HEAR IT, FEEL IT Music, emotion and the brain

MEET THE MUSIC

Wednesday 20 August 2014 Thursday 21 August 2014

TEA & SYMPHONY

Friday 22 August 2014

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concert diary

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Hear it, Feel itMOZART Symphony No.25: 1st movement LIGETI Piano Concerto^ SCRIABIN The Poem of Ecstasy^

David Robertson conductor Nicolas Hodges piano

Meet the Music

Wed 20 Aug 6.30pm Thu 21 Aug 6.30pm^Tea & Symphony

Fri 22 Aug 11am complimentary morning tea from 10am

Pre-concert talk by Scott Davie (Wed, Thu only)

Symphonic InspirationBRAHMS Symphony No.3 LALO Symphonie espagnole for

violin and orchestraJANÁČEK Sinfonietta

David Robertson conductor Vadim Repin violin

Emirates Metro Series

Fri 29 Aug 8pmGreat Classics – Presented by APT Sat 30 Aug 2pmMondays @ 7 – Presented by APT

Mon 1 Sep 7pm

Pre-concert talk by David Garrett

Discover Brahms’s Haydn VariationsBRAHMS Variations on a Theme of Haydn

Richard Gill conductor

Tenix Discovery

Tue 2 Sep 6.30pm City Recital Hall, Angel Place

Stephen Hough in RecitalDEBUSSY La plus que lente DEBUSSY Estampes CHOPIN Ballades DEBUSSY Children’s Corner DEBUSSY L’Isle joyeuse

Stephen Hough piano

International Pianists in Recital Presented by Theme & Variations

Mon 15 Sep 7pm City Recital Hall, Angel Place

Pre-concert talk by Robert Curry

Stephen Hough plays DvorákDVOŘÁK Piano Concerto BRUCKNER Symphony No.6

Hans Graf conductor Stephen Hough piano

APT Master Series Presented by Vienna Tourist Board

Wed 17 Sep 8pm Fri 19 Sep 8pm Sat 20 Sep 8pm

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GURRUMULGurrumul’s most popular songs and music from his new album, played with the SSO and illuminated by images from his life on a giant screen. With special guest Dewayne Everettsmith.

Fri 5 Sep 8pm Sat 6 Sep 8pm

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MEET THE MUSIC

WEDNESDAY 20 AUGUST, 6.30PM

THURSDAY 21 AUGUST, 6.30PM

TEA & SYMPHONY

FRIDAY 22 AUGUST, 11AM

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE CONCERT HALL

HEAR IT, FEEL ITDavid Robertson conductor Janet Webb flute Nicolas Hodges piano

This program will be presented by David Robertson and will include performances of…

PIERRE BOULEZ (born 1925) Originel – from ‘…explosante-fixe…’

Janet Webb, flute

GYÖRGY LIGETI (1923–2006) Piano Concerto

Vivace molto ritmico e preciso – Lento e deserto Vivace cantabile Allegro risoluto, molto ritmico – Presto luminoso. Fluido, costante, sempre molto ritmico

Nicolas Hodges, piano

INTERVAL

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) Movement from Symphony No.25 in G minor, K183

I. Allegro con brio

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN (1872–1915) Le Poème de l’extase (The Poem of Ecstasy), Op.54

Friday’s Tea & Symphony concert will include the Ligeti and Scriabin only, performed without interval.

Wednesday night’s performance will be recorded by ABC Classic FM for broadcast on Saturday 23 August at 8pm.

Pre-concert talk by Scott Davie in the Northern Foyer on Wednesday and Thursday at 5.45pm Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios for speaker biographies.

Estimated durations: 7 minutes (Boulez), 23 minutes (Ligeti), 20-minute interval, 10 minutes (Mozart), 20 minutes (Scriabin)

The concert will conclude at approximately 8.35pm (Wed, Thu), 12.05pm (Fri).

2014 concert season

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FAMILIAR MUSIC

The top image on this page was made from data that was collected while David Robertson was listening to the Panic movement of Doctor Atomic Symphony by John Adams, a work that Robertson knows very well!

The bottom image was made while he was listening to synthesized music.

In both cases, the activity in the auditory cortex increased. What is particularly interesting, say the scientists who conducted this study, is the dissociation in what they call the default mode network (DMN) activity

during the two listening sessions. When Robertson was listening to synthesized music, the activity in the DMN decreased. This was not surprising, since DMN activity often decreases in response to performing a task.

However, during Doctor Atomic Symphony, the activity in the DMN actually increased. It’s believed this may have something to do with Robertson’s deep familiarity with the music, an idea that is consistent with

the DMN’s role in memory.

Images prepared by Tyler Blazey, Anish Mitra and Marcus Raichle of the Neuroimaging Laboratories, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in St Louis.

UNFAMILIAR MUSIC

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INTRODUCTION

Turn to page 27 to read Bravo! – musician profiles, articles and news from the orchestra. There are nine issues through the year, also available at sydneysymphony.com/bravo

PLEASE SHAREPrograms grow on trees – help us be environmentally responsible and keep ticket prices down by sharing your program with your companion.

READ IN ADVANCEYou can also read SSO program books on your computer or mobile device by visiting our online program library in the week leading up to the concert: sydneysymphony.com/program_library

Hear It, Feel It: Music, Emotion and the Brain

The true introduction to this concert will be given by David Robertson, as you will see and hear. The images on the facing page give a clue as to what has been occupying his thoughts as he planned the program. So what to say here that won’t steal his thunder?

First, something about the title – Hear It, Feel It, or ‘HI-FI’ as Robertson jokingly dubbed it in correspondence. For a few years during Edo de Waart’s tenure as chief, ‘Hear It, Feel It’ was the marketing slogan for the SSO. It was a reminder that concert-going wasn’t just a social or intellectual exercise, but that hearing music means feeling something. It may not be our slogan anymore, but the truth of it still holds. It’s impossible to listen to music – especially music in the concert hall – and not be moved. Exactly why and how that happens is the kind of mystery that intrigues music-lovers and scientists alike.

The four main works in this week’s evening performances have each been chosen to help make a point. But they are also interesting works in their own right. The tiny Boulez piece, Originel, has a visual and aural elegance. The stormy movement from Mozart’s ‘Little G Minor’ Symphony shows an uncharacteristic side of the composer. Like the Boulez, Ligeti’s Piano Concerto might make you reconsider how you define an ‘orchestra’ but its deceptively light orchestration still offers rich effects for the ears and the mind. Scriabin gives us sumptuous and soaring music that truly lives up to its name. He provided it with a highly charged 300-line poem that is equally ecstatic, but he also expressed the hope that conductors (and by extension listeners) would ‘approach it first as pure music’.

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

KeynotesBOULEZ

Born Montbrison, France, 1925

Pierre Boulez is a composer and conductor, but also a supremely influential figure in musical culture. After a brief study of mathematics he decided to pursue music and moved to Paris where he entered Olivier Messiaen’s class at the Paris Conservatory. Messiaen noted their first meeting in his diary: ‘Likes modern music’, in what Alex Ross suggests is the understatement of the century.

By 1945 Boulez was also studying counterpoint with Andrée Vaurabourg-Honegger and 12-tone procedures with René Leibowitz. He became the archetypal angry young man – ‘Schoenberg is dead’, attached to a biting obituary, is probably his most famous headline. His music was regarded as a conscious act of rebellion against not only Schoenberg and Stravinsky but also his teacher, Messiaen.

He himself became an influential teacher, beginning in Darmstadt in the 1950s. From the 1960s he began conducting more and more frequently, and during the 1970s he was principal conductor of both the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. In 1976 he founded Ensemble InterContemporain and in 1977 IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) under the auspices of the French government. By the 1980s his career as a conductor had taken off, his repertoire was expanding to include Bruckner and Mahler as well as Wagner, and he was an established figure. ‘There has probably been less to rebel against,’ writes his publisher, ‘and Boulez has mellowed.’

Pierre Boulez Originel – from ‘…explosante-fixe…’ (1991–93)

Janet Webb flute

In 1945 a group of young composers booed, shouted, banged hammers and otherwise disrupted a Stravinsky concert. The ringleader was Pierre Boulez. A quarter of a century later, in 1971, Boulez accepted a commission from Tempo magazine to contribute to a set of ‘Canons and Epitaphs’ commemorating Stravinsky’s death. (The illustrious company included Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, Darius Milhaud, Luciano Berio, Peter Maxwell Davies, Alfred Schnittke and Harrison Birtwhistle.)

Boulez’s contribution was an elaborately aleatoric piece, notated in seven discrete segments on the page: an Originel and six Transitoires. It was accompanied by several pages of do- it-yourself performance instructions! The music was performed the following year in London and then withdrawn, to become another of Boulez’s notorious shape-shifting works in progress, emerging initially as an expanded and more complex chamber work under the same title: …explosante-fixe….

But the journey of this music did not stop there. Boulez had included electronics in this first revision but, he says, the technology of the 1970s was too difficult to manipulate rapidly. He was also making very practical discoveries about what worked musically. ‘If you have an interaction between two instruments, you cannot have the two textures too complex,’ he said in 2000. ‘One can be complex…and the other has to be quite simple. Two complex parts together creates encounters of such complexity that the result is terribly aleatoric.’

