Performing Beethoven’s entire work for cello and piano in a single concert is a special experience: It is a journey through a lifetime, a journey into the depths of the German composer’s soul. The sonatas represent all three of Beethoven’s major creative periods. Cellist Gary Hoffman, Master in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, Waterloo, together with pianist David Selig dedicate an evening to the complete sonatas for cello and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven. The audience discovers the composer’s development in his desire to master the writing for the cello, but also, more generally, the evolution of his musical aesthetics. Beethoven’s cello sonatas have more strength, intensity and variety of expression than any previously written sonatas. He has succeeded in elevating instrumental music to the highest level of art, which the two artists of this special evening impressively demonstrate.
MSO: Beethoven 9, Circa and Cheetham
The epic struggle for peace and ultimate triumphant bliss of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is physically embodied by ten world-class circus artists from Circa, Australia’s premier contemporary circus, in the Season Opening Gala of Melbourne Sypmphony Orchestra. This revolutionary world-first staging of Beethoven 9 is performed alongside a world premiere by revered Australian composer Deborah Cheetham. Her work “Dutalla, star filled sky” has been created in response to Beethoven’s Ninth.
MSO: Perséphone & The Rite of Spring
The MSO reveals the power of spring with Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps and Perséphone: one wild, rebellious and revolutionary, the other a lyrical, little-known masterpiece. In his final year at the helm, parting Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis conducts this extraordinary Stravinsky double bill, in which Perséphone is performed for the first time in Australia since more than 50 years. Tenor Paul Groves, as Priest Eumophalus, is accompanied on stage by another 180 voices: the MSO Choir, the Australian Girls Choir and the National Boys Choir. The mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean is a convincing narrator.
MSO: Chinese New Year Concert
Visionary composer and conductor Tan Dun returns to Melbourne to celebrate the Year of the Pig in a thrilling and personal program. His Double Bass Concerto is inspired by the Chinese novel Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong and reflects Tan Dun’s fascination with the sounds and customs of the ancient cultures along the Silk Road. Joining the maestro and the MSO is Hanggai, a troupe of traditional-meets-rock musicians from the steppes of Inner Mongolia via Beijing. Combining traditional instruments with a hearty serving of rock bravado, their performance with the MSO is unlike anything else you have seen all year.
MSO: Bernstein on Broadway
All his life Leonard Bernstein had a love affair with New York and in his many music theatre works he painted the most vivid picture of life in the ‘City That Never Sleeps’. This performance embraces Bernstein’s New York, offering a rare insight into the composer’s mind with Bernstein devotee Bramwell Tovey at the helm and on the keys. PROGRAM Music from Wonderful Town, On the Town, Candide, Peter Pan, Fancy Free and West Side Story
MSO: Sir Andrew Davis conducts 20th-Century Classics
Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis with Australia’s violin master Richard Tognetti, this concert features Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending which was placed No. 1 in the ABC’s Swoon Classic 100 countdown in 2015. The work itself remains a glorious evocation of English pastoral life — the solo violin being the evocation of George Meredith’s soaring verse. Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes convey all the scrunchy saltiness of the coast of his beloved East Anglia. The program also includes the Partita for Violin and Orchestra by Witold Lutoslawski, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s vibrant Symphonic Dances.
MSO: Season Opening Gala
Join us for a concert with two universally admired guest artists – Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire, described by The Guardian as ‘a master of (his) craft’, and Australian heldentenor and Grammy Award nominee, Stuart Skelton. The celebratory program includes: Beethoven’s majestic “Emperor” Piano Concerto; Carl Vine’s Symphony No. 1 “Microsymphony” (a work encompassing the dramatic features of a symphony compressed into just 12 minutes); and highlights from Fidelio, Die Walküre, Otello and Götterdämmerung sung by Stuart Skelton, who was awarded the International Opera Awards Male Singer of the Year.
MSO: East Meets West – A Chinese New Year’s Celebration
Join the MSO and maestro Lü Jia with a stellar cast of guest artists to celebrate the Chinese New Year in a colourful and joyous one-night-only event showcasing Melbourne’s diverse culture. One of China’s most celebrated violinists, Lu Siqing, performs with the MSO for the first time since 2014 as soloist in one of China’s most famous orchestral works, the lush and romantic Butterfly Lovers’ concerto. Written by composers Chen Gang and He Zhahao in 1959, it is the perfect inclusion in this concert. Revel in the textured sounds of traditional Chinese instruments, new works and world-class musicians in the heart of Melbourne, a city with a rich Chinese-Australian history, worthy of celebration. MSO’s annual Chinese New Year celebration has become a highlight on the concert calendar, celebrating the city’s cultural diversity.
MSO: Russian Night with Maxim Vengerov
The world-renowned violinist Maxim Vengerov joins the MSO to perform the fiendishly difficult Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky. Full of soaring melodies, melancholy and virtuosity, this work has rightfully claimed its place amongst the great violin concertos of all time. Scheherazade tells the story of a slave girl having to amuse the gruesome sultan by telling him a new story every night. Several of these come together in Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful oriental fantasy; a highlight in the Russian orchestral repertoire and the ideal work for an ensemble of virtuosos like the MSO. Allow the MSO to transport you into the world of a thousand-and-one nights.
MSO: Handel/Davis: Messiah
This performance by the MSO stands apart – firstly, as Sir Andrew Davis’ farewell performance after six years as Chief Conduct, and secondly, as the Australian premiere of Davis’ own orchestration of Handel’s classic which has been nominated at the 2018 Grammy Awards. The all-Australian cast of soloists including soprano Shiobhan Stagg – “sparkling all night“ – (Herald Sun) and tenor Topi Lehtipuu sing excellently, the well-prepared MSO choir performs masterfully.