Welcome We wish you a very warm welcome to our November Concert in The Caird Hall. Tonight we bring you a concert of music by Schubert, Brahms and Sibelius, with our guest soloist Robert Torrance. Robert Dick Conductor Robert Torrance Violin Schubert Overture Alfonso und Estrella Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor INTERVAL Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D Dundee Symphony Orchestra is the performing name of Dundee Orchestral Society. The Society was founded in 1893 by a group of enthusiastic amateur performers, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. The only period in the Orchestra's history when it did not perform or rehearse was during the Second World War. BBC Radio 3 recently teamed up with Making Music to find four of the UK's best amateur orchestras to perform as part of ‘Play to the Nation’, which aimed to show off the vibrant, diverse and often excellent activity of amateur orchestras around the UK. The line-up featured the Dundee Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 from their concert last year in St Paul’s Cathedral. Earlier this year in St Paul’s Cathedral, the DSO hosted Handel’s Messiah “from Scratch” as part of Handel’s 250 th anniversary celebrations, which attracted many local singers. In the Caird Hall in March, with The Edinburgh Singers and four fine soloists, the orchestra performed Beethoven’s 9 th Symphony (Choral ) and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music to great acclaim, with a repeat concert in Edinburgh the following evening. In June, the orchestra performed an all Mendelssohn concert to celebrate the 200 th anniversary of his birth, including Joseph Fleetwood playing Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, and rounded off with Symphony No. 4 in A, Italian . The Orchestra is funded through private and charitable donations, subscriptions from members, and supported by Making Music, The National Federation of Music Societies, with funds provided by the Scottish Arts Council. We would like to thank all those who provide financial assistance for the orchestra for their continuing support over the years. If you enjoy our concerts, we hope you will consider becoming a Friend of the Orchestra. This may be done by completing the form at the back of the programme. To keep up to date with current events visit the Orchestra website www.dundeesymphonyorchestra.org.uk Make ticket purchases easier in the future by visiting http://www.thebooth.co.uk ***************************** Robert Dick Conductor Born in Edinburgh in 1975, Robert studied violin and piano at the Royal College of Music in London where he graduated with Honours in 1997, and also gained the Associateship Diploma of the Royal College of Music in Violin Performance. Robert’s interest in conducting began at an early age and in 1993 he was invited to conduct the Royal Scottish National Orchestra by its then Musical Director, Walter Weller. Having conducted all of the youth orchestras of which he was a member, including the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Robert is now a regular guest conductor of many groups including the Rose Street Ensemble, the Scottish Borders Community Orchestra and The Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra. Currently the conductor of the Dundee Symphony Orchestra, the Edinburgh Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Canongait, Robert has conducted much of the great symphonic repertoire including symphonies by Schumann, Dvorak, Sibelius, Mahler and Bruckner as well as productions of Julius Caesar , Carmen , Tosca , Die Fledermaus , Bittersweet, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute and numerous Gilbert & Sullivan operas. In 2001, Robert came second in the British Reserve Insurance Conducting Competition in Cardiff and has also enjoyed success abroad having been invited to conduct the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra in the final concert of the Vienna International Mastercourse Series, where he gained their Diploma. Additionally he gained the Diploma of the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, on this occasion conducting the Varna Symphony Orchestra and he recently participated in the International Masterclass with Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and the Thüringen Philharmonie in Gotha, Germany. He has also worked with orchestras in Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain and the U.S.A. and in 2007 he participated in the Fourth Lovro von Matacic International Conducting Competition in Zagreb, Croatia. Highlights in 2008 included Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra, The Merry Wives of Windsor with Fife Opera, the two Brahms Piano Concerti with Murray McLachlan in the Edinburgh Festival, his first ever appearance as a harpsichord soloist in Bach’s D minor Keyboard Concerto with the Gecko Ensemble, what is believed to be the Scottish premiere of Elgar’s ballet The Sanguine Fan and a BBC Radio 3 Broadcast with the Dundee Symphony Orchestra. 