Success! This was the feeling as the first VOTT In Concert event concluded. It was the end of an intense week of preparing, promoting, practicing then finally performing, for this now tired tuba player.

A very appreciative audience attended the Maleny Community Centre on a partially wet Sunday. The diverse program of tuba music, transcriptions, with world premieres performed as either solos, accompanied by piano or with electronic backing, kept the audience entertained until the end. A slightly tired tuba player’s public speaking added some bonus entertainment at times.

It was a pleasure to perform in this hall again since 4 years ago. This old venue has a slight reverb quality and is not “boomy”. Capacity seating is for 250 and can offer a bar facility for patrons. A perfect intimate concert facility for the tuba.

At the conclusion, it was a pleasure to meet and chat with the audience members. Some were old friends but most were new to myself and maybe the world of the tuba. Every person had nothing but positive comments and feedback.

I was especially glad to see a young boy attend. He is learning tuba at primary school and was surprised at how high and low the tuba can actually go, among other aspects of the instument. He was very interested in the tuba I played, examining it intently after the concert.

An old school friend stated she now has a new appreciation of the tuba after attending. Her favourite works were Buffus, Miniatures and Contraptions. These were specifically written for tuba by myself and Ben Miles (Contraptions).

A music colleague stated that because my program was so varied, it was very interesting and entertaining.

One lady said she loved how I performed Black Cuttlefish, (a groovy pop song). Not how she liked it, but she liked how I liked this work. Yes, this was one work I really wanted to play and I had so much fun with it. Thanks to Andrey Bykov for this fun piece with electronic backing.

The general feeling I received, besides it being quoted by a couple of patrons, was, “there should be more of this”.

There will be more, in 2017. They won’t just be tuba concerts, there will be guest artists I will perform alongside, adding variety and interest to the VOTT In Concert series.

The first will be euphonium artist, Ashley Gittins, a master musician. You will hear Ashley and myself each perform a couple of solos, with the remaining concert time filled with duets. The program will be just as diverse as this first concert but more interesting with Ashley performing too.

Once you hear Ashley at this next concert, on May 14, you will want to book your seat for his solo concert planned for the end of this year.

I’m sure all the audience members who stated “there should be more of this”, are out telling their family and friends about this most recent tuba performance in Maleny.

I would love to have every guest artist and myself perform to a capacity filled concert hall.

We are working hard to perform at our highest standard. We are creating entertaining programs.

Please help spread the word about us and come along and enjoy an afternoon of high quality music, entertainment and fun.

Thank you.

Regards,

John Szkutko
Voice of the Tuba