Program Notes
JEAN SIBELIUS (1865–1957)
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47
I. Allegro moderato
II. Adagio di molto
III. Allegro (ma non tanto)
Christian Li violin
The compositions of Jean Sibelius constitute a case study in the capriciousness of musical taste and the power of the artistic avant-garde. Pigeonholed by many as primarily a Finnish nationalist, whose dark, remote music was a shallow representative of Romanticism’s last gasps, Sibelius was nevertheless deemed the champion of American and British conservative musical tastes between the world wars. Typical was Olin Downes, music critic of the Times, whose relentless public support of Sibelius bordered on sycophancy. Likewise, Koussevitsky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, programmed a cycle of Sibelius’s symphonies, and dogged the composer to finish the eighth – which he never did. But, those who favored the avant-garde of Stravinsky, Schönberg, and company – and that included most of continental Europe and American intellectuals – were scathing in their contempt. One respected and well-known critic entitled an essay about Sibelius, “The Worst Composer in the World.” These controversies, and Sibelius’s life-long struggle with alcoholism and depression no doubt played a signal part in his composing nothing of significance from the nineteen thirties until his death in 1957 at the age of 91.
But tastes change, and the current crop of composers and scholars now take a more balanced view of Sibelius’s compositions. His seven symphonies
enjoy renewed respect, although the ever-popular Symphony No.2 has long been a repertory standard, and – other than the evergreen Finlandia – is his most popular work. It is not incorrect, of course, to recognize the deeply informing rôle of nationalist Finnish elements in his music style. He consciously and assiduously studied and absorbed the musical and literary heritage of the Finnish culture and adroitly folded them into a unique personal statement. He was completely taken by the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, and early on his musical style reflected these cultural elements, from his melodic choices to the stories behind his tone poems. His symphonies are large soundscapes that surge and ebb, whose melodies often appear first as small kernels of a few notes whose significance is easily overlooked. But, as the music unfolds and these bits of melody appear in a kaleidoscope of identities, they meld together into great torrents of themes. Sibelius was a master of orchestration, and most listeners easily accept the inevitable comparisons to the bleak, cold, primæval landscapes of Finland.
Sibelius’ violin concerto has certainly stood the test of time, and is one of his most-performed works, as well as being one of the most important violin concertos in the repertoire. It was composed in the period of his first two symphonies, and was first performed in 1904 in Helsinki (the performance was essentially a disaster – the violinist was not up to the task.) In some ways, the piece would seem to be a contradiction. On the one hand it is infused with his signature dark, cold Nordic textures that seem to float impersonally over human trivialities. Yet, on the other, concertos by their very natures are often showpieces for a very real, single human being who plays musical material conceived to express that individuality. Well! Pulling these disparate elements
NORTHERN REFLECTIONS: SIBELIUS AND SHOSTAKOVICH | 20–22 April 10
together would certainly seem a challenge, but Sibelius, on the whole succeeds quite well. After the ill-fated first performance he spent some time revising, and the concerto was performed to great acclaim in Berlin in 1905, with Richard Strauss conducting. Several points are recommended to the listener. First, and it is rather evident, this concerto is really difficult! Sibelius began as a violinist, and with a player’s grasp of the violin’s capabilities, he laid down formidable technical challenges to the performer. Replete with double stops of all varieties (listen especially for the octave double stops at the end of the first movement), quick jumps from first to seventh position, and broken chords at very fast tempos, it is virtually a compendium of every difficult thing a composer might ask of a virtuoso violinist. Especially impressive in the first movement is the passage wherein two of the soloist’s fingers execute a trill while the remaining two digits finger a melody on another string. The last movement has its impressive challenges, as well. An innovation is the long and important solo cadenza in the middle of the first movement that essentially functions as the development section. Relief from dark moods and textures, and brilliant technical challenges is found in the lyrical middle movement. Throughout the concerto be aware of the impressive imagination exhibited by Sibelius in his creation of almost unique tonal colors through an imaginative scoring for the orchestra.
Sibelius carved out for himself a solitary position in the musical world between late Romanticism and the severe aesthetics of a new century. It placed him in a difficult position with the purists of most camps, but his life’s work now is gradually gaining in stature as a serious reconsideration of his oeuvre continues.
© 2015 William E. Runyan
GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792–1868)
William Tell: Overture
When Rossini met Beethoven in Vienna, he was stung by what Beethoven meant as a compliment, advising Rossini to stick to opera buffa (‘above all, make more Barbers!’). Even 40 years after that 1822 meeting Rossini was still smarting under Beethoven’s remark. In the ironic preface to his Petite Messe solennelle, Rossini says to God, ‘I was born for comic opera, as you know.’
Rossini and Beethoven were the musical giants of their day. Rossini’s fame was greater, since he was a composer for the theatre, whose celebrity can only be compared with the composers of world-wide hit musicals in our day. If we are surprised by this, it’s partly because Rossini’s way of composing operas became old-fashioned even in his lifetime. More importantly, Rossini was always treated with some suspicion by German and German-influenced musicians. Some of this was jealousy. Weber, struggling to establish a German style for the stage, left a performance of Rossini’s La Cenerentola before it finished, exclaiming, ‘I am running away. Now I’m beginning to like the stuff myself!’
William Tell was Rossini’s last opera: at the age of 38, the composer virtually stopped composing altogether for over 20 years. There has been much speculation as to the reason for this ‘great renunciation’, though no definitive answer: the death of his parents? New trends in opera with which he was out of sympathy? Or more likely his ill-health, which research has shown to have been a disease of the urinary tract, which made him neurasthenic and depressive. Most interesting is Robert Donington’s attributing to Rossini ‘some strange inability to tolerate great success’ –prompting the thought that Rossini could afford to retire, in more ways than one.
NORTHERN REFLECTIONS: SIBELIUS AND SHOSTAKOVICH | 20–22 April 11
The story of William Tell, based on a play by Schiller, comes from the fight of the Swiss cantons for liberation from oppression in the 13th century. William Tell was the famous cross-bow marksman who, after being forced by the despotic bailiff Gessler to shoot an apple placed on his son’s head, killed the tyrant.
The opera was not entirely favourably received by the public when first produced in Paris in 1829, and Rossini wrote no more operas. The overture, however, contains in its final section one of the most instantly recognised motifs in music. What precedes this is the most atmospherically descriptive of Rossini’s overtures. The opening suggests a sunrise in the Alps, and features five solo cellos. Following ominous drumrolls, the pace quickens and rushing passages by violins and violas suggest an approaching storm. The storm breaks, rages for some time, then subsides. The cor anglais plays the Ranz des vaches, an alphorn melody played to call scattered flocks for milking. The overture closes with a brilliant march, announced by a trumpet fanfare like a call to revolt.
David Garrett © 2004
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975)
Symphony No.6 in B minor
I. Largo II. Allegro
III. Presto
Like Beethoven’s Fourth, Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony is flanked by more famous siblings. Consequently, both works are often undervalued. Neither appears, at face value, to carry the same extra-musical freight as those either side – no response to just criticism, no funeral march for a hero, no apocalyptic triumph of light over darkness.
Having run foul of Stalin over his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Shostakovich produced the Fifth Symphony in 1937. While he himself may not have tagged it a ‘response to just criticism’, it won him his rehabilitation. His return to favour, however, needs to be viewed in a broader context. In 1934 Stalin had unleashed the five-year ‘Great Terror’, and within that period were two particularly bloody years where N.I. Yezhov, chief of the NKVD (later the KGB) oversaw the imprisonment and murder of Stalin’s principal remaining Party rivals as well as leading scientists, writers and musicians. Like all of the intelligentsia, Shostakovich saw friends and colleagues disappear; he must have known of the vigil kept outside the Leningrad prison by women such as Anna Akhmatova. There are stories that for a time he, like many, kept a packed suitcase ready in the hall so as not to disturb his family should he be taken. ‘Rehabilitated’ was still a most fragile state.
