Just a warning ahead of Southern Cross Soloists’ first concert next year – you may get the urge to dance. The acclaimed Queensland chamber outfit is kicking off 2025 on February 23 with a concert called Celebrate!.
It will feature, among other things, arias and Strauss waltzes. And to get in the mood, it’s suggested you don your “Sunday best” for the experience.
Co-artistic directors Ashley Smith and Margaret “Maggie” Blades – both play in this ensemble – recently delivered season 2025 to the waiting world. And it’s a good one, proving that perhaps two heads really are better than one.
It all starts in such a lovely way. When I chat to Smith about the February 23 concert I am having visions of an Andre Rieu event. He doesn’t mind a waltz and his audiences tend to dance at his concerts, so that may even happen here.
“I have a secret love of waltzes,” Smith says. “And so does Maggie. We wanted to create a bit of a party with our first concert and we’ve asked everyone to come in their Sunday best. We will literally be rolling out the red carpet.”
We shall hold them to that. Smith says the program for season 2025 is a shameless attempt to keep everyone happy. The company’s programming usually manages to do just that.
You might like
It’s a time of transition for Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) following the departure of former artistic director Tania Frazer and moving the Bangalow Music Festival home to Queensland, refashioned as the SXS Chamber Music Festival, which will be held at Tamborine Mountain in August.
Frazer resigned in May after 14 years of service to the company. She had performed as oboist with the ensemble for more than two decades and led the company to many successes.
The new co-artistic directors, Smith (a Perth-based clarinettist) and Blades (Brisbane-based violinist) will be joined in 2025 by internationally renowned flautist Tim Munro, who will direct the SXS Chamber Music Festival 2025 and consult on the SXS Didgeridoo Commissioning Project.
It’s the Soloists’ 30th anniversary in 2025. Board chair Marg O’Donnell says: “Our birthday gift to our loyal audience is a 2025 season of music that SXS is sure they will love.”
“Purchase a three-concert QPAC Series package subscription and you will receive two free tickets to bring friends to the Vienna-style gala concert Celebrate! on Sunday, February 23, “O’Donnell says. “Who doesn’t love a party?”. Indeed.
Smith says the ensemble has changed shape over 30 years, but one thing has remained constant.
Subscribe for updates
“That is the power of live music to connect people by drawing our attention to the here and now,” Smith says. “Our 30th year finds us at a pivotal time for our art form. Our 2025 season is about connecting through extraordinary music, both old and new.”
Alongside waltzes and arias by Johann Strauss II, SXS will be playing, among other things, chamber music’s ultimate party piece, Beethoven’s Septet Op. 20 at the Celebrate! concert.
Brisbane composer Ray Lin, winner of the recently announced 2024 Australian Music Composition Competition, and internationally renowned jazz-pianist Joe Chindamo will each write new contributions towards the SXS Didgeridoo Commissioning Project.
Chindamo will also join the ensemble in the second QPAC Series concert Pearls on June 1, to feature in his own work and in versions of Gershwin’s Summertime and Somewhere from West Side Story.
The SXS 2025 season also showcases women leaders in music. SXS will world premiere a new commission from Brisbane-born, Los Angeles-based film composer Leah Curtis. Superstar soprano Alexandra Flood will return from the Vienna Volksoper to sing blistering coloratura arias for Celebrate! and soprano and rising opera star Nina Korbe will join SXS to sing her favourite Bellini arias in Pearls.
On October 12 the 2025 QPAC season winds up with Wonder, featuring acclaimed pianist Aura Go.
“Aura and I studied together for several years both in Australia and overseas,” Smith says. “After a 10-year hiatus, we’ll be taking to the stage again to play some of our most-loved repertoire. Aura will also feature as soloist in Clara Schumann’s ravishing piano concerto.”
There will also be the Sunset Soiree Series and a collaboration with local outfit Voxalis Opera.
It will be particularly interesting to see what Tim Munro programs for the SXS Chamber Music Festival 2025 on Tamborine Mountain.
Munro, an associate professor at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, lived in the US for some years before returning to his hometown of Brisbane. He is a triple Grammy-winning musician and was flautist and co-artistic director of Eighth Blackbird from 2006 to 2015. With that group he toured the US and internationally.
It’s a stroke of genius to put him to work on the SXS Chamber Music Festival. Bangalow was nice but Tamborine is closer and a beautiful environment for a festival. I guess I will see you there.
southernxsoloists.com