A HANDEL CELEBRATION (CONCERT)

 

Canberra Choral Society

Erin Helyard, director

Myriam Arbouz, soprano

Llewellyn Hall, December 13

 

Reviewed by Len Power

Promising arias and choruses from the greatest works of Georg Frideric Handel, the Canberra Choral Society provided a huge choir to sing the many choruses and French soprano, Myriam Arbouz to sing the arias. It was all directed by Sydney’s Erin Helyard.

Myriam Arbouz has established herself as one of the most compelling interpreters of baroque and early classical repertoire. She has performed across Europe, Australia and beyond.

Erin Helyard is artistic director and co-founder of Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes (Sydney). He is also Associate Professor at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

For this Come & Sing event, the 160-member choir, prepared by Canberra based composer, conductor and performer, Dan Walker, included 80 guest singers from the Canberra community.

Canberra Choral Society, guest singers and orchestra with director, Erin Helyard

Helyard addressed the audience at the beginning of the concert, saying that, in his opinion, Handel’s music and his works were Theatre of the Mind, conjuring up colourful ancient stories and characters. To open the program, Sinfonia from Handel’s early opera Agripinna was played by the orchestra, taking us deep into Handel’s world.

A large program of choruses was presented. Many were familiar and the huge choir impressed with the depth and accuracy of their singing. The words in English were very clear and easily understood.

It was all so well performed by the choir. Particularly outstanding were Jealously! from Hercules with its contrasting soft and dramatic passages and Funeral Anthem For Queen Caroline with its beautiful, sombre beginning. The very well-known Zadok the Priest was given a rousing performance, with trumpeters Zach Raffan and Sam Hutchinson playing superbly. Two choruses from the oratorio Theodora were also memorably sung as was the moving finale of Handel’s Messiah.

 

Myriam Arbouz, soprano with Erin Helyard, director

Soprano, Myriam Arbouz, sang four arias. Her beautiful, clear soprano, and the depth of feeling she presented in each item to bring her characters to life, showed why she is so renowned as a performer. Each aria she sang was a highlight of the program. The well-known Lascia ch’io pianga (Let me weep) from Rinaldo was given a refreshing new depth in her interpretation and the emotional Ombre pallide from Alcina was also memorably sung.

The orchestra gave a fine performance throughout and the thoughtfully chosen items of the program produced a true celebration of Handel’s music, ending the year on a high note.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 14 December 2025.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

HAND TO GOD (PLAY)

 

Written by Robert Askins

Directed by Jarrad West

Everyman Theatre Production

ACT Hub Theatre, Kingston to 20 December

 

Reviewed by Len Power 10 December 2025

 

When shy young Jason joins his mother’s Christian Puppet Ministry in the tiny, conservative town of Cypress, Texas, he unwittingly releases the Devil through his creation of a puppet, Tyrone. The resulting effect on Jason and the characters around him has to be seen to be believed!

Robert Askins’ play, first produced off-Broadway in 2011, seems to have everything you need for a good night out at the theatre - religious hypocrisy, family dysfunction, shockingly bad language, faith, bullying, morality, bereavement, horny teenager troublemaking and assorted sexual stuff, blasphemy, insanity, puppet addiction, obsessiveness, furniture smashing, virginal timidness, ear biting, frenzied behaviour and violence. I think that was everything…

 All five members of the cast give strong performances with excellent comic timing. Michael Cooper as Jason and his puppet, Tyrone, displays extraordinary vocal ability that brings Tyrone to malevolent life, adding a surreal edginess to the show. His physical performance as he fights with the puppet has to be seen to be believed.

Michael Cooper (Jason)

Meaghan Stewart is quietly funny as Jessica, the young woman attracted to Jason. How she manages to show her true feelings for him results in a hilariously explicit sex scene. William ‘Wally’ Allington, as Timmy, the youthful and horny town tough chasing after the mother, Margery, gives a nicely repellent and amusing performance.

Amy Kowalczuk as Margery, the religious mother overtaken by lust, brings out the humour in her role through thoughtful characterization. Lachlan Ruffy as the hypocritical Pastor Greg with a strange dress sense, is funny as well as creepy.

Lachlan Ruffy (Pastor Greg) & Amy Kowalczuk (Margery)

The speed at which this show is played is breath-taking at times. The Director, Jarrad West, has kept a firm control on the frenzied and farcical action in the first act, but the second act seemed less humorous and slower, making it feel more uncomfortable than funny in places.

Overall, ‘Hand to God’, with its fine performances and strong direction, is an outrageously funny play with a lot of truth under the surface.

Photos by Janelle McMenamin & Michael Moore

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

 

AT THE GRAVE OF BEETHOVEN (CONCERT)

Phoenix Collective Quartet

Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, November 28

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

A Beethoven concert is always welcome, but in the program presented by the Phoenix Collective quartet, works by the much later composers, Leoš Janáček and Karen Tanaka, were included. Both had ingenious links with the two Beethoven works to be played.

The Phoenix Collective quartet consisted of Dan Russell, violin, Pip Thompson, violin, Ella Brinch, viola and Andrew Wilson, cello.

The concert began with an arrangement by the quartet’s cello player, Andrew Wilson, of the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata no 9 in A major op 47 Kreutzer. One of Beethoven’s most famous chamber works, written for piano and violin, this arrangement had three players covering the piano part and one player with the violin part. The slow beginning was contrasted with more intense passages that gave this complex work a feeling of underlying emotional tension. It was given a fine performance by the quartet.

It was followed by Janáček’s String Quartet no 1 The Kreutzer Sonata from 1923. This work was written in response to Tolstoy’s 1899 novella, The Kreuzer Sonata, which was itself inspired by Beethoven’s Sonata No. 9. In four movements, Janáček’s music was distinctly edgy throughout, producing a sense of the jealousy, doubt and rage of the novella and with sly musical references to Beethoven’s work. The quartet brought out all the emotional disorder in this work with their strong, colourful performance.

From left: Dan Russell, Pip Thompson, Ella Brinch, Andrew Wilson

Karen Tanaka’s two movement 1999 work, At the Grave of Beethoven, was next on the program. It explored the themes of the first and second movements of Beethoven’s String Quartet op 18 no 3 and was a peaceful, reflective work with elements of turmoil underneath. The connection to Beethoven’s work was there in the music but the work had its own distinctive and satisfying style. It was given a sensitive performance by the quartet.

The program concluded with Beethoven’s String Quartet in D major op 18, no 3 from 1798. It was actually the first string concerto that Beethoven wrote. It is traditional in form and structure, but Beethoven’s unique style is clearly apparent. It was melodic with sudden dramatic changes creating tension and depth and the quartet’s appealing performance of it was very enjoyable.

All four works were well-played and the links between the works resulted in a concert with an extra dimension of interest.

 

Photos by Dalice Trost

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 29 November 2025.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.