Reviews

Pride of the Celts the Queensland Pops Orchestra’s favourite Celtic show returned by popular demand. Filled with the spectacular dancers, pipers, singers and musicians expected of such an evening, the Orchestra was joined by the spectacular Voices of Birralee along with Gregory Moore and Liza Beamish for an explosive night of Celtic fun. Featuring favourite songs such as A Hundred Pipers, Bonny Doon, and the orchestral premier of Gaelforce, Peter Graham’s spectacular celtic masterpiece. Audience members were left spellbound by this evening of Celtic masterpieces.

It is difficult to find the words to describe the sheer joy I felt while listening to and watching your wonderful concert on Saturday. Every item was a delight and listening to Jordan Pollard, The Voices of Birralee and the Villanova Irish Ensemble demonstrates that the future of music in Queensland is in good hands. I think I have told everyone to whom I have spoken since Saturday [and probably some several times] of the magnificent rendition of Amazing Grace and the way it made the floor and seats vibrate! I just wish that the whole performance was on video so that we could relive the experience over and over again.

Thank you all for a wonderful musical experience. - Kate

I just wanted to say that the concert on the weekend was absolutely brilliant and I cannot say that enough!! It just kept getting better and better and as for the last song (which actually brought me to tears) my goodness what an amazing way to end.

Congratulations on putting on such an amazing performance - Sian

Just a quick note to Barrie, The Orchestra, and the featured artists to say how much we enjoyed Saturday’s concert. I have been attending these concerts since 1998 (it started out as a treat for my Mum) and we have been coming every year. Last Saturday’s concert was my favourite so far – a fabulous blend of our old favourites (songs & artists ), a lovely balance between Scottish, Irish & even Welsh, and some wonderful new talented young Queenslanders on show.

I am so pleased to see you incorporate the young talent into these shows – The Villanova Celtic band, Jordan Pollard, and the Voices of Birralee. Under Barrie’s direction I feel there is a new freshness to this much loved concert – it was my favourite one so far.

Karyn and Heather

This show was a huge success - with several standing ovations.

One Enchanted Evening with Julie Anthony and Simon Gallaher. Together at last on the QPAC Concert Hall Stage with Australia’s most entertaining orchestra these two favourite artists dazzled the audience with their versions of Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable, On the Street Where You Live and Fascinating Rhythm along with many other favourite songs from the stage.

The Saturday afternoon concert with Simon Gallaher & Julie Anthony was breathtaking! It was exciting and enjoyable beyond words. They are both wonderful performers. To hear Simon start singing " Unforgettable" before he stepped on stage gave me shivers. I have been a fan of his from his early days with the glass piano at the Gold Coast shows AND I saw him in Rockhampton with Marina Prior in The Student Prince . His voice is strong and he is ever a showman.

An outstanding way to start the new season of concerts. Dot

What a great night we had last night. Top class.

Just a pity that the rest of Brisbane realise how great it was....................



David & Kay

Read Julie's Bio

Read Simon's Bio - Visit Simon's Web page

New Year's Eve Spectacular

I felt that I had to email you to tell you how much we enjoyed the concert on new year. I was with my husband and some friends who enjoy the Pops Orchestra and we came along after our friends told us not to miss out. I enjoy the classics though my husband knows a lot more than me and studied music in his youth. In fact he is a real opera buff and had such a wonderful time. We have travelled quite a lot and have been to many concerts, here and abroad, and have to say the atmosphere that you created was so exciting. We were all on a high driving home and I have been humming the tunes constantly since.

We were so impressed with Christopher Saunders. We have listened to him on the radio before and were looking forward to hearing him live. We all had tears in our eyes and were so moved by his beautiful singing. My husband who knows a lot about voices said that this young man is something special. I can only echo him and tell you his singing was the highlight for us. We have since purchased his CD.

We are also going to purchase the Pops Orchestra CD and will be attending as many concerts as we can in the future. We have told family and friends and will be looking forward to your 2008 concert series.

Please pass on our congratulations to the Orchestra and thank you for your wonderful conducting. -

Mary.

Just a note to say how much we enjoyed the New Years Eve concert - it is always a good evening.  We thought the colourful dresses that the ladies wore were a definite plus.  It made a delightful change from the more usual sombre attire in concerts.
 
Penny  & Ron

I wanted to let the orchestra know how much the audience enjoyed the 'New Year's Eve Spectacular' last night.

The show was full of wonderful music and the response from everyone was overwhelming. The quality and the pieces played was so entertaining we could have stayed for many more hours.

The singers were wonderful though we were so impressed with your tenor guest artist! What a voice! After the show, the whole audience was a buzz with this young mans voice and talent. Many people said that the voice resembles that of the great Mario Lanza. We were all gobsamacked to say the least. We will look out for your concerts again and hope to see much more of Christopher Saunders!

Best wishes for the new year,

Tom

Just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed the concert last night. I think it was the best of the 5 that I have attended. We loved the change from traditional Night in Vienna & feel there was a good balance of traditional & contemporary. We particularly enjoyed the soloists. Wow! , Don’t they all have spectacular voices. My favorite numbers were Climb Every Mountain, The Impossible Dream & Lilly’s Eyes.

We look forward to the concert series this year.

Happy new year to you & the orchestra.

Regards

Wendy

Dear Barrie and Paula,

My sincere thanks for such a great new year concert.

I enjoyed the music and seeing all those wonderful musicians again. Thanks again Barrie for your energy and I loved singing with you. I thought the 'Una furtiva lagrima' and 'You are my hearts delight' were particular highlights.

My best wishes to you for 2008.

Chris. (Saunders)

A big congratulations on last night’s show. It was fantastic from beginning to end. Especially glad to see the amazing Joyce Carson back, playing up a storm!

The singers were all superb. But you never expect anything less from Jason Barry-Smith. Christopher Saunders was brilliant. I predict that he will be BIG, one day. I shook his hand at the end of the night and we called each other “Mate”. You can only imagine in the not too distant future, in the same situation I would call Chris “Maestro”!

Thanks for presenting a great program! I can’t imagine New Years Eve without the Pops !

Lisa and I look forward to every Pops Concert in 2008.

Regards

Brad & Lisa

A Snapshot of some of the orchestra members before the NYE Spectacular.

"Swing, Swing, Swing"

At each concert I think ' how can Barrie better this' but he always has something stored in his hat! Saturday's concert had everyone clapping and dancing in their seats. The Pops orchestra, Andy Firth could not have done more to give us an outstanding concert and although we could have all stayed to listen to more it was obvious all the performers had given their all. Thank you. - Dot

Thank you for giving us such great entertainment throughout 2007. Saturday’s concert was just amazing and we all came away on a high. - Don & Roslyn

A very belated thank you for Saturday night's show. Lynda & I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of your production. It was superb. - Graham and Lynda

Great concert – my wife said she thought it was your best yet!! - John

I have to say that Andy Firth was phenomenal and really opened my eyes with his clarinet and saxophone skills. - Mei

“...Saw Andy Perform in Brisbane with the QLD Pop’s Orch on 20th Oct. 2007-Absolutely superb performance!” - Jack and Yvonne

“We had the pleasure of hearing Andy perform last Saturday night at the swing concert with the QLD Pop’s Orch (Brisbane) & enjoyed his playing immensely-simply must have any of his clarinet CDs! Andy Firth-we salute you!” - Ken & Ruth

“What a night!!!! Andy is going to be one of the unforgettable persons in our lives! Without any reservations we all agreed that he is a "GENIUS"!!!!!!

"From Beatles to Bacharach and Beyond"

I feel compelled to email and thank you for last weeks fabulous Pops Orchestra concert. It has been a week now since we enjoyed your concert and we are still humming Beatles tunes.

We frequent many musicals both in Brisbane and the Gold Coast and even flew down to Sydney to see Priscilla, but your lead singer Michael-John was the best singer we have ever heard in person. Why have we not seen him before? We read he has done many shows both locally and overseas. He really touched us with his beautiful rendition of You raise me up and Bridge over troubled water. Both my wife and I cried throughout both songs. We will definitely be coming to Michael John's next concert with your orchestra. He was amazing! Please pass on our compliments to our new favourite singer.

The choir deserve a very special mention as they only enhanced the evening with their beautifully angelic sound. Well done kids! Your parents should be very proud.

We left the Concert Hall so happy and fulfilled, having got such great value for our money. It is such a wonderful venue and adds to the ambience of such glorious music. We have told many of friends to catch your performance at the Gold Coast Arts Centre as it is a not to be missed performance.

Congratulations to you Barrie and your talented orchestra, as you all seemed to enjoy the music as much as we did. Great to see seriously brilliant musicians not taking themselves too seriously.

Thank you all. It was simply the best night out we can remember.

Yours sincerely,

J & J Marland

I am writing to congratulate you on the terrific concert conducted by Barrie Gott and your organisation, last Saturday the 25th August 2007 at the QPAC Centre at BRISBANE.

This concert was exeptionally good in particular the performance by Michael John when he was singing solo and accompanied by the BIRRALEE Choir.

In my opinion his performance was by far and away the standout of the night, his vocal versatility is second to none and I believe he could sing absoluitley any genere put before him quite easily.

Another performance with Michael John on the Bill would most surely have my friends and I in attendance at any venue.

Thank You for the opportunity to be entained by such proffesional performers and your exeptionally good orchestra.

Kaye

The Concert on Saturday was brilliant, as always we enjoyed every minute.
Trish

We attended the recent "From Beatles to Bacharach and Beyond" concert in Brisbane last weekend and as first time attendees were absolutely delighted with the whole performance - especially the vocalist Michael-John Hurney.
 
His obvious ability and the professionalism of his performance was the highlight of the show.
 
We look forward to seeing him performing again with the Queensland Pops Orchestra in the near future.
 
Jill & Graeme

The concert (Beatles to Bacharach and Beyond) was fantastic the BEST we have been to for years and I must say Bohemian Rhapsody was a show stopper, we came out so thrilled at having been to such a show.
Karen

 
This is my first opportunity to get to my computer and send congratulations on Saturday afternoon's concert. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The crisp, clear tenor of Michael-John Hurney was outstanding as were the Birralee singers. But my favourite is watching Barrie up there swing and sway with every note coming from this wonderful orchestra. He is obviously enjoying the moment too.
Four concerts next year, hooray!
Dot

What an amazing show on Saturday ! Each and every time, just as I find myself thinking they can’t top this show……you do ! Truly, I’ve never enjoyed myself more with the QPOPS. But I imagine that I’ll be saying that after SWING, SWING, SWING as well !

I was very fortunate to win the CD at the matinee performance. So thankyou for the CD, and to quote ABBA, thankyou for the music.

The Queensland Pops Orchestra. Four words that always mean outstanding ! And I do mean ALWAYS !
Brad And Lisa

We are not normally moved to write unless something takes our fancy,however after last night's concert (Beatles to Bacharach) we felt we must send you a message.

Barrie and the Orchestra, Michael-John and the Birralee Voices just performed brilliantly last night. We enjoy all of your performances but you surpassed yourselves with last night's display. The variations on the Beatles hits with the Beatlecracker Suite and breaking into the closing part of the 1812 overture after Hey Jude...well, words failed us. Listen to the Music and The Voices mingling with the audience, well, what a great move that was. How could one not be moved by the youth, freshness and exuberance of the Birralee Mob..we left feeling uplifted and refreshed, talked about the show all the way home.

Keep up the absolutely great performances, this was one of your best, we will be back again for more.

Michael & Shirley

Just wanted to let you that we thoroughly enjoyed the concert on Saturday night. The choice of music was great (my era - the 60's & 70's) and the vocalist was excellent. The Birralee voices were a big hit - their enthusiasm and professionalism certainly added to the night.

Greme and Barbara

I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon's performance and was particularly touched by the singing of your featured artist, Mr. Michael-John Hurney. I cried during his soul-stirring renditions of 'You Raise Me Up', 'Yesterday' and 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters'.

Mei

'Best of British'

From the Orchestra’s sublime Nimrod to the Brisbane Chorale’s When Irish Eyes are Smiling, from soloist Stewart Cameron’s rousing Rose of England to the Brisbane City Temple Band’s superb Floral Dance, Saturday’s Best of British was a visual feast and a musical spectacular with almost 190 musicians and choristers on stage.

The confronting orchestral barrage of Holst’s Mars early in the concert no doubt struck a familiar chord with sci-fi enthusiasts, but by item five with the Dambusters March, the program had locked firmly onto the Pops traditional wavelength and Barrie Gott’s baton conjured a truly magical result. At that moment, the audience was firmly in the palm of the conductor’s hand.

The effortless accomplishment of Vaughan William’s English Folksong Suite proved yet again that this is a simply first class orchestra – and the matinee audience which filled almost ninety percent of the Concert Hall let their appreciation be known!

This concert made one wonder if rousing brass pieces must be good for the circulation since they seem to inspire the desire to jiggle every limb. Even the funny bone was tickled by the Yorkshire-bred conductor’s joining a trio of companions to recite, for the audience’s delight, their ancestral predilection for outdoing each other in the misfortune stakes.

This audience loved the traditional singalongs, and not a soul was reluctant about joining in with gusto. In fact, with Colonel Bogey, the opportunities to participate even extended to whistling along!

It was no surprise that the audience, well and truly enspirited by Jennifer Parish’s powerful Rule Britannia, were not ready for the concert to end.

As a result, there were three encores, and in the midst of the second one which was Call Australia Home, one realised that there could be no more telling example of Aussie fellow-feeling than when all present gave roof-raising resonance to Peter Allen’s inspired tune.

No wonder the Englishman sitting behind us, who had been an Aussie for almost 50 years, was dabbing his eyes at the end!

In short, Saturday’s Best of British was the joyful convergence of orchestral finesse masterminded by Barrie Gott, with an enthusiastic, mature audience who know the real thing when they hear it. No doubt, those audience members are spreading the word far and wide as we speak...

GLORIA AND GERARD

'An Evening in Vienna'
Concert Hall, QPAC - 31 December 2005

"The concert was dazzling! Chris Fennessy’s mastery seemed effortless, and Jason Barry-Smith’s engaging musical and theatrical aplomb made us wish we could see more of him doing the likes of “Me”. Louise Kennedy’s easy vivaciousness provided plenty of feminine counterpoint to balance the males. Finally of course, James Van Elswyk and Samantha Newcomb played their superb role of visually enhancing the waltzes, and at the same time, made lots of the audience mentally resolve to take up ballroom dancing in the New Year!

Despite all of this, we consider that the real star was the Orchestra. From concertmaster to the rank-in-file – that is, from Julie-Anne’s moving “Meditation” to Louise King’s cello contribution in the overture, the sound was rich and resonant, and the general impression is that here is a band of musicians who revel in what they do and would like to do it forever!

Hats off, of course, to the conductor who can draw this talent out of them, plus the concert program which included the right balance of tunes that were familiar and eminently “hummable”, to new items to educate the ear.

Undoubtedly the full house helped, and it is likely that those present who had not heard the Pops “Under New Management” will make sure that they hear a lot more of them - by subscribing in 2006 and suggesting that their acquaintances do likewise. One woman from Ballina even said that she is looking forward to 2007 when - she heard - the Pops Subscription Series will be returning to the Gold Coast Arts Centre."

Gerard Benjamin and Gloria Grant