

Friday 27 September 2024
7.30pm
Barbican Hall
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Ludovic Morlot conductor
Vicente Chavarría chorus master
Alannah Makoni saxophone
Seohyun Go soprano
Gity Razaz
Mother
Mozart
Symphony No 41, K551 ‘Jupiter’
Interval
Lili Boulanger
D’un matin de printemps
Debussy
Rhapsody for Saxophone and Orchestra
Poulenc
Gloria
In this programme:
The performance duration is approximately 1 hour 55 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.
Digital Programmes at Guildhall School
Please silence your device and lower the brightness of your display.
This digital programme is intended for mobile devices, and may be viewed throughout the performance. If you would prefer to bring a hard copy with you, please download a printer-friendly version below:
Do you have thoughts on our recent switch to digital programmes? Fill out our Audience Feedback Form.
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Founded in 1880 by the City of London Corporation
Chair of the Board of Governors
The Hon. Emily Benn
Principal
Professor Jonathan Vaughan
Vice-Principal & Director of Music
Armin Zanner
Please visit our website at gsmd.ac.uk

Guildhall School is provided by the City of London Corporation as part of its contribution to the cultural life of London and the nation.
Barbican
Please make sure that digital watch alarms and mobile phones are silenced during the performance. Please try not to cough until the normal breaks in the performance. In accordance with the requirements of the licensing authority, it is not permitted to stand or sit in any gangway. No smoking, eating or drinking is allowed in the auditorium. No cameras or any other recording equipment may be taken into the hall.
Barbican Centre
Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS
Administration: 020 7638 4141
Box Office Telephone Bookings:
020 7638 8891 (9am–8pm daily: booking fee)
barbican.org.uk


Welcome
Welcome to Guildhall Symphony Orchestra’s season launch. You join us at the start of the academic year, a time when the corridors of Guildhall are abuzz as new friendships are made and new collaborations begin. Students are getting to know their teachers. They are finding out about the music-making that awaits them in the months ahead. And after a whirlwind few days of rehearsal, they are meeting you – our audience – for the first time together.
Our concert tonight captures the excitement, energy and optimism that we feel as the year begins. The opening piece, Mother, by Gity Razaz, sets the tone. As the composer herself writes, it celebrates nature and it celebrates life. Later in the programme, the freshness of the new is evoked in Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps and with the improvisatory, experimental Rhapsody for Saxophone and Orchestra by Claude Debussy.
At the core of the evening is the symphony that would turn out to be Mozart’s last, his ‘Jupiter’ Symphony, an endlessly inventive, forward-looking work, prophetic of the evolution of symphonic form. Nicknamed after the king of the Roman gods for its grandeur, it is commonly the climax of an orchestral programme, but not so this evening. Instead, we have a choir of new students joining the orchestra onstage for a grand finale of a different kind, Francis Poulenc’s exultant, celebratory and playful Gloria.
We are delighted to welcome conductor Ludovic Morlot to Guildhall School for the first time, and it is a particular pleasure to introduce two student soloists, saxophonist Alannah Makoni and soprano Seohyun Go. I wish you a joyful evening and hope you will be inspired to return for more of our performances throughout the coming year. The events pages on our website list the full, extraordinary range of what is to come.
Armin Zanner
Vice-Principal & Director of Music

Photo credit: Ronald Andrew Schvarztman
Gity Razaz (b. 1986)
Mother (2021)
5 minutes
The ‘Mother’ evoked in this piece by Iranian-born, US-based composer Gity Razaz is Mother Earth. The work, she says, is “an ecstatic tribute to nature’s elegance and eternal resilience”. Aptly, echoes of the ravages of nature were on view at its premiere, at the Last Night of the Proms in 2021, where social distancing was still in place onstage among the orchestral players and audience members had to show proof of vaccination.
At the time of writing Razaz was conscious of the devastating results of climate change – wildfires stretching from Alaska to Australia, drought in California and concerns for water security in the Middle East. Consequently she saw Mother as “a salvatory piece about the exquisite majesty of our natural world. I wanted to write something that uplifts our spirits and reminds us of the beauty and preciousness of nature, and hopefully propels us to take more serious and proactive steps in protecting our planet.”
Right from the gently unfurling horn theme and shimmering strings at the start, there’s a sense of nature awakening, even of dawn breaking. This theme merges and develops – along with another spiky, barn-dance-like idea – over a verdant bed of life-giving rhythm.
The music takes a darker turn with nervous, urgent strings joined by the military overtones of the snare drum, and the energy builds, fuelled in part by a clatter of cowbells and sleigh bells. Beauty never leaves the frame and, even though the tension builds, it is dissipated by a delicate oasis of twinkling glockenspiel and rippling harp. The two themes – horn and dance – return entwined before an upbeat conclusion that bears out Razaz’s intention that her piece is “at its essence, a celebration of life”.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 91)
Symphony No 41, K551 ‘Jupiter’ (1788)
I. Allegro vivace
II. Andante cantabile
III. Menuetto and Trio: Allegretto
IV. Molto allegro
33 minutes
Mozart composed only six symphonies after his move from Salzburg to Vienna. By contrast he produced 16 piano concertos during this last decade of his life and ten operas. (He also worked on his two great sacred works, the Mass in C minor and Requiem, though they remained incomplete at his death.) Of these six Viennese symphonies, the last three – Nos 39–41 – were written within a matter of weeks in the summer of 1788.
At the end of the previous year Mozart had been appointed by Joseph II to the modest court position of Kammermusikus (Imperial Chamber Composer) but all the same his financial situation was precarious, and he continued his succession of moves into ever cheaper accommodation. In June 1788 he moved out to the suburb of Alsergrund and around this time he wrote a series of increasingly desperate begging letters, including to the textile merchant and fellow Freemason Michael Puchberg. On 17 June 1788 Mozart wrote to Puchberg asking him “to assist me for a year or two with one or two thousand gulden”, partly to alleviate the burden of everyday expenses and partly to enable him to “work with a mind more free from care and with a lighter heart”.
Mozart’s final symphony, No 41, gives no hint of his unstable position at the time. The nickname ‘Jupiter’, evoking the Roman king of the gods, first appeared in the 1820s and may arise from the military pomp of the first movement. But the elemental, stormy expression here is countered by moments of sweetness, lyricism and good humour.
The Andante opens with a song-like theme on muted violins, later passed to cellos and basses, though this alternates with darker outbursts underpinned by unsettling off-beat syncopations.
The Minuet is a typically elegant dance in triple time but makes a feature of unusual downward-sliding chromatic woodwind lines. The Trio section sets up a flirtatious question-and-answer between a harmonic cadence (two-chord sequence) and a chirpy melodic extension of it.
Mozart’s inventiveness and ingenuity is proudly showcased in the finale. The fund of thematic ideas is unusually profuse, beginning with a four-note motif (do–re–fa–mi) borrowed from a medieval plainchant, which Mozart (and other composers) quoted in other works. In the breathtaking concluding coda, Mozart weaves together five of these ideas with awe-inspiring skill in a fugal section. Whether or not he knew that this symphony would be his last, there could be no greater display to mark the end of his symphonic odyssey.

Lili Boulanger (1893 – 1918)
D’un matin de printemps (1917 – 18, orch. 1918)
5 minutes
There’s no doubt that, had Lili Boulanger lived beyond her tragically short years, she would have become one of France’s most prominent 20th-century composers, joining Debussy, Satie, Ravel, Poulenc and others. Sick as a child, she died aged only 24 from intestinal tuberculosis, but not before becoming the first female winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome and producing a number of important works – including settings of Psalms 24 and 140, and a haunting Pie Jesu. An opera based on Maeterlinck’s play Le princesse Maleine was left tantalisingly unfinished at her death.
Written in the last year of her life, D’un matin de printemps (‘Of a Spring Morning’) was initially written in 1917 for violin and piano, but she later made arrangements for piano trio as well as for orchestra. It was composed alongside a companion piece, the more sombre D’un soir triste (‘Of a Sad Evening’).
The overall mood is set by the perky opening flute theme, accompanied by sleigh-bell-like chords in the strings. A masterstroke revealing the depth of Boulanger’s aural imagination, the following dark, elastic transition – marked by slinking woodwind (including a bass clarinet) – leads to a new, more lyrical theme. Beginning in the violins and soon answered by a solo cello, this blossoms effusively, sweeping over the entire orchestra before a sharp return of the playful first theme (oboe, answered by bassoon). After the delicate balletic interplay of two solo violins, the first theme returns briefly again before warm-toned violas slide in with a new, smoother, more expressive cousin of it. A lively ebullience, and Boulanger’s skilful orchestral colouring, shine through the remainder of the piece, completely masking the terminal illness endured by the composer at the time of composition.

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
Rhapsody for Saxophone and Orchestra (1903)
Alannah Makoni saxophone
10 minutes
“The saxophone is an animal with a reed about which I know very little,” wrote Debussy to a friend as he worked on his Rhapsody for Saxophone and Orchestra. The composer did little to hide his disdain for the “ridiculous” instrument – or indeed for the commissioner, Boston-based Elise Hall, the widow of a successful physician and herself an amateur saxophone player, whom he called “the Saxophone Lady”.
