September 2024 Concert Program by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

DVOŘÁK & BRUCKNER

TAN DUN: NINE

BEETHOVEN & MENDELSSOHN

ACKNOWLEDGING COUNTRY

In the first project of its kind in Australia, the MSO has developed a musical Acknowledgment of Country with music composed by Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, featuring Indigenous languages from across Victoria. Generously supported by Helen Macpherson Smith Trust and the Commonwealth Government through the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, the MSO is working in partnership with Short Black Opera and Indigenous language custodians who are generously sharing their cultural knowledge.

The Acknowledgement of Country allows us to pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land on which we perform in the language of that country and in the orchestral language of music.

Long Time Living Here

As a Yorta Yorta/Yuin composer the responsibility I carry to assist the MSO in delivering a respectful acknowledgement of country is a privilege which I take very seriously. I have a duty of care to my ancestors and to the ancestors on whose land the MSO works and performs.

As MSO continues to grow its knowledge and understanding of what it means to truly honour the First people of this land, the musical acknowledgment of country will serve to bring those on stage and those in the audience together in a moment of recognition as as we celebrate the longest continuing cultures in the world.

– Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO

Our musical Acknowledgment of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, is performed at MSO concerts.

MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Committed to shaping and serving the state it inhabits, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is Australia’s preeminent orchestra and a cornerstone of Victoria’s rich, cultural heritage.

Each year, the MSO and MSO Chorus present more than 180 public events across live performances, TV, radio and online broadcasts, and via its online concert hall, MSO.LIVE, engaging an audience of more than five million people in 56 countries. In 2024 the organisation will release its first two albums on the newly established MSO recording label.

With an international reputation for excellence, versatility and innovation, the MSO works with culturally diverse and First Nations artists to build community and deliver music to people across Melbourne, the state of Victoria and around the world.

In 2024, Jaime Martín leads the Orchestra for his third year as MSO Chief Conductor. Maestro Martín leads an Artistic Family that includes Principal Conductor Benjamin Northey, Cybec Assistant Conductor Leonard Weiss CF, MSO Chorus Director Warren Trevelyan-Jones, Composer in Residence Katy Abbott, Artist in Residence

Erin Helyard, MSO First Nations Creative Chair Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, Young Cybec Young Composer in Residence Naomi Dodd, and Artist in Association Christian Li.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra respectfully acknowledges the people of the Eastern Kulin Nations, on whose un‑ceded lands we honour the continuation of the oldest music practice in the world.

YOUR MSO

FIRST VIOLINS

Tair Khisambeev

Acting Associate Concertmaster

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Anne-Marie Johnson

Acting Assistant Concertmaster

David Horowicz#

Peter Edwards

Assistant Principal

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson#

Sarah Curro

Dr Harry Imber#

Peter Fellin

Deborah Goodall

Karla Hanna

Lorraine Hook

Kirstin Kenny

Eleanor Mancini

Anne Neil#

Mark Mogilevski

Michelle Ruffolo

Anna Skálová

Kathryn Taylor

SECOND VIOLINS

Matthew Tomkins

Principal

The Gross Foundation#

Monica Curro

Assistant Principal

Dr Mary Jane Gething AO#

Mary Allison

Isin Cakmakçioglu

Tiffany Cheng

Glenn Sedgwick#

Freya Franzen

Cong Gu

Newton Family in memory of Rae Rothfield#

Andrew Hall

Robert Macindoe

Isy Wasserman

Philippa West

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Patrick Wong

Cecilie Hall#

Roger Young

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan#

VIOLAS

Christopher Moore

Principal

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Lauren Brigden

Katharine Brockman

Anthony Chataway

William Clark

Aidan Filshie

Gabrielle Halloran

Jenny Khafagi

Fiona Sargeant

CELLOS

David Berlin

Principal

Rachael Tobin

Associate Principal Anonymous#

Elina Faskhi

Assistant Principal

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Rohan de Korte

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Sarah Morse

Rebecca Proietto

Peter T Kempen AM#

Angela Sargeant

Caleb Wong

Michelle Wood

Andrew and Judy Rogers#

DOUBLE BASSES

Jonathon Coco

Principal

Stephen Newton

Acting Associate Principal

Benjamin Hanlon

Acting Associate Principal

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Rohan Dasika

Acting Assistant Principal

Suzanne Lee

Learn more about our musicians on the MSO website. # Position supported by

FLUTES

Prudence Davis Principal Jean Hadges#

Wendy Clarke

Associate Principal

Sarah Beggs

PICCOLO

Andrew Macleod Principal

OBOES

Michael Pisani Acting Principal

Ann Blackburn

COR ANGLAIS

Rachel Curkpatrick Acting Principal

CLARINETS

David Thomas Principal

Philip Arkinstall Associate Principal

Craig Hill

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher#

BASS CLARINET

Jonathan Craven Principal

BASSOONS

Jack Schiller

Principal

Dr Harry Imber#

Elise Millman

Associate Principal

Natasha Thomas

Patricia Nilsson and Dr Martin Tymms#

CONTRABASSOON

Brock Imison Principal

HORNS

Nicolas Fleury Principal

Margaret Jackson AC#

Peter Luff

Acting Associate Principal

Saul Lewis

Principal Third

The late Hon Michael Watt KC and Cecilie Hall#

Abbey Edlin

The Hanlon Foundation#

Josiah Kop

Rachel Shaw

Gary McPherson#

TRUMPETS

Owen Morris Principal

Shane Hooton

Associate Principal

Glenn Sedgwick#

Rosie Turner

John and Diana Frew#

TROMBONE

Richard Shirley

BASS TROMBONE

Michael Szabo Principal

TUBA

Timothy Buzbee Principal

TIMPANI

Matthew Thomas Principal

PERCUSSION

Shaun Trubiano Principal

John Arcaro

Tim and Lyn Edward#

Robert Cossom

Drs Rhyl Wade and Clem Gruen#

HARP

Yinuo Mu Principal

DVOŘÁK AND BRUCKNER

5 & 7 SEPTEMBER

ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE, HAMER HALL

6 SEPTEMBER COSTA HALL, GEELONG

ARTISTS

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Daniel Carter conductor

Karen Gomyo violin

PROGRAM

SMETANA The Bartered Bride: Overture [7']

DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto [31']

– Interval –

BRUCKNER Symphony No.4 Romantic [66']

CONCERT EVENTS

PRE-CONCERT TALK

Want to learn more about the music being performed? Arrive early for an informative and entertaining pre-concert talk with Andrew Aronowicz.

