season 2007 gala rossini’s stabat mater · season 2007 gala rossini’s stabat mater thursday 17...

SEASON 2007

GALA

ROSSINI’S STABAT MATERThursday 17 May | 8pm

Saturday 19 May | 8pm

Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

Gianluigi Gelmetti conductorAnna Rita Taliento sopranoDaniela Barcellona mezzo-sopranoVittorio Grigolo tenorRoberto Scandiuzzi bass

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Members of Opera Australia Chorus

Brett Weymark and Michael Black chorusmasters

GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792–1868)

Guillaume Tell (William Tell)

Act IV: Final scene

SOLOISTS AND CHORUS

Mosè in Egitto (Moses in Egypt)

Act III: ‘Dal tuo stellato soglio’ (Moses’ Prayer)

SOLOISTS AND CHORUS

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)

Act I: ‘Se il nome saper voi bramate’ (Count’s canzone)

VITTORIO GRIGOLO, COUNT ALMAVIVA

GIANLUIGI GELMETTI, GUITAR

SemiramideAct II: ‘Ebben, a te, ferisci…Giorno d’orrore

e di contento…’(Duet)

ANNA RITA TALIENTO, SEMIRAMIDE

DANIELA BARCELLONA, ARSACE

INTERVAL

Stabat Mater

for soloists, four-part mixed chorus and orchestra

Movement listing on page 17

Saturday’s performance will bebroadcast live across Australia onABC Classic FM 92.9.

Pre-concert talk by David Garrett at 7.15pm in the Northern Foyer.

Approximate timings:4 minutes, 5 minutes, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minute interval, 65 minutes.The performance will conclude at approximately 10.10pm.

Cover images: see page 46 forcaptions

Program notes, texts andtranslations begin on page 3

Artist biographies begin on page 29

INTRODUCTION

Rossini Gala

A 19th-century engraving depicting Rossini’s funeralshows a grand cortège with huge crowds lining the wayto the vast Paris church of La Trinité. Four thousandpeople attended. In his lifetime Rossini had been themost famous composer of his age – more famous eventhan Beethoven.

Rossini was best-known for his operas, comic andserious. (He wrote very little orchestral music, althoughhis overtures have become concert-hall staples.) Then came the ‘great silence’ – an early and unexpectedretirement from opera – and later his Stabat Mater, amasterpiece of that retirement.

This concert traces the path, preceding the StabatMater with selections that show Rossini’s operatic range:from the comedy of The Barber of Seville and the grandopera William Tell to the tragic Semiramide and Moses in Egypt with its biblical theme.

Maestro Gelmetti suggests it may be misleading tolook for a dichotomy between stage music and sacredmusic in Rossini. He reminds us that Italians are‘masters of dramatising every aspect of our lives’,including prayer, and that the Stabat Mater is therefore‘both prayer and performance’.

It is no coincidence, then, that the dramatic part ofthis program begins with prayers. William Tell and hisSwiss conspirators pray for the return of Liberty; Mosesand his fellow Israelites pray for the Lord’s mercy and a show of power in the face of the pursuing Egyptianarmy.

From Moses to William Tell, says Gelmetti, ‘many ofRossini’s characters pray, either individually orcollectively. But they do it in their own way, in a differentway compared to the pure and religious chants of theStabat Mater.’ They are making pleas to God, showingpiety and expressing hope – but ultimately taking partin a performance. In the Stabat Mater, however, ‘underthe cross, before the body of Christ, Rossini’s prayer isgenuine and vertiginous.’

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

Rossini – from eclipsing fame to

the ‘Great Silence’

Notes by David Garrett

Rossini presents the case of a composer, immenselypopular, successful, and esteemed in his lifetime, butremembered after his death, until quite recently, for only a small proportion of his work. This included the(admittedly supreme) opera buffa The Barber of Seville,a handful of overtures brimming over with sparklinginvention, high spirits, and graceful melody, and theStabat Mater.

Rossini’s fame eclipsed his contemporaries, evenBeethoven, since he was a composer for the theatre,whose celebrity can only be compared with thecomposers of world-wide hit musicals in our day. If this surprises us, it’s partly because Rossini’s way ofcomposing operas became old-fashioned even in hislifetime. Besides, Rossini was treated with suspicion by German musicians and those influenced by them.They thought he lacked seriousness and that his facilitycame from taking artistic short-cuts. Weber, struggling toestablish a German style for the stage, left a performanceof Rossini’s La Cenerentola before it was finished,exclaiming: ‘I am running away. Now I’m beginning tolike the stuff myself !’

The 20th century gradually rediscovered what madehis contemporaries think Rossini a composer ofcomprehensive genius. The revival began in the 1920swith some of his comic operas other than Barber, such as The Italian Girl in Algiers, La Cenerentola, then Le ComteOry. Respighi’s inspired adaptation of music by Rossinifor the ballet La boutique fantasque (1919) revealed some of the original, amusing, and prophetic pieces he wrotein his later years under the title Sins of Old Age. Theiranti-pretentious manner sometimes anticipates Chabrier,Satie, and Les Six. ‘Old-fashioned’ Rossini turned out tobe a prophet!

Finally, the world revised its judgment on the manyserious operas of Rossini, such as Tancredi, Semiramideand Mosè in Egitto. The revival in the second half of the20th century of the art of bel canto would have pleasedRossini (who once said that the powerful tenor Tamberlik was welcome at his soirées provided he lefthis top C sharp on the hook behind the entrance door).

ROSSINI

Born Pesaro, 1792Died Passy, 1868

Italian composer, principally

of opera, and during the first

half of the 19th century the

most famous composer of

his age, enjoying prestige,

wealth, and popular and

critical acclaim. His

delightful comic operas

are considered ‘the last and

finest representatives’ of

the style, and include the

popular Barber of Seville,

but the importance of his

musical and dramatic legacy

is revealed in his ‘serious’

operas, well-represented in

tonight’s concert. Rossini’s

name and style dominated

Italian opera until the arrival

of Verdi.

In 1829 – at the age of 37

and having composed nearly

40 operas – Rossini suddenly

retired from operatic

composition. Soon he was

enjoying a second fame for

‘his wit, his epicurean tastes,

and his Saturday evening

receptions…’ It was during

his retirement that he was

persuaded to embark on a

setting of the Stabat Mater.

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When sung as intended, Rossini’s serious operas revealstage conviction along with fine musical invention. Not for nothing did Tancredi become so famous thatthe French novelist Stendhal in 1823 wondered whetherthere was in the whole of Europe any person who hadnever heard its aria ‘Tu che accendi…Di tanti palpiti’.

We are rediscovering what the German philosopherHegel realised in 1824 – that non-Italians have sometimes been prejudiced against Rossini’s music:‘because it is made for Italian throats, just as velvets andsilks are made for elegant young women and Strasbourgpates for gourmets. This music must be sung as theItalians sing it, and then no other music excels it.’Rossini foresaw that the demise of his reputation wouldaccompany the decline of the kind of singing hefavoured.

One of Rossini’s disarming qualities is a lightly ironicmodesty. The Germans, said Rossini, have always beenthe greatest harmonists and the Italians the greatestmelodists. ‘But from the moment the north produced a Mozart, the Italians were beaten on their ownground…So, if this music is to cease to be recognised as supremely beautiful, sublime, we old back-numberscan heartily bless our approaching demise, which willenable us to go and hear it in Paradise in the companyof its author.’

Rossini’s ‘Great Renunciation’

Rossini baffled everyone, after the premiere ofGuillaume Tell (1829 – the 39th of his operas), by retiringvirtually completely from composing for over 20 years.He lived in Paris, and became famous, once his healthhad recovered, for his wit, his epicurean tastes, and hisSaturday evening receptions, where a discriminatingselection of the most talented musicians and writers ofthe day were his guests, all paying courteous deference to his devoted companion and later wife, the formerdemi-mondaine Olympe Pélissier.

Rossini’s withdrawal became known as ‘The GreatRenunciation’ or ‘The Great Silence’. Was the reason thedeath of his parents? New trends in opera with which hewas out of sympathy? More likely his ill-health, whichresearch has shown to have been a disease of the urinarytract, which made him neurasthenic and depressive.

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‘[Rossini’s] music must

be sung as the Italians

sing it, and then no

other music excels it.’

HEGEL

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Most interesting is Robert Donington’s suggestion thatRossini has ‘some strange inability to tolerate greatsuccess’ – prompting the thought that Rossini couldafford to retire, in more ways than one.

He never gave up composing entirely, except when his health forbade it. He wrote mainly for his ownpleasure and for his circle of intimates. Rossini wassecretive and self-deprecating about the music he wrote during this time, deflecting questioners with hisfamous irony. Curiosity about these ‘jottings’ led, afterRespighi’s adaptations, to Britten’s treatment of piecesfrom Soirées musicales and Matinées musicales, and thenumerous short pieces which Rossini called ‘Sins of OldAge’ are increasingly performed, broadcast and recorded.

The Stabat Mater, the one work of these years of‘silence’ or ‘renunciation’ performed at the time for the public at large, is crucial in assessing Rossini’sdevelopment and achievement as a musician. Itsoverwhelming success was achieved almost in spite ofits composer, as we shall see.

Rossini at the piano, surrounded by some of his operatic creations. The Barber of Seville takes pride of place in the

centre, with Moses praying above, and the queen top right is most likely Semiramide. On the far right is the Lady of

the Lake (La Donna del lago, after Walter Scott); Cinderella (La Cenerentola) kneels at the fire bottom right, and to

her left are Desdemona and Otello. Top left is shown the thieving magpie caught in the act, with its belltower home

in the distance (La gazza ladra). The soldier far left is Tancredi, and between him and the Barber tableau is William

Tell with his bow.

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Guillaume Tell, Act IV: Final scene

This concert featuring Rossini’s Stabat Mater, the majorwork of his post-opera career, begins with the last notes ofhis last opera, a scene opening like a great panorama, andthe singing of one of the several prayers in this concert.

Rossini, who worked for opera houses directed by therich and powerful, was basically a political conservative, buthe was shrewd enough to tap into the stirrings of desire forpolitical liberty of his time. His opera Guillaume Tell waspremiered at the Paris Opéra on 3 August 1829. The next yearFrance was to undergo its first revolutionary upheaval since1789. Schiller’s play Wilhelm Tell, of 1804, had presented the legendary Swiss hero as a symbol of the just and noblerevolutionary. The play also promoted the Romanticimpulse, particularly in the way it used natural forces, suchas storms, as part of the drama. Rossini brought the fullestpowers of musical scene painting he ever displayed to thisstory, as the atmospherically evocative overture promises.

The events on which play and opera are based are parthistory, part legend. They occur some time shortly beforethe pact of confederation of 1 August 1291, from whichSwitzerland dates the beginning of its national life. William Tell is a crossbow marksman, goaded by the cruelty of the Austrian governor, Gessler, who in the mostfamous incident, a central scene in the opera, forces Tell to shoot an apple off the head of his own son. Tell becomesa leader of the conspiracy against Habsburg oppression.

In the final scenes, the boat carrying Tell as a prisoner isin peril from a storm on the lake. His captors free Tell sothat, at the helm, he can save the boat. Debarking, he killsGessler with an arrow, while the other conspirators, led byArnold, capture the castle. Mathilde, the Habsburg princessfor love of whom Arnold, son of a Swiss patriarch, has enlistedwith the Austrians, sides with the Confederates. The hour of liberty has struck for the Swiss. The stage direction reads‘Gradually the clouds clear, and the sky becomes bright’; a hymn in praise of liberty begins. The other characterswho join the chorus are Hedwige, Tell’s wife, Jemmy hisson, and Walter Fürst, one of the conspirators.

Berlioz, a discriminating admirer of Rossini, here atleast, wrote that ‘The final chorus…is a beautiful harmonicbroadening out. The ranz des vaches floats gracefully abovethese massive chords and the hymn of Free Switzerlandsoars upwards to heaven, calm and imposing like the prayer of a just man.’

