Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen
Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis supported by Richard Buxton
Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski KBE Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG
Artistic Director Jesús Herrera Chief Executive David Burke
Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
Saturday 7 February 2026 | 7.30pm
The Wooden Prince
Kaprálová Rustic Suite (16’)
Szymanowski Stabat Mater* (23’)
Interval (20’)
Kaprálová Waving Farewell (6’)
Bartók The Wooden Prince (48’)
Edward Gardner conductor
Generously supported by Aud Jebsen
Juliana Grigoryan soprano†
Agnieszka Rehlis mezzo-soprano
Kostas Smoriginas bass
London Philharmonic Choir
Chorus Director: Madeleine Venner
†Please note change of artist
*Supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute
Free pre-concert performance | 6.00pm | Royal Festival Hall
Edward Gardner conducts a performance by the LPO Foyle Future
Firsts with students from the Royal Academy of Music and members of the LPO, featuring Ligeti’s Melodien and Bartók’s Dance Suite
All welcome, no ticket required.
Tonight in 2 minutes
The vibe
The Wooden Prince
The title of this concert comes from its final piece, written by Hungarian composer Bartók for a fairytale ballet. Before it, we hear three other pieces by Central European composers that blend 20th-century style with folk-inspired melodies and vivid storytelling.
Edward Gardner - conductor
Ed is the LPO’s Principal Conductor and works closely with the Orchestra all year round, so our musicians know him well and enjoy a special connection and rapport with him.
Juliana Grigoryan
Agnieszka Rehlis
Kostas Smoriginas
Three star solo singers will join us for the second piece this evening: Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater. And after the interval, Juliana will return as soloist in the song Waving Farewell.
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Tonight there are over 100 LPO musicians on stage. Our musicians represent over 14 different nationalities, and many enjoy busy solo, chamber and teaching careers alongside their orchestral work. Turn to page 6 to see a full player list.
London Philharmonic Choir
The LPC is made up of volunteers whose members all sing alongside their day jobs, but share a commitment to the highest professional standards. The Choir gives world-class performances in major concert halls worldwide with the LPO and other orchestras.
Turn to page 10 to see a full singer list.
What to expect
Take your seats...
The Orchestra tune up their instruments, then the conductor, Ed, enters the stage. Once the applause dies down, sit back and enjoy the music ...
Vítězslava Kaprálová
Rustic Suite
Kaprálová’s Suite is alive with earthy folk colours and a confident, individual voice rooted in her Czech homeland.
Longer classical pieces are often made up of movements, or shorter sections. Applause is usually saved for after the final movement.
Karol Szymanowski
Stabat Mater
The soloists and choir join the stage. The text of this piece is a Polish version of the medieval Stabat Mater hymn, describing the Virgin Mary standing at the foot of the Cross, grieving for the crucified Christ. Throughout its six sections, the music traces Mary’s journey from intimate grief to moments of prayer and, finally, a sense of consolation.
Interval 20 min
Vítězslava Kaprálová
Waving Farewell with soprano Juliana Grigoryan
A second piece by Vítězslava Kaprálová –this time a short, heartfelt song.
Béla Bartók
The Wooden Prince
Our longest piece of the night brings the concert to a dramatic close. Bartók’s music bursts with sharp-edged strings, tangy winds and earthy percussion. Originally written for a ballet, it’s full of movement and momentum, unfolding like a wordless story towards a bold, theatrical finale.
After the final piece, we applaud the Orchestra. The conductor will acknowledge the Leader (chief First Violin), Alice, and might highlight other players for particular appreciation and applause, with rounds of bows bringing the evening to a celebratory close.
Want to read more? Turn to page 11 for a deeper dive into this evening’s pieces.
Welcome LPO news
Welcome to the Southbank Centre
We’re the UK’s largest centre for the arts and one of the nation’s top five visitor attractions, showcasing the world’s most exciting artists at our venues in the heart of London. As a charity, we bring millions of people together by opening up the unique art spaces that we care for.
The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library and Arts Council Collection. We’re one of London’s favourite meeting spots, with lots of free events and places to relax, eat and shop next to the Thames.
We hope you enjoy your visit. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. You can also email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk or write to us at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX.
Subscribers to our email updates are the first to hear about new events, offers and competitions. Just head to our website to sign up.
Printed with the planet in mind
The paper used for LPO concert programmes has been sourced from well-managed FSC®-certified forests, recycled materials, and other controlled sources. It is also Carbon Balanced, meaning the carbon impact of its production is offset by the World Land Trust. If you don’t want to take your programme home, please use the recycling bins in the Royal Festival Hall foyers.
Prefer paper-free next time?
Scan here for PDF versions of all our programmes to read or download on your phone or tablet.
Behind the scenes with LPO Friends
Earlier today, LPO Friends enjoyed exclusive, behindthe-scenes access to a Private Members’ Rehearsal with the Orchestra, conductor Ed Gardner and the soloists and Choir ahead of tonight’s concert.
If you’d like to see for yourself what goes into putting on an LPO concert – plus enjoy a host of other amazing benefits, like a private bar space and meeting our musicians – join our family of LPO Friends today, from just £6 per month!
Scan the QR code or visit lpo.org.uk/friends to find out more.
Foyle Future Firsts
The LPO’s Foyle Future Firsts programme bridges the transition between education and the music profession for 16 early-career orchestral musicians each year.
Before tonight’s concert, our current cohort of Future Firsts joined forces with students from the Royal Academy of Music and LPO members for a free preconcert performance on the Royal Festival Hall stage. Under conductor Edward Gardner, they performed music by Ligeti and Bartók.
Applications for the 2026/27 Future Firsts programme open in March – to find out more, visit lpo.org.uk/fff
Glyndebourne 2026
Since 1964, we’ve been Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, spending our summers in the heart of the Sussex countryside. Another summer of world-class opera awaits this year, when we’ll perform in Puccini’s Tosca – its first staging at Glyndebourne – as well as a new production of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, both under conductor Robin Ticciati. We’re also looking forward to performing in revivals of Britten’s Billy Budd under Nicholas Carter, and Rossini’s comedy Il turco in Italia under Vincenzo Milletarì.
The 2026 Festival runs from 21 May–31 August, and booking opens from 8 March at glyndebourne.com
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. Our mission is to share wonder with the modern world through the power of orchestral music, which we accomplish through live performances, online, and an extensive education and community programme, cementing our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.
Our home is at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour worldwide. In 2024 we celebrated 60 years as Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.
Soundtrack to key moments
Everyone will have heard the Grammy-nominated London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems for every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings
Sharing the wonder worldwide
We’re one of the world’s most-streamed orchestras, with over 15 million plays of our content each month. In 2023 we were the most successful orchestra worldwide on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and in 2024 we featured in a TV documentary series on Sky Arts: ‘Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’, which was nominated for a 2025 BAFTA. During 2025/26 we’re once again working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts to enjoy at home.
Our conductors
Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, and Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor, and Sir George Benjamin our Composer-inResidence.
Next generations
We’re committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians and music-lovers: we love seeing the joy of children and families experiencing their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about inspiring schools and teachers through dedicated concerts, workshops, resources and training. Reflecting our values of
collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with disabilities and special educational needs.
Today’s young instrumentalists are the orchestra members of the future, and we have a number of opportunities to support their progression. Our LPO Junior Artists programme leads the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers. We also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds underrepresented in the profession.
2025/26 season
This season’s theme, Harmony with Nature, explores humanity’s bond with the natural world through works by Beethoven, Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Elgar and Dvořák; masterpieces of an era that saw nature as a mirror of human emotion. Closer to our own time, we’ll hear from composers as diverse as Duke Ellington, John Luther Adams and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, who have all found a source of creative energy in the processes of nature.
Highlights with Principal Conductor Edward Gardner include symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Brahms and Rachmaninov; a pair of concerts spotlighting 20th-century Central European composers; an evening dedicated to Elgar; and a performance of Berg’s Wozzeck to end the season. We’ll also welcome back Karina Canellakis and Vladimir Jurowski, as well as guest conductors including Robin Ticciati, Kirill Karabits, Mark Elder and Kahchun Wong. Our lineup of soloists this season includes violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alina Ibragimova, James Ehnes and Himari; cellist Nicolas Altstaedt; and pianists Yefim Bronfman, Alexandre Kantorow and Tomoko Mukaiyama. The season features nine world and UK premieres, including Tan Dun’s choral ‘Ode to Peace’ Nine, and A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) by jazz icon Terence Blanchard.
This season also sees tours to South Korea and across Europe, as well as a wide range of performances and community events in our Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden residencies. lpo.org.uk
Alice Ivy-Pemberton Leader
Alice Ivy-Pemberton joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader in February 2023.
Praised by The New York Times for her ‘sweet-toned playing’, Alice has performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician to international acclaim. While growing up in New York City and studying with Nurit Pacht, Alice made a nationally televised Carnegie Hall debut aged ten, and was a finalist at the Menuhin International Competition at the age of 12.
Alice earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho as a fully-funded recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. During her studies she won Juilliard’s Violin Concerto Competition, performed extensively with the New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and led orchestras under the baton of Barbara Hannigan, Xian Zhang and Matthias Pintscher.
An avid chamber musician, Alice has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Anthony Marwood and Gil Shaham, and performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Also a passionate advocate for new music and its social relevance, Alice created Drowning Monuments, a noted multimedia project on climate change that brought together five world premieres for solo violin.
Next month (21 March), Alice will perform as soloist in Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with the Orchestra at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, in an exciting concert featuring live tango dance.
First Violins
Alice Ivy-Pemberton Leader
Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader
Kate Oswin
Chair supported by Eric Tomsett
Lasma Taimina
Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave
Minn Majoe
Chair supported by Dr Alex & Maria
Chan
Martin Höhmann
Thomas Eisner
Chair supported by Ryze Power
Yang Zhang
Wing Yan Alison Kwok
Nilufar Alimaksumova
Rasa Zukauskaite
Alison Strange
Ronald Long
Camille Buitenhuis
Daniel Pukach
Tayfun Bomboz
Rebecca Dinning
Second Violins
Tania Mazzetti Principal
Chair supported by The Candide
Trust
Claudia Tarrant-Matthews
Coco Inman
Sophie Phillips
Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra
Nancy Elan
Ashley Stevens
Marie-Anne Mairesse
Kate Birchall
Sioni Williams
Vera Beumer
Ricky Gore
Anna Croad
Caroline Sharp
Olivia Ziani
Violas
Benjamin Roskams
Guest Principal
Melissa Dattas
Katharine Leek
Benedetto Pollani
Lucia Ortiz Sauco
Laura Vallejo
Martin Wray
Chair supported by David & Bettina Harden
On stage tonight
James Heron
Michelle Bruil
Stanislav Popov
Kate De Campos
Toby Warr
Cellos
Henry Shapard Principal
Waynne Kwon
Chair supported by an anonymous donor
David Lale
Francis Bucknall
Helen Thomas Iain Ward
Hee Yeon Cho
Rasmus Støier Andersen
Julia Morneweg
Double Basses
Kevin Rundell* Principal
Hugh Kluger
George Peniston
Laura Murphy
Chair supported by Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter
Ben Havinden-Williams
Catherine Ricketts
Thea Sayer
Flutes
Juliette Bausor Principal
Chair supported by Malcolm & Alison
Thwaites
Daniel Shao
Stewart McIlwham*
Katherine Bicknell
Piccolos
Stewart McIlwham* Principal
Katherine Bicknell
Oboes
Ian Hardwick* Principal
Alice Munday
Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley
Sue Böhling*
Ilid Jones
Cors Anglais
Sue Böhling* Principal
Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi
Ilid Jones
Clarinets
Benjamin Mellefont* Principal Chair supported by Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
Magdalenna Krstevska
Bethany Crouch
Paul Richards*
E-flat Clarinet
Bethany Crouch
Bass Clarinet
Paul Richards* Principal
Saxophones
Martin Robertson
Ethan Townsend
Bassoons
Jonathan Davies* Principal Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey
Lorna West
Simon Estell*
Llinos Owen
Contrabassoons
Simon Estell* Principal
Llinos Owen
Horns
Annemarie Federle Principal Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE
John Ryan* Principal
Martin Hobbs
Mark Vines Co-Principal
Gareth Mollison
Trumpets
Paul Beniston* Principal Chair supported by the Williams family in memory of Grenville Williams
Tom Nielsen* Principal
Anne McAneney*
David Hilton
Joe Skypala
Cornets
Tom Nielsen
Tom Watts
Trombones
Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
David Whitehouse
Bass Trombone
Lyndon Meredith Principal
Tuba
Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Timpani
Simon Carrington* Principal Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE
Percussion
Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins
Karen Hutt Co-Principal
Chair supported by Joe Topley & Tracey Countryman
Oliver Yates
Feargus Brennan
Sarah Mason
Harps
Céline Saout Guest Principal Tomos Xerri
Celeste
Catherine Edwards
Clíodna Shanahan
Piano
Catherine Edwards
Organ
Clíodna Shanahan
Assistant Conductor
Nefeli Chadouli
Surtitles
James Ling-Locke
*Professor at a London conservatoire
The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert:
Roger Greenwood
Bianca & Stuart Roden
Neil Westreich
Edward Gardner
Principal Conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Edward Gardner has been Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra since 2021. He is also Music Director of the Norwegian Opera & Ballet and Honorary Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, following his tenure as Chief Conductor from 2015–24.
