Flights of Fancy
Cellist Christian-Pierre La Marca and Jack Liebeck
Celebrate the encore collaboration between AYO Momentum Ensemble and Jack Liebeck at the 2024 Australian Festival of Chamber Music.
Concert Dates
29 July – 1 August
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music
Townsville/Gurambilbarra
This special reunion with acclaimed violinist Jack Liebeck sparkles with musical gems from the Baroque era, a time when composers painted their musical canvases with ornate melodies and dramatic contrast.
The ensemble will bring to life the expressive and harmonious sound of Corelli – the O.G. violin soloist, with his Concerto Grosso Op.6, No.4, a piece known for its beautiful melodies and intricate musical interplay.
Then, step into a fairy tale through music with the enchantment of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, where emotive voices blend seamlessly with captivating instruments.
This performance promises an evening of enchanting tunes that will transport you to a world of timeless beauty.
Program I
BACH, J.S. Suite I BWV 1007
FAURE Apres un reve pour violoncelle et piano
SCHUMANN Fantasiestucke op. 73 – I Zart und mit Ausdruck
SAY, F Sonate pour violoncelle et piano Four Cities
DVORAK Silent Woods
RAMIREZ Alfonsina y el Mar
RAMEAU Rappel des oiseaux pour piano seul
SAINT-SAENS Le Cygne pour violoncelle et piano
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Le vol du Bourdon
GERSHWIN Summertimes pour violoncelle et piano
MANCINI arr. Gassot/La Marca Moon River pour violoncelle et piano
EINAUDI arr. Gassot/La Marca I Giorni pour violoncelle et piano
FRAHM arr. Gassot/La Marca Ambre extrait de Wintermusik pour violoncelle et piano
TCHAIKOVSKY Valse Sentimentale
BLOCH Prayer pour violoncelle et piano
MESSIAEN Louange a l’eternite de Jesus
HARLEN, Harold Over the Rainbow pour violoncelle et piano
PIAZZOLLA Le Grand Tango pour violoncelle et piano
ARMSTRONG arr. Gassot/La Marca What a wonderful world pour violoncelle et piano
Program II
PURCELL First Music: Prelude
Hornpipe
Second Music: Air
Rondeau
Overture
Fairies’ dance
Act II: Prelude
Echo
Second Act Tune: Air
Second Music: Overture
Symphony while the swans come forward
Third Act Tune: Hornpipe
Act IV: Symphony
Entry of Phoebus
Chaconne
CORELLI Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 4
Jack Liebeck
“His playing is virtually flawless in its technical ease, scintillating articulateness and purity of tone.” (Gramophone)
British/German violinist, director and festival director Jack Liebeck, possesses “flawless technical mastery” and a “beguiling silvery tone” (BBC Music Magazine). Jack is the Royal Academy of Music’s first Émile Sauret Professor of Violin and new Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. “A diverse and interesting program, giving voice to many of the festival artists, this was a terrific offering for this year’s Australian Festival of Chamber Music.” (Limelight Magazine) Jack’s playing embraces the worlds of elegant chamber-chic Mozart through to the impassioned mastery required to frame Brett Dean The Lost Art of Letter Writing. His fascination with all things scientific has included performing the world premiere of Dario Marianelli’s Voyager Violin Concerto and A Brief History of Time with Professor Brian Cox and Benjamin Northey commissioned by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from regular collaborator and composer Paul Dean in commemoration of Professor Stephen Hawking; A Brief History of Time received its world premiere in November 2019.
In the 25 years since his debut with the Hallé, Jack has worked with major international conductors and orchestras including Andrew Litton, Leonard Slatkin, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Sir Mark Elder, Sakari Oramo, Vasily Petrenko, Brett Dean (Royal Stockholm Philharmonic), Daniel Harding (Swedish Radio), Jukka Pekka Saraste (Oslo Philharmonic), David Robertson (St Louis Symphony), Jakub Hrůša and many orchestras across the world including Belgian National, Queensland Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Indianapolis Symphony and all of UK orchestras. Upcoming and recent orchestral appearances include Queensland Symphony with Elena Schwarz, Uppsala with Rebecca Miller, Philharmonia with Santtu-Matias Rouvali, BBC Philharmonic, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Bournemouth Symphony with Jamie Phillips, BBC National Orchestra of Wales with Jac Van Steen, and Opera North with David Greed. Recital touring includes performances across Europe, USA and Australasia for festivals and venues such as Wigmore Hall, Savannah Music Festival, Arts and Lettres, Vevey, Inons Festival (CA), Sydney International Piano Competition, Leeds International Piano Competition and his own Australian Festival of Chamber Music.
Upcoming recording releases include a new vocal arrangement of The Lark Ascending with VOCES8 commemorating Vaughan Williams’ 150th anniversary, Christopher Tin’s The Lost Birds with VOCES8, Vaughan Williams Concerto with London Choral Sinfonia, Strauss Morgen with Carolyn Sampson, and sonata arrangements by Royal Academy of Music professor Timothy Jones of William Alwyn and Doreen Carwithen’s movie scores with Daniel Grimwood. Recent recordings include Schoenberg and Brahms violin concertos with BBC Symphony Orchestra which was Concerto Choice Album of the Year for BBC Music Magazine; “Stellar Brahms and an expressive Schoenberg: Jack Liebeck responds with astonishing command, allowing the music’s expression to speak with a real degree of freedom, even fantasy” (BBC Music Magazine) alongside Ysaÿe Six Sonatas both on Orchid Classics “…in every track Liebeck excels in capturing the fury, poetry, madness and dazzle of Ysaÿe’s haunting music. This is an exceptional release.” (The Times 5*)
Other recordings and collaborations include the world premiere recording of Stuart Hancock’s violin concerto released on Orchid Classics, two chamber discs for Albion Records (Holst and Vaughan Williams with Mary Bevan and Vaughan Williams Folk Songs vol.1 with Nicky Spence and Mary Bevan), Braun’s From the Shtetl with London Chamber Orchestra, The Mozart Question with Michael Morpurgo and the London Philharmonic, Classic FM’s, The Glorious Garden (poetry by Alan Titchmarsh, narrated by Alan with music by Debbie Wiseman), a collaboration with Alexis Ffrench on his new release ‘Truth’, a project with Opera North, and as BBC Music Magazine’s cover disc in celebration of Paganini, The Virtuoso Violin. He can also be heard in the soundtracks of The Theory of Everything, Jane Eyre and Anna Karenina.
As the first Émile Sauret Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music he works as an ambassador helping to recruit future talent both at home and internationally as well as nurturing the next generation of violinists in his class. Jack has a developing relationship with digital teaching app NomadPlay, a unique opportunity for individuals to play alongside renowned musicians and orchestras. He has written and curated pieces for Strad Magazine, guest edited Classical Music Magazine, and presented BBC Radio 3’s Inside Music. Jack is also a member of the Salieca Piano Trio and directs his own ensemble of regular collaborators, ‘Jack Liebeck and Friends’.
Jack plays the ‘Ex-Wilhelmj’ J.B. Guadagnini dated 1785 and is generously loaned a Joseph Henry bow by Kathron Sturrock in the memory of her late husband Professor David Bennett.