C O N C E R T P R O G R A M

Thursday 1 December at 8pm Arts Centre Melbourne,

Hamer Hall Presented by Emirates

Saturday 3 December at 8pm Arts Centre Melbourne,

Hamer Hall Presented by BMW

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WHAT’S ON DECEMBER 2016 – FEBRUARY 2017

EAST MEETS WEST: CHINESE NEW YEAR CONCERTSaturday 4 February 2017

World-renowned composer and conductor Tan Dun returns to Melbourne to conduct an unmissable Chinese New Year celebration with the MSO!

SIDNEY MYER FREE CONCERT: MSO PLAYS ROMEO & JULIETSaturday 11 February 2017

Get ready to hear a heady mix of sharp edges, cool melodies and distinctive beats echo across Melbourne’s CBD skyline as the MSO performs excerpts of Prokofiev's ballet, depicting the star-cross’d lovers tale.

SIDNEY MYER FREE CONCERT: MSO PLAYS THE RUSSIANSWednesday 8 February 2017

Take four big hits, three master Russian composers, one esteemed Australian pianist, and one acclaimed Australian conductor and join the MSO for a carnival of music making under the stars!

MESSIAH Saturday 10 December Sunday 11 December

Handel’s great oratorio is full of life changing moments including the rousing Hallelujah chorus. British conductor Paul Goodwin joins the MSO Chorus and four illustrious soloists for the MSO’s annual performance of Messiah. Hallelujah!

MSO + THE IDEA OF NORTH: A WORLD OF CHRISTMASSaturday 17 December

Celebrate the songs of Christmas with renowned vocal quartet The Idea of North joining the MSO for an evening of fun-filled, feel-good festive music from around the world.

MSO + KATE MILLER-HEIDKESaturday 28 January 2017

Classically trained Kate Miller-Heidke performs her 2016 Helpmann Award winning show of popular hits, songs from her opera The Rabbits and new works. Accompanied by the MSO, conducted by Benjamin Northey and visuals by Amy Gebhardt.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is funded principally by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and is generously supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. The MSO is also funded by the City of Melbourne, its Principal Partner, Emirates, corporate sponsors and individual donors, trusts and foundations.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we perform – The Kulin Nation – and would like to pay our respects to their Elders and Community both past and present.

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This concert has a duration of approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.

This performance will be recorded for broadcast on ABC Classic FM on Thursday 15 December at 8pm.

This information is correct at time of print, however please visit mso.com.au/broadcast for the most current information about upcoming concert broadcasts.

Pre-Concert Talk

7pm Thursday 1 and Saturday 3 December, Stalls Foyer, Hamer Hall

MSO Director of Artistic Planning Ronald Vermeulen will present a talk on the works featured in the program.

ARTISTS

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Simone Young conductorMichelle DeYoung mezzo-soprano

(Kundry)Stuart Skelton tenor

(Parsifal)REPERTOIRE

Wagner Parsifal: Excerpts from Act II

— Interval —Bruckner

Symphony No.9

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MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SIMONE YOUNG CONDUCTOR

Simone Young was General Manager and Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg from 2005 to 2015. She has conducted Der Ring des Nibelungen at the State Operas in Vienna, Berlin and Hamburg and her Hamburg recordings include the Ring cycle and symphonies of Bruckner, Brahms and Mahler.

Simone Young has been Music Director of Opera Australia, Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon. She regularly conducts at leading opera houses and orchestras around the world including the Vienna, Berlin and Bavarian State Operas, Metropolitan Opera New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Vienna, Berlin, New York and London Philharmonic Orchestras.

She holds a Professorship at the Musikhochschule, Hamburg, Honorary Doctorates from Griffith and Monash Universities and UNSW, and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) was established in 1906 and is Australia’s oldest orchestra. It currently performs live to more than 250,000 people annually, in concerts ranging from subscription performances at its home, Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne, to its annual free concerts at Melbourne’s largest outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. The Orchestra also delivers innovative and engaging programs to audiences of all ages through its Education and Outreach initiatives.

Sir Andrew Davis gave his inaugural concerts as the MSO’s Chief Conductor in 2013, having made his debut with the Orchestra in 2009. Highlights of his tenure have included collaborations with artists such as Bryn Terfel, Emanuel Ax, Truls Mørk and Renée Fleming, and the Orchestra’s European Tour in 2014 which included appearances at the Edinburgh Festival, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and Copenhagen’s Tivoli Concert Hall. Further current and future highlights with Sir Andrew Davis include a complete cycle of the Mahler symphonies. Sir Andrew will maintain the role of Chief Conductor until the end of 2019.

The MSO also works with Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus, as well as with such eminent recent guest conductors as Thomas Adès, John Adams, Tan Dun, Charles Dutoit, Jakub Hrůša, Mark Wigglesworth, Markus Stenz and Simone Young. It has also collaborated with non-classical musicians including Burt Bacharach, Nick Cave, Sting, Tim Minchin, Ben Folds, DJ Jeff Mills and Flight Facilities.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra reaches a wider audience through regular radio broadcasts, recordings and CD releases, including a Strauss cycle on ABC Classics which includes Four Last Songs, Don Juan and Also sprach Zarathustra, as well as Ein Heldenleben and Four Symphonic Interludes from Intermezzo, both led by Sir Andrew Davis. On the Chandos label the MSO has recently released Berlioz’ Harold en Italie with James Ehnes and music by Charles Ives which includes Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, as well as a range of orchestral works including Three Places in New England, again led by Sir Andrew Davis.

