Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Master Series 2008
This is the best of the great classical repertoire, performed by some of the world's leading solo performers and representatives of the exciting 'new wave' of international musical talent. A 'perfect blend' of the established masterworks with occasional items of spice and colour, most concerts in this Series are led by ASO Chief Conductor Arvo Volmer in celebration of one of the most productive musical partnerships Adelaide has every seen.
En Plein Air
Master Series 1
Adelaide Town Hall
Friday 4 April at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 5 April at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Arvo Volmer |
| Piano | Ian Munro |
| De Falla | Nights in the Gardens of Spain |
| Ravel | Piano Concerto for the Left Hand |
| Beethoven | Symphony No. 6, Pastoral |
To open the 2008 Master Series, Adelaide audiences are delighted to welcome back our Chief Conductor, Arvo Volmer, fresh from triumphs in both concert hall and recording studio. The award of the Premier Grand Prix at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels is just one of the accolades showered on Australian pianist, Ian Munro. Experience his keyboard mastery in de Falla's sensual, jasmine-scented nocturne and then Ravel's darkly brilliant, brooding Concerto for the Left Hand. The pure sunshine of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony concludes the concert in unadulterated joy.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Kirshbaum Plays Dvorák
Master Series 2
Adelaide Town Hall
Friday 18 April at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 19 April at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Arvo Volmer |
| Cello | Ralph Kirshbaum |
| Puccini | Preludio Sinfonico |
| Tubin | Symphony No. 6 |
| Dvorák | Cello Concerto |
The New York Times hailed cellist Ralph Kirshbaum as "one of the outstanding cellists of his generation", a sentiment wholeheartedly shared by Australian audiences. In one of the musical high points of 2008, hear him in Dvorák's Cello Concerto, which contains the composer's most elegiac and profoundly heartfelt expression. Arvo Volmer pays tribute to his fellow countryman, Eduard Tubin with the Sixth Symphony blending traditional Estonian folk elements with jazz influences. The concert opens with Puccini's pastoral Preludio Sinfonico to acknowledge his anniversary year.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Kirshbaum Plays Dvorák is part of the Adelaide International Cello Festival which includes a range of events.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Paris to Buenos Aires
Master Series 3
Adelaide Town Hall
Friday 2 May at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 3 May at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Kristjan Jarvi |
| Bandoneon | Carel Kraayenhof |
| Debussy | Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun |
| Messiaen | L'Ascension |
| Piazzolla | Bandoneon Concerto, Aconcagua |
| Ginastera | Estancia: Suite |
Sacred and profane: from the unashamed sensuality of Debussy's languid, dream-like Afternoon of a Faun to the ecstatic and awesome vision of Olivier Messiaen's transcendent L'Ascension. Then, to Argentina and from the smoky dance halls of Buenos Aires, the soulful strains of the bandoneon with Carel Kraayenhof, whom even Argentians hail as a hero of the tango movement, in Piazzolla's Bandoneon Concerto and finally to the vast pampas and the irrepressible exuberance of Ginastera's Estancia Suite.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
In Paradisum
Master Series 4
Adelaide Town Hall
Friday 16 May at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 17 May at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Graham Abbott |
| Soprano | Sara Macliver |
| Baritone | David Thelander |
| Adelaide Chamber Singers and Elder Conservatorium Chorale | |
| Haydn | Symphony No. 88 |
| Britten | Suite on English Folk Tunes "A Time There Was…" |
| Fauré | Requiem |
Gabriel Fauré's Requiem consciously avoids apocalyptic visions, theatrical effects and the prospect of divine wrath and vengeance. Instead, it is a gentle, intimate work, radiant with consolation. The freshness and originality of Benjamin Britten's Suite on Engligh Folk Tunes at the end of his life, shines through and reminds us that this most cosmopolitan of composers was, at heart, a sentimentalist. Opening the program, the effervescence and spontaneity of Haydn's Symphony No. 88 is striking proof of Haydn's superhuman inspiration.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Sitkovetsky
Master Series 5
Adelaide Town Hall
Friday 6 June at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 7 June at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Dmitry Sitkovetsky |
| Violin | Dmitry Sitkovetsky |
| Mendelssohn | The Hebrides |
| Mendelssohn | Violin Concerto |
| Brahms | Symphony No. 4 |
Apart from his glowing reputation as one of the foremost violinists of his generation, Dmitry Sitkovetsky's renown as a festival director from Amsterdam to Azerbijan and as a conductor of leading orchestras grows apace. Experience the magic spell he weaves in the gossamer textures of Mendelssohn's beloved Violin Concerto and then his prowess as a conductor in Brahm's towering symphonic masterpiece, his Fourth and, to many music lovers, greatest symphony.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Call to Glory
Master Series 6
Adelaide Festival Theatre
Friday 27 June at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm - please note there is no interval)
Saturday 28 June at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm - please note there is no interval)
| Conductor | Arvo Volmer |
| Mezzo Soprano | Ning Liang |
| Chorus Director | Carl Crossin |
| Adelaide Symphony Chorus | |
| Mahler | Symphony No. 3 |
Gustav Mahler once proclaimed that a symphony must embrace the world and never was the composer truer to his own dictum than in his monumental Third Symphony. From the ominous primeval rumblings of the introduction, to the sublime, heavenly finale, Mahler traverses all creation in six movements, ranging from elemental power to charming whimsy. This is the premiere performance of Mahler's Third in Adelaide, a showcase for the ASO's exhilarating relationship with its Chief Conductor. Ning Liang is one of the brightest mezzo-sopranos on the current opera scene having performed in many European festivals and in opera houses around the world.
In association with the Adelaide Festival Centre.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Against the Tide
Master Series 7
Adelaide Town Hall
Friday 15 August at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 16 August at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Arvo Volmer |
| Violin | James Ehnes |
| Britten | Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes |
| Hindemith | Mathis der Maler |
| Tchaikovsky | Violin Concerto |
Hailed everywhere he appears as one of the great instrumentalists of our age, James Ehnes combines exquisite finesse with technical perfection, consummate grace with electric brio in the ideal virtuoso vehicle for his extraordinary playing: Tchaikovsky's timeless Violin Concerto. By turns muscular, contemplative and radiant, Hindemith's Mathis der Maler, a symphony inspired by the iconic Isenheim Altarpiece by the German Gothic artist, Mathias Grunewald, Hindemith captures the extraordinary richness and power of the artist's work. Britten's Four Sea Interludes, a masterpiece of dramatic scene setting, starts this stirring program off with vigour.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Classical Connection
Master Series 8
Adelaide Town Hall
Friday 12 September at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 13 September at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Arvo Volmer |
| French Horn | Philip Hall |
| Violin | Natsuko Yoshimoto |
| Cello | Janis Laurs |
| Piano | Lucinda Collins |
| Sibelius | En Saga |
| Mozart | Horn Concerto No. 3 |
| Barber | Essay No. 2 |
| Beethoven | Triple Concerto |
Even Beethoven was not always storming the heavens: his Triple Concert is more like a genial conversation between friends, a perfect vehicle for our three wonderful soloists. ASO Principal Horn, Philip Hall, pours forth a stream of golden tone in Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 3. The ASO reprises the triumphant 2007 Sibelius Festival with the dark and beautiful tone poem En Saga.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Hidden Passion
Master Series 9
Adelaide Town Hall
Friday 26 September at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 27 September at 6:30pm (Finish approx 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Arvo Volmer |
| Piano | Kirill Gerstein |
| Schoenberg | Transfigured Night |
| Brahms | Piano Concerto No. 1 |
Few composers launched their orchestral compositions as fearlessly and ambitiously as the young Brahms. His First Piano Concert is a titanic struggle between piano and orchestra, softened by its slow movement, which is both a poignant elegy to his lost friend Robert Schumann and a veiled declaration of love for his young widow, Clara. The temperature reaches fever pitch with Schoenberg at his most intense as he explores the beauty and anguish of extreme passion in Transfigured Night. This concert will open with a new work specially commissioned by the Schueler family.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Rhapsody
Master Series 10
Adelaide Festival Theatre
Friday 3 October at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 4 October at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Olari Elts |
| Piano | Alexander Melnikov |
| Enescu | Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1 |
| Rachmaninov | Piano Concerto No. 2 |
| Prokofiev | Russian Overture |
| Rachmaninov | Capriccio on Gypsy Themes, Caprice Bohemien |
Gypsy flavours and Russian fire blend together in this rich and exciting program of popular masterpieces, focussing on the rapturous melodies of Sergei Rachmaninov. Like Marilyn Monroe in Seven Year Itch, music-lovers proclaim on hearing the Second Piano Concerto, "Every time I hear it, I go to pieces". His Capriccio on Gypsy Themes is a sumptuous evocation of the moody and brash characters of "Bohemian" folk music. Prokofiev wrote his Russian Overture to celebrate his return from exile in 1936, and it's a bona fide ripsnorter: pure music for pleasure, a piece of the brightest poster art, intended by the composer to take its place alongside Tchaikovsky's "1812" and other "lollipops". This concert is sure to send you home with a smile on your face!
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Sensuous & Joyful
Master Series 11
Adelaide Festival Theatre
Friday 24 October at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 25 October at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Otto Tausk |
| Saxophone | Amy Dickson |
| Chausson | Viviane |
| Philip Glass | Violin Concerto (arr. by the composer for soprano saxophone) |
| Dvorak | Symphony No. 8 |
For more than thirty years, Philip Glass has been hailed as one of music's most original and creative forces and his Violin Concerto stands as his most well-loved, lyrical work. Young Australian saxophonist, Amy Dickson, (now living in London) is emerging as one of the world's leading soloists and has worked with Philip Glass in preparing this rapturous new version of his 20th Century classic. The ebullience of Dvorak's Eighth Symphony has made it a perennial concert favourite, its good-natured melodic richness the fruit of a great composer feeling good about himself and the world in general. Opening the concert is the velvet romanticism of Ernest Chausson, evoking the legendary world of King Arthur in his delightful symphonic poem, Viviane. Dynamic Dutch conductor, Otto Tausk, will lead the ASO through a concert of rich sensual sonorities.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
Triumphant Spirit
Master Series 12
Adelaide Festival Theatre
Friday 21 November at 8.00pm (Finish approx. 10.00pm)
Saturday 22 November at 6:30pm (Finish approx. 8:30pm)
| Conductor | Arvo Volmer |
| Piano | Ewa Kupiec |
| Berlioz | Roman Carnival |
| Schumann | Piano Concerto |
| Prokofiev | Symphony No. 5 |
Polish pianist Ewa Kupiec is one of the fastest rising stars in the international piano firmament. One critic proclaimed her as "made for the music of Schumann". Experience her unique artistry in the lyrical and elegant Schumann Piano Concerto. Arvo Volmer and the ASO then bring down the curtain on 2008, with Prokofiev's multi-faceted masterpiece, his Fifth Symphony, which fuses urbane wit with ultimate nobility. It is one of the select few 20th Century symphonies which have earned classic status, an exhilarating conclusion to the 2008 Season.
Join us one hour prior for an informative, free pre-concert talk.
Buy tickets or return to the ASO 2008 Season Information.
