Media Equiries to: Selby & Friends Media – Caroline Ryvers: 0481 080 285 / mailto: assistant@selbyandfriends.com.au
The highly celebrated national chamber music series, Selby & Friends, will showcase young stars of Australian classical music alongside esteemed artists, take a peek into the past, explore tall tales and fantasy and feature a personal homage from virtuoso Kathryn Selby, AM to her late mother.
Artistic Director and pianist Kathryn Selby declared the piano trio would take pride of place in the 2017 series that will feature a host of brilliant Australian artists performing with Selby in offerings she described as magnificent and important works by Beethoven, Haydn, Ravel, Saint-Saens, Mozart, Turina and Elena Kats-Chernin.
And in a tribute to her Czech-born mother’s memory, Selby & Friends will perform works by Dvořák in Tour 1, 3 and 5 of the national 5-Tour series which is on sale from the 18 th August.
Having marked a 10-year milestone for her series in 2016 with acclaimed reviews, Selby, who is an internationally renowned soloist, said she wanted to open the 2017 season with a focus on the younger generation. Tour 1 in March, titled Youth and the Dance will feature brilliant young Australian rising star violinist Grace Clifford, on a special visit home from her studies in the US, alongside bravura cellist and young composer, Clancy Newman. The program presents youthful works by Beethoven and Saint-Sa ë ns, and climaxes with the ever-popular ‘Dumky’ Trio by Dvořák.
Selby & Friends is the only touring chamber music program in Australia that centres around one performer, Kathryn Selby, with an ensemble cast of extraordinarily accomplished collaborators.
“I am honoured and humbled that heading into my second decade of Selby & Friends such an outstanding group of performers are as keen as ever to collaborate. I know our audiences will love their brilliance and charisma delivered at our intimate performances, where the warmth is always shared between the stage and the audience,” Selby said.
The 2017 series line-up of artists are violinists Natalie Chee (Concertmaster, Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart), Daniel Dodds (Artistic Director, Festival Strings, Lucerne), Andrew Haveron Concertmaster, (SSO) and Grace Clifford;cellists Clancy Newman (US-based soloist), Julian Smiles (Goldner String Quartet), Umberto Clerici (Co-Principal, SSO), Timo-Veikko Valve (ACO Principal Cellist) and violist Tobias Breider (Co-Principal SSO).
“It is to Selby’s credit that she is able to employ an ever-changing ensemble of musicians, whilst maintaining a symbiosis that most established piano trios would kill for. There are few musicians in the country who could achieve this so consistently.” Limelight reviewer, Dylan Henderson.
Tour 2 in May is titled ‘By Arrangement,’ evoking a past era when chamber music was created for intimate home performances and features rarely performed ‘small’ masterpieces. Tour 3 in July, billed as ‘Proud Folk’, will take the audience on a musical journey of three nationalist composers in Dvořák, Ravel and Australian Elena Kats-Chernin, insightfully revealing their tall tales and fantasies as masterful cultural storytellers.
Tour 4 in September revisits the Selby & Friends audience favourite – ‘Basically Beethoven #4’, and the final Tour of 2017 will present ‘Quattro’, relishing large melodies in a special program of iconic piano quartets with Trio Ex Patria artists, SSO Principals Andrew Haveron, Tobias Breider and Umberto Clerici, joining Selby.
“I relish the opportunity to collaborate with Kathryn in the Selby & Friends concerts and next year with Julian will be wonderful presenting works including Elena’s. The chamber music format provides such an intimate yet exciting musical experience and you can feel the enjoyment of the audiences. For me it is always a welcome chance to reconnect with Australia through the Selby & Friends touring program and to embrace some time at home,” said Natalie Chee.
With performances variously described by reviewers in 2016 as ‘exquisite musical delight’, ‘brilliant’, ‘exuberant’, and ‘beguiling’, and praised for ‘formidable authority’, ‘clarity’ and ‘cohesion’, Selby & Friends concerts are regularly sold out to devoted audiences around Australia. Season subscriptions and special offers are on sale now.
Selby & Friends presents a subscription season of five tours in 2017 to venues in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Turramurra and the NSW Southern Highlands.
Kathryn Selby and all the performers are available for interview.