Melbourne Chamber Orchestra Explained

The Melbourne Chamber Orchestra (MCO) is a professional Australian classical music ensemble based in Melbourne, Victoria.

Each year MCO gives over 50 performances including seasons of orchestral chamber music and works for smaller ensembles in its home city and on tour within the state, it runs its own chamber music festival, participates in other festivals and events, and runs workshops and masterclasses.[1]

History

Foundation and artistic direction

The orchestra was founded in 1990 under its original name, the Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra (APACO),[2] by oboist Jeffrey Crellin[3] who served as its first artistic director. Crellin was also principal oboist of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and because of the close association between the two ensembles, a number of MSO musicians also played in the chamber orchestra.[4]

In 2006, after 17 years in the position, Crellin resigned as artistic director and was replaced by violinist William Hennessy[5] who held the position until his retirement in 2021. In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2018, Hennessy received the General Division of the Order of Australia – AM award "for significant service to music as a concert violinist, artistic director, mentor and educator".[6]

The current director is violinist Sophie Rowell, appointed from 2023, and prior to that was MSO's concertmaster.[7] [8] [9] [10]

Increase in Melbourne audience

In its early days, the orchestra concentrated its seasons in the Federation Square's The Edge theatre which seated 450 people. Because concert attendances had reached about 350 and were continuing to grow, the need was obvious for a larger auditorium. With the new Melbourne Recital Centre due to be opened in February 2009, the orchestra planned to make that its main performance venue.

At the time, commentator Robin Usher wrote in The Age, "There were doubts that the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra would survive its first year because it was felt the challenges of adapting to the Melbourne Recital Centre's 1000-seat Elisabeth Murdoch Hall would prove too rigorous. But the orchestra has thrived; attendances have more than doubled, with subscriptions up 60 per cent, and the best is yet to come. It has just announced two programs to be conducted by England's Sir Neville Marriner, 85, founder of the Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, in November."[11]

According to an annual report, by 2016, seven years after its move to the Recital Centre, audience support had grown to the extent that MCO decided to increase its annual season there from 11 to 13 concerts.[12]

From when the first known case of COVID-19 in Australia was reported on 25 January 2020 until the pandemic was declared in September 2022 by the Australian government to be over, public movement was restricted and audience attendances at arts events dwindled. MCO was badly affected and only six of the 53 seasonal performances originally planned for 2020 took place. As the report for that year says,

"The orchestra pivoted to digital small-format chamber music performances for the majority of the year. In total the orchestra still presented 36 performances and events, not including its Facebook-based Moments Musicaux project. These performances included 11 digital streaming performances on Melbourne Digital Concert Hall. In December, MCO was able to present an 11-performance live-audience celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary across eastern Victoria and Daylesford, with a string quintet."[13]
Little changed for MCO during the following two years, and the reports for 2023 are not yet available.[14]

Change of name

In an Australian Financial Review report, journalist Katrina Strickland called the old name, Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, "a clunky, confusing moniker",[15] . This view was held by other view held by others including, significantly, the orchestra's then executive chairman, Brian Benjamin, who said, "We undertook an exhaustive research project, looking at chamber orchestras worldwide, and discovered that more than 80 per cent name themselves after their place of residence."[15] As a result, the decision was made by Benjamin and Hennessy for the name to be Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.[11] [16]

Performances and activities

Annual schedule and audience access

In Melbourne, MCO's orchestral season[17] is presented at the Melbourne Recital Centre which lists the orchestra as one of its "Key Presenting Partners".[18] Recitals of music for smaller chamber ensembles[19] are presented at other city venues including The Edge in Federation Square.

MCO also tours regional centres in Victoria providing programs from their Melbourne season. The 2017 report cited earlier noted that in that year there had been "22 regional touring performances to communities from Mornington to Yackandandah, adding that the orchestra was "one of Australia's most active tourers of classical music beyond urban centres, adding significantly to the diversity of music that audiences are able to access."[12]

In September each year, MCO runs a chamber music festival called A Feast of Music at Daylsford and other nearby towns.[20] Another annual engagement is the Chamber Music Dining at Narkoojee[21] a winery in Glengarry, Victoria.[22]

Many concerts are accessible online through the Australian Digital Concert Hall (ADCH) subscription network[23] and are broadcast and streamed online by Melbourne's music station 3MBS and Australia's national music network ABC Classic.

Move Records records and distributes CDs of both the MCO and its predecessor.

Repertoire

MCO's repertoire ranges from early music to contemporary works including those specially commissioned for their use.[24]

Australian composers from whom works have been commissioned include Julian Yu,[25] [26] Christopher Willcock,[27] [28] Ian Munro,[29] [30] Gordon Kerry,[31] [32] Paul Stanhope,[33] [34] [35] [36] Keith Crellin OAM,[37] [38] [39] Linda Kouvaras,[40] [41] [42] Caerwen Martin,[43] [44] and Ade Vincent.[45] [46] [47] MCO has also given the world premiere performances of works by composers including Deborah Cheetham Fraillon,[48] [49] [50] Richard Mills,[51] [52] and Matthew Laing.[53] [54] [55]

New works commissioned for the 2024 season include an as-yet unnamed piece by Katy Abbott[56] [57] [58] and the world premiere of a Trumpet Concerto transcribed for chamber orchestra by its composer, Nigel Westlake,[59] [60]

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://mco.org.au/whats-on/ "What's On"
  2. https://www.move.com.au/artist/australia-pro-arte-chamber-orchestra "Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra"
  3. https://adm.monash.edu/records-archives/archives/memo-archive/2004-2007/stories/20070426/jeffrey-crellin.html "60 seconds with ... Jeffrey Crellin"
  4. Usher, Robin. "New Era for Pro Arte", The Age, 16 August 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  5. https://williamhennessy.com.au/ William Hennessy AM
  6. Commonwealth of Australia. Adjournment: Victoria: Queen's Birthday Honours. Senate Hansard, Thursday 21 June 2018, p. 3682. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  7. https://mco.org.au/about/artistic-director/ "Artistic Director"
  8. Paget, Clive."Sophie Rowell appointed Artistic Director of Melbourne Chamber Orchestra", Limelight, 12 April 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  9. https://www.australianworldorchestra.com.au/1351-sophie-rowell/ "Sophie Rowell, Violin: Artistic Director – Melbourne Chamber Orchestra; Former Concertmaster – Melbourne Symphony Orchestra"
  10. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/rowell-sophie Sophie Rowell
  11. Usher, Robin. "Orchestra plays its strengths", The Age, 8 August 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  12. Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Melbourne Chamber Orchestra Inc.: Annual Information Statement 2017.https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/5fdea895-39af-e811-a963-000d3ad244fd/documents/a1d68a9d-46c8-e811-a962-000d3ad24182. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  13. Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Melbourne Chamber Orchestra Inc.: Annual Information Statement 2020.https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/5fdea895-39af-e811-a963-000d3ad244fd/documents/485b80db-dcb6-eb11-8236-000d3a6a6792 Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  14. Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Melbourne Chamber Orchestra Inc.: Annual Reporting. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  15. Strickland, Katrina. "Rebadge strikes chord Name changes inspires growth", Australian Financial Review, 20 August 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  16. https://www.move.com.au/artist/melbourne-chamber-orchestra "Melbourne Chamber Orchestra"
  17. https://mco.org.au/event-category/orchestral/ "Orchestral"
  18. https://www.melbournerecital.com.au/about/key-presenting-partners/ "Key Presenting Partners"
  19. https://mco.org.au/event-category/chamber-music/ "Chamber"
  20. https://mco.org.au/event/a-feast-of-music-2023/ "A Feast of Music"
  21. https://mco.org.au/event/chamber-music-dining-at-narkoojee-2023/ "Chamber Music Dining at Narkoojee"
  22. https://narkoojee.com/ Narkoojee Winery
  23. https://australiandigitalconcerthall.com/ "Australian Digital Concert Hall"
  24. See, for example, a concert entitled "Illuminations"https://mco.org.au/event/illuminations/ in which works by Mediaeval nun Hildegard of Bingen, Baroque singer and composer Barbara Strozzi, Romantic composer, conductor and virtuoso musician Giovanni Bottesini, and contemporary composer Andrea Clearfield were performed in September 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  25. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/yu-julian Julian Yu: Represented Artist
  26. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/yu-julian-mini-rhapsody/7629 Mini rhapsody: for string orchestra by Julian Yu (1992)
  27. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/willcock-christopher Christopher Willcock: Represented Artist
  28. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/work/willcock-christopher-divertimento-nolan-s-backyard Divertimento: Nolan's backyard : for string orchestra by Christopher Willcock (2008)
  29. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/munro-ian Ian Munro: Represented Artist
  30. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/munro-ian-divertimento/22241 Divertimento: Melodies of afternoon by Ian Munro (2009)
  31. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/kerry-gordon Gordon Kerry: Represented Artist
  32. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/work/kerry-gordon-music-for-double-chamber-orchestra Music for double chamber orchestra (multiple orchestras) by Gordon Kerry (2013)
  33. https://www.paulstanhope.com/ Paul Stanhope, composer
  34. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/stanhope-paul Paul Stanhope: Represented Artist
  35. https://www.sydney.edu.au/music/about/our-people/academic-staff/paul-stanhope.html Associate Professor Paul Stanhope
  36. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/work/stanhope-paul-nephesh Nephesh : for string octet or nonet by Paul Stanhope (2015)
  37. The work entitled in memoriam Jan Sedivka was commissioned in 2017 by AMC at the request of its Artistic Director, William Hennessy. AMC recorded it in 2021 and it was released on a CD entitled Poems & Romances: Music by Beethoven, Chausson & Shostakovich in String Orchestra Arrangements by Keith Crellin on AMC's own CD label (MCOR2021).https://my.mco.org.au/456/poemscd There are no records of a public performance ever being given. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  38. https://www.corpusmedicorum.org.au/keith-crellin Keith Crellin
  39. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/crellin-keith Keith Crellin
  40. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/kouvaras-linda Linda Kouvaras: Represented Artist
  41. https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/13773-linda-kouvaras Professor Linda Kouvaras
  42. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/work/kouvaras-linda-piano-quartet Piano Quartet: for piano, violin, viola and cello by Linda Kouvaras (2022)
  43. https://www.caerwenmartincomposer.com.au/ Caerwen Martin
  44. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/martin-caerwen Caerwen Martin: Represented Artist
  45. This was a song cycle entitled To Be Human for which singer Lior provided the lyrics which Abe Vincent set to music. Lior and MCO gave the world premiere in Shepparton, Victoria on 16 November 2023 followed by performances in other regional centres and Melbourne. Retrieved 2 December 2023.https://mco.org.au/whats-on/of-people-song/
  46. https://www.adevincent.com/ Ade Vincent
  47. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/vincent-ade Ade Vincent: Represented Artist
  48. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/cheetham-fraillon-deborah Deborah Cheetham Fraillon: Represented Artist
  49. https://www.sydney.edu.au/music/about/our-people/academic-staff/deborah-cheetham.html Professor Deborah Fraillon
  50. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/cheetham-fraillon-deborah-pecan-summer/32618 Pecan Summer: opera by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon (2010)
  51. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/mills-richard Richard Mills: Represented Artist
  52. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/mills-richard-concerto-for-two-violins-and-strings/33158 Concerto for two violins and strings (string orchestra with multiple soloists) by Richard Mills
  53. https://www.mattlaing.com/ Matt Laing – Composer – Violist
  54. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/laing-matthew-pantomime/37229 Matthew Laing: Associate Artist
  55. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/laing-matthew-pantomime/37229 Pantomime: string orchestra by Matthew Laing (2020)
  56. https://mco.org.au/whats-on/music-speaks/ MCO's Music Speaks program, 29 February and 3 March 20224.
  57. https://katyabbott.com/ Katy Abbott – Composer
  58. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/abbott-katy Katy Abbott: Represented Artist
  59. https://mco.org.au/whats-on/light-and-shade/ MCO's Light + Shade program, 18 and 21 April 2024.
  60. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/westlake-nigel Nigel Westlake: Represented Artist

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