The West Gippsland Chorale, with Pocket Opera Productions, will celebrate 150 years since the birth of Nellie Melba in two concerts at Wesley of Warragul.
Jennifer Schatzle plays Melba, dressed in full operatic costume. She will give a selection of word-pictures of Melba’s life, and sing many of Melba’s favourite songs and arias. In a salon-like atmosphere, the West Gippsland Chorale will support her as chorus in many of the items. The chorale’s new virtuoso pianist, Simon Loveless, will accompany the concerts. Guest conductor of the chorale, Rhonda Kemsley, will lead the singers.
These concerts are part of a series throughout Australia and the world celebrating Melba’s birth.
The music chosen covers a wide range from traditional ‘Home Sweet Home’, Scottish ‘Comin’ through the Rye’, ‘Afton Water’, Spiritual ‘Steal Away’ and ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’, through to popular works of the great composers. Verdi’s ‘Brindisi’ will feature John McCaffery, tenor, with Jennifer Schatzle and the Chorale chorus. In Verdi’s ‘Rataplan’ the chorus represents soldiers imitating military drums in a virtuosic display. Handel’s hauntingly beautiful ‘Chorus of the Enchanted Islanders’ will be sung from his opera Alcina. In Mozart’s ‘Voyagers’ Chorus’, Idomeneo is reprieved at the last moment by Neptune from a vow to sacrifice his own son. Perhaps the highlight of the concerts will be Jennifer’s rendition of Dido’s lament from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, followed by the Chorale with the final chorus of this work. Dido and Aeneas was first performed in London in 1689 by choristers from a ‘Boarding School for Young Gentlewomen’.
Jennifer Schatzle has performed in a wide range of music productions since co-founding Pocket Opera Productions. She is also a VCE music examiner and presently teaches music at Girton Grammar in Bendigo. She is highly regarded for her contributions to Bendigo’s music and concert scene. The Chorale is delighted to have her collaboration in this Melba celebration.
Rhonda Kemsley, guest conductor, has long involvement in choral music as chorister, soloist, founder and director of choirs in Gippsland and Melbourne. She has trained with conductors such as Richard Gill (Victorian opera) and sung in Faye Dumont ‘s Melbourne Chamber Choir.
Simon Loveless has also had a lifetime in music, as both musical director and accompanist for choirs in the Berwick, Cranbourne and Yarra Ranges areas. He is a state committee member of the Australian National Choral Association Inc. and continues as a presenter with the Australian Choral Conducting Education and Training Summer Schools.
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