Melbourne's utterly beloved 3MBS 103.5FM is staging their third Music, She Wrote festival.
Following two highly acclaimed festivals in 2021 and earlier on in 2022, 3MBS Melbourne 103.5FM proudly presents Music, She Wrote at the Malvern Banquet Hall this September.
In addition to the festival’s April 2022 lineup of what the festival organisers are calling Melbourne’s ‘most imaginative and engaging classical, baroque and folk musicians’ is the Evergreen Ensemble, presenting four world premieres by sought-after Australian composer, Alice Chance.
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“Music, She Wrote is designed to bring women’s stories to life in their own musical voices,’ says Artistic Director Katie Yap (winner of the 2022 Freedman Classical Fellowship). ‘Across the festival, we explore the theme of resilience – something women have had to cultivate over history, and society finds itself deeply needing in this time of change and uncertainty.”
Gail Southwell, 3MBS General Manager explains: ‘Too often, music events are curated, performed once and then disappear. We want to provide opportunities for more audiences to experience this exceptional program celebrating women composers past and present.”
Concert 1: RESTORE
Friday 23 September: 7pm – 9pm (AEST)
The first concert rediscovers things we’ve lost over the last two and a half years – the vibrant energy of life’s bubbling rhythm, and voices raised together in song. Firecracker flautist Eliza Shephard (pictured) doesn’t beat around the bush in smashing stereotypes of women composers’ music. There’s not a whiff of quiet domestic wallflower in her solo set, called Bring the Beat Back, filled with driving rhythms and wild exuberance.
Following Eliza is the sublime Consort of Melbourne, who will set the Malvern Banquet Hall ringing with their six-piece a cappella line-up. Their concert celebrates the music written by women against all odds: from some of the first published female composers to Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Clara Schumann (who sacrificed their own careers for their families), to contemporary Australian and British composers.
Concert 2: RENEW
Saturday 24 September: 7pm – 9pm (AEST)
Evergreen Ensemble bridges the gap between baroque and folk music and reinvents it along the way. Featuring period instruments, Celtic harp and voice, the ensemble presents four world premieres by celebrated young Australian composer, Alice Chance in a set of newly composed sonatas for baroque instruments alongside traditional Scottish and Scandinavian folk tunes.
Known for their genius harmonies, toe-tapping tunes and imaginative arrangements, Big Fiddle Little Fiddle’s program is a small offering to their ‘female and gender-non-conforming loved ones and friends who constantly renew and replenish with their relentless persistence and optimism.’ The folk duo’s performance will leave you with a sense that, perhaps our world is a little brighter than how it might have seemed before.
Concert 3: REBEL
Sunday 25 September: 2pm – 4pm (AEST)
Long thought of as the weaker, gentler sex, society has always condemned women who rebel. Now, we see a wave of women who refuse to smile and accept their lot – Grace Tame, Rosy Batty, Brittany Higgins, among so many others. This concert celebrates rebellion in all its forms – internal, external, peaceful or not. Artistic director Katie Yap has assembled a festival string quartet that brings together Kyla Matsuura-Miller and Emma Hunt (violins), Katie Yap (viola), and Elina Faskhi (cello). Beginning with one of America’s first published black female composers, Florence Price, they take on works by trailblazing Australian composers Elena Kats-Chernin, Hilary Kleinig and Emily Sheppard, finishing with the furiously triumphant fourth string quartet of Grażyna Bacewicz.
Music, She Wrote festival program
Concert 1: RESTORE | Friday 23 September, 7pm (AEST)
Eliza Shephard / The Consort of Melbourne
Concert 2: RENEW | Saturday 24 September, 7pm (AEST)
Evergreen Ensemble / Big Fiddle Little Fiddle
Concert 3: REBEL | Sunday 25 September, 2pm (AEST)
Music, She Wrote String Quartet: Kyla Matsuura-Miller, Emma Hunt, Katie Yap and Elina Faskhi
In-venue tickets: Festival Pass $80 | Full $35 | Concession & 3MBS Subscribers $30. Digital tickets: Digital Festival Pass $60 | Single Digital Ticket $25.
Booking at https://3mbs.org.au/.
