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Cover: Yinuo Mu, Principal Harp (with her dog Peaches)

Dress from Myer, Shoes from Miss Louise, Jewellery from Christine

I can’t wait to play the beautiful Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. I am also very excited about playing selections from the opera Parsifal, by my favourite composer, Richard Wagner.

Ronald Vermeulen: Sir Andrew, 2016 will be your fourth season as Chief Conductor of the MSO. What is in store for us?

Sir Andrew Davis: Well, Ronald, I think this is going to be one of the most exciting MSO seasons in years. For a start, it truly reflects the rich diversity of the cultural life of Melbourne, which is, as we both know, a wonderful and enlivening city. In fact, 2016 offers something for all ages and all sorts of musical tastes. The MSO reaches the very young, via our Education programs, or those who love film music and, of course, the core repertoire of symphonic music.

What particularly excites you with the repertoire you are conducting with the Orchestra in 2016?

The short answer is: many things! This will be the third year of our Mahler odyssey, which brings us to the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies – two of the grandest of his works. The Fifth goes through a huge emotional range and ends in triumph, while the Sixth, named the Tragic, is one of the darkest but most powerful of Mahler’s symphonies, and has a ravishing pastoral slow movement, complete with cowbells. I am also conducting for the very first time Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, which is one of his greatest mature works, a summation of the very role of humanity and music in our lives. It has taken me most of my life to get around to the Missa solemnis, but I am more than confident it has been well worth the wait. It’s a big work in every way, especially for the MSO Chorus, which is playing a considerable role in the 2016 season.

There’s other Beethoven, too, in 2016.

Indeed. It’s a great year for Beethoven-lovers. In September, the superb English pianist Paul Lewis plays a cycle of the Piano Concertos, conducted by Douglas Boyd, who conducted the Beethoven Symphonies with the MSO back in 2011. I particularly like the idea of the four concerts juxtaposing Beethoven with works by Haydn and composers of the Second Viennese School.

The 2016 season also contains some less familiar music, doesn’t it?

One of the most exciting pieces of the season – a kind of sleeper – is the Symphony No.2, Asrael, by Josef Suk, a composer we don’t hear very often. This is one of the most powerful pieces of the early part of the 20th century, and is being conducted by Jakub Hrůša, who gave a fantastically wonderful performance in 2014 of Smetana’s Má vlast. Then there’s the Metropolis New Music Festival, directed in 2016 by Robert Spano, which is taking its name seriously – its program is devoted to music of the city.

Sir Andrew, you are also conducting some rarely heard pieces.

There’s almost nothing rarer, nor more curious, than Charles Ives’ Symphony No.4. I think this is the greatest of Ives’ works, which questions where life is taking us and what we are doing on this planet. Playing the enormous solo piano part is Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, one of the most brilliant and craziest people I know, who is also playing in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, on the same program.

Sir Andrew, you recently extended your contract as our Chief Conductor for another three years. We must be doing something right!

My relationship with the MSO just keeps getting better and better. Our work together is far from done, and I am thrilled to be with the Orchestra – indeed to be involved with the deep cultural life of this marvellous city – for another three years. I’d also like to praise our subscribers and patrons. Only because of their enthusiasm, support and love can we continue to give great performances.

Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis talks with MSO Director of Artistic Planning

Ronald Vermeulen

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“I’m really excited about playing selections from Parsifal. The magic

of the music, the beauty of the voice ... a breathtaking combination!”

Sophie Rowell, Associate Concertmaster

“The ending of Mahler Six is so shattering that I often wish the audience wouldn’t applaud

after, and instead just leave, in silence.”Eoin Andersen, Concertmaster

“Shostakovich’s Third Quartet is one of his most powerful – I’m thrilled to be directing the orchestral arrangement of this masterpiece. ”

Dale Barltrop, Concertmaster

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HITCHCOCK & HERRMANNFri 5 & Sat 6 Feb, Hamer Hall

Benjamin Northey conductor Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

H is for Hitchcock (Alfred) and Bernard (Herrmann). The first, the master of suspense; the second, the master of the music score. Together, the fabled director and brilliant screen composer created such legendary films as The Trouble with Harry, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Psycho, and Marnie. It was indeed a partnership. As Herrmann once said, probably in jest, Hitchcock ‘only finishes a picture 60 percent. I have to finish it for him’. Well, judge for yourself, in this ingenious concert with the MSO and its Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey.

LUNAR NEW YEAR CONCERT: EAST MEETS WESTSun 14 Feb, Hamer Hall

Tan Dun conductor Li Wei Qin cello

DUNThe Map

Melbourne’s Lunar New Year Concert has become a much-loved part of the MSO season. Join the Orchestra for a concert of works inspired by Eastern and Western music, conducted by composer Tan Dun. The program includes Tan Dun’s evocative work, The Map, inspired by the ancient village music of Southwest China. Further works will be announced in late 2015.

February

Hitchcock & Herrmann is described as ‘a musical and visual play between light and darkness, allowing the audience to immerse itself in the world created by Alfred Hitchcock’.

