julien van mellaerts & james baillieu · 2019-04-03 · kia ora tātou . i first heard baritone...

JULIEN VAN MELLAERTS& JAMES BAILLIEU

2 Chamber Music New Zealand

www.northernmigrations.co.nz

Touring NZ 15 – 25 June

Kia ora tātou I first heard baritone Julien Van Mellaerts sing in 2012 when he appeared as Bartolo in Opera Otago’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. I was immediately impressed by both his voice and vivacious stage presence. In 2020, Julien will be performing the title role from the same opera, in concert, as part of Mozart2020, an internationally renowned festival hosted by Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg. Sir András Schiff invited Julien to sing the role of Figaro after hearing him sing at an award ceremony at the Royal College of Music, London.

Here, Julien was awarded the prestigious Tagore Gold Medal, one of many awards this exceptional young singer has won. With such an impressive trajectory thus far, I’m sure that Julien’s musical career is set to be a fine one. Coincidentally, I have also had the pleasure of hearing the remarkable collaborative pianist James Baillieu in concert at Wigmore Hall – performing with our friends from the CMNZ 2018 Season, the Heath Quartet.

I am so looking forward to hearing these outstanding young musicians perform together in a programme aptly titled Songs of Travel.

The programme is beautifully crafted and includes a new Gareth Farr work of settings of new poems by Bill Manhire about four New Zealand birds. Julien commissioned this work with support from CMNZ, along with the Festival of Colour, Wanaka, Jane Kominik and the Dame Malvina Major Foundation – we thank them for their generosity.

We would also like to acknowledge the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation for generously supporting Julien and James with their international travel.

Julien and James will be performing for our subscription audiences in Hamilton, New Plymouth and Napier, the Festival of Colour, Wanaka and as part of our Regional Series.

Ngā mihi nui,

Catherine GibsonChief Executive Chamber Music New Zealand

“…the baritone Julien Van Mellaerts brings the songs to life with warmth and wit.”– The Times

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) Page 8 Lieder: settings of poems by Geothe

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Page 9 From Histoires naturelles

GARETH FARR (b. 1968) Page 10 Ornithological Anecdotes

INTERVAL

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958) Page 11 Songs of Travel

BALLADS AND LEGENDS Page 12 Jean Sibelius, George Gershwin, Manning Sherwin, Cole Porter

SONGS OF TRAVELHamilton, New Plymouth, Napier

DURATION: 110 minutes including an interval

*The Artists reserve the right to make changes to the programme.

Please respect the music, the musicians, and your fellow audience members, by switching off all cellphones, pagers and watches. Taking photographs, or sound or video recordings during the concert is strictly prohibited unless with the prior approval of Chamber Music New Zealand.

The Hamilton concert is being recorded for later broadcast by RNZ Concert.

“James Baillieu is in a class of his own… a remarkable pianist.”– The Daily Telegraph

7Julien Van Mellaerts & James Baillieu

JamesBaillieu

An accomplished chamber musician, soloist and accompanist, James’ partnerships include Lawrence Power, the Heath Quartet, Mark Padmore, Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Kiri te Kanawa and Ian Bostridge. Venues include Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Musikverein; and the Bergen, Spitalfields, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, St Magnus, Norfolk & Norwich, Brighton, Verbier and Aix-en-Provence Festivals. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Ulster Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Wiener Kammersymphonie.

James has presented his own series at the Wigmore Hall. This series was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Chamber Music and Song Award for an outstanding contribution to the performance of chamber music and song in the UK during 2016. Recent collaborations include Benjamin Appl, Kathryn Rudge, Jamie Barton and Lise Davidsen. This season’s engagements include appearances at Wigmore Hall in London, Park Avenue Armory in New York, Phillips Collection in Washington, Art Song Festval in Cleveland and performances at the Heidelberger Frühling and Konzerthaus Dortmund.

Born in South Africa, James studied in Cape Town and London. He was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust and Young Classical Artist Trust artist. James enjoys working with young musicians and is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, a coach at the Royal Opera House, a course leader for the Samling Foundation, and head of the Song Programme of the Atelier Lyrique at the Verbier Festival Academy.

Julien VanMellaerts

Julien Van Mellaerts has recently graduated from the Royal College of Music International Opera School, where he was a Fishmongers Scholar studying with Russell Smythe. On graduation, he was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal. Before moving to London, Julien studied music and languages at the University of Otago. Winner of the 2016 Joan Chissell Schumann Song Prize, 2016 Brooks-Van Der Pump English Song Competition, and the 2015 Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards.

Recent operatic roles include: second soldier and second Nazarene in Salome at the Verbier Festival with Charles Dutoit; Dandini in La Cenerentola with Diva Opera; Schaunard in La Bohème as a Christine Collins Young Artist at Opera Holland Park; .

Highlights this season include baritone soloist with the Royal Ballet in their production of Elizabeth, with performances at the Barbican and on tour, the world premiere of ‘Christmas Carol’ by Will Todd with Opera Holland Park, Schaunard in La Bohème with New Zealand Opera, the title role in Eugene Onegin with the Cambridge Philharmonic, the Referee in Mozart vs the Machine for Mahogany Opera Group, recitals with Julius Drake in Madrid, performances at Wigmore and Cadogan Hall, baritone soloist in Fauré Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall, and recitals at the London Song, Leeds Lieder and Oxford Lieder Festivals.

This year Julien will be singing Papageno in Mozart’s Magic Flute at Verbier as well as in Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten with Gergiev, also at Verbier. Julien is set to star in The Marriage of Figaro at Salzburg’s Mozart Week 2020.

Julien’s tour to New Zealand is made possible with ongoing support from the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.

Piano Baritone


Franz Schubert (1797-1828)Lieder: settings of poems by GeotheGanymed 1817Rastlose Liebe 1815Erster Verlust 1815An den Mond 1816Erlkönig 1815Auf dem See 1817Wanderers Nachtlied II (Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh) 1824Der Musensohn 1822

Long before the advent of email, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) complained to a friend that he received so much unsolicited correspondence that he no longer bothered replying. One writer thus neglected was Franz Schubert who, in 1817, had sent him some settings of his poems. These, including some of the songs we hear tonight, were returned unopened. Goethe was interested in music and surrounded by musicians eager to set his poetry – but Schubert never made it on to his radar (despite an eventual total of 71 Goethe songs).

The Schubert Lied (plural Lieder) is quintessentially music-up-close – intimate music written for drawing room performance. What became known as Schubertiads were private concerts to a select number of invited guests in the house of one of Schubert’s admirers. Schubert, who is often referred to (not quite accurately) as the ‘father’ of the Lied, championed this genre. Lied simply means ‘song’, but in this context it is a setting in which the piano is an equal partner with the voice. In ‘Erlkönig’ (‘The Elf-king’) the father’s desperate ride through the night is dramatized in the virtuosic piano accompaniment. ‘Rastlose Liebe’ (‘Restless Love’) is similarly turbulent. Both

songs are ultimately about emotional turmoil. In ‘Ganymed’ piano and voice together evoke the erotic excitement of the beautiful young boy for Zeus. In the ‘Wanderers Nachtlied’ (‘Wanderer’s Nightsong’), it is the piano the creates the sense of nature at peace before the singer so magically describes it.

Schubert’s treatment of Goethe’s poetry is always utterly responsive to its meaning. The piano accompaniment in ‘Auf dem See’ (‘On the Lake’) evokes changing weather and rising winds. A poem like ‘An den Mond’ (‘To the Moon’) has four stanzas. Instead of a strophic setting (the same music for each stanza), the wonderful repose of the outer sections frame a more animated central section where the singer remembers his lover sitting surrounded by bushes rustling in the wind and a burbling brook.

This beautiful selection of Lieder traverses an emotional range from the calm of ‘An den Mond’ and ‘Erster Verlust’ (‘First Loss’, but also about first love) through to the jubilation of Der Musensohn (‘The Muses’ Son’).

