Concert Series

Friday 14 April

Bach Triptych

Austral Harmony

Ben Dollman  baroque violin
Jane Downer  baroque oboe & recorder
Andrew Georg  harpsichord

JS Bach  Andante from BWV 1033 in C major for recorder solo
JS Bach  Trio BWV 1014 in C major for violin, oboe & harpsichord
Anon  Fantasia BWV Anh. 86 in C minor for keyboard solo
JS Bach  Ciaccona from Partita II in D minor BWV 1004 for solo violin
Anon  Fantasia sopra Jesu, meines Lebens Leben in A minor
JS Bach  Gigue from Partita III BWV 1006 in F major for recorder
JS Bach  Trio BWV 1040 in F major for violin, oboe & harpsichord

Bach’s monumental Ciaccona for solo violin forms the central panel of Austral Harmony’s Bach Triptych. Flanking this are two seldom-heard and remarkable Fantasias displaying exceptional keyboard writing by composers from Bach’s circle. Small-scale Solos and Trios flank the centrepiece, consummating a symmetrical musical triptych.

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Friday 21 April

Sacred Sky

Australian String Quartet

Mozart  String Quartet in D minor K. 421
Nigel Westlake  String Quartet No. 3, Sacred Sky

Perhaps the most emotional quartet composed prior to Beethoven, Mozart’s K. 421 was written whilst his wife Constanze was in labour with their first child. Constanze claimed that Mozart included her cries of pain in the music! Westlake’s Sacred Sky was composed in memory of his artist sister, who died prematurely, and is based on four of her seascapes, depicting both her spirit and the composer’s grief.

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Friday 28 April

Piano Duo

Lucinda Collins  piano
Konstantin Shamray  piano

Debussy  En Blanc et Noir
Shostakovich  Suite for two pianos Op. 6

An ailing Debussy insisted this 1916 work was inspired purely by the sonorities of the piano, but few now believe the horrors of WWI didn’t play a part in it. Six years later, sixteen-year-old Shostakovich completed his first full length work in response to death of his father, hinting at the expressive style he was to return to in the 1930s and 40s.

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Friday 5 May

Lyrics by Dorothy Fields

Honours Jazz Ensemble
Lyndon Gray  director

Songs include On the Sunny Side of the Street, Don't Blame Me, A Fine Romance, Pick Yourself Up, & The Way You Look Tonight.

Dorothy Fields was one of the most prolific songwriters of the Great American Songbook, with a career that spanned more than 50 years from the 1920s to the 1970s.  

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Friday 12 May

Alma Moodie Quartet

Webern  Six Bagatelles
Ligeti  String Quartet No. 2
Haydn  String Quartet, Op. 76, No. 5

Kristian Winther leads some of Australia’s finest young string players in Webern’s Bagatelles which displays the composer’s extreme aphoristic style, whilst a micropolyphonic technique and texture unite Ligety’s five movement work. Haydn’s late Opus 76 was described by a contemporary as “full of invention, fire, good taste and special effects.”

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Friday 19 May

A Joyous Encounter

Elder Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra

Elizabeth Layton  violin/director
Danny Yang  piano

Vivaldi  Concerto alla rustica in G major, RV 151
Mozart  Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414
Dag Wirén  Serenade for Strings, Op. 11

For a man sometimes accused of “composing the same thing over 600 times”, Vivaldi’s Concerto alla rustica is a remarkably forward-looking work.  “What a loss to the musical world” wrote Mozart about the death of Johann Christian Bach, whilst including a theme of his mentor’s in this concerto. Dag Wirén's Serenade for Strings is a neo-classical composition characterized by its graceful and lively melodies, intricate counterpoint, and dynamic contrasts.

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Friday 26 May

The March of Time

Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra

Gustav Holst  Second Suite in F 
Howard Hanson  Chorale and Alleluia
Charles Ives  Country Band March
Anne Cawrse  Sunburst
Alan Hovhaness  Symphony No. 53 , Star Dawn

A chance to hear Holst’s folk-influenced Second Suite, Hovhaness’s symphony inspired by Dante and astronomy, some deliberately inaccurate musical quotes/jokes from Ives, and an appearance from Elder Hall’s most frequently programmed composer of 2023, Anne Cawrse.

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Friday 2 June

Stories of Time & Place

Elder Conservatorium Chorale
Carl Crossin OAM  conductor
Karl Geiger  piano

Chorale continues its journey through the ever-expanding choral world with music by some of our favourite composers from Australia and the US – and with new choral music from Iceland, Estonia and South Africa.

Spoiler alert: the program may include music by Paul Grabowsky, Thorkell Sigbjörnsson, Veljo Tormis and Eric Whitacre.

