An Evening with Amy
St John’s Cathedral
December 9

Brisbane City’s St John’s Cathedral is a structural and engineering feat and the richness of its neo-gothic aesthetic and accompanying acoustics makes it the perfect location for one of Brisbane Music Festival’s final 2022 shows, “A Concert with Amy”. Performing from its nave, Helpmann Award winner Amy Lehpamer echoes her crystalline vocals around its columns to the lofting ceilings, especially in numbers like the charming ‘Vanilla Ice Cream’ from “She Loves Me”.
The concert features a full and varied smorgasbord of modern classic songs about matters of the heart in some way or another from Lehpamer, alongside woodwind multi-instrumentalist Luke Carbon and the festival’s director Alex Raineri on keys. Lehpamer and Carbon both performed in 2015’s “The Sound of Music” (in which Lehpamer earned nation-wide critical acclaim as Maria), so it is appropriate that a Rodgers and Hammerstein number makes an early appearance. The show tune ‘I’m in Love’ from “South Pacific”, not only showcases Lehamers bright vocals in capture of the elation at the core of its declaration, but illustrates Carbon’s impressive musical dexterity in mid-song jumps between flute and clarinet, never missing a beat in its warmly lyrical soundtrack, despite the different holds and embouchure of each instrument.
In Raineri’s new arrangement of George Gershwin’s iconic ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ for woodwind and piano, Carbon is an entire orchestra, luring us in through the number’s full and round opening clarinet sounds to pave the way for Raineri’s brisk keyboard work. It is a dynamic show highlight, irresistible in its vitality and rhythmic invention, yet still full of familiar musical motifs and crescendos for our listening comfort. It is a brilliant interlude to Lehpamer’s performance and it is clear that the two musicians are at ease in work with each other, having collaborated to produce the album “Liquid Crystal” of new arrangements of cherished pieces of the clarinet/piano repertoire. And it is wonderful to also have experience of their combined might in the later pastiche-filled version of hip hop idol Lizzo’s ‘Cuz I Love You’, arranged by Carbon.
From an intoxicating Burt Bacharach to the more overtly melancholic, lower-register ‘The Man That Got Away’, epitomised by Judy Garland in “A Star is Born”, there is an integral light and shade to the show, but also a spirit captured in Stephen Sonheim’s epitomic ‘Being Alive’ from the celebrated “Company”. A through-line in her between song commentary, is Lehpamer’s life as a new mother and it is appropriate, therefore, that Carole King’s ‘A Natural Woman’ features as its celebratory closing number, complete with audience backing vocals singalong, so infectiously unifying is the joy of its experience.
Lehpamer is a genuinely charming performer of clear vocal prowess and Brisbane audiences are fortunate to be able to experience her full flight in such an intimate event. Along with Carbon and Raineri’s talents, “An Evening with Amy” serves as a reminder of the triumphant beauty that live music can convey. As well as showcasing the skill of its performers, the vibrant hour long concert serves as an excellent reminder of the annual year-long festival’s versatility beyond just its usual classical musical program repertoire, and an urge to check out its future line-ups when seasons are announced.