Musica Viva Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the many lands on which we meet, work and live. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present – people who have sung their songs, danced their dances and told their stories on these lands for thousands of generations, and who continue to do so.
ADELAIDE
Adelaide Town Hall
Thursday 9 March, 7.30pm
• Pre-concert talk: 6.45pm, Prince Alfred Room
Presented in partnership with Adelaide Festival
BRISBANE
Queensland Conservatorium Theatre
Griffith University, South Bank
Tuesday 7 March, 7pm
Steven Kinston Tribute Concert
• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Boardroom, Qld Conservatorium, Griffith University
Llewellyn Hall
ANU School of Music
Thursday 2 March, 7pm
• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Larry Sitsky Room
• Meet the Artists after the concert
MELBOURNE
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
Melbourne Recital Centre
Saturday 25 February, 7pm
• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Salzer Suite, Level 2
• Meet the Artists after the concert
Tuesday 28 February, 7pm
• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Salzer Suite, Level 2
NEWCASTLE
Newcastle City Hall
Wednesday 22 February, 7.30pm
• Pre-concert talk: 6.45pm, Mulubinba Room
SYDNEY
City Recital Hall
Saturday 18 February, 2pm
• Pre-concert talk: 1.15pm, Function Room
• Meet the Artists after the concert
Monday 20 February, 7pm
Recorded for broadcast by ABC Classic
• Pre-concert talk: 6.15pm, Function Room
• CD Signing after the concert
With special thanks to Ian & Caroline Frazer for their support of this tour, and to the Producers’ Circle and Amadeus Society for their support of the 2023 Concert Season.
It is curious that more composers have not taken their cue from Boccherini and written for the combination of guitar and string quartet. There is something simultaneously courteous and adversarial about the line-up – a reflection of the physical overlaps between instruments and the potential for the strings, in the wrong hands (composer and player), to talk boorishly over the guitar.
There is a beautiful story about the genesis of the work being premiered in these concerts: me wanting to tip my cap to Carl Vine, my distinguished predecessor as Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia; Karin Schaupp’s desire to get a significant new work from Carl; Carl’s interest in writing for the guitar and strings; and the fervent hope of a mother that she could commemorate her much-loved and -missed daughter in a musical work that would live on. That’s a lot to put on one piece, yet with Endless Carl has written something intimate and lyrical, heartfelt and profound, a work that lives up to the hopes we all had when embarking on this project.
A huge part of its success depends on the quartet, of course, and for the 20 years or so since Karin recorded the Boccherini Guitar Quintet with the Flinders Quartet, this remarkable Melbourne-based ensemble has workshopped and performed countless new works from composers of hugely contrasting aesthetics. Their passion for ensuring the survival of the quartet genre through constantly replenishing the repertory – through both commissions and archaeological digs (c.f. Imogen Holst’s Phantasy Quartet) – is matched by their chops. It’s a joy to get the band back together and to celebrate Australian artists and artistry in such style.
Paul Kildea Artistic Director Musica Viva Australia
Ferdinando CARULLI (1770–1841)
Guitar Concerto in A Major, Op. 8 (c. 1809) 12 min
Richard CHARLTON (b. 1955)*
Southern Cross Dreaming (2007) 4 min
Mario CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO (1895–1968)
Quintet, Op. 143 (for Guitar and String Quintet) (1950) 24 min
I Allegro, vivo e schietto (Fast, lively and frank)
II Andante mesto (Moving along at a walking pace, sad)
III Scherzo: Allegro con spirito, alla Marcia (Fast and spirited, like a march)
IV Finale: Allegro con fuoco (Fast and fiery)
Carl VINE (b. 1954)
Endless for Guitar and String Quartet (2021)
Commissioned for Musica Viva Australia in loving memory of Jennifer Bates. World premiere performances.
Imogen HOLST (1907–1984)
15 min
Phantasy Quartet (1928) 11 min
Luigi BOCCHERINI (1743–1805)
Guitar Quintet in D Major, G. 448 (1798) 7 min
III Grave assai (Very slow and solemn)
IV Fandango
* In Adelaide, Richard Charlton’s Southern Cross Dreaming will be replaced with the following work:
John CAGE (1912–1992)
Dream (1948) 8 min
Please ensure that mobile phones are turned to silent before the performance. Flash photography is not permitted during the performance.
Musica Viva Australia’s Amadeus Society is a small philanthropic circle of passionate music lovers who help us to realise our bold artistic vision and bring acclaimed international and local artists to our stages throughout the country.
Since 2007, the Amadeus Society has enabled Musica Viva Australia to further extraordinary artistic initiatives and in 2023 will continue to do so by celebrating the wealth and diversity of Australian musical talent.
Annual membership of the Society includes intimate private house concerts with our mainstage artists, currently held in Melbourne and Sydney.
If you are interested in joining the Amadeus Society or would like more information please contact:
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| zcobden-jewitt@musicaviva.com.au
As part of Musica Viva Australia’s Regional Touring Program, Karin Schaupp & Flinders Quartet will perform at:
• Monday 27 February: Hobart
Hobart Town Hall, Tasmania
• Friday 3 March: Nowra
Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre
For further details visit: musicaviva.com.au/regional
The following masterclasses are presented as part of this tour:
• Friday 24 February: Melbourne
Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School
– Karin Schaupp (closed to public)
• Wednesday 1 March: Melbourne
Monash University – Zoe Knighton (closed to public)
• Saturday 4 March: Nowra
Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre – Karin Schaupp
• Wednesday 8 March: Brisbane
Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University – Zoe Knighton (closed to public)
For further details visit: musicaviva.com.au/masterclasses
Musica Viva Australia’s Masterclass program is supported by:
Nicholas Callinan AO & Elizabeth Callinan
Caroline & Robert Clemente
Ian Frazer AM & Caroline Frazer
Patricia H Reid Endowment Fund
Andrew Sisson AO & Tracey Sisson
Mick & Margaret Toller
Anonymous (2)
Karin Schaupp has recorded an extensive discography for Warner Music International and ABC Classics. Her solo debut Soliloquy (1997) for Warner Music was praised by the UK’s Classical Guitar magazine as ‘a pacesetting performance in all respects’. This was soon followed by the ARIA-nominated Leyenda and Evocation, and for ABC Classic, Dreams, Lotte’s Gift and Cradle Songs
Her chamber music collaborations have also led to a number of recordings including three albums with Saffire – The Australian Guitar Quartet, duo albums with recorder virtuosa
Genevieve Lacey (Songs Without Words) and cellist Umberto Clerici (Wayfaring), the ARIAnominated Fandango with Flinders Quartet, and the double ARIA-nominated Songs of the Southern Skies with Australian songstress
Katie Noonan. Karin and Katie’s latest release, Songs of the Latin Skies, won the 2017 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.
Karin’s orchestral recordings include the award-winning world premiere recordings of Philip Bračanin’s Guitar Concerto, which was written for her, and Ross Edwards’ Concerto for Guitar and Strings; Spain, featuring works by Rodrigo, Bacarisse and Castelnuovo-Tedesco; and Mosaic: Australian Guitar Concertos, which includes her recording of Sculthorpe’s Nourlangie.
Flinders Quartet’s first commercial CD release, Reinventions with Genevieve Lacey, met with critical and popular acclaim, reaching #1 on the ARIA Core Classical album chart. Also on the ABC Classic label are its ARIA-nominated 2011 release, Fandango with Karin Schaupp, and an album of quartets by Sibelius, Intimate Voices. In 2018, Flinders Quartet released
The Offering, a 2CD set of four Australian works commissioned and/or premiered by the quartet.
Learn more about Australian composers
Carl Vine and Richard Charlton at CarlVine.com and RichardCharlton.com.au
Karin Schaupp’s playing has been hailed by the German press as ‘so perfect, so complete, that it seems like a miracle’. In her teens she won prestigious international prizes in Italy and Spain, and is today sought after internationally as a recitalist, soloist and festival guest, making countless television and radio appearances.
Taught almost exclusively by her guitarist mother, Isolde Schaupp, Karin completed her tertiary music studies at The University of Queensland with a Masters degree and a University Gold Medal. In 2003 she was awarded the Music Council of Australia Freedman Fellowship in recognition of her achievements, and in 2014–15 she was honoured with a Music Fellowship from the Australia Council for the Arts.
Performance highlights include concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (USA) and the Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras; some 150 performances of the play Lotte’s Gift, written for her by David Williamson; appearances at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, the Goodwill Games Opening Ceremony (China), World Expo (Japan) and the Hong Kong Arts Festival; and a Musica Viva Australia International Concert Season tour with Pavel Steidl.
Flinders Quartet (FQ) is instantly recognisable as one of Australia’s most loved chamber music ensembles. A quartet for the 21st century, FQ approaches its third decade with acknowledged musical skill and maturity, offering dynamic and stirring performances of a full spectrum of repertoire.
Committed to industry development, FQ regularly commissions and premieres works by Australian composers, including Katy Abbott, Deborah Cheetham, Ella Macens, Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards, Elena KatsChernin, Stuart Greenbaum, Paul Dean, Paul Grabowsky, Ian Munro, Iain Grandage, Andrew Ford, Calvin Bowman, Tom Henry and Matt Laing. In 2016, FQ launched its Composer Development Program, working to further the careers of emerging Australian composers.
The quartet is in demand at festivals throughout Australia, often in association with some of the country’s finest talents, including Slava Grigoryan, Kristian Chong, Ian Munro, Paul Dean, Karin Schaupp, Genevieve Lacey and Jayson Gillham. International engagements have taken FQ to the UK, Singapore, Canada and, most recently, Sweden and Finland, where it was invited to perform the complete string quartets of Sibelius.
Building on its 2006 Limelight Award, FQ has received two ARIA Award nominations, and has twice been nominated for the Melbourne Prize for Music.
As teachers and mentors, the quartet regularly works with the Australian Youth Orchestra and its development programs for young chamber groups, as well as with the Victorian Amateur Chamber Music Society, and is regularly invited to tutor at secondary and tertiary institutions throughout Australia, including the University of Melbourne.
Fernando Carulli could hardly be called a well-known composer but amongst guitarists, he is legendary. Born in 1770, the young Carulli grew up in Naples in a well-to-do family and initially learned music theory and cello before taking up the guitar in his teens. Largely self-taught, he quickly became something of a sensation in his home town, and took to touring, first to northern Italy and then to the cultural centres of Vienna and Paris.
Carulli’s extraordinary ability and passion for the guitar led him to explore new techniques, timbres and harmonies. His most famous work, the pedagogical Méthode Complète, is still in use today. He pioneered the development of the six-string guitar, the instrument which would become the modern classical guitar. Later in life he worked with Parisian luthier René Lacôte on a 10-string instrument, the Decacorde.
His first Guitar Concerto is one of the most popular works for guitar surviving from this period. Two themes dominate the lively Allegro, punctuated by virtuosic passages for the guitar soloist. Some manuscripts also show a second movement, marked Pologna – a Polonaise or Polish Dance – but this is rarely played and will be omitted here. The concerto was originally scored for guitar soloist with string quartet, two oboes, two horns and a double bass. The version we hear in this concert is for guitar and string quartet.
© HARRIET CUNNINGHAM 2021As well as being an award-winning composer, Richard Charlton works as a teacher, conductor, performer and arranger. Largely self-taught, he initially started writing music to expand his own repertoire, but now his works are performed and recorded by many leading Australian and international players, featuring on more than 30 commercial CDs under labels such as ABC Classic, Naxos, Tall Poppies and
Classical Guitar described him as producing ‘some of the most inspired and accessible guitar works of the present era’.
Richard uses the guitar in many combinations, collaborating with a diverse range of artists such as Karin Schaupp and Katie Noonan, Slava Grigoryan, Stephanie Jones, Matt Withers and the Acacia Quartet, Tim Kain and Guitar Trek, William Barton and Riley Lee (on the ABC Meditation program Classic Flow with guitarist Steve Allen) and numerous others.
The composer writes:
Cultures all over the world have special dreams and stories about the stars and constellations that make pictures in the sky. The Southern Cross, easily one of the most recognisable constellations of all, has many different legends and stories about it. Southern Cross Dreaming is a synthesis of those legends.
Pinpoints of light (in harmonics) gradually descend in a series of rocking thirds. They coalesce into groups of stars. A melody played in tremolo – rapidly repeated notes giving the impression of longer, sustained notes – rises and falls, changing colour, building in intensity and height.
This piece was written for Karin Schaupp in 2007 and is recorded on her album with Katie Noonan called Songs of the Southern Skies.
© RICHARD CHARLTONMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was already a successful composer in 1932 when he met an artist who would change the course of his musical life. Andrés Segovia (1893–1987) was one of the most celebrated classical guitarists of the 20th century. Born in Linares, Spain, and brought up in Granada, he was, like Fernando Carulli, almost entirely self-taught, and notable for eschewing the popularisation of the flamenco style to concentrate on classical technique and repertoire. By the 1920s, he was a celebrated virtuoso, touring internationally.
The paths of the two men crossed in 1932 in Venice at the annual festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Segovia was impressed by CastelnuovoTedesco’s Quintet for Harp and Piano, and left a note enquiring about a commission. Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote back to say he had never written for guitar. Segovia provided him with some basic information about the instrument and a few examples of works he liked. Soon after, Castelnuovo-Tedesco sent him a set of variations. Segovia’s response was swift and overwhelmingly positive: ‘It is the first time that I find a composer who immediately understands how to write for the guitar.’ From this creative beginning Castelnuovo-Tedesco went on to become one of the 20th century’s foremost composers for guitar, completing over 100 works for the instrument, many of them for Segovia.
Then, in 1938, the Italian government passed its Leggi Razziali (Racial Laws), restricting the civil rights of Jews. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Sephardic Jewish ancestry was well known. Life in Europe was looking increasingly dangerous. In 1939 he and his family boarded the SS Saturnia in Trieste, bound for a new life in America.
Thanks to artistic colleagues in high places, including conductor Arturo Toscanini and violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz, Castelnuovo-Tedesco was offered work in Hollywood with MGM, writing film scores. While he is best known for his writing for guitar, his legacy also lives on through some of his films – including Gaslight and And Then There Were None, and for his students, who include André Previn, Henry Mancini and John Williams.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote his Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet in 1950, to a commission from the Music Guild of Los Angeles. Segovia gave the premiere with the Paganini Quartet a year later. An unapologetic romanticist, Castelnuovo-Tedesco describes the work in his autobiography as ‘melodious and serene … written almost in a Schubertian vein’. Indeed, against the backdrop of midcentury modernism, his style is resolutely tonal, but his orchestration – the way he handles the various timbres and textures of these five instruments – is highly innovative. He pits the bowed instruments – violin, viola and cello, all capable of a sustained legato line –against the plucked guitar, with its distinctive attack and ringing but quiet decay, using an ingenious palette of extended techniques. Listen out, for example, to the way he allows intricate guitar passages the space to ring out over the quartet by using an accompaniment of pizzicato, or wispy harmonics, or even silence. And how he layers a luxurious legato melody underneath a glittering cadenza in the guitar.
The work falls into four movements and follows the classic lines of Haydn’s sonata form. The first movement is marked Allegro, vivo e schietto (fast, lively and frank), a feeling captured in the melodic leaps of the opening statement, which contrast with a more chromatic second subject. The second movement, Andante mesto, begins with a soulful melody for viola and is shot through with modal ambiguity – a switching between major and minor intervals evoking a nostalgic quality. Its second theme is marked Souvenir d’Espagne, memory of Spain. The third movement is a bracing Scherzo with two trios, including the irresistible dance rhythm of the Spanish habanera. The fourth movement is also powered by dance, this time by the jagged motor rhythm of a crazy tarantella, until a smoochy habanera reappears, marked Come una canzone popolare – like a popular song. As the work comes to its climax, Castelnuovo-Tedesco layers the two dances one on another and ups the tempo for a thrilling scramble to the end.
© HARRIET CUNNINGHAM 2021Carl Vine AO is one of Australia’s best known and most frequently performed composers, with an impressive orchestral catalogue featuring eight symphonies and 13 concertos. His piano music is performed around the world and recordings of his music on more than 60 CDs play regularly on Australian radio. He has an extensive range of chamber music alongside various works for film, television, dance and theatre. Although primarily a composer of modern art music, he has undertaken such diverse tasks as arranging the Australian National Anthem and writing music for the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games (Atlanta, 1996).
Born in Perth, he studied piano with Stephen Dornan and composition with John Exton at the University of Western Australia. Moving to Sydney in 1975, he worked as a freelance pianist and composer with a wide range of ensembles, theatre and dance companies over the following decades.
Amongst his most acclaimed scores are Piano Sonata No. 1 (1990) and Poppy (1978) for the Sydney Dance Company, and Choral Symphony (No. 6, 1996) for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. His first six symphonies are available on the ABC Classic double-CD set Carl Vine: The Complete Symphonies performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Much of his chamber music is available on three discs from Tall Poppies Records.
From 2000 until 2019 Carl was Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia. Within that role he was also Artistic Director of the Huntington Estate Music Festival from 2006, and of the Musica Viva Festival (Sydney) from 2008. Carl has been Senior Lecturer in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music since 2014.
His recent compositions include Zofomorphosis (concerto for piano four hands) for the Grant Park Festival in Chicago, Piano Sonata No.4 for Lindsay Garritson, The Enchanted Loom (Symphony No. 8) for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Five Hallucinations (trombone concerto) for the Chicago and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. The Melbourne Symphony’s recording of Carl’s recent orchestral works, The Enchanted Loom, won the 2022 ARIA Award for Best Classical Album.
