UNSWO’s Dr. Steven Hillinger and Brian Ee got together with 2SER’s Max Mahood to discuss the upcoming concert, Fateful Melody.
Transcript
Max Mahood: I don't know my Tchaikovsky very well, but can you tell us a little bit about Fateful Melody, sort of, I guess, where it came from and how you went about choosing the pieces that you're performing?
Steven Hillinger: Sure, yeah, I can start with that, seeing as I'm the conductor of the orchestra, I put the program together. So we've got a really great orchestra and I always like to pick music that both challenges the players, but also would be, you know, very interesting for the audience. Sometimes I pick music that is not very well known and I'll combine it with a piece that is very popular.
So I feel I have a, my role, especially at the university, is also kind of an educational one.
Max Mahood: Sure.
Steven Hillinger: So if I can introduce new music to people, both players and audience, I love to do that. Tchaikovsky, you know, is a very popular composer and this symphony is actually often referred to as a fate, the fate symphony of his, just because of the very opening start. It starts with this fanfare of brass, which as soon as you hear it kind of just grabs your attention and you feel like destiny.
Max Mahood: Fate, as in F-A-T-E?
Steven Hillinger: Yeah.
Max Mahood: Okay, yeah. And it's sort of big swells of brass.
Steven Hillinger: Yeah, it's a great symphony for everyone, but brass really gets, you know, so often brass are just kind of in the background in a lot of pieces, but here they're really in the forefront and they open the entire symphony. So you, it just grabs your attention.
Max Mahood: Yeah, that's really, that's actually very interesting. That's quite interesting. I, like I said, I don't know much about Tchaikovsky very well, but yeah, I can believe that.
But I guess this is sort of a question for both of you. How did you each get to be a part of an orchestra and how did you, like what was your journey to being, I guess, being into classical music and being into the instruments that you're into?
So Brian, if you wanted to fill in that a little bit.
Brian Ee: Yeah, so, I guess my journey into classical music, I kind of played the piano when I was, when I was young and I got into the clarinet when I started in high school, and I just, yeah, really enjoyed, enjoyed the music and just kept playing, and started playing in orchestras when I was in high school. And I knew that when I finished school, I wanted to keep on, keep on playing, whether that was through community groups or, however, I, yeah, been really fortunate to have kept on playing in orchestras and other, and other groups throughout my time since then.
Max Mahood: Right, yeah, fair enough.
Stephen?
Steven Hillinger: Yeah, well, I grew up with a lot of music at home. My parents had a huge record collection of not just classical music, but also jazz, and there was something about classical music I still remember. We had an old LP of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and that one immediately, you know, grabbed my attention and then I started learning also, you know, different instruments. My first instrument was guitar and then I went on to the clarinet as well for a little while and I just kind of kept going through all these instruments until I found my true love, which was French horn. And I became a French horn player, and I went to the Conservatorium and I studied horn there, and played in the orchestras there and then started working freelance professionally.
And while I was studying, that's when I wanted to get into, I decided I was very interested in conducting and learning more about it. And so while I was still doing my undergraduate course, I started having some private conducting lessons, and then I ended up just following, following that path.
Max Mahood: So how long have you guys been putting this show together for, and how would you each prepare for it? So this is sort of a two-part question.
Steven Hillinger: Yeah, so the orchestra itself does three concerts a year. So UNSW runs on like a trimester session, about 10 weeks each. So we, I usually plan ahead for the year, what the program will be and there's usually a couple of gaps in there as well and I have an idea of what pieces I'd like to play. So we've started this program about five weeks, I think this is week six actually. So we've had six rehearsals on this program. We have about another four, and then the concert.
Like I said, when I choose repertoire, I like to, you know, vary it up a little bit. So, you know, another piece in this concert is Mozart, the Sinfonia Concertante and that's actually what Brian's specifically involved in as the soloist. And then we're doing another piece by a Hungarian composer called Erkel, which probably nobody's heard of.
Max Mahood: I've never heard of him.
