Opera Australia's Tosca
2024-06-25 19:30 - 2024-08-16 19:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney, 2000, Australia
Opera Australia marks the centenary of Giacomo Puccini’s death with a thrilling new production of Tosca this winter from Edward Dick, opening on 25 June.
This new production of Puccini’s drama is a tragic love story, filled with passion and power, jealousy and betrayal, unfolding over a rapid-fire 24 hour period. The plot is filled with suspense, told through Puccini’s soaring
music with powerful, and haunting singing. Edward Dick has gathered an award-winning creative team to deliver this production which blends Renaissance grandeur and contemporary elegance.
Set designer Tom Scutt places the action beneath a suspended gilded dome that reveals a stunning Renaissance fresco, with performers dressed in contemporary glamour by BAFTA-winning costume designer Fotini Dimou and lighting by Lee Curran.
Northern Irish soprano Giselle Allen will make her OA debut in the title role, sharing with OA favourite Karah Son who made her role debut in the recent Melbourne season. Korean tenor Young Woo Kim will make his Sydney Opera House debut as Cavaradossi and Scarpia will be performed by Armenian dramatic baritone Gevorg Hakobyan in his OA debut, and then by award-winning Australian baritone Warwick Fyfe.
Various dates and times from 25 June to 16 August.
Approximately 2 hour and 40 minutes, including two intervals.
Performed in Italian with English surtitles.
Please note this production contains depictions of violence, including violence against women.
Bookings, full cast and creatives.

UNSW Orchestra Plays Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony
2024-07-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Sir John Clancy Auditorium, 9 High Street, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia
The UNSW Orchestra conducted by Dr Steven Hillinger, is thrilled to present the second international performance of Henry Dehlinger’s Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony, a suite of seven symphonic poems inspired by space with NASA’s stunning science imagery and data visualisations of the Sun, Earth, Moon, Planets, and Cosmos, projected in HD on a giant screen.

Composed in close collaboration with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and its Scientific Visualization Studio, and commissioned by National Philharmonic (USA), Cosmic Cycles is a bold and evocative journey through the Cosmos that touches humanity’s desire to explore the unknown.
Coupling a live performance of Dehlinger’s breathtaking score with extraordinary visuals produced by a team of multimedia producers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center consisting of images processed from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, as well as hundreds of richly rendered 3D visualisations, animations and simulations, this concert will be an extraordinary and exciting event like no other.
​This transformative project takes the audience on a captivating voyage through the universe, showcasing the beauty and power of the marriage between music and science.
Tickets: online ticket purchases have been discounted to encourage pre-concert sales:
Online: $10 | $15 | $20 | $40 (plus booking fees)
Tickets can also be purchased at the door on the concert day at full price as indicated below:
At The Door: $15 | $20 | $25 | $50

Family Concert With The Metropolitan Orchestra
2024-07-27 09:30 - 2024-07-28 11:30 | Petersham Town Hall, 107 Crystal St, Petersham, NSW, 2049, Australia
Join Tubby the Tuba and The Metropolitan Orchestra as Tubby as he searches for a special melody to play with the orchestra. In this playful, interactive cushion concert, children follow the engaging story of Tubby while also discovering the different instruments of the orchestra through a collection of entertaining music created by Australian Composer Sean O’Boyle AM.
Kids will hear fabulously fun works including Liquorice Noodles for Clarinet, Flipperdiperus for Flute, Galloping Goanna for Xylophone, Duelling Fiddles for Violin, Lonesome Prairie for Trumpet and Tuba Toothpaste for Tuba. Presented by our favourite presented Nat Jobe and conducted by the always energetic Sarah-Grace Williams, this is a chance to give your children a fun and educational first-class musical experience with the added bonus of walking through a live performing orchestra.
Saturday July 27, 9:45am and 11:30am/ Sunday July 28, 9:45am and 11:30am
Tickets from only $20.00. Family passes available.
Bookings
Email: info@metorchestra.com.au
Phone: 8004-3472

Australian And World Premieres From Omega Ensemble
2024-07-27 14:00 - 19:00 | The Neilson, ACO Pier 2/3, Suite 3, 13A Hickson Rd, Dawes Point, NSW, 2000, Australia
Image: Thomas Adès by Marco Borggreve
Omega Ensemble presents Alchymia, an explosion of juxtapositions by genre-defying musical masters in just two Sydney performances. The concert features the Australian premiere of Alchymia by Thomas Adès, Missy Mazzoli’s haunting Dark with Excessive Bright and world premieres by Samuel Adams (Lighthouse) and Christopher Cerrone.
Thomas Adès’ clarinet quintet Alchymia will receive its Australian premiere with David Rowden founder of the ensemble as soloist. Adès’ is one of the most prodigious and respected composers of the 21st Century. Alchymia premiered in 2021 and draws inspiration from the alchemical world of Elizabethan London.
Samuel Adams is a new generation in American music. As the son of the post-minimalist composer John Adams, Samuel Adams explores the space between directness and implication, silence and resonance, and emotional aftermath. Samuel Adams has forged hos own distinct musical style and successful career, receiving commissions across the globe including Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and now Australia’s own Omega Ensemble.
Missy Mazzoli’s music draws influence from the Baroque to minimalism and indie rock. Her Grammy Award nominated double bass concerto Dark with Excessive Bright is loosely based on Baroque idioms as the music slips between across
centuries, twisting a repeated musical statement from delicate simplicity to pandemonium. Omega Ensemble presents Mazzoli’s surreal and evocative work in a punchy version for double bass soloist s (SSO) and string quintet.
Originally co-commissioned by Omega Ensemble in 2021, Christopher Cerrone’s Nervous Systems is a favourite showpiece for the ensemble with a new expanded version commissioned by Omega Ensemble.
Both Cerrone and Mazzoli are regular collaborators with Omega Ensemble, mentoring participants of the CoLAB: Performer Accelerator Program.
Program: SAMUEL ADAMS — Lighthouse (World Premiere) */ THOMAS ADÈS — Alchymia (Australian Premiere)/ MISSY MAZZOLI — Dark with Excessive Bright/ CHRISTOPHER CERRONE — Nervous Systems (New Version) **
* Commissioned by Omega Ensemble.
** Presented in a new arrangement by the composer commissioned by Omega Ensemble.
Bookings and more information

Vengerov Returns To Australia In August
2024-08-10 14:00 | Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Virtuoso violinist Maxim Vengerov makes a welcome return to Australia on a recital tour of the eastern capital cities in August 2024 as part of his 50th birthday celebrations.
Acknowledged as one of the world’s finest musicians, and often referred to as the greatest living string player in the world today the Grammy award winner violinist will be accompanied by one of Europe’s most iconic pianists Polina Osetinskaya.
Vengerov will perform at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) on 5 August, Arts Centre Melbourne’s Hamer
Hall on 7 August and Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall on 10 August 2024.
Tickets to Brisbane and Sydney recitals are on sale via Sydney Opera House and QPAC, with tickets to Vengerov’s Hamer Hall recital going on sale on Tuesday 27 February via Arts Centre
Vengerov’s most recent recitals include sold out concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall. His last tour of Australia in 2015 was a sold out triumph. This 50th birthday program also celebrates 42 years of public appearances
with a program that will include music by Ravel, Franck and Prokofiev and as virtuosic encores.
Vengerov and Osetinskaya have performed together extensively, including to rapturous applause at Carnegie Hall. During 2023/2024 Polina Osetinskaya makes a number of solo debuts at the Berlin Philharmonic, in London and Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Polina has repeatedly expressed her pacifist position.

