Garrick Ohlsson

Musica Viva Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the many lands on which we meet, work and live. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present – people who have sung their songs, danced their dances and told their stories on these lands for thousands of generations, and who continue to do so.

GARRICK OHLSSON piano

ADELAIDE

Adelaide Town Hall

Thursday 8 June, 7.30pm

• Pre-concert talk: 6.45pm, Prince Alfred Room

BRISBANE

Conservatorium Theatre, Griffith University, South Bank

Thursday 1 June, 7pm

• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Boardroom, Qld Conservatorium, Griffith University

• Meet the Artist after the concert

CANBERRA

Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music

Thursday 15 June, 7pm

• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Larry Sitsky Recital Room

• Meet the Artist after the concert

MELBOURNE

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre

Saturday 3 June, 7pm

Recorded for broadcast by ABC Classic

• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Salzer Suite, Level 2

Tuesday 13 June, 7pm

• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Salzer Suite, Level 2

• Meet the Artist after the concert

NEWCASTLE

City Hall

Saturday 10 June, 7.30pm

• Pre-concert talk: 6.45pm, Mulubinba Room

PERTH

Perth Concert Hall

Monday 19 June, 7.30pm

• Pre-concert talk: 6.45pm, Corner Stage Riverside, Terrace Level

• Meet the Artist after the concert

SYDNEY

City Recital Hall

Monday 5 June, 7pm

• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Function Room, Level 1

• Meet the Artist after the concert, Concert Hall

Saturday 17 June, 2pm

• Pre-concert talk: 1.15pm, Function Room, Level 1

• CD signing after the concert, Main Foyer

With special thanks to the Producers’ Circle and Amadeus Society for their support of the 2023 Concert Season.

From the Artistic Director

In recent correspondence about this and that with the wonderful young Perth pianist Jude Holland, we inevitably landed on Garrick Ohlsson. ‘I went a couple of years ago to hear him – his Chopin was mesmerising,’ Jude wrote. Indeed it was – as it was over 50 years ago when he picked up First Prize in the 1970 Chopin Competition, five years after Martha Argerich had done the same. Those competition performances launched a dazzling career that has defined Garrick as one of the great pianists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Those who attended Garrick’s tour for Musica Viva Australia in February/March 2020 – ill winds almost upon us – responded pretty much as Jude did. We didn’t know then how much we’d be starved of such artistry in the years to come, yet even so we recognised the magic in the air. I really wanted to cauterize those years of misfortune; bookending them with tours by Garrick seemed the best way of doing so.

I jokingly told Garrick that Liszt’s B minor Sonata was a young man’s game, when he said he’d like to program it; he quickly raised me one by saying that he’d also like to program Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata, another punishing mountain to climb. Pairing him with the young Australian composer Thomas Misson for a new work commissioned by Stephen Johns in honour of his wife Michele’s birthday has been the icing on this rich, exquisite cake!

Paul Kildea Artistic Director Musica Viva Australia

© Darren Leigh Roberts

Program 1

Franz SCHUBERT (1797–1828)

INTERVAL

(1811–1886)

Thomas MISSON (b 1992)

(1872–1915)

Please ensure that mobile phones are turned to silent before the performance. Please save photography for the final applause only.

Adelaide | Melbourne (Tuesday) | Perth | Sydney (Saturday)

Program 2

Claude DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

Suite bergamasque, L. 75 (1905)

I Prélude

II Menuet

III Clair de lune (Moonlight)

IV Passepied

Samuel BARBER (1910–1981)

Piano Sonata in E-flat minor, Op. 26 (1949)

I Allegro energico (Fast and energetic)

II Allegro vivace e leggero (Fast, lively and light)

III Adagio mesto (Slow and sad)

IV Fuga: Allegro con spirito (Fugue: Fast and spirited)

INTERVAL

Thomas MISSON (b 1992)

Convocations (2023)

World premiere performances. Commissioned for Musica Viva Australia by Stephen Johns for his wife, Michele.

Frédéric CHOPIN (1810–1849)

Variations brillantes, Op. 12 (1833)

I Introduction. Allegro maestoso (Fast and majestic)

II Thème. Allegro moderato (Moderately fast)

III Variation 1

IV Variation 2. Scherzo (Light-hearted)

V Variation 3. Lento (Slow)

VI Variation 4. Scherzo vivace (Light-hearted and lively)

20 min

19 min

10 min

8 min

Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 4 (1828) 4 min

III Larghetto (A little slowly)

Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31 (1837)

11 min

Program 1

The death of Beethoven in early 1827 deeply affected the 30-year-old Franz Schubert, who himself only had 18 months to live, and perhaps spurred him to even greater creative heights. That same year Schubert wrote the monumental song cycle Winterreise, the magnificent last three piano sonatas, the two piano trios and other extraordinary works including the Impromptus for piano. The C minor Impromptu is a work of haunting beauty. The melancholy opening theme is immediately captivating, its brooding minor restlessness giving way to a lyrical, more soothing version of the theme but now in A-flat major. The transition from minor to major keys is an important feature of Schubert’s music, both for harmonic colour and also for the implied change in emotional inflection. After a series of variations alternating between major and minor versions of the themes and culminating in a powerful climax, the opening melody returns, but now finally in C major, signalling a sense of acceptance and resolution.

public. Liszt, on the other hand, was a highly charismatic extrovert, a flamboyant showman who travelled extensively. Nonetheless, Liszt was strongly influenced by Schubert’s music. He transcribed dozens of Schubert’s songs for solo piano and arranged Schubert’s extended piano work Wanderer Fantasy as a concerto for piano and orchestra.

