Australian Embassy and Mission to the European Communities
Belgium-Luxembourg
Embassy address: Rue Guimardstraat 6-8, 1040 Brussels - Telephone: +32 (0) 2 286 0500 - Fax: +32 (0) 2 231 07 88

Previous Events

► Australian ceramics, 17 November-22 December 2007

Australian artist Victor Greenaway has an exhibition of contemporary ceramics at Puls Gallery from 17 November until 22 December 2007. Address: Kasteleinsplein 4 Place du Châtelain 1050 Brussels. Opening hours Wed to Sat, 13h to 18h. For more information, see www.pulsceramics.com.


► ABIE Christmas Dinner, 7 December 2007

Friday 7 December 2007 at 19h, at the Royal Golf Club, Avenue de Tervuren, 3080 Tervuren. Tickets 70 euros for members, 80 euros for non-members. For more information, contact ABIE by 3 December at abiebelgium@telenet.be.


► Davis Cup: Australia versus Belgium: First Round, 9-11 February 2007

Australia is to play Belgium in the Davis Cup First Round next year, on 9-11 February, in Liège, Belgium.

On Tuesday 30 January, the captain of the Australian team, John Fitzgerald, has announced that Lleyton Hewitt will lead the team. Chris Guccione, Peter Luczak and Paul Hanley have also been selected. The Australian team will come straight to Belgium after the Australian Open.

Australia is one of the most successful Davis Cup nations, having won the coveted title 28 times and finishing runner-up on 19 other occasions. In 2006, Australia was ranking 5 according to the ITF Davis Cup Nations ranking.

Venue
Country Hall du Sart-Tilman, Allée du Bol d'Air 13 - 4031 Angleur (Liège)
Stadium Capacity: 4000

Dates
09 February - 11 February 2007
Day 1: 1400 hrs
Day 2: 1500 hrs
Day 3: 1400 hrs

Tickets
Friday & Sunday: €25
Saturday: €20
3 Day ticket: €60

Tickets on sale from 27 November 2006

If you are interested in purchasing tickets, you should contact the Belgian organisers on +32 (0) 4 330 38 39.

Alternatively, you can contact Fenton Coull from Tennis Australia by email: fcoull@tennisaustralia.com.au or Dave McLatchey (The Fanatics, Tennis Australia’s supporter group in London) by email: mailto:dave@thefanatics.com

You may want to collect your tickets from Tennis Australia the day before on Thursday 8 February from their hotel in Liège.

Websites
Tennis Australia: www.tennisaustralia.com.au
Davis Cup: www.daviscup.com




► Australia Day 2007: ABIE and Australia Society - Function on 26 January

ABIE and the Australia Society invite you to join them for an extra Australia Day function to celebrate Australia Day 2007 on Friday 26 January at the Australian Embassy in Brussels.

Details of the event:

18.30 to 20.30
Australian Embassy and Mission to the European Union
Rue Guimardstraat 6-8
1040 Brussels

Drinks and 'nibbles' will be served.

10 euros for members; 15 euros for non members.

Registration required no later than Friday 19 January - RSVP: info@australiasociety or abiebelgium@pandora.be with your name and those who will accompany you.



► Australian Artist HEATHER FRAHN: Vocal Driven Conscious Lyric Acoustic Groove Roots Folk Music - TOURING FLANDERS IN DECEMBER 2006

The Australian musician and vocalist Heather Frahn, is coming to Belgium to perform her own brand of "vocal driven acoustic groove". She is a multi-award winning artist who fuels her music with a vibrant young woman's passion and delivers with a deep, dynamic voice that is undeniably her own.

She has been playing solo for over 10 years. She delivers with a unique combination of instruments featuring Heather's custom made "Salvi's" 8 stringed hybrid bass-baritone-guitar also played as a lap slide guitar, plus irish bouzouki and foot percussion.

Heather creates music based upon a universal oneness and unity for all people. Heather's lyrical motivation is to spread peace, hope & self empowerment through spiritual growth with life's challenges.

As some music review had it, her sound is toe tapping, layered and infectious.

