We were in Cologne just before Christmas so I didn't want to miss the Chamber Philharmonia Cologne when they returned. They are the ones with the red and black posters all over Manuka and more. It's a common advertising medium in Europe and I've caught quite a few concerts that way but not so common here. And I'd seen them before, in the same location, St Christopher's Manuka, ten years back. I was playing a gig to the time they started but I packed up quickly and dropped off my gear and arrived at interval and caught the second half. It's a popular style of concert rather than for the cognoscenti and it was packed. So it's successful. Six players, flashy and popular pieces, no repeats and surprisingly short, so they managed Vivaldi and Bach and Rossini and Tchaikovsky and Mozart and Paganini and an encore in one concert. The Paganini was all flash and hot chops, the Bach was his Brandenburg 3 and an aria from St Matthew's Passion and there was another aria given one player was also a singer. A big voice filling the big space. The players were 3xviolin, viola/baritone, cello and bass including two ring-ins from Australia. I remember Kyle from CSO told me he'd played with they on a previous recent tour. These players were both from Australia including the bass. I spoke with bassist Madison and she was a student at the con in Melbourne and enjoying the tour and impressed by the performers. I got in a few words to one of the Germans but he seemed pretty uninterested in my two short visits. Yeah, it hardly makes me a Cologn-ial. So I just caught the second set and I enjoyed it well enough and the audience was big and they got a standing ovation and their posters reminded me of Europe. What's not to like?
Chamber Philharmonia Cologne performed at St Christopher's Catholic Cathedral, Manuka. They comprised Matthew Rigby, Sergey Didirenko and Sylvia Hurttia (violins), Jaime Roda (viola, baritone) Thomas Grote (cello) and Madison Furlan (bass).
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