Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra Begins Season with Celebration Of Beethoven, Laughs With Mozart & More!

Orchestra's 2020 Season Opens with The Impresario - Sydney, The Hills & Newcastle, 4-8 March

Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra opens its sparkling 2020 season with a concert of spectacular and sublime music... and there's drama, splendour and a lesser-known star among the highlights!

Australia's exceptional 'HIP' orchestra gathers a galaxy of international and local Australian stars to celebrate Beethoven's birth, Mozart's cheeky humour and re-introduce audiences to the music of Anton Eberl.

The mouth-watering concerts - featuring the orchestra's characteristic Historically Informed Performance (HIP) style on period instruments - take place this March at City Recital Hall, The Hills Grammar School and Newcastle City Hall.

There is no question that the music of Mozart and Beethoven deserves its prominence on concert stages around the world today but many of their contemporaries were also highly respected in the cultural circles of Classical Vienna and beyond.

Marking 250 years since Beethoven's birth, the musicians of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra reunite him with long-forgotten friend - and occasional rival! - Anton Eberl.

Directed by co-artistic director and concertmaster Rachael Beesley,
The Impresario gives Australian listeners the rare opportunity to become acquainted with Eberl's E-flat major Symphony - a work that audiences greeted with enthusiasm right from its first performance in 1805.

It is prefaced by the overture to Mozart's short comedy about singers vying for top billing, and followed by Beethoven's breathtaking 7th Symphony, which the composer himself regarded as one of his greatest achievements.

As always, the March series features the orchestra's regular Voyage of Musical Discovery companion education program, this time themed 'Motivic Development' and featuring the deconstruction and performance of a suite by virtuoso Australian saxophonist and composer Nick Russoniello and a closer look at one of Eberl's forgotten symphonies.

Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra is also announcing the appointment of its new chairperson, Claire Gill, daughter of its late, legendary Founding Artistic Director and music education legend Richard Gill AO.

Also recently appointed to the orchestra's board are highly-respected and well-known arts administrator
Mary Vallentine AO and NSW Crown Solicitor Jennifer Hoy.

In other news, the orchestra has reaffirmed its commitment to music education and regional touring following the award of a $125,000 grant from NSW Government through Create NSW.

As a result, concerts this year will take place in various regional throughout NSW, and the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra's unique Young Mannheim Symphonists youth orchestra training program will expand with a new National Winter Academy residential camp in Sydney in July, and State Intensives in the April school holidays in Victoria, Queensland and NSW.

Full details under separate cover and at www.arco.org.au

THE IMPRESARIO
Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, Rachael Beesley, director
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Overture Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario), K.486
ANTON EBERL: Symphony in E-flat major, Op.33
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.7 in A Minor, Op.92

Thursday 5 March, 6.30pm The Hills Grammar School Kenthurst Tickets $25-$60
Friday 6 March, 7.00pm City Recital Hall, Sydney Tickets $25-$120
Sunday 8 March, 2.00pm Newcastle City Hall Tickets $25-$65

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VOYAGE OF MUSICAL DISCOVERY - 'Motivic Development'
ANTON EBERL - Symphony in E-flat major, Op.33 (1803)
NICK RUSSONIELLO - Suite for Saxophones and Loop Station (2019/2020)

Wednesday 4 March, 6.30pm City Recital Hall, Sydney Tickets $30-$55

Anton Eberl builds an entire symphony by skilfully crafting and developing motifs.
With the musicians of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, co-artistic directors Rachael Beesley and Nicole van Bruggen guide listeners through his compositional methods and investigate why Eberl's 217-year-old work has yet to be performed in Australia, until now!

Suite for Saxophones and Loop Station is a tour de force of real-time composition.
Hear award-winning saxophonist Nick Russoniello (right) create a groove-based work
by layering and developing musical elements as diverse as beatbox, reggae and minimalism. Russoniello is a polyphonic one-man-band, imaginatively extending the sonic capabilities of the saxophone in live performance.

All bookings and information: www.arco.org.au.

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