May 2022 | Concert Program

CONCERT PROGRAM

M AY 2 0 2 2 V E R D I A N D P R O KO F I E V P I N E S O F R O M E F E AT U R I N G M E L B O U R N E YO U T H O R C H E S T R A S ROSSINI’S PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE

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REBIRTH

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CONTENTS

04

THE MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Acknowledging Country Your MSO Guest Musicians

10

VERDI AND PROKOFIEV

16

PINES OF ROME featuring Melbourne Youth Orchestras

24

ROSSINI’S PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE

38 42

REBIRTH

SUPPORTERS

These concerts may be recorded for future broadcast on MSO.LIVE. Please note audience members are strongly recommended to wear face masks where 1.5m distancing is not possible, however wearing a mask is no longer a requirement for entry.

In consideration of your fellow patrons, the MSO thanks you for silencing and dimming the light on your phone.

mso.com.au

(03) 9929 9600

Acknowledging Country In the first project of its kind in Australia, the MSO has developed a musical Acknowledgment of Country with music composed by Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham AO, featuring Indigenous languages from across Victoria. Generously supported

by Helen Macpherson Smith Trust and the Commonwealth Government through the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, the MSO is working in partnership with Short Black Opera and Indigenous language custodians who are generously sharing their cultural knowledge.

The Acknowledgement of Country allows us to pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land on which we perform in the language of that country and in the orchestral language of music.

Australian National Commission for UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

About Long Time Living Here In all the world, only Australia can lay claim to the longest continuing cultures and we celebrate this more today than in any other time since our shared history began. We live each day drawing energy from a land which has been nurtured by the traditional owners for more than 2000 generations. When we acknowledge country we pay respect to the land and to the people in equal measure.

As a composer I have specialised in coupling the beauty and diversity of our Indigenous languages with the power and intensity of classical music.

In order to compose the music for this Acknowledgement of Country Project I have had the great privilege of working with no fewer than eleven ancient languages from the state of Victoria, including the language of my late Grandmother, Yorta Yorta woman Frances McGee. I pay my deepest respects to the elders and ancestors who are represented in these songs of acknowledgement and to the language custodians who have shared their knowledge and expertise in providing each text.

I am so proud of the MSO for initiating this landmark project and grateful that they afforded me the opportunity to make this contribution to the ongoing quest of understanding our belonging in this land.

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— Deborah Cheetham AO

Your MSO

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is a leading cultural figure in the Australian arts landscape, bringing the best in orchestral music and passionate performance to a diverse audience across Victoria, the nation and around the world.

Each year the MSO engages with more than 5 million people through live concerts, TV, radio and online broadcasts, international tours, recordings and education programs.

The MSO is a vital presence, both onstage and in the community, in cultivating classical music in Australia. The nation’s first professional orchestra, the MSO has been the sound of the city of Melbourne since 1906.

The MSO regularly attracts great artists from around the globe including AnneSophie Mutter, Lang Lang, Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, while bringing Melbourne’s finest musicians to the world through tours to China, Europe and the United States.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra respectfully acknowledges the people of the Eastern Kulin Nations, on whose un‑ceded lands we honour the continuation of the oldest music practice in the world.

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Your MSO

Your MSO Jaime Martín

Chief Conductor Dr Marc Besen AC and the late Dr Eva Besen AO#

Xian Zhang

Principal Guest Conductor

Benjamin Northey Principal Conductor in Residence

Carlo Antonioli Cybec Assistant Conductor Fellow

CELLOS

Matthew Tomkins

David Berlin

Robert Macindoe

Rachael Tobin

Monica Curro

Nicholas Bochner

Principal The Gross Foundation# Associate Principal Assistant Principal Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind#

Dale Barltrop

Mary Allison Isin Cakmakcioglu Tiffany Cheng Freya Franzen Cong Gu Andrew Hall Isy Wasserman Philippa West

Sophie Rowell

Patrick Wong Roger Young

Sir Andrew Davis Conductor Laureate

Hiroyuki Iwaki †

Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)

FIRST VIOLINS Concertmaster David Li AM and Angela Li# Concertmaster The Ullmer Family Foundation#

Tair Khisambeev

Assistant Concertmaster Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio#

Peter Edwards

Assistant Principal

Kirsty Bremner Sarah Curro Peter Fellin Deborah Goodall Lorraine Hook Anne-Marie Johnson Kirstin Kenny Eleanor Mancini Mark Mogilevski Michelle Ruffolo Kathryn Taylor

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SECOND VIOLINS

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan#

VIOLAS Christopher Moore Principal Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio#

Christopher Cartlidge Associate Principal

Lauren Brigden Katharine Brockman Anthony Chataway

Principal Hyon Ju Newman# Associate Principal Assistant Principal

Miranda Brockman

Geelong Friends of the MSO#

Rohan de Korte

Andrew Dudgeon AM#

Sarah Morse Angela Sargeant Michelle Wood

Andrew and Judy Rogers#

DOUBLE BASSES Benjamin Hanlon

Frank Mercurio and Di Jameson#

Rohan Dasika Suzanne Lee Stephen Newton Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser#

FLUTES Prudence Davis Principal Anonymous#

Wendy Clarke

Associate Principal

Sarah Beggs

Dr Elizabeth E Lewis AM#

PICCOLO

Gabrielle Halloran Trevor Jones

Andrew Macleod

Anne Neil#

Fiona Sargeant Cindy Watkin

Learn more about our musicians on the MSO website.

Principal

Thomas Hutchinson

Associate Principal

Ann Blackburn

The Rosemary Norman Foundation#

HORNS Nicolas Fleury

Principal Margaret Jackson AC#

Saul Lewis

COR ANGLAIS

Principal Third The Hon Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall#

Michael Pisani

Abbey Edlin

CLARINETS

Trinette McClimont Rachel Shaw

Principal

David Thomas

Principal

Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM#

TRUMPETS

Craig Hill

Owen Morris

BASS CLARINET Jon Craven Principal

BASSOONS Jack Schiller

Principal

Elise Millman

Associate Principal

Natasha Thomas

Dr Martin Tymms and Patricia Nilsson#

CONTRABASSOON Brock Imison

PERCUSSION John Arcaro Anonymous#

Robert Cossom

Drs Rhyl Wade and Clem Gruen#

HARP Yinuo Mu Principal

Gary McPherson#

Philip Arkinstall

Associate Principal

TIMPANI

Your MSO

OBOES

Principal

Shane Hooton

Associate Principal

William Evans Rosie Turner

John and Diana Frew#

TROMBONES Richard Shirley Mike Szabo

Principal Bass Trombone

TUBA Timothy Buzbee

Principal

Principal

# Position supported by

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Guest musicians

Guest Musicians VERDI AND PROKOFIEV FIRST VIOLIN Matthew Rigby Ioana Tache SECOND VIOLIN Meg Cohen Jacqueline Edwards Madeline Jevons Michael Loftus-Hills VIOLA Merewyn Bramble William Clark Ceridwen Davies Jenny Khafagi Isabel Morse CELLO Svetlana Bogosavljevic Nils Hobiger Kalina Krusteva Anna Pokorny

DOUBLE BASS Caitlin Bass Hamish Gullick Vivian Qu Siyuan Emma Sullivan FLUTE Jessie Gu OBOE Rainer Gibbons Rachel Curkpatrick

Guest Principal Cor Anglais

CLARINET Matt Larsen BASSOON Colin Forbes-Abrams

TROMBONE Timothy Reed TROMBONE William Kinmont TIMPANI Brent Miller

Guest Principal Timpani

PERCUSSION Robert Allan Yiang Shan Sng Greg Sully Lara Wilson PIANO Louisa Breen

FRENCH HORN Tim Allen-Ankins

PINES OF ROME VIOLA Molly Collier-O’Boyle

OBOE Rainer Gibbons

Isabel Morse

FRENCH HORN Tim Allen-Ankins

Guest Associate Principal Viola

DOUBLE BASS Caitlin Bass

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Information correct as of 4 May 2022

PERCUSSION Greg Sully Lara Wilson PIANO Aidan Boase

VIOLINISTS FROM SCOTCH COLLEGE Leon Fei Geoff Liu Prithvi Ramesh Etta SECOND VIOLIN Jenny Khafagi

VIOLA Molly Collier-O’Boyle

Guest Associate Principal Viola

Ceridwen Davies CELLO Elina Faskhi Daniel Smith

DOUBLE BASS Emma Sullivan FRENCH HORN Tim Allen-Ankins

Guest musicians

REBIRTH

PIANO/CELESTE Louisa Breen

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Verdi and Prokofiev Thursday 5 May / 7.30pm Saturday 7 May / 2pm Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall

Friday 6 May / 7.30pm Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Umberto Clerici conductor VERDI The Four Seasons: Ballet music from I Vespri Siciliani PROKOFIEV Symphony No.5

Pre-concert talk: 5 May at 6.45pm, Hamer Hall / 6 May at 6.45pm, Costa Hall / 7 May at 1.15pm, Hamer Hall. Learn more about the performance at a pre-concert presentation with Megan Steller.