Liszt’s Sonata in B minor has some striking similarities with the Wanderer Fantasy. Both works are played straight through without a break yet are internally subdivided into four movements. Furthermore, in both works, the musical material is based on themes heard at the beginning which are transformed or varied as the piece unfolds, creating a sense of unity within the larger structure. In the Liszt sonata four musical ideas form the basis for the whole work. We hear the first three immediately – a descending scale, a leaping octave passage and a low-register gruff theme based on repeated notes. The fourth, a chorale-like theme, appears around three minutes in.

Franz Liszt and Franz Schubert could not have been more different in personality and in their engagement with society. Schubert was shy and introverted, kept a small circle of close friends and rarely ventured out in

Liszt’s transformations and variations of these ideas is masterly. One of the most striking occurs in the sonata’s slow movement where the opening low gruff theme becomes an elegant and dreamy melody, singing beautifully in the treble register. Immediately after this section, the leaping octave theme serves as the basis for a powerful and extended fugal passage.

The sonata was not universally well received at first. Its uncompromising sound world, musical and technical complexity, and

perhaps even its lack of a Romantic title or programmatic references, set it apart from much of Liszt’s other piano music for which he was so celebrated. Nowadays, the sonata is universally acknowledged as a pinnacle of the repertoire and revered for its brilliant, at times exhilarating, piano writing and its captivating sense of musical journey.

Thomas Misson is a composer, pianist and music journalist from Hobart. He graduated from the University of Tasmania with Honours in Composition under the tutelage of Maria Grenfell, Russell Gilmour and Don Kay. Misson’s compositions are inspired by the extremes of the human condition and its omnipresent imperfections.

His music was highly commended in the national Jean Bogen Youth Prize, and has been heard on ABC Classic and Making Waves. He has been commissioned by artists including the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, MATTRA, and the ACO Collective, as featured on the album Hush 18: Collective Wisdom. During 2019 he was selected for the composition stream of the AYO National Music Camp, and Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Academy. An experienced solo pianist and accompanist, he holds an LMusA (Distinction), the Nelle Ashdown Memorial Award, and has toured with Virtuosi Tasmania. When not composing, Misson maintains a busy schedule as an accompanist, composition teacher and music critic for The Mercury

The composer writes:

In 2021, I was approached by Paul Kildea from Musica Viva Australia to write a piece for Garrick Ohlsson for his 2023 Australian tour. He would be playing works by Liszt, Barber, Schubert, Scriabin, and Chopin (of whose music Garrick is a famous interpreter). While researching and reflecting on how my creative voice could complement the program, I stumbled on a description of Garrick’s playing that described him as possessing a ‘calmly commanding presence’.

I decided I would channel a piece by Liszt which evokes the same descriptors for me, Sposalizio from Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). In this work, Liszt describes Raphael’s high-Renaissance painting Sposalizio (The Marriage of the Virgin) in musical form. Though some of the motivic and structural scaffolding draws on the Liszt, conceptually and stylistically the piece has come to resemble something more pluralistic than a marriage. Convocations combines the unlikely and disparate elements of the Romantic piano giants, modernist styles, an Australian tour, a Tasmanian composer, and an American concert pianist in a congregation that aims to give life to a spiritual soundworld.

THOMAS MISSON © 2023

Alexander Scriabin was originally hailed as the Russian Chopin. In his collections of preludes, études, mazurkas and nocturnes for piano, he paid homage to Chopin’s legacy both in genre and in his richly Romantic, voluptuous musical style. The three études (studies) we will hear in this performance certainly owe a debt to Chopin’s groundbreaking studies as well as those of Liszt. The simplicity of the beguiling melody in the first C-sharp minor study gives way to some fiendishly difficult piano writing in the following two works.

In his Two Poems, Scriabin moves away from the Romantic gestures of the studies, creating a more forward-looking exploration of melody, texture and harmony which would evolve into his mature style. Also around this time, we see the development of his aesthetic to embrace a mystical, transcendental conception of music. While the first Poem is languid, rhythmically fluid and melodically focused, the second is an explosive, rhythmically driven piece full of extrovert energy.

The Piano Sonata No. 5, written four years later, takes these extreme moods even further. This is an intensely volatile piece, languid and dreamy one moment, then suddenly frenzied and excited. Scriabin often juxtaposes these states without preparation, resulting in a form that feels episodic rather than organic but never ceases to surprise and excite.

ANNOTATIONS BY MARK COUGHLAN © 2023

Program 2

In the late 1880s Claude Debussy returned to Paris having spent a couple of unfulfilling years at the Villa Medici in Rome, a residency that resulted from his winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1884. He was disappointed with the company, the food and the accommodation

in Rome but this was an important time for the composer in gaining confidence with his emerging unique musical voice. He had also recently discovered the music of Wagner and heard for the first time Javanese Gamelan, and both experiences were to influence his compositional development.

