ACO Tarrawarra Festival

TarraWarra Festival 3 & 4 MARCH 2018

EVENT PARTNER

HILARIE MAIS Reflection Blue Angel 2007-11 oil on wood, 183 x 183 x 4 cm Image courtesy the artist. Photo: Jessica Maurer © Hilarie Mais

WELCOME

TarraWarra Festival is a celebration of four of life’s great pleasures: music, art, food, and wine.

In the ACO’s annual calendar, TarraWarra is a wonderful way to start a busy year of concerts which take us all over Australia and around the globe. It is a privilege to be here in the eighth year of this annual festival’s life.

This year’s program has been co-curated for you

by Richard Tognetti and Timo-Veikko “Tipi” Valve, together with our Artistic Administrator, Anna Melville.

The program showcases the exquisite musicality and breadth of the ACO musicians over three concerts.

Between concerts, you may immerse yourself in the work of Hilarie Mais. This wonderful exhibition has been co-curated by Blair French and Manya Sellers of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. We thank Victoria Lynn, TarraWarra Museum Director, for once again allowing the Orchestra into this beautiful space, amongst the art and Yarra Valley vistas.

This festival would not be possible without the dedicated support of our loyal group of patrons who are always willing to follow the ACO on its varied musical journeys.

Special thanks are due to Eva Besen ao and Marc Besen ac, our generous hosts. The Besen family’s warm generosity is the heart of the TarraWarra experience. We acknowledge their extended dedication and contribution to the broader cultural fabric of Australia, and particularly their faith in the ACO and our vision for the future, for which we are extremely grateful.

Richard Evans Managing Director 3

INTRODUCTION

The TarraWarra weekend has become a stable fixture in our yearly schedule. All of us are once again looking forward to sharing a feast of inspiring music with our closest friends. For the 2018 festival weekend I have co-curated the programs together with Richard Tognetti and our Artistic Administrator Anna Melville. There is an abundance of connections and conversations between centuries in the program this year.

As a new addition to our repertoire we are presenting, for the first time, Run Rabbit Run by Sufjan Stevens, a true multi-musician of today. The suite will be performed alongside some big-ticket items over the course of the weekend, some of which are considered to be cornerstones of Western classical music.

Saturday's first concert will conclude with my favorite CPE Bach String Symphony. The revolutionary style of CPE Bach will be noticeably underlined when it is heard together with a piece written by a rock star of our times.

In the second concert on Saturday we explore the Divertimenti by Mozart and BartÓk. These works are a perfect vehicle to feature ACO’s assets at their fullest.

Sunday's program to me is about conversations. We are once again presenting a side-by-side collaboration with students from the Australian National Academy of Music. We will meet for the first time as a group at the Sunday morning masterclass to work on Strauss' Sextet from Capriccio before performing it in the afternoon concert. It will be interesting to reveal how, in a very short time frame, musicians with different backgrounds can come together and attempt to have a conversation without words.

Timo-Veikko Valve Principal Cello 4

Festival Overview DAY 1

SATURDAY 3 MARCH

12.30PM

CONCERT 1

P. 6

HANDEL Overture and Dances from Alcina, HWV34

BACH Violin Concerto in E major, BWV1042

SUFJAN STEVENS (arr. Atkinson)

Suite from Run Rabbit Run

CPE BACH Sinfonia in B minor Wq.182/5

Richard Tognetti Director & Violin

6.00PM

CONCERT 2

P. 8

MOZART Divertimento D major, K.136

BUSONI (arr. Rofe) Kultaselle:

Variations on a Finnish folk song

BARTÓK Divertimento

Richard Tognetti Director & Violin Timo-Veikko Valve Cello

DAY 2

SUNDAY 4 MARCH

11.00AM

MASTERCLASS

P. 11

STRAUSS Sextet from Capriccio, Op.85

Glenn Christensen Violin Nicole Divall Viola Timo-Veikko Valve Cello With musicians from ANAM

2.30PM

CONCERT 3

P. 12

STRAUSS Sextet from Capriccio, Op.85*

BACH (arr. string trio) Three-part Inventions (selection) MENDELSSOHN Octet in E-flat major, Op.20

Richard Tognetti Director & Violin *With musicians from ANAM 5

SATURDAY 3 MARCH 12.30PM

Concert 1 Approximate Duration (mins)

