MEDIA RELEASEAlyssa Lim, Publicist, Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Tel: (02) 8215 4694 / Mob: +61 450 667 613 alyssa.lim@sydneysymphony.com

2019 Season

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra launches its 2019 Season with a future-focus on new artistic initiatives and appointments

• Four conducting visionaries will each launch multi-year artistic cycles running 2019-2021, the first in the Sydney Symphony’s programming history.

• The completion of David Robertson’s acclaimed tenure as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director will be celebrated throughout 2019 and he has committed to return annually in 2020 and 2021.

• Vladimir Ashkenazy is named Conductor Laureate in 2019 — an honour never-before bestowed on any Sydney Symphony conductor — in recognition of his 50-year association with the Orchestra which began in 1969. He launches a three-year artistic cycle, “Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Masterworks.”

• Donald Runnicles is named the Sydney Symphony’s first ever Principal Guest Conductor and launches a three-year artistic cycle, “Donald Runnicles’ Music of Inspiration.”

• Simone Young returns annually as an esteemed Guest Conductor and launches a three-year artistic cycle, “Simone Young’s Visions of Vienna.”

• The Orchestra launches a new piano festival, “The Keys to the City”, at ICC Sydney, Darling Harbour Theatre, the latest venue to be added to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s list of performance spaces.

• The Orchestra presents the Australian premieres of two major co-commissions and debuts Wynton Marsalis’ The Jungle – Symphony No. 4, featuring New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

• By popular demand, diverse ensembles of Sydney Symphony virtuosi anchor an expanded “Cocktail Hour” chamber music series, including Sunday afternoons for the first time.

• Twice as many family events are offered in 2019 and all tickets in the concert series are reduced to AUD$ 25 to promote access to orchestral music across the generations.

• A new partnership with the State Library of New South Wales system enables free livestreams of Sydney Symphony performances into regional public libraries throughout New South Wales.

• New “Double Gold” and “Triple Gold” multi-year subscriptions freeze prices for 2020 and 2021 and ensure continued access to the multi-year artistic cycles. New “Kickstart” packages provide curated introductions to orchestral music for newcomers.

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The Sydney Symphony Orchestra today announces its 2019 Season, the first developed under the joint leadership of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, David Robertson, and newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Emma Dunch.

“In partnership with Chief Conductor and Artistic Director David Robertson, I am delighted to announce the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s 2019 Season, with its future-focused new artistic initiatives and appointments,” says Dunch. “I could not ask for a better collaborator than David Robertson in developing these plans and setting a dynamic new pace for Australia’s flagship orchestra. We will celebrate his valedictory season and extraordinary legacy as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director throughout 2019, while jointly introducing a host of new artistic projects that we have planned together for the continued enjoyment of our patrons and subscribers.”

“Working with the extraordinary Sydney Symphony Orchestra over these past five years has been a musical dream, and an incredibly rewarding journey,” says Robertson. “In the 2019 season, I have the great fortune to celebrate music, the music-making of the amazing musicians of the Orchestra, and a spectrum of composers that has defined our time together, ranging from the genius of Mozart, to Grieg and Ravel, to Britten and Gershwin, and dear friends like John Adams and Wynton Marsalis. A grand finale of the season, including André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s show-stopper, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, and American Harmonies, featuring works by Adams, Copland and Rouse, will be a special celebration. What a wonderful honour it has been for me to be part of Sydney and its premiere orchestra, to showcase the tremendous talent of the musicians at home and around the world on tour, and how happy I feel to know that 2019 is not a farewell, but a new beginning — I look very much forward to returning in 2020 and 2021!”

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra celebrates David Robertson’s final season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony OrchestraFollowing an acclaimed tenure with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director since 2014, David Robertson will present nine programs of massive works in his gala-culminating season with the Orchestra.

