Brahms and Tchaikovsky

C O N C E R T P R O G R A M

Melbourne Recital Centre Series Thursday 26 November at 8pm

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre

Monash Series Friday 27 November at 8pm

Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University

Melbourne Recital Centre Series Saturday 28 November at 6.30pm

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre

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WHAT’S ON DECEMBER 2015 –MARCH 2016

MESSIAH Saturday 5 December Sunday 6 December

Join conductor Bramwell Tovey, the MSO Chorus and renowned international soloists for one of the MSO’s most beloved Christmas traditions, Handel’s Messiah.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS Saturday 12 December Sunday 13 December

Bramwell Tovey joins the MSO as conductor, pianist and host in this celebration of the great musical traditions of Christmas, from famous orchestral works and favourite Christmas songs to the most beloved of Yuletide carols.

HITCHCOCK AND HERRMANN Friday 5 February Saturday 6 February

Immerse yourself in scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic films on the big screen and hear Bernard Herrmann’s astonishing scores in 3D – performed live by the MSO.

LUNAR NEW YEAR CONCERT Sunday 14 February

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.

DVOŘÁK’S NEW WORLD SYMPHONY Friday 4 March

The opening concert in the MSO’s Town Hall Series, led by Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey and featuring Sibelius’ Finlandia, Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Dvořák’s Symphony No.9.

AN ALPINE SYMPHONY Thursday 10 March Friday 11 March Saturday 12 March

Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis opens the season with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto performed by Ray Chen, Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music and Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony.

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This concert has a duration of approximately 2 hours including one 20 minute interval.

This performance will be recorded for broadcast on ABC Classic FM at 1pm on Sunday 29 November.

Pre-Concert Talks 7pm Thursday 26 November, Onstage, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

7pm Friday 27 November, Foyer, Robert Blackwood Hall

MSO Operations Coordinator Lucy Rash will present a talk on the artist and works featured in the program.

Post-Concert Conversation 8.30pm Saturday 28 November, Onstage, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

Join MSO Director of Artistic Planning Ronald Vermeulen for a post-concert conversation with tonight’s artist.

REPERTOIRE

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Kolja Blacher violin/director

Bartók Divertimento

Brahms Violin Concerto

– Interval

– Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings

Welcome to this concert of music from Hungary, Germany and Russia.

The Berlin-born violinist Kolja Blacher is equally renowned as performer and educator. He is passionately committed to sharing his insights into the glories of music and this passion will be much in evidence in today’s program in which he appears as both director and soloist.

The centrepiece is Brahms’s majestic Violin Concerto. Although this work long ago escaped from the pejorative description ‘Concerto against Violin and Orchestra’ it still presents formidable challenges to its interpreters – but also vast rewards!

This is flanked by two very different works for string orchestra: Bartok’s Divertimento, which pays homage, albeit in a highly personal manner, to the 18th century concerto grosso, and Tchaikovsky’s incomparable Serenade for Strings, described by the composer as ‘a piece from the heart, and so I venture to hope that it is not without artistic qualities’. This is curiously like Rimsky-Korsakov’s self-deprecating remarks about his masterpiece Scheherazade which was played by the MSO a few weeks ago. You will have no such reservations, I’m sure!

Sir Andrew Davis Chief Conductor MSO

WELCOME

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we perform – The Kulin Nation – and would like to pay our respects to their Elders and Community both past and present.

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MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

With a reputation for excellence, versatility and innovation, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is Australia’s oldest orchestra, established in 1906. The Orchestra currently performs live to more than 200,000 people annually, in concerts ranging from subscription performances at its home, Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne, to its annual free concerts at Melbourne’s largest outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Sir Andrew Davis gave his inaugural concerts as Chief Conductor of the MSO in April 2013, having made his debut with the Orchestra in 2009. Highlights of his tenure have included collaborations with artists including Bryn Terfel, Emanuel Ax and Truls Mørk, the release of recordings of music by Richard Strauss, Charles Ives, Percy Grainger and Eugene Goossens, a 2014 European Festivals tour, and a multi-year cycle of Mahler’s Symphonies.

The MSO also works each season with Principal Guest Conductor Diego Matheuz, Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Recent guest conductors to the MSO have included Tan Dun and Jakub Hrůša. The Orchestra has also collaborated with non-classical musicians including Flight Facilities, Ben Folds, Nick Cave, Sting and Tim Minchin.

The MSO reaches an even larger audience through its regular concert broadcasts on ABC Classic FM, also streamed online, and through recordings on Chandos and ABC Classics. The MSO’s Education and Community Engagement initiatives deliver innovative and engaging programs to audiences of all ages, including MSO Learn, an educational iPhone and iPad app designed to teach children about the inner workings of an orchestra.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is funded principally by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and is generously supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. The MSO is also funded by the City of Melbourne, its Principal Partner, Emirates, corporate sponsors and individual donors, trusts and foundations.