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Friday 9 June

Vital Blossoms

Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra
Luke Dollman  conductor
Tahlia Williams  violin

Beethoven  Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
Lili Boulanger  D’un matin de printemps
Mendelssohn  Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

When a Russian princess fell for her Paris Conservatoire professor, the fortuitous result was the Boulanger sisters. Child-prodigy Lily tragically died at 24 and was already seriously ill when she composed “On a Spring Morning”, which is highly impressionist in character. Mendelssohn’s blazing emblem of Romantic virtuosity, bursting with joie de vivre, is a huge audience favourite and guaranteed to thrill.

Bookings

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Friday 16 June

Heart-to-Heart

Andrew Haveron  violin
Anna Goldsworthy  piano

Mozart  Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat major, K. 454
Clara Schumann  Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22
Grieg  Violin Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 8

English-born Haveron is the concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and works worldwide as a soloist and chamber performer. Pianist Anna Goldsworthy, Director of the Elder Conservatorium of Music, will need no introduction to Elder Hall audiences. Here the pair perform Grieg’s youthful sonata, full of vigor and inventiveness, and Schumann’s wistful but lively Three Romances.

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Friday 23 June

Homage

Tair Khisambeev  violin
Elina Faskhi  cello
Konstantin Shamray  piano

Rachmaninoff  Trio élégiaque No. 2, Op. 9

Written as a memorial for his mentor Tchaikovsky, this is a monumental and passionate work from the then twenty-year-old Rachmaninoff. Whilst not a musician particularly associated with chamber music, his personal virtuosic piano skills were displayed at its premiere. Celestial moments descend into dark despair; feelings all too familiar to the dedicatee.

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Friday 30 June

Tempestuous Waves

Sally Walker  flute
Vivian Choi Milton  piano

Leading Australian flautist Walker is a performer, academic and educator who has performed with many of Europe’s leading orchestras and is a longstanding guest principal with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Paired with multi award-winning Milton who studied in Sydney, Russia and the USA, they promise an enchanting program works from Schubert, Prokofiev, and Sally Greenaway.

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Friday 11 August

From Echoes

Simon Cobcroft  cello
Kristian Chong  piano

Beethoven  Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in F major, Op. 5, No. 1
Anne Cawrse  Circle Music
Samuel Barber  Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Minor, Op. 6

Barber’s Brahmsian sonata displays his affinity with the Romantic era that made his Adagio for Strings so popular, whilst Beethoven’s sonata is the first example of a fully developed cello sonata in the modern tradition. Adelaide’s own Anne Cawrse’s Circle Music completes the program.

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Friday 18 August

First Impressions

Australian String Quartet

Scarlatti  Sonate a Quattro in D minor
Brodie King  String Quartet No. 1
Fanny Mendelssohn  String Quartet in E-flat major

These works by Scarlatti have been described as “the earliest string quartets”, combining fugal composition with passionate chromaticism and playful minuets. Fanny Mendelssohn surprised even herself with her only mature quartet, wondering how she, “not an overly sentimental person”, could possibly have written a piece so moving and emotional. Although her brother Felix considered it “undisciplined”, she held firm and never revised it. Also featuring the premiere of a new string quartet from Brodie King.

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Friday 25 August

Pastoral

Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra
Luke Dollman conductor
Elinor Warwick violin

Beethoven Romance No. 2 in F
Beethoven Symphony No. 6, Pastoral

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Friday 1 September

Jazz Duos

Lauren Henderson  voice
Mark Ferguson  piano
Lyndon Gray  bass
with Elder Conservatorium jazz students

Staff and students perform in the most intimate jazz setting available – Duos! Double bass and voice, guitar and piano, saxophone and trumpet.

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Friday 8 September

A Far Different World

Robert Macfarlane  voice
Stephen Whittington  piano

Works by Schubert, Schumann, Richard Strauss, Hugo Wolf, Viktor Ullman and Stephen Whittington

The exquisite verses of the 14th century Persian poet Hafez, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan, in which the great German poet takes on the persona of Hafez, and physicist Werner Heisenberg’s matrix theory of quantum mechanics are brought together in a thought-provoking program that includes the premiere of a new work by Stephen Whittington, A Far Different World, and beautiful settings of Hafez and Goethe by Schubert, Schumann, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss and Viktor Ullman.

Bookings

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Friday 15 September

Arcadia Winds

with Mitchell Berick  bass clarinet

Janáček  Mládí
Valerie Coleman  Tzigane
Richard Strauss  Serenade in E-flat Major, Op. 7

The trailblazing quintet Arcadia Winds were awarded a fellowship at ANAM on their formation in 2013 and were Musica Viva’s inaugural Futuremakers from 2017-9. Now highly acclaimed and greatly in demand, they have worked with international stars, including Lambert Orkis and Paavali Jumppanen, and here combine with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s principal bass clarinettist, Mitchell Berick.

