SydneyInternationalComposersConcerts

2017

SYDNEYINTERNATIONALCOMPOSERSCONCERTS20172 - 6 October 2017Sydney Australia

ContemporaryOrchestral Music20176 October 2017

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Welcome to the Sydney International ComposersConcerts 2017!This is a unique and special event featuring newmusic by living composers from differentcountries around the world. In an unprecedentedmodel, the composers will be actively involvedthroughout the preparation and performance ofthese concerts.I would like to express my sincere gratitude tothese great composers - for their creative work,their efforts and their contributions.I would also like to give my sincere thanks to ourwonderful musicians - for their skilful andpassionate interpretations and dedication.Special thanks also to our volunteerManagement Committee members and theirselfless dedication to the work of the SydneyContemporary Orchestra, without whom thesegreat concerts would not be possible

Brian Chatpo KooFounding Conductor, Artistic & ExecutiveDirectorThe Sydney Contemporary Orchestra Inc.

Welcome

Supported by the SCO Foundation and the composers themselves, theSydney Contemporary Orchestra (SCO) proudly presents the SydneyInternational Composers Concerts 2017.Consisting of two concerts, Contemporary Orchestral Music andContemporary Piano Music of Colombian Composers, and open rehearsals,the Sydney International Composers Concerts 2017 will bring you 16unparalleled modern works by contemporary composers from around theworld.Contemporary Orchestral Music - with 60 passionate and dedicated musiciansof the SCO, and directed by Dr Brian Chatpo Koo, the ContemporaryOrchestral Music concert is an amazing opportunity to hear absolutely neworchestral music of contemporary composers from Japan, USA, Italy,Colombia, Brazil, and Australia. These composers will attend the concert andshare their musical ideas, philosophies and creativity with each other and theSydney audience.Contemporary Piano Music of Colombian Composers - performed byprominent Colombian composer and pianist Mauricio Arias, this unforgettablepiano recital features 10 piano solo works from outstanding composers fromColombia.

The open rehearsals provide opportunities for composers, musicians andmembers of the public to meet each other to share ideas, observe how themusic has been designed and developed, and also encourage the composers'creativity and innovation.

SydneyInternationalComposersConcerts2017

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M E D I A

Artistic Director

Founded in 2013 and led by its foundingconductor, artistic and executiveDirector Dr Brian Chatpo Koo, theSydney Contemporary Orchestra (SCO)is dedicated to exploring and promotingnew music of contemporary composers.Based in Sydney Australia andcomprised of about 100 of the finestorchestral musicians, the SCO hostsconcerts for new orchestralcompositions. In addition to its regularorchestral concerts, the orchestra alsohosts various concerts on a variety ofgenres, providing significant incentivesfor composers to pursue creativeendeavours in new music and to enrichthe music culture of our time.Since 2013, the SCO has hosted tenconcerts - Music Contemporary 2013,2014, 2015, Contemporary Piano Music2014, Chamber Music 2014, SydneyNew Music Festival 2016 and hasperformed and promoted 38 new worksof the composers from 22 countriesaround the world.

The SCO also hosted a Chinese New YearConcert for the celebration of the ChineseSpring Festival in 2015 which was highlyacclaimed.The vision of the SCO is to enrich thecultural life of Sydney, and to establishSydney's reputation as a leading centre forthe performance of contemporary music.The SCO promotes the music of today’scomposers from Australia and around theworld. It is the only Australian orchestradedicated to the performance of new musicby today’s contemporary composers.The Sydney Contemporary Orchestra(SCO) is registered as a non-proft musicalorganisation by the Australian Charitiesand Not-for profits Commission, and islisted on the Register of CulturalOrganisations under Subdivision 30-BA ofthe Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.All Board members of the ManagementCommittee are volunteers, enabling us todedicate all funding towards employing thefinest musicians and ensuring that ourconcerts are of the highest quality.

SydneyContemporaryOrchestra

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Founding Conductor and Artistic & ExecutiveDirector, Dr Brian Chatpo Koo, is a Sydneybased musician. Having studied music at theUniversity of Hong Kong and the University ofSydney, Brian was the first person in Australia toreceive a PhD degree in music composition.Granted by the Hong Kong University Grant,Brian also studied music at the InternationalSummer Course for New Music in Darmstadt,Germany. He also obtained his Licentiate andFellowship Diplomas in music composition fromthe Trinity College of Music in London in 1992.

Committed to the promotion of contemporarymusic, Brian believes that a masterpiece canonly be born from the midst of thousands of otherworks, and the creation of those thousands canonly be motivated by their performances.

