Driven by violinist Alana, chased by Kirri (double bass) and Sofia (accordion), Vardos play folk and Romany music learnt from Rroma musicians during their Eastern European travels.

Saturday 16th January 2021 

4-6 pm

BIG STRINGS FESTIVAL

In conjunction with the City of Melbourne and the Victorian State Government, Artist Bookings is proud to present Melbourne's finest big string musicians performing originals and reinterpreted classics throughout Melbourne's laneways. Vardos play acoustically outside at 22 Brown Alley 4-6pm.

Alana Hunt- violin, Sofia Chapman- viola, Frances Evans- double bass.

Monday 25th January 2021 

7-10pm

Season opening Gyöngyös Táncház (dance house)  live music performing Vardos Trio

Kids 6 - 7 PM Adults 7 - 10PM. Adults $10, children under 15 free (adults accompanying children and not staying for adult session are also free).

PLEASE NOTE NEW VENUE:

Meat Empire Greek Restaurant 2/131 Main Street Croydon 3136

Hungarian Folk Dancing,  Snacks and soft drinks. Limited numbers, bookings essential via Trybooking or phone  https://www.trybooking.com/BNXBX  https://www.trybooking.com/701061

Further info https://www.facebook.com/gyongyosmelbourne/  

https://gyongyosbokretamel.wixsite.com/gyongyosbokreta-melb/events

Katrina: 0421 305 773, Endre: 0418 378 620. COVID-19 Disclaimer! All precautions will be taken, strict adherence to restrictions, distancing if possible, if not possible mask wearing and sanitising rules will be followed. If number restrictions need to be implemented the first in best dressed rule will apply, or will relocate outdoors if restrictions and weather conditions allow. If event needs to be cancelled Gyöngyös shall inform everyone asap.

The Vardos Cookbook 

Part of Local Heroes Series, Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre. Corner Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street, Southbank

From feast to famine, the culinary identity of Eastern Europe can be traced back through song. Vardos delves into the great melting pot of music from Hungary, Romania and their neighbours, stirring up many delicious discoveries to savour. Original arrangements of rarely heard songs about cooking and food provide a glimpse into the region’s wonderful culture. Vardos’s enthusiasm for this scrumptious fare, combined with its stunning musical talents, entices you to journey further and sample every course. Alana Hunt violin, Kirri Büchler double bass, Sofia Chapman accordion/viola/hurdy gurdy.

1 hour no interval. Tickets now on sale! FB event here.

Subject to evolving restrictions in Victoria, all seating configurations and capacities are subject to change. If tickets are currently unavailable for this concert and you would like to join the waitlist, please contact the Box Office on (03) 9699 3333.

Vardos: Music in the Gardens, Albury Botanic Gardens, Wodonga Place, Albury NSW

Bring your family and friends to this free open-air concert staged at the Albury Botanic Gardens. Food and drinks available for purchase or pack a picnic.

Music in the Gardens is a series of free outdoor concerts at Albury Botanic Gardens during Autumn and Spring.

Vardos: Lyrical Charms & Incantations

Part of Local Heroes Series, Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre. Corner Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street, Southbank

With a flick of her bow, violinist Alana Hunt and the musicians of Vardos carry you away to a mystical, musical world of spells, charms and curses. Magical cures for illness, prophetic calls to war and the intoxicating quest for love are all embedded within the notes and lyrics of Eastern Europe’s rich musical heritage. Performing its own arrangements of these rarely heard tales and lyrics, Vardos puts an original spin on a spell-binding assortment of traditional tunes.

1 hour no interval. 

Tickets now on sale!

Online performances and projects 2020

Vardos were invited to participate in Victorian Seniors Festival reimagined.  Watch the interview and listen to the online performance here!Week six performances include Vardos, Lemony S Theatre and Batton and Broadway, with a special introduction by talented hosts Tristan Meechan and Bec Reid.

From the World to Whittlesea online concert. Thursday 25 June 2020. Streamed online, professional artists, musicians including Vardos, poets and storytellers perform live. Overshadowed by the impact of COVID19, the refugee experience is ageless. People have always emigrated, but many have done so against their will, facing impossible challenges, so while we lament the difficulties of staying home, this concert reminds us of those who have been forced to leave theirs.

Vardos PBS Sounds Like Home - Aired 28 June 2020  PBS Radio 106.7FM As music lovers, we're all ready for a return to normality and, a return to live music. In the interim, PBS has decided to bring the live vibe direct from artists' homes to yours with Sounds Like Home. Local, diverse and talented musicians from the community, with each session delivering a brand new intimate recording from an artist you love; delivered immediately from artist to listener, including an eclectic performance from local trio Vardos. 

Our duo performance as part of Melbourne Recital Centre's At Home Series, 'At Home With Vardos'. Our doors may be closed, but the music plays on! Alana and Sofia from VARDOS take us into their Palazzo, where the vibrant folk and gypsy music of Eastern Europe is still being played and enjoyed during times of lockdown and isolation in Victoria. Stay tuned for the cute-critter-cameo at the end! This social media recital is supported by Melbourne Recital Centre Performer Support Fund. No matter where you are watching and listening from, we are #HearTogether.

VARDOS are featured in Beats, Ballads and Ballrooms: Darebin Live Music Venues 1955-2020: audio-tour now live, bringing listeners to key locations and revealing songs and stories behind venues, past and present! You can also read excerpts of the interviews. Sofia Chapman (Vardos Trio), Rose Turtle Ertler, Achilles Yiangoulli (The Habibis), Paige Black, Tony Lovett (Stray Blacks) Mick Thomas and others discuss the history of Rebetika and Eastern European music in Darebin as well as country, indie, punk, folk and pop venues and scenes. Beats, Ballads and Ballrooms was commissioned and funded by Darebin Arts for HYPERLOCAL and has been produced by Iain McIntyre, Kirstyn Lindsay and Teishan Ahearne. FUSE Darebin festival. Online virtual tour  November 2020-2022

performances since 2012 include

Performances since 2012 include: 

Au revoir 2020! NYE Celebration at Philippe restaurant, Melbourne. Dining under the stars in George Parade. Sofia and Alana from Vardos -chansons françaises as well as your Eastern European favourites!

18 Dec 2020 Vardos Live @ Korona Csárda Hungarian restaurant. There's nothing quite like the melodies of Vardos in our revamped Beer Garden! 760 Boronia Rd Wantirna. 

December 2020- Vardos live in the City of Boroondara, first live public performances since March!

Fri 4th Beswicke Square, Hawthorn, Saturday 5th Ashburton, Sat 12th Union Rd Surrey Hills

Now available as an audioplay, supported by the City of Melbourne COVID-19 Arts Grants

In January 2020, Vardos, La Mama and the Burning Deck Theatre Company presented The Top Secret Violin Case at La Mama Courthouse 349 Drummond Street, Carlton VIC, part of Midsumma Festival. A new play by Sofia Chapman, with Vardos playing live on stage. Lighting Teri Steer. Outside eye Görkem Acaroğlu. Image by Darren Gill.  Romania, 1970 something, in the grip of Ceaușescu's oppressive regime. Enter Brad (played by Sasha Čuha), hoping to escape his American closet and learn Romanian folk music, whilst dodging the secret police, until he encounters an ambitious violinist who will stop at nothing to get to the top ...      'Hilarious, weird, dark and light' Eloise Caleo We had an extremely successful and sold out season! A great review from Stage Whispers- click here.

28 February 2020 Journey to the Danube Delta Primrose Potter Salon Melbourne Recital Centre

Vardos journey down the River Danube, winding through countries and making music along the way. Hear the wind blow on the river, generating spinning dances in Slovakian kitchens, fuelling the health spas of Serbia, growing apples and sustaining foxes in Bulgaria, Jewish dancers in Southern Ukraine and a whole region of folk music in Hungary. All presented with the captivating combination of violin, accordion, double bass, viola, hurdy gurdy, and songs in five languages.

8 March 2020  Port Melbourne Wine and Cheese Festival

Thurs 12 March 2020  Vardos Live at Oussou- BAR OUSSOU 653 Sydney Rd Brunswick, part of Balkan Festival. This was a fun night and turned out to be the last live performance for a while...

Synthesis -Down Under 2019 Tour Nov 2019 Vardos in the all star group 'Sonic Temple' Support act for Macedonian band Thornbury Theatre

 'From the Caravan to the Club' at Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre 

Vardos trace the beloved Roma musical tradition to its Eastern sources. In contemporary Romania synthesisers and electric violins have crept in, but here Vardos play traditional instruments in the classic ‘Taraf’ formation of violin, accordion and double bass, with vocal laments and ballads in Romanian and Romani (Gypsy) language. These rousing works unearth a trove of mysterious and exotic wonders.

The Final Village Festival at Edinburgh Gardens 2019

'From Myth to Masterpiece' at Primrose Potter Salon: May 2019. What inspired Bartók, Liszt and Chopin to add folk motifs into their works? Discover the folk traditions behind classical Eastern European masterpieces as Vardos give new life to the original sources of inspiration. Enjoy the classics that reflect ancient beginnings performed on early instruments such as the three-string viola and hurdy gurdy.

2019 Melbourne Taranta Festival with Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (Italia)

Lost Trades Fair 2019 - Kyneton Victoria

25th Rosebery Festival, Tasmania 2019

MONA Museum of Old and New Art, 655 Main Rd Berriedale, Tasmania 

Goulash Festival, Hungarian Community Centre, Wantirna, Melbourne

St Kilda Festival 10 February 2019

Euraw Stories at Loop Performance Space and Bar, 23 Meyers Place Melbourne

Hungarian Fête, Bocskai Hungarian Centre, 121-123 St Georges Rd Nth Fitzroy

THE MAKERS FESTIVAL Kingston City Hall

Polish Festival at Federation Square 2017-2018

Thursday 15 November 2018 - Big bread, big boots - Music of the Hungarian plains, kitchens, and village dance halls. Melbourne Recital Centre, Primrose Potter Salon:

2 metre high loaves of bread and laments of boots without boot stiffener, sorrow over homelands and missing lovers, the Hungarians use music to express all the highs and lows of life. Haunting laments, pentatonic peasant songs and virtuosic and crazily fast dance pieces capture the essence of Hungary.

