Illawarra & Southern Highlands Tour

Transcription

1 Illawarra & Southern Highlands Tour NOWRA TUE 22 MAY 8PM WOLLONGONG WED 23 MAY 8PM MITTAGONG THU 24 MAY 7PM

2 WELCOME From the CEO Eighty years ago, the musicians of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra embarked on their first tour of regional New South Wales, appearing in Wollongong, Katoomba, Orange and Bathurst. Since then, virtually every year has seen the Sydney Symphony Orchestra take to the road, bringing great music to audiences all over the State. RICHARD BLINKOFF In the past 80 years, we have performed the length and breadth of NSW, from Goulburn to Grafton, Broken Hill to Bowral and beyond. I am thrilled that this year, our 80th anniversary of touring, sees us return to where it all began, Wollongong. And I am delighted that this special celebration sees Sydney Symphony Orchestra visit Nowra and Mittagong for the first time. Making music accessible underpins everything that we do at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and I am grateful to the NSW Government through Create NSW, and to the Australia Council for the Arts for their support of our touring program. Thanks also to Rex Regional Express, our Tour Partner. The program we ve put together for you tonight features the overture from Smetana s Bartered Bride, Elgar s Sea Pictures sung by Shikara Ringdahl, and perhaps one of the most famous pieces of music ever written, Beethoven s epic Fifth Symphony. I am particularly pleased that our daytime schools concerts for primary and secondary students feature highlights from the same pieces, a reflection of the value we place on introducing young audiences to the excitement and beauty of orchestral music. Touring cultivates a spirit of unity in each community we visit and makes us proud to be part of the wonderful State of New South Wales. We hope that our music tonight will speak to you as it speaks to us. It is our great pleasure to be here and to make music for and with your community. Emma Dunch Chief Executive Officer Sydney Symphony Orchestra

3 Tuesday 22 May, 8pm Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre Wednesday 23 May, 8pm Wollongong Town Hall Thursday 24 May, 7pm Frensham School, Clubbe Hall Illawarra and Southern Highlands Tour Benjamin Northey conductor Shikara Ringdahl mezzo-soprano Sydney Symphony Orchestra TOUR PARTNER BEDŘICH SMETANA ( ) Overture to the opera The Bartered Bride EDWARD ELGAR ( ) Sea Pictures, Op.37 Sea Slumber-Song In Haven (Capri) Sabbath Morning at Sea Where Corals Lie The Swimmer Shikara Ringdahl, mezzo-soprano Estimated timings: 7 minutes, 23 minutes, 20-minute interval, 31 minutes The concert will conclude at approximately 9.35pm (8.35pm Thursday). INTERVAL LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN ( ) Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67 Allegro con brio Andante con moto Scherzo and Trio (Allegro) Allegro

4 ABOUT THE MUSIC SMETANA Overture to The Bartered Bride The overture essentially sets the scene of festivity on the village green. There are three main motifs: bustling, suspenseful string figures in the opening; a polka-like subject which foreshadows the brilliant national dances to come; and a winsome, contrasting oboe melody. All these will be heard again at the climax of the second act as the bridal-sale contract is signed before the outraged village-folk as indignant witnesses. Adapted from a note by Anthony Cane 2005 ELGAR Sea Pictures Bedřich Smetana was the father of Bohemian music. He wrote mainly operas on national themes and was a driving force behind the establishment of a national theatre in Prague. Of the operas only one, The Bartered Bride, is well-known in English-speaking countries, but it enjoys genuine popularity. In the breathless overture to the opera, Smetana encapsulates the vitality and bustle, as well as the rustic charm, of a Czech village in festive mood. This was the first time Czech village life had been portrayed believably in opera. Although premiered inauspiciously in the shadow of a looming (though in the event, short) war with Bismarck s Prussia, The Bartered Bride survived the fiasco of its truncated opening season in the oppressive midsummer heat of 1866 to win the undying affection of the Czech people (and, subsequently, audiences throughout the world). Smetana s comedy is peopled with characters his audiences would recognise and empathise with, individuals experiencing the deep human emotions of hope and fear, venality and cunning, confusion and despair and, above all, unquenchable young love. In the all s fair context of love and war, not even a dubious device by which the happy outcome turns on a piece of shameless deception can arouse disquiet. Thus not only the bride is won, but a questionable cash bonus as well. (The title is literally The Sold Bride, not bartered.) Mention the name Edward Elgar, and vocal music is not likely to be the first thing which springs to mind. Even in Sea Pictures, a full-scale song cycle for mezzo-soprano with orchestra, the instrumental interludes are often so grandly eloquent that the vocal line seems almost an afterthought. The Norwich Festival commissioned this song cycle from Elgar for their 1899 season. The singer was the 26-year-old contralto Clara Butt later to become a Dame of the British Empire, and synonymous with Land of Hope and Glory. Already an established performer, her voice would have been familiar to the composer. She was especially noted for the strength of her lower register ( trombone-like was one description), and also for the clarity of her diction. Elgar was kind and practical, and here and there wrote in higher optional notes for

