2011 Concert Season

The Romantic Century

Saturday 19 March 2011, 8.00pm
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre
Paul Terracini | conductor
Marina Marsden | violin

VERDI   La Forza del Destino: Overture
MENDELSSOHN   Violin Concerto in E minor
BRAHMS   Symphony No. 3 in F major

From the first chords of Verdi’s drama of love, loyalty and revenge, his genius for developing musical tension instantly sets the scene for an evening full of wide-ranging emotions. The lyricism and effervescence of the Mendelssohn concerto are irresistible, and paved the way for much of the Romantic violin literature that was to follow. Brahms, in a masterpiece that was both harmonically and structurally adventurous, explores the full gamut of moods from melancholy to rapturous joy.

Classical Vienna

MOZART    Così fan tutte: Overture
MOZART   Symphony No 35 in D major (Haffner)
WEBER   Clarinet Concerto No 1 in F minor
HAYDN   Missa in Angustiis (Nelson Mass)

The witty exuberance of Mozart’s overture to a comic tale of fickle young lovers, and the gracefulness of the Haffner Symphony, epitomise the familiar elegance of Classical Vienna. In stark contrast to this is the climate of intense fear in which Haydn, just a few years later, wrote his Missa in Angustiis (‘Mass for troubled times’): under threat from Napoleon’s armies, the mood in Vienna was one of foreboding. Breaking free from the Classical mould is the expressive Romanticism of Weber, in which we showcase the virtuosic talent of one of Australia’s finest young clarinettists.

Flights of the Imagination

Saturday 13 August 2011, 8.00pm
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre
Sarah-Grace Williams | guest conductor

Gregory van der Struik | trombone

BERLIOZ   Rakoczy March
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV   Concerto for Trombone
BIZET   L’Arlésienne Suite No 1
KOEHNE   To His servant Bach God grants a final glimpse: the morning star
WAGENSEIL   Concerto for Trombone
KHACHATURIAN   Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia
MUSSORGSKY   Night on a Bald Mountain

From Hungary’s unofficial anthem, the Rakoczy March, to the local folk music of Arles, in Provence, this is a program rich in geographical and cultural associations. Slavery and seafaring in the ancient world are depicted in music from Khachaturian’s Spartacus, while Mussorgsky’s setting of Gogol’s tale of occult rituals and the witches’ Sabbath is full of excitement. Combined with a relatively scarce opportunity to hear the noble sound of the trombone featured as a virtuoso instrument, this program offers limitless material for the fertile imagination.

Myths and Legends

Saturday 5 November, 8.00pm
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre
Paul Terracini | conductor
Clemens Leske | piano

(Repeat performance at Camden Civic Centre on Sunday 6 November at 4.00pm)

TCHAIKOVSKY   Romeo and Juliet: Overture
MOZART   Piano Concerto No 23 in A major
KOEHNE   Divertissement: trois pièces bourgeoises

WAGNER Prelude to Tristan and Isolde
RESPIGHI Le Fontane di Roma

Mythical accounts of tragic love have fuelled the human imagination since time immemorial. Both Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture and Wagner’s Prelude to Tristan and Isolde explore the depths of human experience at levels rarely equalled. No less steeped in legend is Le Fontane di Roma, in which Respighi seems to animate majestically the city’s great historical and legendary personages and the buildings and roads they inhabited. Mozart’s characteristically elegant and transparent Piano Concerto No 23 will provide a striking contrast to such emotional intensity, while this program provides the second opportunity this season to sample music by Graeme Koehne, one of Australia’s leading post-modernist composers.

Pops for Tots

Fantastic Toybox

Sunday 19 June 2011, 11.00am
Springwood Civic Centre, Springwood

Sunday 26 June 2011, 11.00am
Q Theatre, Penrith

George Ellis | conductor

A musical entertainment for children 3 to 7 years, conducted and presented by George Ellis.

Messiah

Sunurday 4 December 2010, 3.00pm
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre

Paul Terracini | conductor

Co-presented by Penrith Symphony Orchestra and Penrith City Choir

with professional semi-chorus/soloists

Penrith City Choir & Academy Singers
Lucy McAlary | chorus director

Handel – Messiah