Thursday Afternoon Symphony

Emirates Metro Series

Great Classics

2 012 S E A S O N

Thu 9 August 1.30pmFri 10 August 8pmSat 11 August 2pm

Wagner under the Sails

The Opening Gala revisited

Welco me to the Em i rates Metro Ser i es

HH She i kh Ahmed B i n Saeed Al-Ma kto um

Cha i rman and Chi e f Executive

Em i rates Ai r l i ne a nd Gro up

The Sydney Symphony is a fi rst-class orchestra in one of the world’s most beautiful cities, and Emirates, as a world-class airline, is proud to be Principal Partner for another year. 2012 is a particularly special year – a cause for double celebration as the Sydney Symphony celebrates its 80th anniversary and we share our 10-year partnership.

A First Class experience is always a memorable one. Whether it be exiting your personal Emirates chauffeur-driven car at the airport, ready to be whisked away to the Emirates lounge, or entering a concert hall for an unforgettable night of music, the feeling of luxury and pleasure is the same.

Emirates in Australia has gone from strength to strength. Our growing network now features 29 exciting European destinations to be explored, including Geneva, Copenhagen and St Petersburg, launched in 2011; and most recently Dublin in January this year.

In 2012 we are proud to offer 70 fl ights per week from Australia to our hub in Dubai, as well as an additional 28 fl ights per week trans-Tasman. Flying from Sydney to Auckland with Emirates is a unique experience. We operate our state-of-the-art Airbus A380 superjumbo on this route, which offers all the luxuries that you have come to expect from Emirates – from chauffeur-driven transfers and priority check-in and world-class lounges for our Business and First Class customers, to a gourmet food and wine experience once on board, plus over 1000 channels of entertainment.

We are delighted to continue our support of the Sydney Symphony and Sydney as a whole, through sponsorships such as the Emirates Australian Open. We look forward to working with the orchestra throughout this special celebratory year, to showcase the best of the best when it comes to both music and luxury travel.

2012 seasonthursday afternoon symphonyThursday 9 August, 1.30pmemirates metro seriesFriday 10 August, 8pmgreat classicsSaturday 11 August, 2pm

Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

Wagner under the SailsSimone Young CONDUCTOR

Christine Brewer SOPRANO

A re-creation of the offi cial opening concert of the Sydney Opera House on 29 September 1973.

Richard Wagner (1813–1883)

Prelude toDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers)

Elisabeth’s Greeting (‘Dich, teure Halle’)from Tannhäuser

Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

INTERVAL

Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods): Siegfried’s Rhine Journey Siegfried’s Funeral March Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scene

Saturday’s performance will be broadcast live by ABC Classic FM.

Saturday’s performance will also be webcast live via BigPond, available for later viewing on demand. Visit bigpondmusic.com/sydneysymphony

Pre-concert talk by David Garrett in the Northern Foyer, 45 minutes before each performance.Visit bit.ly/SSOspeakerbios for speaker biographies.

Estimated durations: 9 minutes, 6 minutes, 17 minutes, 20-minute interval, 10 minutes, 8 minutes, 18 minutes. The concert will conclude at approximately 3.10pm (Thu), 9.40pm (Fri), 3.40pm (Sat).

This concert is generously supported by: Timothy & Eva PascoeJohn C Conde ao

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Portrait of Richard Wagner from 1883, the last year of his life, by Giuseppe Tivoli.

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INTRODUCTION

Wagner under the Sails

The concert we re-create this week was the fi rst offi cial public concert given in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, on Saturday 29 September 1973, with Charles Mackerras conducting and soloist Birgit Nilsson. The opening gala, conducted by Willem van Otterloo in the presence of the Queen, followed on 20 October. But where the gala took a predictably celebratory approach to programming – Beethoven’s Ninth – the program of the fi rst concert represented some unexpected choices.

The overture to Die Meistersinger is festive and the text of ‘Dich, teure Halle’ seems appropriate, but the other music in this all-Wagner program is positively gloomy. Two heroines mourn over their dead lovers; Brünnhilde sets a blaze that will consume the citadel of the gods!

So why was Wagner – ‘that famous Australian composer’ as Mackerras said ironically – chosen for the offi cial opening concert?

First, any outing of excerpts from Wagner is likely to be a highlight in an orchestra’s calendar. For many, Wagner is the greatest composer in our classical tradition, a man who changed the language of music for the next 100 years and created all-enveloping experiences. And perhaps there was a memory of the Brahms and Wagner festival of 1933, a signifi cant event in the orchestra’s early history.

On a more practical note, should the Concert Hall have not been ready in time, the concert would have transferred to the Sydney Town Hall. The program needed to be suffi ciently impressive to be ‘special’ in the new Concert Hall, but not so overtly inspired by the inauguration of the new venue as to seem inappropriate if performed as a gala in the orchestra’s old home. No Consecration of the House overtures then!

Of course, another reason for Wagner would have been the availability of soprano Birgit Nilsson, the greatest Brünnhilde of her age…

And so this week, we celebrate our 80th anniversary with a re-creation of the original all-Wagner program. In a nice parallel with 1973, we again welcome home an Australian conductor of note and invite one of the world’s leading Wagnerian sopranos to be our guest.

The Program Cover

The Sydney Symphony program books from the opening season of the Sydney Opera House in 1973 feature what are possibly the most eye-catching covers the orchestra has ever produced. These were made from perforated silver card. Very celebratory, very 70s!

For this week’s program – a re-creation of the offi cial opening concert – we decided to revisit the original cover design. And so the book you hold in your hand features a special wrap cover in silver foil. Instead of attempting to reproduce the original perforations, however, we’ve embossed the cover with a chevron pattern inspired by the tiles on the Sydney Opera House. Truly Wagner under the Sails.

COVER CONCEPT Yvonne Frindle REALISATION Nathanael van der Reyden With thanks to the team at Playbill.

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

Keynotes

WAGNERBorn Leipzig, 1813 Died Venice, 1883

As a composer of opera, writer and conductor, Wagner was one of the most influential creative personalities of his generation. He was also one of the most controversial: a composer who polarised listeners even as he changed the nature of opera forever. He cultivated an almost symphonic conception of opera, and his monumental creations were sustained by long-range harmonic thinking. (His Ring cycle takes the best part of 20 hours to perform.)

One of Wagner’s most important contributions to music was the ingenious linking of musical motifs – Leitmotiven or ‘leading motifs’ – to specific characters and situations; the influence of this technique continues to be profoundly felt in most film soundtracks.

CHRONOLOGY

1843–45: Wagner composes Tannhäuser. It was premiered in Dresden, then revised for Paris in 1861.

1857–59: Wagner takes a break from his work on the Ring cycle to compose Tristan und Isolde, based on an ancient, tragic love story.

1861–67: Still procrastinating on the Ring, Wagner composes his only mature comic opera, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. Like Tristan, it was premiered in Munich; like Tannhäuser, it involves a song contest.

1871–74: Wagner completes the final opera in the Ring cycle, Götterdämmerung, or Twilight of the Gods. The premiere takes place in Wagner’s purpose-built theatre in Bayreuth.

Have Nilsson, Will Get Wagner

To a large extent, the all-Wagner program that offi cially opened the Concert Hall was determined by the availability of Birgit Nilsson, the foremost Brünnhilde of her day. For a long time, it seemed she would never come to Australia. Olaf Rydbeck of Swedish Radio wrote to the ABC in 1960: ‘Birgit Nilsson has now reached the highest spheres in international music after her tremendous success at the Metropolitan this winter. Accordingly, I think your diffi culty will be to fi t an Australian tour into her schedule which…is already booked for more than two years…’

The ABC’s representative in New York heard her sing Salome in 1966 and was disappointed ‘to learn that Nilsson is not interested in going to Australia. Perhaps she might be interested if she were asked to sing at the opening of the Opera House.’

But it was Australian accompanist Geoff rey Parsons who fi rst turned her thoughts towards Australia, and who also tried to persuade her to split a potential 1973 tour over two fi nancial years to allay the ABC’s concern about her fee. Nothing doing – June–July was her annual holiday on the farm in Sweden. But soon she started talking about September that year, even if it was to be less advantageous to her fi nancially. Senior ABC executive Charles Buttrose telexed the ABC’s representative in London: ‘please find out nilssons reaction performing immolation scene gotterdammerung chicago symphony concert solti conducting sydney opera house during her australian tour.’

Nilsson was excited to think she would re-unite with Georg Solti, with whom she had recorded the famous Decca Ring. This concert wasn’t to be opening night, however. The Sydney Symphony still had that, for the 29 September. But the Chicago Symphony dropped out, and Nilsson was slated to sing, with Mackerras conducting. The program was to be: Handel’s Fireworks Music, Strauss’s Four Last Songs (a fi rst half devised by Mackerras to allow for the addition of an Australian work); Elisabeth’s Greeting to the Hall from Tannhäuser, and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and the Closing Scene from Götterdämmerung. But Carmichael in London said that Nilsson’s preference was ‘to sing only Wagner….For some reason she considers it inappropriate to couple Richard Strauss and Wagner’.

