The Annual

 Glebe Music Festival

In conjunction with The Glebe Society Inc

Concert 7:
Saturday 21 November 2026 3pm
Margaretta Cottage, 6 Leichhardt Street, Glebe NSW 2037 (disabled access at 18A Cook Street)

Austral Harmony
promoting historical instruments

Performers:
BAROQUE OBOE & RECORDER - Jane Downer
BAROQUE VIOLIN - Margaret Caley
HARPSICHORD - Joanna Tondys

Programme:
SYLVAN GLADES & CRYSTAL FOUNTAINS

A suite of gorgeous melodies from Handel’s pastoral romance Acis & Galatea alongside intimate chamber music from his early days in England as resident composer to the Duke of Chandos. The shaded groves, shepherds and shepherdesses, singing birds, running streams and natural rugged beauty of an Arcadian idyll are evoked in musical strains both serene and poignant.

BIOGRAPHIES
Austral Harmony
Austral Harmony bring Historically Inspired Performance into mainstream awareness with Concerts and Akademies to stimulate future generations in a now rapidly burgeoning discipline of musical education. In particular they champion the extraordinary artistic legacy and creative imagination of Johann Sebastian Bach, performing at the Baroque Hall North Adelaide, Elder Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, Brunswick Beethoven Festival, New England Bach Festival, Melba Hall, Glebe Music Festival, for Recitals Australia, Australasian Double Reed Society National Conferences, Byron Music Society, Early Music Society Queensland, and Chamber Music Adelaide. Austral Harmony’s seasonal Grand Musical Circuits tour throughout Australian states and include an annual REMEMBER BACHfest.

Margaret Caley- baroque violin
Margaret Caley is a Brisbane-based violinist and music educator, specialising in Baroque violin performance, currently focussing on chamber music with the Arioso Chamber Ensemble. After completing undergraduate and postgraduate studies in violin performance in Australia with Spiros Rantos, Tor Fromyhr and Jan Sedivka, she studied baroque violin with Lucy van Dael at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. She has performed with orchestras and ensembles in Australia and Europe, and in live broadcasts for ABC Classic FM. Margaret has a Masters in Music (early French violin sonata repertoire) and completed a Graduate Certificate in Education at UniSQ. She was employed as an Instrumental Music Teacher (Strings) by Education Queensland from 2012 - 2025, and her current teaching focus is adult learners of violin and viola.

Jane Downer - baroque oboe
Jane has performed on historical oboes with the Oslo Barokkorkester, Concerto Köln, Academy of Ancient Music, English Baroque Soloists, Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, Adelaide Cantata Band and Canberra Bach Ensemble. She has appeared at the Innsbruck Early Music Festival, Valletta Baroque Festival (Malta), Canberra International Music Festival and the Bachfest Leipzig. Jane is the programme-note writer for the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, and contributes regular articles and reviews to music forums. As Artistic Director of Austral Harmony, Jane tours REMEMBER BACHfest concerts, workshops and lectures throughout Australian states.  

Joanna Tondys - harpsichord
Joanna studied piano in her native Poland where she graduated with a Diploma of Music from the Music High School at Zdunska Wola. While studying there she became interested in early music. After moving to Australia she commenced her harpsichord studies with Monika Kornel and continued with Neal Peres da Costa at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In 2007 she received a scholarship from the University of Sydney to study at the Royal College of Music in London with harpsichordist Terence Charlston. Joanna's knowledge and experience in historical performance has grown by attending many music camps and masterclasses in both Australia and Europe. She has taken the opportunity to learn from such renowned musicians as Nicholas Parle, Rachel Brown, Jane Gower, Peter Holman, Ashley Solomon, Elisabeth Wallfisch and Jan Willem de Vriend. She has performed with many groups on both harpsichord and chamber organ in Australia and Europe, including Sydney Conservatorium Early Music Ensemble, New Cologne Philharmonia, RCM Baroque Orchestra, Tall Poppeas, Sounds Baroque, Sydney Consort, St James’ King St, Sydney Chamber Choir, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Gondwana Choirs, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and West Australia Symphony Orchestra. Joanna is always eager to discover and learn as much as she can about the music of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Currently Joanna is enjoying teaching harpsichord at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, playing music with other people and working in an orchestral library. To add to it she loves cooking and sharing the food with family and friends. 

Tickets: $20 (includes afternoon tea)
only available through TryBooking: https://www.trybooking.com/DOCZD