(Capital of Australia Mandolinata Inc.) was formed late in 2005 and incorporated on 10 May 2006. We welcome players of plucked stringed instruments (mandolin and guitar families, double bass and associated instruments) to join with us and enjoy the playing of the wide range of repertoire available to ensembles like ours.

We rehearse weekly at 7.30pm - 9.45pm on Thursdays in the Performing Arts Building, Marist College Canberra, Marr St, Pearce, ACT.

If you are interested in attending, please phone 0421 043 082 for more information.

Email: secretary@cozmo.org.au

is a member of FAME (Federation of Australasian Mandolin Ensembles) and a member of FAA (Folk Alliance of Australia)

 

 

 

at the Italo Australian Club Concert with CAPS

 

 

(1) To promote community involvement in the formation and ongoing development of the Capital of Australia Mandolinata (COZMO), an orchestra of plucked stringed instruments, including by:

(a) producing and publicising a list of the orchestra’s coming events in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and region;

(b) organising visits by like groups, orchestras and individuals from interstate and overseas;

(c) organising workshops;

(d) helping coordinate teachers of mandolin and related instruments in the ACT and region, and assist those teaching in whatever way possible;

(2) To encourage the orchestra to achieve the highest musical standards possible;

(3) To promote and facilitate, within the orchestra, the training of its players and conductor;

(4) To encourage the composition and arrangement of music for mandolin orchestra; and

(5) To be a registered orchestra with the Federation of Australasian Mandolin Ensembles (FAME) and to represent the interests of individual members of the association who are registered with FAME.

 

 

 

 

Latest News

will be featured in the National Multicultural Festival, Saturday 6 February, 2010. The festival is a celebration of the different cultures that are part of our country. We will perform from 9.40pm to 10.pm at the Akuna Stage in Civic, near Akuna House.

will play at the Albert Hall birthday celebrations on Wednesday March 10, 2010, from 6.00pm to 6.30pm. Expect to hear some mandolin favourites!

has been invited to play in the National Folk Festival Easter 2010, quite a prestigious coup for us. We are one group of 200 out of 900-odd applicants accepted to perform in this Festival, so our efforts over the next couple of months will be concentrated on this major set of two or three performances.

Past News

CONCERT

Australian Composed and Arranged Music

Saturday 28 November 2009 - Wesley Music Centre presented a great program of mandolin ensemble compositions and arrangements
by Australian composers including Richard Charlton and Russell Reinhardt and Canberra premieres of works by Robert Schulz and Rob Kay and the Australian premiere of “Though I travel far... I do not forget" by acclaimed Australian composer Betty Beath.

The concert was well attended, and the Wesley Centre is a great venue for our ensemble - good acoustics, and well appointed for both audience and performers.played well, through presenting a mainly new and challenging repertoire, and the audience was both pleased and surprised with the diversity of music that we presented and all appreciated the level of musicianship needed to present such a program.

at Government House Sunday 27 September 1.40pm

This was a performance to support the Australiana Fund. Despite inclement weather, many Canberrans turned out to view the residence, and most paused, listened and were most appreciative of our musical offerings.

(1.40 - 3.00pm) and jazz duo Bernau & Lambert (12.30 - 1.20pm). We had a great gig. Relaxed, many people enjoyed what we presented, and most importantly, picked up business cards! :)

 

hosted Keith Harris Workshops

Keith Harris is an internationally recognised mandolinist and mandolin orchestra conductor, arranger and leader.

Keith arrived in Canberra on Friday evening July 17. After settling in at the home of Volodya and Evgenia Savitsky, Keith started the weekend with a curry dinner at the home of COZMO President Col Bernau, where we discussed things musical till late in the evening. It also gave Keith and Volodya the chance to reminisce, as they used to play together in the Sydney Domra Ensemble some 40 years ago.

Saturday brought the workshops, attended by players of plucked stringed instruments (mandolins, guitars, domras, bandurrias and basses) – one in the morning, one in the afternoon. A group of around 15 attended – nine from COZMO, two from the Canberra Mandolin Orchestra, two bandurria players from the Filipino Rondanihan ensemble and well-known Canberra-based (and internationally recognised) luthier and author, Graham McDonald.

Keith concentrated on two basic essentials in the workshops – tuning and time. First, by going around the ensemble (most of us having tuned with electronic tuners), he demonstrated fairly easily by comparison between instruments that we need to actually listen more, rather than rely on gauges – much of our tuning was inaccurate.

Then we worked on time. Through a variety of exercises, Keith showed us the level of concentration and focus to required to be exactly in time with each other. Again, it was something of an eye-opener for each of us.