The program became an all-Wagner one: The Mastersingers Overture, Elisabeth’s Greeting, Wesendonck Lieder, Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Funeral March and the Closing Scene from Götterdämmerung. But even then, the program was not fi xed. It depended on whether the Cleveland Orchestra was

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Charles Mackerras

coming with Maazel, and if Nilsson would do the closing scene from Salome with them.

In March 1973, Tony Cane (familiar to Sydney Symphony audiences as a writer and speaker) established that Nilsson wanted to sing Isolde’s Liebestod in preference to the Wesendonck Lieder. The Australian Opera, however, was nervous about Nilsson performing operatic excerpts and in particular anything from Tannhäuser, as they were staging it in this opening season. They felt that after all the unpleasantness in the tug-of-war over the use of the main hall (which had originally been envisaged as an all-purpose venue catering for opera and ballet as well as concerts) it would be ironic if the ABC opened the Concert Hall with opera and especially Tannhäuser.

But the ABC explained that ‘from the outset [Nilsson] has wanted to sing “Dich teure Halle” in the fi rst concert in the Sydney Opera House’. The Opera was partly mollifi ed. Mackerras’s considerate off er shortly after to perform the Tannhäuser Overture should the fi rst half still prove too short (an off er made without knowing of the discussion between orchestra and opera company) was politely declined by ABC management, and the Australian Opera was placated when Mackerras and Nilsson agreed to open their fi nal rehearsal to the 100 or so singers who were making up the cast of their production of Prokofi ev’s War and Peace.

Wagnerian soprano Birgit Nilsson was the star soloist in the official opening concert of the Sydney Opera House on 29 September 1973.

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Opening salvos – the opening season of the Sydney Opera House

Besides the offi cial opening concert with its all-Wagner program, the ABC and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra were incredibly busy during the opening season of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. The previous year, on 17 December 1972, Bernard Heinze and the orchestra had given a special concert for those who’d worked on the construction. In July 1973 the orchestra gave a concert for a conference of international and Australian dentists (Brahms Four was on the program). The ABC’s acoustic testing continued throughout this period.

Then there was a burst of concert activity. As Martin Buzacott’s history of ABC music-making, The Rite of Spring, points out, from 29 September (the night of the Wagner concert) to 14 November there were concerts by Lorin Maazel and the Cleveland Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with its former Chief Conductor, Walter Susskind, and ten other concerts conducted by former Sydney Symphony Chief Conductor Dean Dixon and Charles Mackerras, who was to become Chief in 1982.

The Sydney Opera House was offi cially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973 and that evening the Sydney Symphony gave a Royal Command gala concert conducted by the orchestra’s then Chief Conductor Willem van Otterloo. The program was Beethoven’s Ninth and music by Australian John Antill.

According to Buzacott, security measures almost fouled up preparations for that event. On the day of the gala, the orchestra only got into the hall for a reduced fi nal rehearsal and when ABC staff turned up for the concert, going out live that night, they found their microphones had been moved from their optimum positions. They had to be re-set from memory, and it’s a testament to the skill of ABC Assistant Director of Music, Tony Hughes, and his staff that the broadcast went off smoothly.

The big event in the Opera Theatre under the eastern sails was the Australian Opera’s performance on Friday 28 September of Prokofi ev’s War and Peace, an epic opera with roles for nearly everyone in the company’s stable of singers.

The Orchestra and the Opera HouseThe Sydney Symphony had been closely involved with the development of the Sydney Opera House ever since Eugene Goossens (the orchestra’s Chief Conductor 1947–1956) had declared that Sydney needed an opera house. Goossens envisaged a multi-purpose hall accommodating opera, ballet and orchestral music. Even so, he blithely claimed the hall would be: ‘chiefly concerned with housing the SSO. Since the concert shell in which the orchestra will perform is a removable unit, there will be no undue interference with scenery and properties which might be currently in use by an Opera or Ballet company.’

After Goossens’ departure from Australia, Sir Bernard Heinze had replaced him on the Opera House Executive Committee, and he was alarmed that changes Utzon had made to the main hall, after winning the design competition, would see the pit reduced and misshapen. In addition, Utzon’s revolving stage altered the stage for concert presentation. The ABC lobbied for the conversion of the main hall into a sole-purpose concert hall. And the ABC won out. After all, their orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, would be the Opera House’s most regular and frequent tenant in the years ahead. In fact, for many years the Concert Hall was another ABC ‘studio’ – known to radio insiders as Studio 227.

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Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg)

Wagner began work on The Mastersingers, his only comic opera, two-and-a-half years after the completion of Tristan und Isolde. The infl uential Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick had chided Wagner for his Prelude to Tristan, complaining of its lack of contrast and repose. He believed the value of music lay in the orderliness and perfection of its form, not merely the intensity of its expression.

It’s no surprise then that a major subtext of the opera is the eternal debate – rules versus inspiration – with Wagner aiming his barb at Hanslick. The character Sixtus Beckmesser, Wagner’s spiteful caricature of Hanslick, strikes the only negative note in what is otherwise his most radiant work.

Hanslick had also complained that Wagner’s operas lacked verisimilitude, insofar as his operas portrayed mythical characters and not real people. The Mastersingers would appear to give the lie to this assertion, peopled as it is with historical personages, and the Prelude to the opera is in some ways an answer to Hanslick’s criticisms on purely musical grounds.

Almost as if to compensate for the slippery tonality of Tristan and Isolde, the Mastersingers Prelude bursts forth in a sunny and unequivocal C major. The four-square opening then contrasts with a lush, supple response – rich chromatic harmonies cushioning a pliant, almost beatless melody. This passage leads to the Mastersingers march, a symbol perhaps of the Mastersingers Guild’s dogmatism, and this has its own consequent phrase. One could almost unpeel the music here to appreciate the intensely beautiful counter-melodies. A middle section, a speeded-up version of the Mastersingers march, represents the apprentices, and the fi nal scene of the opera is foreshadowed in the climax where Walther’s prize song is combined, most artfully and movingly, with the other themes.

Bust of Richard Wagner by Fritz Schaper (1908) in the Gardens of the Giardini Pubblici, Venice. The composer visited Venice in 1858 and died there in 1883.

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SynopsisThe Mastersingers is set in the 16th century and concerns a song festival held by the Mastersingers Guild. Walther, a young knight, is in love with Eva, whose father has promised her hand to the winner of the song contest. According to the Mastersingers’ rules, Walther is eliminated on his first attempt at a song. Fortunately, the cobbler-philosopher Hans Sachs – one of Wagner’s great characters – assists Walther in composing a prize song so inspired it sweeps away the Guild’s obsession with rules. Walther wins the contest, and Eva becomes his bride.

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‘Dich, teure Halle’ Elisabeth’s Greeting from Act II of Tannhäuser

There was one item in that Wagner gala back in 1973 that was entirely appropriate to the opening of a concert hall: Elisabeth’s greeting to the hall of song, ‘Dear Hall, once more I greet thee’, from Wagner’s early opera, Tannhäuser.

Tannhäuser dates from Wagner’s time as Second Kapellmeister in Dresden (1843–49). In his previous opera, The Flying Dutchman, he had already established Redemption as one of his lifelong themes. In Tannhäuser Elisabeth will sacrifi ce herself as well. In Act III, the Pope has refused Tannhäuser forgiveness for his carnal sins. At the last, Elisabeth dies and in dying intercedes for him.

In the 1840s, when he began Tannhäuser, Wagner had not yet conceived his revolutionary theory of music drama. Tannhäuser is still basically a traditional ‘number opera’ with discrete arias, ensembles, and choruses. Elisabeth’s aria is in a recognisably symmetrical three-part form, but listen to how repeated quaver triplets eff ectively portray Elisabeth’s nervous anticipation.

The aria was appropriate in another way: many, including Charles Mackerras, have joked that its title acquired a double meaning in 1973, when considered against the cost of the Sydney Opera House. With the budget for the Sydney landmark having blown out so signifi cantly, the Concert Hall was ‘dear’ in more than one sense.

SynopsisElisabeth sings her greeting at the beginning of Act II of the opera. In earlier contests at the hall of song in the Wartburg, the minstrel Tannhäuser had won Elisabeth’s heart. But then he followed the goddess Venus to her lair in the Venusberg, the setting of Act I. Now he has come back and Elisabeth returns to the hall she had avoided during Tannhäuser’s years of absence and dissolution.

The text and translation for ‘Dich, teure Halle’ can be found on page 16.

