Living Music January-December 2020

LSO 2020/21 season opening concert at LSO St Luke’s © Mark Allan

A Warm Welcome from Kathryn McDowell, managing director

Kathryn McDowell © Ranald Mackechnie

Kathryn McDowell © Ranald Mackechnie

Welcome to the latest edition of Living Music, the magazine of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Since March of 2020 we have all encountered an unprecedented upheaval in our work and home lives. I am happy to say that the LSO has successfully risen to the challenges that the global pandemic has wrought, ensuring the safety of our musicians and staff while continuing to reach our followers at home and around the world through digital means.

Our YouTube channel alone has received 4.4 million views since the first lockdown, with 32,000 new people subscribing to watch archive broadcasts, premieres and live streams. Through LSO Discovery, we have delivered online projects to young people and their families, adults with learning disabilities, hospital patients and staff, and many more in the community. Looking back, 2020 is a remarkable chapter in the Orchestra’s more than 100-year-old story.

Sir Simon Rattle’s two new appointments for 2023 were announced a few weeks ago. He continues as LSO Music Director for a further two-and-a-half years before beginning his new role with a lifetime commitment to the LSO as Conductor Emeritus. Simon and I are busy making plans for the future and there is much to look forward to.

Our Living Music magazine goes digital with this annual edition. I invite you to read a summary of our activity, month-by-month, and hope you will enjoy following the links within our digital magazine, which give further insight into each story through articles, blogs and more on our website.

Sincere thanks to everyone who has supported the LSO this past year: the City of London Corporation and the Arts Council who sustained our grants through the whole period, and our loyal Patrons, Friends and corporate supporters. You have enabled us to continue sharing music online, including through our LSO Discovery activity and, since the summer, with streamed concerts from LSO St Luke’s. We are hugely grateful to all, and to our local London partners the Barbican, Guildhall School and Culture Mile. Our thanks also to government and the Arts Council for their support through the Cultural Recovery Fund, which, combined with the extremely generous donations that have kick-started the LSO Always Playing Appeal, help to secure the future of the LSO.

With the added complexity of the ramifications of Brexit, 2021 will no doubt present further challenges. However, the LSO remains committed to sharing extraordinary music and inspiring education work with as many people as possible. Above all, we look forward to returning to our Barbican home and performing to live audiences once more.

Every good wish for a brighter 2021.

2020: A year in the life of the London Symphony Orchestra

January 2020

The end of 2019 and the start of the New Year saw a period of increased recording activity for LSO Live. This included capturing Beethoven’s rarely heard – and only – oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives, with Sir Simon Rattle, and music by Vaughan Williams with Sir Antonio Pappano.

Alongside these recording projects, the Orchestra’s new partnership with audio-visual streaming platform Takt1 continued with the broadcast of December’s concert with Gianandrea Noseda and Janine Jansen in Dortmund.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts Christ on the Mount of Olives © Candice Witton

Welcome Panufnik Composers

The LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme appointed its 2020 cohort – six composers who would be mentored over the year by Colin Matthews, Christian Mason and LSO Members as they wrote new three-minute pieces for a public workshop in March 2021. The successful applicants were Stef Conner, Christian Drew, Patrick Jones, Chris McCormack, Emma-Kate Matthews and Alex Paxton.

Nathalie Stutzmann © Brice Toul/Gamma Rapho

German Romantics and Guildhall Platform concerts

As we entered the New Year, Nathalie Stutzmann conducted an all-German Romantic concert on 9 January featuring Wagner, Mendelssohn and Brahms, with Alina Ibragimova as the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Also on 9 (and 30) January, Guildhall’s Portorius Quartet, Marmen Quartet and pianist Kathy Chow performed in Guildhall Platform Concerts. Members of Guildhall String Ensemble received coaching from LSO Members Claire Parfitt, Malcolm Johnston, Minat Lyons and Tom Goodman as they prepared for a concert of music by Pärt, Britten and Shostakovich directed by Candida Thompson, Artistic Director of Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

Hille and Marthe Perl at Baroque at the Edge © Kevin Leighton

Lunchtime concerts and Baroque at the Edge

Regular activities started up again after the Christmas break, including the new Bach Up Close BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert series and Discovery Free Friday Lunchtime Concerts, the first of which on 10 January – featuring Tom Norris and Philip Moore – was live-streamed, attracting a total audience of 1,140 during the live broadcast from 79 different countries.

The Baroque at the Edge festival (10–12 January) was a huge success, with high audience numbers and outstanding performances. The Lunar New Year was welcomed in by a performance with Tangram – an artist collective that intertwines Chinese and contemporary Western music – featuring premieres written by three LSO composers past and present: Jasmin Kent Rodgman, Alex Ho and Raymond Yiu.

Dorothea Röschmann and Sir Simon Rattle © Mark Allan

Beethoven 250

Beginning the celebrations for Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, Sir Simon Rattle conducted concerts at Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Barbican – including a Half Six Fix – before taking the repertoire abroad on tour to Barcelona, Frankfurt and Paris. Pairing the Beethoven with works by Berg, the well-received concerts featured soprano Dorothea Röschmann in Seven Early Songs, and violinist Lisa Batiashvili as guest soloist in Berg’s Violin Concerto.

