Australian Brandenburg Orchestra announces ambitious 2023 season

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra has today announced an innovative program of six live concert series for its 2023 Season to be performed at Sydney’s City Recital Hall and Melbourne Recital Centre.

The ambitious season reimagines diverse musical and cultural traditions and will see the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Brandenburg Choir perform alongside celebrated Australian and international guest artists including Canadian-American cellist Elinor Frey, French Baroque violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte and Swiss-Iranian Baroque violinist Leila Schayegh who will all make their Australian debut.

Co-Founder and Artistic Director Paul Dyer notes “what a difference a year makes. The Brandenburg is revitalised and looking to the future with vigour, inclusiveness, and a keen sense of adventure. The 2023 season we have in store for you is wonderfully theatrical and insightful.

“Among the highlights is the dramatic opening concert series Spanish Steps featuring the remarkable Baroque cellist Elinor Frey; the masterful young Baroque violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, and; violin virtuoso Leila Schayegh, whose expressive playing is poetry in motion. These artists are all making their Australian debuts with the Brandenburg. The season spans many moods and emotions, with the mystic musicians of Turkey and the Whirling Dervishes unfurling their splendour in Ottoman Baroque next winter. It’s truly a cultural feast.”

Co-Founder and Managing Director Bruce Applebaum adds “it is exciting to launch the Brandenburg’s striking new look for our 2023 subscription season – the company’s 34th – and a diverse program of celebrated Australian and international guest artists, our own illustrious musicians, original collaborations, and rising stars of the Baroque concert stage. If the last couple of years has taught us anything, it’s that the Brandenburg is resilient, innovative and forward-thinking. Our collective gaze is on the future, of dreaming up new and different ways to engage with our audience both inside and outside the concert hall.”

The Orchestra’s 2023 season will open with Spanish Steps featuring leading Canadian-American cellist Elinor Freyin her Australian debut. Transporting audiences to the Spanish Steps in Rome, the concert’s rich program explores Italian composers and their affinity with Spain in an era of cultural enlightenment. Alongside the full orchestra led by Paul Dyer on the harpsichord, guest performer Frey will reveal her astounding artistry in seldom performed works by Boccherini and Sammartini.

Two of the most popular pillars in the Baroque repertoire — Vivaldi’s Gloria and The Four Seasons — will be given new life in the second concert series Vivaldi Unplugged. The concert begins with the vibrant Gloria led by Paul Dyer, featuring the Brandenburg Choir, preceded by the classic masterpiece The Four Seasons boldly interpreted to conjure vivid impressions of nature. Promising to be one of next year’s most evocative experiences, the concert series will highlight Brandenburg’s celebrated concertmaster Shaun Lee-Chen’s consummate command of the violin and feature stage direction by Yaron Lifschitz, the Artistic Director of leading Australian performance company Circa.

Inspired by the path of an ancient 16th century Ottoman manuscript, Ottoman Baroque will feature the Orchestra and members of the Brandenburg Choir, alongside five of Turkey’s most venerated traditional musicians. Audiences will experience an atmospheric pasticcio that weaves together sounds and music of the Ottoman Empire, showcasing a distinctive range of period instruments including the Chinese two-stringed bowed instrument, the erhu; the European lute; and the tambur from Turkey. In a celebration of movement, colour and sound, the concert culminates with a customary meditation practice performed with the mesmerising Semazen (Whirling Dervishes).

Rising international star and French Baroque violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte will lead the Brandenburg Orchestra as Guest Director of The Lover in his Australian concert debut. At just 26 years old, de Swarte has captivated audiences since his early teens, and is set to reveal his dramatic flair and exceptional artistry in a program of works by Vivaldi.

Making her long awaited Australian debut, Swiss-Iranian Baroque violinist Leila Schayegh will take to the stage as Guest Director of the fifth concert series Poet of the Violin. One of the world’s most acclaimed Baroque violinists, Schayegh is celebrated throughout Europe for her expressive interpretations of classical and contemporary repertoire. She performs on an incredibly rare instrument made in Cremona in 1675 by legendary luthier and founder of Casa Guarneri, Andrea Guarneri, having become its custodian when she was just seven years old. For Poet of the Violin, Schayegh will lead the Brandenburg through a brightly-textured program of Baroque masterworks from JS Bach, Leclairand Zelenka.

The Brandenburg’s much-anticipated annual favourite Noël! Noël! will once again close the season. Encapsulating the open-hearted spirit of the Brandenburg, the popular concert series will feature an uplifting program filled with timeless carols including O Come All Ye Faithful, Stille Nacht and many more festive musical surprises.

Subscriber tickets are on sale now and single tickets will be on sale from 18th January 2023.

Discover more at brandenburg.com.au 

Image top: Australian Brandenburg Orchestra; Image above: Vivaldi Unplugged