ROBERTSON CONDUCTS

SCHUMANN 3 & 4 Tetzlaff & Widmann

MONDAYS @ 7

Monday 16 February 2015

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concert diary

Schumann 3 & 4 Tetzlaff & WidmannSCHUMANN Symphony No.4 WIDMANN Violin Concerto australian premiere SCHUMANN Symphony No.3 (Rhenish)

David Robertson conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin

Mondays @ 7

Mon 16 Feb 7pm

Pre-concert talk at 6.15pm

Robertson conducts La Mer Before and after BoulezBOULEZ Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna LENTZ Jerusalem (after Blake) australian premiere DEBUSSY La Mer

David Robertson conductor

Meet the Music

Wed 18 Feb 6.30pm

Pre-concert talk at 5.45pm

Schumann 3 & 4 LENTZ Jerusalem (after Blake) australian premiere SCHUMANN Symphony No.4* SCHUMANN Symphony No.3 (Rhenish)*

David Robertson conductor

Tea & Symphony

Fri 20 Feb 11am*Complimentary morning tea from 10am

Great Classics

Sat 21 Feb 2pmPre-concert talk at 1.15pm

Discover BeethovenBEETHOVEN Symphony No.2

Richard Gill conductor SSO Sinfonia

DownerTenix Discovery

Tue 24 Feb 6.30pmCity Recital Hall Angel Place

Beethoven NineBRUCKNER Christus factus est – Motet, WAB 11 BERG Act III of Wozzeck BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9 (Choral)

David Robertson conductor

Miriam Gordon-Stewart, Michelle DeYoung, Simon O’Neill, Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Gondwana Choir.

SEASON OPENING GALASpecial EventPremier Partner Credit Suisse

Fri 27 Feb 8pmSat 28 Feb 8pmSun 1 Mar 2pmPre-concert talk 45 minutes before each performance

An Evening with Ella, Louis and the Duke James Morrison’s A-Z of JazzFrom Armstrong to Zawinul, James Morrison covers the full trajectory of jazz.

Benjamin Northey conductor James Morrison jazz trumpet Hetty Kate vocalist

Meet the Music

Thu 5 Mar 6:30pmKaleidoscope

Fri 6 Mar 8pmSat 7 Mar 8pmPre-concert talk 45 minutes before each performance

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SYMPHONIC VARIATIONSStar French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie returns to Sydney to perform two short, spirited opportunities for virtuoso display by Mozart and Franck. As well, enjoy Mozart’s Paris Symphony and Franck’s grand Symphony in D minor.

THU 9 APR | 1.30PM FRI 10 APR | 8PM SAT 11 APR | 2PM

MOZART Symphony No.31 (Paris) FRANCK Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra MOZART Rondo in D for piano and orchestra, K382 FRANCK Symphony in D minor

Yan-Pascal Tortelier conductor Louis Lortie piano (pictured)

BEST SEATS

2015 concert season

MONDAYS @ 7

MONDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 7PM

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE CONCERT HALL

SCHUMANN 3 & 4David Robertson conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856) Symphony No.4 in D minor, Op.120

Ziemlich langsam [Rather slow] – Lebhaft [Lively] – Romanze (Ziemlich langsam) – Scherzo (Lebhaft) – Langsam [Slow] – Lebhaft

INTERVAL

JÖRG WIDMANN (born 1973) Violin Concerto (2007)

australian premiere

SCHUMANN Symphony No.3 in E flat, Op.97, Rhenish

Lebhaft [Lively] Scherzo (Sehr mässig) [Very moderately] Nicht schnell [Not fast] Feierlich [Ceremonially] Lebhaft

On Saturday the two symphonies on this program will be recorded for broadcast by ABC Classic FM on Tuesday 24 February at 8pm.

Pre-concert talk by Scott Davie at 6.15pm in the Northern Foyer. Visit sydneysymphony.com/speaker-bios for more information.

Estimated durations: 28 minutes, 20-minute interval, 27 minutes, 32 minutes The concert will conclude at approximately 9pm.

PRESENTED BY

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Pencil drawing of Robert Schumann in 1853, by Jean Joseph Bonaventure Laurens

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Turn to page 31 to read Bravo! – musician profiles, articles and news from the orchestra. Also available at sydneysymphony.com/bravo

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INTRODUCTION

Last week saw the beginning of our Schumann cycle with the first two symphonies in a program with Mendelssohn’s violin concerto. That pairing of composers has a certain historical inevitability to it – the two men were colleagues and they represent the same strand of 19th-century German romanticism.

But what do we make of the combination of Robert Schumann and Jörg Widmann? Two German composers, both represented by works from their late 30s or early 40s. This is the German musical tradition – you could even say a romantic tradition – but with nearly two centuries intervening, the sound worlds are vastly different.

In choosing Widmann’s Violin Concerto to sit alongside Schumann, David Robertson has responded to what he describes as a ‘sense of forward-looking expression’ that he hears in both composers. He sees Schumann as pivotal in the journey of the Romantic symphony, as a composer who transformed the symphonic genre by writing music that aspires to a unified vision while also brimming with Romantic fantasy and imagination. In the same way, Widmann has transformed the genre of the violin concerto. As Christian Tetzlaff, tonight’s soloist, says, ‘Widmann has recreated the violin concerto anew, which is quite a feat these days.’

In tonight’s concerto we get to hear the creation of a composer who is fully aware of the great violin concerto tradition, and of the predecessors who have each composed their ‘solitaires’ in the genre: Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Berg… Widmann’s respect for this tradition is such that, unlike his previous concertos, he declined to give his violin concerto a literary title. ‘Violin Concerto’ implies everything and says everything! The concerto took more than two years to write, but in that time, Widmann discovered something different in his musical voice, a lighter and more relaxed quality that he didn’t know he had in him. The result is music that tugs at the emotions and – in true Romantic spirit – finds beauty even in its darkest moments.

We hope you’ll find tonight’s program an illuminating one, with each composer reflecting something of the other and allowing us, says Robertson, to ‘contemplate the true stature of Schumann, and to revel in the breadth and depth of his musical thought’.

Schumann and Widmann

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Schumann in 1839 (lithograph by Josef Kriehuber)

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Robert Schumann Symphony No.4 in D minor, Op.120Ziemlich langsam [Rather slow] – Lebhaft [Lively] – Romanze (Ziemlich langsam) – Scherzo (Lebhaft) – Langsam [Slow] – Lebhaft

This symphony was composed during the happy first year of Robert Schumann’s marriage to Clara Wieck, which had been resisted with almost legendary fierceness by her father, Friedrich. Robert and Clara were able to marry only after a particularly public and humiliating court challenge. By September 1841, however, Clara was able to write in her diary: ‘My birthday was a day filled from morning to night with enjoyment and happiness. Robert surprised me with so many things, his completed symphony in D minor…’

This D minor symphony was premiered as ‘Symphony No.2’ in 1841 in Leipzig, but Schumann was dissatisfied with the work and put it aside, revising it ten years later. It is this later version that is generally played today.

The revised symphony, first performed in Düsseldorf on 3 March 1853, contains a number of structural alterations, neatening and tightening a work which already possessed considerable drive and momentum. At the same time, Schumann adjusted the

KeynotesSCHUMANN

Born Zwickau, Germany, 1810 Died Endenich Asylum, Bonn, 1856

Schumann’s creations are vividly imaginative and deeply lyrical, and he was aligned with the literary concerns of the Romantic era. It’s no accident that he was a critic as well as a musician. He pursued music under the guise of a law degree, studying piano with Friedrich Wieck in Leipzig. Wieck’s star pupil was his daughter Clara, and she and Robert fell in love, eventually marrying despite Wieck’s objections. Along the way, Schumann injured his hand, thwarting his performing hopes but leaving the way open for him to focus on composition.

SYMPHONY NO.4

This symphony was originally numbered second, composed in the ‘symphonic year’ of 1841 and presented to a delighted Clara on her birthday. (It was substantially reworked in Düsseldorf in 1851 and published as No.4.) It is formally fascinating, unifying its four movements in a web of thematic cross-referencing that owes something to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and something to the conventions – flashback, reminiscence – of literary narrative. In fact Schumann nearly called it a ‘Symphonic Fantasy’. Further supporting the unity of the symphony, the movements are played without pause.

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orchestration, resulting in over-generous doublings of melodic lines and a consequently thickened texture. He obviously desired to make every entry as safe as possible (perhaps overcompensating for a municipal orchestra less gifted than that of the Leipzig Gewandhaus?), but the excessive doublings tend to take away the personality of a phrase, which, as Hans Gál writes, ‘is what a Schumann phrase cannot do, without damage to its spontaneous expressive directness’. Schumann’s great successor, Brahms, a Schumann champion, resurrected the original 1841 score for his performances, annoying Clara who found it hard to concede that Robert might have revised something without thoroughly improving it. As a conductor, Gustav Mahler, too, made changes. Yet there are arguments in favour of either version.

The work succeeds primarily on the basis of its structural brilliance, especially Schumann’s ingenious – and remarkably successful – attempt at unifying the four movements of the symphony without diluting the distinctive character and structure of each one.

A precedent for a large-scale unified cyclic work of this kind existed in Schubert’s magnificent Wanderer Fantasy for piano. Schumann would have been familiar with Schubert’s piece, and was no doubt at one stage sufficiently conscious of its peculiarity of form to call this symphony a ‘Symphonic Fantasy’. Schumann’s Fourth Symphony is, writes Gál:

…music of irresistible momentum, a marvellous union of continuous improvisation and close construction, and its four movements, linked by thematic threads, are in ideal balance and magnificently contrasted…In Schumann’s symphony, the thematic lay-out progresses from one movement to another, new inventions emerging while the former ones reappear in variation as if it were an act of spontaneous recollection.

