Meet four women at the helm of the MSO’s 2023 season.
The evolution of the unique East meets West program.
At Ryman, we believe the measure of a full life is one that gets richer with age.
A life where you can appreciate the little things. Rediscover lost passions and plunge headfirst into new ones.
Surround yourself with new people, best friends and close family.
Live with opportunities and experiences at your doorstep.
That’s why we’re creating communities that challenge the expectations of ageing, while bringing joy and meaning to every moment.
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Having sung Brahms and Bernstein on stages from Melbourne to Moscow, acclaimed Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg is coming home as MSO 2023 Soloist in Residence
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The London and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras’ landmark partnership stikes a creative chord
28 Heading East
Discover the forces behind the magnetic East meets West program as it celebrates 10 years
32 Women of Note
Meet four women taking the spotlight for the MSO’s 2023 season
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Natural Selection
From flowing water to the roar of thunder, the sounds of nature can be found in the deepest roots of music 42 Notes of Geelong Ahead of the 2023 Geelong series, learn about the city’s thriving cultural and food scene
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Acclaimed music educator Dr Anita Collins explores the question
Nikolaj Lund is a worldwide renowned photographer based in Copenhagen, Denmark, specialising in classical music. He has won multiple international awards and his work has been featured in magazines all over the world. Prior to becoming a full-time photographer in 2009, Nikolaj was a professional classical musician playing the cello. Nikolaj’s photos are regularly seen in solo exhibitions across Europe. You can see Nikolaj’s exquisite photos of cover star Siobhan Stagg on page 16.
Tess Durack is a Sydney-based freelance writer. Her work has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Elle and Galah, among others. Selfconfessed “classical curious”, she’s all out converted after interviewing Deborah Cheetham AO, Ingrid Martin, Mary Finsterer and Melissa Douglas for this issue (page 32). Happiest by the ocean or in the outback, Tess is working on her first book, a travel memoir, and booking tickets to Melbourne for her first-ever MSO concert.
Carmine Bellucci is an Italian artist and illustrator working and living in Padua, Italy. He attended the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Milan and graduated in Visual Arts. Afterwards he continued his studies attending the advanced course in Type Design at Politecnico in Milan. He paints whimsical and quirky worlds where everything can happen – shapes, colors, and a touch of nostalgic magic make his output unique, authentic and mesmerizing. You can see his work come alive in the illustration accompanying Is there such a thing as good and bad music? essay (page 46).
Dean Golja is a Melbournebased photographer who works between
the realms of art and portraiture photography. His work has featured in a host of Australia’s most prestigious photography awards including the Olive Cotton, National Photographic Portrait as well as the Bowness prize. He lectures at the renowned international art and design institute LCI and conducted the Women of Note (page 32) shoot at the Melbourne campus involving students in the experience of assisting, constructing and styling the sets. For this shoot, Dean had the privilege of working with the extraordinary composers Deborah Cheetham AO, Mary Finsterer, up and coming composer Melissa Douglas and conductor Ingrid Martin.
Kim Thomson is a writer based in Naarm/Melbourne. She has written on everything from music to the space industry for publications including The Australian and The Saturday Paper. She was also the founding editor of Swampland, an independent music magazine. You will find Kim’s words on page 22, where she spoke with the managing directors of the MSO and LSO for A Tale of Two Orchestras
Patricia Maunder has been a journalist since the 1990s, interviewing the likes of author Margaret Atwood, soprano Renée Fleming and the MSO’s own Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis. Her arts writing has appeared in publications such as Limelight magazine, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and the UK’s Opera magazine. Patricia is Melbourne born and bred, but left part of her heart in Montréal, the city she called home for four years. She wrote this issue’s Heading East story (page 28).
It is our pleasure to share this latest edition of Encore magazine with you. We are brimming with optimism, enthusiasm and excitement as the MSO opens new doors, unlocks new relationships and delivers – as always – magical musical experiences in 2023.
Just as we are building towards an unprecedented year on and off the stage, Encore is stretching its editorial wings beyond our shores to put a spotlight on one of our most exciting projects to date: the MSO’s landmark partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Much hard work has been invested in building this relationship, and it is a pleasure to share this story with you, not only from our perspective, but also from the LSO’s, through their Managing Director, Kathryn McDowell CBE DL. We look forward to welcoming the LSO to Melbourne in May – I hope you can join us.
It’s also a joy to share with you a profile on our 2023 Soloist in Residence, Siobhan Stagg, who will join us on stage in February and March, as well as some of the other groundbreaking women performing with and composing for the MSO this year. And we invite you to travel down the road with us to Geelong, where a passionate audience has welcomed our Orchestra and enjoyed our music for many decades.
We are excited to be sharing this edition of Encore with more of the MSO community than ever before. To those reading the magazine for the first time, I hope the stories and insights you uncover in these pages deepen your love of our wonderful Orchestra. To those who have been with Encore since the beginning, welcome back, and happy reading.
The MSO respectfully acknowledges the people of the Eastern Kulin Nations as the Traditional Custodians of the unceded land on which we work. We acknowledge Elders past, present and emerging and honour the world’s oldest continuing music practice.
We are proud to collaborate with The Torch to present this beautiful artwork to accompany our Acknowledgement of Country. The Torch is a not-for-profit organisation that provides art, cultural and arts industry support to Indigenous offenders and exoffenders in Victoria. This work, called Bunjil Dreaming, was created by Taungurung/ Boon Wurrung woman Stacey, who says of the work: “Bunjil is the Creator. This is a spirit that physically takes the form of a wedge-tailed eagle and is a star in the sky at night.” Stacey has traditional connections to the Melbourne region. In 2013, she started working at the Koorie Heritage Trust where she met an Elder who helped her with her family connections. “The Elder told me that I am Taungurung/Boon Wurrung. Since that day, I don’t paint dots anymore. My inspiration is the beautiful designs and patterns from traditional artefacts of my ancestors. Painting diamonds is healing for me.”
Stacey (Taungurung/Boon Wurrung), “Bunjil Dreaming” 2020, acrylic on canvas
In the 1970s, KISS was one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Their distinct brand of theatrical glam-rock, epitomised by that iconic face paint, catapulted them to both fame and fortune, with more than 100 million record sales and a slot in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They endured for decades too, but after their global Farewell Tour in 2001-02, local fans had resigned themselves to the thought that they’d never see the rock legends perform again – until the promise of a world-first concert experience with the MSO lured KISS back Down Under in 2003. For the KISS Symphony concert in February of that year, many members of the 60-piece orchestra completely embraced the experience, KISS-esque make-up and all: “You’ve got 55-year-old musicians, who you have never seen really doing anything out of the ordinary, jumping up and down on the stage, sticking their tongues out pretending to be rock-and-roll stars,” percussionist John Arcaro said of the experience. More than 30,000 people crammed into what was then the Telstra Dome (now Marvel Stadium) to witness the Orchestra embrace the one-of-a-kind experience. “We got to live our superstar fantasies,” then Assistant Principal Double Bass Sylvia Hosking said. “We felt like rockstars.”
Our Oboist tackles the Proust Questionnaire … and reveals that she’d like to be (a) taller and (b) an amazing ballroom dancer.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Being totally content in the moment with where you are, what you are doing and who you are with. What is your greatest fear? I keep having these nightmares that I’m late for a concert – it’s already started and I can’t find my concert gear. I often wake up quite frazzled because it feels so real.
Which living person do you most admire? My mum. She’s the most generous and selfless person I know. What is your greatest extravagance? I love clothes and fashion.
What is your current state of mind? Excited, stimulated and challenged. Excited to have recently bought our own house, stimulated by working with our new chief conductor, and challenged by my role as President of the Players’ Committee. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? None. I think all virtues are important.
On what occasion do you lie? Never. Honesty is one of the things I admire most in others and demand of myself. What is the quality you most like in a person? Integrity. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Probably “Hello gorgeous” every time I see my dog.
What or who is the greatest love of your life My partner Robert and our four-year-old groodle, Indie.
When and where were you happiest? In June 2021, we went to Thailand. I travelled on a motorbike with Robert through the rainforest and small villages, did a boat cruise and relaxed by the pool. It was balmy, peaceful and restorative.
Which talent would you most like to have? I’d love to be an amazing ballroom dancer.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I’d like to be a bit taller.
What do you consider your greatest achievement? Winning a job in the MSO.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? Definitely a dog. They never overthink anything, they always live in the moment, and never have to cook or clean.
Where would you most like to live? The Sunshine Coast, to be closer to family and warm weather.
What is your most treasured possession? My oboe. If there was a fire, it would be the first thing I’d run for.
What is your most treasured possession? My oboe. If there was a fire, it would be the first thing I’d run for.
