The 18th September Galston Gala in Galston Uniting Church was a Gold, Gold, Gold! success for an array of young musician top talents.
The Galston Concerts ‘quartet in residence’, the Piccolo String Quartet, returned to Galston to open the program with Beethoven and ‘bring down the curtain’ with Dvorak. Their prize-winner success in Musica Viva’s Strike A Chord National Championships for high-school aged ensembles in both 2021 and 2022 has recently been matched by an award in the USA American Virtuoso International Music Competition, including a concert in New York City in 2023.
Joshua Zhi dazzled with keyboard virtuosity in music by Australia’s own Carl Vine, Chopin and Paganini – not surprising from the winner of the 2022 Sydney Eisteddfod Kawai Junior Piano Championship.
The Galston Concerts are even more proud of the Gala’s showcasing of two winners of ‘our very own’ Galston Concerts Young Violists Performance Competition, an ‘international’ trans-Tasman contest open to Australians and New Zealanders.
Co-winners Hanna Wallace, playing music by Bloch and Glinka, and Hayley Lau, with music by Prokoviev and Brahms, proved that the viola is a star of an instrument.
While Galston’s support of young performers will continue through 2023 the final concert in Galston for 2022, on Sunday afternoon 20 November, will offer ‘something completely different’: The NSW Police Big Band will be joined by vocalist Belinda Parsons, those ‘big band era’ sounds a ‘first’ for the concerts in Galston.
The NSW Big Band are well known and loved for their community performances, not least of all their frequent ‘guest spots’ in The Good Old Days Concerts at Sydney Town Hall.
Bookings for that 20 November concert in Galston Uniting will be available via www.trybooking.com (search Galston) or by phoning Robert Harris on 0428 248 348.
