Duo Kirsanova-Lewis: On the Pavements Grey

Violinist Sophia Kirsanova and pianist Georgina Lewis celebrate the diversity, economic invention and depth of emotion of the minimalist movement. This program journeys from John Adam’s iconic Road Movies to the holy minimalism of Baltic composers Pēteris Vasks and Arvo Pärt, and wonderful and daring composers on the fringes of the movement, including ‘Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart’, Missy Mazzoli. The duo also performs Platon Buravicky’s rarely heard, celestial and deeply moving Angel’s Sight.

Georgina explores juxtapositions of freedom and discipline, introspection and prayer, beauty and pain in piano music from Arvo Pärt and, closer to home, Australia’s own Andrea Keller. Keller’s Life is Brut[if]al featured on her 2020 Journey Home album, a response to deep study of Pärt’s compositional techniques.

This concert also marks a special moment with Sophia giving the Australian premiere, and the second ever performance of Pēteris Vasks Sonata estiva (Summer Sonata) for violin solo, with the composer’s blessing. Written in 2022 in response to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the sonata was intended to bring brightness and hope, take the world away from the harshness of reality and into a meditation on Latvian folk music and nature.