AU STR ALIAN CHAM B E R O RCH E STR A PRESENTS
DIRECTED BY M ETA4 Q UARTET
#ACO16 TOUR PARTNER
PRINCIPAL PARTNER: ACO COLLECTIVE
MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR
Beethoven’s late string quartets are the mighty pillar on which our 2016 season is built. These remarkably complex quartets are the undisputed pinnacle of chamber music-making, and this concert has as its climax the last of Beethoven’s quartets and indeed his last completed work. Add to this Peter Sculthorpe’s Djilile, Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz, Felix Mendelssohn’s String Symphony in E-flat major and Jaakko Kuusisto’s (Pekka’s brother) Wiima and you have a program that is exciting, challenging, unforgettable. ACO Collective’s Artistic Director Pekka Kuusisto invited Finnish quartet Meta4 to make their Australian debut with the Orchestra on this tour, giving our seven Emerging Artists an incredible opportunity to work alongside one of the top young chamber music groups in the world right now. As Australia’s only truly national performing ensemble, the ACO relies very heavily on our Principal Partner Virgin Australia to achieve our dream of performing for audiences all over Australia. We are especially grateful to Virgin Australia for supporting ACO Collective on this tour of NSW. Thanks also to the NSW Government for their support of this tour through Arts NSW’s Performing Arts Touring funding program. I’d also like to thank Wesfarmers, ACO Collective’s Principal Partner, for their generosity and vision, and without whom we would not be able to continue our extensive regional touring and education programs. Finally, if you haven’t already received our 2017 National Subscription Season brochure, be sure to go to the website to request your copy.
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AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL PARTNER
Wesfarmers’ association with the Australian Chamber Orchestra goes back a long way. Eighteen years after we first worked together to bring this wonderful orchestra to Perth on a regular basis, we are now delighted to be able to help the ACO reach out into our regional communities in Western Australia and beyond as the Principal Partner of ACO Collective. This tour will show communities across New South Wales the vitality and energy that has delighted audiences right across the country since the ensemble was formed as ACO2 in 2007. It is a privilege and a joy to support the tremendous work of the ACO as part of our commitment to making a broader contribution to the communities in which we live and work. We hope you enjoy this performance as much as we have enjoyed bringing it to you.
PRINCIPAL PARTNER ACO COLLECTIVE
Richard Goyder AO Managing Director Wesfarmers
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PROGRAM ANTON WEBERN Born Vienna 1883. Died Mittersill 1945. LANGSAMER SATZ JAAKKO KUUSISTO Born Helsinki 1974. WIIMA, OP.27 FELIX MENDELSSOHN Born Hamburg 1809. Died Leipzig 1847. STRING SINFONIA NO.6 IN E-FLAT MAJOR I. Allegro II. Menuetto – Trio I – Trio II III. Prestissimo
INTERVAL PETER SCULTHORPE Born Launceston 1929. Died Sydney 2014. DJILILE LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Born Bonn 1770. Died Vienna 1827. STRING QUARTET IN F MAJOR, OP.135 I. Allegretto II. Vivace III. Assai lento, cantante e tranquillo IV. Grave, ma non troppo tratto – Allegro
Approximate durations (minutes): 9 – 13 –13 – INTERVAL – 5 – 25 This concert will last approximately one hour and 30 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.
TOUR DATES ALBURY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE Fri 2 Sep, 7.30pm
TAMWORTH, CAPITOL THEATRE Wed 14 Sep, 7.30pm
DUBBO REGIONAL THEATRE Sun 11 Sep, 2pm
TAREE, MANNING ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE Fri 16 Sep, 8pm
GRIFFITH REGIONAL THEATRE Tue 6 Sep, 7.30pm
WAGGA WAGGA CIVIC THEATRE Sat 3 Sep, 7.30pm
PENRITH, Q THEATRE, THE JOAN Fri 9 Sep, 7pm
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ABOUT THE MUSIC The oldest work on today’s program was written in 1821 by a brilliant, and very lucky, 11-year-old boy. The son of a wealthy Jewish banker (who later converted to Lutheran Christianity), Felix Mendelssohn and his family fled Hamburg during the Napoleonic wars in 1811 for the safety of Berlin. The Prussian government’s Emancipation Act of 1812 guaranteed the civil rights of Prussian Jews, and Abraham Mendelssohn’s financing of the war effort against Napoleon made him a valued member of the community. Berlin was also a major centre for the performing arts where Felix and his equally talented sister Fanny enthusiastically absorbed the music they heard in concerts and opera houses.
