The Canberra Symphony Orchestra‘s (CSO) Night Visions Chamber Classics concert will bring Canberra-based composer Sally Greenaway’s new double bass quartet, The Sky is Also Yours, to the stage for the first time in person on Sunday 27 August, 2pm at Albert Hall, Yarralumla ACT.
The night is often associated with fear or foreboding; however, Night Visions is designed shroud us in warmth and misty tones of dark purple. Here, the night is a refuge and a place of quiet wonder. The Sky is Also Yours is a moving reflection on pandemic isolation, and brings a spacious, expansive quality to the sense of the night sky.
In 2021, during the global pandemic, CSO commissioned Ms Greenaway to compose a piece featuring four members of its double bass section. The performance celebrated and showcased the national capital’s local musicians.
“The piece is a reminder that whenever you feel isolated or when you feel out of control, if you gaze up at the vast blue sky by day, or the stars that adorn the inky night, The Sky is Also Yours,” Ms Greenaway said.
“This program features elegant, meditative chamber music perfect for a Sunday afternoon. The small ensemble setting gives audiences a unique insight into the communication between musicians that underscores all orchestral playing,” said CSO Concertmaster Kirsten Williams.
The atmosphere will be set with the B major Nocturne from Antonin Dvořák’s opus 40, an unhurried, meditative work in a single movement. This piece is infused with a deep sense of calm and serenity, even as it ebbs and flows.
The program’s centrepiece is Borodin’s much-loved String Quartet No. 2 in D major, written for his wife, Ekaterina Protopova. This charming, elegant work builds to the famous Notturno third movement, which soars with deeply felt lyricism.
For more information including ticket information and pricing, visit cso.org.au/concerts/night-visions
BACKROUND
Sally Greenaway
- Sally Greenaway is a multi-award winning Australian composer hailing from Canberra. Her music spans a multiplicity of styles and genres including classical solo, chamber and orchestral works; jazz ensembles and big bands; and film, documentary and advertising soundtracks. Greenaway specialised in jazz piano at the Australian National University (ANU) School of Music before continuing studies at the Royal College of Music in London, where she received the Lucy Anne Jones award.
- Greenaway has worked with leading Australian soloists, ensembles and arts organisations, including Musica Viva, the Melbourne and Canberra symphony orchestras, Melbourne Recital Centre in conjunction with the Myer Foundation, the RMC Big Band, Trichotomy, Muses Trio and PLEXUS, as well as school and community groups including Woden Valley Youth Choir and Canberra Grammar School.
- Accolades include an APRA-AMC Art Music Award (2017), two Canberra Critics Circle Awards (2015, 2017), the Merlyn Myer Composing Women’s Award (2015) and the Canberra International Music Festival’s Young Composer Award (2009).
- Greenaway has lectured at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Canberra Institute of Technology Music Industry Centre, and given guest lectures at Monash University, the ANU and the Royal College of Music in London. In her spare time, she dabbles in historic keyboard instruments including the harpsichord and clavichord.
Kirsten Williams
- 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. In 2021, she led the Australian National University’s (ANU) Women in Music program.
- Kirsten studied with Alice Waten at the Sydney Conservatorium and with Igor Ozim in Switzerland. She then joined the Royal Opera House Orchestra at Covent Garden and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, touring and recording widely. On returning to Australia, Kirsten was appointed Associate Leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She has also appeared as guest Concertmaster of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the Sydney Philharmonia and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. From 2000–2019, Kirsten was Associate Concertmaster with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
- A dedicated teacher, Kirsten has a central role in the CSO’s Kingsland Pathways Program, leading the Canberra Symphony Youth Chamber Orchestra for advanced players aged 12 to 19, and working with the Kingsland Fellows. She has also worked with the Sydney and Australian youth orchestras and has joined the teaching staff at the ANU’s School of Music.
- Kirsten has a passion for music for healing: she has recorded two CDs for the Australian Bush Flower Essences and, in 2014, was named Volunteer of the Year for her work playing in the Intensive Care Unit at Westmead Children’s Hospital. That same year, she became patron of the Goulburn Strings Project, designed to bring music education to children in low-socioeconomic, regional contexts.