Mostly Mendelssohn Program

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Bristling with energy, Richard Egarr joins the ACO in a beautiful Baroque program.

PURCELL The Fairy Queen: Suite W LAWES Consort set in 6 parts in C major JS BACH Violin Concerto in A minor HAYDN Keyboard Concerto in D major HAYDN Symphony No.44 in E minor Richard Egarr Guest Director & Keyboards Satu V채nsk채 Lead Violin

13-28 JUNE ADELAIDE, BRISBANE, CANBERRA, MELBOURNE, PERTH, SYDNEY, WOLLONGONG

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Just as this year marks the 40th year of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, next year, 2016, marks a big milestone in Transfield’s history – it will be 60 years since my father, Franco Belgiorno-Nettis founded Transfield and began the extraordinary journey of business activity and arts philanthropy, including his greatest cultural achievement, the establishment of the Biennale of Sydney in 1973.

My father passed away in 2006, but my brother Luca and I are proud to build on his legacy. We are no longer directly involved with the Biennale, but continue to support it, and are delighted to assist the ever-evolving and consistently amazing Australian Chamber Orchestra. It has been one of the great cultural journeys of my life watching Richard Tognetti and his incredibly talented colleagues push the limits of their craft often into new and untracked territory.

As National Tour Partner we are excited to facilitate the performance of violin virtuoso, Stefan Jackiw in Mostly Mendelssohn and intrigued to witness Bottesini’s Gran Duo that he will perform with ACO’s bassist extraordinaire, Maxime Bibeau.

Transfield is proud to partner with the ACO to bring you Mostly Mendelssohn. We hope you have another unforgettable experience!

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Guido Belgiorno-Nettis am Chairman, Australian Chamber Orchestra Managing Director, Transfield Holdings AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

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E N G AG E WITH U S

SOCIALLY We’d love to hear from you – join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and stay up to date on all things ACO. Don’t forget the hashtag #ACO15. @a_c_o facebook.com/AustralianChamberOrchestra @AustChamberOrchestra LOOK Watch us Live in the Studio, go behind-the-scenes and find out more about our program on YouTube. youtube.com/AustralianCO LISTEN Tune in to an ACO Session on Spotify or hear concert tasters and playlists. aco.com.au/Spotify RADIO ACO Concerts are regularly broadcast on ABC Classic FM. Mostly Mendelssohn Wed 20 May, 7pm.

COMPETITION #MY4SEASONS The changing seasons inspired Vivaldi to compose his most colourful work – The Four Seasons. To celebrate the ACO’s birthday and the Australian odyssey that is our production of this much-loved masterpiece, we’re offering you the chance to win a special Four Seasons prize pack.

Visit aco.com.au/instacomp for the details.

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M E S SAG E F RO M TH E G E N E R A L M A N AG E R

Since the last series of subscription concerts in March, the Australian Chamber Orchestra has undertaken a nine-city tour of the USA, culminating in New York’s Carnegie Hall. As Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: ‘Carnegie Hall probably could have presented the popular Australian Chamber Orchestra in Stern Auditorium, its main hall.

But it was a treat to hear that ensemble play a wonderful concert on Sunday afternoon in the 600-seat Zankel Hall, Carnegie’s appealing basement performance space. In that setting, the symphonic grandeur and inventiveness of Haydn’s Symphony No.83 in G minor, known as ‘The Hen’, came through with upclose immediacy, although the fleet, bold performance these impressive Australian musicians gave would have sounded great almost anywhere.’

As the ACO returns to Australian stages this month, we welcome guest violinist Stefan Jackiw. We first got to know Stefan when he came to Sydney for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra in 2011 – an extraordinary, international musical event which brought together Michael Tilson Thomas, Richard Tognetti, Stefan Jackiw and 100 musicians from all over the world to perform together for one night only. The event was streamed around the world as well as projected magnificently onto the gleaming white sails of the Sydney Opera House. We are thrilled to welcome Stefan back to Australia, this time for an extensive national tour.

While Stefan is playing Mendelssohn with the ACO, Richard is in London performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with The Academy of Ancient Music, in the remarkably inventive version with Joseph Tawadros which opened the ACO’s 2015 season.

Transfield Holdings is one of the ACO’s longest standing sponsors, having first supported the Orchestra in 2000 and every year since. We are very grateful to Transfield Holdings for its steadfast support of the ACO’s national touring, which enables us to fulfil our goal of being the country’s truly national performing company. Bottesini’s Gran Duo Concertante, which is on today’s program, also offers me an opportunity to thank some other very important supporters of the ACO who make it possible for our musicians to perform on extraordinary, historic instruments. While the spectacular 1728/29 Stradivari violin, owned by the ACO Instrument Fund will be on stage, played by Satu Vänskä, it is the unique Gasparo da Salò double bass, a gift from incredibly generous anonymous private benefactors that will take the spotlight for these performances. I know that the owners of this magnificent instrument that has transformed the life of our Principal Bass Maxime Bibeau, will be sitting and listening intently as he and Stefan play the Bottesini. Thank you for your inestimable contribution to what makes the ACO special.

Timothy Calnin General Manager AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

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ACO WH AT ’ S O N

EGARR & THE GOLDEN AGE 13–28 JUNE The intelligent and irreverent Richard Egarr returns to our shores, bristling with energy. Hearing the music of Henry Purcell and William Lawes on the ACO’s burgeoning collection of 17th- and 18th-century instruments is like travelling back in time. Led by a master of historically informed performance, Bach and Haydn will be a revelation. aco.com.au/egarr

ACO ACADEMY 10 JULY Some of the country’s brightest secondary-school musicians join members of the ACO on stage at City Recital Hall Angel Place for this free public performance, which celebrates the culmination of the weeklong ACO Academy program. aco.com.au/academy15

A FRENCH CELEBRATION WITH SUSAN GRAHAM 11–22 JULY ‘America’s favourite mezzo’, Susan Graham is joined on stage

by Karen Gomyo and members of the ACO, exploring the inscrutable ‘je ne sais quoi’ of music by Ravel and Franck.

Lose yourself in Respighi’s evocative depiction of a sunset and enjoy Ravel’s homage to Stephane Mallarmé. Then close your eyes and let your imagination roam to the exquisite sounds of piano and strings. aco.com.au/french BRAHMS 3 16–24 AUGUST After triumphant performances of Beethoven in 2012, Brahms in 2013 and Mahler & Sibelius in 2014, Richard Tognetti and the Orchestra return, in grand style, to Johannes Brahms. Brahms’ Third Symphony is perfect for the ACO. It’s a concise and confident masterpiece, mixing grandeur and intimacy in equal parts. Rich in melody and intensely lyrical, this is a truly passionate work. aco.com.au/brahms3 10

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MOSTLY M E N DE LSSOH N Satu Vänskä Lead Violin Stefan Jackiw Violin Maxime Bibeau Double Bass MENDELSSOHN String Symphony No.9 in C major, ‘La Suisse’ BOTTESINI (arr. Rofe) Gran Duo Concertante for Double Bass and Violin INTERVAL WOLF (arr. string orchestra) Serenade in G major, ‘Italian Serenade’ MENDELSSOHN (arr. Tognetti) Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64

Approximate durations (minutes): 25 – 14 – INTERVAL – 8 – 26 The concert will last approximately one hour and 45 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra reserves the right to alter scheduled artists and programs as necessary.

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WH AT YO U A R E A BO U T TO H E A R . . .

In February this year, the ACO welcomed new Artistic Administrator Andreea Butucariu. This role requires an enormous knowledge of music, and she also works closely with Richard in the planning and performance of every ACO concert you hear. We asked Andreea for her thoughts on Mostly Mendelssohn…

When thinking of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, if I had to pick just one word out of all the adjectives and emotions that we can think of when listening to music, I would probably have to go with ‘charming’. It is a concerto that delights and pleases us greatly with its beauty, attractiveness and magical power. It is not only a big favourite among audiences around the globe, but it is also a work that the players themselves enjoy playing, over and over again. Mendelssohn’s compositional genius creates an enviable interaction between the orchestra and the soloist.

ABOVE: Mendelssohn’s signature RIGHT: Violin Concerto in E minor – composer’s manuscript

One could say it is the most classical of the romantic violin concertos, and as a composition, everything is imaginatively connected – every theme, every motif, is there for a reason.

This work was composed during a particular time in history when the violin as an instrument was undergoing major changes, thus allowing the soloist to project much better, to fly over the orchestra and be the centre of attention.

I am particularly excited to hear Richard’s arrangement, which I deliberately did not listen to in advance, in order to save the pleasure for the first concert. This is for me connected to the fact that I came to know of the ACO and Richard Tognetti many years ago through another one of

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ABOVE: ACO in performance

Richard’s arrangements: Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, which is one of my top ten desert island picks.

A life in music – on either side of it – is a life of continuing education. Bottesini’s Gran Duo, for example, is a work that has the power to awaken an urge in us to discover more of the double bass repertoire; repertoire we just don’t come across very often in concert. And in a time of our society when we perhaps speak too easily of talent and genius, maybe because of our own wish to encounter it, we realise when hearing works like Mendelssohn’s ‘La Suisse’ what talent and genius really mean, and how these qualities transcend time. For the Wolf Serenade, I only wish he had composed the other three movements as he intended, so that this work held a more regular place on the concert stage, which it so richly deserves.

I have not been on this continent for very long and my journey with the ACO is just beginning. But one of the things that has been such a wonderful discovery since my arrival is the quality of listening. We speak so much and so often about the music, the soloists, the orchestras and the programs.

But we rarely speak of you, the audience. In the end, none of it matters if it weren’t for your presence, dear audience.

The synergy created during a concert depends very much on your unspoken but palpable contribution.

For this I thank you in advance and for sharing these moments with us.

Andreea Butucariu Artistic Administrator AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

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A BO U T TH E M U S I C

FELIX MENDELSSOHN Born Hamburg 1809.

Died Leipzig 1847.

String Symphony No.9 in C major, ‘La Suisse’ (Composed 1823) I. Grave – Allegro II. Andante III. Scherzo – Trio piu lento ‘La Suisse’ IV. Allegro vivace

PICTURED: Felix Mendelssohn

Precocious achievement doesn’t appear from nowhere.

Invariably, behind every juvenile maths genius, piano prodigy or chess miracle, there is the dream-laden, prodding will of an admiring parent or teacher. With the distinguished German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn as paternal grandfather and equally gifted parents and siblings, the young Felix certainly benefited from the talent-sparkle and intellectual buzz of this Mendelssohn home. But the formidable guiding light and mentor in his formative years was the Principal of the Berlin Singakademie, Carl Friedrich Zelter, with whom he started having lessons in 1819 at the age of ten. Quite apart from the musical impetus of this relationship, there were broader intellectual and artistic gains for the young pupil. Zelter was a good friend of Goethe, for example, and between 1821 and 1830, Mendelssohn made five extended visits to the great poet in Weimar.

Mendelssohn’s ‘first’ symphony, Opus 11, appeared in 1824; but he had already composed, between 1821 and 1823, 13 opus-numberless string sinfonias. They were written

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ABOVE: Felix Mendelssohn aged 12 MIDDLE: Ignaz Moscheles RIGHT: Mendelssohn’s mentor Carl Friedrich Zelter

as exercises for Zelter, and the latter show considerable technical ease, and acquaintance with baroque and Viennese classical idioms.

From the year after the last five of these were written, we have interesting testaments to Mendelssohn’s prodigious talent and advanced development as a composer. On 3 February 1824, his 15th birthday, the first orchestral rehearsal took place of Mendelssohn’s fourth opera, The Two Nephews. At a party afterwards, Zelter proudly announced: ‘My dear boy, from today you are no longer an apprentice, but a fully fledged member of the brotherhood of musicians. I proclaim you independent in the name of Mozart, of Haydn, and of old father Bach.’

Later that year, in October, the Bohemian virtuoso pianist, composer, teacher and friend of Beethoven, Ignaz Moscheles, came to stay at the Mendelssohn home in Berlin. Twice Felix’s age, his diary from that time records little else but accounts of family concerts and play-throughs. ‘Felix, a boy of 15, is a phenomenon. What are all other prodigies compared with him? Mere gifted children. But this Felix is already a mature artist…’ The works that he heard during this stay were ‘all bursting with genius, and at the same time so correct and so thorough.’ The Octet for strings, Mendelssohn’s first masterpiece, was to come the following year.

Between July and October 1822, the Mendelssohn family travelled extensively through Switzerland, taking in the Gotthard Alpine region, Interlaken, Lake Geneva, Lausanne and Lago di Maggiore. On 13 September, 13-year-old Felix wrote to Zelter about Swiss yodelling: ‘It consists of notes which are produced from the throat and generally they are ascending sixths…Certainly this kind of singing sounds harsh and unpleasant when it is heard nearby, or in a room. But it sounds beautiful when you hear it with mingling or answering echoes, in the valleys or on the mountain or in the woods…’

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The following year, Mendelssohn incorporated this reminiscence of yodelling, through an elaboration of a Swiss folksong, into the trio section of his ninth string symphony.

This is flanked by one of the first examples of his trademark scherzos – fleeting, sprightly, and made perfect in both the Octet and the overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

This movement is one of three that are written with the string quintet texture of two violins, two violas and cello (here doubled by bass); an indication perhaps that Mendelssohn was studying Mozart’s quintets at the time.

In the second movement, the rulebook of conventional string texture is completely discarded, opening with an extended passage for four violins, and proceeding to a sombre, antique-sounding texture of two violas, cello and bass. This archaic quality is gained mostly by its imitative, fugue-like lines. Here, as well as in significant passages in the archetypical Viennese classical sonata movement that opens, and in the more formally fluid finale, Mendelssohn is exploring the neo-baroque possibilities of fugal counterpoint. His teacher Zelter, for whom ‘old father Bach’ and the classical masters were paramount in music, would have been well pleased. © Australian Chamber Orchestra

GIOVANNI BOTTESINI Born Crema 1821.

Died Parma 1889.

Gran Duo Concertante for Double Bass and Violin arr. Bernard Rofe (Composed 1880) During his lifetime, Bottesini was dubbed the ‘Paganini of the double bass’ and he certainly enjoyed the respect of the great violinist as well as that of such luminaries as Verdi.

But his career, which in some ways resembles a picaresque novel, was not merely that of a travelling virtuoso. Born into a poor but musical family in the Lombard town of Crema, Bottesini seems to have mastered the instrument in record time. Legend has it that when his father, Pietro, applied for him to attend the Milan Conservatory in 1835, there were only scholarships available for bassoon or double bass players. So his father had him learn the double bass and within three weeks, Giovanni was accepted on scholarship to the Conservatory. Within five years he was playing solo recitals in various cities across Italy and in Vienna. He held principal positions with several opera orchestras, notably those of the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, where in 1840 he established his friendship with Verdi. Six years 16

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later he was appointed principal bass with the Teatro de Tacón in Havana, a company that toured extensively in the United States and Central America. It was there that he made his debut as a composer with, fittingly enough, the opera Cristoforo Colombo. He followed this up with nine more operas that premiered in Italy, Paris and London, and composed sacred music that includes a Requiem and the oratorio The Garden of Olivet for the Norwich Festival in Britain. He held musical directorships at opera companies in Spain and Portugal, and, at the end of his life, was appointed director of the conservatory in Parma.

RIGHT: Giovanni Bottesini ABOVE: Bottesini with his Testore double bass

As a virtuoso, he performed in Mexico, the USA, and Russia as well as throughout France and Italy, and composed numerous works to display his gifts. Bottesini’s double bass, built by Testore, had been left in storage at a marionette theatre by its owner, Fiando. Bottesini bought the magnificent instrument with the prize money he had gained on graduating. Bottesini had the bass converted back to its original three-string form. Basses traditionally had three strings, then people began modifying them to have four strings, making them easier to play. Its size and shape, and its somewhat longer neck and fingerboard, allowed him to develop the technical prowess that made it seem to one listener that he had ‘a hundred nightingales caged in his double-bass’: he could play in the high register quite comfortably, and explored sounds such as harmonics for extra colour and range and the longer strings were more resonant.

The overwhelming majority of his music is for double bass either solo or in various combinations and when working for opera companies, he would frequently divert the audience at interval with a ‘Fantasia’ on themes from the opera they were attending, such as Lucia di Lammermoor or AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

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“IN HIS DUET FOR VIOLIN AND DOUBLE BASS…HE AROUSES THE ENTHUSIASM OF HIS AUDIENCE TO THE HIGHEST PITCH .” THOMAS MARTIN

La Sonnambula. He also enjoyed the stylistic traits of many composers, including Chopin, Bellini, Bach, Rossini, Paisiello and Mendelssohn. Works such as Allegro di Concerto ‘Alla Mendelssohn’ were usually inspired by a piece or even a movement he admired – in this case it was the first movement of the E minor Violin Concerto!

The Gran Duo Concertante of 1880 is an abstract piece, but there is much about it that evokes the stage, and indeed there is a barely-veiled reminiscence of Rossini’s Barber of Seville at one point.

Thomas Martin, in a lengthy article on Bottesini and his instrument, quotes a contemporary who says: ‘In his duet for violin and double bass, which is frequently played, he arouses the enthusiasm of his audience to the highest pitch. It is necessary to hear Bottesini in this piece to discover what possibilities are hidden in the giant of the stringed instruments; to hear what can be done in the way of sonorousness, tone, lightness of expression and grace.’

In fact the work was composed for two double basses, but Camillo Sivori, a student of Paganini, transcribed one bass part for violin.

