The Moon Hares

SONGS OF TRAVEL

Welcome to our 2022 / 23 season, Songs of Travel. It is the final instalment of our ‘Six Chapters of Enlightenment’ series here at the Southbank Centre.

The idea of a journey excites us all. Whether it is a new adventure or one we have made dozens of times before. Travel and the idea of leaving home left a deep impression on the British and European mindset in the 17th and 18th centuries. And, of course, it is one of the great literary metaphors with the promise of discovering something about ourselves on the way to our destination.

The 18th century was a whirlwind of correspondences. International navigation was leaping forward with Captain James Cook’s maritime expeditions whilst newspapers, novels and engravings were distributing ideas and images in a manner previously unparalleled. As a result, the intellectual aspiration of the common man gained a wholly new stride. One which would reach beyond the bounds of the immediate and conventional into new realms of existence: far off lands, radical political thought, belief beyond convention and transports of the artistic soul which would make the desperate leap into the passions and turmoil of romanticism. The song of travel eventually becomes the realisation of self as hero in the flight from non-social space to the strange and wonderful of the 19th century: exoticism, opiate dreams, mesmerism, madness and the supernatural.

The music we’ve selected for the season reflects journeys that are physical and of the mind. It is the work of creative thinkers that were able to imagine unknown places through the descriptions of others, to put the fantastical to use to satirise the contemporary, to reimagine the past in new ways, to explore our individual freedom, our sense of collective belonging, and the need to travel to find their own place in the world, a journey many of us still make today.

Thank you for joining us today and supporting not just the OAE but live performance by the whole cultural community. Music by its very existence is about community and shared journeys, an adventure that looks beyond that which divides us to seek joy in common belief.

Introduction

This amazing work is all about realising full potential. It was premiered in the Empire Theatre in Consett as a key element of the OAE’s educational residency in County Durham. Consett is a place known to many for the devastating impact of the collapse of the British coal and steel industry in 1980. It was a great thing to see a new work spring up in that community where so many jobs were lost and such hardship was endured. It brought new opportunity and excitement to local children and their families. The piece itself is all about the freedom of self-realisation where the bonds of fear and repression are broken and new life can begin. It’s an amazing and unique work where the story of hope for the possible and better is not just the on-stage narrative but the fantastic adventure for all those involved in its production.

To bring this work to the OAE’s season at the Southbank Centre is really important to us all. It celebrates our long standing relationship with Camden Music and our new residency at Acland Burghley School. Our community choir welcomes adult singers from our nationwide projects, staff from across Camden schools and members of the Belsize Community Choir. I do hope you enjoy this magical event!

This concert would not have been possible without the generous support of those trusts, foundations and individual donors who enable us to deliver our ambitious education programme across the country

The Moon Hares

Wednesday 2 November 2022

7.00pm at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall

Prologue

Scene I

The Village Awakes Symphony Eight Hours Yes Mister Mayor

Scene II

The First Day of School Second Music Good Morning I The Sky at Night Safe In Daylight Class Dismissed

Scene III

The Wise Old Man and the Book Wonders of the Night The Book No stars shall hurt you Scene IV

The Night Time Two in One Mysterious Night I Hare Dance Sunrise Scene V The Key Good Morning II

There is something she is hiding The Book! The Key! Light of the Moon Thus Nature Rejoicing Whoever You Are (Beware!) The Chase

Scene VI

The Village Square What shall I do?

Someone broke the rules We will find the offender The Magic of the Village March to the Stocks

Scene VII

The Children Rescue the Teacher Mysterious Night II Gnawing Hares Scene VIII The Sunrise Why? Your mother

The wilderness isn’t always kind Eight Hours Thus Nature Rejoicing Finale

Original music by James Redwood with extracts from Henry Purcell’s Dioclesian Story and libretto by Hazel Gould

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Conductors

Robert Howarth

Yshani Perinpanayagam James Redwood

The Cast Kirsty Hopkins

The Teacher (soprano) Charmian Bedford The Mayor’s Daughter (soprano)

Timothy Dickinson The Mayor (bass baritone) Robert Gildon The Wise Old Man (bass)

The Children of the Village with pupils from Christ Church NW1, Gospel Oak and Netley Primary schools

The Adults of the Village

Sopranos

Karen Barnett

Eilieen Brown

Jenni Harper (OAE) Marina Lakusheva

Susie Mitchell

Shanti Rebello

Dominique Serre

Jacky Smith

Jenny Williams

Altos

Lisa Brian Ginny Cuncliffe Lucy Goddard (OAE) Helen Green Caroline Norman Becky Palmer

Tessa Osborne

Jennifer Pemberton Anna Rimington Vicky Stevens Kate Wareham Judith Williams

Tenors Kirk Alexander Roger Hawkins Martin Morrell Claire Parker Sidharth Prabhu-Naik (OAE) Jean Pierre Maurandy Athanasioso Sachpazidis

Bass Ezra Burke Neil Day David Fowler Johannes Guelich Simon Hickey Bob Humphrys Graham Sykes Stuart Young (OAE)

Creative Team

Ben Connellan sound engineer

Hazel Gould director

Brett Kasza lighting designer

Ruth Paton stage designer

Project Management

Cathy Boyes

Cherry Forbes Andrew Thomson

Violins I

Huw Daniel Joanna Lawrence Claire Holden

Julia Kuhn

Violins II

Henrietta Wayne Dominika Fehér Sophie Simpson Alice Poppleton

Violas Marina Ascherson Katie Heller Annette Isserlis

Cellos Ruth Alford Carina Drury Jacob Garside Basses Cecelia Bruggemeyer John-Henry Baker

Oboes Leo Duarte Sarah Humphrys Taille Cherry Forbes Bassoon Zoe Shevlin

Trumpets

Adrian Woodward William Russell

Timpani/Percussion William Edwards

On stage band OAE Players

Nicola Barbagli – Accordion Tom Highnam – Percussion Katherine Spencer – Clarinet

On stage band

Acland Burghley students

Hal Aldrick

Jamie Cylne Sidney Crossing Matthea Cummings William Fawcett Ophelia Hargreaves Jaheem James Colin Keppeler Ilai McDonald Betsabe Norman Alice O’Connor Riley Silver Milo Tebbs

Brooklyn White Tell

On stage dancers

Acland Burghley students

Jad Bali

Michael Cheetham Dylan Duharty Oscar Fichelson Justin Howell Tom Lutman Axel D’Antin Marchais Mateen McDonald Sylvan Parkes George Parkinson Zed Sayers

With grateful thanks to all the staff who have helped in the workshops and preparation for this event

Claire Parker – Netley Primary School

Ashley Miller, Emily Jeffries and Emma Beck – Gospel Oak Primary school

Oliver Keen – Christ Church Primary school

Sheena Masson – Camden Music

Anna Rimington, Trevor Graham, Jordan Williams and Sean Osinlaru – Acland Burghley

Thank you to ENO Engage for lending us additional props for this evening’s performance.

Synopsis

The village is a place of rules and regulations. At night the villagers are under strict curfew and the streets are patrolled by fierce dogs and guards who wear visors to protect their eyes from the moon. The Mayor fiercely upholds the curfew in order to keep the villagers safe.

When a new teacher arrives in town, she is surprised to find out that the Children have never seen the moon as they are forbidden from going out at night. With the help of her landlord, she discovers that the village is filled with ancient enchantment so that when a person sees the moon they are magically transformed into a hare and remain that way until the sun rises in the morning. Once the Children find out, it’s only a matter of time until controversy spreads through the village and the people must decide between their safety and their freedom.

Our Journey

We pitched The Moon Hares to the Arts Council back in 2018 and were delighted to receive a substantial strategic touring grant to take the work to County Durham, Norfolk, Suffolk and Plymouth during 2020 – 21: all places were where the OAE has a longstanding educational partnership so a natural expansion of our work in each area.

Our first performance took place in January 2020 in Consett in County Durham – not as you may have expected in the Cathedral but in a town with little live classical music and with young people joining us, many of whom had never heard a live orchestra before. We all know what happened in March 2020 and the future of The Moon Hares became uncertain, so what did we do? For starters, we created online resources for schools and teachers to use and we filmed the show. We then started online workshops on Zoom to keep in contact with all our partners around the country until we were able to join them again in person.

By July 2022, we had completed our tour and performed The Moon Hares at a special school in King’s Lynn in June 2021, the Assembly Hall at Acland Burghley School, Tufnell Park in September 2021, the beautiful Plymouth Guildhall in March 2022, King’s Lynn Corn Exchange and at Northgate High School in Ipswich in June 2022.

To date we have completed six residencies with more than 650 primary pupils, 100 secondary students, 90 students with additional needs, two OAE Young Artists, 90 adults in our community choirs and over 1,800 in our audiences.

From Hazel Gould

Director and Libretto

There are many folk stories about women who turn into hares. In some the women are discovered and are accused of being witches, in others they are caught by hunters and exposed. Often, they are tricking farmers out of money but they are almost always connected to the magic of the moon. I was fascinated by these stories and wanted to create a contemporary folk tale, exploring a world in which this magic existed.

The Moon Hares is a piece that is all about meetings: human and animal, villagers and visitors, old magic and new laws. It is also full of musical meetings – a show in which music by Henry Purcell can sit alongside music written now, by composer James Redwood. Most importantly, it is about the meeting of all our performers, professional singers, the incredible OAE, primary school choirs, community choirs, and a huge host of instrumentalists and dancers from secondary schools and SEN settings. It is thrilling to be involved in something which brings together so many people from seemingly completely different backgrounds and experiences who work together in the service of telling one story.

From James Redwood

Composer

The Moon Hares is the biggest and boldest in a trilogy of collaborations I have been lucky enough to have written with and for the OAE. Working with writer Hazel Gould, our first fusion opera was King Arthur back in 2016. Featuring two soloists, Timothy Dickinson and Kirsty Hopkins, a baroque orchestra and primary singers and instrumentalists, Hazel created a new story which wove together the music of Henry Purcell, spoken word and new songs and instrumental music. Next, we tackled The Fairy Queen with similar forces, this time consciously creating music which would be inclusive of and accessible to the widest possible range of participants.