A musical Acknowledgement of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham AO, will be performed before the start of this concert.

Running time: Approximately 100 minutes including interval.

VERDI AND PROKOFIEV | 5–7 May

Umberto Clerici conductor With a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist, orchestral musician, and now conductor, Umberto Clerici has gained a reputation as an artist of diverse and multifaceted talents.

Umberto began his career as a virtuoso cellist making his solo debut at the age of 17 performing Haydn’s D Major cello concerto in Japan. After years of performing on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, Umberto took up the position as Principal Cellist of the Royal Opera House in Turin, which he held for four years. In 2014, he was then appointed as the Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until last season.

It was in Sydney in 2018 that Umberto made his conducting debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, and, he is now in high demand with the major symphony orchestras throughout Australia and New Zealand. Future conducting highlights in Australia include returns to the podiums the Sydney Symphony, Queensland Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. In 2022 Umberto also looks forward to his debuts with the West Australian Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, Dunedin and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras.

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VERDI AND PROKOFIEV | 5–7 May

Program Notes Some words from our conductor...

Sergei Prokofiev composed his Fifth Symphony during the fateful summer of 1944 when the Second World War was still raging. It is not a celebration of war however, and the composer writes that he “conceived of it as glorifying the grandeur of the human spirit, praising the free and happy man—his strength, his generosity, and the purity of his soul.”

This symphony is a collective work where the different sections of the orchestra are in a constant dialogue of kaleidoscopic instrumental combinations and colours. I chose this masterpiece in order to showcase the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for its unified body of players.

I was inspired to pair this with something equally exciting but also sufficiently contrasting. Verdi’s collection of dances, The Four Seasons, from the opera I Vespri Siciliani is a perfect way to showcase the other aspect of a great orchestra: its soloists. Just like Vivaldi 130 years earlier, the piece narrates the feelings and impressions of the four seasons of the year through music.

As artists, we have the duty to connect the music which we play to the present we live in – in this case, climate and war but in an optimistic way, through beauty. © Umberto Clerici

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GIUSEPPE VERDI

(1813–1901)

The Four Seasons: Ballet music from I Vespri Siciliani L’inverno (Winter) La primavera (Spring) L’estate (Summer) L’Autunno (Autumn) We think of Verdi as a great opera composer, but those of his operas conceived or restaged for the Paris Opéra required a ballet midway through the performance regardless of storyline.

This was the case for Sicilian Vespers.

When Verdi left Italy to work on this new commission in 1853, he had already premiered several of the works by which he is best remembered – most recently Il trovatore in Rome and La traviata in Venice. He would be away for nearly two years working on this next opera, named for an event in Sicily in 1282 when locals rose up against their French occupiers.

France’s foremost 19th century librettist, Eugène Scribe and his collaborator Charles Duveyrier based the text on their earlier libretto Le Duc d’Albe set in Spanish-ruled Flanders. For Verdi the action was re-located.

Patriotic Henri is in love with Hélène, one of a number of condemned Sicilian rebels. He has an opportunity to save her life and marry her if he will just acknowledge the French overlord, Montfort, as his long-lost father. He does so, and Hélène and the other rebels are spared, but the tolling of wedding bells is the signal for the Sicilians to slaughter the French.

A ballet may seem an odd thing to include in a story so serious. But they were obligatory in French opera, and could form “a separate action”, as Verdi put it. The ballet in Sicilian Vespers

The scenario begins with the god Janus summoning the seasons. Unlike Vivaldi’s Four Seasons which begins in Spring, this Four Seasons begins in Winter. You can hear in Verdi’s music clear progress in each movement from balletic recitative to pantomime to straightforward dance numbers (for example: Janus summons the seasons, chattering semiquavers = trembling in the cold, one of the girls sparks a fire, Danza: Allegro…). French composer Hector Berlioz praised the work at the opera’s premiere, particularly Spring and Summer which gave instrumental soloists “a chance to display their talents”. You can almost see the flowering grace of Spring’s ballet soloist in the solo clarinet’s Andantino, and ‘feel’ the drowsy heat in the Siciliano played by oboe in Summer – the drone bass suggesting a zampogna (rustic bagpipe).

Interestingly Robbins also interpolated numbers from Verdi’s French re-stagings of Il trovatore and I Lombardi.

Why did successful 19th century Italian composers write for Paris? Apart from longer rehearsal periods, French opera offered spectacle and new musical forms to work in, liberating Italian composers from the prescriptions of Italian opera. Verdi may not have become (or aspired to be) a specialist ballet composer like Léo Delibes, but his Four Seasons ballet is a perfectly enjoyable divertissement in what would otherwise be a predominantly sombre narrative.

VERDI AND PROKOFIEV | 5–7 May

depicts the four seasons. It’s integral to the main drama only in that it forms an entertainment at Montfort’s palace in Act 3.

Gordon Kalton Williams © 2022

Julian Budden in his book The Operas of Verdi talks about Verdi’s ability to convey “the sense of characteristic steps and even occasionally bend a simple rhythmic scheme to underline a choreographic flourish, as happens in Autumn’s Adagio written for the Italian ballerina, Carolina Beretta”.

The ballet is occasionally still performed as part of the opera. But as recently as May this year, New York City Ballet restaged Jerome Robbins’ 1979 choreography for a stand-alone presentation. West Side Story’s Robbins was enchanted by Verdi’s dance music when he first heard it and his ballet – summarised as “frosty flirtation, springtime awakening, sultry revelry and autumnal bacchanal”, in the City Ballet’s brochure – is surprisingly traditional containing the typical 19th century suite of movements, such as pas de deux.

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VERDI AND PROKOFIEV | 5–7 May 14

SERGEI PROKOFIEV

(1891–1953)

Symphony No.5 in B flat, Op.100 Andante Allegro marcato Adagio Allegro giocoso As Prokofiev raised his baton to conduct the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Moscow shook with the sound of cannon-fire. It was January 1945, and the fusillade announced to the citizens that the Red Army had crossed the Vistula River in its rout of the invading Germans.

Pianist Sviatoslav Richter, who was there, remembered the symbolism of the moment well: ‘a common borderline had come for everyone.’ If the cannon-fire was announcing the turn of the war’s tide, the symphony announced a new beginning. Its epic scale and optimistic trajectory perfectly reflected the mood of the time. Prokofiev later wrote that in this work ‘I wanted to sing of the free, happy man, his mighty power, his chivalry and his purity of spirit...I wrote the kind of music that grew ripe within me and finally filled up my soul.’

We need, of course, to understand the deliberate ambiguity of such remarks: Prokofiev, like anyone else, was well aware of the lack of freedom and happiness under Joseph Stalin; his description might sound like that of the new ‘Soviet man’, but can equally be read as a subtle denunciation of the regime. The composer, moreover, had first-hand experience of the precariousness of favour in the Soviet Union. Perhaps expecting to profit from Shostakovich’s recent fall from grace, Prokofiev had permanently returned to Russia in 1936 after living mainly in Paris since 1918. He soon found that when he tried to compose in the officially sanctioned way he would be accused of writing music that was ‘pale and lacking

in individuality’; if he continued on the course he had begun in Western Europe he was derided as a ‘formalist’.

With works like Peter and the Wolf and Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev’s stocks revived, and during the early 1940s he received the Stalin Prize several times and was evacuated to safety when the Soviet Union entered World War II in 1942. He spent the summer of 1944 with composers Khachaturian, Shostakovich and Miaskovsky in the relative luxury of a government-run artists’ colony and in a mere two months (and with a little recycling) had composed and orchestrated his Fifth Symphony.

The Fourth Symphony, composed some 14 years earlier, was a not entirely successful cobbling together of offcuts from the Prodigal Son ballet. In the Fifth, Prokofiev produced a much more ‘classical’ work, of four movements, but one in which his material is superbly integrated and tightly argued. Like Shostakovich in a number of works, Prokofiev composed a first movement whose tempo is broad and stately rather than traditionally fast. (Significantly, in his Piano Sonata No.8 – also in B flat – which dates from this time, he adopts the same strategy.) This enables an epic treatment of the material.

Beginning with a simple theme on flute and bassoon, the movement unfolds gradually but inexorably, with passages of characteristic wit, high lyricism and overpowering full scoring until, in its final cadence, a radiant B flat chord emerges from tense dissonance. The second movement provides the first really fast music, its balletic quality partly explained by the use of material discarded during the composition of Romeo and Juliet. This recalls the Prokofiev of The Love for Three Oranges – fast, incisive, colourful – and provides a foil to the extended and beautiful slow movement which follows. What musicologist Arnold Whittall calls

VERDI AND PROKOFIEV | 5–7 May

the ‘obsessive ticking’ rhythms of the second movement give place to a gently pulsating accompaniment over an arching main theme, which contrasts with an emotive central section. In the finale, Prokofiev initially defies expectations by quoting the melody from the first movement, this time scored for the rarified sound of divided cellos. Whether or not this represents what Prokofiev’s ‘official’ biographer Israel Nestyev calls the ‘theme of man’s grandeur and heroic strength’, it is dramatically effective of the composer not to plunge immediately into the expected triumphal finale. As Whittall remarks, the movement avoids the ‘naively life-enhancing’ clichés of Soviet music but the subtle use of dissonance, and the uneasy sense right at the end, suggest that the energy of the music has outlived its meaning. The timing of the symphony was, however, perfect, seeming to sing of Soviet victory. Sadly, it would not be long before Prokofiev would feel the weight of disfavour once more; moreover, concussion sustained in a fall shortly after the premiere meant that the Fifth Symphony would be the last work he would ever conduct.

