The eagle-eyed will notice that violinist Lizzy Welsh is drawing her bow across some unusual instruments in these three distinct hour-long concerts. For the Melbournian’s duo Harken Well, she is joined by Laura Moore on viola da gamba and Baroque cello, and uses a mellow-sounding Baroque violin, strung with gut instead of steel. For her duo Outlier, in which she and violone player Chloë Smith give an experimental take to Renaissance instruments – she’ll be playing her treble viol.
Harken Well’s And the light shines through darkness features the works of 17th Century German chamber composers such as Schmelzer, Buxtehude, Erlebach and Capricornus. The duo’s other concert, Music & Murder, focuses on problematic Renaissance and Baroque composers such as Tarquinio Merula (who preyed upon his students) or Carlo Gesualdo (who killed his wife), to provoke discussion around the ethics of listening to musicians with monstrous reputations. Harken Well will also be joined by guest continuo artists for their concerts.
As Outlier, Welsh and Smith will light up the Castlemaine Town Hall with projections and maximise the acoustics using experimental techniques with music composed especially for Castlemaine State Festival.
