The Marais Project, acknowledged Australian masters of the baroque, launch their new album in July and will follow up with a spectacular concert in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, Saturday August 15 at 7.30pm.
The Exquisite Harmonies concert features ensemble leader and viola da gamba virtuoso Jennifer Eriksson, keyboard wizard Anthony Abouhamad and enchanting violinist/vocalist Susie Bishop, plus – on the album – maestro of the lute, Tommie Andersson.
Unlike the violin and brass families whose members evolved but remained in use across the 17th to 20th centuries, the viol and the harpsichord all but disappeared by the late 1700s. They returned to concert stages in the 1960s and 70s and have not left the podium since. Over the years they have built a fan base of dedicated admirers.
This was the experience of gambist and The Marais Project’s founder, Jenny Eriksson:
“As a young musician I had no idea about the viola da gamba and initially studied the cello at Sydney Conservatorium. The first time I heard the gamba ‘live’ I fell in love with it. I’ve been in love ever since!”
Anthony Abouhamad similarly commenced with the modern-day piano but became interested in the fortepiano and harpsichord at Sydney Conservatorium. At different times both Anthony and Jenny undertook post graduate studies in The Netherlands, returning to Sydney to make their respective careers here. Anthony recently completed a PhD and is now on the staff of his alma mater.
“In one sense, there was a period of my life when I grew up making music with Jenny,” Abouhamad commented, “And I’ve always enjoyed working with her.”
Having met as members of one of Eriksson’s Musica Viva Australia in Schools ensembles, they continued to perform together regularly. Most recently, Anthony appeared on The Marais Project’s ‘Australian Monody’ album. Appropriately, all ticket sales from the 15 August performance will go to the Musica Viva Australia in Schools Program – the musicians donating their time to this important cause.
The Exquisite Harmonies program includes suites and sonatas for viola da gamba by Telemann and Carl Friedrich Abel. In addition, Jenny assembled a ‘Grand Suite’ of several famous French baroque composers for the viol, men whose lives were closely linked. For example, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, who famously added the seventh string to the viola da gamba, taught the young Marin Marais. Antoine Forqueray’s fearsome virtuosity was said to have exceeded that of the celebrated Marais, whose career he overlapped with. Both men attracted the attention of the music and dance-loving monarch, Louis XIV. A contemporary commentator, Hubert Le Blanc, wrote that Marais played like an angel, and Forqueray like the devil. Anthony also presents music for solo harpsichord by Telemann and Couperin as well as improvising a Fantasia in the style of Telemann – a rare treat.
The Marais Project has always taken an innovative approach to music making. The final track on Exquisite Harmonies is The Acceptance by Biripi and Gamillaroi musician and composer, Troy Russell. Jenny asked Troy to write The Acceptance as a kind of musical acknowledgement of country. Tommie Andersson, gallichon, and Susie Bishop, voice and violin, join Jenny on this track. It gently reminds listeners that First Nations’ artists preceded European musicians on this continent by millennia.
Singles from the album will be released on 15 and 29 July with the full album available from 7 August.
The Marais Project: Exquisite Harmonies – album available as CD and download from MOVE Records, Buywell Music, iTunes and streaming platforms including Apple Music (also mixed in Dolby Atmos), Spotify and as a high-resolution download.
Exquisite Harmonies: Launch Concert 7.30 pm, Saturday 15 August 2026
Choir Rehearsal Room, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct – Wharf 4/5, 15 Hickson Road, Dawes Point
All album and ticket purchases at www.maraisproject.com.au
