Hitch A Ride Through The Romantics With Selby & Friends
Selby & Friends presents the 19th century Romanticism of Schubert, Brahms and Mendelssohn in A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Romantic.
This special winter program by Selby & Friends is a tour through Romantic-period chamber music performed by Artistic Director and pianist Kathryn Selby AM with her illustrious guest artists Andrew Haveron, Concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Umberto Clerici, SSO Co-Principal Cellist.
Bursting with beautifully sweeping melodic passages, a hallmark of 19th-century Romanticism, the cornerstone of the program is Franz Schubert’s dramatic Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major D. 929, a pinnacle of the chamber music repertoire composed by a poverty-stricken, terminally ill young man near the end of his life.
Both Haveron and Clerici are showcased with Selby in solo sonatas on this concert program with Mendelssohn’s Violin Sonata in F major and Brahms’ Cello Sonata No. 2. Mendelssohn didn’t live to see the publication of his violin sonata in 1838, which was revived in 1953, thanks to the great violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin. The fiery and passionate second cello sonata by Brahms effectively employs the instrument’s higher range and myriad technical abilities.
Andrew Haveron, one of the most sought-after violinists of his generation, is the highest British prize-winner at the Paganini competition in the last fifty years. He has performed concertos with many of the UK’s finest orchestras and as Concertmaster of the BBC Symphony Orchestra before joining the SSO as its current Concertmaster. He was also First Violinist of the renowned Brodsky Quartet.
Turin-born cellist Umberto Clerici has garnered numerous accolades, including a Laureate title at the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He has performed with orchestras around the world, at Weill Recital Hall at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein and the Salzburg Festival. Prior to taking up his Principal Cello position with the SSO, Umberto Clerici was Principal Cello at the Teatro Regio in Turin.
Kathryn Selby AM has won multiple international and Australian awards and is renowned as Australia’s pre-eminent chamber music pianist. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Selby & Friends, now in its 12th season, presenting chamber music to enthusiastic audiences across Australia. A hallmark of Selby & Friends concerts is the musicians’ informal talk from the stage about the concert program, including their own stories about their experience with music, historical and cultural contexts of the repertoire.
The programme: Felix Mendelssohn Violin Sonata in F major (1838) / Johannes Brahms Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99 /Franz Schubert Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major for piano, violin, and violoncello, D. 929
The performers: Kathyrn Selby, piano/ Andrew Haveron, violin/ Umberto Clerici, cello
Tickets or call 1300 511 099.
