The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is delighted to bring you its latest news,

including highlights of recent tours and education projects, as well as details of its

BRAND NEW series of ‘own-promotion’ concerts during 2015, for which friends

save 50% on tickets. We look forward to seeing you at an RPO concert soon!W

More music for less!

The RPO is proud to present its exciting new series within the awe-inspiring surroundings of the

Royal Albert Hall, featuring classic film scores, triumphant masterpieces, hit Broadway and

West End numbers and much more. Don’t miss a special tribute to the memorable songs from

West Side Story in Best of Broadway, excerpts from the unforgettable ballets Swan Lake and

The Nutcracker in Tchaikovsky Gala, a tribute to The Beatles’ No.1 hits in Symphonic Rock and

a tribute to the futuristic scores of sci-fi blockbusters in Film Music Gala. Please see the

enclosed flyers for full details. Tickets are £62–£19 (before discounts and inclusive of booking

fees). To book, please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends or phone the RPO office.

Royal Albert Hall – Spring 2015

elcome

ROYAL

PHILHARMONIC

ORCHESTRA

RPO friends’ newsletter – September 2014

- Half-price tickets to RPO ‘own-promotion’ concerts in London (up to two tickets per concert)

- Priority ticket allocation and dedicated booking line

- FREE passes to RPO ‘own-promotion’ rehearsals in London (two per rehearsal; please contact us to book)

- 10% off house wine and the tea/coffee & cake deal at Cadogan Hall (please show your friends’ card at the bar)

- Discounted CDs

RPO friends’ benefits – at a glance!

The RPO looks forward to returning to the elegant and intimate Cadogan Hall next spring for an outstanding

series of concerts, featuring world-class artists and composers. Look out for our brand new brochure, which will

be sent to you later this autumn. In the meantime, let us whet your appetite with these forthcoming highlights!

BRAND NEW concerts at Cadogan Hall

Valentine’s Classics – Friday 13th February 2015, 7.30pm

Principal Associate Conductor Grzegorz Nowak (pictured) conducts Mendelssohn’s much-loved

Violin Concerto in E minor, featuring the talented soloist Robert Davidovici, as well as other

passionate classics, including excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Bizet’s Carmen.

Beethoven’s Finest – Tuesday 31st March 2015, 7.30pm

Josep Caballé Domenech conducts Beethoven’s turbulent Symphony No.2, his extraordinary

Piano Concerto No.1 – performed by firm-favourite soloist Freddy Kempf (pictured) – and his

sparkling Symphony No.4.

Russian Masterworks – Tuesday 28th April 2015, 7.30pm

Garry Walker conducts Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, Shostakovich’s Piano

Concerto No.2 – featuring one of the UK’s finest pianists Martin Roscoe (pictured) – and

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6, ‘Pathétique’. Tickets are £40–£15 (before discounts). For more

information about this upcoming series or to book, please phone the RPO office.

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends, phone 020 7608 8855 (M–F, 10–6) or email friends@rpo.co.uk.

What inspired you to become

involved with music?

My father was a music master in a

grammar school and my mother

was an amateur violinist. It was

normal for me to hear classical

music all the time and my parents

encouraged me to take up the

violin.

What is the best thing about

being a member of the RPO?

There are many great things, such

as enormous variety in the kind of

work we do, touring fascinating

places with such artists as Charles

Dutoit and Pinchas Zukerman,

and also a special team spirit.

If you were to play a different

instrument, which would it be?

I can’t really imagine playing an

instrument other than the violin,

but the horns do sometimes get

the most amazing melodies!

What are your future ambitions?

At this stage in my career, they

would be simply to continue

improving on the standards that

have got me this far.

What was the first recording you

ever bought and when was it?

Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto.

I was aged 10!

What do you listen to in your

spare time?

You can’t beat great orchestras

playing great repertoire led by

great conductors. Very uplifting.

Player ProfileDuncan

Riddell

RPO Leader Due to the overwhelming popularity of its

Christmas shows, the RPO proudly presents a

BRAND NEW festive concert: Swinging Sixties

at Christmas at Cadogan Hall on Wednesday

17th December 2014 at 7.30pm.