The Fourth Symphony begins with a slow introduction, a strongly-phrased motif which extends to a 28-bar paragraph, one of the main pillars of the structure. This introduction moves straight into the main fast section (Lebhaft or Allegro), having anticipated its opening material.

The continuous movement of rapid notes in the Lebhaft motif is hard to stop and therefore Schumann draws his subsidiary motif from the same material. With a limited pool of themes to expound upon, Schumann leaves till later, to the development section, a genuinely contrasting lyrical melody, and the responsibility for providing a huge and impressive climax. Because the opening material has been sufficiently presented in the exposition, the customary recapitulation of themes is unnecessary. There is a pause on a held note and we almost slip into the slow movement.

What’s in a name?

Schumann thought of calling his Symphony No.4 a ‘Symphonic Fantasy’. In the end he didn’t, but the full title on the first published edition is just as revealing: ‘Symphony No.4 in D minor / Introduction, Allegro, Romanze, Scherzo and Finale in one movement.’

Here, spelled out, was his ambition (dating from as early as 1841) to create a grand cyclic structure in which the musical material of the different movements or sections was completely unified.

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The main feature of the Romanze is an elegiac oboe melody. With the return of triple metre and a tempo similar to the beginning of the symphony, the opening motif of the first movement sees the opportunity to re-enter, providing an interlude-like passage. A contrasting middle section extends this opening motif into a soft, expressive tune while a solo violin elegantly paraphrases it. The elegiac oboe returns, the music pauses on A major, and without more ado, the Scherzo is launched.

This is vigorously scored with driving imitation in the lower strings. The central trio section turns out to be an old acquaintance: the graceful figuration that the concertmaster’s solo violin had added to the motif of the introduction in the middle section of the Romanze.

The Scherzo returns and then Schumann, following the example of Beethoven in his Fourth, Sixth and Seventh symphonies, lets the trio come back once more, but this time slowed down so that we may move without interruption into the opening section of the finale (Langsam).

With the striking fortissimos of the final Lebhaft section, we have another moment of recognition, for here again is music from the first movement. To cap off the gradual build-up of tension and effect, Schumann has chosen the climactic moment of the first movement to provide the main material which is to be built on in the finale.

It is this sense of inevitable momentum and intense accumulation that provides the listener with so much enjoyment. Critics may praise the unity and balance of its construction, its succinctness – its skilful links put one in mind of Wagner’s observation that all composing is, at the base of it, the art of transition – but it is the sense of inevitable progress and triumphant release that really draws the listener in.

ADAPTED FROM A NOTE BY GORDON KALTON WILLIAMS

SYMPHONY AUSTRALIA © 1998/2002

Schumann’s Symphony No.4 calls for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets

and bassoons; four horns, two trumpets and three trombones (no tuba);

timpani and strings.

The SSO first performed this symphony in 1938, in a Celebrity

Orchestral concert conducted by George Szell. It was the first of the

Schumann symphonies to enter our repertoire, a reflection of its

longstanding popularity, especially with conductors. Our most recent

performance of the symphony was in 2008, conducted by Richard Gill.

…the sense of inevitable progress and triumphant release…

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KeynotesWIDMANN

Born Munich, 1973

Jörg Widmann leads a musical double life reminiscent of the great composer-performers of the 19th-century. Born in Munich, he studied both clarinet and composition from childhood. The former took him to the Juilliard School; the latter saw him studying with Wilfried Hiller, Hans Werner Henze, Heiner Goebbels and Wolfgang Rihm. He performs concertos and chamber music with some of the world’s leading musicians, but he is also one of the busiest composers in Germany today.

His output encompasses chamber music, including a cycle of string quartets; stage works such as Das Gesicht im Spiegel (The Face in the Mirror); and orchestral music, including a piano concerto, Trauermarsch (Funeral March), Ad absurdum for trumpet, and Echo-Fragmente for clarinet. Some of his orchestral music nods to the past, as in Armonica, a ‘glass armonica’ tribute to Mozart, and Con brio, based on fragments from Beethoven.

VIOLIN CONCERTO

Over a 30-minute span, Jörg Widmann has the soloist perform an emotionally taxing part almost without a break. At the beginning and at the end of the concerto, the violin is alone, instructed to play as if ‘drunk with beauty’. The body of the concerto is accompanied by carefully darkened orchestral colours, and its sound world is overtly lyrical – ‘music that aches and soars, keens and pines’.

Jörg Widmann Violin Concerto (2007)Christian Tetzlaff violin

Widmann’s Violin Concerto was written in 2007 on a commission from the touring Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. Up to that point Widmann had written several concerto and concertante works – including the trumpet concerto Ad absurdum (which is, well, absurdly difficult) and the fascinating Echo-Fragmente for his own instrument, a piece that calls for two separately tuned orchestras (one modern, the other of period instruments).

The challenges Widmann typically sets for himself as a performer have clearly affected the way he thinks about the concerto format. Perhaps the most frequently encountered word commentators resort to when describing Widmann’s music is ’excess’: its tendency to press emotions to the limits (and beyond), which goes hand in hand with outrageously virtuosic demands. ‘The question as to what a solo concerto is has often led me to these excessive forms,’ Widmann has stated. ‘Here, in the Violin Concerto,’ however, ‘everything is different: it has a light air….’

‘Light’, that is, in the sense of a translucent, even rapturous, clarity that informs every moment of this extraordinary single-movement composition. Lasting about half an hour, the Violin Concerto is characteristic of Widmann in the way a deep sense of the musical past informs its fabric even as he reimagines the parameters of a solo concerto. The Guardian’s music critic Tom Service aptly captures this aspect in one of his profiles of the composer: ‘The reason I think Widmann’s music is so invigorating and important is that it not only charts a new musical and imaginative terrain – one that is joyously free to plunder the entirety of music history from Mozart to Lachenmann for its own ends – but also has so much to say about the way we hear the music of the past.’ In his orchestral overture Con brio, for example, Widmann ‘traces’ rather than copies fragments from Beethoven’s Seventh and Eighth symphonies, absorbing them into his own voice.

The Violin Concerto immediately evokes memories of the great Alban Berg concerto for this instrument as a model, as if Widmann were summoning the spirit of early 20th-century Viennese expressionism for our wired age. Shostakovich and Bartók may also come to mind. At the same time, orchestral precision and prismatic coloration are as essential to the musical content as is the manipulation of the thematic material we hear in the opening minute. Widmann’s exquisite ear for orchestral nuance pays homage to Pierre Boulez (another important early influence) and later French composers. And in

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terms of the Concerto’s overall form – a single span whose inner movements are locked together in artfully hidden transitions – the Seventh Symphony of Sibelius is a landmark to which Widmann has alluded. Yet the result avoids feeling like a merely eclectic piling on of sources, for Widmann sustains a remarkable sense of a concentrated, unified vision across the length of the piece.

And he asks for the soloist to do the same. Written for Christian Tetzlaff, the Concerto allows the soloist no ‘off-stage’ time. Widmann treats the violinist as an Orphic protagonist, a muse who may guide us through a bleak and forbidding underworld – the singing voice that negotiates a way through a continually transforming soundscape of thematic motifs, harmonies, timbres.

Widmann doesn’t even take the idea of a beginning for granted. Unlike, say, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto [heard in our concerts last week], with its in medias res orchestral motor, the first sounds we hear, from the soloist, give the illusion of a curtain gone up on music that’s already been playing. Instructed to play in a style ‘drunk with beauty [schönheitstrunken], gushingly’ in the opening measures, the soloist reaches down to its lowest note on its lowest (G) string before beginning a tentative pattern of ascent, then fall, then ascent, again and again. Despite the large orchestra called for, Widmann aggregates colours sparingly,

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‘I’ve played many beautiful commissions, but the Widmann is a piece that makes me feel completely fulfilled as a violinist. I’ve played it 20 or 25 times, and it deploys the violin in an ecstatic way for half an hour of uninterrupted singing. Widmann has recreated the violin concerto anew, which is quite a feat these days.’

CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF

What’s in a name?

Unlike Widmann’s earlier concertos – Trauermarsch, Ad absurdum, Echo-Fragmente – his violin concerto was not given a literary name. The composer has rejected that vehemently: ‘Violin Concerto! What is implied in these words alone envelops me in a sweet, enticing scent.’

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Has Jörg Widmann discovered his romantic side?Until 2005 Jörg Widmann had never had to ask an orchestra to reschedule a premiere. With his violin concerto, however, the genre itself became the source of a two-year delay. This is a genre, he points out, for which ‘many composers in music history, not only Brahms and Beethoven, have written just one –  a solitaire, so to speak’.

Sometimes, he explained at the time of the premiere, ‘motifs, sounds and ideas require this echo space to be able to find their ultimate form.’ The Violin Concerto needed time to come, and as a result, it is ‘a different solo concerto than that which I would have composed even two years ago.’

‘Each of my previous instrumental concertos has been about extremes…The question as to what a solo concerto is has often led me to excessive implementations. Here, in the Violin Concerto, it is totally different: it has a light air, seemingly loosely tied, something relaxed that I did not know I had in me.’

often in softer dynamics – a boom of double basses, then paired with the violas, for example, when the orchestra first enters – and sets them in striking contrast. In place of linear ‘events’, the orchestra seems to generate a kind of energy field through which the violin leads the listener.

