Program of premieres announced for 30th Australian Festival of Chamber Music

Themed ‘Carnival’, the 30th Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM) in Townsville this year held from 31st July to 9th August will celebrate four world premieres, Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, didgeridoo and Australian debuts.

47 artists will perform over the 10-days, including 31 Australian artists and 16 international artists, with four making their Australian debut. In a wonderful musical coup for the event, four world premieres and 11 Australian premieres will be performed as part of over 125 pieces being played in total.   

In the third and final AFCM under the artistic direction of celebrated British pianist Kathryn Stott, the line-up includes British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason who shot to fame globally after performing at the wedding of Harry and Meghan in May 2018, British flute player Adam Walker, violinists Alexander Sitkovetsky (Russia), Amalia Hall (NZ), and Lise Berthaud (France) and pianist Marianna Shirinyan (Denmark). Australian artists include bassist Kirsty McCahon, Zoe Black (violin), Tobias Breider (viola), Mark Gaydon (bassoon), James Crabb (accordion), Lloyd Van’t Hoff (clarinet), Timothy Young (piano), the Tinalley String Quartet and Nexas Saxophone Quartet plus internationally applauded didgeridoo star William Barton, returning to the Festival to celebrate the 30th anniversary.   

Making their Australian debuts, together with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, are American violinist Tai Murray, Finnish cellist Jan-Erik Gustafsson and Japan’s Yumi Kurosawa who plays the enchanting 13-stringed Koto, a traditional stringed instrument from Japan.  

Famed violinist, composer and teacher Pavel Fischer will return to direct the Festival’s Winterschool program, while the Concert Host for 2020 will be the UK’s Petroc Trelawny from the BBC, and the multi-award winning Dancenorth returns to the AFCM with a world premiere collaboration celebrating Beethoven.  

On Thursday 6th August, the Festival will join music lovers around the world in celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary. Beethoven was recently voted Australia’s favourite composer in ABC Classic’s Top 100 Composer countdown.  

Artistic Director Kathryn Stott has programmed three concerts inspired by the great composer, including an evening concert based around his Kreutzer Sonata. Audiences can expect performances throughout the Festival which salute his genius, in particular the commission of the Goldner Variations by 25 esteemed Australian composers. The 25 Australian composers are (in alphabetical order): Joe Chindamo, Robert Davidson, Brett Dean, Paul Dean, Ross Edwards, Andrew Ford, Paul Grabowsky, Iain Grandage, Maria Grenfell, Holly Harrison, Matthew Hindson, Mark Isaacs, Jakub Jankowski, Elena Kats-Chernin, Graeme Koehne AO, Liza Lim, Nicole Murphy, John Peterson, Andrew Schulz, Harry Sdraulig, Paul Stanhope, Clare Strong (formerly Johnston), Carl Vine, Natalie Williams and Elizabeth Younan. The theme will be Beethoven’s iconic ‘Ode to Joy’ and will unite both the Goldner String Quartet and Beethoven anniversaries together in the most spectacular way.  

The Festival will also welcome its youngest ever artist, 12-year-old Melbourne violinist Christian Li. He made history last year by becoming the youngest ever winner of the Menuhin Competition, the world’s leading competition for violin players under 22. Another young star is 23-year-old Australian pianist Kevin Chow who will appear as part of his ABC Young Performers Award.

On the 2020 program, Stott advises “We have music spanning centuries and continents, and exciting commissions and premieres all mixed into a joyous potpourri of the most celebrated chamber music repertoire ever written.  

“It is a 10-day program of musical highlights which opens on 31st July with the world premiere of a very special commission.  As part of celebrations for the Goldner String Quartet’s 25th anniversary, we have commissioned Deborah Cheetham AO to write a work featuring herself singing alongside Peter Coleman-Wright AO and the Goldners. She will be writing in the indigenous language of the Wulgurukaba people as acknowledgment of their culture and the land on which the Festival resides. How wonderful!”

Queensland Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch noted that the Queensland Government funding of $25,000 would support the new commissions from Cheetham and Dancenorth and added that the State Government “supports the Australian Festival of Chamber Music with $120,000 annually via Arts Queensland’s Organisation Fund 2017 – 2020. These exciting commissions, supported with an additional $25,000 funding under the Queensland Arts Showcase Program, are a great way to celebrate the Australian Festival of Chamber Music’s 30 years in Townsville.

“I’m especially pleased to see Townsville’s traditional custodians the Wulgurukaba and Bindal people recognised and celebrated in the 30th anniversary program.”

Queensland Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones also advised “the Australian Festival of Chamber Music has grown from strength to strength in recent years. It now generates $3.7 million and generates more than 35,000 visitor nights.

We’ll continue to support major events like this that deliver a strong return for tourism operators.”

The 30th AFCM takes place in Townsville North Queensland from Friday 31st July to Sunday 9th August and features 21 concerts, six free events and five special events including a magical concert on Palm Island and one on Magnetic Island. The program includes six morning Concert Conversations, Sunset and Evening Series concerts, inspirational Winterschool masterclasses and performances as well as the Cleveland Bay Concert, Future Stars Special and a Fundraising luncheon with Maggie Beer.  

The 2020 AFCM is proud to be an official event partner of the North Australia Festival of Arts, also taking place in Townsville this July.  

2020 Fast Facts

• The AFCM is the largest and most prestigious chamber music festival in Australia

• 10 days, 32 events and 47 world class artists

• Four artists making their Australian debut (Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Tai Murray, Jan-Erik Gustafsson & Yumi Kurosawa)

• Four world premieres, 11 Australian premieres and more than 125 pieces performed

• Over 110 composers, 42 of whom are alive today, from 23 nationalities (including 33 Australian composers)

• 15 female composers featured in the program

• 13 different instruments showcased at the Festival, plus voice and dance

• Eight pianos transported 4,524 kilometres from Sydney to Townsville via Theme and Variations

• 16 musicians travelling from overseas

• 31 musicians travelling from within Australia

• 336,041kms travelled by artists to get to Townsville

• One instrument never played at AFCM before - the Japanese Koto

• The youngest ever performer at AFCM, Christian Li, aged 12 years old

• And the third and final Festival for Artistic Director, UK pianist Kathryn Stott

For more information go to www.afcm.com.au

Images:: Australian bassist Kirsty McCahon (top) and Nexas Saxophone Quartet (below). Images supplied by AAP Medianet.