Sebastian Lang-Lessing Chief Conductor & Artistic Director
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2 0 0 9 SEBASTIAN LANG-LESSING Chief Conductor & Artistic Director 3 2009 3 HIGHLIGHTS WORLD PREMIERES The TSO and TSO Chorus under conductor Richard Mills gave the world première of Mills’s Passion According to St Mark in Hobart on 4 April, a Ten Days on the Island event. Lux Aeterna, by New Zealand composer Kenneth Young, received its world première under conductor Nicholas Milton in Hobart on 24 July. AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Elena Kats-Chernin’s Ornamental Air, co-commissioned by the TSO, received its Australian première under conductor Baldur Brönnimann in concerts in Launceston and Hobart on 3 and 5 December. CONTENTS ACOUSTIC UPGRADE Highlights 2 The acoustics in Federation Concert Hall received a significant upgrade thanks to an acoustic screen and purpose- Chairman 4 built risers funded by a special one-off grant from the State Government. Managing Director 4 AUSTRALIAN COMPOSER SERIES VOL 3 TSO Holdings Board of Directors 5 The Hon. Peter Garrett, Federal Minister for the Arts, launched the Australian Composer Series Volume 3 at Moorilla on Strategies, Goals, KPIs 7 31 March. The five-CD box set, which features the music of Gerard Brophy, Brett Dean, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Concerts 9 Richard Meale and Malcolm Williamson, brings the total number of CDs in the Australian Composer Series to 18. Artists 10 (L-R) Richard Mills, Lyndon Terracini, Core Repertoire Sebastian Lang-Lessing, the Hon. Peter Garrett and Nicholas Heyward. Classical and Early Romantic Music 11 Australian Music 13 CD Releases 14 Recordings 16 Marketing and Business Development 17 Education and Training 17 ABAF AwaRDS Orchestra 19 The TSO took out national honours at the Australia Business Arts Staff 20 Foundation (AbaF) awards in the ‘Giving Award’ category at a ceremony TSO Chorus 20 held in Brisbane on 15 October. The TSO had earlier won a state-level ‘Giving Award’. Friends of the TSO (FOTSO) Committee 21 Chair Sponsors 21 FUNDING FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS TSO Patrons 22 The TSO received a $25,000 grant from the Ian Potter Foundation TSO Partners 23 to assist with the TSO-Australian Youth Orchestra Orchestral Career Development Project and a $90,000 grant from the Annual Financial Report 24 Tasmanian Community Fund to assist with the purchase of risers for the TSO Chorus. 2009 4 5 2009 5 CHAIRMAN MANAGING DIRECTOR I am delighted to report that the Tasmanian Symphony 2009 offered many highlights commencing with the TSO-AYO Mahler Orchestra (TSO) enjoyed a very successful year in 2009. gala opening concerts featuring Sebastian Lang-Lessing On 12 September the TSO and musicians from Australian Youth Orchestra under conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing The orchestra, management, staff and board worked and pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk. Later in the year James joined forces in Hobart for a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No 9, the first ever Tasmanian performance of tirelessly and we achieved great success both on and off Judd led a superb Elijah with the TSO, TSO Chorus and the work. the stage. Artistic highlights included the world première distinguished soloists. Conductor Eivind Aadland made of Richard Mills’s Passion According to St Mark, Mahler’s a welcome return and it was a pleasure to welcome TSO Foundation Symphony No 9 with the TSO and players from Australian conductor Baldur Brönnimann making his TSO debut. The TSO Foundation, the TSO’s endowment fund, was launched in Hobart and Launceston on 4 and 5 March. Youth Orchestra, and Roberta Flack with the TSO. Clearly Standout soloists included clarinettist Michael Collins and these and other events give us every reason to be proud pianists Freddy Kempf and Nicholas Angelich – the latter Sydney Season of the TSO’s contribution to artistic vibrancy in Tasmania. being the soloist for the TSO’s fifth annual Sydney Season. The TSO under Sebastian Lang-Lessing and with pianist Nicholas Angelich delivered its fifth consecutive three-concert Furthermore, all this was achieved against a backdrop Concerts that were less traditional but no less memorable Sydney Season at City Recital Hall Angel Place, 27-29 August. of financial stress. Right from the first day our annual included Best of British, Melvin Tix’s school concerts and subscriptions went on sale we continued to receive the ABBA Spectacular! with guest artists Rajaton. Outstanding Contribution to Music in Education same high level of support. By year end, box office sales, Landmark events included the release of the Australian The TSO received a Tasmania State Award at the 2009 Classical Music Awards for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music contributions and funding revenues had again exceeded Composer Series Volume 3 and Mendelssohn: The Five in Education’ for the Australian Composers’ School. $10 million and an underlying operating surplus for the Symphonies, further proof of the TSO’s expertise in its core year was assured. repertoire. The TSO is mindful of continuing to make its B&E Symphony under the Stars In 2009 we gratefully received funding from the Australia mark through its recordings and considerable time and B&E Symphony under the Stars – the TSO’s free outdoor concerts – attracted large and appreciative audiences in Council for the Arts and the State of Tasmania under the effort were devoted in 2009 to exploring and planning for Glenorchy on 14 February and Launceston on 21 February. final year of the four-year funding agreement put in place the transmission of recorded music in new digital formats. upon separation from the ABC. The funding agreement Hobart concert-goers enjoyed acoustic improvements to has been extended for 2010 whilst a review is undertaken Federation Concert Hall with the installation of a custom- and we have made extensive submissions to that review built acoustic screen and new risers – equipment that will emphasising the role and importance of the TSO in continue to be fine-tuned in the future. New risers for the Tasmanian life. TSO Chorus are forthcoming, thanks, in part, to a generous The financial assistance of sponsors and patrons was grant from the Tasmanian Community Fund. Launceston extremely valuable and we thank our many supporters concert-goers will soon be able to enjoy more satisfying for their contributions. A separate new entity, the TSO concert experiences in Albert Hall thanks to heritage Foundation, was established in 2009 to garner other forms stimulus funding earmarked for improvements to the of long-term support and we are very grateful to former auditorium, foyers, stage and backstage areas. Meanwhile, TSO director Colin Jackson for his leadership in the start- in the crucially important world of online communications, up phase of this important new affiliation. the TSO unveiled its new and vastly improved website. Power Hip Hop Maria Grenfell was elected to the board and Michael We welcomed Greg Low as our new Orchestra Manager and players Rohana Brown, Charlotte Burbrook de Vere Musicians from the TSO appeared with eight young Tasmanian hip hop Fortescue, having served the maximum term as a director, and Liam O’Malley. We farewelled Kate Salvatore, Emma artists in Power Hip Hop: New Sounds, New Voices, a series of three retired after 10 years of outstanding service. Happily, the Wilkins and trumpeter Bruce Lamont, who retired in June concerts held at Hobart’s Peacock Theatre on 11 and 12 December. contract of Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, was extended until the end of 2011. I after a 39-year career with the TSO. It was a pleasure to Soul Diva in Concert would like to thank Sebastian, members of the orchestra welcome Lyndon Terracini as Director of the Australian and chorus, Nicholas Heyward, management, staff and Music Program. Soul diva Roberta Flack appeared in concert with the TSO before a the board for another successful year in a long line of I extend my thanks to the members of the orchestra, capacity audience at Wrest Point on 17 February. successes for the TSO. administration staff, board, TSO Chorus, FOTSO and the many volunteers for contributing to the success of 2009. Geoffrey Willis Nicholas Heyward 2009 6 7 2009 7 TSO HOLDINGS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Maria Grenfell was appointed to the TSO board in May 2009. Born in Malaysia and raised in Geoff Willis was appointed to the board of the TSO in September 2004 and became Chairman Christchurch, New Zealand, Maria is Senior Lecturer and Co-ordinator of Composition at the in January 2006. He is the Chairman of Colorpak Ltd, Chairman of the Tasmanian Water University of Tasmania’s Conservatorium of Music where she has been a lecturer since 1998. and Sewerage Corporations, a Director of Aurora Energy Pty Ltd, a Trustee of the Tasmanian She holds a masters degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and a Museum and Art Gallery and a Commissioner of the Tasmanian Planning Commission. A former Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she Chairman of the Forest Practices Authority, he was the CEO of Hydro Tasmania from 1999 was also a lecturer. Her music has been commissioned, performed and recorded by symphony to 2006 and prior to that was the Managing Director of the Amcor Paper Group. He holds a orchestras and chamber groups in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. In 2008 the TSO and Bachelor of Commerce and MBA from the University of Melbourne and attended the Stanford TSO Chorus gave the world première of her commissioned work Night Songs. Executive Programme. He is a CPA and a member of the Institute of Company Directors. Nicholas Heyward has been Managing Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra since Patricia Leary joined the board of the TSO in March 2006 and was appointed Deputy Chair in October 2001.