12 Apr The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is the national Baroque music flagship. It is a world leader in historically informed performance and hugely influential in the broader musical landscape. The Brandenburg is renowned for its energetic spirit, stylistic diversity, ambition and innovation. Since its debut at the Sydney Opera House in 1990, the orchestra has introduced Baroque (and earlier) music at a serious level, playing on instruments authentic to the period.

The Balnaves Foundation has partnered with the Orchestra for New Perspectives, an innovative pilot project. New Perspectives has the aim of challenging traditional perceptions and barriers to classical music and how it should be experienced, and providing exposure of live classical musical to groups in marginalised areas.

This program is intended to meaningfully engage a younger audience for the Orchestra, as well as showcase their music in unique venues in disadvantaged communities such as Western Sydney.  The pilot consists of four performances each of two new pieces, performed in two venues in May and October 2023.

With additional support from the Foundation, one of the performances will be filmed for broadcast to a larger, online audience. The multi-artform pieces are being developed in collaboration with the Orchestra’s emerging artists and contemporary dancers, First Nations visual artists, storytellers and theatrical performers. Liaising with key community contacts, the Brandenburg is staging the performances in dynamic places, such as tunnels, industrial warehouses and multi-arts centres.