Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

I greet you in the beautiful language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of this land, as I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging. In doing so, I acknowledge the enduring connection of First Nations’ people to the sacredness of this land, expressed through music, song and story. 

On this beautiful late summer evening, it is a great pleasure, as Patron, to welcome you to Government House for an evening of music by the Australian Haydn Ensemble. 

The Ballroom here at Government House with its ceiling’s period depictions of lute, pipes, and a harp, was originally known and used as the ‘Music Room’. The House was built not long after the 18th century classical era and thus honours the sound of the musical instruments of that period.  

Tonight, we welcome the presence of the richly talented musicians of the Australian Haydn Ensemble playing the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the great composers of that era.

Mozart was greatly inspired and influenced by Franz Joseph Haydn, ‘the Father of the Symphony' and of ‘the String Quartet’.  

Haydn is said to have first met Mozart as a young musician at a musicians’ benefit concert in Vienna in 1783 on one of Haydn’s few excursions from the royal court of his patron Prince Nikolaus Esterházy of the Habsburg court of Esterházy where he was engaged as Kapellmeister.

Their early relationship quickly became a firm friendship. In a 1787 letter, Haydn wrote to a friend: 

“If I could only impress on the soul of every friend of music … how inimitable are Mozart’s works, how profound, how musically intelligent, how extraordinarily sensitive! … why then the nations would vie with each other to possess such a jewel … It enrages me to think that this incomparable Mozart is not yet engaged in some imperial or royal court!” 

He went on to say: “Forgive me if I lose my head. But I love this man so dearly.”[1]

We are eternally grateful that Haydn didn’t ‘lose his head’, but the premature death of Mozart just four years later,[2] when he had so much more to give, was felt deeply. He left an extraordinary legacy of more than 600 works,[3] the last and unfinished work being his Requiem, a commissioned piece for a Patron, but which, it is said, Mozart often thought he was writing for himself as he battled the last days of his final illness.[4]  

Tonight, the musicians of the Australian Haydn Ensemble honour Mozart’s virtuosic legacy. 

Founded by Artistic Director and Principal Violinist Skye McIntosh, who performs tonight on Lead Violin, the Ensemble is now in its fifteenth year. 

It is one of Australia’s leading period-instrument ensembles, specialising in the late Baroque and early Classical eras, whose performances span from here in Sydney to the major capital cities, and this year’s first subscription season at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

In October 2023, the Ensemble undertook its first international tour, travelling the United States, performing to full houses, standing ovations and glowing reviews at Carnegie Hall and at the opening of the new Australian Embassy in Washington DC. 

One of the important aspects of the Ensemble is its commitment to taking music to regional NSW, and to emerging musicians - for whom the experience of the Ensemble’s growing period collection of instruments is a priceless gift.  

It has developed long-term partnerships with Riverside Theatres, Parramatta; Glasshouse, Port Macquarie; and has attracted new audiences in collaboration with regional venues. 

In 2025, the Ensemble developed a First Nations music education project in Menindee, a small town in far western NSW, where the red dust storms from the sandhills threaten to bury the Darling River. During the project ‘Listening on Country’, the Ensemble worked with 40 Year 3-8 students, teachers, community members, First Nations storytellers, and leaders at Menindee Central School, a wonderful little school Dennis and I had visited in 2022. Their unique performances involved collaborative storytelling about life in Menindee, using the sounds of country, students’ own poetry, music making, and the Barkandji language. 

This year, in March, the Ensemble launches an exciting series of concerts, with rarefied glimpses into the 18th world and its instruments, including the Hopf cello (circa 1775-80), made famous by the Hopf luthier dynasty, which was so generously provided by a donor present here tonight.  

None of the Ensemble’s programs that I have described would be possible without the all-important government and private donors, subscribers and supporters.  Thank you.   

This past week, at a State Funeral, we farewelled the Ensemble’s previous Patron, Dame Marie Bashir, a lover of fine music, violinist and student of the Conservatorium of Music. In a beautiful symmetry and tribute this evening, the Ensemble’s soprano, Celeste Lazarenko, performed at that service. 

Please welcome the Australian Haydn Ensemble for our evening of a “little night music”[5] here at Government House.