It’s hardly surprising that Debussy struggled with the composition. He completed it two years late – admitting that the piece had been “ordered, paid for and [its proceeds] eaten more than a year ago” – and left it in short score. Hall never played or heard it, and it was published only in 1919, the year after Debussy’s death, after the composer’s widow entrusted his friend Jean Roger-Ducasse to prepare a full score.
Thankfully Debussy’s indifference seems absent in the final work. Indeed, he took care in his scoring to avoid the saxophone being obscured by the orchestra.
After a brief airy introduction, the saxophone enters with a languorous preamble, echoing the suppleness of the flute solo at the start of the earlier Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894), before finding its feet in a new melody. Debussy referred to the piece as a Rhapsodie mauresque (‘Moorish Rhapsody’) and later Rhapsode arabe, and two Spanish dances are prominent. The first is introduced by tambourine and triangle, tripping along with a dotted rhythm. The other, more extrovert dance, alternates triplet and duplet figures. A plus vite (‘faster’) section pushes the pace on, introducing a sense of urgency. The writing for saxophone is not especially showy – perhaps Debussy kept in mind that he was writing for an amateur – though the instrument receives a gratifying flourish at the end.
It seems that Debussy was in the end satisfied with the result. “Finally, I have made [the saxophone] murmur some melancholy phrases,” he said. If nothing else, he elicited two fees for the work, one from Elise Hall and one from his publisher, and something of the piece’s atmosphere and solo writing appears to have served him for his more famous Première rhapsodie for clarinet and orchestra, written seven years later.
.jpg)
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963)
Gloria (1959 – 60)
I. Gloria
II. Laudamus te
III. Domine Deus
IV. Dominus Fili unigenite
V. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei
VI. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris
Seohyun Go soprano
22 minutes
In a letter to his friend and musical collaborator Pierre Bernac, Poulenc reported that, on arriving late to the first chorus rehearsal, in Boston, ahead of the premiere of his Gloria, he “heard something so unlike my work that my legs collapsed under me”. He went on: “Excellent chorus, but … these good Protestants sing on tiptoe (especially the women) like in London with an ‘Oh my Lord!’ perspective. All [conductor Charles] Munch’s tempos were wrong. A volunteer sang [soprano soloist Adele] Addison’s part (she hadn’t yet arrived) like an out-of-tune goat. A paleface pianist ticked away at the wrong notes.” Poulenc kept quiet until the rehearsal break. Then, after explaining himself and demonstrating by singing, the choir-master, Alfred Nash Patterson, summarised: “So, you want it sung like [French crooner Maurice] Chevalier?” “Exactly,” replied Poulenc.
Poulenc was famously characterised by the music critic Claude Rostand as “half monk, half rascal” and he presented both faces in his Gloria, his penultimate choral work (followed only by the Sept répons de ténèbres) and his last setting in Latin.
There’s a sense of mock pomp in the orchestral introduction to the first-movement ‘Gloria’ but, even though the sprung rhythms of the choir suggest jubilant celebration (‘Glory be to God in the highest’), there remains a tinge of austerity.
A pair of trombones trade circus-clown laughter to open the ‘Laudamus te’, tartly answered by a trio of clarinets. This, along with breathless ‘oom-pah’ accompaniment when the choir enters, along with the deliberately misplaced accents on certain syllables (‘Laudamus TE’, ‘benedicimus TE’) lend this movement a sense of the absurd. A sudden contrast comes with the altos’ deeply prayerful ‘Gratias agimus tibi’ (‘We give thee thanks’) and some wondrous string harmonies, but the pause for reflection is only momentary.
We’re back to Poulenc the monk with the ‘Domine Deus’, one of three movements to feature the soprano soloist. Adele Addison, who sang at the premiere, was “to die for”, Poulenc said, also noting the “warm purity” of her voice. The mood here is mournful, processional. There may even be a touch of Gothic angst, yet all this appears sincere and untouched by irony. (Or do the horns, at the very last opportunity, gently beg to differ?)
The brief ‘Domine Fili unigenite’ is straightforwardly ebullient but the following ‘Domine Deus, Agnus Dei’ introduces other-worldly harmonies as well as an ominous underlying tick-tocking movement. The solo soprano’s phrases contrast strange, unsettling mystery (‘Domine Deus’) with angelic calm (‘Qui tolis peccata mundi’).
