Spring Early Music Festival 7 - 19 October 2008

Presented by the Early Music Studio, Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne
Director John Griffiths

BOOKINGS: Easytix (03) 9639 0096 www.easytix.com.au

ENQUIRIES: Early Music Studio (03) 8344 3023 vwatts@unimelb.edu.au

The Spring Early Music Festival is a unique event in Melbourne’s artistic calendar. Now in it’s fourth year, the Festival brings together University students, recent graduates, local and visiting professionals for 14 events over 13 days, including masterclasses, pre-concert talks and concerts. No other Festival combines such a variety of artists with years of experience alongside youthful excitement to present a program of stunning virtuosity and passionate insight.

Virtuoso American lutenist Hopkinson Smith comes to Melbourne for the first time to perform along side younger emerging artists from overseas and closer to home. Satyr’s Band, Dutch-based ensemble lead by recorder player & oboist Amy Power, and distinguished Spanish pianist Enrique Pérez de Guzmán also give their first performances in Melbourne. Trinity Chapel will come alive when violinists Lorenzo Colittoo and Lisa Ferguson and viola player Peter Bucknell join with Melbourne Collegium, an orchestra of young early string specialists, to present a concert of Baroque favorites. And the Australian Chamber Choir brings the music of mid-16th century composer Simon Boyleau, chapel master of the Cathedral of Milan, back to life with the premier modern performance of these beautiful motets. The Festival culminates with a student opera production Récréation de Musique, a French musical entertainment devised and directed by French Baroque specialist Greg Dikmans.
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Masterclass — Hopkinson Smith
7 October (Tuesday) 6pm
Early Music Studio, University of Melbourne - 27 Royal Pde Parkville
$20/$10 senior/student/conc
A great figure of early music, Hopkinson Smith through his recordings and performances has changed the way the world hears and plays the lute. For any player of any instrument or any lover of the art of music, a masterclass with Hopkinson Smith is an unforgettable journey through time and the sonic universe.

In Your Lap: the Lute Connection
A pre-concert talk — John Griffiths
9 October (Thursday) 7pm
Early Music Studio, University of Melbourne - 27 Royal Pde Parkville
Free entry
The tool of the spy, the symbol of just government, the soul’s tuning machine and the predecessor of the iPod—this induction into the magic and enchantment of the lute will prepare your spirit for Hopkinson Smith’s recital.

Pure Silk — True Grit
Hopkinson Smith, lute and baroque guitar
9 October (Thursday) 8pm
Trinity College Chapel, University of Melbourne - Royal Pde, Parkville
$40/$20 senior/student/conc
Baroque Music from Germany, France and Spain. A program that balances joyous extroversion and sublime poetry within contrasting musical climates: the clearly structured lyricism of Sylvius Leopold Weiss, decorative and decorous restraint of “le Vieux” Galutier, and the traditionally inspired and intuitive dynamism of Spaniards, Francesco Guerau, Antonio de Santa Cruz and Gaspar Sanz.

Early Music Studio Baroque Ensemble (dir. Greg Dikmans)
10 October (Friday) 1pm
Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne - Swanston St, Parkville
Free entry
A free lunch-hour concert showcasing a varied program of works performed by students of the University of Melbourne Faculty of Music.
Enrique Pérez de Guzmán, piano
10 October (Friday) 8pm
Melba Hall, Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne - Royal Pde, Parkville
$25/$20 senior $15 student/conc
The program is the annual Director’s Caprice, the one concert in the festival that’s outside the square, but that everyone loves. Distinguished Spanish pianist Enrique Pérez de Guzmán makes his first visit to Australia, and this will be his only Melbourne performance. The first part of his program comprises works by Chopin, Liszt, and Scriabin, while the second part will feature Spanish masters Granados, Federico Mompou and Manuel de Falla.
Sponsored by the Consulate General of Spain.

The Flute’s Pleasure Garden
Recorder Students from the Early Music Studio (dir. Ruth Wilkinson)
11 October (Saturday) 2pm
Early Music Studio, University of Melbourne - 27 Royal Pde Parkville
$15/$10 seniors/student/conc
Directed by Ruth Wilkinson, Faculty of Music recorder students join with Louisa Hunter-Bradley, soprano & recorders, to present the pleasures of music by Jacob van Eyck and contemporaries in the delightful garden setting of the Early Music Studio at the University of Melbourne.

Introducing Simon Boyleau
Australian Chamber Choir (dir. Douglas Lawrence)
11 October (Saturday) 8pm
Trinity College Chapel, University of Melbourne - Royal Pde, Parkville
$30/$20 senior /$10 student/conc
First performance since the 16th century of motets by French nobleman composer Simon Boyleau, chapelmaster at the Cathedral of Milan. Based on the recent research of Melbourne scholar Sally Watt and her edition of Boyleau’s 1544 publication Motetta in quatuor vocem nunquam hactenus impressa.
This event will also serve to launch the Melbourne publication of this important collection by Lyrebird Press.

The Satyr in the Baroque Imagination
A pre-concert Lecture — John Weretka
12 October (Sunday) 1pm
Early Music Studio, University of Melbourne - 27 Royal Pde Parkville
Free entry
In Baroque thought the Satyr conjured images of sexual abandon and lust. In classical mythology satyrs were woodland demons, partly human and partly bestial, the supposed companions of Bacchus. Greek artists represented the satyr with the ears and tail of a horse while Roman sculptors gave it the ears, tail, and legs of a goat, and budding horns. This talk explores 17th and 18th-century imaginings of the satyr and their musical implications.

The Four Corners of the Satyr
Satyr’s Band
Trinity College Chapel, University of Melbourne - Royal Pde, Parkville
12 October (Sunday) 2pm
$40/$20 seniors/students/conc
Andreas Böhlen - recorder, Amy Power - recorder and baroque oboe, Lisa Goldberg - baroque bassoon, and Takashi Watanabe - harpsichord
A program combining unfamiliar jewels from different corners of Baroque alongside works by well-known masters. The Incorporation of improvisation is an important element of their performance, adding liveliness and spontaneity to virtuosic instrumental music of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Masterclass — Amy Power
14 October (Tuesday) 6pm
Early Music Studio, University of Melbourne - 27 Royal Pde Parkville
Free entry
An open invitation to see into the mind of a leading young recorder player through pedagogical interaction with emerging local performers.

Stringanza
17 October (Friday) 8pm
Trinity College Chapel, University of Melbourne - Royal Pde, Parkville
$40/$20 seniors/students/conc
Lorenzo Colitto & Lisa Ferguson violins, and Peter Bucknell, viola, with Melbourne Collegium
Immerse yourself in the sumptuous sounds of Baroque strings when international guests Lorenzo Colitto & Lisa Ferguson violins and Peter Bucknell, viola join forces with Melbourne Collegium to present an exciting program of Baroque favorites and rare masterpieces: Zavateri; Bergonzi; Muffat Armonico Tributo; Vivaldi Estro Armonico; Telemann Viola Concerto; Handel; Geminiani La follia.

Récréation de Musique
University of Melbourne opera project: Soloists, Early Voices & Baroque Ensemble (dir. Greg Dikmans)
18 October (Saturday) 8pm & 19 October (Sunday) 2pm
Brunswick Town Hall - 233 Sydney Road, Brunswick
$30/$15 seniors/students/conc
Devised and directed by French Baroque specialist Greg Dikmans, this concert presents a musical entertainment on the grand scale. The highlight of the program is Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Actéon, a miniature tragédie en musique that tells the story of the hunter Actéon who, after discovering the goddess Diana bathing with her attendants, is torn apart by his own hounds after being transformed into a stag by the angry goddess. This rarely-heard masterpiece is complemented by instrumental music and choruses from the opera Armide by Jean-Baptiste Lully, including the famous Passacaille from Act V, and Airs de cour by Michel Lambert.

www.music.unimelb.edu.au/semf.html