The Art of the Fugue, August 2026

13 August:

Heading to Mitchelton Winery in central Victoria for the first of this year's Hayllar Music Tours chamber music weekends. Flying to Melbourne, then by road to Nagambie.

This weekend the theme is The Art of the Fugue and we have some brilliant programs ahead, played by our brilliant artists: Daniel de Borah (piano), Kristian Winther (violin), Holly Piccoli (violin), Marlena Stanhope (viola) and Umberto Clerici (cello).

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14 August:

Having gathered at Mitchelton Winery in the mid-afternoon on Thursday, our Hayllar Music Tours chamber music weekend got of to a great start with drinks and canapes before I gave my first talk on the wonderful world of fugues.

We then had the first opportunity to hear our five artists, in the evening concert. This was a particularly huge workout for our pianist, Daniel de Borah, with the four works on the program providing a stunning potted history of fugal inspiration from Bach to Brahms:

J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in F minor, BWV 857; Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, BWV 872 (Daniel de Borah)

Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546 (Kristian Winther, Holly Piccoli, Marlena Stanhope and Umberto Clerici)

Mendelssohn: Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1 (Daniel de Borah)

Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 (Umberto Clerici and Daniel de Borah)

It was a brilliant concert and all the more so for being such an intimate, up close experience for our 35 guests.

The artists then joined us for dinner, a great end to our first day.

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What a day. Friday on our current chamber music weekend presented by Hayllar Music Tours saw us immersed in JS Bach, and great food and wine.

After breakfast I gave my second talk to our guests, highlighting some of the ways Bach used the fugue in his instrumental and vocal works, and introducing the basic building blocks of his final testament in fugue, Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue).

We then had our first morning concert, which featured three of our four resident string players:

Bach: Solo Sonata in A minor, BWV 1003: II. Fugue (Holly Piccoli)

Bartók: Sonata for Solo Violin: II. Fugue (Kristian Winther)

Martinů: Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola: I. Poco allegro (Kristian Winther and Marlena Stanhope)

After their brilliant performances the three artists joined me for a chat which gave our guests an insight into their lives and careers.

We then decamped to the other side of Nagambie (20 minutes by coach from Mitchelton) to have lunch at the beautiful Nagambie Waters restaurant. The peaceful lakeside location was perfect for enjoying wonderful food, partnered with excellent local wines from Box Grove.

A couple of free hours enabled us to rest before pre-concert drinks (we are at a major Australian winery after all!) which preceded our evening concert.

To say this was electrifying would be an understatement. The four string players took us on an incredible, and highly dramatic, journey through seven contrapuncti from Die Kunst der Fuge. Seriously, if you thought this piece was just dry and academic, then these players will make you change your mind.

Then pianist Daniel de Borah gave us one more contrapunctus before melting seamlessly into one of César Franck's masterpieces, which is crowned with a fugue of eye-watering complexity and technical difficulty. It was a privilege to witness.

The detailed program:

Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge: Contrapuncti 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 (Holly Piccoli, Kristian Winther, Marlena Stanhope and Umberto Clerici)

Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge: Contrapunctus 10 (Daniel de Borah)

Franck: Prélude, Chorale et Fugue (Daniel de Borah)

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16 August:

Saturday was our final full day on this Hayllar Music Tours chamber music weekend exploring the world of fugues.

I gave my final talk in the morning, after which we gathered for the second of our conversation concerts. On this occasion we had the chance to hear all five of our artists perform together:

Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor: I. Prelude and II. Fugue (Kristian Winther, Holly Piccoli, Marlena Stanhope, Umberto Clerici and Daniel de Borah)

After this extremely moving performance I chatted with Daniel and Umberto, who gave us fascinating insights into various aspects of their work.

Mitchelton is a major regional winery and the afternoon included an opportunity for our guests to attend a wine tasting. There is also a brilliant gallery of Indigenous art here and after the wine tasting we had the privilege of a guided tour of some of the collection, led by Adam Knight, the gallery's curator.

Our evening started with pre-concert drinks, after which we had our stunning final concert.

Daniel started with some powerful Shostakovich, one of the preludes and fugues. Then the string players gave us a real rarity: the Beethoven Op 130 quartet, but with its original finale - the Grosse Fuge - restored:

Shostakovich: Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op. 87, No. 4 (Daniel de Borah)

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, Op. 130, with Grosse Fuge, Op. 133 as finale (Kristian Winther, Holly Piccoli, Marlena Stanhope and Umberto Clerici)

This was shatteringly good, a real privilege to experience and witness close up.

Our farewell dinner then followed, giving us an opportunity to share a wonderful meal together with the musicians.

And just like that, it's over. Another marvellous musical experience.

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