ABOUT THE MUSIC

Lisa Illean

février

Dario Scalabrini | Clarinet

Katherine Philp | Cello

Alex Raineri | Piano

A winter piece, introspective, exploring the resonance of sounds and their recollection. While writing février I tried to remove obvious signs of musical expression, allowing nuances of the sounds space to be heard. I ask the cellist and clarinetist to play subtle, unusual tunings: to my imagination these are like cracks of muted light between the suspended piano chords.

Program Note © Lisa Illean

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Judith Ring

fine feathers far below the blue floor 

Australian Premiere Performance

Dario Scalabrini | Clarinet

Nicole Greentree | Viola

Alex Raineri | Piano

fine feathers far below the blue floor was originally commissioned and performed in Ireland by Concorde ensemble with guest violist Garth Knox, Jane O’Leary on piano and Paul Roe on clarinet. I am delighted to have this piece performed in Brisbane by Alex Raineri, Dario Scalabrini and Nicole Greentree.

It is an electro-acoustic piece and the fixed electronic part is comprised of sampled recordings of the viola. These were layered together to thicken the texture at various key moments. The piece reflects the image of fine feathers being blown through the wind, sometimes calm and often chaotic in their trajectory.

Program Note © Judith Ring

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Rafael Karlen

Reconstructed Definitions

World Premiere Performance

Dario Scalabrini | Clarinet

Katherine Philp | Cello

Alex Raineri | Piano

This piece explores the question: how can we navigate and negotiate the competing and conflicting versions of events that are presented through the media and social media channels? We can easily get stuck in the echo chambers of Social Media before shopping around until we find a media/news outlet that supports this version. Additionally, the devastating conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, and Israel/Palestine, to name a few, are immensely complicated. Reconstructed Definitions was written to explore thoughts on what paths are helpful to find a balance between caring, understanding, acting/engaging, while avoiding the paralysis of despair and burning up along the way.

Program Note © Rafael Karlen

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Mary Finsterer

Angelus

Dario Scalabrini | Clarinet

Katherine Philp | Cello

Alex Raineri | Piano

Inspired by a Jean François Millet painting that portrays a simple peasant couple with their heads bowed in prayer, Angelus pays homage to this humble reverential image. Revolving around a ground pattern, the music weaves clarinet lines in and out of a piano/cello ostinato that references Gregorian chant. In this music these is a gorgeous sense of catharsis through its constant resonant bed of sound. No one instrument is more important than another.

Program Note © Alex Raineri

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Brisbane-born clarinettist Dario Scalabrini is a passionate young musician who is quickly establishing himself in the Australian classical music scene. He has performed with eminent arts groups including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Opera Queensland, Ensemble Q, Southern Cross Soloists and Brisbane Music Festival. 

Dario graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University with distinction under the tutelage of renowned pedagogue A/Prof Paul Dean. During his studies, Dario was the recipient of the Brisbane Club Award’s Jim Massie Memorial Prize and the Rotary Club of Brisbane Encouragement Award. As a Young Artist with the Southern Cross Soloists and Brisbane Music Festival, Dario performed at Queensland’s leading concert venues including the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and the Judith Wright Centre. In 2021, Dario received a scholarship to study with Francesco Celata (SSO) before commencing in 2022 at the Australian National Academy of Music under the tutelage of MSO Principal Clarinet, David Thomas 

When he’s not practising the clarinet, Dario loves making pizza, drinking specialty coffee, and supporting his team, West Ham United. 

Sydney-born Nicole Greentree was appointed tutti violist of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 2018. Nicole completed her Bachelor of Music Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Roger Benedict and in Freiburg, Germany with Wolfram Christ. On returning to Australia, Nicole was a Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellow in 2013; returning to Germany to complete a Masters degree in Stuttgart, graduating in 2016. Nicole has performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as well as the West Australian, Canberra, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. In Germany she performed with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and the Staatsorchester Stuttgart. A passionate chamber musician, Nicole has performed in the Kultur am Nachmittag Series in Stuttgart, the Pini-Hazelwood and Friends series and the Apollo Quartet concert series in Sydney, and frequently performs with the Southern Cross Soloists and Queensland Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players in Brisbane.

Cellist Katherine Philp’s work ranges from the classics, to cutting edge contemporary art music, as well as improvisation, arranging and composing. She is particularly interested in projects that engage in respectful intercultural collaboration, and actively supports the generation of new works by women and non-binary composers. She regularly appears in ensembles and as a soloist at many Australian festivals including the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Tyalgum Festival, Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, and the Woodford Folk Festival. Katherine’s performances and arrangements have been broadcast live and recorded for ABC Classic FM and ABC Radio National. She is currently the principal cellist of Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, and maintains a busy and eclectic freelance career. 

In 2009 Katherine undertook an Asialink residency (supported by Arts Queensland and Australia Council) at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India, where she studied Tibetan classical and folk music. This formative experience has led to 15 years of close collaboration with Tibetan Singer and Instrumentalist Tenzin Choegyal on a series of projects including performances at the Woodford Folk Festival, the Sydney Opera House, Tyalgum Festival, the annual Festival of Tibet at the Brisbane Powerhouse, and recordings for ABC Radio National. 

More recently, Katherine has become increasingly acknowledged for her performance of new and experimental music, and has undertaken study with Rohan de Saram and Lucas Fels (of Arditti String Quartet). Recent new music highlights include performances with Melbourne-based Rubiks Collective, performing in a portrait concert of Liza Lim’s works with Arcko Ensemble, While You Sleep (a collaboration between composer Kate Neal and artist/animator Sal Cooper), creating improvised solo cello film scores for film-makers Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Jordan Giusti, and recording with the Australian Art Orchestra. 

Katherine has performed and studied in India, the UK, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, taken part in the Impuls Academy and the International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt, and recently received an award for Best Performer, playing Berio’s Sequenza XIV at the San Marino New Music Project. 

Hailed as a “born communicator” (The Australian), a “brilliant young musician” (Otago Times), and a “soloist of superb virtuosic skill and musicality” (Limelight), Alex Raineri (b. 1993) is active Internationally and throughout Australia as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, writer, producer and educator. He is based in Brisbane, Australia.

International performances include tours throughout America, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Southeast Asia and New Zealand. Within Australia, Alex has appeared as a feature artist in many major festivals and venues. As a concerto soloist he has appeared with the Queensland, Tasmanian, Darwin and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria, Ensemble Q, Southern Cross Soloists, Four Winds Festival Orchestra, Bangalow Festival Orchestra, Queensland Youth Symphony and the Queensland Pops Orchestra. He has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio NZ, California Capital Public Radio, ABC Classic FM and all of the Australian MBS Networks. 

Alex is the Artistic Director of the annual Brisbane Music Festival. He is a passionate exponent and commissioner of contemporary music, having given 127 World Premieres + 163 Australian Premieres to date. He has commissioned over 70 works.

Notable collaborations include Andreas Ottensamer, Twoset Violin, eighth blackbird, ELISION, Asko|Schönberg, Lior, Sara Macliver, Mirusia, Natalie Clein, Natsuko Yoshimoto, Karin Schaupp, Greta Bradman, Amy Lehpamer, Li Wei Qin, Claire Edwardes, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Jack Liebeck, Kathryn Stott, Slava Grigoryan, Brett Dean, William Barton, Ensemble Offspring, Orava Quartet, and many others.

Major awards include the Kerikeri International Piano Competition and Australian National Piano Award. He was the recipient of the Queensland Luminary Award in the 2021 APRA/AMCOS Art Music Awards and received a Kranichsteiner Musikpries at the International Summer Courses for New Music (Darmstadt, Germany). Alex Raineri is a 2023 recipient of a prestigious Churchill Fellowship. 

Additionally to a full-time performative profile, Alex is a radio-presenter on 4MBS Classic FM, a reviewer for The Music Trust’s ‘Loudmouth’, and holds associate artist positions at both the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University + University of Queensland. 

Rafael Karlen is an award-winning composer, saxophonist, and arranger. He has continued to build a reputation as one of the more creative, exciting and surprising musicians on the Australian music scene. His music has been performed by small jazz groups, rock and pop ensembles, big bands through to chamber orchestras and string quartets. He has performed throughout Australia and New Zealand, and in Canada, Cambodia, England, Scotland and Sweden.

Awards and recognition include an ARIA Nomination, a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship, Composer-in-Residence in the Peggy Glanville-Hicks House, an ABC Jazz Commission, APRA Professional Development Award in Jazz, finalist in the Australian Jazz Bell Awards, nominations for the Freedman Fellowship from the Music Council of Australia, and an Australian Art Music Award for Excellence in Jazz with the Berardi/Foran/Karlen Trio.

Rafael’s music has been performed by musicians and ensembles including The Queensland Symphony Orchestra, The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, Jo Lawry, Megan Washington, Andrea Keller, Kristin Berardi, The Australian Voices, Camerata-Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, Trichotomy and Expressions Dance Company, Julian Arguelles (U.K), and Pascal Schumacher (Lux.). In addition to leading his own groups, Rafael has performed with Soul, Jazz, Pop, Folk and Classical artists including Renee Geyer, Archie Roach, Ed Kuepper, Paul Mac, James Morrison, Tenzin Choegyal, Katie Noonan, and Zac Brown (USA).

Rafael is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and from the University of York in England after receiving the Lord Mayor’s Fellowship for Young and Emerging Artists. He is a current PhD Candidate at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SUPPORT

Dario Scalabrini’s appearance in the 2023 festival is supported by Alan Wilson + Trevor McCosker.

Katherine Philp’s appearance in the 2023 festival is supported by Jocelyn + Bruce Wolfe.

Brisbane Music Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

Brisbane Music Festival is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.

Brisbane Music Festival receives funds from Creative Partnership Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.
With thanks to the many generous individuals that have support the 2023 Brisbane Music Festival.

BMF TEAM

Max Shearer | Front of House, Operations Assistant.
Jai Farrell | Audio Engineer and Videographer.

Special thanks to Michele Raineri and Lynne Cannell for incredible volunteer work.