What is your most marked characteristic? If you asked Robert, he would say focused and determined. What other instrument do you wish you could play? Guitar. I love that you can take it anywhere and sing along to it. Also, you don’t need a reed.
Who are your heroes in real life? The doctors from Médecins Sans Frontières who risk their lives every day to help others. What is it that you most dislike? Greed. I believe it causes most of the world’s problems. How would you like to die? Hopefully fast!
What is your motto? I love this quote from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, “You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go.”
*position supported by The Rosemary Norman Foundation
Help us deliver an annual Season of musical magic, engage world-renowned artists, and nurture the future of Australian orchestral music by becoming an MSO Patron. Through an annual gift of $500 or more, you can join a group of like-minded music-lovers and enhance your MSO experience. Be the rst to hear news from the MSO and enjoy exclusive MSO Patron activities, including behindthe-scenes access, special Patron pre-sales, and events with MSO musicians and guest artists.
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PORTRAIT OF A PATRONFor MSO patron Jenny Anderson, receiving a revolutionary hearing implant in 2003 opened up a wider world of music than she had ever known.
Photography DANIEL MAHONJenny Anderson is known by many MSO musicians and staff as the “Front Row Lady”. But what most of them don’t realise is that Anderson prefers to sit in the front row not only because she loves the feeling of connecting with the Orchestra, but also because of her hearing loss.
Operations are supposed to fix things, not make them worse. Unfortunately for Anderson, multiple operations were required during her childhood and adult years to address the persistent ear infections that were destroying her middle ears. These actually resulted in further hearing loss.
Constant infections also meant she couldn’t wear hearing aids until her mid-teens. “When I was younger, I was just struggling to communicate,” she says. “I didn’t really have the time to invest in discovering my passion for music and things like that. That would come later when I was able to use hearing aids and eventually have a hearing implant.”
Anderson had been exposed to ballet and ballet music at an early age, as her mother had been a ballet dancer. When she finally had the time and ability to concentrate on music as an adult, Anderson’s love for symphony orchestras and operas began to bloom.
Then, winning an award at IBM where she worked for 40 years, tipped her headlong into the world of orchestral music. “I was given a special award for the work I had done on a project, and it was a $500 voucher to be spent in any way,” she recalls. “I had been getting more and more interested in symphony music, so I thought, ‘I’ll see how much it costs to get a subscription to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.’ It was $500. So, I took out my first subscription in 1997.” She has purchased an annual subscription ever since.
In 2003, at aged 53, she was offered a Cochlear Baha (boneanchored hearing aid), which is attached to her skull by a titanium implant and transfers sound through vibrations – revolutionary technology at the time.
How did she test it? At a live concert, of course. “It was a large MSO performance,” she remembers. “I was very aware of some of
the instruments that I hadn’t heard before, and the sound was bigger and broader.” Subsequent upgrades of her Baha have continued to enhance her hearing experience, as the technology evolves.
From there, her love for classical music and opera only grew, and now, at 72, Anderson is on a mission to ensure others can appreciate music the same way she does. She considers philanthropy the best way to do this. To this end, she set up bequests with the MSO and other Victorian music institutions before she retired. (She’s also been the MSO Volunteers Co-ordinator since 2016.)
Her hope is that other people, particularly children, will be exposed to, and understand the value of, music and its emotive power – something she didn’t get to fully experience as a child.
“Music has an enormous benefit for all children,” she says. “It stimulates the brain and stimulates the emotions … I think it’s an important aspect of childhood.” ■
“I was very aware of some of the instruments that I hadn’t heard before, and the sound was bigger and broader.”
In one of the biggest coups of the year, Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra return to Australia for the first time together, and will hit the Hamer Hall stage in May. Part of a three-city Australian tour, the MSO will present the LSO for two performances – the first featuring John Adams’ Harmonielehre, Debussy’s La mer and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe Suite No.2; the second featuring Mahler’s Symphony No.7 – as well as an intimate conversation with Sir Simon himself. ▪ London Symphony Orchestra: Adams, Debussy and Ravel, Friday 5 May; London Symphony Orchestra: Mahler 7, Saturday 6 May, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. ▪ Sir Simon Rattle in Conversation, Thursday 4 May, Iwaki Auditorium (In Conversation tickets $30).
Highlights of what’s coming up in the first half of 2023.
Arguably the most recognisable Disney franchise of the 21st century, Frozen will receive the MSO treatment in June when the Orchestra performs the film live in concert.
Frozen celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023, with the score – by Christophe Beck, and songs by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez – sure to have the young (and young at heart) singing along.
Frozen in Concert, Saturday 17 June, 1pm and 7pm, Plenary, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Europe, 1918-19. A period of time when the careers of some of the world’s most illustrious orchestral
composers crossed over, and one that will be celebrated at Hamer Hall under the baton of MSO Principal Conductor in Residence, Benjamin Northey.
Elgar’s Cello Concerto sits at the centre of this specially curated program, performed by internationally acclaimed Australian cellist Li-Wei Qin. Ravel’s La Valse also features, the work often being interpreted as an allegory of Europe before, during and after WWI. Works by Prokofiev and Lili Boulanger round out the program, showcasing the music that was created during this turbulent period.
A Snapshot in Time: Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Thursday 1 and Saturday 3 June, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne.
The MSO has performed a series of free outdoor concerts for the people of Melbourne and Victoria for nine-plus decades. The Sidney Myer Free Concert series has been held each summer in the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, and the 2023 event has a bold, diverse line-up in store.
A Tchaikovsky Spectacular will kick off the series, before a special performance called Mosaics, which celebrates the breadth and diversity of Melbourne. Benjamin Northey will conduct an array of artists, including local singers and rappers from GRID Series and Sangam.
The final performance sees the return of the MSO Chorus to The Bowl for a rousing
rendition of Carmina Burana, as well as Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3.
Sidney Myer Free Concerts: A Tchaikovsky Spectacular, Wednesday 8 February; Mosaics, Wednesday 15 February; Carmina Burana, Saturday 18 February, Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Gates open at 4.30pm, performances start 7.30pm. The Sidney Myer Free Concerts are made possible by the MSO Sidney Myer Trust Fund, in association with The University of Melbourne, Arts Centre Melbourne and ABC Classic.
For a decade now, the MSO has celebrated the diversity of Melbourne with its annual Chinese New Year concert. For 2023, the Year of the Rabbit, there’s something extra-special in store. Joining the MSO will be the Sichuan Orchestra of China’s Artistic Director/Chief Conductor, Darrell Ang. The GRAMMY-nominated conductor will lead a performance showcasing works from the western canon alongside pieces by Chinese and Australian composers.
Composer Julian Yu’s work is no stranger to MSO audiences, and his recent work Evolution – a piece both lush and bombastic, showcasing many of the MSO’s strengths – will prove an uplifting climax to a special evening. Chinese New Year, Saturday 4 February, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. Proudly supported by the Li Family Trust and the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations. See story, page 28.
Victorian-raised global superstar soprano Siobhan Stagg returns to her ‘orchestral home’ next year as the MSO’s 2023 Soloist in Residence. As part of her residence, Stagg will sing Strauss’ moving Four Last Songs, the first time it has been performed by the MSO since 2014. Also featured in this program is MYSTERIUM I, the latest work by MSO 2023 Composer in Residence, Mary Finsterer. Be among the first to hear the world premiere of this work.
Jaime Martín has not hidden his love for Mahler after the Orchestra delivered 4.5-star reviews of Mahler’s First in 2022, he returns with the majestic, lyrical Fifth Symphony. For the first time, the Season Opening Gala will be performed on a Friday evening as well as a Saturday matinee, offering more MSO lovers the chance to join the Orchestra in Hamer Hall. Season Opening Gala: Zenith of Life, Friday 24 and Saturday 25 February, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne.
Jaime Martín will conduct an Open Rehearsal on Thursday 23 February (all tickets $15). Read Stagg’s story, page 16.
Ahead of her season as Melbourne Symphony Orchestra 2023 Soloist in Residence, acclaimed Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg speaks to Stephanie Bunbury about becoming a star of the exhilarating world of opera.
Photography NIKOLAJ LUND
For a singer constantly travelling across the world, the idea of home is tricky. Siobhan Stagg, who grew up in Mildura, studied in Melbourne and has now lived in Berlin for nine years, once joked in an interview that home was anywhere with a decent wi-fi connection. “I said it tongue-in-cheek but it’s true, isn’t it?” she says. “Because it allows you to connect with your loved ones and that’s what home is. But my concept of home is ever changing. The more time I spend in Europe, the more Europe feels like home. But of course, you never stop feeling Australian.”
