Programme (PDF 4 MB) - Cambridge Philharmonic Society

Saturday 10 July 2010 – Ely Cathedral
Cambridge
Philharmonic
Society
Joan Rodgers
Soprano
Roderick Williams
Baritone
Timothy Redmond
Conductor
Steve Bingham
Leader
Verdi Overture ‘I Vespers
Siciliani
Te Deum
Stabat Mater
Vaughan
Williams Fantasia on a Theme of
Thomas Tallis
Dona Nobis Pacem
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Programme
VERDI
Overture ‘I Vespri Siciliani’
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Interval
VERDI
Stabat Mater
Te Deum
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Dona Nobis Pacem
Overture ‘I Vespri Siciliani’
Giuseppe Verdi
(1813-1901)
Les Vêpres Siciliennes (The Sicilian Vespers) is a five Act opera composed by Verdi for the
Paris Exhibition of 1855. The French libretto was adapted from the text of an earlier
incomplete Donizetti opera, Le Duc d'Alba, set at the time of the Spanish occupation of
Flanders in the late 16th century. However Verdi changed the setting to late 13th
century Sicily, when the Sicilians were struggling to free themselves from French rule.
After the initial success of the French version, the libretto was then hurriedly translated
into Italian, but with the setting being changed again, this time to Portugal under Spanish
rule in the 17th century, in deference to the sensitivities of the Italian censors at a time
when Italy was again in conflict. As a result the 1856 première of the Italian version was
given under an alternative title, and it was not until 1861 that the situation was
sufficiently relaxed to allow the setting finally to be changed back to Sicily, with the opera
now being given the title I Vespri Siciliani.
The opera takes its title from the War of the Sicilian Vespers. This began with an
uprising by the local inhabitants of Palermo against the French on Easter Monday 1282,
and was only finally ended by the signing of the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302. Accounts
differ as to what exactly started the 1282 revolt, but tradition has it that it was whilst the
bells rang for vespers (evening prayer) that the Sicilians finally rose up against the
occupying French.
In the opera, the smouldering conflict also provides the background for a romance
between Elena, sister of Duke Frederick of Austria, who has been executed by the
French for treason, and Arrigo, a young Sicilian, who turns out to be the son of the
island's French governor, Guy de Montfort. The opera ends with two being married, and
in this case it is the ringing of the vespers bell at the wedding that signals the beginning of
the Sicilian revolt.
Despite its initial successes, interest in I Vespri Siciliani soon waned, and although it is still
performed, it has never been fully accepted into the international repertoire. By
contrast, however, the overture to I Vespri Siciliani is widely acknowledged to be one of
Verdi’s best. In the score, Verdi deliberately refers to the overture as a sinfonia rather
than a preludio, emphasising that it was intended not merely as an introduction to the
opera but as a reflection of its spirit. And with its dark, threatening opening, seemingly
foretelling the horrors about to be unleashed, its broad, sweeping themes and spirited
ending, it has gained lasting success as a powerful and evocative orchestral piece in its
own right.
Chris Fisher
Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Ralph Vaughan Williams
(1872-1958)
This year in a poll of the most popular classical music works run by Classic FM the
Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis came third. First performed a hundred years ago,
this work seems to have become a firm favourite, embedded in the hearts not only of
those of eclectic tastes but of those who take their music lightly. So much so that it has
been used in various films, including Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World, that
moving and thrilling depiction of a British vessel searching for an elusive French privateer
during the Napoleonic wars. As the French ship Acheron is tantalisingly spotted looming
and disappearing in the mist, it seems not inappropriate to have chosen to include the
Fantasia, a work of hints and suggestion, echoes and memory, though the excerpt played
actually accompanies the dreadful moment when the crewmen are forced to cut the
lifeline attached to a sailor who has fallen overboard.
The original theme by Thomas Tallis is a melody in the Phrygian mode (equivalent of a
scale played on the white notes of the piano starting on E). Tallis had contributed this
tune to the Psalter of 1567 compiled for the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury,
Matthew Parker. The words of Psalm 2 begin:
Why fum'th in fight the Gentiles spite, in fury raging stout?
Why tak'th in hand the people fond, vain things to bring about?
The Kings arise, the Lords devise, in counsels met thereto,
against the Lord with false accord, against His Christ they go.
It can thus be seen that Tallis's psalm setting must be deliberately dark and brooding.
When Vaughan Williams was editing The English Hymnal, which was published in 1906, he
included Tallis's psalter tune, but to words by Joseph Addison, once again reflecting
sombre thoughts:
When, rising from the bed of death
O'erwhelmed with guilt and fear,
I see my Maker face to face,
O how shall I appear?
Sombre thoughts indeed, but the writer goes on to find not judgement but forgiveness. It
is not a hymn much sung in Anglican churches today; nevertheless it is interesting to look
at it (no. 92 in the English Hymnal), as on the opposite page is Tallis's original version
with the melody in the tenor.
Vaughan Williams, already familiar with this melody, and having spent time studying with
Ravel in Paris, returns to it and creates a work (first performed in 1910) that recalls 16th
century English melody and harmony, reflects the influence of impressionistic French
modulations and sound colour, but yet is undeniably original. He uses three groups of
string instruments: a first orchestra, a second orchestra (of 2 players per section except
for a single double bass) and they should if possible sit apart from the first orchestra, and
then a string quartet formed of the leader of each string section. Sometimes all three
groups play together and the parts are not differentiated, at others different combinations
are found. The smaller second orchestra often echoes the previous phrase, or may
sustain a chord just played by the first orchestra, giving a sense of ambiguity to the ending
of a phrase.
The Fantasia has an immediate emotional appeal: the passionate fortissimi, the whispered
pianissimi, the changes of tempo, the sorrowful resonances of the Phrygian mode, and the
simplicity of Tallis's measured tune contrasting with the lilting, 6/8 theme, which almost
sounds like a snatch of a tune whistled by a country lad. Then there is the soaring
sweetness of the solo viola followed by the solo violin (recalling for us that other
Vaughan Williams favourite The Lark Ascending). There is a feeling of phrases swirling and
reverberating not only in space but down the centuries, and for this the building of Ely
Cathedral is ideal. Vaughan Williams was not a conventional believer, however he was a
deeply spiritual man. He surely catches the essence of Tallis and Addison as he moves
from solemnity to a closing upward-floating violin solo and the reassurance of a final G
major chord.
Jennifer Day
Stabat Mater and Te Deum
Giuseppe Verdi
(1813-1901)
from Quattro Pezzi Sacri, Four Sacred Pieces
Giuseppe Verdi was born at Le Roncole, near Busseto, in the region of Parma, in 1813.
The son of an innkeeper/grocer, he showed musical ability as a child and, encouraged by
his father, he was already deputising as an organist at the local church by the age of
seven. His early schooling and musical training took place in Busseto where he received
support from Antonio Barezzi, in whose house he lived from the age of eighteen. Verdi
gave music lessons to Barezzi's daughter Margherita and later married her. He applied
for entry to the Milan Conservatory, but was rejected. After studying counterpoint in
Milan, he returned in 1835 to Busseto and was offered the job of municipal master of
music. Four years later he returned to Milan, to arrange for the performance of the
opera Oberto, Conte di S Bonifacio, at La Scala, a work that led to a commission for three
more operas. Pleasure in any success was tempered by the death of his baby son and in
1840 by the death of his wife.
In 1842, Verdi won his first major success with the opera Nabucco. His personal life too
was transformed after his meeting with the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, who became
his mistress, and later his wife. By 1859 Verdi had written some twenty more operas
which became essential to international repertoire: Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, La
forza del destino, and many others.
It was not until the twilight of his life that Verdi, aged 84, published a heterogeneous
collection of four pieces entitled Quattro Pezzi Sacri. Composed over perhaps eight
years prior to their publication, they reveal the eyes of Italy's most famous opera
composer looking toward the afterlife through the sacred texts of the Catholic Church.
Much of the music is quite progressive: the style reflects the great tonal expansion of the
latter nineteenth century, as well as his own advances in operatic composition. .
The two pieces of the Quattro Pezzi Sacri which are performed today, Te Deum and
Stabat Mater, deploy the full range of choral and orchestral forces. Stabat Mater (18961897) sets the complete drama of the Passion as seen through Mary's eyes; it does so in
a series of pointillist images from the ancient Latin text. In preparation for the
composition of the Te Deum (1895), Verdi studied the music of both Victoria and Purcell,
though he ultimately created something quite different. His intention was a musically
adventuresome portrayal of his own emotional responses to the traditional text. The
"immense father" is also the "king of glory" born in human flesh of a Virgin, and will
return as "Judge." Mankind trembles before this judge.
