News

This winter, la Fête de la Musique is coming to the Alliance Française for a night of free music, mulled wine, and soupe à l’oignon – uniting French tradition with Melbourne’s rich music culture.
Also known as Make Music Day, the French celebration occurs every year on the 21st of June – the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice – and allows and encourages musicians to play outside in their neighbourhoods, public spaces and parks, where spectators can enjoy live performances, all for free. The Alliance Française will be adapting the event for the Melbourne winter, opening its doors, and providing the spaces for these concerts to take place, complete with mulled wine and French onion soup.

In keeping with the spirit of the event, a variety of musical genres will fill the spaces in the Alliance Française’s exquisite Eildon Mansion: from the old basement kitchen, to the grand staircase, with an exciting line-up of local performers (see below).

Our friends at Melbourne Accueil will be serving mulled wine, and traditional French onion soup will be available, prepared by renowned French chef Philippe Mouchel, with the kind help of French Assist. The Frencheese food truck will also be on site, serving warm raclette over potatoes and charcuterie, and the Crêpes for Change van will be serving hot crêpes!

Line-up: La Nuit Blanche, Floyd Thursby, Joyce Prescher, Entropy Quartet, Chicken Wishbone, Rob DeMasi Music, Kathleen Halloran, The New Impromptu Quartet, Joloff Vibes, Huw Gregory & Marlene Samson Duo.

Create NSW has announced its support for Make Music Day Australia in partnership with the AMA and the Live Music Office. “Participating in Make Music Day provides Create NSW with a further opportunity to further engage with the NSW music sector by facilitating the exposure and enjoyment of the event for both audiences and practitioners. It also aligns with the NSW Government’s priority to increase participation in arts, screen and culture” said Create NSW’s acting Executive Director, Tarek Barakat.

Create NSW will work with Make Music Day to promote participation, engage with other government agencies and liaise with other NSW based stakeholders, local councils, venues and organisations promoting the benefits and opportunities surrounding Make Music Day.

Make Music Day welcomes this support for music making in Australia.

In celebration of international Make Music Day, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will share a global broadcast of its performance of Verdi’s Requiem on 21 June live from the Sydney Opera House.  With the support of Create NSW, ABC Classics, Sydney Opera House Creative Learning, Music Australia and the Australian Music Association, the livestream will be the flagship event in Australia’s first participation in the worldwide music festivities.

In an unprecedented event for Make Music Day, the global Sydney Symphony Orchestra livestream will be accessible free of charge at sydneysymphony.com and will be available for 24 hours from 6.30pm, Thursday 21 June AEST.

See the full event listing here.

Community Music Victoria is calling on members to save the date! There is a big CMVic program being planned to celebrate Make Music Day on June 21.

Said CMVic, “in partnership with The Australian Music Association (AMA) and the Make Music Alliance CMVic will be coordinating what shapes to be the biggest community music event in Victoria OF ALL TIME!” 

This will be part of the international Make Music Day Australia 2018, on June 21st, when musicians in over 120 countries and 800 cities around the world turn public spaces into music stages. Tens of thousands of amateur and professional musicians, jazz combos, bands and orchestras and MC’s come out to perform in streets, parks and public places. Schools are encouraged to showcase their music programs for the public too.

If you’re thinking of putting on a music event somewhere in Victoria, please click on the ‘Register Here’ button on CMVic’s website.

CMVic will then keep you up to date with ideas of what you can do, everything that’s happening in Victoria, where all the other events will be, and any news about this fabulous world wide event as it develops.