2016, another year, lots of variety

My contract with OV ended in early December with a fun 5 @ 5 concert featuring the cello section. I was in Bach's Brandenburg concerto no 6 - such fun to play.

There was more Bach in early Jan, this time at A=415 with a baroque group performing Cantata BWV 248V in St John's Southgate. It took the bass 48 hours to settle down to the lower pitch, which is a semitone lower than it is used to.

And between the two was the annual New Years Eve concert with the Auzzie Pops Orchestra. This year we stayed in Melbourne rather than partying the fee away on the Sydney tour! The accountant is happy about that. So the poor bass went from a Mario Lanza medley to Bach in the space of 3 days. Variety really is the spice of life.

My next project was the Residential Summer String Camp at Camp Clayton, near Ulverstone, Northern Tasmania. A huge mob of musos ranging from 7-70 were divided into 4 orchestra and 20 chamber ensembles and yours truly was the bass tutor this year. As the picture attests, we survived a tiring by fun week.

At time of writing I am working on a Beatles cover band gig in Hamer Hall. Great arrangements by Nick Buc. Such a lot of fun.

OV Contract coming to an end

Apologies to my regular readers (er, both of you!) for my tardiness in posting update on my website and blog. I have been busy, but that is no excuse.

My contract as acting princpal bass with OV ends at the end of November. It has been full, challenging and varied. Solo, chamber, small orchestra, ballet, opera and full symphony orchestra repertoire have provided lots of fun and notes.

It all started with a symphony concert and lots of chamber gigs in Bendigo in August, see photo.

A six week ballet season was next up, with Stravinskys Symphony in 3 Movements followed by the Australian Ballet's new version of Sleeping Beauty, including a CD recording.

October was a month of smaller projects such as the Herald Sun Aria competition, Mostly Mozart and Morning Melodies. And we are now in the opera season, where the main course is Mozart's glorious Marriage of Figaro.

Back to Melbourne - with OV for the rest of the year

Back to Melbourne - with OV for the rest of the year
My time with the Tasmanian Symphony ended in June 2015. What a great orchestra. I will be back soon.

After a stint in the UK (where I finally sold my house, yay) I am now back in Melbourne, on an acting principal contract with Orchestra Victoria.
After a chamber and orchestra season in Bendigo we move into the ballet season - 20:21 (Stravinsky symphony in three movements) then Sleeping Beauty. October has a series of smaller scale orchestral projects then the opera season features the Marriage of Figaro and Elixir of Love. That should keep me busy up until Xmas!

2015 is off and running

Where do the years go? I must be getting old when I come out with lines like this.

So here we are in 2015 and it looks very much like I will be spending most of it in Tasmania with the remarkable TSO. And why not, they are fantastic in every way.

We started in mid January and since then have done some CD recording sessions for Giselle, with Nicolette Fraillon and the Australian Ballet. David MacAllister came along for the sessions. He is crucial in setting dancable tempi for the recordings. It was fascinating to watch him work. We see the singers in the Sitz rehearsals for the operas but we only work with the dancers in the pit. It was insightful to watch Nicolette and David work together. They are an amazing team. Everything stems from the dance, and Nicolettes main job is to shape the music to make it fit the stage.

Between the two weeks Giselle recordings we had conductor workshops with Johannes Fritsch and his excellent young trainee conductors. Some stars for the future in that class.

October 2015

In October the weather can be varied - so too the gigs.

The month began with an interesting program with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. There were two guitar concertos in the middle (that I was roster off) - by Rodrigo (the famous one) and Tan Dun. I was there for the two glorious Debussy pieces, LÁpres Midi and Images 2 - Iberia. The older I get the more I love impressionist French music.

Next I was down to Fish Creek for a new program in a new venue. Waratah Hills Vineyard is making wonderful pinot noirs as well as a great range of other top drops. Its a spectacular setting in the midst of rolling Gippsland hills, and has an intimate space for chamber concerts. I took my group Kammermusik down for a quartet concert on 4th Oct. Great audience, really buzz, fun all round. And I got a chance to play Failing again, which is always fun. We gave the world premier of my version of the 6 German Dances by Mozart, K600.