Gordon Kerry © 2003

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Pines of Rome

featuring Melbourne Youth Orchestras Saturday 21 May / 7.30pm Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Graham Abbott conductor Melbourne Youth Orchestras side by side with members of the MSO POULENC Les biches – Suite SCULTHORPE Sun music III ROGER-DUCASSE Prélude d’un Ballet RESPIGHI Pines of Rome

A musical Acknowledgement of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham AO, will be performed before the start of this concert.

Running time: Approximately 75 minutes with no interval

PINES OF ROME featuring Melbourne Youth Orchestras | 21 May

Graham Abbott conductor A graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium, Graham Abbott has been Conductor-inResidence at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide, Musical Director of Adelaide Chorus and Melbourne Chorale, Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Guest Chorus Master for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Graham has conducted all the major Australian orchestras, opera companies, choral societies and new and contemporary music ensembles. His reputation as an enthusiast for the music of Handel is unsurpassed, having conducted Messiah on more than seventy-five occasions in Australia, New Zealand and the UK and given first Australian performances of works including Athalia, Ariodante, Agrippina and La resurrezione and the complete Carmelite music.

This year Graham continues in his role as Artistic Director for Hayllar Music Tours, curating and leading tours in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and to the Bendigo and Adelaide Festivals. He will conduct the inaugural Richard Gill Memorial Festival of Strings in Melbourne and return to the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra for Unwrap the Music, to the Adelaide Symphony for the ‘Big Learning’ and to Festival of Voices Hobart. He will also make his debut with National Opera Canberra, conducting Handel’s Alcina.

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PINES OF ROME featuring Melbourne Youth Orchestras | 21 May

Melbourne Youth Orchestras Melbourne Youth Orchestras (MYO) brings young Victorian musicians together to participate in ensemble music-making. Through their educational program, MYO continues to unleash creativity and empower tomorrow’s leaders through a commitment to excellence, ultimately inspiring its members to reach their potential through music.

MYO plays a leadership role in collaborating with education and music partners to ensure that a high-quality music education is available for all students in Victoria.

MYO is recognised as one of Australia’s leading centres for ensemble music making and training, and a meeting place for young musicians and their families who travel from all over metropolitan and regional Victoria to participate.

VIOLIN Naamah Hanna Ashton Tan Chloe Shieh Raistlin Chan Matilda Daly Paulina Ziyun Huang Eric Dao Eliza Gregg Paolo Coladonato Alyssa Wong Ji Hun Hwang Holly Sutton Najia Hanna Autumn Lee Louise Turnbull

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VIOLA George Pourpouras Ko Hei Cheng Laura Duong Lalita Nicholas Wong

CELLO Zac Shieh Disa Smart Rowan Parr Joanna Ostaff Mahalia Shelton DOUBLE BASS Ryan Zhang Grace Reynolds Daneil Anderson Ella Evans FLUTE Esther Battersby Anushi Fernandopulle OBOE/COR ANGLAIS Anika Webigen CLARINET Freya Parr BASSOON Each Zhang

FRENCH HORN Charlotte Lindsay Cecilia Xu Scott Plenderleith TRUMPET Benjamin Ball Jim Millman TENOR TROMBONE Thomas Grayden BASS TROMBONE Angus Pace PERCUSSION Sasha Wee Jordi Pullen Felix Gilmour Joseph Fiddes HARP Isabel Amoranto PIANO Max Reina-Henriksen

FRANCIS POULENC

(1899–1963)

Les biches – Suite Francis Poulenc was just 22, not long released from three years of military service, when he was approached by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes with the offer of a commission. His piano pieces and songs had been enjoying some success in a series of concerts at the Salle Huyghens in Paris’s Montparnasse district, where the fashionable crowd regularly squeezed in to hear the latest new music; Poulenc was one of a group of young composers performing there who, encouraged

by Erik Satie, were looking for a music of the future which would embrace the directness and down-to-earth good humour of popular music styles.

Together, they were dubbed ‘Les Six’ (The Six).

Poulenc at this stage had written very little orchestral music, but Diaghilev had been impressed by the two movements he had contributed to a surrealist ballet called Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel (The Wedding Party on the Eiffel Tower). The new project was to be called Les Demoiselles (The Young Ladies), to a scenario by the fashion designer Germaine Bongard, but when she pulled out, Poulenc decided to go ahead anyway, and write a ballet suite with no story at all.

He took his inspiration from the fêtes galantes paintings of the 18 th century artist Antoine Watteau: idyllic scenes where elegantly attired ladies and gentlemen flirted with one another in secluded woodland groves. Perhaps thinking of the Parc-aux-Cerfs (Deer Park) at Versailles where King Louis XV had notoriously maintained a residence for his mistresses, Poulenc called his ballet Les Biches: literally, the [female]

deer, but the expression is also used as both a term of affection, similar to the English ‘darling’, and to refer to a woman of dubious morals.

The choreographer was Bronislava Nijinska (sister of Vaslav Nijinsky; the two had collaborated on the scandalously sensual ballet L’Aprèsmidi d’un faune). Nijinska ‘updated’ the antique fêtes galantes setting to a 1920s summer afternoon house party where – according to the published score – ‘three young men are enjoying the company of 16 lovely women.’ Poulenc was absolutely delighted with the result: ‘In this ballet, there is an atmosphere of wantonness which you sense if you are corrupted...This is a ballet in which you may see nothing at all or into which you may read the worst.’

The music itself is delightfully pleasurable. Neo-classical in style, it displays clarity, order and poise, but above all it is supremely tuneful. ‘Surely not since Tchaikovsky’s ballets,’ writes Poulenc biographer Roger Nichols, ‘had tunes poured forth in such abundance.’

Here we see the gift for melody which would make Poulenc the finest composer of French song since Gabriel Fauré.

The full ballet score included three movements with vocal parts, setting what Poulenc described as ‘beautiful but slightly obscene texts from the 18th century’. These, and the overture, were omitted by Poulenc to created the five-movement orchestral suite from Les Biches: a boisterous opening Rondeau, danced by the corps de ballet wearing identical pink dresses and ostrich-feather headpieces; a plaintive, wistful Adagietto danced by the androgynous figure of the ‘Garçonne’ – a solo ballerina dressed in a blue velvet page boy’s costume; a virtuosic ‘Rag-Mazurka’ solo for the Hostess of the party, who is sporting a long, elegant cigarette holder as she tosses off what one ballet critic has described as a ‘fiendish tongue-twister

PINES OF ROME featuring Melbourne Youth Orchestras | 21 May

Program Notes

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PINES OF ROME featuring Melbourne Youth Orchestras | 21 May

for the feet’; an irrepressibly cheerful Andantino in which the Garçonne and one of the young men dance together; and a quicksilver Finale for the whole company.

Natalie Shea © 2022

PETER SCULTHORPE

(1929–2014)

Sun Music III Originally called Anniversary Music, Sun Music III was commissioned by the ABC to mark the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Youth Concerts in Australia. Begun early in 1967, at an artists’ colony in upper New York State, the score was completed later that year in London and Sydney. The work opens with the shimmering sound of 16 adjacent notes, in strings, followed by a pentatonic section written in the style of music for a Balinese shadow play. This gentlyflowing music is interrupted by another shimmering sound, here consisting of 32 adjacent notes, which leads to the central part of the work. Suggested by gamelan arja music used in a form of popular Balinese theatre, the central section is dominated by an extended melody, the repeated notes of which are reminiscent of the sound of gongs. The melody is announced by the oboe, and then stated more fully by the strings, the whole section being punctuated with bird-like sounds, trombone glissandi and metallic percussion. Following this, the timpani elaborate upon material heard at the outset of the work, and continue until the climax, where chords made up of adjacent notes are again employed.

Figurations heard in the shadow play music are then recalled, and used as an accompaniment to the arja melody, which, after its complete statement, leads to the final bars of the work. © Peter Sculthorpe

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JEAN ROGER-DUCASSE

(1873–1954)

Prélude d’un Ballet For most people, even music-lovers, the likely response to the name ‘Jean Roger-Ducasse’ is ‘Who?’. Despite its undisputed beauty and elegance, his music rarely graces the platforms of concert halls or the playlists of radio stations. This is partly because there is not an enormous amount of it: his composing career, which began in earnest around 1907 and was interrupted by the First World War, largely gave way to teaching when he took over from Paul Dukas as Professor of Composition at the Paris Conservatoire in 1935. He was also rigorously self-critical, destroying anything he did not feel was faultless.

