She Speaks
Concert 1
Friday 19 June, Elder Hall
Generously supported by Mary Lou Simpson OAM and the ASO’s Miriam Hyde Circle
Esmail Saans [8′]
Thorvaldsdóttir Spectra [9′]
Beach Piano Quintet Op.67 [29′]
I. Adagio – Allegro moderato
II. Adagio espressivo
III. Allegro agitato – Adagio come prima – Presto
Program Note
She Speaks is a celebration of women’s voices. These voices are not rare, but they are rarely heard. They are not quiet, but they have been silenced. This two-part concert series finally shines the spotlight on the music of women, making it available to anyone who is willing to listen. Women’s music is music, and it takes a program like She Speaks not to rewrite history, but to shape a new one in which every artistic voice can be heard. The melodies and stories in this concert come from three composers spanning multiple generations of women – Reena Esmail, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Amy Beach.
Esmail’s story begins in Los Angeles, her hometown. An Indian-American composer, her work is infused with Western and Hindustani music traditions. Saans was originally commissioned by the Albany Symphony, with a piano trio version written for pianist Suzana Bartal. The piano glistens with magic and light, while the cellist glides across the pitches of their instrument with a tender melody echoed by the violin. Texture and atmosphere are equally important as the notes that seem to float off the page. Through it all, we can hear the unmistakable feeling of love; Bartal is one of the composer’s most beloved friends. They studied together at Yale and, according to the composer, have shared unconditional support for each other, enduring life’s most difficult times – and most wonderful. This music premiered in Los Angeles, 2017 on the day of Bartal’s wedding, and it was later performed by Bartal the day before Esmail was married.
This music drifts into the contrasting mood of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Spectra. The work premiered in Denmark, the year after Saans. It features six movements, though Thorvaldsdottir planned for them to be performed in one continuous flow. This structure reflects the role of the musicians in this piece, who connect through the themes that are woven and shared between them. Thorvaldsdottir ensures her creative intentions are conveyed with precision and authenticity: in her score, she writes instructions to play ‘with curiosity’, ‘with determination’, ‘with expressive lyricism and calm’, giving each fleeting movement its own identity.
Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor takes us back to the start of the 20th Century. The American composer, who lived from 1867-1944, wrote this chamber work in 1907. Several years earlier, she had become the first American woman ever to write a symphony – her Gaelic. Beach had also learnt piano since childhood, and performed in public recitals by the time she was a teenager. We can hear her intimate understanding of the instrument in this composition, which she premiered herself in Boston, 1908. It is influenced by Brahms, and throughout the work it features a theme that recalls his Piano Quintet in F minor – another piece Beach had performed herself. On her score for this work, among others, she represented herself through her husband’s name: Mrs. H. H. A. Beach. But her composition shines brightly with her own unique musical voice, which she had dared to speak.
© Stephanie Eslake
Artists
Ensemble Lumen
“The formation of this in-house chamber music ensemble was inspired by a desire to illuminate the many remarkable facets of our Conservatorium – celebrating our exceptional faculty, our talented students, and the world-class music-making that flourishes within the walls of this institution. The name “Lumen” also pays homage to our heritage, drawing from the University of Adelaide’s cherished motto, sub cruce lumen, beautifully symbolises the guiding light of knowledge and creativity that defines our community.” – Lloyd Van’t Hoff, Artistic Director | Head of Woodwinds, Elder Conservatorium
Elizabeth Layton | Violin
Elizabeth Layton enjoys a varied career performing recitals and chamber music throughout Australia and New Zealand. She appears regularly as guest concertmaster with major symphony orchestras and combines performance with her position as Head of Classical Performance at the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide.
Born in London, Elizabeth made her UK concerto debut with the Philharmonia and appeared as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Bournemouth Symphony, English Sinfonia, Calgary Philharmonic, City of Barcelona Symphony, Lahti Symphony and many others. Festival appearances include Bath, Edinburgh, Harrogate, Cheltenham, Valencia, Gstaad and numerous music societies.
Elizabeth was Associate Leader of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Concertmaster of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, regularly broadcasting for the BBC as soloist and director. She has toured chamber music worldwide with the Nash Ensemble and CD recordings include the complete Beethoven piano trios (nominated for a Gramophone Award) and violin and piano works by Schubert (Daily Telegraph ‘CD Choice’). Other recordings include chamber music by Ravel, Schubert, Brahms, Fauré and Shostakovich for DG, Hyperion, Naxos, BIS and Chandos. Elizabeth is currently recording the complete chamber music of the 18th Century English composer William Shield for Naxos with the newly formed Dorrit Ensemble.
Recent performances include George Town Festival, Penang, Coriole Festival, Music by the Springs, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra Series, ASO ‘She Speaks Festival’ and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville. Her appearances as soloist/guest director this season include the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and AYO Chamber Orchestra at National Music Camp.
