Australia's First Accompanists' Guild Joins with the Elder Conservatorium of Music

The Accompanists’ Guild of South Australia (AGSA) will celebrate its 40th Anniversary on Sunday 20 August in Elder Hall, North Terrace Adelaide, with a Ruby Festival program of 4 concerts.

Elder Conservatorium Director, Professor Anna Goldsworthy said, ‘It is a great pleasure for the Elder Conservatorium of Music to collaborate with the AGSA in a Ruby Festival that celebrates the very art of collaboration! The AGSA has been a champion of the great art of collaborative piano for four decades now. Ensemble skills are an essential part of any young pianist’s arsenal, and this wonderful festival brings children, tertiary students, and professional musicians together for a joyful day that celebrates the great pleasure of collaborative music-making’.  

Formed in 1983 by Diana Harris OAM, AGSA was Australia’s first association of accompanists and is today one of the few Guilds of its kind in the world.  Following the AGSA example Guilds were formed in Queensland and New South Wales. AGSA is a non-profit-making society of practising accompanists and supporters of the Art of keyboard accompaniment.

AGSA has provided accompanying services for thousands of individuals and music organisations. AGSA’s major Biennial Prize, The Geoffrey Parson Award, has so far encouraged 32 prize winners to pursue accompanying and other collaborative piano performances as a career. Some of Australia’s finest accompanists and chamber musicians are AGSA award winners. The Guild’s educational opportunities for pianists at all levels of experience from primary school to Professional levels.

AGSA’s Ruby Festival celebration on 20 August commences at 1.00pm with a welcome by AGSA President Leonie Hempton followed by the first Festival concert at 1.10pm featuring performances by primary and secondary students of The Elder Conservatorium Open Music Academy and AGSA’s Junior Ensemble Musicians.

The second Festival concert at 2.30pm sees Post Graduate Conservatorium piano students Jenny Su and Haowei Yang perform with professional musicians Helen Ayres (violin) and Stephen King (viola). This will be followed by a conversation about the art of collaborative music making with all the performers from the afternoon concerts, hosted by Anna Goldsworthy.

At 4.30pm the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s Joshua Oates (oboe) and Emma Gregan (French horn) perform with Post Graduate Conservatorium piano students Angela Pearson and Shawn Hui.

Following pre-concert drinks in the foyer of Elder Hall, the 4th Festival concert will commence at 6.30pm with performances by the Elder Conservatorium’s Anna Goldsworthy and Head of Keyboard Lucinda Collins on piano with the Elder Conservatorium’s Head of Wood Wind Lloyd Van’t Hoff on clarinet and the Australian String Quartet’s Christopher Cartlidge on viola.

To post a comment, you must register and login.