The orchestra is just starting to congregate in the lobby of our hotel in Tokyo (The Tokyo Dome Hotel) before we make the journey onto Fukuoka this afternoon.
Yesterday the orchestra spent the morning rehearsing at the nearby Bunkyo Civic Hall with our soloist for the tour, Emmanuel Pahud. Although it has been just over three years since the orchestra last performed the Vivaldi Concerti with Emmanuel on an ACO Subs tour, it did not take long for the orchestra and Emmanuel to hit their stride together again.
After the rehearsal and after a short rest back at the hotel, the orchestra travelled onto the Australian Embassy in Tokyo where they were hosted by the Australian Ambassador, Murray McLean, and Alf Moufarrige from Servcorp who sponsored this concert. The concert was very well recevied by the Embassy staff, Servcorp guests and other notable dignitaries including four former Japanese Ambassadors to Australia. In particular the audience were particularly impressed by the skillful musician who appeared all too briefly on stage to play the claves during the performance of Arvo Paert's Fratres. (Not bad for an Orchestra Manager.)
Afterward a wonderful reception at the Ambassador's residence, Alf treated the orchestra to a post-post concert reception at the Tokyo Park Hyatt, or as Alf like's to refer to it, his home away from home. Although I am not a film buff I understand this film was featured in the movie "Lost in Translation." Certainly the bar prices were lost in translation...
Thank you again to the Ambassador and his staff especially Akiko, Naoko and Nancy for looking after the orchestra so well at the Embassy, and of course to Alf for presenting the concert and of course for his post-concert reception hospitality.
Damien Low
Orchestra Manager
Friday, 3 October 2008
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
RT's Bach Hat Trick
Richard's set of violin sonatas with keyboard won an ARIA award for Best Classical Recording last night at the ARIA Fine Arts Awards at City Recital Hall. This makes a tidy hat trick: both the previous releases of solo sonatas and violin concerti won ARIAs too!
The ACO team congratulates Richard and associate artists Neal Peres Da Costa (harpsichord/organ) and Daniel Yeadon (viola da gamba) and the ABC production team of Virgina Read, Robert Patterson and Lyle Chan.
Bach Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard is available at the ACO Shop individually and as part of an excellent-value 5 CD set of Tognetti's complete Bach for violin. Visit the shop.
Monday, 29 September 2008
ACO in Japan
The Orchestra took off for Japan this morning for a two-week tour with super flautist Emmanuel Pahud. Watch the blog for updates from the road.
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Custodians of Culture
In a discussion on the blog about coughing and clapping, Alex Millier made the observation:
In his op-ed piece in the Weekend Australian, Greg Sheridan writes of his recent attendance at an Australian Chamber Orchestra concert that “There is precious little consolation to be found in classical composers of the 20th Century…. ..My complaint, really, is that the ACO played four Bach fugues but between every one interposed a Kurtag movement. That’s not really playing the game.”
Let’s examine these statements for a moment. With the flick of a keyboard, he opines about the worth of all “classical composers of the 20th century”. Granted, the generic descriptor of music performed by the ACO and other Australian orchestras is classical so I won’t have a semantic debate about the term here, but his description is a powerful reflection of the sort of music he feels is appropriate at a gentile gathering of “older women”.
We’re now in the 21st century. Can we presume, by their omission, that as the calendar flipped across on December 31 1999 that composers suddenly saw the errors of their ways and began to write works that consoled Mr Sheridan? Or maybe he should refer to them as contemporary composers, which would again include compositions created in the last 8 years.
He also referred to Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” as having the ability to “cheer one up”, as if they’re some sort of musical anti-depressant. Follow that line of argument, and we’ll never get to experience the musical depths of despair that some great examples of “Western Art Music” have to offer.
What exactly is “the game”? Is it one played by his rules? That is, we are consoled, or we are not consoled. The arts should know their place. They should not ever challenge their audiences.
In his op-ed piece in the Weekend Australian, Greg Sheridan writes of his recent attendance at an Australian Chamber Orchestra concert that “There is precious little consolation to be found in classical composers of the 20th Century…. ..My complaint, really, is that the ACO played four Bach fugues but between every one interposed a Kurtag movement. That’s not really playing the game.”
Let’s examine these statements for a moment. With the flick of a keyboard, he opines about the worth of all “classical composers of the 20th century”. Granted, the generic descriptor of music performed by the ACO and other Australian orchestras is classical so I won’t have a semantic debate about the term here, but his description is a powerful reflection of the sort of music he feels is appropriate at a gentile gathering of “older women”.
We’re now in the 21st century. Can we presume, by their omission, that as the calendar flipped across on December 31 1999 that composers suddenly saw the errors of their ways and began to write works that consoled Mr Sheridan? Or maybe he should refer to them as contemporary composers, which would again include compositions created in the last 8 years.
He also referred to Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” as having the ability to “cheer one up”, as if they’re some sort of musical anti-depressant. Follow that line of argument, and we’ll never get to experience the musical depths of despair that some great examples of “Western Art Music” have to offer.
What exactly is “the game”? Is it one played by his rules? That is, we are consoled, or we are not consoled. The arts should know their place. They should not ever challenge their audiences.
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
The Sociology of Concert-going
One of our favourite music journalists, Alex Ross, at the New Yorker, has written a terrific article on how the traditions of concert-going developed. They're not as 'traditional' as you'd expect (for instance, the practice of with-holding applause between movements of a piece only became entrenched in 1950s). An excellent read that hopefully will challenge preconceptions on how to behave at a concert. Some of the 'rules' seem very arbitrary, no wonder people can feel intimidated at first. It supposed to be fun, remember?
Check it out at newyorker.com.
Also, we were amused by this.
Check it out at newyorker.com.
Also, we were amused by this.
Monday, 8 September 2008
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Good News for the Gong
Arts Minister Frank Sartor's dulcet tones drew a crowd at Wollongong Town Hall yesterday, but his audience was only interested in the colour of his money.
Mr Sartor promised to help restore the town hall to its former glory with a $2 million cash grant.
Wollongong City Council matched the commitment, raising its refurbishment budget from $1.6 million to $2 million.
Standing in front of the historic grand organ, Mr Sartor said it made financial sense to reopen the town hall and refurbish it.
The machinations behind the money started more than a year ago when the Australian Chamber Orchestra's artistic director Richard Tognetti warned Mr Sartor that if nothing was done, the wrecking ball would come in.
Mr Tognetti, who grew up in Wollongong, has led efforts to rescue and restore the town hall, which was earmarked for demolition before the council's sacking.
It's a sign of the weight given to his opinion that his comments appeared alongside Mr Sartor's in the government press release yesterday.
Read more (Illawarra Mercury)
Mr Sartor promised to help restore the town hall to its former glory with a $2 million cash grant.
Wollongong City Council matched the commitment, raising its refurbishment budget from $1.6 million to $2 million.
Standing in front of the historic grand organ, Mr Sartor said it made financial sense to reopen the town hall and refurbish it.
The machinations behind the money started more than a year ago when the Australian Chamber Orchestra's artistic director Richard Tognetti warned Mr Sartor that if nothing was done, the wrecking ball would come in.
Mr Tognetti, who grew up in Wollongong, has led efforts to rescue and restore the town hall, which was earmarked for demolition before the council's sacking.
It's a sign of the weight given to his opinion that his comments appeared alongside Mr Sartor's in the government press release yesterday.
Read more (Illawarra Mercury)
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