Sunday Series
Come on a journey with us and saviour the rich tapestry of music. The Sunday Series resonates with a delightful combination of musicians that moves across a range of repertoires, styles and practices and will also profile many performers that are Western Sydney based.
We look forward to seeing you at the Joan in 2010 please enjoy a complementary glass of wine, cheese and biscuits at the conclusion of each concert.
Download our 2010 Concerts brochure. (7mb)
Pape Mbaye and Chosani Afrique
Sunday 15th August 3pm
Adults $25 Concession $20
“Music is not just listening and dancing, it’s a kind of travelling: you are coming to Africa, experiencing African culture.”
Pape Mbaye
The beaming smile of Pape Mbaye is as well loved as his wide musical talents. It’s an infectious smile that seems to go hand-in-hand with the West African rhythms that lie at the root of his music. Pape Mbaye, and his eight-piece band Chosani Afrique, bring some of the magic of West Africa to their audience inspired and led by this uncontainable master percussionist.
Captivating and hypnotic, these are the sounds of a culture steeped in magic, ritual and a strong spirituality. They’re the sounds that bring people together, that celebrate, commemorate and rejoice a world of music.
Lolo Lovina
Sunday 19th September 3pm
Adults $25 Concession $20
“Romanian Gypsy music, bluegrass and Irish folk were blended with great warmth, sometimes at hair-raising speed. Fiddler Jess Randall and accordion and saxophone player Leonid Beshlei were impressive.”
– Lynden Barber, The Australian, June 04, 2009
With members from Ukraine, Hungary, Brazil and Australia, high energy Gypsy band Lolo Lovina is an intoxicating brew of Gypsy mayhem that draws influences from across Eastern Europe and Latin America. The bulk of the band’s lyrics are in Rromani, the language of the gypsies. It is from this language that the band derives their name, which means “Red Beer”.
Sydney born singer Sarah Bedák-Rockliffe fronts the band with a truly captivating voice. Surrounded with Gypsy music from an early age, she comes from a Hungarian Rromani family (her grandfather was a well-known Gypsy violinist from Budapest who played with Sandor Lakatos).
The band also features Sydney violinist Jess Randall (The Crooked Fiddle Band), and Romanian accordionist Leonid Beshlei from Bukovina. Leonid has played gypsy music across Europe & the USSR, as well as performing in philharmonic and folkloric orchestras in Ukraine and Moldova.
The Ten Sopranos
Sunday 10th October 3pm
Adults $32 Concession $27
Since the forming of this troop in 2007, audiences have been so moved by the performances that some have left theatres in tears, others have left exhilarated, and others just loiter around the venue to savour the moment, a little longer.
The Ten Sopranos, lead by the Award-winning Penny Pavlakis, are a combination of classical and contemporary singers who deliver a varied repertoire of Operatic favourites and well chosen popular songs, in what many consider to be a spine-tingling fashion. The vocal magic of this act is setting the nation on fire, stealing the hearts and souls of the Australian public wherever they appear on stage, with a mesmerising vocal presentation unrivalled in today’s world of entertainment.
The Operatic arias chosen are sung in their original language and key whilst the contemporary songs are performed with a vocal delivery at once engaging, and uniquely fascinating by today’s standards. An event not to be missed.
Sydney Symphony Fellowship 2010
Sunday 14th November 3pm
Adults $25 Concession $20
Join us at the Joan for an afternoon of exquisite music with Australia’s premiere young artists ensemble – the SSO Fellows.
Under the guidance of Roger Benedict, The Sydney’s Symphony’s Principal Viola and Artistic Director of the orchestra’s Fellowship Program, these nine wonderfully talented up-and-coming young musicians will present a blissful afternoon of classical music. Full details of the program will become available in 2010.
