Festival Opera (Newcastle)  in association with Newcastle Branch of Musica Viva  presents the first of the 2014  ‘The Steinway Series’:  ‘Sisters in Song’    Laura King and Eliane Morel – Sopranos   Belinda McGlynn – Piano  Duets from Opera, Spanish Songs and Art Songs   (Mozart, Wolf, Berlioz, Britten, Falla )  Followed by a Champagne Supper  

When: Saturday 10th May 7.30pm
Where:    11 Hillview Crescent, The Hill 
$55 Bookings Essential Please Phone 0417 679 376  
Ghillian Sullivan 
Artistic Director of Festival Opera Newcastle http://www.ghilliansullivan.com
http://www.nfopera.com.au

What a wonderful wedding. Charnelle and Michael chose to get married at the extraordinarily beautiful location of Riverdale on the Boyd property of Bundanon, on the Shoalhaven River. I think I started crying the moment I walked into the courtyard of this incredible place – it has a stunning view of the Shoalhaven to start with, and Michael and his niece had been up all night decorating the dining area. The place was buzzing with activity, as Michael had coordinated every single one of his talented friends to perform to the best of their ability – whether that be cooking, organising, decorating, cleaning, performing magic or, in my case, singing. I was very privileged to be asked to sing, not once but twice on this glorious, heartfelt, loving day. During the signing of the papers Andrew Worssam (my husband) and I performed ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ with Andrew on the ukulele – a little bit Hawaiian, a little bit Judy Garland, a little bit Eva Cassidy, but mostly our own. It brought tears to many people’s eyes. Later, I sang Ridente La Calma, by Mozart, a song of the serenity and beauty of true love, accompanied on piano by Michael’s talented sister Liz. Michael said he cried during the rehearsal of this song, but managed to hold it together for the real event. So, that’s two wedding performances this financial year… Anyone out there who wants a wedding singer, here I am!

I was very excited to be doing this concert, as my great-aunt, Bonnie Baird, is a resident at this facility in Chatswood. It was also my first ‘solo’ gig with a backing track for some songs and my trusty ukulele for others. Carmen, Cherubino and Dorabella made a turn, along with Ave Maria, and then I used the ukulele for some old-time favourites and a singalong, including Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles, Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major and We’ll Meet Again. Once again, a huge success! Had a lovely chat with residents both before and after, and an impromptu singalong to ‘Molly Malone’ (put that one in the memory banks for next time!) Bonnie didn’t remember me, but when I told her I was her great-niece she was very happy to hear and said ‘Well, how about that!’ It’s a lovely little facility, small but quite beautifully kept, and the staff expressed their gratitude for the concert, too: “The residents all thought you were great and they’re still talking about it. Thank you so much!”

Second gig with Fiona McCabe at the Randwick Campus of Montefiore Jewish Homes. These are always held on a Sunday afternoon, and there are at least 150 people at these concerts, so it was pretty crowded, particularly as it was the upstairs room. The first thing I heard anyone say was ‘Are you going to do the Carmen?’. So of course I held off for a couple of songs (as Carmen would), then brought the Habanera out… It has become such a signature piece, and everyone adores it, particularly when I come out into the crowd, look them in the eye, hold their hands and sing ‘L’amour!’ to their face. It’s a very discerning crowd, obviously quite critical, but they nonetheless all expressed their gratitude and enjoyment of the concert. I also had the room singing along to ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ and ‘We’ll Meet Again’, which was quite wonderful.

Hard work, but most enjoyable!

Today was the celebration of Fred, who turned 104 today. I came along to sing Happy Birthday and a few tunes, mainly in honour of Fred, who was wearing a great cap that said ‘104 Not Out’. Alex (who is a younger ex-resident who now has his own place, but I think comes back to see the occasional concert and say hello to the residents) came along, and declared this concert to be ‘even better’ than last time – even though I was by myself and only had a back-up tape for most of the operatic repertoire. It’s most gratifying to hear that! Anyway, it was relatively short and sweet as everyone was a bit fagged out over the birthday celebrations and cake overload. After singing Happy Birthday to Fred, one lady said ‘It’s my birthday on the 15th’ so I sang her Happy Birthday too. Turns out her birthday was the 15th of January, but who cares! I had a 96 year old heckler, who had clearly had too much cake, but took it in my stride… it’s all part of the fun!

