Schumann & Tchaikovsky

SCHUMANN & TCHAIKOVSKY

13–17 JUNE

Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall

Quick Fix at Half Six is proudly presented by TarraWarra Estate

ARTISTS

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Anja Bihlmaier conductor

Alexander Melnikov piano

PROGRAM

R. SCHUMANN Manfred: Overture [12']

R. SCHUMANN Piano Concerto* [31']

– Interval –

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.6 Pathétique [45']

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

*This piece will only be performed on June 13–15.

ENHANCE YOUR EXPERIENCE

13–15 June: Pre-concert talks

Want to learn more about the music being performed? Arrive early for an informative and entertaining pre-concert talk with ABC Classic’s Taj Aldeeb.

Thursday 13 June at 6.45pm

Saturday 15 June at 1.15pm

Stalls Foyer on Level 2, Hamer Hall

17 June: Quick Fix at Half Six

Stalls Foyer on Level 2, Hamer Hall

Pre-concert wine tasting at 5.30pm

Arrive early for a wine tasting courtesy of TarraWarra Estate, free for ticket holders.

Post-concert conversation at 7.45pm

Stay on for a post-concert conversation with MSO Head of Artistic Planning Katharine Bartholomeusz-Plows and conductor Anja Bihlmaier.

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

Duration

13 & 15 June: 2 hours including interval. 17 June: 1 hour, 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 music.

Long Time Living Here

As a Yorta Yorta/Yuin composer the responsibility I carry to assist the MSO in delivering a respectful acknowledgement of country is a privilege which I take very seriously. I have a duty of care to my ancestors and to the ancestors on whose land the MSO works and performs.

As MSO continues to grow its knowledge and understanding of what it means to truly honour the First people of this land, the musical acknowledgment of country will serve to bring those on stage and those in the audience together in a moment of recognition as as we celebrate the longest continuing cultures in the world.

– Deborah Cheetham Fraillon

AO

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 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.

MUSICIANS PERFORMING IN THIS CONCERT

FIRST VIOLINS

Tair Khisambeev

Acting Associate Concertmaster

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Anne-Marie Johnson

Acting Assistant Concertmaster

David Horowicz#

Peter Edwards

Assistant Principal

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson#

Sarah Curro

Dr Harry Imber#

Peter Fellin

Karla Hanna

Lorraine Hook

Mark Mogilevski

Michelle Ruffolo

Anna Skalova

Kathryn Taylor

Juliette Boirayon*

Clare Carrick*

Michael Loftus-Hills*

Oksana Thompson*

SECOND VIOLINS

Matthew Tomkins

Principal

The Gross Foundation#

Mary Allison

Freya Franzen

Cong Gu

Newton Family in memory of Rae Rothfield#

Andrew Hall

Robert Macindoe

Isy Wasserman

Philippa West

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Patrick Wong

Roger Young

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan#

Jacqueline Edwards*

Jos Jonker*

Lynette Rayner*

VIOLAS

Christopher Moore

Principal

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Anthony Chataway

William Clark

Gabrielle Halloran

Jenny Khafagi

Fiona Sargeant

Karen Columbine*

Ceridwen Davies*

Aidan Filshie*

Lucas Levin*

Isabel Morse*

CELLOS

David Berlin

Principal

Rachael Tobin

Associate Principal Anonymous#

Rohan de Korte

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Alexandra Partridge

Rebecca Proietto

Peter T Kempen AM#

Angela Sargeant

Caleb Wong

Michelle Wood

Andrew and Judy Rogers#

Anna Pokorny*

DOUBLE BASSES

Jonathon Coco

Principal

Stephen Newton

Acting Associate Principal

Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser#

Rohan Dasika

Acting Assistant Principal

Benjamin Hanlon

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Caitlin Bass*

Vivian Qu Siyuan*

Emma Sullivan*

Correct as of 3 June 2024.

Learn more about our musicians on the MSO website

FLUTES

Prudence Davis Principal Anonymous#

Wendy Clarke Associate Principal

Sarah Beggs

PICCOLO

Andrew Macleod Principal

OBOES

Michael Pisani Acting Associate Principal

Ann Blackburn

CLARINETS

Philip Arkinstall Associate Principal

Craig Hill

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher#

BASS CLARINET

Jon Craven Principal

BASSOONS

Elise Millman Associate Principal

Natasha Thomas

Patricia Nilsson#

CONTRABASSOON

Brock Imison Principal

HORNS

Saul Lewis Principal Third

The late Hon Michael Watt KC and Cecilie Hall#

Abbey Edlin

The Hanlon Foundation#

Josiah Kop

Rachel Shaw

Professor Gary McPherson#

Ian Wildsmith*

TRUMPETS

Owen Morris Principal

Rosie Turner

John and Diana Frew#

TROMBONES

Richard Shirley

Mike Szabo Principal Bass Trombone

TUBA

Timothy Buzbee Principal

TIMPANI

Matthew Thomas Principal

PERCUSSION

Shaun Trubiano Principal

John Arcaro

Tim and Lyn Edward#

* Denotes Guest Musician

^ Denotes MSO Academy

° Denotes Contract Musician

# Position supported by

ANJA BIHLMAIER CONDUCTOR

Anja Bihlmaier’s musical intuition, inspiring charisma and ability to combine passion with precision have made her one of the leading conductors of her generation. She has been Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest since August 2021.

In 2023/24 she debuts with the London Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Hamburg Staatsorchester (including two concerts at the Elbphilharmonie), Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Bergen Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and Melbourne Symphony orchestras, and returns to the Salzburg Camerata in her debut at the Mozartwoche. In Summer 2023 she made her first BBC Proms appearance (with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra).

In a wide-ranging repertoire that includes Haydn, Mahler, Strauss, B.A. Zimmermann to Sibelius, Bartók, Dvořák, Shostakovich, Debussy, Britten, Galina Ustvolskaya and Unsuk Chin, Bihlmaier has recently conducted the SWR Symphony, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Spanish National, Barcelona Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Danish National, Swedish Radio Symphony and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras, returning to many of these in the coming months.

A passionate opera conductor, Bihlmaier gained many years of experience through positions at the Hanover State Opera, the Chemnitz Theatre and the Kassel State Theatre. More recently she conducted Gounod Faust at Trondheim Opera, Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Malmö Opera and several productions at the Vienna Volksoper, including Henry Mason’s acclaimed production of The Magic Flute in 2020/21. In February 2023 she conducted Wagner Der Fliegende Holländer in Tampere and in September Verdi La traviata at the Norske Opera in Oslo.

After studying at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik with Scott Sandmeier, Bihlmaier was awarded a scholarship at the Salzburg Mozarteum and deepened her knowledge with Dennis Russell Davies and Jorge Rotter. She was subsequently accepted into the Deutsche Dirigentenforum and received a scholarship from the Brahmsgesellschaft Baden-Baden.

ALEXANDER MELNIKOV PIANO

Alexander Melnikov studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Naumov and was musically inspired by Svjatoslav Richter. He was awarded prizes at eminent competitions such as the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau and the Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth in Brussels.

As a soloist, Alexander Melnikov has performed with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philadelphia Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Münchner Philharmoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, under conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, Charles Dutoit, Paavo Järvi and Vladimir Jurowski.

An essential part of Melnikov’s work is intensive chamber music collaboration with partners such as Isabelle Faust, Antoine Tamestit and Jean-Guihen Queyras. He has made various award-winning recordings as a chamber musician and soloist. His latest album Fantasie – Seven Composers Seven Keyboards in which he plays the pieces on the instruments of the time was recorded in 2023.

Highlights of the 2023/24 season are Alexander Melnikov’s concert tour to Australia and New Zealand, his residency at the Kölner Philharmonie, concerts with orchestras such as the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, or the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

In addition to numerous chamber music concerts he will complete his season with solo concerts at the Berliner Philharmonie, Toppan Hall in Tokyo, Wigmore Hall, or Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw.

Known for his often unusual musical and programmatic decisions, Alexander Melnikov developed his career-long interest in historically informed performance practice early on. As such, he is artistic partner of the B’Rock Ensemble and often collaborates with groups such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin or the orchestra of the 18th Century.

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Guests of Note DINNER SERIES

We warmly invite you to share an intimate evening of conversation, fine food, wine – and of course music! – with some of the biggest superstars from our 2024 Season. Best of all, every ticket raises funds to support the Orchestra’s core artistic program – helping the MSO continue presenting the best artists, thrilling repertoire, and worldclass orchestral performances.

