3 minute read
Musica Viva’s 2021 Season is On Sale Now!
from Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens and Hunter Valley | INTOUCH MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 21' ISSUE
ABOVE: AURA GO, EMILY SUN AND AMIR FARID (CREDIT: DANIEL SPELLMAN)
When imagining the 2021 season, Artistic Director Paul Kildea saw a glorious opportunity – a blank slate – where he could build a season that celebrated the uplifting power of music.
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Glancing over the performances on offer, it’s clear that extraordinary performances await audiences with each concert. On March 1, Sydney oboist Diana Doherty will appear at the Newcastle City Hall in collaboration with her dear friends, the Streeton Trio – comprised of cellist Umberto Clerici, violinist Emma Jardine and pianist Benjamin Kopp. Alongside the music of Mendelssohn, Smetana and Martinů, a brand-new commission will be unveiled, fresh from the pen of Perth-based composer Lachlan Skipworth.
When Johannes Brahms finished a horn trio in 1865, he married a combination of instruments together for the first time – the piano, the violin and the French horn. Half a century later, this work inspired another, as the composer Ernst Naumann made an arrangement of Mozart’s Horn Quintet for this very same line-up. To present these demanding works, Musica Viva has assembled three outstanding musicians - horn player Nicolas Fleury, violinist Emily Sun and pianist Amir Farid, who’ll perform at The Hunter Theatre on June 23. Also on the program is the world premiere of a Sonata by the Australian composer Gordon Kerry, commissioned by Julian Burnside and performed with dazzling virtuosity by Sun and Farid.
When the recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey decided to reflect on the year that was 2020, it resulted in a deeply personal recording project called Bower. A delicate juxtaposition of music both old and new, Lacey describes it as ‘a nest, woven with memories, heart, hope.’ Musical treasures found, borrowed and made, lovingly fashioned into a sanctuary.’ Featuring seven original works from Australian composers, written for Lacey to perform in collaboration with her friend, the renowned harpist Marshall McGuire, this immersive piece offers audiences a unique shared experience. Further enhanced with sound by Jim Atkins and lighting by Niklas Pajanti, it will be at Newcastle City Hall on July 26.
The following month, the brilliant Queensland-based group Ensemble Q will bring a program featuring a showpiece written by their founding member, and clarinettist Paul Dean – his Concerto for Cello and Wind Quintet. Kildea is full of praise for this contemporary work, ‘it’s difficult, it’s virtuosic, and soloist Trish Dean is a fantastic advocate’. Ensemble Q, the Queensland Conservatorium’s Ensemble in Residence, is a collection of ‘exceptional players and wonderful people.’
Long-time friends and collaborators reunite when Piers Lane joins the marvellous Goldner String Quartet to embark on their postponed 2020 tour. Boasting a line-up of their original founding members – a rare feat for a quartet that’s over 25 years old – violinists Dene Olding and Dimity Hall, violist Irina Morozova, and cellist Julian Smiles will perform two complimentary programs on September 30. Hear the music of Dvořák, Korngold, Brahms, Elgar, alongside the world premiere of a new work by the emerging Australian composer Jakub Jankowski.
Chopin’s Twenty-Four Preludes is regarded as one of the great monuments of nineteenth-century Romantic literature – and is at the heart of Chopin’s Piano, the final Musica Viva tour on November 22. An immersive blend of chamber music and theatre, it stars the astonishing pianist Aura Go, an alumna of the Musica Viva Future Maker’s program. This is an evocative retelling of the rich history and ultimate fate of the piano at the centre of Chopin’s compositions, adapted from Paul Kildea’s book Chopin’s Piano.
