Inspiration

The Red Tree, The Coronation of Poppea, The Band's Visit and Mamma Mia! So what do all these things have in common?? Well they all made me laugh, cry, sing and sigh! I think it's always good to take time out from our own performing world to find inspiration from other artists and art forms. 

So what's this all leading up to? Well a few months packed full of concerts in festivals throughout Europe! Bach in the Bach & Combrailles Festival, Berlioz, Rimsky-Korsakov, Gershwin and Tschaikovsky in the Festival Berlioz, the Festival de Musique La Chaise-Dieu and the Musikfest Bremen with Anima Eterna, Bach in Zermatt with Capriccio Stravagante, Schutz in the Schutz Festival, Den Haag and Schenk in the Berlin Tage fur Alte Muzik with La Suave Melodia plus a few days of teaching in between at the KonCon in The Hague!

Then it's back to OZ for another exciting season with Pinchgut, Salut! and Convivio and then time for the Peninsula Summer Music Festival with Ironwood!! Yeah:)

Rachael

Master of the Great Wardrobe!!

Check out the hilarious sign they had in the toilets at the theatre in Graz! - Julia

La vie bohème

Julia Reporting:
8am this morning - whilst sleepily piling myself and my obedient orange suitcase into the Frankfurt airport shuttle bus, it occurred to me that a musicians life is a little like a game of pinball, we just get pushed (or bus'd or plane'd or train'd) around from place to place. But this mornings trip was different....I was finally travelling back to Paris after well over 2 months of living out of a suitcase. Ironically, after dreaming about unpacking my suitcase for so long, I just can't face it tonight and itis sitting on the floor of my apartment looking heartlessly abandoned and suspiciously full!
Even though it is a difficult lifestyle at times, it has it's equal share of benefits. Following the Concert in the beautiful city of Graz, where I stayed in the hotel with the funny pillows (see this post), we went on to do a couple of concerts with the wonderful soprano, Roberta Invernizzi. We played a program of Bach and Handel in two amazing locations, the Aldersbach Klosterkirche (see photo above) near Passau in Bavaria - a very good example of Baroque architecture (albeit RATHER over the top), and the next day did a 6 hour journey up to Eisenach where we played in St Georges Church. Eisenach was the birth place of J.S Bach. His father was the organist at St Georges Church, and J.S Bach was also baptised there. It was really exciting to be in the church where the young Bach would have spent so much time in his early years...but WE didn't have much time to spend and unfortunately we left for Frankfurt almost straight after the concert, so no time to look at the Bach house and museum (sniff).
We arrived at our hotel last night at midnight, celebrated the birthday of a colleague with a couple of bottles of champagne in the dodgy hotel bar before the detestable sound of my alarm mercilessly wrenched me out of my much needed sleep just a few hours later...what made it easier was the prospect of coming home to my own apartment, my own bed, my own space, a bit of home cooking, and no more weird pillows or buses, or planes for another 3 weeks...I am spending my holidays AT HOME!!!

Flora plans....

Well, the concerts in this season might be over, but the planning for next year, and the years beyond never lets up. We pretty much know what we'll be up to in 2009 - there's another residency at Bundanon, some more workshops and LOTS of concerts(hint: we're travelling further in Australia than we have so far...). We'll tell you in a more formal announcement very soon. In the meantime, we CAN tell you that the first workshop will be May 27 - June 5, at the Boyd Education Centre, Bundanon, NSW. We'll have brochures and hopefully an online application up by the end of the year. You can always check out what is happening at the amazing Boyd property at www.bundanon.com.au

We thought we should introduce our 'Ironwood at Bundanon mascot', Flora (photo above). Flora is some sort of very pink monster,complete with fluffy skirt and handbag, and she's come along on all of our Bundanon adventures so far. We found her in the toyshop at Berry, the gorgeous little town near Bundanon. She watches over all our rehearsals, and likes to get around all the important jobs at Bundanon.

The photos are of us on the Writer's Cottage Verandah during our 2007 residency, and Flora getting around Bundanon, and the Shoalhaven River at Bundanon. All the photos were taken by Lisa, who is doubly talented - an artist and violinist.

Game, Set, Coffee????

For the last two weeks, Ironwood have been in the recording studio- the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Eugene Goosens Hall, on a variety of projects, which we'll tell you about in due course. Julia had to go back to Europe last week - see the post about Austrian pillows (below), and Lisa joined us - adding to the coffee fans in the studio.

Recording is such a different thing from rehearsing and playing concerts. We all like to have our 'creature comforts' with us in the studio,to help our concentration. I like having a coffee first up, to sip as we go through our first takes in the morning, and lots of bananas or apples. Later on, when we're going over & over things, it degenerates into lollies (that's candy for our US readers & sweets for the UK ones...)- particularly red snakes, milkbottles, green frogs & chocolate (any sort, I'm not fussy!). Danny has been known to eat quite a bit of the chocolate as well,(when he's not being virtuous & sticking to his training diet) and you can usually find a strong cup of tea under his music stand.