5 mezzo-sopranos who lacked Dame Clara s unique depth! Sea Pictures was a critical and popular success. Clara Butt was dressed like a mermaid, wrote Elgar to a friend, and sang really well. A certain amount of less favourable criticism was directed towards the poetry. Elgar did seem to have sentimentally Victorian tastes when it came to lyrics. Roden Noel was a minor British poet; Richard Garnett the scholarly Director of the British Museum Reading Room; Adam Lindsay Gordon the only Australian though British-born to be remembered with a bust in Poet s Corner, Westminster Abbey; Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered a little passé even in 1899; and C. Alice Elgar was the composer s wife. Sea Slumber-Song drops us immediately into an oceanic atmosphere. Elgar s famously thoughtful orchestration uses the two-note rocking motif generations of composers have called upon to set a watery scene. In this case, it is enhanced by rising and falling harp phrases, while the softly rumbling timpani is a clever addition to the seascape. In Haven (Capri) must surely be one of the sweetest things in musical history. When Caroline Alice Roberts first had music lessons with Mr Edward Elgar, she was 38 and had already published two novels. In Haven was a literary effort on a much smaller scale. Elgar set his wife s poem to music in 1897 and published it under the title Lute Song, appropriately enough considering its delicate scoring. The tenderness of the setting seems to be a musical reciprocation of the poet s words. Sabbath Morning at Sea presents some of the most typically Elgarian textures and motifs. The warmth of the strings is exploited whenever possible. The brass instruments have rare moments to blaze out during brief interludes when there is no risk of, so to speak, drowning the singer. Where Corals Lie is the song most often extracted from the cycle for performance by itself. The off-thebeat accompaniment and overall simplicity suggest the uncomplicated pleasure often found in Schubert s songs. Tiny solos from various instruments add textural interest and a certain air of fellowship with the singer. The Swimmer has usually been castigated as the weakest song of the cycle. The poetry is difficult to set, as its persistent rhymes can run the risk of sounding like doggerel. Elgar, however, would have known that in 1870 the poet committed suicide at Melbourne s Brighton Beach, so the description of a swimmer struggling in the stormy water has gained a darker meaning than is suggested at first glance. The varying colours demanded of the low-voiced singer foreshadow the role of the Angel in the Dream of Gerontius, which was written shortly afterwards. Abridged from a note by Katherine Kemp Symphony Australia 1999 Sea Slumber-Song Sea-birds are asleep, The world forgets to weep, Sea murmurs her soft slumber-song On the shadowy sand Of this Elfin land. I, the Mother mild, Hush thee, O my child, Forget the voices wild! Isles in elfin light Dream, the rocks and caves Lulled by the whisp ring waves, Veil their marbles bright, Foam glimmers faintly white Upon the shelly sand Of this elfin land; Sea-sound, like violins, To slumber woos and wins. I murmur my soft slumber-song, Leave woes, and wails, and sins, Ocean s shadowy might Breathes good night, good night! Roden Noel In Haven (Capri) Closely let me hold thy hand, Storms are sweeping sea and land; Love alone will stand. Closely cling, for waves beat fast, Foam flakes cloud the hurrying blast; Love alone will last. Kiss my lips, and softly say: Joy, sea-swept, may fade today, Love alone will stay. C. Alice Elgar

