The White Hat Guide to the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Danielle de Niese with the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Danielle de Niese (soprano) has long been on White Hat's list of Significant Melbourne People. She was born in Melbourne and won Young Talent Time aged 9, then moved to Los Angeles, won an Emmy and made her debut with the LA Opera aged 15. She has blossomed into one of the hottest properties in opera, enrapturing audiences in roles like Cleopatra, Euridice and Susanna at Glyndebourne, the Metropolitan Opera and on screen.

To celebrate her professional debut in her home country, De Niese sings a specially commissioned Australian work, which also marks the centenary of Australia’s Nobel laureate Patrick White. The fireworks of Mozart's Exsultate jubilatee is contrasted Schubert's haunting song, Death and the Maiden. The Australian Chamber Orchestra (Richard Tognetti Artistic Director and Lead Violin) will then perform Schubert's masterly quartet (arranged for string orchestra) which uses that same song as an inspiration.

• Mozart Symphony K196/121, “La finta giardiniera”
• Vine New work (text by Patrick White)
• Meale Cantilena Pacifica
• Mozart Exsultate jubilate
• Schubert (arr. Tognetti) Death and the Maiden
• Schubert (arr. Tognetti) String Quartet No.14, “Death and the Maiden” (one of White Hat's Top 100 Chamber Works)

7.30pm, Thursday 7th June 2012, Wollongong Town Hall, Wollongong
7pm 9 June; 8pm 12 June; 7pm 13 June 2012  City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
2.30pm,17th June; 8pm, 18th June 2012, Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne
8pm, Wednesday 20th June 2012, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide
2pm, Sunday 24th June 2012, Sydney Opera House, Sydney
8pm, Monday 25th June 2012, QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane

Trout Quintet & Quartet for the End of Time

A rare treat. Two of what White Hat regards as the finest works in the chamber music repetoire presented in the one concert. The Schubert Trout Quintet is full of sunshine and youthful optimism while Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time is, in White Hat's opinion, one of the great works of the 20th century. A prisoner of war, Messiaen wrote the Quartet for the End of Time for the musicians he found in the camp, premiering it to an audience of inmates and guards. “Never” he said, "was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension."

Australian Chamber Orchestra Principals are joined by clarinettist Paul Dean and dynamic young pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar, making his Australian debut.The performers are Helena Rathbone (violin), Christopher Moore (viola), Timo-Veikko Valve (cello), Maxime Bibeau (double bass), Paul Dean (clarinet) and Saleem Abboud Ashkar (piano).

• Schubert Piano Quintet, “Trout” (one of White Hat's Top 100 Chamber Works)
• Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time (one of White Hat's Top 100 Chamber Works)

8pm, Wednesday 11th July 2012, QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane
7.30pm, Thursday 12th July 2012, Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle
7pm 14 July; 8pm, 17 July; 7pm, 18 July 2012 City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
2pm, Sunday 15th July 2012, Sydney Opera House, Sydney
8pm, 16 July; 2.30pm, 22 July; 8pm, 23 July 2012 Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank, Melbourne
7.30pm, Thursday 19th July 2012, Wollongong Town Hall, Wollongong
8pm, Saturday 21st July 2012, Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra
8pm, Tuesday 24th July 2012, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide

Our rating: Five Hats

Beethoven 9 - Ode to Joy

The Australian Chamber Orchestra with Richard Tognetti (Artistic Director and Lead Violin), Choir of Clare College, Cambridge (Graham Ross Director), Lucy Crowe (soprano), Fiona Campbell (mezzo soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor) Matthew Brook (bass)

White Hat has long believed that many modern performance of Beethoven symphonies by large symphony orchestras lack the vitality and drive of a performance by a first rate chamber orchestra - supplemented where necessary - of the proportions that Beethoven was writing for For those who share this view we suggest you look no further. Critics called the ACO's recent Beethoven concert in London “the finest concert of the summer” and spoke of “thrilling playing”, “vibrant drive” and “total involvement”, concluding, “this compact chamber orchestra matches anything Europe can offer in energy, precision and interpretative rigour.”

Joined by one of the finest British choirs this concert promises to be something special where every note Beethoven wrote can be heard rather than lost in a sea of overblown orchestral 'atmosphere'.

• Messiaen Prayer of Christ ascending towards his Father, from L’Ascension
• Brahms Geistliches Lied
• Beethoven Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage
• Beethoven Symphony No.9 (one of White Hat's Top 100 Symphonies)

8pm, Saturday 4th August 2012, Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra
2pm, 5th Aug; 8pm, 9th Aug 2012, Sydney Opera House, Sydney
8pm, Monday 6th August 2012, QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane
8pm, 7 Aug; 7pm, 8 Aug; 7pm 11 Aug 2012, City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
2.30pm 12 Aug; 8pm, 13 Aug 2012, The Arts Centre, Hamer Hall, Melbourne
8pm, Tuesday 14th August 2012, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide
7.30pm, Wednesday 15th August 2012, Perth Concert Hall, Perth

Mozart, Handel & Vivaldi Concertos

The Australian Chamber Orchestra with Richard Egarr (Guest Director, Harpsichord, Fortepiano) and Satu Vänskä (Lead Violin)

Keyboard players, conductor, historian, and director of the Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr directs this concert from the harpsichord and performs Mozart's delightful Piano Concerto No.12 on the fortepiano. White Hat suggests you take the opportunity to hear the difference it make to have a Mozart concerto played on the fortepiano rather than an overblown concert grand. Satu Vänskä is soloist in a Vivaldi concerto on the ACO's Stradivarius violin.

• Corelli Concerto Grosso, Op.6 No.1
• Castello Two Sonatas, “per stromenti d’arco”
• Biber Battalia
• Vivaldi Violin Concerto, RV190
• Mozart Piano Concerto No.12
• Handel Concerto Grosso, Op.6 No.1

8pm, Saturday 6th October 2012, Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra
2.30pm 7th Oct; 8pm 8th Oct  2012, The Arts Centre, Hamer Hall, Melbourne
8pm, Tuesday 9th October 2012, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide
7.30pm, Wednesday 10th October 2012, Perth Concert Hall, Perth
7pm 13 Oct; 8pm 16 Oct; 7pm 17 Oct 2012,  City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
2pm, Sunday 14th October 2012, Sydney Opera House, Sydney
7.30pm, Monday 15th October 2012, Wollongong Town Hall, Wollongong
7.30pm, Thursday 18th October 2012, Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle

Russian Visions

Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir is one of his sunniest and most exuberant works and Shostakovich's first piano concerto is full of pyrotechnics for the pianist and accompanying trumpet. What is sometimes less recognised is that this work calls for first rate string playing from the orchestra. For that reason, White Hat suggests you take the opportunity to get along and hear it with one of the best string ensembles in Australia - or any other country for that matter.

• Prokofiev (arr. Barshai/Tognetti) Visions fugitives
• Shotakovich Piano Concerto No.1
• Shotakovich Octet
• Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence (one of White Hat's Top 100 Chamber Works)

8pm, Saturday 10th November 2012, Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra
2,30pm 11th Nov; 8pm 12th Nov 2012. The Arts Centre, Hamer Hall, Melbourne
7.30pm, Wednesday 14th November 2012, Perth Concert Hall, Perth
7pm 17 Nov; 8pm 20 Nov; 7pm 21 Nov 2012, City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
8pm, Monday 19th November 2012, QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane
7.30pm, Thursday 22nd November 2012, Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle
2pm, Sunday 25th November 2012, Sydney Opera House, Sydney