Review – Denmark Baroque and the Darlington Quartet – Fairy Queen

Ross Dwyer, Denmark Bulletin

Denmark Baroque and the Darlington String Quartet presented a classical concert at the Civic Centre on October 22 to a delighted audience.

Musical director Georg Corall conducted from the harpsichord excerpts from the Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell.

In the second half of the evening, the Darlington String Quartet performed the Bell Birds Suite by Emma Jayakumara and Tchaikovsky’s quartet number one in D Major.

The warm atmosphere in the room was set by a pre-concert dinner served to the spectators who enjoyed a baroque-style banquet.

At 7pm, the Denmark Baroque Choir, dressed in white under the warm stage lighting, got into position to start the concert along with the Denmark Baroque orchestra.

The performance was full of vitality with good sound projection and balance.

This opera featured vocalists and was complemented by instrumental dances and preludes, which added to the emotional tone.

Narrators Vicky Wilson and Greg Davis enjoyed the humorous and witty dialogues co-written by Silvia Lehmann and Vicky.

Ronald McQueen, playing the role of the Drunken Poet, sang with confidence, while not overdoing the comical aspect of the character.

Bonnie De La Hunty delivered her solo sections with a sweet yet powerful tone. After a short interval, the Darlington String Quartet, comprising accomplished musicians Semra Lee, Zac Rowntree, Sally Boud and Jon Tooby, played the Bell Birds Suite.

Australian composer Emma Jayakumara wrote this only last year, an exposed and beautiful piece.

Then the quartet performed Tchaikovsky’s string quartet number one with virtuosity and vigour, leaving the spectators feeling lucky to experience what live classical music can do to the soul.

These two pieces are vastly contrasting; the first was written by an Australian in recent times, and was inspired by the Australian bush and nature, while the second was written in Russia in 1871 by Tchaikovsky.

This article appeared in the Denmark Bulletin, 28 October 2021.