BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
A warming cup of freshly brewed coffee, a slice of cake, and some of the greatest classical works that exist.
This is the Coffee Series. Leading Australian composer and Musica Viva Artistic Director Carl Vine AO tells us about the concerts filled with earthly delights hitting Melbourne and Sydney next year.
Coffee and music go together like…
Dolce and Gabbana. But these concerts are at 11am, so you have to have really good cake with your coffee. So coffee and CAKE and music go together like a bow, and rosin, and a violin.
Was coffee a drink of choice for many of the composers on the Coffee Concerts program?
Wine, and large quantities of it, was the preferred beverage of composers until the 19th Century, and the sobering effect of newly discovered coffee is considered by some as a surprisingly influential factor on the success of the French Revolution. ‘Classical Music’ really started with Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, so I’m guessing that exhilarating morning caffeine helped to keep their manuscripts full of fresh ideas.
So how does it work? Do we take our place at a table and indulge in coffee and cake while listening to some of Australia’s best musicians performing magnificent works? This sounds too good to be true.
You have about an hour to indulge in coffee and cake before the concert starts, but then get to sit in one of Australia’s finest chamber music venues for an intimate experience with first rate musicians. Just good enough to be perfectly believable.
How do you choose a program for a concert series like this, and ensure none of the works leave a bitter taste in our mouths?
The best coffee is never too sweet, and should always have an acid edge to lend character. The same goes for concert programming: never too saccharine, and with enough biting challenge to keep you wondering.
The Benaud Trio is set to perform Schoenfield’s ‘Cafe Music’ during a Melbourne coffee concert – will the world stop turning?
If you’re thinking of the late, great cricket commentator, Richie Benaud, then no – the world can easily survive Benaud pitching at a cafe. Paul Schoenfield is an extremely talented composer and pianist from Detroit whose music is performed regularly all around the world. His ‘Cafe Music’ is a hyperventilating dose of musical amphetamine that makes the stimulating effect of coffee pale by comparison. And the Benaud Trio are just the people to make it rev.
Any parting words?
Morning coffee concerts are a great, relaxing way to start the day, assuming you can afford to take the morning off. The cake is magic, the repertoire is always interesting, and we try to choose musicians you don’t often get to hear elsewhere.
Check out Musica Viva’s website for more information on the 2016 Coffee Concerts series across Melbourne and Sydney.
Image supplied. Credit Keith Saunders.