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STUART SKELTON TENOR (PARSIFAL)

MICHELLE DEYOUNG MEZZO SOPRANO (KUNDRY)

Michelle DeYoung appears regularly with the world’s top orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra. She has also performed at the prestigious festivals of Ravinia, Tanglewood, Saito Kinen, Edinburgh, Lucerne, and recently in Vail, Colorado.

On stage, Ms DeYoung has appeared at the Bayreuth Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro alla Scala, Berliner Staatsoper, Paris Opera, Theater Basel, and the Tokyo Opera.

A multi-Grammy award winning recording artist, Michelle DeYoung’s discography includes Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Das Klagende Lied, Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live!), Mahler’s Symphony No.3 with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink and the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck, and a solo disc. Her debut at La Scala as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde was recorded live for release on DVD.

Winner of the 2014 International Opera Awards for Best Male Singer and two Helpmann Awards, Stuart Skelton appears regularly on the leading concert and operatic stages of the world performing many of opera’s most challenging roles from Wagner’s Lohengrin, Parsifal, Rienzi, Siegmund and Erik to Richard Strauss’ Kaiser and Bacchus, Janáček’s Laca, Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Beethoven’s Florestan.

His recent and upcoming performances include Tristan (Tristan und Isolde) for the English National Opera, at the Baden-Baden Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and at the Metropolitan Opera conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, excerpts from Tristan und Isolde with Marko Letonja and TSO, Wagner arias with Asher Fisch and WASO, Lohengrin for Opéra National de Paris, Laca (Jenůfa) for the Bavarian State Opera, Das Lied von der Erde with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and with Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Peter Grimes with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Parsifal, first performed in 1882, was Wagner’s last opera, or music drama, as he called his stage works. There is evidence to suggest he knew it would be his last statement on themes that had obsessed him throughout his life – the conflicts of maddening desire; redemption through understanding and renunciation. Parsifal was his ‘last card’, as Wagner apparently told Cosima, his wife.

Wagner had extensively explored the idea of the healing of a core corruption in his massive 15-hour Nibelung cycle. In that epic, a worldly balance was restored by returning the stolen ring of world domination to the bed of the Rhine where, as pure gold, it had once harmlessly lain. In Parsifal, a pure fool (Parsifal) must reclaim the healing holy spear that the Grail-keeper Amfortas lost when he succumbed to the charms of Kundry and opened in himself a continually weeping (sexual) wound.

Parsifal is a problematic work. Should we read it as Christian allegory (in line with its source material, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s medieval poem Parzival)? Or is it Buddhist or Schopenhauerian in its denunciation of desire? The association of the temptress Kundry with Judaism is alarming. Parsifal is certainly the result of one person’s exploration of his own personal philosophy, which may explain why Wagner intended it exclusively for his own theatre at Bayreuth (and possibly why Syberberg’s film version has Parsifal enter the Grail vault through a giant image of Wagner’s open dressing gown).

What is easiest to acknowledge is the magnificence of the score. Not only does the principal action reside there: a case could be made for claiming that the orchestra pit is the arena for Wagner’s deepest thoughts.

Wagner is renowned for the way he anchored his often freely flowing melody in a web of musical motifs or themes. But now, after completion of the Ring, where motifs were often clearly linked to specific characters, objects or concepts, his motifs are more equivocal in meaning. They arise in relation to the libretto in freer-floating ways that simulate the manner in which ideas and associations rise and fade in our consciousness. Cases in point in Act II are the recurrences of the theme associated with Kundry’s mentor, the wizard Klingsor (first heard at the beginning of Act II). It resurfaces, for example, as Kundry admits that, as a sinner, she ‘cannot weep, but crying, raging, storming, raving … sink again into shameful night’. Even the ‘Dresden Amen’,

less equivocal in meaning, is only briefly touched on and quickly replaced by other themes when Kundry repeats that she saw His look, or when Parsifal destroys Klingsor’s kingdom.

Theatrically, Parsifal is extremely spare. Like Wagner’s preferred model of Ancient Greek theatre, much of the plot unfolds as recounting of past events. The Act II scene between Parsifal and Kundry is, however, the most significant action in present tense, as Kundry tries to seduce Parsifal as she once successfully seduced Amfortas.

Tonight’s selection begins with the Prelude to Act II and then jumps almost 100 pages to the moment where Kundry banishes the beguiling Flowermaidens (covered by the orchestra) and goes to work on Parsifal herself (‘Parsifal! Weile!’). She recalls the mother he never knew (‘Ich sah das Kind…’), almost a traditional AABA aria where (which is not always true for Parsifal) the form can be traced in the voice as easily as orchestra. When Parsifal reacts with despair for his lost mother, Kundry reassures him that empathy makes him ripe for her consolation. At her kiss however, with its yearning reference to Wagner’s own erotic opera Tristan und Isolde (1865), Parsifal is stricken with memory of Amfortas’ wound (‘Amfortas! Die Wunde!’). This, at last, is the fulfilment of Parsifal’s destiny as the pure fool, apprehending compassion, who resists Kundry and saves Amfortas and his Grail kingdom. Kundry redoubles her attempts and finally Klingsor returns and hurls the spear at Parisfal. Parisfal catches it and makes the sign of the cross with the spear and Klingsor’s magic citadel disappears.

