Cellist stars in concert finale

Music

Talented soloist and second-year music student Louise McKay (cello) will be a major feature of the fifth concert in the Elder Conservatorium of Music Evening Concert Series, Finale.

To be held at 6.30pm on Saturday 25 November in Elder Hall, the concert will open with one of the greatest concertos in the cello repertoire, Dvorak's Cello Concerto, written in 1854-5 while Dvorak was head of the New York Conservatory of Music.

Louise, who is a Bachelor of Music Performance student at the Elder Conservatorium, grew up in Perth and is currently studying with Janis Laurs. She has been studying cello since she was seven years old and has received numerous awards and prizes.

In 2004 she was the youngest recipient of a scholarship to attend the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne, where she completed the Advanced Performance Program, and in the same year was the youngest semi-finalist in the Gisborne International Recital Competition in New Zealand, receiving the 'Most Promising Player' Award.

This year, Louise was awarded the inaugural Kamala Khurana Scholarship for Music Performance, which was donated to the Elder Conservatorium by Professor Ashok Khurana, a former head of the Australian School of Petroleum, in memory of his late mother. This award allowed Louise to travel to the Czech Republic where she was one of only 50 cellists selected worldwide to compete in the Prague Spring International Music (Cello) Competition.

At the concert on 25 November, Louise will perform with the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Conductor-in-Residence Keith Crellin.

The closing work in the program is the well-loved Symphony No. 2 by Rachmaninov, written in 1906-7 while the composer was in exile in Dresden. This gloriously rich symphony displays all the hallmarks of a Russian work - melancholy, optimism, sadness and sheer emotion.

Tickets are $22 adult/$17 conc/$12 student, available from BASS or dial'n'charge 131 246. Tickets will also be available at the door. University staff at concession price.

For more information, please contact the Manager, Evening Concert Series, on (08) 8303 5286 or email: helen.simpson@adelaide.edu.au