Leila Josefowicz & John Novacek | Adelaide
Schedule
Tue, 14 Jul, 2026 at 07:30 pm
UTC+09:30Location
Adelaide Town Hall | Adelaide, SA
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Prepare to be kissed by a fairy, haunted by a dream and transformed by music when Leila Josefowicz and John Novacek bring their fantastical tales and captivating sounds to Australia. Feisty American-Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz is a passionate advocate of new music, working side-by-side with some of the great composers of recent times, from Oliver Knussen to Esa-Pekka Salonen. But that doesn’t mean she’s done with old music.‘You have to see, observe and appreciate where these ideas that living composers use come from’, says Leila.
This program is a perfect example, a new commission from British composer Charlotte Bray framed by movers and shakers from the early 20th century, themselves inspired by ancient worlds.
Szymanowski’s Mythes luxuriates in the sensuous and slightly dangerous world of nymphs and dryads, while the Divertimento from Stravinsky’s Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy’s Kiss) reminds us that fairies are not always nice.
Then Claude Debussy’s light-footed sonata written, in his words, by ‘a sick old man in time of war’, is a poignant counterpoint to Charlotte Bray’s Mriya, co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Musica Viva Australia and inspired by the courage, conviction and integrity of the people of Ukraine.
Josefowicz and American pianist John Novacek have been playing together since they were eight. Their enduring partnership creates a bond on stage which is, quite simply, magic.
'Josefowicz is magnificent throughout, whether negotiating ferocious technical challenges or playing with gentle lyrical wonder.'
— The Strad
'Stravinsky’s The Fairy’s Kiss allowed Josefowicz and Novacek the chance to pull out all the stops they’d held in reserve in a flurry of full-force virtuosity that rose to a pyrotechnical conclusion.'
— San Francisco Classical Voice
PROGRAM
DEBUSSY Sonata for Violin and Piano
SZYMANOWSKI Mythes, Op. 30
Charlotte BRAY Mriya*
STRAVINSKY Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée
*Commissioned by Musica Viva Australia & Wigmore Hall. Australian premiere.
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Where is it happening?
Adelaide Town Hall, 128 King William Street,Adelaide,SA,AustraliaEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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