About two-thirds through, as a deceptive calm spreads through the orchestra, comes a terrifying moment: an abrupt chasm of silence seems to signal the end. But the music resumes, passionately, even fiercely. Further cataclysm threatens, nostalgia beckons, and then – a new, mysterious calm eventually settles in. Widmann has the instrument veer into its other extreme in the last measures, reaching into the stratosphere while simultaneously building a subtle crescendo. The soloist comes to rest on a long-held, ultra-high C and ends the Concerto in a subdued, shadowy state of irenic ambivalence.

EXCERPTED FROM A NOTE BY THOMAS MAY © 2014

The orchestra for Widmann’s violin concerto calls for two flutes (one

doubling piccolo), two oboes (one doubling cor anglais), two clarinets (one

doubling bass clarinet) and two bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon);

four horns but no other brass instruments; percussion, harp, celesta and

strings. (The celesta player is also responsible for playing a bass drum.)

The concerto was commissioned by the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie,

which gave the premiere in Essen in 2007 with Christian Tetzlaff and

conductor Manfred Honeck. It has since been performed extensively

throughout Germany, as well as in Glasgow, Paris, Stockholm, Washington

DC and Vienna. This is the Australian premiere of the concerto and, we

believe, the first Australian performance of any orchestral work by

Widmann. In July we will give the Australian premiere of his Con brio on

motifs by Beethoven.

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KeynotesSCHUMANN

As a young composer, Robert Schumann wrote music chiefly on an intimate scale, composing an astonishing wealth of lieder and song cycles. These, and his highly imaginative piano works, place him among the most revered Romantic composers. The depth of his lyricism, however, sought larger means of expression. Clara, a celebrated concert pianist and a composer in her own right, earnestly encouraged Robert in this direction, believing ‘his music is all orchestral in feeling’. An early attempt at symphonic composition, premiered during Robert’s student days, led him to lament: ‘I consider this art so difficult that it will take long years’ study to give me certainty and self control.’

SYMPHONY NO.3

This symphony actively depicts life in the Rhineland, where Schumann had moved to take a post in Düsseldorf. The beginning is full of rhythmic ambiguity before taking off in a joyous triple metre. The second movement is a Ländler (ancestor to the waltz) and the third a songlike interlude. The ‘extra’ movement, with its solemn trombones and stylised solemnity was suggested to Schumann by the ceremonial enthronement of a cardinal in the famously unfinished Cologne Cathedral. It makes for a splendid contrast with the energetic, folk-like character of the finale and the cathedral music recurs briefly toward the conclusion of the symphony.

Robert Schumann Symphony No.3 in E flat, Op.97, RhenishLebhaft [Lively] Scherzo (Sehr mässig) [Very moderately] Nicht schnell [Not fast] Feierlich [Ceremonially] Lebhaft

In September 1850 Robert and Clara Schumann arrived in the Rhineland city of Düsseldorf, where Robert was to take up an appointment as Municipal Music Director, conducting the local chorus and orchestra. It is probable that this symphony was composed in the first flush of enthusiasm for the new job, which promised Schumann a chance to become more closely acquainted with the orchestral medium. It was composed between 2 November and 9 December 1850, and first performed in Düsseldorf on 6 February 1851. Schumann’s conducting experience was to prove disappointing, however. His friend Albert Dietrich later pointed to characteristics in Schumann’s much-criticised orchestration which may have stemmed from an inability to balance the playing strengths of his musicians.

Becoming acquainted with the Rhineland region, the Schumanns visited Cologne before the end of the month and Schumann was particularly struck by the mighty cathedral, with its unfinished towers, vast shadows and spaces. The crane left behind by the mediæval builders on the stump of the southern tower had itself become a feature of the city by this time. Schumann visited the cathedral again before the year was out, and this time witnessed the investiture of the new archbishop, a ceremony which impressed him greatly. These experiences formed the pictorial inspiration behind the striking fourth movement of the Rhenish symphony.

Robert Schumann was steeped in literature – indeed he had for many years been editor of the critical journal the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung. He was often inspired by literary and pictorial topics, and this symphony is the most programmatic of his four. Only vague hints in Clara’s diary indicate the complete program that underlay this piece, but we can guess that it was at least a portrait of life on the Rhine – ‘Morning life on the Rhine’ was the original subtitle of the second movement scherzo, though Schumann seems to have deleted it, perhaps believing that there is a difference between non-musical stimulus for a composer and useful information for the listener to know.

The symphony is cast in five movements, a departure from the usual four, though Beethoven’s Sixth had been a formidable predecessor. It opens with a confident, vital melody in E flat major, containing a striking rhythmic trick. The broad triple beat

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Portrait of Schumann held in the Vienna History Museum

soon moves imperceptibly into double speed, and we realise that Schumann has simply disguised the basic beat of his opening six bars by holding notes over the giveaway accents – an effect which was to be repeated much later by Schumann’s friend and artistic ally, Brahms, in his own third symphony (it was perhaps intended as a tribute by the younger man). There is a beautifully lyrical second subject, beginning in G minor, but what is also remarkable is the way in which each modulation of the harmony has an inherent tendency to return to the ‘heroic’ key of E flat.

The middle three movements form a group of character pieces much in the manner of Schumann’s piano music. The second movement is like a Ländler, the earthy predecessor to the waltz style later taken up for symphonic movements by Bruckner and Mahler.

The third movement is a lyrical interlude, which according to Jonathan Kramer is too songlike and direct to be a real slow movement, and therefore establishing the need for an additional movement, a true adagio. Other writers, however, see the fourth and fifth movements forming two parts of the one whole.

It is the fourth movement which is the most clearly pictorial. Schumann originally wrote over the music: ‘In the character of the accompaniment to a solemn ceremony’ – clearly recalling the enthroning ceremony he had seen. But he later struck it out,

Schumann’s Third and Fourth SymphoniesSchumann’s symphonies have had their detractors over the years. The German conductor Felix Weingartner (1863–1942) wrote rather disparagingly of the Rhenish, judging its themes as essentially pianistic (therefore inadequate for symphonic development), criticising its orchestration as thick and awkward, and prescribing ‘corrections’ to the score. Attitudes of this nature lingered through much of the 20th century.

Schumann’s Fourth Symphony – begun before the Rhenish in 1841 but withdrawn and then reintroduced in 1853 – experienced both a longer gestation and more assiduous revision. Its somewhat leaner orchestration and greater conciseness contribute to its popularity, particularly with conductors, among Schumann’s four symphonies.

Nonetheless, the Rhenish was a critical turning point in Schumann’s symphonic evolution, a sincere and masterful expression of his musical spirit. To Tchaikovsky, there was ‘no mightier or deeper manifestation of an artist’s creative power’ than in the fourth movement of the Rhenish. Following its premiere, Schumann’s Symphony No.3 quickly received performances in Germany and the Netherlands. More than 160 years later, it enjoys lasting success with modern orchestras and their audiences.

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declaring, ‘One should not show his heart to the people, for the general impression of a work of art is more effective.’

The unfinished Cologne Cathedral was a powerful symbol to 19th-century Romantics. They saw it as a moving appeal to continue the work of creation. They were entranced by its majesty, and one writer spoke of its ‘lofty, slender Gothic pillars grouped like trees in an ancient forest, their highest branches crossing and intertwining in a dim vault of pointed arches, where the eye could scarcely follow’.

Schumann achieves a sense of breadth and space in this movement by introducing three trombones to the orchestra. There is an evocation of the mediæval era in the use of polyphony, and as if to emphasise his intention, Schumann changes the basic beat thenceforward from crotchets to minims. The audience can’t necessarily hear the difference, especially in the lively fifth movement, but the conductor is reminded to approach the subject matter with the appropriate air of solemnity.

The final movement opens in the mood of a lively folk festival, but the ‘cathedral’ music reappears near the end, bringing to a close what one writer describes as a viable marriage between the character piece, which was Schumann’s specialty, and the surety of symphonic form for which he strove.

GORDON KALTON WILLIAMS

SYMPHONY AUSTRALIA © 1998

Schumann’s Symphony No.3 calls for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and

bassoons; four horns, two trumpets and three trombones; timpani and

strings.

The SSO was the first ABC orchestra to perform this symphony, in 1948

with conductor Eugene Goossens. Our most recent performance was in

2000 with Edo de Waart.

Cologne Cathedral in 1856, showing its unfinished state, including the mediæval crane on the south tower. Detail from an early photograph of the city.

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MORE MUSIC

SCHUMANN SYMPHONIESIf you’d like to extend tonight’s Schumann immersion to include more of his orchestral music, look for the EMI Triple featuring the four symphonies, the Manfred overture, the piano concerto with Christian Zacharias and the cello concerto with Truls Mørk. Hans Vonk conducts the Cologne West German Radio Symphony Orchestra in this 3CD collection.EMI CLASSICS 15310

If you’re curious about the reception of the Schumann symphonies over time, and especially the way conductors have sometimes felt compelled to ‘improve’ on Schumann’s work, look for Decca’s ‘Mahler Edition’ of the Schumann symphonies, in which Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhaus Orchestra using Mahler’s re-orchestrations. Some of the effects are striking and impressive, even if they aren’t Schumann. DECCA 478 0037

TETZLAFF PLAYS WIDMANN Christian Tetzlaff gave the premiere of the Widmann concerto in 2007, more recently he has recorded it with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Daniel Harding. On the same disc you can hear Widmann’s Antiphon for orchestral groups and his earlier work, Insel der Sirenen (Island of Sirens) for solo violin and 19 strings.ONDINE ODE 1215-2

DAVID ROBERTSONLast year we released David Robertson’s recording with the SSO of Stravinsky’s complete Firebird ballet music.SSO LIVE 201402

And available any day now, also on our own label: Holst’s suite The Planets. Watch this space!