The piece begins with an allegro maestoso tutti, characterised by A-minor tonality and ceremonious dotted rhythms, which introduces the soloists in a rhetorical flourish, allowing them individually and in ensemble to shine. The music then offers a kind of accompanied recitative – that is, short motifs from the orchestra punctuate a kind of improvised-sounding dialogue between the soloists. This then settles, as it might in an opera, into a lyrical and lilting 6/8 section that features the violin and then the bass before they combine in rich three-part harmony and ever-more florid decoration. The maestoso figure returns and, after some operatic shivers, the violinist launches into a schmaltzy tune with a flurry of arpeggios from the bass as accompaniment. The tables are then turned. The violinist provides a shimmering backdrop as the bass proclaims an unmistakably Rossinian tune on which both soloists riff for a time, the music gaining in glitter and intensity before a big finish.

Bottesini’s orchestral version calls for winds and brass. In this performance, we hear an arrangement for strings by the ACO’s Bernard Rofe.

Gordon Kerry © 2015 18

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HUGO WOLF Born Windischgraz 1860.

Died Vienna 1903.

Serenade in G major, ‘Italian Serenade’ arr. string orchestra (Composed 1887, revised 1892) Hugo Wolf was born in Styria, which we know today as Slovenia. His school years were troubled, but saw his introduction to music through the operas of Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini. Of an excitable temperament, his time at the Vienna Conservatorium, where he became friends with the likes of Mahler, was cut short owing to a ‘breach of discipline’.

He contracted syphilis in 1878, which led to bouts of ill health and, in 1897, the insanity from which he never recovered.

PICTURED: Hugo Wolf (1885) from a 1910 postcard

During his time at the Conservatorium he became more acquainted with the music of Beethoven and Weber and, ultimately, a passionate Wagnerian (despite off-hand treatment from the latter when they met in Vienna in 1875).

Wagner reputedly showed little interest in the short pieces that Wolf brought to show him, but suggested he write longer works. Wolf was so in awe of the Master as to experience a kind of stage fright. ‘What remains for me to do?’ he once said. Wagner ‘has left me no room, like a mighty tree that chokes with its shade the sprouting growths under its widely spreading branches’. Wagnerism spilled over into his musical journalism, a profession he took up after leaving the Conservatorium, leading to some injudicious remarks about Brahms; Brahms’s supporters responded with jibes like ‘Herr Wolf has lately, as a reporter, raised an irresistible laugh in musical circles. So someone suggested he had better devote himself to composition. The last products of his muse show that this well-meant advice was bad. He ought to go back to reporting.’ He didn’t, and from 1887 enjoyed some fame and AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

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HERE IN MINIATURE WOLF DISTILS SOMETHING OF THE EROTICISM OF WAGNER’S MUSIC.

success largely for his brilliant responses to German poetry – ‘the true source of my music’ – in his songs. Here in miniature Wolf distils something of the eroticism of Wagner’s music.

In the Serenade, however, Wolf seems to return to the world of Italian comic opera.

Early 1887 saw several songs to poems by the great Romantic, Joseph von Eichendorff (1788–1857). Eichendorff had also written a famous novella, ‘From the Life of a Good-forNothing’ (a musician!) in which a serenade accompanies a farcical scene in a castle garden. Scholar Eric Sams has suggested that this, and one of the songs where a soldier canters along thinking of his not-so-beautiful beloved in her not-so-grand-castle, might be the nucleus of the Serenade.

Wolf himself gave no ‘program’ or story to accompany this music, though in general he followed Liszt’s example of avoiding ‘absolute’ music.

Certainly the tone of this short work is facetious, to say the least, beginning with the repeated sounding of open strings, bowed and plucked, which might suggest the tuning of guitars or mandolins. A dance-like, ‘Italianate’ melody in 3/8 soon appears in the first violins, over the continued ‘strumming’ motifs: this forms the recurrent ‘A’ section of the work’s rondo form. With extravagant trills and showy rapid scales it soon becomes inflected by Wolf’s chromatic harmony. This is even more evident in the following episode, now in 6/8, which begins with low-lying, sobbing minor motifs and soon takes the music into the distantly related key of E-flat major. This substantial and discursive section gives way to a restatement of the opening material, here further elaborated, especially in the second violin part, and then interrupted by declamations, marked ‘recitative’, in the cello line. A further development of the rondo material follows, with excursions into various dance episodes becoming more frenetic and loud. A quieter more sinuous motif, passed from section to section, leads to the final rondo section and the amusingly inconsequential conclusion as the music returns to the mood of the opening.

While the work may evoke the world of Eichendorff’s comic novella, Wolf only designated the work ‘Italian’ some years after it was composed, originally for string quartet; he hoped to use the more lush string orchestra version as the first movement of a never-completed orchestral suite.

Gordon Kerry © 2015 20

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FELIX MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64 arr. Richard Tognetti (Composed 1844) I. Allegro molto appassionato – II. Andante III. Allegro non troppo – Allegro molto vivace

ABOVE: Felix Mendelssohn, 1839 RIGHT: Mendelssohn’s lifelong friend Ferdinand David who premiered the concerto and whose collaboration was essential for its birth.

In 1826 two extraordinarily gifted teenage boys met in Berlin: Felix Mendelssohn and Ferdinand David. By then Mendelssohn had already composed 13 string sinfonias and five concertos, which were premiered at a series of Sunday concerts instituted in 1822 by Felix’s father at the family home. Felix, his sister Fanny and members of the Court Orchestra, the forerunner of the Berlin Philharmonic, AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

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performed a range of music, but a great deal of the young composer’s work. Among the five early concertos was one for violin and strings in D minor, written when Felix was 13 for his teacher Eduard Rietz.

The other boy, 16-year-old violinist Ferdinand David, was employed in the orchestra of Berlin’s Königstadt theatre.

“I WOULD LIKE TO COMPOSE A VIOLIN CONCERTO FOR NEXT WINTER . ONE IN E MINOR KEEPS RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD…” ME NDE LSSOHN TO FE RDINALD DAVID Between 1826 and 1829, David worked in Berlin, and frequently played chamber music with Mendelssohn, Rietz and others.

Mendelssohn and David would remain friends until Mendelssohn’s early death in 1847, and David would be involved in editing his friend’s work for posthumous publication.

Between 1829 and 1835 David lived and worked in Estonia, but in 1836 accepted Mendelssohn’s invitation to move to Leipzig and become leader of the Gewandhaus Orchestra.

There he also performed frequently with Mendelssohn in chamber concerts. When the Leipzig Conservatorium opened in 1843, David established its violin department, with 14-year-old Joachim among his first pupils. (With David, Mendelssohn and Schumann on staff, it must have been quite an institution.)

In 1838 Mendelssohn remarked in a letter to David that: ‘I would like to compose a violin concerto for next winter.

One in E minor keeps running through my head, and the opening gives me no peace.’

Assuming that it is the same opening that Mendelssohn eventually got down on paper, we can understand how the composer might have felt he was onto something. Despite Mendelssohn’s reverence for the past (Berlioz sniffed that he was ‘a little too fond of the dead’), this work is by no means neoclassical in form or manner, though it does use a classical orchestra of paired woodwinds, horns and trumpets, timpani and strings. In his new version, Richard Tognetti uses a ten-part string band, inevitably, on occasion, recalling the transparent textures of Mendelssohn’s youthful Octet. Certain octave doublings, discreet muting and other techniques enable a range of textures that stand in for Mendelssohn’s wind writing or trumpet calls.

The opening, with its flowing arpeggios and distant, drumtaps (evoked here by low pizzicatos), launches without introduction or exposition into a beautiful, Romantic melody for the soloist that starts high and gently ascends further into the stratosphere; Tognetti’s treatment of the contrasting second subject groups replicates Mendelssohn’s warm voicing in the wind section (flutes below the clarinets, for instance) by having the tune first stated high in the cello.

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“IT IS NICE OF YOU TO PRESS ME FOR A VIOLIN CONCERTO! I HAVE THE LIVELIEST DESIRE TO WRITE ONE FOR YOU…BUT THE TASK IS NOT AN EASY ONE .” ME NDE LSSOHN

But for various reasons Mendelssohn was unable to complete the work that winter or the next, despite David’s constant reminders. In 1839 he wrote politely to the violinist: ‘It is nice of you to press me for a violin concerto! I have the liveliest desire to write one for you and, if I have a few propitious days, I’ll bring you something. But the task is not an easy one.’

PICTURED: Joseph Joachim

It was made less easy by the sheer amount of work Mendelssohn had at this time. As well as duties with the Gewandhaus, he directed six music festivals in Germany and England, and devoted himself to reviving historical music from Bach to Schubert that had sunk into desuetude.

In 1841 he was appointed Kapellmeister by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, so divided his time between Leipzig and Berlin until moving back to Berlin in 1843. There, with the establishment of the new Cathedral choir, and with various composing and conducting engagements in Germany and abroad Mendelssohn continues his hectic pace until the summer of 1844, when he took a vacation.

Finally, after nearly a decade, he was able to return to the Violin Concerto, which he completed in September of that year. David performed it under the baton of Niels Gade (Mendelssohn was ill) in March 1845. Joachim played it soon after, and the rest is history.

Mendelssohn was averse to virtuosity for its own sake, likening such effects to ‘juggler’s tricks’. Part of his diffidence may have been a response to the challenge of writing a genuine concerto that was not emptily showy.

He was no doubt helped by David’s technical artistry and personality, and there seems little doubt that David wrote the first movement’s cadenza. But it was Mendelssohn’s genius to place the cadenza before the recapitulation, thus making it part of the dramatic structure of sonata form, rather than an ‘add-on’, as in many other concertos.

In this version, a long note from the viola at the end of the first movement briefly holds the music in suspense before it moves, without a break, into a classically Mendelssohnian song. The slow movement is in simple ABA form, with a contrastingly ‘unstable’ central section. It too passes into the finale without pause; here the music has all the lightness and grace of the great Mendelssohn scherzos.

Gordon Kerry © 2015

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SATU VÄNSK Ä – LE A D V I O LI N

Satu Vänskä was appointed Assistant Leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 2004. Satu was born to a Finnish family in Japan where she took her first violin lessons at the age of three. Her family moved back to Finland in 1989 and she continued her studies with Pertti Sutinen at the Lahti Conservatorium and the Sibelius Academy.

Photo by Jack Saltmiras

At the age of 11 Satu was selected for the Kuhmo Violin School in Finland, a special institution for talented young violinists where she attended masterclasses with Ilya Grubert, Zinaida Gilels and Pavel Vernikov and had the opportunity to perform at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival with the Kuhmo Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.

From 1997 Satu was a pupil of Ana Chumachenco at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich where she finished her diploma in 2001. This led to her performances with the Munich Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, at the Tuusulanjärvi Festival, and at Festivo Aschau.

In 1998 Sinfonia Lahti named her ‘young soloist of the year’.

In 2000 she was a prize winner of the ‘Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben’ and from 2001 she played under the auspices of the Live Music Now Foundation founded by Yehudi, Lord Menuhin which gave her the opportunity to perform with musicians like Radu Lupu and Heinrich Schiff.

Satu performs regularly as lead violin and soloist with the ACO, and features in a variety of roles at festivals with the ACO in Australia, Niseko and Maribor. Satu was presented in recital in July 2012 by the Sydney Opera House as part of their Utzon Room Music Series.

In 2011, she became the custodian of the only Stradivarius violin in Australia – the magnificent 1728/29 violin on loan from the ACO’s Instrument Fund.

24

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

STE FAN JACKIW – VIOLIN

“The only question is how high he might climb. He has a light but ravishing tone and a bow arm that made even the fastest runs flow like liquid.”

PITTSBURGH POST

American violinist Stefan Jackiw has become a regular soloist with leading orchestras around the world. He is regularly praised for his pure sound, beauty of tone and impeccable technique transmitted with a maturity beyond his years. He has worked with notable conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Hannu Lintu, Mario Venzago, Ludovic Morlot, Marin Alsop, James Gaffigan, Andris Nelsons, Gunther Herbig and Hans Graf.

Jackiw is a regular guest in Europe, recently collaborating with the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Danish National Radio, RTVE Madrid, Bern Symphony and RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. In March 2014 he gave the world premiere of American composer David Fulmer’s Violin Concerto No.2 ‘Jubilant Arcs’, written for him and commissioned by the Heidelberg Festival with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie under Matthias Pintscher.

Jackiw has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony (with whom he is a regular guest and toured Japan) and the Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Toronto and Chicago symphony orchestras. He has also performed with the YouTube Symphony in Sydney, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Asian Youth Orchestra and is a well known soloist in Korea.

In recital Stefan Jackiw has performed at the SchleswigHolstein Music Festival with pianist Christoph Eschenbach and at the Louvre in Paris. He has given recitals at the Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Boston Celebrity Series, Kennedy Center Washington, Mostly Mozart Festival and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the opening night of Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Last season he returned to Carnegie Hall for a recital which included the world premiere of a new work for violin and piano by David Fulmer.

SELECT DISCOGRAPHY BRAHMS Complete Violin Sonatas Sony 70397 www.stefanjackiw.com

Highlights this season include performances with the Galicia Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony/Lintu, Dortmund Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic and New Jersey, Detroit, Oregon and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras. On disc, Jackiw received critical acclaim for his debut recording of Brahms Violin Sonatas with pianist Max Levinson.

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

25

MA XI M E B I B E AU – DO U B LE BASS

Canadian-born Maxime Bibeau’s musical career started, as many young musicians do, in a high school garage band!

Initially he wanted to pursue a career as a scientist. But the lure of music, particularly jazz, inspired Maxime to take up double bass at 17. He completed his undergraduate degree at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal with René Gosselin. He received his Master’s of Music from Rice University in Houston with Timothy Pitts and Paul Ellison where he was awarded a full university scholarship, as well as grants from the Canada Arts Council and the Canadian Research Assistance Fund. Maxime has been Principal Double Bass with the ACO since 1998.

As a young professional, Maxime participated in several programs including the SHIRA International Symphony Orchestra Israel, Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, Waterloo Festival, Centre d’Art d’Orford and Domaine Forget.

More recently, he has performed in several orchestras, including the Sydney Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He has participated in such festivals as the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville, the Sydney Festival and the Huntington Festival in Mudgee.

Maxime enjoys playing music from all eras and loves the flexibility, drive, talent and commitment of his ACO colleagues. He regularly appears as a chamber musician and has been featured as a soloist at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Solo performances with the ACO include Mozart’s Per questa bella mano with Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Piazzola’s Kicho, Contrabajeando and Contrabajissimo. He has also premiered James Ledger’s Folk Song, Matthew Hindson’s Crime and Punishment.

As an educator he has been involved with the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp, Sydney Youth Orchestra, University of NSW and Australian National Academy of Music. He is currently a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

When he isn’t collecting frequent flyer points, Maxime, like many of the ACO players, enjoys his downtime in the ocean as an avid diver and swimmer.

Maxime plays a late-16th century Gasparo da Salò double bass kindly made available to him by Anonymous Australian benefactors.

26

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

AU STR A L I A N C H A M B E R O RC H E STR A

Richard Tognetti Artistic Director & Leader Helena Rathbone Principal Violin Satu Vänskä Principal Violin Glenn Christensen Violin Aiko Goto Violin Mark Ingwersen Violin Ilya Isakovich Violin Liisa Pallandi Violin Ike See Violin Christopher Moore Principal Viola Alexandru-Mihai Bota Viola Nicole Divall Viola Timo-Veikko Valve Principal Cello Melissa Barnard Cello Julian Thompson Cello Maxime Bibeau Principal Double Bass PART-TIME MUSICIANS Zoë Black Violin Caroline Henbest Viola Daniel Yeadon Cello

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. From its first concert in November 1975 to its first concert of 2015, the Orchestra has travelled a remarkable road.

Inspiring programming, unrivalled virtuosity, energy and individuality, the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s performances span popular masterworks, adventurous cross artform projects and pieces specially commissioned for the ensemble.

Founded by the cellist John Painter, the ACO originally comprised just 13 players, who came together for concerts as they were invited. Today, the ACO has grown to 20 players (three part-time), giving more than 100 performances in Australia each year, as well as touring internationally.

From red-dust regional centres of Australia to New York night clubs, from Australian capital cities to the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper.

Since the ACO was formed in 1975, it has toured Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland, England, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, China, Greece, the US, Scotland, Chile, Argentina, Croatia, the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Brazil, Uruguay, New Caledonia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Spain, Luxembourg, Macau, Taiwan, Estonia, Canada, Poland, Puerto Rico and Ireland.

“IF THERE ’S A BETTER CHAMBER ORCHESTR A IN THE WORLD TODAY, I HAVEN’T HEARD IT.” THE GUARDIAN (UK)

The ACO’s dedication and musicianship has created warm relationships with such celebrated soloists as Emmanuel Pahud, Steven Isserlis, Dawn Upshaw, Imogen Cooper, Christian Lindberg, Joseph Tawadros, Melvyn Tan and Pieter Wispelwey. The ACO is renowned for collaborating with artists from diverse genres, including singers Tim Freedman, Neil Finn, Katie Noonan, Paul Capsis, Danny Spooner and Barry Humphries and visual artists Michael Leunig, Bill Henson, Shaun Tan and Jon Frank.

The ACO has recorded for the world’s top labels. Recent recordings have won three consecutive ARIA Awards and documentaries featuring the ACO have been shown on television worldwide and won awards at film festivals on four continents.