So, while the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – where Stagg will be MSO Soloist In Residence in 2023 – is the closest thing she has to a home orchestra, she thinks of the Deutsche Oper Berlin as her home theatre. She found her place as a singer in one of the world’s greatest opera houses, she says, almost by chance. When she was still a student at the University of Melbourne, she travelled to Austria for a six-week summer school in Graz – supported by the Opera Foundation Australia AIMS Award – and won the Meistersinger competition at the end of it. That victory secured her an agent. The next year she was off again on a round-the-world ticket that took her to New York for another six-week stint, this time for lessons and nightly visits to the Met, then on to Europe where the agent she had met in Graz helped organise a series of auditions. The last one was for the Deutsche Oper.
“It was just one of those fateful days. I was quite tired at the end of a long study trip and I was getting on the plane the next day to Australia; I remember being quite ready to go home. But that gave me a kind of laissez-faire, okay-just-go-for-it feeling in the audition and I just felt very free. They actually offered me the job in their Young Artists’ programme on the spot for two seasons in the future. And that worked out really well, because I had time to go and finish my Masters.” She left for Berlin in 2013, where she was eventually joined by her partner at the time (now husband) Nelson Yarwood – whom she met when he was studying viola, but who is now a primary school teacher.
It was straight into the deep end in Berlin: a revival of the Götz Friedrich production of the Ring Cycle. She sang Woglinde, whose lilting refrain is the first voice heard in Das Rheingold. There was very little rehearsal. “So the learning curve was vertical, because I hadn’t done fully-fledged opera before. I think that, within reason, you become ready based on the chance sitting in front of you. I was young and green, but I had a huge amount of support behind me.” Her dressing room, she recalls, was “wall-to-wall flowers” from Australia. The dressers, she laughs, couldn’t believe their eyes.
Since then, she has sung repertoire from Brahms to Bernstein at venues from Melbourne to Moscow, winning glowing reviews describing her voice as “flexible and gleaming”, “bright”, “magical”
”I can’t remember a sense of self before music was important to me. I always sang around the house.”
and “luminous” and her performances as “gripping”, “seductive” and “outstanding”. In one month, Stagg’s schedule could see her singing Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées – orchestrated by Brett Dean – with the Australian World Orchestra under Zubin Mehta at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms; a few weeks later taking to the stage in Belfast singing Violetta in La Traviata.
Her time in Australia will begin in Sydney where she will make her debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, followed by her Melbourne residency – which will also feature the Debussy Ariettes oubliées and Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs. She will also give a masterclass as part of the MSO’s Music & Ideas program, and after that, Cleveland. After almost two and a half years, it will be quite a homecoming.
Growing up in Mildura, an unlikely seedbed for a future opera singer, meant Stagg didn’t have great exposure to the kind of music she is singing now. “But I remember performing as a child. I would copy anything I heard on the radio and put on concerts in our kitchen.” There is a favoured home video of a birthday dinner, she says, where she is poking her head from behind the curtains, holding a spoon as a microphone, clamouring for the camera. She then leaps out of her home-made proscenium and sings a song
she no longer remembers; she suspects she made it up. She was five. “I can’t remember a sense of self before music was important to me,” Stagg says. “I always sang around the house. It was often musicals or things I’d seen on TV, Carols by Candlelight events or the opening of the Olympic Games. I’d watch them over and over again and try to copy the singers, learn the songs.” They say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill. She put in those hours. “Looking back, I was training myself with a certain amount of discipline, but without realising it. It just felt like fun for me.”
When she went to Melbourne to study, she had never heard a symphony orchestra up close and was yet to see a fully-staged opera. “So I had a lot of catching up to do, but my ears were trained and my musical creative soul was somehow ripe and ready to soak that all up.” She was also ahead in at least one respect: unlike many of her contemporaries, she was used to performing. A singer in a country town gets a lot of gigs. She had led church choirs, sung at school fetes and community events by the city’s ornamental lakes.
The church organist in Mildura had urged her mother to ensure she learned music theory and sightreading, which also stood her in good stead when she joined the choir at Trinity College. “It’s one of those traditional choirs where you do Evensong every Sunday and you get the repertoire on Wednesday, which is quite a fitness training for sightreading and music literacy.” The choir also recorded with ABC Classics: she was often asked to sing solos. “Then I started doing concerts on the strength of that, because people began knowing my name from that repertoire.”
It begs the question, how has she learned – and how does she still learn – such volumes of music so rapidly? “There’s no magic trick,” she shrugs. “Early in my career, breaks came from learning things quickly. One of my big breaks was in 2015, when I learned the entire title role of Orpheus by Luigi Rossi in five days for the Royal Opera House production at Shakespeare’s Globe. But it’s my life. So I don’t know how to answer the question ‘how do I learn the repertoire?’. It’s like asking someone how they breathe.” Actually, she does think about how she breathes; she even recommends a book about it – Breath: the New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor – clarifying it isn’t just for singers. Overall fitness is important; the life of a travelling artist can be gruelling, physically and mentally. She runs; she swims. “I don’t focus so much on guarding my voice specifically, because that makes you become neurotic and very detached from the overall process,” she says. “When you’re on stage, you’re not just a voice. You’re a human in a body with a mind and a soul and these things have to come together. So I just pay a great deal of attention to my overall health and wellbeing.”
Running is a recent thing. As someone who defined herself in childhood as hating sport, who was always picked last for class
teams, it has been a game changer. Over lockdown, she has come around to thinking that sport and art are similar in many ways. It struck her when she was watching the Australian Open on German television that the athletes were also performers, also striving for excellence, and were compelling in the same way as other kinds of performers. “We feel moved by watching humans reach their full potential. It elevates all of us and showcases moments of joy.”
Any art, she says, works the same way – or it doesn’t work at all. She sees no real distinction between genres or between art forms. It’s good or it isn’t. But ultimately it must connect with the audience. Stagg is part of that audience, too. “Music is my lifeblood. I can’t imagine a world without music. And you know, COVID-19 was a challenging time for everyone for lots of different reasons but one of the hardest things for me wasn’t that yes, I had lost my job and my way of connecting to the world but that I am also an avid concertgoer. I need music as much as I need air in my lungs, as much as I need food. It feels essential.” ■
Siobhan Stagg appears in the MSO’s 2023 Season Opening Gala: Zenith of Life, proudly presented by Ryman Healthcare, on February 24 and 25 at Hamer Hall; and in Nature’s Majesty: Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, Debussy and Sutherland at Hamer Hall on March 2 and 3. A Masterclass with Siobhan Stagg will also be held on Tuesday February 28 at Iwaki Auditorium.
“The more time I spend in Europe, the more Europe feels like home. But of course, you never stop feeling Australian.”
MSO Managing Director Sophie Galaise with cellist Nick Bochner and harpist Yinuo Mu
A landmark partnership between the London and Melbourne Symphony orchestras is fostering new creative collaboration – including an Australian visit from the LSO that promises to be bold. By Kim Thomson.
Photography JOHN DAVIS and DANIEL MAHON
LSO Managing Director Kathryn McDowell CBE
DL with violinists Belinda ‘Bindi’ McFarlane and Naoko Keatley
It was during the London Symphony Orchestra’s 2014 eastcoast tour of Australia that Managing Director Kathryn McDowell CBE DL was first inspired by the land Down Under. But it wasn’t just the beauty of the landscape and the laid-back culture that left McDowell with warm memories, it was the unprecedented reception the LSO received during the visit. “The reaction that we had, in Queensland, in Sydney and in Melbourne, was so memorable – a real sense of a festival, of a very special occasion,” she says. “I absolutely loved it.” It was then McDowell first met Sophie Galaise, now Managing Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The pair have since stayed in contact, often discussing how they may one day bring the two orchestras together to collaborate.
In May 2023, their dreams will become a reality, with the LSO set to return to Australian shores for the first time since 2014 –marking the LSO’s fourth visit in its 120-year history. The visit is part of a freshly inked, multi-pronged partnership between the two organisations, which will produce bold new works, facilitate knowledge sharing and see reciprocal international visits.
Galaise describes the two orchestras as “kindred spirits” – both artistically and in their commitment to doing things differently –and says these shared values will underpin the union.
“The LSO is an amazing orchestra to watch – they are in true partnership with the conductor onstage; the responsiveness of the musicians to the conductor is not one-way,” she says.
“We also have an orchestra that loves to show their passion, which can be seen in the way it engages and collaborates with, and responds to our chief conductor.”
The orchestras have something of a parallel history: in 1904, after a group of musicians broke away from the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, the LSO came into being; just two years later, halfway around the world, the MSO was formed.