Discovery Day

A Discovery Day on 19 January focused on the music programmed for that evening’s concert: Berg’s Violin Concerto, with Lisa Batiashvili, and Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives. The day featured an open rehearsal, an afternoon talk with music broadcaster and author Stephen Johnson, piano and cello sonatas with pianist Sophia Rahman and the LSO’s Rebecca Gilliver, and a choral rendition of Happy Birthday as a surprise for Sir Simon’s 65th that day!

For many of us, it would also have been the first time we heard or performed Christ on the Mount of Olives, and for this the Orchestra was joined by the LSC and soloists Elsa Dreisig, Pavol Breslik and David Soar.

What Rattle made clear is that the music is full of life. It is hard
to imagine this performance
being bettered.

The Financial Times on LSO/Sir Simon Rattle, 19 January

Christian Tetzlaff © Georgia Bertazzi

To close the month, Gianandrea Noseda resumed his Shostakovich symphony cycle, this time with the Ninth. Before this, Christian Tetzlaff performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 3, while Prokofiev’s Symphony No 1 and Mussorgsky’s Prelude to Khovanshchina completed the programme.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts Christ on the Mount of Olives © Candice Witton

Nathalie Stutzmann © Brice Toul/Gamma Rapho

Hille and Marthe Perl at Baroque at the Edge © Kevin Leighton

Dorothea Röschmann and Sir Simon Rattle © Mark Allan

Christian Tetzlaff © Georgia Bertazzi

Cellist tops the charts

Sheku Kanneh-Mason became the first cellist and only the second British classical musician to enter the Top 10 of the UK Official Album Chart, after his second album, Elgar, entered at No 8 when it was released on 10 January.

The Decca Classics recording, for which Kanneh-Mason was joined by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, also made Number 1 on the Official Classical Albums Chart. The achievement makes Kanneh-Mason the highest-charting cellist in British chart history, and the first classical musician since Nigel Kennedy to make it to the Top 10. Kennedy’s landmark recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra reached No 3 when it was released in 1989, and it remains the best-selling classical music recording of all time.

Alongside Elgar’s Cello Concerto, the album also features music by Frank Bridge, Ernest Bloch, Julius Klengel and Gabriel Fauré. It was made at Abbey Road Studios, which was opened by Elgar himself and the LSO in 1931.

Speaking of his success, Kanneh-Mason said: ‘I am so excited that my album is in the Top 10. Thank you, Edward Elgar, for writing such a fantastic piece of music. And thank you to Sir Simon Rattle and all the other great artists who feature on the recording too.’

The 20-year-old musician, who studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, was named an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list. His previous recording, Inspiration, reached No 11 in the UK Album Chart.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Sir Simon Rattle © Dominic Nicholls

February 2020

Gianandrea Noseda © Igor Emmerich

Gianandrea Noseda began the month reprising Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony, this time with the LSO’s Leader Roman Simovic as the soloist in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 1.

The LSO and Noseda finished with a thrilling reading of Shostakovich’s satirically subversive Ninth Symphony. The Presto was frenzied and thrilling, before the energy leached away and the brass sledgehammers heralded the emotional heart of the piece.
Bachtrack on LSO/Noseda, 9 February

Lisa Batiashvili © Candice Witton

The following week was focused on Beethoven, under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle, with two sold-out performances of the ‘Choral’ Symphony – featuring the London Symphony Chorus, soprano Iwona Sobotka, mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany, tenor Robert Murray and baritone Florian Boesch – and a repeat of Christ on the Mount of Olives. Lisa Batiashvili returned for Berg’s Violin Concerto.

The Adagio… was rapt, with a wonderful clarinet solo from Chris Richards (oboist Juliana Koch equally admirable in the Scherzo’s trio).
★★★★★
Evening Standard on LSO/Rattle, 16 February 2020

Following these performances, Sir Simon, the Orchestra and the LSC toured to Hamburg, Baden-Baden, Bonn and Luxembourg, giving four concerts in total.

Rachel Leach presents a Free Friday Concert © Kevin Leighton

Russian songs and chill-out

On 7 February, Guildhall vocalists and pianists delighted a full house at LSO St Luke’s with a programme of Russian songs at the Free Friday Lunchtime Concert, which was preceded by a Relaxed Performance with a large audience of more than 120, including groups from nine day centres for adults with learning disabilities and special schools. For the first time there was a chill-out space downstairs for anyone needing a little quiet time during the performance.

Beethoven 250 at the Barbican

As part of the Barbican’s Beethoven 250 weekend on 1 and 2 February, the LSO Community Choir performed Beethoven NEIN!, a special arrangement of a reimagined Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Waltham Forest Community Choir, conducted by André de Ridder.

