By arts editor HELEN MUSA

Art Song Canberra will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a special recital of Schubert Lieder, presented in partnership with The Street Theatre, featuring London-based musicians Fred Thomas and Alice Zawadzki.

One of the few remaining lieder organisations in the country, Art Song Canberra has championed the art song tradition for five decades, and the anniversary recital will draw on the vast songbook of Franz Schubert, who wrote more than 600 songs.

Familiar works, including Death and the Maiden, will be revisited alongside lesser-known gems, bringing to life the Romantic poetry of Goethe, Müller, Schiller and other writers. The Schubert project takes inspiration from the intimate Schubertiades held in private homes in 1820s Vienna.

Their approach also draws on filmmaker David Lynch’s maxim, having caught an idea, don’t let it go. Thomas describes their aim as finding a simpler way of delivering song, one that sidesteps assumptions and embraces music lovers of all kinds.

Art Song Canberra president and chair Roland Peelman says the anniversary will be marked with the recital at 7pm, followed by a party for all.

“We need to pay tribute to all the people that stood by this organisation across those years,” Peelman says, adding that a former treasurer who is now 100 years old will be among those attending.

Long-term collaborators, Thomas and Zawadzki have recorded numerous albums for ECM Records, including Three or One and the recently released Za Górami, named The Guardian’s Jazz Album of the Month, appearing on Presto Music’s Jazz Recording of the Year 2024 list and being included in The Guardian’s 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2024.

The duo will also appear on the previous evening with jazz bassist and composer Misha Mullov-Abbado at Tuggeranong Arts Centre, performing Za Górami, a collection of songs gathered through travel, friendship and cultural exchange, drawing on traditions from Argentina, France, Venezuela, Poland and the Sephardic tradition.

Za Górami, with Misha Mullov-Abbado, Tuggeranong Arts Centre, October 6; Fred Thomas and Alice Zawadzki, an all-Schubert recital, The Street Theatre, October 7.

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