Guitarist Sean Shibe makes his Australian debut in this inspired and thrilling season closer.
Sean Shibe plays guitar without limits. He is a chameleon of the new generation: he’s met with acclaim in the great recital halls of the world (and his recent Bach album was described by Gramophone Magazine as “the best-ever Bach recording on guitar”), but he also forges new horizons by ranging fearlessly beyond classical music. You can’t help but get carried away with his magic.
For his Australian debut, Shibe celebrates his Scottish heritage in a thrilling ride through the Highlands and beyond.
With Shibe on classical guitar and Tognetti directing the strings of the ACO, the concert opens with a Scotland steeped in lore. Lady Margaret Wemyss died in 1648 at the untimely age of 18, but her legacy lives on in the haunting solo music she collected in her family’s Fife castle. These tunes are interspersed with the irresistible rhythms of Scottish folk songs, while a new commission from Cassandra Miller, one of the most soul-stirring composers writing today, brings this rich history right up to date.
Then tradition is thrown to the wind as Shibe takes up his electric guitar and the ACO steps into a technicolor world of musical invention. Martyn Bennett’s Bothy Culture takes inspiration from the 90s rave scene in Edinburgh while being rooted in the traditions of the Highlands and ancient cultures. Lad, by Julia Wolfe, originally composed for nine bagpipes and arranged here for electric guitar and strings, has been described by the composer as a “dive into a psychedelic landscape, at once multilayered, fractured, ecstatic, silent, driving, cacophonous, and direct.”
At just 32, Shibe is one of the most exhilarating young stars performing today, and a perfect match for the electric energy and musical curiosity for which the ACO is famous. This is the concert you’ll reflect on in years to come: “I saw him when…”
Run time
This event will run for approximately 2 hours.
Program
TRADITIONAL SCOTTISH: Solo lute manuscripts compiled by Lady Margaret Wemyss
JAMES MACMILLAN: (arr. George Duthie) From Galloway
TRADITIONAL SCOTTISH: Suite of folk songs
CASSANDRA MILLER: New Commission for solo guitar and strings (Australian Premiere)*
JULIA WOLFE: (arr. electric guitar and strings) Lad (Australian Premiere)
DAVID FENNESSY: Hirta Rounds (Australian Premiere)
MARTYN BENNETT: (arr. electric guitar and strings) Bothy Culture: Selections
Concert Hall
One of the world’s most sought after venues, the Concert Hall is a performance space like no other. With its cathedral like ambience and unrivalled majesty, standing on this very special stage will see you deliver a performance to remember.
In July 2022, the Opera House completed extensive upgrades to the Concert Hall. The multi-million-dollar project delivered extensive improvements to the venue, including: better acoustics for artists and audiences, enhanced access for people with mobility needs, new state-of-the-art theatre machinery and staging systems, and a more flexible and safer working environment for staff behind-the-scenes.
Our foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars. Please remember to maintain physical distancing whilst consuming drinks in our foyers.
All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres in the Western Foyer consistent with COVID-safe rules.