A Woman’s Voice

A Woman's VoiceConfluence Concerts’ show last night at Heliconian Hall was titled A Woman’s Voice.  It was, after a fashion, a CD release concert in two halves.  The first half featured music by Alice Ping Yee Ho from the album A Woman’s Voice and featuring the same performers; Vania Chan, Katy Clark, Alex Hetherington, Maeve Palmer and Jialiang Zhu.  I’ve already reviewed the album and I don’t think last night changed my opinion much so I’ll not do a detailed rundown.  What I can say is that last night it was mostly opera excerpts; Lesson of Da Ji, Chinatown, The Imp of the Perverse, and a live concert gave an opportunity for a bit of staging which was definitely an enhancement, especially in The Imp of the Perverse scene.  “Café Chit Chat” and “Black” also benefitted from visual interaction between the singers.  I like the CD a lot.  Getting a chance to see some of the music live was great. Continue reading

Robert Pomakov with members of the Gryphon Trio

Yesterday’s lunch time concert featured bass Robert Pomakov accompanied by members of the Gryphom Trio.  The programme kicked off with two songs by Glinka with Bob accompanied by Roman Borys on cello and Jamie Parker on piano.  The first piece was called Lullaby but it’s hard to imagine anyone sleeping through Bob’s powerful rendering.  The second piece, Doubt, showcased some lovely playing by Borys.

Pomakov Gryphon Trio - Tim Flynn Continue reading