Congratulations to Principals and the Song Company. Thank you for your support, Principals. This is a winning partnership that demonstrates excellence. The SME Award recognises best practice partnerships between businesses employing fewer than 200 people (globally) and arts and cultural organisations. We enjoyed a wonderful evening, hosted by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir, AC CVO Governor of New South Wales at Government House. The Song Company and Principals are now finalists in the national AbaF Awards so please keep you fingers crossed for us when these are announced in Perth in October.

Watch us here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5HN2An81-U

We performed amidst vats in a winery in Bathurst, sold out the City Gallery in Wollongong, managed to miss the storms in Canberra and STILL get excellent numbers at the Street Theatre.

We received a standing ovation from our dear friends in Newcastle last night and tonight it’s onwards to the Glasshouse in Port Macquarie. We’re thrilled to be returning to Port Macquarie for the first time since 2005! Our final performance is at City Recital Hall Angel Place on Sunday afternoon before kicking back and sharing a few Christmas drinks.

The feedback has been wonderful with accordion sensation Marcello Maio stealing the show with his interpretation of some of the world’s most passionate music and winning more than just one heart along the way!

“…Marcello Maio provided sizzling accompaniment and deep emotional engagement with the repertoire” and went on to say “Maio stole the show with his remarkable musicianship, expertly navigating the exhilarating Libertango by Piazzolla¸ and providing numerous rich and varied accompaniments including the exquisitely delicate accompaniment for Silent Night.”
Jennifer Gill, Canberra Times – December 6.

>> View photos from Canberra’s performance at the Street Theatre last Sunday.

>>Listen to soprano Anna Fraser and Marcello Maio in their interpretation of the French favourite “Les Feuilles Mortes”.

Listen to Les Feuilles Mortes

>> Watch a 3 minute preview.

Tickets are still available to the following performances!

Port Macquarie Glass House, Friday 10 Dec @ 7.30pm
Sydney City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sunday 11 Dec @ 3pm.

Program highlights include tangos by Astor Piazzola, Brazilian bossa nova Corcovado (Quiet Nights and Quiet Dreams), carols from Mexico, folksongs from Colombia, French favourite Les Feuilles mortes (Autumn Leaves) and Brel’s ‘Ne me quitte pas’.

Don’t miss your opportunity to experience the Song Company a devilishly different light.

>> Book tickets online or phone on 8256 2222.

Spring did welcome us to Christchurch however where mother nature was taking her annual course – the charming, somewhat neo-classical English town with its punting down the River Avon, divine gardens in bloom and picturesque historic buildings although a little worse for wear after the recent quake. Of course The Song Company weren’t without a reminder we were in the famous shaky islands when we woke to a 5.3 quake early on Oct 4 which was exhilarating for most!

The performances themselves have been extremely successful and well received and we have been blessed predominantly with great acoustics at the venues. The regional audiences and Chamber Music New Zealand subscribers have been blown away by the unique nature of our programming, as they rarely have vocal ensembles in their annual concert series and none quite like The Song Company, and their warm hospitality has made us feel very welcome. There have been some unexpected meetings with long lost friends (Mark encountered a fellow singer and contemporary from the Queensland Con in Napier), former Song Company subscribers (from Newcastle and who have returned to their home town of Dunedin) and even former members of the Ensemble (a soprano from 1990) along the way. We also caught up with composers Gareth Farr and Na-lin Shen post the Wellington performance – having sung their works in Australia and on the China tour earlier this year, it was a delight to finally meet them in the flesh.

The premiere performance of Jack Body’s new works of Dreams (and a nightmare) in Christchurch, featured in our Sweet Dreams program, must also be mentioned as a huge success. The pieces were received with much acclaim and beautifully complimented his older Lullabies. The second half of the program greatly contrasted to the divine and more well-known 16th and 17th Century English and Italian repertoire of the first half but we took the audience on a journey through the subconscious with Jack’s music and Roland cleverly devised this half to include the poetry of Lewis Carol, Margaret Attwood, Mark Twain and Shakespeare to compliment the Lullabies and Dreams of Jack’s. It was praised by many as vocally amazing and sublimely entertaining.

Although we haven’t had a great deal of time to linger too long in the various regional centres and venture off into the wilderness, we have discovered some moments of repose and reflection on this whirlwind of a tour (clocking up 11 flights in 3 weeks!) . Rainforest and beach walks in New Plymouth and Raglan (a short distance from Hamilton), a visit to the geothermal region of Rotorua and a few days in Nelson (whilst we worked with the wonderfully inspiring Julian Raphael on the Ensembles in Schools program at Victory Primary School) to enjoy magical landscapes and maybe stop in at a few wineries in one of the finest wine regions in the world! We can’t complain.

Anna Fraser 18/20/10

Surprising, impeccable, breathtaking; if you haven’t discovered them yet, 2011 is the year to unearth the Song Company.

Buy tickets online or request a 2011 season brochure.

Period musicians Tommie Andersson and Laura Vaughan played beautifully and our very own Roland Peelman directed the group from behind the harpsichord giving us a taste of yet another one of his many virtuosic talents!

