THURSDAY AFTERNOON SYMPHONY

Thursday 10 October 2013

EMIRATES METRO SERIES

Friday 11 October 2013

GREAT CLASSICS

Saturday 12 October 2013

FRENCH LIAISONS

GIASONE

PINCHGUTOPERA.COM.AUSupported by Heroes of Pinchgut

5, 7, 8 & 9 DECEMBERCITY RECITAL HALL ANGEL PLACE, SYDNEY

BOOKINGS & ENQUIRIES

02 8256 2222 CITYRECITALHALL.COM

Photo Andrew Goldie

FRANCESCO CAVALLIONE MAN. TWO WOMEN. THREE TIMES THE TROUBLE.

Magnificent Mozart!BRITTEN Simple Symphony MOZART Piano Concerto No.19 in F, K459† SHOSTAKOVICH arr. Barshai Chamber Symphony, Op.83a†

Dene Olding conductor Avan Yu Piano

MOZART IN THE CIT Y

Thu 17 Oct 7pm†

City Recital Hall Angel Place

Fri 18 Oct 7pm^The Concourse, Chatswood

Pre-concert talk by David Garrett (17 Oct only)

Labèque Sisters in RecitalRAVEL Rapsodie espagnole GLASS Four Movements for two pianos Australian Premiere BERNSTEIN arr. Kostal West Side Story

Katia & Marielle Labèque piano duo Gonzalo Grau percussion Raphaël Séguinier drums

INTERNATIONAL PIANISTS IN RECITAL PRESENTED BY THEME & VARIATIONS

Mon 21 Oct 7pmCity Recital Hall Angel Place

Pre-concert talk by Stephanie McCallum

Discover Britten with Katie NoonanBRITTEN Les Illuminations BRITTEN Suite on English Folk Tunes

Richard Gill conductor Katie Noonan soprano

TENIX DISCOVERY

Tue 22 Oct 6.30pmCity Recital Hall Angel Place

Latin FeverMÁRQUEZ Danzón No.2 GOLIJOV arr. Grau Nazareno VILLA-LOBOS Bachianas brasileiras No.4: Preludio and Danza PIAZZOLLA Tangazo LÓPEZ Fiesta! – 4 pop dances

Miguel Harth-Bedoya conductor Katia & Marielle Labèque piano duo Gonzalo Grau percussion Raphaël Séguinier drums

K ALEIDOSCOPE

Fri 25 Oct 8pmSat 26 Oct 8pm

MONDAYS @7

Mon 28 Oct 7pm

Pre-concert talk at 7.15pm (6.15pm on Monday 28 Oct)

Dvorák’s New WorldExplorations in Sound

BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes ZHAO JIPING Pipa Concerto† Premiere DVOŘÁK Symphony No.9, New World†

Joana Carneiro conductorWu Man pipa (Chinese lute)

MEET THE MUSIC PRESENTED BY AIM

Wed 30 Oct 6.30pmThu 31 Oct 6.30pm

TEA & SYMPHONY

Fri 1 Nov 11am†

Pre-concert talk by Kim Waldock (30, 31 Oct only)

OCTOBER

* Booking fees of $7.50 – $8.95 may apply. #Additional fees may apply. ^Tickets can also be booked through Ticketek 1300 795 012 or the Concourse box office Chatswood.

BOOK NOW!

SYDNEYSYMPHONY.COM or call 8215 4600 Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

Tickets also available at sydneyoperahouse.com 9250 7777 Mon-Sat 9am-8.30pm Sun 10am-6pm cityrecitalhall.com# 8256 2222 Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

CLASSICAL

Welco me to the Em i rates Metro Ser i es

Barry Brown

Em i rates’ V ice Pres ident Austra la s i a

Emirates is proud to continue its decade-long principal partnership with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra into 2013, with each of us providing world-class music and travel experiences for Sydneysiders and all Australians.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra brings together the fi nest classical music talents, so it is only fi tting that Emirates, which combines best-in-class products for a memorable fl ying experience, is principal partner to the Orchestra.

Like the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Emirates specialises in world-class entertainment. With up to 1400 channels to choose from on 21 fl ights per week from Sydney to Dubai, including a daily A380 service, Emirates infl ight entertainment offering has been voted best in class by Skytrax for the eighth year running.

We strive to grow and evolve so that our customers enjoy a superior fl ying experience. The same can be said of our expanding international route network, which now boasts more than 30 European destinations, all via one convenient stop in Dubai.

Similarly, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has grown into a truly outstanding ensemble, performing around 200 concerts a year to a combined annual audience of more than 350,000.

Our partnership with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is about connecting with you – our customers.

We share and support your interests and are dedicated to the growth of arts and culture in Australia. This partnership allows us to showcase the Emirates brand to music lovers around the country and the world, signifying our long-term commitment to Australia.

We are delighted to continue our support of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and encourage you to enjoy all the performances you can in 2013.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON SYMPHONY

Thursday 10 October | 1.30pm

EMIRATES METRO SERIES

Friday 11 October | 8pm

GREAT CLASSICS

Saturday 12 October | 2pm

Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

2013 SEASON

French LiaisonsLionel Bringüier CONDUCTOR

Gautier Capuçon CELLO

Henri Dutilleux (1916–2013)MétabolesIncantatoire (Largamente) –Linéaire (Lento moderato) –Obsessionel (Scherzando) –Torpide (Andantino) –Flamboyant (Presto)

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)Cello Concerto No.1 in A minor, Op.33

Allegro non troppo –Allegretto con moto – Tempo primo

INTERVAL

Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)Symphonie fantastique, Op.14

Daydreams (Largo) – Passions (Allegro agitato e appassionato assai)A Ball (Valse. Allegro non troppo)In the Fields (Adagio)March to the Scaffold (Allegretto non troppo)Sabbath Night Dream (Larghetto – Allegro – Dies irae – Sabbath Round (Un peu retenu) – Dies irae and Sabbath Round together)

Friday’s performance will be broadcast live across Australia and streamed online by ABC Classic FM.

Pre-concert talk by Ilmar Leetbergin the Northern Foyer, 45 minutes before each performance. Visitbit.ly/SSOspeakerbios forspeaker biographies.

Estimated durations: 17 minutes,20 minutes, 20-minute interval,50 minutes

The concert will conclude at approximately 3.30pm (Thu),10pm (Fri), 4 pm (Sat).

6 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

MU

SÉ

E D

’OR

SA

Y, P

AR

IS, F

RA

NC

E /

GIR

AU

DO

N /

TH

E B

RID

GE

MA

N A

RT

LIB

RA

RY

Portrait of Hector Berlioz at the age of 47 by Gustave Courbet (1819–1877)

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 7

INTRODUCTION

Turn to page 31 to read Bravo! – musician profi les, articles and news from the orchestra. There are nine issues through the year, also available at sydneysymphony.com/bravo

French Liaisons

Three French composers and two French guest artists – the French connections are clear in this concert. We begin with Métaboles (1964), music by one of the great composers of the our age, Henri Dutilleux. When we programmed the concert back in 2012, Dutilleux counted among living composers – the grand old man of French music, admired for the elegant craftsmanship of his music and the magical sonorities he elicits from the orchestra. We were saddened to learn of his death in May this year, and with the news this concert became an unintended memorial.

Dutilleux was fascinated by the challenge of discovering the form, or structure, that was unique to each composition. In Métaboles the beauty of the form lies in the transitions between the fi ve sections of the music, which are played without pause. The sections are distinct, because each one carries a diff erent mood and showcases a diff erent section of the orchestra: woodwinds, strings, brass, percussion, and then a fusion of the full ensemble. But at the same time Dutilleux’s intention was to present a musical idea from diff erent angles ‘until, by successive stages they are made to change character completely’. A kind of metamorphosis.

Composed nearly a century before Métaboles, Saint-Saëns’ fi rst cello concerto gives Romantic colour to a mainstay of Classical form: the solo concerto. For him the challenge was in exploiting a conventional structure, rather than fi nding a new one. But, as in Dutilleux, there is elegance of craftsmanship and style.

Berlioz is the wild young man of this program. And it’s astonishing to think that his Symphonie fantastique (1830) is forty years younger than Saint-Saëns’ concerto. Without apology, Symphonie fantastique takes inspiration from personal feelings, nightmares and hallucinations. Noneof the events actually happened to the composer, whichmakes the symphony a fantasy. But in its treatment of storytelling and illustration in a supposed abstractform – the symphony – it set a precedent for programmusic in 19th-century France.

FRONT COVER: The Happy Lovers (1844), oil on canvas by Gustave Courbet, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, France/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Arts Library.

8 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Henri DutilleuxMétaboles

Incantatoire (Largamente) –Linéaire (Lento moderato) –Obsessionel (Scherzando) –Torpide (Andantino) –Flamboyant (Presto)

French composer Henri Dutilleux was a fastidious creator. In a comparatively small output, each work is worthy of Dutilleux’s place in the front rank of composers of the past hundred years. His music is French in its lucidity, and the beauty of its sonority; French also perhaps in its intricacies and subtleties, yet these reveal themselves only after the music has made a clear and attractive impression on fi rst hearing. Dutilleux’s peers admired him as a musician who belonged to no school, and as a craftsman devoted to making beautiful objects.

The history of Métaboles, one of Dutilleux’s most admired and most often performed orchestral works, illustrates his perfectionism. It was commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary season (1957–58) of the Cleveland Orchestra, but other commitments prevented the composer from having it ready to his satisfaction. He fi nally completed it in 1964 and it was premiered in the orchestra’s 1964–65 season under the direction of its dedicatee, George Szell.

Born into an artistic family in Angers, Dutilleux studied fi rst in Douai then, from 1933, in Paris. His composition teacher was Henri Büsser (orchestrator of Debussy’s Petite suite). After World War II, Dutilleux became director of music productions at French radio, resigning in 1963 to devote himself entirely to composition. His opus 1 (he disowned earlier compositions) is the piano sonata he composed between 1946 and 1948 for Geneviève Joy, the distinguished pianist he married in 1946.

