Ayse and friends at the Sydney Opera House

'I learned on my trip to Turkey last year the ability of the Turks to create joy through the appreciation of simple things, even in the midst of  life's difficulties.'

The speaker is soprano Ayse Goknur Shanal who together with three fellow musicians (kemane player Ali Yıldız, bağlama player Deniz Şimşek and pianist Ashley Hribar) gave a wonderful and wonderfully heartfelt concert 'Anatolia', at Sydney Opera House Utzon Room on Sunday. They were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the signing of a migration agreement between Australia and Turkey with a concert of Turkish folk songs.

From left: Ali, Ashley, Ayse aand Deniz

Personally I had a multicultural experience that evening such that few cities can offer. I was there to hear a group of gifted first and second generation Turkish Australians play Turkish music, but before the concert I stumbled on the 'Lighting of the Sails', an Aboriginal inspired light show with projected images on the smaller opera house sail. It lasted 5 minutes from 6pm. I was joined by lots of Asian tourists who all recorded it on their phones, so it is probably a much uploaded travelogue entry.

Lighting of the Sails

Then I met a Chinese tourist who was also attending the concert I was seeing. On discovering I paint, she showed me (on her phone) her personal collection of art works. They included some astonishing needle-worked art that she said were very expensive (artist unknown). This was her third visit to Sydney but her first to the opera house.

My other neighbour at the concert was a Turkish woman who was an avid opera fan and who spoke excitedly of the many operas she had seen at the opera house or on the harbour.

The day had been much hotter than usual in April and I had almost left my woollen shawl at home. However, I was very glad the hot weather had not diverted me as the venue was cold then even colder. As the concert progressed my shawl crept over the knees of we three women and my two neighbours were as grateful as I was for the warmth. Being linked with these women in such a way made me think of  Ayse's words about deriving joy from small things. 


If you use Facebook, the concert (part 1) can be viewed here.

Sydney Opera House in colour

Sydney Opera House in colour(s)

Before the advent of the Vivid Festival in Sydney it was unusual to see the Sydney opera house clothed in colour, but once you see the festival's startlingly vivid colours on the opera house sails, they are not easily forgotten.

I have been manipulating some opera house etchings made in Dunedin and the photo app on my phone has kindly made a collage of them for me (above). They are not as vivid (some would say garish) as the festival lights but there is something nice about a coloured etching.

Sol Gabetta - Basel Chamber Orchestra - Sydney Opera House

Sol Gabetto - once you see her you wont forget her. She is not only a startlingly good cellist, but she has a wonderful stage presence. Today she payed in the Sydney Opera House with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, whisking onto the stage in a stunning red dress then wowing us all with her playing.

Taking a bow

The orchestra obviously enjoys playing with her and when she turned to thank them at the end of her first piece we saw that her dress was backless and had a wonderful sparkly waistband. It also had a wide billowy skirt, perfect for playing the cello. Clothes for stage performances must be something of a nightmare for musicians I would think, but the designer and wearer both did themselves proud on this occasion.

Gabetta played Bartok today but also Peteris Vasks' Cello Concerto Nr 2 'Presence' which was the concert standout for me. It is an extraordinary piece, modern yet lyrical and Sol Gabetta's playing of it got a standing ovation.

Sydney Opera House: oh the acoustics

I saw the Sydney Symphony, with choir and soloists perform Beethoven's Missa Solemnis last night. The choir was at least 100 strong and the orchestra a similar number, but the sound they made seemed to disappear into the walls of the building.  The ethereal quality of music disappears  - you can see the many musicians, but not hear them properly From my very back seat at Munich Opera House recently I heard more than from my seventh row seat in the Sydney opera house last night.   Very frustrating.

I couldn't help thinking as I listened last night how disheartening it must be for the musicians to play/sing in a hall with such inferior acoustics. It is high time we had another national lotto to collect funds to rectify the opera house interior and make it worthy of its stunning exterior.

Crowds still there at 10pm

The acoustics outside seem to be better than inside. Once there were only a few tables along the walkway and two food shops but both shops and tables have been steadily increasing and nowadays the convivial crowds can be heard from afar as you approach. It is a convenient place to meet your friends - and oh what a view. No wonder it is popular.

As night falls a band and singer entertain the gathered throng, so after your show in the opera house you could, if you were so inclined, listen to another one outside.