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WILLIAM TELL

At the end of Act IV, Tell

escapes his captors during

a storm, and kills the cruel

Austrian governor. In the

final scene the skies clear

and the Swiss sing a prayer

for the return of Liberty.

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GUILLAUME

Tout change et grandit en ces lieux. Quel air pur!

HEDWIGE

Quel jour radieux!

JEMMY

Au loin quell horizon immense!

MATHILDE

Oui, la nature sous nos yeuxdéroule sa magnificence.

GUILLAUME

A nos accents religieux,Liberté, redescends des cieux,et que ton règne recommence!Liberté, redescends des cieux,

ARNOLD and WALTER

Et que ton règne recommence…

MATHILDE, JEMMY, HEDWIGE, ARNOLD, WALTER,

GUILLAUME and CHORUS OF THE SWISS

Et que ton règne recommence,et que ton règne recommence!

Liberté,Liberté, redescends des cieux!

French libretto by Etienne de Jouy afterSchiller’s play Wilhelm Tell

Everything all around is changing and growing.What a pure atmosphere!

What radiant daylight!

What an immense horizon in the distance!

Yes, nature unfurls hermagnificence before our eyes.

As our sacred sounds ariseLiberty, come down again from heaven,and may you reign again!Liberty, come down again from heaven

and may you reign again…

May you reign again,May you reign again!

Liberty, Liberty, come down again from heaven!

Translation Sydney Symphony ©2007

The storm vanishes entirely to reveal, in all its beauty, a part of Switzerland. A multitude of smalldecorated boats sail on Lake Lucerne. The mountains which dominate Fluelen, topped by the greatglaciers glistening in the sunlight, crown the tableau.

Engraving of a scene from WilliamTell: Tell makes his daring leap

ashore in the storm.

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Mosè in Egitto, Act III: ‘Dal tuo stellato soglio’

(Moses’ Prayer)

Many in the first audiences of Guillaume Tell wouldalready have experienced some of Rossini’s powers ofdepiction, in his adaptation for Paris, of an opera writtenfor Naples in 1818, Moses in Egypt. As Moïse et Pharaon,ou le passage de la Mer Rouge (Moses and Pharaoh, or thecrossing of the Red Sea), this Rossini opera of 1827 was an experiment in handling the resources of French grandopera, but in its original version it was already one of themost dramatically effective of Rossini’s serious operas.Operas staged, as was this one, during Lent, were requiredto have a biblical, or at least religious, subject. The storyof the plagues of Egypt and Moses’ leading of the peopleof Israel out of captivity, with a love story added, fitted the bill.

The reception of the opera, premiered at the San CarloTheatre in Naples on 5 March 1818, was mixed, mainlybecause of the clumsy staging. When, at a sign by Moses,the Red Sea parted, those sitting in the boxes could clearlysee little boys moving blue veils depicting the waves, andthere was general amusement.

Rossini had the idea of inserting a prayer led by Moses,to give the technical staff time for their preparations. This preghiera, first heard in the opera’s revival thefollowing year, changed the mood of the audience, whogreeted it with wild enthusiasm. In Paris a decade later,the novelist Balzac thought he was experiencing what thepublic in Naples had felt: an invocation for the liberationof the Italian people from their Austrian rulers, and forthe unity of Italy.

The prayer is answered, the waters divide at the touchof Moses’ rod, the Israelites go through on dry land,then the waters close, drowning their Egyptian pursuers. A tribute to the fame of the Preghiera (a simple but tellingidea based on the scale) was Paganini’s 1819 arrangement ofit for orchestra and solo violin, to be played on one string.

MOSÈ

Dal tuo stellato soglio. Signor, ti volgi a noi: Pietà de’ figli tuoi! Del popol tuo pietà.

ELCIA, AMENOFI, ARONNE, CHORUS

Pietà de’ figli…

From your star-girt throne, Turn to us, my Lord! Have mercy on your children, Have mercy on your people.

Have mercy etc.

Title page for the Paris edition of

Mosè in Egitto. It is described as an

‘Oratorio in three acts’, pointing to its

distinctive character as an opera with

a biblical subject and therefore, like

oratorios, suitable for performance

during Lent.

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MOSES IN EGYPT

How do you show the

parting of the Red Sea on

stage? With difficulty.

For the revival of Moses inEgypt, Rossini solved a

technical problem and

heightened the drama of

the scene by giving Moses

a simple preghiera (prayer)

to sing. It was a stroke of

genius and has become the

most famous number from

the opera.


Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act I: ‘Se il nome saper

voi bramate’

Soon to become the best-loved of all comic operas, TheBarber of Seville was not well received by the audience at itspremiere, in Rome’s Teatro Argentina, on 20 February 1816.The trouble began at exactly the point we are hearing, thesecond of Count Almaviva’s serenades under the windowof his love-object, Rosina. Following Beaumarchais’ play inthis, Rossini made it a song with guitar accompaniment.When the Spanish tenor Manuel Garcia began to tune theguitar on stage, there was an outbreak of laughter (Rossini,perhaps unwisely, had agreed to Garcia’s suggestion thathe add some Spanish songs). The singer of Rosina’s partrecalled that when she climbed the ladder to sing, fromthe balcony, her few words, echoing the last line of eachverse, she was greeted, instead of applause, with whistlesand catcalls.

Almaviva is singing this serenade to let Rosina know theidentity of her admirer. He wants to be loved for himself,not for his wealth and aristocratic standing; so as Lindoro he presents himself as not rich, but sincere and with a

ARONNE (tenor)

Se pronti al tuo potere Sono elementi, e sfere,Tu amico scampo addita Al dubbio errante piè.


Pietoso Dio! ne aita! Noi non viviam, che in te!

ELCIA (soprano)

In questo cor dolente Deh! scendi, oh Dio clemente,E farmaco soave di pace rendi almen.


II nostro cor che pave,Deh! tu conforta almen.

TUTTI

Dal tuo stellato…

Libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola

If you have power Over the elements and planets, Grant a safe liberation To our faltering, erring feet!

Gracious God, help, We place all our faith in You!

Fill this aching heart. Oh gracious God. Let it partake Of the soft balm of peace!

Oh, grant solace at last To our heart, which has suffered so much!

From your star-girt etc.

English paraphrase by Maria Steiner

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

Disguised as ‘Lindoro’

and borrowing the barber

Figaro’s guitar, Count

Almaviva serenades Rosina,

singing of the love of an

ordinary man – not titled or

rich, but sincere.


CANZONE

COUNT ALMAVIVA

Se il mio nome saper voi bramate,dal mio labbro il mio nome ascoltate. Io son Lindoro che fido v’adoro,che sposa vi bramo,che a nome vi chiamo,di voi sempre parlando così dall’aurora al tramonto del dì.

L’amoroso e sincero Lindoro non può darvi, mia cara, un tesoro. Ricco non sono,ma un core vi dono,un’anima amante,che fida e costante per voi sola sospira così dall’aurora al tramonto del dì.

Libretto by Cesare Sterbiniafter Beaumarchais’ play Le barbier de Séville

If you wish to know who I am listen to my name from my own lips. I am Lindoro who truly adores you, who wishes to wed you, who calls you by name, and is always talking of you thus, from dawn till the end of the day.

The enamoured and sincere Lindoro cannot give you, my dear, a fortune. I am not rich, but I give to you a heart, a loving spirit, that, faithful and constant, sighs for you alone thus, from the dawn till the end of the day.

Translation David LairdReproduced with kind permission fromUniversal Music Australia

loving heart. With the prompting and support of theresourceful barber, Figaro, Count Almaviva will win hisbeloved, from under the nose of her jealous and besottedguardian, Dr Bartolo. Figaro has lent his guitar to his formermaster, and Rossini’s music is written so as to sound as ifthe Count is making up his song as he goes along. As hegains in confidence, the simple song sprouts roulades, tobe sung with the elegance befitting its aristocratic singer,who has for the moment stooped to conquer.

Semiramide, Act II Scene 3: ‘Ebben, a te,

ferisci…Giorno d’orrore e di contento…Madre

addio…Tu serena intanto il ciglio’ (Duet)

Arsace, in love with another woman, is trying to persuadeSemiramide that they should part. He gives her aparchment which reveals to her two truths – one sheguiltily knows: that she was one of the murderers of theformer King, her husband Nino. The other is that he,Arsace, whom she loves, is her son by Nino. She inviteshim to kill her, but stayed by filial affection, he takes pity on her, and together they sing of the ‘day of horrorand of happiness’, clinging together in their misery.

SEMIRAMIDE

Semiramide is the Queen of

Babylon and widow of King

Nino. She is in love with

Arsace, a commander in her

forces, and is determined to

make him her consort and

king. But when she murdered

her husband 15 years earlier

their son had escaped…


Soprano Luigia Boccabadati (1800-

1850) in the role of Semiramide, for

which her powerful and flexible voice

was perfectly suited.

Then Arsace departs full of resolve to take vengeance,as he has been commanded to do by his father’s spirit.Both hope he will return victorious.

This extended duet is one of the highlights ofSemiramide, the last opera Rossini was to compose for Italy,premiered at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 3 February1823. The libretto, by Gaetano Rossi, is based on Voltaire’splay Sémiramis (1748). Semiramide is the Queen of Babylon.Arsace, 15 years after the death of his father, has reappearedin the guise of a Scythian commander, from the frontiersof the kingdom. Rossini was still bound by the conventionof the hero being a female contralto, a ‘trouser’ role. Thesinger for whom the part of Arsace was written, TeresaMariani, was described by French novelist Stendhal, in hiseye- and ear-witness account of opera in Italy, as the finestcontralto living. The coloratura brilliance required by‘his’ role equals that of Semiramide herself, as in theBabylonian Queen’s famous aria in the hanging gardens,‘Bel raggio lusinghier’.

The encounter of these two characters helped keepSemiramide alive in opera houses throughout the 19thcentury, and this duet, in particular, became a vehicle for famous partnerships, such as that of the Marchisiosisters, and rivalries, such as that between Malibran (asSemiramide) and Henriette Sontag. Malibran’s sisterPauline Viardot-Garcia was a famous Arsace, and later inthe century Adelina Patti a Semiramide, until she wasreplaced, in her appearances with Sofia Scalchi as Arsace,by Nellie Melba. Then the opera went into eclipse, untilrevivals beginning in the 1960s, when Joan Sutherlandbegan to sing Semiramide, and in 1964 began hermemorable pairing with Marilyn Horne.

This duet takes a form the early 19th-century modifiedfrom a model developed in the previous century. The firstpart presents the two characters in dramatic opposition,with contrasting material. In the middle section theirshared emotions are reflected in closer harmony andlyrical material. Then another intensely dramatic, forwardmoving section leads to the brilliant cabaletta. Where thetwo singers are matched in meeting Rossini’s exorbitantvocal demands – exorbitant, but as always with thiscomposer, understanding fully the capabilities of thehuman voice – this duet can be both moving, and evenmatchlessly exciting.

DAVID GARRETT ©2007

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SEMIRAMIDE

Ebben… a te; ferisci; compi il voler d’un dio! Spegni nel sangue mio un esecrato amor! Ebbene… ferisci! La madre rea punisci: vendica il genitor!La madre rea punisci, ah! vendica il genitor, ah! il genitor! Sì, vendica il genitor, ecc.

ARSACE

Tutto su me gli dei sfoghino in pria lo sdegno:mai barbaro a tal segno sarà d’un figlio il cor! In odio al cielo,in odio al ciel tu sei,ma sei mia madre ognor, ecc.

SEMIRAMIDE

M’odia… lo merto.

ARSACE

Calmati.

SEMIRAMIDE

Io già m’abborro, ah! svenami!

ARSACECalmati.

SEMIRAMIDE

Figlio di Nino!

ARSACE

Misera!