After a powerful declamatory opening, ‘Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris’ continues with contrasting sections of the choir answering each other. Eventually the soprano’s radiant ‘Amen’ prompts a dreamlike heavenly vision, interrupted only by a brief final plea of ‘Miserere nobis’ (‘Have mercy upon us’) before the final, calming Amens.
Programme Notes © Edward Bhesania

Photo credit: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
Ludovic Morlot
conductor
Ludovic Morlot is Music Director of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. He was Music Director of Seattle Symphony from 2011–2019, where he earned the orchestra five Grammy Awards, and now conducts several weeks every season as Conductor Emeritus. He was Associate Artist of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra 2019–2024. He was Artistic Director and a founding member of the National Youth Orchestra of China 2017–2021 and Chief Conductor of La Monnaie from 2012–2014.
In 2024/25 Morlot takes the Barcelona Symphony to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Aix Easter Festival and to l’Auditorium in his home city of Lyon, on the back of their successes together last season at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Konserthuset Stockholm. They continue their acclaimed Ravel CD cycle and champion the best of the Catalan composers on the orchestra’s own label, and repeat their hugely popular Clàssica a la Platja (‘Classics on the Beach’) series. Guest highlights include a return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boulez celebrations at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall with the BBC Philharmonic, and two opera productions – Pelléas et Mélisande at Dallas Opera and Part 2 of Les Troyens at Seattle Opera, where in the past three seasons he has had great success with Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Samson et Dalila.
Morlot has guested with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Czech Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, London Philharmonic and Budapest Festival orchestras, and with many leading North American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestras. He also appears extensively in Asia and Australasia, notably with the Seoul Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. Festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Wien Modern, Edinburgh, Aspen, and Grant Park festivals.
Ludovic Morlot is represented by Intermusica.

Photo credit: Matthew Tate
Vicente Chavarría
chorus master
Conductor, composer and scholar Vicente Chavarría studied in the USA and Belgium before settling in London. He currently serves as Principal Conductor/Musical Director of Manchester Chamber Choir, The Handful Chamber Choir (Bath), Bowes Park Community Choir and Director of the early music ensemble Lilium Convallium. He has prepared choirs for John Wilson and BBC Philharmonic, Stéphane Denève and the BBC Symphony Chorus (as deputy), Constanza Chorus, and makes his Guildhall School debut this evening, preparing the Chorus for Ludovic Morlot.
Vicente was most recently the Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Fellow at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance and Co-Musical Director of Trinity Laban Opera. He studied Orchestral Conducting with Peter Stark, Howard Williams and Martyn Brabbins at the Royal College of Music, assisting Vladimir Ashkenazy, Bernard Haitink, Holly Mathieson and Andrew Gourlay, among others. He was the Assistant Conductor of the RCM Opera Studio under Michael Rosewell, whom he also assisted at English Touring Opera. He has worked with the Lavenham Sinfonia, Oxford University Orchestra, Colne Philharmonic, Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra, Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra and Croydon Youth Orchestra, and participated in masterclasses with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Salomon Orchestra.
A versatile musician, Vicente maintains an active freelance performing schedule. He sings with Dowland Works (with Dame Emma Kirkby), Mosaic Voices, St Martin’s Voices and the BBC Symphony Chorus, and is a Deputy Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. He has previously performed with LASchola, Bach Collegium San Diego, Boston Camerata and Park Collegium in Belgium, among many others. A pupil of Morten Lauridsen and Haris Kittos, his compositions and arrangements have been performed around the world and are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Alliance Music, Oxford University Press and Augsburg Fortress.
Chavarría holds previous degrees in Musicology, Early Music and Spanish from the Universities of Miami and Southern California in the USA, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Leuven in Belgium. In his spare time, he enjoys relaxing hobbies such as cooking and plane-spotting, and is a budding podcaster.

Alannah Makoni
saxophone
Alannah Makoni is in her final year on the Bachelor of Music course at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. As a chamber and orchestral musician, she has performed at Cadogan Hall, The London Palladium and Theatre Royal Drury Lane with the Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST) Orchestra. She has also performed in venues such as Ely Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral and Temple Church with the Guildhall School Saxophone Ensemble.
Initially playing flute, Alannah started saxophone studies aged 13 and quickly became enamoured with the instrument. She has studied with Felicity Gorst and Sarah James, and is currently studying with Naomi Sullivan, Nick Moss and Mick Foster.
In 2024, Alannah gave the UK premiere of Joel Love's The Manitou Incline, and performed in new saxophone ensemble works by Christian Forshaw. Alannah has a strong interest in music for saxophone and electronics, as well as composing and arranging, and plans to continue exploring the saxophone’s potential in new music, innovative arrangements and collaborations.
