2010 SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT SCHEDULE

CONCERT SERIES 1

Saturday 27th February 8pm - Balmain Town Hall Sunday 28th February 5pm – Australian Institute of Music

o Mendelssohn – Overture & Allegro from Midsummer Night’s Dream o Elgar - Introduction & Allegro

o Mozart – Symphony no 41 ‘ Jupiter’

CONCERT SERIES 2 Saturday 17th April 8pm - Balmain Town Hall

Sunday 18th April 5pm – Australian Institute of Music o Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending (Violin – Manu Berkeljon)

o Mozart – Symphony no 35 ‘Haffner’ o Beethoven – Symphony no 1

CONCERT SERIES 3

Saturday 19th June 8pm - Balmain Town Hall Sunday 20th June 5pm – Australian Institute of Music

o Beethoven – Egmont Overture o Brahms – Violin Concerto (Violin – Susan Collins)

o Schubert – Symphony no 4 ‘Tragic’

CONCERT SERIES 4 Saturday 7th August 8pm - Balmain Town Hall

Sunday 8th August 5pm – Australian Institute of Music o Haydn – Trumpet Concerto (Trumpet – Matt Dempsey)

o Mendelssohn – Sinfonia no 8 in D major o Beethoven – Symphony no 8

CONCERT SERIES 5

Saturday 25th September 8pm - Balmain Town Hall Sunday 26th September 5pm – Australian Institute of Music

o Ravel – Pavane pour une infante defunte o Schumann – Cello Concerto (Cello - Emma-Jane Murphy)

o Haydn – Symphony no 103 ‘Drumroll’

CONCERT SERIES 6 Saturday 13th November 8pm - Balmain Town Hall

Sunday 14th November 5pm – Australian Institute of Music o Mozart – Cosi Fan Tutte Overture

o Gounod – Symphony no 1 o Beethoven – Symphony no 7

2010 SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT SCHEDULE

CONCERT SERIES 1

Saturday 27th February 8pm - Balmain Town Hall Sunday 28th February 5pm – Australian Institute of Music

o Mendelssohn – Overture & Allegro from Midsummer Night’s Dream o Elgar - Introduction & Allegro

o Mozart – Symphony no 41 ‘ Jupiter’

CONCERT SERIES 2 Saturday 17th April 8pm - Balmain Town Hall

Sunday 18th April 5pm – Australian Institute of Music o Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending (Violin – Manu Berkeljon)

o Mozart – Symphony no 35 ‘Haffner’ o Beethoven – Symphony no 1

CONCERT SERIES 3

Saturday 19th June 8pm - Balmain Town Hall Sunday 20th June 5pm – Australian Institute of Music

o Beethoven – Egmont Overture o Brahms – Violin Concerto (Violin – Susan Collins)

o Schubert – Symphony no 4 ‘Tragic’

CONCERT SERIES 4 Saturday 7th August 8pm - Balmain Town Hall

Sunday 8th August 5pm – Australian Institute of Music o Haydn – Trumpet Concerto (Trumpet – Matt Dempsey)

o Mendelssohn – Sinfonia no 8 in D major o Beethoven – Symphony no 8

CONCERT SERIES 5

Saturday 25th September 8pm - Balmain Town Hall Sunday 26th September 5pm – Australian Institute of Music

o Ravel – Pavane pour une infante defunte o Schumann – Cello Concerto (Cello - Emma-Jane Murphy)

o Haydn – Symphony no 103 ‘Drumroll’

CONCERT SERIES 6 Saturday 13th November 8pm - Balmain Town Hall

Sunday 14th November 5pm – Australian Institute of Music o Mozart – Cosi Fan Tutte Overture

o Gounod – Symphony no 1 o Beethoven – Symphony no 7

SERIES 2 CONCERT PROGRAM

Saturday 17 April, 8pm Balmain Town Hall

Sunday 18 April, 5pm Australian Institute of Music

Conductor Sarah-Grace Williams

Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending

Soloist: Manu Berkeljon (MCO Concertmaster)

Mozart Symphony no 35 ‘Haffner’

INTERVAL

Beethoven Symphony no 1

ABOUT MCO

April 18th 2009 witnessed the start of a new generation of orchestral music in Sydney with the sold-out inaugural concert from the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra (MCO). This unique ensemble based in Sydney’s inner western suburbs, is dedicated to delivering professional performances from passionate and highly experienced musicians. Led by well-known Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Sarah-Grace

Williams, the orchestra has already gained a reputation for its high quality of performance and vivacity. The MCO ethos is to ensure audiences receive the best standard of aural and visual experience from players who are passionate and obviously excited to be part of each premium musical event. MCO has been touted as not only bringing the “sexy, sensual and passionate” back into orchestral music, but are considered by many as one of the freshest and most important developments in the Sydney and Australian orchestral music scene.

