The Hourglass Ensemble's Winter Season

This winter The Hourglass Ensemble are celebrating the exquisite lyricism and bold dynamism of piano composition with concerts featuring masterful pieces from acclaimed composers Carl Vine, Nigel Westlake and Gabriel Fauré.

The work of French composer Fauré is often described as the bridge from the end of the romantics to the emergence of the modernists. In the first concert, Heart of Australia, the ensemble will play Faure's passionate Piano Quintet number two in D minor, before moving to the modernist magic of Vine's Piano Sonata number one, a dynamic, virtuosic tour de force of the solo piano from one of Australia's greatest living composers, played by Hourglass' internationally acclaimed piano soloist Anna Rutkowska-Schock. Westlake's touching Piano Trio floats from darkness to light to close out the concert.

The second concert, Songs from the Bush, is named for Ian Munro's sweet and evocative Clarinet Quintet that paints images of the dreamtime, bush vistas, and starry skies of outback Australia. This clarinet solo with strings is added to the above repertoire, along with Nick Wales' Harbour Light which paints a very different picture of Australia. This short string quartet is a vignette of the play of boats, waves, and light on Sydney Harbour.

The Hourglass Ensemble is an audience favourite with their generous approach to make chamber music enjoyable and accessible. Each piece of music will be introduced with expert insights that lead the audience through the narratives and nuances of each composition.

Heart of Australia
7.30pm Saturday 20 July, Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House
Tickets

Songs from the Bush
7.30pm Saturday 27 July, Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House
Tickets

Ticket prices
Adult $58, Concession $40, Children under 13 $20