News from Siobhan

It's already March and I've only just written Siobhan's February newsletter! What a crazy month it was! Preparations for Siobhan's Fringe Show almost took over our lives. The work involved in planning the event and organising the marketing and publicity has been a real eye-opener! I have a new respect for event managers now!

Friday 26 February was the opening night of Siobhan's Fringe show: Siobhan Owen - Celestial Echoes. The first of the shows we've been planning over the last few months was finally here! We were all a little nervous, but needn't have worried. Everything was perfect! It was almost a full house, and the audience loved Siobhan. Her voice and harp playing were on top form, and she looked very confident and comfortable up on stage. Although she said she was feeling quite nervous inside, you would never have guessed it. We arranged for a different person on each night to introdude Siobhan. Open night's introduction was given by Peter Trevaskis from Radio Adelaide, who talked about Celtic music and said some lovely things about Siobhan. So, one show down and 2 to go!

Show: Siobhan Owen - Celestial Echoes
Venue: Nexus Cabaret, Lion Arts Centre, Cnr North Tce and Morphett St
Sessions: 26 Feb, 5-6 Mar @ 7pm
Tickets: Full Price: $15.00, Conc/FB: $10.00
Bookings: 1300 FRINGE (374 643), adelaidefringe.com.au, Fringetix outlets

As part of the Copper Coast's sesquicentenary (150 year) celebrations, the historic copper mining town of Wallaroo on the York Peninsular celebrated St David's Day (the patron Saint of Wales) and Wallaroo's Welsh ancestry with a Welsh Concert. When the committee were planning this concert, they searched the internet for a Welsh language singer living in or around Adelaide - and Siobhan's name came up. They were impressed with Siobhan's music and videos and that she also played harp, so contacted us to check Siobhan's availability. The concert had originally been planned for St David's Day (1st March) but Siobhan was unavailable, so they changed the event to Sunday 28th February. Within a few days of advertising the concert, 80 tickets had been booked. By the day of the concert St Mary's Church was fully booked to it's 100 seat capacity.

The people of Wallaroo were really friendly. They gave Siobhan and us a lovely welcome. The church was decorated with Welsh flags that the local school children had coloured in for the occasion. There were Welsh emblems, dolls and Welsh memorabilia from the Moonta Museum. They had even baked Welsh cakes, Bara Brith, Leek quiche and other Welsh delicacies for the afternoon tea that followed the concert.

The concert itself went really well. Siobhan had learnt some new Welsh songs just for the occasion. She didn't have time to work out a harp accompaniment for them, so had a local music teacher accompany her. They were so polished, that it was hard to believe they only had 10 minutes to practice together before the concert! Because of Siobhan's Fringe rehearsals, she didn't have much time to practice the Welsh songs, so I was also amazed how good Siobhan's Welsh pronunciation was.

At the end of the concert they not only presented Siobhan with flowers, but also gave flowers to me and local wine to Arthur. The audience thoroughly enjoyed Siobhan's performance and made her promise to return. They told her she should play at the Moonta Mines Church next time. It has a seating capacity of 1200, and they reckoned she would fill it without any problems!

A new Welsh conversation group called "Grwp sgwrsio Cymraeg Adelaide" has recently been started in Adelaide. We were unable to attend their first meeting, but for the second meeting they arranged a St David's Day celebration at the Brecknock Hotel on Monday 1st March. They asked Siobhan to bring her harp and sing a few Welsh songs. About 15 people turned up and it was a really enjoyable evening. Even though Siobhan and I don't speak Welsh, it was great to hear her dad, Arthur, and many of the others speak in their mother tongue! We are hoping one of the group with start some language classes, as Siobhan really wants to learn to speak Welsh fluently!

As mentioned in the last newsletter, Siobhan received an offer to study Certificate IV in Classical Music at Adelaide University's Conservatorium of Music! A few weeks ago, Siobhan received a phone call from the University informing her that her offer had been upgraded to the Diploma of Classical Music. Siobhan was thrilled with this news.

Last week was 'O' (Orientation) Week, where the new students get to find their way around the university, have their ensemble auditions and get to meet their teachers and each other. After her choral audition Siobhan was accepted into the Bella Voce (all female choir) and the Elder Conservatorium Chorale. She also joined the University Taekwondo club.

Her first day at 'O' Weekturned out to be quite eventful! It was an extremely windy day and Siobhan had worn a long flowing skirt. As she got up from a bench on the lawns, she had a "Marilyn Monroe" moment! A passing student made a few little remarks to try and allay her embarrassment, then promptly started to chat her up! He was in his final year of a doctorate (so in his twenties), and when Siobhan told him she was only 16 he just as promptly disappeared (much to her relief). Great start to Uni life Siobhan! :-)

Siobhan officially started her Uni studies this week and is loving it! It's very different from school life so will take some getting used to, but we think she'll settle in just fine!

We heard this week that Siobhan has once again been successful in her application to perform at the National Celtic Festival in Portarlington, Victoria. We were unsure if she'd get in this year because some Festivals don't take performers 2 years running, so had a nice surprise when the email arrived. Here is a quote from the email:

The number of Performer Applications received this year has doubled from last year - this is both exciting .. and disappointing as we are in the position where we are not able to accept many good quality performers.

However - The National Celtic Festival would love to have you at the festival this year.

We are all so pleased about this. We really enjoyed ourselves there last year and are looking forward to the returning there on June 11-14.

Friday 5 March, 7pm - Adelaide Fringe Festival
"Siobhan Owen - Celestial Echoes "
Nexus Cabaret, Lion Arts Building, cnr North Terrace & Morphett Street, Adelaide
Tickets from fringeTix www.adelaidefringe.com.au

Saturday 6 March, 7pm - Adelaide Fringe Festival
"Siobhan Owen - Celestial Echoes "
Nexus Cabaret, Lion Arts Building, cnr North Terrace & Morphett Street, Adelaide
Tickets from fringeTix www.adelaidefringe.com.au

Saturday 13 March, 8pm - Adelaide Festival of Arts
"Mahler 8 - Symphony of a Thousand "
Singing with the Symphony Choir at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Wednesday 17 March, 11am - St Patrick's Day Concert
Siobhan performing with voice and harp at the Norwood Salvation Army Hall.

Sunday 4 April - National Folk Festival, Canberra
Siobhan is one of 10 finalists (age 16-25) for the National Youth Awards. They will all perform on the "Flute & Fiddle" stage at the National Folk Festival between 10am and 12.30pm on Sunday 4 April.

Wednesday 7 April, 2pm - Hope Valley Village
Siobhan performing for the Nursing Home residents.

Sunday 25 April, 2pm & 6.30pm - "Lest We Forget" Anzac Day Concert
Siobhan performing in the Anzac Day Concert at Scott Theatre, Adelaide.

www.siobhanowen.com

Myspace (Music, Videos and events news)

Facebook (fan page)

Youtube (Siobhan's videos)

Bebo (fan page)

last.fm (fan page)

Siobhan's albums "Purely Celtic" and "Celestial Echoes" can be ordered from her website. "Celestial Echoes" is also available to download at iTunes, Amazon or CD Baby.