The Four Divas Take the Floor in Paradise
Friday, August 28th, 2009|
PARADISE CONCERTS Presents THE FOUR DIVAS 5pm for 6pm Concert, Saturday 19 September 2009 MEDIA CALL with FOUR DIVAS, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17th 11:00am KEWARRA BEACH RESORT Lovers of opera, prepare to be entertained when The Four Divas combine their internationally acclaimed musical talent to deliver a high octane blend of emotions spanning rivalry, passion, romance, lust, mystery, drama, and intrigue. Featuring Canadian soprano Joy Power Cleary, Greek Mezzo soprano, Katerini Manolatos, international pianist Ambre Hammond and violinist Kirtley Leigh Paine, this fifth concert in Paradise Concert’s 2009 season is bound to be a musical explosion when it takes place on Saturday 19 September at 5pm for 6pm concert at Kewarra Beach Resort. Paradise Concerts director, Kirtley Leigh Paine, is thrilled to take concert audiences to the opera, in true International style. “The Four Divas features four of the classiest (and most beautiful) internationall performers ever to hit the High Cs; English/Canadian Soprano Joy Power Cleary and Greek Mezzo Soprano Katerini Manolatos – while introducing world-renowned London International prize winning stunning pianist Ambre Hammond to our starry concert stage. This is a triumphant concert for Ambre, as she was originally born in Cairns in 1977 – taught by her mother from the time she was aged three, and now in the midst of a glittering solo career – having recently performed a world premiere Concerto for Jazz Trumpet, Piano and Orchestra in the Sydney Opera House with jazz trumpeter James Morrison. Ambre jubilantly returns to perform with Paradise Concerts,” said Kirtley Leigh. According to Kirtley Leigh, add to this all the sparkle of a violin, and “champagne is the order to toast this simply divine musical combination of sheer diva-esque proportions.” This is the first time these four divas have come together to perform in Cairns. Opera lovers are destined to enjoy this special event incorporating many famous and well-loved arias. A selection of vocal solos and duets will be performed, by such composers as Massenet, Delibes and Rossini, including the Habanera from Carmen, and the Flower Duet from Lakme. As an added treat, Ambre will also perform some piano acrobatics in a selection of bravura keyboard favourites. Violinist Kirtley Leigh Paine completes this stellar diva quartet and provides the “orchestra” of opera as well as indulging in her own gymnastic performance. Tickets from from TICKETLINK Adults $35/Students (3-17)$20 www.ticketlink.com.au or TEL: 1 300 855 835 Ambre Hammond, Piano Born in Cairns, Australia in 1977. Ambre began piano studies with her mother at the age of three and gave her first concert in Sydney at age five. In 1990, at age 12, Ambre achieved a World Record, which she still holds, when she received the Associate and Licentiate Diplomas of music in the same year. At 16 she received the First Prize in her first International Music Competition held in Argentina, South America. The following year Ambre was invited to return to Argentina to perform the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 as her debut performance with the Cordoba Symphony Orchestra. This performance was recorded live and released as a CD, which has been acclaimed by the Rachmaninoff Society of USA as one of the finest recordings ever made of this piece. At 16, Ambre recorded and released a CD of music by Franz Liszt titled ‘Devotion’ which was funded by Australian artist Arthur Boyd who was astounded with Ambre’s natural ability and also invited her to be first Artist-In Residence at his Shoalhaven Property ‘Bundanon’, on the South Coast of Australia. Ambre’s CD’s are available on cdbaby.com Ambre has performed both solo and with Orchestra throughout Switzerland, England, Italy, Spain, Poland, North and South America, New Zealand and China to consistent acclaim from both critics and public alike. Recently she has continued to perform not only the great classics but showed a flair for jazz and blues by combining talents with James Morrison in a series of concerts displaying a fusion of musical styles. A recent performance was with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra in New Zealand at which she delighted audiences playing the magical Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto as well as teaming up with James Morrison for some blues and other jazz standards. Renowned Hollywood film writer and composer Lalo Schifrin was recently commissioned to write a unique Double Concerto for Jazz Trumpet, Classical Piano and Symphony Orchestra especially for Ambre and James Morrison. Now completed, Ambre recently returned from Los Angeles where she played the piece to Lalo who has dedicated the Concerto to her.The World Premiere was held in Sydney 2007 at the Opera House to great acclaim. Ambre and James will perform the work throughout Europe and the US. It is important to Ambre to give back to the community through her ability as much as possible and she has been named Ambassador of the SMILE Foundation, a newly formed Sydney based Medical Research and Philanthropy Company and is also closely involved with the Brain Foundation of Australia. Ambre has newly been appointed Youth Ambassador for the National Trust and will undertake a Tour for the Trust in early 2009.Ambre’s latest CD release ‘Reverie‘ (2009) is a compilation of some of the most beautiful compositions for solo piano from Bach to Rachmaninoff, Granados to Scriabin. Ambre is blessed with not only artistic brilliance and technical prowess of the highest order, but has a physical beauty and presence that leaves her listeners in awe of such a young, energetic and gifted talent. Ambre has the communicative skills to be able to share her passion for the music she plays and delight audiences everywhere from age 1 to 100. Joy Power Cleary, Soprano International singer Joy is a lyric soprano who trained in Calgary, Canada under Judith Lebane since 1990. She has taken part in master classes given by Catherine Robbin, mezzo-soprano; Linda Maguire, mezzo-soprano; and Susan Haig, Associate Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Professionally, Joy has sung with the Calgary Opera Chorus in Lucia di Lammermoor, 1994, La Traviata, 1995, and La Boheme, 2002. She has also performed with the opera training company, Debut Opera, singing lead roles with them, such as “Musetta” from La Boheme, “Adele” from Die Fledermaus, and “Casilda” from The Gondoliers, amongst others. In 1996, Joy gave a recital of Baroque music including Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” with mezzo-soprano, Pamela Jonasson. Joy was born in Canada and grew up there and in the UK. Since moving to Cairns in 2003 she has been singing professionally as a soloist, at weddings and special events and in recital with Paradise Concerts. She last performed with Paradise Concerts in December 2008 in the Baroque Christmas Concert. This time with Paradise Concerts, she has enjoyed discovering the romance of the French repertoire with its delightful marriage of lightness and melancholy. The expressive poetry of the lyrics is equally as relevant as the sparkling music in seducing the listener and performer alike Mezzo-soprano Katerini Manolatos was born and raised in Brisbane and from a young age enjoyed performing. She studied at the Queensland Young Conservatorium in her teenage years and later went on to study at a tertiary level at the prestigious Queensland Conservatorium of Music, earning her Bachelor of Music in Voice in 2000. She then completed her Associate in Music Australia in 2001 and her Masters Degree in Music Therapy in 2005. During these years and those that followed she has enjoyed performing and teaching voice. Her Greek heritage is very important to her, as is her love of Greek music. She produced a CD of Greek songs while in her early 20’s and was privileged to travel to Greece to help promote the 2000 Olympic games. She has returned to Greece many times to perform in concerts alongside local musicians. Moving from Brisbane to Cairns three years ago has proved to be an exciting career move for Katerini. She has launched Hummingbird Music Therapy and Singing which encompasses her skills and drive for nurturing young voices and her Master’s qualification in music therapy. Most recently she has joined forces with Gail Rogers (Speech and Language Pathologist specialising in the area of voice) to develop the Vocal Boot Camp series, which educates professional voice users in vocal technique and protection. Katerini is excited about performing in the Classical Chamber Music world again here in Cairns, and the operatic genre in particular, and looks forward to her future with Paradise Concerts. ends PARADISE CONCERTS http://www.paradiseconcerts.com Kirtley Leigh Paine T: 07 40 38 1960 M: 0439 763810 E: leighwpaine@yahoo.com |