Serenades in the City – ‘an exhilarating, rhetorically astute performance that will stay long in the memory’

Our Serenades in the City concert was a beautiful morning, and we got some fantastic reviews!
“Perth Chamber Orchestra strings positively danced their way through a perfectly curated program of miniature romantic masterpieces… Sutherland was one of Australia’s finest composers, with immaculate taste and a fine ear for counter-melody. Her Concerto for String Orchestra is traditional yet novel, tuneful yet challenging. It received the performance it deserved, with Gethin bringing out the gorgeous, sometimes piquant cantabile quality of the part-writing to perfection.
The other highlight was the Tchaikovsky, even in excerpt arguably the best work on the program. Here the PCO played with a precision and vitality equal to any other string band, anywhere. This was an exhilarating, rhetorically astute performance that will stay long in the memory.”
– William Yeoman of The West Australian. Read the full review here.
“Hosted by Ros Appleby, well-known journalist, music critic and author, Serenades In The City was a delight. Conductor Jessica Gethin and leader Paul Wright steered a well-schooled string ensemble through a program of excellent music drawn from a wide repertoire. Thank you, Perth Chamber Orchestra, for another most enjoyable presentation. 5 out of 5 stars.”
– Satima Flavell of ArtsHub, giving us 5 out of 5 stars. Read the full review here.
“It’s cliché to use the term “a delight to the senses”, yet when you are visually and aurally stimulated in such a joyous way, it is difficult to avoid the cliché. A pleasant aperitif on a Sunday morning to brace you for the rigours of the week to follow, and one that has me eagerly awaiting the baroque conclusion to the PCO’s Heritage series.”
– David O’Connell of Xpress Magazine giving us 8/10. Read the full review here.
Thank you William, Satima and David for your kind words and we’re so glad you enjoyed the morning.
We particularly loved collaborating with ballerinas Sara Ouwendyk and Kirsty Clarke, currently studying at WAAPA and artist Ben Brennan – we look forward to working together again in the future.
Fabulous images capture by PSO photographer Richard Jefferson from the morning are available on the WATCH & LISTEN section of our website. We would like to thank series co-presenter MSWA, series concert partner Hewshott International, and event partner Barton Jones Wines in bringing this concert to life.