Around 15 orchestral works survive, five of those being large-scale works for choir and orchestra, along with two operas, some choral pieces, a handful each of songs and chamber works, and three hours’ worth of exquisite but fiendishly difficult piano pieces which are only now, in the past seven years, appearing on CD. The main reason for his neglect, however, is historical. As with many great composers – even JS Bach – times and tastes move on, and the music which is popular with one generation is dismissed as old-fashioned by the next.

Roger-Ducasse had the misfortune to be manifesting what one contemporary critic praised as ‘all the best qualities of the French musician: an abundantly rich imagination, clear and deep thought, graceful and precise workmanship, and an unerring taste’ at a time when musical traditions were being challenged on multiple fronts, including the witty and iconoclastic composers of ‘Les Six’, and the earnest serialism of Schoenberg and Webern. His classmate Ravel weathered those storms by embracing elements of the future – modernism, neo-classicism, even jazz; Roger-Ducasse was dismissed as a conservative. The situation was

His musical language belongs to the French Romantic tradition of Berlioz, Saint-Saëns and especially his teacher and close friend Gabriel Fauré – with a touch of Debussy that can be heard in the luminous sonorities of works like the Prélude d’un ballet of 1910. Just 28 bars long, this gorgeous orchestral moment has a dream-like quality that is full of anticipation. From a single F-sharp, deep in the double basses, the strings, outlined by the harp, slowly build up an immense yet hushed and ambiguous chord that consists of a bare open fifth: a blank musical canvas waiting to be shaded into a major or minor tonality. The wind instruments offer hints of colour, at first rocking gently back and forth between pairs of notes, with occasional delicate chromatic shivers, before the flutes blossom into a fragment of melody and the music swells into warmth – only to vanish again almost immediately, as the music melts away into silence.

The music feels like it is poised, waiting for something to come after – but what?

Despite its title, there was no ballet to follow. (It’s reported that Michel Fokine was interested in choreographing it for the Ballet Russes, but Roger-Ducasse found Diaghilev too controlling and nothing came of the project.) It seems more likely that this is a prelude in the sense of Debussy’s Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun (1894): a musical evocation of a mood. The title itself gives no hint of what that mood might be, but on the orchestral score, the composer quotes some lines by the music critic and translator Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi: The abandoned gardens of a castle where lords and ladies once lived ...

Autumn ... The Poet, dreaming of former times, moves forward ...

Natalie Shea © 2022

OTTORINO RESPIGHI

(1879–1936)

Pines of Rome – symphonic poem The pines of the Villa Borghese Pines near a catacomb The pines of the Janiculum The pines of the Appian Way Ottorino Respighi left his native Bologna in early 1913 to take up the position of professor of composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatorium in Rome.

The sheer scale of the Eternal City overwhelmed him and, although he had plenty of friends and activities to keep him occupied, Respighi struggled to settle in, enduring severe bouts of melancholy for several years.

According to Elsa Olivieri Sangiacomo, a student of Respighi’s at the Conservatorium who became his wife and biographer, the symphonic poem Fountains of Rome (1916) proved cathartic. The success of that work put Respighi’s career on the map in Italy and abroad. But it also marked a new chapter in the composer’s life and a newfound happiness in his adopted hometown where he would live and work until his death.

PINES OF ROME featuring Melbourne Youth Orchestras | 21 May

doubtless not helped by his own bitterness, which led him to cut himself off from the contemporary musical scene completely in his later years.

Fountains also served as the template for Pines of Rome (1924) and Roman Festivals (1928), the subsequent instalments in the so-called Roman trilogy that reflect, in Elsa’s words, ‘how Respighi saw and felt the varied spirit of Rome’. Claudio Guastalla, librettist of a number of Respighi’s operas, wrote the ‘captions’ which appear at the front of the score of Pines of Rome – but only after the work was completed: I. The pine trees of the Villa Borghese Children are at play in the pine groves of Villa Borghese [the traditional children’s song Madama Doré]; they dance round in circles, they play at soldiers, marching and fighting, they are wrought up by

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PINES OF ROME featuring Melbourne Youth Orchestras | 21 May

their own cries like swallows at evening, they come and go in swarms. Suddenly the scene changes, and II. Pine trees near a catacomb We see the shade of the pine trees fringing the entrance to a catacomb.

From the depth there rises the sound of mournful psalm-singing, floating through the air like a solemn hymn [the Advent plainchant Veni, veni, Emmanuel], and gradually and mysteriously dispersing.

III. The pine trees of the Janiculum A quiver runs through the air: the pine trees of the Janiculum stand distinctly outlined in the clear light of a full moon.

A nightingale is singing [this is the first instance of a pre-recorded sound forming part of a musical score].

IV. The pine trees of the Appian Way Misty dawn on the Appian Way: solitary pine trees guarding the magic landscape; the muffled, ceaseless rhythm of unending footsteps. The poet had a fantastic vision of bygone glories: trumpets sound and, in the brilliance of the newly-risen sun, a consular army bursts forth towards the Sacred Way, mounting in triumph to the Capitol.

Given Respighi’s success – he is one of the best-loved, most-often recorded and widely performed of all composers of the 20th century – it now seems extraordinary that the BBC had banned his music during the Second World War for its supposedly proto-fascist connotations. The fourth movement of the Pines, together with the more overtly triumphal Roman Festivals, are often pointed to as evidence of Respighi’s sympathy for the Fascist glorification of the Rome of Empire.

However, any objective reading of the composer’s letters, public statements or the accounts of those who knew him suggest such claims are fanciful.

Vincent Ciccarello © 2012

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Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle Saturday 28 May / 7.30pm Melbourne Recital Centre MSO Chorus Warren Trevelyan-Jones conductor Kathryn Radcliffe soprano Deborah Humble mezzo-soprano Nicholas Jones tenor Jeremy Kleeman bass Jacob Abela piano Tom Griffiths piano Donald Nicolson harmonium ROSSINI Petite messe solennelle (Little solemn mass)

Running time: Approximately 90 minutes (no interval)

ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

Warren Trevelyan-Jones conductor Warren Trevelyan-Jones is regarded as one of the leading choral conductors and choir trainers in Australia, and was appointed Chorus Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in September 2017. He is also Head of Music at St James’, King Street, Sydney, a position he has held since relocating to Australia in 2008. Under his leadership, The Choir of St James’ has gained a high-profile international reputation through its regular choral services, orchestral masses, concert series and a regular programme of recording and both interstate and international touring.

The Choir has recently performed at official ANZAC Services in both Westminster Abbey and Gallipoli, and has collaborated with Paul McCreesh, David Hill, The King’s Singers and The Hilliard Ensemble, and is well-known for its commissioning of new works. Warren has had an extensive singing career as a soloist and ensemble singer in Europe, including nine years in the Choir of Westminster Abbey, and regular work with the Gabrieli Consort, Collegium Vocale (Ghent), the Taverner Consort, The Kings Consort, Dunedin Consort, The Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars.

He has appeared on over 60 CD recordings, numerous television and radio broadcasts, and in many of the worlds’ leading music festivals and concert halls.

Warren is a co-founder of The Consort of Melbourne and, in 2001 with Dr Michael Noone, founded the Gramophone award-winning group Ensemble Plus Ultra, and an experienced singing teacher and qualified music therapist.

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ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus For more than 50 years the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus has been the unstinting voice of the Orchestra’s choral repertoire. The MSO Chorus sings with the finest conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardner, Mark Wigglesworth, Bernard Labadie, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Manfred Honeck, and is committed to developing and performing new Australian and international choral repertoire.

Commissions include Brett Dean’s Katz und Spatz, Ross Edwards’ Mountain Chant, and Paul Stanhope’s Exile Lamentations. Recordings by the MSO Chorus have received critical acclaim. It has performed across Brazil and at the Cultura Inglese Festival in Sao Paolo, with The Australian Ballet, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, at the AFL Grand Final and at the Anzac Day commemorative ceremonies.

The MSO Chorus is always welcoming new members. If you would like to audition, please visit mso.com.au/chorus for more information.

