World premiere @ Adelaide Town hall

Had such a speedy trip into Noarlunga train station this morning that I caught the express train into Adelaide and was on North Terrace by 8.30am!!Sauntered to the Town hall and was one of the first ones there to have a coffee and scone provided for us by the ASO staff. Then sat in the second row to hear Amy Dickson being interviewed about her saxophone playing and the new composition "Full Moon Dances" by Ross Edwards which she was about to rehearse with the Adelaide Orchestra conducted by Andrew Grams. She was very excited about this, so we all trooped into the balcony space to watch and listen.This work was being played and performed as a World Premiere , so how fortunate were we!! The orchestra opened with Schumann's Manfred;Overture, Op 115.
Then we saw Amy on the right in a beautiful blue hooded robe, the orchestra launched forth and she played the first movement "Mantra with night birds and dark moon blossoms"The lighting was colourful and mysterious and added to the mood of the piece.Amy then moved through the orchestra to the left and dropping her blue gown revealed a red gown and also donned a red mask and played the second movement" First Ritual Dance,"the lighting continued to change and add to the overall effect. For the third movement, " Water Moon ",  she came forward to the front of the stage in a white flowing gown with a golden halo on her head. The fourth movement "Sanctus" was played back in her first position in a white flowing hooded gown.For the last movement "Second Ritual Dance" she again came forward this time in a simple but beautifully fitted white evening gown and played her golden saxophone.Ross Edwards composition is wonderfully crafted, and I hope he was as pleased with the results as we were. The whole effect was magical I thought and while I have always thought of a sax as a jazz instrument and not my favorite at all, this has given a new dimension to the instrument for me.The delicate and liquid tones are lovely to hear and the wild rawness it can also produce is astounding .The lighting on the Town hall organ pipes and scrollwork was magical and the music carried me to the moonlit summer crop reaped paddocks of Anlaby when I was a youngster.
A fabulous day.