His compositions coincided with the popular spirit of the day, as Italy struggled to free
herself from foreign domination and to achieve some form of political unity. Musically
and technically his achievement was one of great power and considerable variety. Verdi
died in Milan in 1901, and his death was an occasion of national mourning. He asked to
have the personally expressive score of the Quattro Pezzi Sacri buried with him.
Binnie Macellari
Text and translation
Stabat Mater
Stabat mater dolorosa
juxta Crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to her son to the last.
Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem
pertransivit gladius.
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.
O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedicta,
mater Unigeniti!
O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.
Quae moerebat et dolebat,
pia Mater, dum videbat
nati poenas inclyti.
Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.
Quis est homo qui non fleret,
matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?
Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold?
Quis non posset contristari
Christi Matrem contemplari
dolentem cum Filio?
Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother's pain untold?
Pro peccatis suae gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis,
et flagellis subditum.
For the sins of His own nation,
She saw Jesus wracked with torment,
All with scourges rent:
Vidit suum dulcem Natum
moriendo desolatum,
dum emisit spiritum.
She beheld her tender Child,
Saw Him hang in desolation,
Till His spirit forth He sent.
Eia, Mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam.
O thou Mother! fount of love!
Touch my spirit from above,
make my heart with thine accord:
Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum
ut sibi complaceam.
Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord.
Sancta Mater, istud agas,
crucifixi fige plagas
cordi meo valide.
Holy Mother! pierce me through,
in my heart each wound renew
of my Saviour crucified:
Tui Nati vulnerati,
tam dignati pro me pati,
poenas mecum divide.
Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.
Fac me tecum pie flere,
crucifixo condolere,
donec ego vixero.
Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:
Juxta Crucem tecum stare,
et me tibi sociare
in planctu desidero.
By the Cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.
Virgo virginum praeclara,
mihi iam non sis amara,
fac me tecum plangere.
Virgin of all virgins blest!,
Listen to my fond request:
let me share thy grief divine;
Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
passionis fac consortem,
et plagas recolere.
Let me, to my latest breath,
in my body bear the death
of that dying Son of thine.
Fac me plagis vulnerari,
fac me Cruce inebriari,
et cruore Filii.
Wounded with His every wound,
steep my soul till it hath swooned,
in His very Blood away;
Flammis ne urar succensus,
per te, Virgo, sim defensus
in die iudicii.
Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
lest in flames I burn and die,
in His awful Judgment Day.
Christe, cum sit hinc exire,
da per Matrem me venire
ad palmam victoriae.
Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,
by Thy Mother my defence,
by Thy Cross my victory;
Quando corpus morietur,
fac, ut animae donetur
paradisi gloria. Amen.
When my body dies,
let my soul be granted
the glory of Paradise. Amen.
Te Deum
Te Deum laudamus:
te Dominum confitemur.
Te aeternum Patrem
omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes Angeli;
tibi caeli et universae Potestates;
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim
incessabili voce proclamant:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
We praise thee, O God :
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee :
the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud :
the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubin and Seraphin :
continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy :
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Pleni sunt caeli et terra
maiestatis gloriae tuae.
Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus,
Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus,
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
Te per orbem terrarum
sancta confitetur Ecclesia,
Patrem immensae maiestatis:
Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium;
Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe.
Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius.
Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem,
non horruisti Virginis uterum.
Tu, devicto mortis aculeo,
aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum.
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :
of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world :
doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man :
thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all
believers.
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris. Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the
Father.
Iudex crederis esse venturus.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni: We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :
quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory
numerari.
everlasting.
Salvum fac populum tuum,
O Lord, save thy people :
Domine, et benedic hereditati tuae.
and bless thine heritage.
Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in
Govern them : and lift them up for ever.
aeternum.
Per singulos dies benedicimus te;
Day by day : we magnify thee;
Et laudamus Nomen tuum in saeculum, et And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.
in saeculum saeculi.
Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.
custodire.
Miserere nostri domine, miserere nostri.
O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us.
Fiat misericordia tua,
Domine, super nos, quemadmodum
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :
speravimus in te.
as our trust is in thee.
In te, Domine, speravi:
O Lord, in thee have I trusted :
non confundar in aeternum.
let me never be confounded.
from The Book of Common Prayer
Dona Nobis Pacem
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
(1872-1958)
Agnus Dei
Beat! Beat! Drums!
