The Marais Project have been busy over the last few years preparing and recording their newest studio album Australian Monody which was launched with a concert over the weekend with the band’s central three musicians joined by two special guests.
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For the first concert of the new Cafe Culture concert series at the Independent Theatre, the Enigma Quartet brought together two Romantic composers for a relaxed European interlude on a chilly Sydney evening.
Image by Philip Pogson
Bringing together their Scandinavian influence with some brand new compositions, A Singular Path showcases the many dimensions of Elysian Fields as an ensemble and as talented individuals. Including features from each performer and their instrument, the program placed them all in the spotlight.
To begin the Independent Theatre’s new series Sundays, Supper & Song, the much beloved Spooky Men’s Chorale returned for a concert featuring old favourites from their repertoire and selections from their newest album. Described by their spookmeister Stephen Taberner as the “right amount of cheese”, the group’s combination of heart and humour hasn’t gotten old.
Centred around an Antonin Dvořák “String Quintet” inspired by his time in the United States, Acacia Quartet combine three pieces from Romantic, classical, and contemporary eras for an easy-listening but wide-ranging spring concert.
In a throwback to the days of vaudeville and the picture palace, Nick Russoniello and the Golden Age Quartet reawaken the Independent’s past and celebrate the great Charlie Chaplin in a concert that combines classic film and live music. Including pieces from Golden Age greats and new compositions, the afternoon was part history lesson and all entertainment.
Image by Sophie Frazer – Vivid Imagination Photography
In celebration of the renaming and reopening of the Independent Theatre on September 2nd, 1939, the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation with Wenona School hosted a staged reading of the first play to walk the newly restored floorboards: French Without Tears by Terence Rattigan. The rich Sydney community of actors, directors, and audience members rallied for a nostalgic afternoon.
Inspired by the gift of Wendy Lesser’s biography of Dmitri Shostakovich and his string quartets, Flinders Quartet again joined forces with Richard Piper to curate a selection of movements from these fifteen quartets to illuminate the shape and sound of the composer’s life and career. Referencing their previous collaboration of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Piper quotes the memoir comparing Shostakovich’s quartets to Shakespeare’s sonnets in their intimate emotion.
Arranged as a celebration of some Slavic master composers, Seraphim Trio’s Slavic Passion program could also be said to combine representations of remembrance. Across grief, loss, celebration, and captured moments, the pieces uniquely demonstrate the trio’s range of skill and interest.
Image by Philip Pogson
After founding the Marais Project in 2000, viola da gamba player Jennifer Eriksson is still leading the charge for the instrument as the only electric viola da gamba player in Australia as a member of Elysian Fields. This concert brings together the classical and contemporary tones of this unique instrument in celebration of the Marais Project’s 20th anniversary and the launch of their latest album.
Night Writes 