Pekka Kuusisto & Gabriel Kahane Tour For Musica Viva
2024-08-12 19:00 | City Recital Hall, 2 Angel Place, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Musica Viva Australia presents the Australian debut of musical duo Council, comprising Pekka Kuusisto & Gabriel Kahane this August.
Pekka Kuusisto, Finnish violinist, conductor, and composer and Gabriel Kahane, one of America’s finest songwriters take Australia in their newly-formed ensemble in a five-city national tour beginning in Melbourne on Tuesday 6th August and concluding in Adelaide on Saturday 17th August.
Pekka Kuusisto, renowned for his fresh approach to repertoire performs on the Golden Period Stradivarius violin, known as ‘Scotta’. He has worked with the world’s finest orchestras from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra to the Berliner Philharmoniker and served as the ACO Collective’s Artistic Director from 2016 to 2019.
Kuusisto has a decade of musical friendship with Council’s other half, award-winning American singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane. From Venice Beach California, Kahane’s works have been commissioned by several of America’s leading arts institutions including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Kuusisto and Kahane have developed an evening of intimate and sonically varied songs and chamber music. The program features violin, harmonium, keyboards, guitar and voice, and is rounded out with music by, among others, J.S. Bach and Nico Muhly. With this new body of work, commissioned for recording and performance by an international partnership including Musica Viva Australia, Kuusisto & Kahane attempt to locate the universal in the personal, and vice versa as they explore and deepen their own friendship on stage,
ARTISTS
PEKKA KUUSISTO violin, electric violin, loops, piano, vocals
GABRIEL KAHANE piano, electric guitar, keyboards, vocals
PROGRAM
Program to include Traditional Scandinavian folk music along with works from KUUSISTO; KAHANE; Nico MUHLY; J. S. BACH and others.
DATES AND TIMES
Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne 6 August 7pm/ City Recital Hall, Sydney 12 August 7pm/ Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle 14 August 7:30pm / Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra, 15 August 7pm/ Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide 17 August 7:30pm
Bookings

Art Music Awards To Take Place in August
2024-08-14 17:30 | Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank, VIC, 3006, Australia
Image: William Barton, 2023 recipient of the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music.
APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre have announced that the 2024 Art Music Awards will take place on Wednesday 14 August, 2024 at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne | Naarm.
The Art Music Awards gathers Australia’s creators, performers, and leaders in art music to celebrate outstanding achievements in contemporary classical music, jazz and improvised music, experimental music, and sound art from the past year.
Finalists for the 2024 Art Music Awards will be announced on Thursday 11 July. The Awards span 13 national categories, recognising excellence in works and performance, as well as in music education, experimental practice, and activity in a regional area. The Luminary Awards will be presented to individuals and organisations from each state and territory to acknowledge sustained contributions within their local music communities.
The APRA and AMC Boards of Directors will jointly award the annual Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music. In the spirit of its namesake, this award recognises an individual or group considered to have made a sustained and impactful contribution to the art music sector. Recipients from recent years include William Barton, the late Nigel Butterley AM, Penny Lomax and Maureen Cooney.
The Art Music Awards will be hosted by composer, multi-disciplinary storyteller and ABC Classic broadcaster Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe. She will be joined by guest presenters contemporary double bassist, improviser, and past Luminary Award recipient Miranda Hill and conductor Benjamin Northey.
Awards ceremony will showcase live performances curated by 2022 Art Music Award winner Sia Ahmad. A Canberra-based songwriter, artist, improviser and facilitator, Sia brings an outsider’s eye and “DIY punk aesthetic” to creative collaboration and programming. This will be the first Art Music Awards under her musical direction.
CATEGORIES FOR THE 2024 ART MUSIC AWARDS
• Work of the Year: Choral
• Work of the Year: Chamber Music
• Work of the Year: Large Ensemble
• Work of the Year: Dramatic
• Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art
• Work of the Year: Jazz
• Performance of the Year: Notated Composition
• Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music
• Excellence in Music Education
• Excellence in a Regional Area
• Excellence in Experimental Practice
• Luminary Award – Individual
• Luminary Award – Organisation
• Luminary Awards – State/Territory Awards
• Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music*
*As determined by the APRA and AMC Boards of Directors

Marliya's Spinifex Gum Travels to London
2024-08-15 08:00 - 17:00 | The Barbican Halll, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS, United Kingdom
Australians living in London or travelling there in October have the special opportunity to experience First Nations Gondwana Choir Marliya making its international debut at London’s Barbican Hall with its lauded program Spinifex Gum.
This Cairns-based ensemble of 16 Indigenous voices will be joined by three dozen more young choristers from Australia’s national children’s choir Gondwana Voices as well as the local Farnham Youth Choir and Royal Scottish National Orchestra Youth Chorus. This historic and pivotal event will not only showcase and amplify the stories and artistry of these young performers, but also foster greater cultural understanding and appreciation on an international stage.
Part protest, part celebration, Spinifex Gum is an all-singing, all-dancing Australian festival show created by Felix Riebl of The Cat Empire fame and features the all-female ensemble Marliya, a group of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander singers, conducted by Lynn Williams and choreographed by Deborah Brown. With original music and lyrics, choreography and design, Spinifex Gum confronts the challenging political and environmental issues facing contemporary Australia: social disparity, land rights, disproportionate incarceration, and deaths in custody. In both English and First Nations languages, Marliya disarms and inspires us in a way that no individual voice can.
Since its premiere in Adelaide in 2018, Spinifex Gum has been performed at every major Australian arts festival. There were repeat invitations to Byron Bay BluesFest and the Woodford Folk Festival and, in 2019 it toured nationally from the Garma Festival in Central Australia to Parliament House in Canberra. As a result, it received a nomination for Best New Australian Work in the Helpmann Awards.
In 2022, Spinifex Gum took on a new dimension, with the creation of a symphonic version. with orchestrations by Ross Irwin. This version was premiered by Marliya with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with subsequent performances by the Adelaide and Sydney Symphony Orchestras.
Bookings and more information.

