Gavin Lockley has taken some of the iconic Australian poems and created orchestral songs. Gavin was inspired by Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a cultural treasury of folk songs given orchestral arrangements.
With names such as Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, Dorothea Mackellar, C.J. Dennis and John O’Brien we have a collection of poets that fittingly resonate with the time and place of the formation of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. This concert was a benefit evening for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and a celebration of the service’s eighty-fifth anniversary in 2013. Donations can be made at www.flyingdoctors.org.au
A classical sixty piece orchestra, the marvellously titled Rum Corps Orchestra, conducted by the very exciting Vladimir Fanshil, filled the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall with sublime music and was a more than capable backing band for such well loved singers as Jon English, Glen Cunningham, Tina Harris, Michael Halliwell, Jennifer Murphy, Stuart Maunder, Darryl Lovegrove, Barry Ryan, Gavin Lockley and Renae Martin.
Jon English’s rendition of the classic SIX RIBBONS from the wonderful ABC television show AGAINST THE WIND was one of the show’s highlights.
Images of classic Australian outback scenes were projected onto a large screen, along with Australiana montages and the text of some of the poems being sung.
Some of the familiar poems that were sung were Clancy of the Overflow, Mulga Bill’s Bicycle, A Bush Christening, Waltzing Matilda, My Country Australia (I love a sunburnt country), The Man from Ironbark and Around the Boree Log. An ABC Classics CD of this collection is available.
The composer Gavin Lockley says that every time he performs this concert people afterwards want to recite some classic Australian verses that they have grown up with. These poems have been imprinted into the minds of many young Australians and hearing them one is reminded of some very special times.
MY COUNTRY AUSTRALIA, hosted by Stuart Maunder, played for one night only as a benefit concert at the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, in celebration of the upcoming Royal Flying Doctor’s Service’s 85th Anniversary in 2013.
© Mark Pigott
1st November, 2012
Tags: Sydney Stage Reviews- MY COUNTRY AUSTRALIA, Royal Flying Doctor Service, Gavin Lockley, Rum Corps Orchestra, Vladimir Fanshil, Jon English, Glenn Cunningham, Tina Harris, Michael Halliwell, Jennifer Murphy, Stuart Maunder, Darryl Lovegrove, Barry Ryan, Gavin Lockley, Renae Martin, Sydney Arts Guide, Mark Pigott