The effect of the purges was to rob the USSR of millions of its citizens, especially leading intellects in most fields, so that by the end of the 1930s the country’s infrastructure was almost fatally weakened. The non-aggression pact between the USSR and Nazi Germany bought a little time for Stalin,
NORTHERN
SIBELIUS AND SHOSTAKOVICH | 20–22 April 12
REFLECTIONS:
and as Ian McDonald has noted, ‘the public sphere continued to resound with optimistic propaganda – a contrast perhaps encoded in Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony’, begun in April 1938. Certainly the symphony pays lip service to some of the central tenets of Socialist Realism – eventually. It ends, for instance, in a riot of high spirited major tonality that is both absurd and genuinely thrilling. The movement which precedes it is likewise full of a wild energy which never flags and which moves with effortless liquidity through the whole orchestral palette. But each of these two movements lasts around six minutes; the slow movement with which the piece begins lasts for 18.
Structurally the opening movement does the work of two in a Classical (or neo-classical) design: it develops a musical argument on a large scale, but also explores the tragic regions frequently visited by the standard ‘slow movement’. The drama of the movement overall might be described as one of disappearance. It begins with a long and beautifully articulated melody given by the same mellow combination of low winds and strings in unison which is such a feature of Wagner’s Parsifal. The first chord struck in the piece is a false dawn in C major, but it isn’t long before the gears clash and the harmony is wrenched away to form a new theme, characterised by three short notes plunging to a sardonic trill in the woodwind and strings.
In an act of purely artistic courage, Shostakovich concentrates his use of the full orchestra in the first part of this first movement. These occasions are usually moments of great passion or anguish, as, for instance, where a brief passage of serenity is swept away by more of those sardonic trills, now distributed throughout the orchestra at full volume. Increasingly, and in a sense more chillingly, the focus of the music moves to smaller ensembles within the band.
Shostakovich’s career as a composer of chamber music dates from this time with his String Quartet No.1 and the Piano Quintet, but the chamber textures in the symphony are often derived from oddly matched groups. Piccolo and harp join one rank of violins. The cor anglais, which turns the first theme into something reminiscent of the shepherd’s bleak melody in Tristan and Isolde, is heard in counterpoint with violas and cellos, while timpani tread softly in the background. Two flutes create something like the ‘bird of death’ solo from Mahler’s Second Symphony over an immobile texture of string trills; and a horn, seemingly unable to play more than one note, is finally frozen in a chain of trills from the celesta before the strings return with a now exhausted version of the opening material.
It is almost too easy to see a musical analogue for the contemporary events in this movement, especially in its progressive dismantling of the orchestra into smaller and more fragile alliances, where individual voices are more and more exposed. Discussing the works of this period in an interview for DSCH magazine, Vladimir Ashkenazy noted:
I don’t find self-pity in Shostakovich. Although it is his torture, it becomes sublimated, totally transcended… Along with his grotesque satire and disdain for the trivia around him, this is the strongest point of his greatest output. It is the tragedy and the darkness of the life of an individual within totalitarian oppression.
The remaining two movements have their share of grotesque satire, and like the first they dramatically balance episodes of overwhelming orchestral sound against chamber music textures and extended solos for instruments such as the piccolo, the xylophone and the E flat clarinet which begins the second movement. The pace is
NORTHERN REFLECTIONS: SIBELIUS AND SHOSTAKOVICH | 20–22 April 13
breathtaking, moving from passages of Mendelssohnian lightness to the brutal grind of the full orchestra in unison; from acrobatic melodies to breathless threenote motifs.
