The WA symphony Orchestra launched their 2009 Season at the Perth Concert Hall on Monday night.
Conductor Paul Daniel led the orchestra through some wonderful pieces including an excerpt from an amazing piece of music by Peter Sculthorpe, named Kakadu, which draws its inspiration from Kakadu National Park.
The evening began with the well known opening theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. There were pices from Beethoven, Stravinsky and so much more. The WASO Chorus joined in too with an amazing rendition of the Hallelujah chorus.
There’s something quite amazing about hearing and watching an orchestra in full flight. I’m always amazed at how all the different instruments fit together so well.
As well as the various classical concerts scheduled for the 2009 Season, WASO will be supporting artists such as Roberta Flack, Human Nature and Ben Lee. The orchestra is truly committed to taking their music to a very wide audience. I saw them backing Glen Campbell earlier this year in an incredible concert.
If the preview they gave us of the 2009 Season is any indication it’ll be an amazing season.
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Back in 2000, at the age of 18, Vanessa Amorosi became the first Australian female to reach the number 1 spot on the National ARIA chart with a debut album. Back then, absolutely everybody was listening to The Power.
With such an amazing start to her recording career you’d think that we would have seen several follow up albums over the past few years but it wasn’t until May of this year that Vanessa, now 27, released her second album, Somewhere in the Real World.
It certainly hasn’t disappointed. The music showcases her incredible talents and has given us such great songs as Perfect and The Simple Things.
On her website she wrote about the delay between albums.
Through the quiet time – when people must have thought I’d run away and joined the circus – I was doing a lot of production. I love walking into studios. I’ve always been fascinated by the sound and the feel that comes from different technologies. I was fixated on creating the feel records used to have, creating an energy in recording with modern technology, as well as being a singer and songwriter. I was so into it I actually went around every studio in Melbourne and said “Can I just sit here and watch you do your job?”
I spent a good four years doing that and then I started writing for other people. I’m constantly writing songs. I have a catalogue of thousands of songs sitting on my hard-drive. People were asking if I would like to write for other artists, so I started doing writing sessions.
I got to a point, after all that, after doing all that work and doing a lot of studio stuff, where I realised I really missed singing on a stage.
I was singing for hours in the studio, but that’s nothing compared to singing live in front of people. That thirst, that hunger for wanting a crowd and winning them over started to come back. I decided I wasn’t ready yet to put the microphone down.
I started seeking out people who could inspire me, people who could push me to a level that I hadn’t previously been pushed, to give me something to fight for. That’s when I met my manager Ralph Carr, who’s just as feisty and passionate about it as I am. I don’t want a manager who agrees with me. I want someone who challenges me and has different opinions. I said to him,I want to write this new album and I want to be frightened about doing it.
We’ve got great songwriters in Australia and great studios and people I love working with but I’d been working in those studios for the last four years so we decided to work on the new album in America.
I wanted to work with people who didn’t know me, who had no previous expectations, who wouldn’t look at me twice. I was more interested in them, to work with them, to make them want me, and I would do the rest.
I spoke to Vanessa during my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM today. You can hear what she had to say by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.
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Many people consider South Africa’s Soweto Gospel Choir to be the most exciting group to emerge in world music in recent years. That claim is backed up by the fact they’ve won two Grammies.
The Choir’s repertoire reflects their faith and spiritual journey. Their latest show, African Spirit, is sung in six different languages.
Since the choir’s first international performances in Australia in 2003, Soweto Gospel Choir has become a worldwide phenomenon, performing sell-out concerts across the world and singing alongside superstars including Bono, Queen, Annie Lennox, Diana Ross, Jimmy Cliff and Celine Dion, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and others.
They’re in Perth for four concerts. Pauline and I were privileged to be in the audience for the first of those concerts last night at His Majesty’s Theatre.
It was a real pleasure to welcome a number of representatives from the choir to the studio this morning during my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM. I had opportunity to talk to a couple of members and enjoy a live performance in the studio.
You can hear the interview by clicking on the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post.
It was fantastic to hear them talk about their faith and the opportunities they have to talk about spirituality to such diverse audiences.
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Carl Riseley grew up on the Gold Coast in Queensland. and reckons that he held his first trumpet when he was around the age of four.
He played the trumpet throughout school, but it was only towards the end of high school that he really felt he could make a career from his talent. When a good friend joined the Royal Australian Navy as a trombone player, Carl was inspired to do the same and signed up the following year as a full-time musician in the Navy.
Fast forward to last year’s Australian Idol and Carl was the surprise find of the competition – not because he’s not incredibly talented – but because his style certainly didn’t fit the usual Idol mould. He made it to the top three in that competition and his new album The Rise is now in stores.
He joined me on the line during my morning programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM today.
You can listen to our conversation by clicking the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post.
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Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Bo Diddley, who banged out hit songs powered by the relentless “Bo Diddley beat” that influenced rockers from Buddy Holly to U2, died on Monday at the age of 79.
Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida, his management agency, Talent Consultants International, said in a statement.
“One of the founding fathers of rock ‘n’ roll has left the building he helped construct,” the statement said.
Diddley suffered a stroke during a concert in Iowa in May 2007 and was hospitalized in Omaha, Nebraska. In August 2007 he had a heart attack in Florida.
Thankfully he was surrounded by family for his final moments and he knew where he was going.
Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician’s home when he died at about 1:45 a.m. EDT (0545 GMT), said his death was not unexpected.
“There was a gospel song that was sang and he said ‘wow’ with a thumbs up,” Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley’s deathbed.
“The song was ‘Walk Around Heaven’ and in his last words he stated that he was going to heaven.”
Bo Diddley will be sadly missed but his influence will live on through the music of many others.
Diddley’s unique guitar playing and rhythm influenced generations of rockers from Elvis Presley to Bon Jovi. Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi made guest appearances on his records and Diddley played with the likes of The Clash and The Grateful Dead.
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The WA symphony Orchestra launched their 2009 Season at the Perth Concert Hall on Monday night.
Back in 2000, at the age of 18, Vanessa Amorosi became the first Australian female to reach the number 1 spot on the National ARIA chart with a debut album. Back then, absolutely everybody was listening to The Power.
Many people consider South Africa’s 
Another musical great has died with the passing of Bo Diddley.