COMING UP

An evening with Jaime Martín & William Barton

Saturday 6 July 2024

An evening with Roderick Williams & Siobhan Stagg

Friday 30 August 2024

For more information and to book your ticket, please scan the QR code or email MSO Philanthropy team at philanthropy@mso.com.au

PROGRAM NOTES

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)

Manfred: Overture, Op.115

The conductor Felix Weingartner, writing more than a hundred years ago, singled out the Manfred Overture as Schumann’s ‘only piece of orchestral music which can be compared with what he wrote for the piano’. Nowadays Manfred still stands out, even for its treatment of the orchestra, usually considered Schumann’s weakest point. Committed to the idea of the overture as a tone poem, Schumann composed this overture first, in Dresden, following it later in the same year, 1848, with incidental music for Byron’s 1817 dramatic poem. The overture itself was a concentrated response to Byron’s reclusive hero living high in the Swiss Alps, ‘some kind of a magician, who is dominated by a species of remorse, the cause of which is left half-explained.’ Manfred’s sin concerns his sister Astarte, and Byron may have been portraying himself and his sexual liaison with his half-sister Augusta Leigh.

What particularly appealed to Schumann was Manfred’s characteristic guilt and remorse, pushing him to the edge of madness. Schumann himself was tormented by fears of mental illness—all too justifiably, as it turned out. In the overture he was interested in the poem’s psychological issues. There is a kind of mania in the way in which Schumann’s main themes are assembled from juggled and repeated short motifs. Some contrast comes in a group of more lyrical ‘second subject’ themes. (The one with wide intervals reappears in the Requiem Schumann placed at the end of his incidental music, suggesting a hope

for redemption for Manfred.) But these themes add to the sense of yearning and Romantic alienation with which Schumann identified.

The Manfred Overture is in sonata form with a slow introduction. It was daring of Schumann to end quietly, in keeping with Romantic pessimism. In Byron, Manfred dies fearless and unrepentant.

David Garrett © 2005

ROBERT SCHUMANN

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.54

I. Allegro affettuoso

II. Intermezzo (Andantino grazioso) –

III. Allegro vivace

Alexander Melnikov piano

Following their wedding in September 1840, composer Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck, a prominent piano virtuoso, set up house in Leipzig. The couple soon had children, and finding money to support a growing family was a constant worry. Clara had no intention of abandoning her successful musical life. She took pride in earning money from her performances; she also helped popularise Robert’s piano works by including them in her concert programs. Robert revered his wife’s extraordinary musicianship, but his pride struggled with the greater fame accorded Clara, especially when they travelled on concert tours together. Though a respected music journalist and an acclaimed composer of piano works, songs and chamber music, he had yet to write the symphonies and large-scale works that would later enhance his artistic reputation.

A piano concerto by Robert that Clara could perform would thus serve several purposes. Before marrying, Robert had experimented with various ideas for piano concertos, none of which evolved beyond sketches. But during

the newlyweds’ first year, he completed a Phantasie for Piano and Orchestra, conceived and orchestrated during 16 days in May 1841. A private performance led to the first of several revisions, but Robert could not find a publisher for his single-movement work.

He set it aside for four years, during which time he wrote more chamber music (including his popular Piano Quintet and Piano Quartet) as well as the Spring Symphony, and moved his family to Dresden. From there he undertook a tour to Russia with Clara that left him exhausted and ill, triggering a severe nervous breakdown. He sought therapy by studying the works of Bach and writing fugues. Taking a break from counterpoint exercises, he added two movements—a final rondo and a connecting Intermezzo—to the reworked Phantasie, and thus created his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.

Ferdinand Hiller, a conductor to whom Robert dedicated the concerto (hoping to heal a rift in their friendship), led the premiere in his Dresden subscription concert of 4 December 1845 with Clara as soloist. But the true dedicatee is Clara, for whom Robert characterised his devotion in the opening movement’s tempo indication of Allegro affettuoso, the Phantasie’s original title. Clara took pleasure in the results; she had long wanted a more brilliant vehicle for display of her virtuosity than the Phantasie. Felix Mendelssohn, the Schumanns’ great friend, who expressed highest regard for Clara’s playing and supported (with occasional private misgivings) Schumann’s work as a composer, organised and conducted the Leipzig premiere on New Year’s Day 1846. Thereafter, the concerto was performed in important cities, often with Robert conducting; it remained a central work in Clara’s repertoire, and is a lasting testament to the couple’s remarkable personal and artistic

partnership, cut short by Robert’s death at age 46 in the Endenich asylum, where he recalled, in a letter to Clara, the concerto ‘that you played so splendidly’.

