Extraordinary flautist Sally Walker returned as guest baroque flute with Salut! Baroque for its special performances of Telemann’s music (mostly) in ‘The Entrepreneur’ in Canberra and Sydney, to remarkable acclaim:
- “Sally Walker as soloist on baroque flute is magnificent… They achieve beautiful movement and energy, and amazing precision in what is a technically complex piece. … Other highlights include Pierre Gabriel Buffardin’s Allegro non molto from his Concert in E minor, again featuring Sally Walker’s virtuosic energy. So captivating is Walker’s stagecraft that she naturally rules the stage even when she isn’t playing, injecting infectious enthusiasm among her fellow performers.” [4 STARS] – Limelight, July 2025 (full review here)
- “The French-inspired work, Modéré from Paris Quartet in E Minor, with its beautiful, wistful melodies played superbly by Sally Walker on flute, was one of the highlights of the memorable concert.” – Canberra City News, July 2025 (full review here)
- “Sally Walker was front and centre on Baroque flute. She showed a mastery of soft playing on the Baroque flute without sounding reedy, which is no easy feat.” – State of the Art, July 2025
Straight from performances with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the Classic 100 in Concert (Beethoven’s Emperor concerto (slow movement), the top voted work this year, and Kats-Chernin, broadcast on ABC iView), pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska followed with three more performances as soloist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (Poulenc) and with the Guizhou Chinese Orchestra combined with the Australia Orchestra in its Folk Reimagined: East meets Symphony concerts at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall & Melbourne Recital Centre (Elisabeth Murdoch Hall):
- “Tamara-Anna Cislowska’s revealing and expressive playing … The charmingly abrupt tempo and mood changes, along with the score’s Handel and Chopin references, are adroitly handled by both pianist and conductor” [4 STARS] – Limelight, July 2025 (live review, Poulenc Concert Champetre, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, cond. Emila Hoving]
- “Internationally acclaimed pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska opened the concert with the Yellow River Piano Concerto. Dressed in a shimmering scarlet gown, her breathtaking delivery of the technically challenging piano passages was matched by conductor Luke Spicer’s brilliance in leading the combined orchestras. Based on The Yellow River Cantata, this highly enjoyable rendition was by no means an easy work to put together.” [5 STARS] – Limelight, July 2025 (full review here)