Friday 25 and Saturday 26 May at 8pm Melbourne Town Hall

Bramwell Tovey conductor and pianoDeborah Humble mezzo-sopranoJonathan Lemalu bass-baritoneMelbourne Symphony Orchestra ChorusJonathan Grieves-Smith chorus master

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BrittenThe Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

LambertThe Rio Grande

INTERVAL

WaltonBelshazzar’s Feast

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Belshazzar’s Feast

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This concert has a duration of approximately two hours, including an interval of 20 minutes.

Friday evening’s concert will be recorded for later broadcast around Australia on ABC Classic FM (on analogue and digital radio), and for streaming on its website.

Please turn off your mobile phone and all other electronic devices before the performance commences.

If you do not need your printed program after the concert, we encourage you to return it to the program stands located in the foyer.

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra programs can be read on-line or downloaded up to a week before each concert, from www.mso.com.au.

CONCERT INFORMATION

ABOUT THE MUSICBENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913–1976)

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op.34

Britten had long been a devotee of Henry Purcell, admiring Purcell’s ‘ingenuity and colour’ in setting English to music. He and his partner, the tenor Peter Pears, had included Purcell’s songs in their recitals since the late 1930s. This interest was further stimulated in 1945 when England marked the 250th anniversary of Purcell’s early death with works such as Britten’s String Quartet No.2. The quartet, though, was also a by-product of Britten’s intense and tragic opera Peter Grimes. Yet when Britten was asked to ‘write a short film for the Education Ministry’ called Instruments of the Orchestra, he returned to Purcell for thematic material and created one of his most emotionally unencumbered works.

Britten called the piece The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, and was infuriated when the BBC preferred to use the more pompous sub-title Variations and Fugue on a theme of Henry Purcell. He insisted that it was exactly what he called it – a piece offering young people a way of hearing and identifying the different instruments and instrumental groups. The concert

version of the piece therefore retains a sense of the film’s exploration of one group at a time, though this has led to misguided criticism of the work as simplistic.

The theme is the Hornpipe from a suite composed by Purcell for the play Abdelazar, or the Moor’s revenge. Britten’s variations systematically explore each group of woodwinds and strings, the harp, brass and finally percussion treating the tune in a way which is perfectly idiomatic to its instrument, or group, each time (compare the harp’s variation with the trombones’, for instance). Britten then puts the orchestra back together in that most integrated of forms, the fugue, with each group re-entering the texture one by one, gradually building to a powerful climax.

Gordon Kerry © 2006

The Melbourne Symphony was the first of the former ABC orchestras to perform The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, on 16 December 1947 under conductor Bernard Heinze. The MSO’s most recent performance took place in 2006 under the direction of Benjamin Northey.

BRITTEN IN 1948

about the musicCONSTANT LAMBERT (1905–1951)

The Rio Grande for chorus, orchestra and piano

Bramwell Tovey pianoDeborah Humble mezzo-sopranoMelbourne Symphony Orchestra ChorusJonathan Grieves-Smith chorus master

Don’t make the mistake of thinking of the ‘Rio Grande’ we know from John Wayne Westerns; the river (rio) referred to here is one in Brazil, and the inspiration is the glamorous, vivacious and sexy world of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval. The poem itself is vague on details, having been dreamt up in the imagination of a 20-something Englishman educated at Eton and Oxford – Sacheverell Sitwell, youngest of that distinguished family of literary gentry.

So the poem that provides the text for this work may be more evocative of the exuberance of ‘Jazz Age’ London, suggesting the glittering social life that preceded the Wall Street Crash. Certainly the music has more to do with jazz than with Brazil. The young Constant Lambert was prominent among a generation of composers for whom the discovery of jazz was an exciting liberation. They didn’t necessarily know exactly how to ‘make jazz’ – at least not ‘real’ or ‘hot’ jazz – but they definitely got its spirit of energetic and bodily pleasure, and they were skilful in extracting characteristic musical devices from jazz which could be slotted into a classical context.

These devices can be heard in The Rio Grande (1927): syncopated (off-the-beat) rhythm and ‘blues’ harmonies represent the most common aspects of jazz influence in early 20th-century classical music, and Lambert discussed them insightfully in his engaging account of the music of the times, Music Ho!: A Study of Music in Decline (1934). The Rio Grande gains its drive from an underlying regular pulse that is enlivened by syncopation’s push-and-pull. The

solo piano carries the main impetus of jazz feeling, directing the choral and orchestral forces to the work’s climactic moments with brash cadenzas. The jazz-driven energy relents only following thundering climaxes, which give way to moments of reflective repose – particularly at the conclusion, where it concedes to the solo alto voice to reflect nostalgically once the party is over.

Lambert didn’t like the piece to be considered only as ‘symphonic jazz’, as an English imitation of Rhapsody in Blue. His enthusiasm for jazz extended to a genuine, if romantic, appreciation of ‘negro’ culture and aesthetic in general. He once commented that he’d like to hear Rio Grande sung by a ‘negro’ choir, like those of the plantations that Delius knew during his years in America (an evocation that is particularly evident in the last minute of the piece, where the choir hums under the alto solo).

With its completely fresh take on the genre of the ‘choral fantasia’ (derived from the famous Beethoven example), The Rio Grande rocketed Lambert to fame and became immediately popular, repeatedly featured in the Proms throughout the 1930s. Lambert didn’t live long enough to realise his full potential as a composer: The Rio Grande was in some ways the pinnacle of an almost-brilliant career. Andrew Motion’s multi-generational biography of Constant, alongside his father (Australian artist George W.) and son (manager of The Who, Kit) in The Lamberts (Chatto, London, 1986) tells the fascinating yet devastating story.

James Koehne © 2012

The Rio Grande was first performed in February 1928 by the BBC and pianist Angus Morrison under the direction of the composer. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has performed the work only twice: on 29 September 1945 with conductor Bernard Heinze and Mary MacLeod, with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and the ABC Wireless Chorus; and on 12 March 1955 under Joseph Post, with Sylvia Fisher, Henri Penn and the RMP Choir.

about the musicTHE RIO GRANDEBy the Rio GrandeThey dance no sarabandeOn level banks like lawns above the glassy, lolling tide;Nor sing they forlorn madrigalsWhose sad note stirs the sleeping galesTill they wake among the trees and shake the boughs,And fright the nightingales;But they dance in the city, down the public squares,On the marble pavers with each colour laid in shares,At the open church doors loud with light within.At the bell’s huge tolling,By the river music, gurgling, thinThrough the soft Brazilian air.The Comendador and Alguacil are thereOn horseback, hid with feathers, loud and shrillBlowing orders on their trumpets like a bird’s sharp billThrough boughs, like a bitter wind, callingThey shine like steady starlight while those other sparks are fallingIn burnished armour, with their plumes of fire,Tireless while all others tire.The noisy streets are empty and hushed is the town

To where, in the square, they dance and the band is playing;Such a space of silence through the town to the riverThat the water murmurs loud Above the band and crowd together;And the strains of the sarabande,More lively than a madrigal,Go hand in handLike the river and its waterfallAs the great Rio Grande rolls down to the sea.Loud is the marimba’s noteAbove these half-salt waves,And louder still the tympanom,The plectrum, and the kettle-drum,Sullen and menacingDo these brazen voices ring.They ride outside,Above the salt-sea’s tide.Till the ships at anchor thereHear this enchantmentOf the soft Brazilian air,By those Southern winds wafted,Slow and gentle,Their fierceness temperedBy the air that flows between.

From The Thirteenth Caesar, and other Poems by Sacheverell Sitwell. Reprinted by kind permission of Gerald Duckworth & Co., London.

INTERVAL

Mary evans

OSBERT AND SACHEVERELL SITWELL 1933

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Brahms: A German Requiem ‘A truly tremendous piece of art which moves the entirebeing in a way little else does.’ – Clara Schumann

Soloists Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Nicole Car join theMelbourne Symphony Orchestra and Chorus(Chorusmaster: Jonathan Grieves-Smith) in this newstudio recording of Brahms’s greatest choral work,conducted by Johannes Fritzsch.

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ABOUT THE MUSICWILLIAM WALTON(1902–1983)

Belshazzar’s Feast

Jonathan Lemalu baritoneMelbourne Symphony Orchestra ChorusJonathan Grieves-Smith chorus master

‘No man, I thought, as slim and pale as that,’ wrote C.B. Rees after hearing the first performance of Belshazzar’s Feast in 1931, ‘could possibly be strong enough to write music of such savage splendour.’ The exciting impact of this music was irresistible, and remains so. There has always been an element of surprise in it – whence came such a startlingly novel approach to the conventions of large-scale choral/orchestral music, and who was this 29-year-old composer, William Walton? Belshazzar’s Feast burst on the public when Malcolm Sargent conducted the work at the Leeds Festival. Walton, commissioned by the BBC to write a large-scale choral work, had found it hard to choose a subject. He wanted it to be a familiar one, and the eventual proposal of Belshazzar’s feast, it can be seen in retrospect, is a tribute to the English oratorio tradition, dominated from Handel to Mendelssohn and beyond by Old Testament subjects. Perhaps for that reason too, it has since been taken into the repertoire of most competent choirs, although the authorities who ran the Three Choirs Festival long banned it from performance in that church-based festival.

The text was assembled from the Bible by Osbert Sitwell, one of the Sitwell brothers Walton had met at Oxford and who had taken him into their home as an ‘adopted, or elected brother’. Walton’s setting of their sister Edith’s poems in Façade (1921–2) had gained him notoriety as a modernist and an artistic extremist. Belshazzar’s Feast, his next major musical encounter with words, was recognised as coming from the same milieu.

Although the text is an account of the

fall of Belshazzar and his Babylonian empire through outraged Jewish eyes, there is a strong suspicion that both Sitwell and Walton were at least as much attracted to the pagan magnificence of the description as to the moral repugnance of the narrative. It is certainly true that Belshazzar’s Feast is a piece of historical drama, rather than a religious reflection on the text, but this is true of many of Handel’s oratorios (including, to a degree, his own Belshazzar). At the height of the Depression in 1931, the barbarism of Babylon’s worship of the God of Gold had a secular meaning.

Walton knew that a work by Berlioz was to be performed at the same Leeds Festival – accounts vary as to whether it was the Requiem or the Te Deum, both of which require brass choirs in addition to very large choral and orchestral forces. The story is that Walton went to Sir Thomas Beecham for advice as to whether he too should

use the extra brass bands. Beecham, observing the work in progress, said grandly ‘You’ll never hear the thing more than once – throw in a brass band.’ Walton used two, disposed spatially, as in Berlioz’s Requiem, on either side of the main forces.

His time as a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford had reinforced his familiarity with choral music, which he’d absorbed as a boy in the north of England. Walton’s arresting idiom for choral music with orchestra also had a partial model in his friend Constant Lambert’s The Rio Grande, a setting of a poem by another of the Sitwells, Sacheverell. Both Lambert and Walton were attracted to jazz, integrating its rhythms and some of its instrumentation into their own music.

Howard Coster courtesy of the national portrait Gallery, london

WILLIAM WALTON IN 1934

ABOUT THE MUSICWalton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, however, is more ambitious than Lambert’s masterpiece. Walton said that he thought of it not as an oratorio but as a choral symphony. It falls into three continuous movements, the first, as in Walton’s concertos, a slow movement. After a trombone fanfare, the warning of the Prophet Isaiah is declaimed by male voices in harsh, dissonant unaccompanied recitative. The exiles’ lament is a setting of Psalm 137, in which Walton’s characteristic lyricism has an undercurrent of bitterness. When this develops into gladness, then triumphant scorn and certainty of Babylon’s destruction, the listener grasps how apt is the composer’s musical personality to his subject. John Warrack has described Walton at this time as a man of nervous vitality and sense of violence, coupled with a bitter melancholy.

The baritone soloist makes his entrance during the singing of the Psalm. Next, unaccompanied, he describes the King’s feast, enumerating the riches that make Babylon great, in a matter-of-fact way which made Walton refer to this passage as ‘the shopping list’. The account of the feast itself is from Daniel V. In a combination of march and song, the various deities are suggested in the sounds of choir and orchestra: golden instruments for the gods of gold; female voices, flute,

glockenspiel and triangle for the gods of silver; the iron god is praised by male voices, violins col legno and xylophone, and the stone and brass gods in equally appropriate sounds. Here the brass bands break out to terrific effect. Walton, always a slow, even a ‘reluctant’ composer, was held up for seven months at the word ‘gold’, but the effectiveness of the jagged, jazzy rhythms and sounds of this section show that it was worth the waiting.

After a reprise comes the eerie representation of the writing on the wall, with its skeletal accompaniment, then the minimalist but overwhelming daring of the choir’s amazed underlining of Belshazzar’s death. The final section is a setting of Psalm 81, a song of triumph over the fallen city, broken – as it needed to be, lest it become merely wearing – by a quieter passage whose imagery, like that of the rest of the work, grows naturally out of the text. ‘The trumpeters and pipers are silent’ – but not for long!

© David Garrett

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra gave the first Australian concert performance of Belshazzar’s Feast, on 29 September 1938 with conductor Malcolm Sargent, the Melbourne Philharmonic Society’s Choir, the ABC (Melbourne) Wireless Chorus and baritone Raymond Beatty. The MSO’s most recent performance was in October 2003 under Markus Stenz, with the Melbourne Chorale Symphonic Chorus and Ensemble. The soloist was Bruce Martin.

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Flamboyant organist Cameron Carpenter will put the renowned Melbourne Town Hall organ through its paces in Poulenc’s popular Organ Concerto.

Friday 22 June at 7.30pmMonday 25 June at 6.30pmMelbourne Town Hall

ORGAN CLASSICS AT TOWN HALL

about the music

Last year, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Education Week saw more than 10,000 school students, parents and teachers experiencing the spectacular sights and sounds of a symphony orchestra – many for the very first time. In this year’s Education Week, the Orchestra will present 13 concerts across five days, including a full spectrum of interactive concerts for school students. Highlights include Symphony in a Day – our collaboration with over 100 community musicians from across Victoria – which will culminate in a larger-than-life performance of symphonic greats on Saturday 9 June at 8.30pm.

For more information on Education Week please contact MSO Education on 9626 1198 or visit mso.com.au

We hope to see you there!

5 – 9 June, Melbourne Town Hall

Bringing the magic of music to Melbournians of all ages

BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST CHORUSThus spake Isaiah:Thy sons that thou shalt begetthey shall be taken awayand be eunuchsin the palace of the King of Babylon. [Isaiah 39:7]Howl ye, howl ye, therefore:For the day of the Lord is at hand! [Isaiah 13:6]

By the waters of Babylonthere we sat down; yea, we weptand hanged our harps upon the willows.For they that wasted usrequired of us mirth;they that carried us away captiverequired of us a song:Sing us one of the songs of Zion.How shall we sing the Lord’s songin a strange land?

BARITONE AND CHORUSIf I forget thee, O Jerusalem,let my right hand forget her cunning.If I do not remember thee,let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

CHORUSBy the waters of Babylonthere we sat down; yea, we wept.O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed,happy shall he be that taketh thy childrenand dasheth them against a stone. [Psalm 137]For with violence shall that great cityBabylon be thrown downand shall be found no more at all.