SEMIRAMIDE

Figlio di Ni…

Well then.., go on – strike; fulfil a god’s behest! Extinguish in my blood an abominable love! Come then… strike! Punish your guilty mother, avenge your father! Punish your guilty mother, ah!avenge your father, your father, ah! Yes, avenge your father, etc.

Let the gods vent all their wrath upon me first.Never shall a son’s heart be so barbarous! Hateful in the sight of heaven, yes, hateful in heaven’s sight you are…but you are still my mother, etc.

Hate me… I deserve it.

Calm yourself.

I loathe myself now – oh, kill me!

Calm yourself.

Ninus’ son!

Unhappy woman!

The son of Ni…

Introduction: Semiramide does not want to let her beloved Arsace leave. He is eager to avenge thedeath of the king, Nino (Semiramide’s husband), and tries to persuade Semiramide that theyshould part.

Arsace has a parchment, which he looks at with horror, and which Semiramide, naturally, demandsto see. It was written by his dying father, he says, and when Semiramide reads it she learns thatArsace is her son by Nino and that Arsace knows she was one of the murderers.

She tells him to punish her and avenge his father…


ARSACE

Calmati, calmati, calmati! Ah, tu mi strappi l’anima:ti calma, per pietà!

SEMIRAMIDE

Tu piangi? La tua bell’anima ha ancor di me pietà.

ARSACE, SEMIRAMIDE

Giorno d’orrore!… e di contento! Nelle tue braccia,in tal momento,scorda il mio core tutto il rigore di sua terribile fatalità!È dolce al misero che oppresso geme il duol dividere,piangere insieme,in cor sensibile trovar pieta.È dolce al misero, ecc.

ARSACE

Madre – addio.

SEMIRAMIDE

T’arresta – Oh dio!Senti… e dove?

ARSACE

Al mio destino…alla tomba, al padre, a Nino.

SEMIRAMIDE

Ei vuol sangue.

ARSACE

E sangue avrà.

SEMIRAMIDE

E qual sangue, e qual sangue…

ARSACE

Tu serena intanto il ciglio,calma, o madre, il tuo terror.

Be calm, be calm, be calm!Oh, you wring my heart!Calm yourself, for pity’s sake!

You weep? Your tender heart yet has some pity for me.

Day of horror… and of joy! In your arms at this moment my heart forgets all the dread rigour of its terrible fate!It is sweet for the unhappy wretch, who groans, o’erwhelmed,to share his grief, weep with another, and find sympathy in a feeling heart.It is sweet for the unhappy wretch, etc.

Mother – farewell!

Oh, stay! Oh god!Hear me… oh, where?

To confront my fate…to the tomb, to my father, to Ninus.

He will have blood.

And blood he shall have.

And what blood, what blood…

Smooth your brow meanwhile, mother,and calm your fears.

(She looks at him as if imploring his pardon. He throws himself into her arms and she presses himwarmly to her. They remain locked in each other’s embrace.)


SEMIRAMIDE

No, non so di qual perigliofier presagio agghiaccia il cor!

ARSACE

Or che il ciel ti rende il figliodei sperar nel suo favor.

SEMIRAMIDE

Or che a me rendesti il figlio,ciel, lo salvi il tuo favor.

ARSACE

Vo a implorar per te perdono.

SEMIRAMIDE

Ah! sperar non so perdono.

ARSACE

A punire un traditore!

SEMIRAMIDE

Troppo giusto è il suo furore!

ARSACE

Sì, punire un traditore!

SEMIRAMIDE

A me riedi vincitore!

ARSACE, SEMIRAMIDE

Dal terribile cimentoa me riedi vincitor!a te riedo vincitor!

ARSACE

Sì, sì,……m’attendi vincitor!

SEMIRAMIDE

Riedi!

ARSACE

Sì, sì…M’attendi,……m’attendi, sì, m’attendi vincitor!

SEMIRAMIDE

A me riedi vincitor!

ARSACE, SEMIRAMIDE

Vincitor!

(Repeat from †)

Libretto by Gaetano Rossi after Voltaire’sSémiramis

No, I cannot tell why, on account of what unknown dangercruel presentiment chills my blood!

Now that heaven restores your son to youyou must place your hopes on its favour.

Now that thou hast given me back my son,Oh heaven, may thy favour keep him from harm!

I go to implore pardon for you…

Alas, I cannot hope for pardon!

…and to punish a traitor!

His wrath is all too just!

Yes, to punish a traitor!

Return to me victorious!

From the terrible ordealreturn to me victorious. I will return to you victorious.

Yes, yes,……expect me victorious!

Come back!

Yes, yes,……expect me, yes, expect me victorious!

Come back to me victorious!

Victorious!

Translation by Peggie Cochrane, Decca ©1966Reproduced with kind permission from UniversalMusic Australia

†


ROSSINI

Stabat Mater

1. Introduction. Stabat mater dolorosaCHORUS AND QUARTET

2. Cujus animam gementemTENOR ARIA

3. Quis est homo, qui non fleretSOPRANO DUET

4. Pro peccatis suæ gentisBASS ARIA

5. Eia Mater, fons amorisCHORUS AND BASS RECITATIVE

6. Sancta Mater, istud agasQUARTET

7. Fac, ut portem Christi mortemCAVATINA (SOPRANO II)

8. Inflammatus et accensusARIA (SOPRANO I) AND CHORUS

9. Quando corpus morieturQUARTET

10. Amenchorus

Text and translation begins on page 22

Anna Rita Taliento sopranoDaniela Barcellona mezzo-sopranoVittorio Grigolo tenorRoberto Scandiuzzi bass

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Members of Opera Australia Chorus

Rossini composed the Stabat Mater in response to a request,during his visit to Madrid in 1831, from a Spanish clergymancalled Varela. He agreed only very reluctantly, because headmired Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater (1736) so much that he hadno wish to invite comparison by setting the same words.Rossini gave in to persuasion only on the condition that themusic should never leave the possession of its owner or bepublished. On his return to Paris, Rossini wrote six numbers,then fell victim to a severe (or was it a diplomatic?) attackof lumbago. To fulfil the commitment, he had the remainder

The head of Mary, detail from

Michelangelo’s Pietà

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of the text composed by the conductor of the ThéâtreItalien, Tadolini (Rossini had completed No.1 and Nos.5–9).In exchange for the work, Varela sent Rossini a goldsnuffbox with eight large diamonds.

In 1837 Varela died, and his heirs, finding the StabatMater among his effects, sold it to a French publisher.Rossini wrote to this firm threatening legal action if hiswish that the music remain unpublished was notrespected. During the prolonged lawsuit which followed,it transpired that Rossini had completed his setting,replacing Tadolini’s numbers with his own, and had soldthe rights to the complete, all-Rossini Stabat Mater to hisown publisher, Troupenas. Rossini won the lawsuit, butthe publicity made it impossible for him to avoid theperformance and publication of the revised Stabat Mater.

The first performance, in Paris’ Théâtre Italien on 7 January 1842, was a triumph. The soloists included thesoprano Grisi, the tenor Mario, and the bass Tamburini,three of the most celebrated singers of the day, membersof the ‘Great Quartet’ for whom Donizetti wrote his opera Don Pasquale. The publisher had arranged previewperformances to which the leading critics were invited,and the Journal des Débats declared that, since the firstperformance of Haydn’s Creation in Paris, no musical eventhad so impressed or moved the public. To German poetHeinrich Heine, an expatriate in Paris, the theatre thatnight seemed like the vestibule of heaven. The onlydiscordant note was struck by a young musical hack in theemploy of the rival publisher Schlesinger – this wasRichard Wagner, who derided the Stabat Mater as a piecejotted down by Rossini in a moment of repentance for all the money of which he had cheated a gullible public. Of the music Wagner said nothing.

Received opinion of Rossini’s Stabat Mater points to its supposedly operatic style. The critic, depending on his artistic and religious tendencies, either exonerates orcondemns the composer for this. Rossini did expressdoubts about adhering too closely to the meaning of thetext, because he was not convinced of the power of musicto express exact shades of meaning, and he thought tooclose a word-faithfulness would ruin the musical form.Some of the numbers of the Stabat Mater indeed bear aclose resemblance to arias in his operas, notably thesecond soprano’s ‘Fac ut portem…’.

But most of the Stabat Mater is not simply an adaptationof Rossini’s operatic style. To have made it so would have

I fail to find in Rossini anydichotomy between stagemusic and sacred music. The relationship of thesacred, if one is a believer, is present in every momentof one’s life and therefore it is natural that it transpiresin every musical genre. The relationship with theatrefeeds on its very dynamics.Besides, for us Italians, it is a component of our verycharacter. We are masters at dramatising every aspectof our lives. It becomes thedramatisation of our feelingsand, therefore, also anoccasion for a possibleprayer: instead of praying in isolation and solitude, we pray in public with thepublic. From this viewpoint,the Stabat Mater is bothprayer and performance.

GIANLUIGI GELMETTI


been quite natural for him – his admired model for settingthis text, Pergolesi, had been criticised by Padre Martinifor composing it in a style like his opera La serva padrona.The Stabat Mater, a 13th-century poem attributed toJacopone da Todi, is so vivid in its images of witnessedsuffering that it seems to invite an emotional, heartfeltsetting – though both Palestrina and Szymanowski, inwidely contrasted but equally memorable treatments,have shown that pain and suffering can be movinglyencompassed in contemplative music – desolationsuffused by fellow-feeling.

By comparison, Rossini’s setting may seem naïve: forexample, in the theatricality of the quartet ‘Sancta Mater’(almost danceable, says Rossini biographer Francis Toye).Passages may shock some listeners by their sheer hedonism;‘not much learning, but a little heart, that about sums itup’, said Rossini of his Petite messe solennelle. But that is not all: Verdi’s Requiem, clearly influenced by Rossini’sStabat Mater, is often called theatrical, but unbiased studyshows how scrupulous was Verdi’s artistic approach to thechallenge of composing sacred music. And what is true of Verdi is true of Rossini in his Stabat Mater.

This is confirmed by contrast with two other sacred works

LEB

REC

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& A

RTS Title page from a French piano score

of the Stabat Mater, dedicated to

Emmanuel Fernandez Varela.


of Rossini’s which have only recently become better known.His early Messa di Gloria unashamedly uses the style ofoperatic vocal music, with solo parts so florid that mostsingers today can hardly manage them. But in that mass theyoung Rossini also developed fugal and contrapuntal writingto inordinate lengths: it is a Mass with one foot still verymuch in the 18th century. On the other hand, the Petite messesolennelle of Rossini’s last years is in many ways the mostserious of his compositions, despite a whiff of humorousambivalence. It is remarkable not only for its unusual scoring,with voices supported by two pianos and harmonium, butfor harmonic originality, beautiful part writing, and evenfor fugues which show Rossini’s admiration for Bach. Above all, it contains many passages which unmistakablybreathe the atmosphere of the church at worship.

Some of these characteristics are found in the StabatMater as well, but in most respects it stands midwaybetween the two other works. There are two remarkable a cappella sections – ‘Eia Mater’ for bass and chorus, and‘Quando corpus morietur’ for the solo quartet – in whichRossini pays imaginative tribute to old church music. Thequartet was admired by Verdi and even by Wagner, makingamends for his earlier indiscretion. The final fugue is boldand impressive. These numbers balance the fresh, Pergolesi-inspired melodiousness of some of the other sections. With the exception of the fugue, the pieces with whichRossini replaced Tadolini’s contributions (Nos.2–4) aresimpler, more melodic, more soloistic. This does not meanthey are any less carefully considered (this observation isRichard Osborne’s, in his excellent Rossini published in1986 in the Master Musicians series).

Even the ‘Cujus animam’, set as a march for the tenor,has been unfairly dismissed by organ-loft pedants. We can hardly imagine how it was sung by Mario at the firstperformance, but strenuous heroics complete with astentorian high D flat is surely not what Rossini intended.The idea of setting these words as a march may have been suggested to Rossini by the text’s image of a swordpiercing Mary’s heart. There were soldiers witnessing thecrucifixion, one of whom pierced Jesus’ side with a spear.Could it be the centurion’s reaction that Rossini imaginedhere? His mature inspiration in the Stabat Mater deservescloser consideration than its common lot, which is to beenjoyed in spite of misgivings.

