Orchestra tunes up for tour of Europe

THE Ballarat Wind Orchestra (BWO) will have a final tune-up for its European tour with a concert at the Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts on Sunday 8 June.

Founding BWO conductor Mario Dobernig will helm the Ballarat Abroad concert, with mezzo soprano Sally-Anne Russell the guest performer.

The tour of Europe, under the banner of Marie D’Australie, has five concert performances scheduled in France and Italy.

The BWO will be the premier guest at Music in the Vineyards near Angers in the Loire Valley and will perform during the opening night of the Festival des Anches d’Azur in La Croix Valmer, both in France.

Other dates include an appearance at Chiesa di San Massimo (the Church of San Massimo) in Turin and a concert with the River Boys musical group from Trento at the Riva del Garda resort in the Italian lakes district.

The BWO, formed in 2009, has more than 30 members – primarily music teachers, university students and other musicians drawn from Ballarat region symphonic and brass bands.

It has premiered new Australian works and has collaborated with organisations such as Victoria Chorale and the Ballarat Choral Society to present Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and Mozart’s Requiem in both Ballarat and Melbourne.

The orchestra has organised previous international tours to Europe in 2011 and 2018, and to China in 2014.

Apart from being the orchestra’s founding conductor, Dobernig is artistic director and conductor in chief of the Art of Sound Orchestra, the Victoria Chorale and the co-artistic director of the Albury Chamber Music Festival.

Russell, meanwhile, has performed in 25 countries and has more than 80 operatic roles and an extensive list of recordings to her credit.

The Ballarat Abroad show will start at 4pm and tickets start at $15. They are available at wcpa.com.au or by phoning 5338 0980.