Students from The University of Queensland’s School of Music will take to the stage at QPAC this weekend for a special concert featuring works by Vaughan Williams, Edward Elgar and a performance of Peter Sculthorpe’s most famous work — Kakadu .
The concert performed by UQ’s Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Mr Warwick Potter , one of Australia’s leading conductors.
Mr Potter said Kakadu will be performed as a celebration and tribute to the composer who died in 2014.
“This work offers the students a chance to perform one of the few pieces regarded as thoroughly Australian classical music,” Mr Potter said.
“Kakadu not only represents a particular Australian landscape, but it is also written in a 'style' regarded as 'Australian' by an Australian composer.
“It is a musical landscape of the famous Northern Territory national park and Sculthorpe uses the orchestra as a palette to fully engage the listener as life within Kakadu National Park is portrayed upon an aural canvas.”
The concert also features Elgar’s Symphony No.1 in A♭ major and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending with a violin solo by UQ’s Performance Fellow and internationally esteemed musician Adam Chalabi.
“The use of the solo violin really does capture the full majesty and beauty of a lark in all aspects of flight,” Mr Potter said.
He said the performance of Elgar's Symphony No.1 in A♭ major was rare in Australia and in Queensland in particular.
“It is a towering and expressive symphonic masterpiece and is still arguably thought of as the leading symphony written by an English composer,” Mr Potter said.
The School of Music performs two concerts in QPAC’s Concert Hall each year and Head of School Professor Margaret Barrett said it was a wonderful opportunity for the students.
“These concerts provide the opportunity for students to perform alongside our staff and to have the experience of playing in a major venue,” she said.
“It also introduces the students to a range of composers and some rarely performed works.”
The School has been supported in producing the event by UQ’s Alumni Friends.
The Kakadu concert is on Sunday, 18 October, 2015 from 2:00 – 4:00pm in the Concert Hall, QPAC.
Tickets are available from QPAC
Media: Thorin Kerr, t.kerr1@uq.edu.au, 0424 246 172.
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