Some of Australia’s brightest young musicians spent a mind-blowing week of learning and playing in the company of Australia’s finest performers of Historically Informed Performance style (HIP).
The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra conducted a four day workshop from 4-7 July with school students from all over Sydney, west to the Blue Mountains and Bathurst, south to Sutherland Shire and north beyond the northern beaches to Noosa in Queensland!
Hosted by Santa Sabina College in Sydney’s inner west, more than 40 talented young musicians worked intensively to create a fresh and inspiring interpretation of Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, the ‘Haffner’.
All brought their own modern instruments; however the tutors demonstrated on period instruments and shared their expertise and experience so that the students learned how to create a sound and style in keeping with the aesthetics of Mozart’s time.
The sessions included full orchestral and sectional rehearsals, lecture/workshops and demonstrations – and lots of singing, gesturing, dancing and socialising with like-minded peers.
Tutors were members of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra - including some who flew in from Adelaide, Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast. The orchestra was directed by the orchestra’s own concertmaster Rachael Beesley and tutors included Simone Slattery (violin), Simon Oswell (viola), Anthea Cottee (cello and double bass), Megan Lang and Nicole van Bruggen (woodwind), Matthew Manchester (brass and timpani) and Joanna Tondys (harpsichord).
Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra Education Manager Megan Lang said: “This extraordinary group of students of such different ages and from so many different backgrounds could already make a fantastic sound on the first day! They were living proof that a love of music and learning thrives in every corner of Sydney and beyond. It was pure delight to be able to work with them at the highest level; by the end of the four days they played a concert that was so wonderful it brought tears to my eyes.”
Photo credit: Nick Gilbert
