MSO 2025 April Program

Program April 2025

Daniil Trifonov plays Rachmaninov Quick Fix at Half Six: Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto with Daniil Trifonov Jaime conducts Brahms and Ravel The Soul of the Cello: Timo-Veikko Valve

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Contents Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

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Acknowledging Country Your MSO Daniil Trifonov plays Rachmaninov

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Quick Fix at Half Six: Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto with Daniil Trifonov

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Jaime conducts Brahms and Ravel

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In Partnership with the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM)

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The Soul of the Cello: Timo-Veikko Valve

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Supporters

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

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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 Fraillon 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

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About Long Time Living Here As a Yorta Yorta/Yuin composer, the responsibility I carry to assist the MSO in delivering a respectful acknowledgement of country is a privilege which I take very seriously. I have a duty of care to my ancestors and to the ancestors on whose land the MSO works and performs. As the MSO continues to grow its knowledge and understanding of what it means to truly honour the First People of this land, the musical acknowledgment of country will serve to bring those on stage and those in the audience together in a moment of recognition as we celebrate the longest continuing cultures in the world.

—Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao Our musical Acknowledgment of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao, is performed at MSO concerts.

April Program

PHOTO: MARK GAMBINO

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is Australia’s preeminent orchestra, dedicated to creating meaningful experiences that transcend borders and connect communities.

Through the shared language of music, the MSO delivers performances of the highest standard, enriching lives and inspiring audiences across the globe.

Woven into the cultural fabric of Victoria and with a history spanning more than a century, the MSO reaches five million people annually through performances, TV, radio and online broadcasts, as well as critically acclaimed recordings from its newly established recording label.

In 2025, Jaime Martín continues to lead the Orchestra as Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor. Maestro Martín leads an Artistic Family that includes Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor—Learning and Engagement Benjamin Northey, Cybec Assistant Conductor Leonard Weiss, MSO Chorus Director Warren Trevelyan-Jones, Composer in Residence Liza Lim am, Artist in Residence James Ehnes, First Nations Creative Chair Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao, Cybec Young Composer in Residence Klearhos Murphy, Cybec First Nations Composer in Residence James Henry, Artist in Residence, Learning & Engagement Karen Kyriakou, Young Artist in Association Christian Li, and Artistic Ambassadors Tan Dun, Lu Siqing and Xian Zhang.

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 First Violins

Second Violins

Cellos

Tair Khisambeev

Matthew Tomkins

David Berlin

Acting Associate Concertmaster Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio*

Anne-Marie Johnson

Acting Assistant Concertmaster David Horowicz*

Peter Edwards

Assistant Principal

Sarah Curro

Dr Harry Imber *

Peter Fellin Deborah Goodall Karla Hanna Lorraine Hook Kirstin Kenny Eleanor Mancini Anne Neil*

Mark Mogilevski Michelle Ruffolo Anna Skálová Kathryn Taylor

Principal The Gross Foundation*

Monica Curro

Assistant Principal Dr Mary-Jane Gething AO *

Mary Allison Isin Cakmakçioglu Tiffany Cheng Glenn Sedgwick*

Principal

Rachael Tobin

Associate Principal

Elina Faskhi

Assistant Principal Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio*

Rohan de Korte

Andrew Dudgeon AM *

Freya Franzen Cong Gu Andrew Hall Robert Macindoe Isy Wasserman Philippa West

Sarah Morse Rebecca Proietto

Patrick Wong

Jonathon Coco

Andrew Dudgeon AM * Cecilie Hall*

Roger Young

Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan*

Violas Christopher Moore

Principal Di Jameson OAM and Frank Mercurio*

Peter T Kempen AM *

Angela Sargeant Caleb Wong Michelle Wood

Double Basses Principal

Stephen Newton

Acting Associate Principal

Rohan Dasika

Acting Assistant Principal

Benjamin Hanlon Suzanne Lee

Lauren Brigden Katharine Brockman Anthony Chataway Peter T Kempen AM *

William Clark

Morris and Helen Margolis*

Aidan Filshie Gabrielle Halloran Jenny Khafagi

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson*

Fiona Sargeant

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April Program

Flutes

Bassoons

Trombone

Prudence Davis

Jack Schiller

Don Immel

Wendy Clarke

Elise Millman

Sarah Beggs

Natasha Thomas

Michael Szabo

Contrabassoon

Tuba

Principal Jean Hadges*

Associate Principal

Piccolo Andrew Macleod Principal

Oboes Michael Pisani

Acting Associate Principal

Ann Blackburn

Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson*

Cor Anglais Rachel Curkpatrick Acting Principal

Clarinets David Thomas Principal

Philip Arkinstall

Associate Principal

Craig Hill

Principal Dr Harry Imber * Associate Principal Patricia Nilsson*

Bass Trombone Principal

Timothy Buzbee

Horns

Timpani

Principal

Nicolas Fleury

Principal Margaret Jackson AC *

Peter Luff

Acting Associate Principal

Saul Lewis

Principal

Matthew Thomas Principal

Percussion Shaun Trubiano Principal

Principal Third The late Hon Michael Watt KC and Cecilie Hall*

John Arcaro

Abbey Edlin

Drs Rhyl Wade and Clem Gruen*

The Hanlon Foundation*

Josiah Kop Rachel Shaw

Professor Gary McPherson*

Trumpets

Bass Clarinet

Principal

Principal

Richard Shirley

Brock Imison

Rosemary and the late Douglas Meagher *

Jonathan Craven

Acting Principal

Tim and Lyn Edward*

Robert Cossom

Harp Yinuo Mu

Principal Pauline and David Lawton*

Owen Morris Shane Hooton

Associate Principal Glenn Sedgwick*

Rosie Turner

Dr John and Diana Frew *

Learn more about our musicians on the MSO website. * Position supported by

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Journey to the inner world of the MSO

Extend your musical journey through the MSO’s Patron Program.

