Beethoven 1807
Saturday, 26 September; 7.30pm
Beethoven: Choral Fantasy
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 (Appassionata)
Beethoven: Mass in C
Piano soloist: Martin Roscoe
Vocal soloists: Kate Symonds-Joy (mezzo-soprano); Robert Anthony Gardiner (tenor); Andrew Greenan (bass)
Hexham Abbey Festival Chorus & Orchestra
Conductor: David Murray
1807! With all Europe at war and his home city of Vienna occupied by Napoleon’s army, Beethoven was at the peak of his power. The music he was writing at this time was heroic, defiant and, despite all the reasons he might have had for feeling despondent, festive. Both the Mass in C and the Choral Fantasy were premiered in the same epic concert that included the premieres of his 5th and 6th Symphonies. The Mass in C has been singled out by experts for its directness and powerful emotion and ends with music described by Beethoven’s contemporary critic, E.T.A Hoffman, as:
“… dissolves, like a sorrow from another world, to unearthly delight.”
Distinguished pianist Martin Roscoe performs in the Choral Fantasy and as soloist in Appassionata.
£25 adults / £5 aged 21 and under (reserved)
Concert takes place in the Nave and lasts approx 120 minutes, including interval – remember to bring your cushion!
Sponsored by: Parmley Graham Ltd.
The Soloists
Kate Symonds-Joy graduated with a First-Class music degree from Cambridge University and a DipRAM from the Royal Academy Opera Course.
Concert highlights include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Sydney Opera House, Elgar’s Sea Pictures with Christopher Robinson and the RPO, Rutter’s Feel the Spirit at the Barbican and Mahler’s Symphony no.2 at Cadogan Hall. She performed Ravel’s Chansons Madecasses at the Purcell Room, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in York Minster, Handel’s Messiah with Bordeaux Opera and at Birmingham Symphony Hall, Mozart’s Requiem with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and Verdi’s Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall.
Kate has sung Berio’s Sequenza III and Berberian Stripsody for nonclassical, Berio Folksongs with the Psappha Ensemble and cycled to the most northerly inhabited part of the UK to sing Judith Weir’s King Harald’s Saga in the Shetland Islands’ Muckleflugga lighthouse. Kate also joined The Prison Choir Project to sing the role of Carmen with a chorus of inmates in Dartmoor and Wandsworth Prisons.
Kate sings regularly as a core member of Solomon’s Knot Baroque Collective, who are a Wigmore Hall Artist in Residence and have appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival, Leipzig Bachfest, and BBC Proms. Future projects this year include appearing with Solomon’s Knot in Bach’s B Minor Mass at Wigmore Hall and in the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, singing Bach Motets at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Handel’s Messiah at Birmingham Symphony Hall and closing the year with Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Switzerland’s incredible KKL Luzern.
Kate appears as soloist on Giles Swayne’s Stabat Mater (NAXOS), Strauss’ Deutsche Motette (Delphian), Villa Lobos’ Magnificat for Contraltino and Choir (Delphian), Bach’s B Minor Mass (Sir John Eliot Gardiner/SDG) and Michael’s Haydn’s Requiem (Gonville & Caius College/AAM). She has recorded several albums with Solomon’s Knot including JS and JC Bach Motets, the Bach Magnificat, Telemann’s Donner-Ode with Les Passions de l’Ame and Music by the long forgotten English composer George Jeffreys.
She teaches the choral scholars of both Gonville and Caius College, Schola Cantorum and Clare College, Cambridge.
British tenor Robert Anthony Gardiner was born and educated in Birmingham, where he received a cello music scholarship to study at King Edwards VI, in Edgbaston, and sang as a treble in St Philip’s Cathedral. After gaining a BSc Honours in astrophysics at Durham University and a Certificate of Education at Manchester University, he studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, Frankfurt Opera School and the National Opera Studio followed by the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme from 2008-10 and made his Royal Opera House debut as Egoldo Mathilde di Shabran.
Opera engagements include Eurimaco in Il Ritorno D’Ulisse for English Touring Opera, Don Ottavio for Diva Opera, a concert performance of Ywain Gawain with the BBC symphony Orchestra, Polidoro La Finta Semplice for Bampton Classical Opera, Lensky Onegin for Grange Park Opera, Siebel in Faust for Opera North/Tallinn Birgita Festival, Max Fantasio for Opera Rara, Belmonte in Die Entfürung aus dem Serail for Iford Festival, and Strážnik in Hubička by Smetana for Wexford Festival Opera.
Awards include Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize, Wexford Festival Rosenblatt Award, Peter Moores Foundation Scholarship, Gwilym Gwalchmai Jones Award, Mario Lanza Educational Award and Middlemore Educational Foundation Award.
Robert has given many solo recitals and has sung with choirs and choral societies all over the UK. Concert performances include Stravinsky’s Mavra with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo, Messiah in Gloucester Cathedral, St Matthew Passion with the Leicester Bach Choir, Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, and Britten’s Michelangelo Songs in Lugo.
