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Canberra Today 12°/15° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Festival mood touches major and minor keys

THE first days of the 2012 Canberra International Music Festival proved a mix of major and minor keys.

In a “major” key was the gentle music of the opening concert at The National Portrait Gallery with flute, harp, voice, mandolin and percussions, rising to a crescendo with Elena Kats Chernin’s latest edition of “Beaver Blaze” (after Canberra arts patron Betty Beaver), augmented by the Wallfish Band.

In a notably “minor” key was the controversy engendered by recently-announced sackings and curriculum changes at the ANU School Of Music.

Festival director Christopher Latham may have devised a peaceful program full of titles such as “Tenderness and Grace” and “Peace on Earth”, but the tone was anything but serene.

As already reported at citynews.com.au, pianist Geoffrey Lancaster broke a concert at the Turkish Embassy on Saturday afternoon to deliver a stinging attack on the ANU for its brutal treatment of the music school, afterwards delivering a piano lament for the beleaguered institution.

At an unusual performance of western works, inspired by the Indonesian gamelan, percussionist (one of the staff about to be sacked) Gary France delivered an emotional speech describing his ideal conservatorium as a place of “magic”.

Latham himself preferred to steer clear of overt controversy, while mentioning the support of School of Music performers many times in his commentary at the gamelan concert – the implication was that if not for the school’s gifted staff, concerts like this would be impossible.

On Saturday night in the larger arena of Llewellyn Hall, MC of the Bach “Mass in B Minor” and former School of Music staffer, Adrian Keenan, recollected a 1998 performance of the same work in the same venue, immediately before the then Chief Minister Kate Carnell announced funding cuts to the schools of art and music.

Turning to bassist player Max McBride, who had conducted the 1998 Mass, Keenan said: “But we won then, didn’t we, Max?”

As many mild-mannered music lovers were revising their picture of themselves as apolitical bystanders, the weekend also saw non-political performances such as the New Zealand String Quartet’s Beethoven performance at the Albert Hall on Sunday.

Also not directly political was the announcement by Prof Don Aitkin, chairman of the festival, that Canberra’s Pro-Musica, which administers the event, was getting behind a plan to see free music performances every day of the week during the Centenary next year, confirming the capital’s place as a “city of music”.

In keeping with Latham’s aim of branding Canberra as a music festival destination through the unique locations chosen for performances, the weekend wound up with the “Music from the Silk Road” in the hall of the National Museum, where director Andrew Sayers introduced a program covering the long journey from west to east through Italian, Turkish, Sephardi, Uyghur and Chinese music.

The 2012 Canberra International Music Festival runs until May 20. Casual bookings to 6275 2700. Visit www.cimf.org.au for program details.

 

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Helen Musa

Helen Musa

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