A musical composition inspired by Blue Poles – you’d like to hear that?

Brisbane-born and raised international keyboardist Anthony Romaniuk’s Blue Poles was inspired by Jackson Pollock’s iconic painting and its premiere fits perfectly into the theme for Camerata’s concerts later this week, Old. New. Borrowed. Blue. This plays QPAC’s Concert Hall on Thursday night (August 20) before playing RPAC at Redlands and Armitage Theatre at The Empire in Toowoomba.

Romaniuk’s Blue Poles ticks two of the titular boxes because it’s new – and it’s blue.

“There’s a loose association with the artwork,” he says. “It was the most famous piece of art when I was growing up in Brisbane, and I have seen it in Canberra. Some elements of my composition are like it. It’s a little like Pollock’s drip technique – you’re not sure where one image ends and another begins.”

Romaniuk is back in Australia from Spain where he now lives with his wife, Spanish mezzo-soprano Victoria Cassano. The couple honeymooned on the Great Barrier Reef in January and have settled just outside Madrid.

For Romaniuk, this week’s performances are the first time he has played in and around Brisbane for quite a while. He grew up here, went to high school at St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace, but left Brisbane at 17 to study at the Manhattan School of Music in New York.

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His unique artistic voice flows from his continuous exploration of a vast range of musical styles. He once even had a job playing at a gospel church in the Big Apple. A natural musical polyglot, his classical training is complemented by his improvising prowess, allowing him to fluidly traverse the borders between genres.

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Growing up in Australia as a jazz obsessive, he studied classical piano and contemporary music in New York. Later he spent several years specialising in early music (harpsichord and fortepiano) in the Netherlands and, since then, has continued to evolve through the realms of improvisation and electronic music. We will hear music right across his repertoire at his concerts with Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra.

As a recitalist, his repertoire stretches from Byrd, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms (often on historical instruments) to Ligeti, Adams and contemporary music. He collaborates regularly with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and is a core member of Vox Luminis.

He has played at many important concert venues in Europe, including Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie de Paris, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Berliner Konzerthaus, Bozar and Flagey in Brussels and at the Bachfest Leipzig, as well as frequent engagements in the US, Japan and Australia.

His two solo albums on Alpha Classics push the boundaries of classical orthodoxy. Perpetuum, released in February 2023, features six keyboard instruments colouring a program based on music in perpetual motion. Bells, his debut solo recording, was released in 2020 to widespread acclaim. His third solo album, On Modes, is now out on Alpha Classics.

Featuring music from J.S. Bach, Georg Muffat, Dmitri Shostakovich, Dave Brubeck, Aphex Twin, Giacinto Scelsi and Olli Mustonen, alongside Romaniuk’s own composition and arrangements, Old. New. Borrowed. Blue. invites audiences into a kaleidoscopic sound world where classical, jazz, contemporary and improvised music collide. Romaniuk will perform on the keyboard and harpsichord and explore electronic sounds.

The concept for this concert emerged during preparations for his wedding, when the familiar phrase “old, new, borrowed, blue” became a lens through which he reflected on tradition, reinvention and personal expression. Drawing on his background as both an early music specialist and an improvising jazz musician, Romaniuk created a program that celebrates a musical conversation between past and present.

 the program … ‘is a bit like an art installation, walking from one room to another experiencing different colours and timbres’

“The phrase ‘old, new, borrowed, blue’ perfectly captures the way I think about repertoire and performance,” Romaniuk says. “Having spent time specialising in both contemporary and ancient music means that the old and the new are in constant dialogue in my approach. Borrowing is what we do as classical musicians – we take things written in the past and re-create them for the present moment. The ‘blue’ is a nod to improvisation and my roots as a jazz player.”

Romaniuk says the program for this concert “is a bit like an art installation, walking from one room to another experiencing different colours and timbres”. “The narrative is whatever your mind wants it to be,” he says.

Camerata artistic director Brendan Joyce says the orchestra is thrilled to welcome Romaniuk back to Queensland for what promises to be one of the most distinctive collaborations of the season.

“Anthony is an incredibly imaginative and versatile musician,” Joyce says. “What excites us about him is his ability to move effortlessly between styles, centuries and traditions while making every piece feel fresh and exciting. Although Anthony has built an international career, he’s Brisbane-born, and it feels especially meaningful to introduce him and his remarkable artistry to Camerata audiences.”

Audiences can expect everything from the baroque elegance of Bach and Josquin des Préz to the atmospheric electronic landscapes of Aphex Twin and the rhythmic energy of Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo à la Turk.

Described as “chamber music reimagined”, Old. New. Borrowed. Blue. is a concert that celebrates curiosity, reinvention and the joy of crossing musical boundaries.

Old. New. Borrowed. Blue. plays the Concert Hall, QPAC, August 20, before playing at the Redlands Performing Arts Centre, Redlands, on August 21 and Armitage Theatre, The Empire, Toowoomba, on August 22.

camerata.net.au