MUSIC THAT MOVES YOU, Sydney Symphony Orchestra

 Snow Concert Hall, September 25, 2026 

 Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

The rapturous applause from a capacity audience in Snow Concert Hall hailed the Sydney Symphony Orchestra with well-deserved praise.

In the beginning, a solo cello quietly opens Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta with a fine filigree of shimmering strings creating a soundscape for various solos – horn, oboe, leading to a sinuous glorious clarinet solo from SSO’s Justin Wong.

The Dances are episodic and, while there are nominally five movements, they weave in and out, fiery fast and clockwork toy like, spinning dresses and exciting footwork… their Hungarian folk song base evident but all enticing exotic melodies and Eastern richness in harmonies.

And then suddenly a moment of silence before solo flute passes the sinuous line back to the clarinet with an echo of the opening before a sudden spirited sprint to the close.

Benjamin Northey conducts the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

As genial conductor Benjamin Northey said, what a way “to ease into” a concert! His style is economical but absolutely clear, with subtle interpretive cues and distinct tempo control, from stillness to frenzy.

Louisic Dulbecco on harp

SSO harpist Louisic Dulbecco played Debussy’s Dances for Harp and String Orchestra. There are two: sacred and profane.

The excellence of the SSO strings was on full display in their very tender accompanying here. Debussy uses lots of pizzicato but then contrasts the plucking of the harp soloist with sustained soft lines, using mutes on occasion to further colour their support.

Dulbecco’s glowing golden harp had a matching glowing golden sound. Her dynamic richness and accurate arpeggios, rich low notes and beautiful delineation of the melodies shaped a wonderful performance. The music swirled and surged.

Her lovely solo encore was Debussy’s Arabesque No 1 perfectly realised, closing out the first half with ethereal bliss.

Sydney-based composer Holly Harrison’s Hi-Vis was the spectacular opener for the second half. Her enlarged orchestra augmented by doubling instruments and quirky percussion score.

This is a contemporary cityscape, jazz idioms with a persistent samba rhythm, chaotic colours, squealing brass. It’s cartoony and episodic. During Covid, the composer was inspired by the sounds outside her apartment, roadworks and traffic.

Sydney Symphony Orchestra directed by Benjamin Northey

A showpiece for full orchestra, each section featured imaginatively. Growly horns and bass trombone, exhausting strings, punctuating piccolo, swooping trombones, crackling contrabassoon and bass clarinet with woodblocks, wild and distinctive clarinet solos, trumpet and trombone with a funky Batman style … fun, you know?

Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite of 1919 was the major work. What a wonder. From the incredibly soft silky cello, bass and viola opening, you knew there was magic to do. These beautiful still moments allowed lovely solos from across the instrumentation.

But there are flourishes, trills and darting about. Insistent rhythms. Weird and delightful stereo effects between the horns and lower brass. Bombastic moments. A xylophone scampering. A plaintive bassoon solo in a desolate yet measured stillness. A romantic horn solo building towards the carillon-like chorale tolling. Tympani and bass drum interruptions. Exhilarating.

Northey who had conducted Stravinsky without a score, delighted the audience with an encore. Rossini’s William Tell Overture fair rollicked along, with the inclusion of a Leroy Anderson trumpet whinney in the last bar. Oh, we loved it! 

Pictures by Peter Hislop

This review originally appeared in Canberra City News Link here

FACE TO FACE

 

Face to Face by David Williamson. 

Directed and designed by Celine Oudin. Assistant Director Jo Hogan. Stage Manager and Lighting/Sound Operator Aoife McFoley. Lighting Design Rhiley Winnett and Celine Oudin. Set Design/Concept Chris Baldock. Sound Design Celine Oudin and Cast. Costumes and Props. Celine Oudin and cast and Production Team. Mockingbird Studio Theatre. Mockingbird Theatre Company and Acting Studio. October 7-17 2026. Bookings: 6173 3300 , www.belcoarts.com.au

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Sacin Nyak as Jack Manning. Joshua Nicholls as Glen Tregaskis

