New Director Announced for SA's Coriole Music Festival

Orchestral principal and chamber musician Simon Cobcroft has been appointed Artistic Director of South Australia's acclaimed Coriole Chamber Music Festival for three years commencing in 2023. Simon takes over the Directorship from his friend and colleague Anna Goldsworthy who has directed the event since 2019.

Simon Cobcroft is well known to audiences in Australia and further afield as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Since 2014, he has been principal cellist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and has also held the positions of Associate Principal Cello with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (2012-2014), and Sub-Principal Cello with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (2003-2011). Simon has been a frequent guest performer with London's Philharmonia Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony, Denmark's Esbjerg Ensemble and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In recent years he has appeared as a guest principal with the Tasmanian and Singapore Symphony Orchestras, and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Announcing the appointment Mark de Raad of McLaren Vale Music Festival Association said 'We are very much looking forward to having Simon on board and experiencing all the joy that his vision will bring to us over the coming years. Many thanks to Anna Goldsworthy for her wonderful stewardship and excellent artistic programming over the past four years, especially during the complex time of COVID - we certainly look forward to her continuing involvement with us in other ways into the future!'

Anna Goldsworthy said 'Simon's deep musical intelligence and conviviality are the perfect combination for this unique festival. It is a pleasure to be handing over the reins to such a beloved member of our musical community.'

Simon Cobcroft said, 'I am thrilled to be the next Artistic Director of the wonderful Coriole Music Festival! For almost a quarter of a century, superb musicians from Australia and further afield have come together at Coriole to challenge and delight audiences with boldly curated programs, combining the familiar and much loved with the rare, the new and the undiscovered.

'The past few years have presented unprecedented challenges to all humanity, and for musicians, the almost unthinkable prospect of prolonged silence and isolation. In 2023, the Coriole Music Festival will reflect on the themes of exile, isolation and reunion, exploring the music that flows from those who, unwillingly or with alacrity, have embraced introspection and solitude.

'The 2023 festival will feature works by Rachmaninov in the year of his 150th birthday, a composer who faced the melancholy and passion of isolation in forced exile, Britten, whose music explores questioning, fantastical inner worlds, and the kaleidoscopic imagination of Stravinsky in America.

'Also featured will be the new music of masterful Finnish composer Olli Mustonen, Australian composers Paul Stanhope, Nigel Westlake, and a special commission from celebrated South Australian composer, Anne Cawrse.

'The 2023 festival will mark the Coriole debut of the acclaimed Lyrebird Trio, a return of festival favourite, pianist Daniel Deborah, the Coriole debut of much loved South Australian native Kristian Chong, and wind and string soloists from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.'

The full program for the 2023 Coriole Music Festival will be announced later in the year.

The Coriole Music Festival is regarded as among the top three chamber music festivals in Australia (Graham Strahle, The Australian) and celebrated its 23rd anniversary this year. In 2023 the Festival will be held on Saturday May 20 and Sunday May 21, with a special contemporary event planned for Friday May19.

The Coriole Music Festival is regarded as a special and unique event. The three concerts feature a large range of performers, from around Australia and internationally working on a range of repertoire that often includes rarely heard works. The thematic linking of the concerts gives the festival depth and richness.

The Coriole Music Festival was conceived by the Lloyd and Burrell families as a celebration of fine music in the McLaren Vale wine region. The Festival is today administrated and produced by the McLaren Vale Music Festival Association, a not-for-profit organisation chaired by Mark de Raad. First held in 1999, it is now an annual event in May.

Coriole was established by the Lloyd Family in 1967. Coriole is well known for its old vine shiraz and as a leader in the development of new wine varieties. Last year Mark Lloyd received the Len Evans Award for Leadership in the Australian Wine Industry in recognition of this role.

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