• Lutenist : Tommie Andersson
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• Elena Kats-Chernin
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• The 2008 Aurora Festival

FREE concert : Tommie Andersson performing four new Australian works for lutes

LISTEN : on-air and on-line to the broadcast at 8pm Tuesday 22 April on ABC Classic FM

n Renaissance and early Baroque times the lute was the instrument of choice for accompanying songs and for intimate solo suites re-working the dance music of the day. Lutes also flourished in the continuo sections of Baroque orchestras, but with the appearance of the piano and the changing nature of the orchestra the lute fell out of use and its music was largely forgotten.

In the last half-century the growing interest in early music has lead to the re-discovery of the beauties of the lute repertoire and a parallel re-awakening of lute manufacture and playing skills as musicians strive to present this music afresh. With its intimacy, wide pitch range and subtlety of expression, the lute is poised to inspire a corresponding flowering of contemporary music to challenge today’s players and to explore the full potential of this instrument in the context of contemporary musical tastes.

ABC Classic FM, with the support of ABC Radio Development, commissioned four Australian composers to create new solo works for lute, and commissioned master Australian lutenist Tommie Andersson to work with the composers to bring these new works into being.

Talk about Lute

Composers Talk

© 2008 ABC