Camerata | From my Homeland
Thursday May 25, 2023, QPAC
Camerata’s From my Homeland concert on Thursday night was a celebration of contemporary Australian chamber music, with the entire program comprising of music from our home.
Camerata was also celebrating 10 years as company-in-residence at QPAC, a decade of collaboration, friendship and music-making together.
The concert began with Margaret Sutherland’s Concerto for Strings. The piece began bright and sparse, then transitioned into a more melancholic second movement, then returned to a bright finish.
We then moved to a more sombre moment, with Frederick Septimus Kelly’s Elegy for Strings. Written from the depths of the Gallipoli trenches, this piece was a lament for the loss of his friend. It started softly, then built to a heart-wrenching melody, before fading again into silence.
Percussionists Nozomi Omote and Kaleah Scanlon then joined Camerata for the next piece, Brenda Gifford’s Bardju (Footprints). Brenda is a First Nations composer who seeks to communicate sacred connections to country through her music. This piece had a fun, percussive rhythm to it, which contrasted with the strings’ melody.
Cameron Patrick’s Lines of the Southern Cross was like a musical map, drawing songlines across Australian landscapes. Across the five movements, it took listeners on a journey from a still, starry night at Lake Cootharaba, to the pristine beaches of Fraser Island, to the vast expanse of the Nullarbor Plains. Cameron used the high piercing violin to depict the heat of the outback sun, and unusual percussion instruments to mimic birdcalls and the rushing of the wind.
Camerata then revealed their Wildcard mystery guest to be poet Cheryl Leavy. She was the winner of the 2022 Oodgeroo Noonuccal Prize for Indigenous Poetry. Cheryl performed two of her poems, Walk this Page Like Country and Unsettled, accompanied by Camerata. Her words floated through the hall, evoking images of rainforests, rivers, water, fire, stone, and earth.
The finale of the concert was Bush{fire} Requiem, featuring didgeridoo artist William Barton, guest violinist Véronique Serret, and William’s mother, Aunty Delmae Barton. This work was written in 2020 to remember the destruction of the bushfires and the loss of animals and plants during that Black Summer. Bush{fire} Requiem created a distinct sound-world of the Australian landscape through music, song, and spoken word. It told a story of devastation but also of renewal, of the seeds and flowers that bloom after a fire.
When the Bush[fire] Requiem came to an end, there was a moment of stillness before the audience burst into applause and jumped to their feet. Camerata, Véronique, William and Aunty Delmae Barton received a standing ovation.
Photo credit: Morgan Roberts
