Richard Bruinsma Media (2025)

31/01/2025

Montville cellist Sam Lucas to play at global Holocaust Concert

The career of Montville cellist Sam Lucas will take an emotional leap when he performs with a priceless cello for global leaders and a worldwide audience at the Holocaust Memorial Concert in the European Parliament on January 29.
Mr Lucas has been invited to play the circa 1720 Nicolo Gagliano cello, which had been ‘lost’ in the years after World War II, after it was miraculously and unexpectedly re-discovered thanks to one of his performances.
“This is an experience on a scale I have not quite experienced yet in my career,” Sam said of the pending concert performance in Brussels.
“I'm extremely excited, honoured and anxious at the same time. What is most important to me is the cause - honouring the victims of the Holocaust, and dedicating my performance to them, their families and their nations.
“It’s also an honour to do so on the Nicolo Gagliano, a cello owned by one of the victims during the second World War, Pal Hermann.
“By and large, this is a very personal and touching engagement for me, and I'm sure the emotions I experience will last forever.”
The Holocaust Concert has been organised by Pal Van Gastel, the grandson of the late cellist Pal Hermann, an international cellist who owned the Nicolo Gagliano before being arrested along with millions of other Jews, and murdered in the Holocaust.
A family friend rescued the priceless instrument from the N***s by breaking into the Hermann’s house, switching the cello with a lesser instrument, and then escaping on his bicycle with the Gagliano strapped safely to his back. It was subsequently sold by the family in the early 1950s, and sold again in the 1960s to a mystery buyer, and this is where the tracking of its journey turned cold.
Sam had for several years been the custodian and sole performer of the beautiful handcrafted cello, courtesy of its owner, the Robert Schumann Hochschule music school in Dusseldorf, where he is a student.
It was during a performance by Sam at the Queen Elisabeth International Cello Competition in Brussels in mid-2022 where one of the judges noted its unusual markings and suspected that it might be the ‘lost’ cello. His hunch turned out to be accurate.
Mr Hermann’s orphaned daughter, Corrie Hermann, now 93, had her lifelong dream to once again hear her late father’s cello thanks to a surprise performance by Sam in London last September.
Sam’s most recent custodianship of the cello has led to him being chosen to play it at the upcoming memorial concert, which will be professionally recorded and live-streamed to 26 countries, and attended by many world leaders. Among items he will perform is a recently discovered five-movement cello concerto written by Pal Hermann.
“I think Sam fully appreciates what a privilege it is for him - the kid from Montville - to be associated with this particular event,” Sam’s father Ian Lucas said.
“He is just be over the moon with that, and the way that this has all sort of panned out from the discovery - or the rediscovery - of the cello.”
“It’s a special and almost unbelievable chain of events, a beautiful story, and a wonderful opportunity for Sam.”
Sam’s performance at the memorial concert will be followed by engagements in Bonn, Germany, in July, and performing in the Dvorak Cello Concerto concerts in Denmark in September.
He will also premiere a recently discovered Pal Hermann cello concerto in London and Paris in January and February 2026, as a soloist.
Sam grew up in Montville, attending school at Montville State School and Nambour Christian College, before embarking on his classical music studies abroad in New Zealand and then in Germany. He has performed globally, including in Korea, Belgium, Germany, Russia and also at his parents’ private performance auditorium at Montville.

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Here is a link to the European Parliament commemoration event. Sam's performance is at around: 12.57. https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/webstreaming/solemn-ceremony-on-international-holocaust-commemoration-day-2025_20250129-0900-PLENARY

Thanks Seven Queensland for covering the story and broadcasting it and publishing it Queensland-wide: https://fb.watch/xrVBsYEZe1/

Thanks to Glass House Country News for supporting Sam: https://gcnews.com.au/montville-cellist-plays-at-historic-european-concert/

Thanks to ABC Radio Sunshine Coast for interviewing Sam's father Ian Lucas regarding this big achievement (I was unable to source audio of the interview).