He decided to take one of the parts and make a standalone work from it, featuring the first flute in Ensemble InterContemporain – a young Canadian, Lawrence Beauregard, who was eager to experiment. But Beauregard died of cancer in 1985, just 28 years old, and the work became Mémoriale, for a concert given in his memory.

Originel, completed in 1993, can be thought of as the ‘orchestral’ version of Mémoriale. The 1985 work is scored for solo flute, two horns and six solo strings, each heavily muted with a ‘sourdine lourde’, or rubber practice mute. Originel expands the ensemble. The soloist is flanked, either side of the stage, by two orchestral flutes; there are parts for the other winds and brass; and Boulez adds a second cello part and a double bass.

Alternatively, Originel can be thought of as the independent final section of …explosante-fixe…, which, in its fourth and current version, shares the larger orchestration that you hear in this concert and which was premiered by Ensemble InterContemporain and David Robertson in 1993.

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STRAVINSKY’S FIREBIRD“...here the colours of this fantastical dream remained to linger in the imagination.” Sydney Morning Herald, 2008 (concert review)

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Behind the title

The title ‘…explosante-fixe…’ comes from the concluding line of Chapter 1 of André Breton’s L’amour fou (Insane Love, 1937): ‘La beauté convulsive sera érotique-voilée, explosante-fixe, magique-circonstancielle, ou ne sera pas.’ (Convulsive beauty will be erotic-veiled, exploding-fixed, magical-circumstantial, or it will not be at all.)

‘Originel’ comes from the label Boulez gave to the central idea of the first …explosante-fixe…. That idea comprised a seven-note pitch set, beginning with the note E flat, which in German note-naming is Es (or ‘S’ for Stravinsky). But this is just a musical cryptogram, says Boulez, that has no musical significance, only a personal meaning.

Originel is short (six or seven minutes) but full of rich and beautiful colours. The sound world is delicate and often literally muted. In the case of the strings, the practice mutes create an almost stifled quality and often they are playing sul tasto, with the bow over the fingerboard, for an otherworldly effect. The two orchestral flutes function as ‘shadows’ of the solo part, and the elegant symmetry of the music is mirrored by the arrangement of the musicians on the stage.

Listen for the almost choral-like refrain that homes in on a particular note, E flat. And listen for the mosaic-like piecing together of ideas in which contrasting textures are placed end to end without transitions in what Jonathan Goldman describes as ‘a musical equivalent of the cinematic jump-cut’.

The contrasts themselves can be heard in the flute sound, which veers between a ‘clean’ or straight sound and more blurred effects through the use of trills and flutter-tonguing. Also crucial to the form of Originel is the opposition between groups of fast notes (often lightning quick) and long held notes, and the distinct shifts of tempo that coincide with changes of texture.

The overall shape follows a progression from generally sustained sounds to more intense music characterised by urgent flutter-tonguing from the flute and incisive string gestures, followed by a return to calm and a measured sequence of chords coloured by shimmering trills and tremolos.

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA © 2014

Originel calls for solo flute, two orchestral flutes, two oboes (one doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones and tuba; and string parts for three violins, two violas, two cellos and double bass. (The solo flute part can include live electronics but these are optional, the composer describing them as ‘just an echo of the instrumental part’.)

This is the SSO’s first performance of Originel. Our most recent performance of orchestral music by Boulez was in the 2003 Contemporary Music Festival when we played Rituel – In Memoriam Bruno Maderna, conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw.

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György Ligeti Piano ConcertoVivace molto ritmico e preciso – Lento e deserto Vivace cantabile Allegro risoluto, molto ritmico – Presto luminoso. Fluido, costante, sempre molto ritmico

Nicolas Hodges piano

György Ligeti was born in the 1920s, just as Arnold Schoenberg was inventing a completely new approach to music. He died just eight years ago, having witnessed enormous changes in musical style during the course of the 20th century. His own style also went through radical changes.

First, as a young man working in communist Hungary, he followed the folk-music inspired influences of Bartók. After fleeing to Germany in 1956 he had access to the music of Stockhausen and Boulez and discovered electronic music. Through the 1960s he developed his signature technique, which he called ‘micropolyphony’: dense and complicated textures, intense colours, subtly shifting pulse and harmonies, and fine gradations of pitch. In 1968 Stanley Kubrick used several of his pieces in the film 2001 – A Space Odyssey and his name became much more widely known.

In the 1970s Ligeti shifted from the complexity of micropolyphony to a simpler, more transparent and more tonal language. This went against prevailing trends, but Ligeti’s response was: ‘I no longer listen to rules on what is to be regarded as modern and what as old-fashioned.’

Ligeti had an independent spirit; he also had a sense of humour. Sometimes his wit was bleak (his opera Le Grand Macabre), sometimes tongue-in-cheek, as in his Symphonic Poem for 100 Metronomes. Later on, Ligeti’s taste for complexity emerged in rhythmic techniques that were influenced by the intricacies of African drumming as well as a fascination with the beauties of fractal mathematics and Conlon Nancarrow’s famous studies for player piano. His rhythmic style also harked back to the influence of Hungarian folk music, suggesting he’d come full circle.

‘With the Piano Concerto I offer my artistic credo: my independence both from the criteria of the traditional avant-garde and from those of fashionable post-modernism.’

Ligeti wrote his Piano Concerto between 1985 and 1988, with, by all accounts, some difficulty. Ligeti’s music in the 1980s seems on the surface to move away from the opulent yet static textural works such as Atmosphères or Lontano, which date from the 1960s, and to refine the elaborate ‘polyrhythmic’

Keynotes

LIGETI

Born Central Romania, 1923 Died Vienna, 2006

During the 20th century, musical style changed more rapidly than ever before. György Ligeti’s journey as a composer mirrored that diversity and change: his musical language embraced the simplicity of folk song, the complexity of avant-garde techniques, and much in between. His prominence jumped in 1968 when Stanley Kubrick used several of his pieces in the film 2001 – A Space Odyssey, including Atmosphères and the luminous Lux æterna for 16 singers. Ligeti’s music changed abruptly in 1982, however, and following a hiatus of five years, he returned to composition energised by folk, early, and non-Western music.

PIANO CONCERTO

Ligeti’s Piano Concerto dates from the late 1980s, taking its final form as a work in five movements in 1988. Of these, the first two movements are played without a pause (lively music segueing into a slow and an almost desolate sound world), as are the last two movements (fast and complex music becoming even faster and more brilliant). The remaining central movement creates an intricate web of rhythms fuelled by the influence of African music.

The orchestra is surprisingly small for a piano concerto: there are fewer than 20 musicians on the stage and the string sections are reduced to just one player per part – effectively a quintet. Listen for the sound of the slide whistle and an ocarina!

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technique explored during the early 1970s in the Double Concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra. Ligeti scholar Paul Griffiths notes that in the mid-1970s the composer became fascinated with fractal mathematics, with the Player Piano Studies of Conlon Nancarrow ‘and perhaps a returning approach to Bartók, the model of Ligeti’s youth’. Richard Toop elaborates on this in his biography of the composer, adding that Ligeti became interested in certain traditional African music and in the metrically sophisticated popular music of the Caribbean at this time.

A three-movement version of the piano concerto was premiered in 1986, but feeling that the work lacked balance, Ligeti added the two final movements before it was premiered in its final form in 1988.

The knockabout quality of the first movement (Lively, very rhythmic and precise) immediately signals Ligeti’s delight in the metrical possibilities of Afro-Caribbean music. Here, as in the third and fifth movements, the piano plays constantly – not unlike the player piano in Nancarrow’s music – and the music represents an unresolved tension between simple and compound metre. In the second movement (very slow and ‘uninhabited’) the ‘fixed’ pitch and timbre of the solo instrument stand in high relief against the ensemble’s unstable texture, created by the use of instruments in awkward parts of their tessitura and by the trademark inclusion of ocarina and slide whistle.

The third movement (lively and singing) takes its cue from a kind of east African xylophone music, in which, as Ligeti says, ‘we hear a melody that is not actually played’ but which appears as the result of a tight web of rhythmic patterns.

The intricate and energetic fourth movement (fast, resolute, very rhythmic) reflects Ligeti’s interest in fractals, whereby certain basic patterns can be found at various structural levels. This is followed by a short, brilliant finale (as fast as possible, luminous, fluid, constant, always very rhythmic). In this movement, as Toop puts it, the four preceding movements are summarised, but ‘in a way that negates the grand finale mentality’.

ADAPTED FROM NOTES BY YVONNE FRINDLE © 2008

AND SYMPHONY AUSTRALIA © 2003

Ligeti’s Piano Concerto calls for a small orchestra of flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, clarinet (doubling alto ocarina in G) and bassoon; horn, trumpet and trombone (no tuba); two percussionists and single strings (two violins, viola, cello and double bass).