Reconciliation
Dirge for Two Veterans
Untitled
When Vaughan Williams was asked to write a work for the centenary of the
Huddersfield Choral Society in 1936 he did not come up with a glorious celebratory
work. Quite the opposite: Dona Nobis Pacem is a plea for peace from someone who has
seen the horrors of warfare close at hand and fears that the sky is darkening with the
storm clouds of other wars as various European dictators rattle their sabres and turn up
the rhetoric. The words Dona nobis pacem is the final phrase of the Agnus Dei which
itself is the concluding section of the Latin Mass. These words have been set many times
by many composers (Bach's B Minor Mass is probably one of the first to spring to mind),
but Vaughan Williams does not use them as the close of the Mass: they form the frame
of this choral work. A solo soprano both opens and closes the piece with her plea for
peace (in translation, Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world grant us peace), a
lone voice in the stillness begging on behalf of humanity. Within this frame come words
from a variety of sources: the poems of Walt Whitman, a speech by John Bright and a
number of Biblical quotations, mainly from the psalms and the prophets.
Vaughan Williams had long been drawn to Walt Whitman's poetry, which he had used
some thirty years earlier in A Sea Symphony. Both had experienced the horrors of war.
Whitman had not fought in the American Civil War nor seen fighting at first hand,
although his two brothers had. However, when he set off to look for his injured brother
and care for him, he was so shocked by the grotesque scenes of wounded men in a
makeshift field hospital that the rest of the war found him caring for and befriending
wounded soldiers, so often far from home and abandoned. Out of this experience came
the poems Drum Taps, which found a kindred spirit in Vaughan Williams, who although
forty-two years of age at the outbreak of the Great War volunteered and served with
the Army Medical Corps. He too came face to face with the ghastliness of warfare,
when he had to evacuate the wounded and sick from the trenches in northern France.
The cantata Dona Nobis Pacem is set for chorus, large orchestra and soprano and
baritone soloists, and is divided into six sections. The soprano's opening plea for peace,
which opens so softly and is echoed by the chorus gradually becomes more urgent
before fading away before the brutal reality of war as depicted in the second section
which interrupts the pleading. A suggestion of a bugle call, and then the chorus enters
with Whitman's violent apostrophe: Beat! Beat! Drums! This whole movement is a
depiction of the ruthless impersonal destruction of mechanised modern warfare. It
seems like a nightmare in which not only soldiers but civilians are caught up.
Next follows the section Reconciliation, a gentler, more reflective passage, suggesting that
one day war will be over, leaving not just a “soiled world” but compassion for the enemy
too. The Dirge for Two Veterans starts with the rhythmic slow march of a moonlit funeral
procession, which leads into Whitman's poignant description of a father and son being
carried to their “new-made double grave”. Although the military music rises to a
fortissimo as the cortege passes, the mood changes to one of quiet grief and tenderness.
In Section 5 Vaughan Williams turns to an unusual source for his text, the Victorian
Liberal politician and reformer John Bright. The words are stern in tone and directly
refer to the passage in Exodus Chapter 12, (which would be well-known to his biblically
schooled listeners) where the children of Israel are told to mark their lintels so that their
children will be spared when the Angel of Death passes over the houses to strike down
the first-born of Egypt. Bright was speaking in the House of Commons in a debate on
the Crimean War, and warning that, far from being spared, the first-born (and of course
others) would very likely be slaughtered. This passage leads directly to Jeremiah Chapter
8, which directly reinforces Bright's message warning of the horrors of war, and the
chorus ends with another plea for peace.
The final section leads on without a pause, and Vaughan Williams leaves the horrors of
war behind as he assembles a variety of biblical quotations. Although he never professed
Christian belief, he nevertheless drew inspiration from much of the Bible, from hymns
and from the liturgy. Certain texts held meaning and poetry for him, and here he has
chosen those expressing a hope for peace and for nations to live together in harmony.
The mood has changed, and the rhythmic swing carries the music forward, with at times
the ambiguity of a 4/4 pulse going against a suggested 3/4. The final Glory to God in the
Highest is reminiscent of his Fantasia on Christmas Carols of 1912 with its ebullient folksy
tune and its optimism, yet as the movement slows and stills the solo soprano returns,
with more than a hint that this may be a dream of what is to come rather than the
reality.
Jennifer Day
Text
I.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world,
grant us peace
II. (Walt Whitman)
Beat! beat! drums! – blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows – through the doors – burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,
Into the school where the scholar is studying;
Leave not the bridegroom quiet – no happiness must he have now with his bride,
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field, or gathering in his grain,
So fierce you whirr and pound you drums – so shrill you bugles blow.
