THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS /
Golden Supporters Lodge of the Liberal Arts Philip Galloway The Wallace Foundation Margaret Leman (dec.) & Derek Neutze
Special Supporters Alison Buchanan & Eric Johnston
General Supporters Rosemarie & Alex Biland Anna Brooker Bleau Bustenera Kerin Buttimore Nigel Chadwick Mark Close Gillian & Harold Coop Glenys & Michael Daniell John Duder Marcia Dwyer Ruth Ell Bruce Fergusson Judith & Alistair Freeman
Diana Gash Dora Green Julia Griffiths & David Yates Judith Gust Diane & Mark Hall Danielle Hancock Bob Kinnear Acer & Tina Lin Janis & Peter Metcalfe Michael & Sara Sullivan Tony Sullivan Pip Townend Elisabeth Wilson
And 21 anonymous General Supporters
Please be respectful to fellow audience members and our players: switch off all electronic devices remain seated during the performance muffle coughing No photography or recording of the performance is permitted without our prior consent, however photos may be taken during applause
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March 2020 Concert Series
Massey High School Friday 13 March, 7.30pm All Saints Church, Howick Saturday 14 March, 7.30pm Hawkins Theatre, Papakura Saturday 21 March, 7.30pm CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS Auckland Town Hall Sunday 22 March, 2.30pm CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS
PROGRAMME
Beethoven Triple Concerto _________ INTERVAL Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade
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MUSIC DIRECTOR Antun Poljanich Born in Croatia, Antun studied piano and theory at Dubrovnik School for Musical Education then studied conducting at the University of Ljubljana. Following post-graduate studies in Austria, he won a scholarship which took him to Leningrad for a three-year Master Course in Conducting at the RimskyKorsakov Conservatory. He has since worked with the Leningrad State Symphony Orchestra, the Veneto Philharmonia, the Slovene and Croatian National Orchestras and other prominent orchestras in Russia and Europe. Antun is the Orchestra’s fourth Music Director.
SOLOIST Zosia Herlihy-O’Brien, Violin Zosia has been sharing her love of music with others all her life. She is much in demand as a solo, orchestral, and chamber musician across her four instruments (Violin, Piano, Pipe Organ, Harp). By the age of 16, Zosia held both her ATCL and LTCL Diplomas and Grade 8 across three instruments. She has performed as a soloist for several notable events, including to The Governor General of New Zealand, and has been described as playing with “verve” and a “passion” that is infectious. She is Associate Concertmaster of the AYO, and also plays with the Wairua Sinfonietta, the University of Auckland Symphony Orchestra, and the NZSO National Youth Orchestra. Zosia is an Alumna of the Pettman National Junior Academy of Music, and a member of various chamber ensembles, including as an Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) Inspire Young Achiever. Her string quartet Viereinigkeit was the 2019 winner of the Carl and Alberta Rosenfeldt Prize in Chamber Music at the University of Auckland, and in March 2020 the quartet is premiering a new piece by Dame Gillian Whitehead. Zosia is the current Organ Scholar at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, and is an itinerant organist across Auckland. She has twice been selected for the NZSO Mentoring Programme, and achieved the NZQA Scholarship in Music at 16. Zosia is in her second year of study towards her BMus at the University of Auckland, where her teacher is Andrew Beer, APO Concertmaster.
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SOLOIST Joseph Kelly, Cello Joseph Kelly began studying the cello with Brian Blake at age seven and has recently completed his third year of a Bachelor of Music degree at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Joseph has been the recipient of the prestigious Lilo Nassau Cello Scholarship in 2018 & 19 and is currently studying under the leading cello pedagog, Edith Salzmann. Joseph attended the Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camps in 2017 & 2018 and, in February 2019, performed as a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra for its season of Parsifal with the Victorian Opera conducted by Richard Mills. During 2019 Joseph was chosen to be Co-Principal Cello of the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. This orchestra performed four fullscale programmes and recently undertook an international tour of Singapore and China. In 2019 Joseph premiered a highly virtuosic duo work by Kate Tempany with triple-Grammywinning international flutist and ex 8th Blackbird member, Tim Munro.
SOLOIST Modi Deng, Piano Modi Deng is a pianist from Dunedin. She is currently on a full Marsden research scholarship studying a Master of Music with Rae de Lisle and Stephen De Pledge at University of Auckland, having earlier completed a Bachelor of English. In March 2018, she received first prize in the National Concerto Competition, performing Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 3 with Benjamin Northey and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Modi has performed concerti by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Clara Schumann with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, and collegiate orchestras. She has participated in masterclasses and lessons with artists such as Michael Houstoun, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Kathryn Stott, Stephen Hough, and Ian Jones. Her playing has been recorded for RNZ Concert and SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music. An avid chamber musician, Modi’s trio toured the U.K. in July 2018 as the winner of the Pettman/ROSL Arts Chamber Music Arts scholarship. They performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Her trio also received the Auckland Chamber Music Society Prize last year. Modi has recently accepted a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London.
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PROGRAMME NOTES Concerto in C major Op. 56 for piano, violin, cello, and orchestra
Beethoven 1770-1827
1. Allegro 2. Largo-3. Rondo alla Polacca This work, which is generally known as The Triple Concerto, is a reminder of just how important composers’ patrons have been in the creation of much of the world’s greatest music. It was written for the fifteen-year old pupil of Beethoven, The Archduke Rudolph of Austria, and it clearly demonstrates just how highly Beethoven regarded his gifted pupil as he taught him not only piano but composition as well. He was indeed the only composition pupil Beethoven ever had. The Archduke went on to become one of his most important patrons and Beethoven dedicated fourteen compositions in all to him, including the 4 th and 5th piano concertos, the Hammerklavier piano sonata and the Opus 96 violin sonata, as well as the Archduke trio, the Missa Solemnis, and the Grosse Fuge. Although the concerto was written for the Archduke Rudolph, perhaps because of his age it was not dedicated to him, but to another of Beethoven’s patrons, Prince Lobkowitz, who was just two years younger than Beethoven. Prince Lobkowitz, who had helped sponsor the premiere of Haydn’s Creation in 1798, had his own private orchestra and it was in his palace that the first performance of the Eroica symphony took place in 1804, one year after the composition of the Triple Concerto. This was one of Beethoven’s most productive periods, for as well as these two major works he also wrote the great piano sonatas the Waldstein and the Appassionata, and his opera Fidelio. He also dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz his Opus 18 string quartets and the 5th and 6th symphonies. In 1808, alarmed that Beethoven might be lured away from Vienna by the offer of a post at Cassel, Prince Lobkowitz, together with The Archduke Rudolph and Prince Kinsky, set up a pension for Beethoven which offered him some basic financial security, and which continued until his death in 1827, despite Prince Lobkowitz himself dying earlier in 1816 at the early age of 44. The Triple Concerto is a unique work; Beethoven never wrote another concerto for more than one instrument. It is one of his most life enhancing works, full of youthful exuberance and joy. It is easy to imagine just how proud the fifteen-year old boy would have been to have had such a wonderful concerto written for him.
Scheherazade
Rimsky-Korsakov 1844-1908
The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship/The Kalendar Prince/The Young Prince and the Young Princess/Festival in Baghdad-The Sea-Shipwreck on a Rock-Conclusion. Convinced that all women are faithless, the Sultan Schahriar has vowed that he will take a new bride each night and have her killed in the morning. However, Scheherazade manages to avoid this fate by entrancing the Sultan with her captivating stories, leaving them unfinished when morning comes, and therefore giving herself a chance to live one more day. This continues for 1001 nights when the Sultan, having fallen in love with her, rescinds his terrible vow.
