| The Games of the XXVII Olympiad 2000: Music from the Opening Ceremony | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Compilation album by various artists | |
| Released | 18 September 2000 |
| Recorded | Summer 1999 |
| Genre | Classical, electronic, folk, world, country, funk/soul, pop, rock |
| Label | Sony Music BMG |
| Producer | SOCOG, Ross Fraser |
The Games of the XXVII Olympiad 2000: Music from the Opening Ceremony is a compilation album of music from the 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, released in 2000.
The program celebrated a wide collection of exclusively Australian artists and composers from many different backgrounds. There was a focus on contemporary classical composers, such as Elena Kats-Chernin and Chong Lim, film composers such as Bruce Rowland and David Hirschfelder, Jazz artists such as James Morrison, Indigenous songlines arranged by David Page, House music from Peewee Ferris and pop from John Foreman, Paul Begaud, John Gillard, Trevor White, Vanessa Corish & Wayne Tester. [1] [2] The opening piece to the artistic section, Deep Sea Dreaming, is still regularly performed by Kats-Chernin and by treble choirs in Australia. [3]
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra was the orchestra at the ceremony [1] and performed most of the works in the program, although some pieces performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was noted in the program and CD. [2] It came to light in August 2008 that the Sydney Symphony mimed its performance during the opening ceremony to tracks prerecorded by both orchestras, after an incident at the 2008 Opening Ceremony revealed that a girl lip-synched a song and used another girl's voice. [4] Morrison's Fanfare performance was also mimed on the night. [5] All performances were recorded in either the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall or Studios 301 in Sydney. [2] All voice artists performed live.
The Australian bush song "Waltzing Matilda" became a musical motif as performed as a sing-a-long during the Prelude, quoted in Morrison's Fanfare and performed by the Sydney 2000 Band. [6] [5]
The Flame was released as a single two weeks before the performance.
The soundtrack The Games of the XXVII Olympiad: Official Music from the Opening Ceremony was released on 18 September. The music album peaked at number 1 on the ARIA Charts and was certified 2× platinum in Australia. [7] It was nominated at the 2001 ARIA Awards for Best Original Soundtrack Album. [8]
Music which was not on the official soundtrack included a remix of Eternity by Peewee Ferris which was played at the end of the Artistic section, the Marching Band arrangements of Olympic themes by Ken Dye, [9] and an excerpt from the orchestral work The Warriors: Music to an Imaginary Ballet by Percy Grainger, which was played during the rising of the cauldron. [10]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Flame" | John Foreman | Tina Arena, Sydney Children's Choir & the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra | 3:31 |
| 2. | "Dare to Dream" | Paul Begaud, Vanessa Corish & Wayne Tester | John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John | 5:16 |
| 3. | "Heroes Live Forever" | John Gillard & Trevor White | Vanessa Amorosi | 4:34 |
| 4. | "Under Southern Skies" | Damien Halloran & Maria Millward | Nikki Webster & Sing 2001 Choir | 3:23 |
| 5. | "Countdown Fanfare" | Richard Mills | Sydney Symphony Orchestra | 1:07 |
| 6. | "The Man from Snowy River — Olympic Version" | Bruce Rowland | Sydney Symphony Orchestra | 3:29 |
| 7. | "Fanfare" | James Morrison | James Morrison & Swing City | 1:34 |
| 8. | "Advance Australia Fair" | Peter Dodds McCormick, Arranged by David Stanhope [11] [12] | Human Nature, Julie Anthony, James Morrison, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Sydney University Musical Society & Sing 2001 Choir | 3:35 |
| 9. | "Deep Sea Dreaming" | Elena Kats-Chernin | Sydney Children's Choir & the Sydney Symphony Orchestra | 4:07 |
| 10. | "Awakening" | Djakapurra Munyarryun, David Page, Stephen Francis, Peggy Misi, Elma Kris, Matthew Doyle, & Don Nindihirribala | Djakapurra Munyarryun, Don Nindihirribala, David Page with Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara & Yankunytjatjara Women & Doonooch Dance Co | 7:02 |
| 11. | "Fire" | Michael Askill | Michael Askill & Fire Percussion | 2:42 |
| 12. | "Nature" | Chong Lim [12] | Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Chorale & National Boys Choir of Australia | 6:45 |
| 13. | "Tin" | Ian Cooper, John Frohlich, John Gillard & Trevor White, Paul Grabowsky | Ian Cooper, John Frolich, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & National Boys Choir | 8:21 |
| 14. | "Arrivals" | Pee Wee Ferris | Pee Wee Ferris | 5:16 |
| 15. | "Eternity" | David Hirschfelder | David Hirschfelder | 6:23 |
| 16. | "Games 2000 Fanfare" | David Stanhope | Sydney Symphony Orchestra | 0:37 |
| 17. | "The Olympic Hymn" | Spyridon Samaras & Kostis Palamas | The Millenium Choir of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia & The Sydney Symphony Orchestra | 2:55 |
| 18. | "Tibi Omnes from Te Deum" | Hector Berlioz | Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Sydney University Musical Society, Sing 2001 Choir & Sydney Children's Choir | 8:20 |
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [13] | 1 |
| Chart (2000) | Rank |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [7] | 15 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [7] | 2× Platinum | 140,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Elena Davidovna Kats-Chernin is a Soviet-born Australian composer and pianist, best known for her ballet Wild Swans.
