A Winter's Journey

In 1827 Franz Schubert composed an emotionally charged song cycle. Setting poems of the German writer Wilhelm Müller, Schubert created an emotional journey of a man trekking across frozen rivers and snowy landscapes, lamenting his lost love. It is indeed a winter’s journey (Winterreise), full of images and metaphors of love, loss, nationhood.

Winterreise is undoubtedly a monument to 19th-century culture, yet as Australian listeners we do not wander the icy trails of Europe. We experience another time and place, with red earth and confronting wilderness. This is the imagery that for three decades the Australian painter Fred Williams captured without parallel. And it is through vivid animations of Williams’s paintings, in a new staging we’ve commissioned of this great song cycle, that we continue and intensify our connection with this work.

Acclaimed stage director Lindy Hume is our cartographer, mapping the terrain of heart and country for the gripping stage charisma of English tenor Allan Clayton and sensitive musicianship of Australian pianist Kate Golla. Videographer Dave Bergman provides the backdrop, bringing to life 24 Williams paintings that match and contradict Müller’s poems and Schubert’s musical imagination, all in gorgeous larger-than-life imagery.  

This powerful artistic combination sets the perfect conditions to experience Schubert’s immortal masterpiece – songs of love and loss that still speak to us vividly, in this far distant time and place. 

Listen to Artistic Director Paul Kildea talk about A Winter's Journey

Director Lindy Hume and Videographer David Bergman discuss their visual inspiration

Online Concert

A Winter's Journey will be broadcast on Wednesday 7 December at 7pm AEST.

Bring the joy of live music into your home, on your smart TV, computer, tablet or even mobile phone with an online concert. Tickets are just $25 and include a 48-hour rewatch period.