Encore: The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Magazine | Issue 2, 2022

SONGS OF THE SPIRIT Meet the inspiring young Indigenous women of Marliya THE ROAD TO COMPASSION Lior and Nigel Westlake on their unlikely collaboration

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ISSUE TWO | 2022

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The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Magazine

ISSUE TWO

Contents

JULY 2022

Features 16 The Prodigy He is one of classical music’s hottest young stars: now British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason is bringing his huge talent to the Melbourne stage 24 Second Acts From house-flipping to woodwork – the abiding passions of four MSO musicians and staff 32 Spirit Songs Meet the inspiring young First Nations singers of Marliya, a Queensland choir with a message behind the music 36 Creating Compassion Composer Nigel Westlake and singersongwriter Lior talk about their collaboration on the deeply moving work that is Compassion

Photography: Carlo Santone

42 The Natural Ahead of returning home to perform with the MSO, expat violinist Emily Sun reflects on her musical journey

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46 Essay: Why art matters The Saturday Paper’s Alison Croggon reflects on how, in uncertain and troubled times, art brings essential meaning

Facebook @Melbourne Symphony Twitter @MelbSymphony YouTube @MelbourneSymphonyOrchestra Instagram @melbournesymphonyorchestra LinkedIn @MelbourneSymphonyOrchestra

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Contents

ISSUE TWO

JULY 2022

32

Regulars 6 Contributors

Photography: Laurie Richards

ON THE COVER British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Photography: John Davis

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra GPO Box 9994, Melbourne, Vic 3001 (03) 9929 9600 mso.com.au

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7 Welcome Letter From the MSO’s Managing Director Sophie Galaise 9 The Moment A look back into the MSO’s archives 11 Proust Questionnaire The Orchestra’s Principal Bassoon, Jack Schiller, takes this revealing questionnaire

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Portrait of a Patron We talk to the Armours, multi-generational supporters of the MSO

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14 Spotlight On… An overview of what’s coming up at the MSO

48 Puzzles Test your musical knowledge 50

Day Off Diary Food, walking and more food – how trumpeter Rosie Turner spends her Sundays

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Contributors DANIEL MAHON

SALLY WARHAFT

Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne anthropologist, broadcaster and podcaster. She is a former editor of The Monthly magazine and the author of Well May We Say: The Speeches that Made Australia.

Warhaft is the host of The Wheeler Centre’s live journalism series, The Fifth Estate. In this issue, she profiled MSO patrons the Armour family (pg 13) and trumpeter Rosie Turner for Day Off Diary (pg 50).

Melbournebased photographer Daniel Mahon began his photographic career after travelling through Europe and deciding he would prefer to spend his life taking photos, rather than the corporate career he had just started in London.

After returning to Melbourne to study at RMIT, he headed to New York, where he worked with leading fashion and portrait photographers. Since returning to Melbourne, Mahon’s work has appeared in publications such as Wallpaper, the age (melbourne) magazine, Gourmet Traveller and Frankie. He was busy for this issue of Encore, shooting the Armour family (pg 13) Rosemary Kellam and Katharine Bartholomeusz-Plows (pg 24), and Rosie Turner (pg 50).

JUNGHO LEE

Jungho Lee is a Korean artist based in Seoul. He has worked as an illustrator for various media since 2007. Recently, he has focused on works for books and making his own picture book. He was named Overall Professional Winner of the World Illustration Awards 2016 (hosted by AOI) and shortlisted in the commercial publishing category in 2020. Jungho created the illustration that accompanies the essay in this issue (pg 46).

JOHN DAVIS

ALISON CROGGON

Alison Croggon is the arts editor of The Saturday Paper and a poet, novelist, librettist and critic. Awards include the Environmental Writing for Children Prize (2016), the Choral/Vocal Work of the Year in the Art Music Awards (2015), the 2009 Geraldine Pascall Critic of the Year and the Anne Elder and Dame Mary Gilmore poetry prizes, as well as several shortlistings in the Victorian, NSW and WA Premier’s Literary Awards. Her translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies (Newport Street Books) was published in April this year. She wrote this issue’s essay (pg 46).

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John Davis is an awardwinning, London-based photographer who works with some of the world’s biggest brands, such as Adidas, Nike, Decca and the Football Foundation. His passionate interest in the human body and its movement has seen him excel in the worlds of sport, portraiture and lifestyle photography. It was the combination of his sports work and portraiture that brought about the commission to shoot our cover star, Sheku Kanneh-Mason (he compares the British cellist to an athlete, showing strength, determination and great physicality to play his instrument).

Davis was recently named a winner of the British Journal of Photography Portrait of Britain Award.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Magazine

DAN F. STAPLETON

When he was nine years old, Dan F. Stapleton was offered a place with Magdalen College choir at Oxford University, but decided to stick with his local community chorus instead. He has made unconventional career choices ever since, writing on diverse topics for the Financial Times, Vogue Living and many others.

Music continues to be his ultimate passion and motivator. He has been known to travel across continents to see his hero, Tori Amos, perform with symphony orchestras. Stapleton interviewed violinist Emily Sun for this issue (pg 42).

Letter

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elcome to Encore magazine. I hope this edition finds you in good health, and that 2022 has (so far) been full of joy and music. The sense of optimism that has been felt on stage, behind the scenes and among our audiences has been wonderful to behold. This positivity has been paired with the boldness and excitement our new Chief Conductor, Jaime Martín, has brought to Melbourne and Victoria.

We have also been buoyed by the response to Encore magazine. Thank you to those who have shared their well wishes and support to this new way of connecting with our community.

I invite you to read this second edition and discover more about the world of the MSO and our program for this year.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, one of the most promising musicians on the planet, will star in our upcoming Mid-Season Gala.

Before he makes his Australian orchestral debut, learn more about this budding superstar.

Elsewhere, our writers shine a spotlight on some of the more diverse programming moments of 2022. Marliya, a choir of First Nations teenagers from Cairns, will perform with the MSO as part of our NAIDOC Week program, and multiaward winners Nigel Westlake and Lior reflect on their work Compassion ahead of our performance in September.

We also look at the positive impact that art and music have in society. As we continue to navigate a period of social unrest, their importance to humankind is paramount.

I trust you will enjoy the stories and perspectives shared in these pages, and I look forward to seeing you back in the concert hall again soon.

Sophie Galaise, Managing Director, MSO

Acknowledgement of Country

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.

The Torch

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.”

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Stacey (Taungurung/Boon Wurrung), “Bunjil Dreaming” 2020, acrylic on canvas

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1963

THE MOMENT

Queen Elizabeth II There was a time – before the word “republic” was ever whispered – when a Royal Visit to our shores was a momentous event. Little wonder, then, that Melbourne pulled out all the stops for the Royal Australasian Tour of 1963, when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited the Victorian capital over three sultry February days.

A day at the races, opening the Royal Children’s Hospital in Parkville and a service at the Scots’ Church were on the itinerary, but one of the highlights of the visit was a concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl (then just four years old). The Queen – resplendent in a pink dress and frock coat, white hat and gloves, and a triple strand of pearls – and a huge crowd of ecstatic Melburnians were treated to an afternoon performance by the VSO (as the MSO was then known), conducted by Sir Bernard Heinze, which included Percy Grainger’s Country Gardens, Gordon Jacob’s Royal Fanfare and Elgar’s Land of Hope and Glory. Afterwards, the Queen met Heinze, and “soloists Miss [Nance] Grant, Miss [Lauris] Elms and Mr [Neil] Warren-Smith were presented to the royal visitors,” according to a newsreel of the visit.

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PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE

Jack Schiller

Our Principal Bassoon tackles the Proust Questionnaire … and confesses to nightmares about having to play the violin at a concert (he doesn’t play the violin).