Finally the third movement gallops along with a short Rossinian melody, constantly changing key and register to avoid capture. The empire strikes back, of course. In an elephantine waltz section the music moves imperceptibly from the satirical to the sinister; in big, brassy marches tinged with a slightly corny dance band harmony, all hell threatens to break loose. Shostakovich once claimed the work was about ‘spring, joy and life’, but in its own way it echoes the words of Akhmatova’s Requiem: ‘I stand as witness to the common lot, / survivor of that time, that place.’
Gordon Kerry © 2001
THE CONDUCTOR WRITES:
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 was written in a time of cultural and political upheaval. Denounced for his modernist opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in 1934, Shostakovich had restored government favour with his Socialist Realist Symphony No.5 (1937) and had planned for his Symphony No.6 to be a monumental work in honour of Lenin. However, the loosening of artistic control following the 1939 German-Soviet nonaggression pact led Shostakovich to break convention with a lighter, more mercurial work. The resulting Symphony No. 6 drew on the legend of William Tell, a mountaineer and marksman who is considered the founding father of the Swiss Confederacy. It is no coincidence that the most famous treatment of William Tell comes from Rossini, with whom Shostakovich was intimately familiar and whose William Tell Overture he quotes in the Finale of the Symphony No.6. While its exuberant gallop gives the Symphony a joyful impression, Shostakovich’s intentions were likely more ambiguous. Having established himself as a popular composer within a less rigid political environment, Shostakovich’s references to Rossini may be read as holding a secret revolutionary meaning, one that makes this work politically ambivalent and emotionally compelling.
| 20–22 April 14
© Umberto Clerici
NORTHERN REFLECTIONS: SIBELIUS AND SHOSTAKOVICH
My first experience with the MSO was when I was very young....We were taken to a school concert, in the Melbourne Town Hall, conducted by Sir Bernard Heinze.… and I can honestly say that the MSO has never been out of my life since.”
A Lifetime of Music
From nourishing the soul, lifting the spirits, or igniting passion, music has the ability to evoke the vast expanse of human emotions like nothing else.
For 117 years, our great Orchestra has had the honour and privilege of creating these moving musical moments – delivering a lifetime of music to generations of Victorians. But we can’t do this without your support.
A gift today to the MSO will help us deliver our annual suite of concerts and programs for audiences of all ages and musical tastes.
Each and every gift, no matter the size, makes an impact. Please join us on this important journey, and make a donation today by scanning the QR code.
Thank you for your support.
“ ”
Mary Armour – MSO Patron and lifelong concert-goer.
Please scan the QR code for more information +61425040866 165 Clayton Rd Oakleigh East sambakinghigh.com OFFICIAL DESSERT PARTNER OF THE MSO SINCE 2021 Bring your event to the next level. We offer customized macaron printing, designed just for you and packaged as individual favours.
