Jaime conducts Mahler 3

Page 1

CONCERT PROGRAM

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3

14 & 16 MARCH

Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall

THE MEASURE OF A FUN NIGHT OUT IS SLEEPING IN AS LONG AS YOU LIKE

TOMORROW

Go out with new friends to one of our dining rooms, or have a big night out on the town. Then spend the next morning in your luxurious Ryman apartment, knowing it’s nothing but you and 1000 thread count cotton for as long as you like.

Drop in to rymanhealthcare.com.au

ARTISTS

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Jaime Martín conductor

Raehann Bryce-Davis mezzo-soprano

Upper voices of the MSO Chorus

Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director

Young Voices of Melbourne

Young Voices of Melbourne is joined by singers from St Catherine’s School, prepared by Juliana Kay.

PROGRAM

MAHLER Symphony No.3

Our musical Acknowledgment of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, will be performed at these concerts.

CONCERT EVENTS

14 & 16 March at 6.45pm in the Stalls Foyer on Level 2 at Hamer Hall.

Want to learn more about the music being performed? Arrive early for an informative and entertaining pre-concert talk by composer and multidisciplinary artist Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe.

These concerts may be recorded for future broadcast on MSO.LIVE

Duration

100 minutes, no interval

In consideration of your fellow patrons, the MSO thanks you for silencing and dimming the light on your phone.

ACKNOWLEDGING COUNTRY

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

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

About Long Time Living Here

In all the world, only Australia can lay claim to the longest continuing cultures and we celebrate this more today than in any other time since our shared history began. We live each day drawing energy from a land which has been nurtured by the traditional owners for more than 2000 generations. When we acknowledge country we pay respect to the land and to the people in equal measure. As a composer I have specialised in coupling the beauty and diversity of our Indigenous languages with the power and intensity of classical music. In order to compose the music for this Acknowledgement of Country Project I have had the great privilege of working with no fewer than eleven ancient languages from the state of Victoria, including the language of my late Grandmother, Yorta Yorta woman Frances McGee. I pay my deepest respects to the elders and ancestors who are represented in these songs of acknowledgement and to the language custodians who have shared their knowledge and expertise in providing each text.

I am so proud of the MSO for initiating this landmark project and grateful that they afforded me the opportunity to make this contribution to the ongoing quest of understanding our belonging in this land.

Australian National Commission for UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 4

MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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

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

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

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

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

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra respectfully acknowledges the people of the Eastern Kulin Nations, on whose un‑ceded lands we honour the continuation of the oldest music practice in the world.
5

MUSICIANS PERFORMING IN THIS CONCERT

FIRST VIOLINS

Dale Barltrop*

Guest Concertmaster

Tair Khisambeev

Acting Associate Concertmaster

Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio#

Anne-Marie Johnson

Acting Assistant Concertmaster

David Horowicz#

Peter Edwards

Assistant Principal

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson#

Kirsty Bremner

Sarah Curro

Dr Harry Imber#

Peter Fellin

Deborah Goodall

Karla Hanna

Lorraine Hook

Kirstin Kenny

Mark Mogilevski

Kathryn Taylor

Michael Loftus-Hills*

Oksana Thompson*

SECOND VIOLINS

Matthew Tomkins

Principal

The Gross Foundation#

Robert Macindoe

Associate Principal

Monica Curro

Assistant Principal

Dr Mary Jane Gething AO#

Mary Allison

Isin Cakmakçioglu

Freya Franzen

Cong Gu

Newton Family in memory of Rae Rothfield#

Andrew Hall

Isy Wasserman

Philippa West

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Patrick Wong

Roger Young

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan#

Clare Carrick*

VIOLAS

Christopher Moore

Principal

Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio#

Lauren Brigden

Katharine Brockman

Anthony Chataway

The late Dr Elizabeth E Lewis AM#

William Clark

Gabrielle Halloran

Jenny Khafagi

Fiona Sargeant

Karen Columbine*

Ceridwen Davies*

Isabel Morse*

CELLOS

David Berlin

Principal

Rachael Tobin

Associate Principal

Anonymous#

Rohan de Korte

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Angela Sargeant

Caleb Wong

Michelle Wood

Andrew and Judy Rogers#

Jonathan Chim*

Alexandra Partridge*

Anna Pokorny*

DOUBLE BASSES

Jonathan Coco

Principal

Stephen Newton

Acting Associate Principal

Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser#

Rohan Dasika

Acting Assistant Principal

Suzanne Lee

Caitlin Bass*

Siyuan Vivian Qu*

Emma Sullivan*

Correct as of 4 March 2024. Learn more about our musicians on the MSO website * Denotes Guest Musician # Position supported by
JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 6

FLUTES

Prudence Davis Principal Anonymous#

Wendy Clarke

Associate Principal

Sarah Beggs

PICCOLO

Andrew Macleod Principal

OBOES

Michael Pisani

Acting Associate Principal

Ann Blackburn

The Rosemary Norman Foundation#

Emmanuel Cassimatis*

COR ANGLAIS

Rachel Curkpatrick* Acting Principal

CLARINETS

David Thomas Principal

Philip Arkinstall Associate Principal

Craig Hill

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher#

Oliver Crofts*

BASS CLARINET

Mitchell Berick* Guest Principal

BASSOONS

Jack Schiller

Principal Dr Harry Imber#

Elise Millman

Associate Principal

Tasman Compton^

CONTRABASSOON

Brock Imison

Principal

HORNS

Nicolas Fleury

Principal

Margaret Jackson AC#

Andrew Young

Associate Principal

Saul Lewis

Principal Third

The late Hon Michael Watt KC and Cecilie Hall#

Abbey Edlin

Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM#

Josiah Kop

Rachel Shaw

Gary McPherson#

Aidan Gabriels*

Rebecca Luton*

Ian Wildsmith*

TRUMPETS

Owen Morris

Principal

Shane Hooton

Associate Principal

Glenn Sedgwick and Dr Anita Willaton#

Rosie Turner

John and Diana Frew#

Callum G’Froerer*

Tim Keenihan*

TROMBONES

Mark Davidson

Principal

Richard Shirley

Mike Szabo

Principal Bass Trombone

TUBA

Timothy Buzbee Principal

TENOR TUBA

Brett Page*

Guest Principal

TIMPANI

Matthew Thomas

Principal

John Arcaro

Tim and Lyn Edward#

PERCUSSION

Shaun Trubiano Principal

Robert Cossom

Drs Rhyl Wade and Clem Gruen#

Kevin Man*

Peter Neville*

Greg Sully*

Hugh Tidy*

HARP

Yinuo Mu

Principal

Delyth Stafford*

* Denotes Guest Musician

^ Denotes MSO Academy

# Position supported by

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 7

JAIME MARTÍN CONDUCTOR

Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2022, Jaime Martín is also Chief Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland) and Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (Spanish National Orchestra) for the 22/23 season and was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Gävle Symphony Orchestra from 2013 to 2022.

