Guitar Perspectives

06/10/2026

A very special visitor to the MCM on October 30 for a solo recital on 30 October. Hanson Dyer Hall

The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music proudly presents

16/09/2026

Monday 28 September 2026, 7:00pm

Join us for a special performance marking the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s epic solo guitar sonata, Royal Winter Music: First Sonata on Shakespearean Characters, as well as the 100th year since Henze’s birth.

The sonata emerged from an ambitious project by the legendary English guitarist Julian Bream - who, fresh from his successful commissions and performances of new works by Benjamin Britten, William Walton and Richard Rodney Bennett, approached Henze with the request for a work on the scale of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata.

In the composer’s words, the guitar ‘possesses a richness of sound capable of embracing everything one finds in a gigantic contemporary orchestra, but one has to pause to notice this: one has to pause, and completely exclude noise.’ The resulting six-movement work pushes the guitar to new limits as across thirty minutes, Shakespearean portraits are created in sound.

Performed alongside the sonata are the guitar works of György Kurtág and Morton Feldman: two other major figures in 20th-century music also celebrating their 100th birthdays.

Program

György Kurtág

“…lassan szállj és hosszan énekelj, Haldokló hattyúm, szép emlékezet!…” (1978-2007)

Morten Feldman

The Possibility of a New Work for Electric Guitar (1966)

Hans Werner Henze
Royal Winter Music: First Sonata on Shakespearean Characters (1976)
1. Gloucester (Majestically)
2. Romeo and Juliet (Singing slowly, with tenderness)
3. Ariel (Swiftly, gently, mysteriously)
4. Ophelia (Slowly)
5. Touchstone, Audrey and William (with humour)
6. Oberon (majestically)

30/08/2026

Join us for a special performance marking the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Hans Werner Henze's epic solo guitar sonata, Royal Winter Music: First Sonata on Shakespearean Characters, as well as the 100th year since Henze's birth.

The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music proudly presents

24/05/2026

This Wednesday, the Leading Edge guitar ensemble performs three arrangements made by the legendary Catalan guitarist Miguel Llobet. Also on the program is the world premiere of Kylie Cheah's new guitar quartet The Scenic Route.

PROGRAM
Robert Schumann (arr. Miguel Llobet) - Coral

Rafael Mitjana (arr. Miguel Llobet) - Seguidillas

Isaac Albeniz (arr. Miguel Llobet) - Granada

Kylie Cheah - The Scenic Route (premiere performance)

Ken Murray - Keep Running

Phillip Houghton - Black Opals

Lennon/McCartney (arr. Ken Murray)- A Hard Day's Night

The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music proudly presents

05/02/2026

A chat with the wonderful Susan Ellis:
Susan has enjoyed a long and influential career as a pioneering guitarist and teacher in Melbourne. In this interview with Ken Murray from the Melbourne Conservatorium, she reflects on her early memories of the guitar and of growing up in a musical household with her father, Bill May, founder of Maton Guitars. Susan recalls the international and local guitarists who shaped the classical and folk music scenes in post-war Melbourne. Key figures in the history of the classical guitar—including Andrés Segovia, Len Williams and his son John Williams—feature prominently, along with Susan’s mentor, Sadie Bishop.

Susan Ellis has enjoyed a long and influential career as a pioneering guitarist and teacher in Melbourne. In this interview with Ken Murray from the Melbourn...

19/12/2025

The 10th in our series of commissions. Thanks to Peter and Rasika Crowley for their generous support over 10 years!

This Guitar Perspectives commission is made possible by a generous donation from Peter and Rasika Crowley to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (MCM) at t...