National tour for St Martin in the Fields

Led by virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell, Academy of St Martin in the Fields will return to Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) to perform two concert programs on 26 and 27 April 2017.

The QPAC concerts are part of the acclaimed ensemble’s first national Australian tour in almost three decades. Bell and the Academy performed two sold out concerts at QPAC in an exclusive Australian appearance in 2010.

Established in 1958 by the late Sir Neville Marriner, the orchestra takes its name from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, where the Academy gave its first performance.

Violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, became the Academy’s Music Director in 2011, leading the orchestra from the first violin and performing as a soloist. Bell will lead the Academy players in two concerts with separate programs.

In the concert on 26 April, The Mighty Bruch, QPAC audiences will experience a different program to the concerts being performed in Melbourne and Sydney. Audiences will see Bell perform Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. By contrast, the slow movement of Schumann’s violin concerto is a showcase for Bell and the Academy’s strings.

Great Classics: Mozart and Beethoven on 27 April opens with Mozart’s darkly stormy and operatic Symphony No.25 heard in the opening moments of Amadeus, while the violinist is the star of Mozart’s Fourth Violin Concerto – a bravura display of swagger and elegance for soloist Joshua Bell. The highlight of this program is Beethoven’s Third Symphony. A revolution in sound, it is an explosion of heroic determination without equal.

Joshua Bell and Academy of St Martin in the Fields in QPAC’s Concert Hall on 26 and 27 April 2017. To book go to www.qpac.com.au or phone 136-246.