Club Night 5th November 2013

A magical Club Night with a wonderful atmosphere and superb keyboard playing. It was a joyous occasion and a sad occasion as our member, Kuniko Nakatani, will be going back home to Japan at the end of November and so this was a celebration of her wonderful musical contributions for the Club over the last 6 months as well as celebrating her recent Birthday.

The arrival music was played by John Beales and followed by Ian Jackson on piano. Next up Laurie Conder entertained the audience playing his Roland G-70 keyboard. To finish the first half of the Programme, Kuniko Nakatani gave an extended cameo concert on our Clavinova CVP-509. The choice of music she played said it all really such as: Con te Partiro (Time to say Goodbye) and Memory. We were also treated to some serious concert pieces such as Chopin's Fantaisie - Impromptu which she played magnificently such that the whole house stood spontaneously to applaud her World class performance of this difficult but beautiful piece of music. As well as celebrating Kuniko’s Birthday we also presented her with a memento of our affection (a greenstone Koru necklace).

Our guest artist was the professional musician and pianist, Peter Parkinson, who entertained marvellously using a Korg Pa588 digital arranger piano. Peter demonstrated the wonderful style and arrangements on the instrument as well as playing some straight music (without rhythms) showing off the gorgeous layered sounds that this instrument is capable of. Peter is the Manager for Music Planet Botany Downs (located inside the Danske Mobler store) and specializes in quality acoustic pianos.

A big thank you to the Committee and support staff for a terrific job as always to make the evening go so smoothly. The Club will post some YouTube embedded videos of the evening is due course so watch this space!

The Video Clips:

Click on the Play button below to watch Ian Jackson playing the Club’s Yamaha Clavinova CVP-509 on Club Night.

Click on the Play button below to watch Laurie Conder playing his Roland G-70 keyboard on Club Night.

Click on the Play button below to watch Kuniko Nakatani giving a piano recital using the Club’s Yamaha Clavinova CVP-509 on Club Night.

 

Photo Highlights:

 

 

 

 

 

The PumpHouse Theatre Concert on 3rd November 2013

This was the fourth concert in the series "A Sunday Afternoon Musical Spectacular at the PumpHouse Theatre" and what a concert it was! A good sized audience were entertained right royally in the first half by Takashi Iida on his superb state-of-the-art Yamaha Electone Stagea organ. Taka played nine pieces from the classics 'Wagner' to the show ballads like "I Dreamed a Dream" to some contemporary jazz with "A Taste of Honey". Superb orchestrations, masterful musicianship and wonderful, balanced selection of songs that simply dazzled the audience.

In the second-half we were delighted to have as our special guest artists, The Ben Fernandez Trio, with added sax player and two female vocalists. The photos below give the names of the players when you move your mouse over the appropriate photos. What a polished performance - you would not find better anywhere and it was an honour to have such talented musicians perform for the North Shore Organ and Keyboard Club's PumpHouse Concert Spectacular.

A big thank you to members of the NSOKC Committee for the logistics and namely: Jim Nicholson; Delyse Whorwood; Peter Brophy; and Peter Littlejohn. Also a special thank you to Sylvia Riddell for handling pre-bookings ticket distribution at the door and to Len Hancy for being our MC for the show and doing such a great job as always.

All in all, a concert for the archives of the memory and for those that did not share this very special occasion there will be some video clips posted on this Web Page in the next few days so keep posted.

The Video Clips:

Click on the start icon below to watch a YouTube embedded video of Takashi Iida playing his Yamaha Electone Stagea organ at the PumpHouse Theatre at the Concert:

Click on the start icon below to watch a YouTube embedded video of The Ben Fernandez Trio and Guest Artists playing A Concert for the Club at the PumpHouse Theatre (Part One of Two Videos):

Click on the start icon below to watch a YouTube embedded video of The Ben Fernandez Trio and Guest Artists playing A Concert for the Club at the PumpHouse Theatre (Part Two of Two Videos):

The Photos: