The Muses’ Delight will make their Mountains debut on Thursday, April 11, at 7pm in the intimate surrounds of the Kindlehill Performance Space.
This vibrant young ensemble will present a foot-stomping program of baroque and folk music inspired by dance and the raucous Australian bush.
The concert program explores how the classical and folk music of the British Isles has been transformed over time into a uniquely Australian style.
The traditional music of England, Scotland and Ireland sit side-by-side with bush dance tunes that once filled halls and pubs in regional NSW. The Muses’ Delight has a very special connection to this music, which began with a tunebook used by fiddler Katie Kurtz, great-grandmother of Muses’ cellist Lucy Price.
“My aunt gave me a book of tunes that belonged to my great-grandmother, who used to play fiddle in bush dances around Mudgee and Cassilis with her husband Jim,” Price said.
“It is really special to be connecting to my family history in this way and to be playing music with two great friends, just like Katie Kurtz would have done at her bush dances.”
Stepping from there into the classical tradition, elegant dance works by Handel and Purcell will be contrasted with Ross Edwards’ Ecstatic Dances, which magically evoke the sounds and spirit of Australia’s unique birdsong.
Hailing from Melbourne, The Muses’ Delight is made of genre-crossing musicians Meredith Beardmore (flute), Katie Yap (violin/viola) and Lucy Price (cello). Formed in late 2017, the ensemble is passionate about bringing 17th and 18th century stories to life through creative programming, the use of original instruments, and the combination of scholarship and spontaneity in performance.
Bringing the sheer joy of folk music together with the elegance of high art music from the classical period, The Muses’ Delight weave fascinating stories through every concert.
The Muses' Delight, British Isles to the Australian Bush, Thursday, April 11 at 7pm, Kindlehill Performance Space. Bookings at www.trybooking.com/BAUPW, email themusesdelight@gmail.com or phone 0448 162 067.
TICKETS: $30 adult, $20 concession, children under 12 free
PROGRAM: James Oswald Airs for the Seasons, Handel Trio Sonata, Purcell Dance Suite, Alexander Munro Corn Riggs Variations Sonata, Playford Greensleeves, Ross Edwards Ecstatic Dances, O’Carolan Carolan’s Draught, Volti Kerr’s Popular Dance Music for the Violin
