Internationally renowned violinist Lizzy Welsh is set to share her latest musical work as part of a ‘world premiere’ event at the Castlemaine Theatre Royal next Thursday October 13.
The event was set to be held earlier this year but had to be rescheduled after covid forced the cancellation of the event.
The baroque and modern violinist and composer will be joined by talented fellow Melbourne musos Tilman Robinson and Chloë Sobek in presenting the collaborative piece the trio penned during the lockdowns.
The concert on October 13 will fuse electronics with string instruments in a stunning collision of Renaissance and contemporary styles.
Lizzy grew up in Harcourt and was always intrigued by the violin.
“I just knew that I wanted to learn to play it one day. As luck would have it I was very fortunate to get that opportunity though a state school program at Castlemaine North Primary School in the 90s.
“I was grateful to be among six kids selected for the program and I never looked back. I was hooked and practiced religiously. My poor family!” Lizzy said.
“This was followed by playing in the symphony orchestra, string quartet and piano trio at Castlemaine Secondary College and performances at the Castlemaine State Festival and weddings from the age of 15, before studying at the Victorian College of the Arts, and then in Germany.
“I now have a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Queensland Conservatorium, and an international performance career specialising in early and new music, or at least I did have before covid!” Lizzy laughs.
Her talent has seen her perform at concert halls all over the world including China, Poland, London, the US and Germany.
“Tilman specialises in electronics, Chloë plays the viola da gamba and I play the smaller viola d’amore which was a popular instrument in the 1600s, each of us wrote a piece of music during covid and we then met up for a development session in Castlemaine where we found a way to fuse our three pieces together.
“I think it works. It’s very different, you’d definitely call it experimental! It’s very niche,” Lizzy says.
“It’s fantastic that Tim and Felicity at the Theatre Royal have welcomed us and are open to presenting all forms of music. It feels pretty special to be able to debut the piece here in my hometown”.
The project has been made possible thanks to support from the state and federal governments.
“We applied for three grants and were lucky enough to get two of them from the Australia Council for the Arts and Creative Victoria which really allowed us the time and space to focus on solely on this project during what was a really difficult time for musicians,” she said.
Doors open at 7.30pm and the show starts at 8pm. For tickets to the Castlemaine performance visit https://theatreroyalcastlemaine.oztix.com.au