Thanks to the Sunshine Valley gazette for supporting Sam: https://www.sunshinevalleygazette.com.au/blog/sam-lucas-cellist-holocaust-concert-european-parliament

Great photo and coverage from The Herald Journal (Utah, USA): https://www.hjnews.com/world/belgium-holocaust-remembrance/image_36004b22-2da3-5441-b51f-8ba5339cd3fe.html

For more details about the mystery cello, visit: https://shorturl.at/ihUR6

25/10/2024

Montville cellist’s Brussels performance helps unearth identity of priceless ‘missing’ cello

By Richard Bruinsma

In an almost unbelievable chain of events, a 300-yer-old cello that went missing in the decades after the murder of its owner in World War II has been recovered, thanks to the determined sleuthing of a handful of classical music lovers.
And, it turns out, a heartfelt and innocent performance by Montville-born cellist Sam Lucas has been critical to the circa 1720 Nicolo Gagliano cello being re-identified and the secrets of its disappearance finally being answered.
The re-discovery also allowed for the orphaned daughter of the original owner to once again hear the beloved cello’s rich tones – fulfilling a wish many decades in the waiting.
“This is definitely one of the most meaningful and deeper moments for my career, and more personal moments as well,” Sam said of his role in the mystery being solved.
“It’s rather emotional to be honest.”
History shows the beautiful cello was purchased in the 1920s for brilliant young Jewish soloist Pal Hermann, who performed internationally for many years until he was arrested by the German secret police in 1944.
The young man was among the six million Jews eventually murdered in the Holocaust. His then seven-year-old daughter Corrie thankfully survived the war.
The story goes that, in a daring move, the cello was saved from the N***s by a relative who broke through a back window of the family home to sn**ch the Gagliano from virtually under the noses of the treasure-hunting Germans, replacing it with a lesser instrument.
The daring ‘thief’ made his escape, riding away on his bike, into a foggy night, with the cello strapped to his back.
The cello was subsequently sold in 1952 to a German cellist known as Herzbruch. In the 1960s, the cello was again on-sold, but to an unknown buyer, and this is where the tracking of its journey turned cold.
Until this year.
London-based cellist and author Dr Kate Kennedy has for the past four years researched and searched for the cello, in partnership with her colleague, Robert Brewer Young, a director of both WE Hill and Sons and Beares Violin Dealers in London.
They had repeatedly put out calls globally for anyone who may have any clues – no matter how small – as to its whereabouts. But Dr Kennedy’s search remained for many years unsatisfied.
Meantime, Sam continued building his reputation globally as a star classical musician, and was loaned a beautiful handcrafted cello by the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Dusseldorf, where he is a student.
The cello, with its distractive engravings, subsequently travelled with him to performances around the globe – so valuable that insurers insisted it had its own seat on international flights.
“I was always intrigued. Not only is it a rare instrument, but it has incredible sound,” Sam explained in early 2022.
“I don’t have to try as hard to make the sound I like – you could say it has 300 years of experience of sound going through it, and 300 years of being played by great players. This has given the cello a beautiful tone… and it is simply very lovely to play.
“I wanted to have the experience of discovering how my playing would develop, I guess you could say, in the hands of another cello.
“We were lucky and found this instrument; it has been loaned to me for the next couple of years, hopefully longer, and I’m delighted.”
Among its travels, the cello visited Sam’s hometown Montville, in Australia, in February 2022, where he performed to the joy of local music lovers in the intimate and beautiful auditorium of Lucas Parklands.
Even then, the priceless cello with its rich tone developed in the hands of masters over hundreds of years, proved a magnetic point of interest. The clear and unique markings suggested it had been crafted in Naples for the Italian Royal Family in the early 1700s, hence its very significant historic and musical value. One of its distinctive design elements is an inscription in Latin burnt onto its ribs, that reads, 'Ego Sum Anima Musical', meaning ‘I am the soul of music’.
Eventually Italy was unified in 1861 and many great treasures, including this cello, were handed to its new king, Victor Emmanuel II.
The Montville homecoming concert was a prelude and preparation for the finals of the Queen Elisabeth International Cello Competition, the biggest competition of its kind in the world that year, held in Brussels in May and June 2022. Sam was the only cellist from the Southern Hemisphere to be invited to play in the event, which was open to the world’s 50 leading cellists under 32 and selected from 350-plus applicants.
It was his performances at this international event that inadvertently helped lead to the unravelling of this musical mystery that had for many decades remained unsolved.
Fast forward two years, and Dr Kennedy, who had been researching several historically significant cellos – including the missing Nicolo Gagliano – realised the publishing of her book, Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound.
Her work found its way into the hands of a curious reader, renowned Chinese cellist Jian Wang. After reading the words about the missing Nicolo Gagliano, Mr Wang became quite convinced that he had seen that very cello in action.
And indeed he had.
“Wang had been on the jury when Sam performed in the Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition in 2022,” Dr Kennedy wrote recently in an email forwarded to Sam.
“He recognised the cello from my description, and from photographs in the book, and contacted (renown British) cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, who put us in touch.”
Mr Wang had inadvertently helped provide vital pieces to a very long-lingering puzzle. And Sam had also played a small but exciting role.
“I always knew this cello had an amazing history at the time it was built,” Sam said.
“There is a lot of history behind this particular cello, and I'm honoured to have… experienced some wonderful performances playing this instrument.”
But the story doesn’t end there.
“Throughout the writing of the book, I lived in hope that we would identify the cello, and the book would end with a description of it being played to Corrie, the orphan Pal Hermann left behind,” Dr Kennedy explained in her email.
And that dream has also come true.
Corrie, now 93, made the trip from her home in Holland for what turned out to be a wonderful surprise.
On September 28, Dr Kennedy joined her for an interview on BBC Radio 4 – the subject was the missing Nicolo Gagliano cello, and the surprise revealed to Corrie that it had again been found.
Sam had the honour of playing for Corrie, fulfilling her dream to hear her father’s cello once again, for the first time in an estimated 85 years.
“It's beautiful,” Corrie told the BBC’s radio audience.
“I'm really thrilled to hear this because, well, it is more than I could have expected. Thank you so much.”
A special concert to launch the book was also held at Wigmore Hall in London on September 29, with Sam again playing the cello. The concert also featured performances by Dr Kennedy and Berlin-based cellist Natalie Clein.
The concert included for the finale the piece "Popper Requiem" for three cellos and piano, a German piece reflecting war.
“It has been her wish to see and hear the cello played again,” Sam said.
“For Corrie to see and hear the cello unexpectedly was an emotional situation for everyone... I am extremely grateful and honored to be the cellist to reunite her to the cello and to the sound she grew up with.”

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A huge thanks to local and international media that helped share this amazing story:

Limelight Magazine:
https://limelight-arts.com.au/features/queensland-musician-helps-unearth-identity-of-priceless-missing-cello/

ITV (UK):
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2024-10-09/cello-of-renowned-composer-murdered-by-nazis-reunited-with-daughter

Sunshine Coast News:
https://www.sunshinecoastnews.com.au/2024/10/14/coast-cellist-helps-unearth-300yo-missing-instrument/

Seven Local News (Sunshine Coast and Mackay):
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=348915604909945&rdid=O1Cos5IWXLO52Ha4

Sunshine Valley Gazette (Oct 2, P14):
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d85cc13d9ca517a2b2e33e5/t/66fb5c7365ea237b3a83acf7/1727749300984/Gazette+October+2%2C+2024.pdf

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If you need media support for your event, business or organisation, contact Richard Bruinsma Media at [email protected] or 0438434012

13/09/2024

Russian powerhouse pianist returns to Lucas Parklands for ‘monster’ recital

Russian-born piano maestro Konstantin Shamray is returning to Lucas Parklands in Montville on September 14 for what’s touted as a ‘monster’ recital that includes three huge 30-minute Russian sonatas.
Shamray is now among Australia’s premier classical pianists and, combined with his physical stature and strength, is regarded as one of very few who could ‘pull off’ such a demanding program.
“It's an incredibly difficult, long, unusual program; it's Russian music, played by a Russian monster,” promoter Ian Lucas, of Lucas Parklands, said.
“If Konstantin was a car, he’d be a Hummer, if he was a plane, he’d be an A380, because the works he is playing are really big, there’s no little seven-minute pieces here.”
Konstantin will present the all-Russian program, highlighting three monumental Russian piano sonatas: Tchaikovsky - Piano Sonata, Scriabin - Piano Sonata No. 2, and Medtner - Piano Sonata “The Night Wind”.
“He can cope with the enormously long, hard work that some of the Russian works are; they demand extraordinary technique, virtuality and stamina to get through them. To play, say 32 minutes or 33 minutes in a single piece, it's a marathon.”
Mr Lucas and his wife Lee have a long friendship with Mr Shamray, stemming from his first arrival to eventually settle in Australia.
“When I first met him in 2008, he was new to the country and we were the first family he met in Australia, which was just a pure coincidence,” Mr Lucas explained.
“And then we grew to watch him develop his career within Australia, and now of course, we are lucky he can actually spare the time to come back up here because, if you look at his schedule of performances, he's a very busy artist.”
“Oftentimes he just can't get free enough to get up here, so it is always flattering that he does.”
The Lucas Parklands concert auditorium is located near Montville and surrounded by natural rainforest, and has developed a strong reputation for attracting world class artists and programs that music lovers would normally only find performed in major capital cities. The 150-seat auditorium features soft lighting and large windows that provide a natural backdrop to an intimate and acoustically brilliant performance space, where patrons are seated just metres from the performers.
**
Mr Shamray will perform at the Lucas Parklands concert hall, at Montville, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, on Saturday, September 14 at 3pm.

