C15 Magic Eight
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May 5, 2023
7.30pm - 9.10pm
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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)
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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
Luminescence gives voice to human experiences of all kinds.
Luminescence Chamber Singers is a vocal ensemble based on Ngunnawal country [Canberra, Australia], and the umbrella organisation for the Luminescence Children’s Choir. Performing music from all times and places, Luminescence champions the unbound expressive potential of our original instrument - the human voice. Both ensembles deliver artistic and educational programs that ignite the imagination of audiences, and give voice to human experiences of all kinds. Luminescence presents an annual concert programme in Canberra and surrounding regions, and performs at a wide range of festivals, events and collaborations. Recent highlights have included performances of David Lang’s Pulitzer prize winning work, ‘little match girl passion’, appearances for Canberra International Music Festival, Four Winds Festival (Bermagui), Musica Viva, Flowers of War, and numerous performances in partnership with the National Gallery of Australia for Patricia Piccinini’s ‘Every Heart Sings’ Skywhale project.Artist Quatuor Van Kuijk
"Style, energy and a sense of risk. These four young Frenchman made the music smile." The Guardian
The Quatuor Van Kuijk's international accolades boast First, Best Beethoven, and Best Haydn Prizes at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competition; First Prize, and an Audience Award at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition; as well as becoming laureates of the Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy. They were BBC New Generation Artists from 2015-17, as well as ECHO Rising Stars for the 2017-18 season.
Following such high success early in their career, the ensemble is an established presence at major international venues, performing at the Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie de Paris, Auditorium du Louvre, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Salle Gaveau, Paris; Tonhalle, Zurich; Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Vienna; Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Berliner Philharmonie; Kölner Philharmonie; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Gulbenkian, Lisbon; Tivoli Concert Series, Denmark; Konserthuset Stockholm; and at festivals including the BBC Proms, Cheltenham, Heidelberg, Lockenhaus, Davos, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier/Radio France, Evian, Auvers-sur-Oise, Stavanger and Trondheim (Norway), Concentus Moraviae (Czech Republic), Haydn/Esterházy (Hungary), and Eilat (Israel).
Quatuor Van Kuijk is supported by Sharon Green and Marcel SkjaldArtist Oliver Shermacher
Artist Sally Walker
Sally Walker is Lecturer in Classical Woodwind at the Australian National University, regular Guest Principal with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Principal Flautist with the Omega Ensemble. She performs on modern flutes and piccolo as well as historical flutes and recorders and has appeared in the London Proms, Salzburg, Lucerne, Tanglewood and Edinburgh Festivals.
She was Grand-finalist in the Leonardo de Lorenzo International Flute Competition (Italy), won 2nd Prize in the Friedrich Kuhlau International Flute Competition (Germany) and was awarded scholarships from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange for postgraduate study in Germany), Ian Potter Cultural Fund and the Queen's Trust.
She has toured and recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, is a former Principal Flute of the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, was a member of Kölner Kammerorchester and has performed as Guest Principal Flute with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Manchester Camerata, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
Sally devotes herself to both Early and Contemporary Music, having performed with Early Music ensembles such as Das Neue Orchester Köln, Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum and the Leipziger Kammerorchester as well as Contemporary Music ensembles such as Halcyon. She is deeply committed to chamber music and has collaborated with colleagues across various art forms and styles, including Tamara Anna-Cislowska, Aiko Goto, David Greco, Steven Isserlis, Afro Moses, Ian Munro, Simon Tedeschi, Dénes Várjon, Shanghai and Acacia string quartets. She has recorded three CDs with Pianist Philip Mayers, was featured on Sally Whitwell’s Aria-nominated CD, “I was Flying”, Cyrus Meurant’s CD “Monday to Friday” and on recordings with Halycon, Australian Chamber Orchestra and other orchestras.