Tonight is the second of two LPO programmes this week spotlighting 20th-century Central European composers; other highlights this season include symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Brahms and Rachmaninov, and a semi-staged performance of Berg’s opera Wozzeck to end the season. In October 2025 he and the Orchestra embarked on a tour to South Korea, and December saw a tour of major cities in Germany.
Edward opened his second season as Music Director of the Norwegian Opera & Ballet with Rusalka and concert performances of Kurtág’s Fin de partie. Later this spring he will conduct Don Carlos and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. June sees concert performances of Wagner’s The Ring Without Words, and next season the opera house will begin its journey towards a complete Ring Cycle in the 2028/29 season.
In demand as a guest conductor, this season Edward returns to orchestras in the USA including the Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony and National Symphony orchestras, and makes his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In Europe he conducts the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. In Tokyo he makes his debut with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.
An acclaimed opera conductor, in spring 2025 Edward was re-invited to London’s Royal Opera House to conduct the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen, having made his Covent Garden debut with Káťa Kabanová. In June 2025 he returned to the Bavarian State Opera for Rusalka, following Peter Grimes in 2022 and Verdi’s Otello in 2023. Music Director of English National Opera for eight years (2007–15), he has also built a strong relationship with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and has conducted at La Scala, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera and the Opéra National de Paris.
Edward Gardner has recorded extensively with the Bergen Philharmonic on the Chandos label, including most recently Salome, as well as a Grammy-nominated Janáček Glagolitic Mass. Other recent critically acclaimed releases include Der fliegende Holländer with Lise Davidsen, Gerald Finley and the Norwegian National Opera for Decca.
November 2025 saw the release on the LPO Label of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius conducted by Edward Gardner, recorded live at the 2022 BBC Proms. In September 2025, the label released his recording of Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with the London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir. This was Edward’s third Tippett release on the label, following The Midsummer Marriage – which won a 2023 Gramophone Award – and the Second Symphony and Piano Concerto with Steven Osborne in 2024. He has also released on the label works by Berlioz, Rachmaninov, Dvořák, Schumann and Britten. In 2024, he and the LPO featured in a Sky Arts series: ‘Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’, which was nominated for a BAFTA.
A passionate supporter of young talent, Edward founded the Hallé Youth Orchestra in 2002 and regularly conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He has a close relationship with the Juilliard School of Music, and with the Royal Academy of Music.
Born in Gloucester in 1974, Edward was educated at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, and gained early recognition as Assistant Conductor of the Hallé and Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera. His many accolades include the Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor of the Year Award (2008), an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera (2009) and an OBE for Services to Music in The Queen’s Birthday Honours (2012).
Edward Gardner’s position at the LPO is generously supported by Aud Jebsen.
Armenian soprano Juliana Grigoryan is among the most promising talents of her generation. Winner of the First Prize and Audience Prize at the Operalia Competition in 2022, she has graced prestigious stages such as the Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Dutch National Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Massimo di Palermo and Arena di Verona. In 2022, she was named the Grand Prize Winner at the International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Poland.
Juliana has just completed an acclaimed run as Liù in Turandot at London’s Royal Ballet & Opera, a role she also recently sang at the Dutch National Opera. Other recent successes include Mimì in La bohème at the Ravenna Festival, and her debut at the Royal Opera House Muscat as Violetta in La traviata. Concert highlights have included performances in Basel, Budapest, Geneva, Vienna and Prague, as well as Verdi’s Requiem under Riccardo Muti in Ravenna, Rimini and Bologna. In October 2024, Juliana returned to her hometown of Yerevan to share the stage with Plácido Domingo at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, in a concert that met with extraordinary public acclaim. In 2024, Juliana was awarded the prestigious Hildegard Behrens Prize. She was also honoured to become a stage partner of Andrea Bocelli during his European and American concert tours.
Tonight is Juliana’s London Philharmonic Orchestra debut. Other highlights of the 2025/26 season include La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera and the Munich State Opera; and Liù in Turandot at Atlanta Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as at London’s Royal Ballet & Opera. She will also perform in various concerts with distinguished artists such as Plácido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli and many others.
Agnieszka Rehlis
mezzo-soprano
Winner of the 2022 Gloria Artis Award, Polish mezzosoprano Agnieszka Rehlis’s 2025/26 season features appearances as Amneris in Aida at the Washington National Opera, and as Liza in Weinberg’s The Passenger at the Polish National Opera. On the concert stage, as well as her LPO debut this evening, she will also sing Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, Verdi’s Requiem at Müpa Budapest and at Zurich Opera, and Il trittico in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Last season saw Agnieszka return to London’s Royal Ballet & Opera and make her debut at the Berlin State Opera as Azucena in Il trovatore, as well as appearances as Amneris (Aida) at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Arena di Verona, and as Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera) at the Royal Opera House Muscat and Opernhaus Zürich. She also performed Verdi’s Requiem with Le Cercle de l’Harmonie at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
Past seasons’ engagements include her 2022 Royal Opera debut as Amneris in Aida – a role she has also sung at Opera Frankfurt and the Arena di Verona Festival – and appearances at Zurich Opera in Verdi’s Requiem, and at the Salzburg Easter Festival as La Cieca in La Gioconda.
An accomplished performer of contemporary music, Agnieszka Rehlis has performed in concert works by Krzysztof Penderecki, including the 2005 world premiere of his Symphony No. 8. She also features on the Grammy Award-winning Warner Classics album ‘Penderecki conducts Penderecki’.
Lithuanian bass-baritone Kostas Smoriginas made his London Philharmonic Orchestra debut in September 2024 in Rachmaninov’s The Bells at the Royal Festival Hall under Edward Gardner. The acclaimed performance was later released on the LPO Label.
Engagements in 2025/26 include Giorgio Germont (La traviata) with the Bergen National Opera and the Bregenz Festival, Jochanaan (Salome) for the Israeli Opera, The King’s Herald (Lohengrin) with the Hungarian State Opera, and concerts with the Berlin Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony and Rotterdam Philharmonic orchestras.
