Leila Josefowicz & John Novacek | Musica Viva Australia | Canberra

Prepare to be kissed by a fairy, haunted by a dream and transformed by music when Leila Josefowicz and John Novacek bring their fantastical tales and captivating sounds to Australia. Feisty American-Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz is a passionate advocate of new music, working side-by-side with some of the great composers of recent times, from Oliver Knussen to Esa-Pekka Salonen. But that doesn’t mean she’s done with old music.

This program is a perfect example, a new commission from British composer Charlotte Bray framed by movers and shakers from the early 20th century, themselves inspired by ancient worlds.

Szymanowski’s Mythes luxuriates in the sensuous and slightly dangerous world of nymphs and dryads, while the Divertimento from Stravinsky’s Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy’s Kiss) reminds you that fairies are not always nice.

Then Claude Debussy’s light-footed sonata written, in his words, by ‘a sick old man in time of war’, is a poignant counterpoint to Charlotte Bray’s Mriya, co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Musica Viva Australia and inspired by the courage, conviction and integrity of the people of Ukraine.

Josefowicz and American pianist John Novacek have been playing together since they were eight. Their enduring partnership creates a bond on stage which is, quite simply, magic.