UKARIA 24

'Welcome to the 2023 edition of UKARIA 24. This gem of a concert hall stole my affections a few years ago and, since my first visit to Australia in early 2020 was cut short for reasons unnecessary to explain, it feels like a blast of positivity to bring together some of my favourite co-performers and make something new here.

Devising this programme, with such an exquisite environment in my mind's eye, has been a particular joy, as is the chance to perform a very wide range of music in unexpected juxtapositions – a conversation between old and new, the familiar and the unencountered. We have recent works by Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann and Ana Sokolović alongside music of Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schoenberg and Ravel, with a healthy dose of Kurt Weill, Alban Berg, Scottish fiddle, and even Noël Coward.

I'm joined by performers from Australia, the UK, Serbia and the United States – we are all eagerly looking forward to being together for this special November weekend in the magical intimacy of UKARIA.'

Anthony Marwood
Curator / Violin


Weekend Package includes 5 concerts and 3 meals. 

CONCERT ONE
FRIDAY 10 NOVEMBER | 7.30PM

The festival opens with heavenly Schubert, and then diverts swiftly to Jörg Widmann's eclectic and varied musical landscape encompassing Dixieland, impressionism, Sprechgesang, movie music, Bavarian marches and Bach chorales – and provides a startling context for cellist Coleman Itzkoff's Australian debut. Mendelssohn, a favourite composer of Widmann's, is represented by his impassioned F minor quartet, written in a fervour of grief after his sister's death. Bach's "appeal for mercy" from St Matthew Passion provides a musical and spiritual balm.


Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Four Impromptus, D. 899 (30')

No. 1 in C minor
No. 2 in E flat
No. 3 in G flat
No. 4 in A flat

Aleksandar Madžar | Piano


Jörg Widmann (b. 1973)
Schwester Tod, Unterweltszene aus Babylon (Sister Death, Underworld Scene from Babylon) arr. for soprano, cello and keyboard instruments (text by Peter Sloterdijk) [23']

Jessica Aszodi | Voice
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano / Celeste
James Crabb | Classical Accordion


INTERVAL


Selections from Letters to Fanny Mendelssohn (3')

Walter van Dyk | Narrator


Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 (27')

Anthony Marwood | Violin
Natsuko Yoshimoto | Violin
Imants Larsens | Viola
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello


Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
'Erbarme dich, mein Gott' from St Matthew Passion, BWV 244 (6')

Jessica Aszodi | Voice
Anthony Marwood | Violin
James Crabb | Classical Accordion


Duration | Approximately two hours, including a twenty-minute interval.
Dining Options | Antipasti platters are available to enjoy before the concert ($30 per platter, one platter serves two). A separate booking is required.


CONCERT TWO
SATURDAY 11 NOVEMBER 4.00PM


Two sides of Mozart, decorative on the one hand and darkly dramatic on the other, preface a masterpiece from the Second Viennese School: Arnold Schoenberg's raging protest against tyranny, drawing inspiration from Lord Byron's poem in which he castigates Napoleon, evoking many parallels for contemporary listeners. Schoenberg utilises humour and mockery as well as anger and sarcasm in a dazzlingly layered score. Ravel's masterpiece for piano trio is a wonder of colour and imagination which belies its rigorous structure, in a way perhaps not equalled since Schubert and Beethoven.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Andante in F for a Musical Clock, K. 616 (7')

James Crabb | Classical Accordion


Wolfgang Amadenus Mozart (1756–1791)
Fantasy in F minor, K. 608 (arr. Ferruccio Busoni) [10']

James Crabb | Classical Accordion
Aleksandar Madžar | Piano


Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)
Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41 (16')

Walter van Dyk | Narrator
Anthony Marwood | Violin
Natsuko Yoshimoto | Violin
Imants Larsens | Viola
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano


INTERVAL

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Piano Trio in A minor (28')

I. Modéré
II. Pantoum (Assez vif)
III. Passacaille (Très large)
IV. Final (Animé)

Anthony Marwood | Violin
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello
Aleksandar Madžar | Piano


Duration | Approximately ninety minutes, including a twenty-minute interval.
Dining Options | A light supper (Intermezzo) will follow at 5.30pm. This meal is included in the Weekend Package option. If you are a single ticket or Concerts Only package holder, a separate booking is required for each person.


INTERMEZZO
SATURDAY 11 NOVEMBER | 5.30PM

Enjoy a light supper in our beautiful Garden Terrace in between the Saturday concerts.


CONCERT THREE
SATURDAY 11 NOVEMBER | 7.00PM

Hold on to your drinks and darken the lights: the concert hall transforms into a 1930s Berlin cabaret venue. Jessica Aszodi and Walter van Dyk get under the skin of Weill's creations, bringing you this bewitching compilation of songs from some of his most popular works. Joined by a quartet of festival musicians, they encompass not only the Brecht-Weill era of 1920s Berlin but also the more upbeat and nostalgic songs from his Broadway period.


Kurt Weill (1900–1950)
O Moon of Alabama: A Kurt Weill Cabaret (arr. Michael Haslam) [60']

Jessica Aszodi | Actor / Singer
Walter van Dyk | Actor / Singer
Anthony Marwood | Violin
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello
James Crabb | Classical Accordion
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano

Duration | Approximately one hour without interval.
Dining Options | A light dinner (Coda) will follow at 8.15pm. This meal is included in the Weekend Package option. If you are a single ticket or Concerts Only package holder, a separate booking is required for each person.


CODA
SATURDAY 11 NOVEMBER | 8.15PM

Finish the day with a delicious dinner in our beautiful Garden Terrace.


CONCERT FOUR
SUNDAY 12 NOVEMBER 11.30AM

Fairy tales, folk music and dances connect a wide variety of music from Scottish fiddling to new music from Thomas Adès and Ana Sokolović. A morning programme to get the pulse racing!

Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)
Duo for Violin and Viola in C (6')

Natsuko Yoshimoto | Violin
Imants Larsens | Viola


Thomas Adès (b. 1971)
Märchentänze for Violin and Piano (16')

Anthony Marwood | Violin
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano


Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935)
Dance Music Suite, Op. 107 (16')

Natsuko Yoshimoto | Violin
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano
James Crabb | Classical Accordion


Igor Stravinsky (1882–1891)
Tango (3')

Anthony Marwood | Violin
James Crabb | Classical Accordion


Ana Sokolović (b. 1968)
Serbian Tango (6')

Natsuko Yoshimoto | Violin
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano
James Crabb | Classical Accordion


Niel Gow (1727–1807)
Lament for the Death of his Second Wife (4')

James Crabb | Classical Accordion
Anthony Marwood | Violin


Traditional
Cuckold Come Out of the Amrey (extended variations by Matt Seattle, arranged by James Crabb) [4']

Anthony Marwood | Violin
James Crabb | Classical Accordion


Duration | Approximately one hour without interval.
Dining Options | A garden lunch will follow at 12.30pm. This meal is included in the Weekend Package option. If you are a single ticket or Concerts Only package holder, a separate booking is required for each person.

GARDEN LUNCH
SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER 12.30PM

Converse with fellow music lovers over a light lunch in our beautiful Garden Terrace – the perfect way to bid farewell to the weekend.


CONCERT FIVE
SUNDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2.30PM

Our festival finale charts a trail from sorrow and loss, through Blues and resigned hilarity, to an out-of-body Schubertian masterpiece, one of the most beautiful and technically challenging works ever written for violin and piano, which forges its own eloquent emotional path from fragility and vulnerability to its triumphant conclusion.

György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Doloroso for Solo Viola (2')

Imants Larsens | Viola


Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Sei mir gegrüsst, D. 741 (4')

Jessica Aszodi | Voice
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano


Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942)
Duo for Violin and Cello (5')

III. Andantino (5')

Anthony Marwood | Violin
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello


Alban Berg (1885–1935)
Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (11')

Aleksandar Madžar | Piano


Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano

II. Blues (6')

Natsuko Yoshimoto | Violin
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano


Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992)
Oblivion (5')

James Crabb | Classical Accordion
Anthony Marwood | Violin
Coleman Itzkoff | Cello
Stefan Cassomenos | Piano


Noël Coward (1899–1973)
There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner (4')

Walter van Dyk | Actor / Singer
Aleksandar Madžar | Piano


INTERVAL

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Fantasy in C for Violin and Piano, D. 934 (25')

I. Andante molto – Allegro vivace
II. Andantino
III. Allegro presto

Anthony Marwood | Violin
Aleksandar Madžar | Piano


Duration | Approximately eighty minutes, including a twenty-minute interval.