Van Diemen's Band

Van Diemen’s Band comes from an island state. And perhaps it’s the absence of land borders that empowers its musicians to view the world in a distinctive light.

This Tasmanian Baroque ensemble invites you to explore the historic borderlands of Europe in their national tour for Musica Viva Australia. For centuries generations of musicians wrote dances and masses, symphonies and quartets, as their homelands changed ownership under their feet. Or their nations remained steadfast, allowing the most magical cultural overlaps at the border fringes.

Through composers such as Samuel Scheidt and Dietrich Becker, you will hear the trials of battle – loss, regret, resentment and, at long last, healing. Listen to composers who were touched by the Thirty Years’ War within the Holy Roman Empire, their countries crumbling around them.

María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir (Iceland) and Donald Nicolson (Australia) are living composers who will bring you closer to our time. Just as Van Diemen’s Band invites instrumental guests from across Australia’s state borders, these composers remind us how we’re still united through music – no matter what borders lie between us.