Felix Mendelssohn
Keen to support the musical talents of his children, in 1822 Abraham Mendelssohn initiated a series of Sunday concerts between 1822 and 1824 at the family home, where Felix and Fanny would perform with paid members of the Court Orchestra. (It was understood that Felix would become a famous musician, but, sadly, it was considered unsuitable for Fanny to imagine a professional career once she married.) Among the works performed at these concerts were Felix’s 13 string sinfonias, which were probably played, initially by five soloists. They are in some respects studies in different aspects of formal design, varying the number of movements and formal models, and reflecting the influence of several established composers. The String Sinfonia No.6 is in three movements, beginning with a fast (Allegro) movement that channels certain moods of Mozart in its unflagging energy, and sudden dives from cheerful major-key music to more angular minor-key material. There is no traditional slow movement, and Mendelssohn goes straight to the dance, here a gracious minuet (Menuetto) that has two contrasting trio episodes: the first of these is dominated octave leaps in the violas; the second ends in something like a chorale or hymn-tune. The main minuet material is briefly restated before a breakneck finale, again, perhaps, recalling Mozart’s earlier symphonies. As the young Mendelssohn was launching his career in Berlin, another composer, in Vienna, was coming to the close of his. Fifty-something, almost completely deaf and socially eccentric, Ludwig van Beethoven was universally revered as the greatest composer of his time, even if Viennese audiences preferred to go to performances of Rossini’s fashionable comic operas. In 1822, a Vienna-based Russian nobleman, Prince Nikolai Galitzin, commissioned
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Beethoven to write ‘up to three’ new quartets. After a long initial delay, Beethoven found himself working almost involuntarily and completed five new works that are among the greatest music ever written. Dating from 1826, the F major Quartet, Op.135, was written at a difficult time. Beethoven was fighting with his publisher (insulted at a low fee, he threatened to send a ‘circumcised quartet’); his health, never good, was especially poor; and most seriously, his nephew Karl – for whose custody Beethoven had fought a painful and humiliating court case some years before – attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven’s last completed work, the Quartet contains some of his most sublime music. After a classical opening Allegretto, and a scherzo full of typically Beethovenian rhythmic tricks, the beautiful slow movement is a set of variations. This form, because it has no prescribed endpoint, defies fate, allowing Beethoven to laugh at tragedy in the final movement despite the fact that he is performing amazing feats of structural ingenuity while he’s doing it. It is clear from what we know of Beethoven that his sense of humour never deserted him, and often came to his aid in times of stress. The finale, the most celebrated movement of this work, for instance, is subtitled ‘The difficult decision’ and uses two motives designated ‘Muss es sein?’ (Must it be?) and ‘Es muss sein!’ (It must be!). The unreliable biographer, Schindler, tells us that this bipolar movement deals with the ‘overcoming of melancholy’. A recent biographer, William Kinderman, tells a different story: Ignaz Dembscher, a local musician, wanted to organise a performance of Beethoven’s Op.130 in his own salon. Beethoven insisted – quite rightly – on charging him for the use of the performance parts. Dembscher’s response was ‘Muss es sein?’ Beethoven gleefully wrote a little canon for voices – the text of which goes ‘It must be, yes, yes, yes, open your wallet!’ And the music for this canon finds its way into the finale of Op.135. In Op.135, Beethoven deliberately revived certain aspects of earlier classical music in its four-movement layout, its concise utterance and mainly restrained emotional impact at the same time as Mendelssohn was mastering classical form in his early work. Mendelssohn’s contemporaries – Schumann, Chopin and Wagner among them – embodied Romanticism in music, with Wagner, in particular, developing a musical language suffused with erotic yearning. Composers, particularly German-speaking composers, at the turn of the 20th century, found Wagner an unavoidable influence: the early works of great
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Viennese modernists like Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils Alban Berg and Anton Webern are full of this passionately erotic and opulent sound. Webern wrote his Langsamer Satz (slow movement) for string quartet in 1905 after a hiking trip that he took with his future wife. In a much-quoted diary entry, Webern ecstatically describes one evening’s walk, when sharing a coat for shelter from the rain, ‘our love rose to infinite heights and filled the Universe. Two souls were enraptured.’
