5 days ago
Australian Youth Orchestra: Homecoming Concert
Peter Sculthorpe's Earth Cry opens the program with the composer's signature pictorial representation of Australia's bushland, with William Barton on the didjeridoo. The work was described by Sculthorpe as "a straightforward and melodious work. Its four parts are made up of a quick ritualistic music framed by slower music of a supplicatory nature, and then an extended coda. It owes a debt to a setting of Aranda poetry, The Song of Tailitnama." Christian Li's virtuosic rendition of Mendelssohn's beloved Violin Concerto in E Minor closes the first half of the evening with brilliance and dynamism.
In the second half of this evening's concert, Alice Chance's Through Changing Landscape brings a taste of minimalism into a narrative that the composer described as "a love letter to train journeys… it reflects on the journey of an individual through the landscape of their lifetime." The AYO's youthful vibrance is in full display in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, an orchestral tour de force and masterpiece of romantic exoticism. The voice of Scheherazade, represented by the obligato violin, is brilliantly performed by the concertmaster, Robert Smith, with the sensitive accompaniment of Myiesha Maisuria on the harp.
Written as a gift to the orchestra, David Robertson's A Joyful Noise is played as a final encore.
Recorded live in concert at the Sydney Opera House, July 31, 2025 by ABC Classic. Producer, Josinaldo Costa. Engineer, Matthew Hiley
Artists
Christian Li (violin)
William Barton (didjeridoo)
David Robertson (conductor)
Robert Smith (concertmaster)
Australian Youth Orchestra
Program
Peter Sculthorpe: Earth Cry
Felix Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E Minor (Op. 64)
Alice Chance: Through Changing Landscape
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade Op. 35
Encore: David Robertson: A Joyful Noise
Read the Program Here
