Vivaldi’s Four Seasons like you’ve never heard them before
The concert is reinventing the age-old tradition of composers going head-to-head, just like in baroque times, by juxtaposing Vivaldi's Italian Baroque seasons, with Piazzolla's tango inspired seasons.
“The scale of this concert is unlike anything we’ve done at the Great so far…” This is how Live at Yours founder Vladimir Fanshil describes the upcoming Eight Seasons – Vivaldi vs Piazzolla concert at the Great Synagogue.
It’s the third of five concerts being held throughout 2023 at arguably one of the most beautiful venues in Sydney, and one our Jewish community should be very proud of.
The Live at the Great team always know how to put on a show, and Eight Seasons is no exception. The concert will present Vivaldi’s Four Seasons like never before, with a fresh take on the classic music.
“We’ll be featuring eight leading Australian musicians taking to the stage of the Great,” Fanshil explained. “Powerhouse violinist Kristian Winther leads the charge with Anthony Hamad on harpsichord and Gumaroy Newman on Didgeridoo.”
Kristian Winther is one of the most virtuosic and engaging violinists in Australia, having performed as a soloist with most of Australia’s symphony orchestra and acted as concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Audiences will also be transported through dreamtime storytelling and the Australian seasons by an Aboriginal elder accompanied by traditional song man Newman playing the yidaki (didgeridoo).
“Gumaroy is an incredible virtuoso of the didgeridoo, who will be accompanying the First Nations elder telling the dreamtime stories of the Australian seasons,” Fanshil said.
“It will be a magical atmosphere to have the starry vaults of the Great illuminated to this story-telling moment between the Vivaldi and Piazzolla. The Aboriginal culture is actually very close to the Jewish one in that we pass down stories and have a very rich oral history.”
So, what’s different about this version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons? According to Fanshil, the concert is reinventing the age-old tradition of composers going head-to-head, just like in baroque times, by juxtaposing Vivaldi’s Italian Baroque seasons, with Piazzolla’s tango inspired seasons.
“Kristian Winther has reimagine the Vivaldi seasons with a very brisk fresh take, as if nature herself went wild on the town and the Piazzolla is a new arrangement which highlights the sultry tango aspects of the work written especially for this ensemble,” he described.
Fanshil also explained that ultimately, it is the audience who decides who takes the top prize between the two composers – Vivaldi or Piazzolla.
As anyone who has been to a Live at the Great concert will tell you, these are ones not to be missed.
Eight Seasons – Vivaldi vs Piazzolla is at 7pm at the Great Synagogue on Tuesday June 27. For tickets, visit tinyurl.com/529dsprv
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