Established and designed by the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra’s founding artistic director and world-renowned educator Richard Gill, the Voyage of Musical Discovery is three separate events – in March, May and August 2020 – beginning at 6.30pm on a weekday in Sydney. Each program is equal parts concert and demonstration. The co-artistic directors, Rachael Beesley and Nicole van Bruggen present each Voyage with musicians of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra in the first half, and a contemporary guest artist or ensemble is featured in the second half. By placing contemporary Australian music alongside earlier Classical and Romantic works, listeners are shown the many compositional links and similarities in structure, tonality, rhythmic function, orchestration and modes of expression.
S3:E1 MOTIVIC DEVELOPMENT
Wednesday 4 March 2020, 6.30pm
City Recital Hall, Sydney
Presented by Rachael Beesley
& Nicole van Bruggen
Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra
ANTON EBERL – Symphony in E-flat major, Op.33 (1803)
The World According to James
JAMES GREENING Pleated Skirt
JAMES GREENING Me Me Me
Anton Eberl builds an entire symphony by skilfully crafting and developing motifs. With the musicians of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, Co-Artistic Directors Rachael Beesley and Nicole van Bruggen guide listeners through his compositional methods, and investigate why Eberl’s 217-year-old work has yet to be performed in Australia, until now!
“James Greening’s band makes music about truth, beauty, sadness, love, wonder and happiness,” wrote the Sydney Morning Herald. The World According to James presents music with all the qualities of wit, creativity and exuberance that have long been associated with Greening’s work as one of Australia’s pre-eminent jazz musicians and soloists. The band has released three critically acclaimed and award-winning CDs. Hear The World According to James developing motifs in their own compositions during the Voyage of Musical Discovery.
S3:E2 VOICES & INSTRUMENTS
Tuesday 28 April 2020, 6.30pm
City Recital Hall, Sydney
Presented by Rachael Beesley
& Nicole van Bruggen
Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra
LOUISE FARRENC – Nonet in E-flat major for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and strings, Op.38 (1849)
Sydney Chamber Choir
ELLA MACENS Stavi Stivi, Ozolin (2019)
PAUL STANHOPE I have not your dreaming (2005)
CLARE MACLEAN A West Irish Ballad (1988)
JOSEPH TWIST How shall we sing in a strange land (2011)
Voices & Instruments shines a spotlight on women composers from the past and present. The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra's expert local and international chamber musicians introduce the collaborative interplay of instruments – and their roles and personalities – in one of Louise Farrenc's most accomplished achievements, her Nonet for winds and strings.
Photo credit: Pedro Greig
Sydney Chamber Choir regularly commissions and premieres works by established and emerging Australian composers to support and celebrate the high-quality music being created here and now. They explain and present a varied selection of Australian choral works and highlight some of the many original ways that composers turn voices into instruments, and instruments into voices.
S3:E3 TEXTURE & TIMBRE
Wednesday 5 August 2020, 6.30pm
City Recital Hall, Sydney
Presented by Rachael Beesley
& Nicole van Bruggen
Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra
MOZART Serenade No.6 in D major Serenata Notturna, K.239 (1776)
Taikoz
IAN CLEWORTH Home (2017)
Mozart’s Serenades were written to be performed outdoors, and he drew attention to the unique textural and timbral qualities of the different instruments by dividing the players into two groups. The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra replicates and examines this remarkable sonic effect with gut strings and Classical timpani in this lively and humorous work from the 18th century.
Photo credit: Karen Steains