laments & lullabies

HEATHER LLOYD, VIOLA | MICHAEL BURDEN, COUNTERTENOR | EDWINA CORDINGLEY, CELLO | HANNAH LANE, HARP

THURSDAY 21 AUGUST 2025 8PM
TICKETS $45 | CONCESSION $35

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Laments & Lullabies brings four celebrated Australian musicians together in a unique combination: viola, countertenor, cello and Baroque harp.  A beautiful program of Renaissance and Baroque music including Morley, Purcell, Dowland, Handel, Telemann, Monteverdi, Strozzi and Corelli. This lush sound-world will pull at your heartstrings.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Heather Lloyd is a versatile and highly sought-after violist, performing on both baroque and modern violas. Following a decade of study at the Sydney Conservatorium, Elder Conservatorium and Australian National Academy of Music, Heather gained her first tutti contract in the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, in 2006. During this time she founded a string quartet and a string chamber orchestra: Adelaide Chamber Players. Heather remained the orchestra's artistic director for multiple festival performances with guest international soloists such as German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt and celebrated Australian violinist Sophie Rowell.

Heather currently performs regularly with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Orchestra Victoria, and Sydney Lyric Orchestra. Variety is the spice of life is her motto!

An accomplished early music specialist, and contemporary chamber music enthusiast, Heather has performed extensively with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Ironwood ensemble, Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera and Bach Akademie Australia as well as Sydney Chamber Opera and Halcyon Ensemble. Heather can be heard playing viola on albums with singer-songwriters Jack Carty, Katie Noonan and the late Dr. Gurrumul Yunupingu. 

Michael Burden is a Sydney-based countertenor who enjoys a varied career of operatic and concert and choral repertoire. Recent career highlights include performing as Nireno in Julius Caesar with Pinchgut Opera, and Rosencrantz (cover) in Hamlet with Opera Australia. A seasoned concert performer, Michael’s solo concert credits include Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus with Adelaide Baroque; Gloria with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and the Vivaldi Vespers (Stabat Mater, Magnificat & Beatus Vir) with Brisbane Chamber Choir . Handel’s Dixit Dominus with Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Messiah, Nisi Dominus, Didymus (Theodora) and Joad in (Athalia.) Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Royal Melbourne Philharmonic and Magnificat; Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, J.S. Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion with Fiori Musicali Armidale; and numerous Bach cantatas.

He has worked throughout Australia with ensembles including Pinchgut Opera, Opera Australia, Bach Akademie, Adelaide Baroque, and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra; and with conductors including Tim Anderson, Tahu Matheson, Erin Helyard, Madeleine Easton, and Paul Dyer AO. 
www.michaelburden.com.au

Edwina Cordingley had the privilege of studying cello with Howard Penny on a full scholarship at the Australian National Academy of Music. With a brief interlude to trek around South America for six months, Edwina then moved to the United Kingdom to further her studies and perform. She studied Baroque cello in Edinburgh with David Watkin before moving down to London when she was awarded an apprenticeship with Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Edwina went on to tour Europe with John Eliot in his ensembles, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique and to perform and tour Europe as Principal Cello for The Gabrieli Consort and Players. Back in Australia she enjoys performing with many historically informed ensembles such as Genesis Baroque, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Australian Baroque, Australian Haydn Ensemble, Accademia Arcadia and The Coomoora Ensemble to name a few.

Hannah Lane is the leading Australian exponent of the Baroque harp. She studied in Milan, Italy with renowned historical harpist Mara Galassi. As a soloist and continuo player, Hannah performs with diverse ensembles throughout Australia and Europe. She is Principal Harpist for the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Pinchgut Opera and has appeared at international festivals such as the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi,  Urbino Musica Antica and Adelaide Festival. She is a recording artist for ABC Classics, Obsidian Records, Brilliant Classics, Van Diemen’s Band (VDB) and Pinchgut Live. Hannah is the artistic director of Ensemble 642, which is devoted to the art of basso continuo and music for early plucked strings. The ensemble made their international debut in 2024 in Italy at the iconic Urbino Musica Antica Festival. A dedicated and inspiring music educator, Hannah has presented masterclasses at the music conservatoriums of Melbourne and Sydney. Her research has been published in key musicological journals ‘Early Music’ and ‘Eighteenth-Century Music’.
www.instagram.com/hmslane