Each project taught us something new and gave us the opportunity to stretch ourselves so that when Cherry asked us to write the piece which would become The Moon Hares, we leapt at the chance to write for significantly bigger forcesfour soloists, primary and adult choirs, secondary school rock band and (of course) baroque orchestra. Where much of the story in previous operas was told through speech, the majority of The Moon Hares is sung which allowed us to attempt to blur the interface between the baroque music of Purcell and my own contemporary music. Hopefully, audiences are hardly, if ever, aware of the moments when the music transitions allowing all of the music in the show to serve the story-telling.

That’s not to say that I’ve tried to iron out the contrasts between the different music in the piece – quite the opposite. It was a pure delight to create sections of music for the secondary school band with driving rock grooves which emerged out of a new aria which in turn grew out of baroque dance. It’s just that I wanted to try to create a sound-world in which all of those contrasts really and truly belonged.

It has been an honour and a privilege to work with the incredible artists who have brought the piece to life. All the singers and instrumentalists, whether professional or non-professional have given their heart and soul and I’m sure that a lot of the strength of the piece comes from that collective expression of feeling which is required to perform it. Every single performance has brought something unique and special to the life of the piece and I’m so grateful to have been involved in the journey.

Words from our tour partners

Thank you! You are an absolute inspiration and a pleasure to work with.

I thought The Moon Hares was wonderful and the response from the participants and the audience seemed really positive on both nights. At the end of the second night a little girl handed me a card that said ‘I had a good time’ and I thought it summed it up – they had a good time and at the same time absorbed and appreciated all that fantastic music, no labels or suggestion that this kind of music was in any way difficult or not for them. I also spent the whole weekend alternating between ‘Yes Mr Mayor’ and various bits of Purcell! I know that in terms

of our staff they all enjoyed being involved but one teacher in particular found the project inspirational and actually changed the course of her teaching.

Lots of people have commented on the obvious enthusiasm of the musicians. It’s the thing for me that makes the OAE stand out – all too often professional musicians are doing education projects because they have to (for funding or whatever) and that comes across. OAE always come across as loving what you’re doing and wanting to be involved with young people, from whatever background or ability.

There was an electric atmosphere in the performance, really driven by James Redwood and his lively and passionate approach. The students really enjoyed performing alongside professional musicians and there has been a lot of positive feedback about the event from parents. I have had quite a few e-mails from parents thanking me for the opportunity to take part in such an amazing project and event.

It was an amazing opportunity – one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences!

Working with the OAE always brings an opportunity to reflect deeply on best professional practice, and always a sense of shared learning and connection between musicians and participants. Every participant is included and activities are tailored around them to draw out and nurture what they can do. Somehow all the colours of the rainbow were brighter than ever with this project – the music was astonishingly beautiful, moving and heartfelt.

At the performance, the orchestra players seemed completely immersed and invested in bringing a spectacular performance together and this lifted the quality of all those involved with the other aspects. By this I mean that everyone was completely focused on doing their best performance on that day. The quality of the work has always been superb. There were some beautiful and supportive conversations between the players and some of the students. I really appreciated that our different roles were respected and there was a genuine sense of everyone belonging.

Cherry and the team have an exceptional gift for bringing out the best in everyone. I feel this comes from their working relationships with one another, years

of experience, but also an unwavering commitment to creating the most respectful creative spaces possible. They also care deeply for each other as well as those they bring their projects to. There’s a lot to be learned from this in terms of how to run a team and match the right people to projects. Cherry is a shining light as far as I’m concerned and the heart of what makes beautiful things happen on so many different levels.

The Moon Hares performance brought together several city schools, a community choir and ‘Our Band’ City College students / Plymouth Music Zone (PMZ). Performing in itself was a significant moment marking so many challenges, disappointments and disconnects caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time as much anxiety from many about being in a collective space, there was also a strong desire to pull together and celebrate togetherness, being completely in the moment in a building in Plymouth that means so much to many people. It was extremely moving to hear all the components that had been worked on online and offline, brought together and making sense with the narrative. There was something beautiful about

the juxtaposition of re-emerging from the pandemic and the children / hares – taking risks, being daring and challenging authority.

Beginning to work at PMZ together again in person was tricky to navigate as the college, OAE and PMZ were working with different levels of comfort and experience around Covid-19 safety. This was all respectfully and successfully navigated together. It was absolutely wonderful when we had our first workshop back together – the students remembered so much about how we all work together, songs they’d learnt online, warm-ups etc. They were just so keen to crack on with everything and we covered so much ground very quickly once we were all back together in the same space. The musicality of the students is something I never take for granted, regardless of whether they have had much participatory musical input elsewhere in their lives.

I had the privilege of joining the community choir for a rehearsal – watching James rehearse the details with the choir in an evening rehearsal in a village church. I had a personal connection with the place it is based, along with its leader (an old family friend) and I was amazed at the quality of

their singing. They were so excited to be part of such a unique opportunity and it was beautiful to witness them overcoming nerves, technical and musical issues, rehearsing the trickier corners and bringing their best selves to the performance. I loved how the voices from a little corner of the Devonshire countryside melded with the orchestra, the college students, the soloists and the children’s voices. They reminded me that quality music-making can exist anywhere geographically.

