Classical music - Selby and Friends
Indaily Online Adelaide,
Elder Hall,
11 November 2007
Bill Nicholas | November 11, 2007
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Kathy the key
Stephen Whittington | November 14, 2007
Selby and Friends
Elder Hall, November 14.
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Passionate performance combining vitality and musicality
W.L. Hoffmann | September 10, 2007
Selby and Friends
Fairfax Theatre, National Gallery of Australia, September 10.
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Sparkling sounds generate a gem
Rodney Smith | September 8, 2007
Li-Wei and Kathryn Selby
Elder Hall, September 22.
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Friends share the honours
Clive O'Connell | September 7, 2007
Selby and Friends
Melba Hall, September 5.
FOR the latest in this series run by Sydney pianist Kathryn Selby, the friends were reduced to one: cellist Li-Wei, a popular adopted Melbourne son.
The pair shared Wednesday night's honours pretty evenly, although the cellist enjoyed the benefit of two virtuosic pieces.
He ended the set program with an arrangement of the Moses Variations by Paganini, a showpiece that came off pretty successfully, although some of the harmonics detail went missing in action and the initial theme and its repetition were announced with overemphasis. Still, the piece rouses enthusiasm by its hectic rush and the transformation of Rossini's worthy melody into a kind of instrumental calisthenics exercise.
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A cello celebration
Steve Moffat | September 11, 2007
Kathryn Selby, piano, and Li-Wei, cello
St Andrew's Cathedral, September 11.
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Trio's warmth saves a rainy day
Murray Black | August 21, 2007
TrioZ
Utzon Room,
Sydney Opera House, August 19.
THE organisers of the Sydney Opera House's Utzon Room chamber music series are on to a good thing. Not even a cold, windy and rainy afternoon could prevent a capacity crowd from attending this concert by TrioZ, the sixth in the series.
Pianist Kathryn Selby must also feel she's on to a good thing with her new trio partners, Niki Vasilakis (violin) and Emma-Jane Murphy (cello).
In his short introduction, series curator Marshall McGuire promised that the eloquence of TrioZ's music-making would speak for itself. For the most part, it did.
Although they have been together less than a year, there is an energy and enthusiasm in TrioZ's performances that sometimes eluded Selby's previous group, the Macquarie Trio. Alert and responsive, they astutely varied their sound in each of the three works they performed while maintaining good balance.
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Excerpts from reviews of the S&F July/August tour with TRIOZ
· Beethoven's Op.1, the Piano Trio in E flat major, demanded a dramatic switch from the languid themes of Andalusia to a highly energised, tight construct. The transition was instant - glance from violinist to cellist to pianist, then into the intricate rhythms with a newly classical spring. Vasilakis's seductive legato again prevailed in the slow movement, and in the scherzo the joke was on the audience, with Selby and cellist Emma-Jane Murphy playing the recurring ornaments with an almost caricatured diligence. As for the finale, it was like a floodgate had opened. The notes rushed out, pell mell, almost too fast to hear, but thrilling nevertheless. Sydney Morning Herald, 3 August, 2007
· The E Flat Trio from Beethoven's Opus 1 set brought back memories of the recent chamber music competition where pretty well every piano trio by this composer was attempted, even if the TrioZ version demonstrated the incalculable advantages of experience and insight. Selby kept the pace moving without having to urge, her contribution firm and consistently at the centre of the action. ... the second movement Adagio which showed the group speaking as one in an illuminating performance of rich sonority. The Age, 3 August, 2007
· The standout was indoubtedly Trioz's splendid handling of Beethoven's controlled emotion in the slow movement Adagio of his Piano Trio Op.1 No 1, an early gem in the composer's output, with long lyrical lines that sparkled with vibrant colours undr the player's attention. Also memorable were the sturdy Brahmsian harmonies and rhythms of the Finale of Dvorak's Piano Trio No 3 Op 65. Trioz played with true grit and determination to give a triumphant and vital end to this symphonically scaled work... The Adelaide Avertiser, 8 August, 2007
· The reasons why this new trio has come so far in such a short time were not hard to find in this concert. It’s obvious that they just love playing together – and the more challenging the piece the better. And Selby, Murphy and Vasilakis delivered in trumps. The interplay between the string players was a feature and Selby, as always, kept a firm control from the keyboard. Manly Daily, 3 August, 2007
· [Selby’s] latest effort featured the so-titled TrioZ of excellent young Adelaide violinist Niki Vasilakis, top-notch cellist Emma-Jane Murphy, and herself at Sant’ Angelo. The program consisted of a short, Iberian-spiced Trio 1933 by Joaquin Turina, Beethoven’s Opus 1 No 1(1795) which prophesies great things, and Dvorak’s eventful, though in its outer movements rather congested Trio Opus 65 (1833). All performances were carefully balanced, technically immaculate, and emotionally convincing. North Shore Times, 10 August, 2007
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JANAKI STRING TRIO
With KATHY SELBY
MUSIC –
Adelaide Advertiser 23 May, 2007
When: Sunday
Where: Elder Hall
Reviewer:
Rodney Smith
SYDNEY radio presenter, music entrepreneur and pianist Kathy Selby has re-created her earlier Selby and Friends concert series for 2007, on this occasion featuring herself with US ensemble the Janaki String Trio. Her Adelaide following from the now-defunct Macquarie Trio series remains constant.
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Glorious music captured with élan
Canberra Times, 17 May, 2007
Review by W.L. Hoffmann
Selby and Friends – Janaki String Trio. Fairfax Theatre, National Gallery. May 14.
