Despite what my little sidebar says, tonight is the Q150 Concert for Orpheus Singers and Bundaberg Youth Choir. What does this mean I hear you ask (or maybe not). It means we have been rehearsing a selection of choral music by Queensland composers and about Queensland. There are a few Stephen Leek and Colin Brumby pieces, as well as even newer works by Sandra Milliken and Harley Mead (don’t worry I’d barely heard of them either). So that’s interesting. At the other end of the musical spectrum we have real old bottlers found in the depths of collections of old sheet music. One – The Sunshine State – was a favourite in schools some decades ago and starts with the delightful line “Life is great in the Sunshine State, every Queensland heart sings a song”…and don’t worry the words get even kitschier from there. We’ve also got a great music hall type tune about aviator Bert Hinkler (who lived IN BUNDABERG) and a song someone found that is actually about Bundaberg with the immortal chorus “B-U-N-D-A-B-E-R-G…that’s the place where I am longing to be”. It’s fabulous. And did anyone know Vance Palmer was born in Bundaberg. I certainly didn’t, but a composer from Gayndah, Helen Morris has written a beautiful choral arrangement of his poem The Pathfinders.

It’s a pretty light night for me in my role as accompanist. Most of the Orpheus pieces are unaccompanied so while I’ve had to do the neverending notebashing at rehearsal I don’t have to do much tonight. I do have to play a piano duet which I must run and practice now, as well as accompany one of the Colin Brumby pieces (thanks Colin for the endless threes against twos because that’s always fun).

Oh and I wrote the narration for the compere. That was a nice job.
So now I must decide what to wear, make myself beautiful and get moving for our little bit of regional cultcha.