Alannah has participated in masterclasses by internationally renowned artists such as Claude Delange, Trish Clowes, Clare Loveday, Christoph Enzel, João Pedro Silva, Henrique Portovedo, Richard Ingham and Huw Wiggin.
Alannah’s debut at Barbican Hall this evening is the culmination of her exploration into the Impressionist movement, which evolved just as the saxophone was finding its voice as a solo instrument, and she is excited to perform a piece which celebrates a strong legacy of female saxophonists. Debussy’s Rhapsody was commissioned in 1901 by Elise Hall, a pioneering figure in expanding the repertoire for saxophone and orchestra at the turn of the 20th-century.

Seohyun Go
soprano
Soprano Seohyun Go, originally from South Korea, is an accomplished young artist known for her versatility and expressiveness. She earned her Bachelor of Music from Seoul National University and went on to pursue advanced studies in Europe. In 2023/24, she began her Master's degree in Vocal Studies at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and is now continuing in Opera Studies, studying with Samantha Malk. Seohyun’s studies at Guildhall School are supported by the Margaret Easton Scholarship and the Fishmongers Colyers-Edwards Bequest.
In 2024, Seohyun's talent was recognised with Guildhall School’s Franz-Schubert-Institut Lieder Prize, for which she received a scholarship to study at the Franz-Schubert-Institut in Baden, Austria. Her operatic achievements include being selected as an Opera Studio Member at the Korean National Opera (KNO) in both 2021 and 2023. With KNO, she performed in productions including their Spring Gala Festival and Don Giovanni.
Seohyun was chosen as a Summer Young Artist at the Daejeon Art Centre, where she gave a recital and performed in the Daejeon International Music Festival and Opera Gala Concert. Her international performances have also taken her to notable venues and festivals, including concerts in Vienna, Zürich and Gloggnitz, Austria.
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra
Razaz & Mozart:
Violin I
Ola Lenkiewicz*
Laia Francés Pont
Elena Toledo
Rowan Dymott
Kate Simpson
Isabelle Allan
Niko Peake
Clemmy Germain
Gwyneth Nelmes^
Paula Guerra^
Violin II
Helena Thomas*
Pak Ho Hong
Lewis Lee
Sophia Kannathasan
Teresa Wiczkowska
Lichen Cai
Grace Powell
Tanya Perez Jovetic
Ho Chun Yuen
Viola
Jake Montgomery-Smith*
Rebekah Dickinson
Sean Lee
Emily Clark
Sirma Baramova
Connor Quigley
Charlie Potts
Cello
Theo Bently Curtin*
Caleb Curtis
Seth Collin
Anoukia Nistor
Eryna Kisumba
Lottie Gorrie
Double Bass
Tom Mahoney*
Aaron Aguayo Juarez
Caetano Oliveira
Flute
Justyna Szynkarczyk*
Rachel Howie (piccolo)
Oboe
Elly Barlow*
Lidia Moscoso
Clarinet
Sofia Mekhonoshina*
Margot Maurel (bass clarinet)
Bassoon
Aidan Campbell*
Maria O'Dea
Horn
Henry Ward*
Niamh Rodgers
Trumpet
Seb Carpenter*
Parker Bruce
Timpani
Bryony Che
Percussion
Ava Kinninmonth*
Cláudia Gonçalves
Harp
Eleanor Medcalf*
Emily Hopper
Boulanger, Debussy & Poulenc:
Violin I
Ola Lenkiewicz*
Laia Francés Pont
Lewis Lee
Sophia Kannathasan
Teresa Wiczkowska
Lichen Cai
Grace Powell
Tanya Perez Jovetic
Malena Benavent
Dominic Drutac
Gwyneth Nelmes^
Luke Doyle
Ho Chun Yuen
Anson Kwong
Violin II
Helena Thomas*
Pak Ho Hong
Elena Toledo
Rowan Dymott
Kate Simpson
Isabelle Allan
Niko Peake
Clemmy Germain
Paula Guerra^
Argyro Meleniou
Yuno Akiyama
Selina Li
Viola
Jake Montgomery-Smith*
Rebekah Dickinson
Sean Lee
Emily Clark
Sirma Baramova
Connor Quigley
Charlie Potts
Lydia Atkinson
Min Shim
Cello
Theo Bently Curtin*
Caleb Curtis
Seth Collin
Anoukia Nistor
Eryna Kisumba
Lottie Gorrie
Jack Moyer
Kit Cookson
Double Bass
Tom Mahoney*
Aaron Aguayo Juarez
Caetano Oliveira
Fabian Galeana^
Suliac Maheu^
Flute
Hanna Wozniak*
Tamsin Reed (piccolo)
Piccolo
Jessie-May Wilson
Oboe
Daisy Lihoreau*
Cameron Hutchinson
Cor anglais
Theo Chapple
Clarinet
Beñat Erro Díez*
Margot Maurel
Bass Clarinet
Kathryn Titcomb
Bassoon
Sarah Byrne*
Miriam Alperovich
Contrabassoon
Aidan Campbell
Horn
Sarah Pennington*
Alice Warburton
Dan Hibbert
Freya Campbell
Ima Kirkwood
Trumpet
Samuel Tarlton*
Freya Mallinson
Sean Hartman
Trombone
Ben Loska*
Andy Leeming
Bass Trombone
Alex Froggatt
Tuba
Stanley Aitken
Timpani
Bryony Che
Percussion
Cláudia Gonçalves*
Lauren Bye
Harp
Boulanger & Debussy:
Emily Hopper
Poulenc:
Eleanor Medcalf
Celeste
Natalia Medina
* section principal
^ guest Alumni player
Names and seating correct at time of publication.
