Category: News

In a highly anticipated concert by one of Australia’s finest symphony orchestras, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with the West Gippsland Chorale, performed Handel’s greatest oratorio, ‘Messiah’ at the West Gippsland Arts Centre on Friday 6th December.

In this sold-out performance, music lovers in Warragul witnessed an inspirational performance, one worthy of any major world concert hall.

3BBR-FM was there to record this major concert event, and the first of a series of performances of Messiah in regional Victorian centres prior to the Hamer Hall concerts in Melbourne. It will be broadcast in the 3BBR FM Concert Hall at 2pm on Sunday 22nd December.

The highly acclaimed Australian conductor, MSO Artist-in-Residence, and baroque music specialist Erin Helyard conducted from the harpsichord with an energy and spirit rarely witnessed in the annual Messiah performances, creating a truly memorable start to the Christmas Season.

It was heart-warming and a joy to see our own West Gippsland Chorale sharing the stage with the MSO Chorus, capping off a special 40th anniversary year for the Chorale.  What an honour for the Chorale to have this opportunity.  The smiling faces of the choristers made this palpable, with choral singing of the highest order.

An impressive cast of equally matched soloists, delivered their arias with perfect diction full of meaning, with ringing quality notes in every aria.  They are young Australian-based singers establishing domestic and international careers; Melbourne-based soprano Stacey Alleaume and tenor Michael Petrucelli, along with Sydney-based mezzo-soprano Helen Sherman and baritone David Greco.

The trumpet soloists in the final aria, ‘The trumpet shall sound’ was one of the most thrilling.

Conductor Erin Helyard said of this iconic work, which features one of the most famous pieces of Baroque choral music in the Hallelujah Chorus, “a wonderful evocation of Christmas”.

Messiah is a true masterpiece written more than 280 years ago yet still inspiring joy and wonder to all, from first-time listeners to the many who make the work a Christmas tradition.

This performance was produced and recorded by Garry Havrillay for 3BBR as a proud supporter of local fine music concerts.

Missed the live broadcast? Listen back via audio-on-demand before 20 January.

We have some special programming for you to celebrate Christmas with 3BBR.

At 1:00pm on Christmas Day, 3BBR presents a special edition of Gippsland Live with highlights of the recent West Gippsland Chorale Christmas concert at Wesley of Warragul.

At 6:00pm on Christmas Day, in place of Tom B’s Time Traveller Paul Strickland presents a special music program with many Australian Christmas songs.

Christmas Day
6:00am — A Greg’s Breakfast live from our Drouin studios
9:00am — Melody Vault with Angela
11:00am — Readings by the Gippsland News team
12:00pm — A Breath of Fresh Air
1:00pm — West Gippsland Chorale Christmas concert
3:00pm — Time for Terri live from our Drouin studios
5:00pm — Jump Children
6:00pm — Special Christmas program with Paul Strickland
8:00pm — Gippsland Live – Jak’s Open Mic Special
9:00pm — Smooth and Cool, Rare & Spicy
11:00pm – Readings by the Gippsland News team

My Kinda Music on Saturday Dec 21 & Monday 23 features country-flavoured Christmas songs, and many other programs will keep you in spirit too in the lead up to Christmas Day.

The mighty choral work Handel’s Messiah  was recently performed in Warragul to a sell-out crowd who enjoyed a fabulous performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, MSO Chorus, the West Gippsland Chorale and soloists under the direction of Erin Helyard. You can hear 3BBR’s exclusive recording in the 3BBR Concert Hall on Sunday 22nd December from 2:00pm presented by Joseph Baraké.

A sublime jazz vocalist, with the golden touch of a legend at the piano features on Gippsland Live on Dec 11th & 13th.  This gorgeous and intimate concert was recorded exclusively by 3BBR at the Yarragon Studio on 17 November 2024.

