It’s a month of Song!
David Wickham’s Swan Song series peaks with vocal recitals by Alexander Lewis (August 3rd) and Lisa Harper-Brown (August 17th). I’m particularly excited about Lisa’s recital as the program is inspired by my book Women of Note and will feature the music of Australian women composers Peggy Glanville-Hicks Margaret Sutherland, Linda Phillips, Katie Abbott and Sally Whitwell. I can’t wait to hear Lisa and David bring the music to life. And I will be selling books at interval of course!

August 15th is another must-see: St George’s Cathedral‘s performance of British composer Alexander Levine’s  The Divine Liturgy  of St John Chrysostomon, described by director Joseph Nolan as ‘like Rachmaninov’s Vespers only better!’

Pianist Lisa Moore (see previous post) and hubby US composer Martin Bresnick are in town for a week at the University of Western Australia. On Thursday 7th Moore will feature in a lunchtime concert dedicated to the works of Bresnick and in a lecture given by Bresnick for the Institute for Advanced Studies. She will perform on Friday 8th with the UWA New Music Ensemble and in recital on Saturday 9th for Tura’s Scale Variable.

The WA Symphony Orchestra have a huge month with concerts on the 1st/2nd featuring Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Bruckner’s Symphony No 4, and on the 8th/9th Schumann’s Symphony No 3 and Schubert Symphony No 8. Their 2014 season climaxes with a Beethoven Festival spread accross the final two weekends of August. The orchestra will perform with Asher Fisch the nine symphonies by Beethoven – a gargantuan effort. On August 30th the festival will conclude with Beethoven’s Choral symphony – an exhilarating end to a month of song.