MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE’S GALA CELEBRATION OF 10 YEARS OF GREAT MUSIC
Musicians of the 10th Birthday Gala Concert (Photo credit: Michael Christian)
On 9 Feb, Melbourne Recital Centre celebrated ten years as the Best Place to Hear with a gala concert starring three generations of music-makers in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. Musicians aged from 11 to 96 gathered on stage for joyous performances in a diversity of genres from Indian classical music to violin virtuosity via jazz and pop.
William and Delmae Barton (Photo credit: Michael Christian)
In 2009, the Centre’s opening concert was a strictly classical affair, but in the ten years that have followed, Melbourne Recital Centre’s programme has broadened to include jazz, pop, rock, world music, Indigenous music and Learning and Access activities, appealing to all kinds of music-lovers. The 2019 Gala Concert reflected this, opening with a haunting performance by acclaimed didjeridu performer William Barton and his mother Delmae. Barton, a Kalkadunga man from North Queensland, is the Centre’s 2019 Artist-in-Residence.
The next generation of musicians was represented by participants in the Centre’s Accelerando programme which provides learning and performance opportunities to gifted high-school musicians. A quartet from the Australian National Academy of Music performed the Adagio from Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet with clarinettist Paul Dean. The work was a favourite of the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall’s namesake, and founding patron of the Centre, the late Elisabeth Murdoch.
Ronald Farren-Price (Photo credit: Michael Christian)
A heart-warming duo of 96-year-old pianist and teacher Judy Hall and her former student Timothy Young (now a concert pianist and faculty member of the Australian National Academy of Music) played Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2. Revered pianist and educator Ronald Farren-Price stepped out of retirement to perform Beethoven, Schubert and Albéniz. Farren-Price and Melbourne Recital Centre Board Director Margaret Farren-Price were made Life Members of the Centre during the concert. Philanthropist and perhaps the Centre’s most committed concert-goer, Richard Gubbins also received a Life Membership. Tony Gould, one of Australia’s best-loved jazz pianists performed standards. Harpist Melina van Leeuwen played Fable by Melbourne composer Helen Gifford. The evening ended in show-stopping style as violin prodigy Christian Li gave an astonishing performance of Saint-Saëns’ Introduction et Allegro capriccioso.
Christian Li (violin) and Laurence Matheson (piano) – Photo credit: Michael Christian
Preceding the concert was a smoking ceremony and welcome to country by elders of the Boon Warrung community, the traditional owners of the land on which the Melbourne Recital Centre stands.
A smoking ceremony before the 10th Birthday Gala Concert (Photo credit: Jackson Grant)
To share this birthday gift with as many people as possible, tickets for the concert were priced at A$10. The Centre is also extending A$10 tickets to people who have never experienced a concert to the Centre throughout 2019. The Concert was also broadcast on ABC Classic, the national classical music radio station and live-streamed on Facebook.
In its 10th Anniversary year, the Centre celebrates the relationships between music-lovers, music-makers and the Melbourne Recital Centre, marking a decade of standing ovations. Learn more at melbournerecital.com.au
The Centre is also revealing behind the scenes stories in video interviews with the people who have made the Centre an inspiring place to make music. The first of these features architect Ian McDougall talking about designing the Centre. View it here.