Conductor Grant Llewellyn BBC National Chorus of Wales Greater Gwent Youth Choir (15 Dec) Pupils from Caerleon Comprehensive School, Duffryn High School & St Joseph’s RC School (15 Dec) Pupils from Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School (16 Dec)

Mason, arr. Randol Bass Fanfare: Joy to the World (4’) Handel Messiah – For unto us a child is born (4’) John Rutter Christmas Lullaby (4’) Tchaikovsky Swan Lake – Waltz (5’) Prokofiev Lieutenant Kijé – Troika (4’) Walters Little Camel Boy (5’) Anderson Sleigh Ride (3’) Interval (20’) Rimsky-Korsakov The Snow Maiden – Dance of the Tumblers (4’) Mathias Bell Carol (4’) Vaughan Meakins Stable Carol (4’) Waldteufel Les patineurs (3’) Howard Blake The Snowman – Walking in the Air (3’) Anderson Bugler’s Holiday (3’) Various, arr. Gareth Glyn Christmas Medley audience singalong (5’) Highlights of the concert on 15 December at St David’s Hall will be broadcast on BBC Radio Wales at 6.30pm on 23 December, and at 2pm on 24 December and will be available via the BBC iPlayer for on-demand listening for seven days after broadcast.

Our programme notes are also available to download at bbc.co.uk/now Family notes on tonight’s concert are available from the Orchestra Information Desk.

St David’s Hall, Cardiff & Brangwyn Hall, Swansea 15 & 16 December 2011, 7.30pm

Leader Lesley Hatfield

BBC National Orchestra of Wales Forthcoming concerts St David’s Hall, Cardiff Friday 20 January 2012, 7.30pm RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 1 TCHAIKOVSKY Manfred Conductor Tadaaki Otaka Piano Stephen Hough

Friday 10 February 2012, 7.30pm SIBELIUS Tapiola SIBELIUS Violin Concerto ELGAR The Music Makers Conductor Jac van Steen Violin Akiko Suwanai Mezzo-soprano Jane Irwin BBC National Chorus of Wales

Thursday 1 March 2012, 7.30pm ST DAVID’S DAY GALA GRACE WILLIAMS Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes RODRIGO Concierto de Aranjuez (arr. harp) MORFYDD OWEN Threnody for the Passing of Branwen GARETH GLYN Pedair Hwiangerdd Plus a selection of Welsh songs

Conductor Adrian Partington Harp Catrin Finch Soprano Rosemary Joshua Massed Primary School Choirs

Sunday 4 March 2012, 3.00pm MUSIC NATION CELEBRATION CONCERT SHOSTAKOVICH Festival Overture MICHAEL TORKE Javelin LLOYD COLEMAN Breaking the Wall – excerpt TCHAIKOVSKY Overture ‘1812’ KARL JENKINS Songs of the Earth BBC commission: world premiere Conductors Sian Edwards, Karl Jenkins BBC National Chorus of Wales Massed County Youth Choirs Students from RWCMD & pupils from a local special school

Brangwyn Hall, Swansea Saturday 14 January 2012, 7.30pm STRAVINSKY Symphony in Three Movements LALO Cello Concerto RACHMANINOV Symphonic Dances Conductor Olari Elts Cello Alban Gerhardt

Saturday 11 February 2012, 7.30pm SIBELIUS Tapiola SIBELIUS Violin Concerto ELGAR The Music Makers Conductor Jac van Steen Violin Akiko Suwanai Mezzo-soprano Jane Irwin BBC National Chorus of Wales

Saturday 10 March 2012, 7.30pm RÓSZA Three Hungarian Sketches BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 3 ARRIAGA Los esclavos felices – overture MOZART Symphony No. 41, ‘Jupiter’ Conductor Roberto Minzcuk Piano Lly^ r Williams

