With a breather weekend between stretches of seasonal schedule madness on my hands, I headed down to The Ivy at Jumeirah Emirates Towers for a little Thursday night live music break. And specifically this one, because of a chance to witness opera being performed in a far more casual setting than is typical for the genre, as well as the combination of two talented locally-based artists: friend and vocalist Paul Bester, and pianist/composer Dale Nichols. They made a great musical combination, expertly performing a mix of contemporary and classic operatic renditions, and taking a few requests as well. I and my companion enjoyed the performance immensely, with lovely English bites and drinks from the Ivy's menu rounding off a great Thursday night.
As a piano music fan, I could not miss The Fridge's latest Fridge Concert Series concert, starring pianist and composer Dale Nichols. For about an hour, Nichols played several compositions on The Fridge's stage, including "Adrift" and "Vagabond's Revenge", and most memorably, "Dreams from a Kitchen Window" and "The Sea".
His music is not typical piano concert fare; it has been described as "cinematic", and does seem to lend itself well to inclusion in soundtracks. Which is to say that it is a very mood-evoking music, incorporating themes of nature and the weather, as Nichols mentioned during his introductions. His composition also eschews repetitive motifs, and his music is distinctively dynamic, changing direction subtly ever so often.
His EP, In Full Color, includes four lovely tracks, including the haunting "October", and the calming, melodic "Blossom", with its background of nature sounds.
