Saturday 19th November, 7.30pm

Transcription

1 Saturday 19th November, 7.30pm THE CREATION Franz Joseph Haydn Conductor: Benjamin Wolf Soloists: Maud Millar (soprano) Ed Hastings (tenor) Benjamin Seifert (baritone)

2 Drop in for a drink after the concert - we re very near! We serve food every day, lunch and evening til 10pm. Ideal for a pre-concert meal or late snack. 65 Gloucester Avenue, Primrose Hill, London NW1 8JH Tel

3 Programme Overture: The representation of Chaos Part I: The first day The second day The third day The fourth day Part II: The fifth day The sixth day Interval Part III: Adam and Eve in Eden Conductor: Benjamin Wolf The Royal Free Music Society The Zemel Choir The Hampstead Sinfonietta, led by Robert Chatley Soloists: Maud Millar (soprano) Ed Hastings (tenor) Benjamin Seifert (baritone)

4 Welcome Welcome to our Autumn concert for a performance of Haydn s The Creation, which brings together the Royal Free Music Society and the Zemel Choir. The choir will be accompanied by the Hampstead Sinfonietta and our wonderful soloists, Maud Miller, Ed Hastings and Benjamin Seifert. The Creation was a delight to learn and we hope that you will enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoy performing it. Certainly, our conductor, Benjamin Wolf, who is Music Director of both choirs, will do his very best to ensure that this is the case! We would like to thank Benjamin for all his work in helping us to master the piece, as well as our accompanists, Gillian Cracknell (RFMS) and Maureen Creese (Zemel). Our thanks are also extended to the Hampstead Sinfonietta who have rallied their forces to assemble a sizeable orchestra for tonight s performance and to the parish of St Mark s and Reverend William Gulliford for allowing us to perform in this beautiful venue. Finally, we would like to thank you, our audience, for coming to support us. Lucinda Sturgis, Diana Parkinson, Nick Jackson RFMS Co-chairs Diane Sheer Chairman of the Zemel Choir

5 Programme notes by Benjamin Wolf The Creation is Haydn s most popular oratorio. It was composed towards the end of his life, following a highly rewarding period in England during which Haydn had written many successful pieces, such as his 'London' symphonies. He had also been inspired by performances of Handel's oratorio and, before he left, had been given a libretto called The Creation of the World by a friend who hoped that Haydn would write his own oratorio. Back home in Vienna, he started to set it to music. He was aided by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an influential patron (who had once supported Mozart's career and) who was responsible for much of the city's high profile musical activities, including a society dedicated to the performance of oratorio. Haydn and van Swieten decided to create simultaneous versions in English and German. Van Swieten translated the English libretto into German, and then readapted the English to match the German translation. Composition began in 1796, and was finished by the end of The first private performance took place in Vienna in May 1798, and was an instant success; the audience was so loudly enthusiastic when they heard the initial portrayal of the creation of light that the performance had to be halted for several minutes. The first public performance took place in 1799, and the score was then successfully sold throughout Europe. The text includes passages from the Book of Genesis, the book of Psalms and Milton s Paradise Lost. Much of the oratorio comprises solo recitative and arias, but there are also beautiful and dramatic choruses. The piece is divided into three parts, and we will have our interval after part two. In the first two parts the soloists sing the roles of the angels, Gabriel

6 (soprano), Uriel (tenor), and Raphael (bass). Part I describes the first four days of creation, while Part II recounts the fifth and sixth days. In Part III, the oratorio is devoted to the story of Adam and Eve, and the soloists change roles; Adam is bass and Eve is soprano. There are many Handelian touches in the work, including aspects of word-painting and scene-painting, in which musical sound represents poetic or visual imagery. The work begins with an orchestral introduction, described as The Representation of Chaos. This is, by modern standards, a very orderly representation of chaos, but it contains an effective use of dissonance and harmonic ambiguity, while its key of C minor lays the ground for the bass recitative and chorus that follow. These tell of the creation of light, and climax with the famous C-major chord on the word light that so delighted the first Viennese audience. This is followed by the angel Uriel (tenor solo) describing the disappearance of darkness and the arrival of holy light. In response, the choir sings of the new created world that springs up as the spirits of hell disappear. Raphael (bass) then portrays the creation of the earth and the waters, while his dramatic aria describes the storms that take place on earth. Gabriel (soprano) describes the wonder of the inhabitants of Heaven when they see the new world. Alongside Gabriel, the choir imitates a heavenly choir singing the praise of God. Raphael depicts the division of the earth and the waters, while his rolling aria ( rolling in foaming billows ) recalls the Handelian style. Finally, Gabriel describes the creation of plants. His delightfully graceful aria pastoral in feel speaks of the green fields and charming new flowers. The third day is announced by the heavenly angels again represented by the choir who sing a hymn of triumph to the mighty Lord who has created the heavens and the earth. Uriel then announces the creation of day and night, before singing of the beauty of the newly-created sun. Again the choir sings a hymn of praise to God ( The Heavens are Telling

