By Madeleine Murray
FEW COMPOSERS HAVE explored the extremes of human emotion as powerfully as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Love, passion, despair and tragedy run through his music, and all will be on display when the Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra presents Tchaikovsky: Triumph and Tragedy at Tweed Heads on Sunday, October 25.
The program, conducted by Dr Warwick Potter, brings together two of the Russian composer’s most celebrated works: the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, inspired by Shakespeare’s doomed lovers, and his final symphony, the haunting Symphony No. 6, Pathétique.
Since there are no soloists in this concert, we thought we would shine a spotlight on one of the NRSO musicians. The orchestra is made up almost entirely of volunteers. Violist Brigette Smith joined the NRSO three years ago and has since taken on responsibilities beyond the concert stage.
A mother of three, she manages the orchestra’s social media and coordinates its wind, brass and percussion players – demanding roles in an organisation whose musicians juggle rehearsals and performances with jobs and family life.
“There are a few challenges in this position,” Brigette told The Weekly.
“Firstly, as we are not a full-time orchestra, everything has to be managed around our everyday jobs and lives.
“Secondly, social media comes with its own set of challenges, such as keeping the algorithm on your side and creating and maintaining connections with an ever-distracted audience. The only way to get noticed is to roll content out daily, but creating that content from a limited rehearsal time is difficult.
“Finally, all of our players have busy lives, teaching, managing their own families and performances, so it is inevitable that there are changes to our playing line-up and we need to be able to pivot quickly and fill any gaps.”
Brigette began her musical life on the violin before discovering the viola in high school, drawn to the instrument whose mellow voice often provides the rich harmonic texture beneath an orchestra’s soaring melodies.
“I feel very privileged to be playing in the NRSO,” Brigette said.
“The music is of a fantastic quality, the players are brilliant and everyone has been absolutely delightful to spend time with. I think I really joined for the music, and stayed for the friends. We are so lucky and grateful to have a supportive audience so we can continue to do what we love!”
Tchaikovsky: Triumph and Tragedy takes place at 2:30pm NSW time (1:30pm QLD) on Sunday, October 25, at the Tweed Heads Civic Centre, Brett Street, Tweed Heads. Tickets online at nrso.com.au, or at the door if not sold out.