Wednesday Lunchtime Concert: The Duke Speaks

The Duke Speaks

On Wednesday 22nd May 2024 from 12.40 to 1.20pm, the Wesley Lunchtime concert series welcomes back the dynamic Violinist/Violist and Viola d’amore player, John Ma, in a program that demonstrates the beautiful qualities of his main Baroque violin – an English violin made by Richard Duke in London around 1770. In Early Music, we often think of music as more as "speech" and we try to emulate the forms of spoken rhetoric. Hence “the Duke speaks”.

John Ma has performed in various roles with groups around the world including Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (NL), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (UK), Academia Montis Regalis (IT), Bach Collegium Japan (JP), Musica Poetica (NL), Apollo Ensemble (NL), Fantasticus (NL), New Collegium (NL), Collegium 1704 (CZ), Helsinki Baroque Orchestra (FIN), B'Rock (BG), and the Trondheim Baroque Orchestra (NOR).

In Australia, John appears regularly with groups such as Pinchgut Opera, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Australian Haydn Ensemble, Australian Bach Akademie, Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Salut!Baroque, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and Sinfonia Australis. 

John is also on staff at the Australian National University, teaching the Early Music Ensemble, and is a co-founder of Apeiron Baroque in the ACT. As a teacher and ensemble leader, he is keen to seek a balance between technique and exploration. A robust technique is meaningless if it does not form the basis for a playful exploration and communication with colleagues and audience.

John is an avid gamer, comic book reader and tech-nerd. He retains an interest in scientific and mathematical developments and tries to stay up to date with the latest news and advances related to his previous studies. He is now based in Canberra where he has decades of learning the finer points of gardening and vegetable growing ahead of him.