Above: Sydney Chamber Music Institute’s founder and Artistic Director, violinist Adele Ohki.
Sydney’s music world now has a a shiny and promisng new acronym-for an exciting new music institute with a goal of mentoring exceptional, advanced school aged musicians in the important and rewarding art of chamber music performance.
This is a gap area in local mentoring, experience and training which SCMI’s -Sydney Chamber Music Institute’s Artistic Director and Founder, violinist, examiner, educator, adjudicator, chamber musican and orchestral musician Adele Ohki is passionate about filling. In the training of successful student musicians, this institute aims to extend opportunities with emphasis on solo and orchestral performance development to include a more thorough exposure to techniques needed for good chamber music playing.
The worthwhile new institute aims to achieve this by selecting local school-aged talent and provide considerable extension via a high-level exposure for students to projects, workshops, intensive programmes and concert opportunities where students will perform alongside the institute’s faculty members and experienced chamber music experts.
The Institute has started having its presence heard and felt with a website, opening up student applications and by doing what great chamber musicians do best- treating local audiences to stellar concert programmes. These have recently featured SCMI faculty members, some busy local chamber musicians and even some early successful student applicants.
SCMI is planning a launch concert at the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House on Sunday 18 October at 3pm. This concert will feature SCMI Faculty members Simon Cobcroft (cello) and Vatche Jambazian (piano). To assist the infant institute financially, a donor event is also being planned, to take place at the loved Nielsen venue in Alexandria – The Church. This donor concert event will feature music by Schubert, Rachmaninoff and Rabl
Above: SCMI Faculty member Simon Cobcroft, who will perform at the SCMI launch concert on October 18 at the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House.
The recent concert at the welcoming, excellent and inimitably music-themed Church St Studios was a superb celebration and indication of the high standard to which this institute is aspiring. This concert’s core professional chamber music performers here were a seasoned and impressive line-up: SCMI artistic director and founder Adele Ohki (violin), Opera Australia staffer and Sydney Conservatorium of Music lecturer Alexander Yau (solo and ensemble piano), former SSO principal Robert Johnson (horn), James Eccles (viola), Christopher Bennett (cello) and Elsen Price (double bass).
Programming was interesting and cleverly structured here. This concert began with a chamber work from Brahms – not a strio trio, quartet or quintet but a horn trio no less. Brahms is always a special voice to include in a concert. Robert Johnson’s experience virtuosity brought us fine lyricism and control. This work was a decent demonstration of the excellent conversations possible when quality chamber music players listen, blend and shape lines within the whole – both as a featured player at times or as a member of a smoothly blended ensemble voice. It was a thrill to have this concert start with a horn trio and not a string quartet or quintet. Our chance to dive straight into the Romantic period to encounter Brahms’ individual expressive clarity straight up was appreciated.
Above: Alexander Yau performed as a soloist and chamber musician, performing Brahms and Schubert in this concert.in this concert.
Following this, pianist Alexander Yau gifted us some exquisitely eloquent and measured late Brahms – the Romanze and Intermezzo from the six piano pieces Op 118. These are short works with the need to be clear, well shaped and unique in soundscape. All keyboard challenges faced to make these pieces great Brahmsian moments were easily conquered by Yau. I wanted the whole set of six searching Klavierstücke from this compelling solo and collaborative pianist.
After a brief interval we met one of the first auditioned participants in the Institute’s training -a violist from MLC Burwood, Juah Kim, playing a definitive work for solo viola by Henri Vieuxtemps. This choice and its delivery indicated the level of youthful virtuosity and musicianship that SCMI aims to select and further develop.
This convicingly performed piece excited the audience Juah Kim is definitely an emergeging artist with a bright future. She now has the chance to extend her solo technique, poise and artistry SCMI projects and activities will further hone the listening and interaction required of a chamber musician to add to her existing solo and orchestral prowess. For now, this deserving SCMI trainee displayed her viola virtuosity and musicianship in an expansive, well-nuanced and seamless exploration of the short, slow Capriccio “Hommage à Paganini” Op 55 (Op. 9 posthumous) in C minor, for solo viola. This well known signature work was communicated with excellent colour, contour and control. We look forward to hearing Juah after her time with SCMI doing project work and advanced mentoring. Her chamber music viola voice will no doubt be a cultured, intelligent and responsive one.
Above: SCMI faculty member, pianist Vatche Jambazian will perform at the SCMI Launch concert on October 18 at the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House.
The sprawling Piano Quintet in A major, D 667, “The Trout” brought this concert of big ensemble and solo music classics home. This was a great advertisemet for the standard and possibilities for end goals following great training in chamber music skills Adele Ohki and SCMI guest collaborators demonstrated the quality listening, interaction and realisation through ensemble agreement about interpretation.
Schubert’s inventiveness was well showcased throughout this work. His compositional skill when renovating and extending melodic material from the lied Die Forelle for the variations in movement 4 were joyously on display here. But this movement wasn’t the only one to give us excellent undulations of texture. Throughout the entire work performed, independent parts ebbed and flowed, appearing in the spotlight then seamlessly matching, meeting and passing the chamber music baton on to the next active voice .
The interpretation and balanced delivery of this loved work was engaing. We heard elegant gesturing right from the opening movement’s initial swoop. This continued through the Andante’s nicely voiced stillness, across the animated intricacies of the Scherzo and rocketing home in the finale engaged us with its variegated vitality .
Treasures of Schubert’s chamber music writing were unearthed by these expert players. I especially enjoyed hearing the double bass join in the exploarton of motives alongside the upper voices and piano with fluidity and a range of tone. Cello , viola and violin sang and collaborated with beautiful ensemble confidence, in moments such as the second movement combinations. Piano was a well placed layer, with commendable clarity once more and plenty of scintillating filigree shared with the strings as well. The SCMI’s invited players (alongside its founder playing the violin part) rose to the specialness of the early concert occasion for this new force in our musical midst.
The large-format, glossy and nicely designed programme complete with colour darting trout scene added another quality layer to SCMI’s operations for this concert. The information about each work was accessible, intelligent and enthusiastically presented in the programme notes. These details sat easily beside introductory explanations of the nature of our newest music institute. We could read and later share of its goals, activities and how students can apply. We look forward to the next concert(s) and over time hearing in our city the results of high-level training of emerging artists to the detailed, busy world of a chamber musician.
