It is ordered…that Players of Interludes are hereby declared to be Rogues, and shall be punisht (sic) and dealt with as an Incorrigible Rogue ought to be… (London, 11 February 1648)  

17th Century England was a one of the most politically tumultuous eras in European and British history with civil war, the beheading of Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth all heralding the rise of the puritan movement. For that brief period, secular and social music, entertainment, and dancing were largely condemned and frowned upon, as they were thought to promote immorality and distract from piety and godliness. This ultimately led to, if not the prohibition of live music, then its restrictions outside of the Church and the court.

Many ingenious musicians and artists had to find a way to survive, and an underground movement of house concerts emerged, much like those during the Covid19 pandemic; proof that music will prevail no matter how hard anybody tries to suppress it.

Providing the background to Van Diemen’s Band’s Cloak and Dagger in the Ian Potter Recital Hall on the same day, this talk explores the often-contradictory approach that the English Puritan Commonwealth had to popular entertainment, song and dance, and the musicians, players and artists behind them. 

Panellists
Julia Fredersdorff | Artistic Director of Van Diemen’s Band
Dr Chrissie Berryman | Academic 

Facilitated by Dr Katrina Schlunke

This is a pay what you can event. Registration is essential. 

Associated performance
Cloak and Dagger
26 Oct
3pm & 7pm
Ian Potter Recital Hall
Book now

Julia Fredersdorff is a Melbourne-born violinist who studied baroque violin with Lucinda Moon at the Victorian College of the Arts, before travelling to the Netherlands to study with Enrico Gatti at The Royal Conservatorium in The Hague. Based in Paris for close to a decade, Julia freelanced with some of the finest European ensembles, such as Les Talens Lyriques, Les Folies Françoises, Le Concert d’Astrée, Le Parlement de Musique, Ensemble Matheus, Les Paladins, Il Complesso Barocco, New Dutch Academy, Ensemble Aurora and Bach Concentus.

Now resident again in Australia, Julia is the founder and Artistic Director of the Tasmanian baroque ensemble, Van Diemen’s Band. She is a founding member of the chamber ensemble Ironwood, the twice ARIA-nominated baroque trio Latitude 37, and founder and former Artistic Director of the annual Peninsula Summer Music Festival on the Mornington Peninsula. Julia has appeared in major arts festivals around Australia and New Zealand and has toured extensively across Europe, from Reykjavík to Wroclaw, Madeira to Venice.

Julia has participated in nearly forty international recordings for the labels BIS, Virgin Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Accent, Accord, Naïve, Erato, Passacaille, Ambronay, ABC Classic, Vexations840 and Tall Poppies.

Dr Chrissie Berryman is undertaking university research in historical musicology following a successful career in government policy. Chrissie’s research investigates how beliefs about occult symbolism, witchcraft and women were represented in recreational instrumental music of Jacobean England. Her research, steeped in more than 400 years of history, crosses the disciplinary boundaries of musicology, historical sociology, gender and literary criticism.

Chrissie has regularly presented her research at the Musicological Society of Australia and holds their 2021 Tasmanian research prize.

Chrissie has worked closely with Julia Fredersdorff for a number of years to establish the business and administrative side of Van Diemen's Band. She enjoys amateur music making, plays cello and viola da gamba and is a tutti cellist in the Hobart Chamber Orchestra.

Dr Katrina Schlunke is an Adjunct Senior Researcher at the University of Tasmania (School of Creative Arts and Media).

Katrina writes and researches about the interconnections between art, writing, race and Indigenous interventions. Her most recent essay is Beside Extinction: Making, Materiality and Mourning in ‘The Labyrinth’ in Reading the Work of Amanda Lohrey, Sydney University Press, (in Press). 

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The University of Tasmania and the Theatre Royal are proud to present The Hedberg Talks, an ongoing program of ideas and conversations housed in The Hedberg.  

It's a celebration of ideas, thinking and innovation showcasing some of our most challenging, inspiring, and thought-provoking minds, recognising that ideas and words are the seeds of change and growth.