The first step of the Australia Ensemble UNSW’s transformative year in 2024 is upon us.

The March concert marks the dawn of a new chapter while seamlessly paying homage to our rich heritage. This program reveres the profound legacy of our string players, who initially graced the stage within the Australia Ensemble UNSW, and who for 30 years have performed as Goldner String Quartet. 

These themes of honouring the past while looking to the future are further revealed through New Zealand composer Gareth Farr’s beguiling Te Kōanga, a title relating to a season of regeneration. Two Viennese masterpieces complete the program, with Beethoven’s tenth string quartet Op.74, nicknamed ‘The Harp’ for the lively pizzicato sections in the first movement, and Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Quintet K581. This performance is a remarkable full circle for violist Irina Morozova, who performed the Mozart with the Australia Ensemble in the very first concert in 1980, and here is playing it again to open the 45th season!

May’s concert brings some new faces to the stage, including pianist David Fung, violinists Kristian Winther and Anna Da Silva Chen, and UNSW alumni, violist Tahlia Petrosian. Cellist Svetlana Bogosavljevic returns to join resident clarinettist David Griffiths in a dynamic program including two recent works: Stuart Greenbaum’s duo Northern Lights evokes colour and enigmatic mystery, and David Bruce’s rhythmically potent Gumboots, based on the earthy power of the gumboot dancing tradition of Southern Africa. Bookending the program are works of lyricism and poise, in Mozart’s Kegelstatt trio and Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet.

Dynamic classical accordionist James Crabb returns to the Clancy Auditorium in an eclectic third program. The works of Astor Piazzolla bring the vividness of Argentinian life, a style for which Crabb has been greatly celebrated. More surprising is to hear Antonin Dvořák’s evocation of the Balkan bagpipe, a set of Jewish prayers by Ernst Bloch, a meditation on life cycles by the Spanish composer Turina, and the mysticism of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Silenzio.

The final program brings the magnificence of Beethoven’s Septet Op.20, written at the turn of the nineteenth century to pay homage to a grand tradition of chamber music for winds. We welcome back Ensemble favourites Carla Blackwood, horn, Andrew Barnes, bassoonist, and Andrew Meisel, double bass. Pianist Andrea Lam returns for Elena Kats-Chernin’s poignant work of solace, Blue Silence¸and Glinka’s surprising infusion of emotion and passion in the unusual trio combination of clarinet, bassoon and piano. The program begins with the celebratory tones of Carl Vine’s Strutt Sonata, embracing the virtuosity of resident cellist Julian Smiles, a performance which we hope Carl will accept as an appropriate 70th birthday gift from the Australia Ensemble!

Paul Stanhope, Artistic Chair