Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra
Artistic Director & Principal Conductor - Rick Prakhoff
Fine Music since 1933
ZELMAN SYMPHONY 2020 CONCERTS POSTPONED
Zelman Symphony has concluded that the likelihood that we will be able to rehearse and perform our concerts scheduled for 30 August and 29 November is low. Based on a range of issues including the government plans for return to normal which state that sports events and concerts will be the last sorts of things to return to normal, it is with regret that we have concluded that we must postpone these concerts to 2021.
Since we took that decision, it has become clearer that concerts like ours may not be able to go ahead until there is a vaccine or the virus has been eradicated because there is not enough room on our stages let alone backstage to allow us to socially distance ourselves and because the audience would also be required to socially distance meaning a huge reduction in the capacity of the concert halls. Add to that the fact that choristers and wind / brass players inevitable produce a lot of droplets.
In 2021, we hope to perform for your enjoyment and ours the four concerts that we had to postpone this year, with the same soloists and programs. If we are able to do so, the dates are likely to be Saturdays 20 March, 19 June and 4 September at Hawthorn Arts Centre and Sunday 28 November at Hamer Hall.
You can read about the concerts we have planned for 2021, COVID-19 permitting, below.
Thank you for your support and we hope to see you in 2021.
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Saturday 20 March 2021
(subject to confirmation)
Hawthorn Arts Centre,
360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn.
Classic Giants - Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
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We are honoured to present Elyane Laussade who is amongst Melbourne's favourite pianists, playing one of Mozart’s most intimate and expressive works, his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major. This is another step forward in Elyane’s Mozart Project which will see her perform all 27 Mozart piano concertos with orchestras around Australia.
To commence our homage to Beethoven’s birth 250 years ago, we will conclude the program with what is arguably one of Beethoven’s best loved and best known works, Symphony No. 5.
We will commence the concert with Haydn Symphony No. 84 (In nomine Domini) which is one of the last of the six Haydn ‘Paris Symphonies’. In contrast to most of the other Paris Symphonies, No. 84 gives greater prominence to the woodwind section which is reinforced in numbers as compared to other Haydn Symphonies.
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6 or 13 June 2021 (Daylesford)
19 June 2021 (Hawthorn Arts Centre)
(all dates subject to confirmation)
Romantic Passions - Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky
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We continue our homage to the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven with his Egmont Overture. Written in Beethoven's middle period, it features a stately opening and a thrilling, climactic finalé.
Roy Theaker and Kalina Krusteva will thrill you with the Brahms Double Concerto which was Brahms’ last composition for orchestra. It was written for cellist Robert Hausmann, a frequent chamber music collaborator of Brahms, together with Brahms’ estranged friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim, one of the greatest violinists of all time – it was a gesture of reconciliation by Brahms towards Joachim.
Standing alongside Brahms and Beethoven will be Tchaikovsky's most personal work, his Symphony Pathétique. The hostile reception it initially received plunged Tchaikovsky into despair. Today, this heart-wrenching and passionate symphony is one of his most beloved works.
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Saturday 4 September 2021
(subject to confirmation)
Hawthorn Arts Centre,
360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn.
Triple Destiny - Mozart, Beethoven and Sibelius
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We complete our homage to the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven with his Triple Concerto for piano, violin and cello with celebrated Trio Anima Mundi.
This is preceded by Mozart’s famous overture to Don Giovanni which he is thought to have written in just one day. Unusually for an overture to an opera, this overture contains no themes from the opera itself but, in reality, it is more like the first movement of a symphony.
The concert will end with Sibelius Symphony No 5. How many composers have had a national holiday proclaimed to celebrate their birthday? The Finnish Government did so for Sibelius’ 50th birthday and commissioned his 5th Symphony which was premiered that day. Two revisions later, we have the version that is normally played today.
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