Palladian Solo Instrumental – A return to the Classical
12 March 2019
Solo Instrumental for Palladian Cup on Tuesday night was one of the closest competitions I’ve witnessed in the event. In a break from tradition, most of the competitors were classical performers, as were all three of the judges, Scott Davie (piano), Vladimir Gorbach (guitar), and Shuti Huang (violin). It’s no surprise that the judges were deeply appreciative of the excellent classical musicians on display.
After an unprecedented number of auditions, Adrian Whitehall and Tom Hunt were selected to represent St Andrew’s. Adrian, a double bassist now in demand as a casual player with some of Australia’s major orchestras, was accompanied by Titus Grenyer in the first movement of Bottesini’s ‘Concerto No. 2’. Tom, a self-taught jazz pianist and composer, made his debut performance with a structured improvisation called ‘Celestial Blues’. Adrian’s performance was nuanced and musical and clearly showed his development as a performer across his time at university. Tom rose to the challenge of performing beyond a college audience with both humility and style, showing depth of feeling and creativity in his performance, which was a crowd favourite.
After lengthy deliberation, the judges awarded a highly commended to guitarist Harley Coleman (John’s) for Victor Young’s ‘Stella By Starlight’, third place to a dynamic performance of ‘Winter’ from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ by Sancta Sophia’s Lucy Clarke-Randazzo on violin, second place to Women’s outstanding clarinettist Clare Fox for the extravagant showstopper ‘Peregi Verbunk’ by Leo Weiner, and first place for a note-perfect performance of Debussy’s ‘Reflects Dans L’Eau’ by pianist Xavier Lynch (John’s).
While it’s always a great feeling to place, I’m proud our St Andrew’s musicians contributed to the fierceness of a particularly close competition. The field from which we have to choose continues to increase and it’s heartening to see music burgeoning across the colleges in a way that allows many of these competitors to work together at a high level and in – dare I say – a collegiate way, outside of Palladian Cup.
Special thanks to Cultural Secretary Violet Williams who summoned a record crowd to support our musicians. They deserved it, and I’m grateful to both Violet and every student who attended for making sure they got the support they so well deserved.
Solo Instrumental for Palladian Cup on Tuesday night was one of the closest competitions I’ve witnessed in the event. In a break from tradition, most of the competitors were classical performers, as were all three of the judges, Scott Davie (piano), Vladimir Gorbach (guitar), and Shuti Huang (violin). It’s no surprise that the judges were deeply appreciative of the excellent classical musicians on display.
After an unprecedented number of auditions, Adrian Whitehall and Tom Hunt were selected to represent St Andrew’s. Adrian, a double bassist now in demand as a casual player with some of Australia’s major orchestras, was accompanied by Titus Grenyer in the first movement of Bottesini’s ‘Concerto No. 2’. Tom, a self-taught jazz pianist and composer, made his debut performance with a structured improvisation called ‘Celestial Blues’. Adrian’s performance was nuanced and musical and clearly showed his development as a performer across his time at university. Tom rose to the challenge of performing beyond a college audience with both humility and style, showing depth of feeling and creativity in his performance, which was a crowd favourite.
After lengthy deliberation, the judges awarded a highly commended to guitarist Harley Coleman (John’s) for Victor Young’s ‘Stella By Starlight’, third place to a dynamic performance of ‘Winter’ from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ by Sancta Sophia’s Lucy Clarke-Randazzo on violin, second place to Women’s outstanding clarinettist Clare Fox for the extravagant showstopper ‘Peregi Verbunk’ by Leo Weiner, and first place for a note-perfect performance of Debussy’s ‘Reflects Dans L’Eau’ by pianist Xavier Lynch (John’s).
While it’s always a great feeling to place, I’m proud our St Andrew’s musicians contributed to the fierceness of a particularly close competition. The field from which we have to choose continues to increase and it’s heartening to see music burgeoning across the colleges in a way that allows many of these competitors to work together at a high level and in – dare I say – a collegiate way, outside of Palladian Cup.
Special thanks to Cultural Secretary Violet Williams who summoned a record crowd to support our musicians. They deserved it, and I’m grateful to both Violet and every student who attended for making sure they got the support they so well deserved.
Dr Sarah Penicka-Smith
Director of Music
