Premieres

New Australian Symphony performed by QSO to have World Television Premiere on Foxtel’s STUDIO channel

Media Release

New Australian Symphony performed by QSO to have World Television Premiere on Foxtel’s STUDIO channel

"Your gift is so unusual…I enjoyed your symphony very much – a masterful piece, logical in the use of the material and very well orchestrated" VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY

“It’sa genuinely great work and will outlive us all”
MARTIN BUZACOTT – Music Critic THE AUSTRALIAN

“It may be his first symphony, but like those of Brahms and Walton, it comes when Mark is at the height of his powers as a composer”
Dr NICHOLAS ROUTLEY – Associate Professor of Music, University of Sydney 

“What a feast for the ears. So much nuance, so much feeling, such elegance, instrumental detail, and his ability to spin out gorgeous music is rare indeed. This is what symphony writing is all about”
 JAMES GAVIN –  Music Writer, NEW YORK TIMES, VANITY FAIR

Symphony No. 1 by Australian composer Mark Isaacs was commissioned for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra by Kim Williams AM.

The world premiere was given in Brisbane by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by distinguished Australian conductor Benjamin Northey on October 25, 2013. The premiere was filmed by Australian television industry veteran and music-lover, producer/director Roen Davis, with the composer himself later coming on board as co-producer.

The program will have its world television premiere on Foxtel’s STUDIO channel on Sunday October 19 at 1pm.

Richard Wenn, Director of Artistic Planning for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, who was quick to support the project from the outset, says:

“I’m extremely pleased with the work and it showcases Mark’s composing talent and sound world. He writes so comfortably for a large orchestra and I hope he continues to write more large symphonic works, perhaps a Symphony No.2? It is rare today for an orchestra to give a world premiere of a significant new work, rarer still to have this recorded for broadcast on television. The QSO are thrilled to have this exposure and profile”

At 56, Mark’s international career as a composer and pianist in classical music and jazz has seen him hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “a splendid musical mind”. John Harding, former Concertmaster and Associate Conductor of the Sydney Symphony wrote, in Mark’s formative years:

"In many ways Mark Isaacs's personality could be compared with that of Leonard Bernstein – the same boundless energy, enthusiasm for a broad range of music, pianistic skills and passionate concern for the performance bring to mind similar impressions to those I received from the few occasions I was lucky enough to work with Maestro Bernstein"