III. Reconciliation (Walt Whitman)
Word over all, beautiful as the sky,
Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost,
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly, softly,
wash again and ever again this soiled world;
For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead,
I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin – I draw near,
Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.
IV. Dirge for Two Veterans (Walt Whitman)
The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finished Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is
looking
Down a new-made double grave.
Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o’er the pavement quite has
faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.
Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom
moon,
Immense and silent moon.
In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumined,
’Tis some mother’s large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.
I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-keyed
bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they’re
flooding
As with voices and with tears.
I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great convulsive drums
Strikes me through and through.
O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you
soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to
burial!
What I have I also give you.
The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.
For the son is brought with the father,
In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they
fell,
Two veterans, son and father, dropped
together,
And the double grave awaits them.
V. (John Bright)
The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his
wings. There is no one as of old ... to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our
doors, that he may spare and pass on.
Dona nobis pacem.
(Jeremiah 8:15-22)
We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the
neighing
of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land ... and those that dwell therein
...
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved ...
Is there no balm in Gilead?; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter
of my people recovered?
VI. (Daniel 10:19)
O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.
(Haggai 2:9)
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former ... and in this place will I give
peace.
(Adapted from Micah 4:3, Leviticus 26:6, Psalms 85:10 and 118:19, Isaiah 43:9 and 56:18-22, Luke
2:14)
Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
And none shall make them afraid, neither shall the sword go through their land.
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go into them.
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled;
and let them hear and say, it is the truth.
And it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues.
And they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them,
and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,
so shall your seed and your name remain for ever.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.
Dona nobis pacem.
JOAN RODGERS
Soprano
Internationally renowned, Joan Rodgers is equally established
in opera, concert, and as a recitalist. She has appeared in
concert with conductors including Solti, Barenboim, Mehta,
Harnoncourt, Mackerras, Ashkenazy, Salonen and Rattle and
is a regular guest at the BBC Proms. Operatic engagements
have included engagements at the Royal Opera House, English
National Opera, Opera North and Glyndebourne in Britain,
Paris, Munich, Brussels, Amsterdam and Vienna in Europe, and
the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Joan Rodgers has also
appeared in recital throughout Europe and the USA including
London, Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Moscow and New York.
Joan Rodgers’ recordings include Mozart’s da Ponte trilogy with Daniel Barenboim and the
Berlin Philharmonic, The Turn of the Screw (Virgin), solo discs of Tchaikovsky, Mozart and
Wolf (Hyperion), The Creation (Philips), Rachmaninov songs with Howard Shelley (Chandos)
and Shostakovich Seven Romances on Verses by Alexander Blok with the Beaux Arts Trio
(Warner Classics) and most recently a recording of songs by Prokofiev, Mussorgsky,
Shostakovich and Britten (Hyperion).
Recent and forthcoming engagements include the world première of Xavier Dayer’s Mémoires
d'une jeune fille triste in Geneva, Gianni Schicchi with Richard Jones and Antonio Pappano, and
also Adès’ Powder her Face at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Saariaho’s L’amour de loin
for English National Opera and a recital at the Edinburgh International Festival as well as
numerous other concerts and recitals in England, Europe and Australia.
Joan Rodgers received the Royal Philharmonic Society award as Singer of the Year for 1997,
the 1997 Evening Standard Award for outstanding performance in opera for her performance
as The Governess in the Royal Opera's production of The Turn of the Screw and an Honorary
Doctorate of Music from Liverpool University in July 2005. Joan Rodgers was awarded the
CBE in the 2001 New Year’s Honours List.
RODERICK WILLIAMS
Baritone
Roderick Williams encompasses a wide repertoire, from
baroque to contemporary music, in the opera house, on the
concert platform and in recital.
He has enjoyed close relationships with Opera North and
Scottish Opera, and is particularly associated with the baritone
roles of Mozart. In autumn 2007 he gave highly acclaimed
performances of Papageno in The Magic Flute for English
National Opera which he successfully reprised in 2009 and in
2008 sang in La bohème at Covent Garden. He has also sung
world premieres of operas by, among others, David Sawer,
Sally Beamish, Michael van der Aa and Alexander Knaifel.
He has worked with orchestras throughout Europe, including all the BBC orchestras in the
UK, and his many festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and
Aldeburgh.