In 2014 Carl was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
The composer writes: Endless celebrates the life of Jennifer Bates, a professional architect, project manager and dedicated environmentalist whose life was tragically cut short by a rogue motorist. Jen and her husband travelled widely, working for a year in Bhutan as international volunteers for the Australian government. There Jen became inspired by Buddhist symbolism and especially the ‘endless knot’ – the emblem of this score –signifying the interconnectedness of all things. This composition evinces the positivity and commitment to community contribution that Jen displayed throughout her life. At its heart is a reflective elegy, followed by a celebratory dance inspired by Jen’s much-loved salsa. Endless was commissioned by her mother, Kathryn Bennett, as a living legacy for a precious life that ended too soon.
© CARL VINE 2022Better known as Benjamin Britten’s assistant and the daughter of Gustav Holst, many of Imogen Holst’s compositions have only had their first performance in recent years. Her daily life was primarily consumed with other musical activities like teaching and arranging music for educational purposes, so her voice as a composer was often relegated in priority. As with many composers, the search for a musical identity was always in her mind, but it wasn’t until her string quintet (composed in 1982) that she declared, ‘Ah, a composer at last.’
The Phantasy Quartet, written in 1928 when she was just 20 years old, holds all the
characteristics of an English Pastorale style. The focus on a modal sonority rather than a traditional harmonic structure is reminiscent of Ravel and Debussy’s forays into the string quartet, but one cannot deny the obvious stamp of England’s favourite, Vaughan Williams. Having said that, this piece is not merely a hall of mirrors blurring the aural images of other composers; one gets a sense of Imogen’s generosity, passion and intellect in Phantasy. There are many voicings of chords which on first playing seem cumbersome but in fact, they are absolutely perfect in their effectiveness.
© ZOE KNIGHTONFollowing in the footsteps of Domenico Scarlatti, the virtuoso Italian cellist and composer Luigi Boccherini moved to Spain as a young man. Spain’s cultural status in Europe had lowered due to the mix of cultures and the barbarous behaviour it was known for in other countries. In an effort to become more European in character, Spanish musicians were sent to study in other countries, and foreign composers like Boccherini, who arrived in Spain in the 1760s, were welcomed with open arms. Employed at first by Don Luis, King Charles’ younger brother, Boccherini undoubtedly thought himself somewhat superior to the Spaniards and felt the need to ‘tame’ the savage Spanish musicians.
Boccherini wrote some 250 quintets, most for violin, viola and two cellos, with one cello often having a concerto-like part reaching into the high registers. He also loved the guitar, however, and even wrote concertante guitar parts into some of his symphonic works. He is best known to guitarists today for his numerous guitar quintets; of these, No. 4 in D Major, often called ‘Fandango’ after its final movement, is undoubtedly the most loved. Indeed, it is today perhaps one of the most frequently played pieces of chamber music written with an original guitar part.
Finished in 1798, the work borrows all its movements from two of the composer’s previous quintets. For these performances, we present just the two final movements: a slow introduction followed by the spirited Fandango
which draws freely on the rich guitar culture of Spain and leaves behind the more ‘serious’ style of Boccherini’s own cultural heritage.
© KARIN SCHAUPPAdelaide only: Many of the fundamental ideas of John Cage’s later compositional practices emerged in his earlier years. He entered Pomona College as a theology major in 1928, and describes in his autobiographical statement why he left soon after:
‘I was shocked at college to see one hundred of my classmates in the library all reading copies of the same book. Instead of doing as they did, I went into the stacks and read the first book written by an author whose name began with Z. I received the highest grade in the class. That convinced me that the institution was not being run correctly. I left.’
Decades later, Cage would become a pioneer of indeterminacy in composition and in performance, where elements of the music are left up to chance or to the whim of the players. In 1951, Cage acquired the first English translation of the I Ching (Book of Changes), the Chinese symbol system designed for divination. Much of his subsequent work used operations based on pages from the I Ching to which Cage would randomly flip, including Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (1951) for 12 radio receivers, Music of Changes (1951) for piano, and, later, Cheap Imitation. He also composed using star charts in his Etudes Australes (1975) for piano and Atlas Eclipticalis (1962) for orchestra. Cage’s most ambitious work involving chance procedures was Europeras I & 2 (1987), which uses the I Ching to generate every aspect of the production – libretto, score, costumes, sets, lighting, ‘plot’ – based on a database of over 100 classic European operas. According to Cage, his use of the technique allowed a piece to be performed in chaotically different ways, and also fulfilled his intention to ‘let things be themselves.’
Dream was originally used as music for the eponymous choreographed piece by Merce Cunningham, following the rhythmic structure of the dance and using a fixed gamut of tones.
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Performing nationally in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth and Sydney.
Garrick Ohlsson
Chopin’s Piano
Silk, Metal, Wood
Vision String Quartet
Wildschut & Brauss
+ The Cage Project, Morning Masters, Viva Edge, Masterclasses & more
Delayed gratification is sometimes the best kind. Which is why this Musica Viva Australia tour – Karin Schaupp & Flinders Quartet – will be such a treat a year after it was initially meant to run. Brisbane-based Karin Schaupp is one of the most outstanding guitarists on the international scene and she performs widely around the world as a recitalist, concerto soloist and festival guest. She has a unique stage presence, a natural charm and vivacity and undeniable passion for the instrument. And she’s not shy about sharing the secrets of her success with her students at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. Her PhD dissertation – Moved to Tears: An Exploration of How Acting Techniques Can Transform Classical Instrumental Music Performance – is sure to become a classic reference for musicians, and she is an inspiration to her students. The performative aspect is something that has been neglected, Schaupp says, particularly in the classical music world, and it is her mission to change that by teaching … and performing.
Flinders Quartet is one of Australia’s most loved chamber music ensembles. Schaupp and Flinders Quartet are old friends, having performed and recorded together before, albeit with an earlier iteration of the group featuring two of the current retinue. The 2011 release on ABC Classic label of Fandango, one of the fruits of that collaboration, was nominated for an ARIA Award. It featured Boccherini’s Guitar Quartet Fandango, and two movements from that work will finish this concert program with a flourish.