Richard Balcombe conducts chart-topping 60s songs and your favourite

Christmas jingles, with hits from classic stars of the decade, including

Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, The Mamas and the Papas,

The Beach Boys and The Walker Brothers, and featuring guest vocalists

Mary Carewe, Alison Jiear, Emma Kershaw and Graham Bickley!

Please see the enclosed flyer for full details. Tickets are £48–£18 (before

discounts). To book, please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends or phone the

RPO office. Remember that on presentation of your valid RPO friends’

membership card, you can also book in person at Cadogan Hall and

obtain 50% off your tickets.

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends, phone 020 7608 8855 (M–F, 10–6) or email friends@rpo.co.uk.

The RPO at Christmas!

Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s CastleArtistic Director and Principal Conductor

Charles Dutoit (pictured) is joined by a host of

outstanding soloists on Tuesday 27th January

2015 at 7.30pm for one of the highlights of the

Orchestra’s 2014–2015 series at Southbank

Centre’s Royal Festival Hall: a concert

performance of Bartók’s operatic masterpiece Duke Bluebeard’s Castle,

alongside Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.2, as interpreted by the inimitable

Marc-André Hamelin. Tickets are £58–£10 (before discounts). For more

information about this concert and others in this delectable series or to

book, please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends or phone the RPO office.

Swinging Sixties at Christmas

Although both concerts are practically

sold-out, we do still have a priority allocation

of tickets available to RPO friends for John

Rutter’s Christmas Celebration on Thursday

11th December 2014 (3pm & 7.30pm) at the

Royal Albert Hall, as well as limited availability

for Christmas Cracker on Saturday 20th

December 2014 (3pm & 7.30pm) at Cadogan

Hall. Tickets range from £62–£18 (before

discounts). Please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends

to book or phone the RPO office.

Christmas Tickets Still Available for Friends!

This summer, the RPO office was

very sorry to say goodbye to:

Caterina Osman (Musicians’

Payroll Officer), who worked with

us for over 10 years and left to

pursue new goals; Alec Haylor

(Community & Education

Co-ordinator, who worked with

RPO resound since 2010) and

Alice Rumsey (Regional

Marketing Co-ordinator), who

both left to train to become

secondary school music teachers;

Hannah Taylor (Community &

Education Officer), who worked

with RPO resound since 2011 and

left to work at London Music

Masters; and Veronica Jackson

(Marketing Volunteer), who now

works for the Royal Academy of

Dance. At the end of this month,

we say farewell to Emily Carewe-

Jeffries (Special Projects Assistant

– maternity cover), who leaves to

focus on the performance side of

her career. We wish them all the

very best for their futures!

This autumn, we warmly

welcome: Kevin Hollands as

Musicians’ Payroll Officer, who

joins us from the LSO; two

Community & Education

Co-ordinators: Lisa Rodio, who

joins us from the Young Film

Academy, and Sophie Plumb,

who joins us from Soundhub

Music Education; Rosalie Carter

as Regional Marketing

Co-ordinator, who joins us from

G Live, Guildford; and also

John Bowker as Marketing

Volunteer, who studied

Musicology at Oxford University.

Lisa Rodio (Community and Education Co-ordinator) updates us with all

the latest news from RPO resound, the Orchestra’s community and

education department:

“This summer has been a busy and exciting

time for RPO resound! During June and July,

our innovative year-long programme with

Westminster Music Library, Behind the Lines

(pictured), continued to deliver World War I

themed workshops in local primary schools, as

well as offering community workshops for adults and families.

“During August, the Behind the Lines programme culminated in RPO

resound’s four-day summer school (pictured), which included an

intergenerational group of musicians, vocalists

and RPO professionals who researched music

written by composers who lived and/or died

during the Great War or who were influenced

by it. These participants then created their

own piece of music, depicting a day in the life

on the front lines and performed its premiere

at St John’s Smith Square to an audience of family and friends and to

important members of the Westminster community.

