Opera Companies
| Songmakers Australia |
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Link / Contact:
songmakersaustralia.com/
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| Led by pianist Andrea Katz, Songmakers Australia, is a unique group of Australian?s leading singers Sally-Anne Russell, Merlyn Quaife, Christopher Saunders and Nicholas Dinopoulos. They bring immense experience and musicality to diverse and rarely-heard repertoire in an ongoing series of recitals inspired by
the example of English pianist, Graham Johnson.
Johnson, who is patron of Songmakers Australia, is one of the world's most sought-after accompanists, and a lieder specialist. His passion and curiosity has unearthed many musical treasures and shed new light on well known songs, and his advocacy has brought this music to generations.
Katz has known Johnson for over 25 years, and was inspired by Johnson's Songmakers Almanac, and the name, which is a direct homage to him and his work. She says,
"Since arriving in Australia in 1990, it has been my ambition to form a similar ensemble.
I've met the singers through my work as a recital pianist, coach and teacher and developed a special musical relationship with each one separately. Bringing them together will combine the great experience of some, and the freshness of others. It is a very important part of this project to train the next generation of recital singers."
Featuring two of the best works for vocal ensemble, Brahms Liebeslieder and Zegeunerlieder, it also
includes Dvorak Gypsy songs (sung in Czech by Sally-Anne Russell) and a selection of Brahms Hungarian Dances for piano four hands, with Melbourne pianist Caroline Almonte joining as a guest.
"The essence of this programme reflects very much the philosophy of the ensemble. Brahms wrote the Liebeslieder as homage to Schumann, his mentor. He then took under his guidance the young Dvorak, and championed Gypsy music through his Hungarian Dances and Zegeunerlieder. This is our way of linking generation through the making and enjoyment of music," Katz concluded.
Songmakers Australia will continue to have concerts at the Melbourne Recital Centre. |
| Southern Cross Philharmonia |
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Link / Contact:
scphil.com/
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| Based in Melbourne, this orchestra champions past and present Australian music. Founded in 2005 as an Incorporated Association, it is a not-for-profit organisation listed on the Australian Government Register of Cultural Organizations (ROCO) and endorsed as a deductible gift recipient.
SCPO is fully professional and performs with great virtuosity. Dedicated to building new audiences, it presents moderately priced concerts at the highest professional standards. The aim is that this orchestra will become part of the artistic life of Greater Melbourne. |
| St Johns Southgate |
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Link / Contact:
stjohnssouthgate.com.au
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| St Johns Southgate is a place for worship, prayer and community in the Southbank area, located on the mezzanine level of the Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, Melbourne. |
| Swiss & Italian Festa |
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Link / Contact:
www.swissitalianfesta.com
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| The first Swiss/Italian Festa was staged in 1993 as a community initiative. It was designed to encourage and promote an annual event that celebrated the history, culture and lifestyle of Hepburn Springs and Daylesford with an emphasis on the region's Swiss and Italian heritage.
Over a ten day period the people of Hepburn Springs and Daylesford show off to their neighbours and the wider community of Victoria, their pride in the strong links to the Swiss and Italian settlers of the district in the 1850's.
The Festa also highlights the wide-ranging skills and diversity of the present community and the area s unique environment, still closely linked to "taking the waters" at the numerous mineral springs.
The aim of the Festa is to arrange, encourage and promote a regular Festival celebrating History, Culture and Lifestyle in Hepburn Springs with an emphasis on the region's Swiss Italian Heritage.
The theme of the Festa is supported by the community to acknowledge our history, celebrate our lifestyle and to nurture our cultural heritage for tomorrow.
The Shire of Hepburn, the towns of Hepburn Springs and Daylesford and the townships and villages of the surrounding region are proud of their Swiss/Italian heritage, the people who came for the gold or to escape the political upheaval and persecution in their home regions and who stayed because this region reminded them so much of home. They created a distinctive architecture and culture, which is still clearly obvious throughout the Hepburn Shire.
They hailed from the northern Italian areas of Piedmont, Lombardy , Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and the Duchies of Modena and Parma (before Italy even existed as a nation), as well as from neighbouring Italian speaking canton of Switzerland , Ticino . It is to them we owe the discovery and preservation of the mineral springs and spas which are the region's trademark, the early wineries, the early establishment of a multicultural community and the lifestyle which is reflected in so much of the district today.
