Sibelius Symphony No.2
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
22 April Sydney Town Hall SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NO.2 Principal Partner Presenting Partner SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2021 CONCERT SEASON Thursday 22 April, 7pm SYMPHONY HOUR Sydney Town Hall PATRON Her Excellency The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has evolved into one of the world’s finest orchestras as Sydney has become one of the world’s great cities. Resident at the iconic Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra also performs in venues throughout Sydney and regional New South Wales, and international tours to Europe, Asia and the USA have earned the Orchestra worldwide recognition for artistic excellence. 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, Zdenêk Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de SIBELIUS Waart and Gianluigi Gelmetti. Vladimir Ashkenazy was Principal Conductor from 2009 to 2013, followed by David Robertson as Chief Conductor from 2014 to 2019. SYMPHONY NO.2 Australia-born Simone Young has been the Orchestra’s Chief Conductor Designate since 2020. She commences her role as Chief Conductor in 2022 as the Orchestra returns to the renewed Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra's concerts encompass masterpieces from the classical repertoire, music by some of the finest living composers, and collaborations BENJAMIN NORTHEY conductor ESTIMATED DURATIONS with guest artists from all genres, reflecting the Orchestra's versatility and diverse 4 minutes, 7 minutes, appeal. Its award-winning education program is central to its commitment to the 47 minutes. future of live symphonic music, and the Orchestra promotes the work of Australian composers through performances, recordings and its commissioning program. (BORN 1969) MARIA GRENFELL COVER IMAGE Gaudete Fanfare Photo by Aaron Burden Simone Young SECOND VIOLINS CELLOS CLARINETS TROMBONES MAX RICHTER (BORN 1966) Chief Conductor Marina Marsden Catherine Hewgill Francesco Celata Scott Kinmont On the Nature of Daylight Designate Principal Principal Acting Principal Associate Principal Donald Runnicles Marianne Edwards Leah Lynn Christopher Tingay Nick Byrne Principal Guest Associate Principal Acting Associate JEAN SIBELIUS (1865–1957) Conductor James Burke Christopher Harris Emma Jezek Principal Principal Principal Bass Trombone Vladimir Ashkenazy Assistant Principal Kristy Conrau Symphony No.2 in D major, Op.43 Conductor Laureate Alexander Morris Ronald Prussing Alice Bartsch Fenella Gill Principal Bass Clarinet Principal Allegretto Timothy Nankervis Andrew Haveron Victoria Bihun Elizabeth Neville BASSOONS TUBA Tempo andante Concertmaster Rebecca Gill Christopher Pidcock Chair supported by Emma Hayes Todd Gibson-Cornish Steve Rossé Vivacissimo – David Wickham Vicki Olsson Shuti Huang Principal Principal Adrian Wallis Allegro moderato Monique Irik Fiona McNamara Benjamin Li TIMPANI FIRST VIOLINS DOUBLE BASSES Matthew Wilkie Nicole Masters Mark Robinson Andrew Haveron Principal Emeritus Maja Verunica Kees Boersma Acting Principal Concertmaster Noriko Shimada Kirsty Hilton Principal Principal Sun Yi Principal Alex Henery PERCUSSION Associate Contrabassoon Wendy Kong Principal Rebecca Lagos Concertmaster Maria Grenfell’s Gaudete Fanfare was made possible through Steven Larson HORNS Principal Lerida Delbridge the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s 50 Fanfares Project and was VIOLAS Richard Lynn Timothy Constable Assistant Ben Jacks Tobias Breider Jaan Pallandi commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, supported Concertmaster Principal Principal Benjamin Ward * = Guest Musician by the Neilson Foundation. Fiona Ziegler Geoffrey O’Reilly Amanda Verner David Campbell ° = Contract Musician Assistant Principal 3rd Horn Acting Principal † = Sydney Symphony Concertmaster FLUTES Euan Harvey Sandro Costantino Fellow Kirsten Williams Marnie Sebire Rosemary Curtin Joshua Batty Grey = Permanent Associate Rachel Silver Graham Hennings Principal Member of the Sydney Concertmaster Stuart Johnson Carolyn Harris Symphony Orchestra Emeritus TRUMPETS Justine Marsden Emma Sholl not appearing in David Elton Jenny Booth Felicity Tsai Associate Principal this concert Principal Sophie Cole Leonid Volovelsky Claire Herrick Dana Lee† OBOES Anthony Heinrichs Georges Lentz Daniel Henderson* Justin Williams Diana Doherty Nicola Lewis Acting Associate Principal Emily Long Principal Alexandra Mitchell Shefali Pryor Léone Ziegler Anne-Louise Associate Principal Tim Yu† Comerford Alexandre Oguey Associate Principal Harry Bennetts Principal Cor Anglais PRESENTING PARTNER PRINCIPAL PARTNER Associate Jane Hazelwood Concertmaster Brielle Clapson Alexander Norton Anna Skálová WELCOME ABOUT THE ARTISTS PRESENTING