Your Daybill

Contents
Creative Team
Program
Director's Note
Artistic Director's Note
A Note on the Harpsichord
Biographies
About the Australian Haydn Ensemble

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Creative Team

Australian Haydn Ensemble 
Erin Helyard, Guest Director & Soloist (Harpsichord)
Skye McIntosh, AHE Artistic Director, Lead Violin & Soloist

Artists & Instruments

Violin
Skye McIntosh, Tomaso Eberle, 1770, Naples
Simone Slattery, Claude Pierray, 1726, Paris 
Annie Gard, Klotz, c.1710, Mittenwald
Anna McMichael, Camilli Camillus, 1742, Mantua*
James Armstrong, Unknown late C17th English, baroque conversion by Simon Brown, Sydney 2001
Matthew Greco, David Christian Hopf, 1760, Quittenbach
Stephen Freeman, Unknown, 1730, England
Tim Willis, Hendrick Willems, ca.1680, Ghent
Myee Clohessy, Unknown, c.1770, Mittenwald

Viola
John Ma, Simon Brown 2000 Sydney, Australia
James Eccles, Unknown c. 1740 Tyrol Region

Cello
Danny Yeadon, William Forster II, 1781, London**
Anthony Albrecht, Peter Walmsley, c.1740, London

Violone
Laura Vaughan, D violone, John Pringle, USA, 2005, after G.P. Maggini, c.1610, Brescia

Oboe
Adam Masters, Bernhard Schermer, Stäfa Switzerland, 2002, after Grundmann, c. 1785, Dresden
Kirsten Barry, Marcel Ponseele, Damme, 2001, after Grundmann, 1770, Dresden

Flute
Melissa Farrow, R. Tutz, 2001, Innsbruck, after H. Grenser, c.1810, Dresden***
Mikaela Oberg, R. Tutz, 2007, Innsbruck, after H. Grenser, c.1810, Dresden

Bassoon
Simon Rickard, Matthew Dart, London, 1996, after JH Grundmann, 1792, Dresden

Horn
Carla Blackwood, Andreas Jungwirth, Vienna, 2010, after Johann Anton Lausmann, c.1790, Graslitz****
Cinzi Posega​, Daniel Kunst, Bremen, 2020, after Courtois, c. 1835, Paris

Harpsichord
Erin Helyard, original double-manual harpsichord by Jacob & Abraham Kirckman, 1775, London supplied and prepared by Carey Beebe Harpsichords*****

* Dr Anna McMichael appears courtesy of the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Monash University.
** Dr Daniel Yeadon appears courtesy of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
*** Melissa Farrow appears courtesy of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
**** Carla Blackwood appears courtesy of the University of Melbourne
***** Dr Erin Helyard appears courtesy of Pinchgut Opera

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Program

Program 1 
morning, 10am

C.P.E. Bach: Symphony in e minor Wq.178

Mozart: Keyboard pieces K.1

Haydn: Keyboard Concerto in G Major Hob.XVIII:4

Haydn: Symphony in D Major Hob.I:6 Le Matin

Program 2 
Noon, 12.30pm

C.P.E. Bach: Symphony in F Major Wq.181

Mozart: Keyboard Pieces K.2-5

Haydn: Keyboard Concerto in F Major Hob.XVIII:3

Haydn: Symphony in C Major Hob.I:7 Le Midi

Program 3 
Night, 5pm

C.P.E. Bach: Sinfonia in C Major Wq.182/3

Mozart: Divertimento in F Major K.138

Haydn: Symphony in G Major Hob.I:8 Le Soir

Haydn: Keyboard Concerto in D Major Hob.XVIII:11

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Director's Note

dr Erin Helyard

It is an enormous pleasure and privilege to be directing the Australian Haydn Ensemble for its debut at the Adelaide Festival. In a tour-de-force of programming, you will be able to experience two great Haydn trilogies in one day: the three 1761 symphonies at their appropriate times (Le Matin, Le Midi, and Le Soir) and the three authentic harpsichord concertos, rarely performed in Australia.

Joining these six works are some tiny pieces by the very young Mozart in addition to well-worked masterpieces by CPE Bach, then the most famous musician in Europe. Haydn’s earliest harpsichord concerto, in F, pre-dates Haydn’s employment at Esterháza, whereas the more substantial concerto in G was performed by (and possibly written for) the great keyboardist Maria Theresia von Paradis. Haydn’s last keyboard concerto in D is his most popular, and I am immensely proud of the recording I made with the Ensemble in 2016.

