Christ Church at Lavender Bay has one of the most stunning views in the world. Situated right on Sydney Harbour, visitors are treated to a breathtaking panorama of the Bridge, the Opera House and Luna Park; what better place to hold a grassroots concert series?
This July, Chris Cartner’s Resonance series gives the floor to dramatic soprano Mylinda Joyce, a golden-piped singer with a proclivity for German and Italian opera. The program was a melange of delights by Puccini, Strauss and Verdi, with no central theme – Chris rather charmingly informed us – other than the pure unadulterated drama of Mylinda’s voice.
And what a voice it is. Following a playful introductory salvo from Chris on the piano (Grieg’s mischievous Puck), Mylinda sang three typically maudlin lieder by Richard Strauss. One got the sense that her voice could have filled a room eight times the size (and probably has), such was the intensity of her vocal projection and the bell-like quality of her tone. Mylinda engages wonderfully with the text, making every word drip with melodrama.
Other highlights included Puccini’s Quando m’en vo from La Boheme, characterised by both musicians with a wicked lasciviousness. Dvorak’s Song to the Moon was the recital’s most hushed and dynamic performance but the centrepiece was without doubt Sieglinde’s It is I, hear me speak from Act 1 of Wagner’s Die Walkure. Here Mylinda’s voice was in its element, awash with a desperate and oh-so-Wagnerian sense of grief and longing.
This Resonance concert was a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with an enormous voice.
Hear it for yourself this weekend
With two concerts left in this run (Sydney CBD on Friday 24th and Annandale on Sunday 26th), readers are hereby advised not to miss out!
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Resonance presents: Mylinda Joyce – in recital | 17 July | Christ Church Lavender Bay