 It is a quarter of a century since I first saw David Williamson’s Face to Face in a professional production on the Playhouse Stage of the Canberra Theatre Centre. Ten actors were seated on chairs at the front of the stage with a curtain behind them. The play was the first in Williamson’s Jack Manning Trilogy, which explored his fascination at the time with Restorative Justice as a humane, consultative alternative to the harsher processes of a court system that could inevitably lead a convicted felon to a prison term. Director Celine Oudin has set Mockingbird’s production in the same simple setting of the ten chairs on a grey carpet and a water station on the side of the stage. This allows us to focus entirely on the characters, Williamson’s naturalistic dialogue and the arguments seductively revealed by the questions raised by the convenor Jack Manning (Sachin Nayak). In the intimate setting of Mockingbird’s studio theatre Oudin lures us into a complex web of personalities, conflicting arguments and  complex issues, struggling for resolution. The stakes are high, because if the process fails or any person present leaves the room the consequence will be a return to the courts and an inevitable goal term.

Zade Fainstein as Barry. Joshua Nicholls as Glen and
Anna Hemmings as Maureen

The situation is straightforward. Glen Tregaskis (Joshua Nicholls) has driven his car into the rear of his boss’s Mercedes after he was fired for beating up the foreman of the scaffolding firm, Richard Halligan (David Yates). Glen has been brought to the conference room to face his boss Greg Baldoni (Terry Johnson) along with Baldoni’s wife Claire (Victoria Nicholl-Dixon), Halligan, a worker in the firm Luka Mitrovic (Ryan Hedley), Baldoni’s PA Julie Rossiter (Chloe Smith) and the firm’s accountant Therese Martin (Sophia Costello)

Glen is supported by his mother Maureen (Anna Hemmings) and best friend Barry Maclean (Zade Feinstein). With Manning as convenor the scene is set for a confrontation between opposing parties in an attempt to resolve the situation. Tregaskis, a dedicated worker, is desperate to have his job back. Baldoni is determined not to rescind his decision. The stage is set for irreconcilable drama and Oudin  meticulously orchestrates the eruptions that inevitably arise as Williamson’s play ekes out the hidden conflicts, motives and explosive issues. The result is a gripping exposure of injustice that festers beneath the surface of a single narrative. Gradually Williamson peels back the outer layer to reveal Greg’s relationship with his fellow workers, Halligan’s resentment, Mitrovic’s bitterness, Baldoni’s infidelity and Martin’s emotional release of the hidden truth. As each layer is forcefully peeled back, the complexity of the process is skilfully navigated by Manning, played with calm expertise and intelligent  insight by Nayak.

Sachin Nayak (Jack Manning), Maureen Tregaskis (Anna Hemmings

Oudin has cast the production with a keen eye for type and the actors rise to the occasion. From the moment they enter the room, the body language ripples with the tension of cautious expectation. Only Manning is free of the palpable discomfort of the invited people in the room. Williamson has veered from his sparkling satire of his tribe to depict the seriousness of restorative justice. The drama is not without Williamson’s wit, irony and jocular accusation, but Manning is intent to point out to Rossitor at the end of the play that not every conference results in a successful outcome. Williamson has based the play on four separate cases and in Face To Face the moments of capitulation, hugging and comic relief tend to diminish what one might suspect a real and more aggressive outcome could be. But Williamson offers a positive aspect of the process and its optimistic resolution and Mockingbird’s production certainly acknowledges Williamson’s advocacy of a more hopeful conflict resolution.

It might be easy to accuse the play of cliché, featuring stereotypes speaking predictable dialogue that is not necessarily representative of today’s society and workers. It is worth remembering that cliché has its roots in reality and in Face To Face it is this reality that expounds universality. There will be many in an audience, no matter what their creed or culture who might be likely to identify with the characters and the issues. That is what makes Mockingbird’s production so riveting, revealing and instructive. Williamson’s art and wit simply add to the conferencing to make the whole production entertaining and palatable.

 

 

SIMON TEDESCHI PLAYS YOUR REQUESTS

 Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. September 18, 2026

 Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD.

Starting with the boisterous theme from The Simpsons and ending with an equally boisterous ragtime-infused theme from Super Mario Brothers, Simon Tedeschi astounded his audience with a masterclass in the piano.

