The Promise perform for first time at Christian music festival
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
New members Kimberley Jones, Jordan Cassie, Dayna Petrie, Joshua Page and Luke Fotheringham join artistic director Aleta King (keyboard), Daniel Laredo (fourth from left), Laura Hill (third from right) and Emily Thomas (right) for The Promise’s Easterfest performances, which culminated in this appearance at the Grand Central shopping centre in Toowoomba.
Credit: Ben Beaden.
A concert at a Seventh-day Adventist camp meeting in Queensland has led to an Avondale vocal ensemble performing at Australia’s largest Christian music festival.
The Promise’s concert, which closed the Adventist Church in southern Queensland’s annual camp meeting in September last year, came as the Toowoomba-based festival, called Easterfest, sought artists who would appeal to audiences outside its core demographic.
Pr Casey Wolverton attended the concert. “I thought, This is perfect. This is exactly what Easterfest wants.” The senior minister of the Glenvale Seventh-day Adventist Church is a steering committee member of the Christian Leaders Network in Toowoomba. The network offers advice to the festival. “The Promise’s excellence coupled with its enthusiasm causes everybody to listen.”
The vocal ensemble performed at Raw Sugar Cafe in the city on the Friday of Easterfest, anchored a concert at St Luke’s Anglican Church as part of the festival’s Gospel in the Chapel program on Saturday and received a standing ovation after a performance in the centre court of the Grand Central shopping centre on Sunday. The latter is a big deal, says Casey, because artists performing there “represent Easterfest to the general public, so Easterfest try to get their headliners or acts they know will come through.”
Five new members joined The Promise this year, but the audition process meant the ensemble had only three weeks to prepare. “The Promise has a reputation for musical excellence, so I expected each member to contribute their absolute best, which they did, individually and collectively,” says artistic director Aleta King.
The experience of performing at Easterfest helped the members of the ensemble to blend and to bond. “Each performance got better and better,” says Aleta. “The last evoked a spontaneous audience request for an encore.”
Natural acoustics enhance new album
The live sound of The Promise features on a new album, which the ensemble will release on the Psalter Music label later this semester.
The Promise recorded Give Thanks late last year in the chapel at Morisset Hospital, where the acoustics give a fuller sound to any vocals. Producer and engineer Dale Wills minimised any editing of the album’s 13 tracks to preserve its musical integrity. “The purity of sound, the clarity of intonation and the expressive qualities demonstrate a very high level of musicianship,” says Aleta.