Music and lights in Pearl Beach

Isabella Brown plays Double Bass

The Pearl Beach Progress Association is quite a phenomenon. I don't know the average age of the members but whatever it is, they are proof that you don't have to slow down with age.  Among the events they organise is the June long-weekend Music Festival. Four mostly classical concerts over two days in their small community hall. There is always a taste of other music to cater for those less classically interested and this year it was Tango.

This year was also the first year with a new lighting system and the person operating the lights seemed quite captivated by all the different combinations he could produce. We had a very colourful show.

The Taming the Tango concert on Sunday night was the best attended concert and very well received, but my personal favorite was the first concert on Saturday afternoon: the Acacia Quartet playing a music by Elena Kats-Chernin, an Australian composer whose music I very much like.

I am delighted the Progress Association continue to bring serious classical musicians north for  evenings of intimate music in their lovely old hall. There is nothing that quite compares with hearing music in such surroundings.

Opera at the (Pearl Beach) Arboretum

 Opera in the Arboretum

It was a picture postcard perfect day for the 10th anniversary of the Pearl Beach Opera in the Arboretum, something the organisers and guests knew to appreciate after the rain and storm of last year.

The sell out crowd was convivial. Everyone brought a chair and many brought a picnic. The artists were splendid, their voices soaring up through the trees.

This year there was no kookaburra in competition, though a friendly magpie swooped in low over the crowd for a closer look.

Roger Benedict in Pearl Beach

Roger Benedict with Viola
(and Simon Tedeschi in background)

Last night Roger Benedict, Principal Viola with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, gave a concert with well known pianist Simon Tedeschi in the small Pearl Beach Community Hall. It felt like one of those small venue concerts in Europe, great crowd, great acoustics and wonderful enthusiasm. And fantastic playing! So nice to hear more of the viola.

The concert was is part of the June long-weekend two day music festival organised by the Pearl Beach Progress Association. Long may they continue.

Bush path up the hill

Alone, walking up the fire trail from Pearl Beach this morning, I marvel at the colours and the winter stillness. It takes about thirty minutes from the bottom to the lookout, more if you meander and take pictures.

Red earth path

Banksia flowers in bloom

And at the top, a view over the mouth of the Hawkesbury river to the sea. How could one ever tire of such a view?

Sailing boat on the Hawkesbury; Palm Beach in the distance

Sydney is having an unprededented warm spell. Twenty three days so far above 20C in May and it is to continue until at least 6 June. What will summer be like?

Simon Tedeschi and Kevin Hunt

Simon Tedeschi and Kevin Hunt play two pianos

Tedeschi and Hunt

Last night Simon Tedeschi and Kevin Hunt played two pianos at the fourth and last concert of the Pearl Beach Festival program. I didn't have high expectations; I was wondering what two pianos could do better than one and the program was a bit jazzy, not my favourite. But the concert was wonderful. It was almost all jazz apart from one Bach (which they also jazzed up but very sympathetically), very high energy and lots of fun. It was like being in a NY jazz den but without the smoke. As a result I was still bouncing around the house at midnight and I woke this morning at 6 still feeling energised.

The Pearl Beach Festival is a little oasis in the wilderness. It reminds me of the local concerts I've been to around Hamburg, held in small churches and even cow stalls (well, a historic cow stall actually). Small intimate space, great musicians, organisers who care.  Long may they continue.

Patonga to Pearl Beach

There is nothing like a bush walk to revive the spirits. Near where I live is a particularly pleasant one, the walk over the hill between Patonga and Pearl Beach. It is easy walking because it is mostly along fire trails (roads built for access in case of fire.)
 

Fire trail walkway

Bush turkeys crossing the path

You climb up and up and at the top of the hill are two small paths leading to the edge of the cliff where you look out over the mouth of the Hawkesbury River.

Path from fire trail to lookout

At the end of the path the ocean is reflected in the morning puddles.

South east - the mouth of the Hawkesbury River

Looking  west

The views are spectacular, my phone camera doesn't do them justice.  You feel as if you are a million miles from habitation but over that hill to the south is Sydney and that the peninsular you see stretching out into the sea to the west is Palm Beach. Very close to habitation after all.

Pearl Beach, Patonga and, across the water, Palm Beach, are top right.

Books to new homes

Out they go, off to new homes.

books, someone else's treasure

Once upon a time our many boxes of books served as a stable base for a King sized mattress. Many moves later and I am still giving books away. These ones are going to the Pearl Beach Book Fair  to be held on 30 March 2013.

Will I be able to resist buying more?

Simon Tedeschi plays piano

Simon Tedeschi played piano at the Pearl Beach Festival with Ian Cooper on violin. They were charasmatic and fun. The chairs were in a semi-circle and from my viewpoint far left I could see Tedeschi face-on as he looked across to Cooper. He seemed to be all eyes as they communicated. Great show - thanks guys!
(More here)

Tedeschi plays piano

Great North Walk

The bush track between Patonga and Pearl Beach is part of the Great North Walk which goes all the way from Sydney to Newcastle. The bush path is beautiful, with trees pushing their way between great boulders between which the path occasionally passes.

Steps cut between boulders

Trees push their way between rocks

Att the top of the hill above Patonga you can see all the way back up the Hawkesbury River.

Pearl Beach

Today I went over the hill to the Pearl Beach cafe, then sat on a bench under a tree to watch the seaside frolickers and paint. As I took out my sketch book the woman sitting on the other end of the bench commented that she had been wanting to do an art course for ages. A sign, perhaps, that I should get my act together and organise a class.