Community
6 June, 2025
St Paul’s Church to fill with music, poetry
WITH Camperdown’s annual Robert Burns Celtic Festival just weeks away, the festival committee has been finalising the program and announced an event being held at the St Paul’s Anglican Church.
Festival chair Dr John Menzies OAM said the event, which will be held on Saturday, June 28, will feature performances from The Reformers and Harpistry telling the story of Australian poet Henry Lawson.
“The Reformers formed to perform ‘The Hope of Something Better’ live – the show is a multimedia performance which includes spoken word, video, songs and a live band coming together to present the poems of Lawson in a new, vibrant and contemporary way,” he said.
“Hailing from Warrnambool, songwriter, musician and producer Don Stewart has produced an album called ‘In the Hope of Something Better’.
“The concert presents the poems of, Henry Lawson, as spoken word and songs, supported by Celtic tune compositions by internationally renowned Australian composers including Murray Blair and Mark Saul.
“Don believes that Lawson’s poems still have relevance to 21st century Australia and so he has tried to present the pieces in a contemporary and musically broad way, including touches of electronica and rap sprinkled throughout the performance.”
Festival coordinator Catherine O’Flynn said Harpistry – a trio of harpists – will also be performing at the event.
“A mutual love of all things harp plus some chance meetings at The Lake School Of Celtic Music, equalled the beginning of this musical collaboration in 2019,” she said.
“Their music radiates folk melodies, original and contemporary compositions.
“They recently released their first studio recording on CD.
“Performing in many churches and festivals, Harpistry will take us all on a beautiful musical journey.
“Harpistry are multi-instrumentalists Pam Bennett, Sylvie Rogers and Merran Moir.”
Mrs O’Flynn extended her gratitude to Father Matthew Jones for allowing the use of the church, located at 11 Church Street, Camperdown.
Tickets for the event are $25 per person.
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