Selby & Friends Guest Artists

Hello again from me, Kathy, and a happy hello it is. I would like to thank you for your wonderfully warm welcome of TrioZ for the first tour of Selby & Friends in March. Niki, Emma-Jane and I so enjoyed travelling around this beautiful country, meeting so many of you at the concerts, and sharing with you our pleasure in performing together. The week was also full of misadventures and new experiences including taxis that never arrived to take Emma-Jane to the airport which resulted in her missing a flight! You can imagine how incredibly nerve-wracking this can be on the day of a performance when the next available flight allows you to arrive only 20 minutes before the concert is scheduled to begin! Thank goodness Qantas was very much on time that day, but I don't think any of us had nails left by the end of that afternoon! We also had a series of very delayed flights and exasperating taxi drivers and at least one young man who didn't notice Niki's wedding ring - all in all, a tour with a great deal of fun not only in the music-making but also in just being together.

The critics seem to have enjoyed themselves as well. We have three reviews from Sydney and one each from Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide for your reading pleasure. You may wish to read the entire list on the website at http://www.selbyandfriends.com.au/reviews.html, but I shall post a few of my favourite snippets below. I wonder if you agree with these experts or do you have another view. I would be delighted to hear your feedback about the concerts. This not only allows me to get to know you a little better, but also to keep improving things overall. I have made a special note to address some of the concerns that have already been raised - I will certainly be trying to organise a stage area for St Andrews for all future concerts and I intend to keep experimenting with the McQuoin Centre as the space is so wonderful and lends itself to interesting combinations for performance.

Here are the dates for the second tour in May with the acclaimed young American string trio, the Janaki String Trio. The New York Times recently described them not only as having "irresistible electricity" but also of presenting "earthy, maginificently polished" performances. I have been thoroughly enjoying listening to their new Naxos CD and perhaps will manage to have some for you to win before the next tour -

Janaki String Trio

North Sydney - Sunday, 13th May @ 2:30pm - Monte St. Angelo Mercy College, Miller Street
Canberra - Monday, 14th May @ 7:30pm - NGA's James O. Fairfax Theatre
Sydney City - Tuesday, 15th May @ 7pm - St Andrew's Cathedral at Town Hall
Melbourne - Wednesday, 16th May @ 8pm - Melba Hall at Melbourne University
Adelaide - Sunday, 20th May @ 2:30pm - Elder Hall at the University of Adelaide

The program begins with an incredible work by Penderecki from 1990 which seems to be a favourite of the Janaki Trio. We continue with the second tribute to Beethoven for the 2007 season - the String Trio in G major, Op.9 No.1. (See more about Beethoven below!) The concert ends with me joining my young friends in Fauré's extraordinary Piano Quartet in c minor. I cannot wait!

Krzysztof Penderecki - String Trio (1990)
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Trio in G major, Op.9 No.1.
Gabriel Fauré - Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 15

4-concert discount offer!

I would like to extend the offer of a 4-concert discount price for the remaining four tours for 2007. A 10% discount on the cost of your purchase is offered if you buy a ticket/s to each of the four remaining concerts for 2007. This offer is valid until the 7th May, 2007.

Single tickets are still available by contacting S&F on (02) 9969 7039, or by email on info@selbyandfriends.com.au. They will also be sold at the door just prior to the concerts at a cost of $48 for full price, $35 for pensioners and $27 for students.

When I was much younger and concertising around the US, many lovely people looked after me and allowed me a number of unique and memorable experiences with them and their families. The members of the Janaki String Trio will be touring with me during the week of May 13-20. Whilst Katie, the violist, has family members in Melbourne, I thought it might be nice if the group was able to meet some of you. They will have a couple of free days and nights in Melbourne and one free night in Adelaide. If you would like to show them around, perhaps treat them to a home-cooked meal and some of that famous Oz hospitality, please get in touch with me directly on info@selbyandfriends.com.au. I can assure you, it will mean a great deal to these visiting artists.

Win a double movie pass and enjoy even more Beethoven!

I was thrilled that so many of you participated in the last offer of a prize in the first newsletter and I know I promised those who did not win that I would be sure to have more prizes coming up throughout the year. Well, here is another terrific opportunity for S&F subscribers to win!

The month of April sees the release of the new movie about Beethoven's last days entitled Copying Beethoven.

Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony stands as both a defining highpoint in the composer's career and one of the most sublime and spiritual pieces of music ever written. It is Vienna, 1824. Beethoven, played brilliantly by Ed Harris (Pollock), is racing to finish his new symphony. An imaginative exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on the Ninth, Copying Beethoven draws inspiration from the music itself and the 10 minute re-creation of the Ninth Symphony is reason alone to see the film. In Cinemas April 19, 2007.

Courtesy of Hopscotch Films, Selby & Friends has been offered 25 double passes to give away valid Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th April, 2007. To WIN, simply be one of the first 25 S&F subscribers to email your full name and mailing address details to me on info@selbyandfriends.com.au with ‘Movie’ in the subject field. Only winners will be notified.

Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hello there from me, Kathy Selby, and welcome to the first S & F newsletter for 2007! Hopefully this missive will serve as a gentle reminder that tour number one for 2007 is only a few weeks away now. The guest artists for this tour are my TrioZ colleagues, the brilliant young violinist Niki Vasilakis and the marvellous Emma-Jane Murphy at the cello, who will join me in a program of some of our favourite piano trios that span a century in time.

I hope you enjoyed the Christmas and New Year break, which now seems so long ago, and are looking forward to this year as much as I am! Over the summer months, Emma-Jane was busy working as a guest leader of the cello section in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and she is about to be soloist with a tour by the Australian Ballet with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra; Niki was busy visiting many parts of this great country making another wonderful DVD and performing as soloist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and as for me, you may have heard me on ABC Classic FM lately as a sometime presenter which was very enjoyable. We are delighted to have received some wonderful support from the media of late - if you missed any of the articles, you can find a selection on the News page of the website - www.selbyandfriends.com.au/news.html. And of course, we have been processing your order forms and sending out your tickets! If by chance you have not received yours yet and feel you should have, please get in touch as soon as possible so that we can attend to it.

Now, just to jog your memory, and to make sure you go to the drawer and find your tickets, the tour is as follows:

The Dates

Adelaide - Sunday, 18th March @ 2:30pm - Elder Hall
Canberra - Monday, 19th March @ 7:30pm - NGA's Fairfax Theatre
Sydney City - Tuesday, 20th March @ 7pm - St Andrew's Cathedral at Town Hall
Melbourne - Wednesday, 21st March @ 8pm - Melba Hall at Melbourne University
North Sydney - Sunday, 25th March @ 2:30pm - Monte St. Angelo College, Miller Street

The program begins with what will be the first of six tributes to Beethoven over the course of the 2007 season. I consider him one of the most powerful of all composers, and wanted to include his works in their various chamber music guises as a major element to this first season. Here we begin with his lovely set of Kakadu Variations, followed by the ever popular and constantly tuneful Mendelssohn second piano trio. The concert ends with a perennial favourite and a work that I am constantly asked to program – the gorgeous and one and only Ravel Trio.

Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Trio in G major, Op.121a, "Kakadu Variations"
Felix Mendelssohn - Piano Trio in C minor, Op.66
Maurice Ravel - Piano Trio in A minor (1915)

Subscription tickets are still available by contacting S&F on (02) 9969 7039, or by email on info@selbyandfriends.com.au. Single tickets are also available by contacting us direct and they will also be sold at the door just prior to the concerts at a cost of $48 for full price, $35 for pensioners and $27 for students. Group discounts are also available.

And now a small word about Monte!

Many people have been calling and asking about the new venue in North Sydney so I thought I would just pop down a few thoughts. It is a new venue and it will take some time to get used to it, but I am confident you will enjoy it. There is a large car park directly underneath the venue itself with a lift that takes you up to the venue foyer. The venue is filled with natural and a purpose-built stage. We will be serving home-made afternoon tea as always, so it promises to be a lovely Sunday afternoon outing filled with great music and friends. The school is extremely accomodating and is keen for members of the community to become acquainted with their modern facilities. There will be signs to show you the entrance on Miller Street. The school grounds are also lovely for strolling around at interval.

It is easy to find being very close to the North Sydney exit from the Harbour Bridge expressway, and from the other way, the end of Pacific Highway in North Sydney. Buses stop directly outside the venue and the North Sydney train station is only a few minutes away. The venue is accessible from Miller Street.

I hope you’ll come to a concert this year and give this new venue a try. A new venue is an exciting prospect and I look forward to your comments and thoughts about it.

The month of May will bring a visit from the amazing Janaki String Trio who hail from Los Angeles. I recently received a copy of an article about them in the New York Times and shall copy it here for your interest. I hope you’ll join me in May and help welcome these inspiring young musicians to our shores for the very first time when they will reprise part of their New York recital program and join me in Faure’s gorgeous Piano Quartet in C minor. I understand Katie, the violist, has relatives and friends in Melbourne, so she is almost an Aussie already!

January 18, 2007

By Allan Kozinn

Surely some conspiracy theorist can explain what unnatural sequence of events prevented the string trio from becoming one of the most frequently heard ensembles, rather than the oddity it is. The configuration - violin, viola and cello - is perfectly balanced and symmetrical, its seamless range from soprano to bass untroubled by a top-thickening second fiddle or the distraction of a piano. And you'd think string players would form trios by the dozen just to have Mozart's E-flat Divertimento in their active repertory.

Yet composers and players have always flocked instead to string quartets, which are plentiful, while trios are comparatively few. The Janaki String Trio is making the most of an uncrowded field. Its musicians joined forces two years ago in Los Angeles and have won the Coleman Chamber Music Competition and the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. The guild sponsored the trio's New York debut concert at Weill Recital Hall on Tuesday evening.

Its repertory tilts toward the contemporary. As an opening salvo the group played Krzysztof Penderecki's String Trio (1991), in which harsh, insistent full-ensemble blasts separate agitated but singing solo lines from each of the players. Eventually the brashness of the score's first pages melts, but lyrical beauty emerges only tentatively, in the violin line, before the piece wends its way back to the grittiness of the opening.

That rough-edged quality is clearly a central part of the musicians' sound, and it turned up, in varying degrees, in everything they played. But it isn't all they do. Andrew Norman's "Alabaster Rounds," composed for the trio, was inspired by listening to monks chanting at a basilica in Rome at daybreak, and it requires the ensemble to convey a sense of a shifting, mysterious atmosphere.

At first the trio plays a consonant drone, with sustained cello and quickly undulating violin and viola figures; but fleeting dissonances enliven the texture, which gradually expands in dynamics and melodic breadth. Near the end a solo viola line offers a florid evocation of plainchant.

The playing, more gentle than in the Penderecki, nevertheless had the kind of drive that gives even a slowly unfolding work like Mr. Norman's an irresistible electricity. The players - Serena McKinney, violinist; Katie Kadarauch, violist; and Arnold Choi, cellist - were as fresh and energetic in Beethoven's Trio in G (Op. 9, No. 1). They closed their program with an earthy, magnificently polished account of Dohnanyi's Serenade in C (Op. 10).

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Prizes are always so much fun and I would like to be able to offer some in my first newsletter. So perhaps it should go something like this: the first person from each state Selby & Friends is visiting this year who writes to me at info@selbyandfriends.com.au and tells me the name of the famous maker of Niki’s violin (hint, hint! see Niki's bio on http://www.selbyandfriends.com.au/) will win two free tickets for the first concert of the season in their city this coming March! Bring some friends with you, or be the lucky one who gets a complimentary concert on us!

Good luck and I look forward to welcoming you to our concerts in just a few weeks’ time!

Warmly,