* Why not make a day of it; stay and enjoy a meal. Booking essential so please contact the venue direct:

• Home Hill Winery 6242 1897

Featuring Grace Thorpe and Meriel Owen.

Virtuosi audiences have enjoyed brilliant recital performances by young Tasmanian violinist Grace Thorpe since 2022. We welcome her back from studies in Germany to perform Bach’s monumental masterpiece, the Chaconne, with the entire D minor Partita for solo violin. Joining her in works for violin and piano by Korngold, Piazzola and others, is Virtuosi favorite, Meriel Owen on piano.

Just two performances before Grace boards a plane back to Europe to continue her studies.

You don’t want to miss this opportunity to hear this exceptional young musician!

Grace currently plays on an Alessandro Ciciliati violin made in 2022, generously on loan from a private sponsor.

Meriel Owen and Grace Thorpe.

Program Notes

J.S Bach Partita No.2 in D Minor

Partita No. 2 comes from J.S Bach’s composition of Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. This Partita was written in 1720, a particularly tragic year for Bach, as he had returned after travel to the news of his wife’s death and burial in his absence. These feelings of immense grief and sorrow permeate through the entirety of the work… even the livelier dance movements are of a more sombre tone.

The Partita starts with 4 shorter dance movements – Allemande, Corrente, Sarabande and Gigue, followed by the famous Chaconne. The chaconne is based on a simple four-bar chordal motif which is then expanded and embellished throughout the duration of the movement. In total, there are 64 variations of this motif, embellished through use of chords, arpeggios, harmonic variations and so on. Set in the key of D minor, with a short major section in the middle, the movement explores themes of death, life, transcendence, peace and aspects of the spiritual. Hidden throughout are also numerous quotes from Bach’s other choral works, including ‘Christ Lag in Todesbaden’ (BWV 4); ‘Jesu meine Freude’ (BWV 227;) Johannes- and Matthias-Passion.

Erich Korngold – Suite from ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ Op.11

Composed in 1919, before his rise to fame in the Hollywood scene, Korngold wrote this set of incidental music for Shakespeare’s comedy ‘Much Ado About Nothing. The work was originally composed for chamber orchestra, however, when the performance season was over, Korngold created several arrangements of the work, including for violin and piano, orchestra and solo piano.

This witty play is based on the courtship between two sets of lovers – the first pair, tricked into love; and the second, already in love, but viciously ripped apart by scandal and treachery.

This is followed by a rustic, march-like second movement, ‘Dogberry and Verges. March of the Watch’, poking fun at the pompous constable and his men. The mood shifts dramatically in the romantic third movement ‘Scene in the Garden’, as the first couple finally fall in love.

The suite ends with a lively dance movement ‘Masquerade’, which actually comes from a much earlier section of the opera, featuring aspects of folk-dance, jovial rhythmic shifts and much merriment.

Astor Piazzolla – Yo Soy Maria

Yo Soy Maria is a fiery song from Astor Piazzolla’s tango opera, María de Buenos Aires. This dramatic opera was first premiered in 1968 in Argentina and orients itself on the life of Maria ‘of Buenos Aires’. This work is transcribed from the Deutsche Gramophon recording by violinist Maria Dueñas and pianist Itamar Golan.