In 2013 the SSO gave the premiere of John Adams’ Saxophone Concerto with soloist Timothy McAllister and the composer conducting. The work was a co-commission with the St Louis Symphony among the partners, and it’s now available in the Grammy-winning recording they made with David Robertson conducting and McAllister again playing the solo part. The concerto is paired with the very appealing City Noir, which also features saxophone.NONESUCH 541 356

CHRISTIAN TETZLAFFLast week Christian Tetzlaff performed the Mendelssohn concerto with us, and his expressive and songful interpretation can be found paired with Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor and Fantasie in C for violin and orchestra. Paavo Järvi conducts the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.ONDINE 1195

Broadcast Diary

February–March

Monday 23 February, 8pm SCHUMANN 1 & 2David Robertson conductor Christian Tetzlaff violinSchumann, Mendelssohn

Tuesday 24 February, 8pm SCHUMANN 3 & 4David Robertson conductorLentz, Schumann

Friday 20 March, 8pm BRAHMS & SIBELIUSDaniel Blendulf conductor Janine Jansen violinBrahms, Butterley, Sibelius

Saturday 21 March, 1pm SONG & DANCEWard Stare conductor Daniela Mack mezzo-sopranoRavel, Canteloube, Falla orch. Berio, Richard Strauss

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HOUR

Tuesday 10 March, 6pm

Hosted by Andrew Bukenya with two of our 2015 Fellows as special guests.

For his most recent release on the Ondine label, he recorded the two Shostakovich violin concertos with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor John Storgårds.ONDINE 1239

And if you’d like to hear more Schumann after tonight, look for his recording with pianist Lars Vogt of the three Schumann violin sonatas.ONDINE 1205

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SSO Live RecordingsThe Sydney Symphony Orchestra Live label was founded in 2006 and we’ve since released more than two dozen recordings featuring the orchestra in live concert performances with our titled conductors and leading guest artists. To buy, visit sydneysymphony.com/shop

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

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

Brett DeanTwo discs featuring the music of Brett Dean, including his award-winning violin concerto, The Lost Art of Letter Writing. SSO 200702, SSO 201302

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

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

Prokofiev’s Romeo and JulietVladimir Ashkenazy conducts the complete Romeo and Juliet ballet music of Prokofiev – a fiery and impassioned performance. SSO 201205

Tchaikovsky Violin ConcertoIn 2013 this recording with James Ehnes and Ashkenazy was awarded a Juno (the Canadian Grammy). Lyrical miniatures fill out the disc. SSO 201206

Tchaikovsky Second Piano ConcertoGarrick Ohlsson is the soloist in one of the few recordings of the original version of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.2. Ashkenazy conducts. SSO 201301

Stravinsky’s FirebirdDavid Robertson conducts Stravinsky’s brilliant and colourful Firebird ballet, recorded with the SSO in concert in 2008. SSO 201402

LOOK OUT FOR…Our recording of Holst’s Planets with David Robertson. Due for release early in 2015.

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

MAHLER ODYSSEYThe complete Mahler symphonies (including the Barshai completion of No.10) together with some of the song cycles. Recorded in concert with Vladimir Ashkenazy during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. As a bonus: recordings from our archives of Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder and Das Lied von der Erde. Available in a handsome boxed set of 12 discs or individually.

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

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MORE MUSIC

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David Robertson is a compelling and passionate communicator whose stimulating ideas and music-making have captivated audiences and musicians alike. A consummate musician and masterful programmer, he has forged strong relationships with major orchestras throughout Europe and North America.

He made his Australian debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2003 and soon became a regular visitor to Sydney, with projects such as The Colour of Time, a conceptual multimedia concert; the Australian premiere of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic Symphony; and concert performances of The Flying Dutchman with video projections. In 2014, his inaugural season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, he led the SSO on a seven-city tour of China.

Last year he launched his tenth season as Music Director of the St Louis Symphony. Other titled posts have included Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon and resident conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. An expert in 20th- and 21st-century music, he has also been Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris (where composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was an early supporter). He is also a champion of young musicians, devoting time to working with students and young artists.

David Robertson is a frequent guest with major orchestras and opera houses throughout the word and in recent seasons he has conducted the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras, as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Last year he conducted the controversial but highly acclaimed Metropolitan Opera premiere of John Adams’ Death of Klinghoffer.

His awards and accolades include Musical America Conductor of the Year (2000), Columbia University’s 2006 Ditson Conductor’s Award, and, with the SLSO, the 2005–06 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming. In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2011 a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

David Robertson was born in Santa Monica, California, and educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied French horn and composition before turning to conducting. He is married to pianist Orli Shaham.

THE POSITION OF CHIEF CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR IS SUPPORTED BY EMIRATES

David Robertson Chief Conductor and Artistic Director

THE ARTISTS

MIC

HA

EL

TAM

MA

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For more than 20 years Christian Tetzlaff has enjoyed a fulfilling concert life with a hundred concerts per year. He began the 2014–15 season with concerts at festivals in North America and an extensive tour with the Tetzlaff Quartet through Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Korea and Japan.

He is currently Artist in Residence with the Berlin Philharmonic, playing in chamber music projects, directing from the violin, performing in recital and as a soloist with the orchestra under Simon Rattle (Brahms Violin Concerto). The season also includes mini-residence appearances in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Daniel Harding.

In addition to tours with the Swedish Radio Symphony and Daniel Harding in Sweden, Austria and Germany; with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Paavo Järvi) in Canada, Korea and Japan; and with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin (Tugan Sokhiev) in Slovenia and Germany; Christian Tetzlaff will appear with the Munich Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Nederlands Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

His North American appearances will include the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (Juraj Valcuha), Seattle Symphony Orchestra (Ludovic Morlot), Cleveland Orchestra (Franz Welser-Möst) and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Manfred Honeck). He will also perform in both Boston and Carnegie Hall with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons.

His discography includes the most frequently played works for the violin. His recent releases also include sonatas by Schumann and Mozart, recorded with pianist Lars Vogt; the Widmann violin concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding; and the Shostakovich violin concertos with the Helsinki Philharmonic and John Storgårds.

Christian Tetzlaff plays a violin made by German violinmaker Peter Greiner and teaches regularly at the Kronberg Academy near Frankfurt. His most recent appearances with the SSO were in 1993, when he played the Mendelssohn concerto, and 1998 (Berg).

Christian Tetzlaffviolin

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SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has evolved into one of the world’s finest 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 – including three visits to China – have earned the orchestra worldwide recognition for artistic excellence.

The orchestra’s first 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, Zdenĕk Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de Waart and Gianluigi Gelmetti. Vladimir Ashkenazy was Principal Conductor from 2009 to 2013. The orchestra’s history also boasts collaborations with legendary figures

such as George Szell, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky.

The SSO’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, Lee Bracegirdle, Gordon Kerry, Mary Finsterer, Nigel Westlake and Georges Lentz, and the orchestra’s recordings of music by Brett Dean have been released on both the BIS and SSO Live labels.

Other releases on the SSO Live label, established in 2006, include performances with Alexander Lazarev, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Sir Charles Mackerras, Vladimir Ashkenazy and David Robertson. 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 ABC Classics.

This is the second year of David Robertson’s tenure as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director.

DAVID ROBERTSON Chief Conductor and Artistic Director

PATRON Professor The Hon. Dame Marie Bashir ad cvo

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FIRST VIOLINS Andrew Haveron CONCERTMASTER

Sun Yi ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Kirsten Williams ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Lerida Delbridge ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Fiona Ziegler ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Jenny BoothAmber DavisClaire HerrickNicola LewisEmily LongAlexandra MitchellAlexander NortonLéone ZieglerEmily Qin°Dene Olding CONCERTMASTER

Sophie ColeGeorges Lentz

SECOND VIOLINS Kirsty Hilton Marina Marsden Marianne Broadfoot Emma Jezek ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Emma HayesShuti HuangStan W KornelBenjamin LiNicole MastersPhilippa PaigeMaja VerunicaMonique Irik°Emma Jardine°Maria DurekBiyana Rozenblit

VIOLASRoger Benedict Justin Williams ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Sandro CostantinoRosemary CurtinJane HazelwoodGraham HenningsStuart JohnsonJustine MarsdenFelicity TsaiAmanda VernerLeonid VolovelskyCharlotte Fetherston†

Tobias Breider Anne-Louise Comerford

CELLOSUmberto ClericiCatherine Hewgill Leah Lynn ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Kristy ConrauTimothy NankervisElizabeth NevilleChristopher PidcockAdrian WallisDavid WickhamFenella Gill DOUBLE BASSESKees Boersma Alex Henery Neil Brawley PRINCIPAL EMERITUS

David CampbellSteven LarsonRichard LynnBenjamin WardJosef Bisits°David Murray

FLUTES Emma Sholl Carolyn HarrisRosamund Plummer PRINCIPAL PICCOLO

Janet Webb

OBOESDiana Doherty Shefali Pryor David PappAlexandre Oguey PRINCIPAL COR ANGLAIS

CLARINETSFrancesco Celata Christopher TingayCraig Wernicke PRINCIPAL BASS CLARINET

Lawrence Dobell

BASSOONSMatthew Wilkie Fiona McNamaraNoriko Shimada PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON

HORNSBen Jacks Robert Johnson Geoffrey O’Reilly PRINCIPAL 3RD

Euan HarveyMarnie SebireRachel Silver

TRUMPETSDavid Elton Mark Bremner*Paul Goodchild Anthony Heinrichs

TROMBONESRonald Prussing Nick ByrneChristopher Harris PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE

Scott Kinmont

TUBASteve Rossé

TIMPANIRichard Miller PERCUSSIONRebecca LagosMark RobinsonTimothy Constable HARP Louise Johnson CELESTAKate Golla*

BOLD = PRINCIPALITALICS = ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

° = CONTRACT MUSICIAN

* = GUEST MUSICIAN† = SSO FELLOW

GREY = PERMANENT MEMBER OF THE SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA NOT APPEARING IN THIS CONCERT

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

To see photographs of the full roster of permanent musicians and find out more about the orchestra, visit our website: www.sydneysymphony.com/SSO_musicians

If you don’t have access to the internet, ask one of our customer service representatives for a copy of our Musicians flyer.

