Category: Music
Roly Sussex and UQ orchestra bring Carnival of the Animals to life in Brisbane
The University of Queensland student Symphony Orchestra will perform Carnival of the Animals in Brisbane on 26 May.
The University of Queensland student Symphony Orchestra will perform
Carnival of the Animals in Brisbane on 26 May.
The University of Queensland student Symphony Orchestra is joining forces with
writer, broadcaster and researcher Roland Sussex to present a musical classic
in Brisbane on 26 May.
Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex will narrate during the student orchestra's performance of the Carnival of the Animals.
School of Music Manager Mr David Mayocchi said the musical suite and narration were rarely performed together.
"The combination will ensure an energetic and highly entertaining concert," he said.
"We're delighted Emeritus Professor Sussex from the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies has agreed to give the narration which accompanies this humorous and well-loved classic.
"One of the advantages of being part of The University of Queensland community is that we can co-operate with the extensive talent available in other schools to create unique and vibrant performances such as this.
"As a skilled narrator, Professor Sussex's contribution will not only complement the talents of our acclaimed pianists Liam Viney and Anna Grinberg, but will also greatly enhance the performance of our student musicians in the UQ Symphony Orchestra," Mr Mayocchi said.
Carnival of the Animals, written by French composer Saint-Saëns in 1886, is a 14-movement musical 'zoo' featuring lions, elephants, kangaroos and tortoises, and is suitable for all ages and musical tastes.
A set of humorous verses to accompany the suites was written by American poet Ogden Nash in 1949.
Rachmaninoff's dramatic Symphony No. 2 in E minor will also be performed during the concert.
Event details:
What: Live concert: 'Carnival of Animals', performed by the UQ student Symphony
Orchestra and narrated by Emeritus Professor Roland Sussex
When: Sunday 26 May, 2pm - 4pm
Where: Concert Hall, QPAC
Tickets: $25 / $18 concession (booking fees apply), available from the QPAC website
- Login to post comments
New to our collection: Silk Theatre Handbill
Fryer Library was delighted to recently add to its collection a silk theatre handbill. With black print on cream silk and a fringed edging, it is a very early example of this genre in Brisbane.
The handbill dates from the earliest days of Brisbane's first permanent theatre and music venue. Mason's Theatre (also known as Mason's Concert Hall) was built in Elizabeth Street by George B Mason, music and dance teacher. The theatre opened on 25 January 1865 with the farce Poor Piccadilly. Six months later, Lyster's Royal Italian and English Opera Company performed there.
Lyster's Royal Italian and English Opera Company. Subscription season of three nights, commencing July 20 1865 Brisbane : Courier General Printing Office, 1865. 39 x 15 cm.
The arrival of Lyster's Opera Company in Brisbane was reported on with much excitement in the newspapers of the time, and was seen as a mark of Brisbane's progress. William Lyster had brought his opera company to Australia from the USA in 1861. A Melbourne-based company, it toured Australia and New Zealand with great success, presenting about 42 full-length operas between 1861 and 1868. In July 1865 the company visited Brisbane. The Brisbane Courier of 7 July 1865 referred to 'the bona fide appearance of the best opera company that has yet attempted the lyric drama in the Australian colonies'. It continued, 'The advent of the Lyster Opera Company might almost be recognized as one of the significant signs of the rapid progress of the colony'. The Darling Downs Gazette & General Advertiser of 12 July 1865 enthused in similar vein, 'It is scarcely 6 years since we were separated from New South Wales, and yet our city is now deemed worthy of a visit by the Lyster Opera Company'.
The performances advertised over the nights of 20th to 22nd July 1865 at Mason's Theatre were Gounod's Faust, Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, and Bellini's La Sonnambula. These were three of the company's most popular performed works, with Les Huguenots, which premiered in Melbourne in November 1862: 'regarded as inaugurating a new epoch of the Australian stage'. (Margaret Seares, 'Opera', Currency Companion to Music and Dance in Australia, Sydney : Currency Press, 2003 : 470.)
It is not clear whether or not the citizens of Brisbane were as appreciative of Lyster's Royal Italian and English Theatre Company as the critics of the time thought they should be. There are reports of less than full houses, and hints that Mr Mason was taking a risk in bringing the company to Brisbane. But the silk handbill, with its fringed elegance, is a striking record of the early days of Brisbane and one of Australia's first touring opera companies.
- Cathy Leutenegger.
Music manuscripts and theate programs, such as this silk handbill, will be on display as part of The Friends of Fryer Christmas event next Wednesday evening, 28th November 2012.
- Login to post comments
Loading