Beethoven 9
MACA CLASSICS SERIES
Friday 3 & Saturday 4 May 2024, 7.30pm
Perth Concert Hall
West Australian Symphony Orchestra respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and Elders of Country throughout Western Australia, and the Whadjuk Noongar people on whose lands we work and share music.
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Beethoven 9
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN The Creatures of Prometheus: Overture (5 mins)
James LEDGER The Last Thing (World Premiere) (24 mins)
I. The Last Thing
II. Mother
III. Child Burial
Interval (25 mins)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9 Choral (67 mins)
Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
Scherzo (Molto vivace – Presto)
Adagio molto e cantabile – Andante moderato
Presto – Allegro molto assai (Alla marcia) – Presto
Alpesh Chauhan conductor
Sara Macliver soprano (The Last Thing)
Eleanor Lyons soprano
Ashlyn Tymms mezzo-soprano
Paul O’Neill tenor
Samuel Dundas bass
WASO Chorus
UWA Symphonic Chorus
Wesfarmers Arts Pre-concert Talk
Find out more about the music in the concert with this week’s speaker, Cecilia Sun. The Pre-concert Talk will take place at 6.45pm in the Terrace Level Foyer.
Listen to WASO
This performance is recorded for broadcast Saturday 15 June, 1pm (AWST) on ABC Classic. Date subject to change. For further details visit
abc.net.au/classic
WASO On Stage
About the Artists
Alpesh Chauhan OBE
Conductor
Alpesh Chauhan OBE is Principal Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company. His debut album featuring orchestral works by Tchaikovsky, released with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on Chandos Records in June 2023, was received to great critical acclaim, described in Gramophone as enthralling and named BBC Music Magazine’s Orchestral Choice of the Month.
Recent and forthcoming highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Seattle and Houston Symphonies; National Symphony Orchestra Washington; Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester Berlin; Oslo Philharmonic; the Hallé; the Toronto, Atlanta, Melbourne, and Antwerp Symphony Orchestras; Symphony Orchestra of India; the London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras; Accademia di Santa Cecilia; Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI; the BBC Symphony Orchestra; the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, of whom he was Associate Conductor; Orchestre National de Lille; and Malmö Symphony Orchestra, touring iconic venues such as Berlin’s Philharmonie; London’s Royal Albert Hall; Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall; Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón; Venice’s Teatro La Fenice; Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía; and Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Alpesh enjoys collaborations with distinguished soloists such as Karen Cargill, Colin Currie, Stefan Dohr, Veronika Eberle, James Ehnes, Pablo Ferrández, Alban Gerhardt, Ilya Gringolts, Benjamin Grosvenor, Brenden Gunnell, Hilary Hahn, Sir Stephen Hough, Zakir Hussain, Pavel Kolesnikov, Johannes Moser, Beatrice Rana, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, and Frank Peter Zimmermann. He is particularly well-known for his interpretations of the late Romantic and twentieth century repertoire, including works by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Mahler, Strauss, Schönberg, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky, alongside championing contemporary and living composers such as Thomas Adès, Anna Clyne, Chaya Czernowin, Henri Dutilleux, Osvaldo Golijov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Zakir Hussain, Nicole Lizée, Jessie Montgomery, John Psathas, Steve Reich, Mark Simpson, and George Walker.
Following his outstanding debut in 2015, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma where he performed complete cycles of the symphonies by Beethoven and Brahms. Alongside the recently critically acclaimed Rheingold, other notable opera titles include Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, West Side Story, and productions of Turandot, including at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia.
A keen advocate of music education for young people, Alpesh is a patron of Awards for Young Musicians, a UK charity supporting talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds on their musical journeys. He has also worked with ensembles such as the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the symphony orchestras of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal Northern College of Music. He was the conductor of the 2015 BBC ‘Ten Pieces’ film which brought the world of classical music into secondary schools across the UK and received a distinguished BAFTA award.
Born in Birmingham, Alpesh studied ‘cello with Eduardo Vassallo at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester before continuing at the RNCM to pursue the prestigious Master’s Conducting Course. Alpesh studied with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and was mentored by Andris Nelsons and Edward Gardner in his post as Assistant Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2016. Alpesh was named ‘Newcomer of the Year’ in the 2021 International Opera Awards and in 2022 was delighted to receive the Conductor Award from the Italian National Association of Music Critics for ‘Miglior Direttore’.
Alpesh was honoured to receive an OBE in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s 2022 New Year’s Honours for Services to the Arts and in 2024 was conferred an Honorary Fellow of the RNCM.