PERFORMANCE DATES
2 December – 11pm, 't Ey, Koutermolenstraat 6b, 9111 Belsele
6 Decembe – 7pm, Art=Choc, Bosstraat, 2180 Ekeren
8 December – 8.15pm, CC Ter Vesten, Zwarte Dreef 2, 9120 Beveren, Heather Frahn supporting Yanah
9 December – 8.15pm, CC Leopoldsburg, Kastanjedreef 1, 3970 Leopoldsburg, Heather Frahn supporting Yanah
14 December - 9pm, Café Den Heksenketel,Pelgrimsstraat 22,2000
Antwerpen
16 December – 8.15pm, CC De Markthallen, Markt 2, 3540 Herk-de-Stad,
Heather Frahn supporting Ronny Mosuse

For more information please visit: www.heatherfrahn.com


 

► NAIDOC Week : ‘Respect the Past - Believe in the Future’ - 2 to 9 July 2006

What is NAIDOC?

NAIDOC has its origins in the fight for Aboriginal rights that began to gather pace in the 1920s and 1930s.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week, and its acronym has become the name of the week itself.

NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia in the first week of July each year to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Theme and Focus for 2006

The theme for NAIDOC 2006 is ‘Respect the Past - Believe in the Future’. The national focus city hosting this year’s National NAIDOC Awards and Ball on 8 July will be Cairns in Queensland .

The theme represents all that is best about NAIDOC Week:


As Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders celebrate NAIDOC Week this year with members of the wider Australian community, all will remember and respect the traditional and cultural heritage from countless generations of Indigenous people on this continent for over 50,000 years.

NAIDOC Week will also be a time for Indigenous people to think about the future they want to shape for themselves.

For more information on NAIDOC, please visit NAIDOC’s website on: http://www.naidoc.org.au 


► The Australian Youth Choir in Belgium - 31 May and 1 June 2006


The Australian Youth Choir will be touring Europe during spring time, and will perform in Belgium on 31 May 2006 (Brussels and Aalst) and on 1 June 2006 Ypres (Ieper).

On this year's tour, 33 girls and 17 boys from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are part of the tour.

The Choir have performed before HRH Prince Edward, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, and for His Holiness, the Pope John Paul II, and an audience of 10,000 people at the Vatican, Rome.

Concerts have also been given in some of the world’s finest Concert Halls and Cathedrals including the Duomo Florence, St Mark’s Basilica Venice, Notre Dame Paris, St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey London; St Patrick’s New York, the Rathaus, Augarten and Schonbrunn palaces in Vienna. They are the first Australian choir to perform at the distinguished Franz List Academy in Budapest in 1990.

All concerts are free.

Programme:

Wednesday 31 May 2006 – Brussels – 1300 hours

Eglise Notre-Dame du Finistère
Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Finisterrae
Rue Neuve – Nieuwstraat
1000 Brussels

Wednesday 31 May 2006 – Aalst – 2000 hours

Concert with Schola Cantorum Cantate Domino Boys Choir
Sint-Jozef kerk, Esplanadeplein,
9300 Aalst

Thursday 1 June 2006 – Ypres – 1230 hours

Outdoor concert
Front of the Town Hall or the Inner Court (Markt)

Thursday 1 June 2006 – Ypres – 2000 hours

Ypres – Menin Gate (Last Post Ceremony)

The Australian Youth Choir – background information:

The Australian Youth Choir comes under the umbrella of the National Institute of Youth Performing Arts Australia, which encourages young Australians, from all backgrounds to strive for excellence in the performing arts.

The Choir, since its inception in 1975, has achieved world-wide fame with over 18 highly successful international concert tours.

Concerts have also been given in some of the world’s finest Concert Halls and Cathedrals including the Duomo Florence, St Mark’s Basilica Venice, Notre Dame Paris, St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey London; St Patrick’s New York, the Rathaus, Augarten and Schonbrunn palaces in Vienna. They are the first Australian choir to perform at the distinguished Franz List Academy in Budapest in 1990.

The Australian Youth Choir confirmed its reputation as the finest Youth Choir to come from Australia when it performed at Carnegie Hall in 1995. They also appeared with the world famous Vienna Boys Choir during their Australian tour in 1997.

2005 was its 30th anniversary which the Choir celebrated with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in conjunction with Aled Jones and a massed choir of local London schools.

For more information please also refer to the Choir’s website: http://www.niypaa.com.au 


► Australia Day Concert - Western Australia Youth Orchestra - 24 April 2006


On the occasion of Australia Day 2006, the Western Australia Youth Orchestra gave a concert at the St Michael and Gudula Cathedral, in Brussels on the evening of 25 January 2006.

The Western Australia Youth Orchestra, also known as WAYO, was established in 1957 and is based in Perth . It has earned an enviable international reputation for its spectacular fusion of youthful vitality with professionalism and maturity. Its talented musicians provide Australia with one of its strongest cultural showpieces abroad. Over 10000 players have participated in various ensembles, including its symphony orchestra which will perform in Brussels.

The Orchestra has worked with conductors of the calibre of Vladimir Ashkenazy and Pinchas Zuckerman, and with soloists including Dame Joan Sutherland and Daniel Barenboim.

WAYO European tour 2006 saw the orchestra touring Paris, Brussels and London in January and February, performing works by Tchaikovsky and two Australian contemporary composers, Iain Grandage and Carl Vine.

Out of Time - Iain Grandage
Iain Grandage represents a new breed of Western Australian composer. He has a strong performance connection as a practicing musician and has written a hugely varied range of music from theatre pieces to operas, and from children’s pieces to full-scale large orchestral works. He has written for groups as diverse as Indigenous musicians, and is equally at home in front of an orchestra or a rock band.

Out of Time is a dramatic affirmation of life. It starts with a broad, full theme that conjures images of the breadth of Western Australia before settling into a mysterioso section which has an almost Indigenous and timeless feel. Three solo instruments are featured – the clarinet, cello and trumpet. The work concludes with a firm affirmation of faith, indicating belief in the continued good health and prosperity.

Oboe Concerto - Carl Vine
The work falls into two broad sections: the first is slow-fast-slow, the second fast-slow-fast. The piece opens in a deliberately minor mode, mostly with a flattened second. This 'arabesque' sound world is complemented by melodic arabesques that seem inordinately idiomatic on the oboe. This progresses smoothly into a regular motoric section that concludes with brilliant trills on the oboe.

The first part closes with a dirge built around a repetitive rhythmic cell that could be the beat either of a heart or of a funeral drum. The second, shorter, part opens in the same minor modality as the beginning of the piece, but this time in an energetic syncopated rhythm. This falls away abruptly to an un-measured melismatic solo and a brief cadenza before returning to close the work, this time in an unashamed major key.

Symphony no 4 in F minor, op 36 - Peter Tchaikovsky

i) Andante Sostenuto – Moderato con anima
ii) Andantino in modo di canzona
iii) Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato
iv) Allegro con fuoco

Symphony no 4 was commenced in late 1877 and completed in 1878. It was first performed in St Petersburg in February of 1878 at a Russian Musical Society concert. It has the standard four movements: The first movement represents fate, the second melancholy, the third has no definite programme and the fourth is a portrait of a folk holiday – image how it feels to be jolly. Hardly have you begun to have a good time when Fate again announces its approach. Others are not concerned with your suffering: only by rejoicing in the happiness of others is it possible to live… The first movement opens with a monumentally powerful fanfare in the horns and trumpets. This is the fate theme, and it dominates the movement. Marked Andante Sostenuto, it fills the listener with a great sense of foreboding, while the second movement, marked Andantino in modo di canzona is much gentler and reflective and is Tchaikovsky at his most lyrical. After the bubbly and effervescent 3rd movement (the famous Pizzicato ostinato) which almost feels out of character with the rest of the work, the symphony ends with the exuberant Allegro con fuoco, albeit punctuated by the return of the powerful fate theme from the first movement. The final movement is one of sheer technical wizardry as the woodwind and strings chase each other through a dazzling series of scalic passages punctuated by the brass with the Fate theme before ending in a blaze of tutti energy. Following its American premiere in 1890, the reviewer for the New York Post wrote: ‘The Fourth Tchaikovsky Symphony proved to be one of the most thoroughly Russian i.e. semi barbaric compositions ever heard in the city….’

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