Totally Tchaikovsky. Ashkenazy & Ohlsson 2012 SEASON. Thu 6 December 1.30pm Fri 7 December 8pm Sat 8 December 2pm. Thursday Afternoon Symphony

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1 2012 SEASON Totally Tchaikovsky Ashkenazy & Ohlsson Thu 6 December 1.30pm Fri 7 December 8pm Sat 8 December 2pm Thursday Afternoon Symphony Emirates Metro Series Great Classics

2 Welco me to the Emirates Metro Series The Sydney Symphony is a fi rst-class orchestra in one of the world s most beautiful cities, and Emirates, as a world-class airline, is proud to be Principal Partner for another year is a particularly special year a cause for double celebration as the Sydney Symphony celebrates its 80th anniversary and we share our 10-year partnership. A First Class experience is always a memorable one. Whether it be exiting your personal Emirates chauffeur-driven car at the airport, ready to be whisked away to the Emirates lounge, or entering a concert hall for an unforgettable night of music, the feeling of luxury and pleasure is the same. Emirates in Australia has gone from strength to strength. Our growing network now features 29 exciting European destinations to be explored, including Geneva, Copenhagen and St Petersburg, launched in 2011; and most recently Dublin in January this year. In 2012 we are proud to offer 70 fl ights per week from Australia to our hub in Dubai, as well as an additional 28 fl ights per week trans-tasman. Flying from Sydney to Auckland with Emirates is a unique experience. We operate our state-of-the-art Airbus A380 superjumbo on this route, which offers all the luxuries that you have come to expect from Emirates from chauffeur-driven transfers and priority check-in and world-class lounges for our Business and First Class customers, to a gourmet food and wine experience once on board, plus over 1000 channels of entertainment. We are delighted to continue our support of the Sydney Symphony and Sydney as a whole, through sponsorships such as the Emirates Australian Open. We look forward to working with the orchestra throughout this special celebratory year, to showcase the best of the best when it comes to both music and luxury travel. H H Shei kh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Ma kto um Chairman and Chie f Executive Emirates Airline and Gro up

3 2012 season thursday afternoon symphony Thursday 6 December, 1.30pm emirates metro series Friday 7 December, 8pm great classics Saturday 8 December, 2pm Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Totally Tchaikovsky Vladimir Ashkenazy CONDUCTOR Garrick Ohlsson PIANO Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ) Piano Concerto No.2 in G, Op.44 (original version) Allegro brillante Andante non troppo Allegro con fuoco INTERVAL Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4 in F minor, Op.36 Andante sostenuto Moderato con anima Moderato assai, quasi Andante Allegro vivo Andantino in modo di canzona Scherzo (Pizzicato ostinato) Allegro Finale (Allegro con fuoco) Saturday afternoon s performance will be broadcast live across Australia on ABC Classic FM. Pre-concert talk will be given by Yvonne Frindle 45 minutes before the performance, in the Northern Foyer. Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios for speaker biographies. Estimated durations: 40 minutes, 20-minute interval, 44 minutes The concert will conclude at approximately 3.25pm (Thursday), 9.55pm (Friday) and 3.55pm (Saturday).

4 RIA NOVOSTI / LEBRECHT MUSIC & ARTS Portrait of Tchaikovsky by Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov painted in 1893, the last year of the composer s life. It was praised by many, including the composer: I made the acquaintance of the painter N.D. Kuznetsov, who wished to paint my portrait, and this he carried out with exceptional success, as others have said and as I, too, think. Those citizens of Odessa who came to look at this portrait during the sittings expressed their extraordinary delight, amazement, and joy over the fact that such a splendid work of art was being painted in their city. The portrait was painted rather hurriedly, and that is why it may possibly not have the desired finish in the details, but in terms of its expression, lifelikeness, and authenticity it really is remarkable. 6 sydney symphony

5 INTRODUCTION Totally Tchaikovsky I am made up of contradictions, and I have reached a very mature age without resting upon anything positive, without having calmed my restless spirit either by religion or philosophy. Undoubtedly I should have gone mad but for music. Music is indeed the most beautiful of all Heaven s gifts to humanity wandering in the darkness. Alone it calms, enlightens, and stills our souls. It is not the straw to which the drowning man clings; but a true friend, refuge, and comforter, for whose sake life is worth living. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Those are dramatic words, but they give a glimpse of the pure and honest emotion encapsulated within Tchaikovsky s music. The obvious emotional turmoil in his music is one of the reasons it has garnered fervent adulation from audiences, but conversely, critics have often dismissed Tchaikovsky s music as overly sentimental and lacking in sophistication. This all-tchaikovsky concert contains the well-known Fourth Symphony, but begins in relatively uncharted territory with the Second Piano Concerto. When it was completed in 1879, Tchaikovsky s peers were critical; objections to the concerto s length led the pianist Alexander Siloti to make drastic cuts, making the proud composer bristle with irritation. Sadly, it was the Siloti version that endured, with many not even realising there was an original alternative. In the past few decades, however, Tchaikovsky s original has enjoyed a revival, with more pianists choosing to perform it, as in this concert. Taking a cue from Beethoven, Tchaikovsky s Fourth Symphony was inspired by the idea of Fate. As in the beginning of Beethoven s Fifth, the dark hand of destiny knocks at the door. From these ominous beginnings, the symphony traverses many joyful plains, culminating in the frenzy of emotion that is the final movement. Tchaikovsky ultimately leaves us with this depressingly optimistic idea: If you can find no impulse for joy within yourself why not rejoice through the joys of others? PROGRAM GUEST EDITED BY NATASHA CONRAU AYO MUSIC PRESENTATION FELLOW For profi les of Sydney Symphony musicians and news from behind the scenes, turn to bravo!, a regular feature at the back of the program books. Individual issues of bravo! can also be found at sydneysymphony.com/bravo sydney symphony 7

6 ABOUT THE MUSIC Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 in G, Op.44 (original version) Allegro brillante Andante non troppo Allegro con fuoco Garrick Ohlsson piano While there may be a perception that works by great masters are inviolate, that they somehow appear perfectly formed, a small group of compositions stand as testament to their creators struggle to find an ideal shape for their inspiration. The category includes works such as Mussorgsky s Night on Bald Mountain, which was brought to concert audiences in a version by Rimsky-Korsakov. It also includes pieces that later composers have sought to improve upon, such as Pictures from an Exhibition, famously orchestrated by Ravel. In many cases, these works have only recently become better known in their original form. A number of Tchaikovsky s compositions fall into this category. His Rococo Variations for cello and orchestra were for over 60 years better known in a re-ordered format by Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, and performances of the Violin Concerto have regularly included amendments made by Leopold Auer. More significantly, the publication of an altered and substantially diminished version of his Second Piano Concerto, created by his former student Alexander Siloti, meant that it took more than a century for pianists to become fully aware of the extent of changes made to Tchaikovsky s original. Far happier was the story of the concerto s creation. The emotional turmoil surrounding the inevitable failure of Tchaikovsky s marriage, combined with a desire for a change of scene, led to a prolonged period of travel. Of the major works from these nomadic years, the Second Piano Concerto was the first. Free from the burden of teaching, and bolstered by the assistance of his generous benefactor, Nadezhda von Meck, he found solace in the Ukrainian estate of his sister and began, almost uniquely for recent years, to compose for pleasure. The opening movement of the new work was completed in draft in November 1879 before he left for Paris, where he quickly composed the finale. The slow movement which, he noted, already existed in his head was written last, while the orchestration was begun in Rome the following year. Given the comparative tranquillity of the composer s life, Keynotes TCHAIKOVSKY Born Kamsko-Votkinsk, 1840 Died St Petersburg, 1893 Tchaikovsky represented a new direction for Russian music in the late 19th century: fully professional and cosmopolitan in outlook. He embraced the genres and forms of Western European tradition symphonies, concertos and overtures bringing to them an unrivalled gift for melody. Tchaikovsky s personal life is often painted as one of dark turmoil, with difficult personal events such as marrying a woman he didn t love to conquer his homosexuality being the inspiration for his turbulent music. PIANO CONCERTO NO.2 In 1879, Tchaikovsky was suffering post-tour blues. He d recently returned from summer sojourns in Moscow and St Petersburg and had no pressing compositional commitments. But his ennui was broken when he began working on a second piano concerto the boredom vanished as if by magic. The concerto was not as well received as the first and Tchaikovsky conceded that the work was perhaps too long. But he was nevertheless angered when his student Siloti proposed cutting large sections and rearranging others. Although Siloti s version has long dominated concert halls, the original version, as heard tonight, is increasingly performed, allowing audiences to hear the chamber music section from the second movement, with its solos for violin and cello. 8 sydney symphony