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hat is your idea of perfect happiness? I can’t decide between these three: sitting by a stream in a forest; having dinner and playing games with old friends; or eating an amazing loaf of bread. What is your greatest fear? I’ve had a recurring nightmare of turning up to play a concerto on violin – I’ve never played a note on a violin. Which living person do you most admire? My partner Anna. What is your greatest extravagance? Coffee. I think if you checked my veins they would mostly be caffeine. What is your current state of mind? Tired but happy (we have a 10-month-old).

On what occasion do you lie? When I mentally tally up how much chocolate I’ve eaten. What is the quality you most like in a person? An easy generosity. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “It is what it is.” That’s had a good work-out over the past two years. Who or what is the greatest love of your life? My partner, but she might contest that and say it’s the bassoon. When and where were you happiest? On a holiday in Spain. Which talent would you most like to have? A good singing voice. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I’d like to be more patient. If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what would it be?

Definitely a border collie. Where would you most like to live? In a decked-out cabin in a forest somewhere. What is your most treasured possession? My instrument. Dogs or cats? Definitely dogs but we have a beautiful cat called Pepper. What do you regard as the depths of misery?

Musically, performing on a sub-par reed. What do you most value in your friends? Thoughtfulness and being easy-going. What is your favourite piece of music? There are a lot, but the slow movement from Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G is right up there. What other instrument do you wish you could play? The piano. What is it that you most dislike? Confrontation.

What is your motto? “Worrying means you suffer twice.”

Who or what is the greatest love of your life? My partner, but she might contest that and say it’s the bassoon

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“I keep telling people it’s my life force – live music and going to live music, talking about music, listening to music”

PORTRAIT OF A PATRON

All in the Family Three generations of the Armour family have supported the MSO since the 1980s, spearheaded by matriarch Mary, as Daniela Elser discovered.

Photography DANIEL MAHON

C

ome concert night in Melbourne’s Hamer Hall, you won’t just find Mary Armour in her usual seat in Row H in the stalls, but surrounded by an ever-growing cadre of family members turned avid MSO supporters.

A lifelong lover of live classical music, Mary has now not only passed that passion along to her son and daughterin-law, Mark and Christine Armour, and her daughters Cathie and Mim, but to her adult grandchildren, with up to nine family

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members attending MSO concerts during the 2022 season. “I loved when the young ones said, ‘Gran, you love it so much. We think it’s time we had new experiences and we want to do it, too.’

“It’s just a thrill for me because I’m sure they’ll have the same wonderful experiences that I’ve had.”

For Mary, the MSO has been a lifelong source of joy. Her connection to the Orchestra dates back to the 1940s when she was a student at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. To this day, she vividly recalls seeing Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5 with the MSO. “That is one of those moments that you never forget,” she says.

“You never forget the feeling you had after hearing that particular performance of that particular work.”

After working as a music teacher for 25 years and raising her family, Mary began subscribing to the MSO in 1984 and, in the years since then, has only increased the number of concerts she attends annually. Mark and Christine have been subscribers for decades, with an additional four of Mary’s grandchildren and their partners now getting set to join in this family tradition this year.

(The family has technically hit four generations of MSO-goers with Christine having taken her five-year-old granddaughter to a special weekend concert for little ones.)

The Armour family’s dedication to the MSO also extends to providing philanthropic support.

“It is something terribly, terribly special to hear an orchestra in a concert hall and I think there’s an obligation on those of us who are able to do so to try and keep it going,” says Mark.

Mary is equally adamant that all of us can play a part in ensuring the vibrancy and survival of the arts. “When you look back on the history of music, the patronage was there for the arts for centuries.

It came from private individuals and I think private individuals have to become more aware of the part they can play as well.”

Looking to the future, Mary, who is in her mid-90s, is “thrilled” that this new generation looks set to follow in her MSO footsteps.

“It is a very special thing for me because I know what live music has meant to me, and if they can even get a smidgen of that by going to these concerts, that will be wonderful for them.

“I keep telling people it’s my life force – live A family affair: music and going to live music, talking about Mary Armour with her son music, listening to music. It’s what gives me all Mark and the energy which I need at this stage of my life. daughter-in-law I honestly feel it’s kept me alive to the age I am.”

Christine.

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TO SIR WITH LOVE

SPOTLIGHT

Season Events

Over the past decade, MSO Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis has established an extraordinary relationship with the musicians of the Orchestra.

In December, Davis returns after three years to once more lead the Orchestra through two programs that will remind Victorian audiences of his talent, brilliance and wit.

He will be joined by MSO Young Artist in Association, Christian Li, who will perform Mendelssohn’s virtuosic Violin Concerto alongside Brahms’ Fourth Symphony.

And, for the MSO’s final mainstage performances of 2022, Davis brings his own Grammy-nominated orchestration of Handel’s Messiah to life. The festive favourite has been reorchestrated by the conductor.

Mendelssohn and Brahms, Friday 2 and Saturday 3 December. Messiah, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December.

All performances at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne.

Highlights of what’s coming up in the second half of 2022.

SHEKU, JAIME AND THE MSO

Sheku Kanneh-Mason (our cover star, who we profile on page 16) will join the MSO to perform Shostakovich’s dark and stormy Second Cello Concerto for our Mid-Season Gala.

It will be Kanneh-Mason’s Australian orchestral debut but he will be in familiar hands – the young Brit and MSO Chief Conductor Jaime Martín are good friends.

Also on the program is one of classical music’s most groundbreaking works, Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 From the New World. Written upon his arrival in America, the symphony was inspired by African-American spirituals.

▪ Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Mid-Season Gala, Saturday 30 July, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. Proudly presented

by MSO Premier Partner Ryman Healthcare. In association with Andrew McKinnon Presentations.

▪ In Conversation with Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Jaime Martín, Wednesday 27 July, Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre.

▪ Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the Kanneh-Mason Family (does not feature the MSO), Saturday 20 August, Hamer Hall. In association with Andrew McKinnon Presentations.

Ready to Book? Visit mso.com.au or call (03) 9929 9600 to find out more.

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JAMS FOR ALL

In 2022, the MSO celebrates a decade of its Jams for Juniors program. These workshops were originally designed for the youngest members of the MSO community and have been a mainstay on the calendar for families since 2012. This year, the MSO introduces two new Jams. The Community Jam for Deaf and Hard-ofHearing Audiences is the perfect way for hearing-impaired children and their families to engage with the Orchestra.

Jams for Life is targeting an older audience - it’s a fun and interactive session for senior citizens in a supportive and accessible environment.

Community Jam for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Audiences, Saturday 24 September (10am and 11am). Jams for Life, Saturday 1 October (10am and 11am). All performances will be at Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre; $19.

HARRY RETURNS

Since they began in 2017, the Harry Potter film-in-concerts have been huge events for the MSO. After the success of the most recent performances in March, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ Part 1 in Concert will see a return of the world’s most famous wizard for his final year at Hogwarts™.

Experience the loss and love of the series’ final instalment all over again as Harry and his friends face Voldemort™ for the last time.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ Part 1 in Concert, 22-24 September, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. Part 2, 30 March-1 April 2023, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne.

THE NINTH

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony returns to Hamer Hall later this month, led by Principal Guest Conductor, Xian Zhan (above).

Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony is arguably the greatest symphony ever composed. The MSO’s last performances of the work were among its final concerts before the pandemic struck and, if ever a piece could lift the human spirit, it is Ode to Joy. Beethoven’s epic final work features a huge orchestra and the MSO Chorus in full flight.

Beethoven’s Ninth, Thursday 30 June and Friday 1 July, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne.

Xian Zhang will conduct an Open Rehearsal (all tickets $15) on Wednesday 29 June.

STRAVINSKY’S BALLETS

Photography: Benjamin Ealovega; Laura Manariti; Jake Turney

One of Chief Conductor Jaime Martín’s requests for the 2022 Season was to conduct three of Igor Stravinsky’s most renowned ballets. It was 61 years ago that the famed composer led the Victorian Symphony Orchestra (as the MSO was then known) at the Palais Theatre, and to celebrate the milestone, Martín has programmed a performance of The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring over two nights in August. Joining the Orchestra on stage will be musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), in what will be their first main-stage performance with the MSO under the two organisations’ recently announced partnership.