Many composers devote themselves to thecreation of contemporary music; music thatreflects our times and defines our culture withtheir unique musical languages, narratives, andaesthetics. However, most of their works,particularly their orchestral works, have verylimited opportunities for performance due tolimited demand in the commercial market.

With the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, andwith his passion and dedication, Brian wishes togive these composers a platform where theirworks can be performed, heard, recorded,published and become a part of our musicculture.

Artistic DirectorDr Brian Chatpo KooFounding ConductorArtistic & Executive Director

CONTEMPORARY ORCHES

Program1. Uluru - Symphonic Overture by Brian Chatpo Koo (Australia)

(Sydney premiere)2. Waltz Fantasy by Andre Catelli (Brazil)(World premiere)

3. Variazioni by Paolo Geminiani (Italy)(World premiere)

4. Visons des reflets et nocturnes by Peter Disckosn Lopez (USA)(World premiere)

I N T E R V A L

Sydney International Composer6 October 2017SCO CONCERT NO. 11

Conductor - Dr Brian Chatpo KooConcertmaster - Beata Stanowska

STRAL MUSIC 2017

rs Concerts 2017

5. Through My Eyes by Mauricio Arias* (Colombia)(Australian premiere)

6. Water Cycle - by Satoru Ikeda (Japan)(World premiere)

7. Sinfonietta Fukushima by Douglas Vuncannon (USA)(World premiere)

8. Metamorphosis by Kim Bowman (Australia/TheNetherlands)(World premiere)

A music creator, founding conductor,Artistic and Executive Director of theSydney Contemporary Orchestra, Brianhas worked as a violinist, cellist,composer and as a conductor in severalsymphony orchestras before settlingdown in Sydney in 1993.

Brian studied music at the University ofHong Kong and the University of Sydney.He was the first person in Australia toreceive a PhD degree in musiccomposition. Brian also studied music atInternational Summer Course for NewMusic in Darmstadt, Germany, andobtained his Licentiate, FellowshipDiplomas from Trinity College of MusicLondon.

Uluru - Symphonic OvertureUluru, known as Ayers Rock, is a largesandstone rock in central Australia. Thearea around the formation is home to anabundance of springs, waterholes, rockcaves and ancient paintings. Uluru issacred to the Aboriginal people of thearea.This work is inspired by the scenery ofUluru and the sound of an Aboriginalmusical instrument - didgeridoo. "I amfascinated by these two objects inparticular by their reflections of each otherin nature and soul".The work is divided into two parts: Graveand Allegro con brio. In the first part, thecomposer uses the orchestral palette todepict the scenery of the Uluru in directmanner - its magnificent sight, itsappearing of change colour at differenttimes of the day and year, at dawn andsunset. The music in the second partmoves to indirect manner. The vigorousmusic reveals the solitary rock's growinginner power, and one can imagine thevitality and spirit of the rock in even moremagnificence.

This work was commissioned by theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation(ABC) and premiered by the TasmaniaSymphony Orchestra in 1997.

Brian Chatpo Koo (Australia)ULURUSymphonic Overture

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Andre ́ Picolo Catelli was born in 1970in the city of Caxias do Sul, capital ofItalian immigration in Brazil. His father,Mario Catelli, was a violinist in thecity's Municipal Orchestra.From an early age he became veryfamiliar with classical music, especiallyopera. He studied piano with thefounder of the aforementionedorchestra, Eugenio Coletti, and later atthe Music School of Brasilia. He wasself-taught in composition throughbooks and scores of famouscomposers. He taught piano at KibbutzYad Mordechai in Israel in 1992, wherehe made piano arrangements fromvarious Jewish folk songs. Hegraduated as an architect in 1996 andnow owns one of the largest offices inthe Brazilian capital, Accioly CatelliAssociated Architects. Andre ́ marriedRaquel Mizuno in 2010 and has twowonderful daughters.

Waltz Fantasy

The main theme of the piece came tome as an amusement after comparinga theme from Eine Alpensinfonie byRichard Strauss to a similar one fromthe 2nd movement of Max Bruch'sviolin concerto No. 1 in G Minor. Fromthen on, the Waltz Fantasy in D Minorappeared unpretentiously, free in formbut strongly anchored in the traditionalharmony and in the orchestra of themid- nineteenth century.

Andre Catelli (Brazil)WALTZ FANTASY

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Studied composition, electronic music,choral music and choral conducting, andband instrumentation at the conservatoiresof Bologna and Modena. Subsequently headvanced into the Master program atVerona Opera Academy with A. Corghi,Triennal course degree at ICONSAcademy Novara with A. Solbiati, andother courses and masterclasses with F.Donatoni, A. Guarnieri, G. Ligeti, G.Grisey, G. Petrassi, N. Castiglioni.He has won and received commendationsat various competitions including: GustavMahler Klagenfurt, Counterpoint-ItalyInternational, SuonoSonda, DaeguContemporary Music Orchestra, ValentinoBucchi Prize, Pierre Schaeffer, EgidioCarella, Reggello International Festival,and many others.His works performed in Italy, Slovenia,UK, Greece, Ucraine, South Corea,Japan, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada.Scores are published in Italy by UtOrpheus, Sconfinarte, Bèrben, MAPEditions, Agenda, and TEM-Taukay; CD’sare available on TACTUS, RMN Label,CMC Milano, SuonoSonda, Soundiff,Accademia Pescarese.Actually teaching in Bari (Italy),Conservatorio Piccinni.

VariazioniThe score work around the famoustheme La donna è mobile from Verdi’sRigoletto.It was a commission for Festival diBellagio 2011 edition: a only onevariation from various composers.I wrote the first variation very close tooriginal score in melody and harmony.

In a second time I had the idea to go onwith harmony and strumentationprogressively away from the originalscore and a final ricapitolation in the forthand last variation.

Paolo Geminiani (Italy)VARIAZIONI

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Peter began studyingpiano at the age of six,and his passion forcomposition emergedearly when as a child, hebegan to write piecesemulating the style ofBach whom he wasstudying at the time.Peter completed his B.A.in Piano Performance atthe California StateUniversity at Hayward(USA), and graduatedegrees in composition at

the University of California at Berkeley(USA), where he studied with JoaquinNin-Culmell, Andrew Imbrie, EdwinDugger, and Olly Wilson.Peter had to retire early from his careerdue to medical and personal concerns.By that time though, he already had awork released on the 1750 ArchRecords label; numerous performancesof his works throughout the UnitedStates (New York, San Francisco,Seattle, New Haven, Minneapolis,Dallas) and in Europe (Netherlands andPoland); numerous awards and prizes(the George Ladd Paris Prize and LiliBoulanger Memorial Prize amongothers); and attended Tanglewood as aFellowship Composer in 1979. It wasn’tuntil 2009 that those personal andmedical concerns were sufficientlymitigated to allow Peter to resume hislife’s work. Today Peter enjoys a fullschedule of teaching, composing andperforming as he strives to reestablishhimself as a composer worthy of interestto contemporary audiences.

Visions des reflets et NocturnesI composed the first four sections ofVisions des reflets et nocturnes (Visionsof reflections and nocturnes) in2016-2017. In this work, I continue toexplore integrating traditional tonallanguage with more experimentalapproaches to pitch construction. As forusing titles and phrases in French, doingso has helped me to recapture andcontinue working in the creative cocoonthat I so enjoyed during my years inParis.Each section is preceded and followed bya short poetic descriptive phrase inFrench. The Preludes of Debussy cometo mind where the composer lists the titleof the piece at the end, but not as a literaldescription. These are the four sectionsof Visions included in this volume:I. Premier reflet … feuilles en baisse(First reflection … falling leaves)II. Un petit morceau … de nocturnecassé (A little piece … of a brokennocturne)III. Montage … en blanc et noir(Montage … in black and white)IV. Un esprit solitaire … triste et joyeux(A lone spirit … sad and joyous)

As these titles might suggest, Visions desreflets et nocturnes can be thought of asa kind of dreamscape which reflectsintrospective and subconscious musingsin a kind of “stream of consciousness”

Peter Dickson Lopez (USA)VISIONS DES REFLETS

ET NOCTURNES

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Mauricio Arias is a musician, composer,pianist and improviser, one of the mostversatile Colombian musicians of hisgeneration.Mr. Arias was born in Bogotá, Colombia,where he began his piano studies at agethirteen with Ludmiła Weber, with whomhe studied until his graduation fromCorpas University. He later studied withBaruch Meir and Robert Hamilton atArizona State University (MM and DMA).

He hasparticipated incourses withJoaquínAchúcarro,EteriAndjaparidzeand VladimirFeltsman.Mainly a self-taughtcomposer, hestudiedcompositionwith RodneyRogersJamesDeMars.

Mr. Arias iscurrentlyprofessor ofpiano at theUniversidad

de los Andes in Colombia. He is also afreelance composer and collaborativepianist.

Through My EyesThis piece was commissioned by theNational Symphony Orchestra of Colombiaon 2015 for the celebration of the 100thbirth anniversary of José Barros(1915-2007), who was a composer oficonic Colombian popular songs, such as"La Piragua". After receiving thiscommission, I started reviewing all thosesongs that I knew since childhood andfound out that many colombian iconicsongs (in many genres, such as, vallenato,pasillo, bolero, tango, etc) were written bythe same author, José Barros.For this hommage, I decided to make useof the genre by which by Barros isremembered the most, Cumbia, which isan afro-colombian rhythm from theCaribbean coast (Nowadays, the genrehas been "stolen" and you can hearmexican, argentinian "cumbias", but, theOriginal cumbia is colombian).

In the orchestral hommage, I decided toreach a point of "evident" cumbia towardsthe end of the piece, which wouldtransform itself into a joyous andrhythmically-driven finale. The "evidentcumbia" melody is the generative materialfor the whole piece. Before reaching thecumbia point, the motives aredeconstructed and transformed intodifferent shapes, rhythms and timbres,such as the English Horn solo near theopening, the minimalistic echoes thatfollow it, or the percussion lines in themiddle of the piece.

Mauricio Arias (Colombia)THROUGH MY EYES(A través de mis ojos)

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Satoru Ikeda, born in Hamamatsu City,Shizuoka prefecture in 1961, studiedcomposition under Hiroshi Otsuki andShin Sato.Having got B.A. in Education fromShizuoka University in 1983 and M.M.degree in Composition from TokyoUniversity of the Arts in 1987, he iscurrently Musical Director at ShimamuraMusic Co.,Ltd.He is a member of Japan Society forContemporary Music.Satoru Ikeda has won several awardsincluding the First Prize in « The MusicCompetition of Japan » in 1988, an awardfrom « Japan Symphony PromotionFoundation » in 2000, Prize foroutstanding work in « The OrchestralSong Composition Competition » in 2001,the Third Prize and The Orchestra Awardin « International Composition PrizeLuxembourg 2004 », the First Prize in «Sogakudo Japanese Lied Competition »in 2004, the « First InternationalComposers Competition for Piano Works"Bell' Arte Europa" 2005 », « "KendoMusic Composition Competition" for theEXPO Kendo events » in 2005, « Handel-Inspired Chamber Organ CompositionCompetition » in 2007, « Flute OrchestraComposition Competition » by JapanFlutists Association in 2008, the ThirdPrize in the « Shakuhachi ChamberMusic International Prize 2008 » and «The British Harpsichord Society "TenthAnniversary Composition Competition" »in 2012.

WaterCycleThis is acyclic workwhich ismotivatedby theharmonicseries.The firstmovementis basedon "StringSextet"composedin 2013.As thissextet is composed with only naturalharmonics, to this orchestration, Iapplied the winds at a one octavelower series of strings.The second movement is based onan excerpt from "Trio for violin, celloand piano" (2015).The materials of this movement arenatural harmonic glissando andtremolo, and the roar of accord whichis applied to the inversion ofharmonic series.

The conclusion of the movement andthe third movement (Finale) arebased on "Brass Quintet" (2011) andthe piece for wind instruments (2013)which is a revision of "Brass Quintet".

Satoru Ikeda (Japan)WATER CYCLE

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Douglas Vuncannon is a composer,musician, writer and visual artist who hastraveled extensively in the United States,Europe, Latin America and Asia.Recent projects include FukushimaTravelogue (2015), a dispatch from theradioactive ghost towns of Japan, andSabungeros (Cockfighters) (2017), anexhibition of photographs captured in thePhilippines between 2014 and 2016.Vuncannon teaches documentaryphotography at the Center forDocumentary Studies at Duke Universityand plays double bass in a jazz band. Healso works as the archival 35mm filmprojectionist at the North CarolinaMuseum of Art and holds the position ofaudio-visual specialist at the NasherMuseum of Art.

Sinfonietta Fukushima is his firstcompleted piece for symphony orchestra.

Sinfonietta Fukushima

Sinfonietta Fukushima (2013) is a satiricaltone poem written in reaction to theeponymous disaster in Japan. The work isby turns serious and whimsical. Itexpresses restlessness in mood andtonality, and attempts to balancepessimism with evocations of nostalgiaand a searching, clear-eyed resolution.

Douglas Vuncannon (USA)SINFONIETTA FUKUSHIMA

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Kim Bowman (Australia/The Netherlands)METAMORPHOSIS

Bowman's works have been performedthroughout the world and commissionedand performed by major orchestras andensembles, such as the ResidentieOrchestra The Hague, AmsterdamSinfonietta, Holland Sinfonia, the SydneySymphony Orchestra and the MeridianArts Ensemble New York. Reinbert deLeeuw, David Porcelijn, Etienne Siebens,Lucas Vis and Jac van Steen, amongothers, have conducted his works.Kim Bowman, born in Margaret River,WA, was mostly educated in theNetherlands, where he started art schoolin 1974. A few immature compositionsdate from those years. He also playedguitars and drums in several New Wavebands. Bowman started compositionstudies with David Porcelijn at the UtrechtConservatorium of Music in 1986. Hecontinued his studies with Claas de Vriesat the Rotterdam Conservatorium ofMusic. He minored in cello, double bassand piano. Since 2005 he has been livingin Sydney.He is particularly interested in writing fororchestra. In 2016 he wrote a piece forsoprano, violin, cello and orchestra calledIf (scheduled with one of the BBCorchestras under Jac can Steen for2018/2019) which is written in a muchmore contemplative style compared to hisprevious compositions, which aregenerally very dense and hectic.Kim Bowman's works are published in theNetherlands by Donemus and in Australiaby the Australian Music Centre. Variousworks are recorded on CD.

MetamorphosisThe writing of Metamorphosis for orchestrastarted off as an editing process of an oldpiece, written twenty years ago, using acomposing application on the computer. Ihad wanted to change things to this oldpiece for quite some time. Twenty years isa long time and the world and I hadchanged. Accordingly I saw the old piecedisappear instead of being reworked andmetamorphose into a new identity. It waslike painting over an old canvas. Freshmusic was written on top of the old. Butundoubtedly some of the old hadtransferred into the new. And like the shellof a cicada nymph that is left behind as awitness of the metamorphosis into its nextstage in life and new form, the old piece isstill hidden in the memory of the computer.Hypothetically by clicking ‘undo’ for everyentry made to write the new piece, the oldpiece would eventually, after thousands of‘undo’s’ re-appear from underneath.Another analogy of this work process:Imagine a mountain range that is floodeduntil only the highest peaks remain abovethe water. That last bit of material thatprotrudes out of the water becomes thenew building blocks that I start expandingand multiplying into new structures.Metamorphosis was written in 3 weeks andfinished early January 2017

VIOLIN IBeata Stanowska ConcertmasterNaomi WarrAnny Bing Xia Co-concertmasterDorothy SercombePaul Pokorny Co-concertmasterJelena CvetkovicYeRi LeeMacarena HerbertMar'yana Sywak

VIOLIN IIArmine Gargrtsyan PrincipalSonya MeherJacinta McPhillamyElena TobalkinaIsabel TzorbatzakiClaudia SeiboldRosy Timms

VIOLARosemary Davidson PrincipalParvin AfandiyevaEleanore VuongJulia PokornyKathryn Ramsay

CELLOMichal Wieczorek PrincipalMarcin WolskiWendy BurgeNazli ŞendurgutChristina KimKayla Flaxman

DOUBLE BASSVitalily Palitsyn PrincipalJeremy FoxEthan IrelandDavid Potts

FLUTESamantha Joseph PrincipalRachel Herbert

OBOEHamish Spicer PrincipalCallum Hogan

CLARINETAndrew Doyle PrincipalJason Xanthoudakis

BASSOONSarajane Hansen PrincipalLong Nguyen

FRECH HORNRadu Boros PrincipalGenevieve CampbellRafael SalgadoCindy Sims

SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY ORCHESTRA

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES

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TRUMPETAndrew del Riccio PrincipalDavid Johnson

TROMBONEEllie Shearer PrincipalChris Upton

BASS TROMBONE/TUBAGregory Bennett

TIMPANISteven Machamer Principal

PERCUSSIONKaylie Dunstan PrincipalDavid ZuckerAmy Vitucci

HARPLoni Fitzpatrick

PIANOMauricio Arias (Composer)Peter Lopez (Composer)

Dr Brian Chatpo KooFunding Conductor, Artistic & Executive Director

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Executive Director - Dr Brian Chatpo KooOrchestra Manger - Dianne Batcheldor

Office Manager - Rajishwar DattFinance Manager - Lalesh Chand

Publicity Manager - Rawah DorranianOrchestra Assistant - Bryton Anthony Johnson

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Brandbook

Baulkham Hills High SchoolSydney Australia

Presented by the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra Inc.