Debussy began writing the Suite bergamasque around 1890 although it was not until 1905 that it was revised and published. The work pays homage in part to the Baroque keyboard music that Debussy greatly admired, especially that of Couperin. The opening Prélude has an improvisatory quality alternating between bold and elegant. The following Menuet has a slightly wistful character, playful and delicate, its vigorous dance rhythms somewhat restrained. Clair de lune is a work of ethereal beauty and one of the most celebrated of all piano pieces with its ravishing textures and seductive harmonies. The final Passepied bubbles along to the gently driving left-hand rhythm, drawing this charming set to a close.

Samuel Barber is regarded as one of America’s finest composers. Born in 1910 into a musical family, he studied composition, voice and piano and for a number of years was a student at the celebrated Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He decided early on that music would be his chosen career, writing to his mother at the age of nine to declare his intention to become a composer and asking her not to force him to play football. By the age of seven he had written his first piano piece,

at ten his first operetta and he was appointed church organist when he was 12. Much of Barber’s music conveys a sense of postRomantic lyricism, his gift for singing informing an often expressive melodic style.

From the moment he arrived in Paris in 1831 Frédéric Chopin became a regular at the opera. He was particularly drawn to the operas of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, and much of his melodic writing reflects their ornamented lyricism. In May 1833 Chopin attended a performance of Ferdinand Hérold’s opera Ludovic. As was common practice in the Parisian salons, he subsequently wrote a set of Variations brillantes on one of the arias. After an introduction and simple statement of the lilting theme, there is a series of variations: the first elegantly flowing, then a jaunty dance, a lyrical variation in the style of a nocturne and a bravura scherzo that brings the piece to an exciting conclusion.

Barber’s Piano Sonata has an extraordinary pedigree, being commissioned by two of the great American song writers, Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers, and premiered by the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz. This monumental work shows the more modern dimension of Barber’s writing, employing techniques such as 12-tone rows – arranging all of the notes within an octave (both the black and the white notes, on a piano keyboard) into a fixed order – and bitonality. In the first movement the writing is often gritty and angular with passages of thunderous virtuosity contrasted with moments of wistful lyricism. The delightful second movement creates a sense of lighthearted playfulness with its sparkling textures, alternating beat patterns and unexpected turns. By contrast, the slow third movement is a concentrated, somewhat mournful piece of sustained intensity. Barber’s interest in Bach’s keyboard music seems to be an influence in this movement, as well as in the finale which begins in a highly-charged, fugal style with virtuosic toccata-like writing throughout.

Chopin’s first piano sonata was written while he was still a student in Warsaw, and was not published during the composer’s lifetime. The serene Larghetto movement foreshadows his enormous success writing nocturnes. The piece is written with five beats per bar, creating for the listener a subtle disorientation around the phrasing, but this was not an experiment Chopin ever repeated.

For Thomas Misson’s Convocations, see page 07.

In contrast to these rarely heard works, the Scherzo No. 2 is one of Chopin’s most popular compositions. It is full of drama and pianistic flair with striking contrasts between explosive virtuosity, long lyrical melodies and a quietly elegiac middle section. The excitement builds with gripping intensity throughout the coda, propelling the music towards a thrilling conclusion.

ANNOTATIONS BY MARK COUGHLAN © 2023

Garrick Ohlsson

Garrick Ohlsson is acclaimed worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, he commands an enormous repertoire which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Garrick Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, many commissioned for him. In the 2018/19 season he launched an ambitious project spread over multiple seasons exploring the complete solo piano works of Brahms in four programs to be heard in New York, San Francisco, Montreal, Los Angeles, London and a number of cities across North America.

A frequent guest with orchestras in New Zealand and Australia, Garrick Ohlsson accomplished a seven-city recital tour across Australia just prior to the closure of the concert world due to COVID-19. Since that time and as a faculty member of San Francisco Conservatory of Music he kept music alive for a number of organisations with live or recorded recital streams. Since the re-opening of concert activity in 2021 he has appeared with the orchestras of Indianapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, Toronto and Cleveland, and in recital in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, at the Ravinia and Tanglewood summer festivals and on a US tour with colleague Kirill Gerstein. The 2022/23 season includes appearances with orchestras in Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, San Diego, Spain, Poland and Czech Republic.

©

Pier Andrea Morolli

An avid chamber musician, Garrick Ohlsson has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Tokyo and Takács string quartets and began the 2022/23 season with a US tour with Poland’s Apollon Musagète Quartet. Passionate about singing and singers, Garrick Ohlsson has appeared in recital with such legendary artists as Magda Olivero, Jessye Norman and Ewa Podleś.

Garrick Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, BMG, Delos, Hänssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, Hyperion and Virgin Classics labels. His ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven sonatas, for Bridge Records, has garnered critical acclaim, including a GRAMMY® for Vol. 3. Other highlights in his discography include Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Robert Spano; for Hyperion, a 16-disc set of the complete works of Chopin, all the

Brahms piano variations, the Granados Goyescas, music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Scriabin’s complete Poèmes, Smetana’s Czech Dances and études by Debussy, Bartók and Prokofiev; for Bridge Records, the complete Scriabin sonatas, Close Connections – a recital of 20th-century works, and two CDs of works by Liszt; live recordings of both Brahms concertos with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; and Dvořák’s Piano Concerto, featured in the Czech Philharmonic’s complete set of the composer’s symphonies and concertos. In recognition of the Chopin bicentenary in 2010, Garrick Ohlsson was featured in the documentary The Art of Chopin, co-produced by Polish, French, British and Chinese television stations.

A native of White Plains, NY, Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of eight at the Westchester Conservatory of Music; at 13 he entered The Juilliard School, in New York City. His musical development has been influenced in completely different ways by a succession of distinguished teachers, most notably Claudio Arrau, Olga Barabini, Tom Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lhévinne and Irma Wolpe. Although he won First Prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and the 1968 Montréal Piano Competition, it was his 1970 triumph at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he won the Gold Medal – he remains the single American to have done so – that brought him worldwide recognition as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Since then he has made nearly a dozen tours of Poland, where he retains immense personal popularity. Garrick Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, MI. He was the 2014 recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, and in August 2018 the Polish Deputy Culture Minister awarded him the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for cultural merit. He is a Steinway Artist and makes his home in San Francisco.

Meet the Artist

He’s here to play but let’s hope we also get to hear some words from Garrick Ohlsson. The loquacious American pianist who is sometimes known as ‘The Chopin Guy’ (for obvious reasons) likes to chat to his audience, sometimes about Chopin, sometimes about Scriabin (both of whom feature strongly in this Music Viva Australia tour program) or other composers and music in general.

Ohlsson is an erudite and entertaining man who loves to background his performances. In particular, hearing him talk about Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915), the enigmatic Russian pianist, is a treat. Garrick is fascinated with Scriabin, whom he describes as ‘canonical yet relatively rarely heard because all his music is for piano solo’.

‘I like to talk about Scriabin because very often the concert-going audience doesn’t have a handle on who he is,’ Garrick offers. ‘He starts out as a Chopin obsessive but by the end of his life he is very much an individual. I love talking to the audience about him because he is so out there. He was also obsessed with Chopin as a child. He was this neurasthenic, hypersensitive teenager who slept with Chopin’s music under his pillow.’

Scriabin, he explains, is ‘one of the strangest and most interesting composers’. He was also a philosopher and even a bit of a mystic with an interest in theosophy, a man who ‘wanted to save the world through his art’.

Scriabin’s powerful, impressionistic music is an ideal match for Garrick Ohlsson’s authoritative playing. He’s a physically imposing figure whose playing style has been described as projecting an ‘Olympian serenity’.

He adores Barber and Schubert, Debussy and Liszt too, choosing this Australian tour for his first performance in many years of the latter’s Sonata in B minor. His program also features a new work commissioned through Musica Viva Australia for Garrick to premiere: Convocations, by the Australian composer Thomas Misson, a musician from Hobart. It was commissioned by Musica Viva Australia donor Stephen Johns as a birthday gift for his wife, Michele, and Garrick enjoys the fact that playing the piece will be a rather unique way of saying ‘Happy Birthday’.

Of course, there will be some Chopin in the program – how could there not be?

The foundation of Garrick’s long and successful career is Chopin’s music and he has that in common with Scriabin.

Garrick Ohlsson burst onto the international scene in 1970 when, at the age of 22, he won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, the first American to have done so. In an interview with Calvin Dotsey for the Houston Symphony, Garrick acknowledged the effect the prize had on his life: ‘It really put my name on the front page of the world’s major newspapers. So in a way the competition and Chopin’s music really were the decisive turning point in my having a career. It gave me my first step everywhere and Chopin’s music has been with me my whole life. I’ve played so much Chopin. In fact, I’ve recorded it all.’

The San Francisco-based musician describes himself as ‘a wandering minstrel’ who says travel is ‘boring and tedious. But I’ve become good at it,’ he says.

Garrick Ohlsson has visited Australia on a number of occasions. ‘I guess you could say that I’m a semi-regular visitor,’ he says. ‘Last time I was there was in 2020 just after all the terrible bushfires.’

He believes that music is ‘a tonic and a balm for the soul in all aspects. Music makes you feel things that almost bypass consciousness.’ That sounds like something Scriabin might have said or at least agreed with. But as much as he likes to talk about music and the composers he loves, Garrick Ohlsson doesn’t want to explain away the magical elements of classical music. The mystique should remain intact, he suggests.

To that end he tells a favourite story about a woman who, hearing the young and then relatively unknown Beethoven play, was a bit mystified by this new music.

‘She asked him what the piece he had just played meant,’ Ohlsson says, and there was only one way for Beethoven to answer. ‘He sat down and played it again.’ Point taken.

and a balm for the soul’

‘A tonic

OUT BREAK

YAMAHA PIANO TEACHER AWARD

Celebrating Australian Piano Teachers

The Yamaha Breakout Award is a national award designed to celebrate the work that piano teachers do in the community. It supports Yamaha’s own education advocacy program Off to a Great Start and their ambition to engage more people in music-making.

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST FOR THE 2023 AWARD

Each year, Yamaha reach out to the community of piano teachers who strive to advance their own professional development for the benefit of their students. Teachers who are committed and passionate about the value of music education and the impact it can have in students’ lives.

For over 40 years Musica Viva Australia In Schools has brought diverse ensembles to generations of children in metropolitan and regional areas in all states and territories, and remote locations such as Christmas Island off the coast of Western Australia and APY Lands in South Australia. Complementing this performance program are our online curriculum-aligned digital resources and Professional Development programs to support teachers with the tools and confidence to enjoy music in their classrooms all year round.

This has been possible thanks to the support of our donors whose insight and generosity have enabled children of all regions and circumstances to discover the power of live music.

For information about giving to our education program, please contact Caroline Davis, our Individual Giving Manager: cdavis@musicaviva.com.au | 0421 375 358

For more information about Musica Viva Australia’s comprehensive education program, please visit musicaviva.com.au/education

Patrons

CUSTODIANS

ACT Margaret Brennan, Clive & Lynlea Rodger, Ruth Weaver, Anonymous (4)

NSW Catherine Brown-Watt PSM & Derek Watt, Jennifer Bott AO, Lloyd & Mary Jo Capps AM, Andrew & Felicity Corkill, Peter Cudlipp, Liz Gee, Suzanne Gleeson, David & Christine Hartgill, Annie Hawker, Elaine Lindsay, Trevor Noffke, Dr David Schwartz, Ruth Spence-Stone, Mary Vallentine AO, Deirdre Nagle Whitford, Richard Wilkins, Kim Williams AM, Megan & Bill Williamson, Ray Wilson

OAM, Anonymous (12)

QLD Anonymous (2)

SA Monica Hanusiak-Klavins & Martin Klavins, Anonymous (4)

TAS Kim Paterson QC, Anonymous

VIC Elizabeth & Anthony Brookes, Julian Burnside AO QC, Ms Helen Dick, Robert Gibbs & Tony Wildman, Helen Vorrath, Anonymous (8)

WA Graham Lovelock, Anonymous (4)

LEGACY DONORS

ACT The late Geoffrey Brennan

NSW The late Charles Berg, The late Stephen Center, The late Janette Hamilton, The late Dr. Ralph Hockin in memory of Mabel Hockin, The late Kenneth W Tribe AC

QLD The late Steven Kinston

SA The late Edith Dubsky, The late John Lane Koch, The late Lesley Lynn

VIC In memory of Anita Morawetz, The family of the late Paul Morawetz, The late Dr G D Watson

WA Anonymous

ENSEMBLE PATRONS

Our artistic vision for 2023 is made possible thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our Ensemble Patrons, each of whom supports the presentation of an entire national tour for our 2023 Season.

Ian & Caroline Frazer (Karin Schaupp & Flinders Quartet)

Ian Dickson AM & Reg Holloway and Anonymous (The Cage Project)

Stephen & Michele Johns & Anonymous (Chopin’s Piano)

Eleanore Goodridge OAM (Wildschut & Brauss)

CONCERT CHAMPIONS

The mainstage concerts of our 2023 Season are brought to life thanks to the generosity of our Concert Champions around the country.

Adelaide Helen Bennetts & Tim Lloyd, The late Lesley Lynn, Dr Susan Marsden & Michael Szwarcbord, Leonie Schmidt & Michael Davis, Anonymous (2)

Brisbane Ian & Cass George, Andrea & Malcolm Hall-Brown, Andrew & Kate Lister, Barry & Diana Moore, Anonymous (2)

Canberra Andrew Blanckensee Music Lover, Sue & Ray Edmondson, Malcolm Gillies & David Pear in memory of Stewart Gillies, Humphries Family Trust, Claudia Hyles, Margaret Lovell & Grant Webeck, Ruth Weaver & Anonymous, Dr Suzanne Packer, Sue Terry & Len Whyte, Anonymous

Melbourne Alexandra Clemens & Bibi Aickin, Penelope Hughes, Peter Lovell, The Morawetz Family in memory of Paul Morawetz, Dr John Tang, Dr Michael Troy, Ray Turner & Jennifer Seabrook, The late Dr G D Watson, Dr Victor Wayne & Dr Karen Wayne OAM, Igor Zambelli

Newcastle Judith Bennett, Gabrielle Bookallil, Megan & Bill Williamson

Perth Dr Robert Larbalestier AO, Deborah Lehmann AO & Michael Alpers AO, Prichard Panizza Family (2), For Stephanie Quinlan (2), Valerie & Michael Wishart

Sydney Judith Bennett, Patricia Crummer, Pam Cudlipp, Dr Jennifer Donald & Mr Stephen Burford, Charles Graham – in acknowledgement of his piano teacher, Sana Chia, Katherine & Reg Grinberg, Anthony Strachan, Tribe Family, Kay Vernon, Kim Williams AM & Catherine Dovey (2)

PRODUCERS’ CIRCLE

Darin Cooper Foundation, Peter Griffin AM & Terry Swann

AMADEUS SOCIETY

Tony Berg AM & Carol Berg, Marc Besen AC & Eva Besen AO dec., Ms Jan Bowen AM, Tom Breen & Rachael Kohn AO, Dr Di Bresciani OAM, Dr Helen Ferguson, Ms Annabella Fletcher, Dr Annette Gero, Katherine & Reg Grinberg, Jennifer Hershon & Russell Black, Penelope Hughes, Michael & Frédérique Katz, Ruth Magid & Bob Magid OAM, Dr Hadia Mukhtar, Prof. John Rickard, Philip Robinson, Andrew Rosenberg, Ray Wilson OAM

MASTERCLASSES GIVING CIRCLE

The Masterclasses Giving Circle is a group of generous donors whose collective support will enable the artistic development of the next generation of Australian chamber musicians.

Nicholas Callinan AO & Elizabeth Callinan, Caroline & Robert Clemente, Patricia H. Reid Endowment Fund, Andrew Sisson AO & Tracey Sisson, Mick and Margaret Toller, Anonymous (1)

COMMISSIONS

Musica Viva Australia is proud to support the creation of new Australian works through The Ken Tribe Fund for Australian Composition and The Hildegard Project We are grateful to the following individuals and collectives for their generous support of this work:

In loving memory of Jennifer Bates, Christine Bollen & Friends, The Barry Jones Birthday Commission, DR & KM Magarey, Naomi Milgrom Foundation & Ian Dickson AM & Reg Holloway, Playking Foundation, Tribe Family in honour of Doug Tribe’s 75th Birthday, Adelaide Commissioning Circle, Perth Commissioning Circle

The Barry Jones Birthday Commission ($500+)

Steve Bracks AC & Terry Bracks AM, Dr George Deutsch

OAM & Kathy Deutsch, Carrillo Gantner, Professor Margaret Gardner AC & Professor Glyn Davis AC, Naomi & George Golvan QC, Hon David Harper AM, Ellen Koshland & James McCaughey, Miles Lewis, Julie & Ian Macphee, Barry McGaw, Jeannette McHugh, Fiona McLeod AO SC, Peter & Ruth McMullin, peckvonhartel architects, Ralph & Ruth Renard, Anne & Robert Richter QC, Gianna Rosica, Joy Selby Smith, Smith Family, Maureen & Tony Wheeler, Lyn Williams, Dr Robyn Williams AO, Bob, Robyn, Annie & Nick, Anonymous (3)

MAJOR GIFTS

$100,000+

NSW The Berg Family Foundation, Patricia H. Reid Endowment Fund, Anonymous

$50,000–$99,999

ACT Marion & Michael Newman

NSW J A Donald Family, Katherine & Reg Grinberg, Tom & Elisabeth Karplus

$20,000–$49,999

NSW Tom Breen & Rachael Kohn AO, Michael & Frédérique Katz, Vicki Olsson

QLD Ian & Caroline Frazer, Andrea & Malcolm Hall-Brown

VIC The Morawetz Family in memory of Paul Morawetz, Anonymous

WA Anonymous

$10,000–$19,999

ACT R & V Hillman, Anonymous

NSW Gardos Family, Gresham Partners, Hilmer Family Endowment, Anthony Strachan, Jo Strutt, Ray Wilson OAM

QLD Anonymous

SA Stoneglen Foundation, Anonymous

VIC Roger Druce & Jane Bentley, Peter Griffin AM & Terry Swann, Monica Lim & Konfir Kabo, Peter Lovell, In Memory of Dr Ian Marks, Mercer Family Foundation, Marjorie Nicholas OAM

WA Team Legacy, Deborah Lehmann AO & Michael Alpers AO

$5,000–$9,999

ACT Goodwin Crace Concertgoers, Craig Reynolds, Sue Terry & Len Whyte, Anonymous

NSW Christine Bishop, Patricia Crummer, Sarah & Tony Falzarano, Mrs W G Keighley, Hywel Sims, David & Carole Singer, Diane Sturrock, Kim Williams AM & Catherine Dovey

SA Aldridge Family Endowment, Anonymous

VIC In memory of Kate Boyce, Dr Di Bresciani OAM & Lino Bresciani, William J Forrest AM, Doug Hooley, Andrew Johnston, Joy Selby Smith, Greg Shalit & Miriam Faine, Musica Viva Australia Victorian Committee MICMC Prize, Anonymous

WA Zoe Lenard & Hamish Milne, Anonymous (2)

ANNUAL GIFTS

$2,500–$4,999

ACT Kristin van Brunschot & John Holliday, Dr Andrew Singer, Anonymous

NSW ADFAS Newcastle, Penny Beran, Susan Burns

QLD Greyhound Australia

SA DJ & EM Bleby

VIC Jan Begg, Alastair & Sue Campbell, Anne Frankenberg & Adrian McEniery, Lyndsey & Peter Hawkins, Ralph & Ruth Renard, Maria Sola, Igor Zambelli

WA Ros Kesteven, Mrs Morrell, Anonymous

$1,000–$2,499

ACT Andrew Blanckensee, The Breen/Dullo Family, Odin Bohr & Anna Smet, Dudley & Helen Creagh, Martin Dolan, Liz & Alex Furman, Malcolm Gillies AM, Kingsley Herbert, Margaret & Peter Janssens, Margaret Oates, S Packer, Clive & Lynlea Rodger, Hannah Semler, Anonymous (3)

NSW Judith Allen, David & Rae Allen, Maia Ambegaokar & Joshua Bishop, Stephen Booth, Jennifer Bott AO & Harley Harwood, Vicki Brooke, Neil Burns, Hugh and Hilary Cairns, Hon J C Campbell QC & Mrs Campbell, Lloyd & Mary Jo Capps AM, Opus 109 Sub-fund, Community Impact Foundation, Robin & Wendy Cumming, Thomas Dent, Nancy Fox AM & Bruce Arnold, John & Irene Garran, Charles & Wallis Graham, H2 Cairns Foundation, Annie Hawker, Robert & Lindy Henderson, Lybus Hillman, Dr Ailsa Hocking & Dr Bernard Williams, Dorothy Hoddinott AO, Catharine & Robert Kench, Kevin & Deidre McCann, DR & KM Magarey, Arthur & Elfreda Marshall, Dr Dennis Mather & John Studdert, Mora Maxwell, Michael & Janet Neustein, Paul O’Donnell, Laurie Orchard, Ms Vivienne Sharpe, Dr Robyn Smiles, Tom & Dalia Stanley, Geoff Stearn, Richard & Beverley Taperell, Graham & Judy Tribe, John & Flora Weickhardt, Richard Wilkins, Megan & Bill Williamson, Anonymous (4)

QLD George Booker & Denise Bond, Prof. Paul & Ann Crook, Robin Harvey, Lynn & John Kelly, Jocelyn Luck, Barry & Diana Moore, Keith Moore, Debra & Patrick Mullins, Barbara Williams & Jankees van der Have, Anonymous (2)

SA Ivan & Joan Blanchard, Richard Blomfield, Max & Ionie Brennan, Joan Lyons, Fiona MacLachlan OAM, Dr Leo Mahar, Geoff & Sorayya Martin, Ann & David Matison, Diane Myers, Anne Sutcliffe, Anonymous

TAS Dianne O’Toole

VIC Joanna Baevski, Russ & Jacqui Bate, Marlyn Bancroft, Alison & John Cameron, Alex & Elizabeth Chernov, Lord Ebury, Dr Glenys & Dr Alan French, Virginia Henry, Helen Imber, Angela Kayser, Angela & Richard Kirsner, Angela Li, Janet McDonald, Ruth McNair AM & Rhonda Brown in memory of Patricia Begg & David McNair, June K Marks, Christopher Menz & Peter Rose, Traudl Moon OAM,

Adrian Nye, Resonance Fund – Michael Cowen & Sharon Nathani, Murray Sandland, Marshall Segan & Ylana Perlov in memory of his late parents, Gary Singer & Geoffrey Smith, Darren Taylor & Kent Stringer, Wendy R. Taylor, Ray Turner & Jennifer Seabrook, Dr Victor Wayne & Dr Karen Wayne OAM, Mark & Anna Yates, Anonymous (2)

WA David & Minnette Ambrose, Dr S Cherian, Michael & Wendy Davis, In memory of Raymond Dudley, Dr Penny Herbert in memory of Dunstan Herbert, Ms Helen Hollingshead, Anne Last & Steve Scudamore, Hugh & Margaret Lydon, Olivier David & Dr Bennie Ng, Marian Magee & David Castillo, John Overton, Margaret & Roger Seares, Robyn Tamke, Anonymous (4)

$500–$999

ACT Christopher Clarke, Peter Cumines, Susan Edmondson, Jill Fleming, Claudia Hyles OAM, Margaret Millard, Helen Rankin, Dr Paul & Dr Lel Whitbread, Anonymous (2)

NSW Denise Braggett, Christopher & Margaret Burrell, Robert Cahill and Anne Cahill OAM, Lucia Cascone, Trish & John Curotta, Dr Arno Enno & Dr Anna Enno, Anthony Gregg, The Harvey Family, Roland & Margaret Hicks, David & Sarah Howell, Alicia Howlett, In honour of Michael Katz, Cynthia Kaye, KP Kemp, Mathilde Kearny-Kibble, Dr Colin MacArthur, Robert McDougall, Ian & Pam McGaw, Frances Muecke, Kim & Margie Ostinga, Dr John Rogers, Penny Rogers, Peter & Heather Roland, Professor Lynne Selwood, Kathie & Reg Grinberg - In honour of Dalia Stanley’s birthday, Andrew Wells AM, Anonymous (8)

QLD Geoffrey Beames, Janet Franklin, Timothy Matthies & Chris Bonnily

SA Zoë Cobden-Jewitt & Peter Jewitt, Daniel & Susan Hains, Elizabeth Ho OAM, in honour of the late Tom Steel, Dr Iwan Jensen, Helga Linnert & Douglas Ransom, Julie Mencel & Michael McKay, Tony Seymour, Anonymous (5)

TAS Anonymous

VIC David Bernshaw & Caroline Isakow, Pam Caldwell, John & Mandy Collins, John & Chris Collingwood, Mary-Jane Gething, John & Margaret Harrison, Eda Ritchie AM, Maureen Turner, Lyn Williams, Anonymous (5)

WA Jennifer Butement, Joan Carney, Fred & Angela Chaney, Rachel & Bruce Craven, Helen Dwyer, Dr Barry Green, Paula Nathan AO & Yvonne Patterson, Lindsay & Suzanne Silbert, Father Richard Smith, Ruth Stratton, Christopher Tyler, Anonymous (5)

Government Partners

Emerging Artists Partners

Musica Viva Australia is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council its arts funding and advisory body.

Musica Viva Australia is a Not-for-profit Organisation endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office as a Deductible Gift Recipient and registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).