Charles Mackerras and the Sydney Symphony acknowledge the applause at the official opening concert.

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Prelude and Liebestod (Love-Death)from Tristan und Isolde

In his book Oper und Drama (1851), Wagner argued for a balanced relationship between words and music. Tristan und Isolde from 1865, however, can be listened to almost purely as music – in fact the Liebestod is often performed as a concert work without a singer. What had caused the elevation of music’s role within the drama?

Wagner had interrupted composition on Siegfried, the third opera in his Ring cycle, to compose the music for Tristan. Partly, he wanted to give expression to his passion for Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of a Zurich silk merchant, and Tristan could be considered opera’s ‘greatest love story ever told’. But there were philosophical considerations as well.

Another reason for the interruption to work on The Ring was the infl uence on Wagner of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), whose quasi-Buddhist philosophy he needed to digest. Schopenhauer held that music allowed the individual to inhabit ‘will’ itself, rather than sit in the world buff eted by the will’s manifestations. Music was thus the principal art form, a problematic position for a composer who had argued for an equal synthesis of all the arts. In a sense, composing Tristan was a method of solving this problem. Not that Wagner completely retreated from dramatic intention. Rather, he had found that music, as ‘will’, gave rise to action; action, not text, was music’s new partner.

Following Schopenhauerian thought on transcendence, Wagner gained new insight into his continuing concerns with Romantic ‘love and death’. Isolde, in her ‘love-death’, fi nally transcends the suff ering of her lover’s death and fi nds fulfi lment in a mythical realm.

In trying to convey all this, Wagner almost exhausted Western harmony’s unique ability to express longing. The Prelude begins with four notes of cello in a yearning arc that culminates in the famous ‘Tristan’ chord, a tensely knotted harmony, which unfurls to a merely less dissonant chord. This is the pattern of tension and not-quite release for the next fi ve hours of the opera.

In concerts, the Prelude is often paired with the Liebestod, Isolde’s fi nal monologue, constantly modulating and unsettled. Its melody derives from Act II where Tristan sang: ‘Thus might we die, undivided…’ There, the build-up culminated in an ugly interrupted cadence. Here, there is complete release as Isolde sings of tasting Tristan’s respiration in ‘sweet perfume, in the surging swell, in the ringing sound of the world’s breath’ – a fl ood of sensation suggesting transcendence beyond surfeit.

SynopsisTristan und Isolde begins with Tristan taking the sorceress Isolde back to Cornwall to wed his uncle, King Marke. But he and Isolde fall into a world-defying love when Isolde’s servant substitutes a love potion for the poison Isolde has intended for Tristan. When they are caught, Tristan flees, mortally wounded. He dies as Isolde comes to him, and she expires in expectation of joining him beyond earthly life.

This all takes place with a minimum of action. Dramatic incident stripped down basically to entrances and exits, and Act II is essentially one long love duet.

The text and translation for the Liebestod begins on page 16.

Wagner at his desk in Munich in 1864, around the time of the premiere of Tristan und Isolde.

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Three scenes from Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)Siegfried’s Rhine JourneySiegfried’s Funeral MarchBrünnhilde’s Immolation Scene (‘Starke scheite…’)

On 21 November 1874 Wagner completed the full score of Götterdämmerung, the fi ve-hour fi nale of his massive Ring of the Nibelung. Destined like Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried, the other three operas in the cycle, for Wagner’s purpose-built theatre in Bayreuth, it marked the end of a compositional project which had occupied him for 26 years.

The earliest version of what became Götterdämmerung, Siegfried’s Death, was based on the fi rst quarter or so of the Nibelungenlied, which told of the murder of the dragon-slayer Siegfried by the evil Hagen, and his wife Brünnhilde’s subsequent revenge. But Wagner realised that Siegfried’s Death needed more of a backstory. So he combed through other Teutonic myths, such as the Eddas and various sagas, to create a further three operas – prequels, if you like: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried.

What he came up with was a massive backstory for Götterdämmerung. Siegfried had meant to be the saviour of the gods who had incurred the deadly curse of the ring that had been forged from gold stolen from the bottom of the Rhine. But the Ring cycle became a portrayal of the downfall of Wotan, the king of the gods, and of the rise in heroic status of Brünnhilde, his once immortal valkyrie daughter, who has become human through love.

The fi rst two excerpts in this concert concern Siegfried: his journey down the Rhine (the orchestra suggests the rolling of a boat) and the funeral march that follows his betrayal and death.

To break the curse of the ring, Brünnhilde rides her horse into Siegfried’s funeral pyre. The fi re blazes up, fi lling the entire space, and dies down forming smoke which lies like a fogbank along the Rhine. The river wells up and pours its waters over the pyre. The Rhinemaidens reappear (we hear their motif in the clarinet), drowning Hagen who has made one last-ditch eff ort to retrieve the ring his father, Alberich, had made from their gold. A melody expressive of Brünnhilde’s love emerges from the tail-end of the Rhinemaidens’ melody, which is dove-tailed into the Valhalla theme, which soon fl ares up in a fi nal blaze of glory. Through the cloud bank appears a red glow. In its light the Rhine can be seen to have returned to its bed, the Rhinemaidens playing with the ring in calmer waters. Spectators gaze awestruck on the distant sight of the gods sitting in Valhalla, in fl ames.

PROGRAM NOTES BY GORDON KALTON WILLIAMS SYMPHONY SERVICES INTERNATIONAL © 2012

Brünnhilde leaps onto Siegfried’s funeral pyre riding Grane. Illustration by Arthur Rackham for Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods (1911).

SynopsisBy the beginning of Götterdämmerung, the final opera in Wagner’s Ring cycle, the hero Siegfried has found Brünnhilde and woken her. At dawn they reaffirm their love and Siegfried journeys down the Rhine, where he is drugged, betrayed and killed by Hagen, the son of Alberich. Only Brünnhilde’s self sacrifice, which returns the ring to its riverbed, can end the train of destruction that had been set in train by Alberich’s renunciation of love and his cursing of the ring.

The text and translation for the Immolation Scene begins on page 18.

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‘Dich, teure Halle’ (Elisabeth’s Greeting)from Tannhäuser

Dich, teure Halle, grüss’ ich wieder, Oh, hall of song, I give thee greeting!Froh grüss’ ich dich, geliebter Raum! All hail to thee thou hallowed place!In dir erwachen seine Lieder, ’Twas here that dream so sweet and fl eetingUnd wecken mich aus düst’rem Traum. Upon my heart his song did trace. Da er aus dir geschieden But since by him forsaken Wie öd’ erscheinst du mir! – A desert thou dost seem – Aus mir entfl oh der Frieden, Thy echoes only waken Die Freude zog aus dir. Remembrance of a dream.Wie jetzt mein Busen hoch sich hebet, But now the fl ame of hope is lightedSo scheinst du jetzt mir stolz und hehr; Thy vault shall ring with glorious war;Der dich un mich so neu belebet For he whose strains my soul delightedNicht Länger weilt er ferne mehr. No longer roams afar!Sei mir gegrüsset! Sei mir gegrüsset! I greet you! I greet you!

Liebestod (Love-Death)from Tristan und Isolde

Mild und leisewie er lächelt,wie das Augehold er öff net:seht, ihr, Freunde,säh’t ihr’s nicht?Immer lichterwie er leuchtet,Stern-umstrahlethoch sie hebtseht ihr’s nicht?Wie das Herz ihmmutig schwillt,voll und hehrim Busen ihm quillt;wie den Lippen,wonnig mild,süsser Atemsanft entweht:Freunde, seht!Fühlt und seht ihr’s nicht?Höre ich nurdiese Wiese,die so wundervoll und leise,Wonne klagend,Alles sagend,mild versöhnend

TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

Mild and gentle, he is smiling,softly openinghis eyes:friends, behold him,see you not?Ever brighter,ever lighter,veiled in starlightwafted high:see you not?How the courageof his heart,strong and noble,fi lls his breast?Fair and tenderfrom his lipsfl ows his breathingin sweet bliss:look, oh friends,Can’t you feel it? See you not?Is it I alonewho hears them,strains so gentle and so wondrous,blissful yearning,all confessing,gently healing,

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aus ihm tönend,in mich dringet,auf sich schwinget,hold erhallend,um mich klinget?Heller schallend,mich umwallend,sin des Wellensanfter Lüfte?Sind es Wolkenwonniger Düfte?Wie sie schwellen,mich umrauschen,soll ich atmen,soll ich lauschen?soll ich schlürfen,untertauchen,suss in Düftenmich verhauchen?in dem wogenden Schwall,in dem tönenden Schall,in des Welt-Atems wehendem All –ertrinken –versinken –unbewusst –höchste Lust!

from his welling,ringing outto pierce my soulwith the magicof these sounds?Bright and brighter they surround me,are they wavesof friendly breezes,are they perfumesgently surging?Ever rising,they embrace me,shall I breathe them,shall I listen?Shall I drink themand surrender,in the fragrancebreathe my last?In the surging swell,in the harmonious sound,in the fl oating breathof the whole universe – to drown – and sink down –lost to the world –in supreme bliss!

