Cavani String Quartet, Eugenio Urrutia-Borlando, Piano, Svetlana Bogosavljevic, Cello

Festival Portillo Wind Quintet

Beatrice Ovalle, Flute, Federico Curti, Oboe, David Griffiths, Clarinet, Pedro Salcedo, Bassoon, Gabriel Betancur, Horn

PROGRAM

Enrique Soro -Sexteto Lautaro for Wind Quintet and Piano

Joseph Haydn - London Trio in C

Bohuslav Martinů Nonet No. 1,

Robert Schumann - Piano Quintet in Eb, Op. 44

Quinteto de Vientos Festival Portillo

Beatrice Ovalle, Flute, Federico Curti, Oboe, David Griffiths, Clarinet, Pedro Salcedo, Bassoon, Gabriel Betancur, Horn

PROGRAM

Heinrich Kaspar Schmid - Wind Quintet, Op. 28

August Klughardt - Wind Quintet, Op. 79

Valerie Coleman - Umoja

Alfredo Mejía - “El perro” — Colombian Bambuco

Epsom House Festival Concert 1

Ensemble Liaison with Sophie Rowell and James Crabb

Dvorak – Bagatelles op.47

Poulenc - Clarinet Sonata (arr. Clarinet and accordion)

Shostakovich - Piano Trio no.2

Epsom House Festival Concert 2

Ensemble Liaison with Sophie Rowell and James Crabb

Beethoven – Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano op.11

Franck - Prelude, Fuge and Variations op.18 for classical accordion and piano

Stravinsky - Suite Italienne

Bartok - Contrasts

Epsom House Festival Concert 3

Ensemble Liaison with Sophie Rowell and James Crabb

Schiff - Divertimento from Gimpel the Fool

Traditional Scottish Folk Tunes

Piazzolla and Friends - Tangos

Epsom House Festival Concert 5

Ensemble Liaison with Sophie Rowell and James Crabb

Frolov - Divertimento

Piazzolla - Ave maria

Saint-Saens - The Swan

Mower - Sonata Latino

Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue

Epsom House Festival Concert 4

Ensemble Liaison with Sophie Rowell and James Crabb

Bach / Gounod - Ave Maria

J.S.Bach - Violin Sonata in Major BWV1016 for classical accordion and violin

Debussy - Sonata for Cello and Piano

Debussy - L'Isle Joyeuse, Claire de l'une

Greenbaum - Dance music for Concert Halls

Grainger - Molly on the Shore

Program 1

Sat 28 Feb at 12.30pm

Richard Tognetti, director and violin

David Griffiths, clarinet

Australian Chamber Orchestra

OSVALDO GOLIJOV The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind

JOHN ADAMS Shaker Loops

Program 3

Sun 1 Mar at 2.30pm

Richard Tognetti, director and violin

David Griffiths, clarinet

Australian Chamber Orchestra
with musicians from the National Academy of Music

HENRY PURCELL Fantazia upon One Note, Z.745

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Concerto Grosso in A major, Op.6 No.11, HWV329

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (arr. strings) Clarinet Concerto in A major, K.622

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (arr. Adam Johnson) The Lark Ascending

Written in exile in Switzerland, The Soldier’s Tale is Stravinsky’s musical farewell to Russia. To be ‘read, played and danced,’ a kaleidoscope of chorales, military marches and popular Western dance music (like ragtime), tells the story of the young soldier who sells his soul to the devil. The ensemble’s production of the piece is offset by a Trio from the doyen of Italian film composers, Nino Rota. A devotee of classical forms, Rota composed this spirited three-movement piece at the time of his great score for The Godfather.

The teenaged Shostakovich played piano in cinemas, sometimes going over the top, but developing an armoury of expressive techniques for later use. His First Piano Trio – the soundtrack to his own first romance – dates from this time and shows a gifted young composer in full control of expression and craft.

Like Stravinsky, Russian-Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin loves writing lively ragtime pieces including this recent, strikingly brilliant duo for clarinet and piano.

KATS-CHERNIN The Grand Rag [2021]
ROTA Trio [1973]
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Trio no.1 [1923]
STRAVINSKY The Solider's Tale (full version) [1918]

David Griffiths, clarinet; Dimity Hall, violin; Julian Smiles, cello; with guest artists including Andrea Lam, piano; Andrew Barnes, bassoon, Andrew Meisel, double bass; Nigel Crocker, trombone.

Artists
Anna-Louise Cole solo soprano
Lina Tur Bonet violin
James Crabb accordion
Australian String Quartet
Ensemble Liaison

Program
Gustav Mahler (arr. for solo soprano, clarinet trio) Ruckert Lieder
Thomas Adès (for clarinet quintet) Alchymia
Aaron Wyatt Where to from Here?
Richard Strauss  (arr. for solo soprano, accordion and string trio) Four Last Songs

Artists
Ensemble Liaison
Lina Tur Bonet violin
James Crabb accordion

Program
Beethoven Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano op.11

Kate Ceberano (arr. Nat Bartsch) Bedroom Eyes 

De Falla Popular Songs

Gershwin (arr. David Griffiths / Timothy Young) Rhapsody in Blue

Artists
James Crabb accordion
Lina Tur Bonet violin
Australian String Quartet
Ensemble Liaison

Program
Antonín Dvořák (Czech Republic) Bagatelles, Op.47 for two violins, cello and harmonium

Four Scottish Folk Pieces arr. Crabb (Scotland)

Ana Sokolović (Serbia/Canada) Serbian Tango

Elena Kats-Chernin (Uzbekistan/Australia) Russian Rag

Astor Piazzolla (Argentina) arr. Crabb Suite Punta del Este

Béla Kovács (Hungary) (arr. Griffiths) Shalom-alekhem, Rov Feidman

Artists
David Griffiths clarinet
Timothy Young honky tonk piano

Program
George Gershwin Three Preludes (1926)
Igor Stravinsky Three Pieces (1920)
Elena Kats-Chernin Grand Rag (2021)
John Novacek Four Rags for Two Jons (2006)
Scott Joplin Rags (1899 – 1917)

In a program of four trios we hear Beethoven’s greatest Piano Trio, the Archduke, written at the end of his ‘heroic’ period. It has the amplitude, variety and formal elaboration of works such as the Seventh Symphony; it is crowned by a slow movement that is one Beethoven’s most extraordinary variation-sets.

Brahms’s late-period Trio is an affectionate tribute to ‘Fräulein Klarinette’, the instrument played by his friend Richard Mühlfeld. Brahms blends the golden tones of the melody instruments so seamlessly that one contemporary said it sounded like they were in love.

Love and grief, comfort and healing inspired Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks’s Lonely Angel, an open-hearted work of searingly beautiful melody and ultimate serenity, arranged by the composer for piano trio.

By contrast, Australian composer Harry Sdraulig’s Hat-Trick – in a brand-new version including clarinet – is a brightly energetic work, though not without moments of introspection, that celebrates the teamwork and brilliance of the players for whom it was written.

VASKS Lonely Angel (Vientuļais eņģelis) [1999 (2006)]
SDRAULIG Hat-Trick [2020]
BRAHMS Clarinet Trio Op.114 [1891]
BEETHOVEN Archduke Trio [1811]

David Griffiths, clarinet; Dimity Hall, violin; Julian Smiles, cello; with guest artists, Andrew Barnes, bassoon; Joshua Batty, flute; Daniel de Borah, piano

Ensemble Liaison & Friends

Program TBA

Ensemble Liaison

Program TBA

Praised as a child by Ravel, Françaix became one of the most prolific composers of the twentieth century. His aim was ‘to give pleasure… to be jolly most of the time - even comical.’ His Dixtuor is a sparkling showpiece for ten instruments.
American composer Valerie Coleman often pays homage to earlier music, in this case the virtuosic Tzigane by Ravel, which Coleman – an accomplished flautist – uses as a starting point for coruscating woodwind writing that echoes Françaix’s. Australian composer Alex Turley harnesses similar joie-de-vivre in Syntax Error, a work that makes play with the occasional breakdowns in communication between composer and players.

Ravel’s colleague Debussy wrote his exquisitely poised Cello Sonata during World War I as part of a projected series of chamber works to secretly honour the youth of France mown down in war. Restrained, yet deeply moving, it pairs perfectly with Mozart’s Piano Quartet, where seriousness, contrapuntal elegance and popular manners join to create an unforgettable piece.

COLEMAN Tzigane [2011]
TURLEY Syntax Error [2024]
MOZART Piano Quartet in G minor
DEBUSSY Sonata L.135 [1915]
FRANÇ​​​​​​​AIX Dixtuor [1987]

David Griffiths, clarinet; Dimity Hall, violin; Julian Smiles, cello; with guest artists, Natalie Chee, violin; Tobias Breider, viola; Andrew Meisel, double bass; Andrew Barnes, bassoon; Joshua Batty, flute; Shefali Pryor, oboe; Samuel Jacobs, horn; and Timothy Young, piano.

French and Australian works bring the season to a glittering conclusion.

Jean Anouilh’s satirical comedy, known in English as Ring Round the Moon and worthy of Wodehouse or Waugh, inspired Poulenc’s highly amusing incidental music of dances and parodic character pieces to illustrate the comic intrigues at a lavish ball.

Gabriel Fauré’s delicate music is represented by a celebrated Nocturne and loving transcriptions by Percy Grainger of two songs by his friend and hero, which weave the song melodies into a glorious web of sound.

Australian composer Martin Wesley-Smith’s Merry-go-round, for live instruments with audio-visual backing, grew out of his concern for the fate of war-torn Afghanistan, and hints with subtle power at the violence that can easily sweep away innocent children.
Ravel’s Trio masterpiece, composed as World War I loomed, stresses universality in its reference to Malay poetry and Basque dance as well as the classical forms that offer some resistance to the encroaching horror, and which ultimately triumph.

POULENC L'Invitation au Chateau FP 138 [1947]
FAURÉ trans. Grainger Après un Rêve and Nell [1870-1877]         

FAURÉ Nocturne no. 6 in D flat [1894]
WESLEY-SMITH Merry-go-round [2002]
RAVEL Piano Trio [1914]

David Griffiths, clarinet; Dimity Hall, violin; Julian Smiles, cello; with guest artist, Piers Lane, piano.

Ensemble Liaison

Manuel De Falla –  Six Popular Songs 

Stuart Greenbaum – The Drowned World    

Alexander von Zemlinsky – Trio in D Minor op. 3