Musica Viva Australia is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.

J A Donald Family

National Education Supporters

Marion & Mike Newman

Musica Viva Australia In Schools & Professional Development

• Aldridge Family Endowment

• Keith MacKenzie Will Trust

• Godfrey Turner Memorial Music Trust

• Margaret Henderson Music Trust

• Perpetual Foundation - Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment

National Music Residency Program

• In Memory of Anita Morawetz

• Marsden Szwarcbord Foundation

• Scully Foundation

The Benjamin Fund Day Family Foundation

The Marion & E.H. Flack Trust

• Aldridge Family Endowment

• John & Rosemary McLeod

• Lipman Karas

• Carthew Foundation

• Joy Selby Smith

• Foskett Foundation

• Klein Foundation

• Seeley International

• FWH Foundation

• Legacy Unit Trust

• Anonymous Donors (3)

BY CAROLINE DAVIS

HOW DOES MUSIC SPEAK TO YOU?

When music speaks, it transcends words alone, and is a powerful form of communication that brings us together as humans, enabling us to interact, celebrate, mourn and connect.

The universality of music as a language is its strength, allowing us to express ourselves when the spoken word alone might be a barrier. This year, our annual giving campaign shines a spotlight on the different ways that music speaks to us all - audiences and musicians alike.

Our Musica Viva Australia In Schools ensembles are experts at showcasing how music can speak to even our youngest audiences.

We recently spoke with Jenny Eriksson, viola da gamba player for Musica Viva Australia In Schools ensemble Da Vinci’s Apprentice, and Susie Bishop, violinist and vocalist for Apprentice music speaks to them.

Unsurprisingly, for both musicians, music has resonated deeply in their lives since childhood. Recounting her earliest musical memory, Susie recalls ‘watching the TV when I was four years old, and seeing this little boy who was the same age as me playing zippy bluegrass on a fiddle, and saying to my parents, “Why can’t I do that?” And that’s why I got my violin. Music for me is that pure channelling of your emotional terrain. When you’re playing it you can experience a release that maybe you haven’t been able to have when you talk even to friends and family. It communicates something that words can’t.’

Similarly, Jenny remembers a great yearning to play music as a child: ‘My earliest musical memory is of the recorder band at my primary school when I was five. I was dying to be in this recorder band and I managed to get into it when I was six. The recorder band used to march everybody into school after assembly every day.’ For Jenny, music is a practical tool for self-expression: ‘Music is something that’s very special to me. For me, speaking is not that easy and to be able to play an instrument and to express myself playing music, it just gives me freedom to express what I feel.’

There are so many ways through which Musica Viva Australia seeks to foster a music-rich future, harnessing this power across our myriad programs. We nurture the futures of our emerging artists in our FutureMakers program, as they learn to develop the unique way that music speaks to them while incorporating their personal connections to music in their performances and creations. FutureMaker Katie Yap says that music speaks to her ‘in many voices. It speaks to the head and to the heart, and to the body as well: thinking, feeling, dancing.’ Music education has played an important role in her life: ‘When it is in a group situation, it can be an incredibly powerful way of connecting on a visceral, emotional level.’ Katie, it seems, commenced her music journey at the youngest possible age: ‘There’s a story of me in utero when my parents went to see the Bach B minor Mass – apparently I loved it so much that I was knocking poor Mum from left to right in her

For Paul Kildea, our Artistic Director, music represents a journey of learning from an early age: ‘My earliest musical memory, as a performer, is linking all the notes I had steadfastly been collecting on my schoolallocated tenor horn – aided by A Tune a Day – into a song: Home on the Range. I’m glad that piano lessons began a year or so later!’

Nowadays for Paul, music produces powerful musical moments. ‘Music has a profound and overwhelming effect on me – both in the moment of a (good) performance, and somehow also cumulatively, linking performances of any particular work over 40 years of concert-going.’

A key objective at Musica Viva Australia is to spark creativity through our music education programs, but music education does not end with formal schooling. In fact, it is the start of what we hope will be a life-long journey, fostering connection, encouraging innovation and engaging communities; a process that we hope all our audiences can take with them. For Paul, ‘it’s commonplace to say that music education helps children learn team skills, coordination, socialisation etc. I love it because it opens up an entirely new and wonderful world of the mind and imagination to those lucky enough to be exposed.’

Music is a journey and speaks to us all differently. Help us to find more ways to enable music to speak to more Australians by making a gift to Musica Viva Australia this financial year. Every gift makes a difference.

If you would like to support our annual giving campaign, go to musicaviva.com.au/support-us or contact Caroline Davis, Individual Giving Manager, cdavis@musicaviva.com.au | 0421 375 358

Performing nationally in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth and Sydney.

Chopin’s Piano

Silk, Metal, Wood Vision String Quartet Wildschut & Brauss

3–9 July:

Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition 2023

musicaviva.com.au

1800 688 482

©

James Grant

The language of music is universal; it transcends borders and unites us as people. At Musica Viva Australia we believe that music makes the world a better place.

It’s our ongoing mission to create unforgettable experiences for audiences across the country: from a child in a classroom seeing live music for the first time, through to the seasoned concertgoer discovering new work.

Help us to continue our work so that everyone, regardless of age, location or circumstance, can access and share the very best live music.