(Christopher Duigan)
A first rate
concert, performed by excellent artists, and an excellent addition to this year’s
Hilton Arts Festival. (Review by Keith Millar)
In England the Last Night At The Proms concert is the
culmination of a festival of promenade concerts and features a variety of
lighter and more popular classical musical items and performers.
KZN virtuoso concert
pianist and Steinway Artist, Christopher Duigan, used this as the theme for the
concert he designed for the Hilton Arts Festival this year.
That the concept was
a hit with festival-goers was apparent from the unusual sight of Hilton College
Chapel being filled to capacity.
The concert featured
superb Soprano Bongiwe Madlala singing opera favourites, including the
beautiful O mio babbino caro from Gianni
Schicchi by Puccini.
The popular “Singing
Dean”, baritone Federico Freschi, contributed the ever-popular Largo al factotum from the Barber of Saville by Rossini as well as Agustín
Lara’s Granada and two musical
theatre items.
Pietermaritzburg
Girls High School’s award-winning choir as well as their Chamber and Gospel
choirs also took part. Unfortunately for me, as accomplished as the choirs
were, the music they produced was too much of a muchness and it lacked the up-tempo
verve which was required for an event such as this.
Organist Christopher
Cockburn performed Handel’s Arrival of
the Queen of Sheba on the chapel’s magnificent pipe organ and Christopher
Duigan was at his virtuosic best for Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 and Liebestraume No 3.
The concert was
rounded off with the audience joining in for the Proms staples, Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia.
While this was a
most enjoyable and festive event, I must mention that the Hilton College stone-built
Chapel, while an attractive building and acoustically good, is the most
uncomfortable venue at the festival. Designed more to punish schoolboys than
for the comfort of festival-goers it has extremely hard pews which face across
the chapel rather than to the front. Long before the end the audience are all
experiencing pain in the nether regions and a crick in their necks.
Gripe over, I again
reiterate that this was a first rate concert, performed by excellent artists,
and an excellent addition to this year’s Hilton Arts Festival. - Keith
Millar
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