March Recap
It’s been a very busy month. Something on every weekend and 2 exams at uni. My orchestra did its first concert of the year at St Leonard’s Park in North Sydney; more about that later. The next concert is on 24th May and we have started rehearsals already. It is an exciting program that includes Gershwin’s Americian in Paris and Dvorak’s New World Symphony. The concert will be at the Conservatorium of Music. Tickets are available on the website.
I’m otherwise going ok. The depressions are still hanging around like a bad smell. My friend’s mum was in hospital for most of the month and then passed away, which has put me a little off-kilter. I’m feeling a little better now. Thanks for everyone’s concern.
Concerts
Monsieur Camembert at the Camelot lounge
This concert kicked off the month with a fun night out. My second concert at the Camelot Lounge. We got lucky with some people offering us seats at their table at the front of the room. The music was reminiscent of Stephane Grappelli with added pop. I had a bit of a weird evening as I recognised the drummer; it didn’t feel like I know him as a drummer and I thought it was probably 25 years since I saw him. So I managed to get up some courage and went and had a chat. It turns out we were at UNSW together. He was studying to be a Geomatic Engineer but we were also in Concert band and Big band together.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra – Elgar & Vaughan Williams
I went to my first Sydney Symphony Performance at the Opera House this year. All the pieces told a story. The first piece was another of the 50 Fanfares. Dreams Undreamt was composed by Carl Vine. It was very engaging and I even giggled at one point at the interplay between sections. In the second piece, Andrew Haveron, the Concertmaster, performed Elgar’s Violin concerto as the soloist. It was out of this world. Andrew’s performance was spectacular. The second half consisted of Vaughan Williams’ Pastoral Symphony(Symphony No3). A very beautiful piece giving me Moody Blues ‘ Days of the Future Passed‘ and George Martin’s ‘Yellow Submarine Soundtrack‘ vibes. Two of my favourite albums so very very happy. Check out the playlist for the concert on Spotify.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra – James Ehnes Performs Brahms’ Violin Concerto
The first piece was Ravel’s Mother Goose it was beautiful but I want to marry James Ehnes. He performed Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D. His high notes are delightful and rich (very rare for violins). His low notes are heartwarming. Just yes yes yes. His hair is a bit longer than normal and he had to keep flicking his curls out of the way which was just so cute. How he manages to get so much emotion into the music is awe-inspiring. He also gave two encores. He just didn’t want to stop playing. His encores were Sonata No.3 in D minor by Eugeme Ysaye and the 3rd movement of one of JS Bach’s Sonatas. The hour and a half concert turned into 2 hours. Just Wow. Check out the playlist for the concert on Spotify.
North Sydney Symphony Orchestra – Concert in the Park
On a 38 degree day we performed at St Leonard’s Park near North Sydney Oval. The temperature was stupid hot. It was a bit of a shame as this year the council had organised food trucks, a bar and craft activities. Considering the stupid temperature, there was a decent crowd. We performed pretty well and no one collapsed so we’ll count that as a win. Here is a Spotify playlist of the music we played that day.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra – Glowing Brass in the City
It was my first City Recital Hall concert of the year. The concert starred the Brass and Percussion section of the Orchestra. They played John Williams’ Fanfare for a Festive Occasion , which was only the second time it had ever been played. About 40 years since it was first performed. They are just amazing I love this concert when they put it on brass only. Only one thing I was disappointed about, usually Scott Kinmont has arranged one of the pieces but not this year. It was made up for with an arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition. Elgar Howarth arranged it he worked from Modest Mussorgsky’s piano score but was influenced by Ravel’s arrangement. It was edge-of-the-seat stuff. So so wonderful. Anyway check it all out on the Spotify playlist
Monkey Spanner – Farewell Tour
So off the RSL with Olivia, Matt and Phil to skank (learn how to skank here) the night away to Monkey Spanner. They are an 8 piece Ska band that cover a wide range of artists including Madness, The Specials, Bad Manners, The Beat, Toots & The Maytals and more! They were supported by The Upbeat Ambassadors, Simon Smith’s (my conductor from school) latest band. It was a brilliant night lots of very cool music and dancing. All you ladies out there wondering where the guys are dancing they are out watching and dancing to ska bands. Unfortunately this is part of Monkey Spanner’s farewell tour. We are planning to go to the final concert in July at the Paddo RSL. I’ve got my ticket so come and join me for a great night.