Pianist and composer Tony Gould is one of Australia’s most respected musicians.  His career has embraced many styles of music, not least jazz and other improvisatory musics in addition to traditional and contemporary classical musics.  He gives many concerts each year and for many years he has been involved in an extraordinary number of recording projects both as pianist and composer and has been at the forefront of music education in Australia via various educational institutions in Melbourne and throughout Australia.

Born in Melbourne, Emma Gilmartin is fast gaining a reputation as one of ,Australia’s most talented jazz vocalists.  While her skill and training lies predominantly in Jazz and Latin styles, Emma Gilmartin is passionate about, and experienced in a variety of styles including Soul, Popular, and Celtic.  She has spent much of her musical life writing her own music in Melbourne.

Listen back to Gippsland Live from Wednesday 11th & Friday 13th December.

Missed the broadcast?  Gippsland Live programs are available on our website as audio-on-demand for 8 weeks after broadcast.

West Gippsland Community Radio 3BBR-FM, supporting local live performance.

Listen back to the 3BBR-FM Concert Hall from Sun December 1st, presenting the recent Gippsland Symphony Orchestra concert under the direction of David Williams OAM, with guest soloist Niels Bijl on saxophones. 

Sergei Prokofiev – Selections from Romeo and Juliet Suite 1 & 2


This ballet composed in 1935-1936 is based on William Shakespeare’s play of the same name.  Prokofiev also arranged three orchestral suites and a set of ten piano pieces from the music for the ballet.  The GSO has selected from suites 1 and 2 for this performance: Montagues and Capulets, Madrigal, Minuet, Masks, Death of Tybalt, Friar Laurence, and Romeo at Juliet’s Tomb.  Prokofiev’s suites are some of the most memorable and dramatic moments from the ballet, capturing the essence of his powerful and evocative compositional style. The suites are often performed in concert and have become popular pieces in the orchestral repertoire.



Claude Debussy – Rhapsody for Saxophone and Orchestra – soloist Niels Bijl


In 1901 American saxophonist Elise Hall had requested Claude Debussy to compose a piece for the saxophone, however, he didn’t take the commission seriously and looked scornfully on the abilities of Hall as a saxophonist and as such did not work on the commission for some time.  Hall made many trips to Paris to meet with Debussy and he eventually began to work on the piece and sent the score for saxophone and piano to Hall in 1911.  It was subsequently arranged for orchestra by Jean Roger-Ducasse in 1919.

ENCORE: Nick Russoniello — Dawn Searching


Soloist Niels Bijl

, saxophone

Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 4


This is a monumental work in the symphonic repertoire, composed in 1884-1885.  This highly regarded symphony explores emotional depth, structural coherence, and symphonic innovation, making it a cornerstone of Romantic symphonic repertoire.  After its premiere performance, the symphony received mixed reviews.  Listeners were challenged by the dense, rich textural colours and the complexity of its structures.  It is now viewed as the work of a genius and rightly celebrated as one of the great symphonic achievements, a work that combines romantic intellectualism and emotional expressionism.  The fourth symphony by Brahms places him in the vanguard of symphonic composers, a rightful heir to Beethoven’s crown.


This performance was recorded on the 10th November 2024 at the West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul by 3BBR.

Missed the broadcast? Listen back via our radio-on-demand service before 26 January 2025.

3BBR FM… proudly supporting local fine music.

Our loyal volunteer Sam Nicita returns with his program Golden Megamix from 6pm Monday 25th November.  Echoes of Italy (8-10pm Tues) will not be returning at this time.

Many thanks to Clinkas for filling in on Mondays while Sam’s been away.

We have new volunteers in the wings with fresh program ideas, coming to 3BBR early in 2025 as part of some schedule changes.
 

As always, if you have feedback about our schedule, please get in touch. Visit our contact page for the many ways you can do that.

Our full schedule is at https://3bbrfm.org.au/guide where you can also download a PDF copy to print and keep.

Listen back to the 3BBR FM Concert Hall, as we proudly featured members of the MCO;  Sophie Rowell – violin,  Merewyn Bramble – viola,  Blair Harris – cello,  Emma Sullivan – double-bass,  with guest pianist/composer Stefan Cassomenos.

On Sunday 13th October, Joseph Baraké presented a dazzling concert of superb musicianship at Wesley of Warragul.  3BBR-FM was thrilled to be there to record it.

Not only was Franz Schubert’s Piano Quintet, “The Trout” a highlight feature, but also the new composition by Stefan Cassomenos whose ‘Quintettsatz’ was truly captivating and certain to become a great hit.

In his pre-concert talk, Stefan explained how he came to write this most appealing composition and how he was inspired by Schubert’s music; a fascinating insight into the creative process.

This premiere in Warragul on September 22nd was the final performance in a Regional tour by members of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.

The concert opened with a movement from Hummel’s Piano Quintet written for the same 5 instruments as the Trout Quintet.

• Johann Hummel – Piano Quintet in D minor Op74, 1st movement
• Stefan Cassomenos – Quintettsatz
• Franz Schubert – Piano Quintet in A major D677, “The Trout”

Missed the broadcast? Listen back before 8th Dec 2024 via our radio-on-demand service. 

3BBR-FM… proudly supporting local fine music with exclusive concert recordings in West Gippsland.

Community Radio 3BBR-FM has been nominated for three National Awards, and its programs and recordings have been recognised through national syndication.

• Gippsland Live  and 3BBR-FM Concert Hall  have been jointly nominated for Excellence in Australian Music for the broadcasting of local live performance, and 3BBR live fine music recordings have been accepted for national broadcast in Fine Music Live.
• West Gippsland Week  has been nominated for Best News / Current Affairs,  and
• Continental Drift  has been nominated for Best Music Program, also being distributed nationally through the Community Radio Network.

“To gain this recognition against well funded metro stations reflects the effort and quality that our local presenters are able to deliver,” said station President Paul Strickland. “While local community radio is run entirely by unpaid volunteers, does not mean that it is ‘amateur’ in the sense of poor performance.”

Continental Drift  presented by Garry Havrilay features cross-cultural music of the world, and can be heard on Sundays from noon and Tuesday nights at 10pm.  Gippsland Live  is our weekly showcase of local live performance, heard twice a week on Wednesday evenings from 8pm and Friday afternoons at 2pm.  3BBR-FM Concert Hall  presented by Joseph Barake can be heard on Sundays from 2pm and West Gippsland Week  is heard on Friday’s at 6pm and Saturdays at 8 am.

The winners of these awards will be announced in mid-October at the annual conference of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.

A list of all nominees is now available on the CBAA website.
https://www.cbaa.org.au/article/2024-community-broadcasting-awards-finalists

Listen back to the West Gippsland Chorale continuing its 40th Anniversary celebrations, with its second concert for 2024 in conjunction with the Heidelberg Choral Society. Premiered was the recently discovered cantata, ‘St Cecilia’s Day’ by Anglo/Australian composer George Loughlin.

Composed over 70 years ago, collecting dust in the Durham University Library, this 30 minute cantata for 120 voice choir and 55 member professional orchestra with soloists, soprano Rebecca Rashleigh and baritone Christopher Tonkin, was conducted by veteran choral conductor Peter Bandy, assisted by the Chorale’s Music Director Nathan Byrne.

The Brahms ‘German Requiem’ completed a concert that delighted an enthusiastic capacity audience at the West Gippsland Arts Centre on Sunday the 25th August 2024.

3BBR-FM was there to exclusively record this major historic music event for the 3BBR-FM Concert Hall, and was presented by Joseph Baraké on Sunday 8 September at 2pm. Missed the broadcast? Listen back via our radio-on-demand service before November 5th 2024.

• George LOUGHLIN – St Cecilia’s Day
• Johannes BRAHMS – Ein deutsches Requiem – A German Requiem

3BBR-FM proudly supports local fine music concerts.