An annual donation of $500 or above brings you closer to the music and musicians you love. Enjoy behindthe-scenes experiences and exclusive gatherings with MSO musicians and guest artists, while building social connections with other music fans and directly supporting your Orchestra.

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Scan the QR code to become an MSO Patron today.

April Program

Daniil Trifonov plays Rachmaninov Thursday 3 April at 7:30pm Saturday 5 April at 2:00pm Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne

Artists Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Jaime Martín conductor Daniil Trifonov piano

Program Dvořák Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 4 [48’] Interval [20’] Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 [43’]

CONCERT EVENTS Pre-concert talk: Learn more about the performance with Melbourne-based composer Carlos de Cueto.

3 April at 6:45pm and 5 April at 1:15pm in the Stalls Foyer on Level 2 at Hamer Hall.

For a list of musicians performing in this concert, please visit mso.com.au/musicians Running time: 2 hours including interval. Timings listed are approximate.

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PHOTO: PAUL MARC MITCHELL

Jaime Martín conductor Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2022, and Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 2019, with those roles currently extended until 2028 and 2027 respectively, Spanish conductor Jaime Martín also took up the role of Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales last year, and has held past positions as Chief Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (2019–2024), Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (Spanish National Orchestra) (2022–2024) and Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Gävle Symphony Orchestra (2013–2022).

Having spent many years as a highly regarded flautist, Jaime turned to conducting full time in 2013. Recent and future engagements include appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as a nine-city European tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Jaime Martín is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in London, and in 2022 the jury of Spain’s Premios Nacionales de Música awarded him their annual prize for his contribution to classical music.

Jaime Martín’s Chief Conductor Chair is supported by the Besen Family Foundation in memory of Eva Besen AO and Marc Besen AC.

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April Program

Daniil Trifonov piano Grammy Award-winning Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov is a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. In the 2024–25 season he has undertaken season-long residencies with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic, with which he performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall. He also opened the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra’s season, returned to the San Francisco Symphony and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, toured Europe with both the Montreal and Bamberg symphony orchestras, toured the US with a solo program and in recital with violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and released My American Story – North, his lastest double album as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist.

His discography has been recognised with BBC Music’s Concerto Recording of the Year, multiple Grammy nominations and the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018. He has also been named Gramophone Artist of the Year, Musical America Artist of the Year, and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, while his earlier honours include Third Prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition (Warsaw), First Prize the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition (Tel Aviv) and both First Prize and Grand Prix in the International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow). Daniil Trifonov studied with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

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Program Notes Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)

Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 4 I. Allegro con moto II. Poco Adagio III. Scherzo (Allegro con brio) IV. Finale (Allegro con fuoco) Antonín Dvořák’s international career began in 1875 when he won his first Austrian State Stipendium with the support of Johannes Brahms. Nearly all his commonly performed works date from that time forward, but one of Brahms’s recommendations hints at what came before: “[He] has written all sorts of things. Operas, symphonies, quartets, things for piano.”

Dvořák spent his 20s as principal viola of the Provisional Theatre in Prague while also teaching piano lessons and composing prolifically on the side. He wrote both his first and second symphonies in 1865, but neither was performed at the time. He mailed his only copy of Symphony No.1 to a German competition and the score was lost until the 1920s. He then supposedly tried to burn his Symphony No.2 as juvenilia, but was stopped by his roommate, who had contributed money to bind the score. Two decades later, Dvořák revised the piece and it was premiered on 11 March 1888 in Prague (following the premieres of No.3 and No.5). That was its only performance during his lifetime, and even today it is very rarely programmed. [This is the MSO’s first performance of the symphony.

For many years, the ABC orchestras followed the old numbering for Dvořák symphonies and until the 1960s, performances of ‘Symphony No.2’ were in fact of what is now known as Symphony No.7 in D minor, Op.70.]

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Dvořák ended up strongly aligned with Brahms, but he had an early interest in the stylistically opposing music of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner (something that would resurface in his late tone poems of the 1890s). This comes through in the loose association of themes in the outer movements of the Second Symphony, as well as in its painterly sense of scene and occasional moments of operatic storminess and humor. Critics tend to find it overstuffed with ideas, but even so, they always acknowledge the presence of Dvořák’s unique melodic and rhythmic sense. ‘In this symphony youth finds expression,’ wrote the musicologist Otakar Šourek in his 1950 survey of Dvořák’s orchestral works, ‘but youth which is already conscious of its power and is looking forward with clear and confident eyes to its own future. Thus the musical content of the symphony is, for the most part, of a happy spring-like freshness, full of movement and youthful, buoyant élan.’

All four movements begin with brief introductions that become a subtle connecting device across the symphony.

With a gentle lead-in, the first movement turns out to be a vigorous Allegro con April Program

moto, laced with more tranquil and pastoral moments. The Poco Adagio is the movement most typical of Dvořák as we now know him, presaging – or perhaps even equaling – the slow movements of his later symphonies. Some commentators speculate it was inspired by his love for Josefína Cermáková, a piano student who rejected his interest. (In 1873 he married her little sister, Anna, instead.) The middle section develops two themes in a delicate fugato, the kind of elegant counterpoint that might have helped to impress Brahms.

