Sibelius and Brahms

Sunday 22nd August 2021, 6.00pm

Mandurah Performing Arts Centre

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West Australian Symphony Orchestra respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Custodians and Elders of the Indigenous Nations across Western Australia and on whose Lands we work.

How to use your Digital Program

Sibelius and Brahms

Gabriel FAURÉ Pavane (6 mins)

Jean SIBELIUS Violin Concerto (31 mins)
Allegro moderato – Allegro molto
Adagio di molto
Allegro ma non tanto

Interval (25 mins)

Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No.1 (45 mins)
Un poco sostenuto – Allegro
Andante sostenuto
Un poco allegretto e grazioso
Adagio – Più andante – Allegro non troppo,
ma con brio


Asher Fisch
conductor
Grace Clifford violin

Asher Fisch appears courtesy of Wesfarmers Arts.

Pre-concert Talk

Find out more about the music in the concert with WASO's Artistic Planning Manager, Alan Tyrrell. The Pre-concert Talk will take place at 5.20pm in the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre Foyer.

WASO On Stage

VIOLIN
Riley Skevington
Assoc Concertmaster

Graeme Norris
Principal 1st Violin

Zak Rowntree*
Principal 2nd Violin

Kylie Liang

Assoc Principal 2nd Violin

Stephanie Dean
Amy Furfaro^
Rebecca Glorie
Beth Hebert
Alexandra Isted
Jane Johnston^
Sunmi Jung
Christina Katsimbardis
Ellie Lawrence
Jasmine Middleton^
Akiko Miyazawa
Lucas O’Brien
Melanie Pearn
Ken Peeler
Jolanta Schenk
Bao Di Tang
Cerys Tooby
Susannah Williams^

VIOLA
Daniel Schmitt
Alex Brogan

Kierstan Arkleysmith
Nik Babic
Benjamin Caddy
Alison Hall
Rachael Kirk
Helen Tuckey

CELLO
Rod McGrath
• Tokyo Gas
Eve Silver*

Shigeru Komatsu
Nicholas Metcalfe
Fotis Skordas
Tim South

DOUBLE BASS
Andrew Sinclair*
Christine Reitzenstein
Andrew Tait
Mark Tooby

FLUTE
Andrew Nicholson
• Anonymous
Mary-Anne Blades

• Anonymous

OBOE
Liz Chee

A/Principal Oboe

COR ANGLAIS
Leanne Glover

CLARINET
Allan Meyer

BASS CLARINET
Alexander Millier

BASSOON
Jane Kircher-Lindner
Adam Mikulicz

CONTRABASSOON
Chloe Turner
• Stelios Jewellers

HORN
★ Margaret & Rod Marston
David Evans
Robert Gladstones
Principal 3rd Horn

Julia Brooke
Francesco Lo Surdo

TRUMPET
Brent Grapes
• Anonymous
Jenna Smith

TROMBONE
Joshua Davis
• Dr Ken Evans AM & Dr
Glenda Campbell-Evans
Liam O’Malley

BASS TROMBONE
Philip Holdsworth

TIMPANI
Alex Timcke

KEY

Principal
Associate Principal
Assistant Principal
Contract Musicians˚
Guest Musicians^

★ Section partnered by
• Chair partnered by
* Instruments used by these musicians are on loan from Janet Holmes à Court AC.

About the Artists

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Asher Fisch
Principal Conductor & Artistic Adviser

A renowned conductor in both the operatic and symphonic worlds, Asher Fisch is especially celebrated for his interpretative command of core German and Italian repertoire of the Romantic and post-Romantic era. He conducts a wide variety of repertoire from Gluck to contemporary works by living composers. Since 2014, Asher Fisch has been the Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO). His former posts include Principal Guest Conductor of the Seattle Opera (2007- 2013), Music Director of the New Israeli Opera (1998-2008), and Music Director of the Wiener Volksoper (1995-2000).

After returning to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood and the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Festival in August, highlights of Asher Fisch’s 2019-20 season include concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologne. Guest opera engagements include Fidelio and Adriana Lecouvrer at the Teatro Comunale di Bologne, Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, and Parsifal at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Ariadne auf Naxos with the Bayerische Staatsoper at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and Pagliacci and Schitz at the Israeli Opera.

Highlights of Asher Fisch’s 2018-19 season included guest engagements with the Düsseldorf Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and Teatro Massimo Orchestra in Palermo. Guest opera engagements included Il Trovatore, Otello, Die Fliegende Holländer, and Andrea Chénier at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Arabella and Hansel und Gretel at the Semperoper Dresden, Tannhäuser at the Tokyo National Theater, and Cristof Loy’s new production of Capriccio at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Born in Israel, Fisch began his conducting career as Daniel Barenboim’s assistant and kappellmeister at the Berlin Staatsoper. He has built his versatile repertoire at the major opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and Semperoper Dresden. Fisch is also a regular guest conductor at leading American symphony orchestras including those of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, and Philadelphia. In Europe he has appeared at the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de France, among others.

Asher Fisch’s recent recordings include Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, recorded live with WASO and featuring Stuart Skelton and Gun-Brit Barkmin. Widely acclaimed, it won Limelight Magazine’s Opera Recording of the Year in 2019. Fisch’s recording of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole with the Munich Radio Orchestra also won Limelight Magazine’s Opera Recording of the Year in 2017. In 2018 Fisch and WASO recorded Bruckner’s Symphony No.8 for WASOLive! and Stuart Skelton’s first solo album for ABC Classics. In 2015, he recorded the complete Brahms symphonies live with WASO for ABC Classics. Asher Fisch’s recording of Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the Seattle Opera was released on the Avie label in 2014 and his first Ring Cycle recording, with the State Opera of South Australia, was released by Melba Recordings.

Asher Fisch appears courtesy of Wesfarmers Arts.

About the Artists

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Grace Clifford
Violin

Grace Clifford is widely recognized as one of Australia’s finest young violinists and she is privileged to perform with many of its
leading orchestras.

Grace has enjoyed the frequent opportunity of performing concertos with the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Melbourne Chamber, Tasmania Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Adelaide
Symphony, and Canberra Symphony Orchestras. Grace was appointed as Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s first ever Emerging Artist in Association from 2018-2020.

Grace graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston earlier this year, studying with Miriam Fried on a Presidential Scholarship. Grace holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Pamela Frank, Ida Kavafian, and the late Joseph Silverstein. She graduated with the Joan Hutton Landis Award for Academic Excellence.

2021 season highlights include returns to the Sydney, Adelaide and West Australian Symphony Orchestras and she looks forward to making her debut with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Photo credit: Anthony Browell

About the Music

About the Music

About the Music

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About WASO

Your Concert Experience

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FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF ALL

When to applaud? Musicians love applause. Audience members normally applaud:
• When the conductor walks onto the stage
• After the completion of each piece and at the end of the performance

When you need to cough, try to do it discreetly. Cough lozenges are available from the WASO Ticket Collection Desk before each performance and at the interval.

Hearing aids that are incorrectly adjusted may disturb other patrons, please be mindful of those around you.

Mobile phones and other electronic devices need to be switched off or silenced throughout the performance.

Photography, sound and video recordings are permitted prior to the start of the performance.

Latecomers and patrons who leave the auditorium will be seated only after the completion of a work.

Moving to empty seats. Please do not move to empty seats prior to the performance as this may affect seating for latecomers when they are admitted during a suitable break.

FOOD & BEVERAGES
You are now able to take your cold drinks to your seat.

Foyer bars are open for drinks and coffee two hours before, during interval and after the concert. To save time we recommend you pre-order your interval drinks.

FIRST AID
There are St John Ambulance officers present at every concert so please speak to them if you require any first aid assistance.

ACCESSIBILITY
• A universal accessible toilet is available on the ground floor (Level 1).
• The Sennheiser MobileConnect Personal Hearing Assistance system is available for every seat in the auditorium. Visit perthconcerthall.com.au/your-visit/accessibility/ for further information.

WASO BOX OFFICE

Buy your WASO tickets and subscriptions, exchange tickets, or make a donation at the Box Office on the ground floor (Level 1) prior to each performance and at interval. Tickets for other performances at Perth Concert Hall will be available for purchase only at interval. Please note that 30 minutes prior to performance, the Box Office will only be available for sales to that night’s performance.

The Box Office is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and contactable on 9326 0000.

Staying COVID Safe

Wash your hands

Stay home if you are unwell

Cough or sneeze into your elbow

Check in with the SafeWA app

Perth Concert Hall is permitted to operate at 100 per cent capacity as part of the Western Australian Government’s easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Please continue to practise good hygiene habits and observe physical distancing where possible.

Meet the Musician

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Community Engagement & Education

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Education Week+ Wrap Up

An annual tradition at WASO is our Education Week+: a festival for families, students, emerging composers, community musicians and more. A two-week celebration that shines a spotlight on just some of the amazing programs that WASO delivers, these programs reach hundreds of individuals and create opportunities for people of all ages and walks of life to engage with extraordinary music and musicians – stimulating life-long learning and participation in a rewarding cultural life.

2021 Education Week+ saw WASO performing and engaging with over 4,000 individuals from June 1 – 12. Kicking off with a free concert featuring presenter Lee Stanley and the Education Chamber Orchestra in EChO’s Sea Adventures, families and little ones aged 0 – 6 set sail for the high seas to experience a musical extravaganza. Lee Stanley and a quartet of musicians including Rebecca Glorie and Jasmine Middleton (UWA Masters Student) on violin, Alexander Millier on clarinet and John Keene on double bass delivered three creative development workshops for students in Years 5 and 6 at North Parmelia and Medina Primary School as a part of our much-loved Crescendo program. Students were creatively engaged throughout the hour, relishing in the chance to compose and perform a song with their WASO musician to their class.

Other highlights of Education Week+ included Composition Project, WASO’s flagship artist development program. Led by celebrated Australian composer and project Artistic Director James Ledger, five promising and emerging composers premiered new solo works written for WASO musicians. The quality of composition was experimental and impressive, and well received by an audience of composer family, friends, but also members of the general public excited to see something a bit different.

The crowd favourite Rusty Orchestra performed a selection of popular and engaging music to a delighted, sold out audience at Perth Concert Hall. Conducted by Peter Moore, community musicians practiced for months and travelled from all over Perth and the South West to perform side-by-side with WASO musicians. The performance was followed by thunderous applause, with some audience members giving a standing ovation and even tears whilst applauding.

Triple-threat orchestral performer Thea Rossen made her debut with WASO. The percussionist, composer and educator presented three performances of Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, during which young audience members had the opportunity to have their compositions performed live by WASO musicians. Both schools and families loved the performances and getting involved, particularly during the body percussion section and at the bubble machine and origami stations.

“It’s always a privilege for us musicians to be able to take part in these projects, to share our love of music, and to get to see how music can affect people in such powerful and profound ways.
“A privilege indeed!”

- Andrew Nicholson, Principal Flute

Philanthropy

Thank you, for helping us create EXTRAORDINARY MUSIC

On behalf of all the Musicians, our Board of Directors and all of us here at WASO, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity this end of financial year.

Your support gives us the freedom to perform, funding the elements essential to our craft as we breathe life into an art-form which has the power to inspire, enrich and transform lives.

As Artists, we are grateful to do something we love each day and share that love with our community. Because of you, music will continue to touch the hearts of those who enter Perth Concert Hall, and of those in our schools and communities through our many education and engagement programs.

Because of you, our ambitions are limitless.

Thank you, for sharing your passion of music with us and your fellow Western Australians.


Graeme Norris
Principal 1st Violin

Jenna Smith
Associate Principal Trumpet

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WASO thrives on the enthusiasm, passion and support we receive from our wonderful donors.

If you are interested in joining our donor family, we would love to hear from you! Please call Taui Pinker, Development Manager on (08) 9326 0014 or via pinkert@waso.com.au to find out more info.

Our Patrons

Annual Giving

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Connect with WASO

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2021 Corporate Partners

Principal Partner

Platinum Partners

Access Partner

Symphony Partner

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Keynote Partners

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Supported By

To share in our vision and discuss the many opportunities extended through corporate partnerships please contact Corporate Development on 08 9326 0020.

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