Article in The Westsider

"The Newport Fiddle & Folk Club can trace its humble grassroots beginnings around founder & director Michael Stewart’s kitchen table. They were just a handful of music loving locals who felt the need to play & share their music..."

 That's the first paragraph of an article published in The Westsider recently, written by our own Chris Philllips. Yay Chris, thanks!

Read the full article.

Choir at Jack Madigan Reserve re-opening

Two years ago the choir sang at a community rally to support the remediation of Jack Madigan Reserve, which had been closed for almost a decade due to subsidence and soil contamination. Hobsons Bay Council has since done the remediation and re-landscaped the park, and we were delighted to sing at the official re-opening. The lyrics to this song were written by Mark Fawcett, to the tune of Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land.

Folk to Classical video

If you missed Folk to Classical at the Festival, here's a video. Just a couple of tunes to showcase what we achieved. Put together the Newport Strings, Newport Bush Orchestra and local composer Silas Palmer and the result is fantastic. That's Silas at far left, at the piano. Some of the NBO are off-camera but you sure can hear them.

'Elizabeth' by Richard McNeill

Richard gave his permission for us to post his words on hearing of Elizabeth passing away:

I'm so sorry to hear the news. My heart goes out to Cam and all of us, and to all who knew her.
I can't be here to be with all who knew her, and to celebrate her life as she would want us to, and I will miss her keenly - we all will.

There's nothing I can say in a considered way, except to echo what everyone else will already know - that she made a statement with everything she was to us, that reminded us of the better things, the hopeful things, the brighter things of life, and that this is a terrible, tragic irony.
I intend to remember Elizabeth as a person who gave us all a greater appreciation of life and fun, and I do hope that what I have written below does not seem stilted and self-conscious -

I thought at the time … "who is that woman with the Nemo bag?"

As a tangle of unfamiliar colour blazed up with endearing directness,

Raised a viola and, with us all, played an anthem to our own common purpose – to our own common creation,

Dropping the world away from us – to play, enjoy, consider, love the best in us all.

Who was it, courage and directness – effrontery with humour, gall with glitter,

A Hawaiian sunset in misty, gritty, drizzly Newport, setting us all afire;

Coaxing dormant embers into life – with a smile, a laugh, a Nemo bag?



"Elemental" seems too vague a word,

Like "inspiration" or "unforgettable",

In the telling made too trite – music perhaps says more.

"Zebra Fish!" suits better, an endearingly absurd word,

And more fitting – no words, just a

Bag – no words, just a resolve;

Everything combined to be – herself.

That words fall short can only be expected …

Her laugh, her courage, her presence … her.

Folk to Classical - A long journey!

Next Saturday night the Folk Festival will present the concert 'Folk to Classical'.  The pictures below are from yesterday's rehearsal where the Newport Strings (16 piece string orchestra) was joined by the Newport Bush Orchestra (21 piece bush orchestra) to collaborate on the first of the Bush Suites, 'The Waltzes'.  The Bush Orchestra have been playing together for almost 10 years (they celebrate their 10th anniversary in February next year) and their repertoire focuses on the Australian Bush Fiddle Tunes that were popular during the Colonial Period.  The tunes, and the groups history is available at this site.
Last year, with the assistance of a Hobsons Bay Community Grant, the Folk Club commissioned local composer Silas Palmer to arrange these tunes, and 8 other tunes, for the Bush Orchestra to play with the Newport Strings.  Two of these tunes, the waltzes  'Watching the Cattle' and 'Sweeping the Snows' will be performed at the concert.  The Bush Orchestra have been rehearsing the tunes all year, and so it was very exciting for almost 40 musicians to come together and see what the arrangement sounded like. In a word - fantastic and exhilarating!  Another rehearsal - full dress rehearsal - on Thursday will refine the arrangement and fine tune the staging (40 people is a big group) and then ready for the premier performance.  Come along and have a listen - and if you do .......

You will be able to enjoy a concert that has been at least 12 years in the making.  In 2002 or 2003 a string quartet played in the Substation (I was 2nd Violin) to provide entertainment for the volunteers who were cleaning up the building.  At that stage the was not a singly window in place (every single one had been smashed), the roof was leaking, there was no floor (where the musicians are standing) and it was a real mess.  After we had played for an hour or so we enjoyed sausages, cake and cups of tea and the talk got around to the future of the Substation and some people began imagining a classical concert with a grand piano, an orchestra and some superb singers who will take people's alternately take the audience's breath away and then move them to tears.

In the rubble of the building this seemed like a fantasy of dreamers but the two men who started off the restoration project, Darren Williams and Nigel Edwards, were absolutely confident that it would all come to pass.  And so next Saturday you will be able to witness and enjoy this moment being brought to life - James Russo on the grand piano (Chopin, Mozart), the Newport Strings (Brittten, Sibelius), singers Hayley Edwards (Nigel's daughter) Jodie O'Regan and Daniel Felton, the Newport Bush Orchestra and you (singing along with 'I've Got it on my List).  

Get your tickets before the show is sold out - this is one important show: for music lovers, for lovers of history in the making, and for those who want to be part of the emerging musical culture in Newport.  See you there.  Michael Stewart (2nd desk, 2nd Violins, Newport Strings)

Our Elizabeth Eason

It is with great sadness that members of Newport Strings learnt of the death of our much loved Elizabeth yesterday, 20^th June 2015. Elizabeth came to our group 6 years ago and brought with her a sense of fun and joyfulness and above all a love of music that went to her very soul. She loved the people in the group as much as the music we played and those things were bound up together for her and soon became so for us. She was truly inspirational.

One of the things that was extraordinary about Elizabeth was her determination to beat the Big C as she called the cancer that was attacking her from the time she joined Newport Strings. She waged a mighty war against it and won many battles along the way.  Only 3 weeks ago she was rehearsing with us for the July concert with every intention of performing. We will dedicate our July concert to her memory.

Elizabeth was American and lived in Hawaii before moving to Australia to be with her beloved husband Cam. She loved all things Hawaiian and often wore her frangipani earrings and always carried her amazing goldfish (Nemo) hand bag. She would bring music to the group with Hawaian themes which we never got quite right! We had some great parties at her house, I remember in particular Cam’s 50^th with his film industry friends and  Elizabeth’s Australian friends - she had made so many from different walks of life in just a few years. 

For me, Elizabeth was my rock in the small but enthusiastic viola section of Newport Strings. She played quietly and with great sensitivity and her counting was better than mine! From time to time we laboured away together on viola parts for the Newport Strings performances. This would usually happen at her place after coffee and a big game of throwing the ball for Bonnie the dog. We would play duets as well and I got to know her beautiful viola that she loved so much which was gifted to her by her mother.

One time when I visited, Elizabeth Skyped her daughter in the US at the grandkids’ bedtime – there was so much love and shenanigans whizzing backwards and forwards across the internet between the family and Elizabeth! We played lullabys on our violas to calm the children down before sleep. Sometimes we met up at the gym in Altona and then with our Curves friends for coffee – Elizabeth’s fitness and determination were impressive for so long. She was loved at Curves too.

All of us have our own memories to share and I know that many stories will be told over the coming weeks as we all come to terms with Elizabeth’s passing. There are huge aspects of her life we in Newport have not been part of but are so privileged to have been part of some of it. We will play music for her as long as we are all together and she will be with us as we do so.

Nicola Johnson

Our Elizabeth Eason

 

It is with great sadness that members of Newport Strings learnt of the death of our much loved Elizabeth yesterday, 20^th June 2015. Elizabeth came to our group 6 years ago and brought with her a sense of fun and joyfulness and above all a love of music that went to her very soul. She loved the people in the group as much as the music we played and those things were bound up together for her and soon became so for us. She was truly inspirational.

One of the things that was extraordinary about Elizabeth was her determination to beat the Big C as she called the cancer that was attacking her from the time she joined Newport Strings. She waged a mighty war against it and won many battles along the way.  Only 3 weeks ago she was rehearsing with us for the July concert with every intention of performing. We will dedicate our July concert to her memory.

Elizabeth was American and lived in Hawaii before moving to Australia to be with her beloved husband Cam. She loved all things Hawaiian and often wore her frangipani earrings and always carried her amazing goldfish (Nemo) hand bag. She would bring music to the group with Hawaian themes which we never got quite right! We had some great parties at her house, I remember in particular Cam’s 50^th with his film industry friends and  Elizabeth’s Australian friends - she had made so many from different walks of life in just a few years. 

For me, Elizabeth was my rock in the small but enthusiastic viola section of Newport Strings. She played quietly and with great sensitivity and her counting was better than mine! From time to time we laboured away together on viola parts for the Newport Strings performances. This would usually happen at her place after coffee and a big game of throwing the ball for Bonnie the dog. We would play duets as well and I got to know her beautiful viola that she loved so much which was gifted to her by her mother.

One time when I visited, Elizabeth Skyped her daughter in the US at the grandkids’ bedtime – there was so much love and shenanigans whizzing backwards and forwards across the internet between the family and Elizabeth! We played lullabys on our violas to calm the children down before sleep. Sometimes we met up at the gym in Altona and then with our Curves friends for coffee – Elizabeth’s fitness and determination were impressive for so long. She was loved at Curves too.

All of us have our own memories to share and I know that many stories will be told over the coming weeks as we all come to terms with Elizabeth’s passing. There are huge aspects of her life we in Newport have not been part of but are so privileged to have been part of some of it. We will play music for her as long as we are all together and she will be with us as we do so.

Nicola Johnson