March 2013 - Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Contents 

ROMANTIC WHIMSY 

Concerti 1 

QSO WIND & BRASS 

Chamber Players 1 

QSO LANE & FRITZSCH 

The Siege of Leningrad 

Maestro 2 

MUSIC OF THE BRITISH ISLES 

Music on Sundays 1 

2 

8 

14 

20 

BIOGRAPHIES 30 

CONCERT HALL ETIQUETTE 

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QSO ON THE RADIO 

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2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM 1

CONCERTI 1 

ROMANTIC WHIMSY 

7pm, Friday 8 March 

QSO Studio, South Bank 

CONDUCTOR 

HORNS 

TIMPANI 

TUBA 

BECKEL 

JONES 

Sarah-Grace Williams 

QSO Horn Section 

Tim Corkeron 

Thomas Allely 

In the Mind’s Eye, Images for Horns 

and Orchestra 

Tuba Concerto 

- interval - 

STANHOPE 

MATTHUS 

Jet-stream 

Timpani Concerto Der Wald 

2 2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM 


Program Notes 

JAMES BECKEL 

(BORN 1948, USA) 

In the Mind’s Eye, Images for Horns 

and Orchestra 

Random Abstract 

Daniel in the Lion’s Den 

Reflections 

QSO Horn Section 

I came across it at last year’s International 

Horn Conference in Denton, Texas where 

I played it with four colleagues from the 

advisory council. I loved it immediately as it 

was written specifically for a five-horn section 

much like ours in Brisbane. 

Peter Luff 

In the Mind’s Eye is inspired by visual art, and 

employs musical effects that replicate various 

painting techniques. Five paintings were used 

as inspiration for this three-movement work. 

The first movement is dedicated to abstract 

expressionism, specifically depicting a painting 

by Ingrid Calame, From #258 Drawing: 

Tracings from the Indianapolis Motor 

Speedway and the L.A. River, which uses tire 

tracks from the Indianapolis 500 as its basis. 

This first movement is written from two 

perspectives: that of the artist and that of 

the viewer. The opening glissando of the 

harp and the following fast, scalar passages 

in the woodwinds, represent the fast, broad, 

stroke of a paintbrush on the canvas. Jackson 

Pollock was known to paint to music and 

there was often a rhythm to his brush stroke. 

Throughout this first movement the listener 

will also hear short, chromatic chords that 

are meant to represent an abstract artist 

randomly throwing paint onto the canvas. 

The first entrance of the horns represents a 

patron’s first impression upon viewing such 

an abstract painting, and is meant to portray 

curiosity, interest, and questioning. The 

main second theme represents the painter’s 

perspective. The euphoria of an artist totally 

submerged in his or her creativity can be 

heard as the music grows in animation and 

intensity, and becomes more calm and 

ethereal as the artist’s mind searches for 

inspiration. After the artist’s inspiration is 

realized, the music intensifies with the return 

of the second theme. This pure adrenalin 

increases to a final climax of frantic brush 

strokes portrayed in the fast scalar passages 

now heard in strings, woodwinds, harp and 

xylophone. The voice of the viewer at the art 

museum is heard next in the solo entrance of 

the horn. The first movement ends with vivid 

colors and shapes on the musical canvas. 

Daniel in the Lion’s Den, by Robert E. 

Weaver, is the most stunning of the many 

representations I have seen and inspires the 

second movement, which addresses the 

concept of faith. It opens quietly with the 

horns in a quasi-Gregorian chant, setting the 

stage for Daniel’s overnight trial in the den 

of lions where his belief in God is tested. The 

trials and tribulations associated with faith 

are reflected in this dialogue between horns 

and orchestra. At the end of the movement 

a tremolo in the strings represents the answer 

to Daniel’s prayers as morning arrives and he 

has been spared from the jaws of the lions. 

The final movement evokes light’s reflection 

on water in three paintings: Roussillon 

Landscape by Georges-Daniel DeMonfried; 

The Channel of Gravelines by Georges Seurat; 

and The Regatta Beating to Windward 

by Turner. The movement opens with an 

exciting, heroic call from all of the horns, 

representing the excitement of a sailing 

contest in Turner’s painting. An orchestra 

tutti follows, representing the pointillist 

technique of Seurat’s neo-impressionistic 

painting. The excitement of an ocean 

adventure is continued when the horns reenter. 

The solo entrance of the harp signals 

a more tranquil section evoking the beauty 

of sunlight reflecting off the ocean as seen 

in DeMonfried’s seascape. Horn-calls in the 

next section depict the adventure and pure 

beauty of water and light. A final return to 

the opening horn-call signals the end of this 

movement climaxing in a robust celebration 

of life. 

Adapted from a note by James Beckel © 2010 

SAMUEL JONES 

(BORN 1935, USA) 

Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra 

In three movements 

Thomas Allely, Tuba 

Samuel Jones has been Composer-inresidence 

with the Seattle Symphony, 

and composed the Tuba Concerto for 

its principal tuba, Christopher Olka. The 

composition was made possible by a 

generous grant from Sandra Crowder in 

memory of her late husband, James. 

The conventional view of the tuba is 

as an instrument that is a good team 

player – much like a good tackle or guard 

on a football team – but one that is too 

cumbersome to make exciting plays. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

My piece is in three movements. The 

soloist, rather than the orchestra, has the 

first ‘say’, the soaring, wide-ranging primary 

theme of the first movement, which is 

answered by virtuosic commentary from 

the orchestra. Later the tuba must 

negotiate those same passages, and some 

of even greater difficulty. 



The second movement shows the tuba’s 

lyrical capability. Its opening theme, 

however, is interrupted by a fearful outburst 

in the brass, to which the soloist on each 

subsequent statement of the theme must 

react and ultimately accommodate. 

The third movement, in homage to Jim 

Crowder, a Boeing aeronautical engineer, 

is inspired by a wind tunnel. One can clearly 

hear its acceleration as it groans toward its 

predestined speed. Once there, the tuba 

enters with a perpetuum mobile theme, 

illustrating musically the same swirls of air 

along a wing’s surface that Mr. Crowder 

illustrated visually in his work. But some 

turbulences need to be smoothed, so 

we hear the wind tunnel decelerate, and 

the aeronautical engineer returns to the 

basement workshop in his home and listens 

to his favorite music – Wagner’s Ring – 

while he mulls over ways to improve the 

smoothness of the flow, forging new tools, 

like Siegfried, in the process. 

I am indebted to Winfried Feifel for 

graciously taking time from his work at the 

University of Washington’s Kirsten Wind 

Tunnel to explain its mysteries. 

Adapted from a note by Samuel Jones © 2006 

PAUL STANHOPE 

(BORN 1969, AUSTRALIA) 

Jet-stream 

The term ‘jet-stream’ is used to describe 

fast-flowing, relatively narrow currents of air 

and is also sometimes applied to fast-moving 

ocean currents. In using the same term 

for this orchestral fanfare I am suggesting 

musical notions of swirling, fast-flowing 

passages of turbulent energy and perhaps 

also the exhilaration of motion itself. 

As befits a fanfare, the piece begins with 

passages dominated by brass and percussion, 

which feature prominently throughout. 

A second section begins with harp and 

interleaved woodwind lines and a much 

slower descending counter-melody. The 

high woodwinds, which initially take up 

the fanfare theme in this section, are later 

subsumed by the brass and then the whole 

orchestra, bringing the piece to a huge 

climax. The following reflective section 

allows a brief moment of contemplation 

before the material plunges headlong into the 

brass figures heard at the start of the work. 

Paul Stanhope © 2004 

SIEGFRIED MATTHUS 

(BORN 1934, GERMANY) 

Timpani Concerto Der Wald 

In three movements 

Tim Corkeron, Timpani 

I am rapt to be doing this piece…It tells a 

story and explores the more subtle sounds 

that timpani can make. The accompanying 

orchestral colours and interjections are well 

crafted by Matthus. 

Tim Corkeron 

Siegfried Matthus is a composer notable 

for the broad spectrum of his musical 

output. Apart from writing works for the 

stage he has given special attention to 

pieces for solo voices and instruments 

over the past twenty years or so. Unusual 

combinations are an intriguing feature, as 

in the Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra 

Der Wald (‘The Forest’) dating from 

1984. Commissioned by the Dresden 

Staatskapelle, it was intended for the 

orchestra’s principal timpanist, Peter 

Sondermann. As the title of the concerto 

indicates, this is a musical discourse on our 

dying forests – a taboo subject in what was 

the Germany Democratic Republic. By way 

of introduction the score contains a passage 

from Hölderlin’s Hyperion: ‘O tree of life, 

if only I could turn green with you again 

and share the fragrance of your canopy 

and all your budding twigs, peaceably and 

fervently, for we all have grown out of the 

same golden seed.’ The concerto comprises 

three movements played without a break, 

the orchestra consisting only of brass, harp 

and strings. The relationship between the 

soloist and the various orchestral sections 

is marked by ‘growing mutual affection’ 

rather than ‘adversity’. The first movement, 

proceeding largely at a gentle, unhurried 

pace, recalls a romantic forest in its 

evocative texture. In the second movement, 

images of its destruction in modern times 

call forth expressions of grief and mourning. 

This contrasts sharply with the mood of the 

final movement in which the soloist moves 

into action in a forceful cadenza. The whole 

orchestra rallies behind him in the furious 

finale, which ends on a note of passionate 

resolve and protest. 

Frank Schneider, Breitkopf & Härtel © 1991 



CHAMBER PLAYERS 1 

QSO WIND & BRASS 

3pm, Sunday 10 March 

QSO Studio, South Bank 

QSO BRASS QUINTET 

TRUMPET 

HORN 

TROMBONE 

BASS TROMBONE 

TUBA 

QSO CLARINET QUINTET 

CLARINET 

VIOLIN 

VIOLA 

CELLO 

Sarah Wilson & Richard Madden 

Lauren Manuel 

Dale Truscott 

Tom Coyle 

Thomas Allely 

Nicholas Harmsen 

Margaret Connolly & Natalie Low 

Charlotte Burbrook de Vere 

Simon Cobcroft 

QSO WIND QUINTET 

FLUTE 

OBOE 

CLARINET 

BASSOON 

HORN 

LUTOSLAWSKI 

MILLS 

HINDEMITH 

CARTER 

HARBISON 

Alexis Kenny 

Liz Chee 

Irit Silver 

Nicole Tait 

Malcolm Stewart 

Mini Overture 

Sonata for Brass Quintet 

Clarinet Quintet 

Wind Quintet 

Wind Quintet 



Program Notes 

WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI (1913-1994) 

Mini Overture 

RICHARD MILLS (BORN 1949) 

Sonata for Brass Quintet 

Capriccio 

Lacrymae–Sarcasms 

Rythmica 

PAUL HINDEMITH (1895-1963) 

Clarinet Quintet Op.30 

Sehr lebhaft 

Ruhig 

Schneller Ländler 

Arioso 

Sehr lebhaft 

ELLIOTT CARTER (1908-2012) 

Wind Quintet 

Allegretto 

Allegro giocoso 

JOHN HARBISON (BORN 1938) 

Wind Quintet 

Intrada 

Intermezzo 

Romanza 

Scherzo 

Finale 

Witold Lutosławski’s Mini Overture was 

composed for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. 

It was commissioned by long-time president 

of the Lucerne Festival, Dr Walter Strebi, for 

the 50 th birthday in 1982 of distinguished 

arts manager Ursula Jones-Strebi – his 

daughter and Jones’ wife. The great Polish 

composer was at the time completing his 

Third Symphony, a work that opens the 

‘late’ phase of his career when his individual 

harmonic language and ear for instrumental 

sonority produced a series of seemingly 

effortless masterpieces. The overture is 

a brief, single-movement jeu d’esprit, but 

shows the supreme quality of Lutosławski’s 

craftsmanship. It falls into three sections, 

of which the first and third are closely 

related, with a slower, central section. The 

composer’s harmony, based on strongly 

profiled chords derived from sets of restricted 

intervals, allows him the freedom to create 

dramatic contrasts between consonance and 

dissonance, as well as characteristic motifs 

that animate the texture. 

Like Lutosławski, Australian composer Richard 

Mills has created a distinctive harmonic 

language encompassing diatonic clarity and 

intricate, total chromaticism. His Sonata 

for Brass Quintet was composed for the 

Melbourne Brass Ensemble in 1986, when he 

was also at work on pieces like the evocative 

Bamaga Diptych. As its title suggests, 

however, this is a work of abstract music. The 

first movement opens with a tightly wound 

chromatic melody for horn. Punctuated 

by terse staccato chords from trumpets 

and trombones, this leads to a passage of 

slower-moving counterpoint, using the same 

preponderance of semitones and minor thirds, 

in the lower parts culminating in rhythmically 

emphatic chords for the whole ensemble. 

Motifs generated from these three sections 

are developed with blazing energy as the 

movement progresses, but it ends with a very 

quiet recapitulation of the opening. 

The contrast between ‘Lacrymae’ (tears) and 

‘Sarcasms’ is clearly laid out at the start of the 

second movement, where muted trumpets 

and horn give out a slow, gentle contrapuntal 

texture that is answered by cheeky 

semiquaver motifs from the trombones, an 

opposition that pervades the movement. 

The final ‘Rythmica’ movement establishes 

its punchy character straight away with the 

group in fast rhythmic unison; the textures 

are varied as earlier and with different 

combinations of instruments in hocket, where 

chords ricochet from one group to another 

in a sometimes circus-like atmosphere. The 

work ends with wry major tonality. 

Diatonic harmony and techniques such as 

counterpoint were important tools for German 

Weimar-era composers like Paul Hindemith 

in the 1920s. Across the arts, in reaction to 

the emotional bombast of late-Romanticism, 

there developed an aesthetic known as the 

Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity), which in 

the music of Hindemith amounts to a kind of 

neo-classicism. Hindemith, who believed that 

music should serve various social functions, 

would become one of the most prolific 

composers of the century, writing for a vast 

array of different soloists and ensembles. 

The Clarinet Quintet was composed in 1923 

but only performed, after extensive revisions, 

in New York in 1955. By then, Hindemith 

had lived in the USA for 15 years, having 

been blackballed by the Nazis, escaped to 

Switzerland in 1938, and then emigrated to 

take up a post at Yale. It consists of five short 

movements, the first of which is a skilful 

development of the arresting gesture with 

which the piece starts. The second offers 

slow-moving, sinuous counterpoint, while the 

third is the most extended of the whole work. 

Inevitably, based as it is on the Ländler, the 

movement makes one possibly unconscious 

reference to Mahler, in whose symphonies this 

dance features. The short arioso movement 

lowers the temperature between the Ländler 

and the finale, in which the events of the first 

movement run backwards, giving the whole 

work the feeling of a palindrome. 

Like Hindemith, French composers cultivated 

a smart neo-classicism in the wake of 

Stravinsky’s conversion to the cause, and 

one of the style’s greatest advocates was the 

composer turned teacher, Nadia Boulanger. 

Cultural exchange between France and the 

USA after World War I led to the foundation of 

an American Conservatory at Fontainebleau; 

there, and in her own studio in Paris, 

Boulanger taught some of the most important 

American composers of the 20th century. 

Elliott Carter studied with her in the mid- 

1930s, but in 1948 made her the dedicatee 

of his Wind Quintet, whose two movements 

provide contrasting examples of a post- 

Stravinskian wind sound. By then Carter had 

produced such landmark works as his Piano 

Sonata, but Boulanger’s principles of structural 

coherence and textural clarity inform the 

quintet. The composer explains that when 

asked to write the quintet, he studied several 

scores by other composers and found that 

they ‘were in the habit of overlooking the fact 

that each of these instruments has a different 

sound. I, on the other hand, was particularly 

struck by this, and so decided to write a work 

that would emphasize the individuality of each 

instrument and that made a virtue of their 

inability to blend completely.’ 

Carter’s countryman John Harbison took 

a different view in composing his Wind 

Quintet for Boston’s Aulos Ensemble in 1979. 



He essentially agrees with Carter that a 

wind quintet ‘is not a naturally felicitous 

combination of instruments, such as a string 

quartet’, but where Carter emphasised the 

differences among the instruments’ timbres, 

Harbison ‘was determined to deal in mixtures 

rather than counterpoints, and to strive for 

a classical simplicity of surface – to maximize 

what I felt to be the great strength of the 

combination, the ability to present things 

clearly.’ The mixtures – passages where two 

or more instruments play in unison provide, 

precisely because of their tonal differences, 

a variety of richly coloured lines, as heard 

immediately after the opening section. 

