By Jenel Hunt
A brand new classical music festival, Romancing the Stones, is set to bring the romance of music to Southern Downs’ city of sandstone for a full weekend of musical performances.
The event was the brainchild of Warwick resident and former opera singer Bronwyn Clark who gathered like-minded musicians to establish the not-for-profit group, Southern Downs Vibrant Arts, which then started planning the inaugural festival.
The festival will hit its first high note on Friday night, 6 September, with the screening of Verdi’s La Traviata at Warwick Twin Cinema. The film of the world’s most performed opera will have one screening only.
In keeping with the name of the event, at least three sandstone buildings will host concerts.
On Saturday, beautiful Sonnets of Love will be performed at the Uniting Church in Warwick from 10.30am, featuring harpist Lissa-Käthe and UK-trained soprano Esther Hohenheim, who is maths head at Assumption College. Queensland Conservatorium graduate Arlene Bird will be the accompanist, and sonnets of Shakespeare, Keats, Yeats and others will be recited by former drama teacher from the School of Total Education, Neil Rasmussen along with Celie de Winter and others.
On Saturday from 2pm, Gabi Laws will lead a program, Young Voices, at the St Mark’s Anglican Church, showcasing performances of classical and contemporary pieces by local youth.
That night, the Cherry Tree Café will be the scene of a Spix and Spex dinner event as teams vie for the winning place in a fun competition based on musical knowledge.
The grand finale, a concert called Fabulous Classics, will be held at 2pm on Sunday, 8 September at St Mary’s Church and will feature soprano Jill Hulme, the East Street Singers and the newly formed Southern Downs Orchestra under the direction of Michael Spiller. The concert will include much loved classics of Vivaldi, Handel, Schubert, Bizet, Faure and more and will be followed by afternoon tea.
Bronwyn, who has already been instrumental in bringing well known Australian choirmaster Jonathon Welch to Warwick for the Pop Goes Warwick workshops and concert earlier this year, said the region’s talented musicians deserved to be in the spotlight and a sustainable grassroots festival during a spring weekend was the perfect way to bring the musical maestros out to play.
