Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Folksongs can evoke a sense of place and identity, nostalgia and connection to other times and spaces. For centuries composers have tugged at heart strings and celebrated national identity through quotations of song. Our diverse program reveres this compositional feature. We welcome one of Australia’s most sought-after mezzo sopranos, Fiona Campbell, together with world-renowned harpist and regular guest, Alice Giles. Alongside Australia Ensemble members, Fiona and Alice premiere Andrew Ford’s evocative Northumbrian Songs, and charm us with Berio’s rustic Folksongs. Music by Vaughan Williams draws on pastoral themes while Witold Lutosławski’s Dance Preludes offers twists on seductive rhythms from Poland. Capping off the program, Dvorák’s much-loved Dumky Trio highlights his Bohemian heritage in a delightfully lively finale.

Program

Witold Lutosławski | Dance Preludes
Ralph Vaughan Williams | Six Studies in English Folk Song
Luciano Berio | Folksongs
Andrew Ford | Northumbrian Songs
Antonín Dvořák  | Trio in E minor Op.90 'Dumky'

David Griffiths, clarinet; Ian Munro, piano; Dimity Hall, violin; Irina Morozova, viola; and Julian Smiles, cello, with guest artists Fiona Campbell, mezzo soprano; Alice Giles, harp; Joshua Hill, percussion; Bree van Reyk, percussion; Lisa Osmialowski, flute; and Aiko Goto, violin.

Australia Ensemble Artistic Chair, Paul Stanhope hosts the 2019 series of Composer Conversations, to which he has invited featured Australian composers in for a chat. These intimate and engaging discussions are free and open to all, with time for questions. This is an opportunity to learn more about being a composer and about a particular work before you hear it live in concert! This is your chance to hear all about writing chamber music, straight from the composers themselves. The Composer Conversations will be held in the newly renovated Clancy Auditorium foyer, beginning at 7pm and concluding by 7.45pm in good time for the start of the subscription concert at 8pm.

Andrew Ford, on Saturday June 8, 7pm, to talk about his Northumbrian Songs

Featured non-Australian music: Lutosławski, Vaughan Williams, Berio, Dvořák

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on (02) 9385 4874 or by email to australia.ensemble@unsw.edu.au

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• Performer Fiona Campbell
• Performer Australia Ensemble
• Performer Alice Giles
• Performer Aiko Goto