Chamber Classics: Watercolours

The Australian-American pianist Edward Neeman has performed across five continents. Critics have lauded him as a ‘true artist’ with ‘an excellent technique’ who ‘isn’t afraid to put a distinctive stamp on whatever he touches, without resorting to mannerism.’

One of Australia’s leading violinists, Kirsten Williams has performed widely as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, in concert and on ABC radio. In 2019, she was appointed Concertmaster of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

Two ghosts pass each other in a deserted park in Paul Verlaine’s melancholy poem ‘Colloque sentimental’ (Sentimental Conversation). One repeatedly prompts the other to remember their past love, but the second ghost is unable – or unwilling – to remember and speaks only of despair.

French composer Claude Debussy was just beginning to find his musical voice when he penned the six settings of poems by Paul Verlaine that would come to be the Ariettes oubliées or ‘Forgotten Songs’.

Lush, undulating piano introduces the main theme of Fauré’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13, before the violin begins its climbing melody over the top. Read more.

Claude Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor was the French composer’s final completed composition. Debussy performed the sonata himself at the premiere, with Gaston Poulet on violin, in his final public performance in Paris on May 5, 1917.

Meet Connor D’Netto: fast-rising, award-winning Australian composer and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural Composer in Connection in 2023.

Chloe Lankshear shares her approach to art-song, her perspective on Australian chamber music and her love of Canberra.

Hugh Robertson dispels the myth of the lone composer-genius in conversation with international composer Leah Curtis (a Canberra export) and Connor D’Netto, whose influences span classical, opera, electronic and pop sounds.