BARITONEBabylon was a great cityHer merchandise was of gold and silver,of precious stones, of pearls, of fine linen,of purple, silk and scarlet,all manner vessels of ivory,all manner vessels of most precious wood,of brass, iron and marble,cinnamon, odours and ointmentsof frankincense, wine and oil,fine flour, wheat and beasts,sheep, horses, chariots, slaves,and the souls of men. [Revelation 18:21, 12-13]

CHORUSIn BabylonBelshazzar the king made a great feast,made a feast to a thousand of his lords,and drank wine before the thousand.Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine,commanded us to bring the gold and silver vessels:Yea, the golden vessels, which his father, Nebuchadnezzar,had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem.He commanded us to bring the golden vesselsof the temple of the house of God,that the king, his princes, his wives,and his concubines might drink therein.

Then the king commanded us:Bring ye the cornet, flute, sackbut, psalteryand all kinds of music:they drank wine again,yea! drank from the sacred vessels.And then spake the king:

BARITONE AND CHORUSPraise ye the god of goldPraise ye the god of silverPraise ye the god of ironPraise ye the god of woodPraise ye the god of stonePraise ye the god of brassPraise ye the gods.

about the music

CHORUSThus in Babylon the mighty cityBelshazzar the king made a great feast,made a feast to a thousand of his lords,and drank wine before the thousand.Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine,commanded us to bring the gold and silver vessels:that his princes, his wives, and his concubines might rejoice and drink therein.After they had praised their strange gods,the idols and devils,false gods who cannot see nor hear,called they for the timbrel and the pleasant harpto extol the glory of the King.Then they pledged the Kingbefore the people,crying, Thou, O King, art King of Kings;O King, live forever.

BARITONE AND CHORUSAnd in that same hour, as they feastedcame forth fingers of a man’s handand the King sawthat part of the hand that wrote.And this was the writing that was written:MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN:THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCEAND FOUND WANTING.In that night was Belshazzar the King slainand his kingdom divided. [Daniel 5:1–5, 23, 25, 30]

CHORUSThen sing aloud to God our strength:make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.Take a psalm, bring hither the timbrel,blow up the trumpet in the new moon,blow up the trumpet in Zion, [Psalm 81:1–3]for Babylon the great is fallen.

Alleluia!Then sing aloud to God our strength:make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.While the kings of the earth lamentand the merchants of the earthweep, wail and rend their raiment,they cry, ‘Alas, Alas, that great city,in one hour is her judgement come.’

The trumpeters and pipers are silentand the harpers have ceased to harpand the light of the candle shall shine no more. [Revelation 18:11, 22–23]

Then sing aloud to God our strength:make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.for Babylon the great is fallen. Alleluia!

Text selected from Biblical sources by Osbert Sitwell.

BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST PAINTED C1635 BY REMBRANDT

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

BRAMWELL TOVEYconductor and piano

Now in his 12th season as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Grammy Award-winning conductor Bramwell Tovey continues as Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and as founding host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics series at Avery Fisher Hall.

He was music director of the Luxembourg Philharmonic (2002–2006) and, prior to taking up his position in Vancouver, had a 12-year tenure as music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, where he founded the highly regarded New Music Festival.

His career as a conductor is enhanced by his work as a composer and pianist. He won a Best Canadian Classical Composition Juno Award in 2003 for his Requiem for a Charred Skull, and his first full-length opera, The Inventor, was premiered by Calgary Opera in January 2011. His television appearances include two documentaries with the City of Birmingham Symphony, and he has built a strong reputation as a jazz pianist with two recordings to his name.

He has recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic and the Hallé, among others, and his recording of the Walton, Korngold and Barber violin concertos with the VSO and James Ehnes won a Grammy and Juno Award in 2007.

Awarded numerous honorary degrees, he has received Fellowships from the Royal Academy of Music in London and Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. In 1999 he was the recipient of the M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, a Canadian prize awarded for outstanding contributions to professional arts organisations.

DEBORAH HUMBLE mezzo-soprano

Deborah Humble began her musical education in Adelaide where she gained a Bachelor of Music Performance, and continued her studies in Melbourne, completing a Master of Music and Diplomas of Arts and Education. In 1995, she was a Young Artist with the Victoria State Opera.

She became a principal artist with Opera Australia and in 2004 received the Dame Joan Sutherland Scholarship. She subsequently became a Principal mezzo-soprano with the State Opera of Hamburg, where her roles in Wagner’s Ring cycle brought her international acclaim. Conducted by Simone Young, she began with Erda in Das Rheingold and followed with Schwertleite in Die Walküre, Erda in Siegfried and First Norn and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung. She recorded these roles and, in early 2011, repeated them in two complete cycles. She was a finalist in the 2008 International Wagner Competition.

In Australia she has performed with the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony orchestras, and with Opera Queensland and the State Opera of South Australia. Elsewhere, she has appeared with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Seattle Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Hamburg Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, and Singapore Lyric Opera; and at the Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Easter Festivals.

Her engagements this season include Brigitta in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt for Opera Australia, Pauline in the Sydney Symphony’s concert performance of The Queen of Spades, and the MSO’s performances of Duruflé’s Requiem in November. She also appears in further Ring cycles in Hamburg and as Saint Catherine in Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake in Lisbon.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

JONATHAN LEMALU bass-baritone

At the forefront of today’s young generation of singers, Jonathan Lemalu is in great demand with the major opera houses, orchestras and recital venues of the world. He graduated from the Royal College of Music where he was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal, was a joint winner of the 2002 Kathleen Ferrier Award, and received the 2002 Royal Philharmonic Society’s Award for Young Artist of the Year.

He has performed with, among many others, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and on tour to Japan, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Salzburg Festival, Bavarian and Hamburg State Operas, English National Opera and Opera Australia, under such conductors as Davis, Rattle, Mackerras, Mehta, Harnoncourt, Norrington and Jacobs. He performs regularly at the BBC Proms, and has also appeared at the Edinburgh, Munich, Ravinia and Tanglewood Festivals.

His debut recital disc with pianist Roger Vignoles won the Gramophone award for Best Debut Artist and an ECHO Classic award. Other recordings include Jonathan Lemalu: Opera Arias (ECHO Classic) and Billy Budd with the London Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding (2009 Grammy Award Best Opera Recording).

Jonathan Lemalu was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, where his parents emigrated from Western Samoa. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Otago before beginning postgraduate vocal studies at London’s Royal College of Music as a Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholar. He lives in London with his wife, Croatian mezzo-soprano Sandra Martinovic, and their son Joshua.

MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORUSJonathan Grieves-Smith Chorus Master

Under the artistic leadership of Jonathan Grieves-Smith, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus is establishing an international reputation for its outstanding performances and recordings. Known as the Melbourne Chorale until 2008, it has since then been integrated with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

The Chorus sings with the finest conductors, including Sir Andrew Davis, Mark Wigglesworth, Bernard Labadie, Stephen Layton, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Masaaki Suzuki and Manfred Honeck. Recent highlights include Britten’s War Requiem, Kancheli’s Styx, Haydn’s The Creation, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman.

The Chorus is committed to developing and performing new Australian and international choral repertoire. Recent commissions include Brett Dean’s Katz und Spatz (commissioned with the Swedish Radio Choir), Ross Edwards’ Mountain Chant (commissioned with Cantillation), Paul Stanhope’s Exile Lamentations (commissioned with Sydney Chamber Choir and London’s Elysian Singers), and Gabriel Jackson’s To the Field of Stars (commissioned with the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Stockholm’s St Jacob’s Chamber Choir). The Chorus has also premiered works by MacMillan, Pärt, Henze, Schnittke, Bryars, Silvestrov, Maskats, Machuel and Vasks, and more.

The Chorus has performed in Brazil, and in Kuala Lumpur with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, with The Australian Ballet, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, with Barbra Streisand, at the Melbourne International Arts Festival, at the 2011 AFL Grand Final and at the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. The Chorus records for Chandos and MSO Live, and continues its relationship with ABC Classics with the recent release of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the MSO.

ABOUT THE ARTISTSJONATHAN GRIEVES-SMITHChorus Master

English conductor and chorus master Jonathan Grieves-Smith has established an international reputation for his compelling performances and breadth of artistic vision. He has been Chorus Master of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus (formerly Melbourne Chorale) since 1998, and prior to that was Chorus Master of the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Hallé Choir, and Music Director of Brighton Festival Chorus.

An outstanding interpreter of Baroque and Romantic repertoire, Jonathan is a passionate advocate for new music, commissioning and conducting premieres by composers Brett Dean, John Woolrich, Paul Stanhope, Gabriel Jackson, Giya Kancheli, Gavin Bryars, Richard Mills, Alfred Schnittke, Ross Edwards, Krzysztof Penderecki, Arvo Pärt and Peteris Vasks.

Jonathan has trained choirs for performances and recordings with the world’s leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Andrew Davis, Pierre Boulez, Mark Wigglesworth, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Yuri Temirkanov and Sir Roger Norrington.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Instrument Fund ensures the artists of the MSO have instruments equal to their superb talent.

2012 is a special year for the MSO as instrumentalists, choristers and audiences return to the refurbished Hamer Hall, and its enticing new world of acoustic splendour.

Your superb woodwind section has identified three extraordinary instruments to assist them to in their quest for ever improving standards:

OBOE D’AMORE – The oboe of love! This serene member of the double-reed family has been a cherished part of the orchestral sound-world from the 18th century. The current MSO instrument is beyond repair and desperately needs replacing.

CONTRABASS CLARINET – Despite its increasing use in the orchestral repertoire since the mid-20th century there are very few of these instruments in Australia. The MSO does not currently own a contrabass clarinet and, given its increase in usage, it is essential that we purchase one at this time.

WOODEN FLUTES – To recreate the authentic sounds of the flute in the music of such composers as Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms, the purchase of two wooden flutes will greatly enhance the sound of the MSO for these performances.

CAN YOU HELP?

We welcome all donations, but a donation of $100 or more will help us solve these problems in a timely manner. Donations over $2 are fully tax-deductible.

Donate online at mso.com.au (click on Belong then Donate), or call 03 9626 1107, or post your donation to MSO Instrument Appeal, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra GPO Box 9994 Melbourne VIC 3001.

A GREAT ORCHESTRA NEEDS GREAT INSTRUMENTS

Prudence Davis, MSO Principal Flute

“Music can transform the human spirit. This is an art to which I have devoted my life, and I hope you will help this special appeal for our woodwind section, in whatever way you can.”

© James Penlidis

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

SOPRANOSPhilippa AllenJulie ArblasterColleen ArnottSheila BakerAviva BarazniEva ButcherEirlys ChessaAndrea ChristieThea ChristodoulouVeryan CroggonGeorgette CutlerSamantha DaviesIris FerwerdaRita FitzgeraldCatherine FolleySusan FoneCamilla GormanJillian GrahamAlexandra HadjiJuliana HassettMadelaine HowardPenny HuggettJasmine HulmeTania JacobsColette James

Olivia JonesGwen KennellyBrigid MaherMelika Mehdizadeh TehraniLynne MuirCaitlin NobleCarolyn O’BrienShaunagh O’NeillLauren OrmstonAlexandra PatrikiosJodie PaxtonAnne PayneSusannah PolyaTanja RedlJo RobinSue RobinsonRuth ShandElizabeth StephensElizabeth TindallKatherine TomkinsKat Turner

ALTOSRuth AndersonNicole Beyer Catherine BickellCecilia BjörkegrenKate BramleyJane BrodieElize BrozgulAlexandra ChubatyElin-Maria EvangelistaJill GieseDebbie GriffithsRos HarbisonSue HawleyKristine HenselAndrea HigginsKatherine KibbeyHelen MacLeanChristina McCowanRosemary McKelvieSiobhan OrmandyAlison RalphLynette RichardsonKerry RoulstonAnnie Runnalls

Helen StaindlJenny StengardsLibby TimckeNorma ToveyEmma Warburton

TENORSJames AllenSteve BurnettDenny ChandraJohn CleghornGeoffrey CollinsJames DipnallTrevor FinlaysonJackson HarnwellLyndon HorsburghColin MacDonaldJames MacnaePeter McInnisDominic McKennaSimon MiltonMichael MobachMalcolm Sinclair

BASSESMaurice AmorRichard BarberBarry ClarkeRichard CorboyRoger DargavilleTed DaviesPhil ElphinstoneGerard EvansAndrew HamJohn LesterStephen MakinTim MarchAlan McNab Vern O’HaraEdward OunapuuJonathan SandersMatthew ToulminIan VitcheffMatthew WilliamsFoon WongAllan Yap

REPETITUERTom Griffiths

As guest conductor he has worked with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chorus, Sydney Chamber Choir, the BBC Singers, Cantillation, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Dartington International Summer School, the Flemish Federation of Young Choirs, and Europa Cantat.

Conducting highlights include tours of Brazil with the Chorus of Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecila, with pianist Nelson Freire and the London Mozart Players, and with the Melbourne Chorale (now MSO Chorus). With the Hallé Orchestra and soloists Bryn Terfel and Tasmin Little he conducted Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and the Elgar Violin Concerto; and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, he conducted Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.2 Lobgesang at the Brighton Festival.

THE CHORUS

THE ORCHESTRAMELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRATadaaki Otaka principal Guest Conductor Benjamin Northey patricia riordan associate Conductor Chair

FIRST VIOLINSWilma SmithHarold Mitchell AC Concertmaster Chair

Roy TheakerAssociate Concertmaster

Roger Jonsson*†Guest Associate Concertmaster

Michael KisinPrincipal

Peter EdwardsAssistant Principal

Kirsty BremnerMSO Friends Chair

Sarah CurroLerida DelbridgePeter FellinDeborah GoodallLorraine HookKirstin KennyJi Won KimEleanor ManciniAnne MartonyiMark Mogilevski Michelle RuffoloKathryn TaylorAlice Rickards*††Briar Goessi*Susannah Ng*

SECOND VIOLINSMatthew TomkinsPrincipal

Robert MacindoeAssociate Principal

Monica CurroAssistant Principal

Mary AllisonIsin CakmakciogluCong GuAndrew HallRachel Homburg Christine JohnsonPhilip LajtaDavid ShafirIsy WassermanPhilippa WestPatrick WongRoger YoungLynette Rayner*

VIOLASFiona SargeantActing Principal

Justin Williams Acting Associate Principal

Trevor JonesAssistant Principal

Katie Betts Christopher CartlidgeLauren BrigdenKatharine BrockmanSimon CollinsGabrielle HalloranCindy Watkin

Caleb WrightCeridwen Davies*Helen Ireland*Isabel Morse*

CELLOSDavid BerlinPrincipal

Sarah MorseAssociate Principal

Nicholas BochnerAssistant Principal

Miranda BrockmanRohan de KorteSharon DraperJoan EvansKeith JohnsonAngela SargeantMichelle WoodRachel Atkinson*Molly Kadarauch*

DOUBLE BASSESSteve ReevesPrincipal

Andrew MoonAssociate Principal

Sylvia HoskingAssistant Principal

Damien EckersleyBenjamin HanlonSuzanne LeeStephen NewtonMiranda Hill*Bonita Williams*

FLUTESPrudence DavisPrincipal

Wendy ClarkeAssociate Principal

Sarah Beggs

PICCOLOAndrew Macleod Principal

OBOESJeffrey CrellinPrincipal

Vicki PhilipsonAssociate Principal

Ann Blackburn*

COR ANGLAISMichael PisaniPrincipal

CLARINETSDavid ThomasElisabeth Murdoch Principal Clarinet Chair

Philip ArkinstallAssociate Principal

Craig Hill

BASS CLARINETJon CravenPrincipal

BASSOONSElise Millman Acting Principal

Matthew Ockenden*#Guest Principal

Brock ImisonActing Associate Principal

Natasha ThomasColin Forbes-Abrams*

HORNSAndrew BainPrincipal

Bostjan Lipovsek*Guest Principal

Geoff Lierse Associate Principal

Saul LewisPrincipal 3rd

Trinette McClimontRachel SilverJulia Brooke*

TRUMPETSGeoffrey Payne Principal

Shane HootonAssociate Principal

William EvansJulie PayneDavid Farrands* Callum G’Froerer* Daniel Henderson* Tristan Rebien* Joshua Rogan*

TROMBONESBrett KellyPrincipal

Kenneth McClimontAssociate Principal

Michael BertoncelloJessica Buzbee* Kieran Conrau*Alistair Crawford*

BASS TROMBONEEric KlayPrincipal

David Bobroff*##Guest Principal

Robert Collins*Charles MacInnes*

TUBATim BuzbeePrincipal

Alex Hurst* Steve Rossé*^

TIMPANIChristine TurpinPrincipal

PERCUSSIONRobert Clarke Principal

John ArcaroRobert CossomDaniel Richardson*Greg Sully*

HARPJulie Raines Principal

Yinuo Mu* Megan Reeve*

PIANOLouisa Breen*

ORGANCalvin Bowman*

ALTO SAXOPHONEJason Xanthoudakis*

BOARDHarold Mitchell ACChairman

Dr Bronte AdamsPeter BiggsHon. Alan Goldberg AO QCAnn PeacockJennifer KanisAlastair McKeanMichael UllmerKee Wong

COMPANY SECRETARYOliver Carton

EXECUTIVEWayne BoxActing Chief Executive Officer

Julia BryndziaExecutive Assistant

BUSINESSNerolie GrantActing Chief Financial Officer

Raelene KingPersonnel Manager

Kaanji SkandakumarAccountant

Nathalia Andries Finance Officer

Dale BradburyProject Manager – Tessitura

ARTISTICHuw Humphreys Director, Artistic Planning

Andrew Pogson Assistant Artistic Administrator

Anna MelvilleArtistic Coordinator

Bronwyn LobbEducation Manager

Jonathan Grieves-SmithChorus Master

Helena BalazsChorus Coordinator

Lucy BardoelEducation Assistant

OPERATIONSLou OppenheimDirector of Operations

Angela ChilcottAssistant Orchestra Manager

Paul FreemanProduction Manager

Luke CampbellProduction Coordinator

Andrew KileyProduction Technician

Kerstin Schulenburg Artist Liaison

Alastair McKeanOrchestra Librarian

Kathryn O’BrienAssistant Librarian

Michael StevensOperations Assistant

MARkETINGMichael BucklandActing Director of Marketing

Joanna Krezel Marketing Manager

Dana NikanpourMarketing Manager

Phillip Sametz Communications Manager

Alison Macqueen Publicist

Simon Wilson Interactive Marketing Manager

Nina DubeckiFront of House Supervisor

Jennifer PollerMarketing Coordinator

Gabriela RamosAssistant Marketing Coordinator

Eileen NesbittCRM Coordinator

Greg MoreData Designer

Stella BarberConsultant Historian

BOX OFFICEMartine O’ConnorBox Office Manager

Paul ClutterbuckSenior Subscriptions Officer

Scott CampbellSubscriptions Officer

DEVELOPMENTCameron Mowat Director of Development

Jessica Frean Philanthropy Manager

Jennifer Tighe Sponsorship and Events Manager

Arturs Ezergailis Development Officer

Rosemary ShawDevelopment Coordinator

MANAGEMENT

HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSJohn Brockman OAM Professor John Hopkins OBE Sir Elton John

* Guest Musician# Courtesy of Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra † Courtesy of Orchestra Victoria## Courtesy of Iceland Symphony Orchestra†† Courtesy of BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra ^ Courtesy of Sydney Symphony

DONORS

MaestrO PatrONs (pledging $10,000+ annually)

M P Chipman, Andrew and Theresa Dyer, Rachel and Hon. Alan Goldberg AO QC, Tom Jacob, Mimie MacLaren, Onbass Foundation, Elizabeth Proust AO, Michael and Jenny Ullmer, Matthew VanBesien and Rosie Jowitt, Lyn Williams AM, Anonymous (2)

iMPresariO PatrONs (pledging $20,000+ annually)

John McKay and Lois McKay, Bevelly and Harold Mitchell AC, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE, Ines Scotland

PriNCiPal PatrONs (pledging $5000+ annually)

Kaye and David Birks, The Cuming Bequest, Tim and Lyn Edward, Susan Fry and Don Fry AO, Jill and Robert Grogan, Louis Hamon OAM, Hartmut and Ruth Hofmann, Peter and Jenny Hordern, Mr Greig Gailey and Dr Geraldine Lazarus, Norman and Betty Lees, Mr and Mrs D R Meagher, Wayne and Penny Morgan, Ian and Jeannie Paterson, Mrs Margaret S. Ross AM and Dr Ian C. Ross, Joy Selby Smith, Kee Wong and Wai Tang, Anonymous (1)

assOCiate PatrONs (pledging $2500+ annually)

