BREAKING NEW GROUND
As the Darwin Symphony Orchestra lifts the curtain on its new season, the opening concert sets out to do something deceptively simple – show how music grows.
WORDS BROOKE GIBBS
IMAGE PAZ TASSONE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CHIEF Conductor Richard Mills AO says the ideas of revelation and surprise are important to creating this concert experience, as well as the idea of taking the audience on a journey.
“That’s why a concert is special. It’s not like listening to Spotify or FM at home. It’s a ritual of sharing music with an audience in real time,” he says.
“The experience of listening to each composer building something from the smallest elements with their own individual talents for surprise, drama, and colour becomes a template for the whole season and the essence of the concert experience.”
Connections between ideas, people and common ground, ripple across the stage in striking ways.
“Interestingly, because we are playing live in real time, there is a spatial dimension to the connections. This is especially the case in the two pieces for piano and orchestra, in which contrasts, statement and response, question and answer, gesture and imitation are powerful elements,” Mills says.
“Also, in both the Shostakovich and Hindemith, there are sections of the music which feature the orchestral sections on their own as soloists. So, the music is interesting to listen to live, to hear and see how the imagination of the different composers encompassed the orchestra.”
The concert’s title piece, Ground by Netanela Mizrahi, brings the idea of foundation sharply into focus. Structured as a giant palindrome, the work reaches a precise midpoint before retracing its steps back to the beginning.
Inspired by poet Wendell Berry’s words, “The seed is in the ground. Now may we rest in hope, while darkness does its work”, the piece reflects cycles of uncovering and recovery. It was conceived on unceded Aboriginal land in both Lutruwita and Gulumoerrgin, acknowledging the sacredness of ground in Tasmania and Darwin alike.
Pianist Stefan Cassomenos is central to this exploration. He pairs formidable technique with deep, intellectual curiosity, digging beneath the surface of the music to uncover what lies within.
“His incredible technique and intellect make him the ideal soloist for a concert built around musical ideas,” Mills says.
From Common Ground
WHEN SAT 14 MAR | 7.30PM
AT AANT CENTRE
COST $20-$75
INFO dso.org.au
