2024-VCASS-MUSIC-Choral Fantasy-Program

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Featuring Year 7 - 12 Music Students of the

Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School

presents

VCASS | 2023

Featuring Music By Holly Harrison

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www.melbournerecital.com.au | (03) 9699 3333

Melbourne Recital Centre

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

Introduction and Allegro, Op 47 (1905)

Edward Elgar

Petite Suite (1889)

Claude Debussy Arr. Henri Büsser

I. En bateau

II. Cortège

III. Menuet

IV. Ballet

Interval | 20 Minutes

Dark Night of the Soul (2011)

Ola Gjeilo

Choral Fantasy, Op 80 (1808)

Ludwig van Beethoven

Selections from Saul Oratorio, HWV 53 (1739)

George Frideric HandeL

Give Us Cause (2024)

Jem Herbert

(2024 World Premiere Commission)

From the Principal

A warm welcome to our major music

performance for 2024.

We are proud to present this uplifting

program at the iconic Melbourne Recital

Centre, featuring repertoire from the great

masters alongside artistic visionaries of today.

A world premiere is a seminal moment in the life of every composer and

performer and our musicians and guest artists are thrilled to present Give

Us Cause by alumnus, Jem Herbert, a work commissioned for our VCASS

community, by our VCASS community.

At VCASS, our vision for excellence in artistry is underpinned by our

connection to the rich artistic and collaborative culture surrounding

our school. The generosity and support of this community enables our

students to develop beyond their expectations.

Such an ambitious project as this evening would not be possible without

vision, passion and a great deal of commitment. Therefore, we wish to

thank our Music Team and Guest Artists, our entire VCASS staff, and you,

our parents and friends, for attending this evening and for supporting our

program and the inspiring young adults on stage tonight.

To our VCASS students, it is a privilege to be involved in the lives of such

impressive custodians of the future. We are so proud of you.

Enjoy this special evening.

Dr. Karen Schofield

ACTING PRINCIPAL

From the Head of Music

It is with verve and pride that we welcome you to

the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School’s

performance of Choral Fantasy.

Our 2024 music major season spans almost 300 years

of orchestral and choral music, exploring traditions

stretching back to the Baroque period through to quite

literally today. Tonight's program offers six diverse

works, each showcasing the remarkable collective

prowess of the VCASS musicians and the extraordinary

acoustics of the stunning Melbourne Recital Centre.

We open with Edward Elgar’s rousing Introduction and Allegro, Op 47,

composed for string quartet and string orchestra. Daring and rapturous, this

music demands ultimate commitment from the performers, something our

Senior Strings have been nurtured with through the expert pedagogy and

musicianship of co-directors, Rachael Beesley and Josephine Vains. Through

months of weekly rehearsals our Senior Strings have honed and re-honed

every morsel, challenged to not only conquer the technical demands of their

individual part, but more so the sometimes precariously poised ensemble

and scintillating expressive outcomes.

Our second orchestral offering comes from the hugely influential French

tone poet Claude Debussy. Although originally imagined for piano duet,

Henri Büsser’s colourful arrangement of Petite Suite has etched itself into

the regular rotation of professional orchestras around the world. Leading

the VCASS Symphony Orchestra in 2024 is Melbourne based stalwart Mark

Shiell, whose generosity as an educator and skill as a conductor permeates

this sumptuous music.

Following interval, we share our 2024 world premiere commission Give

Us Cause from the pen of VCASS alumnus Jem Herbert. As a student at

VCASS, Jem was an eclectic and curious musician, a skilled singer, pianist

and composer, and a significant contributor to the culture of the school.

It is wonderful to hear this contribution continue and we are so grateful

that Jem has turned his attention and craft back to VCASS, building on the

strong bond with Mr Tutty forged over countless hours of rehearsals and

hallway conversations.

Next we traverse time courtesy of Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo and his

modern setting of the 16th Century text from St John of the Cross. Dark

Night of the Soul features mesmerising rhythmic repetition, a rich harmonic

palette bursting with colour and a sonorous blend of timbre across the

sizable chorus, string quartet and piano, cohesively melded under the

inspired stewardship of Dermot Tutty.

We continue with our concert's title work, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Choral

Fantasy, Op 80. Featuring a classical orchestra, chorus and virtuosic piano

soloists, Beethoven’s exalting musical sensibilities are realised by the full

cast of VCASS musicians under the baton of Mark Shiell assisted by Dermot

Tutty. Renowned for his prolific output, it is inevitable that some licensed

‘borrowing’ occurred across Beethoven’s expansive catalogue, with the

origins of his iconic finale from his 9th symphony finding its genesis right

here in his Choral Fantasy.

Shiell, Tutty and the Musicians of VCASS combine one last time to take us

back to the Baroque with selections from George Frideric Handel’s Saul

Oratorio, HWV 53. A significant chorus and boutique orchestra augmented

by harpsichord, chamber organ, celeste and ‘theorbo’ guitars will capitalise

on the glorious cathedralesque acoustics of the MRC bringing Handel’s

spirited voice to life.

A production of this magnitude can only occur with tremendous support

from copious sources. We extend our thanks to the wonderful team of

creatives; Mark Shiell, Rachael Beesley, Josephine Vains, Dermot Tutty,

and Jem Herbert. Along with the fabulous VCASS Music Team composed

of Classroom pedagogues, Instrumental Music Teachers and Ensemble

Tutors. We thank the VCASS Leadership and School Council for supporting

our endeavours and the opportunity to take the stage in this beautiful

venue. The support of our entire community; family, friends, peers, staff, is

immensely appreciated and essential in achieving great things!

Finally, congratulations to all of our musicians, especially the graduating

class of 2024, who continue to apply themselves with remarkable creativity

and commitment.

James Le Fevre

HEAD OF MUSIC

Introduction and Allegro, Op 47 (1905)

String Quartet

Hannah Tyrrell

Holly Sutton

Pascal Uxo Williams

Shao-Che (Ethan) Chiao

First violin

Raistlin Chan^

Eliza Henson Gregg

Helena (Lena) Kozdra

Poppy Savage

Anna Tench

Second Violin

Elanor Chang

Anna Davidson

Daniel Feng

Ji Hun Hwang

Honami Yum^

Viola

Eleanore Low*

Edmund Mantelli*

Tom Protat^

Karrilyn Wang

Cello

Remy Grunden

Lazarus Lewis

Shanna Shang

Mahalia Shelton^

Katerina Vakoussevitch

Olivia Van Helsdingen

Evan Widjaja

Double Bass

Maxwell (Max) Harders

Ava Loke^

COMPOSER

DIRECTORS

Ensemble

Edward Elgar

Rachael Beesley and Josephine Vains

VCASS Senior Strings

^ Section leader

* Guest Musician

It is the baroque era concerto grossi of composers such as Handel and

Corelli that Elgar seems to have had in mind when devising the structure

and style of this work. Composed in 1905, it features a string quartet of

soloists who at once play much individual material while also blending

seamlessly with the ensemble of strings providing support. The work

places significant technical demands on all players, perhaps most

obviously in the double bass part which is required to mimic much of the

fleeting writing that is easier to navigate on the much smaller violin.

Introduction and Allegro was written for the then newly established

London Symphony Orchestra with the aim of acting as a showpiece

for the ensemble’s virtuosity. It was initially received with lukewarm

enthusiasm but has evolved into a popular and beloved core work within

the chamber orchestra repertoire.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the form’s eighteenth century inspiration,

other common baroque compositional styles are employed, including

the use of constant polyphony and fugal writing. But the overall spirit,

with its soaring romantic melodies (including an old Welsh song) is

unmistakably late romantic.

Stewart Kelly

PROGRAM NOTES

Petite Suite (1889)

Violin 1

Petra Banik

Elanor Chang

Daniel Feng

Ji Hun Hwang

Helena (Lena) Kozdra

Holly Sutton

Hannah Tyrrell^

Honami Yum

Violin 2

Victoria Akhramenko

Raistlin Chan

Anna Davidson

Inam (Nami) Fridberg

Eliza Henson Gregg^

Betty Lukashevsky

Anna Tench

Hannah Zou

Viola

Yan Cai

Evan O'Connor

Tom Protat

Pascal Uxo Williams^

Karrilyn Wang

Cello

Shao-Che (Ethan) Chiao^

Remy Grunden

Lazarus Lewis

Benjamin Makelainen

Shanna Shang

Mahalia Shelton

Katerina Vakoussevitch

Olivia Van Helsdingen

Yaxuan (Anny) Wang

Evan Widjaja

Vicky Zhu

Double Bass

Maxwell (Max) Harders^

Ava Loke

Tianyi (Elton) Sun

Arthur Toovey

Flute / Piccolo

Ahra Kim^

Elizabeth Russell

Clarinet

Brooklin Bouphasavanh^

Cecilia Spicer

COMPOSER

arrangement

CONDUCTOR

Ensemble

Claude Debussy

Henri Büsser

Mark Shiell

VCASS Symphony Orchestra

I. En bateau

II. Cortège

III. Menuet

IV. Ballet

Oboe / Cor Anglais

Jade Cheung

Anthony Khoa Tran^

BassOOn

Poppy Savage^

Innes Thistleton

Horn

Freya Hombergen*

Georgie O’Malley*

Trumpet

Arthur Lou^

Harvey de Koster*

Harp

Imogen Handley

Gemma Tong*

Timpani

Jasmine Lai^

Percussion

Sophia Arcinue

Oscar Edwards

Ethan Nistor

^ Section leader

* Guest Musician

Debussy won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1884 which came with a multi-

year residency at the Villa Medici, beginning in 1885. He was largely unhappy

there, complaining about the quality of accommodation, food and company

and finding the Italian operas of Donizetti and Verdi not to his taste. Perhaps

as a memory of home, he took with him a copy of Verlaine’s Fêtes Galantes and

these poems became central to a number of his works including as inspiration

for the first two movements of this piece. The suite was composed initially for

piano four hands in the late 1880’s, most likely at the request of the famous

Paris publisher, Durand, for a work to satisfy the burgeoning market of skilled

amateurs looking for music to perform in their salons. It is vastly different in

style to other works composed in these years. The composer and Durand gave

the premiere in Paris in 1889. Debussy had become friends with the conductor

and organist Henri Büsser in 1902 when he conducted several of the first run

of performances of Pelléas et Mélisande and he later invited him to produce the

orchestration of the suite we hear this evening.

Stewart Kelly

PROGRAM NOTES

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