For tickets, please phone 0409 623 228 /07 54785667 Email: [email protected]

Here is a link to the Lucas Parklands website: https://lucasparklands.com.au/
Here is a link to Mr Shamray’s website: https://www.konstantinshamray.com/

18/04/2024

Hinterland pushes tiny homes plan

A group of hinterland individuals is leading a community response to the growing housing affordability crisis - starting with rewriting the Sunshine Coast Council local law that oversees tiny homes.
The Tiny Community Living Campaign group is pushing for council to support a modified local law that will make it legal to permanently allow tiny homes on local private properties, with conditions.
Campaigner Helen Andrew, who has rewritten the ‘Establishment and Occupation of a Temporary Home’ local law, said the changes would allow one tiny home on a property of 800 square metres, with a sliding scale depending on property size, up to five tiny homes allowed on properties of 10 acres and larger.
Ms Andrew noted there had been some claims that council needed state government input to change the local laws, but that has proved to be incorrect.
“Our understanding is that, because it’s a subordinate law, our council has the ability to actually make local laws to fit the community’s needs, without state government involvement, except when it actually contravenes a state law,” she explained.
“There is no state law that says you have to have a permit, there is no state law that says you have to have a timeframe, and, to date, I have yet to find a state law that says it is only limited to one per property.
“The local law will still be in place because it ensures that people who are under that local law make sure they look after their waste and amenity, and care for the land, and care for the space, care for the neighbourhood.”
Currently, the local law allows only one ‘temporary’ house - that is, anything on wheels - for a maximum of four weeks in a 52-week period, unless the occupant has a permit, with conditions and for a $514 fee, that extends that to a maximum 18 months – rules leftover from when the law was meant for those living in temporary accommodation on their properties while having a house built.
Ms Andrew said councillors David Law (Division 10), Christian Dickson (6), and Joe Natoli (4) have all shown support for the new local law, as has new mayor Rosanna Natoli. She hopes new councillors will also support the idea, to garner the six votes required for its introduction.
“We’re asking our council actually put that on the agenda of an ordinary meeting and vote for that new local law to come into place,” she said
Housing affordability was raised repeatedly by the community in the recent local government elections. The debate over tiny homes on private properties has received attention locally, following the threatened eviction of a mum and her children from what was a permanent – and therefore illegal - tiny home on a hinterland property last year.
The group notes that evictions from tiny homes on private properties fails to recognise the current national housing crisis, fails to support the most vulnerable in the community, and simply shifts the 'problem' to different locations. Some homeless residents camp at some local parks - including at Conondale, Landsborough, Coolum, and the Maleny Showgrounds - for the allowable 72 hours, before being required to leave, by police or council officers, effectively forcing them to move between the locations every three days.
Some reports suggest the Sunshine Coast now has 10,000 homeless residents. The crisis has seen a tent in Musgrave Park in Brisbane grow from five tents to more than 50 tents in less than a year.
The Maleny Neighbourhood Centre has seen an increase in homeless people looking for support. The issue also presents a drain on the centres resources as demand for food and fuel vouchers increases, and administration of the issue takes up increasing amounts of time for the centre’s unpaid volunteers.
The local action group notes that at least two Sunshine Coast homeless people have been murdered in recent years while simply seeking a safe place to sleep - one of the victims was sleeping in her car when her window was smashed and she was fatally stabbed.
It’s a concern of one homeless Maleny resident who lives in her car.
“Even if you’re in your car, you’re not even safe there out on the street, but if you’re living in some sort of structure in someone’s back yard, then you’re a lot safer – 100% safer,” the woman, who asked for her name be suppressed, said.
“It’s a solid roof over your head, instead of a canvas roof.”
The woman supports the idea of legal tiny homes, and can’t understand the past reluctance from authorities.
“I’m not 100% sure why the government won’t accept this as a solution,” she said.
“During our presentation to councillors recently, we have actually shown them how we deal with grey water and black water waste, and power as well. All of the solutions are there, we’ve looked at it from every angle, we’ve made sure that the people living in these tiny homes are actual abiding by all the laws as well.
“Everybody wants this. All the community want it, the people want it, the people who have the houses want it, the people that don’t have the houses want it, we’re just waiting for the council to literally tick a box and sign on the dotted line, that’s all it’s going to take.
“We’ve even written the law for them.”

