It is common practice for music teachers to perform, but the establishment earlier this year of Ensemble Lumen, comprising staff at the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium of Music, adds a significant dimension to Adelaide’s musical life. The ensemble brings together for regular performances a dedicated group of lecturer-musicians, many of whom have substantial reputations outside teaching.

This was Lumen’s second concert, featuring six Lumen members, and it opened appropriately with a work by the legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), who guided many composers and contributed indirectly to some of the most significant music of the 20th century.

Ensemble Lumen. Photo @ Alex Frayne

Boulanger’s Trois Pièces (1911) for cello and piano is an exquisite gem of around eight minutes. The first piece, Modéré (‘moderate’), opens with a long, rather melancholy passage for muted cello which, accompanied by twinkling piano, gains in intensity and passion, suggesting a heartfelt personal statement.

The second brief piece, Sans vitesse et à l’aise (‘without speed and at ease’) is again passionate, its brevity suggesting a prelude.

The final Boulanger piece, Vite e nerveusement rythmé (‘rapidly with nervous rhythm’), begins and ends like an agitated dance and...