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DVOŘÁK UNDER THE STARSWed 17 Feb

Joshua Weilerstein conductor Stefan Cassomenos piano

ADAMSShort Ride in a Fast Machine GERSHWIN Piano Concerto DVOŘÁK Symphony No.7

When Dvořák contracted composer’s block while writing his Symphony No.7, he wrote to his publisher in February 1885, ‘I don’t want to let Brahms down’. He didn’t. A mere month later, the Symphony was done and dusted. Even faster, in composing time and brevity, is John Adams’ brilliant Short Ride in a Fast Machine, which the American composer said, ‘You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn’t?’ American conductor Joshua Weilerstein, making his MSO debut, also directs another American classic, George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, with Melbourne soloist Stefan Cassomenos.

SUMMER CARNIVALSat 20 Feb

Joshua Weilerstein conductor Dale Barltrop violin

DVOŘÁKCarnival BARBER Violin Concerto TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.5

In his second Sidney Myer Free Concert, Joshua Weilerstein conducts more Dvořák and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5. These flank the Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber, with soloist, MSO Concertmaster Dale Barltrop. Barber’s lyrical and (dare we say?) romantic concerto is embedded in the modern repertoire, but was not always thus. In 1940, as Barber was struggling with the score, renowned violin teacher Albert Meiff called it ‘far from the requirements of a modern violinist’ and that the score ‘required surgical operation by a specialist’, offering to wield the scalpel himself. Fortunately, Barber ignored this gratuitous offer.

THE TANG OF THE TANGOSat 27 Feb

Benjamin Northey conductor Slava Grigoryan guitar Leonard Grigoryan guitar

FALLAThe Three-Cornered Hat: Suite No.2 RODRIGO Concierto madrigal GERSHWIN Cuban Overture PIAZZOLLA Selected tangos GINASTERA Estancia: Four Dances

The brothers Grigoryan — Slava and Leonard — join Benjamin Northey and the MSO in a Spanish-South American program that includes tangos by Astor Piazzolla, a Concerto for two guitars by Joaquin Rodrigo, and works by Ginastera, Falla and Gershwin. The perfect summery way to conclude the Sidney Myer Free Concerts for 2016.

Sidney Myer Free Concerts

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March

DVOŘÁK’S NEW WORLD SYMPHONYFri 4 Mar, Melbourne Town Hall

Benjamin Northey conductor Daniel de Borah piano

SIBELIUSFinlandia GRIEG Piano Concerto DVOŘÁK Symphony No.9 From the New World

‘I am playing all the right notes. But not necessarily in the right order.’ This immortal riposte came from English comedian Eric Morecambe to conductor André Previn during Eric’s abortive attempts at the Grieg Piano Concerto. No such worries here: young Australian virtuoso Daniel de Borah has all the notes, and in the right order. MSO Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey, let alone Edvard Grieg, can rest easy. The opening concert in the MSO’s Town Hall Series also features Finlandia, Sibelius’ stirring hymn to Finnish nationalism. The popularity of Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 From the New World, is indeed universal: one may say out of this world. When astronaut Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, he played a recording of the New World symphony.

AN ALPINE SYMPHONYThu 10, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Mar, Hamer Hall

Sir Andrew Davis conductor Ray Chen violin Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

VAUGHAN WILLIAMSSerenade to Music TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto R. STRAUSS An Alpine Symphony

Climbing any mountain can be a formidable challenge, and scaling Richard Strauss’ great tone poem, An Alpine Symphony, is as much an uphill trek for the orchestra as it was for Strauss’ inspirational band of mountaineers. First off, the score calls for around 125 players, including cowbells and offstage brass. Secondly, although the piece is in one single movement, it recounts its day-long adventure in 22 connected sections, including vivid depictions of a meadow, a glacier, the view from the summit, and a storm. Thirdly, it is just short of 60 minutes: Strauss’ peak hour.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music (1938) presents considerable vocal challenges. Originally written for 16 star singers of the day, it is usually performed by members of a choir — in this performance, the MSO Chorus.

The text, adapted by the composer from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, rhapsodises on the music of the spheres:

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!

Here will we sit and let the sounds of music

Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night

Become the touches of sweet harmony.

2016 also marks 400 years since Shakespeare’s death.

In between, Australian virtuoso Ray Chen tackles the fearsome demands of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

Ray ChenSir Andrew Davis

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SIR ANDREW DAVIS CONDUCTS MAHLER 5Fri 18 Mar, Monash University, Clayton Sat 19 & Mon 21 Mar, Hamer Hall

Sir Andrew Davis conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano

RAVELPiano Concerto for the Left Hand MAHLER Symphony No.5

If Austrian virtuoso Paul Wittgenstein hadn’t lost his right arm during World War I we would be all the poorer without the innovation and resourcefulness of composers of the early twentieth century, composing works especially for Wittgenstein to perform with the left hand. Among the composers commissioned by Wittgenstein were Benjamin Britten, Eric Wolfgang Korngold and Paul Hindemith; less successful were Richard Strauss or Sergei Prokofiev, whose concertos failed to meet Wittgenstein’s exacting standards. Ravel passed muster, but only just. Referring to the ingenious opening solo cadenza, the pianist wrote to Ravel, ’If I wanted to play without the orchestra, I wouldn’t have commissioned a concerto’. Happily, Wittgenstein relented. A latter-day, and fortunately ambidextrous, pianistic genius, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, is soloist.