Having spent many years as a highly regarded flautist, Jaime turned to conducting full-time in 2013, and has become very quickly sought after at the highest level. Recent and future engagements include appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Antwerp Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica y Coro de RTVE (ORTVE) and Galicia Symphony orchestras, as well as a nine-city European tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Martín is the Artistic Advisor and previous Artistic Director of the Santander Festival. He was also a founding member of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, where he was Chief Conductor from 2012 to 2019.

3 | 14 & 16 March 8
JAIME
CONDUCTS MAHLER

RAEHANN BRYCE-DAVIS MEZZO-SOPRANO

Raehann Bryce-Davis is hailed by The New York Times as a “striking mezzo soprano” and by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “electrifying sense of fearlessness.”

In the 2023–2024 season, she debuts at Santa Fe Opera as Ježibaba in Rusalka in a new production directed by Sir David Pountney and conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya, and at Opera Philadelphia as Lizzie in the world premiere of 10 Days in a Madhouse. Raehann returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Ella in X: The Life and Times of Malcom X and Dutch National Opera to sing La Zia Principessa in Il Trittico a new Barrie Kosky production conducted by Lorenzo Viotti.

As a producer/performer, her second digital short, Brown Sounds, was co-produced with Los Angeles Opera and Aural Compass Projects. It won Best Music Video at film festivals including the New York International Film Awards, New York Cinematography Awards, Hollywood Boulevard Film Awards, and the Silk Road Film Awards – Cannes.

Ms. Bryce-Davis is a recipient of the George London; the 1st Place and Audience Prize-winner of the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino, chaired by Dominique Meyer; winner of the 2016 Richard F. Gold Career Grant at the Merola Opera Program; winner of the 2015 Hilde Zadek Competition at the Musikverein in Vienna; and the 2015 Sedat Gürel – Güzin Gürel International Voice Competition in Istanbul. She holds a Master of Music and Professional Studies certificate from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Texas at Arlington.

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 9

UPPER VOICES OF THE MSO CHORUS

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

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

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

WARREN TREVELYAN-JONES CHORUS DIRECTOR

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus Director Warren Trevelyan-Jones is the Head of Music at St James’, King Street in Sydney and is regarded as one of the leading choral conductors and choir trainers in Australia. Warren has had an extensive singing career as a soloist and ensemble singer in Europe, including nine years in the Choir of Westminster Abbey, and regular work with the Gabrieli Consort, Collegium Vocale (Ghent), the Taverner Consort, The Kings Consort, Dunedin Consort, The Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars. Warren is also Director of the Parsons Affayre, Founder and Co-Director of The Consort of Melbourne and, in 2001 with Dr Michael Noone, founded the Gramophone award-winning group Ensemble Plus Ultra. Warren is also a qualified music therapist.

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 10

MSO CHORUS PERFORMING IN THIS CONCERT

SOPRANO

Shirin Albert

Philippa Allen

Sheila Baker

Anne-Marie Brownhill

Aliz Cole

Laura Fahey

Rita Fitzgerald

Catherine Folley

Susan Fone

Penny Huggett

Gwen Kennelly

Amanda Powell

Tanja Redl

Danielle Rosenfeld-Lovell

Jodi Samartgis

Jemima Sim

Chiara Stebbing

Rachel Sztanski

Tara Zamin

ALTO

Judy Anderson

Cecilia Björkegren

Kate Bramley

Mari Eleanor-Rapp

Nicola Eveleigh

Debbie Griffiths

Ros Harbison

Helen Hill

Helen MacLean

Charlotte Midson

Alison Ralph

Helen Rommelaar

Melvin Tan

Libby Timcke

Natasha Pracejus

Yvonne Ho

Juliarna Clark

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 11

YOUNG VOICES OF MELBOURNE

Young Voices of Melbourne was founded by Mark O’Leary OAM in 1990, and is now regarded as one of Australia’s finest choral programs for young singers. Its choirs are admired for their passionate performances, engaging repertoire and outstanding Kodály based music education program (Sight Singing School) which is now used in over 50 countries.

Young Voices of Melbourne performs regularly in and around Melbourne, and has released 13 recordings. The choir has performed for major events such as the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, as well as at popular events such as the National Folk Festival in Canberra, and Festival of Voices in Hobart.

It regularly hosts visiting choirs from overseas and interstate, and its voice was widely heard singing the theme song of Chris Lilley’s popular television shows We Can be Heroes, and Summer Heights High.

The choir has a proud history of touring, having undertaken 40 tours to all states and territories of Australia as well as to Europe, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, the USA, Ireland, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Samoa, New Zealand and Japan.

3 | 14 & 16 March 12
JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER

YOUNG VOICES OF MELBOURNE PERFORMING IN THIS CONCERT

Adele Finn

Alex Brown

Arielle Dekterev

Ava Loke

Beatrice Langley

Bella Xie

Benjamin Fullarton

Carson Mott

Celia Langley

Chloe Close

Claire Leibel

Dorothea Moore

Gabrielle Scully

Hailey Wu

Hilary Dennis

Isabella Moore

Kian Carter-Fourcroy

Leo McKaskill

Lila Chatfield

Lulu Chiappi

Madeleine Caruso

Marcus Harders

Marianne Panas

Nyah Trewin

Oliver Yeo

Pascal Franco Sageman

Pearl Lee

Qian-Yi Dawson

Ryan Carter-Fourcroy

Sabrina Mott

Sophie Mallet

Teresa Anthony

Xanthe Bowden

Zoe Kalanis

ST CATHERINE’S SCHOOL SINGERS PERFORMING IN THIS CONCERT

Kathrina Ang

Phoebe Butterfield

Alexis Chew

Pernilla Coleman

Asha d’Souza

Millie Esposito

Jennifer Gao

Olivia Grasso

Annabelle Hou

Gladys Lam

Isabel Lu

Sahara Pender

Alison Prendergast

Adele Wu

Helen Yu

Elsa Zhou

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 13

Are you our next Guardian of the MSO?

