The world of pedagogy...

Afternoon,

In addition to performing, my passion is for knowledge, getting more of it and passing it on to others!

The day before my birthday I travelled to Avondale College to deliver a guest lecture on the Art of Accompaniment. The students and staff there were lovely and it was so good to be able to lecture on this topic after not having the opportunity for a while. 

In the school holidays I took myself down to Melbourne for the Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children's Conference "Empowered for Giftedness". Listening to experts describing the latest research and chatting to teachers about this topic so close to my heart was just inspiring! 

The Australian Catholic University semester is just coming to a close as well and this year I've taken a number of Primary/Early Childhood pre-service teachers through some singing-based strategies for getting more music in general classrooms. It's a worthwhile cause and I think some of them are now feeling much more confident to start teaching music in schools.  

Kimberley

Premieres and dress-ups...

Evening,

Things have been very busy in life lately, so much so that the blogging I promised hasn't been happening. But I have been reflecting - here's a quick review of some exciting performance things I've been upto:

The day after the March concert with Jack Hobbs I had the pleasure of premiering a test-run version of Mount Ainslie Rising with renowned cellist David Pereira. Putting together a finalised version of his piece the day of the performance was an exhilarating experience. We made it to the Canberra Weekly according to some of my students but unfortunately I didn't manage to catch the article in time!

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David Pereira & I

Early in April I got to grace the stage of Albert Hall with the Canberra Choral Society dressed-up as 1940s-60s pianist Margaret Schofield! With some help from a friend's wardrobe this was a lot of fun and the Brahms performances with lyric soprano Rachael Thoms and cellist Jack Hobbs were very well received - the concert was sold out! It is always great to perform for a full house, even when wearing feathers and sparkly gems.

The highlight of the past couple of months has been the concert I performed the following week. Under the baton of Richard McIntyre OAM, the National Capital Orchestra and I delivered the Australian premiere of Nino Rota's (think The Godfather soundtrack) Piano Concerto in E "Piccolo mondo antico". The audience at The Q received this work very well and it was great to be working with orchestra again! More of that in the future I think....

I hope to put some recordings and more pictures up soon so keep checking!  

Kimberley

One down for March!

Evening All,​

Our concert today at the Wesley Music Centre went really well! It was a packed out crowd, with only space for the microphone tripod and one or two others - it was a great audience, a real pleasure to play to so many appreciative people.

Jack & I performed the first movement of Beethoven's Piano & Cello Sonata in A Major  followed by the entirety of the turbulent Brahms E Minor Piano & Cello Sonata. Quite a full-on program but definitely two amazing pieces of music and so very enjoyable. As it was a lunchtime concert we decided to go for the more relaxed look with jeans on stage! Check us out in the photo below. :)

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Kimberley Steele & Jack Hobbs at the Wesley Music Centre, March 6, 2013 

Jack told the audience about how we first met - a funny story whereby I just walked into his practice room one day and started playing some Schumann with him. The other side of that story is that I'd just received some bad news that day at the ANU School of Music and I heard a cellist ​playing one of my favourite pieces so I just decided to turn lemons into lemonade and knock on the door. And the rest so they say "is history"!

Don't forget that I have a number of performances coming up in the next few weeks, please check out my other post here for more details.

Kimberley

My performances for the next four months.

Hi All, I'm very excited to be back into performing this year! It seems that my days at the moment include practice, practice, practice and juggling everything else that's going on. It's busy, but I'm happy! :)​  Here's a sticky beak at the next four months for me:

Wednesday 6th March, 12.40-1.20 pm - Wesley Music Centre (Griffith)

Lunchtime duo concert with cellist Jack Hobbs - performing exquisite selections by Beethoven and Brahms. For more info please see the Wesley Release.

​Thursday 7th March, 5.30-6.30 pm - ANU School of Music LSRR (Acton) 

Premiere of a new piece composed by David Pereira with the renowned cellist himself at the launch of the Canberra International Chamber Music Festival. For more info please visit the festival homepage.

​Sunday 7th April, 3-4.50 pm - Albert Hall (Yarralumla)

Special performances with a multitude of artists and the Canberra Choral Society to help celebrate Canberra's 100th birthday. For more info please see the Canberra 100 event page. 

Sunday 14th April, 3-4.30 pm - The Q: Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre (Queanbeyan)

Australian premiere (to my knowledge) of the sumptuous second Piano Concerto by Nino Rota - the composer famous for creating the music from 'The Godfather' with the National Capital Orchestra Concert under the baton of Richard McIntyre OAM. For more info please see the NCO website.

Wednesday 5th June, 12.40-1.20 pm - Wesley Music Centre (Griffith)

Mendelssohn's fiery Piano Trio in D Minor Op. 49 with violinist Estelita Rae and cellist Jack Hobbs. ​

If you want any more information about any particular event, please feel free to contact me. It would be great to see you at the public performances!

I hope that the first part of 2013 is being kind to you,​

Kimberley

A new Kimberley Steele website.

To go with my new name, new domain name and new married life I have decided to update my website. This new website will be a bit more dynamic, and I will endeavour to update it regularly with upcoming events and other interesting items.​

I have also decided to create a newsletter where you can keep up to date with all my events. I promise not to sent out messages too frequently, so please subscribe if you are interested.