DAVID GARRETT ©2001

The manner in which Rossiniuses this splendid, vigorousand powerful text, in such a ‘human’ fashion – in thestrong and beautiful meaningof the expression – issomething extraordinary. The Mother suffering at thefoot of her Son’s cross,without wanting in any wayto demean the sacredmeaning of this image, is auniversal display of humanity– grief, affection, distress,hope – that today just likeyesterday belongs toeveryone, without anydistinction in terms ofculture, religion or race.

GIANLUIGI GELMETTI


The Stabat Mater Text

‘Sorrowfully his Mother stood, weeping, at the foot ofthe Cross, where her Son was hanging’. Thus begins thereligious poem which, along with the Magnificat, plays a large part in Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary,Mother of God. The Magnificat, Mary’s reponse to theAnnunciation, is a biblical text. The Stabat Mater takes its inspiration from a verse in John’s Gospel (25:19) ‘At the cross stood the Mother of Jesus’, and refers in its second verse to the prophecy of Simeon, made toMary (Luke 2:35) ‘and a sword shall pierce your heart’.Originally the Stabat Mater was meant for privatereading, or prayer, and places the reader as the centralpoint of view.

Form

Although not intended originally for liturgical use, theStabat Mater shares the metrical scheme of sequenceswhich were incorporated in the Mass. The Stabat Mater is sometimes described as being in terza rima (familiarfrom the poetry of Dante), where in each verse of threelines, the middle line rhymes with the first and last ofthe succeeding (aba, bcb, cdc etc.). But as will be seen bylooking at the Latin Stabat Mater text, its scheme is inrhyming pairs of stanzas, according to the scheme aab,ccb. There are 20 stanzas of three lines, and the rhythm is trochaic (a long syllable followed by a short syllable).

History

The Stabat Mater came to be used as a sequence added to the Mass in the late 15th century. The Council of Trentremoved it from the liturgy (because its text was non-biblical). Pope Benedict XIII restored it in 1727 for use on the third Sunday in September on the Feast of theSeven Sorrows of Our Lady. Several variants of the textwere in use until it was standardised as part of the late19th-century reforms associated with the Monks ofSolemnes and the publication of the Liber Usualis (where it appears in a version by Dom Fonteinnes ofSolemnes).

DAVID GARRETT ©

Authorship

The Stabat Mater poem waslong ascribed to Jacoponeda Todi (d.1306), an Italianlawyer who after his wife’sdeath became a lay memberof the Franciscan order. Its authorship is uncertain:what can be said is that it isof 13th-century Franciscanorigin, and shares themysticism of St Francis ofAssisi, with its stress on the immersion of thebeliever in the sufferings of the Lord.

Musical Settings

Polyphonic a cappellasettings from the mediævaland Renaissance periodsinclude Stabat Maters byJosquin, Palestrina, andLassus. Both Alessandroand Domenico Scarlattiwrote accompanied settings,and the very popular andinfluential version byPergolesi (1736) was probablyintended to supplantAlessandro Scarlatti’s inNaples. More than ahundred settings werecomposed between 1700 and 1883. In the spirit ofPergolesi, Rossini’s concerthall version of 1842 adoptsan often frankly operaticstyle. Other notable settingshave been made by Haydn(around 1773), Dvorák(1876–77), Verdi (one of hislast compositions, 1898),Szymanowski (1925–26) andPoulenc (1950)


1. INTRODUCTION – CHORUS AND QUARTET

Stabat Mater dolorosaJuxta Crucem lacrimosa,Dum pendebat Filius.

2. ARIA (TENOR)

Cujus animam gementem,Contristatam et dolentem,Pertransivit gladius.

O quam tristis et afflictaFuit illa benedictaMater Unigeniti!

Quae moerebat, et dolebat,Et tremebat, dum videbatNati poenas inclyti.

3. DUET (SOPRANO I AND II)

Quis est homo, qui non fleret,Christi Matrem si videretIn tanto supplicio?

Quis non posset contristari,Piam Matrem contemplariDolentem cum Filio?

4. ARIA (BASS)

Pro peccatis suae gentisVidit Jesum in tormentis,Et flagellis subditum.

Vidit suum dulcem natumMoriendo desolatum,Dum emisit spiritum.

5. CHORUS AND RECITATIVE (BASS)

Eia Mater, fons amoris,Me sentire vim dolorisFac, ut tecum lugeam.

Fac, ut ardeat cor meumIn amando Christum Deum,Ut sibi complaceam.

The Mother stood in sorrowAnd in tears, by the crossAs her Son hung from it.

Her weeping heartFull of anguish and sorrowA sword had pierced.

Oh how sad and desolateWas that holy MotherOf the only begotten Son!

She grieved and she sufferedAnd trembled as she witnessedThe pains of her glorious Son.

Which man would not weepIf he saw the Mother of ChristIn such deep suffering?

Who could fail to be movedWatching that sweet MotherGrieving with her Son?

For the sins of His peopleShe saw Jesus being torturedAnd subjected to scourging!

She watched her own beloved SonDeserted as He died,As he breathed his last.

O Mother, source of love,Let me feel the strength of this sorrowSo that I may mourn with thee.

Make my heart blazeWith love for Christ the LordSo that I may please Him!


6. QUARTET

Sancta Mater, istud agas,Crucifixi fige plagasCordi meo valide.

Tui nati vulnerati,Tam dignati pro me pati,Poenas mecum divide.

Fac me verum tecum flere,Crucifixo condolere,Donec ego vixero.

Juxta Crucem tecum stare,Te libenter sociareIn planctu desidero.

Virgo virginum praeclara,Mihi jam non sis amara:Fac me tecum plangere.

7. CAVATINA (SOPRANO II)

Fac, ut portem Christi mortemPassionis fac consortem,Et plagas recolere.

Fac me plagis vulnerariCruce hac inebriari,Ob amorem Filii.

8. ARIA (SOPRANO I) AND CHORUS

Inflammatus et accensus,Per te, Virgo, sim defensusIn die judicii.

Fac me cruce custodiri,Morte Christi praemunire,Confoveri gratia.

9. QUARTET

Quando corpus morietur,Fac, ut animae doneturParadisi gloria.

10. CHORUS

Amen.In sempiterna saecula.Amen.

Holy Mother, do this for me;Stamp the wounds of thy crucified SonFirmly in my heart.

Share with me the anguishOf thy Son who deigned to sufferWounds and so much pain for me.

Let me weep sincerely with theeAnd share the sufferings of the CrucifiedAs long as I live.

To stand by the cross with theeAnd join mine to thy tearsIs my fervent wish.

O Virgin, the greatest of all virgins,Do not be unkind to me now;Allow me to weep with thee.

Let me suffer with Christ in his death,Let me share the torments with HimAnd meditate on his wounds.

Let his wounds be inflicted on meAnd through his cross, let me be filledWith love for the Son.

So fired and ablazeMay I be protected by thee, O Virgin,On the day of judgment.

Let me be guarded by the Cross,Strengthened by the death of Christ,Sheltered by [His] grace.

Grant that when my body diesThe glory of HeavenMay be given to my spirit.

Amen.World without end.Amen.


GLOSSARY

A CAPPELLA – literally ‘in the chapel style’,referring to the use of unaccompaniedvoices.

BEL CANTO – Italian for ‘beautiful singing’,generally used to refer to the agile butsmooth style of singing required for theoperas of Donizetti, Bellini and otherItalians of the first part of the 19th century.

CABALETTA – the final, quicker section of amulti-section aria or duet.

CANZONE – a song

CAVATINA – in an opera a slow aria; or asection of an aria in a slow tempo (followedby a cabaletta).

COLORATURA – a florid style of singing (orcomposition for the voice) requiring greatagility and flexibility.

CONTRAPUNTAL – a style of music in whichtwo or more different musical lines ormelodies are played at the same time(counterpoint). Imitative counterpoint iswhen the various parts are playing similaror identical melodies one after the other(e.g. fugues) – childhood rounds are thesimplest form of imitative counterpoint.

FUGUE – a specialised form of contrapuntalwriting in which a short melody, thesubject, is first sounded by one part orinstrument alone, and is then taken up inimitation by other parts or instruments one after the other. (FUGAL: in the style ofa fugue) The Latin fuga is related to the ideaof both ‘fleeing’ and ‘chasing’.

LIBRETTO – Italian for ‘booklet’, the text ofan opera.

OPERA BUFFA – literally, ‘comic opera’; infact, an opera buffa would include a mixtureof serious and comic characters, but alwayspresented in a down-to-earth fashion. Each act would typically finish with anextended number for chorus and soloists.Opera buffa came to prominence in the 18th century; examples include Mozart’sThe Marriage of Figaro and Rossini’s TheBarber of Seville.

RANZ DES VACHES – a ‘rank of cows’, a Swisstune sung or played on an alphorn andtraditionally used to summon the cows.Rossini includes one in his overture toWilliam Tell, and Beethoven in the openingto the final movement of his PastoralSymphony.

STABAT MATER – see page 21 for a discussion of the origin of the text and its liturgicalsignificance.

TROUSER ROLE – also known as a ‘breechespart’, an operatic or theatrical male roleplayed by a woman.

This glossary is intended only as a quick and easyguide, not as a set of comprehensive and absolutedefinitions. Most of these terms have many subtleshades of meaning which cannot be included forreasons of space.


75 YEARS: HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT

Heinze rehearsing for a 1935 concert with Yehudi Menuhin. The private entrepreneur arranged for the 19-year-old Menuhin to be

accompanied by ABC orchestras. (For the story behind this picture visit sydneysymphony.com/history)

of the orchestras include the ABC’s secondGeneral Manager William James Cleary, aSydney man with a love of classical music,and Sir Charles Moses, the GeneralManager who made orchestras a leadingelement in the ABC’s contribution toAustralian life. Moses said of Heinze:

‘It was the inspiration of Sir Bernard’senthusiasm and foresight that persuadedme to recommend in early 1936 the settingup of permanent groups of musicians ineach of the six Australian states to be theprofessional nuclei for the orchestraswhich, later that year, gave music loverstheir first regular annual series of orchestralconcerts.’

It was no coincidence that Heinze’spreference for a six-orchestra policy, ratherthan one ‘national’ orchestra, multiplied his own conducting opportunities. Somewho played under Heinze, and some ofthe audience too, give credence to the adage‘a prophet is not without honour, save inhis own country’. But Heinze deserves to be honoured, not least by the SydneySymphony.

David Garrett, a historian and former programmerfor Australia’s symphony orchestras, is studyingthe history of the ABC as a musical organisation.

Bernard Heinze

The emergence in history of a SydneySymphony Orchestra, a recognisableforerunner of the orchestra you see on thestage, owes much to many people. But ifone is to be singled out, it is BernardHeinze. Some will remember Sir Bernardas the avuncular guide to music whoconducted ABC Youth and Children’sconcerts, giving many their first experienceof an orchestra in live performance. Buta much younger Bernard Heinze was theman with the vision that gave Australia itssix ABC orchestras. The story begins inMelbourne, where he used his energy andpersuasive charm to position himself as theconductor who could realise Melbourne’saspirations for a ‘proper’ symphonyorchestra, and by the early 1930s he hadlargely succeeded. But Heinze’s vision was national in scope. He nudged hiscollaborators within the fledgling ABC to make it not just a broadcastingorganisation, but a major concert presenterand founder of orchestras.

