PREVIEW: Australian percussion ensemble to perform in Tucson

It might be a first for an American chamber festival — the participation of a foreign government. Australia kicked in money to send the country’s premier percussion ensemble, Synergy Percussion; its leading Aboriginal didgeridoo player, Will Barton; and Australian composer Ross Edwards to Tucson’s 15th anniversary festival.

Arizona Friends of Chamber Music President Jean-Paul Bierny said the Australian contingent was recruited to Tucson by the festival’s artistic director, Peter Rejto, who lives in Australia. The Australian government and its Council for the Arts kicked in funding to cover the group’s travel costs.

Bierny says the festival’s theme is commonwealth. The Australian ensemble performs a special concert Monday and will close it next Sunday. The final piece to be performed is the world premiere of Edwards’ commissioned piece, “Tucson Mantras,” one of two Friends’ commissions premiering during the weeklong festival that kicks off Sunday.

“It is extraordinary. It is not only very good, very well-crafted music, but it really has the feeling and sounds of the Outback — local birds, local forest. It is just extraordinary,” Bierny said, describing the work.

This is Synergy’s first U.S. trip and will be its only appearance in the country, Bierny said. The group volunteered to perform on Monday, a day that normally doesn’t feature a nighttime concert. “They are sensational,” Bierny said. “(The concert) will be entirely Australian. And some of the pieces were composed for them or by them. That’s going to be a dynamite evening.”

Rejto also invited critically acclaimed violinist Lara St. John to join the 20-member-strong festival musician lineup. This marks St. John’s second Tucson appearance in five months. She made her Old Pueblo debut with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra last November.

In an interview before that concert, St. John said she met Rejto at a chamber festival in Australia. At the time, she didn’t know that she would also be performing with the TSO.

“It all just sort of happened. It’s cool, actually,” she said in that interview. “It’s very Southwest for me this year. It’s going to inspire me to go looking for rugs. I’ve always loved especially the Navajo and the Southwestern style.”

The festival also will premiere Canadian composer Kelly Marie Murphy’s String Quartet on Sunday. Arizona Friends, whose critically acclaimed festival has spun off 18 recordings, is renowned for its aggressive commissioning program. Commissions are paid entirely by audience members. Over the past 10 years, the program has premiered an impressive 32 new works.

“By itself, that is already unique for an American chamber music society. But every single one of those pieces, including the future ones, has been paid for by people in our audience — no help from the National Endowment for the Arts or the Arizona Commission on the arts, just our audience.” In January the Friends premiered Ellen Zwellick’s commissioned Quintet for Saxophone and String Quartet, with saxophonist Ashu and the Chicago Chamber Musicians.

“At the end, there was a complete standing ovation. That was the first time a piece like that was composed,” Bierny said. “Because it was so good, we already programmed it to be played by the Pacifica String Quartet and Ashu during our ’09 festival.”

Preview

• 15th annual Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival

• When: Sunday-March 9. Concerts are at 8 p.m. weeknights, 3 p.m. Sundays. At 6 p.m. March 8, the festival will move to the Arizona Inn for its annual Gala Dinner and Concert featuring festival musicians.

• Where: Concerts are at Leo Rich Theatre, 260 S. Church Ave., Downtown.

• Tickets: Festival pass, which includes five concerts and the Gala Dinner, $265 per person; Gala Dinner only, $150 per person; pass for five concerts, $120 per person; individual concerts, $25, $10 for students at the door.

• Details: 577-3769; or online at www.arizonachambermusic.org.

• Good deal: Open dress rehearsals are 9 a.m.-noon on concert days. Admission is free.