DATE: Thursday 23 October, 2025
TIME: 6pm / Bar from 5pm
COST: $38 / $32
Details
This concert features chamber music by Tuggeranong resident and classical composer, Sandra France. The concert includes a solo cello meditation piece entitled “Fluctuating States of Calm” as well as two works for piano trio. The solo piano sonata celebrates the bustling life of the Lanyon Homestead in the early 1900s. Also included in this concert is a world premiere piece for solo piano, entitled “The Hardening of a Beautiful Soul” which is a call for us all to remember the values of acceptance and peace in our wonderful multicultural country. Alongside Sandra on piano, this concert features the talents of recent ANU School of Music graduates, Gabriel Fromhyr and Tanya Boag.
Program
- Lanyon Suite
- Moose the Mooche
- Fluctuating States of Calm
- The Hardening of a Beautiful Soul
- Three Miniatures for Piano Trio
- One Word
Performers
- Sandra France: Piano
- Tanya Boag: Violin
- Gabriel Fromhyr: Cello
About the works
The Lanyon Suite was commissioned by Dr Jennifer Gall. It celebrates the pianos in Canberra’s Historic Museums and is the creative outcome of an ArtsACT Heritage Grant. Specially composed for the Broadwood piano at Lanyon Homestead, in Tuggeranong, The Lanyon Suite reflects the importance of the piano as a centrepiece of the parlour room in the early 1900s, around which many an evening may have been enjoyed.
Moose the Mooche, by virtuoso saxophonist Charlie Parker, is France’s classical arrangement of Parker’s playful Bebop standard.
Fluctuating States of Calm was composed for Canberra based classical musical legend, cellist David Pereira. Sandra wrote this piece as a young mother trying, trying to find calm in her busy and demanding world. It is a through-composed meditative work.
The Hardening of a Beautiful Soul is programmatic piece composed in response to the disturbing display of anti-Semitism in Australia immediately following the 2023 October 7 attacks on Israel. Sandra was upset by the violent protests, bombings, vandalism and hate speech I witnessed, in a nation that prides itself on multiculturalism and acceptance. This concert is the world premiere of the work.
Three Miniatures for Piano Trio was first presented at the National Festival of Women’s Music in 2001 at the National Gallery of Australia. A three-movement work which explores a variety of textures on all three instruments, including the inside of the piano, this work is a playful exploration of sound and colour.
One Word is a single-movement reflective piece for piano trio, which was composed as an emotional response to the impact of hearing that one word, “cancer.”
Artist bios
Sandra France
Canberra based composer, Sandra France, has over 30 years professional experience as a composer, educator and performer. She has been commissioned by many of Australia’s finest musicians and organizations, including the Australia Council, ArtsWA, ArtsACT and ArtsVictoria. France’s classical CD, Fluctuating States of Calm, Tall Poppies (2005), includes recordings of her symphonic and chamber works. In 2014, her opera From a Black Sky received a Canberra Critics Circle Award for Composition and was a finalist in the Australian Art Music Awards – Vocal Work of the Year. France’s most recent work, Flight Memory, was awarded a Canberra Critics Circle Award. Created in collaboration with lyricist Alana Valentine, the 2019 world premiere performance featured jazz vocalists Michelle Nicolle, Leisa Keen and Liam Budge. Sandra is excited to be presenting a world premiere at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre and honoured to be able to share her music with classical music lovers in the area.
Tanya Boag
Tanya graduated with Honours in Violin Performance from the ANU School of Music (2024), after studying her undergraduate with Tor Fromyhr. Tanya has a range of performing experience as a soloist, chamber and ensemble settings, and was honoured to be awarded the Marjorie Kingston Prize for Creative Leadership in Music (2020, 2023) for her work with music in hospitals and healthcare settings, as well as the Kate Buchdahl Memorial Prize 2nd place (2023) for violin performance. Some career highlights so far include being a Wesley Music Scholar (2024) and travelling to Germany for Bachfest 2024 with the Canberra Bach Ensemble.
Gabriel Fromyhr
Gabriel Fromyhr is an emerging Cellist, Viola da Gamba player and composer from Canberra/Yass Valley. Gabriel recently completed his Bmus with honours in Cello performance from the ANU School of music, studying with David Pereira and Rachel Johnston, playing both modern and Baroque cello. He has also studied composition with Dr Christopher Sainsbury. Gabriel has played as a soloist and chamber musician with various ensembles in Canberra such as the ANU chamber orchestra and Musica Da Camera, as well as played in various early music ensembles such as Bach Akademie Australia at CIMF, Australia Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Canberra Bach ensemble and Aperion Baroque. In 2024, in addition to being a Wesley Scholar, Gabriel performed with the Canberra Bach ensemble at the 2024 Leipzig Bachfest.
