North Queensland Recorder Society
David Ellis conducting NQRS members at the October 2006 playday.
About the Society
The North Queensland Recorder Society was established in 1995 to bring together all recorder players in the Townsville and wider North Queensland region for skills development (through workshops, etc) and social playing.
Its large-group activities have settled into a pattern of about four 'Playdays' - themed Sunday afternoon playing sessions - each year plus an annual weekend residential workshop with an out-of-town tutor. Guest tutors for the workshops have included Zana Clarke, Genevieve Lacey, Peter Madge, Jessica Shaw, Rodney Waterman and Ruth Wilkinson.
The society also encourages formation of amateur consorts, maintains a library of recorder music, and produces a newsletter. Individual members of the Society appear with performing groups such as The Telemann Ensemble which feature recorders.
Coming Events
Our 2009 Residential Weekend Workshop will be from Fri 12 - Sun 14 June at the Hotel Noorla in Ingham. Guest tutor: Robyn Mellor (Canberra). See this page for more details.
Remaining playdays for 2009: April 26 (see April newsletter), August 16, and October 18, all at Riverside Gardens.
Recent Events
Concert featuring leading UK-based baroque flautist Stephen Preston with NQRS members the Telemann Ensemble, accompanied by images coordinated by local artist (and NQRS member) Anneke Silver. The programme included music by Telemann (of course), Quantz and JCF Bach. The concert was presented by the Music Centre North Qld on Sunday February 8th at 3pm in the Court Theatre, cnr Sturt & Stokes Sts, Townsville.
Stephen Preston also presented a workshop in Ecosonics during his visit to Townsville. See January 2009 Newsletter for more details.
Playing opportunities
A small friendly group meets every Monday night 7.30 p.m. at the Tattersalls’. Ring Glenda (4725 6937), or email Margaret or Jean, for more information.
2008 Highlights
Our annual residential weekend at Paluma (16th to 18th May, 2008) led by Ruth Wilkinson and the associated Schools' workshop on Monday May 19.
Early Music Extravaganza at Riverway Arts Centre, Thuringowa, at 7 pm, Tuesday May 20, 2008
The Telemann Ensemble presented a concert with guest artists Ruth Wilkinson (viol da gamba and recorders) and Louise King, (baroque cello) in conjunction with the Paluma weekend and the Schools' workshop.
Membership
Membership fees are used by the society to purchase additional music for the library, to send out regular newsletters, and to save towards a great bass recorder. We try to keep the fees low, and are probably the least expensive recorder or early music society in Australia. Benefits of membership include:
- Access to the Society’s library. (Members can receive a copy of the library catalogue as a CD or as an email attachment on request).
- Guaranteed receipt of newsletters.
- Opportunities to be involved in organising and deciding on Society activities.
Membership fees are $12 (single), $20 (family), $10 (concession). Are you a financial member? Please check with Lynn Saunders if you think your membership may be due for renewal.
And also...
Resources on Malcolm's website: his music for recorders; a survey of the one-volume reference books for recorder players.
The previous committee put a lot of work into gathering funds to buy a great bass recorder. This is a wonderful instrument and adds to the tone and depth of a recorder consort but the price puts it beyond most of us. We hope that we might be able to get one for the NQRS if membership and interest remain high.
Mozart's Music Online - Free
The Complete Mozart Edition has been published online by the Mozarteum in Salzburg and is available to everybody for free. It is the first extensive, up-to-date complete works edition available on this basis.
The Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum (International Mozart Foundation) has digitized Mozart’s music, and in this groundbreaking project is making it accessible to everyone on its web site. From December 2006, the ISM and the Packard Humanities Institute will make the complete musical texts of the NMA (Neue Mozart Ausgabe) available to everyone for private, scholarly, and educational use as 'NMA Online' at http://dme.mozarteum.at/. Comprehensive search capabilities allow users to easily find, study, and print any of Mozart’s works as PDF files.