The new festival brochure is available for download here (6.04MB). The two A4 page brochure includes the programme, ticket details and the registration form.

Concert, Perth Concert Hall, Thursday, 1 March, 2012. Tafelmusik, 'The Galileo Project'. One performance only.

'The Galileo Project', is the latest in a series of concerts by the renowned Canadian Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, was devised in 2007 to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's development of the astronomical telescope. In this concert the performance of music by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and other Baroque masters is linked to stunning visuals of the night sky projected behind and around the orchestra. It was devised by John Percy, Emeritus Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Toronto University, where Tafelmusik is the Baroque Orchestra in Residence, in association with Alison Mackay, long-time violone/double bass player in Tafelmusik. It is the latest of a series of thematic programmes that Tafelmusik has taken to schools all over Canada as part of its educational work, and which it has performed to critical acclaim around the world.

The October 2011 newsletter is available for download here, and includes details of the 2012 Festival.

Recital of Cello and Piano Music, at Fontecolombo, 67 Rokewood Heights, Bridgetown, 27 November 2011, 3 p.m. The cellist will be Louise McKay, recently appointed Associate Principal Cello, WASO. She will play the Gaspar Cassado Suite for Solo Cello, and the Beethoven Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 102, No. 1. Her fellow-artist will be the brilliant English pianist Mark Gasser, now teaching at the WAAPA. As well as playing the Beethoven sonata with the cellist, he will perform Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit. Tickets $30. Enquiries telephone Vincent Moleta 9761 2772.

Italian Cooking Demonstration and Meal, Saturday 5 November 2011, 6.00 p.m., at 'Fontecolombo'. Part of the Blackwood Country Gardens Spring Festival. The celebrated local chef and slow-food specialist Katrina Lane, of 'Taste of Balingup' will prepare a fine Italian meal on the 'Aga' wood stove at 'Fontecolombo', 67 Rokewood Heights, Bridgetown, W.A. Limited to 18 participants. $65 per head. Enquiries call your host, Vincent Moleta, 9761 2772. Payment in advance by cheque, made out to 'Fontecolombo Institute' and posted to P. O. Box 606, Bridgetown, W. A. 6255.

Polish Ensemble 'Floripari'

The programme is not yet finalised, but the following is an outline of works to be performed in BRCF XIV, 27 - 29 April, 2012, along with the artists.

• Two Piano Trios, one of piano, violin, cello, the Trinity Trio, (Caroline Badnall, Rebecca White, Sophie Walker); the other of piano, viola, clarinet, (Anna Sleptsova, Sally Boud, Geoffrey Bourgault de Coudray), provisionally called the Festival Trio.

  The Trinity Trio will play the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor; and Schubert, Piano Trio in E flat. Rebecca White and Caroline Badnall will play a violin sonata; Sophie Walker and Caroline Badnall will play the Rachmaninov Sonata for Cello and Piano.

  

  The Festival Trio will play Schumann, Fairytales; and Piazzolla, Oblivion. Sally Boud and Geoffrey Bourgault will play Pärt, Fratres.

  Margaret Blades (violin) will play an unaccompanied Bach sonata/partita. The Mozart Quintet for Clarinet and Strings will be played by Geoffrey Bourgault, Margaret Blades, Rebecca White, Sally Boud, and Sophie Walker. The Shostakovich Piano Quintet will be played by Anna Sleptsova, Margaret Blades, Rebecca White, Sally Boud,and Sophie Walker.

  Harriet Marshall (soprano) will sing with Caroline Badnall the Schumann Frauenliebe und -leben, and a bracket of jazz standards.

  The visiting ensemble in 2012 will be 'Floripari', the musicians in residence in the Wawel Royal Castle, Cracow. They will come to the Festival with five instrumentalists, a singer, and two dancers, and they will perform a full programme of Polish court music from the period 1575 - 1640.

Of the sixteen musicians invited to BRCF XIV only two will be familiar faces; most of the works are new to the Festival; Polish court music from the golden period will be heard live in Australia for the first time.

A newsletter will be sent out in late October 2011.

Here is a proposal for you to consider: a weekend of mixed arts in Bridgetown, some of the events at my home, Fontecolombo, for a party of 30 to 40. A typical weekend would comprise: Saturday morning, at Fontecolombo, an art lecture by a qualified speaker OR a joint poetry reading, texts provided. Lunch together at the Pottery Restaurant, Bridgetown. Early afternoon visit to a local vineyard, with tastings. Evening house concert at Fontecolombo given by professional musicians. Sunday morning at Fontecolombo a painting demonstration, landscape and/or portrait OR poetry reading. Lunch at Fontecolombo, outside weather permitting. Early afternoon visit to a sculptor's/artist's studio. Afternoon tea and  farewell.

The morning events would begin at 11.00, allowing time for you to leave home on Saturday morning/relaxed Sunday morning, and requiring only one night's B. and B. The cost for a weekend like the one outlined would be notionally $150. For the first gathering I have in mind the weekend 20 - 21 August (winter); if it is successful we could have a second, with a different blend of events, in November (spring), and another in January (summer), leaving the late April BRCF as the autumn event it is.

There would be during each weekend a house concert or two, even a master class, and a meeting with an artist or artisan. The minimum number to make the weekend workable would be 25; the maximum number, to fit comfortably into Fontecolombo, would be 40. It would be good to have your response to this proposal and a show of interest, at least for an August meeting, to see whether it is worth preparing for it, and advertising it locally, now.

The 14th Blackwood River Chamber Festival, 2012, will take place over the days Friday 27 - Sunday 29 April. The flyer/registration form with the programme for BRCF XIV will be released late in January 2012.