Sun Keting’s Now I Will Do Nothing But Listen © Kevin Leighton

Soundhub Showcase

On 15 February, composers Alex Ho and Sun Keting premiered new music at LSO St Luke’s as part of their Phase II Soundhub Showcase, conducted by Darren Bloom. Works written by Associates, who make up the extended Soundhub Community, completed the programme. The playlist is featured on the LSO’s YouTube channel.

Memory Group

A taster session with a group of older adults from the Forget Me Not Memory Group based at the Golden Lane Community Centre took place on 18 February, with animateur Rachel Leach and LSO Member Anna Bastow. The memory group is a weekly social get-together for people who live on the estate and who are experiencing memory issues, or have a diagnosis of dementia.

Recordings and awards

On the recording side, the soundtrack for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Symphonic Suite, performed by the LSO, received a Grammy award. A new album by Hauser (of 2CELLOS) featuring the Orchestra was also released in February. Gregory Porter’s upcoming album All Rise was announced for release in August.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s Elgar album with Sir Simon and the LSO maintained its position at the top of the classical charts (both Classical Artist Album and Specialist Classical Album chart) for several weeks. The recording also spent three weeks in the Top 100 Album chart for all genres of music, including reaching a peak position in the Top 10 in its first week.

Make Music Day © Kevin Leighton

Make Music Day

The 10th Make Music Day – created for young people aged 10–25 with learning disabilities and their families – took place at LSO St Luke’s, and was fully booked with more than 75 participants. The day took its cue from the book How to Build an Orchestra and Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony, with each workshop focusing on a different movement, and featuring the National Open Youth Orchestra, Rachel Leach, Drake Music and artist Ben Connors.

Chan conducts composer premiere

Elim Chan returned on 27 February to conduct the world premiere James Albany Hoyle’s piece Thymiaterion, commissioned through the LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme, alongside Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with soloist Lukáš Vondráček.

Creative Hackney

Following the success of the LSO Create outreach project in June 2019, Caroline Welsh led a new five-session creative music project with students aged 18–24 in the SEND provision at New City College Hackney throughout February and March. The first workshop on 25 February was followed by a CPD session for college staff to support them in the creative use of music in their college, and to discuss different ways of building relationships with the students through joint participation in the project.

Gianandrea Noseda © Igor Emmerich

Lisa Batiashvili © Candice Witton

Sun Keting’s Now I Will Do Nothing But Listen © Kevin Leighton

Rachel Leach presents a Free Friday Concert © Kevin Leighton

Make Music Day © Kevin Leighton

March 2020

The month commenced with André J Thomas conducting the LSO and hundreds of singers from choirs across London in an evening of Symphonic Gospel Spirit on 1 March, which brought together two forms of African American music – the slave song as spiritual and the gospel song – in a symphonic setting. The concert included the UK premiere of Thomas’ Gospel Mass – A Celebration of Love and Joy.

Karina Canellakis made her LSO conducting debut on 8 March with a programme centred around Strauss andRavel, featuring Cédric Tiberghien performing Ravel’s jazz-tinged Piano Concerto. She talks about her work in an interview.

On 12 March, Susanna Mälkki and violinist Gil Shaham collaborated on Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, followed by Debussy’s La Mer.

On 15 March Vilde Frang performed Britten’s Violin Concerto as part of an all-British programme that also included Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Sixth Symphony, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano. This performance of the Sixth Symphony, alongside one of the Fourth captured in December 2019, also under the baton of Pappano, will be released on LSO Live in April 2021.

Sir Antonio Pappano on conducting Vaughan Williams

For years, I’d had my heart set on conducting the Fourth Symphony; its bewildering audacity knocked me off my feet when I first heard it. The fact that it was the only symphony the composer recorded himself added to the allure for me, as if there was some very deep secret in it, so painfully personal.

Post-World War II, the strain of ‘getting on with it’ after such horrific happenings with so much loss did keep the UK united, but the personal reaction to these tumultuous events, especially from artists, was often less hopeful for the future than we would ideally imagine.

Both the Fourth and Sixth Symphonies are angry pieces. No, the composer did not ‘explain’ these works in print. ‘Can’t a composer just write a piece of music…?’ So personal are these works that even studying them is a painful process, not only because of the complexity of the writing, but also because you quickly understand that you will eventually have to deal with something titanic. Are you up for it? Do you have the strength, the wisdom? Quite frightening, but also stimulating in the extreme.

This recording is taken from two separate concerts, the Fourth on 12 December 2019, the Sixth on 15 March 2020. Coincidentally both dates were important dates in the UK calendar; the first was Election Day; the second the night before the announcement of the closure of all concert venues and theatres due to Covid-19. It’s often remarked in concert lore that on such and such a night there was a particularly electric atmosphere in the hall; I can attest to that being totally the case with these two concerts.

The Fourth Symphony and its tortured and conflictual nature somehow resonated with the political struggles of the country, but importantly (for me at least) the music unhesitatingly defines the British character: courage, perseverance, action. This has nothing whatsoever to do with taking political sides, but only with the febrile sensations of performers and audience members in the hall that night.

