Ring Cycle

MORNING SYMPHONY SERIES

Thursday 20 June 2024, 11.00am

Perth Concert Hall

MASTERS SERIES

Friday 21 & Saturday 22 June 2024, 7.30pm

Perth Concert Hall

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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.

How to use your Digital Program

Ring Cycle - Morning

Gioachino ROSSINI The Thieving Magpie:
Overture (10 mins)

Richard WAGNER Selections from the Ring
(45 mins)

Das Rheingold: Entry of the Gods into Valhalla
Siegfried: Forest Murmurs
Götterdämmerung: Siegfried’s Rhine Journey
Götterdämmerung: Siegfried’s funeral music
Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries

Asher Fisch conductor

Wesfarmers Arts Pre-concert Talk
Find out more about the music in the concert with this week’s speaker, Lachlan Skipworth. The Pre-concert Talk will take place at 9.40am in the Main Auditorium

Ring Cycle

Gioachino ROSSINI The Thieving Magpie:
Overture (10 mins)

Lachlan SKIPWORTH Flute Concerto
(World Premiere) (23 mins)

I: Misterioso - Poco allegro - Lento - Agitato -
Poco allegro
II: Larghetto espressivo
III: Misterioso - Tranquillo
IV: Molto allegro - Presto subito

Interval (25 mins)

Richard WAGNER Selections from the Ring
(45 mins)

Das Rheingold: Entry of the Gods into Valhalla
Siegfried: Forest Murmurs
Götterdämmerung: Siegfried’s Rhine Journey
Götterdämmerung: Siegfried’s funeral music
Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries

Asher Fisch conductor
Andrew Nicholson
flute

Wesfarmers Arts Pre-concert Talk
Find out more about the music in the concert with this week’s speaker, Lachlan Skipworth. The Pre-concert Talk will take place at 6.45pm in the Terrace Level Foyer.

Wesfarmers Arts Meet the Artists Talk (Saturday only)
Join composer, Lachlan Skipworth and WASO’s Principal Flute, Andrew Nicholson for a post-concert interview immediately following the Saturday evening performance in the Terrace Level Foyer. Uncover more about the music and hear insights into the performance experience.

Listen to WASO
This performance is recorded for broadcast Thursday 11 July, 1pm (AWST) on ABC Classic. Date subject to change. For further details visit
abc.net.au/classic

Did you know?

The overture to The Thieving Magpie was overdue and the opera’s promoter reportedly had to lock Rossini in a room to force him to get it done. He is said to have thrown each sheet out of the window as it was finished so that the copyists might get it to the orchestra on time.

As Rossini himself wrote: “I wrote the overture to The Thieving Magpie on the day of its opening, in the theatre itself, where I was imprisoned by the director and under the surveillance of four stagehands, who were instructed to throw my original text through the window, page by page, to the copyists waiting below . . . In default of pages, they were ordered to throw me out of the window.”

The ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ (‘Walkürenritt’), scribbled down on a loose sheet of paper in July 1851, has become the best-known passage of music in the entire cycle.

Wagner began composing the music in 1850 and it was completed in 1874 - 24 years later.

Wagner introduced new instruments, including a specially crafted tuba, blending the qualities of a French horn and a saxophone, to enrich the harmonies of the composition. The Ring Cycle also led to the development of the "Wagner bell," allowing the bassoon to reach unprecedented low notes.

Wagner pioneered the use of leitmotifs—distinct musical themes associated with specific characters, a technique later echoed in iconic franchises like Star Wars.

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