Recent highlights include his Bavarian State Opera debut as The King’s Herald, a return to the Royal Ballet & Opera as Escamillo (Carmen), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde) in Valencia, and Jochanaan with the Zurich Opera House. Previously he has performed with the San Francisco, Washington National, Santa Fe, Lithuanian National and Norwegian operas, the houses of Bordeaux, Lausanne, Rouen, Hamburg, Hannover, Dresden and Cologne, La Monnaie, Berlin State Opera, Teatro alla Scala Milan, and the Salzburg Easter and Aix-en-Provence festivals. He has appeared in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Andris Nelsons), Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Sir Antonio Pappano), London Symphony Orchestra (Valery Gergiev), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and at the BBC Proms.
Kostas Smoriginas graduated from the Lithuanian Music & Theatre Academy and London’s Royal College of Music. He was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, and represented Lithuania at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
Our next concert with the London Philharmonic Choir
Saturday 28 March 2026
7.30pm
Royal Festival Hall
Beethoven’s Ninth
Tan Dun Choral Concerto: Nine (UK premiere)
Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Tan Dun conductor
Elizabeth Watts soprano
Hongni Wu mezzo-soprano
John Findon tenor
Dingle Yandell bass-baritone
London Philharmonic Choir
London Chinese Philharmonic Choir
Beethoven sought to embrace all humanity in his Ninth Symphony, and Tan Dun follows suit in his choral concerto Nine, blending ancient Chinese and European poetry into an ‘ode to peace’. He joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, plus the London Chinese Philharmonic Choir, to conduct its UK premiere alongside Beethoven’s worldchanging Ninth.
lpo.org.uk/whatson
London Philharmonic Choir
Patron HRH Princess Alexandra President Sir Mark Elder Chorus Director Emeritus Neville Creed Chorus Director Madeleine Venner Associate Chorus Director Victoria Longdon Guest Associate Chorus Director Bo Wang Accompanist Jonathan Beatty Language Coach Natalia Brzezinska Chair Tessa Bartley Choir Manager Natasha Sofla
Founded in 1947 as the chorus for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Choir is widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest choirs. For the last seven decades the Choir has performed under leading conductors, consistently meeting with critical acclaim and recording regularly for television and radio.
Enjoying a close relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Choir frequently joins it for concerts in the UK and abroad. Recent concerts with LPO Principal Conductor Edward Gardner have included John Adams’s Harmonium, Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Other highlights have included Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony and the UK premiere of James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio with the Choir’s President, Sir Mark Elder; Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli with Vladimir Jurowski; and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13 with Andrey Boreyko.
The Choir appears annually at the BBC Proms, where performances have included works by John Luther Adams, Beethoven, Busoni, Elgar, Ligeti, Orff, Vaughan Williams and Verdi, not forgetting the greatly enjoyable Doctor Who Proms. In 2024 for the first time, the Choir took part in the ‘Films in Concert’ series at the Royal Albert Hall, performing the score for Amadeus.
A well-travelled choir, it has visited several European countries as well as further afield. The Choir was delighted to travel to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, in December 2017 to perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Choir prides itself on its inclusive culture, achieving first-class performances from its members, who are volunteers from all walks of life.
Supported by
Sopranos
Annette Argent
Chris Banks
Hilary Bates
Holly Beckmyer
Sarah Bindon
Laura Buntine
Charlotte Cantrell
Paula Chessell
Kathryn Clark
Jenni Cresswell
Megan Cunnington
Sarah Davies
Antonia Davison
Sarah DeaneCutler
Jessica Dixon
Arati Fernandes
Claudia Finn
Ella Frost
Rachel Gibbon
Rosie Grigalis
Olivia Haslam
Sasha Holland
Roz Horton
Mary Beth Jones
Ashley Jordan
Joy Lee
Sarah Leffler
Ilona Lynch
Martha MacBean
Janey Maxwell
Amanda May
Meg McClure
Sally Morgan
Harriet Murray
Elizabeth Ortiz
Ella PickeringPaterson
Ruby PrescottMason
Nicole Rochman
Danielle Roman
Lucia Ruiz Vila
Francesca Simon
Beatrice Tinsley
Isabella von Holstein
Sarah Walker
Rebecca White
Michelle Yeo
Altos
Charlotte Addy
Susannah Bellingham
Sally Brien
Jenny Burdett
Andrei Caracoti
Lara Carim
May Chan
Noel Chow
Pat Dixon
Olga Duke
Andrea Easey
Bethea HansonJones
Mia Hobson
Kitty Howse
Judy Jones
Julia King
Laura Kirkham
Ethel Livermore
Laetitia Malan
Ian Maxwell
Lottie Mitchell
Kristen Mooy-Lee
Beth O’Brien
Liudmila Pagis
Suzannah Peploe-Lipmann
Nicola Prior
Elizabeth Reynard
Carolyn Saunders
Angela Schmitz
Rima Sereikiene
Natasha Sofla
Annette Strzedulla
Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg
Catherine Travers
Susi Underwood
Jenny Watson
Rachelle Wood
Tenors
Tim Appleby
Christopher Beynon
Andrew Chavez Kline
Kevin Cheng
James Clarke
Ollie Clarke
Robert Geary
Alan Glover
Philippe Gosset
David Hoare
Stephen Hodges
Tom Johnson
Alex Marshall
Simon Pickup
Sebastian Rowe
Chris Stuart
Don Tallon
Claudio Tonini
Tony Valsamidis
Mikolaj Walczak
Emre Yavuz
Basses
Martyn Atkins
Jonathon Bird
Maurice Chernick
Nathan Chu
Marcus Daniels
Myrddin Edwards
Ellie Fayle
Paul Fincham
Ian Fletcher
Gary Freer
Ian Frost
Luke Hagerty
Christopher Harvey
David Hodgson
Rylan Holey
Michael Jenkins
Maurice MacSweeney
Anthony McDonald
Max Mitchell
John D Morris
Will Parsons
Johannes Pieters
Simon Potter
John Salmon
Gershon Silins
Henry Stoke
Alex Thomas
Oliver Walsh
Alex WaltonKeeffe
Programme notes
Introduction
by tonight’s programme note writer, Gavin Plumley
The First World War brought devastation to millions. Yet the subsequent collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ensured that various nation states in Central and Eastern Europe were finally able to claim their independence from the Habsburgs. Heralded by great surges in cultural endeavour, marked by movements such as Young Poland and Skamander, the Sokol clubs of the Czech lands and the Hungarian journal
Nyugat, independence also fostered the careers of composers Bartók, Janáček and Szymanowski, as well as their less celebrated compatriots. Together with last Wednesday’s Royal Festival Hall concert, tonight’s programme forms a mini-series titled Phoenix Lands, placing this repertoire – and the mythologies and folk music that inspired it – centre stage.
