By Madeleine Murray
THE NORTHERN RIVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (NRSO) is presenting Spring Sensations, an intimate chamber concert featuring clarinettist Nathaniel Smorti and the electrifying pianist Ayesha Gough on Father’s Day, Sunday, September 6.
Father’s Day has a very special meaning for Ayesha Gough, who grew up in Murwillumbah. She never knew her father and had lost all hope of ever finding him until last year.
When I write about the NRSO, I often ask Ayesha about the work she will be performing. She always answers with profound insights into the music and her feelings.
Ayesha will be playing Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15, with her usual explosive talent. Her passion, drama and beauty bring music to life with a marvelous intensity.
“The Fauré is very lush,” she said. “It’s quite Romantic but with a French twinge to the harmonies which is sometimes very unexpected.”
Then she revealed her personal, extraordinary story.
“Something possibly very interesting about my relationship to this piece is that I heard it performed for the first time by the Chicago Piano Quartet, back in January in a place in Florida that just happens to be named Melbourne.
“I was in the States on a very important trip – I was meeting my father for the first time in my life. Through Ancestry DNA and a US-based volunteer research team, I was able to find him in 2025 after a lifetime of thinking I would never meet him.
“So, when I am playing the Fauré now, I’m quite often thinking back to that concert in Florida and that very special time of my life.”
The year 2025 was a monumental year for the brilliant pianist.
She married the great conductor Marco Bellasi on January 8, she met her father for the first time on December 24 and celebrated her 30th birthday on December 28.
When I asked if her father was able to hear her play the piano, she replied, “Yep! We were able to find a piano in a local church and Marco and I gave a mini-concert for my dad, his wife, her sister, and my grandparents!”
Spring Sensations program includes Mozart’s famous and adored Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K.581, followed by M Bruch’s 8 Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano. NRSO Chamber Ensemble violinists Alison Fletcher and Hugh Won, violist Jasmine Smith, and cellist Katherine Hopkins will make it the perfect Father’s Day to remember.
Especially for Ayesha Gough.
Spring Sensations is on at 2:30pm on Sunday, September 6, at the Tweed Heads Civic Centre, Brett Street, Tweed Heads. For tickets, go to nrso.com.au