Recognised as one of Victoria’s most successful regional festivals that has earned a reputation for excellence and innovation, the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival brings together some of Australia’s best musicians over the second weekend in October for a celebration of fine music.
This year with the theme of Visions – works of visionary composers will be brought to life in over 30 events in a program bursting with recitals, conversations, pop-up recitals, masterclasses, school concerts and much more.
Traversing the musical canon, the festival will present works by Beethoven, Bach, Mahler, Messiaen, Vivaldi, Janacek, Schubert and many others. Remembering Sculthorpe is a tribute to one of Australia’s great composers and Festival Patron.
Michael Griffiths explores Cole Porter’s timeless songs in a show penned by Anna Goldsworthy, while Robyn Archer and band take on the Great American Songbook. The soundtrack to a silent film will be improvised, and patrons can indulge in a singalong to favourite show tunes. Smoke-Encrypted Whispers is a remarkable musical response to the poems of Samuel Wagan Watson.
The mystical and vividly coloured sonatas of Alexander Scriabin will be brought to life by eight festival pianists. The winners of the Mietta Song Competition perform Mahler and Messiaen; Press Play collaborates with artist Angela Cavalieri. Multi-instrumentalist, Adam Page will spontaneously compose intricate grooves.
“It was a great joy to draw together a program celebrating visionary music throughout the ages: the forward-looking, the innovative, and the revolutionary,” says Artistic Director, Anna Goldsworthy. “The festival’s program encapsulates my artistic view, of the critical nexus between tradition and renewal that lies at the heart of our practice.”
Anna Goldsworthy is an award-winning pianist, writer and festival director. Her first book, Piano Lessons is an Australian best-seller, has been released in the United States and Korea, adapted for the stage, and is currently in development as a film.
Anna’s writing has appeared in The Monthly, The Age, The Australian, and Best Australian Essays. Her second memoir Welcome to Your New Life is now available and her Quarterly Essay was released in June 2013. Anna is a founding member of Seraphim Trio, and records for the ABC Classics label.
The Port Fairy Spring Music Festival is one of Victoria’s most successful regional festivals, that has earned a reputation for excellence and innovation. Presented at various venues across Port Fairy, the Spring Music Festival runs 9 – 11 October 2015. For more information and complete programme, visit: www.portfairyspringfest.com.au for details.
Image: Rachel Shaw (French horn), Matthew Kneale (bassoon) and David Reichelt (oboe) from the Arcadia Wind Quintet