5 & 7 September at 6.45pm in the Stalls Foyer on Level 2 at Hamer Hall.

6 September at 6.45pm at Costa Hall Foyer.

For a list of musicians performing in this concert, please visit mso.com.au/musicians

Duration: 2 hours and 15 minutes including interval. Timings listed are approximate.

DANIEL CARTER CONDUCTOR

This season Daniel Carter makes his debuts at the Vienna State Opera (Die Zauberflöte), at Malmö Opera (Turandot) and with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Nixon in China) and to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Daniel Carter is Generalmusikdirektor of Landestheater Coburg where most recently he has conducted a series of symphonic programs, Die Götterdämmerung (completing Coburg’s Ring Cycle), Macbeth, Hänsel und Gretel, La damnation de Faust, and The Rake’s Progress. He has also debuted with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Leipzig (Siegfried ), at the Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro (Il Viaggio a Reims), Meiningen (La Bohème), Bern (Pelleas et Melisande), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Don Quichotte) and Staatsoper Hannover (Nixon in China).

He has made guest appearances with Münchener Kammerorchester, Oper Köln, Aaalto Theater Essen, National Theatre Mannheim, Victorian Opera, Opera Australia, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, and has held posts at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera and Theater Freiburg

Daniel Carter graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Music (Honours) and in 2012 won the Brian Stacey Memorial Award for Emerging Conductors.

KAREN GOMYO VIOLIN

Born in Tokyo and beginning her musical career in Montréal and New York, violinist Karen Gomyo now makes her home in Berlin. A musician of the highest calibre, the Chicago Tribune praised her as “…a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality, brilliance and intensity”.

For the 2022/23 season Karen will make her debut with Pittsburgh Symphony performing the US Premiere of Samy Moussa’s Violin Concerto ‘Adrano’. Other notable debuts include Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, New World Symphony and Orchestre Métropolitain de Montreal. Karen returns to the Bamberger Symphoniker, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Arts Centre Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and will also take part in the Seattle Chamber Music Festival as well as trio concerts in Germany with pianist Kiveli Doerkin and cellist Julian Steckel.

In Europe Karen has worked with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Dresdner Philharmoniker, Polish National Radio Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Danish National Symphony, Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

She is a champion of the Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla and in 2021 Karen released A Piazzolla Triology on BIS Records, recorded with the Strings of Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and guitarist Stephanie Jones. It follows Karen’s first project with BIS, a collection of works by Paganini and his baroque predecessors recorded with guitarist Ismo Eskelinen, released in 2019

PROGRAM NOTES

BEDŘICH SMETANA (1824–84)

The Bartered Bride: Overture

In a breathless overture to the work that gave his long-suffering fellowcountrymen their own operatic identity, Smetana encapsulates the vitality and bustle, as well as the rustic charm, of a Czech village in festive mood. Not so much a potpourri of themes from the opera as a tone poem of great concision and economy, the overture was apparently written well before the opera itself. It was probably the ‘comic overture’ by Smetana that was performed in concert from a piano reduction as early as November 1863, several months ahead of the first sketches for the opera and nearly three years before the opera, in its first, relatively primitive two-act version, reached the stage in Prague.

This was the first time Czech village life had been portrayed believably in opera. Although premiered inauspiciously in the shadow of a looming (though in the event, short) war with Bismarck’s Prussia, The Bartered Bride survived the fiasco of its truncated opening season in the oppressive midsummer heat of 1866 to win the the undying affection of Czech people (and, subsequently, audiences throughout the world) as it was revised and expanded into its definitive three-act form by 1870, going on to register 100 performances by 1882, within the composer’s lifetime, and 2,000 performances by 1953.

Truly did Smetana remark at the celebration of the Bride’s 100th performance that he had believed from the first that ‘not even Offenbach could compete with it.’ For the one-act libretto

originally presented to him had been a typically frothy Offenbachian opérette. He had had to build it, through dogged insistence and perseverance, from a lightweight buffo confection into a comedy peopled with characters his audiences would recognise and empathise with, individuals experiencing the deep human emotions of hope and fear, venality and cunning, confusion and despair and, above all, unquenchable young love. In the ‘all’s fair’ context of love and war, not even a dubious device by which the happy outcome turns on a piece of shameless deception can arouse disquiet. Thus not only the bride is won but a questionable cash bonus as well. (The opera is literally ‘The Sold Bride’, not ‘bartered’.)

While the overture essentially sets the scene of festivity on the village green (ringing up the curtain as villagers celebrate, ‘Come now, let us all be merry’), the three main motifs (bustling, suspenseful string figures in the opening, a polka-like subject which foreshadows the brilliant national dances to come, and a winsome, contrasting oboe melody) will all be heard again at the climax of the second act as the bridal-sale contract is signed before the outraged village-folk as indignant witnesses.

Smetana lived to resent the fact that the runaway success of this, the second of his eight completed operas, overshadowed later works he valued more highly, such as The Kiss, The Secret, The Two Widows and the heroic tragedy Dalibor. But he was wrong, in his disappointment, to dismiss the Bride as a mere bagatelle. More than the historical The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, which preceded it, The Bartered Bride was the means by which this expatriate composer, home at last from a youthful odyssey in Sweden, resoundingly fulfilled his determination to give his people a national music. Not only did it bring Czech opera to the promised land

but it mirrored then, as it mirrors today, the authentic spirit of the rural Czech community.

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK

(1841–1904)

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op.53 (B.108)

I. Allegro ma non troppo –

II. Adagio ma non troppo

III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo

Soloist

Karen Gomyo violin

It was probably on the recommendation of Brahms that the great Joseph Joachim became the dedicatee of the only violin concerto composed by Dvořák. Ironically, however, Joachim was never to play it. Brahms had composed his own Violin Concerto for Joachim in 1878, and seems to have given him a couple of Dvořák’s chamber works for performances in Berlin and London.

Encouraged by Joachim’s interest, Dvořák visited him in Berlin in July 1879 to discuss the idea of a concerto. He sent him a completed draft in November, followed by a full revision, incorporating Joachim’s suggestions, in May 1880. In its new version, he believed, ‘the whole concerto has been transformed.’ Even so, it was not altogether to the virtuoso’s liking.