Julia and Rachael, however, got themselves so organised during this recording! They had a table between them, on which they'd set up bottles of water, fruit, a thermos of tea, and chocolate, as well as all their spare strings, rosin & other string playing paraphenalia. We thought they looked like two tennis players, sitting there sipping their water between takes (or sets), so here's the picture above.

I guess you could say that recording runs on caffiene and sugar mostly, so now I know everyone's coffee order, I thought I might give you all a little guessing game - "Match the Musician to their Coffee Order" The musicians: Rachael, Julia, Lisa, Nicole, Danny. The coffees: Skim Cappucino, Soy Flat White, Green Tea, Flat White (no skim, no soy, no decaf, just coffee!), Soy Latte.

A coffee to anyone who can correctly match the drinkers with their coffees....

Austrian Pillows

Hi, Julia here...I am back in Europe now, and on tour with a bunch of Italians, which means good food, lots of laughter, and very noisy bus trips which never arrive on time. This post has nothing to do with music...Having just arrived in Graz this afternoon, I just wanted to share with you the astounding presentation of pillows at our hotel. They look a bit like fortune cookies...and yes that is just one pillow on each bed...as if making a bed was not complicated enough already!

ABCapers

Ironwood are currently in the throes of recording a CD for ABC classics at the moment... information shall be forthcoming closer to the release date, but in the meantime we wanted to give a sneak preview of what happens BEHIND the scenes, or in this case when B1 and B2 have had a very LONG day down in the depths of Goosens Hall....

Latitude 37 Launch Concert

Last night was the launch concert for Julia Fredersdorff's new trio Latitude 37. Formed with former Den Haag Conservatorium colleagues Laura Vaughan (Gamba) and Donald Nicolson (Harpsichord), Latitude 37 explores the wide range of trio sonata repertoire from the baroque period. Their first concert combined repertoire from two centuries and 3 countries including works by Selma, Buxtehude, Marais, Telemann and the fantastic 5ème Pièce de Clavecin by Rameau.
Much to everyones delight the response to the concert was very enthusiastic and Dante's upstairs in Fitzroy was packed out with an audience of over 100 people! Rachael was there to give her support and her glowing and encouraging smiles were much appreciated by the group! Everyone stayed to celebrate the occasion afterwards chatting over a glass of bubbly.
Tomorrow ABC radio are recording the program for broadcast and we will be sure to keep you informed once a broadcast date and time have been determined.
It was great to see such a response to early music in Melbourne, may this trend continue!!Thanks to all those who came to support the group, it is always nice to see friendly faces in the audience.

A Little (Beachside?) Romance

Ironwood is busy rehearsing for its' next lot of concerts - Brahms String Sextet G major; a Georges Onslow String Quintet & a Mendelssohn 'Capriccio' - a lovely little fragment for string quartet. Quite a departure from the last couple of weeks of classical and modern repertoire.

Great fun, and great to explore all the portamento, shifting and vibrato of the 19th century. Ironwood this week is made up of Alice Evans & Lisa Stewart (violins); Nicole Forsyth & Valmai Coggins (viola); Danny Yeadon & James Beck (cell0).

We have two concerts in this series - Thursday 3 July at Elizabeth Bay House and Saturday 5 July 5.30 for 6pm at North Head, Manly in the Former Artillery School Ballroom,Sydney Harbour Trust, North Head Sanctuary. Elizabeth Bay House is sold out, but if you'd like tickets for the North Head one, ring 0419 484 323 to reserve one, or at the door on the night.

Lisa took the photo above, which looks toward Fairy Bower and Shelley Beach, Manly, just below North Head. Paradise, eh? Next concert series on a tropical island, perhaps?....

Sunday Live ABCFM 29th June

It's been a busy month for us....Last Sunday saw Sydney Conservatorium Early Music Ensemble do a concert for ABC Classic FM's show 'Sunday Live' - broadcast right round Australia on radio, and streamed on the ABC's website http://www.abc.net.au/, live from the Verbrugghen Hall at Sydney Conservatorium ('The Con').

Lots of the musicians playing had also been involved in the Ironwood Winter Workshop,either as guest players or as well as being students at the Conservatorium. The program was an all JS Bach one, including two cantatas and Brandenburg 3. Neal Peres da Costa is the intrepid director of EME, as it's locally known; tutors Danny Yeadon, (cello, above left)Nicole Forsyth & Alice Evans also played in the concert.

So it was yet another musical reunion for many people...finishing up with drinks at the local pub. Essential for any end of semester concert!