COOROY RAG NEWSPAPER
2017 + 2018
Community
Phone: 5442 6699
I
Email: editorial@cooroyrag.com.au
I
www.cooroyrag.com.au
POMONA QLD
PH: 5485 2200 February 27, 2019
FREE
A musical gift to Cooroy
Violinist Shenton Gregory
Michael Dransfield with the Grand Piano that his partner David Ballinger (pictured inset) donated to the Cooroy Community
Cooroy will celebrate the generosity of one of its most talented musicians with a free community concert. The concert, which will be held in the Cooroy Memorial Hall, is to honour the late David Ballinger, who donated his beloved grand piano to the Cooroy community after his death in November last year. Noted musicians, including acclaimed violinist Shenton Gregory, Janet Brewer of the Pacific Chamber Players, singer Emma Tomlinson, pianist Isobel Cumpston and the Three Clefs will perform in honour of the man whose legacy of music will live on in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. David’s piano, which will feature in the concert, will be housed in the Cooroy Hall for the area’s musicians to use in future. David’s partner, Michael Dransfield, said David had
always been a generous man. “He gave freely of his creative talents throughout his life, sharing his musical gifts and his love of art and beauty in its many forms with his family and his friends,” Mr Dransfield said He said that David, an accomplished pianist, had wished to pass on his love of music and to give something beautiful back to his local community. David, who was born in Birmingham to Thomas and his wife Margaret in 1932, quickly showed his aptitude for music when he began to pick out tunes on the family piano as a very young child. When he was six, he won a radio talent quest and, after lessons from the local church organist, was able to play so well by the time he was 10 years old that he won a scholarship to Birmingham’s renowned Aston Grammar School for Boys. There he
played the piano for many ceremonies, concerts and plays. In his late teens, David developed an interest in theatre and costume design. He studied at the Birmingham Art and Design College emigrating to Australia in 1953. On arrival, David settled initially in Sydney, where he worked in successful design and fashion businesses for many years. He continued to work as a musician too, playing as an accompanist to many wellknown musicians and singers, including June Bronhill and Ray Jones. The Petrof piano David has gifted to the Cooroy Memorial Hall originally belonged to the Dunbar family from Camden in New South Wales and was shipped to Australia from England in 1914. It was the centrepiece of David’s home in Cooroy and David, a gifted autodidact, often learned and performed favourite piano pieces especially as gifts for his family and friends. Two of David’s nieces, Yvonne and Charmaine, will be travelling over from Birmingham to attend the concert. Tickets to the free concert, which will be held at 3pm on 10 March, are available from Eventbrite.