After a further two years, Joachim revised the solo part and suggested that Dvořák lighten the orchestration. Although the composer would agree to only minor changes, in particular rejecting any suggestion of separating the linked opening movements, Joachim nevertheless committed himself to launching the work in London in 1884. That premiere was abandoned when Dvořák found he was not free to

conduct. Joachim now lost interest. Dvořák turned to the young Czech violinist František Ondříček, who promptly gave the first performance in Prague on 14 October 1883 and proceeded to play the concerto throughout Europe with great success.

Joachim’s obviously strong reservations about the concerto doubtless reflect his firmly traditionalist view of Classical structure and balance in music. He seems to have felt unable wholeheartedly to lend his name to a work so untraditional, particularly in its first two movements. He quite possibly disliked the improvisatory nature of the concerto, finding Dvořák’s artistic integrity perhaps compromised by his failure to carry through a ‘proper’ sonata structure in the opening movement. Likewise, he doubtless agreed with the publisher Simrock that the opening movements should be separated; and as the outstanding virtuoso violinist of the day he must have wondered at the lack of opportunity for a cadenza, even though there is brilliance enough in the solo part as written out. The concerto nevertheless embodies much of Joachim, particularly in the style of the solo writing, and Dvořák never withdrew the dedication, inscribed to Joachim ‘in highest admiration’.

Eschewing a conventional orchestral opening tutti, Dvořák launches immediately into his two-part main theme—the first part boldly rhythmic with full orchestra, and the second a passionate answering phrase from the solo violin. This theme, in one or other of its parts, forms the essence of the entire movement. Dvořák introduces subsidiary themes, most notably an effusive folk-like tune which appears on a flood of warm solo violin tone when the movement is already well advanced. However, the lesser themes serve in the main only as brief moments of repose while the composer gathers his forces

to proceed with his main business of developing the opening subject. The development completed, Dvořák wastes no time on a conventional recapitulation of his original ideas: he merely recalls the violin’s answering phrase from the opening theme, transforming it into a serenely reflective bridge which leads without a break into the sweet lyricism of the slow movement.

Here the composer, in long and tender phrases, sings a song of heartfelt rapture. Dvořák scholar Otakar Šourek likens two linked thematic ideas, stated broadly by the soloist at the beginning, to the passionate embrace of lovers. Gervase Hughes finds in this ‘unwonted flight of lyricism’ the composer’s ‘first successful attempt to prove himself a truly individual romanticist by international rather than local standards’. A slight increase in tempo briefly brings a sense of agitation, but the clouds lift on a sunny, folk-like melody with which the trilling violin soars, as Šourek puts it, ‘like a lark above the flowery fragrance of Bohemian meadows’. Now bolstered by the brass, the agitated motif again tries, unsuccessfully, to make its presence felt. The movement ends with the main theme, in tranquillity.

If the thematic material of the slow movement, as Šourek suggests, is deeply rooted in the soil of Czech folk music, then the finale is even more overtly nationalistic. This is a spirited homage to Czech national dance, fundamentally a vigorous, syncopated furiant. Interspersed with this dance, rondo-fashion, is first a cheerful oboe motif taken up by the flute; then a swelling dolce theme on solo violin; and last a highly bucolic, faintly melancholy section in characteristic dumka rhythm. Neither pure rondo nor sonata, the movement reiterates all three subsidiary themes in different guises (as the main theme is itself varied on every appearance). At the end the dumka

returns, now in great good humour, and the main theme sweeps the concerto to a taut, forceful conclusion.

ANTON BRUCKNER (1824–96)

Symphony No.4 in E flat, WAB 104 (1878/80 version)

I. Bewegt nicht zu schnell

II. Andante quasi allegretto

III. Scherzo (Bewegt)

IV. Finale (Bewegt doch nicht zu schnell)

Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony has long been his most popular. The Fourth is the only symphony to which Bruckner himself gave a title, and ‘Romantic’ is an apt word for the moods and atmospheres the music evokes. When asked to explain his symphony, he invented (after composing it) an imaginary program in which the first movement is supposed to represent a medieval city at dawn, trumpet calls signalling the opening of the city gates, knights riding out into the countryside where they are surrounded by the bird calls and magic of the forest. But Bruckner’s program is best ignored— he reluctantly tried to explain his music because its first audiences found it so hard to understand.

Bruckner’s symphonies demanded a new way of listening. He is often tagged ‘the Wagnerian symphonist’, but his debt to Wagner was very partial. The true sources of the musical craft of this church-trained teacher and organist from Upper Austria lie in that country’s musical tradition—in Beethoven and even more in Schubert. Bruckner’s symphonies are not dramatic in Wagner’s sense, nor dialectical or argumentative in Beethoven’s. His inspiration, like Schubert’s, is lyrical, and the music is

built into long paragraphs, put side by side, and compared by one musician to a series of terraces.

It is often called organists’ music, and certainly Bruckner’s fondness for contrapuntal devices such as inversion, augmentation and diminution is very obvious in the symphonies, and shows his deep learning in the methods of the old church composers. Bruckner was one of the great improvisers at the organ, but his symphonies, despite their vast scale, are never rambling.

Perhaps the popularity of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony is chiefly due to its memorable opening. The mysterious beginning of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony fascinated Bruckner, and it has been said that he couldn’t get a symphony under way without a tremolo. It is not a symphony which starts, but the beginning of music itself: major and minor horn calls sounding the interval of a fifth, gradually rousing the woodwind to join in. The string tremolos continue, after a climax, as accompaniment to the second subject, and the characteristic ‘Bruckner rhythm’ of a duplet and a triplet is heard. The recapitulation starts with the opening horn calls, now surrounded by a flowing figure in muted violins, and they also provide the material of the elaborate coda.

The slow movement is an elegiac march in C minor, the relative minor key. Whereas the slow movement of Beethoven’s Ninth, often invoked as Bruckner’s model, consists of variations on two themes, the returns of Bruckner’s broad main theme are separated by an episode that returns twice, a chantlike theme for the violas heard against pizzicato notes from the other strings. Each statement of the main theme is more richly scored and displays more movement than its predecessor, rising at last to a great climax before a solemn coda.

The last two movements were subject to the revisions and second thoughts so typical of Bruckner’s career as a symphonist. Between 1878 and 1880, years after the fiasco of the first readthrough, Bruckner wrote a completely new Scherzo, and revised the Finale extensively. The success of the first performance under Richter protected the Fourth Symphony from further major revision by the composer.

