INNER VISIONS 2023

Nau mai haere mai, welcome to our 2023 season! As always, we are thrilled to be able to share our programme for the upcoming year with you. Music has a remarkable way of bringing entire communities together. The ongoing, unwavering support of our audience is the reason we were able to navigate such a challenging time and be in the position to release our 75th Season. Please read on to discover the immense programme of masterpieces and virtuoso soloists featured throughout the season, including our very own concertmaster, Amalia Hall. We are immensely proud to continue our relationship with our composer-in-residence John Psathas and are excited to be working with him as he focuses on integrating and highlighting two immensely talented young musicians within our season in the fourth year of his residency.

We are also thinking big outside the concert hall to share the thrill of live music with communities throughout the Wellington region. We’ll bring together thousands of school children with our Music to Schools programme, hundreds of musicians with our community play-in and connect with new audiences by injecting beautiful music into every inch of Cuba Street during Classical on Cuba. We continue to work alongside our friends Wellington Opera, Orpheus Choir, New Zealand Opera and the Royal New Zealand Ballet to present world class performances that contribute to enlivening the city we call home. We hope you enjoy the 2023 season and all we have in store for you. An orchestra does not exist without its audience, and we cannot express just how grateful and humbled we are by ours.

Beckie Lockhart General Manager, Orchestra Wellington

Wellington City Council – proud orchestrators of the vibrant, diverse arts and events scene in our city.

Art Music has always straddled the divide between two fundamental forces – the Apollonian and Dionysian. To Apollonian composers, music can only express itself. But the Dionysians find inspiration within themselves: their inner visions.

In 2023 your orchestra presents an extraordinary snapshot of these Dionysian composers. They’re linked by the composers’ need to express their deepest emotions, seeking what Kandinsky called “the spiritual in art”.

INNER VISIONS features works of genius composed between 1759 and today, including masterpieces by your composer in residence, John Psathas.

Following the church and modal styles of Renaissance and the tonal systems of the Baroque, a powerful new musical form emerged that had immense repercussions to the history of music: Opera. Operatic composers strove to enhance the text through new emotional conventions. The story existed on two levels – one which the characters experienced, and another which only the audience heard, its dramatic truth revealed by the music.

—Wassily Kandinsky

Concerning the Spiritual in Art

That is beautiful which is produced by the inner vision, which springs from the soul.

This new theatrical approach quickly influenced instrumental music, creating a new aesthetic, the “sensitive style” or Empfindsamer Stil. Using operatic conventions, it strove to convey how people really felt – to portray their inner visions. “Play (and compose) from the soul, not like a trained bird!” said CPE Bach, this style’s most famous composer. Bach’s 1759 E minor symphony is a wonderful example of the Empfindsamer Stil.

Its range of deeply felt emotional content was new for instrumental music, and the three part structure Bach borrowed from opera overtures laid the groundwork for the modern symphony.

The influence of CPE Bach on later generations was immense. Both Haydn and Beethoven collected his scores, and when Mozart claimed, “Bach is the father, we are the kids”, he was not referring to JS Bach, but rather his second son. Bach’s literary friends connected his style with the Sturm and Drang (Storm and Stress) movement in literature. Its aspiration to spontaneous expression countered the Enlightenment’s Apollonian ideals.

Haydn’s debt to Bach is evident in his minor key symphonies. We present one of Haydn’s earliest Sturm and Drang symphonies – his 39th, of 1769, “Tempesta di mare”. This tempestuous, fanatically concentrated work disorientates the listener by bizarre silences and far-ranging harmonies.

Mozart’s 1776 incidental music for Thamos, King of Egypt abounds in Sturm und Drang conventions including restless harmonies, chromaticism, and contrasting rhythms. For its New Zealand premiere, I am excited to share the stage with our closest friends, The Orpheus Choir!

Richard Strauss’s musical lineage descends from the Empfindsamer Stil, through Sturm und Drang, Beethoven, and Wagner and Liszt’s New German School.

Strauss’ Burleske of 1886, written when he was 20, is a brilliant example of his precocious talent. We are honoured to invite our wonderful friend, Jian Liu, to perform the fearsomely virtuosic piano part! But for the sake of our story, we also present the Dance of the Seven Veils from Strauss’s extraordinarily influential opera Salome, premiered in 1905.

What a story of transformation in the 19 years that separates these two vibrant works! It is the birth of Modernism!

Strauss’s theatrical instinct guaranteed the kind of scandal that sells out seasons, and the lurid nature of the libretto is fully matched by the expressionist nature of the music! As Thomas Beecham observed, “Salome served the useful purpose of filling the house every night it was played.”

From Salome onwards, we see how Sigmund Freud influenced the arts. Both psychoanalysis and art explored the unconscious. The composers’ “sensitive style” morphed into a form of confession, expressing inner visions that might not even be conscious to the composers themselves.

The Freudian connections run even deeper. Anton Webern stated, “all of my works from the Passacaglia on relate to the death of my mother.” This 1908 masterpiece is indebted to Mahler’s lush orchestrations and clarity of texture, but sharing Brahms’ interest in older musical forms, the work is based on an archaic musical form that was developed in Spain in the 17th century. Webern’s Opus 1 also pays homage to Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, with its passacaglia finale.

