sydney youth orchestras
winter
2019 auditions
key dates
applications open Wednesday 1 August applications close Monday 17 September audition information session Saturday 22 September
new members wishing to receive information about our 2019 auditions should complete an expression of interest form at syo.com.au
audition period Saturday 13 October Sunday 4 November
summer school 2019
Monday 7 - Friday 11 January registrations open Monday 1 October registrations close Friday 7 December
to register visit syo.com.au
june
july
European Winter
23 Winter Showcase
29 Kids Café
Eugene Goossens Hall
Monte Sant’Angelo, North Sydney
Sydney Opera House
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18
27
European Winter
Way Out West Festival
Llewellyn Hall, Canberra
Casula Powerhouse
winter calendar
22
Kids Café Sydney Opera House
1 august
2019 Auditions Open Live at Level 28 Highlights page 18
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Bruckner Symphony No.8
Meet the Orchestra
Verbrugghen Hall
Leichhardt Town Hall
26 SYO Philharmonic Blessed Sacrament Church, Mosman
International Tour page 24
31 Kids Café Sydney Opera House
1 september
Meet the Orchestra Blue Mountains Theatre & Community Hub
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winter showcases
Join us as our students showcase the new skills they have learned in term two. These concerts are the perfect opportunity to come and see what SYO is all about.
winter showcase Saturday 23 June, 10.30am, 1 & 3.30pm Monte Sant’Angelo, North Sydney for tickets syo.com.au | 02 9251 2422 10.30am Symphonic Wind Orchestra James Pensini Conductor Western Sydney Youth Orchestra James Pensini Conductor Mozart Joanne Waples Conductor Grieg Rachel Pogson Conductor 1pm Sinfonia Brian Buggy OAM Conductor Corelli Dr Irina Andreeva Conductor
Photo: Michelle Chanique
Peter Seymour Orchestra John Ockwell Conductor
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3.30pm SYO Philharmonic Brian Buggy OAM Conductor Haydn Kathryn Crossing Conductor Vivaldi Heloise Meisel Conductor Brahms Peter Corkill Conductor
Sweeping and dramatic, contemplative and painful, this grand masterpiece of the orchestral repertoire is an immersive experience for performers and audiences alike. With a sonority referencing Wagner and a structure referencing Beethoven, this symphony is considered by many to be Bruckner’s crowning achievement. At the time of its premiere in 1892, composer and music critic Hugo Wolf wrote in the fashionable Wiener Salonblatt that this symphony was “the creation of a giant, surpassing in spiritual dimension and magnitude all the other symphonies of the master.”
the syo concert series
bruckner symphony no. 8
Saturday 11 August, 7pm Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music The Sydney Youth Orchestra conducted by Alexander Briger AO BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8
for tickets syo.com.au | 02 9251 2422
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about the music
anton bruckner
The catalyst for Bruckner’s success was his Seventh Symphony, which (despite Hanslick’s (1824-1896) view of it as ‘sick and perverted’) justly remains one of Bruckner’s most beloved Symphony No.8 in C minor works. Within two years of its premiere in (1890 version Cahis 16) Leipzig under Nikisch, the Seventh had been Allegro moderato performed in various cities in Germany, Scherzo (Allegro moderato) – the Netherlands, Austria and the United Trio (Solemnly) States. The credit for that work’s success Adagio (Solemnly slow, rests largely with the conductor Hermann but without dragging) Levi, remembered by music history as the Finale (Solemnly, not fast) first conductor entrusted with the score of Wagner’s Parsifal (despite his being Jewish). ‘Fame,’ Milton reminds us, ‘is the spur that Levi conducted the second performance of the clear spirit doth raise…to scorn delights the Seventh in Munich, where the critical and live laborious days.’ Fame came late in life to the clear-spirited Bruckner: the period response remained one of the great triumphs of Bruckner’s life. Not only did Levi go to of his maturity begins around 1864 when the 40-year-old composer had undergone a great lengths to organise performances self-imposed period of seven years’ creative of works like the Seventh and Bruckner’s mighty setting of the Te Deum; he also silence while he studied harmony and counterpoint under Simon Sechter. Nearly 20 took an active role in raising funds for the years were to pass before he was established publication of a number of Bruckner’s works. In gratitude, Bruckner referred to Levi ever as a major figure, but when he achieved fame it was on an international scale despite afterwards as ‘my artistic father’, and when the Eighth Symphony was finally completed the opposition of the fanatically antiafter some three years’ work, Bruckner Wagnerian critic Hanslick, who consistently sent it to the conductor with the words belittled Bruckner’s achievements. ‘Hallelujah! At long last the Eighth is finished, and my artistic father must be the first to know about it. May it find grace!’ _ 6
Sadly for Bruckner, the work failed to find grace with Levi. Despite the latter’s great love and respect for both the composer and his work, it appears that Levi simply could not make sense of the vast scale of the piece, at least in its original version. The rejection, delivered as tactfully as possible, was a crippling blow to Bruckner’s confidence, yet it provided the spur for him to completely (and in some cases radically) revise the score. Accordingly, where in many other instances the well-meant advice or editorial action of disciples has obscured Bruckner’s intentions, the version we now possess of the present work is, except at one or two questionable points, definitive. It is, on the whole, shorter than the first version, with recomposed sections and completely rethought structures, as in the new shape of the first movement. The scoring is also altered, with the redisposition of the woodwind from double to triple (though dispensing with the piccolo and contrabassoon of the first version) and the addition, for the first time in Bruckner, of the sound of the harp. This, incidentally, reminds us that Bruckner’s orchestral palette is usually much closer to Brahms’ than to Wagner’s.
winter 2018
When the work received its first performance under Richter in Vienna in 1892, its success was overwhelming.