With an abrupt, chromatic cascade of chords, the soloist’s opening entrance commands immediate attention, heralding the oboe’s statement of the primary theme, echoed by the piano. The theme’s three-note descending motif dominates deliberations between the orchestra and soloist. The opening key of A minor yields, via the second theme, to triumphant C major, then to an expressive reverie in A flat major, showcasing the piano accompanied by radiant strings and plaintive woodwind. A return to earlier debates interrupts this dream, restores the opening theme and launches the soloist into an extended cadenza, capped by a quick coda that ends emphatically.

The second-movement Intermezzo (Andantino grazioso), hosts a more congenial but equally passionate dialogue. Short musical ideas are exchanged politely between soloist and orchestra, but as they warm to their topic, an eloquent contrasting theme sings out richly from the cellos, ornamented expansively by the piano. As the conversation fades, clarinets and bassoons recall the opening movement’s three-note motif, first in A minor, then in A major. Without pause, the piano seizes the major motif and launches into a robust, triple-metre rondo marked Allegro vivace, driven by the soloist’s extensive bravura passagework. The third-movement theme (itself a transformation of the primary firstmovement theme, subtly strengthening the concerto’s structural unity) surfaces buoyantly through harmonic sequences that build to an exhilarating conclusion.

Samuel C. Dixon © 2003

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

(1840–1893)

Symphony No.6 in B minor, Op.74 Pathétique

I. Adagio – Allegro non troppo

II. Allegro con grazia

III. Allegro molto vivace

IV. Finale (Adagio lamentoso –Andante)

The original audience for the Sixth Symphony was uncomprehending and ambivalent. Tchaikovsky had expected this, writing to his nephew and the dedicatee, ‘Bob’ Davidov, that he wouldn’t be surprised if the symphony were ‘torn to pieces’, even though he considered it his best and most sincere work. The critic Hermann Laroche suggested that audiences who ‘did not get to the core’ of the symphony would ‘in the end, come to love it.’ As it turned out, it took them only 12 days. In the intervening period its composer had died, and for the second performance, in a memorial concert, it was promoted with the composer’s subtitle: Pathétique (or Pateticheskaia Simfoniia—‘impassioned symphony’—as he had conceived it in Russian). The symphony was declared a masterpiece.

The myth of the-Pathétique-as-suicidenote (not to mention Tchaikovsky’s ‘suicide’ itself) has been more or less debunked in the past two decades. There are no grounds for doubting that Tchaikovsky died from post-choleric complications; the theory that his old classmates decided in a ‘court of honour’ that he should commit suicide to avoid disgrace has been undermined; and his social, financial and artistic situation all speak against any other motivation for suicide, even if he continued to be troubled by his homosexuality.

The Sixth Symphony, specifically, seems to have been a source of immense pride, satisfaction and joy to him. And shortly

after its premiere he’s reported to have said ‘I feel I shall live a long time’.

He was wrong. His audience, now in mourning and seeking ‘portents’, immediately heard the Sixth Symphony (the Pathétique) in a new way. New significance was given to the appearance in the first movement of an Orthodox burial chant, ‘Repose the Soul’—a hymn sung only when someone has died—and to the otherworldly, dying character of the adagio finale.

Even if the symphony is not a suicide note, there is a programmatic and semi-autobiographical underpinning to the symphony that is the source of its unusual form and turbulent emotions. Tchaikovsky admitted the existence of a program but was cagey about the details, perhaps because it reflected his romantic feelings for Davidov. The closest we have is a sketched scenario, devised originally for an abandoned symphony in E flat but appearing to correspond with much of the Sixth Symphony:

Following is essence of plan for a symphony Life! First movement—all impulse, confidence, thirst for activity. Must be short (Finale death—result of collapse). Second movement love; third disappointment; fourth ends with a dying away (also short).

There are aspects of this program and the Sixth Symphony that suggest suffering, but for Tchaikovsky the composition of the symphony was a cathartic experience rather than an expression of current sufferings. He himself wrote: ‘Anyone who believes that the creative person is capable of expressing what he feels out of a momentary effect aided by the means of art is mistaken. Melancholy as well as joyous feelings can always be expressive only out of the Retrospective.’

