Details

Australia’s finest early music specialists invite you to experience the beautiful melding of cultures in Europe’s historical borderlands for Musica Viva Australia.

About the concert

Tasmanian Baroque ensemble Van Diemen’s Band invites you to explore the historic borderlands of Europe on their national tour with Musica Viva Australia. For centuries, generations of musicians wrote dances and masses, symphonies and quartets, as their homelands changed ownership under their feet. Or their nations remained steadfast, allowing the most magical cultural overlaps at the border fringes.

Through composers such as Samuel Scheidt and Dietrich Becker, you will hear the trials of battle – loss, regret, resentment – and, at long last, healing. Listen to composers who were touched by the Thirty Years’ War within the Holy Roman Empire, their countries crumbling around them.

María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir (Iceland) and Donald Nicolson (Australia) are living composers who will bring you closer to our time. Just as Van Diemen’s Band invites instrumental guests from across Australia’s state borders, these composers remind us how we’re still united through music – no matter what borders lie between us.

Pre-Concert Talk

Join Musica Viva for a pre-concert talk form 6.15pm in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall.

Praise for Van Diemen’s Band

‘Moving from lament to humour and virtuosity with unanimity, creating a kaleidoscope of emotions that tugged the heartstrings.’ Limelight

Musica Viva is Key Presenting Partner at Melbourne Recital Centre. For more information on the Centre’s Key Presenting Partners see here

COVID Safety

Melbourne Recital Centre is committed to the safety of our artists, staff and patrons. As we reopen, a range of public health, hygiene and physical distancing measures will be in place. Click here to learn more.

ARTISTS

Julia Fredersdorff artistic director & violin
Simone Slattery violin & recorder
Lizzy Welsh viola
Laura Vaughan Bass Viol
Anton Baba bass viol & cello
Donald Nicolson harpsichord & organ

Series

This production is part of the following series: