Conductor: Sadaharu Muramatsu

Soloists:
Soprano: Kerry Nicholson
Mezzo-Soprano: Silvia Colloca
Tenor: Kent Maddock
Baritone: Ian Fisher

The Wesley Institute Choir

Saturday 24^th March, 7pm

Sunday 25^th March, 2.30pm (free for Seniors and Carers)

Strathfield Town Hall, cnr Redmyre and Homebush Rds, Strathfield  (enter from Redmyre Road).

Tickets:
Adults: $25
Children: $15
Concession and Student : $20
Seniors: $20 Saturday, Free on Sunday
Family: $60 (max 4 tickets)

Next year promises to take us to new heights with our new Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Sadaharu Muramatsu, who has devised a mouth-watering program for us. Under the theme “Emotion”, we will start with Beethoven’s Choral Symphony with choir and soloists. In June our Family Concert will feature Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” and in September we continue our exploration of Sibelius with his best loved Second Symphony. We will end the year with Prokofiev’s masterpiece “Romeo and Juliet” which we hope to present in a new and extraordinary way.

Attached is our flyer with the concert dates, which are 24 and 25 March, 23 & 24 June, 8 & 9 September and 24 & 25 November. Put the dates in your diary and please join us for a year of fabulous music. We’ve also attached a subscription form so that you can book in advance at attractive savings.

Print a copy of our 2012 Subscription brochure and order form (359K pdf)

From its opening notes – arguably the 4 most famous notes in classical music! – to its triumphant finale, Beethoven takes us on a journey at the very heart of the human experience.

For over 6 decades the name of Tommy Tycho has been synonymous with musical excellence. In these concerts Strathfield Symphony pays tribute to “the Maestro” with his Prom Overture, Violin Concerto (featuring soloist Maria Lindsay), Romanza – a world premiere performance of the lush, romantic 2^nd movement from his Piano Concerto No. 2, and the rousing Irving Berlin Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra (featuring Bernard Walz as conductor and soloist).

Seating is limited! Don’t miss out! Book your seats today!

Saturday 26^th November, 7pm

Sunday 27^th November, 2.30pm

Bernard studied classical piano from the age of six years and has established an
international reputation for his dynamic concert performances. He is the winner of three consecutive Australian Entertainment “MO” Awards as “Variety Instrumentalist of the Year” for Excellence in Live Performance. Internationally, he has been awarded four “Instrumentalist of the Year”, two “Entertainer of the Year” and “Variety Artist of the Year” awards with six-star Crystal Cruises, Inc. His debut recording, “Piano Passion” was a Number One success in Australia (1994), knocking the Three Tenor’s Dodger Stadium album from the top of the charts upon its release. Bernard is currently working with his long-standing mentor and friend, Maestro Tommy Tycho, to complete Tommy’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (the 2^nd movement of which is featured in this programme).

Bernard’s performing career has included performances at the Concert Hall of the Opera House in Sydney, Sydney Entertainment Centre, Melbourne Concert Hall,
Adelaide Festival Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane, as well as Festival Hall in London with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Village Vanguard in New York. He has toured in
Australia and internationally with legendary harmonica virtuoso, the late Larry Adler, and with the “Phantom” himself, Michael Crawford.

www.bernardwalz.com

Maria has recently established the Lurline Chamber Orchestra, of which she is Leader and Co-Artistic Director. With Lurline she has performed, to great acclaim, the World Premiere of the Violin Concerto dedicated to her by Tommy Tycho. Her performances of the Concerto received their second season this year. Maria is in demand for her vibrant concerto performances, making regular appearances as soloist as well as guest concertmaster with various orchestras. Violin recitals, unaccompanied recitals and chamber music with many of the country’s finest musicians form a regular part of her performance schedule.

Maria has held positions with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and
Australian Chamber Orchestra. With these orchestras, she has toured extensively in
Australia, North and South America, Europe and Asia. She recently took part in the
inaugural season of the elite Australian World Orchestra.

In 2004, Maria initiated the Blue Mountains Chamber Concerts, of which she was Artistic Director for 6 years. She actively programs new works and has performed contemporary chamber music with Klangforum Vienna, the Seymour Group Sydney, Alpha Ensemble and Ensemble Offspring. She includes baroque music in her programming, and in 2007
performed the entire Mystery Sonatas of Biber, a rarity due to the length and virtuosity of the work, as well as the 15 different scordatura tunings required. Maria was a founding member of  the Apollo Trio, with whom she performed in Sydney and regional NSW for 6 years. She has made broadcasts for the A.B.C. and 2MBS-FM.

A passion for making good music regularly accessible to more people has born fruit through Lurline and Blue Mountains metropolitan and regional series. Maria’s
programming has won her much praise, not only for the artistic structure of each
individual program, but also for allowing new music as well as older but lesser-known works to find their place amongst the established repertoire and to be enjoyed by all
audiences.

Maria teaches at Sydney Conservatorium and has taught at schools including Sydney
Grammar, and privately. She enjoys working with young chamber orchestras and chamber groups and currently conducts the Lurline Youth Chamber Orchestra.

Maria graduated from Sydney Conservatorium of Music with High Distinction and as
Student of the Year. She received the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Trust Award to
further her studies in Vienna. There she was the recipient of the Alban Berg Quartet
Foundation Award in 1989.