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About the Artists
Sara Macliver
Soprano
Sara Macliver is one of Australia’s most popular and versatile artists, and is regarded as one of the leading exponents of Baroque repertoire.
Sara is a regular performer with all the Australian symphony orchestras as well as the Perth, Melbourne and Sydney Festivals, Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Musica Viva, and a number of international companies. Sara records for ABC Classics with more than 35 CDs and many awards to her credit.
In recent years Sara has sung with West Australian Opera, Sydney, Melbourne, West Australian, Tasmanian, Queensland and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, the Australian String Quartet, St George’s Cathedral and Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra. She also sang with the Sydney Philharmonia, Ten Days on the Island, the Peninsula Summer Festival, Brisbane Camerata, ANAM, Bangalow Festival, St George’s Cathedral and Collegium Musicum amongst many other projects.
Sara has been awarded an honorary doctorate from The University of Western Australia in recognition of her services to singing, and teaches at the Conservatorium there.
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About the Artists
Eleanor Lyons
Soprano
Australian soprano Eleanor Lyons is known for her versatility, deep musicality and fresh interpretations. An international success, Eleanor has garnered global attention for her beautiful voice and virtuosic performances. Also known for her versatility, Eleanor passionately shapes every detail of opera, orchestral concerts, chamber music and solo recitals. Her talent and approach have resulted in ongoing fruitful collaborations with various orchestras and conductors on a global level.
In addition to singing leading roles in operas across the globe, this season’s concert highlights include Beethoven’s 9th (QSO and WASO), Freia/Das Rheingold (SSO), Strauss’ Four Last Songs (Canberra Symphony), as well as Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) at Oper Ballet Vlaanderen. She will sing Verdi’s Requiem at the Adelaide Festival with the Antwerp Symphony, Mahler Symphony No. 2 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the Vienna Symphony at the Musikverein.
Eleanor won first prize at the International Obraztsova Singing Competition, studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers, St. Petersburg and was awarded the Michael Byrne Vienna State Opera Award.
About the Artists
Ashlyn Tymms
Mezzo-Soprano
In 2024, Ashlyn Tymms sings Ježibaba in Rusalka and Dido in Dido and Aeneas for West Australian Opera and Fanny Price in Mansfield Park for New Zealand Opera; she takes the alto solos in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Mozart’s Requiem for West Australian Symphony, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Queensland Symphony and Bach’s St. John Passion with the Melbourne Symphony.
Ashlyn’s 2022 performances included Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Melbourne Symphony and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the West Australian Symphony. She also made her Sydney Opera House début in Handel’s Messiah.
For West Australian Opera, she has sung Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel) and Flora (La traviata); in 2023, Ashlyn returned to WAO as Emilia (Otello) and in the title role in Carmen.
International engagements include Rosimonda in Faramondo at the London Handel Festival and Judith in the world premiere of The Two Sisters with Tête à Tête Opera.
About the Artists
Paul O’Neill
Tenor
Australian tenor Paul O’Neill has forged a compelling international career singing in opera houses and concert halls throughout Europe and Australasia. His 2021/2022 engagements included Alfredo (La traviata) for Opera Australia and Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana) and Canio (Pagliacci) for West Australian Opera. In 2022/23, he sang Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) for Opera Australia, Macduff (Macbeth) for State Opera South Australia and Don José, Cavaradossi, Alfredo, Rodolfo and Otello for West Australian Opera; he was tenor soloist in Britten’s War Requiem and Siegmund in Die Walküre (Act I) for West Australian Symphony Orchestra. He returns to WA Opera this year as The Prince in Rusalka.
Other recent engagements include Don José and Cavaradossi for West Australian Opera, Rodolfo, Narraboth (Salome) and Alfredo for Opera Australia and the title role in Faust for Theater Münster. He has sung Don José at the Glyndebourne Festival; Laca (Jenůfa) for Opéra de Lille; Rodolfo for Halle Opera; Elvino (La sonnambula) and Laca with Graz Opera.
About the Artists
Samuel Dundas
Bass
Regularly appearing with the major Australian and New Zealand opera companies, Symphony orchestras and festivals, this year Samuel Dundas returns to the Perth and Brisbane Festivals and Victorian Opera as Cave (Eucalyptus), Opera Australia as Horatio (Hamlet), Opera Queensland as Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Queensland and West Australian Symphony orchestras (Beethoven’s 9th symphony) and Tasmanian Symphony (Haydn’s Harmony Mass).
His recent major role debuts have included the title role in Galileo (Mills) and the Count (Capriccio) for Victorian Opera; Wolfram (Tannhäuser) for Opera Australia, and Donner (Das Rheingold) for Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Samuel’s operatic repertoire includes Aphron (The Golden Cockerel); Marcello (La Boheme), title role in Voss, Dancairo and Morales (Carmen) for State Opera South Australia; Papageno (The Magic Flute) for New Zealand Opera; Count Carl Magnus Malcolm (A Little Night Music) and Ebenezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol) for Victorian Opera; Marcello, Guglielmo (Così Fan Tutte), Prosdocimo (The Turk in Italy), Papageno, Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Belcore (L’Elisir d’Amore) and Silvio (Pagliacci) for Opera Australia.
About the Artists
WASO Chorus
The WASO Chorus was formed in 1988 and consists of around 100 volunteer choristers who represent the finest form of community music making, bringing together singers from all walks of life. They regularly feature in the WASO annual concert season and are directed by Andrew Foote.
The Chorus has built an international reputation for its high standards and diverse range of repertoire. While its main role is to perform with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra the Chorus also maintains a profile of solo concerts, tours and community engagements.
The Chorus sings with the finest conductors and soloists including Asher Fisch, Simone Young, Stephen Layton and Paul Daniel. Recent highlights have included Britten’s War Requiem and Verdi’s Requiem. In 2019 the Chorus performed at the Denmark Festival of Voice and in 2018 toured China with performances of Orff’s Carmina burana.
In 2020 they performed two Gala events on the Kalbarri Skywalk. In 2023 the chorus was invited to Hobart to perform Brahms’ German Requiem with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO), the TSO chorus, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and members of the public, conducted by Simon Halsey.
Andrew Foote
Chorus Director
Glenn Hogue
Répétiteur
WASO Chorus On Stage
SOPRANO
Lisa Barrett
Penelope Colgan
Clara Connor
Kathie Drake
Ceridwen Dumergue
Fay Edwards
Marion Funke
Lesley Goodwin
Ro Gorell
Deborah Jackson-Porteous
Joanna Killgore
Gillian King
Claire McGlew
Natasha Meyers
Kimberly Paton
Lucy Sheppard
Sarah Shneier
Kate Sugars
Rebecca Thorne
Carol Unkovich
Catherine Wade
Alicia Walter
ALTO
Marian Agombar
Llewela Benn
Helen Brown
Patsy Brown
Sheila Byfield
Sue Coleson
Catherine Dunn
Kaye Fairbairn
Susanna Fleck
Dianne Graves
Louise Hayes
Mathilda Joubert
Tina McDonald
Elysia Murphy
Lynne Naylor
Deborah Pearson
Deborah Piesse
Neb Ryland
Margo Warburton
Olga Ward
Jacquie Wright
TENOR
Nick Fielding
Allan Griffiths
Alan Harvey
Matthew Lester
John Murphy
Christopher Ryland
Sim Taylor
Arthur Tideswell
Stephen Turley
Brad Wake
BASS
Justin Audcent
Michael Berkeley-Hill
Charlie Bond
Paul Brayshaw
Tony Errington
Ken Gasmier
Brad Hilton
Francois Joubert
Francis Joseph
Benjamin Lee
Eric Lim
Tony Marrion
Geoff Massey
Peter Ormond
Andrew Wong
Mark Richardson
Stace Rogers
Steve Sherwood
Tim Strahan
About the Artists
UWA Symphonic Chorus
The University of Western Australia’s Symphonic Chorus is the Conservatorium of Music’s largest choir, open to all students studying at UWA. Directed by Dr Andrew Foote (Chair of Vocal Studies and current Director of the WASO Chorus), members are drawn from the UWA Vocal Program, the wider Conservatorium student-body and a growing number of non-music majors, who participate as volunteers or as students enrolled in one the Conservatoriums Music Ensemble units.
The choir regularly collaborates with West Australian Opera, UWA Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, UWA Wind Orchestra, and WASO to perform a wide range of repertoire at venues across Perth, including the Perth Concert Hall, St Mary’s Cathedral and Winthrop Hall. Recent highlights include: Oratorio with West Australian Opera, Elijah with West Australian Opera, Handel’s Messiah with the UWA Chamber Orchestra, and the WA Premiere of Lili Boulanger’s Psalm 130: Du fond de l’abîme and Eumeralla with WASO.
UWA Symphonic Chorus On Stage
SOPRANO
Lizzie Bruk
Beck Jones
Sanya Jones
Ella Jurjevich
Saffron Kakulas
Keeva Kirwan
Janelle Lee
Joanna Lim
Karoline Magpily
Beth Musikanth
Peridot Poole
Em Robertshaw
Aimee Ryan
Phoebe Tait
Teddy
Tasker-Murphy
Victoria-Grace
Whiting
Matilda Wilson
ALTO
Samantha
Anderson-Mayes
Mairead Buchanan
Suraya Edwards
Brianna Ellis
Jasmine Gilbert
Rosalyn Haensel
Vivienne Hingston
Emily Hobday
Steohanie Hollick
Sarah Huang
Lili Huntly
Joscelyn Leahy
Katie Lines
Chanupa
Munasinghe
Shirley Ng
Emma Osling
Golbon Rezaei
Insiah Riaz
Isabel Torabi
Kiki Wang
Shenghao Xiong
TENOR
Jamie Holloway
Ciaran McChord
BASS
Xavier Anthony
Jared Ashley
Glen Bain
Travis Canny
Jacob Gordon
Felix Longworth-Baker
Kizito Mutoya
Ben Samuels
Ilario Sellitto
Sahil Sidhu
Connor Siekman
Harry Smith
Archibald Targett
Daniel van der Moezel
Wan Ariff Adlan Wan
Fadzil Adlan
Albert Wang
Jun Yap
Ka Ming Yu
About the Music
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
The Creatures of Prometheus –
Ballet, Op.43: Overture
Adapted from a note by David Garrett.
First performance:
28 March 1801, Vienna.
Most recent WASO performance:
14-15 October 2011. Roy Goodman, conductor.
Instrumentation:
two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons; two horns, two trumpets; timpani and strings.
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About the Music
James Ledger
(b.1966)
The Last Thing
I. The Last Thing
II. Mother
III. Child Burial
Composer’s notes
The Last Thing is a set of three songs for soprano and orchestra with text by Irish poet and playwright, Paula Meehan (b.1955). The first poem I read of hers was Child Burial - a piercing and incredibly direct poem on losing a child. My initial reaction was that there would be no way I could write music for it. The more I thought about it, however, the more I realised that I could engage with the power of her words musically. After many conversations with colleagues and friends, I decided to go for it. I then read through many other Meehan poems and found Mother and The Last Thing. The three poems are all connected as they portray the loss of loved ones.
The first song The Last Thing describes the demise of a father and the last thing he utters. The imagery here is palpable as he “slipped below the horizon of his morphine dream”. Then there is “the moon in the hospice rigging” and “wingéd creatures” that inspired in me a kind of Don Quixote character. The music opens with a pseudo-heroic line in the piccolo and violins that fans out across the orchestra. After a dream-like delivery of the text featuring mallet percussion, harp and celesta, the song concludes with a return of the opening material. Only this time the music is chopped up into fragments as a failingly heroic fanfare.
The second song Mother is a fierce and spiteful take on a poisoned relationship between child and deceased mother – “mother you devourer”, “you chewed me up, you spat me out”. The music races along with first and second violins in close canon creating a ratcheting shimmer beneath the voice. This is supported by an unrelenting pulse in the percussion and harmonic tones in harp, cellos, and bells. In the final verse of the poem the text climactically turns on its head with the line “mother I stand over your grave…and I weep”. The music too flips, becoming sweeping and despairing.
The third and final song is Child Burial – an incredibly difficult read due to the subject matter, yet so rich in its language, imagery, and power. “No light can reach you and teach you…”. The song opens with a lament in solo cello before funereal music appears in the strings. The music is very restrained at first, slowly unravelling over the course of the song. The material that occurs in the solo cello transforms into the climax of the work – slow pulsing chords in the strings and rhythmic ‘cries’ in the brass. A final utterance by the cello ushers in two sombre trombones, tolling harp and celesta, followed by strings that rise higher and higher into the unknown.
I am extremely grateful to both Paula Meehan for her inspiring words and imagery and Geoff Stearn for his financial support.
© James Ledger 2024
Texts used by kind permission of Paula Meehan – Dedalus Press.
Commissioned for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra by Geoff Stearn.
Premiere performances:
3-4 May 2024, Perth Concert Hall. Alpesh Chauhan, conductor. Sara Macliver, soprano. West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
First WASO performance:
These are the first performances by WASO.
Instrumentation:
three flutes (doubling piccolo and alto flute), two oboes, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon). Four horns, two trumpets, two trombones and bass trombone. Three percussionists, harp, celesta and strings.
Glossary
Canon – a type of counterpoint where each part plays exactly the same melody but starting one after the other.
Harmonic Tones – high pure flute-like sounds. Normally, string players press down firmly on the string with the fingers of the left hand to select the pitch of the note; harmonics are produced by lightly touching the string.
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Text & Translation
About the Music
Text & Translation
English
