7.30pm, Saturday 3rd September 2016
@ Apollo Bay Community Centre, 4 Whelan St
Because of the Apollo Bay connection of violinist Jo Beaumont, we are most fortunate to present a concert by two eminent musicians.
The violin and harp are beautifully matched as duet instruments. The program will include varied works from Rossini to modern Argentinian tango.
Jo Beaumont
Raised in Melbourne, Jo Beaumont furthered her violin studies in Italy and was appointed Deputy Leader of the Orchestra of the famous La Scala Opera House in Milan, where she also played under the greatest conductors of this era. She was also Professor of Violin at the Verdi Conservatorium of Music.
Returning to Australia in 2000, Jo became Concertmaster and Artistic Director of Orchestra Victoria. She is now a freelance violinist and artistic consultant.
Julie Raines
Julie Raines has a rich and impressive record as a harpist in Australia, Germany and the US. After leaving Melbourne, she studied at the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York. This was followed by a long period in Germany playing in its most outstanding orchestras and under the most famous conductors of our time. Returning to Melbourne, she became the Principal Harp of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Julie began piano studies at the age of four and with a natural talent for music, progressed to the harp at eleven, learning from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s former Principal Harpist, Mr Huw Jones. At sixteen, she won first prize in Channel 10’s Showcase and at seventeen was awarded first prize in ABC’s Commonwealth Instrumental and Vocal Competition (now known as the Young Performers Award). She subsequently performed with all the major ABC orchestras as soloist and guest principal.
From 1971 to 1973, she studied with the renowned harpist and composer Marcel Grandjany at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and after the first year won the Juilliard Harp Competition playing Debussy’s Danse sacrC)e et danse profane.
Moving to Germany in 1975 she was appointed Solo Harpist with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and State Opera, often appearing as soloist and also touring many countries including the former USSR, South America, Scotland, Switzerland, Japan and East Germany. Julie Raines was a member of the prestigious Wagner Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and was guest artist with the Berlin, Munich, Hanover and Copenhagen State Operas and the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg. She also performed on the Deutsche Gramophon recording of Brahms’ Four Songs for voices, two horns and harp with the North German Radio Chorus.
Among the many notable conductors with whom she has performed are Karl BC6hm, Wolfgang Sawallish, Ferdinand Leitner, Lorin Maazel, Carlos Kleiber, Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Eugene Ormandy, Carlo Maria Giulini, Rafael Kubelik, Horst Stein and Mstislav Rostropovich. For the 1986 Florence May Festival, she was selected to play the solos on the special steel-stringed Beckmesser harp in the Florence Opera production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger with Zubin Mehta conducting.
As well as her orchestral commitments, Julie was harp tutor at the Hamburg and LC Julie returned to Melbourne in 1988 as Principal Harp in the Orchestra Victoria and to teach at The Victorian College of the Arts and The University of Melbourne. In 1994 Julie was appointed to the position of Principal Harp with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Julie retired from the MSO in 2013 to complete a light music CD and to continue freelance work and teaching. Tickets – $25B available from Bay of Apostles, Galapagos Books & Great Ocean Properties BOOKINGS ESSENTIALB b make a table of 10 or join another. BYO supper and drinks. All proceeds go towards our grants program which goes back to the community.
