New musical tribute “The Song of the Wombat” celebrates our local icon.
A new work of Australian music, “The Song of the Wombat”, will have its world premiere at a concert at the Convent Gallery on Friday November 12 at 6pm. The piece for solo bassoon celebrates our most beloved local icon – the wombats of Wombat Forest – and will be part of a benefit concert for the Central Victoria Wildlife Hospital.
Young Adelaide composer Rachel Bruerville chose the bassoon – sometimes a somber, sometimes a comic-sounding instrument – to capture a young wombat’s short bouts of energetic playfulness between long day-time snoozes.
“The Song of the Wombat” will be publicly performed for the first time by Jack Schiller, the principal bassoon of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Rachel has dedicated the piece to Tiamo (aka “Momo”), who was rescued as an orphaned joey, and then raised and released by the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter, run by local heroes Gayle Chappell and Jon Rowdon. Wombats, however, are only one of the extraordinarily wide range of animals, birds and reptiles cared for at the shelter.
The program of the Benefit Concert will also feature the Zephyr String Ensemble, a group of young, professional musicians, variously members of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the celebrated Australian Chamber Orchestra. Emma Jade Hunt (violin), Katie Yap (viola) and Anna Pokorny (cello), along with Jack Schiller (bassoon), will perform works from a range of composers including Mozart, Hildegard of Bingen, a lovely quartet for bassoon and strings by Francois Devienne, some Martinu madrigals for violin and viola and a folk set or two.
Desperate to hear some top-drawer live music?
Don’t miss this concert at a popular local venue, the Convent Gallery, Daylesford, that also deserves your support.
Tickets are $25 and bookings can be made on line at: https://www.trybooking.com/BTGNA. For more information, call 0478 622428.