A great Orchestra takes us on a voyage, an exploration of art, ideas and stories. And having your support makes all the difference in ensuring we achieve the standards of excellence we live by.

As we look to the future, and all the amazing possibilities ahead, we look to the vital role you play in building the MSO.

We ask you to consider becoming an MSO Guardian by leaving a gift in your Will. Even just leaving 1% to the Orchestra you love can make an incredible impact, allowing us to invest in learning and access programs, groundbreaking collaborations, revered classics and support the brilliance of our performers, and ensure that MSO is part of Melbourne for the decades to come.

To learn more about becoming an MSO Guardian, or to have a confidential discussion on including a gift in your Will, please contact MSO Philanthropy on (03) 8646 1551 or by scanning the QR code.

VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT THEATRE PROJECTION PERFORMANCE RECORDING CAMERA TO SCREEN

PROGRAM NOTES

GUSTAV MAHLER (1860–1911)

Symphony No.3 in D minor

I. Kräftig. Entschieden [Vigorous, decisive]

II. Tempo di menuetto. Sehr mässig [Very moderately]

III. Comodo. Scherzando. Ohne Hast [Without haste]

IV. Sehr langsam. Misterioso [Very slowly, mysteriously] –

V. Lustig im tempo und keck im Ausdruck [Lively in tempo and jaunty in expression] –

VI. Langsam. Ruhevoll. Empfunden [Slowly, with serenity, expressively]

Raehann Bryce-Davis mezzo-soprano

Upper voices of the MSO Chorus

Young Voices of Melbourne

Mahler’s Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies form a trilogy depicting the composer’s search for spiritual meaning in a tragi-comic universe. Each of them employs vocal texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn) and lunges back and forth between the most profound philosophical insights and absurd banality, as they attempt to achieve Mahler’s stated symphonic ambition of ‘embracing the world’.

Dating from the 1890s, they were all composed at a time of great spiritual uncertainty, both for Mahler himself and for European society in general. Reflecting the broader cultural trends, that final decade of the 19 th century was a time of innovation and anxiety in the arts. The Expressionist movement in the visual arts (characterised by Edvard Munch’s lithograph The Scream which was directly contemporary with

Mahler’s Third Symphony) and in drama (Wedekind’s Lulu plays and Strindberg’s most extreme symbolist works date from around this time) was at its height, and in the heady post-Romantic musical era the young Arnold Schoenberg was just beginning to push the boundaries of tonal harmony.

All this was in response to a world in which increasing mechanisation was seen as dehumanising – the whited-out faces in the visual arts and the theatre sought to dramatise this condition – and where the increasing decay of corrupt 19 th century political institutions was to result in the first Russian Revolution of 1905.

Dreams and the role of the unconscious became means of establishing a higher truth within the arts. And as reality and the world of illusion collided (never more dramatically than in Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening where a character appears carrying his head under his arm), nightmare visions became mixedup with nostalgic reminiscences of innocence. Death became the only philosophical certainty.

Owing to his personal circumstances, Mahler felt particularly keenly these psychological and spiritual crises of alienation and anxiety deriving from the prevailing Zeitgeist. The second of 12 children, as a child he witnessed the death in infancy of five of his brothers and sisters. He grew up treating every moment as if it were his last, terrorised those who wasted his time, and was relentless in his quest to discover a greater order within the universe.

Although he was born and raised Jewish, he converted to Catholicism around the time the Third Symphony was completed. While this conversion was ostensibly to secure his conducting post at the Vienna State Opera, there is no doubt that in his later years Mahler became genuinely attracted to the fundamental principles of Christian

3 | 14 & 16 March 16
JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER

mysticism. Throughout his life he had been plagued by spiritual doubt and a fear of death – a fear that was amply justified by his declining health during his forties and eventually his premature death at the age of 50.

Like so many of his scores, Mahler’s Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies contain all the symptoms of his anxieties – the death-obsession and the paradoxical but understandable celebrations of life and the innocence of childhood, the virtual worship of nature, and the desire to depict all human experience within the confines of the symphonic form. Within the Third Symphony, these ambitions are encapsulated in a massive journey which effectively retraces human spiritual evolution, beginning deep in the primeval dust, working its way up through vegetation and the animal world, on to humanity and then finally up to the angels and heaven, existing within the broader category of absolute love.

It’s no small ambition, which is why the Third Symphony takes more than an hour and a half to perform. (It has its own entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest regularly-programmed symphony ever composed.) Indeed just the first of its six movements by itself is longer than most ‘normal’ symphonies by composers of the Classical era. In fact the symphony was going to be even longer, but Mahler removed the seventh and final movement, saving it for the finale of his Fourth Symphony instead.

Writing the symphony

Mahler never felt comfortable with ‘programs’ being attributed to his nine symphonies, but in many ways he was his own worst enemy in this regard. To maintain intellectual control of the massive architecture of the symphonies, he himself often created ‘programs’ which he described in detail to friends. Then, when the works came to be

published, he removed the programs altogether and denied that they had any role to play in audiences’ appreciation of the music.

Perhaps because of the size of the Third Symphony, it received more in-depth programmatic analysis by Mahler than any of his other works. It went through countless changes of title and subtitle: at various times he referred to it as Pan, The Happy Life, The Happy Science, My Happy Science, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Midsummer Noonday’s Dream, A Summer Morning Dream, and further variations on these themes. In the end, he chose to call it Symphony No.3 in D minor. But even that uncomplicated title failed to satisfy him completely. He wrote to Natalie Bauer-Lechner, ‘Calling it a symphony is actually incorrect because in no way does it adhere to the usual form. But, in my opinion, creating a symphony means to construct a world with all manner of techniques available. The constantly new and changing content determines its own form.’

So perhaps the modern shorthand of ‘Mahler 3’ is the best solution of all.

