Feel like a pro

Feel like a pro?  Nothing to do with money.  What I loved was a program that we could get together in a week, admittedly just for one half, but we had just one fairly short orchestral rehearsal, then a rehearsal with the choir, then a playthrough warmup on the day, on the mighty and very pro Llewellyn stage, then the gig.  We were a group of 19 strings from NCO invited to play with Qwire, our local LGBTQI+ choir, unauditioned but taking on significant complexity and very varied works with considerable competence.  The first half had Qwire on stage unaccompanied, singing a range of musics from 1100CE to today, a mix of renaissance, classical and well arranged pop.  Hildegard von Bingen and Jennifer Cook and John Tavener, through Arthur Sullivan to Dylan, Enya, Jake Runestad (there were some names I didn't know), Cyndi Lauper and kd lang, with an entrance song gifted from Aboriginal supporters.  You can feel the power and insinuousness of a great pop song: I'm singing some still.  The second half had us strings up on stage.  First with an intro of Elgar Serenade for strings mvt.2, very lovely and larghetto.  Then our major work, Ola Gjeilo Sunrise Mass, a modern work in four movements with latin text by the Norwegian composer.  Not difficult for the basses despite some powerful and driving lines and much counting but some very tricky string patterns working essentially as effects for strings down to cellos and some lovely solo violin from concertmaster Laura Lay.  It reminded me of The armed man that we played with CCS in 2025, modern and seemingly fairly simple while immensely powerful in the whole.   The concert was a pleasure, the choir members were inviting and thankful for our string presence and the audience response was resounding, so a very pleasureable outing of considerable artistic value.

Canberra Qwire performed at Llewellyn with strings from the National Capital Orchestra under Callum Tolhurst-Close (musical director).  Concertmaster was Laura Lay (violin 1) and the bottom end was Lizzy Collier, Mel Fung and Eric Pozza (basses).  

Finally Lizzy

Lizzy Collier is a really nice local bassist and music teacher and she was to direct Musica da Camera last year but came down with an injury and her concert and program was covered.  Finally, we got to play with her, just last Saturday, more than 6-months late.  The main work on the program with Suk Serenade, a work of 30 mins and four movements and some demanding passages, quiet and evocative and just seat of pants stuff.  We got through it, if not at release level.  The other works were quite meditative, FS Kelly with a WW1 elegy, Finzi with a romance, Schoenberg with a Notturno from early in his career and a more bouncy take on Greensleeves by Vaughan Williams.  We were joined by harp for a few tunes.   I love this fascinating process of discovering directors / conductors, learning their personalities and preferences and modes of musical and other communication.  Lizzy was wonderfully direct and clear, not always a feature of a conductor.  So, a touching and well led outing from Lizzy with MdCC.

Musica da Camera Canberra performed Suk, FS Kelly, Finzi, Schoenberg and Vaughan Williams under Lizzy Collier (director) with guest Elizabeth Alford (harp).

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Concert in the time of Covid

It's a strange experience.  This was my first concert since the Covid close-down six months ago.  The group was much the same - twenty or so string players in Musica da Camera with guest guitar soloist and director.  The location was the same, but instead of 100+ audience, there were just 30 seats sparsely strewn in front of us.  Better than nothing.  Someone mentioned the sound was different but I didn't particularly notice, being too busy trying to play the parts.  Because that's another thing: the parts were not too challenging, but my practice hasn't been so established for several months.  Covid has done strange things to our mental states.  And another thing, I couldn't play the Sunday concert.  I have to confirm 14-days staying in the ACT in a bit less than 2 weeks and the Sunday concert was close, but in NSW.  Strange, really, given that ACT is so small, and so many NSW residents come to Canberra for work or pleasure anyway.  But they have to set some rules and this is a little oddity.  So I thought we were just a little rusty but the music was surprisingly satisfying - Grieg, Vivaldi, Whitacre, Boccherini and Piazzolla Libertango.  The soloist was Canberra-trained guitarist Andrew Blanch and the conductor was local music educator and bassist Lizzie Collier.  Both were impressive.  I expected it would be too much guitar, too Spanish, but I came to enjoy the performance immensely: the passionate, driving rhythms and growling bass parts.  Lizzy advised that tango should be played virtually 100% with down-bows on bass and cello.  Interesting and strange but it gave a drive and growl that I loved. The Grieg was lovely folk song as Nordic melody; the Whitacre was colours of autumn interpreted with all manner of time signatures (3/4,5/4,4/4,6/4) and harmonic colour.  The Vivaldi and Boccherini were with guitar, one a guitar concerto and the other including a fandango.  Libertango is just a fabulous, hugely covered passionate tango (from Grace Jones on).  So, I'm sorry I'm not playing the Sunday concert (it's being played as I write this) because the rehash is always more comfortable and committed, but I enjoyed that which I could and I remain Covid-correct.  Thanks to all and hope it's going well right now.

Musica da Camera string orchestra performed Vivaldi, Whitacre, Boccherini and Piazzolla under Lizzy Collier (director) with soloist Andrew Blanch (guitar).

Our Veggies for the day

Ya gotta love the NCO Christmas concert. A few years ago they were opportunities for members to solo on various movements of various concerti. That's good but now they are Family concerts and they are fun. This year was NCO with The Vegetable Plot. You may wonder! It's a kids band but with wit to spare that features a few sly jokes for the adults in the room. I got caught out for a few secs with a pun on pea/pee. And plenty more references to peas (they seem to be a favourite) and other vegetables and some amusing lyrics about life in Sydney and whatever and nice popular tunes underlying it all. We played accompaniments arranged by Leonard and Belinda Weiss and threw in a few more classical outings, Habanera and Zarathustra and a few Nutcracker waltzes (how beautiful are they! I want to play in a ballet orchestra!) and Sorcerer's apprentice and a snippet from Pictures at an Exhibition. Otherwise the tunes were written by Aspara Gus (AKA Luke Escombe). The rest of the Veggies were Ru Barb (Paige Hoorweg), Sir Paul McCarrotney (Nick Hoorweg) and Pa Prika (Jess Ciampa). Some really pleasurable music and harmonies and percussion and bass. Lizzy Collier oversaw the whole caboodle with considerable skill and fun involvement. Great work. And the orchestra sounded terrific. It was all video and audio recorded so I'll look forward to something reaching YouTube, sometime, with luck. In the meantime, we can just mull over the smiling parents and gushy kids. Great fun all round and nicely professional to boot.

National Capital Orchestra played with The Vegetable Plot. Lizzy Collier (conductor) directed. the VP are Aspara Gus (Luke Escombe, vocals, guitar), Ru Barb (Paige Hoorweg, vocals), Sir Paul McCarrotney (Nick Hoorweg, vocals, bass) and Pa Prika (Jess Ciampa, percussion). Leonard and Belinda Weiss scored the arrangements. Basses were Jennifer Groom and Eric Pozza.

Lenny's last (for now)

NCO played its concert at Llewellyn Hall and it was Lenny Weiss's last concert before he treks to Baltimore to study with Marin Alsop. He'll be missed, but it's a great and necessary step and CJ can only wish Lenny well. That was essentially the message from NCO, too, last night when he was farewelled. But he'll be back, even if only next year in the northern summer break to conduct a few concerts. This concert was one that Lenny had hoped for for some time. It was only finally agreed by the NCO Committee at this late stage because it was a big challenge, more-so given the time taken during recent rehearsals to test for new conductors. Berlioz Harold in Italy was massively twisty and varied. Lucy Carrigy-Ryan soloed the viola part and was a dream. The work is real challenge that the orchestra pulled off with surprising ease on the night, although that various sections took advantage of some shared responsibilities for some particularly tricky lines. It's common amongst basses, to share the quicker lines with the more lithe cellos. I noticed the brass was particularly effective some times when I was struggling. It's a communal effort and NCO carried it off with aplomb. Also a world premiere, Dante Clavijo Images of obsession 0236, that played with intervals of 2,3,6 semitones through various inversions and the like; sparse, slow, varying harmonies in an intellectual carapace. And Respighi Pines of Rome. As an ex-Roman myself (3 years in my 20s), I could only look forward to this one, eventually enjoying the various roles allocated to various parks I've visited, Gianicolo, Catacombs, Villa Borghese and the stomping military march of the Via Appia. Interesting imagery.

National Capital Orchestra performed at Llewellyn Hall under Leonard Weiss (conductor). Lucy Carrigy-Ryan (viola) soloed in Berlioz. Dante Clavijo (composer) provided the world premier piece for the night. The low end comprised Roger Grime, Geoff Prime, Lizzy Collier and Eric Pozza (basses).

What is this thing called, love

It's a piece of nostalgia and theatre and comedy as much as music. NCO and CCS and a string of soloists performed Not the Messiah : he's a very naughty boy at Llewellyn last night to a crowded house and everyone had a ball. There's a generation out there that's brought up on Monty Python (I'm of it), so I'm not surprised at the turnout, but to some degree I was surprised at my own enjoyment of the event. I'd gone around thinking this is not Beethoven 9 or Mozart Requiem, especially because of the fairly simple readability of the music. But it's not complexity alone that makes for success in music and I wonder if I'd been snobby about the whole thing. I don't think so but I'd ignored the pleasure of a massed musical outing, of the joy of comedy and the essentially intelligent and well meaning humour of the Python crew and just the effectiveness of our locals to carry all this off.

120-or-so performers filled the stage physically and the hall aurally with a inundation of sound with the help Llewellyn's new phrased array; the orchestra did its musical job, enhanced even with a rhythm section with electric instruments (gasp); the choir sang a treat but also played up the night with discrete props; the soloists were a roguish joy as well as being wonderfully capable as singers; the brass wore sombreros and the pipers brought the house down. There were smiles and joy everywhere and congrats for jobs well done. Well done to Lenny, of course, who conducted this all and to SarahLouise who had done her parallel part with the choir. A huge turnout and a huge success.

National Capital Orchestra and Canberra Choral Society presented Not the Messiah : he's a very naughty boy by Eric Idle and John du Prez at Llewellyn Hall. Soloists were Louise Page and Demi Smith (sopranos), Nick Begbie (tenor), Tobias Cole (baritone), David Pearson (bass) under Leonard Weiss (conductor) with Ylaria Rogers (director) and SarahLouise Owens (chorus master). The bottom-enders were Roger Grime, Lizzy Collier and Eric Pozza (basses).

Always nymphs

They really are coming thick and fast now. National Capital Orchestra performed at the Albert Hall under Lizzy Collier and it was a wonderful concert. I was particularly interested. The main work of the day was Dvorak New world symphony and I'd played it only a month or so before with Maruki. I felt this was more restrained, but maybe that was only my impression. Bars always seem to fly by when you are reading them! The concert started with Grieg's Peer Gynt suite, the moody morning and gentle movements and the boisterous and very loud Hall of the mountain king. From the first, this was played with lustrous, clear, relaxed, intoned harmony, for a feeling of immense luxury. Then a similar piece, Rachmaninoff Prince Rostislav, tonally spelling out a story of a chain mailed soldier drowning while pining for wife and companions and a storm that arouses him and a final fall into death with caressing water nymphs (not all bad!). Several trumpets and a drum performed a fanfare by Riedl to draw the audience back to their seats. It was in the program, but presented unexpected but invitingly. Then the New world. All lovely and something that I enjoyed with the experience of having played it before. Nicely done, supremely confident, perhaps slower than our take. In all, a wonderfully capable concert from a very capable orchestra. They claim the mantle of Canberra's other orchestra (after the CSO, of course) and I dare say it's deserved. A great pleasure.

National Capital Orchestra performed at the Albert Hall under Lizzy Collier (conductor).