Tea & Symphony

Thomas Adès’ Asyla is huge, and it calls for a huge orchestra. We meet the challenge by joining forces with the youthful talents of our exceptional mentoring orchestra, the Sydney
Sinfonia, in our very first “Side-by-Side” concert. With old hands and fresh faces we’ll form a super orchestra to play this madhouse of a piece with its thrilling contrasts and pop culture influences – The Rite of Spring meets club music.

Maxwell Foster is another youthful talent, and he’ll be performing the concerto that won him the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year award in 2008 when he was 16. This concerto isn’t a chart topper for nothing: Tchaikovsky marries virtuoso power to his famous soaring melodies for the perfect blend of brilliance and poetry. Lucid orchestral colours and dancing rhythms frame an intoxicating concert.

P STANHOPE Fantasia on a Theme by Vaughan Williams
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1
ADÈS Asyla*
TCHAIKOVSKY Nutcracker: Suite*

Richard Gill conductor
Thomas Adès conductor*
Maxwell Foster piano
Sydney Sinfonia(Side-by-Side with
the Sydney Symphony)*

Pre-concert talk by composer Paul Stanhope in the Northern Foyer at 5.45pm (20 and 21 October only)

TEA & SYMPHONY - 22 OCT
Short program: Stanhope and Tchaikovsky concerto

The Rococo Variations for cello and orchestra is the most famous of these and its refined nostalgia and delicate virtuosity strikes a chord in every heart. Mozart himself is represented by the symphony he wrote for the city that loved him best Prague. But Sydneysiders can be just as appreciative of the music’s spirit and “fiery momentum”. Add the bell-like simplicity of Pärt’s Fratres and you really can “expect something sublime”.

PÄRT Fratres for solo violin, strings and percussion
MOZART Symphony No.38 (Prague)
TCHAIKOVSKY Rococo Variations for cello and orchestra

Dene Olding violin-director
Catherine Hewgill cello*

* Timothy Walden is unable to perform at these concerts as originally scheduled.

Pre-concert talk by David Garrett at 6.15pm in the First Floor Reception Room (11 November only).

LISTEN TO SAMPLES

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There should be every reason to think of Tchaikovsky as out of touch – he was an aloof personality, full of insecurities – and yet his music cuts to the core with the irresistible impulse of honest emotion.

You can’t help but feel his astonishing gift for melody and great dramatic instincts. In this concert we celebrate his genius with the soaring themes and infectious virtuosity of the Violin Concerto and music from his ballet masterpiece, Sleeping Beauty.

Following the 2008 Elgar festival, Vladimir Ashkenazy has invited Canadian James Ehnes, “a tremendous violinist”, to return to play another great Romantic concerto. 

SIBELIUS Finlandia
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Sleeping Beauty: Suite

Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
James Ehnes violin

Pre-concert talk by Robert Murray at 7.15pm in the Northern Foyer (9 and 11 December only).

TEA & SYMPHONY – 10 DECEMBER
Short program: Violin Concerto and Sleeping Beauty Suite.

AUDIO PLAYER LISTING

Track 1 – TCHAIKOVSKY Sleeping Beauty: Waltz
L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Ernest Ansermet
DECCA 480 0560
Tracks 2 and 3 TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
Boris Belkin, violin, with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy
DECCA 467 604-2
Track 4 – SIBELIUS Finlandia
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy
DECCA 466 6872

Audio kindly supplied by Universal Music

Currently available for purchase: Finlandia

LISTEN TO SAMPLES

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Beethoven was the first musical hero and as far as some of us are concerned he’s the greatest of them all. His Emperor Concerto takes the heroic spirit of the Napoleonic age and turns it into music that’s muscular and commanding, wrapping the noblest of emotions in breathtaking virtuosity. It’s weighty music for a powerful pianist like François-Frédéric Guy.

Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung brought together a whole raft of heroes in a massive cycle of four operas that begins in the Rhine and ends with the halls of Valhalla aflame. At 20 hours it’s too much for one concert, but Alexander Briger has chosen the orchestral highlights, beginning with the Ride of the Valkyries, for a Wagnerian musical adventure – minus the singing!

THE HALL OF HEROES
LEDGER Arcs and Planes
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.5 (Emperor)
WAGNER The Ring of the Nibelung: An Orchestral Suite

Alexander Briger conductor
François-Frédéric Guy piano

TEA & SYMPHONY - 19 MARCH
Short program: Beethoven, Wagner

You can also read our interview with François-Frédéric Guy.

AUDIO PLAYER LISTING

Track 1 – BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.5 (Emperor): 1. Allegro
Track 2 – BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.5 (Emperor): 2. Adagio un poco mosso
Track 3 – BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.5 (Emperor): 3. Rondo (Allegro)
Radu Lupu, piano, with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta
DECCA 66 6892

Visit again closer to the concert for more highlights from this program.

Audio kindly supplied by Universal Music.

Currently available from iTunes

LISTEN TO SAMPLES

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In space, if you listen, you can hear the stars sing. Georges Lentz, with his profound musical vision and love of the night sky, brings that sound into the concert hall – pure and serene.

We premiered Guyuhmgan in 2001, and for its return Lentz has added solos for two of our woodwind principals. The music’s soft tones find affinity in the delicate austerity of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, and Beethoven’s heroic tone-poem in miniature balances Sibelius’s most memorable symphony.

Sibelius also claimed heavenly inspiration. Writing his Fifth Symphony, he said it was if God had thrown down mosaic pieces from heaven and asked him to put them back as they were – for Sibelius composing was like a celestial jigsaw puzzle, an aching mystery that even he didn’t fully understand. We may not understand the process either, but we recognise the result – invigorating and life-affirming.

HARMONY FROM HEAVEN
BEETHOVEN Leonore Overture No.3
LENTZ Guyuhmgan
STRAVINSKY Symphonies of Wind Instruments
SIBELIUS Symphony No.5

Matthew Coorey conductor
Diana Doherty oboe
Alexandre Oguey cor anglais

TEA & SYMPHONY - 14 MAY
Short program: Beethoven, Lentz and Sibelius.

PRE-CONCERT TALKS

Free pre-concert talk by David Garrett in the Northern Foyer, 45 minutes before the concerts on 12, 13, and 17 May. (Not talk before Tea & Symphony.)

AUDIO PLAYER LISTING

Track 1 – BEETHOVEN Leonore Overture No.3
Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 445 112-2
Track 2 – LENTZ Guyumhgan
Sydney Symphony conducted by Edo de Waart
ABC CLASSICS 472 397-2
Track 3 – STRAVINSKY Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920 version)
Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Pierre Boulez
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 457 616-2
Track 4 – SIBELIUS Symphony No.5: 3rd movement (Allegro molto)
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anthony Collins
DECCA 442 9493

Audio kindly supplied by Universal Music.

Currently available from iTunes: Beethoven