ICO Sundays 2022

Sunday 27th March 1.00pm @ Sherwood State School, cnr Oxley and Sherwood Rds, Sherwood

Conductor – Greta Hunter

Cello Soloist – Milo Duval

Welcome to our first concert for 2022. Three well-loved pieces each composed with someone very much in mind. Offenbach, Haydn, Beethoven. Parody, playful energy, honouring friendship. Sit back and enjoy our concert where virtuosity and fun go hand in hand.

Program

Jacques Offenbach – Overture to Orphée aux Enfers arranged for symphonic wind ensemble by Ray Thompson

Haydn – Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major

INTERVAL 

Beethoven – Symphony No. 1 in C Major Op.21

Greta Hunter – Conductor

Greta Hunter is a flutist, music educator, conductor, and musical director of three community ensembles in Brisbane.

Greta holds a Bachelor of Music with first class honours majoring in Classical Flute Performance from the University of Queensland.  She held the 2018 position of principal flute with the Queensland Youth Symphony (QYS) after previously performing as the orchestra’s principal piccolo.  Greta has toured regularly with the QYO Chamber Orchestra and in 2017 performed with the QYS on its major international tour to China and Germany.  She is the flute specialist tutor at the Westside Christian College, Brisbane.

Greta is an experienced conductor with a passion for community music.  In 2019 she attended the Melbourne Youth Orchestra’s conductor development program, and the advanced conducting program at the Australian Choral Conductors Education and Training (ACCET) Summer School.  Greta has also attended the Australian Conducting Academy in Tasmania and the Zlin International Conducting Masterclass in the Czech Republic, and was invited to guest conduct the QYS in its 2018 Strings Sensations concert.

Greta is the musical director and conductor of the Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra, Songshine Choir and Queensland Korean Junior Strings.

Milo Duval – cello

Cellist, Milo Duval is a talented young performer and soloist, who also enjoys composing and teaching music.

Now sixteen years old, Milo has finished Suzuki method training and is studying in the music excellence program at Mansfield State High School. He has played the cello in the Queensland Youth Symphony, performed multiple concertos with orchestra, travelled with the Australian Youth Orchestra, and has sat as principal cellist in the Queensland Conservatorium Youth Symphony for several years. Milo is privileged to study cello under Hyung Suk Bae from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Milo’s love for music began as a baby, when he would crawl to the stereo and press his ear against the speaker to listen to Pirates of the Caribbean, his favourite piece. He began his studies on the piano, taught for several years by Erin Towers, however transitioned to cello out of love for its rich bass sound.

Milo enjoys composing music in many styles, and has learnt how to teach young student groups under the guidance of Silvia Li. At Mansfield State High he finds it fulfilling to teach his peers and younger musicians.

Milo enjoys experiencing life with headphones in his ears, often immersed in a hand-picked classical music playlist, the longest period being for 4 days, his greatest accomplishment to date. He looks forward to continuing his cello studies and teaching, and is passionate about solo playing and performing with others in chamber and orchestral groups.

Program Notes

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)

Overture to Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld)

The son of a German Jewish cantor, Jacques Offenbach moved to Paris in 1833, and trained at the Paris Conservatoire. He was a cellist and salon musician until he was appointed conductor of the Théatre Français and began composing one-act operettas, satirising the vapid social scene of Paris. His devilish skill at skewering icons of culture with sparkling, witty and adroit caricatures was unparalleled in French comedic theatre at the middle of the century, and established him as one of the most important creators of operetta.

Orphée aux enfers created a scandal at its premiere. The operetta parodies the story of Orpheus, whose bride, Eurydice, dies on their wedding day. By means of his amazing musical talent Orpheus wins her back from the underworld only to lose her again by looking back at her before reaching the surface. Offenbach insulted everyone even-handedly. He was accused of denigrating classical antiquity, the revered Christoph Willibald Gluck, who had written a serious opera on the Orpheus legend, the Emperor, the government and the prevailing social order. Predictably, the negative publicity made for soaring ticket sales, however with the fall of the Emperor and the changing political and social climate, Offenbach had to revise the operetta extensively in 1874.

Arranged by Ray Thompson for a symphonic wind ensemble, the overture opens with a dramatic fanfare, then moves to a virtuoso cadenza for clarinet followed by other attractive solos. Contrasting sections appear leading to an especially winsome and famous solo in slow waltz time. It finishes with a Galop infernal, a melody which later influenced the famous dance the Can Can.

Program Notes by: William E Runyan – https://www.runyanprogramnotes.com/jacques-offenbach/overture-orpheus-underworld
Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn – https://pasadenasymphony-pops.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/American_in_Paris_April-30-16.pdf

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Cello Concerto No.1 in C Major

Austrian composer, Franz Joseph Hayden was one of the most important figures in the development of the classical style in music during the 18th century.  Haydn composed the Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major between 1761 and 1765, however the score was lost during the composer’s life time and only rediscovered in 1961. It has since been a musical staple that has joined the classical music canon.

This concerto demonstrates the many facets of the cello, from growling low chords to tripping semiquaver scales in the instrument’s sweet high register. The main theme of the Moderato is the best sort of melody: cheerful, hummable, an ear-worm that one wouldn’t mind running through their head for most of the day. The Adagio is gorgeously ecclesiastic, reminiscent of Baroque-era slow movements in its harmonic progressions and breathy phrasing. The Finale: Allegro molto is light and enchanting.

Orchestra and soloist make use of their speed and dexterity in a playful manner, a pleasant reminder that Haydn recognised that virtuosity and fun often go hand in hand.

Program Notes by: Classic FM – https://www.classicfm.com/composers/haydn/music/cello-concerto-no1-c/
Phillip Huscher – https://nanopdf.com/download/program-notes-joseph-haydn-cello-concerto-in-c-major-hob_pdf
Sarah Gibson – https://seattlesymphony.org/en/beyond-the-stage/program-notes-haydn-cello-concerto

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Symphony No.1 in C Major, Opus 21

Beethoven’s First Symphony was composed at age 29 in 1799 – 1800 at the dawn of a new century. It appeared late in the first period of Beethoven’s career, just a year or two before the crisis brought about by his gradual loss of hearing. By the mid-1790s, Beethoven had tried most of the important instrumental genres, except symphony and string quartet. When Beethoven did come forward with his first symphonies, he built on the achievements of Haydn and Mozart. Contemporaries reacted to this work by using the word “masterpiece” repeatedly and praising its “originality.”

The opening Adagio molto seems to begin in the wrong tonality, with a dominant chord resolving to the subdominant key, and being placed at the beginning of a grand symphony, it is unexpected and original. The vibrant Allegro con brio that follows is filled with playful energy. The second movement, Andante cantabile con moto, begins with the second violins presenting a courtly theme that is taken up by other instruments. This theme alternates with a more light-hearted melody. The final movement also begins with an Adagio that mischievously leads to an Allegro molto e vivace, showing Beethoven at his most playful.  After a loud chord intoned by the full orchestra, the first violins slowly work their way up the notes of the scale, first three notes, then four, five, six, and seven, eventually tipping over into the energetic octave scale that initiates the fast tempo that is sustained for the rest of the movement.

No wonder Beethoven’s audiences were delighted, as they have been ever since.

Program Notes by: Philadelphia Orchestra Association – https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5442651
Additional information: Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra – https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/backstage/program-notes/beethoven-symphony-no-1/

Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra

Flute

Eliza Cordery

Julie Stanton

Oboe

Clint Fox

Clarinet

Ryan Evans

Colleen Rowe

Bassoon

Angela Cook

Kirsten Wilson

Horn

Nicole Blackett

John MacGinley

Piano

Gary Hunt

Timpani and Percussion

Janine Kesting