Bruckner’s description of the Scherzo as a hunt with horn calls, and the Trio as a dance melody played to the hunters during the rest, is the only useful though obvious part of his ‘program’. The scale of this sounding of the horn, however, suggests King Mark’s moonlight hunt in Tristan und Isolde, or even the Ride of the Valkyries, more than Bruckner’s bucolic ‘hunting of the hare’. The Trio, by contrast, is an Austrian peasant dance with which Haydn, Mozart and of course Schubert would have felt at home.

The Finale is the longest movement, a feature of the overall balance of the symphony again suggested by Beethoven’s Ninth. As in Beethoven, there are reminiscences here of the earlier movements. A three-note descending phrase is heard in the introduction, recalling the opening of the symphony, while the brass remember the Scherzo. This phrase is gradually revealed as the main theme, played in unison by the whole orchestra. The second thematic group is dominated by a C minor melody for violins and violas, later combined with a lively woodwind motif. Themes from all the movements occur, combined most artfully with the new thematic material, as Bruckner works his way to a restatement of the symphony’s opening theme in the home key. The brass dominates the coda, with the motto of the symphony’s first pages.

TAN DUN: NINE

14 SEPTEMBER

ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE, HAMER HALL

ARTISTS

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Tan Dun conductor

Lu Siqing violin

MSO Chorus

Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director

PROGRAM

BEETHOVEN The Creatures of Prometheus: Overture [5']

TAN DUN Hero Concerto for violin [36']

– Interval –

Tan Dun Choral Concerto: Nine* [20']

BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9: Ode to Joy [abridged] [10']

*Australian premiere of an MSO Co-commission

For a list of musicians performing in this concert, please visit mso.com.au/musicians

Duration: 1 hour and 40 minuetes including interval. Timings listed are approximate. East meets West is supported by the Li Family Trust.

TAN DUN CONDUCTOR

The world-renowned artist and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador, Tan Dun, has made an indelible mark on the world’s music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical music, multimedia performance, and Eastern and Western traditions. He is a winner of prestigious honors including the Grammy Award, Oscar/Academy Award, Grawemeyer Award, Bach Prize, Shostakovich Award, and most recently Italy’s Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Tan Dun is an Artistic Ambassador of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and serves as the Honorary Artistic Director of the China National Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor at Shenzhen Symphony, and Honorary Artistic Director and Chief Guest Conductor of the Xi´an Symphony Orchestra.

Tan Dun’s music has been played throughout the world; his first Internet Symphony, which was commissioned by Google/YouTube, has reached over 23 million people online. Most recently, Tan Dun premiered his new oratorio epic Buddha Passion, cocommissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Festival.

Tan Dun’s music is published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and represented worldwide by the Music Sales Group of Classical Companies.

LU SIQING VIOLIN

Born in Qingdao, China, Lu Siqing was invited by Yehudi Menuhin to study at his school in London aged 11. In 1984 he returned to China and five years later went to Juilliard to study with Dorothy DeLay. In 1987 he was the first Asian to win First Prize at Italy’s Paganini International Violin Competition.

Lu Siqing has performed at some of the world’s most famous concert halls in more than 40 countries. He has released more than 20 CDs, performed with leading orchestras such as the Philharmonia and San Francisco Symphony, and collaborated with conductors such as Maazel, Gergiev, Ashkenazy, van Zweden, Slatkin and Yu Long. In 2012, he formed the China Trio with cellist Li-Wei Qin and pianist Yingdi Sun. He plays on a 1734 ex-Ricci Guarneri del Gesu violin, graciously loaned to him by Mr. J Zhou.

“Lu played with an intensely bright and biting tone that soared over the orchestral texture with impressive power.” (The Age)

MSO CHORUS

For more than 50 years the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus has been the unstinting voice of the Orchestra’s choral repertoire. The MSO Chorus sings with the finest conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardner, Mark Wigglesworth, Bernard Labadie, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Manfred Honeck, Xian Zhang and Nodoko Okisawa, and is committed to developing and performing new Australian and international choral repertoire.

Commissions include Brett Dean’s Katz und Spatz, Ross Edwards’ Mountain Chant, and Paul Stanhope’s Exile Lamentations. Recordings by the MSO Chorus have received critical acclaim. It has performed across Brazil and at the Cultura Inglese Festival in Sao Paolo, with The Australian Ballet, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, at the AFL Grand Final and at the Anzac Day commemorative ceremonies.

The MSO Chorus is always welcoming new members. If you would like to audition, please visit mso.com.au/chorus for more information.

WARREN TREVELYAN-JONES CHORUS

DIRECTOR

Warren Trevelyan-Jones is regarded as one of the leading choral conductors and choir trainers in Australia. He is Head of Music at St James’, King Street, Sydney, a position he has held since relocating to Australia in 2008. Under his leadership, The Choir of St James’ has gained a highprofile international reputation through its regular choral services, orchestral masses, concert series and a regular program of recording and both interstate and international touring.

Warren has had an extensive singing career as a soloist and ensemble singer in Europe, including nine years in the Choir of Westminster Abbey and regular work with the Gabrieli Consort, Collegium Vocale (Ghent), the Taverner Consort, The Kings Consort, Dunedin Consort, The Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars.

He is also a co-founder of The Consort of Melbourne and, in 2001 with Dr Michael Noone, founded the ‘Gramophone’ award-winning group Ensemble Plus Ultra. In September 2017 he was appointed Chorus Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and has recently been appointed Chorus Master of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. He is also an experienced singing teacher and qualified music therapist.

MSO CHORUS PERFORMING IN THIS CONCERT

SOPRANO

Shirin Albert

Julie Arblaster

Giselle Baulch

Jillian Colrain

Catherine Folley

Susan Fone

Nicole Free

Karina Gough

Penny Huggett

Gina Humphries

Tania Jacobs

Gwen Kennelly

Ingrid Kirchner

Natasha Lambie

Charlene Li

Judy Longbottom

Caitlin Noble

Julie O’Reilly

Amanda Powell

Danielle Rosenfeld-Lovell

Julienne Seal

Jemima Sim

Fiona Steffensen

Tracey Thorpe

Emma Wise

Channery Zhang

ALTO

Emma Anvari

Margaret Arnold

Tes Benton

Catherine Bickell

Kate Bramley

Jacqueline Cheng

Alexandra Chubaty

Juliarna Clark

Andrea Clifford-Jones

Nicola Eveleigh

Dionysia Evitaputri

Lisa Faulks

Jill Giese

Debbie Griffiths

Sophia Gyger

Ros Harbison

Jennifer Henry

Kristine Hensel

Helen Hill

Yvonne Ho

Helen MacLean

Christina McCowan

Nicole Paterson

Tormey Reimer

Kate Rice

Kerry Roulston

Libby Timcke

TENOR

James Allen

Adam Birch

Kent Borchard

Steve Burnett

Allan Chiang

James Dal-Ben

Jose Diaz

James Dipnall

Simon Gaites

Lyndon Horsburgh

Michael Mobach

Jean-Francois Ravat

Cameron Tait

Elliott Westbury

Stephen Wood

BASS

Kevin Barrell

Tharanga Basnayake

Roger Dargaville

Simon Evans

Elliott Gyger

Andrew Ham

Andrew Hibbard

Gary Levy

Douglas McQueenThomson

Vern O’Hara

Caleb Triscari

Maciek Zielinski

PROGRAM NOTES

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)

The Creatures of Prometheus: Overture

Beethoven’s only ballet music was written for a ‘heroic and allegorical’ ballet conceived by the Italian dancer Salvatore Viganò, and produced in Vienna in 1800. The story combines the myth of Prometheus, who snatched fire from the sky, with that of Pygmalion, the sculptor whose statue came to life. Prometheus uses the fire to fashion two statues, a man and a woman, from clay; but they resist all his efforts to make them human, stubbornly remaining as inert as vegetables. Disappointed, he is about to destroy his handiwork when the god Pan persuades him to lead them to Mount Parnassus, where they are educated by Apollo, Orpheus and the Muses. Acquiring the ability to think and feel, they begin to appreciate the beauty of nature and the civilising influences of music, comedy, tragedy and dance.

Beethoven didn’t think too highly of Viganò’s efforts—he wrote to a publisher: ‘I have written a ballet, in which, however, the ballet master has not made the most of his part’. At any rate, Beethoven wrote no more ballet music. Perhaps he felt that Viganò had not put sufficient emphasis on Prometheus’ rebellious, heroic character, and his sufferings which were the price of the good he did for mankind.

From the first notes of the Overture, in which Beethoven commands his audience’s attention by the tonal ambiguity of a discord leading out of the main key, the music is passionate and noble. The youthful energy of the composer, well suited to the ballet’s theme, is apparent in the dashing and

often brilliant orchestral writing. An oboe leads into the first Allegro subject, which contrasts with a delicately syncopated second subject. Both themes can be found later in the ballet.

The Adagio (No.5 in B flat) is the second item in Act II. Although exact details of the staging have been lost, it is assumed that this number represented Orpheus teaching the creations about the delights of music. It is one of the few extant examples of Beethoven’s writing for the harp. A change of tempo (Andante quasi allegretto) into a Siciliano-style section is heralded by a short cello cadenza.

In Beethoven’s mind, the character of Prometheus was identified with the young Napoleon, the defender of ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’. In the Finale of the ballet, a theme which could almost be called the refrain of Beethoven’s young manhood makes an early appearance. It is a theme associated with heroism, and here treated as a basis for variations, as it was to be in the Variations for piano Op.35, and most memorably and magically exalted, in the finale of the ‘Eroica’ Symphony, originally dedicated to Napoleon. In this last number, presumably, the statues thank Prometheus and his assistants—there is a final solemn moment for winds, and then a quicker, joyful coda.

Adapted from a note by David Garrett

TAN DUN

Hero Concerto for violin

Soloist

Lu Siqing violin

Program notes for this work were not available at time of printing.

TAN DUN

Choral Concerto: Nine

I. Nine

II. Wine

III. Time

The composer writes:

At the very beginning of Ode to Joy, when I listen to Schiller’s words, he proclaims all people are brothers and all creatures are together in this one world. Chinese philosophers Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, from 2500 years ago, also said that very same thing and felt the same way. Thus, I felt a deep connection between Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Chinese philosophy.

Thus, my work seeks out different poets from different worlds and different points in history to form my work. I used the poetry of Qu Yuan, perhaps some of the earliest ritual opera from 2400 years ago, where the music has been lost but, the words remain. In my imaginings, I try to replace the music to this ancient poetry and lyric, bringing back what has vanished. Another poet I turned to is Li Bai, from 1300 years ago. His poetry is so beautiful about nature—describing the company of the moon amongst the shadows.

Human beings and nature have a deep connection and I have always been fascinated by it. The love making between the shadows, human beings and the moon. I also use some words from Schiller and quote Beethoven’s renowned Ode to Joy—to the creatures of nature, creatures of love and creatures of our own mind.

However, throughout the work, many of the words that the chorus sings and chants are empty words. Some from Taoist and Buddhist traditions and some simply nonsense words. “Empty” means everything. Nothing exists in an enduring manner. Thus, I find it very interesting to use the “emptiness” to represent “everything”. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony reflects who we are as human beings and thus, to fulfill the shapeless space and compliment the greatest sound is in silence. That is why I thought maybe using empty words from the chorus or the gesture of vocalising to sing the choral concerto might be an interesting parallel to Beethoven.

In the last movement, I ask myself why do we exist among the stone, among all kinds of nature? Is it not for peace? Why do we have to live? We all want to live the same way, which in my third movement Time, I hope to portray our responsibility to live in peace with nature and create peace amongst ourselves.

© Tan Dun 2024

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Symphony No.9 in D Minor, Op.125: Finale (excerpts)

On 7 May 1824, Beethoven summoned Vienna’s leading musicians in the Kärnthnerthor Theatre to give the premiere of the Ninth Symphony. Profoundly deaf, Beethoven was long past being able to conduct, but stood beside the leaders, indicating the speeds. At the end, he was unaware of the applause, so that the contralto soloist had to turn him around, producing ‘a volcanic explosion of sympathy and admiration that seemed it would never end’. The applause was probably more for the composer than the performance. Two rehearsals were insufficient to prepare the most difficult orchestral piece the musicians had ever encountered.