Sir Andrew Davis’ Mahler cycle with the MSO reaches the halfway point with the Symphony No.5 which goes through a huge emotional range. Its triumphant conclusion reflects a joyous period of Mahler’s life — his successful romance with Alma Schindler. Mahler’s Symphony No.6, performed later in the year, is the complete opposite, named the Tragic, it’s one of the darkest but most powerful of Mahler’s symphonies.

THE GODFATHER IN CONCERTThu 31 Mar & Fri 1 Apr, Hamer Hall

Justin Freer conductor

ROTAThe Godfather

It was called a musical offer that Francis Ford Coppola could not refuse. Indeed, Nino Rota’s score of Coppola’s great film, The Godfather, is just as haunting in memory as the movie itself. Rota (1911-1979) was a prodigy and prodigious, writing more than 150 film scores, including Fellini’s La Strada and 8½, and Visconti’s The Leopard and Rocco and his Brothers. At one stage, Toscanini proclaimed Rota as ‘the Italian Mozart’. Rota certainly was: The Godfather, with its melancholy and memorable waltz, that most people know, and can even hum from memory. The Godfather in Concert celebrates a film and its music in the best possible way: with a full orchestra playing the soundtrack and the film on the big screen. Another offer that you would be crazy to refuse.

“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

Don Vito Corleone

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April

SCHUBERT’S UNFINISHED SYMPHONYFri 22 Apr, Melbourne Town Hall

Benjamin Northey conductor Jacqueline Porter soprano James Clayton bass Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

SCHUBERTGesang der Geister über den Wassern Symphony No.8 Unfinished FAURÉ Requiem

‘Someone has called it a lullaby of death,’ Fauré wrote of his famous Requiem. ‘But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.’ Certainly, the uplifting spirit of the Fauré Requiem has caught the imagination of millions of concertgoers. Its musical centrepiece is the gloriously intimate Pie Jesu movement, sung in this concert by Australian soprano Jacqueline Porter. As Fauré’s contemporary, Saint-Saëns, said, ‘Just as Mozart’s Ave verum corpus was the only Ave verum corpus, Faure’s Pie Jesu is the only Pie Jesu’.

COMPLETE BACH SUITES Thu 28 & Sat 30 Apr, Hamer Hall Fri 29 Apr, Costa Hall, Geelong

Bernard Labadie conductor Prudence Davis flute

J.S. BACHOrchestral Suites Nos.1-4

A rare and wonderful chance to hear all four of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orchestral Suites in the one concert. The French-Canadian conductor Bernard Labadie, making a welcome return to the MSO, is a Baroque specialist whose love of Bach shines forth from every bar. ‘Does Bach write for people? Of course. But, he writes for God,’ Labadie says. ‘He thinks this is his duty as a composer: to maximise the use of the talent that God gave him.’

The four Suites were originally titled Overtures, referring to their traditional and expansive opening movements. But as a whole, they are dazzlingly suite-like in style and effect — a series of dances inspired by the 17th-century French composer, Lully, yet every last minuet, passepied, courante and gavotte is unmistakably Bach. Each of the four suites has a distinctive musical personality; they are as different from each other as are, say, Haydn or Mozart symphonies. New audiences will be familiar with the iconic Air in No.3 and the Badinerie in No.2.

Benjamin Northey, Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair

Jacqueline Porter

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Metropolis New Music Festival

CITY LIFESat 14 May, Melbourne Recital Centre

Robert Spano conductor

CHINGraffiti DAUGHERTY Sunset Strip REICH City Life

This program features the urgent restlessness of two great American cities: Los Angeles’ famous Sunset Strip as depicted by Michael Daugherty; and Steve Reich’s City Life, his brilliant account of the surging, cacophonous streets of New York City. ‘Why not bring it into a piece of music?’ Reich asked himself, somewhat rhetorically. Indeed, this five-movement, 25-minute piece teems with the sounds of car horns, sirens and pile-drivers. The concert begins with Graffiti, by Korean-born composer Unsuk Chin — a celebration of street art in all its forms.

This concert will also feature a new work commissioned through the Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program.

CITYSCAPESWed 18 May, Melbourne Recital Centre

Robert Spano conductor The Song Company

COPLANDMusic for a Great City GIBBONS Cries of London KURTH Everything Lasts Forever BERIO Cries of London HIGDON City Scape

Threaded through this program are the sounds of city streets through the ages — as composed by Orlando Gibbons of Tudor England and Luciano Berio of 20th-century Italy. It also includes Aaron Copland’s gritty Music for a Great City and two works inspired by Atlanta, Georgia: Jennifer Higdon’s City Scape, and Michael Kurth’s Everything Lasts Forever. Conductor Robert Spano has a particular attraction to Atlanta: he has been the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor since 2001.

HEAVENLY CITIESSat 21 May, Melbourne Recital Centre

Robert Spano conductor Michael Kieran Harvey piano

KNUSSENThe Way to Castle Yonder CONYNGHAM Diasporas WORLD PREMIERE MESSIAEN Couleurs de la cité céleste GOEBBELS Surrogate Cities: Samplersuite

Cities of the imagination dominate this program. Oliver Knussen’s witty tribute to Maurice Sendak’s animal kingdom, taken from Knussen’s one-act operatic adaptation of Higglety Pigglety Pop!; Olivier Messiaen’s celestial city of many colours — a piece he compared to the ‘rose window of a cathedral in flaming and invisible colors.’; and Heiner Goebbels’ self-descriptive ‘phenomenon of the city from various sides’. Also on the program is a new work by Australian composer Barry Conyngham, entitled Diasporas, and a piece commissioned through the Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program.

The 2016 Metropolis New Music Festival is especially metropolitan in content and spirit. Its theme, Music of the City, will examine all facets of city life, through time, place and history. The director of Metropolis 2016 is dynamic American conductor,

pianist and composer Robert Spano. He has programmed repertoire that pulsates with the urgent restlessness of cities from Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles, but also

incorporates visions of cities that exist only in the deepest imagination.

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May

BRAHMS’ FOURTH SYMPHONYFri 27 May, Costa Hall, Geelong Sat 28 May, Hamer Hall

Christoph König conductor Lawrence Power viola

RAVELLe tombeau de Couperin BARTÓK Viola Concerto BRAHMS Symphony No.4

The young Dresden-born conductor Christoph König directs this intriguing program of Ravel, Bartók and Brahms. Maurice Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin is an homage to the composer’s courtly forebear, François Couperin. Originally a six-movement suite for piano, Le tombeau is more frequently heard in its orchestrated version, completed (minus two movements) in 1919.

Bela Bartók’s Viola Concerto (1945) was among his last pieces, but existed only in sketch form. When asked if this was his Viola Concerto, the dying composer said, ‘Yes and no’. Completed by one of Bartók’s colleagues, the work was given its world premiere in 1949, played by its commissioner, violist William Primrose. Years later, Primrose recalled, ‘I paid [Bartók] what he asked — $1,000 — and I played the concerto well over 100 times for fairly respectable fees. So it was almost like getting in on the ground floor in investing in Xerox or the Polaroid camera.’

Christoph König

Lawrence Power Joyce Yang

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June

ROMEO AND JULIETFri 3, Sat 4 & Mon 6 Jun, Hamer Hall

Diego Matheuz conductor Joyce Yang piano

MUSSORGSKYNight on Bald Mountain RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No.2 PROKOFIEV Romeo and Juliet: Excerpts

Sometimes, the unknown people on the fringe of a composer’s life are vital to the creative process — as crucial to the overall score as the silences in music. Let us celebrate therefore, one Dr Nikolai Dahl — Moscow physician, amateur musician and hypnosis therapist. It is said that Dr Dahl and his swinging pocket-watch helped Sergei Rachmaninov emerge from a crippling depression. As a result, the rejuvenated Rachmaninov was able to write his Piano Concerto No.2, one of his greatest successes. Its dedicatee: ‘Monsieur N. Dahl’. It is performed by Korean pianist Joyce Yang, with the MSO and Diego Matheuz. Also on this all-Russian program is Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, and excerpts from Prokofiev’s magical score for the ballet Romeo and Juliet. Prokofiev’s distinctive style could never be mistaken for anyone else’s. As the composer himself remarked, ‘I detest imitation, I detest hackneyed devices’.

MENDELSSOHN, STRAUSS AND STRAVINSKYThu 9 & Sat 11 Jun, Melbourne Recital Centre Fri 10 Jun, Monash University, Clayton

Eoin Andersen violin/director

R. STRAUSSSerenade for Winds MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E minor R. STRAUSS, arr. DEAN Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks STRAVINSKY Pulcinella: Suite

MSO Concertmaster Eoin Andersen directs the MSO in a fascinating program of music by Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky and Felix Mendelssohn (his beloved Violin Concerto, with Andersen as soloist). It has been noted that the full title of Strauss’ tone poem Till Eulenspiegel takes almost as long to say as the piece does to perform: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche nach alter Schelmenweise in Rondeauform für grosses Orchester gesetz (Till Eulenspiegel’s merry pranks, after the old rogue’s tale, set for large orchestra in rondo-form). The version of the work which will be heard in this performance is arranged for chamber orchestra by Australian composer Brett Dean. Opening the program is Strauss’ Serenade for 13 wind instruments, written when he was just 17. And at 9 minutes, it is the soul of brevity.

RACHMANINOV’S PAGANINI RHAPSODYThu 16 & Fri 17 Jun, Hamer Hall

Sir Andrew Davis conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

HAYDNSymphony No.6 Le matin RACHMANINOV Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini IVES Symphony No.4

Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis, ever the diligent adventurer, takes us from early Haydn — his Symphony No.6, Le matin — to Rachmaninov’s famous Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini, with the French virtuoso Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in the piano hot-seat. But the quirkiest piece is after the interval: the incomparable Symphony No.4 by the American composer and insurance agent (true), Charles Ives. It’s worth pointing out that, in 1908, Ives married a nurse called Harmony Twichell. Composed in the early 1920s, the Symphony No.4 took another 40 years before it received its first full performance, and 11 years after Ives’ death. It took that long to decipher the chaos of the original manuscript, let alone marshal the forces required to do it justice: chorus, solo piano (here, the estimable Mr Bavouzet) and organ as well as full orchestra.

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June

GLUZMAN PLAYS BRAHMSFri 24 Jun, Costa Hall, Geelong Sat 25 & Mon 27 Jun, Hamer Hall

Sir Andrew Davis conductor Vadim Gluzman violin

LEDGERShakespeare’s Kings WORLD PREMIERE BERLIOZ Romeo and Juliet: Excerpts BRAHMS Violin Concerto

The Ukrainian-born violinist Vadim Gluzman plays a 1690 Stradivarius once owned by Leopold Auer, the great Hungarian player and teacher. As Gluzman says, a violin is more than a tricky assemblage of wood, varnish and catgut. ‘I do believe that the instrument is a living thing… I think there is a soul, and that there are feelings; it’s like a relationship with a human being. We leave stamps on each other.’

The test for Gluzman — indeed, for any violin soloist — is Brahms’ mighty Violin Concerto. It is hard to imagine, given the work’s enduring popularity, that it was once considered almost impossible to play, or something of a gladiatorial exercise. Legendary violinist Bronisław Huberman described it as ‘a concerto for violin against the orchestra — and the violin wins’.

Reflecting the MSO’s commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016, Sir Andrew Davis begins the concert with excerpts from Hector Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet, and the world premiere of a new work by Australian composer James Ledger.

SIR ANDREW DAVIS CONDUCTS MAHLER 6Thu 30 Jun, Fri 1 & Sat 2 Jul, Hamer Hall

Sir Andrew Davis conductor Jonathan Biss piano

MOZARTPiano Concerto No.21 MAHLER Symphony No.6

Sir Andrew Davis and the MSO reach Mahler’s Symphony No.6. Subtitled The Tragic, this mammoth 80-minute work is indeed fateful — although with a sublimely pastoral slow movement, complete with cowbells. In the final movement, though, doom is not far away. Indeed, the score calls for three hammer-blows of fate (later reduced by the composer to two), specifying the exact sound: ‘Short blow, powerful, but dull in resonance, with a non-metallic character (like an axe-stroke).’ Mahler’s instructions were adroitly interpreted by a contemporary percussionist : ‘It has to be jump-out-of-your-seat loud.’

Before the Mahler, is the sink-back-in-your-seat sheer joyousness of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21, with the American pianist Jonathan Biss as soloist. ‘I think the aspect of playfulness is one of the most important things there is to be communicated in music,’ Biss says.

“This feeling of climbing Mt. Everest, of having an honour of passage, is always something that is with me when I approach this piece. I’m in awe before it, as I’m sure everyone else is. It is one of the greatest concertos written for violin.”

Vadim Gluzman on Brahms’ Violin Concerto

Vadim Gluzman

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CIRQUE DE LA SYMPHONIEFri 15 & Sat 16 Jul, Hamer Hall

Benjamin Northey conductor

Orchestras have sometimes unkindly been compared with a three-ring circus. Well, here’s the chance to realise that simile. Cirque de la Symphonie brings the MSO together with a host of international circus performers, including aerial flyers, acrobats, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, balancers, and strongmen. Do not expect the first violins or brass section to down instruments in order to shin up a rope or drop into a safety net (there are health-and-safety limits, after all). But do expect a dazzling display, inspired by classical masterpieces, as the circus performers bring their acrobatic and illusory skills to new and exciting levels. It’s unlike anything you’ve seen since Wagner’s Ring cycle, and nowhere near as long. As a Washington review said: ‘When a night at the symphony is also a night at the circus, it’s an evening that should appeal to everyone — young and old, fans of classical music, and otherwise.’

SHAKESPEARE CLASSICSThu 21 Jul, Hamer Hall Fri 22 Jul, Monash University, Clayton

Alexander Shelley conductor Lars Vogt piano

MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night’s Dream: OvertureMOZARTPiano Concerto No.27KORNGOLDMuch Ado About Nothing: SuiteWALTONHenry V: The Death of FalstaffHenry V: Touch Her Soft Lips and PartR. STRAUSSMacbeth

In 2016, it will be 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, who, as history has it, supposedly expired on the same day as Miguel de Cervantes. No Don Quixote, though, in this program, which is mostly devoted to the Bard and three of the countless composers who were inspired by him. There’s magic in Mendelssohn’s silvery overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and youthful vitality in Richard Strauss’ early tone poem, Macbeth (another of his tone poems was Don Quixote: Cervantes could still get a look-in). The concert, conducted by Alexander Shelley, also includes extracts from William Walton’s inspired suite from his score for Laurence Olivier’s film of Henry V. It was Olivier who generously said of Walton, ‘the music actually makes the film’. Although Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart didn’t write anything distinctly Shakespearean, he’s always welcome, especially when his final Piano Concerto is performed by German virtuoso, Lars Vogt.

BEETHOVEN’S FIFTHFri 29 Jul, Melbourne Town Hall

Benjamin Northey conductor Grace Clifford violin

WEBERDer Freischütz: Overture BRUCH Violin Concerto No.1 BEETHOVEN Symphony No.5

Three classic masterpieces on the one program with MSO Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey — but which is the greatest? Weber’s dark and mystical overture to his opera Der Freischütz? Or Bruch’s glorious evergreen Violin Concerto? Or Beethoven’s Symphony No.5? Cast your vote, please.

Certainly, the most recognisable theme — the most famous in all music — has to be those four notes that herald the Beethoven symphony: Da-da-da-dum! Leonard Bernstein said everything that could be said: ‘Beethoven broke all the rules, and turned out pieces of breathtaking rightness. Rightness — that’s the word! When you get the feeling that whatever note succeeds the last is the only possible note that can rightly happen in that instant, that context, then chances are you’re listening to Beethoven.’

Of course, Beethoven himself said, ‘I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet’, he had no idea that it would take just four of those notes to make him a legend.

Keep an eye and an ear out for Grace Clifford on the violin who recently won the 2014 Young Performer’s Award at just 16 years of age. This is her MSO debut.

July

Cirque de la Symphonie

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Sophie RowellAssociate Concertmaster (and wine-loving canasta player)

I can’t wait to hear Paul Lewis’ divine interpretation of the Beethoven Concerti. What an honour and an inspiration to be able to share the stage with him!

Sophie: Dress from One Day BridalStephen: Outfit from Harrold’sMary: Top and skirt by Martin Grant from Christine. Shoes from Miss Louise

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Stephen NewtonDouble Bass (with his retired greyhound, Duke)

The epic depiction of nature in Strauss’ Alpine Symphony never fails to take my breath away.

Mary AllisonSecond Violin (and bridge aficionado)

2016 looks sensational! I love the big orchestral repertoire. Nothing beats sitting in the middle of the Orchestra playing the mighty works of Mahler, Strauss, Wagner and Bruckner.

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August

EHNES PLAYS ELGAR AND BACHThu 4 & Sat 6 Aug, Melbourne Recital Centre Fri 5 Aug, Costa Hall, Geelong

James Ehnes violin/director

ELGARIntroduction and Allegro J.S. BACH Violin Concerto No.2 PUCCINI Crisantemi DVOŘÁK Serenade for Strings

Four of the finest works for strings feature in this concert directed by Canadian violinist James Ehnes, making a welcome return to the MSO for two concerts. Along with the familiar — J.S. Bach’s Violin Concerto No.2, with Ehnes as soloist, and Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings — is Elgar’s autumnal Introduction and Allegro and Puccini’s miniature masterpiece, Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums). Composed in just one night in 1890, this six-minute work was originally for string quartet, but is mostly performed in its string-orchestra version.

James Ehnes Richard Tognetti

MENDELSSOHN’S ITALIAN SYMPHONYThu 11, Fri 12 & Sat 13 Aug, Hamer Hall

Sir Andrew Davis conductor James Ehnes violin

ELGARIn the South (Alassio) R. STRAUSS Violin Concerto MENDELSSOHN Symphony No.4 Italian

Richard Strauss wrote his Violin Concerto in 1881, while he was still a schoolboy. The work he sketched out in one of his exercise books is considered something well beyond a mere juvenile curiosity-piece. In fact, a critic of the day approved of young Strauss’ composition, writing, ‘I should be delighted if it turned out to be effective and viable enough to banish Bruch’s G minor from our concert halls’. Well, it didn’t, but there’s the chance to hear the Strauss performed in this second week of James Ehnes’ 2016 appearances with the MSO.

Also on the program, directed by Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis, are two works that bask in the eternal sunshine of Italianate-inspired music: Elgar’s In the South (Alassio); and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.4 Italian. The eternal joy of this work confirms the ‘exhilarating impression’ Italy made on the young composer.

TOGNETTI AND THE LARK ASCENDINGFri 19 Aug, Monash University, Clayton Sat 20 & Mon 22 Aug, Hamer Hall

Sir Andrew Davis conductor Richard Tognetti violin

BRITTENFour Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes LUTOSŁAWSKI Partita VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The Lark Ascending RACHMANINOV Symphonic Dances

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis with Australia’s violin master, Richard Tognetti, this concert will feature Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending which was placed No.1 in the ABC’s Swoon Classic 100 countdown in 2015. The work itself remains a glorious evocation of English pastoral life — the solo violin being the evocation of George Meredith’s soaring verse.

Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes conveys all the scrunchy saltiness of the coast of his beloved East Anglia. The program also includes the Partita for Violin and Orchestra, by Witold Lutosławski, and Rachmaninov’s vibrant Symphonic Dances.

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September

BEETHOVEN’S MISSA SOLEMNISFri 26 & Sat 27 Aug, Hamer Hall

Sir Andrew Davis conductor Susan Gritton soprano Sasha Cooke mezzo-soprano Andrew Staples tenor John Relyea bass-baritone Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

BEETHOVENMissa solemnis

The late, great German maestro Wolfgang Sawallisch took many years before he conducted Beethoven’s monumental Missa solemnis. ‘I haven’t found the right key to open it,’ he said. It has also taken MSO Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis a long time to unlock the dramatic and technical complexities of Beethoven’s greatest and most technically challenging choral work. Sir Andrew, with a lifetime of music behind him, finally comes to the Missa solemnis for the first time with forces fit to do it justice: the MSO at full strength, four international soloists — soprano Susan Gritton, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Andrew Staples, and bass-baritone John Relyea — and the might of the marvellous MSO Chorus, whose extended role, almost as another instrument, is truly demanding. It is said that Beethoven laboured harder on the Missa solemnis than any other work in his career; for him, it was carving the music from granite. Performances of it are all too rare.

