Musical Genres
Orchestral
The Adelaide Hills Chamber Players is an ensemble of 15 professional players that rehearses and performs in the Adelaide Hills. It specialises in traditional chamber orchestral repertoire including symphonies of the Viennese Classicists [Mozart, Haydn, early Beethoven], early/late Baroque and accessible pieces of the last 120 years.
Membership by professional audition.
Choral
The Adelaide Hills Chamber Singers comprises 10 professional singers classically trained in solo, small ensemble, oratorio and operatic media. As a professional ensemble they specialise in Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic as well as 20th/21st Century accessible repertoire.
Membership by professional audition.
Chamber Music
Two professional chamber ensembles founded and supported by the SA Chapter of the Royal Commonwealth Society form the backbone of the chamber music content of the Adelaide Hills Music Circle’s six monthly program of offerings.
The BronzeWing Quartet is a professional string ensemble with a vast Classical, Romantic and Popular Contemporary repertoire.
The WindSong Quintet is a professional woodwind ensemble noted for their adventurous programing and highly sophisticated performance credentials.
Solo Recitals
The Adelaide Hills Music Circle is proud to help reverse the slow decline in the high art of the Solo Recital. Once the focus of an extremely popular annual series presented in the Adelaide Town Hall when the ABC was almost solely responsible for Adelaide’s classical music diet, it is time to remind music lovers of the boundless joy available from absolute peaks of individual artistry and virtuosity.
Hills Soirees
Instrumental and vocal, solo and small ensemble performances of the highest international order will be offered in soiree format. At 6 00 o’clock on a weekend or after weekday work, you can escape from daily turmoil with about an hour of exquisite chamber music in an intimate venue that allows you to hear, see and feel the finest detail behind executant skill and artistry of the highest human order.
Morning Music
The finest South Australian vocal and instrumental professional emerging artists will offer a series of mid-week morning performances. These young artists have already made distinguished names for themselves in Adelaide’s classical music world. The Adelaide Hills will provide a platform for them to continue to develop their artistry and at the same time provide a quality morning musical experience for Hills community members with an hour or so to spare. An affordable, high quality musical experience with a morning cuppa and a morning biscuit thrown in!
Performance Venues
The object of the Adelaide Hills Music Circle is to make high quality classical musical experience an easy convenience for Hills dwellers. Thus we plan to provide offerings in a wide range of Adelaide Hills venues including churches, institute halls and private homes. Whist the geographic nerve centre is Heysen Country, in and near Hahndorf, no Hills area need be excluded. You are only a phone call away from arranging a Music Circle event in your own community centre. Venues already under consideration include:
- St Pauls Lutheran Church, Hahndorf
- Echunga Memorial Institute
- Macclesfield Institute
- Valley of Praise Retirement Village
- Prince of Wales Masonic Hall, Mt Barker
- Gas Works, Strathalbyn
- The Music House, Echunga
Support Organisations
A number of Adelaide Hills-based organisations have already expressed support for the aims and objectives of the Adelaide Hills Music Circle.
- Coco Marie, Hahndorf
- Blue Belle Boutique, Handorf
- Heysen Electorate Office
- Gepetto's at Hahndorf, Italian cuisine
- Adelaide Hills Visitors Information Centre, Hahndorf
- Adelaide Hills Tourism
- Co-Opera
- Royal Commonwealth Society, SA Branch
- Mount Barker District Council
- Beerenberg Foundation
Community Outreach
Masterclasses
Occasionally the Adelaide Hills Music Circle will host a high level masterclass for up and coming young South Australian singers and instrumentalists. These will be open to the Adelaide Hills community free of charge and will provide a window of insight into the educative sophistications needed for young performers to travel the extended pathway they have chosen to reach their individual artistic potential.
Adelaide Hills Chamber Players
This will be open to all Hills dwellers. Audition membership standard will depend on concert repertoire. For Britten’s St Nicolas, planned for December 2018, orchestral strings at a minimum of grade 5 AMEB standard will be needed. Auditions will be on Fri 24 August starting 4 00 pm in Echunga Memorial Institute. See application form in Contact section.
Adelaide Hills Community Singers
Membership is without audition. The next project will be preparing Britten’s Cantata Saint Nicolas for December 2018 performances.[see calendar of performances for details]. Initial rehearsal/meeting will be on Friday 24 August at 7 00 pm in the Echunga Memorial Institute. See application form in Contact section.
Affordability
Every effort is expended to make performance offerings of the Adelaide Hills Music Circle as affordable as possible. But it should be clear that our professional artists are of the highest calibre and it is only fair that they be paid commensurate to the years, even decades of training they have experienced to reach high artistry.
That said, there should be something for every budget framework, as the following table tries to show.
Adelaide Hills Chamber Players / Singers
- 10 - 20 Artists
- 75 - 90 mins
- Tickets: $30 - $50 each*
- Event Purchase: $4k - $8k
Hills Soirees
- 3 - 6 Artists
- 75 - 90 mins
- Tickets: $30 - $50 each*
- Event Purchase: $2k - $3k
Morning Music
- 2 - 4 Artists
- 60 mins
- Tickets: $10 - $20 each*
- Event Purchase: $1k - $2k
Community Outreach Events
- Normally Free Admission
* Ticket price includes booking fee