The 3MBS English Music Festival: Concerts 3 and 4

The 3MBS English Music Festival returns in 2024 with four concerts celebrating chamber, solo and choral music from the British Isles.

On 24 and 25 August at the Auburn Uniting Church, Hawthorn, audiences will be taken on a dynamic artistic journey that covers three centuries of English music from Purcell to Britten and Australian composers of English descent.

Audiences will experience the profound six choral motets that are the Songs of Farewell by Hubert Parry, Requiem by Herbert Howells, the ethereal Lark Ascending by Vaughan-Williams and a diverse range of chamber and solo works by Delius, Britten, Bridge and Elgar, among others.

The festival will feature a stellar lineup of Victorian musicians including Melbourne Symphony Orchestra violinist Tair Khisambeev, pianist Laurence Matheson, The Choir of Trinity College, The University of Melbourne, pianist Elyane Laussade, cellist-composer Luke Severn and Firebird Trio.

Join us for this premier event to experience familiar and rarely-heard works by these English musical masters.

Concert Three
2pm Sunday 25 August
Luke Severn cello & Elyane Laussade piano

FRANK BRIDGE Sonata for cello and piano in D minor, H.125
JOE CHINDAMO Variations on Dido’s Lament after Henry Purcell
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Keyboard Suite No.5 in E Major, HWV 430
LUKE SEVERN “…when the world was young”

Concert Four
5pm Sunday 25 August
Firebird Trio: Curt Thompson (violin) Josephine Vains (cello) & Benjamin Martin (piano)

HENRY PURCELL Two Fantasias arranged for piano trio by Benjamin Martin
BENJAMIN BRITTEN ‘Dawn’ and ‘Storm’ (Sea Interludes) from the opera Peter Grimes, arr. Benjamin Martin
PERCY GRAINGER My Robin is to the Greenwood Gone
EDWARD ELGAR Salut d’Amour, Op. 12
ARNOLD BAX Piano Trio in B-flat Major