Everyone in the first Vienna audience in May 1824 must have known that something extraordinary was about to take place. Certainly, the London press intimated in advance of the British premiere a year later: ‘In the last movement is introduced a song!— Schiller’s famous Ode to Joy—which forms a most extraordinary contrast with the whole, and is calculated to excite surprise, certainly, and perhaps admiration.’ But why did Beethoven take the unprecedented step of fitting out an instrumental symphony with a vocal finale? He had toyed with two distinct plans for a symphony with added chorus. In 1818, he made very preliminary notes for a ‘symphony in ancient modes’ on ancient Greek religious themes, including a choral adagio. But by 1822, he was sketching a ‘German symphony’, with chorus singing Schiller’s To Joy, though to an entirely different tune.

To Adolph Bernhard Marx—the early 19th-century music historian whose writings helped enshrine Beethoven

as ‘supreme master’ and Germany as centre of the ‘cult of music’— Beethoven’s earlier symphonies had suggested that instrumental music could be even more eloquent than words. Yet finally, Marx believed, Beethoven showed that this was not so: ‘Having devoted his life to instrumental sounds, he once again summons his forces for his boldest, most gigantic effort. But behold!—unreal instrumental voices no longer satisfy him, and he is drawn irresistibly back to the human voice.’

BEETHOVEN & MENDELSSOHN

19 SEPTEMBER

MELBOURNE TOWN HALL

ARTISTS

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Umberto Clerici conductor

Satu Vänskä violin

PROGRAM

ROSSINI La Scala di Seta: Overture [6']

BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto [42']

– Interval –

MENDELSSOHN Symphony No.3 Scottish [40']

CONCERT EVENTS

ORGAN RECITAL

15 August at 6.30pm at Melbourne Town Hall.

Arrive early to enjoy a recital performed by Calvin Bowman on the mighty Grand Organ, free for ticket holders.

MENDELSSOHN Sonata III Op.65 No.3

MENDELSSOHN (arr. A.F. Delmar) Ruy Blas: Overture

For a list of musicians performing in this concert, please visit mso.com.au/musicians

Duration: 2 hours including interval. Timings listed are approximate.

UMBERTO CLERICI CONDUCTOR

After a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist and orchestral musician, Umberto Clerici is now widely regarded as an acclaimed conductor.

After serving as Principal Cello of the Teatro Regio di Torino, Umberto was Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2021. In 2018, he made his conducting debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the 2024 season will mark Clerici’s second as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, Umberto also returns to the Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, together with a three-week series with the Sydney Symphony for ‘Symphony Hour’ that Umberto himself has curated. Other recent highlights include his debut with the Tasmania Symphony and a hugely successful debut in opera conducting Verdi’s Macbeth with Opera Queensland.

Upcoming European conducting engagements in early 2024 include Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Steven Isserlis for the Volksoper Vienna, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo in Palermo and Orchestra Regionale Toscana.

Umberto plays cellos by Matteo Goffriller (made in 1722, Venezia) and Carlo Antonio Testore (made in 1758, Milano).

SATU VÄNSKÄ VIOLIN

Satu Vänskä has developed an international profile as Principal Violin with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, a position that she has held for the past twenty years. As a soloist, Satu has performed with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Centre and as part of Tasmania’s Mona Foma festival. Satu has performed with London’s Aurora Orchestra in the 2018 London season of Weimar Cabaret with the late Barry Humphries, the Arctic Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti and at Slovenia’s Festival Maribor.

Satu is the founder, curator, front-woman, violinist and vocalist of the critically acclaimed ACO Underground, the ACO’s electro-infused, experimental spin-off project. With ACO Underground, Satu has performed collaborations with artists including Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie and the Violent Femmes’ Brian Ritchie in venues ranging from New York’s Le Poisson Rouge to Sydney’s Phoenix Central Park.

Satu studied with Pertti Sutinen at the Lahti Conservatorium and the Sibelius Academy, and later at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich with Ana Chumachenco.

Satu performs on the 1728/29 Stradivarius violin on loan from the ACO Instrument Fund.

PROGRAM NOTES

GIOACHINO ROSSINI

(1792–1868)

La Scala di Seta: Overture

La Scala di Seta was one of Rossini’s earliest operas. Based upon a French farce of the same name, it was written in 1812 for the Venetian theatre San Moisè. Although the libretto was strongly criticised because of an alleged resemblance to another famous opera (Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage), the music was favourably received by the public.

Three rushing bars of allegro vivace lead into a slow introduction, and thereafter the overture follows the simplest possible construction, based on three main themes. The first theme is given to the strings, the second to flutes and clarinets, and the third to the oboes.

Rossini’s aim, in his overtures, was to provide the public with a piece of orchestral music to put them in a good mood, excited and ready for what was to follow. Electrified, they were pre-disposed to the sheer physical enjoyment of sound. Thus the composer declared from the start that he was in charge of proceedings. The Rossini overture has been called ‘a musical visiting-card’.

Rossini’s trademarks, in his overtures, are the reduction to musical essentials: rhythm, treated as an enlivening musical mechanism; and a simple structure of slow introduction, first and second subject, recapitulation and coda. Then there is his love of sheer noise, achieved by brilliantly skillful orchestral means. This was essential if the attention of the public was to be captured, as they went about the talkative business of attending the opera house, which was

meeting-place, casino, refreshment bar and theatre all rolled into one. Overtures almost always featured the famous ‘Rossini crescendo’, the piling up of instruments and volume.

© David Garrett

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

(1770–1827)

Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61

I. Allegro ma non troppo

II. Larghetto –

III. Rondo (Allegro)

Soloist

Satu Vänskä violin

In December 1806, Johann Nepomuk Möser reviewed a concert for the Wiener Theaterzeitung at which ‘the excellent Klement’, leader of the orchestra at the Theater an der Wien, ‘also played, besides other beautiful pieces, a Violin Concerto by Beethhofen’. Möser went on to note that the ‘experts’ were unanimous, ‘allowing it many beauties, but recognising that its scheme often seems confused and that the unending repetitions of certain commonplace events could easily prove wearisome’. It is hard to imagine how the critics back then got it so wrong and why there was only one other documented performance during Beethoven’s life. (It was not until Joseph Joachim took the piece up in 1844, that it gained any currency at all.) Beethoven himself may have felt that the work had no future, as he made a version for piano and orchestra for the pianist, composer and publisher Muzio Clementi soon after the premiere. These include written-out cadenzas with timpani accompaniment which form the basis for Christian Tetzlaff’s own.

