Rhian Sheehan
We gave away two tickets to Rhian Sheehan's "Standing in Silence" show held at the glorious Wellington Opera House on Saturday June 19, 2010.
"Standing in Silence" Review
When I arrived at my balcony seat the Opera House stage seemed to almost burst into the audience with anticipation. Keyboards, drums, chairs, living room lamps, cymbals, stringed classical instruments, guitars, and a chorus of cables waited, almost impatiently, to fill up.
Jess Chambers opened the show. Sunk inside her cowboy boots she sang with her guitar, accompanied on the Ukulele by Brett Skinner. A lovely surprise were the beautiful male harmonies from Andy Hummel & Pete Hill. After a few numbers Jess ended her set with "Island" - always powerfully perfect.
After a quick intermission Rhian Sheehan and his ensemble of musicians worked their way through the equipment to find their spots. An opaque screen layered over the front of the stage created an almost 3-D effect against the visuals behind the artists. Rhian's inspirational photos, as well as fast-motion traffic and Japanese crowd sequences, set the tone for the evening.
From the stage, armed with his guitar, keyboards, music box and computer, Rhian conducted his friends and colleagues through the album. These incredibly skilled musicians brought the album to life with a different type of depth & lightness from the recording. To me it wasn't so much a Rhian Sheehan performance but more like a performance of his beautiful work tied together by the composer. Quite brilliant.
As we walked home after the show my partner Jeff said, "100 years ago people would've described that show as a symphony of the future." Yeah, an awesome future is here - Annabel Youens.
The fabulous performers were: Rhian Sheehan, Jeff Boyle, Tom Pierard, Steve Bremner, Raashi Malik, Jess Chambers, Andy Hummel, Pete Hill, Brett Skinner, Al Fraser and a five piece string section.
Buy Rhian Sheehan's albums
- Standing in Silence
- Tiny Blue Biosphere
- Music for Nature Documentaries
- Paradigm Shift
- New Zealand Landscapes - Northland to Antartica
Rhian Sheehan on the interweb