I am also very lucky to be able to perform on a unique instrument courtesy of the great Australian harpsichord builder (and my dear friend) Carey Beebe. This instrument is an original Kirckman harpsichord from the 1770s. Carey has lovingly restored this instrument and it is being heard in public at the Adelaide Festival for the first time in centuries. English harpsichords were highly prized on the continent at the time Haydn was writing his keyboard works. There are fewer Kirckman harpsichords in the world than there are Stradivarius violins, so this is a unique experience that I know you will enjoy as much as I will enjoy playing the instrument.

Haydn’s energy, wit, and playfulness is on full display in these remarkable works: get ready for a remarkable day of music and music-making.

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Artistic Director's Note

Skye McIntosh

It is a great honour for the Australian Haydn Ensemble to be invited to perform at the Adelaide Festival in 2022 to present not one, but three programs exploring some of my most beloved composers and repertoire.

Over the past decade, my dear friend Erin Helyard and the Ensemble have enjoyed collaborating on many projects. I am thrilled to have him join us as Guest Director and soloist for these concerts, featuring in Haydn’s three authentic, yet seldom performed keyboard concerti and Mozart’s five early solo keyboard pieces.

Haydn’s early symphonies, Le Matin (morning), Le Midi (noon), and Le Soir (night), were originally composed for Prince Esterhàzy’s small orchestra of between 14 and 18 players and performed under Haydn’s direction. They are as much chamber music as they are symphonic works, with each featuring stunning solos for violin and cello.

Ever the diplomat, it is thought that Haydn, a then newcomer to the court, included these beautiful solo passages to win favour with the musicians, showcase their talents and ‘pull out all the stops’ to win over his new employer. Luckily, Haydn had at his disposal many excellent musicians to pull off such a trick. This included the gifted violinist Luigi Tomasini, Anton Kraft, a talented cellist that Haydn had recommended for the job, and the flautist Franz Sigel. The symphonies’ evocative and innovative nature, which marries humour with beauty in an often-operatic style, provides a crystalline window into the unfolding genius of Haydn who was, at the time, a relatively young composer.

Alongside this, we present three equally innovative symphonies by C.P.E. Bach - the first two composed close to the time when Haydn joined the Esterházy court in 1761 and wrote the ‘times of day’ symphonies. Reflective of the Italiante style, C.P.E.’s treatment of texture juxtaposes the bizarre against the beautiful in a unique way that has always drawn me to his music.

Although many might consider C.P.E. Bach to be a ‘lesser known’ composer today compared to his father J.S. Bach or indeed Haydn or Mozart, in his own lifetime C.P.E. was one of the most well-known and respected composers of the day. We know that these symphonies, with all of their verve, enjoyed great popularity and many performances. Records also show that they were performed throughout the 19th century and well into the early 20th century.

We hope you enjoy these performances.

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A Note on the Harpischord

Carey Beebe

DOUBLE-MANUAL HARPSICHORD, Jacob and Abraham Kirckman, London 1775

Few of today’s harpsichord makers could aspire to accumulate a fortune matching that of Jacob Kirckman, reported by his friend, the contemporaneous music historian Charles Burney, as £20,000. The founder of a keyboard instrument-making dynasty that was to remain active through the late nineteenth century, Jacob Kirchmann (1710–1792) was born in Bischweiler near Strasbourg. He went to England in the early 1730s to work with the harpsichord maker Tabel, and soon anglicised his family name.

The earliest of the perhaps one hundred and fifty surviving Kirckman harpsichords is dated 1744. A few years before this harpsichord was made, Jacob took his nephew Abraham (1737–1794) into the business, and the instruments were signed with both their names from then until at least 1790.

With its crossbanded mahogany veneer and elegant brasswork, the 1775 Kirckman is a typical example of the comprehensive late eighteenth-century English harpsichord, capable of playing anything in the repertoire. The five-octave ebony and ivory keyboards have sixty notes FF,GG–f''', lacking the bottom FF♯. There are three sets of strings, but four registers of jacks. The so-called front 8´ (unison) choir is doglegged - when engaged, it plays from both upper and lower keyboards. The back 8´ and 4´ (octave) play from the lower keyboard. In addition, there is a lute or nasale register on the upper keyboard, an extra set of jacks plucking close to the nut and producing a rich and pungent harmonic structure.

A simple “machine stop” pedal overrides the 4´ stop lever, allowing the player to engage and disengage this register without lifting the hands from the keyboard, endowing the harpsichord with an albeit limited means of expression. Musical taste was changing, but two decades were to pass before these glorious instruments were supplanted by that modern upstart, the pianoforte.