Robertson and the Orchestra open the year with Richard Strauss’ Thus Spake Zarathustra, paired by popular demand with a return performance of the oboe concerto (co-commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra) from Australian composer Nigel Westlake, performed by Principal Oboe Diana Doherty, and Percy Grainger’s mighty The Warriors — an Australian work that Robertson has wanted to conduct for more than 20 years (8, 9 February).

The following week, Robertson highlights the virtuosity of the Sydney Symphony’s principal musicians by presenting the Australian premiere of a Sydney Symphony co-commissioned work for principal soloists plus orchestral ensemble, Steve Reich’s Music for Ensemble and Orchestra, matched with Bartók’s magnificent Concerto for Orchestra. (13, 15 16 February).

On 21, 22 and 25 February, Robertson joins Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), who make their long-awaited return for the Australian premiere of Marsalis’ latest composition, The Jungle – Symphony No. 4, inspired by New York City’s busy “concrete jungle.” For these performances, the JLCO musicians will join the Sydney Symphony onstage. Marsalis and his Orchestra will also perform one stand-alone concert on 23 February, The Music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

In June, Robertson returns to lead gala performances featuring Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 K.491 with guest soloist Lang Lang (27, 29 June).

In July, Robertson’s focus turns to vocal music as he leads mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne, paired with the mighty Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony) (18, 19 July).

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Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes in concert (25, 27 July) will star Stuart Skelton (tenor) and Nicole Car (Soprano) in the leading roles (full details on Page 4).

In August, Robertson launches the Sydney Symphony’s new Keys to the City Festival (see further details below) (3-9 August), while in November, he returns for two weeks of celebratory farewell concerts and events.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra announces new artistic appointments and multi-year artistic cyclesAlongside David Robertson, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will welcome back internationally renowned conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Donald Runnicles and Simone Young in new roles next year. Ashkenazy, Runnicles, and Young will each launch multi-year artistic cycles of their own curation in 2019 that will run through 2020 and 2021, and take audiences on unique, themed aural journeys over multiple performances across several seasons.

Returning as Conductor Laureate – a title bestowed for the first time in Sydney Symphony history – Vladimir Ashkenazy will celebrate 50 years since debuting with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as a soloist in 1969, and launch a series of epic works in Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Masterworks. Accepting the first-ever Principal Guest Conductor title with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles will explore the connections between spirituality and music in works by the great composers in Music of Inspiration. Renowned as an interpreter of Romantic and late-Romantic music, Simone Young returns as an esteemed Guest Conductor and will present Visions of Vienna, a program inspired by the Austrian capital city and known for its significant role in classical music.

Following his official farewell season in 2019, David Robertson will return regularly with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2020 and 2021 to curate special programs of diverse repertoire across a wide spectrum spanning centuries, styles and ideas.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra launches new piano festival and concert venueThe International Convention Centre’s Darling Harbour Theatre will be the venue for a new Sydney Symphony Orchestra event, the Keys to the City Festival. Taking place from 3-9 August, the Festival will feature acclaimed pianist Kirill Gerstein, and mark the occasion of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra adding the ICC Sydney, Darling Harbour Theatre to its growing list of performance venues.

Also at the ICC Sydney in 2019, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra expands its Sydney Symphony Presents program, offering patrons more live-to-film experiences at both the Sydney Opera House and the International Convention Centre’s Sydney Theatre as the Orchestra performs popular film favourites Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™ in Concert (10, 11, 12, 13 April), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ in Concert (10, 11, 12, 13 July), Star Wars: Return of the Jedi In Concert (7 September), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Concert (1 November).

The Orchestra will also celebrate the career of multi-award winning artist Linda Ronstadt, in Celebrating Linda Ronstadt. The concert will feature some of Australia’s leading artists performing hits such as Blue Bayou, You’re No Good, Don’t Know Much, Desperado and It’s So Easy (3, 4 May).

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The Sydney Symphony Orchestra pushes boundaries with noteworthy Australian premieres In 2019, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will present three Australian premieres. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra will perform the Australian premiere of Steve Reich’s Music for Ensemble and Orchestra, a Sydney Symphony Orchestra co-commissioned piece, where almost every member of the orchestra is a soloist (13, 15, 16 February).

On Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JALC) joins the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for the Australian premiere of The Jungle – Symphony No. 4 (21, 22 and 25 February) a piece written by JALC Artistic Director and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (see full details on Page 2).

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s youngest principal musician, Todd Gibson-Cornish (Principal Bassoon) will perform the Australian debut of Christopher Rouse’s Bassoon Concerto, conducted by David Robertson. The premiere of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra co-commissioned work will anchor David Robertson’s final concert as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (28, 29, 30 November).

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra introduces multi-disciplinary works and projectsIn a first for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson and the Orchestra will perform Tom Stoppard and André Previn’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. A blend of theatre and orchestral music, the play tells the story of a political dissident sharing a room in a mental hospital with a madman who thinks that he has an orchestra at his fingertips (22, 23 November).

David Robertson and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will also perform Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes in concert, featuring an all-star Australian cast including tenor Stuart Skelton, soprano Nicole Car, mezzo soprano Deborah Humble, baritone Michael Honeyman, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and American bass-baritone Alan Held. Britten’s operatic tragedy tells the story of a tortured outsider and small-town cruelty (25, 27 July).

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra welcomes a spectacular line-up of international soloistsFurther cementing its global reputation, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is delighted to welcome back international pianist Lang Lang to Sydney. Joining David Robertson and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Lang Lang will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.24 K.491 over two special gala performances (27 and 29 June).

Also returning to Sydney, pianist Behzod Abduraimov will perform Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on 8-9 November.

Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham returns to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, performing alongside David Robertson in Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne in July.

The world’s most acclaimed pianists, including Alessio Bax, Lisa Moore, Geoffrey Lancaster and Paul Lewis will perform recitals at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place.

Renowned Shostakovich expert conductor Mark Wigglesworth will join the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in a concert featuring Shostakovich Symphony No.4. Internationally lauded violinist James Ehnes will perform Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto in the same program (28, 30, 31 August).

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The Sydney Symphony Orchestra spotlights its own musical virtuosi and expands its chamber music offeringsRecognising the talent of its world-class musicians, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will turn the spotlight on its own artists in 2019.

Principal Oboe Diana Doherty, for whom the concerto was specifically written, will take the centre stage in Nigel Westlake’s Spirit of the Wild – Oboe Concerto (8, 9 February).

Concerts co-created by Concertmaster Andrew Haveron, Associate Principal Trumpet Paul Goodchild, and the Orchestra’s Cello section will also feature in the 2019 Season.

Programming additional concerts for its Cocktail Hour series to accommodate audience demand, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will now increase its early-evening Friday and Saturday chamber music offerings to six concerts each, and three across Sunday throughout the year.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra offers more flexibility for patronsCommitted to removing the barriers to music and engaging the next generation of musicians and music-lovers, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will offer twice as many Family Events and reduce its ticket price to AUD$ 25 for each of its 2019 family concerts.

Newcomers to classical concerts can choose a Kickstart subscription package which highlights popular and accessible concerts within the season. Patrons will also be able to purchase new “Double Gold” and “Triple Gold” multi-year subscriptions, which will freeze prizes for 2020 and 2021 at the 2019 rate, allowing them to continue to join the Orchestra over its multi-year artistic cycles.

A new partnership with the State Library of New South Wales will enable free livestreams of Sydney Symphony Orchestra concerts to be broadcast to regional public libraries in NSW, allowing audiences in communities outside of the metropolitan area to enjoy beautiful music.

“Making music accessible and nurturing the next generation of music-lovers is incredibly important to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra,” says Emma Dunch, CEO of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. “The whole family, young and old, should be able to enjoy music, which is why we’ve reduced our prices for the 2019 Family Events. Our patrons now also have the option to purchase multi-year subscriptions, locking in savings now and allowing patrons more flexibility as they join the Orchestra on its journey.”

The 2019 Season will be live on sydneysymphony.com from 18 July, with a priority subscription period until 28 September, 2018. Single tickets will go on sale in November 2018.

2019 Season

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At a glance: David Robertson concerts

DATE CONCERT PROGRAM ARTISTS

8,9 February 2019 Season Opening Gala

R STRAUS Thus Spake ZarathustraWESTLAKE Spirit of the Wild – Oboe ConcertoGRAINGER The Warriors

Diana Doherty oboe

13, 15 16 February Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra

JANÁČEK Taras BulbaREICH Music for Ensemble and Orchestra Australian PremiereBARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra

Members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

21, 22, 25 February The Sydney Symphony and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

VARÈSE Amériques (1929)MARSALIS The Jungle – Symphony No.4 Australian premiere

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

27, 29 June Lang Lang Gala Performance

BERIO after Schubert RenderingSCHUBERT Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished)MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K.491

Lang Lang piano

18, 19 July Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony: Susan Graham sings songs of the Auvergne

CHARBIER EspañaCANTELOUBE Songs of the AuvergneSAINT-SAËNS Symphony No.3 (Organ Symphony)

Susan Graham mezzo-soprano

25, 27 July David Robertson conducts Britten’s Peter Grimes: Opera in Concert

BRITTEN Peter Grimes Stuart Skelton Peter Grimes Nicole Car Ellen Orford Deborah Humble Auntie Alan Held Balstrode Michael Honeyman Ned Keene Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

22, 23 November Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

PREVIN AND STOPPARD Every Good Boy Deserves Favour – A play for actors and orchestraSHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.9

Mitchell Butel Alexander

28, 29 November American Harmonies COPLAND Appalachian Spring: Suite ROUSE Bassoon Concerto Australian Premiere ADAMS Harmonielehre

Todd Gibson-Cornish bassoon

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Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Masterworks

ANDREAS BRANTELID PERFORMS ELGAR’S CELLO CONCERTO

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis ELGAR Cello Concerto ELGAR Engima Variations

Andreas Brantelid cello

Dates: 18, 19, 21 September

HOLST’S PLANETS

MEDTNER Piano Concerto No.1 HOLST The Planets

Alexei Volodin pianoSydney Philharmonia Choirs

Dates: 25, 27, 28 September

BRUCKNER’S SYMPHONY NO.7

MESSIAEN Les offrandes oubliées (The Forgotten Offerings) BRUCKNER Symphony No.7

Dates: 17, 18, 19 October

SCHUBERT, LIZST AND LEDGER

LEDGER Two Memorials (for Anton Webern and John Lennon) SCHUBERT arr. Lizst Wanderer Fantasy LIZST Dante Symphony

Louis Lortie piano Cantillation

Dates: 21 August

SCHUBERT AND LIZST

SCHUBERT The Devil’s Pleasure Palace: Overture SCHUBERT arr. Lizst Wanderer Fantasy LIZST Dante Symphony

Louis Lortie piano Cantillation

Dates: 22, 23, 24 August

MAHLER’S KLAGENDE LIED

MAHLER Das klagende Lied (The Sorrowful Song)

Michaela Schuster mezzo-soprano Steve Davislim tenor Andrew Collis bass-baritone Sydney Philharmonia Choirs Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus

Dates: 4, 6, 7 December

Donald Runnicles Music of Inspiration

Simone Young Visions of Vienna

At a glance: Vladimir Ashkenazy, Donald Runnicles, Simone Young concerts

FAURÉS REQUIEM

R STRAUSS Death and the Transfiguration R STRAUSS Four Last Songs FAURÉ Requiem

Erin Wall Soprano Samuel Dundas baritone Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Dates: 23, 25, 26 October

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Alyssa Lim Publicist Sydney Symphony OrchestraTel: (02) 8215 4694 Mob: +61 450 667 613 alyssa.lim@sydneysymphony.com