Ensembles, Programming
& Instrument Manager
Phil Sizer
Orchestra Librarian
Anthony Wilson
Music Stage, Logistics & Instrument Manager
Kevin Elwick
Music Stage Supervisors
Shakeel Mohammed
Louis Baily
Guildhall Symphony Chorus
Soprano
Alix Hamilton
Anais Manz
Annabel Bigland*
Bella Jones
Bridget Li
Caitlin Carey
Freya McGrath
Hannah McKay
Hayley Meth
Inês Cardoso Reis Madureira
Jemima Inman
Katharina Russell
Kayla Raschke*
Kehan Wu
Lowri Probert*
Manon Ogwen Parry*
Mengyixuan Qi
Niamh Murphy
Ona Cerniauskaite
Ruijun Peng
Sayuri Okunushi
Sofja Aigner
Xinyu Liu
Yucan Ye
Zixin Chen
Alto
Amelie Budd
Anna Bailey
Anna Smith
Avery Lafrentz*
Becky Haisell
Cailin Haq
Cara Murphy
Carla Fernandes
Charlotte Hall
Emily Plumb
Enxi Lai
Eva Stone-Barney
Gabriella Noble*
Georgina Cohu
Julia Solomon*
Katie Parker
Kelan Lynch
Kendra Barron
Kia Lares
Kiera Exall
Kiki Xu
Kirsty Gadd
Laura Leigh
Louisa Stuart-Smith*
Lucy Cooke
Man Nghi Trinh
Maria Jiminez
Miriam Briggs
Miriam Cooper
Naomi Drew
Piexin Nie
Pip Tall
Roei Shafrir
Sinéad Carroll
Sofia Gallego Kent
Sum Yin Ng
Veronica O'Keeffe
Yitong Chen
Tenor
Alexandre Allix*
Archie Playdon
Charles Secombe
Harry Jacques*
Ignas Dambrauskas
Jack Stone
Mark Ziying Zang
Max Robbins
Oscar Zhou
Paul St-Georges
Tarun Mammen
Thomas Pinnell
Tobias Campos Santiñaque*
Tom Hornby
William Prasetyo*
Yuyang Tian
Bass
Alex Anderson
Alex Dakin
Ali Ayaz
Ben Adams
Billy Harrold
Daniel Wald
Edison Zhou
Frank Walker
Henry Ward
Ivan Rodriguez Deb
Izaac Wilson
Jamie Cadden
Jan-Magnar Gard
Louis Mintrim
Matias Carbonetti Schwanek
Max Catalano*
Niall Townley
Oliver Brown
Ollie Williams*
Owen McClay
Redmond Sanders*
Sam Snelgrove
Samuel Beddard
Sonny Fielding*
Sylvain Murphy
Twm Tegid Brunton
Victor Dutor Davidson
William Lui
Yianni Frantzeskakis
Yonatan Meirow
Zany Denyer
* semichorus
Names correct at time of publication.
Thanks
We are grateful to Chorus Master Vicente Chavarría, Deputy Chorus Master and rehearsal pianist Richard Pearce, and rehearsal pianist Gavin Roberts for all their work in preparing the Chorus. We also thank Linnhe Robertson for her preparatory work towards the project, vocal coach Elizabeth Marcus for supporting the preparations of the Poulenc soloist and Georgie Malcolm and Reuben Dakin for acting as cover soloists for Poulenc and Debussy respectively.