The Australian premiere of the Ligeti Piano Concerto was given by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in 1994, with composer Roger Smalley conducting and soloist Rolf Hind. The SSO first performed it in our 2003 Contemporary Music Festival in Verbrugghen Hall. Reinbert de Leeuw was the conductor and Joanna MacGregor the soloist. This is our first performance of the concerto since then.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No.25 in G minor, K183

I. Allegro con brio

The first movement of this symphony plays under the titles of the film version of Amadeus. In one sense this is an inspired choice: the film is about to show the final rebellion of the young Mozart against what he called ‘Salzburg Slavery’, provincial musical employment in Salzburg, and that rebellion is foreshadowed in the disturbed, heart-on-sleeve emotionalism of this music, composed in 1773. Yet it is not ‘typical’ Mozart. It doesn’t conform to the superficial prejudice that ‘all Mozart’s music exhibits perfection of form and an unruffled surface’, nor does it meet expectations based on his mature music.

Central to the peculiar nature of this symphony is Mozart’s choice of a minor key. He was only to do this once more in his symphonies, and again the key was G minor. Mozart apparently associated this key with the utmost intensity of suffering. It is used for Symphony No.40 (K550), the String Quintet K516, and for Pamina’s expression of suicidal despair in The Magic Flute.

Symphony No.25 – the so-called ‘Little G minor’ – has always attracted a good deal of attention among Mozart’s early symphonies – although admitted to be less than perfect, it is seen as early evidence of a vein of highly personal expression that Mozart later supremely mastered. But is it?

For listeners in the 1770s, this symphony might have seemed backward, rather than forward-looking. It sounds like some of the symphonies Haydn wrote as an expression of the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) style: a rampant emotionalism breaking the bounds of the formality usually associated with the Classical style. Musically, Sturm und Drang was characterised by minor tonalities, dramatic gestures including syncopation (insistent off-beat patterns), hefty unison passages, sudden changes of volume, and a self-conscious use of (old-fashioned) Baroque counterpoint. Another model may have been a remarkably intense G minor symphony (Op.6 No.6) by Mozart’s musical mentor at this time, Johann Christian Bach.

Mozart’s first G minor Symphony displays many of the stylistic traits of Haydn’s Sturm und Drang work, and its orchestration – including two pairs of horns (for extended tonal and dynamic range) and the independent use of the bassoons (that is, not merely to stiffen the bass line) – gives the work its dark colour and rhetorical force.

The restless, driving syncopations that begin the remarkable first movement outline, in unison, a jagged falling ‘baroque’ figure that is answered by a phrase built on an emphatic minor arpeggio. The second group of themes is in the relative major

KeynotesMOZART

Born Salzburg, 1756 Died Vienna, 1791

As a child, Mozart was taken all over Europe – entertaining and astonishing the aristocratic courts with his musical gifts. He died, too young, at the age of 35, but not before he’d demonstrated mature genius. He composed symphonies throughout his career, from the tiny, ten-minute works he wrote as a boy to the great symphonies of 1788. His Symphony No.25 was composed in 1773 when he was 17.

SYMPHONY NO.25

This tempestuous work could be regarded as one of Mozart’s first true symphonic masterpieces. Its first movement sounds ‘modern’ – Romantic, you could say – and yet it reflects what was then a relatively old-fashioned school of composition known as Sturm und Drang, or ‘storm and stress’. Unusually for Mozart, it is in G minor (only one other of his symphonies is in a minor key) and this contributes to the feeling of turmoil and drama that he establishes from the outset. 

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Stuart Challender Legacy SocietyIncluding the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in your estate plans

key, B flat – a contrast to which director Milos Forman provided a brilliant visual analogy in Amadeus: Mozart’s (fictional) nemesis, the mad, wounded composer Salieri is carried through snow-bound streets in the minor key sections, while dancers whirl in a bright ballroom to the major key themes. As the movement’s recapitulation unfolds, the major-key themes appear in the minor, with disturbing new implications.

ADAPTED FROM NOTES BY DAVID GARRETT © 1988

AND GORDON KERRY © 2010

Mozart’s Symphony No.25 calls for two oboes and two bassoons (no flutes or clarinets), four horns (rather than the two that were customary at the time) and strings.

The SSO first performed this symphony in 1959, conducted by Tibor Paul, and most recently in the 2004 Mozart in the City series, directed by concertmaster Michael Dauth.

…rampant emotionalism breaking the bounds of formality…

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KeynotesSCRIABIN

Born Moscow, 1872 Died Moscow, 1915

Russian composer and virtuoso pianist Alexander Scriabin can be thought of as a missing link between the chromatic extremes of Mahler and Schoenberg’s vision of atonality. In 1905 he discovered the theosophical teachings of Helena Blavatsky and came to believe his music could be a bridge to spiritual ecstasy, leading him to explore unique harmonic colours and orchestrational excesses. He associated individual musical keys with particular colours in a kind of synæsthesia, and at his death he was working on Mysterium, a vast multimedia creation with elements of theatre, dance, art, poetry and perfume(!) as well as music.

THE POEM OF ECSTASY

The Poem of Ecstasy is Scriabin’s most famous work, and perhaps his best (the composer thought so!). His conception for it began as a literary poem, initially called Poème Orgiaque. But he suppressed this text from performances, preferring listeners to experience the music without distraction.

The music took its final form as a tone poem in one movement. The opening flute gesture captures an aimlessness of spirit before a challenge is posed by interjections from the orchestra. This pattern is repeated, each time growing bigger and fuller in sound, before finally reaching an orgasmic resolution.

Alexander Scriabin Le Poème de l’extase, Op.54 (The Poem of Ecstasy)

Beethoven once said that music was a higher revelation than religion or philosophy. Russian composer Alexander Scriabin had even higher ambitions for his own music. He thought it might bring about the glorious ending of the world.

Scriabin had an extraordinary career. Starting out in the 1890s as a writer of mazurkas, nocturnes and preludes in the tradition of Chopin, he became inspired by Wagner’s ideals of the Gesamtkunstwerk (the combination of all the arts in one giant art form capable of elevating the entire community), but intended to take them to new heights. In Prometheus he used a colour organ, a keyboard which projected colour rather than tones, and he conceived of using scents in his music, as well as choreography (he spoke of melodies ‘ending in gesticulation’). As Scriabin biographer Faubion Bowers said of Mysterium, the creation Scriabin was working towards when he died: ‘Scriabin thought his supra-musical magnawork Mysterium would be so potent in effect that the world would be destroyed in its final “festival”, not just changed as by [a] Revolution.’

Unfortunately, Scriabin died of septicæmia brought on by an insect bite before he could realise this grandiose goal. In the meantime he had taken his harmonic language to the doorstep of Schoenberg and Bartók, an extraordinary path for someone who had started out in a Chopinesque vein.

The music of Scriabin’s middle and late periods gives a glimpse of the weird and wonderful universe he had seen. He was still composing his Third Symphony (The Divine Poem), when he began The Poem of Ecstasy. His original plan was set out as a literary text – initially called Poème Orgiaque (Orgiastic Poem) – with an outline that suggested a four-movement symphony. In it the ‘Man-god’ arrives at release through love, sex, creation and procreation. In its final form, with a new and ambiguous name, the Poem of Ecstasy is a single-movement tone poem, just 20 minutes long. Together with the accompanying 300-line poem, it took him three years to write. But by the time of the first performance, which took place in New York on 10 December 1908, he had suppressed the accompanying text which, he said, in itself required commentary!

Even so, Scriabin attached considerable importance to the poem, which expresses the Spirit’s great self-assertion, ya es’m or ‘I am’, reached after a gamut of emotions and experiences: ‘the maggot of satiety…the bite of hyenas…the sting of serpent’, burning kisses, love-making and ecstasy. At one point he made arrangements for it to be printed and sold in the foyer at performances; ultimately he decided against printing it in the

15

‘…in general I would prefer for [conductors] to approach it first as pure music.’

SCRIABIN

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GE

Smusical score, however. Conductors could always be apprised of its existence, he said, ‘but in general I would prefer for them to approach it first as pure music.’

As a single-movement tone poem, The Poem of Ecstasy follows the model established by Franz Liszt. The exposition sets out the main themes in music by turns languorous and active, slow and fast. The development is signalled by the assignment of the trumpets’ original ‘I am’ theme to snarling trombones and muted horns. There are searing countermelodies for high violins. A bell-like clangour produced by repeated notes on high trilling woodwinds and horns restores us to the languor of the opening and its subsequent mood and tempo changes for the recapitulation.

The work’s fluctuating moods – the ‘many-petalled folds of caressing melody’ – are minutely described in French, but the form makes most sense in terms of Scriabin’s own dictum: ‘From the greatest delicacy (refinement) via active efficacy (flight) to the greatest grandiosity’. ‘When you listen to Ecstasy,’ said Scriabin, no doubt referring to its blazing ending, ‘look straight into the eye of the Sun!’

It’s hard to imagine now how important Scriabin once seemed. But later generations favoured the directions taken by Debussy and Schoenberg. Stravinsky might have established a Scriabin School (The Firebird sounds very much like parts of Ecstasy), but his 1912 cantata King of the Stars convinced him that rhythmic innovation was the way forward.

Scriabin was always popular in the Soviet Union; The Poem of Ecstasy was broadcast as Yuri Gagarin blasted into space. Scriabin also enjoyed a brief revival in the West during the psychedelic 1970s. His harmonic language, a discordant euphony which can be traced back to the methods of Rimsky-Korsakov, is easily suggestive of a heightened state of mind; his orchestration is multi-coloured.

