Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and Seventh Symphony
Saturday 24 September, 7.30pm
St Thomas Church, Lymington
Programme
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Emperor’
Interval
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
Solent Music Festival Orchestra
Sam Haywood, piano
Rebecca Tong, conductor
This programme is in honour of my late grandmother. These were her two favourite Beethoven works, to which we often listed together in her Lake District cottage. Many thanks to Katherine Spencer who has invited some of the top orchestral players in the country to form the Solent Music Festival Orchestra. We are delighted that Rebecca Tong, winner of the prestigious La Maestra conducting competition in Paris, will be conducting these two pillars of the classical music repertoire.
Sam Haywood, SMF Artistic Director
Rebecca Tong
Rebecca is Resident Conductor of Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra and is Artistic Director and Music Director of Ensemble Kontemporer, Jakarta (her home city). Rebecca recently completed her two-year tenure as Junior Fellow in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, and previously studied at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. During her studies, Rebecca worked extensively in assisting the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, Rebecca frequently collaborates with the Hallé Orchestra and Manchester Camerata.
The 20/21 season features debuts with Orchestre de Paris, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie and Paris Mozart Orchestra.
Rebecca participates in mentorships and assistantships under Tugan Sokhiev, Pablo Heras-Casado, Marin Alsop, Sir Mark Elder, Case Scaglione and Leon Fleischer, among many others.
Rebecca recently awarded First Prize, French Concert Halls & Orchestras Prize and the ARTE Prize at the inaugural La Maestra Competition 2020.
Sam Haywood
Sam Haywood has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philharmonie de Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus and the Wigmore Hall. The New York Times hailed his ‘Passionate flair and sparkling clarity’ and the Washington Post his ‘dazzling, evocative playing’. He has a special fondness for Indonesia, where he has performed and taught for many years.
He embraces a wide spectrum of the piano repertoire and is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician or working with singers. He has toured extensively as a duo with American violinist Joshua Bell and also with cellist Steven Isserlis.
He has composed several instrumental miniatures, including ‘The Other Side’, first performed at the Konzerthaus in Vienna. His Song of the Penguins for bassoon and piano, dedicated to Roger Birnstingl, is published by Emerson Editions. He is currently working on a commission for piano and string quartet.
Passionate about early instruments, Haywood recorded a Chopin album on the composer’s own Pleyel piano, part of the Cobbe Collection, to celebrate his bicentenary in 2010. Other recordings include Stanford’s Preludes and the piano works of Julius Isserlis for Hyperion Records. For Sony he has recorded a selection of works by the child prodigy Alma Deutscher and he also features on Joshua Bell’s ‘Musical Gifts’ album.
This season he will be performing concerti, solo recitals and chamber music in UK, South America, Germany, Greece and Korea. Recording projects will include albums for Warner Classics and Deux-Elles, as well as a live broadcast for BBC Radio.
Haywood is also Artistic Director and co-founder of the Solent Music Festival, which takes place annually in the beautiful sailing town of Lymington, UK. 2022 will mark the festival’s tenth anniversary.
