Coming soon… I am excited to announce that Samantha Warhurst and I are releasing our first CD entitled “Songs of Love and Passion” on the 11th of September! We are again accompanied by the fabulous Glenn Amer. Keep an ear out for how you can get your hands on a copy!
Saturday night, Samantha Warhurst (soprano) and I performed at a charity fundraiser event for the Steven Walter Children’s Cancer Foundation Fundraiser Event. Their vision is to see a “100% survival for all children with cancer and prevention of their suffering”.
For every 10 children diagnosed with cancer, three do not survive and here in Australia, that translates to three children losing their lives to cancer every week. Of those children who survive, many will have chronic health problems as a direct result of their treatments.
Since 2000, the Foundation has been committed to raising funds for much needed and vital cancer research, supporting the provision of a full range of clinical services to patients, tertiary care and health promotion and prevention programs for children and adolescents.
There has been significant improvement in the life expectancy of children post diagnosis, however research and clinical trials are essential to ensure that we are continually moving forward toward our goal of 100% survival for ALL children.
We raised some much-needed funds at this event, but there is still much research to be done to reach the goal of 100% survival for all children with cancer. To find out more about the organisation, and to donate, click here.
Hi Music lovers!
I am SO excited to announce that the wonderful soprano Samantha Warhurst and myself have just finished recording our very first CD… All of our favourite tracks (and some new ones!) from our popular concert series.
The fabulous Glenn Amer joined us on piano and Christopher Hayles did the audio wizardry in a live studio recording all in the one room to give a more intimate feel to the final recordings… just like you would experience in our concerts 
We had lots of fun recording the tracks over two days, and can’t wait to update you with when the cd’s will be made and ready for release!
Stay tuned…!
Sam
As I type, preparations are underway for a new concert collaboration between myself and Sydney-based soprano (and very good friend!) Samantha Warhurst. The concert is “Songs of Autumn” and will feature all our favourite opera, musical and jazz works for flute and soprano… with an Autumn-theme! How appropriate seeing as it will be on the 1st day of Autumn – put the date in your diaries!!
1st March, at Christ Church, Lavender Bay. Sydney. 2pm.
More details are coming soon… but as a teaser here is a video of us performing the jazz-themed Skylark.
Still on a high from the fabulous weekend and successful performance of Pagliacci at Opera by the Ocean festival in Coffs Harbour. Definitely worth the 16hr round trip! And a great chance for all of us at Sydney Independent Opera to perform the show again after the Sydney concerts. The theatre was full and the audience were fantastic. Just wish we had more time to look around Coffs before heading back to Sydney!
What an amazing concert last night at the Sydney Town Hall! A concert to say thankyou to Karen Carey for the outstanding contribution she has made to music education and Australian Music. A concert of celebration performed by two choirs, orchestra, soloists, quintets, quartets… it included a number of works commissioned by Karen throughout the years, and commissions written by leading Australian composers especially for this concert.
Highlights from the program were:
Final movement St Matthews Passion ‘Wir Setzen uns mit Tranen nieder’
‘The Very Music Of The Name’ (World Premiere) – Humberstone
Enigma Variations – Elgar
Pange Lingua by Mark Isaacs
Confessions – Barbeler
Makedonsko Oro – Hindson
4th mvt (Allegretto) of Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major
Phoenix – Byrne
Songs of Innocence – Stanhope
Dawn Canticle – Ross Edwards
This concert was run and performed entirely by volunteers, a testament to the impact that Karen has had on so many people’s lives. It was also wonderful to perform with so many past and present MLC girls and colleagues.
Newsflash: Crazed clown attacks wife in front of live audience.
Theatre and reality collide in a dramatic climax of truly operatic proportions when Canio discovers his wife has eyes for another. “Laugh, clown, and everyone will applaud, at your broken love!” he exclaims in one of opera’s most legendary tenor arias. This is an intense drama of sexual jealousy and revenge and is perfect for newcomers to opera to see what the fuss is about! Pagliacci is gut-wrenching and visceral, and when the laughter turns to tears, we have a window into how a jealousy-driven rage can turn betrayal into vengeance. Counselling and support are better options but this is opera!!
Director – Paulo Montoya Conductor – Steven Stanke
For more information see: www.sydneyindependentopera.com.au.
Hi Music Lovers!
Great review from The Sydney Arts Guide on our recent concert of ‘Mozart and Salieri’ in June!
With Sydney Independent Opera, we performed the wonderfully dark opera ‘Mozart and Salieri’, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s one-act realist opera, based on one of the popular rumours surrounding Mozart’s death. Namely that he was poisoned by his envious contemporary Salieri! Performed 7 and 8 June 2014 at the Strathfield Russian Club. The Sydney Arts Guide gave us a great review which you can read here: http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/mozart-salieri/.
For more about Mozart and Salieri, visit http://sydneyindependentopera.com.au.
Thursday, 17 April, 2014 8:00PM
Sydney Contemporary Orchestra’s first concert for 2014. This event is at the LTC Theatre, Baulkham Hills High School.
Book your tickets through City Recital Hall at https://tickets.cityrecitalhall.com/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=2402
Featuring new colourful works for wind quintets by five dedicated contemporary composers from Serbia, Spain, the United States and Australia, this concert will be an exciting exhibition of new sounds
Program
Two Pieces for Wind Quintet (World premiere) – Bozo Banovic (Serbia)
Viracocha Wind (World premiere) – Paul Kopetz (Australia)
Variations on a Lutheran Theme (World premiere) – Juan Carlos Cuello (Spain)
Forest Bagatelles (Australian premiere) – Kevin Wilt (USA)
Ode to the Wind (World premiere) – Brian Chatpo Koo (Australia)
Artists
Sydney Comtemporary Orchestra
Samantha Joseph – Flute/Piccolo
Niamh Dell – Oboe/Cor Anglais
Katrina Todd – Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Tian Tian Zhang – Bassoon
Arianne Rooney – French Horn
Conductor – Dr Brian Chatpo Koo
This promises to be an exciting concert featuring all new music - book now to reserve your seats!
