Ave

Katie Noonan had a dream, well several dreams actually, and this one came true - a quartet of singers performing a capella a collection of songs, old and new. Launched at the Conservatorium Theatre last night, a large and supportive audience saw Noonan’s dream blossom. Over 75 minutes, the group - Fiona Campbell, Andrew Goodwin, Katie Noonan and Andrew O’Connor (filling in at the last minute for an indisposed David Greco), sang newly composed art songs by Stephen Leek, Zac Hurren, Thomas Green, Anne Cawrse, Robert Davidson, Alice Humphries and Jessica Wells to poems by Queensland’s own Poet Laureate, David Malouf.

How wonderful it was to see at least four of the composers present to hear the world-premiere of their works, as well as muse Malouf. The program also included works by Bach, Handel and Tomas Luis de Victoria.

The evening opened with an acknowledgment of country by Shannon Ruska and didgeridoo player David Williams. It set the scene for an impressive evening of classical music.

Stephen Leek’s setting of Stars captured the intimacy of Malouf’s poem, likewise the joyful and ambient Typewriter Music and First Night, by Thomas Green, and the exquisite but playful Suburban by Robert Davison.

Tenor Andrew Goodwin’s arrangement of Bach’s Jesu Mein Freude was a harmonic treat, as was his vocal arrangement of Handel’s Tu Del Ciel.

The concert closed with a Bach church cantata, Straf mich nicht in deinem Zorn, sung in three different indigenous translations, Gubbi Gubbi by Lyndon Davis, Noongar by Gina Williams, and Gadigal by Joel Davidson. It was beautifully nuanced, and astonishingly effective.

My favorite however would have to be the encore, the hymn Peace I Leave With You. Suddenly all four superb voices were in their right setting.

It was a pity that the audio at times was muddy and difficult to hear, especially Noonan’s linking narrative. It’s an ambitious thing to launch a new vocal group in a pandemic, even though we have been spared the worst of it here in Queensland. Let’s hope the sneaker-clad diva has her ear on the pulse of the public and the venture becomes an unqualified success. It deserves to.

Peter Pinne