Musical melange has a French twist

A MELBOURNE-based music duo is set to present a varied program including French art songs at Langley Estate in their performance Mirror Mirror. 

The pair is pianist Lily Begg, originally from Bendigo, and opera singer Alex Owens. 

“Alex and I have been playing together just this year, and we had our debut recital together about a month ago now, in Melbourne, as part of St George’s Music Marathon,” said Begg. 

“We did a recital there, and then this recital at Langley; we’re taking it on tour. We’re doing nearly the same program. 

“The recital’s really been a collaboration with both of us.” 

The diverse program will have something to please all music tastes, said Begg. 

“The program’s a bit of a smorgasbord,” she said.  

“We’ve got a little French bracket, we’re doing some [Claude] Debussy and some [Gabriel] Fauré, and a little work by Lili Boulanger, who’s sort of a lesser-known composer, but that piece is a bit of a gem in the program. 

“Then we’ve put it along with some art song favourites; [Robert] Schumann and [Richard] Strauss and [Sergei] Rachmaninoff as well in there. 

Together, the pieces lend to reflections on love, death, and longing, said Begg, hence the name, Mirror Mirror. 

“Because it’s all sort of musically eclectic, we’re really just tying it together with this idea of reflections,” she said. 

“It came from particular lyrics in the Fauré and the Boulanger as well, there are quite a few references to reflections and mirrors.” 

Mirror Mirror will go from 3pm to 4pm on Saturday 19 November. 

Tickets to the performance can be found via bit.ly/3FIVssj.