Have music, will travel

How many people can you fit in a Tarago van?

It depends. When you also have multiple instruments and a harpsichord on board, four people is a squeeze. But that’s how Sounds Baroque, an ensemble made up of harpsichordist Paul Dyer, lutenist Hans-Dieter Michatz, singer Jennifer Bates and viola da gamba-ist Jenny Eriksson, took their forty minute show to countless schools as part of the early days of Musica Viva Australia In Schools.

‘It was very squashy. Almost illegal,’ says Jenny, laughing. ‘We couldn’t get out of the back because the harpsichord was always in front of the door.’

Jenny Eriksson is one of Australia’s leading viola da gamba player and founder of two acclaimed ensembles, The Marais Project and Elysian Fields, Australia’s only electric viola da gamba group. She is also a long-standing artist with the Musica Viva Australia In Schools and has travelled 1000s of miles for the program – not all in the Tarago, thankfully. As we celebrate 45 years of taking live music to schools all over Australia, Jenny looks back on the early days, and how her work evolved.

‘The first show was very much a historical show’, Jenny explains. ‘We talked about the instruments and the music, demonstrating French Baroque style and German Baroque style. The singer would put on some hats while she sang from Dido and Aeneas. Then we realised that kids really relate to stories so I had the idea of doing a Baroque opera.’

Sounds Baroque. 2021

So it was that, over two decades, Jenny’s ensemble developed cut down versions of four baroque operas: Dido and Aeneas and King Arthur by Purcell, Prospero’s Island, inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest with music by Matthew Locke, and Hercules, with music by Lully, based on his opera Alceste. The ensemble became a mini-opera company, and Jenny mastered many skills, from whipping up costumes and writing dialogue to sword-fighting.

‘We put together King Arthur with very minimal props — two sets, two singers, a costume each. I did all the sewing, other people in the group arranged the music and wrote the scripts, and friends helped with sets. It was a great hit. By the time we did our last opera, Hercules, we got someone in to help us direct it and you could see the difference!’

Da Vinci's Apprentice at Wave Rock. Credit shaun Ng. 2021.

For her final MVAIS show Jenny was determined to do an Australian production, and the opportunity arose to commission Australian composer Sally Greenway and scriptwriters Catherine Prosser and Paul Bissett, who came up with Da Vinci's Apprentice.

‘The instruments we played — oboe, cornetto, and viola da gamba — were all developing at the same time that Da Vinci lived, so there was science, maths and music in the show — everything teachers love to have in the curriculum. Plus Da Vinci's apprentice was a girl, but she dressed as a boy because in Da Vinci's time girls weren't allowed to be apprentices. That's a great story to tell. The students were fascinated.’

The musicians work really hard to engage every single child in that room. At the end of the concert we give a couple of students the opportunity to play our instruments — and you see the absolute delight in their eyes.

Jenny’s work with MVAIS has taken her all over the country, playing in school halls and community halls, pubs and even prisons. She recounts performing Hercules in a juvenile detention centre in Wagga Wagga where, at the start of the show the musicians looked out on a sea of teenage boys, talking, laughing and looking anywhere but the stage. By the end, the audience was hooked, drawn into a story which, they were delighted to discover, was about imprisonment and freedom.

Jenny sees the benefits of bringing live music to schools at every performance.

‘The musicians work really hard to engage every single child in that room. At the end of the concert we give a couple of students the opportunity to play our instruments — the harpsichord and the viola da gamba. To see their faces light up as they touch the instrument for the first time — quite often they're piano players and they play a Bach minuet, and you see the absolute delight in their eyes. The same with the gamba.

‘Maybe it's just for that moment, but that's okay. Every child should have that experience.’

On Saturday 15 August 2026 at 7.30pm Jenny will give a concert to mark the launch of Exquisite Harmonies, a new album from her baroque ensemble The Marais Project. She is joined by Susie Bishop on voice and violin and harpsichordist Anthony Abouhamad. All three musicians are donating their time to enable every dollar from ticket sales to this intimate concert to go to support Musica Viva Australia In Schools.

Special Event

Exquisite Harmonies

2026 Nocturne

Elysian Fields

Regional Tour

The Marais Project

The Marais Project is a celebration of music for the viola da gamba inspired by Marin Marais. Formed by Jennifer Eriksson in 2000, the ensemble has presented concerts for 25+ years, toured widely, regularly appeared at festivals & made dozen of recordings. They are available upon request to give masterclasses, workshops, and participate in community activities as part of their regional 2027 tour.