Classical St George's Concert Strikes a Chord with Sally and Family

I wouldn’t class myself as your average classical concert goer. Yes, I played the violin at senior school but that was 30 years ago. I’ve even been to the Royal Albert Hall in London for the Proms, but the ticket was a present from my widowed father who was looking for someone to accompany him.

But now in middle age – with children a little older and a bit more time on my hands – I was keen to explore classical music a little further to discover whether I would find a concert an uplifting and enriching experience.  What’s more I wanted to see if my 16-year-old daughter would appreciate some of music’s finest classical pieces.

Cathedral backdrop

The second of the 2017 St George’s Concert series featured the West Australian Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster - the world-class violinist, Laurence Jackson, and internationally-acclaimed organist and choral conductor, Joseph Nolan.   Four concerts are being staged this year.  The setting was the magnificent St George’s Cathedral, which is 130 years old and has high arches with beautiful stained-glass windows. As we took our seats, we were told to refrain from coughing and paper shuffling as the event was being recorded by the ABC for broadcast on 97.7 Classic FM.

The concert

The concert featured eight pieces, all very different in style and rhythm.  The Chaconne in D Minor by Bach was extremely challenging for any experienced violinist.  It’s a long solo piece, but the audience, myself included were captivated. It was dramatic and striking and we were left in awe of Laurence Jackson’s talent.

Beethoven’s Sonata number 5 for the piano and violin is also known as the Spring Sonata and is noted as being one of his most finest. The performance made full advantage of the power and range of the instruments.  Pianist Joseph Nolan impressed me with his intricate finger work. 

I instantly recognised Toccata Symphony number 5 by Widor. I’ve sat through many weddings, and this is apparently one of the most requested wedding day pieces in the world and one of the most popular organ symphonies.  It has a sturdy melody and the organist’s feet and fingers were kept extremely busy, maximising the organ’s capabilities. 

The West Organ is located on a specially-constructed gallery at, you’ve guessed it, the west end of the cathedral.  This organ is one of the largest mechanical action instruments in WA and really is quite breathtaking and fits in so well with the surrounding architecture of the nave. A link up to a screen at the front of the cathedral ensured that we could see quite clearly the organist’s adept and skilful finger work taking place high above.

There was an intermission in the middle and we were served warm and spicy apple juice in the Burt Memorial Hall – just what was needed on one of the coldest winter nights in Perth.

Audience reaction

Alison Bevan and Rae Metcalf occupied the neighbouring seats to me and, when the concert was over, we started chatting.

“The standard of playing tonight was exemplary, and what a variety of pieces, the first half included more regular, easily recognised pieces, whilst in the second half they were more-light hearted.  Just think about it, these talented composers who created these masterpieces one or two hundred years ago, they’re very complex pieces, it’s just amazing” said Alison.

“Yes, they are both so accomplished. Joseph was playing the organ like a virtuoso, his legs and hands, his whole body worked that organ,” added Rae.

At the age of sixteen I wasn’t sure what my daughter would make of it. It’s hard to get her to sit still, and off her mobile phone or laptop, so a two-hour classical concert, would that have been hard to digest?

“It has been relaxing; the music has real depth and I’m blown away by the violinist and organist,” she said.  “It has been a very calming, enjoyable evening and this charming cathedral, which I’ve never visited before, has left me in awe, it’s been the perfect setting.”

I couldn't of said it better. Delightful.

There are two more classical concerts to come in 2017 as part of the St George's Concert Series, Bach to Bernstein (St George's Cathedral Perth) and Handel's Solomon (Perth Concert Hall).

REVIEW BY SALLY GRANDY

Perth-based writer Sally Grandy attended the 2nd concert, The WASO Concertmaster, in the St George's Concert Series in Perth last Monday night. Sally formerly worked as a journalist for the BBC and ITV News in UK for decades, before leaving the shores of Southampton and arriving in Perth in 2013.  She is mum to four children and passionate about the written word.

Perth Energy and Mines Summit Top Take Homes

Last week at the Energy and Mines Summit, Perth company Advanced Energy Resources (AER) announced it signed a long-term power purchase agreement with GMA Garnet to build a 3 megawatt wind and solar farm with battery storage near Kalbarri, Western Australia.

Diesel fuel rebate not helping miners move to renewable energy; contracts evolving to squarely put responsibility of delivery onto the shoulders of energy providers; and 'green is the new black'

1. There are some seriously big renewable projects (especially wind/solar) coming on stream in Australia integrating with mining operations. Just last week Advanced Energy Resources announced a deal with GMA Garnet in WA.

2. Miners are talking openly, at industry conferences, about social impact and responsibly reducing carbon footprint. Being a good corporate citizen is now viewed by many in industry as offering value to shareholders, and something that will ultimately increase bottom lines.

3. On balance sheets, the diesel fuel rebate is not assisting Australian miners to justify investment in renewables, but they are doing it anyway.

4. Creativity and collaboration is essential in this industry as leading players seek to learn from the mistakes and experience of others. Speakers last week in Perth spoke openly about mistakes, disagreements and sought advice from eachother.

5. The global leaders in this space are seriously smart, as they have extremely complex engineering, logistical and corporate problems to solve. Intellectual capacity was well above average at this mining conference.

6. Funding for projects is coming from equity, banks, government (ARENA) and direct private investment. Some Australian miners, owned by overseas interests, are taking a long view, and investing heavily in renewables.

7. Some miners are planning to share renewable power set ups with local indigenous communities. This would be a game changer for many communities in northern Australia, when roads are under water during the wet season and diesel cant be trucked in. The miners are not announcing this yet, but they plan to share their power facilities in some cases.

8. Contracting Trends: One popular panel discussion talked about how miners want renewable suppliers to bring solutions in the tendering process. Tell us how you are going to solve our needs, the speaker said. Overall the message is clear, miners mine. Miners are looking for energy specialists to bring knowledge and the a plan for delivery to the table.

9. Some miners, generating/storing their own power, are planning to shut down operations when energy prices are high and sell back to the grid. They will make more money doing this than producing their own products.

10. 'Green is the new black,' says Phillip Mak, (Global Head of Resources, Energy and Northern Australia at National Australia Bank). He says way more renewable projects seeking funding, on visits to his office, than coal these days.

11. Australia is on the verge of a serious shift in energy supply. Atmosphere/buzz at the conference was electric. The atmosphere reminiscent of a Diggers & Dealers Conference in the 1990s, on the verge of a spike in the gold price.

12. No one talked about 'clean coal'.

By Cate Rocchi, CEO of Perth Media.

Cate visited the Energy and Mines Summit in Perth last week. Perth Media was an official sponsor of the event. She chaired a panel at the conference that discussed financing renewables.  Perth Media's clients include VSUN Energy, Australian Vanadium, Bryah Resources and Veritas.

Global Energy and Mines Summit to Focus on Challenges in Financing Renewables for Mines – in Perth, June 28-30

Integration of renewable energy on minesites and financing green energy solutions such as these vanadium redox flow batteries (made by Gildemeister) recently installed in Busselton, by VSUN Energy - the first of its kind in Australia -  will be on the agenda at the Energy and Mines Summit in Perth, June 28-30, 2017

June 25, 2017

MEDIA RELEASE

Some of Australia’s leading experts in financing renewables for mine sites say more companies are getting funding over the line for projects, as lenders increase finance options as well as their skills in risk assessment. At the same time integrative technology is improving and costs are falling.

At the Energy and Mines Australia Summit, to be held in Perth on June 29 and 30, two key speakers – Phillip Mak, (Global Head of Resources, Energy and Northern Australia at National Australia Bank) and Chris Twomey, Transac- tion Consultant at the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – both say renewables for mines have unique funding challenges which financial institutions and industry are slowly unpicking.

National Australia Bank’s Mak said industry, banks, and institutions facilitating renewables for mines are still under- standing the risks involved, particularly with regards to integrating diesel and gas power supplies with solar or wind for remote mine sites.

“The big challenge is convincing miners, investors and bankers, that the integration is very well understood and reli- able,” he said. “The integration can’t pose us any risk to power security as many mine sites are off-grid and contin- ued power supply, in remote mine sites, is crucial.”

Mak said many mine sites will be opting for hybrid power supplies, using a combination of renewable and diesel for example, and he was particularly interested in discussing the experience of others globally in this area at the conference. “The cost of installing renewables on a mine is falling, however no one wants to be left without power – the conference is timely to understand the global perspective on how power supplies can be integrated.”

ARENA’s Twomey said miners were on a slow learning curve with regards to renewables but the environmental and cost-saving benefits were real and now better understood. “Funding challenges are also due to the duration of the mining projects – miners want longer contracts and now most renewable energy mining projects require at least a 10-year mine-life to be commercially viable,” he said. “For banks to take that kind of risk over a 10-year period is difficult.” Twomey said understanding credit risk around renewable power contracts was also still difficult. “For banks to allocate funds – in the region of $10-20m (to put a 10-15 megawatt solar PV farm in an off-grid mine perhaps) – the level of transaction cost, time and effort is very high without knowing the risks,” he said.

Twomey said ARENA was now in talks with several WA companies to build renewable energy projects combined with resources and he regularly holds workshops with resource companies assessing whether to integrate solar and wind power for off-grid sites. He advised many to start small and scale up over time. ARENA focuses on four key areas: secure and reliable grids; solar PV research and development; energy productivity and exporting renewable energy.

Davin Berelowitz (Tec-C Investment) and James Hockings (Lighthouse Infrastucture) will join Mak and Twomey as panelists on June 30, discussing Evolving Finance Options for Renewables for Mines.

The Canadian-based company – Energy and Mines – is holding the Summit – bringing together leading global ex- perts in mining, renewables and energy storage – in Perth for the first time from June 29-30.

Energy and Mines, 4-2450 Lancaster Road, SR Law Office, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1B 5N3

Over 250 mining, renewables, government and mine-energy delegates are expected to participate in this Summit focused on accelerating affordable, reliable, low-carbon power for mines.

Current mining participants include senior representatives from Newmont, Rio Tinto, BHP, Newcrest, Panoramic Resources, South32, Fortescue Metals Group, BBI Group, Western Areas, Independence Group, Gold Fields, Australian Garnet, Australian Vanadium, TNG, Pilbara Minerals, Agrimin Limited, and Oz Minerals. Other large industrial users with energy intensive operations are also participating in- cluding senior representatives from Sun Metals, Shell, Woodside Energy, and Alcoa.

An international group of renewables, hybrid-power and storage experts are also taking part including: SunSHIFT, Enel Green Power, Honeywell, ARENA, SolarReserve, Juwi Renewable Energy, Onetide Modular Systems, Aggreko, Adani Australia Renewables, Caterpillar, Advanced Energy Solutions, Hatch, ABB, Advisian, GHD, Conergy, Lighthouse Infrastructure, Energy Made Clean, Redback Technologies, MPower, Tec-C Investments, Energy Developments, Hydro Tasmania, and VSUN Energy.

For more details, visit Energy and Mines Australia Summit website.

Contact:

Adrienne Baker at adrienne.baker@energyandmines.com, +1 613 680 2482
Cate Rocchi, Chief Executive Officer, Perth Media cate@perthmedia.com.au, +61 428 431 699

About Energy and Mines:

Energy and Mines is the leading global information and event media provider for energy management and operations of the mining sector. Through its global Summit series (Canada, South Africa, Chile, UK, Australia) web portal and newsletter, Energy and Mines brings together the mining and renewable energy sectors to drive solutions for affordable, reliable and sustainable power for mines.

About Adrienne Baker:

Adrienne is a global expert in renewable energy. She has been a director at Energy and Mines, Ottawa, Canada, for the past four years and a director of Canadian Clean Energy Conference for the past seven years. Prior to that, Adrienne was a producer at UK-based Green Power Conferences and was previously editor-in-chief at financial publishing firm Cross Border.