Well, that’s what you get when you ask your audience on arrival to nominate what they’d like to hear – and you build your program by randomly selecting from a box of their requests!

It takes a special performer to be so comfortable with the unpredictable – this is only the fifth or sixth time he’s done it – and a prodigious memory to then perform to the outstanding level of artistry we witnessed.

Just a word of disappointment with the audience, not the performer.

Given the hosts were the ACT Keyboard Association, the almost capacity audience was made up of many piano teachers and students.

Simon Tedeschi playing one of the requests

So why were the requests so predictable? Short of the bookends, there were no surprises in the requested composers, also no women, no Australians … it read like the contents list of European master piano works from the Baroque to the Impressionists. Yep, the B composers Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy … With only one other – Gershwin, of course (more later).

The rules of the engagement are that, once played, a composer cannot be played again. Also that, while you can request a particular work, the pianist may play any work by that composer. He will also mostly deny requests for works written for piano and orchestra.

Tedeschi is an affable host, telling often funny stories prompted by the random selections and then performing immaculately. While always stylistically informed, he has a penchant for heightening the dramatic possibilities in any era. His interpretation is guaranteed to hold an audience in the palms of his hands.

Bach’s Great Fantasia (without Fugue) originally for organ showed how Bach foreshadowed what was to come – particularly in this realisation. It still retained the turns and trills, the counterpoint, but the shaping was exceptional.

A nine-year-old piano student requested Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19 that Simon had played at Sydney Opera House when he also was nine. It demonstrated the required crisp clarity of fingering and interpolated the dramatic orchestral dynamics.

Tedeschi looking through the requests

Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin has become synonymous with Tedeschi. He first performed it with Tommy Tycho in 1993. It is his most performed and requested work.

Understandably – when you hear this mighty solo piano interpretation.

After the opening sections, it got into its rhythmic centre with Tedeschi channelling Gershwin in the wild speed and shifting harmonies, with a mighty crescendo leading to a sudden stillness prior to the big romantic theme. Enormous dynamic contrast and a great, inventive walking bass line led to a thrilling climax.

When Debussy came up, Simon chose his most famous piano work, Clair de lune. A contrast to so many works on the random program, this had an incredibly beautiful and peaceful opening, so delicately played with melting harmonies and ringing tones, particularly in the upper register. Yep, by the end, I had teared up. 

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review originally appeared in Canberra City News Link here

FACE TO FACE

 

Written by David Williamson

Directed by Céline Oudin

Mockingbird Theatre Company

Belconnen Arts Centre to 17 October

 

Reviewed by Len Power 7 October 2026

 

Whether you think restorative justice has a place alongside conventional justice or not, the process as it unfolds can bring to light hidden truths, motivations, personal judgements and shameful practices that may have a bearing on the reason the accused committed the crime.

In David Williamson’s stark play, a young man with a quick temper has been charged with rear-ending his boss’s Mercedes causing injury as well as damage after being sacked. The deed is not disputed by the accused, and in conventional justice his actions would likely see him gaoled.

Ten people, a room, some chairs, a conversation.

In Céline Oudin’s production we observe nine people who were all connected to this case. There are no other scenery or props, but there is a facilitator, Jack Manning. We are even aware of traffic passing in the street outside. Our concentration is, therefore, completely on the restorative justice meeting that takes place.

It was just a joke.

Immediately we are drawn into a picture of a toxic workplace where bored and bitter workers take out their frustrations on others with hurtful practical jokes. The accused with his quick temper and naivety quickly becomes a target. The facilitator, Jack Manning, unearths how all nine people played their part in a situation that exploded into violence.

Sachin Nayak (Jack Manning)

Sachin Nayak as Jack Manning and Joshua Nicholls as the accused, Glen Tregaskis, stand out with their prominence in the script, but everyone onstage gives a fine performance, too, creating believable and recognizable characters.

Joshua Nicholls (Glen Tregaskis)

The director, Céline Oudin, keeps the action moving at a well-measured pace. The ninety minutes running time without a break feels considerably shorter, a sure sign that we have been drawn successfully into the drama of the play.

At times, Williamson’s script felt contrived. It was hard to believe that some characters would be as forgiving as they were in so short a time and be hugging and handshaking. His discussion of the issues arising sounded more like a man on a soapbox than good drama. However, his observation of Australian characters and their strengths and weaknesses is as strong as ever.

 

Photos by Chris Baldock

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

CHORISTERS OF FLIGHT: Polifemy and BlockSounds

 Wesley Uniting Church. September 6, 2026 

Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

Spring in Canberra was welcomed with this sparkling program of sunny songs and sounds of and about birds from voices and recorders.

The seven women of Polifemy were joined by five guest singers including four men’s voices. They all sang through a continuous program of delights by early Western music composers like Palestrina, Orlando Gibbons, Byrd, Thomas Morley, Tallis and Gabrieli.

The programming was so carefully considered by director Robyn Mellor that it felt like a spring oratorio.

Choristers of Flight 

The augmented Polifemy was very finely balanced throughout this recital. They have a lovely rounded tone that floats in the Wesley acoustic. Sopranos and tenors sang their sometimes challenging high lines with lovely clarity and true pitch. Altos and basses were also true and provided a solid but never overpowering anchor. And all the interweaving vocal lines, often with overlapping complex rhythms were well rehearsed and clean.

However sometimes clear diction appears to have been sacrificed for tone. The acoustic possibly blurs diction but ending consonants particularly were lost. When sung in English, you shouldn’t need to refer to program notes for the words. While less of an issue with foreign languages, with them, there could be more attention given to capturing the vowel accents when singing French and Italian, for example.

There is a nicely unfussy approach to staging, where we moved seamlessly from full ensemble to various octets, septets and the recorder ensemble. Mellor directs from the centre, singing alto. Her inspired direction offers intelligent interpretation of both lyrics and music.

Robyn Mellor, Director of Polifemy

Beguiling instrumental interludes from recorder ensemble BlockSounds added birdcalls from a full range of recorders. Some were offstage solos or duets that magically filled Wesley with lively birdsong and perfectly complemented the songs. Using Baroque decorations, turns, mordants and sliding techniques, the players captured a variety of different bird sounds.

With such a wide program, we only have space to discuss highlights.

For the augmented Polifemy, Edward Johnson’s Come Blessed Bird had some nicely rhythmic singing and a stronger attack than other works. The singers maintained their accuracy and added good swelling and dynamic contrast.

Later, an octet presented Clément Janequin’s The Song of the Birds (Le chant des Oiseaux) with pleasing percussive effects and fun bird mimicry, each verse requiring different chirruping and vocal trickery. This work demonstrated the good humour of both the composer and the singers.

There were many smiles of satisfaction from the Wesley audience, but it was a shame not to applaud these gems throughout the program.

For BlockSounds, the full quartet highlight was the delicious Cappriccio III by Frescobaldi. This extended work of multiple changing tempos and moods was punctuated throughout by shared cuckooing from the instruments – with one most persistent offstage descant cuckoo throughout. Very effective and technically sound, well balanced and tonally bright.

There was also a lovely duo by Thomas Morley, The Little Turtledove, played on treble and square bass recorders that softly cooed and swooped to capture the character of the distinctive birdsong.

To finish the recital 11 choristers sang Andrea Gabrieli’s fun Cock-a-doodle-do. There were many layers within the vocal writing here, with answering choirs and quirky rhythmic nonsense words, and quite naughty lyrics between the feuding lovers, Lucia and Martino.

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review first appeared in Canberra City News Link here

 

ETERNITY, Art Song Canberra presents Sonia Anfiloff and Alan Hicks

Wesley Music Centre. August 2, 2026 

Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD 

Soprano Sonia Anfiloff went to Melba High School and chose music by Dame Nellie Melba's personal composer, Sir Landon Ronald, for her first song cycle. 

The five delightful songs were a grand opener, exultant and romantic in the best of English art song tradition. They demonstrated Sonia's pleasingly agile and true dramatic voice, her sparkling diction and her exceptional control.

This was a recital with both performers on top of their game, as art song must. Pianist Alan Hicks ever supportive and masterful accompaniments never overshadowed Sonias voice, even when it went to her warm lower register in gentle moments.

Sonia Anfiloff in Eternity

Eternity was a theme wending its way through all works on this always interesting program. Lyrics from poets like de la Mare, Yeats, Shelley, Blake, Longfellow and others were set to music by the likes of Roger Quilter, Amy Beach, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Benjamin Britten, Liza Lehmann and Australian Linda Phillips.

But perhaps the most exciting discovery was the magnificent song settings of English composer Rebecca Clarke. Incredibly diverse art songs explored all emotions across the seven selections here. In the best art song, the lyrics are as important as the music – and Anfiloff explained that the composer can often lend a different reading to the words according to how they colour them. This is why the collaboration between voice and piano must be equal.

Rebecca Clarke used various texts and many different techniques, from conversation between soloist and accompanist, to almost cinematic atmospherics on the piano with voice punctuation or storytelling. That was particularly so in piano showpiece Tiger Tiger. But also, in Binnorie – A ballad, one of those crazy long Scottish poems with many tragic and histrionic moments that closed the first half. Its over the top melodramatic form allowed both performers to lead us through diverse moods, including a really impressive fortissimo, having given us a heads up that none of these poems ends happily.

By contrast, the second half opened with another work by Clarke called The aspidistra which drew out-loud laughs from the audience for both its funny words by Claude Flight and the perfectly judged performance.

Happily, both performers had clearly prepared extensively and offered well informed performances of both familiar and unknown works.

The afternoon culminated in Erich Wolfgang Korngolds five-song cycle on Immortality (Unvergänglichkeit), around which the program had been built. This major work in the German tradition is very much in Korngold’s rich musical language with moving harmonies and lovely romantic melodies. It demonstrated both performers range, in technique and volume control. Anfiloff’s rich lower register in Stronger than death and Hicks’s incredibly busy piano rippling in The river flows.

What a colourful and constantly entertaining program. The comfortably full audience at Wesley Music Centre clearly enjoyed it.

Photo by Peter Hislop

This review originally appeared in Canberra City News Link here 

Visual Arts / Chroma, Julie Bradley and Susan Buret, The Q Gallery Art Hub, Ainslie. Until October 8. Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD.

 

The Apricot Vase 2026 by Julie Bradley

It would be hard to curate a more compatible double exhibition than Chroma featuring stunning works on paper by Julie Bradley and striking ceramics by Susan Buret.

The artists clearly agreed on a joint approach to developing their works for this charming installation celebrating spring in Canberra, their gardens and Floriade.

The complex curvilinear forms used by both artists feature circles, ovals and sensuous line. The interplay of colours is joyful, with tonal layering in the two-dimensional works and shadow play in the three-dimensional works. But rarely are the colours blended. They are juxtaposed to create often startling effects and dimensionality.

Bradley’s work has evolved to almost pure abstraction, where previously detailed overwork embedded natural forms in outline. In these Chroma works, the overlaid lines feel like light caught in glass edges. Indeed, her Chroma set feels like light captured and refracted through layers of crystal.

This feeling is clearly intended with titles like Reflections in a Glass Vase and the two large works featured in The Q Gallery’s front windows, A Harlequin Vase and Jar Full of Light. These works are exceptional and delight the eye.

At other times, Bradley’s composition is themed around a chosen colour. The Pink Halo Vase was one of three such compositions. The colours are achieved with layers of coloured papers and prepared papers, overworked with sophisticated solid gouache lines.

A work by Susan Buret

By contrast, Buret’s sculptural vase and container forms have solidity but work as a set of fluorescent colours bouncing off each other as you wander around the gallery space. Each hand-shaped ceramic piece tends to feature two (or on occasion three) vibrant matte underglazes, reminiscent of the intensity of anodised metal though without the sheen.

Green and Blue Bowl was particularly successful, as was Red and Blue Vessel.

Many of Buret’s forms have oval pieces added in a contrasting colour, like exotic grafted elements. On occasion there is a clear link to spring petals opening or emerging from the base form.

Three of her works featured circular “tabs” cut from the main form and folded out, making windows that reveal the interior colour of the form. Orange, Blue and White Vessel was such a one.

Bradley’s works are similarly layered, but with significantly greater compositional complexity. They often have a similar intensity of colour to Buret’s, and with their oval and petal forms, feel like gentle references.

That’s what made the pairing of these two artists so successful here.