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

27

Photos: Jack Saltmiras

M U S I C I A N S O N STAG E

Satu Vänskä 1 Principal Violin

Mark Ingwersen 2 Violin

Chair sponsored by Kay Bryan

Chair sponsored by Ian Wallace & Kay Freedman

Ike See 3 Violin

Christopher Moore 4 Principal Viola

Alexandru-Mihai Bota Viola

Chair sponsored by Di Jameson

Chair sponsored by peckvonhartel architects

Chair sponsored by Philip Bacon am

Nicole Divall Viola

Timo-Veikko Valve Cello

Melissa Barnard Cello

Chair sponsored by Ian Lansdown

Chair sponsored by Peter Weiss ao

Chair sponsored by Martin Dickson am & Susie Dickson

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AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

Ilya Isakovich Violin

Julian Thompson 5 Cello

Maxime Bibeau 6 Principal Bass

Chair sponsored by The Clayton Family

Chair sponsored by Darin Cooper Foundation

Players dressed by AKIRA ISOGAWA

Madeleine Boud Violin

Alexandra Osborne Violin

Christina Katsimbardis Violin

Courtesy of National Symphony Orchestra, Washington DC

Daniel Kowalik Violin Lachlan O’Donnell Violin

Cristina Vaszilcsin Violin Josef Bisits Bass

1. Satu Vänskä plays a 1728/29 Stradivarius violin kindly on loan from the ACO Instrument Fund.

2. Mark Ingwersen plays a 1714 Giuseppe Guarneri filius Andreæ violin kindly on loan from the ACO Instrument Fund.

3. Ike See plays a 1759 J.B. Guadagnini violin kindly on loan from the Commonwealth Bank Group.

4. Christopher Moore plays a 1610 Giovanni Paolo Maggini viola, kindly on loan from an anonymous benefactor.

5. Julian Thompson plays a 1721 Giuseppe Guarneri filius Andreæ cello kindly on loan from the Australia Council.

6. Maxime Bibeau plays a late-16th century Gasparo da Salò bass kindly on loan from a private Australian benefactor.

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

29

ACO B E H I N D TH E SC E N E S BOARD

EDUCATION

Guido Belgiorno-Nettis am Chairman

Phillippa Martin AcO2 & ACO VIRTUAL Manager

Angus James Deputy

Vicki Norton Education Manager

Bill Best John Borghetti Liz Cacciottolo Chris Froggatt John Grill ao Heather Ridout ao Andrew Stevens John Taberner Peter Yates am Simon Yeo

Caitlin Gilmour Education Assistant

Richard Tognetti ao Artistic Director ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Maria Pastroudis Chief Financial Officer

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Steve Davidson Corporate Services Manager Yvonne Morton Accountant Shyleja Paul Assistant Accountant

Jill Colvin Philanthropy Manager

Alexandra Cameron-Fraser Strategic Development Manager

Penelope Loane Investor Relations Manager

Joseph Nizeti Executive Assistant to Mr Calnin and Mr Tognetti ao

Tom Tansey Events Manager

Megan Russell Tour Manager Lisa Mullineux Assistant Tour Manager Danielle Asciak Travel Coordinator Bernard Rofe Librarian Cyrus Meurant Assistant Librarian

30

Ken McSwain Systems & Technology Manager Emmanuel Espinas Network Infrastructure Engineer ARCHIVES John Harper Archivist

DEVELOPMENT

Jessica Block Deputy General Manager

Andreea Butucariu Artistic Administrator

Deyel Dalziel-Charlier Box Office & CRM Database Assistant Christina Holland Office Administrator

Rebecca Noonan Development Manager

Luke Shaw Head of Operations & Artistic Planning

Dean Watson Customer Relations Manager

FINANCE

Timothy Calnin General Manager

ARTISTIC & OPERATIONS

Chris Griffith Box Office Manager

Tom Carrig Senior Development Executive Ali Brosnan Patrons Manager Sally Crawford Development Coordinator MARKETING Derek Gilchrist Marketing Manager Mary Stielow National Publicist Hilary Shrubb Publications Editor Leo Messias Marketing Coordinator

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ABN 45 001 335 182 Australian Chamber Orchestra Pty Ltd is a not for profit company registered in NSW. In Person Opera Quays, 2 East Circular Quay, Sydney NSW 2000

By Mail PO Box R21, Royal Exchange NSW 1225 Telephone (02) 8274 3800 Box Office 1800 444 444 Email aco@aco.com.au Web aco.com.au

V E N U E S U P P O RT

GRAND VENUES OF NEWCASTLE

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL

CITY HALL

UNIVERSITY

Owned and operated by the

Llewellyn Hall School of Music

City of Newcastle

William Herbert Place

290 King Street, Newcastle

(off Childers Street)

NSW 2300

Acton, Canberra

Telephone

VENUE HIRE INFORMATION

(Venue & Event Coordinators)

Telephone (02) 6125 2527

(02) 4974 2996

Email music.venues@anu.edu.au

Ticketek Box Office (02) 4929 1977 Email grandvenues@ncc.nsw.gov.au

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

CITY RECITAL HALL ANGEL PLACE

Bennelong Point,

A City of Sydney Venue

GPO Box 4274, Sydney NSW 2001 Telephone (02) 9250 7111 Box Office (02) 9250 7777

2–12 Angel Place, Sydney NSW 2000 GPO Box 3339, Sydney NSW 2001

Email

Telephone (02) 9231 9000

infodesk@sydneyoperahouse.com

Box Office (02) 8256 2222

Web sydneyoperahouse.com

Web cityrecitalhall.com

The Hon Helen Coonan

Anne-Marie Heath General Manager

Acting Chair, Sydney Opera House Trust Louise Herron am

City Recital Hall Angel Place is managed by Pegasus Venue Management (AP) Pty Ltd

Chief Executive Officer

MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE 31 Sturt Street, Southbank, Victoria 3006 Telephone (03) 9699 3333 Email mail@melbournerecital.com.au Web melbournerecital.com.au Kathryn Fagg Chair Mary Vallentine ao Chief Executive Officer AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

31

TO U R DATE S & P R E- CO N C E RT TA L KS MOSTLY MENDELSSOHN Tour presented by

Thu 14 May, 7.30pm – Newcastle City Hall Pre-concert talk by Ken Healey am Sat 16 May, 8pm – Canberra Llewellyn Hall Pre-concert talk by Ken Healey am Sun 17 May, 2pm – Sydney Opera House Pre-concert talk by Francis Merson

Tue 19 May, 8pm – Sydney City Recital Hall Angel Place

Sun 24 May, 2.30pm – Melbourne Recital Centre

Pre-concert talk by Francis Merson

Pre-concert talk by John Weretka

Wed 20 May, 7pm – Sydney City Recital Hall Angel Place

Mon 25 May, 8pm – Melbourne Recital Centre

Pre-concert talk by Francis Merson Fri 22 May, 1.30pm – Sydney City Recital Hall Angel Place Pre-concert talk by Francis Merson

Pre-concert talk by John Weretka Pre-concert talks take place 45 minutes before the start of every concert.

Sat 23 May, 7pm – Sydney City Recital Hall Angel Place Pre-concert talk by Francis Merson

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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. Additional copies of this publication are available by post from the publisher; please write for details.

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AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

ACO M E D I C I P ROG R A M In the time-honoured fashion of the great Medici family, the ACO’s Medici Patrons support individual players’ Chairs and assist the Orchestra to attract and retain musicians of the highest calibre.

MEDICI PATRON

CORE CHAIRS

GUEST CHAIRS

AMINA BELGIORNO-NETTIS

VIOLIN

Brian Nixon Principal Timpani

PRINCIPAL CHAIRS Richard Tognetti ao Artistic Director & Lead Violin Michael Ball am & Daria Ball Wendy Edwards Prudence MacLeod Andrew & Andrea Roberts

Glenn Christensen Terry Campbell ao & Christine Campbell Aiko Goto Anthony & Sharon Lee Foundation

Ilya Isakovich

Kate & Daryl Dixon

Liisa Pallandi

Satu Vänskä Principal Violin

Ike See Di Jameson

Kay Bryan

VIOLA

Christopher Moore Principal Viola

Alexandru-Mihai Bota Philip Bacon am

peckvonhartel architects

Nicole Divall Ian Lansdown

Peter Weiss ao Maxime Bibeau Principal Double Bass Darin Cooper Foundation

FRIENDS OF MEDICI

Mark Ingwersen Ian Wallace & Kay Freedman

Helena Rathbone Principal Violin

Timo-Veikko Valve Principal Cello

Mr Robert Albert ao & Mrs Libby Albert

Mr R. Bruce Corlett am & Mrs Ann Corlett

CELLO Melissa Barnard Martin Dickson am & Susie Dickson Julian Thompson The Clayton Family

ACO L I F E PATRO N S IBM

Mrs Roxane Clayton

Mrs Alexandra Martin

Mr Robert Albert ao & Mrs Libby Albert

Mr David Constable am

Mrs Faye Parker

Mr Guido Belgiorno-Nettis am

Mr Martin Dickson am & Mrs Susie Dickson

Mr John Taberner & Mr Grant Lang

Mrs Barbara Blackman ao

Dr John Harvey ao

Mr Peter Weiss ao

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

33

ACO B EQ U E ST PATRO N S The late Charles Ross Adamson

Carol Farlow

The late Josephine Paech

The late Kerstin Lillemor Andersen

Ms Charlene France

The late Richard Ponder

The late Mrs Sybil Baer

Suzanne Gleeson

Ian & Joan Scott

Steven Bardy

Lachie Hill

Dave Beswick

The late John Nigel Holman

The late Mr Geoffrey Francis Scharer

Ruth Bell

Penelope Hughes

Leslie C Thiess

Sandra Cassell

The late Dr S W Jeffrey am

G.C. & R. Weir

The late Mrs Moya Crane

Estate of Pauline Marie Johnston

Margaret & Ron Wright

Mrs Sandra Dent

The late Mr Geoff Lee am oam

Mark Young

Leigh Emmett

Mrs Judy Lee

Anonymous (11)

The late Colin Enderby

The late Shirley Miller

Peter Evans

Selwyn M Owen

ACO I N STR U M E NT F U N D The ACO has established its Instrument Fund to offer patrons and investors the opportunity to participate in the ownership of a bank of historic stringed instruments.

