International Women’s Day
Extremely grateful to live in this time, place and circumstance where what I can achieve is limited only by my imagination. Thankful to my ancestors and all who fought for such opportunities. Here directing my amazing The Freestyle Orchestra crew in Vienna. Photo captured by the wonderful Stefan Panfili.
We have a huge announcement to make soon!
‘The Freestyle Orchestra’ at the Vienna International Buskers Festival!
Looking forward to making our Vienna International Buskers Festival debut this Sunday 9 September, 9pm at Spot no. 4! Our new street show featuring all our usual antics- fire, acrobatic, aerial performance combined with a mix of classical, balkan and electroswing. We are especially excited as this is the only time fire performance is allowed on the streets of Vienna!
More info on the festival website here.
Artists for change
My amazing friend Abe McWilliams has started this beautiful initiative – artists reaching out internationally to spread love and tolerance through performances, flashmobs, actions and peaceful demonstrations – to combat hate in the best way we know how – with art. First events are being planned in London UK, Boston USA, and Vilnius Lithuania. Please check out the facebook page, mission statement and feel free to get in touch with your ideas!
Farewell 2015
Busy few weeks back in Vienna to close out the year, from sitting in again with the amazing Wiener Symphoniker accompanying Igudesman & Joo at the end of November, to appearing in benefit concerts with new groups Johannesgasse Solisten (for ÖJAB’s ‘Street Children of Burkina Faso’ project) and Ensemble Australis (supported by the Australian Embassy in Austria for refugee projects of Caritas and Diakonie) – and being reminded time and time again how lucky I am to be surrounded with such amazing and inspiring artists!
Plus of course hard at work training with my amazing Freestyle Orchestra crew and generally cooking up some new and crazy projects that I can’t wait to share with you in 2016.
If you are reading this, many many thanks for your support and here’s to seeing you at a concert soon! 🙂
Tribute to Luba Schebeck
With greatest sadness, I announce the passing from sudden stroke of my beautiful mother Luba Schebeck on 12 March 2015 in Sydney, Australia at the age of 69.
I wish to pay respect to the fact that if it were not for my mother I would not be a musician.
I became entranced by the violin after attending a Baby Prom by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and from then on mimicked the movements with any objects I could find.
After making inquiries, my mother discovered the Suzuki Method and she was there from the start, from attending lessons and supervising practice as per the Suzuki violin school from the beginning of my studies at age 3 with Barbara Hayward, sewing dresses for concerts, to taking pages and pages of notes during masterclasses and lessons with my professor at the Sydney Conservatorium, Christopher Kimber. She hardly ever missed a concert and luckily was even present to observe my very last violin lesson with Professor Florian Zwiauer before I completed my Masters examination in Vienna.
Though not inherently musical, she always gave me her unwavering support and will remain my strongest influence in wishing to create classical music concerts that appeal to a wider audience. An electrical engineer by trade, she worked with Siemens by personal invitation on the circuits and computerised stage lighting at the Sydney Opera House. As such, it is extremely special for me whenever I perform there.
I could not have wished for anything else in a mother except more time. I will be forever thankful for her grounding support which gave me the foundation to follow my own path in music and am grateful that though unconscious, I was able to be by her side for the last days and play for her one last time in the ICU, and then of course at a ceremony filled with music and wonderful memories.
Rest in peace my incredible mother. I am grateful for the time we had. Words cannot do justice to the profound influence you will continue to have on my life. With deepest love and respect.
(Photo: taken by Markus Wögerbauer during my parents’ visit to Vienna, Xmas/New Year 2014/15)
Hello 2014
As always the freelance life yields some diverse and interesting engagements! In the next few months I’ll be appearing on stage with Michael Bublé, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the wonderful violinist Alicja Smietana, Alexey Igudesman and the Max Steiner Orchestra to name a few.
In between, background work is full steam ahead on a variety of other projects and maybe even a trip back home to Oz… More details to come soon!
sonjaschebeck.com 