KOLJA BLACHER VIOLIN/DIRECTOR

Kolja Blacher has performed as a soloist all over the world, with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In the role of violin/director, he has performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Bern, Dresden Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin. Performing as both lead violinist and director is also part of his role as the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra’s Artist in Residence this season. His recordings include the Berg and Stravinsky violin concertos in collaboration with Claudio Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, which was the winner of the Diapason d’Or.

Kolja studied at The Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay, and with Sándor Végh in Salzburg. He was a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg before returning to Berlin, where he teaches at the Hanns Eisler School of Music. A born and bred Berliner – his father was the Baltic-German composer Boris Blacher – Kolja lives with his family in Berlin. He plays a 1730 Tritton Stradivari.

Kolja Blacher’s appearance with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is supported in part through The Stephenson Gift, in tribute to the great Romanian violinist, George Enescu.

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The intensity which shines from Béla Bartók’s eyes in photographs is hardly ever absent from his music. The title ‘Divertimento’, however, harks back to the music for pleasure of the 18th century. Bartók composed this piece with his usual fanatical thoroughness, but in circumstances unusually happy for him. It was commissioned by Swiss conductor Paul Sacher for the Basle Chamber Orchestra (Bartók had already written for Sacher the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion).

Late in 1938 Sacher asked Bartók for a work for smaller string orchestra. Sacher put at Bartók’s disposal for the summer of 1939 his chalet at Saanen, in the mountains of the Swiss canton of Bern. Saanen was a quiet and idyllic village outside the ski season, and the Sachers saw to it that the composer was undisturbed. Bartók wrote to his son that he felt like a musician of olden times, the invited guest of a patron of the arts. Under these serene conditions he composed the Divertimento in 15 days. Within months of its completion, the death of his mother and political events in Hungary cruelly interfered with Bartók’s life.

The Divertimento was one of the last compositions Bartók finished before emigrating to the United States. Altogether one of his most accessible and enjoyable works, it shows that the tone of simplicity, directness and warm humanity to be found in his American compositions had already entered his music before he left Europe.

The Divertimento benefited from Bartók’s exploration of the possibilities of string instruments in his third to sixth string quartets, and in the earlier work for Sacher’s orchestra. He wrote to his son that he was thinking of ‘some kind of concerto grosso, interchanging with a concertino’, and he makes much of the contrast of sonorities between the soloists’ group (string quartet plus double bass) and the main body of strings, but alternating more frequently between the two than did the 18th-century composers. The elegant style of that century is blended in the dance-inspired music of the Divertimento’s first and third movements, with the Verbunkos, or recruiting dance, a type of Hungarian folk music. All the melodic material has the modal character of Hungarian folk music, and Bartók’s lifelong concern with the overall unity of each of his compositions is seen in the close relationship of the themes of the first and third movements.

The first movement has a relaxed character, but the themes are treated with typically ingenious combination and development (mainly using canons and other forms of imitation). The slow movement,

in complete contrast, is sombre and almost tragic in feeling. It has been compared to a vision of a funeral procession, with sound effects Bartók uses elsewhere to suggest night, and cries and shrieks for violins and violas, expressing perhaps Bartók’s dread of war and fear for the future of Europe. The third movement is a fast folk dance, in rondo form. The interludes are free rhapsodies. After a passage of strict, learned imitation, the solo violin seems to thumb its nose at this music with a cadenza in gypsy style. The first theme is eventually turned into a polka dance with violin slides over plucked strings, a kind of café music, after which Bartók jerks the listener back to attention with a racing ending.

© David Garrett

The Melbourne Symphony was the first of the Australian state orchestras to perform Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings, on 13 and 14 August 1952 under conductor Juan José Castro. The MSO’s only subsequent performance of the work took place in July 1956 with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt.

BÉLA BARTÓK (1881-1945)

Divertimento for StringsAllegro non troppo

Molto adagio

Allegro assai

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Brahms spent the summers of 1877-79 in the lakeside village of Pörtschach in Carinthia, producing his first Motet, Op.74, the Ballades for two voices and piano Op.75, the Symphony No.2 and his Violin Sonata in G, Op.78 – all works which share an atmosphere of pastoral beauty shot through with nostalgia. But as Brahms scholar Karl Geiringer notes, the ‘crowning masterpiece’ of this time is the Violin Concerto.

