ICO 2023 season – Sundays @ 1pm

Sunday 10th September 1.00pm @ Sherwood State School, cnr Oxley and Sherwood Rds, Sherwood

Conductor – Greta Hunter

Bassoon soloist – Hayden Mears

Dvořák’s unique musical motifs in the Legends; Mozart’s wit and charm in the Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major; and Schubert’s sublime instrumental conversations in the “Little C Major” Symphony. Come to our third Sundays @ 1pm concert and be part of the music with the ICO in 2023.

Program

Dvořák – Legends (Op. 59)

Mozart – Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major (K.191/186e)

INTERVAL

Schubert – Symphony No. 6 “Little C Major” (D. 589)

Greta Hunter – Conductor

Greta Hunter is a Brisbane based conductor and flute specialist. She holds a Bachelor of Music (BMus(hons)) from the University of Queensland, majoring in flute performance, and currently studies Orchestral Conducting with the Cardiff International Academy of Conducting and Mark Shapiro (The Julliard School). 

Greta holds the position of conductor with the Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra (ICO), where she connects players to great orchestral works most often from the 18th – 20th centuries. With ICO, Greta creates valuable opportunities for outstanding young musicians to rehearse and perform concertos and solo works with a full orchestra. She is equally at home with choral music and is currently the musical director of Songshine Choir. Greta also works with school and community youth ensembles as well as being regularly invited to guest conduct other instrumental and vocal ensembles around Brisbane.

Greta is a flute specialist tutor at St Peter’s Lutheran College (Indooroopilly) and Westside Christian College. She is passionate about developing technique and musicianship and incorporates a multidisciplinary approach to her teaching, where she utilises and combines flute pedagogy with vocal pedagogy. Greta incorporates this approach to develop technique and musicianship for flutists and choristers alike and has seen significant positive benefits across both disciplines.

Greta is driven by the underlying philosophy that everyone deserves to experience meaningful music making. Through her work as both a conductor and flute specialist tutor, Greta guides people to explore the possibilities of expression through music and ultimately to engage with music in a deeper and more meaningful way.

Hayden Mears – Bassoon

Hayden Mears discovered his passion for the bassoon in high school when he stumbled across the instrument in the school’s storage room. Since then he has performed in local and state competitions including the Australian Double Reed Society competition in 2021, and the 4MBS Chamber Competition in 2022.

Under the tutelage of Associate Principal Bassoonist of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, David Mitchell, Hayden continues to demonstrate his abilities with the Queensland Youth Symphony, Australian Youth Orchestra programs, and the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, regularly performing in established venues throughout Queensland such as the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and the Convention Centre. Hayden also performs on occasion with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as tutti bassoon and principal contrabassoon.

Currently in his third year at Griffith Conservatorium, Hayden is looking forward to touring with the Queensland Youth Symphony in 2023 through Singapore, Austria and Germany, where he hopes to further his studies. In his spare time Hayden enjoys cycling around Brisbane.

Program Notes

Antonin Dvořák (1841 – 1904)

Legends (Op. 59) – movts 1 and 3, arranged for wind dectet by Ray Thompson

Antonin Dvořák came from humble and financially insecure origins. He grew up in a small Czech village, and at age eleven, he was apprenticed as a butcher for financial security. The young Antonin was a talented violinist, and at age 16 his father allowed him to go to Prague and study music. While there, he played violin in the local café orchestra and in the Provisional Theater Orchestra. While in the Theater Orchestra, he played under two of the most important composers of the day – Bedrich Smetana (the Czech nationalist composer) and Richard Wagner.

Dvořák was a prolific composer, and by age thirty-four, he had already composed several symphonies, operas and much chamber music. Unfortunately, he received little public recognition for those efforts. His fortunes changed however, after he won the Austrian State Prize. Johannes Brahms was one of the judges, and was so impressed, that he introduced Dvořák to his own publisher, Simrock. Simrock also was impressed with Dvořák, and immediately commissioned and published a set of Slavonic Dances (originally written for piano duet, but later orchestrated by the composer).

From that point on, Dvořák’s place in history was secure. The Slavonic Dances were so successful that in 1880-81 Dvořák wrote a similar set of works, but called them Legends. Like the Dances, they were first written as piano duets, but later orchestrated. This arrangement for wind dectet is by Ray Thompson.

These are short pieces and therefore not as expansive as the longer symphonies and tone poems. In fact, for these pieces, Dvořák often worked with little cells or musical motifs.As with most of Dvořák’s music, the tunes carry the day, and the melodies and harmonies are as appealing as they are unique.

Program notes: https://www.mnsinfonia.org/marvelous-miniatures-program-notes

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756 – 1791)

Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major (K.191/186e)

Mozart’s first documented concerto for a wind instrument, the Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major, is the only surviving bassoon concerto of the five concertos that he wrote. Not only does this piece showcase the technical and artistic capabilities of the bassoon, but it is also the most frequently performed work for bassoon.

The bassoon was already a well-established solo instrument in the Baroque period, having inspired Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) to write 39 concertos for bassoon. Nevertheless, its prominence as a featured soloist had waned by the start of the Classical period. It is possible that Mozart wrote this concerto in part to revitalise the bassoon’s contribution to the orchestral fabric. Written when Mozart was only 18 years of age, this concerto reveals the impressively mature and developed thought he put into the score. The main thematic material of the concerto is carefully designed expressly for the bassoon, showcasing its unique qualities and disguising its limits in power and range. Additionally, the concerto possesses the quintessential Mozart characteristics of wit and charm.

Following the traditional standard for a concerto of the Classical period, the work is set in three movements. The first movement, Allegro, is in the expected sonata form. Beginning with a dramatic entry of the orchestra, followed by the entrance of the soloist, this movement highlights the bassoon’s many virtues, including its extraordinary agility and the ability to trill, leap (nearly two octaves), repeat notes rapid-fire, sing lyrically, and sit comfortably on prominent low notes. The interaction with the orchestra is lively and conversational. The second movement, Andante ma Adagio, is a dreamy aria, with an elaborately embroidered melody over muted strings, showcasing a soft, lyrical singing voice. In contrast to the preceding two movements, the finale, Rondo: tempo di menuetto, is a dance. Set in the style of a minuet, the melody is based on the lilting rhythms of the standard courtly dance, constantly changing between the original theme of the movement and virtuosic variations performed by the soloist.

Program Notes: Luke Smith https://www.lakevieworchestra.org/notes/2019/3/8/mozart-bassoon-concerto-in-b-flat-major-k-191186e

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)

Symphony No.6 (D. 589)

Schubert and Beethoven lived in Vienna at the same time. Yet, they traveled in different circles and their creative paths diverged widely. While Beethoven’s ferocious, revolutionary symphonies were shaking up the musical world, Schubert was writing his own symphonies in near obscurity. None were published or performed publicly until after Schubert’s death in 1828 at the age of 31.

Beethoven’s symphonies develop organically from small motivic seeds and unfold with a sense of heroic struggle and dynamism. The symphonies of Schubert inhabit a radically different world. Filled with youthful charm and pristine lines, they are rooted in melody rather than motif. These melodies unfold with the ultimate effortlessness, at times veering off in unexpected directions through sudden, adventurous modulations. The instrumental voices of the orchestra come alive and enter into sublime conversations. Often, these forces are placed in opposition, with the strings and winds forming instrumental “choirs.”

We hear all of this in Schubert’s Symphony No. 6 in C Major. Completed in February of 1818, this piece earned the nickname the “Little C Major” in an effort to distinguish it from the much longer “Great” Ninth Symphony, set in the same key. It is music which draws upon the elegance and charm of Haydn and the sunny, cheerful wit of Rossini. The influence of Beethoven is also evident, especially in the monumental chords which open the first movement, and in the abrupt twists and turns of the Scherzo. Yet ultimately, it is the distinct voice of Schubert which prevails.

Following a majestic introduction, the first movement springs to life with a dizzying interplay of voices. Filled with spirited interjections, this is music which overflows with joyful exuberance. The individual voices of the woodwinds compete for attention and take centerstage.

The second movement begins with a stately melody that might be at home in a Haydn symphony. A second theme arrives as a boisterous interruption punctuated with triplets. Again, the irrepressible woodwind voices have their say. There are echoes of Rossini’s sunniest operatic music. The final bars drift off into serene repose.

The Scherzo is a wild, playful romp. It is filled with sudden, jarring dynamic changes, delightful harmonic turns, and imitative games. The final movement begins with a stately melody accompanied by the persistent “tick-tock” rhythm of a clock. Before the concluding bars, there are brief foreshadowings of the tense, exhilarating drama which unfolds in the finale of the “Great” Ninth Symphony. The coda section brings the Sixth Symphony to a grand, celebratory conclusion.

Beethoven commented, “Truly in Schubert there is the divine spark.”

Program Notes: Timothy Judd – The Listeners’ Club https://thelistenersclub.com/2022/03/07/schuberts-sixth-symphony-the-youthful-charm-of-the-little-c-major/

Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra

Flute

Hayley Bryant

Kymberley Jones

Midori Matsumura

Nickea Warrener

Clarinet

Ryan Evans

Colleen Rowe

Bassoon

Jarrah Newman

Kirsten Wilson

Horn

Nicole Blackett

Bob Townsend

Timpani and Percussion

Janine Kesting