The Sydney University Symphony Orchestra (SUSO) is the premier

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

on the main campus of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

History

Sydney University Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1948 by Donald Peart, and was known as the Pro Musica Orchestra until 1990. It is currently made up of around 80 musicians from all faculties across the university. The orchestra's home venue is the neo-gothic

Great Hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the gr ...

in the university's sandstone Quadrangle. The orchestra is currently conducted by Luke Spicer. SUSO is part of the

University of Sydney Union The University of Sydney Union (USU), established in 1874, is the student-run services and amenities provider at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia. The USU's key services include the provision of food and beverages, retail outlets ...

's Clubs & Societies program and is run by a committee of twelve students. It receives funding from the University of Sydney Union as well as donations from the public. The current president is Julian van Gerwen (French horn) and vice-president is Marcus Paxton (flute). Their concert season features four concerts each year, and, through a long-standing connection with the university's Arts Unit, the orchestra has been privileged to perform works by leading Australian composers, including Anne Boyd,

Ross Edwards Ross Edwards (born 1 December 1942) is a former Australian cricketer. Edwards played in 20 Test matches for Australia, playing against England, West Indies and Pakistan. He also played in nine One Day Internationals including the 1975 Crick ...

, Peter Sculthorpe,

Matthew Hindson Matthew John Hindson AM (born 12 September 1968) is an Australian composer. Biography Matthew Hindson was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, in 1968. He studied composition at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne with composers includ ...

and Gordon Hamilton. In the past, SUSO has also performed with well known soloists, including Gershwin's ''

Rhapsody in Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...

'' with Kathryn Selby, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Gerard Willems, Dvořák's

Cello Concerto A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments. These pieces have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. However, unlike instr ...

with Timo-Veikko Valve, Richard Strauss' Horn Concerto No. 1 with Julian Leslie, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bruch) with Katherine Lukey, and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

's , Op. 86, with Robert Johnson, Andrew London, Jack Stephens and Lotti Ropert. Previous conductors include Simon Kenway, Nicholas Routley, Simon Thew, Ben Macpherson OAM, Romano Crevici, Phillip Chu, Gareth Tilley, Colin Piper and George Ellis.

Previous concerts

In 2006, SUSO performed with the Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS) for Ben Macpherson's farewell concert. It featured Mendelssohn's ''Elijah'' and was broadcast on 2MBS. In 2009, SUSO again collaborated with SUMS to perform Carl Orff's ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...

''. In 2011, SUSO provided orchestral accompaniment to The Church for the band's thirtieth anniversary concert, "A Psychedelic Symphony", at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. In 2012 SUSO combined with the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

Symphony Orchestra to perform Mahler's Symphony No. 1. In 2014, SUSO joined forces with the Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS) and the Sydney University Wind Orchestra (SUWO) to present the University of Sydney Union Music Showcase in the Great Hall. This event was the first of its kind, in which all three of the university's premier musical ensembles presented a joint concert. In this concert, SUSO performed Beethoven's

Coriolan Overture The ''Coriolan Overture'' (german: link=no, Coriolan-Ouvertüre or Ouvertüre zu Coriolan), Op. 62, is a composition written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1807 for Heinrich Joseph von Collin's 1804 tragedy ''Coriolan''. The structure and themes ...

, Gabriel Fauré's ''

Pavane The ''pavane'' ( ; it, pavana, ''padovana''; german: Paduana) is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance). The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci, ...

'',

's ''RPM'' and Hector Berlioz's "Marche au supplice". In 2015, SUSO reprised Mendelssohn's ''Elijah'', again as a collaboration with SUMS performed at the Verbrugghen Concert Hall. In 2016, SUSO performed Saint-Saëns' '' Symphony No. 3 "avec orgue"'' at the University of Sydney Great Hall, featuring

Rudolf von Beckerath Rudolf von Beckerath (19 February 1907 – 22 November 1976) was a German master organ builder. He was born in Munich, to the painter Willy von Beckerath, but grew up in Hamburg, where his family moved the year he was born. He initially pu ...

's 1972 organ. In 2017, SUSO opened their season with Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 at

Christ Church St Laurence Christ Church St Laurence is an Anglican church located at 814 George Street, near Central railway station and Haymarket, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the principal centre of Anglo-Catholic worship in the city and Diocese of Syd ...

, and, in June that year, commissioned a work from Australian composer Gordon Hamilton, premiering ''Age of the Universe'' in the second concert. Along with other works such as Dvořák's

Slavonic Dances The ''Slavonic Dances'' ( cs, Slovanské tance) are a series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets as Op. 46 and Op. 72 respectively. Originally written for piano four hands, t ...

, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Richard Wagner's Overture to ''Rienzi'', the year also included the young emerging composer Nicholas D'Silva's new work ''Lux Aeterna'', which the orchestra premiered in their highlight concert in October. This concert featured combined performances with Sydney University Musical Society, culminating in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Choral" at Verbrugghen Hall. In 2018, SUSO collaborated with the University of Sydney to present the World War I centenary performance of Karl Jenkins' '' The Armed Man''. Alongside this end-of-year concert, SUSO performed throughout the year, with works such as Smetana's " Moldau" from ''Má vlast'', Dvořák's Symphony No. 7, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Clemens Leske, Sibelius' Symphony No. 3, Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 and Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 with Kenichi Mizushima. In 2019, SUSO combined with

Pacific Opera Pacific Opera is an opera company based in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 2003 by Sylvie Renaud-Calmel and Christine Douglas, the first artistic director, the company has an annual Young Artist Program for emerging opera singers aged 18 to 35, wh ...

to perform Humperdinck's ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

'', and with Katherine Lukey to perform Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. Throughout the year, SUSO also performed works such as Vaughan Williams' ''

A London Symphony ''A London Symphony'' is the second symphony composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The work is sometimes referred to as Symphony No. 2, though the composer did not designate that name for the work. First performed in 1914, the original score of t ...

'', Paul Dukas' ''

The Sorcerer's Apprentice "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (german: "Der Zauberlehrling", link=no, italic=no) is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written in 1797. The poem is a ballad in 14 stanzas. Story The poem begins as an old sorcerer departs his workshop, leaving ...

'' and Dvořák's

New World Symphony New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. After a disrupted and downscaled 2020 season as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, SUSO managed one full-scale concert in 2021 – an opera gala held in conjunction with the Sydney Conservatorium Opera Department, performed in Verbrugghen Hall conducted by Stephen Mould. SUSO's planned season for 2022 includes collaborating with Russian conductor Natalia Raspopova as a soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, Respighi's ''

Pines of Rome ''Pines of Rome'' ( it, Pini di Roma, link=no), P 141, is a tone poem in four movements for orchestra completed in 1924 by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. It is the second of his three tone poems about Rome, following ''Fontane di Roma'' ...

'', and a reprise of Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 "Organ Symphony".

References

External links

* {{authority control Musical groups established in 1948 Australian orchestras

Symphony Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

University orchestras 1948 establishments in Australia