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Introduction

Tonight’s programme A warm welcome to tonight’s concert, a musical celebration to get you in the mood for the festive season. Joining the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales are some very fine youth choirs who’ll be lending their voices to pieces both familiar and perhaps not so familiar. It’s a reminder that Christmas is very much a celebration of youth, whether manifested through Handel’s touching ‘For unto us a child is born’ from Messiah or Edmund Walters’s Little Camel Boy. The animals get a look-in too – as you’ll hear in Vaughan Meakins’s Stable Carol! There’s no shortage of seasonal weather either, be it in Howard Blake’s The Snowman, the whirling skaters conjured up in Waldteufel’s Les patineurs or the icy backdrops to the pieces by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. And of course the evening wouldn’t be complete without a bit of a singalong, so don’t be shy: add your voice to Gareth Glyn’s glorious Christmas Medley, ranging from White Christmas (more snow …) to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Which indeed we do!

 lease turn off all mobile phones and digital watches during the performance. P Try to stifle unavoidable coughs until the normal breaks in the performance. Photography and recording is not permitted.

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Programme notes

Lowell Mason (1792–1872), arr. Randol Bass (born 1953)

Fanfare: Joy to the World (2006) BBC National Chorus of Wales Look in certain carol collections and Joy to the World will bear an inscription to George Frideric Handel. His involvement is something of a myth, though: it grew up because the opening line follows the same contour as ‘Glory to God’ and ‘Lift up your heads’ from Messiah. In fact, the tune was assembled by Lowell Mason, the prolific pioneer of church music in New England in the 19th century. With its cascading, bell-like melodic lines it’s perfect for Christmas and has given rise to numerous arrangements, not least among them this fanfare by the American composer Randol Bass.

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)

Messiah (1741) – For unto us a child is born BBC National Chorus of Wales Messiah didn’t take long to become Handel’s greatest hit and even during the composer’s lifetime it demonstrated its phenomenal power, not just to inspire and uplift audiences but also to raise substantial sums for charity (Handel himself mounted annual performances in aid of the Foundling Hospital on Coram’s Fields in what is now the Bloomsbury district of London). In Handel’s time, oratorios were performed during Lent, when staged theatrical (and thus operatic) entertainment was prohibited. However, Christmas became the traditional season for

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Messiah performances, not least because the first part is taken up with the telling of the Christmas story. The words of ‘For unto us a child is born’ are drawn from the prophecy of Isaiah but the music was, for the most part, borrowed from a rather more earthly (and earthy) duet Handel composed during his Italian apprenticeship. The choral voices are thus paired – soprano and tenor, alto and bass – in the music from the duet but come together in rousing four-part affirmation at the words ‘Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace’.

John Rutter (born 1945) Christmas Lullaby (1989)

BBC National Chorus of Wales Greater Gwent Youth Choir (15 Dec) For several decades, John Rutter has been one of the names indelibly linked with Christmas music. Another is David Willcocks, the indefatigable conductor of the Bach Choir for many years – and still going strong as he approaches his 92nd birthday at the end of this month. The two of them co-edited the ‘Carols for Choirs’ series and thus Willcocks’s descants and Rutter’s catchy compositions became part of the fabric of choral Christmases, sung throughout the world and ingrained into the hearts and souls of choirs everywhere. Rutter wrote his deceptively simple Christmas Lullaby for Willcocks’s 70th birthday in 1989 and it was one of the works performed at that year’s traditional Bach Choir Christmas Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Programme notes

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93)

Swan Lake (1876) – Waltz Swan Lake was first performed in 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The same year saw Tchaikovsky’s disastrous marriage to one of his students, Antonina Milyukova. Presumably the composer thought that marriage might deflect attention from (or even ‘cure’) his homosexuality but the reality was horrific: he was driven to a nervous breakdown and fled to Switzerland after only six weeks. Whether it was his fragile emotional state or her fragile mental state that was most to blame is not clear but her dogged pursuit of him and the tumultuousness of their explosive relationship brought about a new depth of drama in Tchaikovsky’s music. The ballet Swan Lake was the first fruit of this but not the only one: during his ‘rest cure’ in Switzerland, he completed the Fourth Symphony – in which dramatic heart-on-sleeve confession infuses his symphonic music for the first time – and conceived his greatest opera, Eugene Onegin. Tchaikovsky managed to find a unique soundworld for each of his three great ballets: thus Swan Lake glories in a glistening, glittering harp-laden score. The Waltz is heard early in Act 1, as a group of village girls step forwards at the coming-of-age party of Prince Siegfried, the male lead. Surprisingly, Swan Lake was not an overwhelming success during the composer’s lifetime; however, it was revived for a memorial concert after Tchaikovsky’s death by the great choreographer Marius Petipa, and it was at this performance that the roles of the white and black swans Odette and Odile were first danced by the same soloist, Pierina Legnani. More recently, Swan Lake has been given new relevance by Matthew

Bourne and his all-male corps de ballet; it also formed the scenario for the film Black Swan, the 2010 psychological thriller.

Sergey Prokofiev (1891–1953) Lieutenant Kijé (1933) – Troika

Like his younger contemporary Shostakovich, Prokofiev maintained a career as a composer of film music alongside his more ‘serious’ musical activities. Lieutenant Kijé was the first film for which he provided music and he was inspired by the somewhat whimsical satirical tale of an imaginary lieutenant, conjured into being via a bureaucratic mishap. A ‘real’ existence has to be dreamt up for the non-existent Kijé, including his wedding and – when the Tsar demands to meet him – his death (with full military honours). Prokofiev’s tuneful suite from the film score has become understandably popular, none of it more so than Kijé’s ride in a troika – a sleigh drawn by three horses side by side and, by extension, a dance for three people imitating the prancing of the horses pulling the sleigh.

Edmund Walters (1930–2003) Little Camel Boy (1973)

Pupils from Caerleon Comprehensive School, Duffryn High School & St Joseph’s RC School (15 Dec) Pupils from Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School (16 Dec) with audience participation in final verse Edmund Walters came up with a nifty way of keeping Christmas carols fresh. Along with lyricist Peter Kennerley, he composed a series of new

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Programme notes

carols which, during the last verse, combine wonderfully in cunning counterpoint with a ‘traditional’ carol melody. Little Camel Boy was composed for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society Carol Concerts in 1973. The children’s choir sings Walters’s gentle song about the camel boy’s journey along the starlit road until, in the final verse, you the audience are invited to join in, humming the melody of Silent Night. You’ll be amazed at the way the two tunes so perfectly and piquantly intertwine!

Leroy Anderson (1908–75) Sleigh Ride (1946–8)

In his consummate craftsmanship and uncanny way with a good tune, Leroy Anderson was the leading composer of American light music in the 20th century. And, like all the best music, his has lived on long after its composer’s death, with hits such as Sleigh Ride, The Typewriter and many more. He was a composer well-schooled in the classical tradition but he decided to eschew the rigorous modernism practised by his contemporaries, realising it was his ability to characterise in a few deft orchestral strokes that made his music so popular. The idea for Sleigh Ride came to him – naturally enough – during a heatwave in July 1946 and, ever the perfectionist, he spent more than a year and a half on the work, completing it in February 1948. It wasn’t conceived specifically for Christmas: in fact, the lyrics, which were added a couple of years later by Mitchell Parish, make no mention of Christmas at all. They do mention pumpkin pie, though, so could this in reality be a Thanksgiving sleigh ride?

Interval: 20 minutes

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Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)

The Snow Maiden (1880–1) – Dance of the Tumblers Winter has exerted a long fascination over Russian composers – not surprising in a country that stretches northwards well into the Arctic Circle and eastwards into the expanses of Siberia. The country’s colourful folklore has also provided a rich vein of inspiration, in works such as Rimsky-Korsakov’s third opera, The Snow Maiden. The title-character, Snegurochka in Russian, is an immortal, the daughter of Frost and Spring Beauty. Their union angered the sun-god, who cast the land into perpetual winter. Snegurochka herself, with snow rather than blood flowing through her veins, remained safe from the power of the sun as long as she lived without love, but of course she falls for a mortal, with heartbreaking results for all concerned. The opera’s most famous extract is the ‘Dance of the Skomorokhi’ (Tumblers), who entertain Tsar Berendey as he presides over a contest for the Snow Maiden’s hand.