Bookings

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Friday 22 September

Through a Different Lens

Niki Vasilakis  violin
Lucinda Collins  piano

Ravel  Cinq mélodies populaires grecques
Tchaikovsky  Souvenir d’un lieu cher for Violin and Piano
Mozart  Violin and Piano  Sonata No. 26 in B-flat major K. 378 (317d)

Jazz and blues strongly influenced Ravel’s arrangement of folk songs from the island of Chios off Turkey. The three pieces of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher are built on Russian folk-inspired melodies, the first of which, Méditation, was originally intended as the second movement of his great violin concerto. Mozart's Sonata in B-flat major is a captivating musical dialogue between the violin and piano, showcasing his mastery of melody and interplay between the two instruments.

Bookings

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Friday 29 September

Unseen Landscape

Michael Ierace  piano

Chopin  Ballade No. 3, Op. 47
Debussy  Préludes, Book I

Chopin never confirmed any sources for his works, but the third Ballade is now generally accepted to have been inspired by Undine, an Adam Mickiewitz poem about a water sprite in love with a mortal man. In a similar vein, Debussy unusually placed his Prelude titles at the end of each piece, presumably encouraging performers to explore his unique sound worlds independently before revealing his personal inspirations.

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Friday 6 October

Silver Linings

Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra
Luke Dollman   conductor

Adam Gorb  Serenade for Spring
Brodie King  Augur Chrome
Anne Cawrse  And There Was Light

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Friday 13 October

Adelaide Connection plays Kind of Blue

Julian Ferraretto  director

Adelaide Connection and their conductor, Dr Julian Ferraretto, perform music from one of the most important jazz albums of all time: Miles Davis' 1959 classic 'Kind of Blue'.

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Friday 20 October

The Realm of Tales

Elder Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra
Elizabeth Layton   violin/director
Caroline Henbest   viola

CPE Bach  String Symphony in B-flat Major Wq. 182/2
Sally Beamish  Under the Wing of the Rock
Puccini  Crisantemi
Kurt Atterberg  Suite No. 3, Op. 19 for Violin, Viola and String Orchestra

Bach’s set of six string symphonies was commisioned by Gottfried van Swieten for “private use”, and none were performed publicly in the composer’s lifetime. Swedish Atterberg rearranged his music for Maeterlinck’s play Soeur Beatrice, replacing the original harmonium with a string orchestra. Puccini’s ‘Chrysanthemums’ (a funeral flower in Italy) commemorates the death of the King of Spain, whilst Beamish’s concerto tells a Gaelic story of a young mother fleeing the Glencoe massacre.

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Friday 27 October

Top Class

Our annual showcase concert featuring the top student performers of the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Supported by the Peter Brooker Prize for Musical Excellence.

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Saturday 27 May, 6:30pm

Jazz Masters

University of Adelaide Big Band & Latin Band
Alex Taylor & Mark Ferguson  directors

with James Muller  guitar

ARIA Award winning guitarist James Muller takes the spotlight in the opening Evening Concert of 2023. Joining him will be the University of Adelaide Big Band and Latin Ensemble, directed by Alex Taylor and Mark Ferguson respectively. The program features arrangements and originals from the pens of Bob Curnow, Rob Lussier, Thad Jones, Ray Barretto and more.

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Friday 9 June, 7pm

Unwavering Passion

Australian String Quartet

Moya Henderson  Kudikynah Cave
Caroline Shaw  Three Essays
Beethoven  String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 127

Kudikynah Cave is a rock shelter on the Franklin River in Tasmania which raised awareness of the significance of this wilderness area during the famous Franklin Dam controversy. Civil unrest in the USA was the catalyst for Shaw’s Three Essays, and the greatest exponent of turmoil, Beethoven, displays in his first late quartet a sublime miracle of variation.

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Saturday 24 June, 6:30pm

Will Vinson: Solos, Duos and Trios

Will Vinson  saxophone
James Muller  guitar
Lyndon Gray  bass
Josh Baldwin  drums

London-born saxophonist and composer Will Vinson returns to Australia after more than 20 years honing his craft in New York. Joined by the talented jazz staff of the Con, Will presents a scintillating program of solos, duos and trios, with tunes from Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Basie/Webster and Vinson himself.