I would say that to an even greater degree this was true of the March 2020 date. We somehow knew that a lockdown or a shutdown was coming, this knowledge, or fear, inspiring the combined forces of the LSO to give their utmost, to hold a proverbial fist up to the insidious virus. Everyone felt it. Leading these two works has been a voyage of discovery, and has revealed to me just how timely (modern!) is Vaughan Williams’ passion, tenacity and deep understanding of humanity.

^{Booklet note taken from the LSO Live release, out in April 2021}

Antonio Pappano © Liam Hennebry

the dawn of an era like no other

Concerts during the first half of March went ahead while day by day the Covid-19 pandemic gained a grip on the country. Everything changed when the Barbican had to close on 17 March.

The LSO’s Barbican 2019/20 Season was scheduled to run until 14 June with the BMW Classics Trafalgar Square concert scheduled for 7 June. In all, the LSO faced the loss of 20 concert dates, as well as the full programme of lunchtime concerts, workshops, and the learning and community events at LSO St Luke’s due to run to mid-July.

Bit by bit, the Orchestra’s overseas touring dates in France and the US were cancelled, with dates in Austria and Spain looking to follow suit. Opera and music festivals across Europe with dates in July and August were suddenly in jeopardy. All this, along with the commercial studio-based sessions that were immediately brought to a standstill, effectively meant the musicians were out of work. The LSO, along with its administrative and logistics staff of more than 50 people, was facing some tough decisions.

always playing

In order to sustain an LSO presence at home and abroad, we moved swiftly to launch an enhanced free digital programme, Always Playing, that would provide our audience with archive concerts every Thursday and Sunday, our Barbican concert days, and help keep people connected to music, the LSO and each other during this uncertain time. These concerts were screened for free on the LSO’s YouTube channel. LSO musicians, conductors and guest artists quickly offered to collaborate in generating new content to play out on YouTube and other social media platforms.

tough times

Over half the LSO’s administrative staff were furloughed. Teams across the organisation adapted quickly to working from home. From now on, no two days would be the same, and no plans, however well crafted, could be certain.  

Development, Marketing and Communications worked quickly drafting and sharing external and internal messaging with the LSO’s supporters and audiences, updating the websites, responding to customer enquiries and liaising with the Barbican to notify thousands of ticket holders. The teams quickly moved to launching and curating content for the digital programme Always Playing as well as bespoke virtual events for all our supporters.

The IT and Finance Departments were deluged with extra tasks due to the cancellations, learning the necessary processes to operate the furlough scheme.

LSO Live worked tirelessly on optimising and identifying business opportunities and working on scheduled album releases in addition to continuing the production activity for the autumn release schedule.

The Concerts and Tours team, which delivers the full orchestra’s performances and the core artistic programme, had the painful task of managing the administrative and logistical impact of concerts cancellations at the Barbican, overseas, and at LSO St Luke’s.

LSO Discovery had to cancel no fewer than 30 events, workshops and public performances in a matter of days. Creating an LSO Discovery Digital output plan to support our communities became a matter of urgency. Huge efforts were made to steer schools towards the LSO’s digital educational resources.

April 2020

Despite the upheaval, the LSO’s reduced team managed to find a new rhythm of working. Each day became a routine of daily video conferencing calls to ensure all staff were fully informed of activities and plans. Members of the Orchestra stepped up with ideas for digital content, quickly becoming adept at mastering home recording equipment and new initiatives began to evolve.

During this time the LSO’s social media team filled the various platforms with clips from past performances, artist interviews, curated playlists and new recordings from the Orchestra’s Grammy Award-winning in-house label, LSO Live. The LSO is the world’s most recorded and most streamed orchestra, and can be found on all major streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify, Primephonic, IDAGIO, Medici.tv, Stingray Classica, Takt1, as well as leading TV channels such as Mezzo and Sky Arts.

In addition, we began developing new content for LSO Play, a free, interactive and immersive web app, allowing the viewer to experience the LSO on stage – any time, anywhere. It includes masterclasses with LSO Members, contextual information on the musical background and history of the repertoire, and resource packs for teachers. 

The Orchestra is filmed in high definition from four camera angles simultaneously, so the viewer can control how they experience the performance by switching between them at any time. The concerts are filmed in exquisite detail, so the viewer can focus on anything from the tips of the drumsticks on the snare drum to the violinists’ fingers plucking their strings. LSO Play hosts concerts of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d’un faune, and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, with more works available, all filmed in HD during the LSO’s Barbican seasons.

The London Symphony Orchestra double basses

The London Symphony Orchestra percussion

May 2020

Always adapting, always playing

BMW Classics 2019 © PA

BMW Classics 2019 © PA

The next phase of Always Playing broadcasts was announced. This schedule of weekly digital performances provided LSO concerts right up to the final concert of the 2019/20 season on 14 June, and included a matinee broadcast of last year’s BMW Classics concert, which included a performance of Poulenc’s Les Biches (see an excerpt below):

Digital offerings for May included the first LSO Coffee Session (short performances played and recorded from LSO Members’ homes) with Julián Gil Rodríguez and Alix Lagasse, a split-screen video performance of Pachelbel’s Canon masterminded by the Second Violins, and a popular weekly music quiz on Instagram.

The bi-weekly schedule of Thursday and Sunday Always Playing performances continued, with online programme notes regularly being read by hundreds of viewers and lively conversations ensuing on YouTube chat, with contributions from several LSO Members. Further online content included the second LSO Coffee Session with Rhys Watkins, a series of posts to celebrate Star Wars Day on 4 May, and a ‘30 Day Classical Challenge’ on Instagram.

Brand video and designs developed by Superunion for the LSO’s 2020/21 Season theme Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano won two awards in this year’s New York Festival of Advertising.

LSO Discovery’s first online version of LSO Create got off to a great start, with Mark Withers leading a training and preparatory session for 20 participants and LSO Members over Zoom. The musicians involved led one-to-one sessions with each participant over a number of weeks, creating a new piece in response to images contributed by participants following the theme of Kindness Contagion. The sessions were emotional for both participants and players, and feedback revealed how appreciated both the musical and social interaction is during this difficult time.

LSO Create goes online

LSO Create goes online

LSO Discovery also launched new free resources for both young people at home and teachers in school, based on the LSO’s How to Build An Orchestra illustrated book. These creative projects take Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony and Ravel’s Boléro as the starting point for some fun and inventive music making. Further online projects were introduced including Listening Activities for young people at Key Stage 2 or 3, designed to be used in collaboration with LSO Play both at home or in school. Shake Rattle and Roll for families with Under 5s moved to weekly online delivery, as well as LSO On Track special schools’ sessions with Brent Knoll School in Lewisham. Mark Withers and LSO bass trombone Paul Milner led two 30-minute sessions with the primary and secondary school group of key workers’ children.

The Festival d’Aix en Provence also confirmed a project with LSO Discovery to deliver an online version of the coaching of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra.

June 2020

Culture Mile reaches out

Culture Mile and the core partners (LSO, Barbican, GSMD, and Museum of London) worked together with renewed energy to consider how local communities, residents and workers can engage with cultural activity in and around Culture Mile, in particular people that are within a 30-minute walk of Barbican Underground station. They also considered how to provide information about what’s open when, safely enjoying and moving around the area, as well as encouraging people to re-engage with the cultural offerings of the district with confidence, post-lockdown. A new initiative was launched, Radio Local, a celebration of local radio and local community that broadcast daily until 12 June.

Radio Local welcomed Barbican resident Maxine Kwok to its first show (read her lockdown blog) and also featured Andra East (Head of LSO Discovery) and the Radio Locals Word Game with Clare Duckworth, Sarah Quinn and Gareth Davies on later shows.

Culture Mile created a series of Play Packs for young people and their families at home in lockdown. The packs were distributed to food banks and community centres across the City of London and neighbouring boroughs to provide materials to families who may not have online access or play resources.

Keeping in touch with schools

Twenty-five young musicians from East London, participants from LSO On Track Next Generation and LSO East London Academy, took part in an online talk and Q&A session with LSO violin Naoko Keatley and LSO trumpet Niall Keatley. Naoko and Niall provided an insight into life as an LSO musician and their pathways to joining the Orchestra, as well as touching on some of the challenges of the past months. The talk also focused on Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring which young musicians were encouraged to watch on LSO Play following the session.

Online special schools sessions continued with Brent Knoll School in Lewisham. LSO percussionist Sam Walton worked alongside Mark Withers and the students to create their own Witches’ Sabbath, loosely based on Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.

On 14 June the season of free digital concerts ended to coincide with what would have been the final performance of the 2019/20 Barbican Season. LSO Members continued to record musical pieces at home in addition to delivering a full teaching and mentoring programme for the Guildhall, Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, and Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara.

Lockdown fun for youngsters

During June, the LSO launched further interactive projects for younger audiences. Where’s Simon? – a virtual concert of Mozart’s overture to The Marriage of Figaro – was devised and produced by regular collaborators on concerts for children and families: LSO Principal Flute Gareth Davies and animator/director Victor Craven. The six-minute film features Sir Simon Rattle and includes cameos by LSO musicians.

How to Build an Orchestra, an illustrated children’s book, produced by the LSO in association with Hachette children’s group, follows a conductor who is auditioning each instrument for his orchestra. With accompanying CDs and downloadable music, readers follow the conductor on his journey and uncover every detail of an orchestra.

How To Build An Orchestra inspires a young fan

How To Build An Orchestra inspires a young fan

This project joins another new LSO Discovery online project for younger audiences, Olivia Forms a Band, a 30-minute video based on the children’s book of the same name by Ian Falconer. The video includes three original songs, classical music performed by LSO musicians, and illustrations from the book. It was created to appeal to families with primary-school aged children, and teachers of Key Stage 1 or 2 students.