PARTNER BENJAMIN NORTHEY conductor Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Conductor in Residence of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Previously Resident Guest Conductor of the Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra (2002-2006) and Principal Conductor of the Melbourne Credit Suisse, Premier Partner of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Chamber Orchestra (2007-2010), Limelight Magazine welcomes you to Sibelius Symphony No.2. named him Australian Artist of the Year in 2018. The cinematic style of Max Richter and Sibelius’ Second Symphony feature in Northey also appears regularly as a guest conductor this evening’s program, as well as Maria Grenfell’s Gaudete Fanfare; a virtuosic with all major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera work for the brass section. The piece was commissioned by Sydney Symphony Australia (Turandot, L’elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni, Orchestra for their 50 Fanfares project, designed to fill a gap in the Australian Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand Opera Benjamin Northey music landscape and affirm our country’s creative position in the world. (Sweeney Todd) and State Opera South Australia (La Photo: Julian Kingma When nurtured from a young age, creativity can grow and continue for sonnambula, L’elisir d’amore, Les contes d’Hoffmann). generations. That is why Credit Suisse has worked in partnership with the His international appearances include concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to provide access to music to young children in London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Sydney and Melbourne since 2018. This year, over 1,000 students and teachers Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hong will attend orchestra performances as part of the Credit Suisse Sydney Kong Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra Symphony Orchestra Music Education Program. The six primary schools in of Colombia, the Malaysian Philharmonic and the our program have also received teacher training in music education and new New Zealand Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia and instruments to inspire the next generation of talent. Christchurch Symphony Orchestras. Thank you for joining the Sydney Symphony Orchestra tonight, and we hope With a progressive and diverse approach to repertoire, you enjoy this performance. he has collaborated with a broad range of artists including Maxim Vengerov, Julian Rachlin, Karen Gomyo, Piers Lane, Alban Gerhardt, Johannes Moser, Piers Lane, Amy Dickson, Slava Grigoryan & Marc-André Hamelin as well as popular artists Tim Minchin, KD Lang, Kate Miller-Heidke, Barry Humphries, Kurt Elling, James Morrison and Tori Amos. In 2021, he conducts the Christchurch Symphony, the Australian Youth Orchestra and all six Australian state symphony orchestras. Richard Gibb Chief Executive Officer Credit Suisse Australia ABOUT THE MUSIC ABOUT THE MUSIC Born in Malaysia and educated in New Zealand and The ‘hit single’ from the album was On The Nature Of the USA, Maria Grenfell is an Associate Professor at the Daylight, which was rapidly taken up by film directors University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music and co- such as Martin Scorsese in Shutter Island, and several ordinates the composition stream. Her works have been others, most recently Denis Villeneuve in Arrival as performed extensively in Australia and New Zealand, as a crucial element of the soundtrack. By definition it well as by the Vienna Piano Trio and members of eighth deals with the passing of time, reflecting in the music’s blackbird. She describes her new fanfare, saying: structure. Like Baroque forms such as the passacaglia, in which a repeated idea underlies a texture that grows Gaudete Fanfare for brass celebrates the excitement by accretion, this work begins with simple four-chord of musical performance. Gaudete Fanfare borrows patterns, adding layers of stepwise minor-mode melody from and re-harmonises the 16th-century carol, that move at different speeds in the different string Gaudete Christus est natus: ‘Rejoice, rejoice, Christ voices to create a sense of massive resonance, as in is born.’ While not a religious piece, my fanfare seeks some works of Arvo Pärt. to create a virtuosic work for orchestral brass with Maria Grenfell Sibelius, like Brahms, came relatively late to writing Franz Kafka antiphonal techniques used by Renaissance Italian symphonies, producing his First at the age of thirty- composer Giovanni Gabrieli, where different groups three and premiering it in 1899. Like Brahms, though, of instruments engage in lively conversation with one Sibelius had accrued considerable experience in another across the ensemble and the space. writing for