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Activities

Welcome to the 25th and final

Taabinga
Spring Music Festival

Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 October 2008

The 2008 Taabinga Spring Music Festival marks the end of an era. After 25 festivals we have decided to change the way we offer music at Taabinga.  From 2009 we hope to present more intimate dinner concerts in the homestead and hold individual concerts from time to time in the barn.

To celebrate 25 festivals for patrons, musicians and ourselves we offer what we believe is a very special event in 2008.  This year’s program provides a glimpse of the future as well as highlighting some of the performance styles of previous years.

Taabinga Spring Music Festival was the inspiration of our patron Elizabeth Morgan who guided the early festivals until she handed over artistic direction to Spiros Rantos.  Spiros has performed at every festival and developed the program to its present form.  In Spiros’ words for a quarter of a century the sounds of great masters from the Baroque to contemporary, from recitals and chamber music to opera and music theatre have entertained many faithful followers and many new guests in the idyllic surroundings of one of the oldest homesteads in Queensland.  Many will remember the first Schubertiad which combined drama and music and later the introduction to the festival of one act opera.

There are too many delights to list and we are sure that everyone will cherish different moments in performance at this unique venue.

We invite you to join us ……

Concert 1 Saturday 4th October 2.30pm

The first concert features ‘old-timers’ Brachi Tilles, Jenni Fleming, Spiros Rantos and Gwyn Roberts.  They are joined with the ‘new’ generation, award winning 14 year-old violinist Nicholas Kaye-Smith and Master’s degree University of Queensland violist Frank Fodor in a romantic program of works by Schubert, Brahms and Dvorak.

Schubert’s B flat major Trio and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A major opus 81 are amongst the greatest compositions of chamber music.

Concert 2 Sunday 5th October 11.30am

The Sunday morning concert features Spiros Rantos and Brachi Tilles in a recital with works by Handel, the famous Sonata in A, Beethoven’s ‘Champagne Sonata’, Sonata number 8 in G major and an array of little surprises of favourite violin pieces.

Concert 3 Sunday 5th October 2.30pm

The celebration continues in the afternoon with an orchestral concert of the University of Queensland based chamber orchestra Corda.  Their program includes concertos of Vivaldi for 4 violins and 2 celli, Bach’s Brandenburg concerto number 3, Bach’s concerto for 2 violins with Spiros and Nicholas as soloists, Grieg’s Norwegian Dance and Faure’s Berceuse.

Homestead Concert Saturday 5th October 7pm

Tim Franklin Master’s degree Queensland Conservatorium saxophonist will be performing a mixture of classical and jazz pieces during an informal dinner concert in the homestead.

• the Saturday afternoon concert includes a delicious home made afternoon tea
• you are welcome to bring a picnic lunch on Sunday
• numbers are limited for the Homestead Concert
• we expect there will be a big demand for Festival tickets this year; if concerts are oversubscribed, we may have  seating for up to 20 people outside the barn for a reduced price; please let us know on the Booking Form if it is your preference to reserve an outside seat should all the inside seats be taken.

Contact details: Colin Marshall and Libby Leu, Taabinga Homestead, PO Box 843, Kingaroy 4610; phone/fax 07 4164 5531; e-mail

Functions

Taabinga Homestead’s gardens offer the perfect backdrop for wedding ceremonies and the Homestead and a variety of garden and outdoor settings give an extra dimension to wedding photos.

The Homestead dining room can be hired for small dinners, board meetings or get togethers. Ample verandah space caters for larger numbers.

Local Activities