Steven Hillinger: Yeah, well, he's very famous in Hungary, but not much further than that. But this overture that he wrote is another just incredible piece of music that everyone's going to enjoy. And I think once you've heard it, you're kind of, you won't forget it, you'll remember it.
Max Mahood: Sure.
Steven Hillinger: So yeah, so that's how our kind of semesters and rehearsals work over that 10 week period.
Max Mahood: And Brian?
Brian Ee: I'm playing into the, as one of the soloists in the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante. And that's something that me and three other students that we've been working on for quite some time, we started putting it together in December, and began, kind of, preparing on our own, and then working together to get this ready for this concert. And yeah, it's been really great working with them, really excited to performing this with the orchestra.
Max Mahood: Yeah.
Steven Hillinger: Actually, just to expand a little bit of what Brian was talking about, we actually have a competition every year for soloists, it's called a concerto competition.
Max Mahood: Okay.
Steven Hillinger: And anybody at the University can apply for that. And they auditioned for me and a colleague of mine. And there's really only one or two positions available in every year where we offer that concerto. And so these four guys walked in, to the audition, took me by complete surprise because I wasn't expecting it. And they came in and they performed together.
And, you know, I mean, the standard was excellent. But what really grabbed my attention was just how much fun they were having, and how much fun it would be to actually perform this piece. So, you know, by the time they finished, it was really, you know, already on the top of my list. It was like, this could be something really special.
And so, you know, even though I listened to everyone else's concerto audition and all that, this was, it just came out on top, and I thought it's going to be very exciting and lots of fun.
Max Mahood: So are there any, I just wanted to just preface this next question. Are there any favourite parts that the audience should listen out for? We heard a little bit there already.
Steven Hillinger: Brian, what's your favourite part?
Max Mahood: Do you have any things that you have to listen to?
Brian Ee: Yeah, so I think for the Sinfonia Concertante, I think my favourite part to play is the cadenza at the end of our first movement. And what the cadenza is, is kind of like a solo where the orchestra pauses and the soloists get a chance to really express themselves and make, have a lot of fun just playing how they want to. And so, yeah, I think that's going to be my favourite part of the concert.
Max Mahood: Fair enough.
And do you have any recommendations, Steven?
Steven Hillinger: I love it all. You know, I think I probably have to say that because I'm the conductor.
Max Mahood: Yeah, no of course you would!
Steven Hillinger: I love my babies all the same.
Max Mahood: Of course you'd have to say that, that's fair.
Steven Hillinger: But yeah, look, to be honest, I've always been very much into Romantic music, you know, in classical music, you know, that is the sort of 19th century, you know, kind of music.
Max Mahood: That's what this is.
Steven Hillinger: And that's, you know, Tchaikovsky's right there. And, you know, I find it hard to, you know, surpass that, really.
Max Mahood: And it's something different outside from like Swan Lake that everybody knows and everything else.
But one last thing before I let you guys go, is there anything you guys do to hype yourselves up pre-performance just quickly before the news cuts me off!
Steven Hillinger: I don't need any hyping up because my adrenaline's pumping /
Max Mahood: Awesome! Yeah!
Steven Hillinger: / just knowing what's coming. I kind of visualise the concert as well. I often do that. But yeah, I don't do anything, I don't need to do anything more than that because I just get the hit.
Max Mahood: And that's fair enough.
And Brian?
Brian Ee: Yeah, I think I actually do the opposite where I try to calm myself down, probably for the same reason that I've got the adrenaline pumping. But yeah, I like to just kind of relax and get into the zone and then enjoy myself on the stage.
Max Mahood: That's fair. Well, thank you both for coming in. That was fascinating.
Steven Hillinger: Thank you so much for having us.
Max Mahood: Like I said, I had no idea that UNSW had an orchestra and now here we go.
Steven Hillinger: Contest on the 1st of August, Friday night.
Max Mahood: Okay, cool.
Steven Hillinger: 7pm.
Max Mahood: Cool.
Steven Hillinger: Be there!
Max Mahood: Yeah, we'll pop details for that up on the website.
Steven Hillinger: Thank you.
Max Mahood: Thank you both for coming in.