7 it is unsurprising that the melodies are uniformly positive in nature. However, detractors have criticised this very aspect, especially the buoyant opening theme, which noted Tchaikovsky historian, David Brown, has labelled second rate. A common hypothesis among those passing judgement (and there have been a few), is that the absence of stress or external criticism such as Tchaikovsky felt when fulfilling commissions led him to compose inferior music. Yet there are numerous innovative aspects to the concerto, and Tchaikovsky s letters show how intently he contemplated what he viewed as endemic problems with the genre. Chief among these was an incongruity of piano and orchestral sounds, hence the most notable characteristic of the first movement: two long piano solos divided by a large passage for orchestra. The divergence in the relationship between soloist and orchestra is similarly mirrored in the movement s complex harmonic scheme, where the orchestral sections occupy the flatter keys, the piano solos the sharper ones. Even so, the movement is adapted to a simple sonata-form structure. The prominent feature of the Andante non troppo is the long episodes Tchaikovsky scored for solo violin and cello, giving the effect of a piano trio. The melodic writing is intensely expressive, yet its very orchestration again underscores one of his concerns: namely, fears over the lyrical capacity of the piano. The central section veers toward the darker, minor tonality, before sustained cadenzas for the solo strings lead to a return of the opening melody. The mood is broken by the energetic finale, Allegro con fuoco, a rondo movement of simple themes which belie a sophisticated harmonic layout that cleverly staggers the final return to the home key. In contrast to the resplendent finales of his symphonic works, the character here is rustic. Given that Tchaikovsky was a pianist of admittedly limited skill, it is notable that the virtuosic keyboard writing is among his finest. Both of Tchaikovsky s piano concertos were premiered in the United States, a perhaps surprising fact given it was then a relative backwater of the musical arts. They share a further connection through Nikolai Rubinstein, the Russian pianist and teacher who had famously dismissed the composer s first attempts in the genre in As the dedicatee of the Second Concerto he held his tongue, yet it is apparent that both he and Sergei Taneyev, who gave the first Russian performance, privately harboured misgivings. This is reflected in Tchaikovsky s later correspondence, Tchaikovsky was a man of discipline and, with or without tormented fuel for the fire, he would sit down at the piano every day at 9 o clock to compose: Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy. sydney symphony 9

8 where he agreed it suffered from its length, and in a pointed comment noted his regret at not being informed of the concerto s perceived deficiencies earlier. Perhaps fatally for the work, he later went as far to say that it was impossible in its original form. A number of the proposals made by Siloti (whose version supplanted the original) had been rejected by Tchaikovsky before his death in 1893, including a complete remodelling of the first movement, with the main cadenza moved to the end a suggestion which reportedly made the composer s hair stand on end. That he would not countenance such propositions makes it hard to understand why his publisher and friend, Pyotr Jurgenson, would almost immediately publish an edition containing further revisions by Siloti, which included, among other things, the total removal of the central section of the slow movement, reducing its length by half. In 1955, a Soviet publication supervised by Alexander Goldenweiser restored the original, however Siloti s alterations remained in popular circulation. It is only recently that pianists and concert presenters have begun to favour the concerto in its original setting. Arguably, the then-prevalent view in northern Russia of Tchaikovsky as lacking in talent and skill (and the slavish recounting of this notion through much of Western musicology) could be blamed for some of the second-guessing his music has endured. While Tchaikovsky acknowledged faults with the Second Piano Concerto, as Tchaikovsky did with many of his compositions, it is, nonetheless, a faithful account of a profoundly optimistic period of his life. SCOTT DAVIE 2012 The orchestra for Tchaikovsky s Second Piano Concerto calls for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons; four horns and two trumpets; timpani and strings. Your idea of transferring the cadenza to the end made my hair stand on end. TCHAIKOVSKY TO SILOTI The Second Piano Concerto was first performed in New York on 12 November 1881 with English pianist Madeline Schiller and Theodore Thomas. Sergei Taneyev gave the first Russian performance in 1882, with Anton Rubinstein conducting. (Nikolai Rubinstein, whom Tchaikovsky had hoped would play the piano part, had died in 1881.) The Sydney Symphony first performed the concerto in 1958, with Daniel Barenboim and conductor Kurt Woess. The orchestra also performed it in Sydney and on tour in 2000 with conductor Mark Elder and Peter Donohoe, a leading advocate for the concerto in its original form. The orchestra s most recent performance of the concerto was in 2009 with another advocate for the original version, Stephen Hough, and conductor Hugh Wolff. Great Orchestras of Europe with Damien Beaumont Vienna Dresden Berlin Cologne Paris 24 May 9 June 2013 (17 days) Experience the great orchestras of Europe on this wonderful musical odyssey from Vienna to Paris, including the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, and Amsterdam s Royal Concertgebouw! Sir Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic Monika Rittershaus For detailed information call visit or contact your travel agent 10 sydney symphony

9 Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4 in F minor, Op.36 Andante sostenuto Moderato con anima Moderato assai, quasi Andante Allegro vivo Andantino in modo di canzona Scherzo (Pizzicato ostinato) Allegro Finale (Allegro con fuoco) You know the old story. In 1877, the tormented and selfhating Tchaikovsky received a declaration of love from one Antonina Milyukova, who, being a nymphomaniacal psychopath, threatened suicide if Tchaikovsky refused to marry her. The composer, feeling that such a marriage would both save Antonina from herself and cure his homosexuality, accepted the proposal, but within minutes of being married realised that he had made a terrible mistake so terrible that within two months he had attempted suicide himself before fleeing Moscow. Antonina quickly descended into her own madness and ended her days in the Gothic squalor of a lunatic asylum. Tchaikovsky consoled himself by pouring his anguish into his Fourth Symphony and the opera Eugene Onegin. With the fall of the Soviet Union, archival material pertaining to Tchaikovsky has recently become available. Thanks to scholars like Alexander Poznansky we can now see the scenario outlined above retailed for much of the last century in program notes for the load of fantastic rubbish that it is. The composer seems at no time to have been anguished by his sexuality and his decision to marry Antonina stems from other causes. The first cause was the issue of social propriety, but Tchaikovsky made it clear to Antonina that the relationship would be platonic. Antonina s threatened suicide seems to have been nothing more than a literary device, along the lines of I ll die without. Her mental illness only developed after Tchaikovsky s death, and in the 16 years between their marriage and the composer s death she had lived in a long-term relationship with the lawyer Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Shlykov. This relationship produced three children, who all sadly died in early childhood. Second, the then chronically impecunious Tchaikovsky was aware that Antonina would shortly inherit a respectable sum; indeed, she effectively offered this as a dowry. In later years, Tchaikovsky admitted that his treatment of Antonina had been inexcusable, and supported her financially. She in turn scrupulously avoided making any public criticism of Keynotes SYMPHONY NO.4 Tchaikovsky s patron, Nadezhda von Meck, was struck by the fourth symphony, telling him she felt profound, terrifying despair within the work. He responded with the romantic sentiment that where words finish, music begins. Any attempt to outline the meaning of the music in words would be insufficient for Tchaikovsky. Nevertheless, he did offer a kind of map of the work s emotional journey, telling von Meck that the main idea is expressive of the idea of fate, that ominous power which prevents the success of our search for happiness. This power hangs constantly over our heads, like Damocles sword. There is no alternative but to submit to fate. sydney symphony 11