As his biographer Caroline Potter observes, Dutilleux’s mature style was determined by non-French principles of musical organisation, including Bartók’s, and he was drawn to the idea of the large-scale masterpiece. Orchestral works, including two symphonies, dominate Dutilleux’s small output. They include the cello concerto Tout un monde lointain… (1968–70, for Rostropovich) and the violin concerto L’arbre des songes (1985, for Isaac Stern). Mystère de l’instant of 1989 was commissioned by Paul Sacher for his Zurich orchestra. Dutilleux’s last work was a song cycle, Le temps l’horloge (2009), for Renée Fleming.

Dutilleux referred to Métaboles as ‘a concerto for orchestra’ and he had in his mind’s ear ‘the purity and timbral éclat’ of the Cleveland players, ‘their luminosity,

Keynotes

DUTILLEUX

Born Angers, France, 1916Died Paris, 2013

Henri Dutilleux (pronounced doo-tee-yer) was France’s most prominent, and admired, composer of the 20th century. At the time of his death, aged 97, he was truly the grand old man of French music. In the 1930s he studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included the composer Büsser. His day jobs included work as a choral director at the Paris Opera and director of music productions for French radio (ORTF). He made his international name with Symphony No.1 (1951) and at the age of 47 he resigned from ORTF to devote himself to composition. His peers included Jolivet, Milhaud, Poulenc and Auric, but Dutilleux himself never belonged to a particular movement or group. Instead his style is characterised by craftsmanship and the captivating beauty of his sound world.

MÉTABOLES

This title comes from rhetoric and suggests the transitions of metamorphosis. The music is organised in five movements or sections: distinct but played continuously. Apart from contrasts of character and tempo, as suggested by the individual titles, each movement highlights a different section of the orchestra. In this way Métaboles functions a little like a concerto for orchestra, and reveals its origins as a commission for one of the great orchestras of the world, the Cleveland Orchestra.

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 9

HO

RS

T TA

PP

E/L

EB

RE

CH

T M

US

IC &

AR

Tespecially in the woodwind’. The title Métabole comes from rhetoric and refers to transition, where words pass from one meaning to another. It indicates what Dutilleux called the ‘progressive growth’ of one idea into another, coloured by the privileging of the diff erent orchestral families in the course of the work’s fi ve movements, culminating in a more expansive version of the opening incantation. The original title was Cinq Métaboles but Dutilleux deleted the ‘fi ve’ so as to stress that the work is continuous.

Dutilleux’s program note explained his intention ‘to present one or many musical ideas in diff erent order and aspects, until – by successive stages – they underwent an actual change of nature’. A summary of his note follows:

In each movement the main motive – melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, or simply instrumental – undergoes successive transformations, as in a set of variations. Each piece evolves to a point – toward the end – the distortion becomes heavily charged as to engender a new motive, which appears as a fi ligree under the symphonic texture. It is this fi gure which sets the bait for the next piece, and so forth, until the last piece where the initial motive from the beginning of the work is profi led above the coda, in a long rising movement.

The fi rst movement is kind of enlarged rondo, the second is like a Lied (song), the third follows the pawttern of a passacaglia, the fourth is built on a single chord, and the last is like a scherzo where the central trio section uses the principal motive, rhythmically distorted.

The choice of instrumentation for each of the fi ve pieces intentionally corresponds, e.g. in the fi rst piece – predominance of the woodwinds, treated with increasing sonority; in the second – sovereignty of the strings, with more and more numerous divisions of the strings, and so on. Dutilleux’s music was not dictated by any literary program, and his titles for each movement describe only character and tempo:

I Incantatory (Largamente – broadly) II Linear (Lento moderato – moderately slow) III Obsessive (Scherzando – playfully) IV Torpid (Andantino – a relaxed tempo) V Flamboyant (Presto – as fast as possible)

Finally, says the composer, ‘as the general title clearly suggests, in conceiving this work the composer mused constantly upon the mysterious and fascinating world of eternal metamorphosis’.

DAVID GARRETT © 2013

Métaboles calls for two fl utes (doubling piccolo), three oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, E fl at clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon; for horns, four trumpets, three trombones and tuba; timpani and a large percussion section; harp, celesta and strings.

This is the SSO’s fi rst performance of Métaboles. In previous seasons the orchestra has performed Mystère de l’instant (2012), the chamber work Diptyque – Les Citations (2005), The Shadows of Time (2002, in the Thursday Afternoon Symphony, Metro and Great Classics series), the cello concerto Tout un monde lointain… (1992 with soloist Catherine Hewgill) and Symphony No.2 (1992).

Henri Dutilleux in 1995

10 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

Camille Saint-SaënsCello Concerto No.1 in A minor, Op.33

Allegro non troppo –Allegretto con moto – Tempo primo

Gautier Capuçon CELLO

This concerto reveals many of Saint-Saëns’ most endearing qualities as a composer. It is a modestly engaging, unpretentiously beguiling work, its most important musical qualities being the tight construction (three movements sounding as if rolled into one) and the subtle orchestration which, with its discreet accompaniment, neatly solves the inherent problems of balancing the solo cello against a symphony orchestra. Composition of this concerto was one of the activities Saint-Saëns threw himself into following the death of his beloved great-aunt in January 1872. At the same time he began writing a regular newspaper column, under the pseudonym Phémius, which promoted French music (composers such as Rameau, Gounod and Bizet) – part of the polemical struggle to bolster French national pride after the demoralising loss to Prussia in the recent Franco-Prussian War.

The A minor Concerto was fi rst performed on 19 January 1873 by the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra with its principal cellist Auguste Tolbecque as soloist. Much later, the work became a particular favourite of the cellist Pablo Casals who played it at his London debut in 1905. And no wonder – as Saint-Saëns’ biographer James Harding says, it ‘gives the instrument an excellent opportunity to display its resources without straining after needless virtuosity’.

The fi rst movement (Allegro non troppo) begins with one sharp chord from the orchestra, immediately ushering in a swirling theme from the solo cello, which will form the main thematic material for the movement. This material is repeated, varied, played on the woodwinds behind long notes on the solo cello and extended. Eventually the cello plays an attractive romantic melody that is dovetailed into cadential material by the swirling theme in the accompaniment. A new sequence continues to work on the swirling fi gure, fi rst making use of the half-tone rise and fall of its tailpiece.

A developmental extension of the romantic melody leads imperceptibly into the minuet-like second movement (Allegretto con moto). Saint-Saëns’ structural fl uency has been revealed by the clever way in which this movement was introduced, almost as if it were merely another phase of the fi rst movement. A dance-like fi gure for woodwinds is

Keynotes

SAINT-SAËNS

Born Paris, 1835Died Algiers, 1921

Saint-Saëns displayed a childhood precocity for music, both as a pianist (he performed two concertos from memory at the age of 10) and as a composer. He was a classicist among the French Romantics and emerges best in traditional forms such as concertos and symphonies, but he also wrote the exotic and colourful salon pieces that were popular in his day. Debussy called him ‘the musician of tradition’.

CELLO CONCERTO NO.1

Saint-Saëns wrote two cello concertos and this one, from 1872, is by far the most popular. It doesn’t aspire to weightiness – instead it is charming and unpretentious, elegant and graceful. At every turn it seems determined to give maximum pleasure to both the listener and the soloist. Saint-Saëns is a generous composer, deftly writing for the orchestra so that the cello doesn’t need to struggle to be heard (the perennial challenge in a cello concerto) and providing just the right balance between appealing lyricism and virtuosity.

The concerto is in three sections – two fast movements framing a dance-like movement – which are played without pause to give a tightly unified structure.

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 11

transformed into an accompaniment for a ruminative cello melody. There is a slightly darker, more lilting middle section, followed by cadenza-like runs in the cello solo which lead to a reprise of the dancing fi gure over a cello trill.

The movement winds down, and then the cello line forms the link to the fi nal, and longest, movement, Tempo primo. The oboe retrieves the fi rst movement’s swirling fi gure, now more swiftly modulating and more intense with other woodwind interjections. After a dramatic development, the cello fi nally takes back the swirling fi gure. The cello now introduces a new aria-like theme, built on the rise-and-fall idea of the opening melody. Now, at last, the cello part begins to become more virtuosic, and in the slower section ends up in the instrumental stratosphere, with high harmonics. The music resumes speed after a reprise of the aria-like melody, and with an exciting pick-up, the movement and the concerto come to a close.

GORDON KALTON WILLIAMSSYMPHONY AUSTRALIA © 1997

The concerto calls for an orchestra comprising pairs of fl utes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets; timpani and strings.

The SSO fi rst performed the concerto in 1938 with conductor Percy Code and cellist Lauri Kennedy, and most recently in 2009 with soloist Alban Gerhardt in concerts conducted by John Nelson and by Benjamin Northey.

Camille Saint-Saëns, engraved portrait by H Meyer

COLE PORTER, LET’S MISBEHAVE (1927)

SATURDAY 23 NOVEMBER — PADDINGTON TOWN HALL

Break out the tux, put on your dancing shoes and join us for a night of revelry and entertainment to help us support Australia’s most talented young musicians at the SSO Roaring 20s Ball!

Tickets are available through the SSO Box Office 8215 4600.

For more information visit www.sydneysymphony.com/20sball

12 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

INTERLUDE

Berlioz and Romanticism

Romanticism, as the English writer Gabriel Josipovici has put it, began essentially as a ‘movement of liberation’. In Britain, the poet Wordsworth inaugurated the movement with his publication of the Lyrical Ballads in 1798. A direct reaction to the aesthetic conventions of the neo-classical ‘Augustan’ poets like Pope and Goldsmith, the ballads sought to present ‘a natural delineation of human passions’ in ‘natural’ language, and the author hoped that readers would not be hampered by their ‘own pre-established codes of decision’. The blurring of arbitrary ‘pre-established codes’ of thinking can be seen in various kinds of Romantic art: Caspar David Friedrich shocked the art world by confl ating conventions of religious and landscape art in his Cross in the Mountains; poets like the German Novalis went so far as to regard consciousness itself as a barrier between the human and the universe. The wish to transcend oneself and be at one with the universe led to the cult of the death wish, taken up enthusiastically by Richard Wagner from the writings of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. The decidedly un-classical worlds of the Middle Ages – the setting of Goethe’s Faust – of folk art and of exotic settings provided the backdrop for an art which was emotive and deeply subjective.

Romanticism established itself slightly later in France than it had in the German- and English-speaking countries. During both the French revolution and the Napoleonic period the arts were fi rmly in the service of politics. With the brief restoration of the monarchy in 1815 a measure of stability and prosperity returned, and it was in this environment that Berlioz’s talent was nurtured. Restoration France experienced a craze for certain English literature, particularly that of Byron and Shakespeare. These two poets had a profound infl uence on works of Berlioz such as Harold in Italy and Roméo et Juliette, and indirectly on Les Troyens (The Trojans) and the Symphonie fantastique.

Charles Rosen argues that Berlioz’s Romantic madness was only skin deep, although he fought passionately for the cause of Romanticism. He took up arms for Shakespeare, for Goethe’s Faust, Oriental exoticism, program music, the mountains with the lonely sound of shepherd’s pipes, the Gothic macabre, the projection of ego in the work of art, as well as the artist as inspired lunatic – all the commonplace intellectual bric-a-brac of the period, in fact.

The musical language in which Berlioz expressed himself, however, has its roots in composers as diverse as Gluck and Cherubini. From Gluck, Berlioz learned the virtue of music which eschews formal convention in the interests of direct human expression. Cherubini – whom

...Berlioz’s Romantic madness was only skin deep...

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 13

Beethoven once acknowledged as the second greatest living composer – was a proponent of the ‘rescue’ opera so popular during the revolutionary period, where a victory of good over oppressive evil was couched in music of often raw emotive power.

The artist Delacroix saw fi t to describe Berlioz’s work generally as ‘un héroïque gâchis’ – a heroic mess! – and even many years later we fi nd Debussy retailing common criticism about Berlioz’s ‘harmonic liberties…and negligence of form’. Pieces like the Symphonie fantastique or the Grande Symphonie funèbre et triomphale wear their extra-musical connotations in their titles; Harold in Italy is almost a viola concerto, but with strong links to Byron. Berlioz used ‘concert opera’ to describe The Damnation of Faust before settling on ‘dramatic legend’, and described Roméo et Juliette as a ‘dramatic symphony’. In breaking down those ‘pre-established codes’ Berlioz helped to defi ne French Romanticism, prompting the remark by the poet Auden that ‘whoever wants to know about the 19th century must know about Berlioz.’

ABRIDGED FROM AN ARTICLE BY GORDON KERRY SYMPHONY AUSTRALIA © 2002

Caspar David Friedrich shocked the art world by conflating conventions of religious and landscape art in The Cross on the Mountains, pencil and sepia sketch (1805–06)

14 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

The Only Gift

Anyone can do the expected. It’s the unexpected that sets you apart.

Delivering Love Since 1967AUSTRALIA-WIDE - 1300 767 376 - WWW.ROSESONLY.COM.AU

Order from any mobile or download our iPhone App

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 15

Hector BerliozSymphonie fantastique, Op.14

Daydreams (Largo) – Passions (Allegro agitato e appassionato assai)A Ball (Valse Allegro non troppo)In the Fields (Adagio)March to the Scaffold (Allegretto non troppo)Sabbath Night Dream (Larghetto – Allegro – Dies irae – Sabbath Round (Un peu retenu) – Dies irae and Sabbath Round together)

The fi rst performance of the Symphonie fantastique on5 December 1830 marked a turning point in Berlioz’s career. It was through this work that he fi rst became known; his extensive infl uence on 19th-century composers dates from it. For those in the audience it was also a signifi cant event, which opened a new era in music. For despite its apparent obeisance to classical procedures, this music sounded like no music ever heard before.

The actual music of the Symphonie fantastique is surrounded by a thick hedge of literary and biographical associations. Berlioz himself is largely responsible for this. Firstly there is the tale of Harriet Smithson, a hapless English actress whose portrayal of Ophelia had captured Berlioz’s imagination. In 1830 he wrote to a friend that the Symphonie was to depict the development of his ‘infernal passion’ for Miss Smithson. 20 years and two disastrous marriages later, he wrote in his Memoirs that the work had been written under the infl uence of Goethe’s Faust. But the early association stuck well. If there is one thing everyone knows about Berlioz and the Symphonie fantastique, it is the sad tale of his relationship with Harriet Smithson!

A more imposing literary obstacle is the elaborate program which Berlioz himself devised, and which he originally directed should accompany the Symphonie whenever it was played. The program bristles with literary allusions: to Chateaubriand, to Shakespeare, Goethe, Hoff mann, De Quincey. In brief, it deals with a young musician, in the toils of a desperate passion for a woman who embodies his romantic ideal. The vagaries of feeling occasioned by his passion are the subject of the fi rst movement. In the following movements we see him in various situations: at a ball, in the midst of nature in the country, in the grip of an opium dream witnessing his own execution, and partaking in a Witches’ Sabbath, where his beloved appears transformed into a demon’s harlot.

The program is of considerable interest in itself as an index of artistic preoccupations at that time: the discovery of the unconscious (the opium dream), the interest in the

Keynotes

BERLIOZ

Born La Côte-Saint-André, 1803Died Paris, 1869

Berlioz set off for Paris whenhe was 18, ostensibly to study medicine (his father’s preference) but in reality following a musical path that would result in him becoming the ‘arch-Romantic’ composerof his age. Despite the fact that his main instrument was the guitar (he also played pianoand flute, but badly), he became a master in the innovative useof the orchestra (he literally wrote the book) as wellas a conductor.

FANTASTIC SYMPHONY

This symphony was premiered in 1830 as ‘An Episode in the Life of an Artist’ and its five movements are structured around a synopsis or ‘program’ that traces the increasingly feverish opium dream of a young Romantic artist. The final form of Berlioz’s program can be found on page 18 but, as he said himself, the movement titles should be enough to guide you through this vividly imagined music. Berlioz didn’t invent program music – but he made an important contribution through his use of an idée fixe or ‘fixed idea’, a theme (representingthe Artist’s Beloved) that keeps returning in increasinglyfrantic guises.

16 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

demoniac, the fascination with the monstrous and bizarre – the ‘fantastic’ of the work’s title. In actual fact, the label ‘fantastic’ only applies directly to the last two movements, and it is worth noticing that trombones and tubas are silent until these last two movements, where their entry reinforces the change of atmosphere.

Despite its inherent literary interest, much debate has centred on the relevance of the program to the actual music of the Symphonie. There is no doubt that Berlioz captured the contemporary imagination very well with it, and, more practically, that it helped the audience to accept more readily the strangeness of the music in those early performances. But is the program anything more than a ‘promotional aid’? Does it add to, or distract from, our appreciation of the music of the Symphonie?

Berlioz revised the program no less than four times, modifying it quite signifi cantly in the process. He also modifi ed his view of its usefulness, fi nally directing that, whenever the Symphonie is played alone, without its stage sequel Lélio, the program was not to be distributed. However, as in Harold in Italy, the titles of the movements must be retained. The composer sensed rightly that the music was coherent and comprehensible in its own terms, and did not need any added literary explanation.

Portrait of Berlioz in the early 1830s, thought to be by Ingrés

The program of the Symphonie fantastique is linked to Berlioz’s own experience – yet not one of the events described in it had actually occurredin his own life.

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 17

The true originality of the Symphonie fantastique lies in the music itself. The many novelties of its melody, harmony and orchestration strike our ears even today. Most signifi cantly, however, the work embodies an entirely new conception of dramatic instrumental music. In formulating this new dramatic ideal, Berlioz drew equally on the examples of Beethoven and Shakespeare – seen in the light of his own beliefs about the expressive capabilities of instrumental music. In realising the new dramatic ideal in his music, Berlioz signifi cantly modifi ed classical symphonic practices in several respects: the number and grouping of the movements, the character of the individual movements and the treatment of the main theme.

The ‘hero’ of Berlioz’s symphonic drama is not the musician of the program, but the fi rst theme of the Allegro (Passions) section of the fi rst movement. This theme is the subject and source of action in the whole work. Notice that it reappears – like an actor in a play, but unlike the theme of a Classical symphony – in each of the subsequent scenes of the drama. Berlioz uses solo instruments to complete the identity of the theme, to ‘characterise’ it. After the fi rst movement, it appears most often on solo clarinet, though fl ute and oboe are also used in the Waltz and particularly in the pastoral third movement.

Development of the theme is projected into fi ve specifi c ‘situations’ – another unusual feature, and one which again has more in common with drama than with classical symphonic practice. Time and place are suggested by the movement titles. But the situations are evoked by the music itself, in the introduction that precedes each movement.

The movements are grouped symmetrically on either side of the central movement, the Scene in the Fields. The drama develops in an arc. It rises to its point of crisis with the appearance of the allegro theme in the Adagio third movement, In the Fields. From there it descends to the catastrophe in the last movement, the Dream of the Witches’ Sabbath, where the original identity of the allegro theme is destroyed by the forces of parody that are so potent in this movement. The most important dramatic events occur in the fi rst, third and fi fth movements. The other two movements, A Ball and March to the Scaff old, complement each other as episodes, or interludes, between the main movements.

Berlioz continued to develop his dramatic symphonic ideal in Harold in Italy – with its solo viola ‘hero’ – and in Roméo et Juliette, where symphonic form is further enlarged to embrace a play by Shakespeare. But perhaps he never again succeeded as perfectly as he does here in the Symphonie fantastique.

KAY DREYFUS © 1997

Irish actress Harriet Smithson as Ophelia in Charles Kemble’s 1827 Paris production of Hamlet.

The Symphonie fantastique calls for two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes (one doubling cor anglais), two clarinets (one doubling E flat clarinet) and four bassoons; four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones and two tubas (or ophicleides), two sets of timpani and a large percussion section that includes church bells; two harps and strings.

The SSO gave the first performance by an ABC orchestra of the Symphonie fantastique in 1938, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. The orchestra’s most recent performance of the symphony was in 2010, conducted by Pinchas Steinberg.

18 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

AN EPIN THE LIFE O

The fantastic Symphony

EXPLANATORY

The following program must be distributed among the audience whenever

the Fantastic Symphony is played dramatically and it is followed by the lyric monodrama [Lélio], which latter supplements and closes the episode in the life of an artist. When such a performance is given, the orchestra must be invisible and placed on the stage of a theatre behind the lowered curtain.

When the Symphony is given by itself in concerts these directions are superfl uous and, strictly speaking, the distribution of this program may be dispensed with. In such cases it is only necessary to retain the titles of the fi ve movements. The composer indulges himself with the hope that the symphony will, on its own merits and irrespective of any dramatic aim, offer an interest in the musical sense alone.

�

PROGRAM of the Symphony

A young musician of unhealthily sensitive nature and endowed with vivid imagination has poisoned himself with opium in a paroxysm of love-sick despair. The narcotic dose he had taken was too weak to cause death but it has thrown him into a long sleep accompanied by the most extraordinary visions. In this condition his sensations, his feeling and memories fi nd utterance in his sick brain in the form of musical imagery. Even the beloved one takes the form of melody in his mind, like a fi xed idea [idée fi xe] which is ever returning and which he hears everywhere.

1st MovementVisions and passionsAt fi rst he thinks of the uneasy and nervous condition of his mind, of sombre longings, of depression and joyous elation without any recognisable cause, which he experienced before the beloved one had appeared to him. Then he remembers the ardent love with which she suddenly inspired him, he thinks of his almost insane anxiety of mind, of his raging jealousy, of his awakening love, of his religious consolation.

Berlioz’s revised ‘program’ for the Symphonie fantastique

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 19

ISODEOF AN ARTIST

and the lyric Monodrama

2nd MovementA ballIn a ballroom, amidst the confusion of a brilliant festival, he fi nds the loved one again.

3rd MovementIn the countryIt is a summer evening. He is in the country musing when he hears two shepherd-lads who play the ranz des vaches (the tune used by the Swiss to call their fl ocks together) in alternation. This shepherd-duet, the locality, the soft whisperings of the trees stirred by the zephyr-wind some prospects of hope recently made known to him, all these sensations unite to impart a long unknown repose to his heart and to lend a smiling colour to his imagination. And then she appears once more. His heart stops beating, painful forebodings fi ll his soul. ‘Should she prove false to him!’ One of the shepherds resumes the melody, but the other answer him no more…Sunset…distant rolling of thunder…loneliness…silence.

4th MovementThe procession to the stakeHe dreams that he had murdered his beloved, that he has been

condemned to death and is being led to the stake. A march that is alternately sombre and wild, brilliant and solemn, accompanies the procession… The tumultuous outbursts are followed without modulation by measured steps. At last the fi xed idea returns, for a moment a last thought of love is revived – which is cut short by the death-blow.

5th MovementThe witches’ SabbathHe dreams that he is present at a witches’ dance, surrounded by horrible spirits, amidst sorcerers and monsters in many fearful forms, who have come to assist at his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, shrill laughter, distant yells, which other cries seem to answer. The beloved melody is heard again but it has its noble and shy character no longer, it has become a vulgar, trivial and grotesque kind of dance. She it is who comes to attend the witches’ meeting. Friendly howls and shouts greet her arrival…She joins the infernal orgy…bells toll for the dead…a burlesque parody of the ‘Dies irae’…the witches’ round-dance…the dance and the ‘Dies irae’ are heard at the same time.

20 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

MORE MUSIC

DUTILLEUX

If the Dutilleux sound world has captured your imagination, look for his complete orchestral works in a 4-CD set on Chandos. Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and in addition to Métaboles the collection includes Mystère de l’instan, and The Shadows of Time. CHANDOS 9853

SAINT-SAËNS CELLO CONCERTO NO.1

Gautier Capuçon studied with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna and Schiff ’s fi rst recording (in 1977) was of the fi rst Saint-Saëns cello concerto. There’s an Australian connection with Charles Mackerras conducting. It’s available in a 2-CD set, Basic Saint-Saëns. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 447 2262

SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE

For a performance that combines ‘passion, spontaneity and incredible ensemble clarity’ try Roger Norrington’s 2003 live recording with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. HÄNSSLER CLASSIC 93103

To explore the symphony and Berlioz’s world in multimedia depth, visit the San Francisco Symphony’s acclaimed Keeping Score site. www.keepingscore.org

And if you’re curious about the sequel to the Symphonie fantastique, the monodrama Lélio (or The Return to Life), then look for Thomas Dausgaard’s recording with the Danish National Orchestra and Chorus. CHANDOS 10416

LIONEL BRINGUIER

Lionel Bringuier and the Orchestre de Bretagne have recorded two major works by Vincent d’Indy: Symphony No.1 (Italienne) and the Concerto for piano, violin and cello.TIMPANI 1125

In 2010, at the age of 23, Lionel Bringuier made his BBC Proms debut. That performance, with pianist Nelson Freire and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, is now available as a live concert video. On the program: Berlioz, Ravel, Roussel’s Symphony No.3, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2, and Gluck.BEL AIR CLASSIQUES 79 (DVD)BEL AIR CLASSIQUES 479 (BLU-RAY)

GAUTIER CAPUÇON

Gautier Capuçon’s recording of Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No.1 with Lionel Bringuier is yet to be released, but you can hear him playing the Romance for cello and piano and other chamber pieces in a delightful all-Saint-Saëns disc that includes The Carnival of the Animals.EMI CLASSICS 45603

Among Gautier’s more recent releases is the Dvorák Cello Concerto with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Paavo Järvi.EMI CLASSICS 602 7405

Also look for the recording of Gabriel Fauré’s music for piano and strings, in which Gautier is joined by his brother Renaud Capuçon and pianist Michel Dalberto.VIRGIN CLASSICS 70875

Broadcast DiaryOctober–November

abc.net.au/classic

Tuesday 22 October, 1.05pmBOHEMIAN ADVENTURE

Antonello Manacorda conductorJonathan Biss pianoBartók, Mozart, Dvorák

Thursday 31 October, 9.30pmALL STOPS OUT!David Drury organFemale voices of VOXElizabeth Scott chorus directorRebecca Gill violinJS Bach, Mozart, Vierne, Brahms, Karg-Elert

Saturday 9 November, 8pmWAR REQUIEM

Vladimir Ashkenazy conductorDina Kuznetsova, Andrew Staples, Dietrich Henschel vocal soloistsSydney Philharmonia ChoirsSydney Children’s ChoirBritten

Fine Music 102.5SYDNEY SYMPHONY 2013Tuesday 15 October, 6pmMusicians, staff and guest artists discuss what’s in store in our forthcoming concerts.

Webcasts

Selected Sydney Symphony Orchestra concerts are webcast live on BigPond and Telstra T-box and made available for later viewing On Demand. Our current webcast:LIOR & WESTLAKE

Visit: bigpondmusic.com/sydneysymphonyWe recommend our free mobile app, now optimised for the iPad, if you want to watch SSO live webcasts on your mobile device.

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 21

Sydney Symphony LiveThe Sydney Symphony Live label was founded in 2006 and we’ve since released more than a dozen recordings featuring the orchestra in live concert performances with our titled conductors and leading guest artists, including the Mahler Odyssey cycle, begun in 2010. To purchase, visit sydneysymphony.com/shop

Glazunov & ShostakovichAlexander Lazarev conducts a thrilling performance of Shostakovich 9 and Glazunov’s Seasons. SSO 2

Strauss & SchubertGianluigi Gelmetti conducts Schubert’s Unfi nished and R Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Ricarda Merbeth.SSO 200803

Sir Charles MackerrasA 2CD set featuring Sir Charles’s fi nal performances with the orchestra, in October 2007. SSO 200705

Brett DeanBrett Dean performs his own viola concerto, conducted by Simone Young, in this all-Dean release. SSO 200702

RavelGelmetti conducts music by one of his favourite composers: Maurice Ravel. Includes Bolero. SSO 200801

Rare Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff chamber music with Dene Olding, the Goldner Quartet, soprano Joan Rodgers and Vladimir Ashkenazy at the piano. SSO 200901

Prokofi ev’s Romeo and JulietVladimir Ashkenazy conducts the complete Romeo and Juliet ballet music of Prokofi ev – a fi ery and impassioned performance.SSO 201205

Tchaikovsky Violin ConcertoIn May this recording with James Ehnes and Ashkenazy was awarded a Juno (the Canadian Grammy). Lyrical miniatures fi ll out the disc. SSO 201206

Sydney Symphony Orchestra Online

Join us on Facebookfacebook.com/sydneysymphony

Follow us on Twittertwitter.com/sydsymph

Watch us on YouTubewww.youtube.com/SydneySymphony

Visit sydneysymphony.com for concert information, podcasts, and to read the program book in the week of the concert.

Stay tuned. Sign up to receive our fortnightly e-newslettersydneysymphony.com/staytuned

Download our free mobile app for iPhone/iPad or Androidsydneysymphony.com/mobile_app

Mahler 1 & Songs of a Wayfarer SSO 201001

Mahler 2 SSO 201203

Mahler 3 SSO 201101

Mahler 4 SSO 201102

Mahler 5 SSO 201003

Mahler 6 SSO 201103

Mahler 7 SSO 201104

Mahler 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) SSO 201002

Mahler 9 SSO 201201

Mahler 10 (Barshai completion) SSO 201202

Song of the Earth SSO 201004

From the archives:

Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder, Das Lied von der Erde SSO 201204

LOOK OUT FOR…

Our next release featuring music by Brett Dean.

MAHLER ODYSSEY

During the 2010 and 2011 concert seasons, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy set out to perform all the Mahler symphonies, together with some of the song cycles. These concerts were recorded for CD and the set is now complete, together with a special disc of historical SSO Mahler performances. Available individually or as a handsome boxed set.

MORE MUSIC

22 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Lionel Bringuier CONDUCTOR

Born in Nice, Lionel Bringuier dedicated his early musical life to the cello as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, and began studying conducting with Zsolt Nagy in 2000. He also participated in masterclasses with Peter Eötvös and János Fürst, and in 2005 he won the 49th Besançon Young Conductors Competition. He subsequently made his BBC Proms debut at the age of 23, conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Roussel’s Symphony No.3 – a performance recently released on DVD.

From 2007 to 2013 he was the Resident Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and continues to appear with this orchestra. And in 2014 he takes up the position of Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich.

In the 2013–14 season he will also conduct the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the BBCSO, and make debut appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, as well as returning to the LA Philharmonic.

An enthusiast for 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, Lionel Bringuier regularly conducts music by living composers and the 2013–14 season will include a notable performance of Marc-André Dalbavie’s Flute Concerto with the BBCSO and its principal fl utist Michael Cox. In November he will conduct Lutosławski’s Chantefl eurs et chantefables with soprano Laura Claycomb and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, celebrating the composer’s centenary.

Lionel Bringuier’s fi rst recording featured D’Indy’s Symphony No.1 (Italienne) with the Orchestre de Bretagne, and forthcoming releases include a Saint-Saëns recording with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

This is Lionel Bringuier’s Sydney Symphony Orchestra debut.

JON

ATH

AN

GR

IMB

ER

T-B

AR

RE

www.lionelbringuier.com

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 23

Since 2007 Gautier Capuçon has been an ambassador for the Zegna & Music philhanthropic project, founded in 1997 to promote music and its values. He plays a 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello and uses a Dominique Peccatte bow, purchased with the assistance of theColas Group.

Gautier Capuçon CELLO

Born in Chambéry in 1981, Gautier Capuçon began playing the cello at the age of fi ve. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and later with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. He won many international competitions, including the International André Navarra Prize, and in 2001 was named New Talent of the Year by Victoires de la Musique (the French equivalent of a Grammy). In 2004 he received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and since then has received several Echo Klassik awards.

Gautier Capuçon performs regularly as a soloist with the world’s leading orchestras, working with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Semyon Bychkov, Bernard Haitink, Myung-Whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In recent seasons, he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra, with whom he toured Europe. He also appears as a recitalist and chamber musician in the major European halls and festivals, including the annual Verbier Festival and Project Martha Argerich, Lugano.

In the 2013–14 season he makes debut appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden and Salzburg Easter Festival, and performs with the Munich Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Mariinsky Orchestra, and in Asia with the NKH Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic and Guangzhou Symphony. He will give recitals at the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, in Brussels, Vienna and Seoul, and on tour with Yuja Wang in Japan.

His recordings include music for cello and orchestra by Dvorák, Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Prokofi ev, and the Brahms Double Concerto with his brother, Renaud Capuçon, and he will soon release a recording of Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No.1 with Lionel Bringuier conducting. He has also recorded chamber music by Fauré, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Brahms, Schubert and Ravel, including collaborations with such artists as Martha Argerich.

Gautier Capuçon made his Sydney Symphony Orchestra debut in 2009 performing Dvorák’s Cello Concerto.

www.gautiercapucon.com

24 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

MUSICIANS

Vladimir AshkenazyPrincipal Conductor and Artistic Advisor supported by Emirates

Dene OldingConcertmaster

Jessica CottisAssistant Conductor supported by Premier Partner Credit Suisse

Andrew HaveronConcertmaster

To see photographs of the full roster of permanent musicians and find out more about the orchestra, visit our website: www.sydneysymphony.com/SSO_musiciansIf you don’t have access to the internet, ask one of our customer service representatives for a copy of our Musicians flyer.

The men of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra are proudly outfitted by Van Heusen.

FIRST VIOLINS

Andrew Haveron Concertmaster

Sun Yi Associate Concertmaster

Kirsten Williams Associate Concertmaster

Lerida DelbridgeAssistant Concertmaster

Fiona ZieglerAssistant Concertmaster

Julie BattyJenny BoothMarianne BroadfootBrielle ClapsonSophie ColeAmber DavisGeorges LentzNicola LewisAlexandra MitchellAlexander NortonLéone ZieglerDene Olding Concertmaster

Jennifer Hoy

SECOND VIOLINS

Kirsty Hilton Marina Marsden Emma JezekA/ Assistant Principal

Emily LongA/ Assistant Principal

Susan Dobbie Principal Emeritus

Maria DurekShuti HuangStan W KornelBenjamin LiNicole MastersBiyana RozenblitMaja VerunicaRebecca Gill†Claire Herrick*Emma HayesPhilippa Paige

VIOLAS

Tobias Breider Anne-Louise Comerford Justin WilliamsAssistant Principal

Robyn BrookfieldSandro CostantinoJane HazelwoodStuart JohnsonJustine MarsdenFelicity TsaiAmanda VernerLeonid VolovelskyNicole Greentree†

Roger Benedict Graham Hennings

CELLOS

Catherine Hewgill Leah LynnAssistant Principal

Kristy ConrauFenella GillElizabeth NevilleChristopher PidcockAdrian WallisDavid WickhamEleanor Betts*Janine Boubbov*Timothy Nankervis

DOUBLE BASSES

Kees Boersma Alex Henery Neil BrawleyPrincipal Emeritus

David CampbellSteven LarsonRichard LynnDavid MurrayBenjamin Ward

FLUTES Janet Webb Emma Sholl Carolyn HarrisRosamund Plummer Principal Piccolo

OBOESDiana Doherty Shefali Pryor David PappAlexandre OgueyPrincipal Cor Anglais

CLARINETS

Lawrence DobellFrancesco CelataChristopher TingayCraig Wernicke Principal Bass Clarinet

BASSOONS

Matthew Wilkie Jack Schiller°†

Fiona McNamaraNoriko Shimada Principal Contrabassoon

HORNS

Robert Johnson Geoffrey O’Reilly Principal 3rd

Euan HarveyMarnie SebireBen Jacks Rachel Silver

TRUMPETS

Paul Goodchild Anthony HeinrichsDaniel HendersonCraig Ross*David Elton

TROMBONES

Scott Kinmont Christopher Harris Principal Bass Trombone

Nigel Crocker*Ronald PrussingNick Byrne

TUBA

Steve Rossé Scott Frankcombe*

TIMPANI

Richard MillerMark RobinsonAssistant Principal

PERCUSSION

Rebecca LagosColin Piper Brian Nixon*Alison Pratt*Philip South*

HARP

Louise JohnsonGenevieve Lang*

CELESTA

Catherine Davis*

Bold = PrincipalItalics = Associate Principal° = Contract Musician

* = Guest Musician† = SSO FellowGrey = Permanent member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra not appearing in this concert

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 25

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAVladimir Ashkenazy, Principal Conductor and Artistic AdvisorPATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO

Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has evolved into one of the world’s fi nest orchestras as Sydney has become one of the world’s great cities.

Resident at the iconic Sydney Opera House, where it gives more than 100 performances each year, the SSO also performs in venues throughout Sydney and regional New South Wales. International tours to Europe, Asia and the USA have earned the orchestra worldwide recognition for artistic excellence, most recently in the 2012 tour to China.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s fi rst Chief Conductor was Sir Eugene Goossens, appointed in 1947; he was followed by Nicolai Malko, Dean Dixon, Moshe Atzmon, Willem van Otterloo, Louis Frémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zdenek Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de Waart and Gianluigi Gelmetti. David Robertson will take up the post of Chief Conductor in 2014. The orchestra’s history also boasts collaborations with legendary fi gures such as George Szell, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s award-winning education program is central to its commitment to the future of live symphonic music, developing audiences and engaging the participation of young people. The orchestra promotes the work of Australian composers through performances, recordings and its commissioning program. Recent premieres have included major works by Ross Edwards, Liza Lim, Lee Bracegirdle, Gordon Kerry and Georges Lentz, and the orchestra’s recording of works by Brett Dean was released on both the BIS and Sydney Symphony Live labels.

Other releases on the Sydney Symphony Live label, established in 2006, include performances with Alexander Lazarev, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Sir Charles Mackerras and Vladimir Ashkenazy. In 2010–11 the orchestra made concert recordings of the complete Mahler symphonies with Ashkenazy, and has also released recordings of Rachmaninoff and Elgar orchestral works on the Exton/Triton labels, as well as numerous recordings on the ABC Classics label.

This is the fi fth year of Ashkenazy’s tenure as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor.

JOH

N M

AR

MA

RA

S

26 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

BEHIND THE SCENES

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Rory JeffesEXECUTIVE TEAM ASSISTANT

Lisa Davies-Galli

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC PLANNING

Peter Czornyj

Artistic AdministrationARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Eleasha MahARTIST LIAISON MANAGER

Ilmar LeetbergRECORDING ENTERPRISE MANAGER

Philip Powers

Education ProgramsHEAD OF EDUCATION

Kim WaldockEMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM MANAGER

Mark LawrensonEDUCATION COORDINATOR

Rachel McLarinCUSTOMER SERVICE OFFICER

Amy Walsh

LibraryAnna CernikVictoria GrantMary-Ann Mead

ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

Aernout KerbertORCHESTRA MANAGER

Chris Lewis ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR

Georgia StamatopoulosOPERATIONS MANAGER

Kerry-Anne CookPRODUCTION MANAGER

Laura DanielPRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Tim DaymanPRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Ian Spence

SALES AND MARKETING

DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING

Mark J ElliottSENIOR SALES & MARKETING MANAGER

Penny EvansMARKETING MANAGER, SUBSCRIPTION SALES

Simon Crossley-MeatesMARKETING MANAGER, CLASSICAL SALES

Matthew RiveMARKETING MANAGER, WEB & DIGITAL MEDIA

Eve Le GallMARKETING MANAGER, DATABASE & CRM

Matthew HodgeGRAPHIC DESIGNER

Lucy McCulloughCREATIVE ARTWORKER

Nathanael van der Reyden

Sydney Symphony Orchestra Staff

MARKETING COORDINATOR

Jonathon Symonds ONLINE MARKETING COORDINATOR

Jenny Sargant

Box OfficeMANAGER OF BOX OFFICE SALES &OPERATIONS

Lynn McLaughlinBOX OFFICE SYSTEMS SUPERVISOR

Jacqueline TooleyBOX OFFICE BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

John Robertson CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES

Karen Wagg – Senior CSR Michael DowlingKatarzyna OstafijczukTim Walsh

COMMUNICATIONS

HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS & SPONSOR RELATIONS

Yvonne ZammitPUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

Katherine StevensonCOMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

Janine Harris DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER

Kai RaisbeckFELLOWSHIP SOCIAL MEDIA OFFICER

Caitlin Benetatos

PublicationsPUBLICATIONS EDITOR & MUSIC PRESENTATION MANAGER

Yvonne Frindle

DEVELOPMENT

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Caroline SharpenHEAD OF CORPORATE RELATIONS

Jeremy GoffHEAD OF MAJOR GIFTS

Luke Andrew GayDEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Amelia Morgan-HunnDEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Sarah Morrisby

BUSINESS SERVICES

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

John HornFINANCE MANAGER

Ruth TolentinoACCOUNTANT

Minerva PrescottACCOUNTS ASSISTANT

Emma FerrerPAYROLL OFFICER

Laura Soutter

HUMAN RESOURCES

HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Michel Maree Hryce

M

REX

Li

A

D

Pe

ArAR

ElAR

IlRE

Ph

EdH

KEM

MED

RC

Am

LiAnViM

O

D

AeO

CO

GO

KPR

LaPR

TPR

Ia

S

D

MSE

PeM

SiM

MM

EvM

MG

LuC

N

S

John C Conde AO ChairmanTerrey Arcus AM

Ewen Crouch AM

Ross GrantJennifer HoyRory JeffesAndrew Kaldor AM

Irene LeeDavid LivingstoneGoetz Richter

Sydney Symphony Orchestra Board

Sydney Symphony Orchestra Council

Geoff Ainsworth AM

Andrew Andersons AO

Michael Baume AO

Christine BishopIta Buttrose AO OBE

Peter CudlippJohn Curtis AM

Greg Daniel AM

John Della BoscaAlan FangErin FlahertyDr Stephen FreibergDonald Hazelwood AO OBE

Dr Michael Joel AM

Simon JohnsonYvonne Kenny AM

Gary LinnaneAmanda LoveHelen Lynch AM

David MaloneyDavid Malouf AO

Julie Manfredi-HughesDeborah MarrThe Hon. Justice Jane Mathews AO

Danny MayWendy McCarthy AO

Jane MorschelGreg ParamorDr Timothy Pascoe AM

Prof. Ron Penny AO

Jerome RowleyPaul SalteriSandra SalteriJuliana SchaefferLeo Schofield AM

Fred Stein OAM

Gabrielle TrainorIvan UngarJohn van OgtropPeter Weiss AO HonDLittMary WhelanRosemary White

E

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 27

06 Kirsty Hilton Principal Second Violin Corrs Chambers Westgarth Chair

07 Robert Johnson Principal Horn James & Leonie Furber Chair

08 Elizabeth Neville Cello Ruth & Bob Magid Chair

09 Colin Piper Percussion Justice Jane Mathews AO Chair

10 Emma Sholl Associate Principal Flute Robert & Janet Constable Chair

11 Janet Webb Principal Flute Helen Lynch AM & Helen Bauer Chair

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PATRONS

Maestro’s CirclePeter William Weiss AO – Founding President & Doris WeissJohn C Conde AO – ChairmanGeoff Ainsworth AM & Vicki Ainsworth Tom Breen & Rachael KohnIn memory of Hetty & Egon GordonAndrew Kaldor AM & Renata Kaldor AO

Roslyn Packer AO

Penelope Seidler AM

Mr Fred Street AM & Mrs Dorothy StreetWestfield GroupBrian & Rosemary WhiteRay Wilson OAM in memory of the late James Agapitos OAM

Sydney Symphony Orchestra Corporate AllianceTony Grierson, Braithwaite Steiner PrettyInsurance Australia Grou pJohn Morschel, Chairman, ANZ

01 Roger Benedict Principal Viola Kim Williams AM & Catherine Dovey Chair

02 Lawrence Dobell Principal Clarinet Terrey Arcus AM & Anne Arcus Chair

03 Diana Doherty Principal Oboe Andrew Kaldor AM & Renata Kaldor AO Chair

04 Richard Gill OAM

Artistic Director, Education Sandra & Paul Salteri Chair

05 Catherine Hewgill Principal Cello The Hon. Justice AJ & Mrs Fran Meagher Chair

Directors’ Chairs

01 02 03

04 05 06

07 08 09

10 11 For information about the Directors’ Chairs program, please call (02) 8215 4619.

Nicole BilletDavid BluffKees Boersma Andrew BraggPeter BraithwaiteAndrea BrownHelen CaldwellHilary CaldwellHahn ChauAlistair ClarkMatthew ClarkBenoît CocheteuxGeorge CondousMichael CookPaul CousinsJuliet Curtin

Justin Di LolloAlistair FurnivalAlistair GibsonSam GiddingsMarina GoSebastian GoldspinkLouise HaggertyRose HercegPhilip HeuzenroederPaolo HookePeter HowardJennifer HoyScott JacksonDamian KassagbiAernout KerbertTristan Landers

Gary LinnanePaul MacdonaldRebecca MacFarlingKylie McCaigDavid McKeanHayden McLeanAmelia Morgan-HunnPhoebe Morgan-HunnTom O’DonnellTaine MoufarrigeKate O’ReillyFiona OslerJulia OwensArchie PaffasJonathan PeaseJingmin Qian

Seamus R QuickLeah RanieMichael ReedeChris RobertsonBenjamin RobinsonEmma RodigariJacqueline RowlandsKatherine ShawRandal TameSandra TangAdam WandJon WilkieJonathan WatkinsonDarren WoolleyMisha Zelinsky

Justin Di Lollo – ChairKees BoersmaMarina GoDavid McKeanAmelia Morgan-HunnJonathan PeaseSeamus R Quick

MembersCentric WealthMatti AlakargasStephen AttfieldDamien BaileyAndrew BaxterMar BeltranEvonne Bennett

Sydney Symphony Orchestra VanguardVanguard Collective

28 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

PLAYING YOUR PART

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the music lovers who donate to the orchestra each year. Each gift plays an important part in ensuring our continued artistic excellence and helping to sustain important education and regional touring programs. Donations of $50 and above are acknowledged on our website at www.sydneysymphony.com/patrons

Platinum Patrons: $20,000+Brian AbelRobert Albert AO & Elizabeth AlbertGeoff AinsworthTerrey Arcus AM & Anne ArcusTom Breen & Rachael KohnSandra & Neil BurnsMr John C Conde AO

Robert & Janet ConstableMichael Crouch AO & Shanny CrouchJames & Leonie FurberDr Bruno & Mrs Rhonda Giuff reIn memory of Hetty & Egon GordonMr Andrew Kaldor AM & Mrs Renata Kaldor AO

D & I KallinikosJames N Kirby FoundationHelen Lynch AM & Helen BauerVicki OlssonMrs Roslyn Packer AO

Paul & Sandra SalteriMrs Penelope Seidler AM

G & C Solomon in memory of Joan MacKenzieMrs W SteningMr Fred Street AM & Mrs Dorothy StreetPeter William Weiss AO & Doris WeissWestfi eld GroupMr Brian & Mrs Rosemary WhiteKim Williams AM & Catherine DoveyRay Wilson OAM in memory of James Agapitos OAM

Gold Patrons: $10,000–$19,999Doug & Alison BattersbyStephen J BellAlan & Christine BishopIan & Jennifer BurtonCopyright Agency Cultural Fund Edward & Diane FedermanNora GoodridgeMr Ross GrantThe Estate of the late Ida GuggerMs Irene LeeRuth & Bob MagidJustice Jane Mathews AO

The Hon. Justice AJ Meagher & Mrs Fran MeagherMrs T Merewether OAM

Mr John MorschelMr John SymondAndy & Deirdre Plummer Henry & Ruth WeinbergCaroline WilkinsonJune & Alan Woods Family BequestAnonymous (1)

Silver Patrons: $5000–$9,999Mr Alexander & Mrs Vera BoyarskyMr Robert BrakspearMr David & Mrs Halina BrettMr Robert & Mrs L Alison Carr Bob & Julie ClampettEwen Crouch AM & Catherine Crouch

Ian Dickson & Reg HollowayDr C GoldschmidtThe Greatorex Foundation Mr Rory Jeff esJudges of the Supreme Court of NSW Mr Ervin KatzThe Estate of the late Patricia LanceJ A McKernanR & S Maple-BrownMora MaxwellMrs Barbara MurphyDrs Keith & Eileen OngTimothy & Eva PascoeWilliam McIlrath Charitable FoundationMr B G O’ConorRodney Rosenblum AM & Sylvia RosenblumEstate of the late Greta C RyanManfred & Linda SalamonMrs Joyce Sproat & Mrs Janet CookeMichael & Mary Whelan TrustJune & Alan Woods Family BequestAnonymous (2)

Bronze Patrons: Presto $2,500–$4,999The Berg Family Foundation in memory of Hetty GordonMr Howard ConnorsGreta DavisThe Hon. Ashley Dawson-DamerFirehold Pty LtdStephen Freiberg & Donald CampbellVic & Katie FrenchMrs Jennifer HershonGary LinnaneRobert McDougallRenee MarkovicJames & Elsie MooreMs Jackie O’BrienJF & A van OgtropIn memory of Sandra Paul PottingerIn memory of H St P ScarlettJulianna Schaeff erDavid & Isabel SmithersMarliese & Georges TeitlerMr Robert & Mrs Rosemary WalshMr & Mrs T & D YimAnonymous (1)

Bronze Patrons: Vivace $1,000–$2,499Mrs Antoinette AlbertAndrew Andersons AO

Mr Henri W Aram OAM

Dr Francis J AugustusSibilla BaerRichard and Christine Banks David BarnesNicole BergerMark Bethwaite AM & Carolyn BethwaiteAllan & Julie Bligh

Dr & Mrs Hannes Boshoff Jan BowenLenore P BuckleM BulmerIn memory of RW BurleyIta Buttrose AO OBE