William Mathias (1934–92) Bell Carol (1989)

BBC National Chorus of Wales William Mathias’s association with David Willcocks went back to 1961 and the Wassail Carol, which he composed for the Christmas Eve service that year at King’s College, Cambridge, so he was a natural choice (along with John Rutter) to compose a work for Willcocks’s 70th birthday concert with the Bach Choir and London Brass, given at the Royal Albert Hall in

Programme notes

December 1989. Mathias’s most celebrated contribution to the Christmas repertoire came in 1969 with his carol sequence Ave rex, the last section of which is popular in its own right as ‘Sir Christèmas’. His particular carol-like idiom naturally focused on the form’s origins in dance and he found an infectious medieval ambience with which to clothe his love of syncopated rhythms and jazzy melodic lines. The Bell Carol additionally has words by the composer himself to round off a very personal birthday tribute to a great choral conductor.

Vaughan Meakins (born 1930) Stable Carol (1983)

BBC National Chorus of Wales Greater Gwent Youth Choir (15 Dec) Cattle, famously, were witness to the birth of Christ in the stable at Bethlehem. But what of all the other creatures that might have been there? Vaughan Meakins has imagined what other animals, birds and insects may have found themselves buzzing around on that very special night and given children’s choirs a charming new carol to sing about them. Not only that but, over a quirky waltz tune, the young singers get to imitate all the creatures as well. It must have been quite a menagerie!

Émile Waldteufel (1837–1915) Les patineurs (1882)

Despite his German surname, Émile Waldteufel was Parisian through and through and – like his slightly older Viennese contemporary Johann Strauss II – came from a family of musicians who provided dance music for the society balls that entertained their respective cities’ upper classes. Ice-skating was a popular winter pastime in those days, as lakes and rivers froze over more often than is the case now, and the Bois de Boulogne was a favourite venue for skating. In December 1879, Paris experienced its coldest ever winter – even the Seine froze over – and the flurry of excitement among the skaters gave Waldteufel all the inspiration he needed for what has become his most famous waltz. Sleigh bells and violin glissandos (slides) heighten the work’s wintry atmosphere as the skaters twirl and leap on the ice.

Howard Blake (born 1938)

The Snowman (1982) – Walking in the Air Pupils from Caerleon Comprehensive School, Duffryn High School & St Joseph’s RC School (15 Dec) Pupils from Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School (16 Dec) It’s hard to believe it’s almost 30 years since Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman was first seen on television. Now Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the charming animation, the Snowman coming to life on the stroke of midnight and taking the boy who built him on a magical journey north to the Aurora Borealis. The only

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Programme notes

words heard in the film are in the song ‘Walking in the Air’, sung on the original soundtrack by Peter Auty, then a choirboy at St Paul’s Cathedral and now a renowned operatic tenor. Three years later the song became a massive hit for Aled Jones – and the rest is history. Since then this iconic song has been recorded by artists ranging from Cliff Richard to Tangerine Dream, Plácido Domingo to Barry Manilow, and promises never to lose its appeal.

Leroy Anderson

Bugler’s Holiday (1954) Leroy Anderson was associated with the Boston Pops Orchestra for many years either side of the Second World War and became well loved by the players with whom he worked – his orchestral expertise making him a favourite friend of the boys (and girls) in the band. Bugler’s Holiday is one of his many gifts to his musician colleagues: composed in 1954 for his album A Leroy Anderson ‘Pops’ Concert, it offers not one but three trumpeters a vivacious showpiece, concluding with a volley of fanfares suggesting a race meeting.

