Join us at the Newcastle Conservatorium (The 'Con') on Saturday night for an evening of fun and music.
The Harold Lobb Concert Hall is a 328 seat, state-of-the-art concert auditorium with beautiful art-deco features and modern upgrades to enhance your comfort and listening pleasure.
Hosted by the hilarious Cathy Crowley, our concert night at The Con brings you two top-line ukulele acts from across the country (and one from much closer to home).
EmCee - Cathy Crowley
Cat Crowley has been performing in comedy rooms all over Australia for as long as beards have been cool in Melbourne. You may have seen her at such events as 'Cat sings in the shower' and 'The National Foot Festival.'
Her ukulele technique is questionable but what she lacks in neck fingering she makes up for in air trumpet.
Tyrone and Lesley
6:30pm - 7:10pm
This award-winning ukulele and double bass duo's music is designed to defy drop-down lists. Keen to bring you the songs they wrote at Nobby's Head lighthouse, Newkulele favourites Tyrone and Lesley "...may appear as if they are from a different era, but their messaging is very aptly of the now" (Bluecurtains).
Tyrone and Lesley are a songwriting and performance duo who write light music for dark times. Having one foot on the theatre stage and the other on the music stage is a striking stance which has headlined for audiences little and large all the way from the Sydney Opera House to the United Kingdom.
They’ve released 6 albums and one EP. Optimism and Have No Words were dubbed Ukulele Recording of the year.
Winners of the Johnny Dennis Music Award and finalists in the Queensland Music Awards for their songwriting, they’ve played the Sydney Opera House, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Melbourne Recital Centre, The Adelaide Festival Centre and many events including the New Zealand International Ukulele Festival, Melbourne Ukulele Festival, Cairns Ukulele Festival, Spruke, Newkulele, Blue Mountains Ukulele Festival, the Brisbane Festival, Perth’s Awesome Festival, the UK’s Grand Northern Ukulele Festival and many others.
Green Fieldz
7:20pm - 8:00pm
Green Fieldz is Keith Rea and Sally Carter creating a storm of high end energy with blazing fiddle, wild guitar work and melodic ukulele. Soaring vocal harmonies add to their unique sound which blends the many musical genres they play into a journey of fun.
Based on the Mornington Peninsula, Green Fieldz have wowed the crowds at the Irish and Celtic Music Festival in Yass, turned heads at the Celtic Festival in Beechworth and made a real name for themselves at the Girgarre Moosic Muster.
They also perform at the Yarra Junction Fiddler's Convention, Frankston Music Festival, Mornington Winter Festival, as well as the Mornington Main Street Festival.
Jac Jel Mac & Wal
8:20pm - 9:00pm
A four part harmony band full of rich vocals, originals songs and covers that are a bit country, jazzy and prog rock. Jack, Jel, Mac and Wal are a rare commodity: performers who can teach, teachers who can perform; multi-instrumentalists (guitar, bass, banjo, and trumpet) but particularly ukulele. Their original song writing is tender, toe-tapping and often silly!
At home Mark and Jane (Jac and Jel's real names) run 9 weekly ukestra/choir sessions, and they also have built an international reputation for ukestration workshops. Ruth McCrae (Mac) has decades of singing experience from her early days with Cafe of the Gate of Salvation to teaching and performing. John Wallace (Wal) is not only our favourite local bearded uke teacher, but a talented multi-instrumentalist and Newcastle's premier uBass teacher.