Perth Media Blogging with Denmark Chamber of Commerce Next Week

Perth Media blogging workshop next week is on track, organised by Denmark Chamber of Commerce, 22 have booked. Thanks to Liz Jack, Anna Boaden and Claudia Simpson at the Denmark Chamber of Commerce and Jody Ovenden at Celestine Retreat for her encouraging support.

Looking forward to assisting writing skills and developing grassroots expertise.

Perth Media creative and digital consultant, Andal Shreedaran, is also presenting her 'Future of Content' Research, remotely.

Our International Women at Perth Media

Perth Media would not be the company it is right now but for the valuable input of three creative, smart young women. Andal Shreedaran, who among many things is a podcasting expert and content trend researcher and presenter. Andal has recently joined us from Bangalore (India). Laura Murphy has brought a keen eye for graphics and love of writing. Laura hails from Ireland and is working on research into Instagram effectiveness and ideas.  Chanelle, originally from Perth, has started a Perth Media internship and is currently preparing research into Facebook trends in social media, and has already offered technical expertise. Thank you team, it is a pleasure to know and work with you.

Cate Rocchi (CEO of Perth Media)

'Wealth of Knowledge' Testimonial: Ravensthorpe Community Resource Centre

“We received a one-on-one training session via Video Conference with Cate Rocchi from Perth Media. The training came at a great time for us as the media were seeking information from us regarding the recent floods and devastation in Ravensthorpe.

"As a result, an interview was broadcast on Triple M’s (Radio West) Rural Focus. We talked about the flood situation and also how we were assisting as a CRC. Rural Focus will be broadcasting a follow-up interview in a few weeks, and again we will be highlighting updates and also focusing on the great things that CRC’s offer to their communities. Thanks Cate for your wealth of knowledge and top tips.”

Lyndsey Unwin, Ravensthorpe Community Resource Centre manager

Perth Media's 1-hour Individual Practical Media Training Sessions, via facetime, are $350. Contact cate@perthmedia.com.au to book your session today. This session was donated as the Ravensthorpe CRC won a free training course as a prize for contributing to Linkwest's recent video conferencing feedback survey.

'Supportive Attitude, Pragmatic Approach and Huge Contribution': Leadership WA's Testimonial

Thank you Leadership WA for this thoughtful testimonial, it has given our small team a huge boost today, as we reflect on the past two years of working closely with this inspiring WA organisation.

'Perth Media has made a huge contribution to Leadership WA’s mission to help create an environment in Western Australia in which great and thoughtful leaders thrive and have the greatest possible impact.  Cate Rocchi and her team have consistently produced high-quality content for us, including the "10 Minutes onLeadership with . . . " Series published in WA Business News for the past year. Cate has also been instrumental in coverage of us in The Australian; ABC Radio’s The Country Hour; Oil & Gas Australia, and various community and rural publications such as The Kalgoorlie Miner, Pilbara News, and The Guardian Express.

I have particularly appreciated Cate’s guidance as we made the transition to a new brand and logo, and reshaped the vision and strategy for our organization.  She has helped me understand how we should best present ourselves, how we can most effectively explain what elements we are changing and what we are keeping, and how we can position ourselves in various media formats. Cate has also been generous in introducing me to potential sponsors and other supporters, and in promoting our programs and courses to her broader network.

Perth Media’s contributions were invaluable in helping me settle in as Leadership WA’s CEO, and in enabling us to make the best use of the media and branding opportunities available to us.  Our media profile has increased significantly because of our collaboration with Perth Media over the past two years.  

I am confident Cate Rocchi’s expertise, pragmatic approach, and supportive attitude will make Perth Media a valuable partner for any organization.'

- Leadership WA CEO Robin McClellan

Matt Seeds (Inspired IT) Visits Perth Media

By Laura Murphy

Perth Media is upgrading its in-house IT systems, with the assistance of Inspired IT.

Matt Seed’s nearly new Perth business, Inspired IT, is “a young company that is keen on changing the IT infrastructure by adhering to client wishes, offering a better brand, and delivering quality services.” Inspired IT offers Office 365 and Cloud services and is a great specialist to have on hand in a progressively digital landscape.  Specifically, the speed of media distribution to reporters, globally, and the work uploading/sending images will be faster, after the installation of improved technology.

