Sydney Reviews

Dawn Upshaw has been described as having a ‘rainbow of a voice’ and yesterday’s fortunate audience witnessed the rainbow in its full glory. Accompanied by the Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, Miss Upshaw thrilled us with her beauty of tone, immaculate musicality and appealing stage presence. This singer is clearly so dedicated to her art and so not interested in the show pony tactics of too many a ‘diva’, that with any luck she might help improve the reputation of singers in general.
 
The concert began with James Ledger’s ‘Restless Night’ which was commissioned to celebrate Richard Tognetti’s twentieth anniversary as leader of the orchestra. Contrary to most music representing the night, this atonal piece was ‘charged with the frenetic energy of a night of insomnia’ and the use of pizzicato, glissandi and trills was exciting indeed; the audience response however was unfortunately only luke warm.
 
Following ‘Restless Night’ was Mozart’s Symphony 29 in A major, K201 which the orchestra played sublimely and with a warm and full bodied sound. Some of the violin section’s softer passages in the second movement were particularly touching, giving the impression of hushed music suspended in mid air – I almost didn’t want to breathe for fear of disturbing something so beautiful – and the third and fourth movements captured the playful nature of the music with thoughtful phrasing and dynamics.
 
Without doubt, the highlight of the concert was Osvaldo Golijov’s ‘Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra’. Composed in 2002, these songs gave full flight to Miss Upshaw’s glorious voice and entranced the audience with simply beautiful music. This singer’s instrument, even throughout the registers, has a warmth missing in many voices and not the slightest trace of harshness. She easily manipulates her sound, changing from straight tones to fully vibrating ones depending on the requirements of the text, and the quality of her upper notes is simply beautiful – my only regret whilst listening was that she couldn’t stay up there forever! 
 
After the interval, soprano and orchestra presented the five Hungarian folksongs of Bela Bartok. These pieces ranging in mood from heartfelt and soulful to playful and joking were well executed by orchestra and singer alike, and whilst they didn’t give Miss Upshaw the same scope for showing off her glorious instrument as the Golijov songs, it was clear from her physicality and musical expression that she simply loved these pieces. It was also refreshing to see a singer not afraid to use her body as well as her voice as part of the performance and I think the audience well appreciated Miss Upshaw’s joviality.
 
Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, K.364 followed the Bartok songs. Composed in 1779 with the intention of contrasting the sonorities of violin and viola, soloists Richard Tognetti (violin) and Christopher Moore (viola) played so brilliantly you would have thought that liquid gold was dripping from their bows. The audience, clearly in raptures with this gracious and thoughtful performance, happily showed their appreciation with a generous round of applause.
 
The final piece on the program was Richard Strauss’s delectable ‘Morgen’ which the composer wrote in 1894 as a wedding present for his wife Pauline. Miss Upshaw and the Australian Chamber Orchestra performed this deceptively simple sounding song with poise and beauty and brought the concert to a touching and heartfelt conclusion.
 
All performers in this concert deserve a mention for their wonderful musicianship and dedication to excellence; and if you get a chance, do go and see the wonderful Dawn Upshaw as I’m sure she won’t be back in Australia for some time to come.


DAWN UPSHAW
30 January – 14 February 2009

CANBERRA
Llewellyn Hall
Fri 30 Jan 8pm | Bookings 1800 444 444

MELBOURNE
The Arts Centre, Hamer Hall
Sun 1 Feb 2.30pm & Mon 2 Feb 8pm | Bookings 1300 136 166

ADELAIDE
Town Hall
Wed 4 Feb 8pm | Bookings 1800 444 444

PERTH
Concert Hall
Fri 6 Feb 8pm | Bookings 1800 444 444

SYDNEY
Opera House Concert Hall
Sun 8 Feb 2.30pm | Bookings 02 9250 7777

City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
Tue 10 Feb 8pm
Wed 11 Feb 7pm         
Sat 14 Feb 8pm                      
Bookings 02 8256 2222