© Lucas Dawson © David Simons Photography
stablished in 1906, the Melbourne Symphony EOrchestra (MSO) is an arts leader and Australia’s oldest professional orchestra. Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis has been at the helm of MSO since 2013. Engaging more than 3 million people each year, the MSO reaches a variety of audiences
through live performances, recordings, TV and © Lucas Dawson radio broadcasts and live streaming.
Sir Andrew Davis gave his inaugural concert as the MSO’s Chief Conductor in 2013. The MSO also works with Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey and Assistant Conductor Tianyi Lu, as well as with such eminent recent guest conductors as Tan Dun, John Adams, Jakub Hrůša and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. It has also collaborated with non-classical musicians including Elton John, Nick Cave, and Flight Facilities.
All productions are shot in 4K UHD and produced by Toby Parkinson, Bluedog Productions. All concerts available in HD and 4K
Sir Andrew Davis conducts 20th-Century Classics Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis Richard Tognetti Violin Lillian Yu Video Director
BENJAMIN BRITTEN RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes The Lark Ascending WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Partita for Violin and Orchestra Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis with Australia’s violin master Richard Tognetti , this concert features Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending which was placed No. 1 in the ABC’s Swoon Classic 100 countdown in 2015. The work itself remains a glorious evocation of English pastoral life — the solo violin being the evocation of George Meredith’s soaring verse. Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes convey all the scrunchy saltiness of the coast of his beloved East Anglia. The program also includes the Partita for Violin and Orchestra by Witold Lutosławski, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s vibrant Symphonic Dances.
Length: 80' Cat. no.: A 175 50016 0000
Kate Miller-Heidke and the MSO Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Northey Kate Miller-Heidke Vocals Lillian Yu Video Director
A recording of a very special one-night-only event, Australian theatre and music sensation Kate Miller-Heidke joins the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, performing songs from her award-winning opera The Rabbits and popular hits featured on her new album ‘The Best of Kate Miller-Heidke: Act One’. Kate Miller-Heidke is a classically trained singer who traverses the worlds of contemporary pop, folk and opera. This is her first collaboration with the MSO. When the singer-songwriter combines her own material with a symphonic sound, you’re in for a special thrill! Featuring extraordinary visuals by Australian artist and film maker Amy Gebhardt, guitar accompaniment by Keir Nuttall and conducted by MSO’s Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey.
Length: 87'
Cat. no.: A 170 50007 Productions Bluedog © Hector Berlioz L’Enfance du Christ (The Childhood of Christ), Op. 25
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis MSO Chorus Thomas Toby Parkinson Video Director
Sasha Cooke Mezzo-soprano (Maria) Andrew Staples Tenor (Le Récitant) Roderick Williams Baritone (Joseph) Andrew Goodwin Tenor (Centurion) Shane Lowrencev Bass (Polydore) Matthew Brook Bass (Hérode / Le Père de famille) © Daniel Aulsebrook Daniel ©
The 150th anniversary of Hector Berlioz’s death in 1869 will be commemorated in 2019.
An ancient story with a modern parallel, Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ tells the story of the Holy Family fleeing their homeland and relying on the kindness of strangers as they journey across the desert to safety. Tender, intimate and intensely evocative, this oratorio is a stark musical contrast to the wild pagan dervishes, choruses of the damned and huge orchestral forces more commonly associated with Hector Berlioz. It was also immediately popular at its Premiere – which was unusual for Berlioz at the time – and hailed for its ‘angelic purity’. In almost cinematic style, Berlioz paints the human elements of the story in a series of visual tableaux: an uneasy night in Rome, the world-weariness of Herod, the blind fanaticism of the soothsayers, the joys and griefs of Jesus’ parents, the shepherds’ kindness and the bustling welcome of the Ishmaelite household. Prepare to be moved to tears, Berlioz would be proud! As he wrote in his Memoirs about a performance of L’Enfance du Christ at the 1863 Strasbourg Festival: “To my great surprise, people were profoundly moved, and tears were shed at the mystic chorus, ‘Ô mon âme,’ which is sung unaccompanied at the end of the work. How happy I feel when I see my audience weep!”