Dr Bronte Adams, Will and Dorothy Bailey Bequest, Peter and Mary Biggs, Mrs S Bignell, Mr John Brockman OAM and Mrs Pat Brockman, David and Emma Capponi, Paul Carter, Mr Dominic Dirupo and Ms Natalie Dwyer, Peter and Leila Doyle, Dr Helen M Ferguson, Robert and Jan Green, John and Agita Haddad, Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM, Susan and Gary Hearst, Gillian and Michael Hund, Peter Lovell, Jan Minchin, Marie Morton, Dr Paul Nisselle AM, Ann Peacock, Rae Rothfield Craig and Jennifer Semple, Maria Sola and Malcolm Douglas, Gai and David Taylor, Mr Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman, Carol VanBesien, Bert and Ila Vanrenen, Hon. Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall, Barbara and Donald Weir KSJ, Joanne Wolff, Brian and Helena Worlsfold Anonymous (2)

MsO FOuNdatiONThe MSO Foundation will permanently strengthen the MSO for an inspiring future in our community.

The MSO’s work can be attributed to the generosity of many collaborators, individuals, trusts and foundations. We are grateful for your support, which helps us enrich people’s lives through inspiring music now and for the future. To support us with a tax-deductible private gift, or bequest, please contact Jessica Frean on 03 9626 1107 or philanthropy@mso.com.au.

OrChestra Chair leadershiP CaMPaiGN (In recognition of outstanding support)

Harold Mitchell AC – Harold Mitchell AC Concertmaster ChairThe Cybec Foundation – Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair

Player PatrONs (pledging $1000+ annually)

Marlyn and Peter Bancroft OAM Mr Marc Besen AO and Mrs Eva Besen AOStephen and Caroline BrainM Ward BrehenyJennifer Brukner Jill and Christopher BuckleyBill and Sandra BurdettJan and Peter Clark Judith M ConnellyAnn Darby in memory of Leslie J. DarbyPanch Das and Laurel Young-DasPat and Bruce Davis Sandra DentLisa Dwyer and Dr Ian DicksonWilliam J Forrest AMJoanna FoulkesDavid I Gibbs and Susie O’NeillMerwyn and Greta Goldblatt

The Pratt Family FoundationThe Cybec Foundation: Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers ProgramSchapper Family Foundation

Rob Cossom: Snare Drum AwardThe Trust Company as trustee of the Fred P. Archer TrustThe RM Ansett Trust as administered by Equity Trustees

Jenny AndersonJoyce Bown Kenneth BullenLuci and Ron Chambers Sandra Dent Lyn EdwardAlan Egan JPLouis Hamon OAMTony Howe

MsO PrOjeCts

MsO CONduCtOr’s CirCleWe are privileged to be included in the bequest planning of our Conductor’s Circle members.

To find out more about these and other special projects, such as the MSO Instrument Fund, please visit www.mso.com.au.

Many projects need specific support. We sincerely thank the following for their vital support for the MSO’s Education and Emerging Artist Programs.

Colin Golvan SCGeorge H Golvan QC Dr Marged Goode Jean Hadges Stuart and Sue HamiltonTilda and Brian HaughneyJulian and Gisela Heinze Hans and Petra Henkell Dr Alastair JacksonStuart Jennings and Diana MummëDr Elizabeth A Lewis AMNorman Lewis in memory of Dr Phyllis LewisJeff LoewensteinChristopher and Anna LongVivienne Hadj and Rosemary MaddenSandra and Leigh MaselTrevor and Moyra McAllister

Dr Gabriele Medley AM John and Isobel Morgan The Novy FamilyLaurence O’Keefe and

Christopher JamesLady Potter ACPeter PriestDr Sam RicketsonHugh T Rogers AMTom and Elizabeth Romanowski Delina Schembri-HardyMax and Jill Schultz David Shavin QC Chris and Jacci SimpsonGary Singer and Geoffrey A SmithDr Robert Sloane and Denise Sloane Mr Sam Smorgon AO and

Mrs Minnie Smorgon

Mrs Suzy and Dr Mark SussMargaret TritschMrs Barbara Tucker P and E TurnerMary Vallentine AOHon. Rosemary Varty Wah Yeo AM Sue Walker AM Pat and John WebbErna Werner and Neil Werner OAMNic and Ann WillcockMarian and Terry Wills Cooke Ruth Wisniak and Prof John Miller AO Peter and Susan YatesMark YoungAnonymous (8)

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC OBE – Elisabeth Murdoch Principal Clarinet ChairMSO Friends – MSO Friends Chair

John and Joan JonesElizabeth Proust AOPenny Rawlins Joan P Robinson Molly StephensPamela SwanssonDr Cherilyn TillmanMr and Mrs R P TrebilcockMichael Ullmer

Mr Tam VuMarian and Terry Wills CookeMark YoungAnonymous (15)

The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support received from the Estates of:Gwen HuntC P KempPeter Forbes MacLarenProf Andrew McCredieJean TweedieHerta and Fred B Vogel

A new season begins with a wonderful collection of

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