Wednesday 12 August 2026

City Recital Hall

Australian Brandenburg Orchestra

Augusta McKay Lodge (Guest Director)

Photos by Keith Saunders

Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday)

Anna Maria della Pietà was a young girl abandoned or orphaned in Venice in the early 1700s. She was in the care of the Ospedale della Pietà, where composer Antonio Vivaldi was not only an ordained Catholic priest, but also employed as musical director, composer and violin teacher. Boys were trained for work and had to leave at 15. Girls, on the other hand, were taught to play music, and the orchestra here was the finest in Venice at the time. Anna Maria was a particularly talented violinist under Vivaldi’s tutelage and it is believed he wrote several technically challenging works for her.

American born Guest Director, Augusta McKay Lodge (and no doubt Artistic Director Paul Dyer) came up with the bold idea to incorporate Anna Maria’s story into a concert of Concerti by Vivaldi and some of his contemporaries. Actor Lilian Alejandra Valverde portrayed the young Anna Maria with a script by Alana Valentine. Her character developed throughout the concert from a naive but talented musician in awe of Vivaldi and believing that she saw her birth mother in the audience, to a despairing and angry young woman who finally realised she was abandoned and on her own. 

The musical aspect of the program opened with a Sonata of solo Violin by Johann Pisendel, a technical showpiece for the aspiring virtuoso. It was a great introduction to the mastery of the instrument by our Guest Director, Augusta McKay Lodge. What followed was four Vivaldi Violin Concerti that showcased what a genius Vivaldi was. Lodge lead the orchestra with gusto and humour, her technical skills forging the way for the Brandenburg musicians to excel. There was plenty of light and shade in the performance with particularly beautiful moments where she paired up with theorbo player, Nicholas Pollock, and the exquisite slow movement with Paul Dyer on Chamber Organ in the RV774 Concerto for Violin and Organ. The Violin Concerto RV 229 was dedicated by Vivaldi to Anna Maria della Pietà and gave us an insight into how talented she must have been.

After interval we had another concerto (RV267a) that was dedicated to Anna Maria. Vivaldi composed something like 450 concerti for various instruments in his time at the Ospedale della Pietà, including Il Gardellino (The Goldfinch) his most famous flute concerto. Baroque flautist, Melissa Farrow gave a superb rendition, combining exquisitely at times with the solo violin part. Another prolific Baroque composer for the violin, Guiseppe Tartini was represented by his Concerto in G minor. This cleverly written work was based on a simple descending minor scale that informed all the subsequent development and variation of the work.  And after a final word from ‘Anna Maria’ delivered from the choir loft, we faded to black with the serene, settling chords of the slow movement from the RV212 Concerto.

While the individual elements of the production were incredibly professional and performed to a high degree of excellence, dramaturgically speaking it was always destined to not quite hit the mark. In a musical drama we expect the emotions of the music to accompany, embellish or cleverly contrast the emotions being expressed in the text. As Anna Maria’s story unfolded, her emotions tended toward despair and anger, rage and despondency. These are emotions that are not found in Baroque music, and particularly the music of Vivaldi. This leant towards a sense of incongruity that unfortunately undid a lot of the audience appreciation for all the brilliant work that went before. I imagine that if Anna Maria was a teenager in care in 2026 she would learn the drums, a more fitting and physical release for any residual anger and resentment.

Overall the brilliance of the individual elements of the concert did not meet the artistic intent when taken as a whole. The inclusion of a dramaturg on the crew list might have helped what was a clever and original way of storytelling. But having said that, the evening as a whole would not have been as rich an experience with just the music. Bravo Augusta McKay Lodge and Paul Dyer for your artistic bravery.

Season runs to Tuesday 18 August