After a lunch of Turkish and Lebanese foods, Keith brought us back to the idea of time and it was immediately obvious that the previous session had brought improvements to us all. A period spent on tone production and proper and efficient use of the plectrum (fingers for guitarists) brought the afternoon to a close.

The Sunday was reserved for private lessons with Keith, six of us taking part. I for one found it useful, Keith again bringing out the importance of the use of the plectrum to achieving the best tone.

A visit to a Vietnamese restaurant for a farewell dinner for Keith and more discussion finished the weekend off. All in all, a worthwhile and rewarding experience!

 

 

reCAPped TOGETHER IN CONCERT AGAIN!

3 May 2009

What a great concert! The Tuggeranong Arts Centre Theatre is a wonderful venue, lovely tiered seating so all of the audience have a good view, and great acoustics.

Our audience was almost overwhelmingly enthusiastic - I'm sure they'll all be back next time, judging by the requests for encores.

The Vivaldi Concerto for Two Mandolins was a new highlight, featuring Col and Josh. Di and Mary played a pair of Bill Monroe bluegrass tunes, further demonstrating the diversity of talents that we have in the ensemble.

Thanks again to all of those who volunteered their services to help this event go ahead as well as it did.. :)

hopes to have a continuing association with with CAPS - the combination of mandolins and accordions just works so well! :)

in Concert with CAPS in hand!

1 December 2008

Whew!! Well, we got to the Italo-Australian Club on November 30 and played two 50 to 60 minute sets to an enthusiastic audience who demanded an encore at the end. The concert featured our 19 year old soloist and multi-instumentalist Josh Denyer playing the Prelude of Bach's Cello Suite Nr 1 to a totally silent (spellbound) auditorium, solos from Australian National Accordion Champion Anton Wurzer playing his own stunning compositions, and a jazz duo featuring Anton (accordion) and COZMO leader Col Bernau on guitar. COZMO played a variety of pieces including Rob Kay's Requiem for a Stolen Instrument to Handel's Suite No. 4 in D minor, and combined with CAPS (Canberra Accordion Players) to play a variety of pieces from Italy, Germany and Russia. The stirring and dramatic pieces of Russische Impressionen and Juliska aus Budapest as the finale brought the audience to their feet! It was gratifying that not only music lovers but also professional musicians in the audience commented later on the outstanding quality of the performance. The acoustics of the Damiano Hall were very good and we hope to organise more concerts there in the future.

Our very grateful thanks to our band of efficient and smiling volunteer helpers on the door and selling refreshments at the concert: Sharon Casey and Nick Green (COZMOnauts), Yevgenia Savitsky (COZMOnaut Volodya's wife), Kate Firkins (COZMOnaut Mary's daughter), Chris and Peter Green (COZMOnaut Nick's parents), Erika Cleaver and Juanita Cucinotta (from CAPS), Steve MacDonald (from the Jim Stubbs Backing Band) and Lainey Balsdon (from the Mothers of Intention).

Proceeds from the concert will help COZMO's student and pensioner players attend the next FAME festival in Brisbane.

Now to plan for the next one..........:)

Amity at Tumut

After our Italian Cultural Centre performance, Nick Green, one of our bass players, asked if we would perform at Amity at Tumut, a nursing home in Tumut where his ailing grandfather was residing. On July 12th we overcame the logistics of getting a dozen musicians to travel two and a half hours to a gig and arrive at the same time, arriving in Tumut (via Maccas), in time to set up and briefly chat with the residents before playing. Knowing we had an elderly audience, we’d prepared a repertoire of tangos and other pieces popular in the 1940s and 50s, a Planxty O’Carolan concerto (7 movements of Irish pieces) and a new collection of favourite Italian pieces. It went down a storm, with clapping and humming accompanied several of the tunes! It took us an hour or more to extricate ourselves from enquiries and lively conversation over cuppas and Amity’s freshly baked scones before we could pack up and leave. An open offer is there now for us to return. It all made a good day out.

with Milena Cifali at the Italian Cultural Centre

On Sunday 30 March joined Milena Cifali in her Classical Guitar Recital at the Italian Cultural Centre in Forrest, where she performed works from her new CD Continuum as well as new original works. The recital featured performances by combinations of guitar, mandolin, didgeridoo and flute, and the COZMO ensemble. Fifty per cent of proceeds were donated equally to the Italian Cultural Centre and the newly-formed Canberra Classical Guitar Association. By the way, Milena has recently been nominated for an Aria award – congratulations!

