Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

After their successful Dreamtime & Disco concert earlier this year, the Ady Ensemble returns to St Andrew’s, this time looking looking at the idea of transformation in various forms.

CPE Bach was an important figure, who was greatly admired by Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven amongst many others (Grove describes him as a ‘punster’), & who helped to transform the Baroque into the Classical period. Just like at our last concert, we will continue our celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of CPE’s birth by including another of his symphonies. Also like our last concert, this one will be part of the year-long CPE Bach 1714 Festival, which is based in Germany. To our knowledge, the Ady Ensemble is the only Australian group involved with this festival, which is a real coup for us.

Our performance of this symphony will also mark the official start of a long term project for the ensemble, which will involve exploring the work of the early symphonists: The Dawn of the Symphony. In 2012, the Ady Ensemble gave the Australian Premiere of Philip Glass’s 3rd Symphony, & we had always promised ourselves that we’d perform this work again. Written in 1994, the work is part of a period where Glass’s music transformed into a style that saw him work more frequently with traditional orchestral instruments & ensembles, & employ traditional orchestral forms.

The ensemble’s return to this work will also mark the start of another of our long-term projects: Emerging Classics. This project will explore newly commissioned works, & other more established works written since the year 1900. Throughout the 19th & early 20th Centuries wind bands frequently performed transcriptions of popular orchestral pieces. English composer Gustav Holst (best known for his orchestral suite: The Planets), however, was one of the only composers who (notoriously) managed to do the opposite, and to do so twice. He first achieved this by transforming the latter movement of his Second Suite in F for Military Band into the last movement of his St Paul’s Suite, the whole suite of which we will perform at this concert. We’ll also be playing Jump (for my love), by the Pointer Sisters- not only because it’s such a fun tune to play, but due to its capacity to transform people into dancing loons- in one instance this involved a British Prime Minister (see Love Actually for further clarification). We’ve transformed the song to allow us to feature the members of the Ady Ensemble String Quartet, made up from some of the ensemble’s principal players (Laura Thomson, Inga Franks, Anna Jack & Ngaio Toombes), who will be the soloists for this work (giving us four divas instead of the Pointer Sisters’ three- bonus!). If you feel the urge to dance then we won’t stop you dancing in the aisles. Whether you’re into pop tunes or not we know that you will enjoy this work in this freshly minted setting. Recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s bestselling album, Michael Jackson‘s Thriller has had a massive influence on 80’s pop culture, & beyond. The thirteen minute film clip for the album’s title song- another milestone in itself- includes Jackson transforming into a werewolf, & later on a zombie- dancing in the dark along with several other groovy spooks. Our new arrangement of Thriller (both new settings of Jump & Thriller comes courtesy of the pen of our Le Grande Fromage) will bring this concert to a rousing finish. We know that you’ll enjoy & find the concert as much fun to watch as it will be for us to play. 

Featured non-Australian music: CPE Bach: (String) Symphony No.4 in A major (WQ 182), Philip Glass: Symphony No.3 for 19 strings; Gustav Holst: St Paul's Suite

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on 0423 686 389 or by email to ady@ady.net.au

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• Music of Adrian Head
• Performer Ady Ensemble