Vítězslava Kaprálová
1915–40
Rustic Suite, Op. 19
1938
1. Moderato
3. Allegro
Thanks to the encouragement of her father, likewise a composer, the Brno-born Czech composer Vítězslava Kaprálová began her musical studies in her hometown. Sadly, she missed the opportunity of being taught by Janáček, who died in 1928, though she was able to benefit from the rich legacy he left behind.
Having graduated from Brno – marked by the premiere of her Piano Concerto, which she conducted –
Kaprálová went on to study in Prague, before moving to Paris, where she met fellow composer Bohuslav Martinů. He promptly fell in love with the brilliant young Kaprálová, though she married the writer Jiří Mucha, son of the famous artist Alfons Mucha, before tragically dying of typhoid fever at just 25 years old. Kaprálová’s life was short, yet her catalogue still reached 25 opus numbers – two of which we hear tonight.
The Rustic Suite was written in 1938, the year Kaprálová returned to her homeland, although this trip was cut short due to the increased threat of war. Following demands from her publishers, Universal Edition, she completed the Suite in just a month. It is richly imbued with the harmonic profile of the music of Moravia, which had previously inspired Janáček’s idiom. Here, however, it is wedded to Kaprálová’s longstanding love of Stravinsky’s Petrushka
6. Chrystus niech mi będzie grodem (Christe, cum sit hinc exire)
Zakopane in southern Poland had been Szymanowski’s favourite retreat since his youth. From 1922 onwards, however, he divided his time permanently between Warsaw and the Tatra mountains, before deciding to settle in a beautiful wooden villa named Atma in the 1930s. Only financial difficulties towards the very end of his life forced Szymanowski to give up his home in Zakopane, as well as his strong connections to the local highlander culture.
Typified by its sheep-herding rituals and highly decorated architecture and clothing, as well as an attendant sense of pride, Gorále art, music and literature prompted Szymanowski to call on his fellow composers to embrace more domestic traditions. ‘Let our music be national in its Polish characteristics,’ he wrote during the 1920s, ‘but not falter in striving to attain universality. Let it be national, but not provincial.’ In this, he was echoing the principles of the Skamander movement, which had eschewed the mythological tropes of Young Poland,
of which Szymanowski had been a major player at the turn of the last century, instead embracing the life and culture of everyday people.
These ideas fed into Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater in 1925–26, though the work stemmed from an initial request from the Princesse de Polignac (Winnaretta Singer), who was well known as a generous musical patron. When she and Szymanowski then lost touch, her appeal for ‘a kind of Polish Requiem’ began to morph, not least when the industrialist Bronisław Krystall asked for a work in memory of his late wife – to whom the composition is duly dedicated. And then Szymanowski lost his own beloved niece, Alusia Bartoszewiczówna, after which the ancient words of the Stabat Mater, describing the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross, were of particular comfort to him and his sister.
Setting the text, Szymanowski decided not to use the original Latin but Jozef Janowski’s demotic Polish
Programme notes
translation. Its folkloristic tone perfectly suited the composer’s love of local tropes, while the text also brings out the latent violence of the 13th-century hymn: ‘grant that I too may be killed at the executioner’s hand, that I may share in the agony and suffer the blood-stained blows’. The score nods to wider liturgical traditions, not least the music of Palestrina, yet it is the soundworld of the Tatras that wins through, including two traditional Polish hymn tunes, ‘Święty Boże’ and ‘Gorzkie żale’, as well as the ancient Podhalean mode, with its characteristic sharpened fourth.
Sublimating these facets into a unique whole, Szymanowski created a searching and otherworldly composition. ‘I sought an inner experience,’ he
explained, ‘endeavouring to give a concrete, concise form to what is most real and yet most intangible in the secret life of the mind.’ At times, the work can seem distant and suspended, simultaneously antique in its gesture yet modern in its passing moments of muscularity. Reflecting intense states of grief, it nonetheless transcends any personal circumstances. And while its universal prayer calls back to the Renaissance, it also looks ahead, not least to the words of Helena Wanda Błażusiakówna, a highland woman who was imprisoned by the Gestapo in Zakopane in 1944, and which were later set to music by Henryk Górecki in his Third Symphony of 1976–77, the ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’.
Interval – 20 minutes
An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
Vítězslava Kaprálová
1915–40
Waving Farewell, Op. 14 1937
Juliana Grigoryan soprano
The second piece by Vítězslava Kaprálová we hear tonight is the song Sbohem a šáteček (‘Waving Farewell’). It is a setting of the Czech poet Vítězslav Nezval, who originally studied with Janáček before embarking on his literary career. Nezval was a key surrealist in the Czech lands and a member of the avant-garde movement Devětsil, which spanned a huge range of artistic disciplines. His beautifully guileless
poem ‘Sbohem a šáteček’ is particularly well-known to Czech schoolchildren. Delivered as if from one person to another, it touches on various forms of farewell: of a ship leaving harbour; of lovers remembering shared moments past; and of birds in migratory flight. Set by Kaprálová when she left Brno to study in Prague, the song was orchestrated in 1938, the last time she saw home.
Programme notes
Béla Bartók
1881–1945
The Wooden Prince
Pantomime ballet in one act 1917
1. Prelude
2. Dance of the Princess in the Forest
3. Dance of the Trees
4. Dance of the Waves
5. The Prince and his Wooden Doll
6. Dance of the Princess with the Wooden Doll
8. Postlude
The Wooden Prince was to be one of Bartók’s most popular compositions. It was the product of particularly concerted work during the First World War, when the Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist’s extensive fieldwork was curtailed due to the hostilities. Instead, he focussed on compositions for the stage, both this pantomime ballet and his only opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, both of which were created in collaboration with the writer Béla Balázs.
Like the text of Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, Balázs favoured demotic poetry – using the spoken language of ordinary people. His libretto for Bluebeard, originally intended for his flatmate Zoltán Kodály, was a strong case in point. Removing the ‘happily ever after’ ending of Charles Perrault’s tale, he formed a more psychological rendering of the story told in a manifestly Hungarian tongue.
The same was true of Balázs and Bartók’s subsequent project, which developed out of a visit to Budapest by the Ballets Russes in 1912 (between the creation of Stravinsky’s Petrushka and The Rite of Spring). The following year, the opera house in the Hungarian capital asked Bartók for a new work, which he decided to base
Programme notes
on a story Balázs had published in the influential literary journal Nyugat. The project took until 1917 to complete, though it quickly became one of Bartók’s most widely performed works – to the composer’s own annoyance, as it often overshadowed pieces he considered far superior.
The ballet tells the story of a prince who cannot reach his princess and instead decides to use a scarecrow version of himself to attract her attention. As a whole, the ballet reflects what Balázs called the ‘common and profound tragedy when the creation becomes the rival of the creator, and of the pain and glory of the situation in which a woman prefers the poem to the poet, the picture to the painter’.