Duration: 22 minutes


Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) From Histoires naturellesi. Le paon iii. Le cygne v. La pintade

Ravel’s Histoires naturelles, composed in 1906, are settings of five prose poems by Jules Renard. Renard’s complete Histoires had been published just six years earlier with illustrations by Toulouse Lautrec. These ironic vignettes of human and animal behavior sit delightfully alongside the Farr/Manhire Ornithological Anecdotes.

Maurice Ravel stands alongside Claude Debussy (1862-1918) as a giant of early 20th century French music. While he has sometimes been accused of imitating his mentor and friend’s revolutionary style (one that uses a familiar harmonic vocabulary of the late 19th century in profoundly new ways), Ravel’s approach to word setting is, in fact, more radical than Debussy’s. He aimed – recitative like – to bring the vocal line as close as possible to natural speech.

The prose syntax of Renard’s vignettes lends itself to this approach. Ravel’s insistence (through his notation) that the unstressed final vowel in words like ‘usage’ (the first example in ‘Le paon’) should be treated as in spoken

French rather than sounded separately shocked his colleagues – even Debussy. Throughout these settings are lots of mixed rhythms (the use of triplets, quintuplets etc.) that create the natural fluid profile of the spoken word.

‘Le paon’ (the peacock) is – needless to say – a vain creature whose dignity must be maintained even after his fiancée fails to show up for the wedding. The piano accompaniment, with its dotted groups reminiscent of that most royal of forms, the French Overture, underlines the peacock’s sense of self-importance.

Ravel’s swan (‘Le cygne’) begins – like Saint- Saëns’ – by gliding over sparkling water (shimmering pianissimo semiquavers blurred by the sustaining pedal). This swan – Narcissus like – is in love with its own reflection.

‘La pintade’ (the guinea fowl) opens (rageusement – furiously) with its raucous cry fortissimo on the piano. The singer carries the narrative about this mean-spirited creature while the piano dramatizes the disturbances she creates.



Gareth Farr (b. 1968)Ornithological AnecdotesDotterel TakaheHuiaTui

Gareth Farr, one of our most feted New Zealand composers, has an extensive list of works, including vocal works, but not until Ornithological Anecdotes has he written just for voice and piano. This commission, instigated by Julien Van Mellaerts, brings Farr together with this country’s greatest living poet, Bill Manhire (b. 1946).

‘Dotterel’ is not the first poem by Manhire to have been inspired by watching these brave little birds protecting their young on the sandspit at Opoutere. The filigree of sound in the accompaniment captures the lightness (‘a fluttering and a scurrying’) of the text. The Takahe, on the other hand, (‘plod a lot’) has an asymmetrical, galumphing 5/8 metre.

Manhire’s Huia poem captures all the sadnesses associated with this vanished bird: its iconic beauty (imprinted on postage stamp and coin); its musical call (Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision say that their recording of Henare Hāmana remembering the sound of the huia is their most requested item); and the damage wrought by human greed. Farr’s setting, with its pianissimo arpeggiated chords and haunting repeated call, is beautifully apt. Finally the Tui. Manhire’s poem, with its characteristically whimsical tone, portrays the tui as a show-off and a talented mimic. Farr’s setting (marked ‘cocky – with attitude’) plays with the tui’s call – principally the high-pitched, flamboyantly virtuosic flourishes rather than the vulgar coda.

Duration: 8 minutes

‘Commissioned with assistance from the Chamber Music New Zealand Trust and Wanaka Festival of Colour to be performed by Julien Van Mellaerts and James Baillieu’.


Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)Songs of Traveli. The vagabondii. Let beauty awakeiii. The roadside fireiv. Youth and lovev. In dreamsvi. The infinite shining heavensvii. Whither must I wanderviii. Bright is the ring of wordsix. I have trod the upward and the downward slope

Vaughan Williams and Sibelius are exact contemporaries – and the Songs of Travel (first performed in 1904) were written at the same time as the two Sibelius songs in the next bracket. Both composers were intent on finding a voice for their own culture.

The Songs of Travel, settings of poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, demonstrate Vaughan Williams’ ability to capture the rhythmic contour

“No surprise that Van Mellaerts, witty and wiry-toned, walked away with the top prize.” – The Times

and inflections of the English language. Only Purcell before him and Benjamin Britten after have done this quite so well.

As a cycle, the Songs of Travel traverse a deeply satisfying emotional range – from the confident bravura of ‘The vagabond’ to the reflective sadness of ‘In dreams’.



Ballads and legendsJean Sibelius (1865-1957) | Svarta rosor Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) | Säv, säv, susa George Gershwin (1898-1937) | The Lorelei Manning Sherwin (1902-1974) | A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley SquareCole Porter (1891-1964) | The Tale of the Oyster

The Sibelius songs – described by Fabian Dahlström and James Hepokoski as ‘deeply melancholic and soberly chilling’ – were written at the turn of the century. Both have Swedish texts: ‘Svarta rosor’ (‘Black Roses’) by the painter and poet Ernst Josephson (1851-1906) and ‘Säv, säv, susa’ (‘Sigh, rushes, sigh’) by Gustaf Fröding (1860-1911). Sibelius, the champion of Finnish culture, grew up as part of a Swedish-speaking elite, thoroughly versed in Swedish culture.

As a young man he explained to his fiancé that he would reply to her letters in Swedish “so that it does not take five minutes to write out each word”.

George Gershwin’s ‘Lorelei’ (with lyrics by his brother, Ira) comes from the ill-fated 1933 musical Pardon My English. The comedy of the

‘Lorelei’ is supercharged through the implied reference to Heinrich Heine’s poem (set as a Lied by Liszt, Clara Schumann and others). Heine’s Lorelei, a mysterious femme fatale luring sailors to a tragic death becomes an exu-berant protagonist in Ira Gershwin’s hands.

Cole Porter’s witty ‘Tale of the oyster’ comes from the 1929 musical Fifty Million Frenchman. It repulsed at least one opening night critic, who called it a “tasteless song of regurgitation”.

The last bird in this concert, is Manning Sher-win’s ‘Nightingale’ (lyrics by Eric Maschwitz). Written in France on the eve of World War II, its sense of nostalgia was soon to become more poignant. Along with ‘We’ll meet again’, It was popularised by Vera Lynn.


Programme notes kindly provided by Peter Walls

Founders' Circle MembersAnonymousGraeme EdwardsArnold and Reka SolomonsThe Estate of Jenni CaldwellThe Estate of Aileen ClaridgeThe Estate of Walter FreitagThe Estate of Chisne GunnThe Estate of Warwick Gordon HarrisThe Estate of Joan KerrThe Estate of Monica Taylor Ensemble ($10,000+)Anonymous Robin & Sue HarveyKaye & Maurice ClarkGill and Peter DavenportPeter and Carolyn DiesslProfessor Jack Richards

Octet ($5,000+)M Hirschfeld Children's TrustHylton LeGrice and Angela LindsayThe Lyons Family - in memory of Ian Lyons Murray ShawKerrin and Noel VautierLloyd Williams and Cally McWha

Quintet ($2,500+)Joy ClarkJohn and Trish GribbenAnn HardenJane KominikCollin PostArnold and Reka SolomonsPeter and Kathryn Walls Quartet ($1,000+)Anonymous (2)Donald and Susan BestRoger and Joanna BoothPhilip and Rosalind BurdonMD and MA CarrRick and Lorraine ChristieRoger ChristmasThe Cranfylde Charitable Trust Graeme and Di EdwardsPeter and Rae FehlFinchley TrustDame Jennifer GibbsPatricia GillionDavid and Heather HuttonLinda MacFarlaneElizabeth McLeay

Roger and Jenny MountfortBarbara PeddieRoger ReynoldsMartin and Catherine Spencer Basil & Jenny StantonAlison ThomsonAnn TrotterJudith TrotterAnna WilsonBruce Wilson and Jill WhiteAnn WylieDavid Zwartz