Special thanks to conductor Toby Thatcher for helping to prepare the orchestra and to each of the following sectional tutors provided by the London Symphony Orchestra:
Harriet Rayfield violin I
Miya Väisänen violin II
Germán Clavijo viola
Alastair Blayden cello
Tom Goodman double bass
Helen Tunstall harp
Simon Carrington timpani & percussion; wind, brass, percussion & harp
David Jackson wind, brass, percussion & harp
Paul Milner wind, brass, percussion & harp
Trish Moynihan wind, brass, percussion & harp

Forthcoming Events
Die Fledermaus
4 – 11 November
Silk Street Theatre
150 years after its premiere in Vienna, Johann Strauss II’s exuberant comedy comes to Silk Street, directed by Ashley Dean and conducted by Dominic Wheeler. Set to some of the composer’s most memorable melodies, this exuberant comedy will whisk you to a party brimming with mischief, misunderstandings and mistaken identity.
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra: The Planets
Wednesday 20 November
Barbican Hall
Alpesh Chauhan leads Guildhall Symphony Orchestra in an out-of-this-world programme including Thomas Adès’ Polaris and Holst’s iconic Planets suite in the composer’s 150th anniversary year.
The Nutcracker and I
Tuesday 26 November
Milton Court Concert Hall
A pianist, a ballerina and state-of-the-art digital animations – this 21st-century take on a seasonal classic is a treat for all ages. Join us to celebrate the 100th performance of this stunning, internationally acclaimed production by Guildhall alumna Alexandra Dariescu.
Guildhall School Music Administration
Head of Music Administration
James Alexander
Deputy Head of Music Administration (Planning)
Sophie Hills
Deputy Head of Music Administration
(Admissions & Assessment)
Jen Pitkin
Concert Piano Technicians
JP Williams
Patrick Symes
ASIMUT & Music Timetable Manager
Graeme Booth
External Engagements Manager
Jo Cooper
Student Compliance & ASIMUT Performance and Events Systems Manager
João Costa
Strings & Music Therapy Manager
Liam Donegan
Music Concert Programmes & Performance Data Manager
Lindsey Eastham
Music Stage, Logistics & Instrument Manager
Kevin Elwick
UG Academic Studies, Composition & Keyboard Departments Manager
James Long
Opera Department Manager
Brendan Macdonald
Electronic & Produced Music and Collaborative Electives Manager
Barnaby Medland
Music Stage Supervisors
Shakeel Mohammed
Louis Baily
WBP & Historical Performance Manager
Michal Rogalski
PG Music Studies & Chamber Music Manager
Nora Salmon
Jazz & Supplementary Studies Manager
Corinna Sanett
Ensembles, Programming & Instrument Manager
Phil Sizer
Senior Music Office Administrator & EA to the Director of Music & Head of Music Administration
Peter Smith
Music Admissions Manager
Owen Stagg
Vocal Department Manager
Michael Wardell
Jazz Programming Ensembles Manager
Adam Williams
Guildhall School is grateful for the generous support of the following individuals, trusts and foundations, City livery companies and businesses, as well as those who wish to remain anonymous.
Exceptional Giving
City of London Corporation
The Guildhall School Trust
The Leverhulme Trust
Estate of Evelyn Morrison
Leadership Giving
Victor Ford Foundation
Foyle Foundation
The Garek Trust
Estate of Anthony Payne
Estate of Rosemary Thayer
Hugh Vanstone HonFGS and George Stiles
Wolfson Foundation
Principal Benefactors
Amar-Franses & Foster-Jenkins Trust
Foundation for Young Musicians
Christina and Ray McGrath Scholarship
Estate of Ron Peet
Estate of Harold Tillek
Garfield Weston Foundation
Major Benefactors
City of London Corporation Education Board
Fishmongers’ Company
Norman Gee Foundation
Leathersellers’ Company
Herbert and Theresie Lowit Memorial Scholarship
Sidney Perry Foundation
Barbara Reynold Award
Henry Wood Accommodation Trust
C and P Young HonFGS
Benefactors
Jane Ades Ingenuity Scholarship
Carrie Andrews
Athena Scholarship
David Bartley Award
Behrens Foundation
Binks Trust
Sir Nicolas Bratza
Timothy Brennan KC
Derek Butler Scholarship
Dow Clewer Foundation
Sally Cohen Opera Scholarship
Brian George Coker Scholarship
The Cole Bequest
Stella Currie Award
D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust
Elmira Darvarova
David Family Foundation
Gita de la Fuente Scholarship
Drapers’ Company
Margaret Easton Scholarships
Amy and John Ford HonFGS
Lillian and Victor Ford Scholarships for Drama