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Various, arr. Gareth Glyn (born 1951)

Christmas Medley BBC National Chorus of Wales Greater Gwent Youth Choir (15 Dec) Pupils from Caerleon Comprehensive School, Duffryn High School & St Joseph’s RC School (15 Dec) Pupils from Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School (16 Dec) with audience participation Christmas is never complete without a singalong and this evening’s concert closes with a medley arranged by Gareth Glyn. Everybody knows the tunes and the words – but did you know that Jingle Bells, like Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, might have been a Thanksgiving song rather than a Christmas song? It was written in 1850 by James Lord Pierpont (1822–93) in Medford, Massachusetts, inspired by the town’s popular sleigh races. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally a story created in 1939 by Robert L. May, the song composed almost a decade later by his brother-in-law, Johnny Marks (1909–85). It became popular following Gene Autry’s 1949 recording. White Christmas was composed poolside at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona, by Irving Berlin (1888–1989). ‘Grab your pen,’ he told his secretary. ‘I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written. Heck, I just wrote the best song anybody’s ever written!’ Bing Crosby first performed it in 1941 and it went on to sell over 50 million copies – more than any other single. Santa Claus is Coming to Town was written by J. Fred Coots (1897–1985) and Haven Gillespie (1888–1975), and became an instant standard after it was launched in 1934. Following all that Americana, We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Programme notes

returns us to Britain and the west country of England, where it was a carol that became popular in the 16th century.

Player profile Darren Smith bass trombone

Programme notes © David Threasher David Threasher is a writer and ‘Gramophone’ critic who specialises in music of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Which concert are you most looking forward to in the next few months? These Christmas concerts! I love playing carols and schmaltzy tunes! What’s your favourite piece of classical music, and why? Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony; it’s a piece that excited me when I first heard it and one I’ve always wanted to play. A little bird tells me it’s the last piece of this season … What has been the most memorable moment of your career with the Orchestra? I’m new so have a limited number of memories, but the recent schools’ education concerts were a particularly enjoyable way to begin my BBC career. What do you do in your spare time? I have a three-year-old son and another child on the way so have limited time to myself, but since moving to Wales I enjoy taking him to the many beautiful beaches and driving around the Vale.

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Biographies

Grant Llewellyn

Michael Lutch

conductor Tenby-born Grant Llewellyn is Music Director of the North Carolina Symphony and renowned for his versatility in a wide range of repertoire. He worked with Bernstein, Ozawa, Masur and Previn at the Tanglewood Music Center and was assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the early 1990s. Previous positions have included Principal Conductor of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Associate Guest Conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He has recently worked with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille and the St Gallen Symphony Orchestra and highlights this season include concerts with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Helsinki Philharmonic and Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz. In North America he has worked with the orchestras of Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Montreal, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Saint Louis and Toronto. As Music Director of the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, Grant Llewellyn gained a reputation in the music of the Baroque and Classical periods, and highlights included stagings of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Bach’s St Matthew Passion. In the opera house his repertoire ranges from Handel’s Radamisto to Alexander Goehr’s Arianna. His most recent recording is of American music with the North Carolina Symphony and Branford Marsalis.

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BBC National Orchestra of Wales BBC National Orchestra of Wales occupies a special role as both a national and broadcasting orchestra, acclaimed not only for the quality of its performances but also for its importance within its own community. The work of BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales is supported by the Arts Council of Wales. The Orchestra has won critical and audience acclaim over recent years, under its formidable conducting team of Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer, Principal Guest Conductor Jac van Steen, Associate Guest Conductor François-Xavier Roth and Conductor Laureate Tadaaki Otaka. In September next year Thomas Søndergård will succeed Thierry Fischer as Principal Conductor. As well as an outstanding ability to refresh core repertoire, the Orchestra is proud of its adventurous programming and continuously demonstrates artistic excellence in new or rarely performed works. This June Mark Bowden took up the role of Resident Composer, alongside Composer-inAssociation Simon Holt, consolidating the ensemble’s commitment to contemporary music. It is Orchestra-in-Residence at St David’s Hall, Cardiff, and also presents a concert series at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea. As well as international touring, it is in demand at major UK festivals and performs every year at the BBC Proms and biennially at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. Education and Community Outreach is also integral to its musical life and the department has been challenging conventions for nearly 15 years, taking the Orchestra’s work into schools, workplaces and communities. The Orchestra is based at its state-of-the-art recording and rehearsal base, BBC Hoddinott Hall at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. It has recorded many soundtracks, while its recent CD releases include David Matthews’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 6, which won a BBC Music Magazine Award.

Biographies

BBC National Chorus of Wales

Orchestra Merchandise

Artistic Director Adrian Partington

We have a variety of merchandise available to purchase today from the Orchestra Information Desk. These include:

Formed in 1983, the BBC National Chorus of Wales has developed into one of the UK’s leading large mixed choruses, enjoying a close performing relationship with BBC National Orchestra of Wales. It gives most of its concerts at St David’s Hall in Cardiff or at BBC Hoddinott Hall at Wales Millennium Centre, but also frequently performs at Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, the Nimbus Concert Hall near Monmouth and St Davids, St Asaph and Brecon cathedrals. In the UK it pays regular visits to Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and to Exeter, Gloucester and Worcester cathedrals, and takes part annually in the BBC Proms. It has formed a close relationship with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, with which it has appeared in Paris and at the St Denis Festival. Under the direction of its Artistic Director, Adrian Partington, it has championed works by leading Welsh composers such as William Mathias and Alun Hoddinott, and has premiered major works by Daniel Jones, Sir John Tavener and John Hardy, among others. BBC National Chorus of Wales has made numerous recordings including a disc of works by Stanford, which received a Gramophone Award in 2006, and Sullivan’s Ivanhoe, which was nominated for a Grammy Award this year. Many of its performances are broadcast on national or regional radio or television.

BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales – A History Peter Reynolds £9.99 Limited edition framed photo art by Chris Stock £50/£65 Child T-Shirt Black/Burgundy Ages 7–8 & 9–11 £8 Adult T-Shirt Black/Burgundy S, M, L & XL £10 Mug £6 Souvenir Pin Badge £2 Souvenir Pen £1.50 We also have a selection of recordings by BBC National Orchestra of Wales available. Prices vary: please ask at the Orchestra Information Desk for further details.

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Chorus list

BBC National Chorus of Wales Artistic Director Adrian Partington

Sopranos Jennifer Adams Carol Barlow-Davies Sarah Benbow Amy Campbell Sarah Chew Denise Cooke Helen V Davies Llio Evans Sarah Harrowing Rebecca Holdeman Rosie Howarth Clare Hurrell Lucy Hughes Vanessa John-Hall Lucie Jones Nia Jones Margaret Lake Shakira Mahabir Sian Newman Laurel Newnham Lowri Pugh-Morgan Alison Rennie Lucy Shields Melanie Taylor Jen Thornton Helen Thomas

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Altos Kate Aitchison Holly Blundell Amy Blythe Helen Bosanquet Alison Davies Pru Davis-James Catherine Duffy Lucy Eliot-Higgitt Sophie Fitzsimmons Olivia Gomez Kathrin Hammer Naomi Hitchings Laura Holmes Judith Hope Rhian Humphreys Rosie Innis-Fitzhugh Sarah Maxted Sarah Page Erika Rawnsley Vicky Rodge Cerian Rolls Anne Shingler Julie Wilcox

Tenors Keith Davies Roland George Eugene Monteith Geraint Morgan Tudur Rees Greg Satchell Richard Shearman Tom Smith Wilhelm Theunissen Richard Wilcox Nick Willmott Tom Winstanley

Basses Jacob Cooper David Davies Jeff Davies Lyndon Davies Nathan Dearden Meurig Greening Patrick Heery Gareth Humphreys Tom Hunt Matthew Jenkins David McLain Lloyd Pearce Ben Pinnow Michael Plowman Daniel Ridgeon Nick Steel Allan Waters Martyn Waters