Today’s events mark the public debut of this now carefully-restored harpsichord, shedding new light on our understanding of the music of Georgian England.

Further information available here.

Double-manual harpsichord by Jacob & Abraham Kirckman, London 1775

Inscription on the 1775 Kirckman nameboard batten

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Biographies

Dr Erin Helyard
Guest Director & Soloist (Harpsichord)

Dr Erin Helyard has been acclaimed as an inspiring conductor, a virtuosic and expressive performer of the harpsichord and fortepiano, and as a lucid scholar who is passionate about promoting discourse between musicology and performance.

As Artistic Director and co-founder of the celebrated Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes (Sydney) he has forged new standards of excellence in historically-informed performance in Australia. He has received two Helpmann Awards for Best Musical Direction (2017, 2019) and an ARIA for Best Classical Album (2020).

Erin is a Senior Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and appears courtesy of Pinchgut Opera. Erin has directed the Australian Haydn Ensemble on several occasions over the last decade.

Skye McIntosh
Artistic Director, Violin & Soloist

Skye McIntosh is the founder and Artistic Director of the Australian Haydn Ensemble, now in its tenth anniversary year – an audacious undertaking and a testament to Skye’s musicianship and entrepreneurial spirit.

AHE is known for its ambitious programming and is delighted to be making its Adelaide Festival debut with Dr Erin Helyard as Guest Director. Skye and Erin have enjoyed a long musical friendship, bringing many outstanding concerts and ideas to the stage. Haydn’s Solar Poetics is no exception; it is also the first time they will be heard together in South Australia.

Skye attended the Royal Academy of Music, London and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, has made numerous concert appearances as soloist and director and has performed internationally with the Australian Haydn Quartet at The Juilliard School. She has also toured nationally with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, as well as performing with Pinchgut Opera and the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra. In 2022, ABC Classics will release AHE’s third CD, featuring Skye performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G major.

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About the Australian Haydn Ensemble

The Australian Haydn Ensemble (AHE), under the direction of Artistic Director Skye McIntosh, is one of Australia’s leading historically informed orchestras and chamber music groups. The Ensemble brings together world class musicians who excel in both modern and period instrument performance. AHE is highly committed to both historical research and performance, and its repertoire is principally music of the early classical era and the late baroque. The Ensemble's name pays tribute to the great 'Papa Haydn' who was a central figure of the late eighteenth century.

Formed in 2012, the group burst onto the Australian music scene with passion and energy. They have performed widely in Australia and in the USA and have enjoyed many invitations to Australian Festivals such as the Melbourne Festival (2016), Festival by the Sea (2016), the Tyalgum Festival (2018), the Mornington Peninsula Festival (2019), Organs of the Ballarat Goldfield’s Festival (2019) and Canowindra Festivals.

AHE has built a reputation for its vivacious performances, which are faithful to the sound-worlds that would have been familiar to Haydn and his contemporaries. AHE has collaborated with many leading international and Australian historical specialist performers including Midori Seiler (Germany), Melvyn Tan (UK), Marc Destrubé (Canada), Catherine MackIntosh (UK), Stefanie True (Canada), Erin Helyard (Australia), Neal Peres Da Costa (Australia), Sara Macliver (Australia), Helen Sherman (UK), Benjamin Bayl (UK) and David Greco (Australia).

AHE received critical acclaim for its debut ABC Classics recording, The Haydn Album, which premiered at No. 1 on the Australian Classical Aria Charts. According to Gramophone, "this is a polished, style-conscious ensemble." The Ensemble’s second CD release, made in collaboration with leading historical keyboardist Neal Peres Da Costa, is titled Beethoven Piano Concertos No 1 & 3. It has been applauded by leading historical expert Clive Brown who said "It offers a highly persuasive combination of impressive musicianship and convincing historical research."

To commemorate its tenth anniversary, AHE recently recorded another CD with ABC Classics featuring the music of Mozart and showcasing Erin Helyard and Skye McIntosh as soloists. It is due for release in 2022.

Skye McIntosh, Artistic Director
Tegan Redinbaugh, Chief Executive Officer
Alison Dunn, Marketing and Communications
Stephen Bydder, Box Office and Administration
Emma Murphy, Financial Controller
Janine Hewitt, Accountant
Marguerite Foxon, Front of House and Administration*
* In-kind support

Australian Haydn Ensemble: Government Partners

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