Wintergarden Fantasias

Shane Lestideau, violin, and Donald Nicolson, piano, explore the Scottish Fantasias of Australia’s Baillie Collection.

This is the music that entertained audiences in Rockhampton and Brisbane’s Wintergarden Theatres in the first decades of the 20thC, blending virtuosic showmanship with beloved Scottish tunes. Played on a fiddle that had been part of the Baillie family for generations, this program recreates the sound world of the travelling entertainer and the delight of those who came to hear it.

Robert ‘Ballantyne’ Baillie (1886-1954) was born in Penicuik, Scotland, to a family of hereditary violinists. He emigrated to Rockhampton on the eve of World War I and performed the unique compositions of four generations of Baillieviolinists in concerts he led in NSW and Queensland between 1912-1954. The music itself is showy and virtuosic, combining well-known tunes of Scotland’s fiddle tradition with violinistic techniques inherent to European art music of this period. An album recording of the program material released by ABC Classic in 2023 will be available for sale with every piece a world-first recording.

Doors open at 3.30pm 
Licenced bar on site.