Young performers

Greater Gwent Youth Choir (15 Dec) Tobias Barker Josiah Barker Nick Bolton Aisha Brown Maya Burchill-Haslett Abigail Carver Rhian Cocker Ashleigh Collins Niki-Louise Currie Christopher Davis Alex Davis Jodie Leigh Edwards Ffion Edwards Josh Fish Nyree Gladwin Lily Gray Rhiannon Greenslade Lewis Ham Seren Harbon Arianwen Harris Hannah Harris Jenny James Emily Jones Alys Jones

Martha Jones Rhiannon Lewis Saskia Lewis Hannah Elizabeth Lewis Bradley Long Nicholas Lukaris Emily Maloney Evie Mayo Florence Mayo Hannah McCormick Mary McCormick Elizabeth Millar McKenzie Paget Lloyd Pearce Lucie Phillips Emily Pritchard Evan Roberts Anna Roberts Jackie Savill Alys Smith Isobel Soper Jessica Tanner Bethan Thomas

Trained by Nick Steel, Alyson Jones and John Metcalf

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Young performers

Caerleon Comprehensive School (15 Dec)

Duffryn High School (15 Dec)

Tamsin Anderson Robert Bull Zara Connikie Milly Davies Emily Faulkner Elinor Farrow Victoria Friend Sophie Grier Owen Hole Faraaz Hussian Keelin Jenkins Maisie Jenkins Ffion Johnson Madelyn Jones Charlotte Loxley Olivia McCrudden Rosie Morgan Stephen Moore Molly O’Shea Charlotte Savigar Megan Seymour

Rameen Ahmed Raquia Ali Chloe Alonzi Emma Baker Rhianna Bale Chloe Batchelor Chris Brown Molly Burrows Ffion Bushell Abigail Carver Georgia Dale Bethan Gough Lily Gray Chantal Hannan Kimberly Hurley Sian Larcombe Linda Johns Lara Jones

Trained by Keith Davies

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Sophie Wright Ellie Jones Chloe Watkins Lauren Bennett Celia Blenkin Grace Cleverly Maddy Clabon Ffion Davies Cait Fitzgerald Alice Huxley Eloise Lines Holly Lloyd Roberts Kayla McMail Katie Moore Alice Sully Emily Wall Sara-Jane Waters Kathryn Williams Lisa Withers Sophie Warren

Trained by Rhian Humphreys

Katalyna Lewis Emily Lovell Alysha Maiorov Marie Mapley Catherine Michie Danielle Morgan Bethan Norman Megan O’Bryan Ruth Parratt Olivia Passmore Lauren Peplow Kaitlyn Perrin Megan Probert Chelsie Robinson Kai Roche Lois Rogers Rhiannon Thomas Sarah Thorn

Young performers

St Joseph’s RC School (15 Dec)

Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School (16 Dec)

Princess Kiara Alzate Josie Ash Eloise Baldwin Christel Bodonia Lily Rose Bolwell Charlotte Burley Olga Mae Chan Kelechi Chigbo Madelaine Cristinelli Megan Cullen Bethan Delahaye Elisha Djan Erin Flaherty Geraldine Fowles Eve Fussell Francesca Godfrey Rebecca Harper Kate Harrison Elisabeth Hinds Hope Johnson Paige Knight-Davis

Karen Armitage Hanna Bacavitch Lucy Balla Jessica Beer Catrin Bevan Jack Billington Naomi Broome Ellen Castle Brioni Curtis Jessica Dando Sara Davies Corey Earley Jason Gibson Imogen Griffiths Megan Hastings Laura Heaven Rebecca Heaven Rebecca Hughes Ria Hughes Megan Hutchings Lauren Jenkins Sophie Johnson

Chloe Leach Niamh Lynch Bethan O’Donnell Claudia Phipps Non Richardson Siobhan Richardson Kerry Ruthven Georgia Shwartz Francesca Storey Eleanor Styles Natalia Szeliga Charisse Crisel Villarosa Cerys Bethan Walsh Kayleigh Ward Victoria Wareham Natasha Wassall Aimee Watkins Rebecca Watkins Cerys Wesson Terri Whittington

