ICO 2024 season – Sundays @ 1pm

Shakespeare in the Gardens – Sunday 21 April 2024

Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha

Welcome to the Shakespeare in the Gardens festival, and our free lunchtime picnic concert as part of our ICO Sundays @ 1pm series for 2024.

You will hear stately horn calls starting with King Henry VIII’s wake up call, Delibes’ set of majestic airs in the Elizabethan style, Pavane from Edward German’s incidental music to Romeo and Juliet, and selections from Acis and Galatea by Haydn (arr. Mozart), performed by orchestra and vocalists.

Feel the power of love through seductive song and joyful dances of the day. You will be captivated by the performance of three of our soprano soloists returning to sing excerpts from Handel’s Acis and Galatea (arr. Mozart) with orchestra, creating a rich palette of colours.

Bring a picnic and enjoy this captivating performance on your doorstep.

Program

Horn Call

Leo Delibes – Le Roi S’Amuse

• Gaillarde
• Pavane
• Lesquercarde
• Passepied
• Final

Edward German – Pavane from Romeo and Juliet

Handel (arr. Mozart) – Acis and Galatea:

• Overture (Orchestra)
• Where shall I seek the charming fair? (Acis, the mortal – Vanessa Strydom)
• Shephard, what art thou pursuing? (Damon, friend of Acis – Naomi Klazinga)
• As when the dove (Galatea the sea nymph – Eline van Bruggen)
• Happy we (Acis and Galatea)
• Happy we – (Orchestra)

Horn Call

Program Notes

Léo Delibes (1836 – 1891)

Le Roi S’Amuse

Victor Hugo wrote the play “Le Roi S’Amuse” (The King Amuses Himself) in 1832. Loosely based on historical figures, the plot involves a court jester to the king who schemes to help the king obtain a new mistress. The jester’s daughter is seduced by the king; upon discovering a plot to murder the king, she sacrifices her life for him. The play was banned in 1832 after just one performance (government censors believed that the play insulted the current king of France). Some 20 years later, the plot of “Le Roi S’Amuse” became the basis for Verdi’s Opera Rigoletto.

When the play was finally revived in 1882, the noted composer Léo Delibes wrote a ballet sequence of six charming dances and antique airs to be included as incidental music. They consist of a grand opening Gaillarde; a stately Pavane; a melodic Scène du Bouquet; Lesquercarde, a spritely tune; a sweet Madrigal; a wistful Passepied; and a final reprise of the Gaillarde.

Program Notes: The Broadway Bach Ensemble

https://www.broadwaybach.org/musical_work/le-roi-samuse/

Edward German (1862 – 1935)

Pavane from Romeo and Juliet

German Edward Jones was born in the Shropshire market town of Whitchurch.  The unusual name of ‘German’ was based on that of St Garmon, a Welsh saint (it should be said with a hard ‘G’, like the names Geraint or Gerwyn).   He showed musical promise and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Ebeneezer Prout and began a lifelong friendship with a fellow pupil, Henry Wood.  By this time (1880) he was calling himself Edward Jones, but discovering another pupil with the same name, he adopted the stage-name of Edward German.  That at least was the story he told for the rest of his life.

German obtained an appointment as musical director at the Globe Theatre in 1887, and began a career that would see him become the pre-eminent theatrical composer in Britain, with a knighthood in 1928.  His biggest success was Merrie England (1902), but he wrote six operas and a further nine theatre scores, together with orchestral and choral works, songs and piano music.

The 1895 score for Romeo & Juliet was German’s second for the Lyceum Theatre, the first having been for Henry VIII three years earlier.  There is no doubt that German approached its composition with caution, since the story of Romeo & Juliet had drawn deeply emotional – and very popular – music already from composers such as Berlioz, Gounod and Tchaikovsky.  The charming Pavane was published separately.  It is in the minor mode and has a French accent, as if the spirit of Delibes hovers close by.  It was first heard at the opening night, 21 September 1895.

The Pavane is arranged for five winds by Colleen Rowe.

Program notes: https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/en/product/german-edward-4/

Handel (1685 – 1759)

Selections from Acis and Galatea (arr. Mozart)

Handel first engaged with the subject of Acis and Galatea during his stay in Italy, where in 1708 he composed a serenata, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, for three solo voices and orchestra. Ten years later he revisited the theme and wrote Acis and Galatea, with an English text and new music. Handel called the one-act work a ‘masque’, and it was for four singers and a small orchestra of two oboes, two violins and continuo. Handel revived the work between 1731 and 1742 in various forms and using a multi-voiced chorus, sometimes in a bi-lingual version incorporating parts of the 1708 work. In 1743 a complete score of a purely English version divided into two acts was published, and it became the most popular of Handel’s secular works in Britain, retaining its appeal throughout the 18th century and beyond.

In 1788 Mozart arranged Acis and Galatea for patron Baron Gottfried van Swieten. Van Swieten sought to revive the baroque style by commissioning new arrangements of older works to be played at his weekly salons in Vienna. Mozart arranged Acis and Galatea in the classical style of the day. He added second violin, woodwind, viola, and bassoon parts and re-wrote the oboe solos for clarinet. The clarity of Mozart’s arrangement emphasized the dynamics and phrasing of the melodic line. Mozart’s expertly crafted revision adds to the orchestra’s sonority and palette of colours.

The story of Acis and Galatea derives from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and concerns the mutual longings of a sea-nymph, Galatea, and the shepherd Acis, while his fellow shepherd, Damon, warns him about neglecting his flock. The lovers are united, only for the jealous Cyclops, Polypheme, to intervene, desiring Galatea for himself. Challenged by Acis, Polypheme slays him, whereupon Galatea is prevailed upon to use her divine powers to turn him into a fountain, ‘murmuring still his gentle love’.

Program notes: https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/NI6201.pdf; https://www.acisandgalatea.org/mozart-arrangement

Vocal Soloists

We are delighted to have our three soprano soloists return to sing with us.

Naomi Klazinga

Naomi Klazinga is an engaging, dynamic soprano passionate about sharing her love of beautiful music. A founding member of vocal quartet Seren8 (performing at the regular Lord Mayor’s Seniors Christmas Parties and Brahms’ Liebeslieder) and vocal ensemble Lucem Vitae, as well as co-director of choral workshops for the STSA choir in Laidley, Naomi has always maintained a strong belief in the power of collaborative music-making to change lives positively. Having graduated from The University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Music (first class honors, University medal) in 2020, Naomi has been requested to return for various performances with UQ Music, including performing Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the UQ Singers and the UQSO. She performed in the Australian premiere performance of Dona Nobis Pacem (by RV Williams) as soprano soloist, with the UQ Chorale and Queensland Youth Orchestra in her first year of study. She has performed as soloist in St John’s cathedral such works as Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor, Bach’s Ascension Oratorio, Bach’s Wachet Auf, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Naomi won first prize in the Ethel Osbourne competition in 2019 and was a finalist in 2018 and 2017. She won first prize in the Vocal Aria section in the Redlands Eistedfodd in 2018 and has a high distinction in her Certificate of Performance (AMEB) and Grade 7 for Voice.

Vanessa Strydom

Vanessa Strydom is a musicologist and soprano with a passion for both nineteenth-century opera and the works of William Shakespeare. She completed her Bachelor of Music majoring in performance at The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2014 with First Class Honours. Vanessa then completed a PhD in Musicology where she investigated the representations of gender in three operatic adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. In late 2016, she directed and performed in a concert of excerpts from operas based on the works of Shakespeare. This was part of the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions’ concert series “The Delighted Spirit” in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

Vanessa has sung as a soloist for The Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra, The Bach Society of Queensland Choir, The Brisbane Mandolin Orchestra and in Sola Voce’s performance of Purcell’s King Arthur. Vanessa has also performed in a variety of solo concerts for The Western Music Circle and 4MBS Classical FM and was featured as a soloist in The Badinerie Players C.P.E. Bach’s 300th Anniversary Concert. Vanessa has won various awards for her singing including the Vocal Bursary Award at the Brisbane Eisteddfod, the Bendigo Bank Singing Scholarship and The University of Queensland Vocal Prize. She has also premiered new works by acclaimed Australian composers Connor D’Netto and Benjamin Heim. A highlight of her performance career was her experience as the soprano soloist in Carl Orff’s monumental work ‘Carmina Burana’ with UQ Chorale at QPAC in 2015, backed by five choirs and UQ symphony orchestra, totalling over 500 musicians onstage.

Eline van Bruggen

Born in The Netherlands into a family of professional musicians, Eline van Bruggen has always shown a passion for performing. She started with Suzuki Method at the age of four and is a proficient flautist as well as vocalist. In 2023, Eline toured to Longreach and Winton with Opera Queensland for the Festival of Outback Opera and performed as a soloist at the Brisbane Festival. She received third prize for the Open Classical Art Song section at the Queensland Vocal Competition and was selected as a finalist for both the Ethel Osborn Prize and the Margaret Nickson Prize for Voice and Piano. More recently, Eline sang the soprano solo in Haydn’s Mass in Time of War with ChoirWorks directed by Dr Debra Shearer-Dirié. Her operatic roles include Ciboletta in Eine Nacht in Venedig and Erste Knabe in Die Zauberflöte in The University of Queensland’s complete productions, as well as Frasquita in Carmen, Crobyle in Thaïs, Ida in Die Fledermaus, Anne in A Little Night Music, Inès in Les Bavards, and Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea in staged concert excerpts. Eline looks forward to singing the role of Susanna in UQ’s full production of Le Nozze di Figaro later this year.

Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra

Flute

Kymberley Jones

Clarinet

Colleen Rowe

Bassoon

Jarrah Newman

Horn

Nicole Blackett

Paul Brisbane