It isn’t very often that you get to see two Classicalx featured artists share the stage on one night and so the opportunity for me to see Hayley Westenra and Blake performing together was one not to be missed.
I had previously seen Hayley perform as the support act for Il Divo and also as the guest artist with the Skelmanthorpe Brass Band over a year ago and I was excited to see her again. Although they are relatively new to the scene, this was my fourth time of seeing Blake perform and I was eager to see how their performance would be received, especially since they had now topped the Classical charts and were becoming more widely recognised.
Hayley was supported by pianist Al Gurr and violinist Fiona Swaddling, whilst Blake, with the exception of 2 numbers, sang mainly to backing tracks. Also taking a guest spot that evening was flautist, Lucy Noble who also performed a duet with Hayley as well as a few solo numbers.
Hayley performed many of the well-known songs from her albums Odyssey and Treasure, but tonight there was something about this performance that stood out from previous concerts I had seen her in. I have always thought of Hayley as being very mature for her age but tonight it was the maturity in her voice really shone through in her performance. Her voice has always been angelic and beautiful, but now it also had an added strength and depth which really enhanced her presentation of each piece and added to the poignancy of the lyrics.
Hayley also seemed a lot more confident in herself and her abilities too, which given how long she has been performing, it is no surprise that it comes naturally to her. I do know though from interviewing her in the past, that she often feels that she can improve on a performance – this time I hope she was pleased with her hard work as she has certainly developed both vocally and expressively and this added a more dramatic and at times ethereal quality to her songs.
The performance was enjoyable and whilst it would be hard to pick a favourite song from amongst those that she sang, special mention has to go to May It Be, Prayer and Ave Maria which were absolutely stunning. The audience members seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves too as Hayley was given a standing ovation and the applause and requests for an encore were rewarded when Hayley returned to the stage to sing the Joni Mitchell classic “Both Sides Now”.
As for Blake... despite the fact that three out of the four of them had been feeling unwell, they gave an outstanding performance. They performed two songs in the first half; the rousing ‘In Paradisum’, inspired from the film Gladiator and ‘Celebration’ from Sir Paul McCartney’s Standing Stone, both of which are on their debut album. In these songs, they demonstrated that not only do they harmonise well together but, they also have incredible power in their voices which added to the intensity and passion of the songs but also at times the all important 'wow factor.
They opened the second half of the concert by singing ‘Steal Away’, accompanied on the piano by Al Gurr and this was followed by Jeff Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’ What I particularly liked was that although Blake do not sing in competition with each other, you were able to identify each part that they were singing – for me this just illustrated further that when they join together they create wonderful harmonies and emphasize the beauty of the music and lyrics.
Closing the concert, Hayley joined Blake on stage and they sang the Christmas song ‘O Holy Night’. I had been looking forward to hearing how Hayley’s pure soprano voice would sound when joined with the rich baritone voices of Blake and I have to say that all the anticipation was worth it. Overall, this was probably my favourite piece of the evening and after hearing how well it sounded, I only wish they had sung more than the one song together. Blake said how they were honoured to be performing with Hayley and how they would love to work with her again in the future. I hope that they get to do this as if this one song is anything to go by; any future collaboration is going to be spectacular.
Programme:
Lucy Noble
Rio
The Light
Czardas (Monti)
Hayley
Pokarekare Ana
Ave Maria (Caccini)
Scarborough Fair (with Lucy Noble)
Blake
In Paradisum (Hans Zimmer)
Celebration (Sir Paul McCartney)
Hayley
Mary Did You Know?
Prayer
The Water Is Wide
Danny Boy
Interval
Blake
Steal Away
Hallelujah
Hayley
The Mummers' Dance
May It Be
Lascia Ch'io Pianga
Santa Lucia
In Trutina
Hine E Hine
O Holy Night (with Blake)
Hayley
Encore: Both Sides Now
Al Gurr (piano) and Fiona Swaddling (violin),
