8855.

Rutter’s Requiem at St Paul’s


Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 and

'Moonlight' Sonata

Renowned pianist Mario Galeani performs two

great works by Beethoven: the dramatic Third

Piano Concerto and the popular 'Moonlight'

Sonata, conducted by the RPO’s Principal Guest

Conductor, Grzegorz Nowak.

Movie Legends: The Music of John Barry

This CD celebrates John Barry's music and

features hit film scores from: Dances with

Wolves, Out of Africa, Born Free, Zulu and many

more. Featuring four guest conductors: Nic Raine,

Paul Bateman, Nick Ingman and Tolga Kashif.

More Symphonic Rock

Matthew Freeman conducts a brand new CD of

pop and rock music played with a classical twist!

Featuring hits such as Adele's Someone Like You,

Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall,

Meatloaf's I'd Do Anything for Love, Madonna's

Material Girl ... and many more!

Just £8 for RPO friends (R.R.P. £10). To order, please call 020 7608 8837.

Brand new RPO CDs

We were delighted to welcome

Rachel van der Tang (Cello) to the

RPO in April, and we look forward

to more of her performances in

the forthcoming season.

We will be very sad to say our

goodbyes to John Anderson

(Principal Oboe) this summer.

John is a long-serving member of

the Orchestra, having played

since 1999. A superb musician

and a true gent, he will be greatly

missed by us all at the RPO.

We are also very sorry to say

goodbye to Brian Thomson

(Principal Trumpet) and Laura

Holt (Viola) who have also been

great contributors to the

Orchestra and will be very missed.

RPO resound is proud to be in its 20th anniversary year with its busy

schedule of community and education projects going from strength to

strength over recent months.

Earlier this year, RPO resound worked

with young people from the London

Borough of Westminster (pictured top),

encouraging participants to share their

musical passions with each other and to

create a series of completely original

compositions. In May, RPO resound

delivered a thrilling project with

Sandringham Primary School in

Newham in partnership with the Every Child a Musician programme

and funded by the RPO’s corporate partner Northern Trust.

Underpinning both the Orchestra’s long-standing relationship with

Cambridgeshire Music and its recent appointment as the Cambridge

Corn Exchange’s new Orchestra in

Residence, RPO resound delivered a

stimulating coaching course with

members of the Cambridgeshire County

Youth Orchestra in April (pictured

middle). RPO resound also delivered its

third project in partnership with the

Oxford Bach Choir, supporting pupils

from Wood Green School in creating

their own compositional response to

Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. This served as an introduction to the

RPO’s full performance of the masterpiece on the same evening.

Between January and March, RPO resound was delighted to be part of

a ground-breaking nationwide project called First Time Live - Youth

(pictured bottom), which was devised

and led by music charity Orchestras Live

and funded by Arts Council England. The

project aimed to make orchestral music

accessible to school audiences through a

series of workshops with young

producers, and helped to enable the

participants to make key decisions about

concert production and repertoire.

Over the coming year, RPO resound aims to develop these thriving

relationships even further and looks forward to inspiring even more

participants from all over the country through numerous projects.

For more information about RPO resound, please call 020 7608 8800.

News

&

Moves

RPO resound

Players’ news

We were delighted to welcome

Rosi Callery as our new Tours &

Special Projects Assistant in May.

A Music graduate from the

University of Nottingham, Rosi

previously worked at Academy of

St Martin-in-the-Fields.

We look forward to welcoming

Henry Bertram as our new

Marketing Intern in July. A Music

graduate from the University of

Cambridge, Henry has spent the

past year teaching. A huge thanks

to Sebastian Huckle for his hard

work with the Marketing team.


Office news

We hope that you have enjoyed reading this edition of fortissimo. If you would like to talk to us aboutthe Orchestra, book tickets using your exclusive 50% discount, or if you have any other queries at all,then please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you at an RPO concert soon!

With best wishes,

Jo Thomson (Friends’ & Groups’ Co-ordinator) and the rest of the RPO Marketing team!

Chris Evans Daniel King Kathleen Rule Sebastian Huckle

Director of Press &

Marketing

Regional Marketing

Co-ordinatorMarketing Assistant Marketing Intern

The RPO had a fantastic tour to Spain in May with Artistic Director and Principal

Conductor, Charles Dutoit (pictured). With superb performances of Mahler’s

Symphony No.1 (which you may have heard on our return to London at the Royal

Festival Hall), the programme also featured Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto.

During June and July, the RPO is busy touring the Far East with Maestro Dutoit, with

whom the Orchestra will visit Taiwan, Korea, Japan and China - all in the space of

three weeks! It promises to be a special tour, with performances of Chopin’s Piano

Concertos, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Debussy’s La mer as well as other

brilliant works. This exciting tour features star soloists, including internationally renowned pianist Yuja Wang.

On tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Shiver me timbre! The RPO is delighted to announce a very special and BRAND

NEW concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 5th April 2014 at 3pm &

7.30pm: a unique showing of one of the most successful films of the last

decade, in live synchronisation with the Orchestra. A firm family favourite and

popular with all ages, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

is the latest film to be presented with a live orchestra. It will be shown on the

big screen whilst David Firman conducts the RPO in a performance of Klaus

Badelt’s electrifying score (based on themes by Hans Zimmer).

This first instalment in Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Carribbean franchise has entertained audiences across the

globe with its thrilling adventures, hi-tech special effects and unique storylines.

As Captain Jack and his motley crew come alive on the giant screen in a spectacular

showing of the full feature film, join Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom

in experiencing the 2003 Academy Award nominated film that first began Captain Jack

Sparrow’s swashbuckling adventures.

RPO players Niamh Molloy (Cello), Mike Allen (Trumpet), Fraser Gordon

(Contra-Bassoon), Adam Wright (Trumpet) and Tom Watmough (Clarinet) and

Sali Wyn Ryan (Violin) are pictured here modelling their new pirate look outside the

Royal Albert Hall! Tickets are £55-£20 (before your exclusive 50% RPO friends’

discount). To book, please call us on 020 7608 8855 or email us at [email protected].

We look forward to seeing you there!


Pirates of the Caribbean - with live orchestra!

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RPO Friends' newsletter Summer 2013