A portrait of a man with glasses in a dark shirt and coat standing in front of a stone building on a sunny day.

Isles of Light

  • Classical Music
  • Australian Chamber Orchestra
  • Concert Hall
  • Run time: 120 minutes, including interval Subject to change
  • Seating map

A genre-defying voyage from the pastoral majesty of Vaughan Williams to the experimental universe of Kate Bush, directed by British virtuoso Lawrence Power

The British Isles boast a magnificent anthology of music grounded in lush, poetic landscapes and thriving cities. This concert will transport you there. British violin and viola virtuoso Lawrence Power makes his Australian Chamber Orchestra debut directing music from Thomas Tallis’ evocative theme - made famous by Vaughan Williams - to the genre-defying exuberance of Kate Bush. 

Vaughan Williams’ sublime Fantasia is a pinnacle of the English music tradition that has inspired countless musicians. Herbert Howells heard its premiere and left the cathedral to wander awestruck through the streets of Gloucester, staying up all night with excitement before writing his Elegy, an answer to Vaughan Williams, and a prayer of thanksgiving for musical imagination. 

Power is a brilliant violist who is equally at home on the violin. Effortlessly switching between the two instruments in the one performance, he is a thrilling and imaginative artist. Power will perform the world premiere of a new viola concerto written for him by his friend Garth Knox, inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and English folk music. 

Opening with a mixtape of English music beginning with Baroque master Henry Purcell, the concert culminates in Elizabeth Maconchy’s Symphony for Double String Orchestra. A lifelong friend of Vaughan Williams, she is considered one of the great 20th-century British composers. Brought to life by an expanded Australian Chamber Orchestra, the symphony will bring this odyssey to a thrilling close.

Presented by the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Event details

Program

Various 
An English Mixtape, from Henry Purcell to Kate Bush

Garth Knox 
Viola Concerto* (World Premiere) 

Vaughan Williams 
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis 

Herbert Howells 
Elegy, Op.15

Elizabeth Maconchy 
Symphony for Double String Orchestra

*Commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Camerata Bern supported by Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Artists

Lawrence Power 
Director, Violin & Viola 

Australian Chamber Orchestra

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Attending this event

Plan your visit

Address

Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Getting to the venue

The Opera House is a 7-10 minute walk from Circular Quay, and is easily accessible by car, train, ferry, lightrail, bus, bike and on foot.

Location and access

Concert Hall

The Concert Hall is located beneath the largest of Sydney Opera House’s roof sails, filling the upper levels of the west side of the building. Best accessed through the covered concourse. 

All Sydney Opera House foyers are accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators).

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