RITE OF SPRING

The very modernist program of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s (QSO) opening concert for the 2025 season captures the avant-garde spirit that underscored the adventurous and sometimes risky period in the development of the arts – the turn of the twentieth century. An ambitious and spirited collaboration with Circa, this production is looking back to the groundbreaking artistic collaborations 100 years ago to bring us an amalgamation of music and physical theatre on the backdrop of music composed at the time when such collaborative spirit was making headlines and stirring the critics.

Beginning with Claude Debussy’s Prelude: Afternoon of a Faun, a symphonic poem for orchestra, the QSO sets the stage for some magic. Debussy began by writing traditional orchestral music, but soon he started challenging the bounds of conventions and exploring other possibilities. Written in 1896, when a symphonic poem was an unheard-of idea, the composer attempts to create poetry through music, questioning boundaries between art forms.

After warming up our senses, the QSO moves on to Ottorino Respighi’s Concerto Gregoriano. Featuring the 2025 artist in residence, Kristian Winther, the concerto is based on medieval Gregorian chants. These are short melodies that often feature repetitive phrases, with the purpose of inducing a meditative state. This repetition allows the mind to focus and can lead to a sense of calm and introspection. Written in 1921, post the First World War, the piece ‘meditates’ optimism and revival, and gives the audiences a glimpse into some lesser heard music in our concert halls.

Did I mention stirring critics? The final piece of the evening is Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky – the focus of this production. This avant-garde ballet reportedly caused a riot at its premiere, with the audience booing and yelling at the performers. In a series of scenes, the piece tells the story of the spring revival and the earth’s renewal through sacrifice. A monumental reimagining of Stravinsky’s first modernist composition, this collaboration with Circa is a feast for the ears and for the eyes. Ten acrobats tell the story behind the rituals depicted in the original ballet scenes.

The body is an amazing instrument. Two bodies create double the complexity, working with or against each other, creating new, mutated, evolved human. But when ten strong, fit bodies enter the performance space, they can create a human beast! Circa performers tumble, jump, fly through the air, and slide across the floor. Bodies clump together, and something emerges from the mass. Is it the earth awakening? As things begin to grow, sometimes they fall apart and have to begin again. This is the reality of life, and the physical body offers a special way of conveying this message. Life is unpredictable, lifting us up one day and then throwing us to the ground the next. And yet, the Circa performers silently continue to put their bodies through more and more hardship, building to a yet more challenging, more demanding finale.

Circus is a great way to capture the concept of fragility. A body in balance – or in mid-flight – is beautiful. Yet the precariousness of its physical state screams “imbalance”. A mass of bodies. A woman emerges. She steps on the others, trying to get up. They hold her up, she pushes them down. It is all about opposites. She is walking on hands! And as she walks slowly, the mass of bodies underneath her gather closer to give her support, lifting her higher and higher. Then she falls out of sight. The mass falls apart, and only one remains. In the words of the Circa director, Yaron Lifschitz, this is a chance “to gather and to remind ourselves how beautiful [life] is and how easily it can be broken”.

This ambitious collaboration between the QSO and Circa sets the stage for a big, bold season. See the full 2025 program for our state orchestra here.