6 Sabbath Morning at Sea The ship went on with solemn face: To meet the darkness on the deep, The solemn ship went onward. I bowed down weary in the place; For parting tears and present sleep Had weighed mine eyelids downward. The new sight, the new wondrous sight! The waters around me, turbulent, The skies, impassive o er me, Calm in a moonless, sunless light, As glorified by even the intent Of holding the day glory! Love me, sweet friends, this sabbath day. The sea sings round me while ye roll Afar the hymn unaltered And kneel, where once I knelt, to pray, And bless me deeper in your soul Because your voice has faltered. And though this sabbath comes to me Without the stolèd minister, And chanting congregation, God s Spirit shall give comfort. He who brooded soft on waters drear, Creator on creation, He shall assist me to look higher, Where keep the saints, with harp and song, An endless sabbath morning, And, on that sea commixed with fire, Oft drop their eyelids raised too long To the full Godhead s burning. Elizabeth Barrett Browning Where Corals Lie The deeps have music soft and low When winds awake the airy spry, It lures me, lures me on to go And see the land where corals lie. By mount and mead, by lawn and rill, When night is deep, and moon is high, That music seeks and finds me still, And tells me where the corals lie. Yes, press my eyelids close, tis well; But far the rapid fancies fly To rolling worlds of wave and shell, And all the land where corals lie. Thy lips are like a sunset glow, Thy smile is like a morning sky, Yet leave me, leave me, let me go And see the land where corals lie. Richard Garnett The Swimmer With short, sharp, violent lights made vivid, To southward far as the sight can roam, Only the swirl of the surges livid, The seas that climb and the surfs that comb. Only the crag and the cliff to nor ward, The rocks receding, and reefs flung forward, Waifs wrecked seaward and wasted shoreward, On shallows sheeted with flaming foam. A grim, grey coast and a seaboard ghastly, And shores trod seldom by feet of men Where the batter d hull and the broken mast lie, They have lain embedded these long years ten. Love! When we wandered here together, Hand in hand through the sparkling weather, From the heights and hollows of fern and heather, God surely loved us a little then. The skies were fairer and shores were firmer The blue sea over the bright sand roll d, Babble and prattle, and ripple and murmur, Sheen of silver and glamour of gold. So, girt with tempest and wing d with thunder And clad with lightning and shod with sleet, And strong winds treading the swift waves under The flying rollers with frothy feet. One gleam like a bloodshot swordblade swims on The skyline, staining the green gulf crimson, A death-stroke fiercely dealt by a dim sun That strikes through his stormy winding sheet. O brave white horses! you gather and gallop, The storm sprite loosens the gusty reins; Now the stoutest ship were the frailest shallop In your hollow backs, on your high-arched manes. I would ride as never man has ridden In your sleepy, swirling surges hidden; To gulfs foreshadow d through strifes forbidden, Where no light wearies and no love wanes. Adam Lindsay Gordon

7 BEETHOVEN Symphony No.5 The most famous four notes in all music are just the beginning. The striking motto that opens Beethoven s Fifth Symphony launches a compelling emotional and musical journey. That journey is a familiar one now this is the best-known symphony in the orchestral repertoire but at its premiere in 1808 Beethoven s contemporaries would have boarded the trusted vehicle of the Classical symphony only to discover new and noisy sounds, fresh sights along the way, and an unexpected destination. Even modern listeners can sense the shock value of this music. The rapid repercussions and dramatic pauses of the opening theme might be surface features musical rhetoric but, in the words of musicologist Joseph Kerman, they release primal, unmediated emotional energies that had previously been buried in the traditional Viennese Classical style. Fate knocks at the door Beethoven is said to have later described the opening: Thus Fate knocks at the door. This story might be dubious, but it s completely in character with Romantic sensibility and lasting perceptions of the symphony. Beethoven s music sets in motion the lever of fear, of horror, of suffering, wrote E.T.A. Hoffmann in his famous 1810 review of the symphony, and wakens just that infinite longing which is the essence of Romanticism. He is accordingly a completely Romantic composer But in one respect, the opening of Beethoven s Fifth is completely classical. An assertive opening with all the instruments playing the same notes was a common way of catching the attention of an audience Mozart used the device to great effect in his Paris Symphony. But where Mozart s opening assures the listener of a clear D major, Beethoven undermines convention with deliberate ambiguity. Are we in E flat major or C minor? At first there is no way of knowing. Only when the cellos play the home note C, seven bars into the music, can we orient ourselves to Beethoven s defiant and sometimes terrifying expression of C minor. Transforming journey The choice of key was significant for Beethoven. He had recently begun using C minor again and again in music of a heroic or threatening nature: the Eroica funeral march, the Coriolan Overture, and now the Fifth Symphony. But the Fifth Symphony follows an evolutionary and transforming journey beginning in one key (C minor) and ending in another (C major). It is as if the joy and triumph of the finale can be expressed only against the background of fear and awe that Beethoven establishes in the first movement. More important, Beethoven gave his symphony an unprecedented sense of unity, and the thing that ties the music together is that simple opening motif it becomes the protagonist, metamorphosing during the course of the symphony to emerge in a noble and heroic guise. Triumph over despair The expression of triumph over despair through a transition from minor to major is familiar today (Beethoven s Ninth Symphony and subsequent symphonies by other composers ensure that we no longer assume a symphony will end in the key in which it began) but it would have astonished Beethoven s contemporaries. The struggle for supremacy between major and minor begins early in the symphony, with the ambiguity of the opening preparing the way for an early appearance of C major towards the end of the first movement. The Andante second movement begins in a poised and lyrical