Anton Webern
For all the late-Romantic sensuality of the work’s sound, there is also more than a hint of Brahms, the presiding deity of Viennese music, in some of its melodies. (Brahms, unlike Wagner, cultivated classical forms like the symphony and string quartet.) The first theme, with its rising contour is perhaps Wagnerian in tone, but the second theme, after the passion of the first has been momentarily exhausted, is pure Brahms. Formally the piece is a simple arch: these two themes contend in the first and third sections. There is a contrasting central section, and Webern ends with a long goodbye in which it seems he cannot bear to let the music stop. Webern’s later music is quite different: his short, crystalline and enigmatic pieces, which avoid any sense of traditional harmony or melody, became founding documents of European avant-garde music in the post-World War II period. That was when several Australian composers, among them Peter Sculthorpe, were coming to artistic maturity. Like many of his generation, Sculthorpe had gone to Britain for further study, but his response to the challenges of modernism was to explore how music could reflect and express the cultural and geographical uniqueness of his homeland. Strolling with his mother in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens at the age of nine, Sculthorpe met the composer Percy Grainger and told him that he intended to be a composer too. ‘My boy’, Grainger exclaimed, ‘you must look north, to the islands!’ Grainger’s advice was sound and Sculthorpe clearly took it to heart. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia’s neighbours, as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Indigenous Australian music with that of the heritage of the West.
Peter Sculthorpe
Sculthorpe’s references to Indigenous music connect his work to this country’s ancient human culture. One of Sculthorpe’s earliest borrowings was of a song, recorded in Arnhem Land by AP Elkin in the 1950s, Djilile (Whistling-duck on
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a billabong), which he used in a number of works. In recent years the sacred provenance of the song has led to some controversy, though as Sculthorpe’s biographer Graeme Skinner notes, it is ‘close to unrecognisable from the very approximate adaptation of the tune. . . Sculthorpe hoped that his continued respectful references to the tune might be approved of’. This version of the piece was composed for the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 2001.
Jaakko Kuusisto
Sculthorpe’s interest in creating a distinctly Australian music out of evocations of its landscapes and the mythic traditions of its indigenous inhabitants is paralleled, of course, in the experience of many European countries that sought political and cultural self-determination in the 19th and 20th centuries. Finland had been a province, and then a Grand Duchy, of Sweden for six centuries before becoming part of the Russian empire in 1809, from which it only achieved independence after the Russian Revolution in 1917. A century later, Finland is one of the great success stories of Europe, with an education system that is the envy of the world and, not unrelated, a strong commitment to the support of the arts. Music, of course, played an enormous role in Finland’s struggles for independence, especially that of Sibelius who brought together a deep affinity with the natural world and an ability to create amazingly sophisticated works of abstract music. Composer, conductor and violinist Jaakko Kuusisto is one of a huge cohort of musicians that the Finnish system has nurtured; another is his brother Pekka Kuusisto, and their father, Ilkka, is himself an esteemed Finnish musician. Like Mendelssohn, Jaakko Kuusisto began composing at an early age, studying first with his father and then at the Sibelius Academy with Eero Hämeenniemi. Of his work, Kuusisto has said that ‘Stylistically I have always kept my head, and that’s important to me, because I have a strong vision and I don’t have any very strong leanings towards modern styles or techniques.’ Writing specifically about Wiima he notes that: Wiima, for string orchestra, is based on an earlier string quartet work of mine, Play III (2008), written for the string quartet Meta4. I was considering an orchestral setting already at the time of writing Play III, and when that work turned out to be successful, I felt a second version of the material was called for. The texture has been slightly modified to fit larger sections and of course a double bass part has been added as a completely new element. The soloistic nature of the writing remains evident even in the new version titled Wiima, which is a Finnish word for a cold wintery wind.
