SUNDAY MATTUTINO
Our Sunday Mattutino series takes place on the third Sunday of every month at 11am.
Tickets are $25 each, and released a month before. It is a single sitting of performance, until about 12 midday. The series is curated by us and tickets include a glass of sherry, dry or sweet, after the concert. Or an orange juice. Plus something to nibble.
NEXT MATTUTINO:
SUNDAY 15TH FEBRUARY 11AM
ISABEL HEDE, GEMMA KNEALE, GEORGINA LEWIS
PROGRAM
David LANG wed (1992)
Stuart GREENBAUM 800 million heartbeats (2007)
Clara SCHUMANN Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 (1846)
i. Allegro moderato
ii. Scherzo. Tempo di minuetto - Trio
iii. Andante
iv. Allegretto
Gabriel FAURÉ Après un Rêve, Op. 7 No. 1 (arr. A. Eguchi) (1877)
ABOUT THE WORKS
"The work is clear, something rarely seen; it demonstrates a calm mastery of the formal artistic medium that we would not have expected of a woman composer."
-Neue Berliner Musikzeitung
This program's centrepiece is the ferocious and intensely romantic Piano Trio of Clara Schumann, regarded by many as her most mature work. Clara wrote the work in 1846, at the age of 25, after giving birth to her fourth child. The work was intended to be dedicated to her friend and fellow composer Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, but due to Fanny’s death before its completion, the work has no dedication.
New York-based David Lang's short work, wed, comes from a larger body of work called 'memory pieces'. Its independent lines are made of small changes which, put together, allow the music to rock oddly back and forth between major and minor, between consonance and dissonance, between hope and despair. From closer to home, Melburnian Stuart Greenbaum's 800 million heartbeats grapples with its namesake figure, though nominal, which is said to dictate a creature's lifespan. The number, he says, acts as "a heightened metaphor for life, measured in heartbeats, and the journey that fill its course". The program closes with an arrangement of the sumptuous art-song Après un Rêve (After a Dream) by the French master of lyricism, Gabriel Fauré.
ABOUT THE PERFOMERS
ISABEL HEDE, VIOLIN
Violinist and violist Isabel Hede has enjoyed a vibrant freelance career for over ten years. After completing her studies at the Victorian College of the. Arts and the Australian National Academy of Music, she has performed and educated with many artists and musicians in London, Europe and Australia. She has worked with organisations such as Opera Australia and Musica Viva and performed in numerous festivals such as Melbourne and Perth International Arts Festivals, Sydney Biennale, Metropolis New Music Festival, and the Aurora Festival in Sweden.
Isabel has a particular interest in new music, and regularly performs with the new music ensemble, Rubiks Collective. After completing an ArtsIceland Westfjörds residency in Iceland in 2018, Isabel founded Modulate Music; a collaborative organisation focussed on exploring how music can connect to audiences through combining sound, movement and meditation. In 2020 she released an album, Landscapes, which explores the body and mind and how it reflects the environment through electronic violin and viola soundscapes.
GEMMA KNEALE, CELLO
Cellist Gemma Kneale has developed a wide variety of close relationships with leading ensembles and arts organisations in Australia and internationally. She is co-founding member of Rubiks Collective and member of Inventi Ensemble and has made numerous guest appearances with Southern Cross Soloists, Solstice Trio and Dots + Loops ensembles, whilst also enjoying regular work with Orchestra Victoria, the Australian World Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2017, Gemma was a Fellow of the Australian National Academy of Music, performing in her own curated series ‘She Speaks’ celebrating the music of female composers. This culminated in the world premiere of Christine McCoobe’s “Ebb Tide”, a collaboration with accordion virtuoso James Crabb and presentation of works performed live to air for the ABC Classic FM celebration of International Women’s Day.
GEORGINA LEWIS, PIANO
Recognised for her thoughtful programming and ‘unfiltered’ musicality, pianist Georgina Lewis has gained a reputation for her sensitive performances and distinct approach to curation, which focuses on minimalism, music by women, and new Australian composition. Georgina studied with Dr. Donna Coleman at the Victorian College of the Arts, completing her Bachelor of Music Performance (Honours) in 2007. In recent years she has focused on contemporary chamber music, and has the privilege of working with some of Melbourne’s most respected musicians. In 2025 Georgina gave the premiere performance of Stuart Greenbaum's Piano Sonata No. 3, Life in Light-years, a 70-minute work written in one movement, which was written for her. The piano has taken Georgina from the Melbourne Recital Centre to fortyfivedownstairs and Alpha60 Chapter House; as well as a bluestone watertower at the Western Treatment Plant and a migrating stage in the grounds of Coolart Homestead.
If you would like to receive an email when we release each month’s details and tickets, please join our MML, Mattutino Mailing List, link below. This list is just for Mattutino. And you can opt out at any time, via the same link, that’s no drama.
Sunday Mattutino was inspired by our friend Mark Millward, who was missing Sunday Morning Concerts at Wigmore Hall in London and generously offered to help support a similar series here. He is marketing manager, sourcer and pourer of sherry, and host extraordinaire for the series. We thank him.
PAST MATTUTINOS
SUNDAY 16TH NOVEMBER 2025
MOJO - MOLLY KADARAUCH AND JOSEPHINE VAINS, CELLO DUO
Cello duets from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, by Bach, Bartók, Boccherini, Beethoven, Boismortier, Barrière and Blacher - and yes, in case you were noticing a theme, this program exclusively features the music of composers whose name starts with a B.
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SUNDAY 19TH OCTOBER 2025
FIONA SARGEANT AND LEIGH HARROLD
Elegies by Britten and Stravinsky and a capriccio by Vieuxtemps for solo viola, followed by Hindemith's formidable Der Schwanendreher for viola and piano.
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SUNDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER 2025
ANDREA KELLER, PIANO
A selection of old and new original compositions and improvisations performed on piano by one of Australia’s most original and influential voices in improvised jazz and art music.
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SUNDAY 17TH AUGUST 2025
TRISTAN LEE, PIANO
Préludes by Claude Debussy and works by Franz Liszt, including his Deux Légendes.
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SUNDAY 20 JULY 2025
MELBOURNE GUITAR QUARTET
Australian and American works showcasing the vibrant guitar family, performed by Dan McKay, Sophie Marcheff, Benjamin Dix and Rose Gonzalez
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SUNDAY 15TH JUNE 2025
RIO XIANG AND CEDAR NEWMAN, PIANO AND VIOLIN
’Echoes of Us’ - Sonatas for Piano and Violin by Beethoven and Franck.
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SUNDAY 18TH MAY 2025
TIMOTHY YOUNG, PIANO
A program pairing two towering masterpieces of the piano repertoire: Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor and Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. Though composed nearly a century apart, both works explore the darker edges of Romantic imagination.
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SUNDAY 16TH MARCH 2025
JOSEPHINE VAINS & STEWART KELLY: ‘A MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL ARRANGEMENT’
A cello and piano recital showcasing the way composers quote / steal / borrow and pay homage to other composer's works, a paradigm that was common in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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SUNDAY 16TH FEBRUARY 2025
WILLIAM SCHMIDT, PIANO
A program of works inspired by art song, opera, and folk song, including William’s own pianistic arrangements and paraphrases alongside those of Liszt, Balakirev and Beryl Rubinstein.
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SUNDAY 19TH JANUARY 2025
ENSEMBLE 642, BAROQUE HARP + LUTE
A serene exploration of music for reflection and meditation. Timeless works by Bach, Buxtehude and Kapsperger in dialogue with contemporary compositions by Kate Moore, John Cage and Mamoru Fujieda. A program of contemplation and sonic renewal.
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SUNDAY 15TH DECEMBER 2024
LAURENCE MATHESON, PIANO
A celebration of Romantic piano music, featuring Chopin’s Fantaisie in F minor and a selection Grandes Valses Brillantes, an expressive Lied by Fanny Mendelssohn, Brahms’ beloved Intermezzo in A major, and Schumann’s Kinderszenen.
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SUNDAY 17TH NOVEMBER 2024
SOPHIA KIRSANOVA, VIOLIN
A solo violin program showcasing the violin’s expressive voice and technical brilliance across the centuries. Works by Eugene Ysaÿe, Lera Auerbach and J. S. Bach.
