Launched soon after all our concerts were cancelled in March 2020, I have now presented 5 studio concerts. The last one will be 24th May at 6pm.
‘I came up with the idea early on in COVID shutdowns to present solo concerts on Zoom from my front room. This was inspired by a young colleague Ryley Gillen who had asked me to present an artist concert for the donors to the Shoalhaven Youth Orchestra - to what was an audience of about 10 - and it was really fun chatting to them between pieces and hearing them clap after I finished a work. I know a lot of people struggle with the Facebook Live thing of finishing a piece and hearing silence. The comments on the screen are great and the interaction that it can provide is really important. I am now about to launch my 5th Zoom concert (including that very first one presented by Ryley in March) on Sunday 24 May at 6pm. Basically people secure their place by transferring the $50/head ticket price directly into my bank account. I share the Zoom link with them along with the program notes a few days prior and I cap the audience number at around 20 so we can have intimacy and everyone can chat before, during and after. Some people keep their video off and that is totally fine too if they want to remain anonymous and just listen. Lots of people ask questions - and the best bit is that I don’t have to take my marimba into 9 pieces, load it into the car, set it up at the other end and do it all again to get it back to my place. Not having to do that is pure joy for me and means I can really focus on the music. I have presented several world premieres as part of my series which I was meant to premiere at the Bowral Autumn Music Festival - these were works by Andrew Ford and Ella Macens written for me. For what will be my final Studio Zoom Concert for a while on the 24th May I’ll have a world premiere by London composer Christopher Fox who will be joining us for the show, so that is very exciting!’