Bishop Fox’s Educational Foundation
Albert and Eugenie Frost Music Trust CIO
Mortimer Furber Scholarship
Gillam Giving Circle Scholarship
Girdlers’ Company Charitable Trust
Ralph Goode Award
Haberdashers’ Company
Huddersfield 1980 Scholarship
Elaine Hugh-Jones Scholarship
Professor Sir Barry Ife CBE FKC and Dr Trudi Darby
Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust
Damian Lewis CBE FGS
Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation
Alfred Molina FGS
Ann Orton
David and Margaret Phillips Bursary
Ripple Awards
Dr Leslie Schulz
Scouloudi Foundation
Skinners’ Company
South Square Trust
Graham Spooner
Barbara Stringer Scholarship
Rosemary Thayer Scholarship
Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Trade Benevolent Fund
Frederic William Trevena Award
Edith Vogel Bursary
Wallis Award
Roderick Williams/Christopher Wood Scholarship
Elizabeth Wolfe Award
Worshipful Company of Carpenters
Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors
Worshipful Company of Grocers
Worshipful Company of Innholders
Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers
Worshipful Company of Weavers
Supporters
Margaret B Adams Award
Adelaide E Alexander Memorial Scholarship
Alexander Technique Fund
Anglo-Swedish Society
George and Charlotte Balfour Award
Peter Barkworth Scholarship
Brendan Barns
Maria Björnson Memorial Fund
Board of Governors’ Scholarship
Ann Bradley
William Brake Foundation
Liz Codd
John S Cohen Foundation
Noël Coward Foundation
Diana Devlin Award
Dominus and the Ahluwalia Family
Robert Easton Scholarship
Gwyn Ellis Award
Marianne Falk
Carey Foley Acting Scholarship
Gillian Gadsby
Iris Galley Award
Andrew Galloway
James Gibb Award
Dr Jacqueline Glomski
Hargreaves and Ball Trust
Hazell Scholarship Fund
Ironmongers’ Company
Gillian Laidlaw HonFGS
Eduard and Marianna Loeser Award
Alison Love – in memory of Barry MacDonald
Mackintosh Foundation
Marchus Trust
Narrow Road
Norwich Chamber Music
NR1 Creatives
The Pewterers’ Seahorse Charitable Trust
Pidem Fund
Peter Prynn
Denis Shorrock Award
Silver Bow Scholarship
Steinway & Sons
Caroline Stockmann LGSM HonFCT
Elizabeth Sweeting Award
Thompson Educational Trust
Louise Thompson Licht Scholarship
Kristina Tonteri-Young Scholarship
HWE & WL Tovery Scholarship
Harry Weinrebe Award
Worshipful Company of Barbers
Worshipful Company of Carmen Benevolent Trust
Worshipful Company of Dyers
Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers
Worshipful Company of Horners
Worshipful Company of Musicians
Worshipful Company of Needlemakers
Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers

Support the future of
the Performing Arts
As one of the top performing arts
institutions in the world, Guildhall School
of Music & Drama relies on your support
to maintain exceptional training for our
students, enabling their success in the
industry post-graduation.
From donating a named scholarship or
dedicating a seat in our venues, to joining
our Patrons’ programme, attending our
gala alongside notable alumni or leaving
a gift in your will, you could make a positive
difference to the next generation of talent.
“Each and every day, I reflect on the amazing
support my scholarship has given me. It
continues to empower me to take up space and
pursue my dream – I am forever thankful.”
– Francesca Gilbert, supported by the
Kristina Tonteri-Young Scholarship and
the Sir John Gielgud Charitable Trust.
To discover more, visit bit.ly/3MXrTGJ
or contact the Development team at
development@gsmd.ac.uk or
+44 (0) 20 4582 2415
Opera Makers (Summer 2023) Photos © David Monteith-Hodge

Donate
We hope you thoroughly enjoy today’s performance at Guildhall School. If you feel inspired by our students and would like to support world-class training for these talented performers and production artists, we would be grateful for a voluntary donation.
Join the Guildhall Circle to access priority booking, exclusive events and more while providing vital support to our students. Join us at gsmd.ac.uk/circle.
Alternatively, you can make your gift using our contactless GoodBox devices located at the Box Office and foyer bars. Thank you.
Please visit our website at gsmd.ac.uk

Guildhall School is provided by the City of London Corporation as part of its contribution to the cultural life of London and the nation.