7 the Glory of God ), and with this triumphant chorus they close the first part of the oratorio. Part II, starting with the fifth day, begins with the creation of life, the angel Gabriel singing of the birds (note the birdsong sounds in her aria) and Raphael of the animals that have been created in the sea. These hymns to newly-created life continue in a trio for all three solo voices, which leads directly to a triumphant chorus that sings of the greatness of the Lord. Continued praise for the newly-created animals is found in the subsequent recitatives and in Gabriel s majestic aria Now heav n in fullest glory shone. The angel Uriel then tells of the creation of man in God s image, and praises man s qualities in the famous tenor aria In native worth. The sixth day of creation is closed with another choral hymn, Achieved is the glorious work. This theme of praise continues in the trio and the reprise of the chorus. Part III begins with a slow orchestral introduction, before Uriel introduces the characters of Adam and Eve who sing an extended duet ( By thee with bliss ), joined by the choir, in which they invite the newly created elements of creation to sing the praises of God. Adam and Eve then continue their duet, singing of their joy in both creation and each other. However, Uriel warns them not to seek greater knowledge than they should (an evident reference to the idea of the Fall from the Garden of Eden), before the choir and soloists together sing a final hymn of praise to God.

8 Benjamin Wolf Conductor Benjamin Wolf works as a conductor, pianist, composer, singer and academic. He is Music Director of the Royal Free Music Society, the Zemel Choir, the Wallace Ensemble and the Belsize Square Synagogue. In addition he is a regular conductor of the Quorum chamber choir. Performances with the Zemel Choir have included appearances at the new European Jewish Choral Festivals, Holocaust memorial services for the Mayor of London, a broadcast for the BBC s Songs of Praise and tours to Europe, Israel and the USA. Activities with the Wallace Ensemble have included performances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, while the professional choir of Belsize Square Synagogue has been featured on BBC radio and television. Recent performances with the Belsize choir have included Westminster Abbey s Service of Solemn Remembrance and Hope on the 75 th Anniversary of Kristallnacht and performances for the International Louis Lewandowski Festival in Berlin. In February 2015 he conducted both the Zemel and Belsize choirs at a service at Westminster Abbey commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz- Birkenau. Performances with the Royal Free Music Society have included largescale oratorios such as Mendelssohn s Elijah and tours to Genoa in 2015 and 2016.

9 Maud Millar (soprano) Maud Millar is a graduate of Clare College, Cambridge, where she held a choral scholarship, and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She currently studies with John Evans. Maud s concert work includes Stravinsky s Mass with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev, Thomas Ade s' Five Eliot Landscapes under the composer himself and, in her BBC Radio 3 debut, Oliver Knussen s Trumpets with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2013 she also performed Britten s Cabaret Songs at the Barbican and made her debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in a programme of Schumann and Mendelssohn Lieder under Peter Schreier. She has performed in concert such operatic roles as Musetta/La Boheme at Cadogan Hall and Gretel/ Hansel and Gretel at LSO St. Luke s. Maud s operatic work includes Nella/Gianni Schicchi, Mademoiselle Jouvenot/Adriana Lecouvreur and Miss Ellen/ Lakmé for Opera Holland Park, Fiordiligi/ Cosi Fan Tutte for Hampstead Garden Opera and the title role in Katarzyna Brochocka s The Young Wife for OperaUpClose. In the 2013 season she also created the role of Bottle in Will Todd s new opera Alice s Adventures in Wonderland for Opera Holland Park, a role to which she has returned in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. On the 2014 Signum Records recording of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which spent several weeks at Number 1 on the Classical Chart, she recorded the roles of Bottle, Humpty Dumpty and Duchess, and thereafter added the role of Duchess to her 2015 performances. Recent engagements have included Arvo Pa rt s Passio with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge at Kings Place, Donna Elvira for the Ahmadi Music Group in Kuwait, and a transfer of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House.