In any case, when the work received its first performance under Richter in Vienna in 1892, its success was overwhelming and (with the exception of Hanslick’s view that it sounded like ‘nightmarish misery’) complete. There are numerous unfortunate misconceptions about Bruckner and his work, one of the more pervasive being that he wrote the same symphony nine times. To this remark the more charitable critic usually appends some remark likening the Bruckner symphony to the Gothic cathedral. There is, of course, no disputing the fact and nature of Bruckner’s religious faith, nor that each of his works is composed more or less to the greater glory of God. He was, after all, the product of a rural society in Metternich-era Austria. One can, furthermore, point to stylistic correspondences between his works, and even to quotations of one by another. The same can be said of Mahler, with whom Bruckner is so often, and erroneously, bracketed. The point is that in both cases the differences between works are considerable, and these differences contribute to the richness of experience contained in each composer’s output.
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about the music
The Eighth Symphony dramatises a journey from doubt to affirmation. The work inevitably explores musical metaphors of uncertainty, pain and ultimately reconciliation.
Levi’s inability to comprehend the Eighth must stem in part from its complete difference from its predecessor. The Seventh is a profoundly Apollonian work, with its nobly expansive themes and richly glowing orchestration: even the grief of the Adagio, occasioned by Wagner’s death, is typically balanced by the rising, flowing acceptance of the second theme. The Eighth Symphony, by contrast, dramatises a journey from doubt to affirmation. Its subject is therefore its own process, and in the course of its unfolding the work inevitably explores musical metaphors of uncertainty, pain and ultimately reconciliation, hitherto not found in Bruckner’s oeuvre. ‘The essence of Bruckner,’ according to the British composer Robert Simpson in a thoughtful monograph of that title, ‘lies in a patient searching for pacification…I mean [the music’s] tendency to remove, one by one, disrupting or distracting elements, to seem to uncover at length a last stratum of calm contemplation.’ Not surprisingly, Simpson regards the Eighth as the finest example of this type. Unease is established at the very outset of the first movement. As in the majority of Bruckner’s symphonies, a soft string tremolo provides the neutral backdrop for the thematic material, but something is not quite right: the strings’ note is an F, an unusual one with which to start a piece in C minor where C (the tonic) or G (the dominant) would be more likely. ‘F’ implies a descent into flat keys, an impression borne _ 8
out by the fragmentary, unstable theme which gradually emerges underneath, and which stresses such ‘foreign’, or chromatic notes as G flat and D flat. The tonic key is in fact never strongly established until the appearance of its dominant, G major, for the second theme, a calmly rising scale figure which uses Bruckner’s favourite rhythm: two beats followed by a slow triplet. Following his usual practice, Bruckner introduces a third theme, here a ‘question and answer’ motif in horns and woodwinds. The main body of the movement elaborates elements of this material in music which is often turbulent and which fulfils the foreboding of the opening. The coda or final section of the movement is one result of Bruckner’s revision, and is unique in his work. As if to underline the tragic implications of the movement it ends not on a full forte cadence, but, after a shattering climax, with a soft, exhausted and fragmentary music which Bruckner himself described as a ‘death-watch’. The Scherzo, which for the first time Bruckner places before the Adagio, fulfils something of its Classical function as a lightener of the mood, while, as Simpson remarks, revealing the energy behind the turbulence of the first movement. A sonata design, its principal key is C minor, but its contrasting episodes in major keys, and its relentless rhythm like a titanic laugh (or, to borrow Simpson’s phrase, ‘celestial engine’) give it a pervasive good humour. The Trio
winter 2018 section, in A flat, gives the first real glimpse of repose so far, underlined by the presence of the harp. The Adagio is considerably longer than either of its predecessors, and is without doubt one of the greatest single movements in Bruckner. ‘Solemnly slow, but without dragging’, its key is D flat, a half-step above the key of the whole work (and a relationship much loved by both Bruckner and Schubert, a composer with whom comparison is instructive). Also Schubertian is the fact that the first full tutti here is in A – effectively a third away from D flat. This moment, with its rising theme crowned by a distinctive quintuplet figure, is the central pillar of the movement’s structure. It is notable for seeming harmonically immobile at each appearance, until its last, at the work’s climax where one’s breath is taken away, as much by the sudden shift of harmony to a key a third away as by Bruckner’s uncharacteristic cymbal clash!
The rising figure is a common Bruckner gambit, but the sudden transformation, if not transubstantiation, is new, and suggests a real image for the ‘foretaste of the heavenly banquet’ which allows the music to reach a state of real serenity at the end of the movement. In the Finale, according to Simpson, ‘Bruckner finds the essence of his nature’. Only marginally shorter than the Adagio (with a tempo marked ‘Solemnly, not fast’) it reaches out through a variety of themes, keys and moods, through brass chorales and resonating silences, as if it were to embrace the world. Perhaps part of the resistance to Bruckner results from expecting his music to behave like ‘sonata form’ or other traditional aspects of the symphony. Here his practice is most perfectly actualised and vindicated: immensely slow-moving but inexorable tonal movement underpins the structure, as it does in Wagner. The Finale is not the eruption of energy, but the discovery of something elemental. With Olympian serenity, the music moves towards its close where Bruckner produced a wonderful image for cosmic unity: the last pages of the score contain superimposed thematic material from all four movements, harmonised in a radiant C major chord and then gathered into a mighty unison figure.
Before this, Bruckner explores some of the tragic landscapes hinted at in the first movement, but with deliberate and inexorable exorcism of the pain as the movement progresses. One of the most beautiful touches, however, makes its first appearance immediately after the first orchestral tutti. A brooding, low string Gordon Kerry © 2001 Reprinted by permission figure is answered by a rising scale figure of Symphony Services International that reaches a glowing apogee, only to be suddenly transformed into high string chords outlined by harp arpeggios.
