This was an interesting place to play in.... a cathedral in the Queensland capital city of Brisbane. A very warm evening... it brought back memories of playing in similar large stone cathedrals in the European summer!
It was actually during the late winter of Australia, but I don't think that Brisbane ever really has any temperatures lower than about 20 degrees Centigrade!
Like many cathedrals, high arches and high ceilings are the norm... which is a sort of mixed blessing when it comes to acoustics. Long reverberation times makes for a very "wet" sound... and it can often sound like there are multiple ensembles playing at the same time in delay to each other... which can be crazily confusing!
It is the sort of acoustic that would be okay for a single solo instrument with slow moving lines, or a smallish ensemble with slow moving harmonies... but we were trying to play here with a small period instrument orchestra, with fast moving notes and harmonies. It was not the best experience... but the mismatch was between the venue and type of music/size of ensemble.
During the day, it was quite well lit on the inside... with the ample and bright Queensland sunlight basting in from the high stained glass openings in the stonework.
There is something quite majestic about the high arches and the streams of light that come through... meanwhile, the building remains cool... notably many degrees cooler than the warm outside environment.
Little church treasures... and a somewhat modernish sort of design on the banner. The woodwork of the choir stalls is also quite intricate and finely crafted... again, the churches of the colonial era seemed to have quite a claim on the time and resources of the fledgling colonies!
Even the stonework is quite impressive! It still baffles me (from a modern viewpoint...) as to why so much time and effort was diverted away from the real and concrete needs of the population in order to concentrate it in the church properties. Ah well, different age... but the core idea remains true today... the rich and affluent do soak up a disproportion amount of time and effort that would be better spent elsewhere!
... uuhhhhhh, weird!