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Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scenefrom Götterdämmerung

Starke Scheite schichtet mir dortam Rande des Rhein’s zu Hauf:Hoch und hell lod’re die Glut,die den edlen Leibdes hehrsten Helden verzehrt!Sein Ross führet daher,dass mit mir dem Recken es folge:denn des Helden heiligsteEhre zu teilen verlangt mein eigener Leib.Vollbringt Brünnhilde’s Wort!

Wie Sonne lauter strahlt mir sein Licht:Der Reinste war er, der mich verriet!Die Gattin trügend – treu dem Freunde –von der eig’nen Trauten – einzig ihm teuerscheid er sich durch sein Schwert.Echter als er schwur keiner Eide;treuer als er hielt keiner Verträge:laut’rer als er liebte kein and’rer!Und doch alle Eide, alle Verträge,die treueste Liebe – trog keiner wie er!Wisst ihr, wie das ward?O ihr, der Eide heilige Hüter!Lengt eu’ren Blick auf mein blühendes Leid:erschaut eu’re ewige Schuld!Meine Klage hör’, du hehrster Gott!Durch seine tapferste Tat,dir so tauglich erwünscht,weihtest du den, der sie gewirkt,dem Fluche, dem du verfi elest:mich musste der Reinste verraten,dass wissend würde ein Weib!Weiss ich nun, was dir frommt?Alles! Alles! Alles weiss ich:alles ward mir nun frei!Auch deine Raben hör’ ich rauschen:Mit bang’ ersehnter Botschaftsend’ ich die beiden nun heim.Ruhe! Ruhe, du Gott!

Mein Erbe nun nehm’ ich zu eigen.Verfl uchter Reif !Furchtbarer Ring!Dein Gold fass’ ich,

Pile up stout logs for me thereon the Rhine’s bank:high and bright let the fi re blaze,as it consumes the noble bodyof the greatest of heroes!Bring his steed here,that it may follow the warrior with me:for to share the hero’s most sacred honouris my own body’s desire.Let Brünnhilde’s command be obeyed!

Purer than the sun his light shines on me: he was the purest, he who betrayed me!Deceiving his wife, faithful to his friend,from his own beloved, the only one dear to him,he set himself apart with his sword.A truer man than he never swore an oath;a more faithful man than he never made a promise;a more loyal man than he never loved:and yet, all the oaths, all the promises,his truest love –no-one ever betrayed like he did!Do you know how it happened?O ye eternal guardians of oaths,look down on my rising sorrow:see your eternal guilt!Hear my complaining, majestic god!By his most valorous deed,which you so rightly desired,you caught up the one who carried it outin the curse which ruined you.And I had to be betrayed by this purest of men,to become a woman of wisdom!Now do I know what pleases you?Everything, I know everything:everything has now become clear to me!Your ravens, too: I hear the rustling of their wings:with news both longed for and fearedI now send them both home.Be at peace, thou god!

Now I take my legacy in my own hands.Accursed band!Dread ring!I hold your gold in my hand,

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und geb’ es nun fort.Der Wassertiefe weise Schwestern,des Rheines schwimmende Töchter,euch dank’ ich redlichen Rat!Was ihr begehrt, ich geb’ es euch:aus meiner Asche nehmt es zu eigen!Das Feuer, das mich verbrennt,rein’ge vom Fluche den Ring!Ihr in der Flut löset ihn auf,und lauter bewahrt das lichte Golddas euch zum Unheil geraubt.

Fliegt heim ihr Raben!Raunt es eurem Herrn,was hier am Rhein ihr gehört!An Brünnhilde’s Felsen fahrt vorbei:der dort noch lodert,weiset Loge nach Walhall!Denn der Götter Ende dämmert nun auf.So werf ’ ich den Brandin Walhall’s pragende Burg.

Grane, mein Ross, sei mir gegrüsst!Weisst du auch, mein Freund,wohin ich dich führe?Im Feuer leuchtend liegt dort dein Herr,Siegfried, mein seliger Held.Dem Freunde zu folgenwieherst du freudig?Lockt dich zu ihm die lachende Lohe?Fühl’ meine Brust auch, wie sie entbrennt;helles Feuer das Herz mir erfasst,ihn zu umschlingen,umschlossen von ihm,in mächtigster Minne vermählt ihm zu sein!Heiaho! Grane! Grüss’ deinen Herren!Siegfried! Siegfried! Sieh!Selig grüsst dich dein Weib!

[HAGEN: Zurück vom Ring!]

Original German text: RICHARD WAGNER

and now I give it away.Wise sisters of the watery depths,swimming Rhine-daughters,I thank you for your honest counsel!I give you what you covet:from my ashes take it as your own.May the fi re that burns mecleanse the ring of its curse;dissolve it in the river’s fl oodand zealously guard the bright goldwhose theft brought such disaster.

Fly home, ravens!tell your masterswhat you heard here by the Rhine!Fly past Brünnhilde’s rockwhere the fi re blazes still:send Loge to Valhalla!For the end of the gods is now dawning:so – I hurl the torchinto Valhalla’s shining fortress.

Grane, my steed, greetings!My friend, do you knowwhere I am taking you?There, shining in the fi re, lies your lord,Siegfried, my blessed hero.Do you whinny with joyat the prospect of following your friend?Do the laughing fl ames draw you to him?Feel my breast, too, how it burns;bright fl ames enfold my heart.Ah, to embrace him,to be enfolded by him,to be wedded to him in the mightiest love!Hei-a-jo-ho! Grane! Greet your lord!Siegfried! Siegfried! See!Your wife greets you in bliss!

[Give me the ring!]

English translation: NATALIE SHEA © ABC, 2006

The orchestra list fr om the program book for 29 September 1973.

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Broadcast Diary

August

abc.net.au/classic

Saturday 11 August, 2pmwagner under the sailsSimone Young conductorChristine Brewer sopranoSee this program for details.

Monday 20 August, 1.05pmthe dream of gerontius Vladimir Ashkenazy conductorLilli Paasikivi mezzo-sopranoMark Tucker tenorDavid Wilson-Johnson baritoneSydney Philharmonia ChoirsElgarRecorded in 2008.

Friday 21 September, 8pmmystery and motionHannu Lintu conductorAngela Hewitt pianoDutilleux, Mozart, Beethoven

Fine Music 102.5sydney symphony 2012Tuesday 14 August, 6pm

Musicians, staff and guest artists discuss what’s in store in our forthcoming concerts. Fine Music is the new name for the station previously known as 2MBS (Music Broadcasting Society), transmitting on 102.5FM and streaming online from www.FineMusicFM.com

MORE MUSIC

WAGNER AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

Several years ago, ABC Classics released the complete broadcast recording of the offi cial opening concert of the Sydney Opera House, together with a DVD of concert highlights from the television broadcast. If this concert has caught your imagination, you can hear (and see) Birgit Nilsson, Charles Mackerras and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in that fi rst performance.ABC CLASSICS 476 6440

SIMONE YOUNG

Simone Young has made numerous recordings with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, most recently a Brahms disc with the Second Symphony and the Tragic Overture. (This followed a release with the First Symphony in 2010.)OEHMS 676 (Brahms 2), 675 (Brahms 1)

Simone Young has also been recording Bruckner and Mahler symphonies, and (to date) three of the operas in Wagner’s Ring cycle. The most recent of these was Götterdämmerung with Wolfgang Koch, Deborah Polaski, John Tomlinson and Christian Franz, and the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.OEHMS 928

Closer to home, she has recorded Wagner and Strauss songs with Australian soprano Lisa Gasteen and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. The program includes Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder and Strauss’s Metamorphosen.ABC CLASSICS 476 6811

CHRISTINE BREWER

Christine Brewer’s most recent release is Echoes of Nightingales, a disc of recital encores with pianist Roger Vignoles.HYPERION 67813

Her wide discography also includes a recording from 2006 of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Apollo Voices conducted by Donald Runnicles. John Treleaven is Tristan. WARNER CLASSICS 62964

Or you can hear just Isolde’s Liebestod in another recording with Donald Runnicles (and this time the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra). The disc also includes Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Death and Transfi guration.TELARC 80661

Christine Brewer also makes an impressive appearance as the Prima Donna/Ariadne in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, recorded for the Chandos Opera in English series. Stephen Fry brings the Prologue to life as the Major-Domo. And the disc begins with Strauss’s incidental music for Molière’s Bourgeois Gentilhomme.CHANDOS 3168

Webcasts

Selected Sydney Symphony concerts are webcast live on BigPond and Telstra T-boc and made available for later viewing On Demand. Live webcasts can also be viewed on our mobile app.

wagner uner the sails

Watch from Saturday 11 August at 2pm

Visit: bigpondmusic.com/sydneysymphony

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Simone Young CONDUCTOR

Australian-born Simone Young is internationally recognised as one of the leading conductors of her generation. In 2005 she took up the post of General Manager and Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Music Director of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg, where she conducts repertoire ranging from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Strauss, to Hindemith, Britten and Henze. She is an acknowledged interpreter of the operas of Wagner and Strauss, and has conducted several complete cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Vienna State Opera, the State Opera in Berlin, and most recently to great acclaim in Hamburg. Her recordings with Hamburg include the Ring cycle, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler and symphonies by Bruckner, Brahms and Mahler.

