C15 Magic Eight
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Friday, 5 May 2023
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Fitters' Workshop
Printers Way, Kingston, ACT 2604
Schubert’s monumental Octet from 1824, sumptuously laid out over six movements, combines five string players with three winds. This is chamber music on a big scale, bringing together the Quatuor Van Kuijk with four prominent Australians.
Igor Stravinsky’s classic Octet for wind instruments (including two bassoons), came to the composer in a dream. As we celebrate its 100th birthday in 2023, the octet is anything but dreamy: it prattles and prances with the best of them.
Between these two classic pillars, a modern masterpiece by Danish composer Per Nørgård is sung by the eight voices of Luminescence Chamber Singers. Wie ein Kind (Like a Child), conveys innocence and sophistication in settings of poetry by Adolf Wölfli and Rainer Maria Rilke.
Program
Igor Stravinsky, Octet (1923)
Per Nörgard, Wie ein Kind (Like a Child) (1980)
-interval-
Franz Schubert, Octet (1824)
Artists
Luminescence Chamber Singers
Quatuor Van Kuijk
Sally Walker, flute
Oliver Shermacher, clarinet
Ben Hoadley and Zoey Pepper, bassoon
Fletcher Cox, trumpet
Joel Walmsley, trumpet
Jackson Bankovic, trombone
Aidan Gabriels, horn
Max McBride, double bass
Paolo Franks, trombone
ARTIST Learn more about the artist
Artist Luminescence Chamber Singers
The unbound expressive potential of our original instrument: the human voice
Comprised of six professional singers, Luminescence Chamber Singers is a virtuosic vocal ensemble based on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country (Canberra, Australia). Performing music that spans Medieval chant and Renaissance polyphony as well as folk song, pop, and contemporary art music, Luminescence has rapidly emerged as one of Australia’s leading ensembles.
Artist Oliver Shermacher
Australian born clarinettist Oliver Shermacher completed his Bachelors at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under Francesco Celata, and his Masters at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik with Kilian Herold and Anton Hollich. He is currently living between Germany and Australia, performing as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral clarinettist. He was recently awarded the highly prestigious recognition of the 1st Prize and Audience Choice at the 2022 Aeolus Competition in Düsseldorf, one of the world’s most significant competitions for wind instrumentalists. Oliver won the Freedman Fellowship in 2018 and reached the Grand Finals of the 2018 ABC Young Performers Award, also receiving the Audience Choice award. Oliver has performed as soloist with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Apex Ensemble and was the Artist in Residence with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra for their 2021/2022 Season, having premiered the Alice Chance Clarinet Concerto with the orchestra in 2022. Oliver has played as Principal Clarinet with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia Orchestra, Freiburg Philharmonisches Orchester and with the Australian World Orchestra on Bass Clarinet. Oliver is a passionate composer, theatre maker and new music enthusiast with a focus on the intersection between theatre and solo performance.