Inner West Chamber Music Festival In August
2024-08-24 12:00 - 2024-08-25 15:30 | Leichhardt Town Hall, Corner of Marion and Norton Streets, Leichhardt, New South Wales, 2040, Australia
The Inner West Chamber Music Festival is happening soon in Leichhardt. This is a free event so there is no excuse not to go!
The Metropolitan Orchestra in partnership with the Inner West Council proud to present the second Inner West Chamber Music festival in August. This free concert weekend will see four incredible daytime concerts performed within the beautifully ornate Leichhardt Town Hall over one action-packed weekend.
Presented as part of the Inner West Council’s Live Music Activation program, these first-class, passion-fuelled chamber music experiences will shine the spotlight on TMO’s finest musicians who will appear in four uniquely different ensembles presenting music that is both engaging and distinctively captivating. Shows are conveniently presented at midday and 3:30 pm so that audiences can spend the entire day with family and friends enjoying first-class music, as well as the many culinary delights found in Sydney’s multi-cultural Leichhardt district.
Concerts are presented free however, all attendees must hold a valid ticket to gain entry as seating for each performance is strictly limited.
The program:
Saturday August 24th: 12pm – Percussion Ensemble/ 3:30pm – Brass Quintet
Sunday August 25th: 12pm – Violin & Classical Guitar Duo/ 3:30pm – Quintet Plus Clarinet / Vivaldi plus Mozart
Event & Ticketing Page Link – https://www.metorchestra.com.au/chamber-concerts/

Pinchgut Opera's Eternal Light
2024-08-24 14:00 - 2024-08-25 17:00 | New South Wales
Pinchgut Opera’s upcoming program Eternal Light is a celebration of the power and beauty of one of the most famous pieces of Baroque vocal writing: Allegri’s Miserere.
Pinchgut Opera continues its illuminating journey into concert repertoire with its latest presentation, Eternal Light. Conducted by Artistic Director, Erin Helyard, Eternal Light features Australia’s award-winning chorus, Cantillation and the exceptional players of the Orchestra of the Antipodes. Curated by Helyard, the program will feature a newly reconstructed version of Allegri’s famous Miserere, together with the traditional version we all know and love, as well as a rare performance of Biber’s Requiem.
Composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII in the 1630s for the exclusive use of the Papal Choir in the Sistine Chapel during Holy Week, Allegri’s Miserere has captivated audiences and composers for centuries. Erin Helyard explains, “The famous Miserere with the high Cs—or what some now call the “English” Miserere—is in fact a beautiful error. In the 19th century a music journalist misread a description of Mendelssohn’s, who heard some astonishingly high notes during a performance, and shoe-horned the ornament into the wrong section. But what a beautiful mistake!”
“I wanted to go back in time to the earliest sources of Allegri’s Miserere, before those amazing high Cs. I hit upon the idea of commissioning award-winning 17th-century ornamentation expert, Australian tenor Jacob Lawrence, to do what was previously thought impossible and that is to put down in notes a version of Miserere that resembles what we know about the ornamented performance practice of Rome in the 1630s. I also wanted to present the version of the Miserere we all know and love too, as a kind of finale that tethers our historical journey with the present.”
At the heart of Eternal Light is Biber’s Requiem in F. The program will also feature two instrumental works of Biber’s teacher, Schmelzer.
Bookings

La Bohème At Riverside Parramatta
2024-08-24 19:30 | Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
Riverside Theatres and Opera Australia, present one of the world’s favourite operas, Puccini’s La Bohème, a captivating story of young bohemian love at Riverside Theatres, Paramatta on Saturday 24th August.
Conductor Simon Bruckard directs a chamber orchestra led by Ben Spiers with a cast directed by Dean Bryant (Anything Goes, Sweet Charity), with set and costume design by Isabel Hudson (Griffin Theatre’s Pony, American Psycho, Cry Baby) and lighting design by Damien Cooper (STC’s On The Beach, Belvoir’s Into The Woods).
Soprano Danita Weatherstone sings the role of Mimi with John Longmuir as Rodolfo, Cathy-Di Zhang as Musetta, Andrew Williams as Marcello, Michael Lampard as Schaunard, Shane Lowrencev as Collin and Eugene Raggio as Beoit/Alcindoro
On a freezing Christmas Eve, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives change forever. When Mimì meets Rodolfo, it’s love at first touch. They head out to bustling Café Momus, but even the deepest love can’t warm a freezing winter.
Tickets: Riverside Members from $54.50 | Non-members from $59
Bookings
Sung in Italian with English subtitles. Contains smoke haze

Bel a cappella Presents Sanctus
2024-08-25 14:30 - 16:00 | St Augustine’s Church, Eaton Street, Balmain, NSW, 2041, Australia
Vocal ensemble Bel a cappella joins forces with the wind players of Balmain Sinfonia, all conducted by Monica Buckland to present Sanctus featuring Bruckner’s Mass in E minor, together with the piece that inspired it Palestrina’s Missa Brevis.
GET 10% discount for purchases of 5 or more tickets (discount automatically applied at checkout)
Bookings
Bel a cappella says ” We understand that plans can change, rest assured, full refunds are readily available if required.”

Andrea Lam In Recital For Musica Viva
2024-09-04 11:00 | The Concourse Concert Hall, 409, Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW, 2067, Australia
Musica Viva Australia presents the internationally celebrated Australian pianist Andrea Lam in a recital featuring classics by Beethoven, Chopin and Gershwin.
In an hour-long late morning concert, she will introduce the shadowy Gustave Le Gray, composed by Caroline Shaw as a companion piece to Chopin’s Mazurka Op. 17 No. 4.
Standard tickets – $50/ Under 40 – $20 / Student Rush – $10 (ID Required)
Bookings
The program: BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 14 ‘Moonlight’/ CHOPIN Mazurka Op. 17 No. 4/ Caroline SHAW Gustave Le Gray/ CHOPIN Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23/ ,GERSHWIN Someone to Watch Over Me (arr. Poster)
Read our review of the concert by The Choir of King’s College Cambridge, presented by Music Viva.

Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award 2024
2024-09-07 15:00 - 2024-09-08 13:30 | The Independent Theatre, 269, Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW, 2030, Australia
The Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award is on again in 2024 with seven singers competing for a $40,000 first prize and the Bel Canto crystal trophy.
The finalists are sopranos Eliza Boom, Madison Horman, Bella Marslen and Eden Shifroni, mezzo-sopranos Melissa Gregory and Syrah Torii and baritone Lachlann Lawton.
Established in 2011, the JSRB Bel Canto Award has produced some of our finest young opera singers through this award. Competing over two days, the finalists will perform some of operas most beautiful arias showcasing their impressive voices.
Accompanied by Opera Australia’s Kate Johnson, here is your chance to vote for your favourite singer and support the next generation of opera singers.
The judging panel includes leading Australia opera singers, Bernadette Cullen, Glenn Winslade, Fiona Janes and Emma Matthews AM along with the Senior Vice-President of Classics and Jazz for Universal Music Australia, Cyrus Meher-Homji OAM.
Preliminary Final: Sat 7th Sept at 3pm, Independent Theatre, Miller St. North Sydney
Grand Final: Sun 8th Sept at 1.30pm, Independent Theatre, Miller St. North Sydney
Bookings: www.humanitix.com

New Release And Tour From Sally Walker And Friends
2024-09-08 15:00 | Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay East, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Internationally acclaimed Australian flautist Sally Walker and Friends launch their new release Boccherini: Chamber works for flute with a concert series Music Fit for a King Mozart and Boccherini featuring music from the recording which will be released by AVIE Records on 16 August. The concerts tour takes in Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide.
Music Fit for a King presents brilliant music by Mozart and Boccherini, two of the most celebrated composers from the ‘Golden Age’ of Classical music. While Mozart’s enduring fame overshadows that of his Italian colleague, Boccherini reveals himself a master of descriptive and vividly evocative music through his chamber works for flute.
At the heart of the program lies Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D K.285, one of the best-loved chamber treasures for winds and strings. Adelaide audiences will also be treated to a special performance of Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F Major K.370, Boccherini’s Sextet Op.38 and Boccherini’s (attrib.) Quintet in C, G. 443.
Walker has taken a deep dive into the vast catalogue of Boccherini’s works for flute to produce a 90-minute, double CD of music featuring the rarely performed Op. 19 Quintets, for two violins, flute, viola and cello, the Op. 38 Sextet for violin, viola, bassoon, flute, horn and double bass and, as a “bonus”, the Quintet G.443 for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello, a mysterious work attributed to Boccherini but whose authorship is contested.
Sally has toured nationally and internationally with the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras and the Australian Chamber Orchestra and with Simon Tedeschi and Emily Granger. Recorded in the opulent North Adelaide Baroque Hall, joining Walker on the album are violinists Elizabeth Layton and Alison Rayner, violist Stephen King, cellist Thomas Marlin, bassist Robert Nairn, oboeist Celia Craig, bassoonist Mark Gaydon and horn player Sarah Barrett.
Read our review of Sally’s recent release with harpist Emily Granger, Something Like This
Concerts:
Bookings: Canberra Wesley Uniting Church, Canberra/ Saturday 7 September 2024 at 7 pm
Bookings: Sydney Opera House, Utzon Room/ Sunday 8 September 2024 at 3 pm
Bookings: North Adelaide Baroque Hall/ Thursday 26 September 2024 at 7 pm
To purchase Boccherini: Chamber works for flute please click here
CONCERT PROGRAM
Program 1 Canberra and Sydney 70-minute concert, no interval
Boccherini Flute Quintets Op. 19 (complete)
Mozart Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285
Program 2. Adelaide 1.5-hours concert with 2 halves + interval
Boccherini Flute Quintets Op. 19, nos. 2, 4, 5, 6
Mozart Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285
– Interval –
Mozart Oboe Quartet in F major, K. 370
Boccherini (attrib.) Quintet in C, G.443: Tempo di Minuetto (Vars. I-XII)
Boccherini Sextet in E Flat Major, Op. 38, G.467: Andante lento, Allegro ma non presto

Flautist Sally Walker Launches New Album Of Boccherini Classics
2024-09-08 15:00 | Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay East, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Boccherini: Chamber Works for Flute is a new double album featuring Australian Flautist Sally Walker, released this month by AVIE records UK. Celebrating the release of this album is a concert Music fit for a King featuring Walker and her ensemble playing the exquisite music of Mozart and Boccherini.
Performing with Walker on both the double album and in the concert are violinist Dr Elizabeth Layton, Senior Lecturer and Head of Performance, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, violinist Alison Rayner from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Adelaide Baroque, former member Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, violist Stephen King, formerly with the Australian Chamber orchestra and Australian String Quartet, teacher at Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide and cellist Thomas Marlin, member Adelaide Baroque and teacher at the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide).
Late 18th century Italian composer Luigi Boccherini produced a vast catalogue of compositions, many of which are chamber works featuring the flute which vary in their configuration, some intimate, others on a grander scale reminiscent of the composer’s orchestral music. Australian flautist Sally Walker, whose most recent album was the critically acclaimed ‘Something Like This’ with harpist Emily Granger, has immersed herself into the provenance of Boccherini’s works for her instrument to produce a 90-minute, double album of music featuring the rarely performed yet highly imaginative Op. 19 Quintets, for two violins, flute, viola and cello, the Op. 38 Sextet for violin, viola, bassoon, flute, horn and double bass; and the Quintet in C, G.443 for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello, a mysterious work attributed to Boccherini but whose authorship is contested. As Sally says, “it begs the question: who, if not Boccherini, could write so inventively?”.
Bookings or 02 9250 7777
Concert: 70-minute concert, no interval
The program: Boccherini Flute Quintets Op. 19 (complete)/ Mozart Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285
More information: https://www.sallywalker.com.au/
Read our review of Something Like This, Sally Walker’s recent album with harpist Emily Granger

MZAZA Comes To Riverside
2024-09-08 18:30 | Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
World music favourites MZAZA present a one-night performance of MZAZA: The Birth and Death of Stars to Riverside Theatres on the 8th September.
Based on the album of the same name, The Birth and Death of Stars invites audiences to leave the daily world behind and contemplate our magical place in the universe. The Birth and Death of Stars draws inspiration from history’s philosophers and astronomers, leading audiences on a surreal voyage through the ether to explore what links us to each other and the world around us in ways that are poetic, moving and at times funny.
Sitting comfortably between music and theatre, The Birth and Death of Stars is brought to the stage by a powerful collaboration of creative minds featuring director Benjamin Knapton, writer Pauline Maudy, Finnish animator Laura Matikainen, and design consultant Alison Ross.
The Birth and Death of Stars has received critical acclaim, premiering at Brisbane Festival in 2020 followed by a tour to some of Queensland’s leading venues.
Tickets: Riverside Members from $32.50 | Non-Members from $34.50
Bookings
Performance Warnings: Contains smoke haze.

Karen Gomyo Performs Dvořák’s Violin Concert With The Sydney Symphony Orchestra
2024-09-14 14:00 - 2024-09-15 16:30 | Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo performs Dvořak’s Violin Concerto as part of her 2024 Australasia tour with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Paired with this Slavic masterpiece is Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2.
Conducted by Australian conductor Daniel Carter, currently music director of Landestheater Coburg, Germany and a former assistant to Simone Young, Carter returns to the Sydney Symphony for the first time since 2015 to lead these concerts.
Gomyo has appeared alongside the world’s finest orchestras from the New York Philharmonic to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. A passionate soloist and chamber musicians, Gomyo’s performing coleagues include Olli Mustonen, Leif Ove Andsnes, James Ehnes, Emmanuel Pahud, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, and guitarist Ismo Eskelinen with whom she has recorded the duo album “Carnival” on Bis Records. She is also a champion of the Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla.
Born in Tokyo, Karen began her musical career in Montréal and New York, She studied under the legendary pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School before continuing her studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and New England Conservatory. Karen also participated as violinist, host, and narrator in a documentary film produced by NHK Japan about Antonio Stradivarius called The Mysteries of the Supreme Violin, which was broadcast worldwide on NHK WORLD.
Bookings.

Brahms Two Piano Works In Con Recital
2024-09-17 19:00 | Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 1 Conservatorium Road, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia
Renowned pianists and Sydney Conservatorium staff members Alexander Yau and Nicholas Kennedy join forces in this impressive program for the Sydney Con Staff Music Series, showcasing virtuosity, passion, depth, and the combined interpretive insight of two long-time friends and collaborators.
The concert features two monumental works by Johannes Brahms, the four-movement Sonata for Two Pianos Op. 34b a transcription of Brahms’s famous Piano Quintet and the Variations on a Theme by Haydn Op. 56b, based on the theme of Joseph Haydn’s Chorale St. Antoni. Showcasing virtuosity, passion, depth, and the combined interpretive insight of two long-time friends and collaborators, this is a concert not to be missed.
Yau has recently returned from two month in Europe where he conducted excerpts of La Boheme in Slovenia and performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 3 with the Budweis Philharmonic Orchestra in Switzerland and Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 23 with the Orchestra Sinfonica Duchi D’Acquavia in the Teatro Commune of Atri in Italy, as well as a solo recital and chamber concert in the beautiful Oslo Museum with violinist Ole Bohn!

Tickets: Adult $25 Conc $15

Bookings
The program: Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
1. Sonata for two pianos in F minor Op. 34b
I. Allegro non troppo/II. Andante, un poco adagio/III. Scherzo: Allegro/IV. Finale: Poco sostenuto – Allegro non troppo
2. Variations on a theme by Haydn, Op. 56b /Theme – Andante/Var. 1 – Andante con moto/Var. 2 – Vivace/Var. 3 – Con moto/
Var. 4 – Andante/Var. 5 – Poco presto/Var. 6 – Vivace/Var. 7 – Grazioso/Var. 8 – Poco presto/Var. 9 Finale – Andante
The performers: Nicholas Kennedy, piano/ Alexander Yau, piano

IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition Finals Concert
2024-09-19 19:00 | The Concourse Concert Hall, 409, Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW, 2067, Australia
Following a competitive semi-finals concert at Sydney’s Independent Theatre last weekend, the five finalists for the 2024 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition were announced.
They are, sopranos Georgia Cooper 24, Ariana Ricci, 22 Molly Ryan 22 and Eden Shifroni, 24 all from New South Wales and baritone Jake Lyle, 20 from Queensland.
The national adjudicator, Armenian-Australian soprano Natalie Aroyan, with assistance of fellow adjudicators Opera Australia’s Language Coach Nicole Dorigo, Conductor and Head of Music, Tahu Matheson, tenor Benjamin Rasheed and baritone and Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s educator Barry Ryan OAM, selected these five impressive young singers who will compete at the Finals Concert of the on Thursday 19 September at The Concourse in Chatswood.
The finals concert is a rare chance to hear the next generation of opera stars perform some of the most important and memorable work in the classical singing canon. Each performer will sing two pieces accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra under the baton of Opera Australia’s Head of Music, Tahu Matheson. The special guest artist will be 2022 ABC Young Performer Award Winner flautist Eliza Shephard.
Other awards in the IFAC Handa ASC included the Andrea Catzel Prize of 10 private German diction singing lessons with soprano, Andrea Catzel, was won by 24-year-old baritone Aidan Hodder from Queensland. The Goethe-Institut Prize, a scholarship to attend a 10-week language course at the Goethe-Institut in either Sydney or Melbourne was won by 25-year-old soprano Lisette Bolton from New South Wales. The Ingrid Davidson Award providing the use of an upright piano made by Richard Lipp of Stuttgart for two years was awarded to Molly Ryan. The Istituto Italiano Di Cultura Award, 25 hours of study in Italian at the Italian Cultural Institute of Sydney, was awarded to Georgia Cooper.
The Jane Ede Prize of 10 one-hour private lessons or mentoring sessions with soprano, Jane Ede, in Sydney, was won by mezzo soprano Ruth Burke, 23, from Western Australia who also won the Tinkler Encouragement Award, awarded to a singer not selected as a finalist. The Radzyminski Family Prize of French tuition at an Alliance Française Centre in the singer’s city was won by Leon Vitogiannis, 25, baritone, from New South Wales. The Songmakers Prize, participation in a 3-day master class in 2024 presented by Songmakers Australia was won by soprano Bonnie Staude, 22, WA from Western Australia.
Prior to the semi-finals, all semi-finalists attended a workshop at the Sydney Opera House hosted by Natalie Aroyan and Nicole Dorigo. Nicole, spoke with the singers about role preparation with a focus on the importance of language. Natalie shared her experiences as an opera singer and the many challenges that come with navigating the industry.
The gives you a unique chance to hear the next generation of opera stars perform some of the most loved and memorable work in the classical singing canon. Each performer sings two pieces accompanied by the incomparable Opera Australia Orchestra under the baton of Opera Australia’s Maestro Tahu Matheson. The special guest artist will be 2022 ABC Young Performer Award Winner flautist Eliza Shephard.
The IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition is open to opera and classical singers under the age of 26 and offers a number of career-building awards making it Australia’s premier competition.
Bookings Or call 02 8075 8111/ Adult $80 |Concession $50 | Child $50
Image: Finalists (l-r): Molly Ryan, Ariana Ricci, Jake Lyle, Georgia Cooper and Eden Shifroni with the National Adjudicator Natalie Aroyan (centre).

Bach Akademie Australia On The Road To Lübeck
2024-09-20 19:30 | St James’ Church, King Sreet, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Bach Akademie Australia is delighted to present In the Steps of Bach – The Road to Lübeck, a musical journey of self-discovery and inspiration with concerts in Sydney and Newcastle.
Featuring three of Australia’s finest musicians, organist Marko Sever, bass baritone Andrew O’Connor, and countertenor Russell Harcourt, Bach Akademie Australia will take audiences on the young Bach’s 400-kilometre expedition from Arnstadt to Lübeck, in pursuit of his idol, Buxtehude.
In the autumn of 1705, a young 20-year-old Bach began a journey on foot of almost 400 kilometres from Arnstadt in the heart of Germany, to Lübeck near the Baltic coast. Who would undertake such a gruelling expedition? Only one such as J.S. Bach, whose desire to study the art and craft of the famous organist Dietrich Buxtehude, drove him to complete a journey most would baulk at – such was his desire to learn from his idol and better himself as a musician.
Opening the program is music by J.S Bach’s older cousin, Johann Christoph Bach’s magnificent Chorale zum praeludium Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. A mixture of works by the great Baroque masters follow, including Pachelbel’s Chaconne in F minor for organ and Bach’s symbol of the Holy Trinity, his Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV 552, all performed on the organ.
The St James’ performance marks one of the first concerts featuring the church’s brand-new pipe organ following its installation earlier this year as part of St James’ 200th Anniversary celebrations.
This concert series also marks the first time Bach Akademie Australia will be performing in Newcastle, at the historic Christ Church Cathedral. Known for its stunning Gothic Revival architecture and rich history, the cathedral’s organ is renowned for its magnificent sound quality and intricate craftsmanship.
Tickets
The program
JOHANN CHRISTOPH BACH Chorale zum praeludium ‘Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott’/ PACHELBEL Muscaliche Ergöztung Suite in C major/ PACHELBEL Chaconne in F minor for organ P.43/ Marko Sever, organ
NICHOLAS BRUHNS ‘Der Herr hat seinen Stuhl im Himmel bereitet’/ Andrew O’Connor
GEORG BÖHM Chorale Prelude ‘Christ lag in TodesbGEORG BÖHM Chorale Prelude ‘Christ lag in Todesbanden’/ J.S. BACH Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV 552/ BUXTEHUDE Toccata in F major BuxWV 156/ Marko Sever
J.S BACH Cantata ‘Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seenlust’ BWV 170/ Russell Harcourt
Performers
Madeleine Easton – director/solo violin/ Marko Sever – organ/ Andrew O’Connor – Baritone/ Russell Harcourt – Countertenor
Dates and Times
St James’ Church, Sydney Friday September 20, 7:30pm
Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle Sunday September 22, 2:30pm
Read our review of Bach Akademie Australia’s recent concert The Mind of a Genius.

Exquisite Harmonies From The Marais Project
2024-09-22 14:00 | Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, Wharf 4/5, 15 Hickson Rd, Dawes Point, 2000, Australia
The Marais Project presents Exquisite Harmonies, a selection of music for viol and harpsichord performed by viol expert Jennifer Eriksson and harpsichordist Anthony Abouhamad.
The program includes suites and sonatas for viola da gamba by Telemann and Carl Friedrich Abel along with the Grand Suites of several French baroque composers Jenny has assembled. Anthony will also present music for for solo harpsichord by Telemann and Couperin.
The harpsichord and the 7-string viola da gamba typify the early music revolution of recent decades. Unlike the violin and brass families whose members evolved but remained in use across the 17th to 20th centuries, the viol and the harpsichord had all but disappeared by the late 1700s. They returned to concert stages in the 1960s and 70s and have not left the podium since! Over the years they have built their own fan base of admirers.
The duo met as members of one of Eriksson’s Musica Viva in Schools ensembles, they continued to perform together regularly over the years. Most recently, Anthony appeared on The Marais Project’s ‘Australian Monody’ album playing the chamber organ. Eriksson initially studied the cello at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Similarly, Abouhamad started learning the piano but became interested in the fortepiano and harpsichord also at the Sydney Conservatorium. At different times both Anthony and Jenny undertook graduate studies in The Netherlands, returning to Sydney to make their respective careers here. Anthony has recently completed a PhD.
Tickets $45/30 children & students $20
Bookings

Australian Haydn Ensemble On Tour With Mozart's Horn
2024-09-24 19:00 | Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
The Australian Haydn Ensemble presents Mozart’s Horn featuring Carla Blackwood as soloist under Artistic Director and Leader, Skye McIntosh. The production tours to Orange, Canberra, Berry, the Southern Highlands and Lake Macquarie as well as its concert at the Sydney Opera House.

Recreating the sounds-world that Mozart knew, the AHE performs his ‘Jupiter’ and Horn Quintets on instruments that sound as close as possible to those the composer knew and loved. Mozart loved the horn, and the finest player of the day, Joseph Leutgeb, was an old friend of the family. Mozart wrote what would become one of the most enduringly popular horn concertos of all time for his friend. Characterised as a “little love duet” between horn and violin, this work is a joyous expression of their friendship.

The program contains an even more virtuosic Quintet by Mozart’s Dutch contemporary Wilhelm Hauff, and includes the Romance in A major, an arrangement of one of Mozart’s Concerto movements, most likely by his dear and often penniless friend Michael Haydn brother of the more famous Josef.

AHE balances this bright period instrument cornucopia with perhaps the most emotionally troubled work that Mozart ever wrote: the magnificent String Quintet in G minor, a rare dark utterance from a steadfastly undepressed artist. There’s a happy end, of course, with the exuberant energy of the ‘Jupiter’ symphony, here in an historical chamber arrangement by Peter Lichtenthal.

The program: HAUFF Horn Quintet in E flat major/ MOZART Allegro from String Quintet in G minor K. 516/ MOZART Horn Quintet in E flat major K. 407/ MICHAEL HAYDN Romance in A flat major for Horn and String Quartet MH806 (arr. from Mozart’s Horn Concerto)/ MOZART Symphony No. 41 K. 551 ‘Jupiter’ arr. Peter Lichtenthal

Artists
Carla Blackwood – Natural horn/ Skye McIntosh – Artistic Director and violin/ Matthew Greco, violin/Karina Schmitz, viola/
Nicole Divall, viola/Daniel Yeadon, cello

Tickets to all concerts.

Tour dates: ORANGE Saturday 21 September, 7pm Orange Civic Theatre /CANBERRA Thursday 26 September, 7pm Wesley Uniting Church / BERRY Friday 27 September, 7pm Berry Uniting Church Hall /SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS Sunday 28 September, 4pm Bowral Memorial Hall /LAKE MACQUARIE Sunday 29 September,2pm Rathmines Theatre.

Read our review of The AHE’s recent performance, Beethoven’s Fifth.

Image: Carla Blackwood by Helen White.

North Sydney Symphony Orchestra Withe Bernadette Harvey
2024-09-28 19:30 | Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium, Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
The North Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Steven Hillinger and led by Concertmaster Adrian Keating features music by Malcolm Arnold, Ross Edwards and Modest Mussorgsky.

The program opens with one of British composer Malcolm Arnold’s most popular works, the Peterloo Overture, written in 1968 to commemorate the centenary of the first meeting of the Trades Union Congress. It depicts an event held on the 16th August 1819 in St Peter’s Fields, Manchester, where a peaceful outdoor meeting called to debate the subject of political reform was interrupted by the Yeomanry, a cavalry force which had been sent in by local magistrates. The exciting music paints the scene as the meeting descended into violence, before a triumphant ending representing hope for the future.

The NSSO then showcases a work by Australian composer Ross Edwards. His Piano Concerto was premiered in 1983 to great critical acclaim, and has since been performed many times both in Australia and overseas. It features exuberant dance rhythms, colourful instrumentation and conventional tonality; an expression of the pure joy of living. Joining the NSSO on stage to perform this work will be pianist Bernadette Harvey, soloist chamber musician and master teacher who regularly performs worldwide with orchestras and chamber groups, and as a Musica Viva artist with the ABC. She has also released a number of CDs to critical acclaim.

The concert closes with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. This famous work was inspired by a visit to an art exhibition. Each of the ten movements represents one of the drawings or artworks on display. It was originally written as a solo piano work, but is now best known in its orchestral version. From the opening ‘promenade’ that represents the composer walking between the paintings to the triumphal majesty of the final picture, the Great Gate of Kiev, this is a work that has been thrilling concert audiences for over a century.

​​​Program: Arnold: Peterloo Overture/ Edwards: Piano Concerto, Piano: Bernadette Harvey/ Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

Conductor: Steven Hillinger
Concertmaster: Adrian Keating
Bookings

Sydney Chamber Choir Heirs & Rebels
2024-09-29 15:00 | Christ Church St. Laurence, 812 Railway Square, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
The Sydney Chamber Choir conducted by Sam Allchurch with narrator John Gaden celebrates the beauty of the English choral tradition in a concert called Heirs & Rebels, containing an array of sacred and secular Romantic masterpieces. Drawing inspiration from the simplicity of the Renaissance while revelling in a rich new harmonic landscape, this is music that opens up whole worlds of emotion.
As well as presenting the world premiere of a new work by Australian composer Harry Sdraulig, the program promises to deliver a treasury of choral music from soaring and graceful, to tender and ecstatic. It includes Stanford’s The Blue Bird and Elgar’s Lux aeterna, Imogen Holst’sA Hymne to Christ, Gustav Holst’s Nunc dimittis and Finzi’s rapturous love song My Spirit Sang All Day. As well, there is Vaughan Williams’ Agnus Dei, Master of the Queens’s Music, Judith Weir’s Love Bade Me Welcome, Parry’s Songs of Farewell and Tavener’s transcendent Song for Athene.
The concert will also be livestreamed on .
The performers: Sydney Chamber Choir/ Sam Allchurch | Conductor/ John Gaden | Narrator
The program: Edward Elgar Lux aeterna / Gerald Finzi My Spirit Sang All Day/ Imogen Holst A Hymne to Christ/Gustav Holst Nunc dimittis/ Hubert Parry From Songs of Farewell – My soul, there is a country, Never weather-beaten sail, At the round earth’s imagined corners/ Harry Sdraulig New work (World premiere)/ Charles Stanford The Blue Bird/ Thomas Tallis Why Fum’th in Fight/ John Tavener The Lamb and Song for Athene/ Ralph Vaughan Williams Agnus Dei, from Mass in G Minor/ Judith Weir Love Bade Me Welcome and a blue true dream of sky.
Read our review of Sydney Chamber Choir’s Mozart’s Requiem concert from April 2024.
Tickets: https://www.sydneychamberchoir.org/heirsandrebels
or call Sydney Chamber Choir Box Office 1300 661 738

Omega Ensemble Virtuosity to the Power of Ten
2024-10-03 19:00 | City Recital Hall, 2 Angel Place, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Omega Ensemble presents Virtuosity to the Power of Ten performing music by Australian composer Harry Sdraulig, Finnish composer and the master of virtuosity, Olli Mustonen and Frédéric Chopin featuring pianist Vatche Jambazian. There are concerts in Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle, NSW.
A new Australian voice with significant recent accomplishments to his name, Harry Sdraulig’s first commission for Omega Ensemble will receive its world premiere at this concert. Concert pianist and composer Olli Mustonen’s music is greatly influenced from his own performance practice, including early studies on the harpsichord. His Nonet II takes up ideas from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Frédéric Chopin, a notorious introvert, preferred the dark and smoky salons of Paris to grand concert halls, and often arranged his own two concertos to perform in these intimate settings. In this tradition, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is reshaped for just ten musicians, unlocking new raw and emotive power from one of the most expressive works in the canon.
The program: OLLI MUSTONEN Nonet II/ HARRY SDRAULIG New Commission (World Premiere)/ FREDERIC CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1 (for Piano and String Nonet)
Vatche Jambazian, solo piano
Approx. 90 mins without interval
Melbourne 1 October 7 pm, Melbourne Recital centre/ Newcastle 5 October 7 pm, Newcastle City Hall
Bookings

Salut! Baroque Honours The Networker
2024-10-13 15:00 | Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium, Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Salut! Baroque’s final concert in the 2024 series is The Networker with performances in Sydney and Canberra.
Johann Georg Pisendel was a networker of exceptional skill. He had a 43-year association with the Dresden Court Orchestra, including 27 years as concertmaster. He was the beating heart of this, the most famous orchestra in 18th century Europe. Pisendel gathered and inspired a remarkable group of musicians and composers, including Vivaldi, Telemann, Bach, Albinoni, Quantz and Zelenka, many of whom dedicated works to him. He was a fastidious music copyist during his tenure. He also amassed a collection of more than 2,000 music scores from his trips to Italy and France, giving the orchestra unparalleled access to repertoire. The Networker pays tribute to the legacy of Pisandel
Concerts:
Canberra: Friday 11 October 2024, 7.30pm Fairfax Theatre, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Sydney: Sunday 13 October 2024, 3.00pm Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Performers: Sally Melhuish, Alicia Crossley, recorders; Jane Downer, baroque oboe, Recorder; Ben Hoadley, baroque bassoon, recorder; John Ma, baroque violin; Ella Bennetts, baroque violin; Brad Tham, baroque viola; Tim Blomfield, baroque cello; Will Hansen, baroque double bass; Monika Kornel, harpsichord
Program: Pisendel Imitation des Caractères de la Danse/ Janitsch Adagio ma non Troppo from Quadro O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden/ Fasch Concerto for Bassoon FaWV L:c2/ Telemann Concerto in B minor/ Albinoni Sonata a cinque in G minor Op. 2 No. 11/Zelenka Miserere in C minor/Molter Concerto in Bb major for four recorders/Bach Air from Suite No. 3, BWV 1068/Vivaldi Concerto in G minor RV107
Read our review of Salut! Baroque’s concert The Genius.
More information and bookings: What’s On – Salut Baroque

