Classical Source welcomes Marshall Marcus – Southbank Centre’s Head of Music – as the guest writer of the March editorial…
In the 2010-11 classical music season we are continuing to offer in-depth encounters with great music and musicians, with a range and scale of projects unmatched in the UK. Following the success of
Alfred Schnittke: Between Two Worlds and City of Dreams: Vienna 1900-1935 this season, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra celebrate Mahler’s anniversaries with distinct yet equally engaging and thought-provoking approaches. The London Philharmonic Orchestra contributes a unique context to the celebrations with performances of the complete song-cycles, six of the symphonies, Mahler’s arrangements of other composers’ works, and music by Mahler’s contemporaries with a number of conductors, including Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. Lorin Maazel, with over half-a-century of experience conducting Mahler with the world's finest orchestras, leads the Philharmonia Orchestra in a one-man journey through all 10 Mahler symphonies and four major orchestral song-cycles over 10 concerts. Tying these and other Southbank Centre Mahler projects together, Norman Lebrecht curates a series of explorations into the question
Why Mahler?, ranging across a number of areas of contemporary society to investigate the extraordinary modern attraction for the work of Gustav Mahler.
As a sequel to our Bernstein journey with Marin Alsop and Beethoven cycles with Daniel Barenboim, the Takács Quartet and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in the current season, in 2010/11 Southbank Centre turns the spotlight on Helmut Lachenmann, Maurizio Pollini, and Lang Lang, three artists of utterly uncompromising conviction, who, when taken together, speak to an exceptionally broad range of audiences. We also celebrate the unique energy and excitement of young musicians through the performances by the National Youth Orchestra, the exceptional European group Spira Mirabilis, and a variety of artists and ensembles emerging from El Sistema, Venezuela's revolutionary social programme which engages more than 300,000 young people, many of whom are from underprivileged backgrounds. For a chance to re-live the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra’s phenomenally exciting five-day residency in April 2009, which saw 60,000 enthusiastic visitors turning the Royal Festival Hall, we present the UK debut of the younger Teresa Carreńo Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, the national senior school age orchestra of El Sistema. Together with the return of the Simón Bolívar String Quartet and the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble, these young musicians continue to be a great inspiration to our audiences and our very own young musicians, especially those taking part in the UK and Lambeth In Harmony project, for which Southbank Centre is a key partner and supporter.
Shell Classic International, Southbank Centre’s season of international visiting orchestras features the UK debuts of the Teresa Carreńo Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Spira Mirabilis as well as return Southbank Centre visits by the Berlin Staatskapelle, Berliner Philharmoniker, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Budapest Festival Orchestra with conductors and soloists including Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Iván Fischer, Stephen Hough, Mariss Jansons, Sir Simon Rattle, Nathalie Stutzmann, Mitsuko Uchida, and Christian Vásquez. The Berlin Philharmoniker project breaks new ground for London in being a unique joint mini residency with Southbank Centre and the Barbican Centre. Apart from its regular series of pianists, the international Piano Series has a major five-concert project from Maurizio Pollini taking audiences on a four-month journey from Bach to Boulez, and Lang Lang will be providing the inspiration for a project which will culminate in May 2011 with a mass of pianos and young pianists across Southbank Centre. The International Chamber Music Season focuses in 2010-11 on encounters with a special range of artists including Sir Simon Rattle, Lang Lang, Mitsuko Uchida, and chamber players from the Berliner Philharmoniker, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestras.
As ever Southbank Centre will be host to a number of significant premieres in 2010-11, many with the London Sinfonietta. Premieres at Southbank Centre will include work from Thomas Adčs, Louis Andriessen, Gerald Barry, Harrison Birtwistle, Matteo D’Amico, Brett Dean, Peter Eötvös, Magnus Lindberg, Colin Matthews, James MacMillan and Robert Saxton. New audience initiatives include a return of the Klaus Obermair’s Rites project, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Night Shift Series, a Lang Lang young pianists weekend, a new series of club concerts featuring artist in residence Oliver Coates, a new series of ‘Ways In’ concert packages, performances as part of our
Imagine Festival, and free events including
Friday Lunch and the Philharmonia’s Music of Today series. Full details of all these projects will be available in our Classical Music Guide for 2010-11, which will be hitting the racks at Southbank Centre in mid-April.
Marshall Marcus
Head of Music
Southbank Centre
For The Classical Source
March 2010
In the interests of parity, the next Classical Source editorial will be written by Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director of the Barbican Centre 