The Scherzo is the most inventive movement, unusually broad and varied for

what is typically the lightest movement in a symphony. The trio (middle) section gives a lyrical theme to the cellos, while cool-toned chords in the flutes and upper woodwinds serve as a questioning gesture. The introduction of the Finale is bizarre for 1865 – almost pointillistic, to use a term that wouldn’t be coined for another 30 years. But it quickly builds into a more conventional series of tunes, occasionally offset by more oddball ideas, which together hurdle toward a jubilant conclusion.

Benjamin Pesetsky © 2025

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943)

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 I. Allegro ma non tanto II. Intermezzo (Adagio) – III. Finale (Alla breve) Daniil Trifonov piano Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 was composed at his summer estate at Ivanovka in 1909. He wanted a new concerto for his forthcoming American tour. Not keen on going to America at first, he was persuaded to go when he realised he would make enough money out of America to buy an automobile.

This was a busy period in Rachmaninov’s life, and he was unable to spend much time practising prior to departure. It is extraordinary therefore, considering the difficulties in the solo part (almost mythologised in the movie Shine), that he practised much of the piano part on a dumb keyboard aboard ship.

The work was first performed in New York City under Walter Damrosch that same year; followed, not much later, by a second New York performance under MSO 2025 Season

‘I would like to buy an automobile! I want one so much, I just cannot tell you!’

Rachmaninov in a letter to a friend

Gustav Mahler, of which Rachmaninov recalled: ‘He touched my composer’s heart straight away by devoting himself to my concerto until the accompaniment, which is rather complicated, had been practised to the point of perfection…’

This concerto has been described by critic John Culshaw as ‘a masterpiece of conciseness’. There are thematic ties between the first and third movements, 13

The piano enters with a simple melody similar to a chant sung at the Monastery of the Cross in Kyiv. The structural subtlety of the work is soon apparent. After a short piano cadenza, a variant of the piano’s opening theme is played on bassoons and lower strings. The woodwinds lead in a new direction and the music builds to a big new theme. This, however, is not the second subject, as we might expect; merely a ‘premonition’ of future themes, which gradually, building bit by bit, add meaning to the work.

The true second subject soon appears, a characteristically romantic Rachmaninov melody, first introduced very clearly as a variation of the trochaic rhythm of the opening. The piano has become more and more dominant and the culmination of the movement is actually to be found in the cadenza. Then, after another straightforward statement of the simple opening piano theme, a sudden ending, almost breathless, promises more.

The Intermezzo begins with some of the saddest music ever to come from a composer whose characteristic mood, even at the best of times, was melancholic. When the piano enters, it gives two versions of its opening theme.

The first section builds to an impassioned climax and then slips smoothly into the scherzo middle section. This fast section provides some relief from the gloom, but the tragic atmosphere soon returns.

The Finale breaks in with great urgency.

The piano’s opening tattoo is derived from the theme of the very opening of the concerto, and Culshaw sees in the linking 14

PHOTO: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

which may explain why the second movement is labelled ‘intermezzo’. Much of the melodic material is derived from the opening rhythm (long–short, long–short), played by clarinet and bassoon accompanied by strings, though the concerto lacks none of Rachmaninov’s typical lyricism.

of the second and third movements further evidence of the tight binding of the concerto. The ‘long–short’ feel underlies the second subject, which in its melodic shape recalls that theme which has not been heard since the first movement. The largely episodic nature of the development gives the movement a rhapsodic, formless impression. The piano presents two lighthearted versions of its opening melody which strike the listener as diversions from the main thrust of the movement.

Eventually, however, we are shepherded back on track with the return of the opening material from the first movement in the lower strings, joined by a hint of the first movement’s second subject. The urgent material and the main tempo of the movement returns, picking up hints of the second subject of this and the first movement in its momentum. The concerto’s signature rhythm sounds from the depths of the orchestra, and leads us to a coda in which the ‘mystery’ theme planted in the first movement finally blooms into a broad romantic statement.

Much is made of the difficulties of this concerto. ‘Oh, the Rach Three!’ gasps Sir John Gielgud in Shine; but the greatness of the concerto lies not merely in its technical hurdles. It lies in the way the material organically grows – and in the way the immense technical challenges never swamp the lyrical purposes of the work.

Gordon Kalton Williams Symphony Australia © 1998/2001 April Program

QUICK FIX AT HALF SIX

Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto with Daniil Trifonov Monday 7 April at 6:30pm Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne

Artists Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Jaime Martín conductor Daniil Trifonov piano

Program Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 [43’] Introduced by Jaime Martín

Artist biographies and the program note for this performance can be found beginning on pages 10 and 13.

CONCERT EVENTS Tonight’s onstage introduction by Jaime Martín will be Auslan interpreted.

For a list of musicians performing in this concert, please visit mso.com.au/musicians Running time: 1 hour and 5 minutes. Timings listed are approximate.

Quick Fix at Half Six is supported by City of Melbourne.

Auslan interpreted performances are supported by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

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“ANAM is one of Australia’s cultural treasures. This is an important project which must happen now.”

— PROFESSOR, THE HON BARRY JONES AC

To find out more about ANAM’s bold plan for the South Melbourne Town Hall, sign up here: anam.com.au/signup

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April Program

Jaime conducts Brahms and Ravel Thursday 10 April at 7:30pm Saturday 12 April at 7:30pm Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne

Artists Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Jaime Martín conductor James Ehnes* violin MSO Chorus Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director Musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM)

Program Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 [38’] Interval [20’] Ravel Daphnis et Chloé – Symphonie chorégraphique† [54’]

* 2025 Artist in Residence † This performance is part of ANAM and the MSO’s Orchestral Training Partnership

CONCERT EVENTS Pre-concert talk: Learn more about the performance with Melbourne-based harpist Megan Reeve. 10 & 12 April at 6:45pm in the Stalls Foyer on Level 2 at Hamer Hall

For a list of musicians performing in this concert, please visit mso.com.au/musicians Running time: 2 hours including interval. Timings listed are approximate.

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Jaime Martín conductor Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2022, and Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 2019, with those roles currently extended until 2028 and 2027 respectively, Spanish conductor Jaime Martín also took up the role of Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales last year, and has held past positions as Chief Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (2019–2024), Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (Spanish National Orchestra) (2022–2024) and Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Gävle Symphony Orchestra (2013–2022).

Having spent many years as a highly regarded flautist, Jaime turned to conducting full time in 2013. Recent and future engagements include appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as a nine-city European tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Jaime Martín is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in London, and in 2022 the jury of Spain’s Premios Nacionales de Música awarded him their annual prize for his contribution to classical music.

Jaime Martín’s Chief Conductor Chair is supported by the Besen Family Foundation in memory of Eva Besen AO and Marc Besen AC.

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April Program

PHOTO: BEN EALOVEGA

James Ehnes violin 2025 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after musicians on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, he is a favourite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls. Recent orchestral highlights include appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra.

He has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including two Grammys, three Gramophone Awards and twelve Juno Awards. In 2021, he was announced as the recipient of the coveted Artist of the Year title in the 2021 Gramophone Awards which celebrated his recent contributions to the recording industry, including the launch of a new online recital series entitled ‘Recitals from Home’, which was released in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of concert halls.

Jame Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin aged nine, and made his orchestra debut with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal aged 13. He continued his studies with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music and the Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon his graduation in 1997. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Visiting Professor. As of June 2024, he is a Professor of Violin at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

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MSO Chorus Celebrating 60 years of creating inspiring musical moments, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus gives voice to the Orchestra’s choral repertoire. The MSO Chorus has performed with the finest conductors including Jaime Martín, Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardner, Mark Wigglesworth, Bernard Labadie, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Xian Zhang, Nodoko Okisawa and Simon Halsey.

PHOTO: LAURA MANARITI

Committed to developing and performing new Australian and international choral repertoire, the MSO Chorus has commissioned works such as Brett Dean’s Katz und Spatz, Ross Edwards’ Mountain Chant, and Paul Stanhope’s Exile Lamentations, and its recordings have received critical acclaim. The Chorus has performed across Brazil and at the Cultura Inglese Festival in São Paolo, with the Australian Ballet and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, at the AFL Grand Final and at Anzac Day commemorative ceremonies.

Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director Warren Trevelyan-Jones is regarded as one of the leading choral conductors and choir trainers in Australia. Chorus Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2017, last year he was also appointed Chorus Master of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. From 2008 to 2024 he was Head of Music at St James’, King Street in Sydney, and under his leadership, the Choir of St James’ gained an international reputation through its regular choral services, orchestral masses, concert series, recordings, and interstate and international touring, as well as the commissioning of new works.

Before relocating to Australia in 2008, he enjoyed an extensive career as a vocal soloist and ensemble singer in 20

Europe, including nine years in the Choir of Westminster Abbey, and regular work with the Gabrieli Consort, Collegium Vocale (Ghent), the Kings Consort, Dunedin Consort, the Sixteen, the Tallis Scholars and the Taverner Choir, Consort and Players. He has appeared on more 60 recordings and numerous TV 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, he founded the Gramophone Award-winning group Ensemble Plus Ultra. He is also an experienced singing teacher and qualified music therapist.

April Program

Choristers performing in this concert Sopranos

Altos

Tenors

Philippa Allen Carolyn Archibald Sheila Baker Giselle Baulch Eva Butcher Aliz Cole Michele de Courcy Veryan Croggon Samantha Davies Anna Dvorakova Keren Evans Catherine Folley Carolyn Francis Karina Gough Juliana Hassett Penny Huggett Gina Humphries Tania Jacobs Natasha Lambie Judy Longbottom Karin Otto Amanda Powell Beth Richardson Jo Robin Elizabeth Rusli Julienne Seal Fiona Seers Elizabeth Tindall Christa Tom

Margaret Arnold Tes Benton Kate Bramley Jane Brodie Jacqueline Cheng Alexandra Chubaty Juliarna Clark Marie Connett Mari Eleanor Claudia Funder Sophia Gyger Ros Harbison Jennifer Henry Kristine Hensel Helen Hill Yvonne Ho Rosemary McKelvie Helen MacLean Natasha Pracejus Alison Ralph Kerry Roulston Lisa Savige Victoria Sdralis Carol Silberberg Jill Thomas Libby Timcke

James Allen Adam Birch Steve Burnett Allan Chiang James Dal-Ben James Dipnall Lyndon Horsburgh Lilijana Matičevska Michael Mobach Jean-Francois Ravat Colin Schultz Cleve Schupp Robert Simpson Stewart Webb Elliott Westbury Stephen Wood

MSO 2025 Season

Basses Kevin Barrell David Bennett Richard Bolitho Roger Dargaville Ted Davies Peter Deane Simon Evans Elliott Gyger Andrew Ham John Hunt Gary Levy Philip McCosker Douglas McQueenThomson Tim March Douglas Proctor Stephen Pyk Matthew Toulmin Simon Wu Raoul Zambelli

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Orchestral Training Partnership: ANAM and the MSO The MSO and the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) have forged a learning partnership to nurture Australia’s most exceptional young musicians and prepare them for a career as professional musicians. Included in this partnership are side-by-side performance opportunities such as tonight’s concert.

