HAVING already decided to visit Australia for her wedding, Kiama flautist Ana de la Vega also felt compelled to host a concert in her home town.
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The classical musician has performed in some of the world's most prestigious concert halls, and has been living in Europe for the past 12 years.
She currently resides in Berlin.
The 33-year-old arrived in Kiama earlier this week, having previously visited in March for a concert alongside fiancé and violinist Daniel Röhn.
De la Vega will be in Australia for five to six weeks.
The trip will include her wedding in Sydney on November 28.
Members of the Röhn family will head Down Under for the wedding.
The family were invited to perform for the Canberra International Music Festival fund-raiser on December 5, and decided to perform the same concert in Kiama as well.
The Röhn family are considered to be among the most distinguished and historically significant musical families in Europe.
Making the trek will be Daniel’s father, violinist Andreas Röhn, considered to be among the most respected and figurative Concertmasters of our time; Andreas’s wife, Swedish pianist Kerstin Hindart-Röhn; and their daughter, violinist Anja Röhn, who is Concertmaster of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland.
The trio will join Daniel and de la Vega for the two concerts.
The performances will feature a selection of Mozart, Debussy and Beethoven, and take place on Sunday, December 6 at 2pm at Kiama Anglican Church.
This will be the first time the German musical dynasty have performed in Australia.
“I wanted to do a home town show as well, because the Kiama show was the highlight last time,” de la Vega said.
“I grew up here, and it meant so much to perform here in March.
“It was a real buzz to be back, and now to be back with the whole family is pretty amazing.”
Her husband-to-be’s family will be based in Kiama on-and-off for about three weeks.
“His (Daniel’s) parents have not been to Australia, or played here, so it will be a unique thing.
“We play a family concert in Sweden every year, so it’s going from Sweden to Kiama,” she laughed.
De la Vega’s family moved to Greyleigh dairy farm at Jerrara in 1983, where she grew up and her family remains.
At the age of seven she fell in love with the flute.
De la Vega studied privately at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music from the age of nine.
In 2003, she graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Music, achieving dux of her year in performance.
A passion and desire for a career as a performer soon led her to Paris.
Her recent solo performance with the English Chamber Orchestra in London of the Mozart Flute Concerto in D received rave reviews.
She is a student of the Paris Conservatoire Superior, and founder/artistic director of the London International Players ensemble.
“I left Kiama as this aspiring musician, and the stories I get to hear and be part of are very exciting for me,” de la Vega said.
“I left Kiama, am getting married and spend my life in Germany, so it will be great to have my new family come to Kiama at least once, and see where I’m from.”
De la Vega said visiting and playing in Kiama would be a “magical experience” for the Röhn family.
“I come from a very different upbringing,” she said.
“I was riding horses, swimming, and his family have a long-standing musical tradition, are very European and cultured.
“It will be great to bring them to Kiama and to share that with them.”
The “intimate” wedding will also be a “real reunion”, with de la Vega’s siblings also in attendance.
“I’m one of four sisters, and one lives in Noway and is coming home for it,” she said.
“Everyone will be together for the first time in a long time.
“I hope we (Daniel and I) can organise our schedules to spend some time in Australia every year.”
Tickets for the concert are $30 and available from the Kiama Visitors’ Centre, or at the door.
