2012
JANUARY
During he first week of January I’ll be playing in four concerts for the Peninsula Summer Music Festival, on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula
- Gala Opening
Tuesday 3 January 7.00-10.00pm
Montalto Winery, 33 Shoreham Rd, Red Hill South
Tickets: All tickets $200 including dinner and wine
Bookings: Direct with Montalto (03) 5989 8412
Enjoy a superb evening of food, wine and song at the Peninsula’s acclaimed Montalto Restaurant. The sublime voice of soprano Greta Bradman, ARIA-award nominees Latitude 37 and Simon Martyn-Ellis (baroque guitar, lute, theorbo) combine to evoke the splendour of Spain’s musical heritage, accompanied by a specially-designed meal and estate wines. Highlights include works by de Falla, Granados, Marin and Sor, plus fandangos by Soler and 17th century guitar virtuoso Santiago de Murcia.
- The Splendour of the German Baroque
Wednesday 4 January 7.00pm
St Peters Anglican Church, Queen St, Mornington
Tickets: $48/$42
Bookings: Frankston Arts Centre Box Office (03) 9784 1060
This January, the Northern German tradition of Abendmusik – evening music for the people – returns to St Peter’s Mornington. Be swept away by this atmospheric candlelit concert, featuring the divine voices of Siobhán Stagg (soprano), German alto Dorothee Merkel, Robert MacFarlane (tenor) and Nick Dinopoulos (bass-baritone). They take to the stage as both soloists and choir alongside baroque ensemble Latitude 37 and guests, in a program of German sacred and secular music that also showcases the church’s magnificent organ. Program highlights include works by Buxtehude, JC Bach, Rosenműller and JS Bach’s beloved motet Jesu, meine freude BWV227.
- Antonio e Cleopatra
Friday 6 January 7.00pm
Peninsula Community Theatre, Wilsons Rd, Mornington
Tickets: $55/$48
Bookings: Frankston Arts Centre Box Office (03) 9784 1060
After a private debut in mid-2011, Johann Hasse’s 1725 opera Antonio e Cleopatra is given its first public performance in Australia, under the direction of conductor Richard Divall.
2011 AIMS Meistersinger Award-winning soprano Siobhán Stagg appears as Cleopatra – a role originally written for the legendary castrato Farinelli. Mezzo-soprano Dimity Shepherd(Opera Australia, Victorian Opera) plays Marc Antonio.This semi-staged performance features a specially-commissioned costume for Cleopatra based on a portrait by Tiepolo and manufactured by the Australian Ballet’s costumiers.
Concertmaster Rachael Beesley (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Ironwood) leads a chamber orchestra comprising some of Australia’s finest baroque musicians.
- A Curious Accord
Saturday 7 January 11.30am
St Johns
King St, Flinders
Tickets: $40/$35
Lunch: $20
Bookings: Frankston Arts Centre Box Office (03) 9784 1060
Rarely heard together, this recital proves that the cello and the viola da gamba can indeed be friends as well as musical cousins. Revel in the rich combined sounds as baroque specialists Jamie Hey (5-string baroque cello) and Laura Vaughan (viola da gamba) perform works by Telemann, Couperin, Masse and Anon.
- Opening Recital, Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields Festival
Friday 13th January 8pm
St Patrick’s Cathedral
Cnr Dawson & Sturt Streets, Ballarat
Bookings: 0429 327 097 or www.ballarat.com/organs/index.htm
In this opening concert vocal ensemble e21 unites with the viols of Consort Eclectus to present the Litanies of Charpentier and Alain in the beautiful acoustic of St Patrick’s Cathedral. Directed by Stephen Grant with Calvin Bowman, organ.
________________________________________________________________
MARCH
- Love in Venice
The Song Company with guest artists Tommie Anderson (Lute/Theorbo/Guitar) and Laura Vaughan (Lirone/Gamba)
A hilarious comedy set in the waters of Venice which tells the story of an unlikely encounter — complemented by nine mind blowing madrigals. Prepare to laugh and fall in love. Venice’s power at sea once seemed indestructible. For centuries, the city’s economic super status was reflected through an incredible flowering of the arts, demonstrated in painting and in music. The palaces and churches alongside its famous canals became the repositories of extraordinary work; to this day the envy of the world.
For this all-Venetian extravaganza, Roland Peelman has selected nine beautiful madrigals by Monteverdi as counterpart to Banchieri’s 1623 ‘Boat from Venice to Padua’. This hilarious and early musical comedy sees the Song Company expertly flit between a set of dubious commedia characters who share an encounter on a small boat.
