Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra On Melbourne Digital Concert Hall

Glasgow-based Australian flautist Georgia Browne is currently back in Australia to be with family in NSW.  Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra’s co-artistic directors Nicole van Bruggen and Rachael Beesley are thrilled to invite Georgia to perform works from an album of music by Abel (which she recorded with the Icelandic ensemble Nordic Affect) programmed together with delightful quartets by Mozart.

Though relatively little-known today, Carl Friedrich Abel was renowned as a major musical figure throughout Europe in the mid-to-late 1700s. Born into a famous musical family, he secured a coveted position in the court orchestra at Dresden, moved to England to become chamber-musician to Queen Charlotte, and in 1764 or 1765 established with Johann Christian Bach the Bach-Abel concerts, England’s first subscription concerts – where, amongst numerous musical triumphs, many works of Haydn received their first English performance.

Written during the 1770s, these pieces represent the huge demand for flute works at that time. Mozart’s first Flute Quartet, K. 285, was written for a great patron of the arts Ferdinand de Jean, himself an amateur flautist. Abel wrote a great many works for the instrument, many of which date back to his time at Dresden working alongside celebrated flautists Buffardin and Quantz – the latter a prolific composer in his own right.

Specialists in historical performance,  the performance-based research of the musicians of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra will also be on display in Mozart’s String Quartet, K.157 showing further insights into the 18th century music’s transition from Baroque complexity to the melody-driven Classical style. One final tidbit to link these works: at one point in the 19th century, one of Abel’s symphonies was misattributed to Mozart! A manuscript in Mozart’s handwriting was discovered and catalogued as his Symphony no. 3 in E flat, K. 18 – but it turned out to be a work of Abel’s, copied out by Mozart while a student in London in 1764.

The artists: Georgia Browne, Flute | Matthew Greco, Violin | Julia Russoniello, Violin | Karina Schmitz, Viola | Daniel Yeadon, Violoncello |Kirsty McCahon, Double Bass | Simon Martyn-Ellis, Theorbo

The programme: Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787) – Flute Quartet in A major No.2 Op.12/ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) – Flute Quartet in D major K 285/ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – String Quartet in C major K 157/ Carl Friedrich Abel – Flute Concerto No.5 in G major

Tickets: $20.00 plus $4.00 Credit Card and Streaming fee
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