MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE: TEN YEARS OF GREAT MUSIC

Melbourne Recital Centre celebrates its 10th Anniversary in 2019, a decade at the heart of Australia’s vibrant musical life. The Centre is testament to the passion, vision and generosity of Melbourne’s music community. A 2007 gift from the Kantor and Calvert-Jones families enabled the establishment of the Centre’s self-presented artistic programme and Elisabeth Murdoch Hall is named in acknowledgement of this gift. In 2018, Lady Primrose Potter AC continues this transformative legacy, allowing the Centre to flourish in the next decade and beyond. Primrose Potter Salon is named in her honour.

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall (Photo credit: Daniel Aulsebrook)

With a unique focus on music, the Centre presents and hosts hundreds of concerts each year, representing the pinnacle of the art form as practised by Australian and international performers in a dazzlingly diverse array of styles, from early music to post-rock. The Centre’s learning and access activities beyond the Centre provide opportunities for Victorians of all ages and backgrounds to experience outstanding performances. The Centre is home to a vibrant community of Victorian and national chamber music ensembles and as a venue for acclaimed Australian ensembles and festivals. Music is central to all our lives. Innovative in its design and programme, Melbourne Recital Centre is one of the finest live music venues in the world — a Victorian venue with a global outlook for the music and musicians of today and tomorrow.

Euan Murdoch, Melbourne Recital Centre’s CEO said, “In this milestone year, you’ll discover our most thrilling and diverse programme yet, as bold music-makers create unforgettable live experiences. We’re inspired by the incredible skill and imagination of artists who’ve been with us from the beginning and have become our friends, and those we will meet in 2019.”

Jordi Savall (Photo credit: Dan Aulsebrook)

In its 10th Anniversary year, the Centre celebrates the relationships between music-lovers, music-makers and the Melbourne Recital Centre, marking ten years of standing ovations. In February, the Centre marks the day the Centre opened, 8 Feb, with a moving and uplifting concert bringing three generations of musicians on stage, from ages 10 to 96. Internationally-acclaimed period instrument ensemble the Gabrieli Consort and Players makes its Australian debut in February performing Henry Purcell’s King Arthur. Choral ensemble The Sixteen returns to the sublime surrounds of Elisabeth Murdoch Hall to perform English a cappella masterpieces. The Centre’s Great Performers series boasts a superb roster of musicians, beginning with Australian Chamber Orchestra Principal Violin Satu Vanska and including Jordi Savall, Australian soprano Nicole Car, and pianist Behzod Abduraimov. Audiences can hear the world’s greatest chamber ensembles on Australia’s finest stage as Trio Wanderer, Quatour Ebène and Viktoria Mullovia’s trio make their Melbourne Recital Centre debuts.

Dozens of Victorian and Australian ensembles are complemented by international stars, a thrilling line-up of pop, rock, indie and world acts including Rufus Wainwright, Neneh Cherry, Meshell Ndegeocello. There are talks and master classes, intimate chamber and jazz concerts, orchestras and operas. The Centre has also commissioned ten new works by Victorian, Australian and international composers, half of them women. The new music will be premiered throughout 2019 and made available on the Centre’s digital video portal.

Melbourne Recital Centre (Photo credit: MTC Architectural Images)

Melbourne Recital Centre is making it easier for audiences to experience the breadth and depth of live music at the venue by offering ten tickets priced at $10 at every performance presented by the Centre. These tickets can be accessed by people who have never before attended a concert at Melbourne Recital Centre. Funds for the $10 ticket initiative and the anniversary commissions provided by donors.

The Centre’s Chair, Kathryn Fagg said, “The support of our growing network of donors, bequestors and sponsors enables these activities, and ensures that Melbourne Recital Centre can nurture a thriving artistic ecosystem.”

As the Centre enters its next decade, it continues to be a venue of and for the 21st century: celebrating the past, welcoming the present and imagining the future, a place where artists and audiences are invited to engage, challenge and explore.

Click here to visit Melbourne Recital Centre’s website.