Bradenburg Orchestra to Soar in 2018 Season Opener

THOMAS TALLIS' ENGLAND
The music & the music it inspired

2018 season opener features expanded Australian Brandenburg Orchestra strings, the ethereal voices of the Brandenburg Choir singing Tallis & Byrd, plus the return of young star countertenor Max Riebl.

Concert climaxes with Vaughan Williams' cinematic Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, after a performance of the work written three and a half centuries previously that inspired it.

Almost 118 years ago, a nervous Ralph Vaughan Williams conducted the world premiere of his latest work Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis in Gloucester Cathedral. He may not have been so nervous if he had the ability to see into the future. His soaring masterpiece went on to become one of the most loved hits in British music history.

In a rare foray into the 20th century, Paul Dyer and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra will open their 2018 season with Thomas Tallis' England, and will this landmark work.

On the same bill, the Brandenburg Choir will sing the music by Thomas Tallis (c1505 - 1585) that inspired the Fantasia, and fast-rising star countertenor Max Riebl makes a welcome return to the Brandenburg stage as soloist.

The legacy of Tallis was monumental and will be the common thread woven through this concert of English masterworks by his contemporaries and later composers he inspired - Byrd, Gibbons and Purcell (who in turn inspired musicians of more modern times, such as Michael Nyman, Pet Shop Boys, Jethro Tull and The Who, for example).

The concert also includes music by Handel, the iconic German who took on British citizenship and was a major celebrity in his adopted home of London.

Paul Dyer, Artistic Director says: "I urge everyone not to miss hearing the Brandenburg Strings perform the epic and cinematic Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. It will be an amazing concert experience. Its regularly voted in radio station polls as one of the favourites of all classical music works for good reason - it's beautiful and emotional, and just soars! I've always wanted us to play it.

"The breathtaking and sublime music Thomas Tallis wrote 450 years ago that inspired the Fantasia it is absolutely 'to die for' and will be sung by the Brandenburg Choir. We're starting 2018 off with Thomas Tallis' England and I can't think of a more perfect way to herald in the year ahead."

Max Riebl says: "I can't wait to get back on the Brandenburg stage and perform this music with Paul, the orchestra and choir. They've all been such an important part of my singing career and they're great mates as well. I'll be singing two beautiful songs by Gibbons, from the late Tudor/early Jacobean period and an aria from Handel's opera Orlando with lots of vocal fireworks. I'm probably most looking forward to singing Cold Song from Purcell's King Arthur, a gut-wrenching masterpiece that is simultaneously epic and minimalist."

SYDNEYCity Recital HallWed 21, Fri 23, Wed 28 Feb, Fri 2,
Sat 3 Mar at 7PMMatinee Sat 3 Mar at 2PM
BOOKINGS:
Ph: 1300 782 856 /
(02) 9328 7581www.brandenburg.com.au

MELBOURNE
Melbourne Recital Centre
Sat 24 Feb at 7PM
Sun 25 Feb at 5PM

BOOKINGS:Ph: 1300 782 856 /
(02) 9328 7581www.brandenburg.com.au
Or after 12 noon on Fri 22 Feb
Melbourne Recital Centre Box Office
Ph: (03) 9699 3333
www.melbournerecital.com.au

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