Thursday 13 March 2025 6pm
Federation Concert Hall, nipaluna / Hobart
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Streaming live & playback via TSO On Demand
Conducted by Eivind Aadland and
featuring Jabra Latham on
saxophone. TSO Viola Will
Newbery returns as your 6pm
host.
The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra acknowledges the traditional owners and continuing custodians of lutruwita / Tasmania. We pay respect to the Aboriginal community today, and to its Elders past and present. We recognise a history of truth, which acknowledges the impacts of colonisation upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and stand for a future that profoundly respects their stories, culture, language and history.
About the concert
Works
Saint-Saëns Danse macabre (8 mins)
Gounod Ballet music from Faust (14 mins)
selections
- Les Nuiennes
- Adagio
- Danse antique
- Variations de Cléopâtre
- Les Troyennes
- Waltz
- Danse de Phryné
Latham Saxophone Concerto (21 mins)
World premiere, commissioned for TSO by a collective of private donors.
Camille Saint-Saëns, circa 1880.
Uncover the stories behind the works.
Eerie and playful
Danse macabre, Op. 40
Composed by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921)
8 minutes
Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre is a thrilling and spooky orchestral piece that brings to life an old legend about Death leading a ghostly dance at midnight. Written in 1874, this tone poem is based on a French superstition that every year on Halloween night, Death appears at the stroke of twelve, playing his violin to summon skeletons from their graves. They dance wildly until dawn, when the rooster’s crow sends them back to their resting places.
Saint-Saëns paints this eerie scene with vivid musical storytelling. The piece begins with a quiet harp playing twelve midnight chimes, followed by a haunting violin solo, representing Death himself. The violin plays in an unusual way—using a special tuning called ‘tritone’, which was once considered mysterious and unsettling. The xylophone mimics the rattling of bones, and the full orchestra builds an energetic, swirling dance.
As the piece unfolds, the music grows wilder, with fast, twisting melodies and dramatic orchestral effects that bring the skeletons’ dance to life. Suddenly, the music softens as the first light of dawn appears. A solo oboe plays a gentle melody, like a rooster crowing to signal the end of the ghostly revelry. The skeletons scurry back to their graves, and the piece fades into a quiet, mysterious ending.
Danse macabre is a perfect example of Saint-Saëns’ ability to tell a story through music. It is both eerie and playful, blending spooky sounds with lively rhythms. This piece remains one of his most famous works, often heard around Halloween and in movies, TV shows, and cartoons.
Elegant and lively
Ballet music from Faust
- Les Nuiennes
- Adagio
- Danse antique
- Variations de Cléopâtre
- Les Troyennes
- Waltz
- Danse de Phryné
Composed by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893)
14 minutes
Gounod’s Ballet Music from Faust is a suite of seven dances added to his opera Faust in 1869 for its production at the Paris Opera. These movements, though not essential to the opera’s plot, showcase Gounod’s gift for melody, orchestral color, and dance-like elegance. The suite moves through a variety of moods and styles, each section highlighting different instrumental textures and rhythmic patterns.
The first dance, Les Nubiennes, is light and graceful, with delicate strings and playful woodwinds setting a charming tone. The second movement, Adagio, contrasts with a more lyrical, flowing melody, featuring warm string harmonies and a sense of refinement. Danse antique follows with stately rhythms and noble phrasing, evoking the grandeur of classical dance.
The suite continues with Variations de Cléopâtre, a sensual and expressive section, rich in instrumental color and shifting harmonies. Les Troyennes brings a more dramatic intensity, with bold brass interjections and dynamic string passages, creating a feeling of movement and energy.
One of the most striking sections is Waltz, which showcases Gounod’s talent for dance music. The sweeping, elegant melodies in triple meter flow effortlessly, supported by graceful string figures and light woodwind flourishes. This waltz is full of Viennese-style charm while maintaining a distinct French refinement.
The final dance, Danse de Phryné, brings the suite to a lively and festive conclusion. Quick, rhythmic figures and bright orchestration give this movement an energetic drive, with sparkling high woodwinds and vigorous strings adding to its brilliance.
Throughout the Ballet Music from Faust, Gounod’s orchestration is vibrant and varied, with clear textures and expressive phrasing. The suite blends refinement with liveliness, making it a brilliant orchestral showpiece that highlights the elegance and dramatic flair of 19th-century French ballet music.
Virtuosic and expansive
Saxophone Concerto
- I
- II
Composed by Jabra Latham
21 minutes
Saxophone Concerto was commissioned in 2024 by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with support from a group of private donors. The work is in two movements and scored for tenor saxophone and orchestra.
The concerto came about following several successful collaborations between Latham, as performer and/or composer, and the TSO. In 2022 Latham was soloist with the TSO in the premiere of the Luke Styles’ saxophone concerto, Tracks in the Orbit, and in 2023 he performed a program of his own work in the Obscura series. In 2021 Tahnee van Herk was soloist in Latham’s Images of Tasmania for bassoon and strings, and 2024 saw Andrew Seymour as soloist in Fire Music for clarinet and orchestra. The natural next step was for Latham to compose and then perform his own concerto.
Latham says, “From a musical/conceptual perspective, I just wanted to write music for saxophone and orchestra. I thought a lot about the role of the soloist, the performance context, the saxophone and what aspects of it I was keen to focus on, several of the great concertos and what made them great, what orchestral colours I like, and which instruments of the orchestra I wanted the saxophone to interact with and how.”