Albert Hall Canberra Day Event

Amity at Tumut, on March 10th for the 80th anniversary of the Hall on Canberra Day, in aid of saving the Hall from commercial developers. The Albert Hall Canberra Day Event Organiser was delighted with our presence and performance and commented that the sound of our mandolin ensemble was delightful, perfect, beautiful and other glowing adjectives (she loved us!!).This was a particularly significant function, in that the Albert Hall is struggling not to be destroyed by developers. We played for breakfast and brunch patrons on the terrace of Albert Hall from around 8am to10am, before the formal part of the day began. COZMO invited Milena Cifali, a highly-regarded Canberra-based classical guitarist (recently nominated for an Aria award – congratulations!) to join us for this performance. Milena graciously agreed and bolstered our guitar section on the day, sight-reading the whole set (thanks, Mili!). It was a most successful performance, with many audience members personally expressing their appreciation. Our set was followed by speeches to do with the 80th birthday and in support of the Friends of the Albert Hall movement. A most interesting pastiche of song, drama and poetry was presented by Canberra Girls’ Grammar students depicting events of local and national importance in the life of the Albert Hall and its role in the National Capital’s growth.

Music at the Creek Festival

Friday 16 – Sunday 18 November 2007. has been accepted to perform at The Creek! We’ll be playing on Sunday 18 November, late morning (exact time still to be advised). All performers will be given a weekend ticket (the Early Bird price is $55 this year) which includes camping. This is a really great local festival, and for people who have never been to it, it's a great opportunity to enjoy some wonderful folk, blues and world music!

Sydney International Mandolin Festival

Sunday 6 – Sunday 13 January 2008:

will be providing a generous subsidy to each full-time dependent student and pensioner COZMOnaut attending,(as far as we know, the only FAME ensemble to offer this), and FAME is also offering a generous subsidy to participating students. has inexpensive off-site accommodation organised. Members can refer to previous Notes issues for further information.

Also, check out the Festival website: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~fameweb/FAMESydney2008.htm for full details of the Festival.

Mandolins Victoria's Music Week: MV07

A joint venture of the Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra and Concordia Guitar and Mandolin Ensemble, MV07 took place in Melbourne from 8 - 14 January 2006. Two members of attended, and enjoyed the week enormously.

Sydney Balalaika Orchestra in Concert

On the weekend of 9 and 10 December 2006, we hosted the Sydney Balalaika Orchestra in Canberra for a Saturday workshop and Sunday concert. The weekend went really well, with the workshop held at Marist College on Saturday, and the concert on Sunday held at Canberra Grammar (Monaro Crescent Red Hill) in the Tim Murray Theatre.

The workshop involved members of the Sydney Balalaika Orchestra, and members of the public. Pieces played included "The Birch Tree" and "In the Village" from the repertoire of the SBO, and we contributed Russell Reinhardt's "AGREP Tango" and his arrangement of Faure's "Romance sans Paroles" (Thank you, Russell :) ). After a rewarding four hours of rehearsal and a wonderful lunch, we retired to a well-deserved dinner and hours of convivial conversation.

Sunday brought the concert, and with it, horribly hot weather. Luckily the Tim Murray Theatre is well airconditioned, and after a 90 minute setup and sound check, we welcomed an eager audience who enjoyed an amazing concert from the SBO. Members of and those who attended the workshop were fortunate enough to be invited to play on the two pieces that we'd workshopped the previous day.

The SBO is a Sydney-based not-for-profit orchestra, established in 1966 to play and promote traditional Russian folk music. This internationally-acclaimed orchestra and has toured on numerous occasions to China, the birthplace of its outstandingly talented Musical Director Victor Serghie and one of its founding members Vladimir (Volodya) Savitsky. The SBO has also toured Russia - most recently in July 2005 to both China and Russia - where they were such a huge success that they have been invited back in 2007! The orchestra is now busy holding concerts in Australia to fund their return.

Volodya plays a Kazakhstani 4-string bass dombra and a Russian 3-string prima domra, amongst other instruments. He moved to Canberra a few years ago with his family but had not found a new orchestra to play with until he found last weekend. He has honoured its members by agreeing to join its ranks. Welcome, Volodya!

All the members of the SBO are superb musicians, as no doubt all in the audience last Sunday would agree. Of special interest are its youngest members, all of whom have been playing their instruments for a number of years - 17 year old Nikolai and 23-year old Melitsa, who both play the bayan (a kind of button accordion, which weigh 18 kgs each!), 17 year old multi-instrument percussionist Sonya, and 19 year old Robin who plays the prima domra. The SBO also has a virtuoso cymbalom player, Lucy Voronov, whose extraordinary skills have to be seen to be believed! Sonia Cece sings the SBO's repertoire of Russian folk songs with moving passion and lyrical skill, complementing and completing the rich and complex sounds of this brilliant group.

 

 

 

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Last updated 6 October 2007

Copyright © 2006 Col Bernau