18–19 May 2024

Concert 2 - The Blessing

Saturday 21 May 2022 at 5.00 pm

After Elgar’s autumnal and introspective Violin Sonata Op. 82, we present the highly significant world premiere of ‘The Blessing’ by Andrew Ford, with a new libretto by J.M. Coetzee, based on his celebrated novel Elizabeth Costello. Shostakovich’s cathartic viola sonata was his final work, and composed partly in memorial to Beethoven. We pair it tonight with that definitive work of ‘late style’: Beethoven’s transcendent Sonata Op. 111.

Edward Elgar
Violin Sonata in E minor Op. 82 (1918)
Andrew Haveron (violin), Anna Goldsworthy (piano)

Andrew Ford / J.M. Coetzee
‘The Blessing’ (2021–22) — World premiere / Commissioned by Coriole Music Festival
Elizabeth Campbell (mezzo-soprano), Celia Craig (oboe), Mitchell Butel (director)

~ Interval ~

Dmitri Shostakovich
Viola Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 147 (1975)
Christopher Moore (viola), Konstantin Shamray (piano)

Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op. 111 (1821–22)
Paavali Jumppanen (piano)