2009 has seen special concerts commemorating the respective anniversaries of Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn, including Messiah , The Creation and Judas Maccabaeus, as well as performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Dundee and Edinburgh. As a violin and viola soloist, Robert has performed concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bruch and Brahms and has extensively toured Europe as an orchestral player in venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, The Hofburg Palace in Vienna and the Royal Albert Hall in London. In addition, he has freelanced with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Concert Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Scotland. Alan Torrance Leader Alan Torrance studied violin with Winifred Gavine in Edinburgh until the age of eighteen, when he completed his performer's ARCM. Over the following four years he studied with David Martin of the Royal Academy of Music in London, before receiving further lessons from Max Rostal in a Master Course at the Klagenfurt Conservatoire in Austria aided by a Scottish Arts Council Award. In 1975, while playing with the Scottish Ballet Orchestra (and also for Bing Crosby!) he was invited to become a member of the Scottish Baroque Ensemble (now the Scottish Ensemble) with which he toured widely and made recordings. On moving to New Zealand in 1987, he combined teaching theology in the University of Otago with being leader of the Dunedin Sinfonia - a part-time professional orchestra which attracted international soloists and conductors and broadcast regularly on New Zealand's Concert FM. After a further five years' academic teaching and playing in London, Alan has returned to his homeland where he is professor of systematic theology in the University of St Andrews. This has enabled him to lead various local orchestras including the NSPO and the DSO, to which he is returning as leader this year. In addition to leading the Laird Quartet, he has also performed chamber music with his four sons both in the UK and in Verbier, Switzerland. When not playing, he would rather be kayaking, mountain-biking or making the most of the Scottish mountains! Robert Torrance Violin Robert Torrance (21) started his violin studies aged 6 with Madam Shen of the Yehudi Menuhin School. In 1998, he studied for a year with Caroline Plummer, Professor of violin, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, under whose tutelage he won, at age 10, a gold medal in the under-18 final of the Indiana State Violin competition. On the family’s return to Scotland he studied with Warren Jacobs (St Mary's Music School, Edinburgh) winning, at age 14, the open string solo competition, the Festival Medal and the Stringer Prize at the Edinburgh Musical Competition Festival. On being awarded a music scholarship to St Leonard’s School he studied with Vladislav Steinberg qualifying to compete as one of 13 in The International Yfrah Neaman Violin Competition in Mainz, Germany at which Igor Oistrakh (one of the world's most famous violinists and a professor at the Royal Brussels Conservatoire) was one of the panel judges. On receipt of a Scottish Arts Council award, Robert commenced violin lessons with Professor Oistrakh in Brussels. Whilst still at school, he was invited to perform Saint-Saens’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with the University of St Andrews’ Symphony Orchestra. Robert first played with the Dundee Symphony Orchestra in 2007 performing Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy and Dvorak’s Romance . The following year, he was selected (from around 700 applicants) to appear as one of 18 musicians in BBC’s televised “Classical Star” series. Shortly after completing his psychology degree at York University, he performed Haydn’s Violin Concerto in C at the Ruthven Music Festival in June, and in September gave the opening concert at the Invergordon Arts Society. He is devoting this year to violin study and receiving lessons in Manchester with the acclaimed teacher and international soloist, Leland Chen. Robert also enjoys chamber and ensemble playing and has performed with his family quartet both in Scotland and in the Verbier Festival, Switzerland. ***************************** Vintage Strings of Dundee 77 Perth Road, Dundee, DD1 4HY We have a large selection of restored second hand violins and pianos as well as new. We stock violas, cellos, classical guitars, acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins etc, also bodhrans and whistles, instrument cases and accessories. Something for all standards. www.vintagestrings.co.uk Tel. 01382 226415 Programme Notes Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Overture Alfonso und Estrella Alfonso und Estrella is an opera in three acts, set to a German libretto by Franz von Schober. Its overture was also used for Rosamunde , but is not the piece known as Rosamunde overture, which was composed for Die Zauberharfe. In close collaboration with von Schober, Schubert wrote the music for Alfonse und Estrella between September 1821 and February 1822. Schober, only one year older than Schubert, and a dabbler in literature, music and theatre, shared an appreciation with Schubert for the operatic theories of Ignaz von Mosel, a patron of Schubert's, who supported Gluck’s operatic ideals.