Fifteen years after his Australian debut at the Sydney Opera House, Paolo Pandolfo returned to Sydney, thanks to the Italian Cultural Institute, as part of his Australian tour that also took him to Hobart and Melbourne.
Considered one of the world’s leading representatives of the viola da gamba repertoire, Pandolfo masterfully blends historical authenticity with fresh and imaginative interpretations.
For this exclusive performance in Sydney, Pandolfo created a program entitled “Adieu Sweet Love – The Art of Melancholy“. From the intimacy of the elegant French suite of Sieur de Machy, to the bold experimentalism of Tobias Hume’s “The First Part of Ayres”, to Pandolfo’s own arrangement of Bach’s First Cello Suite, this extraordinary and accessible program provided a fascinating journey through the golden age of the viola da gamba.
Baroque chamber music has long been a favourite with Sydney audiences, and Pandolfo’s foray into the genre has been a memorable one. In 2010, the Sydney Morning Herald wrote: “Securing Pandolfo, a brilliantly poetic maestro who is also an improviser and composer, is a masterstroke […] he is being hailed as the Yo-Yo Ma of the viola da gamba.”
