★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Pilgrim Church. 25 Feb 2026
Einaudi’s Piano by Candlelight features British pianist Matthew Shiel performing a selection of meditative piano works by Ludovico Einaudi, Erik Satie, and Philip Glass, but it’s more than that.
Shiel is an alumnus of the prestigious Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and he clearly knows his way around a piano. He has performed hundreds of concerts at fringe festivals and other events around the world and has received awards and glowing reviews. His concerts are diverse and arouse curiosity, especially in those who are looking for non-traditional programs and settings.
Shiel is dressed in an Indian Kurta shirt, and at the start of the concert he processes slowly from the entrance of Pilgrim Church down through the audience to the alter area where the piano is situated. He sits at the piano and immediately starts playing. There is no attempt to acknowledge the audience and receive applause.
Behind him is a large projection screen on which play digital animations of Japanese Zen stories. The projections play continuously and in between Shiel’s musical selections there are voice-overs in his own voice to make sense of what we are seeing on the screen. This is ostensibly the ‘spine’ of the show, the ‘glue’ that holds it all together: a story about finding enlightenment with empathetic music underpinning its unfolding and linking the narrative. All the while, the only light in the venue is (electric) candlelight and the dying sunlight of the afternoon creeping in through the church’s stained windows.
There is gravity in the air. There is a stark juxtaposition of cultures.
It all bodes for a compelling experience, but it is not. The voice-overs lack clarity and are very difficult to understand. They really need some quality sound engineering to improve them so that they can indeed behave as the ‘glue’ that is so very much needed for this show: the story portrayed in the projections is not self-evident, and even though Zen is about understanding through intuition rather than conscious effort, intuition in the context of this concert will only take you so far.
Shiel’s playing is expressive—he shapes his hands and forearms beautifully—and his physicality is fluid and evocative. At times one feels it borders on becoming immoderate, and he is at times heavy on the pedal and could more clearly voice the melody.
Shiel clearly has a penchant for the emotion and style of Glass and Einaudi, and the modestly sized audience appreciated that.
Kym Clayton
When: 25 Feb to 6 Mar
Where: Pilgrim Church
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