10 Ed Hastings (tenor) Having sung at King s College, Cambridge and New College, Oxford, Edmund then went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Ryland Davies and Dominic Wheeler. Recent opera includes Remendado Carmen (OperaUpClose), Offenbach s Vert-Vert (cover Vert-Vert) for Garsington Opera, First Armed Man Magic Flute (Ryedale Festival), Harlekin Der Kaiser Von Atlantis (Grimeborn Opera Festival), Cinea Cajo Fabricio for the London Handel Festival, Nik La Fanciulla del West (OperaUpClose), Arioch Belshazzar (Theatre du Capitole, Toulouse), Jupiter Semele, and Lysander Midsummer Night s Dream (Rosslyn Chapel). With an extensive performing repertory, encompassing the majority of the oratorio canon, Edmund began his concert career in 2008, singing Bach cantatas with Laurence Cummings at the Barbican. Since then, he has worked with many leading conductors, including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Richard Egarr, Paul McCreesh and Rene Jacobs, performing in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, The Chapel of Kings College, Cambridge, St George's Bristol and Saint John s, Smith Square. He has performed live on BBC R3 and has recorded Monteverdi Vespers with Fiori Musicali. His recent concert appearances include the first performance of Handel s Messiah in Goa with the Symphony Orchestra of India, a WW1 anthology tour in Picardie with Tcheky Karyo, Handel Acis and Galatea (Felsted Choral Society), Bach B Minor Mass (Bristol Bach Choir), Bach St Matthew Passion arias (Israel Camerata), Bach St John Passion Evangelist with the choir of Christ s College, Cambridge and Mozart Requiem (St Martin in the Fields).

11 Benjamin Seifert (baritone) Benjamin Seifert (baritone) read Modern Languages at St Peter s College, Oxford. He then trained on ENO s The Knack and at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2004 he performed as a soloist in Orlando Gough s For the Public Good at ENO and has since sung at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Cadogan Hall, the Purcell Room and the Wigmore Hall. He has worked with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company at Buxton, British Youth Opera, Grange Park Opera, Opera Holland Park, Opera by Definition, Te te a Te te Opera and Arcola Opera. Operatic roles include Colas (Bastien & Bastienne), Zaretzsky (Eugene Onegin) Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Don Giovanni, the Count, (Le Nozze di Figaro), Bill Bobstay (HMS Pinafore), the Foreman (Trial by Jury) and Marcello (La Bohème) at the Soho Theatre, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production. He was recently seen as the Mayor in Pop Up Opera s Docteur Miracle, a short except of which was performed live on Radio 3 s In Tune. Oratorio work includes Messiah, Haydn s Nelson Mass, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, Faure s Requiem and the St Matthew Passion.

12 The Royal Free Music Society Choir The Royal Free Music Society Choir was formed over 15 years ago by a group of healthcare professionals working in the Royal Free Hospital. It has grown into a large and vibrant choir with members from the hospital and the local area. The choir performs three or four concerts a year and recent performances have included Handel s Dixit Dominus, Mendelsohn s Elijah and Vivaldi s Gloria. Earlier this year, the choir made its second visit to Genoa, Italy. We also regularly raise funds to support charities such as St Mungo s, the Royal Free Hospital Charity and The Helen Bamber Foundation. For more information, please visit our website: The Royal Free Music Society is a registered charity ( ) The Zemel Choir The Zemel Choir, was established in 1955 and is one of the world's finest mixed-voice Jewish choirs, performing a wide-ranging repertoire that embraces all the traditional Jewish cultures, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yiddish and Israeli. The choir regularly performs in major venues throughout the UK and overseas, and has just returned from a tour to Israel. Besides singing well-known favourites, they are particularly proud to present new music, often specially commissioned, from contemporary composers. In addition to singing in synagogues and non -Jewish venues, the choir has also performed at Westminster Abbey and, in 2012, the choir hosted the first European Jewish Choral Festival. The choir is also committed to educational, mixed faith and charitable activities, working with a mixed culture Primary School and raising funds most recently for Dementia Cafe s. For more information, please visit our website: The Zemel Choir is a registered charity (252572)

