What: The Academy of St. James

When and Where: May 25, 2002, The Parish Church of St. James, Sydney (Other performances July 20, August 10).

Reviewer: Xenia Hanusiak

For over two decades, Melbourne and Sydney have been playfully teasing the other over who reigns as the cultural capital. Last weekend the inaugural concert of the newly formed Academy of St. James proved that Sydney and Melbourne forces are able to collaborate with conspicuous results. Under the inspired direction of young German conductor and émigré Christian Germaine the Academy of St. James installed itself as a dynamic, influential force in Australia's musical scene.

The Academy of St. James boasts a stellar faculty of musicians. With the talents of Sydney's Diana Doherty (oboe), Carl Pini (violin), Daniel Mendelow (trumpet) and Kees Boersma (bass) at the helm of this chamber orchestra, there remains little mystery as to its inevitable success.

But Melbourne's representations were also an integral quotient of the formula. Frank Wibaut, Director of the National Academy gave a riveting account of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto.

Like most of the playing of the evening, the performance was robust, brimming with a confident forthright declamation throughout. Christian Germaine draws an extroverted projection from this chamber orchestra, unleashing a whirlpool of ecstatic liberated energy. This was best demonstrated in the euphoric dotted rhythms of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Earlier, the orchestra's poetic finesse was realised in an account of Micheal Easton's acutely elevating Elegy for Strings.