This year the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic will partner with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Australian Ballet and Orchestra Victoria – and old friends, the “Whiffenpoofs” – as part of “at least” 21 concerts this year, said RMP Music Director and Chief Conductor Andrew Wailes (pictured) at the choir’s season launch on February 27, 2015. Enthusiastic sponsors, patrons, members and media at the launch in the elegant Yarra Room at Melbourne Town Hall were hardly surprised – the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic has, after all, been presenting and performing fine music in Melbourne for over 160 years.
Wailes gave details of the exciting season ahead for the RMP which includes major choral and orchestral works presented by the RMP itself, as well as many collaborations. According to Wailes this is despite the financial strain caused last year with the City of Melbourne’s controversial and much criticised decision to cut funding to the RMP. That led to a significant reaction from outraged music lovers who have banded together to show support for Australia’s oldest performing arts organisation.
The RMP Choir will begin the year with a special, three-part all Beethoven concert of epic proportions at Hamer Hall presented by the MSO. It will be conducted by MSO Principal Guest Conductor Diego Matheuz, who will lead a stellar cast of distinguished soloists including celebrated Israeli-Palestinian pianist Saleem Ashkar, the British soprano Susan Gritton, and Australian singers including Jacqueline Porter, Fiona Campbell, and former RMP Aria winner Christopher Richardson. Amongst the guests was the MSO’s new Director of Artistic Planning Ronald Vermeulen.
In June, the RMP Choir will give 12 performances with The Australian Ballet and Orchestra Victoria at the State Theatre, under the baton of Nicolette Fraillon. The program will feature Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Nights Dream, in a reworked version by John Lanchbery, not heard in Melbourne for over 40 years.
Another highlight, according to Wailes, will be the world premiere of Requiem for the End of Time, by composer/pianist Stefan Cassomenos. The RMP Choir and the Plexus ensemble will be joined by 2014 RMP Aria winner baritone Daniel Carison, and the distinguished Australian contralto Liane Keegan. Plexus and the two singers gave performances at the launch that certainly whetted the appetite of all those present.
For lovers of contemporary a capella, Wailes confirmed that the RMP will again co-host the acclaimed “Whiffenpoofs” from the USA. The RMP will also present the much anticipated RMP Aria Competition, and again hold a “Sing Your Own Oratorio” community outreach event at Federation Square which gives members of the wider community the chance to sing with the RMP for a day.
Melbourne Town Hall will play host to some 300 performers in a concert including ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’ by Sergei Rachmaninov (featuring pianist Stefan Cassomenos) and Carl Orff’s uninhibited and flamboyant masterpiece Carmina Burana, to be conducted by Andrew Wailes himself on 27 September. Joining the RMP Choir and Orchestra will be over 150 members of Melbourne University Choral Society and The Australian Children’s Choir, as well as sensational soloists Greta Bradman, Tobias Cole and Andrew Jones.
In December the RMP will celebrate Christmas in style with another world-record-breaking performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’, and three concerts of traditional Carols in St Paul’s Cathedral. For these performances Wailes has assembled a superb cast of soloists including outstanding sopranos Greta Bradman and Yvonne Kenny AM, mezzo Dominica Matthews, the Australian born tenor Andrew Goodwin (principal at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre), and the internationally acclaimed baritone Peter Coleman Wright.
“We are thrilled to welcome back some of these incredibly talented and respected Australian singers to our city to perform with the RMP this year” said Wailes. Following the season announcement, the RMP’s latest CD recording of symphonic works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams was also launched.
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The information in this story was provided to Classic Melbourne by Andrew Wailes.
To follow the RMP’s activities or become an RMP sponsor, visit www.rmp.org.au.