Founded in 1996, ANAM is an internationally renowned institution – the only purely classical music performance academy in Australia and one of the few worldwide.

It provides an intense, studio-based program featuring outstanding pedagogy and one of the country’s most active and innovative public performance programs. This is complemented by musician enhancement activities for health and wellbeing, professional development and community engagement. ANAM alumni can be found in many of the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles, including the MSO, and the ANAM schedule brings together a global network of artists who provide mentorship and guidance. anam.com.au

ANAM alumni in the MSO First Violins

Piccolo

Anne-Marie Johnson (2014) Acting Assistant Concertmaster Karla Hanna (2017) Kathryn Taylor (2003)

Andrew Macleod (1996) Principal

Clarinets

Tiffany Cheng (2017)

David Thomas (1997) Principal Philip Arkinstall (1998) Associate Principal

Violas

Bassoon

Christopher Moore (1998) Principal Lauren Brigden (2002) Anthony Chataway (2014) William Clark (2015)

Jack Schiller (2012) Principal

Horns

Cellos

(ANAM graduation year)

Second Violins

Rebecca Proietto (2011) Caleb Wong (2019)

Double Basses Jonathon Coco (2015) Principal Stephen Newton (2004) Acting Associate Principal Rohan Dasika (2014) Acting Assistant Principal

Josiah Kop (2021) Rachel Shaw (2013)

See Your MSO on page 6 for the names of individual chair supporters.

ANAM musicians performing in Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé Theonie Wang First Violin Lydia Sawires First Violin Louise Turnbull Second Violin Lili Stephens Second Violin Jamie Miles Viola Helena Burns Viola Daniel You Viola Jack Overall Cello Heesoo Kim Cello Cindy Masterman Cello Maddison Furlan Double Bass Emica Taylor Flute Joshua Webster Oboe Georgia White Clarinet Stephanie Sheridan Bassoon Emily Miers Horn Lewis Grey Trumpet Harrison Steele-Holmes Trombone Jonathan Parker Percussion

Benjamin Hanlon (2007)

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April Program

PHOTO: PIA JOHNSON

In Conversation with Theonie Wang How did you first come to ANAM, and what has your experience been like?

What initially drew me to ANAM was the incredible faculty, and particularly the chance to learn from [Head of Violin] Adam Chalabi. His mentorship has truly been a transformative experience for me.

Adam’s deep musical insight, combined with his genuine passion for teaching, has not only shaped my technical abilities but also inspired me to think more deeply about music in a way I hadn’t before.

Additionally, weekly coaching sessions with Sophie Rowell have deepened my understanding of collaborative performance and the intricacies of interpreting chamber music.

One of the things I’ve found most inspiring at ANAM is being surrounded by likeminded musicians who share the same drive and passion for music. The atmosphere here is uniquely supportive, which has allowed me to thrive both artistically and personally.

will also be listening and responding to one another. Developing this sensitivity is important for whatever roles I’m headed for in the future, whether that be concertmaster or any leadership position in an orchestra. I am incredibly grateful to be in this position, as these experiences will play a key role in shaping my future career.

How has ANAM helped shape your musical aspirations?

I’ve always been eager to learn and expand my musical horizons, and ANAM has proven to be the perfect place to do so. The institution offers a unique combination of opportunities to perform in solo, chamber, and orchestral settings, all in one place. This holistic approach to training has allowed me to grow in all areas of my musicianship while also preparing me to take the next step in my career, which includes studying in Europe.

This concert is a collaboration between ANAM and the MSO. What does performing in this setting mean to you?

ANAM has truly been a catalyst for my continued artistic and professional development, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of such a dynamic and nurturing environment.

I’m thrilled to be playing alongside my close friends and colleagues, where we

Violinist Theonie Wang (QLD) is in her second year of training at ANAM.

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Program Notes Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 I. Allegro non troppo II. Adagio III. Allegro giocoso James Ehnes violin Cadenza by Joseph Joachim Brahms spent the summers of 1877–79 in the lakeside village of Pörtschach in Carinthia, producing the first of his Op.74 motets, the Ballades and Romances for two voices and piano (Op.75), the Symphony No.2 and the Violin Sonata in G major (Op.78) – works which share an atmosphere of pastoral beauty shot through with nostalgia. But as Brahms scholar Karl Geiringer notes, the ‘crowning masterpiece’ of this time is the Violin Concerto.

The Concerto, like the G major Sonata, was composed for the virtuoso Joseph Joachim, whom an ecstatic 15-year-old Brahms had heard play the Beethoven concerto. In 1853 their friendship began in earnest, with Joachim writing to Brahms’s parents of how ‘Johannes had stimulated my work as an artist to an extent beyond my hopes…’ Brahms similarly admired Joachim – significantly as a composer rather than performer, saying that ‘there is more in Joachim than in all the other young composers put together’.

