It was an utter joy to experience Sydney Harbour Ensemble perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and the monumental Emperor Piano Concerto, featuring pianist Joshua Han on Saturday night at the ACO on the Pier.
This is Sydney Harbour Ensemble’s third concert in their inaugural year. Their mission is to pair live orchestral music with landmark harbour settings and local history. While focusing on celebrating emerging Sydney talent. This orchestra is certainly packed with talent.
Hearing Beethoven’s Symphony no. 4 in B flat major Opus 60 makes you understand why we still want to hear and play his music today, even though it was composed over 400 years ago. Especially when it is played as superbly as it was on Saturday night.
All 36 instrumentalists in the orchestra played with great passion and were strongly connected with each other the entire time. They dazzled with expression, large ranges of dynamics and soared through the very fast passages in the symphony. Their Timpanist, Bryn Wood, has an amazingly expressive face and you could tell he was in his element of utter joy the entire time.
Benjamin Crowe, their artistic director and conductor, held great poise and determination throughout the night. His conducting was very graceful and clear. We felt very safe in his hands… pun intended. I believe he has a big future ahead of him.
For the second half of the concert, Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto, featuring pianist Joshua Han, was absolutely magical. I could not keep my eyes off Joshua Han the entire time. His fingers gracefully dancing up and down the keys with immense passion. His perfectly quaffed hair moved effortlessly with the music and his face embodied intense emotion that then instantly transferred to fingertips. I am not surprised he has won so many piano competitions locally and internationally. I’m sure there will be many more to come.
The night ended with a well deserved standing ovation by all and we were treated to a beautiful encore by Joshua Han. You could tell all of the orchestral players were just as enamoured by Joshua Han as the audience were. They all looked mesmerised by his playing, now that they were able to watch him for the encore.
I can see many more exciting concerts in this orchestra’s future. I hope they continue to do more of Beethoven’s work as they play them so exquisitely and they have more collaborations with pianist Joshua Han.
Please keep an eye out for more concerts by Sydney Harbour Ensemble, they are not to be missed.
To book tickets to Sydney Harbour Ensemble presents: Beethoven’s Emperor, please visit https://sydneyharbourensemble.com.au/.