Much of Parsifal justifies Debussy’s 1903 description of the work as the ‘one of the loveliest edifices in sound ever erected to the glory of music’. This scene contains beautiful and riveting moments. But it is also worth remembering that this is the key moment of the opera, a ‘showdown’ between its two most sharply drawn antagonists.

Gordon Kalton Williams © 2016

The first extract from Parsifal to be performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was the Good Friday Music, in 1944 under Bernard Heinze. Most recently, the Orchestra performed the Prelude and Good Friday Music at the 2013 Melbourne Festival under Asher Fisch.

RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883)

Parsifal, Act II:

Vorspiel –‘Parsifal! Weile!’ … ‘Du weißl, wo du mich wiederfinden kannst!’

Stuart Skelton ParsifalMichelle DeYoung Kundry

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Bruckner greatly admired Richard Wagner, even idolised him. In 1873, he visited Wagner at Bayreuth and dedicated to him his Third Symphony. Both composers shared a similarly large conception of music and Bruckner’s harmonic language, especially in lyrical secondary themes, owed much to the chromatic explorations of Wagner post-Tristan und Isolde. But Wagner was a theatrical wizard; Bruckner a Catholic church organist. If Wagner’s version of Christianity in Parsifal was highly idiosyncratic, the devotion of Bruckner to his God was real and traditional.

In 1887, Bruckner sent the score of his newly completed Eighth Symphony to the conductor Hermann Levi and immediately began sketching his Symphony No.9. But Levi, who had loved Symphony No.7, found fault with No.8. Bruckner stopped work on Symphony No.9 to revise it.

He resumed work on No.9 in 1891 and by 1894 had completed the first three movements. But his health was failing. He had planned to dedicate the symphony to God, but noted: ‘If God does not spare me to complete this Symphony, He must take responsibility for its incompleteness.’ Extensive sketches show that Bruckner planned a crowning finale incorporating figuration from his Te Deum; and the dying Bruckner may have suggested using the Te Deum as the finale when he realised the symphony might remain incomplete. But the style of the symphony does not match the Te Deum, nor does the key (the Te Deum is in C).

Though there are extensive sketches for a fourth movement, there is no indication of the sort of coda Bruckner had in mind, a major drawback when one considers how significant Bruckner’s codas usually are. The work is generally performed these days in three movements; anti-climactic perhaps but, on the other hand, there is something reverberant, even poignant in knowing that this is where Bruckner left off. (And even at three movements it’s an hour long.)

Typically this work is composed of long paragraphs of contrasting character rising to resounding climaxes. The sudden contrasts between loud tuttis and silence (luftpausen) seem almost to sketch the immensity of the cosmos. Some writers have commented on considerable originality in the Ninth: the longer-than-usual withholding of truly melodic passages, for example. But Bruckner lovers will find many of the familiar features: wealth of themes, alternation of duplet and triplet rhythms, massive contrasts. The first movement is built from three basic ideas. Starting with string

tremolos, three thematic fragments arise from the horns. Bruckner was annoyed that initial ideas came to him in D minor: everyone would associate his Ninth with Beethoven’s (also in D minor). Bruckner’s Ninth also seems to emerge from a formless chaos. Yet this type of opening had been characteristic of Bruckner since Symphony No.3.

D minor is soon contradicted by an E flat horn motif. Other ideas are added as the music moves to the first of many peaks, a huge unison passage for full orchestra.

Treading pizzicato next leads to a slow, flowing melody, beginning in A major, chorale-like in its fast-changing harmonies, yet romantically lush in its orchestration.

Clearly expounded thus, these three themes are further varied in the ensuing movement until the orchestra’s unison theme is seemingly assailed by stormy string figures. Such despair cannot win out in music from a composer who has his eye on eternal values, and the movement closes with a powerful, awe-inspiring coda.

Bruckner’s scherzos were often transmutations of peasant dances, but this one, the second movement, has a rugged ferocity, even a type of brutality.

The third movement opens with an anguished violin melody arching over chords on lower strings and brass in a passage of almost Parsifal-like chromaticism. The violins, supported first by trumpets and then woodwinds, continue to describe this melody, now more like a chorale, into higher, almost celestial, regions. The oboe begins a consequent passage, and this too builds to a huge double climax.

Such is the scale of Bruckner’s intention that the listener wonders where he can go from here. The opening passages and their repetitions promise to stand like the pillars of a huge architectural vault, but there is a sense of winding down. The movement comes to a resigned close. In spite of Bruckner’s hopes, he also accepted that this symphony might be his farewell to life.

Gordon Kalton Williams Symphony Australia © 1997/2016

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed Bruckner’s Symphony No.9 in September 1966 under conductor Gunnar Staern, and most recently in April 2006 with Eckehard Stier.

ANTON BRUCKNER (1824–1896)

Symphony No.9 in D minor (1894 version, ed. Cohrs)

Feierlich, misterioso (Solemn, mysteriously)Scherzo: Bewegt, lebhaft (Lively)Adagio: Langsam, feierlich (Slow, solemn)

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ACT TWO

Klingsor’s magic castle.

KUNDRYParsifal! – Stay!

PARSIFAL‘Parsifal’…?Once in a dream my mother called me that.

KUNDRYStay here! Parsifal! –Bliss and surpassing delight await you.You wantoning children, let him be;flowers soon to wither,with you he is not destined to play.Go home, tend the wounded;many a lonely hero awaits you.