Supporters
MSO PATRON
The Honourable Linda Dessau AC, Governor of Victoria CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE
Mr Marc Besen AC and the late Mrs Eva Besen AO Gandel Foundation
The Gross Foundation
Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio
Harold Mitchell Foundation
Lady Potter AC CMRI
Cybec Foundation
The Pratt Foundation
The Ullmer Family Foundation
Anonymous
ARTIST CHAIR BENEFACTORS
Chief Conductor Jaime Martín Mr Marc Besen AC and the late Mrs Eva Besen AO
Cybec Assistant Conductor Chair
Carlo Antonioli Cybec Foundation
Concertmaster Chair Dale Barltrop
David Li AM and Angela Li
Assistant Concertmaster
Tair Khisambeev Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio
Young Composer in Residence
Melissa Douglas Cybec Foundation
2023 Composer in Residence
Mary Finsterer Kim Williams AM
PROGRAM BENEFACTORS
MSO Now & Forever Fund: International Engagement Gandel Foundation
Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program Cybec Foundation
Digital Transformation The Margaret Lawrence Bequest – Managed by Perpetual, Perpetual Foundation – Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment
18
First Nations Emerging Artist Program
The Ullmer Family Foundation
East meets West The Li Family Trust, National Foundation for Australia-China Relations
MSO Live Online Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation
MSO Education Anonymous
MSO Academy Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio
MSO For Schools Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation, The Department of Education and Training, Victoria, through the Strategic Partnerships Program
Music and Ideas and Ears Wide Open City of Melbourne
Melbourne Music Summit The Department of Education and Training, Victoria, through the Strategic Partnerships Program
MSO Regional Touring Creative Victoria, Freemasons Foundation Victoria, Robert Salzer Foundation, The Sir Andrew & Lady Fairley Foundation
The Pizzicato Effect Hume City Council’s Community Grants program, The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust, Flora & Frank Leith Charitable Trust, Australian Decorative And Fine Arts Society, Anonymous
Sidney Myer Free Concerts Sidney Myer
MSO Trust Fund and the University of Melbourne
PLATINUM PATRONS $100,000+
Mr Marc Besen AC and the late Mrs Eva Besen AO
The Gandel Foundation
The Gross Foundation
Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio
David Li AM and Angela Li
Lady Primrose Potter AC CMRI
Anonymous (1)
VIRTUOSO PATRONS $50,000+
Margaret Jackson AC
The Ullmer Family Foundation
Weis Family
Anonymous (1)
IMPRESARIO PATRONS $20,000+
Harold Bentley
The Hogan Family Foundation
David Krasnostein AM and Pat Stragalinos
Paul Noonan
Opalgate Foundation
Lady Marigold Southey AC
Kim Williams AM
Anonymous (1)
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
Colin Golvan AM KC and Dr Deborah Golvan
Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind
Peter Lovell
Maestro Jaime Martín
Ian and Jeannie Paterson
Elizabeth Proust AO and Brian Lawrence
Yashian Schauble
Glenn Sedgwick
The Sun Foundation
David and Gai Taylor
Athalie Williams and Tim Danielson
Lyn Williams AM
Wingate Group
Jason Yeap OAM – Mering Management Corporation
Anonymous (2)
PRINCIPAL PATRONS $5,000+
Mary Armour
John and Lorraine Bates
Barbara Bell in memory of Elsa Bell
Bodhi Education Fund (East Meets West)
Julia and Jim Breen
Oliver Carton
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
19 Supporters
The Dimmick Charitable Trust
Tim and Lyn Edward
Jaan Enden
Bill Fleming
Dr John and Diana Frew
