CONCERT WEEKEND Beethoven's Letters 6th & 7th June

You must by now be wondering if Arts in the Valley will follow the path of other events and cancel our concerts planned for 6th and 7th June. Sadly cancellation seems to us to be the only option at this time. We still hope to be able to reinstate the concerts at a later date. But since we are unable to fix any date with certainty, we have decided that cancellation is the right course to take.

Once the future seems more amenable to planned events we will attempt to reset a date, but cannot guarantee that it will take place this year.

In the meantime, to those of you who have bought tickets we are offering three courses of action: to refund your tickets, hold them as credit for a future  event, or we would of course be happy if you were minded to convert them into a donation to Arts in the Valley.

Please let us know which is your preference by emailing info@artsinthevalley.net.au.

We hope you and your families remain safe and healthy during this strange time. And that you emerge at its end with a renewed desire to take part in our events, and the sense of community which we hope to provide.

Beethoven's Letters - with John Bell & Tinalley String Quartet Date: Saturday 6th June 5:00pm Venue: Kangaroo Valley Village Hall Program: Mendelssohn String Quartet in A minor Opus 13, “Beethoven’s Letters” featuring John Bell Concept devised by Anna Melville

2 Hour performance with 20 minute interval

Sunday Performance - with Tinalley String Quartet

Date: Sunday 7th June 11:00am Venue: Kangaroo Valley Village Hall

Program: Beethoven String Quartet Opus 18, No 4, Dvorak Cypresses II, III & IV, Mendelssohn String Quartet Opus 80

70 minute performance no interval

Tickets: Weekend Ticket $100 Members & $ 110 Non-Members. Saturday only Performance $70 Sunday only Performance $50

The outstanding John Bell AO will return to the valley to present Beethoven Letters with the Tinalley String Quartet. We think this is a marvellous combination of the nation’s best-known actor and one of its finest sets of classical musicians. On the June long weekend, 6th and 7th June, we will present Beethoven Letters on the Saturday and a further string quartet concert of Beethoven, Dvorak and Mendelssohn on Sunday.

This year, as you will probably be told several times before the year is out, is the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. His music carries many emotions, from the joyous youthful embrace of revolutionary ideas, and the glamour of Napoleon, in the Eroica, or the lyricism of the Pastoral Symphony, and the complexity of the later string quartets. Almost everyone knows that Beethoven was ultimately deaf, and that he had to live with increasing deafness even as he became one of Europe’s most celebrated musicians. Deafness can be isolating and create barriers in dealings with others. That frustration at his increasing isolation, and frustration at his inability to make use of the one faculty which would allow him to fully appreciate the music making on which he was so intent, emerges in his letters. These give insight into his inner life, verging sometimes on despair, but marked by a fixity of purpose in realising his musical creativity, as perhaps one expects from one labelled genius by posterity. Geniuses may sometimes find life close to unendurable.

We think you will enjoy this opportunity to hear John Bell’s rendering of Beethoven‘s inner life and contrasting it with some of his music. In the same Saturday concert the Tinalley String Quartet will also play Mendelssohn’s Op13 Quartet, composed in 1827, in the months following Beethoven’s death. Mendelssohn was fascinated by Beethoven’s late string quartets and compositional style. In this quartet you can hear a sort of transition from Beethoven’s classical forms to the then new Romantic expressions of the later 19th century.

On the Sunday, we will offer a further concert by the Tinalley String Quartet. They will play

Beethoven’s Op18 no4 quartet written by Beethoven in his late twenties, and dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz, the same dedicatee as the later Eroica Symphony No3. This will contrast with Dvorak’s Cypresses II, III & IV, three movements of this twelve movement work for string quartet. Finally we will hear Mendelssohn’s Opus 80 quartet. This should be a scintillating feast for those who enjoy

string quartets!

Biographies

Tinalley String Quartet

Internationally acclaimed for its ‘addictive sound’, ‘intuitive’ music making and ‘technical virtuosity’, the Tinalley String Quartet (TSQ) has established itself as one of Australia’s finest string quartets and most awarded classical music exports.

“Australian music-making at truly a world level.” Limelight Magazine

“The hottest ensemble in town.” The Age

In Australia, the Quartet has appeared at the nation’s premier festivals including the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Canberra International Music Festival, the Perth International Arts Festival, the Adelaide Festival, the Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival, the Huntington Festival, the Port Fairy Festival, the Tyalgum Festival, the Queensland Music Festival and the Coriole Festival. https://tinalley.com.au

John Bell OA

ACTOR/ DIRECTOR / FOUNDER BELL SHAKESPEARE

John Bell is the founder of Bell Shakespeare and one of Australia’s most acclaimed theatre personalities. In a career of acting and directing, John has been instrumental in shaping the Australian theatre industry as we know it. After graduating from Sydney University in 1962 John worked for the Old Tote Theatre Company, all of Australia’s state theatre companies and was an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the United Kingdom. As co-founder of Sydney’s Nimrod Theatre Company, John presented many productions of landmark Australian plays including David Williamson’s Travelling North, The Club and The Removalists. He also initiated an Australian Shakespeare style with Nimrod productions such as Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth.

John Bell is an Officer of the Order of Australia and the Order of the British Empire. He has an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the Universities of Sydney, New South Wales and Newcastle. In 1997 the National Trust of Australia named him as one of Australia’s Living Treasures. In 2003 the Australia Business Arts Foundation awarded John the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Cultural Leadership Award. His many awards as an actor and director include the Helpmann Award for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor (Richard 3, 2002 & Jaques in As you Like It, 2015) & nominated for Best Support Actor and Best Actor (Uncle Vanya 2011 and The Father, 2017), a Producers and Directors Guild Award for Lifetime Achievement and the JC Williamson Award (2009) for extraordinary contribution to Australia’s live entertainment industry and the 2010 Sydney Theatre Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his extraordinary career as an actor, director and producer.