Little Sounds,

Great Noises

2nd November 2025 4:30pm

2025 Chamber Series

Baroque Music Meets Shakespeare Sonnets!

Sonnets have historically been associated with love and desire, but what inspires a person to write over 150 sonnets? Surely not 150 different loves?

Join Apeiron and our special guest, Duncan Driver, as we pair Shakespeare Sonnets with our Baroque Music!

With special guest artists: Duncan Driver (Presenter), Rylee de Salis(Soprano)

WHERE: Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, ACT

WHEN: 2nd November 2025, 4:30pm.

Tickets: HERE

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Programme

PURCELL, Daniel (1664-1717) – Poco Largo and Vivace from Sonata Quarta

CORELLI, Daniel (1653-1713) - Prelude from Sonata #10, Opus 5.

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"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (Sonnet 18)

PURCELL, Daniel (1664-1717) - Adagio from Sonata Sesta.

PURCELL, Henry (1664-1717) - "Music for a While".

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"Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action" (Sonnet 129)

LONATI, Carlo Ambrogio (c.1645-c.1712) - Chamber Sonata #2.

PURCELL, Henry (1664-1717) - "If Loves a Sweet Passion".

WESTHOFF, Johann Paul (1656-1705) - Imitatione delle campane.

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"A woman's face with nature's own hand painted" (Sonnet 20)

GRAUPNER, Christoph (1683-1760) - "Sommeille".

GEMINIANI, Francesco (1687-1762) - Adagio and Allegro from Sonata Prima, Opus 4.

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"I never saw that you did painting need" (Sonnet 83)

MATTEIS, Nicola (1650-1713) - Aria Burlesca.

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My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)

TARTINI, Giuseppe (1692-1770) - Allegro Assai from Sonata #5, Opus 3.

GEMINIANI, Francesco (1687-1762) - "The Night her Silent Sable Wore"

GEMINIANI, Francesco (1687-1762) - "O Bessy Bell"

PURCELL, Daniel (1664-1717) - Chaconne from "The Unhappy Penitent".

Musicians

Duncan Driver, Presenter

Rylee de Salis, Soprano

John Ma, Violin

Marie Searles, Harpsichord

Feedback

Audience Feedback

"A fun virtuosic performance to cap off this year’s season!"

"So good to have such quality right here. Very much appreciate the professionalism, consummate skill and obvious delight of you two in your performances, but also in the behind the scenes collaborative journeys which inform them. And the banter!"

Charming program of mostly cheerful duets

"Musically, this was a festival of mostly cheerful duets between Apeiron founders...

it was clear that Ma and Searles were having immense fun with this music..."

"...thoroughly charming, but thoughtful and structured program...brackets were introduced entertainingly by narrator Duncan Driver."

"...heart-stopping, dramatic... lovely, sympathetic interplay... a raunchy folkish mood... with phrasing like easy breathing"

"De Salis’ easy light soprano, with a pure clarity and using relatively little vibrato, was a perfect match to the baroque art song style. Her performance was confident, well coloured to match shifting moods, and underpinned by great technique which had her filling the Wesley space effortlessly."

"... this summery afternoon’s beautifully assembled and precisely executed performance finished with Daniel Purcell’s Chaconne from The Unhappy Penitent: sweet and longing in minor mode, in the style of variations around a central melody, complete with a final mischievous, improvised flourish (which was for an instant, perhaps, not strictly baroque?)"

Writer: Michael Wilson; CBR CityNews (3rd November 2025)