The Countertenor – Bach’s Holy Spirit

The Countertenor - Bach's Holy Spirit

The Countertenor – Bach’s Holy Spirit Rating

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For a one-night-only performance on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, I had the opportunity to enjoy the presentation of The Countertenor—Bach’s Holy Spirit in the sacred surroundings of the Cathedral of St Stephen.

By going along to witness this performance of The Countertenor, I also discovered that a Countertenor is the male equivalent of a female alto singer. The Cathedral of St Stephen in Elizabeth Street is a very beautiful place to set a show featuring mainly Johann Sebastian Bach’s Baroque music. The venue’s reverent atmosphere and remarkable acoustics made it the perfect setting for a program steeped in spiritual and musical traditions.

Madeleine Easton is the Artistic Director of Bach Akadamie Australia and an extremely talented violinist. She has brought Reginald Mobley, an American Counter Tenor, on a tour of Australia, along with several other talented musicians: Simone Slattery (violin), Heather Lloyd (viola), Anthea Cottee (Cello), and Neal Peres Da Costa.

Together, they breathed life into J.S. Bach’s most religious works, some of which are universally considered to be among the greatest works the world has ever heard. Along with Bach’s existential works, Indigenous Australian composer Troy Russell was commissioned to write a piece inspired by Bach, which was also performed on the night.

The program title references the Lutheran theological belief that the alto voice represents the Holy Ghost—a voice that Bach reserved for some of his most heartfelt and moving compositions. The evening’s performance featured a selection of these sacred pieces, showcasing the purity and emotional resonance of Reginald Mobley’s voice, whose background also includes gospel and jazz.

The lyrics were all in German, but if you wanted to know what the words meant, they were written in English alongside the German in the programme. Madeleine Easton has done a wonderful job of arranging the music to suit the ensemble she presented. Classical music lovers filled the space, enraptured by the performance, and gave them a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the evening.

The evening’s repertoire included:

  • Cantata BWV 170, aria 1: ‘Vergnügte ruh’
  • Obbligato Sonata No. 2 in A Major, BWV 1015
  • Cantata BWV 82, aria 3: ‘Schlummert ein’
  • Largo and Allegro Assai from Sonata no. 3 in C major, BWV 1005
  • Agnus Dei from Mass in B minor, BWV 232
  • Aria from BWV 201: ‘Aufgeblasne Hitze’
  • ‘Clans’ by Troy Russell, arranged for solo violin by Madelaine Easton
  • Cantata BWV 54: ‘Widerstehe doch der Sünde’

Photographer: Stephen Blake, Blake Photographic

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Aerialicious UP LATE

Aerialicious Up Late

Aerialicious UP LATE Rating

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Aerialicious UP LATE is a delicious adults-only sexy circus with a madcap minx as the mistress of ceremonies who won’t mince words, combining comic catchphrases with caustic wit as she introduces each of the artists to bump and grind in a glorious collection of exhibitionism.

Burlesque brought back as bold as brass, with all its tatas, posteriors, and an awesome array of acrobatic acts.

The all-female and non-binary troop was a wonder to behold. Their agility, strength, and flexibility combined to create an endearing effect on their enthusiastic audience—wild whoops and cheers, to be precise.

The aerial ring (lyra), hula hoops, aerial straps, pole dancing, hand balancing, contortionism, and even an old-fashioned fan dance were all staged inside a pole dancing gym at 2/42 Burnett Lane in Brisbane’s CBD. The audience was inches away from having a sequined bra land in their lap.

Aerialicious bills itself as innovative, and from what I saw, that’s about as accurate an assessment as you can get.

The show is part of Brisbane’s Anywhere Festival, running from 19th July to 4th August.

Find out more by going to this link: https://anywhere.is/artist/aerialicious/.

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Anywhere Festival: Set Me On Fire

Set Me On Fire

Set Me On Fire Rating

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11

Samara Louise’s play, SET ME ON FIRE, is a deeply moving play about the ugly side of family ties, the angst of artistic temperament, and the longing for a better life.

Through the erudition and articulation of her lead female character, Samara paints a poignant portrait of a girl growing into an excellent example of an independent, free-thinking femme fatale.

The list of Samara’s achievements so far seems enormous, considering her youth. Cale Dennis, the director, is also no slouch when it comes to winning awards. I foresee they both have bright futures in theatre and probably whatever else they decide to address with their talents. All members of The Silent Sky Collective, who produced the play, are emerging artists in their own right.

Rachel McMurray, playing Eden, the lead, did a wonderful job of wrapping her lips around the lines of dialogue she had to deliver, and her transitions between a coy seventeen-year-old and a savvy twenty-something, demonstrate she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Her counterpart, Mannon Davies, as Noah, the lost love interest, gives us a delightful deep dive into the psyche of a boy burdened by a mother clinging to her child. His chemistry with Rachel was obvious, and yet deftly understated, muted by the malignance of his meddling mother.

The play begins near where it ends and then backtracks to fill in the gaps. The reminiscences replicate the back story that brought the two tumultuous teens to where they meet again at the beginning of the play, through complexities that remind us that underneath each of us are layers of human experience that can and often do scar us for life.

Cullyn Beckton and Tim James, the tech team, never missed a beat. The set, sound, and lighting all enhanced the moments that made the story work so well.

It’s a thoroughly watchable work. I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars. Go see these people play now before they get so well-known that you have to pay through the nose to see them.

The production contains very occasional strong language and young adult themes. It’s part of The Anywhere Festival and is staged inside Backdock Arts, a small hall at 103 Brunswick Street, in Fortitude Valley.

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Spanish Film Festival: Un Amor

Spanish Film Festival: Un Amor

Spanish Film Festival: Un Amor Rating

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Un Amor is a delirious dive into the torment experienced by a young woman who walked away from the stress of her work interpreting the tragic stories of refugees and moved to La Escapa, a small village deep in the Spanish countryside, only to be thrust into a story almost as horrible as the ones she was running away from.

Multi-award-winning and multi-lingual Spanish director Isabel Coixet co-wrote and directed this searing drama, told with interspersed flashbacks to the horrors of her previous work, paralleling her descent into indecency.

The cinematography is often breathtaking, showing the scope and beauty of the region and vividly bringing life to Nat’s mixed emotions. The villagers’ characterisations, foibles, intrigues, and veiled love triangles are all treated with gusto. There’s a delightful smorgasbord of humanity on display.

In a dilapidated house with an abused dog thrust into her care, thirty-year-old Natalia, or Nat (Laia Costa), faces overt hostility and sexist micro-aggressions from her landlord and covert hostility from nearly all her neighbours. Initially wooed by a slightly older man who demonstrates an artistic sensitivity with stained glass, she demurely dismisses his overtures.

Spanish Film Festival: Un Amor

Then after an extraordinary encounter, Natalia reluctantly gives in to an awkward illicit proposal from her brutish neighbour Andreas (Hovik Keuchkerian) so as to have her dwelling refurbished somewhat and made into a more liveable space. In so doing, she succumbs to a passion that punishes her and causes her to see who she really is.

The film is based on Sara Mesa’s bestselling novel of the same name. The Spanish newspaper El País named it Spain’s 2020 book of the year. Un Amor has been described as a bittersweet and striking exploration of gender roles, love, obsession, and desire.

It deftly deals with some eternally fundamental and gripping questions that have plagued humanity. What is love? Are we sexual in nature? It’s a disturbingly frank look at the dynamics of gender politics and sex as a commodity.

John Holland of Screen Daily, a website providing a real-time view of the film industry, said the film was sometimes “redolent of Coixet’s very best work.” Guy Lodge of Variety, a website featuring entertainment news and reviews, considered the film to be a return to form for Coixet.

In two top ten lists of Spanish films, it ranked 2nd (El Español) and 10th (Mondosonoro).

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