Marrickville Town Hall, 303 Marrickville Road, Marrickville
Sunday November 12th at 3:30pm
Met#5 – Scheherazade Punch Concert Information
The Metropolitan Orchestra’s (TMO) final Met Concert for 2023 conducted by Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Sarah-Grace Williams, will expose listeners of the orchestra to a live surround sound experience, while also spotlighting an incredible, yet little-known feature of Marrickville Town Hall with TMO’s seventh world premiere work for this year.
Scheherazade Punch begins with Vaughn Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis which presents TMO’s dynamic string section broken into multiple components to deliver a truly surround-sound experience filled with atmospheric antiphonal (alternating voices) effects within this hauntingly beautiful work.
The world premiere of Jim Coyle’s “Punch” for theatre organ and orchestra will showcase the rare and magnificent Wurlitzer Opus 875 theatre organ which resides at Marrickville Town Hall. This unique instrument was originally stationed at the Prince Edward theatre in Castlereagh Street, Sydney from 1924. It was later renovated and lovingly installed into Marrickville Town Hall with the chambers disposed in a high-up position on either side of the Town Hall stage from where they speak directly into the acoustically live auditorium with the inaugural performance at Marrickville delivered in November 1968. This afternoon’s performance will feature inner-west local and one of Australia’s most accomplished and loved pianists/organists, Bev Kennedy, who incidentally grew up playing on this particular instrument.
After the interval, the orchestra returns in full force for Rimsky-Korsakov’s powerhouse tale of Scheherazade. This dazzling work showcases Rimsky-Korsakov’s mastery as an orchestrator with an incredible piece of music that is often subtle and sensory, and then rich and grand, climaxing in a shimmering fortissimo. The work traverses the story of Scheherazade in 1001 Nights (or Arabian Nights) through four aptly titled movements that are filled with high drama, colourful scenes and unanticipated twists and turns to keep both musician and audience on the edge of their seats as the musical tale spins onward.
This absolutely extraordinary night of music will finalise an outstanding year of performance for The Metropolitan Orchestra under the considered guidance of their Artistic Director, Sarah-Grace Williams. This is a truly unique, not-to-be-missed concert experience.
Supported by the Inner West Council.
Special Thanks to the Theatre Organ Society of Australia (TOSA) for providing TMO with access to the 2/11 WURLITZER Style H Special Opus 875 theatre organ which resides at Marrickville Town Hall. Without your care and dedication, this and other incredible instruments like it, would not be functioning for us to play, and listen to today. For more information on this organ, and to learn more about TOSA, please visit their website at https://www.tosa.net.au/our-organs