HRŮŠA CONDUCTS MOZART AND SUK Thu 1 Sep, Hamer Hall Fri 2 Sep, Monash University, Clayton

Jakub Hrůša conductor

MOZARTSymphony No.25 SUK Symphony No.2 Asrael

The Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša has formed a significant bond with the MSO. In 2014, he conducted an extraordinary performance of Smetana’s great nationalistic hymn, Má vlast (My Country) — the orchestra’s first ever performance of the complete cycle. In 2016, Hrůša conducts another, less well-known Czech masterpiece, the Symphony No.2 Asrael, by Josef Suk (1874-1935). When Hrůša conducted the same work in London, with the Philharmonia, he spoke about Suk’s unique ability to inspire. ‘Specifically, Asrael is the greatest example here. The personal tragedy [the deaths within two years of Dvořák, his father-in-law and teacher, and Otilie, his wife, and Dvořák’s daughter] was transformed through the power of musical art into a vision of hope and comfort for everybody.’

RESPIGHI’S ROME Fri 30 Sep, Sat 1 & Mon 3 Oct, Hamer Hall

Jesús López-Cobos conductor Nelson Freire piano

SZYMANOWSKIConcert Overture SCHUMANN Piano Concerto RESPIGHI Fountains of Rome Pines of Rome

‘Few pianists alive convey the sheer joy and exhilaration of being masters of their craft more vividly and uncomplicatedly than Nelson Freire,’ The Guardian wrote. In this concert, conducted by Jesús López-Cobos, the Brazilian virtuoso plays Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Freire made his public debut when he was just four; when he was 12, he was a finalist in Rio de Janeiro’s first international piano competition. It made him famous. As he says, ‘After soccer the piano is the second great love of Brazilians.’

Jakub Hrůša

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Beethoven & Beyond: The Piano Concertos

2. PIANO CONCERTOS Nos.2 AND 3 Saturday 10 September

Douglas Boyd conductorPaul Lewis piano

BEETHOVENPiano Concerto No.2WEBERNFive Movements for String OrchestraBEETHOVENPiano Concerto No.3

Two classical edifices, Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos.2 and 3, flank Webern’s Five Movements, a work of breathtaking brevity and intensity.

3. PIANO CONCERTO No.4 Wednesday 14 September

Douglas Boyd conductorPaul Lewis piano

HAYDNSymphony No.103 DrumrollBEETHOVENPiano Concerto No.4SCHOENBERGTransfigured Night

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 is from the composer’s most creative period, which also saw the premieres of the Symphonies Nos.5 and 6. It is the only one of the five concertos in which the piano begins alone. Haydn’s Drumroll Symphony and one of Schoenberg’s truly romantic works, Transfigured Night, complete the program.

4. PIANO CONCERTO No.5 Saturday 17 September

Douglas Boyd conductorPaul Lewis piano

HAYDNSymphony No.104 LondonBERG, arr. YUPiano SonataBEETHOVENPiano Concerto No.5 Emperor

This final concert presents Beethoven’s mighty Emperor Concerto. The program begins at the very end of Haydn’s symphonic output, with No.104, London. A fusion of the Second Viennese School and present day, Julian Yu’s dazzling orchestration of Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata completes this rich program.

When Paul Lewis played all five Beethoven Piano Concertos at the BBC Proms in 2010 he said: ‘There is definitely some kind of journey from the first to the last Piano Concerto. Not a comprehensive journey. To my mind, it tells very specific, individual and valuable things about Beethoven. Each piece is unique.’

Beethoven’s Piano Concertos form the centrepiece of Beethoven & Beyond. But the four concerts also put Beethoven in perspective with other composers, looking to music of earlier and later ages. The Festival features three of Haydn’s last symphonies as well as works from 20th-century composers of the Second Viennese School — Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.

Additional performances, talks and activities around the Beethoven & Beyond festival will be announced in February 2016.

All performances will take place at Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall.

Beethoven at the piano

1. PIANO CONCERTO No.1 Wednesday 7 September

Douglas Boyd conductorPaul Lewis piano

HAYDNSymphony No.102 SCHOENBERGChamber Symphony No.1BEETHOVENPiano Concerto No.1

Paul Lewis, Douglas Boyd and the MSO begin their Beethoven odyssey with the Piano Concerto No.1, composed in 1795. The year before, Haydn composed his Symphony No.102, the tenth of his 12 London Symphonies. Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No.1 completes the program.

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HOLST’S THE PLANETSFri 21 Oct, Melbourne Town Hall

Benjamin Northey conductor Andrea Lam piano Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The Wasps: Overture CHOPIN Piano Concerto No.2 HOLST The Planets

It’s interesting to reflect that, had not Gustav Holst journeyed to Spain in 1913 and got into conversation with a fellow traveller who introduced him to astrology, The Planets might not have been composed. Imagine the result if they had discussed more earthly concerns, such as tapas or bullfighting. But The Planets it is, and Holst’s idiosyncratic and spectacular orchestral suite has secured a… well… universal place in the repertoire with its depiction of seven planets in our solar system.

This program, with MSO Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey, begins with a buzz: Vaughan Williams’ Overture to The Wasps, written for a production of Aristophanes comedy at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Australian pianist Andrea Lam is soloist in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2 — a work described by Franz Liszt, no less, as ‘of ideal perfection, its expression now radiant with light, now full of tender pathos.’