But The Poem of Ecstasy deserves to be heard more often. As Robert Craft once said, in discussing the links between Stravinsky and Scriabin: ‘A comparison of The Poem of Ecstasy with The Firebird reveals a debt far larger than is generally realised, of one of the most popular to one of the least popular of early 20th-century masterpieces.’

ADAPTED FROM A NOTE BY GORDON KALTON WILLIAMS SYMPHONY AUSTRALIA © 1999/2009

The Poem of Ecstasy calls for a huge orchestra: three flutes, piccolo, three oboes, cor anglais, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon; eight horns, five trumpets, three trombones and tuba; timpani and a large percussion section; two harps; celesta and organ; and strings.

The SSO first performed The Poem of Ecstasy in 1953, conducted by Joseph Post, and most recently in 2004, conducted by Steven Mercurio.

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MORE MUSIC

MORE FOR YOUR EARS

As always, we encourage you to seek out recordings of the music you’ve heard in this concert, especially if you were hearing a piece for the first time.

But you also might like to look for Haydn’s Symphony No.39 in G minor (from the 1760s) or Johann Christian Bach’s Symphony in G minor, Op.6 No.6. Try Scriabin’s Divine Poem (Symphony No.3) or, for contrast, some of his early piano works. Search for Boulez’s complete …explosante-fixe… (1993) on YouTube or in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall, where Boulez himself conducts a performance featuring Emmanuel Pahud. To get an idea of the range of Ligeti’s style, begin with the absolutely delightful Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet (or their piano source, Musica ricercata). On a tangent, Conlon Nancarrow’s brilliant Studies for Player Piano (basically unplayable by humans!) are exhilarating. Ligeti’s more recent Violin Concerto is worth hearing and you can find it, together with the piano and cello concertos, in the definitive recording made by Ensemble InterContemporain and Pierre Boulez (Deutsche Grammophon).

MORE FOR YOUR BRAIN

For this program, we’ve also asked David Robertson to suggest some further reading by which you can explore some of the themes that inspired his concept…

Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain by Antonio Demasio (2010) A leading neuroscientist explores how the brain constructs the mind and how the brain makes that mind conscious, and in particular the connection with culture, our most defining characteristic and thinking beings.

In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric R Kandel (2007) Part memoir, part history, part biology and behavioural science… Kandel searches for the biological basis of memory and the way it binds our mental life together.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (2011) A tour of the mind and the two systems that drive the way we think: fast, intuitive and emotional, or slower, deliberate and logical.

This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J Levitin (2006) An exploration of the connection between music and the human brain from a rocker-turned-neuroscientist.

The Physics and Psychophysics of Music: An Introduction by Juan G Roederer (3rd edition, 1995) This book analyses what objective physical properties of sound are associated with what subjective psychological sensations of music, and how they are detected by the ear and interpreted in the brain. It sounds scientific, but in fact readers of this book will be best served by a knowledge of basic music theory and notation.

Broadcast DiaryAugust–September

Saturday 23 August, 8pm HEAR IT, FEEL IT

See this program for details.

Wednesday 3 September, 8pm SYMPHONIC INSPIRATION

David Robertson conductor Vadim Repin violin

Brahms, Lalo, Janáček

Monday 15 September, 7pm STEPHEN HOUGH IN RECITAL

Stephen Hough piano

Debussy, Chopin

Friday 19 September, 8pm BRUCKNER 6

Hans Graf conductor Stephen Hough piano

Dvořák, Bruckner

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2014

Tuesday 9 September, 6pm

Musicians, staff and guest artists discuss what’s in store in our forthcoming concerts.

The Language of Music by Deryck Cooke (1959) Now a veritable classic, this book explores the way ‘notes’ convey emotion to the listener, and argues that tonal composers adopt musical gestures that affect listeners in similar ways.

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SSO Live RecordingsThe Sydney Symphony Orchestra Live label was founded in 2006 and we’ve since released more than two dozen recordings featuring the orchestra in live concert performances with our titled conductors and leading guest artists. To buy, visit sydneysymphony.com/shop

LOOK OUT FOR…Our recording of Holst’s Planets with David Robertson. Due for release later in 2014.

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SSO Online

Mahler 1 & Songs of a Wayfarer SSO 201001

Mahler 2 SSO 201203

Mahler 3 SSO 201101

Mahler 4 SSO 201102

Mahler 5 SSO 201003 Mahler 6 SSO 201103

Mahler 7 SSO 201104

Mahler 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) SSO 201002

Mahler 9 SSO 201201

Mahler 10 (Barshai completion) SSO 201202

Song of the Earth SSO 201004

From the archives: Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder, Das Lied von der Erde SSO 201204

MAHLER ODYSSEYThe complete Mahler symphonies (including the Barshai completion of No.10) together with some of the song cycles. Recorded in concert with Vladimir Ashkenazy during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. As a bonus: recordings from our archives of Rückert-Lieder, Kintertotenlieder and Das Lied von der Erde. Available in a handsome boxed set of 12 discs or individually.

Strauss & SchubertGianluigi Gelmetti conducts Schubert’s Unfinished and R Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Ricarda Merbeth. SSO 200803

Sir Charles MackerrasA 2CD set featuring Sir Charles’s final performances with the orchestra, in October 2007. SSO 200705

Brett DeanTwo discs featuring the music of Brett Dean, including his award-winning violin concerto, The Lost Art of Letter Writing. SSO 200702, SSO 201302

RavelGelmetti conducts music by one of his favourite composers: Maurice Ravel. Includes Bolero. SSO 200801

Rare RachmaninoffRachmaninoff chamber music with Dene Olding, the Goldner Quartet, soprano Joan Rodgers and Vladimir Ashkenazy at the piano. SSO 200901

Prokofiev’s Romeo and JulietVladimir Ashkenazy conducts the complete Romeo and Juliet ballet music of Prokofiev – a fiery and impassioned performance. SSO 201205

Tchaikovsky Violin ConcertoIn 2013 this recording with James Ehnes and Ashkenazy was awarded a Juno (the Canadian Grammy). Lyrical miniatures fill out the disc. SSO 201206

Tchaikovsky Second Piano ConcertoGarrick Ohlsson is the soloist in one of the few recordings of the original version of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.2. Ashkenazy conducts. SSO 201301

Stravinsky’s FirebirdDavid Robertson conducts Stravinsky’s brilliant and colourful Firebird ballet, recorded with the SSO in concert in 2008. SSO 201402

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American conductor David Robertson is a compelling and passionate communicator whose stimulating ideas and music-making have captivated audiences and musicians alike, and he has established strong relationships with major orchestras throughout Europe and North America.

He made his Australian debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2003 and soon became a regular visitor to the orchestra, with projects such as The Colour of Time, a conceptual multimedia concert; the Australian premiere of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic Symphony; and concert performances of The Flying Dutchman with video projections. This is his first year as Chief Conductor of the SSO.

He has been Music Director of the St Louis Symphony since 2005. Other titled posts have included Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon and resident conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. A recognised expert in 20th- and 21st-century music, he has also been Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris (where composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was an early supporter) and his discography includes music by such composers as Adams, Bartók, Boulez, Carter, Ginastera, Milhaud and Reich. He is also a champion of young musicians, devoting time to working with students and young artists.

Last season he appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and at the Metropolitan Opera, and in Europe with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic and Ensemble Intercontemporain. He also toured Europe with the St Louis Symphony and violinist Christian Tetzlaff.

His awards and accolades include Musical America Conductor of the Year (2000), Columbia University’s 2006 Ditson Conductor’s Award, and, with the SLSO, the 2005–06 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming. In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2011 a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

He was born in Santa Monica, California, and educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied French horn and composition before turning to conducting. He is married to pianist Orli Shaham.

THE POSITION OF CHIEF CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR IS SUPPORTED BY EMIRATES

David Robertson Chief Conductor and Artistic Director

THE ARTISTS

MIC

HA

EL

TAM

MA

RO

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Janet Webb is a graduate of the Canberra School of Music and later studied in France with András Adorján. At the age of 21 she won the Principal Flute position with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and was subsequently appointed principal in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1985. She has performed numerous concertos with both orchestras as well as other ensembles, playing repertoire ranging from CPE Bach and Mozart to Honegger. Highlights include Bach’s Fourth Brandenburg concerto with James Galway, and in 2013 the Liebermann concerto. She has also appeared as guest principal with most of Australia’s major orchestras and worked with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Mariss Jansons, David Robertson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Paavo Järvi, Jaap van Zweden and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Janet Webb is regularly heard on radio and she has made two recordings with pianist Jocelyn Edey-Fazzone: Tango and All That Jazz and Romantic Bonbons. In 2001, a Whelan Trust scholarship allowed her to travel to the USA to collaborate with composers there. She performs chamber music and gives recitals and masterclasses across Australia. She has also taught at the Singapore, Sydney and New South Wales universities, the Sydney Conservatorium and the Australian International Summer Orchestra Institute, and was invited to be on the jury for the Nicolet International Flute Competition (Beijing 2010).

Nicolas Hodges was born and trained in London and is now based in Stuttgart. As a concerto soloist, his engagements include performances with orchestras such as the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic and the Melbourne Symphony orchestras. And he has collaborated with such conductors as Thomas Adès, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, George Benjamin, Tadaaki Otaka, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Leonard Slatkin.

In recent seasons, he has become especially closely associated with the piano concertos of Elliott Carter (in 2004), Beat Furrer and Thomas Adès. He has also given the premieres of concertos written especially for him by Hugues Dufourt, Pascal Dusapin, Rebecca Saunders and Miroslav Srnka.

Nicolas Hodges has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall, IRCAM (Paris) and Wigmore Hall and has appeared in many festivals, including the BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, Melbourne Festival and Tanglewood. As a chamber musician, he collaborates regularly with the Arditti Quartet, Adrian Brendel and Colin Currie, and is a member of the Trio Accanto.

Janet Webb flute Nicolas Hodges piano principal flute, helen lynch am & helen bauer chair

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SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has evolved into one of the world’s finest orchestras as Sydney has become one of the world’s great cities.

Resident at the iconic Sydney Opera House, where it gives more than 100 performances each year, the SSO also performs in venues throughout Sydney and regional New South Wales. International tours to Europe, Asia and the USA – including three visits to China – have earned the orchestra worldwide recognition for artistic excellence.

The orchestra’s first Chief Conductor was Sir Eugene Goossens, appointed in 1947; he was followed by Nicolai Malko, Dean Dixon, Moshe Atzmon, Willem van Otterloo, Louis Frémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zdenĕk Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de Waart and Gianluigi Gelmetti. Vladimir Ashkenazy was Principal Conductor from 2009 to 2013. The orchestra’s history also boasts collaborations with legendary figures

such as George Szell, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky.

The SSO’s award-winning education program is central to its commitment to the future of live symphonic music, developing audiences and engaging the participation of young people. The orchestra promotes the work of Australian composers through performances, recordings and its commissioning program. Recent premieres have included major works by Ross Edwards, Lee Bracegirdle, Gordon Kerry, Mary Finsterer, Nigel Westlake and Georges Lentz, and the orchestra’s recordings of music by Brett Dean have been released on both the BIS and SSO Live labels.

Other releases on the SSO Live label, established in 2006, include performances with Alexander Lazarev, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Sir Charles Mackerras, Vladimir Ashkenazy and David Robertson. In 2010–11 the orchestra made concert recordings of the complete Mahler symphonies with Ashkenazy, and has also released recordings of Rachmaninoff and Elgar orchestral works on the Exton/Triton labels, as well as numerous recordings on ABC Classics.

This is the first year of David Robertson’s tenure as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director.

DAVID ROBERTSON Chief Conductor and Artistic Director

PATRONHer Excellency, Prof. The Hon. Dame Marie Bashir ad cvo

21

FIRST VIOLINS Dene Olding CONCERTMASTER

Sun Yi ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Kirsten Williams ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Lerida Delbridge ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Fiona Ziegler ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Jenny BoothBrielle ClapsonSophie ColeClaire HerrickGeorges LentzNicola LewisEmily LongAlexandra MitchellAlexander NortonLéone ZieglerMadeleine Boud*Andrew Haveron CONCERTMASTER

Amber Davis

SECOND VIOLINS Kirsty Hilton Marina Marsden Marianne Broadfoot Emma Jezek ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Emma HayesShuti HuangStan W KornelBenjamin LiNicole MastersPhilippa PaigeMaja VerunicaRebecca Gill*Vivien Jeffery°Nicholas Waters†

Maria DurekBiyana Rozenblit

VIOLASRoger Benedict Tobias Breider Justin Williams ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Sandro CostantinoRosemary CurtinJane HazelwoodGraham HenningsStuart Johnson Justine MarsdenFelicity TsaiAmanda VernerLeonid VolovelskyAnne-Louise Comerford

CELLOSUmberto ClericiCatherine Hewgill Henry David Varema Leah Lynn ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Kristy ConrauTimothy NankervisElizabeth NevilleChristopher PidcockAdrian WallisDavid WickhamFenella Gill

DOUBLE BASSESKees Boersma Alex Henery Neil Brawley PRINCIPAL EMERITUS

David CampbellSteven LarsonRichard LynnBenjamin WardAurora Henrich†

David Murray

FLUTES Janet Webb Emma Sholl Carolyn HarrisRosamund Plummer PRINCIPAL PICCOLO

OBOESDiana Doherty Alexandre Oguey PRINCIPAL COR ANGLAIS

Huw Jones*Georgina Roberts†

Shefali Pryor David Papp

CLARINETSLawrence Dobell Francesco Celata Christopher TingayCraig Wernicke PRINCIPAL BASS CLARINET

BASSOONSMatthew Wilkie Noriko Shimada PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON

Ben Hoadley*Timothy Murray†

Fiona McNamara

HORNSRobert Johnson Geoffrey O’ReillyPRINCIPAL 3RD

Marnie SebireRachel SilverEuan HarveyAlexander Love*Jenny McLeod-Sneyd*Ben Jacks

TRUMPETSDavid Elton Paul Goodchild Anthony HeinrichsJosh Rogan*Rosie Turner* TROMBONESRonald Prussing Scott Kinmont Nick ByrneChristopher Harris PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE

TUBASteve Rossé

TIMPANIRichard Miller PERCUSSIONRebecca Lagos Timothy ConstableMark Robinson Joshua Hill*Alison Pratt* HARP Louise Johnson Genevieve Huppert* ORGANDavid Drury*

CELESTASusanne Powell*

BOLD = PRINCIPAL

ITALICS = ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

° = CONTRACT MUSICIAN

* = GUEST MUSICIAN† = SSO FELLOW

GREY = PERMANENT MEMBER OF THE SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA NOT APPEARING IN THIS CONCERT

The men of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra are proudly outfitted by Van Heusen.

To see photographs of the full roster of permanent musicians and find out more about the orchestra, visit our website: www.sydneysymphony.com/SSO_musicians

If you don’t have access to the internet, ask one of our customer service representatives for a copy of our Musicians flyer.

MUSICIANS

David RobertsonCHIEF CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR SUPPORTED BY EMIRATES

Dene OldingCONCERTMASTER

Jessica CottisASSISTANT CONDUCTOR SUPPORTED BY PREMIER PARTNER CREDIT SUISSE

Andrew HaveronCONCERTMASTER

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BEHIND THE SCENES

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Rory Jeffes

EXECUTIVE TEAM ASSISTANT

Lisa Davies-Galli

ARTISTIC OPERATIONSDIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC PLANNING

Benjamin Schwartz

ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Eleasha Mah

ARTIST LIAISON MANAGER

Ilmar Leetberg

RECORDING ENTERPRISE MANAGER

Philip Powers

LibraryAnna CernikVictoria GrantMary-Ann Mead

LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENTDIRECTOR OF LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT

Kim Waldock

EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM MANAGER

Mark Lawrenson

EDUCATION MANAGER

Rachel McLarin

EDUCATION OFFICER

Amy Walsh

ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENTDIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

Aernout Kerbert

ORCHESTRA MANAGER

Rachel Whealy

ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR

Georgia Fryer

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Kerry-Anne Cook

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Laura Daniel

STAGE MANAGER

Courtney Wilson

PRODUCTION COORDINATORS

Tim DaymanDave Stabback

SALES AND MARKETINGDIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING

Mark J Elliott

MARKETING MANAGER, SUBSCRIPTION SALES

Simon Crossley-Meates

A/ SENIOR SALES & MARKETING MANAGER

Matthew Rive

MARKETING MANAGER, CRM & DATABASE

Matthew Hodge

A/ SALES & MARKETING MANAGER,SINGLE TICKET CAMPAIGNS

Jonathon Symonds

DATABASE ANALYST

David Patrick

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Christie Brewster

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Tessa Conn

SENIOR ONLINE MARKETING COORDINATOR

Jenny Sargant

ONLINE MARKETING COORDINATOR

Jonathan Davidoff

MARKETING ASSISTANT

Theres Mayer

Box OfficeMANAGER OF BOX OFFICE SALES & OPERATIONS

Lynn McLaughlin

BOX OFFICE SYSTEMS SUPERVISOR

Jennifer Laing

BOX OFFICE BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

John Robertson

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES

Karen Wagg – Senior CSR Michael DowlingKatarzyna OstafijczukTim Walsh

PublicationsPUBLICATIONS EDITOR & MUSIC PRESENTATION MANAGER

Yvonne Frindle

EXTERNAL RELATIONSDIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Yvonne Zammit

PhilanthropyHEAD OF PHILANTHROPY

Luke Andrew Gay

DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Amelia Morgan-Hunn

PHILANTHROPY COORDINATOR

Sarah Morrisby

Corporate RelationsBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Belinda Besson