Mahler himself was famously analysed by Freud (mother fixations, regression, you name it!).

We perform his exquisite Das Lied von der Erde from 1909. Described by Mahler as “the most personal thing I have created, this is as moving an example of a composer’s inner vision, his deepest longings, as can be imagined.

In the same year, Arnold Schoenberg wrote his haunting Five Pieces. He called them, “… a bright, uninterrupted interchange of colours, rhythms and moods”. Schoenberg idolised Mahler, and he shared Mahler’s inward approach to expression. As Schoenberg exclaimed to Kandinsky, “Art belongs to the subconscious!”

Not just German composers observed how CPE Bach’s inward looking Sensitive Style morphed into the early modernist period and its extraordinary flowering of expressionism. Bartok and Prokofiev fused expressionism with their national folk music. Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite was commissioned in 1915 by the impresario Diaghilev for the Ballet Russes. We present a rare opportunity to hear this most spectacular and colourful score!

We present the New Zealand premiere of Bartok’s 1926 expressionist masterpiece, the Miraculous Mandarin. This gritty, urban tale begins with a depiction of the concrete jungle and, like Salome, depicts a story of lust and depravity. Bartok’s techniques comment on society’s corruption and moral vacuum while delving into inner visions.

We welcome Amalia Hall to perform Britten’s 1939 Violin Concerto. Britten was inspired by Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, which he found “just shattering – very simply touching, sublime, vital & so intellectually emotional”. Like Webern, Britten featured the passacaglia as a structural device.

We feature two other British works. First, the New Zealand premiere of Thomas Ades’ “…but all shall be well”, whose orchestration echoes both Britten’s War Requiem and Gustav Mahler’s exquisite sound world.

William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast from 1931 also reflects the sound world of the late romantics and early modernist expressionists. Our cast of thousands (well hundreds!) includes the Wellington and Hutt Valley Brass Bands as well as the Orpheus Choir!

Our season examines the dichotomy of the Apollonian and Dionysian impulses – rational enlightenment thought versus subjective emotion. Thus we place Stravinsky’s 1931 neoclassical violin concerto, played by Natalia Lomeiko, alongside Haydn and CPE Bach.

Stravinsky later noted that the concerto’s “texture is almost always more characteristic of chamber music than of orchestral music”. In a concert based on the genesis of inner visions, we look to a giant of the 20th century to allude to the father of CPE Bach in this masterpiece. We finish with a truly grand finale – the New Zealand premiere of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck! It will be a tour-de-force multi-media performance.

Wozzeck is the Ulysses of music. Like Joyce’s novel, the narrative is underpinned by a level of technical virtuosity that is breathtaking, but as TS Eliot noted, “this method was a way of controlling, of ordering, of giving shape and significance to the immense panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history”.

Wozzeck fuses the language of Mahler (Berg dedicated the work to Mahler’s widow, Alma), while structuring the work on a variety of instrumental musical forms, including yet another passacaglia!

I love the symmetry of a season that begins with the early empfindsamer still process of using operatic convention to express inner visions, while in Wozzeck, Berg uses forms associated with instrumental music to structure opera. Wozzeck is that rarest of things – a supreme masterpiece of formidable complexity that is also populist and a great night out!

2023 marks our final season with John Psathas as our Composer in Residence. I treasure the fact that you have followed his artistry with great interest and pleasure. His music stands at the very forefront of the art music of today. In addition our performances of his work, he will again present “The Psathas Sessions”, focusing on works by Samuel Barber and Georgs Pelecis, and featuring the National Concerto Competition winning pianist Otis Prescott Mason. John’s advocacy on the behalf of contemporary art music has been inspiring, and extends to introducing two brilliant young composers to share their inner visions with us: Briar Prastiti and Arjuna Oakes.

INNER VISIONS is a celebration of music that speaks our deepest truths. We invite you – the interpreter of what you hear – to bring your unique inner visions to the performance.

The relationship between the composer, performer, and listener is why live music is so powerful. It’s why the relationship between Orchestra Wellington and you, our cherished audience, is so special. We do not take your support and generosity for granted! Presenting these masterpieces for you in the beautiful Michael Fowler Centre is our honour, and I warmly invite you to join us in experiencing these extraordinary programmes, which will entertain as much as they will touch our own inner visions.

Marc Taddei Music Director, Orchestra Wellington

FUNDAMENTALFORCES

FUNDAMENTAL FORCES

Saturday 15 April, 7.30pm

Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)

Symphony in E minor

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)

Violin Concerto in D

Natalia Lomeiko – violin

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)

Symphony No. 39 in G minor

“Tempesta di Mare”

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)

Scythian Suite

JS Bach’s second son was the leading proponent of a new theatrical approach to music called the “sensitive style” or Empfindsamer Stil. Inspired by the more emotional territory explored in opera, Empfindsamer Stil composers sought to portray their feelings: their inner visions.

CPE Bach’s style resonated with his literary friends. They related it to literature’s Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) movement, which aspired to more spontaneous expression and opposed the Enlightenment’s Apollonian ideals. This 1759 symphony’s dramatic contrasts and emotional range signal a new approach to instrumental music. CPE Bach borrows the three-part structure of an operatic overture, laying the groundwork for the symphony as we know it today.

