Consort 8 | The English Nightingale with Guest Artist Hans-Dieter Michatz (recorder) Saturday August 12, 2023, St Paul's Burwood, NSW On a night when most Australians were glued to the progress of the Matilda’s vs France FIFA World Cup match, it is testament to the...
Articles + Reviews By Marguerite Foxon
Review: Consort 8 | Courtly Ayres and Dances
19 September 2020 Consort 8 has long had a loyal following and after a couple of cancelled concerts in 2020 fans snapped up the limited number of tickets available and turned out on Saturday night with big smiles (covered by masks in many cases) to enjoy LIVE music....
Thoroughbass’s “Bach in Three” enjoyably contrasted the music of the Bach family
Thoroughbass presented once again a well thought through program of chamber music in their Bach in Three, which contrasted the work of the three biggest names in the Bach Family – Johann Sebastian (JS), Carl Philipp Emanuel (CPE) and Johann Christian (JC). The venue,...
Consort 8’s Eastertide programme delivered a diverse array of reflective music
It’s that time of the year when concerts abound around Sydney in the countdown to Easter Sunday, many of them featuring major works by JS Bach. Consort 8’s first performance of the year, timed with the end of the Lenten Season, provided a rather nice change of pace...
Consort 8 was a joyful noyse with first-class playing and singing
With all the discordant noise coming out of Canberra these days, not to mention natural disasters around the world, an evening where one can push all this out of the conscious mind and sink into some ‘joyful noyse’ was most welcome. A crowd of faithful Consort 8...
Wonderful surprises abounded at Consort 8’s Fratres.
I’ve been to enough Consort 8 concerts to know three things about them. Firstly, the standard of performance is tops – fabulous recorders, skilful playing of viols, lutes and theorbo, and where else are you going to get a gaggle (or whatever the collective noun is) of...
Consort 8’s A Renaissance Christmas was a fabulous start to the Season
We’ve all heard of the recorder, and many can recognise a viol da gamba, lute, and theorbo when they see one. But how about a cittern? Or a psaltery? And a tapan? All featured in the fabulous Consort 8 concert on Saturday night, kicking off the Christmas/Advent season...
Josie & the Emeralds Celebrate the Feast Day of the Patron Saint of Music with a fascinating and rich program
Josie (Josie Ryan, Soprano) and the Emeralds (four viol da gamba players) first presented a special program honouring Lady Music in 2014. It was such a success with their audience, the Emeralds decided to make it an annual event. Some 80 fans crowded into the Glebe...
A Twinkling Star in the Sydney Music Scene
On Sunday 8 October, local musician (clavichord, fortepiano, traverso) Ivan Foo presented An Evening with Mozart at St Mark’s Church in Hunters Hill. This is the second concert by Ivan Foo that I have attended, and it appeared many in the audience were also repeat...
Consort 8 have tremendous flexibility to programme unusual and rarely heard works
It is clear that Consort 8 has been steadily building a faithful fan base over the last few years. They were coming through the door a good half hour before the concert commenced – yes, there was the promise of a free glass of champagne, but I don’t think that was...