Lunchtime Concert Duo Concertante Joshua Oates oboe Michael Ierace piano

Friday 4 September, 1:10pm

Joshua Oates has recently returned to Australia to take up the role of Principal Oboe of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the start of the 2020 season. Prior to this, he was a fellow with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2016 and 17, under the mentorship of Diana Doherty, Shefali Pryor, Alexandre Oguey and David Papp. In 2018, Joshua was a successful recipient of the prestigious Ian Potter grant, which allowed him the opportunity to pursue lessons and take auditions across Germany and Switzerland, which culminated in acceptance into the class of oboist Philippe Tondre in Saarbrücken, Germany as a Masters student. During his time in Germany, Joshua

played in the theatre orchestras of Aachen, Düsseldorf, Saarbrücken and as guest principal with Cappella Aquileia in Heidenheim. He has also played as guest principal oboe in many of Australia’s major orchestras, such as the Opera Australia Orchestra, Queensland Symphony, and the West Australian Symphony. Joshua’s undergraduate studies took place at the Elder Conservatorium of Music Adelaide with Celia Craig, where he won first prize in the John Davis classical music awards joint second prize in the Australian Double Reed Society national competition and notably a Helpmann Prize for performance and graduated with first class honours. He was awarded an EMR scholarship to undertake an overseas study project, during which he had lessons with some of England and Germany’s leading oboists. Joshua has also appeared as a concerto soloist with the Adelaide Youth Orchestra, as well as in recital for Recitals Australia’s lunch time series at Pilgrim Church where he was selected as a finalist for that season. He has appeared as a regular chamber musician in Adelaide and throughout his time as a Sydney Symphony Fellow.

Michael Ierace has been described as a ‘talent to watch’ and his playing as ‘revelatory’. Born and raised in Adelaide, he completed his university education through to Honours level studying with Stefan Ammer and Lucinda Collins. Michael has had much success in local and national Australian competitions including winning The David Galliver Award, The Geoffrey Parsons Award, The MBS Young Performers Award and was a major prize winner in the Australian National Piano Award. In 2009, he made his professional debut with the Adelaide

Symphony Orchestra in the presence of the Premier of South Australia and the Polish Ambassador. In 2007, he received the prestigious Elder Overseas Scholarship from the Adelaide University. This enabled him to move to London and study at the Royal College of Music (RCM) with Professor Andrew Ball. He was selected as an RCM Rising Star and was awarded the Hopkinson Silver medal in the RCM’s Chappell Competition. From 2010-12, he was on staff as a Junior Fellow in Piano Accompaniment. In the Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition, he won the Keyboard Final and the Accompanist Prize – the only pianist in the competition's distinguished history to have received both awards. In the International Haverhill Sinfonia Soloists Competition, he took second place plus many specialist awards. Michael has performed extensively throughout London and the UK and twice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Much sort after as an associate artist for national and international guests, Michael is currently a staff pianist at the Elder Conservatorium.

PROGRAM

In the Spirit House Tim Dargaville

Three Romantic pieces Léopold Wallner I. Chant d’Amour II. Mazurka III. Rêverie

Duo Concertante Antal Doráti

In The Spirit House was composed for and premiered by internationally renowned Australian musicians Diana Doherty and Bernadette Harvey in 2009. Since then this work has been performed and broadcast numerous times in live concert and on ABC national radio. A version for oboe, cor anglais and piano was also made in 2009 and was premiered by the same duo, with Alexandre Oguey (cor anglais) at the Sydney Opera House in 2010.

There were three important reference points that helped provide inspiration in the writing of "In the Spirit House". The first refers to, in a very general sense, the temple music tradition in South India. I had previously experienced aspects of this in 2006/7 as an Asialink Artist in Residence at Adishakti Theatre Arts Lab in Pondicherry. Some of the decorative melodic writing for the oboe was inspired by the shapes and figurations of the nadeswaram, a huge double reed instrument somewhat like a giant oboe. This instrument is often heard in temple ceremonies and processions. The piano part draws on rhythmic patterning played by the mridangam and tavil, both percussion instruments that accompany the nadeswaram.

The second important reference point is the idea of the "spirit house", which is something I came across whilst visiting Ubud, Bali. A spirit house is a homemade shelter, suspended on a pole, like a treehouse. Often these shacks are found above rice paddies. As a local explained it to me, these are places where you can go to meditate and feel better. They're open to anyone. I wanted to create a piece that could offer some kind of refuge for the listener.

Thirdly, and most importantly, was to make an expressive and passionate performance experience. An idea only remains an idea, until it is made real - embodied and communicated by performers directly to an audience.

Tim Dargaville, 2020

Léopold Wallner, son of an Austrian father and a Polish mother, was born in Kiev in 1847. His father was a music publisher whose home was always open to composers and performers and among the regular guests was Franz Liszt, who later became young Wallner's mentor. In 1866 the family moved to Brussels, where he attended the university but his father's sudden death in 1867 compelled Léopold to earn his living by teaching. With strict discipline he essentially taught himself composition, while also pursuing his literary interests,

which in later years would make him a sought after critic of Belgian cultural life. As a member of the arts department at Belgium's Royal Academy, his lectures and symposia had a considerable influence on the local art scene and he was highly regarded as a composer. Contemporaries thought his works had great originality and praised the perfect writing and the 'classical romantic ardour inherent' in his numerous programmatic genre pieces. His output as a composer reveals a preference for programmatic, descriptive tendencies and tuneful genres with a virtuoso finish. His many Elegies, Suites, Songs, Mazurkas, Intermezzi, Romances, Canzonettas, Fantasies and Scherzi are examples of the very best storytelling, often addressed to less 'favoured' instruments such as the oboe, harp, cor anglais, viola and horn.

Antal Dorati (1906 - 1988) was a Hungarian conductor and composer, who is responsible for over six hundred recordings of eclectic repertoire with various orchestras around the world. He studied composition and piano at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, with such musical icons as Zoltan Kodaly and Bela Bartok. Though his abilities as an instrumentalist and composer were evident, Dorati quickly rose to fame as a conductor, making his first debut in 1924 with the Hungarian State Opera. He went on to conduct the Dallas Symphony, the Minneapolis Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

His notoriety as a recording artist first began with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but quickly became one of his passions as a conductor. Dorati was the second conductor to record the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn, and is especially known for his recordings of Tchaikovsky, being the first conductor to record the 1812 Overture with real cannons. As a celebrated conductor, Dorati worked often with high profile performers, including the near-celebrity oboist Heinz Holliger. Dorati composed several pieces for Holliger, including the Duo Concertante and his Cinq Pieces pour le Hautbois (1980).

Of Duo Concertante, Heinz Holliger gives a terse synopsis: “In this work (written for András Schiff and myself) the composer has tried to produce a traditional Hungarian rhapsody for the oboe which (in contrast to the clarinet) does not feature either in Hungarian popular music or in Hungarian serious music. The work consists of a declamatory, slow rubato section (Iassú) and a virtuoso fast movement (friss) which increases in speed all the time.”

In this quick description, Holliger hits on the central points of the Duo Concertante, mainly that of the Hungarian Rhapsody. This was a musical form popularized by Liszt, in which elements of Hungarian folk themes and gypsy bands were used to create showpieces, in the form of the traditional Hungarian dance Verbunkos. The Verbunkos was originally a conscription dance, used to recruit soldiers from villages throughout Hungary. The Verbunkos is in two parts: the lassan and the friska. The lassan was the slow dance and often included storytelling, which would then be followed the fast friska, an energetic and constantly accelerating dance that featured feats of strength from the hussars (Hungarian cavalry soliders). These dances ceased being used for recruitment purposes in the mid-19th century, and later evolved into the national Hungarian dance, the Czardas.

