2017
Concert Season
Welcome
Good music entertains.
Great music transforms.
What is the Ironwood experience, and what
makes it so different from anything you’ve ever
heard before?
Our music doesn’t just entertain. It transforms
and transports, taking listeners back to bygone
eras when varied styles - Baroque, Classical and
Romantic - delighted the ears.
It’s the music of Mozart, Handel, Brahms, Bach
and others – through historically informed
performances using the expressive devices and
the instruments that the great composers knew
and revered.
Ironwood brings together the expertise of some
of the world’s most talented chamber musicians
who are based in Australia. We are celebrating a
wonderful decade of performing together and the
prospect of many more to come.
We invite you to share in our musical world
– one that will expand your aural experience
through fresh and cutting-edge interpretations of
well-known and lesser-known gems.
We hope that you enjoy listening as much as we
enjoy creating.
Please join us!
Ironwood is a renowned Australian period
instrument ensemble lauded for its historically
informed exploration of repertoire from the lateRenaissance to the late-Romantic eras, as well
as its support of newly commissioned works.
Established in 2006, the ensemble draws on
a wealth of experience and expertise bringing
together a stellar core of specialist leaders in the
field:
Rachael Beesley, Julia Fredersdorff, Robin
Wilson and Anna McMichael (violins), Daniel
Yeadon (cello) and Neal Peres Da Costa
(historical keyboards).
Ironwood has its own subscription series, has
presented at the major festivals and concert
series around Australia, and has toured Europe
and USA. Known for its innovative recordings
on the ABC Classics and Vexations840 labels,
Ironwood is regularly broadcast nationally
on ABC FM and around the world. Ironwood
has partnered with Musica Viva and has
collaborated with The Song Company and
Ensemble Offspring, exploring both old and
new music in wide-ranging contexts.
Ironwood has presented programs for the
Historic Houses Trust of NSW, The Biennale of
Sydney, the Resonate series at the Art Gallery
of NSW, Peninsula Summer Music Festival and
Ballarat Goldfields Festival.
Ironwood has presented recitals at the American
Brahms Society Conference (New York, 2012),
the Reactions to the Record IV Conference
(Stanford University, 2014), the University of
Colorado (Boulder, 2014), the Royal College
of Music (London, 2015), the Royal Northern
College of Music (Manchester, 2015) and
Pegasus Early Music Series (USA 2012 & 2015).
Ironwood’s core members are highly
experienced educators at tertiary music
institutions including the Sydney Conservatorium
of Music, the Victorian College of the Arts, and
the Australian National Academy of Music, and
as key personnel within arts organisations such
as the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the
Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra.
Ironwood has been closely involved in the
Australian Youth Orchestra’s Chamber Players
program. Ironwood has an ongoing relationship
with the Bundanon Trust Artists in Residence
program and, in collaboration with festivals and
educational institutions, runs Developing Artist
programs in Victoria and NSW. The members
of Ironwood have helped to create national
networks for young HIP artists and to establish
new groups and events such as the Australian
Haydn Ensemble, The Muffat Collective, Pearl
& Dagger Opera, Gut Instincts, and Sydney
Baroque Music Festival.
Season Overview
“A concert to savour from five superb musicians,
with a talent to communicate and engage fully
with their audience.”
Classikon
Come experience Ironwood’s vibrant 2017
season devoted to three centuries of incredible
chamber music and education activities drawing
on world-class expertise in historically informed
performance (HIP).
We kick off in Season 1 with music from the stylus
fantasticus era of seventeenth-century Europe
showcasing the development in string technique,
unusual and poetic effects of such composers as
Schmelzer and Biber that delighted and entertained
audiences in private and public settings.
Season 2 continues our foray into the highly
expressive world of Schumann and Brahms
highlighting the nineteenth-century German
string and piano style so vividly documented in
Ironwood’s latest CD “Brahms: Tones of Romantic
Extravagance” (ABC Classics).
Between Seasons 2 and 3 we extend a warm
invitation to join our much-awaited spring
workshop offering specialised training in Classical
and Romantic chamber music on period and
modern instruments. This is a unique opportunity
for Australians to learn and experience HIP styles
and techniques based on the cutting-edge creative
research of Ironwood’s stellar core members who
are world leading educators.
Season 3 takes listeners deep into the intimate,
textured and sensuous sound world of Classicalera string quartets by Mozart, Graf and Haydn.
