Gramophone – September 2019

36 GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 gramophone.co.uk

UNITEDKINGDOMSEASONPREVIEW 201920

with an all-Russian programme that
includes Shostakovich’s Symphony
No 5 and Rachmaninov’s Piano
Concerto No 3. Another Russian
ifth – Prokoiev’s Symphony No 5

• follows later in the season under
  the baton of Principal Conductor
  Designate, Vasily Petrenko, who also
  presides over Scriabin’s Poem of
  Ecstasy in the spring.
  rpo.co.uk

Royal Scottish National
Orchestra
Conductors Thomas Søndergård
and Elim Chan have settled nicely
into Glasgow and this season the
former takes charge of big-boned
masterpieces by Mahler and Strauss.
Locals play a major role, with Artist-in-
Residence Steven Osborne focusing
on Beethoven and Nicola Benedetti
giving her irst account of Bartók’s
Violin Concerto No 2 on Scottish soil.
rsno.org.uk

Saron Hall
Saron Hall favourites the London
Philharmonic Orchestra and its
Chief Conductor Vladimir Jurowski
are back at the hall in the autumn,
while the orchestra returns later
in the season, this time under
Marin Alsop. Two BBC orchestras
and the BBC Singers visit, as well
as English Touring Opera, while
Harry Christophers and The Sixteen
present Britten’s A Ceremony of
Carols just in time for Christmas.
saronhall.com

Sage Gateshead/
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Music Director Lars Vogt launches
the Royal Northern Sinfonia’s
season as soloist and conductor
in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto
No 2 combined with Tchaikovsky’s
Symphony No 6. Elsewhere,
Paul McCreesh directs his speciality,
Haydn’s The Creation, Laurence
Equilbey conducts a Schubert
programme and there are visits from
the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
and Orchestre National de Lille.
sagegateshead.com

St John’s Smith Square
From lunchtime recitals to large-
scale events such as Brahms’s
Requiem, St John’s Smith Square
presents a variety of concerts to
begin the season. Eric Whitacre
conducts a concert and presents

a choralworkshopinOctober,

andtherearea hostofChristmas

eventstoenjoy,includingJohn

LubbockandtheOrchestraof

StJohn’sannualperformanceof

Handel’sMessiah

sjss.org.uk

ScottishChamberOrchestra

MaximEmelyanychevarrivesat

theScottishChamberOrchestra,

sharingBeethovenanniversary

dutieswithEmmanuelKrivineand

AndrewManze.PekkaKuusistois

theseason’sFeaturedArtist,playing

worksbyBach,Haydn,Beethoven

andSibeliusaswellasthoseby

NicoMuhlyandBryceDessner.

NewlyappointedAssociate

ComposerAnnaClynewillunveilher

irstcommission,whiletheorchestra

willreviveherGrammy-nominated

PrinceofClouds.

sco.org.uk

ScottishOpera

A seasonhighlightis JohnFulljames’s

productionofNixoninChina,irst

seenattheRoyalDanishOpera

inMay;JoanaCarneiroconducts.

Other highlights include Anthony

Besch’s To s c a, starring Natalya

Romaniw, and a new production

of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s

Dream from Dominic Hill, conducted

by Music Director Stuart Stratford.

scottishopera.org.uk

The Sixteen

The 2019 Choral Pilgrimage looks

back at The Sixteen’s last 40 years,

placing music by Fayrfax – as

included on the choir’s irst-ever

recording – alongside a new work by

James MacMillan. Surrounding these

composers are many more, including

Gabriel Jackson, Eric Whitacre,

John Tavener and Philipp Sheppard.

The pilgrimage visits venues from

Truro to Edinburgh, taking in

magniicent basilicas in Liverpool,

Winchester and Durham.

thesixteen.com

Turner Sims

Southampton’s concert hall

welcomes the Orchestra of Welsh

National Opera for a family concert

as well as the Doric String Quartet,

which plays Haydn, Britten and

Schubert. Angela Hewitt visits to

perform Bach’s English Suites while

the London Sinfonietta plays Reich

and Glass – plus, an octet drawn from

the London Mozart Players performs

masterpieces of Viennese classicism.

turnersims.co.uk

Welsh National Opera

It may be WNO’s irst season without

David Pountney, but the director is

reunited with the Music Director he

appointed in Cardi, Tomáš Hanus,

for his staging of Janáček’s The

Cunning Little Vixen. The season

openswithJoDavies’sproduction

ofCarmenandJamesMacdonald’s

Rigoletto, starringMarkS Doss.

wno.org.uk

WigmoreHall

PlentyofBeethovenwillresound

throughtheWigmoreHallin

thisanniversaryseason,butthe

composer’smusicwillbeexplored

mostdeeplyina weekendof

activitiesexploringthemesas

variedasrevolutionandthe

lossofhearing.Thevenue’sseason

is alsostrongvocally,withvisits

fromBrynTerfel,AnnaCaterina

Antonacci,SusanGrahamand

PhilippeJaroussky.

wigmore-hall.org.uk PHOTOGRAPHY:

MARK MCNULTY

Internationally sought-after cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason performs in Liverpool this

season, having been made the RLPO’s Young-Artist-in-Residence (see previous page)