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Scheherazade
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Program NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op.35 (excerpts) Video excerpts of the MSO were recorded March 2020 at Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall, with Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducting.
Presenter Nicholas has always had a strong commitment to music education and community engagement. In 2010 he was awarded the Dame Roma Mitchell Churchill Fellowship to study the LSO’s iconic Discovery program and the use of improvisation in training classical musicians at the Guildhall School of Music.
NICHOLAS BOCHNER After training in Adelaide and London, Nicholas spent 3 years as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Queensland as part of the ensemble Perihelion, forging a strong reputation as an exponent of contemporary music. He joined the MSO as Assistant Principal Cello in 1998. Since then he has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician and recitalist. He has also taught cello and improvisation at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).
In 2016, Nicholas’ considerable experience as an orchestral musician and his passion for communication led him to undertake a fellowship at ANAM where he developed, conducted and presented educational concerts for primary school children. During the fellowship he was mentored by Paul Rissmann, Graham Abbott and the legendary Richard Gill AO. Since then he has presented educational concerts for children and adults for MSO, ANAM and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. In 2020 he was named the MSO’s Cybec Assistant Conductor for Learning and Engagement. He is also the conductor of the Melbourne University Biomedical Students’ Orchestra. In support of his work as an education presenter, Nicholas has been studying conducting with Benjamin Northey and won a coveted place at the TSO’s 2019 Australian Conducting Academy.
PERFECT
PAIRING Ears Wide Open is proudly supported by TarraWarra Estate
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Glossary Arpeggio A chord broken into a sequence of notes played in a rising or descending order. Chromatic A musical scale in which each pitch is a semitone above or below its adjacent pitches. Motif A recurring idea in an artistic work, such as a short musical theme.
Pizzicato A technique of playing a string instrument in which the strings are plucked with the fingers rather than played with the bow. Tritone Two pitches played simultaneously or consecutively that are three whole tones apart. This combination produces an unresolved sound.
Ornamentation Musical flourishes or embellishments that decorate the overall melodic line of a work.
Quick Facts OVERVIEW OF THE STORY
DID YOU KNOW?
The Sultan Shahriyar, convinced of the duplicity and infidelity of all women, had vowed to slay each of his wives after the first night. The Sultana Scheherazade, however, saved her life by the expedient of recounting to the Sultan a succession of tales over a period of a thousand and one nights.
• Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, and eventually became Inspector of Naval Bands.
Overcome by curiosity, the Sultan postponed from day to day the execution of his wife, and ended by renouncing altogether his resolution. Many were the marvels recounted to Shahriyar by Scheherazade. For the telling of these she drew from the verses of the poets and the words of folk songs and tales, connecting her stories one with the other. Adapted from Yvonne Frindle © 1998
• The character of Scheherazade is represented in this work by a solo violin. • Scheherazade was adapted into a ballet and was premiered in Paris by Ballets Russes – who went on to premiere Stravinsky's Rite of Spring just a few years later.