Portrait Parade - Saturday, August 8th, 11:00am
Description
Program
Francis Poulenc: Sextet for Winds and Piano (1932)
1. Allegro Vivace
2. Divertissement: Andante
3. Finale: Prestissimo
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: Duet for Flute and Oboe in E Minor F. 54 (1710)
1. Allegro
3. Vivace
Jürg Wyttenbach: Una Chica en Nirvana (2002)
Ruth Crawford Seeger: Suite for Wind Quintet (1952)
1. Allegretto
2. Lento Rubato
3. Allegro possible
Valerie Coleman: Red Clay and Mississippi Delta (2016)
Listening Guide
Ruth Crawford Seeger, against the gender bias of her time, needled at dissonance, contrapuntal ostinati, text and form in such unique ways that she emerged as a leader of ultra-modernist American composers in the early 1900s. Crawford’s Suite for Wind Quintet (1952) was composed in the penultimate year of her life, a return to formal composition after embracing American folk music for the decades before.
At the same time in Paris, Francis Poulenc was enjoying a wave of professional celebrity due to the success of his latest ballet with Diaghilev Les Biches. His Sextet for Piano and Winds (1932) is as entertaining as it comes, full of wit and sentimentality, and melodies that will have you wanting to sing along.
Lineup
Rosie Gallager, Flute
Phoebe Xu, Oboe
Phoebe studied with Juliana Koch at the Royal College of Music as an RCM Scholar, and has since performed with the Australian Youth Orchestra and as a casual musician with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, she appeared with the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra performing Mozart’s Oboe Concerto, receiving both the Barbara Robinson Prize and the KPO Award. Phoebe is currently completing a law degree at the University of Sydney, with developing interests in employment law and intellectual property law, particularly as they relate to music and the creative arts. Among her most cherished performances are those at Hayes Street Studio, where the intimacy of the space and the intensity of shared musical energy bring performances to life.
Oliver Shermacher, Clarinet
Oliver Shermacher is a multi-award-winning clarinettist known for his virtuosic and imaginative performances. Winner of the 2022 Aeolus International Wind Competition and recipient of the Audience Award, Oliver lives between Australia and Germany and works internationally as a soloist, orchestral musician, and teacher. A central focus of his artistic work lies in music-theatre and interdisciplinary practice, encompassing both theatre and opera in Australia and across Europe. He creates and realises performances in which the clarinet functions as a scenic and dramaturgical element, integrated with dance, acting, composition, and sound design. He has a long-standing collaboration with the Australian Little Eggs Theatre Company, for which he received the 2022 Sydney Theatre Award for Sound Design. Building on this experience, Oliver works with the Australian Youth Orchestra as a music educator, project developer, and artistic lead for participatory formats, creating innovative education and performance projects with a particular focus on inclusive practice for young people with disabilities. In Australia, Oliver is a recipient of the Freedman Fellowship and was a finalist in the ABC Young Performers Award, where he also received the Audience Award. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Vogtland Philharmonic, Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie, and Apex Ensemble, and was Artist in Residence with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, with whom he premiered the Clarinet Concerto by Alice Chance. A passionate chamber musician, Oliver has performed at Nicolas Altstaedt’s Lockenhaus Festival, as well as the Schleswig-Holstein, Kissinger Sommer, Rheingau, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern festivals. He has appeared as Principal Clarinet with leading orchestras including the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Opera Australia Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra. As Principal Bass Clarinet, he has performed with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, and the Australian World Orchestra, and he currently holds a permanent position as Bass Clarinet with the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Oliver completed his Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Francesco Celata and his Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with Kilian Herold and Anton Hollich. He has also been a guest teacher at all major Australian music institutions, including the Sydney, Melbourne, and Queensland Conservatoriums, as well as the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).
Ben Hoadley, Bassoon
Ben Hoadley has worked with all the major symphony orchestras in Australia and New Zealand and further afield with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, Hong Kong and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras, among others. He is principal bassoonist with the Canberra Symphony and a regular guest principal with the Australia Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Offspring and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. A graduate of New England Conservatory's prestigious Artist Diploma programme in Boston, Ben received fellowships to the Tanglewood Music Centre, Weill Academy at Carnegie Hall and the Australian National Academy of Music. Ben currently teaches at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He also tutors for ANAM and AYO programmes and has previously held teaching positions at the University of Auckland School of Music, Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Australian National University School of Music.
Lee Dionne, Piano
Described as “impressive” (NYTimes), “impeccable” (Fanfare Magazine), and “entrancing” (BBC Music Magazine), pianist Lee Dionne leads a varied, international career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, artistic director, arranger, and speaker. He has performed numerous solo and chamber debut recitals in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Jordan Hall, Merkin Hall, Spivey Hall, and the Philharmonic in Bratislava. For six years Lee toured the US and internationally as the founding pianist of the Merz Trio (2017-2023), with which he was a recipient of the prestigious Naumburg Award in Chamber Music and first prize winner of the Fischoff, Chesapeake, and Concert Artist Guild Competitions. Other chamber ensembles and organisations with which Lee has been associated include Yellow Barn Music Festival, Ensemble Connect, and Cantata Profana. Within Australia Lee has been presented as a soloist, chamber musician, speaker, and studio artist by such organisations as Piano+, the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Musica Viva, ABC Classic, and Fine Music Sydney. Lee is deeply indebted to a host of former teachers and mentors, including pianists Vivian Weilerstein, Boris Berman, Wei-Yi Yang, Matti Raekallio, Seth Knopp, Patricia Zander, and Wilma Machover; harpsichordist Arthur Haas; musicologists Michael Friedmann and Paul Berry; and chamber musicians Don Weilerstein, Mark Steinberg, Julio Elizalde, Gerhard Schutz, Kim Kashkashian, Isabel Charisius, Merry Peckham, and Alisdair Tate. Lee currently teaches piano, collaborative piano, and chamber music at the Sydney Conservatorium. Previous faculty positions include Yellow Barn's Young Artist Program and Yale University's Performance of Chamber Music Seminar.
Nicholas Mooney, French Horn
Nicholas Mooney was appointed Queensland Symphony Orchestra Section Principal Horn in 2023. Born in Sydney, Nicholas studied at the University of Sydney and Sydney Conservatorium before being awarded a position in the Southbank Sinfonia training orchestra in London in 2016. In 2017 Nicholas became the principal horn of the Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen in Bruges, a position that he held until 2021. Before joining the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Nicholas maintained a busy freelance career in the UK, performing as guest principal horn with many of the symphony orchestras in the United Kingdom, including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time Nicholas especially enjoyed working under Herbert Blomstedt, Vladimir Jurowski, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Valery Gergiev. Nicholas maintains these relationships to this day and has recently performed as guest principal horn with the London Symphony Orchestra on successful tours of Europe and Australia under Sir Simon Rattle, and the Philharmonia orchestra through Europe under Santtu-Mathias Rouvali. Nicholas can be heard on various music in film, television and video game franchises such as Star Wars, Avatar, Marvel and Mortal Kombat. Commercially, Nicholas has recorded and performed with popular artists Andrea Bocelli, Rod Stewart and Hauser. In his spare time he enjoys time with his family, attempting to play and watch football, perfecting the art of coffee, and the occasional card game.
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