Fremantle Chamber Orchestra presents Violinist Ellie Malonzo, 12, & cellist Max Wung, 17, in concert

Violinist Ellie Malonzo will premiere her own concerto with Fremantle Chamber Orchestra this weekend at the tender age of 12.

She is joined by 17-year-old cellist Max Wung who has flown home from Germany to play Haydn’s Cello Concerto No.1 on the same bill at Fremantle Town Hall and Perth’s Redemptorist Monastery.

The program is topped and tailed by Vivaldi’s Sinfonia in C Major and the rarely heard Ditterdorf Symphony No.3, all under the baton of WA Symphony Orchestra acting principal double bass John Keene.

Ellie began violin lessons aged five, composed her first concerto for violin and string orchestra aged seven, and has followed that with another violin concerto, a double violin concerto and many shorter works.

She says her world premiere this weekend is inspired by the Baroque masters of the 17th and 18th century.

“As my concerto is in a Baroque style, I was inspired a lot by some of the great composers from the Baroque period, particularly Bach and Vivaldi,” she says.

“I admire the elegant virtuosity which they weave through their violin concerti and the intricate creativity of what they write.”

Her playing of Bach on YouTube is inspiring; full in tone and brightly virtuosic.

Keene says her attention to detail, meticulous playing, and fine musicality are a joy to work with.

“I find myself realising every now and then that I am working with someone so young whose maturity, technical skill, and superb ear and musical sensibility belies her years as both performer and composer,” he says.

“The work Ellie has composed is a neo-Baroque style work with charm and some harmonic surprises that are a nice feature, distinguishing it from the existing Baroque repertoire.”

She studies with Winthrop Professor Paul Wright and has won multiple international awards this year, including the June Composition International Youth Music Competition, and has been invited to the 2023 winner’s recital in New York.