Trio ($500+)Anonymous (6)Diane BaguleyPhilippa BatesHarry and Anne BonningJD CullingtonJonathan CweorthHanno FairburnTom and Kay FarrarJohn FarrellAnne French Consulting LtdBelinda GalbraithC & P GibsonLaurie Greig Gary and Helena HawkeDouglas and Barbara HolborowE Prof Les HolborowMichael Houstoun and Mike NicolaidiCaroline ListFiona Macmillan and Briony MacmillanMargaret MalaghanRaymond and Helen MatiasAE McAloon Fiona McAlpineAndrew and Mary McEwen Heather Miller Margaret NielsenPrue Olde Robert and Helen PhilpottMiles RogersSylvia RosevearPeter and Juliet RoweJohn and Kathryn SinclairRoss Steele Mary SmitPriscilla TobinDavid TrippPatricia UngerRichard and Elaine WestlakeTim Wilkinson

Thank YouTo all of our generous donors who support CMNZ throughout the year

REGIONAL CONCERTS

JULIEN VAN MELLAERTS & JAMES BAILLIEUHamilton 10 April

New Plymouth 12 AprilWhanganui 13 AprilWaikanae 14 April

Napier 16 April

NEW ZEALAND STRING QUARTETWarkworth 27 AprilWhangarei 28 AprilMotueka 30 April

Christchurch 1 MayWellington 5 May

DUO COL LEGNO Gore 12 May

Wanaka 14 MayOamaru 15 May

Whanganui 18 MayGisborne 21 May Kerikeri 23 May

Warkworth 25 May Tauranga 26 May Rotorua 27 May

THE DONIZETTI TRIO Whakatane 8 June

Kerikeri 12 JuneTauranga 16 June

Lower Hutt 19 JuneWanaka 21 June

Cromwell 22 JuneMotueka 25 June

Whangarei 30 June

Board Kerrin Vautier CMG (Chair), Hon Chris Finlayson, Quentin Hay, Andreas Heuser, Matthew Savage, Vanessa Doig

Staff Chief Executive, Catherine Gibson Acting Artistic Manager, Jack Hobbs Artistic Administrator, Lizzie Bisley Outreach Coordinator, Beckie Lockhart Operations Coordinator, Rachel Hardie Marketing & Development Manager, Will Gaisford Senior Designer, Darcy Woods Marketing Executive, Aja Lethaby Ticketing & Database Executive, Laurel Bruce Content Producer & Comms Executive, Anna van der Leij Marketing & Fundraising Coordinator, Rafaela Gaspar

Branches Auckland: Chair, Roger Reynolds; Concert Manager, Bleau Bustenera Hamilton: Chair, Murray Hunt; Concert Manager, Sharon Stephens New Plymouth: Concert Manager, Cathy Martin Hawkes Bay: Chair, June Clifford; Concert Manager, Jamie Macphail Manawatu: Chair, Graham Parsons; Concert Manager, Virginia Warbrick Wellington: Concert Manager, Rachel Hardie Nelson: Chair, Annette Monti; Concert Manager, Clare Monti Christchurch: Concert Manager, Jody Keehan Dunedin: Chair, Terence Dennis; Concert Manager, Richard Dingwall Southland: Chair, Rosie Beattie; Concert Manager, Jennifer Sinclair

Regional Presenters Marlborough Music Society Inc (Blenheim), Christopher's Classics (Christchurch), Cromwell & Districts Community Arts Council, Geraldine Academy of Performance & Arts, Musica Viva Gisborne, Music Society Eastern Southland (Gore) Arts Far North (Kaitaia), Aroha Music Society (Kerikeri), Chamber Music Hutt Valley, Motueka Music Group, Oamaru Opera House, South Waikato Music Society (Putaruru), Waimakariri Community Arts Council (Rangiora), Rotorua Music Federation, Taihape Music Group, Tauranga Musica Inc, Te Awamutu Music Federation, Upper Hutt Music Society, Waikanae Music Society, Wanaka Concert Society Inc, Chamber Music Wanganui, Warkworth Music Society, Wellington Chamber Music Trust, Whakatane Music Society, Whangarei Music Society.

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julien van mellaerts & james baillieu · 2019-04-03 · kia ora tātou . i first heard baritone...

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