House concerts in Australia: Building a musical community

Successful House Concerts rely on an equal positive interaction between three groups of people: the musicians (or artists), the audience and the host, with the performance being the central activity. A concert facilitator may be engaged by the host to assist with organisation. Each has a participatory role to ensure that the House Concert performance is a rewarding and ongoing experience. House Concerts encompass a variety of music genres and involve musicians performing solo, in duos and trios and larger ensemble including small operatic casts. House Concerts vary from ad hoc to formal with levels of organisation ranging from casual to managed events. Musicians who participate in House Concerts may be acknowledged international performers in Australia and overseas, be starting out in a professional protean career, visiting from overseas in an arranged House Concert tour or amateur/semi professional musicians who have another career. Musicians (artistic companies) with a specific project to develop have used the House Concert concept as their choice of performance space to workshop and develop their ideas. House Concerts encourage the development of a musical community in a way that is different from the concert hall venue. This paper takes a focus on the differing perspectives of the host, audience and musician as they come together for a House Concert performance.