Residentie Orkest The Hague 

Valentina Peleggi, conductor 

Vadym Kholodenko, piano 

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) 

Preludio sinfonico in A (1882) 

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)  

Piano Concerto in a, op. 16 (1868) 

• Allegro molto moderato 

• Adagio 

• Allegro moderato molto e marcato - Quasi presto - Andante maestoso 

Break 

Ellis Howarth (1998)
One Minute Symphony: Moments (2021/2022) 

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) 

Selection from "Romeo and Juliet," op. 64bis/64ter/101 (1936/1944) 

• Montecchi and Capuleti (Suite 2, no. 1) 

• Juliet as a young girl (Suite 2, no. 2) 

• Masks (Suite 1, no. 5) 

• Death of Tybalt (Suite 1, no. 7) 

• Brother Laurence (Suite 2, no. 3) 

• Romeo at Juliet's Tomb (Suite 2, no. 7) 

• Death of Juliet (Suite 3, no. 6)  

End of concert approximately 10:15 p.m. 

Use Wolfgang at this concert. Download for free in the App store (iPhone) or Play Store (Android) or visit wolfgangapp.co.uk. Use the free wifi Amare Guests.

Residentie Orkest The Hague 

Valentina Peleggi, conductor 

Vadym Kholodenko, piano 

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)  

Piano Concerto in a, op. 16 (1868) 

• Allegro molto moderato 

• Adagio 

• Allegro moderato molto e marcato - Quasi presto - Andante maestoso 

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) 

Selection from "Romeo and Juliet," op. 64bis/64ter/101 (1936/1944) 

• Montecchi and Capuleti (Suite 2, no. 1) 

• Juliet as a young girl (Suite 2, no. 2) 

• Masks (Suite 1, no. 5) 

• Death of Tybalt (Suite 1, no. 7) 

• Brother Laurence (Suite 2, no. 3) 

• Romeo at Juliet's Tomb (Suite 2, no. 7) 

• Death of Juliet (Suite 3, no. 6)  

End of concert approximately 10 p.m. 

Valentina Peleggi - conductor 

Studied Conservatory of Music "Santa Cecilia" in Rome (cum laude), Royal Academy of Music in London. 

Current position Chief conductor of the Richmond Symphony, regular guest conductor at Theatro São Pedro. 

Highlights Worked at opera houses in London, Chicago, Paris, Parma and Turin. Conducted orchestras such as Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Brussels Phlharmonic. Makes her debut with the Residentie Orkest. 

Awards include first prize at the Festival International de Inverno Campos do Jordão in Brazil (2014), APCA Award 'Conductor of the Year' (2016). Was dubbed 'rising star 2018' by BBC Music Magazine. 

Vadym Kholodenko - piano 

Studies The Kiev-born pianist gave concerts in the United States, China, Hungary and Croatia at the age of 13. Studied at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. 

Highlights Worked with major orchestras worldwide including Philhadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Japan Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony. Gave recitals at Wigmore Hall and Wiener Konzerthaus, at various festivals and collaborated with Vadim Repin, Clara-Jumi Kang and Alexander Buzlow, among others. Makes his debut at the Residentie Orkest. 

Prizes include Maria Callas International Piano Competition (2004), International Schubert Piano Competiton (2011), Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2014). 

Residentie Orkest The Hague 

Founded The Hague, 1904 

Current chief conductor Anja Bihlmaier 

Permanent guest conductors Richard Egarr and Jun Märkl 

Chief conductors Henri Viotta, Peter van Anrooy, Frits Schuurman, Willem van Otterloo, Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, Evgenii Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden, Neeme Järvi, Nicholas Collon. 

To be seen at Amare, Paard, The National Opera, Royal Concertgebouw, De Doelen, TivoliVredenburg among others . 

Education Annual outreach to over 40,000 schoolchildren, adults and amateur musicians in educational projects. Part of this is The Residents, through which the orchestra brings hundreds of children from districts in The Hague into contact with classical music. 

Puccini, Grieg & Prokofiev 

In this program, the sunlit cities of Milan, where Puccini composed his symphonic prelude, and Verona, where Prokofiev, following Shakespeare's example, situated the love story of Romeo and Juliet, meet. For Grieg's Piano Concerto, however, we must go to much more northern regions to dance a true Norwegian halling. 

Ten lira fine 

In October of the year 1880, Giacomo Puccini passed his entrance exam at the conservatory in Milan with flying colors. He did not find the studies particularly exciting and, with a bunch of friends, he enjoyed the student life in Milan all the more. In January 1881 he even received an official reprimand and ten lira fine for the many lessons he had neglected. Nevertheless, he was a very talented student whose commissioned compositions he had to create were among the best of his year. The Preludio Sinfonico composed in the summer of 1882 even received an honorable mention. It is a short work in which, especially in the opening measures, he does not fail to show his interest in Wagner. But he soon takes that Wagnerian influence into a full-blooded Italian idiom so characteristic of Puccini's later work. In that respect, the prelude would not be out of place as an opening or entr'acte in one of his operas. 