Over the past few years, they’ve each been characterised by a fierce resolve to keep the wheels turning through dire circumstances. “At the MSO, there was a real galvanisation that I very much identified with [during the pandemic],” says McDowell. “The situation was really, very serious for musicians and artists, and remains so. I think there was a certain similarity in the way that we had to approach simply saving our organisations and moving things forward.”
McDowell says this year’s Australian tour will have particular resonance in light of the past few years, and that the wide-ranging partnership aims to meaningfully consider the relationship between the two countries.
“There are still huge elements that bind our two nations – there’s a complex history that is something I think we’re all grappling with – so, in this moment, a shared understanding between organisations across the globe is a really valuable thing.”
Clockwise from top: The LSO rehearsing during COVID-19 lockdown; the MSO on stage during their 2022 Mid-Season Gala.
For Australian audiences – in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane – the LSO’s 2023 tour will feature beloved Music Director and symphonic superstar Sir Simon Rattle in his last Australian tour with the LSO before concluding his tenure as Chief Conductor to become Conductor Emeritus. Sir Simon says the chosen repertoire – to be performed by more than 110 LSO musicians – is deliberately bold and includes some of his “personal favourites”: Debussy, Ravel, Mahler and John Adams.
“There is Debussy and Ravel – La Mer and Suite NO.2 from Daphnis and Chloé – delicate works that showcase the orchestra’s innate feel for French music,” he says. “[And Adams’ Harmonielehre, which is] like nothing else – this is music on a vast scale, requiring a huge number of musicians, which we simply couldn’t have performed while social distancing measures were in place – so it’s incredibly exciting to be able to stage music on this scale again,” he says. McDowell is equally as enthusiastic about the chance to tour this selection. “We wanted to bring a really dynamic repertoire to Australia – like John Adams’ Harmonielehre, which is an absolutely
The milestone partnership between the Melbourne and London Symphony Orchestras has been made possible by the Gandel Foundation’s contribution to the MSO’s Now and Forever Future Fund, which supports international engagement and collaboration.
John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel AC said they were delighted and excited to join forces yet again with the MSO and are keenly anticipating the LSO’s visit to Australian shores.
“The role of the arts –including music – in helping people look to the future with hope and brightness in their hearts is possibly more important now, in the times of COVID, than ever before,” they said.
“Indeed, the MSO plays a vitally important role in enriching our lives, and by connecting internationally, they also help Australians to have that important window to the rest of the world and experience the best it has to offer.”
Throughout the pandemic, the Gandel Foundation has provided grants to organisations in a range of spheres, including education, disadvantage, mental health, digital equality and the arts.
Take a mid-morning break to replenish your soul with glorious music. Explore three great violin concertos featuring exciting guest soloists from around the globe!
Three concerts at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, Fridays at 11am. One hour, no interval.
Brahms’ Violin Concerto Friday 10 March
Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto Friday 8 September
Beethoven’s Violin Concerto Friday 17 November
International powerhouse violinist Clara-Jumi Kang puts her distinctive musical stamp on this astonishing work.
Celebrate the arrival of Spring as American superstar violinist Esther Yoo performs Mendelssohn’s sparkling Violin Concerto.
Rising star María Dueñas performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with her trademark passionate virtuosity and commanding stage presence.
blistering piece; it’s what I would call a very LSO piece – it has a bravura, a sort of sparkle and precision,” she says. “There’s also Mahler 7, which is an extraordinary work that is very close to the heart of the LSO and Sir Simon Rattle, so it’s lovely to be bringing that as well. If one’s going to make the effort to travel across the world, it has to be special.”
Galaise says the LSO are set for another warm reception from Australian audiences. “We’re lucky to have one of the greatest orchestras on this planet come to visit us – and with Sir Simon at the end of his tenure, it will be very significant; it will be the end of an era for the LSO and we will be witness to that.”
As well as assistance to tour in each other’s country, another key plank of the partnership is the chance to support emerging artists from each country, including those from MSO Academy and the LSO String Academy.
Galaise says there will be a particular focus on supporting First Nations artists. “To my knowledge, the MSO is the only orchestra in Australia that has a First Nations ensemble in residence – young, amazing indigenous musicians coming from all over the country –who are being trained and accompanied in their development by the MSO,” she says. “We would like to give these emerging artists a chance in London, and an opportunity to be in close contact with amazing musicians from the LSO – to learn about their activities and to showcase their tradition,” she says.
McDowell adds that the LSO will share its depth of experience in education and community work, which has long been a priority area for the Orchestra. “The LSO works a lot with socially disadvantaged and culturally diverse young people in London … in fact, one of our violinists, Belinda McFarlane, who is Australian, has been a driving force behind our Discovery program for 25 years now.”
The four-year deal will see new works co-commissioned by composers from each country, to be performed by both Orchestras. “The voices of Australian artists will be heard in the UK and the voices of British composers will be heard here in Australia,” as Galaise puts it. The partnership will also create new digital audio opportunities, including MSO content being distributed across the LSO’s pioneering platform, LSO Live. The orchestra-owned recording label, set-up more than two decades ago, aims to bring classical music to new audiences, and ensures its players and conductors remain stakeholders in their own recordings. “We’ve built that over the years and shared that practice around the world with certain territories, but we haven’t yet had a partnership in Australasia, so that’s a very interesting area,” says McDowell. Galaise says there are several projects already underway and more ideas keep developing organically.
“This is what real exchange is like,” she says, “you collaborate and start with one thing, but then it grows bigger and bigger over time.” ■
The Australia visit holds particular significance for two LSO members.
Violinists Belinda ‘Bindi’ McFarlane, originally from Adelaide, and Naoko Keatley, from Sydney, will relish the chance to perform for family and friends in Australia –the first time they’ve done so with the LSO since 2014.
Keatley says it’s still a thrill to be playing to large live audiences and touring internationally again.
“The first time we played for an un-distanced audience [since the pandemic began] was in Aix-en-Provence in June 2021, performing Tristan to a packed-out opera house,” she says. “We got a standing ovation and actually had tears in our eyes – it was that moving!”
For McFarlane, she is excited to be exploring further opportunities to work with young musicians from under-represented backgrounds during the MSO and LSO partnership.
“At the LSO, we’re very committed to reaching out in the community around us,” she says. “It’s not enough to be solely on stage, performing to an audience, it’s also important to take the music out of the concert hall – it gives a deeper validity to our existence as an orchestra.”
As the MSO’s Chinese New Year concert hits its 10-year anniversary, Patricia Maunder speaks to the dynamic David Li AM, one of the driving forces behind its success.
Globally recognised violinist Ning Feng enchants the audience.
Acelebration of Eastern and Western music, as well as Asian and Asian-Australian artists, the MSO’s East meets West program has become so integrated into its seasons that it’s easy to forget how exceptional it is. “We were the first Western orchestra in Australia to perform a Chinese New Year concert,” says MSO Chairman David Li AM. While this popular concept has been copied elsewhere from time to time, “we are also the only Orchestra that has been doing it every year consecutively.” For 10 years no less, even throughout the pandemic.
The Chinese New Year concert is the highlight of the MSO’s East meets West program, which Li has been closely involved with since it launched in 2014. The story begins the year prior, when the newly minted MSO board member was invited to a dinner in honour of Tan Dun, who was about to lead the Orchestra in a concert of his film scores. Asked if he was familiar with the Chinese-American composer and conductor, who won an Oscar for his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon score, Li smiled and said: “Of course I know Tan Dun. We’ve been friends since we were young!” So perhaps the story truly began decades ago in China, before Li arrived in Australia in the 1980s as a young professional violinist.
After their joyful reunion and the concert’s success in 2013, Li asked Tan: “What about next year – can you join the MSO again?” And so the Chinese New Year concert was born, with the man who became an MSO Artistic Ambassador conducting regularly until the pandemic intervened.
Li, who in 2019 was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his services to the performing arts, has also helped secure some of the world’s leading performers. “I have a good relationship with many Chinese artists – when I talk to them, they love to come over [to Melbourne],” he laughs.
Over 30 Asian musicians and musical groups have performed as part of the East meets West program in the last seven years alone. This includes musicians trained in the Western classical tradition, such as MSO Artistic Ambassador Lü Siqing, who was the first
Asian violinist to win the prestigious Paganini Competition. He played the ‘Miss Crespi’ 1699 Stradivari violin, on loan from Li, with the MSO. Then there are guests who have shaken things up at Hamer Hall, like Hanggai, a famous rock band from the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.
According to Li, some artists have been embraced by orchestras around the world after making their orchestral debuts at MSO Chinese New Year concerts; popstar and longtime Tan Dun collaborator Tan Weiwei, for example, who he says is “like Madonna in China” after her rise to popularity in the 2006 reality singing competition Super Girl, and Liu Wenwen, who plays the suona, a traditional Chinese woodwind instrument.
