Musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~ Leopold Stokowski
Brisbane ~ the place I love to hate. We were in there for the Fete de la Musique just before the traffic started building up & the buses hurtled under the library overpass in a constant yellow stream. Liddy actually took pity on me & drove us in, training back out to her bible study & cadging a lift home while Star & I battled with the confusion that is Brisbane. The problem, of course, is that nothing, & I do mean nothing, is sign posted properly. Who'd ever guess Knowledge Walk was inside the building! None of AVAE. We all congregated outside, only deciding that just maybe this was not so bright moments before the kids were due to perform.
Liddy had parked under QPAC, always a good option, & Star & I had plenty of time to find the first venue. AVAE is a really small group: 2 seconds, 2 thirds, & a bunch of sopranos. Star sings seconds or thirds, depending on the song & the first performance was superb if the venue, the lighting & the acoustics were less than wonderful. Alison is a very kinesthetic conductor & great fun from the back or the front!
We then moved on to St John's cathedral ~ for which I had scrounged all the loose change in the house to bus across the river ~ & then we walked...& walked...& walked! On city streets!
St John's is a really lovely church. Gorgeous stone arches towering over the alter, wide spacious areas that felt alarmingly empty & a huge marble font by the front door that we are assuming held holy water though as Star remarked there didn't seem anything particularly holy about it. There were things floating in the water & there was a plug; with a chain! She couldn't get over that. Practical, I'm sure but it rather spoilt the mood.
Beautiful acoustics & the ensemble did really well ~ though Star had a complete brain fart during their second song, musing abstractedly that she really should learn to conduct only to find she had lost her place in the song & was wildly off key. Only 2 of them so she threw her partner & the 2 of them were mouthing convincingly as Alison motioned for more sound from her seconds! Ah well, it really wasn't noticeable & as Star quipped, & really that girl can be sharp as a tack when she puts her mind to it, it only took AVAE two songs to show how awesome they are: the senior choir needed 5! Ouch.
4 comments:
Sounds good! Do you ever record your children? Would be good to listen to them! xxx
Sarah: old & I'm not sure of the sound quality but there are a couple of u~tube clips floating round. Here's one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejgQQJFjv10
Not sure about this one either:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r84jq2HA0x0
There was a link for a recording they did at one time but I can't find it so maybe it's vapourised.
Your descriptions of Brisbane always make me laugh. I hope Star enjoyed herself.
lol, Seeking. I suspect you are used to worse. In all honesty Sydney is as bad but I am a Sydney girl & Sydney has lots of redeeming features whereas Brisbane has none! It really is the most awful place to navigate.
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