BY RACHEL BRUERVILLE
I am so very happy to call Adelaide my home, and places like UKARIA existing makes me even more happy! Ulrike Klein AO, arts lover, philanthropist, Jurlique Co-founder, and founder of UKARIA, has created a beautiful and welcoming oasis in the Adelaide Hills; for Adelaide, Australian, and international communities to come together and enjoy high-quality chamber music.
And high-quality chamber music was certainly what happened over the weekend of the UKARIA 24 festival. Nicolas Altstaedt, German-French cellist, was the curator of the weekend, and at the risk of hyperbole: WOW. Just wow.
I have to be honest, when I read things in artists’ biographies such as ‘…Nicolas Altstaedt is one of the most sought-after and versatile artists today’, I tend to roll my eyes a bit. However, based on my experience of the five concerts over this fantastic weekend, I think the description is completely justified.
Nicolas brought with him three more world-class musicians: Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, British violist Lawrence Power, and Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin.
Versatility was one of the buzzwords from my video reviews (all of which you can see below), and an overarching theme to the weekend. In Nicolas’s program notes about the weekend, he states: ‘My choice of program for the weekend is an attempt for variety rather than thematic rigour’. Composers such as Bach, Haydn, and Mozart were programmed alongside John Cage, Sándor Veress, and living German composer, Jörg Widmann.
As much as I did appreciate the variety of music that was programmed, I still think that a focus of 21st Century programming in general needs to be investigating works by an even wider variety of composers, such as composers from different cultural backgrounds, and composers of diverse gender.
Australian Youth Orchestra’s Momentum Ensemble once again gave absolutely stunning performances (read my review to see what happened last year). Ulrike Klein put it beautifully in her thank-you speeches when she said the ensemble performs with a ‘joy, professionalism, and vitality that is infectious’. It is difficult to believe that they only came together a few days before the festival started, because they played together as if they had been playing together for many years; the consistency of expression and musical intention, the breathing and moving together of the whole ensemble…a joy to witness!
The Momentum Ensemble percussionists also deserve a special mention for their amusing interpretation of John Cage’s Living Room Music, and their magnificent, refined contribution to the chamber version of Shostakovich’s final symphony – these young musicians fit seamlessly into an ensemble including Frang, Altstaedt, and Kozhukhin.
Relating to last year’s UKARIA 24 festival, which I was fortunate enough to attend, I did miss Iain Grandage’s presence as the weekend’s charismatic MC, who did a great job at breaking down the fourth wall. The presentation of these 2018 concerts was much more traditional in the sense that the performers would walk on stage to applause, start playing, finish playing to applause (and take many, many ‘curtain’ calls), all without speaking, then the stage would be reset in silence. However, it was excellent to hear Nicolas speak passionately at the very end of the weekend, when he thanked the festival organisers, praised the Momentum Ensemble musicians, and also spoke emotionally about a cause close to his heart, The Ocean Cleanup Project, to which he is generously donating a portion of his fee. Words to the effect of: if the world is not clean, then we no longer can survive to make beautiful music with friends. He summed up his speech by playing a sensitive, simple duet with Momentum Ensemble’s concertmaster Nicolas Waters, called Raindrops by Sibelius.
One more special mention must go to Ben Nicholls for his cool, calm, and collected page-turning (aka the most stressful job ever). For now, all I can say is: bring on UKARIA 24, 2019! (To be held in September and curated by Diana Doherty!)
Watch all of Rachel Bruerville’s (Literally) Live Reviews below!
Rachel was at the UKARIA 24 festival and captured her thoughts while out on the scene. Enjoy the show.
Did you enjoy learning about this music festival?
If you did, shout Rachel Bruerville a coffee. She volunteered her time to bring you this coverage of UKARIA 24.
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Pay what you like through PayPal. 80 per cent of your contribution will go to the writer who composed this piece, and 20 per cent to our volunteer editor for getting this show on the road. (You don’t *actually* have to take them to coffee.) We protect your personal information. Featured UKARIA 24 image captured by Dylan Henderson.
