Orchestral Fireworks

Presented by Monash Academy of Performing Arts at the Robert Blackwood Hall One show only – Sun 15th May 2011 – 2pm Jeffery Crellin - conductor Jennen Ngiau-Keng - violin ROSSINI William Tell Overture SIBELIUS Violin Concerto SIBELIUS Swan of Tuonela STRAVINSKY Firebird (1919) The Monash Academy Orchestra offer students a unique mentoring learning environment where they work alongside some of Australia’s eminent soloists and musicians. The Orchestra opens this year’s concert season with a program of masterworks. Sibelius is represented by two of his most popular works, the Violin Concerto with its shimmering icy opening bars that seem to come from nowhere, and the beautiful tone poem ‘Swan of Tuonela’ which features a major role for the orchestra’s cor anglais player. The 20th century’s iconoclastic giant, Igor Stravinsky wrote a number of what are now considered to be some of the world’s greatest ballet scores. The Firebird has historic significance not only as Stravinsky's 'breakthrough piece' ('Mark him well', said Diaghilev 'He is a man on the eve of celebrity...'), but also as the beginning of the collaboration between Diaghilev and Stravinsky that would also produce Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. Jennen Ngiau-Keng studied at the Australian National Academy of Music from 2002 to 2005 and completed a Master of Music degree at the University of Tasmania in 2008. He won the Geelong Advertiser Music Competition in 2009, the Kendall National Violin Competition in 2006 and the Gisborne International Music Competition (New Zealand) in 2004. As an orchestral musician, he has toured the US and Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and has also performed with the Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, and Orchestra Victoria. Jennen has held a masterclass at the University of Melbourne on violin technique, and is a demonstrating violinist on the AMEB Technical Syllabus and Key Techniques CD series. Jennen has previously studied with John Harding, Alice Waten and Jun Yi Ma, and currently performs on a Graham Caldersmith violin and a Matthew Coltman bow, both of which were awarded to him. Jennen Ngiau-Keng has been a member of the Monash Academy Ensemble since 2010 and is one of the seven mentors who work with our orchestra students throughout the year. PRICES Adults: $30.00 Students/Pensioners/Seniors& Unemployed: $20.00 Children under 15: $20.00 Monash Staff: (available in person with valid I.D only) $25.00 Monash Students: (available in person with valid I.D only): $15.00 MSA:(available in person with valid I.D only)$10.00 Monash Alumni (with codeword) $28.00