Versatile artistes Wendy Nieper (mezzo soprano) and Julien Cheriyan (piano) presented their entertaining programme A Two Course Treat for the concert club.

In the first section Chopin was shown as a composer of songs in particular, which Wendy sang in excellent Polish.

Narzeczony was a strongly accentuated hunting song with a robust accompaniment, while Dumka was an expressive misty kind of song, legato and with a lovely harmonic piano part. Other songs yearned plaintively for the homeland or had strong dance rhythms.

Julien played several pieces including an impressive delivery of the Revolutionary Study.

Other compositions were performed to show the influence of Chopin's style and included a Brahms Intermezzo alongside Songs of the Auvergne. This section was concluded with a brilliant breathless arrangement of words set to the Minute Waltz!

Then musical comedy took over. Wendy exhibited her considerable ability as she portrayed characters and songs of Broadway. She brought the theatre to us with her facial expressions and attitude.

Concentrating on music by Bernstein, Sondheim and Gershwin, Julien entered into the mood, and we heard excerpts from West Side Story, a wonderfully decorated version of Summer-time, a moving Send in the Clowns and a delightful I Feel Pretty.

Jill Hopkins