The public concert in St Paul's Church on Friday evening 29 April was well attended, and the public heard for the first time The Piano Trio: Anna Sleptsova (piano), Sun Yi (violin), and Michael Goldschlager (cello), and the seven-piece ensemble Archipelago: Lorenzo Colitto (violin/leader), Giulia Panzeri (violin), Kathy Corecig (viola), Noeleen Wright (cello), Jonathan Paget (theorbo), Libby Browning (double bass), and Stewart Smith (harpsichord). They played briefly, but performances boded well for the concerts to follow over the next two days, in the Festival proper, and we were not disappointed. Our 2011 Festival began on Saturday morning with a work for solo harpsichord, Bach's French Suite No. 5 in G (Stewart Smith), the Beethoven Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 2 in G, beautifully played by The Piano Trio, and three works by Vivaldi, vibrantly played by Archipelago. The two Italian artists, Lorenzo Colitto and Giulia Panzeri, had arrived on Tuesday 26 April, and to hear the sprightly tone of the ensemble, after only three rehearsals, was remarkable.

The Saturday afternoon concert was held at Olea Nurseries, 14 kms west of Manjimup, in a large shade-house, like a small open-ended aircraft hanger. The founder of Olea Nurseries, Luigi Bazzani, spoke about his work as horticulturalist since coming to Australia in 1950, and the audience warmed to his personality. Though the wind came up, and towards the end of the concert light rain began to fall, the artists - Jonathan Paget with two contemporary 'Latin American' works for solo guitar, Michael Goldschlager with Sculthorpe's Requiem for Cello Alone, the Penrhos College Collier Quartet with two movements from an early Mozart quartet, and Archipelago with rarely heard works by early Bolognese composers, a spinet here replacing the harpsichord as bass instrument - the artists were unruffled and the audience enjoyed a memorable musical experience, capped by a splendid afternoon tea with our hosts, Luigi and Lina Bazzani.

The Saturday evening concert opened with two works composed in Rome in the late 17th century, Corelli's Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 8, written for Christmas Eve, and a sonata written by Corelli's pupil, Georg Muffat; the playing by Archipelago was getting even more animated with each concert and the leader, Lorenzo Coliito, was speaking knowledgeably and pleasingly before each of their programmes. Anna Sleptsova then played Franz Liszt's haunting and rarely performed Three Apparitions. The soprano Harriet Marshall, 2011 Young Artist with WA Opera, accompanied by Tommaso Pollio, thrilled the audience with Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs. The concert and the day came to a meditative close as Sun Yi and Michael Goldschlager played Kodaly's Duo for Violin and Cello.

Sunday May 1st, a bright Bridgetown autumn morning. We began with Arensky's Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, a rarely heard work lyrically played by The Piano Trio, which was followed by the big, lush voice of Harriet Marshall singing late Romantic songs by Grieg and Korngold. The young Collier Quartet then played two movements from Haydn's String Quartet Op. 64 No. 5, 'The Lark'; and the concert ended with two early 17th-century Italian works, a Sonata by Castello, and the Capriccio Stravagante by Carlo Farina, in which the strings mimic wind instruments, a hen, a cock, a cat, and a dog.

The final concert, on Sunday afternoon, opened with Sun Yi and Anna Sleptsova playing Debussy's Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, the refined violin of Sun Yi matching the full Romantic tone of the piano. Archipelago then played two early 18th-century works, Sammartini's Sinfonia in F and Brioschi's Sinfonia in B flat major, thus completing over five concerts a delicious and sprightly compendium of Italian Baroque music which in the setting of St Paul's gave intense pleasure to the audience. Harriet Marshall's last recital was of Italian songs, beginning with the soaring Ave Maria by Caccini, and including songs by Puccini, Toselli, Tosti and Cilea. Here is a singer whose diction is matched by accurate intonation, a rich, full soprano voice, and a commanding presence; a singer whose career we shall follow keenly. The concert ended with a warm, thoroughly satisfying rendering of the Brahms Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor. We were fortunate this year to hear these three artists combing their talents with such grace and style. Afterwards, freshly baked scones were served with jam and cream at the closing afternoon tea in the church hall.

Numbers were somewhat down on those of 2010, and we must aim for a core audience of at least 100, made up ideally of 70 A tickets (both days), 20 B tickets (Saturday only), 10 C tickets (Sunday only). The catering, by Pip Mills at the Bridgetown Pottery Restaurant, was well presented, varied and generous, and local winemaker Chris Shedley served his fine wines and grape juices at the dinner. The Festival runs smoothly, with low-key administration and nothing to distract from the music. All it needs to be assured of continuing is another 25 - 30 regular concert-goers. The tickets bought at the end of this Festival for next year's Festival, 2012, have ensured that the books can be balanced for this year, so with the Promotions Committee we shall be looking for ways to attract newcomers for next year. Speak to your friends about the Festival and encourage them to come.

Two regular Festival-goers, Greg and Valerie Power, generously the Collier Quartet, from Penhros College, to perform at the 2011 Festival. They have expressed their intention to sponsor a young ensemble for the 14th BRCF, 2012.

Animated by the desire to foster young, emerging performers, the Powers hope that these young string players will be stimulated by the experience and encouraged to continue their studies, eventually even emulating some of our past Festival young artists, such as Caitlin Hulcup and Sally Boud, who have matured into accomplished artists, performing professionally to an international standard and giving much pleasure to their audiences.

After the 2011 Festival new sponsors have come forward. They are Luigi anmd Lina Bazzani (Frangipani Holdings), of Olea Nurseries, where the Saturday afternoon concert was held 30 April 2011.