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Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

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Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO)
Orchestra
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra logo
Former nameSouth Australian Symphony Orchestra
Founded1936
Websitewww.aso.com.au

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an Australian orchestra based in Adelaide, South Australia. Its primary venue is the Adelaide Town Hall, but the ASO also performs in other venues such as Elder Hall at the University of Adelaide and the Adelaide Festival Centre. The ASO provides the orchestral support for all productions of the State Opera of South Australia, as well as the Adelaide performances of the Australian Ballet and Opera Australia. The orchestra is also a regular featured ensemble at the Adelaide Festival.

In 1936 the South Australian Orchestra was supplanted by the 50-member Adelaide Symphony Orchestra led by William Cade, and sponsored by the Australian Broadcasting Commission.[1] The orchestra reformed in 1949 as the 55-member South Australian Symphony Orchestra, with Henry Krips as its resident conductor. The orchestra reverted to its original title, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, in late 1975, and currently comprises 74 permanent members. Chief conductors of the orchestra have included Elyakum Shapirra, Piero Gamba, Albert Rosen, Nicholas Braithwaite, and David Porcelijn. The ASO's most recent chief conductor was Arvo Volmer, who held the post from 2004 to 2013. He is currently the ASO's principal guest conductor and artistic advisor.[2] In 2007, the orchestra partnered with Hilltop Hoods to prepare a re-orchestrated release of their album The Hard Road, titled The Hard Road: Restrung.[3] In 2015 the Hilltop Hoods collaborated for a second time with the 32-piece Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the 20-piece Adelaide Chamber Singers Choir for their next re-orchestrated album titled Drinking from the Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung.[4]

The ASO's achievements have included its 1998 performances of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, the first Australian production since 1913[5] (although it was widely and erroneously claimed to be the first ever in Australia). The orchestra participated in the first fully Australian production of The Ring in 2004.

In 2009 Premier and Arts Minister Mike Rann proposed and provided government funding to the ASO to commission a major orchestral work about climate change. The ASO's world premiere of Gerard Brophy's 'The Blue Thread', inspired by the River Murray, was performed at the Concert for the Earth at the Adelaide Town Hall on 27 November 2010.[6] The Rann government proposed and arranged funding for two further ASO commissions, the first an orchestral tribute to the cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, and the second commemorating the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli. The world premiere of 'Our Don' by Natalie Williams was performed by the ASO in August 2014.[7] The world premiere of an 'ANZAC Requiem' by composer Iain Grandage and librettist Kate Mulvany was performed on 22 April 2015.[8]

Principal conductors

See also

References

  1. ^ "New Symphony Orchestra of 50 Performers Formed". The News (Adelaide). Vol. XXVI, , no. 4, 001. South Australia. 19 May 1936. p. 1. Retrieved 7 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) This article lists all members except the harpist and tympanists.
  2. ^ Graham Strahle (15 November 2013). "Volmer's vivid delivery a firecracker farewell". The Australian. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  3. ^ McCabe, Kathy (17 May 2007). "Hilltop Hoods on Classics". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Hilltop Hoods announce new Restrung album, national tour, drop 'Higher' | Music News | triple j". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  5. ^ The Ring was first performed in Australia at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne in August 1913 (Das Rheingold, 19 August; Die Walkure, 22 August; Siegfried, 25 August; Gotterdammerung, 29 August), Erik Irvin, Dictionary of the Australian Theatre 1788-1914, pp. 245, 246
  6. ^ Samela Harris, Adelaide Advertiser, 25 November 2015, "Don't call me a greenie"; and ABC 7 December 2010, "Australian Broadcast Highlights, The Blue Thread"
  7. ^ Forester, Gordon (15 August 2014). "Our Don Review-Donald Bradman's Symphonic Tribute Hits for Six". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  8. ^ ASO Annual Report, 2011
  9. ^ The Advertiser Off The Record: Orchestra now in baton race to replace young gun March 31, 2017 "Complicating matters in 32-year-old Carter’s case is the nature of his historic appointment – the first Australian to lead a state orchestra in 30 years and one of the youngest ever. In 2015, the ASO board recognised his youthful brilliance but, in an unusual move, also appointed old hands Jeffrey Tate and Pinchas Zukerman to help."
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