CHOIRS KICK OFF 90th ANNIVERSARY YEAR WITH WORLD PREMIERE
Classical
Wednesday 31 March, 8pm & Saturday 3 April, 8pm
Information
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs will launch into its 90th anniversary year with Ode to Liberty, a diverse and daring concert beginning with a world premiere from composer Moya Henderson and climaxing with a piece described as perhaps music's greatest testament to freedom, the 4th movement of Beethoven's Symphony No 9 in D Minor.
I'd like to name them all by name: Anna Akhmatova's Requiem is Australian-born Henderson's poignant tribute to the women of Stalin's Russia during the years of persecution and purges.
Fresh from their Sydney Festival success with Oedipus Rex & Symphony of Psalms, the members of Sydney Philharmonia will perform the Requiem for the first time for the opening of their 2010 season at Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 31 March and Saturday, 3 April.
Taking inspiration from a series of poems named Requiem by Russian poet Anna Akhmatova and using the English translation by American poet Judith Hemschemeyer, Henderson's work captures the passion and determination of all those women who stood in line for months on end, in the heat and the cold, waiting to hand over food parcels to their loved ones inside Kresty Prison in Leningrad (St Petersburg).
“The women of Leningrad stand for all humankind in times of great suffering,” said Henderson. “Akhmatova's Requiem is possibly the most famous document to emerge from the Stalinist era; it is a sublime example of the poetry of witness.”
The world premiere of I'd like to name them all by name: Anna Akhmatova's Requiem will showcase the sublime singing voice of soprano Leanne Kenneally, who will perform for almost 50 minutes alongside the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Orchestra.
Bridging the gap between the opening and climax of Ode to Liberty will be three mystery pieces handpicked by Artistic & Musical Director, Brett Weymark.
The questions asked in the musical themes of these short works will be answered in the concert's rousing finale: the 4th and final movement of Beethoven's Symphony No 9 in D Minor.
Composed between 1817 and 1823, a period when Vienna was crawling secret police, informers, spies and bureaucrats hostile to art and freedom, the Ninth Symphony has become a global symbol of liberty heard in circumstances ranging from the protests in Tiananmen Square to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“Beethoven's Ninth is one of the most uplifting works in the history of Western music and an appropriate finale to a concert that both explores the notion of freedom and marks the start of our 90th year sharing the joy of choral music with audiences,” said Weymark.
Venue
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
Price
Tickets: $45-$80 (conc. and booking fees apply)
Bookings
For tickets to Ode to Liberty phone (02) 9251 3115 or visit www.sydneyphilharmonia.com.au