AMATORI ORCHESTRA
The concert opens with two movements of Mozart’s beloved Clarinet concerto with soloist Elena Marcigot. A very cheeky first movement followed by a slow movement so tragic yet beautiful in mood – just as, for example, in ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ which juxtaposes all the comic and satirical songs with the painfully beautiful Countess’s aria. Operatic in mood, and not a note out of place.
Then the first two movements of Tchaikovsky’s 5 th symphony. Here the full orchestra indulges itself in super romantic tunes with almost all the instruments having juicy bits to play. The ballet like textures continually move from dark to luscious, to boisterous, and round again.
Finally Ayesha Gough will be the soloist in Beethoven’s third piano concerto, sometimes called a symphonic concerto, the orchestra and the highly virtuosic piano part at times alternating, and then interlocking; always with typical Beethoven certainty of direction.
AMATORI ORCHESTRA
IAN Knowles, DIRECTOR
DATE & TIME
SATURDAY, 21 NOVEMBER
3:00 PM
SUNDAY, 22 NOVEMBER
3:00 PM
TICKETS
GENERAL $35
CONCESSION $30
ELENA MARCIGOT, Clarinet
Elena has been playing woodwinds for over 30 years. Her musical experience is incredibly broad.
Classically trained on the clarinet, she then explored a variety of music genres, from world music to folk, from flamenco to reggae, from dance to dub/electronic, and much more.
Elena (also known as MsEleneous) currently lives in the Northern Rivers and performs with various artists (resident performer with Felicity Lawless, Jesse Morris & the Shakedown, Sky Eater, Hayley Grace & The Bay Collective, Meninas da Lua, Batala Byron Bay, Priscila Rios, Naked Ninja, Trilla).
Elena is currently teaching at Byron Bay Public and
Pottsville Beach Public Schools, at Resonator Music & Tuition Ballina and also privately.
MsEleneous believes in an unique path of discovery and exchange with each student and is a strong advocate of music being a powerful creative healer.
She graduated in clarinet from the Conservatory of Music in Padova, Italy, at the early age of 17 and then she continued perfecting with masters of the calibre of Antony Pay and Luca Lucchetta. She was invited by Prof. Thomas Friedli to continue her studies at the prestigious Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva, Switzerland. She graduated with the Soloist Diploma in 2001.
Elena performed with several Ensembles in Europe, and on an ongoing basis (as a special guest) with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto.
After mastering the classical clarinet, Elena soon became interested in expanding her experience. She fell in love with the Saxophone and since then travelled, taught and performed in a variety of projects in Europe, South America and Australia, where she landed 14 years ago. In recent years, she also included the flute in the array of
instruments she can play
AYESHA GOUGH, PIANO
Australian pianist Ayesha Gough is known for her captivating performances, combining superb technique with deeply emotional interpretations.
Her performance with the Russian National Orchestra, under the baton of Mikhail Pletnev, was described by Moscow’s Musical Life Magazine as virtuosic and sensitive.
First prize-winner at the 2015 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, Ayesha has performed with the Queensland Symphony, the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony, and the Queensland Pops Orchestra under such conductors as Edvard Tchivzhel, Nicholas Braithwaite, Daniel Carter, and Marco Bellasi. Her recital opportunities have taken her throughout Australia, as well as New Zealand, Italy, Japan, and China. She regularly works with the Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra and the Coolamon Singers.
Ayesha has developed her own style of unique and engaging performances grounded in traditional pianism. As the recipient of the 2022 Michael Kieran Harvey Scholarship, she created the project ‘Landings’, an exploration of the Australian landscape via improvisation, videography, and poetry. More of Ayesha’s compositions can be found on SoundCloud.
Ayesha studied under Oleg Stepanov for 10 years, both at a pre-tertiary and tertiary level at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. Throughout 2018, she continued study in Italy with Boris Petrushansky at the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale “Incontri col Maestro”. In 2020, she graduated from the Royal College of Music, London, with a Masters with Distinction. At RCM she studied with Andrew Zolinsky and Gordon Fergus-Thompson whilst undertaking research concerned with pushing the boundaries of the piano recital.
She has been awarded the Theme and Variations Foundation Award, the Brisbane Club Award, the QCGU Postgraduate Prize, the Ena Williams Award, the Joyce Campbell Lloyd Scholarship, the Allison/Henderson Scholarship, and in early 2017 she participated in the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy. Ayesha has been supported by Variety, the Children’s Charity, of which she is an International Ambassador.
‘The Pitjantjatjara showed me that to sing and dance the lives of one’s ancestors and to pass these forms on to others is a meaningful way to live a life’.
‘By virtue of the singers, players and audiences who share this music appreciation, I have a very happy life, much of it as a community musician.’
IAN KNOWLES – DIRECTOR
Ian played piano from the age of seven, gained a B.Mus. in music Education at Adelaide Conservatorium and studied cello for many years afterwards to pursue chamber music, especially the large string quartet repertoire.
Following an opportunity to work on a cross cultural music program via Adelaide University’s Dept. Ethnomusicology, he spent many years learning to sing and dance Pitjantjatjara corroborees.
However, after many years learning from his Pitjantjajtara teachers, it became imperative to find his own totemic ancestors and thence he plunged back into the culture through which one can grow most deeply, the culture of one’s birth and training, which meant Bach, Beethoven and that tradition of the most demanding and rewarding of Western music masters.
Hence the starting of the Amatori singing group and later Amatori orchestra in Mullumbimby, with the two aims of providing an opportunity for singers and players to enter more deeply into the better known works of the top composers, and to provide local audiences with opportunities to hear this wonderful music live.