Sydney Symphony's Tristan and Isolde

After a major Wagner drought, all the antipodean Wagner riches came at once this year.  The wonderful NZSO Wagner Gala conducted by Pietari Inkinen and with soloists Christine Goerke and Simon O'Neill was sung in Wellington, Chistchurch and Auckland last week, the Auckland performance on Saturday coinciding with the first of two concert performances of Tristan and Isolde by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Tristan and Isolde was the first live performance in Sydney of  a major Wagner work since 2003! We Wagnerians have been dying of Wagner-thirst.

Smoke and mirrors: giant sail in the Sydney Opera House auditorium
onto which images were projected during Tristan and Isolde

The SSO played wonderfully well under David Robertson. The singers were placed behind the orchestra which could have been a problem in a hall with such dodgy acoustics, but they were voices of caliber and all of them could be heard clearly through the hall. At half time I was amused to hear a young actor/singer talking about the amplification of the singing and saying he could hear the singers well from the back of the hall.  He was astonished to be told that opera singers are not amplified.

The standout singers for me were John Relyea as King Marke and Katarina Karneus as Brangane. Both have voices worth traveling to hear. I hope they get another opportunity to sing Wagner in Sydney and that we don't have to wait another twelve years before we hear them again.

(Review of the SSO Tristan and Isolde)
(Review of the NZSO Wagner Gala)

Australia Piano Quartet at the Utzon Room

Australia Piano Quartet

There is a small concert room at the Sydney Opera House called the Utzon Room. It is well named as it is one of the nicest spaces in the opera house. It is small so the concerts are intimate and you listen to music while looking out over Sydney Harbour.

Last Tuesday the Australia Piano Quartet played their last concert of the year in the Utzon Room. The quartet comprises  (Rebecca Chan (violin), Thomas Rann (cello), Evgeny Ukhanov (piano) and James Wannan (viola).

They are vibrant, young and virtuosic and their program included Mozart, Saint-Saens and the new commissioned work In Search of Asylum by Pozniak. Rebecca Chan explained how the challenging Pozniak piece put the musicians into the mind-space of the asylum seeker and a spokeswoman from the Asylum Seeker Resource Center spoke about how they are trying to help those arriving on Australian shores.

The view is spectacular  even without the huge cruiser that was tugged past the window. Once the musicians started playing however, all eyes were on them.

Before the concert began

Cruise ship is tugged out of the harbour

Tognetti's Beethoven (and Greenwoods' Water)

 

The Sydney Opera House was full today for the concert Tognetti's Beethoven.  The concert was a winner, delighting the audience. (And for those who wondered what that extraordinarily touching  encore was, it was Janáček ‘Goodnight’ from On an Overgrown Path.)

One of the pieces featured in the concert was Water by multi-talented Radiohead lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, a piece which got great reviews when it was premiered in London a month or so ago.

Personally I loved the Beethoven, all three pieces played: Coriolan – Overture, Symphony No.1, Triple Concerto.   If I had to choose between them, I would choose the Triple Concerto which I found very moving. The instrumental 'conversation' between violin (Richard Tognetti), piano (Yevgeny Sudbin) and cello (Timo-Veikko Valve) was inspirational and I kept thinking how much fun it must have been to practice.

Below is a great little video of Tognetti talking about the Beethoven and then the Greenwood collaboration.

And here is an ACO blogpost about Greenwood and the ACO

Sydney by night.

Sydney Opera House

This is where I have been for the past three days - and late into the night. The Sydney Opera House is a wonderful place to work, especially when you come out at night to a view like this.

The photos were taken on my Android mobile phone. It is amazing what sort of quality these small devices can produce but you have to  keep still or you just get lots of lines of lights.

Photographs of city lights usually make me feel a bit lonesome because that is how I view skyscraper cities but I know and love Sydney  so when I look at the photo below I get conflicting  messages. Weird.

Sydney at night .... view from the opera house

Capriccio

Act 1 of Richard Strauss's opera Capriccio which I saw at the Sydney Opera House on 27 July. It was a discussion about the relative merits of poetry, music and opera. Very clever and funny and definitely worth venturing out on a cold winters night.

Sydney Opera House from Customhouse Quay

When I am in Sydney I am always drawn to the opera house. Drawn to draw the opera house.

Blue on blue

Turquoise and blue. Yes, that's Sydney!

Opera House between showers

It was drizzling today but I painted the Sydney Opera House in a clear spell.