10 Tchaikovsky with his wife her husband even after his death. It is true that Tchaikovsky realised the mistake he had made within a day of the marriage, but from the correspondence between him and his two younger brothers, it is clear that the incompatibility of the composer and his wife was the result of cultural differences rather than sexual horror. There is no evidence that he attempted suicide at this time or, for that matter, at any other, and Poznansky debunks the various suicide myths that surround Tchaikovsky s death in None of which is to say that the Fourth Symphony is not about serious emotional and psychological states, nor that the experience of a disastrous marriage didn t affect Tchaikovsky s emotional equilibrium. The other woman in Tchaikovsky s life, Nadezhda von Meck, who became his patron and epistolatory confidante late in 1876, wrote to him of the work s profound, terrifying despair. The composer, famously, insisted in his correspondence with von Meck that where words finish, music begins and that a program explaining the meaning of the music would necessarily be imprecise. Nonetheless he did offer a kind of map of the work s emotional journey (never dreaming that it would be published), saying: the main idea...is expressive of the idea of fate, that ominous power which prevents the success of our search for happiness. Tchaikovsky s patron wrote to him of the symphony s profound, terrifying despair. 12 sydney symphony

11 This power hangs constantly over our heads, like Damocles sword. There is no alternative but to submit to fate. The theme of Fate is heard, the powerful brass fanfare which opens the first movement, and which returns at climactic moments throughout the first and last movements. Contrasting with this is a conventional pair of subjects or thematic groupings. The first, marked moderato, is characterised by a waltz tempo kept on its toes by a pervasive use of crossrhythm. The second subject, according to Tchaikovsky, represents the world of dreams into which we are tempted to escape. Scholar Leon Botstein has argued that Tchaikovsky s use of repetition in the course of this movement is emblematic of the state of mind that the music depicts: the obsessive statement and restatement of material is relieved by Tchaikovsky s deftness in subtly changing certain details each time. But Fate, with its ambivalent minor/major tonality, keeps obtruding (undermining the principles of sonata design) and eventually disperses the imagery of dreams. In the second movement, Tchaikovsky again uses seemingly literal repetition of the thematic material to suggest the obsessive nature of memory, but as Botstein notes, despite repetition, the background and foreground changes as different dialogues between theme and countermelody are explored. The Scherzo has been interpreted as the reassertion of reality. Its celebrated pizzicato-dominated string writing has an implacable character, but it also serves to provide a bridge between the introspection of the second movement and the extrovert nature of the finale. The composer s explanation for the festive nature of the Finale was: If you find no cause for joy within yourself, look for it in others. Look, they know how to enjoy themselves, giving themselves up to undivided feelings of pleasure. This has obscured an important aspect of the Finale. Where much of the symphony uses thematic material redolent of folk music, in the Finale Tchaikovsky quotes the tune In the field a little birch tree stood. As Roland John Wiley notes in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians: both words and setting are significant. The birch tree is solitary, and it is the image of a woman The crowd that gathers is of unmarried women who perform a round dance and then throw their wreaths into the stream. Those whose wreaths float on the surface of the water will marry; those whose wreaths sink will not. Tchaikovsky s view of Antonina was clearly not unsympathetic, despite the baleful intrusion of the Fate music. Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky s patron The Scherzo provides a bridge between the introspective second movement and the extrovert finale. sydney symphony 13

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13 Importantly, however, we should remember that the profound, terrifying despair of this work is created by an artist in full control of his technical forces. Tchaikovsky, a consummate professional, was careful to point out to von Meck that anyone who believes that the creative person is capable of expressing what he feels out of a momentary effect aided by the means of art is mistaken. Interpretation of this symphony has inevitably been compromised by the fatuous rehashing of biographical details, making it a document of hysteria and despair. The contemporary critic George Bernard Shaw got it right, though, when he said, The most notable merit of the symphony is its freedom from the frightful effeminacy of most modern works of the Romantic school. GORDON KERRY 2002 Tchaikovsky s Fourth Symphony calls for two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets and two bassoons; four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba; timpani and percussion (triangle, bass drum, cymbals); and strings. The first Australian performance of Tchaikovsky s Fourth Symphony was by the South Australian Orchestra in Adelaide in The Sydney Symphony first performed it in 1941 under Percy Code, and most recently in 2011 in a gala concert, conducted b y Jahja Ling. Farewell to Owen Chambers ABC Classic FM Senior Music Producer (NSW) In addition to the thousands who attend Sydney Symphony performances at the Sydney Opera House, thousands more tune in to our concert broadcasts on ABC Classic FM. One of the producers who has helped turn homes into concert halls has been Owen Chambers. Owen joined the ABC in Now, after 40 years, including nearly three as the Senior Music Producer for NSW, he has decided to retire, and this Saturday represents his fi nal live concert broadcast for the ABC. Those words are telling: live concert. Owen loves his work in all its dimensions, but the concert broadcast, live to air, is a special enthusiasm. His superb musical judgement, and calm and cheerful demeanour come into their own in this sometimes unforgiving kind of radio. Most endearingly, says presenter Marian Arnold, Owen creates an atmosphere of pleasurable anticipation in the broadcast box. Owen is an encourager, supporter and mentor, as well as an expert producer, and he will be sorely missed by all his colleagues, not only at the ABC but at the Sydney Symphony. As one of us commented, on seeing this photo of Owen at the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition, he looks far too young to be retiring! We thank Owen for his tremendous contributions to our musical life and wish him all the best for a long and happy retirement. sydney symphony 15

