Southern Cross Soloists closes its 30th Pearl Anniversary year with an unusual homage to the love triangle between the married composers Clara and Robert Schumann and the young composer Johannes Brahms. Specially selected movements by the three composers bookend tender narrations of letters exchanged between them. A few movements also feature two promising Queensland Ballet dancers, Georgia Lorange and Jai Fauchon of the Jette Parker Young Artist Program, emoting through dance.

It promised to be a tender and expressive journey through the lives of the three, but unfortunately falls short of delivering, with a lack of dynamism caused by similar movements and a small ensemble. The narration by Co-Artistic Director Ashley Smith and guest artist and pianist Aura Go is well performed and insightful, but the journey is too long for a hot Sunday afternoon in the QPAC Concert Hall, leading to quite a few audience members audibly “resting their eyelids.”

Wonder: Southern Cross Solists and Chris Williams (right). Photo © Stephen Henry

The initial energy from the world premiere of Two Winds, One Song by Chris Williams and Ray Lin opens the concert with promising vigour. The hall is plunged into darkness with the whoosh of the didgeridoo while Williams creeps onto the stage. The dawn lighting reddens to the chirp of the Co-Artistic Director’s violin as Williams burbles, stalking around the stage like a cassowary.

The SXS ensemble picks up the pace with the momentum of a train, and Smith’s clarinet scats jazzily with the warbling didgeridoo. Much thigh-slapping and stamping ensues as the clarinet jigs between the droning, the pace quickening until it screams to an abrupt halt. It is an exciting and unique addition to the SXS Didgeridoo Commissioning Project, which is creating 30 new Australian compositions for ensemble and didgeridoo to celebrate the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.

The concert is then halted by a lengthy update from the Chair of the Board, Mar O’Donnell, during which it is announced that Tim Munro will be the new Artistic Director. Requests for donations follow, causing attention to fade.

The following eight movements guide the audience through tales of a trio of forbidden love, starting with the married Schumanns’ first meeting with the young 20-year-old Brahms, illustrated by Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor and played tenderly by international virtuoso Aura Go.

Wonder: Georgia Lorange, Jai Fauchon and Southern Croiss Soloists. Photo © Stephen Henry

Dancer Lorange prances expressively around the piano, mimicking Clara’s delight in meeting the young Brahms. Fauchon sweeps on stage to the wooing of György Déry’s cello. The two flit about with cheeky embraces until Fauchon whisks her offstage as the last note falls.

The tale of the tempestuous love triangle continues with short narratives and long introspective movements. Robert Schumann’s mental state deteriorated, possibly due to the strains on the marriage. This is reflected in his haunting Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations), his final work before a suicide attempt that led to his institutionalisation. The introspective piano piece is meditative, with a haunting theme played expertly by Go.

As Brahms steps willingly into Robert’s shoes, watching the Schumanns’ children while Clara travels, we hear his Intermezzi and Clarinet Trio. Both are well played, but too much Brahms leads to nodding heads — especially when hearing lullabies of sorrow inspired by a Scottish ballad encouraging sleep.

The final two pieces, Three Romances by Clara and Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales) by Robert, are accompanied by more ballet. However, the diligence and skill of the two dancers are no match for the soporific waves hitting the audience, and it is only the final applause that stirs the deepest “eyelid resters.”

Unfortunately, Wonder only leaves me wondering about the objective of SXS in dedicating their final celebratory concert of their 30th year to such an introspective and depressing theme. The juxtaposition between the invigorating voices of clarinet and didgeridoo in Two Winds, One Song and the low-impact concert of quiet contemplation is jarring and may explain the much-smaller-than-usual audience.

Let’s hope SXS enters 2026 with a whizz-bang rather than the flimflam of Wonder!