THE MELBOURNE REVIEW SEPTEMBER 2013 21
MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU
PERFORMING ARTS
Delight of Spring Port Fairy Spring Music Festival BY ROBERT DUNSTAN
P
ort Fairy Spring Music Festival, now in its 24th year and regarded as one of the leading classical music festivals in Victoria, again boasts a strong program for 2013 with artists from overseas performing alongside high profile Australian singers and musicians as well as up and coming classical talent. Highlights will include Russian pianist Yuri Rozum playing Tchaikovsky, Sweden’s Haga Duo performing a program on flute and guitar and Sydney’s The Song Company presenting music from across the ages. Moscow-based tenor Andrew Goodwin will also be singing some Schubert as well as performing with Monash Sinfonia, and the female members of The Black Arm Band Company will be presenting their acclaimed dirtsong which uses
Andrew Goodwin.
Anna Goldsworthy.
Yuri Rozum.
11 different Indigenous languages.
Noted Australian composer Andrew Ford will premiere his new song cycle, Last Words, which will feature New York-based soprano Jane Sheldon.
years ago, now doing so well as leader of the Australian String Quartet. Having younger musicians at the festival also gives it a lot of energy.”
“It’s a work commissioned by the Australia Council and it was Andrew’s fabulous idea to set the last words of some famous characters and some fictional characters, such as Tim Winton’s Fish from Cloudstreet, to music,” Goldsworthy explains.
There will also be fun to be had when opera singer and cabaret artist Ali McGregor hosts Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night.
Classical pianist and writer Anna Goldsworthy has helmed the boutique festival for a number of years and chose Voyage as the theme for 2013. “I’ve always found it useful to have a theme that you can hang the performances on,” the artistic director says. “So with this year’s theme being Voyage, it’s music that will take the audience on a journey of some kind. “I also think it’s the strongest line-up yet and I’m thrilled at the calibre of the artists involved,” Goldsworthy adds. “In putting it all together, I liken it to creating a dinner party where you invite people who would be able to interact with each other and create a new chemistry.”
Performance #13 Berwaerts & Collins One of the world’s most diverse trumpeters, Belgian Jeroen Berwaerts, joins world-renowned clarinettist and conductor Michael Collins as he leads the ANAM Orchestra in a program featuring the Australian premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Clarinet Concerto.
Britten Clarinet Concerto
Zimmermann Trumpet Concerto in C Nobody knows the trouble I see Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra Michael Collins Clarinet/Director Jeroen Berwaerts Trumpet ANAM Orchestra
Saturday 21 September, 7pm South Melbourne Town Hall
Tickets Full $55 Sen $40 Conc $30
Bookings 9645 7911 or anam.com.au
ANAM Orchestra Sponsor
Concert Sponsor
“That has always been a very popular feature but this will be the first time Ali has hosted it,” Goldsworthy says. “It’s an opportunity to
The festival prides itself on presenting wellestablished artists alongside young talent. “That’s always been part of our brief,” Goldsworthy declares, “and our audience takes delight in that. It’s lovely to see someone like the wonderful violinist Christian Winter, who first played at the festival as a student many
» Port Fairy Spring Music Festival runs from Friday, October 11 until Sunday, October 13 portfairyspringfest.com.au