Richard Tognetti Director & Violin

10

HANDEL Overture and Dances from Alcina, HWV34

16

BACH Violin Concerto in E major, BWV1042

15

SUFJAN STEVENS (arr. Michael Atkinson) Suite from Run Rabbit Run

10

CPE BACH Sinfonia in B minor Wq.182/5

The concert will last approximately one hour

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

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Cluster Ghost 2016 synthetic polymer paint on wood, 182 x 182 x 4.5 cm TarraWarra Museum of Art collection. Acquired 2017 Image courtesy the artist. Photo: Jessica Maurer Š Hilarie Mais

HILARIE MAIS

WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO HEAR

The first concert in this year’s TarraWarra Festival pits the two most celebrated composers of the Baroque era against two revolutionary and unique musical mavericks.

Handel’s Alcina, which premiered at Covent Garden in 1735, was described as “an opera with which Handel seems to have vanquished his opponents”. A deeply ironic tale of chivalry and heroism, one admirer wrote “I think it is the best he has ever made … ’tis so fine I have not words to describe it.” The opera opens with an instrumental overture and suite of French dances, and closes with an ebullient tamburino.

“I think it is the best he has ever made … ’tis so fine I have not words to describe it.”

Where Handel vanquishes his opponents, Johann Sebastian Bach transcends them altogether. His Violin Concerto in E major is a world in a grain of sand, seemingly spun from three notes that are not only the basis for the first movement, but for a sombre aria and a brisk gigue.

Sufjan Stevens’ 2001 album Enjoy Your Rabbit has become the source of inspiration for numerous arrangements and collaborations. Stevens describes Michael Atkinson’s four-movement suite, written for the New York City Ballet, as “to my ears, more alive, more capable, more full realised than their original recordings. I was constructing Frankenstein’s monster … what is revealed is a full-grown man … It’s alive!”

Carl Philip Emanuel Bach had earned a reputation for his “singular taste, verging on the bizarre”. He must have been pleased to be commissioned by Gottfried van Swieten (a patron of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) for six string symphonies, in which he was required to “give himself free rein, without regard to difficulty.” These symphonies are the “Frankenstein monsters” of his time – decidedly avant-garde and pushing every musical boundary.

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SATURDAY 3 MARCH 6.00PM

Concert 2 Approximate Duration (mins)

18

MOZART Divertimento D major, K.136

9

BUSONI (arr. Bernard Rofe) Kultaselle: Variations on a Finnish folk song

II

25

The concert will last approximately one hour and 20 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.

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Richard Tognetti Director & Violin Timo-Veikko Valve Cello

INTERVAL (20 MINUTES)

BARTĂ“K Divertimento

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

WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO HEAR

The second concert in this year’s Festival explores the divertimenti of Mozart and Bartók. “Divertimento” comes from the Italian “divertire” which means “to amuse” and these pieces were, certainly in Mozart’s time, intended as light entertainment and background music for social occasions.

“The Divertimento in D major is brimming youthful effervescence, warmth and charm...”

By his 15th year, Mozart was a musical sensation.

As a child he had completed a grand tour of Europe that established his reputation as one of history’s great child prodigies. As a teenager, he was already composing symphonies and operas with miraculous ease. When he completed the three Divertimenti, K.136-8, he was about to turn 16. The Divertimento in D major is brimming youthful effervescence, warmth and charm, but gives us more than a glimpse of the incomparable maturity that was to come.

Ferruccio Busoni’s ten variations for cello and piano on the Finnish folk song Kultaselle (to the Beloved) are anything but “light entertainment”. They are serious and longing, with the cello taking on the role of a wanderer set against a stormy background of melancholy and Brahmsian lyricism. The piano part is presented here in a new arrangement for string orchestra.

Bartók’s Divertimento combines the light-hearted spirit of Mozart’s divertimenti with the folk-inspired seriousness of Busoni’s variations. Its outer movements bustle with a sunny optimism, not shared by the twists and turns of its brooding middle movement. Bartók’s Divertimento was part of the program for the ACO’s inaugural concert in 1975 and remains a favourite of both our musicians and audiences today.

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HILARIE MAIS reflection/feather 2016 oil on wood, 240 x 112 x 4 cm TarraWarra Museum of Art collection. Acquired 2017 Image courtesy the artist. Photo: Jessica Maurer © Hilarie Mais

SUNDAY 4 MARCH 11.00AM

Masterclass STRAUSS Sextet from Capriccio, Op.85 Glenn Christensen Violin

Nicole Divall Viola

Timo-Veikko Valve Cello

Harry Ward* Violin

Eunice Cheng* Viola

Liam Meaney* Cello

“ANAM aims to inspire these future music leaders and encourages audiences to share the journey.”

The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) is dedicated to the artistic and professional development of the most exceptional young musicians from Australia and New Zealand. The only institute of its kind, ANAM is a place in which musicians fulfil their potential as music leaders, distinguished by their skill, imagination and courage, and by their determined contribution to a vibrant music culture.

ANAM musicians share the stage with their peers and the world’s finest artists, performing in venues across Australia. With an outstanding track record of success, ANAM musicians and alumni regularly receive major national and international awards, and are currently working in orchestras and chamber ensembles around the world, performing as soloists, and educating the next generation of musicians.

*Courtesy of ANAM

The involvement of ANAM musicians in this Festival is generously supported by: Robert Peck am and Yvonne von Hartel am, peckvonhartel architects, and Martyn Myer ao and Louise Myer.

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SUNDAY 4 MARCH 11.00AM

Concert 3 Approximate Duration (mins)

Richard Tognetti Director & Violin With musicians from Australian National Academy of Music*

10

STRAUSS Sextet from Capriccio, Op.85*

6

BACH (arr. string trio) Three-part Inventions (selection)

31

MENDELSSOHN Octet in E-flat major, Op.20

The concert will last approximately one hour

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

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RES 2010 oil on wood, 210 x 210 x 4 cm Art Gallery of New South Wales, Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2013 Image courtesy the artist and Art Gallery of New South Wales Š Hilarie Mais

HILARIE MAIS

WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO HEAR

The final concert in this year’s Festival is all about conversations. Here, we present a side-by-side collaboration with students from the Australian National Academy of Music in a feast of chamber music for three, six and eight players, culminating with Mendelssohn’s youthful Octet, written when he was only 16 years old.

“The instrumental sextet that opens the opera is Strauss at his most lyrical and sensitive, but suffused with autumnal melancholy.”

Strauss described Capriccio, his last completed opera, as a “conversation piece for music”, portraying an earnest contest between the powers of “words” and “music” taking place in a château outside Paris shortly before the French Revolution. The instrumental sextet that opens the opera is Strauss at his most lyrical and sensitive, but suffused with autumnal melancholy.

From a conversation between six, to a conversation between three. Bach’s Two and Three-Part Inventions are a collection of 30 short keyboard compositions in different keys which Bach intended for players “to learn to play cleanly in two parts, but also, after further progress, to handle three parts correctly and well.”

Today, these pieces are performed on a diverse range of instruments, here realised for string trio.

Of the many gems in the chamber repertoire, few are more miraculous than Mendelssohn’s Octet, his first undisputed masterpiece. Written as a birthday gift for his friend and violin teacher Eduard Ritz, the octet boasts a soaring, sparkling first violin part. But far from a showpiece for the first violin, it is first and foremost a conversation between eight musicians that has remained a favourite with audiences ever since.

Program notes by Bernard Rofe, 2018.

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THE MUSICIANS

RICHARD TOGNETTI Artistic Director & Lead Violin

“…it’s our job to bring the listener in through our portal. A numinous moment when, hopefully, we can make time stand still.”

Richard Tognetti is the Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. After studying both in Australia with William Primrose and Alice Waten, and overseas at the Bern Conservatory with Igor Ozim, he returned home in 1989 to lead several performances with the ACO. In November that year, he was appointed the Orchestra’s lead violin and, subsequently, Artistic Director. He was Artistic Director of the Festival Maribor in Slovenia from 2008 to 2015. As director or soloist, Richard has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, and in 2016 was the first Artistin-Residence at the Barbican Centre’s Milton Court Concert Hall.

Richard is also an acclaimed composer. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010.

He holds honorary doctorates from three Australian universities and was made a National Living Treasure in 1999. He performs on a 1743 Guarneri del Gesù violin, lent to him by an anonymous Australian private benefactor.

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THE MUSICIANS

TIMO-VEIKKO VALVE Principal Cello

Timo-Veikko ‘Tipi’ Valve is one of the most versatile musicians of his generation, performing as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader on both modern and period instruments.