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syo philharmonic concert series Friday 22 June, 7pm Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Centre, 700 Harris St Ultimo RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36 RAVEL Bolero SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2
european winter Brian Buggy OAM once again brings the music of Europe to life with SYO Philharmonic. Travel from Orthodox Russian cathedrals to the fight for an independent Finland, to the Paris Opera. Including all the great melodies from your favourite composers, this concert will showcase the talent of one of Australia’s best youth orchestras. for tickets syo.com.au | 02 9251 2422
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(1844-1908)
Russian Easter Festival Overture Rimsky-Korsakov composed his Russian Easter Festival Overture in July and August 1888 and conducted its first performance in December of that year. He had chosen a number of themes from the Obikhod, a collection of Russian Orthodox canticles, in order to create an overture which would contain ‘reminiscences of the ancient prophesy, of the Gospel story and a general picture of the Easter service with its ‘pagan merry-making’. Using various Biblical quotations, he put together a programme which opens with the words ‘Let God arise; let his enemies be scattered’. It goes on to tell how Mary Magdalene and others came with sweet spices to anoint the body of Christ, how they came back to the sepulchre later and found a heavy stone blocking its entrance, and how they found inside a man clothed in white who told them that he who was crucified had now risen from the dead. ‘Resurrexit’ sang the angels in heaven, to the sound of trumpets; ‘Resurrexit’ sang the priests in their temples to the sound of triumphant bells.
crowded with people from all walks of life and with several priests taking part’. It was exactly this kind of experience that the composer remembered and treasured from his own childhood in the town of Tikhvin.
about the music
nikolai rimsky korsakov
Peter Avis © 1990, reprinted courtesy of Hyperion Records Ltd
maurice ravel (1875-1937) Boléro Poor Ravel. He was joking when he described Boléro as a ‘masterpiece without any music in it’, so was very annoyed when the piece became one of his most popular works. In fact it came about when he was asked by the Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein to orchestrate parts of Albéniz’s Iberia for a ballet with a ‘Spanish’ character in 1928. Rubinstein had founded her own company in Paris that year.
It is a common and inaccurate cliché that the ‘best Spanish music was written by non-Spaniards’, but it does contain a grain of truth. Musicians from all over Europe were drawn to Spain – or to an idea of Spain – because of its relative exoticism and its musical traditions that include an estimated 1000 different dance forms. Rimsky-Korsakov was quite clear in his own French composers in particular, such as mind about the sort of people for whom he Bizet, Chabrier and Debussy, all wrote had composed this overture, although he ‘Spanish’ works. Unlike them, though, Ravel realized that there might not be many left was actually of Spanish – or, to be more with the required experience. ‘In order to appreciate my overture even to the slightest specific, Basque – heritage: his mother was Basque and his father Swiss, and though degree’, he wrote, ‘it is essential that the born in the Basque regions of south-western listener should have at least once in his life attended an Easter Morning service, and this France, Ravel spent his entire life in Paris. But Hispanic music was of great importance not in a domestic chapel but in a cathedral to him, and Ravel explores Spanish sounds _ 11
about the music
and manners especially in works like the opera L’heure espagnole (‘The Spanish Hour’, which, with its ticking-clock music might also have satisfied his Swiss side!), several pieces ‘en forme de habanera’, the Rapsodie espagnole and the late ‘Don Quixote’ songs.
of a factory. Nijinska, however, had the dancer in an empty café, dancing alone on a table as the room gradually fills with men overcome, as Michael J. Puri notes, ‘by their lust for her’ which they express through ever more frenetic dance.
In the case of the ballet envisaged by Ida Rubinstein, though, it turned out that the rights to Albéniz’s music were not available, so Ravel composed his Boléro, based on an 18th-century Spanish dance-form that is characterised by a moderate tempo and three beats to a bar. It has ‘no music’ in that, having established a two-bar rhythmic ostinato, with its characteristic upbeat triplet and sextuplet figures tapped out by the snared drum, Ravel introduces his simple theme, which he described as of the ‘usual Spanish-Arabian kind’. Where the rhythmic ostinato, however, is relatively terse, the C major melody is in fact very expansive, unfurling over 16 bars and often pausing on a sustained ‘G’ between its ornate arabesque motifs. It is reiterated over and over again, embodied in different orchestral colours each time, including a marvellous moment where it appears simultaneously in three keys moving in sinuous parallel. The work’s shifting palette of colour and inexorable rhythmic tread builds massive tension, which is released explosively in its final bars as the music suddenly reaches the new key of E major.
Gordon Kerry © 2007/12 Reprinted by permission of Symphony Services International
The music’s erotic charge of constraint and release mirrors the scenario for Ida Rubinstein’s ballet, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska (Nijinsky’s sister). Ravel had, by no means idly, suggested Boléro could accompany a story where passion is contrasted by the mechanised environment _ 12
jean sibelius (1865-1957)
Symphony No.2 in D, Op.43 Allegretto Tempo andante Vivacissimo – Allegro moderato Sibelius, like Brahms, came relatively late to writing symphonies, producing his First at the age of 33 and premiering it in 1899. Like Brahms, though, Sibelius had accrued considerable experience in writing for orchestra. The 1890s saw the composition of works like Kullervo, En saga, movements which later became the Karelia suite and the original version of the Lemminkäinen Suite, which depicts heroic tales from the Finnish mythological cycle, the Kalevala. What all these works have in common, of course, is their preoccupation with the myths and legends of Finland, which remained until 1917 a satellite of Imperial Russia. As a member of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland, Sibelius hadn’t given much thought to the traditional mythology of the Finns until his engagement in 1890 to Aino Järnefelt, whose family were very pro-Finnish. At the time he was studying in Vienna, where
winter 2018 the music of Anton Bruckner made a deep impact on him. While Sibelius’ enthusiasm for Bruckner cooled over the years, the influence of the Austrian composer – particularly his ability to structure large-scale symphonic movements – remained crucial.
and conflict before emerging in the final movement with one of Sibelius’ most stirring and memorable tunes.
