Anh Do: The Happiest Refugee

Some people really have a hard start to life. Anh Do was one such person. At the age of two, along with forty members of his family, he left Vietnam in a small , nine by two and a half metre fishing boat. After surviving two pirate attacks, enduring the hot sun and storms, and nearly dying of thirst, he and his family were rescued by a German ship and taken to Malaysia. They waited at a refugee camp for three months and were then offered sanctuary in Australia.

Though they had very little, Anh's family were used to hard work and did all they could to provide the best for their three children. Anh's father was game to try anything to provide an income and sometimes this ended up in rather hilarious ways, such as the time he brought home a pheasant after bidding unsuccessfully for a pair of alpacas. The happiest time in the family's life was when they had they were living on the farm. Sadly this ended in a rather devastating way with all the ducks being poisoned through bad feed. This was the beginning of Anh's father's descent into drink; a descent which eventually lead to him leaving the family when Anh was 13.

Ahn shares both funny and tear-jerking episodes from his life as a teenager, his early experiences with standup comedy, his reconciliation with his father, his courtship and marriage, and his more recent forays into television with programs such as Deal or No Deal and Dancing with the Stars.

Ahn's mother was his constant inspiration in the way she worked and sacrificed much so that her children could succeed. It was a joy for him to see her blossom later into a confident speaker in her own right.

This is an extraordinary, uplifting and inspiring story of a wonderful Aussie personality.

Our experience with outdoor performance

A couple of weeks ago our trio, Trio Al Dente, performed at a local outdoor event, Classical Meets Jazz.  The event has enjoyed much success for about 10 years. Imagine a lovely warm summer day, sitting outdoors, listening to a variety of music whilst eating your picnic lunch.  Sounds very relaxing and enjoyable doesn't it?

It had rained all day on the day before our performance.  We were unsure whether the event would even proceed or not  early that morning.  The forcast suggested the rain would mostly clear. The organiser made the decision: it would go ahead.

From a player's point of view it was not at all pleasant.  The wind tore through the stage area, threatening not just to blow the music off the stands (it was pegged on) but to blow the stands themselves over! They were pretty sturdy ones too. Our pianist needed not just a page turner, but someone to hold the music down during the whole time she was playing. At one point our cellist's music blew off the stand completely. He just kept going as if nothing had happened and picked it up when the piece finished! Meanwhile, I just pinned the music to the stand with the scroll of my violin. :) The stage was covered from above, but completely open at the front and a couple of times rain fell on the performers.  How the grand piano survived I'm not sure. It was well under the shelter though so I think that was what helped protect it. My violin was not as fortunate though.  :(

From the audience point of view, it was a different story. They were well rugged up.  Many had not only brought blankets to sit on but also to wrap themselves in. They could buy coffee and barbequed sausages - they definitely were not suffering too much!  From comments we heard later, we discovered that the sound had been very good, the atmosphere of the event was wonderful and people enjoyed it.

So was an outdoor performance a good idea?  If we had trusted our own instincts we would have said "Not in that kind of weather"! However, the audience reponse and comments seem to prove that sometimes you just have to keep going even if it's tough.

Will we do it again? Ah, you'll just have to wait and see...........

Tasmania Discovery Orchestra Meets Stephen Schwartz

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of playing with the Tasmania Discovery Orchestra in  An Evening with Stephen Schwartz as part of the Festival of Broadway.

The Tasmania Discovery Orchestra (TDO) is an initiative of the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and came into being in March of this year. It is an orchestra designed to offer musicians with advanced orchestral instrument skills the opportunity to come together and make great music in Hobart, Tasmania. Entry is by audition.

The rehearsal arrangement is designed to encourage interstate players and so is quite compact.  We had five rehearsals: two on Thursday, two on Friday, and one on Saturday, followed by the concert.

Stephen Schwartz is an extremely talented musician and lyricist. It was a delight to see and hear him,  both in interview and performing. The interviewer for the night was Michael A Kerker, the Director of Musical Theatre for ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). 

Schwartz’ description of the writing process was quite illuminating. It is very easy to have the impression that composers or lyricists sit down and just write what comes to them in an unending flow.  This idea was soon corrected as Schwartz told of many incidences of having to write and re-write until he was satisfied with the end result.

Later on he played a piece he had re-worked, in its original form, at the piano. He then went on to play the second re-write and finally the third, explaining along the way his reasoning for changing the lyrics and the eventual title of the song.  All this was done completely without written music!

Soloists at the concert included some absolutely amazing singers: Liz Callaway, Michael Rose, Silvie Paladino, Adrian Li Donni, Ben Davidson, Julie O’Reilly and Michael Lampard. Musical numbers were from Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, Children of Eden, The Baker’s Wife, Rags and Wicked.

The first Australian performance of two excerpts from Schwartz’ first opera, Séance On A Wet Afternoon, were also performed by Julie O’Reilly and Ben Davidson. The opera premiered at the Opera Santa Barbara late last year and will be performed  in Australia in 2011.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable evening and a thrill to be in the orchestra for such a pleasurable event.