Another first today – having performed two concerts at the Randwick campus of Montefiore Homes, Fiona and I were invited to do a series of concerts for Montefiore in Hunters Hill. It was a dark and stormy… day, absolutely bucketing down, and we were located in the ‘sunroom’, where rain fell incessantly onto the atrium. Nonetheless, we managed to bring sunshine to our beautiful crowd of about 20 residents. I greeted everyone with ‘Nobles Seigneurs, Salut’, from Les Huguenots, by Jewish composer Meyerbeer, who was the father of grand French opera – so of course very well received amongst this predominantly Jewish crowd. We did what has become ‘standard repertoire’ – almost de rigueur – Carmen (Habanera and Seguidilla), Voi Che Sapete and some 1940s songs (Bluebirds over the whie cliffs of dover, Lilacs in the Spring). Today was a first for me, as we included the absolutely wonderful, creamy and gorgeous ‘Mon Coeur s’ouvre a ta voix’ from Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saens. Seductive and oh-so-beautiful to sing, it was a huge hit.

In fact, the whole concert went down so well, we had nurses sneaking around the corner to have a look, and every single resident I spoke to after the gig (as I always do) said how much they loved it and enjoyed themselves. One lady, with tears in her eyes, said ‘You brought my husband back to me’ and for another it was her 3rd day in the home and clearly it made her feel so much happier to be there. It gives me such a buzz to know I’m bringing joy to people’s lives.

One very funny highlight: I make a big effort to be as glamorous as possible (within the realms of tasteful), so I had my beautiful Vietnamese silk wedding dress in bright red and gold, big dangly earrings, plenty of makeup and bright red lips, sequinned high heels etc. One fabulous resident said, ‘You look so beautiful. Are you wearing any underpants?’

We finished off with Happy Birthday (as the occasion was the celebration of March Birthdays) and ‘We’ll Meet Again’. I’m looking forward to meeting these residents again in a couple of months. In the meantime, we have another concert at the same place (for a different crowd) planned for tomorrow…

Going out on a limb today for my first concert solo with just me and the ukulele. Irish songs were the theme, it being St Patrick’s Day, so I took a big deep breath and sang (and had residents singing along to) Danny Boy, Galway Bay, When Irish Eyes are Smiling, The Rose of Tralee, Molly Malone. I threw in a couple of old classics that are less well-known – the Stuttering Lovers and Down By the Sally Gardens – and of course some Australian/Irish classics – The Wild Colonial Boy and Moreton Bay. A really beautiful reaction from residents, whose feedback included ‘Beautiful and unpretentious’, ‘Very sexy dress’ (I wore my lime green jumpsuit) and ‘I loved all of it’. One lovely gentleman knew all of Moreton Bay and swayed along, and several people sang along to Danny Boy in particular, so I had a choir of angels!

A huge personal success for me, because I played the uke and sang along and everyone loved it, but also it was a delight to be singing non-operatic songs and still having the crowd enjoying themselves. I must admit that I tested the songs out on my Irish neighbours the day beforehand, and it brought tears to their eyes, so I had a feeling it was going to be ok!

Looking forward to doing a few more gigs on my own like this… I adore my fellow musicians, and would never stop playing with them, but sometimes it’s nice to fly solo!

First concert for the year! Very nervous that my voice wouldn’t make it, as it had taken quite a beating on the tour of Nursing Homes in December – that’s hours of singing everything from old Wartime songs to Slim Dusty and Johnny Cash to Queen to Mozart duets (singing both parts!)… but that’s another story for another post. Today, Josephine Tam and I nailed several gorgeous duets, including our own version of Schubert’s Ave Maria, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pie Jesu, and the Flower Duet from Lakme (aka the ad from British Airways). We followed up with some beautiful songs from the 1940s, including Lilacs in the Spring by Ivor Novello, The White Cliffs of Dover by Walter Kent and Nat Burton and We’ll Meet Again by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. Of course, Carmen made an appearance, too (it’s like she just can’t help herself!). A beautiful audience, and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces enjoying themselves again.