With two intervals and plenty of pageantry, these concerts are set to be among the year’s biggest events.

Stravinsky’s Ballets, Friday 12 and Saturday 13 August, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. As part of the MSO for Schools program, Jaime Martín will conduct an Open Rehearsal for secondary schools on Wednesday 10 August.

T H E P R O D I G

y

In Sheku Kanneh-Mason, classical music has a star to inspire a whole new generation. Ahead of his guest performance with the MSO, the British cellist spoke with Stephanie Bunbury.

Photography JOHN DAVIS

i

magine being part of a family of seven vibrantly musical children, all learning instruments and practising every day, in an ordinary suburban house in Nottingham, England.

“It was tricky when all of us were there,” concedes Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who was dubbed “the world’s new favourite cellist” by The Times when he was just 19. “It was chaotic and quite loud. I’d find a corner to practise – in my bedroom, something like that.

“For the pianists it was trickier. They would have a rota.” There were two pianos, but everyone knew one was a lot better than the other.

Kanneh-Mason is still only 23, but he has already had the equivalent of some other performers’ whole careers. He can’t quite remember how old he was when he started performing professionally – 16 or 17 – but he was just 17 when he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year, the first black musician to win in the prize’s 38-year history.

He has since released two albums; with his second album, Elgar (2020), he became the first cellist to have a Top 10 hit in the UK album chart. In 2018, he was asked to play at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, watched by two billion people around the world. In 2020, he was awarded an MBE for his services to music. He may be the third musician in his family, but his CV reads as a series of remarkable firsts.

In July, Kanneh-Mason will make his first trip to Australia, where he will appear as a guest performer with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto. Shostakovich wrote the piece for his friend Mstislav Rostropovich to play at his own 60th birthday in 1966; it echoes a life spent struggling to create within the confines of political repression.

Young as he is, Kanneh-Mason’s delivery shoulders that weight. “Yes, it’s incredibly, intensely, dark music,” he agrees. “I find spending a long time each day practising this piece and performing it does take a lot of energy, but it’s also such an amazing piece, because there’s so much music, so much underneath the surface.”

He calls it a “patient piece” because it reveals itself only slowly. “It takes a high level of focus, both from the performer and the audience, but the reward of that focus is very powerful, I think.”

a family affair Sheku Kanneh-Mason was six when he first saw a cello in action. His sister Isata, who is two years older, played piano. His brother Braimah, one year ahead of him, played violin. Sheku was learning both. “But, seeing a whole orchestra performing, I remember being excited by the sound and the look of the cello. So I asked if I could learn that instead.”

Quite conveniently, his choice opened up the possibility of playing chamber music at home. “Exactly,” he laughs. “We could do piano trios, which we did a lot when we were growing up.”

His four younger siblings have also all become excellent musicians in their turn: Konya (21, piano and violin), Jeneba (19, piano and cello), Aminata (16, violin, piano and singing) and Mariatu (12, cello).

Remarkably, neither of their parents is a musician. Stuart Mason, originally from Antigua, is a business manager in the hotel industry; their mother, Dr Kadiatu Kanneh – whose father is from Sierra Leone and whose mother is 

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Welsh – was a university lecturer in English literature. “But they love music and were very encouraging always,” Kanneh-Mason says. “They took us to watch concerts and we’d listen to a lot of music at home and in the car. That’s how we got into it really.”

Not that they were limited to classical music. Reggae was also big in the Kanneh-Mason household; Sheku, who has recorded his own inventive arrangement of ‘No Woman, No Cry’, once said that if he could play with anyone, dead or alive, it would be Bob Marley.

“I would be so moved by being in his presence. Even when I’m playing a piece of classical music, I feel influenced by how Marley performs,” he told UK radio station Classic FM.

h

e is also a fan of rap, dubbing Dr Dre (of legendary rap group N.W.A.) “a genius”. Is he listening to different things in Dr Dre than he is in Dvořák, I wonder, or is music simply music for him?

“Each style or genre has its own feel and elements that I’m drawn to,” he says. “Of course, with classical music a lot of the time we don’t have lyrics, so yes, I’m drawn to the harmony and melody and bassline in that. Whereas in rap, for example, there’s not necessarily melody, so you’re really drawn to the poetry and rhythm of the words.

“With reggae, I love the feel of the offbeats being so strong and how that can make you want to move. Of course, there are lots of common threads through all styles of music that you can listen out for, but there are so many individual things as well.”

His most recent musical adventure is something completely different: a collaboration with sitar maestro Nishat Khan. “We created a piece together for cello and sitar, with influences of the classical music I play as well as Indian classical music. I was getting to learn the scales and the different inflections and shapes of the pieces they play.

“With the cello, you can play every note they can, but there is a lot of immediate question and answer, where you have to imitate exactly what the sitar does on the cello. I found that challenging, particularly when it’s fast.”

His time is structured, he says, to give him “time to breathe and the space to explore … because not everything should be for the high-profile concerts”.

It would be terrible to fall out of love with music. “I always make sure that in every project I do, I’m always remaining true to the reason I love music and the things I really value in it. I think if that’s always the priority, then it’s cool. Also, to be always open, working with lots of musicians, getting new perspectives. Then it’s always exciting.”

The week after we speak, he is off to Antigua. He laughs when I say how envious that makes me. “It’s the best! And I have a large family there, which is nice.”

Four years ago, he and his family helped to relaunch the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Orchestra on the island. It currently involves about 120 young musicians. “I’m so happy it’s going so well and there is lots of enthusiasm. It takes a lot of organisation, but it’s a small island. I don’t know if that makes it easier, but it makes it possible.” He looks forward to doing some teaching.

“But don’t worry,” he adds. “I’ll also be on the beach.”

Projects like this one – and Britain’s Chineke! Orchestra for black and minority ethnic musicians, for which both he and several of his siblings 

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Beethoven Fives

Experience the grandeur of Ludwig van Beethoven at the height of his powers, alongside the Australian premiere of a bold new work by Brett Dean – inspired by Beethoven’s own piano concertos Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5 The work that rewrote the rules of the piano concerto

Brett Dean Piano Concerto – Gneixendorf Music, a Winter’s Journey Written in response to Beethoven’s piano concertos

Beethoven Symphony No.5 Da da da dummmmm! What else is there to say?

4–5 November / Hamer Hall Jaime Martín conductor

B O O K N OW

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Kanneh-Mason on stage with his sister Isata at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Sheku’s top 5 mostplayed works on Spotify

1 have played – are important to him. Growing up, he didn’t see too many black faces on concert stages or, for that matter, in concert audiences. Classical music’s lack of diversity also makes him doubly remarkable, of course.

Does he get tired of seeing that pointed out in articles like this one? “I don’t read much about myself, but I’m aware that’s often the angle,” he says. “You know, it’s natural for that to be pointed out – and perhaps important that it be pointed out at this time. I think as long as that inspires other young people who look like me to see classical music or the cello as something they could be into, then I think it is a wonderful thing.”

There is, in fact, a so-called “Sheku effect”, the result of his exposure on television and at the royal wedding: more young people in Britain than ever before are taking up the cello.

thank you for the music For about 18 months, of course, nobody was seen on a concert stage. It was during the long periods of lockdown that all those years playing as a homegrown chamber music ensemble paid off. Twice a week, the Kanneh-Mason siblings played concerts online.

“It was really nice to be able to do that, because of course you weren’t able to perform or travel so we were all at home. It actually gave us some kind of structure, because twice a week you knew you had to put together who was going to play, what we were going to play, things like that. And it was nice to be sharing music with the audience tuning in from lots of different places.”

People told them how much they looked forward to those online concerts, a bright spot in the dreariness of isolation.