Finally, Season 4 explores the proto-Romantic
style of Schubert and Beethoven with a rare
hearing of the Piano Quintet by a little-known
contemporary of Beethoven – Anton Eberl.
The Poetic and the Fantastic
Saturday 22 April
Schmelzer Lamento sopra Ferdinandi III
Schmelzer Die Fechtschule
Biber Balletti
Becker Sonata no. 3
Becker Pavan
Musicians Julia Fredersdorff (violin)
Anna McMichael (violin), guest viola player,
Daniel Yeadon (cello and viola da gamba),
Neal Peres Da Costa (harpsichord and organ)
Venue Glebe Town Hall - 6:30pm
In Season 1 we present the rich and unusual
sounds of the seventeenth-century stylus
fantasticus era. Heinrich Schmelzer, the famous
composer associated for much of his life with
the Habsburg Court in Vienna, developed string
playing style and technique influencing later
European masters including Heinrich Ignaz Franz
Biber and Johann Sebastian Bach.
Schmelzer’s Sacro-profanus concentus musicus
explores diverse character pieces such as Die
Fechtschule (The Fencing School evoking battle)
and the famous homage on the death of the Holy
Roman Emperor Ferdinand III - Lamento sopra
il morte Ferdinandi III, which exploits rhetorical
gestures representing words and feelings from
the art of Musica Poetica. Biber’s Balletti give an
insight into the furtive imagination of this most
interesting of seventeenth-century composers who
pushed the boundaries of style and effects.
The organist and violinist Dietrich Becker’s rarely
heard instrumental works are among the most rich
and inventive of the seventeenth century.
From Schumann to Brahms: New Paths
Friday 2 June
Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat major op. 44
Brahms Piano Trio in C major op. 87
Musicians Robin Wilson (violin), Anna McMichael
(violin) guest viola player, Daniel Yeadon (cello),
Neal Peres Da Costa (historical piano)
Venue Recital Hall East, Sydney Conservatorium
of Music - 6:30pm
Season 2 draws audiences into the highly
expressive world of Robert Schumann and his
close musical ally Johannes Brahms. Hailed for
its illuminating forays into the performing style of
the nineteenth-century German school, Ironwood
presents Schumann’s “extroverted and exuberant”
Piano Quintet in E flat op. 44, arguably the first
work for piano and strings that revolutionised the
piano quintet form in the Romantic era.
Composed in Schumann’s so-called Chamber
Music Year of 1842, Clara Schumann who
championed the work throughout her life
described it as “splendid, full of vigour and
freshness”. The Quintet is complemented with
Brahms’ Piano Trio in C Major op. 87 composed
in 1880-2, when the composer had reached the
height of his financial success and maturation as a
composer. Schumann, in his famous article Neue
Bahnen (New Paths), had already extolled Brahms
as “destined to give ideal expression to the times.”
Brahms was extremely happy with this work
commenting to his publisher:
“You have not yet had such a beautiful trio from
me and very likely have not published its equal in
the last ten years.”
A Perfect Combination
Saturday 4 November
Graf String Quartet no. 4 in D major
Mozart String Quartet K. 157 in C major
Haydn String Quartet op. 77 no. 2 in F major
Musicians Rachael Beesley (violin), Julia
Fredersdorff (violin), guest viola player, Daniel
Yeadon (cello)
Venue Recital Hall East, Sydney Conservatorium
of Music - 6:30pm
Season 3 explores the world of the revered
Classical-era string quartet offering Australian
audiences a unique opportunity to hear such works
played on gut strings with keen awareness of period
performing practices, restoring the musical language
and expressivity expected bysuch composers as
Mozart and Haydn.
Amongst the well-known quartets of these two
giants, the programme offers a musical rarity in the
String Quartet no. 4 by the German Christian Ernst
Graf, a composer whose works are transitional in
nature but demonstrate melodious inventiveness at
its most charming.
Early Romantic Gems
Friday 24 November
Eberl Piano Quintet op. 41
Schubert String Quartet D. 94 in D major
Musicians Anna McMichael (violin), Rachael
Beesley (violin), guest viola players, Daniel Yeadon
(cello), Neal Peres Da Costa (historical piano)
Venue Recital Hall East, Sydney Conservatorium
of Music - 6.30pm
In Season 4 we celebrate the advent of Romantic style
with Schubert’s early String Quartet D. 94 composed
in 1812 when he was only 15 years old. Schubert
wrote his early string quartets mainly to enjoy in
domestic concerts with his family. And yet these
already herald his penchant for experimentation with
surprising key relationships, thematic linking, and such
new string effects as tremolo.
