Shauna Beesley shares her experience of arranging Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op.73. The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra will present the world premiere of this arrangement in March 2022 as part of the Northern Serenades tour.
“I had arranged Frauenliebe und Leben as a birthday present for my sister Rachael Beesley. It seemed that, when it was performed in 2021, the audience response was very positive. Subsequently, Rachael and Nicole were looking at other repertoire suitable for the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, and asked me to arrange Fantasiestücke for them as a commission.
I didn’t know these pieces beforehand. So my first port of call was to learn the music by playing it, and then begin to decide how an arrangement for strings might work.
Over the course of several weeks, I put together a version for strings and clarinet. Since the decision to have a solo violin instead of clarinet, I’ve rearranged the accompanying parts for 1 violin, 2 violas, cello and bass…
CutCommon, 26 January 2022
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“A unique brand of classical music will return to stages across Australia this year following the announcement of a $560,000 Federal Government grant by Federal Member for Fairfax, Ted O’Brien, who made the funding grant official at a morning tea and recital last week at the Peregian Springs ‘The Pool Cafe’. A group of talented young musicians from the Young Mannheim Symphonists, mentored by the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra performed for a small audience…
The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra will use the funding boost to significantly expand their national tour in 2022 and build their education capacity.”
Coolum Advertiser, 19-25 January
“…The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra received a $560,000 Federal Government grant, announced by Ted O’Brien MP at Peregian Springs on Tuesday.
The funding will allow the orchestra to expand its national tour and offer education and training to the next generation of musicians.
General Manager and Co-Artistic Director of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, Nicole van Bruggen said it would help the music industry bounce back from the impacts of COVID.
‘Freelance musicians and arts workers have been really struggling over the past two years,’ she said.
‘This announcement is not only going to put food on their table, it also acknowledges that small and agile organisations such as the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra are in a key position to pull the music industry out of the reality of this pandemic.’ …”
Sunshine Coast News, 12 January 2021
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“The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra brings sweetness and light to its line-up with late-19th-century serenades from Elgar, Wolf and Holst (alongside a new arrangement of Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke by Shauna Beesley). The orchestra celebrates Vienna’s chamber music history with pieces by Eybler and Schubert, before an all-Mozart celebration later in the year. There’s even an Australian premiere of Michael Haydn’s Litaniae Lauretanae MH71 with The Vocal Consort and Australian Boys Choir.”
Paul Ballam-Cross, Limelight
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“The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra has announced its 2022 season, which sees the HIP ensemble expand their geographical footprint, with mainstage performances in Brisbane and South Australia planned in addition to concerts in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and regional NSW, Victoria and Queensland.”
Hugh Robertson, Limelight
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“I really loved what you could do with this instrument: play chromatically, sustain notes via rolls, play the foundations of many chords orchestrally (or any part of a chord), produce thunderous energy and power as well as the gentlest of musical moments…”
Brian Nixon, Limelight
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⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The entire performance was charming."
"Greatest Mozart II featured two works, beginning with Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A, KV478. Nicole van Bruggen played a beautifully seductive, mellifluous basset clarinet, supported by Rachael Beesley and Anna McMichael on violins, with Simon Oswell on viola and Daniel Yeadon on cello."
Clinton White, Limelight
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"The slow second movement [of the Berwald Septet] allowed for some gorgeous clarinet and violin phrases, and the prestissimo really sparkled!"
Clive Lane, classikOn
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"All three pieces combined spoke to the humbler atmospheres of music from the funeral ceremony to people’s personal sitting rooms. Rather than evoking grand gesture, these Beethoven and Berwald pieces capture simpler emotion and more direct connection between composer, player, and listener."
NightWrites
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⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
"...an evening of romance and class."
"...the enthusiasm meter was set to high."
Steve Moffat, Limelight
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⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
“It would be hard to imagine a more enjoyable program than the two pieces performed by members of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, chamber works by Beethoven and Franz Berwald.”
Vincent Plush, Limelight
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"The rich, lush sound of the full Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, led from the fortepiano by Neal Peres Da Costa, brought a sense of triumphalism to the opening molto allegro movement, which gave way to an andante, at times suggesting a courtly dance."
Helen Musa, City News
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EIGHT MILE PLAINS, SALISBURY & MT GRAVATT STARS IN PRESTIGIOUS ORCHESTRA
An orchestra of Queensland’s most promising young musicians spent last week learning and playing together in Brisbane as part of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra’s Young Mannheim Symphonists Queensland Intensive education program.
They included residents of Forest Lake, Ferny Grove, Ferny Hills, Taringa, Mt Gravatt, Salisbury, Highgate Hill, Carina Heights, Banyo, Upper Kedron, Clayfield, Eight Mile Plains, Victoria Point, Chapel Hill, Ashgrove, The Gap, Park Ridge, Tewantin, Tanawha and Peregian Springs.
The Southern Star (April 22, 2021)
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A group of young musicians from different suburbs in Queensland, including Taringa, joined the Young Mannheim Symphonists Queensland Intensive to play and learn great classical music masterpieces together.
Taringa News (April 2020)
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“Performing in Melbourne is so important to us, and we were heartbroken when we had to cancel our Illuminate concert,” says co-artistic director Nicole van Bruggen.
“So many of our core musicians are from Victoria – including my co-artistic director and concertmaster, Rachael Beesley – so we have all keenly felt the trials of the last 12 months.
“We cannot wait to return to the Melbourne Recital Centre and we are delighted that Jacqueline Porter will be joining us again. We had a fabulous time working together on Illuminate, and her performance in that program reaffirmed that she truly is one of the finest voices in Australia.”
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⭐⭐⭐⭐
"An emotional but triumphant return to live performance by the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra."
Aryan Mohseni, State of the Art
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Photo by Robert Catto
⭐⭐⭐⭐
"To me [Historically Informed Performance] sounds like a flowing wave...it's like wearing silk...There is a openness of creativity and musicality, beyond the precision of following the notes. In large ensemble productions as in this performance, this is no mean feat as it requires complete synchronicity in the same ensemble section. And it was exquisitely achieved at City Recital Hall by the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra."
Rebecca Vardiel, Sydney Scoop
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Photo by Robert Catto
"The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra plays to a very high standard. Its musicians are hand picked as are the grapes selected by Penfolds for Grange."
"Jacqueline Porter’s singing was sublime and she had obviously studied the fervent and subliminal nature of the poetry closely."
Tony Burke, classikON
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Photo by Robert Catto
⭐⭐⭐⭐
"A radiant return to the stage."
"[Rachael] Beesley, always energetic and exuding enjoyment as a leader, ducked and weaved, teasing out the best from her colleagues."
"[Jacqueline] Porter, with her faultless diction and lively facial expressions, gave a beautifully nuanced performance, bringing out the swatch of colours Britten uses with such subtlety, and effortlessly negotiating the vocal acrobatics..."
Steve Moffat, Limelight
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Photo by Robert Catto
