<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>338436</docID> <postdate>2025-02-17 08:56:57</postdate> <headline>Duo’s ‘superb’ program of dreamlike music</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-338438" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/11-20250216a-050-Art-Song-Songs-of-Eve.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Soprano Jane Sheldon. Photo: Peter Hislop</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Music / Songs of Eve, Jane Sheldon, soprano and Jack Symonds, piano. At Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, February 16. Reviewed by </span><b>LEN POWER</b>.</span></p> <p><b>In a demanding but superb program, soprano Jane Sheldon and pianist Jack Symonds, created an extraordinary world of atmospheric music that was dreamlike and haunting. </b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jane Sheldon is a leading Australian soprano and composer with an international reputation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her own body of compositional work includes electronic music, chamber music, an opera installation, works for dance companies and large-scale sound installations for galleries and museums. She holds a doctorate in music composition from the Sydney University.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jack Symonds is a composer, conductor and pianist and artistic director of Sydney Chamber Opera. He studied composition at the Royal College of Music, London and at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he received the University Medal.</span></p> <p><img class=" wp-image-338437" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/11-20250216a-042-Art-Song-Songs-of-Eve.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="500" /></p> <caption>Pianist Jack Symonds. Photo: Peter Hislop</caption> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sheldon introduced the order of the four program items at the start of the Art Song Canberra concert and then performed them without a break. She began with her own compositions to a text by Rainer Maria Rilke from her album, Flowermuscle.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This was followed by Wolken (Clouds) by Pascal Dusapin to a text by Goethe. Gabriel Fauré’s La Chanson d’Eve with a text by Charles van Lerberghe was the third item and the final item was Francis Poulenc’s La Dame de Monte Carlo, which had a text by Jean Cocteau.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sheldon’s use of her clear soprano and ability to convey the meaning and different emotions in the works was extraordinary. The sly humour in the words of Poulenc’s La Dame de Monte Carlo was especially well presented. Jack Symonds’ piano accompaniment for this program’s complex music was remarkable.</span></p> <p> </p> </body>