Arwel Jenkins conducts Vivace's Sunday performance at St Boniface Church Bunbury
Vivace’s final Sunday afternoon performance attracted a full house at St Boneface Cathedral in Bunbury. It was the amateur oratorio group’s third performance in a season of Mozart and Vivaldi.
Bunbury makes no apology for being a Port City and a blue collar town, but on this Sunday it was a centre of culture. It was even more remarkable for the fact that conductor Arwel Jenkins had managed to transform a rabble of barber-shop baritones into a melodic choir that provided a strong vocal platform for the harmonies of soloists, including the mellifluous solo voice of Alto Lorraine Bond.
The quality of the performance prompted Tenor soloist Chris Ryland to rue the fact that he lives in Mandurah. “I don’t think Bunbury realises its own strength when it comes to musical talent. A locally produced performance of this quality would simply be out of the question in Mandurah.”
Choir leader and baritone soloist Tony Martin puts the credit squarely with Arwel Jenkins leadership as conductor, and the four months of rehearsals that the dedicated Vivace group committed themselves to at the beginning. “A performance of this scale is as much about team effort as it is about music,” said Tony. “Whatever we achieved here today could not have happened without the strong sense of community we have here among musicians and singers, and without Arwel’s skill in pulling it all together.”
Praise was not reserved only for the Vivace choir. Following the performance, conductor Arwel Jenkins was moved to declare that the orchestra which had assembled for these performances was the best he had conducted during his professional career in Bunbury.
Soprano soloists Marguerite Monagle and Janet Depiazzi contributed richly to the performance, particularly in passages involving cello and voice which were etherial in character, and a testament to the genius of the composers.
The musicians on the other hand were full of praise for the acoustics of St Boniface. While a modest building in appearance, it consistently enhances the blending of choir and orchestra into a rich body of sound, while allowing the performers a clear sense of balance between the various voices.
Fans of Vivace are now looking forward to the next performance of the group which has yet to be scheduled. Rumours are it might be around Easter next year, and it might involve testing the acoustics in a brand new venue.