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GRAHAM'S MUSIC
Classical Music Demystified
I'm Graham Abbott, an Australian music educator and former conductor and broadcaster. This blog was devised as a sanity-saving project in 2020 when lockdowns meant that I lost a year's work almost overnight. Here I write about classical music and share its inside stories. Until September 2025, most of these stories were be based on scripts which I wrote and presented on "Keys To Music" on ABC Classic between 2003 and 2017. (Many thanks to the ABC for permission to use this material.) From September 2025 I am focusing on sharing my experiences as a music tour leader for Hayllar Music Tours.

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A Weekend of Piano Quintets, October 2025
16 October: Heading off from Sydney by road later this morning to the Hunter Valley for our final Hayllar Music Tours  chamber music weekend for this year. The Art of the Piano Quintet will feature some of the greatest works in the quintet repertoire (and some talks by yours truly). Our artists are pianist Daniel de Borah and Spanish string quartet Cuarteto Quiroga . ..... Day 1 of The Art of the Piano Quintet - Thursday - saw us arrive at Spicers Guesthouse in the Hunter

Graham Abbott
Oct 225 min read
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My first visit to Romania: 15-26 September, 2025 Bucharest, Sibiu and BraÅŸov
16 September: It's Tuesday so it must be Bucharest. I arrived yesterday afternoon after my flight from Munich. Our Hayllar Music Tours...

Graham Abbott
Sep 3015 min read
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An Interlude in Munich: 1-14 September, 2025
1 September: My two week stay in Munich is a period I have to myself between two Hayllar Music Tours  tours. I decided to stay in Europe...

Graham Abbott
Sep 309 min read
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Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, 27-31 August 2025
27 August: Our long coach ride from Salzburg to Mellau on Wednesday was broken by a visit to Innsbruck. While in this beautiful historic...

Graham Abbott
Sep 146 min read
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Salzburg Festival, 22-26 August, 2025
22 August: I was last in Salzburg for three days in January 2024, an occasion which was my first visit to this beautiful city. Rich with...

Graham Abbott
Sep 147 min read
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A Weekend of String Quartets, August 2025
14 August: The first Hayllar Music Tours  chamber music weekend for this year is underway here at Spicers Hidden Vale resort in...

Graham Abbott
Sep 132 min read
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Aix en Provence Festival, 12-19 July 2025
12 July: Our Hayllar Music Tours  tour to the Aix en Provence Festival is underway. It's hot and very busy but the old town is as...

Graham Abbott
Sep 137 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 18 May 2025
And so the tenth and final day of this Hayllar Music Tours  visit to Amsterdam has come to an end. What a journey! We had a beautiful...

Graham Abbott
Sep 132 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 17 May 2025
Our second-last full day on this Hayllar Music Tours  visit to Amsterdam started with a quiet morning. This afternoon we had another...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 16 May 2025
Day 8 in Amsterdam. Mahler 8 in the Concertgebouw. What can I say? The host orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, was back on the...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 15 May 2025
Our Hayllar Music Tours  visit to Amsterdam hit day 7 today and it was a busy one. This morning we made our way (by coach) to The Hague,...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 14 May 2025
Day 6 in Amsterdam was quieter on the official schedule. This allowed me time to catch up with wonderful people I last saw in Sydney...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 13 May 2025
Another bucket list item ticked off today with here in Amsterdam with a visit to the Rijksmuseum. This is one of the great art galleries...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 12 May 2025
Day 4 of our Hayllar Music Tours  visit to Amsterdam saw us walking to and from a beautiful lunch - and the weather continues to be...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 11 May, 2025
Day 3 in Amsterdam started with a real bucket list check: a visit to the van Gogh Museum. We had a excellent guide who took us through...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 10 May 2025
Day 2 of our Hayllar Music Tours  visit to Amsterdam started with a morning canal cruise from our hotel to the centre of town, followed...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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Mahler in Amsterdam, 9 May 2025
Just back from the first concert - of ten - in the 2025 Concertgebouw Mahler Festival. This being my first visit to Amsterdam it was also...

Graham Abbott
Sep 131 min read
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My new life...
In the Austrian Alps, between Innsbruck and Mellau (August 2025) Well my plans for making more posts along the lines of those I've shared...

Graham Abbott
Sep 133 min read
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A long-overdue update
It's nearly three years since I added an article to this blog and yet it continues to get so many hits and garner so many new members. I...

Graham Abbott
Oct 23, 20242 min read
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"We teach music because it is unique and good."
Over the weekend of 1-3 April, 2022 I had the privilege of being involved in the inaugural Richard Gill Memorial Festival of Strings in...

Graham Abbott
Apr 6, 20226 min read
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