Australia Ensemble UNSW 2025: Concert 3
In music from Russia, the US, Britain and here, composers reflect on the majesty and beauty of the natural world, while considering the joy and sadness of human experience.
GRENFELL Poems of a Bright Moon (2000)
FINZI Five Bagatelles (1942)
CRUMB Vox Balaenae (1971)
ARENSKY Piano Trio no. 1 Op. 32 (1894)
David Griffiths, clarinet; Dimity Hall, violin; Julian Smiles, cello; with guest artists Joshua Batty, flute; Beatrice Colombis, violin; Tobias Breider, viola and David Fung, piano
Anton Arensky’s death at 45 robbed Russian music of a great composer. In the dramatic contrasts and mastery of form in his Piano Trio of 1894, the music surges like tides, contrasting with passages of exquisite clarity and fleet-footed energy. At its heart is an elegy for a young cellist, whose instrument is allowed to sing its lament.
Gerald Finzi described his Bagatelles as mere trifles, yet they hum with gentle nostalgia, especially in this arrangement for clarinet quintet by Christian Alexander.
Eighth-century Chinese poet Li Po mourned human impermanence but created indelible images of mountains and rivers, clouds and the moon. Australian composer Maria Grenfell’s Poems of Bright Moon renders some of these images in music of lapidary clarity.
George Crumb turned to the larger rhythms of nature for his masterpiece Vox Balaenae, in which the songs of whales and sea birds against the endless roiling of the sea are by turns majestic and haunting.
Student Rush Tickets available at the door from 6pm on August 30, 2025.
VENUE INFORMATION
Sir John Clancy Auditorium is located at UNSW Sydney's Kensington Campus.
ACCESS
Wheelchair Access
The closest accessible drop off point to the Sir John Clancy Auditorium is at Gate 9, High Street. More information on getting there can be found via our interactive accessibility map available here.
Contact
To book and discuss access services, please call the Music Performance Unit on (02) 9385 5243 or via email cmc@unsw.edu.au
PUBLIC TRANSPORT & PARKING
The Sir John Clancy Auditorium is easily accessible via public transport. The closest light rail stop is the UNSW High Street (L2 line) and the closest bus stop is UNSW Gate 8, High Street (348, 370, 390X). For more information please call the Transport Infoline on 131 500 or visit transportnsw.info.
Free parking is also available in the Botany St Car Park (Gate 11) from 5pm. For access to free parking, event patrons must park in the UNSW Permit Holder bays, available on all levels. The Botany St Car Park (Gate 11) parking station is located here.
Paid casual and visitor parking is offered via the CellOPark App and ‘pay by plate meters’ in all other UNSW car parks. For more information head here.
CONTACT
For all enquiries please email the Music Performance Unit at cmc@unsw.edu.au.