2019 IN CELEBRATION

Mozart’s The marriage of Figaro has a significance for the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra as well as being a highlight of the orchestra’s 2019 In Celebration concert season. The performance of excerpts from the opera in the first concert of the series will also pay tribute to the late Richard Gill AO, the orchestra’s founding artistic director.

Established by Gill, Rachael Beesley and Nicole Van Bruggen, the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra comprises leading Australian musicians who are ‘dedicated to the performance of Classical and Romantic orchestral and chamber music repertoire in historically informed style on period instruments’. The orchestra continues to evolve, with its Board recently announcing that Beesley and Van Bruggen are taking on the artistic leadership of the orchestra as coartistic directors.

The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra will celebrate its sixth birthday this year, and the three Sunday afternoon concerts forming the In Celebration series, to be held in the City Recital Hall, will tell the orchestra’s story from its inception to the present day. This will be told through the historically informed performances for which the orchestra has become renowned. The series will include the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Johann Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter, Mendelssohn and Brahms, with entertaining and informative preconcert talks adding to the concert experience.

The series, In Celebration, will begin in March, with the Madness & Confrontation concert

recounting the story of Richard Gill conducting Mozart’s The marriage of Figaro. The opera’s libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte was based on Day of Madness, a comedy by Beaumarchais. The opera’s overture, duets and arias will be performed with soprano Jacqueline Porter and baritone David Greco, followed by Nicole Van Bruggen playing basset clarinet in Mozart’s Clarinet concerto in A major. The basset clarinet was the instrument for which Mozart originally wrote the concerto, demonstrating the orchestra’s adherence to historically informed performance practice. The concert will finish with Beethoven’s famous Symphony no 5 in C minor. Van Bruggen says: “Beethoven’s magnificent Fifth Symphony ushered classical music into a new era and its infamous opening four-note motif confronts and enthrals audiences even to this day.”

The second concert, Mannheim Rocket, to be held in May, will take the audience to the late 18th century and the modern symphonic style that originated in Mannheim at the time. This is a significant musical period for the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra and the Mannheim influence infiltrates its work at several levels, including its education work with students. The concert will demonstrate the orchestra’s interest in historical influence with performances of Stamitz’s Sinfonia à quattro in A major and Richter’s Sinfonia à quattro in B flat major. Both composers were influences on the young Mozart, who was later at the centre of the classical Viennese style. The audience will have the opportunity to enjoy more Mozart, with Rachael Beesley performing his Fifth Violin Concerto, also known as the Turkish,

and the concert concludes with Mozart’s Symphony no 40 in G minor containing ‘the most famous ascending musical rocket of all’.

The orchestra will move along in time for its third and final concert of the series with New Constellations, on Sunday 18 August. The concert will comprise chamber music of the early romantic period, with Berlin-based violinist Jakob Lehmann returning as guest director of the orchestra. He will lead an ensemble of specialist local and international chamber musicians in Mendelssohn’s Octet in E flat for strings, which Mendelssohn wrote at the age of 16, and Brahms’ Serenade no 1 in D major for nonet. Brahms had destroyed this version, but composer Alan Boustead reconstructed it in the 1980s using archival and other written accounts.

To complement the In Celebration concert series, the orchestra is again running a series of educational concerts. The Voyage of Musical Discovery series will demonstrate the musicians’ knowledge and understanding of the late 18th and 19th century repertoire in both the historical context and as applied to the performance of contemporary Australian music. The concerts will feature guest musicians and ensembles with the orchestra which in the past has proven to be just as popular with the general public as with students.

The three ‘Voyage’ concerts are designed to fit with the corresponding concert in the In Celebration series. Each concert features a particular aspect of musical composition and will use an historical example and a

contemporary Australian work to illustrate the continuities in music over time. Van Bruggen says: “We believe that the best way to deepen the appreciation, understanding and experience of Classical and Romantic repertoire is to share our knowledge and passion in a way which is inspiring and empowering, as well as challenging and completely relevant to contemporary musicmaking.”

In March, the first concert of the Voyage of Musical Discovery series takes the theme Phrasing & Form with Mozart’s The marriage of Figaro once again on stage. Australian singer-songwriter Lior joins the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra with vocal soloists Jacqueline Porter and David Greco to explain and demonstrate phrasing and form in both Mozart’s opera and Lior’s own compositions.

Cultural & Historical Contexts in May will see Jane Rutter and her Third Culture World Music Ensemble performing with the orchestra to demonstrate the influence of culture and historical context on presentday music. Compositions and performances in the program will range from the earlyclassical Mannheim School (reflecting the second concert in the In Celebration series) to Australian and Chinese contemporary music.

The final program in August, illustrates the role of Dynamics & Expressive Techniques with the vocal group, The Idea of North, joining the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra. The musicians will explain and demonstrate how these techniques are central in the performance of both early romantic and contemporary Australian chamber music.

The Voyage of Musical Discovery series is not the only educational program the orchestra regularly presents. Education based on the concert platform is a major focus of the orchestra’s regular schedule and it conducts tutorials and masterclasses for tertiary students and professional musicians while on tour.

Richard Gill’s influence can be seen in the work the orchestra undertakes with both adults and children, reflecting his achievements ‘as a celebrated conductor, [and] an educator of children, musicians and curious audience members’. Van Bruggen acknowledges his contribution. “We are eternally grateful for the joyous years of our lives enriched and enlivened by Richard’s larger than life presence and appreciate that we have learned so much from our great teacher, mentor and friend. We loved Richard and we miss him dearly, but we know every time the orchestra and our youth programs stand proudly on stage, we will be honouring him and giving him thanks for his extraordinary life and vision.” Gill’s work in music and education has been acknowledged by many people, and music educator Karen Carey says: “His tireless efforts have resulted in the mentoring program which is rapidly gaining momentum. His clarity of thought, tireless energy, fabulous sense of humour and love for people was just wonderful and unforgettable.”

A large part of the orchestra’s educational activity is focused on school students. It runs educational courses and works with schools throughout Melbourne and Sydney, and aims to expand into other Australian cities and towns in the future. As Nicole Van Bruggen says, ‘We are passionately committed to our education programs’.

One of the orchestra’s major educational initiatives is the youth orchestra program, Young Mannheim Symphonists, which provides the opportunity for students from all backgrounds and from all around Australia to engage in the performance of great music. The orchestra’s musicians work with and mentor youth orchestras and emerging musicians around the country, giving the young musicians the chance to experience historically informed performance and to learn about the importance of this style of performance in context.

One aspect of the orchestra’s approach is seen in its appreciation of the 18th century Mannheim School, which plays a major role in both the educational and concert platforms of the orchestra’s work. Van Bruggen says: “The 18th century English music historian Charles Burney referred to the Mannheim orchestra as an ‘army of generals’, which was famous throughout Europe for its highly disciplined virtuosity and its ability to produce certain novel and arousing effects.” As well as providing an historical focus for performance, the orchestra members take the approach of the Mannheim School into account when working with young musicians, aiming to give them a knowledge and expertise about the use and importance of historical performance techniques, and are ‘always adding to our capacity to provide a fascinating

Richard Gill and Nicole Van Bruggenand enlightening educational resource’.

The students gain a lot from their experience in the Young Mannheim Symphonists, with one participant telling the orchestra of the experience. “I couldn’t quite understand it when you said that you always find something new in the symphony, but now I can really feel what you mean all because of how much you’ve taught us about it. Thank you for leading the orchestra with your professionalism and kindness. I’m sure everyone will cherish these memories for a long time.”

Historically informed performance plays a major part in all of the orchestra’s work. Nicole Van Bruggen admits that encompassing historical performance scholarship in the orchestra’s performances does not mean that she and Rachael Beesley believe they are ‘getting it exactly right’. However, using period instruments along with ‘the knowledge of style and composer expectations’ means that they can get as close to an original performance as they can, something that could not be achieved without this understanding: an approach that is reflected in the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra’s program for 2019.

EVENTS, DATES AND VENUES

2019 SEASON, In Celebration,

Sundays 3pm, City Recital Hall 24 March: Madness & Confrontation Mozart and Beethoven Soloists: Jacqueline Porter, David Greco, Nicole Van Bruggen 12 May: Mannheim Rocket J. Stamitz, Richter and Mozart Soloist: Rachael Beesley 18 August: New Constellations Mendelssohn and Brahms Guest director and violinist: Jakob Lehmann

2019 EDUCATIONAL SERIES, Voyage of Musical Discovery

6.30pm, City Recital Hall Wednesday 27 March: Phrasing & Form with Lior Tuesday 14 May: Cultural & Historical Contexts with Jane Rutter Monday 19 August: Dynamics & Expressive Techniques with The Idea of North