Concerts
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Concerts
Pauline Pidgeon Winter Recital
17th August 2024 at 2pm
St. John’s Anglican Church, Camberwell
552 Burke Rd, Camberwell VIC 3124
Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/CSDWF
After her sold out recital in Melbourne Recital Centre in 2018
and numerous other public recitals, Pauline returns this winter with a
selection of exciting piano repertoire from the classical, romantic and
impressionist period to warm up your winter.
Featuring the most challenging pieces in piano repertoire, Pauline will again
dazzle her audience with her natural virtuosity across some of the most
difficult Chopin Etudes Op.10, Ravel’s Jeux d’eau, lyrical & highly
demanding Rachmaninov preludes and sumptuous Chopin Ballade Op.52. She will
also display her understanding of complex musical structure through Franck’s
Prélude, Fugue et Variation Op.18.
About the artist:
Pauline Pidgeon was born in 1942. She began playing the piano at the tender age of three by watching and imitating her mother. Growing up in regional Victoria, she moved across several remote country towns. Pauline’s prodigious talent, however, did not escape attention. Her prodigious talent has had her broadcasted live playing piano at the age of 3 by ABC Classic radio back in 1945. Awarded scholarships throughout her childhood, she was considered too young to accept the highly coveted Exhibition Scholarship at the University of Melbourne’s Conservatorium of Music, having just turned seventeen. She Learnt from the the great Prof. Max Cooke, OAM and soon become his best favourite student. She was again awarded the scholarship during her final year of schooling at Sacred Heart, Ballarat East. Following her time at the University of Melbourne, she was awarded prize in the ABC’s Instrumental and Vocal Competition and won second prize in the inaugural National Chopin Competition. She did her MSO debut performance as a soloist for Beethoven Piano Concerto no.4 in 1966 under the baton of Sir Bernard Heinze, AC.
Her music career was interrupted for over 30 years when she moved to Germany at the aged of 25, then South Africa two years later, where despite being a devoted mother of two, she nonetheless found time to give numerous recitals and broadcasts. She also lectured in piano performance at Rhodes University, Grahamstown and the University of Port Elizabeth.
Pauline eventually returned to Australia in 1987, taking up a position at Ballarat Grammar as Pianist in Residence. She was honoured to travel to Germany on behalf of the School to select the Grand Piano for its new Arts Centre. Following a tenure of 20 years, she retired to Melbourne, where she has now has time to devote herself to her artistic pursuits. This recital is a celebration of her lifetime love of the piano and the joy of performing.
You can follow Pauline at her social media at Instagram and Facebook @paulinepidgeon – pianist.
Festival of Chamber Music 2023
The Fidelio Quartet
Festival of Chamber Music
SERIES SUBSCRIPTION
Subscribe to all 7 stunning performances of the St John’s ‘Festival of Chamber Music’, at a saving of around 15 percent.
4 CONCERT SUBSCRIPTION
Subscribe to 4 performances from among the entire series of the St John’s ‘Festival of Chamber Music’, at a saving of 10 percent.
Serioso and the Sublime
SUNDAY 19TH FEBRUARY
2.00 PM
Schubert Quintet for 2 Celli in C major Beethoven Quartet Opus 95 “Serioso”
in F minor
Rachael Tobin cello
Fidelio Quartet
The Death of Beethoven
Tuesday 28th march
7.30 pm
Movements and Excerpts from the Late Quartets of Beethoven.
John Baldock Narrator
Fidelio Quartet
Images of Bliss
Sunday 30th April
2.00 pm
Haydn String Quartet Op 76 No 5
Lee Bradshaw ‘Images’ for String Quartet
Beethoven ‘Razumovsky’ Op.59, No 3 in C major
Fidelio Quartet
Pilgrims of the Soul
Sunday 18th June
2.00 pm
Mozart-Bradshaw Oboe Concerto in C major
Lee Bradshaw ‘Le langage des arbres’
for Oboe and String Quartet
Tchaikovsky String Quartet no.1 in D major
Stephanie Dixon oboe
Fidelio Quartet
A Breath from Paradise
Sunday 30th July
2.00 pm
Lee Bradshaw ‘Zarqa’ (taken from the Solo Suite)
Beethoven String Quartet Op. 18, No 1 in F major
Prokofiev Sonata arranged for Flute and String Quartet by Lee Bradshaw
Wendy Clark flute
Fidelio Quartet
Magnificent Obsession
Tuesday 19th September
7.30 PM
Mozart Piano Quartet in G minor
Beethoven Piano Trio Op.97 ‘Archduke’
Caroline Almonte
Fidelio Quartet
Journey to
Impossible Places
Sunday 22nd October
2.00 pm
Beethoven-Bradshaw ‘Ah! Perfido’ Opus 65
arranged for Mezzo soprano and string quartet
Beethoven String Quartet Op. 130 incl. ‘Grosse Fugue’
Sally-Anne Russell Mezzo soprano
Fidelio Quartet
Past Concerts
Isin Cakmakcioglu and Michael Loftus Hills present a carefully curated selection of romantic concert miniatures for violin and piano and the much loved ‘Spring’ Sonata of Beethoven. This beautiful program includes rarely performed gems such as Alfred Hill’s stunning ‘Zephrys’ and Vladigerov’s Intermezzo.
Beethoven’s Spring Sonata Opus 24 and works by Elgar, Vladigerov, Alfred Hill, Vecsey, Vieuxtemps, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky.
Isin Cakmakcioglu violin
Michael Loftus Hills piano
Experience Beethoven’s final musical utterances when the Fidelio Quartet presents Beethoven’s Op.135. Serene, utterly joyous, and bitterly real, this deceptively compact late Quartet marks the beginning of a new path for the great composer that sadly, we would never hear fully come to fruition. Luckily, we can conjure up what might have been using this remarkable final work to fuel our imagination.
The Fidelio Quartet is delighted to be joined by the remarkable Stephanie Dixon for a reading of Mozart’s jubilant Oboe Quartet.
Mozart Oboe Quartet
Beethoven Opus in F major Opus 135
Stephanie Dixon Oboe
Fidelio Quartet
Powerhouse pianist Stefan Cassamenos and the brilliant double bassist Rohan Dasika join the Fidelio Quartet for Schubert’s famous and beloved ‘Trout’ Quintet; presented alongside Haydn’s ‘Frog’ Quartet in a concert of aquatic and amphibious fun!
Haydn String Quartet Opus 50 No 6 (the Frog)
Schubert Trout Quintet
Stefan Cassamenos Piano
Rohan Dasika Double bass
Fidelio Quartet
“A natural musician to the ends of her fingertips”
– Classic FM Magazine
Violinist Baiba Skride appears in her only Melbourne performance of 2022 for St Johns Chamber Music Series in a programme featuring the utterly epic Dvorak Piano Quintet in A major, as well as the Australian premiere of Lee Bradshaw’s ‘Trigon’ String Trio. Baiba is joined by violist Ivan Vukčević (Switzerland/Australia), pianist Andreas Boyde, Isin Cakmakcioglu (violin) and Rachel Atkinson (cello). Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see one of the world’s finest soloists in such an intimate setting.
Exquisite flautist Wendy Clarke joins her dear friends for Mozart’s exuberant D major Flute Quartet, followed by Beethoven’s noble Op.127 String Quartet – full of hope, gratitude and love. A favourite of every Quartet, the work is brimming with heart melting optimism and warmth – a perfect way out of troubled times.
Mozart Flute Quartet in D major
Beethoven Opus 127
Wendy Clarke flute
Fidelio Quartet
St John’s Music Director and celebrated tenor Christopher Watson presents his favourite Schubert Lieder, arranged especially for tenor and String Quartet by Lee Bradshaw. These sublime Schubert songs are contrasted with Smetana’s wildly dramatic and autobiographical String Quartet, ‘From my Life’.
Schubert Leider
Smetana Quartet. No 1 in e minor, From my Life
Christopher Watson tenor
Fidelio Quartet