Guildhall Symphony Orchestra
Roberto González-Monjas - Conductor

It’s a wonder that Rachmaninov ever wrote a Second Symphony, given the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony in March 1897. The conductor, Glazunov, was, according to Rachmaninov’s wife, drunk at the time. The composer Cui compared the First Symphony to ‘a programme symphony on the Seven Plagues of Egypt’. The score disappeared and it was only two years after Rachmaninov’s death that a set of parts was found in Leningrad Conservatory library, from which a score was reconstructed.

For three years after the First Symphony’s fateful premiere, Rachmaninov wrote hardly anything. Perhaps partly as a diversion to composing, he took up a post as conductor with the Moscow Private Russian Opera for the 1897-8 season, adding a third strand to his already busy career as both composer and pianist.

How was he to clear his creative block? Visits to the writer Tolstoy were intended to improve Rachmaninov’s frame of mind, but they made matters even worse (Tolstoy was uncomplimentary about a new song of his that Rachmaninov played to him). With his depression and self-criticism at a high point, he was persuaded to see the neurologist, and amateur cellist, Nikolay Dahl. It’s thought that Dahl’s combination of conversation and hypnosis provided the creative catharsis of which Rachmaninov was in desperate need.

The initial fruit of the visits to Dahl was the Second Piano Concerto (1900–01). The Second Symphony was Rachmaninov’s next orchestral work after that.

Highly sought-after as a conductor and violinist, Roberto González-Monjas is rapidly making a mark on the international scene. A natural musical leader with strong vision and clarity, Roberto possess a unique mixture of remarkable personal charisma, an abundance of energy, enthusiasm and fierce intelligence. Roberto is Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of Dalasinfoniettan where his tenure commences in the 19/20 season. Roberto is also Artist in residence with Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon in his hometown Valladolid commencing in the 19/20 season. In this capacity, Roberto will conduct the orchestra in their subscription series in Valladolid, performs as a soloist, leads chamber music projects and takes part in educational activities.

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra
Violin I
Greta Papa*
Harriet Haynes
Sonja Tuomela
Sabine Sergejeva
Tilman Fleig
Emma Curtis
Laura Pastor Rocamora
Robyn Bell
Ana González Alonso
Kalina Mincheva
Nina Lim
Camille Said
Yunzhe Wu
Andrew Molloy
Yuriko Matsuda
Fanny Schell
Federica Gatti
Joana Praça

Violin II
Miranda Liu*
Isabella Fleming
Melissa Hutter
Hana Mizuta-Spencer
Paula Gorbanova
Julia Teresa Stein
Victoria Farrell-Reed
Sophia Prodanova
Julia Hernandez Sanchez
Gwyneth Nelmes
Matthew Sach-Keen
Joana Rodrigues
Lok Yee Feng
Demver Blancio
Ella Fox
Pau Mercadal Macías

Viola
Theodore Chung*
Matt Johnstone
Kate Correia De Campos
Lorena Cantó Woltèche
Meng-Hsien Cheng
Jeremy Tonelli-Sippel
Oscar Holch
Freya Hicks
James Flannery
Jo Eun Shim
Anastasia Ivaschenko
Matthew Kendell
Sally Belcher

Cello
Thomas Vidal*
William Clark-Maxwell
Julia Sompolinska
Patrick Moriarty
Christopher Hedges
Alexandra Fletcher
Hoi Ying Yuen
Alice Luddington
Anna Ryland-Jones
Charlotte Walker
Rachel Newbold
Evangeline Coplan

Double Bass
Piotr Hetman*
Gabriel Abad Varela
Fabián Galeana
Benjamin Du Toit
Seth Edmunds
Louis Van Der Mespel
Eleanor Roberts
Noé Garin
Suliac Maheu

Flute
Elina Bennett*
Ka Wing Wong

Piccolo
Fiona Sweeney

Oboe
Francesca Cox*
Rebecca Cherry

Cor anglais
Rose Livsey-Barnes

Clarinet
Andrew Mellor*
Raymond Brien

Bass clarinet
Julie Aaquist

Bassoon
Nadia Plummer*
Daniel Plant

Horn
Karen Starkman*
Paul Coll
Millie Lihoreau
Jacob Parker
Christos Maltezos

Trumpet
Samuel Rees*
Lucas Houldcroft
Harry Plant
Ted Riley

Trombone
Jake Durham*
David Cox

Bass Trombone
Simon Chorley

Tuba
Rory Wilson

Timpani
Aidan Marsden

Percussion
Thomas Hodgson*
Megan Landeg
Will Miles
Francisco Negreiros