Media Release: February 2018
The 2018 season opens with a program chosen by our audience
Grace Clifford – Violin | Clancy Newman – Cello | Kathryn Selby – Piano
▪ Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Trio in B-flat major, WoO39
▪ Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, ‘Spring’
▪ Ludwig van Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op.69
▪ Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97 ‘Archduke’
Selby & Friends celebrates chamber music masterpieces by Beethoven in its 2018 season-opener. Kathryn Selby AM, Artistic Director and pianist, welcomes brilliant young Australian violinist Grace Clifford and American virtuoso cellist Clancy Newman to the stage in this 6-concert tour.
All works on the program were chosen by the Selby & Friends’ audience during 2017. Over the past four seasons, a high point of every year was a Selby & Friends “Basically Beethoven” concert exploring the great composer’s chamber music.
In March, guest artists Grace Clifford (violin) and Clancy Newman (cello) return to join Kathryn Selby for the piano trio partnership acclaimed by the Sydney Morning Herald’s reviewer last year: “This was the real thing … that sense of witnessing a really thoughtful, enlightening conversation.”
Grace Clifford has been a regular guest artist with Selby & Friends since her performances as a Development Artist at the age of fourteen. She is an ABC Young Performer of the Year Award recipient, and performed the Bruch Violin Concerto with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra during a break from her studies at the famed Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Cellist Clancy Newman, first-prize winner of the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg International Competition and recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant is also a composer in his own right, and has premiered several of his own works with Selby & Friends. He returns frequently to Australia from the USA to perform with the series.
Beethoven by Ballot is a glimpse into the composer’s diverse chamber music oeuvre. The program’s headliners include the “Spring” Sonata for violin and piano, which broke new ground at the turn of the 18th century with its sweeping lyricism, and the virtuosic “Archduke” Trio, at the top of many an audience wish-list. Composed in 1811, the virtuosic “Archduke” is dedicated to benefactor Archduke Rudolph of Austria, and it is a fitting stand-out in Beethoven’s “heroic” phase (during which the mighty Symphony No. 3 was also composed).
Selby & Friends was founded by Artist Director Kathryn Selby AM, Australia’s pre-eminent chamber music pianist. Now in its twelfth season, the Selby & Friends touring performance series presents concerts of exceptionally high quality with a rotating guest ensemble of illustrious chamber musicians, both Australian and international.
Kathryn Selby remarks on the Beethoven by Ballot program:
“Asking the audience to be involved with choosing their beloved Beethoven chamber works to create a program for them was a wonderful enterprise. The S&F audience is an enthusiastic and enlightened group of music lovers who have chosen for us a gorgeous selection and I’m thrilled to be kicking off the 2018 Season once again with the hugely talented Grace and the inspirational Clancy.”
Tickets and 2018 subscription packages are on sale now via the Selby & Friends website or by calling 1300 511 099.
Beethoven by Ballot tours the following dates and venues:
Sunday, March 11 – 2:30pm, Elder Hall, University of Adelaide, Adelaide
Tuesday, March 13 – 7:00pm, City Recital Hall, Sydney
Wednesday, March 14 – 7:30pm, Tatoulis Auditorium, Methodist Ladies’ College, Kew, Melbourne
Thursday, March 15 – 7:30pm, Fairfax Theatre, NGA, Canberra
Saturday, March 17 – 5:00pm, Mittagong Playhouse, Southern Highlands
Sunday, March 18 – 2:15pm, Turramurra Uniting Church, Turramurra
Media Contact: Caroline Ryvers – 0481 080 285 e:assistant@selbyandfriends.com.au
** Hi-res images available