This four movement concerto of 1931 is written in Stravinsky’s neoclassical style, with the orchestra trimmed to almost chamber-music delicacy that lets the violin shine through. After a wide-stretched chord from the soloist – a recurring motif – the playful first movement is filled with scraps and quotes of other music. The second movement, Aria I, has a ‘jumping at its own shadow’ quality, the next, Aria II, is more serious, with a leisurely heartfelt melody. The mercurial fourth movement fiddles and twitters over a chugging bassoon pulse, a comical effect among quick splashes of colour.

Like Beethoven, Haydn admired CPE Bach enough to collect his scores. Haydn’s debt to Bach’s unique inner visions is clearly heard in his minor key symphonies of the 1760s and 1770s. In this tempestuous, fanatically concentrated work of 1767, the outer movements are intensely dramatic, disorienting the listener with bizarre silences and wideranging harmonies reminiscent of CPE Bach. The middle movements are more settled; the trio features some delicate flourishes in the winds.

In 1914, Diaghilev commissioned a ballet from Prokofiev for his Ballets Russes; however he rejected the result, finding its theme too similar to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Like Stravinsky, Prokofiev had based his ballet, “Ala and Lolly”, on the imagined rites of an ancient tribe, in this case the Scythians. These legendary horseriding, blood-drinking barbarians inspired some of Prokofiev’s most splendidly bold orchestrations. In 1916 he took the ballet’s best moments to create this suite. The four movements are evocatively titled, “The Adoration of Veles and Ala,” “The Enemy God and Dance of the Spirits of Darkness,” “Night,” and “The Glorious Departure of Lolly and the Sun’s Procession.”

MYTH &

MYTH & RITUAL

Saturday 3 June, 7.30pm

Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)

Salome: Dance of the seven veils

Arjuna Oakes (1998–)

Safe Way to Fall

John Psathas (1966–)

Zahara

Valentine Michaud – saxophone

Bela Bartok (1881–1945)

Miraculous Mandarin Orpheus Choir Wellington

In 1905, when Strauss was already an acclaimed composer and conductor with a transatlantic career, he presented his third opera, Salome. An expressionist masterpiece, it was also a scandal and a revelation, exploring inner visions of murder and desire. Its cultural impact was such that Arnold Schoenberg, Giacomo Puccini, Alban Berg, and Gustav Mahler all attended its Austrian premiere. The lushly-scored Dance of the Seven Veils maintains a sultry tension punctuated by bursts of explosive energy as Salome dances for King Herod.

Saxophonist Federico Mondelci commissioned this work from Psathas after hearing an earlier saxophone concerto, Omnifenix, performed by Michael Brecker in Bologna, Italy. Zahara was inspired by Dean King’s book ‘Skeletons on the Zahara’, a chronicle of the true story of twelve American sailors who were shipwrecked off the coast of Africa in 1815,

captured by desert nomads, sold into slavery, and subjected to a hellish two-month journey through the perilous heart of the Sahara. Bartok composed this as a one-act pantomime ballet between 1918 and 1924. As well as being steeped in the folk music of his native Hungary, Bartok was influenced by Schoenberg and Strauss. Like Strauss, he didn’t shy away from a sexually explicit libretto such as the Miraculous Mandarin, which was banned by the Nazis, and is rarely performed in its full form. The ballet is set in a shabby room in the slums, where three thieves force a girl to lure victims from the street. The first two victims have little to offer. The third is the terrifyingly impassive Mandarin. The girl tries to stir him with her dancing. He seizes her but she flees. The thieves try to kill the Mandarin, but like desire itself, he’s unstoppable. The music evokes many moods, from the clattering rush of the city slums, full of striving desperation, to the sparsely-furnished dances of seduction, with their ominous undertones and sudden violence.

Right from his evocation of a snarling traffic jam, Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin puts the chaotic, urban reality front and centre! The visceral nature of the story: robbery, eroticism, seduction, and murder is fully matched by the brilliance of the score! This is one of Bartok’s most brilliant creations, and we are honoured to present the New Zealand premiere of the complete masterpiece, alongside the ever-inspiring collaboration of Orpheus Choir.

—Marc Taddei

COLOURS

Saturday 22 July, 7.30pm

Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)

Burleske

Jian Liu – piano

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)

5 Pieces for Orchestra Op. 16

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)

Das Lied von der Erde

Oliver Sewell – tenor

Hadleigh Adams – baritone

Strauss’s precocious talent is manifest in this strongly Romantic 1886 work, written when he was twenty. The solo part is fearsomely virtuosic and the entire work sparkles with the confidence of youth. Strauss’ orchestration is inventive and assured in this witty piece that tosses themes between soloist and orchestra with ease.

In 1909, as he composed these pieces that Strauss had requested, Schoenberg told him, “They are short orchestra pieces (between one and three minutes long), not cyclically related… However, I am expecting colossal things of them, sound and mood especially. That is all they are about: absolutely not symphonic – precisely the opposite – no architecture, no structure. Merely a bright, uninterrupted interchange of colours, rhythms and moods.”

