The Camerata Concert

I am a little bit embarrassed to admit this, but... last night was the first time I went to a Camerata of St John's concert not in the cathedral.  And wow, what a concert! 

It was rather long - and even longer because we had an applauding audience.  But it wasn't one of those 'sit down and listen to a symphony' concerts.  All the works were descriptive but quite varied.  We heard the Ravel Quartet in F Major arranged into a Chamber Symphony by Brisbane violinist Gail Aitken; Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Piazzolla, arranged by Desyatnikov; a Cuban jazz pianist (this was the wild card, and I can't actually remember which jazz standard they performed); the world premiere of Impressions of Erin, by another Brisbane violinist (now composer in Hollywood) Cameron Patrick; and Appalachian Spring Suite by Aaron Copland.  See what I mean?  A huge programme!  And all with the guest soloist/leader Dale Barltrop, another Brisbane-born violinist.

I had a fabulous seat in the Conservatorium Theatre: A1.  Yep.  Even the guy on the door who took my ticket commented I had the premiere seat.  I do generally prefer to be a bit further back, but I think because it's such a small group I didn't feel I was just getting first violin sound, and it was so close you could see them breathing.

As another new thing - I actually bought some of the promotional merchandise during the interval.  I'd had a sneak peak during the week and couldn't resist.