On Saturday, December 17, chamber music group Stringy Bach will present a concert at Lapstone Public School, showcasing a wide variety of musical styles performed by an ensemble of school-aged local musicians supported by adult players.
For the last eight years, young string players in the Mountains have enjoyed the experience of learning to play chamber music under the direction of professional cellist and Lapstone resident, Chris Lockhart Smith, who founded the Stringy Bach group with Dr Mark Thieben.
The group provides a relaxed, home-based environment for the children to grow and mature as musicians and performers, which this year will culminate in a public performance showcasing the ensemble’s impressive breadth of repertoire.
While appreciating and cultivating traditional chamber music, Stringy Bach also embraces contemporary hits, folk music, film scores and TV soundtracks, from the sweeping to the hard-hitting to the occasionally somewhat silly – perhaps a reflection of their director, who has performed in professional opera and ballet and whose latest engagement was to record the score for Lego Batman.
This year’s concert covers this entire spectrum. It includes a Baroque suite, works by Mozart and Clara Schumann, and Gymnopedie 1 by the French Impressionist, Satie. The program then veers into less conventional territory, covering Celtic folk, Pirates of the Caribbean, Abba and even a whimsical arrangement of an old favourite from Sesame Street. The group’s rousing rendition of the theme from Doctor Who is not to be missed.
Also featured at the concert will be a newly formed cello trio from Blaxland East Public School, who in keeping with the larger ensemble will perform classical music as well as a foot-stomping American folk tune.
The concert commences at 2pm on Saturday, December 17 at the Lapstone Public School main hall. Entry is by donation, with all proceeds going to Medecins Sans Frontiers, the worldwide humanitarian medical aid organisation.
Stringy Bach have a tradition of supporting health charities through their concerts, having donated to MSF in the past and for several years supporting Ozwac women’s and children’s health charity.