Yesterday Sydney Camerata performed at Sydney’s brand new concert hall located in The Concourse complex at Chatswood. Upon arrival we were immediately impressed. The exterior is beautiful and striking, with bold steel and glass panels and a wide staircase leading down to a new, grassy public square and the Chatswood library.

The real delights for us, however, revealed themselves once we stepped foot inside the concert hall. Boasting beautiful maple wood panelling and crimson red seating over two levels, the interior was certainly visually appealing, but was the acoustic equally pleasing? In a word, yes! As a 1,000-seat hall inspired by traditional European theatres it offered a clear, crisp response that was neither boomy nor overly generous. From the stage at times, playing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 3, it was difficult to hear individual instruments but a bit more time in the venue would have allowed us a greater chance to get accustomed to it. Regardless, I would be intrigued to hear from an audience’s perspective how our sound was received. Overall, we were very pleased with the acoustic and as our soloist in Mozart’s Jeunehomme Piano Concerto Kathryn Selby quite simply said, “they got this one right”. I wonder how it would have fared in Limelight‘s acoustics survey, had the venue been completed earlier.

I must give thanks to the very helpful staff at The Concourse, our soloists Kathy Selby and Freya Franzen, director Liz Gormley and the extraordinary musicians I was able to share the stage with.

We’re looking forward to presenting our final concert for the year this Thursday September 29, 7pm at The Independent Theatre in North Sydney. Join us for a concert featuring JS Bach’s Oboe and Violin Concerto, Bridge’s 3 Idylls for String Quartet, the world premiere of Andrew Howes’ 3 Pieces After Yeats, and Strauss’s epic Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings.