The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Monica Curro will be playing with her sister Sarah and brother Dan as a string trio for the Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields.
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Playing with siblings is actually easier than playing in regular ensembles, she said - it’s much faster to resolve any issues, because there’s no risk of annoying anyone.
“The dynamic’s interesting because people are usually more polite to each other in rehearsals - here, you can say anything and no one has a problem with it,” she said.
“You can have an extended argument and it’s fine.
“We’ve played a lot of quartets, and we always feel sorry for the viola player.”
The family has a long association with the festival.
Ms Curro’s father John, also a violinist, met festival director Sergio de Pieri at a chamber performance in Brisbane in the 1970s, and the two men struck up a fast friendship which eventually led to Mr de Pieri being employed as the St Patrick’s Cathedral organist in Melbourne.
John eventually became the director of the Australian Youth Orchestra for many years.
Ms Curro said the performance was in honour of her father, who is now 86 and unable to travel, and features Mozart, Schubert, and more.
“My sister programmed it, and it’s all Dad’s favourite things - a tribute concert to Dad, a living tribute concert,” she said, adding it was a good change of pace from huge symphony works and original material.
“It’s interesting because Sarah, Dan, and I have commissioned a lot of new music, we’re known for that, so it’s unusual for us to play standards.”
She added she was impressed at the receptive festival crowd after performing for the first time last year.
She took up the artistic director position at the Port Fairy Spring Festival with pianist Stefan Cassomeos this year, which she said has given her a new understanding of Mr de Pieri’s dedication to the Organs festival.
“It’s given me a newfound respect and admiration to what goes into it, and the amount of community engagement that one should have - (a festival) has to be meaningful for the people that live there, and I think Sergio’s done that beautifully,” she said.
“He’s so charming himself, and affable and incredibly generous, he’s got this incredible, endless amount of energy.”
The Curros will play the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute on Sunday at 3pm, one of the 2019 festival’s final performances.
This year, 24 shows were performed across the district, from St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat to churches in Blampied and Clunes, with music from the 16th century and an Australian premiere.
Tickets are available through the festival’s website.
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