Tag Archives: ABC Centre

Classical Music, Music

TMO MET CONCERT #2 @ EUGENE GOOSSENS HALL ABC CENTRE

Benjamin Kopp

Above : Pianist Benjamin Kopp (from the Streeton Trio) performed the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 with TMO. Featured image: Sarah-Grace Williams-Artistic Director and conductor of TMO.

The Metropolitan Orchestra’s cohesiveness, collective stamina and calibre of expression continues to go from strength to strength. These exciting qualities enabled works of Russian greats to be featured exclusively in Met Concert #2. Their compositions were delivered with scintillating levels of clarity and emotion.

In yet another sold out event at the ABC Centre’s Eugene Goossens Hall, the programme consisted of two major Russian orchestral classics from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The first half of the concert saw the orchestra collaborate with Australian pianist Benjamin Kopp in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no 1 Op 23. Following interval we heard a stunning performance of the Symphony No 10 in E Minor Op 93 by Shostakovich. Continue reading TMO MET CONCERT #2 @ EUGENE GOOSSENS HALL ABC CENTRE →

Music

TMO MET CONCERT #4 @ EUGENE GOOSENS HALL

TMO principal flautist Svetlana Yaroslavskaya with chief conductor Sarah-Grace Williams
TMO principal flautist Svetlana Yaroslavskaya with chief conductor Sarah-Grace Williams

From chamber music which re-works a Baroque master’s keyboard pieces to a masterful interpretation of a titan amongst the orchestral repertoire, The Metropolitan Orchestra (TMO) presented yet another inspiring concert in the 2015 Met Concert series.

This concert opened with Elena Kats-Chernin’s innovative musings on JS Bach’s Two Part Inventions for keyboard. The work transforms selected inventions into a chamber music treat for wind soloist and strings. Originally conceived for recorders and strings, this Met Concert version premiered the works performance on piccolo, flute and alto flute by TMO principal Svetlana Yaroslavskaya. Continue reading TMO MET CONCERT #4 @ EUGENE GOOSENS HALL →

Classical Music, Music

TMO Met Concert 3 @ The Eugene Goosens Hall

TMO Chief Conductor Sarah-Grace Williams with piano soloist Simon Tedeschi

TMO’s MET CONCERT # 3 continued the 2015 season by enjoying another capacity crowd at the ABC Centre’s Eugene Goossens Hall. Its cohesive programme celebrated an Australian work evoking the spirituality of an iconic local landscape, a popular Australian pianist performing one of the nineteenth century’s best known concertos, and a symphonic favourite influenced by indigenous American melodies and culture.

Peter Sculthorpe’s ‘From Uluru’ (1992) was an intense and atmospheric start to an expressive night. It is perhaps not heard as regularly as his landscape-specific works ‘Kakadu’ (1988), ‘Earth Cry’ (1986), or ‘Mangrove’ (1979), but this shorter work is no less a gem with sustained sections of shifting atmospheres. TMO presented the work with pleasing clarity and richness of colour. Many shapes, aspects of Dreaming and a sense of a landmark’s impact were communicated through this performance. Continue reading TMO Met Concert 3 @ The Eugene Goosens Hall →

Music

The Metropolitan Orchestra: Met Concert 2 @ The Eugene Goosens Hall

TMO Chief Conductor Sarah-Grace Williams with piano soloist Bernard Walz
TMO Chief Conductor Sarah-Grace Williams with piano soloist Bernard Walz

The Metropolitan Orchestra (TMO) continues to illustrate their versatility and industry as an orchestra. Amongst some fourteen concerts and events for 2015, TMO appeared with John Farnham and Olivia Newton John in April. They have family concerts with children’s favourites Lah-Lah and Buzz planned for late May.

TMO took a gamble when programming Met Concert 2 with such savage contrasts between the works. It is a gamble which more than paid off for the orchestra. The sold out house could probably have sold a decent amount of tickets for a comfortably-seated repeat concert.

The orchestra explored the musical portraiture of Englishman Edward Elgar, visited Kodály’s nationalistic response to historical Hungarian music, and collaborated with pianist Bernard Walz to revive Gershwin’s marriage of jazz elements with the traditional concerto form. Continue reading The Metropolitan Orchestra: Met Concert 2 @ The Eugene Goosens Hall →

Classical Music

Met Concert #1 @ Eugene Goossens Hall

Guest violinist Lisa Stewart gave an exciting performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons
Guest violinist Lisa Stewart gave an exciting performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

The TMO’s  Met Concert #1 was stunning! This first concert in the 2015 season contained a challenging programme of very well-known works from the Baroque and Classical eras. These challenges were met by the soloists, orchestra and conductor Sarah-Grace Williams with discipline, energy, artistry and genuine enthusiastic music-making. If this concert is an indication of what is to emerge from TMO in 2015, then its audiences are in for quite a year.

As in many previous Met Concert series, the format included works highlighting one of the orchestra’s principals and also a guest artist. TMO strings were showcased in both chamber music and string orchestra contexts. The string orchestra was augmented and inspired by the talented Australian violinist Lisa Stewart.

TMO Principal Clarinetist Andrew Doyle presented us with a fine Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K 581 with well-balanced playing from the TMO’s string quartet featuring Nataliya Lukich, Christina Ong, Luke Spicer and Steve Meyer. Continue reading Met Concert #1 @ Eugene Goossens Hall →

Music

TMO with the Lyrebird Trio

The Lyrebird Trio
The wonderful Lyrebird Trio were the TMO’s special guests for their fourth concert of 2014

The well-received fourth TMO concert in its 2014 Met Series once again showcased a guest performance as well as substantial works for full orchestra alone. As throughout this year, the concert took place in the expansive environment of the Eugene Goosens hall. For the busy TMO, 2014 still contains a family concert of ‘Peter and the Wolf’, another Met Series concert and a week-long music cruise to conclude the year.

Met Concert #4 saw the orchestra joined by award-winning chamber music group, The Lyrebird Trio. This group comprises Queensland Conservatorium of Music graduates Glenn Christiansen (violin), Simon Cobcroft (cello) and Angela Turner (piano).This piano trio has enjoyed global success, and was a very welcome addition to this Met Concert solo spot. In this concert they brought us their communicative prowess and also Beethoven’s elegant Opus 56 ‘Triple Concerto’. Continue reading TMO with the Lyrebird Trio →