Its rare for a consummate concert goer to be totally bowled over by a sublime performance that exceeds expectation.
So it was at a 90 minute afternoon performance by the effervescent Kuringai Youth Orchestra, who totally nailed it, to the delight of the audience.
Led by the ebullient conductor and artistic director, Brad Lucas, who didn’t hide his enthusiasm and pride in presenting three Australian pieces, two of which are premiers. The Dvorak and Borodin are incredibly exciting works which challenge the orchestra and bring an energy and frisson to the performance that was thrilling in execution.
Showcasing a veteran of the orchestra, Harry Wagstaff in Martinu’s Oboe Concerto was exceedingly special. Harry has been a member of the orchestra since High School, from where he proceeded studying at the Sydney Conservatoire and regularly performs and tours with the NSW Police Band. A truly remarkable success story of what this orchestra offers young students. Harry’s Oboe dexterity is amazing, his cheeks hardly look like they are filled with air.
Bohuslav Martinu was a Czech composer of modern classical music. Residing in Paris 1923, he experimented with modern French stylistic developments, embracing neoclassicism, modelling his works on Stravinsky. Set in three movements, the concerto features long syncopated melodies with the prominent use of the piano.
The classical delights continued with Antonin Dvorak’s Carnival Overture(1891). Part of a trilogy titled Nature, Life and Love, they were composed as stand-alone pieces. Dvorak described this work as a “lonely, contemplative wanderer” who reaches the city at nightfall where a carnival is in full swing. On every side he hears the clangour of instruments, mingled with shouts of joy and unrestrained hilarity of people giving vent to their feelings in their songs snd dance tunes. It was electric.
The orchestra then premiered Mopoke by young composer Elliot Leahy, a French horn player in the orchestra who was inspired by Philip Bunting’s eponymous picture book Mopoke, a fun and playful composition for orchestra. The work is episodic in nature depicting many of the different “pokes”, including: Mopoke ( high pitched instruments), Poorpoke (a yearning violin solo), Fee-Fi-Fo- poke( Timpani and piccolo duet) and Crowpoke(oboe’s crowning). Mopoke was commissioned by the Kuringai Youth Orchestra.
The audience were primed for the second premiered performance of Equilibrium by Chris Moran, a trumpet player and emerging composer who brings the same energy and precision to writing as he does to performance. Equilibrium is certainly a vibrant orchestral work that balances pop-inspired chord structures with the expansive colour palette of a full symphony orchestra. It certainly had the groove and grandeur. The audience were in a swoon.
We were treated to one of Australia’s most prolific composers Elena Kats-Chernin’s Dance of the Paper Umbrellas (2013). Her colourful style makes her compositions some of the most approachable and enduring pleasure-bombs. This piece was commissioned for the Hush Foundation which provides support to children undergoing painful medical procedures at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. Katz-Chernin says it illustrates, “a world of magic and dreams”, a cake adorned with multi-coloured umbrellas”.
Last on our card was the robust Polovtsian Dances by Alexander Borodin who described himself as a “Sunday composer”, a scientist by day and a composer in his spare time. This work comes from his ballet, Prince Igor, which he spent 18 years composing but remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1887. The Polovtsian Dances take place in in the victorious Polovtsians who celebrate their king, Khan Konchak.
All in all, a thrilling performance by dedicated young musicians which the KYO welcomes from high schools and universities across Sydney offering a dynamic musical environment that allows gifted musicians to thrive.
I was wowed by the sheer dynamic of this orchestra taking notes of names I am sure will grace prestigious venues in the next generation.
This concert took place on Sunday 21 September at 3pm at Abbotsleigh’s Peter Duly Hall.
