Reaching for the Moon

Award-winning Australian superstar soprano Lorina Gore has performed for Opera Queensland, Opera Australia, and a range of international companies. Accomplished pianist Alex Raineri is a soloist, collaborator, producer of the Brisbane Music Festival, and has been partnering with Opera Queensland for a number of years. Together these artists have created a special event for Opera Queensland’s Studio Series – Reaching for the Moon – and it was a perfect pairing for a magical performance. It was also an insight into Lorina’s inspiration for her choice of career – watching the golden years of Hollywood at home on TV and listening to Disney soundtrack records. Today these films could be relegated to the B-pile of Midday Movies, but it's nice to remember them as important vehicles for the stars of the day – and, as Lorina points out, these were classically trained singers. We are talking the likes of Deanna Durban, Jeanette MacDonald, Kathryn Grayson, and Marni Nixon (who dubbed voices for leading ladies), or Mary Costa and Ilene Woods who worked with Disney. Then you have a selection of superb composers – from the brothers Sherman and Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg through to Henry Mancini, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.

Lorina sang us through a chronological journey of gold-standard songs, appropriately bathed in a glow of rose gold, courtesy of her gorgeous gown – some tunes with a celestial connection, including: ‘Reaching for the Moon’, ‘Over the Rainbow’, ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’, and ‘Swinging on a Star’. I was unashamedly teary-eyed at Lorina’s versions of ‘Moon River’ (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and ‘Somewhere’ (West Side Story): these were definitive musical interpretations that really should be captured on an album. I hope someone is thinking along these same lines. Other standouts included ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ (Cinderella), ‘Once Upon a Dream’ (Sleeping Beauty), and ‘Summertime’ (Porgy & Bess).

And speaking of definitive arrangements, I loved Alex’s solo of ‘As Time Goes By’ by Herman Hupfeld (Casablanca) arranged by Alex with Sakamoto Shuko – it’s a classic. And what is exceptional in Alex’s playing style is his gorgeous sense of rhythm, which was a match made in heaven for this song selection and Lorina’s voice.

Lorina ended the programme with ‘Feed the Birds’ from Mary Poppins, but an encore was demanded, and so we were treated to ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ from My Fair Lady, a sentiment that chimed with the audience wholeheartedly – we could have listened all night to this wonderful duo. More please!

Alex’s programme for the Brisbane Music Festival 2023 launches in September 2023. And Lorina can be seen in Opera Australia’s The Ring Cycle in December 2023: https://opera.org.au/productions/das-rheingold-brisbane/

Beth Keehn

Images courtesy Opera Queensland