Seven revisions 

At least as talented as Puccini in Milan, Edvard Grieg was at the Leipzig conservatory where he had been sent as a fifteen-year-old by his parents, on the recommendation of the famous Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, in 1858. During his first year of study, he heard Clara Schumann perform her late husband Robert's Piano Concerto. Deeply impressed, he decided to write a piano concerto himself although it took another ten years before Grieg put the plan into action. Meanwhile, he had been back in his native country for some time where he had been profoundly influenced by Norwegian folk music. So too in his Piano Concerto whose final rondo is based on a well-known Norwegian folk dance, the "halling. 

The premiere in 1869 in Copenhagen was a great success, although Grieg, due to commitments elsewhere, did not play the solo part. He himself, however, was far from satisfied, and in the years that followed he revised the work no fewer than seven times, the Last only a few weeks before his death in 1907. The Piano Concerto is ultimately the only solo concerto Grieg wrote. He did start working on a second concerto in 1882, but left it at only a few sketches. 

Drambalet 

With the 1917 Revolution in Russia, Sergei Prokofiev, like so many of his compatriots, left his homeland. For a long time he roamed the United States and Europe, enjoying fame as a pianist and composer in every possible genre. But with the great economic crisis of 1928, Prokofiev saw his income dry up on all sides. In the Soviet Union, however, this did not bother people as much and there was still plenty to do in the area of culture. He had already visited the Soviet Union once in 1927 and, despite the dictatorial regime, he liked it. So in 1936 he decided to return for good. In the years before, he had prepared for this return in detail. One of the major works in that direction was his ballet Romeo and Juliet. Unlike his previous ballets, he was concerned less with the beautiful dance and more with bringing out the drama of the story as strongly as possible. 'Drambalet' the scenarists called it and it ushered in a whole new form of ballet. Prokofiev paid much attention to deepening the characters such as Romeo with his generosity, Juliet's obstinacy, the loyal Mercutio versus the vicious Tybalt. But also the tense atmosphere during the feast at the castle, the ardent love of the balcony scene and the intensely sad finale come into their own. 

So evocative is Prokofiev's music that, strictly speaking, you don't even need the ballet. It is the reason that Romeo and Juliet does extremely well at Concert Hall . Prokofiev himself composed three suites from the music that became almost more popular than the original ballet version. And even today orchestras like to make their own selections although the famous knight's dance, called Montecchi and Capuleti in the suite, will never be missing. 

Kees Wisse 

The talented Edvard Grieg was sent by his parents to the Leipzig Conservatory in 1858 at the age of 15, on the recommendation of the famous Norwegian violinist Ole Bull. During his first year of study, he heard Clara Schumann perform her late husband Robert's Piano Concerto . Deeply impressed, he decided to write a piano concerto himself although it took another ten years before Grieg put the plan into action. Meanwhile, he had been back in his homeland for some time where he had been profoundly influenced by Norwegian folk music. So too in his Piano Concerto whose final rondo is based on a well-known Norwegian folk dance, the "halling. 

The premiere in 1869 in Copenhagen was a great success, although Grieg, due to commitments elsewhere, did not play the solo part. He himself, however, was far from satisfied, and in the years that followed he revised the work no fewer than seven times, the Last only a few weeks before his death in 1907. The Piano Concerto is ultimately the only solo concerto Grieg wrote. He did start working on a second concerto in 1882, but left it at only a few sketches. 

Drambalet 

With the 1917 Revolution in Russia, Sergei Prokofiev, like so many of his compatriots, left his homeland. For a long time he roamed the United States and Europe, enjoying fame as a pianist and composer in every possible genre. But with the great economic crisis of 1928, Prokofiev saw his income dry up on all sides. In the Soviet Union, however, this did not bother people as much and there was still plenty to do in the area of culture. He had already visited the Soviet Union once in 1927 and, despite the dictatorial regime, he liked it. So in 1936 he decided to return for good. In the years before, he had prepared for this return in detail. One of the major works in that direction was his ballet Romeo and Juliet. Unlike his previous ballets, he was concerned less with the beautiful dance and more with bringing out the drama of the story as strongly as possible. 'Drambalet' the scenarists called it and it ushered in a whole new form of ballet. Prokofiev paid much attention to deepening the characters such as Romeo with his generosity, Juliet's obstinacy, the loyal Mercutio versus the vicious Tybalt. But also the tense atmosphere during the feast at the castle, the ardent love of the balcony scene and the intensely sad finale come into their own. 

So evocative is Prokofiev's music that, strictly speaking, you don't even need the ballet. It is the reason that Romeo and Juliet does extremely well at Concert Hall . Prokofiev himself composed three suites from the music that became almost more popular than the original ballet version. And even today orchestras like to make their own selections although the famous knight's dance, called Montecchi and Capuleti in the suite, will never be missing. 

Kees Wisse