8 The opening bars of Beethoven s Fifth Symphony from the composer s autograph manuscript. A flat major, only to be interrupted by forceful C major fanfares with martial trumpets and drums. The provocative and gloomy third movement scherzo with its spectral double basses returns to the home key of C minor, but the struggle continues: its entire central trio section is a good-humoured but impatient C major. Beethoven further emphasises the sense of unity in the Fifth Symphony with a seamless link between the third movement and the finale. This stunning transition provides a moment of hushed suspense with menacing and insistent drum beats underneath sustained string writing. Beethoven then releases the accumulated tension in a C major march, likened by Hoffmann to radiant, blinding sunlight which suddenly illuminates the dark night. But the gloom has not been entirely dispelled and Beethoven introduces a fragment of the scherzo in the middle of the finale a ghost of scherzos past that must be swept away a second time by the march theme. And better noise at that! It is in the finale that the trombones taken from the church and the theatre (think Mozart s Requiem and Don Giovanni) appear in a symphony for the first time in musical history. Beethoven counted on those trombones (together with the contrabassoon and a shrill piccolo) to make more noise than six timpani, and better noise at that. The noise, of which the deaf Beethoven would have heard virtually nothing, contributes to a resplendent and festive march, all the more triumphant for the struggle that has gone before. Abridged from a note by Yvonne Frindle 2002/2010

9 ABOUT THE ARTISTS Benjamin Northey conductor Shikara Ringdahl mezzo-soprano TYLER ALBERTI Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He has previously held the posts of Resident Guest Conductor of the Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra ( ) and Principal Conductor of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra ( ). He also appears regularly as a guest conductor with all the major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia, Victorian Opera and State Opera South Australia. His international appearances include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the Auckland Philharmonia and the New Zealand and Christchurch symphony orchestras. Benjamin Northey studied conducting with John Hopkins at the University of Melbourne, with Leif Segerstam and Atso Almila at the Sibelius Academy and with Jorma Panula at the Stockholm Royal College of Music. With a progressive and diverse approach to repertoire, he has collaborated with a broad range of artists including Maxim Vengerov, Julian Rachlin, Karen Gomyo, Piers Lane, Alban Gerhardt, Johannes Moser, Amy Dickson, Slava Grigoryan and Marc-André Hamelin. In 2018 he also conducts the New Zealand, Melbourne, Christchurch, Adelaide, Tasmanian and West Australian symphony orchestras and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Young Australian mezzo-soprano Shikara Ringdahl is fast becoming known for the richness of her voice and her emotionally honest interpretations. Earlier this year she undertook a five-week residency with the Meitar Opera Studio, the Young Artist Program of the Israeli Opera. Last year she was a finalist in the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition and won several major prizes. She also received an Encouragement Award from the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award, and won the 2017 Farleigh Vocal Scholarship. In addition, since 2016 she has been selected as a full scholarship participant at the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School. There she has performed operatic scenes with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and last year she performed the role of Larina in a concert presentation of Tchaikovsky s opera Eugene Onegin. In 2017 Shikara Ringdahl performed Mahler s Kindertotenlieder with the Revival House Project on a multi-city Australian tour. She also sang the alto solo in Handel s Messiah with the Queensland Choir as part of their biennial Brisbane Sings Messiah concert.

10 SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DAVID ROBERTSON The Lowy Chair of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Patron PROFESSOR THE HON. DAME MARIE BASHIR ad cvo KEITH SAUNDERS Founded in 1932 by the ABC, the SSO has evolved into one of the world s finest orchestras as Sydney has become one of the world s great cities and is well on its way to becoming the premier orchestra in the Asia Pacific region. Resident at the Sydney Opera House, where it gives more than a hundred performances each year, the orchestra also performs throughout Sydney and NSW. International tours have earned the SSO worldwide recognition for artistic excellence and the SSO Live label captures the orchestra s performances in recordings. 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, Zdeněk Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de Waart and Gianluigi Gelmetti. Vladimir Ashkenazy was Principal Conductor from 2009 to 2013 and David Robertson took 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 SSO s award-winning learning and engagement program is central to its commitment to the future of live symphonic music, and activities such as Playerlink and regional schools concerts expand the orchestra s reach beyond Sydney to inspire students throughout NSW and Australia. The SSO also promotes the work of Australian composers through performances, recordings and its commissioning program.

