As Australian artists, “we will forge ahead, despite the critical circumstances surrounding us”
Since the pandemic first hit our industry, the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall has offered something of a safe-haven to arts practitioners in Australia.
Through their powers of philanthropy, creativity, and friendship, members of the MDCH community have come together to find a stage for musicians to play on, a grand piano for their concerts, and even an income to help them through widespread event cancellations.
This month, the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra will have the opportunity to perform as part of this community on the MDCH stage — live streaming a program of music that was so beautiful, it even brought a tear to Beethoven’s eye.
So when you listen to these musicians play through Beethoven’s Cavatina — as well as pieces by Richter, Rossini, Mendelssohn, and Mozart — you can shed your own guilt-free tear, too. Shed it for the music, and the ability for these players to make it when the whole world has come to a standstill.
In this interview, Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra co-founder, co-artistic director, and concertmaster Rachael Beesley (pictured above) tells us how meaningful this July 10 event will be to her and her colleagues.
Rachael, it is absolutely wonderful to know that the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra is performing onstage, despite the way the pandemic has disrupted the industry. What does this event mean to you, when it’s been so long since music-making was “normal”?
During these uncharted times, my co-artistic director Nicole van Bruggen and I have been prompted to reaffirm our organisation’s core values, and to recognise the importance our entire community plays in advancing these values from our donors, supporters, and partner organisations to our players and audience.
The late Richard Gill AO, our founding artistic director, established with us the orchestra’s fundamental role as a unique professional orchestra in Australia that specialises in historically-informed performance, championing lesser-known composers and with a responsibility to educate and inspire the next generation of Australian musicians, and we continue to do this work even as we navigate the extraordinary challenges thrown at us this year.
Performing takes on renewed vigour and depth at this time when everything around is in a state of turmoil, so we will savour this opportunity to bring joy and energy to the stage.
How did you get to line up this performance on the MDCH stage? It’s certainly become the streaming platform of Australia, having served so many musicians already.
Chris Howlett invited the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra several times to perform on the MDCH stage, but we have had to wait until restrictions eased to enable us to rehearse safely in an appropriate venue.
As a Melbournian, I am very connected to the music scene here, as a longtime member of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, guest concertmaster of Orchestra Victoria and teacher at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music — and it was here that the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra was brought to life during a Victorian Opera production of The Marriage of Figaro with Richard Gill AO conducting. So I am very proud that the initiative to create an opportunity for Australian artists to continue their profession, and to connect communities around the country and world through live music, was created in my hometown.
Special thanks to MDCH co-directors Chris Howlett and Adele Schonhardt for their dedication and creative spirit to support the Australian arts industry during the COVID-19 crisis. Their mission is “to provide a means for Australian artists to continue their profession and to connect communities around the country through live music”, and for that we are truly grateful and honoured to be invited to be involved in this endeavour.
Talk us through the process of coming up with this program. You could choose any works you wanted to, reaching audiences in their homes right across the country. How and why did you select these works?
Cavatina is “the Italian diminutive of cavata, the producing of tone from an instrument”, and throughout these last few months I have been fascinated by how singers of the 19th and early 20th centuries produced good vocal technique through firm phonation, legato, and messa di voce (swelling of the voice), and how we can apply this to instrumental technique.
Beethoven’s Cavatina movement from his Op. 130 string quartet is the fifth of an unusual six-movement work, which employs this singing style and even affected Beethoven: “When I think of the Cavatina, it still brings a tear to my eye.”
The influence of the Mannheim Court on the music of Mozart and Richter is clear in the energy and drive of these works plus the sublime Italianate second movements. Rossini makes as entrance as I was invited to be in New York this week leading the orchestra of Teatro Nuovo in a Rossini opera, working together with our dear colleague violinist and conductor Jakob Lehmann and musicologist and conductor Will Crutchfield — instead, we are looking forward to next season!
Also, in recognition of what we as an industry have been going through these months — with the act of listening to music, which non-musicians may regard as relaxing and calming, often being an acutely emotional experience for musicians inducing states of sadness and longing over lost rehearsal and performing opportunities, or anger and fear over everything being cancelled — Mendelssohn’s passionate Sinfonia in B minor was chosen to bring this program to a close with a sense of determination that we will forge ahead, despite the critical circumstances surrounding us.
An admirable message to leave with the listener. Now, the success of MDCH — having raised $400k for its musicians at the time of writing — proves that these works are still relevant, loved, and listened to. Why do you think audiences are still hungry to hear Classical- and Romantic-period music, when they have the chance to branch out online and explore music of any genre, and from any era? To put it simply, why are they streaming classical music when they could be streaming anything?
There is still so much explore from the Classical and Romantic period — from lesser-known works and composers to the expressive devices employed as performers; the instruments from the time of the composers to the historical context. Audiences want to feel embraced by music at this time, and they therefore make musical choices around which genres provide the most comfort and best lift them out of the daily spiral of social media and news cycles.
Throughout history, pandemics have often brought about changes in style. Using this time to listen to concerts in the new online format can bring greater awareness to the musical styles of today, as each time musicians get together they bring new life and energy to the score.
I believe that not only does the music transform and move the musicians on stage, it also has the power to profoundly affect audiences.
On a practical level, how have your rehearsals been going with this music?
There is nothing that replaces the energy and drive created by bringing musicians and also music students together for rehearsals and performances in live venues. This is where the magic happens and where so many sparks of inspiration come for future projects.
Finding a suitable venue was challenging due to the restrictions in place, so we were thrilled that our strong connection with Monash University enabled us to rehearse there while creating unique educational resources for the students.
We’re also incredibly grateful to MDCH for supporting us with extra rehearsals at the venue. Our organisation has always run as a virtual office as Nicole Van Bruggen lives on the Sunshine Coast and I live in Melbourne. But our regular Zoom meetings have benefited recently from us being in the same timezone, as we’re often touring overseas.
Our relationships with our friends, colleagues, and students or teachers normally give musicians an opportunity to experience a range of emotions and thoughts from a different perspective. Rehearsing and hearing other musicians practising and performing on stage allows us to exist in temperaments and personalities that we may not display in everyday life.
Creating a safe space where we can engage with music at a humorous, outrageous, fun, meaningful, or profound level is so important. Therefore, I have been creating space in the day to dedicate towards my research and practice, to be constantly honing my skills to apply in my multi-faceted roles as educator, mentor, director, and performer.
At the beginning of the pandemic, everything stopped. But now, there is a great deal of activity in the arts as everyone has adapted — and your schedules must be fairly full once again, even if with Zoom lessons! Does it feel different to make time for each other, now?
Our first program of the year was affected by COVID-19 when saxophonist Nick Russsoniello was unable to join us as for our education program the Voyage of Musical Discovery as he had been performing on the Diamond Princess [quarantined cruiseship]. We are indebted to James Greening and The World According to James for stepping in at the last moment, and were relieved when Nick was able return home to his family safe and well.
This was in March, and a week after our opening season I was due to fly to Brussels to teach at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and direct an orchestra for a recording and performances in Brussels. It soon became apparent that these performances were not going ahead so I had to abruptly cancel all my travel plans.
Over the following weeks, Nicole and I dedicated our time and energy to ensuring the health and wellbeing of our team and patrons, and making sure everything was handled with grace and presence of mind. From the beginning of the lockdown, I’ve also stayed connected with my students around the world through the vagaries of Zoom with lessons and lectures presented online at the four institutions that I regularly teach at from the comfort of my own home, including the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Melbourne and Sydney conservatoriums of music, and Monash University, as well as being on the jury for the Melbourne Recital Centre Bach Competition. So while we are all searching for balance to deal with this difficult situation — from the peacefulness yet busyness of having time to restructure, reinvent, and reassess creative processes while living in this double void of uncertainly and loss at seeing artistic plans and visions morph before our eyes — it is possible to utilise our combined creative energy, and continue to use our imaginations to guide us.
How do you personally feel about performance in Australia, moving forward? Have you accepted that there may be a continued desire for digital concerts?
I am honoured to have the had the opportunity to speak at many online events of artistic leaders around the world and in Australia, and I believe we need to celebrate what Australia has to offer in the arts and focus on what we are producing and can be producing in the future.
I believe it is important to stay connected and motivated at these times, but that requires inner strength and resolve, love and patience, and determination — multiplied by the power of infinity. While we’re all grounded, perhaps this is also the time to experience feeling grounded and connected through our artistic endeavours — either online or live when restrictions permit.
To audience members who might ordinarily be planning their Friday night Netflix viewing, what would you say to encourage them to switch over to your show instead?
My greatest fear is seeing artists sapped of their life-force and energy by the rule of law and public expectation to conform. All the while, sports people have already returned gleefully to their passion for the game. So while musicians are performing live on stage, take this special moment and embrace this opportunity.
Also by directly supporting the musicians, audiences can help to motivate and inspire their favourite artists when most avenues of inspiration — planning, touring, rehearsing and performing — have been shut down.
Any parting words before you’re on the stage?
As artists, we need to sharpen our weapons and our purpose, and lead the way; give energy and life to our artforms and share this with a renewed sense of discovery and ultimately stronger connections to our community.
This is also a time to acknowledge our loss with strength and solace, but also to know it will pass and we’ll need to develop our fortitude, keep healthy, stay strong, and be as generous in spirit as we can.
MDCH co-founders Chris Howlett and Adele Schonhardt, captured by Albert Comper.