The Balmain Sinfonia performs Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto

The Balmain Sinfonia begins its 2014 series with a concert program of popular favourites as well as a star turn for brilliant young Australian bassoon virtuoso, Ben Hoadley: Mozart’s magical Bassoon Concerto.

 In its 22nd year under conductor and founding Director Gary Stavrou the program includes Dvorak’s My Homeland overture and Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov.  Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No.2  follows as the Sinfonia’s regular ‘Music Sponsorship’ piece. This is where the orchestra plays a requested piece (if practical) and mentions the sponsor in the program. At this concert, the Romanian Rhapsody was requested by a gentleman on the occasion of his wife’s birthday – and will pay $10 per minute of performance time for the pleasure!

 Sydney-born Ben Hoadley plays Mozart’s Concerto for Bassoon, the composer’s only surviving concerto for the instrument and the most popular piece in the entire bassoon repertory. Mozart wrote the concerto when he was just 18 years old and it was his first concerto for a wind instrument.

 Ben Hoadley is a graduate of Sydney’s own Conservatorium of Music as well as the New England Conservatory in Boston and the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall (NY). He has recorded solo performances on the ABC, in NZ and the USA and  featured as principal bassoonist with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony, the Halle Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra (USA) and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He has also appeared with the Boston Symphony, the New Zealand Symphony and Trondheim (Norway) Symphony orchestras as well as the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Sydney Omega Ensemble. He currently teaches at the University of Newcastle and Newcastle Conservatorium.

The programme: Dvorak, My Homeland/ Enescu, Romanian Rhapsody No. 2/ Mozart, Bassoon Concerto/ Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade.

Soloist: Ben Hoadley, Bassoon

Conductor: Gary Stavrou

Tickets $25 / $20 concession at the door

or book www.balmainsinfonia.com or 9810 5080   Free parking in car parks W4 and X3.