The Australian Chamber Orchestra performs two concerts in one evening

Hear the music the ACO will play at prestigious festivals across the USA and Europe just before the Orchestra jets off. The first concert at 6.30pm features Beethoven’s Symphony no 5 and principal cello Timo-Veikko Valve performing Schumann’s Cello Concerto on his $1 million Guarneri cello. The second concert at 8.15pm includes Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony and Richard Tognetti performing Vasks’s Vox Amoris on his $10 million Guarneri violin.
The ACO’s festival appearances include Tanglewood (USA), Aldeburgh (UK), La Roque (France) and Maribor (Slovenia). The ACO will also perform at funky New York nightspot Le Poisson Rouge and London’s Edwardian jewel, Cadogan Hall.
When: Monday 9 August 6.30pm and 8.15pm
Where: City Recital Hall Angel Place
Tickets: $40 or $65 for two concerts
Bookings: 1800 444 444
www.aco.com.au
image: Timo-Veikko Valve
image credit: Gary Heery

Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra

As a winner of this year’s prestigious Churchill Fellowship award, Sarah-Grace Williams returns to lead the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra for the fourth concert series of their 2010 season. This concert will feature MCO principal trumpet, Matt Dempsey, performing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto. The concerto is followed by Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia no 8, giving you the unique opportunity to watch the violas and double basses up-close during a rare appearance as solo instruments in the gorgeous, velvety ‘Adagio’. The concert is perfectly rounded by Beethoven’s Symphony no 8, a symphony he felt very fond of, referring to it as ‘My little symphony in F’. A concert not to be missed by trumpet enthusiasts!
When: Saturday 7 August 8pm
Where: Balmain Town Hall, Darling Street, Balmain
When: Sunday 8 August 5pm
Where: Australian Institute of Music, 1–51 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills
Tickets: From $19
Bookings: 1300 306 776
www.metorchestra.com.au  
www.mca-tix.com.au  
image: Sarah-Grace Williams 

Seraphim Trio – Celebrating Schumann

The Seraphim Trio celebrates the 200th anniversary of Robert Schumann by locating his first piano trio in the rich musical traditions of Haydn and Brahms. Schumann was the quintessential romantic, and his Trio no 1 in D minor is a definitive romantic work of symphonic proportions. At the same time, it glances back to the great rhetorical tradition of chamber music, exemplified here by Haydn’s Trio in F sharp minor. Seraphim Trio presents these two masterpieces alongside that of another great romantic, Johannes Brahms. Described by Schumann as the one composer ‘destined to give ideal expression to the times’, Brahms’s full potential is realised in his powerful Trio no 3 in C minor.
When: Sunday 8 August 2.30 pm
Where: The Independent Theatre, 269 Miller Street, North Sydney
Tickets: $15–$38
Bookings: 8019 0290
www.theindependent.org.au 
www.seraphimtrio.com 

Orchestra Romantique – The Birth of Romanticism

Orchestra Romantique is Australia's newest orchestra, dedicated to the performance of works by the great masters of the 19th century. Directed by dynamic young conductor, Nicholas Carter, currently assistant to Vladimir Ashkenazy at the Sydney Symphony, the orchestra comprises some of Australia’s leading professional musicians. Orchestra Romantique’s debut concert features guest soloist, world-renowned oboist Diana Doherty, in a program which includes Rietz’s Concertpiece for Oboe and Orchestra, along with Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and his Symphony no 3 , ‘Eroica’.
When: Sunday 8 August 5pm
Where: Paddington Town Hall, cnr Oxford Street and Oatley Road, Paddington
Tickets: $10–$20, family $50
Bookings: www.orchestra-romantique.com  
image credit: Sam Grimmer 

Bel a capella – To the Heavens

Join Bel a cappella to explore some exceptionally beautiful contemporary choral music for unaccompanied choir. Durufle’s Quatre Motets sur des thèmes Grégoriens includes ‘Ubi Caritas’, one of the most popular sacred a cappella works of the 20th century. Randall Thompson’s Peaceable Kingdom, a sequence of sacred choruses is a masterpiece of unaccompanied choral writing. Cloudburst and When David Heard are by the highly inventive American composer Eric Whitacre, who has quickly become one of the most performed composers of his generation. Whitacre’s sense of harmony and choral texture provide an inspiring musical experience. You will also hear a cappella works by Jonathan Harvey, Mic Spencer and Australian composer Dean Rancevicz.
When: Sunday 8 August 3pm
Where: St Scholastica’s Chapel, Arcadia Road, Glebe
Tickets: $20–$30
Bookings: 8210 5141
www.belacappella.org.au 

