A musical alliance to the power of nine

Music

The Elder Conservatorium of Music will finish off 2005 in style when it joins forces with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra later this month for one of the musical events of the year.

The final in the Conservatorium's Evening Concert Series, the November 25 performance will see the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra combine with the ASO at the Adelaide Town Hall to perform Mahler's renowned Ninth Symphony. To be conducted by ASO Music Director and Chief Conductor Arvo Volmer, it is believed to be the first performance of the work in South Australia for a number of decades.

Elder Professor of Music and Dean of the Elder Conservatorium, Professor Charles Bodman Rae, said that the Mahler collaboration was a fitting end to an exceptional year of collaboration between the Conservatorium and the ASO.

"The ASO began its 2005 season with a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with the stunning choral dimension provided by the strong, young voices of the Elder Conservatorium Chorale, which for the performance was known as the Adelaide Symphony Chorus," Professor Bodman Rae said.

"We are culminating our season with another collaboration with the ASO and another magnificent Ninth Symphony - this time, Gustav Mahler's."

Professor Bodman Rae said he was delighted that the ASO was able to collaborate with the Conservatorium, and acknowledged both their investment of orchestra time and the substantial grant to the Conservatorium from the Helpmann Academy which has made the project possible.

"We chose Mahler's Ninth Symphony for this collaboration because it is one of the towering peaks, one of the grandest utterances of the symphonic repertoire," he said.

"It is a huge work that neither we nor the ASO would normally be able to tackle alone.

"For us, the Mahler project is all about the paradigm of professional mentoring, where students will sit alongside ASO principals who, in many cases, are their teachers at the Conservatorium.

"By combining forces, with the master-mentor idea permeating all sections of the orchestra, we are able to offer all the participants - performers and audience - a truly memorable experience.

"It is decades since this symphony was last heard in South Australia, so it promises to be one of the musical events of the year."

The Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arvo Volmer, will perform Mahler's Ninth Symphony at the Adelaide Town Hall on Friday, November 25 at 8pm. Tickets are $30/$25/$20 and are available from BASS outlets or Dial'n'Charge on 131 246, and are selling fast!