PARSIFALHave I just dreamt all this?(He looks round timidly to the side from which the voice came. There now appears, through an opening in the banks of flowers, a young woman of great beauty – Kundry, completely transformed – on a couch of flowers, wearing a light, fantastic, veil-like robe of Arabian style.)

PARSIFALDid you call me, who am nameless?

KUNDRYI named you, foolish innocent,‘Fal parsi’,you innocent fool, ‘Parsifal’.Thus when he fell in Arabyyour father Gamuret called his son,to whom, still in his mother’s womb,he gave his dying greeting with this name.I waited for you here to tell you this:what drew you here, if not the wish to know?

PARSIFALI never saw, nor dreamt of, what nowI see, and which fills me with dread. –Do you too bloom in this bank of flowers?

KUNDRYNo, Parsifal, you foolish innocent!Far, far away, is my home.I tarried here only that you might find me.I came from afar, where I have seen much.I saw the child on its mother’s breast,its first lisping still laughs in my ear;though sad at heart,how Heart’s Sorrow also laughed,that in her grief the apple of her eyeshould cry for joy!She fondly lulled to sleep with caressesthe babe cradled gently on soft moss;with anxious care a mother’s yearningguarded its sleep,and the hot dew of a mother’s tearswoke it at morn.She was all mourning, child of sorrow,

for your father’s love and death.To shield you from like perilshe deemed it her highest duty’s task.She strove to hide and shelter you safeafar from weapons and from men’s strife and fury.She was all concern and forebodinglest you should ever acquire knowledge.Do you not still hear her cry of distresswhen you roamed late and far?Oh! How great was her joy and laughterwhen she sought and found you again;when her arms clapsed you tightdid you perhaps fear her kisses?But you did not consider her woe,her desperate grief,when you finally did not returnand left no trace behind!She waited night and daytill her laments grew faint,grief consumed her painand she craved for death’s release:her sorrow broke her heart,and Heart’s Sorrow died.

PARSIFAL(whose rising emotion has culminated in terrible perturbation, sinks overcome with distress at Kundry’s feet)

Woe is me! Alas! What have I done? Where was I?Mother! Sweet, dear mother!Your son, your son it was who killed you!Fool! Blind, blundering fool,where did you wander, forgetting her –forgetting yourself too?O dearest, beloved mother!

KUNDRYIf grief were still a stranger to you,the sweetness of consolationwould never comfort your heart;now assuage that distress,that woe for which you grieve,in the solace which love offers you.

PARSIFAL(sinking deeper and deeper in his grief)

How could I forget my mother – my mother!Ah! what else have I forgotten?What have I ever remembered yet?Only dull stupidity dwells in me.

KUNDRY(still half reclining, bends over Parsifal’s head, gently touches his forehead and fondly puts her arm around his neck)

Confessionwill end guilt in remorse,understandingchanges folly into sense.Learn to know the lovethat enfolded Gamuretwhen Heart’s Sorrow’s passionengulfed him in its fire!She who oncegave you life and being,to subdue death and follysends

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you this day,as a last token of a mother’s blessing,the first kiss of love.(She has bent her head completely over his and gives him a long kiss on the lips)

PARSIFAL(suddenly starts up with a gesture of the utmost terror: his demeanour expresses some fearful change; he presses his hands hard against his heart as if to master an agonising pain.)

Amfortas! –The wound! The wound!It burns within my heart!O sorrow, sorrow!Fearful sorrow!From the depths of my heart it cries aloud.Oh! Oh!Most wretched!Most pitiable!I saw the wound bleeding:now it bleeds in me!Here – here!No, no! It is not the wound.Flow in streams, my blood, from it!Here! Here in my heart is the flame!The longing, the terrible longingwhich seizes and grips all my senses!O torment of love!How everything trembles, quakes and quiversin sinful desire!(As Kundry stares at Parsifal in fear and astonishment, he falls into a complete trance

PARSIFAL(in a low voice, with horror)

My dull gaze is fixed on the sacred vessel;the holy blood flows: –the bliss of redemption, divinely mild,trembles within every soul around:only here, in my heart, will the pangs not be stilled.The Saviour’s lament I hear there,the lament, ah! the lamentationfrom His profaned sanctuary:‘Redeem Me, rescue Mefrom hands defiled by sin!’Thus rang the divine lamentin terrible clarity in my soul.And I – fool, coward,fled hither to wild childish deeds!(He flings himself in despairon his kness)

Redeemer! Saviour! Lord of grace!How can I, a sinner, purge my guilt?

KUNDRY(whose astonishment has changed to passionate admiration, hesitantly tries to approach Parsifal)

Honoured hero! Throw off this spell!Look up and greet your fair one’s coming!

PARSIFAL(still kneeling, gaze fixedly at Kundry, who bends over him with the caressing movements indicated in the following)

Yes! This was the voice with which she called him; –and this her look, truly I recognise it –

and this, smiling at him so disquietingly;the lips – yes – thus they quivered for him,thus she bent her neck –thus boldly rose her head;thus laughingly fluttered her hair –thus her arms were twined around his neck –thus tenderly fawned her features!In league with the pangs of every torment,her lips kissed awayhis soul’s salvation!Ah, this kiss!(He has gradually risen and thrusts Kundry from him)

Corrupter! Get away from me!Forever, forever away from me!

