Alex Tsiboulski was born in Ukraine and began studying guitar at age 12, shortly after moving to Australia. After completing studies at Adelaide’s Marryatville High School, he moved to Canberra to study with the renowned Australian guitarist and teacher Timothy Kain. Periods of study in the USA followed, where his mentors were the Argentinean Ernesto Bitetti at Indiana University, and as Fulbright Scholar with Adam Holzman at the University of Texas at Austin. Shorter periods of study with David Leisner, Carlo Barone, Angelo Gilardino, and the great double bassist Edgar Meyer, have also been influential.

Alex has performed worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician. He was first prize winner in 12 international competitions, including first prizes at the 2000 Australian and the 2006 Tokyo International Guitar Competitions, major prizes at three Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competitions, and special prizes at the 2004 Havana International Guitar Competition in Cuba. Recent collaborative partnerships include duets with the violinist Elizabeth Layton, sopranos Jane Edwards, Kate Wyatt (Macfarlane), Emma Horwood, and Greta Bradman a trio with mezzosoprano Cheryl Pickering and cellist Rachel Johnston, and a new music duo collaboration with tenor Robert Macfarlane called Duo Trystero.

Tsiboulski’s solo release ‘Australian Guitar Music’ (Naxos) was nominated for ‘Best Classical Album’ at the 2010 ARIA awards and received a rare fivestar review in the Weekend Australian. His second release with Naxos, released last October, is the culmination of a decade long inquiry into the music, life and manuscripts of Mexican composer Manuel Maria Ponce, whose guitar sonatas are featured on that disc.

2016 sees Alex performing and presenting seminars throughout Australia and the USA, as well as performing in the Guitar Foundation of America International Convention in Denver and the Adelaide International Guitar Festival.

Alex Tsiboulski GuitarJessica Cottis ConductorJessica Cottis was recently named one of the UK’s “five young conductors to watch” by The Independent and “one of the big hopes for change” by the Sydney Morning Herald.

From 2012-2014 she was Assistant Conductor at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, first to Vladimir Ashkenazy and then to David Robertson. Previously she assisted Donald Runnicles at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Michael Tilson Thomas with the San Francisco Symphony. Before all of which, the Royal Academy of Music graduate was taught by Sir Colin Davis.

Since launching her guest conducting career, Jessica has been much in demand and has conducted world-class soloists such as Sarah Chang, Kathryn Stott, Pascal Rogé, Nikolai Demidenko, and Nicola Benedetti, and orchestras including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Queensland Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony, Bit20 Ensemble Bergen, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, and at the Edinburgh Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival and elsewhere. She balances popular core classical repertoire with contemporary music - she is Principal Conductor of the cutting-edge ensemble, the Glasgow New Music Expedition - and outreach and educational work (most recently with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain). For the 2016/2017 season, Jessica Cottis will make a welcome return visit to many of the above orchestras and will make her Royal Albert Hall debut for the 2016 BBC Proms.

Other high-profile achievements include conducting an all-female composers programme in Cardiff for International Women’s Day and the Women of the World Orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall, and - whilst still a student - the founding London’s Bloomsbury Opera. A gifted communicator, Cottis broadcasts regularly on a broad range of musical topics, including on the subjects of Brahms and Verdi, both for BBC Radio 4, and acted as conducting mentor to presenter Jenni Murray on a Radio “Woman’s Hour” special and in a similar capacity to DJ Trevor Nelson in BBC Two Television’s series “Maestro at the Opera”. Her recent keynote speech ‘Why new music matters more than ever’ for the 2015 British Composer Awards in London was described as “deeply stirring and inspirational”.

Born in Sale, Victoria, into a family of Australian diplomats, Jessica Cottis studied organ and musicology at the Australian National University, and continued her musical education in Paris, with Marie-Claire Alain. A hand injury subsequently halted her playing career and she began studying conducting at the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded the top conducting prizes on graduation in 2009. Since 2014 she is Visiting Lecturer in Conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and in 2015 she was named an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), an honorary award for alumnæ who have made a significant contribution to the profession.