We had some fabulous reviews and feedback. Here’s what people were saying…

For its musical sophistication, imagination and fun, this is one of the best concerts in Sydney this year. Peter McCallum, SMH

We are long-time subscribers of the Song Company, so we know that we can only expect concerts that are creative, sophisticated, educative and exciting. The presentation of this madrigal-like commedia d’elle arte piece pushed all the boundaries of those adjectives. Further the production was funny and witty, with word plays and multiple layers of idea, character and language adding to the musicality. Jan Larson, Subscriber

I’ve always enjoyed listening to baroque music – it smoothes my crumpled soul. Hearing it together with Drew Forsythe’s antics and plot summaries increased the enjoyment by an order of magnitude. Oliver Johnson

So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we stepped off the plane in Shanghai and into a waiting bus to take us to our first port of call – the provincial city of Hangzhou with a population of 6 million people some 3 hour’s drive away. I think 15 years has seen enormous changes in China and we were delivered to a very pleasant modern hotel in the middle of the city. The theatre complex was also a revelation. China has obviously taken the performing arts to its heart and as part of the modernisation process has built beautiful facilities.

First performances are always a little nerve-wracking and Hangzhou was no exception. We were to perform three Chinese songs as part of our programme and had absolutely no idea how they would be received. We needn’t have worried however and the audience even joined in with some spirited clapping. The rest of the programme was a breeze and the audience seemed to really enjoy it.

Next stop was the historic canal city of Suzhou. Once again a very comfortable hotel and lovely venue. Suzhou has some very old gardens and we asked our driver if we had enough time to visit one before driving back to Shanghai. We were taken to a 16th century garden hidden behind high walls. Although very crowded, it was still possible to experience the peace of this beautiful garden of lakes , trees and rocks; truly a living work of art.

Next stop Shanghai where we were performing at the Australian National Day at Expo. Despite a busy schedule we still found time for some sightseeing in this most cosmopolitan of Chinese cities. Taking our courage in our hands we decided to use the wonderful new metro system to get to the famous Bund where we did some window shopping and walking along the river.

Expo was a strange experience. We all had to leave the hotel at 7.15 a.m. to get to the Expo site and then spent the next 12 hours in the performance venue before we were bussed back to the hotel that night. During that time we mixed with rock stars and fellow classical artists and did two performances displaying the best of Australia! All in the distinguished presence of the Governor General.

We were all sad to leave Shanghai. The hotel, the food and the shopping were all great. However Beijing beckoned. Beijing is a very different kettle of fish. It is of course a vast modern city, but one doesn’t have to go far from one’s hotel to find the harsh underside. Just behind the facade of huge modern buildings were dirt streets of single storey dwellings with tin roofs held on by loose bricks. I took a trip down the road to Tiannenmen Square and thought sadly of the events of 20 years ago. It was difficult to believe; nowadays the place is full of tourists taking photos of each other.

I found Beijing more polluted than the other cities we had visited. After a couple of hours wandering round the Forbidden City I had a really sore throat. It’s not the best place for a singer to go for too long.

Whilst in Beijing we repeated our Expo performance in The Egg, the iconic performing arts centre in the city. What an experience and what a building!

The next day we did a lecture recital at the conservatorium of music after which the staff took us out for a memorable meal – 14 dishes in a private room – where I experienced my first Peking duck; wonderful.

Our last performance was in the Beijing Concert Hall and it was probably the best. The audience was large and enthusiastic and we were rewarded with a standing ovation.

China was a wonderful experience. It has changed enormously over the last few years; the people are welcoming, the towns are clean and modern , the food is marvellous and the performing venues have to be seen to be believed. We have made many new friends there and we look forward to returning at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Book your tickets now

• Damien Ricketson (Australia): Shoal
• Gareth Farr (New Zealand): Les Murray Song Cycle
• Frank Nuyts (Belgium): Old Airs
• Alex Pozniak (Australia): New work
• Andrew Ford (Australia): The Averted
• Juan Filippe Waller (Mexico): Our Ray, Our Arrow
• Pelle Gudmundson-Holmgreen (Denmark): Two Madrigals

Two of these composers were also with us on the night to premiere and introduce their work: Alex Pozniak and Andrew Ford.

The members of the Song Company were giving me good wishes and then suddenly we were on. It was been recorded by ABC FM so I had to pass the test.

And what a wonderful night it was, this also being Ruth McCall’s last performance before her baby arrives. With all that pregnancy can do to alter the voice she sang with finesse and grace as always.

Each piece captured the essence of Murray’s poetry; word play, rhythmic complexities and tonal nuances given virtuosic rendering by the singers. This was music to challenge our senses, offering a way to comprehend nature through Murray’s wonderful text and our distinct vocal sound.

The next day we were off to Brisbane to sing at Encounters- another new programme to learn, but for now the Murray was foremost in my mind. This night I will remember well, after many hours spent together gently and patiently teasing out the intricacies within the works in rehearsal.

An incredible journey completed with such talented musicians singing beautifully around me and Roland steadying my nerves with every wave of his hand.”

Lanneke Wallace-Wells (Mezzo) – June 1, 2010