476 5919 CELEBRATING FIFTY YEARS OF THE Australian Youth Orchestra THE AUSTRALIAN YOUTH ORCHESTRA S 50TH ANNIVERSARY PARTNER SCULTHORPE ELGAR RAVEL HOLST STRAVINSKY MENDELSSOHN TAVENER
CD1 [66 02] GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL 1685-1759 1 The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from Solomon 3 19 John Hopkins conductor Perth Concert Hall, August 1974 GUSTAV HOLST 1874-1934 2 Jupiter from The Planets 7 30 Sir Charles Mackerras conductor Usher Hall, Edinburgh, August 1984 FREDERICK DELIUS 1862-1934 3 Intermezzo and Serenade from Hassan 4 14 John Hopkins conductor Perth Concert Hall, August 1974 JOHN TAVENER b. 1944 4 Oh how shall we sing the Lord s song (Stanza III) from Lament for Jerusalem 6 15 Patricia Rozario soprano, Christopher Josey countertenor, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Thomas Woods conductor Studio recording, Sydney, July 2003 PERCY GRAINGER 1882-1961 5 Irish Tune from County Derry 4 41 Ronald Zollman conductor Festival Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 1984 GRAEME KOEHNE b. 1956 6 Rain Forest 14 55 Christoph Eschenbach conductor European tour, August-September 1988 ANDRÉ-ERNEST-MODESTE GRÉTRY 1741-1813 7 Pantomime from Zémire et Azor 3 09 John Hopkins conductor Perth Concert Hall, August 1974 2 OLIVIER MESSIAEN 1908-1992 8 Prière du Christ montant vers son père from L Ascension 5 49 Christoph Eschenbach conductor European tour, August-September 1988 CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS 1835-1921 9 Allegro moderato (Movement II) from Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 6 53 Ronald Zollman conductor Sydney Town Hall, 18 January 1987 PETER SCULTHORPE b. 1929 0 Sun Music II 4 44 Sir Charles Mackerras conductor BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, August 1984 EDWARD ELGAR 1857-1934! Theme and Variation I ( C.A.E. ) from Enigma Variations, Op. 36 3 12 David Shallon conductor Adelaide Town Hall, 21 July 1990 CD2 [69 39] RICHARD WAGNER 1813-1883 1 Act I Prelude from Tristan und Isolde 11 44 Richard Mills conductor Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane, 30 July 2005 MIKHAIL IVANOVICH GLINKA 1804-1857 2 Overture from Ruslan and Ludmila 5 13 Christoph Eschenbach conductor Alte Oper Frankfurt, 6 September 1988 BARRY CONYNGHAM b. 1944 3 Within the Reef from Vast I: The Sea 4 44 John Hopkins conductor Studio recording, Sydney, April 1990 3
IGOR STRAVINSKY 1882-1971 4 The Firebird Suite (1919) 23 25 Christoph Eschenbach conductor European tour, August-September 1988 MAURICE RAVEL 1875-1937 5 Alborada del gracioso 7 21 Louis Frémaux conductor Sydney Town Hall, 20 January 1989 OTTO NICOLAI 1810-1849 6 Overture from The Merry Wives of Windsor 7 43 Sir Bernard Heinze conductor Sydney Town Hall, 30 May 1959 FELIX MENDELSSOHN 1809-1847 7 Finale (Presto) from Symphony No. 4 in A major Italian, Op. 90 5 09 Camerata Australia, John Hopkins conductor Carnegie Hall, New York, 23 March 1991 MICHAEL HURST b. 1925 8 Waltzing Matilda and Click Go the Shears from Swagman s Promenade 3 23 Sir Charles Mackerras conductor BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, August 1984 Total Playing Time 135 41 Ruth Alexander sits with John Bishop (left) and Lindley Evans at National Music Camp in Adelaide, 1958 Gai Tilsed, piano soloist at the AYO inaugural performance, David Jones, Sydney, March 1957 Australian Youth Orchestra John Bishop conducts the AYO in a Schools Concert, Sydney Town Hall, March 1957 4 5
One balmy summer evening in 1949, three musical visionaries walked along the foreshore of Point Lonsdale near Geelong, Victoria. John Bishop (1903-1964) had been appointed to the Elder Chair of Music at the University of Adelaide in 1948; his companions were Ruth Alexander (1914-1999), a music teacher from Kansas who had arrived in Australia in 1943, and Ronald Maslyn Williams (1911-1999), then senior producer with the Commonwealth Film Unit. The trio were reflecting on the music camps they had organised over the past two summers. One day we ll make an orchestra out of these kids, they vowed. We ll travel the world, but first we have to make this a national youth orchestra. John Hopkins with the AYO and violinist Charmian Gadd, Melbourne Town Hall, 1963 Professor John Bishop OBE coaches violinist Jane Pilcher, Adelaide, 1964 Several years later, at precisely afternoon teatime, 3.15pm on Wednesday 6 March 1957, their national youth orchestra made its debut. Seventy-five young musicians, auditioned from over 200 applicants nationwide, appeared for the first time as the Australian Youth Orchestra. In the Great Restaurant of the cafeteria of David Jones department store in Sydney, John Bishop conducted a program that featured pianist Gai Tilsed playing the first movement of Beethoven s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C. The AYO s second season, in 1958, was in Melbourne. Again, John Bishop conducted but this time the soloist was a 15-year-old piano prodigy from Argentina, Daniel Barenboim. The following year the AYO returned to the Sydney Town Hall, with Sir Bernard Heinze conducting a program Elizabeth Drake in rehearsal with the AYO and Willem van Otterloo, 1967 featuring the violinist Geoffrey Michaels playing the Mendelssohn concerto. The ABC recording of the concert was later released on a Philips LP, the orchestra s first commercial venture. From 1963 onwards, the performance history of the organisation is inextricably linked with the name of John Hopkins OBE. His first ABC Youth Concerts with the AYO, before the ever-present ABC microphones, were with violinist Charmian Gadd in the Melbourne Town Hall. Successive AYO seasons saw a progression of conductors courtesy of the ABC. Among these were Thomas Matthews, Moshe Atzmon and, memorably, Willem van Otterloo in 1967. In January 1970, the 21st National Music Camp at St Peter s College in Adelaide buzzed with excitement. Word was spreading that the Australian Government had invited the AYO to perform as its official representative at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. With its first international appearance, nearly 20 years after that beach-side dream, the AYO became cultural ambassadors for Australia. In 1976, the AYO travelled to the USA, performing in eight US states as part of the US Bicentennial. For several days, they were based at the famous Interlochen Music Camp in Michigan. Three years later, in 1979, the AYO became the first Australian orchestra to visit China. This was barely six years after the Philadelphia Orchestra s historic first contact tour there. In 1984 the orchestra embarked on its inaugural European tour, a pivotal event which came to be known as The Ambassadors Symphony, a title taken from the film of the tour made by Brian Morris. With Ronald Zollman as Chief Conductor and Sir Charles Cathy Weiss and Robert Pratt model the new tour uniforms, Sydney, 1970 6 7
The AYO in the Plaza at Expo 70, Osaka, Japan, 1970 Mackerras AC OBE as Principal Guest Conductor, the 96-member orchestra performed in several major centres, and in the Proms season alongside such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony. The Proms has since hosted the AYO three times. Another international tour followed in August 1988. The AYO was conducted by Christoph Eschenbach and Sir Charles Mackerras on a tour beginning at Expo 88 in Brisbane, and finishing in Frankfurt. In 1991, a chamber orchestra of some 36 players was selected to tour under the title The Camerata of the Australian Youth Orchestra. On March 15, the group set off from Sydney, with John Hopkins as conductor and flautist Prudence Davis and harpist Alice Giles as soloists. A highlight of the 15 concerts given in the USA was an appearance at Carnegie Hall as part of its centenary season. 1994 ushered in another successful European tour, directed by the dynamic Russian-born maestro Yakov Kreizberg. British critics were quick to note the AYO s brilliance, colour and sensitivity as well as its immaculate tuning and balance. The following year saw an extended Australian tour under the auspices of Musica Viva. In 2002, as part of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra s (MSO) summer series in the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the AYO shared four programs conducted by MSO s then Chief Conductor Markus Stenz. John Hopkins and composer Peter Sculthorpe at Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne, May 1974. AYO members learning to play the erhu, China, 1979 The same year also saw the AYO embark on a new relationship with the Sydney Symphony, appearing as part of their Meet the Music series in the Sydney Opera House. Another notable collaboration was with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in concerts in Sydney, Canberra and NSW regional centres. With funds provided by long-time commissioning partner Father Arthur Bridge AM, the AYO and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs joined forces to commission, perform and record a new work from Sir John Tavener, his Lament for Jerusalem. Then in February 2003, the AYO scaled a new musical Everest: at the Perth Festival, Diego Masson directed the rarely heard mammoth oratorio by Arnold Schoenberg, Gurrelieder. For the 2005 Queensland Music Festival, Richard Mills directed an exceptional cast, including Lisa Gasteen, in a memorable concert performance of Wagner s Tristan und Isolde. For this, the orchestra received a Helpmann Award in 2006. Adelaide Festival appearances in March 2006 extended the AYO s performances of Mahler s major works, this time with the magnificent Das Lied von der Erde. As the 2007 season opens in Perth, the champions of those early years can reflect on a proud record of accomplishments. Since 1970, the AYO has made 13 international tours across four continents, performing more than 600 hours of music to over one million audience members. Over two-thirds of the musicians in Australia s professional orchestras have taken part in one or more of the programs managed by the organisation, resulting in an alumni network of over 10,000 Australians. Ron Reeves, percussionist, Adelaide, 1970 8 9
The AYO and Carlo Felice Cillario, Sydney Opera House, Bicenntenial Day, January 1988 The AYO cello section on the steps of Sydney Opera House, 1993 Violinist Heather Cottrell and friend, Amsterdam, the AYO World Tour, 1988 The Camerata of the Australian Youth Orchestra with John Hopkins and soloists Prue Davis and Alice Giles in Carnegie Hall, New York City, 1991 Members of the AYO play on banks of Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra, 1999 The AYO on their second China tour, 1998 10 11
Members of the orchestra prepare for their performance in a nearby field in Kassel, Germany, 2004 Violinist Pinchas Zukerman, conductor Robert Spano and the Australian Youth Orchestra, Olympic Arts Festival, Sydney Opera House, September 2000 The AYO with Lawrence Foster in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, 2004 The AYO with conductor Diego Masson, in rehearsal for Gurrelieder, Perth Festival, 2003 Jennen Ngiau-Keng, 23-year-old violinist from Melbourne and Co-Concertmaster for 2006 12 13
Executive Producers Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan Mastering Virginia Read Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb Publications Editor Natalie Shea Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd For Australian Youth Orchestra Chief Executive Officer Colin Cornish Artistic Administrator Bronwyn Lobb Communications Coordinator Joy Leaper Planning and Operations Manager Pamela Thornton ABC Classics thanks Vincent Plush (chief contributer, booklet annotations), Gary Thorpe and Maggie Findlay (4MBS Classic FM), Alexandra Alewood and Melissa Kennedy. Photo credits: p6, top right: Robert McFarlane by permission of the National Library of Australia; p7, bottom right: Australian Information Service, photography by Terry Rowe, by permission of the National Library of Australia; p8 bottom right: Image supplied courtesy of ABC Library Sales; p9 top left: by permission of the National Library of Australia. John Tavener s Lament for Jerusalem is published by ChesterNovello. Graeme Koehne s Rain Forest is published by Boosey & Hawkes Australia. Olivier Messiaen s L Ascension is published by Alphonse Leduc. Peter Sculthorpe is published by Faber Music. Barry Conyngham s Vast is published by Universal Edition. Igor Stravinsky is published by ChesterNovello. Michael Hurst s Swagman s Promenade is copyright controlled. Level 1, The Arts Exchange 10 Hickson Road Millers Point NSW 2000 Tel: 61 2 9252 3855 Fax: 61 2 9252 8033 Email: info@ayo.com.au www.ayo.com.au 1988 CD1 6, 8, CD2 2, 4, 1990 CD2 3, 2004 CD1 4, 2007 CD1 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 0,!, CD2 5, 6, 7, 8 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2005 CD2 1 4MBS Classic FM 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited. 14 15