Susan Fry and Don Fry AO
Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser
Geelong Friends of the MSO
Jennifer Gorog
Dr Rhyl Wade and Dr Clem Gruen
Cecilie Hall and the late Hon Michael Watt KC
Hilary Hall in memory of Wilma Collie
Louis J Hamon OAM
Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM
Dr Alastair Jackson AM
Merv Keehn and Sue Harlow
Suzanne Kirkham
Dr Elizabeth A Lewis AM
Sherry Li
Dr Caroline Liow
Gary McPherson
The Mercer Family Foundation
Marie Morton FRSA
Anne Neil
Hyon-Ju Newman
Newton Family in memory of Rae Rothfield
Ken Ong OAM
Bruce Parncutt AO
Sam Ricketson and Rosemary Ayton
Andrew and Judy Rogers
Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher
The Rosemary Norman Foundation
Guy Ross
The Kate and Stephen Shelmerdine Family Foundation
Helen Silver AO and Harrison Young
Anita Simon
Brian Snape AM
Dr Michael Soon
Dawna Wright and Peter Riedel
Anonymous (2)
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
Drs John D L Brookes and Lucy V Hanlon
Stuart Brown
Lynne Burgess
Dr Lynda Campbell
Janet Chauvel and the late Dr Richard Chauvel
Breen Creighton and Elsbeth Hadenfeldt
The Cuming Bequest
Katherine Cusack
Leo de Lange
Sandra Dent
Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin
Carrillo Gantner AC and Ziyin Gantner
Kim and Robert Gearon
Janette Gill
R Goldberg and Family
Goldschlager Family Charitable Foundation
Catherine Gray
Hartmut and Ruth Hofmann
Paul and Amy Jasper
John Jones
LRR Family Trust
Margaret and John Mason OAM
H E McKenzie
Dr Isabel McLean
Ian Merrylees
Patricia Nilsson
Dr Paul Nisselle AM and Sue Nisselle
Alan and Dorothy Pattison
Sue and Barry Peake
David and Nancy Price
Peter Priest
Ruth and Ralph Renard
Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski
Liliane Rusek and Alexander Ushakoff
Jeffrey Sher KC and Diana Sher OAM
Barry Spanger
Steinicke Family
Peter J Stirling
Jenny Tatchell
Clayton and Christina Thomas
Elaine Walters OAM
Janet Whiting AM
20
Supporters
Nic and Ann Willcock
Anonymous (4)
PLAYER PATRONS $1,000+
Dr Sally Adams
Anita and Graham Anderson
Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society
Geoffrey and Vivienne Baker
Michael Bowles and Alma Gill
Joyce Bown
Miranda Brockman
Nigel Broughton and Sheena Broughton
Suzie Brown OAM and the late Harvey Brown
Dr Robin Burns and Dr Roger Douglas
Ronald and Kate Burnstein
Kaye Cleary
John and Mandy Collins
Andrew Crockett AM and Pamela Crockett
Dr Daryl and Nola Daley
Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das
Michael Davies
Natasha Davies for the Trikojus Education Fund
Rick and Sue Deering
Suzanne Dembo
John and Anne Duncan
Jane Edmanson OAM
Diane Fisher
Grant Fisher and Helen Bird
Alex Forrest
Applebay Pty Ltd
David and Esther Frenkiel OAM
Anthony Garvey and Estelle O’Callaghan
David I Gibbs AM and Susie O’Neill
Sonia Gilderdale
Dr Celia Godfrey
Dr Marged Goode
Dr Sandra Hacker AO and Ian Kennedy AM
Dawn Hales
David Hardy
Tilda and the late Brian Haughney
Susan and Gary Hearst
Cathy Henry
Dr Keith Higgins
Anthony and Karen Ho
Peter and Jenny Hordern
Katherine Horwood
Penelope Hughes
Shyama Jayaswal
Basil and Rita Jenkins
Sandy Jenkins
Sue Johnston
John Kaufman
Angela Kayser
Drs Bruce and Natalie Kellett
Dr Anne Kennedy
Tim Knaggs
Dr Jerry Koliha and Marlene Krelle
Jane Kunstler
Ann Lahore
Kerry Landman
Kathleen and Coran Lang
Janet and Ross Lapworth
Bryan Lawrence
Phil Lewis
Andrew Lockwood
Elizabeth H Loftus
Chris and Anna Long
Gabe Lopata
John MacLeod
Eleanor & Phillip Mancini
Aaron McConnell
Wayne McDonald and Kay Schroer
Ray McHenry
John and Rosemary McLeod
