Amigos Para Siempre

Queensland Pops’ last concert for the year was a love-fest of tenor tunes, dazzling concert showpieces and Latin music. It was also a 20year celebration of Greg Moore’s first appearance with the Pops.

Moore, Adam Lopez and Nathan Kneen met each other at university back in the nineties and have been friends ever since. The fact that they all have terrific tenor voices is a plus.

Kneen showed off his impressive pipes in three of musical theatre’s most popular showpieces, Phantom’s “The Music of the Night” which he appropriately sang on the grand organ balcony, Chess’ highly emotional “Anthem” and Jekyll & Hyde’s “This is the Moment”, which simply throbbed with passion.

Moore took to wearing a tartan scarf for a dip into his Scotland the Brave repertoire with “Song of the Clyde” and a heartfelt reading of the Irish tune “Danny Boy”, whilst Adam Lopez in full Spanish diva mode sang the heart out of “Gloria” and Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loco”, assisted by six young students from QUT Dance. Together they worked wonders with “Granada,” Barry Manilow’s “One Voice” and the audience favourite “Three Little Maids” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, which they did in full Japanese drag.

The orchestra were in top form opening with a sizzling “Mambo” from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, and displayed spectacular brass work in Emmanuel Chabrier’s iconic orchestral work “Espana”.

Glenn Murray’s soloist turn with “Polonaise in D” was impressive, as was the Trombone Trio “Blades of Toledo” with Dan Riek, Stuart Bent and Todd Burke.

But the audience had come to see the tenors and they did not disappoint. The finale was a grand feast with everything from “O Sole Mio” and “Nessum Dorma” to “Once Before I Go” and “My Way”. They closed and encored with the 1992 Summer Olympics Theme Song “Amigos Para Siempre”. It proved to be the icing on a very rich cake of Tenor anthems.

Peter Pinne