His recital appearances have taken him to London’s Wigmore Hall and many European
festivals. He has an extensive discography and his recordings of English song with Iain
Burnside have received particular acclaim.
Future engagements include Olivier in Capriccio for Grange Park Opera, the Count in Le nozze
di Figaro for Scottish Opera, Ned Keene in Peter Grimes for ROH and Pollux in Rameau’s
Castor and Pollux for English National Opera, as well as concerts with Le Concert Spirituel,
Manchester Camerata, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra, The Sixteen, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Rias Kammerchor and
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra.
He is also a composer and has had works premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the
Purcell Room and live on national radio.
TIMOTHY REDMOND
Conductor
Timothy Redmond has been principal conductor of the
Cambridge Philharmonic since 2006. He conducts concerts
with many of the UK's leading orchestras, including the
London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Ulster and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras,
Northern Sinfonia and the Orchestra of Opera North.
His 2009/10 season includes the world premiere of Peter
Ash and Donald Sturrock’s The Golden Ticket with Opera
Theatre St Louis, concerts in Finland with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra and Slovenia with
the Maribor Symphony Orchestra as well as regular appearances in this country with the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Manchester Camerata. He returns to the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden for the revival of Thomas Adès' Powder Her Face and releases three
new recordings with the Philharmonia, RPO and Northern Sinfonia.
Recently he made his debut at St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, conducting the Russian
premiere of Powder Her Face, and was immediately invited back to conduct at Gergiev’s Stars
of the White Nights festival. Other recent operatic engagements include Kurt Weill's Der
Silbersee in Wexford, Richard Ayres' The Cricket Recovers in Bregenz and the world premiere
of Raymond Yiu’s The Original Chinese Conjuror for Almeida Opera and the Aldeburgh Festival.
He has also conducted opera for Opera North, English Touring Opera, Tenerife Opera,
Glyndebourne, Strasbourg and in New York.
Engagements in 2010/11 include concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, Hallé and
Sinfonia Viva, his debut with Italy’s Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, and returns to Finland,
Slovenia and Wexford.
STEVE BINGHAM
Leader
Steve Bingham studied violin with Emmanuel Hurwitz, Sidney
Griller and the Amadeus Quartet at the Royal Academy of
Music from 1981 to 1985, where he won prizes for orchestral
leading and string quartet playing. In 1985 he formed the
Bingham String Quartet, an ensemble which has become one
of the foremost in the UK, with an enviable reputation for
both classical and contemporary repertoire. The Quartet has
recorded numerous CDs and has worked for radio and
television both in the UK and as far afield as Australia. The
Quartet has worked with distinguished musicians such as Jack Brymer, Raphael Wallfisch,
Michael Collins and David Campbell.
Steve has appeared as guest leader with many orchestras including the BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English National Ballet and English
Sinfonia. He has given solo recitals both in the UK and America and his concerto
performances include works by Bach, Vivaldi, Bruch, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn and Sibelius,
given in venues as prestigious as St John’s, Smith Square and the Royal Albert Hall. Steve is
also Artistic Director of Ely Sinfonia.
In recent years Steve has developed his interest in improvisation, electronics and World
music, collaborating with several notable musicians including guitarist Jason Carter and players
such as Sanju Vishnu Sahai (tabla), Baluji Shivastrav (sitar) and Abdullah Ibrahim (piano).
Steve’s debut solo CD Duplicity was released in November 2005, and has been played on
several radio stations including BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. The Independent gave it a 4-star
review. Steve released his second solo CD, Ascension, in November 2008. You can find out
more about Steve on his web site at www.stevebingham.co.uk.
.
LEO TOMITA
Chorus Master
Leo Tomita was Organ Scholar at Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, where in addition to conducting and running the
choir and playing the organ for services, he conducted the
college orchestra. He is now a counter-tenor Lay Clerk at St
John’s College, Cambridge, where he sings in the choir in
their daily services (including weekly webcast services), Radio
3 broadcasts, concerts and tours.
Leo is Assistant Conductor of the Cambridge University Chamber Choir, and will be touring
North Germany in July with them. Leo has been Assistant Conductor for several operas
including a Yorke Trust production of Rameau’s Castor et Pollux and a Cambridge Festival
production of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde.
In September, Leo begins studying for an MA in vocal studies at the Royal Academy of
Music, and has been awarded a Postgraduate Performance Award administered by the
Musicians Benevolent Fund.
