Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony

Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony

10–11 August

Melbourne Town Hall and Monash

Artists

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Umberto Clerici conductor

Calvin Bowman organ Program

DEBUSSY Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

RAVEL Mother Goose Suite

– Interval –

SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No.3 Organ

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

Pre-concert events

Free Organ Recital: Melbourne Town Hall 10 August at 6.30pm

Arrive early to enjoy a recital performed by Calvin Bowman on the mighty Grand Organ, free for ticket holders.

Duration

1 hour and 40 minutes including interval

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

Acknowledging Country

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.

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.

— Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Established in 1906, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is Australia’s pre-eminent orchestra and a cornerstone of Victoria’s rich, cultural heritage.

Each year, the MSO engages with more than 5 million people, presenting in excess of 180 public events across live performances, TV, radio and online broadcasts, and via its online concert hall, MSO.LIVE, with audiences in 56 countries.

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

In 2023, the MSO’s Chief Conductor, Jaime Martín continues an exciting new phase in the Orchestra’s history. Maestro Martín joins an Artistic Family that includes Principal Guest Conductor, Xian Zhang, Principal Conductor in Residence, Benjamin Northey, Conductor Laureate, Sir Andrew Davis CBE, Cybec Assistant Conductor Fellow, Carlo Antonioli, MSO Chorus Director, Warren Trevelyan-Jones, Soloist in Residence, Siobhan Stagg, Composer in Residence, Mary Finsterer, Ensemble in Residence, Gondwana Voices, Cybec Young Composer in Residence, Melissa Douglas and Young 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

Dale Barltrop

Concertmaster

David Li AM and Angela Li#

Tair Khisambeev

Assistant Concertmaster

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Peter Edwards

Assistant Principal

Kirsty Bremner

Peter Fellin

Deborah Goodall

Karla Hanna

Lorraine Hook

Kirstin Kenny

Eleanor Mancini

Anne Neil#

Mark Mogilevski

Michelle Ruffolo

Kathryn Taylor

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

Tiffany Cheng

Glenn Sedgwick#

Freya Franzen

Cong Gu

Newton Family in memory of Rae Rothfield#

Andrew Hall

Isy Wasserman

Philippa West

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Patrick Wong

Hyon Ju Newman#

Roger Young

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan#

VIOLAS

Christopher Moore Principal

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Lauren Brigden

Anthony Chataway

Dr Elizabeth E Lewis AM#

William Clark

Gabrielle Halloran

Fiona Sargeant

Molly Collier-O’Boyle*

Katie Yap*

CELLOS

David Berlin Principal

Rachael Tobin

Associate Principal

Anonymous#

Elina Faskhi

Assistant Principal

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio#

Rohan de Korte

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Sarah Morse

Rebecca Proietto

Angela Sargeant

Michelle Wood

Andrew and Judy Rogers#

DOUBLE BASSES

Suzanne Lee

Stephen Newton

Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser#

Caitlin Bass*

Emma Sullivan*

FLUTES

Wendy Clarke

Associate Principal

Sarah Beggs

PICCOLO

Andrew Macleod Principal

OBOES

Michael Pisani

Acting Associate Principal

COR ANGLAIS

Rachel Curkpatrick

Acting Principal Cor Anglais

CLARINETS

Philip Arkinstall

Associate Principal

Craig Hill

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher#

Oliver Crofts^

BASS CLARINET

Jon Craven Principal

BASSOONS

Elise Millman

Associate Principal

Natasha Thomas

Dr Martin Tymms and Patricia Nilsson#

CONTRABASSOON

Brock Imison Principal

HORNS

Nicolas Fleury

Principal

Margaret Jackson AC#

Saul Lewis

Principal Third

The late Hon Michael Watt KC and Cecilie Hall#

Josiah Kop

Rachel Shaw

Gary McPherson#

TRUMPETS

Owen Morris

Principal

Rosie Turner

John and Diana Frew#

TROMBONES

Richard Shirley

Mike Szabo

Principal Bass Trombone

TUBA

Timothy Buzbee Principal

TIMPANI

Scott Weatherson* Guest Principal

PERCUSSION

Shaun Trubiano Principal

John Arcaro

Tim and Lyn Edward#

Robert Cossom

Drs Rhyl Wade and Clem Gruen#

HARP

Yinuo Mu Principal

Megan Reeve*

PIANOS

Louisa Breen*

Laurence Matheson*

CELESTE

Laurence Matheson*

* Denotes Guest Musician

^ Denotes MSO Academy

# Position supported by

Umberto Clerici conductor

After a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist and orchestral musician, Umberto Clerici has gained a reputation as an artist of diverse and multifaceted talents.

It was in Sydney in 2018 that Umberto made his conducting debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. A host of acclaimed conducting engagements followed culminating in his recent appointment as the Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Simultaneously to this, Umberto continues to be in high demand with all the major symphony orchestras of Australia and New Zealand.

In addition to his first season as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Umberto’s 2023 conducting engagements include returns to the Sydney, Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. Having conducted each of the New Zealand and Dunedin Symphony Orchestras in 2022, Umberto will debut this year conducting the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Umberto looks forward to his first collaboration with Opera Queensland for Verdi’s Macbeth.

Calvin Bowman organ

Calvin Bowman is much in demand as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. An especial love of the music of J.S. Bach led to his performances of the complete Bach organ works three times in public; firstly in 1995, again in 2009 for the Melbourne International Festival where he performed them in a single seventeen-hour sitting, and again last January for MONA FOMA in Launceston.

In 2001, he was granted the privilege of re-opening the Melbourne Town Hall Grand Organ, following its multi-milliondollar restoration, by presenting the world première performance of Voices by Philip Glass in the composer’s presence.

As keyboardist he has also premièred works by Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards, Richard Mills, Graeme Koehne, Andrew Schultz and others, and appeared as soloist with many of the major Australian orchestras, including regular appearances with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on the Melbourne Town Hall Grand Organ as part of their Melbourne Town Hall series.

Dr. Bowman is also a prolific composer who specialises in artsong. His song Now Touch the Air Softly, recorded by Emma Matthews with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon/ABC Classics, has become one of the most popular Australian artsongs. The author of the text, William Jay Smith, described the setting as ‘magnificent and flawless’.

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Program Notes

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

Prélude à ‘L’après-midi d’un faune’

Published in 1876, Stéphane Mallarmé’s eclogue L’après-midi d’un faune is a monument of symbolist poetry, reflecting in its sumptuous but fragmentary language, the erotic fantasies of a drowsy faun – a mythical half-man, half-goat – on a hot, languid Sicilian afternoon. Running like a thread through the imagery of fruit and flowers and naked nymphs are references to music, specifically to the syrinx. This instrument, the ‘pan-pipes’, was fashioned by the god Pan from reeds into which a young nymph, desperate to escape his amorous attentions, had been transformed.

One such reference, to the syrinx’s ‘sonorous, airy, monotonous line’, would become the kernel of Debussy’s musical rendering of the poem. (Debussy hated hearing his music described as ‘what imbeciles call impressionism’ and preferred his work to be compared to Symbolist poetry.) Inviting Mallarmé to hear the work in 1894, he described ‘the arabesque which … I believe to have been dictated by the flute of your faun’.

In fact the work’s genesis was in a proposal by Mallarmé to present a staged version of his poem at an avantgarde theatre in 1891. By now he knew and admired some of Debussy’s vocal music, and went so far as to announce in the newspaper that the staged version would include music by the young composer ‘M de Bussy’. The project fell through, but Debussy’s imagination had been whetted. The orchestral piece that finally appeared made an immediate and positive impact with the audience, if not the critics, and may be said to be Debussy’s breakthrough work. In 1912

it was choreographed and danced by Nijinsky, whose erotic performance caused one of those typically Parisian fracas.

The first phrase of the solo flute arabesque with which the piece begins has rightly been described as a founding moment in modern music. Its chromatic, rhythmically ambiguous line traces and retraces the equally ambiguous interval of the tritone: like the material elsewhere in the work that is derived from the whole-tone scale, it is in no clearly discernible key, as is shown by the varied ways in which it is harmonised on its subsequent reappearances. The second half of the melody provides more ‘conventional’ motifs that are taken up from time to time by the rest of the orchestra.

Mallarmé’s poem rhymes, but otherwise avoids traditional forms or a narrative line; similarly, Debussy’s piece avoids the goal-directed development and tonal architecture that informs 19th-century symphonism. As Pierre Boulez puts it, ‘What was overthrown was not so much the art of development as the very concept of form itself.’ Musical events, like the vivid splashes of colour that first answer the flute, are there for the immediate pleasure they give; climaxes are approached by simple repetition of motifs; the most extended melody is a richly scored, Massenet-like tune at the work’s midpoint, accompanied by layered, rocking ostinatos.

The faun’s dream is overcome by sleep and the ‘proud silence of noon’, and the piece ends with flutes, muted horns and the glitter of harp and antique cymbals, fading to nothingness.

© Gordon Kerry 2017

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)

Mother Goose Suite

I. Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty

II. Tom Thumb

III. Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas

IV. Conversations of Beauty and the Beast

V. The Fairy Garden

In some exasperation, Ravel once asked a friend, ‘Doesn’t it ever occur to those people that I can be “artificial” by nature?’ He was responding to the criticism that his music was more interested in technique than expression. There is some truth in the charge: Stravinsky described him – affectionately – as the ‘Swiss watchmaker of music’, and Ravel’s stated aim was indeed ‘technical perfection’. In fact, his love of mechanical intricacy led Ravel to collect various automata and other small machines, and he dreamed, as he put it in a 1933 article, of ‘Finding Tunes in Factories’. Many of his pieces are exquisite simulacra of earlier or other forms and styles – Renaissance dances, Spanish music, jazz, or the music of the French Baroque.

Scandalously, between 1900 and 1905 Ravel failed several times to secure the prestigious award for composers, the Prix de Rome, ostensibly because of musical ‘errors’ and despite his already having established himself as a major new voice. In 1909, partly in response to his outsider status, he helped to found the Société Musicale Indépendante – independent, that is, of the Parisian musical and academic establishment – and its inaugural concert saw the premiere of the first version, for piano duo, of the Ma Mère l’oye (Mother Goose) Suite.

Ravel was born in south-western France to a Basque mother and Swiss father

but spent his entire life in Paris. Like Tchaikovsky, he saw a strong connection between childhood and enchantment. In his opera L’enfant et les sortilèges, for instance, a destructive child learns the value of compassion when furniture, trees and animals in the garden all come magically to life. The evocation of ‘the poetry of childhood’ in the original piano duo version of Mother Goose led Ravel to ‘simplify my style and refine my means of expression’ – or so he said. Certainly we can hear echoes of the deceptively simple piano music of Erik Satie, whose music Ravel championed.

Mother Goose began life as the ‘Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty’ for piano, four hands. Ravel composed it for Mimie and Jean Godebski (aged six and seven respectively), to whose parents he had dedicated his Sonatine for piano. Ravel then composed four more pièces enfantines, depicting characters from the fairy-tales anthologised by three 17th century authors: Charles Perrault (Sleeping Beauty and Tom Thumb), the Baroness d’Aulnoy (Laideronette) and the Prince of Beaumont (Beauty and the Beast). The Fairy Garden was an original inspiration.

Mimie later recalled:

neither my brother nor I was of an age to appreciate such a dedication and we regarded it rather as something entailing hard work. Ravel wanted us to give the first public performance but the idea filled me with a cold terror. My brother, being less timid and more gifted on the piano, coped quite well. But despite lessons from Ravel I used to freeze to such an extent that the idea had to be abandoned.

Nevertheless, the work’s premiere at the SMI concert in 1910 was given by two children, Jeanne Leleu (later a professor at the Paris Conservatoire) and Geneviève Durony. In 1911 Ravel made this orchestral version of the suite.

The Pavane is a slow and stately Renaissance dance (which Ravel also used for his Pavane for a Dead Infanta) with gently repeated motifs and modal harmony that establishes Ravel’s characteristic use of pungent dissonances on the strong beats of the bar. Tom Thumb is shown at the moment where he realises that he is lost; the breadcrumb trail he left has been eaten by the birds. Laideronette (‘little ugly girl’) is represented in music where glinting pentatonic (‘black-note’) figures give the piece its ‘oriental’ flavour. Much closer to home, Beauty and the Beast is a waltz where any menace is dispelled by the Beast’s eventual transformation, graphically depicted, into Prince Charming. Finally, The Fairy Garden is imagined in music that gathers power through simple repetition until an ecstatic climax of rippling scales. Having completed his major ballet Daphnis et Chloé in 1912, Ravel revisited Mother Goose to make it the basis for a ballet score in which the movements, in rearranged order and with new prelude and interludes, represent the Sleeping Beauty’s enchantment, dreams, and her awakening by Prince Charming.

Gordon Kerry © 2010

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)

Symphony No.3 in C minor, Op.78 (‘Organ’ Symphony)

I. Adagio – Allegro moderato Poco adagio

II. Allegro moderato – Presto Maestoso – Allegro

Calvin Bowman organ

In 1887 Charles Gounod heard the Parisian premiere of Saint-Saëns’ ‘Symphony No. 3 in C minor, with Organ and Two Pianos’ and famously gushed, ‘there goes the French Beethoven’. Hyperbole, of course, but the work has remained hugely popular ever since. The reasons for its continued currency are easy to find: Saint-Saëns believed that ‘the time has come for the symphony to benefit by the progress of modern instrumentation’ and his orchestration is masterly, with a dramatic range of sounds from the diaphanous to the massive. The Organ Symphony is, moreover, replete with memorable tunes and intricate counterpoint, traversing an emotional landscape from deepest melancholy to sheer joy.

It was commissioned and first performed under the composer’s baton by the London Philharmonic Society in 1886. During the composition Saint-Saëns’ old friend Liszt visited him and admired the score; sadly, Liszt died weeks before the premiere, inspiring Saint-Saëns to dedicate the symphony to his memory. Liszt had been a great mentor ever since 1857 when, hearing Saint-Saëns improvising at the organ of the Madeleine church, he had declared the young Frenchman to be ‘the finest organist in the world’. Saint-Saëns for his part fought for the due recognition of the older man as composer as well as pianist, leading Debussy grudgingly to admit, ‘we are indebted to him for having recognised the tumultuous genius of Liszt’.

Perhaps, though, there is more than just hyperbole to the Beethoven comparison. Like many a symphony of Beethoven’s, especially the Fifth, the ‘Organ’ Symphony begins in darkness and turbulence and only toward the end does it reach the bright affirmation of C major. And like Beethoven in the Fifth, Saint-Saëns is remarkably economical with his thematic material: it is possible to trace almost all those melodies back to the motifs heard in the work’s introduction and the opening of the following Allegro moderato. How the composer elaborates these into such a contrasting abundance of melodies is by the principle of thematic transformation developed by Liszt.

In his program note for the first performance, Saint-Saëns wrote that ‘this symphony is divided into two parts. Nevertheless, it embraces in principle the four traditional movements, but the first is altered in its development to serve as the introduction to the Poco adagio, and the scherzo is connected by the same process to the finale.’ In other words, the four movements are grouped in pairs, with the main dramatic weight carried by the second of each.

The opening Adagio is deliberately vague in direction, containing almost inconsequential motifs that, as we have noted, become transformed in the course of the work. The static nature of the introduction enhances the release of energy in the Allegro moderato whose febrile theme begins with the same notes as the plainchant for the Dies irae. Saint-Saëns had, after all, been trained as a church musician and taught at the Ecole Niedermeyer, a school whose founder was an authority on how ‘modern harmony is submitted to the form of the ancient modes’. This fast music, however, seems to peter out, subsiding into the beautifully sombre and emotionally searching Poco adagio. It is here that the organ makes

an appearance, providing a velvet backdrop for the questing second theme of the movement.

Part II opens with a turbulent scherzo punctuated by timpani. It too builds in sound and fury but mysteriously winds down to a quiet, simple texture built on another chant-like motif. Only now does Saint-Saëns unleash the full power of the organ. A shattering C major chord opens onto a world of sparkling piano figurations, chorale melodies and an overpoweringly joyful final peroration.

Gordon Kerry © 2009

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE

Mr Marc Besen AC and the late Mrs Eva Besen AO

Gandel Foundation

The Gross Foundation

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio

Harold Mitchell Foundation

Lady Potter AC CMRI

Cybec Foundation

The Pratt Foundation

The Ullmer Family Foundation

Anonymous

ARTIST CHAIR BENEFACTORS

Cybec Assistant Conductor Chair

Carlo Antonioli Cybec Foundation

Concertmaster Dale Barltrop

David Li AM and Angela Li

Assistant Concertmaster

Tair Khisambeev Di Jameson OAM 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 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

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, Department of Education, Victoria, through the Strategic Partnerships Program

Melbourne Music Summit Department of Education, Victoria, through the Strategic Partnerships Program

MSO Regional Touring Angor Foundation, William & Lindsay Brodie Foundation

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 OAM and Frank Mercurio

David Li AM and Angela Li

Lady Primrose Potter AC CMRI

Anonymous (1)

VIRTUOSO PATRONS $50,000+

Margaret Jackson AC

Packer Family Foundation

The 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

Kim Williams AM

The Yulgilbar Foundation

Anonymous (2)

MAESTRO PATRONS $10,000+

Christine and Mark Armour

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson

Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM

Andrew Dudgeon AM

Dr Mary-Jane H Gething AO

Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind

David R Lloyd

Peter Lovell

Maestro Jaime Martín

Farrel and Wendy Meltzer

Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM

Opalgate Foundation

Ian and Jeannie Paterson

Christopher 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 (2)

PRINCIPAL PATRONS $5,000+

Mary Armour

John and Lorraine Bates

Barbara Bell in memory of Elsa Bell

Bodhi Education Fund

Julia and Jim Breen

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan

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

Jaan Enden

Equity Trustees

Bill Fleming

Susan Fry and Don Fry AO

Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser

Carrillo Gantner AC and Ziyin Gantner

Geelong Friends of the MSO

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

Dr Alastair Jackson AM

Paul and Amy Jasper

John and Diana Frew

Suzanne Kirkham

Hyon-Ju Newman

Dr Elizabeth A Lewis AM

Sherry Li

Lucas Family Foundation

Dr Jane Mackenzie

Gary McPherson

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher

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

Dr Rosemary Ayton and Professor Sam Ricketson AM

Andrew and Judy Rogers

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

Janet Whiting AM

Dawna Wright and Peter Riedel

Anonymous (2)

Supporters

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

Nigel and Sheena Broughton

Stuart Brown

Dr Lynda Campbell

Oliver Carton

Janet Chauvel and the late Dr Richard Chauvel

Breen Creighton and Elsbeth Hadenfeldt

Katherine Cusack

Leo de Lange

Sophie E Dougall in memory of Libby Harold

Dr Paul Nisselle AM

Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin

Kim and Robert Gearon

Janette Gill

Gillian Hund OAM and Michael Hund

R Goldberg and Family

Goldschlager Family Charitable Foundation

Colin Golvan AM KC and Dr Deborah Golvan

Jennifer Gorog

C M Gray

Ian Kennedy AM & Dr Sandra Hacker AO

Susan and Gary Hearst

Dr Keith Higgins and Dr Jane Joshi

Hartmut and Ruth Hofmann

Doug Hooley

Sandy Jenkins

Jenny Tatchell

John Jones

Ann Lahore

Mrs Qian Li

The Cuming Bequest

Carolynne Marks

Margaret and John Mason OAM

H E McKenzie

Dr Isabel McLean

Ian Merrylees

Michael Davies and Drina Staples

Dr Paul Nisselle AM

Alan and Dorothy Pattison

David and Nancy Price

Peter Priest

Ruth and Ralph Renard

Peter and Carolyn Rendit

James Ring

Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski

Christopher Menz and Peter Rose

Liliane Rusek and Alexander Ushakoff

Jeffrey Sher KC and Diana Sher OAM

Barry Spanger

Peter J Stirling

Caroline Stuart

Shirley and Jeffrey Zajac

Anonymous (4)

PLAYER PATRONS $1,000+

Dr Sally Adams

Anita and Graham Anderson

Margaret Astbury

Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society

Geoffrey and Vivienne Baker

Robbie Barker

Allen and Kathryn Bloom

Michael Bowles and Alma Gill

Joyce Bown

Professor Ian Brighthope

Miranda Brockman

Drs John D L Brookes and Lucy V Hanlon

Jannie Brown

Suzie Brown OAM and the late Harvey Brown

Christopher and Jill Buckley

Dr Robin Burns and Dr Roger Douglas

Ronald and Kate Burnstein

Kaye Cleary

John and Mandy Collins

Mrs Nola Daley

Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das

Caroline 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

Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher

Applebay Pty Ltd

David Frenkiel 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

Dawn Hales

Hilary Hall in memory of Wilma Collie

David Hardy

Tilda and the late Brian Haughney

Cathy Henry

Dr Jennifer Henry

Anthony and Karen Ho

Jenny and Peter Hordern

Katherine Horwood

Penelope Hughes

Jordan Janssen

Shyama Jayaswal

Basil and Rita Jenkins

Sue Johnston

John Kaufman

Angela Kayser

Drs Bruce and Natalie Kellett

Dr Anne Kennedy

Akira Kikkawa

Dr Richard Knafelc

Tim Knaggs

Professor David Knowles and Dr Anne McLachlan

Dr Jerry Koliha and Marlene Krelle

Jane Kunstler

Kerry Landman

Kathleen and Coran Lang

Bryan Lawrence

Lesley McMullin Foundation

Dr Jenny Lewis

Phil Lewis

Andrew Lockwood

Elizabeth H Loftus

Chris and Anna Long

Gabe Lopata

John MacLeod

Eleanor & Phillip Mancini

Marshall Segan in memory of

Berek Segan OBE and Marysia Segan

Aaron McConnell

Ian McDonald

Wayne McDonald and Kay Schroer

John and Rosemary McLeod

Don and Anne Meadows

Dr Eric Meadows

Professor Geoffrey Metz

Sylvia Miller

Ian Morrey and Geoffrey Minter

Anthony and Anna Morton

Dr Judith S Nimmo

Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James

Roger Parker and Ruth Parker

Susan Pelka

Ian Penboss

Kerryn Pratchett

Professor Charles Qin OAM and Kate Ritchie

Eli Raskin

Jan and Keith Richards

Dr Peter Rogers and Cathy Rogers OAM

Dr Ronald and Elizabeth Rosanove

Marie Rowland

Jan Ryan

Viorica Samson

Martin and Susan Shirley

P Shore

John E Smith

Dr Peter Strickland

Dr Joel Symons and Liora Symons

Russell Taylor and Tara Obeyesekere

Geoffrey Thomlinson

Andrew and Penny Torok

Christina Turner

Ann and Larry Turner

Leon and Sandra Velik

The Reverend Noel Whale

Edward & Paddy White

Nic and Ann Willcock

Robert and Diana Wilson

Richard Withers

Lorraine Woolley

Youth Music Foundation

Anonymous (13)

OVERTURE PATRONS $500+

Margaret Abbey PSM

Jane Allan and Mark Redmond

Mario M Anders

Jenny Anderson

Dr Judith Armstrong and Robyn Dalziel

Doris Au

Lyn Bailey

Mr Peter Batterham

Peter Berry and Amanda Quirk

Dr William Birch AM

Richard Bolitho

Dr Robert Brook

Elizabeth Brown

John Brownbill

Roger and Coll Buckle

Jungpin Chen

Charmaine Collins

Dr John Collins

Dr Sheryl Coughlin and Paul Coughlin

Judith Cowden in memory of violinist

Margaret Cowden

Gregory Crew

Dr Oliver Daly and Matilda Daly

Merrowyn Deacon

Carol des Cognets

Bruce Dudon

Melissa and Aran Fitzgerald

Brian Florence

Chris Freelance

Mary Gaidzkar

Simon Gaites

David and Geraldine Glenny

Hugo and Diane Goetze

Louise Gourlay OAM

Jan and the late Robert Green

Christine Grenda

George Hampel AM KC and Felicity Hampel AM SC

Geoff Hayes

William Holder

Rod Home

Gillian Horwood

Noelle Howell and Judy Clezy

Geoff and Denise Illing

Rob Jackson

Wendy Johnson

Irene Kearsey & Michael Ridley

Peter Kempen AM

John Keys

Belinda and Malcolm King

Dr Kim Langfield-Smith

Janet and Ross Lapworth

Pauline and David Lawton

Paschalina Leach

Sharon Li

Dr Susan Linton

The Podcast Reader

Morris and Helen Margolis

Sandra Masel in memory of Leigh Masel

Janice Mayfield

Gail McKay

Shirley A McKenzie

Dr Alan Meads and Sandra Boon

Marie Misiurak

Joan Mullumby

Marian Neumann

Ed Newbigin

Valerie Newman

Brendan O’Donnell

David Oppenheim

Jillian Pappas

Phil Parker

Sarah Patterson

The Hon Chris Pearce and Andrea Pearce

Adriana and Sienna Pesavento

William Ramirez

Geoffrey Ravenscroft

Dr Christopher Rees

Professor John Rickard

Michael Riordan and Geoff Bush

Carolyn Sanders

Dr Nora Scheinkestel

Julia Schlapp

Hon Jim Short and Jan Rothwell Short

Madeline Soloveychik

Dr Alex Starr

Dyan Stewart

Ruth Stringer

Tom Sykes

Reverend Angela Thomas

Mely Tjandra

Rosemary Warnock

Amanda Watson

Michael Whishaw

Deborah and Dr Kevin Whithear OAM

Charles and Jill Wright

Dr Susan Yell

Anonymous (17)

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 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

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

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

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

Margaret Jackson AC

Nicolas Fleury

Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio

Elina Fashki, 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

Anne Neil

Eleanor Mancini

Hyon-Ju Newman

Patrick Wong

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

Sir Andrew Davis CBE

Conductor Laureate

Hiroyuki Iwaki †

Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)

Warren Trevelyan-Jones

MSO Chorus Director

Siobhan Stagg

Soloist in Residence

Gondwana Voices

Ensemble in Residence

Christian Li

Young Artist in Association

Mary Finsterer

Composer in Residence

Melissa Douglas

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

Martin Foley

Lorraine Hook

Margaret Jackson AC

David Krasnostein AM

Gary McPherson

Farrel Meltzer

Edgar Myer

Glenn Sedgwick

Mary Waldron

Company Secretary

Oliver Carton

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

Education Partner

Major Partners

Orchestral Training

Partner

Government Partners

Venue Partner

Supporting Partners

Quest Southbank

Bows for Strings

Ernst & Young

Media and Broadcast Partners

Trusts and Foundations

The Sir Andrew and Lady Fairley Foundation, The Angior Family Foundation, The William and Lindsay Brodie Foundation, Flora & Frank Leith Trust, The Gwen and Edna Jones Foundation, The Ray and Joyce Uebergang Foundation, Perpetual Foundation – Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment, Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund