Sol Gabetta to Perform with the Basel Chamber Orchestra in November

In this concert the Australian Chamber Orchestra takes on an adventurous new role, as impresario. We've invited the Basel Chamber Orchestra (BCO), featuring one of the brightest lights in music today, guest cellist Sol Gabetta, to make its Australian debut as the first in a series of exchanges with our counterparts from around the world. This exchange will see the ACO perform at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland in the northern summer of 2016.

Sol Gabetta skyrocketed to fame in 2004 when she won the Credit Suisse Group Young Artists Award. Her subsequent appearance with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the celebrated Valery Gergiev was the launching pad for her meteoric rise to stardom.

Truly a citizen of the world, Gabetta, was born in Argentina to a musical family of French and Russian descent, raised in Europe, and is now based in Switzerland. This multi-award-winning performing and recording artist, festival director and soloist, has previously toured with the ACO in Europe, and recently made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. In this concert, she appears in Australia with her partner-in-music, the BCO.

Gabetta is named after the sun, and has a sunny personality to match. Early on, it was clear that this ball of energy was meant for the musical spotlight. She's a fiery whirlwind of musical pursuits, producing impassioned interpretations that have won her countless competitions and meritorious tributes from critics and audiences alike. She maintains a fast-paced global career touring and recording, and has released more than ten award-winning CDs.

Gabetta says: "Music, for me, is like breathing! Music was always in my life, in my family... I

started to play music when I was 3 years old. I played piano, violin, clarinet, and cello until I was 8. After this, I made a choice and the cello was the winner!"

"The cello is the instrument with the most beautiful timbre. The cello sound can be compared to the human voice! It is also for me a very easy instrument to play...you take the cello in your arms, in your legs, with the all your body...like when you love someone really so much!!!"

"Music to me is like a language, like a message, like a poem, if you like. Music is an international language, a language which really knows no boundaries. For those speaking German, for those speaking Russian, for those who are blind; it's for everyone - children and grown-ups, regardless of the country or culture they come from."

"One of the reasons I am a musician is to reach out to people. I want to spread my music as a sort of 'vaccine for the soul' to make people more spiritually fulfilled and confident.

Gabetta plays on a 1759 Guadagnini cello.

The BCO is the custodian of a remarkable repertoire: Bartók, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Honegger, Birtwistle, Boulez, and more, were all commissioned by Paul Sacher, the founder of an earlier incarnation of the BCO.

The BCO is one of the leading chamber orchestras on the international music scene with a multiplicity of ambitious plans for the future, including combining with the Italian ensemble Il Giardino Armonico, to take turns at performing and recording all of Haydn's 107 symphonies between now and 2032. BCO has already recorded Beethoven Symphonies 1 to 8, and was named 'Ensemble of the Year' by the prestigious European ECHO Klassik Awards for its recordings of Beethoven's Symphonies 3 and 4.

In this concert, Gabetta takes the solo role in the ever popular Fauré and Saint-Saëns; in the Cello Concerto penned by prolific composer and cellist Boccherini, and in the Australian premiere of Vasks' Cello Concerto No.2. The BCO also plays the Australian premiere of Meta arca written by famed oboist, conductor and composer, Heinz Holliger; Bartók's Divertimento, commissioned by Paul Sacher, and which the ACO has played all over the world; and Haydn's almost theatrically daring Symphony No.59.

PROGRAM 1

FAURE Après un rêve
SAINT-SAËNS Cello Concerto No.1 in A minor, Op.33
HOLLIGER Meta arca
BARTÓK Divertimento

PROGRAM 2*

BOCCHERINI Cello Concerto
HAYDN Symphony No.59 in A major, 'Fire'
P?TERIS VASKS Cello Concerto No.2, 'Kl?tb?tne' (Australian Premiere)

*Mon 23 Nov 8pm (Melbourne - Arts Centre) only

PERFORMANCES

Arts Centre Melbourne Sunday 22 November, 2.30pm

Monday 23 November, 8pm*

QPAC - Brisbane Wednesday 25 November, 8pm

Llewellyn Hall - Canberra Friday 27 November, 8pm

Sydney Opera House Sunday 29 November, 2pm

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