Tipi studied at the Sibelius Academy in his home town of Helsinki and at the Edsberg Music Institute in Stockholm, focusing on solo performance and chamber music.

Tipi has performed as a soloist with all major orchestras in Finland and as a chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the US. He works closely with a number of Finnish composers and has commissioned new works for his instrument. Most recently, Tipi has premiered concertos by Aulis Sallinen and Olli Virtaperko as well as two new cello concertos written for him by Eero Hämeenniemi and Olli Koskelin.

In 2006, Tipi was appointed Principal Cello of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, with whom he frequently appears as soloist. Tipi is a founding member of Jousia Ensemble and Jousia Quartet.

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THE MUSICIANS

GLENN CHRISTENSEN

NICOLE DIVALL

Violin

Viola

Glenn Christensen has been a full-time member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra since 2015.

He previously held the position of Principal First Violin in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) and has performed as Guest Principal with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Nicole Divall has been a fulltime member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra since 2005.

A prizewinner in the 1997 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, Nicole has performed extensively in Australia and the US including as guest violist with the St Petersburg String Quartet, the Los Angeles Piano Quartet, the American String Quartet and the Emerson Quartet, and as Principal Viola with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Cleveland-San Jose Ballet, and the Cleveland Opera.

Glenn has performed as a soloist with the ACO and QSO, was a finalist in the 2014 ABC Young Performer Awards, and in 2009 won every category in the Kendall National Violin Competition.

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THE ARTIST

Hilarie Mais HILARIE MAIS Curated by Blair French and Manya Sellers 24 February – 29 April, 2018 TarraWarra Museum of Art

Hilarie Mais is a Sydney-based artist who makes abstract constructions and paintings that explore geometric forms such as the grid and the circle. In these works, the structure of the grid is often merged with forms found in nature, in particular patterns underpinning biological growth.

Mais has always sought to personalise abstraction partly through emphasising the hand of the artist, so elements of her constructions such as the screws affixing the timber rods are visible and marks of a brush can often also be seen. Scale is equally important, directly relating to the artist’s body and reach.

“I make all my work from beginning to completion – I do not use fabrication or have assistants involved – so there is a deep engagement, an emotional investment with the work in physical terms and in time, in the act of making. This intense relationship I feel imbues the work with presence.

When a work is finished I feel quite bereft of the relationship and the intense intimacy.”

— Hilarie Mais Born in England, Hilarie Mais has been working as an artist since the early 1970s and has lived in Sydney since 1981. Whilst she has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally this is her first major solo museum exhibition. It brings together a selection of 20 artworks produced since Mais’ last survey exhibition at the Drill Hall Gallery at the Australian National University in Canberra 2004.

The Hilarie Mais exhibition is organised and toured by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, supported by Red Energy.

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THE MUSICIANS

Australian Chamber Orchestra “The Australian Chamber Orchestra is uniformly high octane, arresting and never ordinary.”

THE AUSTRALIAN

The Australian Chamber Orchestra lives and breathes music, making waves around the world for their explosive performances and brave interpretations.

Steeped in history but always looking to the future, ACO programs embrace celebrated classics alongside new commissions, and adventurous cross-artform collaborations.

Led by Artistic Director Richard Tognetti since 1990, the ACO performs more than 100 concerts each year. Whether performing in Manhattan, New York, or Wollongong, NSW, the ACO is unwavering in their commitment to creating transformative musical experiences.

The Orchestra regularly collaborates with artists and musicians who share their ideology: from Emmanuel Pahud, Steven Isserlis, Dawn Upshaw, Olli Mustonen, Brett Dean and Ivry Gitlis, to Neil Finn, Jonny Greenwood, Katie Noonan, Barry Humphries and Meow Meow; to visual artists and film makers such as Michael Leunig, Bill Henson, Shaun Tan, Jon Frank and Jennifer Peedom, who have co-created unique, hybrid productions for which the ACO has become renowned.