Why it’s a must-see: “This piece is very unusual for Berlioz as most of it is quite intimate. This work has wonderful writing for the chorus, it’s very varied and the narrator (sung by Andrew Staples) is so colourful. The final chorus is to die for!” Sir Andrew Davis, Chief Conductor
Length: 94’ Cat. no.: A 170 50008 Russian Night with Maxim Vengerov Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Northey Maxim Vengerov Violin & Conductor Scheherazade Lillian Yu Video Director
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 Productions Bluedog © NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op. 35
The world-renowned violinist Maxim Vengerov joins the MSO to perform the fiendishly difficult Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky. Full of soaring melodies, melancholy and virtuosity, this work has rightfully claimed its place amongst the great violin concertos of all time. Scheherazade tells the story of a slave girl having to amuse the gruesome sultan by telling him a new story every night. Several of these come together in Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful oriental fantasy; a highlight in the Russian orchestral repertoire and the ideal work for an ensemble of virtuosos like the MSO. Allow the MSO to transport you into the world of a thousand-and-one nights.
Length: 87' Cat. no. A 175 50017 0000
East Meets West: A Chinese New Year’s Celebration Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lü Jia Lu Siqing Violin Ma Xiaohui Erhu Productions Bluedog © Productions Bluedog © Lillian Yu Video Director
BAO YUANKAI CHEN GANG / HE ZHANHAO Chinese Sights and Sounds: Dialogue on Flowers Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto YANG LIQING ROBERT SCHUMANN Shepherd Girl in the Tianshan Mountains Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38 “Spring”
Join the MSO and maestro Lü Jia with a stellar cast of guest artists to celebrate the Chinese New Year in a colourful and joyous one-night-only event showcasing Melbourne’s diverse culture. One of China’s most celebrated violinists, Lu Siqing, performs with the MSO for the first time since 2014 as soloist in one of China’s most famous orchestral works, the lush and romantic Butterfly Lovers’ concerto. Written by composers Chen Gang and He Zhahao in 1959, it is the perfect inclusion in this concert. Revel in the textured sounds of traditional Chinese instruments, new works and world-class musicians in the heart of Melbourne, a city with a rich Chinese-Australian history, worthy of celebration. MSO’s annual Chinese New Year celebration has become a highlight on the concert calendar, celebrating the city’s cultural diversity.
Length: 94' Cat. no.: A 175 50018 0000 © Matt Irwin
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Nelson Freire and Stuart Skelton Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis Nelson Freire Piano Stuart Skelton Tenor Lillian Yu Video Director
CARL VINE RICHARD WAGNER Symphony No. 1 “Microsymphony” “Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond” LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN from Die Walküre Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 GIUSEPPE VERDI LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Ballabile from Otello “Gott! Welch Dunkel hier!” from Fidelio GIUSEPPE VERDI RICHARD WAGNER “Niun mi tema” from Otello “Morgendämmerung” & “Siegfrieds Rheinfahrt” from Götterdämmerung
Join us for a concert with two universally admired guest artists – Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire, described by The Guardian as ‘a master of (his) craft’, and Australian heldentenor and Grammy Award nominee, Stuart Skelton. The celebratory program includes: Beethoven’s majestic “Emperor” Piano Concerto; Carl Vine’s Symphony No. 1 “Microsymphony” (a work encompassing the dramatic features of a symphony compressed into just 12 minutes); and highlights from Fidelio, Die Walküre, Otello and Götterdämmerung sung by Stuart Skelton, who was awarded the International Opera Awards Male Singer of the Year and performs the roles of Otello and Siegmund (Die Walküre) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Length: 85' Cat. no.: A 175 50019 0000 Discover more classical music!
MIPCOM 2018 HIGHLIGHTS
CATALOGUE 2018
Cecilia Bartoli in Gioachino Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri Photo: © SF_Monika Rittershaus © SF_Monika Photo: DOCUMENTARIES NEW PROGRAMMES MIPCOM 2018
THE UNITEL 4K UHD CATALOGUE
MIPCOM 2018
KARAJAN CATALOGUE VS. BERNSTEIN BATTLE OF GIANTS A film by Emmanuelle Franc
Plácido Domingo & Anna Netrebko in Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth
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