A clarinet melody, rising like the sun from shimmering strings. Five of Australia’s most brilliant musicians. Works beloved and new from an age of discovery, emotion and light.
The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra is touring Queensland this winter with a concert intimate, luminous chamber music. Tickets are on sale now for concerts in Brisbane, Caloundra, Noosa, Maryborough and Bundaberg from 29 August – 5 September.
Education and community engagement is also a big part of the tour, as the group partners in each location to offer schools concerts, youth and community orchestra workshops and free Talk and Tea conversation sessions before or after each concert.
‘The Sunrise’ brings five principals from the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra into the intimacy of chamber music, including co-artistic directors and long-time musical friends Rachael Beesley (violin) and Nicole van Bruggen (clarinet).
They’re joined by Alison Rayner (violin), Stephen King (viola) and Natasha Kraemer (cello) – all nationally and internationally acclaimed experts in historically informed performance.
The program takes in a sweep of classical quartets, including the buoyant Mozart K.157, the melancholy Cavatina from Beethoven’s Op.130, and a turbulent Finnish landscape by the little-known Bernhard Crusell.
At the pinnacle is Haydn’s ‘Sunrise’ quartet is a sparkling 18th-century clarinet arrangement by Vincenzo Gambaro, an Italian clarinettist and entrepreneur who arranged pieces by his friends Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart to highlight the clarinet’s lush tones.
In fact, the Haydn/Gambaro ‘Sunrise’ quartet also has a special place in ARCO’s history and heart. Recorded on CD in 1999 by Van Bruggen and Beesley with their Dutch group Kwartet André, it was their first-ever professional recording together, and the piece that started their friendship – and eventually, their highly-successful Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra.
“We had both just graduated from the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague in The Netherlands,” explains Van Bruggen, who remained in the country for 17 years as a sought-after performer and educator in historical clarinet. “We kept playing together, and eventually when we had both moved back home to Australia, we co-founded ARCO in 2012. So, it’s really lovely to revisit the Haydn/Gambaro quartet that began everything.”
While on tour ARCO will work in each location to offer education and community engagement. In Brisbane, Sunshine Beach, Maryborough and Bundaberg they’ll present their acclaimed Voyage of Musical Discovery schools education programs, a 90-minute concert/demonstration that pairs Classical music with a brand-new commissioned work from Brisbane composer and co-presenter Nicole Murphy.
In addition, ARCO will give workshops to the Bundaberg Youth Orchestra, Cooloola Community Orchestra, Bella Canna Quintet and the Maryborough High Strings, who will share the stage with ARCO in that town’s concert. Every concert will also include a free Talk & Tea musical conversation before or after the concert, where audience members can meet the musicians and instruments up close.
Bask in the luminous sonorities of rare historical instruments and music. Connect deeply with a panorama of emotions. Experience ‘The Sunrise.’
