
In this special program for Perth, local artists Jonathan Paget and the Darlington Quartet come together for a selection of beloved classics for guitar and string quartet.
More infoAs a teenager, newly in love with classical music, I’d spend a tiny portion of my milkrun wages each month on a copy of 24 Hours (later Limelight), underlining each piece I wanted to hear, planning my weeks around these broadcasts. Later, with more money (though earned with less physical exertion), I’d do the same with other people’s season launches, writing in a diary the live performances I couldn’t possibly miss. Of course, these two behavioural patterns are connected; the child, after all, is father to the man.
And now it’s my own seasons I happily anticipate. Any concert season tells a story, and the one Musica Viva Australia tells in 2022 is simple, if boldly told: it is a tale of creativity during adversity; of partnerships that span the country and the world; of resilience, communal experience and the sheer, astonishing joy of live performance.
I can’t remember if Bach’s Goldberg Variations was one of the works I diligently underlined in 24 Hours, though I do remember buying Glenn Gould’s 1981 recording not so long after it was released, thereafter quickly falling under its considerable spell. Bringing Andrea Lam and Paul Grabowsky together for this Goldberg project – in which they will both hold up a mirror to their respective musical worlds – will shine a bright light on this work for the ages.
The same applies to the collaboration between Kristian Winther and the Signum Saxophone Quartet – a cracking, hip ensemble from Cologne – in Weill’s masterpiece, his Violin Concerto of 1924. Add to the mix some of Signum’s signature works – from Bach to Broadway – and the program could not be more enticing.
Is Schubert’s Winterreise a greater monument than Bach’s Goldberg Variations? I’ll ask what you think once you see the incomparable English tenor Allan Clayton perform the cycle with pianist Kate Golla, against the backdrop of Fred Williams’s own winter’s journey through Australia’s physical and emotional landscape – all in a magical staging by Lindy Hume.
We round out this season with the phenomenal artistry of a line-up of Australian and international musicians: Karin Schaupp and the Flinders Quartet; Julia Fredersdorff and her Van Diemen’s Band; the brilliant young Z.E.N. Trio; mandolinist Avi Avital and cellist/composer Giovanni Sollima; and a series of Australian soloists populating our Sydney and Melbourne morning concerts.
Come do your part, for music is meaningless without our beloved audiences. Join us – along with the many donors and partners who tirelessly and generously make our work possible – for a season of innovation and wonder.
Paul Kildea, Artistic Director
With special thanks to the Amadeus Society for its support of Musica Viva Australia’s 2022 Concert Season.
Explore the 2022 Concert Season and view our digital brochure online. Subscribe online with in-person and digital subscriptions available.
Sydney Morning Masters – a series of live chamber music concerts designed to showcase excellence.
Viva Edge is Musica Viva Australia’s newest chamber music concert series located at The Edge in Federation Square, Melbourne.
In this special program for Perth, local artists Jonathan Paget and the Darlington Quartet come together for a selection of beloved classics for guitar and string quartet.
More infoBernadette Harvey and Harry Bennetts will present a violin recital in Newcastle, and the wonderful Umberto Clerici will be jumping in to fill in on cello for the Saturday program.
More infoMusica Viva Australia’s current FutureMakers, the brilliant Partridge Quartet, are sure to wow audiences with this knockout of a program in Melbourne this March.
More infoThe Orava Quartet and pianist Daniel de Borah join forces for this one-off concert in Brisbane this March.
More infoJoin us for the livestreamed concert from Sydney's City Recital Hall to hear the Piano Trio by Australian composer Donald Hollier.
More infoJoin us in Adelaide for an evening of Beethoven and Shostakovich with pianist Konstantin Shamray and the Australian String Quartet.
More infoVan Diemen’s Band comes from an island state. And perhaps it’s the absence of land borders that empowers its musicians to view the world in a distinctive light.
More infoIn this concert Andrea Lam and Paul Grabowsky present their very different takes on the resultant work, the Goldberg Variations.
More infoThese powerful artistic forces combine to produce the most relevant staging of Winterreise Australia has ever seen.
More infoWe seek out musical voices that are worth hearing. So we’ve amplified four leading voices of their generation: Australian composer Matt Laing and the soloistic talents of Z.E.N. Trio.
More infoCome along and listen to music with world roots brought to local stages. Be part of a musical community as diverse as Australia.
More infoFour saxophonists lock eyes, no sheet music to distract them. They bend their knees with the flow of the music, and lift their fingers to snap with the beat.
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