The Fund’s first asset is Australia’s only Stradivarius violin, now on loan to Satu Vänskä, Principal Violin. The Fund’s second asset is the 1714 Joseph Guarneri filius Andreæ violin, the ‘ex Isolde Menges’, now on loan to Violinist Mark Ingwersen.

Peter Weiss ao PATRON, ACO Instrument Fund BOARD MEMBERS Bill Best (Chairman) Jessica Block Chris Frogatt John Leece am John Taberner PATRONS VISIONARY $1m+ Peter Weiss ao LEADER $500,000 – $999,999 CONCERTO $200,000 – $499,999 Amina Belgiorno-Nettis Naomi Milgrom ao

SONATA $25,000 – $49,999

INVESTORS

ENSEMBLE $10,000 – $24,999 Lesley & Ginny Green

Stephen & Sophie Allen

Peter J Boxall ao & Karen Chester

Guido & Michelle Belgiorno-Nettis

SOLO $5,000 – $9,999

Bill Best Benjamin Brady

PATRON $500 – $4,999 Michael Bennett & Patti Simpson Leith & Darrel Conybeare Dr Jane Cook Geoff & Denise Illing John Landers & Linda Sweeny Genevieve Lansell Luana & Kelvin King Bronwyn & Andrew Lumsden Ian & Pam McGaw Patricia McGregor

OCTET $100,000 – $199,999 John Taberner

Trevor Parkin

QUARTET $50,000 – $99,999 John Leece am & Anne Leece

Robyn Tamke

Elizabeth Pender Anonymous (2)

Anonymous 34

John & Deborah Balderstone

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

Carla Zampatti Foundation Sally Collier Michael Cowen & Sharon Nathani Marco D’Orsogna Garry & Susan Farrell Gammell Family Philip Hartog Brendan Hopkins Angus & Sarah James Daniel and Jacqueline Phillips Ryan Cooper Family Foundation Andrew & Philippa Stevens Dr Lesley Treleaven Ian Wallace & Kay Freedman

TR U STS & FO U N DATI O N S

Holmes à Court Family Foundation

The Neilson Foundation

The Ross Trust

ACO R E CO R D I N G P RO J E CTS , S P E C I A L CO M M I S S I O N S & S P E C I A L P RO J E CTS FOUR SEASONS RECORDING PROJECT PATRONS

INTERNATIONAL TOUR PATRONS

MELBOURNE HEBREW CONGREGATION PATRONS

Mr Robert Albert ao & Mrs Libby Albert

The ACO would like to pay tribute to the following donors who support our international touring activities in 2015:

LEAD PATRONS

Jennifer Hershon Anthony & Sharon Lee Foundation

Linda & Graeme Beveridge

Strauss Family

Jan Bowen

PATRONS

SPECIAL COMMISSIONS PATRONS

Bee & Brendan Hopkins

Marc Besen ac & Eva Besen ao

Delysia Lawson

Leo & Mina Fink Fund

Peter & Cathy Aird

Ian & Pam McGaw

Drs Victor & Karen Wayne

Gerard Byrne & Donna O’Sullivan

Mike Thompson

Mirek Generowicz Pater & Valerie Gerrand Gin Graham Anthony & Conny Harris Rohan Haslam John Griffiths & Beth Jackson Andrew & Fiona Johnston David & Sandy Libling Tony Jones & Julian Liga Lionel & Judy King Alison Reeve Augusta Supple Dr Suzanne Trist Team Schmoopy Rebecca Zoppetti Laubi Anonymous (1)

ACO ACADEMY BRISBANE

THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE PATRONS

LEAD PATRONS

CORPORATE PARTNERS

Philip Bacon ao

Adina Apartment Hotels

Kay Bryan

Meriton Group

Dr Ian Frazer ac & Mrs Caroline Frazer

David & Helen Baffsky

Dr Edward Gray

Leslie & Ginny Green

Wayne Kratzmann

The Narev Family

Bruce & Jocelyn Wolfe

Greg & Kathy Shand

PATRONS

Peter Weiss ao

Andrew Clouston Ian & Cass George Professor Peter Høj Helen McVay Shay O’Hara-Smith Brendan Ostwald Marie-Louise Theile Beverley Trivett

PATRONS

EMANUEL SYNAGOGUE PATRONS CORPORATE PARTNERS Adina Apartment Hotels Meriton Group LEAD PATRON The Narev Family PATRONS Lesley & Ginny Green The Sherman Foundation AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

35

ACO N ATI O N A L E D U CATI O N P ROG R A M The ACO pays tribute to all of our generous donors who have contributed to our National Education Program, which focuses on the development of young Australian musicians.

This initiative is pivotal in securing the future of the ACO and the future of music in Australia.

We are extremely grateful for the support that we receive.

If you would like to make a donation or bequest to the ACO, or would like to direct your support in other ways, please contact Ali Brosnan on (02) 8274 3830 or ali.brosnan@aco.com.au PATRONS

Mark & Anne Robertson

I Kallinikos

Marc Besen ac & Eva Besen ao

Margie Seale & David Hardy

Keith & Maureen Kerridge

Janet Holmes à Court ac

Tony Shepherd ao

Macquarie Group Foundation

Peter & Victoria Shorthouse

David Maloney & Erin Flaherty

John Taberner & Grant Lang

P J Miller

Leslie C. Thiess

Averill Minto

Mr Robert Albert ao & Mrs Libby Albert

Alden Toevs & Judi Wolf

The Myer Foundation

Transfield Holdings

Willy & Mimi Packer

Australian Communities Foundation – Annamila Fund

The Hon Malcolm Turnbull mp & Ms Lucy Turnbull ao

peckvonhartel architects

Australian Communities Foundation – Ballandry Fund

David & Julia Turner

Bruce & Joy Reid Trust

Westpac Group

Daria & Michael Ball

John Rickard

E Xipell

Steven Bardy & Andrew Patterson

Andrew Roberts

Peter Yates am & Susan Yates

Paul Schoff & Stephanie Smee

Peter Young am & Susan Young

Greg Shalit & Miriam Faine

Anonymous (2)

Joyce Sproat & Janet Cooke

EMERGING ARTISTS & EDUCATION PATRONS $10,000+

The Belalberi Foundation Guido Belgiorno-Nettis am Luca Belgiorno-Nettis am

DIRETTORE $5,000 – $9,999

Andre Biet

The Abercrombie Family Foundation

Leigh & Christina Birtles Liz Cacciottolo & Walter Lewin Mark Carnegie Stephen & Jenny Charles The Cooper Foundation Chris & Tony Froggatt Ann Gamble Myer Daniel & Helen Gauchat Andrea Govaert & Wik Farwerck

Geoff Ainsworth & Jo Featherstone

Elizabeth Pender

Jon & Caro Stewart Anthony Strachan John Vallance & Sydney Grammar School Geoff Weir

Geoff Alder

Shemara Wikramanayake

Bill & Marissa Best

Cameron Williams

Joseph & Veronika Butta

Anonymous (5)

John & Lynnly Chalk Elizabeth Chernov Clockwork Theatre Inc Andrew Clouston

MAESTRO $2,500 – $4,999 David & Rae Allen Ralph Ashton

Dr Edward C. Gray

Victor & Chrissy Comino

Will & Dorothy Bailey Charitable Gift

Kimberley Holden

Leith & Darrel Conybeare

Brad Banducci

Angus & Sarah James

David Craig

Adrienne Basser

PJ Jopling am qc

Liz Dibbs

Doug & Alison Battersby

Miss Nancy Kimpton

Ellis Family

The Beeren Foundation

Bruce & Jenny Lane

Bridget Faye am

Berg Family Foundation

Prudence MacLeod

Ian & Caroline Frazer

Rosemary & Julian Block

Anthony & Suzanne Maple-Brown

David Friedlander

Gilbert Burton

Kay Giorgetta

Arthur & Prue Charles

Alf Moufarrige

Tony & Michelle Grist

Kathryn Chiba

Louise & Martyn Myer Foundation

Kerry Harmanis

Caroline & Robert Clemente

Jennie & Ivor Orchard

Fraser Hopkins

Robert & Jeanette Corney

36

AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

Judy Crawford

VIRTUOSO $1,000 – $2,499

Don & Marie Forrest

Peter Curry

Jennifer Aaron

Justin & Anne Gardener

Rowena Danziger am & Ken Coles am

Aberfoyle Partners

Matthew Gilmour

Annette Adair

In memory of Fiona Gardiner-Hill

Dee de Bruyn

Michael & Margaret Ahrens

Colin Golvan qc

Kate & Daryl Dixon

Antoinette Albert

Fay Grear

Leigh Emmett

Mrs Jane Allen

Kathryn Greiner ao

Suellen & Ron Enestrom

Matt Allen

Paul & Gail Harris

Euroz Securities Limited

Philip Bacon am

Bettina Hemmes

Jane & Richard Freudenstein

Samantha Baillieu

Reg Hobbs & Louise Carbines

Tom Goudkamp oam

Barry Batson

Megan Grace

Ruth Bell

Michael Horsburgh am & Beverley Horsburgh

Ross Grant

Justice Annabelle Bennett ao

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Geoff Hogbin How to Impact Pty Ltd Peter & Ann Hollingworth Pam & Bill Hughes Dr & Mrs Michael Hunter Mary Ibrahim Margaret & Vernon Ireland Dr Anne James & Dr Cary James Owen James Barry Johnson & Davina Johnson oam

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AUSTR ALIAN CHAM B ER ORCH ESTR A

ACO C H A I R M A N ’ S CO U N C I L Mr Guido Belgiorno-Nettis am Chairman Australian Chamber Orchestra & Executive Director Transfield Holdings Aurizon Holdings Limited Mr Philip Bacon am Director Philip Bacon Galleries Mr David Baffsky ao Mr Brad Banducci Director Woolworths Liquor Group

Mr Richard Freudenstein Chief Executive Officer FOXTEL

Mr Jim Minto Managing Director TAL

Ms Ann Gamble Myer

Mr Alf Moufarrige Chief Executive Officer Servcorp

Mr Daniel Gauchat Principal The Adelante Group

Libby Nutt Global Marketing & Export Sales Manager Peter Lehmann Wines

Mr Colin Golvan qc & Dr Deborah Golvan Mr John Grill ao Chairman WorleyParsons

Mr Robert Peck am & Ms Yvonne von Hartel am peckvonhartel architects

Mr Marc Besen ac & Mrs Eva Besen ao

Mr Grant Harrod Chief Executive Officer LJ Hooker

Mr Leigh Birtles & Mr Peter Shorthouse UBS Wealth Management

Mr Richard Herring Chief Executive Officer APN Outdoor

Mr John Borghetti Chief Executive Officer Virgin Australia

Mrs Janet Holmes à Court ac

Mr Matt Byrne Director ROVA Media Mr Michael & Mrs Helen Carapiet Mr Jim Carreker Regional Delegate, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific Relais & Châteaux Mr Stephen & Mrs Jenny Charles Mr & Mrs Robin Crawford Rowena Danziger am & Kenneth G. Coles am Dr Bob Every ao Chairman Wesfarmers Ms Tracey Fellows Chief Executive Officer REA Group Mr Bruce Fink Executive Chairman Executive Channel Network Mr Angelos Frangopoulos Chief Executive Officer Australian News Channel

Mr Mark Robertson oam & Mrs Anne Robertson Ms Margie Seale & Mr David Hardy

Mr & Mrs Simon & Katrina Holmes à Court Observant Mr John Kench Chairman Johnson Winter & Slattery Ms Catherine Livingstone ao Chairman Telstra Mr Andrew Low Head of Investment Banking CLSA

Mr Tony Shepherd ao Ms Anne Sullivan Chief Executive Officer Georg Jensen Mr Paul Sumner Director Mossgreen Pty Ltd Mr Mitsuyuki (Mike) Takada Managing Director & CEO Mitsubishi Australia Ltd The Hon Malcolm Turnbull mp & Ms Lucy Turnbull ao

Mr Didier Mahout CEO Australia & NZ BNP Paribas

Mr David & Mrs Julia Turner

Mr David Mathlin

Ms Vanessa Wallace & Mr Alan Liddle

Ms Julianne Maxwell Mr Michael Maxwell Mr Andrew McDonald & Ms Janie Wittey Westpac Institutional Bank Ms Naomi Milgrom ao

Mr Glen Sealey General Manager Maserati Australia & New Zealand

Mr Peter Yates am Deputy Chairman Myer Family Investments Ltd & Director, AIA Ltd Mr Peter Young am & Mrs Susan Young

Ms Jan Minchin Director Tolarno Galleries

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G OV E R N M E NT PA RTN E RS THE ACO THANKS ITS GOVERNMENT PARTNERS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT

The ACO is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

The ACO is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.

QUEENSLAND REGIONAL TOURING PARTNER The ACO’s Queensland regional touring is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts.

ACO CO M M IT TE E S SYDNEY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

MELBOURNE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

EVENT COMMITTEES

Heather Ridout ao (Chair) Director, Reserve Bank of Australia

Pater Yates am (Chairman) Deputy Chairman, Myer Family Investments Ltd & Director, AIA Ltd

Lillian Armitage

Debbie Brady

Sandra Ferman

Paul Cochrane Investment Advisor, Bell Potter Securities

Julie Goudkamp

Colin Golvan qc

Elizabeth McDonald

Guido Belgiorno-Nettis am Chairman ACO & Executive Director, Transfield Holdings Bill Best Leigh Birtles Executive Director, UBS Wealth Management Maggie Drummond Tony Gill Andrea Govaert John Kench Chairman, Johnson Winter & Slattery Jennie Orchard Tony O’Sullivan Peter Shorthouse Client Advisor, UBS Wealth Management Mark Stanbridge Partner, Ashurst Nina Walton

Shelley Meagher Director, Do it on the Roof James Ostroburski Director, Grimsey Wealth Simon Thornton Partner, McKinsey & Co.

SYDNEY Margie Blok Judy Anne Edwards

Elizabeth Harbison Julianne Maxwell Sandra Royle Nicola Sinclair John Taberner (Chair) Liz Williams Judi Wolf BRISBANE Philip Bacon

DISABILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Kay Bryan

Amanda Tink Independent Consultant, Amanda Tink Consultancy

Ian & Caroline Frazer

Morwenna Collett Manager, Project Controls & Risk

Wayne Kratzmann

Disability Coordinator, Australia Council for the Arts

Marie-Lousie Theile

Andrew Clouston Cass George Edward Gray Helen McVay Shay O’Hara-Smith Beverley Trivett Bruce and Jocelyn Wolfe

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ACO CO R P O R ATE PA RTN E RS THE ACO THANKS OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT

FOUNDING PARTNER

NATIONAL TOUR PARTNERS

FOUNDING PARTNER: ACO VIRTUAL

CONCERT AND SERIES PARTNERS

OFFICIAL PARTNERS

ASSOCIATE PARTNER: ACO VIRTUAL

MEDIA PARTNERS

PERTH SERIES AND WA REGIONAL TOUR PARTNER

EVENT PARTNERS

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M A X I M E B I B E AU I NTE RV I E W

A pas de deux-ble bass

ACO Principal Bass Maxime Bibeau is centre stage for this tour which travels to Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney. It will be the first time since acquiring the instrument in 2013 that Max has been a soloist with the Orchestra, playing the magnificent late16th-century Gasparo da Salò bass.

We caught up with Max on the eve of the ACO’s North American tour to ask him some questions about his ever evolving relationship with the da Salò bass.

You have said before that playing a double bass is like dancing with someone, “leaning on each other” so to speak.

You have been playing this beautiful Gasparo da Salò bass for nearly two years now. How is this dance progressing?

After some tweaking on the set up of the instrument by the immensely astute and talented luthier Mario Lamarre, along with help from the ACO’s wonderful physiotherapist Bronwen Ackermann who had to do some tweaking on my own set up, I think we are getting to a very exciting point in our relationship. It’s a matter of keeping contact with each other, using each other’s weight, moving together. We are engaged in a sort of pas de deux. As a couple, we are quite versatile and agile I’d say.

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The da Salò is about 10cm bigger than a traditional bass. When you first started playing the instrument, you mentioned that you had some physio appointments to adjust posture and maximise your arm span. How is it now?

Now that I’m used to it, I don’t find it problematic anymore.