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SOPRANO Philippa Allen Emma Anvari Julie Arblaster Sheila Baker Carolyn Baker Aviva Barazani Eva Butcher Jessica Chan Ariel Chou Samantha Davies Michele de Courcy Laura Fahey Rita Fitzgerald Catherine Folley Camilla Gorman Georgie Grech Emma Hamley Aurora Harmathy Penny Huggett Gina Humphries Leanne Hyndman Gwen Kennelly Natasha Lambie Judy Longbottom Caitlin Noble Karin Otto Tanja Redl Janelle Richardson Beth Richardson Jodi Samartgis Jillian Samuels Jemima Sim Chiara Stebbing Elizabeth Tindall Fabienne Vandenburie Jasmine Zuyderwyk

ALTO Satu Aho Rachel Amos Catherine Bickell Cecilia Björkegren Jane Brodie Serena Carmel Alexandra Chubaty Nicola Eveleigh Lisa Faulks Jill Giese Ros Harbison Kristine Hensel Helen Hill Helen MacLean Christina McCowan Rosemary McKelvie Charlotte Midson Sandy Nagy Catriona NguyenRobertson Natasha Pracejus Alison Ralph Kate Rice Kerry Roulston Annie Runnalls Lisa Savige Melvin Tan Libby Timcke

TENOR Olivier Bonnici Kent Borchard Steve Burnett Peter Campbell Ed Chan James Dipnall Simon Gaites Daniel Griffiths Lyndon Horsburgh Nader Masrour Michael Mobach Jean-Francois Ravat Colin Schultz Robert Simpson

ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

MSO Chorus

BASS Maurice Amor Kevin Barrell Alexandras Bartaska David Bennett Richard Bolitho Roger Dargaville Ted Davies Andrew Ham Joseph Hie John Hunt Stuart Izon Jordan Janssen Robert Latham Gary Levy Douglas McQueenThomson Vern O’Hara Stephen Pyk Nick Sharman Liam Straughan Matthew Toulmin Caleb Triscari Maciek Zielinski

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ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

Kathryn Radcliffe

Deborah Humble

In 2021, Kathryn Radcliffe sang Leila in Victorian Opera’s production of The Pearl Fishers. In 2022, she appears in Elektra for VO and is soprano soloist in Melbourne Symphony’s Messiah and Melbourne Bach Choir’s Creation.

Mezzo-Soprano Deborah Humble is one of Australasia’s most successful international singers. As a principal artist with the State Opera of Hamburg, she sang Zenobia (Radamisto), Bradamante (Alcina), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Suzuki (Madame Butterfly) and Olga (Eugene Onegin); her Erda and Waltraute in Hamburg’s landmark Ring Cycle were recorded for the Oehms record label.

soprano

She recently made her OA mainstage début – as Delia in Il viaggio a Reims.

For Victorian Opera, she sang Berta in The Barber of Seville and The Queen in The Princess and the Pea. Winner of the 2014 Herald-Sun Aria, she starred the following year as Pamina in Opera Australia’s touring production of The Magic Flute and won the Opera Foundation Vienna Award.

In 2016, Kathryn worked at the Vienna State Opera – covering a range of roles such as Pamina, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Ortlinde in Die Walküre, Pousette in Manon and Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos. She made her Vienna debut in The Cunning Little Vixen.

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mezzo-soprano

Other engagements have included appearances with Edinburgh Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg Easter Festival, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and all the major Australian symphony orchestras.

Other roles Kathryn has performed include: The Governess in The Turn of the Screw (Hawaii Performing Arts Festival); Ernesta in LOL Opera by Nina Sofo (Australian premiere 2010) and Daisy in Contact by Angus Grant (World Premiere 2011).

Most recently, Deborah Humble has appeared in Strauss’ Elektra and Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Boucher in Hamburg, Das Rheingold, Siegfried and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 in Hong Kong, Siegfried in Boston, Mahler’s Symphony No.8 in Singapore, Bruni’s Symphony No.1 (Ringparabel) in Minsk, Parsifal and Verdi’s Requiem in the UK, Bluebeard’s Castle and Elgar’s The Kingdom in Melbourne, Mozart’s Requiem in Brisbane, Tristan und Isolde in Mexico City and Der fliegende Holländer in Lille.

© Patrick Togher Artists’ Management 2022

© Patrick Togher Artists’ Management 2022

Jeremy Kleeman

Brilliant young tenor Nicholas Jones won the Green Room Award for his portrayal of David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for Opera Australia. He was nominated for a Helpmann Award for this same role.

Winner of the 2019 Australian International Opera Award, former Melba Opera Trust Scholar Jeremy Kleeman is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, London.

tenor

Other appearances for the national company have included principal roles in Carmen, Two Weddings, One Bride, Il Turco in Italia and Shostokovich’s The Nose. He also sang Tamino and Almaviva in Opera Australia’s touring productions of The Magic Flute and Il barbiere di Siviglia.

In 2016, Nicholas created the role of Fish Lamb in the world premiere of George Palmer’s Cloudstreet – for State Opera South Australia.

Most recently, he sang Michael Driscoll in the world premiere of Whiteley and Tony in West Side Story for Opera Australia and Tom in Christina’s World for State Opera South Australia.

In 2022, Nicholas sings Tsarevich Gvidon (The Golden Cockerel) and Harry (Voss) in Adelaide, Handel’s Messiah in Sydney and Adelaide, Jaquino (Fidelio) with the Sydney Symphony and returns to Opera Australia as Almaviva.

Nicholas is the current recipient of the Dame Heather Begg Memorial Award. © Patrick Togher Artists’ Management 2022

bass

ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

Nicholas Jones

2022 performances include Messiah with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Alidoro (La Cenerentola) for Victorian Opera, Hayllar Music Tours, Opera in Gippsland, St Matthew Passion with Melbourne Bach Choir and Dvořák Mass with Heidelberg Choral Society.

Jeremy’s opera engagements include the title role in The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Queensland, West Australian Opera and Opera Australia Touring); Voyage to the Moon (Musica Viva/ Victorian Opera, Helpmann and Green Room award nominations); Oscar and Lucinda and The Rape of Lucretia (Sydney Chamber Opera); Cloudstreet (State Opera South Australia); The Magic Pudding, The Cunning Little Vixen and Guillaume Tell (Victorian Opera); L’incoronazione di Poppea (Pinchgut Opera) and Handel’s Faramondo (Brisbane Baroque Festival). In concert, he has also appeared with the Queensland and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, Canberra International Music Festival, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic and in recital for Musica Viva Australia.

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ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

Jacob Abela

Tom Griffiths

Jacob Abela is a keyboardist and composer specialising in experimental performance. Described as performing ‘like electricity…as if possessed by a musical demon’ (Theatre People), Jacob is the keyboardist for Melbourne ensemble Rubiks Collective, and regularly works with leading Australian and international arts organisations.

Jacob’s compositional practise investigates transformation, memory, euphoria, and collaboration.

For the last 3 and a half years Tom has been Repetiteur Tutor with the Masters of Opera Performance program at the University of Melbourne. Prior to this, he was repetiteur with the MSO Chorus for 19 years and worked regularly with both Victorian Opera and Opera Australia, including as Music Director for 3 years with OA’s Victoria School’s Company.

piano

In 2022, Jacob is the keyboardist for the national tour of While You Sleep by Kate Neal and Sal Cooper. In February, Jacob performed two of his works with percussionist Kaylie Melville (Speak Percussion, Rubiks Collective) at Homophonic! BYOB, an annual series in Midsumma Festival dedicated to queer contemporary music.

Jacob has performed as a soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Australian World Orchestras and performs regularly as orchestral pianist with the MSO. Jacob has also worked extensively in vocal music and opera, including his current role as Chorus Repetiteur for the MSO Chorus, and working as repetiteur for several Victorian Opera productions.

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piano

He has performed with the MSO, TSO, Orchestra Victoria and with Vocal Consort Berlin at the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Tom holds degrees in French from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and Music (Hons) from the Royal Northern College of Music, UK.

harmonium

Listed among Australia’s best classical performers by the ABC in 2019, New Zealand-born harpsichordist, organist, pianist, composer and arranger, Donald Nicolson is a prominent figure in performance and research of the music of seventeenth- and eighteenthcentury Europe, and in high demand as a keyboardist, composer, and arranger.

A PhD in Musicology at the University of Melbourne in 2018, and an avid reader of the classics and ancient rhetoric, Donald teaches historically-informed performance practice at the University of Melbourne, and gives regular talks and lectures on music and history.

ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

Donald Nicolson

A sought-after continuo player, Donald frequently performs with Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Van Diemen’s Band, and regularly collaborates with Australia’s early music specialists. He works frequently as a pianist, harpsichordist and organist for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and has directed numerous performances from the harpsichord for the MSO and ACO. Donald is co-founder of ARIA-nominated trio, Latitude 37, and a key member of Anja & Zlatna, an ensemble which performs the folk music of the Balkans and infuses it with the improvisational practices of the seventeenth century.

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ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May 32

Program Notes GIOACHINO ANTONIO ROSSINI

(1792–1868)

Petite messe solennelle Kyrie Gloria Credo Sanctus & Benedictus Agnus Dei The Petite messe solennelle, which followed the Stabat Mater as the second of the large-scale works by Gioacchino Rossini in the sphere of church music, was written during 1863 in Passy, which was then just outside Paris. It was in a sense an occasional composition, written for the consecration of the private chapel of a friend of Rossini’s, the Parisian nobleman the Comte Michel-Frédéric Pillet-Will. The Petite messe solennelle was dedicated to his wife the Comtesse Louise Pillet-Will, and it received its successful first private performance, before invited guests only, at the Comte’s residence in the Rue Monce, Paris, on the 14 th March 1864. It was possibly the circumstances of the first performance which led Rossini to do what it seems at first glance surprising, but which is actually within the French Mass traditional, by writing the accompaniment for piano and harmonium.

In common with all the other compositions written during his last years, Rossini kept this Mass under his own control and refused to allow it to be published. Only after his death was it made available to the public by the Paris publishers Brandus & Dufour. They issued not only the original version but also an arrangement for soli, chorus and orchestra, which does not include the famous Prélude religieux of the original.

