2011 season romantic rhapsody | sydney symphony peter ilyich tchaikovsky romeo and juliet –...

2011 SEASON

WED 27 JUL 8PM FRI 29 JUL 8PM SAT 30 JUL 8PM

Romantic Rhapsody

AUSGRID MASTER SERIES

WELCOME TO THE AUSGRID MASTER SERIES

George MaltabarowManaging Director

Welcome to this Ausgrid Master Series concert at the Sydney Opera House. For this return visit to Sydney, Thomas Dausgaard is conducting a program of musical ‘romanticism’. He brings together three composers who move the emotions and touch the heart in diff erent ways: symphonic Brahms, storytelling Tchaikovsky and brilliant Rachmaninoff .

Making his Sydney Symphony debut this week is pianist Freddy Kempf, and we welcome him to the Concert Hall stage for a performance of ‘the Rach Pag’ – Rachmaninoff ’s spectacular set of variations on a theme by the 19th-century violinist Paganini.

The Ausgrid network includes the poles, wires and substations that deliver electricity to more than 1.6 million homes and businesses in New South Wales. Ausgrid is transforming the traditional electricity network into a grid that is smarter, more reliable and more interactive – something we are very proud of.

We’re also extremely proud of our partnership with the Sydney Symphony and our support of the orchestra’s fl agship Master Series.

We trust that you will enjoy tonight’s performance and we look forward to seeing you at the Ausgrid Master Series concerts throughout 2011, in particular the Mahler 2 concerts in November.

PRESENTING PARTNER

2011 SEASON

AUSGRID MASTER SERIES Wednesday 27 July | 8pm Friday 29 July | 8pm Saturday 30 July | 8pm

Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

ROMANTIC RHAPSODYThomas Dausgaard conductor Freddy Kempf piano

Wednesday night’s performance will be broadcast live across Australia on ABC Classic FM.

Pre-concert talk by Scott Davie at 7.15pm in the Northern Foyer. Visit sydneysymphony.com/talk-bios for speaker biographies.

Approximate durations: 20 minutes, 23 minutes, 20-minute interval, 40 minutes

The concert will conclude at approximately 10pm.

PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893) Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943) Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43

Freddy Kempf piano

INTERVAL

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897) Symphony No.4 in E minor, Op.98

Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso – Poco meno presto Allegro energico e passionato – Più allegro

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The Wedding of Romeo and Juliet, oil painting by a Russian master from the second half of the 19th century. (Museum of History and Art, Cherepovets)

© CULTURE IMAGES / LEBRECHT

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Romantic Rhapsody

Extravagance and emotion aren’t restricted to 19th-century music, but that’s the era when the Romantic spirit reigned supreme. Perhaps Beethoven is to blame – Brahms would have said so.

Johannes Brahms inherited the legacy of Beethoven, whose ‘giant footsteps’ intimidated the earnest young composer. Schumann made matters worse by dubbing him Beethoven’s successor, which led to a mighty stretch of procrastination as Brahms tried to write his fi rst symphony. After all, what could follow Beethoven’s Ninth? But by the time Brahms reached his fourth symphony, completed in 1885, he’d found his stride. The result is a monumental symphony, which – true to Romantic spirit – fi nds some of its inspiration in the past, even as it tells its musical story in rich 19th-century language.

Tchaikovsky’s inspiration came from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, although it’s astonishing how well he conveys the tragic drama of the play, given that he hadn’t seen it staged or even read it at the time he composed his music for it. This is a powerful piece of storytelling, and although it’s called a fantasy overture, it really belongs to that intrinsically Romantic genre, the symphonic poem.

Finally – although not last on the program – is Rachmaninoff , who sustained the Romantic spirit into the middle of the 20th century. His harmonies, his melodies, and even his stature as a great performer-virtuoso, all point back to the 19th century. And in his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini he takes inspiration from another performer-virtuoso, one of the most celebrated violinists of his day. Rachmaninoff combines devilish technical diffi culties with irresistible melody (not least the famous 18th Variation) in one of his most satisfying and popular creations. And in the process he proves that Romanticism was alive and fl ourishing, even in 1934.

INTRODUCTION

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Peter Ilyich TchaikovskyRomeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture

Among the sketches found after Tchaikovsky’s death was a love-duet for singers, a scene from Romeo and Juliet in which Romeo sings the words ‘Oh tarry, night of ecstasy! Oh night of love, stretch thy dark veil over us!’ to a musical phrase from his Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture. This duet, which was orchestrated by Taneyev and has been recorded, is all that exists of a Romeo and Juliet opera that Tchaikovsky contemplated writing in 1878, after reading the play for the fi rst time.

Since I read Romeo and Juliet,’ he wrote to his brother in a fl ush of enthusiasm, ‘Undine, Berthalda, Huldbrand [characters in his other operatic endeavours] seem to me the most childish nonsense. Of course I’ll compose Romeo and Juliet…It will be my most monumental work. It now seems to be absurd that I couldn’t see earlier that I was predestined, as it were, to set this drama to music.’

What might seem absurd to us is that Tchaikovsky had already set the drama to music in his fantasy overture, composed nearly ten years earlier, and that he had done so without reading or seeing the play!

The motivation if not the inspiration for the overture had been the composer and conductor Balakirev. At 28, Tchaikovsky was young, and Balakirev’s infl uence was strong. He not only advised Tchaikovsky that he should adopt a Shakespearean subject for his next orchestral work, but provided him with a detailed program and musical outline (going so far as to indicate what keys Tchaikovsky should adopt) and off ered critiques on the work in progress. As a result, Balakirev’s presence can be felt in the symphonic structure of the music as well as in specifi c details.

In particular, Balakirev had objected to Tchaikovsky’s original introduction – he said it lacked beauty of power and that it needed to introduce the character of Friar Laurence: ‘Here ought to be something like Liszt’s chorales…with an ancient Catholic character resembling that of Orthodox [church music].’ In his reworking Tchaikovsky created the sombre introduction with its prayerful mood and the organ-like eff ect created by the woodwinds. This leads to what is essentially a sonata-form movement for orchestra.

At this point it’s worth observing that the fantasy overture is not program music in the sense of following a strict narrative – in this respect it’s quite diff erent from

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Keynotes

TCHAIKOVSKY

Born Kamsko-Votkinsk, 1840Died St Petersburg, 1893

Tchaikovsky represented a new direction for Russian music in the late 19th century: fully professional and cosmopolitan in outlook. He embraced the genres and forms of Western European tradition, bringing to them his extraordinary dramatic sense – his ballets count among his masterpieces – and an unrivalled gift for melody.

FANTASY OVERTURE

Tchaikovsky called his Romeo and Juliet music a ‘fantasy-overture’ but it is really a symphonic poem, smelling as sweet as it would by any other name. The music adopts a conservative symphonic form and does not follow a strict narrative. At the same time, the form dovetails with the dramatic elements of the play: the kindly optimism of Friar Laurence in a chorale-like introduction; the brawling feud of the Montagues and Capulets, fi ery and tumultuous; and the ill-fated passion of Romeo and Juliet portrayed with muted and intertwining melodies. The traditional ‘development’ section combines and opposes these elements – creating musical tensions to mirror those of the play – before bringing the music to a tragic climax.

9 | Sydney Symphony

Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique, for example. All the same, the conservative form dovetails with the various elements of the play, the important characters and the overall dramatic arc.

