City Recital Hall, Sydney
May 12, 2018

In Songs of Belonging, the cherished soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham emerged from stage left, accompanying herself on clapsticks to the world premiere of one of her own songs. Titled Yarran Ngarnga Yinga, it was the perfect opening to this rich evening of song and storytelling, with Cheetham bidding the audience welcome in one of the languages of Australia’s First Nations.

Deborah Cheetham

What followed was a smartly paced, very moving journey through Cheetham’s own life, where her Aboriginality was foregrounded down to the colour of her gown – the red of her dress was inspired by the dust of Central Australia and the Pilbara, she explained. With her partner Toni Lalich on piano, Cheetham’s program was a generous one, mixing operatic concert favourites with some of her own compositions for a truly satisfying evening.

Although something like Cilea’s Io son l’umile ancella can go for naught in a recital given by a less imaginative singer, Cheetham reinstated the aria’s central message with her sincere delivery, that of being a servant to the muses. Lovingly phrased and with judicious application of rubato, the morbidezza she found for the repeat...