Rossini had made this orchestral

version in 1867, having been urged on also by the Parisian music critics, who followed the public performance on the 15 th March 1864 regarded the original instrumentation as being merely provisional, expressing the opinion that when the Mass is orchestrated it was to produce sufficient fire to melt marble cathedrals. Finally he was afraid that after his death someone else would orchestrate the Mass, to its detriment.

The German composer Emil Naumann, who visited Rossini in 1867 while he was working on the orchestral version of this Mass, recalled a conversation with the composer on the subject: After the first greetings, the Maestro said, pointing to the manuscript on which the ink was still wet: “You will find me completing a composition which I have decided it to be performed immediately after my death. Don’t think I am completing my little composition because I am hanging my head and carrying thoughts of death around with me; I am only doing this so that it won’t fall into the hands of Monsieur Sax and his friends here. I wrote this unpretentious piece some time ago; if it were found among my effects Monsieur Sax with his saxophones or Monsieur Berlioz with other monsters of the modern orchestra would use them to instrument my Mass and kill my poor few singers dead, glad to be rid of me at the same time... I am therefore busy supporting my choruses and arias in the way that one did in the past, with a string quartet and a few wind instruments which enter modestly, so that my poor singers will still have their say...”

Nevertheless Rossini seems to have preferred the original version to the orchestral arrangement, and to have held it in higher esteem. He wrote in a letter to Franz Liszt in June 1865, two months after the Petite messe solennelle had again been performed in its original version at the Pillet-Will residence:

August Wilhelm Ambros believed that he could sense the spiritual, inspirational breath of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Petite messe solennelle, especially in the fugues of the Gloria and Credo, those fascinating, ingenious movements, for whose textures every contrapuntist should envy their creator, and in the Prelude religieux, a piece worthy of a master on which old Sebastian would smile with approbation. Side by side with all these technical innovations it was again and again the intensity of musical utterance, the expressive power of the music of this Mass which were admired, and which revealed one thing clearly: the Petite messe solennelle is the work of a composer who may have amused himself superficially with his ironic witticisms, but who here in his music expresses the hopes, joys, and fears of a man for whom honest doubt, and with it a certain brooding melancholy, is an integral part of a faith tenaciously felt.”

ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

“People want me to orchestrate it, so that it can be performed in one of the Paris churches. I am reluctant to undertake that work, because I put all of my slight musical knowledge into this composition, and because I worked with real love of religion.”

© Klaus Döge 1991, translated by John Coombs, abridged by Stephanie Sheridan.

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ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May 34

Text and Translation Kyrie Kyrie eleison

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christe eleison

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Kyrie eleison

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Gloria Gloria in excelsis Deo

Glory be to God on high,

et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

and on earth peace to men of good will.

Laudamus te; benedicimus te;

We praise Thee, we bless Thee,

adoramus te; glorificamus te.

we worship Thee, we glorify Thee

Gratias agimus tibi

We give thanks to Thee

propter magnam gloriam tuam,

for Thy great glory,

Domine Deus, Rex coelestis,

O Lord God, heavenly King,

Deus Pater omnipotens.

God the Father Almighty.

Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe;

O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ;

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris;

O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father;

Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis;

Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram;

Who takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.

Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis

Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us.

Quoniam tu solus sanctus:

For Thou only art holy;

Tu solus Dominus:

Thou only art the Lord;

Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe,

Thou only art most high, O Jesu Christ,

Cum Sancto Spiritu,

With the Holy Spirit,

in gloria Dei Patris. Amen

in the glory of God the Father. Amen

Credo in unum Deum,

I believe in one God,

Patrem omnipotentem,

the Father Almighty,

factorem coeli et terrae,

Maker of heaven and earth,

visibilium omnium et invisibilium.

And of all things visible and invisible.

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum,

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

Filium Dei unigenitum,

the only-begotten Son of God,

et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula,

born of the Father before all ages,

Deum de Deo; lumen de lumine,

God of God, Light of Light,

Deum verum de Deo vero,

true God of true God,

genitum non factum;

begotten, not made,

consubstantialem Patri,

being of one substance with the Father,

per quem omnia facta sunt.

by whom all things were made.

Qui propter nos homines,

Who for us men,

et propter nostram salutem,

and for our salvation,

descendit de coelis.

came down from heaven.

Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto,

And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit

ex Maria Virgine:

of the Virgin Mary,

et homo factus est.

and was made man.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis,

He was crucified also for us,

sub Pontio Pilato

under Pontius Pilate

passus et sepultus est.

he suffered and was buried.

Et resurrexit tertia die

And the third day he rose again

secundum Scripturas,

according to the Scriptures,

et ascendit in coelum,

and ascended into heaven,

sedet ad dexteram Patris.

and sitteth at the right hand of the Father.

Et iterum venturus est cum gloria

And he shall come again with glory

judicare vivos et mortuos,

to judge the living and the dead:

cujus regni non erit finis.

whose kingdom shall have no end.

Et in Spiritum Sanctum

And I believe in the Holy Spirit,

Dominum et vivificantem,

the Lord and giver of life,

qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.

who proceedeth from the Father and the Son.

Qui cum Patre et Filio simul

Who with the Father and the Son together

adoratur et conglorificatur,

is worshipped and glorified,

qui locutus est per Prophetas.

who spoke by the Prophets.

Et unam sanctam Catholicam

And I believe in one holy Catholic

et Apostolicam Ecclesiam,

and Apostolic Church.

ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

Credo

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ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE | 28 May

confiteor unum baptisma

I acknowledge one Baptism

in remissionem peccatorum,

for the remission of sins,

Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum

And I look for the Resurrection of the dead.

Et vitam venturi saeculi, Amen.

And the life of the world to come. Amen.

Sanctus Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus

Holy, Holy, Holy,

Dominus, Dominus, Dominus

Lord God of Hosts.

Plenti sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.

Hosanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest.

Benedictus Benedictus qui venit

Blessed is he that cometh

in nomine Domini

in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest.

Agnus Dei

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Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us,

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us,

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

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Rebirth Sunday 29 May / 11am Deakin Edge, Federation Square Musicians of the MSO Sarah Curro director/violin Guest violinists from Scotch College STEPHEN NEWTON In Medias Res for solo Double Bass (WORLD PREMIERE) RAVEL Sonata for Violin and Cello: 3rd movement Lent ADRIAN HOLLAY Farewell for String Quartet DAVID PATERSON Quartettsätze for String Quartet ANTON KOCH Trapped for String Quintet EDWARD FAIRLIE Under/Over for String Ensemble (WORLD PREMIERE) DEBUSSY (arr. Anton Koch) Pour l’Egyptienne for Solo Violin and Strings RAVEL (arr. Anton Koch) Sonata for Violin and Piano: 2nd movement Blues for Solo Violin and Strings ANTON KOCH The Court of Berevew for String Ensemble (WORLD PREMIERE)* ANTON KOCH Darkness to Light for Solo Violin, Cello and Strings* *featuring guest violinists from Scotch College: Leon Fei, Geoff Liu and Prithvi Ramesh Etta.

A musical Acknowledgement of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham AO, will be performed before the start of this concert.

Running time: Approximately 65 minutes, no interval.

REBIRTH | 29 March

Sarah Curro director/violin Sarah Curro graduated in 1994 from the Queensland Conservatorium, where she was winner of the Conservatorium Medal for Excellence. After winning the Dorcas McLean Traveling Scholarship for Violinists in 1997 she studied, and then taught, at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and from 1999-2002 was a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

In Australia, she has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Queensland Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and is currently a full-time member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Sarah’s interest in education and commissioning is inspired by her great father John Curro, founder of The Queensland Youth Orchestras. Her experience as a tutor includes work with the students from The Hong Hong Academy for Performing Arts, Australian Youth Orchestra (including National Music Camp, Chamber Camp and Young Symphonists), Queensland Youth Orchestra, Melbourne Youth Orchestra (including MYM Summer School), Southern Cross Soloists Winter Music School, the new Australian Asian Orchestra, Orchestra 21 and more.

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REBIRTH | 29 March

Program Notes This concert is not to be judged by the analysis of its individual works but rather by the instinctive mood each one inspires. It was conceived as (yet another) response to the COVID-19 phenomenon; to keep the music going, to create meaning out of the void.

Originally named Darkness to Light after the final piece and the final victory over our despondency, it is an exploration of the perilous emotions normally kept in permanent hibernation thanks to a predictable life.

A little about my choices.

Sydney-based composer Anton Koch features heavily in this program bringing 3 original works, one arrangement and one transcription. He is known as ‘my composer’ being the first person I ever commissioned and it being the first commission he received. We have worked together for decades.

Melbourne’s Edward Fairlie brings a work in direct response to the first

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lockdown of 2020. Dear friends David Paterson and Adrian Hollay are kind enough to allow some fitting works of theirs to be played today and Stephen Newton (yes, our beloved bassist Stevie) has created the opening gem In Medias Res (in the midst of it) for solo double bass. Ravel and Debussy bring extraordinary uncertainty, confusion and anxiety through their use of polytonality, atonality and frankly, musical appropriation. But once again, it is less about their historical context and more the raw effect their pieces bring to this journey.