MUSICIANS

David RobertsonCHIEF CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR SUPPORTED BY EMIRATES

Dene OldingCONCERTMASTER

Jessica CottisASSISTANT CONDUCTOR SUPPORTED BY PREMIER PARTNER CREDIT SUISSE

Andrew HaveronCONCERTMASTER

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Sydney Symphony Orchestra Staff

BEHIND THE SCENES

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Rory Jeffes

EXECUTIVE TEAM ASSISTANT

Lisa Davies-Galli

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC PLANNING

Benjamin Schwartz

ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Eleasha Mah

ARTIST LIAISON MANAGER

Ilmar Leetberg

RECORDING ENTERPRISE MANAGER

Philip Powers

LibraryAnna Cernik Victoria Grant Mary-Ann Mead

LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT

DIRECTOR OF LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT

Kim Waldock

EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM MANAGER

Mark Lawrenson

EDUCATION MANAGER

Rachel McLarin

EDUCATION OFFICER

Amy Walsh

ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

Aernout Kerbert

ORCHESTRA MANAGER

Rachel Whealy

ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR

Georgia Fryer

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Kerry-Anne Cook

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Laura Daniel

STAGE MANAGER

Courtney Wilson

PRODUCTION COORDINATORS

Ollie TownsendDave Stabback

SALES AND MARKETING

DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING

Mark J Elliott

MARKETING MANAGER, SUBSCRIPTION SALES

Simon Crossley-Meates

A/ SENIOR SALES & MARKETING MANAGER

Matthew Rive

MARKETING MANAGER, WEB & DIGITAL MEDIA

Eve Le Gall

MARKETING MANAGER, CRM & DATABASE

Matthew Hodge

A/ SALES & MARKETING MANAGER, SINGLE TICKET CAMPAIGNS

Jonathon Symonds

DATABASE ANALYST

David Patrick

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Christie Brewster

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Tessa Conn

SENIOR ONLINE MARKETING COORDINATOR

Jenny Sargant

MARKETING ASSISTANT

Theres Mayer

Box OfficeMANAGER OF BOX OFFICE SALES & OPERATIONS

Lynn McLaughlin

BOX OFFICE SYSTEMS SUPERVISOR

Jennifer Laing

BOX OFFICE BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

John Robertson

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES

Karen Wagg – Senior CSRMichael Dowling Tim Walsh

PublicationsPUBLICATIONS EDITOR & MUSIC PRESENTATION MANAGER

Yvonne Frindle

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Yvonne Zammit

PhilanthropyHEAD OF PHILANTHROPY

Luke Andrew Gay

PHILANTHROPY MANAGER

Jennifer Drysdale

A/ PATRONS EXECUTIVE

Sarah Morrisby

Corporate RelationsCORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER

Belinda Besson

CORPORATE RELATIONS MANAGER

Janine Harris

CommunicationsCOMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA MANAGER

Bridget Cormack

PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

Katherine Stevenson

DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER

Kai Raisbeck

PUBLICITY & EVENTS COORDINATOR

Caitlin Benetatos

BUSINESS SERVICES

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

John Horn

FINANCE MANAGER

Ruth Tolentino

ACCOUNTANT

Minerva Prescott

ACCOUNTS ASSISTANT

Emma Ferrer

PAYROLL OFFICER

Laura Soutter

PEOPLE AND CULTURE

IN-HOUSE COUNSEL

Michel Maree Hryce

John C Conde AO Chairman Terrey Arcus AM

Ewen Crouch AM

Ross GrantCatherine HewgillJennifer HoyRory JeffesAndrew Kaldor AM

David LivingstoneThe Hon. Justice AJ Meagher Goetz Richter

Sydney Symphony Orchestra CouncilGeoff Ainsworth AM

Doug BattersbyChristine BishopThe Hon John Della Bosca MLC

Michael J Crouch AO

Alan FangErin FlahertyDr Stephen Freiberg Simon JohnsonGary LinnaneHelen Lynch AM

David Maloney AM Justice Jane Mathews AO Danny MayJane MorschelAndy PlummerDeirdre Plummer Seamus Robert Quick Paul Salteri AM

Sandra SalteriJuliana SchaefferFred Stein OAM

John van OgtropBrian WhiteRosemary White

HONORARY COUNCIL MEMBERSIta Buttrose AO OBE Donald Hazelwood AO OBE The Hon. Paul Keating Yvonne Kenny AM

David Malouf AO

Wendy McCarthy AO

Leo Schofield AM

Peter Weiss AO

Sydney Symphony Orchestra Board

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CHAIR PATRONS

SSO PATRONS

Roger BenedictPrincipal ViolaKim Williams AM & Catherine Dovey Chair

Kees BoersmaPrincipal Double BassSSO Council Chair

Umberto ClericiPrincipal CelloGarry & Shiva Rich Chair

Timothy ConstablePercussionJustice Jane Mathews AO Chair

Lerida DelbridgeAssistant ConcertmasterSimon Johnson Chair

Lawrence DobellPrincipal ClarinetAnne Arcus & Terrey Arcus AM Chair

Diana DohertyPrincipal OboeAndrew Kaldor AM & Renata Kaldor AO Chair

Richard Gill oam

Artistic Director, DownerTenix DiscoveryPaul Salteri AM & Sandra Salteri Chair

Chair PatronsJane HazelwoodViolaBob & Julie Clampett Chair in memory of Carolyn Clampett

Catherine HewgillPrincipal CelloThe Hon. Justice AJ & Mrs Fran Meagher Chair

Robert JohnsonPrincipal HornJames & Leonie Furber Chair

Elizabeth NevilleCelloRuth & Bob Magid Chair

Shefali PryorAssociate Principal OboeMrs Barbara Murphy Chair

Emma ShollAssociate Principal FluteRobert & Janet Constable Chair

Janet WebbPrincipal FluteHelen Lynch AM & Helen Bauer Chair

Kirsten WilliamsAssociate ConcertmasterI Kallinikos Chair

Maestro’s Circle

David Robertson

Mrs Barbara Murphy (right) first fell in love with Shefali Pryor’s oboe playing during her performances with violinist Nigel Kennedy and the SSO in 2010. After getting to know each other, they bonded over a mutual love of travel and knitting.

Peter Weiss AO Founding President & Doris Weiss

John C Conde AO Chairman

Brian Abel

Tom Breen & Rachel Kohn

The Berg Family Foundation

Andrew Kaldor AM & Renata Kaldor AO

Vicki Olsson

Roslyn Packer AO

David Robertson

Penelope Seidler AM

Mr Fred Street AM & Dorothy Street

Brian White AO & Rosemary White

Ray Wilson OAM in memory of the late James Agapitos OAM

Supporting the artistic vision of David Robertson, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHAIR PATRONS

PROGRAM, CALL (02) 8215 4625.

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Learning & Engagement

SSO PATRONS

Commissioning CircleSupporting the creation of new works.

ANZAC Centenary Arts and Culture FundGeoff Ainsworth AM

Christine BishopDr John EdmondsAndrew Kaldor AM & Renata Kaldor AO

Jane Mathews AO

Vicki OlssonCaroline & Tim RogersGeoff StearnDr Richard T WhiteAnonymous

fellowship patronsRobert Albert AO & Elizabeth Albert Flute ChairChristine Bishop Percussion ChairSandra & Neil Burns Clarinet ChairIn Memory of Matthew Krel Violin ChairMrs T Merewether OAM Horn ChairPaul Salteri AM & Sandra Salteri Violin and Viola ChairsMrs W Stening Principal Patron, Cello ChairKim Williams AM & Catherine Dovey Patrons of Roger Benedict,

Artistic Director, FellowshipAnonymous Double Bass Chair

fellowship supporting patronsMr Stephen J BellGary Linnane & Peter BraithwaiteJoan MacKenzie ScholarshipDrs Eileen & Keith OngIn Memory of Geoff WhiteJune & Alan Woods Family Bequest

tuned-up!TunED-Up! is made possible with the generous support of Fred Street AM & Dorothy Street

Additional support provided by:Anne Arcus & Terrey Arcus AM

Ian & Jennifer Burton Ian Dickson & Reg HollowayTony Strachan

major education donorsBronze Patrons & above

John Augustus & Kim RyrieMr Alexander & Mrs Vera BoyarskyBob & Julie ClampettHoward & Maureen ConnorsThe Greatorex FoundationThe Ian Potter FoundationJames N Kirby Foundation Mrs & Mr Judith A. McKernanMr & Mrs Nigel Price

Sydney Symphony Orchestra 2014 Fellows

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Through their inspired financial support,

Patrons ensure the SSO’s continued

success, resilience and growth. Join the

SSO Patrons Program today and make a

difference.

sydneysymphony.com/patrons(02) 8215 4674philanthropy@sydneysymphony.com

A U S T R A L I A - K O R E AF O U N D A T I O N

Australia-Korea FoundationCrown FoundationThe Greatorex Foundation

Foundations

James N Kirby FoundationPacker Family FoundationIan Potter Foundation

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IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON

MAKING A BEQUEST TO THE SSO, PLEASE

CONTACT LUKE GAY ON 8215 4625.