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By the latter half of the nineteenth century aspiring composers in Western Europe were expected to have undergone a rigorous system of training along the lines laid down by the Leipzig Conservatory, which was established by Mendelssohn in 1843. This consisted at the start with an intensive study of harmony and counterpoint, leading to a mastery of writing fugues and motets for unaccompanied voices, followed by the study of musical forms, and detailed analysis of selected masterpieces by eminent composers. Only then would the prospective young composer be considered ready to begin composing little piano pieces, while at the same time beginning a study of instrumentation and orchestration to enable him to compose a large-scale cantata for orchestra and chorus which he was expected to complete for his graduation. This academic approach to composition was completely rejected by the small group of aristocratic amateur musicians who became known in Russia as the mighty handful. Under the charismatic and egotistical leadership of Balakirev, this group of five extremely gifted individuals, working basically by instinct at the piano, sought to create a distinctly Russian national style of music derived from Russian folk song and dance, combined with exotic harmonic and rhythmic elements of an oriental origin. Rimsky-Korsakov, who had been introduced to Balakirev by his piano teacher Theodore Kanille, enthusiastically embraced these ideals, and with extraordinary self-belief, immediately set about writing a symphony, although he had received virtually no instruction in composition whatsoever. He was at that time a naval officer and during a two year and eight months voyage he passed the time working on this symphony (the first ever written by a Russian) while studying Berlioz’s treatise on instrumentation, and scores which he had picked up in ports of call. His reputation began to grow after the performance of this work in St. Petersburg, arranged and directed by Balakirev. Further performances of other orchestral works confirmed his reputation and in 1871, when he was only 27, he was appointed professor of composition and instrumentation at the St Petersburg Conservatory. He immediately began a rigorous three-year programme of self-education, which included sending his exercises to Tchaikovsky for correction, as at the time his knowledge of musical theory was very limited. As he himself later confessed, he had never studied counterpoint, and could not even harmonise a simple chorale in traditional style, nor did he know the names of the chords of classical harmony. At the end of this period, however, he emerged as the most technically accomplished of the five composers making up the mighty handful. His studies had produced a complete change in his attitude to musical education and composition, and he began writing chamber works following strict classical models. Not surprisingly this brought about the scorn of his fellow nationalists who thought he was rejecting his Russian heritage to compose fugues and sonatas. [These works are today forgotten, together with his 15 operas]. In the spirit of co-operation which pervaded the group, however, he generously put his new found knowledge to use, helping his comrades with their work, his extraordinary gift for orchestration being particularly valued – a skill he passed on to his pupil, Stravinsky. It was after the sudden death of Borodin in 1887, when he and Glazunov began working together to complete Borodin’s unfinished opera Prince Igor, that he was drawn into the fairy tale world and the orientalism found in that opera. Taking as his inspiration the stories from the Arabian Nights, he found the perfect subject to display his mastery of orchestral colour, together with a melodic and harmonic originality which resulted in an orchestral showpiece which to this day continues to delight audiences throughout the world. Programme notes by Alexander Cowdell © 2020
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AYO MEMBERS Governance Dame Catherine Tizard ONZ GCMG GCVO DBE QSO DStJ, Patron Michael McLellan, FTCL LRSM, President Alastair Clement, Vice-President
Executive Committee Alexander Cowdell Anne-Marie Forsyth Mary Lin Helen Lewis
Chairman Secretary Manager Treasurer
Antun Poljanich Rachael Brand Bryan Lin
Music Director Communications Assistant Manager
Player Representatives: Lachlan Grant, Mana Waiariki, Naomi Kelly, Jessie Anderson
Administration Alison Dunlop and Louise Roe Librarians
Honorary Members Alastair Clement Michael McLellan Anne Draffin
Cameron Stuart Lynn Pettit
Barrie Ross Lois Westwood
Subscribing Members Philippa Black Rachael Brand Alexander Cowdell Ian Cunningham Sylvia Dean Warren Drake Anne-Marie Forsyth
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Julie Goodyer Mary Greig-Clayton Bob Kinnear Helen Lewis Acer & Tina Lin Mary Lin Louise & AndrĂŠ Molon-Noblot
Elizabeth Morris Stephanie Morris T. McD. Morton Grant Reay Diana Richardson Kevin & Jan Sutton
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Franco Viganoni who generously gives his time and professional expertise in digitally recording our concerts using state-of-the-art electronics and a unique system of microphones. www.viganoni.com
The ongoing support of the following organisations is acknowledged with thanks:
ABOUT AYO Founded in 1948, the Auckland Youth Orchestra (AYO) is the premier regional youth orchestra in New Zealand and was the first youth orchestra established in the Southern Hemisphere, designed to bridge the gap between school orchestras and adult professional groups. AYO inspires young people to excel through their love of musical performance and provides them with a wide range of cultural experiences, thus shaping our leaders of tomorrow. AYO makes an important contribution to the cultural life of Auckland and NZ. AYO performs up to 12 concerts a year throughout the upper North Island region and has attracted full houses at their concerts in many locations. This endeavour requires large operating costs and AYO relies upon the generosity of our Sponsors, Subscribers, and Supporters. All grants and donations are helpful and greatly appreciated.
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AYO PLAYERS Violin I ‡ Jim Wu +Zosia Herlihy-O’Brien Kauri May Sadie Stroud Bryan Lin Mana Waiariki Darren Breeze Chelsea Hong Martin Qiang Jasper Yang Santiago Romano Ericia Chang Alan Qin Bethany Yates
Violin II #Kenny Li Gemma Nash Isabella Healy Justin Chan Athena Shiu Tabitha Yates Kelly Siew Sebastian Romano Matilda Hol Emma Ma Caragh Puttick
Viola # Jessie Anderson Jasper Lin Daniel Kim John Donaldson Elise Ji Nicholas Newman Elena Bloksberg Tony Zhang
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Cello #Marcus Ho Phoebe Pierard Damon Herlihy-O’Brien Ben Lin Nathan Chen Gabrielle Wu Max Chen Victoria Shen Claire Xu Michka Kangsathien Tara Hurley
Double Bass # Alicia Kidd Oliver Spalter Caitlin Casey
French Horn # Henry Close Max Glazier Evan Metcalfe Callum Collier Trumpet # Jake Krishnamurti James Liston Thomas Scott
Trombone # Daniel Nihotte Amy Laithwaite Esther Simpson
Tuba # Lachlan Grant Flute #Jacob Webster Anna Kexin Zhang Linda Lin
Oboe # Akari Ouchi Matilda Hur
Clarinet # Kiara Kong Gautam Pathumanithy Olivia Littlejohn
Bassoon # Ricky Shi Venice Qin Sue Lynn Leong
Timpani # Michael Cai James Tang Percussion # Naomi Kelly James Tang James Brady Tavite Tonga David Paligora
Harp Harrison Chau Legend ‡ Concertmaster + Associate Concertmaster # Principal
DONATIONS If you marvel at the music produced by these young musicians, help us continue the work by making a donation either online (see our website) or via the buckets with ushers as you leave the concert (Auckland Town Hall concert only) All donations will be appreciated and, if your name and email address is included, you will receive a receipt for tax rebate purposes.
ROLL OF HONOUR We are grateful to those who leave a bequest to AYO in their will and acknowledge again the gracious bequests received in the past from the estates of: 2019 2013 2005 1999 1995 1988 1987 1976
Beverley Alison Simmons Janetta McStay Moya Rea Norman W (Chip) Stevens Alicia Griffin Patricia Emma Sara Cole Alwyn Olive Hutchinson Joan Rattray
PLAY YOUR PART
Our Executive Committee would welcome some new members. Please contact our Secretary, Anne-Marie Forsyth ayo@ayo.org.nz if you would like to investigate or discuss ways you could become involved in this enjoyable and rewarding work. Attend our concerts! Check our website regularly for concert information: ayo.org.nz Sign up to receive the Chairman’s e-newsletter on our website homepage Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AYOrchestra Join us by emailing auditions@ayo.org.nz – auditions held in December Subscribe, support or sponsor us: ayo.org.nz/support-us
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MORE CONCERTS IN 2020 Details of all our concerts and programmes for 2020 can be found on our website.
Cowdell Cressida Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 Weber Bassoon Concerto in F Op.75 (soloist: Ricky Shi)
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Suite Bernstein West Side Story Suite Arnold Clarinet Concerto No.2 (soloist: Kiara Kong)
Sat 23 May Sun 24 May Sat 20 June Sun 21 June
Sun Sat Sat Sun
Orewa Cambridge Helensville Auckland Town Hall
13 Sept 19 Sept 26 Sept 27 Sept
Thames to be confirmed
Orewa Auckland Town Hall
Cover art by Mary Lin © 2020 Auckland Youth Orchestra | Here Plays the Future www.ayo.org.nz
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