“Also during August, RPO resound continued

its 10-year partnership with the London

Borough of Newham with a creative project

featuring young musicians from the borough’s

Every Child a Musician (ECaM) programme

(pictured). Participants of this programme

worked with RPO musicians over four days to

devise their own piece based on Elgar’s Enigma Variations, which they

then performed alongside the full RPO at the borough’s annual Under

the Stars Festival.”

If you would like to find out any further information about RPO resound,

including how you can offer your support, please contact Ruth Currie

(Head of Community and Education) on 020 7608 8800.

News & Moves:

RPO Office

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends, phone 020 7608 8855 (M–F, 10–6) or email friends@rpo.co.uk.

RPO resound

The Orchestra is delighted to welcome Michelle Bruil as No.4 Viola and

Shana Douglas as No.5 First Violin. It also looks forward to welcoming

Chris West as No.2 Double Bass in December. A very sad goodbye to

Tom Watmough (Co-Principal Clarinet) who left this month, after

having been with the RPO since 2006, to join the London Philharmonic.

News & Moves: RPO Players

We hope that you have enjoyed this edition of fortissimo and we hope to see you at an RPO concert soon.

We’d like to remind you that booking online for RPO concerts using your 50% discount is easy and safe at

www.rpo.co.uk/friends. If you haven’t yet had your membership number set up for you on the backend

of our website in order for you to receive the discount, please let us know and we will do this for you.

With best wishes,

Jo Thomson (Friends’ & Groups’ Manager) and the rest of the RPO marketing team!

Chris Evans Rosalie Carter Natasha Allery John Bowker Doran Crowhurst

Director of Press &

Marketing

Regional Marketing

Co-ordinatorMarketing Assistant Marketing Volunteer Programme Editor

Rosi Callery (Tours and Special Projects Assistant) brings us the recent highlights:

“The RPO enjoyed multiple summer touring highlights this year, performing in France,

Germany, Mexico and China. The Orchestra hadn’t visited Mexico in over five years,

so it was particularly exciting to perform in the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City,

with Principal Guest Conductor Maestro Pinchas Zukerman. Across two concerts, the

RPO performed (amongst other works) Beethoven’s Symphonies No.3 & 7 and his

Violin Concerto. The Orchestra was also lucky enough to perform an unstaged version

of La bohème in Paris with some exceptional soloists, which went down brilliantly.

“Since then, the RPO toured to China with a programme of film music, starting up in Harbin

(which is almost in Russia) before moving down to Tianjin, near Beijing (pictured). The final

tour of the summer included an outdoor concert in Potsdam, Germany, in the beautiful

setting of Sanssouci Park (pictured right, featuring RPO player Fraser Gordon’s

contrabassoon!). Coming up this autumn, the Orchestra, conducted by Charles Dutoit, looks

forward to concerts in Montreux, followed by a tour to Switzerland, Austria and Italy.”

RPO friends save 50% on tickets. Visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends, phone 020 7608 8855 (M–F, 10–6) or email friends@rpo.co.uk.

In the RPO’s latest CD release, Grzegorz Nowak conducts masterful works by the great

Modest Mussorgsky, including Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on the Bare Mountain.

£8 for RPO friends (R.R.P. £10). To order, please call 020 7608 8837. A full list of RPO CDs can

be found online at www.rpo.co.uk/shop.

RPO on Tour

Grzegorz Nowak conducts Mussorgsky

During the start of its 2014–2015 concert season, which begins this autumn, the

Orchestra looks forward to returning to the monumental Royal Albert Hall on Sunday

19th October 2014 at 3pm to perform an afternoon of classical favourites from the

Romantic era. Featuring Rossini’s lively William Tell Overture, Rachmaninov’s

passionate Piano Concerto No.2, performed by the talented Natasha Paremski

(pictured), and Dvořák’s rousing ‘New World’ Symphony – this splendid matinee

concert is one not to be missed! Tickets are £49–£12 (before discounts and inclusive

of booking fees). To book, please visit www.rpo.co.uk/friends or phone the RPO office.

The Great Classics 2014