Happy New Year

I hope this newsletter finds you well and rested after the Christmas and New Year period. Now it is time to look forward to the coming year and the events to come. I have spent my holiday packing in anticipation of moving house, and have realised once again that we spend our lives accumulating 'things' that we don't really need. However, music is the one thing that I believe is essential to life, and so I say a grateful thanks to those who have not only provided this wonder, but also to those who have managed to pass it on from century to century.

The very first tour for 2009 is approaching, Larger Than Life, which is a tribute to three composers whose genius not only changed the face of music forever, but subsequently had a huge impact upon all future generations of composers and performers, not to mention music lovers - Beethoven, Brahms and Bernstein. This tour, as do all the 2009 tours, features TRIOZ, ensemble in-residence at City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney and once again I welcome back my dear colleagues violinist Niki Vasilakis and cellist Emma-Jane Murphy.

Here are the details of the works to be performed, dates and venues. As you can see, we have a special performance in Brisbane this March, the details of which are below:

Upcoming Tour

Larger Than Life

Leonard Bernstein -Piano Trio (1937)
Ludwig van Beethoven -Piano Trio in C minor Op.1 No.3
Johannes Brahms -Piano Trio in B major, Op.8

Dates

Sunday 8 March*** - Gehrmann Theatre, Brisbane Girls Grammar, Brisbane @ 2:00pm
Monday 9 March - Fairfax Theatre, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra @ 7:00pm
Tuesday 10 March -City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney @ 7:00pm
Wednesday 11 March -Melba Hall, Melbourne University, Melbourne @ 8:00pm
Saturday 14 March - Recital Room, Oxley College Bowral @ 5:00pm
Sunday 15 March -Elder Hall, University of Adelaide, Adelaide @ 2:30pm
Sunday 22 March - Turramurra Uniting Church, Turramurra, Sydney@ 2:00pm

To purchase tickets, please contact us on (02) 9969 7039 or you can use our very popular new online ticketing system at info@selbyandfriends.com.au.

Sydney tickets may be purchased by contacting City Recital Hall on 02 8256 2222 or by visiting www.cityrecitalhall.com.

In Adelaide, tickets may also be purchased through BASS.

***In Brisbane, tickets may only be purchased through Brisbane Girls Grammar on (07) 3332 1300 or by visiting their website here.

Turramurra

As I mentioned in my last newsletter of 2008, S&F has a new 4-concert subscription series on Sunday afternoons in Turramurra to begin this March. The concerts will start at 2:00pm in Turramurra Uniting Church where we held the first of such concerts last November to great success. I hope you will be able to join us . All information relating to these four subscription concerts is available on the website www.selbyandfriends.com.au. Or you can call our office on 9969 7039. The first concert is Sunday 22nd March.

A Little Lunch Music

City Recital Hall, in conjunction with Selby & Friends, has announced the second series of ten popular lunchtime concerts to occur once a month between February and November in 2009. This year we are very excited that the concerts have moved from the foyer into the venue itself due to many sold out performances in 2008, and you are still invited to bring your lunch and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of these concerts that go behind the music.

This year, once again, I have invited some wonderful Australian musicians and composers, both veteran and rising stars, to be part of this wonderful series, with some incredible music to discover.

Our first concert for 2009 is next week on Tuesday 3rd February at 12;30pm and will feature the great Shostakovich Piano Trio in E minor, Op.67. You can find more information about this particular concert by following the link below. The guest performers on this occasion are TRIOZ and we will explore the background of this monumental work in some depth. Tickets are still only $10 and I hear they are going fast. Please do join us for this exploration of one of the truly great masterpieces of the 20th Century.

http://www.cityrecitalhall.com/events/id/460/A-Little-Lunch-Music/

Until next time...

I shall be in touch in a short while and in the meantime wish you the very best.

Warm regards, Kathy