‘You cannot have too much fandango,’ Schaupp says. ‘I cannot count how many times I have played that piece and it has a real treat in store with Zoe Knighton playing the castanets. We need castanets.’
The tour may be a year later than planned, due to the pandemic, but as founding Flinders Quartet member Zoe Knighton points out, that has given the musicians time to work with Paul Kildea and the Musica Viva Australia team to create something special.
‘This program has taken the longest time to curate of anything we have done,’ Knighton says. ‘Everyone wanted to get it just right and we took a number of paths before we settled on what we now have. It’s nice that Fandango is included because that’s the piece that brought Karin Schaupp and Flinders Quartet together. So, it’s a logical inclusion but in the first iteration of the program it wasn’t there.
Is it too obvious? We asked ourselves that question. But we are playing it because we want to play it and we just love doing it.’
memory of her late daughter: a celebration of life and music. It will be a particularly poignant performance and one that Schaupp describes as ‘a privilege’.
Knighton says she had hoped the tour could have happened in 2022 but she’s thrilled it’s finally happening, a tad later than expected. That may not be such a bad thing. ‘To embark on a national tour straight out of lockdown would have been a shock. Now we have our concert rhythm back and we are well and truly looking forward to it.’
Schaupp is happy to be ‘going on the road with old friends again’. The extra time has benefited the program: ‘It’s so important to have the right balance,’ she says. ‘Each piece can be wonderful but sometimes things don’t go together. But in this case they do.’
She describes the opening piece, Carulli’s Guitar Concerto in A Major, as ‘a delicate piece that works really well with the quartet’. ‘I first played it with the St Lucia Orchestra in Brisbane in my early teens and haven’t come back to it that often. It’s very charming.’
While each piece has its own resonance for all the musicians, Schaupp says she is particularly looking forward to playing Carl Vine’s Endless for Guitar and String Quartet. This is the centrepiece of the concert, and Vine is a revered Australian composer and former Musica Viva Australia Artistic Director. In 2019, when Paul Kildea took over the role, he asked his predecessor to create a new work, commissioned by a longstanding audience member wishing to immortalise the joyous
‘Playing a Carl Vine composition for the guitar has been on my bucket list for a while,’ she says. ‘I have approached him many times but the guitar is very idiomatic and a unique thing to take on if you don’t play it. Carl is an incredible composer and a fastidious researcher and he really wanted to understand the guitar. He has written for it beautifully and I want to do the music and the subject justice. It will be emotional but I hope it is cathartic as well.’
Knighton says being the first musicians to play this new work will be a career highlight. ‘It’s a gift and a responsibility. This program began with this new work as the nucleus. It’s not an add-on, it is the reason for being. The other pieces were chosen aesthetically to set up the Vine.’
To be performing it with Karin Schaupp is extra special. Knighton describes her as ‘pretty much a superstar’ and the pair have been friends for more than a decade. To be working together again is a treat for them and for the audiences in each of the cities they will be visiting.
For nearly 80 years, Musica Viva Australia has delivered tours of the highest calibre in concert halls throughout the country. At the heart of our touring program are our generous Ensemble Patrons and Concert Champions, whose extraordinary vision of supporting the finest possible Australian and International artists has enriched the lives of music lovers through live performance and online. Thank you for everything you do.
For information about our Ensemble Patrons and Concert Champions programs, please contact: Zoë Cobden-Jewitt, Director of Development zcobden-jewitt@musicaviva.com.au 04 0934 0240
ACT Margaret Brennan, Clive & Lynlea Rodger, Ruth Weaver, Anonymous (4)
NSW Catherine Brown-Watt PSM & Derek Watt, Jennifer Bott AO, Lloyd & Mary Jo Capps AM, Andrew & Felicity Corkill, Peter Cudlipp, Liz Gee, Suzanne Gleeson, David & Christine Hartgill, Annie Hawker, Elaine Lindsay, Trevor Noffke, Dr David Schwartz, Ruth Spence-Stone, Mary Vallentine AO, Deirdre Nagle Whitford, Richard Wilkins, Kim Williams AM, Megan & Bill Williamson, Ray Wilson OAM, Anonymous (12)
QLD Anonymous (2)
SA Monica Hanusiak-Klavins & Martin Klavins, Anonymous (4)
TAS Kim Paterson QC, Anonymous
VIC Elizabeth & Anthony Brookes, Julian Burnside AO QC, Ms Helen Dick, Robert Gibbs & Tony Wildman, Helen Vorrath, Anonymous (8)
WA Graham Lovelock, Anonymous (4)
ACT The late Geoffrey Brennan
NSW The late Charles Berg, The late Stephen Center, The late Janette Hamilton, The late Dr. Ralph Hockin in memory of Mabel Hockin, The late Kenneth W Tribe AC
QLD The late Steven Kinston
SA The late Edith Dubsky, The late John Lane Koch, The late Lesley Lynn
VIC The late Raymond Brooks, In memory of Anita Morawetz, The family of the Late Paul Morawetz, The late Dr G D Watson
WA Anonymous
Our artistic vision for 2023 is made possible thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our Ensemble Patrons, each of whom supports the presentation of an entire national tour for our 2023 Season.
Ian & Caroline Frazer (Karin Schaupp & Flinders Quartet)
Ian Dickson AM & Reg Holloway (The Cage Project)
Stephen & Michele Johns & Anonymous (Chopin’s Piano)
Eleanore Goodridge OAM (Wildschut & Brauss)
The mainstage concerts of our 2023 Season are brought to life thanks to the generosity of our Concert Champions around the country.