Orchestra
First Violins
Steve Bingham (leader)
Kate Clow (co-leader)
Graham Bush
Ros Chalmers
Naomi Hilton
Merial Rhodes
John Richards
Sarah Ridley
Nichola Roe
Gerry Wimpenny
Cellos
Vivian Williams
Sarah Bendall
Angela Bennett
Helen Davies
Melissa Fu
Clare Gilmour
Helen Hills
Katharine Mitchell
Lucy O’Brien
Amy Shipley
Second Violins
Emma Lawrence
Jenny Barna
Joanna Baxter
Vincent Bourret
Rebecca Forster
Ariane Stoop
Anne McCleer
Edna Murphy
Katrin Ottersbach
Theresa Traynor
Double Bass
Sarah Sharrock
Stephen Beaumont
Joel Humann
Susan Sparrow
Violas
Ruth Donnelly
Dominic de Cogan
Alex Cook
Jeremy Harmer
Robert Heap
Jo Holland
Maureen Magnay
Emma McCaughan
Janet O’Boyle
Flute
Alison Townend
Jonathan Slade
Lyn Welland
Bassoon
Kim Jenkins
Simon Bond
Kirsty Mc Arthur
Horn
Carole Lewis
Martin Childs
Laurie Friday
Steven Orriss
Trumpet
Andy Powlson
Mike Ball
Naomi Wrycroft
Trombones
Denise Hayles
Sarah Minchin
Tuba
Christopher Lawrence
Piccolo
Lyn Welland
Timps
Derek Scurll
Oboe
Jenny Sewell
Rachel Dunlop
Percussion
Zoe-Laura Bridel
James Shires
Ben Winstanley
Cor Anglais
Rosalind Bubb
Clarinet
Graham Dolby
Sarah Whitworth
Harp
Lizzie Scorah
Organ
Oliver Hancock
Chorus
First Soprano
Jeanine Billinghurst
Erica Bowler
Sal Farquharson
Hannah McCluskey
Ros Mitchell
Ruth Pegington
Caroline Potter
Amanda Price
Mary Richards
Anne Sales
Pat Satori
Paddy Smith
Ruth Tricker
Alison Vinnicombe
Liz Werrell
Rebecca Wood
Second Soprano
Cathy Ashbee
Eleanor Bell
Susannah Cameron
Joanne Clark
Jennifer Day
Susan Earnshaw
Christine Halstead
Maggie Hook
Caroline Jestaz
Diana Lindsey
Ursula Lyons
Binnie Macellari
Valerie Mahy
Liz Popescu
Ann Read
Caroline Sivasundaram
Pip Smith
Clara Todd
First Alto
Nicola Bown
Margaret Cook
Caroline Courtney
Alison Dudbridge
Jane Grey
Ruth Jordan
Janet Littlewood
Marie Lynn
Julia Napier
Alice Parr
Caroline Shepherd
Sarah Upjohn
Helen Wheatley
Margaret Wilson
Second Alto
Elisabeth Crowe
Alison Deary
Tabitha Driver
Jane Fenton
Jane Fleming
Hilary Jackson
Kimmei Leung
Sue Purseglove
Gill Rogers
Chris Strachan
Amanda Van de Poel
Tenor
Aidan Baker
Jeremy Baumberg
Colin Dewar
Geoff Forster
Ian MacMillan
Alistair Morfey
David Reed
Martin Scutt
Artha Sessions
Michael Short
Bruce Tate
Margaret Thwaites
Graham Wickens
Bass
Richard Birkett
Magnus Borgh
Neil Caplan
Chris Coffin
Brian Dawson
Dan Ellis
Chris Fisher
Lewis Jones
Patrick Hall
Martin Pennell
Harrison Sherwood
Herve Van de Poel
Mike Warren
David White
Patrick Woodburn
Cambridge Philharmonic Society
2010 – 2011 Season Programme
6 November 2010 West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Details to be confirmed
4 December 2010 West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Details to be confirmed
29 January 2011 West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Details to be confirmed
26 March 2011 King’ College Chapel, Cambridge
Verdi: Requiem
Joint Choral Concert with the Amersfoort Choral Society
3 April 2011 Concertgebouw, Amersfoort
Verdi: Requiem
Joint Choral Concert with the Amersfoort Choral Society
9 July 2011 Ely Cathedral
Details to be confirmed
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