Reflecting the ‘artificial’ elements in the story, Bartók crafted a conspicuous, though no less ingenious, musical structure. A symphonic poem in all but name, the score is in three parts, in which the third recalls the first, albeit in reverse order. Within this mirror-like structure – looking to the arch forms of Bartók’s later works, including his final string quartets and the evergreen Concerto for Orchestra – the music constantly juxtaposes the character of the prince and that of his puppet, who naturally share the same
material, albeit in a different guise. But it is the score’s sheer vivacity that wins through, including its cheeky nods to Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the opening, vivid scene-painting recalling Richard Strauss – an early touchstone for Bartók, before he turned to more local music – and the kaleidoscopic brilliance of the Ballets Russes. Clearly, Diaghilev had missed a trick by not commissioning Bartók when his company visited Budapest.
We hope you enjoyed tonight’s concert. Could you spare a few moments afterwards to complete a short survey about your experience? Your feedback is invaluable to us and will help to shape our future plans.
Just scan the QR code to begin the survey. Thank you!
The Nature Dialogues
Fascinating free pre-concert talks exploring our season theme, Harmony with Nature
Book free tickets online at lpo.org.uk
Saturday 21 March 2026, 5pm Harmony with our Rivers
With extreme angler, author & broadcaster Jeremy Wade
Wednesday 8 April 2026, 6pm Harmony with our Fragile Earth
With scientist Johan Rockström, environmentalist Tony Juniper & composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Friday 17 April 2026, 6pm Harmony with our Changing Planet
With social scientist Gail Whiteman
Wednesday 11 February 2026
7.30pm
Scriabin The Poem of Ecstasy
George Benjamin Palimpsests
Stravinsky Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Ravel Mother Goose (complete ballet)
George Benjamin conductor
Wednesday 18 February 2026
7.30pm
Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Beethoven Symphony No. 7
Karina Canellakis conductor
Anne-Sophie Mutter violin
Concert generously supported by Sir Simon & Lady Robey CBE
Tchaikovsky & Sibelius
Wednesday 4 March 2026
7.30pm
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2
Sibelius Symphony No. 2
Paavo Järvi conductor
Alexandre Kantorow piano
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Karina Canellakis
George Benjamin
Sound Futures donors
We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures
Masur Circle
Arts Council England
Dunard Fund
Victoria Robey CBE
Emmanuel & Barrie Roman
The Underwood Trust
Welser-Möst Circle
William & Alex de Winton
John Ireland Charitable Trust
The Tsukanov Family Foundation
Neil Westreich
Tennstedt Circle
Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov
Richard Buxton
The Candide Trust
Michael & Elena Kroupeev
Kirby Laing Foundation
Mr & Mrs Makharinsky
Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich
Sir Simon Robey
Bianca & Stuart Roden
Simon & Vero Turner
The late Mr K Twyman
Solti Patrons
Ageas
John & Manon Antoniazzi
Gabor Beyer, through BTO
Management Consulting AG
Jon Claydon
Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne Goodman
Roddy & April Gow
The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris
Charitable Trust
Mr James R.D. Korner OBE
Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia Ladanyi-Czernin
Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski
The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust
Mr Paris Natar
The Rothschild Foundation
Tom & Phillis Sharpe
The Viney Family
Haitink Patrons
Mark & Elizabeth Adams
Dr Christopher Aldren
Mrs Pauline Baumgartner
Lady Jane Berrill
Mr Frederick Brittenden
David & Yi Yao Buckley
Mr Clive Butler
Gill & Garf Collins
Mr John H Cook
Mr Alistair Corbett
Bruno De Kegel
Georgy Djaparidze
David Ellen
Christopher Fraser OBE
David & Victoria Graham Fuller
Goldman Sachs International
Mr Gavin Graham
Moya Greene
Mrs Dorothy Hambleton
Tony & Susie Hayes
Malcolm Herring
Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle
Mrs Philip Kan
Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe
Rose & Dudley Leigh
Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons
Miss Jeanette Martin
Duncan Matthews KC
Diana & Allan Morgenthau
Charitable Trust
Dr Karen Morton
Mr Roger Phillimore
Ruth Rattenbury
The Reed Foundation
The Rind Foundation
Sir Bernard Rix
David Ross & Line Forestier
(Canada)
Carolina & Martin Schwab
Dr Brian Smith
Lady Valerie Solti
Mr & Mrs G Stein
Dr Peter Stephenson
Miss Anne Stoddart
TFS Loans Limited
Marina Vaizey
Jenny Watson
Guy & Utti Whittaker
Pritchard Donors
Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle
Mrs Arlene Beare
Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner
Mr Conrad Blakey
Dr Anthony Buckland
Paul Collins
Alastair Crawford
Mr Derek B. Gray
Mr Roger Greenwood
The HA.SH Foundation
Darren & Jennifer Holmes
Honeymead Arts Trust
Mr Geoffrey Kirkham
Drs Frank & Gek Lim
Peter Mace
Mr & Mrs David Malpas
Dr David McGibney
Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner
Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill
Mr Christopher Querée
The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer
Charitable Trust
Timothy Walker CBE AM
Christopher Williams
Peter Wilson Smith
Mr Anthony Yolland
and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous
Thank you
As a registered charity, we are extremely grateful to all our supporters who have given generously to the LPO over the past year to help maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.
