Friday 11 November 1930hrs
Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
Sway is one of Sydney's finest and most stylish a cappella
quartets, with a repertoire containing jazz to pop and blues and everything
in between.
Since its inception in 2002, Sway has performed in various
venues in and around Sydney and interestate to very enthusiastic audiences.
Some highlights for the group include gigs at the Side On Cafe, the Seymour
Centre, corporate Christmas functions such as for Colgate and for University
of Western Sydney, and private parties.
The four members of the group, Fiona Wilkinson, Tony Watson,
Sara O'Connor and Adrian Mees, are all accomplished vocalists with decades
of professional and semi-professional vocal experience between them.
They each contribute to the group in very unique ways:
· Fiona with her arranging skills and her love of sometimes very
questionable retro music,
· Tony with his amazing perfect pitch, his sense of humour, and
his love and knowledge of good rock music,
· Sara with her sweet and playful jazz voice and her decadent scatting
style, and
· Adrian with his experience as a percussionist and an electric
bass player, and his habit of emulating these instruments anytime anyplace.
For further information please visit the Sway website on www.swaytime.com.
FIONA WILKINSON
Fiona Wilkinson grew up in Canberra studying music and performing all
over the capital city as a classical guitarist, as a piano accompanist,
and later on as a keyboardist and vocalist for covers band "Silhouette".
She moved to Sydney in 1996, soon afterwards joined the "Beethoven
Society of Australia" choir and from there, became a member of various
small choirs, cabaret groups and vocal quartets, performing gigs all over
Sydney, from doing backing vocals for Michael Crawford at the Entertainment
Centre to entertaining the footy crowd before a Swans game at the SCG.
It was during this time that Fiona developed her love of singing close
harmonies in small vocal groups, and found herself as one third of a feathers-and-sequins
cabaret-style girl trio "Deluxe", where she picked up the art
of arranging music for voices and bands. In 2002, while gossiping with
Tony Watson over a beer after having been in a cappella gospel choir "The
Elementals" together, it was decided that the two of them would start
up a vocal quartet and thus Sway was born. Fiona is a university lecturer
and spends all her spare time writing arrangements for Sway.
TONY WATSON
Tony Watson has been singing all his life. Born into a musical family
where both parents were music teachers, Tony was exposed to music constantly.
Tony has studied piano and musicianship and has a passion for music, both
recorded and live. The son of renowned musical director/conductor Dr Steve
Watson, Tony's strengths are his ear for music, his wide vocal range and
his ability to pick up new material almost instantly. His first foray
into live performance came in the Freddie Mercury benefit
concert at the Metro Theatre in 2000. This involved performing in the
vocal ensemble and assisting with arrangements and teaching the choir.
Since then he has been a member of vocal ensemble "Voice Australia",
and has performed on stage at Carols in the Domain as backing for Doug
Parkinson, Christmas at Darling Harbour and many other live performances.
He was also a member of popular Sydney a cappella gospel group "The
Elementals" where he performed many concerts at venues around inner
Sydney as well as weddings and festivals. After leaving "The Elementals"
in 2002, Tony, along with fellow- "Elemental" Fiona, formed
Sway.
SARA O'CONNOR
Sara O'Connor studied creative arts at Wollongong University, majoring
in music performance and acting, and has also completed a sound technology
course at the Australian Film Television & Radio School. Post university
her interest in music took her around the world, beginning in Dublin,
where she recorded and performed live across the country with a jazz band.
After twelve months there she moved to London to study acting and directing
at The Globe Theatre where she later accepted a job as a performance-based
tour guide. On returning to Australia, Sara worked as a voice-over artist
and singer with the likes of Ted Mulry, Sam McNally and the Freddy Wilson
Big Band. Up until two years ago she was working in television in post
production in shows such as Australian Idol. In the last two years Sara
has been working as a corporate trainer for the Moira Fay Group. Sara
is also a founding member of Three Ways Theatre Company (TWTC) and enjoys
the role of producer. Sara has always had a love for a cappella music
and jumped at the opportunity to sing with Sway, which she joined in May
2003.
ADRIAN MEES
Adrian Mees, originally from the Netherlands, made Sydney home about
five years ago, after having lived in Hamburg, Germany for four years
and in Asia for several years. In Hamburg he was part of a seven-piece
a cappella group "Gib 8". Besides his participation in Sway,
Adrian also performs as a solo vocalist and guitarist, singing and playing
jazz and Brazilian music. In Sydney he is doing this with his band "The
Q Club" which he established in 2001. In Germany, he performed with
his own quartet in premier jazz venues such as Birdland and Dennis' Swing
Club. He has played and sung in many combinations, and has been involved
in various roles in many musical events, such as the North Sea Jazz Festival
in The Hague. Adrian joined Sway in September 2003.
Back to Calendar of Events
2005
|
|