2015 Annual Report

2015 Annual Report Patron His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC Our mission is to: Deliver an international chamber music festival and related experiences to Townsville Enrich the cultural life of North Queensland; and Create compelling reasons for diverse audiences to visit from across Australia and around the world We aim to enrich lives, educate and excite people about chamber music by presenting great artists in innovative and creative programming. We value: Artistic Integrity Engagement Education Professionalism Openness Accountability Piotr Anderszewski Our Strategic Objectives are to: Create a unique festival experience Educate and enrich key stakeholders from artists and audiences to sponsors and supporters. Grow and diversify our audiences Increase consumer awareness and Festival audience through effective marketing and communications and innovative music programs of a broad repertoire that appeal to a wide audience. Secure long-term sustainability Maintain a sound business model and operating system that guarantees future financial stability and a successful artistic programme Australian Festival of Chamber Music - Annual Report 2015 Page 1 Chair’s Message The 25th anniversary of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music was an exciting affair. Our enhanced community engagement strategy saw a wonderful free concert in Queen’s Park with more than 4,000 people enjoying a relaxed and engaging afternoon with the stars of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, ably supported by the 1 RAR Band, and the Barrier Reef Orchestra. The Festival garnered respectful reviews in national and international media, and as ever, we received excellent support from local media, particularly the Townsville Bulletin. Government funding is becoming both more uncertain, and harder to obtain. This has made long-term planning difficult, and we are particularly grateful for the ongoing financial support of AFCM members, our gold pass holders, and our artist sponsors. Your contribution is critical to our long-term future, and we are grateful for your very practical demonstrated commitment. In 2016, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the appointment of Piers Lane AO as our Artistic Director. Piers is an inspirational leader, and his vision and artistic integrity have been critical to our development. This year we also welcomed our new Executive Director Justin Ankus, replacing the indefatigable Sue Hackett, who has returned to her Sydney home. Justin has embraced Townsville life with enthusiasm and is already making an important contribution to our little company. Our most critical challenge is now to secure a permanent home for the Festival. We need a purpose-built concert hall large enough to accommodate our growing audience, but appropriate to the needs of the intimate chamber music style of performance. We also need an appropriate home for Concert Conversations - now too popular to continue in its current format. We have already begun negotiations with interested parties, but clearly this will be a long and complex process. In closing, I must acknowledge the work of our many supporters and volunteers. To my colleagues on the Board of AFCM, thank you for your diligence and commitment; to our staff – you perform miracles every year, your energy and professionalism are an inspiration to us all; to our volunteers – your problem-solving, can-do attitude ensures that the operation of the Festival is smooth and stress-free for our artists; to our sponsors, funders, and in-kind suppliers, warm thanks for your very practical help – and the biggest thank you of all – to our members – you are the AFCM – and your warm appreciation each year, and your very practical support makes it all worthwhile. Thank you all, and I look forward to seeing you again at the 2016 Festival. Sandra Yates AO Chair AFCM, March 2016 Artistic Director’s Message I felt constrained to produce a particularly noteworthy, classy, entertaining, celebratory AFCM in 2015, for our 25th anniversary year. It felt important to provide a programme that would attract maximum attendance; that would be memorable as Sue Hackett’s last AFCM in the role of General Manager; that would feature a heady mix of great international and Australian musicians both new to the festival and well-known to our audiences; that would attempt to broaden our audience and involve more local members than usual; that would continue to be relevant to young and old and in-between and that would be seen as aspirational and inspirational. In the event, the Festival produced a huge buzz and most of these goals were achieved, though not without a huge investment of effort on the part of everyone involved in the administration and delivery of the Festival. The year- long preparations proved more fraught and problematic than ever before in all sorts of ways. The Board were keen that I should attract Superstar funding from the State Government, particularly with funding concerns in the latter part of 2014, when anticipated Australia Council funding was not forthcoming. That quest involved a lot of extra research and negotiation with international agents. The resultant inclusion in the festival of the legendary pianist Piotr Anderszewski was a coup. Internationally, his name and what he represents (artistry of the highest order and integrity) adds lustre to our brand and increases our credibility in the musical world. I was delighted by the lineup of artists this year. There was an engaging mix of the previously tried and tested and well-loved, alongside a raft of faces new to the festival. All proved successful and some were utterly outstanding. The artists all seemed happy with their programmes and with each other. The Camerata of St Johns has won over any doubting Thomases from previous festivals. Their musical achievements and willingness to go the extra mile with repertoire, their ability to work without a conductor in very difficult pieces, not to mention working WITH conductor, against their own wishes, when other artists request it, ensures their viability at the festival in future years. The Families’ concert was again a terrific success, presenting Britten’s The Little Sweep. The effort by locals in its preparation was huge – Amy Zaghini and Anne Milanovic and the director are Li Wei Quin with Camerata of St. John’s massively to be thanked. The formula of presenting an opera with local children and amateurs involved is undoubtedly successful, but it requires an enormous amount of energy and patience and sheer hard work for months ahead of the presentation. The free outdoor concert in Queens Gardens was an unprecedented success. Some estimates put the audience at almost 5,000. It was held when maximum population was in Townsville for sports and other events. Whether that had an impact or not, it’s hard to know, but the atmosphere in the place was fabulous and a lot of new people must have heard the term ‘AFCM’ for the first time. The programme was ideal for the occasion, combining stars such as Cheryl Barker AO and Amy Dickson with the local Barrier Reef Orchestra and the 1RAR Band. The difficulty caused by the Army refusing us permission to use the expected canon in the ‘1812’, resulted in an even greater bringing together of the audience. The British comedian Part of the 4,000 strong crowd a the Queens Garden Concert Rainer Hersch, along with ABC presenter Damien Beaumont, were superb at uniting the audience in a fun way: his ideas of jangling keys for bells, of dividing the audience into French, Russian and Australian forces, with amusingly apt warcries – not to mention the brown paper bag canon shots from twelve sectors of the audience, cleverly identified by birth months - were ingenious and great fun. We gave three world premieres in Townsville this year – that is highly significant. The players involved in the performances did a superb job of both preparation and performance. It is difficult to prepare contemporary works in the festival setting – there is too little time to absorb and properly rehearse complex new scores. It is a compliment to us that the players involved were happy to meet up prior to the festival in some cases, in order to make the performances work. James Crabb and Tamara-Anna Cislowska spent a lot of time with Elena Kats- Chernin in Sydney and Dimity and Julian Smiles put up David Selig in Sydney to rehearse David Sampson’s new work with its commissioner, David Elton. The piece was substantial and the composer thrilled with the level of its performance. Elena Kats-Chernin was also delighted with the exalted level of performance her new piece received. Audience and players alike found the new work successful and exciting. Jack Liebeck and I shall take part in its Wimbledon festival performance in November this year and I shall also likely play in its three US appearances next year. The Three Dancers proved well worth our investment in its commissioning. Robert Keane’s new wind quintet, with its Shakespearean portraits dedicated to John Bell, also went over wonderfully well with the audience. The Long Table Lunch was a happy alternative to the Chefs in the North dinner. The setting was shady and picturesque, overlooking gloriously blue sea with a view to Magnetic Island, the food excellent and the ambience generally relaxed and congenial. The audiences were larger than ever, reflected in the best Box Office we have achieved to date, and the programme was commended as the favourite one yet. It was a huge compliment to the AFCM that His Excellency, the Governor of Queensland, the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, and his wife, attended events on the first two days. It was also gratifying that the Federal James Crab at the Long Table Lunch Minister for the Arts and Attorney General, George Brandis, attended what he could fit in of the Festival – a masterclass one day and a Concert Conversation the next.

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