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Wiima is a somewhat typical example of my music, in the sense that it is loosely based on traditional tonal language. The central building blocks include a repeated harmony consisting of an E major chord disturbed by an F natural bass note, and a theme developed from rising fifths. After the dramatic and soloistic opening of the work, the music relaxes into an extended D major chord, on top of which the first violin presents a long, quiet melody that doesn’t seem willing to settle for D major. The harsh sounds of the beginning reappear, driving the music towards a new tension. Tranquility returns once more, only to launch the piece into a driving, rhythmic version of the opening material. Another feature of Wiima is the ultra-fast and actually completely improvised ‘background noise’ of the first section (this can be interpreted as a reference to the cold wind, if you like) that makes a strong return in the very end. Gordon Kerry © 2016
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META4 Antti Tikkanen Violin Minna Pensola Violin Atte Kilpeläinen Viola Tomas Djupsjöbacka Cello
Formed in 2001, Meta4 is one of the most internationally successful Finnish string quartets. In 2004, the group won first prize in the International Shostakovich Quartet Competition in Moscow, and was also awarded a special prize for best Shostakovich interpretation. The quartet enjoyed continued success in 2007, when they won first prize in the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. Later that year, the Finnish Minister of Culture awarded Meta4 with the annual Finland Prize in recognition of an international breakthrough. Meta4 was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist for 2008-10, and in 2013 the Fund of Jenny and Antti Wihuri awarded the quartet a special prize in recognition of their work. Meta4 also served as Artistic Director of Oulunsalo Music Festival from 2008 to 2011 and they have been quartet-in-residence at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival since 2008. Meta4 performs regularly in key music capitals and concert halls around the world, including Wiener Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall and King’s Place in London, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Cité de la Musique in Paris and Stockholm’s Konserthus. As well as this tour, upcoming Meta4 performances will take place in Hamburg, Stockholm, Bonn, Paris, Milan and for the Finnish National Opera. The quartet has studied at the European Chamber Music Academy under Hatto Beyerle and Johannes Meissl. They have released recordings on Hänssler Classic, including Haydn’s String Quartets Op.55, Nos.1–3 (2009), which was awarded with the esteemed Echo Klassik Award in 2010, and Shostakovich’s String Quartets 3, 4 & 7 which received the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE’s Record of the Year in 2012, as well as the Emma prize (the Finnish Grammys) for Classical Album of the Year. Meta4 has also released an album of Kaija Saariaho’s chamber music and Sibelius’ String Quartet ‘Voces Intimae’ on LP. Their latest album, Bartók’s Quartets 1 & 5, was released in October 2014.
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Photo by Noora Isoeskeli
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ACO COLLECTIVE ACO Collective is the ACO’s critically acclaimed 17-piece string ensemble which delivers the ACO’s regional touring and education programs Australia-wide. ACO Collective (formerly known as ACO2 ) combines musicians of the ACO with Australia’s most talented young professional musicians at the outset of their careers, creating a combined ensemble with a fresh, energetic performance style. These young professionals have all participated in the ACO’s year-long Emerging Artists’ Program and are in demand from Australia’s professional orchestras, but dedicate themselves to the ACO’s high-octane performance style for intense touring periods. ACO Collective commenced touring as ACO2 in 2007 and since then has performed in more than 80 regional centres in every state and territory, all of Australia’s state capitals, and has toured to Japan. The Ensemble works regularly with guest artists of the highest calibre, both international and Australian, including violinists Elizabeth Wallfisch, Benjamin Schmid, Henning Kraggerud and Thomas Gould; cellist Daniel Müller-Schott; harpist Alice Giles; recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey; singer/songwriter Tim Freedman from The Whitlams; and oud player Joseph Tawadros. In 2013, the ACO presented the Ensemble in a national subscription tour led by Richard Tognetti and it was named by The Australian as “one of the year’s must-see concerts”. Biennially, the Ensemble is the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Vasse Felix Festival in Western Australia and in 2014 it was the Orchestrain-Residence at the Canberra International Music Festival. This year, internationally acclaimed Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto takes up the inaugural position as ACO Collective Artistic Director. ACO Collective, under Kuusisto’s direction, opened the ACO’s 2016 National Subscription season with an 11-concert tour of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Newcastle.
