By Jeremy Lister
On Sunday Mum and I went to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) at Southbank in Brisbane to see the Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) A Moment in Time Concert. While we were there we ran into some other Stanthorpe locals (Sandy Venn Brown, Steve Platt, Margaret and Brough Warren, and Michael Byrom).
It was a fantastic program however they had to make some changes because a few of the performers had Covid. My favourite piece was Richard Strauss Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks Op. 28 (arranged Rotar). And mum’s favourite was the Halvorsen Passacaglia played by Amalia Hall and James Wannan. Mum had been practising the Passacaglia with her friend Esther but she said it’s really hard and they can’t perform it yet.
We also went to see the QSO on Saturday so it was great to hear each instrument play more of a solo role at the SXS. The instruments in this concert were the harpsichord, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, oboe, flute, clarinet, french horn and didgeridoo. We are hoping the SXS will come to Stanthorpe for two concerts later this year.
Tania Frazer said “SXS were delighted with the overwhelmingly positive response from the audience yesterday for our 2nd Qpac concert for 2022”.
“Our artists in residence, Konstantin Shamray piano and Chris Williams didgeridoo performed spectacularly, as did our guest lead violinist, Amalia Hall from New Zealand and all the members of SXS.
“The world premiere of ‘The Ground’ by Australian/Los Angeles- based composer, Leah Curtis was stunning- a wonderfully atmospheric piece that encompassed the spirituality of the Australian landscape.
“This work is a great addition to the new canon of chamber music works we are building to showcase the didgeridoo as part of SXS’s Didgeridoo Commissioning Project.”
