Archived event
Performance details
Thursday 4 July 2024 at 7.30pm
Friday 5 July 2024 at 7.30pm
Saturday 6 July 2024 at 2pm
Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
Featuring
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Jaime Martín conductor
William Barton yidaki
Kathryn Radcliffe soprano
Andrew Goodwin tenor
Christopher Tonkin bass
MSO Chorus
Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director
Young Voices of Melbourne
Program
R. Strauss Don Juan
Sculthorpe Earth Cry
Orff Carmina Burana
About this performance
Under Chief Conductor Jaime Martín, this year’s Winter Gala brings together a stellar ensemble of vocal soloists and the MSO Chorus for the thundering Carmina Burana. Queensland’s 2023 Australian of the Year – the extraordinary yidaki (didgeridoo) virtuoso William Barton – performs Peter Sculthorpe's evocative Earth Cry.
- The steamy Spanish legend of Don Juan has seduced many an artist and composer since the renaissance. Rumour has it that the content of this orchestral tone poem – as disapproving letters to Strauss from his father would suggest – also draws on insight from the composer’s lived experience of scandalous behaviour.
- Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe is known for his evocative musical exploration of remote Australian landscapes. Inspired by songlines of Ubirr in Kakadu National Park, this performance of Earth Cry features William Barton.
- Orff’s epic Carmina Burana flips the traditional idea of a cantata. Usually a religious work for instrumental ensemble, choir, and soloists, instead the work uses medieval secular (and sometimes scandalous) poetry as its basis to explore the age-old vices of life, love, and fortune.
Duration: approx. 2 hours including interval
The MSO Gala series is proudly presented by MSO Premier Partner, Ryman Healthcare.
