Classics at Kenthurst
The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) heads to Kenthurst later this month as part of a tour which will see it play at the Sydney Recital Centre, the Canberra International Music Festival and the Melbourne Recital Centre.
The orchestra’s EVOKE program sees it switch into chamber music mode, providing audiences with the opportunity to hear some of Australia’s finest musicians in a more intimate setting.
The orchestra’s co-artistic director Rachael Beesley leads six other world-class musicians in Berwald’s Grand Septet, while Beethoven’s Trio, will be performed by co-artistic director Nicole van Bruggen alongside Daniel Yeadon and Neal Peres da Costa.
The intimate program of Romantic chamber music evokes the salons and living rooms of the early 19th Century.
That period saw a surge in popularity for works composed for larger chamber ensembles of winds and strings. 
Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20, was considered the very peak of the genre: so successful was it that publishers released multiple arrangements of it for different-sized ensembles, prompting Beethoven to write his own trio arrangement for clarinet, cello and fortepiano – his Op.38.
Influenced by Beethoven’s Septet, and with a clear inheritance from other composers like Schubert, Spohr and Weber, the delightful Grand Septet by Swedish composer Franz Berwald is an inspired work by an often-overlooked composer.
Tickets can be booked now for the performance on Monday, April 26 at 6.30pm at the R J Phipps Performance Centre at The Hills Grammar School, Kenthurst. To book tickets or find out more visit www.arco.org.au
