Now in its 13th year, the Woodend Winter Arts Festival has brought together acclaimed Australian and international talent with the music, literary and arts community of the stunning Macedon Ranges over the June (Queen’s Birthday) long weekend.
We are proud to bring you a range of events to inspire and to challenge,” says Artistic Director and Founder, Jacqueline Ogeil. “Our unique programming is exclusive to the festival and we enjoy our international collaborations set in local historical settings.”
The Festival line-up includes something for everyone – the classical music fans of guitar, piano, ensembles and quartets, as well as featured speakers including Mem Fox (Possum Magic), Michael McCoy (Dream Gardens, ABC TV), writers’ workshops, poetry, and political panels that promise to be animated and thought provoking.
Highlights include: the Australian premiere performance of Vivaldi: Vespers (Ensemble Gombert and Accademia Arcadia) featuring some of the lesser known, but no less stunning, works of ‘the Red Priest’; and Brazilian quartet, Quinta essential (Caboclo) presents the influences that form what we now recognise as the music of Brazil – a combination of African rhythms and European melodic sensibility.
Melbourne pianist and composer Stefan Cassomenos performs a new live soundtrack to Alexander Dovzhenko’s 1930 silent film Earth – hailed as one of the greatest films of all time; young piano virtuoso Tony Lee performs a repertoire of Beethoven, Prokofiev and American composer John Adams; and the Austrian Piano Trio Alba presents masterpieces of the literature from Austria and Bohemia.
A quality line up of art exhibitions include the Macedon Ranges Art Group, the Macedon Ranges Potters, the Out of the Box exhibition featuring local artists, and The Colenso Series featuring a stunning collaboration between chef Kathryn Russack and photographer Alina Golovachenko that serves a promotional and archival brief for Colenso.
In addition, the distinct sound of the Australian String Quartet will get to The Heart of Schubert; the first-ever Sand Sculpture exhibition in the Macedon Ranges, The Art of Music will be presented in a gallery format for the first time in Australia; and Boccherini and Bocconcini will be an inspired culinary tour of classical Europe, interspersed with the Rococo charm of string quartets by the 18th-century Italian master Luigi Boccherini.
The 2017 Woodend Winter Arts Festival runs 9 – 12 June. For more information and complete program, visit: www.woodendwinterartsfestival.org.au for details.
Image: Australian String Quartet (supplied)