September 13th, 2024Magic musical performance  

Prepare to be swept away by the magic of the viola da gamba  at Christ Church, Daylesford, on Saturday, September 21 from  2.30pm.

Consortium – Laura Vaughan, Laura Moore, Reidun Turner, Ruth Wilkinson and Victoria Watts – is a band of Australia’s finest viola da gamba players to explore the rich repertoire for viol consort.  

The viola da gamba is often just called the ‘viol’. When different sizes of viols are grouped together it’s called a consort, and this is where the name Consortium comes from.  

Having all met at different times through the Early Music Studio at the University of Melbourne, the musicians share a love of the viol and the  beauty and crystalline purity of the traditional repertoire for viol consort.  

The 2024 program Highs and Lows will highlight the rarely heard voice of the double bass viol, the violone.

The extensive spectrum of the viola  da gamba consort – from the ethereal whispers of the treble to the rich,  resonant hum of the bass, and the profound depths of the violone – are  enticing.  

Ensembles of a family of instruments, such as the viola da gamba,  playing contrapuntal lines of polyphonic music with no real hierarchy,  extended from shortly before the middle of the 16th century until nearly the  end of the 17th century.

This would become known by the name still used  today – consort music.  

The performance will present Renaissance gems by William Byrd,  Thomas Lupo, Tobias Hume, John Dowland, Martin Pearson, Mr Pickforth,  Thomas Weelkes, Christopher Tye, Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell.  

Viol Juice, composed by Sydney based composer and performer Alice Chance, will be a highlight of this performance.  

Link: www.trybooking.com/eventlist/christchurchconcerts