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Age: 87
Subscriber for: 49 Years
Date of first ACO concert: 1976
Favourite ACO concert: Anything featuring Bach
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Longtime ACO subscriber Margaret Eva saw one of the first concerts the Australian Chamber Orchestra ever performed in Brisbane. She had a subscription to Musica Viva, which was responsible for touring the ACO at that time, so that she could fuel her love of music – especially chamber music – which she’d developed when she lived in London.
“My husband and I were mainly interested in chamber music so that was the sort of scene we got involved in,” she tells us. “We had already been saturated in such music in London. We lived there for two years from 1965 to ‘67, and then again from ‘72 to ’74. We spent most of our any money left over from rent and fueling the car, and feeding us, on concert tickets,” she remembers fondly.
When the pair returned home after travelling the UK and Europe extensively, they settled in Brisbane and looked for performances to satisfy their chamber music cravings.
“We first came across the ACO in 1978 when they performed a wonderful concert with Nancy Weir and John Kennedy at the Brisbane Theatre,” Margaret says.
A memorable night led to a life-long dedication to the Orchestra.
“I am always especially pleased to hear the ACO play Bach. I’ve always had a passion for Bach because of the mathematics of it, and its tunefulness. It’s just magic.”Margret Eva, ACO Subscriber
Margaret’s love of music comes from her childhood.
“I grew up in a house where there was a piano, which my sister learnt to play. She was musical and still is. I am not. I learnt to play a recorder at school, and I can read one line of music but that’s about it.”
We know you don’t need to learn an instrument or read music to love it. It was hearing music that got Margaret hooked:
“My father came home from work one day bearing a pile of classical LPs, and my sister and I sat at the record player whenever we were free, and played them over and over again,” she smiles. “There was a Beethoven Seventh Symphony and Third Piano Concerto, also some Gilbert & Sullivan, and some Schubert.”
Margaret shares her all-time favourite composer with Artistic Director Richard Tognetti – JS Bach.
“I am always especially pleased to hear the ACO play Bach,” she says enthusiastically. “I’ve always had a passion for Bach because of the mathematics of it, and its tunefulness. It’s just magic.”
As well as a shared proclivity for the music of Bach, Margaret appreciates the ACO for its beautiful collection of Golden Age instruments, its programming choices, and for the dynamism of the performances.
“I’m not able to get out as much as I used to due to age, but the ACO is the only Orchestra I make the effort to still get to,” she says. “You’ll never be let down by an ACO concert. They choose brilliant programs, and will always have a good performance so I never feel that I’ll be let down by going to one of their concerts,” she says.
“It’s always a true highlight.”