While Joachim was intimately involved with the creation of early works of Brahms’s chamber music, it was not until those summers at Pörtschach that Brahms wrote solo music for his friend. Geiringer notes that, in the case of both Concerto and Sonata, Brahms ‘conscientiously asked his friend’s advice on all technical questions – and then hardly ever followed it’. In fact at crucial points Joachim’s 24

advice was invaluable. This consisted mainly of tinkering with certain figurations to make them more gratifying to play. But Joachim was also a profoundly serious artist – like Brahms – and out of their collaboration came a work in which the element of virtuosity never overshadows the musical argument. Joachim also wrote a cadenza which is still frequently performed today, including by tonight’s soloist.

The Concerto has some of the expansive dimensions of Brahms’s first Piano Concerto. This is especially true of the spacious first movement which, like that of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, takes up more than half the work’s playing time, and which begins with a long, symphonic exposition of its main themes. Like its companion Second Symphony, the Concerto is in D major, a key which makes use of the violin’s natural resonance; like the Symphony it has something of a visionary Romantic tone.

Brahms originally thought to write the piece in four movements, making the central pair a scherzo and contrasting slow movement. But he wrote to Joachim April Program

that the ‘middle movements – naturally the best ones – have fallen through. So I have substituted a feeble adagio’. Feeble is, of course, hardly the word for this: derived from the falling broken chord with which the violin begins it evolves into one of Brahms’s most soulful but restrained movements. As such it provides a wonderful contrast to the gypsy-style finale, with its pyrotechnic solo line and exciting use of displaced accents.

Joachim premiered the piece in Leipzig in 1879, but the response was tepid, and only through Joachim’s persistence did it gain its rightful place in the standard repertoire.

Brahms and Joachim fell out over the violinist’s divorce in 1884, the rift lasting until Brahms wrote the Concerto for Violin and Cello in 1887. But that’s another story.

Gordon Kerry © 2006

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

Daphnis et Chloé – Symphonie chorégraphique PART I Introduction et danse religieuse (Introduction and religious dance) Scène – Danse générale (General dance) Scène – Danse grotesque de Dorcon (Dorcon’s grotesque dance) Danse légère et gracieuse de Daphnis (Daphnis’ light and graceful dance) Scène – Danse de Lyceion (Lyceion’s dance) Nocturne – Danse lente et mystérieuse (Slow and mysterious dance) PART II Introduction Danse guerrière (Warlike dance) Scène – Danse suppliante de Chloé (Chloe’s dance of supplication) PART III Lever du jour (Daybreak) Pantomime Danse générale MSO Chorus Much to Stravinsky’s chagrin, the proposed premiere of his Rite of Spring had to be put off. It was 1912 in Paris, and the Ballets Russes’ impresario Sergei Diaghilev explained that his choreographer Mikhail Fokine was too busy with ‘other ballets’. One other ballet, to be precise: Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, which its composer had begun in 1909 but taken until 1912 to complete. That Ravel took so long is hardly surprising. The score is one of his longest, with huge orchestral forces including quadruple woodwind and wordless chorus. Characteristically, as well as using the orchestral mass for MSO 2025 Season

effects of overwhelming sounds, he also draws from it an almost limitless number of different, smaller combinations. But Ravel was by nature a miniaturist. Even works of comparable scale, such as the opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges are, formally speaking, a string of exquisite musical pearls. Despite subtitling a ‘choreographic symphony’, the work is, after the relatively expansive opening number, a series of short, characteristic tableaux, though the piece plays continuously. There is, however, an overall unity created by the use of motifs which recur in the score, notably the baleful 25

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

Léon Bakst’s set design showing Chloe and Daphnis tending their sheep (1912)

music with which the god Pan is associated (three deep brass chords), and the onomatopoeic way Ravel depicts laughter.

The story is simple and lends itself to the tableau-like structure. The scene is the Arcadian setting that fin-de-siècle France imagined as ancient Greece, complete with nymphs and shepherds. Daphnis and Chloe and a group of other young pastoral types appear before a grotto which is decorated with statues of three nymphs and an altar sacred to Pan. Their ‘religious dance’ features separate dances for the young men and women which are followed by the first ‘general dance’.

During this the young herdsman Dorcon tries to kiss Chloe, but is prevented by Daphnis. There follows a contest between the two boys – the prize being the coveted kiss. Dorcon’s dance is grotesque and clumsy, full of heavy rhythm, parallel fifths in the lower brass and mooing trombones (and is rewarded by derisive laughter).

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Daphnis’ dance is light and graceful, and he, of course, wins.

The women lead Chloe off-stage, though Lyceion remains to try and tempt Daphnis with a sexy dance, but to no avail.

Suddenly, the women are seen pursued by pirates; Daphnis looks for Chloe but finds only her sandal and collapses with grief.

The statues of the nymphs come to life, comfort Daphnis and call on Pan to save the day.

Part II of the ballet is set in the pirates’ camp – evoked by wordless chorus and trumpet fanfares. The pirates appear and dance their warlike dance, to swirling wind passages and acrobatic trumpet motives, somehow getting blind drunk in the process. Chloe is brought in and pleads for her freedom in the dance of supplication. The pirate chief, however, has other ideas but Chloe is saved by the miraculous intervention of the horned god, whose followers cause their trademark panic and rout the pirates.

