Wesley Music Centre, Forrest July14
Reviewed by Len Power
Aptly named due to the bitterly cold weather outside, the
Winter Recital by the Wesley Music Scholars produced a welcome warmth with
performances of selected works from the classics to jazz to modern.
Starting the concert with Franz Schubert’s Lied der Mignon,
Phoebe Bourke, mezzo soprano, and Jojo Yuen, piano, gave a fine performance of
this well-known song. Bourke’s sensitive singing gave depth to the pain and
emotion in the character of Mignon.
Brad Tham, violin, and Pippa Newman, viola, followed with
Reinhold Gliére’s 8 Pieces Op. 39. These varied works give performers a good
opportunity to showcase their abilities and both players showed great skill in
their playing, as well as showing how much they were enjoying it.
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Pippa Newman and Brad Tham
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Next, soprano, Evangeline Osborne, a jazz voice and
composition student, and pianist, Martin Magill, performed two contrasting
works, Wayne Shorter’s Black Orpheus, a haunting latin melody from the famous
film and Louis Armstrong’s jaunty Sunny Side Of The Street. Osborne showed fine
technique and ability to entertain with these songs and Magill, with his nimble
playing, showed that he was a sensitive and accomplished accompanist.
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| Gabriel Fromyhr |
They were followed by Gabriel Fromyhr on cello who played 3
Courantes by J.S. Bach. His confident, relaxed playing brought out the
differences between all three fast-paced works and showed his mastery of the
instrument.
Tanya Boag on violin then performed the Allemande from J.S.
Bach’s Partita No. 2 for Violin in D minor. She gave a thoughtfully sensitive
performance of this melodic work.
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| From left: Phoebe Bourke, Evangeline Osborne, Pippa Newman, Martin Magill and Jesse Hill |
Evangeline Osborne, soprano, Phoebe Bourke, mezzo soprano,
Pippa Newman, alto, Martin Magill, tenor and Jesse Hill, baritone, performed
the final item of four very different songs , commencing with Purcell’s Thou
Knowest Lord and following with Billy Joel’s And So It Goes, Peace Offering by
Jesse Hill and Our Song by Kate Miller-Heidke. Their voices skilfully blended
with great appeal across the different styles of music.
This charming concert showed that, with young performers of
this calibre, Australia’s future in music performance is assured.
Photos by Dallice Trost
This review was first
published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 15 July 2024.
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/.
