If things go as planned, the inaugural Albury Chamber Music Festival will be the start of something grand.
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The festival, an initiative of the St Matthew’s Music Association, aims to bring quality chamber music, performed by some of Australia’s leading chamber musicians, to the Border.
A series of seven wonderful recitals will be held on November 11-13 at iconic Albury’s iconic venues: St Matthew’s church, the Adamshurst ballroom and MAMA.
“The Border resonates with the memory of great performances and exhibitions as a stopover on national tours,” says festival director Peter Macleod-Miller.
“But it is time that Albury becomes a musical destination in itself.
“Chamber music implies a special quality of interaction, and we have the opportunity to use some of the region’s architectural treasures to open a range of cultural encounters.”
The organising committee has put together an impressive line-up of performers for the opening event.
Australia’s leading mezzo-soprano Sally-Anne Russell, Melbourne’s newest most exciting string quartet the Quartz Quartet, Sydney’s established and highly acclaimed Acacia Quartet, cellist Josephine Vains (from The Firebird Trio) and Melbourne organist Rhys Boak.
The festival opens in the Adamshurst ballroom on November 11 with three concerts, the first starting at 1.30pm.
At 7.30pm Acadia Quartet performs at St Matthew’s.
Founded in 2010 by four friends with a passion for chamber music – violinists Lisa Stewart and Myee Clohessy, violist Stefan Duwe and cellist Anna Martin-Scrase – Acacia Quartet present versatile and inventive programs which often couple established repertoire with the unorthodox.
In 2013 Acacia was nominated for both an ARIA award and an APRA-AMCOS art music award.
The festival also includes a free public workshop for up-and-coming performers, and guest appearances by Stephen O’Connell (local saxophonist/composer) and Khayl Picard (clarinet), a former Albury High School student who is currently completing his final year of music study at the Sydney Conservatorium.
The Saturday, November 12, afternoon concert features works by Beethoven, with his famous Ghost Trio and Harp Quartet.
That evening Russell and The Orpheus Piano Trio – featuring the works of Schubert and Dvorak – will be the first performers to play at MAMA.