Tamborine man: Tim Munro invites us to the SXS Chamber Music Festival
Southern Cross Soloists’ Bangalow Music Festival was an annual favourite but it’s morphed into a festival much closer to home on Tamborine Mountain.
Southern Cross Soloists’ 22nd SXS Chamber Music Festival is set to unfold over three days in mid-August at Shambala Estate, Tamborine Mountain – on the land of the Wangerriburra people – a place of outstanding natural beauty.
The festival is presented in association with Shambala Estate and continues its celebrated Queensland chapter, bringing together 14 outstanding artists across nine events in an intimate, immersive setting just one hour from Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
We asked festival director and three-time Grammy Award-winning flautist Tim Munro about this year’s event:
Is there a theme to this year’s festival?
The theme is family. It emerged organically. When I first approached the heavenly soprano Sara Macliver and the heavenly pianist Aura Go, they immediately mentioned each other. They love each other as people and musicians. And both adore working with Southern Cross Soloists clarinettist Ash Smith. And then Aura mentioned cellist Timo-Veikko (“Tipi”) Valve. And then Tipi mentioned Glenn Christiansen (of the Lyrebird Trio). And then the members of the Lyrebird Trio are kind of each other’s family, and then … and then …
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A beautiful web of connections, reminding me that musicians often view each other as a kind of “chosen” family.
Then, quite by accident, the artists themselves started suggesting programs with family connections. We have the Mendelssohn’s — Fanny and Felix, the beloved brother and sister who were both incredibly talented musicians — on one program. We have Nadia and Lili Boulanger, a composing duo of sisters from the early 20th century in France. And then, we have our own Tambourine family, the Tambourine Mountain Orchestra, who have become really close collaborators with the festival.
How do you approach programming?
Chamber music festivals are a very special part of the musical landscape. An important reason for that is they bring musicians together to, well, quite frankly, to have a great musical time. When planning a fest my first thought is always, how do we get the best human musicians together to have a musical party? When musicians are having fun, that communicates to an audience … then suddenly they are have a great time.
Is the environment part of the festival allure? What’s so special about Tamborine? Are there literary and musical connections to it historically?
Tamborine is a magical place. The feeling of driving up the mountain is of sloughing off the grit and intensity of the city and the salt-spray of the coast and entering a wonderland. Last year we created an entire program around the birdsong of the area, and this year we have a “secret concert” where audience members will be taken to parts of the Shambala Estate for an intimate concert in nature.
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The area is rich with the aura of artists from the past and present. Poets, artists, hippies, professionals, musicians. It’s a heady mix on the mountain. And we are delighted to work with many of them through our collaborations with the Tamborine Mountain Orchestra.
Tell me a couple of this year’s highlights and will you be playing?
Too many to name, of course! I’ll give a highlight from each artist: the angel Sara Macliver performing Mozart’s most angelic soprano work, Exultate Jubilate; Aura Go and Timo-Veikko Valve in furious and delightful musical conversation with Beethoven; the Lyrebird Trio playing Mendelssohn’s exquisite Songs Without Words; Ash Smith playing his favourite piece of music, Debussy’s Première rhapsodie. I’m starting the Saturday afternoon concert with the most luscious work ever written for the flute, Debussy’s Syrinx.
Has taking the festival across the border and back into Queensland worked?
Bangalow looms large in our past and in our hearts. We do love being closer to home, which allows us to have deeper relationships with the local community. For instance, I am visiting the region six times this year, going into the schools and libraries and playing with the TMO.
Are there any surprises in the pieces being played or any new compositions?
I hope that one surprise will be how gorgeous the music by living composers is. The music of Anne Cawrse is radiant and beautiful; the music of Brian Nabors rocks seriously hard; and the music of Jessie Montgomery has a deep and beautiful heart.
Is the aim to grow the festival or maintain a more boutique size and flavour?
The aim is to build and maintain a festival that can speak to visitors from interstate as well as to the local community. Keeping that balance right will hopefully ensure that the size will be … just right!
SXS Chamber Music Festival, Shambala Estate, Tamborine Mountain, August 14-16.
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