Chief Conductor and Artistic Director

Sarah-Grace Williams

Listed by Limelight magazine as one of the top 50 power players in their SMART ARTS 2010, Sarah-Grace Williams has gained a reputation as one of Australia's foremost conductors of her generation. She is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra and Strathfield Symphony Orchestra, Musical Director and Conductor of the Sydney Opera House Proms Orchestra and Associate Conductor of The Occasional Performing Sinfonia (TOPS). Additionally, Sarah-Grace has been engaged as a Guest Conductor and Presenter with a number of ensembles including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, Penrith Symphony Orchestra and Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra. Sarah-Grace is currently the Assistant Conductor for Symphony Australia, assisting the Queensland, Adelaide, West Australian and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. An accomplished clarinettist and pianist, Sarah-Grace received her Bachelor of Music Degree with Distinction, majoring in performance and composition. She went on to achieve First Class Honours in Conducting before continuing conducting studies in Russia and Holland with Alexander Polishchuk and Jorma Panula respectively. A principal graduate from Symphony Australia's prestigious Conductor Program and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Conductors Program, Sarah-Grace has conducted most of Australia's and New Zealand's premier orchestras under the tutelage of esteemed conductors Johannes Fritzsch, Janos Furst, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Christopher Seaman, David Porcelijn and Marco Zuccarini. As a result, Sarah-Grace has received invitations to conduct a number of concert seasons and has secured an ongoing mentorship with Maestro Fritzsch whom she has been working with since the beginning of 2008. Sarah-Grace lectures in Conducting, Aural, Music Theatre and Choral Studies at both the Australian International Conservatorium of Music and the Australian Institute of Music and is a highly sought after vocal coach and adjudicator. She continues to work as a freelance clarinettist, pianist and radio presenter and has been awarded numerous prizes including the Symphony Australia Podium Scholarship, University of Western Sydney Prize for Academic Excellence, the Sound Devices Prize for excellence in Performance and the Guitar Factory Scholarship. Sarah-Grace has composed, arranged and recorded music for films, theatre productions, symphonic ensembles and chamber groups.

Violin Soloist

Manu Berkeljon

Concertmaster of MCO, Manu Berkeljon grew up in a remote rural area of New Zealand. She started her early musical training in violin and piano with her mother, and from the age of 11 commuted to Christchurch for lessons with Isidor Saslav and later Jan van den Berg. When she was 15 she became a member of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. The following year Manu studied in South Africa with Jack de Wet, where she was the winner of the National Youth Music Competition for All Instruments, and performed as a soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. She received a Licentiate from Trinity College of London in 1995. Manu returned to New Zealand in 1996 to commence a degree in music at Canterbury University and was the winner of the Most Promising Performer Prize in the Gisbourne International Competition. She then spent a year studying in Germany where she received a number of masterclasses from Igor Oistrahk and Zakhar Bron. During that year she was awarded a New Zealand Young Achievers Award. She performed as a soloist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as the runner-up of the New Zealand Young Musicians Competition. In 1998 Manu was offered a contract in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra where she played for over a year. In 1999 Manu moved to Sydney to take up a scholarship to study with Alice Waten, completing her BMus degree in 2001. The following year she commenced a Masters degree in violin performance at Sydney conservatorium with Goetz Richter which she completed with distinction in 2004. During this time she toured Uruguay and Argentina with the Sydney Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra, and was a member of Sydney Sinfonia. Manu was also often invited to be the guest concertmaster for the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, and appeared as soloist with several community orchestras. Since completing her Masters degree Manu discovered her love of teaching. She is a member of Arco Chamber Orchestra and Live Music Sydney. Manu has continued her violin studies with Janet Davies. In 2007 she performed as a soloist in South Africa with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2008 Manu was offered a Sydney Symphony Fellowship. During the year, she performed over seventy concerts in the Sydney Symphony, as well as completing a large chamber music programme. Chamber performances included premiers of eight commissioned works by Australian composers, a lunchtime on television and radio. She has had masterclasses with Tabea Zimmermann, Simon Fischer, Nikolaj Znaider, Herman Krebbers, Jian Wang and Ralph Kirschbaum among others. Manu has performed extensively throughout New Zealand and Australia as a soloist as well as part of an ensemble. She has also performed in South Africa, Germany, Uru-

guay and Argentina.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Lark Ascending Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872-1958

Vaughan Williams was a central figure in the revival of English music that occurred in the early 20th century. He was very interested in English folk music and hymns, but was equally fascinated by the impressionist music emerging in France and the music of the classical masters such as Bach and Handel. These diverse influences, combined with Vaughan Williams’ deep affection for England and sadness at the changes the world wars brought to it, created a unique voice and very individual musical style. Vaughan Williams’ music is driven by melody, often in folk modes, and has the freedom and colour of the French impressionist movement. It also captures some element of nostalgia for the lush beauty of the traditional English countryside.

