Music is a powerful expression of passion, a fact conveyed expertly by Queensland’s Camerata in Serenade, a concert featuring special guest Brisbanite and virtuosic guitarist Karin Schaupp.

It is part of the 31st annual 4MBS Festival of Classics, showcasing Queensland’s abundance of talented musicians in 20 concerts throughout Brisbane over 10 days.

Karin Schaupp and Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra. Photo @ Alex Jamieson

Camerata’s Artistic Director Brendan Joyce cleverly sandwiched the five movements of Dvořák’s sublime Serenade for Strings into the concert, opening with the pulsating Moderato and closing with the fabulous Bohemian-styled Finale.

An internationally acclaimed ARIA award-winning guitarist, Schaupp is Head of Classical Guitar at the Queensland Conservatorium and was centre-stage playing five movements from Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words with a new arrangement by Sef Albertz for guitar and strings. It is one of several pieces that Mendelssohn composed as piano duets to be played by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, due to his popularity in Victorian Britain.

The string arrangement worked well, using Marian Heckenberg’s double bass to meter the bouncing violins with an effective mix of pizzicato and bowing from the strings. The guitar sometimes got lost amid the 20-strong ensemble, but Schaupp had a lovely solo in...