Beethoven had been working at tremendous speed in the latter half of 1806. Having finally completed the first

version of his opera Fidelio he then in quick succession composed the Fourth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, the three ‘Razumovsky’ string quartets, the Violin Concerto and one or two other things before the end of the year.

The early years of the 19th century, Beethoven’s ‘heroic decade’, saw works that dramatise titanic struggles and epic victories on a scale unimagined by previous composers. This may reflect Beethoven’s own heroic response to the deafness which began to hamper his professional and personal life at the time; it may also reflect radical upheavals in European society: Napoleon’s armies occupied Vienna three times in the course of the decade. But the period also produced works of great serenity such as the Violin Concerto. Still large-scale works, their emotional worlds are far from the violent tensions of the odd-numbered symphonies.

Beethoven had toyed with and abandoned a Violin Concerto in the early 1790s. By the time of the D major work, however, he had composed nine of his ten sonatas for piano and violin. From the 1802 Op.30 set on, he invested these with the same complexity of emotion and expanded scale that we have noted in the symphonies and string quartets. But Beethoven’s interest in the concerto medium was, until 1806, primarily in composing works for himself as soloist—the first four piano concertos; after that time his hearing loss made concerto playing too risky. At one remove, as it were, in this work he could concentrate on the problem of reconciling the principles of symphonic composition—which stress dramatic contention and ultimate integration of contrasting thematic material—and concerto composition, which adds the complication of pitting the individual against the mass.

In the Violin Concerto Beethoven uses a number of gambits to bring about this synthesis. As in several works of this period, the Violin Concerto often makes music out of next to no material: the opening gesture of five drum taps, for instance, seemingly blank at the start, returns several times during the movement, most strikingly when the main material is recapitulated: there the whole orchestra takes up the motif. Similarly, the larghetto slow movement has been famously described by Donald Tovey as an example of ‘sublime inaction’—nothing seems to be happening, though in fact subtle changes and variations of material stop the piece from becoming monotonous. The seemingly improvised transition into the last movement dramatises the gradual change from that immobility to the release of energy in the finale. Throughout the work Beethoven expertly creates and frustrates our expectations: the soloist only enters after a fully symphonic introduction, and only then with an ornamental flourish, rather than any thematic material. The beautiful second theme is, as Maynard Solomon notes, perfectly composed to exploit the richness of the lowest string of the instrument, but the soloist only gets that theme at the movement’s end. This large-scale plotting of the work allowed Beethoven to expand the dimensions of the violin concerto beyond all ‘classical’ expectations, and lay the foundation for the great concertos of Brahms and Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius.

FELIX MENDELSSOHN

(1809–47)

Symphony No.3 in A minor, Op. 56

Scottish

I. Andante con moto – Allegro un poco agitato – Andante con moto –

II. Vivace non troppo

III. Adagio – Allegro vivacissimo –Allegro, maestoso assai

Mendelssohn’s ‘Scottish’ Symphony contains neither the clear narrative of the Arnold work, nor the Caledonian set-pieces of the MacCunn. Despite its occasional references to Scottish folksong, its claims to Scotland lie less in direct musical example than in a pervading mood of melancholy and resignation.

In 1829, Mendelssohn left for a four year Grand Tour of Europe and the British Isles, encouraged by his parents to ‘broaden his mind.’ Such a tour was a fashionable Romantic gesture; his letters home indicate that he took his mindexpanding duties very seriously indeed.

His tour of Scotland inspired at least two pieces indispensable to the symphonic repertoire. After a visit to the Isle of Mull he wrote to his parents that ‘in order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides have affected me, I have written the following which came into my mind.’ Enclosed was the first 20 bars of The Hebrides overture, more revealing than any letter. Later that same trip he visited Holyrood, the former palace of Mary, Queen of Scots. ‘I believe I have found the beginning of my Scottish Symphony,’ he wrote.

A trip to Italy appears to have dispelled the mood; Mendelssohn did not complete the Symphony for another 12 years, making it the last of the five symphonies. Even then, its nationalistic flavour was not entirely clear to all

listeners. Schumann wrote, somewhat breathlessly, that it was ‘so beautiful as to compensate a listener who has never been in Italy [sic].’

The ‘Scottish’ Symphony is perhaps more interesting for its innovation of structure than for its local details. The principal sections run straight through, and contain enough motivic relation to qualify, almost, as thematic transformation. The opening movement is a melancholy Allegro poco agitato, framed by an elegaic Andante, and of a clear thematic relationship. The movement is punctuated by moments of high drama, and rarely strays from the minor, maintaining a mood of resignation. The second movement is a quicksilver Mendelssohn Scherzo, with the clearest Scottish references of the symphony. A rustic clarinet melody gives way to a rhythmic dance tune. The next movement is restlessly lyrical, and becomes more and more embellished, while the finale provides an energetic conclusion, again replete with dance tunes. A melancholy coda reminds us of the beginning, before a rousing and exciting close. The piece was premiered in Leipzig, in 1842, and permission was granted later that year for its dedication to Queen Victoria, a fervent admirer of the composer. There is a spaciousness and melancholy that is indeed reminiscent of Mendelssohn’s description of Holyrood: ‘Everything is ruined, decayed and open to the sky.’

Like each of the other composers on tonight’s programme—an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Scotsman— Mendelssohn has his own Scotland. It is a place of the imagination: neither humorous, colouristic nor pastoral, but in his case, deeply moving.

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Sarah Bullen

Peter A Caldwell

Luci and Ron Chambers

Sandra Dent

Sophie E Dougall in memory of Libby Harold

Lyn Edward

Alan Egan JP

Gunta Eglite

Marguerite Garnon-Williams

Dr Clem Gruen and Dr Rhyl Wade

Louis J Hamon OAM

Charles Hardman and Julianne Bambacas

Carol Hay

Dr Jennifer Henry

Graham Hogarth

Rod Home

Lyndon Horsburgh

Katherine Horwood

Tony Howe

Lindsay and Michael Jacombs

Laurence O'Keefe and Christopher James

John Jones

Merv Keehn and Sue Harlow

Drs Bruce and Natalie Kellett

Bryan Lawrence

Pauline and David Lawton

Robyn and Maurice Lichter

David R Lloyd

Mimie MacLaren

Christopher Menz and Peter Rose

Cameron Mowat

David Orr

Matthew O’Sullivan

Rosia Pasteur

Penny Rawlins

Margaret Riches

Christopher Menz and Peter Rose

Neil Roussac

Anne Roussac-Hoyne

Marie Rowland

Fred and Patricia Russell

Mr Michael Ryan and Ms Wendy Mead

Anne Kieni Serpell and Andrew Serpell

Jennifer Shepherd

Suzette Sherazee

John E Smith

HMA Foundation

Professors Gabriela and George Stephenson

Pamela Swansson

Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman

Frank and Miriam Tisher

Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock

Christina Turner

P & E Turner

Michael Ullmer AO

The Hon Rosemary Varty

Francis Vergona

Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman

Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher

Robert Weiss

Terry Wills Cooke OAM and the late Marian Wills Cooke

Mark Young

Anonymous (18)