The efforts made to maintain a strong partnership between the OAE, PMZ, City College students and staff, the schools and the community choir was obvious in the care and attention paid to the whole performance and all involved. To mean something to one another during that performance was the highlight for me – I’ve never taken these connections for granted, but in this setting it felt deep-rooted at a soul-level and reminded me personally why I have committed the majority of my career to this kind of work. Thank you OAE as always – but especially grateful for The Moon Hares and thinking about the sky and stars differently!

A thank you letter from a participant in The Moon Hares

Biographies

Charmian Bedford The Daughter

Charmian Bedford graduated from Clare College, Cambridge, where she read Classics, and Trinity College of Music where she was a finalist in both the Lillian Ash French Song Competition and the Elizabeth Schumann Lieder Prize. She received the Paul Simm Opera Prize two years running for Blanche in Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress Opera highlights include 2nd Niece in Peter Grimes (Aldeburgh Festival and recorded live as a feature film Grimes on the Beach, which received a BBC Music Magazine Opera Award), Mimi in La Bohème (Opera Up Close) which received an Olivier Award, and staged Monteverdi operas with the Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican, and in Venice and Bucharest. She has sung in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Opéra de Baugé), La Cenerentola and Die Fledermaus (on tour with Diva Opera), Ariadne auf Naxos (West Green House), and Gretel in Hansel and Gretel (Harrow Arts Centre).

As a contemporary performer she frequently collaborated with electronic composer and DJ, Mira Calix with whom she worked for Opera North, Streetwise Opera and the Spitalfields Music Festival. She has sung in Nicola LeFanu’s Dream Hunter, in the European premiere of John Harbison’s Full Moon and in John Barber’s To the Silkwood Tree for Streetwise Opera. She has premiered song cycles by Lloyd Moore and Graham Williams and orchestral cycles by Daniel Thomas Davis (also recorded) and Peter Child (at Lontano’s Festival of Contemporary American Music). She has featured on Calix’s Ada Project, a collaboration with renowned artist Conrad Shawcross.

Her concert repertoire ranges from Mahler’s Symphony No 4 to Berio’s Laborintus II and she collaborates regularly with the Aurora Orchestra and the Dunedin Consort. With the Australian Chamber Orchestra she has performed Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Sydney Opera House and Melbourne’s Hamer Hall, and Mozart’s Requiem at the Maribor Festival in Slovenia. She has had a close relationship with the Academy of Ancient Music for many years. Under Richard Egarr she has performed Bach on BBC Radio 3, Vivaldi in Paris and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Handel and Purcell at the Foundling Museum, as well as repeat performances of Dido and Aeneas in China, North Africa, Cyprus, Norway and at the Barbican and Wigmore Hall in London.

Timothy Dickinson The Mayor

British Bass-Baritone Timothy Dickinson has been noted for his “wonderfully warm, round, powerful tone” (Early Music Today). His work ranges from recitals across the UK to operatic roles at Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Longborough, Buxton and elsewhere. He has toured internationally with Silent Opera, in their groundbreaking production of Vixen, and has also been a regular guest at the St Endellion Festivals in Cornwall.

Timothy is also very active as an oratorio soloist, embracing a broad repertoire including Bach’s Passions, the Requiems of Verdi, Faure and Duruflé, and Haydn’s The Creation. He has also sung with various ensembles, including The Sixteen, Dunedin Consort and La Nuova Musica, with whom he appears on Sacrifices (Harmonia Mundi).

In November 2021, Timothy released The Holy Boy: Christmastide in Albion, a recital album of songs and piano music inspired by the Christmas season with pianist Duncan Honeybourne.

Timothy was the recipient of the 2013 Wessex Glyndebourne Award, and is an alumnus of the National Opera Studio, London.

Robert Gildon The Wise Old Man

Baritone Robert Gildon studied singing at Manhattan School of Music, New York, the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival and the Britten Pears School at Snape. Recent work includes: Utopia Limited (Buxton and Harrogate), Die Fledermaus (Iford Festival), La Fille du Regiment (Opera della luna at Buxton Festival), Orlando Gough’s Weather the Storm (Garsington Opera), The Moon Hares and The Fairy Queen Project (OAE), Time Capsule Project (Grange Festival), Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène and Delius’s A Village Romeo and Juliet (New Sussex Opera), Beautiful World Opera and Water in the Desert Projects in Abu Dhabi, Ezra Pound’s Le Testament de Villon (London Contemporary Music Festival), Ariadne auf Naxos and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Garsington Opera).

In addition, he has performed roles for The Opera Group, London Symphony Orchestra, Grange Park Opera, Opera Project, Cambridge Handel Opera, Bampton Classical Opera and Pimlico Opera’s Prison Project. Robert also has a keen interest in educational work and regularly leads workshops for Britten Pears Arts, ENO, Grange Festival and Streetwise Opera amongst others. He lives in Suffolk with five dogs, 21 goats, peacocks, chickens, bees and a tortoise.