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“More remarkable still was the performance of Ravel’s ‘Daphnis and Chloe’ Suite. Mr Doráti was here in his element, feeling and seeing pictures and atmosphere, and the luscious shot-silk of Ravel’s orchestration.”

Neville Cardus reviewing the MSO’s first performance of music from Daphnis et Chloé in May 1940 (The Herald)

Back at the grotto, Part III begins with a justly celebrated musical sunrise. The air is full of the sounds of running streams and bird song, and the music’s cumulative power and climax is matched shortly after by the reunion of Daphnis and Chloe.

Pan, according to an old shepherd, has shown pity to the young couple because of his unrequited love for the nymph, Syrinx. In the ‘Pantomime’, Daphnis and Chloe dance the story in which the nymph, terrified at being chased by a randy creature with horns, a tail and goat’s feet, prays to her father (a river god) who transforms her into a bunch of reeds just as Pan closes his embrace. The sound of his heaving breath into the now-broken reeds gives Pan an idea, and he invents the pan-pipes to comfort himself with music. Ravel at this point writes one of the greatest and most difficult flute solos in the repertoire.

But where Chloe mimes Syrinx’s rejection of Pan, it’s only a story, and the lovers are finally reunited in a passage of luminous full orchestral sound. This leads to a ‘general dance’ of celebration, which is MSO 2025 Season

truly orgiastic, partly achieved by its relentless pace and its five-beats-to-a-bar metre: legend has it that the dancers found this difficult (and a year later they were to dance The Rite of Spring!). Ravel’s solution was to have them say their boss’s name as they danced in rehearsal: Ser-gei-Dia-ghi-lev, Ser-gei- Dia-ghi-lev, Ser-gei-Dia-ghi-lev...

As in Bolero, Daphnis et Chloé ends with a dance whose own centrifugal force blasts it apart.

Stravinsky, Norman Lebrecht tells us, ‘envied the delicacy of...Daphnis et Chloé, so different from his own orchestral sledgehammer’. Indeed, the two composers had good relations and even collaborated on a rescoring of Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina. But the superficial differences between Daphnis and The Rite should not obscure Ravel’s achievement in creating a large-scale work of great power.

Gordon Kerry © 2004

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April Program

The Soul of the Cello: Timo-Veikko Valve Friday 2 May at 7:30pm

West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul

Saturday 3 May at 7:30pm Melbourne Recital Centre

Artists Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Timo-Veikko Valve director / cello

Program J.S. Bach Prelude in E flat major from Cello Suite No. 4, BWV 1010 [5’] – J.S. Bach Fugue in E flat major, BWV 876 [2’] (No. 7 from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, arranged for string quartet by W.A. Mozart, K.405/2)

W.A. Mozart String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K.421 [29’] (arranged for string orchestra by Timo-Veikko Valve) I. Allegro moderato. II. Andante. III. Menuetto (Allegretto) – Trio. IV. Allegretto ma non troppo Interval [20’] J. Kuusisto Wiima for string orchestra, Op. 27 [13'] R. Schumann Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 [24’]

(arranged for string orchestra by Orlando Jopling) I. Nicht zu schnell [Not too fast] – II. Langsam [Slow] – III. Sehr lebhaft [Very lively]

CONCERT EVENTS Pre-concert talk: Learn more about the performance with MSO Principal Viola Christopher Moore. 2 May at 6:45pm at Warragul and 3 May at 6:45pm in the Stalls Foyer on Level 2 at Hamer Hall.

For a list of musicians performing in this concert, please visit mso.com.au/musicians Running time: 1 hour and 45 minutes, including interval. Timings listed are approximate.

Freemasons Foundation Victoria

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MSO’s Warragul performance is supported by AWM Electrical, Freemasons Foundation Victoria and the Robert Salzer Foundation.

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In Recital 25 June 7.30pm Ryman Healthcare Winter Gala with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaime Martín 28 June 7.30pm Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall

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PHOTO: SIMON LEKIAS

Timo-Veikko Valve director / cello Timo-Veikko ‘Tipi’ Valve grew up in Helsinki, Finland, surrounded by a family who were ‘musical, but not musicians’ and who wanted music lessons to be a part of their children’s lives. Tipi was encouraged to pick up the cello because one of the teachers at the local music school, upon seeing him as a toddler, declared that he ‘looks like a cellist’. Tipi is still not sure what this actually means.

He is recognised as one of the most versatile musicians of his generation – performing as a soloist, chamber musician and director on both modern and period instruments.

In 2006, he was appointed Principal Cello of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Tipi plays a Brothers Amati cello from 1616, kindly on loan from the Australian Chamber Orchestra Instrument Fund.

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The Soul of the Cello The soul of the cello is the soul of Western music. This stringed instrument found its voice in the most adored works in history, singing through the notes of Bach and Mozart as each composer left their monumental mark on the next. Our concert opens with one of the first major works ever written for this luscious instrument, the Prelude in E flat major from BACH’s Cello Suite No. 4, which he composed in the early 18th century. It is a masterclass not only in its technical construction but in its ability to manipulate an instrument until it wins the heart of every listener in the room. Pick up the score, and you’ll see a smattering of notes that all look the same (we’ll call them quavers). The resultant music is repetitive, angular, and calculated. Yet the cellist needs no support from swooning strings or fluttery winds – it leaves us mesmerised in the wake of its orderly beauty.