Mosman Concert Series – Early Spring Festival

Mosman Concert Series presents its Early Spring Festival – three superb concerts at fortnightly intervals in Mosman’s Blessed Sacrament Church. The Festival opens on Sunday 15 August with the Sydney Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and its legendary conductor, Brian Buggy OAM, performing Wagner’s Overture from Die Meistersinger, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no 2 and excerpts from Sleeping Beauty . The other two festival events feature performances by the Sydney Welsh Choir, Sydney Mandolin Orchestra and the second prize-winner of the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition, Tatiana Kolesova.
When: Sunday 15 August 3pm
Where: Blessed Sacrament Church, 22 Bradley’s Head Road, Mosman
Tickets: $15–$20, free entry for children with adults (includes afternoon tea)
Three concert festival package: $40–$50
Bookings: 9960 1738
image: Sydney Youth Philharmonic Orchestra 

Sydney Symphony – Romantic Rapture

Simone Young, conductor; Baiba Skride, violin
The fervent drama of Wagner and the transcendence of Bruckner frame Szymanowski’s ravishing violin concerto. Szymanowski sends his soloist soaring to ecstatic heights and in Baiba Skride we have the ideal violinist to project the rarefied beauty of this luxuriant and lively concerto. The euphoria continues with Bruckner’s finest and most beautiful symphony – flamboyant and contemplative, earthy and spiritual.
Wagner: Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III
Szymanowski: Violin Concerto no 1
Bruckner: Symphony no 7
When: Thursday 5 August 1.30pm, Friday 6 August 8pm, Saturday 7 August 2pm
Where: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
Tickets: From $35 (booking fee of $6–8.50 may apply)
Bookings: 8215 4600
www.sydneysymphony.com  
image: Simone Young 

Lurline Chamber Orchestra – Soulful and Brilliant

Lurline is thrilled to present the Australian premiere of two Rachmaninov Piano Preludes brilliantly arranged by Lee Armstrong. Two deep and prayerful works for viola and strings will feature Lurline co-founder Angela Lindsay, Trauermusik by Hindemith – a well loved work in the viola repertoire, plus a work less known in Australia, John Woolrich's Ulysses Awakes. Also on the program is the world premiere of String Quintet no 12 by George Onslow, who was well respected by his contemporaries, Beethoven and Schubert, but faded mysteriously into obscurity.
When: Wednesday 4 August 7pm
Where: St Patricks Catholic Church, 136 Flora Street, Sutherland
When: Thursday 5 August 7 pm
Where: St Matthews Anglican Church, Moses Street, Windsor
When: Saturday 7 August 2 pm
Where: Randwick Town Hall, 90 Avoca Street, Randwick
When: Sunday 8 August 2 pm
Where: Turramurra Uniting Church, 10 Turramurra Avenue, Turramurra
Tickets: $15–$35, family $90
Bookings: 1300 306 776
www.mca-tix.com.au
www.lco.org.au
image: Angela and Maria Lindsay
image credit: www.jettyimages.com.au 

The Song Company presents L’Amfiparnasso by Vecchi

The Song Company; Drew Forsythe, actor and comedian; Tommie Andersson, theorbo, lute and guitar; Laura Vaughan, lirone and gamba
The Wharf Review’s Drew Forsythe is turning his hand to 16th century musical comedy and the good news is that he isn’t the one doing the singing! This rare and very funny Italian masterpiece combines exquisite Venetian music and Commedia dell’Arte. Drew exercises his chameleonic talents by hilariously portraying all six seriously flawed and familiar characters. Expect a roller coaster of love-triangles along with the usually trickery and treachery set amongst the soaring voices of The Song Company.
Watch the preview now or click here to watch a behind-the-scenes interview with comedian Drew Forsythe.
When: Sunday 8 August 5pm
Where: University House, Canberra
When: Monday 9 August 7.30pm
Where: Wollongong City Gallery
When: Thursday 12 August 7.30pm
Where: Newcastle Conservatorium
Tickets: $66
Bookings: 8272 9500
www.songcompany.com.au
When: Wednesday 11 August 7.30pm
Where: City Recital Hall Angel Place
Special offer: The Song Company is extending to you a $17 discount on adult tickets to L’Amfiparnasso. Pay only $49* per ticket (*plus booking fee). Click here and enter promotional codeword 'Exquisite' or call the City Recital Hall Box Office on 8256 2222.