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SUNDAY 20TH OCTOBER 2024
JENNY KHAFAGI, VIOLIN + VIOLA
A reflective program of solo works for both violin and viola, including pieces by J.S Bach, Max Reger, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Lachlan Skipworth.
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SUNDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2024
KATIA MESTROVIC, HARP
An uplifting morning of dance rhythms on the harp, from North Africa to Moorish Andalusia; Cuba, Río de la Plata and more.
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SUNDAY 18TH AUGUST 2024
JOSH HOOKE, PIANO
Solo piano music of Rachmaninoff, Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven.
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SUNDAY 21ST JULY 2024
DANIEL MCKAY, GUITAR
Solo classical guitar music of Paraguay’s Agustín Barrios, the legendary Brazilian master ‘Garoto’, and Mexico’s Manuel Ponce. Plus excerpts from Daniel’s recent album featuring music of Australia’s own Phillip Houghton, Nigel Westlake and Lilijana Matičevska.
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SUNDAY 16TH JUNE 2024
MODI DENG, PIANO
Music with light and the darkest of the dark – pieces that leave you wondering, with early Beethoven, Ligeti, Clara Schumann, Chopin, and Ravel’s La Valse.
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SUNDAY 16TH MAY 2024
ZOË BLACK, VIOLIN & JOE CHINDAMO, PIANO
Exhilarating and contemplative music for violin and piano, from Spain, France and Argentina. Including some of Joe’s own compositions, including a touching tribute to Zoë’s mum, who passed away 2 years ago.
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SUNDAY 21ST APRIL 2024
JOSEPHINE VAINS, CELLO & KEN MURRAY, GUITAR
Invigorating and whimsical music of Cuban guitar virtuoso Leo Brouwer and Australian composer Anne Cawrse. Alongside Welsh folk songs by Welsh composer Stephen Goss and some of Ken Murray’s own offerings.
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SUNDAY 17TH MARCH 2024
FLAVIO VILLANI, PIANO
Rachmaninoff’s Op. 23 Preludes presented in alternation with Villani’s own improvisations, mirroring some of the gestures and ideas of the brilliant Russian composer.
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SUNDAY 17TH FEBRUARY 2024
GINTAUTE GATAVECKAITE, PIANO
A pianistic sonata odyssey, with four of the most celebrated in the piano repertoire. Sonatas by Joseph Haydn, Domenico Scarlatti and Carl Vine.
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SUNDAY 21ST JANUARY 2024
EMMA SULLIVAN, DOUBLE BASS & STEWART KELLY, PIANO
Works for double bass and piano. Music of Amy Beach and Bach, Debussy's Syrinx and La plus que lente, excerpts from Xavier Foley's The Mountain Sketches and more.
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SUNDAY 17TH DECEMBER 2023
AFFINITY QUARTET
Josephine Chung & Nicholas Waters, violins | Ruby Shirres, viola | Mee Na Lojewski, cello
Bartok’s first string quartet and Haydn’s “Emperor” quartet.
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SUNDAY 19TH NOVEMBER 2023
ELIZA SHEPHARD, FLUTE & PETER DE JAGER, PIANO
Reimagined repertoire from 19th century composers whose music is deeply ingrained with story and song, including music of Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Chaminade and Mendelssohn.
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SUNDAY 15TH OCTOBER 2023
HANNAH LANE, BAROQUE HARP
Music for harp, composed for private spaces: from the the 16th-century Italian ‘musica secreta’ tradition, to the refinement of the ‘private music’ performed in the chambers of 17th-century English royalty.
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SUNDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER 2023
ROB HAO, PIANO
Piano works inspired by musical meditation and composers interested in the reworking of pre-existing material.
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SUNDAY 19TH AUGUST 2023
BERTA BROZGUL, PIANO
Piano music of Mozart, Scriabin and Schumann.
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SUNDAY 16TH JULY 2023
COADY GREEN, PIANO
Piano music of Haydn, Chopin, Linda Kouvaras, Jane Hammond and Brahms.
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SUNDAY 18TH JUNE 2023
JOSEPHINE VAINS & FRIENDS: ‘THE SWEET SACRED’
Music of J. S. Bach, Sophia Gubaidulina and Caerwen Martin for cello ensemble and cello solo