In addition to their national and international touring schedule, the Orchestra has an active recording program across CD, vinyl and digital formats. Their recordings of Bach’s violin works won three consecutive ARIA Awards. Recent releases include Water | Night Music, the first Australianproduced classical vinyl for two decades, Mozart’s Last Symphonies, Bach Beethoven: Fugue and the soundtrack to the acclaimed cinematic collaboration, Mountain. aco.com.au

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MUSICIANS ON STAGE

Richard Tognetti 1 Leader and Violin

Satu Vänskä 2 Principal Violin

Glenn Christensen 3 Violin

Ilya Isakovich Violin

Chair sponsored by Wendy Edwards, Peter & Ruth McMullin, Louise & Martyn Myer, Andrew & Andrea Roberts

Chair sponsored by Kay Bryan

Chair sponsored by Terry Campbell ao & Christine Campbell

Chair sponsored by The Humanity Foundation

Ike See Violin

Thibaud Pavlovic-Hobba Violin

Nicole Divall Viola

Elizabeth Woolnough Viola

Chair sponsored by Ian Lansdown

Courtesy of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Chair sponsored by Di Jameson

Timo-Veikko Valve 4 Principal Cello

Melissa Barnard Cello

Maxime Bibeau 5 Principal Bass

Chair sponsored by Peter Weiss ao

Chair sponsored by Dr & Mrs J. Wenderoth

Chair sponsored by Darin Cooper Foundation

Musicians from Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) Harry Ward Violin Eunice Cheng Viola Liam Meaney Cello

1 Richard Tognetti plays a 1743 Guarneri del Gesù violin kindly on loan from an anonymous Australian private benefactor.

2 Satu Vänskä plays the 1726 'Belgiorno' Stradivarius violin kindly on loan from Guido and Michelle Belgiorno-Nettis.

3 Glenn Christensen plays a 1728/29 Stradivarius violin kindly on loan from the ACO Instrument Fund.

4 Timo-Veikko Valve plays a 1616 Brothers Amati cello kindly on loan from the ACO Instrument Fund.

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

Players dressed by Willow and SABA

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you The ACO would like to sincerely thank Marc Besen ac and Eva Besen ao for their wonderful support of the TarraWarra Music Festival. We thank all supporters of the TarraWarra Music Festival and the ACO’s far-reaching National Education Program.

Presenting Partner

Patrons - National Education Program

Marc Besen ac & Eva Besen ao

Janet Holmes à Court ac

Trusts and Foundations

Holmes à Court Family Foundation

Government Partners

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The Ross Trust

Venue Partner

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACO National Education Program 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 Jill Colvin on (02) 8274 3835 or jill.colvin@aco.com.au Emerging Artists & Education Patrons $10,000 + Mr Robert Albert ao & Mrs Libby Albert Geoff Alder Karen Allen & Dr Rich Allen Australian Communities Foundation – Ballandry Fund Steven Bardy & Andrew Patterson Guido Belgiorno-Nettis am & Michelle Belgiorno-Nettis Rod Cameron & Margaret Gibbs Michael & Helen Carapiet Stephen & Jenny Charles Jane & Andrew Clifford Ryan Cooper Family Foundation Rowena Danziger am & Ken Coles am Irina Kuzminsky & Mark Delaney Kate & Daryl Dixon Eureka Benevolent Foundation Terry & Lynn Fern Mr & Mrs Bruce Fink Dr Ian Frazer ac & Mrs Caroline Frazer Daniel & Helen Gauchat John Grill & Rosie Williams In memory of Wilma Collie Angus & Kimberley Holden Catherine Holmes à Court-Mather GB and MK Ilett

John & Lisa Kench Miss Nancy Kimpton Anthony & Sharon Lee Foundation Liz & Walter Lewin Andrew Low Anthony & Suzanne Maple-Brown Jim & Averill Minto Louise & Martyn Myer Foundation Jennie & Ivor Orchard James Ostroburski & Leo Ostroburski The Bruce & Joy Reid Trust Andrew & Andrea Roberts Ryan Cooper Family Foundation Margie Seale & David Hardy Rosy Seaton & Seumas Dawes Servcorp Tony Shepherd ao Anthony Strachan Leslie C. Thiess Alden Toevs & Judi Wolf Shemara Wikramanayake Libby & Nick Wright E Xipell Peter Young am & Susan Young Anonymous (3)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

TarraWarra Museum of Art Sponsors Principal Sponsor

Major Sponsors

Major Partners

Exhibition organised and toured by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, supported by Red Energy

Event Sponsors

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Cover photo: John Gollings / Musician photos: Daniel Boud, Jack Saltmiras & Ben Sullivan