Artistic Director’s Circle
The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra
William & Alex de Winton
Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle
Aud Jebsen
In memory of Paul Morgan
In memory of Donald Pelmear
In memory of Rita Reay
Sir Simon & Lady Robey CBE
In memory of Peter J Watson
Orchestra Circle
Richard Buxton
In memory of Nicola Goodman
Mr & Mrs Philip Kan
Neil Westreich
Principal Associates
An anonymous donor
Steven M. Berzin
Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G Cave
George Ramishvilli
In memory of Kenneth Shaw
The Tsukanov Family
Associates
Anonymous donors
Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
Garf & Gill Collins
Michelle Crowe Hernandez & Christian Hernandez
Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter
Stuart & Bianca Roden
Malcolm & Alison Thwaites
Joe Topley & Tracey Countryman
The Williams Family in memory of Grenville Williams
Gold Patrons
An anonymous donor
David & Yi Buckley
Dr Alex & Maria Chan
In memory of Allner Mavis Channing
In memory of Peter Coe
John & Sam Dawson
Fiona Espenhahn
Mr Roger Greenwood
Sally Groves MBE
David & Bettina Harden
Eugene & Allison Hayes
Malcolm Herring
Mrs Asli Hodson
John & Angela Kessler
Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva
Julian & Gill Simmonds
Eric Tomsett
The Viney Family
Guy & Utti Whittaker
Silver Patrons
An anonymous donor
David Burke & Valerie Graham
Mr Luke Gardiner
The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris
Charitable Trust
Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill
Clandia Wu & Hiu Fung Ng
Simon & Lucy Owen-Johnstone
Andrew & Cindy Peck
Mr Roger Phillimore
Tom & Phillis Sharpe
Laurence Watt
Joanna Williams
Bronze Patrons
Anonymous donors
Miram Al Rasheed
Michael Allen
Gabriela Andino-Benson
Irina Bednaya
Nicholas Berwin
Mrs Amna Boheim
Dame Colette Bowe
Lorna & Christopher Bown
Mr Bernard Bradbury
Dr Anthony Buckland
Desmond & Ruth Cecil
Mr John H Cook
Cameron & Kathryn Doley
Elena & Sergey Dubinets
Harron Ellenson & Charles Miller
Smith
Cristina & Malcolm Fallen
Christopher Fraser OBE
Charles Fulton
Gini & Richard Gabbertas
Jenny & Duncan Goldie-Scot
Mr Daniel Goldstein
David & Jane Gosman
Mr Gavin Graham
Mrs Dorothy Hambleton
Iain & Alicia Hasnip
J Douglas Home
Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza
Mrs Irina Kiryukhina
Rose & Dudley Leigh
Wg. Cdr. M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF
Drs Frank & Gek Lim
Svetlana London
Graham Long
Richard & Judy Luddington
Mr & Mrs Makharinsky
James Maxey-Branch
Andrew T Mills
John Nickson & Simon Rew
Peter & Lucy Noble
Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley
Mr Stephen Olton
Nigel Phipps & Amanda McDowall
Mr Michael Posen
Marie Power
Neil & Karen Reynolds
Sir Bernard Rix
Baroness Shackleton
Tim Slorick
John & Madeleine Tucker
In memory of Doris Tylee
Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood
Sophie Walker
Jenny Watson CBE
Elena Y. Zeng
Principal Supporters
Anonymous donors
Dr M. Arevuo
Mrs Carol Ann Bailey
Mr John D Barnard
Roger & Clare Barron
Mr Geoffrey Bateman
Mrs A Beare
Adam J. Brunk & Madeleine
Haddon
Simon Burke & Rupert King
David & Liz Conway
Mr Alistair Corbett
David Devons
Deborah Dolce
Sir Timothy Fancourt
Jonathan Franklin
Professor Erol & Mrs Deniz
Gelenbe
Steve & Cristina Goldring
Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier
Sebastian Arun Hansjee
Nick Hely-Hutchinson
Michael & Christine Henry
Mrs Farrah Jamal
Bruce & Joanna Jenkyn-Jones
Per Jonsson
Julian & Annette Armstrong
Mr Ian Kapur
Gee Lee
Dr Peter Mace
Mr Nikita Mishin
Allison Mollerberg
Simon Moore
Dr Simon Moore
Mrs Terry Neale
Mr Matthew Pearson
Mr James Pickford
Filippo Poli
Sukand Ramachandran
Mr Martin Randall
Mr Robert Ross
Mr Andrea Santacroce & Olivia Veillet-Lavallée
Aniruddha Sharma
Priscylla Shaw
Michael Smith
Erika Song
Mr & Mrs G Stein
Andrew & Rosemary Tusa
Wolf-Christian Ulrich
Ben Valentin KC
Christine Warsaw
Mr Rodney Whittaker
Christopher Williams
Supporters
Anonymous donors
Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle
Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington
Mr Philip Bathard-Smith
Mrs Martha Brooke
Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk
Miss Tessa Cowie
St Peter’s Composers, Bexhill-on-Sea
Dorothy Hobden
The Jackman Family
Jan Leigh & Jan Rynkiewicz
Mr Mack Lindsey
Mr David MacFarlane
Simon & Fiona Mortimore
Dana Mosevics
Dame Jane Newell DBE
Michael Noyce
Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh
Emilie Sydney-Smith
Ms Caroline Tate
Craig Terry
Tony & Hilary Vines
Dr Ann Turrall
Dr June Wakefield
Mr John Weekes
Mr C D Yates
Hon. Benefactor
Elliott Bernerd
Hon. Life Members
Alfonso Aijón
Dame Carol Colburn Grigor DBE
Robert Hill
Keith Millar
Victoria Robey CBE
Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
Cornelia Schmid
Timothy Walker CBE AM
Laurence Watt
Thomas Beecham
Group
Members
An anonymous donor
Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
David & Yi Buckley
Dr Alex & Maria Chan
Garf & Gill Collins
William & Alex de Winton
Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter
The Friends of the LPO
Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.
Cave
Mr Roger Greenwood
Barry Grimaldi
David & Bettina Harden
Mr & Mrs Philip Kan
John & Angela Kessler
Sir Simon Robey
Victoria Robey OBE
Stuart & Bianca Roden
Julian & Gill Simmonds
Malcolm & Alison Thwaites
Eric Tomsett
Neil Westreich
Guy & Utti Whittaker
LPO Corporate Members
Bloomberg Carter-Ruck Solicitors
French Chamber of Commerce
German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce
Lazard
Natixis Corporate & Investment
Banking
Ryze Power
Virgin Money
Walpole
Preferred Partners
Google
Lay & Wheeler
Lindt & Sprüngli
Mayer Brown
Steinway & Sons
Welbeck
Trusts and Foundations
ABO Trust
Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne
Candide Trust
Cockayne – Grants for the Arts
David Solomons Charitable Trust
Dunard Fund
Foyle Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation
The Baily Thomas Charitable Fund
The Boshier-Hinton Foundation
The Golsoncott Foundation
Jerwood Foundation
John Thaw Foundation
John Horniman’s Children’s Trust
The Ian Askew Charitable Trust
Idlewild Trust
Institute Adam Mickiewicz
Thank you
Kirby Laing Foundation
The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust
Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust
Lucille Graham Trust
The Marchus Trust
Margaret Killbery Foundation
Maria Bjӧrnson Memorial Fund
The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust
PRS Foundation
The Radcliffe Trust
Rivers Foundation
Rothschild Foundation
Scops Arts Trust
Sir William Boreman’s Foundation
The John S Cohen Foundation
TIOC Foundation
UK Friends of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Foundation
Vaughan Williams Foundation
The Viney Family
The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust
and others who wish to remain anonymous.
