Lyrical Masterpieces: Doretta Balkizas and Brieley Cutting

Due to health reasons, the originally scheduled violinist, Kristian Winther, had to withdraw from the performance. We are, however, delighted to announce that violinist Doretta Balkizas will be joining pianist Brieley Cutting.

In this special collaboration, pianist Brieley Cutting and acclaimed violinist Doretta Balkizas present a recital centring on major classics from the French and German repertory. All masterworks on the program are linked by their glowing, radiant sounds and uplifting moods. Doretta, recently returned to Australia after a decade in Germany and newly appointed as Lecturer in Violin at the University of Queensland, joins Brieley in a program curated to offer music bestowed with inherent beauty and lyrical charm.

The first part of the recital comes from France: Debussy's shimmering Violin and Piano Sonata is followed by Lili Boulanger's delicately heart-warming Two Pieces, and then Messiaen's Theme and Variations, which is built on a tender and lyrical idea consisting of a floating melody. The second half of the program commences with an atmospheric Nocturne from Australian composer Margaret Sutherland, offering a moment of poignant introspection. The recital then moves to Germany for Brahms' Sonata No.1 in G major Op.78 for Violin and Piano. A Romantic masterpiece of exquisite beauty and lyricism, the three movements of this work are interrelated and Brahms expertly allows the violin and piano parts to echo one another and intertwine whilst demanding virtuosity from both players. The final movement is known to transport its listeners, as it did for Clara Schumann who wrote to the composer, "…I wish that the last movement could accompany me in my journey from here to the next world."

PROGRAM

DEBUSSY Sonata in G minor for Violin and Piano (1917)

BOULANGER Nocturne for Violin and Piano (1914)

MESSIAEN Thème et Variations for Violin and Piano (1932)

Interval

SUTHERLAND Nocturne for Violin and Piano (1944)

BRAHMS Sonata No.1 in G major Op.78 for Violin and Piano (1879)

THE ARTISTS

Doretta Balkizas violin

After being recently based in Germany for ten years, Australian violinist Doretta Balkizas has recently returned to Australia as the newly appointed Lecturer in Violin at the School of Music, University of Queensland.

As a performer, Doretta leads a varied life as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. In recent seasons, she has performed, recorded and toured in various ensembles, including with the London Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and she has held the position of associate principal second violin with the Bremer Philharmoniker.

Doretta has performed as a concerto soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Nanning Symphony Orchestra (China), and was a finalist in several major Australian competitions, including the 2015 Symphony Australia Young Performer Award and the Dorcas McClean Travelling Scholarship for Violinists, where she was a major prizewinner and received the inaugural Fritz Kreisler Prize.

As a chamber musician, Doretta has appeared at the International Holland Music Sessions, the Musica Viva Festival and the YellowBarn Music Festival, where she collaborated with Roger Tapping (Juilliard String Quartet) and Donald Weilerstein.

In 2018, Doretta received her Master of Music with distinction from the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler", Berlin, having previously completed an undergraduate degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as a student of Alice Waten. Doretta is very grateful for the many benefactors, scholarships and awards which have supported her studies, including the George & Margaret Henderson Travelling Scholarship, a scholarship from the DAAD, the Ernest V. Llewellyn Memorial Fund scholarship and a grant from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust.

Brieley Cutting piano

Described as “such a force!” (Tempo Rubato), “technically assured with excellent control of the keyboard” (Courier Mail), and as a musician who has “at her disposal a myriad of different colours and who knows how to take the time to let the music speak” (Auckland Scoop), Brieley Cutting is known for bringing her trademark energy and refinement to a career encompassing solo and collaborative performance, event curation, arts promotion and practice-focused research. Also a dedicated piano teacher and accompanist, she greatly enjoys sharing her love of music with young musicians.

Brieley Cutting grew up on a farm in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales. She began playing the piano at a young age, her first piano being an old, discarded upright piano delivered to her family’s corrugated iron house on an open, rusty trailer. As her enthusiasm for the piano developed, both she and her sister would travel for many hours to Brisbane and back again for their weekly piano and music lessons. 

After moving to Brisbane at the age of twelve to study with Pamela Page, she was accepted to study at the Queensland Conservatorium, graduating at age eighteen with First Class Honours whilst studying with Oleg Stepanov.

Subsequent study was at the Australian National Academy of Music, and then Brieley returned to the Queensland Conservatorium to complete a Master of Music with Natasha Vlassenko. During this time she was recognised in various piano competitions - including becoming the National Keyboard Winner of the 2006 ABC Young Performers Awards - and she enjoyed performing as a concerto soloist with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic, and Melbourne, Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras. Scholarship funds allowed her to continue studies in London at the Royal College of Music with Ruth Nye, where she performed in concerts facilitated by the Royal College of Music and the Australian Music Foundation.

In 2009, Brieley returned to Brisbane. She subsequently received Second Placing in the 2010 Kerikeri International Piano Competition in New Zealand and created an award-winning concert series. Assisted by the local Steinway & Sons piano distributors, it was described as “a great addition to the Brisbane Scene” (RealTime Arts) and as exploiting "a critical mass of grass-roots interest in genuinely innovative music and art that is not confined to predictable and formal presentational settings” (Dr Liam Viney, University of Queensland School of Music).

In 2013, Brieley was able to deepen her studies with a Winston Churchill Fellowship - taking her back to London, and on to the Netherlands and New York - and she completed doctoral studies at the Queensland Conservatorium in 2016, guided by Stephen Emmerson. 

Since then, Brieley has focused on her roles as a collaborative musician and piano teacher. She was invited to be the first Head of Piano at the regional Conservatorium in Armidale, and then Lecturer in Piano at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. Her teaching activities have been accompanied by adjudicating for organisations such as the Queensland Conservatorium and Sydney Eisteddfod, and by her ongoing performance activities, including many festival appearances - for The Piano Mill, Festival of Voices, Queensland Music Festival, Australian Piano Duo Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival, Tyalgum and Bangalow Festivals - and with ensembles such as Ensemble Trivium, Australia Piano Quartet, Radu Cello Ensemble, Collusion, Topology and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players.

Brieley currently enjoys teaching a private studio of students, collaborating with Sydney Conservatorium students, and realising musical projects with like-minded colleagues.