Chamber music festival back in Blackheath
With an array of distinguished Australian musicians, the Blackheath Chamber Music Festival is back for 2022.
“Do not go gentle” should make a fitting theme for this year’s Blackheath Chamber Music Festival, themed “Blue Mist”.
As festival closer Lior told The AJN, it is “wonderful” and “energising” to be back headlining the festival, now that “we’re living a full life again” after two years of pandemic-related lockdowns and precautions.
Lior will be performing his own take on the classic Dylan Thomas poem that urges people to “rage against the dying of the light”. He expressed excitement in performing the piece, which he hasn’t done in a while, with the acclaimed Tinalley Quartet – which Lior describes as “one of the best quartets in the country”.
When he is not performing, “I always love to stand side of stage and I’m watching them perform, because I think they are truly exceptional”, said Lior of the quartet.
The Dylan Thomas piece is part of a “really diverse repertoire”, added the singer-songwriter who broke out in 2005 with his album Autumn Flow.
Lior’s festival show, From Nature To Eternity, features pieces “linked together by the theme of nature and the life cycle” – of which the Dylan Thomas piece is a highlight. Since he usually writes his own lyrics, it was “a challenging thing to put music to someone else’s lyrics, and particularly a poem that I’ve loved over the years so much.”
The show traverses a lot of ground, musically, and Lior sees a broad appeal for “people who don’t just love classical music, but who love classical crossover”.
The Tinalley Quartet also feature elsewhere in the program, performing works by Mendelssohn and Brahms with pianist Benjamin Kopp.
This year’s festival in the Blue Mountains promises plenty of classical and crossover diversity. Other acts include an afternoon of Gershwin featuring Nexas Quartet joined by pianist Gerard Willems, The Goldner String Quartet featuring violinist Irina Morazova, Kanimbla String quartet featuring Robert Johnson, previously principal horn of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and The Streeton Trio, whom The Australian praised for their “deeply expressive playing rich in elegance, intellect and vitality”.
The Blackheath Chamber Music Festival is being held from April 22-25. For tickets: nswtickets.com.au/event/14709
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