In concerts throughout each season, the broader East meets West program has also showcased acclaimed artists from across Asia, including South Korean pianist Joyce Yang, Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, Chinese pianist Lang Lang, and the MSO’s ChineseAmerican Principal Guest Conductor Xian Zhang.
Asian-Australians such as Melbourne-born violin prodigy and MSO Young Artist in Association, Christian Li, have also featured prominently, especially during the pandemic’s travel restrictions.
Wherever it looks for talent and inspiration, the program has always been about “building bridges”, says Li. “When the East meets West program began 10 years ago, much of its focus was on curating an artful blend of Eastern and Western musical influences and traditions into an inspiring program for a diverse audience. The underlying objective, then as now, is to build mutual respect and understanding between Australians and our Asian neighbours.”
That has been achieved not only through East meets West concerts at home, but also recent tours of China and Indonesia and partnerships with organisations such as the Singapore Symphony
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Magazine MSO Chairman, David Li AM Famous Inner Mongolian band Hanggai shaking things upOrchestra and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. In 2019, the MSO won the AustCham Westpac Australia-China Business Award for Business Innovation, Creative Industries and the Digital Economy. As well as government, industry and artistic support, the East meets West program has been funded by a consortium of over 50 corporate partners and private donors since starting in 2013.
The Chinese New Year concerts – which have been seen by a global audience of over 240 million people over the past 10 years –“always receive messages of congratulations from the Prime Minister, the Premier and the Chinese Ambassador,” says Li proudly.
The 2023 concert, which celebrates the Year of the Rabbit, looks to Victoria’s sister state of Sichuan. The Sichuan Orchestra of China’s renowned Chinese-Singaporean chief conductor, Darrell Ang, will join the MSO.
The program includes excerpts from Chinese composer Ye Xiaogang’s Sichuan Image. “For Chinese New Year we want to listen to nice, beautiful music, not high-tension music,” says Li with a laugh, so he considers this work, inspired by Sichuan’s splendid natural scenery, ideal. The program’s other beautiful compositions include Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Suite and Evolution by Chinese-Australian Julian Yu.
Other East meets West highlights include German violinist ClaraJumi Kang in two concerts in March: Brahms’ Violin Concerto,
and Summons and Signals. “She’s a global superstar,” says Li. “This is her first time in Australia. She’s always in very high demand, so we’ve never had the opportunity to bring her here before.”
Australian artists include the Winter Gala’s star, violinist and Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia lister Ray Chen, and cellist and 2002 Young Australian of the Year Li-Wei Qin. Twice a soloist at both BBC Proms and MSO Chinese New Year concerts, Qin wields his bow in A Snapshot in Time: Elgar’s Cello Concerto. Christian Li, who signed with Decca Classics at age 12 in 2020, returns in April for Northern Reflections: Sibelius and Shostakovich and Prodigies (Melbourne and Geelong) in September.
“The East meets West program is part of the MSO’s DNA,” says Li, whose relationships in the music, business and diplomatic worlds, and personal philanthropic contributions, have been instrumental to the program’s success.
“It’s important that the Orchestra isn’t just a music organisation,” he adds. “We also play another role, by trying to build up relationships through cultural exchange. We’re ambassadors for the arts and for Australia.” ■
The MSO’s 2023 East meets West program begins with the Chinese New Year concert on Saturday 4 February at Hamer Hall.
“THE UNDERLYING OBJECTIVE, THEN AS NOW, IS TO BUILD MUTUAL RESPECT AND UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN AUSTRALIANS AND OUR ASIAN NEIGHBOURS.”P hotography: Daniel Aulsbrooke, Nico Keenan, Mark Gambino.
Extraordinarily talented women are in the spotlight in the MSO’s 2023 season. Tess Durack meets four of the leading lights.
Photography DEAN GOLJA Styling JOEL PARKINSON
Abundant Spring is the subtitle of one of the programs in the MSO’s 2023 season. But that word, “abundant”, could very well apply across the entire season. There is an abundance of talent, as well as an abundance of new and old works, international guests and opportunities to introduce fresh audiences. And there is an abundance of women – composers, conductors and performers.
Here, we meet four of the women whose work contributes not only to the 2023 program, but to a vivid new chapter in the MSO’s history. The Orchestra’s 2020 pledge to strive for gender equality and cultural representation across the Board, staff and musicians and throughout artistic programming might still be in the early stages, but, with the likes of Deborah Cheetham AO, Mary Finsterer, Ingrid Martin and Melissa Douglas headlining this year’s season, it’s a commitment already making an impact.
MARY FINSTERER
MARY FINSTERER
Composer in Residence
“I was fascinated with music from an early age. My mother tells me that I hummed little tunes well before I learned to speak,” says Mary Finsterer, awardwinning MSO Composer in Residence for 2023 and Creative Fellow for the College of Arts, Law and Education at the University of Tasmania.
Finsterer’s first encounter with formal music training was through the piano, coinciding with a love of drawing and painting. Eventually finding herself at a crossroads between choosing to pursue art or music after school, she decided on music. “It was the complexity of music that captivated me. Music is an interesting synthesis between being highly connected to our emotional life and equally anchored in technique and science. I chose to pursue composition to explore how these two worlds interconnect.”
“The music I write has an obvious place in the contemporary idiom, but its roots are deeply embedded in traditions as far-reaching as Gregorian chant,” says Finsterer of her 2023 season pieces LUMEN, MYSTERIUM I and STABAT MATER. “My aim is to reach into the past, not for artefacts or museum pieces, but to bring the essence of past stylistic practice into the present day through rediscovery and invention.”
While Finsterer explains that for her, the work itself is of importance regardless of the age, gender or nationality of the composer, she also acknowledges the significance of the MSO’s Keychange Pledge calling for equity in the music industry, an initiative of which the MSO was the first professional Australian orchestra to take part. “I am fortunate to have had a female role model in my mother who taught me to believe in myself. There are glass ceilings everywhere and, like many, I’ve had to reach within myself to find a response to the given situation. The MSO are extremely thoughtful in their approach to fairness and equity. It’s something of which we always need to be mindful of, in all areas.”
Mary Finsterer’s position as MSO Composer in Residence in 2023 is supported by Kim Williams AM.
“It was the mystery and complexity of music that captivated me. Music is an interesting synthesis between being highly connected to our emotional life and equally anchored in technique and science.”INGRID MARTIN Conductor
At 14, Ingrid Martin was gifted a subscription to the MSO. She’s been attending ever since, and next year will conduct a number of programs for the 2023 season. “Teenage me would never have imagined I’d be the person up there conducting. It’s a full-circle moment. I feel as if I’ve been part of the MSO family for a long time.”
But that full-circle moment was never a given. “I got into medicine after school and naively thought, ‘Well, I’ve done music, I kind of know how to do that,’ and medicine seemed like something new and I could continue to do music on the side. But eventually the pull just became too strong – I couldn’t deny it. I did a Masters in conducting in the US and hung up my stethoscope. I came back and did a lot of freelance conducting and teaching. It’s been a slow burn but a real dream come true to conduct the MSO.”
And, for Martin, the experience is made more exciting by the MSO’s push for gender parity. “When I was a kid coming to the MSO, I never saw a woman on the podium. And now look at the 2023 season; it’s a huge step forward.”
But gender parity isn’t the only form of improved representation Martin is celebrating. “There is a long precedent of Australian orchestras not employing Australian conductors. I love the fact that I get to say I’m from Melbourne and I grew up watching this Orchestra. I know the players, I know the programs, I’ve been watching them for years. It’s important that other Victorians can see it’s possible.”
As well as the prospect of conducting “bangers” like Stravinsky’s The Firebird to a new audience as part of the Imaginations Ignited concert for first-time audiences in April, Martin is looking forward to the opportunity to introduce new listeners to the orchestra. “To me, the greatest joy is getting a newcomer to fall in love with the music, to walk away from a performance changed in some way.”
But she’s eager for those potential new fans not to be put off by the pressure of having to “get” classical music. “You don’t have to like everything. People new to it can get shamed into thinking that if their mind wanders in a concert then they haven’t properly understood it. But all the research shows this is completely normal – it happens to everyone, even the most experienced concert-goers.”
INGRID MARTIN“To me, the greatest joy is getting a newcomer to fall in love with the music, to walk away from a performance changed in some way.”DEBORAH CHEETHAM AO First Nations Creative Chair
“My earliest memory is of leaning up against my mother in church and feeling her breathing as she sang,” says Cheetham. “I can’t remember a time when music wasn’t in my life. As a young child, I would sing the narrative of my life. For children especially, it’s a natural way of knowing and experiencing the world and it was a very important part of how I could be in the world.”