In its art this is Tchaikovsky’s most innovative symphony. He dares to conclude with a brooding slow movement and uses boldly dramatic

gestures to give the music its emotional impulse. The ‘limping’ elegance of the second-movement waltz would have been less surprising, to Russians at least—its five-beat metre was a part of a tradition that was embraced by Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky (in his Pictures at an Exhibition), and later Rachmaninov (in The Isle of the Dead ).

In the Sixth Symphony Tchaikovsky comes to terms with his professed inadequacies in structural matters. His solution in the first movement was to extend the exposition section, so well suited to his melodic gifts, and to compress the development section in which he felt his skills inadequate. The music begins in the depths with the dark colour of the bassoon and yet somehow Tchaikovsky sustains a downward trajectory, or the impression of one, for the whole work.

In the third movement the idea of ‘disappointment’ is replaced by something more malevolent. In purely musical terms it conflates two musical figures—feverish tarantella triplets and a spiky march—but the juxtapositions and incursions into each other’s thematic territory create a disturbing sense of antagonism. The movement’s applause-provoking conclusion could be triumphant, or it could be the crash of self-delusion.

The finale may not fit the formula established by Tchaikovsky’s classical predecessors, but within the emotional journey of the symphony its stark sense of tragedy provides an inevitable conclusion—all the more powerful for the grace and jauntiness of the preceding movements.

Yvonne

Frindle ©2008

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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

Acting Associate Concertmaster

Tair Khisambeev

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio

Cybec Young Composer in Residence

Naomi Dodd

Cybec Foundation

PROGRAM BENEFACTORS

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

Community and Public Programs

AWM Electrical, City of Melbourne, Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation

Live Online and MSO Schools Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation

Student Subsidy Program Anonymous

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

Jams in Schools Department of Education, Victoria, through the Strategic Partnerships Program, AWM Electrical, Marian and E.H. Flack Trust, Flora & Frank Leith Charitable Trust, Hume City Council

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Alex Forrest

Chris Freelance

Applebay Pty Ltd

David and Esther Frenkiel

Mary Gaidzkar

Simon Gaites

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

Anthony and Karen Ho

Rod Home

Lorraine Hook

Jenny and Peter Hordern

Katherine Horwood

Penelope Hughes

Jordan Janssen

Shyama Jayaswal

Basil and Rita Jenkins

Emma 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

Professor David Knowles and

Dr Anne McLachlan

Dr Jerry Koliha and Marlene Krelle

Jane Kunstler

Kerry Landman

Janet and Ross Lapworth

Bryan Lawrence

Dr Jenny Lewis

Phil Lewis

Dr Kin Liu

Andrew Lockwood

Elizabeth H Loftus

Chris and Anna Long

Wayne McDonald and Kay Schroer

Lois McKay

Lesley McMullin Foundation

Dr Eric Meadows

Sylvia Miller

Ian Morrey and Geoffrey Minter

Drs Anna and Anthony Morton

Barry Mowszowski

Dr Judith S Nimmo

Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James

Roger Parker and Ruth Parker

Susan Pelka

Ian Penboss

Kerryn Pratchett

Peter Priest

John Prokupets

Professor Charles Qin OAM and Kate Ritchie

Eli and Lorraine Raskin

Cathy Rogers OAM and Dr Peter Rogers AM

Dr Ronald and Elizabeth Rosanove

Marie Rowland

Viorica Samson

Martin and Susan Shirley

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

Ann and Larry Turner

Sandra and the late Leon Velik

Jayde Walker

Edward and Paddy White

Nic and Ann Willcock

Lorraine Woolley

Dr Kelly and Dr Heathcote Wright

C.F. Yeung & Family Philanthropic Fund

Demetrio Zema

(13)