A special mention needs to go the Ben Castle, head of strings at Scotch College. He is responsible for commissioning Anton’s The Court of Berevew for his string orchestra to premier in Hamer Hall but like most concerts of that era it had to be cancelled. Ben has generously allowed us carry the premier today in exchange for 3 of his best boys joining us! A fine solution and we welcome Leon Fei, Geoff Liu and Prithvi Ramesh Etta. They will also play the final piece with us.

the singularity Ravel Duo – Lent anger, fear, anxiety Hollay – Farewell

REBIRTH | 29 March

Newton – In Medias Res

grief and loss Paterson – Quartettesatz the comfort of simple repetition, weak protest, the relief of giving in Koch – Trapped still locked down? Protest, defiance, resurgence, public resistance Fairlie – This Too Shall Pass new world order, police state, dystopia, repetition, strange calm Debussy arr. Koch – Pour L’Egyptienne fantasy, mystery, sensuality, the grey area Ravel arr. Koch – Blues experimentation, confusion, madness Koch – The Court of Berevew archaic warfare, politics, brinkmanship, triumph Koch – Darkness to Light acceptance, freedom, rebirth

Let us now be uplifted by the possibilities a new world order can bring. © Sarah Curro

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Supporters

Supporters MSO PATRON The Honourable Linda Dessau AC, Governor of Victoria

East meets West The Li Family Trust MSO Live Online Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation MSO Education Anonymous

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE

MSO Academy Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio

Dr Marc Besen AC and the late Dr Eva Besen AO

MSO For Schools Crown Resorts Foundation, Packer Family Foundation, The Department of Education and Training, Victoria, through the Strategic Partnerships Program and the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series (VCES)

Gandel Foundation The Gross Foundation Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio Harold Mitchell Foundation Hyon Ju Newman Lady Potter AC CMRI The Cybec Foundation The Pratt Foundation Elizabeth Proust AO and Brian Lawrence The Ullmer Family Foundation

ARTIST CHAIR BENEFACTORS Chief Conductor Jaime Martín Dr Marc Besen AC and the late Dr Eva Besen AO Cybec Assistant Conductor Chair Carlo Antonioli The Cybec Foundation Concertmaster Chair Sophie Rowell The Ullmer Family Foundation Concertmaster Chair Dale Barltrop David Li AM and Angela Li Assistant Concertmaster Tair Khisambeev Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio Young Composer in Residence Alex Turley The Cybec Foundation

MSO Regional Touring Creative Victoria, Freemasons Foundation Victoria, John T Reid Charitable Trusts, Robert Salzer Foundation, The Sir Andrew & Lady Fairley Foundation The Pizzicato Effect Supported by Hume City Council’s Community Grants program, The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust, Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust, Australian Decorative And Fine Arts Society, Anonymous Sidney Myer Free Concerts Supported by the Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund and the University of Melbourne

PLATINUM PATRONS $100,000+ Dr Marc Besen AC and the late Dr Eva Besen AO The Gross Foundation◊ Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio◊ David Li AM and Angela Li◊ The Pratt Foundation The Ullmer Family Foundation

PROGRAM BENEFACTORS

Anonymous (1)◊

Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program The Cybec Foundation

VIRTUOSO PATRONS $50,000+

Digital Transformation The Ian Potter Foundation, The Margaret Lawrence Bequest – Managed by Perpetual First Nations Emerging Artist Program The Ullmer Family Foundation 42

◊ Denotes Adopt a Musician supporter

Margaret Jackson AC◊ Hyon-Ju Newman◊ Anonymous (1)

Harold Bentley The Hogan Family Foundation David Krasnostein and Pat Stragalinos Elizabeth Proust AO and Brian Lawrence Anonymous (1)

Hilary Hall in memory of Wilma Collie Louis J Hamon OAM Hartmut and Ruth Hofmann Peter and Jenny Hordern Dr Alastair Jackson AM John and Diana Frew◊ Suzanne Kirkham

MAESTRO PATRONS $10,000+

Dr Jerry Koliha and Marlene Krelle

Christine and Mark Armour

Phil Lewis

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan◊ Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM Colin Golvan AM QC and Dr Deborah Golvan Jan and Robert Green Danny Gorog and Lindy Susskind◊ Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM◊ Doug Hooley Rosemary Jacoby in memory of James Jacoby Peter Lovell Opalgate Foundation Ian and Jeannie Paterson Glenn Sedgwick Gai and David Taylor Athalie Williams and Tim Danielson Anonymous (1)

PRINCIPAL PATRONS $5,000+ Adrienne Basser Barbara Bell in memory of Elsa Bell Bodhi Education Fund John and Lyn Coppock Ann Darby in memory of Leslie J. Darby Wendy Dimmick Andrew Dudgeon AM◊ Jaan Enden Dr Bill Fleming Susan Fry and Don Fry AO Sophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser◊ Geelong Friends of the MSO◊ Jennifer Gorog Dr Rhyl Wade and Dr Clem Gruen◊

Supporters

IMPRESARIO PATRONS $20,000+

Dr Elizabeth A Lewis AM◊ Dr Caroline Liow LRR Family Trust Gary McPherson◊ The Mercer Family Foundation Anne Neil◊ Dr Paul Nisselle AM Bruce Parncutt AO Sam Ricketson and Rosemary Ayton Andrew and Judy Rogers◊ The Rosemary Norman Foundation◊ Helen Silver AO and Harrison Young Anita Simon Dr Michael Soon The Hon Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall◊ Lyn Williams AM Anonymous (3)◊

ASSOCIATE PATRONS $2,500+ Mary Armour Sue and Barry Peake Anne Bowden Joyce Bown Julia and Jim Breen Alan and Dr Jennifer Breschkin Patricia Brockman Dr John Brookes Stuart Brown Jill and Christopher Buckley Lynne Burgess Oliver Carton Richard and Janet Chauvel Breen Creighton and Elsbeth Hadenfeldt Sandra Dent

43

Supporters

Douglas J Savige

Patricia Brockman

Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin

Robert and Jill Brook

Alex and Liz Furman

Nigel Broughton and Sheena Broughton

Kim and Robert Gearon

Elizabeth Brown

Goldschlager Family Charitable Foundation

Suzie Brown OAM and the late Harvey Brown

Merv Keehn and Sue Harlow Susan and Gary Hearst John Jones The Ilma Kelson Music Foundation Graham and Jo Kraehe Ann Lahore Lesley McMullin Foundation Andrew Lockwood The Cuming Bequest Margaret and John Mason OAM H E McKenzie Dr Isabel McLean Douglas and Rosemary Meagher Wayne and Penny Morgan Marie Morton FRSA Patricia Nilsson Ken Ong OAM Alan and Dorothy Pattison Peter Priest Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski Lady Marigold Southey AC Steinicke Family Peter J Stirling Jenny Tatchell Clayton and Christina Thomas Jessica Thomson-Robbins Nic and Ann Willcock Lorraine Woolley Anonymous (4)

PLAYER PATRONS $1,000+

44

Ronald and Kate Burnstein Dr Lynda Campbell Dr Sang and Candace Chung Kaye Cleary Michael Craig Andrew Crockett AM and Pamela Crockett Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das Caroline Davies Natasha Davies for the Trikojus Education Fund Merrowyn Deacon Rick and Sue Deering John and Anne Duncan Elaine Walters OAM Grant Fisher and Helen Bird Alex Forrest Applebay Pty Ltd David H and Esther Frenkiel OAM Simon Gaites David Gibbs AM and Susie O’Neill Sonia Gilderdale Janette Gill Dr Marged Goode Catherine Gray Chris Grikscheit and Christine Mullen Margie and Marshall Grosby Jennifer Gross Dr Sandra Hacker AO and Mr Ian Kennedy AM Tilda and the late Brian Haughney David H Hennell

David and Cindy Abbey

Anthony and Karen Ho

Dr Sally Adams

Katherine Horwood

Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society

Penelope Hughes

Geoffrey and Vivienne Baker

Paul and Amy Jasper

Marlyn Bancroft and Peter Bancroft OAM

Basil and Rita Jenkins

Janet H Bell

John Kaufman

The Brett Young Family

Irene Kearsey & Michael Ridley

◊ Denotes Adopt a Musician supporter

Stephen and Caroline Brain

Dr Anne Kennedy

Dr Peter Strickland

John Keys

Dr Joel Symons and Liora Symons

Professor David Knowles and Dr Anne McLachlan

Gavin Taylor

Janet and Ross Lapworth

Ann and Larry Turner

Bryan Lawrence Peter Lawrence Elizabeth H Loftus Chris and Anna Long Shane Mackinlay Wayne McDonald and Kay Schroer Margaret Mcgrath

Russell Taylor and Cara Obeyesekere The Hon Rosemary Varty Leon and Sandra Velik P J Warr in memory of Peter Gates The Reverend Noel Whale Edward and Paddy White Deborah Whithear

Nigel and Debbie McGuckian

Terry Wills Cooke OAM and the late Marian Wills Cooke

Shirley A McKenzie

Richard Withers

John and Rosemary McLeod

Anonymous (15)

Don and Anne Meadows Dr Eric Meadows

OVERTURE PATRONS $500+*

Sylvia Miller

Margaret Abbey PSM

Dr Anthony and Anna Morton Timothy O’Connell Brendan O’Donnell Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James Roger Parker Ian Penboss Adriana and Sienna Pesavento Alan Poynter in memory of Muriel Poynter Professor Charles Qin and Kate Ritchie Eli Raskin Dr Peter Rogers and Cathy Rogers OAM Dr Ronald and Elizabeth Rosanove Marie Rowland Dr Paul Schneider and Dr Margarita Silva-Schneider Elisabeth and Doug Scott Sparky Foundation Jeffrey Sher QC and Diana Sher OAM Martin and Susan Shirley P Shore Hon Jim Short and Jan Rothwell Short John E Smith Dr Norman and Dr Sue Sonenberg Barry Spanger Dr Vaughan Speck

Supporters

Drs Bruce and Natalie Kellett

Jane Allan and Mark Redmond Mario M Anders Jenny Anderson Liz and Charles Baré Miriam Bass Heather and David Baxter Sascha O.Becker Peter Berry and Amanda Quirk Dr William Birch AM Allen and Kathryn Bloom Graham and Mary Ann Bone Stephen Braida Anita and Norman Bye Pamela M Carder Ian and Wilma Chapman Dr Catherine Cherry Charmaine Collins Geoffrey Constable Alex Coppe Marjorie Cornelius Dr Sheryl Coughlin and Paul Coughlin Gregory Crew Dr Daryl Daley and Nola Daley Michael Davies Nada Dickinson

45

Supporters

Bruce Dudon

Wayne McDonald and Kay Schroer

David and Dr Elizabeth Ebert

Dr Anne McDougall

Cynthia Edgell

Jennifer McKean

Melissa and Aran Fitzgerald

Dr Alan Meads and Sandra Boon

Brian Florence

Marie Misiurak

Anthony Garvey and Estelle O’Callaghan

Ann Moore

Sandra Gillett and Jeremy Wilkins

Kevin Morrish

David and Geraldine Glenny

Joan Mullumby

Hugo and Diane Goetze

Adrian and Louise Nelson

Pauline Goodison

Tania Nesbit

Louise Gourlay OAM

Michael Noble

Cindy Goy

Rosemary O’Collins

Christine Grenda

Conrad O’Donohue and Dr Rosemary Kiss

Jason Grollo

Phil Parker

Dawn Hales

Howard and Dorothy Parkinson

Cathy Henry

Sarah Patterson

Clive and Joyce Hollands

Pauline and David Lawton

Natasha Holmes

Wilma Plozza-Green

Roderick Home

Kerryn Pratchett

Geoff and Denise Illing

Akshay Rao

Rob Jackson

Professor John Rickard

Shyama Jayaswal

Liliane Rusek and Alexander Ushakoff

Sandy Jenkins

Viorica Samson

Sue Johnston

Carolyn Sanders

Huw Jones

Dr Nora Scheinkestel

Fiona Keenan

Dr Peter Seligman

Phillip Kidd

Suzette Sherazee

Belinda and Malcolm King

Dr Frank and Valerie Silberberg

Tim Knaggs

Matt Sinclair

David Kneipp

Olga Skibina

Jane Kunstler

Brian Snape AM and the late Diana Snape

Elizabeth-Anne Lane

Colin and Mary Squires

Paschalina Leach

Ruth Stringer

Jane Leitinger

Anthony Summers

Dr Jenny Lewis

Allan and Margaret Tempest

Dr Susan Linton

Reverend Angela Thomas

Janice Mayfield

Brett Thomas

* The MSO has introduced a new tier to its annual Patron Program in recognition of the donors who supported the Orchestra during 2020, many for the first time.

Moving forward, donors who make an annual gift of $500–$999 to the MSO will now be publicly recognised as an Overture Patron. For more information, please contact Donor Liaison, Keith Clancy on (03) 8646 1109 or clancyk@mso.com.au 46

Rosia Pasteur

Michael Webber and Ruth Fincher

Penny Rawlins

Angela Westacott

Joan P Robinson

Barry and Julie Wilkins

Anne Roussac-Hoyne and Neil Roussac

Robert and Diana Wilson

Michael Ryan and Wendy Mead

Fiona Woodard

Andrew Serpell

Dr Kelly Wright and Dr Heathcote Wright

Jennifer Shepherd

Dr Susan Yell

Suzette Sherazee

Daniel Yosua

Dr Gabriela and Dr George Stephenson

Anonymous (36)

Pamela Swansson

CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE Jenny Anderson David Angelovich G C Bawden and L de Kievit Lesley Bawden Joyce Bown Mrs Jenny Bruckner and the late Mr John Bruckner Ken Bullen Peter A Caldwell Luci and Ron Chambers Beryl Dean Sandra Dent Alan Egan JP Gunta Eglite Marguerite Garnon-Williams Drs L C Gruen and R W Wade Louis J Hamon AOM Carol Hay Graham Hogarth Rod Home Tony Howe Lindsay and Michael Jacombs Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James John Jones Grace Kass and the late George Kass Sylvia Lavelle Pauline and David Lawton Cameron Mowat Ruth Muir David Orr Matthew O’Sullivan

Supporters

Amanda Watson

Lillian Tarry Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock Peter and Elisabeth Turner Michael Ulmer AO The Hon. Rosemary Varty Terry Wills Cooke OAM and the late Marian Wills Cooke Mark Young Anonymous (19) The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Estates: Norma Ruth Atwell Angela Beagley Christine Mary Bridgart The Cuming Bequest Margaret Davies Neilma Gantner The Hon Dr Alan Goldberg AO QC Enid Florence Hookey Gwen Hunt Family and Friends of James Jacoby Audrey Jenkins Joan Jones Pauline Marie Johnston C P Kemp Peter Forbes MacLaren Joan Winsome Maslen Lorraine Maxine Meldrum Prof Andrew McCredie Jean Moore Maxwell Schultz Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE Marion A I H M Spence

47

Supporters

Molly Stephens Halinka Tarczynska-Fiddian Jennifer May Teague Albert Henry Ullin Jean Tweedie Herta and Fred B Vogel Dorothy Wood

MSO BOARD Chairman David Li AM Co-Deputy Chairs Di Jameson Helen Silver AO Managing Director

COMMISSIONING CIRCLE

Sophie Galaise

Mary Armour

Shane Buggle

The Hon Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall Tim and Lyn Edward

Board Directors Andrew Dudgeon AM Danny Gorog Lorraine Hook

FIRST NATIONS CIRCLE

Margaret Jackson AC

Colin Golvan AM QC and Dr Deborah Golvan

Gary McPherson

Elizabeth Proust AO and Brian Lawrence Michael Ullmer AO and Jenny Ullmer

HONORARY APPOINTMENTS

David Krasnostein AM Hyon-Ju Newman Glenn Sedgwick Company Secretary Oliver Carton

Life Members Dr Marc Besen AC John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel AC Sir Elton John CBE Harold Mitchell AC Lady Potter AC CMRI Jeanne Pratt AC Artistic Ambassadors Tan Dun Lu Siqing MSO Ambassador Geoffrey Rush AC The MSO honours the memory of Life Members Dr Eva Besen AO John Brockman OAM The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC Roger Riordan AM Ila Vanrenen

48

The MSO relies on your ongoing philanthropic support to sustain our artists, and support access, education, community engagement and more. We invite our supporters to get close to the MSO through a range of special events.

The MSO welcomes your support at any level. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible, and supporters are recognised as follows: $500+ (Overture) $1,000+ (Player) $2,500+ (Associate) $5,000+ (Principal) $10,000+ (Maestro) $20,000+ (Impresario) $50,000+ (Virtuoso) $100,000+ (Platinum)

. For the Future

At the MSO, we believe in building the future of our artform.

As Australia’s oldest professional orchestra, we have done this for more than 100 years by supporting the next generation of musicians, artists, composers, and conductors, contributing to a culture of artistic excellence within the MSO and broader arts ecology.

From mentorships and residencies, to structured learning and training organisations, our programs create a multi-disciplinary talent pipeline for the advancement of Australian orchestral music.

But we can’t do this alone.

Please help us continue to build the future of our artform by donating today.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Thank you to our Partners Principal Partner

Premier Partners

Education Partner

Venue Partner

Major Partners

Government Partners

Supporting Partners

Quest Southbank Ernst & Young Bows for Strings

Media and Broadcast Partners

Trusts and Foundations

The Sir Andrew and Lady Fairley Foundation, John T Reid Charitable Trusts, Scobie & Claire Mackinnon Trust, Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund, The Ullmer Family Foundation

BEST SEAT in the house

As Principal Partner of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, we know the importance of delighting an audience. That’s why when you’re in Emirates First, you’ll enjoy the ultimate flying experience with fine dining at any time in your own private suite.

*Emirates First Class Private Suite pictured. For more information visit emirates.com/au, call 1300 303 777, or contact your local travel agent.