The piece is not without contrapuntal 

sections and, especially in the last of the five 

movements, Harbison uses animated ostinato 

figures to accompany the work’s themes. 

CHAMBER 

PLAYERS 2 

Nor is it easy to play: apart from the demands 

of blending very different instruments in 

those ‘mixtures’, there are passages of 

soloistic virtuosity that contrast with simpler 

chordal writing. 

Gordon Kerry © 2013 

JOIN US FOR THE NEXT CHAMBER PLAYERS CONCERT 

QSO NORABLO QUARTET 

3pm, Sunday 28 April 2013 | QSO Studio, South Bank 

Pianist Anna Grinberg and string 

musicians of the QSO perform 

an eclectic program featuring 

Shostakovich’s passionate String 

Quartet No.10, Prokofiev’s achingly 

beautiful Five Melodies and a suite 

from Martinu’s jazz-influence La 

Revue de Cuisine. 


GALA 1 

RETURN TO CITY HALL 

CONDUCTOR 

Nicholas Braithwaite 

PRESENTER 

Guy Noble 

VIOLIN 

Warwick Adeney 

QSO BRASS ENSEMBLE 

Program will include music from; 

MUSSORGSKY ARR. HOWARTH 

Pictures at an Exhibition 

HARRISON 

On Bredon Hill 

ELGAR 

Salut d’amour 

ELGAR 

The Kingdom 

DELIUS 

Sleigh Ride 

DELIUS 

Summer Evening 

BUTTERWORTH 

A Shropshire Lad 

ARNOLD 

Beckus the Dandipratt 

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW! 

www.qso.com.au or qtix 136 246 

qso.com.au/facebook 

qso.com.au/twitter 

qso.com.au/youtube 

7pm, Monday 8 April 2013 | Brisbane City Hall

MAESTRO 2 

QSO WITH 

LANE & FRITZSCH 

The Siege of Leningrad 

8pm, Saturday 16 March 2013 

QPAC Concert Hall 

CONDUCTOR 

PIANO 

MOZART 

Johannes Fritzsch 

Piers Lane 

Piano Concerto No.21 

- interval - 

SHOSTAKOVICH 

Symphony No.7 Leningrad 

14 2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM 2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM 15

Program Notes 

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART 

(1756-1791) 

Piano Concerto No.21 in C, K.467 

Allegro maestoso 

Andante 

Allegro vivace assai 

Piers Lane, Piano 

This concerto is one of six Mozart composed 

between February 1785 and December 

1786 for a series of subscription concerts. 

He finished the Concerto in C on 9 March 

1785, and apparently played it at a concert 

in the Royal Imperial National Court Theatre 

the next day. 

Anyone who loves The Marriage of Figaro, 

composed at the same time, should love 

this concerto. It is like a dialogue between 

two partners, piano and orchestra, speaking 

different languages: heroic or mock heroic, 

coruscating and massive by turns in the 

first movement; in the second a dream of 

beauty, speaking of a passion freed from 

earthly trammels; a comic opera scene with a 

quicksilver leading character in the third. 

The march theme on the common chord 

which opens the concerto has been 

charmingly described as a tiptoed march, 

in stockinged feet. The majestic breadth 

of the music is soon proclaimed by the full 

orchestra. The soloist’s entry after repeated 

invitations from solo wind instruments sets 

the tone for the movement – the piano’s 

music is as different as possible from that 

of the tutti. Every time the opening march 

is stated, the piano branches off into quite 

different excursions, with a virtuosity equal 

to anything in Mozart’s concertos thus far. 

But the orchestra is a very full partner – 

indeed Mozart’s father Leopold commented 

after reading the parts, ‘The concerto is 

astonishingly difficult, but I very much 

doubt whether there are any mistakes, as 

the copyist has checked it. Several passages 

do not harmonise unless one hears all the 

instruments playing together.’ 

The atmospheric slow movement in F 

achieves rapture as the piano sings, one voice 

among many, in a lapping, throbbing texture 

of muted strings and long-breathed winds, in 

a dream-like keyboard aria. 

The Rondo shows the instinctive soundness 

of Mozart’s judgment. How better to refresh 

the ear almost surfeited with beauty and 

intensity than with this playful banter, full of 

irregularities and witty exchanges between 

piano and wind instruments, not to mention 

the virtuosity with which Mozart must have 

lifted his audience to its feet? 

© David Garrett 

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH 

(1906-1975) 

Symphony No.7, Op.60 Leningrad 

Allegretto 

Moderato (poco allegretto) 

Adagio – Moderato risoluto – Adagio 

Allegro non troppo – Moderato 

It is a sad irony that the most hellish time 

imaginable for Shostakovich, Leningrad, the 

Soviet Union and Europe virtually ensured the 

spectacular public success of the Leningrad 

Symphony. In 1941, Leningrad (now St 

Petersburg) was under siege from the 

advancing German army; Shostakovich was 

at work on his Seventh Symphony. 

On 17 September 1941 he said in a radio 

broadcast: ‘I speak to you from Leningrad 

at a time when brutal battle rages at its very 

gates…Two hours ago I finished the first two 

movements of a symphonic work. If I succeed 

in writing this composition well, if I manage 

to finish the third and fourth movements, then 

I may call it my Seventh Symphony. Why do I 

announce this? I announce this so that those 

listening to me now may know that life in our 

city goes on as usual…’ 

Shostakovich was evacuated from Leningrad 

to Moscow, where he composed the third and 

fourth movements, and where the premiere 

took place on 5 March 1942 in Kuibishev. 

Its Leningrad premiere, conducted by Karl 

Eliasberg, took place on 9 August 1942 while 

the city was still under siege. The performance 

was given by an orchestra depleted by war 

and illness, in a hall with a bomb-damaged 

roof, with a special order given to the 

Leningrad artillery to knock out as many 

of their German counterparts as possible 

immediately before the performance. 

The story of the symphony’s first performance 

in the USA is well known: the NBC had been 

persuaded by Leopold Stokowski to purchase 

rights to the score, and a microfilmed copy 

was conveyed by road and air to the USA. 

However Arturo Toscanini, trading heavily 

on his anti-fascist credentials, had enough 

clout to secure this famous premiere for 

himself. Shostakovich initially gave titles to 

the movements (War, Reminiscences, Russia’s 

Vastness, and Victory), which were later 

withdrawn. The symphony opens sturdily, with 

a theme given out by the strings in octaves, 

punctuated by the timpani and trumpets. This 

yields to a more lyrical section, eventually 

fading down in a piccolo and violin solo. 

The patter of a snare drum opens probably 

the most notorious single passage in all of 

Shostakovich’s music: a march built upon a 

single melody and a pervasive accompanying 

rhythm, undergoing a crescendo from the ppp 

of a single instrument to the fff of the full 

orchestra. There is an obvious similarity here 

to Ravel’s Bolero – as Shostakovich reportedly 

said to Isaak Glikman at the time: ‘Idle critics 

will surely rebuke me for imitating Bolero. Well, 

let them; that is how I hear the war.’ 

It is not long before ‘wrong notes’ in the cellos 

and basses begin to colour the innocently 

diatonic opening. Dissonance and slithering 



chromaticism continue to accumulate; 

eventually a whole extra brass section (held 

in reserve until this point) is brought in, with 

a startling change of key. Finally the march 

rhythm comes to a halt; the symphony’s 

opening music returns, this time in the minor 

key, in what Richard Taruskin has described as 

a ‘horripilating climax’. Perhaps the real climax 

of the movement, however, is not a sound 

but a silence: after several pages of fortissimo 

struggle there are two one-beat rests for the 

whole orchestra. After these, the struggle 

abruptly ceases, dying down into the more 

lyrical music heard before. A distant reminder 

of the march concludes the movement. 

At the time, the march episode was held to 

represent specifically the siege of Leningrad. 

Some years after the event, the conductor 

Yevgeny Mravinsky saw the march as ‘a 

universalised image of stupidity and crass 

tastelessness’, while another Soviet critic saw 

it as a ‘generalised image of evil’, albeit with 

‘German colouring’. 

The remaining movements do not feature 

such concrete imagery, and so have been 

unfortunately neglected, despite containing 

some of Shostakovich’s most deeply felt 

music. Shostakovich described the second 

movement as an ‘intermezzo’; the third is 

dominated by a chorale from the winds, and a 

recitative-like section from the violins. 

The finale follows without a break, and returns 

to the grander scale of the first movement. 

A Beethovenian climb out of its suspenseful 

beginning passes through a variety of 

textures, culminating in the reappearance 

of the music which opened the symphony. 

As in Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, the 

final climax is spectacular; it is also far from 

unequivocal, with some searing chromaticism 

on the high trumpets clouding the harmony 

to unsettling and ambivalent effect. 

Within a few years of its premiere, 

the furore surrounding the Leningrad 

Symphony had begun to die down, and a 

backlash commenced. Performances were 

comparatively infrequent until the appearance 

in 1979 of Testimony, Shostakovich’s 

purported memoirs. We read there: ‘The 

“invasion theme” has nothing to do with the 

attack. I was thinking of other enemies of 

humanity… I feel eternal pain for those who 

were killed by Hitler, but I feel no less pain 

for those who were killed on Stalin’s orders.’ 

Thus the symphony began to be rehabilitated. 

The same notes which had been dismissed as 

tired platitudes when seen as a tool of heroic 

anti-Hitler propaganda found a new (if no less 

musically dubious) lease of life as a tool of 

heroic anti-Stalin propaganda. 

Right from its appearance, controversy 

has raged over the literal authenticity of 

Testimony, although even those who doubt 

the literal authenticity of these ‘memoirs’ 

acknowledge that there seems to be much 

truth behind them. The issue does, however, 

bring to the foreground one disturbing feature 

of the reception of Shostakovich’s music: we 

seem to prefer to be told ‘what the music 

means’. As with most music of any enduring 

interest, there is no simple answer. And 

as the history of the Leningrad Symphony 

demonstrates, once an ‘answer’ has been 

found the work loses much of its interest: 

it is the continuing reassessment of the 

layers of meaning that has given this work 

a comparatively secure place on the 

concert platform. 

Abridged from a note by Carl Rosman © 2000 

Backstage Pass 

PIERS LANE, PIANO 

You performed with the QSO in July last 

year. After that you were travelling to 

Alaska for the first time. What was the 

highlight of that trip? 

I was only in Anchorage on that trip, but am 

going again this June and shall also visit magical 

Sitka. The concerts were great fun though – a 

standing ovation for the newly commissioned 

piece we presented. We had been concerned 

about how something so contemporary and 

hard-hitting would go down, but somebody 

said during the interval that it was the most 

exciting thing to happen in Alaska for fifteen 

years – that sort of reaction thrills a performer! 

This year you will be performing Mozart’s 

Piano Concerto No.21 with the QSO. 

Mozart composed 27 concertos for piano 

and orchestra. How many of these have you 

performed and which is your favourite? 

I’ve only performed ten or eleven of them, 

though some of those many times. But how 

could I choose a favourite? They’re all sublime! 

The first concerto I ever learned was the A 

major K488 and that, of course, has a special 

place in my heart. 

Can you describe the significance of the 

silver badge you wear when you perform? 

Some years ago, when I was playing at the Blair 

Atholl Festival in Scotland, all of the artists were 

asked to wear Malcolm Appleby’s jewellery. 

He’s a famous silversmith and goldsmith 

– does wondrous things! The soprano had 

on a necklace worth thousands, but I wore 

Pianohead (it has a grand piano for a head), 

one of thirty heads Malcolm had done as pins 

and brooches. I kept it and it has lived on my 

tails ever since – it’s become a sort of talisman 

I guess. 

Last time you were here we noticed some 

very bright socks! When did this signature 

fashion style form? 

I was touring with Brett Dean and other friends 

for Musica Viva back in 2004 and needed to 

buy a black shirt for a lunchtime concert. Miki 

Tsunoda the violinist and I went into a shop in 

Sydney and there was a dazzling pair of socks 

in the window. She encouraged me to buy them 

(it’s all her fault!) and I subsequently wore them 

under my tails when I gave the Opening Recital 

of the Sydney Piano Competition that year. 

They went down a treat and loud socks have 

been a feature of my concert attire ever since, 

for better or for worse! The New York Sun once 

gave me a review which said ‘Mr Lane came on 

stage in his conservative British tails, but when 

he sat down, he revealed a startling pair of 

socks. His playing was more like his socks! ‘ 

After that, I couldn’t go back to black, could I? 

18 2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM 2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM 19

MUSIC ON SUNDAYS 1 

MUSIC OF THE 

BRITISH ISLES 

11.30am, Sunday 24 March 

QPAC Concert Hall 

CONDUCTOR 

PRESENTER 

VIOLIN 

Nicholas Braithwaite 

Guy Noble 


Music on Sundays Series is proudly presented 

by Bacchus Bar, Restaurant & Pool 



Program Notes 

EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934) 

The Kingdom: Prelude 

JULIUS HARRISON (1885-1963) 

On Bredon Hill 

FREDERICK DELIUS (1862-1934) 

Summer Evening 

GEORGE BUTTERWORTH (1885-1916) 

A Shropshire Lad – Rhapsody for Orchestra 

GUSTAV HOLST (1874-1934) 

The Planets: Venus 

MALCOLM ARNOLD (1921-2006) 

Beckus the Dandipratt 

DELIUS 

Sleigh Ride 

ARNOLD 

Four Scottish Dances, Op.59: Nos 1 & 2 

There have been a number of biases about 

British music over the years. ‘Das Land ohne 

Musik’ said Oskar Schmitz in a 1904 treatise 

which entrenched a belief that Britain was 

‘a land without music’. Another was the 

comparison of the music of Vaughan Williams 

and others of the British pastoral tradition 

to the image of a ‘moo-cow’ staring over 

a fence. Both biases underestimated the 

richness and vitality of British music and 

even, in the case of music that is undeniably 

pastoral, the seriousness of purpose that may 

have underlain pastoral expression. 

The music of Elgar – reflecting the composer’s 

acute class-consciousness, self-doubt and 

devout Catholicism – provides even more 

evidence of the complex cross-currents 

underlying British music. In 1902, after he had 

won belated fame with the Enigma Variations, 

Elgar was disheartened by the cold reception 

given his recent oratorio, The Dream of 

Gerontius. Depressed, he made a pilgrimage to 

Bayreuth to see Wagner’s Ring cycle and came 

away determined to write his own ‘cycle’ of 

dramatic works. But rather than Wagnerianstyle 

music drama, Elgar aimed to create a 

series of three oratorios. The Kingdom was 

originally meant to form the conclusion to 

The Apostles, but after a period of ill-health 

and self-doubt Elgar decided instead to 

make it the stand-alone second part of the 

trilogy. The third part of the cycle, The Last 

Judgement, never materialised. 1906’s The 

Kingdom draws its text from the opening 

chapters of the Acts of the Apostles with 

additional material taken from the Gospels. 

Its Prelude opens boisterously, establishing 

‘the world in which the Apostles preach the 

Word of the Lord’ before settling into 

a sublime calm. 

Julius Harrison may not be well known these 

days. During his lifetime, the Worcestershireborn 

musician was obliged to spend most 

of his time conducting. He became conductor 

of the Hastings Orchestra in 1930, but the 

Hastings Orchestra was obliged to disband on 

the outbreak of World War II (Hastings was 

directly in the Luftwaffe’s path) and Harrison 

moved back to the midlands. A number of 

reasons have been advanced for his 1942 

composition On Bredon Hill, about a prominent 

local landmark. Harrison was inspired by 

the landscape of his birth: ‘…to me, as with 

many other Worcestershire folk, this county 

seems to be the very Heart of England, and 

there is a song and a melody in each one of 

its lovely hills, valleys, meadows and brooks.’ 

But it is also likely that he was inspired by A.E. 

Housman’s poem In summertime on Bredon 

where the church bells heard on the hilltop 

denote a funeral and not a wedding. No real 

darkness ruffles the surface of Harrison’s piece 

but the circumstances of composition denote 

patriotic belief – Harrison’s pastoralism was 

a matter of bracing oneself against a tide of 

wartime despair. 

Delius ranks among the greatest English 

composers though he spent the greater 

part of his life abroad. It was expected that 

young Delius would follow his father into the 

Yorkshire wool business, but he was allowed 

to go to Florida to run an orange plantation. 

He later settled in France which became his 

home. In fact, his music could be considered 

an English branch of French Impressionism. 

Delius’ mature musical language is highly 

distinctive; music evolving subtly out of the 

pressing and relaxing of intriguingly inflected 

chords, melody etched into the unfolding 

seam of harmony...Though he wrote operas, 

concertos and sonatas, it is the nostalgic 

rhapsody of his orchestral tone poems that 

make them most memorable. Summer 

Evening and Sleigh Ride are two of three 

short tone poems Delius wrote around 1890. 

Summer Evening is gently languorous as 

befits a summer mood though occasionally 

rising to more passionate expression. Sleigh 

Ride originated as a piano piece composed 

while Delius was a student at Leipzig and first 

played at a Christmas party given by Grieg. 

Like many British composers of the 20th 

century, Yorkshire-raised George Butterworth 

was inspired by British folksong and the 

poetry of A.E. Housman (whose work also 

influenced Julius Harrison). Butterworth knew 

Cecil Sharp and Vaughan Williams and, like 

them, he was a member of the Folk Song 

Society. He was also a founder-member 

of the English Folk Dance society and a 

noted Morris Dancer. Butterworth made 

numerous settings of Housman’s poetry. The 

1912 orchestral rhapsody A Shropshire Lad 

is a skilful rearrangement of two of those 

settings: ‘Loveliest of Trees’ and ‘With Rue My 

Heart is Laden’, quoted at the end. In 1922, 

British composer Gerald Finzi wrote that 

Butterworth’s music ‘sums up our countryside 

as very little else has ever done’. Yet, just as 

Housman’s nostalgic depiction of rural life and 

young men’s early deaths struck a chord with 

English readers during the Boer War (1899- 

1902), Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad is part 

of that stream of British music that is really 

about something more disturbing beneath the 

pleasant pastoral surface. Of course, our sense 

of darkness may be related to what we know 

of Butterworth’s death – shot by a German 

sniper during the Battle of the Somme. 

Inspiration for British composers is clearly, 

then, not always England’s ‘green and pleasant 

land’, nor ironic reference to it. Gustav Holst’s 

wide interests supported an intention to 

create ‘something new in every work’. A 

Wagnerian (like Elgar) early on, his musical 

interests expanded to the composers of the 

first British musical renaissance (Byrd, Morley, 

Weelkes and Purcell) and he became an 

enthusiast for British folksong. Hindu literature 

and philosophy underlaid the chamber opera 

Savitri (1908); Shakespeare’s Falstaff inspired 

his opera At the Boar’s Head (1924). In a 



letter of 1913 Holst wrote: ‘... recently the 

character of each planet suggested lots to 

me, and I have been studying astrology fairly 

closely...’ Holst began work on The Planets in 

1914, but teaching commitments prevented 

him from completing all seven movements 

until 1916. Since the character of the planets 

is considered from an astrological rather than 

astronomical point of view, the suite’s second 

movement portrays the amorous influence of 

Venus in wonderfully expressive and beguiling 

melodies. 

Sir Malcolm Arnold’s music must surely force 

a broadening of our definition of British 

music. He wrote everything from jingles and 

film scores to concertos for harmonica or 

recorder to nine impressive symphonies. At 

the same time, his music is always memorably 

melodic and intellectually interesting. Arnold 

was a trumpeter in the London Philharmonic 

Orchestra when he wrote the overture Beckus 

the Dandipratt in 1943. A ‘Dandipratt’ is an 

old word for an urchin; ‘Beckus’ is a madeup 

name. Arnold got the idea for the piece 

in Cornwall when he made friends with a 

mischievous small boy on the beach. The work 

is in sonata form, but, says Piers Burton-Page, 

‘with many fingerprints of the later composer 

– bouncing rhythms, string glissandos, 

jolting changes of key, a love of the piccolo’. 

There is humour, irony and darkness bundled 

together in Arnold’s music. Towards the end 

of this overture the music becomes calm and 

suspenseful but then the ‘Dandipratt theme’ 

re-emerges playfully and finally triumphant. 

Arnold loved Cornwall and celebrated 

that county in a series of Cornish Dances. 

Four Scottish Dances celebrates Scotland, 

reminding us that Great Britain is made up of 

a number of distinctive countries. Composed 

in 1957, Four Scottish Dances is typical of 

the light music Arnold the symphonist could 

just as easily turn his hand to. The dances are 

intended to evoke the music of Scotland, and 

imitate the sounds of bagpipes, the reel and 

the Scotch snap rhythm. Typical of Arnold 

are comic elements, such as a ‘tipsy’ middle 

section in Dance 2. 

Gordon Kalton Williams © 2013 

24 2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM

Patrons’ List 

Queensland Symphony Orchestra is proud to acknowledge the generosity and 

support of our donors for our philanthropic programs. 

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Symphony ($20,000 – $49,999) 

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Desmond B Misso Esq. 

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Mittelheuser, AM 

The John Villiers Trust 

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Anonymous (1) 

Concerto ($10,000 – $19,999) 

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Mrs Pat Killoran 

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Nicolaides, AM 

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In memory of Muriel Fletcher 

Miss Barbara Hawken 

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Rachel Leung 

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John Farnsworth-Hall Circle 

Named in honour of the first Chief Conductor of QSO 

(1947-1954). 

Roberta Bourne Henry 

Notify us of your intention to bequeath and we 

will acknowledge your future gift now. 

All enquiries: 3833 5050 

Instruments on loan 

QSO thanks the National Instrument Bank and 

The NFA Anthony Camden Fund for their generous 

loan of fine instruments to the recitalists of our 

English Family Prize for Young Instrumentalists. 

All donors to QSO are acknowledged on our website at www.qso.com.au. 

To learn more about our Philanthropic Programs please contact Gaelle Lindrea 

on (07) 3833 5050, or you can donate online at www.qso.com.au/donatenow. 

Thank You 

QSO_Philanthropy_Patrons' List_Feb_2013_V7_ART.indd All Pages 

28/02/13 5:07 PM

Maestro Series Chair Donors 

Chair Donors support an individual musician’s role within the orchestra and gain 

fulfillment through personal interactions with their chosen musician. 

Principal Guest Conductor 

Chair 

Eivind Aadland 

Trevor and Judith St Baker and 

ERM Power 

Concertmaster Chair 


Prof. Ian Frazer, AC and Mrs 

Caroline Frazer 

Dr Cathryn Mittelheuser, AM 

Mr John and Mrs Georgina Story 

Associate Concertmaster 

Chair 

Alan Smith 

Arthur Waring 

Principal Chairs 

Tim Corkeron, Timpani 

Dr Philip Aitken and Dr Susan 

Urquhart 

Peggy Allen Hayes 

Yoko Okayasu, Viola 

Dr Ralph and Mrs Susan 

Cobcroft 

Gail Aitken, Second Violin 

Leonie Henry 

Sarah Wilson, Trumpet 

Mrs Andrea Kriewaldt 

Jason Redman, Trombone 

Frances and Stephen Maitland, 

OAM RFD 

Alexis Kenny, Flute 

Nola McCullagh 

John Fardon, Double Bass 

David Montgomery, Percussion 


Simon Cobcroft, Cello 

Dr Damien Thomson and 

Dr Glenise Berry 

Thomas Allely, Tuba 

Wayne Brennan, Second Violin 

David Lale, Cello 

Irit Silver, Clarinet 

Malcolm Stewart, French Horn 

Arthur Waring 

Player Chairs 

Matthew Kinmont, Cello 

Kate Travers, Clarinet 

Dr Julie Beeby 

Graham Simpson, Viola 

Alan Galwey 

Kathy Close, Cello 

Dr David and Mrs Janet Ham 

Alexa Murray, Oboe 

Dr Les and Ms Pam Masel 

Janine Grantham, Flute 

Desmond B Misso Esq 

Helen Poggioli , Viola 

Mrs Rene Nicolaides, OAM 

and the late Dr Nicholas 

Nicolaides, AM 

Delia Kinmont, Violin 

Jordan and Pat Pearl 

Brenda Sullivan, Violin 

Hans and Heidi Rademacher 

Anonymous 

Stephen Phillips, Violin 


Andre Duthoit, Cello 

Anne Shipton 

Richard Madden, Trumpet 

Anonymous 

Helen Travers, Second Violin 

Anonymous 

All donors to QSO are acknowledged on our website at www.qso.com.au. 

To learn more about our Philanthropic Programs please contact Gaelle Lindrea 

on (07) 3833 5050. 

QUEENSLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 

CONCERTMASTER 


ASSOCIATE 

CONCERTMASTER 

Alan Smith 

VIOLIN 1 

Glenn Christensen * 

Linda Carello 

Lynn Cole 

Margaret Connolly 

Priscilla Hocking 

Ann Holtzapffel 

Stephen Phillips 

Rebecca Seymour 

Joan Shih 

Brenda Sullivan 

Stephen Tooke 

Brynley White 

VIOLIN 2 

Gail Aitken ~ 

Wayne Brennan ~ 

Jane Burroughs 

Faina Dobrenko 

Simon Dobrenko 

Delia Kinmont 

Tim Marchmont 

Frances McLean 

Paulene Smith 

Helen Travers 

Harold Wilson 

VIOLA 

Yoko Okayasu ~ 

Charlotte Burbrook de Vere 

Bernard Hoey 

Kirsten Hulin-Bobart 

Jann Keir-Haantera 

Helen Poggioli 

Graham Simpson 

Paula Stofman 

Nicholas Tomkin 

CELLO 

David Lale ~ 

Simon Cobcroft >> 

Kathryn Close 

Andre Duthoit 

Matthew Jones 

Matthew Kinmont 

Jenny Mikkelsen-Stokes 

Kaja Skorka 

Craig Allister Young 

DOUBLE BASS 

John Fardon ~ 

Dushan Walkowicz >> 

Anne Buchanan 

Justin Bullock 

Paul O’Brien 

Ken Poggioli 

FLUTE 

Alexis Kenny ~ 

Hayley Radke >> 

Janine Grantham 

PICCOLO 

Michael Hallit * 

OBOE 

Huw Jones ~ 

Sarah Meagher >> 

Alexa Murray 

COR ANGLAIS 

Liz Chee * 

CLARINET 

Irit Silver ~ 

Brian Catchlove + 

Kate Travers 

BASS CLARINET 

Nicholas Harmsen * 

BASSOON 

Nicole Tait ~ 

David Mitchell >> 

Evan Lewis 

CONTRABASSOON 

Claire Ramuscak * 

FRENCH HORN 

Malcolm Stewart ~ 

Peter Luff >> 

Ian O’Brien * 

Vivienne Collier-Vickers 

Lauren Manuel 

TRUMPET 

Sarah Wilson ~ 

Richard Madden >> 

John Gould 

Paul Rawson 

TROMBONE 

Jason Redman ~ 

Dale Truscott >> 

BASS TROMBONE 

Tom Coyle * 

TUBA 

Thomas Allely * 

HARP 

Jill Atkinson * 

TIMPANI 

Tim Corkeron * 

PERCUSSION 

David Montgomery ~ 

Josh DeMarchi >> 

~ Section Principal 

= Acting Section Principal 

* Principal 

^ Acting Principal 

>> Associate Principal 

+ Acting Associate Principal 

2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM 29 

QSO_Philanthropy_Maestro Chair Donors_Feb_2013_V4_ART.indd 1 

6/02/13 2:36 PM

Biographies 

SARAH-GRACE WILLIAMS 

CONDUCTOR 

Recently listed by ABC’s Limelight magazine as 

one of the Top 5 Australian Conductors to watch, 

Sarah-Grace Williams is one of the foremost 

conductors of her generation, receiving acclaim 

from audiences and critics alike for her vibrant 

energy, outstanding musicianship and dynamic 

presence on the podium. 

Founding Chief Conductor and Artistic Director 

of The Metropolitan Orchestra, Sarah-Grace has 

also worked as Musical Director of Sydney Opera 

House Proms productions since 2007 and is in 

high demand as a Guest Conductor, appearing 

in concerts with the Queensland, Adelaide, West 

Australian and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, 

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Bangalow Festival 

Chamber Orchestra, Australian Concert Orchestra, 

Queensland Music Festival, Southern Cross Soloists 

and Artists of the Opera Australia amongst others. 

During 2009-2010 Sarah-Grace was Assistant 

Conductor for Symphony Australia, based with 

the Queensland, West Australian and Adelaide 

Symphony Orchestras, assisting various conductors 

including Simone Young, Johannes Fritzsch, Eivind 

Aadland, Arvo Volmer and Paul Daniel. At the 

conclusion of this posting, she was awarded a 

Churchill Fellowship, allowing her to study and assist 

renowned orchestras and conductors throughout 

Europe and the UK. 

In early 2011, Sarah-Grace worked as Stager 

Conductor (Assistant) to Alexander Polishchuk 

at the Ukraine National Opera and Ballet Theatre 

before returning to Australia to take up a position as 

Conducting Fellow with the Australian Ballet, where 

she conducted the premiere of a new ballet ‘Tristan 

and Isolde’. Following this, Sarah-Grace conducted 

the world premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s ballet 

‘Little Green Road to Fairyland’ for the opening of 

the Queensland Music Festival. 

Highlights in 2012 included conducting the 

national tour with pianist David Helfgott in Sydney, 

conducting 12 concerts in The Metropolitan 

Orchestra’s main orchestral series, appearing as 

Guest Resident Conductor at the Bangalow Music 

Festival, concerts with Queensland Symphony 

Orchestra, Katie Noonan, James Morrison and 

arranging/conducting four Sydney Opera House 

Proms productions. 

Having conducted more than 130 performances 

over the past two years, Sarah-Grace remains 

in great demand in 2013. Highlights include 

several concerts with the Queensland Symphony 

Orchestra, including all concerts in their Inaugural 

Concerti series, collaborating with composer 

Daniel Rojas and percussionist Claire Edwardes on 

the world premiere of a new work, a gala event 

with Katie Noonan and all major concerts in The 

Metropolitan Orchestra’s Fifth Anniversary Season. 

A principal graduate from Symphony Australia’s 

prestigious Conductor Program Sarah-Grace 

received her Bachelor of Music with Distinction 

in 1996, followed by a First Class Honours in 

Conducting, before continuing conducting studies 

overseas with Alexander Polishchuk (Russia) and 

Jorma Panula (Holland). Sarah-Grace has been 

awarded numerous prizes including a Symphony 

Australia Podium Scholarship, the University of 

Western Sydney Prize for Academic Excellence and 

Prize for first place in Performance. 

THOMAS ALLELY 

PRINCIPAL TUBA QSO 

Thomas Allely holds the position of Section 

Principal Tuba with the Queensland Symphony 

Orchestra. Thomas was born in Christchurch, 

Aotearoa, New Zealand. Thomas was a 

Dedicatee and soloist, Tony Ryan Tuba 

Concert in 1996, then became Principal 

Tuba, Wellington Sinfonia, New Zealand from 

1999-2004 while also holding the position 

of Corporal at the Central Band of the Royal 

New Zealand Airforce. Moving to Australia, 

he obtained Principal Tuba at the Sydney 

Sinfonia and in 2004 was a Semifinalist in the 

Tuba Artist Competition, Budapest Hungary, 

International Tuba and Euphonium Conference. 

In 2006 he was 1 st place winner in the 

Arnold Jacobs Mock Audition Competition, 

International Tuba and Euphonium Competition, 

Denver Colorado. In 2007 Thomas was 

appointed to his current position with 

Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Thomas’ 

other engagements include performances with 

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Sydney 

Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony 

Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet 

Orchestra and Sydney Brass. In 2008 Thomas 

was a Guest Artist at Tuba mania International 

Conference, Bangkok Thailand. He is also a 

teacher of Tuba at Queensland Conservatorium 

Griffith Univeristy and Queensland University 

of Technology. Thomas received his BMusHons 

from Victoria Unviersity Wellington and a 

Postgraduate Diploma, ANU Canberra in 2004. 

If Thomas were not a professional Tuba player, 

he would be an astrophysicist. In his spare time 

he reads geeky sci-fi books. 



QUEENSLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HORN SECTION 

The QSO Horn section has been together 

since 2010. From then they have developed 

and maintained a camaraderie extending 

beyond the orchestral stage. All five members 

of the section bring diverse and unique talents 

enabling the pursuit of exciting and challenging 

chamber music for horn ensemble. 

Melbourne born Vivienne Collier-Vickers is a 

low horn specialist who studied with Graeme 

Evans and Hector McDonald, she joined 

the QSO in 1990 and is also a well-known 

presenter of the QSO’s “Kiddies Cushion 

Concerts”. Lauren Manuel studied in Adelaide 

with Phillip Paine and has taken lessons 

with the world’s greatest horn player, Barry 

Tuckwell. Lauren was appointed to her current 

position of Tutti Horn with the QSO in 2009. 

Principal Third Horn Ian O’Brien joined QSO 

in 2003 following four years as Associate 

Principal Horn with Orchestra Victoria in 

Melbourne. A local to Brisbane, Ian studied at 

the University of Queensland and is currently 

a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. 

Peter Luff studied at the Elder Conservatorium 

of Music in Adelaide and was appointed to 

the position of tutti horn in 1987 and then 

Associate Principal Horn in 2008, Peter is head 

of brass at the Queensland Conservatorium 

Griffith University. Newest member of the 

section Malcolm Stewart, studied in Brisbane 

at the Queensland Conservatorium before 

continuing his study in Switzerland. He has 

held principal positions with the St Gallen 

Symphony Orchestra of Switzerland and the 

West Australian Symphony Orchestra before 

joining the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as 

Principal Horn in 2010. 

TIM CORKERON 

PRINCIPAL TIMPANI QSO 

Tim Corkeron was born in Brisbane, Australia. 

He was inspired to follow music as a career 

after his parents took him to concerts at the 

Brisbane City Hall and a percussion recital 

at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith 

University when he was 10 years of age. Tim 

later became a member of the Queensland 

Youth Orchestra. He then furthered his 

studies at the Queensland Conservatorium, 

Griffith University where he received a 

Diploma of Music (Percussion/Timpani) in 

1989 and a Graduate Diploma of Performance 

in 1990. 

Tim joined the Queensland Symphony 

Orchestra as a percussionist in 1990 and he 

was appointed the role of Principal Timpanist 

in 1996, a position he still holds today. 

Between his engagements with the 

Queensland Symphony Orchestra, he has 

been a guest performer with a number of 

international orchestras. He was a guest 

percussionist and Principal Timpanist with 

the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992 

where he performed numerous concerts at the 

Festival Hall, London, and toured to the Canary 

Islands. Here he performed under conductors, 

Lorin Maazel, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Simonov 

and Franz Welser-Most and he recorded for 

the Chandos Labels. He also appeared 

as a guest percussionist with the Engish 

National Opera. 

From 2007-2008 Tim was a guest Timpanist 

with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, 

performing several concerts in Kanazawa and 

regional centres in Japan. He was also a guest 

performer with the Malaysian Philharmonic 

Orchestra in 2008. In October this year Tim 

will appear as Principal Timpanist with the 

Australian World Orchestra under conductor 

Zubin Mehta. 

Over the years Tim has also performed as 

Freelance Percussionist and Timpanist for 

various musical theatre productions in the 

Queensland Performing Arts Centre. 

Tonight’s performance of Matthus’ Timpani 

Concerto Der Wald is Tim’s first concerto 

performance. 



CHAMBER PLAYERS 

The QSO Chamber Players series is 

programmed by QSO musicians. Concerts are 

offered within QSO’s mainstage subscription 

season for the first time in 2013, representing 

an exciting new addition to the orchestra’s 

broad concert offering. 

Chamber music has long played a key role in 

QSO’s activities, with small ensembles from 

the orchestra touring regularly to schools 

and community outreach events throughout 

Brisbane and regional Queensland. 

QSO Chamber Players has grown out of the 

Ferry Road Chamber Players (FRCP) series 

which was administered as an entity separate 

from QSO between 1992 and 2011. Founded 

by Mark Vickers (timpani), John Harrison 

(bass clarinet) and Vivienne Collier-Vickers 

(horn), FRCP began as a recital series for QSO’s 

principal musicians. Early recitals featured 

David Lale (cello), Paul Dean (clarinet), 

Leesa Dean (bassoon) and Jason Redman 

(trombone). From the 1993 season chamber 

music became the dominant musical aspect of 

the series, with a number of QSO string, wind, 

brass and percussion ensembles featuring in 

the series each year. In memory of former QSO 

clarinettist Jenny Reuther, the QSO clarinet 

section performed a biennial charity benefit 

concert within the FRCP series. For many 

years John Harrison also organised regular 

art exhibitions in the foyer of the orchestra’s 

former studio at Ferry Road, West End to 

accompany FRCP concerts and add to patrons’ 

concert-going experience. 

QSO Chamber Players will continue the longestablished 

tradition of excellence in chamber 

music performance at QSO during the 2013 

season and beyond. 

JOHANNES FRITZSCH 

CHIEF CONDUCTOR 

Johannes Fritzsch was born in Meissen, 

Germany, in 1960. He received his first musical 

tuition in piano and organ from his father, a 

Cantor and Organist. He also studied violin and 

trumpet. His higher education was received at 

the Carl Maria von Weber Music Academy in 

Dresden, majoring in conducting and piano. 

In 1982, after completing his studies, Maestro 

Fritzsch was appointed 2 nd Kapellmeister 

(Conductor) at the Volkstheater in Rostock. In 

1987, Mo. Fritzsch accepted the position of 

Kapellmeister with the Staatsoper Dresden, 

Semperoper, where he conducted more than 350 

opera and ballet performances within five years. 

After the German reunification, Mo. Fritzsch 

was able to accept engagements outside of 

Eastern Europe. In 1992/3 he worked as 1 st 

Kapellmeister at the Staatsoper Hannover. 

During that time, Mo. Fritzsch was appointed 

Chief Conductor and Artistic Director at the 

Städtische Bühnen and the Philharmonisches 

Orchester in Freiburg. There he remained until 

1999 enjoying widespread acclaim. 

The Verband Deutscher Musikverleger 

(association of German music publishers) 

honored his 1998/99 season with the 

distinction of having the ‘Best Concert Program’. 

Mo. Fritzsch has performed with many 

orchestras, both within Germany and 

internationally. These include: Hamburger 

Sinfoniker, Düsseldorfer Sinfoniker, 

Philharmonie Essen, Nationaltheater-Orchester 

Mannheim, Staatskapelle Schwerin, Berliner 

Sinfonie Orchester, Staatskapelle Dresden, 

Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, 

Staatsorchester Halle, the Swedish Radio 

Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, 

the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the 

Orchestre Philharmonique Strassbourg, 

the Orchestra National de Montpellier, the 

Orchestra National du Capitole de Toulouse, 

the Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmanian, 

Queensland and West Australian Symphony 

Orchestras and Orchestra Victoria. 

Opera Companies with which he has worked 

include: Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, 

Opernhaus Köln, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 

Komische Oper Berlin, Opera Bastille Paris, 

Grazer Oper, the Royal Opera Stockholm, 

Malmö Operan and Opera Australia in Sydney 

and Melbourne (including Wozzeck, Don 

Giovanni, Carmen, Tosca, Rigoletto, Salome, 

Der Rosenkavalier). 

Mo. Fritzsch recently held the position of 

Chief Conductor of the Grazer Oper and 

Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester, Austria; 

he is currently the Chief Conductor of the 

Queensland Symphony Orchestra. 



PIERS LANE 

PIANO 

London-based Australian pianist Piers Lane 

has a flourishing international career, which 

has taken him to more than forty countries. In 

the 2012/13 season Piers Lane will perform 

at the Sitka Summer Music Festival in Alaska. 

He will perform the European premiere of Carl 

Vine’s new piano concerto with the London 

Philharmonic Orchestra, and will perform 

extensively throughout the UK, Australia and 

New Zealand. 

His extensive discography includes, on the 

Hyperion label, much admired recordings of 

rare Romantic piano concertos, the complete 

Preludes and Etudes by Scriabin, transcriptions 

of Bach and Strauss, along with complete 

collections of concert etudes by Saint-Saens, 

Moscheles and Henselt, and transcriptions by 

Grainger. Recent releases include the Piano 

Quintets by Elgar, Bloch, Bridge and Dvorak, 

all with the Goldner String Quartet, and a disc 

with clarinettist Michael Collins for Chandos. 

Piers Lane is in great demand as a collaborative 

artist. He continues his longstanding 

partnership with violinist Tasmin Little and 

with clarinettist Michael Collins. Tours in recent 

years have included performances with singers 

Cheryl Barker and Peter Coleman-Wright, 

violist/composer Brett Dean, the Australian, 

Doric, Goldner, Medici, New Zealand, Prazak 

and RTE Vanbrugh String Quartets. 

Piers Lane has been the Artistic Director of 

the Australian Festival of Chamber Music 

since 2007. He is also Artistic Director of the 

annual Myra Hess Day at the National Gallery in 

London. From this sprang his collaboration with 

actress Patricia Routledge on a theatre piece 

devised by Nigel Hess, exploring Dame Myra’s 

work throughout the Second World War. This 

show, entitled “Admission: One Shilling”, has 

been performed throughout the UK at many 

festivals and theatres. 

In the Queen’s 2012 Birthday Honours Piers 

Lane was awarded an AO (Officer in the 

General Division of the Order of Australia), 

for distinguished service to the arts as pianist, 

mentor and organiser. 

NICHOLAS BRAITHWAITE 

CONDUCTOR 

Mr. Braithwaite’s career has been unusually 

wide-ranging, both musically and 

geographically. He has held positions as 

Music Director or Principal Conductor from 

Norway to New Zealand and many places 

in between, including the Tasmanian and 

Adelaide Symphony Orchestras. His repertoire 

has centred around German and Russian 

music and he is regarded as an outstanding 

Wagner conductor, having conducted all of 

that composer’s works from Rienzi onwards, 

including 7 Ring Cycles. 

Concurrently with his Australian activities he 

was Principal Conductor of the Manchester 

Camerata. Other orchestral appointments have 

included Permanent Guest Conductor of the 

Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and Associate 

Conductor to Constantin Silvestri of the 

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He has 

been a frequent guest conductor for all the 

major orchestras in the UK, and has toured 

Japan and Korea with the London Philharmonic 

Orchestra as Associate Conductor to Sir Georg 

Solti. 

He has appeared with, among others, the 

Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre 

National de France, the Oslo Philharmonic, 

Bergen Philharmonic, Odense Symphony, 

Aarhus Symphony, Aalborg Symphony, New 

Zealand Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, 

Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, 

Queensland Orchestra, West Australian 

Symphony, Danish National Radio Symphony 

and the Collegium Musicum Copenhagen. 

In recent years Lyrita Recorded Edition have 

released more than 28 CDs of Mr. Braithwaite 

conducting the London Philharmonic, 

London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and 

Philharmonia Orchestras in music by English 

composers. 

His recording of Wordsworth’s Symphonies 

No.2 & 3 with the London Philharmonic 

Orchestra won a 1991 Record of the Year 

Award from Gramophone Magazine, and his 

recording of Flute Concertos with Alexa Still 

and the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra for 

Koch was nominated for a 1992 Grammy 

award in the USA. His most recent recording 

with ABC Classics is a CD of Elgar’s music with 

the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. 

Recent engagements include Capriccio with 

Opera Australia and in Queensland Tosca and 

Macbeth with Opera Queensland, and Haydn 

and Elgar with the Queensland Symphony 

Orchestra. 

© Patrick Togher Artists’ Management 2013 



PATRON 

Her Excellency the Governor of Queensland 

Ms Penelope Wensley, AC 

QUEENSLAND PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE 

PO Box 3567, South Bank, Queensland 4101 

Tel: (07) 3840 7444 

GUY NOBLE 

PRESENTER 

Guy Noble is one of Australia’s most versatile 

conductors and musical entertainers, 

conducting and presenting concerts with all 

the major Australian orchestras and performers 

such as The Beach Boys, Yvonne Kenny, David 

Hobson, Ben Folds, Dianne Reeves, Randy 

Newman and Clive James. He has cooked live 

on stage with Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant 

(The Cook, The Chef and the Orchestra, 

Adelaide Symphony) appeared as Darth 

Vader (The Music of John Williams, Sydney 

Symphony) and might be the only person to 

have ever sung the Ghostbusters theme live on 

stage on stage accompanied by The Whitlams 

(Queensland Symphony Orchestra). 

Other recent performances include Opera 

in the Markets (Melbourne) , a Christmas 

concert with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and 

supervising the orchestral music for the 2011 

NRL Grand Final. 

He is a regular guest presenter on ABC Classic 

FM, writes a column for Limelight Magazine 

and lives in Sydney surrounded by a wife and 

two daughters. 

WARWICK ADENEY 

VIOLIN 

Warwick Adeney was born into a large family 

of violinists and trained at the Queensland 

Conservatorium alongside three of his siblings. 

There he learnt with Dr Anthony Doheny, was a 

member of the Ambrosian Quartet, and emerged 

as the Gold Medal graduate of 1984. 

He joined the Queensland Theatre 

Orchestra under Georg Tintner, rose to the 

concertmastership in 1989, and led through the 

orchestra’s years with Theodore Kuchar, Anthony 

Camden, Werner Andreas Albert and Stephen 

Barlow. In 2001 the amalgamation of orchestras 

in Queensland occurred, and Alan Smith (QSO) 

and Warwick continued as co-concertmasters of 

the new body, which initially attracted the artistic 

leadership of Michael Christie, and now enjoys 

that of Johannes Fritszch. Over the years Warwick 

has given many performances of lighter solos 

such as Vaughan-Williams’ The Lark Ascending, 

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and the concerti of Bach 

and Mozart, and continues to enjoy the privileged 

and challenging life of the orchestra. 

Married to Michele, a fellow musician, Warwick 

is blessed with nine children, the older of whom 

learn a variety of instruments, and the family 

attends a weekly traditional Latin mass. 

The violin Warwick plays is a Venetian instrument 

from the mid 18th century, possibly by Pietro 

Guarnerius. 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Greg Wanchap Chairman 

Marsha Cadman 

Tony Denholder 

Jenny Hodgson 

Tony Keane 

John Keep 

Karen Murphy 

Jason Redman 

MANAGMENT 

Libby Anstis Interim Chief Executive Officer 

Ros Atkinson Executive Assistant to CEO 

Alison Barclay Administration Officer 

Richard Wenn Director - Artistic Planning 

Nicola Manson Assistant Artistic Administrator 

Kate Oliver Assistant Artistic Administrator 

Pam Lowry Education Liaison Officer 

Matthew Farrell Director - Orchestra 

Management 

Nina Logan Orchestra Manager 

Jacinta Ewers Operations Assistant 

Peter Laughton Production Manager 

Vince Scuderi Production Assistant 

Judy Wood Orchestra Librarian 

Fiona Lale Assistant Librarian/Artist Liaison 

Nadia Myers Library & Operations Assistant 

Rebecca Laughton Catering Coordinator 

David Martin Director - Corporate 

Development 

Katya Melendez Relationships and Sales 

Coordinator 

Tegan Ward Marketing Coordinator 

Kendal Alderman Marketing and Media Relations 

Officer 

Miranda Cass Media Relations Assistant 

Gaelle Lindrea Director – Philanthropy 

Birgit Willadsen Philanthropy Officer 

Robert Miller Director – Human Resources 

Judy Wood OH & S Coordinator 

John Waight Chief Financial Officer 

Sandy Johnston Accountant 

Donna Barlow Accounts Payable Officer 

CHAIR 

Henry Smerdon AM 

DEPUTY CHAIR 

Rachel Hunter 

TRUSTEES 

Simon Gallaher 

Helene George 

Bill Grant OAM 

Sophie Mitchell 

Paul Piticco 

Mick Power AM 

Susan Street 

Rhonda White 

EXECUTIVE STAFF 

John Kotzas Chief Executive 

Leisa Bacon Director – Marketing 

Ross Cunningham Director – Presenter Services 

Kieron Roost Director – Corporate Services 

Tony Smith Director – Patron Services 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The Queensland Performing Arts Trust is a Statutory 

Authority of the State of Queensland and is partially 

funded by the Queensland Government 

The Honourable Ian Walker MP 

Minister for Science, Information Technology, 

Innovation and the Arts 

Director-General, Department of Science, 

Information Technology, 

Innovation and the Arts: Philip Reed 

Patrons are advised that the Performing Arts Centre 

has EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURES, a 

FIRE ALARM system and EXIT passageways. In case 

of an alert, patrons should remain calm, look for the 

closest EXIT sign in GREEN, listen to and comply with 

directions given by the inhouse trained attendants and 

move in an orderly fashion to the open spaces outside 

the Centre. 


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QSO thanks our partners for their support. 

All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or in any means, electronic 

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The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the publication’s team, publisher or any 

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clerical or printers’ errors. Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyright material prior to printing. 

40 2013 | QSO MARCH PROGRAM

March 2013 - Queensland Symphony Orchestra

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