OVERTURE PATRONS $500+

Jane Allan and Mark Redmond

Mario M Anders

Jenny Anderson

Doris Au

Lyn Bailey

Mr Robin Batterham

Peter Berry and Amanda Quirk

Dr William Birch AM

Richard Bolitho

Miranda Brockman

Dr Robert Brook

Roger and Coll Buckle

Daniel Bushaway

Jungpin Chen

Dr John Collins

Gregory Crew

Sue Cummings

Dr Oliver and Matilda Daly

Suzanne Dembo

Carol des Cognets

Bruce Dudon

Margaret Flatman

Brian Florence

M C Friday

David and Geraldine Glenny

Hugo and Diane Goetze

Louise Gourlay OAM

Christine Grenda

Dawn Hales

George Hampel AM KC and Felicity Hampel AM SC

Dr Jennifer Henry

William Holder

Gillian Horwood

Oliver Hutton

Rob Jackson

Wendy Johnson

Irene Kearsey & Michael Ridley

John Keys

Lesley King

Dr Kim Langfield-Smith

Pauline and David Lawton

Paschalina Leach

Kay Liu

David Loggia

Helen Maclean

Eleanor & Phillip Mancini

Joy Manners

Morris and Helen Margolis

In memory of Leigh Masel

Janice Mayfield

Gail McKay

Shirley A McKenzie

Marie Misiurak

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

William Ramirez

Geoffrey Ravenscroft

Dr Christopher Rees

Professor John Rickard

Michael Riordan and Geoffrey Bush

Fred and Patricia Russell

Carolyn Sanders

Dr Marc Saunders

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

Adrian Wigney

Charles and Jill Wright

Anonymous (13)

FUTURE MSO ($1,000+)

Justine Battistella

Shayna Burns

Jessica Agoston Cleary

Alexandra Champion de Crespigny

Josh Chye

Barry Mowszowski

Jayde Walker

Demetrio Zema

MSO GUARDIANS

Jenny Anderson

David Angelovich

Lesley Bawden

Peter Berry and Amanda Quirk

Joyce Bown

Patricia A Breslin

Jenny Brukner and the late John Brukner

Peter A Caldwell

Luci and Ron Chambers

Sandra Dent

Sophie E Dougall in memory of Libby Harold

Alan Egan JP

Gunta Eglite

Marguerite Garnon-Williams

Dr Clem Gruen and Dr Rhyl Wade

Louis J Hamon OAM

Charles Hardman and Julianne Bambacas

Carol Hay

Dr Jennifer Henry

Graham Hogarth

Rod Home

Lyndon Horsburgh

Katherine Horwood

Tony Howe

Lindsay and Michael Jacombs

John Jones

Pauline and David Lawton

Robyn and Maurice Lichter

Christopher Menz and Peter Rose

Cameron Mowat

Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James

David Orr

Matthew O’Sullivan

Rosia Pasteur

Penny Rawlins

Margaret Riches

Anne Roussac-Hoyne and Neil Roussac

Michael Ryan and Wendy Mead

Anne Kieni Serpell and Andrew Serpell

Jennifer Shepherd

Suzette Sherazee

Professors Gabriela and

George Stephenson

Pamela Swansson

Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman

Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock

Peter and the late Elizabeth Turner

Michael Ullmer AO

The Hon Rosemary Varty

Francis Vergona

Terry Wills Cooke OAM and the late Marian Wills Cooke

Mark Young

Anonymous (23)

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

Ken Bullen

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

Elisabeth Turner

Albert Henry Ullin

Jean Tweedie

Herta and Fred B Vogel

Daphne White

Joyce Winsome Woodroffe

Dorothy Wood

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

ADOPT A MUSICIAN

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson

Peter Edwards

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

The late Hon Michael Watt KC and Cecilie Hall

Saul Lewis

The Hanlon Foundation

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

Peter T Kempen AM

Rebecca Proietto

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher

Craig Hill

Professor Gary McPherson

Rachel Shaw

Anne Neil

Eleanor Mancini

Newton Family in memory of Rae Rothfield

Cong Gu

Patricia Nilsson

Natasha Thomas

Andrew and Judy Rogers

Michelle Wood

Glenn Sedgwick

Tiffany Cheng, Shane Hooton

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

The MSO honours the memory of Life Members

The late Marc Besen AC and the late 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

Artistic Advisor – Learning and Engagement

Leonard Weiss

Cybec Assistant Conductor

Sir Andrew Davis CBE †

Conductor Laureate (2013–2024)

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)

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

PREMIER PARTNERS

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

MAJOR PARTNERS

INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM PARTNER

ORCHESTRAL TRAINING PARTNER

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

VENUE PARTNER

EDUCATION PARTNERS

Quest Southbank Ernst & Young

MEDIA AND BROADCAST PARTNERS

TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS

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

East meets West Program Supporters

Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Melbourne PROGRAM SUPPORTERS

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

SUPPORTERS

Ministry of Culture and Tourism China

CONSORTIUM PARTNERS