The Metropolitan Orchestra comes of age with a name change

In the three years since its founding in 2009, the then Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra has accumulated a busy performing schedule and grown rapidly in scope, performing across genres and with many respected soloists, amongst them,  clarinetist Francesco Celata,  cellist Emma-Jane Murphy, tenors Rosario La Spina and Henry Choo, baritone Barry Ryan, sopranos Anke Höppner and Teresa La Rocca and mezzo-soprano Sian Pendry.

In recognition of this coming of age, the orchestra has announced a change in its title to ‘The Metropolitan Orchestra’  (TMO)  which   more accurately reflects what it does. The Metropolitan Orchestra will celebrate its re-branding with a special concert in its Met series, conducted by its patron, ABC presenter Guy Noble.

The programme contains three romantic favourites. Sibelius’ Valse Triste today has its own identity as a concert piece, but was originally written as incidental music to a play Kuolema by Sibelius’ brother-in-law.

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor opus 64 remains one of the greatest violin concertos written. It was composed whilst he was Principal Conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra of which his friend Ferdinand David was Concert Master. The concerto was written for David as the soloist and had a lengthy creative period of 6 years, with the premiere performed in 1845 by David, and the orchestra conducted by Neils Gade, filling in for an unwell Mendelssohn.

Katherine Lukey is the violin soloist for the TMO in this concert. She is the Assistant Concert Master with the Sydney Symphony and  regularly appears as a guest musician with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Finally, Beethoven’s serene Symphony No 6 in F major, opus 68 ‘Pastoral’  expresses in five movements, the composer’s emotions as he relishes the sensations of the countryside.

Programme:

SIBELIUS              Valse Triste

MENDELSSOHN     Violin Concerto in E minor opus 64 |  Violin: Katherine Lukey

BEETHOVEN           Symphony no 6 in F major, opus 68 ‘Pastoral’

Tickets: From $15.00

Bookings:  http://www.metorchestra.com.au/tickets/single-ticket-purchase/