Presented by Adelaide Festival Centre
Reviewed 2 Apr 2016
The program for this evening of music was a mixture of new works with a few special favourites thrown in. The first half consisted of the poetry of Judith Wright set to music by various composers. This resulted in a variety of feels and some beautiful pieces. I particularly liked The Surfer (Katie Noonan/Judith Wright, strings arranged by Steve Newcomb) and Night After Bushfire (Iain Grandage/Judith Wright) both of which displayed Katie Noonan’s remarkable vocal range. All of these are backed by the incredibly talented Brodsky Quartet featuring Daniel Rowland (violin), Ian Belton (violin), Paul Cassidy (viola) and Jacqueline Thomas (cello). They were occasionally joined by Milush Priorhaud on double bass. The ten poems used were some of Wright’s most famous and covered the full gamut of emotions which were reflected in Noonan’s voice.
After interval the Quartet gave us an Australian Tryptych, three original works written for them, all beautiful but the second piece, Cradle Song was special. The program was completed with covers of songs by Elvis Costello (My Moodswings and I Almost Had a Weakness), Byork (Hyperballad and Possibly Maybe), finishing with Fragile by Sting, which Noonan encouraged the audience to join in on, to great effect. Strange as this may sound some of these were better than the originals.
If this had not been a one night only in Adelaide I would be encouraging you to make sure you don’t miss this treat, but unfortunately you already have.
Reviewed by Fran Edwards
Twitter: @franeds
Venue: Her Majesty’s Theatre, Grote Street
Season:1 May 2016
Duration: 2hr
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