Southbank Centre Debussy, Claude Events

Philharmonia Orchestra

LUTOSLAWSKI CENTENARY: MUSIC IN POLAND 1913-2013

Continuing the Lutoslawski anniversary celebrations Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Concerto for Orchestra and Cello Concerto alongside Debussy's La Mer.

Our Lutoslawski centenary celebrations continue with two major works of crucial importance. The virtuoso fast-reflexes of the Concerto for Orchestra form a blazing climax to his early period and mark a new fascination with Bartók and the musical potential of indigenous folksong, while the glorious Cello Concerto (1970), commissioned originally by the Royal Philharmonic Society, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, was composed during a time of great political unrest in Poland.

Debussy's principal aim in La Mer was 'to create a mysterious harmony between nature and the imagination', something that clearly had a vital impact on Lutoslawski's own creative thinking.

6pm at Royal Festival Hall - pre-concert recital with Esa-Pekka Salonen featuring Polish contemporary music. Free

Start Date:

Thursday 7 March 2013 - 19:30

End Date:

Thursday 7 March 2013

Ticket Prices:

£40 £31 £25 £20 £15 £12 £9 Premium seats £48

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Philharmonia Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Truls Mørk cello

Repertoire:

Claude Debussy: La mer
Witold Lutoslawski: Cello Concerto
Interval
Witold Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Evocative Storytelling with Saraste

At his heights of frustration, Jean Sibelius created his most enduring and moving music.

The composer's dream of becoming a virtuoso violinist was dashed when he failed an audition for the Vienna Philharmonic, but that only added to the thrust and inspiration behind his resplendent Violin Concerto, a testament in music to the virtuoso Sibelius never was.

At his deepest depths of despair, diagnosed with cancer and fighting off debts, Sibelius created his Fourth Symphony, perhaps his most stark, evocative, chilling and moving. Its sinister, craggy outcrops and shadows are separated from the sultry heat of Debussy's Ibéria by a geographical and musical gulf.

Free pre-concert event, 6pm until 6.45pm, Royal Festival Hall
Musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra join students from London Music Masters' innovative music education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical celebration. See londonmusicmasters.org for more details of this partnership.

Start Date:

Friday 1 February 2013 - 19:30

End Date:

Friday 1 February 2013

Ticket Prices:

£39 £33 £27 £21 £16 £12 £9 Premium £65

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor
Henning Kraggerud violin

Repertoire:

Claude Debussy: Ibéria (Images, No.2)
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Interval
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.4

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images

Leif Ove Andsnes

peter.mallon

Praised for possessing 'affecting directness, impressive clarity and vivid imagination' (The New York Times), the popular Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes presents a selection of audience favourites.

'Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is a force to be reckoned with, as he turns even the best-known classical warhorses into pure poetry... The technical demands are huge... but Andsnes takes the high road, laying out the emotional journey with absolute clarity and little fuss.' (Toronto Star)

Start Date:

Thursday 29 March 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Thursday 29 March 2012

Ticket Prices:

£28 £21 £15 £10 Premium £35

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Leif Ove Andsnes piano

Repertoire:

Joseph Haydn: Piano Sonata in C minor, Hob.XVI/20
Béla Bartók: Suite for piano, Op.14
Claude Debussy: Images, Set 1
Interval
Fryderyk Chopin: Waltz in F minor, Op.70 No.2
Fryderyk Chopin: Waltz in G flat, Op.70 No.1
Fryderyk Chopin: Waltz in D flat, Op.70 No.3
Fryderyk Chopin: Waltz in A flat, Op.42
Fryderyk Chopin: Ballade No.3 in A flat, Op.47
Fryderyk Chopin: Nocturne in B, Op.62 No.1
Fryderyk Chopin: Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op.23

Facility Description:

Queen Elizabeth Hall

Images

Yuja Wang

m.critcher

In her early 20s, Yuja Wang is internationally admired for 'a practically superhuman keyboard technique with an artistic eloquence that is second to none' (San Francisco Chronicle) and 'playing that possesses urgency, personality, imagination and colour' (International Piano).

The young Chinese musician gained international recognition while still in her teens, with a debut concert in Canada conducted by Pinchas Zukerman in 2005. Named 2009's Young Artist of the Year at the Classic FM Gramophone Awards, she has signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and her second CD, entitled Transformation, was Gramophone's Record of the Month on its release in 2010.

'Simply the most important pianist to appear in recent years, period' (The Detroit News).

Start Date:

Tuesday 1 May 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Ticket Prices:

£28 £21 £15 £10 Premium £35

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Yuja Wang piano

Repertoire:

Sergey Rachmaninov: Etude-tableau in A minor, Op.39 No.6
Sergey Rachmaninov: Etude-tableau in B minor, Op.39 No.4
Sergey Rachmaninov: Elégie in E flat minor, Op.3 No.1
Sergey Rachmaninov: Etude-tableau in E flat minor, Op.39 No.5
Ludwig Van Beethoven: Piano Sonata in E flat, Op.27 No.1 (Quasi una fantasia)
Alexander Scriabin: Sonata No.5, Op.53
Interval
Sergey Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No.6 in A, Op.82

Facility Description:

Queen Elizabeth Hall

Images

Peter Donohoe

p.goudal

The ever popular British pianist Peter Donohoe first shot to fame in 1982 when he was a prizewinner at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and is noted for his performances of Liszt.

His programme centres on the composer's entrancing evocations of Swiss landscape and legends from the Années de Pèlerinage. This is complemented by a set of late pieces by Brahms, plus two powerfully influential composers, Bartók and Debussy, both of whom Liszt's music anticipates.

'Donohoe's performance again revealed his affinity for Liszt's music. He brought these tone poems for piano vividly to life. From the opening sombre reminiscence of the hero William Tell to the quietly tolling bells of Geneva's churches, the listener became a fellow traveller on Liszt's journey' (Birmingham Post).

Start Date:

Tuesday 28 February 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Ticket Prices:

£28 £21 £15 £10 Premium £35

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Peter Donohoe piano

Repertoire:

Claude Debussy: Estampes
Franz Liszt: Années de pèlerinage (1st year - Switzerland), S.160
Interval
Johannes Brahms: 6 Pieces for piano, Op.118
Béla Bartók: Piano Sonata

Facility Description:

Queen Elizabeth Hall

Images

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

peter.mallon

French Impressionists

Sir Simon Rattle conducts a programme of Romantic music, featuring Pierre-Laurent Aimard performing Ravel's Piano Concerto for the left hand.

Our season ends with a bang as we bring our Principal Artist Sir Simon Rattle and the renowned pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard to London, following a European tour.

The concert features four masterpieces rarely heard on period instruments, with all the added clarity and energy that they can bring.

The evening concludes with Debussy's powerful and sublimely detailed evocation of the sea - it's almost like seeing a picture painted in front of your eyes... but by an orchestra.

£70 Premium Box seats include an interval wine reception.

Royal Festival Hall at 5.45pm - OAE Extras. Robert Philip looks at French orchestral style in the early 20th century. Admission free

Start Date:

Sunday 10 June 2012 - 19:00

End Date:

Sunday 10 June 2012

Ticket Prices:

£39 £33 £27 £21 £14 £9 £6 Premium £60 Premium box seats £70

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano

Repertoire:

Gabriel Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Op.80
Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto for the left hand
Claude Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Claude Debussy: La mer

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images