An evening with the ASOOut of the CBD series 2016

Hopgood Theatre (Noarlunga), Fri 22 January, 7.30pmCentenary Hall (Goolwa), Sat 23 January, 7.30pm

Shedley Theatre (Elizabeth), Fri 29 January, 7.30pmBarossa Arts & Convention Centre (Tanunda), Sat 30 January, 7.30pm

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

f you think that at a classical concert one should sit absolutely motionless and assume a dignified expression at all times… well, good luck!

For Giaochino Rossini, music was a game – and one at which he was remarkably gifted. L’italiana in Algeri is a comic opera best described as “organised, total lunacy.” 21-year-old Rossini didn’t want a placid audience – he wanted them stirred up! So his music tiptoes in with a barely audible string pizzicato… then taps you on the shoulder and runs off, leading a scampering chase that should have you twitching excitedly in your seats, if not actually running around the auditorium.

At a dinner in 1938, Joaquín Rodrigo’s friend asked of him earnestly: “Listen, you have to come back with a ‘Concerto for guitar and orchestra’ – and go straight to my heart!”. Rodrigo couldn’t play “four notes in a row” on guitar, and, being blind, his composition process was an arduous combination of braille and dictation. But he was inspired – by memories of the Aranjuez gardens south of Madrid, by the sound of flamenco, and by the gift of a once-in-a-lifetime melody. So smile and sway with the Spanish dances of the outer movements, and breathe with the soloist’s every nuance of expression as he sustains that wonderful melody in the second movement.

When Beethoven conducted the premiere of his seventh symphony in 1813 (despite his deafness!), some people thought he’d gone too far, that he was “mad” or “drunk” to be writing such rambunctious, noisy music. Others loved it – and for much the same reasons! Its wild rhythmic energy is irresistible – even the famous ‘slow’ movement (Allegretto) is haunted throughout by a persistent underlying beat. Baying horns, whirling violins, rumbling basses… this music is so much fun to play and to listen to, but you may need a seatbelt to stay on your chair!

© David John Lang 2016

Jessica Cottis ConductorAlex Tsiboulski GuitarJulian Ferraretto Presenter

Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868)L’italiana in Algeri: Overture

Joaquín RODRIGO (1901-1999)Concierto de Aranjuez

Interval

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)Symphony No 7

Duration 1 hr 30 mins

ADELAIDE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

VIOLINS Cameron Hill** (Acting Concertmaster)Shirin Lim** (Acting Associate Concertmaster) Julie Newman* (Acting Principal 1st Violin)Michael Milton** (Principal 2nd Violin)Lachlan Bramble ~(Associate Principal 2nd Violin)Janet AndersonAnn AxelbyGillian BraithwaiteJulia BrittainHilary BruerElizabeth Collins

Jane Collins Alexis MiltonJennifer Newman Alexander Permezel Judith CoombeMarie-Louise Slaytor Kemeri Spurr

VIOLAS Imants Larsens**(Acting Section Leader)Michael Robertson~(Acting Associate Principal)Martin ButlerLesley CockramAnna HansenCarolyn Mooz

CELL0S Simon Cobcroft**Ewen Bramble~Sarah Denbigh

Christopher Handley Sherrilyn Handley

DOUBLE BASSES David Schilling**Belinda Kendall-Smith~(Acting Associate Principal)Harley GrayDavid Phillips

FLUTES Geoffrey Collins**Lisa Gill

OBOES Celia Craig**Peter Duggan

CLARINETS Mitchell Berick** (Acting Section Leader)Samantha Webber

BASSOONS Mark Gaydon **Leah Stephenson

HORNS Adrian Uren**Heath Parkinson

TRUMPETS Owen Morris**Timothy Keenihan

TIMPANI Robert Hutcheson*

PERCUSSION Steven Peterka**Gregory Rush

** Section Leader~ Associate Principal* Principal Player