The Hollywood Songbook | Adelaide

The musicians who make up Signum Saxophone Quartet won hearts all over Australia on their debut tour. Now they return, joined this time by Ali McGregor, renegade opera star and cabaret queen. Together they trip the light fantastic from Berlin to Hollywood, via a shadowy nightclub, a Shakespearean tragedy, a Broadway musical and a Wild West rodeo, before arriving somewhere over the rainbow.

The first half of the 20th century was a time of radical change on so many dimensions: socially, technologically and of course, politically. History books tell one version of the story, but what about listening to the artists, composers, writers and performers who lived through these turbulent times?

As Musica Viva Australia reflects on 80 years of bringing musicians across the world to share their stories, we embark on a journey from moody monochrome to vibrant technicolour, and from introspective darkness to blazing hope. Along the way we meet wayfarers from Vienna, Kyiv and even Siberia, all bringing a rich cultural heritage, and all seeking their place in a fractured world.

PROGRAM
SCHULHOFF Selections from Five Pieces for String Quartet
TRADITIONAL ‘I’m a Poor Wayfaring Stranger’
WEILL ‘One Life to Live’ from Lady in the Dark
WEILL ‘I’m a Stranger Here Myself’ from One Touch of Venus
PROKOFIEV Selections from Romeo and Juliet
BERNSTEIN Three Dance Episodes from On the Town
BERLIN ‘Let’s Face the Music, and Dance’ from Follow the Fleet
EISLER Selections from The Hollywood Songbook
COPLAND Selections from Rodeo
PORTER ‘So in Love’ from Kiss Me, Kate
ARLEN ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ from The Wizard of Oz

With special thanks to Ian Dickson AM and Reg Holloway for their support of Izidor Leitinger’s musical arrangements.

“Rhythmically electrifying, with the dynamics spanning from an always rounded fortissimo to the most delicate pianissimo – this music simply cannot be played more beautifully.”
— Süddeutsche Zeitung