Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 2015

Friday 19 June at 11am, QPAC Concert Hall (Morning Masterworks)

Saturday 20 June at 7.30pm, QPAC Concert Hall (Maestro)

DEMIDENKO PLAYS BRAHMS

Featuring: Conductor Edvard Tchivzhel, Piano Nikolai Demidenko, Organ Christopher Wrench  

Program: Brahms Piano Concerto No.2, Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 Organ

Two epic works. The musical genius of Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony, brought to an adoring world at large in the movie Babe. And Brahms' -little piano concerto with a teeny-weeny wisp of a scherzo', which is in fact a monster beyond the range of all but elite international soloists like Demidenko - witness the Piano Concerto No.2.

 

Sunday 5 July at 3pm, QSO Studio, South Bank (QSO Chamber Players)

TILL EULENSPIEGEL

Featuring: Violin Alan Smith, Flute Alexis Kenny, Clarinet Irit Silver, Horn Lauren Manuel

Program: Crusell Clarinet Quartet No.2, Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, Berwald Grand Septet

R. Strauss (arr. Hasenöhrl) Till Eulenspiegel einmal anders!

Till Eulenspiegel was an anti-hero of German folk culture long before Strauss wrote this famous orchestral tone poem. These days though, Strauss' score, with its graphic depiction of Till's sticky end, is more famous than the original tale itself, having been rearranged for many different ensembles. This chamber version by Hasenöhrl keeps the two key instruments"horn and violin" at the forefront. Beguiling Debussy, a classic quartet from Crusell and Berwald's finest chamber work complement Till's shenanigans.

 

Friday 17 July at 7.30pm, QPAC Concert Hall (Maestro)

QSO, MORRISON & MEYER

Featuring: Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Trumpet James Morrison, Double Bass Edgar Meyer

Program: Nielsen Overture to Maskarade, Savikangas Concerto for Trumpet and Double Bass, Beethoven Symphony No.5

Nielsen's colourful Maskarade Overture is followed by Max Savikangas's newly commissioned concerto for virtuosic trumpeter James Morrison and legendary bassist Edgar Meyer, an artist with unparalleled technique and musicianship. This dream combination is set to create a thrilling world premiere.  And then, four notes of music, Fate knocking at the door and a symphony that is the live classical music experience, all conducted by new-school Finnish sensation Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

World premiere, QSO/QMF co-commission with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra in Finland. In collaboration with Queensland Music Festival.

 

Sunday 9 August at 11.30am, QPAC Concert Hall (Music on Sundays)

MAESTRO'S CHOICE

Conductor Johannes Fritzsch, Host Guy Noble

ABC Classic FM's annual Classic 100 survey is a phenomenon, with tens of thousands of Australian music-lovers voting for the music that they can't live without. And the results always surprise, while still confirming that some works are simply timeless, all time classics that are handed down through the generations. Now, with the survey into its second decade, Johannes Fritzsch and QSO give you Maestro's Choice, the best of the best music that means the most to them, and you.

Music on Sundays Series is proudly presented by Bacchus Bar and Restaurant

Thursday 13 August at 11am, QPAC Concert Hall (Morning Masterworks)*

Saturday 15 August at 7.30am, QPAC Concert Hall (Maestro)

QSO & PINCHAS ZUKERMAN

Featuring: Conductor Rory Macdonald, Violin Pinchas Zukerman

Program: Sibelius Karelia Overture, Sibelius Symphony No.7*, Elgar Violin Concerto*

-Herein is enshrined the soul of…' and then Elgar leaves off the dedication of his Violin Concerto, an achingly poignant love-poem to an unattainable woman. This rare opportunity for Brisbane to experience Pinchas Zukerman live is prefaced by Sibelius' final symphony, conducted by young Briton Rory Macdonald who shot to prominence last year conducting acclaimed performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

 

Sunday 6 September at 11.30am, QPAC Concert Hall (Music on Sundays)

MIGHTY IMPERIAL RUSSIA!

Featuring: Conductor Benjamin Northey, Host Guy Noble

-Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.' The quote is from Mussorgsky and perhaps it explains why the music of Russia still speaks so universally to listeners everywhere. In Khovanschina, Mussorgsky paints mist rising over the river and in Pictures at an Exhibition, the Promenade theme and Great Gate of Kiev sweep you along in a tide of musical grandeur. And there's always an element of the exotic too, witness Rimsky-Korsakov's spell-binding violin lines in Scheherazade based on the Arabian Nights. Oriental perhaps, but it's Russian music in all its emotion, power and beauty.

