Francophiles were given a great treat on the weekend of 15 and 16 July when the Hastings Choristers choirs combined with Soprano Rose Wallin and trumpeter Jason Heise in a concert series celebrating French music. The concerts were at the Uniting Church, Oxley Highway, Port Macquarie at 2pm on Saturday 15 July and Sunday 16 July.
Cantorus is one of the premier SATB choirs in Regional Australia and performed the spectacular Gloria by Poulenc as well as a wide variety of other choral works by French composers, including excerpts from Les Miserables, under the musical direction of Robyn Ryan OAM. They were joined in the Gloria by talented young soprano, Rose Wallin.
Rose Wallin was until recently a fourth year student at the Newcastle Conservatorium, majoring in voice. She has worked with many local opera and dramatic societies, with roles including Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Mozart) and The Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (Lloyd Webber). She is now continuing her studies in Germany.
Another highlight of the concert was the performance of trumpeter Jason Heise with accompanist Lydia Wills.
Jason began his musical career at the age of eleven by joining the Kempsey District Silver Band and then went on to join the prestigious Performing Arts Units Pacific Schools Games Orchestra, and toured Europe with the Performing Arts Units All Star Stage Band. He completed his Bachelor of Music with Honours in 2004 at the University of Newcastle and performs with the Sydney Symphony Sinfonia and Australian Opera Ballet Orchestra.
His accompanist, Lydia Wills, is a brilliant young pianist. She won the Peter Rorke Award for the best undergraduate student in 2002 from the University of Southern Queensland.
