Featuring

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Mary Finsterer composer and curation
Benjamin Northey conductor
Astrid Connelly soprano
Christopher Moore viola
Timo-Veikko Valve cello
MSO Chorus
Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director

Program

Bingen (arr. Mary Finsterer) O Euchari In Leta Via
Caccini Aure Volanti
Arvo Pärt Da Pacem Domine
Arvo Pärt Nunc Dimittus
Mary Finsterer When Soft Voices Die
Mary Finsterer Missed Tales III - The Lost

About this performance

Acclaimed Australian composer Mary Finsterer explores the narrative interpretations of myths and ancient rituals in The Lost, her concerto for Viola and Cello with Orchestra & Electro-acoustics.

The concerto sits as the third in a series of orchestral concertos by Finsterer entitled Missed Tales. The three works explore mysteries of nature and place within Northern European mythology.

'The Lost' refers to an ancient Celtic ritual conducted by the Scots and Picts in the undulating Irish and Scottish landscapes. A bonfire would be lit on the highest hill. It would then be used by farmers to light torches that would act as diviners for mapping out territory. The torches would then be placed in such a way as to enfold the most fertile land, which they called ‘The Lost’, a term that invokes the Celtic word for fire, 'Losaid'.

The Lost is not simply about something missing: it is about anticipation and the discovery of something precious. The work balances various musical styles ranging from medieval harmonies to serialism, creating a tension between driving rhythmic structures within an unfolding harmonic framework that in the final moments of the work, releases a canon that draws the orchestra together as a singular unified voice.

Sitting alongside Finsterer’s significant work, selections of renaissance and contemporary works, including Hildegard von Bingen and Arvo Pärt featuring the MSO Chorus. Finsterer writes that “the core idea focuses on the art of storytelling and its sense of evoking wonder and enchantment, expressed through a musical journey. … Missed Tales is an invitation for the listener to enter a space where new stories can be imagined, discovering a richness of memory and ritual, as music and the MSO immerses itself in the city.”

Duration: approx. 1 hour, no interval