CELEBRATING RICHARD MILLS Richard Mills and Buddy VICTORIAN , MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE AND VICTORIA PRESENT CELEBRATING RICHARD MILLS

Welcome to a musical party of a lifetime. From to symphonic works and film music, Richard Mills has demonstrated varied compositional styles across his forty-plus-year career; commissioning over 100 new works of Australian music during this time, and producing works of wide range and genuine appeal. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Richard started his career as a percussionist in across the United Kingdom and Australia while establishing himself as a . Popular with both the concert-going public and the musicians who play it, Richard’s music is regularly performed throughout the world. Compositions range from his Concerto, commissioned for , to music for the ballet Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, premiered by The Australian Ballet. The premiere performances of his operas Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and The Love of the Nightingale attracted significant critical acclaim and accolades including Helpmann Awards for Batavia (Best New Australian Work and Best Opera). Richard also has an extensive discography with Australian symphony orchestras, including a CD of his major orchestral works with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. His recording with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra entitled Orchestral Works became a best seller on the ABC Classics label. While Artist-in-Residence at ABC (1989-90), Richard re-orchestrated the ABC’s iconic news theme which is still heard nationwide many times daily.

13 DECEMBER 2019 Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

3 ACT ONE

Three Songs for Buddy ‘The Fly’ (2019 – PREMIERE) Text Miroslav Holub ‘The Cat Next Door’ ‘Beach Burial’ ‘It’s Bedtime for Little Dogs’ Text Kenneth Slessor ‘A Walk, a Cuddle and a Bone’ Simon Meadows Robyn Archer accompanied by Richard Mills Phillipa Safey ()

Excerpts from String Quartet No. 4 Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1996) (2004) Sextet and Quartet ‘Rêve circulaire du Wombat’ after ‘Anti-Tango from Berlin as a Prelude to Ray Lawler Invasion by Russian Herbalists’ Bubba Rebecca Rashleigh Partridge Quartet Olive Kathryn Radcliffe Pearl Roxane Hislop Songs after Judith Wright (2008) Emma Elizabeth Campbell ‘Woman’s Song’ Barney Timothy Reynolds Roo Stephen Marsh ‘A Song to Sing You’ Orchestra Victoria Elizabeth Campbell accompanied by Phoebe Briggs

- INTERVAL - In Tempore Bello (2008 – PREMIERE) ‘The Trains’ Text Judith Wright ‘A Thousand Bayonets’ Text Douglas Stewart ‘I Knew a Simple Soldier Boy’ Text Siegfried Sassoon

4 ACT TWO

Early One Morning (2009) Canzona from Concerto for Two Traditional arr. Mills (2018) Every Day is a Rainbow Day for Me Markiyan Melnychenko (2009) Aidan Filshie Text Jack Lumsdaine Orchestra Victoria Music Don Bradman arr. Mills Greta Bradman Serenade to Music Orchestra Victoria Text from The Merchant of Venice (Act V, Scene i) Three Antiphons of Hildegard of Bingen Music Ralph Vaughan Williams (2008 – PREMIERE) Emma Matthews, Merlyn Quaife, ‘Spiritus Sanctus Vivificans Vita’ Kathryn Radcliffe, Rebecca Rashleigh, ‘Caritas Habundat’ Greta Bradman, Elizabeth Campbell, ‘Laus Trinitate’ Dimity Shepherd, Roxane Hislop, Carlos E Bárcenas, Timothy Reynolds, Merlyn Quaife Douglas Kelly, Brenton Spiteri, Orchestra Victoria Raphael Wong, Stephen Marsh, Simon Meadows, Warwick Fyfe The Love of the Nightingale (2007) Orchestra Victoria ‘Nightingale’s Aria’ Libretto Timberlake Wertenbaker Richard Mills would like to thank the Emma Matthews artists, all of whom donated their Orchestra Victoria services for this event.

Canti de Ferro e Fuoco (Songs of Fire and Iron) (2008) ‘I’Piango i’Ardo’ Text Michaelangelo Buonarroti Carlos E Bárcenas Orchestra Victoria Phillipa Safey (Piano)

5 RICHARD STRAUSS ORCHESTRA

Associate Principal HORN Diane Froomes Section Principal SALOME Sarah Cuming Jasen Moulton Philippa Gardner Chair supported by Mr Robert Albert Tania Hardy-Smith AO RFD RD and Mrs Elizabeth Albert CONCERTMASTER Andrea Taylor § Associate Principal Yi Wang * Alex Morton + DOUBLE Principal Third DEPUTY CONCERTMASTER Section Principal Linda Hewett Roger Jonsson § Stuart Riley Sydney Braunfeld § Erica Kennedy * Chair supported by Don and Angela Sharon Hatton + Mercer Robert Shirley + Associate Principal Principal 1st Violin Kylie Davies + Yi Wang Matthew Thorne Section Principal Principal 2nd Violin Mark Fitzpatrick Monica Naselow FLUTE Associate Principal Associate Principal 1st Violin Section Principal Anthony Pope Tomomi Brennan § Lisa-Maree Amos Associate Principal 1st Violin Chair supported by Peter Griffin AM TROMBONE Erica Kennedy and Terry Swann Section Principal Rebecca Adler Associate Principal Scott Evans Binny Baik Karen Schofield § Associate Principal Alyssa Conrau ** Rebecca Johnson +++ Kieran Conrau + Rachel Gamer Principal Bass Trombone Benjamin Anderson Matthew Hassall ** Associate Principal Rachael Hunt Joshua de Graaf *** TUBA Philip Nixon Principal Cor Anglais Karina Filipi ++ John Noble Dafydd Camp TIMPANI Chris Ruiter Chair supported by Ms Linda Herd Section Principal Lucy Warren Guy du Blêt Tony Zhai Section Principal Chair supported by Igor and Jenny Jo Beaumont + Paul Champion Zambelli with Libby and Jim Cousins AO Sarah Coghlan + Associate Principal PERCUSSION Lisa Reynolds + Justin Beere § Chair supported by Susan and Leith Section Principal Campbell Mathew Levy Section Principal Natasha Fearnside + Associate Principal Paul McMillan Lloyd Van’t Hoff + Peter Neville + Associate Principal HARP Jason Bunn * SAXOPHONE Section Principal Catherine Bishop § Justin Kenealy ++ Delyth Stafford + Nadine Delbridge BASSOON 22, 25, 27 FEBRUARY Ceridwen Davies + Section Principal Beth Hemming + Lucinda Cran * Acting ** Acting Associate Principal PALAIS THEATRE, ST KILDA Cora Teeuwen + Associate Principal *** Acting Section Principal Matthew Ockenden ≠ § On Leave Principal Contrabassoon + Guest Musician Section Principal ++ Guest Principal TICKETS FROM $39 Timothy Murray § +++ Guest Associate Principal Melissa Chominsky PRESENTING PARTNER OR Matthew Angus ++ ≠ Courtesy of Orchestra VICTORIANOPERA.COM.AU 136 100

6 RICHARD STRAUSS SALOME

22, 25, 27 FEBRUARY PALAIS THEATRE, ST KILDA TICKETS FROM $39 PRESENTING PARTNER VICTORIANOPERA.COM.AU OR 136 100 Photography: Charlie Kinross (cover, p.2), Martin Philbey (p.5)