C7 Larry and Luigi
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Friday, 3 May 2024
11:30 am
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Albert Hall
100 Commonwealth Ave, Yarralumla ACT 2601
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General Admission $60,
Concession $55
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In Association with
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With Support From
Larry and Luigi – Two Slices of History
Presented in partnership with the Embassy of Italy. Concert introduced by Andrew Ford.
Celebrating Luigi Nono and Larry Sitsky, two major figures in music from opposite ends of the globe, Venice and Canberra. Both captured the great existential dilemmas of the 20th century, each in their own idiosyncratic way. Nono’s oeuvre was rooted in political activism before softening into purified, other-worldly strands of sound transcending the here and now. Sitsky, now into his tenth decade, found his wings in pre-revolutionary China and embraced the ethnic origins of his family before settling in Canberra. His legacy is as prolific as it is lively and direct.
PROGRAM
Luigi Nono (1924-1990), La Fabbrica Illuminata
Larry Sitsky (b. 1934), Zuqerq for clarinet and bongos
Larry Sitsky (b. 1934), A Feast of Lanterns II
The performance will be followed by a light lunch provided by the Embassy of Italy.
ARTISTS
Lotte Betts-Dean, mezzo-soprano
Jason Noble, clarinet
Niki Johnson, percussion
Victoria Bihun, violin
Freya Schack-Arnott, cello
Roland Peelman, piano
Andrew Ford, presenter
Sitsky photo credit – ANU School of Music
Niki Johnson is supported by Carolyn Philpot
Roland Peelman is supported by Anna and Bob Prosser
This concert is supported by Gail Ford
-
Friday, 3 May 2024
11:30 am
-
Albert Hall
100 Commonwealth Ave, Yarralumla ACT 2601
-
General Admission $60,
Concession $55
ARTIST Learn more about the artist
Artist Roland Peelman AM, Artistic Director
“His encyclopaedic understanding of performing and visual arts and his theatrical instinct place him in constant demand as a musician of flair and imagination.” – Antony Jeffrey, Many Faces of Inspiration.
At the helm of the Festival since 2015 is Artistic Director Roland Peelman, an acclaimed musician of great versatility who has established a reputation as one of Australia’s most innovative musical directors.
Artist Lotte Betts-Dean, mezzo-soprano
Praised by The Guardian for her “irrepressible sense of drama and unmissable, urgent musicality”, Australian mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean is passionate about curation and programming, with a broad repertoire that encompasses contemporary music, art song, chamber music, early music, opera, oratorio and non-classical collaborations. Lotte is an Ambassador of Donne, a charitable foundation dedicated to promoting gender equality in the music industry, and in 2022 she was named as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, an honour reserved for alumni who have contributed significantly to the music industry.
Full bio at www.lottebettsdean.com
Photo credit Benjamin Ealovega
Artist Niki Johnson, percussionist-composer
Niki Johnson is a percussionist and composer-performer whose musical practice incorporates contemporary classical repertoire, improvisation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and performance art. She is a current PhD Candidate at Monash University, where her research explores percussionists’ collaborations with sculptors and designers, and the process of co-creating, and composing for new sculptural instruments. Her main research project is Shock Lines, a collaboration involving Niki as percussionist-composer, glass artist Caitlin Dubler, and sound designer Natasha Dubler. Niki also works with clarinettist and composer Solomon Frank in the experimental music and theatre duo Throat Pleats. This collaboration explores shifting animalistic power dynamics, balloons, hoses, and vacuum cleaners.
Artist Jason Noble, clarinet
Jason Noble is one of Australia’s most versatile clarinettists – experimental to classical – a soloist and core member of Ensemble Offspring. Jason has performed at festivals locally and internationally, from Warsaw to London, Shanghai to Kabul, and all major cities across Australia. “His expertise and virtuosic playing give new insights into the versatility of the bass clarinet” (Sounds Like Sydney)
Artist Victoria Bihun, violin
Victoria Bihun grew up in Benalla, Victoria. She began playing the violin at the age of five and from the age of nine was making the 400km round trip to Melbourne every Saturday morning to participate in Melbourne Youth Music programs.
She completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, studying with Mark Mogilevski. As a student she won many university prizes and was concertmaster with both the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Symphony Orchestra, as well as appearing as Guest Concertmaster with Victorian Opera.
Artist Andrew Ford, composer - writer - broadcaster
Andrew Ford OAM is a composer, writer and broadcaster who has won awards in each of those capacities, including the Paul Lowin Prize for his song cycle Learning to Howl, a Green Room Award for his opera Rembrandt’s Wife and the Albert H. Maggs Prize for his large ensemble piece, Rauha. He has been composer-in-residence for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. In 2014 he was Poynter Fellow and visiting composer at Yale University, in 2015 visiting lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory, and in 2018 HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the Australian National University. Ford has written widely on all manner of music and published ten books, most recently The Song Remains the Same with Anni Heino (La Trobe University Press, 2019). He has written, presented and co-produced five radio series for the ABC and, since 1995, presented The Music Show each weekend on Radio National. He was awarded an OAM in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Photo: Jim Rolon
Artist Freya Schack-Arnott, cello
Freya Schack-Arnott (DK/AUS) is a contemporary cellist and nyckelharpist who enjoys a multi-faceted career as a performer, improviser, composer and curator; ranging from contemporary classical repertoire to experimental, electronics, folk and popular art forms.
Schack-Arnott regularly performs with Australia’s leading new music ensembles, including ELISION Ensemble and Ensemble Offspring.
As an improviser and composer, Schack-Arnott’s current projects include: ‘FSA/BW’ (experimental string duo with bassist Benjamin Ward), ’Runa Cara’ (Scando/Irish folk duo with Bonnie Stewart/aka Bonniesongs),‘Cloud Maker’(cross-cultural collaboration with 4 female musicians).
Freya is also co-founder and curator of the regular ‘Opus Now’ music series, an ongoing project exploring relationships between the music of today and classical chamber-works.