Archived event
Performance details
Thursday 21 March 2024 at 7.30pm
Saturday 23 March 2024 at 7.30pm
Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
From a concert attendee:
This performance had it all. the quiet, the volume, the serenity, the intensity, the grace, the decadence that the music demands. Great job everyone. So powerful!
Featuring
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Jaime Martín conductor
Alban Gerhardt cello
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO soprano (Yorta Yorta)
Upper voices of the MSO Chorus
Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director
Steven Hodgson guest chorus director
Program
Elgar Cello Concerto
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO Earth*
Holst The Planets
*World Premiere of an MSO Commission
About this performance
Join the MSO and Jaime Martín for two of the most emotionally-stirring works of all time. Alban Gerhardt brings intense musicality to perform Elgar’s ravishing Cello Concerto, and Gustav Holst’s magnificent The Planets gets a new celestial addition.
- Elgar composed his Cello Concerto in the aftermath of the First World War. This extraordinary piece – at once emotionally reserved and overflowing in its lyrical expansiveness – has become a cornerstone of 20th century music.
- While Elgar was writing his Cello Concerto, Gustav Holst sat elsewhere in England pondering the mysteries of the solar system. The resulting suite – The Planets – takes us on an otherworldly journey among these heavenly bodies, exploring each in the context of their corresponding Greek and Roman Gods. Perhaps the best known of these – Jupiter – has since become the melody to English anthem ‘I vow to Thee, My Country’.
- A newly-commissioned work by Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO completes the picture – a First Nations perspective on Earth to join its siblings among the stars. Learn more about this work
Duration: approx. 2 hours including interval
Listen to The Planets
The MSO Gala series is proudly presented by MSO Premier Partner, Ryman Healthcare.