Simone Young was Music Director of Opera Australia from 2001 to 2003 and Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 1999 to 2002, and has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon since 2007. She has conducted at all the leading opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bavarian State Opera, Metropolitan Opera New York and Los Angeles Opera. Her collaborations with major orchestras include the Vienna, Berlin, New York and London philharmonic orchestras, Staatskapelle Dresden and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Among her many accolades, she has been elected to the Akademie der Künste in Hamburg, nominated Conductor of the Year by Opernwelt magazine, and awarded a Professorship at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg, as well as honorary doctorates from Griffi th University, Monash University and the University of NSW. She has also been honoured with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France, the prestigious Goethe Institute Medal (2005) and the Sir Bernard Heinze Award (2011). In 2004 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.

Simone Young regularly returns to Australia and her most recent appearance with the Sydney Symphony was in 2010, when sh e conducted Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony. In 2012 she also appears with the Australian Youth Orchestra and West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and will make her New Zealand debut with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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Christine Brewer SOPRANO

American soprano Christine Brewer began her professional career with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Since then she has appeared in most of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Madrid, Lisbon, Paris Opera, Opéra de Lyon and English National Opera, as well as major festivals such as Edinburgh and Aldeburgh.

Her roles include Countess Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Leonore (Fidelio); Richard Strauss’s Aegyptische Helena and Britten’s Gloriana. She has sung Chrysothemis in Elektra (Cleveland Orchestra and Frans Welser-Möst). She has also sung Isolde with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Opera (both conducted by Donald Runnicles), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Esa-Pekka Salonen), and at the Edinburgh Festival with Jonathan Nott. She has also sung Färberin (Die Frau ohne Schatten) in Chicago and Paris, and she has achieved international renown for her performances in the title role of Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.

In concert, she appears with the major American and European orchestras, working with such conductors as Roger Norrington, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kurt Masur, John Adams, Christoph von Dohnányi, Andrew Litton, John Nelson, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Iván Fischer, Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Antonio Pappano, Charles Mackerras, Colin Davis and Simon Rattle.

Engagement highlights have included the gala concerts to re-open the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (conducted by Bernard Haitink) and Britten’s War Requiem in Rome with Pappano. She has also forged strong links with the BBC Proms – most notably with performances of Wagner’s Walküre and Götterdämmerung and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder under Runnicles, and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony under Rattle. Her European concert appearances also include the Concertgebouw and Bavarian Radio orchestras (Mariss Jansons), Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra (Jirí Belohlávek), London Philharmonic Orchestra (Vladimir Jurowski), London Symphony Orchestra and the Accademia Santa Cecilia.

Christine Brewer received the BBC Radio 3 Listener’s Award in the 2008 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. This is her fi rst appearance with the Sydney Symphony.

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MUSICIANS

FIRST VIOLINS

Natalie Chee* Concertmaster

Dene Olding Concertmaster

Kirsten Williams Associate Concertmaster

Sun Yi Associate Concertmaster

Julie BattyJennifer BoothMarianne BroadfootBrielle ClapsonSophie ColeAmber DavisJennifer HoyElizabeth JonesNicola LewisAlexander NortonClaire Herrick°Kerry Martin*Fiona Ziegler Assistant Concertmaster

Léone Ziegler

SECOND VIOLINS

Marina Marsden Emily Long A/Assistant Principal

Susan Dobbie Principal Emeritus

Maria DurekShuti HuangStan W KornelBenjamin LiPhilippa PaigeNicole MastersMaja VerunicaAlexandra D’Elia*Emily Qin°Lucy Warren†

Kristina Zelinska*Emma West Assistant Principal

Emma HayesBiyana Rozenblit

VIOLAS

Roger Benedict Tobias Breider Anne-Louise Comerford Robyn BrookfieldSandro CostantinoJane HazelwoodGraham HenningsLeonid VolovelskyRosemary Curtin*Tara Houghton°Neil Thompson†

Stuart JohnsonJustine MarsdenFelicity Tsai

CELLOS

Catherine Hewgill Henry David Varema*Fenella GillTimothy NankervisElizabeth NevilleChristopher PidcockAdrian WallisDavid WickhamRowena Macneish°Rachael Tobin°Leah Lynn Assistant Principal

Kristy Conrau

DOUBLE BASSES

Kees Boersma Alex Henery Neil Brawley Principal Emeritus

David CampbellRichard LynnDavid MurrayBenjamin WardDouglas Rutherford†

Steven Larson

FLUTES

Janet Webb Emma Sholl Carolyn HarrisKate Rockstrom*Rosamund Plummer Principal Piccolo

OBOES

Diana Doherty David PappAlexandre Oguey Principal Cor Anglais

Rachel Cashmore†

Shefali Pryor

CLARINETS

Lawrence Dobell Christopher TingayCraig Wernicke Principal Bass Clarinet

Rowena Watts†

Francesco Celata

BASSOONS

Nicole Tait°Fiona McNamaraNoriko ShimadaPrincipal Contrabassoon

Matthew WilkieRoger Brooke

HORNS & WAGNER TUBAS

Ben Jacks Robert Johnson Geoffrey O’Reilly Principal 3rd

Euan HarveySharn McIver†

Samuel Jacobs*Jenny McLeod-Sneyd*Brendan Parravicini*Lisa Wynne-Allen*Marnie Sebire

TRUMPETS

David Elton John FosterAnthony HeinrichsPaul Goodchild

TROMBONES

Ronald Prussing Scott Kinmont Christopher Harris Principal Bass Trombone

Jessica Buzbee*Nigel Crocker*Nick Byrne

TUBA

Steve Rossé

TIMPANI

Richard MillerMark Robinson Assistant Principal

PERCUSSION

Rebecca Lagos Colin PiperChiron Meller*

HARP

Louise Johnson Genevieve Lang*

Bold = PrincipalItalics = Associate Principal* = Guest Musician° = Contract Musician† = Sydney Symphony FellowGrey = Permanent member of the Sydney Symphony not appearing in this concert

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

The men of the Sydney Symphony are proudly outfitted by Van Heusen.

Vladimir AshkenazyPrincipal Conductor and Artistic Advisor supported by Emirates

Dene OldingConcertmaster

Jessica CottisAssistant Conductor supported by Premier Partner Credit Suisse

sydney symphony 25

SYDNEY SYMPHONYVladimir Ashkenazy, Principal Conductor and Artistic AdvisorPATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO

Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, 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 the 2011 tour of Japan and Korea.

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 Gianluigi Gelmetti. David Robertson will take up the post of Chief Conductor in 2014. 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 orchestra 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 the orchestra’s 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. The orchestra has recently completed recording the Mahler symphonies, and has also released recordings with Ashkenazy of Rachmaninoff and Elgar orchestral works on the Exton/Triton labels, as well as numerous recordings on the ABC Classics label.