Saxophonists typically perform on soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. Latham says, “I chose the solo instrument based on which of the main four most suited the music I was writing. My approach was very much to begin writing the music and then explore it on different saxophones to get a sense of which instrument was the best vehicle for the material. I settled on tenor, finding its lyrical capacity and colour palette well suited to the melodic lines and general tessitura, and its dynamic and pitch range a lot of fun to play with. Across my career most of my performance has been on soprano and alto saxophones, so it’s been nice to switch focus to the tenor for a while.”
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Musicians
Eivind Aadland
TSO Chief Conductor and Artistic Director
Eivind Aadland is one of Norway’s most respected conductors. Since 2020 he has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. He was Chief Conductor and Artistic Leader of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra for seven seasons from 2004, during which time he conducted the complete Beethoven and Mahler symphony cycles. His extensive work with Scandinavian orchestras includes regular guest engagements with the Oslo and Bergen Philharmonics, the Stavanger Symphony, the Gothenburg Symphony and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. In addition, he has conducted acclaimed productions of Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte and Die Fledermaus for Den Norske Opera, Oslo.
He has also worked extensively in the Far East and Australia. He is a frequent visitor to the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, the National Orchestra of Belgium and Iceland Symphony Orchestra. He has also worked with Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Gürzenich-Orchester Cologne, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Lausanne and Scottish Chamber Orchestras and the symphony orchestras of Melbourne, Finnish Radio, Bamberg, Staatskapelle Weimar, SWR Stuttgart and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his career as a conductor, Eivind Aadland is a devoted collector of, and authority on, contemporary art. His private collection encompasses works in the diverse media of painting, photography, video and installation.
Jabra Latham
Composer and tenor saxophone
Jabra Latham is a performer and composer. His playing has been described as astonishing, virtuosic, energetic, and “the most remarkable saxophone playing I've ever seen” (The Mercury), and his own compositions as “game changing” (The Mindful Musician), “a gorgeous meditation" (Classic FM), “thrilling” (The Mercury), “a wonderful listening experience, gripping, wholesome, moving, tender” (MusicTrust), “arresting and vibrant" (Stage Whispers) and "catchy and exceptional" (CutCommon).
Latham has worked with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Hobart Chamber Orchestra, Musica Viva Tasmania, ABC Classic, Tasmanian String Quartet, Virtuosi Tasmania, Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra, Southern Cross Soloists, Omega Ensemble, Xyris Quartet, Gilmour Ensemble, Hobart Wind Symphony, Opus House, Clinch Quartet, Andrew Seymour, Tahnee van Herk, Shefali Pryor and TSO Chorus. He is frequently commissioned by ensembles, soloists and individual music supporters.
Latham has released several recordings and been streamed around the world nearly half a million times. He is broadcast frequently, including daily as composer of the theme to ABC Classic’s Mornings program - Hut from Antarctic Triptych - as recorded by Andrew Seymour and the TSO.
Recent highlights include the 2024 performance by Andrew Seymour and the TSO of Latham’s Fire Music, and Latham as soloist with TSO in Luke Styles’ Tracks in the Orbit (Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra), both under Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Eivind Aadland. Currently Latham is composing the music for Amanda Hodder and Nicholas Tolputt’s opera, Rumpel; writing a quartet for oboe and strings for Sydney Symphony Orchestra Principal Oboe, Shefali Pryor; preparing for the release of a new album featuring vocalist, Gina Rose; and looking forward to Omega Ensemble’s Melbourne and Sydney performances of Fire Music in May. .
Tonight's orchestra
Eivind Aadland Conductor
Jabra Latham Tenor saxophone
Will Newbery Host
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Violin
Emma McGrath Concertmaster
Ji Won Kim Associate Concertmaster
Lucy Carrig-Jones Principal Second
Jennifer Owen Principal First
Kirsty Bremner
Miranda Carson
Yue-Hong Cha
Tobias Chisnall
Michael Johnston
Christine Lawson
Elinor Lea
Christopher Nicholas
Rohana O’Malley
Hayato Simpson
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Did you know our Concertmaster plays a violin hand-crafted by one of the finest and most important luthiers (a string-instrument maker) of the nineteenth century, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1798–1875).
He crafted 3000+ instruments in his time and we’re very proud to have a violin made in 1845 on loan from two of our generous Tasmanian patrons.
Viola
Caleb Wright Principal
Anna Larsen Roach
Curtis Lau
Susanna Low
William Newbery
Cello
Jonathan Békés Principal
Ivan James
Nicholas McManus
Martin Penicka
Double Bass
Stuart Thomson Principal
Aurora Henrich
Matthew McGrath
Flute
Lily Bryant Guest Principal
Maria Hincapie Duque
Lloyd Hudson Principal Piccolo
Oboe
Rachel Bullen Guest Principal
Dinah Woods Principal Cor Anglais
Clarinet
Andrew Seymour Principal
Eloise Fisher Principal Bass Clarinet
Bassoon
Tahnee van Herk Principal
Melissa Woodroffe Principal Contrabassoon
French Horn
Greg Stephens Principal First
Claudia Leggett Principal Third
Roger Jackson
Julian Leslie
Trumpet
Fletcher Cox Principal
Mark Bain
Trombone
David Robins Principal
Jackson Bankovic
Bass Trombone
James Littlewood Guest Principal
Tuba
Rachel Kelly Principal
Timpani
Matthew Goddard Principal
Percussion
Gary Wain Principal
Stephen Marskell
Tracey Patten
Harp
Carolyn Burgess Guest Principal
*Correct at time of publishing
Federation Concert Hall
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In 2020, major acoustical enhancements were made to the hall, amplifying the venue's, and the TSO's, reputation as world-class.
Photo credit: Fin Matson
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