This Christmas Concert at Lulworth House was a real joy – and even better because Marco, Josephine’s partner, was able to take photographs and make some recordings of the event. One or two of them are attached here.

The concert included all the favourites – the most beloved Christmas Carols, sacred songs, some ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ and lots of meeting and greeting our lovely audience, including the beautiful lady pictured here, who had missed the first concert and made a special effort to come and see this one.

The magnificent Josephine Tam made an appearance at Beresford Hall on Friday 20 December, 2013, for a very special Christmas Concert, a precursor to their Christmas Party. We performed a selection of sacred songs and Christmas carols, including duets of Ave Maria (Schubert), Silent Night and Ding Dong Merrily on High, a version of The 12 Days of Christmas with all the actions, a version of Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring with Josie on Violin, my very favourite Australian Christmas Carol – The Silver Stars are in the Sky, plus a selection of well-known favourites such as The First Nowell and Away in a Manger. The concert was universally loved, even by one of the residents, Heather Macmillan, who was an opera singer herself – a contemporary of Dame Joan! I was so glad I didn’t know that before we started singing!

Martin and Wilma saw me performing the Habanera from Carmen at Jeremy and Deborah’s musical soiree, and loved the performance… so much so that Martin invited me to sing at the celebration of Wilma’s 60th birthday party, a lunchtime event at the Boiler Room restaurant at Q Station in Manly.

It’s an absolutely gorgeous venue – the old quarantine station which has now been turned into a ‘resort’. The old buildings are weatherboard and look very much like they come from the early 20th century. The boiler-room restaurant is right down on the harbour, and the restaurant seats people outside, where they can see the beach, but it’s also covered (which means the acoustic is very nice). The day was completely perfect – beautiful blue sky, hardly any wind and light fluffy clouds scudding around from time to time, just to make the horizon interesting.

I performed the Habanera and the Seguidilla (both show stoppers from Carmen) and Voi Che Sapete (from The Marriage of Figaro), introducing myself as the proverbial ‘girl in the cake’. We had a lot of fun, and again, it was so wonderful to see what joy a bit of opera brings to people.

It is a pleasure to turn an occasion from something special to something memorable. Wilma said ‘This eases the pain of turning 60!’.

Thank you, Martin, for thinking of this gift for your lovely wife.

Racing from a fill-in at Peakhurst for the Arts Health Institute to a Melbourne Cup Day performance at Presbyterian Aged Care in Paddington, I wondered how it would all turn out… Well, I should not have been anxious! I had a room full of beautiful elders who enjoyed every note! Three in particular – Bunty, who loved the wartime songs (We’ll Meet Again and We’ll Gather Lilacs), Ivan (a lovely Russian fellow, so we had fun singing ‘Kalinka’ together, after the show) and Roy (who recalled as a child going to the premiere of Swan Lake at the Tivoli).

It gives me such pleasure to connect with these audiences so intimately – something you don’t get a chance to do in your regular theatre or concert setting. It is delightful to see the smile on people’s faces, to hold their hands as you sing to them, and to see how much joy you can bring through music. What a privilege!

I’ve been working over the past few months with the Arts Health Institute, an amazing organisation headed by Jean Paul Bell and Maggie Haertsch. AHI runs a couple of programs for residents of Nursing Homes, particularly those with some level of Dementia. I’ve been involved with one of them, Play Up, and have been part of the training program for a second program, Sing Out Loud Together.

Play Up involves ‘Humour Therapy’ – the performer (that’s me!) teams up with a partner at an Aged Care Facility (the Play Up Partner – who might be a nurse, a diversional therapist, a cleaner, a kitchen hand – anyone who is able to engage on a fun level), and uses humour and comedy to engage with people who have dementia. They say that ‘laughter is the best medicine’, and we’re putting that maxim into practice!

The AHI were able to put a study together called ‘The Smile Study’, which showed really positive results amongst aged care residents when Humour Therapy was applied. You can find all about it at their website : http://www.artshealthinstitute.org.au

As I’ve been doing this work, taking my ukulele and jokes around to Nursing Homes, I’ve found I really love it. It’s amazing to see people lighting up when you sing a song, to hear them laugh, to see them engaging and enjoying life in what can be (from an outsider’s perspective) quite depressing circumstances.

The work I’ve been doing with AHI has also had a huge influence on the operatic performances I’ve been doing at other Aged Care facilities – it’s taught me about the need to engage and connect with all audiences, as well as entertain. This has meant that the performances I’ve given at those facilities have been amazingly uplifting, because we (the audiences and performers) have connected before, during and after all performances.

More on Sing Out Loud Together in the next post…

Dear friends Deborah and Jeremy celebrated their marriage with a warm and music-filled event at History House, Macquarie Street, Sydney.

They asked if I would sing The Habanera from Carmen, and so… I did! I had an absolute ball with a delightful audience.

Other musicians also played on the night, including the excellent Baptiste, and the choir I’m in with Deborah, Voices from the Vacant Lot. Deb, Jeremy and Baptiste also sang and played a gorgeous Russian song.

I have to say it was a spectacularly convivial evening, and a great time was had by all!

Performed to a packed house of around 70 residents at Montefiore Home. With the space and capacity of the room (and the grand piano), I was able to put on quite a ‘big’ show, filling the room with sound and having a lot of fun moving in amongst the audience, especially with Carmen.

Such a wonderful, cultured audience, so attentive and appreciative. One particularly attentive gentleman, George, came up afterwards and gave me a copy of a beautiful pencil drawing he’d done of Andre Rieu. What a heartfelt and lovely gesture! I was really touched, and feel so lucky to be performing for these gorgeous people.

Fiona McCabe, the beautiful and highly talented accompanist, played spectacularly, and performed a wonderful rendition of Edvard Grieg’s Wedding Day at Troldhaugen.

Another great gig at Beresford Hall on August 4, this time with the gorgeous and extremely talented pianist and singer, Josephine Tam.

The best thing about this concert was the gentleman in the front row who sang along to all the Carmen numbers, and to our Flower Duet from Lakme.

What a beautiful audience!

We are looking forward to our Christmas/Hannukah Concert on 20th Decembert at Beresford Hall.

Josephine Tam and I rocked da house at Lulworth Gardens on August 11th. I explored the depth of characters of Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Dido (Dido and Aeneas) and Carmen (Carmen, of course!), while Josephine (what an amazing performer!) wowed the house at interval with ‘Girl from 14G’ – what a virtuoso piece! We then did another virtuoso turn with the Flower Duet from Lakme – with Josephine not just playing, but singing the soprano part. “You won’t see that in the opera house!”

Residents loved it, and asked for more, so we are returning for a Christmas Concert on December 21.