The French Influence
8pm Saturday 23 October
Conservatorium Theatre
Conductor Dr Geoffrey Lancaster
Soloists from Queensland Symphony Orchestra
French Influence including Rebel, Rameau, Couperin, Marais, Lully
French music, from the Renaissance composer Marin Marais to the giants of the Baroque, has been featured extensively in film and in revivals of grand operas written for Versailles. Rebelled the way in developing dramatic music with his Les éléments, depicting the progress from Chaos to Creation. Rameau and Couperin were renowned for their exquisite dance forms and stylistic inventions, as was Lully with the operatic form. The French influence was a refined pinnacle of the Baroque era.
"A genius of the fortepiano" - Daily Telegraph
"Eloquent playing of the highest order" - The Times
Biography - Dr Geoffrey Lancaster
For over 30 years, Geoffrey Lancaster has been at the forefront of the historically-informed performance practice movement. Geoffrey Lancaster is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of La Cetra Barockorchester Basel. As soloist he has appeared to acclaim with such orchestras as the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Gürzenich Orchester Köln, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Tafelmusik of Toronto, and Ensemble 415 of Geneva. Geoffrey Lancaster was the first Australian to win a major international keyboard competition, receiving First Prize in the 23rd Festival van Vlaanderen International Mozart Fortepiano Competition, Brugge. As a recording artist, his 47 CDs have won many awards including the ARIA Best Classical Album and Gramophone Best Recording. He has recorded for ABC Classics, ABC Classics 'Antipodes', Sony Classical, Supraphon and Tall Poppies. Dr Lancaster's career honours include the Australian Artists Creative Fellowship from the Commonwealth of Australia for his outstanding artistic contribution to the nation, the HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship, and elected Fellowships of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Australian College of Educators. In 2006 Geoffrey Lancaster was named Australian of the Year for the Australian Capital Territory, and was awarded the Order of Australia for service to the arts. In 2007, Geoffrey was appointed Honorary Professor of the University of Tasmania. Since 2002 his principal appointment has been at the Australian National University School of Music, where he is Head of Keyboard and Professor of Music.