Board of the American Friends of the LPO
We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America:
Hannah Young Chair
Lora Aroyo
Jon Carter
Alexandra Jupin
Natalie Pray MBE
Dr Irene Rosner David
Marc Wassermann
Catherine Høgel
Hon. Director
LPO International Board of Governors
Natasha Tsukanova Chair
Steven M. Berzin
Shashank Bhagat
Irina Gofman
Olivia Ma
George Ramishvili
Florian Wunderlich
Trusts and Foundations
Principal Partners
Principal Supporters
Major Supporters
Corporate Sponsors
Principal Partner
OrchLab Project Partner
Principal Supporter
Major Supporters
London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration
Board of Directors
Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair
Nigel Boardman Vice-Chair
Mark Vines* President
Kate Birchall* Vice-President
Emily Benn
David Buckley
David Burke
Simon Burke
Simon Carrington*
Michelle Crowe Hernandez
Deborah Dolce
Simon Estell*
Jesús Herrera
Tanya Joseph
Minn Majoe*
Tania Mazzetti*
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin OBE
Neil Westreich
David Whitehouse*
*Player-Director
Advisory Council
Roger Barron Chairman
Christopher Aldren
Kate Birchall
Amna Boheim
Richard Brass
Helen Brocklebank
YolanDa Brown OBE
David Burke
Simon Callow CBE
Desmond Cecil CMG
Jane Coulson
Andrew Davenport
Guillaume Descottes
Cameron Doley
Lena Fankhauser
Christopher Fraser OBE
Jenny Goldie-Scot
Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS
Nick Hely-Hutchinson DL
Jesús Herrera
Dr Catherine C. Høgel
Martin Höhmann
Jamie Korner OBE
Andrew Neill
Nadya Powell
Sir Bernard Rix
Victoria Robey CBE
Baroness Shackleton
Thomas Sharpe KC
Julian Simmonds
Daisuke Tsuchiya
Mark Vines
Chris Viney
Laurence Watt
Elizabeth Winter
New Generation Board
Ellie Ajao
Peter De Souza
Vivek Haria
Rianna Henriques
Zerlina Vulliamy
General Administration
Jesús Herrera
Artistic Director
David Burke
Chief Executive
Alicia Downie
PA to the Executive & Office Manager
Concert Management
Roanna Gibson
Concerts & Planning Director
Graham Wood
Concerts & Recordings Manager
Aimee Walton
Tours Manager
Madeleine Ridout
Glyndebourne & Projects Manager
Alison Jones
Concerts & Artists Co-ordinator
Alice Drury
Tours & Projects Assistant
Nicola Stevenson
Concerts & Recordings Assistant
Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant
Andrew Chenery
Orchestra Personnel Manager
Helen Phipps
Orchestra & Auditions Manager
Sarah Thomas
Martin Sargeson
Librarians
Laura Kitson
Stage & Operations Manager
Stephen O’Flaherty
Deputy Operations Manager
Gabrielle Slack-Smith
Assistant Stage Manager
Finance
Frances Slack
Finance Director
Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager
Jean-Paul Ramotar
IT Manager & Finance Officer
Education & Community
Talia Lash
Education & Community Director
Eleanor Jones
Lowri Thomas
Education & Community
Project Managers
Ellie Leon
Education & Community Co-ordinator
Claudia Clarkson
Regional Partnerships Manager
Development
Laura Willis
Development Director
Rosie Morden
Senior Development Manager
Eleanor Conroy
Development Events Manager
Owen Mortimer
Corporate Relations Manager
Anna Quillin
Trusts & Foundations Manager
Holly Eagles
Development Co-ordinator
Faye Jones Development Assistant
Nick Jackman
Campaigns & Projects Director
Kirstin Peltonen
Development Associate
Marketing & Communications
Kath Trout
Marketing & Communications Director
Sophie Lonergan
Senior Marketing Manager
Georgie Blyth
Press & PR Manager (maternity leave)
Said Abubakar, WildKat PR 07983 489 888
Press & PR (maternity cover)
Josh Clark
Data, Insights & CRM Manager
Greg Felton
Digital Creative
Alicia Hartley
Digital & Marketing Manager
Maria Ribalaygua
Sales & Ticketing Manager
Rachel Williams
Publications Manager
Isobel Jones
Marketing Co-ordinator
Cara Liddiard
Marketing Assistant
Archives
Philip Stuart
Discographer
Gillian Pole
Recordings Archive
Professional Services
Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors
Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors
Dr Barry Grimaldi
Honorary Doctor
Mr Chris Aldren
Honorary ENT Surgeon
Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone
Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon
London Philharmonic
Orchestra
89 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7TP
Tel: 020 7840 4200
Box Office: 020 7840 4242
Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk
2025/26 season design
JMG Studio
Printer John Good Ltd
Experience the magic of live orchestral music from some of the best seats in the house for less. Simply sign up with your email address, and discounts for our London concerts will be delivered straight to your inbox every month. Plus, get access to drinks offers and exclusive Under 30s events, as well as a free LPO tote bag at your first concert. lpo.org.uk/under-30s ELGAR:
EDWARD GARDNER conductor
LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA & CHOIR
HALLÉ CHOIR
ALLAN CLAYTON | JAMIE BARTON | JAMES PLATT
MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 9
Vladimir Jurowski conductor LPO-0139 Released 23 January 2026
Share in the joy of music. Be a part of the LPO.
As a registered charity, it is thanks to the vital support we receive from our individual supporters, corporate partners, and trusts and foundations that the LPO can present such vibrant and varied concert programmes of world-class quality.
Such support also enables the LPO to drive lasting social impact through our industry-leading education and community programme, supporting rising talent, those affected by homelessness, and adults and young people with disabilities – designed to build and diversify the talent pipeline and share the unique joy and power of music more widely.
Donate
Whether you make a checkout donation, give to an appeal, or choose to remember the LPO with a gift in your Will, donations of all sizes make an impact. Your support will help us continue to promote diversity and inclusivity in classical music and nurture the next generation of talent.
Join
Joining one of our membership schemes will not only support the Orchestra and our mission, but will also give you access to a host of exclusive benefits designed to enhance your experience and build a closer relationship with the Orchestra and our family of supporters –from private rehearsals, to members’ bars, private events and priority booking. Membership starts at just £6 per month.
Partner
We’re virtuosos of creative collaboration, expertly crafting bespoke partnerships that hit the right notes. We tailor each bespoke partnership to your strategic business objectives, combining exceptional experiences that deepen client relationships, forge new connections, elevate your brand, and create buzzworthy content that leaves audiences captivated by a compelling brand story.
We’re also passionate about using music and our work to increase social value. By partnering together across a shared purpose and values, we can leave a positive, lasting impact on the communities we engage, deepening your CSR and SDG commitments.
Find out how you can support at lpo.org.uk/support us
