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April 18th, 2024
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Chamber Concert 1
by philip (6th September 11)
What a great opening concert for this year's spring chamber series! The quality of every performance was particularly remarked upon by various audience members afterwards. A very good-sized Sunday afternoon audience of about 150 saw a great variety of performances. There was a Piano Trio (Bruce Sterling, Peter Read and Demi Wood), solo voice (Michelle Scott) a trumpet solo (Carmen Robertson), solo voice, (Julien Robinson), Violin and viola duet (Rebecca Jennings and Eve Spencer), piano solo, (Alexis Lucattini) and the full string section of the GVCO rounded off the concert nicely.

The concert began with compere Wendy Oakes explaining the rationale behind the chamber series, to give members of the orchestra and other associated people the opportunity to perform a very different type of music, as either a soloist or as a member of a small group of musicians. She then introduced the first item, Beethoven's piano trio, "Opus 1, No 1". Three movements were played - Allegro, Adagio Cantabile and Presto, and it was great to hear all three players performing some beautiful music so well. Peter Read on violin challenged himself to play an instrument which he rarely plays in such an exposed way, being a viola player predominantly, but he succeeded brilliantly. Demi set herself a high level of achievement in playing the cello part and she can be proud of her performance. The audience loved her contribution to the overall piece. Bruce said he enjoyed the experience of playing with others and performing as a team, as you have to do, both in the orchestra and also in a chamber group. The overall impression, from the audience's point of view, was of three musicians blending their instruments and helping to create a successful and enjoyable performance of Beethoven's music.

Next it was Michelle Scott, who performed two arias. Her high soprano voice delighted the audience as she sang Mozart's "Porgi Amor" from "The Marriage of Figaro", followed by the Bach-Gounod version of "Ave Maria". She sang each of them beautifully and it was indeed a pleasure to have such a talented singer performing once again. She was very well accompanied by local identity and pianist, Julie Tracey.

Carmen Robertson, who played with the orchestra for the first time earlier this year at our annual concert in Westside in June, then showed us what a wonderful trumpeter she has become. Firstly she played Concert Etude Op. 49 by Alexander Goedicke. This had some very fast and tricky passages but Carmen managed them with some flair, wowing the audience. But she followed this with a stunning performance (and an equally stunning performance from accompanist, Sharon Leppard) of Percy Cole's "Zelda". This is a wonderful piece, with some beautiful melodies mixed in with some devilishly difficult and fast passages, both for trumpet and for piano. Both players not only managed these sections but performed them brilliantly and received well-deserved applause.

Carmen's performance was followed by Rebecca Jennings and Eve Spencer performing some string duets, with Rebecca on violin and Eve on viola. The first piece was a jig called "The Countess Cathleen" and this was followed by the beautiful Ashokan Farewell, for which Eve had written a viola part. This complemented Rebecca's playing very nicely and both players received good applause from the audience. It should be noted that the audience, by this stage could hardly believe the quality of performances they were getting. Ther were smiles on all their faces and many could be seen closing their eyes to enjoy the music they were listening to even more (No, they were not asleep!).

Julien Robinson, a medical student who joined the orchestra this year for the annual concert, on French Horn, was up next, but this time singing two songs by Gerald Finzi. Both were written for Shakespearian plays - the first was called "Come Away, Come Away Death" and the second was called "It was a Lover and his Lass" (from "Much Ado About Nothing"). His rich baritone voice was also very well received by the enraptured audience.

VCE piano student, Alexis Lucattini began his recital with the very recognisable and whistleable "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" by Grieg, from his Lyric Pieces Op.65, No 6. He followed this by a very memorable rendition of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor, Op. 3, No. 2. He played some magnificent fortissimos and equally impressive pianissimos, showing off the full capability of the Steinway.

The concert was concluded with The Shepparton String Ensemble playing six varied pieces. These were an arrangement of Leonard Cohen's popular folk tune, "Hallelujah", Stephen Bulla's rocky "Viola Hero", featuring our own viola hero, Peter Read (!); then the jazz-styled "Baby's Back in Town" by Susan Day. The final three numbers were slightly more classical, Handel's "Entrance of the Queen of Sheba", Hofeldt's "Toccatina" and the concert was rounded off nicely with Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro". This was performed especially for all the fathers in the audience, since it was Father's Day - and on top of that Cindy Abbey carried a basket of chocolates to give to all the Dads as the piece was being played. It was a nice way to end what was a very good concert. It ended up being a little longer than expected, but I was assured by many audience members I spoke to afterwards, that "it didn't seem long at all", which can only be a good thing!

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