Hazel Gould is a writer, director and workshop leader who specialises in the creation of new opera. Core to Hazel’s practice is her belief that art has the power to change and enhance lives.

As a director, Hazel has a keen interest in the development of new work, and has directed new pieces for the Royal Academy of Music, Streetwise Opera, Wigmore Hall and the OAE, in addition to working extensively in the devising and co-creation of new work. For over a decade she was a regular assistant director at the Royal Opera House.

As a librettist and lyricist, Hazel’s work has been performed by Glyndebourne, Dartington Arts, Streetwise Opera, Garsington Opera, The Grange, English National Opera, OAE, Sinfonia Viva, Philharmonia Orchestra and The Sixteen, amongst others. She is currently the writer on the groundbreaking opera and biomedical research project SoundVoice.

Her work in learning and participation is broad and wide ranging, and she has worked with thousands of diverse participants to explore and create art over a 20 year career. Both We are Shadows (Spitalfields Festival) and Seven Seeds (Tri-borough music hub), received the

Royal Philharmonic Society award for Learning and Participation.

Hazel trained at Manchester University and Central School of Speech and Drama. She lives in Brighton with her husband and two children.

Kirsty Hopkins The Teacher

Kirsty Hopkins read Music at Manchester University and then continued her postgraduate vocal training at Trinity College of Music where she won the Elizabeth Schumann Lieder Prize. She now enjoys a versatile career performing all over the world for some of today’s most exciting and renowned conductors and ensembles.

Recent performances on the stage include immersive one-woman show The Apple Tree for OAE Tots, Mozart Magic Flute and Purcell Fairy Queen for OAE Education; soprano soloist in The Sixteen and Streetwise Opera’s The Passion – a staged version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion receiving rave reviews and broadcast on BBC4; the title role in John Barber’s The Nightingale; playing Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, in Charlotte Bray’s opera Entanglement; Betrayal, I Fagiolini’s murderous fusion of renaissance music and contemporary dance and Thomas Tallis in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Recent concert performances include the European premiere of Howard Goodall’s Invictus: A Passion; Handel Dixit Dominus for The Sixteen at the Palace of Versailles and Sydney Opera House and Soprano Evangelist in Arvo Pärt’s Passio for Eric Whitacre conducting Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. She is a proud member of The Sixteen and travels the UK throughout the year with them, most recently providing lots of top Cs in Allegri’s Miserere.

Kirsty features on several recordings including Howard Goodall’s Invictus: A Passion, Purcell Indian Queen for The Sixteen and Handel at Vauxhall for London Early Opera.

When not singing, Kirsty is Artistic Director of West Green House Opera in Hampshire.

(Rose Bruford College), Ghost Train (The Assembly Project), Traveling Light (Rose Bruford College), Chopped Logic (Action to the Word), Mixed Bill (English National Ballet School), Daylighting (Royal Academy of Music), Epic Love and Pop Songs (Tiny Wife Productions), Katzenmusik (London School of Dramatic Arts), Love is Black (Rose Bruford College), Abigail’s Party (Rose Bruford College), The Returned (Portal Dance Company), Newsies and Canadian Music Theatre Project (Theatre Sheridan), Creative Dance Projects and Creative Acting Projects (Sheridan College), Romeo and Juliet (Notorious Theatre Company), Hamlet (Urban Arts Project), Macbeth (Notorious Theatre Company), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest (Urban Arts Project).

Brett Kasza Lighting Designer

Brett Kasza is a Canadian born artist. He has graduated from Sheridan College for Technical Production for Theatre and Live Events with honours in 2020 and has recently graduated lighting design at Rose Bruford College with honours in 2022. Brett finds that working collaboratively with other artists is the best way to create the best possible show. His lighting design credits include theatre, opera, dance and musical theatre. Here is a collection of his most recent shows: New Writing

Ruth Paton Stage Designer

Ruth Paton is a stage designer, who works in response to music, mostly opera, and narrative. Long-term collaborations include those with directors Tom Guthrie, Mark Down, Karen Gillingham, George Peck, Hazel Gould and Tim Yealland and for companies including the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Garsington Opera, I Fagiolini, Longborough Opera Festival, Princeton University, and the Academy of Ancient Music.

She has recently designed for Longborough Festival Opera, the Barbican and LSO St Lukes. As an Artistic Associate at Blind Summit Theatre, Ruth has collaborated on productions for Bregenz Festival, Spoleto Festival and the Hollywood Bowl, LA.

Community engagement and education is a key part of Ruth’s practice. Work as a creative educator and facilitator include projects for English National Opera, Garsington Opera and the Royal Opera House, where Ruth is Lead Artist for the Design Challenge Programme.

Ruth holds a lectureship in Theatre Design at the University for the Creative Arts.

In 2009 he orchestrated material for Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach whose title track was nominated for a Grammy. In 2013 he won a BASCA award for Pass the Torch – An Olympic Symphony, a commission for the RPO which was devised and performed by 350 young instrumentalists and sung by 3,500 young singers from across North London.