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Saturday 1 July, 6:30pm

Enchanted Moments

Dean Newcomb  clarinet
Thomas Marlin  cello
Michael Ierace  piano

Robert Muczynski  Fantasy Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Op. 26
Aaron Copland  Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
Beethoven  12 Variations on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’, Op. 66 for Cello and Piano
Brahms  Trio in A minor, Op. 114, for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

This delightful combination of instruments remains uncommon, but a friend of Brahms wrote that it is “as though the instruments were in love with each other.” Strongly influenced by Neoclassicism, Muczynski added his contribution to the repertoire in the late 60s. Copland personally transposed his violin sonata for the clarinet, whilst Beethoven’s twelve variations on a theme from The Magic Flute portray characters from Mozart’s famous opera.

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Saturday 15 July, 6:30pm

Snapshots of Love and Life

Seraphim Trio
with Lorina Gore  soprano

Clara Schumann  Piano Trio
Robert Schumann  Frauenliebe und leben
Anne Cawrse, libretto by Anna Goldsworthy  Snapshots of Love and Life

Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio predates her husband’s first work in that genre by a year. She wrote it after suffering a miscarriage and during a period when her husband was seriously ill. Robert Schumann’s song cycle Frauenliebe und leben presents a perspective on life from a female whose life revolved purely around her home and husband. Also featuring the premiere of a new work by Anne Cawrse and Anna Goldsworthy.

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Saturday 26 August, 6:30pm

Friends from Away

Elder Conservatorium Chorale & Resonance of Birralee (Brisbane)
Carl Crossin OAM, Paul Holley OAM & Peter Ingram  conductors
Karl Geiger  piano

Two of Australia’s finest collegiate choirs join forces as we welcome our choral colleagues from Brisbane. This is a program of fabulous and varied choral storytelling that is, by turns, rousing, reflective, joyful and mysterious.  And, because good things are often worth doing again, this program will be repeated in Brisbane on September 9th.

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Sunday 15 October, 2:30pm

Joint Forces

Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra 

Adam Gorb  Bells Across the Atlantic (2013)

          Adam Gorb, guest conductor

Michael Mower Concerto for Flute and Wind Orchestra (2004)

          Gemma Vice, Flute
          David Polain, conductor

Adam Gorb  Tranquility (2009) 

          Adam Gorb, guest conductor

Matthew Hindson & Paul Mac  Requiem for a City (2015)

          Bryan Griffiths, conductor

Adam Gorb, Distinguished visiting composer from the UK, conducts performances of his works Bells Across the Atlantic (2013) and Tranquility (2009). In Mower’s innovative concerto, the flute shines over a large group of wind instruments, with references to Big Band writing, Latin harmonies and more. Australian techno-whizz Paul Mac combined with Hindson in a response to new “draconian” lock-out laws in Sydney.

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Saturday 28 October, 6:30pm

Guitarissimo

A delight for lovers of classical guitar, this annual showcase concert features an array of works for solo guitar and small chamber groups, culminating in a performance by the heralded Elder Conservatorium Guitar Ensemble. Curated by Dr Oliver Fartach-Naini.

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Sunday 26 November, 2:30pm

Towards Christmas

Elder Conservatorium Chorale & Graduate Singers
Carl Crossin OAM  conductor
Karl Geiger  conductor

The Elder Conservatorium Chorale and Graduate Singers share the stage in an inspirational program of music for Advent and Christmas, and in celebration of life in general. Please join us as we sing you into the Festive Season with energy and joy - and with only a very small smattering of snow and sleighbells! And, you’re welcome to sing with us in a few great communal carols too!

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Tuesday 19 September, 7:30pm

Baroque Academy - Faculty Concert - 'For Royal Courts and Private Chambers'

Rachael Beesley, Ben Dollman, Violins
Heidi von Bernewitz, viola
Jamie Hay, cello
Rob Nairn, violone
Chad Kelly, harpsichord
Nick Pollock, theorbo
Simon Rickard, bassoon
Jessica Lee, flute
Brendan O’Donnell, recorders

Henry Purcell  'Golden' Sonata in F major, Z.810
Henry Purcell   Fantasia upon one note, Z. 745
Jean-Baptiste Lully  Overture and Chaconne  from Armide
François Couperin  Le Parnasse ou l'apothéose de Corelli                                                         
Telemann  Concerto for Flute & Recorder & Strings in e, TWV 52:e1   

Bookings

Friday 22 September, 7:30pm

Baroque Academy - Final Concert: 'Musique des 3 Nations'

Featuring staff and students of the Baroque Academy

Pieter Hellendaal - Concerto Grosso Op. 3, No. 1
Charles Avison - Concerto grosso No.5 (after Scarlatti) 
Henry Purcell - Incidental music from ‘Abdelazar’ Z570 (Overture and Rondeau)

Jean-Philippe Rameau - Air Grave from Zoroastre RCT 62
Henry Purcell - Curtain tune on a ground (from Timon of Athens) Z. 632
Jean-Baptiste Lully - Le bourgeois gentilhomme (excerpts)

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