Aside from the overall title, each of the movements also went through a variety of name and program changes, with Mahler eventually settling on a structure which addressed the awakening of Pan, the flowers, the animals, mankind, the angels and love – in that order. Mahler wrote to Friedrich Löhr at the end of August 1895 telling him: ‘My new symphony…is all in large symphonic form. The emphasis on my personal emotional life (in the form of “what things tell me”) is appropriate to the work’s singular intellectual content.’ He then went on to characterise the movements:

1. Pan awakes – Summer marches in

2. What the flowers in the meadow tell me

3. What the beasts in the wood tell me

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 17

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER

4. What Man tells me

5. What the angels tell me

6. What love tells me

None of these descriptive titles would end up in the published score. Evidently, Mahler needed them intellectually as he structured the magnificent edifice of the symphony, but they are unnecessary for an audience for whom the entire sound world of the symphony is narrative enough. As Mahler himself said, ‘Just as it seems trivial to me to invent music to a preconceived program, I find it unsatisfactory and sterile to add one to an existing musical composition; notwithstanding the fact that the creative urge for a musical organism certainly springs from an experience of its author.’

In other words, he wasn’t Richard Strauss. Mahler knew that whatever its origins in personal experience, and whatever its ability to create spiritual exaltation, music ultimately remained an abstract construct.

Mahler may have begun working on the Third Symphony as early as 1892. In typical fashion he worked backwards on it, completing the first movement last (he did the same with his Fourth Symphony). The bulk of the final five movements, together with some sketches for the first, were written during the summer of 1895 in Steinbach – his Alpine summer retreat near Salzburg, where he found peace after his gruelling winter seasons as musical director of the Hamburg Opera.

Those same opera commitments in Hamburg kept him from completing the first movement until the following summer of 1896, when once more he returned to Steinbach. But unfortunately he’d left the sketches for the first movement behind. So he sent an urgent letter to a friend to break into his Hamburg apartment and retrieve the sketches, which were duly delivered to him. ‘To you those few sheets of music

must have seemed quite unimportant,’ he wrote back to his friend in gratitude, ‘but in fact they contained (according to my way of sketching) all the seeds for the now fully grown tree.’ Once in possession of those few pages of sketches, Mahler completed the massive 40-minute first movement in just a few weeks.

The symphony’s final structure is bizarre. It is effectively divided into two parts. The gargantuan first movement alone forms the first part and the final five movements the second. That first movement itself, however, is a combination of two individual movements (the difference in tone is still evident), while the final three movements run on without a break, before ending, unusually, with a slow movement. There had been precedents of course – Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony also ends with a slow movement, and many previous symphonies had run their movements into each other. But no one had ever previously conceived a symphony on such a grand scale and with such an apparent disregard for traditional symphonic form.

Not only the form, but the orchestra too was inflated. The score calls for four flutes, four oboes (plus cor anglais), five clarinets with bass clarinet, four bassoons (plus contrabassoon), eight horns, four trumpets, four trombones with tuba, two harps, a myriad of percussion, large forces of strings to balance them all, not to mention a solo contralto, choirs of women and boys – and a conductor. Small wonder then that it took some years before the work was first performed in its entirety. While Mahler’s conducting mentor Artur Nikisch and also Felix Weingartner conducted individual movements of the work soon after its completion (the audience was bewildered and unappreciative), the work was first performed in its entirety at a music

3 | 14 & 16 March 18

festival in Crefeld only in 1902, with Mahler himself conducting. And it took much longer than that for it to reach the ‘outside’ world. It was only premiered in England in 1961 and in Australia in 1967 –a phenomenal demonstration of neglect, particularly given that more than 30 commercial recordings of it are now available. But then Mahler always did say that it would be some time before his music was understood.

The Symphony – musical analysis

The Third is a ‘nature’ symphony. Shortly after its completion, Mahler’s student and great champion Bruno Walter visited him at Steinbach. As Walter gazed at the magnificent Alpine scenery Mahler told him, ‘No need to look. I have composed all this already.’

The opening movement is Mahler’s own ‘rite of spring’, composed nearly two decades before Stravinsky’s masterpiece. As he was composing it, Mahler wrote to Natalie Bauer-Lechner: ‘This almost ceases to be music, containing mostly sounds from nature. And it is eerie how from lifeless matter… life gradually breaks forth, developing step by step into ever-higher forms of life.’ In another context he wrote, ‘Here it is the world, nature as a whole, that is awakened out of unfathomable silence and sings and rings.’

Nature’s singing and ringing begins with a call to attention by the eight horns, and indeed the opening minutes of the symphony as a whole are decidedly ‘brass-heavy’, with trombones and tuba depicting the darkness before the arrival of life on earth. Of course no matter how primeval the subject matter, it wouldn’t be a large-scale Mahler movement if it didn’t have a marching band thrown in – and here one duly appears, as if emerging unconcerned from the prehistoric swamp.

This is summer coming in, and its arrival corresponds with what would

be regarded as ‘the opening Allegro proper’ in a traditional symphony. Richard Strauss was unkind enough to suggest that the marching band, which he found ‘tasteless’, reminded him of the procession of socialist workers through Vienna on May Day. In any case, the ‘rite of spring’ primitive quality never leaves the movement entirely and the marching band is soon swallowed up once more by the primordial swamp, as Mahler’s evolving world continues its process of creation and decay.

It’s such a massive movement, both in size and spiritual concerns, that even Mahler himself was frightened by it. He said that he was grateful he composed it last, because if he hadn’t, he would never have dared to finish the symphony as a whole! In the score, he directed that there should be a long pause following its conclusion, clearly delineating the end of the first part of the symphony.

The second part of the symphony begins a world away from the first –purportedly with the flowers in the meadow, but musically very much within the confines of the Viennese salons, not to mention in a similar sound-world to parts of the Fourth Symphony. For the listener, this second movement (which was actually the first part of the symphony which Mahler composed) comes as quite a shock. But that in itself says a lot about the invigorating effect of Mahler’s music, for this otherwise innocuous little minuet remains somehow disturbing and unsettling in the context in which it appears.

Undoubtedly it was inspired in part by the beautiful summer displays of flowers in the meadows outside Mahler’s workroom in Steinbach (to which he referred in correspondence). But Mahler never just saw the beauty of nature divorced from its terror. As he himself wrote: ‘Suddenly a stormy wind blows across the meadow and shakes the leaves and flowers, which whimper

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 19

and moan on their stems as if begging for salvation.’ Perhaps this witnessing of beautiful flowers undergoing torture explains not just Mahler’s approach to this second movement of the symphony, but our acute appreciation of his music after the most violent century in history.

