Apr
7
to 16 Apr

Heavenly Sopranos

  • Parramatta, Canberra, Berry, Southern Highlands, Wyong, Sydney (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Jewels of the Baroque with Celeste Lazarenko and Helen Sherman. The period instruments of the AHE and two brilliant singers in a ravishing program of familiar and neglected gems, including Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.

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Jun
22
to 30 Jun

Beethoven's Fifth

  • Southern Highlands, Port Macquarie, Canberra, Berry, Wollongong, Sydney (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Masterworks in chamber form. AHE continues its exploration of historical arrangements of Beethoven’s masterworks. Get up close and personal with Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony, as the septet reveals surprising new intensities.

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Sep
20
to 29 Sep

Mozart's Horn

  • Windsor, Orange, Sydney, Canberra, Berry, Southern Highlands, Lake Macquarie (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Carla Blackwood and the AHE invite you to explore both sides of Mozart’s mercurial nature, and to marvel that a device designed to frighten wolves creates such mellifluous and glowing music.

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Dec
1
to 3 Dec

Haydn's Passion

  • Canberra, Sydney, Australian Digital Concert Hall, Southern Highlands (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Sturm und Drang meets unbridled joy. A dazzling evening from a 21st-century ensemble of soloists. AHE plays two key works from Mozart, including Skye McIntosh performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 3, plus Haydn’s La Passione Symphony and a less familiar but just as exciting work by their Czech contemporary, J B Vanhal.

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Feb
15
to 18 Feb

Love & Devotion

  • Canberra, Berry, Southern Highlands, Sydney Opera House (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

String Quartets by Haydn. Mozart & Mendelssohn.

We start the year with a program of three immensely satisfying quartets. All have moments of such emotional intensity that they seem to come from a place of deep personal feeling. So is love in the air?

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Mar
7
to 13 Mar

Prussian Quartets

PRUSSIAN QUARTETS

In the late 1700s, Berlin was the vibrant seat of a kingdom that stretched from the Baltic states, Silesia and up to modern Denmark, and boasted a lively salon culture. These salon gatherings encouraged intelligent conversation, the exchange of ideas, and most importantly, the chance to perform ‘new’ music.

The reign of King Friedrich Wilhelm II was relatively brief and his greatest claim to fame today is the building of the Brandenburg Gate. But as a patron of the arts, many notable chamber works were penned for him, including all three quartets featured in this program.

The dedication to King Friederich is said to have come about after Haydn received a letter from him praising Haydn for the Paris symphonies. The letter enclosed a gift of a golden ring. To honour this, Haydn dedicated the Op. 50 quartets to him. 

Mozart’s set of three Prussian quartets, with their prominent cello solos, were almost certainly written to please the amateur cellist King. The third quartet in F major was one of the last quartets he composed, and it displays many of the composer’s trademark qualities - uneven phrases, sudden tempo changes, ingenious rhythms and novel harmonic shifts. The ending is a poetic stroke of mastery in itself, with the music lifting and dissolving into the ether.

Pleyel, a student of Haydn (of whom Haydn was quite proud), also dedicated twelve quartets to the King. Of these, the AHE Quartet presents Quartet No. 9 in G minor. 

PROGRAM

PLEYEL String Quartet in G minor Ben. 339 (Prussian Quartets)

MOZART String Quartet No. 23 K 590 in F major (Third Prussian)

HAYDN String Quartet Op. 50 No. 1 in B flat major (Prussian Quartets)

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Dec
7
to 12 Dec

Tempora Mutantur

Tempora Mutantur

Haydn's Symphony No. 64 Tempora Mutantur (Times Are Changed), is one of the few that he named himself. It takes its title from the well-known poetic Latin statement: "Times are changed; we too are changed within them." It provides a fitting commentary on a turbulent year that we cannot help feeling changed by!

AHE is delighted to not only make its triumphant return to the stage of City Recital Hall, but also to return to several of our other regular locations including Canberra and the Southern Highlands before this year of turbulence is out.

Long-term friend of the Ensemble and regular collaborator, Erin Helyard, performs Mozart's youthful Piano Concerto No. 6, accompanied by the Ensemble in an intimate version for fortepiano and string quartet. 

The Ensemble will also perform Boccherini's beautiful and brooding Piano Quintet in E minor along with the Australian premiere of Johann Salomon's outstanding eighteenth century chamber version of Haydn's Symphony, Tempora Mutantur, No. 64 for flute, strings and fortepiano. 

Helyard and AHE Artistic Director Skye McIntosh have enjoyed a long musical friendship, collaborating on many projects including their debut ABC Classics recording The Haydn Album. Acclaimed as a "formidable leader" (Sounds Like Sydney), McIntosh is joined by AHE's other leading historically informed artists - Matthew Greco (violin), Karina Schmitz (viola), Daniel Yeadon (cello) and Melissa Farrow (flute). This promises to be a glorious musical return to end what has been a strange and unexpected year.



PROGRAM

BOCCHERINI

Piano Quintet Op. 57/3 in E minor 

MOZART

Piano Concerto No. 6 in B Flat Major K.238

HAYDN

Symphony No. 64 Tempora Mutantur (Times Are Changed)

PERFORMANCES

Canberra Thursday December 17, 7pm, Albert Hall, Yarralumla

Sydney, Saturday December 19, 7pm, City Recital Hall, Angel Place

Southern Highlands Sunday December 20, 4pm, Burrawang School of Arts, Burrawang

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Nov
6
10:30 am10:30

Haydn's Dream & Bach's Goldberg

AHE is extremely pleased to welcome our audiences back with this beautiful program inspired by sleep. The subject of dreams has long occupied the imagination of composers, poets, and artists throughout history. AHE explores this subject with an intriguing collection of works including Haydn’s Dream Quartet, Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Beethoven’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s Tomb Scene from Romeo and Juliet.

Haydn’s beautiful string quartet Op. 50 No. 5, The Dream, takes its nickname from the gorgeous ‘poco adagio’ second movement that features rocking chords that create a gentle hypnotic ‘dream-like’ effect.

Bach's famous Goldberg Variations, written at the request of Count Kaiserling for Goldberg to play to him during his many sleepless nights to lull him into a state of slumber, are some of his most listened-to works. The original variations were written for harpsichord. In this concert, AHE presents a newly commissioned arrangement for string quartet.

AHE also presents Beethoven’s magnificent string quartet Op. 18 No. 1. The slow movement of this work is thought to have been inspired by the tragic Tomb Scene of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo, finding Juliet asleep, believes her to be dead and thus takes his own life in vain.   


PROGRAM

HAYDN String Quartet No. 40 in F major Op. 50 No. 5 The Dream

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in F major Op. 18 No. 1 - 2nd Movement

J.S. BACH Goldberg Variations BWV 988 (arr. for string quartet) Selections

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Aug
20
10:30 am10:30

The Golden Age

Enjoy two stunning string quartets from the Golden Age performed by musicians of the Australian Haydn Ensemble. They present Haydn’s iconic String Quartet Op. 33 No. 3 ‘The Bird’ along with Mozart's dark String Quartet No. 15 in D minor from the set of quartets he dedicated to his friend and idol, Haydn.

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Feb
6
to 11 Feb

Emperors and Armies

PROGRAM

BOCCHERINI Flute Quintet in D major Op. 19 No. 6 Las Parejas

HAYDN String Quartet No. 62 in C major Op. 76 No. 3 Emperor/Kaiser

MOZART String Quartet No. 21 in D major First Prussian/The Violet K. 575

HAYDN Symphony No. 100 in G major The Military (arr. Salomon)

Boccherini's playful flute quintet Las Parejas (The Couples) opens our season. The title refers to a Spanish horse race in which two horsemen ride hand in hand. Boccherini infuses the quintet with a military flavour, reminiscent of his famous work Night Streets of Madrid.

Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 76 No. 3 The Emperor, one of his most famous, takes its nickname from the beautiful second movement set of variations based on the theme of  ‘Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser’ (God Save Emperor Francis), an anthem Haydn wrote for Emperor Francis II. Along with this, the Ensemble performs Mozart’s string quartet The First Prussian dedicated to the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II, an amateur cellist.

AHE also presents Salomon’s compelling chamber arrangement of Haydn’s Symphony No. 100 nicknamed The Military. Over the past seven years, the Ensemble has explored many of the chamber versions of Haydn’s London Symphonies arranged by his dear friend Salomon and we are excited to bring this one to our audiences in 2020.

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Nov
21
to 23 Nov

Midori & Mozart

PROGRAM

MOZART Symphony No. 33 in B flat major K. 319

MOZART  Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major K. 211

HAYDN Symphony No. 80 in D minor

HAYDN Violin Concerto in C major Hob VII:a1

Midori Seiler is equally comfortable playing baroque violin concerti with orchestras such as Budapest Festival Orchestra or Tafelmusik, Toronto, as she is performing classical or romantic violin concerti with orchestras such as Anima Eterna, Concerto Köln or Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. 

Long-term concertmaster of Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Anima Eterna Brugge, she makes her Australian debut with the AHE as guest director and soloist in this dazzling season finale of Mozart and Haydn symphonies and concerti.

The program opens with Mozart’s bright and joyous Symphony No. 33. This is followed by his brilliant but lesser-known Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major showcasing Midori’s outstanding virtuosity and her poise in the beautiful slow movement.

In the second half of the program, Haydn’s Symphony No. 80 in D minor will provide plenty of Sturm and Drang. His virtuosic spirit shines through as we finish the year performing the Violin Concerto in C major.

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Sep
26
to 1 Oct

Handel & Delirious Love

One of Australia’s most loved and acclaimed sopranos, Sara Macliver and Australian-born International conductor and harpsichord director Benjamin Bayl join the Australian Haydn Ensemble for a stunning program of Handel and Scarlatti.

The program centres around the theme of the Delirium of Love. Handel’s cantata Il Delirio Amoroso was written during Handel’s time in Italy and was first performed in 1707. It features a virtuosic soprano line that is beautifully balanced by solo writing for oboe, recorder and cello. Handel later reused parts of the work in Acis and Galatea and Jephtha.

Il Delirio is beautifully contrasted by Silete Venti, one of Handel’s most transcendent motets which traverses the boundaries of divine and mortal love.

The program also features Handel’s beautiful and tragic love aria from Alcina 'Tornami a vagheggiar’ along with two powerful concerto grossi - the first by Avison, after Domenico Scarlatti, and another by Alessandro Scarlatti.

The program will be directed by special guest artist Benjamin Bayl (Associate Director of The Hanover Band) who makes his debut performance with the Ensemble. Born and raised in Sydney, Benjamin is Co-Founder of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra. He was the first Australian Organ Scholar of King’s College Cambridge, and subsequently studied conducting at London's Royal Academy of Music. He has made highly successful debuts in recent seasons with such orchestras as Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, ANAM, and symphony orchestras throughout Scandinavia, Germany and Italy in particular, as well as many of Europe’s great opera houses. Working extensively in the period instrument field, recent and regular partnerships include The Hanover Band, Collegium Vocale Gent, B’Rock, Concerto Copenhagen, Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Warsaw Chamber Opera.

We are also extremely thrilled to welcome back soprano Sara Macliver replacing Stefanie True, who unfortunately, is no longer able to join us. Sara has performed and recorded with many international and Australian leading period instrument and modern orchestras including the Academy of Ancient Music, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, Western Australian Symphony, Pinchgut Opera, and featured in AHE’s acclaimed program Beautiful Boccherini in 2016. This is a program not to be missed!

PROGRAM

Avison/Scarlatti (After D. Scarlatti) Concerto Grosso No. 3 in D minor

Handel
Motet for soprano and instruments HWV 242
Silete Venti

Handel
Aria from Alcina 'Tornami a vagheggiar’

A. Scarlatti
Concerto Grosso No. 5 from Six Concerti in Seven Parts in D minor

Handel Cantata Il delirio amoroso HWV 99

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Aug
8
to 13 Aug

Beethoven Four

It has been suggested that Mozart may have written his string quintets K. 515 and K. 516 to impress King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and to surpass the quintets written by Boccherini.

If true, this seems to have gone un-noticed by both the King and Boccherini. Boccherini’s divertimento Sextet for Flute and Strings contains all the drama and textures we have come to love and expect from his music with its Spanish and Italian inspiration. Mozart’s String Quartet in D minor, described as one of his best quartets, will not disappoint with its achingly beautiful melancholic opening.

The Ensemble continues its performance of previously unknown historical chamber versions of Beethoven’s symphonies with an Australian premiere of his Symphony No. 4 arranged by Watts for flute and string sextet. Music historian Robert Greenburg said of this work “If any of Beethoven's contemporaries had written this symphony, it would be considered that composer's masterwork, and that composer would be remembered forever for this.” 

PROGRAM

BOCCHERINI Sextet (Divertimento) for flute and strings in A major G. 463 Op. 16/3

MOZART String Quartet No. 15 in D minor K.421

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4 in B flat major Op. 60 arr. Watts

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May
30
to 6 Jun

French Twist

Mozart’s Flute Quartet in A major opens this French feast of chamber music. Although not written in France, the last movement of this charismatic work contains a French style Rondo highlighting Mozart’s comical reputation with the tempo indication: “not too fast, then not too slow. So-so, with great elegance and expression”.

Lesser-known French composer Hyacinthe Jadin dedicated his first set of three string quartets to Haydn. The Ensemble presents his beautiful String Quartet Op. 3 No. 1. Haydn’s influence is apparent in this delightful and playful work. Following this, the Devienne Flute Quartet Op. 16 No. 3 darkens the tone with its brooding opening movement in B minor. 

The turbulent mood continues with Haydn’s Symphony No. 87 in a string quartet arrangement believed to have been penned by Haydn himself. The symphony was part of his commission in the 1780s for the Parisian-based group Concerts de la Loge Olympique.

The program closes with a fittingly French work, Rameau’s Cinquième Concert from Pièces de clavecin en concerts, paying homage to earlier composers Forqueray and Marais. 

PROGRAM

Mozart Flute Quartet in A major K. 298

Jadin String Quartet in C major Op. 3 No. 1

Devienne Flute Quartet in B minor Op. 16 No. 3

Haydn Symphony No. 87 in A major (Paris) arr. Lim

Rameau Cinquième Concert from Pieces de clavecin en concerts in D minor arr. Anon.

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Feb
7
to 16 Feb

Haydn's Nature

In our first program for 2019, Artistic Director and violinist Skye McIntosh and the AHE quartet explore Haydn and nature. The Ensemble perform three of Haydn’s beloved string quartets, Sunrise, The Bird and The Lark .

In The Lark, Haydn masterfully weaves the first violin part in joyous birdsong-like melodies that fly above the other instruments. The work finishes with a fiendishly difficult moto perpetuo. This is followed by Haydn’s delightful and playfully chirpy string quartet The Bird.

At the heart of the program are selections from Haydn’s famous oratorio, The Creation.  The Ensemble presents movements from an historical string quartet arrangements from the eighteenth century. 

One of Haydn’s indisputable works of genius, the String Quartet Op. 76 No. 4 (Sunrise) closes the program. Although it was not nicknamed by Haydn himself, the opening bars of the quartet clearly evoke the image of daybreak.


PROGRAM

Haydn String Quartet in D major The Lark Op. 64 No. 5

Haydn String Quartet in C Major The Bird Op. 33. No. 3

Haydn The Creation for string quartet (selections) arr. Anon.

Haydn String Quartet in B flat major Sunrise Op. 76 No. 4

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