11 The Musicians FIRST VIOLINS Lerida Delbridge Assistant Concertmaster Jenny Booth Sophie Cole Emily Long Alexander Norton Anna Skálová Tobias Aan Sercan Danis Lachlan O Donnell Emily Qin SECOND VIOLINS Kirsty Hilton Principal Emma Jezek Assistant Principal Alice Bartsch Victoria Bihun Rebecca Gill Emma Hayes Monique Irik Rollin Zhao VIOLAS Roger Benedict Principal Sandro Costantino Jane Hazelwood Graham Hennings Amanda Verner Justin Julian CELLOS Leah Lynn Assistant Principal Kristy Conrau Christopher Pidcock David Wickham Daniel Pini DOUBLE BASSES Steven Larson Jaan Pallandi Andrew Meisel FLUTES Lisa Osmialowski Associate Principal Rachel Howie Kate Proctor* OBOES Alexandre Oguey Principal Cor Anglais Eve Osborn CLARINETS Francesco Celata A/ Principal Magdalenna Krstevska BASSOONS Todd Gibson-Cornish Principal Melissa Woodroffe Alison Wormell HORNS Euan Harvey Marnie Sebire Aidan Gabriels Jenny McLeod-Sneyd* TRUMPETS Anthony Heinrichs Jenna Smith TROMBONES Scott Kinmont Associate Principal Christopher Harris Principal Bass Trombone Amanda Tillett TUBA Perry Hoogendijk TIMPANI Brian Nixon PERCUSSION Timothy Constable Sami Butler HARP Emily Granger* = CONTRACT MUSICIAN * = GUEST MUSICIAN = SSO FELLOW Perry Hoogendijk (tuba) is on exchange from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Visit for the full roster with biographies and photographs. The men s tails are hand tailored by Sydney s leading bespoke tailors, G.A. Zink & Sons.

12 SALUTE ony Orchestra applauds the leadership ouring The Partners Sydney Symphony play and Orchestra their commitment applauds the leadership SALUTE vation role and our creativity. Regional Touring Partners play and their commitment to excellence, innovation and creativity. SALUTE The GOVERNMENT Sydney PARTNERS Symphony Orchestra applauds the leadership role PRINCIPAL our PARTNER Regional Touring GOVERNMENT Partners PARTNERS play and their commitment to excellence, innovation and creativity. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra applauds the leadership The SSO is assisted by the Commonwealth role Government PRINCIPAL our through PARTNER Regional the Australia Council, Touring its Partners play and their commitment arts funding and advisory body to excellence, innovation and creativity. PREMIER PARTNER PRINCIPAL PARTNER The SSO is assisted by the NSW Government The GOVERNMENT SSO through is assisted Arts by NSW the PARTNERS Commonwealth The SSO is assisted by the NSW Government Government through the Australia Council, its through Arts NSW arts funding and advisory body 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. The SSO is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its EDUCATION PARTNER REGIONAL TOURING PARTNER REGIONAL TOURING PARTNERS arts funding and advisory body The SSO is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW PREMIER PARTNER TOUR VENUES EDUCATION PARTNER REGIONAL TOURING PARTNER SSO ONLINE Signup for Stay Tuned, our e-newsletter, for news and special offers. Join us on Facebook: Watch facebook.com/ us on YouTube: youtube.com/ sydneysymphony sydneysymphony Join us on Facebook: facebook.com/ sydneysymphony Follow us on Twitter: Download twitter.com/sydsymph our mobile app: sydneysymphony.com/ mobile_app Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/sydsymph View our photos on instagram: instagram.com/ sydneysymphonyorchestra SSO ONLINE Download our mobile app: sydneysymphony.com/ mobile_app View our photos on instagram: instagram.com/ This is a Playbill / Showbill sydneysymphonyorchestra publication Signup for Stay Tuned, our Join us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: e-newsletter, for Playbill news and Proprietary Limited / Showbill facebook.com/ Proprietary Limited ACN ABN twitter.com/sydsymph special Suite offers. A Level 1, Building 16, Fox Studios Australia, Park sydneysymphony Road North, Moore Park NSW 2021 Telephone: / Watch us on YouTube: youtube.com/ Download our mobile app: sydneysymphony.com/ View our photos on instagram: instagram.com/