Program
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 — 1643) Erotic madrigals
Antonio Banchieri (1568 — 1634) A boat from Venice bound for Padua
Dates
| Sun, 4 March | Canberra National Gallery |
| Mon, 5 March | Wollongong Town Hall Please phone the Wollongong Town Hall Box Office on 02 4227 5088 between 9am and 5pm weekdays. |
| Thurs, 8 March | Newcastle Conservatorium |
| Fri, 9 March | Brisbane Conservatorium Theatre |
| Mon, 12 March | Melbourne Recital Centre, The Salon |
| Wed, 14 March | City Recital Hall, Angel Place |
Visit the Song Company’s website for more information
- St John Passion
Sunday 25 March 3pm
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
Melbourne Recital Centre, cnr. Southbank Blvd & Sturt St, Southbank
JS Bach didn’t compose any operas: his sacred works are vivid dramas and profoundly personal meditations on humanity and its relationship with God. Bach’s St John Passion is an intimate and searing depiction of Christ’s trial and death, at once a gripping and ferocious narrative and a moving reaction to Christ’s sacrifice, expressed in music that is by turns majestic, savage and radiant. JS Bach’s art continues to touch hearts and minds in ways that no other composers’ can and his St John Passion is an iconic and essential musical experience.
Continuing a Recital Centre Easter tradition, acclaimed conductor Stephen Layton, Director of Music of Trinity College Cambridge and Artistic Director of the London Sinfonia, marshals the forces of choir, soloists and period instrument orchestra Ludovico’s Band to bring to life Bach’s most powerful masterpiece in the pure acoustic of Elisabeth Murdoch Hall.
- St John Passion
Friday 30 March 8pm & Sunday 1 April 3pm
St Mary’s, Star of the Sea
Cnr Victoria St and Howard St, West Melbourne
Tickets $60 / $50 conc. / $30 student
Booking details & inquiries: 0477087593 or www.mbc.asn.au
Bach’s Easter masterpiece conducted by Rick Prakhoff with brilliant Australian soloists Lorina Gore, Belinda Paterson, Henry Choo, Shane Lowrencev, Paul McMahon and Joshua Bloom.
- La Bergamasca
Saturday 31 March, 7 pm,
James O Fairfax Theatre, National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Place, Parkes, Canberra
Experience the music of late Renaissance Northern Italy with Latitude 37 in conjunction with the National Gallery of Australia’s Renaissance exhibition. From the austere yet passionate beauty of Rognoni and Castello to the cascading notes of Merulo and rowdy country dances, hear the silent music that’s behind every painting. This concert will be broadcast live on ABC Classic FM.
Enquiries (02) 6240 6411 or the NGA website
________________________________________________________________
APRIL
- J. S. Bach Viola da Gamba Sonatas
Thursday 5 April, 1pm
Scot’s Church, Corner of Russell and Collins St, Melbourne
Free entry
A performance of works by J.S. Bach and Telemann for viola da gamba and harpsichord with Elizabeth Anderson (harpsichord) in the lovely acoustic of the Scot’s Church, Melbourne.
- Apotheosis
Monday April 23, 7pm
The Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre
cnr. Southbank Blvd & Sturt St, Southbank.
Tickets $35/$25
The first of Latitude 37’s 2012 MRC Subscription Series. Composers of the French High Baroque couldn’t speak highly enough of their departed colleagues. Latitude 37 presents the ultimate ‘tribute’ concert with masterpieces of homage by the two Couperins, Marin Marais, and the aptly-named Rebel.
with guest artist Miranda Hutton (baroque violin)
Bookings (03) 9699 3333 or the MRC website
_______________________________________________________________
MAY
- Through the Sublime Porte – Ottoman Inspiration in Baroque Music
Saturday May 26, 7.30pm, Cowen Gallery, State Library of Victoria
328 Swanston St, Melbourne
An exploration of the figure of the Turk in Baroque music, including works by Marin Marais, Francois Couperin, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau as well as dances from Ottoman Europe. A part of the “Love and Devotion: from Persia and beyond” exhibition of Persian manuscripts at the State Library of Victoria. With guest artist Matt Stonehouse (percussion).
Free Entry
- Music for the Sun King
3pm, Sunday May 27, Newman College Chapel, University of Melbourne, Swanston St, Melbourne
- La Passeggiata
Wednesday, May 30, 11am, The Ballroom, Government House, Melbourne
La Passeggiata: The Italian custom of taking a leisurely stroll around town.
As part of Chamber Music Australia’s “Governor’s Recital Series’, Latitude 37 takes you on a passeggiata through Europe from the late renaissance, to the early baroque period, illustrating both the diversity, and the cross pollenation that was occurring between countries such as Italy, France, England, Germany and Slovakia in this highly creative era.
Visit Chamber Music Australia’s website for more information
________________________________________________________________
JUNE
- Parisian Soiree
5pm, Saturday 16 June
Early Music Studio, 27 Royal Parade, Parkville
Alison Catanach (baroque flute), Ann Murphy (harpsichord) and myself provide an elegant afternoon of French music from the court of Louis XIV in the salon-style environs of the Early Music Studio with works by Marais, Monteclair, Leclair, Boismotier and de Machy.
Tickets $10 or $20 for a family
- Le Nymphe di Rheno
5pm, Sunday 24 June
Wyselaskie Auditorium
College for Theology and Ministry, 29 College Crescent, Parkville
(opposite Melbourne Cemetery entrance)
Viola da gamba duo Convivio(Miriam Morris & Laura Vaughan, bass viols) presents a programme of baroque music from the banks of the Rhine celebrating the beauty and unique sonorities of two bass viols with works by works by Johannes Schenck, William Youngand Gottfried Finger, with refreshments following the concert.
$20/$10 concession
Tickets at the door
Enquiries 9571 6856