Next it was off across the Bass Strait for 3 programs with the TSO:-
Ballet music - Nutcracker and Swan Lake, as well as Barbers quirky Cello Concerto
Education concert - features Little Red Riding Hood
Conductor workshops - where for one session I was the only bass, playing Shostakovitch Symphony no 9!! Among other gems

And finally we did started our last major Kammermusik program for the year with a concert at the Celia Rosser Gallery at Fish Creek. We played Rossinis string sonata no1 in G in between two Dvorak epics - the Terzetto and quintet in G

September 2014

The weather is finally warming up, and the gigs just keep rolling along.

In late Aug I did a chamber concert for the Myer Foundation in the Capitol Theatre in Bendigo with the Firebird trio and Antoinette Halloran. We played the Trout quintet and I had to rattle off some arrangements of opera classics for a Trout 5tet scoring, eg Carmen Habanera, Musettas Waltz from La Boheme etc. That tested my arranding skills a little!

After helping out the Stonnington Symphony do battle with Beethoven 9, the next main season was La Bayadere with the Australian Ballet and OV.

But the biggest gig of recent months was the Andrea Bocelli tour of Australia and NZ with the Auzzie Pops Orchestra. It was a blast! Bocelli is a star and a lovely person - so too Delta Goodrem, who was gracious enough to all the Stuarts to have thier photo taken with. The highlight of the year for me!

We performed in the big sports/rock arenas, such as Rod Laver in Melbourne, the All Phones arena in Sydney etc.

Kammermusik - Fish Creek Oct 2014

The photos on this page were taken at concerts at two Fish Creek venues in October 2014:-

Sat 4/10/14, Waratah Hills Vineyard. We performed a quartet program of Mozart, Bach and some more modern music - a smorgasbord of treats. The photo below is Roy performing the Bach E maj partita

Sat 25/10/14 - Celia Rosser Gallery, Fish Creek. The main course was Dvorak's majestic quintet in G, with his Terzetto and Rossini's first string sonata. Repeat concerts Parkville on Nov 9th. Great space, lovely audience, it was an all round great occasion......that almost didnt happen.

The shot below is of the Drovak Terzetto rehearsal, with Roy, Tim and Jason

The Fish Creek concert was not without its problems. It would be just wonderful if everyone could get on and make the world a better place but petty politics often gets in the way and stuffs things up. Shame. We got to the gig in the end but it was hard work. We will not be performing in Fish Creek for quite some time, until the scars have healed

Kammermusik - Fish Creek, May 2014

The photos on this page and in the Gallery show images from our recent concert series in Gippsland. Concerts were at:-

31/5/14 The Celia Rosser Gallery, Fish Creek

1/6/14 Community Hall, Cape Paterson

Fish Creek sold out two weeks before the concert. The gallery is a wonderful space for chamber music, perfect acoustic and Celias wonderful art in the walls.

 

We have just fixed our next few concerts:-

Sat 4/10/14, Waratah Hills Vineyard just outside Fish Creek. Its a new venue for us, so we are keen to get in there are try it out. We will perform a quartet program of Mozart, Bach and some more modern music - a smorgasbord of treats

Sat 25/10/14 - Celia Rosser Gallery, Fish Creek. The main course will be Dvorak's majestic quintet in G, with his Terzetto and Rossini's first string sonata as entrees. Repeat concerts will be 26/10 in Cape Paterson and 9/11 in Parkville.

 

We are still on the hunt for other venues an hour or so from Melbourne. We put in huge amounts of rehearsal time and it makes sense to do a few more performances.

               

Andrea Bocelli tour - Sept 2014

The highlight of September was the Australian and NZ tour with Andrea Bocelli. Reputed to be worth $40 US, the tour showed just why. Bocelli is a crossover musician, ie he bridges from opera to more popular music such as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra numbers.














Gigs were in Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth - in rock/sports arena, for example the Rod Laver Arena was used in Melbourne, the home of the final of the Australian Open tennis in January. Each venue held 1000s, the larger ones probably had 10,000 or so in the audience. The tickets were over $1000!!

The sets where huge - three large screens with a big video show, orchestra, chorus, light show, it was the full work. And there were two guest artists, an operatic soprano and pop artist, who on our tour was Delta Goodrem.

 

 

The Stuarts were chuffed to have thier photo taken with the stunning Delta!

Very busy June

Its been a busy year so far but things shift up a gear in June. The ballet was full on (three programs in a month) and there other stuff including two wonderful chamber concerts.

In June I performed music by Richard Strauss, Puccini, Brahms, Joby Talbot, Tchiakovsky, Mozart, Lalo, Georges Lentz, Faure, Rachmaninov, Gorecki, Haydn and Vaughan Williams.

The first of the chamber gigs was the Kammermusik concerts in Gippsland. The shot to the Right is taken in the Celia Rosser gallery in Fish Creek. I followed on from the success of The Ring (abridged) and the next opera to get the treatment was Tosca (abridged). It was fun and went down well. Jason Bunn was a star, on viola, glock and with his magnificent acting!

At time of writing this page I am at the end of our mid year break, which has been much needed. The batteries are re-charged, ready to go again...

Kammermusik tour May/June 2014

The photos on this page and in the Gallery show images from our recent concert series in Gippsland. Concerts were at:-


31/5/14 The Celia Rosser Gallery, Fish Creek

1/6/14 Community Hall, Cape Paterson


Fish Creek sold out two weeks before the concert. The gallery is a wonderful space for chamber music, perfect acoustic and Celias wonderful art in the walls. We performed:-


R Strauss - sextet from Capriccio

Puccini/Riley - Tosca (abridged)

Brahms - sextet no 2 in G


Our audience arrived before finished our seating all - the locals are keen on getting the vest seats. Sid Cowling, a local bass player is always keen to keep an eye on Stuart!

Tosca was fun, if a little tongue in cheek. The whole story plus the best tunes were all performed in 30 mins, for a fraction of the price of the opera. An no singers!! Fun was had by all, especially Jason!!

We are working on plans for a series of three concerts each in Fish Creek, Cape Paterson and Parkville, around the following dates:-

late Oct - possibly a Dvorak program including the string quintet in G and the Terzetto

Labour Day weekend 2015, 7th and 8th March

Late May - Gallery closing weekend


We are still on the hunt for other venues an hour or so from Melbourne. We put in huge amounts of rehearsal time and it makes sense to do a few more performances.

Rigoletto with Opera Australia and Orchestra Victoria

We are coming to the end of the Autumn Opera Australia season in Melbourne, with a two month fun of four operas:-

Verdi - Rigoletto conducted by Renato Palumbo

Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin. I was covering this show so didnt get the chance to play it, which is a shame as its beautiful

Rossini - A Turk in Italy, not his best but typical Opera Buffa, lots for fun on stage

Bizet - Carmen, where every number is on the greatest hits album, a real show stopper for the audience. We have two casts and one Carmen is very much better with the castanets than the other! Its a fab production but the highlight for the audience is when the horse bows with chorus in the curtain calls. Half the band scarper to the audience side of the pit wall once the gig is over, to get the best view

I was principal for Rigoletto, which gave me the chance to play the solo....which is acually a duetto for cello and bass, but we tend to think of it as a bass solo. Its the longest solo line in the repertoire. It comes at a part of the show when Rigoletto is negotiating with an assassin in a dark alleyway. Verdi had a clear concept of what a lyrical bass solo meant - something really bad is going to happen. His other notable example is Act 4 of Otello, when the bass section play a lyrical line just before the King kills his wife Desdemona.

Riggers was fun to play.

Julia Lezhneva

We perform with many artists but its rare that one completely takes your breath away. Julia Lezhneva is 24 and if she is not a global superstar already she will be acknowledged thus very soon. She is quite remarkable.

She performed baroque and classical show pieces in a concert that was part of the Hobart Baroque festival. It will live long in the memory.

This concert was a fitting end to my latest spell with the TSO. A lot of fun and great music...

...and now its time to return to Melbourne for the opera season. First up is Rigoletto and as principal all bass players will understand what that means! Part way thro the first act is one of the longest bass solos in the whole repertoire - actually its a duetto with the cello, but we like to think of it as a bass solo.

The rest of the year is starting to take shape. I will be in Melbourne for April and May doing the opera season, then the ballet will take up June, all with Orchestra Victoria.

Christopher Seaman and Tan Dun

Orchestras work with a wide range of conductors. In the database attached to this website I have listed the conductors I have worked with over the year - its not complete, just the ones I could remember and those worthy of mention. And that list now stands at 134. I have been lucky enough to work with some great musicians, including:-

John	Adams
Vladimir	Ashkenazy
Christian	Badea
Richard	Bonynge
Nicholas	Braithwaite
John	Corigliano
Andrew	Davies
Carl	Davies
Tan	Dun
Mark	Elder
Johannes	Fritzsch
Tony	Halstead
Vernon	Handley
Richard	Hickox
Christopher	Hogwood
Elgar	Howarth
Sebastian	Lang-Lessing
Andrew	Litton
Charles	Mackerras
Andrew	Manze
Roger	Norrington
Christopher	Seaman
En	Shao
Muhai	Tang
Yuri	Temirkanov
Robin	Ticciati
Yan Pascal	Tortelier
Guillaume	Tourniaire
Antony	Walker
Mark	Wigglesworth
David	Willcocks
John	Wilson
Simone	Young
David	Zinman

Recently I worked with two great musicians on this list. Once more I had the pleasure of playing in the orchestra for the Symphony Services Australia conductor training program, directed remarkable Christopher Seaman. I have done these sessions for a few years now, with several bands, but I never tire of them. Christopher is sharp, witty and insightful. His handling of the conductors and the orchestra is amazing. I learn so much each session I do.

And a completely different musician for whom I have equal respect is Tan Dun. I did a week with MSO directed by TD, doing some of his own music, some more chinese influenced stuff and some western hits such as the Mendlessohn fiddle concerto and five movements from Romeo and Juliet. I love his much - the Pipa concerto is tricky, challenging but hugely rewarding to play. It includes sections where the strings had to scream "Yao" randomly! And another piece required us to sing a tricky melody whilst playing another line!! Tan is due to write a bass concerto this year, commissioned by five orchestras who will perform it in 2015, including the Liverpool Phil and Tasmanian Symphony, where the soloist will be principal bass Stuart Thomson. I cant wait - its wonderful to have such a high profile conductor writing a bass concerto. Itll be fun.

2014 - a break then off we go again

2013 was a huge year for me and the basses. After the Ring I had the luxury of a week off before working with the Auzzie Pops Orchestra for the first time which was a lot of fun. We shot up to Sydney for two gigs in the opera house on 27 and 28 Dec before returning to Melbourne for two New Years Eve gigs in Hamer Hall. Soloists James Morrison and Marina Prior were fantastic. Marina reckons she is pushing 50 with 5 kids - I just dont believe it, as she looks and sounds way too good. And James Morrison is quite incredible. I have been lucky enough to work with him a few times, and heard his trumpet and trombone playing, but in this gig he played double and triple stops on the bone as well as performing solos on the alto sax and piano. Is there anything this man cannot do? I am currently enjoying two weeks off before it all starts again in mid Jan, very early, with TSO. But I am not complaining as I am lucky to spend 11 weeks with TSO again, just as I did last year. Later in the year a spell with OV beckons, plus some interesting dates with MSO. Its going to be busy once again. Pension is in Sydney right now, having a new extension fitted by Neil Brawley. Photo - the bass section having just played Gotterdamerung Act I (all 2 hours of it) for the last time. Only 5 hours of show to go! From L to R moi, Hugo Kluger, Nic Synot, Emma Sullivan, Lowri Morgan, Kylie Davies and Davin Holt.

Wagner's Ring - Generals over, cycle 1 starts very soon

The rehearsals are over, now its time for the show. Its been quite a slog - real hard work, and I am not in the whole program, being rostered off Seigfried. Its not the notes thats the problem - its very wll written for the bass, with far greater challenges for the fiddles, celli and horns. It the concentration that is the real test. Gotterdamerung runs for just over 7 hours in this version, with two main intervals of 1:30 and 35 mins, so thats 5 hours of music. Most operas run less than 3 hours, with one or maybe 2 intervals so no more than 2:40 with a break. Rheingold is 2:40 with no break, and althought thats the "short" opera, its still a challenge to keep focus at the end. But Gotterdamerung is altogether a different kettle of fish. The last act as 1:30 and we start it 5:30 after the start of the gig. Its a marathon...

...but amazing satisfying. It keep moving, never gets stuck. The music is remarkable. Such a range of emotions, fantastic scoring, much of it quiet and intimate.

The ring is a huge finish to a huge year. I have performed 42 programs with 835 hours of playing time. No wonder I am a bit knackered!

Photo - Curtains calls after the Gotterdamerung general on 16th Nov. Yes, the full orchestra are on stage. I am in the front row, just inside the LH "house" front column as you look, just behind some of the Rhinemaidens and their wonderfully ridiculous headwear!

Wagners Ring

 

We are a month in to the Ring project - the first time it has been performed by Opera Australia. Its been done in Australia before, but never by the flagship company.

The orchestra is called rather grandly the Melbourne Ring Orchestra. Its basically Orchestra Victoria with a large number of augmenting players, many of whom are world best musicians. Its given the band a real lift, and its sounding just wonderful.

I am one of the principals, which means I am rostered off Siegfried. Its a shame I will not do the whole cycle, but ergonomically its good news as the schedule is crippling.

Pietari Inkenin is wonderful - we are very lucky to have him stand in as conductor are short notice.

The orchestral readings are over, and we have met the singers - what a cast, including:-
Brunhilde - Susan Bullock
Siegfried - Stefan Vinke
Wotan - Terte Stensvold
Siegmund - Stuart Skelton, and many more

Photo - the bass section for Rheingold in rehearsal at OV in Albert Park. We are in a long line across the back, which is how its done in Bayreuth, and other notable bands such at the Vienna Phil. But am not sure I like it - we are a long way from the celli and its difficult to get a section sound stretched out in a long line - the player at either end are a long way from one another, and more worrying from the principal bass. But seems to be working - the orchestra and the basses in particular are sounding awesome. Thats me with the Lott 2nd from Right. The section is Matthew Thorne, moi, Davin Holt, Dennis Vaughan, Emma Sullivan, Hugh Kluger and out of shot Miranda Fitzgerald and Nic Synot. And the other players not on this photo are Kylie Davies and Lowri Morgan, who were on thier way from the UK when this shot was taken.

Ouch, that hurts....

My data was a small part of an Australian study into musicians and injuries:-

Strad article on musos in pain

The results don't surprise me one bit - in fact I think they are conservative. One major issue that is not addressed in the article is that many musos will not admit to injuries for loss of a job or work. Take the case of a muso about to finish a trial for a job - they have just practiced their arse off to win the audition, then have been thro a prolonged period of pretty high stress and pressure on a trial, doing more practice than their counterparts who are not on trial.....all of which adds to the strain on the body. Are they going to admit to back twinge? Not on your life - that could well jeopardise them getting thro the trial and getting a job.

Its the same with free lancers - if you have a chronic condition I would like to think orchestras would still book you, and pay you if you had to take sick leave. But in this world of budget cuts I fear there is pressure to overlook injured players for younger, fitter musos who can get thro the work.

Its a tough world out there....but there is some help to hand, again from the Strad:-

The Strad - injury prevention

Cinderella

I have never performed a Prokofiev ballet, so have been looking forward to Cinderella for some time. Romeo and Juliet comes up quite often, but I have managed to miss those productions with TAB - one day I hope.

This is a new production blessed with choreography by ex Bolshoi Ballet artistic director Alexei Ratmansky.

The music is quirky Prokofiev - challenging to the player and listener alike. Annie O Warburton would not have been too impressed with some of his harmonic progressions and cadences, but I love it. The bass part is a mix of easy stuff with some hair raising challenging moments - the latter all being exposed, of course. I knew what was coming, as half the excerpts for the Birmingham Royal Ballet principal job in 2012 were from Cinders.

Cinderella is a light break before the heavy lifting of Wagner's Ring, which starts rehearsals at the end of September.

John Adams conducting John Adams

August has been another busy month in a busy year. By the end of August I have almost done the same hours behind a bass as the whole of 2012. By the end of the year I will have done 300 hours more than the previous year. Busy indeed.

But I am not complaining - the music scene in Australia is under financial pressure, but its so much better off that other countries. Am an determined to enjoy it while it lasts and while my body stands up to the strain.

The end of my MSO contract saw a mamoth festival of Russian music with Deigo Matheuz, a real star for the future. We did three programs in a week, featuring Stravinsky (Firebird, Petroushka and the Rite) and Tchiakovsky (Violin concerto with Baiba Skride and her amazing Strad, Roccoco Variations with Li Wei Qin (wow) and the first Piano Concerto with Nikolia Demidenko). Sixteen calls in 9 days almost killed me.

After a week off, and lots of physio, it was back to Hobart for a program of Mozart and Britten with the Tasmanian Symphony. And Barba was there too, this time playin the Britten concerto.

And this week we have had the amazing pleasure of John Adams conducting his own music. Adams is rightly respected as one of the best composers of a generation - it was an amazing privilege to work with him. And for one so talented and famous, he is remarkably humble and gracious on the podium. His music is very difficult, both in terms of notes and tricky rhythms. He told a story of a muso in the US once telling him he would go to hell, and be put in a room to play all the parts he has written over the years!!