Musica Viva Lunchtime Concerts at St James Church, King St, Sydney

Every Wednesday for the next three weeks, Musica Viva Australia presents lunchtime concerts at the St James Church on King St in Sydney.

The first concert is by Gut Instincts, which features Liane Sadler (flute), Meg Cohen (violin), and Alice Chance (viola da gamba). The young trio will be performing Marais’ Prelude and Gigue from Suite II in G minor, Corelli’s Trio Sonata op 3 no 2, and Vivaldi’s Trio Sonata in E minor op 1 no 2.

Entry is by gold coin donation. Performances begin at 1:15 and finish at 1:45.

Interview with Enigma Quartet’s Marianne Broadfoot

Recently we spoke to the Enigma Quartet’s Marianne Broadfoot. The Enigma Quartet is one of Musica Viva‘s 2012 Rising Stars ensembles, performing at The Standard this Saturday 11 August.

Enigma Quartet

How did the four of you meet and become the Enigma Quartet?
We did quartet speed dating and just clicked. No really, we’d been freelancing and working in the same orchestras but we united with Rowena in 2011 for the Musica Viva Chamber Music Award and never looked back.

You performed with Musica Viva in the pop-up space at The Rocks earlier this year. How did you find the experience of playing in a small informal space?
We loved it! It felt very relaxed, as though we were communicating intimately with the audience. It’s great to bring live chamber music out of the concert hall and into the city’s urban spaces.

What are you listening to at the moment?
Right now we’re listening to a lot of music for our upcoming September concerts, beautiful quartets by Mendelssohn, Sallinen and Debussy. But we’re always listening out for new works we’d love to perform. On our road trips we squabble over Triple J, Shelley’s mix tapes of Laura Marling and Goat Rodeo Sessions, Row’s Mozart’s Requiem CD and Kerry’s wish for silence.

Is your focus only on classical music, or do you experiment with different genres?
We’re interested in a diverse range of musical styles and collaborative projects and have been lucky enough to work with some amazing contemporary pop and rock artists. We’re currently working on the possibility of combining music with visual imagery in a multi-media project. Having said that, the majority of our own rehearsal time is dedicated to classical music.

Who inspires you?
We have a huge crush on Geraldine from the Takacs Quartet right now after our fabulous masterclass! We also have huge amounts of respect and admiration for the Goldner Quartet who have managed to maintain over many years a world-class string quartet with individual careers and family commitments.

What does the remainder of 2012 hold for the Enigma Quartet?
We’re looking forward to the next two concerts in our subscription series, both in Sydney at the Con and in Port Macquarie at the Glasshouse, getting our teeth stuck into lots of terrific repertoire. We’re also enjoying performing lunchtime concerts at the Wayside Chapel and Sacred Heart at St. Vincent’s.

Focus on young musicians

We focus on musicians touring in our International Concert Season in this blog, but Musica Viva also has a commitment to nurturing the next generation of Australian performers. We congratulate the Dumky Trio, winners of the 2012 Musica Viva Chamber Music Award at the Sydney Eisteddfod at the weekend.

In 2012 Musica Viva has been running a Rising Stars program, providing purposeful performance-based and practical training opportunities for three emerging Australian chamber ensembles. These ensembles have received mentoring from leading Australian musicians such as the Goldner String Quartet, and some of our international guests, including the St Lawrence String Quartet, Takacs Quartet, Kuss Quartet, Anthony Marwood and Aleksandar Madzar.

This Saturday 11 August, two of these young ensembles, the Enigma Quartet and Streeton Trio, come together for a special performance at Sydney’s creative hub for live music, visual art, theatre, comedy, burlesque and booze, The Standard, 383 Bourke Street Surry Hills (at Taylor Square). The concert features works by Debussy, Mendelssohn, Sculthorpe and Takemitsu as well as visual art by Kate Scardifield and, for a change of pace, DJ Dave Fernandes before and after the concert. The venue is licensed with a bar, so you can enjoy a beer or wine with your chamber music and art. (If you’re so inclined, you can also tweet, Instagram, Facebook, whatever else, to your heart’s content during the concert.) We hope to see you there!