ASO musicians to busk in Rundle Mall in Adelaide on Wednesday March 16
15 March 2005
The ASO players are busking to draw attention to one of the main recommendations of the Federal Government’s recent Orchestras Review, which is to reduce the size of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra from 75 to 56 full-time musicians. This is a proposed reduction of just over 25%.
Paul Blackman, ASO bassoonist and President of the ASO Symphony Orchestra Musicians Association [SOMA] said that this sets the orchestra back to the strength it was in the 1950’s.
“It will also severely jeopardise the ability of the orchestra to deliver artistic excellence to the state of South Australia, and a range of artistic services and repertoire. It seems to reflect a federal agenda to centralise musical excellence in Sydney and Melbourne, leaving the smaller cities like Adelaide to pick up the left-over crumbs” Paul Blackman said.
Musicians appearing in Rundle Mall are Lisa Gill [flute], Jillian Braithwaite [violin] and Peter Whish-Wilson [tuba]. They’ll wear full concert evening dress, and one of the tunes they’ll perform is Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, a popular classical music piece that everyone knows. Unfortunately, with a reduced number of musicians available, the tuba will play the bass part, and only three quarters of the notes will actually be played, as the viola player is missing!
SOMA is calling on South Australians to support the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in a number of ways, including attending one of the ASO’s forthcoming concerts.
“You can still buy a ticket for the ASO Gala concert at the Festival Theatre this Saturday night. This is the traditional start of the ASO’s concert season, so grab a ticket while we still have a full size orchestra playing the Great Masters of music – Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Wagner, Grieg and Sibelius.” Paul Blackman said.
Website: http://www.savetheaso.com