The concerto, like the G major Sonata, was composed for the great virtuoso Joseph Joachim, whom an ecstatic 15-year-old Brahms had heard play the Beethoven Violin Concerto. After being introduced by Brahms’ then duo partner Eduard Reményi in 1853, their friendship began in earnest, with Joachim later writing to Brahms’ parents of how ‘Johannes has stimulated my work as an artist to an extent beyond my hopes … my friendship is always at his disposal.’ Brahms similarly admired Joachim, significantly as the composer of the Hungarian Concerto as much as performer, saying that ‘there is more in Joachim than in all the other young composers put together’.

While Joachim was intimately involved with the creation of early works of Brahms’ chamber music, it was not, strangely enough, until those summers in the 1870s when Brahms was in his 40s – the same time he finally emerged as a symphonist – that he wrote solo music for the violinist. Geiringer notes that, in the case of both concerto and sonata, Brahms ‘conscientiously asked his friend’s advice on all technical questions – and then hardly ever followed it’, but in fact at crucial points Joachim’s advice on technical matters was invaluable. This consisted mainly of tinkering with certain figurations to make them more gratifying to play. With the concerto the process was, however, intensely annoying for both, and Brahms’ prevarications and avoidance strategies for finishing the piece had their effects, ultimately, on its first performance and subsequent reception. But Joachim was also a profoundly serious artist – like Brahms – and out of their collaboration came works in which the element of virtuosity never overshadows the musical argument, despite the work’s many technical challenges. Joachim also wrote a cadenza for the concerto which is still frequently heard today, and which you will hear in this performance.

The concerto has some of the expansive dimensions of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.1. This is especially true of the spacious first movement which, like that of Beethoven’s, takes up more than half the work’s playing time, and which begins with a long, symphonic exposition of its main themes. Like its companion, the Symphony No.2, the concerto is in D, a key which

composers like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius used for violin concertos as it makes use of the natural resonance of the instrument’s open D, A and G strings; like the Symphony it has something of a visionary Romantic tone cast in impeccably classical form.

Brahms originally thought to write the piece in four movements, making the central pair a scherzo and contrasting slow movement. But he wrote to Joachim that the ‘middle movements – naturally the best ones – have fallen through. So I have substituted a feeble [or ‘wretched’] adagio.’ (In fact the proposed scherzo made it into the Second Piano Concerto.) ‘Feeble’ is of course hardly the word for this sublime Adagio, though one violinist notoriously complained that the oboe got the only good tune! Derived from the simplest of musical figures – the falling broken chord with which the violin begins – it evolves into one of Brahms’ most soulful but restrained movements. As such it provides a wonderful contrast to the gypsy-style finale, with its pyrotechnic solo line and exciting use of displaced accents.

Joachim premiered the piece in Leipzig in 1879, but the response was tepid, partly because of the wrangling over revisions and improvements that went on until very near the performance date: Joachim was not entirely at ease and Brahms, frequently erratic on the podium, was not at his best while conducting the work. In fact, only through Joachim’s persistence did the concerto gradually gain its rightful place in the standard repertoire. Joachim continued to advocate for Brahms’ music even when the two men fell out over the violinist’s divorce in 1884. That rift lasted until Brahms wrote the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in 1887. But that’s another story.

Gordon Kerry © 2006 /15

The first performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto by any of the Australian state orchestras was given by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on 20 August 1938, with conductor Malcolm Sargent and soloist Haydn Beck. The MSO most recently performed it in June 2010 with Mario Venzago and Daniel Hope.

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)

Violin Concerto in D, Op.77Allegro non troppo

Adagio

Allegro giocoso

Kolja Blacher violin

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In the years 1877-85, following his disastrous marriage, Tchaikovsky went into a creative downturn, broken only by two acknowledged masterpieces, the brilliant and extrovert Capriccio Italien and the Serenade for Strings. The Serenade’s composition came about, according to the composer, ‘entirely by chance’ – he had been sketching ‘something between a symphony and a string quartet’. His imagination was seized by a kind of inner compulsion, and on completion he wrote to his publisher, ‘I am violently in love with this work and can’t wait for it to be played.’ Audiences too were delighted with the Serenade, which had its first performance under Napravnik in 1881. Anton Rubinstein said of it, ‘It seems to me that this is Tchaikovsky’s best thing.’

The Serenade for Strings is by and large a cheerful, sunny piece, an impression contributed to by the fact that its tunes are in major keys, with only hintsand shades of the minor. The writing for strings is outstandingly able and resourceful, yet so easy and economical as not to draw attention to its skill. Often writing in only three or even two parts, with doublings at the octave, Tchaikovsky achieves a transparency and delicacy which is in marked contrast to the thickness and complexity of texture so prevalent in music of the period.

The Serenade impresses also by its unity, achieved at the most obvious level by Tchaikovsky’s use of a recurring theme, first stated as the slow introduction to the first movement. This device, common in the composer’s work, is no doubt suggested partly by Schumann’s procedures for tying together his cycles of piano pieces. In the Serenade it is basic to the evolution of the whole piece: this theme, a descending scale, is closely related to the Russian folk tune which begins the Allegro section of the last movement, as Tchaikovsky demonstrates when he puts the two themes side by side towards the end of the movement.

The ascending and descending scales of the introduction also turn out to be related to the first subject of the second movement, an elegant waltz, and to the opening of the deeply-felt Elegy. The last movement also has a slow introduction: the theme is a Volga hauling song. It leads by an absorbingly poetic process of transformation into the fast Russian first subject of the last movement.

The whole Serenade enchants us with a poetic and organic inevitability much sought-after by Romantic composers. This was achieved by Tchaikovsky more often in his finest ballet music, with which the Serenade has many affinities, than when he was

preoccupied with the demands of symphonic form as conceived by the ‘best authorities’.

Program note by David Garrett © Symphony Australia

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings on 6 September 1943 with conductor Lionel Lawson, and most recently in October 2004 during a regional tour of Victoria led by John Harding.

PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)

Serenade for Strings, Op.48Pezzo in forma di sonatina (Andante non troppo – Allegro moderato)

Valse (Moderato, tempo di Valse)

Elegia (Larghetto elegiaco)

Finale, tema russo (Andante – Allegro con spirito)

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ORCHESTRA

First ViolinsDale Barltrop Concertmaster

Eoin Andersen Concertmaster

Sophie Rowell Associate Concertmaster

Peter Edwards Assistant Principal

Kirsty Bremner MSO Friends Chair

Sarah CurroPeter FellinDeborah GoodallLorraine HookKirstin KennyJi Won KimEleanor ManciniMark Mogilevski Michelle RuffoloKathryn TaylorJacqueline Edwards*Robert John* Anne Martonyi*Oksana Thompson*

Second ViolinsMatthew Tomkins The Gross Foundation Principal Second Violin Chair

Robert Macindoe Associate Principal

Monica Curro Assistant Principal

Mary AllisonIsin CakmakciogluFreya FranzenCong GuAndrew HallFrancesca HiewRachel Homburg Christine JohnsonIsy WassermanPhilippa WestPatrick WongRoger YoungJenny Khafagi*

ViolasChristopher Moore Principal

Fiona Sargeant Associate Principal

Lauren BrigdenKatharine BrockmanChristopher Cartlidge Gabrielle HalloranTrevor Jones Fiona Sargeant Cindy WatkinCaleb WrightCameron Campbell* Ceridwen Davies* Helen Ireland* Isabel Morse*

CellosDavid Berlin MS Newman Family Principal Cello Chair

Rachael Tobin Associate Principal

Nicholas Bochner Assistant Principal

Miranda BrockmanRohan de KorteKeith JohnsonSarah MorseAngela SargeantMichelle Wood

Double BassesSteve Reeves Principal

Andrew Moon Associate Principal

Sylvia Hosking Assistant Principal

Damien EckersleyBenjamin HanlonSuzanne LeeStephen NewtonJonathon Coco*

FlutesPrudence Davis Principal Flute Chair - Anonymous

Wendy Clarke Associate Principal

Sarah Beggs

PiccoloAndrew Macleod Principal

OboesJeffrey Crellin Principal

Thomas Hutchinson Associate Principal

Ann Blackburn

Cor AnglaisMichael Pisani Principal

ClarinetsDavid Thomas Principal

Philip Arkinstall Associate Principal

Craig Hill

Bass ClarinetJon Craven Principal

BassoonsJack Schiller Principal

Elise Millman Associate Principal

Natasha Thomas

ContrabassoonBrock Imison Principal

Horns Peter Davida* Guest Principal

Geoff Lierse Associate Principal

Saul Lewis Principal Third

Jenna BreenAbbey EdlinTrinette McClimont

TrumpetsGeoffrey Payne Principal

Shane Hooton Associate Principal

William EvansJulie Payne

TrombonesBrett Kelly Principal

Bass TromboneMike Szabo Principal

TubaTimothy Buzbee Principal

TimpaniChristine Turpin Principal

PercussionRobert Clarke Principal

John ArcaroRobert Cossom

HarpYinuo Mu Principal

*Guest musician

Sir Andrew Davis Harold Mitchell AC Chief Conductor Chair

Diego Matheuz Principal Guest Conductor

Benjamin Northey Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair

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MANAGEMENT

BoardMichael Ullmer Chairman

Andrew DyerDanny GorogMargaret Jackson ACBrett KellyDavid Krasnostein David LiAnn PeacockHelen Silver AOKee Wong

