Those at the Athenium on Sunday enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of live music, community spirit, and local talent. The performances by the Riverina Concert Band, RCM Student Concert Band, Junee Community Choir, and RCM Senior Flute Ensemble filled the space with warmth and joy.
Many braved the cold weather from Albury, Young, Griffith, and Temora.
Performer Tamara Spencer said it was a great audience and thanked Junee Shire Council for allowing them to use the premises.
“It went well. It was a nice afternoon, there was a good variety of music and a very appreciative audience.
“I enjoyed the second half of the concert, which featured the Mass ensemble, which was musicians from the RCM, but also featured musicians who travelled from Albury, Griffith, Temora, and from Young to be part of that. We had 50 musicians on stage to perform four pieces at the end, and hearing those pieces come to life with a large ensemble was quite wonderful, especially in a space like the Athenium, which is not only visually stunning but the acoustics in there, the music just comes to life in that space.
“We’ve run on mostly the same format as previous years. We don’t have a Junee Town Band anymore, so just had the Junee Community Choir perform their items at the beginning of the second half, and it’s always great to have the local community ensemble involved there. We also have the RCM Senior flute ensemble, which is driven by friend Griffin, who is a Junee local, but also works as a flute teacher at the RCM, keeping with tradition, we also performed one of Fran’s works, Midnight March.
“That’s been a bit of a running tradition we’ve had every time we’ve had a Junee Jam. We’ve performed one of Fran’s published works with either the conductor or her husband, Keith conducting the work. That’s always a real thrill for the musicians to be conducted by the composer as well as the audiences get to see that interaction happening between the composer and the ensemble in person.
“I think they enjoyed performing in the space that is the Athenium. It’s such a beautiful place to play. Like I said, it’s just got a great acoustic, and I know some of the families just love the fact that we’re taking music out of Wagga too. One of my families said, “Oh, you know, we’ve got something else on that day, but we’re not doing that because we’re going to Junee Jam because it’s one of our favourite days of the year. We love Junee Jam. We love going out to Junee and the musicians get to play music together in the morning and then they all go off and have lunch in the community and then they come back and present what they’ve done for an appreciative audience.”
“I enjoyed the second half of the concert, which featured the Mass ensemble, which was musicians from the RCM, but also featured musicians who travelled from Albury, Griffith, Temora, and from Young to be part of that. We had 50 musicians on stage to perform four pieces at the end, and hearing those pieces come to life with a large ensemble was quite wonderful, especially in a space like the Athenium, which is not only visually stunning but the acoustics in there, the music just comes to life in that space.
“Everybody just feels like it’s been a good day at the end of the day. Very fulfilled. “We had a standing ovation at the end of one piece. We played Shenandoah, so that’s an American traditional hymn arranged by Frank T Kelly and it’s quite an epic arrangement of that piece and it’s just one of these huge sumptuous pieces of music that just grows and grows and it’s got some epic moments in it. The audience has liked that one.
“We are looking forward to next year’s Junee Jam. We are possibly going to mix things up a little bit next year and have a few more different conductors on the podium and hopefully involve some more players from surrounding towns, which will be great because it’s always good to come together and play music. There’s nothing like coming and playing music together with people from your community and beyond.”
Many music lovers are looking forward to next year.
-Jack Murray
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