In fact, Sibelius began writing music which ended up in the symphony while holidaying in Italy, leading some writers to comment Sibelius’ nationalist music was related to a on the more than usually warm textures growing political consciousness: by 1899 the that he draws from a modestly constituted Russians were actively discriminating against orchestra. From his correspondence we know Finns and suppressing their language. The he was contemplating at least two projects: work we know as Finlandia was banned by the a set of tone-poems called Festivals and a Russians and had to be performed under the single-movement work – inspired perhaps by politically inoffensive title of ‘Prelude’, though Richard Strauss, whom Sibelius had recently no Finn in the audience was unaware of the met – on the story of Don Juan. Out of the work’s significance. Sibelius’ enterprise in the sketches for these works, Sibelius fashioned 1890s, then, was to create a Finnish musical some of his most memorable gestures: the language out of the drama of its legends, the sinister opening of the second movement, typical modal patterns of its folksong (though with its soft pizzicato opening, horn calls he never quoted actual folk tunes) and the and bassoon solo, was originally to have rhythmic imprint of its verse, and to blend evoked the figure of Death arriving at Don these elements with the contemporary idioms Juan’s castle. of Bruckner, Liszt and Tchaikovsky. The work may be a document of national Sibelius always denied that the Second liberation, but it is also about the process Symphony, which appeared in 1902, had any of unifying and reconciling diverse, often extra-musical significance. The journey it fragmentary, musical gestures, so that enacts from darkness to light relates it to the expansive melody of the finale seems works of ‘absolute’ music such as certain the inevitable outcome of all that went Beethoven symphonies, but commentators before. Five years later, Sibelius would have – particularly in Finland – have often argued his much reported meeting with Mahler for its having an implicit program of national where he advocated a ‘severity of style and liberation. The audiences at its premiere the profound logic that creates an inner performances certainly thought so: the connection between all the motifs’. Mahler’s concerts were sold out, the audiences response, ‘No, the symphony must be like ecstatic and the composer acclaimed as a the world and embrace everything,’ missed national hero. the point. In their different ways, they were saying the same thing. Its first movement seems to evoke the pastoral landscapes of Finland, shot through Gordon Kerry © 2003 Reprinted by permission with a sense of incipient grief. During its of Symphony Services International course the symphony passes through often fragmentary stages of deep melancholy _ 13
way out west festival
This pumping program of creativity for young people (up to 15 years old) and their adult friends, will engage audiences in watching, doing and eating. The 2018 WOW Festival is a four day event that takes place in one of Australia’s most unique art centres, the Casula Powerhouse. The WOW Festival invites you to dive into the packed program of theatre, visual arts, dance, music, literature, food, yoga, workshops and FREE family events guaranteed to inspire joy, creativity and curiosity. Western Sydney Youth Orchestra plays Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on the bank of the Georges River. Nestled amongst a canopy of Australian natives, this acoustic chamber music performance in the intimate amphitheatre at Casula Powerhouse is a reimagining of Vivaldi’s journey through Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring, featuring commentary by WSYO musicians. The music evokes images of birds, insects and flowers in Spring. Winter is soft and delicate, while Summer is strong, vivacious and daring. Join the musicians as they invite you to listen to the beauty of this iconic repertoire against Casula Powerhouse’s stunning surrounds. Western Sydney Youth Orchestra Wednesday 18 July, 2018, 11am and 1pm Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre VIVALDI The Four Seasons
free admission with some ticketed events
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meet the orchestra Photo: Daniel Boud
The conductor stands on the podium and raises the baton, then suddenly – whish! – with a gesture the music begins! The flutes flutter sweetly, the violins trill and the trumpets blast bright and loud notes ‘buuh buuuh-bu-BUP!’ These unique performances are designed to ignite interest in music and instruments for children ages 2-8. Our conductor and players lead children through each section of the orchestra and give hands on demonstrations of how each instrument creates sound.
Peter Seymour Orchestra Sunday 19 August 9.30am, 10.30am & 11.30am Leichhardt Town Hall Western Sydney Youth Orchestra Saturday 1 September 9.30am, 10.30am & 11.30am Blue Mountains Theatre and Community Hub Western Sydney Youth Orchestra Saturday 1 September, 3pm Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan
These concerts have been composed with the classical music young children love. for tickets syo.com.au | 02 9251 2422 Adult $25 | Concession $15 Children $15 (under 2 free) _ 15
Photo: Nicolas Zonvi
syo special projects
daniel hope & the zurich chamber orchestra
Sunday 9 September 2018, 2pm Sydney Opera House ELGAR Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47 featuring students of The Sydney Youth Orchestra BECHARA EL-KHOURY Unfinished Journey for Violin and String Orchestra MENDELSSOHN Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor VIVALDI The Four Seasons
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From 7-9 September 2018, the very best senior string students from The Sydney Youth Orchestra will be selected to work exclusively with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and violin virtuoso Daniel Hope over 3 days at Sydney Opera House. Following this intensive masterclass program, four SYO young musicians will perform on the Concert Hall stage with ZCO as the quartet soloists in Edward Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro for Strings. for tickets sydneyoperahouse.com | 02 9250 7777
excellence fund Donations can be made online syo.com.au/giving phone 02 9251 2422 via cheque made payable to Sydney Youth Orchestras Inc. If your company would like to support one of our initiatives, please get in touch phone 02 9251 2422 email info@syo.com.au Sydney Youth Orchestras is a not-forprofit, tax deductible gift recipient and a registered charity with the Australian Charities Commission. Donations over $2 are tax deductible.
‘I doubt I would be where I am today if it were not for the Sydney Youth Orchestra.’ Richard Tognetti Artistic Director, Australian Chamber Orchestra
Excellence in music education is at the core of all SYO activities. The generous gifts to this fund enable us to provide access to world class conductors, professional performance opportunities, renowned Australian and International musicians, as well as supporting our future orchestral leaders through Principal Chair sponsorships. The Excellence Fund is critical to the success of all young orchestral musicians. A gift of $25,000
covers the venue costs for a Sydney Youth Orchestra Concert.
A gift of $7500
covers the cost of a masterclass or project with visiting international artists.
