2025 Festival
BENJAMIN APPL HEADLINES THE QASF 2024
Festival events
Schumann’s Dichterliebe: An exploration
In advance of the Australian premiere performance of Jörg Widmann’s novel interpretation of this seminal work, Benjamin Appl and Sholto Kynoch will lead a musical-lecture style exploration of Schumann’s stunning Dichterliebe – A poet’s love. In conversation with the audience, and with one another, this event is a perfect companion concert to Ensemble Q’s A Poet’s Love at QPAC on Monday August 25th (tickets below). This event will feature a Q & A session and an artists meet-and-greet.
Date: 21nd August 2025
Time: 18:00
Repertoire: Schumann’s Dichterliebe
Artists: Benjamin Appl, Sholto Kynoch
Location: Ian Hanger Recital Hall, Queensland Conservatorium
The Domestic Sublime
In collaboration with Springboard Opera and the Riverbend Ensemble, the festival presents a novel recital, featuring a journey through the rituals of domestic life, where everyday objects transform into symbols of beauty, memory, and change. Held in the appropriately domestic environs of the Winning Appliances Showroom in Fortitude Valley, the music of Katy Abbott, Alys Rayner, Leonard Bernstein and Clara Schumann will be transformed by emerging Director Madeleine Stephens, featuring emerging Queensland performers.
This show marks the first performance of “The Domestic Sublime” in Qld, as well as a world premiere of the string quartet arrangement of the song cycle (with special permissions given by the composer Katy Abbott). Additionally, it will be the world premiere of local composer, Alys Rayner’s “The Orange Tree”.
Date: 22nd August 2025
Time: 7:30pm (Doors 6:30pm)
Repertoire: Katy Abbott, Leonard Bernstein, Clara Schumann, Alys Rayner
Artists: Riverbend Ensemble, Alison Paris, Monica Ruggiero, Annika Hinrichs, Connor Willmore, Madeleine Stephens.
Location: Winning Appliances Showroom, 167 Alfred Street, Fortitude Valley
Life and Love
Alexandra Flood joins esteemed pianist, Lied expert and QASF guest artist Sholto Kynoch, for a recital program of captivating beauty. Robert Schumann’s exquisite Frauenliebe und -leben forms the centrepiece, a journey from love at first sight to marriage to loss, despair to beyond. Paired with a gorgeous suite of R. Strauss most stunning soprano compositions, alongside and Betty Beath’s florid ‘River Songs’, capturing the fount of the Brisbane River’s power, this is sure to be a stunning concert in a spectacular Gold Coast setting.
Date: 23th August 2025
Time: 6:00pm
Repertoire: Schumann, Clara Schumann, R. Strauss, Beath,
Artists: Alexandra Flood, Sholto Kynoch
Location: Mt Tambourine Festival, Shambala Estate – Galaxy Ballroom, 104 Beacon Road, Tamborine Mountain QLD 4271
Co-presented with Southern Cross Soloists
A Poet’s Love
One of the most exciting baritone of his generation, German-British art song specialist Benjamin Appl returns to Brisbane to perform with Ensemble Q. Described by Limelight magazine in his 2023 Sydney Opera House five star-reviewed debut as “beautiful, powerful, tender and menacing by turns”, Appl was selected to perform the European premiere of Jörg Widmann’s incredible realisation of Schumann’s Dichterliebe (Schumannliebe) and will now present the Australian premiere with Ensemble Q, in partnership with the Queensland Art Song Festival. This concert also features exquisite violinist Adam Chalabi in a performance of of Chausson’s Poème. Schumann’s dreamily romantic Märchenerzählungen will also be featured, performed by guest artist Benjamin Roskams and Ensemble Q members Paul Dean and Daniel de Borah.
Date: 25 Aug 2025,
Time: 7:00pm
Repertoire: Widmann, Schumann, Chausson
Artists: Benjamin Appl, Benjamin Roskams, Ensemble Q
Location: QPAC Concert Hall (Reverse mode)
Co-presented with Ensemble Q
Masterclass Presentation Concert
Join the vocal-piano duos of the 2025 QASF Masterclass series as they present their learning and progress in the closing recital of their masterclass series with Benjamin Appl and Sholto Kynoch.
Date: 28th August 2025
Time: 1:00pm
Repertoire: Art Song, various
Artists: QASF Duos
Location: Nickson Room, School of Music, University of Queensland
After Romance
Following a sell-out collaboration in 2023 (La Canción), Voxalis Opera and the Queensland Art Song Festival reunite for another unforgettable evening of music.
Making his Brisbane recital debut with this program is internationally acclaimed Australian-Kiwi baritone Morgan Pearse. Renowned for his versatility and fearless artistry, Morgan has performed with Opernhaus Zürich, English National Opera, and the Verbier Festival, among other leading European arts organizations. He is joined by stunning young mezzo-soprano, Lauren Towns, and award-winning pianist Reuben Tsang, promising an evening of extraordinary artistry.
After Romance delves into the emotional complexities that follow romantic courtship, exploring love beyond passion in a program of exquisite art songs and seldom heard duets, including works by Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel.
Date: 30th August 2025
Time: 7:30pm
Repertoire: Schumann, Clara Schumann, Korngold, Strauss, Fanny Hensel,
Artists: Morgan Pearse, Lauren Towns, Reuben Tsang
Location: Studio 1, Old Museum Building, 480 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills QLD 4006
