Swansong recital series

David Wickham is a busy man. I reviewed a WAAPA concert this week where the lecturer performed orchestral reductions on piano, this Sunday he is accompanying Alexander Lewis as part of the SwanSong recital series and he has just released his second CD with soprano Lisa Harper-Brown.

The SwanSongs recital series was launched in 2013 to great success. Wickham says the series is close to his heart.

"This is absolutely the music that I can’t do without, the core of my career and passion; the place where words and music fuse to create something extraordinary."

This year Wickham profiles three of Western Australia's greatest singers starting with rising star Alexander Lewis this Sunday at 5pm. Lewis is a WAAPA graduate trained by his mother Perth singing teacher Patricia Price. The tenor came to attention in Australia as Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and has recently been part of the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist program. Last month he sung Tamino in the WA Opera production of The Magic Flute.

Alexander Lewis

Wickham built a program specifically for Lewis around painters and paintings. Repertoire includes Poulenc's The Work of the Painter which explores the bold world of modern masters from Picasso to Chagall; Ben Moore's new cycle Dear Theo on letters from Vincent van Gogh to his brother; Reynaldo Hahn's rare but charming set of piano pieces Portraits of Painters which he wrote in Venice using the poems of his travelling companion Marcel Proust; and Hahn's cycle Venezia from the same trip.

The final recital is later in August featuring Lisa Harper-Brown, who studied at UWA and sang several big roles with WA Opera before pursuing a career with Opera Australia and overseas. She is currently based in New Zealand. Wickham has recorded two CD's with Harper-Brown: The Poet Sings and The Red of a Woman's Heart.

Lisa Harper-Brown

And here is the exciting part: Lisa Harper-Brown's recital program is inspired by my book Women of Note and will be based around the music of Australian women composers. The concert is August 17th 3pm and I can't wait to hear Lisa and David bring to life the music of Margaret Sutherland, Peggy Glanville-Hicks and Sally Whitwell. I will be there with copies of the book for interested buyers!
 
SwanSong 2014
Perth Town Hall
August 3rd & 17th
http://www.davidwickham.me/David_Wickham/SwanSongs_artists_2014.html

David Wickham - the man behind it all