Review and photos by Amanda Lee Starkey

The hauntingly beautiful voice of Brisbane’s Katie Noonan rings out across the concert hall, a quartet of strings to accompany her as she brings to life the poetry of Judith Wright. The composition is simple yet effective, enhancing and complimenting her voice expertly.

Dressed this evening in an elegant long black gown, Katie is trying her hardest to be poised and sweet, but she is just too down-to- earth for that and her candid stories and jokes are somewhat disarming for the seriousness of the music.

As the words of the formidable Judith Wright ring out across the auditorium the themes that Judith wrote about so passionately bought to life still ring true. The environment, love, passion, desire are topics that still resonate with audiences today. With music arranged by composers Carl Vine, Iain Grandage, Paul Dean, Katie Noonan, Andrew Ford, Elena Kats- Chernin just to name a few the music is an innovative way to bring to life the furious writings of one of Australia’s most loved poets.

After the interval the Brodsky quartet are given a chance to demonstrate a sample of classical music, however they choose to deviate from the program and play a piece aptly named ‘Strabroke’ that takes the listener on a musical journey reminiscent of walking through bush land, birds singing.

We are then treated to something a little less serious with Elvis Costello’s ‘Mood Swings’ taking the audience into the second half. It is followed by an incredible arrangement of Bjork’s ‘ Hyperballad’ and ‘ Possibly Maybe’.

Taking a leaf out of the quartets book, Noonan finishes up by singing sweet song written for her husband and its the perfect way to end the evening deviating from the program. Fittingly she wrote the song on Stradbroke Island and as she sweetly sings ‘ Love is my song for you’ it is a candid and touching way to end the evening.

Artist: Katie Noonan & Brodsky Quartet: With Love and Fury – katienoonan.com
Venue: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane – www.qpac.com.au
Date: April 28, 2016

Review and photos by Amanda Lee Starkey