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.

Stuart Challender Legacy SocietyCelebrating the vision of donors who are leaving a bequest to the SSO.

Playing Your Part

DIAMOND PATRONS $50,000+The Estate of Dr Lynn JosephMr Andrew Kaldor AM &

Mrs Renata Kaldor AO

In Memory of Matthew KrelRoslyn Packer AO

Ian Potter FoundationPaul Salteri AM & Sandra

SalteriMr Fred Street AM &

Mrs Dorothy Street Mr Peter Weiss AO &

Mrs Doris WeissMr Brian White AO &

Mrs Rosemary White

PLATINUM PATRONS $30,000–$49,999Anne & Terrey Arcus AM

Doug & Alison BattersbyThe Berg Family FoundationTom Breen & Rachael KohnMr John C Conde AO

Robert & Janet ConstableMrs W SteningKim Williams AM &

Catherine Dovey 

GOLD PATRONS $20,000–$29,999Brian AbelGeoff Ainsworth AM

Robert Albert AO & Elizabeth Albert

Christine Bishop Sandra & Neil BurnsJames & Leonie FurberI KallinikosHelen Lynch AM & Helen

BauerMrs T Merewether OAM

Mrs Barbara MurphyMr B G O’ConorVicki OlssonAndy & Deirdre PlummerGarry & Shiva RichDavid RobertsonMrs Penelope Seidler AM

G & C Solomon in memory of Joan MacKenzie

Geoff StearnRay Wilson OAM in memory

of James Agapitos OAM

Anonymous (2) 

SILVER PATRONS $10,000–$19,999Bailey Family FoundationAudrey BlundenMr Robert BrakspearIan & Jennifer BurtonMr Robert & Mrs L Alison CarrBob & Julie ClampettMichael Crouch AO &

Shanny CrouchThe Hon. Mrs Ashley

Dawson-Damer AM

Paul EspieEdward & Diane FedermanNora GoodridgeMr Ross GrantIan Dickson & Reg HollowaySimon JohnsonMr Ervin KatzJames N Kirby FoundationRuth & Bob MagidJustice Jane Mathews AO

The Hon. Justice AJ Meagher & Mrs Fran Meagher

Mr John MorschelDrs Keith & Eileen OngMr John Symond AM

The Harry Triguboff Foundation

Caroline WilkinsonAnonymous (2)

BRONZE PATRONS $5,000–$9,999John Augustus & Kim RyrieStephen J BellDr & Mrs Hannes BoshoffMr Alexander & Mrs Vera

BoyarskyPeter Braithwaite &

Gary LinnaneMr David & Mrs Halina BrettMr Howard ConnorsEwen Crouch AM &

Catherine CrouchIn memory of Dr Lee

MacCormick EdwardsDr Stephen Freiberg &

Donald CampbellDr Colin GoldschmidtThe Greatorex FoundationRory & Jane JeffesThe late Mrs Isabelle JosephFrank Lowy AM &

Shirley Lowy OAM

Henri W Aram OAM & Robin Aram

Stephen J BellMr David & Mrs Halina BrettHoward ConnorsGreta DavisBrian GalwayMiss Pauline M Griffin AM

John Lam-Po-Tang

Peter Lazar AM

Daniel LemesleLouise MillerJames & Elsie MooreDouglas PaisleyKate RobertsMary Vallentine AO

Ray Wilson OAM

Anonymous (10)

Stuart Challender, SSO Chief Conductor and Artistic Director 1987–1991

bequest donors

We gratefully acknowledge donors who have left a bequest to the SSO.

The late Mrs Lenore AdamsonEstate of Carolyn ClampertEstate Of Jonathan Earl William ClarkEstate of Colin T EnderbyEstate of Mrs E HerrmanEstate of Irwin ImhofThe late Mrs Isabelle JosephThe Estate of Dr Lynn JosephThe Late Greta C RyanJune & Alan Woods Family Bequest

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BRONZE PATRONS CONTINUED

J A McKernanDavid Maloney AM &

Erin FlahertyR & S Maple-BrownMora MaxwellWilliam McIlrath Charitable

FoundationTaine MoufarrigeJohn & Akky van OgtropSeamus Robert QuickChris Robertson &

Katharine ShawRodney Rosenblum AM &

Sylvia RosenblumDr Evelyn RoyalManfred & Linda SalamonMrs Joyce Sproat &

Mrs Janet CookeTony StrachanDavid Tudehope & Liz DibbsMr Robert & Mrs Rosemary

WalshWestpac GroupMichael & Mary Whelan TrustIn memory of Geoff WhiteJune & Alan Woods Family

BequestAnonymous (2) 

PRESTO PATRONS $2,500–$4,999Mr Henri W Aram OAM

Ian BradyMr Mark BryantIta Buttrose AO OBE

Mrs Stella ChenDr Rebecca ChinDr Diana Choquette &

Mr Robert MillinerFirehold Pty LtdDr Kim FrumarWarren GreenAnthony GreggJames & Yvonne HochrothMr Roger Hudson & Mrs Claudia

Rossi-HudsonMr John Lam-Po-TangJames & Elsie MooreMs Jackie O’BrienJuliana SchaefferDr Agnes E SinclairEzekiel Solomon AM

Mr Ervin Vidor AM & Mrs Charlotte Vidor

Lang Walker AO & Sue WalkerYim Family Foundation Anonymous (1)

VIVACE PATRONS $1,000–$2,499Mrs Lenore AdamsonMrs Antoinette AlbertRae & David AllenAndrew Andersons AO

Mr Matthew AndrewsThe Hon Justice Michael BallDavid BarnesMr Garry BessonAllan & Julie BlighJan BowenRoslynne BracherMrs R D Bridges OBE

Lenore P BuckleMargaret BulmerIn memory of RW BurleyMrs Rhonda CaddyMr B & Mrs M ColesMs Suzanne CollinsJoan Connery OAM &

Maxwell Connery OAM

Debby Cramer & Bill CaukillMr John Cunningham SCM &

Mrs Margaret CunninghamGreta DavisLisa & Miro DavisElizabeth DonatiColin Draper & Mary Jane

BrodribbProf. & Mrs John EdmondsMalcolm Ellis & Erin O’NeillMrs Margaret EppsMr Matt GarrettVivienne Goldschmidt &

Owen JonesMrs Fay GrearIn Memory of Angelica GreenAkiko GregoryMr & Mrs Harold &

Althea HallidayJanette HamiltonMrs Jennifer HershonAngus HoldenMr Kevin Holland &

Mrs Roslyn AndrewsThe Hon. David Hunt AO QC &

Mrs Margaret HuntDr & Mrs Michael HunterMr Philip Isaacs OAM

Michael & Anna JoelMrs W G KeighleyDr Andrew KennedyJennifer KingAron KleinlehrerMr Andrew Korda &

Ms Susan PearsonMr Justin LamMr Peter Lazar AM

Professor Winston LiauwAirdrie LloydMrs Juliet LockhartPeter Lowry OAM &

Dr Carolyn Lowry OAM

Kevin & Deirdre McCannIan & Pam McGawMatthew McInnesMacquarie Group FoundationBarbara MaidmentJohn Mar

Renee MarkovicMr Danny R MayHelen & Phil MeddingsI MerrickHenry & Ursula MooserMilja & David MorrisMrs J MulveneyMr Darrol NormanE J NuffieldDr Mike O’Connor AM

Mr & Mrs OrtisMr Andrew C PattersonMichael PaulAlmut PiattiIn memory of Sandra Paul

PottingerDr Raffi QasabianMr Patrick Quinn-GrahamErnest & Judith RapeeKenneth R ReedPatricia H Reid Endowment

Pty LtdDr Marilyn RichardsonIn memory of Katherine

RobertsonMr David RobinsonTim RogersLesley & Andrew RosenbergIn memory of H St P ScarlettMr Samuel F ShefferDavid & Alison ShilligtonDr Judy SoperMrs Judith SouthamMs Barbara SpencerMrs Elizabeth SquairCatherine StephenThe Hon. Brian Sully QC

Mrs Margaret SwansonThe Taplin FamilyDr & Mrs H K TeyKevin TroyJohn E TuckeyJudge Robyn TupmanDr Alla WaldmanMiss Sherry WangWestpac Banking CorporationHenry & Ruth WeinbergThe Hon. Justice A G WhealyDr Richard T WhiteMrs Leonore WhyteA Willmers & R PalBetty WilkenfeldDr Edward J WillsProf. Neville Wills &

Ian FenwickeAnn & Brooks C Wilson AM

Dr Richard WingDr Peter Wong &

Mrs Emmy K WongGeoff Wood & Melissa WaitesSir Robert WoodsMr & Mrs Lindsay WoolveridgeIn memory of Lorna Wright

Dr John YuAnonymous (13)

ALLEGRO PATRONS $500–$999Nikki AbrahamsMs Jenny AllumKatherine AndrewsMr Peter J ArmstrongGarry & Tricia AshMr & Mrs George BallDr Lilon BandlerBarlow Cleaning Pty LtdBarracouta Pty LtdBeauty Point Retirement

