DREAMS
In fantasy and folklore, winter is both magical and terrible, a source of wonder and an image of desolation. This program explores its shadows and brilliant light through mesmeric music inspired by ice and snow.
Nothing is as it seems in the spellbinding Der Schneeman (The Snowman), originally penned for four-hand piano and violin when Korngold was just 11 years old. A runaway success, this enchanting dance of love and deception foreshadows his later fame as a Hollywood composer.
By contrast, Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh’s Icy Disintegration depicts the accelerated melting and breaking of polar icebergs caused by climate change. It’s urgent and explicitly programmatic: a fractured landscape of glaring brass, shimmering strings and swelling percussion.
This iridescent quality carries through into Frank Martin’s Concerto for Seven Winds, Percussion and Strings. A playful yet exquisitely intricate work of Neo-Baroque elegance, this ‘concert within a concert’ showcases CSO Principal musicians.
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1, his first large-scale work, forms the second half of this program. Winter Dreams bears all the hallmarks of the composer’s beloved later symphonies: poignant melodies, edge-of-the-seat tension and monumental climaxes.
Artists
Alexander Briger AO Conductor
Kirsten Williams Violin
CSO Principals
Canberra Symphony Orchestra
Repertoire
Erich Korngold Der Schneemann: Vorspiel, Serenade and Walzer
Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh Icy disintegration
Frank Martin Concerto for seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion and string orchestra
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 in G minor, op. 13 ‘Winter Dreams’
2 hours
* Transaction fee will be applied
YOUR CONCERT EXPERIENCE
Box Office
The Box Office in the ground floor Athenaeum will be open from 6pm for ticket purchase and collection. The Box Office is card only (no cash).
When to arrive
Doors to Llewellyn Hall will open at 6:15pm. The pre-concert events will run from 6:20pm to 7:00pm, with the concert commencing at 7:30pm. Please allow sufficient time for parking and have your tickets ready to show Front of House staff (printed or on a mobile device).
Pre-concert events
We will feature Canberra Symphony Youth Chamber Orchestra (CSYCO) soloist cellist Zac Connor at the Llewellyn Hall stage at 6:20pm on Thursday evening before the concert.
Following Zac's performance, concertgoers are invited to attend a free, pre-concert talk at the Llewellyn Hall stage from 6:30pm to 7pm. Donna Parkes will be speaking with violist Tahlia Petrosian on her perspective of the music of Winter Dreams.
Cloaking
Cloaking is not available at this time. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Parking
Free after-hours parking is available in front of the ANU School of Music, behind the ANU School of Art and in the Baldessin multi-storey carpark off Childers Street.
Refreshments
Biginelli's (Level 5, ANU School of Music) and the Athenaeum and Level 4 bars will be open pre-concert and at interval. The bars will accept card only (no cash).
Programs
Complimentary programs will be available throughout the venue.
Mobile phones
Please ensure mobile phones are switched off for the performance.
Interval
There will be an interval from 8:20pm (approx. 20 minutes).
Running order
6:00pm – Box Office opens
6:15pm – Doors open to Llewellyn Hall
6:20pm – Kingsland Strings pre-concert performance
6:30pm – Pre-concert talk commences
7:00pm – Pre-concert talk concludes (approx. timing)
7:30pm – Concert commences
8:20pm – Interval (approx. 20 minutes)
9:30pm – Concert concludes (approx. timing)
Health and wellness
We request you do not attend CSO concerts if you are unwell or experiencing cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms.
- Audience members are not required to wear masks at CSO concerts but are welcome to do so. Masks are available from the Box Office on request.
- Seating will not be physically distanced.
- Practise good hand hygiene, including washing hands frequently with soap and water and covering coughs / sneezes with a tissue or your elbow.