The third movement (in the world of animals now, according to Mahler’s correspondence) introduces an instrumental version of Mahler’s setting of ‘Ablösung im Sommer’ (Relief in Summer) from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Opening with a jaunty little wind melody over pizzicato accompaniment in the strings, it forms a kind of scherzo and trio. Again, it’s superficially happy and playful – as if the animals are scurrying about in the summer warmth accompanied by chirping birdsong. But the darkness (and the minor tonality) is never far away. The trio section is famous for its beautiful solo for posthorn, an unusual brass instrument which lends its name to Mozart’s Serenade K.320. It appears in the distance and then gradually draws closer, ending with a bright fanfare. The dancing and play resume, but towards its end the movement relapses violently into the eerie, unformed sound-world of the symphony’s opening. Nothing ever remains unchallenged in Mahler’s world.

The final three movements then proceed without a break. The first of these (i.e. the fourth) introduces the human element into the symphony – and the human voice itself. There is a rapt stillness marking the contralto’s entry, as if humanity is rising from the ashes. The text is from Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra, and the voice longs for eternity.

O Mensch, gib Acht!

Was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht?

Ich schlief! Aus tiefem Traum bin ich erwacht!

Die Welt ist tief!

Und tiefer, als der Tag gedacht!

Tief ist ihr Weh!

Lust tiefer noch als Herzeleid!

Weh spricht: Vergeh!

Doch alle Lust will Ewigkeit, Will tiefe, tiefe Ewigkeit.

O Man, take heed!

What does the deep midnight say?

I slept. From deep dreaming I was wakened!

The world is deep, And deeper than the day imagined!

Deep is its grief!

Longing, deeper still than heartache!

Grief says: Go hence!

But all longing craves eternity, Craves deep, deep eternity.

We know from his correspondence that Mahler had read Nietzsche quite extensively – indeed one of the symphony’s original titles, The Happy Science, derived directly from him. But later in his life Mahler declared himself an opponent of Nietzsche’s godless philosophy. In any case, in this everso-slow slow movement he gives us one of his most sublime creations – a world where time stands still. Given the proximity of their sound worlds, and their mutually deep humanity, one can only wonder if Górecki modelled his own Third Symphony on this movement from Mahler’s Third.

After a return to the deep bass of the opening, the fifth movement then enters with astonishing contrast, marked by the voices of boys, the sound of bells and woodwind, and the setting of another poem from the Wunderhorn collection.

Es sungen drei Engel einen süssen Gesang;

Mit Freuden es selig in dem Himmel klang,

Sie jauchzten fröhlich auch dabei, Dass Petrus sei von Sünden frei, Und als der Herr Jesus zu Tische sass,

3 | 14 & 16 March 20
JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER

Mit seinen zwölf Jüngern das Abendmahl ass:

Da sprech der Herr Jesus: Was stehst du denn hier?

Wenn ich dich anseh’, so weinest du mir!

Und sollt’ ich nicht weinen, du gütiger Gott,

Ich hab’ übertreten die zehn Gebot.

Ich gehe une weine ja bitterlich.

Ach komm und erbarme dich über mich!

Hast du denn übertreten die zehen Gebot,

So fall auf die Knie und bete zu Gott!

Liebe nur Gott in alle Zeit!

So wirst du erlangen die himmlische Freud’.

Die himmlische Freud’ ist eine selige Stadt,

Die himmlische Freud’, die kein Ende mehr hat!

Die himmlische Freude war Petro bereit’t, Durch Jesum und Allen zur Seligkeit.

Three angels were singing a sweet song, With blessing and joy it rang in Heaven, They shouted for joy, too,

That Peter was set free from sin.

And as the Lord Jesus sat at table, With his twelve disciples at the evening meal,

Lord Jesus said: ‘Why stand you here?

When I look at you, you weep before me.’

‘And should I not weep, thou God of goodness,

I have broken the ten commandments.

I go my way and weep bitterly, Ah, come and have mercy on me!’

‘If you have broken the ten commandments

Then fall on your knee and pray to God, Love only God for all time!

So you will attain heavenly joy.’

Heavenly joy is a blessed city,

Heavenly joy, that knows no end!

Heavenly joy was granted to Peter,

Through Jesus, and for the delight of all.

It’s a radiant sound, soon joined by choral and solo women’s voices, harps, horns and trumpets. Those who know the Fourth Symphony will instantly recognise the descending melody from the soprano’s solo at the end of that symphony. This music was how Mahler imagined Heaven.

And then at last, as we head toward the hour-and-a-half mark, the finale emerges, and we are in the world of love. In speaking of his original idea for this movement, Mahler wrote: ‘It is the zenith, the highest level from which the world can be viewed. I could also name the movement something like “What God tells me”, in the sense that God can only be comprehended as “Love”.’

It’s a magnificent slow movement with the strings (whose role in the previous movement had been restricted) carrying the broad, achingly poignant melody, and solo wind instruments later taking it over. He based the movement on the words of Christian reconciliation and forgiveness – ‘Father, look on these my wounds – let not one creature be lost!’

The movement proceeds as a series of variations which occasionally touch on the drama of the symphony’s opening, but which ultimately lead to a climax in which fear is confronted with a steadfast faith. And here at last, at the conclusion of one of the truly monumental works of Western civilisation, that faith triumphs, and an absolute love wins out over all that would dare to destroy it.

JAIME CONDUCTS MAHLER 3 | 14 & 16 March 21

SUPPORTERS

MSO PATRON

Her Excellency Professor, the Honourable

Margaret Gardner AC, Governor of Victoria

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE

The Gandel Foundation

The Gross Foundation

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio

Harold Mitchell Foundation

Lady Primrose Potter AC CMRI

Cybec Foundation

The Pratt Foundation

The Ullmer Family Foundation

Anonymous (1)

ARTIST CHAIR BENEFACTORS

Concertmaster Chair

David Li AM and Angela Li

Cybec Assistant Conductor Chair

Leonard Weiss Cybec Foundation

Assistant Concertmaster

Tair Khisambeev

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio

Cybec Young Composer in Residence

Naomi Dodd

Cybec Foundation

PROGRAM BENEFACTORS

MSO Now & Forever Fund: International Engagement Gandel Foundation

Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program Cybec Foundation

Digital Transformation Perpetual Foundation – Alan (AGL) Shaw

Endowment

First Nations Emerging Artist Program

The Ullmer Family Foundation

East meets West The Li Family Trust, National Foundation for Australia-China Relations

Ears Wide Open and Music & Ideas

City of Melbourne, Crown Resorts Foundation and Packer Family Foundation.