Adelaide The late Lesley Lynn, Dr Susan Marsden & Michael Szwarcbord, Colin Telfer & Alison McDougall, Anonymous
Brisbane Ian & Cass George, Andrea & Malcolm Hall-Brown, Andrew & Kate Lister, Barry & Diana Moore
Canberra Andrew Blanckensee Music Lover, Humphries Family Trust, Malcolm Gillies & David Pear in memory of Stewart Gillies; Claudia Hyles, Margaret Lovell & Grant Webeck, Ruth Weaver & Anonymous; Dr Suzanne Packer, Sue Terry & Len Whyte, Anonymous
Melbourne Alexandra Clemens & Bibi Aickin, Penelope Hughes, Peter Lovell, The Morawetz Family in memory of Paul Morawetz, Dr John Tang, Dr Michael Troy, Ray Turner & Jennifer Seabrook, The late Dr G D Watson, Dr Victor Wayne & Dr Karen Wayne OAM
Newcastle Judith Bennett, Megan & Bill Williamson
Perth Dr Robert Larbalestier AO, Deborah Lehmann AO & Michael Alpers AO, Prichard Panizza Family (2), For Stephanie Quinlan (2), Valerie & Michael Wishart
Sydney Judith Bennett, Pam Cudlipp, Dr Jennifer Donald & Mr Stephen Burford, Charles Graham – in acknowledgement of his piano teacher, Sana Chia, Katherine & Reg Grinberg, Anthony Strachan, Kay Vernon
Darin Cooper Foundation, Peter Griffin AM & Terry Swann
Tony Berg AM & Carol Berg, Marc Besen AC & Eva Besen
AO dec., Ms Jan Bowen AM, Tom Breen & Rachael Kohn AO, Dr Di Bresciani OAM, Dr Helen Ferguson, Ms Annabella Fletcher, Dr Annette Gero, Katherine & Reg Grinberg, Jennifer Hershon & Russell Black, Penelope Hughes, Michael & Frederique Katz, Ruth Magid & Bob Magid OAM, Dr Hadia Mukhtar, Prof. John Rickard, Andrew Rosenberg, Ray Wilson OAM
The Masterclasses Giving Circle is a group of generous donors whose collective support will enable the artistic development of the next generation of Australian chamber musicians.
Nicholas Callinan AO & Elizabeth Callinan, Caroline & Robert Clemente, Ian & Caroline Frazer, Patricia H. Reid Endowment Fund, Andrew Sisson AO & Tracey Sisson, Mick and Margaret Toller, Anonymous (1)
Musica Viva Australia is proud to support the creation of new Australian works through The Ken Tribe Fund for Australian Composition and The Hildegard Project We are grateful to the following individuals and collectives for their generous support of this work:
In loving memory of Jennifer Bates, Christine Bollen & Friends, The Barry Jones Birthday Commission, DR & KM Magarey, Naomi Milgrom Foundation & Ian Dickson AM & Reg Holloway, Playking Foundation, Tribe Family in honour of Doug Tribe’s 75th Birthday, Adelaide Commissioning Circle, Perth Commissioning Circle
The Barry Jones Birthday Commission ($500+) Steve Bracks AC & Terry Bracks AM, Dr George Deutsch OAM & Kathy Deutsch, Carrillo Gantner, Professor Margaret Gardner AC & Professor Glyn Davis AC, Naomi & George Golvan QC, Hon David Harper AM, Ellen Koshland & James McCaughey, Miles Lewis, Julie & Ian Macphee, Barry McGaw, Jeannette McHugh, Fiona McLeod AO SC, Peter & Ruth McMullin, peckvonhartel architects, Ralph & Ruth Renard, Anne & Robert Richter QC, Gianna Rosica, Joy Selby Smith, Smith Family, Maureen & Tony Wheeler, Lyn Williams, Dr Robyn Williams AO, Bob, Robyn, Annie & Nick, Anonymous (3)
$100,000+
NSW The Berg Family Foundation, Patricia H. Reid Endowment Fund, Anonymous
$50,000–$99,999
ACT Marion & Michael Newman
NSW J A Donald Family, Katherine & Reg Grinberg, Tom & Elisabeth Karplus
$20,000–$49,999
NSW Tom Breen & Rachael Kohn AO, Michael & Fréderique Katz, Vicki Olsson
QLD Ian & Caroline Frazer, Andrea & Malcolm Hall-Brown
VIC The Morawetz Family in memory of Paul Morawetz, Anonymous
WA Anonymous
$10,000–$19,999
ACT R & V Hillman, Anonymous
NSW Gardos Family, Gresham Partners, Hilmer Family Endowment, Anthony Strachan
QLD Anonymous
SA Jennifer & John Henshall, Stoneglen Foundation, Anonymous
VIC Roger Druce & Jane Bentley, Peter Griffin AM & Terry Swann, Monica Lim & Konfir Kabo, Peter Lovell, Mercer Family Foundation, Marjorie Nicholas OAM
WA Team Legacy, Deborah Lehmann AO & Michael Alpers AO
$5,000–$9,999
ACT Goodwin Crace Concertgoers, Craig Reynolds, Sue Terry & Len Whyte
NSW Christine Bishop, Patricia Crummer, Jo & Barry Daffron, Sarah & Tony Falzarano, Iphygenia Kallinikos, Mrs W G Keighley, DR & KM Magarey, Hywel Sims, David & Carole Singer, Diane Sturrock, Kim Williams AM & Catherine Dovey
QLD Andrew & Kate Lister
SA Aldridge Family Endowment, Anonymous (2)
VIC In memory of Kate Boyce, Robert Gibbs & Tony Wildman, Doug Hooley, Andrew Johnston, Joy Selby Smith, Greg Shalit & Miriam Faine, Anonymous
WA Zoe Lenard & Hamish Milne, Anonymous (2)
$2,500–$4,999
ACT Kristin van Brunschot & John Holliday, Dr Andrew Singer, Anonymous
NSW Penny Beran, Susan Burns
QLD Greyhound Australia
SA DJ & EM Bleby
VIC Jan Begg, Alastair & Sue Campbell, Anne Frankenberg & Adrian McEniery, Lyndsey & Peter Hawkins, Ralph & Ruth Renard, Maria Sola, Lyn Williams, Igor Zambelli