And getting used to it and adapting to fit its dimensions was worth it to play such a historically significant instrument that produces the most amazing sound. She is such an incredibly beautiful instrument to look at too, don’t you think? Her sound is clear and earthy, and makes the floor shake. She has charisma!

Speaking of personality, you went on a journey of discovery with this bass didn’t you, to find out who has played it and where it has travelled? What did you find out?

My partner, Melissa and I went to Northern Italy last year, not just for a holiday but also with the hope that I could find out a little more about this wonderfully mysterious instrument. We went hiking in the Dolomites in South Tyrol (the Italian part) from where the wood used for the belly of the instrument is believed to have come. This wood has been traced back as far as 1266, making part of my instrument 750 years old!

After this, we went to the Italian Monastery, Kloster Neustift in Brixen where the instrument was found by the previous owner in 1970. We believe the bass may have been in the Monastery’s possession for hundreds of years. We met with the Librarian of the Abbey and were given a private tour.

She helped us to start cross-referencing dates and names which appear as inscriptions inside the instrument. This would have been done after repairs, noting the repairer and at times the player. The only thing we really got from this was the name of one of the monks from the Abbey who had performed on the instrument last century. But there is still more detective work to be done, as the Abbey has more than 96,000 books and documents, most of them handwritten.

So it will take some time to go through everything! But I am hopeful…

From there, we went to Salò on Lake Garda where Gasparo di Bertolotti (da Salò’s birth name) grew up and had his first shop. I met with the Curator of the local town hall, and was fortunate enough to play one of the very few other basses by da Salò in existence. Their da Salò is on display in their chambers. It was a lovely instrument, but much smaller in size and lighter in tone – very much the little sister to mine! I also went to Brescia where da Salò established his main workshop, but didn’t find much other than a plaque with his name on the side wall of a church and a great restaurant on Via Gasparo da Salò!

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In October last year, the ACO performed at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper. This is where the previous owner, Günter Klaus, first played it as Principal Double Bass of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony in the 1970s. The very energetic and passionate Herr Klaus met with me (and the bass) to check on how things were going and, I guess, to see if I was taking good care of her. I got the stamp of approval, but not without a few emotional tears. He and his wife shared stories about the instrument and said that they were most happy that she had found such a good home with me and the ACO. Is this the first time you have performed Bottesini’s Gran Duo Concertante?

I studied it when I was younger but this will be the first time I have performed it in concert. Bottesini was a conductor and a composer, but was primarily a performer, who wrote music for himself, just like Paganini did and many of the other great instrumentalists of the time.

Bottesini’s instrument of choice was a Testore, one of the great instrument makers of the 17th century. But it is believed that in addition to his much loved Testore, which he played in all solo performances, Bottesini may also have owned and occasionally played a da Salò.

Are there any other pieces you would like to play on the da Salò that you have not already performed?

There are way too many to mention. Due to the period the instrument comes from, I have a particular affinity for playing renaissance music, but she is now so versatile that I believe she can come at any challenge thrown at her. What an amazing jazz bass she would make…

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M E E T O U R S U P P O RTE RS Sydney-based Elizabeth Harbison is a subscriber, a member of our Sydney Event Committee, and a highly valued donor to our National Education Program. We thank Elizabeth for her outstanding support and commitment to the ACO. ‘The very first time I heard the ACO was many years ago during the Sydney Festival. I had recently returned from living overseas and was invited by a friend. The performance was in the Town Hall where, unusually, the audience was supposed to lie on cushions on the floor. We were at the front but I couldn’t lie down with my eyes closed, I had to watch them and listen to them intently. From that moment on I was captivated by their vitality, precision and energy, by the way that they communicate between each other on stage and to the audience. I had not heard classical music played like this before and I loved it, so I became a subscriber straight away.

‘Later on I volunteered a little time each week to help with the ACO’s efforts to raise funds for their National Education Program, then in its infancy. The Sydney Event Committee was formed to plan and organise an annual Gala Dinner to raise funds for the program. The dinner is now one of the ACO’s major fundraising events of the year.

‘Through the vision and leadership of Richard, the dedication of management and the board, and the generosity of all who love the ACO and what they do, the National Education Program ensures that the ACO’s legacy will be passed on and will inspire the next generation of musicians and young audiences. I would encourage anyone to get involved in any way that they can, now or in the future, it is a wonderfully rewarding investment to make.

‘I am lucky enough to have five beautiful grandchildren who all live in Sydney. Any spare time I have I love to spend playing with them, especially listening to and playing music and taking them to concerts. They already recognise quite a few well known classics – especially Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky!’

If you would like more information about the ACO’s donations program, please contact Ali Brosnan on 02 8274 3830 or ali.brosnan@aco.com.au

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ACO N E WS

ABOVE: Timo-Veikko Valve, Ike See, Mrs Chernov, His Excellency the Hon Alex Chernov ac qc, Governor of Victoria, Richard Tognetti ao, Alexandru-Mihai Bota.

Photo: © Kit Haselden

Chairman’s Council and Major Patrons’ Cocktail Party in Melbourne It was a great privilege that His Excellency the Honourable Alex Chernov ac qc and Mrs Elizabeth Chernov generously hosted our Chairman’s Council and Major Patrons’ Cocktail Party in Melbourne on Thursday 26 March.

Guests were treated to a special private performance by Richard, Ike, Sascha and Tipi in the beautiful State Drawing Room before enjoying the wonderful hospitality of Government House in the state rooms.

We’d like to thank His Excellency and Mrs Chernov for welcoming us so generously at Government House in celebration of our 40th anniversary year.

RIGHT: Karen and Robert Boscarato Photo: © Kit Haselden

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ABOVE: Emily Myer, Martyn Myer ao, Richard Tognetti ao, Anne Gamble Myer.

Photo: © Kit Haselden

RIGHT: Alexandru-Mihai Bota, Shelley Meagher, Belinda Thomson.

Photo: © Kit Haselden

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ACO I N TH E U S The ACO’s recent US Tour, supported by Academy Travel, ended with a superb concert at Carnegie Hall on Sunday 26 April. Anthony Tommasini, revered critic of The New York Times gave the Orchestra a glowing review, in which he referred to ‘the fleet, bold performance these impressive Australian musicians gave…’.

This was the last concert in a nine-city tour which included outstanding concerts in prestigious venues such as the new Bing Concert Hall at Stanford, the superb hall at Princeton and Spivey Hall in Atlanta. All of the concerts were extremely well reviewed and received standing ovations, on some occasions after every piece on the program!

RIGHT: The Hon. Nick Minchin and Mrs Kerry Wakefield Minchin.

Photo: Anthony Browell

The itinerary also included a private event in the ornate ballroom of New York’s Metropolitan Club on ANZAC Day, sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank, longstanding and valued corporate partner of the ACO and co-hosted by the Australian Consul-General, The Hon Nick Minchin and Mrs Kerry Minchin. Among the guests was former President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn kbe ao. The Orchestra played a 40-minute concert (which included the Elegy by Australian composer Frederick Septimus Kelly) followed by a dinner for 100 guests. This was a tremendously successful event, enjoyed by all who attended.

ABOVE: Richard Tognetti ao, James Wolfensohn kbe ao and Fiamma Morton, MD CBA Americas.

Photo: Courtesy CBA

RIGHT: ACO playing in New York’s Metropolitan Club on ANZAC Day. Photo: Courtesy CBA

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Richard Tognetti and Satu Vänskä also performed privately in New York for Servcorp, at their stunning new offices at Level 85, No.1 World Trade Center. Guests were treated to Dom Perignon and oysters by longstanding supporters Alf Moufarrige and his son, Marcus Moufarrige, against the backdrop of the finest view in New York. The concert featured works by Paganini, Bach and Leclair, as well as a Japanese folk tune sung by Satu, a fitting end to a triumphant US Tour.

RIGHT: Amelia Leste, Managing Editor of The New Yorker, Satu Vänskä and Richard Tognetti ao .

The ACO trusts its events to Katering - why don’t you?

Providing a complete service in hospitality: one call • one contact • one manager to organise the entire event From weddings, birthdays and corporate functions to intimate dinner parties at home ACO Chairman’s Council Cocktail Party

info@katering.com.au (02) 9319 2700 www.katering.com.au

S U P P O RT O U R F U T U RE

We celebrate the 10th anniversary of our National Education Program this year and are committed to providing immersive music education opportunities for children and young musicians across the country. Thanks to you, our supporters, we are nurturing the future of Australian music.

It is my vision to continue delivering and expanding our important programs, introducing more young people to the joys and benefits of music.

Please join us by supporting our National Education Program.

Richard Tognetti AO Artistic Director To donate please visit ACO.COM.AU/SUPPORT/DONATE For more information please phone Ali Brosnan on (02) 8274 3830 or email patrons@aco.com.au

Image: Students and ACO musicians participating in a workshop at Sunshine Harvester School, presented in partnership with the Australian Children’s Music Foundation. Image Š Lee Te Hira

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