CORPORATE RELATIONS MANAGER

Janine Harris

CommunicationsPUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

Katherine Stevenson

COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA MANAGER

Bridget Cormack

DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER

Kai Raisbeck

SOCIAL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY OFFICER

Caitlin Benetatos

BUSINESS SERVICESDIRECTOR OF FINANCE

John Horn

FINANCE MANAGER

Ruth Tolentino

ACCOUNTANT

Minerva Prescott

ACCOUNTS ASSISTANT

Emma Ferrer

PAYROLL OFFICER

Laura Soutter

PEOPLE AND CULTURE IN-HOUSE COUNSEL

Michel Maree Hryce

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA STAFF

John C Conde ao ChairmanTerrey Arcus am

Ewen Crouch am

Ross GrantCatherine HewgillJennifer HoyRory JeffesAndrew Kaldor am

David LivingstoneThe Hon. Justice AJ MeagherGoetz Richter

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BOARD

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA COUNCIL

Geoff Ainsworth am

Andrew Andersons ao

Michael Baume ao

Christine BishopIta Buttrose ao obe

Peter CudlippJohn Curtis am

Greg Daniel am

John Della BoscaAlan FangErin FlahertyDr Stephen FreibergDonald Hazelwood ao obe

Dr Michael Joel am

Simon JohnsonYvonne Kenny am

Gary LinnaneAmanda LoveHelen Lynch am

David Maloney am

David Malouf ao

Deborah MarrThe Hon. Justice Jane Mathews ao

Danny MayWendy McCarthy ao

Jane MorschelDr Timothy Pascoe am

Prof. Ron Penny ao

Jerome RowleyPaul Salteri am

Sandra SalteriJuliana SchaefferLeo Schofield am

Fred Stein oam

Gabrielle TrainorJohn van OgtropPeter Weiss ao HonDLittMary WhelanRosemary White

23

Through their inspired financial support, Patrons ensure the SSO’s continued success, resilience and growth. Join the SSO Patrons Program today and make a difference.

sydneysymphony.com/patrons (02) 8215 4674 • philanthropy@sydneysymphony.com

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PATRONS

MAESTRO’S CIRCLESUPPORTING THE ARTISTIC VISION OF DAVID ROBERTSON, CHIEF CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Peter Weiss ao Founding President & Doris WeissJohn C Conde ao ChairmanBrian AbelGeoff Ainsworth am Tom Breen & Rachael KohnThe Berg Family FoundationAndrew Kaldor am & Renata Kaldor aoVicki Olsson

Roslyn Packer aoDavid RobertsonPenelope Seidler amMr Fred Street am & Mrs Dorothy StreetMr Frank Lowy ac & Mrs Shirley Lowy oam

Brian & Rosemary WhiteRay Wilson oam in memory of the late James Agapitos oam

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHAIR PATRONS PROGRAM,

CALL (02) 8215 4619.

n n n n n n n n n n

CHAIR PATRONS

01 Roger Benedict Principal Viola Kim Williams am & Catherine Dovey Chair

02 Umberto Clerici Principal Cello Garry & Shiva Rich Chair

03 Lawrence Dobell Principal Clarinet Anne & Terrey Arcus am Chair

04 Diana Doherty Principal Oboe Andrew Kaldor am & Renata Kaldor ao Chair

05 Richard Gill oam Artistic Director, Education Paul Salteri am & Sandra Salteri Chair

06 Jane Hazelwood, Viola Bob & Julie Clampett Chair in memory of Carolyn Clampett

07 Catherine Hewgill Principal Cello The Hon. Justice AJ & Mrs Fran Meagher Chair

08 Kirsty Hilton Principal Second Violin Corrs Chambers Westgarth Chair

09 Robert Johnson Principal Horn James & Leonie Furber Chair

10 Elizabeth Neville Cello Ruth & Bob Magid Chair

11 Shefali Pryor Associate Principal Oboe Mrs Barbara Murphy Chair

12 Emma Sholl Associate Principal Flute Robert & Janet Constable Chair

13 Janet Webb Principal Flute Helen Lynch am & Helen Bauer Chair

14 Kirsten Williams, Associate Concertmaster I Kallinikos Chair

10 121109

05 07 0806

13 14

01 03 0402

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PLAYING YOUR PART

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the music lovers who donate to the orchestra each year. Each gift plays an important part in ensuring our continued artistic excellence and helping to sustain important education and regional touring programs. Donations of $50 and above are acknowledged on our website at www.sydneysymphony.com/patrons

DIAMOND PATRONS: $30,000+Geoff Ainsworth am

Anne & Terrey Arcus am

Doug & Alison BattersbyThe Berg Family FoundationTom Breen & Rachael KohnMr John C Conde ao

Robert & Janet ConstableThe Estate of Dr Lynn JosephMr Andrew Kaldor am &

Mrs Renata Kaldor ao

In Memory of Matthew KrelMrs Roslyn Packer ao

Ian Potter FoundationPaul Salteri am & Sandra SalteriScully FoundationMrs W SteningMr Fred Street am &

Mrs Dorothy StreetPeter Weiss ao & Doris WeissMr Brian & Mrs Rosemary WhiteKim Williams am & Catherine

Dovey

PLATINUM PATRONS: $20,000–$29,999Brian AbelRobert Albert ao & Elizabeth

AlbertSandra & Neil BurnsJames & Leonie Furber

I KallinikosHelen Lynch am & Helen BauerMrs T Merewether oam

Mrs Barbara MurphyMr B G O’ConorVicki OlssonAndy & Deirdre PlummerDavid RobertsonMrs Penelope Seidler am

G & C Solomon in memory of Joan MacKenzie

Geoff StearnRay Wilson oam in memory of

James Agapitos oam

Anonymous (1)

GOLD PATRONS: $10,000–$19,999Bailey Family FoundationAlan & Christine BishopAudrey BlundenMr Robert BrakspearIan & Jennifer BurtonMr Robert & Mrs L Alison CarrBob & Julie ClampettMichael Crouch ao & Shanny

CrouchThe Hon. Mrs Ashley

Dawson-Damer am

Paul EspieEdward & Diane FedermanNora Goodridge

Mr Ross GrantMr Ervin KatzJames N Kirby FoundationRuth & Bob MagidThe Hon. Justice AJ Meagher &

Mrs Fran MeagherMr John MorschelDrs Keith & Eileen OngGarry & Shiva RichCaroline WilkinsonAnonymous (2)

SILVER PATRONS: $5000–$9,999Dr Francis AugustusStephen J BellDr Hannes & Mrs Barbara

BoshoffMr Alexander & Mrs Vera

BoyarskyPeter Braithwaite & Gary

LinnaneMr David & Mrs Halina BrettEwen Crouch am & Catherine

CrouchIan Dickson & Reg HollowayIn memory of Dr Lee

MacCormick EdwardsDr Stephen Freiberg & Donald

CampbellDr Colin GoldschmidtThe Greatorex Foundation

Rory & Jane JeffesThe late Mrs Isabelle JosephFrank Lowy am & Shirley

Lowy oam

J A McKernanDavid Maloney am & Erin

FlahertyR & S Maple-BrownJustice Jane Mathews ao

Mora MaxwellWilliam McIlrath Charitable

FoundationJohn & Akky van OgtropSeamus Robert QuickRodney Rosenblum am &

Sylvia RosenblumDr Evelyn RoyalThe late Greta C RyanManfred & Linda SalamonMrs Joyce Sproat &

Mrs Janet CookeMr John Symond am

David Tudehope & Liz DibbsMr Robert & Mrs Rosemary

WalshWestpac GroupMichael & Mary Whelan TrustIn memory of Geoff WhiteJune & Alan Woods Family

BequestAnonymous (2)

BRONZE PATRONS: PRESTO $2,500–$4,999Mr Henri W Aram oam

Ian BradyMr Mark BryantDr Rebecca ChinDr Diana Choquette &

Mr Robert MillinerMr B & Mrs M ColesMr Howard ConnorsGreta DavisFirehold Pty LtdWarren GreenAnthony GreggAnn HobanIrwin Imhof in memory of

Herta ImhofMr John Lam-Po-TangJames & Elsie MooreMr Darrol NormanMs Jackie O’BrienDr Agnes E SinclairTony StrachanYim Family Foundation

BRONZE PATRONS: VIVACE $1,000–$2,499Mrs Lenore AdamsonMrs Antoinette AlbertRae & David AllenAndrew Andersons ao

Mr Matthew AndrewsThe Hon Justice Michael BallDavid BarnesMr Garry BessonAllan & Julie BlighJan BowenLenore P BuckleMargaret BulmerIn memory of RW BurleyMrs Rhonda CaddyMrs Stella ChenMs Suzanne CollinsJoan Connery oam &

Maxwell Connery oam

Debby Cramer & Bill CaukillMr John Cunningham scm &

Mrs Margaret CunninghamLisa & Miro DavisElizabeth DonatiColin Draper & Mary Jane

BrodribbProf. & Mrs John EdmondsMalcolm Ellis & Erin O’Neill

Mrs Margaret EppsProfessor Michael Field am

Mr Tom FrancisMr Matt GarrettVivienne Goldschmidt &

Owen JonesMrs Fay GrearIn Memory of Angelica GreenAkiko GregoryMr & Mrs Harold & Althea

HallidayJanette HamiltonAngus HoldenDr & Mrs Michael HunterMichael & Anna JoelMrs W G KeighleyDr Andrew KennedyAron KleinlehrerMr Andrew Korda & Ms Susan

PearsonMr Justin LamMr Peter Lazar am

Professor Winston LiauwAirdrie LloydPeter Lowry oam & Dr Carolyn

Lowry oam

Kevin & Deirdre McCannIan & Pam McGawMacquarie Group Foundation

Barbara MaidmentJohn MarRenee MarkovicHenry & Ursula MooserMilja & David MorrisMrs J MulveneyDr Mike O’Connor am

Mr & Mrs OrtisMr Andrew C PattersonDr Natalie E PelhamAlmut PiattiIn memory of Sandra Paul

PottingerDr Raffi QasabianMichael QuaileyMr Patrick Quinn-GrahamErnest & Judith RapeeKenneth R ReedPatricia H Reid Endowment

Pty LtdDr Marilyn RichardsonLesley & Andrew RosenbergIn memory of H St P ScarlettMr Samuel F ShefferDavid & Alison ShilligtonDavid Smithers am & Isabel

SmithersDr Judy SoperMrs Judith Southam

25

PLAYING YOUR PART

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT BECOMING A

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PATRON, PLEASE

CONTACT THE PHILANTHROPY OFFICE ON (02) 8215 4674

OR EMAIL PHILANTHROPY@SYDNEYSYMPHONY.COM

n n n n n n n n n n

Ms Barbara SpencerMrs Elizabeth SquairCatherine StephenThe Hon. Brian Sully qc

Mrs Margaret SwansonThe Taplin FamilyKevin TroyJohn E TuckeyJudge Robyn TupmanDr Alla WaldmanMiss Sherry WangWestpac Banking CorporationHenry & Ruth WeinbergThe Hon. Justice A G WhealyDr Richard T WhiteMrs Leonore WhyteA Willmers & R PalDr Edward J WillsProf. Neville Wills & Ian

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BRONZE PATRONS: ALLEGRO $500–$999Ms Jenny AllumMr Peter J ArmstrongGarry & Tricia AshMr & Mrs George BallDr Lilon BandlerBarlow Cleaning Pty LtdMichael Baume ao & Toni BaumeBeauty Point Retirement ResortMr Michael BeckDr Andrew BellRichard & Margaret BellMrs Jan BiberMinnie Biggs

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SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VANGUARDA MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM FOR A DYNAMIC GROUP OF GEN X & Y SSO FANS AND FUTURE PHILANTHROPISTS

Vanguard CollectiveJustin Di Lollo ChairBelinda BentleyAmelia Morgan-HunnJonathan PeaseShefali PryorSeamus R QuickCamille Thioulouse

MembersJames ArmstrongJoan BallantineAndrew BaxterMar BeltranNicole BilletDavid BluffPeter BraithwaiteBlake Briggs

Andrea BrownMelanie BrownProf. Attila BrungsIan & Jennifer BurtonHelen CaldwellHilary CaldwellPaul ColganJuliet CurtinAlvaro R FernandezAlastair FurnivalAlexandra GibsonSam GiddingsMarina GoJeremy GoffTony GriersonLouise HaggertyRose HercegPhilip Heuzenroeder

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26

SALUTE

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is assisted by the

Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council,

its arts funding and advisory body

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is

assisted by the NSW Government

through Arts NSW

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EDUCATION PARTNERPLATINUM PARTNER

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REGIONAL TOUR PARTNER MARKETING PARTNERVANGUARD PARTNER

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❝Tuning, tuning, tuning…

❞‘With the harp being a solo instrument in the orchestra, I tend to prepare everything as though it’s going to be a solo.’ It’s certainly true that composers often use the harp as a special colour within the orchestra, rather than treating it as part of a larger section. And cadenzas and other soloistic passages are not uncommon in the music of Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.

Performing as soloist out the front of the orchestra does allow certain refreshing freedoms, however. ‘I have the freedom to decide my own dynamics, the shape of phrases and other musical elements, rather than having to realise just the conductor’s intentions.’ Legends of the Old Castle, then, will offer Louise the chance to exercise her own self-expression. ‘I’m free to have my own ideas about this work,’ she says with relish.

There’s a lovely synergy in the fact that Simone Young is conducting this harpstravaganza – her own daughter is a gifted young harpist. ‘I’ve no doubt we’re going to get along famously,’ smiles Louise.

Louise Johnson is a soloist in Harp Legends on 24, 25 and 28 July. Simone Young conducts.

It’s a rare sight to see a harpist and their instrument out the front of the orchestra for a concerto performance. When Principal Harp, Louise Johnson appears as soloist with us in July, performing Lee Bracegirdle’s Legends of the Old Castle, it will be as part of the World Harp Congress – a weeklong celebration of this most ancient and beguiling instrument. The program features not one, but two concertos for harp (the other being Rodrigo’s Concierto serenata performed by Sivan Magen), and two orchestral works featuring multiple harps within the orchestra.

What’s the collective noun for a bunch of harpists then? An arpeggio? A cloud? ‘A haggle,’ replies Louise, without a moment’s hesitation and with a cheeky twinkle in her eye. And what are the challenges of having so many harpists in the one program? ‘Tuning, tuning, tuning,’ she says. ‘Each instrument needs to be tuned before every rehearsal and every performance. With 47 strings on each instrument you can imagine the tuning schedule we have to create!’

Preparing for a concerto is not necessarily so different to preparing an orchestral part.

MAGICAL COLOURPrincipal harpist Louise Johnson celebrates her instrument in all its guises and with all its challenges.

ORCHESTRA NEWS | JULY/AUGUST 2014

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a Warming up in the grand Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Principal Tuba Steve Rossé and Principal Double Bass Alex Henery prepare for a program that opened with Sound Lur and Serpent, Andrew Schultz’s new fanfare for brass and percussion, and Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto with Shanghai-based prodigy Haochen Zhang. Steve later told us: ‘My favourite moment in our first concert was in Strauss’s Heldenleben when we hit that E flat chord which is the hero’s motif. It’s like being invincible.’

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Live at the Cortile with the SSO

From left: Kirsten Williams, Lerida Delbridge, Lawrence Dobell, Rosemary Curtin and Elizabeth Neville

Winter is definitely here but plenty of musical food lovers still ventured out into the cold for the second event in our intimate concert series in the Cortile bar and lounge at the InterContinental Sydney. Executive chef Tamas Palmer treated guests to a winter-time canapé menu, including mulled-wine martinis, chestnut veloutés and tartes Tatin, designed to match the music, which included movements from the Brahms and Mozart clarinet quintets, Elgar’s Salut d’Amour and Gershwin’s Embraceable You played by members of the SSO. The event sold out, so book now for the next SSO Live at the Cortile event on Thursday 7 August, when a quartet featuring oboist Shelfali Pryor will take you on an operatic journey of opulence and drama. Visit bit.ly/SSOLiveattheCortile

I am wondering what a musician does in a live concert when he or she suddenly feels the need to sneeze, not to mention what a soloist might do. Maybe it doesn’t happen because of the intense concentration. I haven’t ever noticed it, but I do wonder! Anne Irish

What a good question! I sometimes marvel that I don’t sneeze in a concert! I think you are right – the concentration required in performance overrides any desire to sneeze. I also find that if I have a cold

and my sinuses are blocked up, just before I have to play – especially if it’s an important solo – suddenly my head clears and I can forget that I’m unwell for a few minutes. That must be the adrenaline of performance at work.

Unfortunately coughing seems to be a different matter. I have had many coughing fits in various slow movements (it always seems to happen in the slow movement!), as have most of my colleagues. It’s awful, and there’s no escape. Very occasionally a coughing fit will necessitate leaving the stage so as not to be too distracting, either to colleagues onstage or for the audience listening.

If the concert is being broadcast live on radio, or recorded for later broadcast, then that adds another level of awareness.

Professionalism means overcoming these challenges, so I’m glad if you’ve never noticed these moments. We’re all in the service of the music.Rosamund Plummer, Principal Piccolo

Have a question about music, instruments or the inner workings of an orchestra? ‘Ask a Musician’ at yoursay @sydneysymphony.com or by writing to Bravo! Reply Paid 4338, Sydney NSW 2001.

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I never experienced the sound of an orchestra,’ Sebastian said. ‘It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I never played in an orchestra until I started my undergraduate degree.’

This tour, 2000 children did have a chance to experience the sound of an orchestra and a wide variety of music – the big hit was LiteSPEED by Australian composer Matthew Hindson. ‘The music was obviously very stimulating for our “groovy” little bodies,’ praised a teacher from Morgan St Public School, Broken Hill. Kim Waldock, SSO Director of Learning and Engagement, says ‘we met students with some experience of orchestral music but the majority – especially in Cobar and Broken Hill – had absolutely no idea of what to expect. Staff and children of Cobar Public School created an “event”, arriving in tinfoil bow ties and tiaras, even the principal wore a dinner suit!’

In Broken Hill, the city’s Community Orchestra and Brass Band had great fun rehearsing with the SSO players. And five SSO players gave a lesson for the School of the Air in Broken Hill, which was later broadcast by ABC Regional Radio to other children in remote areas.

We might have returned from our third visit to China but we’ve only just made it to Cobar! Every year approximately 60 SSO players (including Fellows and Sinfonia musicians) tour to regional centres throughout NSW. Some of those towns and cities are old friends – Dubbo, Broken Hill – others are new acquaintances, like Cobar. It was a first visit that we won’t forget in a hurry: Cobar takes its footy seriously, so having our concert start during the State of Origin game presented a challenge. Cobar’s mayor Lillian Brady was thrilled the orchestra was in town but was ‘keeping an eye on the score, don’t you worry’. Conductor Daniel Carter is also a footy tragic: ‘It’s such a great cultural mix. To come somewhere like Cobar and in one night to experience great romantic Russian masterworks that are over 150 years old – and a game of NRL.’ Everyone was still able to get to the pub in time to see the Blues triumph.

Our return to Dubbo allowed Sebastian Dunn, a horn player in our Sinfonia training orchestra, to perform in his home town, not just in the public concert but also playing for his younger brother and friends at his old school. ‘Coming from Dubbo,

Regional Tour

TIARAS AND TOUCHDOWN

In Cobar, the children dressed up for the orchestra, wearing tiaras and tinfoil crowns.

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The ScoreSymphonies to SpareOrchestral concerts tend to have a standard ‘menu’: an overture or short concert opener, a concerto with a soloist, then the symphony – the big work. Sometimes the concerto is so ‘symphonic’ we put it last (the Brahms piano concertos, for example), but most of the time that’s the pattern we follow. But at the end of August, David Robertson has taken a slightly different approach, with a program that looks – at first glance – as if it has nothing but symphonies!

Brahms’s Third Symphony is serious music, sometimes melancholy, sometimes blissful, with a shimmering, floating pianissimo ending. We hope that, by playing it first rather than at the end, you’ll be able to hear it with fresh ears.

Our ‘concerto’ with soloist Vadim Repin is Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, a ‘Spanish symphony’ composed for Sarasate. Lalo imagined the violin ‘soaring above the rigid form of an old symphony’ and the result is colourful and vibrant.

And from Janácek there’s a sinfonietta. Technically, that’s a ‘little symphony’ although this one is little only in duration – the orchestra is huge, with 12 trumpets! We’ve placed it last because it’s so striking and spectacular that really nothing could possibly follow it.

Symphonic InspirationEmirates Metro Series 29 August, 8pmGreat Classics 30 August, 2pmMondays @ 7 1 September, 7pm

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GUEST EDITOR Jacqui Smith | MUSICIAN PROFILE Genevieve Huppert sydneysymphony.com/bravo

SSO CHINA TOUR BLOGCatch up on all the highlights of our third tour to China, which took in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jinan, Hangzhou, Zi’an and Beijing, where we performed in the famous National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing (more commonly referred to as ‘The Egg’!).

Sharing in the tour spirit, the staff back in Sydney invited chef Gary Au to visit our office in the Rocks and demonstrate the ancient art of making Dragon Beard Candy. Check out the blog for the photo evidence, including some very sticky ‘beards’.blog.ssoontour.com

SSO CHAMBER MUSICFancy a more intimate setting for your next concert? Our musicians are busy performing chamber music alongside the big concerts…WED 23 JUL, 1.15pm St James’, King St Our Fellows perform the Elgar String Quartet and a new piece by James Wade. Entry by donation.

SUN 3 AUG, 1.30pm Turramurra Uniting Church The Chanterelle Quartet plays string quartets by Haydn, Lalor and Mozart. WED 6 AUG, 1.15pm St James’, King St Janet Webb leads a program of wind chamber music treats. Entry by donation. WED 6 AUG, 7pm, Verbrugghen Hall The SSO Brass Ensemble performs music by Barber, Terracini, Rautavaara and Copland at the Sydney Conservatorium.

SUMMER STOPOVERS IN DUBAIEmirates has announced a free 24-hour stopover package for passengers travelling from Australia on eligible flights to destinations beyond Dubai. With transfers, a 36-hour UAE entry visa and a 24-hour hotel stay, including breakfast, this is your chance to explore the vibrant city that Emirates calls home. As Principal Partner of the SSO, Emirates offers our patrons an exclusive 10% online discount on all Emirates flights. Make sure you’ve signed up to our

Stay Tuned e-newsletter to receive the special booking code. bit.ly/EmiratesDubaiStopoverSSO

STUDENT RUSHDid you know we offer student rush tickets to many of our concerts? Follow our Facebook page to find out when. Tickets are always strictly limited but you’ll often spend no more than $15. Bargain!

NEW ARRIVALSOur Bravo! editor (and regular guest harpist) Genevieve Huppert is taking a few issues off to enjoy the company of newborn Felix Islay. And Associate Principal Cello Henry Varema has been in Estonia for the birth of his daughter. Congratulations!

THANK YOUWe are extremely grateful to the many donors who responded to our recent end-of-financial-year appeal. Your support will enable us to achieve our growing educational and artistic goals and provide you in our audience and many students throughout NSW with exciting and fulfilling musical experiences.

CODA

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All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the editor, publisher or any distributor of the programs. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of statements in this publication, we cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors. Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyright material prior to printing.

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By arrangement with the Sydney Symphony, this publication is offered free of charge to its patrons subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s consent in writing. It is a further condition that this publication shall not be circulated in any form of binding or cover than that in which it was published, or distributed at any other event than specified on the title page of this publication 17358 — 1/240714 — 22TH/E/MO S52/54

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Chairman Brian Nebenzahl OAM RFD

Managing Director Michael Nebenzahl Editorial Director Jocelyn Nebenzahl Manager—Production—Classical Music Alan Ziegler

Operating in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart & DarwinSydney Opera House TrustMr John Symond am [Chair]Ms Catherine Brenner, The Hon Helen Coonan, Ms Brenna Hobson, Mr Chris Knoblanche, Mr Peter Mason am, Ms Jillian Segal am, Mr Robert Wannan, Mr Phillip Wolanski am

Executive ManagementChief Executive Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louise Herron am

Chief Operating Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Claire SpencerDirector, Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jonathan BielskiDirector, Theatre & Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .David ClaringboldDirector, Building Development & Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . .Greg McTaggartDirector, Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anna ReidDirector, External Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brook Turner

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE Administration (02) 9250 7111 Bennelong Point Box Office (02) 9250 7777 GPO Box 4274 Facsimile (02) 9250 7666 Sydney NSW 2001 Website sydneyoperahouse.com

SSO Bravo! #5 2014 Insert.indd 4 17/07/14 12:51 PM

Symphony Services InternationalSuite 2, Level 5, 1 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010PO Box 1145, Darlinghurst NSW 1300Telephone (02) 8622 9400 Facsimile (02) 8622 9422www.symphonyinternational.net

Clocktower Square, Argyle Street, The Rocks NSW 2000GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4644Box Office (02) 8215 4600Facsimile (02) 8215 4646www.sydneysymphony.com

All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the editor, publisher or any distributor of the programs. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of statements in this publication, we cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors. Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyright material prior to printing.

Please address all correspondence to the Publications Editor: Email program.editor@sydneysymphony.com

PAPER PARTNER

All enquiries for advertising space in this publication should be directed to the above company and address. Entire concept copyright. Reproduction without permission in whole or in part of any material contained herein is prohibited. Title ‘Playbill’ is the registered title of Playbill Proprietary Limited. Title ‘Showbill’ is the registered title of Showbill Proprietary Limited.

By arrangement with the Sydney Symphony, this publication is offered free of charge to its patrons subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s consent in writing. It is a further condition that this publication shall not be circulated in any form of binding or cover than that in which it was published, or distributed at any other event than specified on the title page of this publication 17385 — 1/200814 — 25MM/TS S60/62

This is a PLAYBILL / SHOWBILL publication. Playbill Proprietary Limited / Showbill Proprietary Limited ACN 003 311 064 ABN 27 003 311 064

Head Office: Suite A, Level 1, Building 16, Fox Studios Australia, Park Road North, Moore Park NSW 2021PO Box 410, Paddington NSW 2021Telephone: +61 2 9921 5353 Fax: +61 2 9449 6053 E-mail: admin@playbill.com.au Website: www.playbill.com.au

Chairman Brian Nebenzahl OAM RFD

Managing Director Michael Nebenzahl Editorial Director Jocelyn Nebenzahl Manager—Production—Classical Music Alan Ziegler

Operating in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart & DarwinSydney Opera House TrustMr John Symond am [Chair]Ms Catherine Brenner, The Hon Helen Coonan, Ms Brenna Hobson, Mr Chris Knoblanche, Mr Peter Mason am, Ms Jillian Segal am, Mr Robert Wannan, Mr Phillip Wolanski am

Executive ManagementChief Executive Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louise Herron am

Chief Operating Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Claire SpencerDirector, Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jonathan BielskiDirector, Theatre & Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .David ClaringboldDirector, Building Development & Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . .Greg McTaggartDirector, Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anna ReidDirector, External Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brook Turner

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE Administration (02) 9250 7111 Bennelong Point Box Office (02) 9250 7777 GPO Box 4274 Facsimile (02) 9250 7666 Sydney NSW 2001 Website sydneyoperahouse.com