Schumann's Companion, Saturday March 14th, 5:00pm
Description
Robert Schumann, pianist, father, chess enthusiast and extraordinary composer, was extremely productive in 1842. Over the year at his desk in Leipzig, he wrote three string quartets, a piano quintet, a piano trio, a mixed chamber work and his spirited Piano Quartet in Eb Major, Op. 47. A ‘creative double’ to his preceding Piano Quintet, the Quartet is an intimate yet luminous work, its slow movement featuring one of the most sublime melodies written for cello, straight from Schumann’s heart to ours.
Schumann's companion is the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-finalist work, The Companion Guide to Rome, by American composer Andrew Norman. Spanning nine musical portraits, the work draws listeners inside a world of high-ceilinged Roman cathedrals, where light filters through stained glass and legends of the saints come alive. In the final, climactic movement, we experience "Sabina" as a sunrise through the glass, echoing the finale of the Schumann.
Program
Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op.47 (1842)
1. Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo
2. Scherzo: Molto vivace – Trio I – Trio II
3. Andante cantabile
4. Finale: Vivace
Andrew Norman: Companion Guide to Rome (2010)
1. Teresa
2. Benedetto
3. Susanna
4. Pietro
5. Ivo
6. Clemente
7. Lorenzo
8. Cecilia
9. Sabina
Lineup
Helena Rathbone, Violin
Helena Rathbone grew up in North London, where she studied violin at the Royal College of Music Junior department with Dona Lee Croft, and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with David Takeno. She performed with ensembles including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields before joining Australian Chamber Orchestra as Principal Violin. Helena regularly performs as soloist and guest leader with the ACO. She has performed as Guest Concertmaster with international orchestras including the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and has appeared at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Four Winds Bermagui, Christchurch Arts Festival, Sangat Chamber Music Festival (Mumbai) and IMS Prussia Cove. Helena is actively involved in the ACO’s Learning & Engagement program and is director of ACO Collective. She has also been a tutor and chamber orchestra director at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camps. Helena plays the 1732 ‘ex-Dollfus’ Stradivarius violin, kindly on loan from an anonymous private benefactor.
Elizabeth Woolnough, Viola
Liz Woolnough, formerly of the Central Coast of NSW, began her musical journey on the violin before seeing the light and switching to the viola to commence a Bacheor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium. While studying at the Conservatorium under the tutelage of Roger Benedict, Liz simultaneously undertook the Fellowship program with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (2015) and was an Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (2016). In 2017, Liz successfully auditioned for the job of tutti viola with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. However, it wasn’t long before she was snapped up by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, becoming an integral member of their viola section. Between tours around Australia and the world, Liz manages to find the time to be a devoted dog mother to Gandalf and fierce runner. In fact, she can run a half marathon in 80 minutes! UPDATE: half marathon is now 79:40…
Chris Pidcock, Cello
Christopher Pidcock is a cellist who equally enjoys performing on historical and contemporary instruments, exploring composer and performer relationships, and fosters the idea that improvisation is part of being a classical musician. Christopher’s collaborative relationships with composers such as Alex Pozniak, Mary Finsterer, Georgia Scott, Alan Holley and Kim Cunio have led to new works being written for him. Christopher’s openness to discovery, either by his audience or musicians in the community of Sydney, led to the creation of Opus Now, a concert series that draws together historical performance, world indigenous music, and contemporary music into a single concert. Artists and parallels in the programming are painstakingly researched to create memorable concert experiences. Opus Now receives support from Create NSW, affirming its place in the cultural scene of Sydney. Christopher is currently completing his doctorate under the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Early Music Department, under the supervision of Daniel Yeadon and Erin Helyard. His focus is on researching early 19th century performance practices through emulation of early recordings to reimagine Beethoven’s Opus 102 Sonatas. Christopher aims to demonstrate a continuum of these performance practices over the 19th century to arrive at a style of playing that Beethoven might have expected. Christopher’s interest in both early and contemporary music led to the release of his 2020 album “Immersed in Bach”. The album is a reflection on J.S Bach’s formidable Cello Suite no. 4 in E-flat major and six contemporary compositions that share similar mathematical elements to the dances they are paired with. It features music written by Enno Poppe, Salvatore Sciarrino, Mark O’Connor, Mary Finsterer, Alex Pozniak, and the famous jazz-meme, “the lick”. Christopher regularly performs chamber music with violinists Kristian Winther, Shaun Lee Chen and Harry Ward, and pianists Lee Dionne, Gerard Willems AM, Dr Cecilia Sun, Dr Brieley Cutting and Dr Jocelyn Ho. Christopher is a passionate teacher and educator, working with the Symphony for Life programme, Chicago Symphony’s MusicCorps, and tutoring at the Riverina Summer School in Wagga Wagga. In 2022 Christopher performed at the opening of the Georges Lentz Sound Chapel, located inside a 10-meter-high water-tank in Cobar. Overseas, Christopher recently gave a solo recital at the Sagrestia del Vasari, inside of the church of Saint Anna of Lombardi, in Naples. The sacristy is named after Giorgio Vasari who painted its vault frescoes in 1545. Christopher’s formative music teachers as a child include Helen Swan, Helen Lamour, David Pereira, and then later Christian Wojtowicz in Tasmania, Uzi Wiesel in Sydney, and overseas tuition from Hans Jørgen Jensen, Peter Bruns and his close friend and mentor Gavriel Lipkind. From 2010 he was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, working with Yo-Yo Ma, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Riccardo Muti, before returning home to Australia to be accepted into the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as a member of the cello section in 2012. Christopher’s awards include the 2007 Gisborne International Music Competition (New Zealand) 1st prize, a Churchill Fellowship in 2008, the 2009 Nelson Meers Foundation Scholarship at the Sydney Eisteddfod, and Semi-finalist in the 2010 ABC YPA.
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.
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