Maurice Steger Debuts With The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra

Swiss recorder whizz Maurice Steger makes his Australian debut with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra as soloist and guest director in their inaugural tour for 2016. With his technical brilliance and poetic performances, this is the recorder as it has never been heard before. Maurice is a world leader in playing the recorder. His Sydney programme will include music by composers both familiar – Vivaldi, Handel, Telemann, Geminiani – and new – Gallo, Fiorenza, Rittler – to Sydney audiences.

The recorder maintained its popularity throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods having had its origins in the Middle Ages. A deceptively simple instrument – it is a wooden tube with (usually) seven finger-holes at its front and a thumb-hole at its back – it has no keys or valves. Its popularity waned during the Classical and Romantic periods but was rediscovered in the early music revival movement. It is also a widely popular educational instrument, often used as a pre-cursor to playing more complex woodwind instruments.

Though there are only four basic recorder types (descant, treble, tenor and bass), Maurice will be travelling with as many as 18 instruments. He says “I’m packing 18 recorders for this tour because every piece needs a different colour. I’ll probably use one per piece, but to find the best possible recorder, I’ll bring two recorders for every work and choose in the hall.” Based in Zürich, Maurice is in demand internationally as both a soloist and conductor. He collaborated with Cecilia Bartoli on her recording Mission and has performed alongside luminaries like Hilary Hahn, Andreas Scholl and Fabio Biondi.

His awards include the Diapason D’or, the BBC Music Magazine Award and the 2015 ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year.

The programme: