The Australian Haydn Ensemble to Bring Classical Paris to Sydney

One of the Worlds most experienced interpreters of Mozart on the Fortepiano, Melvyn Tan, will join the Australian Haydn Ensemble to dazzle audiences this June/July for a program inspired by the beauty and romance of Classical Paris.

Considered to be one of the world's finest fortepianists, Tan continues to cast fresh light on music conceived for the original keyboards of the time of Mozart and Haydn. A prodigious child musical talent - Tan went to London to study at age twelve after a flight attendant saw him performing in Singapore and made it her quest to help carry his audition tape by hand to the Yehudi Menuhin School in the UK. Tan's piano teachers there included Nadia Boulanger, Vlado Perlemuter and Marcel Ciampi - who sparked his lifelong passion for French music. Very fitting it is that he and The Australian Haydn Ensemble present a French inspired program this winter in Sydney and Canberra.

Over his extensive career, Tan's has performed as recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist at many of the world's leading concert halls including the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Carnegie Hall with such prestigious ensembles as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin's in the Fields, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg's Camerata and Mozarteum orchestras, Melbourne Symphony and toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. More recently, Tan has made regular appearances with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the London Chamber Orchestra, recording Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 on the orchestra's LCO Live label.

"It wasn't until I enrolled in the Royal College in London in 1974. I had to choose a second study, so I chose the harpsichord; I became fascinated. At that time I was given a break by the BBC, which asked me to participate in a recording involving an obbligato part on the fortepiano, a rather difficult concertante fortepiano part. I had never played one, but they especially wanted it to be done with a fortepiano rather than a modem grand piano. As I was making some BBC recordings on the harpsichord, they thought I might be interested.

"They lent me a fortepiano to practice for a week. And I just fell in love with the sound. I found the clarity of the sound so new. It was like having my ears washed out. And I found that I could play Mozart and Haydn's sonatas in a way which was so much more natural to me"

Tan's decision in 1980 to specialise in fortepiano was brave and forward-looking at the time being one of the first to take it on during the Early Music renaissance. He forged an enlightened artistic partnership with Roger Norrington and the London Classical Players, which intensified in 1987 during the course of a landmark international tour of Europe, America, Canada, Australia and Japan. He continued on to make many groundbreaking period instrument recordings with labels such as EMI and Harmonia Mundi.

The Australian Haydn Ensemble, one of Australia's leading period instrument Orchestras, presents a program inspired by the beauty and romance of classical Paris exploring the fascinating connections of the then city that draw together Mozart, Chevalior de Saint George, Haydn & Marie Antoinette. Along with Tan, they perform Mozart's wonderful keyboard concerto No. 18, written for the Blind Parisian pianist Maria Theresa von Paradis. Audiences will also be treated to the Australian premiere of a symphony by the legendary C18th African Parisian violinist, director, swordsman and composer - Chevalier de Saint-Georges along with Haydn's Symphony No. 85 'La Reine' (The Queen) - said to be so nick- named as it was the favourite of the doomed Queen Marie Antoinette.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

Canberra

The Albert Hall

Thursday 29 June, 7:00pm

Tickets: $35-$60

Bookings 1800 334 388

www.australianhaydn.com.au/events/2017/6/29/melvyn-tan-haydns-paris

Sydney

City Recital Hall

Saturday 1 July, 7:00pm

Tickets: $40-$95

Bookings (02) 8256 222

www.australianhaydn.com.au/events/2017/6/29/melvyn-tan-haydns-paris