TrioKROMA and their CD of Rare Romantic Works for Piano, Voice and Clarinet:
The Genesis of the Project:
Over the past 18 months or so I have been doing research into a very interesting project finding lost treasures of the Romantic period for Piano, Voice and Clarinet. This project is a real labour of love starting from my love of the obvious and popular favourite, Schubert’s ’Shepherd on the Rock’. However, almost all the other pieces in the genre besides this and the Spohr ‘6 German Folk Songs’ are rarely heard in concert halls. I have found a charming selection of unknown gems, many I found at the British Library and in Vienna, that deserve greater exposure and are a delightful example of where Art song meets the Salon music of the German Romantic tradition.
Creating TrioKROMA:
To bring these pieces to life I formed TrioKROMA, made up of myself, my brother, Clarinetist – Jason Xanthoudakis – who plays frequently for orchestras such as the TSO, MSO & SSO in addition to having a solo career and Concert Pianist, Clemens Leske, who studied at the Julliard School of Music NY and lectures at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Clem has played as a soloist for all the national Australian orchestras as well as in London and is a frequent recital partner for Jason.
In 2010, TrioKROMA performed various pieces from the repertoire in Melbourne and Sydney including one wonderful concert entitled ‘The Captive Nightingale’ at the Melba Hall, University of Melbourne in conjunction with the ‘Lieder Society of Victoria’. As a thank-you for their involvement in promoting such wonderful pieces of Germanic repertoire I presented the society president, Mr Ian Lowe with a bound copy of many of the rare and newly discovered pieces, so that students and society members can access the pieces.
Our CD project:
To bring these pieces to the widest possible audience we are planning to release these works on CD. It is important to note that many of these works have only been recorded once before and others that were discovered have never been released before. The CD will feature music by Schubert, Lachner, Spaeth, Proch, Lindtpaintner and Kalliwoda.
I have been working on this project for well over 18 months. I have managed to raise about $3300 and have added an additional $9000 of private funds, which has covered some rehearsals, flights to Sydney to record, hotels, studio hire, piano tuning, engineer & producer fees and music & copying costs.
Where we are up to and how you can help?
We are now at the editing and production stage and are looking to get the disc completed by the end of this year. Including editing, the remaining costs are between $5000-6000 for a small printing and $7000 to have a larger batch made. To publicize the CD we are also planning a tour of Sydney and Melbourne in March 2012 – which will need a minimum $4000 for airfares, accommodation and publicity to get it off the ground, but in reality if for example, we want to extend the tour to include Adelaide, this figure is more likely to be $8000.
Can you help us?
See our page on the ABAF Website:
http://www.abaf.org.au/donors/artist-projects/elena-xanthoudakis.html
The Australia Business Arts Foundation allows both Australian individuals and businesses to make tax-deductible donations (over $2) towards this project. (Contributions from overseas are also welcome but Tax-deductible status cannot be given)
Donations can be given here – https://www.abaf.org.au/donors/about-giving/donate.html?artistId=51aeb81c-42c6-4024-b2d2-155eb9a8104b
or you can send it in via post by printing out the form here:
How does your donation help?
An example would be:
$90 would cover one hour in the Editing Studio to put together a ‘first edit’, to mix and to create a ‘Master’. This can take on average 40 hrs or about $3600
$110 would cover a night’s accommodation in Melbourne for Clemens Leske (Sydney based) for the Melbourne CD Launch, or accommodation while on tour.
$1000 Venue Hire costs.
$120-$220 would cover Piano Tuning per session/pre-concert- depending on venue.
$600-$1000 will cover Graphic Design of the CD booklet and tray insert.
$500 – would cover pre-release review mailouts and minimum pre-publicity costs/flyers.
$50 – a contribution towards a flight.
$20 – photocopying
