Nordic mythology and natural beauty unify Australia’s most important festival of contemporary music
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Recital Centre present the 2014 Metropolis New Music Festival taking place over 12 days at the Melbourne Recital Centre from April 1-12.
The program features 10 world premieres as well as nine Australian premieres. “So many of the pieces involved through the whole festival are premieres and being heard in Australia and Melbourne for the very first time,” Huw Humphreys, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Director of Artistic Planning, explains.
“I think that in a way the most exciting pieces are the ones that are brand new,’ Humphreys continues. “Kristian Winther is performing in The Sonata for Violin and Orchestra that Olli Mustonen has written for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. That’s tremendously exciting as it’s the first time the world will get to hear this piece.”
The Sonata for Violin and Orchestra is just one of three orchestral concerts conducted by Olli Mustonen, who returns after his previous Beethoven cycle with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The celebrated Finnish conductor, pianist and composer devised the concerts to lead listeners through feelings of mystery and magic.
Combining both international and homegrown talent, the theme of mythology and natural beauty unites the festival. The chamber music program includes Six Degrees’ Garden of Earthly Desire, Plexus featuring tenor Christopher Saunders and Melbourne’s own Forest Collective with The Ice Garden which was influenced by their recent time in the Netherlands and Finland. There is also the world premiere of a new work by Perth composer Elliot Hughes and the Australian premiere of honoured Japanese composer Toshio Hoskawa’s Stunden Blumen.
“Almost all of the music that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performs as part of this festival is taken from the Baltic states and Nordic countries where there is a great history of storytelling; stories being passed down from generation to generation,” Humphreys explains. “So much of the music in this festival is about this theme within the natural world that has arisen from these traditions.”
Finnish-born Australian composer Auro Go performs Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Dichotomie in its Australian premiere. Pianist Stefan Cassomenos will perform the world premiere of Sappho’s Butterflies with soprano Judith Dodsworth. The concerts will also premiere the two winning Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program compositions for 2014, which Humphries calls “an honour and a privilege to be hearing these for the first time.”
metropolisfestival.com.au
melbournerecital.com.au
mso.com.au