MSO Live Online Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation

MSO Education Anonymous

MSO Academy Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio, Mary Armour, Christopher Robinson in memory of Joan P Robinson

MSO For Schools Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation Jams in Schools Department of Education, Victoria, through the Strategic Partnerships Program, Marian and E.H. Flack Trust, Flora & Frank Leith Charitable Trust, Hume City Council

MSO Regional Touring Angior Foundation, Creative Victoria, Freemasons Foundation

Victoria, Robert Salzer Foundation, The Sir Andrew & Lady Fairley Foundation

Sidney Myer Free Concerts Sidney Myer

MSO Trust Fund and the University of Melbourne, City of Melbourne Event Partnerships Program

PLATINUM PATRONS $100,000+

The late Marc Besen AC and the late Eva Besen AO

The Gandel Foundation

The Gross Foundation

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio

David Li AM and Angela Li

Lady Primrose Potter AC CMRI

Anonymous (1)

VIRTUOSO PATRONS $50,000+

Dr Harry Imber

Margaret Jackson AC

Packer Family Foundation

Ullmer Family Foundation

Weis Family

Anonymous (1)

IMPRESARIO PATRONS $20,000+

The Aranday Foundation

H Bentley

The Hogan Family Foundation

David Krasnostein AM and Pat Stragalinos

Elizabeth Proust AO and Brian Lawrence

Lady Marigold Southey AC

22 Supporters

Kim Williams AM

The Yulgilbar Foundation

Anonymous (2)

MAESTRO PATRONS $10,000+

Christine and Mark Armour

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan

Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM

Andrew Dudgeon AM

Jaan Enden

Dr Mary-Jane H Gething AO

David R Lloyd

Peter Lovell

Maestro Jaime Martín

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher

Farrel and Wendy Meltzer

Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM

Paul Noonan

Opalgate Foundation

Ian and Jeannie Paterson

Christopher Robinson and the late Joan P Robinson

Yashian Schauble

Glenn Sedgwick

The Sun Foundation

Gai and David Taylor

Athalie Williams and Tim Danielson

Lyn Williams AM

The Wingate Group

Anonymous (3)

PRINCIPAL PATRONS $5,000+

Mary Armour

John and Lorraine Bates

Barbara Bell in memory of Elsa Bell

Bodhi Education Fund

Julia and Jim Breen

Jannie Brown

Lynne Burgess

John Coppock OAM and Lyn Coppock

Perri Cutten and Jo Daniell

Ann Darby in memory of Leslie J. Darby

Mary Davidson and the late Frederick Davidson AM

The Dimmick Charitable Trust

Tim and Lyn Edward Equity Trustees

Bill Fleming

Dr John and Diana Frew

Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser

Carrillo Gantner AC and Ziyin Gantner

Dr Rhyl Wade and Dr Clem Gruen

Cecilie Hall and the late Hon Michael Watt KC

Louis J Hamon OAM

Merv Keehn and Sue Harlow

David Horowicz

Dr Alastair Jackson AM

Suzanne Kirkham

The late Dr Elizabeth Lewis AM

Lucas Family Foundation

Dr Jane Mackenzie

Gary McPherson

The Mercer Family Foundation

Anne Neil in memory of Murray A. Neil

Newton Family in memory of Rae Rothfield

Ken Ong OAM

Bruce Parncutt AO

David Ponsford

Professor Sam Ricketson AM and Dr Rosemary Ayton

Andrew and Judy Rogers

The Rosemary Norman Foundation

Guy Ross

Helen Silver AO and Harrison Young

Brian Snape AM

Dr Michael Soon

Mary Waldron

Janet Whiting AM

Dawna Wright and Peter Riedel

Igor Zambelli

Anonymous (1)

ASSOCIATE PATRONS $2,500+

Carolyn Baker

Marlyn Bancroft and Peter Bancroft OAM

Sascha O Becker

Janet H Bell

Alan and Dr Jennifer Breschkin

Patricia Brockman

23 Supporters

Nigel and Sheena Broughton

Dr Lynda Campbell

Oliver Carton

Janet Chauvel and the late Dr Richard Chauvel

Kaye Cleary

Michael Davies and Drina Staples

Leo de Lange

Sophie E Dougall in memory of Libby Harold

Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin

Kim and Robert Gearon

Janette Gill

R Goldberg and Family

Goldschlager Family Charitable Foundation

Colin Golvan AM KC and Dr Deborah Golvan

Jennifer Gorog

C M Gray

Marshall Grosby and Margie Bromilow

Ian Kennedy AM & Dr Sandra Hacker AO

Susan and Gary Hearst

Dr Keith Higgins and Dr Jane Joshi

Hartmut and Ruth Hofmann

Doug Hooley

Gillian Hund OAM and Michael Hund

Geoff and Denise Illing

Paul and Amy Jasper

Sandy Jenkins

John Jones

Ann Lahore

Qian Li

Carolynne Marks

Margaret and John Mason OAM

H E McKenzie

Dr Isabel McLean

Christopher Menz and Peter Rose

Ian Merrylees

Suzie and Edgar Myer

Dr Paul Nisselle AM

Alan and Dorothy Pattison

Ruth and Ralph Renard

Peter and Carolyn Rendit

James Ring

Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski

Liliane Rusek and Alexander Ushakoff

The Sage Foundation

Jeffrey Sher KC and Diana Sher OAM

Barry Spanger

Steinicke Family

Caroline Stuart

Robert and Diana Wilson

Shirley and Jeffrey Zajac

Anonymous (3)

