Seasons of the Earth and Heart

August 1, 2024

Sunday, July 28, brought another excellent afternoon of Music to the Malachi Gilmore Hall.

It was a performance by the Allegri Singers conducted by William Moxey and accompanied on piano by Debbie Nicholls, who have this to say about themselves:

"The Allegri Singers is a Bathurst-based mixed voice choir, established in 1978. With a membership of around 30 voices, the choir usually presents at least two major concerts each year in the Central West, as well as performing at local civic functions, regional music festivals and community events. Since 2006, the choir has been under the musical direction of William Moxey, a distinguished professional musician who specialises in teaching singing and choral production."

The publicity for the concert promised "a widely varying program of choral and solo pieces" and the promise was kept. The opening piece was something a bit unusual, but the words "Da da dum, da da dum, da da dum dum dum" should tell you that it was an a capella version of Rossini's William Tell Overture.

The program for the afternoon.

What followed was a marvellous collection of music from composers working in genres as wide ranging as folk music, jazz, classical and popular music. The final piece, Sting's Fields of Gold, perfectly showed the ability of the choir to bring out the emotional content of the work. It was an afternoon well spent.

Some scenes from the concert.

Two performances need special mention if only because of the young age of the artists, Lani Muller and Paris Masters. How good they will be in a few years can only be imagined.

Lani Muller.

Lani Muller: Auburn by Stewart Ryan

Paris Masters.

Paris Masters: Lovely by Billie Eilish

(Note about the recordings: They were made on impulse using a phone at the rear of the hall, so they are not the best quality. The actual Zoom H1n professional recording microphone was back at the Oberon Matters office. Next time ...)

The next event at the Malachi will be the release of the first recording by local singer Chloe Swannell. It will be on September 7 and will be the first of eight concerts going through to April 2025.

---