Music, for him, is now bound up with performance. “For me, it’s why I do it. What motivates me is the feeling of being able to share music I care about and love with other people. That’s the best.” ■

Photography: Jake Turney

Sheku Kanneh-Mason performs at the Mid-Season Gala, under conductor Jaime Martín, on Saturday 30 July at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne.

In association with Andrew McKinnon Presentations. Proudly presented by MSO Premier Partner Ryman Healthcare. Music and Ideas: In Conversation with Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Jaime Martín, Wednesday 27 July, Iwaki Auditorium. Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the Kanneh-Mason Family (does not feature the MSO), Saturday 20 August, Hamer Hall. In association with Andrew McKinnon Presentations.

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Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals: The Swan Performers: Isata Kanneh-Mason, Jeneba KannehMason, Sheku Kanneh-Mason

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Fauré’s Après un rêve, Op. 7, No. 1 (Arr. Cello & Piano) Isata KannehMason, Sheku Kanneh-Mason

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Scarborough Fair (Arr. Parkin) Plínio Fernandes, Sheku KannehMason

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Hallelujah (Arr. Hodge) Alinka Rowe, Didier Osindero, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Yong Jun Lee

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Fauré’s Elégie in C Minor, Op. 24 (Arr. Parkin) Ashok Klouda, Caroline Dearnley, Chris Murray, Desmond Neysmith, Hannah Roberts, Josephine Knight, Nicholas Trygstad, Robert Max, Rowena Calvert, Sheku Kanneh-Mason

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S EC ON D ACTS Away from the demands of orchestra life, the MSO’s cast of musicians and managers keep themselves centred with a fascinating array of sidelines. Daniela Elser discovers four abiding passions.

Photography JAMES GEER and DANIEL MAHON

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rchestras are driven by passion. It takes a dedicated army of musicians, creatives and classical music professionals to bring the works of the world’s greatest composers to vivid, wonderful life for audiences.

However, for a number of members of the MSO, when the curtain falls, that fire and creative flare sees them pick up everything from a hammer to a sewing needle and even the odd cleaver as they pursue their second acts. Here, we explore the outside passions of four MSO members.

JAMES FOSTER H E A D O F O R C H E S T R A L O P E R AT I O N S

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onday to Friday, you’ll find James Foster working as the Head of Orchestral Operations, a role that oversees the Orchestra management department (including booking casual musicians and rostering the full-time musicians) and the production department (everything from lighting and the audio to the logistics of moving instruments).

But, after-hours, there is every chance Foster will be in his woodworking workshop, focusing on projects which range from lovingly created chopping boards to a Baroque wind machine.

“Overseeing the operational admin of the Orchestra and Chorus can see me working with up to 200 people,” he says.

“Then, when I go to the workshop, I can just spend five hours by myself. It’s such a wonderful juxtaposition – it’s about spending time by yourself, not on a phone, not on technology.”

Foster started woodworking in high school and later did courses in furniture design and technology. At university, he took on stage manager duties which also saw him learn how to build sets and make props before he moved into the arts, having

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now spent eight years with the MSO – two years in his current role.

All the while, Foster has been honing his woodworking skills and now takes on commissions.

“You get a sense of accomplishment when you take a pile of scrap wood and then you have a cheese board or a side table or a record holder,” he says. “What I’ve always loved is when you varnish something – that’s the point where it really brings out the colour of the wood.”

The pieces he most enjoys making are cheese boards and chopping boards, explaining that “when you give them to people, they become a social thing”.

However, his most unique creation yet is the wind machine he made for the Orchestra, featuring a design that dates back to the time of Baroque theatre in the 18th century.

When a user turns the crank of the barrel-shaped instrument, wooden slats on the outer perimeter scrape over a canvas creating the sound of wind.

Watching the instrument being played on stage by the Orchestra gives him “a huge sense of pride”. 

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“When I go to the workshop, I can just spend five hours by myself. It’s such a wonderful juxtaposition – it’s about spending time by yourself, not on a phone, not on technology”

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K AT H A R I N E BARTHOLOMEUSZPLOWS HEAD OF ARTISTIC PLANNING

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hen Katharine Bartholomeusz-Plows and her husband bought a flat in London in 2015 and decided to renovate it themselves, they didn’t realise they were kickstarting what would become an ambitious and bold labour of love – and sweat.

Today, she and her husband David purposely buy properties that need work and live in them while they mastermind the home’s transformation.

It started simply enough: they redid the floors and the kitchen of that apartment in the UK so that when they moved back to Australia they could achieve a better rental income.

They then moved on to redoing an apartment in Melbourne, including upgrading the original ’60s pink bathroom (and while she was pregnant with their first child, to boot). “There’s pictures of me with a massive belly waterproofing the floor,” Bartholomeusz-Plows says, laughing.

While by day she’s the MSO’s Head of Artistic Planning – making decisions about the upcoming repertoire, guest conductors and soloists – come downtime, it’s another story entirely.

The couple bought their current home, which initially needed a new kitchen and bathroom, in 2019, and have relied on their common sense, experience and the occasional help of tradie friends to bring their DIY dreams to reality.

Their biggest project to date has been demolishing the walk-in wardrobe in the master bedroom and turning it into an ensuite. Next up: taking out the fireplace in the living room.

Now that they have a young daughter and son, she and her husband tend to split the workload.

Still, Bartholomeusz-Plows looks back fondly on the time when the couple used to work side-byside: “I really miss being able to do it together … the bonding and the team-building.”

Despite combining what can be an “allconsuming” job and two small children, Bartholomeusz-Plows says of their renovation sideline: “I definitely feel that it’s a good way to relax your mind or just have something else in your life. You don’t feel that it’s just work, children, work, children. You’ve got other things going on as well.

“I enjoy problem-solving and renovating is definitely problem-solving.”

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“It’s a good way to relax your mind or just have something else in your life. You don’t feel that it’s just work, children, work, children. You’ve got other things going on as well”

“The wonderful thing about cooking is that I’m not trying to be the best chef. I’m doing something because I just love to do it”

RO GER YOUNG S EC O N D V I O L I N

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core an invitation to Second Violin Roger Young’s home in Melbourne for dinner and you’ll be in for a treat.

Not only is Young an ardent foodie but a former MasterChef contestant who now has his own YouTube channel – Fiddle and Food – creating videos which combine two of his favourite things, cooking and music.

Like so many Aussies, it was when Young first travelled overseas that he began exploring different cuisines. There was also some necessity thrown in there, too. As a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Young was not only exposed to the city’s vibrant food culture but quite simply had to fend for himself.

In the years since then, with Young

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having returned to Australia and then joined the MSO in 1999, that hunger for new flavours has only grown.

“There are so many creative elements to eating and cooking which mirror being a musician,” he says. “Cooking for me is a social thing. When I’m cooking and friends are coming around for dinner … that’s my favourite time.”

Still, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Young recalls a dinner party at a friend’s house where he had taken on chef duties, which involved him roasting a duck in a plastic bag. “When we took it out of the oven, it kind of exploded. Of course duck fat just went all over this gorgeous kitchen. They were cleaning it for days.”

In 2014, Young was inspired to apply for MasterChef after his brother had appeared on the hit show. “I had a great time and I met some really great people.”

It was during the pandemic that he came up with his latest brainchild, his YouTube channel.

“I love it,” Young says enthusiastically.

“You get to play, you get to record, you get to do everything you like, and the filming is really enjoyable.”

The channel was also a way of staying connected during Melbourne’s lengthy lockdown. For the score for his video for duck confit, the soundtrack is the work of the Second Violin section of the Orchestra, with each musician recording their part individually.

At the end of the day though for Young, “we put so much energy into music and it’s good to be able to step away. The wonderful thing about doing something like cooking is that I’m not trying to be the best chef. You’re doing something because you just love to do it.” 

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“I was thrilled when my daughter recently asked me to teach her to knit. I’d love to be able to pass my skills down to the next generation”

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The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Magazine

ROSEMARY KELLAM P H I L A N T H R O P Y L E A D – C A M PA I G N S A N D C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

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f Rosemary Kellam knows she has an MSO black-tie event coming up, she doesn’t head to the shops to buy a new outfit but turns to her collection of the long-defunct magazine Australian Home Journal – she has more than 200 copies – and lets her imagination take flight.

That’s because, as a lifelong sewer, Kellam sees a gala event as an opportunity to create a beautiful vintage gown.

Growing up in regional Victoria, Kellam, who is the Orchestra’s Philanthropy Lead – Campaigns and Communications, was taught how to make her own clothes by both her mother and grandmother.

After studying music and arts at uni, she joined the Orchestra’s administration team in 2008, working in different parts of the business including operations, a secondment to the MSO Chorus and as Grants Manager for six years.

However, all the while, she has maintained her love of vintage fashion.

Her trove of Australian Home Journals, dating from the 1930s to the 1960s, provide

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not only a fascinating glimpse into the lives of women in the past but retro style inspiration, with each issue having been published with a sewing pattern.

“A lot of the vintage patterns are really interesting to create – they’re quite a challenge,” she says.

Of the four outfits she has made for glamorous MSO events, she says, “It is labour-intensive and there’s also a lot of trial and error involved and practice runs.”

Complicating things further is the fact that patterns – which can be 80 years old – are quite fragile.

However, Kellam is adamant: “I do like the challenge. Even if it doesn’t work out, I’m always learning something new.”

Beyond that, “it’s a way of really [staying] connected to my grandmother who passed away a few years ago”.

Now, Kellam is hoping to share her knowledge and passion. “I was thrilled when my daughter recently asked me to teach her to knit. I’d love to be able to pass my skills down to the next generation.” ■

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S P I RI T

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SONG S Meet Marliya, a North Queensland Indigenous choir whose young female members are telling important stories through voice and movement.

By Elissa Blake. mso.com.au

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“To find your voice, you first have to find out who you are” – Ashleigh Ung, 16

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and friendships, but we also sing songs about important issues efore the young women of Marliya walk onto like Indigenous deaths in custody, land rights, or youth detention the stage to perform Spinifex Gum with the centres. So yeah, sometimes there’s tears but there’s also joy.”

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in July, their feet will symbolically touch the country they sing about.

DEMANDS AND REWARDS Prior to every concert, they walk over a work of Spinifex Gum was just 30 minutes long when it was unveiled in art designed for that purpose, created for them by 2016. Since then, Riebl and his musical partner – and The Cat a Yindjibarndi artist of the Pilbara country. It’s an important ritual, Empire bandmate – Ollie McGill have expanded it into a CDone that helps this acclaimed group of young Indigenous singers length project (recorded/released in 2017 featuring the voices of maintain contact with the spirit of the world they sing about, no Briggs, Peter Garrett and Emma Donovan) and then into a unique matter how far away they are. concert showcase.

“We always move as a unit,” says Ashleigh Ung, 16, who has sung It’s a demanding show for the performers, Ung says. “When you with Marliya since she was 12. “We are diverse, but the same. We join, you have to learn the lyrics in Yindjibarndi language as well are family.” as learning the choreography,” she says. “It’s really hard! I joined Ung is a member of the Wakaid group of the Badulgal people Marliya when Spinifex Gum was still being developed, and I only of Island in the Torres Strait. She lives in Cairns, as do most of had about four weeks to learn everything. We rehearsed every the members of Marliya (it’s pronounced Mar-lee-a), single day and I’m not gonna lie, there were some days who are aged 12 to 20 and come from a wide range of where I thought, ‘I don’t want to get up and do this backgrounds and interests. Some are fitting in choir anymore.’ I’m glad I did though, because the rewards with volleyball practice or the final years of high school, have been amazing.” while others are studying to be a nurse or working in Jasmin Adams, 20, agrees. Like Ung, she’s also a childcare. veteran of the first incarnation of Spinifex Gum and has “Being part of this choir is amazing,” Ung says. “We performed it across the country. are like sisters and when we sing different harmonies “I went to the Pilbara when I was 14,” says Adams, LISTEN TO SPINIFEX GUM, together, it sounds so beautiful.” who is a Jarowair and Wuthathi woman. “It was very FEATURING Marliya was founded in 2015 as an all-female offshoot different to Cairns – a lot of red dirt, a real desert MARLIYA, EMMA of Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir, specifically environment. We met the local kids and the elders and DONOVAN, BRIGGS AND to give voice to Spinifex Gum, a song cycle composed by learned about some of the issues they face – a lot of PETER GARRETT, Felix Riebl and exploring aspects of Indigenous life in things I wasn’t aware of at the time. Being in Marliya ON SPOTIFY WA’s Pilbara country. has taught me to stand up for other Indigenous people After performing Spinifex Gum around the country and to be proud of my heritage.” since 2016, Marliya is now preparing to perform the work with the MSO. It will be the first symphonic setting of the work.

A SEN SE OF JOURN E Y “I’m really excited about it because this is a new kind of Lyn Williams is Artistic Director and Founder of Gondwana collaboration for us,” says Ung, who describes Marliya’s sound as Choirs and has watched Marliya evolve into a critically acclaimed “alternative pop”. touring ensemble with two albums under its belt and a third on “There is the choral aspect but there are synthesisers and the way. beats, it’s modern-sounding,” she explains. “And it’s a real “I work with a lot of children’s choirs, but Marliya is really emotional roller-coaster. Some of the songs are about sisterhood something special,” Williams says. “They have a different sound –

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The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Magazine

Marliya performs at the Sydney Opera House in 2019.

a richness and emotional strength. You feel they have a very strong need to communicate.”

Spinifex Gum became a much more theatrical show as a result, adds Williams. “There’s a strong visual element and choreography but there’s also a dramatic arc, a sense of journey, and the girls really express themselves on stage.”

Some of the original Marliya ensemble have moved on over the years, with younger singers taking their places. Another unique aspect of the group is the way that continuity and community is self-managed, says Williams.

“One of the beautiful things about Marliya is that the older girls teach the new ones all the choreography and the nuances of the songs. The youngsters hang on every word and they work so hard.

I’m so impressed by the way the knowledge of the show and the intricacies of the performance are passed down.”

They are enormous fun to tour with, too, Williams adds. “There’s no drama, no fuss, they know what they are here to do. No-one wants to be a pop star. It’s all about the collective.”

Ung says she was drawn to the choir by the opportunity to make music but has stayed for the sense of sisterhood and the lessons she learns from being part of a touring company of singers.

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“I’ve grown up in Marliya and I’ve gained a lot of confidence,” she says. “I’ve also learned that sometimes there have to be moments where I need to be quiet and do as I’m told!

“But the main thing I’ve learned is that to find your voice, you first have to find out who you are. Then you can express the things you care about.

“Take the thing you are passionate about – which, for me, is music – put something important behind it and convey it to your audience. Then it can hit them like a freight train.”

She adds: “I hope the audience really feels that roller-coaster of emotion; I hope they learn something.

“So much of what we’re singing about is important and relevant.

But even with the happy songs, I hope they feel the bond that we share with each other on stage and off stage. That’s who we are as people, that’s who we are.” ■

Marliya performs as part of MSO + Spinifex Gum, with Emma Donovan, Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill on Saturday 9 July at Hamer Hall as part of NAIDOC Week. MSO + Spinifex Gum is proudly presented by MSO Major Partner Equity Trustees.

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Lior and Nigel Westlake perform Compassion at WOMADelaide in March 2021.

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Following the tragic death of his son, composer Nigel Westlake collaborated with singer-songwriter Lior to create the beautiful seven-movement work that is Compassion. Ahead of a performance with the MSO, Elissa Blake spoke with the cycle’s creators.

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t’s no small consolation to composer Nigel Westlake that a work written in the wake of the death of his young son has itself gone on to have a long and meaningful life.

Written with singer-songwriter Lior, Westlake’s sevenmovement song cycle Compassion would not have existed had its creators not been brought together by the tragedy that struck the Westlake family in 2008 when Eli Westlake, then 21, was deliberately run down and killed by a drunk driver in what the sentencing judge later described as “a senseless act of anger”.

“Meeting Lior and working with him was the guiding force of my life at that time,” says Westlake. “I found a kindred musical spirit.

Looking back at it all now, it was a blessing.”

Westlake and Lior met at a fundraising event for the charitable foundation Westlake created in Eli’s memory. Prior to that, Westlake had only been familiar with Lior’s work via his son’s CD collection; Lior’s 2004 album Autumn Flow was on high rotation.

“Eli was really into hip-hop at the time, but Autumn Flow was the last piece of music he and I listened to together. I think that underscored the incredibly strong connection I felt when I heard Lior sing that day,” Westlake says.

“He did some beautiful songs with his guitar and, at the end of the fundraiser, as an encore, sang a solo vocal piece called Avinu Malkeinu, an ancient Jewish hymn. I’d never heard it before, but hearing Lior sing it … it was like it was calling to me. I went up to him after the show and asked him if he would mind me recording the song and setting it to music – a symphonic arrangement.”

The two musicians began to exchange musical ideas. Initially, Westlake envisaged a short work, “something that might be performed at a festival as part of a bigger show”. Eventually, they created Compassion, a song cycle for solo voice and full orchestra using ancient Hebrew and Arabic texts. It was a far more ambitious project and one that would bring new perspectives on philosophy, music and collaboration – as well as new audiences – to each.

A M EE TI NG OF M I N D S

The idea of working with Westlake was “a bit intimidating at first”, says Lior.

“Nigel is steeped in the classical world and I’m very much grounded in contemporary music,” he says. “I studied classical guitar and my dad is a great classical music lover, but my main interest was always in songwriting. My mum’s a real folkie and the music of the 1960s and ’70s was what I naturally gravitated to. So, yeah, I felt a bit out of my depth working with someone like Nigel.

“But right away, we set out a mode of communication that was all about honesty. We both knew that if it was going to work, we would

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“We both knew that if it was going to work, we would have to be as open as possible and to focus on our strengths: mine in melody and lyrics, Nigel’s in arrangement and orchestration”

Photography: Steve Forrest; Alice Healy

have to be as open as possible and to focus on our strengths: mine in melody and lyrics, Nigel’s in arrangement and orchestration.”

Working with a musician from the contemporary music scene proved easier than Westlake imagined. “It was like we were on the same wavelength,” he says. “We seemed to know at the same time what was or wasn’t working. I had no idea that could happen between musicians from such different disciplines.”

Westlake is Sydney-based. Lior lives in Melbourne. They began by sharing notes and ideas via email, prompted by Lior’s deep dive into the religious and philosophical texts of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.

“It was important to me not to make the work culturally specific,” Lior says. “I knew a lot of the Jewish writings [Lior was born in Israel and lived there until he was 10], but what inspired me most was finding complementary texts from the Arabic tradition.

“I got in touch with my good friend Waleed Aly [best known for Network Ten’s The Project] and he helped put me in touch with

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experts and academics. I read lots of proverbs, poems and the hadith, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. So many of them had similar messages to the Jewish ones I’d grown up with.”

Lior also contributed melodic lines, mostly composed while he was out walking his dog. “I didn’t have a home studio set up so mostly I would sing lines into my phone while I was walking along.

People must have thought I was mad.”

Those fragments of poetry and melody were like “precious jewels”, says Westlake. “The texts he found are great teachings, pinnacles of philosophy. Each has a great lesson to impart about humanity and how we can better relate to each other.”

GRI EF AN D I N SPI R ATION

Still grieving the loss of his son, Westlake found consolation as well as inspiration in the texts Lior provided. “There is one line that kind of said it all,” Westlake remembers. “‘Instil me with a sense of compassion so that I can be liberated.’ What a beautiful 

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Lior sang the Hymn of Compassion from the Compassion cycle at the MSO’s Performance of a Lifetime: Live concert last year.

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“We’ve been astounded by the response it gets.

I’ve lost count of how many people come up to us afterwards with tears in their eyes”

idea; becoming a more free person because you become a more compassionate person. Even before I knew what the piece would be, that was the key message I wanted to transmit.”

Another inspiration for Lior was Alain de Botton’s book Religion for Atheists. “I didn’t want to step into a position where I could be seen as transmitting a religious point of view,” he explains. “My interest was more in the cultural side of things and reading de Botton was important because he writes about his realisation that in rejecting religion, he was also rejecting so much of what is beautiful in philosophy and art. So, for me, this piece became about taking that kind of beauty into a secular space.”

Lior’s research seemed to feed into his music, Westlake says.

“I felt that Lior was trying to extend his range and bring a sense of magic to the texts he discovered. I found that very inspiring. And I pushed him a bit, too, I admit. Initially he was adamant that he didn’t want to sing in Arabic and that we’d get someone else in to do it – and I kind of talked him around on that.”

Even though Lior’s grandfather taught Arabic and his father was born in Iraq and spoke the language while growing up, Lior says he “felt like an imposter” when singing it. “But Nigel wasn’t going to move on that. He didn’t talk me around. He just told me to do it!”

C OM PA S SION… WITH AN AUDI ENCE

The work premiered in 2013 at the Sydney Opera House to rapturous reviews. Recorded with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and released as a CD, it won the ARIA award for Best Classical Album in 2014. The song cycle has gone on to be heard in festivals and concert halls across Australia.

Melbourne audiences first heard Compassion at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in 2014 but Westlake is very much looking forward to presenting the work in a more acoustically sympathetic environment with the MSO. “The Sidney Myer Music Bowl was great – we had something like 10,000 people there – but in the Concert Hall, you’ll be able to hear all the resonances, the full power of the Orchestra and all the intricacies in Lior’s voice,” Westlake says.

“Everywhere it plays, we’ve been astounded by the response it gets. It’s an emotional experience that seems to bring great joy to people. I’ve lost count of how many people come up to us afterwards with tears in their eyes.” ■

A Night of Compassion, featuring Lior and special guests, Thursday 29 September at Melbourne Town Hall. Presented in association with the Festival of Jewish Arts and Music.

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Ahead of engagements with the MSO and the Australian National Academy of Music, violin virtuoso Emily Sun reflects on life in London and the joy of coming home. By Dan F. Stapleton.

Photography SHIN-JOONG KIM

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ike many elite violinists, Emily Sun first picked up the instrument when she was a toddler. But there was no rigorous practice regime: in fact, she was left largely to her own devices. “When I was three, my parents bought me a little violin, just for fun, and I loved it,” she recalls. “I would learn a song every day. It just felt very natural to me.”

That organic beginning might explain why Sun is often referred to as a “natural” musician. In those early days, she was not pressured to play perfectly or practise endlessly - although she did practise, with dedication, every day. She also benefited, she says, from being part of a family that, quite simply, loved music.

“My dad passed away when I was four, but he was a composer, and today his work is in the Australian Music Centre,” she says.

“My mum was a Suzuki violin teacher and my sister played music, too. The main reason I wanted to be involved is because they all seemed to enjoy it so much.”

Today, from her base in London – where she teaches at the prestigious Royal College of Music – Sun continues to build a reputation as a violinist whose playing is both virtuosic and full of

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personality. She has won fans across continents, playing at a slew of top venues including Wigmore Hall and Seoul Arts Center and has performed for the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.

Next up: a return trip to Australia, during which she will perform Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto with the MSO in Melbourne and Geelong, and present a masterclass for students at the Australian National Academy of Music. She will also perform a Mozart concerto with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

PRODIG AL SUN

These days, she might perform across the globe, but Sun wasn’t always so comfortable in the spotlight. When she was a teen, a film crew documented her time as a talented but rebellious senior student in the popular film Mrs Carey’s Concert.

That experience seemed to bring her out of her shell. By 2018, she was both an exceptional musical interpreter and a charismatic performer, which led to her winning the ABC’s Young Performer of the Year award.

Soon after, her debut album for ABC Classic, Nocturnes, was nominated for an ARIA. And this year, she signed a general 

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management deal with prestigious UK firm Percius. (Cinque Artist Management continues to represent her in Australasia.)

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un says her early experiences in Europe have helped her cultivate quick thinking. Renowned teachers Itzhak Rashkovsky (at the Royal College of Music in London) and Augustin Dumay (at Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Belgium) pushed her to always be ready.

“The pace in London is just much faster,” she explains. “If you’re playing with an orchestra, you have to be really fast: you have to be ready to play a concerto with one rehearsal on the day.”

Pandemic notwithstanding, Sun says travelling between the UK and Australia for professional and personal engagements has become as normal as tuning her instrument.

There’s always something special about stepping off the plane in her hometown of Sydney, though.

“It feels like I’m being given a giant hug,” she says. “I feel so comfortable in Australia. I think any Aussie who’s spent time away will relate to that feeling.”

Sun says she is thrilled to be working with the MSO again after performing Matthew Hindson’s Concerto for Violin in the Orchestra’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl series in 2020 (just before COVID hit), raising funds for bushfire victims.

She also she feels aligned with two of the company’s top priorities: education and regional touring.

“Musica Viva came to my primary school and I remember it fondly,” she says. During high school, she saw Richard Gill AO’s Discovery Program and was involved in development activities with the Sydney Symphony and Australian Chamber Orchestras.

Referring to developing as a soloist, she says: “You can practise for a thousand hours on your own but nothing is worth more than an hour’s rehearsal with an orchestra and conductor all working together.”

Sun’s own masterclass will offer artistic and technical learnings for violinists but also provide insights and behind-the-scenes information for students who aspire to international careers.

Then it’s onto the concerts in Melbourne and Geelong. The

program, conducted by Benjamin Northey, features not only the concerto by Korngold but also Miriam Hyde’s nostalgic Village Fair and Antonín Dvořák’s cheerful Eighth Symphony.

“I’m particularly looking forward to playing for Geelong because, while I love our capital cities, it’s exciting to play outside of them, too,” Sun says. “I know how important and transformative watching a live performance can be, so it’s terrific that orchestras tour regionally so that every child in Australia gets to experience great classical music live, no matter where they live.

“Growing up in Sydney, a lot of these things were on my doorstep. But every child in Australia should be afforded those same opportunities.”

Sun’s official website and media appearances depict her as calm, charismatic and confident – all of which is accurate. However, she admits that certain stretches of her career to date have tested her relaxed Aussie character.

“When you’re working towards an elite level – especially while you’re studying and taking part in very tough competitions – it can be very easy to forget what it is you’re actually doing it for,” she admits.

“I see that happening quite a bit in younger players now, and I’ve had to be mindful of it myself. Trying to achieve impossibly high standards, or even perfection, is a prevalent thing in classical music, and you can lose sight of your original motivation.”

For Sun, that original motivation was to share the music she loved with as many people as possible. “For me, the real satisfaction is giving to the audience,” she says. “Being generous with the music you play and sharing that unreservedly with audiences is what it’s all about. And I think it’s those things, more than anything else, that teach you to be a true musician.” ■

“You can practise for a thousand hours on your own but nothing is worth more than an hour’s rehearsal with an orchestra and conductor all working together”

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Emily Sun performs with the MSO, under conductor Benjamin Northey, on Thursday 15 September at Melbourne Town Hall and Friday 16 September at Costa Hall, Geelong. The Masterclass with Emily Sun is on Wednesday 14 September at Iwaki Auditorium, Southbank.

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ESSAY

Why art matters

No matter what form it takes, art has the power to remind us what truly matters, argues Alison Croggon – and that makes it more important than ever.

Illustration JUNGHO LEE

If there is a feeling that something has been lost, it may be because much has not yet been used, much is still to be found and begun.

– The Life of Poetry, Muriel Rukeyser

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here’s a popular notion that suffering and art are linked, that the more an artist suffers, the better their art becomes. This is, of course, a furphy, and a deeply pernicious one. It dates from the Romantic notion that the artist – almost without exception a male artist – is a person of greater sensitivity than the common mob.

This has always annoyed the hell out of me, for two reasons. One is that there is no such thing as singular genius; every artist exists in a network of social and aesthetic support that makes their work possible. Traditionally, much of that support has been from women, who were expected to serve as carer, muse and inspiration, rather than creator. The work of artists who were unfortunate enough to be women or people of colour was erased or minimised in favour of their white male colleagues.

I sometimes wonder about the nameless servant who cooked for Rainer Maria Rilke as he feverishly completed his Duino Elegies in 1922 – “All in a few days there was a nameless storm … eating was not to be thought of, God knows who fed me…” Then there are the countless collaborators and artists who vanished under the myth of genius – from Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi to Bertolt Brecht’s collaborator and co-author Elisabeth Hauptmann, to the black pianist George Bridgetower, whose brilliant playing originally inspired Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata.

The price of male genius is high, and has been mostly borne by those “others”. In her thirties, Clara Schumann gave up composing entirely: “I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea,” she wrote. “A woman must not desire to compose – there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?”

The second reason this myth annoys me is that it diminishes art itself. This notion of art as a superior human activity places it beyond most of us, when it’s a resource that should be within the grasp of everyone who needs it. As with sport, art is for everyone.

Also like sport, its elitism exists in the skills and knowledge required to do it well, but everyone ought to be invited to play.

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And in a time when so many long-simmering problems – from social and economic inequity to climate change to species extinction to geopolitical conflicts – are ramping simultaneously into global crisis, this idea of art as an activity open only to the few makes it hard to defend. Why should we bother spending our energies on art, when so many other things urgently demand it?

Art, as W.H. Auden said of poetry, “makes nothing happen”. This is often taken to mean that poetry doesn’t matter. But he goes on to say: ...it survives In the valley of its making where executives Would never want to tamper, flows on south From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs, Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives, A way of happening, a mouth.

What art offers is something else, a “way of happening” beyond the truncated belief systems of “executives” who see money as the price of everything.

Art’s insistence on beauty, presence, truthfulness and delight opens up the criminality of the decision-making that, for instance, claims that a dead Great Barrier Reef is a fine price to pay for the short-term financial gain of a gigantic gas project. Its human place, its “mouth”, tells us that no living being is worthless.

Art exposes the lies that permit us to sleep at night. This inversion of the values that currently shape and destroy our worlds is the same truth you see in First Nations art, from the extraordinary canvases of Anmatyerre woman Emily Kame Kngwarreye, which embody the richness and detail of the natural world, to the emancipatory politics of Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang artist Richard Bell.

No work of art will directly save a child, or stop criminal politics, or solve inequity, or prevent global warming. But it can remind us what really matters, and it can give us the courage to fight for it. This is why dictators like their art tame and their artists dead. Because, as William Blake said: “Every Thing that Lives is Holy.” ■

Alison Croggon is the Arts Editor of The Saturday Paper, part of Schwartz Media, a long-standing Media Partner of the MSO.

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Crossword

Answers on page 50

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ACROSS 1. Ralph Vaughan Williams composed incidental music for which play by Aristophanes? (3,5) 5. What is the surname of the Australian composer who created the work At the Rising of the Sun? (4) 7. Complete the name of this instrument, _____ d’amore. (4) 8. What is the first name of the Tuscan-born violinist with the surname Hadelich? (8) 9. Who is the Music Director of the Birmingham Opera Company, ______ Chauhan? (6) 12. What opera by Elliot Goldenthal, which made its debut in 2006, tells the tale of the nemesis of Beowulf? (7) 15. What is the highest female voice? (7) 19. What is the surname of the Australian composer Anne, whose work The Rest is Silence had its premiere with the MSO in 2021? (6) 21. Complete the title of this work by Ravel: ______ Espagnole. (8) 22. What is another word for a single entry? (4) 23. G neixendorf Music – A Winter’s Journey is the work of contemporary Australian composer Brett _____? (4) 24. I n music, what term means the amount of time a note, phrase, section or composition lasts? (8) DOWN 1. What is the first name of the British composer of the chamber opera Powder Her Face, _____ Adès? (6) 2. What word is missing from the Oliver Knussen opera based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, _____ the Wild Things Are? (5) 3. What verb means to dramatically reduce (it’s also the name of the lead guitarist from the band Guns N’ Roses)? (5) 4. What is the Italian word for mister? (6) 5. What is the capital city of Massachusetts? (6) 6. Pianist ______ de Borah is a founding member of Ensemble Q. (6) 10. The _____ and Circumstance Marches are a series of five marches by British composer Sir Edward Elgar. (4)

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11. What is the term for an Icelandic epic? (4) 12. Student of the Shanghai Conservatory and the Zhou Xiao Yan Opera Centre, vocalist Sen___. (3) 13. Which First Nations singer will perform Spinifex Gum with the MSO as part of NAIDOC Week this year, _____ Donovan? (4) 14. Stanley Myers’ classical guitar work, Cavatina, was heard memorably in the Martin Scorsese film, The ____ Hunter? (4) 15. W rote soundtrack music for, or made a try in football. (6) 16. The Enlightenment was known as the Age of _____ ? (6) 17. Required, necessary. (6) 18. What nationality is the composer Max Bruch? (6) 19. What word means to shout for joy? (5) 20. What is the term for the narrow part of the body of a stringed instrument? (5)

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The Quiz

Answers on page 50

Compiled by the MSO’s Hannah Cui and Luke Speedy-Hutton.

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zech composer Antonín Dvořák C was living in which city when he composed his famed New World Symphony: (a) London; (b) New York; (c) Paris; or (d) Milan?

Our cover star, Sheku KannehMason, comes from an extraordinarily talented – and large – musical clan.

How many siblings does he have?

What is the name of the famed Parisian-based ballet company forever associated with the Russian composer, pianist and conductor Igor Stravinsky?

What is the first name of the French composer Ravel?

How old was Verdi when he composed his Requiem: (a) 20; (b) 40; (c) 60; or (d) 80?

Delibes’ opera Lakmé is set in which Asian country? (An extra point if you can name the century.)

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I n 1985, which Beethoven work became the official anthem of the European Union?

Can you name the conductor pictured right?

For whom did Shostakovich write his Cello Concerto No.2?

Which famous violinist asked Hector Berlioz to write a viola concerto, but refused to perform it when Berlioz went on to compose Harold in Italy?

Alexander Borodin is a part of the collection of five Russian composers named the _________?

Sibelius wrote his 5th Symphony to commemorate whose birthday?

Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony No.6’s second movement is in which unusual time signature?

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composing such beautiful 14 Despite works as his Violin Concerto,

what kind of music was Austrian Erich Wolfgang Korngold famed for writing?

Debussy’s Nocturnes feature a wordless female chorus representing which mythological beings?

Melody Eotvos’ Sonarmilo is a concerto for which instrument?

Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto is also known by what name?

What work did Aaron Copland use in its entirety within his 3rd Symphony?

The 11th of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations was reputedly inspired by which animal: (a) a dog; (b) a bear; (c) a lion; or (d) a wolf?

Which turn-of-the-century composer was dubbed the “King of Ragtime”?

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Benjamin Northey conducts Kaleidoscopic Splendour A nostalgic program of vivid melodies and kaleidoscopic colour, featuring rising star soloist Emily Sun. MIRIAM HYDE Village Fair KORNGOLD Violin Concerto DVOŘÁK Symphony No.8

THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER / 7.30pm Melbourne Town Hall

FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER / 7.30pm Costa Hall, Geelong

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Emily Sun violin ENCORE

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DAY OFF DIARY

Rosie Turner

For MSO trumpeter Rosie Turner*, a day off means markets, cooking, kitten time and a long hike far from the crowds.

Photography DANIEL MAHON

SALUTE TO THE SUN. I go to my gym a lot. Sunday is my most regular day off and there’s a beautiful 9am Hatha yoga class which I love. TO MARKET. My boyfriend Peter and I generally have meals planned for the week and we go to the Prahran Market with a big shopping bag or cart and do the grocery shopping. Usually there’s some kind of snack or pastry involved afterwards. No coffee. I have never drunk it. COOKING UP A STORM. There will generally be a longer cook on the weekend.

Lately I’ve been enjoying going through cookbooks, things like Samin Nosrat’s Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking, which is really about how cooking and food work. I just got one called Indian-ish by Priya Krishna, which talks about some of the principles of Indian cooking. I’m trying to build up my general understanding of food so that one day I don’t have to be so recipe dependent. I do bake quite a bit as well. PLAY TIME. There’s usually practice worked in somewhere on my day off. Sometimes I go out next to the oval at Fawkner Park and play because that’s what I was doing in lockdown. I play on the benches that are not on the pathways because it’s really awkward to be playing the trumpet and people are walking right in front of you. I sit at the top of the oval. I’ve had so many conversations with people in the neighbourhood when I’m there.

CAT POWER. I have kittens so they’re always a part of my day off. I have two tabby sisters, Maisie and Ruthie, and they just lie with their arms around each other all the time. They’re beautiful.

BEST OF FRIENDS. On a night off, Pete and I often head to a restaurant, sometimes with friends from the Orchestra. There’s also a small posse of us from the MSO who do the occasional

“I have two tabby sisters, Maisie and Ruthie, and they just lie with their arms around each other all the time” day-trip, like heading to Wilsons Prom, or catching the ferry with our bikes to Bellarine. THE HIKE STUFF. On some days we go out to the Dandenongs to hike, or further out, to Sugarloaf Peak past Healesville, or Toolangi Rainforest or Werribee Gorge.

Sometimes it might be a day-trip or a weekend in Mornington.

But a walk will always be part of what we do. I love the feeling of tired, tingling, spent legs at the end of the day. * Position supported by John and Diana Frew

Puzzle Page answers. QUIZ: 1. (b). It had its premiere at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in 1893. 2. Six. 3. Ballets Russes.

4. Maurice. 5. (c). 6. India; the 19th century. 7. Symphony No.9. 8. Sir Malcolm Sargent. 9. Mstislav Rostropovich.

10. Niccolò Paganini. 11. Mighty Handful. 12. His own. It was commissioned by the Finnish government for his 50th birthday. 13. 5/4. 14. Hollywood film scores. 15. Greek Sirens. 16. Harp. 17. The Emperor Concerto. 18. Fanfare for the Common Man (also by Copland). 19. (a) It was a friend’s bulldog called Dan. 20. Scott Joplin. WHEEL WORDS: Carp, Clap, Clip, Pail, Pain, Pair, Pica, Pina, Pipi, Plan, Panic, Plain. Nine-letter word: Principal.

T H E W A H H O B O E M R A L P E S S O A G M S O P R A C E O A R A P S O O E D E A N

S P S B O I L A U G U S S T N O O H G R E N U M M N O C A W E A H E I D I E S E E D U R A T

O Y D A T I N I E D E L E G E R S E R T E M A I O N © Lovatts Puzzles

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Midweek classical in the CBD 1 HOUR CONCERTS, NO INTERVAL NEW WORLD SYMPHONY Monday 1 August

HAROLD IN ITALY ursday 18 August

TCHAIKOVSKY’S PATHÉTIQUE Monday 5 September

BRETT DEAN AND BEETHOVEN Monday 7 November

All concerts 6.30pm | Hamer Hall

TICKETS from $55 4-CONCERT

packages from $184 $5 booking fee applies

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