The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Estates:

Norma Ruth Atwell

Angela Beagley

Barbara Bobbe

Michael Francois Boyt

Christine Mary Bridgart

Margaret Anne Brien

Ken Bullen

Deidre and Malcolm Carkeek

The Cuming Bequest

Margaret Davies

Blair Doig Dixon

Neilma Gantner

Angela Felicity Glover

The Hon Dr Alan Goldberg AO QC

Derek John Grantham

Delina Victoria Schembri-Hardy

Enid Florence Hookey

Gwen Hunt

Family and Friends of James Jacoby

Audrey Jenkins

Joan Jones

Pauline Marie Johnston

Christine Mary Kellam

C P Kemp

Jennifer Selina Laurent

Sylvia Rose Lavelle

Peter Forbes MacLaren

Joan Winsome Maslen

Lorraine Maxine Meldrum

Prof Andrew McCredie

Jean Moore

Joan P Robinson

Maxwell and Jill Schultz

Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE

Marion A I H M Spence

Molly Stephens

Gwennyth St John

Halinka Tarczynska-Fiddian

Jennifer May Teague

Elisabeth Turner

Albert Henry Ullin

Jean Tweedie

Herta and Fred B Vogel

Dorothy Wood

Joyce Winsome Woodroffe

COMMISSIONING CIRCLE

Cecilie Hall and the Late Hon Michael Watt KC

Tim and Lyn Edward

Weis Family

FIRST NATIONS CIRCLE

John and Lorraine Bates

Equity Trustees

Colin Golvan AM KC and Dr Deborah Golvan

Elizabeth Proust AO and Brian Lawrence

Guy Ross

The Sage Foundation

Michael Ullmer AO and Jenny Ullmer

ADOPT A MUSICIAN

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson

Peter Edwards

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan

Roger Young

Andrew Dudgeon AM

Rohan de Korte, Philippa West

Tim and Lyn Edward

John Arcaro

Dr John and Diana Frew

Rosie Turner

Dr Mary-Jane Gething AO

Monica Curro

The Gross Foundation

Matthew Tomkins

Dr Clem Gruen and Dr Rhyl Wade

Robert Cossom

Jean Hadges

Prudence Davis

Cecilie Hall

Patrick Wong

Cecilie Hall and the late Hon Michael Watt KC

Saul Lewis

The Hanlon Foundation

Abbey Edlin

David Horowicz

Anne Marie Johnson

Dr Harry Imber

Sarah Curro, Jack Schiller

Margaret Jackson AC

Nicolas Fleury

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio

Elina Fashki, Benjamin Hanlon, Tair Khisambeev, Christopher Moore

Peter T Kempen AM

Rebecca Proietto

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher

Craig Hill

Professor Gary McPherson

Rachel Shaw

Anne Neil

Eleanor Mancini

Newton Family in memory of Rae Rothfield

Cong Gu

Patricia Nilsson

Natasha Thomas

Andrew and Judy Rogers

Michelle Wood

Glenn Sedgwick

Tiffany Cheng, Shane Hooton

Anonymous

Rachael Tobin

HONORARY APPOINTMENTS

Life Members

John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel AC

Jean Hadges

Sir Elton John CBE

Lady Primrose Potter AC CMRI

Jeanne Pratt AC

Lady Marigold Southey AC

Michael Ullmer AO and Jenny Ullmer

MSO Ambassador

Geoffrey Rush AC

The MSO honours the memory of Life Members

The late Marc Besen AC and the late Eva Besen AO

John Brockman OAM

The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC

Harold Mitchell AC

Roger Riordan AM

Ila Vanrenen

MSO ARTISTIC FAMILY

Jaime Martín

Chief Conductor

Benjamin Northey

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor –Learning and Engagement

Leonard Weiss CF Cybec Assistant Conductor

Sir Andrew Davis CBE †

Conductor Laureate (2013–2024)

Hiroyuki Iwaki †

Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)

Warren Trevelyan-Jones

MSO Chorus Director

Erin Helyard

Artist in Residence

Karen Kyriakou

Artist in Residence, Learning and Engagement

Christian Li

Young Artist in Association

Katy Abbott Composer in Residence

Naomi Dodd

Cybec Young Composer in Residence

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO

First Nations Creative Chair

Artistic Ambassadors

Xian Zhang

Lu Siqing

Tan Dun

MSO

BOARD

Chairman

David Li AM

Co-Deputy Chairs

Margaret Jackson AC Di Jameson OAM

Board Directors

Shane Buggle

Andrew Dudgeon AM

Martin Foley

Lorraine Hook

Gary McPherson

Farrel Meltzer

Edgar Myer

Mary Waldron

Company Secretary

Demetrio Zema

The MSO relies on your ongoing philanthropic support to sustain our artists, and support access, education, community engagement and more. We invite our supporters to get close to the MSO through a range of special events.

The MSO welcomes your support at any level. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible, and supporters are recognised as follows:

$500+ (Overture)

$1,000+ (Player)

$2,500+ (Associate)

$5,000+ (Principal)

$10,000+ (Maestro)

$20,000+ (Impresario)

$50,000+ (Virtuoso)

$100,000+ (Platinum)

Join a new generation of giving.

Welcome to Future MSO – an initiative for young philanthropists and music lovers to connect over exclusive opportunities, while supporting the careers of exceptional emerging musicians, conductors and composers at the MSO.

Your tax time donation of $1,000 reveals:

• A community of like-minded, culturally engaged young professionals.

• An annual calendar of events for you and a guest to connect with patrons, MSO musicians and guest artists.

• The inner world of the Orchestra with experiences that bring you closer to the music.

AMPLIFY YOUR IMPACT BY JOINING FUTURE MSO TODAY.