Debut Australian Tour For Beilman And Tyson

Musica Viva presents the brilliant young duo, violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Andrew Tyson who are making their first tour of Australia.

Their program includes works by Mozart, Janáček and Saint-Saëns, as well as a world premiere by Australian composer Jane Stanley that was commissioned by Musica Viva’s Hildegard Project.

Their tour program calls for a meeting of equals, starting with the virtuosity of Mozart’s late Violin Sonata K526. It begins and ends in A major, a key the composer always chose when his operatic heroines sang of romance. Janáček’s Sonata is a darker beast with a wealth of Bohemian folk touches. “I knew I wanted to play the Janáček. It’s an extremely deep work; very dark, ominous, and passionate, so having that side by side with the Mozart is a great first half,” he adds.

The second half opens with the world premiere of music by Jane Stanley, an Australian composer now living in Glasgow. Entitled Cerulean Orbits, the piece explores the relationship between violin and piano – the players’ lines encircling each other in ornate and contrasting ways.

Saint-Saëns’ First Violin Sonata requires two virtuosi to bring it off: the parts are equal in emotional expression and take turns in musical leadership, before joining for an exuberant finale.

Twenty-six-year-old American violinist Benjamin Beilman is one of the fastest rising stars of his generation, earning praise for his deep, rich tone that The New York Times describes as “muscular with a glint of violence.” He’s a great match for Andrew Tyson, who was hailed by BBC Radio 3 as “a poet of the piano.”

Both won the prestigious US Young Concert Artists international auditions but their friendship goes back much further, to their student days at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Each enjoys a flourishing career: Beilman won, among other things, a Borlotti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2014 and first prize plus People’s Choice award at the Montreal International Violin Competition in 2010. Tyson swept the board clean at least year’s Géza Anda Competition in Zürich, taking home not only first place but also the Mozart and Audience Prizes.

The programme: MOZART Sonata no 35 in A major, K. 526/ JANÁCEK Violin Sonata/ STANLEY Cerulean Orbits (World Premiere) Commissioned by Musica Viva’s Hildegard Project/ SAINT-SAËNS Sonata no 1 in D minor, op 75.

Click here or call 1800 688 482 for tickets and more information.