KUNDRY(with the utmost passion)

Cruel one!If you feel in your heartonly others’ sorrows,then feel mine too!If you are a redeemer,what maliciously stops youfrom uniting with me for my salvation?Through eternities I have waited for you,the saviour so late in coming,whom once I dared revile.Oh!If you knew the cursewhich afflicts me, asleepp and awake,in death and life,pain and laughter,newly steeled to new affliction,endlessly through this existence!I saw Him – Him –and mocked…!His gaze fell upon me! –Now I seek Him from world to worldto meet Him once again.I darkest hourI feel His eyes turn on meand His gaze rest upon me.The accursed laugher assails me once again:a sinner sinks into my arms!Then I laugh – laugh –I cannot weep,can only shout, rage,storm, ravein an ever-renewed nightmarefrom which, though repentant, I scarcely wake.One for whom I yearned in deathly longing,whom I recognised though despised and rejected,let me weep upon his breast,for one hour only be united to youand, though God and the world disown me,in you be cleansed of sin and redeemed!

PARSIFALFor evermorewould you be damned with meif for one hour,unmindful of my mission,I yelded to your embrace!For your salvation tto I am sent,if you will turn aside from your desires.

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The solace to end your sorrowscomes not from the source from which they flow:grace shall never be bestowed on youuntil that source is sealed to you.Another grace – ah, a different one,for which, pitying, I saw the brotherhoodpining in dire distress,scourging and mortifying their flesh.But who can know aright and clearthe only true source of salvation?O misery that banishes all deliverance!O blackness of earthly error,that while ferishly pursuing supreme salvationyet thirsts for the fount of perdition!

KUNDRY(in wild ecstasy)

Was it my kisswhich thus revealed the world to you?The full embrace of my lovethen would raise you to godhead.Redeem the world, if this is your destiny:make yourself a god for an hour,and for that let me be damned forever,my wound never be healed!

PARSIFALI offer redemtion to you too in your sin.

KUNDRYLet me love you, godlike as you are,and you would then give me redemption.

PARSIFALLove and redemption shall be yoursif you will show methe way to Amfortas.

KUNDRY(breaking out in fury)

Never shall you find him!Let the fallen one perish,that woefulseeker after shamewhom I derided, at whom I laughed!Ha ha! He fell by his own spear!

PARSIFALWho dared to wound him with the holy weapon?

KUNDRYHe – hewho once punished my laughter:his curse – ha! – gives me strength;I will call the Spear against you yourselfif you accord that sinner mercy!Ah, this is madness! –Pity! Pity on me!Be mine for one hour!Let me be yours for one hour,and you shall be ledon your way!(She tries to embrace him. He thrusts her aside violently)

PARSIFALAway, evil woman!

KUNDRY(starting up in wild fury and calling into the background)

Help! Help! Hither!Seize the miscreant! Hither!Bar his path!Bar his passage!And though you flee from here and findall the roads in the world,that road you seek,that path you shall not find,for any path and passagethat leads you away from meI curse for you.Stray and be lost!You whom I know so well,I give him into your power!(Klingsor appears on the rampart and brandishes a lance at Parsifal. He hurls the Spear, which remains poised above Parsifal’s head.)

PARSIFAL(seizing the Spear in his hand and holding it above his head)

With this sign I rout your enchantment.As the Spear closes the woundwhich you dealt him with it,may it crush your lying splendourinto mourning and ruin!(He has swung the Spear in the sign of the Cross; the castle sinks as if by an earthquake. The garden swiftly withers to a desert; faded flowers are strewn on the ground. – Kundry falls to the ground with a scream. Parsifal pauses once more as he hastens away, and at the top of the ruined wall turns back to Kundry.)

PARSIFALYou know whereyou can find me again!(He hurries away. Kundry has raised herself a little and gazes after him.)

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ORCHESTRA

First ViolinsDale Barltrop Concertmaster

Eoin Andersen Concertmaster

Sophie Rowell Associate Concertmaster (The Ullmer Family Foundation0)

Peter Edwards Assistant Principal

Kirsty BremnerSarah CurroPeter FellinDeborah GoodallLorraine HookKirstin KennyJi Won KimEleanor ManciniMark Mogilevski Michelle RuffoloKathryn Taylor(Michael Aquilina0)

Jacqueline Edwards* Robert John* Jenny Khafagi*Oksana Thompson*

Second ViolinsMatthew Tomkins Principal(The Gross Foundation0)

Robert Macindoe Associate Principal

Monica Curro Assistant Principal (Danny Gorog & Lindy Susskind0)

Mary AllisonIsin CakmakciogluFreya Franzen(Anonymous0)

Cong GuAndrew HallFrancesca HiewRachel Homburg Isy WassermanPhilippa WestPatrick WongRoger YoungAmy Brookman*Lynette Rayner*

ViolasChristopher Moore Principal (Di Jameson0)

Fiona Sargeant Associate Principal

Lauren BrigdenKatharine BrockmanChristopher CartlidgeGabrielle HalloranTrevor Jones Cindy WatkinCaleb WrightWilliam Clark*Ceridwen Davies*Lisa Grosman*Sophie Kesoglidis*Matthew Laing*Isabel Morse*

CellosDavid Berlin Principal(MS Newman Family0)

Rachael Tobin Associate Principal

Nicholas Bochner Assistant Principal

Miranda BrockmanRohan de KorteKeith JohnsonSarah MorseAngela SargeantMichelle Wood(Andrew & Theresa Dyer0)

Zoe Knighton*

Double BassesSteve Reeves Principal

Andrew Moon Associate Principal

Sylvia Hosking Assistant Principal

Damien EckersleyBenjamin HanlonSuzanne LeeStephen Newton(Sophie Galaise0)

Jonathon Coco*Kinga Janiszewski*†John Keene*Stuart Riley*Emma Sullivan*

FlutesPrudence Davis Principal Flute (Anonymous0)

Wendy Clarke Associate Principal

Sarah Beggs

PiccoloAndrew Macleod Principal

OboesJeffrey Crellin Principal

Thomas Hutchinson Associate Principal

Ann Blackburn

Cor AnglaisMichael Pisani Principal

ClarinetsDavid Thomas Principal

Philip Arkinstall Associate Principal

Craig Hill

Bass ClarinetJon Craven Principal

BassoonsJack Schiller Principal

Elise Millman Associate Principal

Natasha Thomas

ContrabassoonBrock Imison PrincipalColin Forbes-Abrams*

Horns Samuel Jacobs Guest Principal

Saul Lewis Principal Third

Jenna BreenAbbey Edlin(Michael & Nereda Hanlon AM0)

Trinette McClimont

Julia Brooke*‡Euan Harvey*≠Anton Schroeder*Robert Shirley*Ian Wildsmith*

TrumpetsGeoffrey Payne Principal

Shane Hooton Associate Principal

William EvansJulie PayneRosemary Turner*£

TrombonesBrett Kelly Principal

Iain Faragher*

Bass TromboneMike Szabo Principal

TubaTimothy Buzbee Principal

TimpaniChristine Turpin Principal

PercussionRobert Clarke Principal

John ArcaroRobert Cossom

HarpYinuo Mu Principal

Alannah Guthrie-Jones*

0 Position supported by

* Guest Musician

† Courtesy of Australian National Academy of Music

‡ Courtesy of West Australian Symphony Orchestra

≠ Courtesy of Sydney Symphony Orchestra

£ Courtesy of Orchestra Victoria

BOARD

Managing DirectorSophie Galaise

ChairmanMichael Ullmer

Board MembersAndrew DyerDanny GorogMargaret Jackson ACBrett Kelly

David Krasnostein David LiHelen Silver AOKee Wong

Company SecretaryOliver Carton

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SUPPORTERS

MSO Patron The Honourable Linda Dessau AM, Governor of Victoria

Artist Chair BenefactorsAnonymous Principal Flute Chair

Di Jameson Principal Viola Chair

Joy Selby Smith Orchestral Leadership Chair

Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair

The Gross Foundation Principal Second Violin Chair

The MS Newman Family Principal Cello Chair

The Ullmer Family Foundation Associate Concertmaster Chair

Program BenefactorsMeet The Orchestra The Ullmer Family Foundation

East Meets West Li Family Trust

The Pizzicato Effect (Anonymous) Schapper Family Foundation Marian & E.H. Flack Trust

MSO Education Mrs Margaret Ross AM and Dr Ian Ross

Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program The Cybec Foundation

MSO Audience Access Crown Resorts Foundation Packer Family Foundation

MSO International Touring Harold Mitchell AC

Satan Jawa Australia Indonesia Institute (DFAT)

MSO Regional Touring Erica Foundation Pty Ltd Robert Salzer Foundation Creative Victoria

Benefactor Patrons $50,000+Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO The Gross Foundation 0Di Jameson 0David and Angela LiHarold Mitchell ACMS Newman Family 0Joy Selby SmithUllmer Family Foundation 0Anonymous (1)

Impresario Patrons $20,000+Michael Aquilina 0The John and Jennifer Brukner FoundationPerri Cutten and Jo DaniellRachel and the late Hon. Alan Goldberg AO QCHilary Hall, in memory of Wilma CollieMargaret Jackson ACDavid Krasnostein and Pat StragalinosMimie MacLarenJohn and Lois McKay

Maestro Patrons $10,000+John and Mary BarlowKaye and David BirksPaul and Wendy CarterMitchell ChipmanSir Andrew and Lady DavisGandel PhilanthropyDanny Gorog and Lindy Susskind 0Robert & Jan GreenDr Geraldine Lazarus and Mr Greig GaileyThe Cuming BequestIan and Jeannie PatersonLady Potter AC 0Elizabeth Proust AORae RothfieldGlenn SedgwickHelen Silver AO and Harrison YoungMaria SolàProfs. G & G Stephenson, in honour of the great Romanian musicians George Enescu and Dinu LipattiOnbass FoundationJuliet TootellAlice VaughanKee Wong and Wai TangJason Yeap OAM

Principal Patrons $5,000+Prof Ian BrighthopeLinda BrittenDavid and Emma CapponiMary and Frederick Davidson AMAndrew and Theresa Dyer 0Tim and Lyn EdwardMr Bill FlemingJohn and Diana FrewSusan Fry and Don Fry AOSophie Galaise and Clarence Fraser 0Jennifer GorogLouis Hamon OAMNereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM 0Hans and Petra HenkellHartmut and Ruth HofmannDoug HooleyJenny and Peter HordernJenkins Family FoundationSuzanne KirkhamDr Elizabeth A Lewis AMPeter LovellAnnette MaluishLesley McMullin FoundationMr and Mrs D R MeagherMarie Morton FRSADavid and Helen Moses 0Dr Paul Nisselle AMKen Ong, in memory of Lin OngJames and Frances PfeifferPzena Investment Charitable FundStephen ShanasyHMA FoundationD & CS Kipen on behalf of Israel KipenGai and David TaylorThe Hon. Michael Watt QC and Cecilie HallLyn Williams AMAnonymous (2)