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MUSICIANS ON STAGE Violin Antti Tikkanen 1 Minna Pensola 1 Benjamin Adler 2 Amy Brookman 3 Peter Clark 3 Zoe Freisberg 3 Madeleine Jevons 3 Lachlan O’Donnell 3 Riley Skevington 2 Nicholas Waters 2
Viola Atte Kilpeläinen 1 Nathan Greentree 2 Elizabeth Woolnough 2 Cello Tomas Djupsjöbacka 1 Alexandra Partridge 2 Rebecca Proietto 3
Double Bass Bonita Williams 2
1 2 3
Meta4 2016 Emerging Artist Emerging Artist Alumni
2016 EMERGING ARTISTS The Emerging Artists’ Program connects the next generation of string musicians with the stars of the ACO in a dynamic ensemble with a fresh and unique sound of their own.
NICHOLAS WATERS VIOLIN Nicholas completed a Bachelor of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium in 2012 and commenced studies at the Australian National Academy of Music in 2013. He was awarded the inaugural Joan McKenzie Emerging Artist Award at the Sydney Symphony Sinfonia. As a 2014 Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellow, he toured China and was featured in SSO’s Digital Masterclass Series. Nicholas also performed at Melbourne Recital Centre as a guest artist with Wilma and Friends. Nicholas has performed in masterclasses with Dale Barltrop, Stanley Dodds, Stefan Jackiw, James Ehnes and Anthony Marwood. He is currently studying at ANAM with Robin Wilson and Sophie Rowell. In 2015 Nicholas won the Bach Prize in the Kendall National Violin Competition and with Affinity Collective, won first prize in the ANAM Chamber Music Competition. In 2016 Nicholas toured Europe with Affinity Collective, as well as studying with the Brodsky, Belcea, Doric, Noga and Kuss string quartets. Nicholas is a member of the Flinders Quartet.
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BENJAMIN ADLER VIOLIN Benjamin Adler completed a Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium in 2015 under Alice Waten, with whom he continues to study. He started playing violin and piano at five, attending Newington College on a full music scholarship. Ben was selected for the 2010 Kennedy Center/National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute in Washington. In 2013, he won Best Performance of an Australian Piece in the Kendall National Violin Competition, and was a semi-finalist in the Gisborne International Music Competition. He has since performed as a soloist with the Sydney Conservatorium Wind Symphony and the Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra. Ben was leader of the Chamber Orchestra from 2013 to 2015, and concertmaster of the Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra. He received the 2014 Frank Hutchens Student of the Year Prize. Ben is also first violinist of the Hillel String Quartet, with whom he has toured Europe, Melbourne and Western Australia.
RILEY SKEVINGTON VIOLIN Riley Skevington is currently studying at the Australian National Academy of Music under Robin Wilson. Originally from Western Australia, Riley was the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships including Tunley Music Scholarship (UWA); the Lynn Kan Memorial Prize (UWA), the Margrete Bello and Flora Bunning Memorial Prizes for Chamber Music (UWA) and the WA Curriculum Council Music Exhibition as the highest performing student in the Tertiary Entrance Examination. Internationally, Riley has performed at the Royal Albert Hall in the BBC Proms, the Yehudi Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, as well as Beijing, Copenhagen, Berlin and Amsterdam. He has participated in masterclasses with Henning Kraggerud, Kurt Nikkanen, Professor Robert Hill, Mischa Maisky, Maxim Vengerov, Stefan Jackiw, Daniel Dodds, Boris Kuschnir and the Goldner, Takรกcs, Elias, Doric, Borodin Quartets and the Australian String Quartet. Riley frequently performs live on both 3MBS and ABC Classic FM. 14
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NATHAN GREENTREE VIOLA Nathan Greentree took up viola in 2012, having previously studied violin. In 2015, he completed a performance degree at the Sydney Conservatorium, under Roger Benedict. He received the Frank Hammond Merit Scholarship and Helen Bainton Award, and was principal viola in the Symphony and Chamber orchestras. He participated in the SSO Sinfonia (2013-15) and worked alongside members of the Royal Concertgebouw and London Symphony orchestras during their Australian tours. Nathan has performed both nationally and internationally with his ensemble, the ‘4’ String Quartet, including the Conservatorium’s Estivo Chamber Music Summer School, the Today Show, Fine Music 102.5 and TEDxSydney, and was a finalist in the 2014 Musica Viva Chamber Music Awards. Nathan has taken part in several masterclasses with such artists as Wolfram Christ, Paul Silverthorne, Ivo-Jan Van Der Werff, and the Goldner and Amaryllis String Quartets. He was the RAI Grant Music Scholar at the Shore School. In 2016 Nathan will also take part in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Fellowship Program.
ELIZABETH WOOLNOUGH VIOLA Elizabeth Woolnough is in her final year of a Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium, studying with Roger Benedict. Elizabeth has been a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO), and is currently the violist in the Hillel String Quartet, with whom she performed throughout Europe in January this year. In 2012, Elizabeth won the Central Coast Concerto Competition and in the same year participated in a masterclass with Paul Silverthorne, Principal Viola of the London Symphony Orchestra. She was Principal Viola of Bishop Orchestra at National Music Camp in 2013. Recent achievements include participating in the 2013 AYO International Tour, playing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, performing with the Sydney Symphony Sinfonia, playing with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and being invited to perform in Verona as part of the Sydney Conservatorium Estivo Summer School. In 2015, she was a Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellow and took part in the Australian World Orchestra’s Chamber Music Festival.
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ALEXANDRA PARTRIDGE CELLO Alexandra Partridge holds a Masters of Musical Arts from the New Zealand School of Music. During her time there, she received numerous scholarships and awards including the Barbara Finlayson Trust Scholarship, the Freemasons Lankhuyzen Award and the NZ School of Music Director’s Scholarship. She is currently studying at the Australian National Academy of Music, under Howard Penny. Alexandra’s piano trio, the Queensbridge Trio, was finalist of both the ANAM Chamber Music and the Great Romantics competitions. In 2016, Alexandra toured with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Germany, having successfully auditioned for their residency program. From a young age, Alexandra has been passionate about orchestral playing and has been principal cellist of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra. She is also a casual player with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington and has been a contract player with the Southern Sinfonia. Alexandra has participated in masterclasses with the Borodin String Quartet, the London Haydn Quartet, Torleif Théeden, Tim Hugh and Lynn Harrell.
BONITA WILLIAMS DOUBLE BASS After completing undergraduate studies at the Victorian College of the Arts under Sylvia Hosking, Bonita Williams moved to the USA to undertake her Masters of Music at Boston University. There she studied with Boston Symphony Orchestra double bassists Ed Barker and Todd Seeber. She also participated in masterclasses with several renowned musicians such as Hal Robinson (Philadelphia Orchestra), Ben Levy (Boston Symphony Orchestra), and Donald Palma (Orpheus Ensemble). Bonita has performed regularly with Orchestra Victoria and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In the USA, she worked with several orchestral ensembles including the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Hawaii Symphony, New Haven Symphony, and was Principal Bass in the prestigious early music ensemble, the Cantata Singers. Bonita was recently appointed as Section Bass with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. She continues teaching double bass privately as well as through the Sydney Youth Orchestra program.