In 1907, Hans Bethge published a volume of his German translations of Chinese poetry. A year later, Mahler used seven of these poems to create this mighty song cycle or

voice-led symphony that encapsulates his enduring concerns: nature and mortality. Its six movements traverse strange and beautiful inner visions. The first, Drinking Song of the Earth’s Misery, is perhaps the strangest, reeling giddily between drama and solace, from brassy alarm calls to delicate woodwind trills or caressing vocal phrases. The second song, Autumn Loneliness, is like a slow movement; it is filled with Mahler’s trademark melancholy yearning. The three shortest movements, Youth, Beauty, and The Drunkard in Spring, are three poetic snapshots revelling in life, and function as a symphony’s scherzo. The final movement, the Farewell, is a slow journey that dissolves magically into ineffable peace: My heart is still and awaits its hour. The beloved earth everywhere blossoms and greens in springtime Anew. Everywhere and forever the distances brighten blue! Forever… forever...

PROPHECY

PROPHECY

Saturday 5 August, 7.30pm

Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington

Thomas Ades (1971–)

…but all shall be well

Briar Prastiti (1992–)

Commissioned work

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)

Violin Concerto

Amalia Hall – violin

William Walton (1902–1983)

Belshazzar’s Feast

Benson Wilson – baritone

Orpheus Choir Wellington

Wellington Brass Band

Hutt City Brass

Sin is Behovely, but All shall be well, and All manner of thing shall be well

This 1993 piece takes its title from these lines from T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets” which quote Julian of Norwich’s “Consolations”. Julian expressed her belief that sin was a natural, even necessary part of the human condition. Ades says the piece, a “consolation” for orchestra, is composed to engage the audience and gradually to draw the listener into its own intimate world.

…but all shall be well is about shifting expectations. Familiar melodies, sounds and ideas are gradually brought in and out of focus, cadences are tantalisingly glimpsed and then snatched from view. There are many allusions to other works – for example the chorale at the end

is based on Liszt’s Romance Oubliée. The sounds and textures often resemble those of the late-Romantics and the expanding tonality of the Second Viennese School. The piece is in three sections, each of them a broad panel that unfolds majestically before the listener.

Britten was inspired to write this after hearing the premiere of Alban Berg’s Violin concerto in Barcelona in 1936. He found the work, “just shattering – very simply & touching, sublime, vital & so intellectually emotional.” Written in 1939, the shadow of war seems to lie across it. The timpani opens the first movement with a slightly threatening rhythm that becomes an ostinato throughout; the soloist enters with a long serious melody. A light, fast scherzo follows that seems to trip over its lopsided rhythms. Trombones introduce the third movement which, echoing the Webern Passacaglia performed elsewhere in this season, also uses that archaic form.

Walton is a bit of an outlier; he was largely self-taught in composition, although he had mentorship from both Ernest Ansermet and Ferruccio Busoni. He did, however, sing professionally, both in his father’s choir and the choir of Christ Church. This work, commissioned by the BBC in 1929 as a short piece for a modest instrumental and vocal ensemble and two soloists, evolved into an oratorio requiring a huge orchestra, four percussionists, organ, harps, two antiphonal brass bands and a choir capable of singing difficult syncopated parts with shifting metres and tricky harmonies. With these forces, Belshazzar’s Feast tells the Biblical tale of the fall of Babylon, using a libretto by Walton’s friend Osbert Sitwell. The oratorio begins with the enslaved Israelites lamenting the fall of Jerusalem and predicting Babylon’s doom. The middle section describes a raucous feast. Finally after the dramatic recitative when the hand of God writes a warning on the palace wall, there’s a hymn of thanksgiving for Belshazzar’s downfall.

PHARAOH

Saturday 7 October, 7.30pm

Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington

Anton Webern (1883–1945)

Passacaglia Op. 1

Briar Prastiti (1992–)

White, Red, Black

John Psathas (1966–)

Planet Damnation

Tomomi Nozaki – timpani

Wolfgang Mozart (1756–1791)

Thamos King of Egypt

Orpheus Choir Wellington

Along with Anton Schoenberg and Alban Berg, Webern was one of the earlier proponents of atonality. However his style was still late-Romantic when he wrote this, one of his rare works for full orchestra, in 1908 – the same year Mahler composed his Song of the Earth. Webern echoes Mahler’s large orchestration and textural clarity, but his Passacaglia is based on an archaic kind of theme-and-variations musical form from 17th century Spain. Webern shared with Brahms an interest in such older forms, and this work pays homage to Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, which also ends in a passacaglia.

Allured by the potential of the timpani to facilitate both rhythmically elaborate and melodically expressive writing, Psathas exhausts the entire spectrum of the instrument in this work for timpani and orchestra.

Planet Damnation refers to a chapter in Robert Fisk’s book, “The Great War for Civilisation”. Its influence can be heard throughout the work, subtly referenced by martial music. An unrelenting upward trajectory is propelled by the increase in rhythmic complexity between the timpani and orchestra, which only dissipates in the closing moments of the work. However, this drop in dynamic force is replaced by the tension created between rising chromatic figures in the wind instruments and the harmonically static motif given to the timpani, thereby aligning with Psathas’ omni-climactic intent.

From 1773 onwards, Mozart provided choruses, ballets and entr’actes for various performances of a drama by Tobias Philipp Freiherr, Baron von Gebler. The entrepreneur Schikaneder met Mozart when Schikaneder’s company performed Thamos in Salzburg in 1780; some of the incidental music Mozart added to Thamos then may have been a thankyou for Schikaneder’s free tickets.

Years later, when Schikaneder approached Mozart to collaborate on what became The Magic Flute, they revisited many elements of Thamos such as the Egyptian setting and themes related to Freemasonry. Here, Mozart uses restless harmonies, chromaticism, and contrasting rhythms; the large orchestra includes trombones, timpani and strings pushed into extended techniques to express the “storm and stress” nature of the action onstage, which involves a noble-natured Pharaoh whose rule is being undermined by a false friend, who also covets the Pharaoh’s love interest.

RED MOON

Saturday 11 November, 7.30pm

Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Wozzeck (arr. Eberhard Kloke)

Wozzeck – Julian Van Mellaerts

Marie – Madeleine Pierard

Beneath the singers’ powerful vocal lines, the orchestra flickers and gleams, quick and variable as thought itself, revealing the characters’ emotions with a Freudian depth. The tale centres on the soldier Wozzeck, his army friends and rivals, his girlfriend and their illegitimate child. Nobody comes out of the story very well (morality is a luxury the poor can’t afford, as Wozzeck tells his commanding officer), but the opera’s unflinching gaze reveals a new and striking kind of inner vision.

Completed in 1922, Wozzeck is the Ulysses of music. Like Joyce’s novel, the narrative is underpinned by a breathtaking level of technical virtuosity, but as TS Eliot opined, “this method was ‘a way of controlling, of ordering, of giving shape and significance to the immense panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history’”.

The first act has five short scenes Berg called Character Studies; the second act is a fivescene “symphony” developing the conflicts between the characters; the third act is a set of “inventions”.

For the grand finale of this grandest of seasons, we present the New Zealand premiere of arguably the most serious and significant opera of the twentieth centuryAlban Berg’s Wozzeck! Wozzeck represents “we poor people” –a troubled Everyman who finds himself in situations beyond his control. Abused by everyone with whom he comes in contact, his story (much like Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin) speaks to modern society’s treatment of the common man and the inability of our most at risk to adapt to extraordinary circumstances. Berg’s overwhelming accomplishment is his ability to draw us into Wozzeck’s increasingly troubled inner visions. Berg’s musical language is immediately comprehensible to audiences as a vivid characterisation of his (un)reality, and explains why this monumental masterpiece has been a mainstay of every major opera house since its premiere 98 years ago. This astonishing event promises to be New Zealand’s most significant classical performance in 2023.

—Marc Taddei

Leave a Legacy

Orchestra Wellington strives to be the most accessible orchestra in the country, enabling people from all walks of life to experience the thrill of live performance.

Each year we reach more than 50,000 people: audience members hearing the most thrilling symphonic works in the concert hall, young musicians playing side-by-side with our musicians, and thousands of children who experience our Music to Schools programmes in their schools.

We have now created the Orchestra Wellington Foundation, to help us achieve our goals such as helping talented young musicians on the path to a professional career and taking performances out into disadvantaged communities.

By leaving a gift to the Orchestra Wellington Foundation in your will, you will ensure that your love for music lives on. Your legacy will ensure that others receive the same enjoyment from music as you do, and the orchestra can continue to bring joy to communities across our region for many years to come. For more information about the Foundation and how to make a bequest, contact Kerry-Anne Gilberd, Sponsorship Manager kerryanne@orchestrawellington.co.nz or (04) 801 7810

ORCHESTRAWELLINGTONFOUNDATION

COMPOSERIN RESIDENCE

John Psathas Composer in Residence

The works of Greek New Zealand composer John Psathas emerge from a truly dazzling 21st century backdrop, where dynamic collaboration with creative masters from all corners of the physical and artistic globe result in outcomes that are visionary, moving, and inspired.

From genre-crossing projects with jazz legends Michael Brecker and Joshua Redman, to an innovative e-book scoring collaboration with Salman Rushdie, from an unforgettable recording session with the Grand Mufti in Paris’ Grand Mosque, to a Billboard classicalchart- topping album with System of a Down front man Serj Tankian, John’s musical journey weaves through a myriad of genres, and has moved concert audiences in more than 50 countries.

Early career collaborations included working with such luminaries as Sir Mark Elder, Kristjan Jarvi, the Takacs Quartet, Lara St. John, the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Edo de Wart, Joanna MacGregor, Pedro Carneiro, the Halle Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington, the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Emilia Romagna, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and many more. Then followed a period of creative exploration in the worlds of electronica and jazz, and a series of megaprojects (such as scoring for the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games). All of this has led to an explosion of first-hand collaborations with artists from dozens of musical traditions around the world.

I was expecting 2022 to mark the end of a dazzling three-year Composer-in-Residence with Orchestra Wellington. Instead I find that, in 2023, we are continuing this everdeepening relationship between the orchestra, its wonderful audience, and my work. The first three years of the residency have been a catalogue of breathtakingly successful milestones. Six concerti, working with inspiring young talent, and getting to know the orchestra’s passionate and engaged audience. And now what delights 2023 holds in store for us... The double album release of premiere recordings by Orchestra Wellington of 4 concerti featured in the residency – Call of the Wild, The All-Seeing Sky, Leviathan, and Djinn. The sharing of work by extraordinary new talent; Briar Prastiti and Arjuna Oakes. To be able to have a hand in sharing their work, and to be joining them onstage performing with Orchestra Wellington, is an immense privilege.

I’m also very excited to be sharing two more of my concerti (one of the oldest, alongside the very newest). These are being presented with fresh, and electrifying, new international talent; Tomomi Nozaki, premiering my new timpani concerto, and Valentine Michaud performing my saxophone concerto Zahara.

The last three years have given me a unique opportunity to develop an incredible relationship with not only the orchestra, but also Music Director Marc Taddei, the team behind the scenes at Orchestra Wellington, and the orchestra’s immensely supportive audience. The relationship between Orchestra Wellington and its audience is phenomenal. To be welcomed into, and be able to share, this energy as a composer is an extremely rare and tremendously positive opportunity.

John Psathas

Briar Prastiti

Briar is a composer, producer and vocalist. Completing a Masters in Composition at the New Zealand School of Music led her towards a diverse career in scoring music for film, songwriting, and producing electronic music. Briar has been an active performer, most notably for her vocal performances in complex styles of traditional folk music from around the world.

This stemmed from her lifelong exploration and passion for music of different cultures, especially Greek music as she closely identifies with her Greek heritage. Her music often touches on dark, romantic and folkloric themes and is driven by her love of rich harmony and rhythm.

Arjuna Oakes

Arjuna Oakes, singer/songwriter, composer and producer, based in Wellington, New Zealand has released four recorded projects all to widespread acclaim. First Nights, a collaboration with friend and co-producer Serebii, released by LA-based record label Innovative Leisure (BADBADNOTGOOD) debuted at #5 on KCRW’s top 30 Albums chart and has had extensive play on BBC6 and BBC1xtra.

Arjuna has released a single with mentor and renowned composer John Psathas, scored a theatre show, composed for a string quintet and performed extensively around New Zealand. Arjuna is releasing another EP with Serebii and is currently working on his debut album.

THE PSATHAS SESSIONS

We return in 2023 with two more Psathas Sessions, as we delve deeper into wellloved works of acclaimed composers. This year, we will be examining Samuel Barber and Georgs Pelēcis. Join us as our Composer-in-Residence John Psathas, accompanied by our Music Director Marc Taddei and your Orchestra Wellington, takes you on a journey into Barber’s Adagio for Strings in May, and Pelēcis’ Concertino Bianco for Piano in October. Both events will take place at the Alan Gibb Hall, Wellington College.

14 May, 3pm

College,

Victoria

Prescott Mason

1 October, 3pm

College,

Victoria

Beyond the concerts at Michael Fowler Centre, Orchestra Wellington is proud to have a strong presence throughout the wider Wellington region. From free community shows to local festivals and everything in between, we pride ourselves on our work outside the concert hall that is designed to excite, enrich and engage audiences across the region to share our passion for creating and sharing live music.

COMMUNITY

SYMPHONY IN THE HUTT

Friday 26 May, 7pm Walter Nash Centre, Taita One of the biggest and most important events in the Orchestra Wellington calendar, Symphony in the Hutt returns for a fabulous fifth year!

On Friday 26 May, Orchestra Wellington will bring a jam-packed schedule of treats to the Hutt. In previous years we have had Lion King, Elton John, Queen, and much, much more. We’re not alone in this endeavour – we’re joined onstage by local vocalists, Signature Choir, Arohanui Strings, and of course our annual singer-songwriter competition Star in the Hutt.

This event is entirely FREE and is very, very popular – so be sure to arrive early to get a good seat!

CLASSICAL ON CUBA

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Classical on Cuba first came to life in 2020 after the cancellation of Wellington’s famous street festival, CubaDupa. With various venues around Cuba Street, Orchestra Wellington partnered with Creative Capital Arts Trust to create a unique festival experience for classical music lovers and novices alike. For the price of $10, you can purchase a ticket and pop in to brief concerts throughout the city, from brass quartets in a bar, to string ensembles in a pasta restaurant, and everything in between.

There’s something for all ages, with little ones enjoying Carnival of the Animals, to the rest of us being treated to hits from Bridgerton. Rest assured, classical purists are certainly catered to as well! www.classicaloncuba.co.nz

IMAGE Stephen A’Court Photography

ORCHESTRA WELLINGTON’S BIG BASH

Now in its fourth year, Orchestra Wellington’s Big Bash is a mass play-in / sing-in event which brings together hundreds of singers and instrumentalists from across the Wellington region in a glorious afternoon of music-making.

Conducted by Orchestra Wellington’s Music Director Marc Taddei, all together at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua, we will rehearse and then perform a number of much-loved works from across the classical spectrum. Choral and instrumental parts will be available to download on our website, along with the sign-up forms (including special arrangements for less advanced musicians).

No matter your age or level of experience, we want you to take part. So keep your eyes peeled on our website and social media channels for the latest information!

MUSIC TO SCHOOLS

Each year, our Music to Schools programme brings live performances and engaging workshops to thousands of children in schools across the region, from Wellington to Kāpiti to the Wairarapa. These performances are interactive, engaging, funny and memorable, and are tailored for both primary and secondary schools audiences. Shows include First Meetings – Ngā Tūtakitanga Tuatahi, which explores the different worlds of orchestral instruments and taonga puoro, A Brief History of Music which takes a fast and hilarious trip through music across the ages, and our newest show Where’s My Triangle?, a fast-paced showcase of everything you can do with percussion instruments and more, created by POW! (Percussionists of Orchestra Wellington). If you would like to learn more about our Music to Schools programmes or would like our fabulous musicians to visit your school, please get in touch with us.

AROHANUI STRINGS

Arohanui Strings – Sistema Hutt Valley, a Registered Charitable Trust based in Taita, Lower Hutt, New Zealand, is a Sistema-inspired music education/social development programme founded in 2010.

The Sistema goal is to help children in high deprivation neighbourhoods to reach their full potential, using teamwork, harmony and ensemble playing. Each child is given his/her own instrument and world-class instruction two to four days a week for two hours a day after school.

Arohanui Strings began in 2010 and now works with more than 100 children from eight primary, intermediate, and secondary schools in the Taita, Lower Hutt area. Teaching violin, viola, cello, double bass, singing and music literacy two afternoons a week. The teachers work with a team of teenage student assistants, parent helpers, and other professional volunteers. The children learn in groups, and as soon as a child can play a piece, they can teach it to another child.

Orchestra Wellington is proud to support Arohanui Strings. www.arohanuistrings.org

VIRTUOSO STRINGS

The Virtuoso Strings Orchestras are based in Cannons Creek, Porirua. The aim of the Senior Virtuoso Orchestra is to provide real opportunities for committed local string players to develop advanced ensemble skills in a supportive environment.

The Virtuoso Strings Charitable Trust provides every aspect of music education freely to all participants from low decile schools. They emphasise inclusivity, accessibility and excellence, and their mission is foster greater diversity among youth, amateur and professional orchestras within New Zealand.

Orchestra Wellington is proud to support Virtuoso Strings’ programmes through internships to provide tuition to players and performance opportunities. www.virtuosostrings.org.nz

IMAGE Orchestra Wellington intern Jillian Tupuse

Amalia Hall Concertmaster

Noted by The Strad for her “blazing insight and dazzling virtuosity”, New Zealand violinist Amalia Hall displays natural and dynamic versatility as a frequent soloist, as the violinist of NZTrio, and as Concertmaster of Orchestra Wellington.

Her international career blossomed out of winning the top prize at five international competitions, as well as laureate prizes at the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, Premio R. Lipizer International Violin Competition, and others. As a teenager she won all of the major national awards in New Zealand including the Gisborne International Music Competition at the age of 16, the National Concerto Competition, and the PACANZ National Young Performer of the Year.

Since making her solo debut with the Auckland Philharmonia at the age of 9, Amalia has been a regular soloist with orchestras in New Zealand, and has performed as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in Europe, United Kingdom, North and South America, Asia, South Africa, and Australia. Solo appearances include performing with I Virtuosi Italiani, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, United Strings of Europe and Brno Philharmonic Orchestra. She has recorded for the Atoll, BIS, Bridge and Rattle record labels. Amalia studied at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music with Pamela Frank and Joseph Silverstein preceded by studies at the University of Auckland with Dimitri Atanassov. She plays the c. 1700 Vincenzo Rugeri ‘Baron Knoop’ violin, generously on loan from a private benefactor.

Marc Taddei Music Director

Celebrated for his “magnificent contribution as Music Director” by The Press, lauded as “a real interpreter of boldly romantic inclinations” by the Dominion Post and singled out for his “intensity, commitment and attention to detail”, conductor Marc Taddei is the Music Director of Orchestra Wellington, and the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra in the United States. During his tenure critics have repeatedly remarked on his extraordinary connection with audiences and zest for continually creating engaging, erudite and innovative programmes.

Marc’s impressive discography includes over thirty recordings on the Sony, BMG, Koch, Columbia, ABC Classics, Trust, ASV, Universal, Rattle, Atoll, Concordance, and Kiwi Pacific labels. Many of his recordings have entered both the classical and general music charts in New Zealand, including a double-platinum album.

His work in recording, television, and movies have been awarded the Pris de Bale (Switzerland), Vodafone Classical Recording of the Year, Luxembourg’s Pizzicato Magazine Supersonic Award and Classic FM (UK) recording of the month.

Marc is a graduate of the Julliard School in Manhattan, where he received both bachelors and masters degrees before moving to New Zealand. He divides his time between Wanaka, Wellington and San Francisco.

Marc Taddei and his Wellington players have become a great success story in a short time. Taddei’s programming is imaginative, his demeanor infectious and his skill have seen a distinct increase in playing standards.