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

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BEHIND THE SCENES

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Rory JeffesEXECUTIVE TEAM ASSISTANT

Lisa Davies-Galli

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC PLANNING

Peter Czornyj

Artistic AdministrationARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Elaine ArmstrongARTIST LIAISON MANAGER

Ilmar LeetbergRECORDING ENTERPRISE MANAGER

Philip Powers

Education ProgramsHEAD OF EDUCATION

Kim WaldockEMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM MANAGER

Mark LawrensonEDUCATION COORDINATOR

Rachel McLarin

LibraryLIBRARIAN

Anna CernikLIBRARY ASSISTANT

Victoria GrantLIBRARY ASSISTANT

Mary-Ann Mead

ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

Aernout KerbertORCHESTRA MANAGER

Chris Lewis ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR

Georgia StamatopoulosOPERATIONS MANAGER

Kerry-Anne CookTECHNICAL MANAGER

Derek CouttsPRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Tim DaymanPRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Ian SpenceSTAGE MANAGER

Peter Gahan

SALES AND MARKETING

DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING

Mark J ElliottMARKETING MANAGER, SUBSCRIPTION SALES

Simon Crossley-MeatesA/SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER, SALES

Matthew RiveMARKETING MANAGER, BUSINESS RESOURCES

Katrina RiddleONLINE MARKETING MANAGER

Eve Le Gall

John C Conde ao ChairmanTerrey Arcus amEwen CrouchRoss GrantJennifer HoyRory JeffesAndrew KaldorIrene LeeDavid LivingstoneGoetz RichterDavid Smithers am

Sydney Symphony Board

Sydney Symphony Council

Sydney Symphony StaffMARKETING & ONLINE COORDINATOR

Kaisa HeinoGRAPHIC DESIGNER

Lucy McCulloughDATA ANALYST

Varsha KarnikMARKETING ASSISTANT

Jonathon Symonds

Box OfficeMANAGER OF BOX OFFICE SALES & OPERATIONS

Lynn McLaughlinMANAGER OF BOX OFFICE OPERATIONS

Tom DowneyCUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES

Steve Clarke – Senior CSRMichael DowlingDerek ReedJohn RobertsonBec Sheedy

COMMUNICATIONS

HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS & SPONSOR RELATIONS

Yvonne ZammitPUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

Katherine StevensonCOMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

Janine Harris DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER

Ben Draisma

PublicationsPUBLICATIONS EDITOR & MUSIC PRESENTATION MANAGER

Yvonne Frindle

DEVELOPMENT

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Caroline SharpenEXTERNAL RELATIONS MANAGER

Stephen AttfieldPHILANTHROPY, PATRONS PROGRAM

Ivana JirasekPHILANTHROPY, EVENTS & ENGAGEMENT

Amelia Morgan-Hunn

BUSINESS SERVICES

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

John HornFINANCE MANAGER

Ruth TolentinoACCOUNTANT

Minerva PrescottACCOUNTS ASSISTANT

Emma FerrerPAYROLL OFFICER

Laura Soutter

HUMAN RESOURCES

HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Michel Hryce

Geoff Ainsworth amAndrew Andersons aoMichael Baume aoChristine BishopIta Buttrose ao obePeter CudlippJohn Curtis amGreg Daniel amJohn Della BoscaAlan FangErin FlahertyDr Stephen FreibergDonald Hazelwood ao obeDr Michael Joel amSimon JohnsonYvonne Kenny amGary LinnaneAmanda LoveHelen Lynch amJoan MacKenzieDavid MaloneyDavid Malouf aoJulie Manfredi-HughesDeborah MarrThe Hon. Justice Jane Mathews aoDanny MayWendy McCarthy aoJane MorschelGreg ParamorDr Timothy Pascoe amProf. Ron Penny aoJerome RowleyPaul SalteriSandra SalteriJuliana SchaefferLeo Schofield amFred Stein oamGabrielle TrainorIvan UngarJohn van OgtropPeter Weiss amMary WhelanRosemary White

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SYDNEY SYMPHONY PATRONS

Sydney Symphony Leadership EnsembleDavid Livingstone, CEO, Credit Suisse, AustraliaAlan Fang, Chairman, Tianda GroupTony Grierson, Braithwaite Steiner PrettyInsurance Australia Grou pMacquarie Group FoundationJohn Morschel, Chairman, ANZ

Andrew Kaldor, Chairman, Pelikan ArtlineLynn Kraus, Sydney Office Managing Partner, Ernst & YoungShell Australia Pty LtdJames Stevens, CEO, Roses OnlyStephen Johns, Chairman, Leighton Holdings,

and Michele Johns

Maestro’s CirclePeter Weiss am – Founding President & Doris WeissJohn C Conde ao – ChairmanGeoff Ainsworth am & Vicki Ainsworth Tom Breen & Rachael KohnIn memory of Hetty & Egon GordonAndrew Kaldor & Renata Kaldor aoRoslyn Packer ao

Penelope Seidler amMr Fred Street am & Mrs Dorothy StreetWestfield GroupBrian & Rosemary WhiteRay Wilson oam in memory of the late James Agapitos oam

01 Roger Benedict Principal Viola Kim Williams am & Catherine Dovey Chair

02 Lawrence Dobell Principal Clarinet Anne Arcus & Terrey Arcus am Chair

03 Diana Doherty Principal Oboe Andrew Kaldor & Renata Kaldor ao Chair

04 Richard Gill oam Artistic Director Education Sandra & Paul Salteri Chair

05 Jane Hazelwood Viola Veolia Environmental Services Chair

06 Catherine Hewgill Principal Cello The Hon. Justice AJ & Mrs Fran Meagher Chair

07 Robert Johnson Principal Horn James & Leonie Furber Chair

08 Elizabeth Neville Cello Ruth & Bob Magid Chair

09 Colin Piper Percussion Justice Jane Mathews ao Chair

10 Shefali Pryor Associate Principal Oboe Rose Herceg Chair

11 Emma Sholl Associate Principal Flute Robert & Janet Constable Chair

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

Directors’ Chairs

01 02 03 04 05 06

07 08 09 10 11

Andrea Brown Ian BurtonJennifer BurtonRon ChristiansonMichael CookPaul CousinsJustin Di Lollo

Rose GalloDerek Hand Rose HercegDamian KassagbiChris KeherElizabeth Lee

Jonathan PeaseAnna Swan

Sydney Symphony VanguardVanguard CollectiveJustin Di Lollo – ChairKees BoersmaRose Herceg

David McKeanAmelia Morgan-Hunn

MembersNikki AndrewsJames ArmstrongStephen AttfieldAndrew BaxterMar BeltranKees Boersma Peter Braithwaite

Antony Lighten Gary LinnaneDavid McKeanHayden McLeanAmelia Morgan-HunnHugh Munro

Peter OutridgeJonathan Pease Seamus R QuickJacqueline RowlandsBernard RyanJonathan Watkinson

28 sydney symphony

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. Donations of $50 and above are acknowledged on our website at sydneysymphony.com

Platinum Patrons $20,000+Brian AbelGeoff Ainsworth am & Vicki AinsworthRobert Albert ao & Elizabeth AlbertTerrey Arcus am & Anne ArcusTom Breen & Rachael KohnSandra & Neil BurnsMr John C Conde aoRobert & Janet ConstableJames & Leonie FurberDr Bruno & Mrs Rhonda Giuff reIn memory of Hetty & Egon GordonMs Rose HercegMr Andrew Kaldor & Mrs Renata Kaldor aoD & I KallinikosJames N Kirby FoundationMrs Joan MacKenzieJustice Jane Mathews aoMrs Roslyn Packer aoDr John Roarty oam in memory of Mrs June RoartyPaul & Sandra SalteriMrs Penelope Seidler amMrs W SteningMr Fred Street am & Mrs Dorothy StreetMr Peter Weiss am & Mrs Doris WeissWestfi eld GroupMr Brian & Mrs Rosemary WhiteRay Wilson oam in memory of James Agapitos oamKim Williams am & Catherine DoveyJune & Alan Woods Family Bequest

Gold Patrons$10,000–$19,999Mr C R AdamsonStephen J BellAlan & Christine BishopIan & Jennifer BurtonCopyright Agency Limited The Hon. Ashley Dawson-DamerFerris Family FoundationMr Ross GrantThe Estate of the late Ida GuggerHelen Lynch am & Helen BauerRuth & Bob MagidThe Hon. Justice AJ Meagher & Mrs Fran MeagherMrs T Merewether oamMr B G O’ConorMrs Joyce Sproat & Mrs Janet CookeHenry & Ruth WeinbergAnonymous (2)

Silver Patrons $5000–$9,999Doug & Alison BattersbyMr Alexander & Mrs Vera BoyarskyMr Robert BrakspearMr David & Mrs Halina BrettMr Robert & Mrs L Alison Carr Bob & Julie ClampettHoward ConnorsEwen & Catherine CrouchIan Dickson & Reg HollowayColin Draper & Mary Jane BrodribbPenny EdwardsEdward FedermanThe Greatorex Foundation Mrs Jennifer HershonThe Sherry Hogan FoundationMr Rory Jeff esStephen Johns & Michele BenderJudges of the Supreme Court of NSW Mr Ervin KatzThe Estate of the late Patricia LanceMr David LivingstoneTimothy & Eva PascoeWilliam McIlrath Charitable FoundationDavid Maloney & Erin FlahertyRodney Rosenblum am & Sylvia RosenblumManfred & Linda SalamonJF & A van OgtropMichael & Mary Whelan TrustMs Caroline WilkinsonJill WranAnonymous (2)

Bronze Patrons $2,500–$4,999Mr Marc Besen ao & Mrs Eva Besen aoJan BowenM BulmerFirehold Pty LtdStephen Freiberg & Donald CampbellAnthony Gregg & Deanne WhittlestonVic & Katie FrenchWarren GreenMrs Jennifer HershonAnn HobanIn memory of Bernard M H KhawGary LinnaneMatthew McInnesJ A McKernanR & S Maple-BrownGreg & Susan MarieAlan & Joy MartinMora MaxwellJames & Elsie MooreDrs Keith & Eileen Ong