Stephen King | Viola
Violist Stephen King is a chamber musician and creative who performed with the Australian String Quartet from 2012-21. Prior to this, he was a member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra from 2003. Stephen has always been passionate about new Australian music and recording it, projects with First Nations artists, innovative cross-artform collaborations and founding and building the ACO Emerging Artists program and ACO Collective.
Growing up in Canberra, Stephen studied the violin but as an architecture student fell for the darker world of the viola. From 1997 Stephen was violist of the Coolidge String Quartet in Washington D.C. He holds a Doctorate in Chamber Music, having worked closely with the Emerson and Guarneri Quartets. Stephen was also the Associate Principal Viola of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and member of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project while on the faculty of NEC Prep Division in Boston.
Stephen is currently Senior Lecturer in Viola and Chamber Music at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, Adelaide University and teaches for the Open Music Academy. He is principal viola of the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra and violist of Ironwood ensemble. He has been a regular guest principal of the TSO, CSO and plays with the Auckland Philharmonia and AWO. In any spare moments Stephen designs and makes sculpted timber furniture and art.
Edith Salzmann | Cello
Edith Salzmann is a German/NZ cellist with an extensive career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. She began her studies at the Music Academy in Detmold in Germany at the age of fourteen and went on to study at Indiana University, Bloomington (USA), where she studied with Janos Starker. She was a member of the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra, the Corda String Quartet, the Musikfabrik Duesseldorf, and various other New Music ensembles and has performed extensively all over Europe, America, Asia, and Australasia.
Her discography includes releases on Naxos, Stradivarius, EMI Germany, Atoll, and Rattle records with several CD’s for Naxos Records being scheduled for release in 2025. She regularly tours with the Pettman Ensemble, the Dorrit Ensemble and the Lumen Ensemble and records for Naxos Records.
Edith is a highly successful teacher, with many of her former students now having careers in professional orchestras or as chamber musicians. From 2001 – 2012 she was Director of Performance and Senior Lecturer at the University of Canterbury (NZ), and in 2013 she accepted a Senior lecturer position at the University of Auckland. Since 2024 she teaches at the University of Adelaide. She is in demand for masterclasses and regularly teaches in Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Italy, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland.
In 2005, she founded the Pettman National Junior Academy, a privately sponsored scholarship program for highly talented young musicians. To date, this program has been going from strength to strength, with multiple international prize winners coming out of its ranks. In 2024, Edith took on the position of Associate Director of the Open Music Program at the Elder Conservatorium.
Vivian Milton | Piano
Acclaimed by Fanfare as “an exemplar of the modern global pianist”, celebrated Australian pianist VIVIAN CHOI MILTON is in demand for the depth of her musical insight of a wide-ranging repertoire, from classical to contemporary works, presented in thoughtful and imaginative programs.
Since her debut performance at the Sydney Opera House’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Vivian has toured extensively throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North America, and Asia. Highlights of Vivian’s recent concerto appearances include performances with the Grammy Award®-winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the world premiere of Kate Moore’s Piano Concerto “Beatrice” in Australia which was nominated as a finalist for the 2020 APRA AMCOS Art Music Award’s Work of the Year in the Large Ensemble category. Her recent festival and recital engagements include Tanglewood Festival (USA), the Coriole Music Festival and Bowral Autumn Music Festival (Australia), as well as solo recitals in Spain, the Netherlands, and across Australia, including appearances at Piano Plus+ and the PianoLab Festival. An avid chamber musician, Vivian has regularly performed as a guest artist with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players at Tanglewood and Jordan Hall, the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston in the US, and the Herz Ensemble in the Netherlands.
“Vivian Choi is both daring, and clean in her daringness. There is nothing Ms Choi cannot do.”
– Ned Rorem (Pulitzer Prize-winning composer)
Her discography includes two acclaimed albums on the BMOP/Sound label with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project: Gail Kubik’s Symphony Concertante for Trumpet, Viola, Piano and Orchestra and Harold Shapero’s Partita in C for Piano and Orchestra. Both albums received wide critical acclaim, and the Shapero album was selected as one of the best recordings of 2020 by The Arts Fuse, Sequenza21, and ClassicsToday in the US. Her debut album, consisting of works of Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Godowsky, was released on the Northern Flowers label in 2010, and has since been a mainstay of public radio stations including WQXR, WWFM, and WQED in the US.
The First Prize winner of the Maria Yudina International Piano Competition in Russia, Vivian has won top prizes in international piano competitions in Italy, Russia, the Netherlands and Bulgaria.
Vivian grew up in Sydney, Australia, where she received her earliest musical education. She continued her formal training at Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (Russia), graduating summa cum laude, and holds graduate degrees from the New England Conservatory (USA) and Carnegie Mellon University (USA). Vivian currently serves on the piano faculty at University of Adelaide Elder Conservatorium in Australia and and is the Piano Coordinator of the University’s Open Music Academy.
Presented in collaboration with Elder Conservatorium of Music and Performing Arts .