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. |
Committee
Members