Stephanie McCallum is an Australian classical pianist. She has recorded works of Erik Satie, Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Carl Maria von Weber, Albéric Magnard, Pierre Boulez, and Iannis Xenakis among others.
Lior Attar, better known simply as Lior, is an independent Australian singer-songwriter based in Melbourne. He is best known for his 2005 debut studio album Autumn Flow and for the song "Hoot's Lullaby".
Carl Edward Vine, is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music.
John Gregory Foreman is an Australian musician and television personality. In 1992, he joined the Network Ten team for Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton, serving as Music Director until retiring in 2004. During 2003–2008 he was Musical Director of Australian Idol. He is the Chair of the National Australia Day Council.
Simone Margaret Young AM is an Australian conductor. She is currently chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is Australia’s largest choral organisation. It presents its own annual concert series in the Sydney Opera House the City Recital Hall, and other venues in New South Wales, as well as serving as chorus for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday, 15 September 2000 in Stadium Australia, Sydney, during which the Games were formally opened by then-Governor-General Sir William Deane. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history. Veteran ceremonies director Ric Birch was the Director of Ceremonies while David Atkins was the Artistic Director and Producer. Its artistic section highlighted several aspects of Australian culture and history, showing Australia's flora and fauna, technology, multiculturalism, and the hopeful moment of reconciliation towards Aboriginal Australians. The ceremony had a cast of 12,687 performers, seen by a stadium audience of around 110,000.
The Te Deum by Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) was completed in 1849. Like the earlier and more famous Grande Messe des Morts, it is one of the works referred to by Berlioz in his Memoirs as "the enormous compositions which some critics have called architectural or monumental music." While the orchestral forces required for the Te Deum are not as titanic as those of the Requiem, the work calls for an organ that can compete on equal terms with the rest of the orchestra. It lasts approximately fifty minutes and derives its text from the traditional Latin Te Deum, although Berlioz changed the word order for dramatic purposes.
The 15th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 30 October 2001 at the Capitol Theatre. Rock band Powderfinger won the most awards with six from eight nominations. Leading the nominations were dance, electronic group, The Avalanches, with nine nominations: they won four.
The Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on August 4, 1996, at the Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta, United States at approximately 8:00 PM EDT (UTC−4). It was produced by Don Mischer.
Wild Swans is a ballet by Meryl Tankard with score by Soviet-born Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin.
Matthew Krel was a Russian-Jewish conductor who migrated to Australia and in 1988 founded the SBS Radio and Television Youth Orchestra, of which he was the chief conductor until his death. Like his Soviet friend, the composer Dmitry Kabalevsky, he was passionate about creating quality musical performance ensembles for young people. He was also profoundly influenced by Zoltán Kodály's philosophy.
Peter "Peewee" Ferris is a DJ from Sydney. Ferris began mixing at an early age, being inspired by his older brothers Stephen and John who are also DJs.
(Andrew) Alexander Briger AO is an Australian classical conductor. He is the nephew of the conductor Sir Charles Mackerras, and both are descended from the composer Isaac Nathan.
Ian Cooper is an Australian violinist. He was commissioned to compose and perform the "Tin Symphony" for the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney. The event was televised worldwide with an estimated 2.85 billion viewers. He performs many musical styles including Classical, Gypsy, Jazz, Irish & Country music and has appeared with Tommy Emmanuel, James Morrison, Olivia Newton-John, Barry White, Simon Tedeschi, Deni Hines, and Silverchair.
John Morrison is an Australian jazz drummer, band leader, educator, and commercial pilot. While he is not as famous as his younger brother, trumpeter James Morrison, he is a significant musician in his own right. Voted as one of Australia's best big band drummers, his band Swing City was selected to open the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Throughout his career Morrison and his groups have headlined every major event and festival in Australia.
The 2000 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony was held on 1 October 2000 in Stadium Australia. As with the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony was directed by Ric Birch as Director of Ceremonies while David Atkins was the Artistic Director and Producer. The Closing Ceremony was attended by 114,714 people, the largest attendance in modern Olympic Games history. The ceremony celebrated Australiana; Australian cultural celebrities, icons, media, and music, with floats designed in the style of Reg Mombassa. Around 2.4 billion watched the telecast of the closing ceremony.
Benjamin Northey is an Australian conductor, musician and arranger. He has been Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in New Zealand since 2015. He is also the Principal Conductor in Residence of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2020. He was previously the Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2019.
Jane Sheldon is a Sydney-born Australian soprano, largely based in New York City. She is an artistic associate at Sydney Chamber Opera.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)