BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Q. What do you get when you gather the finest musicians in Tasmania and send them on a road trip?
A. Virtuosi Tasmania, of course.
Virtuosi Tasmania brings together small groups of musicians from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for performances in intimate chamber settings. Travelling to some of the state’s most charming regional locations, Virtuosi has performed in limestone caves, vineyards, galleries, and apple sheds. They’re about to hit the road again this August to play Mozart and Danzi, so pack your bags – you’re coming along for the ride.
The first stop is Pontville’s historical heritage estate Shene – a near-200 year old site which even boasts direct links with King George III (with whom Mozart himself was acquainted) and Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Surrounded by 4,500 acres of black angus and sheep farm, the site’s sandstone structures will echo with Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A major, K581 and Danzi’s Quartet for Bassoon and String Trio in B flat major, Op 40 No 3. A worthy location of such fine works, wouldn’t you agree? Be there on 3 August at 11am.
The works will then ring out at the Home Hill Winery on 9 August, 11am, so prepare your palate. Sip a specialty pinot noir or chardonnay at the Ranelagh venue while Virtuosi Tasmania play just for you. You can follow the group up to the Burnie Art Gallery for their performance on 10 August at 2pm, and to Longford’s Christ Church the same evening at 7pm.
While it can be fun to get out of the city and enjoy music professionally performed in unusual and often unconventional locations, it’s also a great service to people who live just that little bit far away from the concert hall but still appreciate fine music.
Founder and Artistic Director Stephen Martin has spent 22 years sharing great chamber works with all corners of the state, and recently told the Mercury’s Saturday Magazine (19 July), “Tasmania is a decentralised state where there are a number of people who live in regional areas, and get very little of what happens in Hobart.”
“When you go to the community, they really embrace you because you take the music to them and it makes you feel really nice.”
It’s not uncommon for Virtuosi Tasmania to put together 20 concerts a year – both classical and jazz – and this month’s program will be performed by Chris Waller (clarinet), John Panckridge (bassoon), Miranda Carson and Victoria Bihun (violins), Anna Roach (viola), and Jane Tallon (cello).
If you’re unfamiliar with the works, you’re certainly in for a treat. German cellist Franz Danzi’s (1763-1826) career crossed over the borders between the Classical and Romantic eras of European music, and elements of both can be heard in the four movements of his Bassoon and String Trio in B flat major, op. 40, no. 3.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-1791) Clarinet Quintet in A major, K581 was composed two years before his death, and written for his friend Anton Stadler – a guy who put his own touches on the clarinet (why not?). The friendship between the fellow Freemasons led to this quintet often being referred to as the Stadler Quintet – and it’s the last surviving complete clarinet quintet of the composer.
For more information on Virtuosi Tasmania’s August 2014 program, go to www.virtuositas.org.au.
Image supplied.