13 Singing in tonight s concert Soprano Gillian Cracknell, Natalie Gies, Mary Goyder, Jane Hassid, Sara Henley, Janet High, Bobby Jacobs, Angela Lawrence, Henrietta Levin, Geraldine Luder, Susan Michelson, Judy Obrart, Roszie Omoregie, Sheree Oxenham, Tricia Pank, Katherine Rose, Pauline Silver, Rosie Simmons, Judith Skinner, Veronica Soskin, Helen Stone, Sara Taukalonga, Kat Vroobel, Edna Young. Alto Kay Bagon, Linda Brody, Barbara Bryant, Carmel Byers, Gill Clissold, Deborah Cooper, Jayne Donegan, Emma Dunning, Ruth Freedman, Suzanne Goodman, Libby Harris, Doreen Havardi, Catherine Haw, Katharine Hodgson, Sophie Jackson, Jennifer Kay, Mireille Levy, Diana Muggleston, Janet Paraskeva, Diana Parkinson, Annie Sedley, Diane Sheer, Lucinda Sturgis, Sharon Tyler, Maureen Weigert. Tenor Ronja Altmann, Sarah Carrier, Peter Davies, Merrill Dresner, Judith Field, Barbara Foster, Jeffrey Freeman, Richard Haydon, John O Shea, Peter Pollak, Stephen Rabin, Andrew Rochford, Robert Salmon, Geoffrey Simmons, Daniel Tunkel, Chaggai Weissler. Bass Bill Aldridge, Tim Beasant, Martin Benton, Anthony Cohen, Michael Druce, Jonathan Fenton, Kazuhiro Hiraki, Nick Jackson, James Kennedy, Saul Lanyado, Stuart Luder, Michael McKay, Ashitey Ollenwu, Philip Roth, Peter Strauss, Paul Styles, Gary Tucker, Noah Winiger, Alex Yates.

14 Playing in tonight s concert Violin: Abbie Davis (leader) Richard Vidler Eva Gawkowska Varuni Paranavitane Robert Chatley Sharon Philbey Sian Harrison Rachel Cook Luan Wang Ros Hedley-Miller Nick Roberts Amanda Bass Viola: Juleka Nwankwo Nilanthi Kelsey Paul Silverman Anna McKane Freda Ward Oboe: Lysander Tennant Rebecca Whitehouse Flute: Corinne Bass Pamela Pecko Smith Cello: Tom Martin Milo Anderson Hilary Wood Eva Alberman Szymon Pawlas Bassoon: Rebecca Thorne John Wingfield Trumpet: Giles Taylor Continuo: Ian Shaw Horn: Alan Byers Joe Huybens Clarinet: Simon Lee se Myles Wakelin-Harkett Timpani: Ellie Wood Trombone: Ben Cater Frances Reynolds William Petter It is with great sadness that we learnt recently of the death of William Petter, who many of you may remember was a regular soloist in our concerts. William also led some of our rehearsals and we will remember him as a warm, intelligent and inspiring conductor as well as a very fine singer.

15 Music is the universal language of mankind Henry Wadsworth Longfellow May the Zemel & Royal Free Choirs continue to speak to everyone for many years to come! The Ostrich Charitable Trust The Royal Free Music Society would like to thank their loyal Patrons: Adrian Cahill, Billy Elkins, Patsy Henley and David Gluckman HACKETTS HAIRDRESSERS I cut, style & colour all types of hair. All my shampoos and colouring treatments use the finest organic products. SUSAN HACKETT 23 PRINCESS ROAD LONDON NW1 8JR Tel

16 Future Zemel events / concerts: Come and Sing, November 27th; January 15th; February 12th; March 19th; June 11th followed by concert. Open to all. For further details, contact: comeandsing@zemelchoir.org Holocaust Memorial Day, January 29th 2017, Middlesex University, NW4, London Borough of Barnet. European Jewish Choral Festival in St Petersburg, 5-10th July Future RFMS concerts: Spring Concert: Haydn s Nelson Mass, Saturday 25th March Summer Concert with the Beckenham Big Band, Saturday 24th June Autumn Concert: Allegri s Miserere and Mozart s Requiem in D Minor, Saturday 11th November 2017.