Mama Alto: Transcendent is not merely a cabaret set – it is a slow, smouldering invocation. Within the intimate embrace of the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Primrose Potter Salon, time loosens its grip, and what remains is voice, story, and the exquisite persona of being human.
Carrying an aura that feels both celestial and deeply grounded, the room belongs to her. That voice, often described as “liquid velvet,” proves an entirely inadequate metaphor once experienced live. It does not simply fill the space; it permeates it. Every phrase is sculpted, every breath intentional, every silence eloquent.
What distinguishes Mama Alto most is not simply the vocal beauty or interpretive intelligence, though both are exceptional, it is her ability to embody multiplicity. Triumph and tragedy, glamour and vulnerability, strength and softness coexist without contradiction. Her presence itself becomes part of the narrative: a living testament to transformation, resilience, and the radical act of occupying space unapologetically.
Torch singing, in lesser hands, can lean toward indulgence. In Mama Alto’s, it becomes a revelation. Her interpretations do not revisit well-loved standards so much as re-examine them under a different emotional light. Ewan MacColl’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face unfolds with such patience and intimacy that the song feels newly born.
In Thelonious Monk’s Round Midnight, loneliness becomes something almost holy, suspended over Joshua Hains’ beautifully restrained, impressionistic piano lines. His playing throughout the evening is a masterclass in sensitivity: never showy, always responsive, creating a musical conversation that feels alive and breathing.
There is delicious contrast in the program’s architecture. The playful shimmer of Irving Caesar’s Tea for Two arrives with a knowing glint, Mama Alto’s comedic timing slipping in effortlessly between lines, her banter warm and conspiratorial.
Yet moments later, she will turn and offer Dimitri Tiomkin’s Wild is the Wind with such emotional openness it feels like witnessing someone step, unguarded, into a storm. This interplay is where her storytelling genius resides.
Jacques Prévert’s Autumn Leaves drifts in like a memory made audible, while Stephen Sondheim’s Send in the Clowns, closing the evening, is delivered without melodrama, and without excess. The final notes do not end the performance; they linger, suspended in the collective breath of the audience, reluctant to let it go.
Mama Alto: Transcendent
Primrose Potter Salon – Melbourne Recital Centre, 31 Sturt Street, Southbank
Performance: Thursday 29 January 2026
Season continues to 31 January 2026
Bookings: www.melbournerecital.com.au
For more information, visit: www.mamaalto.com for details.
Image: Mama Alto – photo by Shawn Salley Photography
Review: Rohan Shearn