STYLE WORKSHOP

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Style Workshop is designed to provide an in-depth exploration of a musical style - to give you a palette of experiences so that you can embrace the increasingly flexible nature expected of 21st century musicians.

Back by popular demand, leading Australian keyboardist and music historian Geoffrey Lancaster will return to direct the 2009 Style Workshop, and will again focus on performance practice of the Classical era.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn how to interpret classical musical notation, build stylistic awareness and explore musical customs of the time.

“Historically inspired performance is a vital key to understanding notation, and enables a score to be read, understood, and interpreted in a richly contextualised way.” Geoffrey Lancaster

Repertoire to include:
Haydn Symphony No.49 in F minor, La passione
Mozart Symphony No.31 in D major, K297, Paris
Haydn Symphony No.94 in G major, Surprise

MUSIC DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Lancaster

For the past 30 years, Geoffrey Lancaster has been at the forefront of the historically-informed performance practice movement.

Geoffrey Lancaster appears regularly as conductor and soloist with all of Australia’s major orchestras. He is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, and Artistic Director and fortepianist with Ensemble of the Classic Era.

The most distinguished Australian pianist of his generation, Lancaster has featured as concerto soloist with major orchestras including the Gürzenich Orchestra Köln, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 415 of Geneva, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra of Toronto, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has directed the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, and since 1987 has been principal guest director of the Tasmanian Symphony Chamber Players.

As a recording artist, Geoffrey’s 30 CDs with ABC Classics, Tall Poppies, Sony Classical, and Supraphon have won critical acclaim and many awards including a Gramophone award for Best Recording, the ARIA Best Classical Recording, and Soundscapes Editor’s Choice. Geoffrey is currently recording the complete keyboard sonatas of Joseph Haydn.

Geoffrey Lancaster was the first Australian to win a major international keyboard competition, receiving First Prize in the 23rd Festival van Vlaanderen International Mozart Fortepiano Competition, Brugge.

A graduate of the Canberra School of Music, Lancaster studied fortepiano with Stanley Hoogland at the Royal Conservatorium of The Hague.  He also holds a masters degree in music from the University of Tasmania, and a research doctorate from Sydney University. An inspiring teacher and public intellectual, he undertakes regular residencies at significant European conservatoria including the Royal Conservatorium of the Hague, the Sweelinck Conservatorium of Amsterdam, Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music, the Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg, and the Basel Musik Akademie. He also facilitates, conducts and teaches on a regular basis for the Australian National Academy of Music.

In 1996, Geoffrey Lancaster was Associate Professor at the Royal College of Music, London. Since 2002 he has been at the Australian National University where he is Professor, and since 1999 has been visiting Professor of fortepiano at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland.

Lancaster received the Australian Artists Creative Fellowship from the Commonwealth of Australia for his outstanding artistic contribution to the nation. He was subsequently awarded the HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship by the Australian National University. In 2006 Geoffrey Lancaster was named Australian of the Year for the Australian Capital Territory, and was awarded the Order of Australia for service to the arts and education. In 2007, Geoffrey was appointed Honorary Professor of the University of Tasmania, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators.