Southern Cross Soloists, What the Audience Said

Neuroscientists tell us that when musicians perform music, multiple areas of their brains light up as they process sound, melody, rhythm and form in astonishingly rapid and intricate neural pathway patterns. And when we listen to music, our brains get quite a workout too.

Just imagine all the dazzling pyrotechnics that must have been exploding along neural pathways on the PLC stage last night (Friday 17 October 2014)  as the Southern Cross Soloists were performing. And as for the audience members taking in all that music  – our brains must have been firing like a new year's eve fireworks extravaganza.

The Southern Cross Soloists gave us a luminous performance that moved across different centuries and musical styles, unified by the outstanding quality of their musicianship. Their Haydn was graceful and delicate. Their Mozart piano concerto was lyrical. Their Dvorak Bagatelles were a delight, Their Bartok works were dramatic and passionate.

 

Southern Cross Soloists Mozart K415 

 We spoke to some of the audience members about the concert. This is what they said.

“I liked the soprano [Margaret Schindler]. She has a rich warm voice, a lovely stage presence and dramatic range.”

“The Haydn performance was wonderfully lyrical. Can we have more Haydn?”

“ It was an extremely good concert. Such an interesting range of music and astonishing value for money. I would love to hear this ensemble again.”

“Please invite them back. They were wonderful musicians and I like the way they introduced the works and spoke about the things in the music that were important to them.”

“I enjoyed the whole thing.” This comment was made by Imogen, aged seven years, one of the youngest music lovers in the audience.

“Excellent. Really enjoyed the performance by the soprano and the way the ensemble interacted with the audience.”

“I just loved the concert.  I like the early works of Hayden, so the performance of the Haydn  Divertimento was very special. – so restrained and delicate.”

“The soprano was magnificent.”

“The only disappointment for me was that the concert was not long enough. I  wanted to hear more from the oboe, the clarinet and the horn. "

“Unusual to hear Bartok works at a Mozart Society Concert. The violinist [Alan Smith] was excellent in these pieces; his performance was very spirited, capturing all complicated rhythms."

“Very good concert. The highlight was the Mozart Piano Concerto. The pianist [Daniel De Borah] had a lovely technique – gentle, exquisite, precise.”

These are our favourite photos from the night.

 

Southern Cross Soloists Collage 1 

 Photographs clockwise from upper left corner

Alan Smith demonstrated the wide range of his musicianship, from the elegance of early Haydn to the fire of Bartok.

The performance of the Mozart Piano Concert K 415 demonstrated both beautiful solo work and beautiful ensemble work.

Daniel De Borah rehearsing the the Mozart Piano Concerto, 'the most fun you can have playing the piano", he said later.

Margaret Schinder, a soprano with a compelling presence, on-stage and off-stage.

 

Southern Cross Soloists Collage 3

 

Photographs clockwise from upper left corner

Ysolt Clark, beautiful horn playing.

Ashley Smith,  warm, lyrical clarinet.

Patrick Murphy. His 'cello performance was graceful and finely nuanced.

Tania Frazer demonstrated that a fine oboe performer on stage must also be a fine carpenter during interval, carving and shaping a new reed for her oboe.

 

                                           Text and Photos: Charmain Boyakovsky

Posted on Saturday, 18 October 2014 at 3pm