Retro Silent Disco in the Art Gallery of NSW
The final excitement of the month was a silent disco. Mara and I went off to the art gallery for a new experience, not really knowing what to expect. We were given headphones at the door. You could tune these in to 3 different DJs who were set up in the middle of the foyer. Your headphones lit up with the colour of the DJ you were listening to, Blue for 1980s, Red for 1990s and Green for 2000s. It was so much fun. Everyone was dancing and singing to different songs like no one was watching or listening. Guys if you want to know where the ladies are dancing they are at discos listening to ‘retro’ music. It was brilliant how when a really cool song came on one of the channels a wave of that colour would move across the room as people changed to that channel. If you haven’t been to one I would really recommend it.
Books
I’m not going to go into the books in detail as this newsletter is long enough.
- Backstitched and stabbed by Tilly Wallace – Book 2 of (audiobook, library)
- Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie – The Agatha Christie Challenge book for the month (ebook, own)
- Shelved under Murder by Victoria Gilbert – Book two in the series (ebook, library)
- The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves – Vera book 9 (ebook, library)
- Secrets of the Lost Ledgers by C.J. Archer – Book 5 of the Glass Library series (audiobook, library)
Trips
Weekend in Concord – Race of Champions and Mischief
Last year I brought tickets to see Kygo at Qudos Arena then the tickets for Race of Champions came out. They were on the same weekend. So I decided to make a weekend of it. Going to Race of Champions on the Friday night then Kygo on the Saturday. They didn’t run buses from my place to Homebush so I was looking at 1:45 to get home which sucks. So I decided to stay at Concord as accommodation at Homebush is pricey. So the Concord Hotel it was. It is walking distance to the stadium and turned out to be what you would expect staying above a pub. Small clean room with showers and toilet down the hall. Unfortunately the Kygo concert got cancelled which sucked but still getting home on the Friday was going to be a shit. I also got upgraded tickets with free booze so driving really wasn’t an option. So Concord it was.
I’ve been wanting to go to Race of Champions since I first saw it on tele from Beijing back in 2009, when Michael Schmacher and Sebastian Vettel won the nations cup. It is a motorsport event where champions from all over the world from different disciplines race together and against each other. I was very excited to get to see Sébastien Loeb, Sebastien Vettel, Petter Solberg and Johan Kristoffersson race. My favourite Australian drivers were also racing, Chaz Mostert and Molly Taylor. It was heaps of fun. Shame that there wasn’t much of a crowd, I know the stadium is huge but I expected heaps more people. You can watch the highlights on YouTube.
On the Saturday I got up to some mischief. I went and brought a drum kit. It is black and sparkly and lots and lots of fun. Otherwise I had some nice meals and read books getting three done in the weekend. It was great to get away even if it was still in Sydney.
Weekend in Clunes – Booktown Festival
Big adventure time. Alera and I organinsed to go to Clunes Booktown Festival. Clunes is a small town in Victoria near Ballarat. They have been hosting a book festival for about 20 years. This year they blocked off the main street and had bookstalls setup all along the street. There were other areas around town that had book sellers as well. The festival was very big and busy. We went to some talks in the Tin Shed, ‘Aussie Road Trips with Heather Ewart’ and ‘Cosy Crime: Plot, Puzzles and Characters Minus the Gore’ were my favourites. There was a great mixture of second hand book stalls, publishers and self published authors. I picked up some very interesting new books signed by their authors, some bargains and some old favourites. There was also a rotunda which had bands playing some of them were pretty good, I particularly enjoyed Ally Rowe. We stayed in Creswick which is just down the road. When were weren’t at the festival we hung out, relaxed and read books. On the trip down we stopped at Goulburn for brunch. On the way home we detoured to see the big shovel at Chiltern and have a pie at the local bakery. We had such a wonderful weekend that we are booked to go back next year.
A look towards April
After much a busy month, I’m looking forward to a quiet April. Focussing on Uni and enjoying the Norwegian tradition Påskekrim (Easter Crime) where I will probably read the Martin Beck Series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, which I picked up at Clunes.