Johann Sebastian Bach left a profound impact on those who followed. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was too young to have personally met this giant who came before (although at eight years old, he did meet Bach’s son Johann Christian, who also left a deep impression). We can hear Mozart’s respect for this musical family in his 1782 arrangement of BACH’s Fugue in E flat major from Book 2 of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

jumps in to echo it. The music continues to unfurl, each part weaving into the next.

The outcome is an elegant and energetic work that was originally intended to advance the skills of keyboard players. In Mozart’s hands the music is presented through strings – much to the elation of his fugue-fanatic wife Constanze, no doubt.

As Bach inspired Mozart, MOZART inspired Timo-Veikko Valve who used his knowledge of the instrument to create a modern-day arrangement of the 1783 String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421.

This was one of the six ‘Haydn’ Quartets, which Mozart had dedicated to the composer Joseph Haydn – a musical mentor, fellow Freemason and his best mate. When Haydn heard these quartets performed, he told Mozart’s dad Leopold: ‘Your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.’

A fair assessment.

Around this time, Mozart spent his weekends with Baron Gottfried van Swieten – an arts patron and librarian with access to a goldmine of musical manuscripts. He shared an abundance of works by Bach, which Mozart could play, study, and even take home! This environment fostered the arrangement of this fugue – a convergence of education and enthusiasm for the music.

String Quartet No. 15 was composed in a minor key, which is why it opens in a tense and enigmatic mood. But it also features sections that are delightfully typical of the composer, even boasting a happy ending.

Could this be an elaborate metaphor for childbirth – the struggles of labour before the lifechanging reward of a newborn baby? It may seem like a random observation, but hear it out: Mozart was supposedly in one room composing this string quartet while his wife was in the next, bringing their first son into the world.

If you like, you can try to pick out the precise notes that represent Constanze’s cries of labour (they’re in there, or so she claimed). Then again, perhaps it’s best not to think about it too much, and simply enjoy the music. The choice is yours.

In a fugue, you’ll hear the statement of a theme before the next musical voice

The soul of the cello then travels to Finland, homeland of composer and

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April Program

‘We’ll call them quavers’ – the beginning of Bach’s Prelude in E flat major, as copied out by his wife Anna Magdalena Bach

violinist Jaakko Kuusisto. In the past, Valve has reflected on his intimate connection to KUUSISTO’s Wiima, a work that reminds him of the childhood memories he made in his mother’s home region of Sysmä. But in addition to these nostalgic sentiments, this is also an edgeof-your-seat work. It’s from 2011, though it features ideas the composer had originally crafted for his earlier piece Play.

There is tragedy to be found in the soul of SCHUMANN’s Cello Concerto, just as the circumstances surrounding its composition were not always easy; Robert Schumann struggled with mental ill health throughout his life. It only took him about a fortnight to compose this concerto in 1850, but it was not performed during his lifetime, and he continued to tinker with the score into his final years. He’d also tried to sell it to publishers under somewhat false pretences, spruiking the work as bright and happy when a lot of the sections sound anything but. That’s not to undersell some of the concerto’s calmer MSO 2025 Season

moments: his wife and fellow composer Clara Schumann said it radiated a ‘romantic quality’ that enabled ‘deep feeling’ in the melodies that blend seamlessly between movements.

Perhaps this is what we gain from the Soul of the Cello; the ability to experience feelings of cheerfulness and sorrow; awe and respect for an emotionally resonant instrument. And it all comes together on a single program that charts the cello’s heartrending journey from Bach’s time to our own.

Stephanie Eslake © 2025

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Honorary Appointments

MSO Artistic Family

Chair Emeritus Dr David Li AM Life Members John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel AC Jean Hadges Sir Elton John CBE Lady Primrose Potter AC CMRI Jeanne Pratt AC Lady Marigold Southey AC Michael Ullmer AO and Jenny Ullmer MSO Ambassador Geoffrey Rush AC

Jaime Martín

The MSO honours the memory of Life Members The late Marc Besen AC and the late Eva Besen AO John Brockman OAM The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC Harold Mitchell AC Roger Riordan AM Ila Vanrenen

Artist in Residence

MSO Board Chair Edgar Myer Co-Deputy Chairs Martin Foley Farrel Meltzer Board Directors Shane Buggle Lorraine Hook Margaret Jackson AC Gary McPherson Mary Waldron Company Secretary Randal Williams

MSO 2025 Season

Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor

Benjamin Northey

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor – Learning and Engagement

Leonard Weiss CF

Cybec Assistant Conductor

Sir Andrew Davis CBE †

Conductor Laureate (2013–2024)

Hiroyuki Iwaki †

Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)

Warren Trevelyan-Jones MSO Chorus Director

James Ehnes

Karen Kyriakou

Artist in Residence, Learning and Engagement

Christian Li

Young Artist in Association

Liza Lim AM

Composer in Residence

Klearhos Murphy

Cybec Young Composer in Residence

James Henry

Cybec First Nations Composer in Residence

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO First Nations Creative Chair

Artistic Ambassadors Xian Zhang Lu Siqing Tan Dun

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Thank You to Our Partners Principal Partner

Premier Partner

Venue Partner

Major Partners

Government Partners

International Law Firm Partner

Education Partners

Orchestral Training Partner

Supporting Partners

Quest Southbank

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Ernst & Young

April Program

Media and Broadcast Partners

Trusts and Foundations

Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund Freemasons Foundation Victoria

MSO 2025 Season

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