Every year the festa features a varied program that offers a wide spectrum of events for the local community, descendants of the early settlers and visitors to the region. |
| The Astra Chamber Music Society |
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Link / Contact:
astramusic.org.au
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| The Astra Chamber Music Society is primarily a concert organization for choral music and contemporary performance, presenting an annual subscription season in Melbourne. Their further activities extend to publishing of scores and an Astra CD recording label. |
| The Australian Chamber Choir |
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Link / Contact:
http://www.auschoir.org/
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| The Australian Chamber choir was founded by its current director, Douglas Lawrence in 2007. In July that year, the choir undertook a 20-concert tour of Europe to great acclaim: "There are days when something of heaven seems to touch the earth. Thank you for giving us just one of those such days" (Stefen Wegener, Presenter, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnisskirche Series, Berlin, July 14, 2007) "The Australian Chamber Choir inspired the audience with the finest choral music" (Ostfriesischer Kurier, July 19, 2007). Shortly after its return to Melbourne, Clive O'Connell described the choir's inaugural Australian performance in the Age: "choral work of the top rank, as lucidly articulated as you could desire, the bustling interweaving of eight lines coming across in this revealing acoustic with impressive purpose and intonational fidelity" (The Age, November 22, 2007).
This meteoric rise to international success was largely due to the 24 years Douglas Lawrence worked as director of the Choir of Ormond College, University of Melbourne. In 1984, when Lawrence founded the Ormond College choir, it was the only university choir giving regular weekly performances. This choir provided a training ground for elite choral singers, and its talented young graduates went on to become the backbone of choirs such as Ensemble Gombert, Gloriana and several church choirs. Lawrence also provided a training ground for young conductors and emerging Australian composers, many of whom were given the opportunity to revise their work before repeat performances, both in Australia and throughout Europe. Lawrence undertook 11 international concert tours with the Ormond College choir and established a list of European engagements unmatched by any other Australian ensemble.
The Australian Chamber Choir draws upon the large pool of elite singers trained during Lawrence's Ormond College years and is open to talented singers of all backgrounds. The performance of new Australian compositions in Europe and Australia has become a hallmark of the Australian Chamber Choir. In its short life the choir has already given 48 performances in Germany, Poland and Denmark, bringing attention and critical acclaim to the music of Australian composers: "The modern works; Lamentations (Hodgson) and ?O Magnum Mysterium" (Kristof) "all portrayed a highly-effective sonic magic" (General Anzeiger, Bonn, July 11, 2009) "Thanks to the expressiveness of the singing, Brenton Broadstock's "I had a dream" became a most beautiful experience" (Berlingste Tidende, Copenhagen, July 23, 2007).
In addition to the concerts mentioned above, the ACC has produced a CD and made several ABC classic FM recordings.
The choir has a special interest in the unaccompanied motets of JS Bach. "Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf" was described as "Bach vocal interpretation of high quality, with a bouncy energy and unwavering unanimity of pitch" in a review entitled "Sacred and Spine-Chilling" (Clive O'Connell, the Age, August 24, 2010). As part of a European tour in July 2011, the ACC gave a concert in St Thomaskirche, Leipzig, where Bach was director of music for 27 years. One of Bach's six motets was performed alongside Australian works by Philip Nunn and Ronald Nagorcka. |
| The Castlemaine State Festival |
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Link / Contact:
castlemainefestival.com.au
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| The Castlemaine State Festival is a ten day explosion of the arts with a program packed full of extraordinary events.
Audiences in excess of 50,000 flock to Castlemaine for this biennial festival, with Australian and international performers and companies mixing and mingling with regional communities and audiences, in a truly celebratory festival.
Set amongst the unique central Victorian landscape, The Castlemaine State Festival is Victoria?s key regional arts festival and the premier arts event for Mount Alexander Shire. |
| The Consort of Melbourne |
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Link / Contact:
theconsortofmelbourne.com
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| The Consort of Melbourne is a professional vocal ensemble founded in 2008 by Warren Trevelyan-Jones and Peter Tregear. Like the city of Melbourne itself, it was inspired by teh best European traditions, to which it brings a uniquely Australian freshness and vitality. The choir performs music ranging from 13th Century motets to collaboration with instrumental soloists and ensembles.
The Consort gave its debut performance in September 2008 as part of Musica Viva Australia's Menage series. In 2009 it was invited to present a series of five concerts at the new Melbourne Recital Centre. The Consort of Melbourne's inaugural subscription series in 2010 includes three co-presentations with the Melbourne Recital Centre and three concerts in other Melbourne venues. The Consort is proud to offer programmes of vocal music performed to the highest standard, and is active in supporting the development of fine ensemble singing Victoria. |
| The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music |
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Link / Contact:
+(61 3) 9035 5511
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| With an energetic and innovative culture, the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music is the proud home of the Victorian College of the Arts and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Studying with us, working with us, or simply coming for a visit, you will enjoy the creative cultural outputs of our brilliant students and staff, as well as the beautiful purpose-built Southbank campus on which we are situated. |
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