0 Signifies Adopt an MSO Musician supporter

Associate Patrons $2,500+Dandolo Partners, Will and Dorothy Bailey Bequest, Barbara Bell in memory of Elsa Bell, Bill Bowness, Stephen and Caroline Brain, Dr Mark and Mrs Ann Bryce, Bill and Sandra Burdett, Oliver Carton,

John and Lyn Coppock, Miss Ann Darby in memory of Leslie J. Darby, Natasha Davies, for the Trikojus Education Fund, Beryl Dean, Sandra Dent, Peter and Leila Doyle, Lisa Dwyer and Dr Ian Dickson, Jane Edmanson OAM, Dr Helen M Ferguson, Mr Peter Gallagher and Dr Karen Morley, Dina and Ron Goldschlager, Colin Golvan QC and Dr Deborah Golvan, Louise Gourlay OAM, Susan and Gary Hearst, Colin Heggen, in memory of Marjorie Drysdale Heggen, Rosemary and James Jacoby, C W Johnston Family, John Jones, George and Grace Kass, Irene Kearsey, Kloeden Foundation, Sylvia Lavelle, Bryan Lawrence, H E McKenzie, Allan and Evelyn McLaren, Don and Anne Meadows, Annabel and Rupert Myer AO, Andrew and Sarah Newbold, Ann Peacock with Andrew and Woody Kroger, Sue and Barry Peake, Mrs W Peart, Graham and Christine Peirson, Ruth and Ralph Renard, S M Richards AM and M R Richards, Joan P Robinson, Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski, Max and Jill Schultz, Jeffrey Sher QC and Diana Sher OAM, Diana and Brian Snape AM, Geoff and Judy Steinicke, Mr Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman, William and Jenny Ulmer, Bert and Ila Vanrenen, Kate and Blaise Vinot, Elisabeth Wagner, Barbara and Donald Weir, Athalie Williams, Brian and Helena Worsfold, Anonymous (9)

Player Patrons $1,000+Anita and Graham Anderson, Christine and Mark Armour, Philip Bacon AM, Arnold Bloch Leibler, Marlyn and Peter Bancroft OAM, Adrienne Basser, Prof Weston Bate and Janice Bate, Timothy and Margaret Best, David Blackwell, Michael F Boyt, Philip and Vivien Brass Charitable Foundation, M Ward Breheny, The Late Mr John Brockman OAM and Mrs Pat Brockman,

13

SUPPORTERS

Suzie and Harvey Brown, Jill and Christopher Buckley, Lynne Burgess, Peter Caldwell, Joe Cordone, Andrew and Pamela Crockett, Jennifer Cunich, Pat and Bruce Davis, Merrowyn Deacon, Wendy Dimmick, Dominic and Natalie Dirupo, Marie Dowling, John and Anne Duncan, Ruth Eggleston, Kay Ehrenberg, Jaan Enden, Grant Fisher and Helen Bird, Barry Fradkin OAM and Dr Pam Fradkin, Applebay Pty Ltd, David Frenkiel and Esther Frenkiel OAM, Carrillo and Ziyin Gantner, David Gibbs and Susie O'Neill, Merwyn and Greta Goldblatt, George Golvan QC and Naomi Golvan, Dr Marged Goode, Philip and Raie Goodwach, Max Gulbin, Dr Sandra Hacker AO and Mr Ian Kennedy AM, Jean Hadges, Paula Hansky OAM, Merv Keehn & Sue Harlow, Tilda and Brian Haughney, Julian and Gisela Heinze, Penelope Hughes, Dr Alastair Jackson, Basil and Rita Jenkins, Stuart Jennings, Brett Kelly and Cindy Watkin, Dr Anne Kennedy, George and Patricia Kline, William and Magdalena Leadston, Andrew Lee, Norman Lewis, in memory of Dr Phyllis Lewis, Dr Anne Lierse, Ann and George Littlewood, Andrew Lockwood, Violet and Jeff Loewenstein, Elizabeth H Loftus, The Hon Ian Macphee AO and Mrs Julie Macphee, Vivienne Hadj and Rosemary Madden, Eleanor & Phillip Mancini, In memory of Leigh Masel, John and Margaret Mason, Matsarol Foundation, In honour of Norma and Lloyd Rees, Ruth Maxwell, Jenny McGregor AM & Peter Allen, Glenda McNaught, David Menzies, Wayne and Penny Morgan, Ian Morrey and Geoffrey Minter, JB Hi-Fi Ltd, Patricia Nilsson, Laurence O'Keefe and Christopher James, Alan and Dorothy Pattison, Margaret Plant, John Pollaers, Kerryn Pratchett, Peter Priest,

Eli Raskin, Bobbie Renard, Peter and Carolyn Rendit, Dr Rosemary Ayton and Dr Sam Ricketson, Zelda Rosenbaum OAM, Antler Ltd, Doug and Elisabeth Scott, Dr Sam Smorgon AO and Mrs Minnie Smorgon, John So, Dr Norman and Dr Sue Sonenberg, Dr Michael Soon, Pauline Speedy, Jennifer Steinicke, Dr Peter Strickland, Pamela Swansson, Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher, Judy Turner and Neil Adam, Mary Vallentine AO, The Hon. Rosemary Varty, Leon and Sandra Velik, Sue Walker AM, Elaine Walters OAM and Gregory Walters, Edward and Paddy White, Nic and Ann Willcock, Marian and Terry Wills Cooke, Lorraine Woolley, Peter and Susan Yates, Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das, Anonymous (15)

The Mahler SyndicateDavid and Kaye Birks, Mary and Frederick Davidson AM, Tim and Lyn Edward, John and Diana Frew, Francis and Robyn Hofmann, The Hon Dr Barry Jones AC, Dr Paul Nisselle AM, Maria Solà, The Hon Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall, Anonymous (1)

MSO RosesFounding RoseJenny Brukner

RosesMary Barlow, Linda Britten, Wendy Carter, Annette Maluish, Lois McKay, Pat Stragalinos, Jenny Ullmer

RosebudsMaggie Best, Penny Barlow, Lynne Damman, Francie Doolan, Lyn Edward, Penny Hutchinson, Elizabeth A Lewis AM, Sophie Rowell, Dr Cherilyn Tillman

Trusts and FoundationsAL Lane Foundation, Crown Resorts Foundation and the Packer Family Foundation, The Cybec Foundation, The Marian & EH Flack Trust, The Erica Foundation, Ivor Ronald Evans Foundation, managed by Equity Trustees Limited, The Harold Mitchell Foundation, The Pratt Foundation, The Robert Salzer Foundation, The Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust

Conductor’s CircleJenny Anderson, David Angelovich, G C Bawden and L de Kievit, Lesley Bawden, Joyce Bown, Mrs Jenny Brukner and the late Mr John Brukner, Ken Bullen, Luci and Ron Chambers, Beryl Dean, Sandra Dent, Lyn Edward, Alan Egan JP, Gunta Eglite, Marguerite Garnon-Williams, Louis Hamon OAM, Carol Hay, Tony Howe, Laurence O'Keefe and Christopher James, Audrey M Jenkins, John and Joan Jones, George and Grace Kass, Mrs Sylvia Lavelle, Pauline and David Lawton, Lorraine Meldrum, Cameron Mowat, Rosia Pasteur, Elizabeth Proust AO, Penny Rawlins, Joan P Robinson, Neil Roussac, Anne Roussac-Hoyne, Ann and Andrew Serpell, Jennifer Shepherd, Profs. Gabriela and George Stephenson, Pamela Swansson, Lillian Tarry, Dr Cherilyn Tillman, Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock, Michael Ullmer, Ila Vanrenen, The Hon. Rosemary Varty, Mr Tam Vu, Marian and Terry Wills Cooke, Mark Young, Anonymous (23)

The MSO gratefully acknowledges support received from the Estates of:Angela Beagley, Gwen Hunt, Pauline Marie Johnston, C P Kemp, Peter Forbes MacLaren, Prof Andrew McCredie, Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE, Molly Stephens, Jean Tweedie, Herta and Fred B Vogel, Dorothy Wood

Honorary AppointmentsSir Elton John CBE Life Member

The Late Alan Goldberg AO QC Life Member

Geoffrey Rush AC Ambassador

The Late John Brockman AO Life Member

The Honourable Linda Dessau AM Patron

The MSO relies on your ongoing philanthropic support to sustain access, artists, education, community engagement and more. We invite our supporters to get close to the MSO through a range of special events.

The MSO welcomes your support at any level. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible, and supporters are recognised as follows: $1,000 (Player), $2,500 (Associate), $5,000 (Principal), $10,000 (Maestro), $20,000 (Impresario), $50,000 (Benefactor).

The MSO Conductor’s Circle is our bequest program for members who have notified of a planned gift in their Will.

Enquiries: Ph: +61 (3) 9626 1104

Email: philanthropy@mso.com.au

SUPPORTERS

Government Partners

Associate Partners Venue Partner

Red Emperor Fitzroys

Li Family Trust Quest Southbank

The CEO Institute Feature Alpha Investment

Media Partners

Supporting Partners

B e a u t i f u l F l o w e r s

Official Car PartnerMaestro Partners

T H E P E R F E C T G I F T F O R A L L M U S I C LO V E R S

The majesty of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the MSO Chorus, conducted by Brawell Tovey and recorded live at Hamer Hall.

Available at the box office, online, or phone order (03) 9929 9600 for $22

G I V I N G A P P E A L

This festive season, give the gift of music.

Donate today

mso.com.au/appeal(03) 9626 1104philanthropy@mso.com.au

Your contribution will help create life changing experiences:

will supply 10 junior instruments for Family Jams

Did you know that each year MSO delivers over 160 performances to over 2,500,000 people in Melbourne and beyond? As a not-for-profit organisation, we rely on your generosity to make it all happen. To see the full list of contributions needed

to make a difference to your orchestra, visit our website or contact the philanthropy team.

$50 $500covers the cost of one set of orchestral music parts

$5,000enables the purchase of graphite stringed instruments for outdoor performances

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Relax to music and smooth sips of Hennessy Paradis, or a good story and a glass of Dom Perignon. Savour every indulgence in our First Class Private Suites.

Principal Partner of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Master the art of me-time

*Complimentary Chauffeur-drive service available for First Class and Business Class, excluding Trans-Tasman services and codeshare flights operated by Qantas to Southeast Asia. Mileage restrictions apply. For full terms and conditions visit emirates.com/au. For more information visit emirates.com/au, call 1300 303 777, or contact your local travel agent.