A selection of Beethoven’s Bagatelles for solo piano
contrast with music of his near contemporary
Anton Eberl whose works are still rarely heard
in Australia. Eberl studied with Mozart and was
known as a foremost piano virtuoso and teacher in
Europe. Some of his music has been described as
being as good as or better than Beethoven.
His Piano Quintet op. 41 for clarinet or violin,
two violas, cello and piano is instantly appealing
and imaginative in approach to form pushing the
boundaries and heralding Romanticism.
Education
Event Spring Education Workshop
Date 26 to 29 September
Venue Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Repertoire Classical and Romantic chamber
Join Ironwood’s world-leading expert education
team in our much-awaited Spring Education
Workshop offering specialised training in Classical
and Romantic chamber music on period and
modern instruments.
Training and activities will include hands-on
workshop sessions, lectures, student concerts,
Ironwood performances, and round-table
discussions about building careers. This is a unique
educational opportunity for Australians to gain
experience in HIP performance techniques drawing
on the cutting-edge research and performance
experience of Ironwood’s core members.
Why Subscribe?
It takes more than a single listening to fully
appreciate and enjoy the breadth and depth of
Ironwood’s varied programming.
So instead of one why not take in four?
To celebrate our 10 years of performances, we are
offering listeners the chance to take up an Ironwood
subscription package and hear more, for less.
Not only will you pay less to attend any four
events of your choosing, but you will also receive
a number of other benefits – all geared towards
enhancing your musical experience.
Experience the magic of live musical performances
by Ironwood in Sydney at Glebe Town Hall and
the iconic Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
“[Neal Peres da Costa] produced a delicious tone,
the exposed hammers cutting though the gut
string sound like a knife through butter. The four
string players were tremendously effective, playing
with fast vibrato and plenty of passion, and clearly
relishing Schubert’s gurgling effects … the genial
finale was full of felicitous emphases and played
in the generous spirit of shared music making that
must have been its composer’s intention. Schubert
would surely have approved.”
Limelight (Schubert Trout quintet)
Price
For more information, visit
www.classikon.com/groups/ensembles/ironwood-chamber-ensemble/
or contact [email protected]
Adults $140
Concessions $90
Gifts and Donations
For 10 years, your support has enabled us to
share our concerts, recordings and broadcasts
to the world, allowing new audiences of all ages
from all over Australia (and abroad) to discover
classical music through the lens of historically
informed performance – and seasoned audiences
to rediscover their appreciation for it.
In order to keep doing so for the next 10 years,
we really need your continued support. You can
help us by simply purchasing our recordings (all
of which are available on iTunes or Amazon),
attending one of our performances or purchasing a
subscription to our concerts.
We also appreciate any donations and
sponsorship, which enable us to continue to
share our teaching through lectures, recitals and
educational programs with musical academies
and universities from all over the world, as well as
local Australian institutions.
Your donation is greatly appreciated so please visit
www.creativepartnershipsaustralia.org.au
to make a tax deductible donation
“The performances are outstanding and the integrity of the musical values is unquestionable.
Added to these is an intangibility that is born of the musicians’ deep understanding of each
other in performance and of the music that they play. It is more than sum of parts.”
Sounds Like Sydney
Before you go…
Without an audience, there would be no
performance.
Over the years, your continued support has
helped us achieve more than we could have
thought possible.
Thank you for helping us to become the
best musicians we could possibly be, and for
supporting a proudly Australian act with your
vocal and financial encouragement.
It’s allowed us to become Artists in Residence at
the Bundanon Trust, giving us the opportunity to
create new work, research and collaborate with
other likeminded musicians from many different
backgrounds.
It’s also allowed us to create the Ironwood
Education programs in Victoria and NSW,
fostering the next generation of Australian classic
musical talent from across the nation.
With your continued support, there is no limit to
what we can achieve for ourselves, the Australian
musical industry and the performers of tomorrow.
We thank you.
Thank you
2017
Concert Season
www.ironwoodchamberensemble.com
[email protected]
0416 306 667
“The entire concert has been a display of vocal and instrumental
virtuosity, but the standard of perfection is so consistent that it never
draws attention to itself – this is setting the bar high indeed.”
The Sydney Morning Herald