A GERMAN chamber group playing in Ballarat on Friday has one key aim – to inspire as many people as possible to love classical music.
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The Chamber Philharmonia Cologne, which played at Daylesford’s Christ Church earlier this week, will perform at the Ballarat Uniting Church as part of its regular touring schedule.
Her Majesty’s Theatre has facilitated the concert, with manager Graeme Russell saying its visit was an opportunity for Ballarat to discover classical music was for everyone of all ages and from all social groups.
“There are those that consider (classical) elite or not for them and that’s the thing that needs to be addressed,” he said.
“The amount of classical music used in film and TV or reworked in a contemporary setting is huge, and most people have a level of appreciation of classical music, they’re just not introduced to it at a young age.”
Mr Russell said the Chamber Philharmonia’s visit to Ballarat was “not an everyday occurrence” and was a chance to hear music of an international quality.
”We bring new music to Ballarat whenever we can, but to have an orchestra like the Philharmonia is a great opportunity for people to hear that quality of playing, that level of music right here in Ballarat, and they don’t have to travel somewhere else for it.”
The Philharmonia is a small orchestral group with chamber-specific music and will play the likes of Vivaldi, Mozart and Paganini.
“It’s a smaller orchestra, mostly strings and they play smaller intimate works and they work in intimate spaces, but the great thing is they’re dedicated to regular touring,” Mr Russell said.
“They come to Ballarat every year. Otherwise we don’t get that kind of level of European orchestral music in Ballarat.”
The ensemble has just finished touring across Europe in 2014 and 2015, but said it was irrelevant whether they played “a little village church, in the open air, in Cologne Cathedral or in the Sydney Opera House” as their enthusiasm was the same each time.
The group was founded in the German city of Cologne and plays about 300 concerts each year.
The performance will begin at 8pm. Tickets range from $25 to $35, available at www.hermaj.com