Nothing was going to stop Heinze: soon he was exerting national power andinfluence. Within the next 15 years notonly Sydney, but all the Australian capitals,would have symphony orchestras. Othernames worth recording as the founders

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MORE MUSIC

GIANLUIGI GELMETTI CONDUCTS ROSSINI

Rossini The Thieving Magpie

Live recording with the RAI Torino (3CDs)SONY S3K 45 850

Rossini The Barber of Seville (DVD)Teatro Real Madrid production with Juan Diego Flórez(Count Almaviva), María Bayo (Rosina), Pietro Spagnoli(Figaro)DECCA 074 3111 5 DH2

Rossini Overtures and highlights from The

Barber of Seville

Thomas Hampson, Susanne Mentzer; Stuttgart RadioSymphony Orchestra, Toscana OrchestraEMI 74752-2

Rossini Stabat Mater

Unfortunately Maestro Gelmetti’s 1998 recording of the Stabat Mater on the Agora label is out of print. It featured Carmela Remigio, Daniela Barcellona, JuanDiego Flórez, and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo.

ANNA RITA TALIENTO

Cimarosa Le Donne Rivali

conducted by Alberto Zedda with the Padua and VenetoOrchestraBONGIOVANNI 2186/87

R. Strauss Capriccio

in a star-studded cast with Ulf Schirmer conducting theVienna Philharmonic Orchestra DECCA 444405

DANIELA BARCELLONA

Verdi Requiem

with Claudio Abbado, Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiuand Julian Kostantinov and the Berlin PhilharmonicEMI CLASSICS 57168 (ALSO AVAILABLE ON DVD)

VITTORIO GRIGOLO

In the Hands of Love

Debut album of contemporary popular melodies POLYDOR 1709596

ROBERTO SCANDIUZZI

Verdi Simon Boccanegra

with Roberto Paternostro and the Tokyo SymphonyOrchestraCAPRICCIO RECORDS 51207

Rossini Stabat Mater

with Luba Orgonasova, Cecilia Bartoli, and RaúlGiménez, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung with theVienna Philharmonic Orchestra and State Opera ChorusDEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 449178

ABC CLASSIC FM 92.9

MAY–JUNE

Wed 23 May 1.05pmASHKENAZY CONDUCTS RACHMANINOV (2006)Quaife, Davislim, Summers vocal soloistsAlexey Yemtsov piano, Cantillation

Wed 6 June 1.05pmBOHEMIA (2006)Arvo Volmer conductorDiana Doherty oboeMozart, Martin°u, JS Bach (encore), Dvorák

RELIVE THE BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL

Gianluigi Gelmetti conductorGerhard Oppitz piano

Wed 13 June 2.30pm‘Moonlight’ Sonata (Gerhard Oppitz)

Wed 13 June 8pmSymphonies No.4 and No.7

Thu 14 June 8pmSymphony No.2 and Piano Concerto No.4

Fri 15 June 8pmSymphonies No.3, Eroica and No.6, Pastoral

Sat 16 June 12.05pmSymphony No.5 and Piano Concerto No.5 (Emperor)

Sat 16 June 8pmSymphony No.8 and Piano Concerto No.3

Mon 18 June 8pm – live broadcastGerhard Oppitz recital Beethoven sonatas, including the Appassionata

Tue 19 June 8pmSymphonies No.1 and No.9 (Choral)

Broadcast Diary

In 2006 selected Sydney Symphony concerts were recorded for webcast by Telstra BigPond. These can be viewed at:http://sydneysymphony.bigpondmusic.com.

sydneysymphony.com

Webcast Diary

Visit the Sydney Symphony online for concertinformation, podcasts, and to read your program book inadvance of the concert.

Selected Discography


Gianluigi Gelmetti, Chief Conductor and Artistic Directorof the Sydney Symphony, studied with Sergiu Celibidache,Franco Ferrara and Hans Swarowsky. For ten years heconducted the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra; he has conducted many of the leading orchestras in theworld and appears regularly at international festivals.Since 2000 he has been Music Director of the Teatrodell’Opera di Roma.

Highlights of past seasons include engagements inFrance, Germany, Great Britain, America, Australia, Japan,Switzerland and Italy, where he conducted Mascagni’s Irisand Respighi’s La fiamma at the Teatro dell’Opera di Romaand William Tell at the Rossini Opera Festival. In 1999 hewas awarded the Rossini d’Oro Prize. Gianluigi Gelmettihas also worked regularly at the Royal Opera House,Covent Garden.

His interpretation of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaroearned him the title Best Conductor of the Year from the German magazine Opernwelt, and in 1997 he won theTokyo critics’ prize for the best performance of the year of Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. He has been honoured as Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in Franceand Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana in Italy.

Gianluigi Gelmetti’s recording catalogue includesoperas by Salieri, Rossini, Puccini and Mozart, thecomplete orchestral music of Ravel, the late symphoniesof Mozart and works by many 20th-century composers,including Stravinsky, Berg, Webern, Varèse and Rota.Among his recent recordings are William Tell, Iris, Lafiamma, Bruckner’s Symphony No.6 and Rossini’s Stabat Mater.

Gianluigi Gelmetti is also a composer; his recentworks include In Paradisum Deducant Te Angeli, written tocommemorate the tenth anniversary of Franco Ferrara’sdeath, Algos, and Prasanta Atma, in memory of SergiuCelibidache.

Since summer 1997 he has been teaching at theAccademia Chigiana in Siena.

THE ARTISTS

Gianluigi Gelmetti

CHIEF CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR


Anna Rita Taliento soprano

Anna Rita Taliento studied at the Guiseppe VerdiConservatorium, Milan, and with Rodolfo Celletti andMargherita Rinaldi. In 1993 she won the Belvedere Prizeof Vienna, marking the beginning of an internationalcareer. After her debut at the Two Worlds Festival ofSpoleto, and at the Teatro Comunale of Bologna withRiccardo Chailly (Il trittico), she recorded Richard Strauss’ Cappriccio with the Vienna Philharmonic. Since 1995 she has performed in some of the world’smost prestigious theatres, including Covent Garden,Bologna, the Rossini Opera Festival, the Verona Arena,Maggio Musicale di Firenze, Théâtre de la Monnaie,Royal Albert Hall, and Alte Oper Frankfurt, as well asappearing in Osaka, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and New York.She has worked with conductors such as RiccardoChailly, Daniel Oren, Daniele Gatti, Aldo Ceccato, BrunoCampanella, Claudio Abbado, Alain Lombard, andMyung-Whun Chung.

Her repertoire includes roles in Rossini’s Mosè in Egittoand Semiramide, Carmen, La bohème, Gianni Schicchi, SuorAngelica, La clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni, Le nozze diFigaro and Così fan tutte, Gounod’s Faust, Don Pasquale,and Dido and Aeneas. In 1996 she sang Musetta in thecentenary production of La bohème at the Teatro Regio di Torino, appearing with Luciano Pavarotti and MirellaFreni.

Anna Rita Taliento’s concert hall repertoire spansbaroque to contemporary music, and includes Strauss’Four Last Songs, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Petite MesseSolennelle, Mozart’s C Minor Mass, Messiah, Vivaldi’sGloria, the Christmas Oratorio and cantatas by Bach,Carmina Burana, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. She has appeared many times at the Accademia Nationaledi Santa Cecilia, Rome, where she has performed Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat and Charpentier’sTe Deum. More recently she has made her debut inVerdi’s Requiem.

As guest artist at the Rome Opera she opened the 2004 season in Respighi’s Marie Victoire, and morerecently has appeared in Semiramide and Don Giovanni.Forthcoming appearances include Così fan tutte, Le nozzedi Figaro as well as Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims and Alfano’sLeggenda di Sakùntala di Alfano.


Daniela Barcellona mezzo-soprano

Daniela Barcellona was born in Trieste where shecompleted her musical and vocal studies under thedirection of Alessandro Vitiello. After winning awards in several international competitions, including the AldoBelli in Spoleto, the Iris Adami Corradetti in Padua andthe Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition in Philadelphia, her career launched with herperformance as Tancredi at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.

She has appeared in several productions and concertsat La Scala in Milan, including the historic reopening in December 2004, at the Rossini Opera Festival inPesaro, and in the major Italian opera houses, as well asin concert at the Santa Cecilia Academy.

For Rome Opera she has sung Il barbiere di Siviglia,La fiamma, La Cenerentola, L’italiana in Algeri, Tancredi,Semiramide, and she has also sung roles in Lucrezia Borgia,Iphigénie en Aulide, La donna del lago, Giulio Cesare, Norma,Anna Bolena, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Simone Mayr’sGinevra di Scozia, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Il trittico, and La favorite. Her concert repertoire includes Verdi’sRequiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater,Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Outside of Italy her guest appearances have includedengagements with the Berlin Philharmonic, theSemperoper in Dresden the Bavarian Radio Orchestraand the Bavarian State Opera in Munich; the Vienna State Opera, the Paris Opéra, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, the AmsterdamConcertgebouw, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera. She has collaborated withleading conductors such as Riccardo Muti, James Levine,Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Chailly,Georges Prêtre, Bruno Campanella, Wolfgang Sawallisch,Myung-Whun Chung and Alberto Zedda.

Daniela Barcellona has been honoured with the AbbiatiAward (the Italian critics’ prize), the Lucia Valentini-Terrani and the Aureliano Pertile awards, the 2002 OperaAward, the CD Classica Award and the Rossini d’oro(awarded for a third time to a mezzo-soprano, afterMarilyn Horne and Lucia Valentini-Terrani).

Daniela Barcellona’s most recent appearances with theSydney Symphony were in 2004, when she sang in Verdi’sRequiem and a concert of Rossini arias and overtures.

Vittorio Grigolo tenor

Born in Arezzo in 1977, Vittorio Grigolo moved to Rome where he was a soloist in the Sistine Chapel Choir.At the age of 13 he sang the role of Pastorello in Toscafor Rome Opera, and soon after began studies withDanilo Rigosa. His successes as a teenager included ascholarship in the 12th R. and F. Mecenati InternationalSong Competition and his debut in Rossini’s Petite MesseSolennelle.

In Italy he sang Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia,Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and appeared for RomeOpera as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. He also sang Tybalt in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Steuerman in The FlyingDutchman and Fenton in Falstaff. In 2000 he sang in theopening concert, directed by Riccardo Muti, for La Scala’sVerdi Year.

Since then he has appeared in the major Europeanopera houses, working with Riccardo Muti, Daniel Oren,Myung-Whun Chung, Lorin Maazel, and Daniele Gatti,in repertoire including La traviata, Rigoletto, Otello(Cassius), Lucia di Lammermoor, Così fan tutte (Ferrando),Lakmé, Werther, Idomeneo (Arbace), The Merry Widow(Camille de Rosillon) and Faust. He has also sung Tonyin West Side Story at La Scala and on tour in Japan andLebanon, and character roles in Bernstein’s Candide inGenoa.

His concert repertoire includes Rossini’s Petite MesseSolennelle and Stabat Mater, and Verdi’s Requiem, whichhe sang for the Rome Opera summer season in theevocative setting of the Baths of Caracalla.

Vittorio Grigolo’s first album in the pop-opera genre,In The Hands of Love, entered the British Top Ten. He recently made his first concert appearance at theRoyal Albert Hall, returning soon after to appear at theClassical Brit Awards, performing alongside singers suchas Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa.

This season he has sung in Zefirelli’s production ofLa traviata for Rome Opera and later this year he willappear for Washington National Opera in a newproduction of La bohème and in The Merry Widow forRome Opera.



Roberto Scandiuzzi bass

Roberto Scandiuzzi began his early career in bel cantorepertoire, appearing in major opera houses, including La Fenice in Venice, Costanzi in Rome, La Scala, CoventGarden and the State Opera in Munich. His internationalcareer began in 1991, in a Covent Garden production ofSimon Boccanegra conducted by Sir Georg Solti; the role of Fiesco subsequently brought him success in New York,Paris, Munich, Tokyo, Berlin, Parma, Bologna, Venice andFlorence and he has recorded it with Roberto Paternostroand the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, as well as with Solti.

Since then he has worked with conductors such asAbbado, Chung, Davis, Gergiev, Giulini, Levine, Maazel,Mehta, Muti, Ozawa, Thieleman, Sawallisch and Sinopoli,appearing with some of the world’s leading orchestras,including the London Philharmonic and the LondonSymphony Orchestra, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestras, Berlin andVienna Philharmonics, Dresden Staatskapelle, SantaCecilia, Maggio Musicale, and the Orchestre National de Paris.

His vast repertoire ranges from classical and bel cantoroles (La Sonnambula, I Puritani, Henry VIII, Don Giovanniand Moses) to Verdi (Roger, Zaccaria, Attila, Ernani,Padre Guardiano, Philip II and the Requiem). In theFrench repertoire he often appears in Faust, Don Quichotte, Pelléas et Mélisande and Roméo et Juliette, whilehis verismo repertoire includes Boito’s Mephistofele,Ponchielli’s Gioconda, Franchetti’s Cristoforo Colomboand L’amore dei tre re by Montemezzi. He has also sungDosifey (Khovanshchina), Gremin (Eugene Onegin) and BorisGodunov.

His discography includes La Gioconda, La sonnambulaand Cristoforo Colombo, all directed by Marcello Viotti; La bohème with Kent Nagano; Don Carlo with BernardHaitink; Macbeth with Gustav Kuhn; and Rigoletto withJames Levine, and he can be seen on video in the ZurichOpera production of Macbeth, the Covent Gardenproduction of Simon Boccanegra, and the Barcelonaproduction of Aida. His recordings of concert repertoireinclude Verdi’s Requiem with Michel Plasson and the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, and Rossini’sStabat Mater with the Vienna Philharmonic and Myung-Whun Chung.

C.M

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Formed in 1920, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is Australia’s largest choral organisation. With four choirs – the 32-voice Chamber Singers (the Motet Choir), the 100-voice Symphony Chorus, the youth-focussed 60-voiceVox and the 300-voice Festival Chorus – SydneyPhilharmonia presents its own annual concert series as well as acting as chorus for the Sydney Symphony.

Sydney Philharmonia has worked with conductors such as Eugene Ormandy, Otto Klemperer, DavidWillcocks, Charles Mackerras, Edo de Waart, CharlesDutoit, Christopher Hogwood, Mark Elder, John Nelson,Richard Hickox, Gianluigi Gelmetti and Bruno Weil.Previous Musical Directors have included Mats Nilsson,Antony Walker, John Grundy and Peter Seymour.

In 2002 Sydney Philharmonia was the first Australianchoir to sing at the BBC Proms, performing Mahler’sEighth Symphony under Simon Rattle. Other highlightshave included performances for the Sydney Olympics and the Nagano Winter Olympics, concerts with BarbraStreisand, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder for the MelbourneFestival, and the premiere recording of Andrew Schultzand Gordon K. Williams’ Journey to Horseshoe Bend withthe Sydney Symphony. Last year the schedule includedrecording for the soundtrack of Happy Feet. 2007 seasonhighlights include Britten’s War Requiem for the PerthFestival, and a tour to Hobart to work with the TSO.

Brett Weymark Artistic Director

Brett Weymark studied singing at Sydney Universityand conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium. He ispassionate about new Australian compositions, baroquemasterworks, music education, and access to the art ofchoral singing, and in 2001 he was awarded a CentenaryMedal for services to choral music.

In 2000, he was appointed Assistant Chorus Master at Sydney Philharmonia, and Musical Director in 2003.From 2003 to 2005 he was also Musical Director andConductor for Pacific Opera.

As a chorusmaster, he has prepared works for CharlesMackerras, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Edo de Waart, Simon Rattle and Charles Dutoit. As a singer, he currently


SOPRANO 1

Jacqui BinetskyFemmie BuysAnne CookeFreja CrossRouna DaleyCatherine De LucaShamistha de SoysaSue JusticeCarolyn LowryGillian MarkhamClare MillsVicky PiroloLeighana ThorntonSharla VijayaratnamSara Watts

SOPRANO 2

Shelley AndrewsAnne BlakeJodie BoehmePamela CunninghamVanessa DowningKarina FallandNatalie FisherDorothy GillJudith Gorry

Caroline GudeGillian Haslehust-SmithPat HowesCarine JenkinsDympna PatersonRegula ScheideggerAndrea TigheJacqui Wilkins

ALTO 1

Julie AysomJan BorrieGae BristowMegan BrockJessica FarrellJan FawkeKathryn HarwoodSarah HowellHelen PedersenMegan SolomonVictoria Tester

ALTO 2

Ruth CollersonCatriona DebelleClaire Duffy

Ruth EdenboroughPhoebe FergusonPenny GayEdith GraySue HarrisTijana MiljovskaSheli WallachAdriana Zlatinova

TENOR 1

Patrick BlakeDenys GillespieScott McLennanRobert ThomsonMichael WallachAlex Walter

TENOR 2

Michael ClarkStephen CoulingMalcolm DayBrendan DochertySteven HankeySelwyn LemosFrank Maio

Sean NewellPeter RobertsBruce Turner

BASS 1

John BartholomaeusPeter CallaghanRobert CunninghamMatthew GytonTimothy JenkinsJurgan OttoMichael RyanEdward ToalArthur Winckler

BASS 2

Warwick AndersonMartin BairdAlan GarnerRobert GreenEckhard KemmererGavin LamontMark McGoldrickPeter PooleAndrew Raftery

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs – Symphony Chorus

Brett Weymark Artistic Director and Chorusmaster

Jo Jacobs General ManagerElizabeth Scott Assistant ChorusmasterJosephine Allan and Ben van Tienen Rehearsal Pianists

performs with Cantillation and his solo repertoire rangesfrom Monteverdi to Britten.

In the Sydney Philharmonia 2005 season he presented32 of Bach’s church cantatas in a 10-concert series andconducted A Child of Our Time for the Tippett centenary.

Highlights in 2006 included a Sydney Festival concertof Danish works and The Wizard of Oz with the SydneySymphony. He conducted music for the film Happy Feetand led a workshop and performance of Mozart’sRequiem with over 1300 voices. Earlier this year heconducted the Sydney Symphony in Symphony at theMovies concerts with Michael Parkinson.


Opera Australia Chorus

For the first 13 years of Opera Australia the chorus wasrecruited season to season. In 1969 a permanent chorusof 32 singers was established, increased with the openingof the Sydney Opera House in 1973. The Opera AustraliaChorus currently comprises 46 members, augmented on a casual basis by Sydney and Melbourne singers.

Those who have played important roles in thedevelopment of the ensemble include the initialchorusmaster, Geoffrey Arnold, and his successors,including Peter Seymour, Richard Gill and SimonKenway.

Notable performances have included the Australianpremiere of War and Peace for the opening of the SydneyOpera House and the Bicentennial season of TheMastersingers of Nuremberg. Recent highlights include Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Eighth Wonder, Turandot,Peter Grimes, and many seasons of Fiddler on the Roof.

In addition to its operatic performances, the Opera Australia Chorus appears in concert. Recentperformances include Verdi’s Requiem conducted bySimone Young, Brahms’ A German Requiem, andBeethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the TasmanianSymphony Orchestra.

The Chorus has been integral to the success of OperaAustralia’s many simulcasts, and its work is featured on video and recordings, including important historicalvideos featuring Dame Joan Sutherland and the CD Vosswith Stuart Challender.

The Opera Australia Chorus is sponsored byExxonMobil Australia.


Michael Black Chorusmaster

Michael Black holds degrees in Education, Performanceand Musicology from the Sydney Conservatorium ofMusic and the University of NSW. He has beenChorusmaster for Opera Australia since 2001 and hasprepared more than 80 operas in that time as well aschoral works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Brahms’A German Requiem, Carmina Burana, Chichester Psalmsand Holst’s Planets. He is also chorusmaster for two ABC Classics recordings: Verdi Requiem (AustralianOpera and Ballet Orchestra) and Beethoven NinthSymphony (Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra); and twoChandos recordings: The Love for Three Oranges andRusalka. He has also been guest chorusmaster for OperaHolland Park (UK), Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, andCantillation.

He is one of Australia’s finest accompanists andregularly performs with many singers in recital,broadcast and recording. He has performed for WigmoreHall Touring Chamber Music and at all the majorAustralian Festivals including Sydney, Melbourne,Perth International Arts Festival and Brisbane Biennale.

As an educator, Michael Black lectured for many yearsat the Sydney Conservatorium, has been an adjudicatorfor many competitions, and has given master classes at the Victorian College of the Arts and SydneyConservatorium. He has also been a piano examiner for the AMEB.

Catherine Bouchier soprano† Caroline Clack mezzo-sopranoLisa Cooper sopranoJane Dunstan mezzo-sopranoWarren Fisher tenor ‡ Joanne Goodman mezzo-sopranoThomas Hamilton bassJames Homann bassDavid Lewis tenor

Vanessa Lewis mezzo-sopranoTom Moran tenorClifford Plumpton bassEmma Pratt sopranoHelen Sherman mezzo-soprano

† Jemmy in Guillaume Tell‡ Walter Fürst in Guillaume Tell

Opera Australia Chorus

Michael Black Chorusmaster


THE SYDNEY SYMPHONY

Founded in 1932, the Sydney Symphonyhas evolved into one of the world’s finestorchestras as Sydney has become one ofthe world’s great cities. Resident at theiconic Sydney Opera House where theSydney Symphony gives more than 100performances each year, the Orchestra alsoperforms concerts in a variety of venuesaround Sydney and regional New SouthWales. International tours to Europe, Asiaand the USA have earned the Orchestraworld-wide recognition for artisticexcellence.

Critical to the success of the SydneySymphony has been the leadership given by its former Chief Conductors including:Sir Eugene Goossens, Nikolai Malko,Dean Dixon, Willem van Otterloo, LouisFrémaux, Sir Charles Mackerras, Stuart

Challender and Edo de Waart. Alsocontributing to the outstanding success of the Orchestra have been collaborationswith legendary figures such as GeorgeSzell, Sir Thomas Beecham, OttoKlemperer and Igor Stravinsky.

Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti, whoseappointment followed a ten yearrelationship with the Orchestra as GuestConductor, is now in his fourth year asChief Conductor and Artistic Director ofthe Sydney Symphony, a position he holdsin tandem with that of Music Director at the prestigious Rome Opera.

The Sydney Symphony is reaping therewards of Maestro Gelmetti’s directorshipthrough the quality of sound, intensityof playing and flexibility between styles. His particularly strong rapport withFrench and German repertoire iscomplemented by his innovativeprogramming in the Shock of the New concerts and performances ofcontemporary Australian music.

The Sydney Symphony’s award-winningEducation Program is central to theOrchestra’s commitment to the future of live symphonic music, developingaudiences and engaging the participationof young people. The Sydney Symphonymaintains an active commissioningprogram promoting the work of Australiancomposers and in 2005 Liza Lim wasappointed Composer-in-Residence forthree years.

In 2007, the Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary and the milestoneachievements during its distinguishedhistory.

JOH

N M

AR

MA

RA

S

PATRON Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CBO, Governor of New South Wales


MUSICIANS

01First Violins

02 03 04 05 06 07

08 09 10 11 12

01Second Violins

02 03 04 05 06 07

08 09 10 11 12 13

First Violins

01 Kirsten WilliamsAssociate Concertmaster

02 Fiona ZieglerIan & Jennifer Burton Chair of Assistant Concertmaster

03 Julie Batty04 Gu Chen05 Amber Davis06 Rosalind Horton07 Jennifer Hoy08 Jennifer Johnson09 Georges Lentz10 Nicola Lewis11 Alexandra Mitchell

Moon Design Chair of Violin

12 Léone ZieglerSophie Cole

Second Violins

01 Marina MarsdenPrincipal

02 Susan DobbieAssociate Principal

03 Emma WestAssistant Principal

04 Pieter Bersée05 Maria Durek06 Emma Hayes07 Shuti Huang08 Stan Kornel09 Benjamin Li10 Nicole Masters11 Philippa Paige12 Biyana Rozenblit13 Maja Verunica

Guest Musicians

Emily Qin First Violin#

Emily Long First Violin#

Alexander Norton First Violin#

Victoria Jacono First Violin†

Martin Silverton First Violin

Deborah Scholem First Violin

Belinda Jezek Second Violin

Thomas Dundas Second Violin

Narine MelconianSecond Violin

Leigh Middenway Second Violin

Christopher Moore Viola°

Jacqueline Cronin Viola#

Vera Marcu Viola

Rowena Crouch Cello#

Patrick Murphy Cello#

Martin Penicka Cello†

Janine Ryan Cello

Jennifer Druery Double Bass#

Lauren Brandon Double Bass

Gordan HillDouble Bass‡

Bridget Bolliger Flute

Celia Craig Oboe

Lisa Wynne-Allen Horn#

Euan Harvey Horn‡

Joshua Clarke Trumpet

Joshua Davis Trombone

John Douglas Percussion

Kevin Man Percussion

#= Contract musician† = Sydney Symphony

Fellow° = Courtesy of

Australian Chamber Orchestra

‡ = Courtesy of New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Gianluigi GelmettiChief Conductor andArtistic Director

Michael DauthChair of Concertmastersupported by the SydneySymphony Board and Council

Dene OldingChair of Concertmastersupported by the SydneySymphony Board and Council


08Cellos

09 10 11 01 02 03

01Violas

02 03 04 05 06 07

04 05 06 07 08 -9

01Double Basses

02 03 04 05 06 07

08Harp

01Flutes

02 03Piccolo

MUSICIANS

Violas

01 Roger BenedictPrincipal

02 Anne Louise ComerfordAssociate Principal

03 Yvette GoodchildAssistant Principal

04 Robyn Brookfield05 Sandro Costantino06 Jane Hazelwood07 Graham Hennings08 Mary McVarish09 Justine Marsden10 Leonid Volovelsky11 Felicity Wyithe

Cellos

01 Catherine Hewgill Principal

02 Nathan Waks Principal

03 Kristy Conrau04 Fenella Gill05 Leah Lynn06 Timothy Nankervis07 Elizabeth Neville08 Adrian Wallis09 David Wickham

Double Basses

01 Kees BoersmaBrian and Rosemary White Chair of Principal Double Bass

02 Alex HeneryPrincipal

03 Andrew RacitiAssociate Principal

04 Neil BrawleyPrincipal Emeritus

05 David Campbell06 Steven Larson07 Richard Lynn08 David Murray

Harp

Louise JohnsonMulpha Australia Chair of Principal Harp

Flutes

01 Janet Webb Principal

02 Emma ShollMr Harcourt Gough Chair of Associate Principal Flute

03 Carolyn Harris

Piccolo

Rosamund PlummerPrincipal


Cor Anglais Clarinets Bass Clarinet

Oboes

01 Diana Doherty Andrew Kaldor and Renata Kaldor AO Chair of Principal Oboe

02 Shefali PryorAssociate Principal

Cor Anglais

Alexandre OgueyPrincipal

Clarinets

01 Lawrence Dobell Principal

02 Francesco CelataAssociate Principal

03 Christopher Tingay

Bass Clarinet

Craig WernickePrincipal

Bassoons

01 Matthew WilkiePrincipal

02 Roger BrookeAssociate Principal

03 Fiona McNamara

Contrabassoon

01 Noriko ShimadaPrincipal

Horns

01 Robert JohnsonPrincipal

02 Ben JacksPrincipal

03 Geoff O’ReillyPrincipal 3rd

04 Lee Bracegirdle05 Marnie Sebire

Trumpets

01 Daniel Mendelow Principal

02 Paul Goodchild Associate Principal

03 John Foster04 Anthony Heinrichs

Trombone

01 Ronald PrussingNSW Department of State and Regional Development Chair of Principal Trombone

02 Scott KinmontAssociate Principal

03 Nick ByrneRogen International Chair of Trombone

Bass Trombone

Christopher Harris Trust Foundation Chair of Principal Bass Trombone

Tuba

Steve RosséPrincipal

Timpani

01 Richard MillerPrincipal

02 Brian NixonAssistant Principal Timpani (contract)

Percussion

01 Rebecca LagosPrincipal

02 Colin Piper

Piano

Josephine AllanPrincipal (contract)

01Bassoons Contrabassoon Horns

02 03 01 02 03

01Oboes

02 01 02 03

04 05 01Trumpets

02 03 04

01Trombones

02 03Bass Trombone Tuba

01Timpani

02

01Percussion

02Piano

MUSICIANS

The Company is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW

SALUTE


PRINCIPAL PARTNER

PLATINUM PARTNER MAJOR PARTNERS

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

GOLD PARTNERS


The Sydney Symphony applauds the leadership role our Partners play and their commitment to excellence,innovation and creativity.

SILVER PARTNERS

REGIONAL TOUR PARTNERS

BRONZE PARTNERS MARKETING PARTNERS PATRONS

Australia PostBeyond Technology ConsultingBimbadgen Estate WinesGoldman Sachs JBWereJ. Boag & SonQ-Med (Sweden) Australia Pty Ltd.Vittoria Coffee

Avant CardBlue Arc GroupLindsay Yates and Partners2MBS 102.5 –Sydney’s Fine Music Station

The Sydney Symphony gratefullyacknowledges the many musiclovers who contribute to theOrchestra by becoming SymphonyPatrons. Every donation plays animportant part in the success of theSydney Symphony’s wide rangingprograms.

A leadership program which linksAustralia’s top performers in theexecutive and musical worlds.For information about the Directors’Chairs program, please contactCorporate Relations on (02) 8215 4614.


01 02 03 04 05 06

07 08 09 10 11

DIRECTORS’ CHAIRS

01Mulpha Australia Chair ofPrincipal Harp, Louise Johnson

02Mr Harcourt Gough Chair ofAssociate Principal Flute, Emma Sholl

03Sandra and Paul Salteri Chair ofArtistic Director Education,Richard Gill OAM

04Jonathan Sweeney, Managing Director Trust withTrust Foundation Chair ofPrincipal Bass Trombone, Christopher Harris

05NSW Department of State and Regional Development Chair of Principal Trombone,Ronald Prussing

06Brian and Rosemary White Chair of Principal Double Bass,Kees Boersma

07Board and Council of theSydney Symphony supportsChairs of Concertmaster Michael Dauth and Dene Olding

08Gerald Tapper, Managing Director Rogen International withRogen International Chair of Trombone, Nick Byrne

09Stuart O’Brien, ManagingDirector Moon Design with Moon Design Chair of Violin,Alexandra Mitchell

10Ian and Jennifer Burton Chair of Assistant Concertmaster,Fiona Ziegler

11Andrew Kaldor and Renata Kaldor AO Chair ofPrincipal Oboe, Diana Doherty

Rev H & Mrs M Herbert ° *Ms Michelle Hilton-VernonMr and Mrs Paul HoltMr Eric C Howie °Mr & Mrs P Huthnance °Ms Judy JoyeMrs Jeannette King ° *Mrs J Lam-Po-Tang °Dr Barry LandaMrs Joan Langley °Ms Jan Lee Martin & Mr PeterLazar §

Mr David & Mrs Skye LeckieMargaret Lederman °Mr & Mrs Ezzelino Leonardi §Mr Bernard & Mrs Barbara LeserErna & Gerry Levy AM *Mr and Mrs S C Lloyd °Mr Andrew & Mrs Amanda Love

Mr Matthew McInnes §Mr Tony & Mrs Fran MeagherMr Andrew NobbsMoon DesignMrs R H O’ConorMs Patricia Payn §Mr Adrian & Mrs Dairneen Pilton

Mr & Mrs Michael PottsMrs B Raghavan °Mrs Caroline RalphsmithDr K D Reeve AM *Mr & Mrs A Rogers °Dr Jane & Mr Neville Rowden §Mrs Margaret SammutIn memory of H. St.P Scarlett ° *Blue Mountain Concert Society Inc °

Mr Ezekiel SolomonMr Andrew & Mrs Isolde TornyaMiss Amelia TrottMrs Merle Turkington °The Hon M. Turnbull MP & Mrs L. Hughes Turnbull

Mr & Mrs Franc VaccherRonald Walledge °Louise Walsh & David JordonMr Geoff Wood and Ms Melissa Waites

Miss Jenny WuMr Michael Skinner & Ms Sandra Yates AO

Anonymous (12)

PLAYING YOUR PART


Maestri

Brian Abel & the late BenGannon AO °

Geoff & Vicki Ainsworth *Mr Robert O Albert AO *‡Alan & Christine Bishop ° §Sandra & Neil Burns *Mr Ian & Mrs Jennifer Burton °The Clitheroe Foundation *Patricia M. Dixson *Penny Edwards ° *Mr J O Fairfax AO *Dr Bruno & Mrs Rhonda Giuffre *

Mr Harcourt Gough §Mr David Greatorex AO & Mrs Deirdre Greatorex §

Mr Andrew Kaldor & Mrs Renata Kaldor AO §

H. Kallinikos Pty Ltd §Mr David Maloney §Mr B G O’Conor §The Paramor Family * Mr Paul & Mrs Sandra SalteriMr Brian & Mrs Rosemary WhiteAnonymous (1) *

Virtuosi

Mrs Antoinette Albert §Mr Robert & Mrs L Alison Carr §Mr John C Conde AO §Mr John Curtis §Irwin Imhof in Memory of Herta Imhof °‡

Mr Stephen Johns §Mr & Mrs Gilles T Kryger ° §Helen Lynch AM °Mr E J Merewether & Mrs T Merewether OAM *

Miss Rosemary Pryor *Bruce & Joy Reid Foundation *John Roarty in memory of June Roarty

Rodney Rosenblum AM & SylviaRosenblum §

Mrs Helen Selle §Dr James Smith §David Smithers AM & family §Michael & Mary Whelan Trust §Anonymous (2) §

Soli

Ms Jan Bowen *Mr Chum Darvall §Ian Dickson & Reg Holloway *Hilmer Family Trust §Mr Paul & Mrs Susan Hotz ° §Mr Rory JeffesPaul Lancaster & RaemaProwse ° §

Mrs Joan MacKenzie §Mr James & Mrs Elsie Moore °Ms Kathleen ParerMs Gabrielle TrainorMr R Wingate §Anonymous (2) §

Tutti

Mr C R Adamson ° §Mr Henry W Aram §Mr David Barnes °Mrs F M Buckle °Debby Cramer & Bill Caukill °Libby Christie & Peter JamesMr Bob & Mrs Julie Clampett §Mr & Mrs J B Fairfax AM §Mr Ian Fenwicke & Prof Neville Wills §

Mrs Dorit & Mr WilliamFranken ° §

Mr & Mrs J R W Furber §Mr Arshak & Ms SophieGalstaun §

In Memory of Hetty Gordon §Mrs Akiko Gregory §Miss Janette Hamilton °‡Mr A & Mrs L Heyko-Porebski °Dr Paul Hutchins & Ms Margaret Moore °

Mrs Margaret JackMr John W Kaldor AM §Mr & Mrs E Katz §Mr Andrew Korda & Ms Susan Pearson §

Mr Justin Lam §Mr Gary Linnane §Ms Karen Loblay §Mr & Mrs R. Maple-Brown §Mrs Alexandra Martin & the late Mr Lloyd Martin AM §

Justice Jane Mathews §Mrs Mora Maxwell ° §Judith McKernan °Mrs Barbara McNulty OBE °Mr & Mrs John Morschel

Mr R A Oppen §Mr Robert Orrell §Dr Timothy Pascoe §Ms Robin Potter §Mr Nigel Price §Mr & Mrs Ernest Rapee §Mrs Patricia H Reid °Mr Brian Russell & Ms IrinaSingleman

Gordon & JacquelineSamuels ° §

Ms Juliana Schaeffer §Robyn Smiles §Derek & Patricia Smith §Catherine Stephen °Mr Fred & Mrs Dorothy Street §Mr Georges & Mrs MarlieseTeitler §

Mr Stephen ThatcherMr Ken Tribe AC & Mrs JoanTribe °

Mr John E Tuckey °Mrs Kathleen Tutton °Ms Mary Vallentine AO §Henry & Ruth Weinberg §Mr & Mrs Bruce WestJill Wran §Mrs R Yabsley °Anonymous (10) §

Supporters over $500

Mr Roger Allen & Ms MaggieGray

Mr Lachlan AstleJohn Augustus °Mr Warwick Bailey §Mr Marco Belgiorno-Zegna AM

Mr G D Bolton °Pat & Jenny Burnett °Hon. Justice J.C. & MrsCampbell *

Mr & Mrs Michel-Henri Carriol °Mrs B E Cary §Mr Leo Christie & Ms MarionBorgelt

Mr Peter CoatesMr B & Mrs M Coles §Mrs Catherine GaskinCornberg §

Stan & Mary Costigan *Mrs M A Coventry °Ms Rowena Danziger °Mr & Mrs Michael DarlingLisa & Miro Davis *Mrs Patricia Davis §Mrs Ashley Dawson-DamerMr Paul Espie °Mr Russell FarrMr & Mrs David FeethamMr Richard & Mrs Diana Fisher

Patron Annual

Donations Levels

Maestri $10,000 and above Virtuosi $5000 to $9999 Soli $2500 to $4999 Tutti $1000 to $2499 Supporters $500 to $999

To discuss givingopportunities, please callCaroline Mark on (02) 8215 4619.

° Allegro Program supporter* Emerging Artist Fund supporter‡ Stuart Challender Fund supporter§ Orchestra Fund supporter

The Sydney Symphony gratefully acknowledges the music lovers who donate to the Orchestra each year. Every gift plays an important part in ensuring ourcontinued artistic excellence and helping to sustain important education andregional touring programs. Because we are now offering free programs andspace is limited we are unable to list donors who give between $100 and $499 –please visit sydneysymphony.com for a list of all our patrons.


Sydney Symphony Board

BEHIND THE SCENES

CHAIRMAN

David Maloney

Libby Christie John Conde AO

John CurtisStephen JohnsAndrew KaldorGoetz RichterDavid Smithers AM

Gabrielle Trainor

What’s on the cover?During the 2007 season Sydney Symphony program covers willfeature photos that celebrate the Orchestra’s history over thepast 75 years. The photographs on the covers will changeapproximately once a month, and if you subscribe to one ofour concert series you will be able to collect a set over thecourse of the year.

COVER PHOTOGRAPHS (clockwise from top left): Couple looking at an SSO Youth Concerts brochure, 1960s; Gianluigi Gelmetti;Edo de Waart’s farewell gala concert, November 2003; Proms audience playingpenny whistles in McCabe’s Mini Concerto for organ, orchestra and 485 pennywhistles (17 February 1968); Cliff Goodchild, former Principal Tuba, early 1960s;75 Years of Inspiring Music; Dene Olding, Co-Concertmaster; Diana Doherty,Principal Oboe


Sydney Symphony Staff

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Libby Christie

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Deborah Byers

ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC OPERATIONS

Wolfgang Fink

Artistic Administration

ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Raff Wilson

ARTIST LIAISON

Ilmar Leetberg

PERSONAL ASSISTANT TO THE

CHIEF CONDUCTOR

Lisa Davies-Galli

Education Programs

EDUCATION MANAGER

Margaret Moore

EDUCATION CO-ORDINATOR

Bernie Heard

A/EDUCATION CO-ORDINATOR

Charlotte Binns-McDonald

Library

LIBRARIAN

Anna Cernik

LIBRARY ASSISTANT

Victoria Grant

LIBRARY ASSISTANT

Mary-Ann Mead

DEVELOPMENT

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Rory Jeffes

CORPORATE RELATIONS MANAGER

Leann Meiers

CORPORATE RELATIONS EXECUTIVE

Alan Watt

CORPORATE RELATIONS EXECUTIVE

Julia Owens

PHILANTHROPY MANAGER

Caroline Mark

PATRONS & EVENTS MANAGER

Georgina Andrews

MARKETING AND

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

Julian Boram

Publicity

PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

Imogen Corlette

PUBLICIST

Yvonne Zammit

Customer Relationship

Management

MARKETING MANAGER – CRM

Aaron Curran

ONLINE & PUBLICATIONS MANAGER

Robert Murray

DATABASE ANALYST

Martin Keen

Marketing Communications

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

MANAGER

Georgia Rivers

MULTICULTURAL MARKETING

MANAGER

Xing Jin

ASSISTANT MARKETING MANAGER

Simon Crossley-Meates

CONCERT PROGRAM EDITOR

Yvonne Frindle

Box Office

BOX OFFICE MANAGER

Lynn McLaughlin

BOX OFFICE COORDINATOR

Anna Fraser

CUSTOMER SERVICE

REPRESENTATIVES

Wendy AugustineMatthew D’SilvaMichael Dowling

ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT

DIRECTOR OF ORCHESTRA

MANAGEMENT

Aernout Kerbert

ACTING DEPUTY ORCHESTRA

MANAGER

Greg Low

ORCHESTRAL ASSISTANT

Angela Chilcott

OPERATIONS MANAGER

John Glenn

TECHNICAL MANAGER

Derek Coutts

PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR

Tim Dayman

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Ian Spence

STAGE MANAGER

Marrianne Carter

COMMERCIAL PROGRAMS

DIRECTOR OF COMMERCIAL

PROGRAMMING

Baz Archer

RECORDING ENTERPRISES

RECORDING ENTERPRISES MANAGER

Aimee Paret

BUSINESS SERVICES

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

Teresa Cahill

EXECUTIVE PROJECT MANAGER

Rachel Hadfield

FINANCE MANAGER

Samuel Li

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

Shelley Salmon

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

MANAGER

Tim Graham

PAYROLL AND ACCOUNTS

PAYABLE OFFICER

Caroline Hall

HUMAN RESOURCES

Fran Cracknell

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE TRUST

Mr Kim Williams AM (Chair)Mr John BallardMr Wesley EnochMs Renata Kaldor AOMs Jacqueline Kott Mr Robert Leece AM RFDMs Sue Nattrass AOMr Leo Schofield AMMs Barbara WardMr Evan Williams AM

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT

CHIEF EXECUTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Norman GillespieDIRECTOR, FACILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Paul AkhurstDIRECTOR, FINANCE & SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .David Antaw DIRECTOR, MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT . . . . . . . . . .Naomi GrabelDIRECTOR, PERFORMING ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rachel HealyDIRECTOR, PEOPLE & CULTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joe HoracekDIRECTOR, INFORMATION SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Claire SwaffieldDIRECTOR, TOURISM & VISITOR OPERATIONS . . . . . .Maria Sykes

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

Bennelong PointGPO Box 4274, Sydney NSW 2001Administration (02) 9250 7111Box Office (02) 9250 7777Facsimile (02) 9250 7666Website sydneyoperahouse.com

This publication is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulatedwithout the publisher’s consent in writing. It is a further condition that thispublication shall not be circulated in any form of binding or cover otherthan that in which it was published.

This is a / SHOWBILL publication.

Publisher

Playbill Proprietary Limited / Showbill Proprietary Limited ACN 003 311 064 ABN 27 003 311 064

1017 Pacific Highway, Pymble, NSW 2073 Telephone: (02) 9449 6433 Fax: (02) 9449 6053 E-mail: [email protected]: www.playbill.com.au

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND ADVERTISEMENT DIRECTOR Brian Nebenzahl OAM, RFD

MANAGING DIRECTOR Michael Nebenzahl

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jocelyn Nebenzahl

DIRECTOR – PRODUCTION Chris Breeze

NEW ZEALAND MANAGER Ngaire Stent

Melbourne Office: C/- Moore Stephens HF, 14th Floor, 607 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000; (61 3) 9614 4444, Fax (61 3) 9629 5716. Canberra Office: C/- Minter Ellison, 25 National Circuit, Forrest, Canberra ACT 2603; (61 2) 6225 3000, Fax (61 2) 6225 1000. Brisbane Office: C/- HBM Heiser Bayly Mortensen Lawyers, Level 4 Toowong Tower, 9 Sherwood Road, Toowong QLD 4066; (61 7) 3371 1066, Fax (61 7) 3371 7803. Adelaide Office: Playbill Pty Limited, Adelaide Convention Centre, GPO Box 2669, North Terrace SA 5001; Mobile (61) 419 244 425, Fax (61 8) 8231 3681. Perth Office: C/- Ernst & Young, 11 Mounts Bay Road,Perth WA 6000; GPO Box M939 Perth WA 6843; (61 8) 9429 2222, Fax (61 8) 9429 2436. Hobart Office: C/- Page Seager, 162 Macquarie Street, Hobart TAS 7000; (61 3) 6235 5155, Fax (61 3) 6231 0352. Darwin Office: C/- Ernst & Young, 9-11 Cavanagh Street, Darwin NT 0800; (61 8) 8943 4200, Fax (61 8) 8943 4290.

OVERSEAS OPERATIONS

New Zealand Registered Office: Playbill (N.Z.) Limited, Level 5, 94 Dixon Street, PO Box 11-755, Wellington, New Zealand; (64 4) 385 8893, Fax (64 4) 385 8899. Auckland Office: Mt. Smart Stadium, Beasley Avenue, Penrose, Auckland; (64 9) 571 1607, Fax (64 9) 571 1608, Mobile 6421 741 148, Email: [email protected] London Office: Playbill UK Limited, C/- Everett Baldwin BarclayConsultancy Services, 35 Paul Street, London EC2A 4UQ; (44) 207 628 0857, Fax (44) 207 628 7253. Hong Kong Office: Playbill (HK) Limited, C/- Fanny Lai, Rm 804, 8/F Eastern Commercial Centre, 397 Hennessey Road, Wanchai HK 168001 WCH 38; (852) 2891 6799; Fax (852) 2891 1618. Malaysia Office: Playbill (Malaysia) Sdn Bhn, C/- Peter I.M. Chieng & Co., No.2-E (1st Floor) Jalan SS 22/25, Damansara Jaya, 47400 PetalingJaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan; (60 3) 7728 5889; Fax (60 3) 7729 5998. Singapore Office: Playbill (HK) Limited, C/- HLB Loke Lum Consultants Pte Ltd, 110 Middle Road #05-00 Chiat Hong Building, Singapore 188968; (65) 6332 0088; Fax (65) 6333 9690. South Africa: Playbill South Africa Pty Ltd, C/- HLB Barnett Chown Inc.,Bradford House, 12 Bradford Road, Bedfordview, SA 2007; (27) 11856 5300, Fax (27) 11856 5333.

All enquiries for advertising space in this publication should be directed to the above company and address.

Entire concept copyright. Reproduction without permission in whole or inpart of any material contained herein is prohibited. Title ‘Playbill’ is theregistered title of Playbill Proprietary Limited. Title ‘Showbill’ is theregistered title of Showbill Proprietary Limited.

Additional copies of this publication are available by post from thepublisher; please write for details.

14794 – 1/170507 – 14 S32/33

SYMPHONY SERVICES AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Suite 3, Level 2, 561 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW 2007GPO Box 9994, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8333 1651Facsimile (02) 8333 1678

www.symphony.net.au

Level 9, 35 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4644Facsimile (02) 8215 4646

Customer Services:GPO Box 4338, Sydney NSW 2001Telephone (02) 8215 4600Facsimile (02) 8215 4660

www.sydneysymphony.com

All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing. The opinions expressed in thispublication do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the editor, publisher or any distributor of the programs. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of statements in this publication, we cannot acceptresponsibility for any errors or omissions, or for matters arising fromclerical or printers’ errors. Every effort has been made to securepermission for copyright material prior to printing.

Please address all correspondence to the Concert Program Editor, Sydney Symphony, GPO Box 4972, Sydney NSW 2001. Fax (02) 8215 4660. Email [email protected]

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