Mr JC Campbell QC & Mrs CampbellDr Rebecca ChinDr Diana Choquette & Mr Robert MillinerMr Peter ClarkeConstable Estate Vineyards Debby Cramer & Bill CaukillMr John Cunningham SCM & Mrs Margaret CunninghamLisa & Miro DavisMatthew DelaseyMr & Mrs Grant DixonColin Draper & Mary Jane BrodribbMalcolm Ellis & Erin O’NeillMrs Margaret EppsMr Ian Fenwicke & Prof. Neville WillsProfessor Michael Field AMMr Tom FrancisMr James Graham AM & Mrs Helen GrahamWarren GreenAnthony Gregg & Deanne WhittlestonAkiko GregoryTony GriersonEdward & Deborah Griffi nRichard Griffi n AM

In memory of Dora & Oscar GrynbergJanette HamiltonMichelle HiltonMrs & Mr HolmesThe Hon. David Hunt AO QC & Mrs Margaret HuntDr & Mrs Michael HunterMr Peter HutchinsonIrwin Imhof in memory of Herta ImhofMichael & Anna JoelMrs W G KeighleyIn memory of Bernard M H KhawMr Justin LamMr Peter Lazar AM

Associate Professor Winston LiauwDr David LuisCarolyn & Peter Lowry OAM

Deirdre & Kevin McCannIan & Pam McGawMatthew McInnesMacquarie Group FoundationHenry & Ursula MooserMrs Milja MorrisMrs J MulveneyMr & Mrs OrtisDr A J PalmerMr Andrew C PattersonAlmut PiattiRobin PotterTA & MT Murray-PriorErnest & Judith RapeeKenneth R Reed

SYDNEY SYMPHONY 29

To find out more about becominga Sydney Symphony Patron, pleasecontact the Philanthropy Officeon (02) 8215 4625 or emailphilanthropy@sydneysymphony.com

Learn how, with the people who know books

and writing best.

Faber Academyat ALLEN & UNWIN

T (02) 8425 0171

W allenandunwin.com/faberacademy

D O Y O U H A V E A S T O R Y T O

T E L L ?

Patricia H Reid Endowment Pty LtdDr John Roarty OAM in memory of Mrs June RoartyRobin RodgersLesley & Andrew RosenbergCaroline SharpenDr Agnes E SinclairCatherine StephenJohn & Alix SullivanThe Hon. Brian Sully QC

Mildred TeitlerKevin TroyJohn E TuckeyMrs M TurkingtonIn memory of Joan & Rupert VallentineDr Alla WaldmanThe Hon. Justice A G WhealyMs Kathy White in memory of Mr Geoff WhiteA Willmers & R PalAnn & Brooks Wilson AM

Dr Richard WingMr Robert WoodsMr R R WoodwardIn memory of Lorna WrightDr John YuAnonymous (7)

Bronze Patrons: Allegro $500–$999Mrs Lenore AdamsonDavid & Rae AllenMr & Mrs Garry S AshBarlow Cleaning Pty LtdMichael Baume AO & Toni BaumeBeauty Point Retirement ResortMrs Margaret BellMrs Jan BiberMinnie BiggsDr Anthony BookallilMrs Elizabeth BoonMr Colin G BoothDr Margaret BoothMr Peter BraithwaiteR D & L M BroadfootAnn & Miles BurgessPat & Jenny BurnettEric & Rosemary CampbellBarrie CarterMr Jonathan ChissickMrs Sandra ClarkR A & M J ClarkeMr & Mrs CoatesCoff s Airport Security Car ParkMr B & Mrs M ColesMrs Joan Connery OAM

Jen Cornish

Dom Cottam & Kanako ImamuraMr David CrossDegabriele KitchensPhil Diment AM & Bill Zafi ropoulosDr David DixonElizabeth DonatiThe Dowe FamilyMrs Jane DrexlerDr Nita Durham & Dr James DurhamIn memory of Peter EverettJohn FavaloroMs Julie Finn & Mr Trevor CookMrs Lesley FinnMr Tom FrancisMr John GadenVivienne GoldschmidtClive & Jenny GoodwinMs Fay GrearIn Memory of Angelica GreenMr & Mrs Harold & Althea HallidayMr Robert HavardRoger HenningHarry & Meg HerbertSue HewittIn memory of Emil HiltonDorothy Hoddinott AO

Mr Joerg HofmannMr Angus HoldenMr Gregory HoskingDr Esther JanssenNiki KallenbergerMrs Margaret KeoghDr Henry KilhamChris J KitchingAron KleinlehrerAnna-Lisa KlettenbergThe Laing FamilySonia LalMr Luigi LampratiDr & Mrs Leo LeaderMargaret LedermanErna & Gerry Levy AM

Sydney & Airdrie LloydMrs A LohanMrs Panee LowDr David LuisPhilip & Catherine McClellandMelvyn MadiganBarbara MaidmentAlan & Joy MartinHelen & Phil MeddingsMrs Toshiko MericP J MillerDavid MillsKenneth N MitchellMs Margaret Moore OAM & Dr Paul Hutchins AM

Helen MorganChris Morgan-HunnA NhanMr Darrol NormanMr Graham NorthDr Mike O’Connor AM

Origin FoundationDr Margaret ParkerDr Kevin PedemontDr Natalie E PelhamMrs Greeba PritchardMichael QuaileyMr Patrick Quinn-GrahamMiss Julie RadosavljevicRenaissance ToursDr Marilyn RichardsonAnna RoMrs Pamela SayersGarry Scarf & Morgie BlaxillPeter & Virginia ShawMrs Diane Shteinman AM

Ms Stephanie SmeeVictoria SmythMs Tatiana SokolovaDoug & Judy SotherenMrs Judith SouthamMrs Karen Spiegal-KeighleyRuth StaplesMargaret SuthersThe Taplin FamilyNorman & Lydia TaylorDr Heng Tey & Mrs Cilla TeyMrs Alma Toohey & Mr Edward SpicerJudge Robyn TupmanGillian Turner & Rob BishopMr & Mrs Franc VaccherProf Gordon E WallRonald WalledgeIn memory of Denis WallisMs Elizabeth WilkinsonEvan Williams AM & Janet WilliamsAudrey & Michael WilsonDr Richard WingateDr Peter Wong & Mrs Emmy K WongGeoff Wood & Melissa WaitesGlen & Everly WyssMrs Robin YabsleyAnonymous (32)

List correct as of 18 July 2013

30 SYDNEY SYMPHONY

SALUTE

PREMIER PARTNER

Fine Music 102.5

MARKETING PARTNER

SILVER PARTNERS

executive search

THE LEADING SCHOOL FOR TODAY’S MUSIC INDUSTRY

PLATINUM PARTNERS

PRINCIPAL PARTNER GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW

EDUCATION PARTNER MAJOR PARTNERS

GOLD PARTNERS

REGIONAL TOUR PARTNERS

I learnt how to crave a really great orchestral sound.

the Chicago Symphony Orchestra whose string sound is so present, so close to the bridge. All their courage is in the bow.’

Somewhat unusually, Chris’s parents travelled with him on the last SSO tour. ‘It was pretty cool having them there. It wasn’t like “I’m a problem child and I need someone to look after me”. Dad’s a hæmatologist, and plays piano and organ a lot. If ever someone’s had a bad diagnosis, Dad’s two favourite things are gardening and playing piano. Mozart is a salvation. Any frustration you have with people can be dealt with through playing music or gardening.’

‘Music is a vocation, not a job. I’m practising and thinking about music a lot. There’s a great term that Yo Yo Ma uses, of a “citizen musician”, where your role is to share music as a cultural device. Our orchestra is a major part of that. I feel that our schedule allows enough time to do other concerts, to make it a real vocation. There’s so much work to be done, it never really ends.’

Pho

to: R

icha

rd B

arlo

w

‘Bikram cello.’ That’s what cellist Chris Pidcock suggests he’s engaged in as he practises furiously in a rehearsal room at the Sydney Opera House. It’s warm. It could be the air-conditioning, but equally, when you find out what he’s working on… ‘A bit of Saariaho, some Giacinto Scelsi, a work by Anna Clyne for cello and electronics.’ Um. Perhaps the challenging repertoire better explains his heated condition?

Chris is getting ready for an extracurricular solo concert of contemporary music. ‘The really fun part [of my preparations]

is playing for my colleagues. Suddenly I’ve got a hundred “teachers”. I get really excited when I can play for them because they’re buzzing with ideas.’

‘I always knew I wanted to be part of a great orchestra. I remember walking away from an SSO performance of La Mer, and I couldn’t understand how it was so perfect. I learnt how to crave a really great orchestral sound.’ That craving was fed further by other great orchestras: ‘You go to Vienna and the violins have a flautando [flutelike] sound so perfect that you can’t breathe when you hear it. Then there’s

CITIZEN MUSICIANYoga. Gardening. Music. There’s no limit to cellist Chris Pidcock’s interests.

ORCHESTRA NEWS | SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2013

In July, SSO Chairman John Conde AO welcomed patrons to his home for a special preview of our 2014 concert season. Guests were treated to a lively Q&A session with incoming Chief Conductor and Artistic Director David Robertson and our

Managing Director Rory Jeffes. Diana Doherty, Catherine Hewgill and Kirsty Hilton provided the musical entertainment.For information about the SSO Patrons Program email philanthropy@sydneysymphony.com or call (02) 8215 4674.

I noticed Janet Webb was playing a metal flute when she performed the Liebermann concerto recently. But she used to play on a wooden instrument – it was always a distinctive sight on the concert platform. Why the switch? And what difference does it make? Lapsed Flautist

Well spotted, Lapsed Flautist! Janet has indeed switched from her wooden flute back to a metal one – this time a solid 14-carat gold instrument. As Janet explains, she decided it was time for a change. ‘I’m always looking for different sounds, and different possibilities.’ Her new gold flute sounds more…well…golden. ‘I want to make a mellow, rounded sound. The gold flute allows me to find warmer, darker, deeper, more complex qualities.’ Janet describes the wooden flute as having an earthy sound, ‘just like the material it’s made from.’ A silver flute offers something different again – a brighter, more penetrating sound.