WA David Cooke, Ros Kesteven, Mrs Morrell, Anonymous
$1,000–$2,499
ACT Andrew Blanckensee, The Breen/Dullo Family, Odin Bohr & Anna Smet, Dudley & Helen Creagh, Martin Dolan, Liz & Alex Furman, Malcolm Gillies AM, Kingsley Herbert, Margaret & Peter Janssens, Teresa Neeman, Margaret
Oates, S Packer, Clive & Lynlea Rodger, Hannah Semler, Anonymous (3)
NSW Judith Allen, David & Rae Allen, Maia Ambegaokar & Joshua Bishop, Stephen Booth, Jennifer Bott AO & Harley Harwood, Vicki Brooke, Neil Burns, Hugh and Hilary Cairns, Hon J C Campbell QC & Mrs Campbell, Lloyd & Mary Jo Capps AM, Robin & Wendy Cumming, Thomas Dent, Fancy Fox AM and Bruce Arnold, John & Irene Garran, H2 Cairns Foundation, Robert & Lindy Henderson, Lybus Hillman, Dr Ailsa Hocking & Dr Bernard Williams, Dorothy Hoddinott AO, Catharine & Robert Kench, Kevin & Deidre
McCann, Arthur & Elfreda Marshall, Dr Dennis Mather & John Studdert, Mora Maxwell, Michael & Janet Neustein, Paul O’Donnell, Laurie Orchard, In memory of Katherine
Robertson, Ms Vivienne Sharpe, Dr Robyn Smiles, Tom & Dalia Stanley, Geoff Stearn, Richard & Beverley Taperell, Graham & Judy Tribe, John & Flora Weickhardt, Richard Wilkins, Megan & Bill Williamson, Anonymous (5)
QLD George Booker & Denise Bond, Prof. Paul & Ann Crook, John & Denise Elkins, Robin Harvey, Lynn & John Kelly, Dr Helen Kerr & Dr John Ratcliffe, Jocelyn Luck, Barry & Diana Moore, Keith Moore, Debra & Patrick Mullins, Barbara Williams & Jankees van der Have, Anonymous (2)
SA Ivan & Joan Blanchard, Richard Blomfield, Max & Ionie Brennan, The Hon. Christopher Legoe AO QC & Mrs Jenny Legoe, Joan Lyons, Fiona MacLachlan OAM, Dr Leo
Mahar, Geoff & Sorayya Martin, Ann & David Martin, Ann & David Matison, Diane Myers, H & I Pollard, Trish & Richard Ryan AO, Anne Sutcliffe, Anonymous (2)
VIC Joanna Baevski, Russ & Jacqui Bate, Marlyn Bancroft, Alison & John Cameron, Alex & Elizabeth Chernov, Lord Ebury, Dr Gelnys & Dr Alan French, Virginia Henry, Dr Anthea Hyslop, Helen Imber, John V Kaufman QC, Angela Kayser, Angela & Richard Kirsner, Janet McDonald, Ruth McNair AM & Rhonda Brown in memory of Patricia Begg & David McNair, June K Marks, Christopher Menz & Peter Rose, Traudl Moon OAM, The Myer Foundation, Sir Gustav Nossal, Adrian Nye, Barry Robbins, Murray Sandland,
Marshall Segan & Ylana Perlov in memory of his late parents, Gary Singer & Geoffrey Smith, Darren Taylor & Kent Stringer, Wendy R. Taylor, Ray Turner & Jennifer Seabrook, Dr Victor Wayne & Dr Karen Wayne OAM, Mark & Anna Yates, Anonymous (2)
WA David & Minnette Ambrose, Dr S Cherian, Michael & Wendy Davis, In memory of Raymond Dudley, Dr Penny Herbert in memory of Dunstan Herbert, Ms Helen Hollingshead, Anne Last & Steve Scudamore, Hugh & Margaret Lydon, Olivier David & Dr Bennie Ng, Marian Magee & David Castillo, John Overton, Margaret & Roger Seares, Vivienne Stewart, Robyn Tamke, Anonymous (4)
ACT Geoffrey & Margaret Brennan, Christopher Clarke, Susan Edmondson, Jill Fleming, Claudia Hyles OAM, Margaret Lovell & Grant Webeck, Margaret Millard, Helen Rankin, Dr Paul & Dr Lel Whitbread, Anonymous (2)
NSW Denise Braggett, Christopher & Margaret Burrell, Robert Cahill and Anne Cahill OAM, Lucia Cascone, Zoë Cobden-Jewitt & Peter Jewitt, Trish & John Curotta, Professor Zoltan Endre, Dr Arno Enno & Dr Anna Enno, Anthony Gregg, The Harvey Family, Roland & Margaret Hicks, David & Sarah Howell, Alicia Howlett, David & Jennifer Jacobs, In honour of Michael Katz, Cynthia Kaye, KP Kemp, Mathilde Kearny-Kibble, Dr Colin MacArthur, Robert McDougall, Ian & Pam McGaw, Dr V Jean McPherson, Alan & Rosemary Moore, Frances Muecke, Kim & Margie Ostinga, Dr John Rogers, Penny Rogers, Peter & Heather Roland, Professor Lynne Selwood, Andrew Wells AM, Margaret Wright OAM, Anonymous (9)
QLD Geoffrey Beames, Janet Franklin, Marie Isackson, Timothy Matthies & Chris Bonnily, Anonymous (2)
SA Daniel & Susan Hains, Elizabeth Ho OAM, in honour of the late Tom Steel, Dr Iwan Jensen, Helga Linnert & Douglas Ransom, Linda Sampson, Tony Seymour, Anonymous (5)
TAS Anonymous
VIC David Bernshaw & Caroline Isakow, Helen Brack, Pam Caldwell, John & Mandy Collins, John & Chris Collingwood, Mary-Jane Gething, John & Margaret Harrison, Jane Lazarevic, Eda Ritchie AM, Maureen Turner, Anonymous (5)
WA Jennifer Butement, Joan Carney, Fred & Angela Chaney, Rachel & Bruce Craven, Rodney Constantine, Helen Dwyer, Dr Barry Green, Paula Nathan AO & Yvonne Patterson, Lindsay & Suzanne Silbert, Father Richard Smith, Ruth Stratton, Christopher Tyler, Anonymous (6)
Perpetual
How do we honour and hold close the memory of loved ones who have passed away? How do we seek to immortalise the joy they have brought into our lives, so precious and often difficult to capture?
