Southern lights.

Experience the magic of the southern lights with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and composer Mary Finsterer.

Mary Finsterer (born 1962) is one of Australia’s most highly regarded composers, having received numerous local and international awards and accolades. Lumen prime aurore, which was commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and premièred in 2021, was influenced by sources near and far, physical and metaphysical. The composer writes: ‘The title of my music takes inspiration from the poignant poem about wisdom, creation and light by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), O verbum Patris [O Word of the Father]. Lumen prime aurore translates as ‘first dawn’s light’, a theme directly related to the research that I undertook for my opera about Antarctica where, within the South Polar Circle, a miraculous display of colourful lights known as the aurora is created when electrically charged particles from solar winds interact with meteorological gases when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. In this music, my aim is to capture the beauty of Hildegard’s writings and the wonderment of this mysterious phenomenon that graces the skies of Earth’s southernmost continent.’

Performed live as part of Rach 3 on 1 March 2024 at Federation Concert Hall, nipaluna / Hobart, Tasmania, Australia