A gift of $4500
covers the cost of a Principal Chair Scholarship for an outstanding young musician dedicated to undertaking a career in the performing arts.
A gift of $5,000
covers the cost of an orchestra section masterclass with an international artist. _ 17
live at level
Guests were met with a kaleidoscope of sound and colour Thursday 7 June, as they filtered through the rooms of the Allen’s private contemporary Australian art collection. On the 28th level of the Deutsche Bank Building, overlooking Sydney Harbour, a night of delicious food and spectacular music was about to begin. Umberto Clerici, principal cellist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, was the curator behind the musical installations. The opportunity for us to work alongside Umberto Clerici in the weeks before the event was an enjoyable experience for all. The aim was for the audience to view each performance as they would pieces of art in an exhibition. Thus, each of our solo and chamber performances were paired with individual artworks in the Allen’s collection. Rehearsals took place two weeks prior to the event, with Umberto as Artistic Director. These rehearsals were engaging and fun, as we were encouraged to look beyond the notes and delve into the mystery and art behind each piece of music. For me, playing Elizabeth Brown’s modern piece Arcana and Jaques Ibert’s Piece alongside artist Tim Johnson’s eclectic style was a great reminder of the connection that exists between the art of sound and the art of colour. SYO would like to thank the following sponsors for making this fantastic event possible: major partners
event partners
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A mix of eight chamber groups and soloists opened the night, before guests moved to the main stage, with panoramic views of the harbour and Vivid Sydney. Here they were treated to a performance by a chamber orchestra, playing Greig’s Holberg Suite. Then the final piece, Giovanni Sollima’s Hell 1 (for strings and solo cello) was performed by Umberto Clerici and the musicians of The Sydney Youth Orchestra. After the lively Greig the lyrical Sollima was a beautiful ending to the night, captivating the audience until the very last note.
We are so thankful to Umberto and the SYO team for organising a successful and enjoyable night for all. Thank you also to the generosity of the sponsors and donors on the night, who not only were a wonderful audience, but pledged towards SYO’s Opportunity Fund. For those interested in contributing, the Opportunity Fund is still open for donations. JESSICA SCOTT Principal Flute, The Sydney Youth Orchestra
Photos: C’est la vie IMAGES
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our new chief artistic advisor We are pleased to welcome Christopher Lawrence to SYO as our Chief Artistic Advisor.
christopher lawrence Christopher Lawrence’s career spans more than 40 years of broadcasting in radio and television. He has written and produced dozens of radio documentaries (ranging from the love life of the French composer Hector Berlioz to a history of the songs and stories of Australian waterfront workers), presented an interview series for the Ovation channel, and conducted most of Australia’s capital city symphony orchestras. As an orchestral and opera recording producer he has been awarded an International Emmy for Performing Arts, three ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) Awards, a Churchill Fellowship, and the Editors’ Choice Award at the 1992 Cannes Classical Awards in France. Christopher worked extensively with the late Stuart Challender and the Sydney Symphony on a series of breakthrough recordings of Australian music. Christopher is best-known for his on-air work with ABC Classic FM. The three Swoon collection albums that evolved out of his Breakfast program in the 1990s broke sales records in the Australian classical music industry, each achieving Platinum sales status. Christopher has also worked extensively in arts administration as Executive Producer of Music for ABC TV and Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia. At present he is serving on the Board of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and is President of the Van Diemen’s Band Association. Christopher has written three best-selling books: Swooning - a classical music guide to life, love, lust and other follies; Hymns of the Forefathers, based on his documentary series about the history of hymns seen on ABC TV; and Swing Symphony. His latest book, Symphony of Seduction was published by Nero in Australia in February 2018. His work is sold throughout Australia, the US, UK, Hungary and China. In 2018 Christopher can be heard on ABC Classic FM in Weekend Breakfast, and in the music/travel program Passenger (Wednesdays, 3-4 pm).
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what brought you to SYO? The phone rang one day and a voice said ‘We would like you to chair Sydney Youth Orchestras’ - and I said, ‘The what?’ Then they said, “Do you want to think about it” and I said, “No! I want to say yes now!” It brought together so many important things in my life. I have loved and been involved in music all my life and at the time I was chair of the Board of Wenona, a private girls school, so I was involved in youth education.
board member spotlight
jan bowen AM chair
why is SYO important to you? The importance of music in life can’t be over-stated. To be involved in an organisation whose raison d’etre is ensuring the future of classical music is unbelievably satisfying. Young people often get a bad press these days – and SYO’s young people constantly demonstrate how impressive they are. To play in an orchestra you have to be dedicated, a team player and have a commitment to doing something as well as you possibly can – all qualities that make not only a good musician but a good citizen. It is important to me that whatever career path our musicians follow the SYO experience leads to contributing to society in general.
board Jan Bowen AM Chair Anthony Bell Deputy Chair Geraldine Doogue AO Jon North Pieter Oomens Malcolm Long AM Greg Levy Tim Downing Ursula Armstrong Wallis Cook-Graham
what is your favourite SYO memory? There are too many to mention. Mostly they are concerts where it has all come together, where the players, whatever age and stage they are at, get into the soul of the music and understand what the composer is trying to convey. I also love the energy and the freshness you get in a youth orchestra. No matter how well-known a piece of music is, this is the first time most of the players have ever played it. A specific memory was when one of our members came up to me after playing Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony and said, with tears in his eyes, “That was one of the greatest experiences of my life”. Unlike most professional performances of that piece of music, it was completely new to him – and to put it simply, he ‘got it’. _ 21
Jan Bowen AM, Chair, and the Board of Directors of Sydney Youth Orchestras invite you to save the date for The Chair’s Gala Dinner, an elegant evening of music in support of the SYO Excellence Fund. Members’ Dining Room, Union, University & Schools Club, 25 Bent Street, Sydney cost $200 per ticket includes a three-course meal and wines hosted by SYO’s Chief Artistic Advisor - Christopher Lawrence RSVP by booking your tickets by Friday 31 August, with dietary requirements at syo.com.au
syo.com.au
the chair’s gala dinner
save the date
Wednesday 12 September
sy o staff artistic staff symphonic orchestral program Alexander Briger AO Chief Conductor Christopher Lawrence Chief Artistic Advisor Brian Buggy OAM SYO Philharmonic James Pensini Symphonic Wind Orchestra & Western Sydney Youth Orchestra Orchestral Training Manager John Ockwell Peter Seymour Orchestra orchestral fundamentals program Brian Buggy OAM Heloise Meisel Rachel Pogson Joanne Waples
Peter Corkill Kathryn Crossing Dr Irina Andreeva
Katie Garman Operations Coordinator, Senior Orchestras
syo staff
Angus Davison Operations Coordinator, Orchestral Fundamentals Program
Mia Patoulios General Manager Susan Hart Finance Manager Daniel Placido Executive Administrator Alexandria Siegers Marketing and Digital Coordinator Marita Cranwell Events Coordinator Isabella Mazzarolo Business Development Coordinator Casey Green Orchestras and Operations Manager
Sergio Insuasti Operations Coordinator, Symphonic Orchestral Program Gail Pryor Archivist Sue Ellyard Volunteer Alan Hauserman Volunteer
our patron His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d), Governor of NSW
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international tour 2019 Wednesday 10 - Thursday 25 April 2019 United Kingdom
Geoffrey Paterson Conductor
Photo: Fotolly
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The Sydney Youth Orchestra’s UK tour in April 2019 will visit the musically rich cities of Cardiff, Manchester, London, Cambridge and Oxford. The tour will give students the opportunity to perform in world-renowned venues, work with leading classical musicians from orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and attend performances by world-class orchestras. The tour will also include audition seminars with the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal College of Music in London and include visits to important sites in each city. There will be a Family and Friends Tour organised to follow the SYO orchestra’s tour. The young British conductor Geoffrey Paterson is admired for his impressive grasp of detail, responsiveness to musicians, and his ability to shape and make music from the most complex scores, with natural authority. Highlights of 2017/18 include the world premiere of Tansy Davies’ new opera Cave with the Royal Opera House/London Sinfonietta, debuts with the Orchestre National de Lille, National Orchestra of Belgium and Basel Sinfonietta, and appearances with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Music Theatre Wales, and Red Note Ensemble.
winter 2018 orchestra and school tours tour highlights syo concerts venues BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff; Duke’s Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, London or LSO St Luke’s, London; King’s College Chapel, Cambridge or West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge; Oxford Town Hall. syo workshops & side-by-side playing BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Hallé Orchestra, Manchester; London Symphony Orchestra; Philharmonia Orchestra London; Oxford Philharmonic. syo audition seminars Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester; Royal College of Music, London.
attending rehearsals and concerts BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Hallé Orchestra, Manchester; Philharmonia Orchestra; London Symphony Orchestra; BBC Symphony Orchestra (depending on final concert schedules). sightseeing visit Cardiff Castle and Blenheim Place and explore the stunning and fascinating cities of London, Cambridge and Oxford. arts administration program Arts Administrators will have the unique opportunity to experience an international orchestral tour and will be given the chance to meet with leading figures in the UK music industry who are working in concert venues, for symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, music festivals and artist agencies. The program will accept a maximum of 8 participants.
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our donors
On behalf of the young musicians, staff and Board of Sydney Youth Orchestras we would like to acknowledge and thank the following individuals, companies and foundations who, through their generosity, are protecting the future of orchestral music in Australia. SYO EXCELLENCE FUND
Oboe The Key Foundation
$1,000 - $2,499
2018 Donors
Clarinet Gabrielle Kennard
Mike Thompson
Bassoon Susie & Martin Dickson AM
Joan Connery OAM
$2,500 - $4,999 Macquarie Group Foundation $1,000 - $2,499 Samantha Boston & Francis Been Patricia H Reid Endowment Pty Ltd $500 - $1,000 John & Irene Garran Leadership Syndicate Julianne Maxwell – Stanford Brown Charitable Foundation Current Principal Chair Sponsors The Sydney Youth Orchestra
Concertmaster Sydney Lyceum Club
Percussion Tim Samway Harp Madeleine Johnson
Patricia H Reid Endowment Pty Ltd Rajiv Gohil & Merrie Caruana Greeba Pritchard Annie & Julian Beaumont OAM John Lamble Foundation Alex & Paula Adamovich Greg Levy
2017 Donors
$500 - $999
$10,000 – $14,999
Leigh Garvan
Stephen Bell
Dr Norman Swan
Macquarie Group Foundation
Dr Andrew Black
$5,000 - $9,999 Pam & Ian McGaw
Philip Levy
$2,500 - $4,999
Anthony Browell
Cameron Williams
David Hornery Chris Brown George Palmer AM
Anthony Bell
Terence Kwan
Jan Bowen AM
$0 - $499
Malcolm Long AM
Phillip Cornwell
Cello John & Irene Garran
Wallis Graham
Mrs D.E Pidd
Ursula & Martin Armstrong
Dr William Brooks & Alasdair Beck
Flute The Hon Justice Jane Mathews AO _
French Horn The Arcus Foundation
Dr Michael & Penny Hunter
2nd Violin Ursula & Martin Armstrong
Double Bass Ian Hutchinson
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Trumpet The Alfonzetti Family
Jon North
Anonymous Sean Tait Lin Cui Anonymous
Dianne Wilson
Susie & Martin Dickson AM
$1,000 - $2,499
Eve Reddy
Trumpet The Alfonzetti Family
The Stanford Family
French Horn The Arcus Foundation
Anonymous
Trombone Shachihata Fellowship
Paul Uren
Brian Kim Ines Bell Ian Hill Kate & Jeremy Eccles Rosalind Baker Peggy Andrew-Kabilafkas Faye Parker Belinda Cooney Rod Cornish Sarah Danne
Percussion Tim Samway Harp Madeleine Johnson
Ezekiel Solomon AM Scott Bookmyer Malcolm and Helen Long Andrew Maple-Brown J. Matthew Fifield Andrew McKinnon Peter Warne Rosemary Quinn
Lisa George
SYO OPPORTUNITY FUND
Antony Green
2018 Donors
Paddy McCrudden
Mathew Marasigan Belinda McGuinness Campbell Vidgen 2017 Principal Chair Sponsors The Sydney Youth Orchestra
Concertmaster Sydney Lyceum Club 2nd Violin Ursula & Martin Armstrong Viola Shachihata Fellowship Cello John & Irene Garran Double Bass Ian Hutchinson Flute The Hon Justice Jane Mathews AO
$15,000 - $24,999 Daryl & Kate Dixon $10,000 - $14,999 Peter & Judy Howarth $5,000 - $9,999 Sarah Sherwood Richard Willis Kate Jackson Andrew Coates Wallis Graham Steve Bellotti Greatorex Foundation Jon & Suzanne North $2,500 - $4,999 Aluxor Industries Dr James Choi & Dr Anita Mardirossian Tom Story Tim Downing
Oboe The Key Foundation
Ari & Lisa Droga
Clarinet Gabrielle Kennard
Bunny Gardiner-Hill
Bassoon
James Graham Ursula & Martin Armstrong
Emma Dunch Sophie Thomas Watkins Taylor-Stone $500 - $999 Dr Rachael Kohn Richard Hunt Dawn Kidd Susie & Martin Dickson AM $0 - $499 The Still Family The Simkovic Family The Lee & Lim Family The Cheng & Li Family The Zhang Family The Sharpe Family Elden Loomes Nikolas Margerrison Grill’d Pty Ltd Myee Clohessy Patricia Karedis Neil & Gabrielle Thompson Emma Reid Alice Tang Patrick Thompson Anne Ryrie _ 27
Chris Bosch Sam & Alicia Elliot Karen Li Lisa Pan Lanne Tucker Niamh Armstrong Nicholas Hume Freya and Madeleine Patoulios Hoi Shan Fung Anonymous Sergio Insuasti Cecilia Rice Barbara Sullivan David Rogers Deborah Barber Jeffrey Temple Sue Fabian Mark Wilson James Bell Anonymous Selina Corkill Anonymous Tim Samway Steven Proud Anonymous Rory Lonergan Moritz von Hauenschild Thomas Kim Tony Lonn Isabel Cropley David Tudehope Phillip Cornwell Rosalind Graham Michael Ryan Scott McCoy John & Irene Garran Katherine Garaty Christopher Khan Richard Hawkins Deborah Ricci _ 28
Edward Owen Alex Siegers John Dean Miriam Greenbaum Mavis Hutton 2017 Donors $15,000-24,999 Daryl & Kate Dixon $5,000 - $9,999 Ursula & Martin Armstrong Paul O’Brien The Greatorex Foundation
Guy Foster Kevin McCann Peter Arthur Peter & Des Hunter Richard O’Brien Suzanne Ho The Howarth Foundation Tim Downing Suzanne & Anthony Maple-Brown The Rands Family Robert Mitchell $500 - $999
Christine Bishop
Annie & Julian Beaumont OAM
$2,500 - $4,999
Beaumoss Pty. Limited
Richard Willis Pieter & Liz Oomens
Colleen & Michael Chesterman
Peter Weiss Foundation
Diana Lysaght
$1,000 - $2,499 Rajiv Gohil & Merrie Caruana Macquarie Group Foundation Dr Robyn Smiles & John Colvin Pam & Ian McGaw Sarah Sherwood Catherine & Ewen Crouch AM Helen Trinca Alec Leopold Anna Cerneaz Anthony Gregg & Deanne Whittleston Antoinette Albert Christopher Loong Dr Melinda Muth Fran & David Miller Geoff Hogbin Graham Tribe
Ian McGill John Carolan Mr Neil Thompson Neil Burns Paul Franklin Peta Fenton Roger Hudson Sandra Forbes The Hon Justice Michael B.J Lee The Stanford Family Anonymous Will Hopkins AICD on Behalf of Melinda Muth $0 - $499 Belinda & Sean Cooney Bronwyn Goodwin Greg Levy Heechung Sung Kristen Jung
Shemara Wikramanayake
The Ricci-Michelsen Family
Peter & Des Hunter
Alan Hauserman & Janet Nash
In Honour of Ursula & Martin Armstrong
Josh Heller & Kylie Robb
Susan Sukkar
The Gunaratnam Family
Rosalind Baker
The Yoo Family
Catherine Cameron
Andre Kolodochka
Christine Hollyoak
The Lee Family
Dr William Brooks & Alasdair Beck
Michael Lee
Leigh Garvan Peter Simon Barraket Stephen Williams Kate & Jeremy Eccles Nikolas Margerrison Enid Eyles Evelyn Lee Justin Yoon
Anna McFarlane Crispin Rice Dan Divina Jonathan Vardouniotis The Tredinnick Family The Chang Walker Family The Harrop Family The Lee Family The Loomes Family Viviane Rubinstein Khyati Purohit Leorenzo Santos Max Cole Anonymous Peter Davies Kun Wang
Robert Mitchell
Celia Bischoff
$15,000 - $24,999 Susie & Martin Dickson AM
$5,000 - $9,999
The Wang Family
Barbara Dowe
$25,000+ Anonymous
Ro Wehby
The Booth Family
Anthony & Annie Whealy
2016-18 Donors
Kirri Stone
The Seeto Family
$500 - $999 Anonymous
$0 - $499 Alan Hauserman & Janet Nash
SYO ENTERPRISE FUND
$10,000 – $14,999 Anonymous
The Chipman Family
Anonymous
Sandra Plowman The Arcus Foundation Peter Weiss Foundation $2,500 - $4,999
Jane & Dennis Doyle J.D & L.M Elderman John Warburton Rosalind Baker Chantal Hobson Diana Polkinghorne Elizabeth Gole Ian Kennedy Prof Garth Nicholson The Hansen Family on Behalf of James Pensini
Be100 Property Group
Kia Mackun
Mrs Penelope & Dr Michael Hunter
Terry Stapleton Louise Hayes
Kate & Daryl Dixon
Joan Geary
$1,000 - $2,499
Jenny Burgess
Anonymous Sarah Sherwood
Gaynor Kaad June Buckingham
Annalise Thomas Geoff Hogbin Kay Vernon Michael Chesterman Phillip Isaacs Ron & Suellen Enestrom The Maybanke Fund Angela & Marco Belgiorno-Zegna AM
If you would like to discuss how a gift could assist young musicians or should you wish to donate please get in touch phone 02 9251 2422 email info@syo.com.au or visit syo.com.au
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musician spotlight
‘Being the recipient of a Principal Chair Scholarship allows me to focus on my passion and education.’