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ACO NATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM The ACO pays tribute to the Patrons of our National Education Program, which focuses on the development of young Australian musicians. These initiatives are 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 remember the ACO with a gift in your will, or would like to direct your support in other ways, please contact Sally Crawford on 02 8274 3830 or sally.crawford@aco.com.au EMERGING ARTISTS AND EDUCATION PATRONS $10,000+
Rowena Danziger AM & Ken Coles AM
Jim & Averill Minto
Bruce Fink
Louise & Martyn Myer Foundation
Robert Albert AO & Libby Albert
Ian Frazer AC & Caroline Frazer
Jennie & Ivor Orchard
Australian Communities Foundation – Ballandry Fund
Ann Gamble Myer
Bruce & Joy Reid Trust
Daniel & Helen Gauchat
Mark & Anne Robertson
Michael Ball AO & Daria Ball
Andrea Govaert & Wik Farwerck
Margaret Seale & David Hardy
Steven Bardy & Andrew Patterson
Kimberley Holden
Rosy Seaton & Seumas Dawes
The Belalberi Foundation
Angus & Sarah James
Tony Shepherd AO
Anita & Luca Belgiorno-Nettis Foundation
Di Jameson
Andrew Sisson
Guido Belgiorno-Nettis AM & Michelle Belgiorno-Nettis
Miss Nancy Kimpton
Anthony Strachan
Bruce & Jenny Lane
David & Julia Turner
Andrew Biet
Liz & Walter Lewin
E Xipell
Rod Cameron & Margaret Gibbs
Andrew Low
Professor Richard Yeo
Stephen & Jenny Charles
Anthony & Suzanne Maple-Brown
Peter Young AM & Susan Young
ACO NEXT ACO Next is an exciting philanthropic program for young supporters, engaging with Australia’s next generation of great musicians while offering unique musical and networking experiences. ACO Next members’ donations directly support ACO Collective. For more information, please call Sally Crawford, Patrons Manager, on 02 8274 3830. Clare Ainsworth Herschell
John & Lara James
Michael Radovnikovic
Justine Clarke
Aaron Levine & Daniela Gavshon
Jessica Read
Este Darin-Cooper & Chris Burgess
Royston Lim
Louise & Andrew Sharpe
Amy Denmeade
Gabriel Lopata
Emile & Caroline Sherman
Catherine & Sean Denney
William Manning
Michael Southwell
Jenni Deslandes & Hugh Morrow
Rachael McVean
Helen Telfer
Anthony Frith & Amanda Lucas-Frith
Carina Martin
Karen & Peter Tompkins
Anita George
Barry Mowzsowski
Joanna Walton
Alexandra Gill
Paris Neilson & Todd Buncombe
Nina Walton & Zeb Rice
Rebecca Gilsenan & Grant Marjoribanks
James Ostroburski
Peter Wilson & James Emmett
Adrian Giuffre & Monica Ion
Nicole Pedler & Henry Durack
John Winning Jr.
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THANK YOU The ACO would like to thank the supporters of ACO Collective’s New South Wales Tour. In particular, we thank our government and corporate partners, the trusts and foundations, members of ACO Next and the many generous patrons of our Emerging Artists’ and Education Programs who have made this tour possible. PRESENTING PARTNERS PRINCIPAL PARTNER: ACO COLLECTIVE
PRINCIPAL PARTNER
PATRONS – NATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM Marc Besen AC & Eva Besen AO
Janet Holmes à Court AC
TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS
Holmes à Court Family Foundation
The Neilson Foundation
The Ross Trust
GOVERNMENT PARTNERS
VENUE PARTNERS Albury City Council
Tamworth Regional Conservatorium of Music
Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre
Manning Entertainment Centre, Taree
Griffith Regional Theatre
Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre
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The Luminous World exhibition was on show from January to March this year at the National Art School in Darlinghurst, Sydney. It featured 50 works by leading Australian and New Zealand artists, all from the Wesfarmers Collection. Luminous World brought together a selection of contemporary paintings, objects and photographs in a conversation about light. The ACO was invited to use the exhibition space for a photo shoot to welcome Pekka Kuusisto to his new role with ACO Collective as Artistic Director and to help launch Wesfarmers’ new Principal Partnership of ACO Collective. This photo, featuring Lydia Balbal’s painting Winnpa (2008), was taken just after Pekka and Richard Tognetti had played their priceless antique Italian violins surrounded by priceless contemporary antipodean artworks. We thank Wesfarmers for sharing their art with us and the world. It was a magical day.
Pekka Kuusisto with Richard Tognetti. Photo by Mick Bruzzese.
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Richard Tognetti AO Artistic Director Pekka Kuusisto ACO Collective Artistic Director Richard Evans Managing Director Phillippa Martin ACO Collective Manager Caitlin Gilmour Education Assistant Opera Quays, 2 East Circular Quay Sydney NSW 2000 PO Box R21 Royal Exchange NSW 1225 Administration 02 8274 3800 (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm) Email aco@aco.com.au Web aco.com.au /AustralianChamber Orchestra
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