Don and Anne Meadows
Dr Eric Meadows
Professor Geoffrey Metz
Sylvia Miller
Ian Morrey and Geoffrey Minter
Dr Anthony and Dr Anna Morton
Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James
Roger Parker
Ian Penboss
Eli Raskin
Jan and Keith Richards
James Ring
Dr Peter Rogers and Cathy Rogers OAM
Dr Ronald and Elizabeth Rosanove
Marie Rowland
Jan Ryan
Martin and Susan Shirley
21 Supporters
P Shore
John E Smith
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
Ann and Larry Turner
Leon and Sandra Velik
The Reverend Noel Whale
Edward and Paddy White
Terry Wills Cooke OAM and the late Marian Wills Cooke
Robert and Diana Wilson
Richard Withers
Lorraine Woolley
Youth Music Foundation
Shirley and Jeffrey Zajac
Anonymous (12)
OVERTURE PATRONS $500+*
Margaret Abbey PSM
Jane Allan and Mark Redmond
Mario M Anders
Jenny Anderson
Peter Batterham
Benevity Australia Online Giving Foundation
Peter Berry and Amanda Quirk
Dr William Birch AM
Allen and Kathryn Bloom
Linda Brennan
Dr Robert Brook
Elizabeth Brown
John Brownbill
Roger and Coll Buckle
Cititec Systems
Charmaine Collins
Dr Sheryl Coughlin and Paul Coughlin
Judith Cowden in memory of violinist
Margaret Cowden
Dr Oliver Daly and Matilda Daly
Merrowyn Deacon
Bruce Dudon
Melissa and Aran Fitzgerald
Brian Florence
Elizabeth Foster
Mary Gaidzkar
Simon Gaites
Dr Mary-Jane Gething
David and Geraldine Glenny
Hugo and Diane Goetze
Louise Gourlay OAM
Robert and Jan Green
George Hampel AM KC and Felicity Hampel AM SC
Geoff Hayes
Jim Hickey
William Holder
Clive and Joyce Hollands
Rod Home
R A Hook
Gillian Horwood
Geoff and Denise Illing
Wendy Johnson
John and Christine Keys
Belinda and Malcom King
Professor David Knowles and Dr Anne McLachlan
Pauline and David Lawton
Paschalina Leach
Dr Jenny Lewis
Sharon Li
The Podcast Reader
Janice Mayfield
Shirley A McKenzie
Dr Alan Meads and Sandra Boon
Marie Misiurak
Joan Mullumby
Dr Judith S Nimmo
Estelle O’Callaghan
Brendan O’Donnell
David Oppenheim
Sarah Patterson
Adriana and Sienna Pesavento
Kerryn Pratchett
Professor Charles Qin OAM and Kate Ritchie
Alfonso Reina and Marjanne Rook
Professor John Rickard
Dr Anne Ryan
Viorica Samson
Carolyn Sanders
22 Supporters
Dr Nora Scheinkestel
Julia Schlapp
Dr Alex Starr
Dylan Stewart
Ruth Stringer
Reverend Angela Thomas
Rosemary Warnock
Nickie Warton and Grant Steel
Amanda Watson
Deborah Whithear and Dr Kevin Whithear OAM
Dr Susan Yell
Anonymous (15)
CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE
Jenny Anderson
David Angelovich
G C Bawden and L de Kievit
Lesley Bawden
Joyce Bown
Mrs Jenny Bruckner and the late Mr John Bruckner
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
Grace Kass and the late George Kass
Sylvia Lavelle
Pauline and David Lawton
Cameron Mowat
Ruth Muir
David Orr
Matthew O’Sullivan
Rosia Pasteur
Penny Rawlins
Joan P Robinson
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
Peter and Elisabeth Turner
Michael Ulmer AO
The Hon. Rosemary Varty
Terry Wills Cooke OAM and the late Marian Wills Cooke
Mark Young
Anonymous (19)
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)
Supporters
23
The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Estates:
Norma Ruth Atwell
Angela Beagley
Christine Mary Bridgart
The Cuming Bequest
Margaret Davies
Neilma Gantner
The Hon Dr Alan Goldberg AO QC
Enid Florence Hookey
Gwen Hunt
Family and Friends of James Jacoby
Audrey Jenkins
Joan Jones
Pauline Marie Johnston
C P Kemp
Peter Forbes MacLaren
Joan Winsome Maslen
Lorraine Maxine Meldrum
Prof Andrew McCredie
Jean Moore
Joan P Robinson
Maxwell Schultz
Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE
Marion A I H M Spence
Molly Stephens
Gwennyth St John
Halinka Tarczynska-Fiddian
Jennifer May Teague
Albert Henry Ullin
Jean Tweedie
Herta and Fred B Vogel
Dorothy Wood
COMMISSIONING CIRCLE
Mary Armour
Cecilie Hall and the Late Hon Michael Watt KC
Tim and Lyn Edward
Kim Williams AM
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
The Kate and Stephen Shelmerdine Family Foundation
Michael Ullmer AO and Jenny Ullmer
Jason Yeap OAM – Mering Management Corporation
ADOPT A MUSICIAN
Mr Marc Besen AC and the late Mrs Eva Besen AO
Chief Conductor Jaime Martín
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
The Gross Foundation
Matthew Tomkins
Dr Clem Gruen and Dr Rhyl Wade
Robert Cossom
Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind
Monica Curro
Cecilie Hall and the late Hon Michael Watt KC
Saul Lewis
Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM
Abbey Edlin
Margaret Jackson AC
Nicolas Fleury
Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio
Benjamin Hanlon, Tair Khisambeev, Christopher Moore
Dr Elizabeth A Lewis AM
Anthony Chataway
David Li AM and Angela Li
Dale Barltrop
Gary McPherson
Rachel Shaw
Hyon-Ju Newman
Patrick Wong
24
Supporters
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
HONORARY APPOINTMENTS
Life Members
Mr Marc Besen AC
John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel AC
Sir Elton John CBE
Harold Mitchell AC
Lady Potter AC CMRI
Jeanne Pratt AC
Michael Ullmer AO and Jenny Ullmer
Anonymous
MSO Ambassador
Geoffrey Rush AC
The MSO honours the memory of Life Members
Mrs Eva Besen AO
John Brockman OAM
The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC
Roger Riordan AM
Ila Vanrenen
MSO ARTISTIC FAMILY
Jaime Martín
Chief Conductor
Xian Zhang
Principal Guest Conductor
Benjamin Northey
Principal Conductor in Residence
Carlo Antonioli
Cybec Assistant Conductor Fellow
Sir Andrew Davis
Conductor Laureate
Hiroyuki Iwaki †
Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)
Warren Trevelyan-Jones
MSO Chorus Director
Siobhan Stagg
2023 Soloist in Residence
Gondwana Voices
2023 Ensemble in Residence
Christian Li
Young Artist in Association
Mary Finsterer
2023 Composer in Residence
Melissa Douglas
2023 Cybec Young Composer in Residence
Christopher Moore
Creative Producer, MSO Chamber
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO
MSO First Nations Creative Chair
Dr Anita Collins
Creative Chair for Learning and Engagement
Artistic Ambassadors
Tan Dun
Lu Siqing
MSO BOARD
Chairman
David Li AM
Co-Deputy Chairs
Di Jameson
Helen Silver AO
Managing Director
Sophie Galaise
Board Directors
Shane Buggle
Andrew Dudgeon AM
Lorraine Hook
Margaret Jackson AC
David Krasnostein AM
Gary McPherson
Farrel Meltzer
Hyon-Ju Newman
Glenn Sedgwick
Company Secretary
Oliver Carton
25
Supporters
Principal Partner
Premier Partners
Education Partner
Major Partners
Orchestral Training
Partner
Venue Partner
Government Partners
Supporting Partners
Quest Southbank
Ernst & Young
Bows for Strings
Media and Broadcast Partners
Thank you to our Partners
Trusts and Foundations
Program Supporters
Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Melbourne
East meets West
Ministry of Culture and Tourism China
Supporting Partners Consortium Partners
Supporters
Xiaojian Ren & Qian Li
Mr Wanghua Chu & Dr Shirley Chu
The Sir Andrew and Lady Fairley Foundation, Flora & Frank Leith Trust, Perpetual Foundation – Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment, Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund
Freemasons Foundation Victoria
— Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO
