"Pinchgut’s 2025 season begins with one of the most famous arias in music: and yet there are no words, and no voice. It is the opening aria of the Goldberg Variations, or, in its original formulation, an ‘aria with diverse variations for a harpsichord with two manuals’. Although the Goldbergs are heard sporadically in Australia on the piano, it is a rare occasion indeed to hear them on a harpsichord, the instrument Bach intended. This is one of the greatest monuments of Western art, and a towering testament to the genius and virtuosity of Bach. Constructed artfully as a series of alternating canons and hand-crossing gymnastics of increasing complexity and beauty,  it combines virtuosity and expression with a compositional finesse that was really only equalled by Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. I’m excited to present the Goldbergs in public in the glorious acoustic of the City Recital Hall on a beautiful two-manual harpsichord handcrafted by Australian master-builder Carey Beebe."

Erin Helyard, harpsichordist
and Artistic Director.