The Anglo-French bass, Andrew Greenan was a Choral Scholar at St John’s College Cambridge where he also read Modern Languages. He then studied at Royal Northern College of Music with the great Australian baritone John Cameron. Whilst still a student he made his debut at La Scala Milan in Schoenberg’s Die Glückliche Hand and sang for three successive seasons in the Bayreuther Festspielchor.
His comprehensive concert repertoire ranges from Bach to Tippett and beyond. Highlights include Messiah (Huddersfield Choral Society) St Matthew Passion (RLPO), Mozart Requiem (Royal Festival Hall), Verdi Requiem (St Paul’s Cathedral), Elijah (Liverpool Cathedral) Creation (Singapore SO), Dream of Gerontius and Belshazzar’s Feast at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, and Mahler 8th Symphony at Bridgewater Hall, as well as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with NYOGB under Vasily Petrenko. Among other conductors, he has also appeared with Pappano, Elder, Gardner, Runnicles, Rizzi, Slatkin, Nelsons, de Waart, Rustioni, Karabits and Metzmacher.
His time as a Company Principal at English National Opera paved the way for a career which has taken him all over the world, notably to the Metropolitan Opera, New York (Heinrich Lohengrin), Royal Opera (Landgraf Tannhäuser) San Diego (Ochs Der Rosenkavalier), San Francisco (Die Meistersinger), Vienna Volksoper (Sarastro), Théâtre du Châtelet (Waldner Arabella) Prague National Theatre (title role Falstaff), Hamburgische Staatsoper (Swallow Peter Grimes), Turin (Bottom Midsummer Night’s Dream) Lithuanian National Opera (Ochs) Auckland (Rocco Fidelio), Hyogo International Festival (On The Town).
Recordings include The Nightingale, The Flood and Oedipus Rex in Robert Craft’s Stravinsky series with the Philharmonia, the Grammy Award winning set of Berlioz Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis and the LSO, and the central role of the Baron of Lindenberg in Edward Loder’s Victorian epic, Raymomd and Agnes, conducted by Richard Bonynge.
Andrew’s many interests include his vast CD collection, real ale, politics and cats; one of his more unlikely early career achievements saw him appearing in an episode of DR WHO which, due to a strike, was not aired at the time, but is now a collectors’ item on DVD.
In tandem with his ongoing performing commitments, he is a Guest Coach at RNCM, Trinity Laban Conservatoire and the National Opera Studio.
With an extraordinary career spanning over five decades, Martin Roscoe is unarguably one of the UK’s best loved pianists. Renowned for his versatility at the keyboard, Martin is equally at home in concerto, recital and chamber performances. His enduring popularity and the respect in which he is universally held are built on a deeply thoughtful musicianship and his easy rapport with audiences and fellow musicians alike. Martin is Artistic Director of Ribble Valley International Piano Week and the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society, and has recently stepped down as Co-Artistic Director of the Beverley Chamber Music Festival.
With a repertoire of over 100 concertos performed or recorded, Martin continues to work regularly with many of the UK’s leading orchestras, having especially close links with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Northern Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, where he has given over ninety performances. Other orchestral highlights have included BBC Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Martin also performs widely across Europe, Canada, Australia and the Far East, sharing the concert platform with eminent conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Gianandrea Noseda, and Christoph von Dohnányi.
A prolific recitalist and chamber musician, Martin tours the UK extensively every season, including regular appearances at Wigmore Hall, Kings Place and Bridgewater Hall. He has long-standing associations with Peter Donohoe, Kathryn Stott, and the Maggini Quartet, and worked closely with Tasmin Little and the Endellion String Quartet during their long and illustrious careers. Recent collaborations include with Jennifer Pike, Tai Murray, Fenella Humphreys, Liza Ferschtman and the Brodsky and Carducci Quartets. One of his most important ensembles, the Cropper Welsh Roscoe Trio (2005-2016), performed many times across the UK, most notably at Wigmore Hall. More recently, Martin formed the Roscoe Piano Trio with Fenella Humphreys and Jessica Burroughs for a celebratory concert in honour of Peter Cropper. The Trio has since gone on to perform across the UK, most notably at Bridgewater Hall.
Having made over 600 broadcasts, including seven BBC Prom appearances, Martin is one of the most regularly played pianists on BBC Radio 3. Martin has also made many commercial recordings for labels such as Hyperion, Chandos and Naxos. He has recorded the complete piano music of Dohnányi ,Nielsen and Szymanowski, as well as four discs in the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series. For the Deux-Elles label, Martin has recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, for which he received unanimous critical acclaim.
Teaching has always formed an important part of Martin’s life and the development of young talent helps him to constantly re-examine and re-evaluate his own playing. He is currently Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London and has been awarded his Fellowship there.
Martin splits his free time between the stunning English Lake District and the Scottish Highlands, which provide inspiration and relaxation, and also enable him to indulge his passion for the countryside and hill-walking.