Preparing to return to LSO St Luke’s

Throughout June the Stage Management and Transport team joined with colleagues at LSO St Luke’s to start the long process of preparing the building for the Orchestra’s return, to rehearse and perform. So began detailed planning in introducing social distancing measures to make the space functional and safe. Within sight was the LSO’s first non-home-based project since 20 March, a concert for the Aix-en-Provence Festival, which was streamed live on 15 July on LSO YouTube.

LSO Percussion Sam Walton rehearses for the Aix-en-Provence Festival concert © David Jackson

Summer Shorts

July 2020

The first part of the month was taken up continuing the preparations for the concert for Aix-en-Provence and another series of short concerts, featuring small ensembles from the Orchestra, curated by the players themselves. We began to sense the first phase of a recovery and re-emergence from the lockdown.

LSO Percussion Sam Walton rehearses for the Aix-en-Provence Festival concert © David Jackson

Green shoots and Summer Shorts

The first stage of the recovery plans were a series of short concerts at LSO St Luke’s in July and August, streamed live each week on the LSO’s YouTube channel. New state-of-the-art technology was provided by the LSO’s Technical Partner Yamaha Professional Audio to ensure superb quality recording, broadcasting and streaming; this had been installed in LSO St Luke’s during the last few weeks of June.

The UK Government chose these Summer Shorts concerts at LSO St Luke’s as a pilot for testing social distancing guidelines for indoor live music events. Each concert was evaluated in minute detail to test the robustness and efficiency of the necessary measures performance venues have to take in order to ensure the safety of the audiences, artists and staff involved. Learnings from the LSO St Luke’s concerts informed future government guidelines.

Summer Shorts

After the first two concerts, as was hoped, the LSO had increased the number of concerts to three per day. Each 30-minute concert was played by small ensembles at 11am, 1pm and 3pm for an audience of up to 30 people each time.

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The opening concert on 17 July highlighted the world premiere of a new work by award-winning composer, Daniel Kidane – an alumnus of the LSO’s Soundhub, Panufnik Composers and Jerwood Composer+ Schemes – written especially for the Orchestra during lockdown. Watch a conversation between Daniel and First Violin Maxine Kwok, below.

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And so, for the latter part of July, there descended a period of relative calm and continuity.

August 2020

Continued hope in spite of setbacks

Following the Government’s announcement that from the beginning the August there would be no further performances with live audiences allowed, the team quickly took action to notify ticket-holders for the cancelled 1pm and 3pm Summer Shorts concerts. The live-streamed series went ahead as planned but without an audience and received more than 14,000 views on YouTube.

Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO at the BBC Proms © Chris Christodoulou

However, by the end of August LSO St Luke’s was buzzing with activity again, with small audiences attending the remaining Summer Shorts, and the arrival of the whole Orchestra for a busy autumn of rehearsals, performances and recordings.

LSO Discovery

The team focused on planning for the coming months. Conversations were had with the Dementia and Delirium Team at Newham Hospital, and the Play Team, Speech & Language Therapy Team and Hospital School at Royal London Hospital, regarding the possibility of any interaction and musical resources we could provide digitally in the coming months, while there was a policy of no visitors. The teams and wards have iPads in order to facilitate FaceTime conversations between patients and their family and friends, as well as for playing music to patients on the wards.

The BBC Proms

Mitsuko Uchida at the BBC Proms © Chris Christodoulou

The next step on the road to recovery for the LSO began when Sir Simon Rattle brought the Orchestra together at LSO St Luke’s to rehearse for the BBC Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 30 August. The eclectic programme ranged from Elgar to Adès and G Gabrieli to Kurtág, featuring pianist Mitsuko Uchida and culminating in Vaughan Williams’ Fifth Symphony.

The sheer beauty of the string sound created a luxurious bedrock for the most exquisite woodwind playing
★★★★★
Bachtrack on LSO/Rattle's Vaughan Williams at the Proms, 30 August

Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO at the BBC Proms © Chris Christodoulou

Mitsuko Uchida at the BBC Proms © Chris Christodoulou

BBC Proms © Chris Christodoulou

September 2020

From the beginning of the month, we resumed the programme of Friday Lunchtime and BBC Radio 3 chamber concerts at LSO St Luke's, with socially distanced audiences of around 50; great news particularly for our local audiences. Discovery Lunchtime concerts were made possible by a bequest from the Estate of Denise Antenen.

Kicking off the Autumn Season

Also from 1 September the LSO began rehearsing, performing and recording in earnest at LSO St Luke’s for a new LSO Autumn Season. There were 13 new concerts to be rehearsed, performed and recorded with Sir Simon Rattle conducting three – the remainder would be led by the regular family of LSO conductors, returning for the first time since lockdown, as well as some new guest conductors later in the autumn. These hour-long orchestral concerts for smaller ensembles (up to 70 players) were (and some remain) available for audiences to enjoy on our regular pay to view channels – Idagio, globalconcerthall, Marquee TV, Medici.tv, Takt 1 – with a selection of full concerts and highlights streamed on LSO YouTube every Sunday at 7pm for free.