Vardos residency at Claypots Barbarossa Salon 79 Hardware Lane, Melbourne

Vardos at 'Spiegel et Luna': The Famous Spiegeltent at iconic Luna Park, St Kilda

Festival of Cultures, Louise Multicultural Community Centre

2018  St Ives Medieval Faire, NSW

Vardos 25th Anniversary Show - Django @ Camelot. 103 Railway Pde Marrickville, Sydney NSW

Biennale of Australian Art Opening Night, Ballarat Mining Exchange

Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia at ACMI, 2018

Memo Music Hall  St Kilda with belly dancer extraordinaire Rachel Brice (USA) 2018

Wangaratta Hall presented by Melbourne Recital Centre

Boite World Music Cafe Eltham 2018 25 year anniversary

Docklands Firelight Festival 2017-18

From the Hungarian plains to the Transylvanian alps, Melbourne Recital Centre Salon June 2018

Inhospitable mountains and wide rivers isolated certain Eastern European communities preserving their unique culture and music. Quirky instruments and wild and wacky chordal and rhythmic combinations have evolved. Along with their usual line-up, in this concert Vardos bring you the distinct tones of the rustic hurdy gurdy, and the portable Jaws harp, the milk jug, spoons and vocal percussion used by Romany people when other instruments weren't available, the flat bridge viola and 2 string double bass of Palatka where only major chords are played and the open tuned guitar, drum and fiddle combination from Maramures on the Ukrainian border.

Dandenong World Fare 2018, Croydon Multicultural Festival 2018, Midsumma Festival Park Lounge 2018

Benalla Festival 2017, Bonegilla 70th year celebrations

Vardos Album Launch at The Spotted Mallard, Brunswick, Melbourne Australia

Beltane Festival 2017, Wolfgang's Palace, 155 Nalangil Rd, Nalangil Victoria

Boroondara Seniors Festival variety concert 2017, Hawthorn Arts Centre

Sunday 24 September 2017 8.30pm Vardos cameo appearance on The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Series 5 Episode 2, 'Sorrow Songs' ABC TV

Sept 2017 Smiths Alternative , 76 Alinga street, Canberra. Canberra Launch of our 5th CD, Palazzo Party, with special guest Tim Meyen on hammered dulcimer

Aug 2017 Vardos Brisbane CD Launch at BEMAC, with MZAZA. Queensland Multicultural Centre

14 July 2017 Melbourne Recital Centre Salon, 'Romania- celebrations, rituals and magic'- Vardos with Tim Meyen

'City Sounds' Queen Street Mall Stage, Brisbane, QLD 2017

Hungarofeszt Hungarian festival and Goulash Festival, Hungarian Community Centre, Wantirna

Queen Victoria Night Market

Vampire Ball 2017

Bastille Day 2016 and the first New Year's Eve party at Philippe Restaurant

Coburg Night Market, Bridges Reserve, Coburg

10 year celebrations of Open Studio Bar and Creperie featuring Lolo Lovina (Sydney)

Speakeasy, Flinders St accompanied by world renowned Serpent Dancer, Ronicka (photo Brig Bee)

Eat Pierogi Make Love with Vardos and VULGARGRAD at Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood

Falls Festival Byron Bay, Dec 2015- Jan 2016

HATS Auburn Courthouse Adelaide Fringe 2016, Mesopotamia Festival 2016

Szent Iván Folk Fest, Sopron and Pajta Galéria, Salföld, Hungary 2015

L'Équitable Café Marseille, Guinguette Le Tournebelle Narbonne and Sainte-Valière residency France 2015

Russian Resurrection Film Festival ACMI, Federation Square

Mullum Music Festival Mullumbimby NSW Australia

Bohemian Cabaret, State Library
DARK MOFO Winter Feast 2014, Hobart, Tasmania: a three-night Bacchanalian banquet.
The Gypsy Crystal Ball at the Spotted Mallard, with Mzaza and Kavisha Mazzella
Falls Festival Marion Bay, Tasmania
The Courtyard Salamanca, Tasmania
The Homestead, Tasmania
Globe to Globe World Music Festival Melbourne
Sydney Road Street Party Brunswick

Caravan Music Club.
Folkworld Fairbridge Festival Western Australia 2013

Peace Concert, Kibble Park, Gosford, NSW
Castlemaine State Festival 2013
Camelot Lounge, Sydney
THISTLE HALL Wellington, New Zealand
KARAVAN! International Gypsy Music Festival
CARNIVALE Wodonga Harmony
The Famous Spiegeltent, Melbourne
Snowy Mountains of Music Festival, NSW
Hamer Hall Arts Centre, Melbourne, Opening concerts

Harvest Festival

Guthries, Adelaide

Courthouse Carnival, South Australia