A music teacher and mentor in high school helped harness Cheetham’s energy and passion, and she trained first as a flautist and then as a pianist. Australians will of course know her also as a muchhonoured and awarded soprano, composer and creative force across the arts.
As the MSO’s First Nations Creative Chair, she is energised by the organisation’s dedication to more fulsome gender and cultural representation. “I’m incredibly proud that the MSO sees the value in having a deeper connection to and representation of the society it serves, and of harnessing the great riches of a multicultural nation and musical tradition that goes back way beyond 230 years. To deny all of that in favour of some antiquated model of music-making and limited catalogue of repertoire would seal the fate of many an organisation.
“But with the MSO, you have a group of people who are saying, ‘We didn’t know, and now we’re finding out.’ And that is an exciting space to walk into.”
The 2023 season will include the MSO’s second production of Cheetham’s large-scale symphonic and choral work, Eumeralla, a War Requiem for Peace, which sees it become part of the Orchestra’s core repertoire following the highly successful symphonic premiere in June 2019. The inclusion of Eumerella is a clear demonstration of commitment that Cheetham sees as more vital than ever. “We need to give the 97 per cent of Australians who aren’t First Nations the confidence to have well-informed conversations.”
Such a work, she explains, can play a role in the process of moving from knowledge to true understanding of the shared history between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
“I like to imagine – in that wonderful hall, along with our loyal supporters, there will be a child in the audience attending for the first time and for whom the inclusion of women and First Nations composers in the program comes as no surprise. Commission the works, choose the best, program them, and for a whole new generation, that will be the way it’s always been.”
“I’m incredibly proud that the MSO sees the value in having a deeper connection to and representation of the society it serves, and of harnessing the great riches of a multicultural nation and musical tradition that goes back way beyond 230 years.”
DEBORAH CHEETHAM AO
“As a child I would run into the lounge room and lie on the floor to listen to whatever was playing,” recalls Melissa Douglas, the Cybec Young Composer in Residence for 2023. “When my older siblings played instruments, I was always drawn to the sound. Then when I started studying piano, I would play whatever music I could find. I was so keen to learn more pieces, researching sheet music, sight-reading through my mum’s old music at the piano. As well as piano, I was fascinated by composing and the whole process of creating music.”
Douglas was selected from the finalists of the 2022 Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers program, and the year-long immersion will allow her to work on three new commissions. “It’s rare to work with an orchestra for more than one project due to the nature of commissions so this is an incredible opportunity
to develop more of a relationship with the musicians through a year-long residency provided by the MSO – it’s a real gift, especially with such an exceptional orchestra.” Her first piece of the season is a fanfare and presents an opportunity for a shift in direction and tone. “A couple of my recent pieces were more atmospheric, melancholy or rhythmically ambiguous, whereas this new fanfare I am working on has a bright character and is much more direct.”
“I want to keep developing my musical craft and become a better composer. For me, it’s helpful to focus on the music and on the skills we bring regardless of gender,” she says.
“But it is fantastic that the MSO is promoting diversity across different areas. More women are studying composition and we are gradually unearthing more of the work of women composers from history. It is an exciting time.”
Melissa Douglas’ position as MSO’s Cybec Young Composer in Residence is proudly supported by the Cybec Foundation. ■
Discover more of the events in the MSO’s 2023 season to profile female artists at mso.com.au/women.
MELISSA DOUGLAS“ More women are studying composition and we are gradually unearthing more of the work of women composers from history. It is an exciting time.”
Nature’s endless splendour is celebrated in a slew of concerts in the MSO’s 2023 program. Here, Elissa Blake looks at some of the highlights.
The deepest roots of music – as in humans purposely engaged in making organised sound – are fathomlessly old and bound to the natural world its makers knew themselves to be a part of.
In the thousands of centuries before music became the artform we understand today, humans paid tribute to the world around them by using their voices, bodies and instruments made from nature itself.
In the early chapters of his book Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening, British writer and broadcaster David Hendy describes a world in which prehistoric music makers mimicked bird song, the sound of flowing water, the evensong of insects and frogs, the roar of thunder. In echoing caves and reverberant rock shelters, drumming might sound like flocks of birds taking wing, or a herd of stampeding wild horses.
Since then, composers of all stripes have continued to conjure the natural world in their music, and in 2023, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will explore some of the most evocative and affecting works.
The MSO’s Season Opening Gala (24 February), features Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs: Spring, September, Going to Sleep and At Sunset – all of them (At Sunset in particular) suffused with impressions of the world the great composer would soon leave.
In the Nature’s Majesty program (2 and 3 March), MSO Chief Conductor Jaime Martín will lead the Orchestra through a program inspired by the mountainous landscapes of Europe (Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony) and Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges (captured in Margaret Sutherland’s Haunted Hills).
In September, in the concert Schumann and Mendelssohn: Abundant Spring, the MSO will play Schumann’s 1840 Symphony No.1, his Spring Symphony in which we hear the world come alive after a long winter’s sleep. While in the MSO’s Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Smetana concerts (15 and 16 September) – featuring pianist Joyce Yang – audiences will encounter nature in Czech composer Bedřich Smetana’s Má Vlast (My Fatherland), a work partly inspired by the ebb and flow of the Vltava River as it winds through Prague. And in the Beethoven and Dvořák: Nature’s Transcendence program (18 November), Australian composer Maria Grenfell’s River Mountain Sky will feature; a celebration of Tasmania’s landscape of rivers and mountains over the course of a day – from orange and pink skies at dawn, to bright sunshine bouncing off rushing water, to quiet, clear, dark nights under vivid stars.
At a time when the fate of nature is becoming increasingly paramount in people’s minds, it felt right for the MSO to engage with the subject, says John Nolan, the Orchestra’s Director of Programming. “It’s something that resonates with everyone,” Nolan says. “As a theme, it came up almost immediately in our first conversations on programming with Jaime [Martín]. Even in works we’re presenting that aren’t explicitly referring to nature, it’s there as a common thread.”
Many of the works being presented are inspired not only by nature but also the culture, legends and stories nature inspired, Nolan explains.
“Dvořák – whose Fifth Symphony features in Ears Wide Open in October and the Beethoven and Dvořák: Nature’s Transcendence program in November – loved spending time in nature. He embraced hiking, birdwatching and gardening. There’s even a collection of his garden implements and straw hats on display at the Czech Museum of Music. Dvořák and Smetana were both concerned with creating a national style of music that drew inspiration from their
The MSO’s commitment to sustainability is also inspiring its inaugural Green Orchestra Initiative. The Orchestra is now one of many arts organisations worldwide working towards reducing the
“Nature is something that resonates with everyone. As a theme, it came up almost immediately in our first conversations on programming...”
homeland; both natural and cultural. In these works, we can hear the influence of Bohemian folk songs as well as getting the sense of the beautiful landscapes.”
That drawing together of myth and nature is also evident in the music of the Australian composers in MSO’s 2023 programming, Nolan adds.
“Margaret Sutherland’s Haunted Hills and Peter Sculthorpe’s From Ubirr [which will be heard in the MSO’s Chamber presentation Clarinet Quintets] are both inspired by the Australian landscape but are also contemplations of the First Peoples that have occupied this land for thousands of years. Similarly, Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace, is a vivid depiction of place, people and time during a violent period of Australia’s colonial history.
“And Maria Grenfell’s River Mountain Sky is such an evocative piece. It’s so easy to hear birdsong and bubbling streams.”
To experience something of nature at its most forceful and profound, it’s impossible to go past Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony, to be conducted by Jaime Martín. Written in 1915, this mighty tone poem is powerfully influenced by the mountain landscapes (and ferocious storms) Strauss experienced as a boy in the Alps.
“It’s such a wonderful depiction of the scale and magnificence of the Alps, starting just before dawn and taking the listener through the full day,” says Nolan. “It has one of the most vivid depictions of a storm in all music and it’s a wonderful experience for newcomers to the orchestra.”
An Alpine Symphony is certainly the peak of natureinspired composition.
carbon footprint of their operations. One of the main prongs of the initiative is to try and reduce the amount of printed material used by the company in an aim to eliminate the carbon pollution that comes
with the printing and shipping of hard copy scores, and taking bulky portfolios on the road. Another is the production of printed concert programs on fully recyclable, 100% carbon-offset paper stock,
“Maria Grenfell’s River Mountain Sky is such an evocative piece. It’s so easy to hear birdsong and bubbling streams.”Strauss’s
With the MSO set to take centre stage in Geelong with its 2023 Geelong Series, there’s never been a better time to explore the city overflowing with history, culture, great food and wine, as Catherine Best writes.
