Piano Masterclasses
Darryl Coote, Max Cooke and Robert Chamberlain have organised Piano Masterclasses given by many international interstate visiting teacher/performers, including: Professor Thomas Hecht from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music/National University in Singapore (2004), Margaret Hair from Sydney (2004), Professor Akira Imai from the Kunitachi Academy in Tokyo (2005), Professor Rolf Plagge from the Mozarteum in Salzburg (2006), Helen Krizos from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (2006), Professor Roy Howat from the Royal Academy of Music in London (2007), Professor Michael Leuschner from the Musikhochschule in Freiburg (2008), Professor John Damgaard formerly Assistant Professor at Royal Danish Conservatorium, Denmark (2010), Professor Roger Lord from the University of Monckton (2011), Graham Fitch from London (2012) and Jocelyn Ho - New York based winner of ANPA (2014).
Upcoming Events
Rigg Bequest Classic Music 2026 - in Special and Sacred Spaces
Through Forest and Flame: Lieder and Love
Experience a nineteenth-century world of musical fantasy in the bluestone grandeur of Melbourne's 1874 German Lutheran Church, East Melbourne, with tenor Michael Petruccelli, mezzo-soprano Sally-Anne Russell and Team partner Darryl Coote at the piano.
The program includes Schumann’s song cycle Liederkreis Op 24, Wagner’s iconic Wesendonck Lieder, the world premiere of New Zealand composer Andrew Perkins’ Pax Vobiscum, a duet for mezzo-soprano and tenor composed specially for Sally-Anne Russell, as well as by Darryl Coote’s performance of Schumann’s Arabesque for piano Op 18.
Join other audience members and the artists for interval refreshments hosted by the Friends of the Team of Pianists.
Download the flyer here.
Don't miss this evening of vocal excellence from three of Australia's most experienced Lieder interpreters.
Date and Time
Sunday May 3, 2026 at 6.30pm
German Lutheran Church
(Deutsche Evangelische Dreifaltigkeitskirche)
22 Parliament Place, East Melbourne, VIC, 3002
Major sponsor: Colin & Cicely Rigg Bequest, as managed by Equity Trustees.
Rigg Bequest Classic Music 2026 - in Special and Sacred Spaces
Across Time and Tradition: Music for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano
Robert Schubert - clarinet, Matthew Angus - bassoon, and Robert Chamberlain - piano, trace a musical journey that spans centuries, styles and cultures, in the warm acoustics of St John's Anglican Church, Camberwell.
Uniting Classical clarity, Romantic lyricism and contemporary re‑imagining, this program ranges from the intimate poetry of Schumann’s Abegg Variations and Glinka’s enthralling Trio Pathétique, to the elegant conversational forms of Lefèvre and Kreutzer, where clarinet and bassoon speak with wit, balance and grace. These European traditions are refracted through the voice of Australian‑Chinese composer Julian Yu, whose reworking of Glinka’s Romance and vivid Uygur Dance bring folk melody and cross‑cultural perspective into the present.
Join other audience members and the artists for interval refreshments hosted by the Friends of the Team of Pianists.
This program celebrates the enduring power of wind instruments to sing, converse and dance across time, tradition and place.
Date and Time
Thursday May 21, 2026 at 7.00pm
St John's Anglican Church
552 Burke Road
Camberwell, VIC, 3124
Major sponsor: Colin & Cicely Rigg Bequest, as managed by Equity Trustees.
Rigg Bequest Classic Music 2026 - in Special and Sacred Spaces
Orix Duo: Beethoven for Cello & Piano, Part 1
Join prize-winning cello and piano duo Ye Jin Choi and Kevin Suherman - Orix Duo, for the first in their three-concert presentation of works by Beethoven for cello and piano, set in the historic ambience of the German Lutheran Church.
This recital features the 12 Variations on 'Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen' Op. 66, the Sonata for Piano and Cello no. 4 in C major Op. 102 no. 1 and the Sonata for Piano and Cello no. 2 in G minor Op. 5 no. 2.
Join other audience members and the artists for interval refreshments hosted by the Friends of the Team of Pianists.
Don't miss this evening of special music performed by outstanding young artists, in this unique and historic space!
Date and Time
Sunday August 9, 2026 at 6.30pm
German Lutheran Church
(Deutsche Evangelische Dreifaltigkeitskirche)
22 Parliament Place, East Melbourne, VIC, 3002
Major sponsor: Colin & Cicely Rigg Bequest, as managed by Equity Trustees.