BY CUTCOMMON
This year, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is showcasing four female-identifying composers on its mainstage as part of its Celebrating Women in Music series.
These artists are having their music performed alongside the classics – think Sibelius and Prokofiev, Mendelssohn and Schumann. Now, it’s time to hear the musical voices of Australian women whose works won’t just rival those of historic composers – they’ll stake their place firmly in the history of our own country and musical culture. And what’s not to celebrate about that?
In an interview about the Celebrating Women in Music concert series, Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin said: “I think that we live in a very exciting time for women composers now, because there’s more and more coming up and it’s wonderful. There can never be enough, obviously.” Here’s how the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has been showcasing their music so far – and a special look at what’s to come.
Elena Kats-Chernin’s Double Concerto
You may have heard us make a bit of noise about this work, and that’s because it’s an outstandingly powerful one with moving backstory. Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin (above) has written the Sarenka Concerto: for Solo Violin and Solo Violincello – and each instrument helps reveal different sides to the life story of Sara Weis.
The late Sara – nicknamed Sarenka by her family – was a regular Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concertgoer. She was also a guide at the National Gallery of Victoria, worked with children in a Jewish kindergarten, operated a family business, and had a bustling social and familial life.
But before she made all of those positive memories and experiences in Australia, Sara had another life in Europe. As a teenager, she survived World War II – though her family did not – and this is where her story begins through the melodies of Elena’s music.
“I wish I met her,” Elena said on composing music about Sarenka. “The whole time, I just thought, ‘Wow, what a great woman. What a strong woman, beautiful woman’.”
You can read more about Sarenka’s story in our interview ahead of the world premiere of Sarenka, which her family commissioned in her memory. MSO patron and Sarenka’s son Bob Weis, along with other members of their family, worked closely with Elena to realise the concerto that represents this extraordinary woman’s childhood, her escape from a Nazi massacre, move to Australia, and happy life filled with love, books, and parties until her final years.
“The family put all this trust into me,” Elena said of the commission. “To be bestowed that kind of honour – to write a big piece like this – I’m humbled.”
The Sarenka Concerto will be bookended by Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and Sibelius’ Symphony No.1 in the event aptly titled Love and Resistance.
In the spirit of Celebrating Women in Music, the MSO has engaged French conductor Chloé van Soeterstède to lead the world premiere of this work. Chloé has won awards for her interpretations of contemporary music and after leading orchestras across the United States and Europe, she makes her Australian debut this year.
Hear Chloé and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra premiere Elena’s Sarenka Concerto in Sibelius and Prokofiev: Love and Resistance, 27 and 28 October in Hamer Hall.
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon’s Eumeralla
Just a little over four hours’ drive from Melbourne, there is a battlefield haunted with the memory of war and loss of life.
When you walk on this land, you are surrounded by restless warrior-spirits. It is a powerful feeling, and a fearful one. It is inescapable.
… Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace will break the silence of so many decades, and serve to amplify the importance of our nation’s shared history.
So Deborah Cheetham Fraillon shared in CutCommon about the creation of her 2018 work Eumeralla, a war requiem for piece. The name of this moving composition refers to the 19th-Century Eumeralla Resistance War in which colonists killed thousands of First Nations people.
After its on-Country premiere at the Port Fairy Spring Festival, followed by an MSO performance in 2019, the work makes a big return and will be sung in the dialects of the Gunditjmara people. You’ll hear the voices of Dhungala Children’s Choir – a group that Deborah founded in 2009 as “the peak choral performance group for Indigenous children in Victoria”.
You will also hear the Yorta Yorta soprano Deborah herself (pictured below): as well as having composed this piece, Deborah is a celebrated opera singer who founded the not-for-profit Short Black Opera company giving professional opportunity to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. (It’s no surprise Deborah has been inducted to the Honour Roll of Women in Victoria, received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, and has written music for the biggest orchestras and ensembles in the country.)
Voices from the MSO Chorus, The Consort of Melbourne, and soloists Linda Barcan and Jud Arthur – led by chorus director Warren Trevelyan-Jones – will also feature in this performance of Deborah’s music. Alongside Eumeralla, a war requiem for piece, you will hear Deborah’s Long Time Living Here (Musical Acknowledgement of Country).
Hear Eumeralla, a war requiem for piece with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on 14 October in Hamer Hall.
Melissa Douglas’ Awaken
Now that you know what’s coming up, here’s the work that’s been celebrated so far. The MSO’s Celebrating Women in Music series launched with Schumann and Mendelssohn: Abundant Spring. At the centre of this program was the world premiere of Melissa Douglas’ Awaken. It was performed in Hamer Hall on September 7 – and it was recorded by ABC Classic, too. That means you’re going to have the chance to listen to the piece no matter where you are, because it is slated for a Lunchtime Concert broadcast this week on ABC Classic FM.
The MSO touts Melissa (pictured below) as having an “expressive, atmospheric ability to transport the listener to other worlds”. She is the 2023 MSO Cybec Young Composer in Residence – and it’s a big achievement for two reasons: the first being that it lands on the 20th anniversary of the partnership between the Cybec Foundation and the orchestra; the second being that it’s the first time this residency has ever been given to a female-identifying composer, according to MSO managing director Sophie Galaise.
Of this achievement, Melissa told the orchestra: “I’m thrilled to receive this prestigious opportunity with the MSO – and to be able to work with these incredible musicians over the course of three new commissions.”
Awaken is one of those commissions. And in August, another – Theatre of the Everyday for mixed ensemble – was performed by MSO and MSO Academy musicians at the National Gallery of Victoria. The first commission Ascension for full orchestra received its MSO world premiere in the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
But back to Awaken, you’ll get to hear this music if you tune in to ABC Classic FM this 15 October. The concert was led by principal guest conductor Xian Zhang, and features solo violinist Esther Yoo – two powerhouse women of the music industry.
Mary Finsterer’s Stabat Mater
The Celebrating Women in Music series also featured the world premiere of Mary Finsterer’s MSO Commission AD HONOREM BEATÆ MARIÆ VIRGINIS & STABAT MATER. This work was performed in St Patrick’s Cathedral on a program of sacred works, itself curated by composer Mary Finsterer who is also the MSO’s 2023 Composer in Residence. Mary (pictured below) is also an APRA AMCOS Art Music Award-winning composer whose music has been performed to acclaim across the world, and has been featured in films such as Die Hard 4.
Mary explained in her concert program: “My personal approach to sacred music is an artistic journey that traverses the annals of time, drawing upon influences that extend far beyond present stylistic practice. At its core, my reverence for sacred music finds its roots in the timeless strains of Gregorian chant, an ethereal and ancient form of musical expression that has endured through the centuries, evoking a profound sense of the divine.”
Mary’s music was heard through the voices of Mia Robinson and the Choir of Trinity College Melbourne, while Joseph Noal played organ.
While this Celebrating Women in Music performance took place in September, also featuring on the Metropolis New Music Program, you can watch a recording of AD HONOREM BEATÆ MARIÆ VIRGINIS & STABAT MATER via Mary’s website.
Learn more about the Celebrating Women in Music series on the MSO website.
Images supplied. Mary credit Dean Golja.