PLAYER PATRONS $1,000+

Dr Sally Adams

Helena Anderson

Margaret Astbury

Robbie Barker

Michael Bowles & Alma Gill

Allen and Kathryn Bloom

Joyce Bown

Youth Music Foundation

Professor Ian Brighthope

Miranda Brockman

Drs John D L Brookes and Lucy V Hanlon

Stuart Brown

Suzie Brown OAM and the late Harvey Brown

Jill and Christopher Buckley

Dr Robin Burns and Dr Roger Douglas

Ronald and Kate Burnstein

Peter A Caldwell

Breen Creighton and Elsbeth Hadenfeldt

Mrs Nola Daley

Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das

Caroline Davies

Natasha Davies, for the Trikojus Education Fund

Rick and Sue Deering

John and Anne Duncan

Jane Edmanson OAM

Diane Fisher

Alex Forrest

Grant Fisher and Helen Bird

Chris Freelance

Applebay Pty Ltd

David Frenkiel and Esther Frenkiel OAM

Mary Gaidzkar

Simon Gaites

24 Supporters

Anthony Garvey and Estelle O’Callaghan

David I Gibbs AM and Susie O’Neill

Sonia Gilderdale

Dr Celia Godfrey

Dr Marged Goode

Hilary Hall in memory of Wilma Collie

David Hardy

Tilda and the late Brian Haughney

Cathy Henry

Dr Jennifer Henry

Rod Home

Lorraine Hook

Jenny and Peter Hordern

Katherine Horwood

Penelope Hughes

Geoff and Denise Illing

Jordan Janssen

Shyama Jayaswal

Basil and Rita Jenkins

Emma Johnson

Wendy Johnson

Sue Johnston

John Kaufman

Angela Kayser

Drs Bruce and Natalie Kellett

Dr Anne Kennedy

Akira Kikkawa

Dr Judith Kinnear

Dr Richard Knafelc and Mr Grevis Beard

Tim Knaggs

Dr Jerry Koliha and Marlene Krelle

Jane Kunstler

Kerry Landman

Kathleen and Coran Lang

Bryan Lawrence

Lesley McMullin Foundation

Dr Jenny Lewis

Phil Lewis

Dr Kin Liu

Andrew Lockwood

Elizabeth H Loftus

Chris and Anna Long

John MacLeod

Marshall Segan in memory of Berek Segan

OBE and Marysia Segan

Ian McDonald

Wayne McDonald and Kay Schroer

Lois McKay

Dr Eric Meadows

Professor Geoffrey Metz

Sylvia Miller

Ian Morrey and Geoffrey Minter

Dr Anthony and Dr Anna Morton

Anthony and Karen Ho

Dr Judith S Nimmo

Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James

Susan Pelka

Ian Penboss

Peter Priest

John Prokupets

Professor Charles Qin OAM and Kate Ritchie

Eli Raskin

Jan and Keith Richards

Roger Parker and Ruth Parker

Dr Peter Rogers and Cathy Rogers OAM

Dr Ronald and Elizabeth Rosanove

Marie Rowland

Viorica Samson

P Shore

Janet and Alex Starr

Dr Peter Strickland

Dr Joel Symons and Liora Symons

Russell Taylor and Tara Obeyesekere

Geoffrey Thomlinson

Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher

Andrew and Penny Torok

Christina Turner

Leon and Sandra Velik

Edward & Paddy White

Nic and Ann Willcock

Lorraine Woolley

Dr Kelly and Dr Heathcote Wright

Anonymous (16)

OVERTURE PATRONS $500+

Jane Allan and Mark Redmond

Mario M Anders

Jenny Anderson

Dr Judith Armstrong and Robyn Dalziel

25 Supporters

Doris Au

Lyn Bailey

Mr Robin Batterham

Dr William Birch AM

Richard Bolitho

Dr Robert Brook

Elizabeth Brown

Roger and Coll Buckle

Daniel Bushaway

Jungpin Chen

Linda Clifton

Dr John Collins

Judith Cowden in memory of violinist

Margaret Cowden

Gregory Crew

Sue Cummings

Dr Oliver and Matilda Daly

Suzanne Dembo

Carol des Cognets

Margaret Flatman

Brian Florence

M C Friday

David and Geraldine Glenny

Louise Gourlay OAM

Christine Grenda

Dawn Hales

George Hampel AM KC and Felicity Hampel AM SC

John Hill

William Holder

Rod Home

Gillian Horwood

Noelle Howell and Judy Clezy

Rob Jackson

Irene Kearsey & Michael Ridley

Peter Kempen AM

John Keys

Lesley King

Professor David Knowles and Dr Anne McLachlan

Dr Kim Langfield-Smith

Pauline and David Lawton

Paschalina Leach

Kay Liu

David Loggia

Eleanor & Phillip Mancini

Joy Manners

Morris and Helen Margolis

Sandra Masel in memory of Leigh Masel

Janice Mayfield

Gail McKay

Shirley A McKenzie

Dr Alan Meads and Sandra Boon

Joan Mullumby

Adrian and Louise Nelson

Marian Neumann

Ed Newbigin

Valerie Newman

Amanda O’Brien

Brendan O’Donnell

Jillian Pappas

Phil Parker

Sarah Patterson

The Hon Chris Pearce and Andrea Pearce

Peter Berry and Amanda Quirk

William Ramirez

Geoffrey Ravenscroft

Dr Christopher Rees

Professor John Rickard

Michael Riordan and Geoffrey Bush

Fred and Patricia Russell

Carolyn Sanders

Dr Marc Saunders

Dr Nora Scheinkestel

Julia Schlapp

Hon Jim Short and Jan Rothwell Short

Madeline Soloveychik

Tom Sykes

Allison Taylor

Reverend Angela Thomas

Mely Tjandra

Chris and Helen Trueman

Rosemary Warnock

Amanda Watson

Michael Whishaw

Deborah and Dr Kevin Whithear OAM

Charles and Jill Wright

Anonymous (14)

MSO GUARDIANS

Jenny Anderson

David Angelovich

26 Supporters

G C Bawden and L de Kievit

Lesley Bawden

Joyce Bown

Patricia A Breslin

Mrs Jenny Bruckner and the late Mr John Bruckner

The late Ken Bullen

Peter A Caldwell

Luci and Ron Chambers

Beryl Dean

Sandra Dent

Alan Egan JP

Gunta Eglite

Marguerite Garnon-Williams

Drs L C Gruen and R W Wade

Louis J Hamon AOM

Charles Hardman

Carol Hay

Jennifer Henry

Graham Hogarth

Rod Home

Lyndon Horsburgh

Tony Howe

Lindsay and Michael Jacombs

Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James

John Jones

Sylvia Lavelle

Pauline and David Lawton

Cameron Mowat

Ruth Muir

David Orr

Matthew O’Sullivan

Rosia Pasteur

Penny Rawlins

Anne Roussac-Hoyne and Neil Roussac

Michael Ryan and Wendy Mead

Andrew Serpell and Anne Kieni Serpell

Jennifer Shepherd

Suzette Sherazee

Dr Gabriela and Dr George Stephenson

Pamela Swansson

Lillian Tarry

Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman

Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock

Christina Turner

Peter and the late Elisabeth Turner

Michael Ulmer AO

The Hon. Rosemary Varty

Terry Wills Cooke OAM and the late Marian Wills Cooke

Mark Young

Anonymous (20)