Help for our Recovery Appeal

At the end of the month, Sir Simon Rattle joined the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman William Russell, at the Mansion House for a cultural conversation webinar. Sir Simon thanked the Lord Mayor for the City’s continued support of the LSO during the pandemic and the recovery period. The funding from the City of London in addition to the Arts Council England’s Recovery Fund has already proved instrumental in assisting with the LSO’s recently launched Recovery Appeal, with donors acknowledging this vital government and local authority support.

LSO musicians perform at the Bedford Rose Garden, Alexandra Palace

Tom Goodman, Sarah Quinn and Miya Väisänen at the Bedford Rose Garden, Alexandra Palace

Amanda Truelove at Alexander House Care Home, Wimbledon

LSO musicians at St Martin of Tours, Chelsfield

Clare Duckworth, Naoko Keatley, Rebecca Gilliver, Anna Bastow and Malcolm Johnston at St Martin of Tours, Chelsfield

LSO Brass Ensemble plays at the Tottenham warehouse for LSO Local weekend

LSO Local WEEKEND

Over three days on 25–27 September, LSO musicians gave performances all across London (and beyond) as part of our very first LSO Local weekend. With members leading on every aspect of their own events, this special project brought music out to venues including LSO St Luke’s and our warehouse in Tottenham.

Thirty-two members (plus a few good friends) took part, not to mention members of the London Symphony Chorus, putting on more than 20 performances in just one weekend.

@londonsymphony comes to @NewhamHospital.
Beautiful, soft, calming music to lift the spirits of patients, staff and visitors. What a treat. Truly wonderful. Thank you 👏 👏 👏@ImagingBarts @A_WilliamsNHS @NHSBartsHealth @CatrionaRowland pic.twitter.com/svbCY0UEhQ
— Udesha Davids (@Udesha1) September 27, 2020

‘It’s really important in this altered musical landscape to think of innovative ways to bring live music to people,’ explained Sam Walton, LSO percussion, who organised his own concert in Hitchin for friends, family and locals.

Read our blog about the LSO Local weekend.

October 2020

Throughout October the LSO continued to rehearse, perform and record weekly concerts at LSO St Luke’s. Over the last two weeks of October, LSO Discovery recorded a concert for schools and young people: Space… but not as we know it and Simon Halsey, the LSO’s Choral Director, produced and conducted musicians and singers for our annual Christmas concert, for relay on 13 December. Putting together these programmes for digital presentation has flexed the creative muscles of our learning and technical teams. As our live audiences and online audiences repeatedly tell us in their feedback, music in all forms is vital for our health and well-being.

Open Doors: Bluebeard and a trade agreement

We were delighted to be included in the celebrations for the signing of the new trade agreement between the UK and Japan on 23 October, with the premiere screening of Sir Simon Rattle and the Orchestra’s performance of Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle by Kajimoto, our Japanese promoter, on its YouTube channel. This gripping one-act opera starred Gerald Finley and Karen Cargill, and was recorded in early September at LSO St Luke’s. It was available to watch free on YouTube for 90 days after the performance. View an excerpt from the performance above.

Exquisite orchestral playing is a given from this partnership, Rattle’s unfussy direction summoning up a rich carpet of string tone and some gorgeous wind solos
Bachtrack on LSO/Rattle in Duke Bluebeard’s Castle

November 2020

Lockdown 2.0

At the end of October we were welcoming colleagues back from furlough and looking forward to the resumption of concerts at the Barbican. Hopes were dashed when the news of another lockdown came through, with a halt to all live audiences, further travel restrictions and quarantine regulations from 5 November, throwing both LSO St Luke’s and Barbican plans into jeopardy once again.

Despite the loss of all our original conductors for November, we managed to rearrange a terrific line-up of weekly concerts at LSO St Luke’s with some fine conducting talent including Stephanie Childress, Ryan Wigglesworth, Paavo Järvi and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.

Always moving forward

There was some good news: following the generous grant from the Arts Council Recovery Fund to assist the LSO to keep playing throughout the next six months, the LSO was pleased to announce a lead gift from Alex and Elena Gerko as a kick-start to the launch the Always Playing Recovery Appeal, with a target of raising £5 million by summer 2021. Without the possibility of playing to live audiences, income generation from box office and overseas touring fees remains negligible, so these funds, added to the City’s ongoing support, are crucial to the Orchestra’s survival.

LSO Discovery

We began new digital visits to two special schools in Barking and Dagenham and worked on engaging with some more special schools in East London. LSO Discovery has continually had to adapt to the changing circumstances in schools, with class groups self-isolating and an instance where an Academy group banned masks, resulting in their instrumental tutors being unable to attend in person.

Sir Simon Rattle met Orchestral Artistry (OA) students on Zoom on 20 November and answered their questions, in an inspiring conversation with Gareth Davies.

OA students were able to watch some LSO rehearsals with Paavo Järvi and Mirga Gražinitė-Tyla as part of their course.

This group also received introductory workshops from Vanessa King and Mark Withers and continue shadowing online LSO Discovery sessions, including insightful discussions on why it is important to work with people with disabilities.

