AYO Chamber Players begin lead-up to Musica Viva Festival

The AYO Chamber Players assemble in Sydney tonight ahead of their first day of tutorials tomorrow. The Takacs Quartet and Pekka Kuusisto have also arrived in Sydney, and with pre-festival events including masterclasses and open rehearsals beginning this Friday, the Festival atmosphere is already beginning to grow.

Specifically tailored as one of the peak opportunities for emerging chamber musicians, AYO Chamber Players this year features 29 musicians from around Australia, forming 5 string quartets and 3 piano trios. Some of these ensembles, like the Orava String Quartet and the Sydney Camerata String Quartet, have been in existence for some time already, whereas other ensembles will be coming together for the first time. All value the experience to learn from some of the world’s most engaging and innovative chamber musicians.

One of the Chamber Players is Mathisha Panagoda, cellist and recent participant in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Mathisha will no doubt be chronicling some of his experiences on his own Limelight blog.

One of the most commented-on aspects from the last Musica Viva Festival in 2008 was the engagement between emerging and established artists through the Chamber Players program. As Artistic Director Carl Vine says, there are few places where you can hear the world’s master musicians in concert as well as see them imparting hard-won wisdom to young trainees; watch the apprentices apply new learning in their own performances before returning for concerts by the masters themselves.

We have no doubt the experience will be thrilling for all involved.