Alex Lewis Rachel Loaring Carys Long Vicky Lovell Chloe Miller Eve Murphy Kirsten Osborn Abi Owen Annie Phillips Nadine Pike Heather Porch Tayler Powell Imogen Rawlinson Bianca Rees Gabrielle Reynolds Katie Richards Kelly Rosser Elin Street Elanor Swanson Stacey Thomas Alicia Tse Lydia Weller

Trained by Bethan Morgan Trained by Kath Evans, Hayley Toms and Mary Evans

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Orchestra list

BBC National Orchestra of Wales Patron HRH The Prince of Wales kg kt pc gcb Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer Principal Guest Conductor Jac van Steen Associate Guest Conductor François-Xavier Roth Conductor Laureate Tadaaki Otaka cbe Principal Conductor Designate Thomas Søndergård Composer-in-Association Simon Holt Resident Composer Mark Bowden First Violins Lesley Hatfield Leader Carl Darby # Gwenllian Haf Richards Terry Porteus Suzanne Casey Richard Newington Paul Mann Gary George-Veale Hilary Minto Robert Bird Carmel Barber Emilie Godden Anna Cleworth Alan Uren Elin Edwards (Cardiff only) Second Violins Naomi Thomas * Jane Sinclair # Ros Butler Sheila Smith Nicolas White Roussanka Karatchivieva Debbie Frost Vickie Ringguth Beverley Wescott Joseph Williams Katherine Miller Michael Topping Margot Leadbeater

Violas Alex Thorndike # Martin Schaefer Peter Taylor David McKelvay Sarah Chapman James Drummond Ania Leadbeater Robert Gibbons Catherine Palmer Laura Sinnerton Jennifer MacCallum (Cardiff only) Cellos John Senter * Keith Hewitt # Jessica Feaver Sandy Bartai Kathryn Harris Carolyn Hewitt David Haime Margaret Downie Richard May Double Basses Tony Alcock * Albert Dennis Christopher Wescott William Graham-White Richard Gibbons Claire Whitson Oliver Benson (Cardiff only)

Flutes Matthew Featherstone ‡ Eilidh Gillespie Eva Stewart

Daniel Trodden †

Piccolo Eva Stewart †

Timpani Matthew Hardy ‡

Oboes Sarah-Jayne Porsmoguer ‡ Lucy Foster

Percussion

Cor anglais Amy McKean ‡ Clarinets Robert Plane * John Cooper Duncan Gould Bass Clarinet Duncan Gould Tenor Saxophone John Cooper Bassoons Jarosπaw Augustyniak * Martin Bowen David Buckland Contrabassoon David Buckland Horns Tim Thorpe * Irene Williamson Ian Fisher † William Haskins Neil Shewan

Trumpets

Andy Everton † Robert Samuel Jason Lewis Cornets

Andy Everton † Rachel Samuel Trombones Donal Bannister * Brian Raby

Bass Trombone Darren Smith †

Transport Manager Mark Terrell

Tuba

Senior Producer Tim Thorne

Chris Stock * Mark Walker † Philip Girling Clifton Prior Harp Valerie Aldrich-Smith † Piano/Celesta/Organ Robert Court * Section Principal † Principal ‡ Guest Principal # Assistant Principal Director David Murray Assistant to Director and Orchestra Manager Bethan Everton Orchestra Manager Byron Jenkins Assistant Orchestra Manager Andy Farquharson Orchestral Coordinator Eugene Monteith Music Librarian Christopher Painter

Artists and Concerts Administrator Victoria Massocchi Broadcast Assistant Callum Thomson Marketing Manager Sarah Horner Assistant Marketing Manager

Jodi Bennett

Communications Officer David Hopkins Audience Line Operators Nerys Lloyd-Evans Margarita Felices Phillippa Scammell Education and Community Manager Suzanne Hay Education and Community Assistant Peggy Holder Chorus Manager Osian Rowlands Senior Audio Supervisor Huw Thomas Business and Finance Manager Chris Rogers

Stage Manager Andrew Smith

Programme produced by BBC Proms Publications. Welsh translation by Annes Gruffydd. 16

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