ResortMr Michael BeckDr Andrew BellRichard & Margaret BellMrs Jan BiberMinnie BiggsG D BoltonIn memory of Jillian BowersR D & L M BroadfootDr Peter BroughtonDr David BryantArnaldo BuchDr Miles BurgessPat & Jenny BurnettRosemary CampbellMr JC Campbell QC &

Mrs CampbellJudy ChiddyIn memory of Beth HarpleyMr Phillip CornwellDr Peter CraswellMr David CrossPhil Diment AM & Bill

ZafiropoulosDr David DixonSusan DoenauMrs Jane DrexlerDana DupereDr Nita DurhamJohn FavaloroMrs Lesley FinnMs Julie Flynn & Mr Trevor CookMrs Paula FlynnMr John GadenClive & Jenny GoodwinRichard Griffin AM

Dr Jan GroseBenjamin Hasic &

Belinda DavieMr Robert HavardMrs Joan HenleyRoger HenningSue HewittDr Joan-Mary HindsDorothy Hoddinott AO

Bill & Pam HughesMs Cynthia KayeMrs Margaret KeoghDr Henry Kilham

Playing Your Part

SSO PATRONS

29

“Together, we have an ambition to foster a love of orchestral music in school children of all ages, and to equip their teachers with the skills they need to develop this in our young people…”DAVID ROBERTSON SSO Chief Conductor and Artistic Director

PLEASE CONSIDER MAKING A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TODAY

Dr Joyce KirkMrs Patricia KleinhansAnna-Lisa KlettenbergSonia LalL M B LampratiDr Barry LandaElaine M LangshawDr Leo & Mrs Shirley LeaderMargaret LedermanMrs Erna LevyMrs A LohanMr Gabriel LopataPanee LowMelvyn MadiganMs Jolanta MasojadaMr Guido MayerLouise MillerPatricia MillerKenneth Newton MitchellMrs Judith MortonMr Graham NorthMr Sead NurkicDr A J PalmerDr Kevin PedemontDr Natalie E PelhamDr John PittJohn Porter & Annie

Wesley-SmithMrs Greeba PritchardThe Hon. Dr Rodney Purvis AM

& Mrs Marian PurvisMichael QuaileyMiss Julie RadosavljevicRenaissance ToursJanelle RostronMrs Christine Rowell-MillerMrs Louise RowstonJorie Ryan for Meredith RyanMr Kenneth Ryan

VANGUARD COLLECTIVEJustin Di Lollo ChairBelinda BentleyOscar McMahonTaine Moufarrige

Founding PatronShefali PryorSeamus R Quick

Founding PatronChris Robertson &

Katherine Shaw Founding Patrons

MEMBERSJames ArmstrongPhilip AtkinLuan AtkinsonJoan BallantineJames BaudzusAndrew BaxterAdam BeaupeurtAnthony BeresfordAndrew BotrosPeter BraithwaiteBlake BriggsAndrea BrownMelanie BrownAttila BrungsIan BurtonJennifer BurtonPaul ColganClaire CooperBridget CormackRobbie CranfieldAsha CugatiJuliet CurtinRosalind De SaillyPaul DeschampsCatherine DonnellyAlistair FurnivalAlexandra GibsonSam GiddingsMarina GoJeremy GoffHilary GoodsonTony GriersonLouise HaggertyRose HercegFrancis HicksPeter HowardJennifer HoyKatie HryceVirginia JudgeJonathan Kennedy

Aernout KerbertPatrick KokAlisa LaiJohn Lam-Po-TangTristan LandersJessye LinGary LinnaneDavid LoSaskia LoGabriel LopataRebecca MacFarlingRobert McGroryDavid McKeanNick NichlesKate O’ReillyPeter O’SullivanJonathan PeaseCleo PoserLaurisa PoulosMichael RadovnikovicSudeep RaoMichael ReedeChris RobertsonBenjamin RobinsonAlvaro Rodas FernandezJacqueline RowlandsAnthony Michael SchembriBenjamin SchwartzKatherine ShawCecilia StornioloRandal TameSandra TangIan TaylorMichael TidballMark TimminsMichael TuffyKim WaldockJon WilkieYvonne ZammitAmy Zhou

SSO Vanguard

A membership program for a dynamic group of Gen X & Y SSO fans and future philanthropists

Garry Scarf & Morgie BlaxillPeter & Virginia ShawJudge David S ShillingtonMrs Diane Shteinman AM

Victoria SmythDoug & Judy SotherenColin SpencerJames & Alice SpigelmanAshley & Aveen StephensonMargaret & William SuthersMargaret SwansonDr Jenepher ThomasMrs Caroline ThompsonMrs June ThorntonMs Rhonda TingAlma TooheyMrs M TurkingtonGillian Turner & Rob BishopMr Robert VeelRonald WalledgeIn memory of Denis WallisIn memoriam JBL WattMiss Roslyn WheelerThe Wilkinson FamilyEdward & Yvonne WillsYetty WindtMr Evan WongMrs Robin YabsleyAnonymous (34)

SSO Patrons pages correct as of 5 January 2015

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SALUTE

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

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

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

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

EDUCATION PARTNERPLATINUM PARTNER

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Salute 2015_21Jan.indd 1 3/02/15 2:42 PM

ORCHESTRA NEWS | FEBRUARY–MARCH 2015

❝You have to find a way in music to grab people…

❞piece, I am always full of doubts and fear. When I write a piece, I quite literally believe it’s the last piece I ever write.’ It’s a torturous path. ‘Every time I think “this is my last piece. I may as well pour everything I’ve got into this one.” It makes it quite an intense thing when I get to rehearsals. I’ve invested all of myself in that and what if, after all that, it’s no good?’

Jerusalem (after Blake) is the most recent work completed in Georges’ magnum opus Caeli enarrant… Based on the poetry and visual art of William Blake, ‘this piece is somewhat psychedelic, even apocalyptic. Blake is a visionary, his poetry and art are very intense and direct. I too would like to grab people, take them by the throat. From a fortissimo darkness, through the most gentle serene moments. You have to find a way in music to grab people, not to leave them uninvolved.’

Georges Lentz’s Jerusalem (after Blake) was commissioned with the assistance of an anonymous donor. It receives its first Australian performances in February.

Robertson conducts La MerWed 18 Feb, 6.30pmSchumann 3 & 4Sat 21 Feb, 2pm

Once upon a time, performing composers were the norm. Sadly, these days they’re the exception. And our very own exception is first violinist Georges Lentz, also an internationally celebrated composer who originally hails from Luxembourg.

How do performing and composing inform each other? ‘I’ve always liked to do both,’ says Georges. ‘It gives a nice balance. When one thing is not going so well, there’s always the other to fall back on. Also, performing gives you insight into the practicalities of writing for musicians: you know what

musicians like to see, you know what annoys them.’

‘It can sometimes be difficult – as a composer who is also an orchestral musician – to play Tchaikovsky all day long and then go home and write your own music. Sure, as musicians we have a responsibility to play the music of Tchaikovsky, or Walton, or even Elton John, in such a way that it is relevant and alive.’ But as a composer, he sighs, ‘it’s not always what you need to hear.’

Of his own music, Georges is extremely self critical. ‘Before a rehearsal process starts on a new

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AN EXCEPTIONAL MUSICIANFirst violinist Georges Lentz straddles the complementary professions of composer and performer

SSO Bravo! #1 2015 Insert_2.indd 1 6/02/15 2:14 PM

I noticed in a recent concert that the clarinets seemed to keep swapping instruments, which, to the naked and distant eye, more or less looked exactly the same. What’s the reason for this?

What a great question! Let me first say, it’s not because we’re extremely indecisive! Mostly we’re switching between two clarinets – the ‘B flat’ and ‘A’ clarinets. Physically, they’re about 2 cms different in length, with the A clarinet the longer of the

two, and therefore sounding a semitone lower.

There are subtle, but important differences in tone colour between the two instruments. The B flat is slightly brighter, whereas the A clarinet has a more mellow, rounded tone. Sometimes we have to change between clarinets really quickly, especially in the music of Mahler and Strauss.

The mouthpieces are interchangeable, and we use cork grease to ensure the mouthpiece can come out easily and then be inserted into the other barrel.

There’s a danger in a really quick clarinet change that you might accidentally rip the reed out too.

Clarinets are considered transposing instruments. From a clarinettist’s point of view, using two different clarinets has the advantage of keeping key signatures to just four sharps or flats. Fully explaining transposition would take more space than I have here, but basically, if composers are nice then we don’t have to play in horrible key signatures.Christopher Tingay, clarinet

Ask a Musician

Special EventPlanet EarthComposer Charlie Chan of the Global Orchestra Foundation has ideas. Lots of ideas. For instance, coinciding with this year’s Earth Hour, a performance by the SSO of Holst’s Planets is going to be beamed around the globe.

‘The Global Orchestra team wanted to find a way to encourage musicians to participate and extend the participation of Earth Hour,’ explains Charlie. A plan was hatched to find a soundtrack to Earth Hour. Nathan Waks, former principal cellist with the SSO, suggested The Planets and the idea took flight.

The hope is that schools, universities, individuals and ensembles of all abilities will participate by playing along with the live stream of the concert. ‘We’ll be composing additional music that’s suited to primary school students,’ adds Charlie. ‘They’ll make some junk instruments out of recycled materials, so that kids can make their own instruments and play along.’

With The Planets forming the true heart of this

project, there are a number of satellite ways in which the Global team hope you’ll take part. For more information: www.globalorchestra.com

David Robertson conducts The Planets on Friday 27 March (11am) and for Earth Hour on Saturday 28 March (8.30pm).

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‘Yes, that’s our concertmaster Andrew Haveron – nine storeys high on the Sydney Opera House!’

If you were near the Sydney Opera House on 4 February you would have seen spectacular

projections, bringing our Greatest Hits from Vienna concert from inside the Concert Hall to viewers, not just on the foreshore, but watching from around the world. The dynamic footage of our musicians in performance was complemented by gorgeous imagery inspired by Vienna’s rich culture. The awe-inspiring result represented a true cross-city cultural collaboration, and we thank the Vienna Tourist Board for presenting the event. Enjoy the webstream via YouTube: bit.ly/VisionsViennaOnDemand

SSO Bravo! #1 2015 Insert_2.indd 2 6/02/15 2:15 PM

Farewell Bravo! – till we meet againSince 2012, we’ve been publishing Bravo! as an in-program magazine. But this has been just one manifestation of our audience newsletters over the years. If you’ve been a subscriber for long enough you’ll probably remember the quarterly Bravo! that was mailed to homes and the various newsletters – Notations, Symphony – that preceded it going back to the 1990s and even earlier.

One of the reasons we moved Bravo! to the program books was a desire to reach everyone in our audience, not just those who were on our subscriber mailing list. And for the past three years Bravo! has functioned as our way of sharing news and insights with anyone who attended a concert.

Recently we’ve found that the news we’d like to share and the musical personalities we want to introduce to you are too much for the few pages available at the back of the program. We’re also realising that printed booklets aren’t the best way to share music, talk or video in an increasingly multimedia world.

So even though this is the final issue of Bravo! as you’ve known it in recent years, stay tuned as we expand the offerings on our website, and continue to bring you a wealth of news and stories from behind the scenes.

Finally, we’d like to extend a huge thank you to Bravo! editor Genevieve Huppert, who has shepherded more than 30 issues of Bravo! into being. We especially admire the grace and imagination she has brought to the musician feature-profiles.

Past issues of Bravo! can be downloaded from sydneysymphony.com/bravo

The Score

teens, early 20s; that’s exactly the age of our singers,’ says Lyn. ‘To me, there’s a power in that.

For the centenary commemorations of the 1915 Gallipoli landing, choristers from Turkey, France and New Zealand will augment the Australian Gondwana Chorale. ‘The idea was to represent many of the nations that were there in Gallipoli.’ Lyn explains. ‘It makes a lot of sense for these choristers to come together – especially with what’s going on in the world,’ says Lyn. ‘While there is conflict in the world, our young choristers can come together to present a positive affirmation of peace.’

Writing the piece also gave James pause for thought about war and conflict. ‘I deliberately chose the title War Music, rather than specifically addressing the Gallipoli landing. I think anybody who has lost their lives through a political decision in the name of their country – not just in 1915 – deserves to be commemorated.’

Gondwana Choirs is looking for host families to billet the visiting international choristers for these performances. If you are able to extend the ANZAC spirit in this way, please contact Tessa Kay at tessa@gondwanachoirs.com.au or call (02) 8274 7003.

‘War is horrible,’ says Australian composer James Ledger. ‘The extent of its casualties goes well beyond the horrific number of people who die on the battlefields.’

On 24 April, the Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras are commemorating the centenary of the Gallipoli landings with simultaneous concerts featuring two world premieres by Australian and New Zealand composers. The SSO commissioned James to write War Music, which features words by Australian musician and storyteller Paul Kelly; the NZSO has commissioned Kiwi composer Michael F Williams to write Letters from the Front.

‘Paul’s new text is written from the point of view of the souls and spirits of the diggers who died there,’ explains James. ‘One of the lines in it was: “We died in smoke and noise. We died alone.” That’s the line that really hit me – “We died alone.” That just got me.’

To perform War Music, the SSO will be joined by singers from Gondwana Chorale, whose members are aged 17–25. Lyn Williams, Artistic Director and Founder of Gondwana Choirs, says there is a real impact in using young voices for a work like this. ‘If you think of soldiers at Gallipoli, they would have been in their late

Artistic Focus

ANZAC SPIRITS

Gondwana Chorale will be joined by other young choristers from Turkey, France and New Zealand when they perform James Ledger’s War Music in April.

SSO Bravo! #1 2015 Insert_2.indd 3 6/02/15 2:15 PM

Clocktower Square, Argyle Street, The Rocks NSW 2000GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4644Box Office (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 reflect 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

Sydney Opera House TrustThe Hon. Helen Coonan [Acting Chair]Ms Catherine Brenner, Ms Brenna Hobson, Mr Chris Knoblanche, Mr Peter Mason am, Ms Jillian Segal am, Mr Robert Wannan, Mr Phillip Wolanski am

Executive ManagementChief Executive Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louise Herron am

Chief Operating Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Claire SpencerDirector, Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jonathan BielskiDirector, Theatre & Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .David ClaringboldDirector, Building Development & Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . .Greg McTaggartDirector, Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anna ReidDirector, External Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brook Turner

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE Administration (02) 9250 7111 Bennelong Point Box Office (02) 9250 7777 GPO Box 4274 Facsimile (02) 9250 7666 Sydney NSW 2001 Website sydneyoperahouse.com

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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, 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 specified on the title page of this publication 17494 — 1/160215 — 03MO S5

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 2021 PO Box 410, Paddington NSW 2021Telephone: +61 2 9921 5353 Fax: +61 2 9449 6053 E-mail: admin@playbill.com.au Website: www.playbill.com.auChairman Brian Nebenzahl OAM RFD Managing Director Michael Nebenzahl Editorial Director Jocelyn Nebenzahl Manager—Production—Classical Music Alan ZieglerOperating in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart & Darwin

Playbill runs its own printery where we print all our theatre programs. We also print a variety of jobs from flyers to posters to brochures. Contact us at print@playbill.com.au for a quote on your printing work.

EDITOR Genevieve Huppert sydneysymphony.com/bravo

TunED-Up

Already this year, 50 primary school teachers, many with little or no existing music training, have travelled to Sydney from all over NSW to participate in the SSO’s five-day TunED-Up program. Now in its second year, TunED-Up helps teachers develop their music teaching skills under the guidance of SSO Director of Learning and Engagement Kim Waldock. Last year we calculated we reached about 8,000 children by ‘teaching the teachers’, and that number is set to grow again this year. Our thanks to Fred and Dorothy Street together with the other supporters who make this magical program possible.

OUR BIGGEST FAN

Nothing beats a personal recommendation, and last November Ben Folds was our biggest fan. In concerts with the

SSO featuring his new piano concerto, he told audiences to come back to the concert hall and listen to the music that makes their orchestra shine. ‘My stuff’s not bad,’ he said, but orchestras are the ‘highest form of civilisation’.

TRADE SECRETS

Someone asked us recently if we use real cannons for the performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, which traditionally concludes Symphony in the Domain. As this is the final print issue of Bravo, we’re in the mood to spill a few trade secrets. Each cannon has pyrotechnics attached to the muzzle and is fired via a wireless remote. There are usually two special guests invited to ‘light’ the cannons with sparklers. For best effect, our stage manager cues the VIPs to touch the sparkler to the cannons at the appropriate moment. The pyro technician who is doing the actual ‘firing’ is also cued. Needless to say, after so many years of the 1812 Overture,

the stage manager’s score is starting to look a little dog-eared…

DISCOVERY

If you haven’t yet been to one of our DownerTenix Discovery series concerts, then quite simply you’ve been missing out. Richard Gill, Artistic Director of the series, is communicator par excellence, and unpacks music in such a way that everyone can understand. This is his final year of leading these illuminating and inspiring presentations, so come along and begin by discovering Beethoven’s Second Symphony with Richard and the Sydney Symphony Sinfonia on 24 February.

Discover Mahler Tue 5 May Discover Ravel Tue 25 Aug Discover Richard Strauss Tue 10 Nov City Recital Hall Angel Place

WELCOME

We welcome Jennifer Drysdale, our new Philanthropy Manager.

CODA

Clocktower Square, Argyle Street, The Rocks NSW 2000GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4644Box Office (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 reflect 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

Sydney Opera House TrustMr John Symond am [Chair]Ms Catherine Brenner, The Hon Helen Coonan, Ms Brenna Hobson, Mr Chris Knoblanche, Mr Peter Mason am, Ms Jillian Segal am, Mr Robert Wannan, Mr Phillip Wolanski am

Executive ManagementChief Executive Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louise Herron am

Chief Operating Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Claire SpencerDirector, Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jonathan BielskiDirector, Theatre & Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .David ClaringboldDirector, Building Development & Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . .Greg McTaggartDirector, Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anna ReidDirector, External Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brook Turner

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE Administration (02) 9250 7111 Bennelong Point Box Office (02) 9250 7777 GPO Box 4274 Facsimile (02) 9250 7666 Sydney NSW 2001 Website sydneyoperahouse.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, 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 specified on the title page of this publication 1/110215 — 02 — S2/4

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 2021 PO Box 410, Paddington NSW 2021Telephone: +61 2 9921 5353 Fax: +61 2 9449 6053 E-mail: admin@playbill.com.au Website: www.playbill.com.auChairman Brian Nebenzahl OAM RFD Managing Director Michael Nebenzahl Editorial Director Jocelyn Nebenzahl Manager—Production—Classical Music Alan ZieglerOperating in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart & Darwin

Playbill runs its own printery where we print all our theatre programs. We also print a variety of jobs from flyers to posters to brochures. Contact us at print@playbill.com.au for a quote on your printing work.

SSO Bravo! #1 2015 Insert_2.indd 4 11/02/15 8:12 AM