The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Estates:

Norma Ruth Atwell

Angela Beagley

Barbara Bobbe

Michael Francois Boyt

Christine Mary Bridgart

Margaret Anne Brien

Deidre and Malcolm Carkeek

The Cuming Bequest

Margaret Davies

Blair Doig Dixon

Neilma Gantner

Angela Felicity Glover

The Hon Dr Alan Goldberg AO QC

Derek John Grantham

Delina Victoria Schembri-Hardy

Enid Florence Hookey

Gwen Hunt

Family and Friends of James Jacoby

Audrey Jenkins

Joan Jones

Pauline Marie Johnston

Christine Mary Kellam

C P Kemp

Jennifer Selina Laurent

Sylvia Rose Lavelle

Peter Forbes MacLaren

Joan Winsome Maslen

Lorraine Maxine Meldrum

Prof Andrew McCredie

Jean Moore

Joan P Robinson

Maxwell and Jill Schultz

Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE

Marion A I H M Spence

Molly Stephens

Gwennyth St John

Halinka Tarczynska-Fiddian

Jennifer May Teague

27 Supporters

Supporters

Elisabeth Turner

Albert Henry Ullin

Jean Tweedie

Herta and Fred B Vogel

Dorothy Wood

Joyce Winsome Woodroffe

COMMISSIONING CIRCLE

Cecilie Hall and the Late Hon Michael Watt KC

Tim and Lyn Edward

Weis Family

FIRST NATIONS CIRCLE

John and Lorraine Bates

Colin Golvan AM KC and Dr Deborah Golvan

Sascha O. Becker

Maestro Jaime Martín

Elizabeth Proust AO and Brian Lawrence

Guy Ross

The Sage Foundation

The Kate and Stephen Shelmerdine Family Foundation

Michael Ullmer AO and Jenny Ullmer

Jason Yeap OAM – Mering Management Corporation

ADOPT A MUSICIAN

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan

Roger Young

Andrew Dudgeon AM

Rohan de Korte, Philippa West

Tim and Lyn Edward

John Arcaro

Dr John and Diana Frew

Rosie Turner

Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser

Stephen Newton

Dr Mary-Jane Gething AO

Monica Curro

The Gross Foundation

Matthew Tomkins

Dr Clem Gruen and Dr Rhyl Wade

Robert Cossom

Cecilie Hall and the late Hon Michael Watt KC

Saul Lewis

Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM

Abbey Edlin

David Horowicz

Anne Marie Johnson

Dr Harry Imber

Sarah Curro, Jack Schiller

Margaret Jackson AC

Nicolas Fleury

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio

Elina Fashki, Benjamin Hanlon, Tair Khisambeev, Christopher Moore

The late Dr Elizabeth A Lewis AM

Anthony Chataway

David Li AM and Angela Li

Concermaster Chair

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher

Craig Hill

Gary McPherson

Rachel Shaw

Anne Neil

Eleanor Mancini

Newton Family

in memory of Rae Rothfield

Cong Gu

The Rosemary Norman Foundation

Ann Blackburn

Andrew and Judy Rogers

Michelle Wood

Glenn Sedgwick

Tiffany Cheng, Shane Hooton

Dr Martin Tymms and Patricia Nilsson

Natasha Thomas

Anonymous

Prudence Davis

Anonymous

Rachael Tobin

HONORARY APPOINTMENTS

Life Members

John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel AC

Sir Elton John CBE

Lady Primrose Potter AC CMRI

Jeanne Pratt AC

Michael Ullmer AO and Jenny Ullmer

Anonymous

MSO Ambassador

Geoffrey Rush AC

28

The MSO honours the memory of Life Members

Marc Besen AC

Mrs Eva Besen AO

John Brockman OAM

The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC

Harold Mitchell AC

Roger Riordan AM

Ila Vanrenen

MSO ARTISTIC FAMILY

Jaime Martín

Chief Conductor

Benjamin Northey

Principal Conductor in Residence

Leonard Weiss

Cybec Assistant Conductor

Sir Andrew Davis CBE

Conductor Laureate

Hiroyuki Iwaki †

Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)

Warren Trevelyan-Jones

MSO Chorus Director

Erin Helyard

Artist in Residence

Karen Kyriakou

Artist in residence, Learning and Engagement

Christian Li

Young Artist in Association

Katy Abbott

Composer in Residence

Naomi Dodd

Cybec Young Composer in Residence

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO

First Nations Creative Chair

Xian Zhang

East meets West Ambassador

Artistic Ambassadors

Tan Dun

Lu Siqing

MSO BOARD

Chairman

David Li AM

Co-Deputy Chairs

Margaret Jackson AC

Di Jameson OAM

Managing Director

Sophie Galaise Board Directors

Shane Buggle

Andrew Dudgeon AM

Martin Foley

Lorraine Hook

Gary McPherson

Farrel Meltzer

Edgar Myer

Glenn Sedgwick

Mary Waldron

Company Secretary

Demetrio Zema

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

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

$500+ (Overture)

$1,000+ (Player)

$2,500+ (Associate)

$5,000+ (Principal)

$10,000+ (Maestro)

$20,000+ (Impresario)

$50,000+ (Virtuoso)

$100,000+ (Platinum)

29 Supporters

MAJOR

Thank you to our Partners
PARTNERS
PARTNER
PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM PARTNER VENUE PARTNER
GOVERNMENT
PRINCIPAL
SUPPORTING
PARTNERS
TRAINING PARTNER Quest Southbank Ernst & Young
PARTNERS
PARTNERS
ORCHESTRAL
PREMIER
EDUCATION

MEDIA AND BROADCAST PARTNERS

TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS

Freemasons Foundation Victoria

The Sir Andrew and Lady Fairley Foundation, The Angior Family Foundation, Flora & Frank Leith Trust, Perpetual Foundation – Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment, Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.