Repeats

Could this become repetitive?  No, never.  Perhaps the greatest excitement I have in music these days in a big orchestral choral concert.  Doubly so in a good location.  This was my second play of Carmina Burana, again with National Capital Orchestra and Canberra Choral Society and the Woden Valley Youth Choir and the soloists, again in Llewellyn, second choral concert in 2 weeks in this our major Canberra concert hall.  What was different was the hall was very close to full with the upper balcony open, and the standing ovation.  I've never had a full hall doing a standing ovation for any work before.  This was something special.  Carmina is like that, though: everyone knows it from Nescafe ad or film Excalibur, or Therion or Nas or Turn up the bass.  There were times it took off in tempo but the restraint just heightened the changes so the excitement and tension.  So the arrival after 60 minutes was ecstatic like much of the work.  But first up was something very different, religious, much reduced in lyrics if again in Latin, Poulenc Gloria.  This as choral, one choir and one soloist, soprano, modern.  It didn't get the recognition, but the worth was there and the performance and musical discovery was satisfying.  At least it had standard notation, unlike the strangely presented Carmina.  But again some tricky pizz/arco changes on bass and plenty of odd and changing meters and rhythms.  So, repeated but not at all monotonous.  Loved it!  Ciao to Jeremy who's off to NYC to study.  And thanks to the NCO FB page for a few pics.

National Capital Orchestra, Canberra Choral Society and Woden Valley Youth Choir performed Orff and Poulenc under Louis Sharpe (conductor) with soloists Rachel Mink (soprano, Orff and Poulenc), Sitiveni Talei (baritone, Orff) and Dan Walker (tenor, Orff).   The bottom enders were Jeremy Tsuei, Greg Perkins, Mel Fung, Juliet Flook and Eric Pozza (basses).

From outside in

Usually I'm playing in NCO so to attend a concert as an audience member is to sit out and look in and I was mightily impressed.  NCO has grown of late, so 16vl1,14vln2,10clo,6bs.  Six basses, with 2 new names I'd not met.  The format was pretty standard, so a fanfare, a concerto, an interval, a symphony, but they were all hugely impressive works, often challenging, often popular and familiar.  First up was Natalie Williams Sonic Boom, a fanfare, raucous, loud, inviting, huge fun, with Natalie in the audience.  Then Mendelssohn with his violin concerto that is familiar as all out, delightful and pretty and a hugely successful work.  Mia Stanton played that one with panache: Canberra girl returning home for a gig.  Then Saint-Saens Symphony no.3 Cmin, known as the Organ symphony, with organ (obviously) and four handed piano and some very demanding quick lines for the basses, several octaves up or down the neck.  The organ was a bit quiet but the presence was there in key passages.  I didn't know this one, although I did recognise some melodies.  I stopped to consider a while.  Louis has brought this orchestra to big dimensions and impressive in capability not just volume.  They no longer fit easily on the Snow stage; it's a growth to admire, impressive in development and quality.  But Canberra is like that: a town of significant capabilities.  Congrats to Louis, Mia and all.

National Capital Orchestra performed Natalie Williams, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens under Louis Sharpe (musical director) with soloist Mia Stanton (violin) at Snow Concert Hall. 

Something special to end the year

I've played many gigs and concerts but spent little time in a studio, other than processing for others in recent years.  This was in Snow, with an NCO of ~50 players and no audience, to record three arrangements from the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia’s National Youth Arranging Competition 2025 which were selected for workshop and professional recording.  Tim was recording and one of the three selected arrangers, Joshua, came from Townsville to view the event.  There were some tricky bits and two evening rehearsals in the weeks before.  The first tune took some settling in then the others, one considerably more complex, rolled along pretty well after we were settled into the space and the task.  There were several takes and some section repeats that will likely be dropped into the final versions.  Louis conducted, of course, and ended by thanking all for a wonderful year.  And it was.  Several challenging and successful concerts and this recording to end.  We left feeling it's all in a day's work, I guess, or at least satisfied with the night and the year.  So thanks to the arrangers, to MAGA, to Louis and Martin and all the NCO performers.

National Capital Orchestra recorded three works from the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia’s National Youth Arranging Competition 2025 in Snow Concert Hall under Louis Sharpe (MD, conductor).  Tim Lamble recorded and Joshua Weston (arranger) travelled from Townsville to view the recording session.

Broadway

Last year NCO's modern popular concert was film music and it was a roaring success.  This year it was musical theatre and again the audience loved it and so did I.  Wicked was new to me but West Side Story is a particular fave and we played selections, along with Wicked.  Otherwise single songs from Cats and Candide, My Fair Lady and Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera. Some are real tear jerkers and were particularly so with a 70+-piece orchestra and some decent singers, 2 men, 2 women, one only 14 (15?) and singing her heart out.  Alira Prideaux, soprano, seemed to feature a different garb for each tune.  Otherwise the young Zahra Zulkapil was warmly welcomed, as were the two tenors, Joe Dinn and Jared Newall, one being of the touring Ten.  The first act was a bit touchy for me, having missed some practices for family duties out of town, but act 2 just settled and swung, with touching cuties like Do re mi and Over the rainbow and a singalong called and even Louis leading unexpectedly with a mic.  The waltz from Carousel was a dear sweet thing and the whole rose to a finale with rousers from Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis.  Huge amount of fun on mostly pretty sightreadable music and the lure of romance and song.  Great fun and hugely well received.

National Capital Orchestra performed music from Broadway at Snow under Louis Sharpe (conductor, occasional vocals) with vocal soloists Alira Prideaux (soprano), Zahra Zulkapil (soprano?), Joe Dinn and Jared Newall (tenors).

New world

Sunday was the New World, at least that one of Dvorak, and it was great fun.  I'd played it before but not with such pleasure, but I loved this take, perhaps quicker and more on edge.  It's not too difficult, but a few passages are tricky and mvt.3 zaps along but many of the melodies are just so lovely, friendly, welcoming.  THere was some last minute anxiety amongst the basses but it all happened.  Quite amusing, really; one for the records. And the rest of the program was good.  A world premiere from Ben Hoadley, NCO Artist in Focus 2025, fairly short and pleasant and nicely portaying the flowing stream it was named for as Riparian.  Then Kyle on solo bass for Mary Finsterer.  Even with some PA amplification, some enriching reverb and a reduced orchestra, he was sometimes overwhelmed, but his playing with masterful.  Lake ice portrayed lake ice perfectly well (if too expansive a lake) and sounded to me as lovely moody film music.  Kyle followed up with a solo bass number with references to his punk / e-bass background: shorter, unaccompanied, frequently chordal, rock punchy.  But the New World was the pull factor and it sat well and invited a good audience.  It's not uncommon to have touchy final run-throughs and even some chuckles when things go awry, but in concert there's a natural concentration that avoids such slips.  This was tight and satisfying and presented an inviting new world, perhaps more common these days in the concert hall than out.

National Capital Orchestra performed Dvorak, Hoadley and Finsterer in the Snow Concert Hall under Louis Sharpe (conductor, MD) and with soloist Kyle Ramsay-Daniel (double bass).

Being community again

There’s a certain desperation that goes with a Community Play Day with a challenging piece and this suffered from that. It’s a mix of people you have or have not played with, learning and then performing a piece on one day, perhaps not really adequately prepared despite best intentions, and when the main piece is a challenge like Tchaikovsky 1812 overture with its chromatics and variously 6 sharps or flats along with some other keys, and those explosions (although just drums for our outing) and various odd timings, you can be somewhat wary. Certainly, the first run through showed some work was needed. But by the end, with some warmth in Albert Hall and a small audience and more readiness, the performance was still a challenge but also a great joy. It’s such a good piece and luckily pretty well known although that awareness can be tricky; counting is ultimately safer. I chatted with Canberra visitor Stephen at the after-party and he was very positive, enjoying the intimacy of the small gig, perhaps 40 audience for 80 performers, the impressive performance, the informality of the event and the dress, with no performer dress codes. I recorded and I caught a final shouted audience quip after the 1812 “do it again!”. It was like that, playful and entertaining while deadly serious. Great fun and a terrific sometimes terrifying outing. The opening piece, Miriam Hyde Village Fair, was much more sedate and still much loved; just not feared. We were 3 basses, there were plenty of mates from Maruki and Alan who sat in on bassoon truly at the last minute. I think this is just the second NCO Community Play Day and not quite as large as the last, but plenty of fun and inviting for external players and much fun had, so I expect it will continue. And as for those ringing tubular bells at the end of the 1812 and the rousing melody, just fabulous.

National Capital Orchestra and guests practised then performed Miriam Hyde Village Fair and Tchaikovsky 1812 overture at Albert Hall for a Community Play Day. Shilong Ye (conductor) led the proceedings.

Our annual songs meet

I love my jazz and other gigs but my longed-for favourite each year has to be NCO with CCS.  That's a full orchestra and choir at Llewellyn; 120 or more on stage and some fabulous music.  I've played a string of these including Beethoven, Carl Off, Monty Python (?!), Haydn, Brahms... Playing in such orchestral strength with a capable massed SATB choir is a huge thrill.  This year was perhaps more modern, story-telling, filmic with 2 modern pieces.  First up was the occasionally jovial recounting of the experience of migration to Australia and the surprises and loves of process and outcome created by 2 immigrants, composer Elena Kats-Chernin and librettist Tamara-Anna Cislowska, telling stories from Chinese migration at the time of the gold rush, post-WW2 migrants, Vietnam refugees and more.  The lyrics were lengthy and not always so easy to catch but suffice to recognise an ode to Vegemite and an immigrant's surprise at topless bathing at Bondi.  How Aussie!  The bass could be repetitive, other than for one fiendishly tricky quick movement, so perhaps the voices defined the pleasures, but I languished in the pleasure and good humour of it all.  Then an interval and surprisingly similar approach (repetitive accompaniment, filmic accompaniment, more complex lyrics with inviting melodies) from a one-time member of Soft Machine and now composer of a British Classic FM Hall of Fame no.2 hit.  This was the Kosovo-inspired mass for piece, The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins.   Again inspiring if mostly for the voices, but quite touching and apt for out times.  Suffice to say, this was again a deeply thrilling outing and another for the diary.  And as for the post-concert party and Martin's dip, well, that's another story of joy.

National Capital Orchestra and Canberra Choral Society under Louis Sharpe (conductor, NCO MD) and Dan Walker (CCS MD) performed Human Waves and The Armed Man at Llewellyn with soloists Jillian Halleron (soprano) and Liam Meany (cello) and Bilal Berjaoui (vocals) performing the Call to prayers.  The bottom enders were Henry South, Juliet Flook, Mel Fung, Jeremy Tsuei and Eric Pozza (basses).

An unlikely forty winks

Apparently someone heard snoring in the audience and was surprised given this was a Shostakovich symphony but Rami was just 6 months old so, so be it.  NCO is generous to its audience!  But jokes side this was a big and impressive gig.  NCO played Shostakovich Symphony 5, Weber Bassoon concerto with Ben Hoadley as soloist and Ella Macens  The space between stars.  Ella had studied with Louis so was close to home, but well regarded in her own light.  The Macens is a work celebrating the night sky, picturing stars, constellations, even meteors, all long notes and slow tempos and defined dynamics moving amongst parts.  The Weber is a renowned concerto on the cusp of classical, neat and ordered, steady with flashy inserted passages, ponderous but pensive second movement, and a quick, lively, buoyant third.  This was fun.  The orchestra could have overwhelmed the solo bassoon, but was delightfully restrained.  I personally loved the light touch this demanded.  It also demanded a good ear for Ben and a trained eye for Louis, for there were some very malleable tempos.  But so lovely and satisfying to play.  Then to the interval and the main work: Shostakovich Symphony no.5 op.47.  It was all a confusing mess at first but came together with practice and rehearsals and ended in concert as a fascinating, challenging expanse over four movements.  Plenty of action for the basses who start two movements with gutsy melodies.  There's a truly delicious passage for the concert master, explosive runs throughout, odd movements and harmonies (I drooled over a passage running scalar to Bb then dropping to an E to end.  Louis directed with aplomb, the winds were stupendous as they so often are, I'd heard some touchy intonations in the basses, but listening after to a little video I thought the intonation was quite professional.  But it's a complex and different work thus challenging and I can only admire people who enjoyed it if not knowing it before.  This is big and a difficult listen but fascinating.  How wonderful to have played it.

National Capital Orchestra performed Ella Macens, Carl Maria von Weber and Dmitri Shostakovich at Snow concert hall under Louis Sharpe (MD, conductor) with soloist Ben Hoadley (bassoon) and Thayer Preece (concertmaster).  String bottom enders were Henry South (principal), Juliet Flook, Jennifer Groom, Talia Meischke, Jeremy Tsuei and Eric Pozza (double bass).

Thanks to Sophia for the bassists pic.

Bizarrity

I came in late for this one after travel and it was not a easy program.  NCO was played a concert comprising an overture by Miriam Hyde (relatively easy but with a few unexpected twists), a viola sonata by Rebecca Clarke arranged for orchestra (three movements, airy and impressionistic, with some wonderful playing from soloist Alina Zamfir) and a doozy, Berlioz Symphonie fantastique.  I'd been amused to hear a somewhat bizarre response from some professionals about that one before the rehearsals started.  And it was bizarre, but quite intriguing in the end, when finally pulled it off.  This had had the most work and was the most fearsome of the three and thus went off best on the day.  Fear can prompt focused practice.  Whatever, we got a good review that ended: "Executing this daring program with such flair and competence would have been beyond many community orchestras, but the NCO was up for the challenge, and delivered" (Michael Wilson in CBR City News, 2 Dec 2024).  I expect most would agree given a joyous exit after the Berlioz.  Nice one and much enjoyed as always.

National Capital Orchestra performed Miriam Hyde, Rebecca Clarke and Hector Berlioz Symphonie fantastique at Snow Concert Hall under Louis Sharpe (conductor) with soloist Alina Zamfir (viola).

https://citynews.com.au/2024/orchestra-delivers-on-a-daring-program/

Thrills

I've always thought myself immune from popularity of film music  I was wrong.  NCO just played a concert of film music in the Snow Concert Hall and I was thrilled by the event and enamoured by the music.  Especially the works of John Williams.  Now along with film music, I remain reticent about going to films so I'd seen just a few of these.  First up Star wars suite.  Fabulous, intriguing, inventive, involving, unexpected, by John Williams.  This was exemplary.  Not easy, either, for the syncopations that change all over the place and the bowing and odd intervals and some delightfully delicate tunes too.  Then Lord of the Rings, Two towers, and the Dambusters march.  I remember that film from my childhood, although I see it rather more reticently these days.  "History is written by victors" is often attributed to Winston Churchill, but perhaps not, as he'd be undermining his own place in it.  But the music is a fabulous, driving march and the NCO did a great job.  And it's a big NCO now: ~80 players on stage for this concert in our new venue, the Snow Concert hall at Canberra Grammar School.  The stage was chockers with the orchestra and the venue was almost full with 800+ in the audience.  Sound was great, too, from where I sat.  It's a relatively intimate place for ~1,000 seats and a decent stage, with organ and Steinway so it works.  Then after the interval, the Complete Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean medley, Interstellar suite and How to train your dragon end credits.  Well, some films I have not even heard of, but the music was good to great and the orchestra played up to the occasion with a few costumes and the reception was enraptured.  A great and successful way to pass a Sunday afternoon.

The National Capital Orchestra performed a concert of film music at the Snow Concert hall under Louis Sharpe (conductor).

Being community

Sunday was NCO's Community Play Day 2024 and it seems ot me to be something like a jazz jam.  NCO players join with players of orchestral instruments to prepare then perform a few tunes.  It's all done in one day, with several hours in two rehearsal sessions and an afternoon concert.  AMEB5 is the recommended level for visitors.  In the end, about 100 players performed with 44 non-NCO.  The works were Sally Greenaway Worlds within worlds and Mussorgsky Pictures at an exhibition.  Neither were romps in the park.  Sally's looked pretty readable but had some tricky twists that required some tiem.  Pictures at an exhibition (the Ravel arrangement, of course) also has its readable sections (Are they movements?  If so, they are short) but some mightily tricky passages too.  We got caught out on one change of tempo right at the end but otherwise got through the works, if sometimes a little touchy on timing and intonation.  But the day was a wonderful experience, great for lunchtime chatter, friendly and challenging to boot and the NCO practice the next night was much bigger than usual.  Much enjoyed.

National Capital Orchestra ran its second annual Community Play Day at Albert Hall.  Louis Sharpe (musical director) conducted.

This is CJBlog post no. 2,850

Exhilaration and fear

My outing with NCO and choir in Llewellyn Hall is a highlight of my year and this was a doozy: Beethoven Missa Solemnis.  Not at all easy but with plenty of mates to tackle it with.  Not just one but two choirs.  I counted 148 listed in the program, 86 choristers, 57 instrumentalists, 4 solo singers and Louis as conductor but I know of one who had to pull out so perhaps 147 total for the afternoon performance.  Whatever, it was big and exciting and hugely demanding to boot.  Everyone agreed to that.  A scary-fast Gloria with unisons and fugues to melt over, and a few other fugues throughout.  Many notes on dense pages, even for our relatively clumsy bottom enders.  Exhilarating despite trepidation and occasional terror.  It's probably the most demanding part I've known for preparation and where fingering  and string choice was of the essence.  The fast lines were often twisted not scalar and basses had two octave jumps and sudden semiquaver lines at speed and all manner of tempo changes and demanding confidence on first-up quiet, long notes and then that odd whimper to end.  There were spots to relax, but always the awareness of coming demands.  But we did it and it was well done.  Apparently this was the first performance of this piece in Canberra since 1990.  One of the choir had sung in that!  Missa Solemnis was written after Symphony no. 9, so after Beethoven's magnum opus.  He was deaf by then and exploring religion through doubt and the words of the Catholic Mass.  All fascinating.  For the performers it was exhilarating, demanding, scary, all those things as well as an impressive performance and something worthy to remember.  Amusingly, I was down at Manuka today, the day after, hearing the bells of St Christopher's, honestly able to say I'd attended 3 masses in the last two days (2 rehearsals and one performance).  As for now, I'm looking forward to Tim's recording and a listen.  Thanks to all and especially our leader Louis.

Beethoven Missa Solemnis was performed at Llewellyn Hall by National Capital Orchestra with Canberra Choral Society and the Llewellyn Choir and singers Sarah Darnley-Stuart (soprano), Emma Mauch (alto), Ryan O'Donnell (tenor) and Stivenu Talei (bass).  Louis Sharpe (Director) conducted and Dan Walker (chorus master) prepared the vocals.

Awe

Whenever I mentioned Stravinsky or Firebird suite to someone they were awed. I was certainly challenged by Firebird, but nothing like its accompaniment, Prokofiev Violin concerto no.2. That was a doozy. All manner of changing counts and tempos and key signatures (6 sharps anyone?) and chromatics and maybe diminisheds. The associated naturals went down well. But NCO is a capable orchestra and we had energetic and supportive Musical director Louis Sharpe, and a wonderful and joyous soloist, Mia Stanton, and we had two warm-up pieces that were much more relaxed and shorter but still profound to warm up on. They were local compositions, by one of our horns, Thomas, and an arrangement by Sally of a lovely and quite profound short piece by Scriabin. There were some tricky bits and minor slip-ups and unsure timing in the bigger works but on the other side were the wonderfully expressive winds and the unflinching strings and percussion to drum the grooves into us. The orchestral layout was different, basses stage left (for the audience) and much bigger (recently grown to ~70 players including new ANUSOM students) and we got an unusually unimpeded view of the stunning lines from flutes and clarinets and the rest. It was a pleasure and a huge achievement when it was all over. We'd survived, even enjoyed, the rigours of the Prokofiev and pretty much laughed off the fears of Firebird. Thus are memories created. And as for memories, Louis and Alina have created their own memory recently. Congrats from CJ.

National Capital Orchestra performed Stravinski, Prokofiev, Thomas McConachie and Sally Greenaway / Scriabin at TheQ. Louis Sharpe (conductor), Mia Stanton (solo violin) performed.

Alternatives

The NCO concert was called Hope Struggle Victory, seeing as the program was Nat Bartsch Hope, Shostakovich Cello concerto no.1 (with Stalin as the struggle) and Tchaikovsky Symphony no.4 (all exaltation and excitement).  As for alternatives, there was a lovely Handel playing in town at the same time, which would have been nice.  Obviously you can't be in two places at once and playing this program was a blast.  It just goes to show that Canberra is a civilised place beyond its size.  I love that.  Meanwhile, the playing was great.  First up Nat Bartsch is all slow dynamics and tempo, swelling tones, perhaps filmic and absolutely beguiling.  It's not a hard read and not so long, but you find yourself feeling the slow bows and concentrating on the consistency.  Lovely.  Shostakovich was anything but lovely.  James Munro soloed and did a magnificent job every time I heard him, in rehearsal and performance: wonderfully confident, neat intonation up the neck, always expressive.  No brass, so they got to sit out.  I think it was Jeremy who said our role was like percussion, and that's some truth there.  Odd times, reasonably simple but hugely tricky lines, perhaps the only time I've had to read Fb, but I admired (not sure I can say enjoyed) the capricious count and the deviant melody.  Fabulous.  Then the biggie, Tchaikovsky.  I love his work.  It's not as idiosyncratic as Shostakovich or as hard to read, but massively exuberant and a joy and challenge to play.  In a different way, it's still hard work: way more notes that Shosta and the full pizz movement 3 and the dotted quavers in 9/8 time were a challenge along with considerable chromatics and blazing lines.  So a big concert and not a slouch.  Congrats to Louis Sharpe, our conductor.  Ever jokey and positive but also demanding and always with a Canberra suburb on call.  A great combination.  And nice to catch up with Leonard Weiss, previous NCO conductor, who's in town for West Side Story, and who dropped in to the warmup for a short time.  Again, evidence of an intriguing local community.  And a small world: my offsider Jeremy is playing banjo in Lenny's WWS production.

National Capital Orchestra performed Nat Bartsch, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky at Albert Hall under Louis Sharpe (conductor) with James Munro (cello) as soloist.  The bottom end were Juliet Flook, Jennifer Groom, Jeremy Tsuei and Eric Pozza (basses).  Sally Macourt (violin) sat in as concert master.

Venerability

NCO held its anniversary concert and I hadn't realised, but this is another venerable institution in Canberra.  40 years for this community orchestra.   It's not a huge history but it is significant, especially in the context of a short-lived town like Canberra.  I was amused at some of the discussion around Albert Hall in the same way by NCO members new to Canberra.  Our Albert Hall was a product of the first round of building for the national capital, opening in 1928, replacing the Causeway Hall (seen that?) as the largest place of entertainment in Canberra and succeeded in 1965 by the Canberra Theatre.  Thus this program was called Anniversaries, celebrating NCOs's 40th and Canberra with the Andrew Schultz Symphony no.3 written for Canberra's centenary and played ten years later and Rachmaninov's 150 birthday with his Paganini Rhapsody.  And a third piece by Ukraininan-Australia composer Catherine Likhuta.  It was a daring combination and a challenging play and NCO did it justice as always, not least with Rach soloist Kristian Chong.  Just a few pics but also a memory of the history that makes us all.

National Capital Orchestra performed Likhuta, Rachmaninov and Schultz at Albert Hall underLouis Sharpe (conductor) with soloist Kristian Chong (piano).

Haydn's Canberra Seasons

The concert was on 1 April so our practice in the morning, somewhat stilted and desperate, must have been a trick played on us, because the 3pm concert was an absolute blast.  This was NCO's annual get-together in Llewellyn Hall with CCS and a few singers out front and the music was Haydn The Seasons.  Now, this is a big work (a CSO member suggested "massive") and the orchestra practiced it for perhaps 8 weeks and only met with two of the singers on the Monday before the Saturday, and the other singer and choir only on the Friday night.  The arias and choral pieces were pretty much all there, but the repetitives were mostly removed, I guess to relieve the singers of such a massive task in preparation, and in a nifty and local way, they were replaced by a series of Canberra-related spoken word introductions form no other than Laura Tingle, ABC TV journo but also a member of CCS (I've seen her singing before).  I couldn't hear Laura from my location, but the proxy was well received and a very clever local innovation talking of magpies and trips to the coast and possums the like.  As for the performance, I'm not the only believer in the "she'll be right on the night" line, and the performance just proved the proposition.  It was a blast.  The were some moments of indecision or missed lines (Haydn is full of explosive and hugely challenging phrases, not just for the winds and others, but even for the basses) but the performance was thrilling and the exhilaration from choir and orchestra and singers on song was ever present.  And there were several fugues (3?), one at truly breakneck speed, all thrilling and structurally complex.  I love these things. And the gloriously delicate start to, what, winter?  And plenty more of interest.  Talk of massive, it was 2 hours playing with the repetitives removed!  Massive indeed.  But we did it and, as is the way, we partied and chuckled about it all after.  Just a blast, again, from our NCO/CCS collaboration.

National Capital Orchestra and Canberra Choral Society gather for their annual performance at Llewellyn Hall to play Haydn The Seasons.  Sarahlouise Owens (soprano), Ryan O'Donnell (tenor) and Sitiveni Talei (bass) sang.   Laura Tingle (narrator) replaced the repetitives with a Canberra Seasons theme.  Louis Sharpe (conductor) conducted and Dan Walker (chorus master) prepared the choir.  Our bottom end comprised Juliet Flook, Jennifer Groom and Eric Pozza (basses).

This is CJBlog post no. 2,600