Reviews

That choreographer and artistic director Rafael Bonachela decided to match his Sydney Dance Company with the Australian Chamber Orchestra as equal star attractions was divine inspiration.

Jean-Philippe Rameau composed a great deal of music for dance theatre and was widely popular throughout Europe towards the end of the Baroque era. Yet when Rameau died, his works were largely forgotten; even today orchestral concerts and classical music radio stations tend to overlook his music.

When words fail us, we go back to the alphabet for superlatives…and words truly do fail me in describing this astonishing production. So:-

A -Astonishing, I’ve already used. Awesome, yes indeed, plus arousing, artistic, awesome…how much time do you have?

B ..Beautifully staged and brilliantly realised on all levels. Brave and bonzer also come to mind.

C is Caroline :- charismatic, candescent, comedic, confronting, classy, consummate, cutting edge…..

Upon leaving the Warrandyte High School Theatre after the Diamond Valley Singers and Eltham Orchestras’ spirited account of this classic comic opera, I couldn’t help but contemplate how much poorer our musical world would be if the works of Gilbert and Sullivan had never existed. They are perfectly compelling beasts – providing, at once, the challenges of the fiendishly difficult ‘patter songs’ for which they are most famous, and the equally recognisable choruses that provide ensembles with the opportunity for a wonderfully big ‘sing’.

The gift of Music is a powerful thing. Cohen has that gift not just in his music but in the power of the lyrics that go with it. Stewart D’Arietta, a great musician in his own right, has the gift of interpreting what Cohen has created, and he brings to that art all the power that a master craftsman can give. He’s charismatic, gob-smackingly good and, dare I say it, even sexy, his slight frame filling a much larger space and giving an aura of command and authority to the performance.