PROGRAM

In the Spirit House Tim Dargaville

Three Romantic pieces Léopold Wallner I. Chant d’Amour II. Mazurka III. Rêverie

Duo Concertante Antal Doráti

In The Spirit House was composed for and premiered by internationally renowned Australian musicians Diana Doherty and Bernadette Harvey in 2009. Since then this work has been performed and broadcast numerous times in live concert and on ABC national radio. A version for oboe, cor anglais and piano was also made in 2009 and was premiered by the same duo, with Alexandre Oguey (cor anglais) at the Sydney Opera House in 2010.

There were three important reference points that helped provide inspiration in the writing of "In the Spirit House". The first refers to, in a very general sense, the temple music tradition in South India. I had previously experienced aspects of this in 2006/7 as an Asialink Artist in Residence at Adishakti Theatre Arts Lab in Pondicherry. Some of the decorative melodic writing for the oboe was inspired by the shapes and figurations of the nadeswaram, a huge double reed instrument somewhat like a giant oboe. This instrument is often heard in temple ceremonies and processions. The piano part draws on rhythmic patterning played by the mridangam and tavil, both percussion instruments that accompany the nadeswaram.

The second important reference point is the idea of the "spirit house", which is something I came across whilst visiting Ubud, Bali. A spirit house is a homemade shelter, suspended on a pole, like a treehouse. Often these shacks are found above rice paddies. As a local explained it to me, these are places where you can go to meditate and feel better. They're open to anyone. I wanted to create a piece that could offer some kind of refuge for the listener.

Thirdly, and most importantly, was to make an expressive and passionate performance experience. An idea only remains an idea, until it is made real - embodied and communicated by performers directly to an audience.

Tim Dargaville, 2020

Léopold Wallner, son of an Austrian father and a Polish mother, was born in Kiev in 1847. His father was a music publisher whose home was always open to composers and performers and among the regular guests was Franz Liszt, who later became young Wallner's mentor. In 1866 the family moved to Brussels, where he attended the university but his father's sudden death in 1867 compelled Léopold to earn his living by teaching. With strict discipline he essentially taught himself composition, while also pursuing his literary interests,

which in later years would make him a sought after critic of Belgian cultural life. As a member of the arts department at Belgium's Royal Academy, his lectures and symposia had a considerable influence on the local art scene and he was highly regarded as a composer. Contemporaries thought his works had great originality and praised the perfect writing and the 'classical romantic ardour inherent' in his numerous programmatic genre pieces. His output as a composer reveals a preference for programmatic, descriptive tendencies and tuneful genres with a virtuoso finish. His many Elegies, Suites, Songs, Mazurkas, Intermezzi, Romances, Canzonettas, Fantasies and Scherzi are examples of the very best storytelling, often addressed to less 'favoured' instruments such as the oboe, harp, cor anglais, viola and horn.

Antal Dorati (1906 - 1988) was a Hungarian conductor and composer, who is responsible for over six hundred recordings of eclectic repertoire with various orchestras around the world. He studied composition and piano at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, with such musical icons as Zoltan Kodaly and Bela Bartok. Though his abilities as an instrumentalist and composer were evident, Dorati quickly rose to fame as a conductor, making his first debut in 1924 with the Hungarian State Opera. He went on to conduct the Dallas Symphony, the Minneapolis Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

His notoriety as a recording artist first began with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but quickly became one of his passions as a conductor. Dorati was the second conductor to record the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn, and is especially known for his recordings of Tchaikovsky, being the first conductor to record the 1812 Overture with real cannons. As a celebrated conductor, Dorati worked often with high profile performers, including the near-celebrity oboist Heinz Holliger. Dorati composed several pieces for Holliger, including the Duo Concertante and his Cinq Pieces pour le Hautbois (1980).

Of Duo Concertante, Heinz Holliger gives a terse synopsis: “In this work (written for András Schiff and myself) the composer has tried to produce a traditional Hungarian rhapsody for the oboe which (in contrast to the clarinet) does not feature either in Hungarian popular music or in Hungarian serious music. The work consists of a declamatory, slow rubato section (Iassú) and a virtuoso fast movement (friss) which increases in speed all the time.”

In this quick description, Holliger hits on the central points of the Duo Concertante, mainly that of the Hungarian Rhapsody. This was a musical form popularized by Liszt, in which elements of Hungarian folk themes and gypsy bands were used to create showpieces, in the form of the traditional Hungarian dance Verbunkos. The Verbunkos was originally a conscription dance, used to recruit soldiers from villages throughout Hungary. The Verbunkos is in two parts: the lassan and the friska. The lassan was the slow dance and often included storytelling, which would then be followed the fast friska, an energetic and constantly accelerating dance that featured feats of strength from the hussars (Hungarian cavalry soliders). These dances ceased being used for recruitment purposes in the mid-19th century, and later evolved into the national Hungarian dance, the Czardas.

Lunchtime Concert Duo Concertante Joshua Oates oboe Michael Ierace piano

Friday 4 September, 1:10pm

Joshua Oates has recently returned to Australia to take up the role of Principal Oboe of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the start of the 2020 season. Prior to this, he was a fellow with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2016 and 17, under the mentorship of Diana Doherty, Shefali Pryor, Alexandre Oguey and David Papp. In 2018, Joshua was a successful recipient of the prestigious Ian Potter grant, which allowed him the opportunity to pursue lessons and take auditions across Germany and Switzerland, which culminated in acceptance into the class of oboist Philippe Tondre in Saarbrücken, Germany as a Masters student. During his time in Germany, Joshua

played in the theatre orchestras of Aachen, Düsseldorf, Saarbrücken and as guest principal with Cappella Aquileia in Heidenheim. He has also played as guest principal oboe in many of Australia’s major orchestras, such as the Opera Australia Orchestra, Queensland Symphony, and the West Australian Symphony. Joshua’s undergraduate studies took place at the Elder Conservatorium of Music Adelaide with Celia Craig, where he won first prize in the John Davis classical music awards joint second prize in the Australian Double Reed Society national competition and notably a Helpmann Prize for performance and graduated with first class honours. He was awarded an EMR scholarship to undertake an overseas study project, during which he had lessons with some of England and Germany’s leading oboists. Joshua has also appeared as a concerto soloist with the Adelaide Youth Orchestra, as well as in recital for Recitals Australia’s lunch time series at Pilgrim Church where he was selected as a finalist for that season. He has appeared as a regular chamber musician in Adelaide and throughout his time as a Sydney Symphony Fellow.

Michael Ierace has been described as a ‘talent to watch’ and his playing as ‘revelatory’. Born and raised in Adelaide, he completed his university education through to Honours level studying with Stefan Ammer and Lucinda Collins. Michael has had much success in local and national Australian competitions including winning The David Galliver Award, The Geoffrey Parsons Award, The MBS Young Performers Award and was a major prize winner in the Australian National Piano Award. In 2009, he made his professional debut with the Adelaide

Symphony Orchestra in the presence of the Premier of South Australia and the Polish Ambassador. In 2007, he received the prestigious Elder Overseas Scholarship from the Adelaide University. This enabled him to move to London and study at the Royal College of Music (RCM) with Professor Andrew Ball. He was selected as an RCM Rising Star and was awarded the Hopkinson Silver medal in the RCM’s Chappell Competition. From 2010-12, he was on staff as a Junior Fellow in Piano Accompaniment. In the Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition, he won the Keyboard Final and the Accompanist Prize – the only pianist in the competition's distinguished history to have received both awards. In the International Haverhill Sinfonia Soloists Competition, he took second place plus many specialist awards. Michael has performed extensively throughout London and the UK and twice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Much sort after as an associate artist for national and international guests, Michael is currently a staff pianist at the Elder Conservatorium.