01/03/2024

‘Long Weekend of Music’ kicks off stellar classical season at Lucas Parklands

Another world class season of classical music at Montville’s Lucas Parklands will kick off with the return of pianist Berta Brozgul and cellist Sam Lucas for the ‘Long Weekend of Music’ in mid-March.
The duo plays regularly, and will reignite their artistic partnership for three concerts on Friday March 22, Saturday March 23 and Sunday March 24.
Berta, born in South Africa but today based out of Melbourne, and Sam, who grew up in Montville but now lives in Germany and performs across Europe, are both eagerly looking forward to performing together again.
“I love performing with Sam,” Berta said from Melbourne.
“We clicked immediately the first time we played together and seem to share the same passion and love for what we do, as well as similar musical taste and feeling.
“He is an incredible cellist but also so easy to work with and very respectful and attentive to what I do as well.”
Speaking from his home in Dusseldorf, Sam added: “Berta is a terrific musician with incredible pianistic skills.
“She has a lot of fire and energy in her performance style and in her interpretations, which is something I appreciate a lot in my performance partners.
“I'm very much looking forward to performing with her again, and with such a great program.”
The pair will present three great and very different musical programs at the ‘Long Weekend of Music’ at the Lucas Parklands private auditorium. The performances will include duets and solos from composers like Bach, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Hindemith, Schumann, Grieg and more.
“As the very first work that Sam and I played together, I think we both hold a soft spot for the Grieg cello sonata,” Berta explained. “However, I’m also excited about a few of the new pieces I haven’t played before, such as the Ducros ‘encore’ and the Hindemith fantasy piece.
“I’m also looking forward to presenting some solo repertoire, especially Schumann’s fantasy in C major, which must be one of the most passionate pieces of music ever composed by anybody.”
For Sam, one piece in particular is special, having had a life-changing influence on his career.
“I'll be playing my favourite cello sonata, Grieg Cello Sonata, and one of my favourite concertos, the Elgar cello concerto… the first cello concerto I ever heard, and it was precisely because of this piece I chose to dedicate my life to the cello,” he explained.
“Both the Elgar and Shostakovich nr1 concerto are my favourite concertos to perform.”
For Sam, the visit to Montville is also a rare annual chance to catch up again with his parents Ian and Lee, and twin sister Meg.
“To perform in Australia is always great as well, especially if I get to tie in some performances at Lucas Parklands, my home,” he explained.
“Seeing all the familiar faces in the audience, people I've known since I was a boy, gets me quite emotional, and it's a pleasure to perform for them each year.”

The performances kick-start what may well be one of the most impressive programs of any intimate classical music venue in Australia. In June, Lucas Parklands will host world famous piano maestro Piers Lane AO; in July, Italian pianist Ida Pelliccioli and New Zealand violinist Amalia Hall; in September, cellist Sam Lucas will return, to be accompanied by Lithuania pianist Pauleus Andersson and Australian pianist Daniel Le. Russian-born piano maestro Konstantin Shamray will also perform at Lucas Parklands in 2024, on a date to be confirmed.

For Lucas Parklands performance and ticketing enquiries, phone 07 54785667 or 0409623228.

For more information about Lucas Parklands, visit: https://lucasparklands.com.au/
For online details of the March ‘Long Weekend’ concerts, visit: https://lucasparklands.com.au/2024-concerts/

Program – Long Weekend of Music - Lucas Parklands (March 22-24)

Friday, March 22, 6pm. This is 75 min twilight concert with no interval and limited to 65 guests.

Hindemith - Phantasiestuck
Schumann - Fantasy (piano alone)
Grieg - Cello Sonata

Saturday, 23rd March, 4pm.

Bach - Partita No. 1 (piano alone)
Tchaikovsky - Pezzo Capriccioso
Rachmaninov - Cello Sonata movement 3
Ginastera - Pampeana No.2
*Interval
Elgar - Cello Concerto

Sunday, 24th March, 4pm.

Scriabin - Sonata No. 2 (piano alone)
Hindemith - Phantasiestuck
Tchaikovsky - Pezzo
Rachmaninov - Sonata movement 3
Ducros - Encore piece
*Interval
Elgar - Cello Concerto

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Richard Bruinsma Media

31/01/2025

25/10/2024

13/09/2024

18/04/2024

01/03/2024

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