He was Musical Director at the Seven Network for 15 years, 1956–1971, was involved in nine Royal Command Performances, and has conducted all the ABC symphony orchestras. His work was an important element of many official openings (Sydney Opera House, Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney Football Stadium, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo 88, Darling Harbour, major sporting grand finals, etc.). In 2008 he performed at the piano for Crown Princess Mary of Denmark at the opening of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. (In 1980, after a heart attack, he had been treated personally by Dr Victor Chang.)

His compositions include 3 overtures, 3 concertos, television music, film scores (including Young Einstein and Reckless Kelly), arrangements of over 1,500 pieces for film and
television, music for Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and a new Australian musical, Get Happy (2003). In 2003 Tommy Tycho was commissioned by Symphony Australia to compose and arrange an overture for the 75th birthday celebrations of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. That same year he conducted the Queensland Orchestra for concerts with Anthony Warlow, and was the arranger and conductor for Warlow’s album, Let’s Face the Music; and he conducted the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in a Lounge concert. Tommy wrote a series of special feature arrangements for Australian clarinetist, Andy Firth when he featured as guest artist with the Atlanta symphony orchestra in 2006. Tommy also orchestrated and conducted three albums for Bernard Walz between 1994 and 2006, as well as preparing numerous orchestrations for Bernard’s appearances with both symphony orchestras and small ensembles.

With positive reactions from the committee and our Guest Conductor for these concerts, Bernard Walz, I confirmed our interest and by 26 September we said yes please! Thanks to our very responsive committee, we decided to go ahead without knowing if we could persuade our players to rise and shine at an unearthly hour and be ready to play at sunrise. We promised an orchestra of at least 40 players, and thanks to our wonderful players were able to provide an orchestra of 55 including a concert harp, played by our faithful and reliable Helen Boyd.

Laura Jamieson took on responsibility for the massive job of Operations and Logistics. You may not know that Laura has extensive experience in events management including the Sydney Mardi Gras for many years and the Asian Games at Doha in 2006. I took on the tasks of assembling the orchestra, liaising with Fourth Wall Events and administration. Bernard worked on the musical aspects including sound and audio.

We received excellent logistical support from Fourth Wall Events, including provision of transport (coach and truck), audio, lighting, a marquee, and of course food and drink. It was a breakfast event after all. Gareth Lewis wrote:

In a very limited time frame Strathfield Symphony Orchestra have assembled a full orchestra of 55 players prepared to play outdoors at 6am and created a superb program of music that will be showcased to thousands of people. Their enthusiasm and professionalism have been fantastic.

There were of course many challenges to be overcome during a hectic three weeks. Three extra rehearsals were scheduled for a new repertoire of:

• Grieg – Peer Gynt Suites 1 & 2 (Selections)
• Strauss – Blue Danube
• Dvorák – New World Symphony (2^nd movement)
• Pachelbel’s Canon
• Bach Air on the G string
• Beethoven Symphony No 5 (3^rd and 4^th movements) from this concert.

Rehearsals over, it was time to get the show on the road – literally. The truck was packed with timpani, music stands, risers and podium. We couldn’t access the site until 8pm Saturday and Laura and Bernard were required to do a layout and sound check at 10pm.

At 2.30am (or in some cases earlier) we struggled out of bed and assembled at Ashfield Railway Station for our coach which left at 4am. I was delighted to find that not one player was late for the bus. At 4.30am we were at Bondi and straight on to the stage for a layout check and warm up. At 6am, after didgeridoos brought the sun over the horizon, we took over with Morning from Peer Gynt.

The whole thing was magical. The audience was estimated by organisers at up to 5000, and they all enjoyed a breakfast like no other. A surfer came up to us afterwards and offered free surfing lessons!
Exhausted but happy we made our way home.

Kenichi’s debut as a soloist with a full orchestra was at the Adelaide Town Hall when he was twelve years old. Since then he has performed concertos regularly with orchestras nationally and internationally, including a performance with the Korean Symphony Orchestra in 2001. Under the tutelage of his teacher, Mr Zoltan Szabo, he has won numerous local eisteddfods and competitions that include the senior section of the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra Secondary School Concerto Competition in 2002 at the age of fifteen and Open Age cello section of the City of Sydney McDonald’s Challenge in 2002 and 2003. He was a recitalist at the National Youth Concerto Competition in 2003 and gave a forty-five minutes live recital for the 2MBS FM radio in 2004, 2005 and 2006. He was also the winner of 2MBS FM Young Performer’s Award in 2006. Kenichi played the Schumann Cello Concerto with Strathfield Symphony Orchestra in 2003.

After he completed high school as a music scholar, he began his Bachelor of Music
Performance Degree study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he received the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Board of Governors Scholarship in 2005, Joys Billing
Memorial Scholarship for the cello in 2005 and 2006 and Mary Patricia Bell Grant in 2006. In 2005 he was accepted into ENCORE Summer School at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Ohio, USA on a scholarship under Richard Aaron.

In January 2007, Kenichi visited Europe to expand his cello playing horizon, and received tuition from two world class cellists in Hungary and Germany, Miklos Perenyi and
Alexander Baillie, and was offered a scholarship to study under Professor Baillie.

In 2007, Kenichi was offered a contract to work with Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra as a soloist to play Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variation during their Sydney season, and invited to play for Melbourne season as well, alongside Australia’s prominent cellist Emma-Jane Murphy.