For longstanding subscriber Kathryn Bennett, approaching Musica Viva Australia to commission a work in tribute to her late, beloved daughter Jennifer Bates was one such way. Both mother and daughter shared a deep love of music, Jennifer an avid salsa dancer and chorister. In fact, the evening before her death in an accident in 2016, Jennifer had attended a rehearsal with the community choir of which she was a member, Stella A Cappella. In a text message to her mother, Jennifer described the experience as ‘nice and uplifting’.
Both are words many would use to describe Jennifer herself, a 36-year-old award-winning architect and passionate environmentalist who was embedded in the Newcastle community. Promoted to senior project manager of the NSW Public Works Department in Newcastle days before her death, she had also won a Women in Building Award a few months earlier. Jennifer’s keen environmentalism saw her serve as the coordinator of the Newcastle chapter of Beyond Zero Emissions, a national climate change solutions think-tank, and one of her final projects was overseeing the installation of solar panels at a Public Works office.
What leisure time Jennifer had she devoted to her artistic pursuits – she met her husband Jordi after they both attended a salsa class in Sydney. This love of salsa she brought to locals in Bhutan where she and Jordi spent twelve months as volunteers for the Australian government. During this time, she completed her Master’s degree, helped to coordinate an inaugural cultural festival, and became immersed in the Bhutanese culture and Buddhist philosophy.
These are just a few aspects of her daughter’s rich life that Kathryn shared with composer Carl Vine. Musica Viva Australia’s Artistic Director from 2000 to 2019, Carl was already engaged by the company to write a piece for Karin Schaupp to perform in the 2022 season. When Kathryn approached MVA about a commission to honour Jennifer’s memory in 2021, Carl was delighted to combine the two ideas into one work. Initially programmed for Schaupp and Flinders Quartet to perform as part of the first tour of MVA’s 2022 season, it makes its long-awaited world premiere in this concert tour.
Further communication between Kathryn and Carl helped shape the final work, Endless. The name is a nod to the symbolic knot significant in Buddhism, representing among many things the cycle of birth, death and rebirth; the intertwining of wisdom and compassion; and the interconnectedness of all things. For Kathryn, the endless knot represents the enduring connection between herself and Jennifer, whose experiences in Bhutan proved life-changing. It was in a letter to Carl that Kathryn first mentioned the symbol’s importance to mother and daughter, which Carl has alluded to in the interweaving musical lines of his piece.
Above all, Endless is a celebration of Jennifer’s life, a mother’s way of remembering the joy her daughter imparted, and the contribution she made, in the time she was given. The commissioning process has been a very positive one for Kathryn, who has appreciated the opportunity to reflect upon and share memories of her daughter. The performances are opportunities to continue Jennifer’s contribution to the world.
As Kathryn wrote to Carl, ‘Jen was, and remains, my best friend – a wonderful privilege for me as a mother.’
If you would like to discuss commissioning a work, please contact Caroline Davis, Individual Giving Manager, cdavis@musicaviva.com.au, 04 2137 5358
local university. He travelled to Italy, where anti-Jewish feeling was less pronounced, and was welcomed into both the University of Florence and, simultaneously, that city’s Luigi Cherubini Conservatorium of Music. In 1933 he graduated with an unprecedented two degrees: one in medicine, with a speciality in dentistry, and another from the Conservatorium, where he also won a national piano competition.
At this time it became obvious to Dr Kinston that his family needed to find a new life and a new country if they were to survive Mussolini’s alliance with Hitler. He was granted refugee status by Australia, and before emigrating, returned to Romania to say farewell to his parents. The Romanian government immediately conscripted Dr Kinston into the army and prevented his leaving the country. Only a series of undercover arrangements allowed him and his brother to cross the border to freedom.
A dental practitioner and a fine pianist, Dr Steven Kinston was one of a number of European immigrants whose contribution to Australia’s artistic life in the 1950s and 1960s helped transform the soul and face of the nation.
When he and his younger brother, Paul, arrived in Brisbane in 1938 as Jewish refugees, they found a place where the arts were struggling to gain a foothold in a relatively new nation. Over the next decade, Dr Kinston contributed substantially to the development of Brisbane’s artistic life, founding the Brisbane branch of Musica Viva Australia.
Born in 1908 in the small town of Kolomea, Romania, Steven Kinston grew up in Czernowicz (Cernăutį), where anti-Semitism and discrimination marred his childhood. Although possessing high intelligence and musical ability, he was barred entrance to any
After his arrival in Brisbane he auditioned for the ABC and was accepted on its roster of soloists. He also established a successful dental practice.
When business and personal commitments necessitated the family’s move to Sydney many years later, Dr Kinston remained a passionate supporter of Musica Viva Australia and of the arts in general. His achievements were made possible through the support and encouragement of his wife, Lena. Throughout their 53 years together, he was intensely devoted to her and to their two children.
His lifetime commitment to his adopted country was epitomised by one of his favourite sayings: ‘The soul of a country is expressed in its art.’
© DAVID COLVILLEAdam Walker (Flute), Timothy Ridout (Viola), and Anneleen Lenaerts (Harp) come together to create an unusual and extraordinary experience for the listener: a world of glowing sounds, with something entrancing around every corner of a gently twisting path.
NATIONAL TOUR: 26 APRIL–14 MAY
musicaviva.com.au/birds-and-trees 1800 688 482
As Australia’s flagship music education and non-profit touring company, we continuously strive to provide more for all music lovers – more music education and teacher professional development opportunities to help feed young imaginations everywhere; more exceptional artists on stage performing on metropolitan and regional stages and online to bring audiences together across the country; and more creative projects to promote a continuously evolving and vibrant music sector.
Help us to continue to keep doing more so that everyone, regardless of age, location or circumstance, can access and share the very best live music.
For more information contact our Individual Giving Manager: Caroline Davis, cdavis@musicaviva.com.au, 04 2137 5358
