Brisbane Powerhouse
Saturday 16, 2015

I was entertained by both the performance and the audience’s reactions in Thum Prints – a concert that was a bold step towards integration between the often-times stifling classical concert culture with a dynamic contemporary beat-boxing context, featuring music by Australian composer Gordon Hamilton and beatboxer Tom Thum.

Both performances held at Brisbane Powerhouse were sold out – and it is little wonder. Tom Thum is a very well-known personality, with over 115,000 facebook likes, appearances on TED, Big Day Out, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Singapore Cultural Festival, Goodvibes, Edinburgh Fringe Festival – he is celebrated as a top beat-boxing talent. Gordon Hamilton is a highly acclaimed composer and conductor in Australia, conducting The Australian Voices, with international recognition for his compositions including by the Luxembourg Sinfonietta. Although Gordon’s general public profile may not be as magnanimous as that of Tom’s, there is no doubt that here was an exquisite match of talent and approaches to music. Coupled with the performance abilities of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the production capabilities available to the event from the Powerhouse, audiences were in for a treat.

When I heard of the collaboration, I...