Many men

This was the Canberra Men's Choir in its 40th anniversary year singing in Wesley and slightly amusingly directed by a woman.  But so what.  The voices are what we come to hear, this close harmony from male voices, TTBB (Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Baritone, Bass) so also pretty close and rich even if for one tune they took 5 tenors to sing countertenor, high voices, female like, but not enough in this context to stand out too much.  There were lots of other low voices around.  And a string of songs of fairly recent vintage, as in C20th, other than King Henry VIII.  The others ranged from George Harrison to Rogers and Hart, Carly Simon to Elton John, Perfect day by Colin Towns rather than Lou Reed, that emotive invitation You raise me up, an Appalachian folk song, and an original by Leanne McKean, conductor and director, called Sing and an opportunity to singalong with the choir while guided cleverly by some choir members, one half of the audience having a rising line, the other a falling line, with lyrics "we sing with every voice / we sing with jubilation" the all coming together very neatly and a very decent song too.  The voices were great, the presence and pleasure was obvious, the costumes were welcoming humourous, black with big yellow bowties (not that I like bowties!).  BTW, those countertenors were in Pastime with good company, the Henry VIII tune, and the Rogers and Hart had another quintet out front, this time singing jazz offbeats.  Nicely done and worthy of an experienced 40-yo outfit.

Canberra Men's Choir performed at Wesley Church under Leanne McKean (musical director, conductor) with accompaniment from Martin Magill (piano).

Songs of lament and reflection

They advise The Elegy Project is "a contemporary chamber music ensemble blending classical, jazz and folk".  It's strange, yes, but beautiful and deeply satisfying.  Think a vocal dectet (a nonet on this day) singing Megan Washington or Lonely woman by Horace Silver and Leonard Feather, or a solo pianist playing Rachmaninov or Chopin's famous Funeral march then joined by the choir, or Joni Mitchell Both sides now, a key song of the '70s, played by a jazz quartet (on this day a trio of piano, bass, vocals).  This is a new group, directed on the day by Kimberley Steele with a string of renowned locals.  It's not a small chamber group given 13 names are listed, but a fascinatingly broadminded and exploratory combination.  Full marks for the mix of musics.  And there were some seriously satisfying performances, too.  Kimberley on solo classical piano and voice; Rachael on jazz vocals, deeply effective and emotive, and also joining in the choir; Chris just that fabulous bassist that he is, but then picking up a Telecaster to back the choir on one tune; Micah impressively spelling tunes and improvising, unhurried and purposeful, on a much nicer piano than I'd heard him on recently.  And the choir, some lovely voices, well intoned on some challenging and well arranged harmonies.  Gus is the drummer to come and he can only add.  I was taken deeply by this concert, the breadth and emotional expression of it all.  Fabulous and still very new.  If you read this post promptly, perhaps you can catch them at Wesley 3pm Sat 13 or All Saints 3pm Sun 14 June.

The Elegy Project performed at Wesley and comprise Kimberley Steele (piano, musical director), Chris Pound (bass, guitar, synth, director), Rachael Thoms (vocalist), Micah Knight (piano), Angus Henderson-Mack (Gus Henderson, drums), Emma Griffiths (soprano), Petta Lindsay and Neille Williams (altos), Oliver Bruhl and Cody Christopher (tenors), Martin Magill, Lachlan Rankin and Daniel Westbury (basses).

Men

I've sung in mixed choirs before but a men's choir is different.  In tone, obviously, deeper and perhaps softer, with those lower notes.  MD Leanne spoke of TTBB (tenor, tenor, baritone, bass) and other combinations.  No SA here, although there can be high male voices.  And the songs seemed different, too.  Several shanties and similar styles and themes of the sea and travel and more; just one religious song and some local cultural matters, from Deborah Cheetham and Eric Bogle.  Interesting stuff, not that I caught all the lyrics.  Several songs were sung a capella but mostly with piano accompaniment.  And pardoxical if contemporary, a woman up front directing and speaking for the group. No problem but amusing.  This is the modern world.  I enjoyed the rollicking sea scapes, the occasional touching solo tenor voices, the awareness of issues in the modern Australian songs.  And those yellow bowties on black added as touch of humour and enjoyment to the whole.  Great stuff.

Canberra Men's Choir performed at Wesley under Leanne McKean (director) with accompaniment from Martin Magill (piano).

Doing the rounds

The Wesley Scholars are a changing group and they perform several times each year and this Wednesday lunchtime concert was one.  And it was a doozy, very good and plenty varied.  First up was virtuoso piano from Joyu Yuen playing a Saint-Saens Toccata from memory.  This one was fascinating, merging early jazz, ragtime or New Orleans, with classical themes through dynamics and busy chordal figures throughout the octaves.  Then solo cello from James Munro playing a Ligiti sonata movement, again mad, complex, dissonant timing and bowing and intervals, and a hugely impressive great take.  Then one of the singers, Phoebe Bourke, accompanied by Joyo,  with a modern piece she'd played to the composer, then her examiner, then back to her origins with a karaoke take on a musical number, Your Daddy's son from Ragtime.  That was all heavy.  We all know and love Tom Lehrer and Martin Magill played piano and sang Poisoning pigeons in the park.  Sadly the vocals were a little lost but the audience could imagine the theme easily enough.  Then cellos again, with Chloe Law and James Munro playing three movements from David Popper Suite for two cellos.  Apparently the composer is known for his 40 demanding  etudes, but these were sweet and melodic if challenging and again so satisfyingly played.  And to finish up a longish lunchtime concert, another singer, Evangeline Osborne with Martin Magill, and the first song was that classic song from that classic album, River from Joni Mitchell Blue.  That just struck me as it would have many in the, shall we say, mature, audience.  And then Hoard Blake and A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.  So a huge expanse of music, not just established classical but newer fine musics and jazz and even musicals.  Stunning so well performed.  This was a special one.

The current crop of Wesley Scholars performed at Wesley: Joyu Yuen (piano), James Munro and Chloe Law (cellos), Martin Magill (piano, vocals), Phoebe Bourke and Evangeline Osborne (vocals).

Tenebrae

This was the first of the Wesley Holy Week concerts-cum-religious events and it was a fascinating and unusual happening.  At least for me with my Catholic background.  The minister presenting opening prayers, final prayer and benediction and managing 13 candles during the service.  Three parishioners reading the story of Jesus' final week in a series of readings from Luke.  A choir (8 person, SATB a capella) performing music mostly of Bruckner and a longer Psalm 22 put to music by Charles Giffen interspersing the other activities.  The a quiet departure by congregation and presenters.   The whole was called Tenebrae (=Shadows)  representing the fall into darkness awaiting the resurrection on Easter Sunday.   The choir was quite lovely with intriguing harmonies, clear voices and a quiet presence.  The readings from Luke were well known and a reminder for me.  The minister's activities were a little odd, presenting items on a table and first up lighting candles then extinguishing them during the service, but intriguing none-the-less.  The whole was streamed to YouTube and is still up if you wish to see it.  Dark as it may be for most of the service.  Intriguing and very often quite beautiful.

Jade McFaul coordinated the music for Shadows at Wesley Church.  Performers were Elsa Huber (soprano) and Jade McFaul (soprano, MD), Sarah Heartwood and Evangeline Osborne (altos), Thomas Liu and Felix Huber (tenors) and Martin Magill and Lucus Allerton (basses).

View the streamed video on YouTube > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz7tUG5sZ-I

Run down to Christmas

The final concert of the year in the Wesley Wednesday lunchtime series is always the Wesley Scholars.  I'm not sure how it's run, but it's obviously an opportunity for some talented performers to get some extra training.  It's quite common to see these faces performing in various other groups around town.  I once saw Ellery String Quartet at Government House, no less, and they are comprised of scholars from this year's bunch.  First and last up was a vocal quartet comprising members of Kompactus and others.  They sang two carols in Swedish or other and later a few in English.  Amusingly, I'll be home for Christmas as in Dean Martin, jazz with classical awareness - very lithe and beautifully done - and Deck the halls in 7/8, no less.  I liked, too, that they took some lines as pairings of voices making the sources of pitches much easier to catch.  The Soprano is easy to identify but the other parts can be more lost in the mix.  Then Ellery Quartet with a very lively arrangement of three tunes by the Danish String Quartet and a few carols including one with cello pizz all the world like a jazz walk.  The tinges in my ears of other countries' folk music suggested connections and maybe migrations around the world.  Then a duo of violin and cello playing three movements from a Boccherini sonata, older and frequently joyous and danceable in the styles of that era.  A lively, lovely, carol-heavy last concert of the year from Evie, Pippa, Martin, Jesse, Brad, Anika, Chloe, Tanya and Gabriel.

The Wesley Scholars performed the final Wednesday lunchtime concert of the year at Wesley.  The Vocal quartet comprised Evie Osbourne, Pippa Newman, Martin Magill and Jesse Hill.  The Ellery String Quartet comprised Brad Tham and Anika Chan (violins), Pippa Newman (viola) and Chloe Law (cello).  The duo comprised Tanya Boag (violin) and Gabriel Fromyhr (cello).

Surveying the future

The pic is of the current batch of Wesley Music Scholars performing Mozart Ave verum corpus and it was deeply satisfying but it was just the final number for this concert and it wasn't really indicative at all.  In fact, there were all manner of combinations playing all manner of musics, from Gaelic and classical, contemporary to jazz and even one original. Impressive.  But the Mozart was lovely.  Otherwise Brad and Anika played a lovely chaconne as a violin duo.  Phoebe sang time-free and unaccompanied Gaelic song, then a Handel aria.  The Ellery String quartet (Brad and Anika with Pippa and James) played two fascinating contemporary pieces: one a groove-strong country-like piece that had me think of the Ozarks and a Holly Harrison number called Swoop that just must have been about Magpies.  Then James alone playing a Kodalj cello concerto in non-standard tuning (C and G strings tuned down a semitone for an open Bmin).  Then an as yet unnamed unaccompanied vocal quintet singing that original by Jesse, Peace offering, and another Irish traditional song.  Then some jazz: Evangeline singing From the start and Autumn leaves to Martin's piano, and then the  ending with the lovely, delicate Mozart.  Quite a ride and some great playing.  The quartet is nicely established and comfortable and impressive.  The other groupings were less settled, perhaps, but plenty of promise.  So just lovely.

Wesley Music Scholars performed at a Wesley Wednesday lunchtime concert. The scholars were Evangeline Osborne (soprano), Phoebe Bourke (mezzo-soprano), Pippa Newman (alto), Martin Magill (tenor, piano), Jesse Hill (baritone) and the Ellery String Quartet comprising Brad Tham (violin), Anika Chan (violin), Pippa Newman (viola) and James Munro (cello).

Coming Christmas

It's the end of the calendar year and Christmas is around the corner and the final Wednesday lunchtime concert at Wesley is always the Wesley Music Scholars.  It's a worthy thing that Wesley does, some sort of training-cum-scholarship for worthy students and Liz was suggesting they are about to expand it with four singers to cover SATB and provide the base for classical singing in the church.  BTW, in case you didn't notice, I record these concerts so attend virtually all, and it's a short weekly duty that I enjoy, but that explains these concerts on CJ.  The scholars this day were a string trio of Brad, Anika and Pippa, a solo trumpet Jess and a pianist-cum-tenor Martin.  The trio played a lovely Dvorak with admirable playful interaction.  The Martin performed a Debussy but more interestingly, Praetorius Es ist ein Ros entrspringen (=It's a rose) sung while played on piano.  Now this piano man routine is common enough in pop, folk and the like, but I was quite bewildered to see it in a classical context but of course why not.  I realised after that he also plays jazz, so again, why not.  Then Jess on solo trumpet playing Goedicke and Charlier, two etudes, and Martin and the trio returned for a sung Kodaly and an encore on a lovely arrangement Holy night in three choruses.  Given the call from the audience and the easy response, I guess this was set up but why not.  So lovely and a joyous end to the Wesley Wednesdays for the year.

 Wesley scholars Brad Tham and Anika Chan (violins), Pippa Newman (viola), Martin Magill (piano, voice) and Jess Hill (trumpet) performed at Wesley.

End meets beginnings

It was the last Wednesday lunchtime concert of the year at Wesley and the Scholars were out.  I hadn't realised how large is the group.  This concert featured 10 players of various instruments (including one voice).  They played in various combinations, Bach, Holst, Rachmaninoff and Halvorsen but also Jimmy van Heusen and even an original by one of the performers.  Pianist Ronan had written a rhythmically exploratory piece called Cogs as a study of machinery to be played by him on piano with flautist Emma.  That was impressive and quite unusual in the classical field.  As for the jazz, it was still done in a classical style, but I noticed a change of presence for that number after a Schubert-like song from vocalist Elsa.  Maybe to be expected; she was singing in English about love.  And plenty of long arpeggiated flourishes in accompaniment.  I spoke to pianist Martin after and it turns out he's a jazz student; so was trumpeter Jess.  Interesting crossovers here but no longer at all unusual.  Jess had also played some Bach cantatas with oboist Zoe.  Who had also played with... And so it went on.  They were an impressive and capable bunch.  I noticed specially on a rendition of Holst St Pauls suite mvt 1, which I am sure I've played slower.  This take was lively and rollicking and quick.  Then there's the violinist pair of Anika and Brad who displayed  wonderful communication on the Halvorsen, then joining with cellist James and violist Yona for that Holst then again Zoe and Elsa for another Bach.  And then at least one performer doubled up, violinist Brad taking to piano to accompany James.  Sound confusing?  Lots of names and lots of changes but also lots of very capable playing.  I was mightily impressed.  Not sure what their training is, or what they get from the Wesley Scholars program, but our music future is looking to be in very able hands.  At year's end we hear our future.

This year's Wesley Music Scholars performed a Wednesday lunchtime concert at the Music Centre.  The scholars were Anika Chan (violin), Brad Tham (violin), James Munro (cello), Yona Su (viola), Zoe Loxley Slump (oboe), Elsa Huber (voice), Jess Hill (trumpet), Martin Magill (piano), Emma Warburton (flute, piccolo), Ronan Apcar (piano, composition).