There are some physical differences – Janet’s wooden flute was heavier and fatter than her gold flute. The wooden flute also retained its warmth after being played – ‘I could put it down and then come back to it later and it would still be warm.’ This ensures stability in intonation. The physical properties of the metal mean a gold flute will cool down faster after being played. ‘I just have to pay more attention to the tuning if I come in after a long rest.’ Above all, however, the quality of the sound depends on the flautist. ‘It’s all about how people blow. I still sound like me!’

Have a question about music, instruments or the inner workings of an orchestra? ‘Ask a Musician’ at yoursay@sydneysymphony.com or by writing to Bravo! Reply Paid 4338, Sydney NSW 2001.

Ask a MusicianOrchestra HighlightYour Orchestra’s New Look

Everything old is new again! With the excitement of a new chief conductor and a new season of music on the horizon, we thought it was time to bring back something that in reality never truly went away (although it was effectively sidelined for more than a decade).

In announcing the 2014 season, we officially welcomed back our original name: Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Sometimes you might find it easier to refer to the shortened version of ‘SSO’. Either way, we’re your orchestra.

Perhaps you’ve also noticed our colourful new logo? We think it’s rather joyful – akin to the explosion of colourful sound you can hear from the orchestra.

The graphic is a visual abstraction of both musicians and audience. The new exuberant identity also expresses the wide range of choice we offer audiences and the role we play in our community, with each vibrant square a different shade of a harmonious whole.

We hope you like our new/old name, and that you’ll enjoy our fresh new look as we move into another exciting era of inspirational and first-class music making.

CHINA EXCHANGEInternational Focus

‘These activities, which began last year, will lead to a long-term program of masterclasses, exchanges, orchestral workshops, commissions and tour performances, which will be further enhanced and facilitated through digital technology,’ says Rory. ‘Our relationship with the Conservatory, which is the only higher music education institution in Southern China, is also significant given the sister-city relationship between Sydney and Guangzhou.’

Also in 2012, the SSO signed a significant Memorandum of Understanding with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, also known as ‘The Egg’. This agreement involves our musicians working with the NCPA orchestra, as well as SSO administrative staff passing on their expertise and knowledge about audience development. Our Director of Marketing, Mark Elliott, will soon be visiting the NCPA in this capacity.

Recently, the SSO won the major award at the inaugural Australian Arts in Asia Awards for our work in China. The awards, which attracted 120 entries, celebrate the role of Australian artists and arts organisations working in Asia.

‘It’s impossible to say for certain, but some estimates suggest there are 50 million young people learn-ing the violin in China,’ says our Managing Director Rory Jeffes.

Recently, three of the top young string players visited us from the Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou. Violinists Guo Lu and Zhu Siyao and violist Chen Chen, aged between 19 and 23, spent a week with the SSO’s Sinfonia mentoring orchestra. They took part in a busy schedule of schools and family concerts, as well as a read through of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. Violin mentors from the SSO, Shuti Huang and Ben Li, sat with the girls in the orchestra, occasionally translating for the students and generally unravelling the mysteries of professional orchestral etiquette.

‘The pace was faster than they anticipated, but they quickly adjusted,’ said Shuti. ‘By the end of the week, they were all feeling very much a part of the orchestra.’

Before our 2012 China tour, the SSO signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Xinghai Conservatory. On that tour, as a first step in building ties, our musicians gave masterclasses to students at the conservatory and Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted a rehearsal of their orchestra.

War RequiemVladimir Ashkenazy admits to not liking everything Benjamin Britten wrote, but the War Requiem, he says, is ‘one of Britten’s best pieces, maybe the best’. In its music, its text and its effect, it is ‘absolutely compelling’.

The War Requiem was composed in response to the horrors of World War II and was dedicated to the memory of four of Britten’s friends. It was an ambitious and daring musical creation, but also deeply symbolic. Perhaps most significant was Britten’s intended casting, and this is something Ashkenazy has set out to replicate for our performances in November, with Russian soprano Dina Kuznetsova, English tenor Andrew Staples and German baritone Dietrich Henschel.

The three nationalities were chosen by Britten to represent three principal countries in the conflict. (The first recording features the soloists he had in mind: Galina Vishnevskaya, Peter Pears and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.) And the symbolism reaches full weight when tenor and baritone, as two dead soldiers, sing the lines from Wilfred Owen’s World War I poem, Strange Meeting: ‘I am the enemy you killed, my friend.’

Britten’s War Requiem uses its multinational cast to issue a call for peace, a call that seems as relevant today as it did in 1961. It’s not merely a protest against war, but music that Britten hoped would make us ‘think a bit’.

War RequiemMaster Series 8 and 9 November | 8pm

The Score

Pho

to: K

eith

Sau

nder

s

From left: Zhu Siyao, Guo Lu, Chen Chen

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE TRUSTMr Kim Williams AM [Chair]Mr Wayne Blair, Ms Catherine Brenner, The Hon Helen Coonan, Ms Renata Kaldor AO, Mr Robert Leece AM RFD, Mr Peter Mason AM,Mr Leo Schofi eld AM, Mr John Symond AM, Mr Robert Wannan

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENTChief Executive Offi cer Louise Herron AM

Chief Operating Offi cer Claire SpencerDirector, Programming Jonathan BielskiDirector, Theatre and Events David ClaringboldDirector, Building Development and Maintenance Greg McTaggartDirector, External Affairs Brook TurnerDirector, Commercial David Watson

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSEBennelong Point GPO Box 4274, Sydney NSW 2001Administration (02) 9250 7111 Box Offi ce (02) 9250 7777Facsimile (02) 9250 7666 Website www.sydneyoperahouse.com

Clocktower Square, Argyle Street, The Rocks NSW 2000GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4644Box Offi ce (02) 8215 4600Facsimile (02) 8215 4646www.sydneysymphony.com

All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily refl ect the beliefs of the editor, publisher or any distributor of the programs. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of statements in this publication, we cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors. Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyright material prior to printing.

Please address all correspondence to the Publications Editor: Email program.editor@sydneysymphony.com

PAPER PARTNER

SYMPHONY SERVICES INTERNATIONALSuite 2, Level 5, 1 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010PO Box 1145, Darlinghurst NSW 1300Telephone (02) 8622 9400 Facsimile (02) 8622 9422www.symphonyinternational.net

All enquiries for advertising space in this publication should be directed to the above company and address. Entire concept copyright. Reproduction without permission in whole or in part of any material contained herein is prohibited. Title ‘Playbill’ is the registered title of Playbill Proprietary Limited. Title ‘Showbill’ is the registered title of Showbill Proprietary Limited.

By arrangement with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, this publication is offered free of charge to its patrons subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s consent in writing. It is a further condition that this publication shall not be circulated in any form of binding or cover than that in which it was published, or distributed at any other event than specifi ed on the title page of this publication 17170 — 1/101013 — 29THEG S76/78

This is a PLAYBILL / SHOWBILL publication. Playbill Proprietary Limited / Showbill Proprietary Limited ACN 003 311 064 ABN 27 003 311 064

Head Office: Suite A, Level 1, Building 16, Fox Studios Australia, Park Road North, Moore Park NSW 2021PO Box 410, Paddington NSW 2021Telephone: +61 2 9921 5353 Fax: +61 2 9449 6053 E-mail: admin@playbill.com.au Website: www.playbill.com.au

Chairman Brian Nebenzahl OAM RFD

Managing Director Michael Nebenzahl Editorial Director Jocelyn Nebenzahl Manager—Production—Classical Music Alan Ziegler

Operating in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart & Darwin

PA

All Entproof S

By to tpubbinof t

ThTPlaAC

HeFoPOTeTE-m

ChMaEdMa

Op

BRAVO EDITOR Genevieve Lang Huppert sydneysymphony.com/bravo

LET’S MISBEHAVE!Dust off your tux and shake out the feather boa – it’s time for the SSO Roaring 20s Ball. Taking place on Saturday 23 November at Paddington Town Hall, your fun night out will include a 50-piece orchestra, music from the jazz age and dancing! Tickets may be purchased through our box office 02 8215 4600. More information here: sydneysymphony/20sball

REAL JOBSIt’s not uncommon for friends to ask young musicians about their jobs: What do you do all day? And why do you have to practise so much? Perhaps you’ve occasionally wondered the same. SSO Fellow, flautist Laura van Rijn, has written a blog post answering these questions and others. Read it at: blog.ssofellowship.com/2013/08/what-do-you-do

WELCOME PARTNER

We’re pleased to announce that the Hotel Intercontinental Sydney is a new Gold Partner of the SSO. Keep an eye out for exclusive dining and accommodation packages in Stay Tuned, program books and at sydneysymphony.com

EARLY BIRDSThe winners of our 2013 Season Emirates Early Bird prize, Joyce and Ivan Cribb, returned from their prize trip to Barcelona (and a side trip to France) with glowing reports and memories to cherish. A highlight was hearing the local Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra perform Mahler’s First Symphony.

You could win this year! The 2014 Season Emirates Early Bird prize closes soon. This time the prize is two business class Emirates flights

to Dubai plus five nights’ luxury accommodation Enter the draw by booking your 2014 SSO subscription by 10 September 2013. T&Cs apply.

CONQUERORSThe mighty Team Sydney Symphony Sprint put in a valiant – nay, impressive! – effort in the recent City to Surf. Fastest on the day was double bassist David Campbell, with a time of 59:22. Breathing down his neck was Principal Trumpet David Elton, mere hundredths of a second behind. Go team!

EMIRATES RENEWALWe recently announced the renewal for three years of our principal partner relationship with Emirates, making it one of our longest-standing corporate partnerships. Among the benefits: SSO audiences receive an exclusive 10% online discount on all Emirates flights. How? Visit sydneysymphony.com/emirates

CODA

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Emirates share a passion for excellence and world-class performance. Fly Emirates, enjoy the wonders of the past, and the possibilities of tomorrow.

A partnership in harmony

Image by: Keith Saunders emirates.com/au