Company SecretaryOliver Carton

ExecutiveRichard Evans Interim Managing Director

Catrin Harris Executive Assistant

Human ResourcesMiranda Crawley Director of Human Resources

BusinessFrancie Doolan Chief Financial Officer

Raelene King Personnel Manager

Leonie Woolnough Financial Controller

Nathalia Andries Accountant

Grace Gao Finance Officer

Suzanne Dembo Strategic Communications and Business Processes Manager

ArtisticRonald Vermeulen Director of Artistic Planning

Andrew Pogson Special Projects Manager

Laura Holian Artistic Coordinator

Helena Balazs Chorus Manager

Stephen McAllan Artist Liaison

Education and Community EngagementMichelle Hamilton Interim Director of Education and Community Engagement

Lucy Bardoel Education and Community Engagement Coordinator

Louise Godwin Pizzicato Effect Program Manager

Lucy Rash Pizzicato Effect Coordinator

OperationsGabrielle Waters Director of Operations

Angela Bristow Orchestra Manager

James Foster Operations Manager

James Poole Production Coordinator

Alastair McKean Orchestra Librarian

Kathryn O’Brien Assistant Librarian

Michael Stevens Assistant Orchestra Manager

Lucy Rash Operations Coordinator

MarketingAlice Wilkinson Director of Marketing

Jennifer Poller Marketing Manager

Ali Webb PR Manager

Kate Eichler Publicity and Online Engagement Coordinator

Isobel Pyrke Publicity Coordinator

Kieran Clarke Digital Manager

Chelsie Jones Front of House Supervisor

James Rewell Graphic Designer

Chloe Schnell Assistant Marketing Manager

Clare Douglas Marketing Coordinator

Claire Hayes Ticket and Database Manager

Paul Congdon Box Office Supervisor

Martin Gray Ticketing Coordinator

Angela Ballin Customer Service Coordinator

DevelopmentLeith Brooke Director of Development

Jessica Frean MSO Foundation Manager

Ben Lee Donor and Government Relations Manager

Arturs Ezergailis Donor and Patron Coordinator

Judy Turner Major Gifts Manager

Justine Knapp Major Gifts Coordinator

Michelle Monaghan Corporate Development Manager

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SUPPORTERS

Artist Chair BenefactorsHarold Mitchell AC Chief Conductor Chair

Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair

Joy Selby Smith Orchestral Leadership Chair

Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO International Guest Chair

MSO Friends Chair

The Gross Foundation Principal Second Violin Chair

MS Newman Family Principal Cello Chair

Principal Flute Chair – Anonymous

Program BenefactorsMeet The Orchestra Made possible by The Ullmer Family Foundation

East meets West Supported by the Li Family Trust

The Pizzicato Effect (Anonymous)

MSO UPBEAT Supported by Betty Amsden AO DSJ

MSO CONNECT Supported by Jason Yeap OAM

Benefactor Patrons $50,000+Betty Amsden AO DSJPhilip Bacon AM Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO John and Jenny Brukner Rachel and the Hon. Alan Goldberg AO QC The Gross FoundationDavid and Angela LiAnnette MaluishHarold Mitchell ACMS Newman FamilyRoslyn Packer AOMrs Margaret S Ross AM and Dr Ian Ross Joy Selby SmithUllmer Family Foundation

Impresario Patrons $20,000+Michael AquilinaPerri Cutten and Jo DaniellSusan Fry and Don Fry AOMargaret Jackson AC John McKay and Lois McKayElizabeth Proust AO Rae Rothfield

Maestro Patrons $10,000+John and Mary BarlowKaye and David BirksPaul and Wendy Carter Mitchell ChipmanJan and Peter ClarkSir Andrew and Lady Gianna Davis Andrew and Theresa DyerFuture Kids Pty Ltd Robert & Jan GreenLou Hamon OAMDavid Krasnostein and Pat Stragalinos Mr Greig Gailey and Dr Geraldine LazarusMimie MacLarenMatsarol FoundationIan and Jeannie Paterson Onbass FoundationGlenn Sedgwick Maria Solà, in memory of Malcolm Douglas Drs G & G Stephenson. In honour of the great Romanian musicians George Enescu and Dinu LipattiLyn Williams AMKee Wong and Wai TangJason Yeap OAMAnonymous (1)

Principal Patrons $5,000+Lino and Di Bresciani OAM Linda BrittenDavid and Emma CapponiTim and Lyn EdwardJohn and Diana Frew Danny Gorog and Lindy SusskindNereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AMHans and Petra Henkell Hartmut and Ruth HofmannJenny and Peter Hordern

Jenkins Family FoundationSuzanne KirkhamVivien and Graham KnowlesElizabeth Kraus in memory of Bryan Hobbs Dr Elizabeth A Lewis AM Peter LovellThe Cuming BequestMr and Mrs D R MeagherWayne and Penny MorganMarie Morton FRSA Dr Paul Nisselle AM Lady Potter ACStephen Shanasy Gai and David TaylorThe Hon. Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall Anonymous (5)

Associate Patrons $2,500+Dandolo PartnersWill and Dorothy Bailey BequestBarbara Bell in memory of Elsa BellMrs S BignellStephen and Caroline BrainMr John Brockman OAM and Mrs Pat Brockman Leith and Mike Brooke Rhonda Burchmore Bill and Sandra BurdettOliver CartonJohn and Lyn CoppockMiss Ann Darby in memory of Leslie J. Darby Mary and Frederick Davidson AMPeter and Leila DoyleLisa Dwyer and Dr Ian DicksonJane Edmanson OAMDr Helen M FergusonMr Bill FlemingColin Golvan QC and Dr Deborah GolvanSusan and Gary HearstGillian and Michael HundRosemary and James Jacoby John and Joan Jones Kloeden Foundation Sylvia LavelleAnn and George Littlewood H E McKenzieAllan and Evelyn McLarenDon and Anne MeadowsAnn Peacock with Andrew and Woody Kroger

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Player Patrons $1,000+Anita and Graham Anderson, Christine and Mark Armour, Arnold Bloch Leibler, Marlyn and Peter Bancroft OAM, Adrienne Basser, Prof Weston Bate and Janice Bate, Timothy and Margaret Best, David and Helen Blackwell, Bill Bowness, Michael F Boyt, M Ward Breheny, Suzie Brown, Jill and Christopher Buckley, Lynne Burgess, Dr Lynda Campbell, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Andrew and Pamela Crockett, Natasha Davies, Pat and Bruce Davis, Merrowyn Deacon, Sandra Dent, Dominic and Natalie Dirupo, Marie Dowling, John and Anne Duncan, Kay Ehrenberg, Gabrielle Eisen, Vivien and Jack Fajgenbaum, Grant Fisher and Helen Bird, Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin, David Frenkiel and Esther Frenkiel OAM, Carrillo and Ziyin Gantner, David Gibbs and Susie O’Neill, Merwyn and Greta Goldblatt, Dina and Ron Goldschlager, George Golvan QC and Naomi Golvan, Charles and Cornelia Goode, Dr Marged Goode, Louise Gourlay OAM, Ginette and André Gremillet, Max Gulbin, Dr Sandra Hacker AO and Mr Ian Kennedy AM, Jean Hadges, Paula Hansky OAM and Jack Hansky AM, Tilda and Brian Haughney, Penelope Hughes, Dr Alastair Jackson, Stuart Jennings, George and Grace Kass, Irene Kearsey, Ilma Kelson Music Foundation,

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SUPPORTERS

Dr Anne Kennedy, Bryan Lawrence, Lew Foundation, Norman Lewis in memory of Dr Phyllis Lewis, Dr Anne Lierse, Violet and Jeff Loewenstein, The Hon Ian Macphee AO and Mrs Julie Mcphee, Elizabeth H Loftus, Vivienne Hadj and Rosemary Madden, Dr Julianne Bayliss, In memory of Leigh Masel, John and Margaret Mason, In honour of Norma and Lloyd Rees, Ruth Maxwell, Trevor and Moyra McAllister, David Menzies, Ian Morrey, Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James, Graham and Christine Peirson, Andrew Penn and Kallie Blauhorn, Kerryn Pratchett, Peter Priest, Eli Raskin, Peter and Carolyn Rendit, S M Richards AM and M R Richards, Dr Rosemary Ayton and Dr Sam Ricketson, Joan P Robinson, Doug and Elisabeth Scott, Jeffrey Sher, Dr Sam Smorgon AO and Mrs Minnie Smorgon, John So, Dr Norman and Dr Sue Sonenberg, Dr Michael Soon, Pauline Speedy, State Music Camp, Dr Peter Strickland, Geoff and Judy Steinicke, Mrs Suzy and Dr Mark Suss, Pamela Swansson, Tennis Cares- Tennis Australia, Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher, Margaret Tritsch, Judy Turner and Neil Adam, P & E Turner, Mary Vallentine AO, The Hon. Rosemary Varty, Leon and Sandra Velik, Elizabeth Wagner, Sue Walker AM, Elaine Walters OAM and Gregory Walters, Edward and Paddy White, Janet Whiting and Phil Lukies, Nic and Ann Willcock, Marian and Terry Wills Cooke, Pamela F Wilson, Joanne Wolff, Peter and Susan Yates, Mark Young, Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das, YMF Australia, Anonymous (5)