Gateway to the Great Ocean Road and the Bellarine Peninsula, Geelong is a city built by water. The sheltered curve of Corio Bay has been a focal point since the first sheep were unloaded here in 1832, thrown overboard at Point Henry to do as colonists of the time did – sink or swim. Those that survived thrived. The grasslands and rich volcanic soils of the Western Plains became fertile pastoral lands and Geelong (Djillong) grew into the wool capital of the world.
While industry and manufacturing remain mainstays of the economy, peel back the blue-collar façade of this UNESCO City of Design and discover a thriving artistic scene. It’s a scene full of cultural relics tied to the MSO through decades of concerts, as well as a relationship with the local community orchestra.
The city of Geelong and the MSO have been making music together as far back as 1949 with locals and musicians John and Patricia Brockman organising private receptions in their home for visiting artists, members of the orchestra, and conductors, informally starting Geelong Friends of the MSO, a loyal band of concert devotees that helps ensure the regional touring program
returns to the city each year. This year’s Geelong Series leads with a Mozart and Beethoven extravaganza with pianist Stefan Cassomenos and Cybec Assistant Conductor Carlo Antonioli, and concludes with Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody featuring pianist Andrea Lam, with a sweeping tour-de-force of performances lined up inbetween. Before the 2023 Geelong Series commences, discover Geelong’s thriving artistic, cultural and culinary scene for yourself.
All roads lead to the water and on a pleasant day, Corio Bay is the picture postcard of a gentrified seaside town. The waterfront’s recreational heart is Eastern Beach, where summer bathers spill onto the palm tree-dotted lawns that cascade down the hillside from the Botanic Gardens.
The centrepiece is the revitalised Art Deco sea baths, enclosed by a timber promenade that fans across the water, decked out with diving boards, climbing towers and pontoons. On the foreshore, a children’s wading pool nuzzles the sand, overlooked by the Pavilion, a 1920s landmark transformed into a waterfront restaurant and kiosk that does a roaring ice-cream trade in summer.
Left to right: Painted bollards on the Geelong waterfront; Geelong foreshore
Left to right: Eastern beach swimming reserve; Anther Distillery; Geelong Gallery Geelong; restaurant 1915.
West along the esplanade, the foreshore path meanders past boats bobbing at silken moorings against the distant knuckle of the You Yang ranges. In summer, the Giant Sky Wheel – the largest travelling Ferris wheel in the Southern Hemisphere – lights up the waterfront, while the Carousel by Cunningham Pier is a year-round draw. Handmade in 1892, the steam-powered Armitage-Herschell merry-go-round features 36 intricately carved horses and two chariots. The most iconic of Geelong’s waterfront attractions are the bollards: more than 100 timber pier pylons fashioned into local identities. Painted in everything from period costumes and cossies to suits and surf lifesaving gear, the public artworks grace the Baywalk Bollards Trail, extending from Limeburners Point to Rippleside Park (about 4.5km).
One block back from Corio Bay, is the National Wool Museum. Occupying the original 1872 Dennys Lascelles Wool Store, the interactive museum tells the boom-to-bust story of Geelong’s wool industry. The focal point is the century-old carpet loom, one of only two functioning looms of its kind in the world, featuring more than 100 bobbins and almost 1000 Jacquard pattern-programming punch cards. Stand beneath the sun-drenched saw-tooth roof where wool was graded, see antique shears and factory machines, meet a flock of taxidermy sheep and view fleece from the “million-dollar bale”. Other highlights include exploring the old shearer’s quarters and mid-century cottage furnished with curios from yesteryear.
Within walking distance from the museum you’ll find the
Geelong Gallery and Geelong Library. The latter is housed inside a striking geometric dome with a glass core like an agate heirloom. The Vault, on level three, is the most precious space, home to the red-hued Heritage Reading Room and Repository, containing 4.2km of shelves holding the city’s historical archives.
Next door, the 1896 Geelong Gallery (entry is free) is one of Australia’s oldest regional art galleries. Behind the grand colonnaded exterior overlooking Johnstone Park are more than 6000 works, including A Bush Burial (1890) by renowned Australian impressionist painter Frederick McCubbin.
For artwork with a modern edge, visit Boom Gallery in Newtown, where a former wool mill has been transformed into a contemporary exhibition, studio and workshop space.
For Indigenous art, stop by Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre, a gallery and exhibition centre in Charlemont, where you can also wander the native garden and participate in a Wadawurrung cultural experience.
Geelong’s dining scene has undergone a renaissance, with what you eat almost playing second fiddle to where you eat it. From waterfront dining to the funky laneway restaurants of Little Malop Street in the heart of Geelong’s cultural precinct, to the burgeoning mill and warehouse conversions turning gastronomic ambience on its head.
Tucked in a small alleyway off Little Malop, Felix serves Frenchinspired dishes like spanner crab profiterole and chickpea panisse at elegant leather banquette seating. Nearby, The Arborist, enveloping a living European ash tree, infuses Middle Eastern flavours with
modern Australian cuisine. A few doors down, Geelong Cellar Door serves regional wine, cheese and charcuterie in a sophisticated wine bar. For brunch, try Pavilion at Eastern Beach or King of the Castle, tucked among the boutiques on fashionable Pakington Street. For a destination-dining experience, book a table at 1915 in North Geelong, where the century-old red-brick boiler house – once the engine room of the Federal Mills precinct – has been rebirthed into an exquisite dining room. Modern Australian dishes champion local produce, served beneath a 12-metre pitched ceiling.
Pop next door for an aperitif at Anther Distillery, where co-owner Dervilla McGowan harnesses her PhD in microbiology to craft botanical infusions that sing. East of the CBD at the site of the old Fyansford Paper Mill, Provenance Wines proffers award-winning wines and seasonal chef’s tasting menus from a clutch of heritage buildings shared with artists overlooking the Barwon River.
Closer to town Little Creatures Brewery has taken over a rambling flour mill, bringing tastings tours and casual plates to a rustic brewhouse shared with stablemate White Rabbit.
The new R Hotel has transformed a dilapidated 1850s corner hotel into a contemporary nine-storey beacon of sustainability. The dog friendly, six-star energy rated hotel has 128 rooms and one- and two-bedroom apartments within walking distance of Eastern Beach and city attractions. The Novotel is situated on the waterfront, offering tastefully refurbished rooms, an indoor pool and restaurant overlooking the water. ■
The 2023 MSO Geelong series opens on 24 March with a night of Beethoven and Mozart, followed on 30 June when Ray Chen performs the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Jaime Martín, alongside Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. More information at mso.com.au/geelong
Martin Shirley, president of the Geelong Friends of the MSO, was a young man when his mother’s passion for classical music lured him to Royal Festival Hall in London. It was the 1960s, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.2 was playing and Shirley was smitten. “To me that was, and still is, one of the best pieces of music that exists,” he says. “I just love good music and I love a good orchestra playing.”
The Brockman’s legacy continues, with the Geelong Friends enjoying five concerts a year in the acoustically magnificent Costa Hall. In addition to performances and concerts, members also have the chance to attend open rehearsals and meet the conductor and soloist at post-concert receptions.
The Geelong Friends sponsors cellist Miranda Brockman, daughter of the Brockmans, through the Adopt a Musician program. Katherine Brockman also plays in the Orchestra alongside her sister.
Is deciding whether music is worthwhile or not just a matter of personal preference? Acclaimed music educator and MSO Creative Chair for Learning and Engagement Dr Anita Collins says it’s much more than that.
CARMINE BELLUCCIIhear people describe music in varying degrees of good and bad all the time: “That’s a great piece” or “That work just meanders around and doesn’t move me”. These are both derivations of good and bad, but is music itself good and bad or is it our interpretation, perception and judgement that puts it into either one of those two buckets?
I am a music educator and originally a teacher of teenagers; a group that tends to think in black and white. Music is a very easy target when it comes to their opinions. My job as their teacher is to help them understand that they can have a subjective response to music: so, “I love Lady Gaga’s Poker Face” but equally “I don’t like Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, but I can appreciate it as a piece of art.” As adults, we tend to do the same thing. There’s music we deem as “good” because it moves us emotionally or maybe takes us back to a powerful event or moment in our lives. We might consider other music as “bad” because we get agitated and distracted by it or have an overwhelming desire to turn it off.
Some might say that this just comes down to personal preference, but are some preferences more equal than others? Is music that is centuries old and has stood the test of time “good” and the latest Ed Sheeran album “bad” solely because it is new? The answer is that the determination of what’s good and bad is literally in the ears and brain of the beholder.
Let’s get away from the idea of good and bad for a moment and think about music as food for the brain. Research has shown that the more exposure to music – especially learning music – a child has, the more effectively their brain will learn, grow, change and age. This is because music has such a variety of sounds, structures and variations, and the greater the variation, the greater the challenge for the brain to process it. Throw in making music on an instrument and the brain is doing one hell of a workout.
I think of it in terms of diet. A good diet has a variety of food types, and a good “diet” for the developing brain has a variety of sounds and music. Where the complexity comes is in the kind of music “diet” the brain is ready to digest.
Think of a pop song: it is, generally, three minutes long, has four parts (singer, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums), has a predictable structure (verse, chorus, indulgent sax solo if it’s from the 1980s) and a catchy melody. In terms of food for the brain, it’s a hamburger: tasty, easy to digest, dependable and enjoyable.
Now think of a Tchaikovsky symphony: it’s just under an hour long, with up to six different parts happening at once across 14 instrument groups and who knows how many subgroups. It has a structure but your brain has to work very hard to recall all the motifs and tone colours across four different movements. In terms of food, it’s a degustation: a feast for the tastebuds and a memorable culinary experience. In a good diet, we wouldn’t eat hamburgers every day. By the same token, we wouldn’t want a degustation every night. Our bodies and our brains need variety.
The human brain is incredible when it comes to digesting music information. More than any other cognitive activity known to date, music-processing requires and activates more parts of the brain simultaneously. Just like exercise, our brain thrives on learning new movements but once we have accomplished that movement, we need to go looking for the next challenge.
We can play a new song on repeat for weeks and then, one day, it just doesn’t do it for us anymore. That’s when our brain goes searching for the next auditory challenge. We like our hamburger pop songs and return to them when we need comfort, but we also need to find a new and challenging musical meal.
An English teacher in his 30s barrelled up to me one day in the playground and said, “I have just discovered Mozart, I can’t believe I didn’t know about his music before.” I was very happy for him, yet the reason he “discovered” Mozart was, I think, because his brain was ready for that musical challenge. It was searching for a new musical feast that would feed his brain and his soul at the level he was ready to conquer. So, music is not good or bad, it is exactly what it needs to be for the person that is experiencing it. ■
Dr Anita Collins is an award-winning educator, researcher and writer in the field of brain development and music learning. She is the founder of Bigger Better Brains, wrote one of the most-watched TED Education films and the author of two books, The Music Advantage and The Lullaby Effect. Anita is a music teacher and conductor at Canberra Grammar School, Creative Chair for Learning and Engagement at MSO and lead expert for the national collaborative initiative Music Education: Right from the Start.
1. In this year’s Chinese New Year concert, Darrell Ang conducts the symphonic poem The Moldau by Czech composer Bedřich _______? (7)
4. Object or animal considered to have spiritual significance? (5)
7. The Four Sea Interludes is taken from the opera Peter Grimes by Benjamin _______? (7)
8. A red herring or a lure for a hunter. (5)
9. Transylvanian-born avant-garde creator of Concerto Romanesc, his work also continues to be used in film scores (6)
12. Exciting or emotional in style. (8)
15. Name the Tchaikovsky ballet in which the leading dancer may play the twin roles of Odette and Odile. (4,4)
17. What name is shared by a Charpentier opera and the FrenchAmerican sculptor and artist Bourgeois? (6)
18. Paul Grabowsky’s forte. (5)
21. Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition winner and online presence (3,4)
22. A bundle of grain stalks or paper. (5)
23. To mark Anzac Day in 2023, the MSO performs which landmark work by Benjamin Britten, War _______? (7)
1. Christian Li will perform the Violin Concerto by which Finnish Romantic composer this year? (8)
2. At a special event concert in April, pieces by Márquez and Stravinsky make up the program with a new work by Alex ______? (6)
3. Instrument between soprano and tenor. (4)
4. Nurture or care for. (4)
5. Fast piece of music for a keyboard instrument, intended to showcase the player’s technique. (7)
6. What is the first name of the MSO Composer in Residence, ____ Finsterer? (4)
10. Standard of perfection. (5)
11. Who composed Boléro and La Valse? (5)
13. Deborah ________ created the work Long Time Living Here. (8)
14. What is the first name of the Australian composer of the work Fourth Alarm, _______ Williams? (7)
16. A news office or desk. (6)
18. Addition sign. (4)
19. His Carmina Burana is always a favourite, Carl ____. (4)
20. Complete the name of the MSO’s annual series, the Sidney ____ Free Concerts. (4)
Create words of four letters or more using the given letters once only, but always including the middle letter. Do not use proper names or plurals ending with S. See if you can find the nine-letter word using all the letters.
Answers on page 50
Compiled by the MSO’s Hannah Cui and Luke Speedy-Hutton.
1
What unusual “instrument” is included in Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture?
2 Which brewery used the famous theme from Carmina Burana in one of its viral ads?
3 What nationality is the soprano Siobhan Stagg?
4 How many horns was Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony originally scored for?
5 Ariettes oubliées is a song cycle by Debussy. What does it translate as?
6 Complete the following quote by 19th-century Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, referring to famous German violin concerti: “The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven’s. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart’s jewel, is ____________.”
7
Which film director is Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi most famous for working with? 8 How many piano concerti did Mozart write? 9
In what city was composer Margaret Sutherland born? 10 What did Beethoven discuss in his Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter that he wrote to his brother?
11
The Adagietto movement of Mahler’s 5th Symphony was used in which 1971 film?
12 What do Janáček’s String Quartet No.1 and Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No.9 have in common? (Hint: it’s got to do with nicknames.)
13 What operatic overture does Shostakovich’s Symphony No.6 in B minor famously reference?
14 After a holiday to the Scottish island of Staffa and seeing basalt sea caves, what work was Mendelssohn inspired to write?
15 Name this composer (pictured).
16 Ives’ The Unanswered Question is scored for four flutes, strings and which other instrument?
17 At what age did French composer Lili Boulanger pass away?
18 What genre of music is Ravel’s La Valse a parody of?
19 Why was Ligeti’s Concert Românesc banned?
20 Which of these orchestral instruments can play the lowest note: contrabassoon, bass clarinet or double bass?
Groodle walking, trailer sailer-ing, cooking up a storm... How our Cor Anglais player spends his downtime.
Photography DANIEL MAHON
WALK THIS WAY. A day off usually begins with a leisurely walk to the beach with our dog, Boston, a three-year-old mini groodle. We hang around down there and play in the water, then stroll back via the local French patisserie.
BACKYARD BLITZ. I might do a project in the garden or around the house. I’m not an avid gardener – my partner (MSO Violinist, Kathryn Taylor) is the boss of the garden: I work on more structural things. The next project is probably going to be some front gates for the property. ON SAIL. Every second Sunday there’s a race down at my local yacht club [at Sandringham]. I started crewing on yachts about 20 years ago. We get down to the boat about 9am and head out for a couple of hours for the race, then come back for a drink and maybe lunch afterwards. It’s a nice, relaxing way to do it. I got my own little trailer sailer about 10 years ago, which I keep on a swing mooring near where I live. If I get a day off on a weekday and it’s fine, I might just go out on my own for a little cruise somewhere. In the past year, I’ve started to do a bit more serious racing with a friend who bought a bigger boat; we’ve done some ocean racing into the Bass Strait. If I had the opportunity to do something like the Sydney to Hobart, I’d jump at it. I’ve always liked the idea of sailing around the world, just going for months, but I don’t think I have the organisational skills. I guess I’m lucky; I’ve got another great hobby as well as my job. You feel a complete sort of happiness when you’re absorbed in something you love doing.
A GOOD REED. As a Cor Anglais player – and Oboist – I make my own reeds. It’s a different sort of craft and skill that goes along with playing the instrument. There might be a couple of hours of reed-making on a day off, but it’s also something I can do while I watch some Netflix or listen to the radio. It doesn’t take your total focus. There are a couple of YouTubers I follow who sail around the world, so I might watch that while making reeds.
PASTA PERFECT. I like to cook at home. It’s a symbol of the end of the day – open a bottle of wine, pour a glass out and start cooking something nice for dinner. I’m not a fantastic cook but I like the process. I particularly like cooking Italian, either pasta or pizza. Oh, and I make my own pasta.
Fore, Fret, Near, Neat, Neon, None, Note, Rate, Rent, Rote, Tare, Tear, Tern, Tone, Tore, After, Atone, Forte, Oaten, Often, Orate, Tenon, Tenor, Toner, Tonne, Footer, Ornate, Tanner. Nine-letter word: Afternoon.
“I guess I’m lucky. I’ve got another great hobby as well as my job. You feel a complete sort of happiness when you’re absorbed in something you love doing.”
Thursday
In the future, more airlines will have soft luxurious leather seats, raised footrests and more room to stretch out. They might even have delicious gourmet meals and thousands of entertainment channels. Meanwhile at Emirates, you can experience it today from Sydney and starting 1 February 2023 from Melbourne.