This week additional individual email address through our domain were added and we discussed alternative ways of sharing files/folders through cloud and server-based methods, all with the aim of improving efficiency and working well as a team. 

 

 

 

Digital and Social Media Audit and Content Management Action Plan

By Cate Rocchi and Andal Shreedaran

Content creation, blogs linked to your website and social media management can improve the google ranking of your company and boost its digital footprint. We are here to help and Perth Media is offering 2 initial options throughout January and February, 2017.

Option A, Starter: $550 (1-hour meeting and 2 hours research for written report and action plan); Option B, Standard: $950 (2-hour meeting and 5 hours research for written report and action plan)

The plans include: mapping your digital footprint, audience mapping, strategy analysis and evaluation, and social media planning and strategizing.

Call 0428431699 or email cate@perthmedia.com.au

5 Better Ways to Promote Content by Andal Shreedaran (Perth Media Creative Consultant)

In this era of information overload, content is the king. But, content creation, however taxing it may be, is only half the work done. The rest of the work is promoting the content and ensuring it reaches the right audience.

The key to nailing content promotion is to do it efficiently – many companies struggle with content promotion not because they don’t spend time, but because they spend too much time on irrelevant and lackluster content. It is important to establish an objective – is it increased brand visibility, are you looking at lead generation and conversion or increasing blog traffic? It is also important to know who your target audience is and to make a decision whether the content be textual, visual (posters, infographics), audio (podcasts) or video.

1.      Email. This might sound old school, but email is still a wonderful way of reaching your target audience. Sending links to the article or blog post through newsletters or notifications is straightforward. Remember, people who have signed up for subscription have done so to know more about the company and the resources it can offer. If this sounds too simple, there are a lot of ways through which you can spice up email marketing – drip marketing  for one, is a great tool to send automated and tailored email alerts to your audience. Through drip, you can target each member in your audience specifically – including his/her name, what interests them most about your company and relevant content based on which page they have spent most time on. Email is also a simple tool to cross-promote your social media pages.

2.     Social media. The next and the obvious platform to promote your content is social media. Depending on the objective, content can be shared either on (or all) of these – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, SnapChat, SoundCloud, etc. While all content can go into all these platforms, a social media strategy on what to post where will add more value – For e.g., videos work great in Facebook and SnapChat, podcasts in Soundcloud, professional posts and infographics in LinkedIn, images and posters mainly across twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

The timing of the posts is also very crucial. Analytics will tell you what part of your audience is active on each channel and at what time. Posting relevant content at the right time will increase views and audience engagement. If it is overwhelming to handle so many social channels, there are social media tools like Hootsuite, Buffer that help bring all of the channels in one place. You can also use these tools to post curated content at pre-defined time. 

3.     Increase SEO through backlinks. While the content you have created may be interesting, backlinks to the relevant page in your website or other pages increases traffic and search engine rankings. A very simple way to create backlinks is to ask your team to share the link to the content on their social media pages. SEO improves when content is shared multiple times – this is recorded by search engines which will give your content a better ranking.

4.     Influencer outreach. Identify your influencers – influencers can be media, bloggers or top-level professionals in your industry and/or sources whom you have used or mentioned in your content. Reach out to these influencers and tell them about your new article or podcast and ask them to share it to their network. Content shared by influencers is seen not just as interesting but also trustworthy. Apart from getting more traffic, your brand’s credibility grows – third party endorsement is invaluable for a brand or product.

5.     Syndicate content. When done right, content syndication can genuinely boost revenue. You can use sites like Medium, StumbleUpon, Scoop.It to post your content. Through this, you can reach out to a wider audience. This will increase authority and credibility. Apart from these, content can also be posted in LinkedIn. It is usually not recommended to re-post the article on multiple sites as it can pull down your Google ranking, but you can post excerpts in these sites and provide a link to the content page on your website to read the entire article.

For content to reign king, it is imperative for it to be shareable, relatable and understandable. Simple but impactful content can do wonders to the brand and product sales. Hitting ‘Publish’ is only the beginning – promoting the right content at the best time is crucial for success.