Music on Sundays Series is proudly presented by Bacchus Bar and Restaurant

Saturday 12 September at 7.30pm, QPAC Concert Hall (Maestro)

QSO & SIMONE YOUNG

Featuring: Conductor Simone Young, Soprano Lisa Gasteen

Program: Mahler Rückert Lieder, Mahler Symphony No.6

Will it be two hammer blows, meaning hope, or three, foretelling doom, at the end of Mahler's epic Sixth Symphony? He leaves the choice to the performers, in a visceral musical drama played out in raw human emotion. Simone Young continues her profound Mahler odyssey in Brisbane while Lisa Gasteen returns with a song cycle perfectly suited to her incomparable dramatic soprano.

 

Thursday 24 September at 7.30pm, Brisbane City Hall (QSO WorldBeat)

BOLLYWOOD GALA

Featuring: Sitar Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, Conductor Andrew Mogrelia

Immerse yourself in the mesmerising sounds, dazzling colour and movement of India. Queensland Symphony Orchestra's Bollywood Gala brings Asia's most vibrant musical culture live to Brisbane City Hall. Experience A. R. Rahman's award-winning music from Slum Dog Millionaire, Monsoon Wedding and more. Hear movements from Ravi Shankar's Symphony No.1 and the world premiere Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra, composed and performed by -Giant of the Sitar' Indian classical music star Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan.

Proudly supported by Brisbane City Council and the Australia India Business Council.

 

Sunday 27 September at 3pm, QSO Studio, South Bank (QSO Chamber Players)

VILLA-LOBOS AND FRIENDS

Featuring: Violin Rebecca Seymour, Flute Hayley Radke, Clarinet Irit Silver, Bassoon Nicole Tait, Trumpet Sarah Wilson

Program: Antheil Symphony for Five Instruments, Villa-Lobos Choros No.7, Schulhoff Concertino for Flute, Viola and Double Bass, Hindemith Octet

When he wasn't writing mystery novels or inventing new communication systems, George Antheil was a celebrated avant-garde composer whose Symphony for Five Instruments is still compelling listening today. Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos went the other way, finding inspiration within his country's rich folk traditions. As for Paul Hindemith, he described the composition of his Octet as -no world-shattering event' but musicians ever since have disagreed.

Saturday 17 October at 7.30pm, QPAC Concert Hall (Maestro)

QSO & SHLOMO MINTZ

Featuring: Conductor/Violin Shlomo Mintz

Program: Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Mahler Symphony No.5

Two of the most famous openings in all music herald Shlomo Mintz's debut as a conductor with QSO.  Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto is searching, questing, intensely lyrical, with musical legend Mintz playing the solo part as well as directing the orchestra. Then, Mahler's strident fanfare at the opening of his Fifth Symphony paves the way to the most famous slow movement in late Romanticism.

The Soloist-in-Residence program is supported by the T & J St Baker Charitable Trust.

 

Sunday 25 October at 3pm, QSO Studio, South Bank (Special Event)

SHLOMO MINTZ WITH QSO STRINGS

Featuring: Violin and viola Shlomo Mintz, QSO Soloist-in-Residence, Violin Warwick Adeney, QSO Strings

Program: Brahms String Quintet No.2, Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht

It may be a Brisbane afternoon, but Shlomo Mintz and leading QSO players transport you to a moonlit night in a forest outside Vienna, where the branches of the oak trees look like dark claws against the cloudless sky. And here in Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, two lovers play out a ghostly scene of reconciliation in music of exquisite, ravishing beauty. Schoenberg always acknowledged his indebtedness to Brahms, whose String Quintet No.2 was intended to be his last work. However its rapturous reception, which has never wavered since, convinced him to continue.

The Soloist-in-Residence program is supported by the T & J St Baker Charitable Trust.

 

Sunday 25 October at 11.30am, The Courier-Mail Piazza, South Bank Parklands (QSO Family)

South Bank Parklands presents QSO's

STORIES, LEGENDS + FAIRY TALES

Featuring: Conductor Nathan Aspinall, Host Vivienne Collier-Vickers

QSO presents legendary stories through music, including The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas and Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. Let your imagination dance to Cinderella's Waltz by Prokofiev, and journey to a faraway realm with a classic Disney fairy tale. A must see family event!

Proudly supported by The Courier-Mail. Official Radio Partner – Brisbane's News Talk 4BC

 

Friday 6 November at 11am, QPAC Concert Hall (Morning Masterworks)*

THIRD CONCERT ANNOUNCED: Friday 6 November at 7.30pm, QPAC Concert Hall  NEW CONCERT NOW ON SALE*

Saturday 7 November at 7.30pm, QPAC Concert Hall (Maestro)

QSO PLAYS BOLERO

Featuring: Conductor Fabien Gabel, Piano Beatrice Rana

Program: Beethoven Symphony No.8*, Ravel Rapsodie Espagnole, Chopin Piano Concerto No.1*, Ravel Bolero*

You hear the distant sound of snare drum, barely discernible at first, then coming closer, each time a little louder, until at the end of Bolero, the orchestra is ablaze with colour and fire. New piano sensation Beatrice Rana's lyrical style caresses the endless melodies of Chopin's most-loved concerto, while conductor Fabien Gabel, currently the toast of the big European orchestras, delivers surprisingly light-hearted Beethoven.

 

Sunday 15 November at 11.30am, QPAC Concert Hall (Music on Sundays)

MIRACLES AND MAGIC

Featuring: Conductor Nathan Aspinall, Host Guy Noble

-Ah, music,' he said, wiping his eyes. -A magic beyond all we do here!' – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Music might be magic, but it's also very good at depicting magic. Whether it's enchanted gardens in Stravinsky's Firebird, the sorcery of Mozart's The Magic Flute, the theme from Harry Potter or the wonder of Respighi's Magic Toyshop, music has a way of conjuring up miracles all of its own. This wonderland of a concert is so alluring and taste-tempting that it could be made of gingerbread.

Music on Sundays Series is proudly presented by Bacchus Bar and Restaurant

 

Saturday 21 November at 7.30pm, QPAC Concert Hall (Special Event)

MESSIAH

Featuring: Conductor Emily Cox, Brisbane Chorale, Soprano Anna Leese, Tenor Simon Gilkes, Mezzo Soprano Jade Moffat, Baritone Sam Roberts Smith

Composed in just three weeks, Handel's Messiah has enthralled and transported people of all faiths for more than 250 years. This work has proven to be one of the transcendent glories not just of Western music, but Western civilization itself.

 

Sunday 22 November at 3pm, QSO Studio, South Bank (QSO Chamber Players)

BEETHOVEN AND BRAHMS

Featuring: Adina String Quartet Alan Smith, Leader, Horn Malcolm Stewart, Piano Angela Turner

Program: Beethoven String Quartet No.10, Brahms Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano

It's nicknamed -The Harp' because of its distinctive pizzicato (plucked) section in the first movement, but Beethoven's quartet isn't some curiosity. Its predominantly heroic tone makes it a kindred spirit with the Fifth Symphony, and a work of great profundity. So too is Brahms' Horn Trio, written in the Black Forest, with the horn's achingly expressive tone providing the composer with an opportunity to mourn the loss of his beloved mother.

 

Thursday 26 November at 6pm, QSO Studio, South Bank (Special Event)

IN CONVERSATION – MAXIM VENGEROV

Gain a deeper insight into the guest artists that grace our concert stage. These up-close special events promise to be illuminating and entertaining.

 

Saturday 28 November at 7.30pm, QPAC Concert Hall (Season Finale)

QSO & MAXIM VENGEROV

Featuring: Conductor/Violin Maxim Vengerov, Conductor Nicholas Carter*

Program: JS Bach Chaconne (for solo violin), Sibelius Violin Concerto* (original 1903/04 version), Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

Vengerov. The name alone promises a live concert experience where drama and innovation, musical adventurism and genre-crossing interpretive insight combine in a compelling display of world-class music-making.

A QSO concert presentation in partnership with Musica Viva Australia. QSO congratulates QPAC on its 30^th Anniversary 2015. As QPAC's resident orchestra, we are delighted to present this concert as a tribute to our major venue partner. 

 

19-21 November at 9.30am+11am, The Courier-Mail Piazza, South Bank Parklands (Kiddies Cushion Concerts)

The Courier-Mail presents QSO's

SYMPHONIC SANTA

Featuring: Conductor Peter Luff, Host Vivienne Collier-Vickers

It just wouldn't be Christmas without QSO's musical tribute to the festive season. Come along and sing along to the songs of Santa with all the traditional trimmings of fun and frivolity. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Proudly supported by South Bank Parklands