alfie carslake principal trumpet
my goals in music, working hard and having more performance opportunities to play great repertoire, which I really value. what is your favourite piece of music? Tough one... I find it hard to pick favourites, but I might have to go with the 2nd movement, Adagio, of Bach’s Concerto after Alessandro Marcello in D minor BWV 974.
why do you love the trumpet? For me it always comes back to the sound. There is just something so versatile, so expressive and so recognisable about it, and I think the capabilities of the trumpet are unlike any other instrument in the orchestra. It can be incredibly lyrical and warm yet can soar over an orchestra and shine on top of the texture – to me it’s just so special. I think the versatility of the trumpet in different styles is also a huge appeal to me. I listened to and played a lot of different music growing up and the trumpet can always have an integral part to play in any setting. The trumpet allowed me to develop a wider set of musical skills and has really shaped the musician I am today. what does a Principal Chair Scholarship mean to you? what does it help you achieve? Being the recipient of a Principal Chair Scholarship allows me to focus on my passion and education. I am able to achieve _ 30
what is your best SYO memory or moment? It would have to be performing Mahler’s 5th Symphony with Fabian Russell at the Sydney Town Hall. To perform such an incredible piece (another of my favourites) in such a historical venue and surrounded by my friends and fellow peers was something I’ll never forget! Having my family there to see me play also meant a great deal. what are you looking forward to in the future? I’m looking forward to travelling overseas with my brass quintet Wayward Brass, where we will be attending Aspen Musical Festival and the Stockholm Chamber Brass Academy. We will be working alongside the American Brass Quintet and the Stockholm Chamber Brass, as well as a small number of other international brass groups to develop our chamber music and performance skills. I’m really excited to attend programs with such an intense focus on chamber music and know I will learn a huge deal. Further into the future I’m looking forward to doing some study overseas, as well as crunching my teeth into more repertoire!
syo alumni spotlight
clare rowe
cello (1994-1997)
Clare grew up in North Turramurra where she began playing the cello as a Suzuki student at the age of eight. She went on to study with Georg Pedersen in Sydney, completing a BMus degree with first class honours at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1999, and then, a Diploma in Professional Performance, PgDip and MMus with distinction with Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2003. Clare is the winner of the City of Sydney Cello Award, the Sydney Youth Orchestra Association Cello Competition and the 2003 Royal Overseas League Music Competition’s Tait Memorial Trust Prize. Upon completion of her studies at the RNCM, Clare was awarded the Diane Bolton Prize for Cello. While a student in Sydney, Clare played in the AYO & led the SYO cello section. She really enjoyed all of her youth orchestra experiences, especially the tours with SYO, AYO, & the Sydney Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra.
Clare has performed widely as a chamber and orchestral musician in both Australia and the UK. Her string quartet was the Quartet in Residence at Tattenhall Music Society, in Cheshire, for four years. She has worked as a cellist with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, London Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia, Northern Ballet Orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, and the Hallé Orchestra, and prior to moving to the UK, had a position in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed and toured as a member of the Australian World Orchestra. Clare is now a member of the cello section of the Hallé Orchestra, in Manchester, and really enjoys playing fantastic concerts with them, touring different parts of the world and laughing at her colleagues during the occasional fancy dress concerts. She teaches cello at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior School.
‘Playing together with other musicians has always been so enjoyable for me... It is totally exhilarating to work together with other people in rehearsing and performing... it builds friendships and memories that last a lifetime.’ _ 31
sponsor spotlight
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Making quality value for money wine _ 32
omplementing Nick’s tasting skills, C Mike Farmilo is the BackVintage winemaker. Mike is the Senior Group Red Wine maker for Penfolds / Southcorp. Julian has 50 tonnes of grapes sitting in barrels and tanks undergoing maturation scattered around Australia! BackVintage has one of the most experienced, independent & capable winemaking teams in Australia. When you go online, don’t let BackVintage pricing fool you in terms of quality – BackVintage buys and sells directly. You won’t find a bottle of BackVintage in a bottle shop, only on the internet. Everything is sold to the consumer at a wholesale price. There are no middlemen. backvintage.com.au
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government partners
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digital education partner
corporate music partners
international tour partner
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syo state partners
Greatorex Foundation western sydney youth orchestra partners
supporting partners
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On Tuesday October 9, hundreds of young SYO musicians and alumni will take over the city of Sydney. Between 8.30am and 6pm these musicians will be given exclusive access to perform for lucky passersby at some of Sydney’s most iconic locations including Martin Place, itt Street Mall, Circular Quay, Central Station, as well as Centenary Square in the heart of Parramatta’s CBD.
All money raised goes towards the SYO Enterprise Fund, which supports SYO’s critical business infrastructure, expands our music library, and helps to acquire orchestral instruments. We are calling on SYO Alumni to join us in this fundraising event. If you are interested please register at syo.com.au Be sure to look out for SYO musicians on this day where youth orchestral music takes over our city.
support the sound of the future
syo.com.au/supporting-syo | 02 9251 2422 to donate
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