The September concert in the Christ Church Concert series features Consortium, an ensemble of viola de gamba players performing music from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and featuring a 21st century piece composed for the group.
Consortium unites a band of Australia’s finest viola da gamba players, Laura Vaughan, Laura Moore, Reidun Turner, Ruth Wilkinson, Victoria Watts, to explore the rich repertoire for viol consort.
The viola da gamba is often just called the ‘viol’. When different sizes of viols are grouped together it’s called a consort and this is where the group gets their name: “Consortium”.
The players met at different times through the Early Music Studio at the University of Melbourne. They share a love of the viol and the beauty and crystalline purity of the traditional repertoire for viol consort.
Their 2024 Daylesford program as part of the Christ Church Concert series, is titled “Highs and Lows”. The program will highlight the rarely heard voice of the double bass viol, the violone. The extensive spectrum of the viola da gamba consort, from the ethereal whispers of the treble to the rich, resonant hum of the bass, and the profound depths of the violone. are enticing.
Ensembles of a family of instruments, such as the viola da gamba, extended from shortly before the middle of the sixteenth century until nearly the end of the seventeenth. Documents from the English royal court begin to show evidence of a regular and permanent viol consort during the 1520s. In 1540 Henry VIII hired a new group of six viol players from Italy to entertain the court.
Consortium will present Renaissance gems by William Byrd, Thomas Lupo, Tobias Hume, John Dowland, Martin Pearson, Mr Pickforth, Thomas Weelkes, Christopher Tye, Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell.
The concert will also include new music written for our unique consort by Sydney based composer and performer Alice Chance. Alice is a sought-after composer, conductor, singer, artist, arranger, writer and educator and a fine viola da gamba player as well!
Date: Saturday, September 21
Time: 2:30 pm
Venue: Christ Church, 54 Central Springs Road, Daylesford.
Bookings: www.trybooking.com/eventlist/christchurchconcerts
More information: Christ Church Concerts Facebook page
Enquiries: Frank Page frank@pagebell.com or 0417 010 018