October

Benjamin Northey, Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair

1 8Michelle: Dress from Badgley MischkaChristopher: Tuxedo from Harrold’s

Michelle Wood Cello (and coffee snob)

There’s something about the exquisite yearning in Brahms that resonates with me. His Fourth Symphony has moments that just never fail to remind me how perfect music can be.

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Christopher CartlidgeViola (and coffee lover)

Next year’s program is really something. I can’t wait to perform Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. I played it as a student, and it made a really powerful impression.

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DVOŘÁK CELLO CONCERTOFri 11 & Mon 14 Nov, Hamer Hall

Andrew Litton conductor Alban Gerhardt cello

ŘEZNÍČEKDonna Diana: Overture DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 6

American maestro Andrew Litton returns to the MSO after a long absence to conduct this adventurous program. Litton, currently Music Director of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, is Music Director-Designate of the New York City Ballet.

The program is dominated by two masterpieces: the Dvořák Cello Concerto, with German cellist Alban Gerhardt, and Prokofiev’s monumental Symphony No.6. The Symphony has received some harsh criticism in the past, especially from Stalin’s cultural apparatchik, Andrei Zhdanov, who lambasted Prokofiev thus: ‘He still believes in “innovation for innovation’s sake”. … It is curious to observe the struggle of the two Prokofievs in a work like his Sixth Symphony. Here the melodious, harmonious Prokofiev is often attacked, without provocation, by the other, storming Prokofiev.’ The concert begins with Řezníček’s Overture to Donna Diana, which has become, alas, the most famous part of the entire opera.

November

Dale BarltropAlban Gerhardt

SIBELIUS AND SHOSTAKOVICHThu 17 & Sat 19 Nov, Melbourne Recital Centre Fri 18 Nov, Costa Hall, Geelong

Dale Barltrop violin/director Prudence Davis flute

SIBELIUSRakastava MUNRO Flute Concerto WORLD PREMIERE SIBELIUS Impromptu SHOSTAKOVICH, arr. BARSHAI Chamber Symphony, Op.73a

MSO Concertmaster Dale Barltrop directs members of the orchestra in two Sibelius works: the intimate Rakastava (The Lover), and the sweeping Impromptu. Sibelius was famed for his trenchant opinions. For example, this put-down: ‘Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue had never been erected in honour of a critic.’

He was refreshingly honest when it came to his own compositions, saying, ‘Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public pure cold water.’

Shostakovich’s anguished Chamber Symphony, Op.73a, is an arrangement for string orchestra of his String Quartet No.8 by the conductor Rudolf Barshai. The work utilises the composer’s famous ‘DSCH’ motif. Music lesson — this motif is derived from the German transliteration of his name, D. SCHostakowitsch. In German notation, E-flat is called ‘es’ and B-natural is H. Thus, DSCH is D, E-flat, C, B. So now you know.

Also included in this program is the world premiere of a flute concerto by eminent Australian composer, soloist and pedagogue, Ian Munro.

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SIMONE YOUNG CONDUCTS WAGNER AND BRUCKNERThu 1 & Sat 3 Dec, Hamer Hall

Simone Young conductor Stuart Skelton tenor Michelle de Young mezzo-soprano

WAGNERParsifal, Excerpts from Act II BRUCKNER Symphony No.9

Simone Young, devoted Wagnerian and Brucknerian, returns to the MSO to conduct the final works by these composers. From Wagner’s Parsifal (not an opera, but what the composer chose to call a Bühnenweihfestspiel: ‘A Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage’) comes a generous portion of Act II, with Australian Heldentenor (heroic tenor) Stuart Skelton as Parsifal and American mezzo-soprano Michelle de Young as Kundry, the cursed temptress of the evil Klingsor’s magic flower garden.

Then, after the interval, Bruckner’s Symphony No.9. Alas, Bruckner died before he could complete the fourth and final movement. The remaining movements, however, stand as a monument to Bruckner’s genius. Bruckner, by the way, worshipped Wagner. The dedication of his Symphony No.3 didn’t spare the praise: ‘To the eminent Excellency Richard Wagner the Unattainable, World-Famous, and Exalted Master of Poetry and Music, in Deepest Reverence Dedicated by Anton Bruckner’.

December

Simone Young

MESSIAHSat 10 & Sun 11 Dec, Hamer Hall

Paul Goodwin conductor Emma Matthews soprano Luciana Mancini mezzo-soprano Charles Daniels tenor Christopher Richardson bass Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

HANDELMessiah

‘The trumpet shall sound … and we shall be changed!’ sings the bass in Handel’s Messiah. Indeed, the MSO’s annual performance of the great oratorio is full of trumpets and life-changing moments. The 2016 performance, conducted by Paul Goodwin, should be no exception. After Messiah’s first performance, in Dublin on April 13, 1742, Faulkner’s Journal said, ‘The best judges allowed it to be the most finished piece of Musick. Words are wanting to express the exquisite Delight it afforded to the admiring crowded Audience.’ Alas, after its first London performances the following year, audiences were not as effusive: too many choruses and not enough story, was the prevailing opinion. It caught on, though. Of course, the stand-or-not-to-stand debate still furiously rages during the Hallelujah chorus. Legend has it that George II was so moved by the chorus that he rose to his feet, followed by his courtiers. Perhaps they were just stretching their legs.

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