LSO Discovery was also able to continue working with composers through the LSO Soundhub scheme, running workshops at LSO St Luke’s throughout October and November, as well as engaging with teachers from the LSO On Track Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, Music in the Classroom.

Culture Mile films

Two films, inspired by the City of London in lockdown, were released on Culture Mile’s YouTube channel. These featured LSO Principal Flute Gareth Davies and First Violin Maxine Kwok and premiered new music by composers Jasmine Kent Rodgman and Darren Bloom. The films, PLAY: Rising and PLAY: The Spell & The Promise, are directed by emerging filmmakers Antonia Luxem and Lexi Kiddo respectively, and feature dancers Marie Astrid Mence, Salomé Pressac and Faye Stoeser from Ballet Black. Both films are available to watch on Culture Mile’s YouTube channel.

Stephanie Childress conducts at LSO St Luke’s

december 2020

Zimerman’s Beethoven Marathon

One of the cruellest disappointments of the year came when the much-anticipated Beethoven Concerto Marathon scheduled for 17 December, where Krystian Zimerman, Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO were due to perform all five piano concertos at the Barbican in one epic evening, was cancelled with just 48 hours’ notice as London entered Tier 3 restrictions.

All was not lost however, as the performers were able to regroup at LSO St Luke’s where they performed the concertos over five evenings, with the events streamed on DG Stage and also recorded for release by DG in April 2021. The performances will also be broadcast on the LSO’s YouTube channel on 13 and 14 March 2021.

Diamond Days

The album Classic Diamonds: Neil Diamond with the London Symphony Orchestra was at No 2 in USA and No 3 in the UK in December.

Singalong Christmas cheer

Despite the lockdown, choral fans were still able to participate online in a celebratory Christmas concert with the LSO and LSC: A Singalong Christmas, conducted by Simon Halsey and featuring guest soloists soprano Abigail Kelly and bass-baritone Rodney Earl Clarke.

LSO East London Academy

East London Academy participants

East London Academy participants

One of the final engagements of the year was on 22 December when young musicians of the LSO East London Academy came together online with LSO musicians and staff to hear the world premiere of Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s DreamCity.

The new piece, commissioned by the LSO, is the product of an innovative composition, coaching and recording project for the Academy. Across the autumn, 20 young string musicians worked with past LSO Panufnik Composers’ Scheme member Ayanna towards the development of new music, and received coaching from LSO musicians to learn and record the material, which was used to build the final piece.

our people

Welcome Sofia Silvia Sousa

On 28 October 2020, we were delighted to welcome a new Member of the LSO: Sofia Silva Sousa, who joined our Viola section. Born in Portugal, Sofia studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and was part of the Artist in Residence programme at the Reine Elizabeth Musique Chapelle in Belgium. She is also a member of the Tejo String Quartet, which she founded with three Portuguese friends.

Hilary Jones retires after 35 years

We bid a fond farewell to LSO Cello Hilary Jones on 13 December 2020 after 35 years with the Orchestra.

Hilary Jones was born in East London and, while attending Redbridge Music School, was awarded a scholarship to study with Joan Bonner (FRAM). In 1971 Hilary started her studies at the Royal Academy of Music while continuing private study with Derek Simpson and William Pleeth.

Following several years spent at The Royal Ballet School and then the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hilary joined the LSO as an Associate Member in July 1985. She became a Full Member in 1992. Hilary has a heartfelt belief in the encouragement of young musicians, and the sharing of music in the community, particularly amongst those with disabilities and learning difficulties. Throughout her time with the Orchestra, she has therefore been very active in LSO Discovery, working with talented young musicians including as a mentor to successful candidates of LSO Discovery’s String Experience scheme.

obituaries

Erich Gruenberg (1924–2020)

The LSO’s very distinguished former leader (1962–65), Erich Gruenberg died in August 2020 at the age of 95.

As well as leading the LSO in the era of Pierre Monteux, Jascha Horenstein and many other conductors, he was also an eminent soloist and chamber musician in his own right, and an inspirational teacher.

Erich Gruenberg’s great musical legacy lives on through many fine recordings, and through his students, who include past and current members of the London Symphony Orchestra, among them our First Violinists Maxine Kwok and Will Melvin.

Rinat Ibragimov (1960–2020)

The Orchestra was very saddened to learn of the death of our Principal Emeritus Double Bass Rinat Ibragimov in September 2020.

A superb musician, inspirational teacher and wonderful colleague, Rinat suffered a major stroke in 2013 and had been unable to play, but had been a regular presence at LSO concerts and continued to teach at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Read tributes from his colleagues.

Dvora Lewis (1936–2020)

Dvora Lewis, who managed the Orchestra’s press for 37 years until her retirement in 2015, died on 17 November 2020.

‘She will be greatly missed, but we shall treasure the memory of a truly wonderful woman,’ said the LSO’s Managing Director, Kathryn McDowell. ‘Her professionalism and her expertise were far ahead of its time, and her humanity touched everyone who knew her.’ Read her full obituary.