Media release – Van Diemen’s Band, 15 August 2023
THE LUNCHBOX CONCERTS – AS IT WAS
The baryton.
The season return of lunchtime live music to the Town Hall proves that some good things never change.
Harry Styles’ hit single has the right title when it comes to paying for live music in the middle of the day. Four years after the first Lunchbox Concerts premiered in the Hobart Town Hall in 2019, the online price of entry is still the same ‘as it was’ – meaning a reduction in real terms of well over 10%.
“We used to compare our concerts of premium music-making with a sandwich”, says Van Diemen’s Band’s Artistic Director Julia Fredersdorff, who curates the events presented in partnership with the Hobart City Council. “The CPI of the last eighteen months has made that rather outdated. Maybe the equivalent of a cookie? Cheaper than most lunches in any case, but with no reduction in quality!”
For five successive Tuesdays at 1.05PM from 22 August, the customary Lunchbox Concert filling doesn’t change: Tasmania’s finest musicians with some guests from elsewhere in 45- minute performances of dazzling diversity. Offerings include the reappearance of a long-lost instrument from the 18th century that was a favourite of composer Joseph Haydn, and the culmination of a moving journey of soprano Jacqueline Ward from devastating injuries sustained in a car accident to her dramatic comeback to performance earlier this year.
“Jacqueline’s story of triumph over adversity and her wonderful voice captured attention around the country when she returned to the recital platform in our Burnie Lunchbox season a few months ago,” says Fredersdorff. “Our Burnie audience was in tears at her comeback performance because of what it represented. It was a no-brainer to have Jacqueline, plus her mentor Jane Edwards at the piano, conclude this season on 19 September. It’s an unsurpassable demonstration of the power of music and the resilience of the human spirit.”
Intervening weeks bring two of Australia’s finest chamber ensembles in Melbourne-based Latitude 37 and the State’s own Virtuosi Tasmania (featuring the TSO’s stunning Principal Oboe Shefali Pryor), plus a return by popular demand of the klezmer/folk duo Meyers & McNamara with their exquisite sonic mix of violin and accordion.
One final recommendation for Lunchbox lovers from Julia Fredersdorff. “Go and hear the baryton on 19 August”, she says. “Not to be confused with a baritone. It’s not a singer, but an instrument (see image) that captivated an entire royal court for thirty years and then disappeared for 200 years. You won’t have ever heard it before, certainly not live, because the one in this concert is unique in the country and it’s only just arrived. It is just beautiful to both the ear and the eye and not to be missed!”
Tickets are just $10 per concert if purchased online (vandiemensband.com.au) or $50 if pre paying for the entire five-concert series; $15 at the door of the Town Hall Ballroom on the day.
CONCERT 1: TUESDAY 22 AUGUST – LATITUDE 37
Lunchbox favourite Latitude 37 featuring Julia Fredersdorff (violin), Laura Vaughan (viola da gamba) and Donald Nicolson (harpsichord) performs a program of English earworm tunes from 17th-century courts and taverns. The group has been hailed by The Australian as “…marvellously skilled, impeccably stylish … an Australian baroque group that can confidently mix it with the world’s best”.
CONCERT 2: TUESDAY 29 AUGUST – GRYPHON BARYTON TRIO
The first appearance in Tasmania of the rare multi-stringed baryton. Laura Vaughan joins Karina Schmitz (viola) and Martin Penicka (cello) for a Lunchbox feast of low instruments creating unique and beautiful sonority.
CONCERT 3: TUESDAY 5 SEPTEMBER – VIRTUOSI TASMANIA
Oboist Shefali Pryor teams up with fellow TSO members Jennifer Owen (violin), Douglas Coghill (viola) and Jonathan Békés (cello), to perform Mozart’s beautiful Oboe Quartet in F major and Benjamin Britten’s Phantasy Quartet.
CONCERT 4: TUESDAY 12 SEPTEMBER – MEYERS & McNAMARA
You asked for it! This popular duo present brand-new tunes they have recently recorded for their latest album in a Lunchbox with extra spice!
CONCERT #5: TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER – JACQUELINE WARD & JANE EDWARDS After wowing audiences in pataway/Burnie earlier this year, Jacqueline Ward (soprano) and Jane Edwards (piano) take us back to the salons of the past with a beautiful program of gems from 19th-century songbooks, featuring Fanny Mendelssohn, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss and more.