In addition to composition and creative music leading, James has a range of experience leading training and CPD for school teachers, Hub musicians, orchestral players and emerging music leaders. He has a long-standing relationship with Spitalfields Music, delivering training on their Skills Lab programme.

He has a long-standing relationship with the OAE, leading creative composition workshops in schools and with community groups for over 15 years. The Moon Hares is the third and most ambitious opera James has written for the OAE.

James Redwood Composer / Conductor

James Redwood is an award winning composer and music leader whose practice thrives on collaboration and partnership. He has a hugely varied career, working with orchestras, opera companies and arts organisations to create new music with and for non-professional groups. He has a special interest in writing music which incorporates material composed by participants and his flexible style always seeks out musical material which is both challenging and engaging to perform.

10.30am & 12.00 noon Sunday 23 April Royal Festival Hall We climb aboard our scooter again and look around the orchestra before setting off on another adventure to explore the magic of Mozart. Full speed ahead!

In 1986, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge? No way. Specialise in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting. Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born.

And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Residencies at the Southbank Centre and the Glyndebourne Festival didn’t numb its experimentalist bent. A major record deal didn’t iron out its quirks. Instead, the OAE examined musical notes with ever more freedom and resolve.

That creative thirst remains unquenched. The Night Shift series of informal performances are redefining concert formats. Its former home at London’s Kings Place has fostered further diversity of planning and music-making. The ensemble has formed the bedrock for some of Glyndebourne’s most groundbreaking recent productions.

In keeping with its values of always questioning, challenging and trailblazing, in September 2020, the OAE became the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School, Camden. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Now more than thirty years old, the OAE is part of our musical furniture. It has even graced the outstanding conducting talents of Elder, Rattle, Jurowski, Iván Fischer and John Butt with a joint title of Principal Artist. But don’t ever think the ensemble has lost sight of its founding vow. Not all orchestras are the same. And there’s nothing quite like this one.

The OAE Team

Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead General Manager Edward Shaw Finance and Governance Director

Pascale Nicholls Projects Director Jo Perry Education Director Cherry Forbes Marketing Director Doug Buist Acting Development Director

Natalie Docherty Education Officer

Andrew Thomson Projects Manager Sophie Adams Finance Manager Fabio Lodato

Head of Digital Content Zen Grisdale Marketing Officer Dora Tsang Box Office and Data Manager Paola Rossi Development Manager Kiki Betts-Dean Development Officer Luka Lah Projects Officer Ed Ault

Orchestra Consultant

Philippa Brownsword Choir Manager

David Clegg Librarian Roy Mowatt

Leaders

Huw Daniel Kati Debretzeni Margaret Faultless Matthew Truscott

Players’ Artistic Committee

Adrian Bending Steven Devine Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Christine Sticher

Principal Artists

John Butt Sir Mark Elder Iván Fischer

Vladimir Jurowski Sir Simon Rattle Sir András Schiff Emeritus Conductors William Christie Sir Roger Norrington Life President Sir Martin Smith Board of Directors

Imogen Overli [Chair]

Adrian Bending Daniel Alexander Steven Devine Denys Firth Adrian Frost Alison McFadyen David Marks

Rebecca Miller

Andrew Roberts

Katharina Spreckelsen Matthew Shorter Christine Sticher Dr. Susan Tranter Crispin Woodhead

OAE Trust

Adrian Frost [Chair]

Mark Allen

Paul Forman

Steven Larcombe Alison McFadyen

Imogen Overli

Rupert Sebag-Montefiore Maarten Slendebroek

Sir Martin Smith Caroline Steane Jessica Kemp

Honorary Council

Sir Victor Blank Edward Bonham Carter Cecelia Bruggemeyer Nigel Jones Stephen Levinson Marshall Marcus Julian Mash Greg Melgaard Susan Palmer OBE Jan Schlapp

Diane Segalen Susannah Simons Lady Smith OBE Rosalyn Wikinson Mark Williams Roger Montgomery Sir Martin Smith

Principal Patrons

John Armitage Charitable Trust

Denys & Vicki Firth

Adrian Frost Imogen Overli Sir Martin & Lady Smith OBE

Season Patrons

Julian & Annette Armstrong

Nigel Jones & Françoise Valat-Jones Philip & Rosalyn Wilkinson Mark & Rosamund Williams

Project Patrons

Ian S Ferguson CBE & Dr Susan Tranter Bruce Harris Selina & David Marks JMS Advisory Limited

Aria Patrons

Madeleine Hodgkin Steven Larcombe Peter & Veronica Lofthouse Stanley Lowy

Gary & Nina Moss Rupert Sebag-Montefiore Maarten & Taina Slendebroek Caroline Steane Eric Tomsett

Chair Patrons

Mrs Nicola Armitage

– Education Director

Victoria & Edward Bonham Carter

– Principal Trumpet Katharine Campbell – Violin

Anthony & Celia Edwards

– Principal Oboe James Flynn QC

– Co-Principal Lute / Theorbo Paul Forman

– Co-Principal Cello / Violin /

Thank you

Co-Principal Horn

Jonathan Gaisman

– Viola

Michael & Harriet Maunsell

– Principal Keyboard Christina

– Flute

Jenny & Tim Morrison

– Second Violin Caroline Noblet

– Oboe

Andrew Nurnberg

– Co-Principal Oboe

Professor Richard Portes CBE FBA

– Co-Principal Bassoon John & Rosemary Shannon

– Principal Horn Sue Sheridan OBE

– Education

Crispin Woodhead & Christine Rice

– Principal Timpani

Education Patrons

Stephen & Patricia Crew Sir Timothy & Lady Lloyd Susan Palmer OBE

Andrew & Cindy Peck Professor Richard Portes CBE FBA

Associate

Patrons

Charles & Julia Abel Smith Damaris Albarrán

Noël & Caroline Annesley

Sir Richard Arnold & Mary Elford Hugh & Michelle Arthur Catherine & Barney Burgess

David & Marilyn Clark David Emmerson

Claire Espiner

Jonathan Parker Charitable Trust Roger Heath MBE & Alison Heath MBE

Peter & Sally Hilliar

Madeleine Hodgkin

Moira & Robert Latham

Sir Timothy & Lady Lloyd

Roger Mears & Joanie Speers David Mildon

In Memory Of Lesley Mildon

John Nickson & Simon Rew Andrew & Cindy Peck

Stephen & Penny Pickles

Peter Rosenthal Michael Spagat Emily Stubbs & Stephen McCrum

Paul Tarrant & Jenny Haxell Shelley Von Strunckel Mr J Westwood

Young Ambassador Patrons

Jessica Kemp & Alex Kemp Breandán Knowlton Rebecca Miller

Young Associate

Natalie Docherty

Young Patrons

Marina Abel Smith

Marianne & William Cartwright-Hignett David Gillbe

Sam Hucklebridge Henry Mason Peter Yardley-Jones

Gold Friends

Michael Brecknell

Gerard Cleary Sir Anthony & Lady Cleaver Mr & Mrs C Cochin De Billy Chris Gould

Silver Friends

Dennis & Sheila Baldry

Haylee & Michael Bowsher

Tony Burt

Christopher Campbell David Cox

Stephen & Cristina Goldring

Rachel & Charles Henderson

Malcolm Herring

Patricia Herrmann

Rupert & Alice King Alison & Ian Lowdon

Anthony & Carol Rentoul

Stephen & Roberta Rosefield

Bridget Rosewell

David & Ruth Samuels

Her Honour Suzanne Stewart Simon & Karen Taube

Susannah Simons

Bronze Friends

Tony Baines

Penny & Robin Broadhurst Graham & Claire Buckland

Dan Burt

Michael A Conlon

Mrs SM Edge Mrs Mary Fysh

Mr Simon Gates Martin & Helen Haddon Ray & Liz Harsant

The Lady Heseltine Mrs Auriel Hill Rose & Dudley Leigh Julian Markson

Stuart Martin

Richard I Morris Jr

Mike Raggett

Hugh Raven Alan Sainer

Matthew & Sarah Shorter Mr & Mrs Tony Timms Mrs Joy Whitby David Wilson

Corporate Supporters

Mark Allen Group Champagne Deutz

OAE Experience

Supporters

Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation

Henocq Law Trust

The 29th May 1961 Charity Stanley Picker Trust Thirplow Charitable Trust

Rising Stars

Supporters

Julian & Annette Armstrong

Old Possum’s Practical Trust

The 29th May 1961 Charity Fenton Arts Trust

The Garrick Charitable Trust

The Michael Marks Charitable Trust

Thirplow Charitable Trust

Trusts & Foundations

Albert and Eugenie Frost Trust

Apax Foundation

Arts Council England Dreamchasing Foundation

Dyers Company

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation

The John Lyon’s Charity National Foundation For Youth Music Orchestras Live

Paul Hamlyn Foundation

Peter Cundill Foundation

The Brian Mitchell Charitable Settlement

The Britford Bridge Trust

The Charles Peel Charitable Trust

The Geoffrey Watling Charity The Linbury Trust

The Patrick Rowland Foundation Steel Charitable Trust

Paper sculptures by Justin Rowe daysfalllikeleaves.com

Our work at Acland Burghley School

In September 2020, we took up permanent residence at Acland Burghley School in Camden, North London. The residency –a first for a British orchestra – allows us to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Three offices have been adapted for our administration team. We use the Grade II-listed school assembly hall as a rehearsal space, with plans to refurbish it under the school’s ‘A Theatre for All’ project. The school isn’t just our landlord or physical home. Instead, it allows us to build on twenty years of work in the borough through OAE’s long-standing partnership with Camden Music. Having already worked in eighteen of the local primary schools that feed into ABS, the plans moving forward are to support music and arts across the school into the wider community. Our move underpins our core ‘enlightenment’ mission of reaching as wide an audience as possible.

What do backflips, smoke machines and baroque drums all have in common?

Answer: our first video collaboration with Acland Burghley students. We teamed up with year 10 students who performed a dance that they choreographed for their GCSE exam, accompanied by us performing Rameau’s ‘Danse des

Sauvages’ from Les Indes Galantes. After taking inspiration from baroque dances on YouTube and being drawn to the distinctive rhythmic pulse in the Rameau, the pupils sparked enthusiastic discussion with our players to allow the choreography and music to evolve hand in hand. They also had their say in the direction and recording of the music video, which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

We brought The Moon Hares, an opera for young families which we commissioned in 2019, into the school hall and performed it alongside pupils from ABS as well as Gospel Oak and Kentish Town primary schools. The electrifying performance included music both old and new, with sections from Purcell’s 17th century opera Dioclesian mixed with original, modern music by James Redwood. There’s also been a bustle of activity away from the camera in our ongoing private classroom education. We’ve delivered numerous interactive workshops for all students in Years 7, 8 and 9, including an exploration of the orchestra’s instruments, illustrated sessions on blues and jazz compositional techniques as part of curriculum studies and a study a day for all GCSE music students on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.4.

OAE Young Producers

The value of our residency in Acland Burghley School can be realised in many ways beyond the immediate practice of orchestral musicianship.

One of the key objectives in our mission is to lift aspirations and broaden horizons for life beyond school. We want to help students leave school with richer CVs and stronger professional prospects.

One great way to do that is to mentor the next generation in all those things we have learned as an organisation. At the start of the 2021 – 2022 school year, we launched our Young Producers’ programme in which we offer mentoring, training and work-placement apprenticeship so that the young people in our new community acquire essential skills in management and production, from budgets, compliance and risk assessment to camera operation and stage design.

We are proud of our first cohort, who have already learned so much and become a key part of our working routine. They will

one day graduate as accredited Producers and become the mentors, at our side, for future recruits.

More than just an extra-curricular enterprise, this is a programme that we expect to connect with sixth-form education in the new government T Level examination programme.

Young Producers

Armin Eorsi

Harvey O’Brien

Iremide Onibonoje

Jessica Sexton-Smith

Matas Juskevicius

Michael Hau

Nathan Kilby

Raphael Thornton

Riley Silver

Sidney Crossing

Sophia Vainshtok

Tom Cohen

Daniel Miliband

Jaeden Ferritto

Sacha Cross

The authoritative voice on classical music since 1923

ARTISTS

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Welcome to the Southbank Centre

We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff.

Eating, drinking and shopping? Take in the views over food and drinks at the Riverside Terrace Cafe, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. Visit our shops for products inspired by our great cultural experiences, iconic buildings and central London location.

Explore across the site with Beany Green, Côte Brasserie, Foyles, Giraffe, Honest Burger, Las Iguanas, Le Pain Quotidien, Ping Pong, Strada, Skylon, Spiritland, Topolski, wagamama and Wahaca.

If you’d like to get in touch with us following your visit, please write to the Visitor Contact Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk

We look forward to seeing you again.

SONGS OF TRAVEL at the Southbank Centre

26 January

Saint-Saëns: Sounds for the End of a Century with Steven Isserlis (cello) and Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)

1 February

Handel Around the World with Ian Bostridge (tenor)

19 March

Bach in Excelsis: The Mass in B Minor with Václav Luks (director)

THE NIGHT SHIFT

Chamber music down a local pub.

29 November, Shadwell

Violin and viola duos by Mozart and his contemporaries with Kinga Ujszaszi (violin) and Max Mandel (viola).

BACH, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING at Kings Place

Mission: to explore our place in the cosmos guided by the intergalactic genius of JS Bach. Each monthly event features one of Bach’s cantatas, and other choral and instrumental works, alongside a talk by an eminent astronomer.

Guest speakers include Chris Lintott (The Sky at Night, 13 November), Dallas Campbell (Bang Goes the Theory, 18 December) and Jocelyn Bell Burnell (the discoverer of pulsar stars, 29 January).

Become a Friend!

Without the generosity of our Friends, the OAE would not exist.

When you become an OAE Friend, you join us in bringing great music to life. We then give you a front-row and behind-the-scenes view of our work, so that you can see the impact that your donation really makes. This includes supporting our ambitious season of concert performances, digital productions on OAE Player, improving access to music through our Education programme, and our community work at Acland Burghley School.

Whether you wish to watch the rehearsals or get to know the players, a Friends membership offers a heightened OAE concert-going experience and allows you to support the orchestra you love. With your help, we can keep the music playing.

Become a Friend for as little as £50 a year and receive the following benefits:

• Priority booking

• Access to open rehearsals

• Get to know the players

• Regular updates from the orchestra.

To become a Friend, scan the QR code, visit oae.co.uk/support-us or contact us at development@oae.co.uk or 020 8159 9317

COMING UP...

THE CENTURY SOUNDS FOR ENDOF A

Saint-Saëns stood at a crossroads in French music as it forged its own path towards the end of the 19th Century. He reached back in to its past, drawing on medieval art or the forms of Rameau, whilst pointing forward to Ravel. We hear those influences in the jangling skeleton bones of the ever-popular Danse macabre, the swelling plainchant-infused melodies of the Organ Symphony, the molten solo part in the Cello Concerto, or deft