The Mahler SyndicateDavid and Kaye Birks, John and Jenny Brukner, Mary and Frederick Davidson AM, Tim and Lyn Edward, John and Diana Frew, Louis Hamon OAM, Francis and Robyn Hofmann, The Hon Dr Barry Jones AC, Dr Paul Nisselle AM, Maria Solà in memory of Malcolm Douglas, The Hon Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall, Anonymous (1)

MSO RosesFounding RoseJenny Brukner

RosesMary Barlow, Linda Britten, Wendy Carter, Annette Maluish, Lois McKay, Pat Stragalinos, Jenny Ullmer

RosebudsMaggie Best, Penny Barlow, Leith Brooke, Lynne Damman, Francie Doolan, Lyn Edward, Penny Hutchinson, Elizabeth A Lewis AM, Sophie Rowell, Dr Cherilyn Tillman

Foundations and TrustsThe A.L. Lane FoundationThe Annie Danks TrustCollier Charitable FundCreative Partnerships AustraliaCrown Resorts Foundation and the Packer Family FoundationThe Cybec FoundationThe Harold Mitchell FoundationHelen Macpherson Smith TrustIvor Ronald Evans Foundation, managed by Equity Trustees Limited and Mr Russell BrownLinnell/Hughes Trust, managed by PerpetualThe Marian and EH Flack TrustThe Perpetual Foundation – Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment, managed by PerpetualThe Pratt FoundationThe Robert Salzer FoundationThe Schapper Family FoundationThe Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust

Conductor’s CircleCurrent Conductor’s Circle MembersJenny Anderson, G C Bawden and L de Kievit, Lesley Bawden, Joyce Bown, Mrs Jenny Brukner and the late Mr John Brukner, Ken Bullen, Luci and Ron Chambers, Sandra Dent, Lyn Edward, Alan Egan JP, Gunta Eglite, Louis Hamon OAM, Carol Hay, Tony Howe, Audrey M Jenkins, John and Joan Jones, George and Grace Kass, Mrs Sylvia Lavelle, Pauline and David Lawton, Lorraine Meldrum, Cameron Mowat, Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James, Rosia Pasteur, Elizabeth Proust AO, Penny Rawlins, Joan P Robinson, Neil Roussac, Anne Roussac-Hoyne, Jennifer Shepherd, Drs Gabriela and George Stephenson, Pamela Swansson, Lillian Tarry, Dr Cherilyn Tillman, Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock, Michael Ullmer, Ila Vanrenen, Mr Tam Vu, Marian and Terry Wills Cooke, Mark Young, Anonymous (22)

The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support received from the Estates of:Angela Beagley, Gwen Hunt, Pauline Marie Johnston, C P Kemp, Peter Forbes MacLaren, Prof Andrew McCredie, Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE, Molly Stephens, Jean Tweedie, Herta and Fred B Vogel, Dorothy Wood

Honorary AppointmentsMrs Elizabeth Chernov Education and Community Engagement Patron

Sir Elton John CBE Life Member

The Honourable Alan Goldberg AO QC Life Member

Geoffrey Rush AC Ambassador

The MSO relies on your ongoing philanthropic support to sustain access, artists, education, community engagement and more.

We invite our supporters to get close to the MSO through a range of special events and supporter newsletter The Full Score.

The MSO welcomes your support at any level. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible, and supporters are recognised as follows:

$1,000 (Player), $2,500 (Associate), $5,000 (Principal), $10,000 (Maestro), $20,000 (Impresario), $50,000 (Benefactor)

The MSO Conductor’s Circle is our bequest program for members who have notified of a planned gift in their Will.

Enquiries: Ph: +61 (3) 9626 1248

Email: philanthropy@mso.com.au

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SUPPORTERS

MEDIA PARTNERGOVERNMENT PARTNERS

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

ASSOCIATE PARTNERS

MAESTRO PARTNERS

3L ALLIANCE ELENBERG FRASER

FEATURE ALPHA INVESTMENT FUTURE KIDS

VICTORIA WHITELAW

GOLDEN AGE GROUP KABO LAWYERS LINDA BRITTEN

NAOMI MILGROM FOUNDATION UAG + SJB

OFFICIAL CAR PARTNER

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has been truly blessed in its leadership over the decades, perhaps never more so than under the inspired Chairmanship of Harold Mitchell AC (2008–2015). As Chairman of the MSO Board Harold steered the company through tough times and good, including the triumph of the 2014 international tour, and has been an exemplary leader recruiting a talented and dedicated Board. Announcing his retirement as Chairman at the MSO’s 2015 Symphony Banquet, outgoing Managing Director André Gremillet said “Harold is not only one of the greatest entrepreneurs; he is also one of the country’s most generous and influential philanthropists. He has been the ideal Chairman and we have been lucky to have him in this role for this long.”

Brett Kelly, MSO Principal Trombone and current staff representative on the Board, paid tribute to Harold saying “When it was announced to the musicians and staff of the MSO that Harold

Mitchell was to become the next Chairman of our Board there was an audible gasp in the room. Even those not familiar with his remarkable achievements in business and public life still knew that when Harold threw his support behind a cause things were bound to happen …and happen they did! He quickly infused the whole organisation with a renewed sense of confidence and the sure knowledge that not only could we be great, but that we must be great.”

Fortunately for the Orchestra, Harold will be taking on a leadership role with the MSO Foundation. His new focus will be on securing a viable financial future for MSO by raising much needed funds, and he will be supported in this by new Board Chairman, Melbourne businessman Michael Ullmer.

Let the final word be from Harold himself, who in September this year said “I am delighted to be stepping away from the Chairman role at a time when the Board has

truly begun to see the realisation of its vision to celebrate the MSO’s tradition, entertain and inspire audiences and build music’s future. The Orchestra is also in fine artistic hands, led by Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis and by Michael Ullmer, who has great world knowledge and the amazing capacity to work with people at the highest level. He has the respect of all of the board.”

Thank you Harold from all of us – your impact is seen on the stage and in the rehearsal room every day, and we look forward to it continuing on.

Harold Mitchell AC – A Remarkable Ongoing

Contribution

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The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will take you on a classical adventure next year, with a jam-packed season of music making that is set to inspire people of all ages.

If you have always wanted to learn more about how an orchestra works, then the 2016 Schools and Families program has something for you, featuring events that showcase the spectacular sights and sounds of a symphony orchestra for children, teenagers, adults and families.

The MSO will be collaborating with the acrobatic limbs of Circus Oz for The MSO Runs Away to the Circus, and the stars of the popular ABC Kids show Lah-Lah’s Adventures for Lah-Lah and Buzz Meet the MSO, in performances

aimed to introduce and encourage young children to interact and engage with the sounds of the MSO.

And there is something for everyone next year! The spectrum of events ranges from the interactive and engaging programs that are aimed at a younger audience, to the behind the scenes Open Rehearsals program. There is even an opportunity for music teachers to expand their skills on the podium with an Instrumental Conducting Workshop led by Benjamin Northey.

As a big advocate for musical education, Northey is heavily involved in the 2016 School and Families Season, which will see him conduct the sixth annual MSO Education Week. This popular mini festival, aims to bring

new audiences of all ages into the heart of the Orchestra in a week-long celebration of music making programs and activities directed by internationally acclaimed music educator, Paul Rissmann.

The MSO will also present two side-by-side initiatives during the season, an opportunity for community musicians to perform with their MSO counterpart, Symphony in a Day (for adult community musicians across Victoria), and the Secondary Symphony Project (for upper Secondary Students).

For more information visit www.mso.com.au/education

A Classical Music Making Adventure

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Tune a piano, help fund a regional tour

or gift a child an instrument

Donate now mso.com.au/appeal (03) 9626 1104 philanthropy@mso.com.au

Donate to the MSO and support the sound and soul of our city .

Create Your Own package of gift s ranging from $45 to $7,000

Look out for the catalogue of gift s in your mailbox this November

emirates.com/au

Complimentary Chauffeur-drive service* w Fine dining on demand w World-class service

Relax to music and smooth sips of Hennessy Paradis, or a good story and a glass of Dom Perignon. Savour every indulgence in our First Class Private Suites.

Principal Partner of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Master the art of me-time

*Complimentary Chauffeur-drive service available for First Class and Business Class, excluding Trans-Tasman services and codeshare flights operated by Qantas to Southeast Asia. Mileage restrictions apply. For full terms and conditions visit emirates.com/au. For more information visit emirates.com/au, call 1300 303 777, or contact your local travel agent.

Four short bal lets, feat . music by Debussy, Bizet , L iebermann & Tchaikovsky, and starr ing:SARAH LAMB,CARLOS ACOSTA,STEVEN MCRAE &MARIANELA NUÑEZ

P A L A C E O P E R A & B A L L E T present s

C A P T U R E D L I V E F R O M C O V E N T G A R D E N , L O N D O N

SCREENING AT PALACE CINEMAS DECEMBER 11-16PalaceOperaAndBallet.com.au

The Royal Ballet: QUADRUPLE BILL