After the slow introduction, Tchaikovsky presents a fi ery Allegro – the feuding Montagues and Capulets providing the ‘fi rst subject’ – and then the lyrical music for the two lovers as the ‘second subject’. This second theme had received Balakirev’s near-complete endorsement: ‘the D fl at tune is simply delightful. I play it often, and I want very much to kiss you for it. Here is tenderness and the sweetness of love…There’s just one thing I’ll say against this theme; there’s little in it of inner, spiritual love, and only a passionate physical languor (with even a slightly Italian hue) – whereas Romeo and Juliet were decidedly not Persian lovers, but Europeans.’

The passionate melodies for the lovers are memorable even by Tchaikovsky’s standards: one for cor anglais and muted violas to an accompaniment of horns and bassoons; another for muted strings, suggesting, perhaps, the garden beneath the balcony at night. The ‘development’ of the overture then amplifi es the lovers’ music, struggling with the brawling families and Friar Laurence’s theme. The furious climax may be the death of Tybalt at the hand of Romeo, but the love music dominates the ending, turning gradually to lament and tragic despair.

SYDNEY SYMPHONY ©2007

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture calls for piccolo, two fl utes, two oboes, two clarinets, cor anglais and two bassoons; four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba; timpani and percussion (cymbals, bass drum); harp and strings.

The Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture was fi rst performed in Moscow on 16 March 1870, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein. The Sydney Symphony fi rst performed it in 1940 under Thomas Beecham, and most recently in 2007, in programs conducted by Tugan Sokhiev and Gianluigi Gelmetti.

‘Oh tarry, night of ecstasy! Oh night of love, stretch thy dark veil over us’

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Keynotes

RACHMANINOFF

Born Oneg (Novgorod region), 1873Died Beverly Hills CA, 1943

Before leaving Russia for good in 1917, Rachmaninoff had composed two symphonies, three piano concertos, and three substantial orchestral works: The Rock, the Capriccio on Gypsy Themes and The Isle of the Dead, as well as the much-loved Vocalise. After settling in the West, Rachmaninoff shifted his attention to building a career as a concert pianist, and composed much less. The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini dates from this period.

THE ‘RACH PAG’

The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is one of Rachmaninoff’s most popular works for piano and orchestra. The Rhapsody is a set of 24 variations on a theme by the 19th-century violin virtuoso, Paganini. (The theme is heard after the fi rst variation.) These variations are played continuously without pause, but they also fall naturally into groups: some commentators hear three groups, corresponding to the fi rst, slow and fi nale movements of a traditional concerto; others hear four groups, as outlined by Phillip Sametz in his program note.

The Rhapsody was completed in 1934 – effectively making it Rachmaninoff’s fi nal ‘concerto’. It found an instant place in the repertoire – admired by audiences and musicians for its charm, wit and satisfying showmanship.

RachmaninoffRhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43

Freddy Kempf piano

On leaving Russia for good in 1917, Rachmaninoff descended into a composerly silence. While he busied himself with his self-appointed task of acquiring a concert pianist’s repertoire, so that he could earn a steady income, he ceased composing altogether.

After deciding to settle in the USA, he gave 40 concerts in four months during his fi rst concert season there. But he eventually reduced his concert commitments and, in 1925/26, took nine months off to compose. During this sabbatical he composed his fi rst post-Russian pieces: Three Russian Songs for orchestra and chorus, which were well received, and the Fourth Piano Concerto, which, to his dismay, was greeted with widespread indiff erence.

Rachmaninoff was always sensitive about his own music, and his eagerness to bring a new concerto into his repertoire had been seriously rebuff ed by the Fourth Concerto’s failure after its 1927 debut. He did not produce another original work for four years.

When the Variations on a Theme of Corelli for solo piano appeared in 1931, they not only signalled a more astringent approach to harmonic language and musical texture – what Francis Crociata called ‘a kind of personal neo-classicism’ – but indicated that a large-scale variation structure might serve Rachmaninoff ’s musical needs better than the more traditional concerto structure in which success had so recently eluded him.

So the Corelli Variations, still not particularly popular, might be thought of as the moodier, introspective dress rehearsal for the work that was to follow in 1934, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The Corelli ‘theme’ Rachmaninoff had chosen was actually not by Corelli at all, but was the Baroque popular tune La Folia, which forms the basis of a movement in Corelli’s violin sonata Op.5 No.12. It was to another celebrated work for violin that Rachmaninoff turned for the Rhapsody: the 24th Caprice of Paganini that had already been mined with distinguished results by Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, not to mention Paganini himself. How confi dent Rachmaninoff must have felt about himself – a man so often pessimistic about his musical achievements – to be exploring the theme yet further, in a big work for piano and orchestra.

The Rhapsody is one of those works which attained an


The work has wit, charm, shapeliness, a clear sense of colour, strong rhythmic impetus and a dashing, suitably fi endish solo part that translates Paganini’s legendary virtuosity into a completely different musical context

Rachmaninoff at the piano in 1936

instant popularity that has never waned. Rachmaninoff fi nally had a new ‘concerto’ to play, and was asked to do so frequently. The work has wit, charm, shapeliness, a clear sense of colour, strong rhythmic impetus and a dashing, suitably fi endish solo part that translates Paganini’s legendary virtuosity into a completely diff erent musical context.

Listening Guide

In the Rhapsody, Rachmaninoff ’s quicksilver musical imagination seems to grasp the big picture and distil a sense of unity, from variation to variation, that he does not achieve in the more extended forms of the Fourth Concerto. Yet the Rhapsody’s theme and 24 variations behave like a four-movement work. Variations 1 to 11 form a quick fi rst movement with cadenza; Variations 12 to 15 supply the equivalent of a scherzo/minuet; Variations 16 to 18, the slow movement; and the fi nal six variations, the dashing fi nale.

We actually hear the fi rst variation – a skeletal march that evokes Paganini’s bony frame – before the theme itself. The ensuing variations are increasingly animated and decorative until Variation 7 gives us a fi rst stately glimpse, on the piano, of the ‘Dies irae’ plainchant, with the strings muttering the Paganini theme against it. This old funeral chant features prominently in Rachmaninoff ’s output. Sometimes, as in his fi nal work, the Symphonic Dances, he uses it without irony, but its appearances in the Rhapsody are essentially sardonic.

Variation 8 is a kind of demented ‘can-can’ which rushes headlong into the even more helter-skelter Variation 9, in which the strings begin by playing with the wood of their bows. Grimly glittering arpeggios are tossed between piano and orchestra in Variation 10, in which the ‘Dies irae’ is heard in brazen octaves on the piano, with syncopated brass commentary.

With the cadenza-like Variation 11 forming a point of transition, we move to the exquisite, gently regal minuet of Variation 12. The drive, directness and power of Variation 14 are created with much bolder writing for wind and brass than Rachmaninoff employed in his earlier orchestral scores. The piano is given a very subsidiary role here, then comes instantly to the fore in the dazzling, soloistic Variation 15.

After a pause, Variation 16 has an intimacy and exoticism that evokes the Arabian Dance from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, with short but telling solo phrases for oboe, horn, violin, clarinet and cor anglais. Variation 17 is more palpably


In 1937 Rachmaninoff approached the choreographer Michel Fokine with a ballet scenario based on the Rhapsody: ‘Why not recreate the legend of Paganini selling his soul to the Evil Spirit for perfection in art and also for a woman?’ Fokine’s response was premiered at Covent Garden in 1939.

Fokine had created the ballet while on tour in Australia in 1938–39, and it received its Sydney premiere in December 1939. Eric Landerer, who later played the work with the SSO, was the piano soloist.

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mysterious, even sinister, and the only one where the theme seems to have vanished altogether, as Rachmaninoff buries it in the harmony. But we land on very deep shag-pile indeed with the celebrated 18th Variation, in which Rachmaninoff uses his sleight of hand to turn Paganini’s theme upside down and create a luxuriant, much admired (and much imitated) melody of his own. Rachmaninoff is reported to have said of it: ‘This one is for my agent.’

As if being woken suddenly from a dream, the orchestra calls the soloist and the audience to attention for six fi nal variations that evoke Paganini’s legendary left-hand pizzicato playing (Variation 19) and the demonic aspects of the Paganini legend, with more references to the ‘Dies irae’ and an increasing emphasis on pianistic and orchestral virtuosity in the last two variations. Just as a fi nal violent outburst of the ‘Dies irae’ seems to be leading us to a furious crash-bang coda, we are left instead with a nudge and a wink, as Rachmaninoff ’s fi nal masterpiece for piano and orchestra bids us a sly farewell.

ADAPTED FROM A NOTE BY PHILLIP SAMETZ ©2000

The orchestra for the Rhapsody calls for two fl utes, piccolo, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets and two bassoons; four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba; timpani and percussion (glockenspiel, suspended cymbal, snare drum, triangle, cymbal, bass drum); harp and strings.

The Rhapsody received its world premiere in Baltimore on 7 November 1934. Rachmaninoff was the soloist, and Leopold Stokowski conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Sydney Symphony gave the fi rst Australian performance in 1940 with conductor Georg Schnéevoigt and soloist Eric Landerer. Our most recent performance was in the 2007 Rachmaninoff festival conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy with pianist Lukáš Vondrácek

What tune is that?

The 18th variation from the Rhapsody has become one of Rachmaninoff’s most famous melodies, and it has turned up in movies such as the 1995 remake of Sabrina, Groundhog Day where Bill Murray learns to play it (1993), Dead Again (1991), Somewhere in Time (1980), and Rhapsody (1954).

Pianist and Rachmaninoff scholar Scott Davie has examined Rachmaninoff’s sketch books in Moscow and points out that the inversion of the Paganini theme in this famous 18th Variation is one of the fi rst ideas that Rachmaninoff had for the Rhapsody.


EVGENY KISSIN

One of the greatest pianists of our time in his Australian debut performance

*Selected performances. Booking fees of $7-$8.95 may apply. Free programs and pre-concert talks 45 mins before selected concerts.Listen to audio clips and read programs at sydneysymphony.com Sydney symphony concerts on demand at bigpond/sydneysymphony

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Vladimir Ashkenazy describes Evgeny Kissin as “a born musician and a born great pianist.” Find out why when Kissin plays Chopin, Grieg and Liszt.

THREE PERFORMANCES ONLY AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

15 SEP 8PM – KISSIN IN RECITAL All-Liszt program featuring the Sonata in B minor

22 SEP 8PM – KISSIN PLAYS GRIEG BRAHMS Symphony No.1 GRIEG Piano Concerto in A minor Vladimir Ashkenazy Conductor

24 SEP 8PM – KISSIN PLAYS CHOPIN CHOPIN Piano Concerto No.1 RACHMANINOFF Symphony No.2 Vladimir Ashkenazy Conductor


Keynotes

BRAHMS

Born Hamburg, Germany, 1833Died Vienna, Austria, 1897

Brahms completed his fi nal symphony in 1885. He had spent the summers of 1884 and 1885 working on it in an Austrian mountain retreat, Mürzzuschlag, but the inspiration seems to have come less from nature – unlike the ‘pastoral’ Second Symphony – and more from his musical and intellectual enthusiasms, in particular the ‘old masters’ such as Johann Sebastian Bach.

FOURTH SYMPHONY

The Fourth Symphony has been described as the ‘brainiest’ of Brahms’ symphonies. This is a response to the opening movement (‘two tremendously witty people’) and to the fi nale – a monumental movement based on the Baroque technique of a repeating bass, above which Brahms spins an elaborate set of 30 variations. The inner movements bring beauty, serenity and good humour. The glowing Andante begins with a gently moving theme featuring Brahms’ favourite instrument, the horn. The playful scherzo – Brahms’ fi rst – brings extremes: the high-pitched piccolo and the lowest woodwind, the contrabassoon. And watch out for the triangle, which plays only in the third movement.

Brahms conducted the premiere of his Fourth Symphony with the tiny Meiningen Orchestra (49 players) on 25 October 1885.

Johannes Brahms Symphony No.4 in E minor, Op.98

Allegro non troppoAndante moderatoAllegro giocoso – Poco meno prestoAllegro energico e passionato – Più allegro

Brahms spent years skirting around the symphonic genre, and when he did begin to write symphonies he agonised over them, apologetically circulating drafts to his musical friends. To his publisher, Simrock, Brahms wrote: ‘Some honourable colleagues (Bach, Mozart, Schubert) have mischievously overindulged the world. But if we are not able to write as beautifully as they could, then we must surely in addition protect ourselves from trying to write as quickly as they did…’

But the real culprit in Brahms’s struggle with the symphony was Beethoven. ‘I shall never compose a symphony!’ wrote Brahms. ‘You don’t have any idea how it feels if one always hears such a giant marching behind one.’ Brahms needed to preserve his own identity against the expectations and precedents set by Beethoven. At the same time, more than any of his contemporaries, he had a deep reverence for the past, and his highly personal solutions to musical problems are often founded on the formal strength of Classical structures.

After the long and diffi cult gestation of his fi rst symphony, Brahms gathered momentum, and the Fourth Symphony appeared only two years after the Third (in 1885) following two summers’ work at his mountain retreat in Mürzzuschlag in Austria. It can be heard as a ‘summing-up’ of Brahms’s aims: the marriage of past techniques with contemporary idioms and the close-knit integration of material. Especially in its weighty fi nal movement, the symphony unleashes a certain ‘cumulative power’, even at the fi rst rehearsal conductor Hans von Bülow recognised it as ‘gigantic, altogether a law unto itself, quite new, steely individuality. Exudes unparalleled energy from fi rst note to last.’

The fi rst movement opens not with a slow introduction (which Brahms discarded from his early draft), nor with a theme, but with a mighty gesture of falling thirds and rising sixths. It is a motto that Schoenberg later admired for its economy and almost abstract value as a pattern, and its fundamental signifi cance lies in the way it hints at tonal relationships and provides the germ of melodic material


for the whole symphony. Later, in the development, the alternation of the two intervals takes on a conversational tone. When the critic Eduard Hanslick heard Brahms and Ignaz Brüll play through a two-piano version of the draft symphony he commented: ‘During the whole fi rst movement I felt as if I were being beaten soundly by two tremendously witty people.’ The duo piano arrangement may have contributed to this impression, and in performances where the fi rst and second violins sit either side of the conductor’s podium there is a vivid sense of the dialectic that Brahms wrote into the music.

The Andante opens with a horn melody apparently in C major to prelude a movement in E major. The 21-year-old Richard Strauss heard this movement as ‘a funeral procession moving in silence across moonlit heights’. The cellos introduce the second subject, a sympathetically glowing and tender theme.

The third movement represents the fi rst appearance of a ‘scherzo’ in a Brahms symphony. Rather than adopting the usual three-part scherzo and trio structure, Brahms’s Allegro giocoso is a boisterous sonata movement. Its exultant playfulness emerges in orchestral extremes – both piccolo and contrabassoon appear in the texture for the fi rst time, and a triangle solo provides the only percussion moment in the symphony.

The previous year Brahms had received his copy of the 30th issue of the Bach Complete Edition, including Cantata No.150 ‘Nach dir Gott verlanget mich’ (Unto thee, O Lord, will I lift up my soul). Brahms was drawn to its concluding choral passacaglia, and contemplated the symphonic use of its ground bass, asking von Bülow: ‘What would you think if someone were to write a symphony movement on the same theme? But it is too bulky, too straightforward; one must change it somehow.’

And change it he did: chromatically altering just one note (the fi fth in the sequence) and elevating it from ground bass to melody line, with newly implied chords. This theme is stated at the beginning of the fi nale by brass and wind, establishing from the outset a sombre and dramatic atmosphere. Its austerity is further strengthened by the introduction of the trombones, which Brahms has held in reserve for this magnifi cent fi nale. Thirty variations follow, demonstrating a huge range of colour and emotion, concluded by a long, elaborate coda.

At fi rst the passacaglia fi nale was thought an inappropriate conclusion for a symphony. The grand closing passacaglia

‘During the whole fi rst movement I felt as if I were being beaten soundly by two tremendously witty people.’EDUARD HANSLICK, AFTER HEARING A DRAFT OF THE SYMPHONY


www.sydneysymphony.com/staytuned

or chaconne was a Baroque theatrical convention; and while Brahms – editor of Couperin and collector of Bach – would have appreciated this, few of his listeners did. But one critic at the Leipzig premiere in 1886 understood the gesture:

‘The [fi nale] is not only constructed on the form displayed in Bach’s Chaconne for violin, but it is fi lled with Bach’s spirit. It is built up with such astounding mastery...and in such a manner that its contrapuntal learning remains subordinate to its poetic contents…It can be compared with no former work of Brahms and stands alone in the symphonic literature of the present and the past.’

As this anonymous critic recognised, Brahms had created the perfect marriage of learning and poetry, of past and present, and the Classical and Romantic spirit.

YVONNE FRINDLE ©2006

The orchestra for Brahms’ Fourth Symphony comprises two fl utes, one doubling piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and contrabassoon; four horns, two trumpets, and three trombones (in the fourth movement only); timpani and triangle (third movement only); and strings.

The Sydney Symphony fi rst performed Brahms’ Fourth Symphony in 1938 under Malcolm Sargent. The most recent performance was in 2008 in a Brahms festival conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti.

‘…It can be compared with no former work of Brahms and stands alone in the symphonic literature of the present and the past.’FROM AN 1886 REVIEW


In 1981 John McEnroe fi nally won Wimbledon. Freddy Kempf became crazy about tennis. Next, the Formula 1 season put British driver Nigel Mansell in the news. Freddy wanted to be a driver. Then his parents took him to the toy shop to choose what Father Christmas would bring him. Infl uenced more by the impressive price tag than anything else, Freddy settled on an electric keyboard. On Christmas Day it was his only present.

He began by teaching himself, playing the songs he knew from Disney soundtracks. ‘Then I wanted to learn properly,’ says Kempf, ‘and it all went on from there. But you could say it was almost by accident that I became a pianist. The piano was the fi rst thing my parents said “Yes, you can try that if you want” – because it wasn’t as unrealistic as motor racing or tennis.’

Kempf counts his teachers among the biggest infl uences in his life. ‘My fi rst main teacher – who taught me from six till fourteen – he really gave me my hands, he gave me the way I play. I was with him for such a long time and at such an early age that I won’t ever forget him.’ The teacher was Ronald Smith, who’d been a student of Marguerite Long and Pierre Kostanoff .

His last teacher, Emmanuil Monaszon, worked with him from the age of 19 to 21. ‘He found that I was a Romantic at heart, and he managed to push away those insecurities that I had: just wanting to show everyone how fast I could play or how technically accomplished I was. He made me focus on the emotional side of my playing. It was hard for a person in

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L born1977 in London, to a German father and Japanese mother

he is relatedto pianist Wilhelm Kempff

also playsviolin and harmonica

can speakEnglish, German, Russian and French, a little Japanese, Italian and Spanish, and a smattering of eight other languages including Arabic

fi rst big breakwon the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition performing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in 1992

became a ‘hero’with Russian audiences when he received third prize in the 1998 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow – they thought he should have won!

current projectthis season he will perform all the Beethoven piano concertos directing the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from the keyboard

recordingsinclude Prokofi ev piano concertos

in Australiahe has performed with the Tasmanian, Adelaide and Queensland symphony orchestras; this is his Sydney Symphony debut

read morewww.freddy-kempf.com

further listeningSee More Music on page 21

Freddy Kempf in conversation

IN THE GREEN ROOM


‘He found that I was a Romantic at heart…’KEMPF ABOUT HIS LAST TEACHER

their late teens to adjust to that, but he was Russian, so he was probably more assertive than your average non-Russian teacher. He changed my playing the most, even though I didn’t study with him for very long. It’s enabled me to be much freer about my choice of repertoire; I’m not trying to prove something. Basically I can play whatever I’ve wanted to play, and whatever has interested me.’

Which is not to say that the repertoire that interests Kempf isn’t virtuoso music of the highest order, as his Sydney program demonstrates. It’s been infl uenced in part by the bicentenary celebrations of Liszt’s birth in 1811. Elsewhere in the world this year he is performing an all-Liszt program. That selection has formed the basis for what he will play in Sydney.

In choosing Beethoven for the fi rst half, he explains, he’s opted for works which ‘sound as if they would be familiar, but which are probably less familiar than, say, the Pathétique Sonata or the Appassionata.’ Even more important is the experimental side of Beethoven these two works reveal. ‘Both have very unusual pianistic eff ects, pioneering for the time,’ he say. ‘I’m thinking of the end of the Waldstein, where he marks for the pedal to be held down to create this aura of sound.’ The Eroica Variations is remarkable for its technical challenges too. ‘Before Beethoven, a composer wasn’t expecting the performer to really practise – but with the Eroica Variations there is no way anyone could just sit down and sightread it. It takes a lot of work, and that in itself was a new thing.’

Most striking in Kempf ’s Liszt selections is that only one work, the Petrarch Sonnet, is original. The rest show Liszt wearing his transcriber’s hat, from Rossini’s tarantella, La Danza, to the monumental Réminiscences de Don Juan – ‘one of the craziest, most diffi cult, ostentatious works of Liszt you’re ever likely to fi nd.’ Kempf is fascinated by the 19th-century practice of transcription and the way such pieces, especially transcriptions of opera, not only brought music to a wider audience but functioned almost as trailers for the complete work. Playing these transcriptions has given him an appreciation for Liszt’s knack for making the piano sound like an orchestra.

Beethoven and Liszt – both risk-takers and pushing musical and technical boundaries. And, as Kempf points out, ‘they were both pianist-composers who used their solo careers to push their composing careers and vice versa. That is important, because you have to think that they were writing for themselves. They were writing music that they would be performing in concert. Which is why they could push those boundaries.’

YVONNE FRINDLE, SYDNEY SYMPHONY ©2011

Hear Freddy Kempf play a recital of Beethoven and Liszt on Monday 1 August at 7pm in City Recital Hall Angel Place.

20 | Sydney Symphony20 | Sydney Symphony

ARPEGGIO – a musical gesture in which the notes of a chord are ‘spread’, or played one after the other instead of simultaneously.

CHROMATIC – in tonal music, the use of foreign notes and harmonies that do not belong to the key, together with frequent modulation to other keys. The impression is one of harmonic richness and while chromaticism has been used as an expressive eff ect since the 16th century, it is most strongly associated with the Romantic style of the 19th century.

DIES IRAE – (Latin for ‘Day of wrath’) a liturgical poem forming part of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead. The distinctive plainchant melody associated with the Dies iræ is often quoted in other musical works, especially since the 19th century: Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre, Liszt’s Totentanz, various works by Rachmaninoff , including his Paganini Rhapsody and Symphonic Dances, and most famously in Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique.

GROUND BASS – a melody that is repeated many times as a support for continuous melodic variations. Usually heard in the bass, it can include the chord pattern implied by the melody.The technique emerged in the 16th century and was very popular through the Baroque period.

INTERVAL – the distance in pitch between two notes. If the fi rst note is lower in pitch than the second, the interval is said to be ‘rising’; if the fi rst note is higher in pitch then the interval is ‘falling’. Intervals are named according to the number of steps of the musical scale that they cover: a THIRD is an interval of three steps, a SIXTH six steps, and so on.

MINUET AND SCHERZO – the SCHERZO (literally a ‘joke’) as a genre was a creation of Beethoven. For composers such as Mozart and Haydn the third movement of symphonies and some chamber works had typically been a MINUET (in a dance-like triple time and featuring a contrasting central section call a TRIO). In Beethoven’s hands it acquired a joking and playful mood (sometimes whimsical and startling) as well as a much faster tempo.

PASSACAGLIA – a musical form with origins in Baroque dance, sometimes used interchangeably with the term ‘chaconne’. Since its revival in the 19th century it has been characterised by its recurring ground bass, providing the support for

an extended set of variations, and its serious tone. Many composers have taken inspiration from the impressive but atypical passacaglias of Bach and Handel.

PROGRAM MUSIC – ‘program music’ is inspired by and claims to express a non-musical idea, usually with a descriptive title and sometimes with a literary narrative, or ‘program’ as well.

SONATA FORM – this term was conceived in the 19th century to describe the harmonically based structure most Classical composers had adopted for the fi rst movements of their sonatas and symphonies. It involves the EXPOSITION, or presentation of themes and subjects: the fi rst subject in the tonic or home key, the second in a contrasting key. The tension between the two keys is intensifi ed in the DEVELOPMENT, where the themes are manipulated and varied as the music moves further and further away from the ultimate goal of the home key. Tension is resolved in the RECAPITULATION, where both subjects are restated in the tonic. Sometimes a CODA (‘tail’) is added to enhance the sense of fi nality.

SYMPHONIC POEM – a genre of orchestral music, also ‘tone poem’, which fl ourished in the 19th century. At its simplest, the orchestral tone poem is a symphonic work that departs from conventional forms and adopts a freer structure in service of an extra-musical or literary ‘program’ that provides the narrative or scene. Liszt was the pioneer in this genre and Strauss became a champion.

In much of the classical repertoire, names of movements and major sections of music are taken from the Italian words that indicate the tempo and mood. Examples of terms from this program are included here.

Allegro giocoso – fast, joyfullyAllegro non troppo – not too fastAndante moderato – at a moderate walking paceAllegro energico e passionato – fast, energetic and passionatePiù allegro – faster Poco meno presto – a little less quickly

This glossary is intended only as a quick and easy guide, not as a set of comprehensive and absolute defi nitions. Most of these terms have many subtle shades of meaning which cannot be included for reasons of space.

GLOSSARY


MORE MUSIC

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ROMEO & JULIETFor a comprehensive collection of Tchaikovsky’s shorter orchestral works look for Mikhail Pletnev with the Russian National Orchestra on a 3-CD set that includes Romeo and Juliet alongside other Shakespeare-inspired music: The Tempest and Hamlet.DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON TRIO 477 053-2

RACHMANINOFF If you’re interested in hearing Rachmaninoff’s own interpretations look for:

Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff – the four piano concertos and the Rhapsody with the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductors Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski.RCA VICTOR GOLD SEAL 61658

These performances are also available on the excellent Naxos Historical label, including Piano Concertos No.1 (1939–40) and 4 (1941), and the Rhapsody (1934).NAXOS HISTORICAL 8.110602

BRAHMS One of the most acclaimed performances of Brahms’s Fourth Symphony available on CD was recorded by Carlos Kleiber with the Vienna Philharmonic.DG THE ORIGINALS 4577062

For a period instrument approach there’s John Eliot Gardiner’s recording with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, on a disc that also includes the choral passacaglia from Bach’s Cantata No.150, which inspired Brahms’s fi nale. On the same disc, choral music by Brahms, Gabrieli and Schütz, and Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture.SOLI DEO GLORIA RECORDS 705

THOMAS DAUSGAARDAmong Thomas Dausgaard’s recordings with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra is Bruckner’s Second Symphony, a work which he says conveys ‘a feeling of a very personal prayer – as if Bruckner was meditating and improvising at the organ’.BIS 1829

He is also an advocate for the music of fellow Dane Rued Langgaard, featured on several of his recent recordings: a CD release of Music of the Spheres and The Time of the End, a Blu-ray video release of the opera Antikrist, and a 7-CD set of the complete symphonies.DACAPO 6220535 (Music of the Spheres)DACAPO 2110409 (Antikrist)DACAPO 6200001 (Symphonies)

Selected Discography

Selected Sydney Symphony concerts are webcast live on BigPond and made available for viewing On Demand. Visit: bigpondmusic.com/sydneysymphony

Webcasts

2MBS-FM 102.5SYDNEY SYMPHONY 2011

Tuesday 13 September, 6pm Musicians, staff and guest artists discuss what’s in store in our forthcoming concerts.

Broadcast Diary

AUGUST–SEPTEMBERWednesday 10 August, 1.05pmTHE LAST ROMANTIC

Edo de Waart conductorJoyce Yang pianoRautavaara, Rachmaninoff

Saturday 3 September, 2pmYOUNG PERFORMERS AWARDS GRAND FINAL

Edvard Tchivzhel conductorQueensland Symphony OrchestraThe winners of the strings, piano and other instruments fi nals compete in the Stage IV fi nal for the title of Young Performer of the Year.Catch up on the Stage III category fi nals at 8pm on Wednesday 31 August (Piano, with the WASO), Thursday 1 September (Strings, TSO) and Friday 2 September (Other Instruments, ASO).

FREDDY KEMPFEarlier this year, Freddy Kempf released a solo recital disc of Bach, Ravel, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, who’s represented by his Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op.42.BIS 1810

Also among his recent releases is a recording of Prokofi ev’s second and third piano concertos, with Andrew Litton conducting the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.BIS 1820


ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard is known for the rich intensity of his performances, his prolifi c discography and the remarkable results he has achieved as Chief Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR (since 2004) and of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra (since 1997).

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR has developed impressively under his leadership; its achievements include a disc of Nielsen works, nominated for a 2007 Gramophone award, and the sensational British premiere ofLanggaard’s Music of the Spheres at the BBC Proms in 2010. The Swedish Chamber Orchestra has also fl ourished under Dausgaard’s direction, growing from a regional orchestra to one attracting international attention.

As a guest conductor he has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, with recent highlights including the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Salzburg Mozarteum and the São Paul Symphony Orchestra, as well as engagements with the radio orchestras in Stuttgart, Leipzig, Barcelona and Sweden. He collaborates regularly with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and maintains strong links with many of the major UK orchestras.

In North America he has worked orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Seattle Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra. He conducts the Toronto Symphony each year, recently directing an acclaimed Sibelius cycle, and makes regular appearances at the New York Mostly Mozart Festival.

The role music can play in the lives of children and young people is important to Thomas Dausgaard, and he collaborates with several youth orchestras, including the Baccarelli Institute in Brazil and the Toronto Youth Symphony. In addition to the Australian Youth Orchestra, his current projects include the orchestras at the Copenhagen and Stockholm music academies.

His extensive discography includes recordings of Danish composers Carl Nielsen and Rued Langgaard and a DVD of Langgaard’s 1920s opera Antikrist. He has been awarded the Cross of Chivalry in Denmark, and elected to the Royal Academy of Music in Sweden.

Thomas Dausgaard’s most recent appearance conducting the Sydney Symphony was in 2008. Last week he conducted the Australian Youth Orchestra in the Meet the Music and Tea & Symphony series.

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Thomas Dausgaard conductor


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Freddy Kempf piano

Freddy Kempf has a reputation as a daring and explosive performer who is also a serious and profoundly musical artist. Born in London in 1977, he began studying piano at the age of four. In 1992 he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition with a performance of Rachmaninoff ’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. But it was a third prize that established his international career: the fact that he did not win the 1998 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow provoked audience protests and an outcry in the Russian press.

Since then, he has travelled all over the world, with invitations ranging from the opening of the Shanghai Concert Hall in 2004, to fi lming Chopin’s Etudes in a chateau near Paris for BBC Television.

His musical collaborations have included many eminent ensembles and conductors, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra (Andrew Davis and Kurt Sanderling), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Daniele Gatti and Matthias Bamert) and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Sakari Oramo), as well as the European Union Youth Orchestra with Vladimir Ashkenazy. His concert engagements have taken him throughout Europe and Asia and to the major North American centres, including Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Vancouver.

In recent seasons he has toured Japan with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the UK with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra. Highlights have included seven concerts in as many days with the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, performing both the Chopin piano concertos in each one. In the 2011–12 season he embarks on a play-direct project, in which he will perform Beethoven’s piano concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a recitalist, he appears at London’s Barbican Centre, Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Bridgewater Hall (Manchester), the Sage Gateshead and St David’s Hall in Cardiff , as well as halls in Munich, Hamburg, Zurich, Verona, Osaka, Moscow and St Petersburg.

In Australasia he has previously appeared with the Adelaide, Tasmanian and Queensland symphony orchestras, as well as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. This is his Sydney Symphony debut.


MUSICIANS

To see photographs of the full roster of permanent musicians and fi nd out more about the orchestra, visit our website: www.sydneysymphony.com/SSO_musicians If you don’t have access to the internet, ask one of our customer service representatives for a copy of our Musicians fl yer.

Performing in this concert…

To see photographs of the full roster of permanent musicians and fi nd out more about the orchestra, visit our website: www.sydneysymphony.com/SSO_musicians If you don’t have access to the internet, ask one of our customer service representatives for a copy of our Musicians fl yer.

Vladimir AshkenazyPrincipal Conductorand Artistic Advisorsupported by Emirates

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Michael DauthConcertmaster

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Dene OldingConcertmaster

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Nicholas CarterAssociate Conductor supported bySymphony Services International & Premier Partner Credit Suisse

FIRST VIOLINS Michael Dauth Concertmaster

Sun Yi Associate Concertmaster

Kirsten Williams Associate Concertmaster

Katherine Lukey Assistant Concertmaster

Fiona ZieglerAssistant Concertmaster

Julie Batty Jennifer Booth Marianne BroadfootBrielle ClapsonSophie Cole Amber Davis Nicola Lewis Nicole Masters Alexandra MitchellLéone Ziegler Martin Silverton*

SECOND VIOLINS Kirsty Hilton Marina Marsden Jennifer Hoy A/Assistant Principal

Susan Dobbie Principal Emeritus

Maria Durek Shuti Huang Benjamin Li Emily Long Philippa Paige Biyana Rozenblit Maja Verunica Alexandra D’Elia#

Freya Franzen†

Belinda Jezek*Emily Qin#

VIOLASTobias Breider Sandro CostantinoRobyn Brookfi eld Jane Hazelwood Graham Hennings Stuart Johnson Justine Marsden Felicity Tsai Leonid Volovelsky Jacqueline Cronin#

Rosemary Curtin#

Tara Houghton†

David Wicks*

CELLOSCatherine Hewgill Leah Lynn Assistant Principal

Kristy ConrauFenella Gill Timothy NankervisElizabeth NevilleAdrian Wallis David Wickham Rowena Crouch#

Rachael Tobin#

DOUBLE BASSESAlex Henery Neil Brawley Principal Emeritus

David Campbell Steven Larson Richard Lynn David Murray Benjamin Ward Hugh Kluger†

FLUTES Janet Webb Carolyn HarrisRosamund Plummer Principal Piccolo

OBOESShefali Pryor David Papp Alexandre Oguey Principal Cor Anglais

CLARINETSLawrence Dobell Christopher Tingay Rowena Watts†

BASSOONSMatthew Wilkie Fiona McNamara Noriko Shimada Principal Contrabassoon

HORNSRobert Johnson Geoffrey O’Reilly Principal 3rd

Lee BracegirdleEuan HarveyMarnie Sebire

TRUMPETSDaniel Mendelow Anthony Heinrichs

TROMBONESRonald Prussing Nick Byrne Christopher Harris Principal Bass Trombone

TUBASteve Rossé

TIMPANIRichard Miller

PERCUSSIONRebecca Lagos Colin Piper Alison Pratt*Philip South*

HARP Genevieve Lang*

Bold = PrincipalItalic= Associate Principal* = Guest Musician # = Contract Musician† = Sydney Symphony Fellow


THE SYDNEY SYMPHONYPRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC ADVISOR Vladimir Ashkenazy PATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO

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Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Sydney Symphony has evolved into one of the world’s fi nest orchestras as Sydney has become one of the world’s great cities.

Resident at the iconic Sydney Opera House, where it gives more than 100 performances each year, the Sydney Symphony also performs in venues throughout Sydney and regional New South Wales. International tours to Europe, Asia and the USA have earned the orchestra worldwide recognition for artistic excellence, most recently in a tour of European summer festivals, including the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh Festival.

The Sydney Symphony’s fi rst Chief Conductor was Sir Eugene Goossens, appointed in 1947; he was followed by Nicolai Malko, Dean Dixon, Moshe Atzmon, Willem van Otterloo, Louis Frémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zdenek Mácal, Stuart Challender, Edo de Waart and, most recently, Gianluigi Gelmetti. The orchestra’s history also boasts collaborations with legendary fi gures such as George Szell, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky.

The Sydney Symphony’s award-winning education program is central to its commitment to the future of live symphonic music, developing audiences and engaging the participation of young people. The Sydney Symphony promotes the work of Australian composers through performances, recordings and its commissioning program. Recent premieres have included major works by Ross Edwards, Liza Lim, Lee Bracegirdle, Gordon Kerry and Georges Lentz, and a recording of works by Brett Dean was released on both the BIS and Sydney Symphony Live labels.

Other releases on the Sydney Symphony Live label, established in 2006, include performances with Alexander Lazarev, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Sir Charles Mackerras and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Currently the orchestra is recording the complete Mahler symphonies. The Sydney Symphony has also released recordings with Ashkenazy of Rachmaninoff and Elgar orchestral works on the Exton/Triton labels, and numerous recordings on the ABC Classics label.

This is the third year of Ashkenazy’s tenure as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor.


SALUTE

PRINCIPAL PARTNER GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

The Sydney Symphony is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW

The Sydney Symphony is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the

Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body

PREMIER PARTNER

PLATINUM PARTNERS MAJOR PARTNERS

GOLD PARTNERS

EmanateBTA Vantage

2MBS 102.5 Sydney’s Fine Music Station

BRONZE PARTNER MARKETING PARTNER

REGIONAL TOUR PARTNERS

SILVER PARTNERS

Television - Audio


PLAYING YOUR PART

The Sydney Symphony gratefully acknowledges the music lovers who donate to the Orchestra each year. Each gift plays an important part in ensuring our continued artistic excellence and helping to sustain important education and regional touring programs. Please visit sydneysymphony.com/patrons for a list of all our donors, including those who give between $100 and $499.

PLATINUM PATRONS $20,000+Brian AbelGeoff Ainsworth AM & Vicki AinsworthRobert Albert AO & Elizabeth AlbertTerrey Arcus AM & Anne ArcusTom Breen & Rachael KohnSandra & Neil BurnsIan & Jennifer BurtonMr John C Conde AO

Robert & Janet ConstableThe Hon. Ashley Dawson-DamerIn memory of Hetty & Egon GordonThe Hansen FamilyMs Rose HercegThe Estate of Mrs E HerrmanJames N. Kirby FoundationMr Andrew Kaldor & Mrs Renata Kaldor AO

D & I KallinikosJustice Jane Mathews AO

Mrs Roslyn Packer AO

Greg & Kerry Paramor & Equity Real Estate PartnersDr John Roarty in memory of Mrs June RoartyPaul & Sandra SalteriMrs Penelope Seidler AM

Mrs W SteningMr Fred Street AM & Mrs Dorothy StreetIn memory of D M ThewMr Peter Weiss AM & Mrs Doris WeissWestfi eld GroupRay Wilson OAM in memory of James Agapitos OAM

Mr Brian and Mrs Rosemary WhiteJune & Alan Woods Family BequestAnonymous (1)

GOLD PATRONS $10,000–$19,999Alan & Christine BishopThe Estate of Ruth M DavidsonPenny EdwardsPaul R. EspieFerris Family FoundationDr Bruno & Mrs Rhonda GiuffreRoss GrantMr David Greatorex AO & Mrs Deirdre GreatorexHelen Lynch AM & Helen BauerMrs Joan MacKenzieRuth & Bob MagidTony & Fran MeagherMrs T Merewether OAM

Mr B G O’ConorMrs Joyce Sproat & Mrs Janet CookeMs Caroline WilkinsonAnonymous (1)

SILVER PATRONS $5,000–$9,999Mr and Mrs Mark BethwaiteJan BowenMr Robert BrakspearMr Donald Campbell & Dr Stephen FreibergMr Robert & Mrs L Alison CarrBob & Julie ClampettMrs Gretchen M DechertIan Dickson & Reg HollowayJames & Leonie FurberMr James Graham AM & Mrs Helen GrahamMichelle HiltonStephen Johns & Michele BenderJudges of the Supreme Court of NSW

Mr Ervin KatzGary LinnaneMr David LivingstoneWilliam McIlrath Charitable FoundationEva & Timothy PascoeRodney Rosenblum AM & Sylvia RosenblumSherry-Hogan FoundationDavid & Isabel SmithersMrs Hedy SwitzerIan & Wendy ThompsonMichael & Mary Whelan TrustJill WranAnonymous (2)

BRONZE PATRONS $2,500–$4,999Dr Lilon BandlerStephen J BellMr David & Mrs Halina BrettLenore P BuckleHoward ConnorsEwen & Catherine CrouchDr Michael FieldMr Erich GockelKylie GreenJanette HamiltonAnn HobanPaul & Susan HotzIrwin Imhof in memory of Herta ImhofMr Justin LamR & S Maple-BrownMora MaxwellJ A McKernanJustice George Palmer AM QC

James & Elsie MooreBruce & Joy Reid FoundationMary Rossi TravelGeorges & Marliese TeitlerGabrielle TrainorJ F & A van OgtropGeoff Wood & Melissa WaitesDr Richard WingateAnonymous (1)

BRONZE PATRONS $1,000–$2,499Charles & Renee AbramsAndrew Andersons AO

Mr Henri W Aram OAM

Claire Armstrong & John SharpeDr Francis J AugustusRichard BanksDoug & Alison BattersbyDavid BarnesMichael Baume AO & Toni BaumePhil & Elese BennettNicole BergerMrs Jan BiberJulie BlighColin Draper & Mary Jane BrodribbM BulmerMr Stephen BurleyDr John H CaseyDr Diana Choquette & Mr Robert MillinerJoan Connery OAM & Maxwell Connery OAM

Debby Cramer & Bill CaukillMr John Cunningham SCM & Mrs Margaret CunninghamLisa & Miro DavisMatthew DelaseyJohn FavaloroMr Edward FedermanMr Ian Fenwicke & Prof N R WillsFirehold Pty Ltd

Warren GreenAnthony Gregg & Deanne WhittlestonAkiko GregoryIn memory of Oscar GrynbergMrs Jennifer HershonBarbara & John HirstBill & Pam HughesThe Hon. David Hunt AO QC & Mrs Margaret HuntDr & Mrs Michael HunterDr Michael Joel AM & Mrs Anna JoelThe Hon. Paul KeatingIn Memory of Bernard M H KhawJeannette KingAnna-Lisa KlettenbergWendy LapointeMacquarie Group FoundationMelvyn MadiganMr Robert & Mrs Renee MarkovicKevin & Deidre McCannRobert McDougallIan & Pam McGawMatthew McInnesMrs Barbara McNulty OBE

Harry M. Miller, Lauren Miller Cilento & Josh CilentoNola NettheimMiss An NhanMrs Rachel O’ConorMr R A OppenMr Robert Orrell Mr & Mrs OrtisMaria PagePiatti Holdings Pty LtdAdrian & Dairneen PiltonRobin PotterMr & Ms Stephen ProudMiss Rosemary PryorDr Raffi QasabianErnest & Judith RapeeKenneth R. ReedPatricia H Reid Endowment Pty LtdMr M D SalamonJohn SaundersJuliana SchaefferCaroline SharpenMr & Mrs Jean-Marie SimartCatherine StephenThe Hon. Brian Sully QC

