Impromptus

The Sydney Schubert Society Impromptus is our newsletter. This is the March 2009 edition:

  Schubert Impromptus

Dear Friends and Members of the Sydney Schubert Society,

I am pleased to invite you to our 2009 series of Schubertiades which, I hope you will agree, presents a stimulating and interesting range of Schubert's music and the music of his times. The society will be presenting three of Schubert's immortal chamber works this year: the String Quintet in C Major, the famous Octet and the magnificent Eflat major Piano Trio. We will also acknowledge some anniversaries: the 250th birthday of Friedrich Schiller with Schubert settings to Schiller's poetry (presented by exceptionally talented rising singing stars from the Sydney Conservatorium) and the Medelssohn anniversary in a concert welcoming back the charismatic violist Hartmut Lindemann. For the first time, we will also present music of Schubert's friends: A quintet by Anselm Hüttenbrenner, who was reputedly present at Beethoven's death, and "Lieder" by Benedict Randhartinger, composers of considerable accomplishment. Their music will be presented at the end of the year in our final Schubertiade of the Goethe Institute.

I hope you find the program appealing and my colleagues and I are looking forward to presenting this wonderful music in the setting of our Schubertiades with their delightful informal and convivial atmosphere. Our first Schubertiade on April 5 at St Peters Presbyterian Church, Blues Point Road, North Sydney will be a benefit concert for the Sydney Schubert Society. I am grateful to all artists for agreeing to donate their services to the society for this event.

The Schubert Society is looking back on a great history and has done so much to promote the music of Schubert in Sydney, to assist young, emerging artists and to promote the informal performance of chamber music and Schubert's "Lieder". In the past two years the society has continued to face rising costs. At a meeting recently, the committee of the society decided that we can no longer resist a change if we do not wish to endanger the society or alternatively scale down our expectations for the Schubertiades. We have thus determined new charges and fees as detailed on the membership forms included. I hope you will agree that these fees and charges still represent some of the best concert value in town. They will make it possible for the society to present beautiful music of Schubert while retaining its intimate mode of presentation.

I invite you to complete your renewal of membership as soon as possible. I look forward to welcoming you and many of your friends on April 5 for the first of our 2009 series of Schubertiades.

With warm wishes

Yours,

Goetz Richter, President