Selby and Friends have successfully filled the gap left by the disbanding of the Macquarie Trio last year, and for this second concert for 2007 it was once again a capacity audience filling the Fairfax Theatre. It was also a highly receptive audience for what proved to be exceptionally fine performances.
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Review
The Age Friday 18th of May 2007
ARTS & CULTURE - MUSIC
Youth and beauty on Janaki's side with impeccable Penderecki
Clive O'Connell, Reviewer
SELBY & FRIENDS
Melba Hall, May 16,
info@selby andfriends.com.au
BEFORE the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition begins in July, it might be a salutary if chastening experience for many of the entrants to hear the Janaki String Trio in action, just to realise what can be achieved by dedicated, expert young musicians in a short time-span. Yes, I know that the upcoming competition involves string quartets and piano trios only, but the experience of watching music of this genre take splendid shape in real time is what the Janaki Trio provides in full measure.
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Fast and fearless but nary a note missed
Classical
Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May, 2007
SELBY & FRIENDS
St Andrew’s Cathedral, May 15
Reviewed by Harriet Cunningham
After the well-received first tour of her new ensemble, TrioZ, Kathryn Selby is presenting the Janaki String Trio, an American violin-viola-cello combo. They are cracking. Formed less than two years ago, they have made their debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and anyone who was at this week’s Selby & Friends concerts will long remember their first Sydney appearances.
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Selby and Friends in Concert
State of the Arts - Online
Reviewed by Roger Knight
It would be difficult to improve on the glowing review that Harriet Cunningham gave these performances when she heard them in Sydney last week (SMH 17th May). “Long remembered… rich and expansive reading…this outstanding concert” were just a few of her accolades.
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STEPPING OUT
CONCERT: Selby and Friends: Janaki String Trio
WHERE: Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College
WHEN: Sunday, May 13
Remember the name
STEVE MOFFATT 18May07
THEY take their name from a Sanskrit word meaning ``self-realisation'', they play with a discrimination and maturity well beyond their years and they're creating waves wherever they go.
Formed at Los Angeles' Colburn School of Music just two years ago, Janaki String Trio combine flair with energy and panache and have already garnered music awards in the US.
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THE AGE
MUSIC
Clive O'Connell
Selby and Friends
Melba Hall
March 21, 2007
CONTINUING her new series of subscription recitals after last year's rug-pulling from under the Macquarie Trio, pianist Kathryn Selby has formed an ensemble with violinist Niki Vasilakis and cellist Emma-Jane Murphy, a combination that Selby tried out at the end of last year with great success and which she is using as the focus for her interstate travels in 2007.
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Selby & Friends: Trioz, St Andrew's Cathedral, March 20
Peter McCallum, reviewer
March 22, 2007
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WITH goodwill in their hearts and discomfort in their bottoms (courtesy of the protestant severity of the pews of St Andrew's), a generous audience turned out to wish Kathryn Selby and friends well for the first day of the rest of their lives - the first concert of Selby's post-Macquarie Trio existence after its implosion last year.
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Canberra Times, Thursday 22nd March, 2007.
Promising Start for TrioZ
Selby and Friends. National Concert Season – Program One. Fairfax Theatre, National Gallery. March 19.
REVIEW
W.L.Hoffmann
This newly formed Australian chamber music group, which has arisen, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the previous Macquarie Trio, which sadly self-destructed late last year, made an impressive Canberra debut last Monday night. It is centred around TrioZ, a new piano trio in which pianist Kathryn Selby, former leader of the Macquarie Trio, has been joined by the brilliant young Australian violinist Niki Vasilakis, and the fine cellist Emma-Jane Murphy who for a number of years was principal cello of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
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North Shore Times
Classical Music with Fred Blanks
Friday, March 30, 2007
TrioZ a choice pick
Choices, choices! Last Sunday there were nine concerts: The Australian Chamber Orchestra, Wyvern Music Club, Mosman Music Club, Clemens Leske, Sydney Consort, Rem Urasin, Brandenburg Ensemble, Bowral Music Festival and Kathryn Selby’s TrioZ. I picked Selby’s team: new venue, new ensemble, well-worn music.
The McQuoin Centre at Monte Sant’ Angelo College, North Sydney, proved large enough for a weatherproof, discerning, faithful audience of around 400. Its acoustics are good and performances of vivid integrity resisted distraction from traffic outside and rain. The Kakadu Variations by Beethoven opened the program (after one of those unnecessary chats by the pianist a la Goldschlager), followed by two major works of urbane civility: Mendelssohn’s Opus 66 and Ravel’s A Minor Trios. It would have been hard to imagine better playing than provided by pianist Kathryn Selby, violinist Niki Vasilakis and cellist Emma-Jane Murphy. Their Adelaide and Canberra recitals last week were sold out, and Sydney should follow suit.
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CONCERT: TrioZ, St Andrew's Cathedral, Tuesday, March 20
Trio takes a pew
Steve Moffatt
23Mar07
CONDITIONS may not have been ideal for chamber music on a steamy night with the fans turned off to stop the background buzz, but St Andrew's Cathedral in the city made a stunning backdrop for one of Australia's most exciting new ensembles.
Newly-christened TrioZ this group, led by pianist Kathy Selby with Niki Vasilakis on violin and former ACO principal cellist Emma-Jane Murphy, was born out of last year's bitter demise of the Macquarie Trio.
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