Mildred TeitlerAndrew & Isolde TornyaGerry & Carolyn TraversJohn E TuckeyMrs M TurkingtonIn memory of Dr Reg WalkerHenry & Ruth WeinbergThe Hon. Justice A G WhealyMr R R WoodwardAnonymous (12)

BRONZE PATRONS $500–$999Mr C R AdamsonMr Peter J ArmstrongMs Baiba B. Berzins & Dr Peter LovedayDr & Mrs Hannes Boshoff Minnie BriggsDr Miles BurgessPat & Jenny BurnettIta Buttrose AO OBE

Stephen Byrne & Susie GleesonHon. Justice J C & Mrs CampbellMrs Catherine J ClarkMr Charles Curran AC & Mrs Eva CurranGreta DavisElizabeth DonatiDr & Dr Nita DurhamGreg Earl & Debbie Cameron

Mr & Mrs FarrellRobert GellingDr & Mrs C GoldschmidtMr Robert GreenMr Richard Griffi n AM

Jules & Tanya HallMr Hugh HallardJanette HamiltonRoger HenningRev Harry & Mrs Meg HerbertSue HewittDorothy Hoddinott AO

Mr Joerg HofmannDominique Hogan-DoranMr Brian Horsfi eldAlex HoughtonBill & Pam HughesGeoff & Susie IsraelIven & Sylvia KlinebergMr & Mrs Gilles T KrygerDr & Mrs Leo LeaderMargaret LedermanMartine LettsErna & Gerry Levy AM

Dr Winston LiauwMrs Helen LittleSydney & Airdrie LloydMrs A LohanCarolyn & Peter Lowry OAM

Dr David LuisMrs M MacRae OAM

Dr Jean MalcolmMrs Silvana MantellatoAlan & Joy MartinGeoff & Jane McClellanMrs Inara MerrickDavid & Andree MilmanKenneth N MitchellHelen MorganChris Morgan-HunnMrs Margaret NewtonSandy NightingaleMr Graham NorthDr M C O’Connor AM

A Willmers & R PalDr A J PalmerMr Andrew C. PattersonDr Kevin PedemontLois & Ken RaePamela RogersAgnes RossIn memory of H.St.P ScarlettDr Mark & Mrs Gillian SelikowitzMrs Diane Shteinman AM

Robyn SmilesDoug & Judy SotherenMrs Elsie StaffordJohn & Alix SullivanMr D M SwanMr Norman TaylorDr Heng & Mrs Cilla TeyMs Wendy ThompsonKevin TroyJudge Robyn TupmanGillian Turner & Rob BishopProf Gordon E WallMr Robert & Mrs Rosemary WalshRonald WalledgeDavid & Katrina WilliamsAudrey & Michael WilsonDr Richard WingMr Robert WoodsMr & Mrs Glenn WyssAnonymous (17)

To fi nd out more about becoming a Sydney Symphony Patron please contact the Philanthropy Offi ce on (02) 8215 4625 or email [email protected]

28 | Sydney Symphony28 | Sydney Symphony

MAESTRO’S CIRCLE

Peter Weiss AM – Founding President & Doris Weiss John C Conde AO – ChairmanGeoff & Vicki AinsworthTom Breen & Rachael KohnThe Hon. Ashley Dawson-DamerIn memory of Hetty & Egon Gordon

Andrew Kaldor & Renata Kaldor AO

Roslyn Packer AO

Penelope Seidler AM

Mr Fred Street AM & Mrs Dorothy StreetWestfi eld GroupRay Wilson OAM

in memory of the late James Agapitos OAM

SYDNEY SYMPHONY LEADERSHIP ENSEMBLE David Livingstone, CEO, Credit Suisse, AustraliaAlan Fang, Chairman, Tianda GroupMacquarie Group Foundation

John Morschel, Chairman, ANZAndrew Kaldor, Chairman, Pelikan ArtlineLynn Krause, Sydney Offi ce Managing Partner, Ernst & Young

We also gratefully acknowledge the following patrons: Ruth & Bob Magid – supporting the position of Elizabeth Neville, cello Justice Jane Mathews AO – supporting the position of Colin Piper, percussion.

For information about the Directors’ Chairs program, please call (02) 8215 4619.

01Richard Gill OAM

Artistic Director Education Sandra and Paul Salteri Chair

02Jane HazelwoodViolaVeolia Environmental Services Chair

03Nick ByrneTromboneRogenSi Chair

04Diana DohertyPrincipal Oboe Andrew Kaldor and Renata Kaldor AO Chair

05Shefali Pryor Associate Principal OboeRose Herceg Chair

06Paul Goodchild Associate Principal TrumpetThe Hansen Family Chair

07Catherine Hewgill Principal CelloTony and Fran Meagher Chair

08Emma Sholl Associate Principal FluteRobert and Janet Constable Chair

09 Lawrence DobellPrincipal ClarinetAnne & Terrey Arcus Chair

DIRECTORS’ CHAIRS

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Geoff AinsworthAndrew Andersons AO

Michael Baume AO*Christine BishopIta Buttrose AO OBE

Peter CudlippJohn Curtis AM

Greg Daniel AM

John Della BoscaAlan FangErin FlahertyDr Stephen FreibergDonald Hazelwood AO OBE*Dr Michael Joel AM

Simon Johnson

Yvonne Kenny AM

Gary LinnaneAmanda LoveHelen Lynch AM

Ian Macdonald*Joan MacKenzieDavid MaloneyDavid Malouf AO

Julie Manfredi-HughesDeborah MarrThe Hon. Justice Jane Mathews AO*Danny MayWendy McCarthy AO

Jane Morschel

Greg ParamorDr Timothy Pascoe AM

Prof. Ron Penny AO

Jerome RowleyPaul SalteriSandra SalteriJuliana SchaefferLeo Schofi eld AM

Fred Stein OAM

Ivan UngarJohn van Ogtrop*Peter Weiss AM

Anthony Whelan MBE

Rosemary White

Sydney Symphony Council

* Regional Touring Committee member

Sydney Symphony Board

CHAIRMAN John C Conde AO

Terrey Arcus AM

Ewen CrouchRoss GrantJennifer HoyRory Jeffes

Andrew KaldorIrene LeeDavid LivingstoneGoetz RichterDavid Smithers AM

Clocktower Square, Argyle Street, The Rocks NSW 2000GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4644Box Offi ce (02) 8215 4600Facsimile (02) 8215 4646www.sydneysymphony.com

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SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE TRUSTMr Kim Williams AM (Chair)Ms Catherine Brenner, Rev Dr Arthur Bridge AM, Mr Wesley Enoch, Ms Renata Kaldor AO, Mr Robert Leece AM RFD, Ms Sue Nattrass AO, Dr Thomas (Tom) Parry AM, Mr Leo Schofi eld AM, Mr Evan Williams AM

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BUSINESS SERVICESDIRECTOR OF FINANCE

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Ruth TolentinoASSISTANT ACCOUNTANT

Minerva PrescottACCOUNTS ASSISTANT

Li LiPAYROLL OFFICER

Usef Hoosney

HUMAN RESOURCESHUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER

Anna Kearsley

Sydney Symphony Staff

2011 season romantic rhapsody | sydney symphony peter ilyich tchaikovsky romeo and juliet –...

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