14 MORE MUSIC PIANO CONCERTO NO.2 Steven Hough explores three different versions of the Second Concerto s Andante non troppo Tchaikovsky s original, Siloti s version and a discreet arrangement from Hough himself. The recording also includes the popular First Concerto and other concertante works, with Osmo Vänskä conducting the Minnesota Orchestra. HYPERION In 1988, Peter Donohoe recorded Tchaikovsky s original Second Piano Concerto with Nigel Kennedy and Steven Isserlis playing the respective violin and cello solos. Hear their performance alongside Donohoe s interpretations of the first and third concertos, with Rudolf Barshai conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. EMI CLASSICS If you particularly enjoy the piano trio moments in the Andante non troppo, have a listen to Tchaikovsky s Piano Trio in A minor, performed by a star ensemble: Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman and Jacqueline du Pré. EMI CLASSICS SYMPHONY NO.4 Tchaikovsky s last three number symphonies are amongst the most recorded works in the orchestral repertoire. To get a taste of the best, look no further than Yevgeny Mravinsky s legendary recordings of 1960, with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON If you d like to become better acquainted with Tchaikovsky s other orchestral works, look for the 2010 boxed set with Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra. Included are the first three, lesser-known symphonies together with an appealing selection of Tchaikovsky s program music. If you manage to get your hands on the original 1996 release, check out the illuminating liner notes by Richard Taruskin. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON Ashkenazy himself has recorded the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth symphonies with the Philharmonia Orchestra, where he was named Conductor Laureate in DECCA GARRICK OHLSSON In 1995 Garrick Ohlsson embarked upon a project to record Chopin s entire canon of piano works, now available in a boxed set. As well as solo piano works, the collection includes Chopin s piano concertos and chamber music. HYPERION And there s more to Ohlsson s repertoire than Chopin. In an album of Aaron Copland s music, Ohlsson joins his home-town orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, to perform Copland s littleknown Piano Concerto under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. RCA VICTOR RED SEAL Broadcast Diary December abc.net.au/classic Friday 14 December, 9.15pm mozart meets copland Nicholas Carter conductor David Elton trumpet Alexandre Oguey cor anglais Mozart, Copland, Strauss Tuesday 18 December, 1.05pm symphony for the common man Robert Spano conductor Ian Cleworth, Timothy Constable, Rebecca Lagos, Colin Piper and Mark Robinson percussion Debussy, Takemitsu, Copland Friday 21 December, 8pm brass exhibition Michael Mulcahy conductor Sydney Symphony Brass Ensemble Gabrieli, Kats-Chernin, Terracini, Mussorgsky, Wagner Wednesday 26 December, 8pm piers lane in recital Debussy, Bartók, Liszt, Chopin, Delibes Monday 31 December, 8pm gershwin tribute Bramwell Tovey piano-conductor Tracy Dahl soprano Gershwin, Bernstein Fine Music sydney symphony 2012 Tuesday 11 December, 6pm Musicians, staff and guest artists discuss what s in store in our forthcoming concerts. 16 sydney symphony

15 Webcasts Selected Sydney Symphony concerts are webcast live on BigPond and Telstra T-box and made available for later viewing On Demand. Our most recent webcast: dancing with the saxophone Visit: bigpondmusic.com/sydneysymphony Sydney Symphony Live The Sydney Symphony Live label was founded in 2006 and we ve since released more than a dozen recordings featuring the orchestra in live concert performances with our titled conductors and leading guest artists, including the Mahler Odyssey cycle, begun in To purchase, visit sydneysymphony.com/shop Glazunov & Shostakovich Alexander Lazarev conducts a thrilling performance of Shostakovich 9 and Glazunov s Seasons. SSO 2 Strauss & Schubert Gianluigi Gelmetti conducts Schubert s Unfi nished and R Strauss s Four Last Songs with Ricarda Merbeth. SSO Sir Charles Mackerras A 2CD set featuring Sir Charles s fi nal performances with the orchestra, in October SSO Brett Dean Brett Dean performs his own viola concerto, conducted by Simone Young, in this all-dean release. SSO Ravel Gelmetti conducts music by one of his favourite composers: Maurice Ravel. Includes Bolero. SSO Rare Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff chamber music with Dene Olding, the Goldner Quartet, soprano Joan Rodgers and Vladimir Ashkenazy at the piano. SSO MAHLER ODYSSEY ON CD During the 2010 and 2011 concert seasons, the Sydney Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy set out to perform all the Mahler symphonies, together with some of the song cycles. These concerts were recorded for CD, with nine releases so far and more to come. Mahler 9 OUT NOW In March, Mahler s Ninth, his last completed symphony, was released. SSO ALSO CURRENTLY AVAILABLE Mahler 1 & Songs of a Wayfarer SSO Mahler 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) SSO Mahler 5 SSO Song of the Earth SSO Mahler 3 SSO Mahler 4 SSO Mahler 6 SSO Mahler 7 SSO Sydney Symphony Online Join us on Facebook facebook.com/sydneysymphony Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/sydsymph Watch us on YouTube Visit sydneysymphony.com for concert information, podcasts, and to read the program book in the week of the concert. Stay tuned. Sign up to receive our fortnightly e-newsletter sydneysymphony.com/staytuned Download our free mobile app for iphone or Android sydneysymphony.com/mobile_app sydney symphony 17

16 ABOUT THE ARTISTS Vladimir Ashkenazy PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC ADVISOR In the years since Vladimir Ashkenazy first came to prominence on the world stage in the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw he has built an extraordinary career, not only as one of the most renowned and revered pianists of our times, but as an inspiring artist whose creative life encompasses a vast range of activities. Conducting has formed the largest part of his musicmaking for the past 20 years. He has been Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic ( ), and Music Director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo ( ). This is his fourth season as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Sydney Symphony. Alongside these roles, Vladimir Ashkenazy is also Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, with whom he has developed landmark projects such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich Under Stalin (a project which he toured and later developed into a TV documentary) and Rachmaninoff Revisited at the Lincoln Center, New York. He also holds the positions of Music Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. He maintains strong links with a number of other major orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra (where he was formerly Principal Guest Conductor), San Francisco Symphony, and Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin (Chief Conductor and Music Director, ), as well as making guest appearances with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic. Vladimir Ashkenazy continues to devote himself to the piano, building his comprehensive recording catalogue with releases such as the 1999 Grammy award-winning Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, Rautavaara s Piano Concerto No.3 (which he commissioned), Rachmaninoff transcriptions, Bach s Wohltemperierte Klavier and Beethoven s Diabelli Variations. In 2009 he released a disc of French piano duo works with Vovka Ashkenazy. A regular visitor to Sydney over many years, he has conducted subscription concerts and composer festivals for the Sydney Symphony, with his five-program Rachmaninoff festival forming a highlight of the 75th Anniversary Season in In he conducted the Mahler Odyssey concerts and live recordings, and his artistic role with the orchestra also includes annual international touring. KEITH SAUNDERS 18 sydney symphony

17 Garrick Ohlsson PIANO Since winning the Gold Medal in the 1970 International Chopin Piano Competition, Garrick Ohlsson has established himself as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. In addition to being one of the leading exponents of Chopin s music, he commands an enormous repertoire, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century. Garrick Ohlsson performs regularly with orchestras throughout North America and Europe. In 2010, he presented a series of all-chopin recital programs in Seattle, Berkeley and La Jolla, culminating at the Lincoln Center. In conjunction with that project, he was featured in a documentary, The Art of Chopin, which was released in 2010 followed by a DVD of both concertos. During the 2011 bicentenary of Liszt s birth, Garrick Ohlsson performed recitals of his works in Chicago, Hong Kong, London, and New York, where he also performed at Carnegie Hall with the Atlanta Symphony and Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. Earlier this year, he performed Busoni s rarely played piano concerto with Gianandrea Noseda and the European Union Youth Orchestra at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Edinburgh International Festival. As a chamber musician, Garrick Ohlsson has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson and Tokyo string quartets, among other ensembles. Together with violinist Jorja Fleezanis and cellist Michael Grebanier, he is a founding member of the San Francisco-based FOG Trio. A native of White Plains, New York, Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of eight and at 13 he entered the Juilliard School. His musical development has been influenced by many distinguished teachers, most notably Claudio Arrau, Olga Barabini, Tom Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lhévinne and Irma Wolpe. He won first prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and 1968 Montreal Piano Competition, in 1994 he was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize, and in 1998 he received the University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Garrick Ohlsson s most recent engagement with the Sydney Symphony was in 2010 when he performed Chopin s Second Piano Concerto in a concert with David Robertson, and an all-chopin recital. PAUL BODY sydney symphony 19

18 MUSICIANS Vladimir Ashkenazy Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor supported by Emirates Dene Olding Concertmaster Jessica Cottis Assistant Conductor supported by Premier Partner Credit Suisse FIRST VIOLINS Daniel Dodds* Concertmaster Kirsten Williams Associate Concertmaster Sun Yi Associate Concertmaster Fiona Ziegler Assistant Concertmaster Julie Batty Jennifer Booth Marianne Broadfoot Brielle Clapson Sophie Cole Amber Davis Jennifer Hoy Nicola Lewis Alexander Norton Léone Ziegler Elizabeth Jones Liisa Pallandi* Dene Olding Concertmaster Georges Lentz Alexandra Mitchell SECOND VIOLINS Kirsty Hilton Marina Marsden Alexander Read Emily Long A/Assistant Principal Maria Durek Emma Hayes Shuti Huang Stan W Kornel Benjamin Li Nicole Masters Biyana Rozenblit Maja Verunica Alexandra D Elia Lucy Warren Emma West Assistant Principal Susan Dobbie Principal Emeritus Philippa Paige VIOLAS Roger Benedict Tobias Breider Anne-Louise Comerford Justin Williams Assistant Principal Robyn Brookfield Sandro Costantino Jane Hazelwood Graham Hennings Stuart Johnson Justine Marsden Felicity Tsai Leonid Volovelsky CELLOS Catherine Hewgill Leah Lynn Assistant Principal Kristy Conrau Fenella Gill Timothy Nankervis Elizabeth Neville Christopher Pidcock Adrian Wallis David Wickham Rachael Tobin DOUBLE BASSES Kees Boersma Neil Brawley Principal Emeritus David Campbell Steven Larson Richard Lynn David Murray Benjamin Ward Douglas Rutherford Alex Henery FLUTES Emma Sholl Carolyn Harris Rosamund Plummer Principal Piccolo Janet Webb OBOES Diana Doherty David Papp Shefali Pryor Alexandre Oguey Principal Cor Anglais CLARINETS Lawrence Dobell Christopher Tingay Francesco Celata Craig Wernicke Principal Bass Clarinet BASSOONS Matthew Wilkie Fiona McNamara Roger Brooke Noriko Shimada Principal Contrabassoon HORNS Ben Jacks Geoffrey O Reilly Principal 3rd Euan Harvey Rachel Shaw Robert Johnson Marnie Sebire TRUMPETS David Elton Craig Ross* Paul Goodchild John Foster Anthony Heinrichs TROMBONES Ronald Prussing Nick Byrne Christopher Harris Principal Bass Trombone Scott Kinmont TUBA Steve Rossé TIMPANI Mark Robinson Assistant Principal Richard Miller PERCUSSION Rebecca Lagos Colin Piper Alison Pratt* HARP Louise Johnson Bold = Principal Italics = Associate Principal * = Guest Musician = Contract Musician = Sydney Symphony Fellow Grey = Permanent member of the Sydney Symphony not appearing in this concert To see photographs of the full roster of permanent musicians and find out more about the orchestra, visit our website: If you don t have access to the internet, ask one of our customer service representatives for a copy of our Musicians flyer. The men of the Sydney Symphony are proudly outfitted by Van Heusen. 20 sydney symphony

19 SYDNEY SYMPHONY Vladimir Ashkenazy, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor PATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO JOHN MARMARAS Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Sydney Symphony 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 Sydney Symphony also performs in venues throughout Sydney and regional New South Wales. International tours to Europe, Asia and the USA have earned the orchestra worldwide recognition for artistic excellence, most recently in the 2012 tour of China. The Sydney Symphony 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, Zdeněk Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de Waart and Gianluigi Gelmetti. David Robertson will take up the post of Chief Conductor in The orchestra s history also boasts collaborations with legendary figures such as George Szell, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky. The Sydney Symphony 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, Liza Lim, Lee Bracegirdle, Gordon Kerry and Georges Lentz, and the orchestra s recording of works by Brett Dean was released on both the BIS and Sydney Symphony Live labels. Other releases on the Sydney Symphony Live label, established in 2006, include performances with Alexander Lazarev, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Sir Charles Mackerras and Vladimir Ashkenazy. The orchestra has recently completed recording the Mahler symphonies, and has also released recordings with Ashkenazy of Rachmaninoff and Elgar orchestral works on the Exton/Triton labels, as well as numerous recordings on the ABC Classics label. This is the fourth year of Ashkenazy s tenure as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor. sydney symphony 21

20 BEHIND THE SCENES Sydney Symphony Board John C Conde ao Chairman Terrey Arcus am Ewen Crouch Ross Grant Jennifer Hoy Rory Jeffes Andrew Kaldor Irene Lee David Livingstone Goetz Richter Sydney Symphony Council Geoff Ainsworth am Andrew Andersons ao Michael Baume ao Christine Bishop Ita Buttrose ao obe Peter Cudlipp John Curtis am Greg Daniel am John Della Bosca Alan Fang Erin Flaherty Dr Stephen Freiberg Donald Hazelwood ao obe Dr Michael Joel am Simon Johnson Yvonne Kenny am Gary Linnane Amanda Love Helen Lynch am David Maloney David Malouf ao Julie Manfredi-Hughes Deborah Marr The Hon. Justice Jane Mathews ao Danny May Wendy McCarthy ao Jane Morschel Greg Paramor Dr Timothy Pascoe am Prof. Ron Penny ao Jerome Rowley Paul Salteri Sandra Salteri Juliana Schaeffer Leo Schofield am Fred Stein oam Gabrielle Trainor Ivan Ungar John van Ogtrop Peter Weiss am HonDLitt Mary Whelan Rosemary White Sydney Symphony Staff MANAGING DIRECTOR Rory Jeffes EXECUTIVE TEAM ASSISTANT Lisa Davies-Galli ARTISTIC OPERATIONS DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC PLANNING Peter Czornyj Artistic Administration ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Elaine Armstrong ARTIST LIAISON MANAGER Ilmar Leetberg RECORDING ENTERPRISE MANAGER Philip Powers Education Programs HEAD OF EDUCATION Kim Waldock EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM MANAGER Mark Lawrenson EDUCATION COORDINATOR Rachel McLarin CUSTOMER SERVICE OFFICER Derek Reed Library LIBRARIAN Anna Cernik LIBRARY ASSISTANT Victoria Grant LIBRARY ASSISTANT Mary-Ann Mead ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT Aernout Kerbert ORCHESTRA MANAGER Chris Lewis ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR Georgia Stamatopoulos OPERATIONS MANAGER Kerry-Anne Cook PRODUCTION MANAGER Laura Daniel PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Tim Dayman PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Ian Spence SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Mark J Elliott MARKETING MANAGER, SUBSCRIPTION SALES Simon Crossley-Meates A/SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER, SALES Matthew Rive MARKETING MANAGER, BUSINESS RESOURCES Katrina Riddle ONLINE MARKETING MANAGER Eve Le Gall GRAPHIC DESIGNER Lucy McCullough CREATIVE ARTWORKER Nathanael van der Reyden DATA ANALYST Varsha Karnik MARKETING ASSISTANT Jonathon Symonds Box Office MANAGER OF BOX OFFICE SALES & OPERATIONS Lynn McLaughlin BOX OFFICE SYSTEMS SUPERVISOR Jacqueline Tooley CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES Steve Clarke Senior CSR Michael Dowling John Robertson Bec Sheedy Amy Walsh COMMUNICATIONS HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS & SPONSOR RELATIONS Yvonne Zammit PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER Katherine Stevenson COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR Janine Harris DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER Ben Draisma Publications PUBLICATIONS EDITOR & MUSIC PRESENTATION MANAGER Yvonne Frindle DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Caroline Sharpen EXTERNAL RELATIONS MANAGER Stephen Attfield PHILANTHROPY, PATRONS PROGRAM Ivana Jirasek DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Amelia Morgan-Hunn BUSINESS SERVICES DIRECTOR OF FINANCE John Horn FINANCE MANAGER Ruth Tolentino ACCOUNTANT Minerva Prescott ACCOUNTS ASSISTANT Emma Ferrer PAYROLL OFFICER Laura Soutter HUMAN RESOURCES HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES Michel Maree Hryce 22 sydney symphony

21 SYDNEY SYMPHONY PATRONS Maestro s Circle Peter Weiss am HonDLitt Founding President & Doris Weiss John C Conde ao Chairman Geoff Ainsworth am & Vicki Ainsworth Tom Breen & Rachael Kohn In memory of Hetty & Egon Gordon Andrew Kaldor & Renata Kaldor ao Roslyn Packer ao Penelope Seidler am Mr Fred Street am & Mrs Dorothy Street Westfield Group Brian & Rosemary White Ray Wilson oam in memory of the late James Agapitos oam Sydney Symphony Leadership Ensemble David Livingstone, CEO, Credit Suisse, Australia Alan Fang, Chairman, Tianda Group Tony Grierson, Braithwaite Steiner Pretty Insurance Australia Grou p Macquarie Group Foundation John Morschel, Chairman, ANZ Directors Chairs Andrew Kaldor, Chairman, Pelikan Artline Lynn Kraus, Sydney Office Managing Partner, Ernst & Young Shell Australia Pty Ltd James Stevens, CEO, Roses Only Stephen Johns, Chairman, Leighton Holdings, and Michele Johns Roger Benedict Principal Viola Kim Williams am & Catherine Dovey Chair 02 Lawrence Dobell Principal Clarinet Anne Arcus & Terrey Arcus am Chair 03 Diana Doherty Principal Oboe Andrew Kaldor & Renata Kaldor ao Chair 04 Richard Gill oam Artistic Director Education Sandra & Paul Salteri Chair 05 Catherine Hewgill Principal Cello The Hon. Justice AJ & Mrs Fran Meagher Chair 06 Robert Johnson Principal Horn James & Leonie Furber Chair 07 Elizabeth Neville Cello Ruth & Bob Magid Chair 08 Colin Piper Percussion Justice Jane Mathews ao Chair 09 Emma Sholl Associate Principal Flute Robert & Janet Constable Chair For information about the Directors Chairs program, please call (02) Sydney Symphony Vanguard Vanguard Collective Justin Di Lollo Chair Kees Boersma Rose Herceg David McKean Amelia Morgan-Hunn Jonathan Pease Members Matti Alakargas Nikki Andrews James Armstrong Stephen Attfield Andrew Baxter Mar Beltran Kees Boersma Peter Braithwaite Andrea Brown Ian Burton Jennifer Burton Hahn Chau Ron Christianson Matthew Clark Benoît Cocheteux George Condous Michael Cook Paul Cousins Justin Di Lollo Rose Gallo Sam Giddings Derek Hand Rose Herceg Jennifer Hoy Damian Kassagbi Chris Keher Elizabeth Lee Antony Lighten Gary Linnane David McKean Hayden McLean Amelia Morgan-Hunn Hugh Munro Fiona Osler Peter Outridge Archie Paffas Jonathan Pease Seamus R Quick Michael Reede Jacqueline Rowlands Bernard Ryan Adam Wand Jon Wilkie Jonathan Watkinson Darren Woolley Misha Zelinsky sydney symphony 23

22 PLAYING YOUR PART The Sydney Symphony 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 Platinum Patrons $20,000+ Brian Abel Geoff Ainsworth am & Vicki Ainsworth Robert Albert ao & Elizabeth Albert Terrey Arcus am & Anne Arcus Tom Breen & Rachael Kohn Sandra & Neil Burns Mr John C Conde ao Robert & Janet Constable Michael Crouch ao & Shanny Crouch James & Leonie Furber Dr Bruno & Mrs Rhonda Giuffre In memory of Hetty & Egon Gordon Ms Rose Herceg Mr Andrew Kaldor & Mrs Renata Kaldor ao D & I Kallinikos James N Kirby Foundation Joan MacKenzie Violin Scholarship, Sinfonia Justice Jane Mathews ao Mrs Roslyn Packer ao Paul & Sandra Salteri Mrs Penelope Seidler am G & C Solomon in memory of Joan MacKenzie Mrs W Stening Mr Fred Street am & Mrs Dorothy Street Mr Peter Weiss am HonDLitt & Mrs Doris Weiss Westfield Group Mr Brian & Mrs Rosemary White Ray Wilson oam in memory of James Agapitos oam Kim Williams am & Catherine Dovey June & Alan Woods Family Bequest Gold Patrons $10,000 $19,999 Mr C R Adamson Stephen J Bell Alan & Christine Bishop Ian & Jennifer Burton Copyright Agency Limited The Hon. Ashley Dawson-Damer Edward Federman Ferris Family Foundation Nora Goodridge Mr Ross Grant The Estate of the late Ida Gugger Helen Lynch am & Helen Bauer Ruth & Bob Magid The Hon. Justice AJ Meagher & Mrs Fran Meagher Mrs T Merewether oam Mr B G O Conor Mrs Joyce Sproat & Mrs Janet Cooke Henry & Ruth Weinberg Anonymous (2) Silver Patrons $5000 $9,999 Doug & Alison Battersby Mr Alexander & Mrs Vera Boyarsky Mr Robert Brakspear Mr David & Mrs Halina Brett Mr Robert & Mrs L Alison Carr Bob & Julie Clampett Howard Connors Ewen & Catherine Crouch Ian Dickson & Reg Holloway Colin Draper & Mary Jane Brodribb Penny Edwards Dr C Goldschmidt The Greatorex Foundation Mrs Jennifer Hershon The Sherry Hogan Foundation Mr Rory Jeffes Stephen Johns & Michele Bender Judges of the Supreme Court of NSW Mr Ervin Katz The Estate of the late Patricia Lance Mr David Livingstone Timothy & Eva Pascoe William McIlrath Charitable Foundation David Maloney & Erin Flaherty Dr John Roarty oam in memory of Mrs June Roarty Rodney Rosenblum am & Sylvia Rosenblum Manfred & Linda Salamon JF & A van Ogtrop Michael & Mary Whelan Trust Ms Caroline Wilkinson Jill Wran Anonymous (2) Bronze Patrons $2,500 $4,999 Mr Marc Besen ao & Mrs Eva Besen ao Jan Bowen M Bulmer Firehold Pty Ltd Stephen Freiberg & Donald Campbell Anthony Gregg & Deanne Whittleston Vic & Katie French Warren Green Mrs Jennifer Hershon Ann Hoban In memory of Bernard M H Khaw Gary Linnane Matthew McInnes J A McKernan R & S Maple-Brown Greg & Susan Marie Alan & Joy Martin Mora Maxwell James & Elsie Moore Drs Keith & Eileen Ong In memory of H St P Scarlett David & Isabel Smithers Mrs Hedy Switzer Marliese & Georges Teitler Dr Richard Wingate Mr & Mrs T & D Yim Anonymous (2) Bronze Patrons $1,000 $2,499 Charles & Renee Abrams Mrs Antoinette Albert Andrew Andersons ao Mr Henri W Aram oam Dr Francis J Augustus Richard and Christine Banks David Barnes Michael Baume ao & Toni Baume Nicole Berger Mrs Jan Biber Allan & Julie Bligh Dr & Mrs Hannes Boshoff Lenore P Buckle In memory of RW Burley Eric & Rosemary Campbell The Hon. Justice JC & Mrs Campbell Dr John H Casey Joan Connery oam & Maxwell Connery oam Constable Estate Vineyards Debby Cramer & Bill Caukill Mr John Cunningham SCM & Mrs Margaret Cunningham Greta Davis Lisa & Miro Davis Matthew Delasey Mr & Mrs Grant Dixon Mrs Margaret Epps John Favaloro Mr Ian Fenwicke & Prof. Neville Wills Michael & Gabrielle Field Mr James Graham am & Mrs Helen Graham Akiko Gregory Edward & Deborah Griffith In memory of Dora & Oscar Grynberg Janette Hamilton Dorothy Hoddinott ao The Hon. David Hunt ao qc & Mrs Margaret Hunt Dr & Mrs Michael Hunter Mr Peter Hutchison Michael & Anna Joel Anna-Lisa Klettenberg Mr Justin Lam Mr Peter Lazar am Associate Professor Winston Liauw Sydney & Airdrie Lloyd 24 sydney symphony

23 Carolyn & Peter Lowry oam Deirdre & Kevin McCann Robert McDougall Ian & Pam McGaw Macquarie Group Foundation Renee Markovic A Nhan Ms Jackie O Brien Mr R A Oppen Mr Robert Orrell Mr & Mrs Ortis Mr Andrew C Patterson In memory of Sandra Paul Piatti Holdings Pty Ltd Andy & Deirdre Plummer Robin Potter Pottinger Ernest & Judith Rapee Kenneth R Reed Patricia H Reid Endowment Pty Ltd Caroline Sharpen Dr Agnes E Sinclair Catherine Stephen John & Alix Sullivan The Hon. Brian Sully qc Mildred Teitler John E Tuckey Mrs M Turkington In memory of Joan & Rupert Vallentine Dr Alla Waldman In memory of Dr Reg Walker The Hon. Justice A G Whealy Ann & Brooks Wilson am Geoff Wood & Melissa Waites Mr Robert & Mrs Rosemary Walsh Mr R R Woodward In memory of Lorna Wright Dr John Yu Anonymous (14) Bronze Patrons $500 $999 Mr Peter J Armstrong Mr & Mrs Garry S Ash Barlow Cleaning Pty Ltd Mrs Margaret Bell Minnie Biggs Pat & Jenny Burnett Ita Buttrose ao obe Mr & Mrs Coates Arnaldo Buch Ita Buttrose ao obe The Hon. Justice JC & Mrs Campbell Dr Rebecca Chin Mrs Sarah Chissick Mrs Catherine J Clark R A & M J Clarke Coffs Airport Security Car Park Mrs Joan Connery oam Jen Cornish Mr David Cross Phil Diment am & Bill Zafiropoulos Elizabeth Donati The Dowe Family Dr Nita & Dr James Durham Malcolm Ellis & Erin O Neill In memory of Peter Everett Mr & Mrs Farrell Mr Tom Francis Tony Grierson Vivienne Goldschmidt Clive & Jenny Goodwin Mr Richard Griffin am Ian R L Harper Ken Hawkings Mrs A Hayward Mr Roger Henning Harry & Meg Herbert Sue Hewitt Mr Joerg Hofmann Mrs Kimberley Holden Mr Gregory Hosking Alex Houghton Bill & Pam Hughes Beauty Point Retirement Resort Niki Kallenberger Mrs W G Keighley Mrs Margaret Keogh Dr Henry Kilham Chris J Kitching Mr Aron & Mrs Helen Kleinlehrer Mr & Mrs Gilles T Kryger Sonia Lal Mr Luigi Lamprati Dr & Mrs Leo Leader Margaret Lederman Irene Lee Anita & Chris Levy Erna & Gerry Levy am Mrs A Lohan Mrs Panee Low Dr David Luis Dr Jean Malcolm Philip & Catherine McClelland Mrs Flora MacDonald Mrs Helen Meddings Mrs Toshiko Meric P J Miller David & Andree Milman Kenneth N Mitchell Ms Margaret Moore oam & Dr Paul Hutchins am Chris Morgan-Hunn Mrs Milja Morris Dr Mike O Connor am Mr Graham North Dr A J Palmer Justice George Palmer am Dr Kevin Pedemont Dr Natalie E Pelham Michael Quailey Lois & Ken Rae Renaissance Tours Anna Ro Pamela Rogers Lesley & Andrew Rosenberg Agnes Ross Mrs Pamela Sayers Garry Scarf & Morgie Blaxill William Sewell Peter & Virginia Shaw Mrs Diane Shteinman am Ms Stephanie Smee Ms Tatiana Sokolova Doug & Judy Sotheren Mrs Judith Southam Margaret Suthers Mr Lindsay & Mrs Suzanne Stone Norman & Lydia Taylor Dr Heng Tey & Mrs Cilla Tey Mrs Alma Toohey & Mr Edward Spicer Kevin Troy Judge Robyn Tupman Gillian Turner & Rob Bishop Prof Gordon E Wall Mrs Margaret Wallis Ronald Walledge Mr Palmer Wang Ms Elizabeth Wilkinson Audrey & Michael Wilson A Willmers & R Pal Dr Richard Wing Dr Peter Wong & Mrs Emmy K Wong Mr Robert Woods Mrs Everly Wyss Mrs Robin Yabsley Anonymous (15) To find out more about becoming a Sydney Symphony Patron, please contact the Philanthropy Office on (02) or philanthropy@sydneysymphony.com sydney symphony 25

24 SALUTE PRINCIPAL PARTNER GOVERNMENT PARTNERS The Sydney Symphony is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body The Sydney Symphony is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW PREMIER PARTNER COMMUNITY PARTNER PLATINUM PARTNERS EDUCATION PARTNER MAJOR PARTNERS GOLD PARTNERS SILVER PARTNERS executive search REGIONAL TOUR PARTNERS MARKETING PARTNER Fine Music sydney symphony

25 ORCHESTRA NEWS NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2012 Photo: Val Anasco NERVES OF STEEL Principal Percussion Rebecca Lagos talks hurdles, radars and democracy. If ever there were a section in an orchestra that needed a strong sixth sense to play precisely together, it would have to be the percussion section. Timing unison entries, says principal percussionist Rebecca Lagos, calls for a mystery radar thing. I can t describe it any other way. We ll all take a big breath in, and play, and it all comes together. As Colin [Piper, fellow percussionist] says, you can t teach that sort of thing. You really can t learn it anywhere except on the job. Rebecca acknowledges that there can be many hurdles for an aspiring young percussionist. You have to accumulate masses of gear, find somewhere to store it, possibly find somewhere else to practice. All this could be a real stumbling block to success. Her own path to becoming a professional musician was relatively straightforward. I ve been quite blessed in terms of falling into jobs early. Twenty-five years ago, when she first joined the Sydney Symphony, Rebecca also joined the percussion ensemble Synergy. It was the perfect foil for all the orchestral stuff. Two of her Synergy colleagues, Colin Piper and Ian Cleworth, were also fellow Sydney Symphony musicians. When you re only playing with three other percus- Some people have a feel for metal. Some people have a feel for skin. sionists, rhythmic ensemble is relatively easy. We tended to feel things the same way. Playing in an orchestra calls on some different skills. Together as Synergy we d become so used to how we played, it made for a great section. But then in the orchestra, you re negotiating with 90 other people, and working out how to place things rhythmically is a different skill. As principal, Rebecca says her job requires her to play with nerves of steel and confidence, putting herself on the line like the other principal players think of the snare drum part in Ravel s Bolero, for instance. Sometimes, however, the role of principal in her section isn t clear-cut the percussion section often functions with greater democracy than other sections of the orchestra. Percussion is a little bit weird, says Rebecca. Works like Bernstein s West Side Story, or Messiaen s Chronochromie, have two or three equally weighted parts that are similarly soloistic or contain comparable technical challenges. I try really hard to put people on parts that play to their strengths. That s the best way, Rebecca says, to build a really good section. Some people have a feel for metal. Some people have a feel for skin.

26 From the Managing Director Ask a Musician Our Development Manager Amelia Morgan-Hunn has her own Ask a Musician question: Is Tobias Breider s viola bigger than everyone else s? Photo: Keith Saunders Our recent tour to China offered ample opportunity for reflection on the year. And what a year it s been. In the orchestra s 80th year, some of our anniversary programs have highlighted historical visits by Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland. We ve also recognised important musical events in the orchestra s history, including our re-creation of the official opening concert of the Sydney Opera House. It s been a significant year also with the appointment of our next Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, David Robertson, who takes over from Vladimir Ashkenazy in As 2012 draws to a close, we have one celebration left up our sleeve. Ashkenazy will conduct a threeweek mini festival of Russian masters. The centrepiece is a concert performance of Tchaikovsky s opera The Queen of Spades. And we present the Australian premiere of Rachmaninoff s Piano Concerto No.4 in its original version. I hope you ll agree it s been an amazing year of music-making. Thank you for your support in coming to our concerts. After all, as Confucius says, If an orchestra plays, and no one s there to hear it, did it ever really happen? RORY JEFFES The short answer is yes, Tobias s viola is bigger than most. But why? Of all the orchestral instruments, the viola poses the greatest design challenges. In order to match the acoustic properties of its cousin the violin, the lower-pitched viola would have to be about 51cm long, making it almost impossible to play. A compromise must be reached. Over the centuries, viola makers have experimented with sizes and shapes of the instrument, adjusting proportional relationships between the length of the neck and position of the bridge, and the dimensions of the body, all the while seeking to maintain that signature sound of the viola. Naturally, violists come in all shapes and sizes too. Tobias, standing at 6-foot-and-quite-a-bit, has a longer reach than many of his colleagues, and can thus play on an instrument closer to the theoretical ideal. I guess I m just one of the lucky ones! he says. The National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing known as The Egg dwarfs our musicians in this group shot. Beijing was the second stop on the orchestra s tour of China, which also took in Tianjin, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Shanghai and Qingdao. Our thanks to tour partner Tianda for their support of this cultural exchange. Proud sponsor of the Sydney Symphony in their 80th year of timeless entertainment

27 Community Focus MUSIC 4 HEALTH MUSIC 4 EVERYONE The hills and valleys of Western Sydney were alive with the sound of music recently when Mount Pritchard & District Community Club hosted over 400 students with autism and their carers in a day of musical expression. It really is the best hour of the year for us, said Grace Fava, president and founder of the Liverpool-based Autism Advisory and Support Service. The look on the kids faces, in their eyes, said it all for me. Given the complex needs these kids have, to see how music brings them all together is wonderful. Cabramatta Labor MP Nick Lalich was also in attendance, and was so moved that he spoke about it at the next sitting of state parliament: There was a wonderful atmosphere in the auditorium that day. The space was filled with the fun and enthusiasm felt by the children and their carers and teachers. Each child in the auditorium was given a percussion instrument to play. Some had triangles and others had castanets. The conductor then got each side of the room to play to a different beating rhythm while the Sydney Symphony provided the melody. It was something to behold. The continual and audible cheering of the children showed how music can cut through their condition. The performance was led by violinist Stan Kornel, with violinists Sophie Cole and Léone Your Say What an inspired piece of programming! [Symphony for the Common Man, September] L après-midi d un faune, so sensitively played, was a perfect prelude to the Takemitsu, which seemed to take us into a new sort of orchestral idiom in the same way Debussy did in As for the Copland symphony, it won in the decibel stakes, but the phrase came to mind: full of sound and fury, signifying Frank Langley Ziegler, cellist Rowena Crouch and double bassist Richard Lynn accompanying the students, from kindergarten to Year 12, as they played on percussion instruments. Other students were invited to the stage to take turns at conducting, or to sing along. The Sydney Symphony s Music4Health program of community engagement aims to provide a transformative experience for those with health, disability and aged care needs, and their carers. Members of the orchestra have performed for children aided by the Autism Advisory and Support Service several times in recent years. If you d like to find out more about our Music4Health programs, philanthropy@sydneysymphony.com or call (02) It was one of the most pleasurable evenings I am sure to experience [Ravel s Bolero, October]. Amy Dickson was fabulous and the orchestra were, as always, brilliant. The percussion section put in a lot of work and they deserved the appreciation that was displayed. The SSO Night Lounge seemed like a big hit. The chamber music was awesome. The mingling felt a bit awkward but I d do it again if the orchestra was planning another! Timothy Borge The Score Ashkenazy s Sibelius At the end of the our Sibelius festival in 2004, conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy turned to the audience and declared that he had never heard Sibelius played better! Now, celebrating five years at the orchestra s helm, Ashkenazy still feels a great affinity with Sibelius s Nordic nature. He will begin 2013 with two of the composer s earliest orchestral works: Kullervo and the Lemminkäinen Suite. These tone poems mark the beginning of the Sibelius s uniquely Finnish style of composition, drawing on his country s rich folklore to create music of great individuality and beauty. Both works are shaped by a narrative, each focusing on the story of a hero from the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala. The tale of Kullervo, a wandering magician, is told through the human voice, calling for a bassbaritone (Kullervo), a soprano (his sister) and chorus in two of its five movements. The sound world of Lemminkäinen is purely instrumental, and the popular third movement, The Swan of Tuonela, features an expansive, song-like solo for the cor anglais. This is the creation of a young composer still working to master the orchestral form, but elements of the snow-covered Finnish landscape are already audible. Ashkenazy, who nominates Sibelius as one of his favourites, says this is some of the composer s best music. NJ Legends by the Sea (Lemminkäinen) Wed 6 Feb 8pm Fri 8 Feb 8pm Sat 9 Feb 8pm A Finnish Epic (Kullervo) Fri 15 Feb 8pm Sat 16 Feb 2pm Akseli Gallen-Kallela

28 CODA HONOURS Philanthropist Peter Weiss was recently honoured by the University of Sydney with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (HonDLitt). The conferring ceremony was an intimate affair in the Vice Chancellor s office conducted by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO. We ve been fortunate to have a long relationship with Peter, and are delighted that he has been recognised in this way. BRAVO BEN Congratulations to double bassist Benjamin Ward who has been selected as a 2012 Churchill Fellow. His project is a comparison of the diverse approaches to the double bass in the major orchestras of Europe and Britain. Ben says: It s a chance for me to inform my own playing, and bring that learning home to then help students through the Sydney Symphony education programs and in private teaching. Bravo Ben! RICHARD GILL ANNIVERSARIES 2012 is Richard Gill s 20th year as Artistic Director of our Education program. To celebrate, we commissioned a new work by Barry Conyngham Symphony which Richard is conducting in the Meet the Music series in November. It s also 50 years since Richard began teaching and to mark this auspicious event he recently published a memoir, Give Me Excess of It. DID YOU KNOW? Our Education program has built up an impressive reach. Here are just a few of its vital statistics: approximately 50 schools concerts, for an audience of 30,000 schoolaged students. accredited professional learning workshops annually to approximately 400 teachers and 100 student teachers. producing six books of lesson resources which are then purchased by teachers all over Australia, and even as far away as Egypt! workshops in five states. And advice from the coalface: You gotta be quick! This year s series of schools concerts at the ABC sold out in 2011, before the season had even begun. 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