Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - Page 37
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LAWYERS MAKE MUSIC Soprano’s recital
● Christiana Aloneftis ■ Young Melbourne soprano Christiana Aloneftis is really going places. Literally. The Greek-Cypriot-Australian singer is heading to the home of opera in Italy, La Scala in Milan to train and study, but before she leaves, Christiana is holding a special recital to celebrate women in song at fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, on Thursday March 27. "When I was 15 years old I was fortunate to travel to Italy as a high-school student and, upon observing a Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte rehearsal at La Scala, I realised that I had a burning need to express and what better way than through the voice. “I have to be on stage. I want to move people the way I was moved on that day - my recital is a dedication to all women and all lovers of women,” Christiana explained. She will be joined by associate artist concert pianist Konrad Olszewski in her recital which is designed to glorify The Life and Love of the Woman. The program features two major song-cycles, Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben and the Australian premiere of Manos Haztidakis's song cycle, Magnus Eroticus Op. 30 (1972), together with songs and arias by Bellini, Piazzolla, Tchaikovsky and Gershwin. Christiana has "always been intrigued by the innate emotional power women wield" and has devised a program that "artfully represents different facets of the female identity, whether that be the turmoil of a young heart, the joy of new life or the inevitable sadness of loss". The young soprano is a graduate of the Faculty of Music and VCA at the University of Melbourne and winner of the Monash University Acclaim Italian Opera Ambassadorial Scholarship. She will participate in a month-long program intensive in June studying at La Scala (and will then spend a further six months in Europe studying Bel-Canto vocal style and technique. You can enjoy Christiana's vocal talent and speed her on her way on Thursday March 27 y 7.30 pm. Bookings can be made on 9662 9966 or www.fortyfivedownstairs.com.au - Julie Houghton
By JULIE HOUGHTON
● Konrad Olszewski: see ‘Soprano’s Recital, left ● Aimee Nguyen ■ What do you think those barristers you see on the television news might do in their spare time? If they have a few musical bones in their body, they may well be members of a brand new orchestra - the Melbourne Lawyers' Orchestra. Many readers will know of the Doctors' Orchestra, so it makes sense that lawyers also fancy a piece of the musical action. The brain child of lawyer Aimee Nguyen, the Melbourne Lawyers' Orchestra will have its launch and debut concert on Saturday (March 22) at 5pm at a place that has no doubt produced a few lawyers of its own, Methodist Ladies' College in Kew. Conductor by Robert Dora, the MLO will perform works by the George Palmer, former Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Mendelssohn, Schubert and lawyer-turned-musician, Tchaikovsky. The non-profit symphony orchestra is made up of 50 members of the legal community, from solicitors to barristers, judge's associates to law students, bound by their mutual passion for music. Aimee was driven to found the orchestra after she realised that once she started her law career, she had unintentionally abandoned all creative endeavours, and wondered if there were other lawyers who felt the same. She obviously struck a chord, and she says the MLO is committed to improving mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession by providing a creative outlet and encouraging lawyers to embrace the performing arts. Aimee is hoping that the chance to find out whether a group of lawyers, naturally adversarial creatures, can come together in perfect harmony, will attract a curious audience of music lovers. Decide for yourself on Sunday March 22 at 5pm. Book at www.trybooking.com/eilj or pay cash at the door - this is one positive way to line the lawyers' pockets in a good cause.
Aliens hit North Melbourne ■ The Lepidopters; A Space Opera, is a kulturnautic expedition defying the sovereign borders of visual arts and music, responding to a commissioned text by sci-fi writer Mark von Schlegell, in which alien moths invade the Indonesian archipelago with the aim of colonising Earth through interspecies reproduction. Playing at Arts House at the North Melbourne Town Hall on April 12 and 13, Slave Pianos will join the 40member Astra choir under the musical direction of John McCaughey, Yogyakarta mystic punk-art collective Punkasila, Indonesian singer and dancer Rachel Saraswati and virtuoso pianist Michael Kieran Harvey. The Lepidopters: A Space Opera will include projected illustrations and film by Yogyakarta artists Erwan ‘Iwank’ Hersi Susanto and Terra Bajraghosa, and this multi-art form will also draw on the work of Robert Smithson to explore sonic landscapes and dystopian visions, Indonesian telepathy, ancient Javanese mysticism and arts practices both traditional and modern. Central to the show’s staging is the Sedulur Gamelan created by Slave Pianos (currently on exhibition in the Melbourne Now exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria) – a self-governing electromechanical ‘piano’ that houses 56 traditional Gamelan instruments from Yogyakarta that perform transcriptions of Indonesian, American and Australian experimental music and avantgarde sound-art of the 1970s and 1980s Season: April 12 - 13. Time: April 12, 3pm and 7.30pm, April 13 5pm. Duration: 2 hours including interval. Venue: Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry St, North Melbourne. Tickets: $25 Full, Conc $20, Student $15. Bookings: artshouse.com.au or 9322 3713