One day in 1968 my piano teacher,
Miss Keeley, asked me out of the blue if I would like to play a piano concerto with Newcastle City Orchestra. It was a Alec Rowley's
Miniature Concerto, written especially for a student to play. If you follow the link, you'll find it is an attractive work - and you'll see how simple it is!
I was very pleased to be asked (but someone else was quite miffed that she hadn't been given the opportunity).
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| Erroll Collins |
The orchestra's conductor, violinist Erroll Collins, was very encouraging and helped me to get a handle on playing as a soloist with an orchestra. Although I had performed as a soloist and had accompanied people singing, especially in church, I had done nothing like this before. And, I haven't since. Miss Keeley tried to get me to have a crack at Beethoven's First Piano Concerto, but I was overwhelmed by it and passed it up. Silly me!
The big day was 31st July. Looking at Ken Wiseman's history of Newcastle Conservatorium,
From Park to Palace, I see that John Sewell, whom I taught with at Katoomba High School, also played in the concert in a brass quartet (John is a trumpeter), and Bob Pritchard, who later gave me some valuable tips on using computer music notation, played piano in a Schubert trio. Small world!
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