In memory of H St P ScarlettDavid & Isabel SmithersMrs Hedy SwitzerMarliese & Georges TeitlerDr Richard WingateMr & Mrs T & D YimAnonymous (2)

Bronze Patrons $1,000–$2,499Charles & Renee AbramsMrs Antoinette AlbertAndrew Andersons aoMr Henri W Aram oamDr Francis J AugustusRichard and Christine Banks David BarnesMichael Baume ao & Toni BaumeNicole BergerMrs Jan BiberAllan & Julie BlighLenore P BuckleIn memory of RW BurleyEric & Rosemary CampbellThe Hon. Justice JC & Mrs CampbellDr John H CaseyJoan Connery oam & Maxwell Connery oamConstable Estate Vineyards Debby Cramer & Bill CaukillMr John Cunningham SCM & Mrs Margaret CunninghamGreta DavisLisa & Miro DavisMatthew DelaseyMr & Mrs Grant DixonJohn FavaloroMr Ian Fenwicke & Prof. Neville WillsMichael & Gabrielle FieldDr & Mrs C GoldschmidtMr James Graham am & Mrs Helen GrahamAkiko GregoryJanette HamiltonDorothy Hoddinott aoThe Hon. David Hunt ao qc & Mrs Margaret HuntDr & Mrs Michael HunterMr Peter HutchisonMichael & Anna JoelAnna-Lisa KlettenbergMr Justin LamMr Peter Lazar amAssociate Professor Winston LiauwSydney & Airdrie LloydCarolyn & Peter Lowry oamKevin & Deidre McCann

sydney symphony 29

Robert McDougallIan & Pam McGawMacquarie Group FoundationMr Robert & Mrs Renee MarkovicA NhanMs Jackie O’BrienMr R A OppenMr Robert OrrellMr & Mrs OrtisIn memory of Sandra PaulPiatti Holdings Pty LtdAndy & Deirdre Plummer Robin PotterPottingerErnest & Judith RapeeKenneth R ReedPatricia H Reid Endowment Pty LtdCaroline SharpenCatherine StephenJohn & Alix SullivanThe Hon. Brian Sully qcMildred TeitlerJohn E TuckeyMrs M TurkingtonIn memory of Joan & Rupert VallentineDr Alla WaldmanIn memory of Dr Reg WalkerThe Hon. Justice A G WhealyAnn & Brooks Wilson amGeoff Wood & Melissa WaitesMr Robert & Mrs Rosemary WalshMr R R WoodwardIn memory of Lorna WrightDr John YuAnonymous (14)

Bronze Patrons $500–$999Mr Peter J ArmstrongMr & Mrs Garry S AshBarlow Cleaning Pty LtdMrs Margaret BellMinnie BiggsPat & Jenny BurnettMr & Mrs CoatesDr & Mrs Hannes Boshoff Arnaldo BuchThe Hon. Justice JC & Mrs CampbellDr Rebecca ChinMrs Sarah ChissickMrs Catherine J ClarkR A & M J Clarke

Mrs Joan Connery oamJen CornishMr David CrossElizabeth DonatiThe Dowe FamilyDr Nita & Dr James DurhamMalcolm Ellis & Erin O’NeillMrs Margaret EppsIn memory of Peter EverettMr & Mrs FarrellMr Tom FrancisTony Grierson Vivienne GoldschmidtMr Richard Griffi n amIan R L HarperKen HawkingsMrs A HaywardMr Roger HenningHarry & Meg HerbertMr Joerg HofmannMrs Kimberley HoldenMr Gregory HoskingAlex HoughtonBill & Pam HughesBeauty Point Retirement ResortNiki KallenbergerMrs W G KeighleyMrs Margaret KeoghDr Henry KilhamChris J KitchingMr Aron & Mrs Helen KleinlehrerMr & Mrs Gilles T KrygerSonia LalMr Luigi LampratiDr & Mrs Leo LeaderMargaret LedermanIrene LeeAnita & Chris LevyErna & Gerry Levy amMrs A LohanMrs Panee LowDr David LuisDr Jean MalcolmPhilip & Catherine McClellandMrs Flora MacDonaldMrs Helen MeddingsMrs Toshiko MericP J MillerDavid & Andree MilmanKenneth N MitchellChris Morgan-HunnMrs Milja Morris

Coff s Airport Security Car ParkDr Mike O’Connor amMr Graham NorthDr A J PalmerJustice George Palmer amMr Andrew C PattersonDr Kevin PedemontDr Natalie E PelhamLois & Ken RaeRenaissance ToursAnna RoPamela RogersLesley & Andrew RosenbergAgnes RossMrs Pamela SayersGarry Scarf & Morgie BlaxillWilliam SewellMrs Diane Shteinman amDr Agnes E SinclairMs Stephanie SmeeMs Tatiana SokolovaDoug & Judy SotherenMrs Judith SouthamMargaret SuthersMr Lindsay & Mrs Suzanne StoneNorman & Lydia TaylorDr Heng Tey & Mrs Cilla TeyMrs Alma Toohey & Mr Edward SpicerKevin TroyJudge Robyn TupmanGillian Turner & Rob BishopProf Gordon E WallMrs Margaret WallisRonald WalledgeMr Palmer WangMs Elizabeth WilkinsonAudrey & Michael WilsonA Willmers & R PalDr Richard WingDr Peter Wong & Mrs Emmy K WongMr Robert WoodsMrs Everly WyssMrs Robin YabsleyAnonymous (15)

To find out more about becominga Sydney Symphony Patron, pleasecontact the Philanthropy Officeon (02) 8215 4625 or emailphilanthropy@sydneysymphony.com

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I’m in search of the perfect instrument.

‘You don’t want to be question-ing yourself on a soft high entry. They’re often much trickier than the big loud entries.’

Ben credits Dale Clevenger, Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as the teacher who had the greatest influence on him. ‘He gave me some excellent advice: “If some-thing happens [in performance], you’ve got to forget about it immediately. Focus on the line and phrase. If you focus on what went wrong, it will just happen again.” ’

Perhaps it’s a brass cliché, but Ben cites the big Romantics – Strauss and Mahler – as amongst his favourites to play. ‘It’s such heroic writing. They really let the horn sing and shine through all its registers. The older I get, though, the more I appreciate Brahms. I understand better the intricacy and genius of his writing.’

‘As a professional, I suffer something of an affliction – I’m in search of the perfect instru-ment. I play four horns, have another on order and am consid-ering a sixth… Is my wife going to read this?’

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A quick Google of “hardest instrument to play” reveals a widely held belief that the French horn is the most difficult to master. How did Ben Jacks, Principal Horn, come to choose this most capricious instrument?

‘It was a case of simple eco-nomics. My mother was a music teacher. I went to the school where she was teaching, and there was a spare horn in the storeroom. There wasn’t anyone else playing it, so the school was offering free lessons for a semester to encourage someone to try.’

Did the young Ben know what lay ahead? ‘I have a memory of an early lesson with Eric

Bramble [former Associate Principal Horn of MSO]. He said, “Ben, sometimes playing the French horn makes you feel like doing this,” and then kicked a chair across the room and into the wall! He was otherwise a polite, well-spoken professional!’

The challenges to mastering this instrument are inherent in the physics of the French horn. A great degree of finesse is required to form exactly the right embouchure, or shape of the mouth, and direct the speed of air through the instrument to achieve the desired note at the desired dynamic. ‘If you think about the physics of it, it can become quite daunting,’ says Ben.

CHASING PERFECTIONPrincipal Horn Ben Jacks explains how the horn earned its reputation as a fickle tool of trade.

ORCHESTRA NEWS | JULY–AUGUST 2012

Proud sponsor of theSydney Symphonyin their 80th yearof timeless entertainment

Orchestra OnlineREFRESHING TIMES

Q. What’s black and white and red all over? A. The new Sydney Symphony website!www.sydneysymphony.com

We’ve launched a revamped Sydney Symphony website – up and running since early July!

Your feedback and comments have helped our web agency Deepend design the new site for easy navigation and straightforward ticket purchase.

Our new What’s On calendar allows you to view concerts by month, searching is improved, and you can filter for your favourite category of music or for particular artists, making it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for.

We’ve also incorporated lots of fun features, including videos, a live Twitter feed and our annual tour blog. In coming weeks we’ll be reinstating audio samples and podcasts and launching a new historical timeline. Meanwhile, you can still download program books from this season and years past, and pdfs of these Bravo! newsletters.

If you still need an incentive to visit the new site, consider making your next subscription purchase online. After our 2013 season launches on Wednesday 8 August, those who subscribe online before 30 September will receive a free DVD of The Concert. (One DVD per household.)

Your SayThank you Sydney Symphony, for another wonderful Family Classics concert [May]. Special thanks to timpanist Mark Robinson for being so friendly, talking to my son and his friend about percussion instruments. Mark went out of his way to converse with my son. This means an awful lot to a 10 year old. Angie Dalli

Did I really see Dene Olding playing in the back row of the violins at the concert on Saturday 12 May, or was I seeing things? If it was him, what had he done to be so demoted? Jennifer Hotop

It was indeed Dene Olding, our Concertmaster, sitting at the back of the section for this concert. But rest assured, he hasn’t been demoted! Rather, as we’ve recently invited a number of guest musicians to try out for the role of Co-Concertmaster, Dene has been joining the section – albeit towards the back – so that he too can develop an informed opinion about the candidates.

I am very pleased and excited with the news that David Robertson has been engaged from 2014 onwards. My husband and I lived in St Louis for 11 years, and for 10 of those,

we were season ticket holders to the St Louis Symphony. We remember the excitement when David Robertson was appointed there, and were pleased with the sense of renewed vitality he brought to the orchestra. We heard many fantastic concerts with him on the podium. For me, one highlight was a performance of Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony. I really appreciate his commitment to modern music and hope it continues when he arrives in Sydney. Jennifer Milne

A cigar on the piano was all that was missing from last night’s performance of A Gershwin Tribute. The wicked wit of Mr Bramwell Tovey, the mischievous grin of Mr David Jones, the great voice of Ms Tracey Dahl, and last but not least every member of the orchestra made the evening a most memorable experience. Isabell St Leon

My wife and I have been very supportive of the SSO for many years. Last night’s Gershwin concert was out of this world… All we can say is that it demonstrates how world class your concerts are! Please keep up the unbelievably good performances. Peter Kennewel

We like to hear from you. Write to yoursay@sydneysymphony.com or Bravo! Reply Paid 4338, Sydney NSW 2001.

WEAVING MAGICAn orchestra on tour fulfils cultural needs at night and sparks new interest by day.

A tree-change is not without its drawbacks. ‘I was a regular at SSO concerts in Sydney before moving to the mid-North coast 12 months ago,’ said Robyn Neasmith, ‘and had been feeling rather deprived of my “cultural fill”.’ When the Sydney Symphony visited Taree on its recent annual regional tour, Robyn was delighted. ‘I got my fill!’

By all reports, audiences were thrilled. ‘What was so wonderful was the joy and pleasure that the orchestra gave to so many in the local community who had never had the privilege of seeing them perform,’ said Robyn.

Conductor Benjamin Northey led the side-by-side forces of the Sydney Symphony and Sydney Sinfonia on a tour to Taree, Grafton and Newcastle, where in addition to giving performances by night, they also presented schools concerts during the day.

More than 2,000 children from regional NSW were enchanted by saxophonist Nicholas Russoniello (2011 ABC/Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year) weaving his way through the audience as he performed Barry Cockcroft’s Black and Blue.

‘The kids loved it!’ said Ben, himself a former saxophonist. ‘The piece was really jazzy, lots

of wailing, very clever stuff. You know, it was at a concert just like this that Leonard Bernstein decided he was going to be a musician. He heard Ravel’s Bolero at a New York Philharmonic schools concert and the rest is history.’

‘We found lots of ways of engaging the kids in the concert, by asking them to come up with words for the main theme of Dvorák’s Ninth Symphony, for instance. Here’s what they worked out: “Peanut butter fits on the table, with vegemite, with vegemite, with vegemite on toast.” They sang it so loud!’ laughed Ben. [Try it yourself – you’ll see the words fit beautifully!]

One special group of music lovers came from St Dominic’s Centre for Hearing Impaired Children. After the concert, Sinfonia cellists went out into the audience to give these children the chance to feel the instruments as they were being played.

‘These concerts aren’t just about potentially sparking the interest of a young musician,’ said Ben. ‘They’re also about fostering an audience who are interested and invested. Concert-goers who, down the track, we hope will really love music.’

Regional Touring

Double bassist and Sinfonia member Douglas Rutherford hands his bow to Cowper Public School student Tess Chevalier at the Saraton Theatre, Grafton.

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Some music doesn’t just sound extraordinary – it’s also visually stunning. And Takemitsu’s From me flows what you call Time is one of those pieces. It’s scored for five percussionists and orchestra, but it’s no ordinary percussion section you’ll be seeing when we play this piece in September.

Most striking are the five coloured ribbons extending from bells above the stage, and manipu-lated by the soloists, who wear matching colours. These represent the five natural phenomena: water (blue), fire (red), earth (yellow), wind (green) and sky (white). There’s also a huge array of world percussion – Japanese temple bowls placed on timpani drums, Indonesian wooden angklungs, and Pakistani Noah bells, to name a few.

‘There’s more than the usual amount of preparation,’ says Prin-cipal Percussion Rebecca Lagos. ‘We have to source some strange instruments, work out how we’re going to suspend five bells above the orchestra…’ And that’s before rehearsals have even begun!

A piece like this requires a special kind of mapping. ‘For percussion-ists, every piece has a different combination of instruments. We organise all those different elements into a single instrument. There’s a lot of choreography required, and it may take time before you have your set-up exactly right.’

The final effect is one of solem-nity and ritual. ‘The music sounds incredibly impressionistic and romantic, delicate and beautiful. Anyone expecting a driving, rhythm- based piece will be surprised.’

Symphony for the Common ManThursday Afternoon Symphony Thu 6 Sep | 1.30pmEmirates Metro Series Fri 7 Sep | 8pmGreat Classics Sat 8 Sep | 2pm

The Score

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SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE TRUSTMr Kim Williams AM [Chair]Ms Catherine Brenner, The Hon Helen Coonan, Mr Wesley Enoch,Ms Renata Kaldor AO, Mr Robert Leece AM RFD, Mr Peter Mason AM,Dr Thomas Parry AM, Mr Leo Schofield AM, Mr John Symond AM

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENTActing Chief Executive Officer Jonathan BielskiDirector, Theatre and Events David ClaringboldDirector, Marketing, Communications and Director, Customer Services Victoria DoidgeBuilding Development and Maintenance Greg McTaggartDirector, Venue Partners and Safety Julia PucciChief Financial Officer Claire Spencer

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SYDNEY SYMPHONY SPRINT!

Fifteen fearless Sydney Symphony musicians and staff are re-forming Team Sydney Symphony Sprint to take another tilt at the City2Surf on Sunday 12 August. First Violin Jennifer Hoy explains why they’ve chosen Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy as their charity:

‘All of us at the Sydney Symphony are fortunate enough to be able to perform, experience and share great music every day – we can’t imagine life without it! …We have chosen to run for Nordoff-Robbins because they provide the unique gift of music to people who are in need – including those with physical and intellectual disabilities, mental health problems, and learning and behavioural difficulties. Help us make music an everyday part of life for those in our community who need it most!’

If you want to support Sydney Symphony Sprint as they tackle Heartbreak Hill this year, visit their giving page at bit.ly/City2SurfSprint2012

SOUND UPDATE

Work continues with the acoustic improvements to the Concert Hall. The black drapes of the past year are now gone and the original sawtooth panels have been replaced with flat ones. Acoustician Larry Kirkegaard has been hard at work, refining the angles of the new panels. The project team is also looking into issues of wheelchair access and changes to sightlines from the boxes that have resulted from the new panels.

PLAYERS LINKED

In June, 44 student musicians, aged between 11 and 60, took part in the Sydney Symphony Playerlink program in Albury. During three days of intensive workshops, the students worked closely with members of the Sydney Symphony, exploring ensemble playing, musical interpretation and technical skills. The weekend ended with a public concert that included Rossini’s William Tell Overture and the Trepak (Russian Dance) from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.

DIAMOND JUBILEE

The Sydney Symphony contributed to the celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by recording a song with Gary Barlow (front man with boy band Take That, and head judge on The X Factor in the UK). ‘Sing’ features musicians from throughout the Commonwealth – including the African Children’s Choir, the Slum Drummers from Kenya, and Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – accompanied by the Sydney Symphony. The track is part of a special Diamond Jubilee album, available from iTunes and music shops. More info: bit.ly/JubileeSing

OUR FAMILY JUST KEEPS GROWING

Mark Robinson (Assistant Principal Timpani / Tutti Percussion) and his wife Lindsay welcomed Harris James on Thursday 14 June. Big sister Chloe has agreed to keep him. And double bassist Steve Larson, with partner Melissa Barnard (cellist in the Australian Chamber Orchestra) welcomed their daughter Maia. What are the chances she’s going to be a string player?

CODA

BRAVO EDITOR Genevieve Lang sydneysymphony.com/bravo