Lunchtime Concert Series

Sound the Organ

Kemp English  organ

Music by Mons Leidvin Takle

Friday 22 March

Our 2019 season roars to life with the mighty sound of Elder Hall’s pipe organ, expertly handled (and pedalled) by alumnus Kemp English. And did you know the King of Instruments can dance? From grand to groovy, the virtuosic organ music of Norwegian composer Mons Leidvin Takle is full of surprises.

Two Memorials

Elizabeth Layton  violin
Pei-Sian Ng  cello
Konstantin Shamray  piano

Martinů Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3, H. 340
Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

Friday 29 March

Three of Adelaide’s favourite musicians unite in a concert of contrasting memorials. Both composers dedicated these pieces to the memory of departed friends: Martinů’s Third Cello Sonata is delightfully warm and sunny, but Shostakovich’s Second Piano Trio has an icy clarity, cold enough to send chills down your back.

Rags and Rhapsodies

Ensemble Liaison

Kats-Chernin Ballade, Zee Rag, Russian Rag
Novacek Four Rags for Two Jons
Gershwin (arr. Ensemble Liaison) Rhapsody in Blue

Friday 5 April

Ensemble Liaison stride into town with a colourful collection of rags. Sometimes mischievous, sometimes melancholy, their toe-tapping syncopations may prove contagious – and a special arrangement of Gershwin’s beloved Rhapsody in Blue is unlikely to provide a cure! Soft-toed shoes recommended…

The Song Collectors

Rosalind Martin  soprano
Jamie Cock  piano

Settings of folksongs by Britten, Brahms and Grainger

Friday 12 April

No matter how well you can compose, there’s something about a good folksong that can’t be topped. Britten, Brahms and Grainger all devoted time to collecting and arranging some gems they could never have written themselves. Rediscover these ‘songs of the people’ with two of Adelaide’s most expressive musicians.

Good Friday – No Concert

Friday 19 April

Australian String Quartet

Paterson  Quartettsätze Two Movements for String Quartet  (SA premiere)
Brahms  String Quartet, Op. 51 No. 1 in C minor

Friday 26 April

The Australian String Quartet, Elder Hall and Brahms – a combination to cherish! And complementing Brahms’ elegant, refined First Quartet is an exciting new work, performed in South Australia for the first time: Paterson’s Quartettsätze.

Piano Duo

Lucinda Collins  piano
Konstantin Shamray  piano

Rachmaninoff Suite No. 2, Op. 17
Ravel Rapsodie Espagnole
Lutosławski Variations on a Theme by Paganini

Friday 3 May

Two fabulous pianists combine their skills to bring us Rachamaninoff's thrilling Suite No. 2, Ravel’s colourful Spanish fantasy and Lutosławski’s flamboyant Variations on a Theme by Paganini. This will be a dazzling program that is sure to make the most of our twin Steinways.

Jazz Award Winners

Friday 10 May

What does it take to win a Helpmann Academy Jazz Award? Come and find out! Each year we bring the Conservatorium’s top jazz students together and give them a stage, 50 minutes and an enthusiastic audience. The rest is up to them…

Elder Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra

Elizabeth Layton  violin/director
Andrew Crothers  viola*

Respighi Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3
Telemann Viola Concerto in G major*
Elgar Serenade for Strings
Holst Brook Green Suite

Friday 17 May

Elizabeth Layton leads the Elder Conservatorium’s finest string players in two English jewels by Elgar and Holst. Respighi’s Third Suite of Ancient Airs and Dances is popular for its quiet nostalgia, and Telemann’s rich, lyrical Viola Concerto is enough to make anyone fall in love with its solo instrument.

Cello and Piano

Simon Cobcroft  cello
Kristian Chong  piano

Beethoven Sonata for Piano and Cello in G minor, Op. 5 No. 2
Brahms Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38

Friday 24 May

Simon Cobcroft, principal cellist of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, joins regular Adelaide visitor Kristian Chong in two fascinating musical dialogues. Beethoven takes us from dark to light, the two instruments relaxing into an easy-going conversation. Brahms goes the other way, ramping up the intensity and finishing with a thrilling fugue.

Elder Conservatorium Chorale

Carl Crossin OAM  conductor
Ryszard Pusz  percussion
Karl Geiger  piano

Friday 31 May

Under the baton of distinguished choral director Carl Crossin OAM, the Elder Conservatorium Chorale and Ryszard Pusz perform South Australian composer Becky Llewellyn’s Whales Weep Not!, based on poetry by D.H. Lawrence, and more.

Life, Love and Death

Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra
Nicholas Braithwaite  guest conductor
Samuel Blanchard-Jackson  violin*

Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26*
Richard Strauss Death and Transfiguration

Friday 7 June

Music of transcendent beauty. Bruch’s romantic First Violin Concerto never fails to tug at the heartstrings, and Richard Strauss’ ambitious tone poem is about nothing less that life and death. Renowned conductor Nicholas Braithwaite will inspire the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra in this concert of epic proportions.

Birds of the Brazilian Forest

John Aue  double bass
with leading Jazz students of the Elder Conservatorium

‘I was a beach boy, and I believe I learned my songs from the birds of the Brazilian forest.’ A.C. Jobim

Friday 14 June

Join jazz bass lecturer John Aue and top jazz students from the Elder Conservatorium as they present some of the most popular works of A.C. ‘Tom’ Jobim, along with other highlights of Brazilian jazz.

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Australian String Quartet

Ives  String Quartet No. 1 From the Salvation Army
Haydn  String Quartet Op. 33 No. 3 in C major, No. 32, Hob III:39 The Bird

Friday 16 August

Where have I heard that before? Charles Ives whimsical First Quartet is imaginatively based on popular hymn tunes from American church services and revival meetings. The Australian String Quartet then tweet their way through one of Haydn’s sweetest quartets. Music brimming with grace and humour.

Summer Holiday

Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra
Luke Dollman  conductor
Samson Peng  horn*

Friday 23 August

Shake off the winter blues with this delightful package from a Northern Hemisphere summer. Brahms wrote his pastoral Second Symphony during a summer holiday in Austria, where pretty tunes were thick on the ground. Mozart’s Third Horn Concerto is light on the surface, but has a surprising emotional subtlety.

Impressions

Michael Ierace  piano

Grieg Selections from Lyric Pieces
Ravel Gaspard de la nuit

Friday 30 August

Adelaide pianist Michael Ierace conjures up a wealth of vivid images from the black box we call a piano. In Gaspard de la nuit, Ravel’s music evokes everything from water to wind in telling its ghostly fairytales. Grieg’s Lyric Pieces are like postcards from a dearly loved friend.

What's Cookin'?

University of Adelaide Big Band
Dustan Cox  director

Caspar Hawksley  New work
and other new music by SA composers

Friday 6 September

All good jazz is a celebration of the unpredictable, and here we take it one step further with a program of original music by South Australian composers. Taking centre stage is a brand new suite for Big Band by third-year composition student Caspar Hawksley.

First Love

Elder Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra
Elizabeth Layton  violin/director⁺
Yundi Yuan  piano*
Owen Morris  trumpet*
Andrew Groch conductor*

Mozart Divertimento for strings in D major⁺
Finzi Romance in E flat Op 11 for strings⁺
Shostakovich Piano concerto No. 1 Op. 35*

Friday 13 September

Young composers, young musicians, finding what they love best. The pure joy of music overflows in Mozart’s early Divertimento. Finzi’s Romance yearns for the quiet English countryside. Shostakovich finds a sharper voice in his idiosyncratic First Piano Concerto, played by recent graduate Yundi Yuan and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet Owen Morris.

Back and Forth

Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra
Bryan Griffiths  guest conductor

Natalie Williams Pendulum
Persichetti Divertimento
Grainger arr. Jager Blithe Bells (after J.S. Bach's BWV 208) 
Ticheli Postcard 
Schuman New England Triptych

Friday 20 September

Natalie Williams’ Pendulum sets up the back-and-forth motion of this concert. This music swings agreeably like (blithe) bells between brass and winds, light and shade, Australia and America, modern and classic repertoire. The Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra is led by guest conductor and alumnus Bryan Griffiths.

Guitar Duo

Lee Song-Ou  guitar
Oliver Fartach-Naini  guitar

Sor L’Encouragement Op. 34
Granados Valses Poéticos
Geonyong Lee Suite for Guitar Duo

Friday 27 September

Long-time duo partners Lee Song-Ou and Oliver Fartach-Naini weave an entrancing dance with their guitars on the Elder Hall stage. Elegant waltzes are heard in two classic pieces by Sor and Granados, and a lyrical Suite by Geonyong Lee mixes Korean and Western dance forms.

Breathing Dreams Like Air

Celia Craig  oboe
Lyndon Watts  bassoon
Konstantin Shamray  piano

Hindemith Sonata for Bassoon and Piano
Britten Temporal Variations for oboe and piano
Prokofiev Pieces from Romeo and Juliet
Poulenc Trio for oboe, bassoon & piano

Friday 4 October

‘A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about…’

This attractive program of music for double reed instruments and piano promises to be emotionally and musically rewarding. Presented by three of Australia’s most internationally acclaimed performers, in an exciting new musical conversation.

Of Love and War

Elizabeth Layton  violin
Lucinda Collins  piano

Grieg  Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 13
Arthur Benjamin  Violin Sonata in E minor

Friday 11 October

One sonata from a honeymoon, and another from the First World War. Grieg’s delightful Second Violin sonata was written just after his marriage. Australian composer Arthur Benjamin penned a sonata 1918, the same year he became a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down. The Heads of the Elder Conservatorium’s Strings and Keyboard departments join forces for this concert.

The Music of Harold Arlen

Honours Jazz Ensemble
James Muller  guitar/director

Friday 18 October

You may not remember his name but you definitely know his songs! Harold Arlen wrote some of the greatest works in the American Song Book including Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Stormy Weather and I’ve Got the World on a String. James Muller and the Honours Jazz Ensemble bring some of Arlen’s most beautiful works to life.

Making Waves

Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra
Luke Dollman  conductor
Konstantin Shamray  piano*

Aaron Pelle New work
Britten Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Bartok Piano Concerto No. 3*

Friday 25 October

Piano star Konstantin Shamray returns with the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra and an exciting new work by Honours composition student Aaron Pelle. Britten’s Four Sea Interludes may plunge you into the cold, forbidding waters of the North Sea… but Bartók’s joyful final Piano Concerto is sure to fish you out and dry you off!

Top Class

Friday 1 November

For our final concert, we give the Elder Hall stage over to the Elder Conservatorium’s top performing students. Come and hear what promises to be a rich and varied program presented by Adelaide’s next generation of fine musicians.

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