Grand Duo

This album includes the complete Franz Schubert Sonatas for Violin and Piano, performed on period instruments. Elizabeth Holowell is an eminent teacher of violin and viola, chamber music and string orchestra, with extensive experience at universities and music colleges in Australasia and Britain. Her graduates are found in many major international orchestras. She was herself a student of Robert Pikler who was, in turn, taught by Hubay and by Thibaud. Elizabeth was a core member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and has played in the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the William Hennessy String Quartet, and the Newcastle University Piano Trio. Erin Helyard has been acclaimed as an inspiring conductor, a virtuosic and expressive performer of the harpsichord and fortepiano, and as a lucid scholar who is passionate about promoting discourse between musicology and performance. Erin graduated in harpsichord performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with first-class honours and the University Medal. He completed his Masters in fortepiano performance and a PhD in musicology with Tom Beghin at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal. He was named the Westfield Concert Scholar (Cornell University) on fortepiano for 2009-2010 and from 2003 to 2012 Erin was a central member of the award-winning Ensemble Caprice (Montreal). As Artistic Director and co-founder of the celebrated Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes (Sydney) he has forged new standards of excellence in historically-informed performance in Australia.