—Dominion Post

CONCERTMASTER

Hall

FIRST VIOLINS

Olya Curtis

Emma Brewerton

Hilary Hayes

Sandra Logan

Rupa Maitra

Vivian Stephens

Emma Colligan

Leah Walls

Aziel Verner

SECOND VIOLINS

GLENDA WEST CHAIR DONOR

Konstanze Artmann

Elena

Oscar Bullock

Linden Barton

Pascale Parenteau

Ann White Sarah Marten

Claire Macfarlane

Charmian Clarkson Vanessa Leighs

Alex Vaatstra

VIOLAS

Sophia Acheson

GLENDA WEST CHAIR DONOR

Chris van der Zee

Susan Fullerton-Smith Elyse Dalabakis Faith Austin David Pucher

Grant Baker Deborah Woodley Phillip Rose

Anita Gude CELLOS

Brenton Veitch

CAROLYN & MURRY NEWMAN CHAIR DONOR Jane Young Imogen Granwal Jane Dalley Kathy Paterson Geoffrey Heath Margaret Guldborg

Jocelyn Woodley

Jocelyn Cranefield Benjamin Sneyd-Utting

DOUBLE BASSES

Paul Altomari

BOARD OF ORCHESTRA

WELLINGTON CHAIR DONOR Toni St Clair Lachlan Radford Jandee Song Steve Taylor

FLUTES

Karen Batten

DIANA DUFF-STANILAND CHAIR DONOR Jen Vaughan

Dana Parkhill

OBOES

Merran Cooke

JULIAN ARNHOLD CHAIR DONOR Louise Cox

Calvin Scott

CLARINETS

Nick Walshe

BOYD KLAP & VERONIQUE SAUZEAU CHAIR DONOR Moira Hurst

Mark Cookson Mary Scott

BASSOONS

Preman Tilson

KERRY PRENDERGAST & REX NICHOLLS CHAIR DONOR Penny Miles

Peter Lamb Oscar Laven HORNS

Shadley van Wyk Dominic Groom

Vivien Reid

TRUMPETS

Barrett Hocking

Matt Stein

Toby Pringle

Mat Stenbo

TROMBONES

Peter Maunder

Julian Baez Kirgan

BASS TROMBONE Matthew Shelton

TUBA Kerry Falloon

PERCUSSION

Jeremy Fitzsimons

LYNDA PARK CHAIR DONOR Brent Stewart Grant Myhill Hannah Neman Naoto Segawa

HARP Michelle Velvin

KEYBOARD Rachel Thomson

TIMPANI Brent Stewart

Please Support your Orchestra Every Gift Matters

We strive to be the most accessible orchestra in the country and we need your help. By making a donation now, you help keep our ticket prices low so that people from all walks of life can enjoy our concerts. Your donation also helps us to take the music out of the concert hall and into the community, reaching children and families across the region.

By making a special accessibility donation, you will make our concerts more accessible to people with a disability. With the generous support of our audience, we already provide free companion tickets, concert programmers in Braille and audio description. Please help us now to do even more.

Every donation is tax-deductible and you will receive a receipt.

You can also make a donation on our website www.orchestrawellington.co.nz/donate

Chair Donor

$1,800 per year

Choose your instrument, choose your musician and become the personal supporter of one of the talented and passionate players who are our Section Principals. You will receive invitations to exclusive events and receptions, as well as the opportunity to get to know your sponsored player.

Music Director’s Club

$2,500 individual / $3,500 couple per year

Join this select community of generous donors, with the opportunity to both support your orchestra and build a personal relationship with our engaging and inspiring Music Director, Marc Taddei. You will be invited to exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ rehearsals and events, as well as Music Director’s Club dinner with Marc Taddei.

Bequests

Making a bequest in your will is a way to support Orchestra Wellington in perpetuity. Every gift counts, and all funds are invested to ensure the future of your orchestra. For more information about making a bequest, please call the office on (04) 801 7810.

Subscribing to

Visions gives you access to the incredible rate of

you also join the Orchestra on our journey to make the world of orchestral music accessible to everyone.

support as a subscriber enables us to present the work we do both inside and outside the concert hall reaching communities throughout the region to share in the thrill of live music.

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the

of our

of our

SUBSCRIPTIONS

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Buy all six concerts for $210! Subscription bookings close on Sunday 18 December 2022 at 9pm. Book now at www.orchestrawellington.co.nz or fill out the attached booking form and send it in.

SINGLE TICKET PRICES

Adult $55 Concession (Gold Card Holder) $50 Child $12 Student $15 Under 35 $25 Community Services Card Holder $12

Single tickets on sale from March 1 2023 through all Ticketmaster sales channels. Phone 0800 111 999 or www.ticketmaster.co.nz

Note: service and processing fees may apply.

Orchestra Wellington PO Box 11-977, Manners Street Wellington 6142 New Zealand (04) 801 7810 info@orchestrawellington.co.nz

All prices are inclusive of GST. Ticket purchases are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Details are correct at the time of printing. Dates, times and repertoire are subject to change at short notice, and Orchestra Wellington will in no event be held liable for any loss arising from such change(s).

No. of subscriptions x $210 each

Psathas Sessions May x $15 each

Psathas Sessions Oct x $15 each

Donation $

Admin

$5

Total $

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like

Phone

First

POST your form to Orchestra Wellington

PO Box 11-977, Manners Street.

your form to

www.orchestrawellington.co.nz

us: (04) 801 7810.

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