Live Review: Celebrate ECU 25th Anniversary Gala Concert

World class musicians spanning an eclectic range of genres, sub-genres and theatrical permutations of music were showcased for Celebrate! ECU 25th Anniversary Gala Concert at Perth Concert Hall. Not only from the current WAAPA forte, but also its esteemed graduates - many of whom have become sought-after on the international stage.

Helen Shanahan is one of the most gifted and sorely underrated contemporary artists in Australia, to say nothing of her credentials as a WAAPA graduate. Backed by the beautiful and virtually faultless voices of the WAAPA Gospel Choir, the sweet melody of Finding Gold earned the first truly rapturous applause of the evening.

After a plentiful serving of bombast and funk from the Phat Phunk Band in tandem with WAAPA Big Band, things took a turn for the choral with a rendition of Josef Rheinberger's Abendlied from Eneksis heavenly enough to make Archangel Gabriel sigh. A better-than-the-original cover of Sam Smith's Lay Me Down by Sophie Foster, Edwina Masson and Shanelle Schramm was most impressive, after which came a thrilling display of Wadaiko from Marcus Perrozzi and his cohort of drummers invoking the bushido spirit.

Faith Court Orchestra, WAAPA Opera Chorus and choirs from All Saints' College and John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School then made the first great use of the superb acoustics of the Concert Hall. Strings, brass and voices melded on Speak, an original composition by WAAPA graduate Rebecca Erin Smith.

Alexandre Da Costa -playing a Stradivarius named Di Barbaro from 1727 - took to the stage with Indian Ocean Ensemble, giving the audience a rare insight into the sonic feats capable when wholeheartedly wedding instruments together. Tomaso Vitali's Chaccone was impeccably rendered by Da Costa and the Ensemble, Da Costa's fingers truly inhabiting a will of their own to produce near-impossible sounds.

Alexander Lewis, together with father Michael Lewis OAM, performed Georges Bizet's Au Fond Du Temple Saint in what was their first onstage appearance together. A song of love and friendship was fervently wrought by the baritone father and tenor son duo, carried by the no less exquisite Faith Court Orchestra, conducted by Jessica Gethin.

Sir Hubert Parry's I Was Glad was the jaw-dropping closer of the evening - a symphony to shake the halls of Mount Olympus itself, making full use of the Concert Hall's organ. The level and class of performances like these serve as incontrovertible evidence that it's musicianship like this that truly pushes the limits of human capability.