The Lark Ascending is quintessential Vaughan Williams and is one of his most famous works, often voted to the top of popular classical music polls. It is believed that the initial inspiration for the work came from a poem by George Meredith that describes the flight and song of a skylark, extracts of which were printed on the piece’s original score. Vaughan Williams apparently sketched ideas for the work in 1914, while watching ships start off across the English Channel to carry troops to the First World War. This may explain why in addition to the joyous song of the lark the work also carries elements of sadness and regret.

The structure of the piece is relatively simple, with the solo violin line taking the part of the lark, and the orchestra creating the countryside below. By using pentatonic scale patterns and unmetered cadenzas, the solo line is freed from some of the traditional constraints of classical music, and so the violin can successfully illustrate soaring flight and chattering song.

He rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound, Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake. For singing 'til his heaven fills, 'Tis love of earth that he instils, And ever winging up and up, Our valley is his golden cup, And he the wine which overflows To lift us with him as he goes 'Til lost on his aerial rings In light, and then the fancy sings.

Extract of the poem of the same name by George Meredith

There is something uplifting but also melancholic about this eulogy to a pre-war ideal, with the ever rising and finally disappearing lark leaving an inevitably and perhaps regrettably changed world behind.

Symphony No. 35 ‘Haffner’, K385 WA Mozart 1756-1791

Allegro con spirit — Andante — Menuetto — Presto

Mozart’s Haffner symphony began life as a serenade, commissioned in 1782 by the Haffner family for the celebrations of the ennoblement of Sigmund Haffner. This was at the time that Mozart was at last taking control of his own life, resigning from his job in Salzburg and moving to Vienna to marry, so it seems he had little time to devote to writing the serenade. It was some months later then that he decided to revisit the quickly drafted composition, finding much to admire in his own work. He then altered and added to the serenade, allowing it to become a full length symphony. The result is elegant and beautiful, while also retaining some of the grandeur required of its initial incarnation.

The symphony has a particularly powerful opening, driven by the writing of parts in unison and solid, dotted rhythms. In contrast the second movement is much more delicate and graceful, while the third movement brings another change in mood, it is bright and cheerful. The final movement mixes effervescent sparkle with musical surprises of silence and sudden dynamic changes. The Haffner symphony is full of Mozart’s love of life, so it is perhaps not surprising that the premiere was a great success, and the Haffner symphony has remained popular ever since.

Symphony No. 1, Op. 21 Ludwig Van Beethoven 1770-1827

Adagio molto-Allegro con brio — Andante cantabile con moto

Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace — Adagio-Allegro molto e vivace

Beethoven is today one of the most performed and loved composers, whose music, especially in his symphonies, is considered to be the peak of musical genius, defining all that was to follow. Beethoven’s first symphony is therefore particularly intriguing, as it shows the young composer, still strongly influenced by his teachers and the fashions of the time, while also showing glimpses of an independence that would come to change the entire concept of the symphony genre.

After Haydn heard some of Beethoven’s early compositions during a visit to Bonn in 1792 he invited the young composer to come to Vienna to study with him there. Beethoven took up the offer, and although the lessons were not entirely successful, his first symphony was the product of his time studying in Vienna and shows a strong relationship to Haydn’s work. In fact, it is in many ways less ‘modern’ than much of his earlier writing for piano. However, Beethoven’s own voice is apparent nonetheless – in the sudden, extreme dynamics, in the prominence of the winds, in the unusual harmonic writing of the opening, in the quick scherzo third movement and in the generous coda to the first movement.

The symphony premiered in 1800, two years after Beethoven discovered he was losing his hearing, and the audience was immediately charmed. It is generally a playful and humorous work, light hearted and appealing, but it is also a significant step in a career that would revolutionize musical composition.

©Program notes by Clare Kahn 2010

BECOME A MCO SPONSOR

MCO is dedicated to delivering premium concert experiences and understands that this is achieved when highly talented performers join in a consistent attitude of commitment with a focus on excellence. Being a sponsor of the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra (MCO) reflects your personal or business commitment to quality and exceptional standards. Give MCO your support and be a part of the MCO journey which reflects that great Australian spirit of fighting against the odds to make a dream become a reality.

Features & Benefits

MCO will present six major concert series as part of their 2010 season. Each series will have two performances reaching audiences in Sydney’s city and inner western suburbs. Your sponsorship will not only prove your commitment to quality and focus, but has real business benefits with a potential for exposure through multiple channels to a discerning, professional audience representing both individuals and businesses.

Packages

Please contact the MCO General Manager to find out which sponsorship package might suit you, or make an enquiry through the MCO website. Email: sponsorship@metropolitanchamberorchestra.com.au Phone: (02)8007 7131 Post: PO Box 625, Balmain NSW 2041

Don’t Miss Your Last Chance to

Save on 2010 ticket prices!

Purchase a 4 concert Subscription Package and save $$$ !

An MCO subscription is a great live music gift for a friend or a loved one.

To purchase your subscription, visit the subscriptions area online at www.metropolitanchamberorchestra.com.au

Or contact MCO for more information:

subscriptions@metropolitanchamberorchestra.com.au

Ph: 02 8007 7131

WOULD LIKE TO THANK.....

SPECIAL LUNCHTIME CONCERT 1pm, Saturday 17 April

Australian International Conservatorium of Music

Conductor Sarah-Grace Williams

Haydn Cello Concerto in C, op 101

Soloist: Song Hee-Song

Grieg Holberg Suite, op 40

NO INTERVAL

Song Hee-Song studied Cello at the Seoul National University and at the Vienna National School of Music, earning high distinctions in performance at both institutions. She was awarded a scholarship from the Austrian Culture Ministry for her studies in Vienna. After returning to Korea, she established a reputation as one of the finest female cellists in the country, playing as a soloist with the KBS Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Symphony Orchestra, and Chung-Nam Symphony Orchestra. She has performed at music festivals throughout Korea (Seoul National Music festival, Korea Artist Concerts, at the Schubert 200th Anniversary concerts, the Korea-Austria Symposium and the World cup Memorial concerts). Her international engagements have included concerts at the Stresa Music festival, Kusatz International Musiktage, Calahora International Music Festival and the Euro Music Festival, as well as performances with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Cheltenham Symphony, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and both Prague and Bratislava Symphony Orchestras. She has recorded under the KBS label. Currently, she holds teaching positions at the University of Seoul, the Sunwha and Seoul Art High Schools. Her concerts in Sydney have been kindly assisted by the University of Seoul and Korea Musica.

MANAGEMENT

Artistic Director - Sarah-Grace Williams Grants Manager - Serena Devonshire General Manager - Bevan Rigato Graphic Design -Taryn Erickson Orchestral Management Coordinator - Mar’yana Sywak Venue Coordinator - Jenny Ainsworth Accounts Manager - Bernard Walz Production Coordinator - Gary Clark

NEXT SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT

Beethoven - Egmont Overture

Brahms - Violin Concerto

Soloist: Susan Collins

Schubert - Symphony no 4

Saturday 19th June, 8pm Balmain Town Hall

Sunday 20th June, 5pm Australian Institute of Music

ORCHESTRA

CONCERTMASTER Shaun Stewart Nicholas Comino BASSOON

Alastair Duff-Forbes ^ Jessie Tu Serena Devonshire Sarajane Hansen *

VIOLIN 1 Alexis Aitken Nicholas Thomas Ruth Power

Elizabeth Cooney ^ Dorothy Sercombe BASS HORN

Debbie Scholem ^ VIOLAS Claire Cahill * Sharon Hatton * ^

Tess Daflou ^ Jenny Compton * ^ Mark Szeto Claire Cameron ^

Daniel Bangert ^ Lucy Carrigy-Ryan ^ Jaan Pallandi TRUMPET

Petroc Wilton Alvat Apoyan FLUTE Matt Dempsey *

Adam Hashambhoy Josephine Lumanau Svetlana Yaroslavskaya * Gary Clarke

Paul Pakorny Peddy Lu Lucie Benz TIMPANI

Inge Courtney-Haentjes Georgina Price ^ OBOE Murray Parker *

VIOLIN 2 TBC Freya Bailes * ^

Angela Cassar * ^ CELLO Rie Tamaru ^ * Principal

Christina Ong ^ Clare Kahn * ^ CLARINET

Julia Starkey ^ John Benz ^ Andrew Doyle * ^ Orchestra for Special

Kahne Rajaratnam ^ Emily Palethorpe Alisha Coward Lunch time concert

MANAGEMENT

Artistic Director - Sarah-Grace Williams Grants Manager - Serena Devonshire General Manager - Bevan Rigato Graphic Design -Taryn Erickson Orchestral Management Coordinator - Mar’yana Sywak Venue Coordinator - Jenny Ainsworth Accounts Manager - Bernard Walz Production Coordinator - Gary Clark

2010 Concert Season….

PO BOX 625 Balmain NSW 2041 Tel: 02 8007 7131

info@metropolitanchamberorchestra.com.au www.metropolitanchamberorchestra.com.au