Chad Lawson Makes His Australian Debut
2024-10-16 19:00 | The Neilson, ACO Pier 2/3, Suite 3, 13A Hickson Rd, Dawes Point, NSW, 2000, Australia
Pianist, podcaster, and certified breathwork educator Chad Lawson makes his Australian debut performing Classical Music for a Meditative Mindset in Sydney this October. Sharing the songs and reflections from his new album Where We Are, the event promises an unforgettable evening of classical music, conversation and reflection where music transcends boundaries. Lawson has also released The Light Within, a new EP made in collaboration with the World Federation For Mental Health (WFMH),celebrating World Mental Health this month.
Known for his exploration of the intersection between music and wellness, Lawson’s performance will showcase lush melodies, intricate harmonies, and intimate storytelling, inviting the audience on a journey of emotion, contemplation, and serenity.
The EP includes the official theme song for World Mental Health Day, a new piece composed by Lawson titled The Light Within. Lawson’s stature in the wellness community has led to him being the first musician to be appointed a United Nations Ambassador for the WFMH, and the first to compose a theme song for World Mental Health Day.
“My role is to impact the heart rather than impress the mind,” Lawson explains. Chad’s connection with his audience has strengthened over the years. As a musician since the age of five, he has carefully honed his craft via dozens of albums and countless shows. In 2022, he presented his double-album breathe in conjunction with National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month. Forbes hailed the LP as “melodic and soothing,” and Variety christened him one of the artists who “lead the wave of music for slumber and relaxation.”
Tickets

Flute And Piano Recital Celebrates A Special Century
2024-10-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 1 Conservatorium Road, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia
The Female Gaze is a recital presented by Laura Chislett, flute and Stephanie McCallum, piano, celebrating a century of writing for flute solo, and flute and piano, by some of Australia’s best female composers. Three commissioned works will be performed, two of them in world premiere performances. The composers include Aristea Mellos, Liza Lim, Peggy Glanville-Hicks and others.
PROGRAM
Aristea Mellos
Sonatina for flute and piano, 2024 – WORLD PREMIERE (COMMISSION)
I. At a brisk pace, with joy/ II. Tenderly/ III. Allegro scherzando
Liza Lim
Bioluminescence for solo flute, 2019
Esther Rofe (1904 – 2000)
A Lament for alto flute and piano, 1924/ Scherzo for flute and piano, 1929
Ros Bandt
Back to Ubud for solo flute, 2009
Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912 – 1990)
Sonatina, 1938
I. Animato assai/ II. Lento recitativo/III. Vivace
Liza Lim
Lucid dreaming for solo flute, 2022
Aristea Mellos
Prelude VII ‘…the magpies call you Jack and whistle’/ Prelude IX ‘caution endangered shorebirds are nesting’
Keyna Wilkins
The Old Window for solo flute and spoken voice with excerpts of poetry by Mohammad Maleki, 2023 (COMMISSION)
Sharon Calcraft
Mottenflug for flute/bass flute and piano, 2024 – WORLD PREMIERE (COMMISSION)
Adult $25 Conc $15
Bookings

Australian World Orchestra Returns in October
2024-10-22 19:00 - 2024-10-23 19:00 | The Neilson, ACO Pier 2/3, Suite 3, 13A Hickson Rd, Dawes Point, NSW, 2000, Australia
The Australian World Orchestra will gather again in 2024 to perform three concerts in Australia – two in Sydney and one in Melbourne with guest artist and legendary countertenor Andreas Scholl.
Last heard in full force, performing Mahler’s Symphony No 9 in 2023, this year, members of the AWO under Concertmaster Madeleine Easton, will reunite from around the globe to perform music from the Baroque, Classical and Modern eras. Audiences will be enchanted by the ethereal voice of special guest countertenor Andreas Scholl with the world-class musicianship of the Australian World Orchestra.
In the first part of the concert, Scholl will perform Baroque masterpieces by Bach and Vivaldi, alongside the mesmerising minimalism of Arvo Pärt. Part two will present Mozart’s majestic Gran Partita, a serenade of sublime beauty and intricacy, performed by an ensemble of the AWO’s finest wind musicians.
One of the world’s finest counter tenors, Andreas Scholl is a Grammy nominated artist who needs little introduction. He has won numerous awards and prizes and was the first countertenor to appear at the Last Night of the Proms. He has performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Concertgebouw, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the world’s leading baroque orchestras.
The Australian World Orchestra (AWO) is one of the most exciting initiatives in Australia’s cultural history. Founded in 2011 by Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Alexander Briger AO, it brings together Australia’s finest classical musicians from ensembles at home as well as all around the world, to create something unique. Touring within Australia and overseas, the orchestra has an enviable reputation and established new audiences for classical music, while the AWO education program has helped foster the next generation of Australian musicians.
The AWO’s musicians are drawn from the world’s finest orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw and Australia’s orchestras and ensembles. The immense talent, coupled with its award-winning sound, has seen many of the world’s finest conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta AC, Riccardo Muti and Simone Young AM lead the orchestra both in Australia and overseas.
The program: JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust BWV 170/ ANTONIO VIVALDI Motette Filiae Maestae Jerusalem RV 638/ ARVO PÄRT Ein Wallfahrtslied (Pilgrims’ Song)/ WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Serenade No. 10, K.361 “Gran Partita”
ARTISTS
Andreas Scholl Countertenor/ Madeleine Easton Concertmaster/ Australian World Orchestra
Sydney Concerts:
23 October, Concert Only – The Neilson, Pier 2/3
24 October, Gala Concert – The Neilson Pier 2/3
Melbourne Concert:
26 October, Gala Concert – Hanson Dyer Hall
Click here for tickets.
Read what happened when Maestro Zubin Mehta conducted the Australian World Orchestra in Sydney.
